Cook's Second Voyage.

It does not come within the limits of our present purpose to follow Captain Cook in his subsequent travels ere he reached England again, nor are we specially concerned in the important public movement in that country which dictated to him the necessity of another voyage to reveal the secrets of the unknown region of Antarctica. These matters belong rather to the biography of the explorer than to the history of Marlborough, but the connecting link in the chain of our narrative may be conveniently resumed on a thick and foggy page 146day in February, 1773, when two Whitby built vessels, the "Resolution" and "Adventure," commanded by Captains James Cook and Tobias Furneaux respectively, might have been seen battling with the elements in the southern latitudes. On the following morning, when the haze had lifted, the people on board the "Resolution" saw nothing of their consort, she having been driven out of her course during the night. But as they were slowly making their way to New Zealand, and as a rendezvous had been appointed there at Queen Charlotte Sound, no anxiety was felt at her disappearance.

Captain Furneaux's first introduction to the Sound took place on the 7th of April, 1773, when he cast anchor in Ship Cove at dusk of that day. Although no natives made the slightest attempt to visit them at that hour, they were evidently sensible of the ship's presence, for the howling of dogs and the hallooing of the men were distinctly heard during the night, but it was not for two days after that that they saw anything of the inhabitants. The first care of the Captain was to ascertain if there were any signs of the "Resolution," and to this end the cutter was sent ashore next morning, but the crew saw nothing save the post erected by Cook on his previous visit in 1770, and which the natives had in no way injured. Preparations were thereupon made page 147for a sojourn in the Sound of sufficient length to permit of the ship being repaired and the health of the crew recruited, scurvy in a mild form being present amongst the sailors, for Captain Furneaux had not proved himself so successful a sanitary reformer as his chief. Accordingly tents were pitched, first on Motuara Island, and afterwards at the head of Ship Cove, where the sick were tended with the utmost care by those of more robust constitution, whose ministrations were greatly aided by the change of diet and invigorating climate, which were both food and physic to the invalids.

On the third day after the "Adventure" arrived in the Sound, a canoe containing fifteen armed natives came off to her, but they were neither disposed to make friendly advances nor to accept the proffered friendship, and it was only by dint of the greatest pressure, accompanied by a liberal distribution of presents, that they were at last induced to leave the canoe and board the vessel. On doing so, it was noticed that one of them carried a peculiar bundle, which on examination proved to be the severed head of a man whose blood was not yet cold. As soon as the natives saw that their treasure, for such they regarded it, had been discovered, they, with marvellous dexterity, managed to pass it from one to the other until it finally disap-page 148peared, and then by signs and gestures they tried to deceive the officers into believing that nothing of the kind had been in their possession, for they, knowing Cook's abhorrence of such unnatural customs, were both apprehensive of losing the trophy, and of receiving their merited punishment.

The natives, however, behaved well to the ship's company, and with one exception there was no evidence of hostility. The incident here referred to occurred on the morning of the 12th, for just as the Captain and his officers were preparing to leave for the shore, ten canoes were perceived coming down the Sound, manned by one hundred and twenty warriors, all fully armed. Their looks and actions betrayed their purpose, and when they came alongside and demanded admission to the ship, the concession was granted to only a few, but these acted in such an unruly manner that they had to be turned over the side at the bayonet's point by the sailors, who, by their alertness, showed that they were prepared for any emergency. The natives seeing that their design of surprising and capturing the ship had been frustrated, made a virtue of necessity and turned their visit into one of trade instead of war, but it was evident by their displeased and sullen looks that they were grievously disappointed, a grief for which even a good stock of presents page 149did not serve as a solatium. But no further attempt was made to renew the attack, and preparations were at once commenced to make everything snug for the winter. The ship was taken closer into the shore and given a winter coat to preserve the hull, while possession was relinquished of the native houses on Motuara, which were commanded by a fort furnished with one of the ship's guns, and where the crew had lived in perfect health and spirits. Here also Mr. Bayly, the astronomer who accompanied the expedition, had erected his observatory, and in his spare moments he and his staff cultivated a plot of table-land and planted a garden with seeds brought from England for the purpose. But the tents were now transferred to the shore of the cove and pitched near the side of the stream, where, overshadowed by the luxuriant forest growth, the crew spent the declining days of the winter. The monotony of their daily life, if monotony it could be called in a spot so full of varying beauty, was broken on the 17th by the cry that the "Resolution" was in sight, and sure enough she was to be seen lying becalmed off Cape Jackson. Boats were at once despatched to assist in towing her into the Sound, each crew vieing with the other to reach the consort first and partake of the joy which naturally follows the meeting of those who have been so long parted. By page 150evening the "Resolution" was within a mile of the "Adventure," and on the following morning they were together in the cove, where the crews enjoyed the pleasure of each other's society, which, as Captain Furneaux expressed it, "can only be conceived by those who have been in like circumstances." The meeting was celebrated by mutual salutes of thirteen guns, the demonstration having the effect of bringing the natives from far and near, who cordially welcomed their old friends back again.

With every alacrity preparations were now made for resuming the voyage, the crews being engaged in these operations by day, and passing their evenings regaling each other with stories of their adventures. The officers and scientific members of the expedition found ample employment in prosecuting their enquiries as to the geographical peculiarities of the place, the habits and traditions of the people. Occasionally the serious side of their occupation was turned into amusement by incidents of a distinctly humorous nature, as for instance when one of the chiefs brought his son, a lad of only ten summers, on board to receive a present. The boy had set his heart on being possessed of a white shirt, and when this type of purity had been given him, he proudly strutted about the deck, presenting himself to everyone he met for their cordial page 151admiration. But there was one on board the "Resolution" who did not approve of these proceedings, for old Billy, the ram goat, disdained vanity. Accordingly, as the boy in the flowing robe unsuspectingly waltzed within his reach, the goat gave him a most unmerciful butt, which sent him sprawling into the scupper. When the boy gathered himself together and realised that his shirt was soiled, he set up a doleful howl to Heaven which was truly pitiful to hear; nor would he approach his father, or be consoled until his treasured garment had been washed and dried, but the humiliating experience made him more modest in his demeanour, and caused him to ever after retain a wholesome grudge against "Old Kuri," upon whom he could never again look with a friendly eye.

During the investigations which followed upon his arrival, Cook was pained to find that in his absence the savage nature of the people had in no degree diminished, for cannibalism was as rife as ever, and the tribal feuds were still the fruitful source of bloodshed. These, however, did not interfere with the course of friendship between the ships' company and the natives living in the immediate vicinity of Motuara and the cove, towards whom Cook studiously observed a conciliatory attitude. Although his stay on this occasion was very brief, lasting only twenty days, he page 152gave the natives a substantial proof of his good-will towards them by leaving with them, at West Bay and Cannibal Cove, two sheep and two goats, besides digging a garden in which were planted all kinds of culinary vegetables which were thought suitable to the soil and climate, in the hope that they might be induced to cultivate this kind of food and so wean them away from the revolting habit of devouring human flesh, a hope which regretably enough was not realised. Before the ships left, these gardens were placed under the special guardianship of a chief named Teiratu, from whom a solemn promise was extracted that he would tend and protect them; but considering the great social unrest which prevailed amongst the primitive community, it is a little wonder that his obligation was not strictly kept.

On the 7th of June the vessels again put to sea, and took their departure for the Southern Ocean, where they remained until the following November. But as they approached the coast on their return, they encountered a series of S.E. gales, which, for continued severity, surpassed all that they had experienced before. For several days the ships battled against the adverse winds, which defied the ablest seamenship of their captains, and in the stress of weather the "Adventure" again drifted away from her consort, and never page 153again rejoined her until they met at Spithead on the 30th June, 1775.

Alone the "Resolution" entered the Sound and remained there for twenty-three days, the time being fully employed in making such repairs to the sails and cordage as necessity required, as well as replenishing the stores of wood and water.

The customs of the people were ever the subject of much earnest enquiry on the part of Cook, and on one point he was particularly desirous that no vestige of doubt should remain, and this was as to whether the practice of eating human flesh was actually indulged in by them. Accordingly, on one occasion when a native approached the ship, carrying in the bottom of his canoe some portions of a victim to tribal warfare, he was permitted to boil the flesh and eat it in the presence of the officers. This feast was also witnessed by a young native of the island of Borabora, named Hete-Hete, or Oedidee as he was called by Cook, and who had taken the place of Tupia as interpreter. At first this South Sea Islander was rendered speechless by the sight, but when he recovered from his amazement he vented his rage, not only upon the Maori who perpetrated the deed, but upon the Englishmen who had permitted it, and positively refused to touch the knife with which the flesh was cut. Cook has been page 154severely blamed by his critics for permitting, and thereby tacitly encouraging, a practice so repugnant to European ideas, and his conduct is defensible only on the ground that his previous reports on the subject, based on what the natives had told him, and the fact that he had seen human bones in their possession and in their ovens, had been scouted by the English public as an idle tale of an over-active imagination, so that when a favourable opportunity offered, he desired to see the thing for himself, especially when there was the additional advantage of having his officers to substantiate his testimony.

On making enquiry as to the fate of the animals left with the natives on the previous visit, Cook learned that the two goats had been killed by a chief named Goubiah,^* but the effort to stock the country was not despaired of, and others were secretly placed in the bush in the hope that they would not be discovered until they had increased. On the other hand the gardens had flourished amazingly, the soil and climate seeming to have a most stimulating effect upon the imported seeds.

For the comfort of those of the crew who were sick the tents had been carried on shore, and in the midst of this primitive hospital the astronomer afterwards set up his observatory, page 157where his patience was sorely tried by the interfering demeanour of the natives, which culminated in the attempt to make off with his instruments. One night when he arose for the purpose of making an observation, he was astonished to find that his instruments had vanished, with everything removable. His suspicions at once centred upon the guard, who alone could commit such an impudent theft with impunity. The accusation was, however, stoutly denied by the marine, and while the altercation was at its height, they spied a native creeping stealthily from under the tent. Mr. Bayly at once fired upon the burglar and wounded him, but he managed to make good his escape into the bush, he and his companions decamping without further ceremony, leaving their canoes on the beach, in which were found all the missing instruments. This episode was only one of the many instances in which the acquisitiveness of the Maori amounted to dishonesty, for they were inveterate thieves, and may in an indirect way have laid the foundation of the unfortunate catastrophe that happened so soon afterwards.

On the 17th of December the "Adventure" was ready for sea, but before the anchor was weighed, as a final precaution for the preservation of the crew's health, Mr. Rowe, the first mate, was sent on shore with nine men page 158in the ship's cutter to collect a stock of wild herbs possessing medicinal virtues. The boatmen were strong and stalwart fellows, having been chosen on account of their exceptional physique, and consisted of Mr. Woodhouse, a midshipman, Francis Murphy, quartermaster, James Sevilley, the Captain's servant, John Lavenaugh and Thomas Wilton of the after guard, William Facey, Thomas Hill, Michael Bell and Edward Jones, fo'c'le men. Their instructions were most explicit that they were to return to the ship by the evening, and to ensure this they left the vessel's side an hour earlier than they intended. But as the boat did not return that evening, and there still being no tidings of her on the following morning, the Captain became anxious for the safety of his men and irritated at the delay in getting to sea. To elucidate matters Mr. Burney, the second lieutenant, was despatched in the launch manned by a boat's crew of ten men, and what he saw was thus reported by him to his Captain:—"About five o'clock in the afternoon, and within an hour after we left East Bay, we opened a small bay adjoining to Grass Cove, and here we saw a large double canoe just hauled up on the beach, with two men and a dog. The two men on seeing us approach instantly fled, which made us suspect it was here we should have some tidings of the page 159cutter. On landing and examining the canoe, the first thing we saw therein was one of our cutter's rullock ports and some shoes, one of which among the latter was known to belong to Mr. Woodhouse, A piece of flesh was found by one of our people, which at first we thought to be some of the salt meat belonging to the cutter's men, but, upon examination, we supposed to be dog's flesh. A most horrid and undeniable proof soon cleared up our doubts, and convinced us we were among no other than cannibals; for, advancing further on the beach, we saw about twenty baskets tied up and a dog eating a piece of boiled flesh, which, upon examination, we suspected to be human. We cut open the baskets, some of which were full of roasted flesh and others of fern-root, which served them for bread. Searching others we found more shoes and a hand, which was immediately known to have belonged to Thomas Hill, one of our forecastle men, it having been tattooed with the initials of his name. We now proceeded a little way in the woods, but saw nothing else. Our next design was to launch the canoe, intending to destroy her, but seeing a great smoke ascending over the nearest hill, we made all possible haste to be with them before sunset. At half after six we opened Grass Cove, where we saw one single and three double' canoes and a great many natives page 160assembled on the beach, who retreated to a small hill within a ship's length of the waterside, where they stood talking to us. On the top of the high land beyond the woods was a large fire, from whence all the way down the hill the place was thronged like a fair. When we entered the cove a musketoon was fired at one of the canoes, as we imagined they might be full of men lying down, for they were all afloat, but no one was seen in them. Being doubtful whether their retreat proceeded from fear or from a desire to decoy us into an ambuscade, we were determined not to be surprised, and therefore, running close in shore, we dropped the grappling near enough to reach them with our guns, but at too great a distance to be under any apprehension of their treachery. The savages on the little hill kept their ground, hallooing and making signs for us to land. At these we now took aim, resolving to kill as many of them as our bullets would reach, yet it was some time before we could dislodge them. The first volley did not seem to effect them much, but on the second they began to scramble away as fast as they could, some howling and others limping. We continued to fire as long as we could see the least glimpse of any of them through the bushes. Among these were two very robust men, who maintained their ground without moving an inch till they found them-page break

Picton.

page break

Thomas Carter.
Third Superintendent.

page 161selves forsaken by all their companions, and then, disdaining to run, they marched off with great composure and deliberation. One of them, however, got a fall, and either lay there or crawled away on his hands and feet; but the other escaped without any apparent hurt.

Mr. Burney's party brought on board the head of the Captain's servant, and also two hands, one belonging to Mr. Rowe, known by a hurt it had received, and the other to Thomas Hill, it being marked with the letters "T.H.," as before mentioned. These, with the other remains, were placed in a hammock, and with the usual burial ceremony observed on board ships, were committed to the sea.

For four days after the unfortunate affair the "Adventure" remained at her anchorage, and during this time no natives were seen from whom an explanation of the tragedy could be received, so that Captain Furneaux left the Sound without having the slightest knowledge of the circumstances attending the dispute which led to the death of his men, and no doubt in his ignorance of the facts he harboured a strong prejudice in his mind against the natives for their treachery and brutality, a prejudice he probably retained until the day of his death, for the mystery was not cleared up until long after, when Cook heard the story narrated by Kahura, the Rangitane chief, who was himself the leading spirit in the crime.

Although Kahura was a man evidently more feared than loved by his people, his account page 164of the fracas was substantially borne out by every native whom Cook interrogated upon the subject, and therefore we may believe that this savage was speaking truly when, standing in the cabin of the "Resolution" as she lay off the island of Motuara, prior to taking her final departure in 1777, he explained that while the boat's crew were at dinner they commenced to barter with the natives for curios and other articles, when one of the Maoris produced a stone axe and wished to exchange it for some bread. The sailor to whom it was offered was not an honest trader, and would neither return the axe nor deliver up the bread; whereupon the native did what most Europeans would have done under similar circumstances—he went down to the boat and helped himself to his share of the bargain. The negro servant who had been left in charge of the boat seeing him abstracting the food, and being unaware of his justification for the act, at once concluded that he was committing a petty larceny, and by way of correction struck him a violent blow with a heavy stick. The cries of the assaulted native at once roused his companions, who, believing their comrade to be killed, rushed furiously upon Mr. Rowe and his party, who were quite unprepared for such an attack. The sailors were, of course, seriously outnumbered, which only lends the greater em-page 165phasis to their folly in provoking a quarrel when so far away from the ship. They, however, fought gallantly, and in the struggle Kahura nearly lost his life, for one of the seamen levelled his gun at him, but ere the trigger could be pulled the agile chief dodged behind the boat, and one of his tribesmen received the charge instead, and fell on the sands a corpse. A desperate hand to hand contest then ensued between Kahura and Mr. Rowe, that gentleman bravely defending himself with his cutlass until overpowered by stress of numbers he fell from a blow delivered by Kahura's hand. One by one the others went down in the unequal conflict until all ten were slain, and then the barbarities of the cannibal feast were commenced with a relish that defies description and paralyses the imagination. Although it seems to be generally conceded that in this particular instance the Englishmen were at fault, Kahura's connection with the tragedy in no way increased his mana amongst the natives of the Sound, who entertained so strong an aversion to him that they frequently not only individually but collectively solicited Cook to kill him, presumably because of the part he had played in the massacre, but really because his death would rid them of a troublesome neighbour. To all these importunities, however, the Captain refused to listen, because he wished page 166to continue his unbroken friendship with each of the tribes, and he did not consider that the requirements of justice would be any better served by making an example of this particular man. The steadfast refusal of Cook to shed blood unnecessarily is all the more to be commended, because the demands of justice were not the only incentive behind the tribal requests, for he tells us that if he had followed the advice of all his pretended friends, he might have extirpated the whole race, seeing that the people of each village and pah applied to him by turns to destroy the inhabitants of the other. This condition of division and hostility in which the people of the Sound were living did not fail to attract the keen perception of Cook, who saw in it a reason why they would never become a controlling power, but would rather fall an easy prey to an opposing tribe who had generalship enough to attack them separately, and so profit by the prevailing mutual distrust which followed as a natural sequence of the age of violence in which they lived.

Of the personal courage of Kahura there could be no doubt, for although he was well aware of the general hatred of the tribes towards him, and that in their hatred they had begged Cook to kill him, and as he further knew that according to native custom there was every justification for making him page 167pay the last penalty of his act; still he did not hesitate to visit the ship when a promise had once been obtained that no harm would come to him, for on the occasion of each of these visits he was so completely at the mercy of the crew that they might have despatched him without the slightest difficulty. This was especially so at the time the ship was lying at the entrance of the Sound, far away from the nearest source of help, when, amidst the execrations of Omai, a native boy of the South Sea Islands, who had been on board the "Adventure" at the time of the massacre, he entered the cabin and remained there for some considerable time, and even sat long enough to have his portrait drawn by Mr. Webber, one of the artists of the expedition. This courageous entering of the lion's den, as it were, must be regarded as a strong proof of the confidence with which Cook had inspired the native mind, for Kahura had nothing but his word on which he could rely to stand between him and certain death.

The matters referred to above more properly belong to a later stage of our narrative of Cook's connection with Marlborough, but for the sake of consolidating all the facts concerning the death of Captain Furneaux's men, page 168they have been added immediately after that event.

We may, however, now turn to receive Captain Cook on his third and last visit to the Sound during the second voyage, after the "Adventure" had taken her final departure for England. The "Resolution" had been busily engaged in the South Seas for some eleven months, during which time many notable discoveries had been made, and the geography of the Southern Hemisphere revealed in a way that the mind of man had never dreamed of.

But early in October, 1774, Cook turned his ship's head towards New Zealand, and on the 18th of that month the anchor was once more dropped in the bosom of the Sound. Naturally the first thought was for the "Endeavour," and evidences were soon found sufficient to satisfy them that she had succeeded in reaching Ship Cove during their absence, for in searching for the bottle at the foot of the tree, they found that it had been removed. They also saw trees cut down with saws and axes and a number of animals with the natives which they knew could only have been left by Captain Furneaux. And then there were the gardens on Long Island which proved such a source of delicious change to the ship's company, and which they could be certain no native had planted, as well as the page 169assurance of the natives themselves, who spoke of the "Adventure" having returned, some of them even confiding the fact that a boat's crew had been murdered, in hope that speedy retribution might be worked upon the unpopular Kahura, but the information conveyed to Cook was of so vague a nature that it even seemed doubtful if any such catastrophe had befallen the "Adventure's" men. He, therefore, deemed it wise to let the matter pass, and to continue his friendly intercourse with the natives, trading with them in such articles of barter as they were possessed of, and leaving the balance of profit in their favour by landing at Cannibal Cove and West Bay a number of poultry as well as a boar and a sow, the progenitors of that famous race of pigs who have ever since borne their liberator's name. This generosity on Cook's part was in a measure reciprocated by the old chief Matahoua, whom the sailors had nicknamed "Pedro," who presented the Captain with an ornamental staff of honour, such as was only carried by men of rank, and in return "Pedro" received a suit of cast-off clothes, which greatly tickled the old man's vanity, for it was said that when decked in these garments he presented no mean figure. This amiable old savage was a general favourite with the officers of the "Resolution," who several page 170times made him a guest at their table, and on these occasions he was able to distinguish himself by drinking more wine than any other man in the company without suffering the slightest ill-effect from his liberal libations.