11-01-2015, 06:23 AM
from the KCC article: n Ruling Chiefs of Hawai'i, Kamakau gives a native account of what happened to the remains of Captain Cook. It was customary in traditional times to clean the flesh from the bones of a deceased relative or a powerful enemy and keep the bones, which contained the mana of the person. Kamakau writes: "Then they stripped the flesh from the bones of Lono [i.e., Cook]. The palms of the hands and the intestines were kept; the remains were consumed with fire. The bones Kalani'opu'u was kind enough to give to the strangers on board the ship, but some were saved by the kahunas and worshiped" (103). Some of Cook's men assumed mistakenly that because only the bones were returned, the rest of the body had been eaten; so spread the rumor that Captain Cook was a victim of cannibalism. Ka Mooolelo Hawaii, a native history collected by Hawaiian students at the Lahainaluna Seminary (1838), gives an even more graphic account of Cook's fate. Some inadvertent cannibalism is attributed to the folly of youth:
...they took Cook's corpse with them and those of four men who had died with him up to Ka'awaloa.
Then Kalani'opu'u sacrificed Cook; and when he had done so he stripped the flesh off the bones and the hand (palm) and the intestinesthe latter for making a kind of cord.
They burned his flesh. The intestines were mistakenly eaten by some boys, Kupa, Moho'ole, and Kaiwikoko'ole. They thought they were eating dog intestines. Some of the bones were returned to the vessel. Some were kept and worshiped by the priest. (Kahananui, 174-175)
...they took Cook's corpse with them and those of four men who had died with him up to Ka'awaloa.
Then Kalani'opu'u sacrificed Cook; and when he had done so he stripped the flesh off the bones and the hand (palm) and the intestinesthe latter for making a kind of cord.
They burned his flesh. The intestines were mistakenly eaten by some boys, Kupa, Moho'ole, and Kaiwikoko'ole. They thought they were eating dog intestines. Some of the bones were returned to the vessel. Some were kept and worshiped by the priest. (Kahananui, 174-175)