us metal, and they were not cheated. A
long drawn out effort has been made to impress the world that Cook
thought himself almost a god, and was a monster. The natives gave to
the wonderful people who came to them in ships, liberally of their
plenty, and received in return presents that pleased them, articles
of utility. Beads came along at a later day. The natives believed
Cook one of the heroes of the imagination that they called gods. He
sought to propitiate them and paid for fruit and meat in iron and showy
trifles. His policy of progress was to introduce domestic animals.

Note the temper of Mr. Abraham Fornander, a man who has meant honesty
of statement, but whose information was perverted:

"And how did Captain Cook requite this boundless hospitality, that
never once made default during his long stay of seventeen days in
Kealakeakua, these magnificent presents of immense value, this delicate
and spontaneous attention to every want, this friendship of the chiefs
and priests, this friendliness of the common people? By imposing on
their good nature to the utmost limit of its ability to respond to
the greedy and constant calls of their new friends; by shooting at one
of the king's officers for endeavoring to enforce a law of the land,
an edict of his sovereign that happened to be unpalatable to the new
comers, and caused them some temporary inconvenience, after a week's
profusion and unbridled license; by a liberal exhibition of his force
and the meanest display of his bounty; by giving the king a linen
shirt and a cutlass in return for feather cloaks and helmets, which,
irrespective of their value as insignia of the highest nobility in the
land, were worth, singly at least from five to ten thousand dollars, at
present price of the feathers, not counting the cost of manufacturing;
by a reckless disregard of the proprieties of ordinary intercourse,
even between civilized and savage man, and a wanton insult to what he
reasonably may have supposed to have been the religious sentiments of
his hosts." This is up to the mark of a criminal lawyer retained to
prove by native testimony that Captain James Cook was not murdered, but
executed for cause. The great crime of Cook is up to this point that of
playing that he was one of the Polynesian gods. Fornander says: "When
the sailors carried off, not only the railing of the temple, but also
the idols of the gods within it, even the large-hearted patience of
Kaoo gave up, and he