NATIVE ACCOUNT OF COOK’S DEATH. 131 
volcanoes in the interior sometimes discharge their 
contents upon the shore. It is five feet high, and 
the entrance about eight or ten feet wide. The 
roof and sides within are of obsidian or hard vitre¬ 
ous lava; and along the floor, it is evident that in 
some remote period a stream of the same kind of 
lava has also flowed. 
There are a number of persons at Kaavaroa, and 
other places in the islands, who either were pre¬ 
sent themselves at the unhappy dispute, which in 
this vicinity terminated the valuable life of the 
celebrated Captain Cook, or who, from their con¬ 
nexion with those who were on the spot, are well 
acquainted with the particulars of that melancholy 
event. With many of them we have frequently 
conversed, and, though their narratives differ in a 
few smaller points, they all agree in the main facts 
with the account published by Captain King, his 
successor. 
“ The foreigner,” they say, u was not to blame; 
for, in the first instance, our people stole his boat, 
and he, in order to recover it, designed to take our 
king on board his ship, and detain him there till it 
should be restored. Kapena Kuke and Taraiopu 
our king were walking together towards the shore, 
when our people, conscious of what had been 
done, thronged round the king, and objected to 
his going any further. His wife also joined her 
entreaties that he would not go on board the ships. 
While he was hesitating, a man came running 
from the other side of the bay, entered the crowd 
almost breathless, and exclaimed, 6 It is war !— 
the foreigners have commenced hostilities, have 
fired on a canoe from one of their boats, and killed 
7 Captain Cook’s name is thus pronounced by the 
natives. 
k 2 
