A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15: Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15: Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The New Zealander paid so little regard to these threats, that he
returned the next morning with his whole family, men, women, and
children, to the number of twenty and upward. Omai was the first who
acquainted me with his being along-side the ship, and desired to know if
he should ask him to come on board. I told him he might; and accordingly
he introduced the chief into the cabin, saying, "There is Kahoora, kill
him!" But, as if he had forgot his former threats, or were afraid that I
should call upon him to perform them, he immediately retired. In a short
time, however, he returned; and seeing the chief unhurt, he expostulated
with me very earnestly, saying, "Why do you not kill him? You tell me,
if a man kills another in England that he is hanged for it. This man has
killed ten, and yet you will not kill him, though many of his countrymen
desire it, and it would be very good." Omai's arguments, though specious
enough, having no weight with me, I desired him to ask the chief why he
had killed Captain Furneaux's people? At this question, Kahoora folded
his arms, hung down his head, and looked like one caught in a trap; and
I firmly believe he expected instant death. But no sooner was he assured
of his safety, than he became cheerful. He did not, however, seem
willing to give me an answer to the question that had been put to him,
till I had, again and again, repeated my promise that he should not be
hurt. Then he ventured to tell us, "That one of his countrymen having
brought a stone hatchet to barter, the man, to whom it was offered, took
it, and would neither return it, nor give any thing for it; on which the
owner of it snatched up the bread as an equivalent, and then the quarrel
began."
The remainder of Kahoora's account of this unhappy affair, differed very
little from what we had before learnt from the rest of his countrymen.
He mentioned the narrow escape he had during the fray; a musquet being
levelled at him, which he avoided by skulking behind the boat; and
another man, who stood close to him, was shot dead. As soon as the
musquet was discharged, he instantly seized the opportunity to attack Mr
Rowe, who commanded the party, and who defended himself with his hanger,
(with which he wounded Kahoora in the arm,) till he was overpowered by
numbers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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