Captain Cook on Hawaii
From The Life and Voyages of Captain James Cook by James Cook and Caleb George Cash, 1905.
From: 1778 C.E. To: 1779 C.E.
Location: Hawaii
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From The Life and Voyages of Captain James Cook by James Cook and Caleb George Cash, 1905.
The Sandwich Islanders
The inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands are undoubtedly of the same race with those of New Zealand, the Society and Friendly Islands, Easter Island, and the Marquesas; a race that possesses, without any intermixture, all the known lands between the latitudes of 47° S. and 20° N., and between the longitudes of 184° and 260° E. [i.e. 176° and 100° W.].
The natives of these islands are, in general, above the middle size, and well made; they walk very gracefully, run nimbly, and are capable of bearing great fatigue; though, upon the whole, the men are somewhat inferior, in point of strength and activity, to the Friendly Islanders, and the women less delicately limbed than those of Otaheite. Their complexion is rather darker than that of the Otaheiteans, and they are not altogether so handsome a people.
Notwithstanding the irreparable loss we suffered from the sudden resentment and violence of these people, yet, in justice to their general conduct, it must be acknowledged that they are of the most mild and affectionate disposition, equally remote from the extreme levity and fickleness of the Otaheiteans and the distant gravity and reserve of the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands. The women who had children were remarkable for their tender and constant attention to them, and the men would often lend their assistance in those domestic offices with a willingness that does credit to their feelings.
It must, however, be observed that they fall very short of the other islanders in that best test of civilization, the respect paid to the women. Here they are not only deprived of the privilege of eating with the men, but the best sorts of food are tabooed or forbidden to them. They are not allowed to eat pork, turtle, several kinds of fish, and some species of the plantains; and we were told that a poor girl got a terrible beating for having eaten, on board our ship, one of these interdicted articles. In their domestic life they appear to live almost entirely by themselves, and though we did not observe any instances of personal ill-treatment, yet it was evident that they had little regard or attention paid them.
The dress of the men generally consists only of a piece of thick cloth about ten or twelve inches broad, which they pass between the legs and tie round the waist. This is the common dress of all ranks of the people. Their mats, some of which are beautifully manufactured, are of various sizes, but mostly about five feet long and four broad. These they throw over their shoulders and bring forward; but they are seldom used except in time of war, for which purpose they seem better adapted than for ordinary use, being of a thick and cumbersome texture, and capable of breaking the blow of a stone or any blunt weapon. Their feet are generally bare, except when they have occasion to travel over the volcanic rocks, when they secure them with a sort of sandal made of cords twisted from the fibres of the cocoa-nut.
Such is the ordinary dress of these islanders; but they have another, appropriated to their chiefs, and used on ceremonious occasions, consisting of a feathered cloak and helmet, which, in point of beauty and magnificence, is perhaps nearly equal to that of any nation in the world. These cloaks are nearly of the size and shape of the short cloaks worn by the women in England, and by the men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back and tied loosely before. The ground of them is a network, upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble both as to the feel and the glossy appearance. The manner of varying the mixture is very different, some having triangular spaces of red and yellow alternately, others a kind of crescent, and some that were entirely red had a broad yellow border, which made them appear, at some distance, exactly like a scarlet cloak edged with gold lace. The brilliant colours of the feathers in those that were new added not a little their fine appearance; and we found that they were in high estimation with their owners, for they would not, at first, part with any one of them for anything that we offered, asking no less a price than a musket.
The cap is made almost exactly like a helmet, with the middle part, or crest, sometimes of a hand's-breadth; and it fits very close upon the head, having notches to admit the ears, it is a frame of twigs and osiers, covered with a net-work, into which are wrought feathers, in the same manner as upon the cloaks, though rather loser and less diversified, the greater part being red, with some black, yellow, or green stripes on the sides, following the curved direction of the crest.
Swimming is not only a necessary art, in which both the men and the women are more expert than any people we had hitherto seen, but a favourite diversion amongst them. One particular mode in which they sometimes amused themselves appeared to us most perilous and extraordinary, and well deserving a distinct relation. The surf, which breaks on the coast round the bay, extends to a distance of about one hundred and fifty yards, within which space the surges of the sea, accumulating from the shallowness of the water, are dashed against the beach with prodigious violence. Whenever, from stormy weather or any extraordinary swell at sea, the impetuosity of the surf is increased to its utmost height, they choose that time for this amusement. Twenty or thirty of the natives, taking each a long narrow board, rounded at the ends, set out together from the shore. The first wave they meet they plunge under, and, suffering it to roll over them, rise again beyond it, and make the best of their way, by swimming, out into the sea. The second wave is encountered in the same manner as the first, and so on.
As soon as they have gained, by these repeated efforts, the smooth water beyond the surf, they lay themselves at length, each upon his board, and prepare for their return. As the surf consists of a number of waves, of which every third is remarked to be always much larger than the others, and to flow higher on the shore, the rest breaking in the intermediate space, their first object is to place themselves on the summit of the largest surge, by which they are driven along with amazing rapidity toward the shore. If by mistake they should place themselves on one of the smaller waves, which breaks before they reach the land, or should not be able to keep their planks in a proper direction on the top of the well, they are left exposed to the fury of the next, and, to avoid it, are obliged again to dive, and regain the place from which they set out.
Those who succeed in their object of reaching the shore have still the greatest danger to encounter. The coast being guarded by a chain of rocks, with, here and there, a small opening between them, they are obliged to steer their boards through one of these, or, in case of failure, to quit them, before they reach the rocks, and, plunging under the wave, make the best of their way back again. This is reckoned very disgraceful, and is also attended with the loss of the board, which I have often seen dashed to pieces at the moment the islander quitted it. The boldness and address with which we saw them perform these difficult and dangerous manoeuvres was altogether astonishing, and is scarcely to be credited.
An accident, of which I was a near spectator, hows at how early a period they are so far familiarised to the water as both to lose all fears of it and to set its dangers at defiance. A canoe being overset, in which was a woman with her children, one of them, an infant, who, I am convinced, was not more than four years old, seemed highly delighted with what had happened, swimming about at its ease, and playing a hundred tricks, till the canoe was put to rights again.
Cook, James, and Caleb George Cash. The Life and Voyages of Captain James Cook: Selections with Introductions and Notes by C.G. Cash. Blackie & Son, 1905.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
