This is my rifle, this is my gun.....

[oink]

My gosh Glen. You sure have a subjective interpretation of history. Cook began the degradation of the islands only if you consider any Western contact a degradation. You would have gladly bashed his head in for a misunderstanding that should have been negotiated by both sides? I'm sure you wouldn't have used a gun to shoot him if it were available to you. The whalers wern't upset about the changes in attire. They were upset about being cut off from their nearly free sex that was killing the natives with VD. I guess free sex trumps any other value. The missionaries may have been a little off on their beliefs on concealing the body, but in those pre-penicillin pre-birth control days, there was a lot to be said for abstinence and fidelity, regardless of your moral views. As for the boat, I don't think borrowing from your clan is theft. Taking from another clan without permission was probably considered theft, but was also probably ok with your clan, just not the losing clan. I wonder what would have happened to you if you were caught taking a chiefs boat from another clan without permission. Cook was a chief.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.