Chapter 9

Since Parea had hindered his countrymen from wreaking their vengeance on one boat, they indemnified themselves by stealing another, and in the night cut through the rope which fastened it to the ship. Cook, enraged at this occurrence, determined to bring the King himself on board his ship, and detain him there as a hostage till the boat should be restored; a measure which on another island he had already successfully adopted on a similar occasion. He therefore went ashore with a party of soldiers well armed, having given orders that none of the boats belonging to the natives should be suffered to leave the bay, as it was his determination, in case gentler measures should prove ineffectual, to destroy them all. All the boats of both ships, well manned and armed, were therefore so placed as to enforce obedience to this command.

Cook was received, according to King's account, with the greatest respect: the people prostrated themselves before him. He proceeded direct to the old King, and invited him on board his ship. The King immediately consented; but some of the Yeris endeavoured to dissuade him; and the more earnestly Cook pressed his going, the more strenuously they endeavoured to prevent it. Cook, at length, seized the King by the arm, and would have carried him off by force; which in the highest degree irritated the assembled multitudes. At this moment a Yeri, who in crossing the bay from the opposite side had been fired upon by the English boats, rushed with blood streaming from his wound into the presence of the King, and cried aloud to him to remain where he was, or he would certainly receive similar treatment; this incident wound up the rage of the people to its utmost pitch, and the conflict commenced, in which Cook lost his life.

Karemaku, who, when a young man, had witnessed these circumstances, related them to me; and the accounts of Cook's companions upon the whole agree with his. Some isolated facts are differently stated by them; but I was assured by all the natives of Wahu, that Karemaku had strictly adhered to the truth. Even if we give entire credit to the English narrative, we shall find that they were the aggressors,--that the islanders acted only on the defensive, and that Cook's fate, however lamentable, was not entirely undeserved.

John Reinhold Forster, in his preface to a journal of a voyage of discovery to the South Sea, in the years 1776 to 1780, gives an extract from a letter written to him by an Englishman in a responsible situation, in which he says of Cook--"The Captain's character is not the same now as formerly: his head seems to have been turned." Forster gives the same account concerning the change in Cook, when he says--

"Cook, on his first voyage, had with him Messrs. Banks and Solander, both lovers of art and science. On the second, I and my son were his companions, enjoying daily and familiar intercourse with him. In our presence, respect for his own character restrained him; our mode of thinking, our principles and manners influenced his, and prevented his treating the poor harmless South Sea Islanders with cruelty. The only instance of undue severity we ever witnessed in his behaviour, was when on account of some petty theft he once allowed his cannon to be fired upon the fugitive offenders; fortunately, however, no one was injured by this rash act. But having in his last voyage no other witnesses of his actions, than such as were entirely under his command, he forgot what he owed to his own great name, and was guilty in many instances of extreme cruelty. I am therefore convinced, that if Messrs. Banks and Solander, Dr. Spaarmann, or I and my son, had been with him on the last voyage, his life would not have been lost in the manner it was."

The first ships which visited the Sandwich Islands after Cook's death were those of Meeres, Dickson, and Coke, in the years 1786-9. They traded in skins between China and the North-west Coast of America, and found these islands very convenient to touch at. They were well received; and some of the islanders made the voyage to America with them. Tianna, one of the first Yeris of O Wahi, went with Meeres to China. These voyages, and the continual intercourse with Europeans, which their increasing trade in fur produced, necessarily enlarged the ideas of these children of Nature; and as they were not under the dominion of that folly which, in common with the Greenlanders, possesses some of the most civilized nations in Europe, of considering themselves the first people upon earth, they soon acquired our manners, and derived all the advantage that could be expected from the opportunities of improvement thus afforded them. Vancouver found, in 1792, that many remarkable changes had taken place on these islands since Cook's time.

King Teraiopu did not long survive that eminent navigator. His son Kawarao succeeded to the government of the greater part of the island of O Wahi; the rest fell to his relation Tameamea. Kawarao was a tyrant, and governed with unexampled cruelty. At certain periods of the moon, he declared himself holy, or under a Tabu: the priests alone had then the privilege of seeing him so long as the sun was above the horizon; and an immediate death of the severest torture was the melancholy lot of any individual not belonging to this sacred order, who by whatever accident should cast but a momentary glance upon the voluntarily secluded monarch. To this cruelty of disposition, Kawarao united an unbounded ambition, which prompted him to make war on his kinsman Tameamea. This young and powerful chief early distinguished himself, and soon became celebrated throughout these islands for superiority of intellect and skill in arms. Kawarao, although he had greatly the advantage in numbers, could never obtain a victory; fire-arms were not then in use here, and success long vibrated between the contending rivals. Both parties at length determined to put the final issue of the war to the test of a single combat, stipulating that the conqueror should acquire the sovereignty of the whole island. The two kings armed; their respective priests carried the images of their gods to the field, and the fight commenced. Kawarao trusted to his skill in throwing the javelin; but Tameamea could defend himself from several antagonists at once, and scarcely ever missed his aim. After some fruitless efforts of both combatants, Tameamea's spear pierced the side of his bloodthirsty enemy, who fell dead on the field.

This duel, by which Tameamea became King of O Wahi and of Muwe, which had also belonged to Kawarao, took place in the year 1781. To establish his dominion on a firmer basis, Tameamea married the daughter of the vanquished monarch, and acquired the love of his subjects by his wise and moderate government. Himself endowed with uncommon powers of mind, he entrusted the important offices of state only to such as were capable of discharging them efficiently. He made a very fortunate choice in Karemaku, who, while quite a young man, entered into all the enlightened and comprehensive views of his master, forwarded them with ability and energy, and continued his faithful servant till the death of Tameamea. The English called him the Pitt of the Sandwich Islands.

Several Europeans now established themselves at O Wahi; among whom Davis and John Young have been the most useful to the rising nation. Under their direction, houses and ships have been constructed in the European fashion; the island has been enriched with many useful plants; and their advice has been successfully followed in the affairs of government.

With the appearance of Vancouver, arose the fortunate star of these islands. Among the innumerable benefits he conferred upon them, they are indebted to him for the possession of sheep and cattle. Tameamea declared these animals under a Tabu for ten years, which allowed time for so large an increase, that they now run wild in the forests. Had Vancouver enjoyed Cook's advantages, the islanders might still have believed him their Rono.

Tameamea, during Vancouver's visit, swayed the sceptre only over the islands of O Wahi and Muwe, and was engaged in wars with his neighbour kings, whom he fought with the assistance of cannon purchased from European ships. He commanded in every battle, both by sea and land; and Karemaku, as first in authority under him, was his constant companion. The O Wahians, however, could not have well understood the use of their cannons and other fire-arms, as, after Vancouver's departure, the war was maintained for ten years. O Tuai, the most north-westerly island, even then held out, though the others had submitted. In the year 1817, Tameamea conquered this also, after many unsuccessful attempts, and thus became the supreme governor of the whole Archipelago.

From this time all his efforts were directed to the education of his people, and the improvement of their trade. Salt and sandal-wood were the chief articles of exportation. The latter, though bought at rather a high price by the North-American ships, which almost exclusively monopolized this trade, sold for a large profit at Canton.

I have been told, that the Americans have purchased sandal-wood here to the amount of three hundred thousand Spanish dollars a-year. Tameamea bartered this wood for some large American merchant-ships, manned them, and other ships built in the Sandwich Islands, partly with his own subjects, and partly with Europeans, and traded on his own account. He had even found means to create a small fleet of ships of war; and his warehouses, built of stone, were filled with European and American merchandise. He possessed a considerable treasure in silver money and utensils; his fortresses were planted with cannon of a large calibre, and he maintained a force of fifteen thousand men, all armed with muskets, in the use of which they had been carefully exercised. He took much pains, assisted by the Spaniard Marini, to introduce the cotton-tree, which answered very well, and yielded fine cotton; and endeavoured to improve the native flax, already much superior to that of New Zealand, and to profit by it as an article of commerce. Nothing which promised advantage to his country escaped his penetrating mind; he exerted, in short, every faculty of his mind to place the Sandwich Islands in a state of progressive assimilation to the most prosperous nations. Vessels of every nation were as secure from injustice or insult in his ports, as in those of Europe, if not more so. As soon as a strange ship arrived, criers were employed to give notice that the new comers were friends, and must be hospitably received, and that any incivility shown them would be severely punished.

When Tameamea first sent a ship to Canton with sandal-wood, he was obliged to pay a considerable duty for anchorage; whereupon he argued, that what was exacted from himself, he might with a safe conscience demand from others; and every ship is now required to pay forty Spanish dollars for anchorage in the outer, and eighty in the inner harbour of Hanaruro.

Wahu is the most fertile of all the islands, and the only one enjoying a secure harbour; it therefore naturally advances the most rapidly in civilization. Several European and American traders have settled in Hanaruro; shops have been opened, and houses built in the European style, of wood and stone; some of the former were made in America, and brought here to be put together. The exertions of Marini introduced here many European vegetables, the vine and other fruits, which are all in a flourishing state. He collected and tamed a herd of cows. Goats, sheep, and poultry of all kinds are common. The frequent voyages which the Sandwich islanders now made, partly in Tameamea's vessels, partly foreign ones, on board which they served as sailors, gradually familiarised them with the manners of more civilized nations. They adopted our costume, but after the Tahaitian fashion; considering a complete suit as an unnecessary luxury. Even Tameamea himself, for his usual attire, wore only a shirt, trowsers, and red waistcoat, without a coat; he possessed, however, many richly embroidered uniforms, but kept them for grand occasions.

These islanders had made great progress in the English language: many of them could speak it very tolerably. Tameamea understood, but did not speak it. If any of my readers should wish for a farther acquaintance with the character of this distinguished sovereign, I must refer them to Vancouver, and to my former voyage; but for the benefit of those who may not be disposed to take this trouble, I cannot forbear repeating from the latter some of his remarks to myself. He presented me with a collar most ingeniously worked with coloured feathers, which he had sometimes worn in war, and on solemn occasions, saying, "I have heard that your monarch is a great warrior, and I love him, because I am a warrior myself; bear to him this collar, which I send as a token of my regard." Once as he embraced an image in his Marai, he said, "These are our Gods whom I adore; whether in so doing I am right or wrong, I know not, but I follow the religion of my country, which cannot be a bad one, since it commands me to be just in all my actions."

On the 8th of May, in the year 1819, Tameamea terminated his meritorious career, to the great sorrow as well of the foreign settlers as of his native subjects. His remains were disposed of according to the rites of the religion he professed. After they had remained some time in the Marai, the bones were cleaned, and divided among his relatives and the most distinguished of his attendants. According to the custom of this country, two persons had long before been destined for interment with him at his death; but by his express desire this ceremony was dispensed with.

His eldest son and legitimate successor, Lio Lio, or, as the English call it, _Rio Rio_,--for there is some difficulty in distinguishing between the L and the R of the Sandwich Islanders,--now assumed the government, under the name of Tameamea the Second. Unhappily, the father's talents were not hereditary; and the son's passion for liquor incapacitated him for ruling with the same splendid reputation an infant state, which, having already received so strong an impulse towards civilization, required a skilful guide to preserve it from degeneracy and error.

The chiefs of some of the islands, and especially of O Tuai, had, even in Tameamea's lifetime, founded a hope of future independence, on the weakness of his successor, and immediately upon his death proceeded to attempt the accomplishment of their desires. But Karemaku, the faithful friend and counsellor of the deceased King, to whom the whole nation looked up with affection, and whose penetration easily discerned the evil consequences that would ensue from a political disunion of the islands, devoted to the son all the zeal and patriotism with which he had served the father. By the influence of his eloquence, and the force of his arms, he quelled the insurrection, and re-established peace and order; but to enthrone the new monarch in the hearts of his people exceeded his ability; and their disaffection proved that the germ of future disorders was not wholly extinct. The King chose Wahu for his residence, because this island was in the best state for defence; and giving himself up entirely to dissipation, sunk lower and lower in the estimation of his subjects. Karemaku was the good genius who watched over the welfare of the country, while its monarch was wasting his hours and his health in orgies, at which he was frequently known to empty a bottle of rum at a draught. It was not to be supposed that a king addicted to such habits should conceive any projects of utility or advantage for his people; he wished, however, to distinguish himself by some effort in their favour, or at least to relieve them from the trammels of superstition. He was a freethinker in a bad sense. He hated the religion of his country, because it laid some restraints upon his inclinations, and he determined to overthrow it; not for the purpose of introducing a better, a task to which his feeble mind was unequal, but for that of at once relieving himself and his subjects from ceremonies which he considered useless, because he undervalued the precepts of morality interwoven with them, and for the sake of which his father had always conscientiously observed them.

In the fifth month of his reign, he proceeded in a violent and brutal manner, notwithstanding all the remonstrances of Karemaku, to the execution of his design. Having previously arranged his plans with some chiefs, the companions of his excesses, he invited the principal inhabitants of the islands to a sumptuous banquet. After the wine and rum had produced their wonted effects, females were introduced, and compelled to partake of the feast. These poor creatures, having no suspicion of the King's intentions, shrunk with terror from a profanation punishable with death. But their resistance was unavailing: they were not only constrained to sit down to the repast in company with the men, but even to eat pork; and thus, to the great astonishment of such guests as were not in the secret, to violate, at the royal command, a double Tabu. A murmur arose; but the greater part of the company were under the influence of liquor, and the King now openly proclaimed his intentions. His auditors inquired in alarm what crime the Gods had committed, that they should be thus unceremoniously dismissed; and besought him not to occasion his own destruction and that of the country, by provoking their indignation. The King started from his seat, and exclaimed with violent gestures, "You see we have already violated the strongest Tabus, and yet the Gods inflict no punishment, because they have no power; neither have they power to do us good. Our faith was erroneous and worthless. Come, let us destroy the Marais, and from henceforth acknowledge no religion!" The immediate dependents of the King rose to second him: the inhabitants of Hanaruro had been depraved by their intercourse with foreign sailors, and a tumultuous crowd, who held nothing sacred, soon followed the revellers. Arrived at the royal Marai, some of them, terrified by the aspect of their idols, would have receded; but when the King himself, and his friends and followers, began to maltreat them, and no divine vengeance followed, the courage of the multitude revived, and the Marais were soon utterly destroyed. This outrage to what the people at large most venerated, introduced a scene of confusion and violence, and would indeed have entailed destruction both on the King and the country, had not Karemaku again stood forward in their defence. Several Yeris who, disapproving the sentiments of the King, had retired privately from the banquet, joined the priests in exciting the people to defend their gods by force of arms. An army was raised, and, animated by the presence of the war-god, commenced hostilities against his sacrilegious opponents. When the news of the destruction of the Marais reached the other islands, insurrections also broke out in each of them. Karemaku had condemned the sacrilege, and abstained from any part in it; but as it could not now be prevented, and he foresaw the mischievous consequences of civil commotions, he assembled an army, and, victorious wherever he appeared, succeeded in restoring tranquillity. On the large island O Wahi, however, he encountered a formidable resistance; but at length, after several bloody contests, he captured the war-god: the insurgents, who had also lost their leaders in the last battle, believing themselves quite abandoned by the gods, now dispersed, and Karemaku, on the restoration of tranquillity, returned to Wahu.

It is a remarkable fact, that a people who regarded their faith and their priests with so much reverence, as I had myself witnessed previously to this occurrence, should in so short a period, acquiescing in the decree which denounced their creed as error, and consigned their sanctuaries to demolition, contentedly submit to the total deprivation of all external signs of religion. Karemaku had judgment enough to perceive that this state of things would not endure, and that a religion of some kind was indispensable to the people; he therefore resolved to set his countrymen a good example, and yielding to an inclination he had long entertained, to declare himself publicly a convert to Christianity. In the same year, 1819, Captain Freycinet, on his voyage round the world, landed at Hanaruro, and a clergyman accompanying him, Karemaku and his brother Boki received the sacrament of baptism according to the forms of the Catholic Church.

At this time, a society of missionaries was formed in the United States of America, for the purpose of introducing Christianity into the Sandwich Islands. Of the extinction of the ancient faith, which must of course facilitate their undertaking, they had as yet received no information. Six families of these missionaries arrived at Wahu in 1820, bringing with them two young Sandwich Islanders, who had been previously prepared in their schools. The King, hearing of their intention, would not allow them to land, but commanded them immediately to depart from his shores. Here, again, Karemaku interposed, and endeavoured to convince the King that the Christian religion would be one of the greatest benefits he could confer on his subjects. The King then assembled the most distinguished Yeris, and after fourteen days' deliberation, decreed that a piece of land should be granted to the missionaries, with permission to build a church, and to preach their doctrines, under the condition that they should immediately leave the island if the experiment should be found to have a prejudicial influence on the people. The missionaries agreed to the terms, took up their residence on Wahu, and from thence extended settlements over the other islands. Their first efforts were successfully directed to the conversion of the King, his family, and the most distinguished Yeris. When these personages had openly professed the new faith, the Missionaries considered themselves firmly established, and proceeded with more confidence to the full execution of their plan. They quickly acquired the language of the islands, which from the largest of them they called the O Wahi language, printed the first book in it, (a collection of Hymns,) in the year 1822, and instructed the natives, who proved apt scholars, in reading and writing. These missionaries were Protestants; but the Catholic Karemaku, having no notion of the points of doctrine in dispute between the Churches, joined without hesitation in communion with them; and the Christian religion spreading rapidly among the Sandwich Islanders, without any of the constraint or persecution which had disgraced it at O Tahaiti, promised the happiest effects.

Notwithstanding, however, all the efforts of Karemaku, the people were not yet entirely pacified. The former faith had still many secret adherents, and the King was unable to acquire either the esteem or affection of his subjects. Insurrections were continually dreaded; and Rio Rio, not feeling sufficiently secure even in his entrenchments at Wahu, determined, by the advice of some Europeans, to make a voyage to England, in the hope that these discontents would subside during his absence. He confided the administration of the government to the faithful Karemaku, and Kahumanna, the favourite wife of his father, and in the year 1824 sailed for England in a North American ship, accompanied by his consort, Karemaku's brother Boki, and some other persons of rank; taking with him twenty-five thousand Spanish piastres from the treasure amassed by his father.