The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. V. Being the First of the Third VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. V. Being the First of the Third Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
The first day of our arrival at Annamooka, one of the natives had stolen
out of the ship a large junk axe. I now applied to Feenou to exert his
authority to get it restored to me; and so implicitly was he obeyed,
that it was brought on board while we were at dinner. These people gave
us very frequent opportunities of remarking what expert thieves they
were. Even some of their chiefs did not think this profession beneath
them. On the 9th, one of them was detected carrying out of the ship,
concealed under his clothes, the bolt belonging to the spun-yarn winch,
for which I sentenced him to receive a dozen lashes, and kept him
confined till he paid a hog for his liberty. After this we were not
troubled with thieves of rank. Their servants, or slaves however, were
still employed in this dirty work; and upon them a flogging seemed to
make no greater impression than it would have done upon the mainmast.
When any of them happened to be caught in the act, their masters, far
from interceding for them, would often advise us to kill them. As this
was a punishment we did not choose to inflict, they generally escaped
without any punishment at all; for they appeared to us to be equally
insensible of the shame and of the pain of corporal chastisement.
Captain Clerke at last hit upon a mode of treatment which we thought had
some effect. He put them under the hands of the barber, and completely
shaved their heads; thus pointing them out as objects of ridicule to
their countrymen, and enabling our people to deprive them of future
opportunities for a repetition of their rogueries, by keeping them at a
distance.
Feenou was so fond of associating with us, that he dined on board ever
day, though sometimes he did not partake of our fare. On the 10th, some
of his servants brought a mess which had been dressed for him on shore.
It consisted of fish, soup, and yams. Instead of common water to make
the soup, cocoa-nut liquor had been made use of, in which the fish had
been boiled or stewed, probably in a wooden vessel with hot stones; but
it was carried on board in a plantain leaf. I tasted of the mess, and
found it so good, that I afterwards had some fish dressed in the same
way. Though my cook succeeded tolerably well, he could produce nothing
equal to the dish he imitated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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