On the 17th of January Cook and Clerke cast anchor in a bay, called by the natives Karakakooa. The sails were unbent from the yard, the yards and the top-mast struck. The vessels were crowded with visitors and surrounded by pirogues, and the shore was covered by a curious multitude. Cook had never previously seen so much excitement. Among the chiefs who came on board the Resolution, a young man named Pareea was soon remarked. He said he was "Iakanee," but it was not known that was his title of office, or if it suggested a degree of relationship or alliance with the king. However, he evidently had great authority over the common people. Some presents, opportunely given, attached him to the English, and he rendered them more than one service.
If Cook on his first visit to Hawai pronounced that the natives were little disposed to robbery, he was not of the same opinion this time. Their large numbers gave them many facilities for thieving trifles, and encouraged them to think that their larceny would not be punished. It became evident at last that they were encouraged by their chiefs, for several stolen objects were found in the possession of the latter.
Pareea and another chief named Kaneena brought an old man on board, whose name was Koah. He was very thin and his body was covered with white scurf from immoderate use of "ava." He was a priest. When he was presented to Cook, he put a sort of red mantle which he had brought upon his shoulders, and gravely delivered a long discourse as he gave him a little pig. It was soon proved that it was intended as a form of adoration, for all the idols were clothed in similar stuff. The English were immensely astonished at the whimsical ceremonies of homage presented to Cook. They only understood them later, through the researches of the learned missionary Ellis. We shall give a brief account of his interesting discovery. It will make the recital of the events that followed plainer.
| "They gave him a little pig." |
According to tradition, a certain Rono, who lived under one of the ancient kings of Hawai, had killed his wife, whom he tenderly loved, in a transport of jealousy. The grief and sorrow which followed upon his act, drove him mad; he ran about the island, quarrelling with, and striking everybody. At last, tired out, but not satiated, with murder, he embarked, promising to return one day, upon a floating island, bringing cocoa-nuts, pigs, and dogs.
This legend had been embodied in a national song, and became an article of faith with the priests, who added Rono to their list of deities. Confident in the fulfilment of the prediction, they awaited his coming every year, with a patience which nothing could exhaust.
Is not there a strange resemblance between this legend and that relating to the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl, who, forced to fly from the wrath of a more powerful god, embarked upon a skiff of serpent skin, promising those who accompanied him to return at some later time, and visit the country with his descendants?
As soon as the English ships appeared, the high priest Koah and his son One-La declared that it was Rono himself, fulfilling his prediction. From that moment Cook was a divinity for the entire population. As he went about, the natives prostrated themselves. The priests made him speeches or addressed prayers to him. They would have sprinkled him with incense had that been fashionable at Hawai. The captain felt that there was something extraordinary in these demonstrations, but, unable to understand it, he resigned himself for the sake of his crew and for the advancement of science to the mysterious circumstances he was unable to unravel.
He was obliged to give himself up to all kinds of ceremonies, which appeared, to him at least, ridiculous. Thus he was taken to a moraï, a solid construction of stone forty roods long and fourteen high. The summit was well built and was surrounded by a wooden balustrade, upon which were hung the ears of the captives sacrificed to the gods. At the opening of the platform were two large wooden figures with grinning faces, and bodies draped in red stuff, the heads surmounted by a large piece of sculptured wood, the shape of a reversed cone. There Koah mounted with Cook upon a sort of table, under which lay a rotten pig and a quantity of fruit. Some men brought a living pig in a procession, and some scarlet cloth in which it was wrapped. The priests then sang some religious hymns, while the assistants were devoutly prostrated at the entrance of the moraï. After various ceremonies, which it would take too long to describe, a pig, cooked in the oven, was presented to the captain, with fruits and the roots which were used in the preparation of "ava."