Description
Captain Cook, accompanied by Webber, proceeded inland from their beach side anchorage to Waimea, on the south coast of Kauai (known then as Atooi).
Their intention was to examine elevated objects visible from the ship. It proved to be a morai, or temple similar to ones they had seen in Tahiti and other South Pacific islands. This structure was nearly 20-feet high and covered in a thin, light-grey cloth, which likely had ceremonial significance. The temple rested on a platform and consisted of thousands of rough-edged lava rock piled in a tight, mortarless fashion. In the center is the spindly-legged oracle tower, where the priest (kahuna) might seek counsel or pray. Carved figures with tapa and leaf offerings are seen outside thatched huts topped with pili, the tall grass that grew throughout the lowlands. In his journal, Cook took particular note of several stone objects he had observed: About the middle of the Morai, there were three of these places in line. We were told three chiefs had been buried there, and before them was another that was oblong. This they called Tanga (taboo or kapu in Hawaiian) and gave us clearly to understand that three human sacrifices had been buried there, that is, one at the burial of each chief. Cook’s Journal – January 21, 1778
French edition of Cook’s Third Voyage account.
