DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Cannibal Islands: Captain Cook's Adventure in the South Seas" by R. M. Ballantyne. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

The Cannibal Islands

‘The Cannibal Islands’ is a historical novel by prolific author R.M. Ballantyne. In it, he gives some background to the world-wide explorations of the famous Captain Cook. Ballantyne uses detailed descriptions of the customs and habits of those who Captain Cook encountered to flesh out the adventures of the famous explorer. Ballantyne is particularly fascinated by the habit of cannibalism practised by some of the people that Cook encountered. Very much of it’s time, this is nevertheless a fascinating and insightful read. R.M. Ballantyne (1825-1894) was a Scottish artist and prolific author of mostly children’s fiction. Born in Edinburgh, Ballantyne was the ninth of ten children. At the age of 16 Ballantyne moved to Canada, where he worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company, travelling all over the country to trade for fur. He returned to Scotland in 1847 following the death of his father, and it was then that he began his literary career in earnest, writing over 100 children’s adventure books over the course of his life. Stories such as ‘The Coral Island’ and ‘The Young Fur Traders’ were hugely popular, and many of them drew on his own experiences of travelling throughout Canada. A stickler for detail, Ballantyne continued to travel widely to research the backgrounds and settings for his exciting stories. His tales became an inspiration for authors of the future, including ‘Treasure Island’ novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. Ballantyne spent the latter period of his life living in London and Italy for the sake of his health. He died in Rome in 1894 at the age of 68.

The extraordinary story of Captain Cook's encounters with the Polynesian Islanders is retold here in bold, vivid style, capturing the complex (and sometimes sexual) relationships between the explorers and the Islanders as well as the unresolved issues that led to Cook's violent death on the shores of Hawaii. (History)

"The Cannibal Islands: Captain Cook's Adventure in the South Seas" is a biographical work on the famed British explorer, cartographer and naval officer, James Cook. Cook is famous for the three voyages he made in the 18th century, for his combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions. In the words of his friend and naval colleague Captain King, "Perhaps no science ever received greater additions from the labours of a single man than geography has done from those of Captain Cook. In his first voyage to the South Seas he discovered the Society Islands; determined the insularity of New Zealand, discovered the Straits which separate the two islands, and are called after his name, and made a complete survey of both. He afterwards explored the eastern coast of New Holland, hitherto unknown, to an extent of twenty-seven degrees of latitude, or upwards of two thousand miles." In succeeding years he settled the disputed point of the existence of a great southern continent traversing the ocean there between the latitudes of 40 degrees and 70 degrees in such a way as to show the impossibility of its existence, "unless near the pole, and beyond the reach of navigation." The novel also captures the dramatic event of his death at the hand of Hawaiian natives.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.