mhaze,

Captain Cook and his party as you point out
may have arrived without passports and visas,
unannounced and uninvited - and you feel
that they were treated abysmally?

That they should have been welcomed with open arms?

By whom? Didn't Captain Cook declare the land was
empty - not inhabited? Did our history books lie?

Also Captain Cook and Co may not have had
passports or visas - they did manage to bring with
them guns, dispossession, displacement,
social upheaval, and disease.

But hey - why let facts get in the way of a good yarn!
(smile).

Dear mhaze,

Perhaps they instinctively knew that unlike virtually very other colonising nations the British just never leave.

Foxy,

"Also Captain Cook and Co may not have had
passports or visas - they did manage to bring with
them guns, dispossession, displacement,
social upheaval, and disease."

Guilding the lily a bit there, just how and when did Cook bring those things?

Point take Foxy,

The Hawaiians like most Pacific Islanders and Maori believed in mana (power) which was possessed by powerful people such as chiefs. Cook was viewed by the Hawaiians as a powerful chief, almost a god. The story of Cooks time of arrival, and his departure and then return is interesting. Cooks return after departing was a big let down for the Hawaiians.

On visiting Hawaii some years back I was told how in past times tribes went to great lengths to conceal the burial place of a dead chief for fear another chief would steal his remains to obtain his mana.

A popular basic dish of Maori people today is 'Boil Up', in Fiji its called 'Meaty Bones'. Its simply bones boiled with greens and 'dough boys' (flour dumplings). The wife tells me it was popular even before Cooks time. Today they boil particularly pork bones, soft ones preferred, what were they boiling up in the "good old days"?

The wife tells me she has given up eating pakeha, ever since she found out they are high in cholesterol and saturated fat, she much prefers a good Chinese meal, said 'Huna Munas' (Chinese) are so tasty. As they say, when its cooked it all taste like chicken!

Can't recall at what island, but Cook to find out if the locals were cannibals had a natives head boiled, and then offered it to the local big wigs, they ate it, he got his answer.

Is there evidence James Cook was a murderer?

During Cooks three voyages of "discovery" at least 100 indigenous people were killed, although this number cannot be verified from Cook's journals, or later written European accounts.

The murder of Te Maro of the Ngati Oneone Iwi (tribe) near present day Gisborne NZ. Te Maro was most likely about 25 years of age, he was the leader of the kapa haka group which ceremonially challenged Cooks landing party 9th October 1769. The group of 14 to 16 young Maori warriors were unarmed, they performed a traditional huka, something the Europeans mistook as an aggressive act. Te Maro stepped forward and with a traditional Maori hongi (pressing of noses) greeted Cook. The two groups could communicate, Cook had with him Tupaia, a Tahitian priest, who spoke a similar language to the Maori. Cook offered no gifts, as would have been the expected custom. Te Maro then grabbed Cooks sward from it scabbard and ran some 50 yards up the beach. Te Maro then proceed to display his prowess with the sward in taiaha fashion, something no doubt he was expert in. One shot rang out from a Marine's (11 Royal Marines were on Endeavour) musket, and Te Maro was killed instantly. The fatal shot would have certainly been ordered by Cook. Several other unarmed Maori were killed at the same time.

Cook recorded the killing of Te Maro in his journal. There was no mention that the killing was unauthorised, only regret, or any punitive action was taken against the marine involved.

If the Maori had wanted to drive Cook and his landing party back into the sea, sending a small unarmed kapa haka group was not the way to do it. Descendants of Te Maro and the others murdered by Cook still live in the Gisborne area. I'm sure they would be happy if the municipal council relocated the Cook memorial to the local rubbish tip.

The Anti-White brigade is really putting it up a couple of notches here ! Inventing new histories where the ignorance of one lot is highly excusable yet the ignorance of the explorers is not !