Captain Cook Arrow Legend
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. o. L; |0 D$ s- t It was a great legend while it lasted, but DNA testing has finally ended a two-century-old story of the Hawaiian arrow carved from the bone of British explore Captain James Cook who died in the Sandwich Islands in 1779. + k* m0 m: x; g; y% g
"There is no Cook in the Australian Museum," museum collection manager Jude Philip said not long ago in announcing the DNA evidence that the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone. But that will not stop the museum from continuing to display the arrow in its exhibition, "Uncovered: Treasures of the Australian Museum," which does include a feather cape presented to Cook by Hawaiian King Kalani’opu’u in 1778.
7 Y% }8 P* o& K6 k4 V Cook was one of Britain’s great explorers and is credited with discovering the "Great South Land" now Australia, in 1770. He was clubbed to death in the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii.
' `, n i1 }- I4 m1 ~! L! ^2 m The legend of Cook’s arrow began in 1824 when Hawaiian King Kamehameha on his deathbed gave the arrow to William Adams, a London surgeon and relative of Cook’s wife, saying it was made of Cook’s bone after the fatal fight with islanders. / O: ?+ M- X8 J% ^+ N9 q4 [
In the 1890s the arrow was given to the Australian Museum and the legend continued until it came face-to-face with science. % t6 M/ w- v& ]
DNA testing by laboratories in Australia and New Zealand revealed the arrow was not made of Cook’s bone but was more likely made of animal bone, said Philp.
- N9 ~/ p: X5 o However, Cook’s fans refuse to give up hope that one Cook legend will prove true and that part of his remains will still be uncovered, as they say there is evidence not all of Cook’s body was buried at sea in 1779. "On this occasion technology has won," said Cliff Thornton, president of the Captain Cook Society, in a statement from Britain. "But I am sure that one of these days ... one of the Cook legends will prove to be true and it will happen one day." [理工类C] : |6 O6 }* a" J8 `1 K" g2 d
- n: c) L3 n- ]库克船长弓箭的传说 9 A0 ~- n2 `5 g4 M1 w! a1 V
3 N/ B% F- c* ]( _ 这本是个绝妙的传说,但DNA测试最终结束了这个长达两个世纪之久的古老故事。传说是关于一支据说是用1779年在桑伟奇群岛死去的英国探险家船长詹姆士·库克的遗骨刻成的夏威夷弓箭。
# d, _8 Z0 K! `( p+ t. p+ c: N 在不久前DNA证据宣布该弓箭并非来自于库克船长的遗骨时,澳大利亚博物馆收藏经理尤帝·菲利普说:“澳大利亚博物馆里并没有库克的遗骨。”但这并不能停止博物馆在展览会上展出弓箭。“考古发现:澳大利亚博物馆的宝藏”展览中的确还展示了一个在1778年夏威夷国王卡兰尼欧普送给库克的一个羽毛斗篷。 |