44 



. / f ;v TRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



- ,7-*" 



ANTUINK I>E BOUGAIXVI I.I.K. 



it, stepped up from behind and struck him on the back of the head. He fell in 



shallow \vnu-r, and there was at once a rush of savages over his fallen bod). They 



stabbed him in many places, and as the second boat approached in the attempt to 



effect a rescue, a marine and three sailors were killed, and a lieutenant, a sergeant and 



two other men were wounded, the boats being 

 compelled to pull off without recovering the 

 body, which was taken inland and treated by 

 uM the Hawaiian islanders with great barbarity. 



Thus perished at the post of duty the most 

 successful leader in the work of Australian 

 exploration, after laying open a new Continent 

 to the world, and solving the mystery of the 

 Southern Ocean that had perplexed geographers 

 so long. One who accompanied Captain Cook 

 on his last expedition, writes : " I need make 

 no reflection on the loss we suffered on this 

 occasion, or attempt to describe what we felt. 

 It is enough to say that no man was ever 

 more beloved or admired; and it is truly painful 

 to reflect that he seems to have fallen a sacri- 

 fice merely for want of being properly sup- 

 ported ; a fate singularly to be lamented as 

 having fallen to his lot who had ever been 



conspicuous for his care of those under his command, and who seemed to the 



last to pay as much attention to their preservation as to that of his own life." 



Several of Cook's biographers have, however, altogether misunderstood the causes that 



led up to his death at the hands of the Hawaiians causes 



that were intimately connected with certain legends of 



their mythology, which associated an absconding god, Lono, 



with the great navigator who was so unfortunate as to 



outlive their "belief in his divinity. The explanation of the 



tragedy has been given at length by Manley Hopkins, 



Hawaiian Consul-General, in his " History of Hawaii," and 



he obtained it direct from the islanders themselves. 



There is considerable doubt as to the fate of Cook's 



remains, some contending that they were carried away by 



the natives and deposited in their sacred places ; however, 



a passage in Kippis's edition of " Cook's Voyages," published 



in i -jW, says that " though every exertion was made for 



that purpose, though negotiation and threatenings were 



alternately employed, little more than the principal part of 



bones, and that with great difficulty, were recovered. By the possession of them 



our navigators were enabled to perform the last offices to their eminent and unfortunate 



commander." The bones were placed in a coffin, and when the vessels were at sea the 



^ 



FIGURE-HEAD OF THE 

 " RESOLUTION." 



