Blue Latitudes

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned but I couldn't find it anywhere. This book was recommended to me by a friend. It's about a modern day writer/adventurer who traces Captain Cook's path across the seas in an exact (okay maybe not exact) replica of Cook's "Endeavor". So far it's funny and entertaining. I almost got seasick reading the first Chapter. NY Times bestseller, Tony Horwitz, Author.

Hey JungleTrader,

Is the book fiction or is it make believe?

(PS Hey I broke the longboard I was gonna sell you on an overhead day 2 weeks ago; I have another one I could sell you though)

I read that book. It's non-fiction. The author goes to several locations that Cook visited. He tries to imagine what Cook saw when seeing them for the first time, but most of these locations have been completely trashed or forgotten over the years.

:drink:

http://www.eclectica.org/v7n3/mcgowin_horwitz.html

http://www.portsmouthbookshop.com/ContinentIndex/CaptainCook.htm

A Tiki Cheers To You!

[ Edited by: Unga Bunga on 2003-09-18 13:08 ]

Bong, what the hell.....fiction or make believe? HA! Juno answered your question. It's real braddah. So you sold the board to someone else for mo' money eh?

Yay yah, the author tells us in the first chapter that when they landed on Tahiti, Cook's crew traded nails from off the ship to Tahitian women for sex. The Tahitian men would then fashion the nails into fish hooks. Soon the ship was nearly stripped of all nails and falling apart. So Cook prohibited anyone from trading nails. Several men were caught and given a lashing....ooooh. It was probably worth it. Except for the next 100 years the native population of Tahiti dropped from about a quarter mil to about 7,000 as the result of sexually transmitted diseases and other scurges. Interesting.

I challenge anyone to click on and actually read the McGowin review of Blue Latitudes. At least I think that is what he is trying to do!!!!

http://www.eclectica.org/v7n3/mcgowin_horwitz.html

Here's a passage in Chapter 5 "Botany Bay" "In The Pure State of Nature"
Just 2 years after Cook's departure from Botany Bay, a French ship arrived in Tasmania under the command of a Rousseau-loving captain named Marion du Fresne. He ordered his sailors to strip before wading ashore so they could climb from the sea as "natural men" to greet their brothers, the naked Aborigines. Marion du Fresne even hoped that the two parties might compare notes on life in the state of nature.
Instead, this nudist confab collapsed in confusion and conflict. The French quickly opened fire, killing and wounding several Aborigines. The quixotic Marion du Fresne sailed on to meet the noble Maori of New Zealand, who killed and ate him, (smack, lick) prompting a retaliatory massacre by the French. "They treated us," a French lieutenant wrote of the Maori, "with every show of friendship for thirty-three days, with the intention of eating us on the thirty-fourth."

Lovely Maori.

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2003-11-10 21:04 ]

Sounds like an interesting read. I ordered my copy today. Thanks for the heads up.

You're welcome Boobam Bob. Do you have a brother named Sponge?
Sorry, I know it's stupid but I couldn't resist.

Ya' gotta read this. Okay where's HulaHula. Ya' gotta read dis brah!
Chapter 8 "Savage Island"
Idly tracing the "Resolution's" path (Cook's second ship) westward across the Pacific on an old chart, my finger brushed against a flyspeck labeled "Savage Island." I checked the index of Cook's journal. A brief entry from June 1774 explained the atoll's intriguing name. When the English attempted to land, islanders burst from dense woods "with the ferocity of wild Boars," Cook wrote, hurling rocks and spears. Cook and his men fired at their attackers, "stout well made men and naked except their Natural parts." A footnote said that the warriors' mouths were smeared red, as if with blood. "Seeing no good was to be got of these people," Cook wrote, he withdrew to the boats, gave the island it's unflattering name, and sailed off.
(Fast forward to the Author's travels to the same island...he meets a man named Matagi.)
I told him about our travels and asked if Cook's brief visit to the island was remembered today. "Oh yes," Matagi said. "Traditionally, our foes came from the sea. So anyone landing here was seen as an enemy. Cook's men fired at our people, we retaliated with rocks and spears, and Cook ran away." He said the musket fire reminded the Niueans of thunder, so they called the sailors "palagi", or sky burst, and still used the term today when speaking of foreigners. {The same word appears, in different form, across Polynesia; some scholars believe it refers not to gunfire, but to the belief that the strange ships had "burst from the sky."}"What about the red teeth?" I asked. Matagi looked at his shoes. His grandfather Hafe, "You must understand, we are not cannibals," "People wanted to defend their property, that is all. We had a tradition: when enemies came we did a war dance like the Maori. Warriors painted their lips and teeth with the juice of the hulahula, the red banana, to frighten people off."
"Does anyone still call this Savage Island?"
Hafe's face reddened. "Cook called Tonga the Friendly Isles, probably because he had so many girls there. Tahiti he called the Society Islands, same reason. The Cook Islands were named after him. Nice names. But because we threw a few stones and spears, we're savages." "No one likes Cook much in Nuie." The two men went inside.
"Good one, mate," Roger said. You with your crass, bull-nosing American technique, exposing a raw nerve and then poking at it."
"But we learned something. Cook got scared off by red bananas!"

So there you have the story of how David took the name here on TC, of HulaHula. Red Banana.

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2003-11-16 22:09 ]

Wow! Just finished the book. The end is sad :cry: but it happened quite a bit when 2 cultures came together for the first time, besides I believe Cook wore out his welcome. Anyone who hasn't read the book want to take a guess at what Sandwich Islands are called today?

Anyone who hasn't read the book want to take a guess at what Sandwich Islands are called today?

aaaaaa- the Peanut Butter and Jelly Islands??

dangit BEN? you screwin' wit me again? Okay just about everybody already knows the answer to the first question.........and the second one and third.

Ha , I wish thats how I got my name! Im gonna have to get this book :wink:

bubbles