Captain Cook Part 13

On the 23rd the s.h.i.+ps again anch.o.r.ed in the harbour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. No sooner had they brought up than their old friend the sergeant came on board, and all were greatly affected when he announced that he had brought some fruit for their captain.

The charge of the expedition now devolved on Captain Gore, who took command of the Resolution, while Captain King was appointed to the Discovery. Captain Gore immediately sent off an express to Bolcheretsk, requesting to be supplied with sixteen head of cattle. The stores from the Discovery being landed, attempts were made to repair the damages she had received. On stripping off the sheathing, three feet of the third strake under the wale were found to be stove in, and the timbers within started. The farther they proceeded in removing the sheathing, the more they discovered the decayed state of the s.h.i.+p's hull. The chief damage was repaired with a birch tree, which had been cut down when they were there before, and was the only one in the neighbourhood large enough for the purpose; but Captain King gave orders that no more sheathing should be ripped off, being apprehensive that further decayed planks might be met with which it would be impossible to replace. This condition of his s.h.i.+p could not have been a pleasant subject of contemplation to the commander, when he considered that he had yet more than half the circuit of the world to make before he could reach home.

Large quant.i.ties of salmon were now caught with the seine, and salted for sea stores, and the sea-horse blubber was also boiled down for oil, all the candles having long been expended.

On Sunday, the 29th, the remains of Captain Gierke were interred with all the solemnity possible, under a tree, in a spot which the Russian Papa, or priest of the settlement, said he believed would form the centre of a new church it was proposed shortly to build. The officers and men of both s.h.i.+ps walked in procession to the grave, attended by the Russian garrison, while the s.h.i.+ps fired minute guns, and the service being ended the marines fired three volleys.

The remainder of the time in the harbour was spent in waiting for stores, in further repairing the s.h.i.+ps, in two or three bear-hunting expeditions, in entertaining the garrison and natives in return for the hospitality which had been received, and in receiving a visit from the Acting Governor and other Russian officers.

On October 9, the s.h.i.+ps having cleared the entrance of Awatska Bay, steered to the southward for the purpose of examining the islands to the north of j.a.pan, and then proceeding on to Macao. The condition of the s.h.i.+ps' hulls and rigging rendered it dangerous to make any more prolonged explorations. Even the larger part of this plan it was found impossible to follow, for, strong westerly winds blowing, they were driven off the land, and after pa.s.sing j.a.pan they anch.o.r.ed at Macao.

Here, not without some delay and difficulty, they procured the stores they required; Captain King having to make an excursion to Canton for the purpose. He here sold about twenty sea otter and other skins, belonging chiefly to their deceased commanders, for the sum of eight hundred dollars. On returning, he found that the larger portion of those on board had been sold, and had realised not much less than two thousand pounds. The large profits on the skins, which had been looked upon as of little value beforehand, had so excited the minds of the men that two of them made off with a six-oared cutter, for the purpose of returning to North America; and as they were not overtaken, they probably very soon perished.

The reports brought home by the expedition probably set on foot that trade in furs with the west coast of North America which afterwards became of considerable importance. In consequence of hearing, at Macao, of the war which had broken out between England and France, the s.h.i.+ps mounted all their guns; but Captain Gore being informed, at the same time, that the French had issued orders to their cruisers that the s.h.i.+ps under the command of Captain Cook should be treated as belonging to neutral or friendly powers, resolved himself to preserve, throughout the remainder of the voyage, the strictest neutrality.

The expedition left Macao on January 12, 1780, and on the 20th anch.o.r.ed in a harbour of Pulo Condore. Here a supply of buffaloes was obtained.

They were large animals, and very wild. Two were kept on board the Discovery by Captain King, who intended to take them to England. They soon became perfectly tame, but, unfortunately, one of them suffered a severe injury, and both were killed.

On leaving Pulo Condore the s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sed through the Straits of Banca, in sight of the island of Sumatra. The Resolution brought up off the island of Cracatoa, in the Straits of Sunda, and filled up her casks with water, which the Discovery was unable to do, in consequence of being becalmed. On reaching Cape Town the English were treated with the same kindness and attention which they had received on their former visits. Here they obtained confirmation of the intelligence that the French had given directions to their cruisers not to molest them.

Having taken their stores on board, they sailed out of Table Bay on May 9, and on June 12 pa.s.sed the equator for the fourth time during their voyage.

The s.h.i.+ps made the coast of Ireland on August 12, but southerly winds compelled them to run to the north. On October 4 the s.h.i.+ps arrived at the Nore, after an absence of four years, two months, and twenty-two days. During that time the Resolution had lost but five men by sickness, three of whom were in a precarious state of health when leaving England, while the Discovery did not lose a man. It is remarkable that during the whole time they were at sea the s.h.i.+ps never lost sight of each other for a day together, except twice; the first time owing to an accident which happened to the Discovery off the coast of Owhyhee, and the second to the fogs that were met with at the entrance of Awatska Bay. A stronger proof cannot be given of the skill and vigilance of the subaltern officers, to whom the merit of this entirely belonged.

The death of Captain Cook was already known in England by means of the despatches sent home through Major Behm. All that a nation could do was done to testify respect for his memory. His widow received a pension of 200 pounds a year, and each of his children had 25 pounds a year settled on them. Other sums were granted to his widow, and medals were struck to commemorate his achievements, while a coat of arms was granted to his family.

Of his six children, three died in their infancy, and the other three were cut off in their early manhood. The second, Nathaniel, a promising youth, was lost, when a mids.h.i.+pman, on board the Thunderer, in a hurricane off Jamaica on October 3, 1780. The youngest, Hugh, was intended for the ministry, and died at Oxford, in the seventeenth year of his age. The eldest, James, who was in the Navy, commanded the Spitfire sloop-of-war. He was drowned, in 1794, at the age of thirty, when attempting to push off from Poole, during a gale of wind, to rejoin his s.h.i.+p.

It is said that the bereaved mother, on receiving tidings of the death of her last surviving son, destroyed all the letters she had received from her husband, in the vain hope of banis.h.i.+ng recollection of the past. She survived, however, to the year 1835, when she died, at the age of ninety-three.

A handsome piece of plate was presented to Major Behm, in acknowledgment of the attention and liberality with which he treated the English in Siberia; while gold medals were offered to the French king for his generous orders with regard to the s.h.i.+ps of the expedition, as also to the Empress of Russia, as it was in her dominions, and by one of her officers, that they had been so liberally treated.

Note 1. It should be mentioned that Lieutenant Pickersgill was sent out, in 1776, with directions to explore the coast of Baffin's Bay, and that in the next year Lieutenant Young was commissioned not only to examine the western parts of that bay, but to endeavour to find a pa.s.sage on that side from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Both officers returned without effecting anything. The first was severely censured for his conduct; but we who know the difficulties he would have had to encounter may readily excuse him.

Note 2. Amongst the presents left by Cook at Mangaia was an axe, roughly fas.h.i.+oned, on the s.h.i.+p's arrival, out of a piece of iron. It is still treasured in the Island as a relic of his visit.

Note 3. A promotion of officers necessarily followed the death of Captain Cook. Captain Clerke, having succeeded to the command of the expedition, removed to the Resolution. By him Mr Gore was appointed Captain of the Discovery, and the rest of the lieutenants obtained an addition of rank in their proper order.

CHAPTER FIVE.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF POLYNESIA.

In the concluding pages of this work it is proposed to give a brief sketch of the progress of Christianity and civilisation in the islands of the Pacific visited by Captain Cook. [Note 1.]

The accounts brought home by the discoverers of the degraded moral condition of the islanders, stirred up the hearts of Christians in England, and when, in 1795, the London Missionary Society was formed, one of its first proceedings was to send to those distant lands the Gospel of Christ's salvation.

They began their labours upon an extensive scale. They purchased a s.h.i.+p, and sent out twenty-five labourers to commence missions simultaneously at the Marquesan, Tahitian, and Friendly Islands.

The following is the account given of the reception of this band of Christian evangelists:--

"On March 7, 1797, the first missionaries from the Duff went on sh.o.r.e, and were met on the beach by the king, Pomare, and his queen. By them they were kindly welcomed, as well as by Paitia, an aged chief of the district. They were conducted to a large, oval-shaped native house, which has been but recently finished for Captain Bligh, whom they expected to return. Their dwelling was pleasantly situated on the western side of the river, near the extremity of Point Venus. The islanders were delighted to behold foreigners coming to take up their permanent residence among them, as those they had heretofore seen had been transient visitors.

"The inhabitants of Tahiti, having never seen any European females or children, were filled with amazement and delight when the wives and children of the missionaries landed. Several times during the first days of their residence on sh.o.r.e large parties arrived from different places, in front of the house, requesting that the white women and children would come to the door and show themselves. The chiefs and people were not satisfied with giving them the large and commodious 'Fare Beritani' (British house), as they called the one they had built for Captain Bligh, but readily and cheerfully ceded to Captain Wilson and the missionaries, in an official and formal manner, the district of Matavai, in which their habitation was situated. The king and queen, with other branches of the royal family, and the most influential persons in the nation, were present; and Haamanemane, an aged chief of Raiatea, and chief priest of Tahiti, was the princ.i.p.al agent for the natives on this occasion.

"Whatever advantages the king or chiefs might expect to derive from this settlement on the island, it must not be supposed that any desire to receive moral or religious instruction formed a part. A desire to possess European property, and to receive the a.s.sistance of the Europeans in the exercise of the mechanical arts or in their wars, was probably the motive by which the natives were most strongly influenced.

"Having landed ten missionaries at Tongataboo, in the Friendly Islands, Captain Wilson visited and surveyed several of the Marquesan Islands, and left Mr Crook, a missionary, there. He then returned to Tahiti, and on July 6 the Duff again anch.o.r.ed in Matavai Bay. The health of the missionaries had not been affected by the climate. The conduct of the natives had been friendly and respectful, and supplies in abundance had been furnished during his absence. On August 4, 1797, the Duff finally sailed from the bay. The missionaries returning from the s.h.i.+p, as well as those on sh.o.r.e, watched her course, as she slowly receded from their view, under no ordinary sensations. They now felt that they were cut off from all but Divine guidance, protection, and support, and had parted with those by whose counsels and presence they had been a.s.sisted in entering upon their labours, but whom, on earth, they did not expect to meet again.

"Their acquaintance with the most useful of the mechanic arts not only delighted the natives, but raised the missionaries in their estimation, and led them to desire their friends.h.i.+p. This was strikingly evinced on several occasions, when they beheld them use their carpenters' tools, cut with a saw a number of boards out of a tree, which they had never thought it possible to split into more than two, and make with these chests and articles of furniture. When they beheld a boat built, upwards of twenty feet long and six tons burden, they were pleased and surprised; but when the blacksmith's shop was erected, and the forge and anvil were first employed on their sh.o.r.es, they were filled with astonishment. When the heated iron was hammered on the anvil, and the sparks flew among them, they fancied it was spitting at them, and were frightened, as they also were with the hissing occasioned by immersing it in water; yet they were delighted to see the facility with which a bar of iron was thus converted into hatchets, adzes, fish-spears, fish-hooks, and other things. Pomare, entering one day when the blacksmith was employed, after gazing a few minutes at the work, was so transported at what he saw that he caught up the smith in his arms, and, unmindful of the dirt and perspiration inseparable from his occupation, most cordially embraced him, and saluted him, according to the custom of his country, by touching noses." [Abridged from _Polynesian Researches_, by the Rev. W. Ellis.]

It is not to be wondered at that the favourable reports sent home by these missionaries encouraged those who received them to believe that almost all difficulties had already been, or were in a fair way of being speedily overcome, and that these distant islands were, to use the figurative language of Scripture, "stretching out their hands unto G.o.d."

They did not know--it was wisely and mercifully hidden from them--that a long night of toil had yet to be pa.s.sed before the dawn of that better day they longed to see, and for which they prayed and strove.

"Decisive and extensive as the change has since become," says the writer just quoted, "it was long before any salutary effects appeared as the result of their endeavours; and although the scene is now one of loveliness and quietude, cheerful, yet placid as the smooth waters of the bay, it has often worn a very different aspect. Here the first missionaries frequently heard the song accompanying the licentious areois dance, the deafening noise of the wors.h.i.+p, and saw the human victim carried by for sacrifice. Here, too, they often heard the startling cry of war, and saw their frightened neighbours fly before the murderous spear and plundering hand of lawless power. The invader's torch reduced the native hut to ashes, while the lurid flame seared the green foliage of the trees, and clouds of smoke, rising up among their groves, darkened, for a time, surrounding objects. On such occasions, and they were not infrequent, the contrast between the country and the inhabitants must have been most affecting; appearing as if the demons of darkness had lighted up infernal fires in the bowers of paradise."

These representations probably did not reach England until after the missionaries had been some time in the islands, and meanwhile the s.h.i.+p Duff was sent out a second time, with a strong reinforcement of thirty additional labourers.

"G.o.d, however, for a time, appeared to disappoint all their expectations; for this. .h.i.therto favoured s.h.i.+p was captured by the Buonaparte privateer. The property was entirely lost, and the missionaries, with their families, after suffering many difficulties and privations, returned to England." In addition to this trial "the Marquesan mission failed. At Tongataboo some of the missionaries lost their lives, and that mission was, in consequence of a series of disastrous circ.u.mstances, abandoned." More discouragements were in store, for "those settled at Tahiti, under such favourable auspices, had, from fear of their lives, nearly all fled to New South Wales; so that, after a few years, very little remained of this splendid emba.s.sy of Christian mercy to the South Seas. A few of the brethren, however, never abandoned their posts; and others returned after having been a short time absent."

In addition to all other disappointments, these returned missionaries and their brethren appeared to be labouring in vain and spending their strength for nought. "For sixteen years," we are told, "notwithstanding the untiring zeal, the incessant journeys, the faithful exhortations of these devoted men, no spirit of interest or inquiry appeared, no solitary instance of conversion took place; the wars of the natives continued frequent and desolating, and their idolatries abominable and cruel. The heavens above seemed to be as bra.s.s, and the earth as iron.

"At length," continues the Christian historian, "two native servants, formerly in the families of the missionaries, had received, unknown to them, some favourable impressions, and had united together for prayer.

To these many other persons had attached themselves, so that, on the return of the missionaries to Tahiti, at the termination of the war, they found a great number of 'pure Atua,' or 'praying people'; and they had little else to do but to help forward the work which G.o.d had so unexpectedly and wonderfully commenced.

"Another circ.u.mstance, demanding special observation in reference to the commencement of the great work at Tahiti, is that, discouraged by so many years of fruitless toil, the directors of the Society entertained serious thoughts of abandoning the mission altogether. A few undeviating friends of that field of missionary enterprise, however, opposed the measure." Their persuasions prevailed, and after special and earnest prayer to G.o.d, instead of a recall, "letters of encouragement were written to the missionaries. And while the vessel which carried these letters was on her pa.s.sage to Tahiti, another s.h.i.+p was conveying to England not only the news of the entire overthrow of idolatry, but also the rejected idols of the people. Thus was fulfilled the gracious promise, 'Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.'" [Williams's _Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands_.]

Among the converts of Tahiti was the king, Pomare, who, having been severely tried by the rebellion of some part of his subjects, became deeply impressed with the insufficiency of his idol G.o.ds to help him, and, after having recalled the banished missionaries, listened to their instructions, and embraced the faith of Christianity. His example being followed by a majority of his people the idols were renounced, as already mentioned; and, as soon as he was firmly re-established on his throne, he built a Christian church, which was opened in the year 1819; and the first baptism of a native Tahitian was administered within its walls, in the presence of upwards of four thousand spectators, the king himself being the subject of the rite.

Thus inaugurating a new era in his reign, Pomare introduced a code of useful laws, and brought about many much-needed reforms in his kingdom.

He not only proved himself a warm friend of the missionaries, but gave them valuable a.s.sistance in the important work of translating the Scriptures into the Tahitian tongue--a fact which proves Pomare to have been a man of no ordinary natural abilities. He did not live long enough, however, to see the completion of this design, but, dying in 1821, he left it to his daughter, who succeeded him in his sovereignty, taking her father's name Pomare.

Among the laws pa.s.sed in Tahiti at this time was one prohibiting the importation and sale of ardent spirits, which had been so great a bane to the people; and the law was found to be beneficial to the prosperity and moral character of the country, though the foreign traders, who had made a large profit by its importation, were enraged when this source of gain was cut off.

In 1835 the translation of the Bible was completed, and its publication was attended and followed by happy accompaniments and results. At this time the number of natives in communion with the Christian churches throughout the island numbered over two thousand; and among the candidates for Church fellows.h.i.+p were the queen herself, her husband, and her mother.

And now arose a dark cloud which, for a time, brought great distress upon the faithful followers of Christ in Tahiti, and was permitted to try their constancy, while, at the same time, the freedom, and liberty, and prosperity of the island were grievously threatened. It may be stated, in few words, that Louis Philippe, at that time King of the French, had set his eyes on Tahiti, and had introduced his agents into the country that an excuse might be found for taking possession of the island. First, the consuls insisted that, as the law prohibiting the introduction of liquor interfered with trade, it should be rescinded.

This was firmly refused. Then, two French Roman Catholic priests were landed, but were ordered by the queen to quit the country. They complied; but one shortly returned with a companion, and the French admiral, appearing directly afterwards, insisted, with his guns bearing on the town, that they should be allowed to remain, and demanded 400 pounds for the injury they had been supposed to suffer when compelled to quit the island.

French s.h.i.+ps continued to be sent, at frequent intervals, and French troops were landed; the queen fled to a neighbouring island; the people fought bravely, but were defeated; the mission-houses and stations were destroyed; the missionaries were driven out of the country, and Mr Pritchard, who had been a missionary, and was now British consul, was imprisoned and otherwise ill-treated.

The Protestant missionary societies throughout Europe and America were indignant at this conduct of a civilised nation. In consequence of the representations of England, France desisted from her attacks on the other islands, but Tahiti fell into her power in 1846. The French, however, could not turn the people from the simple faith they had learned from the English missionaries. They chose ministers from their own people, and continued to meet and wors.h.i.+p G.o.d with the simple forms to which they had been accustomed, and it is a remarkable fact that Romanism, notwithstanding its gorgeous ceremonies and corrupt practices, did not captivate them.

One only of their beloved missionaries was allowed to remain, the Rev.

William Howe, as chaplain to the British consul, and who was ever ready to give the native pastors the benefit of his advice and a.s.sistance, though opposed by the Romish bishop and the priests. At length, through his earnest representations to the French Protestant missionary societies, an appeal was made to the Emperor Napoleon, who permitted French Protestant missionaries to go out. They were cordially received by Mr Howe and the native preachers, and the greater part of the Romish priests were subsequently withdrawn.

In the words of a recent report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, [that of 18 8] "The Bible still continues to supply the inhabitants of the Tahitian group of islands with a safe guide amidst all the errors to which they are exposed, and a sure ground of hope in the prospect of eternity. The sale and distribution of the Scriptures progresses steadily, and the strong attachment of the people to the truths of the Gospel remains unabated, and forms a security against the seductions of Popery which it is not easy to over-estimate. Games, and sports, and feasts are all alike tried to seduce the natives from their allegiance to Him whom they have learnt to love and to serve; and though, through the weakness of the flesh, some are attracted and drawn aside, yet, for the most part, they soon become convinced of the emptiness and folly of these things, and return to the sound and wholesome food which they had been tempted to forsake."