CHAPTER VIII 



TRIBUTES PAID TO CAPTAIN COOK'S MEMORY 



Cook's body had fallen into the hands of the 

 natives, who flung themselves upon it with their 

 knives. On the following day a Hawaiian chief 

 brought on board the Resolution, of which Cap- 

 tain Clerke had taken command, part of Cook's 

 remains, horribly mutilated, and, five days later, 

 a parcel containing some of his bones was sent to 

 the Englishmen. 



On February 21st, at the time when the red 

 sun sank gently into the waves, the Resolution 

 half-masted her flags. Ten guns sounded, fol- 

 lowed by a sinister noise. A hammock had been 

 thrown into the sea. Captain Cook lay at the 

 bottom of the ocean which he had so extensively 

 explored. 



On the decks of the ship, their heads bent, two 

 hundred men wept. 



After several blood-thirsty skirmishes in 

 which several natives were killed and the Eng- 

 lish burned a village, the two mourning ships 

 left the sinister spot where they had lost their 

 leader. They proceeded to the coast of Kam- 



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