'Every Coconut Tree Was Full in a Moment…'

posted in: September 2002 | 0

Thomas Manby, master’s mate to Captain George Vancouver on the Discovery, described the reaction of Kamehameha to the longhorn cattle Vancouver had brought with him and which he presented to the king in February 1793:

The cattle greatly delighted him, though it took some time to quiet his fears lest they should bite him. He called them large hogs, and after much persuasion we prevailed on him to go close up to them; at that instant one of the poor animals, turning its head round quickly, so alarmed his majesty that he made a speedy retreat and ran over half of his retinue. His fright was not of long duration and ceased on seeing some of his attendants take them by the horns.

They were sent on shore in his canoes to his village; a chief of consequence and a party of men were appointed to attend them, and very particular orders were given with the sick bull to see him carefully nursed. The four cows were in tolerable condition and had got very tame by being on board. The concourse of people to see them landed was immense; we were a good deal diverted at seeing the terror the whole village was thrown into by one of the cows galloping along the beach and kicking up her heels. Thousands ran for the sea and plunged in; every coconut tree was full in a moment; some jumped down precipices, others scrambled up rocks and houses; in short, not a man would approach for half an hourÉ.

March 4, 1793. É His majesty came to us almost in tears to relate the death of the bull, which has just expired. The cows are sent in canoes a few miles to the northward, where much better pasturage is to be found. One of the cows being with a calf, we are in hopes the issue will be of the male sex; otherwise our good intentions will be totally defeated unless we have it in our power to augment their stock by a further supply of this valuable animal, should we again return to the Sandwich Islands.

Taken from Manby’s journal, reprinted as “With Vancouver at Kealakekua Bay,” in A. Grove Day and Carl Stroven, A Hawaiian Reader (Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., New York, 1959).

Volume 13, Number 3 September 2002

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