ay. To the islanders a sacred 'taboo' always existed
round the burial-graves. Cook permitted his sailors to violate this
'taboo' in order to take timber for the repair of his ships. Perhaps
it was a reaction from almost three years of navy discipline; perhaps
it was the influence of those seductive southern seas; however that may
be, the sailors apparently gave themselves up to riotous debauch. The
best of the islanders withdrew disillusioned, sad, sullen, resentful
over the violation of their sacred burial-places. Only the riff-raff
of the natives forgathered with the riotous crew. When the ships at
length set sail with a crew sore-headed from dissipation, by way of a
climax to the debauch, a number of women and children were carried
along.

Retribution came swift as sword-stroke. The women set up such a
wailing that Cook stopped the ships to set them ashore. In the delay
of rowing the boats to land a fierce gale sprang up. The wind snapped
off the foremast of the _Resolution_ clean to the decks. The two ships
had to put back to the harbour for repairs. Not a canoe, not a man,
not a voice, welcomed them. The sailors were sullen; Cook was angry;
and when the white {51} men wanted to trade for fresh food, the
islanders would take only daggers and knives in barter. The white men
had stolen from their burial-graves. The savages now tried to steal
from the ships, and on Sunday, February 14, they succeeded in carrying
off the large row-boat of the _Discovery_.

Cook landed with a strong bodyguard to demand hostages for the return
of the lost boat. The islanders remembered the kidnapping of the
women, and refused. Cook was foolhardy enough to order his men to fire
on any canoe trying to escape from the harbour. The rest of the
episode is so familiar that it scarcely needs telling. A chief
crossing the harbour in a skiff was shot. The women were at once
hurried off to the hills. The men donned their spears and war-mats. A
stone hurled from the rabble running down to the shore struck Cook.
Enraged out of all self-control, he shot the culprit dead. In defence
of their commander some marines rowing ashore at once fired a musketry
volley into the horde of islanders. Cook turned his back to the
thronging savages, now frenzied to a delirium, and signalled the
marines to cease firing. As he did so, a dagger was plunged beneath
his shoulder-blade. He was {52} hacked to pieces under the eyes of his
powerless