The Trial of the Cannibal Dog. Captain Cook in the South Seas. By Anne Salmond.
The Trial of the Cannibal Dog. Captain Cook in the South Seas. By Anne Salmond.
Paperback, name cut out from top right corner on first end paper, tanned pages. 544 pages Published by Penguin Books Ltd, 2004 ISBN: 0141021330 23.6 x 15.6 x 5.2 centimetres (0.39 kg)
In this rich and stylish description by New Zealand scholar Salmond, Cook's voyages take on a peculiar, dreamlike quality. Salmond's claim is that Cook was far more affected by his exposure to the Polynesian world than historians have thought. This book is fascinating as an incomparable travelogue filled with amazing stories - the sexual paradise of Tahiti, the 'discovery' of Hawaii, close relations with Maori, and Cook's tragic death on the beach in Hawaii.The 'trial' of the title followed a horrific incident in New Zealand's Queen Charlotte Sound when Maori killed and ate a boatload of Cook's men. Later, sailors caught a dog guzzling a pink remnant, put the dog on trial, then convicted, cooked and ate it.
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