AN EXCERPT FROM THE DIARY OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK

[Demonland 65,821]

Dear Demonlanders,

I'm holidaying at the moment with my wife in Fiji where I uncovered in a bookstore an old volume containing the Diary of Captain James Cook's last voyage. The book was edited by his midshipman R.M.M. Savage.

AN EXCERPT FROM THE DIARY OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK edited by R.M.M. Savage

Saturday June 28th 1777

A full year has passed since The Resolution sailed from the Nore on June 25th 1776 and a month has gone by since I made my reluctant decision to bear away from the Easterly Wind and make for the Friendly Islands,* which were to the W.

Knowing from my previous voyage that these islands would give good anchorage and provide us with all that we are in such urgent need of, I planned to remain there for 2½ months before proceeding on the expedition to Tahiti and the Americas. One of my official duties is to carry out a search for the legendary NW Passage but I also yearn to locate some paradise that I can name after my sponsor, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich where I, like all good gentlemen of England, might have the opportunity to luxuriate in a warm temperate climate among friendly native women.

Tongatapu is the most populous of the Friendly islands. It was there that I came upon a curious group of people from the nearby islands of Fiji. Curious, not just because of their pleasant disposition and their friendly nature which are common features in these regions but because of their very strange customs and mannerisms. In my acquaintance, they soon acquired some additional habits and were constantly obliging in my company. They would often smile when presented with gifts and nod to each other saying, "tank you" which immediately elicited the response, "you velcome." This pleased me greatly.

I was also pleased at the gifts they game me which included a store of Fijian red and blue feathers, a very highly prized possession whose main source of supply is the "Collared Lory", a red parrot native to their lands. In return for this generous gift, I agreed to give passage home to the west coast of Viti Levu (the main island in Fiji) to one of their young retinue.

He was a tall, spritely lad of seventeen years who stood taller than the tallest of trees that we had witnessed standing high on the shores of Terra Australis, which we had lately visited. We conferred upon the boy the appellation "Nicholas" after Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker because of the many miracles attributed to him. Our new Nicholas was also capable of miracles as he was endowed of great spring and the swiftness of a deer.

At this time, I had been suffering from the rheumatics, the pain beginning at the hip and extending across my groin and right down to the heel. The Resolution was navigated by a young master named Bligh. As we neared the outskirts of the island of Viti Levu a great storm approached from the SE and Bligh counselled against us venturing near the island. When I broke this news to Nicholas, he smiled at me, beckoned farewell and took one almighty leap right off the ship’s fo'c'sle and into the foaming white seas below. As one of the few in the ship's company who was able to swim, I momentarily entertained the idea of jumping in to save him but my affliction and a belly full of the native beverage kava caused great unsteadiness in my mind and my body and prevented me from doing so. The last we saw of young Nicholas was a flash of long arms and legs stroking perfectly towards the shore.

This evening, as my eyes gazed upwards in the direction of the constellation of the Southern Cross, I wondered whether I would ever see his likes again for such specimens of human magnificence and athleticism are indeed rare commodities.

I will always remember fondly this young man Nicholas Tankanui and I swear to the Lord above that I will never in all my remaining days on this earth forget how his countrymen and his family members took so fondly to the use of the expression "tank you".

* Now known as the Tonga Islands.