people meet an
uncivilized people, each race celebrates the occasion by appropriating
all the evil qualities of the other. Vices, not virtues, are the first
to fraternize. It was as unfair of Cook's crew to judge the islanders
by the rabble swarming out to steal from the ships, as it would be for
a newcomer to judge the people of New York by the pickpockets and
under-world of the water front. And it must not be forgotten that the
very quality that had made Cook successful--the quality to dare--was a
danger to him here. The natives did not violate the sacred _taboo_,
which the priest had drawn round the white men's quarters of the grove.
It was the white men who violated it by going outside the limit; and
the conduct of the white sailors for the sixteen days in port was
neither better nor worse than the conduct of sailors to-day who go on a
wild spree with the lowest elements of the harbor. {200} The savages
were quick to find out that the white gods were after all only men.
The true story of what happened could hardly be written by Captain
King, who finished Cook's journal; though one can read between the
lines King's fear of his commander's rashness. The facts of the case
are given by the young American, John Ledyard, of Connecticut, who was
corporal of marines and in the very thick of the fight.

At the end of two weeks the white seamen were, perhaps, satiated of
their own vices, or suffering from the sore head that results from
prolonged spreeing. At all events the thieving, which had been
condoned at first, was now punished by soundly flogging the natives.
The old king courteously hinted it was time for the white men to go.
The mate, who was loading masts and rudder back on board the
_Resolution_, asked the savages to give him a hand. The islanders had
lost respect for the white men of such flagrant vices. They pretended
to give a helping hand, but only jostled the mate about in the crowd.
The Englishman lost his temper, struck out, and blustered. The shore
rang with the shrill laughter of the throngs. In vain the chiefs of
authority interposed. The commands to help the white men were answered
by showers of stones directly inside the _taboo_. Ledyard was ordered
out with a guard of sailors to protect the white men loading the
_Resolution_. The guard was pelted black and blue. "There was nothing
to do," relates Ledyard, "but move to new lands where our vices {201}
were not known." At last all was in r