TKAGICAL END OF CAPTAIN COOK. 319 



saw from the general aspect of affairs, and the gathering thousands on the beach, that he 

 must give up his idea, and proceeded slowly to the place of embarkation. 



It appears that, while this was going on, some of the men on the boats stationed 

 around the bay had fired on some escaping canoes, and worse, had killed a chief. The 

 news arrived ashore just as Cook was leaving, and the natives immediately began to put 

 on their war-mats, and arm themselves. One of them, carrying an iron dagger, which he 

 brandished wildly, threatened Cook with a large stone, and the captain at last could stand 

 his insolence no longer, and gave him a, volley of small shot. This against the native's 

 thick war-mat was about as effective as shooting peas against a rhinoceros. Next came a 

 volley of stones in return, while an attempt was made to stab a marine officer, who returned 

 a heavy blow from the butt-end of his musket. A native crawled behind a canoe, and then 

 aimed a spear at Cook, who soon gave them the contents of his other barrel, killing one of 

 the assailants. In quick succession, volleys of stones were answered by a volley of musketry ; 

 four marines fell, and were speedily despatched. Cook now stood by the water's edge, 

 signalling the men to stop firing and get on board; but in the scuffle and confusion his 

 orders were not understood. A lieutenant commanding one of the boats blundered, or worse, 

 to the extent of taking his boat further off, so that the picking up of the wounded marines 

 was thrown entirely on the pinnace, which had been brought in as near the shore as the 

 master was able to come. Poor Cook was left alone on a rock, where he was seen trying to 

 shield his head from the shower of stones with the one hand, while he still grasped his 

 musket in the other. So soon as his back was turned, the natives attacked him, one 

 clubbing him down, and another stabbing him in the neck. Again he dropped in the 

 water knee-deep, looking earnestly out for help from the pinnace, not more than a few 

 yards off. But the end was near. The savages got him under in deeper water. In his 

 death-struggle he broke from them, and clung to the rock. In a second there was another 

 blow, and the end had come. His body was dragged ashore and mutilated. After the 

 fall of their commander, the survivors of the men escaped under cover of a fire kept up 

 from the boats. But for Cook himself, one of the most humane of commanders, nothing 

 seems to have been attempted in the hurry and excitement of the scuffle. 



Cook's body or as much as remained of it was subsequently recovered, and 

 committed to the deep, the guns booming solemnly over the watery grave of one of 

 England's greatest explorers. While the rites were being performed, absolute unbroken 

 silence was enjoined upon the natives ashore and afloat, nor was the water disturbed by 

 the dip of a single paddle. Thus perished, at the early age of fifty-one, in a miserable 

 scuffle with semi-savages, Captain James Cook, a navigator whose fame was and still 

 remains world-wide. 



Our space will only permit us to refer, briefly, to one other notable voyage, namely, 

 that of Vancouver, whose first experiences were gained with Cook. The fame of this 

 explorer rests very much upon his circumnavigation, towards the end of the eighteenth 

 century, of the island which now bears his name. The actual discovery of the entrance to 

 to the straits between the island and mainland dates from the time of De Fuca ; while Van- 

 couver himself, in the following passage, admits a prior claim to its partial investigation. He 

 says " At four o'clock a sail was discovered to the westward standing in shore. This was 



