What does Rongo say here?
Are you sure it’s Hawai’ian? Rongo is the Maori name of the god of agriculture. The Hawai’ian version was called Lono.
Interestingly, when Captain Cook arrived in Hawai’i, he just by coincidence landed at Kealakekua Bay, the sacred harbor of Lono, during a festival dedicated to Lono, in ships apparently bearing the emblem of Lono (a white flag resembling the ships’ sails). So the Hawai’ians initially believed him to be Lono himself. Their disillusionment when it became clear that Cook and his men were mere humans taking advantage of the Hawai’ian’s hospitality probably was a factor leading to the quarrel that resulted in Cook’s murder there.
Pretty sure, but if you know elsewise, I am willing to be wrong
It sure sounds a lot like the state motto of Hawaii, which is “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka 'Āina i ka Pono” (the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness)
Question: murder or execution? If he was Lono, he would have be exempt/above taboo. Touching a shadow would not have been a capital crime. If he was not Lono, he might have committed any number of capital crimes punishable by summary execution. ???
I don’t think it could reasonably be called an execution. He wasn’t killed for violating kapu, he was killed in a disorganized fight between his men and the Hawai’ians during an ill-considered attempt by Cook to abduct a chief and hold him hostage to force the natives to return a longboat they had stolen from his ship.