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A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

ARRANGED IN SYSTEMATIC ORDER: FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN
AND PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION, DISCOVERY, AND COMMERCE, BY SEA AND LAND,
FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME.

BY ROBERT KERR; F.R.S. & F.A.S. EDIN.

ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND CHARTS.

VOL. XIII.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH: AND T. CADELL, LONDON. MDCCCXXIV.

CONTENTS OF VOL. XIII.

       *       *       *       *       *

PART III.--BOOK I.


CHAP. IV.

SECT. XVII.

A particular Description of the Island of Otaheite; its Produce and
Inhabitants; their Dress, Habitation, Food, Domestic Life and
Amusements.

SECT. XVIII.

Of the Manufactures, Boats, and Navigation of Otaheite.

XIX.

Of the Division of Time at Otaheite; Numeration, Computation of
Distance, Language, Diseases, Disposal of the Dead, Religion, War,
Weapons, and Government; with some general Observations for the Use of
future Navigators.

XX.

Description of the several Islands in the Neighbourhood of Otaheite,
with various Incidents; a Dramatic Entertainment; and many Particulars
relative to the Customs and Manners of the Inhabitants.

XXI.

The Passage from Oteroah to New Zealand; Incidents which happened in
going ashore there, and while the Ship lay in Poverty Bay.

SECT. XXII.

A Description of Poverty Bay, and the Face of the adjacent Country. The
Range from thence to Cape Turnagain, and back to Tolaga, with some
Account of the People and the Country and several Incidents that
happened on that Part of the Coast.

XIII.

The Range from Tolaga to Mercury Bay, with an Account of many Incidents
that happened both on board and ashore: A Description of several Views
exhibited by the Country, and of the Hippahs, or fortified Villages of
the Inhabitants.

XXIV.

The Range from Mercury Bay to the Bay of Islands: An Expedition up the
River Thames: Some Account of the Indians who inhabit its Banks, and the
fine Timber that grows there: Several Interviews with the Natives on
different Parts of the Coast, and a Skirmish with them upon an Island.

XXV.

Range from the Bay of Islands round North Cape to Queen Charlotte's
Island; and a Description of that Part of the Coast.

XXVI.

Transactions in Queen Charlotte's Sound; Passage through the Streight
which divides the two Islands, and back to Cape Turnagain: Horrid Custom
of the Inhabitants: Remarkable Melody of Birds: A Visit to a Hippah, and
many other Particulars.

XXVII.

Range from Cape Turnagain along the eastern Coast of Poenammoo, round
Cape South, and back to the Entrance of Cook's Streight, which completed
the Circumnavigation of the Country; with a Description of the Coast,
and of Admiralty Bay: The Departure from New Zealand, and various
Particulars.

XXVIII.

The Run from New Zealand to Botany Bay, on the East Coast of New
Holland, now called New South Wales; various Incidents that happened
there; with some Account of the Country end its Inhabitants.



SECT. XXIX.

The Range from Botany Bay; with a farther Account of the Country, and
its Inhabitants and Productions.

XXX.

Dangerous Situation of the Ship in her Course from Trinity Bay to
Endeavour River.

XXXI.

Transactions while the Ship was refitting in Endeavour River: A
Description of the adjacent Country, its Inhabitants and Productions.

XXXII.

Departure from Endeavour River; a particular Description of the Harbour
there, in which the Ship was refitted, the adjacent Country, and several
Islands near the Coast; the Range from Endeavour River to the Northern
Extremity of the Country, and the Dangers of that Navigation.

XXXIII.

Departure from New South Wales; a particular Description of the Country,
its Products, and People: A Specimen of the Language, and some
Observations on the Currents and Tides.

XXXIV.

The Passage from New South Wales to New Guinea, with an Account of what
happened upon landing there.

XXXV.

The Passage from New Guinea to the Island of Semau, and the Transactions
there.

XXXVI.

A particular Description of the Island of Savu, its Produce, and
Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language.

XXXVII.

The Run from the Island of Savu to Batavia, and an Account of the
Transactions there while the Ship was refitting.

XXVIII.

Some Account of Batavia, and the adjacent Country; with the Fruits,
flowers, and other Productions.

XXXIX.

Some Account of the Inhabitants of Batavia, and the adjacent Country,
their Manners, Customs, and Manner of Life.

XL.

The Passage from Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope, Some Account of
Prince's Island and its Inhabitants. Our Arrival at the Cape of Good
Hope. Some Remarks on the Run from Java Head to that Place, and to Saint
Helena. The Return of the Ship to England.

APPENDIX

An Abstract of the Voyage round the World, performed by Lewis de
Bougainville, Colonel of Foot, and Commander of the Expedition, in the
Frigate La Boudeuse, and the Storeship L'Etoile, in the Years 1766-7-8,
and 9, drawn up expressly for this Work.

A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

       *       *       *       *       *

PART III--BOOK I.

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAP, IV.


SECTION XVII.

_A particular Description of the Island of Otaheite; its Produce and
Inhabitants; their Dress, Habitations, Food, Domestic Life and
Amusements._


We found the longitude of Port Royal bay, in this island, as settled by
Captain Wallis, who discovered it on the 9th of June, 1767, to be within
half a degree of the truth. We found Point Venus, the northern extremity
of the island, and the eastern point of the bay, to lie in the longitude
of 149°13', this being the mean result of a great number of observations
made upon the spot. The island is surrounded by a reef of coral rock,
which forms several excellent bays and harbours, some of which have been
particularly described, where there is room and depth of water far any
number of the largest ships. Port Royal bay, called by the natives
Matavai which is not inferior to any in Otaheite, may easily be known,
by a very high mountain in the middle of the island, which bears due
south from Point Venus. To sail into it; either keep the west point of
the reef that lies before Point Venus, close on board, or give it a
birth of near half a mile, in order to avoid a small shoal of coral
rocks, on which there is but two fathoms and a half of water. The best
anchoring is on the eastern side of the bay, where there is sixteen and
fourteen fathom upon an oosy bottom. The shore of the bay is a fine
sandy beach, behind which runs a river of fresh water, so that any
number of ships may water here without incommoding each other; but the
only wood for firing, upon the whole island, is that of fruit-trees,
which must be purchased of the natives, or all hope of living upon good
terms with them given up.

The face of the country, except that part of it which borders upon the
sea, is very uneven; it rises in ridges that run up into the middle of
the island, and there form mountains, which may be seen at the distance
of sixty miles: Between the foot of these ridges and the sea, is a
border of low land, surrounding the whole island, except in a few places
where the ridges rise directly from the sea: The border of low land is
in different parts of different breadths, but no where more than a mile
and a half. The soil, except upon the very tops of the ridges, is
extremely rich and fertile, watered by a great number of rivulets of
excellent water, and covered with fruit-trees of various kinds, some of
which are of a stately growth and thick foliage, so as to form, one
continued wood; and even the tops of the ridges, though in general they
are bare, and burnt up by the sun, are, in some parts, not without their
produce.

The low land that lies between the foot of the ridges and the sea, and
some of the vallies, are the only parts of the island that are
inhabited, and here it is populous; the houses do not form villages or
towns, but are ranged along the whole border at the distance of about
fifty yards from each other, with little plantations of plantains, the
tree which furnishes them with cloth. The whole island, according to
Tupia's account, who certainly knew, could furnish six thousand seven
hundred and eighty fighting men, from which the number of inhabitants
may easily, be computed.[1]

[Footnote 1: It is questionable if the whole existing population of the
island amount to the number now mentioned. Such has been the decrease of
its interesting but licentious inhabitants since the time of Cook, to
which, it is melancholy to be obliged to say, their intercourse with
Europeans has most rapidly contributed. The reader is referred, for some
information on this point, to the account of Turnbull's voyage,
published in 1805. A few particulars as to the appearance of Otaheite,
on the authority of subsequent accounts, may be given with satisfaction
to the reader. The island, which consists of two peninsulas connected by
a low neck or isthmus covered with trees and shrubs but quite
uninhabited, presents a mountainous aspect, rising high in the centre,
with narrow valleys of romantic but luxuriantly pleasing scenery, and
well watered, studding its verdant surface. The lofty and clustering
hills of which the greater part of the island is formed, and which,
however steep of ascent, or abrupt in termination, are clothed to the
very summit with trees of very various colours and sizes, are encircled
with a rich border of low land, the proper seat of the inhabitants, who
seem to realize, in its fertility and beauty, all that human imagination
can conceive requisite for animal enjoyment. The soil of this border,
and of the valleys, is a blackish mould; that of the hills is different,
changing as you ascend them into variously coloured earth and marl. The
beds of the streams and rivers, which swell into torrents during the
rainy season, consist of stones and gravel, often of a flinty nature,
and often also containing particles of iron. Some basaltic appearances
in one of the districts into which the island is divided, and several
precipices among the mountains, evidently produced by sudden violence,
indicate the volcanic origin of this highly favoured country. There is
plenty of good water to be had over all the island. The weather from
March till August is usually mild and pleasant. During the rough season,
which lasts from December till March, the wind often blows very hard
from the west, and is attended with rain.--E.]

The produce of this island is bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, bananas of
thirteen sorts, the best we had ever eaten; plantains; a fruit not
unlike an apple, which, when ripe, is very pleasant; sweet potatoes,
yams, cocoas, a kind of _Arum_ fruit known here by the name of
_Jambu_, and reckoned most delicious; sugar-cane, which the inhabitants
eat raw; a root of the salop kind, called by the inhabitants _Pea_; a
plant called _Ethee_, of which the root only is eaten; a fruit that
grows in a pod, like that of a large kidney-bean, which, when it is
roasted, eats very much like a chesnut, by the natives called _Ahee_; a
tree called _Wharra_, called in the East Indies _Pandanes_, which
produces fruit, something like the pine-apple; a shrub called _Nono_;
the _Morinda_, which also produces fruit; a species of fern, of which
the root is eaten, and sometimes the leaves; and a plant called _Theve_,
of which the root also is eaten: But the fruits of the _Nono_, the fern,
and the _Theve_, are eaten only by the inferior people, and in times of
scarcity. All these, which serve the inhabitants for food, the earth
produces spontaneously, or with so little culture, that they seem to be
exempted from the first general curse, that "man should eat his bread in
the sweat of his brow." They have also the Chinese paper mulberry,
_morus papyrifera_, which they call _Aouto_; a tree resembling the wild
fig-tree of the West Indies; another species of fig, which they call
_Mattè_; the _cordia sebestina orientalis_, which they call _Etou_; a
kind of Cyprus grass, which they call _Moo_; a species of
_tournefortia_, which they call _Taheinoo_; another of the _convolvulus
poluce_, which they call _Eurhe_; the _solanum centifolium_, which they
call _Ebooa_; the _calophyllum mophylum_, which they call _Tamannu_; the
_hibiscus tiliaceus_, called _Poerou_, a frutescent nettle; the _urtica
argentea_, called _Erowa_; with many other plants which cannot here be
particularly mentioned: Those that have been named already will be
referred to in the subsequent part of this work.

They have no European fruit, garden stuff, pulse, or legumes, nor grain
of any kind.

Of tame animals they have only hogs, dogs, and poultry; neither is there
a wild animal in the island, except ducks, pigeons, paroquets, with a
few other birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor any
serpent. But the sea supplies them with great variety of most excellent
fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to catch it their
principal labour.[2]

[Footnote 2: It was no doubt a work of supererogation in the
missionaries, to attempt to augment the stock of animal provision in
this island, to which nature had been so bountiful in dispensing her
favours. This however they did, but with little success. The natives
were too amply furnished with pleasant and wholesome aliment, to
undertake the care of cattle, which accordingly either perished from
neglect, or were suffered to turn wild in their mountains. The
imperfection too of their cookery operations not a little tended to
bring beef and mutton into contempt. Instead of dressing them in some of
the European methods, they treated them, as they did their dogs and
hogs, by the process of burning. The consequence was, the skin became as
tough as leather, and the taste very offensive. These were formidable
difficulties, to people of such nice sense as the Otaheitans, who were
therefore readily induced to revert to their own stock. See account of
the missionary voyage, for a good deal of information on the subjects
alluded to in this note.--E.]

As to the people, they are of the largest size of Europeans. The men are
tall, strong, well-limbed, and finely shaped. The tallest that we saw
was a man upon a neighbouring island, called _Huaheine_, who measured
six feet three inches and a half. The women of the superior rank are
also in general above our middle stature, but those of the inferior
class are rather below it, and some of them are very small. This defect
in size probably proceeds from their early commerce with men, the only
thing in which they differ from their superiors, that could possibly
affect their growth.

Their natural complexion is that kind of clear olive, or _brunette_,
which many people in Europe prefer to the finest white and red. In those
that are exposed to the wind and sun, it is considerably deepened, but
in others that live under shelter, especially the superior class of
women, it continues of its native hue, and the skin is most delicately
smooth and soft; they have no tint in their cheeks, which we distinguish
by the name of colour. The shape of the face is comely, the cheek-bones
are not high, neither are the eyes hollow, nor the brow prominent; The
only feature that does not correspond with our ideas of beauty is the
nose, which, in general, is somewhat flat; but their eyes, especially
those of the women, are full of expression, sometimes sparkling with
fire, and sometimes melting with softness; their teeth also are, almost
without exception, most beautifully even and white, and their breath
perfectly without taint.[3]

[Footnote 3: The missionary account speaks less favourably of the
comeliness of these islanders. But this being a matter of taste, will of
course be very variously considered. The reader may amuse himself by
comparing the following quotation with the text, and forming his own
opinion. He will at all events readily admit, that nature has done more
for these people than art, and that the predominance of fashion is
amongst them, as it is sometimes elsewhere, accomplished at the expence
of beauty. "The natural colour of the inhabitants is olive, inclining to
copper. Some are very dark, as the fishermen, who are most exposed to
the sun and sea; but the women, who carefully clothe themselves, and
avoid the sun-beams, are but a shade or two darker than a European
brunette. Their eyes are black and sparkling; their teeth white and
even; their skin soft and delicate; their limbs finely turned; their
hair jetty, perfumed and ornamented with flowers; but we did not think
their features beautiful, as by continual pressure from infancy, which
they call _tourooma_, they widen the face with their hands, distend
their mouth, and flatten the nose and forehead, which gives them a too
masculine look; and they are in general large, and wide over the
shoulders; we were therefore disappointed in the judgment, we had formed
from the report of preceding visitors; and though here and there was to
be seen a living person who might be esteemed comely, we saw few who in
fact could be called beauties; yet they possess eminent feminine graces:
Their faces are never darkened with a scowl, or covered with a cloud of
sullenness or suspicion." This account fully concurs in what follows as
to the manners and behaviour of the Otaheitans.--E.]

The hair is almost universally black, and rather coarse; the men have
beards, which they wear in many fashions, always, however, plucking out
great part of them, and keeping the rest perfectly clean and neat. Both
sexes also eradicate every hair from under their arms, and accused us of
great uncleanness for not doing the same. In their motions there is at
once vigour and ease; their walk is graceful, their deportment liberal,
and their behaviour to strangers and to each other affable and
courteous. In their dispositions also, they seemed to be brave, open,
and candid, without either suspicion or treachery, cruelty, or revenge;
so that we placed the same confidence in them as in our best friends,
many of us, particularly Mr Banks, sleeping frequently in their houses
in the woods, without a companion, and consequently wholly in their
power. They were, however, all thieves; and when that is allowed, they
need not much fear a competition with the people of any other nation
upon earth. During our stay in this island we saw about five or six
persons like one that was met by Mr Banks and Dr Solander on the 24th of
April, in their walk to the eastward, whose skins were of a dead white,
like the nose of a white horse; with white hair, beard, brows, and
eyelashes; red, tender eyes; a short sight, and scurfy skins, covered
with a kind of white down; but we found that no two of these belonged to
the same family, and therefore concluded, that they were not a species,
but unhappy individuals, rendered anomalous by disease.[4]

[Footnote 4: In the opinion here expressed the Editor has already
acquiesced. He would remark by the bye, that although two or more
persons had been of the same family, no sufficient argument could have
been adduced, as to the peculiar affection depending on circumstances
adequate to constitute a species; for it is very clear that hereditary
diseases do not necessarily imply essential distinctions, and there
seems no reason to alter the laws of logic in favour of the
Albinos.--E.]

It is a custom in most countries where the inhabitants have long hair,
for the men to cut it short, and the women to pride themselves in its
length. Here, however, the contrary custom prevails; the women always
cut it short round their ears, and the men, except the fishers, who are
almost continually in the water, suffer it to flow in large waves over
their shoulders, or tie it up in a bunch on the top of their heads.

They have a custom also of anointing their heads with what they call
_monoe, an oil expressed from the cocoa-nut, in which some sweet herbs
or flowers have been infused: As the oil is generally rancid, the smell
is at first very disagreeable to a European; and as they live in a hot
country, and have no such thing as a comb, they are not able to keep
their heads free from lice, which the children and common people
sometimes pick out and eat; a hateful custom, wholly different from
their manners in every other particular; for they are delicate and
cleanly almost without example, and those to whom we distributed combs,
soon delivered themselves from vermin, with a diligence which showed
that they were not more odious to us than to them.[5]

[Footnote 5: This remark is scarcely consistent with what is related in
the missionary account, by which it appears that these vermin are
considered by the Otaheitans much in the same light as certain animals
were once in our own land, viz. royal property. The passage is too
curious to be omitted. It displays a very remarkable instance of that
ease and elegance, with which crowned heads can occasionally employ
themselves for the good of their subjects. "The mode of carrying the
king and queen is with their legs hanging down before, seated on the
shoulders and leaning on the head of their carriers, and very frequently
amusing themselves with picking out the vermin which there abound. It is
the singular privilege of the queen, that of all women, she alone may
eat them; which privilege she never fails to make use of." Such hunting
excursions are surely much more commendable, because much more innocent
in their own nature and more beneficial in their results, than those
practised amongst ourselves, at the risque of neck and limbs, and to the
still more important detriment of the farmer's gates and fences. The
point of privilege, perhaps, is less capable of defence--admitting,
however, for a moment, that pre-eminence of station and office entitles
the holder to singularity of inclination and conduct, as it is certainly
allowed to do in the case of some other sovereigns, the question then
becomes a mere matter of taste, and it is ungenerous to deny the
Otaheitan queen the benefit of the old maxim, _de gustibus non est
disputandum_.--E.]

They have a custom of staining their bodies, nearly in the same manner
as is practised in many other parts of the world, which they call
_tattowing_. They prick the skin, so as just not to fetch blood, with a
small instrument, something in the form of a hoe; that part which
answers to the blade is made of a bone or shell, scraped very thin, and
is from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half wide; the edge is cut
into sharp teeth or points, from the number of three to twenty,
according to its size: When this is to be used, they dip the teeth into
a mixture of a kind of lamp-black, formed of the smoke that rises from
an oily nut which they burn instead of candles, and water; the teeth,
thus prepared, are placed upon the skin, and the handle to which they
are fastened being struck, by quick smart blows, with a stick fitted to
the purpose, they pierce it, and at the same time carry into the
puncture the black composition, which leaves an indelible stain. The
operation is painful, and it is some days before the wounds are healed.
It is performed upon the youth of both sexes when they are about twelve
or fourteen years of age, on several parts of the body, and in various
figures, according to the fancy of the parent, or perhaps the rank of
the party. The women are generally marked with this stain, in the form
of a Z, on every joint of their fingers and toes, and frequently round
the outside of their feet: The men are also marked with the same figure,
and both men and women have squares, circles, crescents, and
ill-designed representations of men, birds, or dogs, and various other
devices impressed upon their legs and arms, some of which we were told
had significations, though we could never learn what they were. But the
part on which these ornaments are lavished with the greatest profusion,
is the breech: This, in both sexes, is covered with a deep black; above
which, arches are drawn one over another as high as the short ribs. They
are often a quarter of an inch broad, and the edges are not straight
lines, but indented. These arches are their pride, and are shewn both by
men and women with a mixture of ostentation and pleasure; whether as an
ornament, or a proof of their fortitude and resolution in bearing pain,
we could not determine. The face in general is left unmarked; for we saw
but one instance to the contrary. Some old men had the greatest part of
their bodies covered with large patches of black, deeply indented at the
edges, like a rude imitation of flame; but we were told, that they came
from a low island, called _Noouoora_, and were not natives of Otaheite.

Mr Banks saw the operation of _tattowing_ performed upon the backside of
a girl about thirteen years old. The instrument used upon this occasion
had thirty teeth, and every stroke, of which at least a hundred were
made in a minute, drew an ichor or serum a little tinged with blood. The
girl bore it with most Stoical resolution for about a quarter of an
hour; but the pain of so many hundred punctures as she had received in
that time then became intolerable: She first complained in murmurs, then
wept, and at last burst into loud lamentations, earnestly imploring the
operator to desist. He was, however, inexorable; and when she began to
struggle, she was held down by two women, who sometimes soothed and
sometimes chid her, and now and then, when she was most unruly, gave her
a smart blow. Mr Banks staid in a neighbouring house an hour, and the
operation was not over when he went away; yet it was performed but upon
one side, the other having been done some time before; and the arches
upon the loins, in which they most pride themselves, and which give more
pain than all the rest, were still to be done.

It is strange that these people should value themselves upon what is no
distinction; for I never saw a native of this island, either man or
woman, in a state of maturity, in whom these marks were wanting:
Possibly they may have their rise in superstition, especially as they
produce no visible advantage, and are not made without great pain; but
though we enquired of many hundreds, we could never get any account of
the matter.[6]

[Footnote 6: It is very remarkable that something like this tattowing
was practised among the Thracians of old, and was actually considered as
an indication of nobility. So says Herodotus in Terps. 6. The notion is
no way irrational, that early and semi-civilized people had no other way
of distinguishing ranks, than by making visible differences on the skin.
The original inhabitants of Britain, it is probable, meant the same
thing by their use of colouring substances. Though it is probable enough
too, that another purpose was also accomplished thereby, viz.
preservation in some degree from the inclemency of the climate. By some
authors, it has been imagined, that such painting rendered them more
terrible to their enemies, which was the reason for the practice. The
Indians of North Carolina, according to the curious account of them by
Surveyor-General Lawson, Lond. 1714, had still another reason for
something similar. Speaking of their use of varnish, pipe-clay,
lamp-black, &c. &c. for colouring their bodies before going out to war,
he says, "when these creatures are thus painted, they make the most
frightful figures that can be imitated by man, and seem more like devils
than human creatures. You may be sure that they are about some mischief
when you see them thus painted; for in all the hostilities which have
ever been acted against the English at any time, in several of the
plantations of America, the savages always appeared in this disguise,
whereby they might never after be discovered, or known by any of the
Christians that should happen to see them after they had made their
escape; for it is impossible even to know an Indian under these colours,
although he has been at your house a thousand times, and you know him at
other times as well as you do any person living."--Mr Bryan Edwards
mentions something of the Charaibes like this. "Not satisfied with the
workmanship of nature, they called in the assistance of art, to make
themselves more formidable. They painted their faces and bodies with
arnotto so extravagantly, that their natural complexion, which was
really that of a Spanish olive, was not easily to be distinguished under
the surface of crimson. However, as this mode of painting themselves was
practised by both sexes, perhaps it was at first introduced as a defence
against the venomous insects, so common in tropical climates, or
possibly they considered the brilliancy of the colour as highly
ornamental." These Charaibes had other ways of deforming themselves,
some of which resembled what we shall find described in the course of
this work. They made deep cuts on their cheeks, and stained them black;
and painted white and black circles round their eyes. The tatooing which
Mr Barrow speaks of, as practised in part of Africa where he travelled,
one should incline to imagine very different from what is in fashion at
Otaheite, which, according to our text, affords any other than
pleasurable sensations to the person undergoing this operation. The
reader may judge for himself, at least so far as idea goes. "A greater
degree of amusement (than what their music and dancing yield) seems to
be derived by the women from the practice of _tatooing_, or, marking the
body, by raising the epidermis from the cuticle; a custom that has been
found to exist among most of the uncivilized nations inhibiting warm
countries, and which probably owes its origin to a total want of mental
resources, and of the employment of time. By slightly irritating, it
conveys to the body pleasurable sensations. In Kafferland it has passed
into a general fashion. No woman is without a tatooed skin; and their
ingenuity is chiefly exercised between the breast and on the arms." Such
a description corresponds with the notion of some frequently renewed
beautfyings of the toilet, rather than that of the infliction of deep
and indelible marks, as are prescribed in the Otaheitan ritual. Thus we
may see here, as in other instances, that different motives give rise to
similar practices.--E.]

Their clothing consists of cloth or matting of different kinds, which
will be described among their other manufactures. The cloth, which will
not bear wetting, they wear in dry weather, and the matting when it
rains; they are put on in many different ways, just as their fancy leads
them; for in their garments nothing is cut into shape, nor are any two
pieces sewed together. The dress of the better sort of women consists of
three or four pieces: One piece, about two yards wide, and eleven yards
long, they wrap several times round their waist, so as 'to hang down
like a petticoat as low as the middle of the leg, and this they call
_Parou_: Two or three other pieces, about two yards and a half long, and
one wide, each having a hole cut in the middle, they place one upon
another, and then putting the head through the holes, they bring the
long ends down before and behind; the others remain open at the sides,
and give liberty to the arms: This, which they call the _Tebuta_, is
gathered round the waist, and confined with a girdle or sash of thinner
cloth, which is long enough, to go many times round them, and exactly
resembles the garment worn by the inhabitants of Peru and Chili, which
the Spaniards call _Poncho_. The dress of the men is the same, except
that, instead of suffering the cloth that is wound about the hips to
hang down like a petticoat, they bring it between their legs so as to
have some resemblance to breeches, and it is then called _Maro_. This is
the dress of all ranks of people, and being universally the same as to
form, the gentlemen and ladies distinguish themselves from the lower
people by the quantity; some of them will wrap round them several pieces
of cloth, eight or ten yards long, and two or three broad; and some
throw a large piece loosely over their shoulders, in the manner of a
cloke, or perhaps two pieces, if they are very great personages, and are
desirous to appear in state. The inferior sort, who have only a small
allowance of cloth from the tribes or families to which they belong, are
obliged to be more thinly clad. In the heat of the day they appear
almost naked, the women having only a scanty petticoat, and the men
nothing but the sash that is passed between their legs and fastened
round the waist. As finery is always troublesome, and particularly in a
hot country, where it consists in putting one covering upon another, the
women of rank always uncover themselves as low as the waist in the
evening, throwing off all that they wear on the upper part of the body,
with the same negligence and ease as our ladies would lay by a cardinal
or double handkerchief. And the chiefs, even when they visited us,
though they had as much cloth round their middle as would clothe a dozen
people, had frequently the rest of the body quite naked.

Upon their legs and feet they wear no covering; but they shade their
faces from the sun with little bonnets, either of matting or of
cocoa-nut leaves, which they make occasionally in a few minutes. This,
however, is not all their head-dress; the women sometimes wear little
turbans, and sometimes a dress which they value much more, and which,
indeed, is much more becoming, called _Tomou_; the _Tomou_ consists of
human hair, plaited in threads, scarcely thicker than sewing silk. Mr
Banks got pieces of it above a mile in length, without a knot. These
they wind round the head in such a manner as produces a very pretty
effect, and in a very great quantity; for I have seen five or six such
pieces wound about the head of one woman: Among these threads they stick
flowers of various kinds, particularly the cape-jessamine, of which they
have great plenty, as it is always planted near their houses. The men
sometimes stick the tail-feather of the Tropic-bird upright in their
hair, which, as I have observed before, is often tied in a bunch upon
the top of their heads: Sometimes they wear a kind of whimsical garland,
made of flowers of various kinds, stuck into a piece of the rind of a
plantain; or of scarlet peas, stuck with gum upon a piece of wood: And
sometimes they wear a kind of wig, made of the hair of men or dogs, or
perhaps of cocoa-nut strings, woven upon one thread, which is tied under
their hair, so that these artificial honours of their head may hang down
behind. Their personal ornaments, besides flowers, are few; both sexes
wear ear-rings, but they are placed only on one side: When we came they
consisted of small pieces of shell, stone, berries, red peas, or some
small pearls, three in a string; but our beads very soon supplanted them
all.

The children go quite naked; the girls till they are three or four years
old, and the boys till they are six or seven.

The houses, or rather dwellings of these people, have been occasionally
mentioned before: They are all built in the wood, between the sea and
the mountains, and no more ground is cleared for each house, than just
sufficient to prevent the dropping of the branches from rotting the
thatch with which they are covered; from the house, therefore, the
inhabitant steps immediately under the shade, which is the most
delightful that can be imagined. It consists of groves of bread-fruit
and cocoa-nuts, without underwood, which are intersected, in all
directions, by the paths that lead from one house to the other. Nothing
can be more grateful than this shade in so warm a climate, nor any thing
more beautiful than these walks. As there is no underwood, the shade
cools without impeding the air; and the houses, having no walls, receive
the gale from whatever point it blows. I shall now give a particular
description of a house of a middling size, from which, as the structure
is universally the same, a perfect idea may be formed both of those that
are bigger, and those that are less.

The ground winch it covers is an oblong square, four and twenty feet
long, and eleven wide; over this a roof is raised, upon three rows of
pillars or posts, parallel to each other, one on each side, and the
other in the middle. This roof consists of two flat sides inclining to
each other, and terminating in a ridge, exactly like the roofs of our
thatched houses in England. The utmost height within is about nine feet,
and the eaves on each side reach to within about three feet and a half
of the ground: Below this, and through the whole height at each end, it
is open, no part of it being enclosed with a wall. The roof is thatched
with palm-leaves, and the floor is covered, some inches deep, with soft
hay; over this are laid mats, so that the whole is one cushion, upon
which they sit in the day, and sleep in the night. In some houses,
however, there is one stool, which is wholly appropriated to the master
of the family; besides this, they have no furniture, except a few little
blocks of wood, the upper side of which is hollowed into a curve, and
which serve them for pillows.

The house is indeed principally used as a dormitory; for, except it
rains, they eat in the open air, under the shade of the next tree. The
clothes that they wear in the day serve them for covering in the night;
the floor is the common bed of the whole household, and is not divided
by any partition. The master of the house and his wife sleep in the
middle, next to them the married people, next to them the unmarried
women, and next to them, at a little distance, the unmarried men; the
servants, or _toutous_, as they are called, sleep in the open air,
except it rains, and in that case they come just within the shed.[7]

[Footnote 7: If the Otaheitans were little benefited by the attempts of
Europeans to rear cattle among them, as we have seen, they were
certainly indebted for the introduction of another race of animals, not
at all likely to degenerate or die out in a climate so much more
congenial to their nature, than the comparatively inclement regions of
our hemisphere, where, notwithstanding the activity of hostile hands,
they are known to propagate with most vexatious activity. "Their
houses," says the missionary account, "are full of fleas, which harbour
in the floor, and are very troublesome, though the natives are much less
affected by them than we are; they say they were brought to them by the
Europeans. One of our missionaries writes, he has been obliged to get up
at midnight, and to run into the sea to cool himself, and to get rid of
the swarm of disagreeable companions." The poor missionary was worse off
among the fleas, than even Mr Barrow in the midst of the musquitoes,
from which, it does not seem, that he ever had occasion to seek refuge,
in any such untimely ablution.--E.]

There are, however, houses of another kind, belonging to the chiefs, in
which there is some degree of privacy. These are much smaller, and so
constructed as to be carried about in their canoes from place to place,
and set up occasionally, like a tent; they are enclosed on the sides
with cocoa-nut leaves, but not so close as to exclude the air, and the
chief and his wife sleep in them alone.

There are houses also of a much larger size, not built either for the
accommodation of a single chief, or a single family; but as common
receptacles for all the people of a district. Some of them are two
hundred feet long, thirty broad, and, under the ridge, twenty feet high;
these are built and maintained at the common expence of the district,
for the accommodation of which they are intended; and have on one side
of them a large area, inclosed with low pallisadoes.

These houses, like those of separate families, have no walls. Privacy,
indeed, is little wanted among people who have not the idea of
indecency, and who gratify every appetite and passion before witnesses,
with no more sense of impropriety than we feel when we satisfy our
hunger at a social board with our family or friends. Those who have no
idea of indecency with respect to actions, can have none with respect to
words; it is, therefore, scarcely necessary to observe, that, in the
conversation of these people, that which is the principal source of
their pleasure, is always the principal topic; and that every thing is
mentioned without any restraint or emotion, and in the most direct
terms, by both sexes.[8]

[Footnote 8: Let us for once hear the missionary account, in palliation
at least, of such clamant enormities. "They have no partitions in their
houses; but it may be affirmed, they have in many instances more refined
ideas of decency than ourselves; and one long a resident, scruples not
to declare, that he never saw any appetite, hunger and thirst excepted,
gratified in public. It is too true, that for the sake of gaining our
extraordinary curiosities, and to please our brutes, they have appeared
immodest in the extreme. Yet they lay the charge wholly at our door, and
say, that Englishmen are ashamed of nothing, and that we have led them
to public acts of indecency never before practised among themselves.
Iron here, more precious than gold, bears down every barrier of
restraint. Honesty and modesty yield to the force of temptation." A
remark may be made here of some consequence. In estimating the momentum
of temptations, we ought to consider not only their direct strength, but
also what is known or believed of the extent of their influence on the
society to which people belong. A man, it is certain, will much more
readily acquiesce in those which he has reason to think common to his
fellow creatures, than in others exclusively directed to himself. In the
one case he anticipates sympathy, should he transgress; in the other, he
is deterred by the apprehension of being singular in guilt. The
Otaheitans were in the former predicament, and accordingly were perhaps
universally accessible to the charms of nails and hatchets and beads.
Whereas, it is probable, that had even similar solicitations been
attempted in any instances unknown to each other, they would perhaps
have been resisted. But vice once known to be established in society,
becomes daily more prolific of its kind, and, like the Fama of Virgil,
_vires acquirit eundo_. It is but fair to give these islanders the full
benefit of this principle, when we sit in assize on them. Pray who can
tell what would be the consequence of a visit from some of the
inhabitants of Saturn, or the Georgium Sidus, should they open up their
ultramundane treasures in sight of the British court? Is it conceivable,
that the lovers of embroidery, and lace and diamonds would resist the
witcheries of the strangers?--or that the marvellous effects of their
liberality in distribution, should be confined within the walls of St
James's? He that can wisely answer these questions, is at liberty to
return a verdict in the trial of the Otaheitans.--E.]

Of the food eaten here the greater part is vegetable. Here are no tame
animals except hogs, dogs, and poultry, as I have observed before, and
these are by no means plenty. When a chief kills a hog, if is almost
equally divided among his dependants; and as they are very numerous, the
share of each individual at these feasts, which are not frequent, must
necessarily be small. Dogs and fowls fall somewhat more frequently to
the share of the common people. I cannot much commend the flavour of
their fowls; but we all agreed, that a South Sea dog was little inferior
to an English lamb; their excellence is probably owing to their being
kept up, and fed wholly upon vegetables. The sea affords them a great
variety of fish. The smaller fish, when they catch any, are generally
eaten raw, as we eat oysters; and nothing that the sea produces comes
amiss to them: They are fond of lobsters, crabs, and other shell-fish,
which are found upon the coast; and they will eat not only sea-insects,
but what the seamen call _blubbers_, though some of them are so tough,
that they are obliged, to suffer them to become putrid before they can
be chewed. Of the many vegetables that have been mentioned already as
serving them for food, the principal is the bread-fruit, to procure
which costs them no trouble or labour but climbing a tree: The tree
which produces it, does not indeed shoot up spontaneously; but if a man
plants ten of them in his lifetime, which he may do in about an hour, he
will as completely fulfil his duty to his own and future generations, as
the natives of our less temperate climate can do by ploughing in the
cold of winter, and reaping in the summer's heat, as often as these
seasons return; even if, after he has procured bread for his present
household, he should convert a surplus into money, and lay it up for his
children.

It is true, indeed, that the bread-fruit is not always in season; but
cocoa-nuts, bananas, plantains, and a great variety of other fruits,
supply the deficiency.

It may well be supposed, that cookery is but little studied by these
people as an art; and, indeed, they have but two ways of applying fire
to dress their food, broiling and baking; the operation of broiling is
so simple that it requires no description, and their baking has been
described already, in the account of an entertainment prepared for us by
Tupia. Hogs and large fish are extremely well dressed in the same
manner; and, in our opinion, were more juicy, and more equally done,
than by any art of cookery now practised in Europe. Bread-fruit is also
cooked in an oven of the same kind, which renders it soft, and something
like a boiled potatoe; not quite so farinaceous as a good one, but more
so than those of the middling sort.

Of the-bread-fruit they also make three dishes, by putting either water
or the milk of the cocoa-nut to it, then beating it to a paste with a
stone pestle, and afterwards mixing it with ripe plantains, bananas, or
the sour paste which they call _mahie_.

The mahie, which has been mentioned as a succedaneum for ripe
bread-fruit, before the season for gathering a fresh crop comes on, is
thus made:

The fruit is gathered just before it is perfectly ripe, and being laid
in heaps, is closely covered with leaves; in this state it undergoes a
fermentation, and becomes disagreeably sweet: The core is then taken out
entire, which is done by gently pulling the stalk, and the rest of the
fruit is thrown into a hole which is dug for that purpose, generally in
the houses, and neatly lined in the bottom and sides with grass; the
whole is then covered with leaves, and heavy stones laid upon them: In
this state it undergoes a second fermentation, and becomes sour, after
which it will suffer no change for many months: It is taken out of the
hole as it is wanted for use, and being made into balls, it is wrapped
up in leaves and baked; after it is dressed, it will keep five or
six-weeks. It is eaten both cold and hot, and the natives seldom make a
meal without it, though to us the taste was as disagreeable as that of a
pickled olive generally is the first time it is eaten.

As the making of this mahie depends, like brewing, upon fermentation,
so, like brewing, it sometimes fails, without their being able to
ascertain the cause; it is very natural, therefore, that the making it
should be connected with superstitious notions and ceremonies: It
generally falls to the lot of the old women, who will suffer no creature
to touch any thing belonging to it, but those whom they employ as
assistants, nor even to go into that part of the house where the
operation is carrying on. Mr Banks happened to spoil a large quantity of
it only by inadvertently touching a leaf which lay upon it. The old
woman, who then presided over these mysteries, told him, that the
process would fail; and immediately uncovered the hole in a fit of
vexation and despair. Mr Banks regretted the mischief he had done, but
was somewhat consoled by the opportunity which it gave him of examining
the preparation, which perhaps, but for such an accident, would never
have offered.[9]

[Footnote 9: "This paste," we are told in the missionary account, "makes
a most nutritious and sweet pudding, and all the children of the family
and their relations feast on it eagerly. During this festive season they
seldom quit the house, and continue wrapped up in cloth: And it is
surprising to see them in a month become so fair and fat, that they can
scarcely breathe. The children afterwards grow amazingly. The baked
bread-fruit in this state very much in taste resembles gingerbread."
This delicate and wholesome provision, it is said, is not confined to
the chiefs and wealthier people, as all who will be at the pains to
provide an oven, may readily be supplied with bread-fruit from their
neighbours. Such is the generosity of these interesting people, that
all of a man's own rank are at all times ready to contribute largely to
his support, on his making known his need. In how many respects are
these islanders worthy of being held up as examples for us!--E.]

Such is their food, to which salt-water is the universal sauce, no meal
being eaten without it: Those who live near the sea have it fetched as
it is wanted; those who live at some distance keep it in large bamboos,
which are set up in their houses for use. Salt-water, however, is not
their only sauce; they make another of the kernels of cocoa-nuts, which
being fermented till they dissolve into a paste somewhat resembling
butter, are beaten up with salt-water. The flavour of this is very
strong, and was, when we first tasted it, exceedingly nauseous; a little
use, however, reconciled some of our people to it so much, that they
preferred it to our own sauces, especially with fish. The natives seemed
to consider it as a dainty, and do not use it at their common meals;
possibly because they think it ill management to use cocoa-nuts so
lavishly, or perhaps when we were at the island, they were scarcely ripe
enough for the purpose.

For drink, they have in general nothing but water, or the juice of the
cocoa-nut; the art of producing liquors that intoxicate, by
fermentation, being happily unknown among them; neither have they any
narcotic which they chew, as the natives of some other countries do
opium, beetle-root, and tobacco. Some of them drank freely of our
liquors, and in a few instances became very drunk; but the persons to
whom this happened were so far from desiring to repeat the debauch, that
they would never touch any of our liquors afterwards. We were, however,
informed, that they became drunk by drinking a juice that is expressed
from the leaves of a plant which they call _ava ava_. This plant was not
in season when we were there, so that we saw no instances of its
effects; and as they considered drunkenness as a disgrace, they probably
would have concealed from us any instances which might have happened
during our stay. This vice is almost peculiar to the chiefs, and
considerable persons, who vie with each other in drinking the greatest
number of draughts, each draught being about a pint. They keep this
intoxicating juice with great care from their women.[10]

[Footnote 10: Turnbull speaks of intoxication being quite common and
excessive at the feasts of the Otaheitans. And the reader will often
hear of the intemperate use and had effects of the ava or yava. The love
of this liquor, or its effects rather, must indeed be strong, to
reconcile them to the disgusting manner in which it is prepared.
"Several women," says the missionary account, "have each a portion
given them to chew of the stem and root (of the yava shrub) together,
which, when masticated, they spit into a bowl into which some of the
leaves of the plant are finely broken; they add water, or cocoa-nut
liquor: The whole is then well stirred, and begins quickly to ferment;
when it is strained or wrung out in the moo gross, or cocoa-nut fibres,
and drank in cups of folded leaves. It is highly intoxicating, and seems
for a while to deprive them of the use of their limbs: They lie down and
sleep till the effects are passed, and during the time have their limbs
chafed with their women's hands. A gill of the yava is a sufficient dose
for a man. When they drink it, they always eat something afterwards; and
frequently fall asleep with the provisions in their mouths: When drank
after a hearty meal, it produces but little effect." The writer forgets
his authority, but he remembers to have read of a practice somewhat more
economical, though not more delicate, than what is adopted at Otaheite.
The people are all passionately fond of the intoxicating beverage
prepared from mushrooms; as the common sort cannot procure it at first
hand, owing to its price, they are in the habit of attending at the
houses of the grandees, where entertainments are going on, provided with
vessels for the purpose of collecting the urine of the favoured few who
have drunk of it, which they eagerly swallow. The peculiar smell and
flavour, it seems, are preserved notwithstanding this percolation, and
are considered amply remunerative of the pains and importunity used to
obtain it. Such things are strikingly expressive of that worse than
brutish perversity which actuates man, when once his lusts have acquired
the dominion. It is lamentable to think, that after that conquest over
his reason and interest, his degradation in sensuality is in proportion
to his ingenuity of invention; and that no dignity of situation, or
splendour of office, or brilliancy of talent, can possibly redeem him
from the contempt and detestation of those whose good opinion it ought
to be his ambition to covet.--E.]

Table they have none; but their apparatus for eating is set out with
great neatness, though the articles are too simple and too few to allow
any thing for show: And they commonly eat alone; but when a stranger
happens to visit them, he sometimes makes a second in their mess. Of the
meal of one of their principal people I shall give a particular
description.

He sits down under the shade of the next tree, or on the shady side of
his house, and a large quantity of leaves, either of the bread-fruit or
banana, is neatly spread before him upon the ground as a table-cloth; a
basket is then set by him that contains his provision, which, if fish or
flesh, is ready dressed, and wrapped up in leaves, and two cocoa-nut
shells, one full of salt water, and the other of fresh: His attendants,
which are not few, seat themselves round him, and when all is ready, he
begins by washing his hands and his mouth thoroughly with the fresh
water, and this he repeats almost continually throughout the whole meal;
he then takes part of his provision out of the basket, which generally
consists of a small fish or two, two or three breadfruits, fourteen or
fifteen ripe bananas, or six or seven apples: He first takes half a
bread-fruit, peels off the rind, and takes out the core with his nails;
of this he puts as much into his mouth as it can hold, and while he
chews it, takes the fish out of the leaves, and breaks one of them into
the salt water, placing the other, and what remains of the bread-fruit,
upon the leaves that have been spread before him. When this is done, he
takes up a small piece of the fish that has been broken into the salt
water, with all the fingers of one hand, and sucks it into his mouth, so
as to get with it as much of the salt water as possible: In the same
manner he takes the rest by different morsels, and between each, at
least very frequently, takes a small sup of the salt water, either out
of the cocoa-nut shell or the palm of his hand: In the mean time one of
his attendants has prepared a young cocoa-nut, by peeling off the outer
rind with his teeth, an operation which to an European appears very
surprising; but it depends so much upon sleight, that many or us were
able to do it before we left the island, and some that could scarcely
crack a filbert: The master, when he chuses to drink, takes the
cocoa-nut thus prepared, and boring a hole through the shell with his
finger, or breaking it with a stone, he sucks out the liquor. When he
has eaten his bread-fruit and fish, he begins with his plantains, one of
which makes but a mouthful, though it be as big as a black-pudding; if
instead of plantains he has apples, he never tastes them till they have
been pared; to do this a shell is picked up from the ground, where they
are always in plenty, and tossed to him by an attendant: He immediately
begins to cut or scrape off the rind, but so awkwardly that great part
of the fruit is wasted. If, instead of fish, he has flesh, he must have
some succedaneum for a knife to divide it; and for this purpose a piece
of bamboo is tossed to him, of which he makes the necessary implement by
splitting it transversely with his nail. While all this has been doing,
some of his attendants have been employed in beating bread-fruit with a
stone-pestle upon a block of wood; by being beaten in this manner, and
sprinkled from time to time with water, it is reduced to the consistence
of a soft paste, and is then put into a vessel somewhat like a butcher's
tray, and either made up alone, or mixed with banana or mahie, according
to the taste of the master, by pouring water upon it by degrees and
squeezing it often through the hand: Under this operation it acquires
the consistence of a thick custard, and a large cocoa-nut shell full of
it being set before him, he sips it as we should do a jelly if we had
no spoon to take it from the glass: The meal is then finished by again
washing his hands and his mouth. After which the cocoa-nut shells are
cleaned, and every thing that is left is replaced in the basket.

The quantity of food which these people eat at a meal is prodigious: I
have seen one man devour two or three fishes as big as a perch; three
bread-fruits, each bigger than two fists; fourteen or fifteen plantains
or bananas, each of them six or seven inches long, and four or five
round; and near a quart of the pounded bread-fruit, which is as
substantial as the thickest unbaked custard. This is so extraordinary
that I scarcely expect to be believed; and I would not have related it
upon my own single testimony, but Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and most of the
other gentlemen, have had ocular demonstration of its truth, and know
that I mention them upon the occasion.

It is very wonderful, that these people, who are remarkably fond of
society, and particularly that of their women, should exclude its
pleasures from the table, where among all other nations, whether civil
or savage, they have been principally enjoyed.[11] How a meal, which
every where else brings families and friends together, came to separate
them here, we often enquired, but could never learn. They eat alone,
they said, because it was right; but why it was right to eat alone, they
never attempted to tell us: Such, however, was the force of habit, that
they expressed the strongest dislike, and even disgust, at our eating in
society, especially with our women, and of the same victuals. At first,
we thought this strange singularity arose from some superstitious
opinion; but they constantly affirmed the contrary. We observed also
some caprices in the custom, for which we could as little account as for
the custom itself. We could never prevail with any of the women to
partake of the victuals at our table when we were dining, in company;
yet they would go, five or six together, into the servants' apartments,
and there eat very heartily of whatever they could find, of which I have
before given a particular instance; nor were they in the least
disconcerted if we came in while they were doing it. When any of us have
been alone with a woman, she has sometimes eaten in our company; but
then she has expressed the greatest unwillingness that it should be
known, and always extorted the strongest promises of secrecy.

[Footnote 11: This is not true, as the reader will find, if he knows it
not already, when he comes to the next note. Dr H. does not seem to have
read extensively on the customs of different nations. It is indeed
wonderful, that he did not advert to what had long been known of the
practices of the East. A single quotation from one author, may be
sufficient to prepare the reader for any additional information, on the
subject of the public separation of the sexes. "The regulations of the
haram," says Dr Russel, speaking of the Moosulmauns, "oppose a strong
barrier to curiosity; inveterate custom excludes females from mingling
in assemblies of the other sex, and even with their nearest
male-relations they appear to be under a restraint from which, perhaps,
they are never emancipated, except in familiar society among
themselves."--E.]

Among themselves, even two brothers and two sisters have each their
separate baskets, with provision and the apparatus of their meal. When
they first visited us at our tents, each brought his basket with him;
and when we sat down to table, they would go out, sit down upon the
ground, at two or three yards distance from each other, and turning
their faces different ways, take their repast without interchanging a
single word.

The women not only abstain from eating with the men, and of the same
victuals, but even have their victuals separately prepared by boys kept
for that purpose, who deposit it in a separate shed, and attend them
with it at their meals.

But though they would not eat with us or with each other, they have
often asked us to eat with them, when we have visited those with whom we
were particularly acquainted at their houses; and we have often upon
such occasions eaten out of the same basket, and drunk out of the same
cup. The elder women, however, always appeared to be offended at this
liberty; and if we happened to touch their victuals, or even the basket
that contained it, would throw it away.[12]

[Footnote 12: Nothing can be more difficult in the way of philosophical
investigation, than to ascertain the origin and reasons of the customs,
opinions, and prejudices established among different people. Their
variety is quite destructive of any theory which might be built on the
well-known general principles of human nature; and their insignificance
often derides every process of formal enquiry, which attempts by any
thing more recondite than the supposition of whim or caprice, to account
for them. The peculiarities of all nations are, perhaps, on a par in
this respect, and only escape scrutiny and wonder, because unnoticed by
those to whom they are not familiar. But certainly, to the inhabitants
of Otaheite, our eating parties, where the sexes at times vie with each
other in the management of knife and fork, and where it usually happens
that a woman presides, would seem as unaccountable and as indelicate, as
a certain social exhibition, already mentioned as occurring amongst
them, appeared to be to those who witnessed it. And perhaps it is less
easy, than at first sight may be imagined, to justify one more than the
other. Of actions equally natural, necessary, and proper, and at the
same time equally inoffensive to others, it is exceedingly perplexing to
discover good reasons for saying, that some are fitted for public notice
more than others. In the cases alluded to, a skilful controversialist
might be able to argue, why the Otaheitan practice ought to be esteemed
the more rational one. The writer has heard of a person, whose
refinement of taste and feeling was such, as made him quite disgusted
with any woman who eat in his presence; and perhaps the ladies in
general are somewhat apprehensive of their running the risk of being
depreciated by the appearance of a good appetite in public, and hence
their common practice of taking what is called a luncheon before going
to a feast, or social eating-party, and their being pleased with the
compliment given in the form of complaint, that they have very poor
stomachs! The Otaheitans, however, are by no means singular in dividing
the sexes during their repasts. On the contrary, there is ground to
think, that in Persia, and indeed throughout almost all the East, it is
usual for the women to eat apart from the men. See Harmer's Observations
on Scripture, 4th ed. vol. ii. p. 109. Capt. Carver, speaking of the
Naudowesses, a tribe of Americans, says, "The men and women feast apart;
and each sex invites by turns their companions to partake with them of
the food they happen to have." He tells us, however, that in their
domestic way of living, the sexes usually associate. Of the female
Charaibes, Mr Edwards, quoting Labat, says, that they were not allowed
the privilege of eating in presence of their husbands. And Rochon, in
his account of Madagascar, tells us something to the same purport of the
women of that island. It would be easy to multiply instances of the
custom which Hawkesworth thinks to be peculiar to the Otaheitans.--E.]

After meals, and in the heat of the day, the middle-aged people of the
better sort generally sleep; they are indeed extremely indolent, and
sleeping and eating is almost all that they do. Those that are older are
less drowsy, and the boys and girls are kept awake by the natural
activity and sprightliness of their age.

Their amusements have occasionally been mentioned in my account of the
incidents that happened during our residence in this island,
particularly music, dancing, wrestling, and shooting with the bow; they
also sometimes vie with each other in throwing a lance. As shooting is
not at a mark, but for distance; throwing the lance is not for distance,
but at a mark: The weapon is about nine feet long, the mark is the hole
of a plantain, and the distance about twenty yards.

Their only musical instruments are flutes and drums; the flutes are
made of a hollow bamboo about a foot long, and, as has been observed
before, have only two stops, and consequently but four notes, out of
which they seem hitherto to have formed but one tune; to these stops
they apply the fore-finger of the left hand and the middle-finger of the
right.

The drum is made of a hollow block of wood, of a Cylindrical form, solid
at one end, and covered at the other with shark's skin: These they beat
not with sticks, but their hands; and they know how to tune two drums of
different notes into concord. They have also an expedient to bring the
flutes that play together into unison, which is to roll up a leaf so as
to slip over the end of the shortest, like our sliding tubes for
telescopes, which they move up or down till the purpose is answered, of
which they seem to judge by their ear with great nicety.

To these instruments they sing; and, as I have observed before, their
songs are often extempore: They call every two verses or couplet a song,
_Pehay_; they are generally, though not always, in rhyme; and when
pronounced by the natives, we could discover that they were metre. Mr
Banks took great pains to write down some of them which were made upon
our arrival, as nearly as he could express their sounds by combinations
of our letters; but when we read them, not having their accent, we could
scarcely make them either metre or rhyme. The reader will easily
perceive that they are of very different structure.

   Tede pahai de parow-a
   Ha maru no mina.

   E pahah Tayo malama tai ya
   No Tabane tonatou whannomi ya.

   E Turai eattu terara patee whannua toai
   Ino o maio Pretane to whennuaia no Tute.

Of these verses our knowledge of the language is too imperfect to
attempt a translation. They frequently amuse themselves by singing such
couplets as these when they are alone, or with their families,
especially after it is dark; for though they need no fires, they are not
without the comfort of artificial light between sunset and bed-time.
Their candles are made of the kernels of a kind of oily nut, which they
stick one over another upon a skewer that is thrust through the middle
of them; the upper one being lighted, burns down to the second, at the
same time consuming that part of the skewer which goes through it; the
second taking fire burns in the same manner down to the third, and so of
the rest: Some of these candles will burn a considerable time, and they
give a very tolerable light. They do not often sit up above an hour
after it is dark; but when they have strangers who sleep in the house,
they generally keep a light burning all night, possibly as a check upon
such of the women as they wish not to honour them with their
favours.[13]

[Footnote 13: The reader, in perusing the above account of the Otaheitan
evening-recreation, will readily recollect what Mr Park has so
affectingly told of the song of the African woman, of which he was made
the subject. Harmony, that "sovereign of the willing mind," as Mr Gray
denominates it, was both known and worshipped at this island, and that
too, by the very same rites which are so generally practised throughout
the world--regularity of measures, and the frequent recurrence of
similar sounds--

   She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat,
   In loose numbers wildly sweet,
   Their feather-cinctured chiefs and dusky loves.
   Her track, where'er the Goddess roves,
   Glory pursue, and generous shame,
   The unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame.--E.]

Of their itinerary concerts I need add nothing to what has been said
already; especially as I shall have occasion, more particularly, to
mention them when I relate our adventures upon another island.

In other countries, the girls and unmarried women are supposed to be
wholly ignorant of what others upon some occasions may appear to know;
and their conduct and conversation are consequently restrained within
narrower bounds, and kept at a more remote distance from whatever
relates to a connection with the other sex: But here, it is just
contrary. Among other diversions, there is a dance, called _Timorodee_,
which is performed by young girls, whenever eight or ten of them can be
collected together, consisting of motions and gestures beyond
imagination wanton, in the practice of which they are brought up from
their earliest childhood, accompanied by words, which, if it were
possible, would more explicitly convey the same ideas. In these dances
they keep time with an exactness which is scarcely excelled by the best
performers upon the stages of Europe. But the practice which is allowed
to the virgin, is prohibited to the woman from the moment that she has
put these hopeful lessons in practice, and realized the symbols of the
dance.[14]

[Footnote 14: If it be considered that in Otaheite women are very early
marriageable, and that families are easily reared, one will not find
cause for censuring the impolicy, whatever is thought of the immodesty,
according to our notions, of the kind of dances here mentioned. It seems
reasonable enough, that the girls should be instructed in the only arts
requisite to obtain the affections of the other sex. Can it be said,
that the system of female education established in our own country, is
half so judicious, which prescribes a series of instructions in drawing
and music, velvet-painting, &c. to girls who, it is morally certain,
will never have the least occasion for them, and who, whatever
excellence they attain, totally abandon them on the day they happen to
change their names? Or shall we say, these things are like the gestures
of the Otaheitan damsels, merely symbols used as snares for the careless
beaux, who pretend to taste and fashion, and indicative of the indolence
and extravagance which are to succeed the marriage ceremony? The fact
is, and it is foolish to attempt concealing it, that women in general
have a nature so ductile as to be quite readily fashioned to any model
which is conceived agreeable to the other sex, and that they all have
sufficient sagacity to practise the arts in demand, till they have
accomplished the destiny of their constitution. On the supposition that
these arts are equally commensurate to their object, it may well be
asked, why some should be condemned and not others--or what authority
any people have to reproach the current allurements of another? In the
eyes of an impartial spectator, if we can suppose there really is one,
all of them must appear alike as to nature and origin, and to differ
only in respect of adaptation to the ends in view. He would consider
them all as signs, merely more or less expressive, and might be induced
to censure most strongly, if he censured at all, the people who, in
using them, affected the closest concealment of the purposes intended by
them. A philosopher ought never to lose sight of this maxim, that human
nature is essentially the same throughout the world, and that all the
desires and passions belonging to it have the same origin, and are
equally good or bad as to morality; from which it follows, that customs
and manners are to be judged of not so much by what is known or imagined
of the sources of them, as by what is evident or may be discovered of
their effects on society. On this principle, it is strictly
demonstrable, that in such a state of things as exists in our own
country at present, certain appearances and modes of dress adopted by
our women, are actually more injurious, and of course more criminal,
than the dancing gestures mentioned in the text. Any lady that can
expose her breasts to the gaze of _one_ and _all_ of our public
companies, has an undoubted right to be considered as possessing the
same feelings and propensities as the lewd girls of Otaheite; but then
she is not entitled to censure, however she may envy, their happier
exertions and success. She ought to know, that unless our taxes are
removed, and the bread-fruit is naturalized among us, it is impossible
for her to have so speedy a redemption from the estate of "solitary
blessedness;" and that as many of her elder sisters still feel the
necessity of practising patience in the same condition, it is very
incumbent on her to learn by times a little self-controul. Besides, she
ought, in charity to the other sex, to remember, that even the
"concealed magic" of her _manner_, as Mr Hume expresses it, and which he
says is easily explained, is abundantly efficacious without further
disclosure than common necessity requires.--E.]


It cannot be supposed that, among these people, chastity is held in much
estimation. It might be expected that sisters and daughters would be
offered to strangers, either as a courtesy, or for reward; and that
breaches of conjugal fidelity, even in the wife, should not be otherwise
punished than by a few hard words, or perhaps a slight beating, as
indeed is the case: But there is a scale in dissolute sensuality, which
these people have ascended, wholly unknown to every other nation whose
manners have been recorded from the beginning of the world to the
present hour, and which no imagination could possibly conceive.

A very considerable number of the principal people of Otaheite, of both
sexes, have formed themselves into a society, in which every woman is
common to every man; thus securing a perpetual variety as often as their
inclination prompts them to seek it, which is so frequent, that the same
man and woman seldom cohabit together more than two or three days.

These societies are distinguished by the name of _Arreoy_; and the
members have meetings, at which no other is present, where the men amuse
themselves by wrestling, and the women, notwithstanding their occasional
connection with different men, dance the Timorodee in all its latitude,
as an incitement to desires, which, it is said, are frequently gratified
upon the spot. This, however, is comparatively nothing. If any of the
women happen to be with child, which in this manner of life happens less
frequently than if they were to cohabit only with one man, the poor
infant is smothered the moment it is born, that it may be no incumbrance
to the father, nor interrupt the mother in the pleasures of her
diabolical prostitution. It sometimes indeed happens, that the passion
which prompts a woman to enter into this society, is surmounted when she
becomes a mother, by that instinctive affection which Nature has given
to all creatures for the preservation of their offspring; but even in
this case, she is not permitted to spare the life of her infant, except
she can find a man who will patronise it as his child: If this can be
done, the murder is prevented; but both the man and woman, being deemed
by this act to have appropriated each other, are ejected from the
community, and forfeit all claim to the privileges and pleasures of the
Arreoy for the future; the woman from that time being distinguished by
the term _Whannownow_, "bearer of children," which is here a term of
reproach; though none can be more honourable in the estimation of wisdom
and humanity, of right reason, and every passion that distinguishes the
man from the brute.

It is not fit that a practice so horrid and so strange should be
imputed to human beings upon slight evidence, but I have such as
abundantly justifies me in the account I have given. The people
themselves are so far from concealing their connection with such a
society as a disgrace, that they boast of it as a privilege; and both
myself and Mr Banks, when particular persons have been pointed out to us
as members of the Arreoy, have questioned them about it, and received
the account that has been here given from their own lips. They have
acknowledged, that they had long been of this accursed society, that
they belonged to it at that time, and that several of their children had
been put to death.[15]

[Footnote 15: It seems, from Mr Turnbull's account, that these accursed
arreoys were rather on the increase,--a circumstance, which, considering
that infanticide formed a part, an essential part indeed, of their
policy, may well explain the rapidity in the diminution of the people
before noticed.--E.]

But I must not conclude my account of the domestic life of these people
without mentioning their personal cleanliness. If that which lessens the
good of life and increases the evil is vice, surely cleanliness is a
virtue: The want of it tends to destroy both beauty and health, and
mingles disgust, with our best pleasures. The natives of Otaheite, both
men and women, constantly wash their whole bodies in running water three
times every day; once as soon as they rise in the morning, once at noon,
and again before they sleep at night, whether the sea or river is near
them or at a distance. I have already observed, that they wash not only
the mouth, but the hands at their meals, almost between every morsel;
and their clothes, as well as their persons, are kept without spot or
stain; so that in a large company of these people, nothing is suffered
but heat, which, perhaps, is more than can be said of the politest
assembly in Europe.[16]

[Footnote 16: Here Dr H. seems to have forgotten altogether the
substitutes which modern Europeans employ for cleanliness, to render
polite assemblies tolerable--musk, bergamot, lavender, &c. &c. articles,
which, besides their value in saving the precious time of our fine
ladies, who could not easily spare a quarter of an hour a day from their
important occupations, for the Otaheitan practice of bathing, are of
vast utility to the state, by affording suitable exercise to the talents
of the vast tribe of perfumers and beautifiers of every description,
who, it is probable, would otherwise become mere drones in the
community. But what would these Otaheitans conceive of the health and
comfort and appearance and odour of the great mass of British ladies,
who, unless banished to a watering place, no more think of being
_generally_ washed, than of being curried with a currying-comb, or
undergoing the operation of tattowing? The powers of nature are
marvellous indeed, which can support their lives for years, under all
the fifth and exuviæ, accumulated with such idolatrous fondness.--E.]


SECTION XVIII.

_Of the Manufactures, Boats, and Navigations of Otaheite._


If necessity is the mother of invention, it cannot be supposed to have
been much exerted where the liberality of Nature has rendered the
diligence of Art almost superfluous; yet there are many instances both
of ingenuity and labour among these people, which, considering the want
of metal for tools, do honour to both.

Their principal manufacture is their cloth, in the making and dyeing of
which I think there are some particulars which may instruct even the
artificers of Great Britain, and for that reason my description will be
more minute.

Their cloth is of three kinds; and it is made of the bark of three
different trees, the Chinese paper mulberry, the bread-fruit tree, and
the tree which resembles the wild fig-tree of the West Indies.

The finest and whitest is made of the paper mulberry, _Aouta_; this is
worn chiefly by the principal people, and when it is dyed red takes a
better colour. A second sort, inferior in whiteness and softness, is
made of the bread-fruit tree, _Ooroo_, and worn chiefly by the interior
people; and a third of the tree that resembles the fig, which is coarse
and harsh, and of the colour of the darkest brown paper: This, though it
is less pleasing both to the eye and to the touch, is the most valuable,
because it resists water, which the other two sorts will not. Of this,
which is the most rare as well as the most useful, the greater part is
perfumed, and worn by the chiefs as a morning dress.

All these trees are propagated with great care, particularly the
mulberry, which covers the largest part of the cultivated land, and is
not fit for use after two or three years growth, when it is about six or
eight feet high, and somewhat thicker than a man's thumb; its excellence
is to be thin, straight, tall, and without branches: The lower leaves,
therefore, are carefully plucked off, with their germs, as often as
there is any appearance of their producing a branch.

But though the cloth made of these three trees is different, it is all
manufactured in the same manner; I shall, therefore, describe the
process only in the fine sort, that is made of the mulberry.[17] When
the trees are of a proper size, they are drawn up, and stripped of their
branches, after which the roots and tops are cut off; the bark of these
rods being then slit up longitudinally is easily drawn off, and, when a
proper quantity has been procured, it is carried down to some running
water, in which it is deposited to soak, and secured from floating away
by heavy stones: When it is supposed to be sufficiently softened, the
women servants go down to the brook, and stripping themselves, sit down
in the water, to separate the inner bark from the green bark on the
outside; to do this they place the under side upon a flat smooth board,
and with the shell which our dealers call Tyger's tongue, _Tellina
gargadia_, scrape it very carefully, dipping it continually in the water
till nothing remains but the fine fibres of the inner coat. Being thus
prepared in the afternoon, they are spread out upon plantain leaves in
the evening; and in this part of the work there appears to be some
difficulty, as the mistress of the family always superintends the doing
of it: They are placed in lengths of about eleven or twelve yards, one
by the side of another, till they are about a foot broad, and two or
three layers are also laid one upon the other: Care is taken that the
cloth shall be in all parts of an equal thickness, so that if the bark
happens to be thinner in any particular part of one layer than the rest,
a piece that is somewhat thicker is picked out to be laid over it in the
next. In this state it remains till the morning, when great part of the
water which it contained when it was laid out, is either drained off or
evaporated, and the several fibres adhere together, so as that the whole
may be raised from the ground in one piece.

[Footnote 17: The reader will find additional information on this
subject, and on several others here treated, in some of the subsequent
accounts; from which, however, it seemed unadvisable to make quotations
at present. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the curious art of
dyeing, which the Otaheitans seem to practise with no small ingenuity,
has been much vestigated on philosophical principles since the date of
this publication. Modern chemistry has a right to boast of her
acquisitions in so very important a point of domestic science; but it
would be invidious and improper to specify them in this place.--E.]

It is then taken away, and laid upon the smooth side of a long piece of
wood, prepared for the purpose, and beaten, by the women servants, with
instruments about a foot long and three inches thick, made of a hard
wood which they call _Etoa_. The shape of this instrument is not unlike
a square razor strop, only that the handle is longer, and each of its
four sides or faces is marked, lengthways, with small grooves, or
furrows, of different degrees of fineness; those on one side being of a
width and depth sufficient to receive a small packthread, and the others
finer in a regular gradation, so that the last are not more than equal
to sewing silk.

They beat it first with the coarsest side of this mallet, keeping time
like our smiths; it spreads very fast under the strokes, chiefly however
in the breadth, and the grooves in the mallet mark it with the
appearance of threads; it is successively beaten with the other sides,
last with the finest, and is then fit for use. Sometimes, however, it is
made still thinner, by beating it with the finest side of the mallet,
after it has been several times doubled: It is then called _Hoboo_, and
is almost as thin as a muslin; It becomes very white by being bleached
in the air, but is made still whiter and softer by being washed and
beaten again after it has been worn.

Of this cloth there are several sorts, of different degrees of fineness,
in proportion as it is more or less beaten without being doubled: The
other cloth also differs in proportion as it is beaten; but they differ
from each other in consequence of the different materials of which they
are made. The bark of the bread-fruit is not taken till the trees are
considerably longer and thicker than those of the fig; the process
afterwards is the same.

When cloth is to be washed after it has been worn, it is taken down to
the brook, and left to soak, being kept fast to the bottom, as at first,
by a stone; it is then gently wrung or squeezed; and sometimes several
pieces of it are laid one upon another, and beaten together with the
coarsest side of the mallet, and they are then equal in thickness to
broad-cloth, and much more soft and agreeable to the touch, after they
have been a little while in use, though when they come immediately from
the mallet, they feel as if they had been starched. This cloth sometimes
breaks in the beating, but is easily repaired by pasting on a patch with
a gluten that is prepared from the root of the _Pea_, which is done so
nicely that it cannot be discovered. The women also employ themselves in
removing blemishes of every kind, as our ladies do in needle-work or
knotting; sometimes when their work is intended to be very fine, they
will paste an entire covering of hoboo over the whole. The principal
excellencies of this cloth are its coolness and softness; and its
imperfections, its being pervious to water like paper, and almost as
easily torn.[18]

[Footnote 18: The missionary account tells us, that the noble Women are
the principal cloth-makers. Among these people, it seems, that it is far
from being thought disgraceful, for the higher orders to engage in
domestic concerns and useful manufactures, "nor is it the least
disparagement for a chief to be found in the midst of his workmen
labouring with his own hands; but it would be reckoned a great disgrace
not to shew superior skill." Like the patriarchs of old, and the heroes
of Homer, these chiefs assist in the preparation of victuals for the
entertainment of their guests.--E.]

The colours with which they dye this cloth are principally red and
yellow. The red is exceedingly beautiful, and I may venture to say a
brighter and more delicate colour than any we have in Europe; that which
approaches nearest is our full scarlet, and the best imitation which Mr
Banks's natural history painter could produce, was by a mixture of
vermilion and carmine. The yellow is also a bright colour, but we have
many as good.

The red colour is produced by the mixture of the juices of two
vegetables, neither of which separately has the least tendency to that
hue. One is a species of fig called here _Matte_, and the other the
_Cordia Sebestina_, or _Etou_; of the fig the fruit is used, and of the
_Cordia_ the leaves.

The fruit of the fig is about as big as a rounceval pea, or very small
gooseberry; and each of them, upon breaking off the stalk very close,
produces one drop of a milky liquor, resembling the juice of our figs,
of which the tree is indeed a species. This liquor the women collect
into a small quantity of cocoa-nut water: To prepare a gill of cocoa-nut
water will require between three and four quarts of these little figs.
When a sufficient quantity is prepared, the leaves of the Etou are well
wetted in it, and then laid upon a plantain leaf, where they are turned
about till they become more and more flaccid, and then they are gently
squeezed, gradually increasing the pressure, but so as not to break
them; as the flaccidity increases, and they become spungy, they are
supplied with more of the liquor; in about five minutes the colour
begins to appear upon the veins of the leaves, and in about ten or a
little more, they are perfectly saturated with it: They are then
squeezed, with as much force as can be applied, and the liquor strained
at the same time that it is expressed.

For this purpose, the boys prepare a large quantity of the Moo, by
drawing it between their teeth, or two little sticks, till it is freed
from the green bark and the branny substance that lies under it, and a
thin web of the fibres only remains; in this the leaves of the Etou are
enveloped, and through these the juice which they contain is strained as
it is forced out. As the leaves are not succulent, little more juice is
pressed out of them than they have imbibed: When they have been once
emptied, they are filled again, and again pressed, till the quality
which tinctures the liquor as it passes through them is exhausted; they
are then thrown away; but the moo, being deeply stained with the colour,
is preserved, as a brush to lay the dye upon the cloth.

The expressed liquor is always received into small cups made of the
plantain leaf, whether from a notion that it has any quality favourable
to the colour, or from the facility with which it is procured, and the
convenience of small vessels to distribute it among the artificers, I do
not know.

Of the thin cloth they seldom dye more than the edges, but the thick
cloth is coloured through the whole surface; the liquor is indeed used
rather as a pigment than a dye, for a coat of it is laid upon one side
only, with the fibres of the moo; and though I have seen of the thin
cloth that has appeared to have been soaked in the liquor, the colour
has not had the same richness and lustre, as when it has been applied in
the other manner.

Though the leaf of the etou is generally used in this process, and
probably produces the finest colour, yet the juice of the figs will
produce a red by a mixture with the species of tournefortia, which they
call _taheinno_, the _pohuc_, the _eurhe_, or _convolvulus
brasiliensis_, and a species of solanum, called _ebooa_; from the use of
these different plants, or from different proportions of the materials,
many varieties are observable in the colours of their cloth, some of
which are conspicuously superior to others.

The beauty, however, of the best, is not permanent; but it is probable
that some method might be found to fix it, if proper experiments were
made, and perhaps to search for latent qualities, which may be brought
out by the mixture of one vegetable juice with another, would not be an
unprofitable employment: Our present most valuable dyes afford
sufficient encouragement to the attempt; for, by the mere inspection of
indigo, woad, dyer's weed, and most of the leaves which are used for the
like purposes, the colours which they yield could never be discovered.
Of this Indian red I shall only add, that the women who have been
employed in preparing or using it, carefully preserve the colour upon
their fingers and nails, where it appears in its utmost beauty, as a
great ornament.

The yellow is made of the bark of the root of the _morinda citrifolia_,
called _nono_, by scraping and infusing it in water; after standing some
time, the water is strained and used as a dye, the cloth being dipped
into it. The morinda, of which this is a species, seems to be a good
subject for examination with a view to dyeing. Brown, in his History of
Jamaica, mentions three species of it, which he says are used to dye
brown; and Rumphius says of the _bancuda angustifolia_, which is nearly
allied to our nono, that it is used by the inhabitants of the East
Indian islands as a fixing drug for red colours, with which it
particularly agrees.

The inhabitants of this island also dye yellow with the fruit of the
tamanu; but how the colour is extracted, we had no opportunity to
discover. They have also a preparation with which they dye brown and
black; but these colours are so indifferent, that the method of
preparing them did not excite our curiosity.

Another considerable manufacture is matting of various kinds; some of
which is finer, and better, in every respect, than any we have in
Europe; the coarser sort serves them to sleep upon, and the finer to
wear in wet weather. With the fine, of which there are also two sorts,
much pains is taken, especially with that made of the bark of the
poerou, the _hibiscus tiliaceus_ of Linnæus, some of which is as fine as
a coarse cloth: The other sort, which is still more beautiful, they call
vanne; it is white, glossy, and shining, and is made of the leaves of
their _wharrou_, a species of the _pandanus_, of which we had no
opportunity to see either the flowers or fruit: They have other matts,
or, as they call them, _moeas_, to sit or to sleep upon, which are
formed of a great variety of rushes and grass, and which they make, as
they do every thing else that is plaited, with amazing facility and
dispatch.

They are also very dexterous in making basket and wicker-work; their
baskets are of a thousand different patterns, many of them exceedingly
neat; and the making them is an art that every one practises, both men
and women; they make occasional baskets and panniers of the cocoa-nut
leaf in a few minutes, and the women who visited us early in a morning
used to send, as soon as the sun was high, for a few of the leaves, of
which they made little bonnets to shade their faces, at so small an
expence of time and trouble, that, when the sun was again low in the
evening, they used to throw them away. These bonnets, however, did not
cover the head, but consisted only of a band that went round it, and a
shade that projected from the forehead.

Of the bark of the poerou they make ropes and lines, from the thickness
of an inch to the size of a small packthread: With these they make nets
for fishing. Of the fibres of the cocoa-nut they make thread for
fastening together the several parts of their canoes and belts, either
round or flat, twisted or plaited; and of the bark of the _erowa_, a
kind of nettle which grows in the mountains, and is therefore rather
scarce, they make the best fishing lines in the world; with these they
hold the strongest and most active fish, such as bonetas and albicores,
which would snap our strongest silk lines in a minute, though they are
twice as thick.

They make also a kind of seine, of a coarse broad grass, the blades of
which are like flags; these they twist and tie together in a loose
manner, till the net, which is about as wide as a large sack, is from
sixty to eighty fathoms long; this they haul in shoal smooth water, and
its own weight keeps it so close to the ground, that scarcely a single
fish can escape.

In every expedient, indeed, for taking fish, they are exceedingly
ingenious; they make harpoons of cane, and point them with hard wood,
which, in their hands, strike fish more effectually than those which are
headed with iron can do in ours, setting aside the advantage of ours
being fastened to a line, so that the fish is secured if the hook takes
place, though it does not mortally wound him.

Of fish-hooks they have two sorts, admirably adapted in their
construction as well to the purpose they are to answer, as to the
materials of which they are made. One of these, which they call _witlee
witlee_, is used for towing. The shank is made of mother-of-pearl, the
most glossy that can be got; the inside, which is naturally the
brightest, is put behind. To these hooks a tuft of white dog's or hog's
hair is fixed, so as somewhat to resemble the tail of a fish; these
implements, therefore, are both hook and bait, and are used with a rod
of bamboo, and line of _erowa_. The fisher, to secure his success,
watches the flight of the birds which constantly attend the bonetas
when they swim in shoals, by which he directs his canoe, and when he has
the advantage of these guides, he seldom returns without a prize.

The other kind of hook is also made of mother-of-pearl, or some other
hard shell: They cannot make them bearded like our hooks; but, to effect
the same purpose, they make the point turn inwards. These are made of
all sizes, and used to catch various kinds of fish with great success.
The manner of making them is very simple, and every fisherman is his own
artificer: The shell is first cut into square pieces by the edge of
another shell, and wrought into a form corresponding with the outline of
the hook, by pieces of coral, which are sufficiently rough to perform
the office of a file; a hole is then bored in the middle; the drill
being no other than the first stone they pick up that has a sharp
corner; this they fix into the end of a piece of bamboo, and turn it
between the hands like a chocolate-mill; when the shell is perforated,
and the hole sufficiently wide, a small file of coral is introduced, by
the application of which the hook is in a short time completed, few
costing the artificer more time than a quarter of an hour.

Of their masonry, carving, and architecture, the reader has already
formed some idea from the account that has been given of the morais, or
repositories of the dead: The other most important article of building
and carving is their boats; and, perhaps, to fabricate one of their
principal vessels with their tools, is as great a work as to build a
British man-of-war with ours.

They have an adze of stone; a chissel, or gouge, of bone, generally that
of a man's arm between the wrist and elbow; a rasp of coral; and the
skin of a sting-ray, with coral sand, as a file or polisher.

This is a complete catalogue of their tools, and with these they build
houses, construct canoes, hew stone, and fell, cleave, carve, and polish
timber.

The stone which makes the blade of their adzes is a kind of basaltes, of
a blackish or grey colour, not very hard, but of considerable toughness:
They are formed of different sizes; some, that are intended for felling,
weigh from six to eight pounds; others, that are used for carving, not
more than so many ounces; but it is necessary to sharpen both almost
every minute; for which purpose, a stone and a cocoa-nut shell full of
water are always at hand.

Their greatest exploit, to which these tools are less equal than to any
other, is felling a tree: This requires many hands, and the constant
labour of several days. When it is down, they split it, with the grain,
into planks from three to four inches thick, the whole length and
breadth of the tree, many of which are eight feet in the girt, and forty
to the branches, and nearly of the same thickness throughout. The tree
generally used, is, in their language, called _avie_, the stem of which
is tall and straight; though some of the smaller boats are made of the
bread-fruit tree, which is a light spongy wood, and easily wrought. They
smooth the plank very expeditiously and dexterously with their adzes,
and can take off a thin coat from a whole plank without missing a
stroke. As they have not the art of warping a plank, every part of the
canoe, whether hollow or flat, is shaped by hand.[19]

[Footnote 19: One likes to see the exercise of human ingenuity even on
trifles. It flatters the consciousness of one's own powers, and affords,
too, the ground-work of a comparison nowise disadvantageous to what one
believes of his own capabilities. Man has been defined by a certain
writer, an animal that uses instruments for the accomplishment of his
purposes. But the definition is faulty in one important point; it does
not exclude some beings which are not of the species. It is perhaps
impossible to furnish an adequate definition of his nature within the
compass of a single logical proposition. And what matter? Every man in
his senses knows what man is, and can hardly ever be necessitated to
clothe his conception of him, in language metaphysically
unexceptionable. But if any trait be more characteristic than another,
that of invention may safely be asserted to have the pre-eminence. Man,
in effect, evinces the superiority of his nature over all other animals,
by a faculty which he seems exclusively to enjoy, in common with his
Maker, of creating systems, plans, and objects, by the exercise of an
understanding and will adapted to certain ends fore-seen and
predetermined. No tribes of mankind are totally destitute of this
intellectual agency, which is proof, that none are without the merciful
visitations of that great beneficent Being from whom the universe has
its existence. A canoe, a house, a basket, indicates mind. Mind, by the
very constitution of our nature, indicates power and authority. Reason,
indeed, may dispute the necessity or the propriety of such connections
in our thoughts and feelings, but reason cannot possibly set them aside,
or eradicate them from the human breast, though aided by all that
dislike and fear of the solemn truth which the conviction of guilt or
demerit never fails to produce. These Otaheitans, then, are evidences to
themselves of the existence of a power and wisdom superior to their own,
to which they are consciously accountable; and they are without excuse,
if, knowing this, they do not worship God as they ought. It may amuse,
and perhaps instruct the reader, which is the reason for introducing
this note, to enquire how far the inventions of the Otaheitans, as of
all other people, made any way necessary or desirable by the
circumstance of their climate and situation, influence them in their
notions on the subject of their national religions. He will find that
amongst them, as amongst others, the popular religion is founded, not on
the exercise of reason contemplating the works of nature and the
dispensations of Providence, but on principles intimately connected with
man's physical wants, and modified by the peculiarities of ingenuity,
which the artificial supply of those wants occasions; and perhaps he
will make out one remarkable conclusion from the survey of them compared
with others--that where these arts of ingenuity are frequent, and at the
same time applied to very perishable subjects, there the objects of
worship and the kind of religious service, are of a refined nature,
allowing little or nothing of the grossness of _material_ idolatry; and
that, on the contrary, when they are few, but at the same time exercised
on very durable substances, then the greatest tendency exists to the
worship of the mere works of man's hands. Sagacious and clever people,
in other words, have cunningly devised fables for their creeds; the
clumsy-headed and the idle fall down before stocks and stones, as if
there were no such things as memory or imagination or understanding in
the world. It follows, that to extirpate gross idolatry, you must
multiply inventions, and encourage ingenuity--the first operation, it
may be confidently said, to which missionaries among the heathens should
direct their exertions. It is no less certain, that to destroy spiritual
idolatry, nothing short of the mighty power of God himself, implanting a
new principle allied to his own nature, is available. When missionaries
obtain the management and dispensation of this new principle, then, and
only then, they will succeed in making men _worshippers in spirit and in
truth_. But the propriety of their labours is to be evinced on other
grounds, than the success attending them.--E.]

The canoes, or boats, which are used by the inhabitants of this and the
neighbouring islands, may be divided into two general classes; one of
which they call _Ivahahs_, the other _Pahies_.

The Ivahah is used for short excursions to sea, and is wall-sided and
flat-bottomed; the Pahie for longer voyages, and is bow-sided and
sharp-bottomed. The Ivahahs are all of the same figure, but of different
sizes, and used for different purposes: Their length is from seventy-two
feet to ten, but the breadth is by no means in proportion; for those of
ten feet are about a foot wide, and those of more than seventy are
scarcely two. There is the fighting Ivahah; the fishing Ivahah, and the
travelling Ivahah; for some of these go from one island to another. The
fighting Ivahah is by far the longest, and the head and stern are
considerably raised above the body, in a semicircular form; particularly
the stern, which is sometimes seventeen or eighteen feet high, though
the boat itself is scarcely three. These never go to sea single; but are
fastened together, side by side, at the distance of about three feet, by
strong poles of wood, which are laid across them and lashed to the
gunwales. Upon these, in the fore-part, a stage or platform is raised,
about ten or twelve feet long, and somewhat wider than the boats, which
is supported by pillars about six feet high: Upon this stage stand the
fighting men, whose missile weapons are slings and spears; for, among
other singularities in the manners of these people, their bows and
arrows are used only for diversion, as we throw quoits: Below these
stages sit the rowers, who receive from them those that are wounded, and
furnish fresh men to ascend in their room. Some of these have a platform
of bamboos or other light wood, through their whole length, and
considerably broader, by means of which they will carry a great number
of men; but we saw only one fitted in this manner.

The fishing Ivahahs vary in length from about forty feet to the smallest
size, which is about ten; all that are of the length of twenty-five feet
and upwards, of whatever sort, occasionally carry sail. The travelling
Ivahah is always double, and furnished with a small neat house about
five or six feet broad, and six or seven feet long, which is fastened
upon the fore-part for the convenience of the principal people, who sit
in them by day, and sleep in them at night. The fishing Ivahahs are
sometimes joined together, and have a house on board; but this is not
common.

Those which are shorter than five-and-twenty feet, seldom or never carry
sail; and, though the stern rises about four or five feet, have a flat
head, and a board that projects forward about four feet.

The Pahie is also of different sizes, from sixty to thirty feet long;
but, like the Ivahah, is very narrow. One that I measured was fifty-one
feet long, and only one foot and a half wide at the top. In the widest
part, it was about three feet; and this is the general proportion. It
does not, however, widen by a gradual swell; but the sides being
straight, and parallel, for a little way below the gunwale, it swells
abruptly, and draws to a ridge at the bottom; so that a transverse
section of it has somewhat the appearance of the mark upon cards called
a Spade, the whole being much wider in proportion to its length. These,
like the largest Ivahahs, are used for fighting; but principally for
long voyages. The fighting Pahie, which is the largest, is fitted with
the stage or platform, which is proportionably larger than those of the
Ivahah, as their form enables them to sustain a much greater weight.
Those that are used for sailing are generally double; and the middle
size are said to be the best sea-boats. They are sometimes out a month
together, going from island to island; and sometimes, as we were
credibly informed, they are a fortnight or twenty days at sea, and could
keep it longer if they had more stowage for provisions, and conveniences
to hold fresh water.

When any of these boats carry sail single, they make use of a log of
wood which is fastened to the end of two poles that lie cross the
vessel, and project from six to ten feet, according to the size of the
vessel, beyond its side, somewhat like what is used by the flying proa
of the Ladrone Islands, and called in the account of Lord Anson's
Voyage, an Outrigger. To this outrigger the shrouds are fastened, and it
is essentially necessary in trimming the boat when it blows fresh.[20]

[Footnote 20: For a short but sufficient notice of what is called an
Outrigger, see our account of Anson's Voyage, in vol. xi. p. 464. The
reader will find a drawing representing it in the translation of the
Account of Bougainville's Voyage.--E.]

Some of them have one mast, and some two; they are made of a single
stick, and when the length of the canoe is thirty feet, that of the mast
is somewhat less than five-and-twenty; it is fixed to a frame that is
above the canoe, and receives a sail of matting about one-third longer
than itself: The sail is pointed at the top, square at the bottom, and
curved at the side; somewhat resembling what we call a
shoulder-of-mutton sail, and used for boats belonging to men-of-war: It
is placed in a frame of wood, which surrounds it on every side, and has
no contrivance either for reefing or furling; so that, if either should
become necessary, it must be cut away, which, however, in these equal
climates, can seldom happen. At the top of the mast are fastened
ornaments of feathers, which are placed inclining obliquely forwards.

The oars or paddles that are used with these boats, have a long handle
and a flat blade, not unlike a baker's peel. Of these every person in
the boat has one, except those that sit under the awning; and they push
her forward with them at a good rate. These boats, however, admit so
much water at the seams, that one person at least is continually
employed in throwing it out. The only thing in which, they excel is
landing, and putting off from the shore in a surf: By their great length
and high sterns they land dry, when our boats could scarcely land at
all; and have the same advantages in putting off by the height of the
head. The Ivahahs are the only boats that are used by the inhabitants of
Otaheite; but we saw several Pahies that came from other islands. Of one
of these I shall give the exact dimensions from a careful admeasurement,
and then particularly describe the manner in which they are built.

                                                           Feet. Inches.

   Extreme length from stem to stern, not reckoning
   the bending up of either                                 51       0
   Breadth in the clear of the top forward                   1       3
   Breadth in the midships                                   1       6
   Breadth aft                                               1       3
   In the bilge forward                                      2       8
   In the midships                                           2      11
   Aft                                                       2       9
   Depth in the midships                                     8       4
   Height from the ground on which she stood                 3       6
   Height of her head from the ground, without the
   figure                                                    4       4
   Height of the figure                                      0      11
   Height of the stern from the ground                       8       9
   Height of the figure                                      2       0

The first stage, or keel, is made of a tree hollowed out like a trough;
for which the longest trees are chosen that can be got, so that there
are never more than three in the whole length: The next stage is formed
of straight plank, about four feet long, fifteen inches broad, and two
inches thick: The third stage, is, like the bottom, made of trunks,
hollowed into its bilging form; the last is also cut out of trunks, so
that the moulding is of one piece with the upright. To form these parts
separately, without saw, plane, chissel, or any other iron tool, may
well be thought no easy task; but the great difficulty is to join them
together.

When all the parts are prepared, the keel is laid upon blocks, and the
planks being supported by stanchions, are sewed or clamped together with
strong thongs of plaiting, which are passed several times through holes
that are bored with a gouge or auger of bone, that has been described
already; and the nicety with which this is done, may be inferred from
their being sufficiently water-tight for use without caulking. As the
platting soon rots in the water, it is renewed at least once a-year; in
order to which, the vessel is taken entirely to pieces. The head and
stern are rude with respect to the design; but very neatly finished, and
polished to the highest degree.

These Pahies are kept with great care, in a kind of house built on
purpose for their reception; the houses are formed of poles set upright
in the ground, the tops of which are drawn towards each other, and
fastened together with their strongest cord, so as to form a kind of
Gothic arch, which is completely thatched quite to the ground, being
open only at the ends; they are sometimes fifty or sixty paces long.

As connected with the navigation of these people, I shall mention their
wonderful sagacity in foretelling the weather, at least the quarter from
which the wind shall blow at a future time; they have several ways of
doing this, of which however I know but one. "They say, that the
Milky-way, is always curved laterally; but sometimes, in one direction,
and sometimes in another: And that this curvature is the effect of its
being already acted upon by the wind, and its hollow part therefore
towards it; so that, if the same curvature continues a night, a
corresponding wind certainly blows the next day. Of their rules, I shall
not pretend to judge; but I know that, by whatever means, they can
predict the weather, at least the wind, with much greater certainty than
we can. [21]

[Footnote 21: It is injudicious and unphilosophical to slight the
observations of the vulgar on subjects level to their capacities and
habits of thought. But, on the other hand, it is almost always necessary
to distrust their reasonings and theories about them. This is one of the
cases in which both cautions are to be practised. The common people in
all countries are more accustomed to make remarks upon the weather, than
those who are given to literary or scientific pursuits. It would be
worth some person's while to make a collection of their observations on
the subject. For a man of science, learning, and ingenuity, no one
perhaps has paid more attention to the signs of the weather than Mr
Jones,--_See his Physiological Disquisitions, published at London_
1781.--E.]

In their longer voyages, they steer by the sun in the day, and in the
night by the stars; all of which they distinguish separately by names,
and know in what part of the heavens they will appear in any of the
months during which they are visible in their horizon; they also know
the time of their annual appearing and disappearing with more precision
than will easily be believed by an European astronomer.[22]

[Footnote 22: Mr Bryan Edwards has been at pains to compare together the
Otaheitans and the original inhabitants of some of the West India
islands. On the whole, he gives the preference to the latter. But he is
far indeed from being unjust to the former, in the description he has
given of them. A few quotations may be made from his work, to the
edification of the reader, and it is conceived, that though some of them
seem to respect subjects discussed in the next chapter, this is the best
place for giving them. "Having mentioned the natives of the South-Sea
Islands, I cannot but advert to the wonderful similarity observable, in
many respects, between our ill-fated West Indians and that placid
people. The same frank and affectionate temper, the same cheerful
simplicity, gentleness, and candour;--a behaviour, devoid of meanness
and treachery, of cruelty and revenge, are apparent in the character of
both; and although placed at so great a distance from each other, and
divided by the intervention of the American continent, we may trace a
resemblance even in many of their customs and institutions; their
national songs and dances, their domestic economy, their system of
government, and their funeral ceremonies. I pretend not, however, to
affirm that this resemblance is so exact as to create the presumption of
common origin. The affinity perceivable in the dispositions and virtues
of these widely-separated tribes, arose probably from a similarity in
their circumstances and situation, operating on the general principles
of human nature. Placed alike in a happy medium; between savage life,
properly so called, and the refinements of polished society, they are
found equally exempt from the sordid corporeal distresses and sanguinary
passions of the former state, and from the artificial necessities, the
restraints, and solicitudes of the latter."--"In those inventions and
arts, which, varying the enjoyments, add considerably to the value of
life, I believe the Otaheitans were in general somewhat behind our
islanders; in agriculture they were particularly so. The great support
of the inferior territories of the South-sea consists of the bread-fruit
and the plantain; both which flourish there spontaneously; and although
the inhabitants have likewise plantations of yams, and other excellent
roots, yet the cultivation of none of them appears to be as extensive as
was that of the maize in the West Indies, or to display equal skill with
the preparation of the Cassavi-bread from the maniock. The West Indians,
notwithstanding that they possessed almost every variety of vegetable
nature which grew in the countries I have mentioned, the bread-fruit
excepted, raised also both the maize and the maniock in great abundance;
and they had acquired the skill of watering their lands from distant
rivers, in time of drought. It may likewise be observed, that although
the Otaheitans possess the shrub which produces cotton, they neither
improve it by culture, nor have the knowledge of converting its wool
into cloth, but content themselves with a far meaner production as a
substitute. Our islanders had not only the skill of making excellent
cloth from their cotton, but they practised also the arts of dying it,
with a variety of colours, some of them of the utmost brilliancy and
beauty. In the science of shipbuilding (if the construction of such
vessels as either people used may be distinguished with that
appellation) the superiority is on the side of the Otaheitans; yet the
_piraguas_ of the West Indians were fully sufficient for the navigation
they were employed in, and indeed were by no means contemptible
sea-boats."--"On the other hand, our islanders far surpassed the people
of Otaheite, in the elegance and variety of their domestic utensils and
furniture; their earthen-ware, curiously woven beds, and implements of
husbandry." For the particulars of the comparison here entered into, the
reader who is interested will have recourse to the work itself, in
which, besides, he will find several circumstances related of another
people, the Charaibes, which much resemble what he has now read in the
account of the Otaheitans. This note is already too large to admit of
their being specified in any satisfactory manner, and it was thought
improper to be continually calling off the attention of the reader,
from the text, to smaller notes at the individual instances.--E.]


SECTION XIX.

_Of the Division of Time in Otaheile; Numeration, Computation of
Distance, Language, Diseases, Disposal of the Dead, Religion, War,
Weapons, and Government; with some general Observations for the Use of
future Navigators_.


We were not able to acquire a perfect idea of their method of dividing
time; but observed, that in speaking of it, either past or to come, they
never used any term but _Malama_, which signifies Moon. Of these moons
they count thirteen, and then begin again; which is a demonstration that
they have a notion of the solar year: But how they compute their months,
so that thirteen of them shall be commensurate with the year, we could
not discover; for they say that each month has twenty-nine days,
including one in which the moon is not visible. They have names for them
separately, and have frequently told us the fruits that would be in
season, and the weather that would prevail, in each of them; and they
have indeed a name for them collectively, though they use it only when
they speak of the mysteries of their religion.

Every day is subdivided into twelve parts, each of two hours, of which
six belong to the day, and six to the night. At these divisions they
guess pretty nearly by the height of the sun while he is above the
horizon; but there are few of them that can guess at them, when he is
below it, by the stars.[23]

[Footnote 23: It is distinctly proved by President Goguet, that the
course of the moon, and her various appearances, served mankind in
general, in the first ages, for the measurement of time. What is here
said of the Otaheitans confirms his observations. We are told too, in
another work, that the natives of the Pellew Islands reckon their time
by months, and not by years; in which, however, we see they are inferior
to the former as to extent of science. Now there are two sorts of lunar
month, called in the language of astronomers, synodical and periodical;
the first is the time from new moon to new moon, consisting of 29 days,
12 hours, 44 min. 3 seconds, which is the month most commonly used by
the early observers; the second, consisting of 27 days, 7 hours, 43 min.
5 seconds, is that portion of time which the moon takes to finish her
course round the earth. Neither of these multiplied by 13 will make up
the solar year exactly. In what manner then the Otaheitans reckon, it is
not easy to comprehend. The probability is, that they have no notion of
the periodical month.--E.]

In numeration they proceed from one to ten, the number of fingers on
both hands; and though they have for each number a different name, they
generally take hold of their fingers one by one, shifting from one hand
to the other, till they come to the number they want to express. And in
other instances, we observed that, when they were conversing with each
other, they joined signs to their words, which were so expressive that a
stranger might easily apprehend their meaning.

In counting from ten they repeat the name of that number, and add the
word _more_; ten, and one more, is eleven; ten, and two more, twelve;
and so of the rest, as we say one-and-twenty, two-and-twenty. When they
come to ten and ten more, they have a new denomination, as we say a
score; and by these scores they count till they get ten of them, when
they have a denomination for two hundred; and we never could discover
that they had any denomination to express a greater number: Neither,
indeed; do they seem to want any; for ten of these amount to two
thousand, a greater number than they can ever apply.[24]

[Footnote 24: The reader cannot but be pleased with what Goguet says on
the practice of numbering with the fingers, so common in most nations,
and adopted we see by the Otaheitans. "Nature has provided us with a
kind of arithmetical instrument more generally used than is commonly
imagined; I mean our fingers. Every thing inclines us to think, that
these were the first instruments used by men to assist them in the
practice of numeration. We may observe in Homer, that Proteus counts his
sea-calves by fives and fives, that is, by his fingers. Several nations
in America have no other instruments of calculation. It was probably the
same in the primitive ages. It is another strong presumption of the
truth of what I now advance, that all civilized nations count by tens,
tens of tens, or _hundreds_, tens of hundreds, _thousands_, and so on;
still from ten to ten. We can discover no reason why the number ten
should be chosen rather than any other for the term of numeration,
except this primitive practice of counting by the fingers." The whole of
his observations on this subject are well worthy of minute
consideration. On such elements, the provision of nature, are founded
the most sublime and important sciences.--E.]

In measuring distance they are much more deficient than in computing
numbers, having but one term which answers to fathom; when they speak of
distances from place to place, they express it, like the Asiatics, by
the time that is required to pass it.

Their language is soft and melodious; it abounds with vowels, and we
easily learnt to pronounce it: But found it exceedingly difficult to
teach them to pronounce a single word of ours; probably not only from
its abounding in consonants, but from some peculiarity in its structure;
for Spanish and Italian words, if ending in a vowel, they pronounced
with great facility.

Whether it is copious, we were not sufficiently acquainted with it to
know; but it is certainly very imperfect, for it is almost totally
without inflexion, both of nouns and verbs. Few of the nouns have more
than one case, and few of the verbs more than one tense; yet we found no
great difficulty in making ourselves mutually understood, however
strange it may appear in speculation.

They have, however, certain _affixa_, which, though but few in number,
are very useful to them, and puzzled us extremely. One asks another,
_Harre hea?_ "Where are you going?" the other answers _Ivahinera_, "To
my wives;" upon which the first repeating the answer interrogatively,
"To your wives?" is answered, _Ivahinereira_; "Yes, I am going to my
wives." Here the suffixa _era_ and _eira_ save several words to both
parties.[25]

[Footnote 25: A table of some words of the language follows in the
copy.--It is omitted here, because an opportunity will occur, to give
one more full and correct; and it seemed injudicious to run the hazard
of being charged with unnecessary repetition.--E.]

Among people whose food is so simple, and who in general are seldom
drunk, it is scarcely necessary to say, that there are but few diseases;
we saw no critical disease during our stay upon the island, and but few
instances of sickness, which were accidental fits of the cholic. The
natives, however, are afflicted with the erysipelas, and cutaneous
eruptions of the scaly kind, very nearly approaching to a leprosy. Those
in whom this distemper was far advanced, lived in a state of seclusion
from all society, each in a small house built upon some unfrequented
spot, where they were supplied with provisions: But whether they had any
hope of relief, or languished out the remainder of their lives in
solitude and despair, we could not learn. We observed also a few who had
ulcers upon different parts of their bodies, some of which had a very
virulent appearance; yet they seemed not much to be regarded by those
who were afflicted with them, for they were left entirely without
application even to keep off the flies.[26]

[Footnote 26: The affection of the skin, called leprosy in the text, is,
in the missionary account, ascribed to the excessive use of the _yava_,
the intoxicating beverage of the Otaheitans, and is there said to be
regarded by many as a _badge of nobility_. This perhaps is something on
the same principle as the gout is accounted among us, an evidence of a
person's being rich; for it appears, that the common people in general
are as unable to procure the yava in Otaheite, as they are on our side
of the world to indulge in luxurious living. What excellency there is in
the scabbed skins of the Otaheitan lepers, to entitle them to the
estimation of nobility, or what advantage they find in this to
compensate the sufferings of so grievous a malady, is difficult indeed
to divine; but it may be very safely affirmed of those among us, who
have prospered so well as to obtain the gout for a possession, that they
really require all the comforts of riches, though tenfold more than
imagined, to render the residue of life any way tolerable. Yet such is
the inconsistency of human nature, and so formidable its weakness of
resolution, when pernicious habits are once formed, that few persons,
though even writhing at the bare remembrance of its horrors, and
dreading its approach as the attack of

   Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,
   Abominable, unutterable, and worse
   Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceived,
   Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire,

can be prevailed on to swear rebellion against it "For," says Dr
Heberden, "this seems to be the favourite disease of the present age in
England; wished for by those who have it not, and boasted of by those
who fancy they have it, though very sincerely lamented by most who in
reality suffer its tyranny. For, so much respect hath been shown to this
distemper, that all the other evils, except pain, which the real or
supposed gouty patient ever feels, are imputed most commonly not to his
having too much of this disease, but to his wanting more; and the gout,
far from being blamed as the cause, is looked up to as the expected
deliverer from these evils." "The dread of being cured of the gout," he
further remarks, "was and is still much greater than the dread of having
it; and the world seems agreed patiently to submit to this tyrant, lest
a worse should come in its room." It is not difficult to account for
such absurdity, though it be quite impracticable to palliate it; and
what is worse, from its being founded on something more congenial to
human nature than even prejudice, it is almost impossible to remove it.
A single quotation more from the same author, so much in repute among
his professional brethren, will at once unravel the mystery, and show
how rare a thing a cure is, where the means essential to it are
necessarily dependent on the self-denial of the patient. "Strong wines,
and in no small quantity, have the reputation of being highly beneficial
to gouty persons; which notion they have very _readily_ and _generally_
received, not so much perhaps from a reasonable persuasion of its truth,
as from a desire that it should be true, because they love wine. Let
them consider, that a free use of vinous and spirituous liquors
peculiarly hurts the stomach and organs of digestion, and that the gout
is bred and fostered by those who indulge themselves in drinking much
wine; while the poorer part of mankind, who can get very little stronger
than water to drink, have better appetites than wine-drinkers, and
better digestions, and are far less subject to arthritic complaints. The
most perfect cures, of which I have been a witness, have been effected
by a total abstinence from spirits, and wine, and flesh, which in two or
three instances hath restored the helpless and miserable patients from a
state worse than death, to active and comfortable life: But I have seen
too few examples of the success of this method, to be confident or
satisfied of its general utility." The language of the missionary
account is very similar and equally encouraging. "On the discontinuance
of the practice of drinking the yava, the skin of the leprous persons
soon becomes smooth and clear, and they grow fat, though few are found
who deny themselves the use of it." If drugs could remove either of
these calamities, it is certain there would be no difficulty in getting
them to be swallowed; for most men, it seems, prefer any sorts of bitter
and nauseating substances, though taken by the pound, and without
intermission, to the salutary restraints on appetite and vicious
propensities, which common sense as well as common experience so
authoritatively enjoin. It is as unjust to censure physicians for
failing to cure the gout, as it would be to censure a surgeon for the
lameness or deformity of the leg of a man, who, while under treatment
for a fracture, should make daily attempts to dance or ride on
horseback.--E.]

Where intemperance produces no diseases, there will be no physicians by
profession; yet where there is sufferance, there will always be attempts
to relieve; and where the cause of the mischief and the remedy are alike
unknown, these will naturally be directed by superstition: Thus it
happens, that in this country, and in all others which are not further
injured by luxury, or improved by knowledge, the management of the sick
falls to the lot of the priest. The method of cure that is practised by
the priests of Otaheite, consists chiefly of prayers and ceremonies.
When he visits his patient he repeats certain sentences, which appear to
be set forms contrived for the occasion, and at the same time plaits the
leaves of the cocoa-nut into different figures very neatly; some of
these he fastens to the fingers and toes of the sick, and often leaves
behind him a few branches of the the _specia populnea_, which they call
_E'midho_: These ceremonies are repeated till the patient recovers or
dies. If he recovers, they say the remedies cured him, if he dies, they
say the disease was incurable, in which perhaps they do not much differ
from the custom of other countries.[27]

[Footnote 27: Dr Hawkesworth, we see, is at loggerheads with both
priests and physicians, and spares neither. Let the respective members
of these bodies defend their crafts as they best can. Certainly they
will have the bias of the multitude in their favour, and so need to care
little about the insinuations and sarcasms of the few. If nine-tenths of
mankind give them credit for their pretences, and of consequence yield
to their influence, they may contentedly, without a grudge, see the
remaining modicum persist in their obstinacy. The fact is, however, that
the fears and hopes of mankind are almost always superior in efficacy to
their reason, and accordingly, in the two predicaments of bodily and
spiritual health, are continually acting like tendrils which embrace
with undistinguishing affection whatever comes in their way, as the ivy
clings to the tree or wall that happens to be in its neighbourhood.
Influence, once acquired by accident or artifice, is easily prolonged by
him who knows the secret of its origin and existence--and hence in all
ages and countries of the world, the mysteries and mummeries of
designing men, leagued to practise on the infatuated propensities and
real weaknesses of their fellow creatures. It is not till many
generations have passed, that the small sparks of reason, occasionally
shooting off in various directions, have penetrated the gloomy
atmosphere around them, and ascertained the universal and unqualified
dependence of the whole human race on the same uncontroulable powers. In
proportion as these rays of light have coalesced, the presumption of the
_learned brethren_ has decreased; and should this superlative discovery
be ever consummated in the general conviction of society, then will
their characters undergo a thorough revolution--they will be loved more
and admired less--they will be considered, not as the repositories of
secrets to be dispensed with the cold hand of calculating avarice and
hypocrisy, but as the liberally minded declarers of those generally
beneficial truths which honest study has discovered, in their peculiar
departments of science. Till then the world must submit to wonder and
believe, and, above all things, to pay them fees. But, looking forward
to this era of improvement, they may join with the poet in saying

   Yes! there are hearts, prophetic Hope may trust,
   That slumber yet in uncreated dust,
   Ordain'd to fire th' adoring sons of earth
   With every charm of wisdom and of worth;
   Ordain'd to light, with intellectual day,
   The mazy wheels of Nature as they play.--E.]

If we had judged of their skill in surgery from the dreadful scars which
we sometimes saw, we should have supposed it to be much superior to the
art not only of their physicians, but of ours. We saw one man whose face
was almost entirely destroyed, his nose, including the bone, was
perfectly flat, and one cheek and one eye were so beaten in that the
hollow would almost receive a man's fist, yet no ulcer remained; and our
companion, Tupia, had been pierced quite through his body by a spear
headed with the bone of the sting-ray, the weapon having entered his
back, and come out just under his breast; but, except in reducing
dislocations and fractures, the best surgeon can contribute very little
to the cure of a wound; the blood itself is the best vulnerary balsam,
and when the juices of the body are pure, and the patient is temperate,
nothing more is necessary as an aid to nature in the cure of the worst
wound, than the keeping it clean.

Their commerce with the inhabitants of Europe has, however, already
entailed upon them that dreadful curse which avenged the inhumanities
committed by the Spaniards in America, the venereal disease. As it is
certain that no European vessel besides our own, except the Dolphin, and
the two that were under the command of Mons. Bougainville, ever visited
this island, it must have been brought either by one of them or by
us.[28] That it was not brought by the Dolphin, Captain Wallis has
demonstrated in the account of her voyage, and nothing is more certain
than that when we arrived, it had made most dreadful ravages in the
island. One of our people contracted it within five days after we went
on shore; and by the enquiries among the natives, which this occasioned,
we learnt, when we came to understand a little of their language, that
it had been brought by the vessels which had been there about fifteen
months before us, and had lain on the east side of the island. They
distinguished it by a name of the same import with _rottenness_, but of
a more extensive signification, and described, in the most pathetic
terms, the sufferings of the first victims to its rage, and told us that
it caused the hair and the nails to fall off, and the flesh to rot from
the bones; that it spread a universal terror and consternation among
them, so that the sick were abandoned by their nearest relations, lest
the calamity should spread by contagion, and left to perish alone in
such misery as till then had never been known among them. We had some
reason, however, to hope that they had found out a specific to cure it:
During our stay upon the island we saw none in whom it had made a great
progress, and one who went from us infected, returned after a short time
in perfect health; and by this it appeared, either that the disease had
cured itself, or that they were not unacquainted with the virtues of
simples, nor implicit dupes to the superstitious follies of their
priests. We endeavoured to learn the medical qualities which they
imputed to their plants, but our knowledge of their language was too
imperfect for us to succeed. If we could have learnt their specific for
the venereal disease, if such they have, it would have been of great
advantage to us, for when we left the island it had been contracted by
more than half the people on board the ship.

[Footnote 28: Bougainville most positively asserts, that the disease
existed in the island at his arrival; yet the statement of Wallis as to
the _soundness_ of his crew, seems deserving of all credit. After all,
perhaps, there is reason to doubt if the affection judged to be the Lues
Venerea, and at different times so exceedingly prevalent among these
people, were really so. Scientific men of the medical profession, know
the extreme difficulty there is of deciding, as to the existence of this
disease in certain cases. Common observers easily perceive and
confidently aver. But to the general reader the discussion of this topic
would be very unamusing. It is indeed quite irrelevant to the objects of
this work. But there may be some propriety in giving the following
remarks. The origin of the disease in question has never been distinctly
ascertained, and perhaps never will be. The common opinion is, that it
was brought from the western hemisphere; and the island of Hispaniola or
St Domingo is particularly mentioned by some writers as the place of its
first appearance. Hence the historian Robertson, with somewhat more of
unnecessary vehemence than of dignified moderation and good sense, tells
us in words very like part of our text: "One dreadful malady, the
severest scourge with which, in this life, offended heaven chastens the
indulgence of criminal desire, seems to have been peculiar to the
Americans. By communicating it to their conquerors, they have not only
amply avenged their own wrongs, but by adding this calamity to those
which formerly embittered human life, they have, perhaps, more than
counterbalanced all the benefits which Europe has derived from the
discovery of the New World." As if a disease which every body might have
avoided, so soon as its existence, its inveterate nature, and the mode
of communicating it, were known, and which, after all that has been said
of its malignity and rapid progress, was both mitigated by various means
soon after its appearance, and ultimately at no great distance of time
effectually arrested in its terrifying career--as if this could be
considered competent to liquidate all the advantages and the greatly
augmented comforts which have resulted to Europe and to the world at
large by the discoveries of Columbus: And as if, granting all that has
been exaggeratingly related of its spreading over Europe with the
celerity and unqualified extension of an epidemic--such visitation on
multitudes of generations no way implicated in the guilt, could by any
rules of logic for the interpreting of Providence be construed into acts
of righteous retribution in avenging these Indians! But in reality, it
is highly disputable if the facts on which is exhibited such an
_uncommonly_ zealous display of justice on the part of the historian,
are adequate to warrant his opinion, that America inflicted this
calamity. This is rather unfortunate for his apparent warmth of piety,
and the more so, as, from the information to which he alludes in his
note on the text, he must have been diffident at least of the accuracy
of its application. In that note, he makes mention of a dissertation
published in 1765, by Dr Antonio Sanchez Ribeiro, in which it is
endeavoured to be proved that the venereal disease took its rise in
Europe, and was brought on by an epidemical and malignant disorder.
Though calling in question some of the facts on which this opinion is
built, the Principal allows that it "is supported with such plausible
arguments, as render it (what? deserving of considerable regard, or very
probable? No such thing--as render it) a subject of enquiry well
deserving the attention of learned physicians!" Mr Bryan Edwards is more
moderate in his judgment of the matter, and seemingly more industrious
in ascertaining the evidence of it. In his opinion, an attentive
enquirer will hesitate to subscribe to the conclusion that this
infection was the product of the West Indies. He refers to the work of
Sanchez above mentioned, and to several other works, for reasons to
substantiate the other view; and he terminates his note with the
following paragraph, which by most readers will be considered of
superlative authority as to one important part of the case: In Stowe's
Survey of London, vol. ii. p. 7, is preserved a copy of the rules or
regulations established by parliament in the eighth year of Henry the
Second, for the government of the licensed stews in Southwark, among
which I find the following: "No stewholder to keep any woman that hath
the perilous infirmity of burning." This was 330 years before the voyage
of Columbus. If this "perilous infirmity of burning" be the disease now
denominated the Lues Venerea, the question is solved as to the concern
of America in its production. And all that Oviedo, Guicciardin,
Charlevoix, and others say, as to its first appearance in Europe, when
the king of Spain sent an army to the assistance of Ferdinand the Second
of Naples, must be reckoned as applicable only to its greater frequency,
or more common occurrence, than had before been known. But, indeed, the
description given of the disease which then prevailed so alarmingly, is
with some difficulty reconcileable to what is now ascertained of the
venereal infection. Guicciardin himself seems to hint at a diversity in
its form and mode of reception, betwixt the period he assigns for its
appearance, and "after the course of many years." "For then," says he,
(the quotation is made from Fenton's curious translation, London, 1599)
"the disease began to be less malitious, changing itself into diverse
kindes of infirmity, _differing from the first calamity_, whereof truly
the regions and people of our times might justly complain, _if it
happened to them without their proper disorder_ (that is, without their
own fault,) seeing it is well approved by all those that have diligently
studied and observed the properties of that evil, that either never or
very rarely it happeneth to any otherwayes, than by contagious whoredome
or immoderate incontinency." That a mistake exists in the early accounts
as to the nature of the disease which was found at Hispaniola by the
Spaniards, and by them on their return to Europe communicated to the
French and Neapolitans, is very probable from the circumstance mentioned
in them, that some vegetable substances, especially _guiaicum_, were
effectual for its cure;--since it is most certain, that the Lues Venerea
of modern times is not at all destructible by such means, whereas there
are several cutaneous affections which may be benefited by them. A
similar remark may be made respecting the disease observable at
Otaheite, which, as the reader will find in the text, is said to have
been cured by _simples_ known to the inhabitants. This is most unlikely,
if that disease were really the Lues Venerea, as is alleged, and had not
existed among them previous to the arrival of Europeans; though what
Lawson says in his account of the natives of North Carolina does
undoubtedly yield material evidence to such an opinion. "They cure,"
says he, "the pox, which is frequent among them, by a berry that
salivates, as mercury does; yet they use sweating and decoctions very
much with it; as they do, almost on every occasion; and when they are
thoroughly heated, they leap into the river." The natives of Madagascar
too are said to cure this disease by similar treatment. But the reader's
patience, perhaps, is exhausted, and it is full time to conclude this
long note. On the whole, it seems probable enough, that this disease is
not the product of any one particular country, and from it propagated
among others by communication, but is the result of certain
circumstances not indeed yet ascertained, but common to the human race,
and of earlier occurrence in the world than is generally imagined.--E.]

It is impossible but that, in relating incidents, many particulars with
respect to the customs, opinions, and works of these people should be
anticipated; to avoid repetition therefore, I shall only supply
deficiencies. Of the manner of disposing of their dead much has been
said already. I must more explicitly observe, that there are two places
in which the dead are deposited; one a kind of shed, where the flesh is
suffered to putrify; the other an inclosure, with erections of stone,
where the bones are afterwards buried. The sheds are called _Tupapow_
and the inclosures _Morai_. The Morais are also places of worship.[29]

[Footnote 29: "It is the heaviest stone," says Sir Thomas Brown in his
curious work Hydriotaphia, "that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell
him he is at the end of his nature; or that there is no farther state to
come, unto which this seems progressional, and otherwise made in vain."
But of such a conspiracy and assault against the best hopes of man,
these Otaheitans, we see, are by no means guilty. They look for another
existence after that one is finished, in which the body held an
inseparable companionship. By their mode of treating the dead, they seem
to study the perpetuity of friendship, and by their using their morais
as places of worship, they acknowledge a fellowship with them in
something that death cannot destroy. The philosopher of modern times may
say this is foolish, and may call for evidence that the notion of
immortality is not groundless. It is perhaps impossible to satisfy him,
because, in fact, he demands of reason what it is not the province of
reason to afford. The notion is founded on other principles of the
constitution which God has imparted to man, and these principles rebut
all the sophistry of the presumptuous sciolist. Is it true, that this
notion prevails universally among the human race? Let him answer to
this. He must admit it;--let him then explain it, if he can. Reason, he
will say, is incompetent to the task.--Admitted. But so is it to many
other tasks--it cannot, for instance, solve the question, why we believe
the sun will rise to-morrow and dispel the darkness now cloaking over
the horizon? The hope that it will do so, is nevertheless very natural.
Who shall say it is improper, or that it is founded on the mere fancy of
man? Reason indeed may strengthen the ground of this hope, and so may it
too the notion of a future existence. But they both rest on foundations
quite distinct from that faculty, and might, for any thing can be seen
to the contrary, have formed part of our moral constitution, although
that faculty had never existed in our minds. And here let it be
distinctly understood, that in stating the notion or expectation of a
future existence to be founded on some principle or principles separate
from reason, and the same in all the human race, it is not meant to be
denied that the mere opinions as to the nature and condition of that
existence may have no other foundation whatever than what Mr Hume, for
instance, has ascribed erroneously to the notion itself--men's own
conceit and imagination. This in fact is the secret of that writer's
vile sophistry on the subject, and at once confutes it, by proving the
inapplicability of his argument. All that is now contended for, is, the
universality of the notion or belief, not by any means the similarity of
the opinions connected with it. These opinions are as numerous, indeed,
as the characteristic features of different nations and governments; but
were they a thousand times more diversified than they are ascertained to
be, and a thousand times more contradictory and absurd, they still
recognise some instinctive or constitutional principle common to our
race, and which no reasoning or artifices of priests or designing men
could possibly produce. No conceit or imagination can ever originate,
though it may certainly foster, "this hope, this fond desire, this
longing after immortality;" and no reasoning, no efforts of the mind,
nay, what is still more striking, no dislike, however strong, as
proceeding from an apprehension of some evil consequences involved in
the truth of the belief, can eradicate the inclination to entertain it.
In short, it is no way paradoxical to assert, that, were man by any
means to know that there shall be no hereafter, his whole life,
supposing his constitution to remain the same, would be a direct and
continued contradiction to his knowledge. This, to be sure, would be a
strange anomaly in the government of God, and utterly irreconcileable
with every view we can form of his veracity, if we may use the
expression, though still consistent with his wisdom and goodness. But
what then shall we say of the conduct of the would-be philosophers, who,
with limited faculties and intelligences and benevolence, (this is no
disparagement, for even Voltaire himself, with all his powers, was but a
finite creature!) force reason and science to prove what their own
feelings belie, and to oppose what their consciences declare to be
irresistible? It is not profane, on such an occasion, to accommodate the
language of an apostle into a suitable rebuke to such perverse
contenders. "What if some labour not to believe, shall their attempts
frustrate the work of God? Far be it--God will maintain his truth,
though all men should conspire against it." Allowing then free scope to
a notion so natural to us, and having our opinions guided by an unerring
light, we shall see that there is something vastly more dignified than
fashion in the funeral rites of the Otaheitans--and feel that there is
something vastly more important than eloquence, in the words of an
author already quoted at the commencement of this note:--"Man is a noble
animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing
nativities and deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting ceremonies of
bravery, in the infancy of his nature;"--the reason for which is
explained by another author, in words still more sublime and
exhilarating:--"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens."--E.]

As soon as a native of Otaheite is known to be dead, the house is filled
with relations, who deplore their loss, some by loud lamentations, and
some by less clamorous, but more genuine expressions of grief. Those who
are in the nearest degree of kindred, and are really affected by the
event, are silent; the rest are one moment uttering passionate
exclamations in a chorus, and the next laughing and talking without the
least appearance of concern. In this manner the remainder of the day on
which they assemble is spent, and all the succeeding night. On the next
morning the body is shrouded in their cloth, and conveyed to the seaside
upon a bier, which the bearers support upon their shoulders, attended by
the priest, who having prayed over the body, repeats his sentences
during the procession: When it arrives at the water's edge, it is set
down upon the beach; the priest renews his prayers, and taking up some
of the water in his hands, sprinkles it towards the body, but not upon
it. It is then carried back forty or fifty yards, and soon after brought
again to the beach, where the prayers and sprinkling are repeated: It is
thus removed backwards and forwards several times, and while these
ceremonies have been performing, a house has been built, and a small
space of ground railed in. In the centre of this house, or Tupapow,
posts are set up to support the bier, which is at length conveyed
thither, and placed upon it, and here the body remains to putrify till
the flesh is wholly wasted from the bones.

These houses of corruption are of a size proportioned to the rank of the
person whose body they are to contain; those allotted to the lower class
are just sufficient to cover the bier, and have no railing round them.
The largest we ever saw was eleven yards long, and such as these are
ornamented according to the abilities and inclination of the surviving
kindred, who never fail to lay a profusion of good cloth about the body,
and sometimes almost cover the outside of the house. Garlands of the
fruit of the palm-nut, or _pandanus_, and cocoa leaves, twisted by the
priests in mysterious knots, with a plant called by them _Ethee no
Morai_, which is particularly consecrated to funeral solemnities, are
deposited about the place; provision and water are also left at a little
distance, of which, and of other decorations, a more particular
description has been given already.

As soon as the body is deposited in the Tupapow, the mourning is
renewed. The women assemble, and are led to the door by the nearest
relation, who strikes a shark's tooth several times into the crown of
her head: The blood copiously follows, and is carefully received upon
pieces of linen, which are thrown under the bier. The rest of the women
follow this example, and the ceremony is repeated at the interval of two
or three days, as long as the zeal and sorrow of the parties hold out.
The tears also which are shed upon these occasions, are received upon
pieces of cloth, and offered as oblations to the dead: Some of the
younger people cut off their hair, and that is thrown under the bier
with the other offerings. This custom is founded upon a notion that the
soul of the deceased, which they believe to exist in a separate state,
is hovering about the place where the body is deposited; that it
observes the actions of the survivors, and is gratified by such
testimonies of their affection and grief.

Two or three days after these ceremonies have been commenced by the
women, during which the men seem to be wholly insensible of their loss,
they also begin to perform their part. The nearest relations take it in
turn to assume the dress, and perform the office which have already been
particularly described in the account of Tubourai Tamaide's having acted
as chief mourner to an old woman, his relation, who died while we were
in the island. One part of the ceremony, however, which accounts for the
running away of the people as soon as this procession is in sight, has
not been mentioned. The chief mourner carries in his hand a long flat
stick, the edge of which is set with shark's teeth, and in a phrenzy,
which his grief is supposed to have inspired, he runs at all he sees,
and if any of them happen to be overtaken, he strikes them most
unmercifully with this indented cudgel, which cannot fail to wound them
in a dangerous manner.

These processions continue at certain intervals for five moons, but are
less and less frequent, by a gradual diminution, as the end of that time
approaches. When it is expired, what remains of the body is taken down
from the bier, and the bones having been scraped and washed very clean,
are buried, according to the rank of the person, either within or
without a morai: If the deceased was an earee, or chief, his skull is
not buried with the rest of the bones, but is wrapped up in fine cloth,
and put in a kind of box made for that purpose, which is also placed in
the morai. This coffer is called _ewharre no te orometua_, the house of
a teacher or master. After this the mourning ceases, except some of the
women continue to be really afflicted for the loss, and in that case
they will sometimes suddenly wound themselves with the shark's tooth
wherever they happen to be: This perhaps will account for the passion
of grief in which Terapo wounded herself at the fort; some accidental
circumstance might forcibly revive the remembrance of a friend or
relation whom she had lost, with a pungency of regret and tenderness
which forced a vent by tears, and prompted her to a repetition of the
funeral rite.

The ceremonies, however, do not cease with the mourning: Prayers are
still said by the priest, who is well paid by the surviving relations,
and offerings made at the morai. Some of the things, which from time to
time are deposited there, are emblematical: A young plantain represents
the deceased, and the bunch of feathers the deity who is invoked. The
priest places himself over against the symbol of the god, accompanied by
some of the relations, who are furnished with a small offering, and
repeats his oraison in a set form, consisting of separate sentences; at
the same time weaving the leaves of the cocoa-nut into different forms,
which he afterwards deposits upon the ground where the bones have been
interred; the deity is then addressed by a shrill screech, which is used
only upon that occasion. When the priest retires, the tuft of feathers
is removed, and the provisions left to putrify, or be devoured by the
rats.[30]

[Footnote 30: There is something very remarkable in the circumstance of
resemblance among very different and distant people, as to the practice
of mourning for the dead, when in fact there can be no such thing as
grief in existence, and when the appearance of it is merely a part of
what may be called professional duty. It is clear from the accounts of
the text and other authorities, that more are concerned in this mourning
work at Otaheite, than are really concerned in the occasion of it; and
the probability of course is, that in some way or other these additional
attendants are recompensed for their doleful services. That the use of
mercenary mourners prevailed, and still prevails, among some eastern
nations, is clear from Scripture and the relations of recent authors.
The reader will find some amusing information concerning them, and an
account of the Caoinan or funeral cry of the Irish as practised for
similar purposes, in Dr A. Clarke's edition of Mr Harmer's Observations,
before alluded to. A quotation from that work can scarcely fail to
interest the reader, who will be afterwards favoured with a very curious
description of what is said by Lawson to have been practised in North
Carolina, in which the general point of resemblance is most strikingly
displayed.--"Not only do the relations and female friends, in Egypt,
surround the corpse, while it remains unburied, with the most bitter
cries, scratching and beating their faces so violently as to make them
bloody, and black, and blue; but, to render the hubbub more complete,
and do the more honour to the dead person, whom they seem to imagine to
be very fond of noise, those of the lower class of people are wont to
call in, on these occasions, certain _women_, who play on tabors, and
whose business it is to sing mournful airs to the sound of this
instrument, which they accompany with a thousand distortions of their
limbs, as frightful as those of people possessed by the devil. These
women attend the corpse to the grave intermixed with the relations and
friends of the deceased, who commonly have their hair in the utmost
disorder, like the frantic Bacchanalian women of the ancient heathens,
their heads covered with dust, their faces daubed with indigo, or at
least rubbed with mud, and howling like mad people." Now let us hear
Lawson.--"These savages all agree in their mourning, which is to appear,
every night, at the sepulchre, and howl and weep in a very dismal
manner, having their faces daubed over with light-wood soot, (which is
the same as lamp-black) and bears-oil. This renders them as black as it
is possible to make themselves, so that their's very much resemble the
faces of executed men boiled in tar. If the dead person was a grandee,
to carry on the funeral ceremonies, they hire people to cry and lament
over the dead man. Of this sort there are several, that practise it for
a livelihood, and are very expert at shedding abundance of tears, and
howling like wolves, and so discharging their office with abundance of
hypocrisy and art." The reader will meet with a pretty full account of
the funeral ceremonies among some of the eastern nations, in Dr Scott's
introduction to his recent edition of the Arabian Nights
Entertainments.--E.]

Of the religion of these people, we were not able to acquire any clear
and consistent knowledge: We found it like the religion of most other
countries, involved in mystery, and perplexed with apparent
inconsistencies. The religious language is also here, as it is in China,
different from that which is used in common; so that Tupia, who took
great pains to instruct us, having no words to express his meaning which
we understood, gave us lectures to very little purpose: What we learnt,
however, I will relate with as much perspicuity as I can.

Nothing is more obvious to a rational being, however ignorant or stupid,
than that the universe and its various parts, as far as they fall under
his notice, were produced by some agent inconceivably more powerful than
himself; and nothing is more difficult to be conceived, even by the most
sagacious and knowing, than the production of them from nothing, which
among us is expressed by the word _Creation_. It is natural therefore,
as no Being apparently capable of producing the universe is to be seen,
that he should be supposed to reside in some distant part of it, or to
be in his nature invisible, and that he should have originally produced
all that now exists in a manner similar to that in which nature is
renovated by the succession of one generation to another; but the idea
of procreation includes in it that of two persons, and from the
conjunction of two persons these people imagine every thing in the
universe either originally or derivatively to proceed.

The Supreme Deity, one of these two first beings, they call
_Taroataihetoomoo_, and the other, whom they suppose to have been a
rock, _Tepapa_. A daughter of these was _Tettowmatatayo_, the year, or
thirteen months collectively, which they never name but upon this
occasion, and she, by the common father, produced the months, and the
months, by conjunction with each other, the days; the stars they suppose
partly to be the immediate offspring of the first pair, and partly to
have increased among themselves; and they have the same notion with
respect to the different species of plants. Among other progeny of
Taroataihetoomoo and Tepapa, they suppose an inferior race of deities
whom they call _Eatuas_. Two of these Eatuas, they say, at some remote
period of time, inhabited the earth, and were the parents of the first
man. When this man, their common ancestor, was born, they say that he
was round like a ball, but that his mother, with great care, drew out
his limbs, and having at length moulded him into his present form, she
called him _Eothe_, which signifies _finished_. That being prompted by
the universal instinct to propagate his kind, and being able to find no
female but his mother, he begot upon her a daughter, and upon the
daughter other daughters for several generations, before there was a
son; a son, however, being at length born, he, by the assistance of his
sisters, peopled the world.

Besides their daughter Tettowmatatayo, the first progenitors of nature
had a son whom they called _Tane_. Taroataihetoomoo, the Supreme Deity,
they emphatically style the causer of earthquakes; but their prayers are
more generally addressed to Tane, whom they suppose to take a greater
part in the affairs of mankind.

Their subordinate deities or Eatuas, which are numerous, are of both
sexes: The male are worshipped by the men, and the female by the women;
and each have morais to which the other sex is not admitted, though they
have also morais common to both. Men perform the office of priest to
both sexes, but each sex has its priests, for those who officiate for
one sex do not officiate for the other.[31]

[Footnote 31: In several respects the theological notions of these
islanders resemble those of the oriental philosophers, spoken of in
Mosheim's Historical Account of the Church in the First Century, to
which the curious reader is referred. The Otaheitan Eatuas and the
Gnostic [Greek] seem near a-kin; the generation scheme is common to
both. What said the philosophers? The Supreme Being, after passing many
ages in silence and inaction, did at length beget of himself, two beings
of very excellent nature like his own; these, by some similar operation,
produced others, who having the same desires and ability, soon generated
more, till the [Greek], or whole space inhabited by them, was
completely occupied. A sort of inferior beings proceeded from these, and
were considered by the worshippers as intermediate betwixt themselves
and the upper gods. But enough of this trash. Let certain infatuated
admirers of ancient philosophy blush, if they are capable of such an
indication of modesty, to find that the rude and tin-lettered
inhabitants of an island in the South-Sea, are not a whit behind their
venerated sages in the manufacture of gods and godlings. Alas, poor
Gibbon! must the popular religion of Otaheite, the licentious, the
dissolute, the child-murdering, the _unnatural_ Otaheite, be put on a
level with the elegant mythology of Homer, and the mild, serviceable
superstition of imperial Rome? Why not? Is it fitting that even Otaheite
be excluded the benefit of this very impartial historian's humane maxim,
which he puts into the mouths of the Lords of the earth; "in every
country, the form of superstition, which has received the sanction of
time and experience, is the best adapted to the climate and to its
inhabitants?" By all means, give Taroataihetoomoo, Tepapa, and
Tettowmatatayo, the _freedom of the city_--only clip their names a
little for the conveniency of the liberal-minded catholics who may
desire their acquaintance.--E.]

They believe the immortality of the soul, at least its existence in a
separate state, and that there are two situations of different degrees
of happiness, somewhat analogous to our heaven and hell: The superior
situation they call _Tavirua Perai_, the other _Tiahoboo_. They do not,
however, consider them as places of reward and punishment, but as
receptacles for different classes; the first, for their chiefs and
principal people, the other for those of inferior rank, for they do not
suppose that their actions here in the least influence their future
state, or indeed that they come under the cognizance of their deities at
all. Their religion, therefore, if it has no influence upon their
morals, is at least disinterested; and their expressions of adoration
and reverence, whether by words or actions, arise only from a humble
sense of their own inferiority, and the ineffable excellence of divine
perfection.

The character of the priest, or Tahowa, is hereditary: The class is
numerous, and consists of all ranks of people; the Chief, however, is
generally the younger brother of a good family, and is respected in a
degree next to their kings: Of the little knowledge that is possessed in
this country, the priests have the greatest share; but it consists
principally in an acquaintance with the names and ranks of the different
Eatuas or subordinate divinities, and the opinions concerning the origin
of things, which have been traditionally preserved among the order in
detached sentences, of which some will repeat an incredible number,
though but very few of the words that are used in their common dialect
occur in them.

The priests, however, are superior to the rest of the people in the
knowledge of navigation and astronomy, and indeed the name Tahowa
signifies nothing more than a man of knowledge. As there are priests of
every class, they officiate only among that class to which they belong:
The priest of the inferior class is never called upon by those of
superior rank, nor will the priest of the superior rank officiate for
any of the inferior class.

Marriage in this island, as appeared to us, is nothing more than an
agreement between the man and woman, with which the priest has no
concern. Where it is contracted it appears to be pretty well kept,
though sometimes the parties separate by mutual consent, and in that
case a divorce takes place with as little trouble as the marriage.

But though the priesthood has laid the people under no tax for a nuptial
benediction, there are two operations which it has appropriated, and
from which it derives considerable advantages. One is _tattowing_, and
the other circumcision, though neither of them have any connection with
religion. The tattowing has been described already. Circumcision has
been adopted merely from motives of cleanliness; it cannot indeed
properly be called circumcision, because the _prepuce_ is not mutilated
by a circular wound, but only slit through the upper part to prevent its
contracting over the _glans_. As neither of these can be performed by
any but a priest, and as to be without either is the greatest disgrace,
they may be considered as a claim to surplice fees like our marriages
and christenings, which are cheerfully and liberally paid, not according
to any settled stipend, but the rank and abilities of the parties or
their friends.

The morai, as has already been observed, is at once a burying-ground and
a place of worship, and in this particular our churches too much
resemble it. The Indian, however, approaches his morai with a reverence
and humility that disgraces the christian, not because he holds any
thing sacred that is there, but because he there worships an invisible
divinity, for whom, though he neither hopes for reward, nor fears
punishment, at his hand, he always expresses the profoundest homage and
most humble adoration. I have already given a very particular
description both of the morais and the altars that are placed near them.
When an Indian is about to worship at the morai, or brings his offering
to the altar, he always uncovers his body to the waist, and his looks
and attitude are such as sufficiently express a corresponding
disposition of mind.[32]

[Footnote 32: Almost all the particulars now and afterwards stated _in
favour_ of the Otaheitans, are fully allowed by recent accounts,
especially that of the Missionary Voyage already noticed.--E.]

It did not appear to us that these people are, in any instance, guilty
of idolatry; at least they do not worship any thing that is the work of
their hands, nor any visible part of the creation. This island indeed,
and the rest that lie near it, have a particular bird, some a heron, and
others a king's fisher, to which they pay a peculiar regard, and
concerning which they have some superstitious notions with respect to
good and bad fortune, as we have of the swallow and robin-red-breast,
giving them the name of _Eatua_, and by no means killing or molesting
them; yet they never address a petition to them, or approach them with
any act of adoration.[33]

[Footnote 33: The account now given of the religion of the Otaheitans is
imperfect in point of information; and it must be held erroneous as to
principle, by all who chuse to derive their knowledge on the subject of
man's relation to his Maker, from the sacred Scriptures alone. The
imperfections were the consequence of the very limited acquaintance with
these islanders, which existed at the time, and may be readily filled up
on the authority of subsequent observers. As to the erroneousness of
principle, it may suffice for the enlightened reader to remind him, that
as the Supreme Being himself is the only object of worship, so every
other one that is worshipped in place of him, whether made by the hands
of men, or found made by nature, or conceived to exist, is virtually and
essentially an idol. It follows from this, that idolatry is much more
prevalent than is usually imagined, and is by no means confined to
nations in a barbarous or semi-barbarous state. The worshippers of
reason, or virtue, or taste, or fashion, or nature, or one's own
goodness and piety, or the spiritual entities of philosophers and
religionists, are as truly idolaters as the worshippers of the grand
lama in Thibet, or the economical sect in Lapland, who content
themselves with the largest stone they can find. Mr Hume, who has been
at such pains to enquire into the natural history of religion, is most
unnecessarily cautious as to the qualifying of one of his most important
assertions on the subject of the prevalence of idolaters. "The savage
tribes of America, Africa, and Asia," says he, "are all idolaters. Not a
single exception to this rule. Insomuch, that, were a traveller to
transport himself into any unknown region; if he found inhabitants
cultivated with arts and sciences, though even upon that supposition
there are odds against their being theists, yet could he not safely,
till further enquiry, pronounce any thing on that head; but if he found
them ignorant and barbarous, he might beforehand declare them idolaters;
and there is scarcely a possibility of his being mistaken." He might
have said with perfect confidence, that a traveller would scarcely find
one person in a thousand amid all the tribes of the earth, who was
entitled to be considered as a pure theist, or at least, who was
single-minded in the exercise of his religious devotion. The generality
of mankind, in short, are like a certain people of old,--they fear the
Lord, and worship their own gods. Then again as to the disinterestedness
of the Otaheitan devotees, Dr Hawkesworth egregiously blunders--as if it
were conceivable, or any way natural, that they or any other people
could possibly serve their divinities without entertaining the hope that
they should be served by them in turn. This were to exceed even Homer in
his exaggerating human nature at the expence of the gods. That poet puts
a curious speech in the mouth of Dione, the mother of Venus, when
addressing her daughter, who had been wounded by Diomede:--

   My child! how hard soe'er thy sufferings seem,
   Endure them patiently, since many a wrong
   From human hands profane the gods endure,
   And many a painful stroke mankind from ours.

But Dr H. it is probable, had embraced the fanatical and monstrous
notion of some specialists, that God and religion were to be loved for
their own sakes; not because of the benefits they confer; and he wished
to exalt the characters of these islanders by representing them as
acting on it. This, however, is as irrational in itself, as it is
impracticable by such a creature as man. Self-love, directed by wisdom,
is perhaps the best principle that can actuate him. Considering
scripture as an authority, there is a high degree of commendation
implied in what is said of Moses by an apostle, when speaking of his
faith and obedience, and accounting for it, "he had respect unto the
recompence of reward;" and of one higher than Moses it is related, that,
"for the joy set before him, (certainly not then possessed,) he endured
the cross." Were man always to act from a sense of what he has received,
and the hope of what he may receive, he would never do wrong. He, on the
other hand, that attempts to serve God out of pure benevolence, and
without expectation of advantage, will soon spurn archangels, and may
set up for a God himself, on any day he shall think he has succeeded in
accomplishing such super-eminent disinterestedness. On the whole, it may
be remarked, that the Dr seems correct enough in his notions of
religion, considered as founded on reason; but is far from being so in
those concerning its foundation in the principles of human nature. This,
however, seems the consequence of inattention to the subject as a
speculation, rather than of studied disregard to those secret surmisings
which every human heart will oftentimes experience to carry it beyond
the brink of perishable things, and to give it a birth amid the
realities of wonder, fear, and hope. Far be it from the writer to class
him amongst those whom the poet Campbell so pathetically, and yet so
indignantly describes in the beautiful lines,--

   Oh! lives there, heaven! beneath thy dread expanse,
   One hopeless, dark idolater of chance,
   Content to feed, with pleasures unrefined,
   The lukewarm passions of a lowly mind;
   Who, mouldering earthward, 'reft of every trust,
   In joyless union wedded to the dust,
   Could all his parting energy dismiss,
   And call this barren world sufficient bliss?

He may not merit the "proud applause," the "pre-eminence in ill," of
those "lights of the world," and "demi-gods of fame," who league reason
and science against the hopes of mankind, and busy themselves in
throwing the "heaviest stones of melancholy" at the poor wretch
shivering over the dregs of life, and tottering towards the grass. And
yet it is certain, that what was written on his own tombstone implied
much less the hope of another life, than the gloomy satisfaction of
having partners in the darkness and inactivity of death. The reader will
see it in the Encyclopædia Britannica, where a short account of him is
given.--E.]

Though I dare not assert that these people, to whom the art of writing,
and consequently the recording of laws, are utterly unknown, live under
a regular form of government, yet a subordination is established among
them, that greatly resembles the early state of every nation in Europe
under the feudal system, which secured liberty in the most licentious
excess to a few, and entailed the most abject slavery upon the rest.[34]

[Footnote 34: The government of this island, it is most certain, is both
monarchical and hereditary in one family. There is not the smallest
reason to think that the Otaheitans, with all their ingenuity and love
of freedom, are, any more than other people, exempt from those
principles so vigorously depicted by Cowper in his "Task," as the origin
of kingship:--

   It is the abject property of most,
   That, being parcel of the common mass,
   And destitute of means to raise themselves,
   They sink, and settle, lower than they need.
   They know not what it is to feel within
   A comprehensive faculty, that grasps
   Great purposes with ease, that turns and wields
   Almost without an effort, plans too vast
   For their conception, which they cannot move.
   Conscious of impotence, they soon grow drunk
   With gazing, when they see an able man
   Step forth to notice; and besotted thus,
   Build him a pedestal, and say, "Stand there,
   And be our admiration and our praise."

But at what time this able man stepped forth to monopolise the
admiration and the allegiance of his brethren (all sound men and true!),
is not in the record. The Otaheitans, we know, are not historians.
Probably, then, they have been favoured by their priests with some good
orthodox doctrine, as to divine appointment on the subject. Indeed, the
case of these islanders is one in which the necessary effect of that
consciousness of impotence and self-abasement, is scarcely in any degree
counteracted by other principles. We see it literally exemplifying the
description of the poet,--

   Thenceforth they are his cattle: drudges, born
   To bear his burdens, drawing in his gears,
   And sweating in his service, his caprice
   Becomes the soul that animates them all.

"It is considered," says the missionary account, "as the distinctive
mark of their regal dignity, to be every where carried about on men's
shoulders. As their persons are esteemed sacred, before them all must
uncover below their breast. They may not enter into any house but their
own, because, from that moment, it would become raã, or sacred, and none
but themselves, or their train, could dwell or eat there; and the land
their feet touched would be their property." It sometimes happens in
other countries, it is true, that men can be found base enough to
emulate beasts of burden, by drawing the carriages of their sovereign
lords. This, however, is only on some peculiar occasions, where certain
clear indications of personal superiority have been manifested, to
induce the mass of the people to revert to the notion of their own
pristine lowliness. The Otaheitan princes, on the other hand, practise
less self-denial in such imposition; or, which is perhaps more likely to
be the truth, they find their continuance in an exalted situation very
requisite to discriminate their office, which could not be inferred from
any superiority of character they possess; for, says the same account,
"the king and queen were always attended by a number of men, as
carriers, domestics, or favourites, who were ràa, or sacred, living
without families, and attending only on the royal pair; and a worse set
of men the whole island does not afford for thievery, plunder, and
impurity." If this opinion be correct, one might safely infer, that the
monarchy of Otaheite is of very old standing, or, in other words, that
the royal blood is run to the dregs. And what though it be? Cannot the
pageantry of state suffice for all the ends of good government in
Otaheite, as well as any where else? It is very foolish, to say no more
of it, to be exclaiming with the poet,

   But is it fit, or can it bear the shock
   Of rational discussion, that a man,
   Compounded and made up like other men,
   Of elements tumultuous, in whom lust
   And folly in as ample measure meet,
   As in the bosoms of the slaves he rules,
   Should he a despot absolute, and boast
   Himself the only freeman of his land?

This is to overlook, entirely, the existence of certain springs in a
government, which ensure its not stopping, for a considerable time after
the corruption or even disorganization of what is apparently its head
and source of vitality. It is to imagine that a political constitution
depends for its preservation on the same identical principles which gave
it origin, and that none other can be substituted in their place,
without breaking up the whole machine. It is to forget, that after a
certain period of society, the whims and vices of the nominal chief are
of little more importance, than the movements and attitudes of a dancing
doll. "Habit," says Mr Hume, in his sensible way, "soon consolidates
what other principles of human nature had imperfectly founded; and men
once accustomed to obedience never think of departing from that path, in
which they and their ancestors have constantly trod, and to which they
are confined by so many urgent and visible motives."--E.]

Their orders are, _earee rahie_, which answers to king; _earee_, baron;
_manahouni_, vassal; and _toutou_, villain. The earee rahie, of which
there are two in this island, one being the sovereign of each of the
peninsulas of which it consists, is treated with great respect by all
ranks, but did not appear to us to be invested with so much power as was
exercised by the earees in their own districts; nor indeed did we, as we
have before observed, once see the sovereign of Obereonoo while we were
in the island. The earees are lords of one or more of the districts into
which each of the peninsulas is divided, of which there may be about one
hundred in the whole island; and they parcel out their territories to
the manahounies, who cultivate each his part which he holds under the
baron. The lowest class, called toutous, seem to be nearly under the
same circumstances as the villains in feudal governments: These do all
the laborious work, they cultivate the land under the manahounies, who
are only nominal cultivators for the lord, they fetch wood and water,
and, under the direction of the mistress of the family, dress the
victuals; they also catch the fish.

Each of the eares keeps a kind of court, and has a great number of
attendants, chiefly the younger brothers of their own tribe; and among
these some hold particular offices, but of what nature exactly we could
not tell. One was called the _Eowa no l'Earee_, and another the _Whanno
no l'Earee_, and these were frequently dispatched to us with messages.
Of all the courts of these eares, that of Tootahah was the most
splendid, as indeed might reasonably be expected, because he
administered the government for Outou, his nephew, who was earee rahie
of Obereonoo, and lived upon his estate. The child of the baron or
earee, as well as of the sovereign or earee rahie, succeeds to the title
and honours of the father as soon as it is born: So that a baron, who
was yesterday called earee, and was approached with the ceremony of
lowering the garments, so as to uncover the upper part of the body, is
to day, if his wife was last night delivered of a child, reduced to the
rank of a private man, all marks of respect being transferred to the
child, if it is suffered to live, though the father still continues
possessor and administrator of his estate: Probably this custom has its
share, among other inducements, in forming the societies called
Arreoy.[35]


[Footnote 35: What renders this opinion the more probable, is the
circumstance of these societies being generally made up of the _nobles_.
But it is certain, that the inhuman practice of child-murder is not
confined to the Arreoys. "It is the common practice," says the
missionary account, "among all ranks, to strangle infants the moment
they are born," To the same work we are indebted for some particulars
respecting the division of ranks in Otaheite, which do not quite accord
with the statement in the text. The difference is indeed very
immaterial, and would scarcely deserve notice, if any thing were not
important which seems to illustrate the history of so interesting a
people. A slight sketch of the subject, as given in that work, may
suffice for the reader's consideration. The person next in rank to the
king is his own father, if alive--it being the invariable maxim of this
government, though quite unexampled elsewhere, for a son to succeed to
the title and dignity of king, immediately on his birth, and in
prejudice of his own father, who, however, is usually, but not always,
entrusted with the regency, till the young man have ability for the
duties of his office. The chiefs of the several districts are next in
dignity; they exercise almost regal authority in their respective
territories; they are notwithstanding subject to the sovereign, and
liable to be called on by him for such assistance as circumstances may
induce him to require. Next to these, are the near relatives of the
chiefs, called to-whas and tayos. Then follows the rank of rattira or
gentlemen, whose estates are called rahoe. These two ranks have the
power of laying a prohibition on their respective lands, or on
particular sorts of provision, for the purpose of accumulating articles
for their feasts, or after any great consumption of the necessaries of
life. The lowest class of society after the rattira, is the manahoune,
which bears a resemblance to our cottagers. They cultivate the lands,
and are in a state of vassalage, but they are not compelled to constant
service, and they are permitted both to change masters, and to migrate
to other districts. The servants in any class are called _toutou_; such
as wait on the women, _tuti_, an occupation into which, it seems, for
reasons best known to themselves, young men of the first families not
unfrequently insinuate, though by so doing they are excluded from the
solemnities of religion. A detestable set of men named _mahoos_, and
bearing a resemblance to the Catamites of old, deserve not to be
mentioned in the list of the ranks in this society. Birth has several
distinctions in its favour among these people. Thus, a chief is always a
chief, notwithstanding his demerits or misdemeanours; and, on the
contrary, nothing can raise a common man above the station of a towha or
rattira. The king allows perfect freedom of intercourse and communion
with his subjects, treating them with the greatest freedom, and, indeed,
scarcely preserving any appearance of distinction from them. His
household is often changed, as no one serves him longer than he likes,
and it is not usual to engage for any stated time, or for any wages.
With these people it is not a reproach to be poor; but they freely
express their contempt of those who are affluent, and at the same time
covetous. The dread of being thus despised is so great and prevalent
among them, that a man would give the clothes off his body, rather than
be called in their language peere peere, _i.e._ stingy. The rights of
_property_ are sacredly respected, and though there be no records or
writing in the island, are minutely ascertained, and carefully preserved
by tradition.--E.]

If a general attack happens to be made upon the island, every district
under the command of an earee, is obliged to furnish its proportion of
soldiers for the common defence. The number furnished by the principal
districts, which Tupia recollected, when added together, amounted, as I
have observed before, to six thousand six hundred and eighty.

Upon such occasions, the united force of the whole island is commanded
in chief by the earee rahie. Private differences between two earees are
decided by their own people, without at all disturbing the general
tranquillity.

Their weapons are slings, which they use with great dexterity, pikes
headed with the stings of sting-rays, and clubs, of about six or seven
feet long, made of a very hard heavy wood. Thus armed, they are said to
fight with great obstinacy, which is the more likely to be true, as it
is certain that they give no quarter to either man, woman, or child, who
is so unfortunate as to fall into their hands during the battle, or for
some hours afterwards, till their passion, which is always violent,
though not lasting, has subsided.

The earee rahie of Obereonoo, while we were here, was in perfect amity
with the earee rahie of Tiarreboo, the other peninsula, though he took
to himself the title of king of the whole island: This, however,
produced no more jealousy in the other sovereign, than the title of King
of France, assumed by our sovereign, did in his most Christian Majesty.

In a government so rude, it cannot be expected that distributive justice
should be regularly administered, and indeed, where there is so little
opposition of interest, in consequence of the facility with which every
appetite and passion is gratified, there can be but few crimes.[36]
There is nothing like money, the common medium by which every want and
every wish is supposed to be gratified by those who do not possess it;
there is no apparently permanent good which either fraud or force can
unlawfully obtain; and when all the crimes that are committed by the
inhabitants of civilized countries, to get money, are set out of the
account, not many will remain: Add to this, that where the commerce with
women is restrained by no law, men will seldom be under any temptation
to commit adultery, especially as one woman is always less preferred to
another, where they are less distinguished by personal decorations, and
the adventitious circumstances which are produced by the varieties of
art, and the refinements of sentiment. That they are thieves is true;
but as among these people no man can be much injured or benefited by
theft, it is not necessary to restrain it by such punishments, as in
other countries are absolutely necessary to the very existence of civil
society. Tupia, however, tells us, that adultery is sometimes committed
as well as theft. In all cases where an injury has been committed, the
punishment of the offender lies with the sufferer: Adultery, if the
parties are caught in the fact, is sometimes punished with death in the
first ardour of resentment; but without circumstances of immediate
provocation, the female sinner seldom suffers more than a beating. As
punishment, however, is enforced by no law, nor taken into the hand of
any magistrate, it is not often inflicted, except the injured party is
the strongest; though the chiefs do sometimes punish their immediate
dependants for faults committed against each other, and even the
dependants of others, if they are accused of any offence committed in
their district.[37]

[Footnote 36: It is impossible not to censure so gross a blunder, if
blunder that may be called, which is alike abhorrent to the truth of
facts and to the validity of all good principle. The language indeed is
so vague, as to admit something like a defence, under the shadow of a
definition which shall restrict crimes to gross violations of public and
private right; but even this would be faulty, as implying what is not
the case, that the facility of indulgence, and of course the frequency,
does not enhance the strength and efficacy of those passions and
appetites, which, if not moderated, certainly lead to outrageous
conduct. Habits of indulgence, it is no doubt certain, imply a softening
down of the violence of character; and hence, in a _peculiar sense_, it
may be said, that the ages of refinement and luxury are the most happy
and virtuous, an assertion which Mr Hume has spent no small labour in
maintaining: But, on the other hand, it is clear, that violence is more
easily guarded against, in almost any state of society, than the
artifices of dishonesty and the pollution of licentiousness; and,
besides, it never will be found that any fecundity of nature can keep
pace, with the accelerating increase of vicious desires and
propensities, consequent on indulgence. Restraint from the operation of
fear, and better still when practicable, the implantation and growth of
moral principle and right feeling, are vastly better preservatives
against crimes of every sort, than all the facilities of sensual
gratification which Otaheite or any other country can afford.--E.]

[Footnote 37: The nature of the laws of a country is perhaps the best
test of its civilization; as the condition and treatment of the women
are of its refinement in sentiment and feeling. In Otaheite, every man
seems to be his own lawyer; because in fact, the whole society is held
together by principles quite natural to a state of ease and enjoyment.
Now as women form a principal ingredient in this state of society, and
as, at the same time, property is considered heritable, we may readily
enough infer what will be the conduct of a dishonoured husband among
those islanders, when we know what his rank and circumstances are. The
poor man will think no real injury done him, but may resent the
partiality shewn to another, by a conduct certainly not calculated to
procure affection for himself, coolness or a drubbing. The rich, on the
other hand, in addition to the feeling of wounded pride, will dread the
spuriousness of his offspring, and so storm most lustily on both male
and female sinner, till revenge be fully gratified. The difference of
opinion about this matter, in different nations and ages, is immense and
embarrassing. Some people, we know, had their wives in common, as
related of our own ancestors by Cæsar, and of the Massagetæ by
Herodotus. The Greeks and Romans thought it more convenient to lend them
out occasionally to a friend or acquaintance, in which they seem to
have imitated the Spartans. In certain countries, the offer of a wife is
a common civility to strangers, who cannot be expected to carry their
own about with them constantly. The Indians of North Carolina, we are
told by Lawson, never punish a woman for adultery, because, say they,
she is a weakly creature, and easily drawn away by the man's persuasion.
That people, however, take good care to recover damages from the man, in
which one might think the inhabitants of Britain now-a-days would
conceive they acted wisely, and might only envy them the power they
allow to the husband of assessing the offender, and levying the fine;
for, says Lawson, "he that strives to evade such satisfaction as the
husband demands lives daily in danger of his life; yet, when discharged,
all animosity is laid aside, and the cuckold is very well pleased with
his bargain, whilst the rival is laughed at by the whole nation, for
carrying on his intrigue with no better conduct, than to be discovered,
and pay so dear for his pleasure." In this, however, _we_ differ; our
cuckolds are laughed at as fools, which is monstrously absurd, whilst
the transgressor is denominated a _fine fellow_, no less monstrously
unjust. How far the laws of England may be accessary to such glaring
perversity of sentiment, it is difficult to say; but if one were
disposed to fear with Mr Christian, (see his notes on Blackstone, lib.
1, ch. 16.) "that there is little reason to pay a compliment to them for
their respect and favour to the female sex," he might not hesitate to
suspect some radical vice in their constitution, which could so far
debase female honour as to leave it problematical, whether or not the
violaters of it, in any sense or degree, were capable of any thing but
infamy. 'Twere too puritanical, perhaps, to join Cowper in his ironical
commendation;--

            "But now, yes, now,
   We are become so candid and so fair,
   So liberal in construction, and so rich
   In Christian charity (good-natured age!)
   That they are safe, sinners of either sex,
   Transgress what laws they may."

But surely it is desirable, that a nation professing supreme regard to a
divine revelation, should shew something of its abhorrence, at a crime
which strikes at the root of all social comfort and happiness.--E.]

Having now given the best description that I can of the island in its
present state, and of the people, with their customs and manners,
language and arts, I shall only add a few general observations, which
may be of use to future navigators, if any of the ships of Great Britain
should receive orders to visit it. As it produces nothing that appears
to be convertible into an article of trade, and can be used only by
affording refreshments to shipping in their passage through these seas,
it might be made to answer this purpose in a much greater degree, by
transporting thither sheep, goats, and horned cattle, with European
garden stuff, and other useful vegetables, which there is the greatest
reason to suppose will flourish in so fine a climate, and so rich a
soil.

Though this and the neighbouring islands lie within the tropic of
Capricorn, yet the heat is not troublesome, nor did the winds blow
constantly from the east. We had frequently a fresh gale from the S.W.
for two or three days, and sometimes, though very seldom, from the N.W.
Tupia reported, that south-westerly winds prevail in October, November,
and December, and we have no doubt of the fact. When the winds are
variable, they are always accompanied by a swell from the S.W. or
W.S.W.; there is also a swell from the same points when it is calm, and
the atmosphere loaded with clouds, which is a sure indication that the
winds are variable, or westerly out at sea, for with the settled
trade-wind the weather is clear.

The meeting with westerly winds, within the general limits of the
eastern trade, has induced some navigators to suppose that they were
near some large tract of land, of which, however, I think they are no
indication.

It has been found, both by us and the Dolphin, that the trade-wind, in
these parts, does not extend farther to the south than twenty degrees,
beyond which, we generally found a gale from the westward; and it is
reasonable to suppose, that when these winds blow strong, they will
drive back the easterly wind, and consequently encroach upon the limits
within which they constantly blow, and thus necessarily produce variable
winds, as either happens to prevail, and a south-westerly swell. This
supposition is the more probable, as it is well known that the
trade-winds blow but faintly for some distance within their limits, and
therefore may be more easily stopped or repelled by a wind in the
contrary direction: It is also well known, that the limits of the
trade-winds vary not only at different seasons of the year, but
sometimes at the same season, in different years.

There is therefore no reason to suppose that south-westerly winds,
within these limits, are caused by the vicinity of large tracts of land,
especially as they are always accompanied with a large swell, in the
same direction in which they blow; and we find a much greater surf
beating upon the shores of the south-west side of the islands that are
situated just within the limits of the trade-wind, than upon any other
part of them.

The tides about these islands are perhaps as inconsiderable as in any
part of the world. A south or S. by W. moon makes high water in the bay
of Matavai at Otaheite; but the water very seldom rises perpendicularly
above ten or twelve inches.

The variation of the compass I found to be 4° 46' easterly, this being
the result of a great number of trials made with four of Dr Knight's
needles, adapted to azimuth compasses. These compasses I thought the
best that could be procured, yet when applied to the meridian line, I
found them to differ not only one from another, sometimes a degree and a
half, but the same needle, half a degree from itself in different trials
made on the same day; and I do not remember that I have ever found two
needles which exactly agreed at the same time and place, though I have
often found the same needle agree with itself, in several trials made
one after the other. This imperfection of the needle, however, is of no
consequence to navigation, as the variation can always be found to a
degree of accuracy, more than sufficient for all nautical purposes.


SECTION XX.

_A Description of several other Islands in the Neighbourhood of
Otaheite, with various Incidents; a dramatic Entertainment; and many
Particulars relative to the Customs and Manners of the Inhabitants_.[38]


[Footnote 38: Several additional particulars respecting the islands here
spoken of, are given on the authority of the missionary account, and
other works, to which it is unnecessary to refer particularly.--E.]

After parting with our friends, we made an easy sail, with gentle
breezes and clear weather, and were informed by Tupia, that four of the
neighbouring islands, which he distinguished by the names of _Huaheine,
Ulietea, Otaha,_ and _Bolabola_ lay at the distance of between one and
two days sail from Otaheite; and that hogs, fowls, and other
refreshments, with which we had of late been but sparingly supplied,
were there to be procured in great plenty; but having discovered from
the hills of Otaheite, an island lying to the northward, which he called
_Tethuroa_, I determined first to stand that way, to take a nearer view
of it. It lies N. 1/2 W. distant eight leagues from the northern
extremity of Otaheite, upon which we had observed the transit, and to
which we had, for that reason, given the name of _Point Venus_. We found
it to be a small low island, and were told by Tupia, that it had no
settled inhabitants, but was occasionally visited by the inhabitants of
Otaheite, who sometimes went thither for a few days to fish; we
therefore determined to spend no more time in a farther examination of
it, but to go in search of Huaheine and Ulietea, which he described to
be well peopled, and as large as Otaheite.[39]

[Footnote 39: Tethuroa consists of several low islets, enclosed in a
reef ten leagues round, and inaccessible to large canoes. The people are
subject to the sovereign of Otaheite, and are in general members of the
wandering society of the arreoyes, who frequent these spots for purposes
of amusement and luxury. No bread-fruit is allowed to be planted on
these islets, in order that the resident inhabitants, who are few in
number, may be obliged to come with their fish, which is their principal
commodity, to Oparre, where it may be had in exchange. Cocoa-nuts,
however, abound, as they thrive most in low places. The passage to these
islets is represented as difficult and dangerous, but this does not
deter the people from assembling on them in great numbers. So many as a
hundred canoes have been seen occasionally around this spot.--E.]

At six o'clock in the morning of the 14th, the westermost part of
_Eimeo_, or York island, bore S.E. 1/2 S. and the body of Otaheite E.
1/2 S. At noon, the body of York Island bore E. by S 1/2 S.; and
Port-Royal bay, at Otaheite, S. 70° 45' E. distant 61 miles; and an
island which we took to be Saunders's Island, called by the natives
_Tapoamanao_, bore S.S.W. We also saw land bearing N.W. 1/2 W. which
Tupia said was Huaheine.[40]

[Footnote 40: Eimeo, or, as the natives usually call it, Morea, is the
nearest to Otaheite, its distance from the western coast being only
about four leagues.--It is reckoned ten miles long, from north to south,
and half as much in breadth. It has several harbours, and is intersected
by considerable valleys of a fertile appearance. The natives, who are at
present dependent on Otaheite, are said to be as much addicted to
thieving as those of that island. The women are inferior in attractions
to any in their neighbourhood. The harbour of Taloo on the north coast
is very eligible for vessels--it is situate in 17° 30' latitude, and
150° west longitude. This island is always seen by persons who touch at
Otaheite. Tapoamanao, a little to the westward of Eimeo, has perhaps
never been landed on by Europeans and is little known.--It is not above
six miles long, but seems fertile, and to abound especially with
cocoa-nuts. There are not many habitations to be seen on it. The
government is said to depend on Huaheine, which is distant from it about
fourteen leagues.--E.]


On the 15th, it was hazy, with light breezes and calms succeeding each
other, so that we could see no land, and made but little way. Our
Indian, Tupia, often prayed for a wind to his god Tane, and as often
boasted of his success, which indeed he took a very effectual method to
secure, for he never began his address to Tane, till he saw a breeze so
near that he knew it must reach the ship before his oraison was well
over.

On the 16th, we had a gentle breeze; and in the morning about eight
o'clock, being close in with the north-west part of the Island Huaheine,
we sounded, but had no bottom with 80 fathom. Some canoes very soon came
off, but the people seemed afraid, and kept at a distance till they
discovered Tupia, and then they ventured nearer. In one of the canoes
that came up to the ship's side, was the king of the island and his
wife. Upon assurances of friendship, frequently and earnestly repeated,
their majesties and some others came on board. At first they were struck
with astonishment, and wondered at every thing that was shewn them; yet
they made no enquiries, and seeming to be satisfied with what was
offered to their notice, they made no search after other objects of
curiosity, with which it was natural to suppose a building of such
novelty and magnitude as the ship must abound. After some time, they
became more familiar. I was given to understand, that the name of the
king was _Oree_, and he proposed, as a mark of amity, that we should
exchange names. To this I readily consented; and he was Cookee, for so
he pronounced my name, and I was Oree, for the rest of the time we were
together. We found these people to be very nearly the same with those of
Otaheite, in person, dress, language, and every other circumstance,
except, if Tupia might be believed, that they would not steal.

Soon after dinner, we came to an anchor, in a small but excellent
harbour on the west side of the island, which the natives call
_Owharre_, in eighteen fathom water, clear ground, and secure from all
winds. I went immediately ashore, accompanied by Mr Banks, Dr Solander,
Mr Monkhouse, Tupia, King Cookee, and some other of the natives who had
been on board ever since the morning. The moment we landed, Tupia
stripped himself as low as the waist, and desired Mr Monkhouse to do the
same: He then sat down before a great number of the natives, who were
collected together in a large house or shed; for here, as well as at
Otaheite, a house consists only of a roof supported upon poles; the rest
of us, by his desire, standing behind. He then began a speech or prayer,
which lasted about a quarter of an hour, the king, who stood over
against him, every now and then answering in what appeared to be set
responses. In the course of this harangue he delivered at different
times two handkerchiefs, a black silk neckcloth, some beads, two small
bunches of feathers, and some plantains, as presents to their Eatua, or
God. In return for these, he received for our Eatua, a hog, some young
plantains, and two small bunches of feathers, which he ordered to be
carried on board the ship. After these ceremonies, which we supposed to
be the ratification of a treaty between us, every one was dismissed to
go whither he pleased; and Tupia immediately repaired to offer his
oblations at one of the Morais.

The next morning, we went on shore again, and walked up the hills, where
the productions were exactly the same as those of Otaheite, except that
the rocks and clay appeared to be more burnt. The houses were neat, and
the boat-houses remarkably large; one that we measured was fifty paces
long, ten broad, and twenty-four feet high; the whole formed a pointed
arch, like those of our old cathedrals, which was supported on one side
by twenty-six, and on the other by thirty pillars, or rather posts,
about two feet high, and one thick, upon most of which were rudely
carved the heads of men, and several fanciful devices, not altogether
unlike those which we sometimes see printed from wooden blocks, at the
beginning and end of old books. The plains, or flat part of the country,
abounded in bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut trees; in some places, however,
there were salt swamps and lagoons, which would produce neither.

We went again a-shore on the 18th, and would have taken the advantage of
Tupia's company, in our perambulation; but he was too much engaged with
his friends. We took, however, his boy, whose name was _Tayeto_, and Mr
Banks went to take a farther view of what had much engaged his attention
before; it was a kind of chest or ark, the lid of which was nicely sewed
on, and thatched very neatly with palm-nut leaves: It was fixed upon two
poles, and supported on little arches of wood, very neatly carved; the
use of the poles seemed to be to remove it from place to place, in the
manner of our sedan chairs: In one end of it was a square hole, in the
middle of which was a ring touching the sides, and leaving the angles
open, so as to form a round hole within a square one. The first time Mr
Banks saw this coffer, the aperture at the end was stopped with a piece
of cloth, which, lest he should give offence, he left untouched;
probably there was then something within, but now the cloth was taken
away, and, upon looking into it, it was found empty. The general
resemblance between this repository and the ark of the Lord among the
Jews is remarkable; but it is still more remarkable, that upon enquiring
of the boy what it was called, he said, _Ewharre no Eatua_, the _house
of the God_: He could however give no account of its signification or
use.[41]

[Footnote 41: Mr Parkhurst, in his Hebrew Lexicon, takes notice of this
circumstance, and admits the resemblance. But in fact, there is no need
to have recourse to the Jews in particular, for something similar to
what is here mentioned. The Egyptians, according to Herodotus, Euter.
63, kept their god in a case or box, and at certain times carried it
about or drew it on a four-wheeled carriage. Diodorus Siculus says the
same thing of them, in his first book. Both these writers, it is
remarkable, use the same word for this containing vehicle; it is [Greek]
or [Greek], the temple, shrine, or sacred dwelling. The reader may have
heard of the horrid god at Juggernaut, who is drawn on a wheeled
carriage, as described in such dreadful terms by Dr Buchanan, in the
account of his travels and researches in India. The Israelites, it is
very probable from a passage in the prophet Amos, v. 26, copied the
example of some of their idolatrous neighbours, in _bearing_ a temple of
Moloch and Chiun. See Raphelius on Acts vii. 43. where mention is made
of the same offence against the positive commands of God. It may be
distinctly proved, that the gods and goddesses of the heathens were
accustomed to have their _tabernacula_ and _fana_, and that some of them
were _portable_. Thus the Greeks had their [Greek], and the Romans their
_thensa_. Virgil, we see in the Eneid, speaks of the Errantesque deos,
agitataque numina Trojæ, as a great misfortune. It would be idle to
enter here on the question discussed by different men of learning,
whether the practice of having temples or places of abode for their gods
originated among the Gentiles, and was thence adopted by way of
condescension into the Mosaic economy; or was borrowed by the Gentiles
from some early revelation corrupted, which had for its object the
holding out the great promise, that God himself would one day tabernacle
among men upon the earth. This latter opinion is the more probable one
by a great deal. It is not a little like the sentiment so strongly
maintained by some excellent authors, and certainly in a high degree
countenanced by scripture, that the sacrifices amongst the heathens were
derived from some early but vitiated revelation of that one great
sacrifice and atonement, which God himself had provided in behalf of his
guilty creatures. For this opinion, the candid reader will not fail to
perceive the strongest evidence produced, in a most important recent
publication, Dr Magee's Discourses, &c. on the Atonement.--E.]

We had commenced a kind of trade with the natives, but it went on
slowly; for when any thing was offered, not one of them would take it
upon his own judgment, but collected the opinions of twenty or thirty
people, which could not be done without great loss of time. We got,
however, eleven pigs, and determined to try for more the next day.

The next day, therefore, we brought out some hatchets, for which we
hoped we should have had no occasion, upon an island which no European
had ever visited before. These procured us three very large hogs; and as
we proposed to sail in the afternoon, King Oree and several others came
on board to take their leave. To the King I gave a small plate of
pewter, on which was stamped this inscription, "His Britannic Majesty's
ship, Endeavour, Lieutenant Cook Commander, 16th July, 1769, Huaheine."
I gave him also some medals or counters, resembling the coin of
England, struck in the year 1761, with some other presents; and he
promised that with none of these, particularly the plate, he would ever
part. I thought it as lasting a testimony of our having first discovered
this island, as any we could leave behind; and having dismissed our
visitors well satisfied, and in great good humour, we set sail, about
half an hour after two in the afternoon.

The island of Huaheine, or Huahene, is situated in the latitude of 16°
48' S. and longitude 150° 52' W. from Greenwich: It is distant from
Otaheite about thirty-one leagues, in the direction of N. 58 W. and is
about seven leagues in compass. Its surface is hilly and uneven, and it
has a safe and commodious harbour. The harbour, which is called by the
natives _Owalle_, or _Owharre_, lies on the west side, under the
northernmost high land, and within the north end of the reef, which lies
along that side of the island; there are two inlets or openings, by
which it may be entered, through the reef, about a mile and a half
distant from each other; the southermost is the widest, and on the south
side of it lies a very small sandy island.

Huaheine seems to be a month forwarder in its productions than Otaheite,
as we found the cocoa-nuts full of kernel, and some of the new
bread-fruit fit to eat. Of the cocoa-nuts the inhabitants make a food
which they call _Poe_, by mixing them with yams; they scrape both fine,
and having incorporated the powder, they put it into a wooden trough,
with a number of hot stones, by which an oily kind of hasty-pudding is
made, that our people relished very well, especially when it was fryed.
Mr Banks found not more than eleven or twelve new plants; but he
observed some insects, and a species of scorpion which he had not seen
before.

The inhabitants seem to be larger made, and more stout, than those of
Otaheite. Mr Banks measured one of the men, and found him to be six feet
three inches and a half high; yet they are so lazy, that he could not
persuade any of them to go up the hills with him: They said, if they
were to attempt it, the fatigue would kill them. The women were very
fair, more so than those of Otaheite; and in general, we thought them
more handsome, though none that were equal to some individuals. Both
sexes seemed to be less timid, and less curious: It has been observed,
that they made no enquiries on board the ship; and when we fired a gun,
they were frightened indeed, but they did not fall down, as our friends
at Otaheite constantly did when we first came among them.. For this
difference, however, we can easily account upon other principles; the
people at Huaheine had not seen the Dolphin, those at Otaheite had. In
one, the report of a gun was connected with the idea of instant
destruction; to the other, there was nothing dreadful in it but the
appearance and the sound, as they had never experienced its power of
dispensing death.

While we were on shore, we found that Tupia had commended them beyond
their merit, when he said that they would not steal; for one of them was
detected in the fact. But when he was seized by the hair, the rest,
instead of running away, as the people at Otaheite would have done,
gathered round, and enquired what provocation had been given: But this
also may be accounted for without giving them credit for superior
courage; they had no experience of the consequence of European
resentment, which the people at Otaheite had in many instances purchased
with life. It must, however, be acknowledged, to their honour, that when
they understood what had happened, they showed strong signs of
disapprobation, and prescribed a good beating for the thief, which was
immediately administered.[42]

[Footnote 42: Huaheine or Aheine (a word which signifies woman) is the
eastermost of the Society Isles. It bears some resemblance to Otaheite,
being divided into two peninsulas by an isthmus of low land, having a
stripe of fertile soil next the shore, from which hills of a volcanic
origin arise towards the centre. Since Capt. Cook's time, this island
has been visited by Lieut. Watts, Capt. Bligh, and Capt. Edwards, but
none of these officers has afforded any satisfactory information
respecting its government and history. In the year 1791, it is said to
have acknowledged the sovereignty of Otaheite.--E.]

We now made sail for the island of _Ulietea_, which lies S.W. by W.
distant seven or eight leagues from Huaheine, and at half an hour after
six in the evening we were within three leagues of the shore, on the
eastern side. We stood off and on all night, and when the day broke the
next morning, we stood in for the shore: We soon after discovered an
opening in the reef which lies before the island, within which Tupia
told us there was a good harbour. I did not, however, implicitly take
his word; but sent the master out in the pinnace to examine it: He soon
made the signal for the ship to follow; we accordingly stood in, and
anchored in two-and-twenty fathom, with soft ground.

The natives soon came off to us in two canoes, each of which brought a
woman and a pig. The woman we supposed was a mark of confidence, and the
pig was a present; we received both with proper acknowledgments, and
complimented each of the ladies with a spike-nail and some beads, much
to their satisfaction. We were told by Tupia, who had always expressed
much fear of the men of Bolabola, that they had made a conquest of this
island; and that, if we remained here, they would certainly come down
to-morrow, and fight us. We determined, therefore, to go on shore
without delay, while the day was our own.

I landed in company with Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and the other gentleman,
Tupia being also of the party. He introduced us by repeating the
ceremonies which he had performed at Huaheine, after which I hoisted an
English jack, and took possession of this and the three neighbouring
islands, Huaheine, Otaha, and Bolabola, which were all in sight, in the
name of his Britannic majesty. After this, we took a walk to a great
morai, called _Tapodeboatea_. We found it very different from those of
Otaheite; for it consisted only of four walls, about eight feet high, of
coral stones, some of which were of an immense size, inclosing an area
of about five-and-twenty yards square, which was filled up with smaller
stones: Upon the top of it many planks were set up an end, which were
carved in their whole length: At a little distance we found an altar, or
Ewhatta, upon which lay the last oblation or sacrifice, a hog of about
eighty pounds weight, which had been offered whole, and very nicely
roasted. Here were also four or five Ewharre no-Eatua, or houses of God,
to which carriage-poles were fitted, like that which we had seen at
Huaheine. One of these Mr Banks examined by putting his hand into it,
and found a parcel about five feet long and one thick, wrapped up in
matts: He broke a way through several of these matts with his fingers,
but at length came to one which was made of the fibres of the cocoa-nut,
so firmly plaited together that he found it impossible to tear it, and
therefore was forced to desist; especially as he perceived, that what he
had done already gave great offence to our new friends. From hence we
went to a long house, not far distant, where among rolls of cloth, and
several other things, we saw the model of a canoe, about three feet
long, to which were tied eight human jaw-bones: We had already learnt
that these, like scalps among the Indians of North America, were
trophies of war. Tupia affirmed that they were the jaw-bones of the
natives of this island; if so, they might have been hung up, with the
model of a canoe, as a symbol of invasion, by the warriors of Bolabola,
as a memorial of their conquest.

Night now came on apace, but Mr Banks and Dr Solander continued their
walk along the shore, and at a little distance saw another
Ewharre-no-Eatua, and a tree of the fig kind, the same as that which Mr
Green had seen at Otaheite, in great perfection, the trunk, or rather
congeries of the roots of which, was forty-two paces in circumference.

On the 21st, having dispatched the master in the long-boat to examine
the coast of the south part of the island, and one of the mates in the
yawl, to sound the harbour where the ship lay, I went myself in the
pinnace, to survey that part of the island which lies to the north. Mr
Banks and the gentlemen were again on shore, trading with the natives,
and examining the products and curiosities of the country; they saw
nothing, however, worthy notice, but some more jaw-bones, of which they
made no doubt but that the account they had heard was true.

On the 22d and 23d, having strong gales and hazy weather, I did not
think it safe to put to sea; but on the 24th, though the wind was still
variable, I got under sail, and plied to the northward within the reef,
with a view to go out at a wider opening than that by which I had
entered; in doing this, however, I was unexpectedly in the most imminent
danger of striking on the rock: The master, whom I had ordered to keep
continually sounding in the chains, suddenly called out, "Two fathom."
This alarmed me, for though I knew the ship drew at least fourteen feet,
and that therefore it was impossible such a shoal should be under her
keel, yet the master was either mistaken, or she went along the edge of
a coral rock, many of which, in the neighbourhood of these islands, are
as steep as a wall.

This harbour, or bay, is called by the natives _Oopoa,_ and taken in its
greatest extent, it is capable of holding any number of shipping. It
extends almost the whole length of the east side of the island, and is
defended from the sea by a reef of coral rocks: The southermost opening
in this reef, or channel, into the harbour, by which we entered, is
little more than a cable's length wide; it lies off the eastermost point
of the island, and may be known by another small woody island, which
lies a little to the south-east of it, called by the people here
_Oatara_. Between three and four miles north-west from this island lie
two other islets, in the same direction as the reef, of which they are a
part, called _Opururu_ and _Tamou_; between these lies the other
channel into the harbour, through which I went out, and which is a full
quarter of a mile wide. Still farther to the north-west are some other
small islands, near which I am told there is another small channel into
the harbour; but this I know only by report.

The principal refreshments that are to be procured at this part of the
island are, plantains, cocoa-nuts, yams, hogs, and fowls; the hogs and
fowls, however, are scarce; and the country, where we saw it, is neither
so populous, nor so rich in produce, as Otaheite, or even Huaheine. Wood
and water may also be procured here; but the water cannot conveniently
be got at.[43]

[Footnote 43: Ulietea, or Reiadea, is nearly twice the size of Huaheine,
and bears a still more striking resemblance to Otaheite. Its importance
was once very great among these islands, but this and its population
have much declined, in consequence of an unsuccessful war it carried on
with the people of Bolabola, aided by those of Otaha. The distressed
inhabitants fled in great numbers to Otaheite, and having obtained some
reinforcement, ventured to attack their conquerors in Huaheine, where
they had also carried their victorious arms. They succeeded in this
attack, which was conducted with much caution and prudence; but they
were never able to recover possession of their own island. The people of
Otaha were soon afterwards subdued by their own allies of Bolabola, by
much the most formidable and warlike of all these people, and said to be
descended from persons who had been banished for their crimes from the
neighbouring islands. Bolabola we shall find was not landed on by Capt.
Cook, in consequence of his being on that side of it, where there is no
harbour. It was touched at by him in a boat when he last visited this
cluster, and Capt. Edwards went ashore there in 1791. It is of a rude,
barren appearance, especially on the eastern side, and is easily known
by its lofty double-peaked mountain. The warriors of Bolabola are
differently punctured from all the other people in these islands, and
are the terror of the whole neighbourhood. Otaha, which is about four
leagues to the south-west of Bolabola, and is subject to it, though
superior in size, scarcely merits any notice additional to the text. It
is neither fertile nor populous, and being but about two miles from
Ulietea, presents no inducements to Europeans. Capt. Edwards examined it
in 1791. A material advantage it has in two very good harbours, as will
soon be mentioned.--E.]

We were now again at sea, without having received any interruption from
the hostile inhabitants of Bolabola, whom, notwithstanding the fears of
Tupia, we intended to visit. At four o'clock in the afternoon of the
25th, we were within a league of Otaha, which bore N. 77° W. To the
northward of the south end of that island, on the east side of it, and
something more than a mile from the shore, lie two small islands, called
_Toahoutu_ and _Whennuia_; between which Tupia says, there is a channel
into a very good harbour, which lies within the reef, and appearances
confirmed his report.

As I discovered a broad channel between Otaha and Bolabola, I determined
rather to go through it, than run to the northward of all; but the wind
being right a-head, I got no ground.

Between five and six in the evening of the 26th, as I was standing to
the northward, I discovered a small low island, lying N. by W. or N.N.W.
distant four or five leagues from Bolabola. We were told by Tupia that
the name of this island is _Tubai_; that it produces nothing but
cocoa-nuts, and is inhabited only by three families; though it is
visited by the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands, who resort
thither to catch fish, with which the coast abounds.[44]

[Footnote 44: It is singular that the language of the few people that
inhabit the cluster of islets, known under the name of Tubai or Toobae,
is unintelligible to the natives of the other Society Islands. The
supposition hence arises, that they are of a different race; but no
satisfactory information can be given respecting them. The island is
said to abound in turtle, and is in consequence often visited by the
people of other isles.--E.]

On the 27th, about noon, the peak of Bolabola bore N. 25° W. and the
north end of Otaha, N. 80° W. distant three leagues. The wind continued
contrary all this day and the night following. On the 28th, at six in
the morning, we were near the entrance of the harbour on the east side
of _Otaha_, which has been just mentioned; and finding that it might be
examined without losing time, I sent away the master in the long-boat,
with orders to sound it; and, if the wind did not shift in our favour,
to land upon the island, and traffic with the natives for such
refreshments as were to be had. In this boat went Mr Banks and Dr
Solander, who landed upon the island, and before night purchased three
hogs, twenty-one fowls, and as many yams and plantains as the boat would
hold. Plantains we thought a more useful refreshment even than pork; for
they were boiled and served to the ship's company as bread, and were now
the more acceptable as our bread was so full of vermin, that
notwithstanding all possible care, we had sometimes twenty of them in
our mouths at a time, every one of which tasted as hot as mustard. The
island seemed to be more barren than Ulietea, but the produce was of the
same kind. The people also exactly resembled those that we had seen at
the other islands; they were not numerous, but they flocked about the
boat wherever she went from all quarters, bringing with them whatever
they had to sell. They paid the strangers, of whom they had received an
account from Tupia, the same compliment which they used towards their
own kings, uncovering their shoulders, and wrapping their garments round
their breasts; and were so solicitous to prevent its being neglected by
any of their people, that a man was sent with them, who called out to
every one they met, telling him what they were, and what he was to do.

In the mean time, I kept plying off and on, waiting for the boat's
return; at half an hour after five, not seeing any, thing of her, I
fired a gun, and after it was dark hoisted a light; at half an hour
after eight, we heard the report of a musket, which we answered with a
gun, and soon after the boat came on board. The master reported, that
the harbour was safe and commodious, with good anchorage from
twenty-five to sixteen fathom water, clear ground.

As soon as the boat was hoisted in, I made sail to the northward, and at
eight o'clock in the morning of the 29th, we were close under the Peak
of Bolabola, which was high, rude, and craggy. As the island was
altogether inaccessible in this part, and we found it impossible to
weather it, we tacked and stood off, then tacked again, and after many
trips did not weather the south end of it till twelve o'clock at night.
At eight o'clock the next morning, we discovered an island, which bore
from us N. 63° W. distant about eight leagues; at the same time the Peak
of Bolabola bore N. 1/2 E. distant three or four leagues. This island
Tupia called _Maurua_, and said that it was small, wholly surrounded by
a reef, and without any harbour for shipping; but inhabited, and bearing
the same produce as the neighbouring islands: The middle of it rises in
a high round hill, that may be seen at the distance of ten leagues.[45]

[Footnote 45: The people of Otaheite are said to procure pearls from
this island. It is, however, subject to Bolabola, as the reader will
soon see mentioned.--E.]

When we were off Bolabola, we saw but few people on the shore, and were
told by Tupia that many of the inhabitants were gone to Ulietea. In the
afternoon we found ourselves nearly the length of the south end of
Ulietea, and to windward of some harbours that lay on the west side of
this island. Into one of these harbours, though we had before been
ashore on the other side of the island, I intended to put, in order to
stop a leak which we had sprung in the powder-room, and to take in more
ballast, as I found the ship too light to carry sail upon a wind. As the
wind was right against us, we plied off one of the harbours, and about
three o'clock in the afternoon on the 1st of August, we came to an
anchor in the entrance of the channel leading into it in fourteen fathom
water, being prevented from working in, by a tide which set very strong
out. We then carried out the kedge-anchor, in order to warp into the
harbour; but when this was done, we could not trip the bower-anchor with
all the purchase we could make; we were therefore obliged to lie still
all night, and in the morning, when the tide turned, the ship going over
the anchor, it tripped of itself, and we warped the ship into a proper
birth with ease, and moored in twenty-eight fathom, with a sandy bottom.
While this was doing, many of the natives came off to us with hogs,
fowls, and plantains, which they parted with at an easy rate.

When the ship was secured, I went on shore to look for a proper place to
get ballast and water, both which I found in a very convenient
situation.

This day Mr Banks and Dr Solander spent on shore very much to their
satisfaction; every body seemed to fear and respect them, placing in
them at the same time the utmost confidence, behaving as if conscious
that they possessed the power of doing them mischief, without any
propensity to make use of it. Men, women, and children crowded round
them, and followed them wherever they went; but none of them were guilty
of the least incivility: On the contrary, whenever there happened to be
dirt or water in the way, the men vied with each other to carry them
over on their backs. They were conducted to the houses of the principal
people, and were received in a manner altogether new: The people, who
followed them while they were in their way, rushed forward as soon as
they came to a house, and went hastily in before them, leaving however a
lane sufficiently wide for them to pass. When they entered, they found
those who had preceded them ranged on each side of a long matt, which
was spread upon the ground, and at the farther end of which sat the
family: In the first house they entered they found some very young women
or children, dressed with the utmost neatness, who kept their station,
expecting the strangers to come up to them and make them presents, which
they did with the greatest pleasure; for prettier children or better
dressed they had never seen. One of them was a girl about six years old;
her gown, or upper garment, was red; a large quantity of plaited hair
was wound round her head, the ornament to which they give the name of
Tamou, and which they value more than any thing they possess. She sat at
the upper end of a matt thirty feet long, upon which none of the
spectators presumed to set a foot, notwithstanding the crowd; and she
leaned upon the arm of a well-looking woman about thirty, who was
probably her nurse. Our gentlemen walked up to her, and as soon as they
approached, she stretched out her hand to receive the beads which they
offered her, and no princess in Europe could have done it with a better
grace.

The people were so much gratified by the presents which, were made to
these girls, that when Mr Banks and Dr Solander returned they seemed
attentive to nothing but how to oblige them; and in one of the houses
they were, by order of the master, entertained with a dance, different
from any that they had seen. It was performed by one man, who put upon
his head a large cylindrical piece of wicker-work, or basket, about four
feet long and eight inches in diameter, which was faced with feathers,
placed perpendicularly, with the tops bending forwards, and edged, round
with shark's teeth, and the tail-feathers of tropic birds: When he had
put on this head-dress, which is called a _Whow_, he began to dance,
moving slowly, and often turning his head so as that the top of his high
wicker-cap described a circle, and sometimes throwing it so near the
faces of the spectators as to make them start back: This was held among
them as a very good joke, and never failed to produce a peal of
laughter, especially when it was played off upon one of the strangers.

On the 3d, we went along the shore to the northward, which was in a
direction opposite to that of the route Mr Banks and Dr Solander had
taken the day before, with a design to purchase stock, which we always
found the people more ready to part with, and at a more easy price, at
their houses than at the market. In the course of our walk we met with a
company of dancers, who detained us two hours, and during all that time
afforded us great entertainment. The company consisted of two
women-dancers, and six men, with three drums; we were informed by Tupia,
that they were some of the most considerable people of the island, and
that though they were continually going from place to place, they did
not, like the little strolling companies of Otaheite, take any gratuity
from the spectators. The women had upon their heads a considerable
quantity of Tamou, or plaited hair, which was brought several times
round the head, and adorned in many parts with the flowers of the
cape-jessamine, which were stuck in with much taste, and made a
head-dress truly elegant. Their necks, shoulders, and arms were naked;
so were the breasts also as low as the parting of the arm; below that,
they were covered with black cloth, which set close to the body; at the
side of each breast, next the arm, was placed a small plume of black
feathers, much in the same manner as our ladies now wear their nosegays
or _bouquets_; upon their hips rested a quantity of cloth plaited very
full, which reached up to the breast, and fell down below into long
petticoats, which quite concealed their feet, and which they managed
with as much dexterity as our opera-dancers could have done: The plaits
above the waist were brown and white alternately, the petticoats below
were all white.

In this dress they advanced sideways in a measured step, keeping
excellent time to the drums, which beat briskly and loud; soon after
they began to shake their hips, giving the folds of cloth that lay upon
them a very quick motion, which was in some degree continued through the
whole dance, though the body was thrown into various postures, sometimes
standing, sometimes sitting, and sometimes resting on their knees and
elbows, the fingers also being moved at the same time with a quickness
scarcely to be imagined. Much of the dexterity of the dancers, however,
and the entertainment of the spectators, consisted in the wantonness of
their attitudes and gestures, which was, indeed, such as exceeds all
description.

One of these girls had in her ear three pearls; one of them was very
large, but so foul that it was of little value; the other two were as
big as a middling pea; these were clear, and of a good colour and shape,
though spoiled by the drilling. Mr Banks would fain have purchased them,
and offered the owner any thing she would ask for them, but she could
not be persuaded to part with them at any price: He tempted her with the
value of four hogs, and whatever else she should chuse, but without
success; and indeed they set a value upon their pearls very nearly equal
to what they would fetch among us, except they could be procured before
they are drilled.

Between the dances of the women, the men performed a kind of dramatic
interlude, in which there was dialogue as well as dancing; but we were
not sufficiently acquainted with their language to understand the
subject.

On the 4th, some of our gentlemen saw a much more regular entertainment
of the dramatic kind, which was divided into four acts.

Tupia had often told us that he had large possessions in this island,
which had been taken away from him by the inhabitants of Bolabola, and
he now pointed them out in the very bay where the ship was at anchor.
Upon our going on shore, this was confirmed by the inhabitants, who
shewed us several districts or Whennuas, which they acknowledged to be
his right.

On the 5th, I received a present of three hogs, some fowls, several
pieces of cloth, the largest we had seen, being fifty yards long, which
they unfolded and displayed so as to make the greatest show possible;
and a considerable quantity of plantains, cocoa-nuts, and other
refreshments, from Opoony, the formidable king, or, in the language of
the country, Earee rahie, of Bolabola, with a message that he was at
this time upon the island, and that the next day he intended to pay me a
visit.

In the mean time Mr Banks and Dr Solander went upon the hills,
accompanied by several of the Indians, who conducted them by excellent
paths, to such a height, that they plainly saw the other side of the
island, and the passage through which the ship had passed the reef
between the little islands of Opururu and Tamou, when we landed upon it
the first time. As they were returning, they saw the Indians exercising
themselves at what they call _Erowhaw_, which is nothing more than
pitching a kind of light lance, headed with hard wood, at a mark: In
this amusement, though they seem very fond of it, they do not excel; for
not above one in twelve struck the mark, which was the bole of a
plantain tree, at about twenty yards distance.

On the 6th, we all staid at home, expecting the visit of the great king,
but we were disappointed; we had, however, much more agreeable company,
for he sent three very pretty girls to demand something in return for
his present: Perhaps he was unwilling to trust himself on board the
ship, or perhaps he thought his messengers would procure a more valuable
return for his hogs and poultry than he could himself; be that as it
may, we did not regret his absence, nor his messengers their visit.

In the afternoon, as the great king would not come to us, we determined
to go to the great king. As he was lord of the Bolabola men, the
conquerors of this, and the terror of all the other islands, we expected
to see a chief young and vigorous, with an intelligent countenance, and
an enterprising spirit: We found, however, a poor feeble wretch,
withered and decrepit, half blind with age, and so sluggish and stupid
that he appeared scarcely to have understanding enough left to know that
it was probable we should be gratified either by hogs or women.[46] He
did not receive us sitting, or with any state or formality as the other
chiefs had done: We made him our present, which be accepted, and gave a
hog in return. We had learnt that his principal residence was at Otaha;
and upon our telling him that we intended to go thither in our boats the
next morning, and that we should be glad to have him along with us, he
promised to be of the party.

[Footnote 46: He was alive, however, when Cook visited Bolabola in his
last voyage, and even then was universally esteemed and feared.--E.]

Early in the morning, therefore, I set out both with the pinnace and
long-boat for Otaha, having some of the gentlemen with me; and in our
way we called upon Opoony, who was in his canoe, ready to join us. As
soon as we landed at Otaha, I made him a present of an axe, which I
thought might induce him to encourage his subjects to bring us such
provision as we wanted; but in this we found ourselves sadly
disappointed; for after staying with him till noon, we left him without
being able to procure a single article. I then proceeded to the north
point of the island, in the pinnace, having sent the long-boat another
way. As I went along I picked up half a dozen hogs, as many fowls, and
some plantains and yams. Having viewed and sketched the harbour on this
side of the island, I made the best of my way back, with the long-boat,
which joined me soon after it was dark; and about ten o'clock at night
we got on board the ship.

In this excursion Mr Banks was not with us; he spent the morning on
board the ship, trading with the natives, who came off in their canoes,
for provisions and curiosities; and in the afternoon he went on shore
with his draughtsmen, to sketch the dresses of the dancers which he had
seen a day or two before. He found the company exactly the same, except
that another woman had been added to it: The dancing also of the women
was the same, but the interludes of the men were somewhat varied; he saw
five or six performed, which were different from each other, and very
much resembled the drama of our stage-dances. The next day, he went
ashore again, with Dr Solander, and they directed their course towards
the dancing company, which, from the time of our second landing, had
gradually moved about two leagues in their course round the island. They
saw more dancing and interludes, the interludes still varying from each
other: In one of them the performers, who were all men, were divided
into two parties, which were distinguished from each other by the colour
of their clothes, one being brown, and the other white. The brown party
represented a master and servants, and the white party a company of
thieves: The master gave a basket of meat to the rest of his party, with
a charge to take care of it: The dance of the white party consisted of
several expedients to steal it, and that of the brown party in
preventing their success. After some time, those who had charge of the
basket placed themselves round it upon the ground, and leaning upon it,
appeared to go to sleep; the others, improving this opportunity, came
gently upon them, and lifting them up from the basket, carried off their
prize: The sleepers soon after awaking, missed their basket, but
presently fell a-dancing, without any farther regarding their loss; so
that the dramatic action of this dance was, according to the severest
laws of criticism, one, and our lovers of simplicity would here have
been gratified with an entertainment perfectly suited to the chastity of
their taste.

On the 9th, having spent the morning in trading with the canoes, we took
the opportunity of a breeze, which sprung up at east, and having stopped
our leak, and got the fresh stock which we had purchased on board, we
sailed out of the harbour. When we were sailing away, Tupia strongly
urged me to fire a shot towards Bolabola, possibly as a mark of his
resentment, and to shew the power of his new allies: In this I thought
proper to gratify him, though we were seven leagues distant.

While we were about these islands, we expended very little of the
ship's provisions, and were very plentifully supplied with hogs, fowls,
plantains, and yams, which we hoped would have been of great use to us
in our course to the southward; but the hogs would not eat European
grain of any kind, pulse, or bread-dust, so that we could not preserve
them alive; and the fowls were all very soon seized with a disease that
affected the head so, that they continued to hold it down between their
legs till they died: Much dependence therefore must not be placed in
live-stock taken on board at these places, at least not till a discovery
is made of some food that the hogs will eat, and some remedy for the
disease of the poultry.

Having been necessarily detained at Ulietea so long, by the carpenters
in stopping our leak, we determined to give up our design of going on
shore at Bolabola, especially as it appeared to be difficult of access.

To these six islands, Ulietea, Otaha, Bolabola, Huaneine, Tubai, and
Maurua, as they lie contiguous to each other, I gave the names of
_Society Islands_, but did not think it proper to distinguish them
separately by any other names than those by which they were known to the
natives.

They are situated between the latitude of 16° 10' and 16° 55' S. and
between the longitude of 150° 57' and 152° W. from the meridian of
Greenwich. Ulietea and Otaha lie within about two miles of each other,
and are both inclosed within one reef of coral rocks, so that there is
no passage for shipping between them. This reef forms several excellent
harbours; the entrances into them, indeed, are but narrow, yet when a
ship is once in, nothing can hurt her. The harbours on the east side
have been described already; and on the west side of Ulietea, which is
the largest of the two, there are three. The northermost, in which we
lay, is called _Ohamaneno_: The channel leading into it is about a
quarter of a mile wide, and lies between two low sandy islands, which
are the northermost on this side; between, or just within the two
islands, there is good anchorage in twenty-eight fathom, soft ground.
This harbour, though small, is preferable to the others, because it is
situated in the most fertile part of the islands, and where fresh water
is easily to be got. The other two harbours lie to the southward of
this, and not far from the south end of the island: In both of them
there is good anchorage, with ten, twelve, and fourteen fathom. They are
easily known by three small woody islands at their entrance. The
southermost of these two harbours lies within, and to the southward of
the southermost of these islands, and the other lies between the two
northermost. I was told that there were more harbours at the south end
of this island, but I did not examine whether the report was true.

Otaha affords two very good harbours, one on the east side, and the
other on the west. That on the east side is called Ohamene, and has been
mentioned already; the other is called _Oherurua_, and lies about the
middle of the south-west side of the island; it is pretty large and
affords good anchorage in twenty and twenty-five fathom, nor is there
any want of fresh water. The breach in the reef, that forms a channel
into this harbour, is about a quarter of a mile broad, and, like all the
rest, is very steep on both sides; in general there is no danger here
but what is visible.

The island of Bolabola lies N.W. and by W. from Otaha, distant about
four leagues; it is surrounded by a reef of rocks, and several small
islands, in compass together about eight leagues. I was told, that on
the south-west side of the island there is a channel through the reef
into a very good harbour, but I did not think it worth while to examine
it, for the reasons that have been just assigned. This island is
rendered very remarkable by a high craggy hill, which appears to be
almost perpendicular, and terminates at the top in two peaks, one higher
than the other.

The land of Ulietea and Otaha is hilly, broken, and irregular, except on
the sea-coast, yet the hills look green and pleasant, and are in many
places clothed with wood. The several particulars in which these islands
and their inhabitants differ from what we had observed at Otaheite, have
been mentioned in the course of the narrative.

We pursued our course without any event worthy of note till the 13th,
about noon, when we saw land bearing S.E. which Tupia told us was an
island called _Oheteroa_. About six in the evening, we were within two
or three leagues of it, upon which I shortened sail, and stood off and
on all night; the next morning stood in for the land. We ran to leeward
of the island, keeping close in shore, and saw several of the natives,
though in no great numbers, upon the beach. At nine o'clock I sent Mr
Gore, one of my lieutenants, in the pinnace, to endeavour to land upon
the island, and learn from the natives whether there was anchorage in a
bay then in sight, and what land lay farther to the southward. Mr Banks
and Dr Solander accompanied Mr Gore in this expedition, and as they
thought Tupia might be useful, they took him with them.

As the boat approached the shore, those on board perceived the natives
to be armed with long lances; as they did not intend to land till they
got round a point which run out at a little distance, they stood along
the coast, and the natives therefore very probably thought they were
afraid of them. They had now got together to the number of about sixty,
and all of them sat down upon the shore, except two, who were dispatched
forward to observe the motions of those in the boat. These men, after
walking abreast of her some time, at length leaped into the water, and
swam towards her, but were soon left behind; two more then appeared, and
attempted to board her in the same manner, but they also were soon left
behind; a fifth man then ran forward alone, and having got a good way
ahead of the boat before he took to the water, easily reached her. Mr
Banks urged the officer to take him in, thinking it a good opportunity
to get the confidence and good will of a people, who then certainly
looked upon them as enemies, but he obstinately refused: This man
therefore was left behind like the others, and so was a sixth, who
followed him.

When the boat had got round the point, she perceived that all her
followers had desisted from the pursuit: She now opened a large bay, at
the bottom of which appeared another body of men, armed with long lances
like the first. Here our people prepared to land, and pushed towards the
shore, a canoe at the same time putting off to meet them. As soon as it
came near them, they lay upon their oars, and calling out to them, told
them that they were friends, and that if they would come up they would
give them nails, which were held up for them to see: After some
hesitation they came up to the boat's stern, and took some nails that
were offered them with great seeming satisfaction; but in less than a
minute they appeared to have formed a design of boarding the boat, and
making her their prize: Three of them suddenly leaped into it, and the
others brought up the canoe, which the motion in quitting her had thrown
off a little, manifestly with a design to follow their associates, and
support them in their attempt. The first that boarded the boat, entered
close to Mr Banks, and instantly snatched his powder-horn out of his
pocket: Mr Banks seized it, and with some difficulty wrenched it out of
his hand, at the same time pressing against his breast in order to force
him over-board, but he was too strong for him, and kept his place: The
officer then snapped his piece, but it missed fire, upon which he
ordered some of the people to fire over their heads; two pieces were
accordingly discharged, upon which they all instantly leaped into the
water: One of the people, either from cowardice or cruelty, or both,
levelled a third piece at one of them as he was swimming away, and the
ball grazed his forehead; happily, however, the wound was very slight,
for he recovered the canoe, and stood up in her as active and vigorous
as the rest. The canoe immediately stood in for the shore, where a great
number of people, not less than two hundred, were now assembled. The
boat also pushed in, but found the land guarded all round with a shoal,
upon which the sea broke with a considerable surf; it was therefore
thought advisable by the officer to proceed along shore in search of a
more convenient landing-place: In the mean time, the people on board saw
the canoe go on shore, and the natives gather eagerly round her to
enquire the particulars of what had happened. Soon after, a single man
ran along the shore, armed with his lance, and when he came a-breast of
the boat he began to dance, brandish his weapon, and call out in a very
shrill tone, which Tupia said was a defiance from the people. The boat
continued to row along the shore, and the champion followed it,
repeating his defiance by his voice and his gestures; but no better
landing-place being found than that where the canoe had put the natives
onshore, the officer turned back with a view to attempt it there,
hoping, that if it should not be practicable, the people would come to a
conference either on the shoals or in their canoes, and that a treaty of
peace might be concluded with them.

As the boat rowed slowly along the shore back again, another champion
came down, shouting defiance, and brandishing his lance: His appearance
was more formidable than that of the other, for he wore a large cap made
of the tail feathers of the tropic bird, and his body was covered with
stripes of different coloured cloth, yellow, red, and brown. This
gentleman also danced, but with much more nimbleness and dexterity than
the first; our people therefore, considering his agility and his dress,
distinguished him by the name of _Harlequin_. Soon after a more grave
and elderly man came down to the beach, and hailing the people in the
boat, enquired who they were, and from whence they came; Tupia answered
in their own language, from Otaheite: The three natives then walked
peaceably along the shore till they came to a shoal, upon which a few
people were collected; here they stopped, and after a short conference,
they all began to pray very loud: Tupia made his responses, but
continued to tell us that they were not our friends. When their prayer,
or, as they call it, their _Poorah_, was over, our people entered into a
parley with them, telling them, that if they would lay by their lances
and clubs, for some had one and some the other, they would come on
shore, and trade with them for whatever they would bring: They agreed,
but it was only upon condition that we would leave behind us our
musquets: This was a condition which, however equitable it might appear,
could not be complied with, nor indeed would it have put the two parties
upon an equality, except their numbers had been equal. Here then the
negotiation seemed to be at an end; but in a little time they ventured
to come nearer to the boat, and at last came near enough to trade, which
they did very fairly, for a small quantity of their cloth and some of
their weapons; but as they gave our people no hope of provisions, nor
indeed any thing else except they would venture through a narrow channel
to the shore, which, all circumstances considered, they did not think it
prudent to do, they put off the boat and left them.

With the ship and the boat we had now made the circuit of the island,
and finding that there was neither harbour nor anchorage about it, and
that the hostile disposition of the people would render landing
impracticable, without bloodshed, I determined not to attempt it, having
no motive that could justify the risk of life.

The bay which the boat entered lies on the west side of the island; the
bottom was foul and rocky, but the water so clear that it could plainly
be seen at the depth of five-and-twenty fathom, which is one hundred and
fifty feet.

This island is situated in the latitude of 22° 27' S. and in the
longitude of 150° 47' W. from the meridian of Greenwich. It is thirteen
miles in circuit, and rather high than low, but neither populous nor
fertile in proportion to the other islands that we had seen in these
seas. The chief produce seems to be the tree of which they make their
weapons, called in their language _etoa_; many plantations of it were
seen along the shore, which is not surrounded, like the neighbouring
islands, by a reef.

The people seemed to be lusty and well-made, rather browner than those
we had left: Under their arm-pits they had black marks about as broad as
the hand, the edges of which formed not a straight but an indented line:
They had also circles of the same colour, but not so broad, round their
arms and legs, but were not marked on any other part of the body.

Their dress was very different from any that we had seen before, as well
as the cloth of which it was made. The cloth was of the same materials
as that which is worn in the other islands, and most of that which was
seen by our people was dyed of a bright but deep yellow, and covered on
the outside with a composition like varnish, which was either red, or of
a dark lead-colour; over this ground it was again painted in stripes of
many different patterns, with wonderful regularity, in the manner of Our
striped silks in England; the cloth that was painted red was striped
with black, and that which was painted lead-colour with white. Their
habit was a short jacket of this cloth, which reached about as low as
their knees; it was of one piece, and had no other making than a hole in
the middle of it, stitched round with long stitches, in which it
differed from all that we had seen before: Through this hole the head
was put, and what hung down was confined to their bodies by a piece of
yellow cloth or sash, which, passing round the neck behind, was crossed
upon the breast, and then collected round the waist like a belt, which
passed over another belt of red cloth, so that they made a very gay and
warlike appearance; some had caps of the feathers of the tropic bird,
which have been before described, and some had a piece of white or
lead-coloured cloth wound about the head like a small turban, which our
people thought more becoming.

Their arms were long lances, made of the etoa, the wood of which is very
hard; they were well polished and sharpened at one end: some were near
twenty feet long, though not more than three fingers thick; they had
also a weapon which was both club and pike, made of the same wood, about
seven feet long; this also was well polished, and sharpened at one end
into a broad point. As a guard against these weapons, when they attack
each other, they have matts folded up many times, which they place under
their clothes from the neck to the waist: The weapons themselves indeed
are capable of much less mischief than those of the same kind which we
saw at the other islands, for the lances were there pointed with the
sharp bone of the stingray that is called the sting, and the pikes were
of much greater weight. The other things that we saw here were all
superior in their kind to any we had seen before; the cloth was of a
better colour in the dye, and painted with greater neatness and taste;
the clubs were better cut and polished, and the canoe, though a small
one, was very rich in ornament, and the carving was executed in a better
manner: Among other decorations peculiar to this canoe, was a line of
small white feathers, which bung from the head and stern on the outside,
and which, when we saw them, were thoroughly wetted by the spray.

Tupia told us, that there were several islands lying at different
distances, and in different directions from this, between the south and
the north-west; and that at the distance of three days sail to the
north-east, there was an island called _Manua_, Bird-island: He seemed,
however, most desirous that we should sail to the westward, and
described several islands in that direction which he said he had
visited: He told us that he had been ten or twelve days in going
thither, and thirty in coming back, and that the _pahie_ in which he had
made the voyage, sailed much faster than the ship: Reckoning his pahie
therefore to go at the rate of forty leagues a-day, which from my own
observation I have great reason to think these boats will do, it would
make four hundred leagues in ten days, which I compute to be the
distance of Boscawen and Keppel's Islands, discovered by Captain Wallis,
westward of Ulietea, and therefore think it very probable that they were
the islands he had visited.[47] The farthest island that he knew any
thing of to the southward, he said, lay at the distance of about two
days sail from Oteroah, and was called _Moutou_; but he said that his
father had told him there were islands to the southward of that: Upon
the whole, I was determined to stand southward in search of a continent,
but to spend no time in searching for islands, if we did not happen to
fall in with them during our course.

[Footnote 47: These and other islands since discovered in the South Sea,
will be properly laid down in a map to be afterwards given. The chart
that accompanied the preceding volume was restricted to the state of
geographical knowledge at the time of publishing Hawkesworth's work, and
is, of coarse, imperfect. But it was judged unadvisable to anticipate
recent information.--E.]


SECTION XXI.

_The Passage from Oteroah to New Zealand; Incidents which happened on
going a-shore there, and while the Ship lay in Poverty Bay_.


We sailed from Oteroah on the 15th of August, and on Friday the 25th we
celebrated the anniversary of our leaving England, by taking a Cheshire
cheese from a locker, where it had been carefully treasured up for this
occasion, and tapping a cask of porter, which proved to be very good,
and in excellent order. On the 29th, one of the sailors got so drunk,
that the next morning he died: We thought at first that he could not
have come honestly by the liquor, but we afterwards learnt that the
boatswain, whose mate he was, had in mere good-nature given him part of
a bottle of rum.

On the 30th we saw the comet: At one o'clock in the morning it was a
little above the horizon in the eastern part of the heavens; at about
half an hour after four it passed the meridian, and its tail subtended
an angle of forty-two degrees. Our latitude was 38° 20' S., our
longitude, by log, 147° 6' W., and the variation of the needle, by the
azimuth, 7° 9' E. Among others that observed the comet, was Tupia, who
instantly cried out, that as soon as it should be seen by the people of
Bolabola, they would kill the inhabitants of Ulietea, who would with the
utmost precipitation fly to the mountains.

On the 1st of September, being in the latitude of 40° 22' S. and
longitude 147° 29' W, and there not being any signs of land, with a
heavy sea from the westward, and strong gales, I wore, and stood back to
the northward, fearing that we might receive such damage in our sails
and rigging, as would hinder the prosecution of the voyage.

On the next day, there being strong gales to the westward, I
brought-to, with the ship's head to the northward; but in the mooring of
the 3d, the wind being more moderate, we loosened the reef of the
mainsail, set the top-sails, plied to the westward.

We continued our course till the 19th, when our latitude being 29° and
our longitude 159° 29', we observed the variation to be 8° 32' E. On the
24th, being in latitude 33° 18', longitude 162° 51', we observed a small
piece of seaweed, and a piece of wood covered with barnacles: The
variation here was 10° 48' E.

On the 27th, being in latitude 28° 59', longitude 169° 5, we saw a seal
asleep upon the water, and several bunches of sea-weed. The next day we
saw more seaweed in bunches, and on the 29th, a bird, which we thought a
land bird; it somewhat resembled a snipe, but had a short bill. On the
1st of October, we saw birds innumerable, and another seal asleep upon
the water; it is a general opinion that seals never go out of soundings,
or far from land, but those that we saw in these seas prove the
contrary. Rock-weed is, however, a certain indication that, land is not
far distant. The next day, it being calm, we hoisted out the boat to try
whether there was a current, but found none. Our latitude was 37°
10', longitude 172° 54' W. On the 3d, being in latitude 36° 56',
longitude 173°27', we took up more sea-weed, and another piece of wood
covered with barnacles. The next day we saw two more seals, and a brown
bird, about as big as a raven, with some white feathers under the wing.
Mr Gore told us, that birds of this kind were seen in great numbers
about Falkland's Islands, and our people gave them the name of
Port-Egmont hens.

On the 5th, we thought the water changed colour, but upon casting the
lead, had no ground with 180 fathom. In the evening of this day, the
variation was 12° 50' E., and while we were going nine leagues it
increased to 14° 2'.

On the next day, Friday, October the 6th, we saw land from the
mast-head, bearing W. by N. and stood directly for it; in the evening it
could just be discerned from the deck, and appeared large. The variation
this day was, by azimuth and amplitude, 15° 4' 1/2 E., and by
observation made of the sun and moon, the longitude of the ship appeared
to be 180° 55' W., and by the medium of this, and subsequent
observations, there appeared to be an error in the ship's account of her
longitude during her run from Otaheite of 3° 16', she being so much to
the westward of the longitude resulting from the log. At midnight I
brought to and sounded, but had no ground with one hundred and seventy
fathom.

On the 7th it fell calm, we therefore approached the land slowly, and in
the afternoon, when a breeze sprang up, we were still distant seven or
eight leagues. It appeared still larger as it was more distinctly seen,
with four or five ranges of hills, rising one over the other, and a
chain of mountains above all, which appeared to be of an enormous
height. This land became the subject of much eager conversation; but the
general opinion seemed to be that we had found the _terra australis
incognita_. About five o'clock we saw the opening of a bay, which seemed
to run pretty far inland, upon which we hauled our wind and stood in for
it; we also saw smoke ascending from different places on shore. When
night came on, however, we kept plying off and on till day-light, when
we found ourselves to the leeward of the bay, the wind being at north:
We could now perceive that the hills were clothed with wood, and that
some of the trees in the valleys were very large. By noon we fetched in
with the south-west point; but not being able to weather it, tacked and
stood off: At this time we saw several canoes standing cross the bay,
which in a little time made to shore, without seeming to take the least
notice of the ship; we also saw some houses, which appeared to be small,
but neat; and near one of them a considerable number of the people
collected together, who were sitting upon the beach, and who, we
thought, were the same that we had seen in the canoes. Upon a small
peninsula, at the north-east head, we could plainly perceive a pretty
high and regular paling, which inclosed the whole top of a hill; this
was also the subject of much speculation, some supposing it to be a park
of deer, others an inclosure for oxen and sheep. About four o'clock in
the afternoon we anchored on the north-west side of the bay, before the
entrance of a small river, in ten fathom water, with a fine sandy
bottom, and at about half a league from the shore. The sides of the bay
are white cliffs of a great height; the middle is low land, with hills
gradually rising behind, one towering above another, and terminating in
the chain of mountains which appeared to be far inland.

In the evening I went on shore, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr
Solander, with the pinnace and yawl and a party of men. We landed
abreast of the ship, on the east side of the river, which was here about
forty yards broad; but seeing some natives on the west side, whom I
wished to speak with, and finding the river not fordable, I ordered the
yawl in to carry us over, and left the pinnace at the entrance. When we
came near the place where the people were assembled, they all ran away;
however, we landed, and leaving four boys to take care of the yawl, we
walked up to some huts which were about two or three hundred yards from
the water-side. When we had got some distance from the boat, four men,
armed with long lances, rushed out of the woods, and running up to
attack the boat, would certainly have cut her off, if the people in the
pinnace had not discovered them, and called to the boys to drop down the
stream: The boys instantly obeyed; but being closely pursued by the
Indians, the cockswain of the pinnace, who had the charge of the boats,
fired a musket over their heads; at this they stopped and looked round
them, but in a few minutes renewed the pursuit, brandishing their lances
in a threatening manner: The cockswain then fired a second musket over
their heads, but of this they took no notice; and one of them lifting up
his spear to dart it at the boat, another piece was fired, which shot
him dead. When he fell, the other three stood motionless for some
minutes, as if petrified with astonishment; as soon as they recovered,
they went back, dragging after them the dead body, which, however, they
soon left, that it might not encumber their flight. At the report of the
first musket we drew together, having straggled to a little distance
from each other, and made the best of our way back to the boat; and
crossing the river, we soon saw the Indian lying dead upon the ground.
Upon examining the body, we found that he had been shot through the
heart: He was a man of the middle size and stature; his complexion was
brown, but not very dark; and one side of his face was tattowed in
spiral lines of a very regular figure: He was covered with a fine cloth,
of a manufacture altogether new to us, and it was tied on exactly
according to the representation in Valentyn's Account of Abel Tasman's
Voyage, vol. 3, part 2, page 50, his hair also was tied in a knot on the
top of his head, but had no feather in it.[48] We returned immediately
to the ship, where we could hear the people on shore talking with great
earnestness, and in a very loud tone, probably about what had happened,
and what should be done.

[Footnote 48: Abel Tasman was sent out by the Dutch East India Company
in 1642, to take surveys of the new-found countries, and, if possible,
to make discoveries. The account of his voyage was published in Low
Dutch, by Dirk Rembrant. A French translation of it was given by
Thevenot, in the 4th part of his collection, published at Paris, 1673,
an abridgement of which was inserted in Harris's collection. Though
curious and considerably important, his observations were long
disregarded; and in particular, his discovery of New Zealand or Staaten
Land, as he called it in honour of the States General, seems to have
been either discredited or held immaterial or overlooked, till this
voyage of Captain Cook obtained for it the notice it deserved. Then, as
is not unusual, it attracted undue consideration and importance. Mr
Finkerton has re-published the account of this voyage in his collection.
Tasman discovered New Zealand on the 13th September, 1642, but did not
land on it, an unfortunate event having given him a total distrust of
the natives. Some of them, after a good deal of backwardness and seeming
fear, ventured to go on board the Heenskirk, which was the consort of
his own vessel, named the Zee-Haan. Tasman, not liking their appearance,
and being apprehensive of their hostile intentions, sent seven of his
men to put the people of that vessel on their guard. The savages
attacked them, killed three, and forced the others to seek their lives
by swimming. This occasioned his giving the name of the Bay of
Murderers, to the place where it happened. The rough weather prevented
him from taking vengeance.--E.]

In the morning we saw several of the natives where they had been seen
the night before, and some walking with a quick pace towards the place
where we had landed, most of them unarmed; but three or four with long
pikes in their hands. As I was desirous to establish an intercourse with
them, I ordered three boats to be manned with seamen and marines, and
proceeded towards the shore, accompanied by Mr Banks, Dr Solander, the
other gentlemen, and Tupia; about fifty of them seemed to wait for our
landing, on the opposite side of the river, which we thought a sign of
fear, and seated themselves upon the ground: At first, therefore,
myself, with only Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and Tupia, landed from the
little boat, and advanced towards them; but we had not proceeded many
paces before they all started up, and every man produced either a long
pike, or a small weapon of green talc, extremely well polished, about a
foot long, and thick enough to weigh four or five pounds: Tupia called
to them in the language of Otaheite; but they answered only by
flourishing their weapons, and making signs to us to depart; a musket
was then fired wide of them, and the ball struck the water, the river
being still between, us: They saw the effect, and desisted from their
threats; but we thought it prudent to retreat till the marines could be
landed. This was soon done; and they marched, with a jack carried before
them, to a little bank, about fifty yards from the water-side; here they
were drawn up, and I again advanced, with Mr Banks and Dr Solander;
Tupia, Mr Green, and Mr Monkhouse, being with us. Tupia was again
directed to speak to them, and it was with great pleasure that we
perceived he was perfectly understood, he and the natives speaking only
different dialects of the same language. He told them that we wanted
provision and water, and would give them iron in exchange, the
properties of which he explained as well as he was able. They were
willing to trade, and desired that we would come over to them for that
purpose: To this we consented, provided they would lay by their arms;
which, however, they could by no means be persuaded to do. During this
conversation, Tupia warned us to be upon our guard, for that they were
not our friends: We then pressed them in our turn to come over to us;
and at last one of them stripped himself, and swam over without his
arms: He was almost immediately followed by two more, and soon after by
most of the rest, to the number of twenty or thirty; but these brought
their arms with them. We made them all presents of iron and heads; but
they seemed to set little value upon either, particularly the iron, not
having the least idea of its use; so that we got nothing in return but a
few feathers: They offered indeed to exchange their arms for ours, and,
when we refused, made many attempts to snatch them out of our hands. As
soon as they came over, Tupia repeated his declaration, that they were
not our friends, and again warned us to be upon our guard; their
attempts to snatch our weapons, therefore, did not succeed; and we gave
them to understand by Tupia, that we should be obliged to kill them if
they offered any farther violence. In a few minutes, however, Mr Green
happening to turn about, one of them snatched away his hanger, and
retiring to a little distance, waved it round his head with a shout of
exultation: The rest now began to be extremely insolent, and we saw more
coming to join them from the opposite side of the river. It was
therefore become necessary to repress them, and Mr Banks fired at the
man who had taken the hanger with small shot, at the distance of about
fifteen yards: When the shot struck him, he ceased his cry; but instead
of returning the hanger, continued to flourish it over his head, at the
same time slowly retreating to a greater distance. Mr Monkhouse seeing
this, fired at him with ball, and he instantly dropped. Upon this the
main body, who had retired to a rock in the middle of the river upon
the first discharge, began to return; two that were near to the man who
had been killed, ran up to the body, one seized his weapon of green
talc, and the other endeavoured to secure the hanger, which Mr Monkhouse
had but just time to prevent. As all that had retired to the rock were
now advancing, three of us discharged our pieces, loaded only with small
shot, upon which they swam back for the shore; and we perceived, upon
their landing, that two or three of them were wounded. They retired
slowly up the country, and we re-embarked in our boats.

As we had unhappily experienced that nothing was to be done with these
people at this place, and finding the water in the river to be salt, I
proceeded in the boats round the head of the bay in search of fresh
water, and with a design, if possible, to surprise some of the natives,
and take them on board, where by kind treatment and presents I might
obtain their friendship, and by their means establish an amicable
correspondence with their countrymen.

To my great regret, I found no place where I could land, a dangerous
surf every where beating upon the shore; but I saw two canoes coming in
from the sea, one under sail, and the other worked with paddles. I
thought this a favourable opportunity to get some of the people into my
possession without mischief, as those in the canoe were probably
fishermen, and without arms, and I had three boats full of men. I
therefore disposed the boats so as most effectually to intercept them in
their way to the shore; the people in the canoe that was paddled
perceived us so soon, that by making to the nearest land with their
utmost strength, they escaped us; the other sailed on till she was in
the midst of us, without discerning what we were; but the moment she
discovered us, the people on board struck their sail, and took to their
paddles, which they plied so briskly that she out-ran the boat. They
were however within hearing, and Tupia called out to them to come
along-side, and promised for us that they should come to no hurt: They
chose, however, rather to trust to their paddles than our promises, and
continued to make from us with all their power. I then ordered a musquet
to be fired over their heads, as the least exceptionable expedient to
accomplish my design, hoping it would either make them surrender or
leap into the water. Upon the discharge of the piece, they ceased
paddling; and all of them, being seven in number, began to strip, as we
imagined to jump overboard; but it happened otherwise. They immediately
formed a resolution not to fly, but to fight; and when the boat came up,
they began the attack with their paddles, and with stones and other
offensive weapons that were in the boat, so vigorously, that we were
obliged to fire upon them in our own defence: Four were unhappily
killed, and the other three, who were boys, the eldest about nineteen,
and the youngest about eleven, instantly leaped into the water; the
eldest swam with great vigour, and resisted the attempts of our people
to take him into the boat by every effort that he could make: He was
however at last overpowered, and the other two were taken up with less
difficulty. I am conscious that the feeling of every reader of humanity
will censure me for having fired upon these unhappy people, and it is
impossible that, upon a calm review, I should approve it myself. They
certainly did not deserve death for not chusing to confide in my
promises; or not consenting to come on board my boat, even if they had
apprehended no danger; but the nature of my service required me to
obtain a knowledge of their country, which I could no otherwise effect
than by forcing my way into it in a hostile manner, or gaining admission
through the confidence and good-will of the people. I had already tried
the power of presents without effect; and I was now prompted, by my
desire to avoid further hostilities, to get some of them on board, as
the only method left of convincing them that we intended them no harm,
and had it in our power to contribute to their gratification and
convenience. Thus far my intentions certainly were not criminal; and
though in the contest, which I had not the least reason to expect, our
victory might have been complete without so great an expence of life,
yet in such situations, when the command to fire has been given, no man
can restrain its excess, or prescribe its effect.[49]

[Footnote 49: It seems impossible to justify the transaction. Let
conscience and the law of nature speak. Palliating circumstances may be
allowed their full influence, but still there will remain enough in the
deed, to spot the memory of our great and certainly humane navigator.
The life of man is the most sacred property under the heavens--its value
is perhaps incalculable by any other means than an appeal to the
consciousness of its dignity and importance, which every one who enjoys
it possesses. It is worse than vain to set about considering the
comparative value of different lives, in order to ascertain the momentum
of the guilt of violating them in particular instances; and thus to
depreciate the existence of savages, by comparing their habits, their
manners, their enjoyments, and sufferings, with those of civilized
people. A man's life is always valuable to himself, in the proportion of
what he would give to secure and prolong it. Is not this the basis of
the law, which excuses homicide when committed in self-defence? Does not
that law imply the equality of lives in all cases, without disparagement
of rank, station, or circumstances? Yet even that law, recognised in all
countries worthy of notice for their intelligence and cultivation,
required something of the nature of a purgation of the person, whom it
at the same time absolved of the deadly guilt of the action. Dr
Hawkesworth, in his General Introduction, which it was quite unnecessary
to give entire in this work, argues the question of the lawfulness of
such aggression as has been mentioned, on the abstract principle that
the advantages of discoveries overbalance the evils attendant on the
making of them. But admitting all that he says on the subject, which is
_something_ more than he proves--admitting, in _this_ case, that the end
justifies the means--still it may be contended with _propriety_, that
those who have been entrusted with such commands are amenable to the
fundamental laws of humanity and all good governments--Let it be proved
that they have not exceeded their instructions, or availed themselves of
a concession only problematically and in fact eventually just, to use
force and deal out slaughter in conferring their favours. Let there be
no relaxation of the solemnity and imposing aspect of the law in such
cases, whatever there be of its retributive severity. Sailors in
general, and our own in particular, as we may see even in the course of
this narrative, are not to be trusted with the smallest discretionary
power, where the lives of _naked_ men are concerned. The obvious
contrast is too much for their pride; mercifulness of disposition does
not mitigate its pungency. An abatement in the rigour of the law
unfortunately flatters their prejudices, and loosens the tie by which
their passions are feebly bound under a sense of duty and fear. The
consequences are shocking and unavoidable. Abrogate entirely from these
at all times unthinking men, the liberty of judgment as to the worth of
life--let there be but one law for an Englishman and a savage--declare
by the voice of justice, that though their skins have not the same hue,
and though their hair be differently turned on their heads, yet their
blood is the same, and that He that made one made the other also, and
has the same interest in both. Such principles would facilitate
discoveries, and would render them blessings. The maxims and the Conduct
of William Penn, a name, associated, as it no doubt is, with ideas of
something extravagant, and perhaps with the opinion of something
impracticable, nevertheless so dear and encouraging to humanity, are
worthy of being set up in letters of gold before the eyes of all
generations. "Whoever, (was his enactment for the regulation of
intercourse with the natives of the country still bearing his name),
whoever shall hurt, wrong, or offend any Indian, shall incur the same
penalty as if he had offended in like manner against his fellow
planter." He treated these savages as his brethren, and he made them
such. They pledged themselves "to live in love with William Penn and
his children as long as the sun and moon should endure"--nor did they
violate their faith. It is lamentable to be constrained to join with
Voltaire in saying, "this is the only treaty ever concluded betwixt
Christians, and Savages that was not ratified by an oath; and the only
one that never was broken!" Penn outlived the storms and malice of more
than half a century of persecutions, and died in peace at the age of
seventy-two. Who does not think of the _murder_ of Cook, with a feeling
of _something more than common regret_ for the loss of a great and most
estimable man!--E.]

As soon as the poor wretches whom we had taken out of the water were in
the boat, they squatted down, expecting no doubt instantly to be put to
death: We made haste to convince them of the contrary, by every method
in our power; we furnished them with clothes, and gave them every other
testimony of kindness that could remove their fears and engage their
good-will. Those who are acquainted with human nature will not wonder,
that the sudden joy of these young savages at being unexpectedly
delivered from the fear of death, and kindly treated by those whom they
supposed would have been their instant executioners, surmounted their
concern for the friends they had lost, and was strongly expressed in
their countenance and behaviour. Before we reached the ship, their
suspicions and fears being wholly removed, they appeared to be not only
reconciled to their situation but in high spirits, and upon being
offered some bread when they came on board, they devoured it with a
voracious appetite. They answered and asked many questions, with great
appearance of pleasure and curiosity; and when our dinner came, they
expressed an inclination to taste every thing that they saw: They seemed
best pleased with the salt pork, though we had other provisions upon the
table. At sun-set, they eat another meal with great eagerness, each
devouring a large quantity of bread, and drinking above a quart of
water. We then made them beds upon the lockers, and they went to sleep
with great seeming content. In the night, however, the tumult of their
minds having subsided, and given way to reflection, they sighed often
and loud. Tupia, who was always upon the watch to comfort them, got up,
and by soothing and encouragement, made them not only easy but cheerful;
their cheerfulness was encouraged, so that they sung a song with a
degree of taste that surprised us: The tune was solemn and slow, like
those of our Psalms, containing many notes and semitones. Their
countenances were intelligent and expressive, and the middlemost, who
seemed to be about fifteen, had an openness in his aspect, and an ease
in his deportment, which were very striking: We found that the two
eldest were brothers, and that their names were _Tuahourange_ and
_Koikerange_; the name of the youngest was _Maragovete_. As we were
returning to the ship, after having taken these boys into the boat, we
picked up a large piece of pumice stone floating upon the water; a sure
sign that there either is, or has been a volcano in this neighbourhood.

In the morning, they all seemed to be cheerful, and eat another enormous
meal; after this we dressed them, and adorned them with bracelets,
anclets, and necklaces, after their own fashion, and the boat being
hoisted out, they were told that we were going to set them ashore: This
produced a transport of joy; but upon perceiving that we made towards
our first landing-place near the river, their countenances changed, and
they entreated with great earnestness that they might not be set ashore
at that place, because they said, it was inhabited by their enemies, who
would kill them and eat them. This was a great disappointment to me;
because I hoped the report and appearance of the boys would procure a
favourable reception for ourselves. I had already sent an officer on
shore with the marines and a party of men to cut wood, and I was
determined to land near the place; not, however, to abandon the boys,
if, when we got ashore, they should be unwilling to leave us, but to
send a boat with them in the evening to that part of the bay to which
they pointed, and which they called their home. Mr Banks, Dr Solander,
and Tupia were with me, and upon our landing with the boys, and crossing
the river, they seemed at first to be unwilling to leave us; but at
length they suddenly changed their mind, and, though not without a
manifest struggle, and some tears, they took their leave: When they were
gone, we proceeded along a swamp, with a design to shoot some ducks, of
which we saw great plenty, and four of the marines attended us, walking
abreast of us upon a bank that overlooked the country. After we had
advanced about a mile, these men called out to us and told us, that a
large body of the Indians was in sight, and advancing at a great rate.
Upon receiving this intelligence, we drew together, and resolved to
make the best of our way to the boats; we had scarcely begun to put this
into execution, when the three Indian boys started suddenly from some
bushes, where they had concealed themselves, and again claimed our
protection: we readily received them, and repairing to the beach as the
clearest place, we walked briskly towards the boats. The Indians were in
two bodies; one ran along the bank which had been quitted by the
marines, the other fetched a compass by the swamp, so that we could not
see them: When they perceived that we had formed into one body, they
slackened their pace, but still followed us in a gentle walk: That they
slackened their pace, was for us, as well as for them, a fortunate
circumstance; for when we came to the side of the river, where we
expected to find the boats that were to carry us over to the wooders, we
found the pinnace at least a mile from her station, having been sent to
pick up a bird which had been shot by the officer on shore, and the
little boat was obliged to make three trips before we could all get over
to the rest of the party. As soon as we were drawn up on the other side,
the Indians came down, not in a body as we expected, but by two or three
at a time, all armed, and in a short time their number increased to
about two hundred: As we now despaired of making peace with them, seeing
that the dread of our small arms did not keep them at a distance, and
that the ship was too far off to reach the place with a shot, we
resolved to re-embark, lest our stay should embroil us in another
quarrel, and cost more of the Indians their lives. We therefore advanced
towards the pinnace which was now returning, when one of the boys
suddenly cried out, that his uncle was among the people who had marched
down to us, and desired us to stay and talk with them: We complied, and
a parley immediately commenced between them and Tupia; during which the
boys held up every thing we had given them as tokens of our kindness and
liberality; but neither would either of the boys swim over to them, or
any of them to the boys. The body of the man who had been killed the day
before, still lay exposed upon the beach; the boys seeing it lie very
near us, went up to it, and covered it with some of the clothes that we
had given them; and soon after a single man, unarmed, who proved to be
the uncle of Maragovete, the youngest of the boys, swam over to us,
bringing in his hand a green branch, which we supposed, as well here as
at Otaheite, to be an emblem of peace. We received his branch by the
hands of Tupia, to whom he gave it, and made him many presents; we also
invited him to go on board the ship, but he declined it; we therefore
left him, and expected that his nephew, and the two other young Indians,
would have staid with him, but to our great surprise, they chose rather
to go with us. As soon as we had retired, he went and gathered another
green branch, and with this in his hand, he approached the dead body
which the youth had covered with part of his clothes, walking sideways,
with many ceremonies, and then throwing it towards him. When this was
done, he returned to his companions, who had sat down upon the sand to
observe the issue of his negociation: They immediately gathered round
him, and continued in a body above an hour, without seeming to take any
farther notice of us. We were more curious than they, and observing them
with our glasses from on board the ship, we saw some of them cross the
river upon a kind of raft, or catamarine, and four of them carry off the
dead body which had been covered by the boy, and over which his uncle
had performed the ceremony of the branch, upon a kind of bier, between
four men: The other body was still suffered to remain where it had been
first left.

After dinner, I directed Tupia to ask the boys, if they had now any
objection to going ashore, where we had left their uncle, the body
having been carried off, which we understood was a ratification of
peace: They said, they had not; and the boat being ordered, they went
into it with great alacrity: When the boat, in which I had sent two
midshipmen, came to land, they went willingly ashore; but soon after she
put off, they returned to the rocks, and wading into the, water,
earnestly entreated to be taken on board again; but the people in the
boat, having positive orders to leave them, could not comply. We were
very attentive to what happened on shore, and keeping a constant watch
with our glasses, we saw a man pass the river upon another raft, and
fetch them to a place where forty or fifty of the natives were
assembled, who closed round them, and continued in the same place till
sun-set: Upon looking again, when we saw them in motion, we could
plainly distinguish our three prisoners, who separated themselves from
the rest, came down to the beach, and having waved their hands three
times towards the ship, ran nimbly back and joined their companions, who
walked leisurely away towards that part which the boys had pointed to as
their dwelling-place; we had therefore the greatest reason to believe
that no mischief would happen to them, especially as we perceived that
they went off in the clothes we had given them.

After it was dark, loud voices were heard on shore in the bottom of the
bay as usual, of which we could never learn the meaning.[50]

[Footnote 50: It is remarked in the account of Tasman's voyage, that the
people of this island had very hoarse, rough, strong voices.--E.]


SECTION XXII.

_A Description of Poverty Bay, and the Face of the adjacent Country. The
Range from thence to Cape Turnagain, and back to Tolaga, with some
Account of the People and the Country, and several Incidents that
happened on that Part of the Coast_.


The next morning, at six o'clock, we weighed, and stood away from this
unfortunate and inhospitable place, to which I gave the name of _Poverty
Bay_, and which by the natives is called _Taoneroa_, or Long Sand, as it
did not afford us a single article that we wanted except a little wood.
It lies in latitude 38° 42' S. and longitude 181° 36' W.; it is in the
form of an horse-shoe, and is known by an island lying close under the
north-east point: The two points which form the entrance are high, with
steep white cliffs, and lie a league and a half, or two leagues, from
each other, N.E. by E. and S.W. by W.; the depth of water in the bay is
from twelve to five fathom, with a sandy bottom and good anchorage; but
the situation is open to the wind between the south and east: Boats can
go in and out of the river at any time of the tide in fine weather; but
as there is a bar at the entrance, no boat can go either in or out when
the sea runs high: The best place to attempt it, is on the north-east
side, and it is there practicable when it is not so in any other part.
The shore of the bay, a little within its entrance, is a low flat sand;
behind which, at a small distance, the face of the country is finely
diversified by hills and valleys, all clothed with wood, and covered
with verdure. The country also appears to be well inhabited, especially
in the valleys leading up from the bay, where we daily saw smoke rising
in clouds one behind another to a great distance, till the view
terminated in mountains of a stupendous height.

The south-west point of the bay I named _Young Nick's Head_, after
Nicholas Young, the boy who first saw the land; at noon, it bore N.W. by
W. distant about three or four leagues, and we were then about three
miles from the shore. The main-land extended from N.E. by N; to south,
and I proposed to follow the direction of the coast to the southward as
far as the latitude of 40 or 41; and then, if I met with no
encouragement to proceed farther, to return to the northward.

In the afternoon we lay becalmed, which the people on shore perceiving,
several canoes put off, and came within less than a quarter of a mile of
the vessel; but could not be persuaded to come nearer, though Tupia
exerted all the powers of his lungs and his eloquence upon the occasion,
shouting, and promising that they should not be hurt. Another canoe was
now seen coming from Poverty Bay, with only four people on board, one of
whom we well remembered to have seen in our first interview upon the
rock. This canoe, without stopping or taking the least notice of the
others, came directly alongside of the ship, and with very little
persuasion, we got the Indians on board. Their example was soon followed
by the rest, and we had about us seven canoes, and about fifty men. We
made them all presents with a liberal hand; notwithstanding which, they
were so desirous to have more of our commodities, that they sold us
every thing they had, even the clothes from their backs, and the paddles
from their boats. There were but two weapons among them, these were the
instruments of green talc, which were shaped somewhat like a pointed
battledore, with a short handle and sharp edges; they were called
_Patoo-Patoo_, and were well contrived for close-fighting, as they would
certainly split the thickest scull at a single blow.

When these people had recovered from the first impressions of fear,
which, notwithstanding their resolution in coming on board, had
manifestly thrown them into some confusion, we enquired after our poor
boys. The man who first came on board immediately answered, that they
were unhurt and at home; adding, that he had been induced to venture on
board by the account which they had given him of the kindness with which
they had been treated, and the wonders that were contained in the ship.

While they were on board they shewed every sign of friendship, and
invited us very cordially to go back to our old bay, or to a small cove
which they pointed out, that was not quite so far off; but I chose
rather to prosecute my discoveries than go back, having reason to hope
that I should find a better harbour than any I had yet seen.

About an hour before sun-set, the canoes put off from the ship with the
few paddles they had reserved, which were scarcely sufficient to set
them on shore; but by some means or other three of their people were
left behind: As soon as we discovered it, we hailed them; but not one of
them would return to take them on board: This greatly surprised us; but
we were surprised still more to observe that the deserted Indians did
not seem at all uneasy at their situation, but entertained us with
dancing and singing after their manner, eat their suppers, and went
quietly to bed.

A light breeze springing up soon after it was dark, we steered along the
shore under an easy sail till midnight, and then brought-to, soon after
which it fell calm; we were now some leagues distant from the place
where the canoes had left us, and at day-break, when the Indians
perceived it, they were seized with consternation and terror, and
lamented their situation in loud complaints, with gestures of despair
and many tears. Tupia, with great difficulty, pacified them; and about
seven o'clock in the morning, a light breeze springing up, we continued
to stand south-west along the shore. Fortunately for our poor Indians,
two canoes came off about this time, and made towards the ship: They
stopped, however, at a little distance, and seemed unwilling to trust
themselves nearer. Our Indians were greatly agitated in this state of
uncertainty, and urged their fellows to come alongside of the ship, both
by their voice and gestures, with the utmost eagerness and impatience.
Tupia interpreted what they said, and we were much surprised to find,
that, among other arguments, they assured the people in the canoes, we
did not eat men. We now began seriously to believe that this horrid
custom prevailed among them; for what the boys had said, we considered
as a mere hyperbolical expression of their fear.[51] One of the canoes,
at length, ventured to come under the ship's side; and an old man came
on board, who seemed to be a chief from the finery of his garment, and
the superiority of his weapon, which was a Patoo-Patoo, made of bone,
that, as he said, had belonged to a whale. He staid on board but a
short time, and when he went away, he took with him our guests, very
much to the satisfaction both of them and us.

[Footnote 51: It is remarked in the account of Tasman's voyage, that the
people of this island had very hoarse, rough, strong voices.--E.]

At the time when we sailed, we were abreast of a point, from which the
land trends S.S.W. and which, on account of its figure, I called _Cape
Table_. This point lies seven leagues to the southward of Poverty Bay,
in latitude 39° 7' S. and longitude 181° 36' W.; it is of a considerable
height, makes in a sharp angle, and appears to be quite flat at the top.

In steering along the shore to the southward of the Cape, at the
distance of two or three miles, our soundings were from twenty to thirty
fathom, having a chain of rocks between us and the shore, which appeared
at different heights above the water.

At noon, Cape Table bore N. 20 E. distant about four leagues, and a
small island, which was the southernmost land in sight, bore S. 70 W. at
the distance of about three miles. This island, which the natives call
_Teahowray_, I named the _Island of Portland_, from its very great
resemblance to Portland in the English Channel: It lies about a mile
from a point on the main; but there appears to be a ridge of rocks,
extending nearly, if not quite, from one to the other. N. 57 E. two
miles from the south point of Portland, lies a sunken rock, upon which
the sea breaks with great violence. We passed between this rock and the
land, having from seventeen to twenty fathom.

In sailing along the shore, we saw the natives assembled in great
numbers as well upon Portland Island as the main: We could also
distinguish several spots of ground that were cultivated; some seemed to
be fresh turned up, and lay in furrows like ploughed land, and some had
plants upon them in different stages of their growth. We saw also in two
places, high rails upon the ridges of hills, like what we had seen upon
the peninsula at the north-east head of Poverty Bay: As they were ranged
in lines only, and not so as to inclose an area, we could not guess at
their use, and therefore supposed they might be the work of
superstition.

About noon another canoe appeared, in which were four men; she came
within about a quarter of a mile of us, where the people on board seemed
to perform divers ceremonies: One of them, who was in the bow, sometimes
seemed to ask and to offer peace, and sometimes to threaten war, by
brandishing a weapon that he held in his hand: Sometimes also he danced,
and sometimes he sung. Tupia talked much to him, but could not persuade
him to come to the ship.

Between one and two o'clock we discovered land to the westward of
Portland; extending to the southward as far as we could see; and as the
ship was hauling round the south end of the island, she suddenly fell
into shoal water and broken ground: We had indeed always seven fathom or
more, but the soundings were never twice the same, jumping at once from
seven fathom to eleven; in a short time, however, we got clear of all
danger, and had again deep water under us.

At this time the island lay within a mile of us, making in white cliffs,
and a long spit of low land running from it towards the main. On the
sides of these cliffs sat vast numbers of people, looking at us with a
fixed attention, and it is probable that they perceived some appearance
of hurry and confusion on board, and some irregularity in the working of
the ship, while we were getting clear of the shallow water and broken
ground, from which they might infer that we were alarmed or in distress;
we thought that they wished to take advantage of our situation, for five
canoes were put off with the utmost expedition, full of men, and well
armed: They came so near, and shewed so hostile a disposition by
shouting, brandishing their lances, and using threatening gestures, that
we were in some pain for our small boat, which was still employed in
sounding: A musket was therefore fired over them, but finding it did
them no harm, they seemed rather to be provoked than intimidated, and I
therefore fired a four-pounder, charged with grape-shot, wide of them:
This had a better effect; upon the report of the piece they all rose up
and shouted, but instead of continuing the chace, drew altogether, and
after a short consultation, went quietly away.

Having got round Portland, we hauled in for the land N.W. having a
gentle breeze at N.E. which about five o'clock died away, and obliged us
to anchor; we had one-and-twenty fathom, with a fine sandy bottom: The
south point of Portland bore S.E. 1/2 S. distant about two leagues, and
a low point on the main bore N. 1/2 E. In the same direction with this
low point, there runs a deep bay, behind the land of which Cape Table is
the extremity, so as to make this land a peninsula, leaving only a low
narrow neck between that and the main. Of this peninsula, which the
natives call _Terakaca_, Cape Table is the north point, and Portland the
south.

While we lay at anchor, two more canoes came off to us, one armed, and
the other a small fishing-boat, with only four men in her; they came so
near that they entered into conversation with Tupia; they answered all
the questions that he asked them with great civility, but could not be
persuaded to come on board; they came near enough, however, to receive
several presents that were thrown to them from the ship, with which they
seemed much pleased, and went away. During the night many fires were
kept upon shore, probably to shew us that the inhabitants were too much
upon their guard to be surprised.

About five o'clock in the morning of the 13th, a breeze springing up
northerly we weighed, and steered in for the land. The shore here forms
a large bay, of which Portland is the north-east point, and the bay,
that runs behind Cape Table, an arm. This arm I had a great inclination
to examine, because there appeared to be safe anchorage in it, but not
being sure of that, and the wind being right an end, I was unwilling to
spare the time. Four-and-twenty fathom was the greatest depth within
Portland, but the ground was every where clear. The land near the shore
is of a moderate height, with white cliffs and sandy beaches; within, it
rises into mountains, and upon the whole the surface is hilly, for the
most part covered with wood, and to appearance pleasant and fertile. In
the morning nine canoes came after the ship, but whether with peaceable
or hostile intentions we could not tell, for we soon left them behind
us.

In the evening we stood in for a place that had the appearance of an
opening, but found no harbour; we therefore stood out again, and were
soon followed by a large canoe, with eighteen or twenty men, all armed,
who, though they could not reach us, shouted defiance, and brandished
their weapons, with many gestures of menace and insult.

In the morning we had a view of the mountains inland, upon which the
snow was still lying: The country near the shore was low and unfit for
culture, but in one place we perceived a patch of somewhat yellow, which
had greatly the appearance of a corn field, yet was probably nothing
more than some dead flags, which are not uncommon in swampy places:[52]
At some distance we saw groves of trees, which appeared high and
tapering, and being not above two leagues from the south-west cod of the
great bay, in which we had been coasting for the two last days, I
hoisted out the pinnace and long-boat to search for fresh water; but
just as they were about to put off, we saw several boats full of people
coming from the shore, and therefore I did not think it safe for them to
leave the ship. About ten o'clock, five of these boats having drawn
together, as if to hold a consultation, made towards the ship, having on
board between eighty and ninety men, and four more followed at some
distance, as if to sustain the attack: When the first five came within
about a hundred yards of the ship, they began to sing their war-song,
and brandishing their pikes, prepared for an engagement. We had now no
time to lose, for if we could not prevent the attack, we should come
under the unhappy necessity of using our fire-arms against them, which
we were very desirous to avoid. Tupia was therefore ordered to acquaint
them that we had weapons which, like thunder, would destroy them in a
moment; that we would immediately convince them of their power by
directing their effect so that they should not be hurt; but that if they
persisted in any hostile attempt, we should be obliged to use them for
our defence: A four-pounder, loaded with grape-shot, was then discharged
wide of them, which produced the desired effect; the report, the flash,
and above all, the shot, which spread very far in the water, so
intimidated them, that they began to paddle away with all their might:
Tupia, however, calling after them, and assuring them that if they would
come unarmed, they should be kindly received, the people in one of the
boats put their arms on board of another, and came under the ship's
stern: We made them several presents, and should certainly have
prevailed upon them to come on board, if the other canoes had not, come
up, and again threatened us, by shouting and brandishing their weapons:
At this the people who had come to the ship unarmed, expressed great
displeasure, and soon after they all went away.

[Footnote 52: The natives cultivate a plant much resembling flag. It is
their substitute for hemp and flax; and by their ingenuity of
management, yield them excellent clothing, and lines and cordage for
their fishing-nets and other useful purposes.--E.]

In the afternoon we stood over to the south point of the bay, but not
reaching it before it was dark, we stood off and on all night. At eight
the next morning, being a-breast of the point, several fishing-boats
came off to us, and sold us some stinking fish: It was the best they
had, and we were willing to trade with them upon any terms: These people
behaved very well, and we should have parted good friends if it had not
been for a large canoe, with two-and-twenty armed men on board, which
came boldly up alongside of the ship. We soon saw that this boat had
nothing for traffic, yet we gave them two or three pieces of cloth, an
article which they seemed very fond of. I observed that one man had a
black skin thrown over him, somewhat resembling that of a bear, and
being desirous to know what animal was its first owner, I offered him
for it a piece of red baize, and he seemed greatly pleased with the
bargain, immediately pulling off the skin, and holding it up in the
boat;[53] he would not, however, part with it till he had the cloth in
his possession, and as there could be no transfer of property, if with
equal caution I had insisted upon the same condition, I ordered the
cloth to be handed down to him, upon which, with amazing coolness,
instead of sending up the skin, he began to pack up both that, and the
baize, which he had received as the purchase of it, in a basket, without
paying the least regard to my demand or remonstrances, and soon after,
with the fishing-boats, put off from the-ship; when they were at some
distance, they drew together, and after a short-consultation returned;
the fishermen offered more fish, which, though good for nothing, was
purchased, and trade was again renewed. Among others who were placed
over the ship's side to hand up what we bought, was little Tayeto,
Tupia's boy; and one of the Indians, watching his opportunity, suddenly
seized him, and dragged him down into the canoe; two of them held him
down in the fore-part of it, and the others, with great activity,
paddled her off, the rest of the canoes following as fast as they could;
upon this the marines, who were under arms upon deck, were ordered to
fire. The shot was directed to that part of the canoe which was farthest
from the boy, and rather wide of her, being willing rather to miss the
rowers than to hurt him: It happened, however, that one man dropped,
upon which the others quitted their hold of the boy, who instantly
leaped into the water, and swam towards the ship; the large canoe
immediately pulled round and followed him, but some muskets, and a great
gun being fired at her, she desisted from the pursuit. The ship being
brought-to, a boat was lowered, and the poor boy taken up unhurt, though
so terrified, that for a time he seemed to be deprived of his senses.
Some of the gentlemen, who traced the canoes to shore with their
glasses, said, that they saw three men carried up the beach, who
appeared to be either dead, or wholly disabled by their wounds.

[Footnote 53: The principal clothing of these people is prepared from
the flag, as has been mentioned; but they greatly esteem the skins of
such animals as they can procure. These, however, are neither very
numerous nor valuable. They will be mentioned hereafter.--E.]

To the cape off which this unhappy transaction happened, I gave the name
of _Cape Kidnappers_. It lies in latitude 39° 43', and longitude 182°
24' W. and is rendered remarkable by two white rocks like hay-stacks,
and the high white cliffs on each side. It lies S.W. by W. distant
thirteen leagues from the isle of Portland; and between them is the bay
of which it is the south point, and which, in honour of Sir Edward
Hawke, then First Lord of the Admiralty, I called _Hawke's Bay_. We
found in it from twenty-four to seven fathom, and good anchorage. From
Cape Kidnappers the land trends S.S.W. and in this direction we made our
run along the shore, keeping at about a league distance, with a steady
breeze and clear weather.

As soon as Tayeto recovered from his fright, he brought a fish to Tupia,
and told him that he intended it as an offering to his Eatua, or god, in
gratitude for his escape; Tupia commended his piety, and ordered him to
throw the fish into the sea, which was accordingly done.[54]

[Footnote 54: This may be held as no small evidence that the Otaheitans
are not so disinterested in their devotion as Dr Hawkesworth imagined,
according to an assertion of his already commented on. Gratitude implies
the reception of a favour, and prayer the expectation of one. Religion
without interest is both unnatural and absurd. The very notion of
religion is humble reliance upon God. "Take this away," says Dr Magee
very justly, "and we become a race of independent beings, claiming as a
debt the reward of our good works; a sort of contracting party with the
Almighty, contributing nought to his glory, but anxious to maintain our
own independence, and our own rights." The lips of uninspired man never
spake more truth in one sentence. Let the aspiring moralist consider it
in its nature and consequences. If he obtain humility by the meditation,
he will feel the blessedness of a grateful heart.--E.]

About two o'clock in the afternoon, we passed a small but high white
island lying close to the shore, upon which we saw many houses, boats,
and people. The people we concluded to be fishers, because the island
was totally barren; we saw several people also on shore, in a small bay
upon the main, within the island. At eleven, we brought-to till
day-light, and then made sail to the southward, along the shore. About
seven o'clock we passed a high point of land, which lies S.S.W. twelve
leagues from Cape Kidnappers: From this point the land trends
three-fourths of a point more to the westward; at ten, we saw more land
open to the southward, and at noon, the southermost land that was in
sight bore S. 39° W. distant eight or ten leagues, and a high bluff
head, with yellowish cliffs, bore W. distant about two miles: The depth
of water was thirty-two fathom.

In the afternoon we had a fresh breeze at west, and during the night
variable light airs and calms: In the morning a gentle breeze sprung up
between the N.W. and N.E. and having till now stood to the southward,
without seeing any probability of meeting with a harbour, and the
country manifestly altering for the worse, I thought that standing
farther in that direction would be attended with no advantage, but on
the contrary would be a loss of time that might be employed with a
better prospect of success in examining the coast to the northward;
about one, therefore, in the afternoon, I tacked, and stood north, with
a fresh breeze at west. The high bluff head, with yellowish cliffs,
which we were a-breast of at noon, I called Cape Turnagain, because here
we turned back. It lies in latitude 40° 34' S. longitude 182° 55' W.,
distant eighteen leagues S.S.W. and S.S.W. 1/2 W. from Cape Kidnappers.
The land between them is of a very unequal height; in some places it is
lofty next the sea with white cliffs, in others low, with sandy beaches:
The face of the country is not so well clothed with wood as it is about
Hawke's bay, but looks more like our high downs in England: It is,
however, to all appearance, well inhabited, for as we stood along the
shore, we saw several villages, not only in the vallies, but on the tops
and sides of the hills, and smoke in many other places. The ridge of
mountains, which has been mentioned before, extends to the southward
farther than we could see, and was then every where chequered with snow.
At night we saw two fires inland, so very large, that we concluded they
must have been made to clear the land for tillage; but however that be,
they are a demonstration that the part of the country where they
appeared is inhabited.

On the 18th, at four o'clock in the morning, Cape Kidnappers bore N. 32
W. distant two leagues: In this situation we had sixty-two fathom, and
when the Cape bore W. by N. distant three or four leagues, we had
forty-five fathom: In the mid-way between the isle of Portland and the
Cape we had sixty-five fathom. In the evening, being abreast of the
peninsula, within Portland island, called Terakako, a canoe came off
from that shore, and with much difficulty overtook the ship; there were
on board five people, two of whom appeared to be chiefs, and the other
three servants: The chiefs, with very little invitation, came on board,
and ordered the rest to remain in their canoe. We treated them with
great kindness, and they were not backward in expressing their
satisfaction; they went down into the cabin, and after a short time told
us that they had determined not to go on shore till the next morning. As
the sleeping on board was an honour which we neither expected nor
desired, I remonstrated strongly against it, and told them, that on
their account it would not be proper, as the ship would probably be at a
great distance from where she was then, the next morning: They
persisted, however, in their resolution, and as I found it impossible to
get rid of them without turning them by force out of the ship, I
complied: As a proper precaution, however, I proposed to take their
servants also on board, and hoist their canoe into the ship; they made
no objection, and this was accordingly done. The countenance of one of
these chiefs was the most open and ingenuous of all I have ever seen,
and I very soon gave up every suspicion of his having any sinister
design: They both examined every thing they saw with great curiosity and
attention, and received very thankfully such little presents as we made
them; neither of them, however, could be persuaded either to eat or
drink, but their servants devoured every thing they could get with great
voracity. We found that these men had heard of our kindness and
liberality to the natives who had been on board before, yet we thought
the confidence they placed in us an extraordinary instance of their
fortitude. At night I brought-to till day-light, and then made sail; at
seven in the morning, I brought-to again under Cape Table, and sent away
our guests with their canoe, who expressed some surprise at seeing
themselves so far from home, but landed a-breast of the ship. At this
time I saw other canoes putting off from the shore, but I stood away to
the northward without waiting for their coming up.

About three, I passed a remarkable head-land, which I called
Gable-End-Foreland, from the very great likeness of the white cliff at
the point to the gable-end of a house: It is not more remarkable for its
figure, than for a rock which rises like a spire at a little distance.
It lies from Cape Table N. 24 E. distant about twelve leagues. The shore
between them forms a bay, within which lies Poverty Bay, at the distance
of four leagues from the head-land, and eight from the Cape. At this
place three canoes came off to us, and one man came on board; we gave
him some trifles, and he soon returned to his boat, which, with all the
rest, dropped a-stern.

In the morning I made sail in shore, in order to look into two bays,
which appeared about two leagues to the northward of the Foreland; the
southernmost I could not fetch, but I anchored in the other about eleven
o'clock.

Into this bay we were invited by the people on board many canoes, who
pointed to a place where they said there was plenty of fresh water: I
did not find so good a shelter from the sea as I expected, but the
natives who came about us appearing to be of a friendly disposition, I
was determined to try whether I could not get some knowledge of the
country here before I proceeded farther to the northward.

In one of the canoes that came about us as soon as we anchored, we saw
two men, who by their habits appeared to be chiefs: One of them was
dressed in a jacket, which was ornamented after their manner, with dog's
skin; the jacket of the other was almost covered with small tufts of red
feathers. These men I invited on board, and they entered the ship with
very little hesitation: I gave each of them about four yards of linen,
and a spike nail; with the linen they were much pleased, but seemed to
set no value upon the nail. We perceived that they knew what had
happened in Poverty Bay, and we had therefore no reason to doubt but
they would behave peaceably; however, for further security, Tupia was
ordered to tell them for what purpose we came thither, and to assure
them that we would offer them no injury, if they offered none to us. In
the mean time those who remained in the canoes traded with our people
very fairly for what they happened to have with them: The chiefs, who
were old men, staid with us till we had dined, and about two o'clock I
put off with the boats, manned and armed, in order to go on shore in
search of water, and the two chiefs went into the boat with me. The
afternoon was tempestuous, with much rain, and the surf every where ran
so high, that although we rowed almost round the bay, we found no place
where we could land: I determined therefore to return to the ship, which
being intimated to the chiefs, they called to the people on shore, and
ordered a canoe to be sent off for themselves; this was accordingly
done, and they left us, promising to come on board again in the morning,
and bring us some fish and sweet-potatoes.

In the evening, the weather having become fair and moderate, the boats
were again ordered out, and I landed, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr
Solander. We were received with great expressions of friendship by the
natives, who behaved with a scrupulous attention not to give offence. In
particular, they took care not to appear in great bodies: One family, or
the inhabitants of two or three houses only, were generally placed
together, to the number of fifteen or twenty, consisting of men, women,
and children. These little companies sat upon the ground, not advancing
towards us, but inviting us to them, by a kind of beckon, moving one
hand towards the breast. We made them several little presents; and in
our walk round the bay found two small streams of fresh water. This
convenience, and the friendly behaviour of the people, determined me to
stay at least a day, that I might fill some of my empty casks, and give
Mr Banks an opportunity of examining the natural produce of the country.

In the morning of the 21st, I sent Lieutenant Gore on shore, to
superintend the watering, with a strong party of men; and they were soon
followed by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, with Tupia, Tayeto, and four
others.

The natives sat by our people, and seemed pleased to observe them; but
did not intermix with them: They traded, however, chiefly for cloth, and
after a short time applied to their ordinary occupations, as if no
stranger had been among them. In the forenoon, several of their boats
went out a-fishing, and at dinner time every one repaired to his
respective dwelling; from which, after a certain time, he returned.
These fair appearances encouraged Mr Banks and Dr Solander to range the
bay with very little precaution, where they found many plants, and shot
some birds of exquisite beauty. In their walk, they visited several
houses of the natives, and saw something of their manner of life; for
they showed, without any reserve, every thing which the gentlemen
desired to see. They were sometimes found at their meals, which the
approach of the strangers never interrupted. Their food at this season
consisted of fish, with which, instead of bread, they eat the root of a
kind of fern, very like that which grows upon our commons in England.
These roots they scorch over the fire, and then beat with a stick, till
the bark and dry outside fall off; what remains is a soft substance,
somewhat clammy and sweet, not unpleasing to the taste, but mixed with
three or four times its quantity of strings and fibres, which are very
disagreeable; these were swallowed by some, but spit out by the far
greater number, who had baskets under them to receive the rejected part
of what had been chewed, which had an appearance very like that of
tobacco in the same state. In other seasons they have certainly plenty
of excellent vegetables; but no tame animals were seen among them except
dogs, which were very small and ugly. Mr Banks saw some of their
plantations, where the ground was as well broken down and tilled as even
in the gardens of the most curious people among us: In these spots were
sweet potatoes, coccos or eddas, which are well known and much esteemed
both in the East and West Indies, and some gourds: The sweet potatoes
were planted in small hills, some ranged in rows, and others in
quincunx, all laid by a line with the greatest regularity: The coccos
were planted upon flat land, but none of them yet appeared above ground;
and the gourds were set in small hollows, or dishes, much as in England.
These plantations were of different extent, from one or two acres to
ten: Taken together, there appeared to be from 150 to 200 acres in
cultivation in the whole bay, though we never saw an hundred people.
Each district was fenced in, generally with reeds, which were placed so
close together that there was scarcely room for a mouse to creep
between.

The women were plain, and made themselves more so by painting their
faces with red ochre and oil, which being generally fresh and wet upon
their cheeks and foreheads, was easily transferred to the noses of those
who thought fit to salute them; and that they were not wholly averse to
such familiarity, the noses of several of our people strongly testified:
They were, however, as great coquets as any of the most fashionable
ladies in Europe, and the young ones as skittish as an unbroken filly:
Each of them wore a petticoat, under which there was a girdle, made of
the blades of grass highly perfumed, and to the girdle was fastened a
small bunch of the leaves of some fragrant plant, which served their
modesty as its innermost veil.[55] The faces of the men were not so
generally painted, yet we saw one whose whole body, and even his
garments, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a piece
constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the decoration in
one part or another, where he supposed it was become deficient.[56] In
personal delicacy they were not equal to our friends at Otaheite, for
the coldness of the climate did not invite them so often to bathe; but
we saw among them one instance of cleanliness in which they exceeded
them, and of which perhaps there is no example in any other Indian
nation. Every house, or every little cluster of three or four houses,
was furnished with a privy, so that the ground was every where clean.
The offals of their food, and other litter, were also piled up in
regular dunghills, which probably they made use of at a proper time for
manure.

[Footnote 55: It is elsewhere said of these women, that, contrary to the
custom of the sex in general, they affected dress rather less than the
men. As to their modesty, let one fact related in the same place, be
allowed its legal influence.--Their innermost veil, as our author will
have it, was always bound fast round them, except when they went into
the water to catch lobsters, and then great care was taken that they
should not be seen by the other sex. "Some of us happening one day to
land upon a small island in Tolaga Bay, we surprised several of them at
this employment; and the chaste Diana, with her nymphs, could not have
discovered more confusion and distress at the sight of Actæon, than
these women expressed on our approach. Some of them hid themselves among
the rocks, and the rest crouched down in the sea till they had made
themselves a girdle and apron of such weeds as they could find, and when
they came out, even with this veil, we could perceive that their modesty
suffered much pain by our presence!" One fact of this kind speaks
volumes. The reader may glance over them at his leisure.--E.]

[Footnote 56: It is elsewhere remarked, that the bodies of both sexes
are marked with the black stains called Amoco, like the tattowing of the
Otaheitans, but that the women are not so lavish in the decoration as
the men, and that whereas at Otaheite the breech is the choice spot for
the display of their beautifying ingenuity, in New Zealand, on the
contrary, it is almost entirely neglected as unworthy of embellishment.
So much for the capricious partiality of dame Fashion.--E.]

In this decent article of civil oeconomy they were beforehand with one
of the most considerable nations of Europe, for I am credibly informed,
that, till the year 1760, there was no such thing as a privy in Madrid,
the metropolis of Spain, though it is plentifully supplied with water.
Before that time it was the universal practice to throw the ordure out
of the windows, during the night, into the street, where numbers of men
were employed to remove it, with shovels, from the upper parts of the
city to the lower, where it lay till it was dry, and was then carried
away in carts, and deposited without the gates. His catholic majesty,
having determined to free his capital from so gross a nuisance, ordered,
by proclamation, that the proprietor of every house should build a
privy, and that sinks, drains, and common-sewers should he made at the
public expence. The Spaniards, though long accustomed to an arbitrary
government; resented this proclamation with great spirit, as an
infringement of the common rights of mankind, and made a vigorous
struggle against its being carried into execution. Every class devised
some objection against it, but the physicians bade the fairest to
interest the king in the preservation of the ancient privileges of his
people; for they remonstrated, that if the filth was not, as usual,
thrown into the streets, a fatal sickness would probably ensue, because
the putrescent particles of the air, which such filth attracted, would
then be imbibed by the human body. But this expedient, with every other
that could be thought of, proved unsuccessful, and the popular
discontent then ran so high that it was very near producing an
insurrection; his majesty, however, at length prevailed, and Madrid is
now as clear as most of the considerable cities in Europe. But many of
the citizens, probably upon the principles advanced by their physicians,
that heaps of filth prevent deleterious particles of air from fixing
upon neighbouring substances, have, to keep their food wholesome,
constructed their privies by the kitchen fire.[57]

[Footnote 57: It is a little singular, that Dr Hawkesworth did not
adduce a similar instance of negligence, in a certain Northern Capital.
The English, not much averse, at the time of the publication, to
depreciate and despise their neighbours, would certainly have relished
it vastly--for, as Swift somewhere wittily observes, your men of nice
taste have very filthy ideas. That the city alluded to has improved
much, within the last half century, is but to lump it with almost all
the other cities and towns in Britain, of which the same thing may be
predicated. Still, however, it is chargeable with glaring sins of both
omission and commission; and it is certain, that the vigilance of its
police has hitherto been insufficient to vindicate its cleanliness. One
might incline to think, that the prejudice in favour of bad smells had
not quite abandoned the inhabitants, who could allow for months, and
that even in the consummating fervour of the summer sun, and in open
despite of his face too, of putrifying dunghills within the precincts of
their city. It is a certain fact that such a receptacle of filth, of the
largest size, is established in all its amplitude of abomination on the
west side of it, and often emits its pestilential spirit on the whole
track of one of its _principal_ streets. Such things ought not to be,
and would not, if people used their heads as well as their noses.--E.]

In the evening, all our boats being employed in carrying the water, on
board, and Mr Banks and his company finding it probable that they should
be left on shore after it was dark, by which much time would be lost,
which they were impatient to employ in putting the plants they had
gathered in order, they applied to the Indians for a passage in one of
their canoes: They immediately consented, and a canoe was launched for
their use. They went all on board, being eight in number, but not being
used to a vessel that required so even a balance, they unfortunately
overset her in the surf: No life however was lost, but it was thought
advisable that half of them should wait for another turn. Mr Banks, Dr
Solander, Tupia, and Tayeto embarked again, and without any farther
accident arrived safely at the ship, well pleased with the good nature
of their Indian friends, who cheerfully undertook to carry them a second
time, after having experienced how unfit a freight they were for such a
vessel.

While these gentlemen were on shore, several of the natives went off to
the ship, and trafficked, by exchanging their cloth for that of
Otaheite: Of this barter they were for some time very fond, preferring
the Indian cloth to that of Europe: But before night it decreased in its
value five hundred per cent. Many of these Indians I took on board, and
shewed them the ship and her apparatus, at which they expressed equal
satisfaction and astonishment.

As I found it exceedingly difficult to get water on board on account of
the surf, I determined to stay no longer at this place; on the next
morning, therefore, about five o'clock, I weighed anchor and put to sea.

This bay, which is called by the natives _Tegadoo_, lies in the latitude
of 38° 10' S.; but as it has nothing to recommend it, a description of
it is unnecessary.

From this bay I intended to stand on to the northward, but the wind
being right against me, I could make no way. While I was beating about
to windward, some of the natives came on board, and told me, that in a
bay which lay a little to the southward, being the same that I could not
fetch the day I put into Tegadoo, there was excellent water, where the
boats might land without a surf. I thought it better therefore to put
into this bay, where I might complete my water, and form farther
connections with the Indians, than to keep the sea. With this view I
bore up for it, and sent in two boats, manned and armed, to examine the
watering place, who, confirming the report of the Indians at their
return, I came to an anchor about one o'clock, in eleven fathom water,
with a fine sandy bottom, the north point of the bay N. by E. and the
south point S.E. The watering-place, which was in a small cove a little
within the south point of the bay, bore S. by E. distant about a mile,
many canoes came immediately off from the shore, and all traded very
honestly for Otaheite cloth and glass bottles, of which they were
immoderately fond.

In the afternoon of the 23d, as soon as the ship was moored, I went on
shore to examine the watering-place, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr
Solander: The boat landed in the cove, without the least surf; the water
was excellent, and conveniently situated; there was plenty of wood close
to high-water mark, and the disposition of the people was in every
respect such as we could wish.

Having, with Mr Green, taken several observations of the sun and moon,
the mean result of them gave 180° 47' W. longitude; but, as all the
observations made before exceeded these, I have laid down the coast from
the mean of the whole. At noon, I took the sun's meridian altitude with
an astronomical quadrant, which was set up at the watering-place, and
found the latitude to be 38° 22' 24".

On the 24th, early in the morning, I sent Lieutenant Gore on shore, to
superintend the cutting of wood and filling of water, with a sufficient
number of men for both purposes, and all the marines as a guard. After
breakfast, I went on shore myself, and continued there the whole day.

Mr Banks and Dr Solander also went on shore to gather plants, and in
their walks saw several things worthy of notice. They met with many
houses in the vallies that seemed to be wholly deserted, the people
living on the ridges of the hills in a kind of sheds very slightly
built. As they were advancing in one of these vallies, the hills on each
side of which were very steep, they were suddenly struck with the sight
of a very extraordinary natural curiosity. It was a rock, perforated
through its whole substance, so as to form a rude but stupendous arch or
cavern, opening directly to the sea; this aperture was seventy-five feet
long, twenty-seven broad, and five-and-forty high, commanding a view of
the bay and the hills on the other side, which were seen through it,
and, opening at once upon the view, produced an effect far superior to
any of the contrivances of art.

As they were returning to the watering-place in the evening, they met an
old man, who detained them some time by shewing them the military
exercises of the country with the lance and Patoo-Patoo, which are all
the weapons in use. The lance is from ten to fourteen feet long, made of
a very hard wood, and sharp at both ends: The Patoo-Patoo has been
described already, it is about a foot long, made of talc or bone, with
sharp edges, and used as a battle-axe. A post or stake was set up as his
enemy, to which he advanced with a must furious aspect, brandishing his
lance, which he grasped with great firmness; when it was supposed to
have been pierced by his lance, he ran at it with his Patoo-Patoo, and
falling upon the upper end of it, which was to represent his adversary's
head, he laid on with great vehemence, striking many blows, any one of
which would probably have split the skull of an ox. From our champion's
falling upon his mock enemy with the Patoo-Patoo, after he was supposed
to have been pierced with the lance, our gentlemen inferred, that in the
battles of this country there is no quarter.

This afternoon, we set up the armourer's forge, to repair the braces of
the tiller which had been broken, and went on getting our wood and
water, without suffering the least molestation from the natives; who
came down with different sorts of fish, which we purchased with cloth,
beads, and glass bottles, as usual.

On the 25th, Mr Banks and Dr Solander went again on shore; and while
they were searching for plants, Tupia staid with the waterers: Among
other Indians who came down to them was a priest, with whom Tupia
entered into a very learned conversation. In their notions of religion
they seemed to agree very well, which is not often the case between
learned divines on our side of the ocean: Tupia, however, seemed to have
the most knowledge, and he was listened to with great deference and
attention by the other. In the course of this conversation, after the
important points of divinity had been settled, Tupia enquired if it was
their practice to eat men, to which they answered in the affirmative;
but said that they eat only their enemies who were slain in battle.[58]

[Footnote 58: There is some reason, however, to believe that they make
battle in order that they may have enemies to eat. It is something like
the plea of the slave-dealers. They took those only who had been made
prisoners in war, and who would be butchered if not thus disposed of.
But who occasioned the wars which brought these miserable beings into
the hands of their enemies? There's the rub.--E.]

On the 26th, it rained all day, so that none of us could go ashore; and
very few of the Indians came either to the watering-place or the ship.

On the 27th, I went with Dr Solander to examine the bottom of the bay;
but though we went ashore at two places, we met with little worth
notice. The people behaved very civilly, shewing us every thing that we
expressed a desire to see. Among other trifling curiosities which Dr
Solander purchased of them, was a boy's top, shaped exactly like those
which children play with in England; and they made signs, that to make
it spin it was to be whipped. Mr Banks in the mean time went ashore at
the watering-place, and climbed a hill which stood at a little distance
to see a fence of poles, which we had observed from the ship, and which
had been much the subject of speculation. The hill was extremely steep,
and rendered almost inaccessible by wood; yet he reached the place, near
which he found many houses that for some reason had been deserted by
their inhabitants. The poles appeared to be about sixteen feet high;
they were placed in two rows, with a space of about six feet between
them, and the poles in each row were about ten feet distant from each
other. The lane between them was covered by sticks, that were set up
sloping towards each other from the top of the poles on each side, like
the roof of a house. This rail-work, with a ditch that was parallel to
it, was carried about a hundred yards down the hill in a kind of curve;
but for what purpose we could not guess.

The Indians, at the watering-place, at our request, entertained us with
their war-song, in which the women joined, with the most horrid
distortions of countenance, rolling their eyes, thrusting out their
tongues, and often heaving loud and deep sighs; though all was done in
very good time.

On the 28th, we went ashore upon an island that lies to the left hand of
the entrance of the bay, where we saw the largest canoe that we had yet
met with: She was sixty-eight feet and a half long, five broad, and
three feet six high; she had a sharp bottom, consisting of three trunks
of trees hollowed, of which that in the middle was the longest: The
side-planks were sixty-two feet long in one piece, and were not
despicably carved in bas relief; the head also was adorned with carving
still more richly. Upon this island there was a larger house than any we
had yet seen; but it seemed unfinished and was full of chips. The wood
work was squared so even and smooth, that we made no doubt of their
having among them very sharp tools. The sides of the posts were carved
in a masterly style, though after their whimsical taste, which seems to
prefer spiral lines and distorted faces: As these carved posts appeared
to have been brought from some other place, such work is probably of
great value among them.

At four o'clock in the morning of the 29th, having got on board our wood
and water, and a large supply of excellent celery, with which the
country abounds, and which proved a powerful antiscorbutic, I unmoored
and put to sea.

This bay is called by the natives Tolaga; it is moderately large, and
has from seven to thirteen fathom, with a clean sandy bottom and good
anchorage; and is sheltered from all winds except the north-east. It
lies in latitude 38° 22' S. and four leagues and a half to the north of
Gable-end Foreland. On the south point lies a small but high island, so
near the main as not to be distinguished from it. Close to the north end
of the island, at the entrance into the bay, are two high rocks; one is
round like a corn-stack, but the other is long, and perforated in
several places, so that the openings appear like the arches of a bridge.
Within these rocks is the cove where we cut wood, and filled our
water-casks. Off the north point of the bay is a pretty high rocky
island; and about a mile without it, are some rocks and breakers. The
variation of the compass here is 14° 31' E., and the tide flows at the
full and change of the moon, about six o'clock, and rises and falls
perpendicularly from five to six feet: Whether the flood comes from the
southward or the northward I have not been able to determine.

We got nothing here by traffic but a few fish, and some sweet potatoes,
except a few trifles, which we considered merely as curiosities. We saw
no four-footed animals, not the appearance of any, either tame or wild,
except dogs and rats, and these were very scarce: The people eat the
dogs, like our friends at Otaheite; and adorn their garments with the
skins, as we do ours with fur and ermine. I climbed many of the hills,
hoping to get a view of the country, but I could see nothing from the
top except higher hills, in a boundless succession. The ridges of these
hills produce little besides fern; but the sides are most luxuriantly
clothed with wood, and verdure of various kinds, with little plantations
intermixed. In the woods, we found trees of above twenty different
sorts, and carried specimens of each on board; but there was nobody
among us to whom they were not altogether unknown. The tree which we cut
for firing was somewhat like our maple, and yielded a whitish gum. We
found another sort of it of a deep yellow, which we thought might be
useful in dying. We found also one cabbage tree, which we cut down for
the cabbages. The country abounds with plants, and the woods with birds,
in an endless variety, exquisitely beautiful, and of which none of us
had the least knowledge. The soil, both of the hills and vallies, is
light and sandy, and very fit for the production of all kinds of roots;
though we saw none except sweet potatoes and yams.


SECTION XXIII.

_The Range from Tolaga to Mercury Bay, with an Account of many Incidents
that happened both on board and ashore: A Description of several Views
exhibited by the Country, and of the Heppahs, or fortified Villages of
the Inhabitants_.


On Monday the 30th, about half an hour after one o'clock, having made
sail again to the northward for about ten hours, with a light breeze, I
hauled round a small island which lay east one mile from the north-east
point of the land: From this place I found the land trend away N.W. by
W. and W.N.W. as far as I could see, this point being the eastermost
land on the whole coast. I gave it the name of East Cape, and I called
the island that lies off it East Island; it is of a small circuit, high
and round, and appears white and barren: The Cape is high, with white
cliffs, and lies in latitude 37° 42' 30" S. and longitude 181° W. The
land from Tolaga Bay to East Cape is of a moderate, but unequal height,
forming several small bays, in which are sandy beaches: Of the inland
country we could not see much, the weather being cloudy and hazy. The
soundings were from twenty to thirty fathom at the distance of about a
league from the shore. After we had rounded the Cape, we saw in our run
along the shore a great number of villages, and much cultivated land;
the country in general appeared more fertile than before, and was low
near the sea, but hilly within. At six in the evening, being four
leagues to the westward of East Cape, we passed a bay which was first
discovered by Lieutenant Hicks, and which therefore I called Hicks's
Bay. At eight in the evening, being eight leagues to the westward of the
Cape, and three or four miles from the shore, I shortened sail, and
brought-to for the night, having at this time a fresh gale at S.S.E. and
squally; but it soon became moderate, and at two in the morning, we made
sail again to the S.W. as the land now trended; and at eight o'clock in
the morning, saw land, which made like an island, bearing west, the
south-westermost part of the main bearing south-west; and about nine no
less than five canoes came off, in which were more than forty men, all
armed with their country pikes and battle-axes, shouting and threatening
an attack; this gave us great uneasiness, and was indeed what we did not
expect; for we hoped, that the report both of our power and clemency had
spread to a greater extent. When one of these canoes had almost reached
the ship, another, of an immense size, the largest that we had yet seen,
crowded with people, who were also armed, put off from the shore, and
came up at a great rate; as it approached it received signals from the
canoe that was nearest to the ship, and we could see that it had sixteen
paddles on a side, beside people that sat, and others that stood in a
row from stem to stern, being in all about sixty men: As they made
directly to the ship, we were desirous of preventing an attack, by
showing what we could do; and therefore fired a gun, loaded with
grape-shot, a-head of them: This made them stop, but not retreat; a
round shot was then fired over them, and upon seeing it fall, they
seized their paddles and made towards the shore with such precipitation,
that they seemed scarcely to allow themselves time to breathe. In the
evening, three or four more canoes came off unarmed; but they would not
venture within a musket-shot of the vessel. The Cape, off which we had
been threatened with hostilities, I called, from the hasty retreat of
the enemy, Cape Runaway. It lies in latitude 37° 32'; longitude 181°
48'. In this day's run, we found that the land, which made like an
island in the morning, bearing west, was so; and we gave it the name of
White Island.

At day-break on the 1st of November, we counted no less than
five-and-forty canoes that were coming from the shore towards the ship:
Seven of them came up with us, and after some conversation with Tupia,
sold us some lobsters and muscles, and two conger eels. These people
traded pretty fairly: When they were gone, some others came off from
another place, who began also to trade fairly; but after some time they
look what was handed down to them, without making any return; one of
them who had done so, upon being threatened, began to laugh, and with
many marks of derision set us at defiance, at the same time putting off
the canoe from the ship: A musket was then fired over his head, which
brought him back in a more serious mood, and trade went on with great
regularity. At length, when the cabin and gun-room had got as much as
they wanted, the men were allowed to come to the gangway, and trade for
themselves. Unhappily the same care was not taken to prevent frauds as
had been taken before, so that the Indians, finding that they could
cheat with impunity, grew insolent again, and proceeded to take greater
liberties. One of the canoes, having sold every thing on board, pulled
forward, and the people that were in her seeing some linen hang over the
ship's side to dry, one of them, without any ceremony, untied it, and
put it up in his bundle: He was immediately called to, and required to
return it; instead of which, he let his canoe drop astern, and laughed
at us: A musket was fired over his head, which, did not put a stop to
his mirth; another was then fired at him with small shot, which struck
him upon the back; he, shrunk a little when the shot hit him, but did
not regard it more than one of our men would have done the stroke of a
rattan: He continued with great composure to pack up the linen that he
had stolen. All the canoes now dropped astern about a hundred yards, and
all set up their song of defiance, which they continued till the ship
was distant from them about four hundred yards. As they seemed to have
no design to attack us, I was not willing to do them any hurt; yet I
thought their going off in a bravado might have a bad effect when it
should be reported ashore. To show them therefore that they were still
in our power, though very much beyond the reach of any missile weapon
with which they were acquainted, I gave the ship a yaw, and fired a
four-pounder so as to pass near them. The shot happened to strike the
water, and rise several times at a great distance beyond the canoes;
This struck them with terror, and they paddled away without once looking
behind them.

About two in the afternoon, we saw a pretty high island bearing west
from us; and at five, saw more islands and rocks to the westward of
that. We hauled our wind in order to go without them, but could not
weather them before it was dark. I therefore bore up, and ran between
them and the main. At seven, I was close under the first, from which a
large double canoe, or rather two canoes lashed together at the distance
of about a foot, and covered with boards so as to make a deck, put off,
and made sail for the ship: This was the first vessel of the kind that
we had seen since we left the South Sea islands. When she came near, the
people on board entered very freely into conversation with Tupia, and,
we thought, showed a friendly disposition; but when it was just dark,
they ran their canoe close to the ship's side, and threw in a volley of
stones, after which they paddled ashore.

We learnt from Tupia, that the people in the canoe called the island
which we were under Mowtohora; it is but of a small circuit, though
high, and lies six miles from the main; on the south side is anchorage
in fourteen fathom water. Upon the main land, S.W. by W. of this island,
and apparently at no great distance from the sea, is a high round
mountain, which I called Mount Edgecumbe: it stands in the middle of a
large plain, and is therefore the more conspicuous; latitude 37° 59',
longitude 183° 7'.

In standing westward, we suddenly shoaled our water from seventeen to
ten fathom; and knowing that we were not far from the small islands and
rocks which we had seen before dark, and which I intended to have passed
before I brought-to for the night, I thought it more prudent to tack,
and spend the night under Mowtohora, where I knew there was no danger.
It was indeed happy for us that we did so; for in the morning, after we
had made sail to the westward, we discovered a-head of us several rocks,
some of which were level with the surface of the water, and some below
it: They lay N.N.E. from Mount Edgecumbe, one league and a half distant
from the island Mowtohora, and about nine miles from the main. We passed
between these rocks and the main, having from ten to seven fathom
water.

This morning, many canoes and much people were seen along the shore;
several of the canoes followed us, but none of them could reach us,
except one with a sail, which proved to be the same that had pelted us
the night before. The people on board again entered into conversation
with Tupia; but we expected another volley of their ammunition, which
was not indeed dangerous to any thing but the cabin windows. They
continued abreast of the ship about an hour, and behaved very peaceably;
but at last the salute which we expected was given; we returned it by
firing a musquet over them, and they immediately dropped astern and left
us, perhaps rather satisfied with having given a test of their courage
by twice insulting a vessel so much superior to their own, than
intimidated by the shot.

At half an hour after ten, we passed between a low flat island and the
main: The distance from one to the other was about four miles, and the
depth of water from ten to twelve fathom. The main land between this
flat island and Mowtohora is of a moderate height, but level, pretty
clear of wood, and full of plantations and villages. The villages, which
were larger than any we had yet seen, were built upon eminences near the
sea, and fortified on the land side by a bank and ditch, with a high
paling within it, which was carried all round: Beside a bank, ditch, and
pallisadoes, some of them appeared to have out-works. Tupia had a notion
that the small inclosures of pallisadoes, and a ditch that we had seen
before, were Morais, or places of worship; but we were of opinion that
they were forts, and concluded that these people had neighbouring
enemies, and were always exposed to hostile attacks.[59]

[Footnote 59: The latter opinion was the more correct, as might be
readily shewn; but it is not purposed to treat of the subject till we
come to the account of the 3d voyage.--E.]

At two o'clock we passed a small high island, lying four miles from a
high round head upon the main. From this head the land trends N.W. as
far as can be seen, and has a rugged and hilly appearance. As the
weather was hazy, and the wind blew fresh on the shore, we hauled off
for the weathermost island in sight, which bore from us N.N.E. distant
about six or seven leagues.

Under this island, which I have called the _Mayor_, we spent the night.
At seven in the morning it bore S. 47 E. distant six leagues, and a
cluster of small islands and rocks bore N. 1/2 E. distant one league, to
which I gave the name of the _Court of Aldermen_. They lie in the
compass of about half a league every way, and five leagues from the
main, between which and them lie other islands, most of them barren
rocks, of which there is great variety: Some of them are as small in
compass as the Monument of London, but rise to a much greater height,
and some of them are inhabited. They lie in latitude 36° 57', and at
noon bore S. 60 E. distant three or four leagues; and a rock like a
castle, lying not far from the main, bore N. 40 W. at the distance of
one league. The country that we passed the night before, appeared to be
well inhabited, many towns were in sight, and some hundreds of large
canoes lay under them upon the beach; but this day, after having sailed
about fifteen leagues, it appeared to be barren and desolate. As far as
we had yet coasted this country from Cape Turnagain, the people
acknowledged one Chief, whom they called Teratu, and to whose residence
they pointed, in a direction that we thought to be very far inland, but
afterwards found to be otherwise.

About one o'clock three canoes came off to us from the main, with
one-and-twenty men on board. The construction of these vessels appeared
to be more simple than that of any we had seen, they being nothing more
than trunks of a single tree hollowed by fire, without any convenience
or ornament. The people on board were almost naked, and appeared to be
of a browner complexion; yet naked and despicable as they were, they
sung their song of defiance, and seemed to denounce against us
inevitable destruction: They remained, however, some time out of stones
throw, and then venturing nearer, with less appearance of hostility, one
of our men went to the ship side, and was about to hand them a rope;
this courtesy, however, they thought fit to return by throwing a lance
at him, which having missed him, they immediately threw another into the
ship: Upon this a musquet was fired over them, which at once sent them
away.[60]

[Footnote 60: We are elsewhere told, that "When they were at too great a
distance to reach us with a lance, or a stone, they presumed that we had
no weapon with which we could reach them; here then the defiance was
given, and the words were almost universally the same, _Haromai,
haromai, harre uta a Patoo-Patoo oge_: Come to us, come on shore, and
we will kill you all with our Patoo-Patoos." The language of defiance
and bravado we see is pretty much the same throughout the world. Certain
Europeans, however, excel vastly in the ingenuity and brilliancy with
which they puff it off with oaths and curses; in this most courageous
invention, they as much surpass the mere savages as they do in
instruments of death. Indeed this co-superiority is in excellent
harmony. Our great poet Milton makes no scruple, of course, to ascribe
both offensive means to the inhabitants of the fiery gulph. See the 6th
book of his immortal work for the origin of one, and the whole of the
book, where the arch enemy makes speeches, for specimens of the other.
Milton's devils, however, very commonly preserve a dignified decorum in
their wrath--an indication, by the bye, of his judicious care to
maintain consistency in his characters.--E.]

About two, we saw a large opening, or inlet, for which we bore up; we
had now forty-one fathom water, which gradually decreased to nine, at
which time we were one mile and a half distant from a high towered rock
which lay near the south point of the inlet: This rock and the
northermost of the Court of Aldermen being in one, bearing S. 61 E.

About seven in the evening we anchored in seven fathom, a little within
the south entrance of the bay: To this place we were accompanied by
several canoes and people like those we had seen last, and for some time
they behaved very civilly. While they were hovering about us, a bird was
shot from the ship, as it was swimming upon the water: At this they
shewed less surprise than we expected, and taking up the bird, they tied
it to a fishing line that was towing a-stern; as an acknowledgment for
this favour we gave them a piece of cloth: But notwithstanding this
effect of our fire-arms, and this interchange of civilities, as soon as
it grew dark, they sung their war song, and attempted to tow away the
buoy of the anchor. Two or three musquets were then fired over them, but
this seemed rather to make them angry than afraid, and they went away,
threatening that to-morrow they would return with more force, and be the
death of us all; at the same time sending off a boat, which they told us
was going to another part of the bay for assistance.

There was some appearance of generosity, as well as courage, in
acquainting us with the time when they intended to make their attack;
but they forfeited all credit which this procured them, by coming
secretly upon us in the night, when they certainly hoped to find us
asleep: Upon approaching the ship they found themselves mistaken, and
therefore retired without speaking a word, supposing that they were too
early; after some time they came a second time, and being again
disappointed, they retired as silently as before.[61]

[Footnote 61: It may not be difficult, perhaps, to explain the conduct
of these people in the case now stated, on principles pretty well
ascertained by observation on different classes of mankind. These
islanders have advanced a certain step towards civilization; this is
indicated by the regularity of their conduct, as pointed to some
particular object of general interest; by their being influenced to
emulate one another in the operations of either real or fictitious
warfare, which of course implies free and extensive social intercourse;
and by the cultivation of land, and the useful though not numerous
domestic arts of cookery, and the making of nets and cloth, &c.--not to
mention their music and dancing. In consequence of this progress, they
are excited by the love of property to the display of courage as
necessary for its preservation, and, it seems, often required against
rival or more needy tribes. But their advancement has not been so great
as to destroy or counteract the treacherousness of disposition so common
to savages, whose minds are too intent on objects of desire or
resentment to allow place for reflection on the propriety or impropriety
of the means of attaining them, and whose whole morality, in short,
consists of appetites and indulgence. Hence, on the one hand, a
magnanimity which avows and boasts of its enmity, and on the other, a
cunning which seeks to gratify that feeling by artifices calculated to
put those who are the objects of it, off their guard against its
violence. They would be generous in their hate as well as in their love;
but the evil propensities of their lower life, check the virtues of the
higher. Thus they lose the merit of their valour by the meanness of
their deceit. Their inconsistency renders them more formidable than
either.--E.]

In the morning, at day-break, they prepared to effect by force what they
had in vain attempted by stealth and artifice: No less than twelve
canoes came against us, with about a hundred and fifty men, all armed
with pikes, lances, and stones. As they could do nothing till they came
very near the ship, Tupia was ordered to expostulate with them, and, if
possible, divert them from their purpose: During the conversation they
appeared to be sometimes friendly and sometimes otherwise; at length,
however, they began to trade, and we offered to purchase their weapons,
which some of them consented to sell: They sold two very fairly, but
having received what had been agreed upon for the purchase of a third,
they refused to send it up, but offered it for a second price; a second
was sent down, but the weapon was still detained, and a demand made of a
third; this being refused with some expressions of displeasure and
resentment, the offender, with many ludicrous tokens of contempt and
defiance, paddled his canoe off a few yards from the ship. As I intended
to continue in this place five or six days, in order to make an
observation of the transit of Mercury, it was absolutely necessary, in
order to prevent future mischief, to shew these people that we were not
to be treated ill with impunity; some small shot were therefore fired at
the thief, and a musquet-ball through the bottom of his boat: Upon this
it was paddled to about a hundred yards distance, and to our great
surprise the people in the other canoes took not the least notice of
their wounded companion, though he bled very much, but returned to the
ship, and continued to trade with the most perfect indifference and
unconcern. They sold us many more of their weapons without making any
other attempt to defraud us, for a considerable time; at last, however,
one of them thought fit to paddle away with two different pieces of
cloth which had been given for the same weapon: When he had got about an
hundred yards distance, and thought himself secure of his prize, a
musket was fired after him, which fortunately struck the boat just at
the water's edge, and made two holes in her side; this only incited them
to ply their paddles with greater activity, and the rest of the canoes
also made off with the utmost expedition. As the last proof of our
superiority, therefore, we fired a round shot over them, and not a boat
stopped till they got on shore.

About ten o'clock, I went with two boats to sound the bay, and look out
for a more convenient anchoring-place, the master being in one boat and
myself in the other. We pulled first over to the north shore, from which
some canoes came out to meet us; as we advanced, however, they retired,
inviting us to follow them: But, seeing them all armed, I did not think
it proper to comply, but went towards the head of the bay, where I
observed a village upon a very high point, fortified in the manner that
has been already described, and having fixed upon an anchoring place not
far from where the ship lay, I returned on board.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, I weighed, run in nearer to the
shore, and anchored in four fathom and a half water, with a soft sandy
bottom, the south point of the bay bearing E. distant one mile, and a
river which the boats can enter at low water S.S.E. distant a mile and a
half.

In the morning, the natives came off again to the ship, and we had the
satisfaction to observe that their behaviour was very different from
what it had been yesterday: Among them was an old man, whom we had
before remarked for his prudence and honesty: His name was _Toiava_, and
he seemed to be a person of a superior rank; in the transactions of
yesterday morning he had behaved with great propriety and good sense,
lying in a small canoe, always near the ship, and treating those on
board as if he neither intended a fraud nor suspected an injury: With
some persuasion this man and another came on board, and ventured into
the cabin, where I presented each of them with a piece of English cloth
and some spike nails. They told us that the Indians were now very much
afraid of us, and on our part we promised friendship if they would
behave peaceably, desiring only to purchase what they had to sell upon
their own terms.

After the natives had left us, I went with the pinnace and long-boat
into the river with a design to haul the seine, and sent the master in
the yawl to sound the bay and dredge for fish. The Indians who were on
one side of the river, expressed their friendship by all the signs they
could devise, beckoning us to land among them; but we chose to go ashore
on the other side, as the situation was more convenient for hauling the
seine and shooting birds, of which we saw great numbers of various
kinds: The Indians, with much persuasion, about noon, ventured over to
us. With the seine we had very little success, catching only a few
mullets, neither did we get any thing by the trawl or the dredge, except
a few shells; but we shot several birds, most of them resembling
sea-pies, except that they had black plumage, and red bills and feet.
While we were absent with our guns, the people who staid by the boats
saw two of the Indians quarrel and fight: They began the battle with
their lances, but some old men interposed and took them away, leaving
them to decide the difference, like Englishmen, with their fists: They
boxed with great vigour and obstinacy for some time, but by degrees all
retired behind a little hill, so that our people could not see the event
of the combat.

In the morning the long-boat was sent again to trawll in the bay, and an
officer, with the marines, and a party of men, to cut wood and haul the
seine. The Indians on shore appeared very peaceable and submissive, and
we had reason to believe that their habitations were at a considerable
distance, for we saw no houses, and found that they slept under the
bushes: The bay is probably a place to which they frequently resort in
parties to gather shell-fish, of which it affords incredible plenty, for
wherever we went, whether upon the hills or in the vallies, the woods or
the plains, we saw vast heaps of shells, often many waggon loads
together, some appearing to be very old, and others recent. We saw no
cultivation in this place, which had a desolate and barren appearance:
The tops of the hills were green, but nothing grew there except a large
kind of fern, the roots of which the natives had got together in large
quantities, in order to carry away with them. In the evening Mr Banks
walked up the river, which at the mouth looked fine and broad, but at
the distance of about two miles was not deep enough to cover the foot;
and the country inland was still more barren than at the sea-side. The
seine and dredge were not more successful to-day than yesterday, but the
Indians in some measure compensated for the disappointment by bringing
us several baskets of fish, some dry, and some fresh dressed; it was not
indeed of the best, but I ordered it all to be bought for the
encouragement of trade.

On the 7th, the weather was so bad that none of us left the ship, nor
did any of the Indians come on board.

On the 8th, I sent a party of men on shore to wood and water; and in the
mean time many canoes came off, in one of which was our friend Toiava;
soon after he was alongside of the ship, he saw two canoes coming from
the opposite side of the bay, upon which he hasted back again to the
shore with all his canoes, telling us that he was afraid of the people
who were coming: This was a farther proof that the people of this
country were perpetually committing hostilities against each other. In a
short time, however, he returned, having discovered that the people who
had alarmed him were not the same that he had supposed. The natives that
came to the ship this morning sold us, for a few pieces of cloth, as
much fish of the mackrel kind as served the whole ship's company, and
they were as good as ever were eaten. At noon, this day, I observed the
sun's meridional zenith distance by an astronomical quadrant, which
gave the latitude 36° 47' 43" within the south entrance of the bay.

Mr Banks and Dr Solander went on shore and collected a great variety of
plants, altogether unknown, and not returning till the evening, had an
opportunity of observing in what manner the Indians disposed themselves
to pass the night. They had no shelter but a few shrubs: The women and
the children were ranged innermost, or farthest from the sea; the men
lay in a kind of half circle round them, and their arms were set up
against the trees close by them, in a manner which showed that they were
afraid of an attack by some enemy not far distant. It was also
discovered that they acknowledged neither Teratu, nor any other person,
as their king: As in this particular they differed from all the people
that we had seen upon other parts of the coast, we thought it possible
that they might be a set of outlaws, in a state of rebellion against
Teratu, and in that case they might have no settled habitations, or
cultivated land, in any part of the country.

On the 9th, at day-break, a great number of canoes came on board, loaded
with mackerel of two sorts, one exactly the same with those caught in
England, and the other somewhat different: We imagined the people had
taken a large shoal, and brought us an overplus which they could not
consume; for they sold them at a very low rate. They were, however, very
welcome to us; at eight o'clock the ship had more fish on board than all
her people could eat in three days; and before night, the quantity was
so much increased, that every man who could get salt, cured as many as
would last him a month.

After an early breakfast, I went ashore, with Mr Green and proper
instruments, to observe the transit of Mercury, Mr Banks and Dr Solander
being of the party; the weather had for some time been very thick, with
much rain, but this day was so favourable that not a cloud intervened
during the whole transit. The observation of the ingress was made by Mr
Green alone, while I was employed in taking the sun's altitude, to
ascertain the time. It came on at 7h 20' 58" apparent time: According to
Mr Green's observation, the internal contact was at 12h 8' 58", the
external at 12h 9' 55" p.m. And according to mine, the internal contact
was at 12h 8' 54", and the external 12h 9' 48"; the latitude of the
place of observation was 30° 48' 5-1/2". The latitude observed at noon
was 36° 48' 28". The mean of this and yesterday's observation gives 36°
48' 5-1/2" S. the latitude of the place of observation; the variation of
the compass was 11° 9' E.

About noon we were alarmed by the firing of a great gun from the ship;
Mr Gore, my second lieutenant, was at this time commanding officer on
board, and the account that he gave was this. While some small canoes
were trading with the people, two very large ones came up, full of men,
one of them having on board forty-seven, all armed with pikes, darts,
and stones, and apparently with a hostile intention: They appeared to be
strangers, and to be rather conscious of superiority over us by their
numbers, than afraid of any weapons which could give us superiority over
them: No attack was however made; probably because they learnt from the
people in the other canoes, with whom they immediately entered into
conference, what kind of an enemy they had to deal with: After a little
time, they began to trade, some of them offering their arms, and one of
them a square piece of cloth, which makes a part of their dress, called
a _haahow;_ several of the weapons were purchased, and Mr Gore having
agreed for a haahow, sent down the price, which was a piece of British
cloth, and expected his purchase: But the Indian, as soon as he had got
Mr Gore's cloth in his possession, refused to part with his own, and put
off the canoe: Upon being threatened for this fraud, he and his
companions began to sing their war song in defiance, and shook their
paddles: Still, however, they began no attack, only defying Mr Gore to
take any remedy in his power, which so provoked him that he levelled a
musket loaded with ball at the offender, while he was holding the cloth
in his hand, and shot him dead. It would have been happy if the effect
of a few small shot had been tried upon this occasion, which upon some
others had been successful.

When the Indian dropped, all the canoes put off to some distance; but as
they did not go away, it was thought they might still meditate an
attack. To secure therefore a safe passage for the boat, which it was
necessary to send on shore, a round shot was fired over their heads,
which effectually answered the purpose, and put them all to flight. When
an account of what had happened was brought on shore, our Indians were
alarmed, and drawing all together, retreated in a body. After a short
time, however, they returned, having heard a more particular account of
the affair; and intimated that they thought the man who had been killed
deserved his fate.[62]

[Footnote 62: Savages in general, and more especially when in
unfavourable circumstances as to the means of rendering life
comfortable, shew little sympathy for each other; and accordingly, the
principle of fortitude, which, as justly observed by Mr Millar, in one
of his chapters on the effects of commerce, &c. "is diminished by the
exquisite fellow-feeling of those who live with us," is their prevalent
virtue. Every man is too much occupied by his own wants and desires to
have any fine feeling to squander away on his neighbours; and thus every
man learns to bear his own burdens without any expectation of assistance
from others, who are of course equally loaded with himself. But these
New Zealanders, as we have seen, had so far advanced in the arts of
civilization, as to have exhibited considerable social qualities. The
present instance of concern for their citizen, and of consideration of
the justice of his fate, proves the truth of the remark.--E.]

A little before sun-set the Indians retired to eat their supper, and we
went with them to be spectators of the repast; it consisted of fish of
different kinds, among which were lobsters, and some birds, of a species
unknown to us: These were either roasted or baked; to roast them, they
fastened them upon a small stick, which was stuck up in the ground,
inclining towards their fire; and to bake them, they put them into a
hole in the ground with hot stones, in the same manner as the people of
Otaheite.

Among the natives that were assembled upon this occasion, we saw a
woman, who, after their manner, was mourning for the death of her
relation: She sat upon the ground near the rest, who, one only excepted,
seemed not at all to regard her: The tears constantly trickled down her
cheeks, and she repeated in a low, but very mournful voice, words, which
even Tupia did not at all understand: At the end of every sentence she
cut her arms, her face, or her breast, with a shell that she held in her
hand, so that she was almost covered with blood, and was indeed one of
the most affecting spectacles that can be conceived. The cuts, however,
did not appear to be so deep as are sometimes made upon similar
occasions, if we may judge by the scars which we saw upon the arms,
thighs, breasts, and cheeks of many of them, which we were told were the
remains of wounds which they had inflicted upon themselves as
testimonies of their affection and sorrow.

The next day I went with two boats, accompanied by Mr Banks and the
other gentlemen, to examine a large river that empties itself into the
head of the bay. We rowed about four or five miles up, and could have
gone much farther if the weather had been favourable. It was here wider
than at the mouth, and divided into many streams by small flat islands,
which are covered with mangroves, and overflowed at high water. From
these trees exudes a viscous substance which very much resembles resin;
we found it first in small lumps upon the sea beach, and now saw it
sticking to the trees, by which we knew whence it came. We landed on the
east side of the river, where we saw a tree upon which several shags had
built their nests, and here therefore we determined to dine; twenty of
the shags were soon killed, and being broiled upon the spot, afforded us
an excellent meal. We then went upon the hills, from whence I thought I
saw the head of the river. The shore on each side, as well as the
islands in the middle, were covered with mangroves; and the sandbanks
abounded in cockles and clams: In many places there were rock oysters,
and everywhere plenty of wild fowl, principally shags, ducks, curlieus,
and the sea-pie, that, has been described before. We also saw fish in
the river, but of what kind we could not discover: The country on the
east side of this river is for the most part barren and destitute of
wood; but on the west it has a better aspect, and in some places is
adorned with trees, but has in no part the appearance of cultivation. In
the entrance of the river, and for two or three miles up, there is good
anchoring in four and five fathom water, and places very convenient for
laying a vessel on shore, where the tide rises and falls seven feet at
the full and change of the moon. We could not determine whether any
considerable stream of fresh water came into this river out of the
country; but we saw a number of small rivulets issue from the adjacent
hills. Near the mouth of this river, on the east side, we found a little
Indian village, consisting of small temporary sheds, where we landed,
and were received by the people with the utmost kindness and
hospitality: They treated us with a flat shell-fish of a most delicious
taste, somewhat like a cockle, which we eat hot from the coals. Near
this place is a high point or peninsula, projecting into the river, and
upon it are the remains of a fort, which they call _eppah_, or _heppah_.
The best engineer in Europe could not have chosen a situation better
adapted to enable a small number to defend themselves against a greater.
The steepness of the cliffs renders it wholly inaccessible from the
water which incloses it on three sides; and, to the land, it is
fortified by a ditch, and a bank raised on the inside: From the top of
the bank to the bottom of the ditch, is two-and-twenty feet; the ditch
on the outside is fourteen feet deep, and its breadth is in proportion.
The whole seemed to have been executed with great judgment; and there
had been a row of pickets or pallisadoes, both on the top of the bank
and along the brink of the ditch on the outside; those on the outside
had been driven very deep into the ground, and were inclined towards the
ditch, so as to project over it; but of these the thickest posts only
were left, and upon them there were evident marks of fire, so that the
place had probably been taken and destroyed by an enemy. If any occasion
should make it necessary for a ship to winter here, or stay any time,
tents might be built in this place, which is sufficiently spacious, with
great convenience, and might easily be made impregnable to the whole
country.

On the 11th, there was so much wind and rain that no canoe came off; but
the long-boat was sent to fetch oysters from one of the beds which had
been discovered the day before: The boat soon returned, deeply laden,
and the oysters, which were as good as ever came from Colchester, and
about the same size, were laid down under the booms, and the ship's
company did nothing but eat them from the time they came on board till
night, when, as may reasonably be supposed, great part of them were
expended; this, however, gave us no concern, as we knew that not the
boat only, but the ship, might have been loaded, almost in one tide, as
the beds are dry at half-ebb.

In the morning of Sunday the 12th, two canoes came off full of people
whom we had never seen before, but who appeared to have heard of us, by
the caution which they used in approaching us. As we invited them to
come alongside with all the tokens of friendship that we could shew,
they ventured up, and two of them came on board; the rest traded very
fairly for what they had: A small canoe also came from the other side of
the bay, and sold us some very large fish, which they gave us to
understand they would have brought yesterday, having caught them the day
before, but that the wind was so high they could not venture to sea.

After breakfast I went with the pinnace and yawl, accompanied by Mr
Banks and Dr Solander, over to the north side of the bay, to take a view
of the country, and two fortified villages which we had discovered at a
distance. We landed near the smallest of them, the situation of which
was the most beautifully romantic that can be imagined; it was built
upon a small rock, detached from the main, and surrounded at high
water. The whole body of this rock was perforated by an hollow or arch,
which possessed much the largest part of it; the top of the arch was
above sixty feet perpendicular above the sea, which at high water flowed
through the bottom of it: The whole summit of the rock above the arch
was fenced round after their manner; but the area was not large enough
to contain more than five or six houses: It was accessible only by one
very narrow and steep path, by which the inhabitants, at our approach,
came down, and invited us into the place; but we refused, intending to
visit a much more considerable fort of the same kind at about a mile's
distance. We made some presents, however, to the women, and in the mean
time we saw the inhabitants of the town which we were going to, coming
towards us in a body, men, women, and children, to the number of about
one hundred: When they came near enough to be heard, they waved their
hands and called out _Horomai_; after which they sat down among the
bushes near the beach; these ceremonies we were told were certain signs
of their friendly disposition. We advanced to the place where they were
sitting, and when we came up, made them a few presents, and asked leave
to visit their Heppah; they consented with joy in their countenances,
and immediately led the way. It is called Wharretouwa, and is situated
upon a high promontory or point, which projects into the sea, on the
north side, and near the head of the bay: Two sides of it are washed by
the sea, and these are altogether inaccessible; two other sides are to
the land: Up one of them, which is very steep, lies the avenue from the
beach; the other is flat and open to the country upon the hill, which is
a narrow ridge: The whole is enclosed by a pallisade about ten feet
high, consisting of strong pales bound together with withes. The weak
side next the land is also defended by a double ditch, the innermost of
which has a bank and an additional pallisade; the inner pallisades are
upon the bank next the town, but at such a distance from the top of the
bank as to leave room for men to walk and use their arms, between them
and the inner ditch: The outermost pallisades are between the two
ditches, and driven obliquely into the ground, so that their upper ends
incline over the inner ditch: The depth of this ditch, from the bottom
to the top or crown of the bank, is four-and-twenty feet. Close within
the innermost pallisade is a stage, twenty feet high, forty feet long,
and six broad; it is supported by strong posts, and is intended as a
station for those who defend the place, from which they may annoy the
assailants by darts and stones, heaps of which lay ready for use.
Another stage of the same kind commands the steep avenue from the beach,
and stands also within the pallisade; on this side of the hill there are
some little outworks and huts, not intended as advanced posts, but as
the habitations of people who for want of room could not be accommodated
within the works, but who were, notwithstanding, desirous of placing
themselves under their protection. The pallisades, as has been observed
already, ran round the whole brow of the hill, as well towards the sea
as towards the land; but the ground within having originally been a
mount, they have reduced it not to one level, but to several, rising in
stages one above the other, like an amphitheatre, each of which is
inclosed within its separate pallisade; they communicate with each other
by narrow lanes, which might easily be stopt up, so that if an enemy
should force the outward pallisade, he would have others to carry before
the place could be wholly reduced, supposing these places to be
obstinately defended one after the other. The only entrance is by a
narrow passage, about twelve feet long, communicating with the steep
ascent from the beach: It passes under one of the fighting stages, and
though we saw nothing like a door or gateway, it may be easily
barricaded in a manner that will make the forcing it a very dangerous
and difficult undertaking. Upon the whole, this must be considered as a
place of great strength, in which a small number of resolute men may
defend themselves against all the force which a people with no other
arms than those that are in use here could bring against it. It seemed
to be well furnished for a siege with every thing but water; we saw
great quantities of fern root, which they eat as bread, and dried fish
piled up in heaps; but we could not perceive that they had any fresh
water nearer than a brook, which runs close under the foot of the hill:
Whether they have any means of getting it from this place during a
siege, or whether they have any method of storing it within the works in
gourds or other vessels, we could not learn; some resource they
certainly have with respect to this article, an indispensable necessary
of life, for otherwise the laying up dry provisions could answer no
purpose. Upon our expressing a desire to see their method of attack and
defence, one of the young men mounted a fighting stage, which they call
_Porava_, and another went into the ditch: Both he that was to defend
the place, and he that was to assault it, sung the war-song, and danced
with the same frightful gesticulations that we had seen used in more
serious circumstances, to work themselves up into a degree of that
mechanical fury, which, among all uncivilized nations, is the necessary
prelude to a battle; for dispassionate courage, a strength of mind that
can surmount the sense of danger, without a flow of animal spirits by
which it is extinguished, seems to be the prerogative of those who have
projects of more lasting importance, and a keener sense of honour and
disgrace, than can be formed or felt by men who have few pains or
pleasures besides those of mere animal life, and scarcely any purpose
but to provide for the day that is passing over them, to obtain plunder,
or revenge an insult: They will march against each other indeed in cool
blood, though they find it necessary to work themselves into passion
before they engage; as among us there have been many instances of people
who have deliberately made themselves drunk, that they might execute a
project which they formed when they were sober, but which, while they
continued so, they did not dare to undertake.[63]

[Footnote 63: Dr Hawkesworth, we see, is anxious to array the character
of a mercenary soldier, in the best garment his reason and conscience
could allow him to fabricate--But the deformities are scarcely
concealed. It had been more candid, and on the whole too more judicious,
to say, that he fights without having interest in the nature of the
contest, and butchers without feeling passion against his opponent, for
he can scarcely be called enemy. It follows then, that the efforts of
courage he makes are the product of some superinduced principles, the
result of a certain discipline, suited to his desire for distinction,
and the love of what he holds to be glory. These principles are more
uniformly steady of operation than the rage, whether real or affected,
of savages, and are more conducive to the accomplishment of the objects
in view, than even the desperate intrepidity which they so often
exhibit, or that amazing fortitude in which they excel. Among these, the
enthusiasm of every individual is efficient indeed to the infliction of
vengeance and suffering, but it wants the energy of combination and the
sagacity of practised theory, for the accomplishment of great and
important designs. An army of soldiers, on the contrary, is a machine
organized and adjusted for a particular purpose, and formidable, not in
the proportion merely of the numbers of which it is composed, but in a
much higher degree; it operates, in short, by the accumulation of the
respective agencies of which it is made up, and the skill of the
engineer who conducts its operations. The whirlwind of the former is
dreadful indeed, but it is soon hushed on the ruins it has occasioned,
and it blusters no more; but the gale of the latter is interminable in
desolation, and seems to increase in strength as the bulwarks which
opposed it disappear. The repose of Europe has been assailed by both, at
different periods of her history. It is our mercy to have outlived the
mighty storm, and we are now in a condition to look with gratitude,
though mixed with pain, on the general wreck around us. It is not one of
the least singularities in the astonishing events we are still so busy
in contemplating, that the union of the two kinds of force now
specified, was essential to the liberation of the world from that odious
but scientific oppression, by which it had been so long held in misery,
and which was repeatedly found, by very direful experience, to be too
strong for either of them separately. It was not till the enthusiastic
indignation of vulgar minds, and the cordial ferocity of some of the
rudest of the allied tribes, had been amalgamated with the disciplined
valour and the love of most enviable honour, conspicuous in veteran
warriors, that the blasting demon of destruction knew his policy to be
unravelled, or felt his power to do mischief controuled to his
infamy.--E.]

On the side of the hill, near this inclosure, we saw about half an acre
planted with gourds and sweet potatoes, which was the only cultivation
in the bay: Under the foot of the point upon which this fortification
stands, are two rocks, one just broken off from the main, and the other
not perfectly detached from it: They are both small, and seem more
proper for the habitations of birds than men; yet there are houses and
places of defence upon each of them. And we saw many other works of the
same kind upon small islands, rocks, and ridges of hills, on different
parts of the coast, besides many fortified towns, which appeared to be
much superior to this.

The perpetual hostility in which these poor savages, who have made every
village a fort, must necessarily live, will account for there being so
little of their land in a state of cultivation; and, as mischiefs very
often reciprocally produce each other, it may perhaps appear, that there
being so little land in a state of cultivation, will account for their
living in perpetual hostility. But it is very strange, that the same
invention and diligence which have been used in the construction of
places so admirably adapted to defence, almost without tools, should
not, when urged by the same necessity, have furnished them with a single
missile weapon except the lance, which is thrown by hand: They have no
contrivance like a bow to discharge a dart, nor any thing like a sling
to assist them in throwing a stone; which is the more surprising, as the
invention of slings, and bows and arrows, is much more obvious than of
the works which these people construct, and both these weapons are found
among much ruder nations, and in almost every other part of the world.
Besides the long lance and Patoo-Patoo, which have been mentioned
already, they have a staff about five feet long, sometimes pointed, like
a serjeant's halberd, sometimes only tapering to a point at one end, and
having the other end broad, and shaped somewhat like the blade of an
oar. They have also another weapon, about a foot shorter than these,
pointed at one end, and at the other shaped like an axe. The points of
their long lances are barbed, and they handle them with such strength
and agility, that we can match them with no weapon but a loaded musquet.

After taking a slight view of the country, and loading both the boats
with celery, which we found in great plenty near the beach, we returned
from our excursion, and about five o'clock in the evening got on board
the ship.

On the 15th, I sailed out of the bay, and at the same time had several
canoes on board, in one of which was our friend Toiava, who said, that
as soon as we were gone he must repair to his Heppah or fort, because
the friends of the man who had been shot by Mr Gore on the 9th, had
threatened to revenge his death upon him, whom they had reproached as
being our friend. Off the north point of the bay I saw a great number of
islands, of various extent, which lay scattered to the north-west, in a
direction parallel with the main as far as I could see. I steered
northeast for the north eastermost of these islands; but the wind coming
to the north-west, I was obliged to stand out to sea.

To the bay which we now left I gave the name of _Mercury Bay_, on
account of the observation which we had made there of the transit of
that planet over the sun. It lies in latitude 30° 47 S.; and in the
longitude of 184° 4' W.: There are several islands lying both to the
southward and northward of it, and a small island or rock in the middle
of the entrance: Within this island the depth of water no where exceeds
nine fathom: The best anchoring is in a sandy bay, which lies just
within the south head, in five and four fathom, bringing a high tower or
rock, which lies without the head, in one with the head, or just shut in
behind it. This place is very convenient both for wooding and watering,
and in the river there is an immense quantity of oysters and other
shell-fish: I have for this reason given it the name of _Oyster River_.
But for a ship that wants to stay here any time, the best and safest
place is in the river at the head of the bay, which, from the number of
mangrove trees about it, I have called _Mangrove River_. To sail into
this river, the south shore must be kept all the way on board. The
country on the east side of the river and bay is very barren, its only
produce being fern, and a few other plants that will grow in a poor
soil. The land on the north-west side is covered with wood, and the soil
being much more fertile, would doubtless produce all the necessaries of
life with proper cultivation: It is not however so fertile as the lands
that we have seen to the southward, nor do the inhabitants, though
numerous, make so good an appearance: They have no plantations; their
canoes are mean, and without ornament; they sleep in the open air; and
say, that Teratu, whose sovereignty they do not acknowledge, if he was
to come among them, would kill them. This favoured our opinion of their
being outlaws; yet they told us, that they had Heppahs or strongholds,
to which they retired in time of imminent danger.

We found, thrown upon the shore, in several parts of this bay, great
quantities of iron-sand, which is brought down by every little rivulet
of fresh water that finds its way from the country; which is a
demonstration that there is ore of that metal not far inland: Yet
neither the inhabitants of this place, or any other part of the coast
that we have seen, know the use of iron, or set the least value upon it;
all of them preferring the most worthless and useless trifle, not only
to a nail, but to any tool of that metal.

Before we left the bay, we cut upon one of the trees near the
watering-place the ship's name, and that of the commander, with the date
of the year and month when we were there; and after displaying the
English colours, I took a formal possession of it in the name of his
Britannic majesty King George the Third.


SECTION XXIV.

_The Range from Mercury Bay to the Bay of Islands: An Expedition up the
River Thames: Some Account of the Indians who inhabit its Banks, and
the fine Timber that grows there: Several Interviews with the Natives on
different Parts of the Coast, and a Skirmish with them upon an Island_.


I continued plying to windward two days to get under the land, and on
the 18th, about seven in the morning, we were abreast of a very
conspicuous promontory, being then in latitude 36°26', and in the
direction of N. 48 W. from the north head of Mercury Bay, or Point
Mercury, which was distant nine leagues: Upon this point stood many
people, who seemed to take little notice of us, but talked together with
great earnestness. In about half an hour, several canoes put off from
different places, and came towards the ship; upon which the people on
the point also launched a canoe, and about twenty of them came in her up
with the others. When two of these canoes, in which there might be about
sixty men, came near enough to make themselves heard, they sung their
war-song; but seeing that we took little notice of it, they threw a few
stones at us, and then rowed off towards the shore. We hoped that we had
now done with them, but in a short time they returned, as if with a
fixed resolution to provoke us into a battle, animating themselves by
their song as they had done before. Tupia, without any directions from
us, went to the poop, and began to expostulate: He told them, that we
had weapons which would destroy them in a moment; and that, if they
ventured to attack us, we should be obliged, to use them. Upon this,
they flourished their weapons, and cried out, in their language, "Come
on shore, and we will kill you all:" Well, said Tupia, but why should
you molest us while we are at sea? As we do not wish to fight, we shall
not accept your challenge to come on shore; and here there is no
pretence for quarrel, the sea being no more your property than the ship.
This eloquence of Tupia, though it greatly surprised us, having given
him no hints for the arguments he used, had no effect upon our enemies,
who very soon renewed their battery: A musquet was then fired through
one of their boats and this was an argument of sufficient weight, for
they immediately fell astern and left us.

From the point, of which we were now abreast, the land trends W. 1/2 S.
near a league, and then S.S.E. as far as we could see; and, besides the
islands that lay without us, we could see land round by the S.W. as far
as the N.W.; but whether this was the main or islands, we could not then
determine: The fear of losing the main, however, made me resolve to
follow its direction. With this view, I hauled round the point and
steered to the southward, but there being light airs all round the
compass, we made but little progress.

About one o'clock, a breeze sprung up at east, which afterwards came to
N.E. and we steered along the shore S. by E. and S.S.E. having from
twenty-five to eighteen fathom.

At about half an hour after seven in the evening, having run seven or
eight leagues since noon, I anchored in twenty-three fathom, not causing
to run any farther in the dark, as I had now land on both sides, forming
the entrance of a strait, bay, or river, lying S. by E. for on that
point we could see no land.

At day-break, on the 19th, the wind being still favourable, we weighed
and stood with an easy sail up the inlet, keeping nearest to the east
side. In a short time, two large canoes came off to us from the shore;
the people on board said, that they knew Toiava very well, and called
Tupia by his name. I invited some of them on board; and as they knew
they had nothing to fear from us, while they behaved honestly and
peaceably, they immediately complied: I made each of them some presents,
and dismissed them much gratified. Other canoes afterwards came up to us
from a different side of the bay; and the people on board of these also
mentioned the name of Toiava, and sent a young man into the ship, who
told us he was his grandson, and he also was dismissed with a present.

After having run about five leagues from the place where we had anchored
the night before, our depth of water gradually decreased to six fathom;
and not chusing to go into less, as it was tide of flood, and the wind
blew right up the inlet, I came to an anchor about the middle of the
channel, which is near eleven miles over; after which I sent two boats
out to sound, one on one side, and the other on the other.

The boats not having found above three feet more water than we were now
in, I determined to go no farther with the ship, but to examine the
head of the bay in the boats; for, as it appeared to run a good way
inland, I thought this a favourable opportunity to examine the interior
part of the country, and its produce.

At day-break, therefore, I set out in the pinnace and long-boat,
accompanied by Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and Tupia; and we found the inlet
end in a river, about nine miles above the ship: Into this river we
entered with the first of the flood, and within three miles found the
water perfectly fresh. Before we had proceeded more than one third of
that distance, we found an Indian town, which was built upon a small
bank of dry sand, but entirely surrounded by a deep mud, which possibly
the inhabitants might consider as a defence. These people, as soon as
they saw us, thronged to the banks, and invited us on shore. We accepted
the invitation; and made them a visit notwithstanding the mud. They
received us with open arms, having heard of us from our good old friend
Toiava; but our stay could not be long, as we had other objects of
curiosity in view. We proceeded up the river till near noon, when we
were fourteen miles within its entrance; and then, finding the face of
the country to continue nearly the same, without any alteration in the
course of the stream, which we had no hope of tracing to its source, we
landed on the west side, to take a view of the lofty trees which every
where adorned its banks. They were of a kind that we had seen before,
though only at a distance, both in Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay. Before
we had walked an hundred yards into the wood, we met with one of them
which was nineteen feet eight inches in the girt, at the height of six
feet above the ground: Having a quadrant with me, I measured its height
from the root to the first branch, and found it to be eighty-nine feet:
It was as straight as an arrow, and tapered but very little in
proportion to its height; so that I judged there were three hundred and
fifty-six feet of solid timber in it, exclusive of the branches. As we
advanced, we saw many others that were still larger; we cut down a young
one, and the wood proved heavy and solid, not fit for masts, but such as
would make the finest plank in the world. Our carpenter, who was with
us, said that the timber resembled that of the pitch-pine, which is
lightened by tapping; and possibly some such method might be found to
lighten these, and they would then be such masts as no country in Europe
can produce. As the wood was swampy, we could not range far; but we
found many stout trees of other kinds, all of them utterly unknown to
us, specimens of which we brought away.

The river at this height is as broad as the Thames at Greenwich, and
the tide of flood as strong; it is not indeed quite so deep, but has
water enough for vessels of more than a middle size, and a bottom of
mud, so soft that nothing could take damage by running ashore.

About three o'clock, we reimbarked, in order to return with the first of
the ebb, and named the river the _Thames_, it having some resemblance to
our own river of that name. In our return, the inhabitants of the
village where we had been ashore, seeing us take another channel, came
off to us in their canoes, and trafficked with us in the most friendly
manner, till they had disposed of the few trifles they had. The tide of
ebb just carried us out of the narrow part of the river, into the
channel that run up from the sea, before it was dark; and we pulled hard
to reach the ship, but meeting the flood, and a strong breeze at N.N.W.
with showers of rain, we were obliged to desist; and about midnight, we
run under the land, and came to a grappling, where we took such rest as
our situation would admit. At break of day, we set forward again, and it
was past seven o'clock before we reached the ship. We were all extremely
tired, but thought ourselves happy to be on board; for before nine it
blew so hard that the boat could not have rowed ahead, and must
therefore either have gone ashore, or taken shelter under it.

About three o'clock, having the tide of ebb, we took up our anchor, made
sail, and plied down the river till eight in the evening, when we came
to an anchor again: Early in the morning we made sail with the first
ebb, and kept plying till the flood of tide obliged us once more to come
to an anchor. As we had now only a light breeze, I went in the pinnace,
accompanied by Dr Solander, to the western shore, but I saw nothing
worthy of notice.

When I left the ship, many canoes were about it; Mr Banks therefore
chose to stay on board, and traffic with the natives: They bartered
their clothes and arms, chiefly for paper, and behaved with great
friendship and honesty. But while some of them were below with Mr Banks,
a young man who was upon the deck stole a half minute glass which was in
the binnacle, and was detected just as he was carrying it off. Mr Hicks,
who was commanding officer on board, took it into his head to punish
him, by giving him twelve lashes with a cat-o'-nine-tails; and
accordingly ordered him to be taken to the gang-way, and tied up to the
shrouds. When the other Indians who were on board saw him seized, they
attempted to rescue him; and being resisted, called for their arms,
which were handed up from the canoes, and the people of one of them
attempted to come up the ship's side. The tumult was heard by Mr Banks,
who, with Tupia, came hastily upon the deck to see what had happened.
The Indians immediately ran to Tupia, who, finding Mr Hicks inexorable,
could only assure them, that nothing was intended against the life of
their companion; but that it was necessary he should suffer some
punishment for his offence, which being explained to them, they seemed
to be satisfied. The punishment was then inflicted, and as soon as the
criminal was unbound, an old man among the spectators, who was supposed
to be his father, gave him a hearty beating, and sent him down into his
canoe. All the canoes then dropped astern, and the people said that they
were afraid to come any more near the ship: After much persuasion,
however, they ventured back again, but their cheerful confidence was at
an end, and their stay was short; they promised indeed, at their
departure, to return with some fish, but we saw no more of them.

On the 23d, the wind being contrary, we kept plying down the river, and
at seven in the evening, got without the N.W. point of the islands lying
on the west side of it. The weather being bad, night coming on, and
having land on every side of us, I thought it most advisable to tack,
and stretch in under the point, where we anchored in nineteen fathom. At
five in the morning of the 24th, we weighed, and made sail to the N.W.
under our courses and double-reefed top-sails, the wind being at S.W. by
W. and W.S.W. a strong gale and squally. As the gale would not permit us
to come near the land, we had but a slight and distant view of it from
the time when we got under sail till noon, daring a run of twelve
leagues, but we never once lost sight of it. At this time, our latitude,
by observation, was 36° 15' 20", we were not above two miles from a
point of land on the main, and three leagues and a half from a very high
island, which bore N.E. by E.: In this situation we had twenty-six
fathom water: The farthest point on the main that we could see bore N.W.
but we could perceive several small islands lying to the north of that
direction. The point of land of which we were now a-breast, and which I
called _Point Rodney_, is the N.W. extremity of the river Thames; for
under that name I comprehend the deep bay, which terminates in the fresh
water stream, and the N E. extremity is the promontory which we passed
when we entered it, and which I called _Cape Colville_, in honour of the
Right Honourable Lord Colville.

Cape Colville lies in latitude 36° 26', longitude 184° 27'; it rises
directly from the sea, to a considerable height, and is remarkable for a
lofty rock, which stands to the pitch of the point, and may be
distinguished at a very great distance. From the south point of this
Cape the river runs in a direct line S. by E., and is no where less than
three leagues broad for the distance of fourteen leagues above the Cape,
and there it is contracted to a narrow stream, but continues the same
course through a low flat country, or broad valley, which lies parallel
with the sea coast, and the end of which we could not see. On the east
side of the broad part of this river the land is tolerably high and
hilly; on the west side it is rather low, but the whole is covered with
verdure and wood, and has the appearance of great fertility, though
there were but a few small spots which had been cultivated. At the
entrance of the narrow part of the river the land is covered with
mangroves and other shrubs; but farther, there are immense woods of
perhaps the finest timber in the world, of which some account has
already been given: In several places the wood extends to the very edge
of the water, and where it is at a little distance, the intermediate
space is marshy, like some parts of the banks of the Thames in England:
It is probable that the river contains plenty of fish, for we saw poles
stuck up in many places to set nets for catching them, but of what kinds
I do not know. The greatest depth of water that we found in this river
was six-and-twenty fathom, which gradually decreased to one fathom and a
half: In the mouth of the fresh-water stream it is from four to three
fathom, but there are large flats and sand-banks lying before it. A ship
of moderate draught may, notwithstanding, go a long way up this river
with a flowing tide, for it rises perpendicularly, near ten feet, and at
the full and change of the moon, it is high water about nine o'clock.

Six leagues within Cape Colville, under the eastern shore, are several
small islands, which, together with the main, seem to form good
harbours; and opposite to these islands, under the western shore, lie
other islands, by which it is also probable that good harbours may be
formed: But if there are no harbours about this river, there is good
anchoring in every part of it where the depth of water is sufficient,
for it is defended from the sea by a chain of islands of different
extent, which lie cross the mouth of it, and which I have, for that
reason, called _Barrier Islands_: They stretch N.W. and S.E. ten
leagues. The south end of the chain lies N.E. between two and three
leagues from Cape Colville; and the north end lies N.E. four leagues and
a half from Point Rodney. Point Rodney lies W.N.W. nine leagues from
Cape Colville, in latitude 36°15' S. longitude 184° 53' W.

The natives residing about this river do not appear to be numerous,
considering the great extent of the country. But they are a strong,
well-made, and active people, and all of them paint their bodies with
red ochre and oil from head to foot, which we had not seen before. Their
canoes were large and well-built, and adorned with carving, in as good a
taste as any we had seen upon the coast.

We continued to stand along the shore till night, with the main land on
one side, and islands on the other, and then anchored in a bay, with
fourteen fathom, and a sandy bottom. We had no sooner come to an anchor,
than we tried our lines, and in a short time caught near one hundred
fish, which the people called sea-bream; they weighed from six to eight
pounds a piece, and consequently would supply the whole ship's company
with food for two days. From the success of our lines here, we called
the place _Bream Bay_: The two points that form it lie north and south,
five leagues from each other; it is every where of a good breadth, and
between three and four leagues deep: At the bottom of it there appears
to be a river of fresh water. The north head of the bay, called _Bream
Head_, is high land, and remarkable for several pointed rocks, which
stand in a range upon the top of it: It may also be known by some small
islands which lie before it, called the _Hen and Chickens_, one of which
is high, and terminates in two peaks. It lies in latitude 35°46' S., and
at the distance of seventeen leagues and a half from Cape Colville, in
the direction of N. 41 W.

The land between Point Rodney and Bream Head, an extent of ten leagues,
is low, and wooded in tufts, with white sand-banks between the sea and
the firm lands. We saw no inhabitants, but many fires in the night; and
where there are fires there are always people.

At day break, on the 25th, we left the bay, and steered along the shore
to the northward: We found the variation of the compass to be 12° 49' E.
At noon, our latitude was 35° 36' S., Bream Head bore south, distant ten
miles; and we saw some small islands, to which I gave the name of the
_Poor Knights_, at N.E. by N. distant three leagues; the northernmost
land in sight bore N.N.W.: We were in this place at the distance of two
miles from the shore, and had twenty-six fathom water.

The country appeared low; but well covered with wood: We saw some
straggling houses, three or four fortified towns, and near them a large
quantity of cultivated land.

In the evening, seven large canoes came off to us, with about two
hundred men: Some of them came on board, and said that they had heard of
us. To two of them, who appeared to be chiefs, I gave presents; but when
these were gone out of the ship, the others became exceedingly
troublesome. Some of those in the canoes began to trade, and, according
to their custom, to cheat, by refusing to deliver what had been bought,
after they had received the price: Among these was one who had received
an old pair of black breeches, which, upon a few small shot being fired
at him, he threw into the sea. All the boats soon after paddled off to
some distance, and when they thought they were out of reach, they began
to defy us, by singing their song and brandishing their weapons. We
thought it advisable to intimidate them, as well for their sakes as our
own, and therefore fired first some small arms, and then round shot over
their heads; the last put them in a terrible fright, though they
received no damage, except by overheating themselves in paddling away,
which they did with astonishing expedition.

In the night we had variable light airs; but towards the morning a
breeze sprung up at S. and afterwards at S.E. with which we proceeded
slowly to the northward, along the shore.

Between six and seven o'clock two canoes came off, and told us that they
had heard of yesterday's adventure, notwithstanding which the people
came on board, and traded very quietly and honestly for whatever they
had: Soon after two canoes came off from a more distant part of the
shore; these were of a much larger size, and full of people: When they
came near, they called off the other canoes which were along side of the
ship, and after a short conference they all came up together. The
strangers appeared to be persons of a superior rank; their canoes were
well carved with many ornaments, and they had with them a great variety
of weapons: They had patoo-patoos both of stone and whalebone, upon
which they appeared to set a great value; they had also ribs of whale,
of which we had before seen imitations in wood, carved and adorned with
tufts of dog's hair. Their complexions were browner than those of the
people we had seen to the southward, and their bodies and faces were
more marked with the black stains which they call amoco: They had a
broad spiral on each buttock; and the thighs of many of them were almost
entirely black, some narrow lines only being left untouched, so that at
first sight they appeared to wear striped breeches. With respect to the
amoco, every different tribe seemed to have a different custom, for all
the men in some canoes seemed to be almost covered with it, and those in
others had scarcely a stain, except on the lips, which were black in all
of them without a single exception. These gentlemen, for a long time,
refused to part with any of their weapons, whatever was offered for
them; at last, however, one of them produced a piece of talc, wrought
into the shape of an axe, and agreed to sell it for a piece of cloth:
The cloth was handed over the ship's side, but his honour immediately
put off his canoe with the axe. We had recourse to our usual expedient,
and fired a musket-ball over the canoe, upon which it put back to the
ship, and the piece of cloth was returned; all the boats then went
ashore, without offering any further intercourse.

At noon, the main land extended from S. by E. to N.W. by W. a remarkable
point of land bearing W. distant four or five miles; at three we passed
it, and I gave it the name of Cape Bret, in honour of Sir Piercy. The
land of this Cape is considerably higher than any part of the adjacent
coast: At the point of it is a high round hillock, and N.E. by N. at the
distance of about a mile, is a small high island or rock, which, like
several that have already been described, was perforated quite through,
so as to appear like the arch of a bridge. This Cape, or at least some
part of it, is by the natives called Motugogogo, and it lies in
latitude 35° 10' 30" S. longitude 185° 25' W. On the west side of it is
a large and pretty deep bay, lying in S.W. by W. in which there appeared
to be several small islands: The point that forms the N.W. entrance lies
W. 1/4 N. at the distance of three or four leagues from Cape Bret, and I
distinguished it by the name of Point Pococke. On the west side of the
bay we saw several villages, both upon islands and the main, and several
very large canoes came off to us, full of people, who made a better
appearance than any we had seen yet: They were all stout and well-made;
their hair, which was black, was tied up in a bunch on the crown of
their heads, and stuck with white feathers. In each of the canoes were
two or three chiefs, whose habits were of the best sort of cloth, and
covered with dog's skin, so as to make an agreeable appearance: Most of
these people were marked with the amoco, like those who had been
alongside of us before: Their manner of trading was also equally
fraudulent; and the officers neglecting either to punish or fright them,
one of the midshipmen, who had been defrauded in his bargain, had
recourse for revenge to an expedient which was equally ludicrous and
severe: He got a fishing line, and when the man who had cheated him was
close under the ship's side in his canoe, he heaved the lead with so
good an aim that the hook caught him by the backside; he then pulled the
line, and the man holding back, the hook broke in the shank, and the
beard was left sticking in the flesh.

During the course of this day, though we did not range more than six or
eight leagues of the coast, we had alongside and on board the ship
between four and five hundred of the natives, which is a proof that this
part of the country is well inhabited.

At eight o'clock the next morning we were within a mile of a group of
islands which lie close under the main, at the distance of
two-and-twenty miles from Cape Bret, in the direction of N.W. by W. 1/2
W. At this place, having but little wind, we lay about two hours, during
which time several canoes came off, and sold us some fish, which we
called cavalles, and for that reason I gave the same name to the
islands. These people were very insolent, frequently threatening us,
even while they were selling their fish; and when some more canoes came
up, they began to pelt us with stones. Some small shot were then fired,
and hit one of them while he had a stone in his hand, in the very
action of throwing it into the ship: They did not, however, desist, till
some others had been wounded, and then they went away, and we stood off
to sea.

The wind being directly against us, we kept plying to windward till the
29th, when we had rather lost than gained ground; I therefore bore up
for a bay which lies to the westward of Cape Bret; at this time it was
about two leagues to leeward of us; and at about eleven o'clock we
anchored under the south-west side of one of the many islands which line
it on the south-east, in four fathom and a half water; we shoaled our
water to this depth all at once, and if this had not happened I should
not have come to an anchor so soon. The master was immediately sent out
with two boats to sound, and he soon discovered that we had got upon a
bank, which runs out from the northwest end of the island, and that on
the outside of it there was from eight to ten fathom.

In the mean time the natives, to the number of near four hundred,
crowded upon us in their canoes, and some of them were admitted on
board: To one, who seemed to be a chief, I gave a piece of broad cloth,
and distributed some trifling presents among the rest. I perceived that
some of these people had been about the ship when she was off at sea,
and that they knew the power of our fire-arms, for the very sight of a
gun threw them into manifest confusion: Under this impression they
traded very fairly; but the people in one of the canoes took the
opportunity of our being at dinner to tow away our buoy: A musket was
fired over them, but without effect, we then endeavoured to reach them
with small shot; but they were too far off: By this time they had got
the buoy into their canoe, and we were obliged to fire a musket at them
with ball: This hit one of them, and they immediately threw the buoy
overboard: A round shot was then fired over them, which struck the water
and went ashore. Two or three of the canoes immediately landed their
people, who ran about the beach, as we imagined, in search of the ball.
Tupia called to them, and assured them that while they were honest they
should be safe, and with a little persuasion many of them returned to
the ship, and their behaviour was such as left us no reason to suspect
that they intended to give us any farther trouble.

After the ship was removed into deeper water, and properly secured, I
went with the pinnace and yawl, manned and armed, accompanied by Mr
Banks and Dr Solander, and landed upon the island, which was about three
quarters of a mile distant: We observed that the canoes which were about
the ship, did not follow us upon our leaving her, which we thought a
good sign; but we had no sooner landed than they crowded to different
parts of the island and came on shore. We were in a little cove, and in
a few minutes were surrounded by two or three hundred people, some
rushing from behind the heads of the cove, and others appearing on the
tops of the hills: They were all armed, but they came on in so confused
and straggling a manner that we scarcely suspected they meant us any
harm, and we were determined that hostilities should not begin on our
part. We marched towards them, and then drew a line upon the sand
between them and us, which we gave them to understand they were not to
pass: At first they continued quiet, but their weapons were held ready
to strike, and they seemed to be rather irresolute than peaceable. While
we remained in this state of suspence, another party of Indians came up,
and now growing more bold as their number increased, they began the
dance and song which are their preludes to a battle: Still, however,
they delayed the attack, but a party ran to each of our boats, and
attempted to draw them on shore; this seemed to be the signal, for the
people about us at the same time began to press in upon our line: Our
situation was now become too critical for us to remain longer inactive,
I therefore discharged my musket, which was loaded with small shot, at
one of the forwardest, and Mr Banks and two of the men fired immediately
afterwards: This made them fall back in some confusion, but one of the
chiefs, who was at the distance of about twenty yards, rallied them, and
running forward waving his patoo-patoo, and calling loudly to his
companions, led them to the charge. Dr Solander, whose piece was not yet
discharged, fired at this champion, who stopped short upon feeling the
shot, and then ran away with the rest: They did not, however, disperse,
but got together upon a rising ground, and seemed only to want some
leader of resolution to renew their attack. As they were now beyond the
reach of small shot, we fired with ball, but as none of them took place
they still continued in a body, and in this situation we remained about
a quarter of an hour: In the mean time the ship, from whence a much
greater number of Indians were seen than could be discovered in our
situation, brought her broad-side to bear, and entirely dispersed them,
by firing a few shot over their heads. In this skirmish only two of the
Indians were hurt with the small-shot, and not a single life was lost,
which would not have been the case if I had not restrained the men, who,
either from fear or the love of mischief, shewed as much impatience to
destroy them as a sportsman to kill his game.[64] When we were in quiet
possession of our cove, we laid down our arms and began to gather
celery, which grew here in great plenty: After a little time we
recollected to have seen some of the people hide themselves in a cave of
one of the rocks, we therefore went towards the place, when an old
Indian, who proved to be the chief that I had presented with a piece of
broad-cloth in the morning, came out with his wife and his brother, and
in a supplicating posture, put themselves under our protection. We spoke
kindly to them, and the old man then told us that he had another
brother, who was one of those that had been wounded by the small shot,
and enquired with much solicitude and concern if he would die. We
assured him that he would not, and at the same time put into his hand
both a musket-ball and some small shot, telling him, that those only who
were wounded with the ball would die, and that the others would recover;
at the same time assuring him, that if we were attacked again, we should
certainly defend ourselves with the ball, which would wound them
mortally. Having now taken courage, they came and sat down by us, and,
as tokens of our perfect amity, we made them presents of such trifles as
we happened to have about us.

[Footnote 64: This is a very candid admission, and quite characteristic
of the ordinary race of sailors. They who freely expose their own lives,
as a principle of professional expediency, are not by any means
solicitously sparing of the lives of others, who may happen to disagree
with them on questions of interest and advantage. Even the inferior
officers, and especially those who wish to attract notice in whatever is
reputable, as the means of obtaining promotion, do not in general differ
essentially from the common men. The ingenious midshipman who contrived
so very dexterously to hook the poor savage's backside, would have had
very little difficulty in bringing himself to act the sportsman as a
hunter or shooter as well as a fisher. Indeed there seems much stronger
evidence than mere imagination can supply, for the opinion of Hobbes,
that war is the state of nature to mankind. It is certain at least, that
the love of mischief is very congenial to that part of it, which, on the
whole, receives the least modification of what is natural, from the
restraints of education. The darling dreams of Rousseau, alas! have no
prototype in the history of our species.--E.]

Soon after we re-embarked in our boats, and having rowed to another cove
in the same island, climbed a neighbouring hill, which commanded the
country to a considerable distance. The prospect was very uncommon and
romantic, consisting of innumerable islands, which formed as many
harbours, where the water was as smooth as a mill-pool: We saw also many
towns, scattered houses, and plantations, the country being much more
populous than any we had seen. One of the towns was very near us, from
which many of the Indians advanced, taking great pains to shew us that
they were unarmed, and in their gestures and countenances, expressing
great meekness and humility. In the mean time, some of our people, who,
when the Indians were to be punished for a fraud, assumed the inexorable
justice of a Lycurgus, thought fit to break into one of their
plantations, and dig up some potatoes: For this offence I ordered each
of them to be punished with twelve lashes, after which two of them were
discharged; but the third, insisting that it was no crime in an
Englishman to plunder an Indian plantation, though it was a crime in an
Indian to defraud an Englishman of a nail, I ordered him back into his
confinement, from which I would not release him till he had received six
lashes more.

On the 30th, there being a dead calm, and no probability of our getting
to sea, I sent the master, with two boats; to sound the harbour; and all
the forenoon had several canoes about the ship, who traded in a very
fair and friendly manner. In the evening we went ashore upon the main,
where the people received us very cordially; but we found nothing worthy
of notice.

In this bay we were detained by contrary winds and calms several days,
during which time our intercourse with the natives was continued in the
most peaceable and friendly manner, they being frequently about the
ship; and we ashore, both upon the islands and the main. In one of our
visits to the continent, an old man shewed us the instrument they use in
staining their bodies, which exactly resembled those that were employed
for the same purpose at Otaheite. We saw also the man who was wounded in
attempting to steal our buoy: The ball had passed through the fleshy
part of his arm, and grazed his breast; but the wound, under the care of
nature, the best surgeon, and a simple diet, the best nurse, was in a
good state, and seemed to give the patient neither pain nor
apprehension.[65] We saw also the brother of our old chief, who had been
wounded with small shot in our skirmish: They had struck his thigh
obliquely, and though several of them were still in the flesh, the wound
seemed to be attended with neither danger nor pain. We found among their
plantations the _morus papyrifera_, of which these people, as well as
those of Otaheite, make cloth; but here the plant seems to be rare, and
we saw no pieces of the cloth large enough for any use but to wear by
way of ornament in their ears.

[Footnote 65: Dr Hawkesworth is much given to this silly sort of cant,
more gratifying to vulgar prejudice, than becoming a scholar, or a man
of science. One knows not how to show its absurdity better than, by
merely directing the reader to consider for a moment, the things that
are put in contrast or compared together. If he cannot be at the trouble
of this, or, if attempting it, he finds his optics will not penetrate
the mist, let him ask himself whether dame Nature is a good setter of
bones, or is very expert in stopping dangerous bleedings from wounded
arteries;--or if a simple diet, say for example hasty-pudding and
water-gruel, personified by any fertility of poetic fancy, can smooth
one's pillow when his head aches, or bathe one's body when burning with
fever? No good surgeon _pretends_ to heal wounded parts, but he _is_
positively useful nevertheless, by placing them so as to render the
efforts of nature efficient towards healing: And no nurse, however
conceited, ever had the least inclination to be stewed down into jelly,
or made a fricasee of, for the nourishment of her patient, though she
can _help_ him to his candle and wine very delectably! But, to be sure,
where a wound gave neither pain nor apprehension, as is mentioned in the
text, it is very likely, that both nature and diet are quite different
beings from what are so called in our corner of the world. If so, Dr H.
ought to have given their history, as a _genus incognitum_. But this is
idle.--E.]

Having one day landed in a very distant part of the bay, the people
immediately fled, except one old man, who accompanied us wherever we
went, and seemed much pleased with the little presents we made him. We
came at last to a little fort, built upon a small rock, which at high
water was surrounded by the sea, and accessible only by a ladder: We
perceived that he eyed us with a kind of restless solicitude as we
approached it, and upon our expressing a desire to enter it, he told us
that his wife was there: He saw that our curiosity was not diminished by
this intelligence, and after some hesitation, he said, if we would
promise to offer no indecency he would accompany us: Our promise was
readily given, and he immediately led the way. The ladder consisted of
steps fastened to a pole, but we found the ascent both difficult and
dangerous. When we entered we found three women, who, the moment they
saw us, burst into tears of terror and surprise: Some kind words, and a
few presents, soon removed their apprehensions, and put them into good
humour. We examined the house of our old friend, and by his interest two
others, which were all that the fortification contained, and having
distributed a few more presents, we parted with mutual satisfaction.

At four o'clock in the morning of the 5th of December, we weighed, with
a light breeze, but it being variable, with frequent calms, we made
little way. We kept turning out of the bay till the afternoon, and about
ten o'clock we were suddenly becalmed, so that the ship would neither
wear nor stay, and the tide or current setting strong, she drove towards
land so fast, that before any measures could be taken for her security
she was within a cable's length of the breakers: We had thirteen fathom
water, but the ground was so foul that we did not dare to drop our
anchor; the pinnace therefore was immediately hoisted out to take the
ship in tow, and the men, sensible of their danger, exerting themselves
to the utmost, and a faint breeze springing up off the land, we
perceived with unspeakable joy that she made head-way, after having been
so near the shore that Tupia, who was not sensible of our hair's breadth
escape, was at this very time conversing with the people upon the beach,
whose voices were distinctly heard, notwithstanding the roar of the
breakers. We now thought all danger was over, but about an hour
afterwards, just as the man in the chains had cried "Seventeen fathom,"
the ship struck. The shock threw us all into the utmost consternation;
Mr Banks, who had undressed himself, and was stepping into bed, ran
hastily up to the deck, and the man in the chains called out "Five
fathom;" by this time, the rock on which we had struck being to
windward, the ship went off without having received the least damage,
and the water very soon deepened to twenty fathom.

This rock lies half a mile W.N.W. of the northermost or outermost island
on the south-east side of the bay. We had light airs from the land,
with calms, till nine o'clock the next morning, when we got out of the
bay, and a breeze springing up at N.N.W. we stood out to sea.

This bay, as I have before observed, lies on the west side of Cape Bret,
and I named it the _Bay of Islands_, from the great number of islands
which line its shores, and from several harbours equally safe and
commodious, where there is room and depth for any number of shipping.
That in which we lay is on the south-west side of the south-westermost
island, called _Maturaro_, on the south-east side of the bay. I have
made no accurate survey of this bay, being discouraged by the time it
would cost me; I thought also that it was sufficient to be able to
affirm that it afforded us good anchorage, and refreshment of every
kind. It was not the season for roots, but we had plenty of fish, most
of which, however, we purchased of the natives, for we could catch very
little ourselves either with net or line. When we shewed the natives our
seine, which is such as the king's ships are generally furnished with,
they laughed at it, and in triumph produced their own, which was indeed
of an enormous size, and made of a kind of grass, which is very strong:
It was five fathom deep, and by the room it took up, it could not be
less than three or four hundred fathom long. Fishing seems indeed to be
the chief business of life in this part of the country; we saw about all
their towns a great number of nets, laid in heaps like hay-cocks, and
covered with a thatch to keep them from the weather, and we scarcely
entered a house where some of the people were not employed in making
them. The fish we procured here were sharks, stingrays, sea-bream,
mullet, mackrel, and some others.

The inhabitants in this bay are far more numerous than in any other part
of the country that we had before visited; it did not appear to us that
they were united under one head, and though their towns were fortified,
they seemed to live together in perfect amity.

It is high water in this bay at the full and change of the moon, about
eight o'clock, and the tide then rises from six to eight feet
perpendicularly. It appears from such observations as I was able to make
of the tides upon the sea-coast, that the flood comes from the
southward; and I have reason to think that there is a current which
comes from the westward, and sets along the shore to the S.E. or S.S.E.
as the land happens to lie. [66]

[Footnote 66: Some sketches of the Bay of Islands, and a good deal of
valuable information about it, are given by Mr Savage in his Account of
New Zealand, to which we shall be indebted hereafter.--E.]


SECTION XXV.

_Range from the Bay of Islands round North Cape to Queen Charlotte's
Sound; and a Description of that Part of the Coast_.


On Thursday the 7th of December, at noon, Cape Bret bore S.S.E. 1/2 E.
distant ten miles, and our latitude, by observation, was 34° 59' S.;
soon after we made several observations of the sun and moon, the result
of which made our longitude 185° 36' W. The wind being against us, we
had made but little way. In the afternoon, we stood in shore, and
fetched close under the Cavalles, from which islands the main trends W.
by N.: Several canoes put off and followed us, but a light breeze
springing up, I did not chuse to wait for them. I kept standing to the
W.N.W. and N.W. till the next morning at ten o'clock, when I tacked and
stood in for the shore, from which we were about five leagues distant.
At noon, the westernmost land in sight bore W. by S. and was about four
leagues distant. In the afternoon, we had a gentle breeze to the west,
which in the evening came to the south, and continuing so all night, by
day-light brought us pretty well in with the land, seven leagues to the
westward of the Cavalles, where we found a deep bay running in S.W. by
W. and W.S.W. the bottom of which we could but just see, and there the
land appeared to be low and level. To this bay, which I called
_Doubtless Bay_, the entrance is formed by two points, which lie W.N.W.
and E.S.E. and are five miles distant from each other. The wind not
permitting us to look in here, we steered for the westermost land in
sight, which bore from us W.N.W. about three leagues, but before we got
the length of it it fell calm.

While we lay becalmed, several canoes came off to us, but the people
having heard of our guns, it was not without great difficulty that they
were persuaded to come under our stern: After having bought some of
their clothes, as well as their fish, we began to make enquiries
concerning their county, and learnt, by the help of Tupia, that, at the
distance of three days rowing in their canoes, at a place called
_Moore-wennua_, the land would take a short turn to the southward, and
from thence extend no more to the west. This place we concluded to be
the land discovered by Tasman, which he called _Cape Maria van Diemen_,
and finding these people so intelligent, we enquired farther, if they
knew of any country besides their own: They answered, that they never
had visited any other, but that their ancestors had told them, that to
the N.W. by N. or N.N.W. there was a country of great extent, called
_Ulimaroa_, to which some people had sailed in a very large canoe; that
only part of them returned, and reported, that after a passage of a
month they had seen a country where the people eat hogs. Tupia then
enquired whether these adventurers brought any hogs with them when they
returned? They said No: Then, replied Tupia, your story is certainly
false, for it cannot be believed that men who came back from an
expedition without hogs, had ever visited a country where hogs were to
be procured. It is however remarkable, notwithstanding the shrewdness of
Tupia's objection, that when they mentioned hogs it was not by
description but by name, calling them _Booah_, the name which is given
them in the South-sea islands; but if the animal had been wholly unknown
to them, and they had no communication with people to whom it was known,
they could not possibly have been acquainted with the name.

About ten o'clock at night, a breeze sprung up at W.N.W. with which we
stood off north; and at noon the next day, the Cavalles bore S.E. by E.
distant eight leagues; the entrance of Doubtless Bay S. by W. distant
three leagues; and the north-west extremity of the land in sight, which
we judged to be the main, bore N.W. by W.: Our latitude by observation
was 34° 44' S. In the evening, we found the variation to be 12°41' E. by
the azimuth, and 12° 40' by the amplitude.

Early in the morning, we stood in with the land, seven leagues to the
westward of Doubtless Bay, the bottom of which is not far distant from
the bottom of another large bay, which the shore forms at this place,
being separated only by a low neck of land, which juts out into a
peninsula that I have called _Knuckle Point_. About the middle of this
Bay, which we called _Sandy Bay_, is a high mountain, standing upon a
distant shore, to which I gave the name of _Mount Camel_. The latitude
here is 84° 51' S. and longitude 186° 50'. We had twenty-four and
twenty-five fathom water, with a good bottom; but there seems to be
nothing in this bay that can induce a ship to put into it; for the land
about it is utterly barren and desolate, and, except Mount Camel, the
situation is low: The soil appears to be nothing but white sand, thrown
up in low irregular hills and narrow ridges, lying parallel with the
shore. But barren and desolate as this place is, it is not without
inhabitants: We saw one village on the west side of Mount Camel, and
another on the east side: We saw also five canoes full of people, who
pulled after the ship, but could not come up with us. At nine o'clock,
we tacked and stood to the northward; and at noon, the Cavalles bore
S.E. by E. distant thirteen leagues; the north extremity of the land in
sight, making like an island, bore N.W. 1/4 N. distant nine leagues; and
Mount Camel bore S.W. by S. distance six leagues.

The wind being contrary, we kept plying northward till five o'clock in
the evening of the 12th, when, having made very little way, we tacked
and stood to the N.E. being two leagues to the northward of Mount Camel,
and about a mile and a half from the shore, in which situation we had
two-and-twenty fathom water.

At ten, it began to blow and rain, which brought us under double-reefed
topsails; at twelve we tacked and stood to the westward till seven the
next morning, when we tacked and stood again to the N.E. being about a
mile to windward of the place where we tacked last night. Soon after it
blew very hard at N.N.W. with heavy squalls and much rain, which brought
us under our courses, and split the maintop-sail; so that we were
obliged to unbend it and bend another: At ten it became more moderate,
and we set the top-sails, double-reefed. At noon, having strong gales
and heavy weather, we tacked and stood to the westward, and had no land
in sight for the first time since we had been upon this coast.

We had now strong gales at W. and W.S.W.; and at half an hour past three
we tacked and stood to the northward. Soon after, a small island lying
off Knuckle Point bore S. 1/2 W. distant half a league. In the evening,
having split the fore and mizen topsails, we brought the ship under her
courses; and at midnight we wore, and stood to the southward till five
in the morning; when we tacked and stood to the N.W. and saw land
bearing south, at the distance of eight or nine leagues; by this we
discovered that we had fallen much to the leeward since yesterday
morning. At noon, our latitude by observation was 34° 6' S.; and the
same land which we had seen before to the N.W. now bore S.W. and
appeared to be the northern extremity of the country. We had a large
swell rolling in from the westward, and therefore concluded that we were
not covered by any land in that quarter. At eight in the evening, we
tacked and stood to the westward, with as much sail as we could bear;
and at noon the next day, we were in latitude 34° 10', longitude 186°
45' W. and by estimation about seventeen leagues from the land,
notwithstanding our utmost endeavours to keep in with it.

On the 16th, at six in the morning, we saw land from the mast-head,
bearing S.S.W.; and at noon it bore S. by W. distant fourteen leagues:
While we were standing in for the shore we sounded several times, but
had no ground with ninety fathom. At eight, we tacked in a hundred and
eight fathom, at about three or four miles from the shore, which was the
same point of land that we had to the N.W. before we were blown off. At
noon it bore S.W. distant about three miles; Mount Camel bore S. by E.
distant about eleven leagues, and the westermost land in sight bore S.
75 W.; the latitude by observation was 34° 20' S. At four o'clock, we
tacked and stood in shore, in doing which, we met with a strong
rippling, and the ship fell fast to leeward, which we imputed to a
current setting east. At eight, we tacked and stood off till eight the
next morning; when we tacked and stood in, being about ten leagues from
the land: At noon, the point of land which we were near the day before,
bore S.S.W. distant five leagues. The wind still continued at west; and
at seven o'clock, we tacked in thirty-five fathom, when the point of
land which has been mentioned before, bore N.W. by N. distant four or
five miles; so that we had not gained one inch to windward the last
twenty-four hours, which confirmed our opinion that there was a current
to the eastward. The point of land I called _North Cape_, it being the
northern extremity of this country. It lies in latitude 34° 22' S.
longitude 186° 55' W. and thirty-one leagues distant from Cape Bret, in
the direction of N. 63 W. It forms the north point of Sandy Bay, and is
a peninsula jutting out N.E. about two miles, and terminating in a bluff
head that is flat at the top. The isthmus which joins this head to the
main land is very low, and for that reason the land of the Cape, from
several situations, has the appearance of an island. It is still more
remarkable when it is seen from the southward, by the appearance of a
high round island at the S.E. point of the Cape; but this also is a
deception; for what appears to be an island is a round hill, joined to
the Cape by a low narrow neck of land. Upon the Cape we saw a Hippah or
village, and a few inhabitants; and on the south-east side of it there
appears to be anchorage, and good shelter from the south-west and
north-west winds.

We continued to stand off and on, making N.W. till noon on the 21st,
when North Cape bore S. 39 E. distant thirty-eight leagues. Our
situation varied only a few leagues till the 23d, when, about seven
o'clock in the evening, we saw land from the mast-head, bearing S. 1/2
E. At eleven the next morning, we saw it again, bearing S.S.E. at the
distance of eight leagues: We now stood to the S.W.; and at four
o'clock, the land bore S.E. by S. distant four leagues, and proved to be
a small island, with other islands or rocks, still smaller, lying off
the south-west end of it, and another lying off the north-east end,
which were discovered by Tasman, and called the Three Kings. The
principal island lies in latitude 34° 12' S. longitude 187° 48' W. and
distant fourteen or fifteen leagues from North Cape, in the direction of
W. 14 N. At midnight, we tacked and stood to the N.E. till six the next
morning, which was Christmas day, when we tacked and stood to the
southward. At noon, the Three Kings bore E. 8 N. distant five or six
leagues. The variation this morning by the azimuth was 11° 25' E.

On the 26th, we stood to the southward close upon a wind; and at noon,
were in latitude 35° 10' S longitude 188° 20' W. the Three Kings bearing
N. 26 W. distant twenty-two leagues. In this situation we had no land in
sight; and yet, by observation, we were in the latitude of the Bay of
Islands; and by my reckoning but twenty leagues to the westward of North
Cape: From whence it appears, that the northern part of this island is
very narrow; for otherwise we must have seen some part of the west side
of it. We stood to the southward till twelve at night, and then tacked
and stood to the northward.

At four o'clock in the morning, the wind freshened, and at nine blew a
storm; so that we were obliged to bring the ship to under her mainsail.
Our course made good between noon this day and yesterday was S.S.W. 1/2
W. distance eleven miles. The Three Kings bore N. 27 E. distant
seventy-seven miles. The gale continued all this day, and till two the
next morning, when it fell, and began to veer to the southward and S.W.
where it fixed about four, when we made sail and steered east in for
the land, under the fore-sail and main-sail; but the wind then rising,
and by eight o'clock being increased to a hurricane, with a prodigious
sea, we were obliged to take in the main-sail; we then wore the ship,
and brought her to with her head to the north west. At noon the gale was
somewhat abated, but we had still heavy squalls. Our course made good
this day, was north, a little easterly, twenty-nine miles; latitude by
account 34° 50' S. longitude 188° 27' W.; the Three Kings bore N. 41 E.
distant fifty-two miles. At seven o'clock in the evening, the wind being
at S.W. and S.W. by W. with hard squalls, we wore and lay on the other
tack; and at six the next morning spread more sail. Our course and
distance since yesterday was E. by N. twenty-nine miles. In the
afternoon, we had hard squalls at S.W.; and at eight in the evening,
wore and stood to the N.W. till five the next morning; and then wore and
stood to the S.E. At six, we saw the land bearing N.E. distant about six
leagues, which we judged to be Cape _Maria Van Diemen_, and which
corresponded with the account that had been given of it by the Indians.
At midnight we wore and stood to the S.E. And on the next day at noon,
Cape Maria Van Diemen bore N.E. by N. distant about five leagues. At
seven in the evening, we tacked and stood to the westward, with a
moderate breeze at S.W. by S. and S.W. Mount Camel then bore N. 88 E.
and the northermost land, or Cape Maria Van Diemen, N. by W.; we were
now distant from the nearest land about three leagues, where we had
something more than forty fathom water; and it must be remarked, that
Mount Camel, which when seen on the other side did not seem to be more
than one mile from the sea, seemed to be but little more when seen from
this side; which is a demonstration that the land here cannot be more
than two or three miles broad, or from sea to sea.

At six o'clock in the morning of January the 1st, 1770, being New-year's
Day, we tacked and stood to the eastward, the Three Kings bearing N.W.
by N. At noon, we tacked again, and stood to the westward, being in
latitude 34° 37' S.; the Three Kings bearing N.W. by N. at the distance
of ten or eleven leagues; and Cape Maria Van Diemen N. 31 E. distant
about four leagues and a half: In this situation we had fifty-four
fathom water.

During this part of our navigation two particulars are very remarkable;
in latitude 35° S. and in the midst of summer, I met with a gale of
wind, which for its strength and continuance was such as I had scarcely
ever been in before, and we were three weeks in getting ten leagues to
the westward, and five weeks in getting fifty leagues, for at this time
it was so long since we passed Cape Bret. During the gale, we were
happily at a considerable distance from the land, otherwise it is highly
probable that we should never have returned to relate our adventures.

At five o'clock in the evening, having a fresh breeze to the westward,
we tacked and stood to the southward: At this time North Cape bore E.
1/4 N. and just open of a point that lies three leagues W. by N. from
it.

This Cape, as I have observed before, is the northermost extremity of
this country, and the eastermost point of a peninsula, which runs out
N.W. and N.W. by N. seventeen or eighteen leagues, and of which Cape
Maria Van Diemen is the westermost point. Cape Maria lies in latitude
34° 30' S. longitude 187° 18' W.; and from this point the land trends
away S.E. by S. and S.E. beyond Mount Camel, and is every where a barren
shore, consisting of banks of white sand.

On the 2d, at noon, we were in latitude 35° 17' S. and Cape Maria bore
north, distant about sixteen leagues, as near as we could guess; for we
had no land in sight, and did not dare to go nearer, as a fresh gale
blew right on shore, with a rolling sea. The wind continued at W.S.W and
S.W. with frequent squalls; in the evening we shortened sail, and at
midnight tacked, and made a trip to the N.W. till two in the morning,
when we wore and stood to the southward. At break of day, we made sail,
and edged away, in order to make land; and at ten o'clock, we saw it,
hearing N.W. It appeared to be high, and at noon extended from N. to
E.N.E. distant by estimation eight or ten leagues. Cape Maria then bore
N. 2° 30' W. distant thirty-three leagues; our latitude by observation
was 36° 2' S. About seven o'clock in the evening, we were within six
leagues of it; but having a fresh gale upon it, with a rolling sea, we
hauled our wind to the S.E.; and kept on that course close upon the wind
all night, sounding several times, but having no ground with one hundred
and one hundred and ten fathom.

At eight o'clock the next morning, we were about five leagues from the
land, and off a place which lies in latitude 86° 25', and had the
appearance of a bay or inlet. It bore east; and in order to see more of
it, we kept on our course till eleven o'clock, when we were not more
than three leagues from it, and then discovered that it was neither
inlet nor bay, but a tract of low land, bound by higher lands on each
side, which produced the deception. At this time, we tacked and stood to
the N.W.; and at noon, the land was not distant more than three or four
leagues. We were now in latitude 36° 31' S. longitude 185° 50' W. Cape
Maria bore N. 25 W. distant forty-four leagues, and a half; so that the
coast must be almost straight in the direction of S.S.E. 3/4 E. and
N.N.W. 3/4 W. nearly. In about latitude 35° 45' is some high land
adjoining to the sea; to the southward of which the shore is also high,
and has the most desolate and inhospitable appearance that can be
imagined. Nothing is to be seen but hills of sand, on which there is
scarcely a blade of verdure; and a vast sea, impelled by the westerly
winds, breaking upon it in a dreadful surf, renders it not only forlorn,
but frightful; complicating the idea of danger with desolation, and
impressing the mind at once with a sense of misery and death. From this
place I steered to the northward, resolving never more to come within
the same distance of the coast, except the wind should be very
favourable indeed. I stood under a fresh sail all the day, hoping to get
an offing by the next noon, and we made good a course of a hundred and
two miles N. 38 W. Our latitude by observation was 35° 10'S.; and Cape
Maria bore N. 10 E. distance forty-one miles. In the night, the wind
shifted from S.W. by S. to S. and blew fresh. Our course to the noon of
the 5th was N. 75 W. distance eight miles.

At day-break on the 6th, we saw the land which we took to be Cape Maria,
bearing N.N.E. distant eight or nine leagues: And on the 7th, in the
afternoon, the land bore east: And some time after we discovered a
turtle upon the water; but being awake, it dived instantly, so that we
could not take it. At noon, the high land, which has just been
mentioned, extended from N. to E. at the distance of five or six
leagues; and in two places, a flat gave it the appearance of a bay or
inlet. The course that we made good the last four-and-twenty hours was
S. 33 E. fifty-three miles; Cape Maria bearing N. 25 W. distant thirty
leagues.

We sailed within sight of land all this day, with gentle gales between
the N.E. and N.W.; and by next noon had sailed sixty-nine miles, in the
direction of S. 37 E.; our latitude, by observation was 36° 39' S. The
land which on the 4th we had taken for a bay, now bore N.E. by N.
distant five leagues and a half; and Cape Maria N. 29 W. forty-seven
leagues.

On the 9th, we continued a south-east course till eight o'clock in the
evening, having run seven leagues since noon, with the wind at N.N.E.
and N. and being within three or four leagues of the land, which
appeared to be low and sandy. I then steered S.E. by S. in a direction
parallel wills the coast, having from forty-eight to thirty-four fathom
water, with a black sandy bottom. At day-break the next morning, we
found ourselves between two and three leagues from the land, which began
to have a better appearance, rising in gentle slopes, and being covered
with trees and herbage. We saw a smoke and a few houses, but it appeared
to be but thinly inhabited. At seven o'clock we steered S. by E. and
afterwards S. by W., the land lying in that direction. At nine, we were
abreast of a point which rises with an easy ascent from the sea to a
considerable height: This point, which lies in latitude 37° 43', I named
Woody Head. About eleven miles from this Head, in the direction of S.W.
1/2 W. lies a very small island, upon which we saw a great number of
gannets, and which we therefore called Gannet Island. At noon, a high
craggy point bore E.N.E. distant about a league and a half, to which I
gave the name of Albetross Point: It lies in latitude 38° 4' S.
longitude 184° 42' W.; and is distant seven leagues, in the direction of
S. 17 W. from Woody Head. On the north side of this point the shore
forms a bay, in which there appears to be anchorage and shelter for
shipping. Our course and distance for the last twenty-four hours was S.
37 E. sixty-nine miles; and at noon this day Cape Maria bore N. 30 W.
distant eighty-two leagues. Between twelve and one, the wind shifted at
once from N.N.E. to S.S.W. with which we stood to the westward till four
o'clock in the afternoon, and then tacked, and stood again in shore till
seven; when we tacked again and stood to the westward, having but little
wind. At this time Albetross Point bore N.E. distant near two leagues,
and the southermost land insight bore S.S.W. 1/2 W. being a very high
mountain, and in appearance greatly resembling the peak of Teneriffe. In
this situation we had thirty fathom water, and having but little wind
all night, we tacked about four in the morning and stood in for the
shore. Soon after, it fell calm; and being in forty-two fathom water,
the people caught a few sea-bream. At eleven, a light breeze sprang up
from the west, and we made sail to the southward. We continued to steer
S. by W. and S.S.W. along the shore, at the distance of about four
leagues, with gentle breezes from between N.W. and N.N.E. At seven in
the evening, we saw the top of the peak to the southward, above the
clouds, which concealed it below. And at this time, the southermost land
in sight bore S. by W.; the variation, by several azimuths which were
taken both in the morning and the evening, appeared to be 14° 15'
easterly.

At noon on the 12th, we were distant about three leagues from the shore
which lies under the peak, but the peak itself was wholly concealed by
clouds: We judged it to bear about S.S.E.; and some very remarkable
peaked islands, which lay under the shore, bore E.S.E. distant three or
four leagues. At seven in the evening we sounded, and had forty-two
fathom, being distant from the shore between two and three leagues: We
judged the peak to bear east; and after it was dark, we saw fires upon
the shore.

At five o'clock in the morning we saw, for a few minutes, the summit of
the peak, towering above the clouds, and covered with snow. It now bore
N.E.; it lies in latitude 39° 16' S. longitude 185° 15' W.; and I named
it Mount Egmont, in honour of the Earl. It seems to have a large base,
and to rise with a gradual ascent. It lies near the sea, and is
surrounded by a flat country of a pleasant appearance, being clothed
with verdure and wood, which renders it the more conspicuous, and the
shore under it forms a large cape, which I have named Cape Egmont. It
lies S.S.W. 1/2 W. twenty-seven leagues distant from Albetross Point,
and on the north side of it are two small islands, which lie near a
remarkable point on the main, that rises to a considerable height in the
form of a sugar-loaf. To the southward of the Cape, the land trends away
S.E. by E. and S.S.E. and seems to be every where a bold shore. At noon,
Cape Egmont bore about N.E.; and in this direction, at about four
leagues from the shore, we had forty fathom of water. The wind, during
the rest of the day was from W. to N.W. by W. and we continued to steer
along the shore S.S.E. and S.E. by E. keeping at the distance of between
two and three leagues. At half an hour after seven, we had another
transient view of Mount Edgecombe, which bore N. 17 W. distant about ten
leagues.

At five the next morning, we steered S.E. by S. the coast inclining more
southerly; and in about half an hour, we saw land bearing S.W. by S. for
which we hauled up. At noon the north-west extremity of the land in
sight bore S. 63 W. and some high land, which had the appearance of an
island lying under the main, bore S.S.E. distant five leagues. We were
now in a bay, the bottom of which bearing south we could not see, though
it was clear in that quarter. Our latitude by observation was 40° 27' S.
longitude 184° 39' W. At eight in the evening, we were within two
leagues of the land which we had discovered in the morning, having run
ten leagues since noon: The land which then bore S. 63 W. now bore N. 49
W. at the distance of seven or eight leagues, and had the appearance of
an island. Between this land and Cape Egmont lies the bay, the west side
of which was our situation at this time, and the land here is of a
considerable height, and diversified by bill and valley.


SECTION XXVI.

_Transactions in Queen Charlotte's Sound: Passage through the Streight
which divides the two Islands, and back to Cape Turnagain: Horrid Custom
of the Inhabitants: Remarkable Melody of Birds: A Visit to a Heppah, and
many other Particulars_.


The shore at this place seemed to form several bays, into one of which I
proposed to carry the ship, which was become very foul, in order to
careen her, and at the same time repair some defects, and recruit our
wood and water.

With this view I kept plying on and off all night, having from eighty to
sixty-three fathom. At day-break the next morning, I stood for an inlet
which runs in S.W.; and at eight I got within the entrance, which may
be known by a reef of rocks, stretching from the north-west point, and
some rocky islands which lie off the south-east point. At nine o'clock,
there being little wind, and what there was being variable, we were
carried by the tide or current within two cables' length of the
north-west shore, where we had fifty-four fathom water, but by the help
of our boats we got clear. Just at this time we saw a sea-lion rise
twice near the shore, the head of which exactly resembled that of the
male which has been described in the account of Lord Anson's voyage. We
also saw some of the natives in a canoe cross the bay, and a village
situated upon the point of an island which lies seven or eight miles
within the entrance. At noon, we were the length of this island, but
there being little wind, the boats were ordered a-head to tow. About one
o'clock we hauled close round the southwest end of the island; and the
inhabitants of the village which was built upon it, were immediately up
in arms. About two, we anchored in a very safe and convenient cove, on
the north-west side of the bay, and facing the southwest end of the
island, in eleven fathom water, with soft ground, and moored with the
stream anchor.

We were about four long cannon-shot distant from the village or Heppah,
from which four canoes were immediately dispatched, as we imagined to
reconnoitre, and, if they should find themselves able, to take us. The
men were all well armed, and dressed nearly as they are represented in
the figure published by Tasman; two corners of the cloth which they
wrapped round the body were passed over the shoulders from behind, and
being brought down to the upper edge of it before, were made fast to it
just under the breast; but few, or none, had feathers in their hair.

They rowed round the ship several times, with their usual tokens of
menace and defiance, and at last began the assault, by throwing some
stones: Tupia expostulated with them, but apparently to very little
purpose; and we began to fear that they would oblige us to fire at them,
when a very old man in one of the boats expressed a desire of coming on
board. We gladly encouraged him in his design, a rope was thrown into
his canoe, and she was immediately alongside of the ship: The old man
rose up, and prepared to come up the ship's side, upon which all the
rest expostulated with great vehemence against the attempt, and at last
laid hold of him, and held him back: He adhered, however, to his
purpose, with a calm but steady perseverance, and having at length
disengaged himself, he came on board. We received him with all possible
expressions of friendship and kindness, and after some time dismissed
him, with many presents, to his companions. As soon as he was returned
on board his canoe, the people in all the rest began to dance, but
whether as a token of enmity or friendship we would not certainly
determine, for we had seen them dance in a disposition both for peace
and war. In a short time, however, they retired to their fort, and soon
after I went on shore, with most of the gentlemen, at the bottom of the
cove, a-breast of the ship.

We found a fine stream of excellent water, and wood in the greatest
plenty, for the land here was one forest, of vast extent. As we brought
the seine with us, we hauled it once or twice, and with such success,
that we caught near three hundred weight of fish, of different sorts,
which was equally distributed among the ship's company.

At day-break, while we were busy in careening the ship, three canoes
came off to us, having on board above a hundred men, besides several of
their women, which we were pleased to see, as in general it is a sign of
peace; but they soon afterwards became very troublesome, and gave us
reason to apprehend some mischief from them to the people that were in
our boats alongside the ship. While we were in this situation, the
long-boat was sent ashore with some water-casks, and some of the canoes
attempting to follow her, we found it necessary to intimidate them, by
firing some small shot: We were at such a distance, that it was
impossible to hurt them, yet our reproof had its effect, and they
desisted from the pursuit. They had some fish in their canoes, which
they now offered to sell, and which, though it stunk, we consented to
buy: For this purpose a man in a small boat was sent among them, and
they traded for some time very fairly. At length, however, one of them,
watching his opportunity, snatched at some paper which our market-man
held in his hand, and missing it, immediately put himself in a posture
of defence, flourishing his patoo-patoo, and making show as if he was
about to strike; some small-shot were then fired at him from the ship, a
few of which struck him upon the knee: This put an end to our trade,
but the Indians still continued near the ship, rowing round her many
times, and conversing with Tupia, chiefly concerning the traditions they
had among them with respect to the antiquities of their country. To this
subject they were led by the enquiries which Tupia had been directed to
make, whether they had ever seen such a vessel as ours, or had ever
heard that any such had been upon their coast. These enquiries were all
answered in the negative, so that tradition has preserved among them no
memorial of Tasman; though, by an observation made this day, we find
that we are only fifteen miles south of Murderer's bay, our latitude
being 41° 5' 32", and Murderer's bay, according to his account, being
40° 50'.

The women in these canoes, and some of the men, had a head-dress which
we had not before seen. It consisted of a bunch of black feathers, made
up in a round form, and tied upon the top of the head, which it entirely
covered, and made it twice as high, to appearance, as it was in reality.

After dinner, I went in the pinnace with Mr Banks, Dr Solander, Tupia,
and some others, into another cove, about two miles distant from that in
which the ship lay: In our way we saw something floating upon the water,
which we took for a dead seal, but upon rowing up to it, found it to be
the body of a woman, which to all appearance had been dead some days. We
proceeded to our cove, where we went on shore, and found a small family
of Indians, who appeared to be greatly terrified at our approach, and
all ran away except one. A conversation between this person and Tupia
soon brought hack the rest, except an old man and a child, who still
kept aloof, but stood peeping at us from the woods. Of these people, our
curiosity naturally led us to enquire after the body of the woman, which
we had seen floating upon the water: And they acquainted us, by Tupia,
that she was a relation, who had died a natural death; and that,
according to their custom, they had tied a stone to the body, and thrown
it into the sea, which stone, they supposed, had by some accident been
disengaged.

This family, when we came on shore, was employed in dressing some
provisions: The body of a dog was at this time buried in their oven, and
many provision baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes carelessly
into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty cleanly
picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, upon a
nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At this
sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation of
what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we
could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any
doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found
in a provision basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to
have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end, were the
marks of the teeth which had gnawed them: To put an end, however, to
conjecture, founded upon circumstances and appearances, we directed
Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the Indians, without the least
hesitation, answered, the bones of a man: They were then asked what was
become of the flesh, and they replied that they had eaten it; but, said
Tupia, why did you not eat the body of the woman which we saw floating
upon the water: The woman, said they, died of disease; besides, she was
our relation, and we eat only the bodies of our enemies, who are killed
in battle. Upon enquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they
told us, that about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies
came into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one
of seven whom they had killed. Though stronger evidence of this horrid
practice prevailing among the inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be
required, we have still stronger to give. One of us asked if they had
any human bones with the flesh remaining upon them, and upon their
answering us that all had been eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the
bones were human, and said that they were the bones of a dog; upon which
one of the Indians with some eagerness took hold of his own fore-arm,
and thrusting it towards us, said, that the bone which Mr Banks held in
his hand had belonged to that part of a human body; at the same time, to
convince us that the flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm
with his teeth, and made shew of eating: He also bit and gnawe'd the
bone which Mr Banks had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and
shewing, by signs, that it had afforded a delicious repast; the bone was
then returned to Mr Banks, and he brought it away with him. Among the
persons of this family, there was a woman who had her arms, legs, and
thighs frightfully cut in several places; and we were told that she had
inflicted the wounds upon herself, in token of her grief for the loss
of her husband, who had been lately killed and eaten by their enemies,
who had come from some place to the eastward, towards which the Indians
pointed.

The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of a mile
from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the singing of
the birds: The number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their
throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely
superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be
like small bells, exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance and the
water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon enquiry,
we were informed that the birds here always began to sing about two
hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise, were,
like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day.[67] In the forenoon,
a small canoe came off from the Indian village to the ship, and among
those that were in it, was the old man who had first come on board at
our arrival in the bay. As soon as it came alongside, Tupia renewed the
conversation that had passed the day before, concerning their practice
of eating human flesh, during which they repeated what they had told us
already; but, said Tupia, where are the heads? do you eat them too? Of
the heads, said the old man, we eat only the brains, and the next time I
come I will bring some of them, to convince you that what we have told
you is truth. After some farther conversation between these people and
Tupia, they told him that they expected their enemies to come very
shortly, to revenge the death of the seven men whom they had killed and
eaten.

[Footnote 67: This is a vulgar error, though at the same time a poetical
one. It is known that nightingales do sing in the day; but their song is
then less attended to or distinguished, because it forms a part only of
the harmony of the feathered choir.--E.]

On the 18th, the Indians were more quiet than usual, no canoe came near
the ship, nor did we see one of them moving on the shore, their fishing,
and other usual occupations, being totally suspended. We thought they
expected an attack on this day, and therefore attended more diligently
to what passed on shore; but we saw nothing to gratify our curiosity.

After breakfast, we went out in the pinnace, to take a view of the bay,
which was of vast extent, and consisted of numberless small harbours and
coves, in every direction: We confined our excursion, however, to the
western side, and the country being an impenetrable forest where we
landed, we could see nothing worthy of notice: We killed, however, a
good number of shaggs, which we saw sitting upon their nests in the
trees, and which, whether roasted or stewed, we considered as very good
provision. As we were returning, we saw a single man in a canoe fishing;
we rowed up to him, and to our great surprise he took not the least
notice of us, but even when we were alongside of him, continued to
follow his occupation, without adverting to us any more than if we had
been invisible. He did not, however, appear to be either sullen or
stupid: We requested him to draw up his net, that we might examine it,
and he readily complied: It was of a circular form, extended by two
hoops, and about seven or eight feet in diameter: The top was open, and
sea-ears were fastened to the bottom as a bait: This he let down so as
to lie upon the ground, and when he thought fish enough were assembled
over it, he drew it up by a very gentle and even motion, so that the
fish rose with it, scarcely sensible that they were lifted, till they
came very near the surface of the water, and then were brought out in
the net by a sudden jerk. By this simple method, he had caught abundance
of fish, and indeed they are so plenty in this bay, that the catching
them requires neither much labour nor art.

This day, some of our people found in the skirts of the wood, near a
hole or oven, three human hip-bones, which they brought on board; a
farther proof that these people eat human flesh: Mr Monkhouse, our
surgeon, also brought on board, from a place where he saw many deserted
houses, the hair of a man's head, which he had found, among many other
things, tied up to the branches of trees.

In the morning of the 19th, we set up the armourer's forge to repair the
braces of the tiller, and other iron-work, all hands on board being
still busy in careening, and other necessary operations about the
vessel: This day, some Indians came on board from another part of the
bay, where they said was a town which we had not seen: They brought
plenty of fish, which they sold for nails, having now acquired some
notion of their use; and in this traffic no unfair practice was
attempted.

In the morning of the 20th, our old man kept his promise, and brought
on board four of the heads of the seven people who had been so much the
subject of our enquiries: The hair and flesh were entire, but we
perceived that the brains had been extracted; the flesh was soft, but
had by some method been preserved from putrefaction, for it had no
disagreeable smell. Mr Banks purchased one of them, but they sold it
with great reluctance, and could not by any means be prevailed upon to
part with a second; probably they may be preserved as trophies, like the
scalps in America, and the jaw-bones in the islands of the South Seas.
Upon examining the head which had been bought by Mr Banks, we perceived
that it had received a blow upon the temples, which had fractured the
skull. This day we made another excursion in the pinnace, to survey the
bay, but we found no flat large enough for a potatoe garden, nor could
we discover the least appearance of cultivation: We met not a single
Indian, but found an excellent harbour, and about eight o'clock in the
evening returned on board the ship.

On the 21st, Mr Banks and Dr Solander went a-fishing with hook and line,
and caught an immense quantity every where upon the rocks, in between
four and five fathom water: The seine was hauled every night, and seldom
failed to supply the whole ship's company with as much fish as they
could eat. This day all the people had leave to go on shore at the
watering-place, and divert themselves as they should think proper.

In the morning of the 22d, I set out again in the pinnace, accompanied
by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, with a design to examine the head of the
inlet, but after rowing about four or five leagues without so much as
coming in sight of it, the wind being contrary, and the day half spent,
we went on shore on the south-east side, to try what might be discovered
from the hills.

Mr Banks and Dr Solander immediately employed themselves in botanizing
near the beach, and I, taking a seaman with me, ascended one of the
hills: When I reached the summit, I found a view of the inlet
intercepted by hills, which in that direction rose still higher, and
which were rendered inaccessible by impenetrable woods; I was, however,
abundantly compensated for my labour, for I saw the sea on the eastern
side of the country, and a passage leading from it to that on the west,
a little to the eastward of the entrance of the inlet where the ship now
lay. The main land, which lay on the south east of this inlet, appeared
to be a narrow ridge of very high hills, and to form part of the
south-west side of the streight; the land on the opposite side appeared
to trend away east as far as the eye could reach; and to the south-east
there appeared to be an opening to the sea, which washed the eastern
coast: On the east side of the inlet also I saw some islands which I had
before taken to be part of the main land. Having made this discovery, I
descended the hill, and as soon as we had taken some refreshment, we set
out on our return to the ship. In our way, we examined the harbours and
coves which lie behind the islands that I had discovered from the hill;
and in this route we saw an old village, in which there were many houses
that seemed to have been long deserted: We also saw another village
which was inhabited, but the day was too far spent for us to visit it,
and we therefore made the best of our way to the ship, which we reached
between eight and nine o'clock at night.

The 23d I employed in carrying on a survey of the place; and upon one of
the islands where I landed, I saw many houses which seemed to have been
long deserted, and no appearance of any inhabitant.

On the 24th, we went to visit our friends at the Hippah or village on
the point of the island near the ship's station, who had come off to us
on our first arrival in the bay. They received us with the utmost
confidence and civility, shewing us every part of their habitations,
which were commodious and neat. The island or rock on which this town is
situated, is divided from the main by a breach or fissure so narrow,
that a man might almost leap from one to the other: The sides of it are
every where so steep as to render the artificial fortification of these
people almost unnecessary: There was, however, one slight pallisade, and
one small fighting-stage, towards that part of the rock where access was
least difficult.

The people here brought us out several human bones, the flesh of which
they had eaten, and offered them to sale; for the curiosity of those
among us who had purchased them as memorials of the horrid practice,
which many, notwithstanding the reports of travellers, have professed
not to believe, had rendered them a kind of article of trade. In one
part of this village we observed, not without some surprise, a cross
exactly like that of a crucifix; it was adorned with feathers, and upon
our enquiring for what purpose it had been set up, we were told that it
was a monument for a man who was dead: We had before understood that
their dead were not buried, but thrown into the sea; but to our enquiry
how the body of the man had been disposed of, to whose memory this cross
had been erected, they refused to answer.

When we left these people, we went to the other end of the island, and
there taking water, crossed over to the main, where we saw several
houses but no inhabitants, except a few in some straggling canoes, that
seemed to be fishing. After viewing this place, we returned on board the
ship to dinner.

During our visit to the Indians this day, Tupia being always of our
party, they had been observed to be continually talking of guns, and
shooting people: For this subject of their conversation we could not at
all account; and it had so much engaged our attention, that we talked of
it all the way back, and even after we got on board the ship: We had
perplexed ourselves with various conjectures, which were all given up in
their turn; but now we learnt, that on the 21st one of our officers,
upon pretence of going out to fish, had rowed up to the Hippah, and that
two or three canoes coming off towards his boat, his fears suggested
that an attack was intended, in consequence of which three muskets were
fired, one with small shot, and two with ball, at the Indians, who
retired with the utmost precipitation, having probably come out with
friendly intentions, for such their behaviour both before and afterwards
expressed, and having no reason to expect such treatment from people who
had always behaved to them not only with humanity, but kindness, and to
whom they were not conscious of having given offence.

On the 25th, I made another excursion along the coast, in the pinnace,
towards the mouth of the inlet, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander,
and going on shore at a little cove, to shoot shags, we fell in with a
large family of Indians, whose custom it is to disperse themselves among
the different creeks and coves, where fish is to be procured in the
greatest plenty, leaving a few only in the Hippah, to which the rest
repair in times of danger. Some of these people came out a good way to
meet us, and gave us an invitation to go with them to the rest of their
party, which, we readily accepted. We found a company of about thirty,
men, women, and children, who received us with all possible
demonstrations of friendship: We distributed among them a few ribbands
and beads, and in return, received the kisses and embraces of both
sexes, both young and old: They gave us also some fish, and after a
little time we returned, much pleased with our new acquaintance.

In the morning of the 26th, I went again out in the boat, with Mr Banks
and Dr Solander, and entered one of the bays, which lie on the east side
of the inlet, in order to get another sight of the streight, which
passed between the eastern and western seas. For this purpose, having
landed at a convenient place, we climbed a hill of a very considerable
height, from which we had a full view of it, with the land on the
opposite shore, which we judged to be about four leagues distant; but as
it was hazy in the horizon, we could not see far to the south-east: I
resolved however to search the passage with the ship, as soon as I
should put to sea. Upon the top of this hill we found a parcel of loose
stones, with which we erected a pyramid, and left in it some
musket-balls, small shot, beads, and other things, which we happened to
have about us, that were likely to stand the test of time, and not being
of Indian workmanship, would convince any European who should come to
the place and pull it down, that other natives of Europe had been there
before him. When this was done we descended the hill, and made a
comfortable meal of the shags and fish which our guns and lines had
procured us, and which were dressed by the boat's crew in a place that
we had appointed: In this place we found another Indian family, who
received us, as usual, with strong expressions of kindness and pleasure,
shewing us where to procure water, and doing us such other good offices
as were in their power. From this place we went to the town, of which
the Indians had told us, who visited us on the 19th: This, like that
which we had seen before, was built upon a small island or rock, so
difficult of access, that we gratified our curiosity at the risk of our
necks. The Indians here also received us with open arms, carried us to
every part of the place, and shewed us all that it contained: This town,
like the other, consisted of between eighty and an hundred houses, and
had only one fighting-stage. We happened to have with us a few nails and
ribbands, and some paper, with which our guests were so gratified, that
at our coming away they filled our boat with dried fish, of which we
perceived they had laid up great quantities.

The 27th and 28th were spent in refitting the ship for the sea, fixing a
transom for the tiller, getting stones on board to put into the bottom
of the bread-room, to bring the ship more by the stern, in repairing the
casks, and catching fish.

On the 29th, we received a visit from our old man, whose name we found
to be _Topaa_, and three other natives, with whom Tupia had much
conversation. The old man told us, that one of the men who had been
fired upon by the officer who had visited their Hippah, under pretence
of fishing, was dead; but to my great comfort I afterwards discovered
that this report was not true, and that if Topaa's discourses were taken
literally, they would frequently lead us into mistakes. Mr Banks and Dr
Solander were several times on shore during the last two or three days,
not without success, but greatly circumscribed in their walks by
climbers of a most luxuriant growth, which were so interwoven together,
as to fill up the space between the trees about which they grew, and
render the woods altogether impassable. This day also I went on shore
again myself, upon the western, point of the inlet, and from a hill of
considerable height, I had a view of the coast to the N.W. The farthest
land I could see in that quarter, was an island which has been mentioned
before, at the distance of about ten leagues, lying not far from the
main: Between this island and the place where I stood, I discovered,
close under the shore, several other islands, forming many bays, in
which there appeared to be good anchorage for shipping. After I had set
off the different points for my survey, I erected another pile of
stones, in which I left a piece of silver coin, with some musket-balls
and beads, and a piece of an old pendant flying on the top. In my return
to the ship, I made a visit to several of the natives, whom I saw along
the shore, and purchased a small quantity of fish.

On the 30th, early in the morning, I sent a boat to one of the islands
for celery, and while the people were gathering it, about twenty of the
natives, men, women, and children, landed near some empty huts: As soon
as they were on shore, five or six of the women sat down, upon the
ground together, and began to cut their legs, arms, and faces, with
shells, and sharp pieces of talc or jasper, in a terrible manner. Our
people understood that their husbands had lately been killed by their
enemies; but while they were performing this horrid ceremony, the men
set about repairing the huts, with the utmost negligence and unconcern.
The carpenter having prepared two posts to be left as memorials of our
having visited this place, I ordered them to be inscribed with the
ship's name, and the year and month; one of them I set up at the
watering-place, hoisting the union flag upon the top of it; and the
other I carried over to the island that lies nearest to the sea, called
by the natives _Motuara_. I went first to the village or Hippah,
accompanied by Mr Monkhouse and Tupia, where I met with our old man, and
told him and several others, by means of Tupia, that we were come to set
up a mark upon the island, in order to show to any other ship which
should happen to come thither, that we had been there before. To this
they readily consented, and promised that they never would pull it down:
I then gave something to every one present; and to the old man I gave a
silver threepence, dated 1736, and some spike nails, with the king's
broad arrow cut deep upon them; things which I thought most likely to
remain long among them: I then took the post to the highest part of the
island, and after fixing it firmly in the ground, I hoisted upon it the
union-flag, and honoured this inlet with the name of _Queen Charlotte's
Sound_, at the same time taking formal possession of this and the
adjacent country, in the name and for the use of his majesty King George
the Third. We then drank a bottle of wine to her majesty's health, and
gave the bottle to the old man who had attended us up the hill, and who
was mightily delighted with his present.

While the post was setting up, we enquired of the old man concerning the
passage into the eastern sea, the existence of which he confirmed; and
then asked him about the land to the S.W. of the streight, where we were
then situated: This land, he said, consisted of two Whennuas or islands,
which might be circumnavigated in a few days, and which he called _Tovy
Poenammoo_; the literal translation of this word is, "the water of green
talc:" and probably, if we had understood him better, we should have
found that Tovy Poenammoo was the name of some particular place where
they got the green talc or stone of which they make their ornaments and
tools, and not a general name for the whole southern district: He said,
there was also a third Whennua, on the east side of the streight, the
circumnavigation of which would take up many moons: This he called
_Eaheinomauwe_; and to the lands on the borders of the streight he gave
the name of _Tiera Witte_. Having set up our post, and procured this
intelligence, we returned on board the ship, and brought the old man
with us, who was attended by his canoe, in which, after dinner, he
returned home.

On the 31st, having completed our wooding, and filled all our water
casks, I sent out two parties, one to cut and make brooms, and another
to catch fish. In the evening, we had a strong gale from the N.W. with
such a heavy rain, that our little wild musicians on shore suspended
their song, which till now we had constantly heard during the night,
with a pleasure which it was impossible to lose without regret.

On the 1st, the gale increased to a storm, with heavy gusts from the
high land, one of which broke the hawser, that we had fastened to the
shore, and obliged us to let go another anchor. Towards midnight, the
gale became more moderate, but the rain continued with such violence,
that the brook which had supplied us with water overflowed its banks,
and carried away ten small casks which had been left there full of
water, and notwithstanding we searched the whole cove, we could never
recover one of them.

On the 3d, as I intended to sail the first opportunity, I went over to
the Hippah on the east side of the Sound, and purchased a considerable
quantity of split and half-dried fish, for sea stores. The people here
confirmed all that the old man had told us concerning the streight and
the country, and about noon I took leave of them: Some of them seemed to
be sorry, and others glad that we were going: The fish which I bought
they sold freely, but there were some who shewed manifest signs of
disapprobation. As we returned to the ship, some of us made an excursion
along the shore to the northward, to traffic with the natives for a
farther supply of fish; in which, however, they had no great success. In
the evening, we got every thing off from the shore, as I intended to
sail in the morning, but the wind would not permit.

On the 4th, while we were waiting for a wind, we amused ourselves by
fishing, and gathering shells and seeds of various kinds; and early in
the morning of the 5th, we cast off the hawser, hove short on the bower,
and carried the kedge-anchor out in order to warp the ship out of the
cove, which having done about two o clock in the afternoon, we hove up
the anchor and got under sail; but the wind soon failing, we were
obliged to come to an anchor again a little above Motuara. When we were
under sail, our old man Topaa came on board to take his leave of us, and
as we were still desirous of making farther enquiries whether any memory
of Tasman had been preserved among these people, Tupia was directed to
ask him whether he had ever heard that such a vessel as ours had before
visited the country. To this he replied in the negative, but said, that
his ancestors had told him there had once come to this place a small
vessel, from a distant country, called _Ulimaroa_, in which were four
men, who, upon their coming on shore, were all killed: Upon being asked
where this distant land lay, he pointed to the northward. Of Ulimaroa we
had heard something before from the people about the Bay of Islands, who
said that their ancestors had visited it; and Tupia had also talked to
us of Ulimaroa, concerning which he had some confused traditionary
notions, not very different from those of our old man, so that we could
draw no certain conclusion from the accounts of either.

Soon after the ship came to an anchor the second time, Mr Banks and Dr
Solander went on shore, to see if any gleanings of natural knowledge
remained, and by accident fell in with the most agreeable Indian family
they had seen, which afforded them a better opportunity of remarking the
personal subordination among these people, than had before offered. The
principal persons were a widow, and a pretty boy about ten years old:
The widow was mourning for her husband with tears of blood, according to
their custom, and the child, by the death of its father, was become
proprietor of the land where we had cut our wood. The mother and the son
were sitting upon matts, and the rest of the family, to the number of
sixteen or seventeen, of both sexes, sat round them in the open air, for
they did not appear to have any house, or other shelter from the
weather, the inclemencies of which, custom has probably enabled them to
endure without any lasting inconvenience. Their whole behaviour was
affable, obliging, and unsuspicious; they presented each person with
fish, and a brand of fire to dress it, and pressed them many times to
stay till the morning, which they would certainly have done if they had
not expected the ship to sail, greatly regretting that they had not
become acquainted with them sooner, as they made no doubt but that more
knowledge of the manners and disposition of the inhabitants of this
country would have been obtained from them in a day, than they had yet
been able to acquire during our whole stay upon the coast.

On the 6th, about six o'clock in the morning, a light breeze sprung up
at north, and we again got under sail, but the wind proving variable, we
reached no farther than just without Motuara; in the afternoon, however,
a more steady gale at N. by W. set us clear of the Sound, which I shall
now describe.

The entrance of Queen Charlotte's Sound is situated in latitude 41° S.
longitude 184° 45' W. and near the middle of the south-west side of the
streight in which it lies. The land of the south-east head of the Sound,
called by the natives _Koamaroo_, off which lie two small islands and
some rocks, makes the narrowest part of the streight. From the
north-west head a reef of rocks runs out about two miles, in the
direction of N.E. by N.; part of which is above the water, and part
below. By this account of the heads, the Sound will be sufficiently
known: At the entrance, it is three leagues broad, and lies in S.W. by
S.S.W. and W.S.W. at least ten leagues, and is a collection of some of
the finest harbours in the world, as will appear from the plan, which is
laid down with all the accuracy that time and circumstances would admit.
The land forming the harbour or cove in which we lay, is called by the
natives _Totarranue_: The harbour itself, which I called _Ship Cove_, is
not inferior to any in the Sound, either for convenience or safety: It
lies on the west side of the Sound, and is the southermost of three
coves, that are situated within the island of Motuara, which bears east
of it. Ship Cove may be entered, either between Motuara and a long
island, called by the natives _Hamote_, or between Motuara and the
western shore. In the last of these channels are two ledges of rocks,
three fathom under water, which may easily be known by the sea-weed that
grows upon them. In sailing either in or out of the Sound, with little
wind, attention must be had to the tides, which flow about nine or ten
o'clock at the fall and change of the moon, and rise and fall between
seven and eight feet perpendicularly. The flood comes in through the
streight from the S.E. and sets strongly over upon the north-west head,
and the reef that lies off it: The ebb sets with still greater rapidity
to the S.E. over upon the rocks and islands that lie off the south-east
head. The variation of the compass we found from good observation to be
13° 5' E.

The land about this Sound, which is of such a height that we saw it at
the distance of twenty leagues, consists wholly of high hills and deep
vallies, well stored with a variety of excellent timber, fit for all
purposes except masts, for which it is too hard and heavy. The sea
abounds with a variety of fish, so that without going out of the cove
where we lay, we caught every day, with the seine and hooks and lines, a
quantity sufficient to serve the whole ship's company: And along the
shore we found plenty of shags, and a few other species of wild-fowl,
which those who have long lived upon salt provisions will not think
despicable food.

The number of inhabitants scarcely exceeds four hundred, and they live
dispersed along the shores, where their food, consisting of fish and
fern roots, is most easily procured; for we saw no cultivated ground.
Upon any appearance of danger, they retire to their Hippahs, or forts;
in this situation we found them, and in this situation they continued
for some time after our arrival. In comparison of the inhabitants of
other parts of this country, they are poor, and their canoes are without
ornament; the little traffic we had with them was wholly for fish, and
indeed they had scarcely any thing else to dispose of. They seemed,
however, to have some knowledge of iron, which the inhabitants of some
other parts had not; for they willingly took nails for their fish, and
sometimes seemed to prefer it to every thing else that we could offer,
which had not always been the case. They were at first very fond of
paper; but when they found that it was spoiled by being wet, they would
not take it: Neither did they set much value upon the cloth of Otaheite;
but English broad-cloth, and red kersey, were in high estimation; which
shewed that they had sense enough to appreciate the commodities which we
offered by their use, which is more than could be said of some of their
neighbours, who made a much better appearance. Their dress has been
mentioned already, particularly their large round head-dresses of
feathers, which were far from being unbecoming.

As soon as we got out of the Sound I stood over to the eastward, in
order to get the streight well open before the tide of ebb came on. At
seven in the evening, the two small islands which lie off Cape Koamaroo,
the south-east head of Queen Charlotte's Sound, bore east, distant about
four miles: At this time it was nearly calm, and the tide of ebb setting
out, we were, in a very short time, carried by the rapidity of the
stream close upon one of the islands, which was a rock rising almost
perpendicularly out of the sea: We perceived our danger increase every
moment, and had but one expedient to prevent our being dashed to pieces,
the success of which a few minutes would determine. We were now within
little more than a cable's length of the rock, and had more than
seventy-five fathom water; but upon dropping an anchor, and veering
about one hundred and fifty fathom of cable, the ship was happily
brought up: This, however, would not have saved us, if the tide which
set S. by E. had not, upon meeting with the island, changed its
direction to S.E. and carried us beyond the first point. In this
situation, we were not above two cables' length, from the rocks; and
here we remained in the strength of the tide, which set to the S.E.
after the rate of at least five miles an hour, from a little after seven
till near midnight, when the tide abated, and we began to heave. By
three in the morning the anchor was at the bows, and having a light
breeze at N.W. we made sail for the eastern shore; but the tide being
against us, we made but little way: The wind however afterwards
freshened, and came to N. and N.E. with which, and the tide of ebb, we
were in a short time hurried through the narrowest part of the straight,
and then stood away for the southermost land we had in sight, which bore
from us S. by W. Over this land appeared a mountain of stupendous
height, which was covered with snow.

The narrowest part of the streight, through which we had been driven
with such rapidity, lies between Cape Tierawitte, on the coast of
Eaheinomawe, and Cape Koamaroo: The distance between them I judged to be
between four or five leagues, and notwithstanding the tide, now its
strength is known, may be passed without much danger. It is however
safest to keep on the north-east shore, for on that side there appeared
to be nothing to fear; but on the other shore there are not only the
islands and rocks which lie off Cape Koamaroo, but a reef of rocks
stretching from these islands six or seven miles to the southward, at
the distance of two or three miles from the shore, which I had
discovered from the hill when I took my second view of the streight from
the east to the western sea. The length of the streight we had passed I
shall not pretend to assign, but some judgment may be formed of it from
a view of the chart.

About nine leagues north from Cape Tierawitte, and under the same shore,
is a high and remarkable island which may be distinctly seen from Queen
Charlotte's Sound, from which it is distant about six or seven leagues.
This island, which was noticed when we passed it on the 14th of January,
I have called _Entry Isle_.

On the east side of Cape Tierawitte, the land trends away S.E. by E.
about eight leagues, where it ends in a point, and is the southermost
land on Eaheinomawe. To this point I have given the name of _Cape
Palliser_, in honour of my worthy friend Captain Palliser. It lies in
latitude 41° 34,' S. longitude 183° 56' W. and bore from us this day at
noon S. 79 E. distant about thirteen leagues, the ship being then in the
latitude of 41° 27' S.; Koamaroo at the same time bearing N. 1/2 E.
distant seven or eight leagues. The southermost land in sight bore S. 16
W. and the snowy mountain S.W. At this time we were about three leagues
from the shore, and abreast of a deep bay or inlet, to which I gave the
name of _Cloudy Bay_, and at the bottom of which there appeared low land
covered with tall trees.

At three o'clock in the afternoon we were abreast of the southermost
point of land that we had seen at noon, which I called Cape Campbell; it
lies S. by W. distant between twelve and thirteen leagues from Cape
Koamaroo, in latitude 41° 44' S. longitude 185° 45' W.; and with Cape
Palliser forms the southern entrance of the streight, the distance
between them being between thirteen and fourteen leagues W. by S. and E.
by N.

From this cape we steered along the shore S.W. by S. till eight o'clock
in the evening, when the wind died away. About half an hour afterwards,
however, a fresh breeze sprung up at S.W. and I put the ship right
before it. My reason for this was a notion which some of the officers
had just started, that Eaheinomauwe was not an island, and that the
land might stretch away to the S.E. from between Cape Turnagain and Cape
Palliser, there being a space of between twelve and fifteen leagues that
we had not seen. I had indeed the strongest conviction that they were
mistaken, not only from what I had seen the first time I discovered the
streight, but from many other concurrent testimonies that the land in
question was an island; but being resolved to leave no possibility of
doubt with respect to an object of such importance, I took the
opportunity of the wind's shifting, to stand eastward, and accordingly
steered N.E. by E. all the night. At nine o'clock in the morning we were
abreast of Cape Palliser, and found the land trend away N.E. towards
Cape Turnagain, which I reckoned to be distant about twenty-six leagues:
However, as the weather was hazy, so as to prevent our seeing above four
or five leagues, I still kept standing to the N.E. with a light breeze
at south; and at noon Cape Palliser bore N. 72 W. distant about three
leagues.

About three o'clock in the afternoon, three canoes came up to the ship
with between thirty and forty people on board, who had been pulling
after us with great labour and perseverance for some time: They appeared
to be more cleanly, and a better class, than we had met with since we
left the Bay of Islands, and their canoes were also distinguished by the
same ornaments which we had seen upon the northerly part of the coast.
They came on board with very little invitation; and their behaviour was
courteous and friendly: Upon receiving presents from us, they made us
presents in return, which had not been done by any of the natives that
we had seen before. We soon perceived that our guests had heard of us,
for as soon as they came on board, they asked for _whow_, the name by
which nails were known among the people with whom we had trafficked: but
though they had heard of nails, it was plain they had seen none; for
when nails were given them, they asked Tupia what they were. The term
_whow_, indeed, conveyed to them the idea not of their quality, but only
of their use; for it is the same by which they distinguish a tool,
commonly made of bone, which they use both as an auger and a chisel.
However, their knowing that we had _whow_ to sell was a proof that their
connections extended as far north as Cape Kidnappers, which was distant
no less than forty-five leagues; for that was the southermost place on
this side the coast where we had had any traffic with the natives. It is
also probable, that the little knowledge which the inhabitants of Queen
Charlotte's Sound had of iron, they obtained from their neighbours at
Tierawitte; for we had no reason to think that the inhabitants of any
part of this coast had the least knowledge of iron or its use before we
came among them, especially as when it was first offered they seemed to
disregard it, as of no value. We thought it probable, that we were now
once more in the territories of Teratu; but upon enquiring of these
people, they said that he was not their king. After a short time, they
went away, much gratified with the presents that we had made them; and
we pursued our course along the shore to the N.E. till eleven o'clock
the next morning. About this time the weather happening to clear up, we
saw Cape Turnagain, bearing N. by E. 1/2 E. at the distance of about
seven leagues: I then called the officers upon deck, and asked them,
whether they were not now satisfied, that Eahienomauwe was an island;
they readily answered in the affirmative, and all doubts being now
removed, we hauled our wind to the eastward.


SECTION XXVII.

_Range from Cape Turnagain southward along the eastern Coast of
Poenammoo, round Cape South, and bade to the western Entrance of Cook's
Streight, which completed the Circumnavigation of this Country; with a
Description of the Coast, and of Admiralty Bay: The Departure from New
Zealand, and various Particulars_.


At four o'clock in the afternoon of Friday the 9th of February, we
tacked, and stood S.W. till eight o'clock the next morning; when, being
not above three or four miles from the shore, we stood off two hours,
and then again S.W. till noon, when, at the distance of about two miles
from the shore, we had twenty-six fathom water.

We continued to make sail to the southward till sunset on the 11th, when
a fresh breeze at N.E. had carried us back again the length of Cape
Palliser, of which, as the weather was clear, we had a good view. It is
of a height sufficient to be seen in clear weather at the distance of
twelve or fourteen leagues, and the land is of a broken and hilly
surface. Between the foot of the high land and the sea there is a low
flat border, off which there are some rocks that appear above water.
Between this Cape and Cape Turnagain, the land near the shore is, in
many places, low and flat, and has a green and pleasant appearance; but
farther from the sea it rises into hills. The land between Cape Palliser
and Cape Tierawitte is high, and makes in table-points; it also seemed
to us to form two bays, but we were at too great a distance from this
part of the coast to judge accurately from appearances. The wind having
been variable, with calms, we had advanced no farther by the 12th at
noon than latitude 41° 52', Cape Palliser then bearing north, distant
about five leagues; and the snowy mountain S. 83 W.

At noon on the 13th, we found ourselves in the latitude of 42° 2' S.;
Cape Palliser bearing N. 20 E. distant eight leagues. In the afternoon,
a fresh gale sprung up at N.E. and we steered S.W. by W. for the
southermost land in sight, which at sun-set bore from us S. 74 W. At
this time the variation was 15° 4' E.

At eight o'clock on the morning of the 14th, having run one-and-twenty
leagues S. 58 W. since the preceding noon, it fell calm. We were then
abreast of the snowy mountain which bore from us N.W. and in this
direction lay behind a mountainous ridge of nearly the same height,
which rises directly from the sea, and runs parallel with the shore,
which lies N.E. 1/2 N. and S.W. 1/2 S. The north-west end of the ridge
rises inland, not far from Cape Campbell; and both the mountain and the
ridge are distinctly seen as well from Cape Koamaroo as Cape Palliser:
From Koamaroo they are distant two-and-twenty leagues S.W. 1/2 S.; and
from Cape Palliser thirty leagues W.S.W.; and are of a height sufficient
to be seen at a much greater distance. Some persons on board were of
opinion that they were as high as Teneriffe; but I did not think them as
high as Mount Egmont on the south-west coast of Eahienomauwe; because
the snow, which almost entirely covered Mount Egmont, lay only in
patches upon these. At noon this day, we were in latitude 42° 34' S. The
southermost land in sight bore S.W. 1/2 S.; and some low land that
appeared like an island, and lay close under the foot of the ridge, bore
N.W. by N. about five or six leagues.

In the afternoon, when Mr Banks was out in the boat a-shooting, we saw
with our glasses, four double canoes, having on board fifty-seven men,
put off from that shore, and make towards him: We immediately made
signals for him to come on board; but the ship, with respect to him,
being right in the wake of the sun, he did not see them. We were at a
considerable distance from the shore, and he was at a considerable
distance from the ship, which was between him and the shore; so that, it
being a dead calm, I began to be in some pain for him, fearing that he
might not see the canoes time enough to reach the ship before they
should get up with him: Soon after, however, we saw his boat in motion,
and had the pleasure to take him on board before the Indians came up,
who probably had not seen him, as their attention seemed to be wholly
fixed upon the ship. They came within about a stone's cast, and then
stopped, gazing at us with a look of vacant astonishment: Tupia exerted
all his eloquence to prevail upon them to come nearer, but without any
effect. After surveying us for some time, they left us, and made towards
the shore; but had not measured more than half the distance between that
and the ship before it was dark. We imagined that these people had heard
nothing of us, and could not but remark the different behaviour and
dispositions of the inhabitants of the different parts of this coast
upon their first approaching the vessel. These kept aloof with a mixture
of timidity and wonder: Others had immediately commenced hostilities, by
pelting us with stones: The gentleman whom we had found alone, fishing
in his boat, seemed to think us entirely unworthy of his notice; and
some, almost without invitation, had come on board with an air of
perfect confidence and good-will. From the behaviour of our last
visitors, I gave the land from which they had put off, and which, as I
have before observed, had the appearance of an island, the name of
Lookers-on.

At eight o'clock in the evening, a breeze sprung up at S.S.W. with which
I stretched of south-east, because some on board thought they saw land
in that quarter. In this course we continued till six o'clock the next
morning, when we had run eleven leagues, but saw no land, except that
which we had left. Having stood to the S.E. with a light breeze, which
veered from the west to the north, till noon, our latitude by
observation was 42° 56' S., and the high land that we were abreast of
the preceding noon bore N.N.W. 1/2 W. In the afternoon we had a light
breeze at N.E. with which we steered west, edging in for the land, which
was distant about eight leagues. At seven in the evening, we were about
six leagues from the shore, and the southermost extremity of the land in
sight bore W.S.W.

At day-break on the 16th, we discovered land bearing S. by W. and
seemingly detached from the coast we were upon. About eight, a breeze
sprung up, at N. by E. and we steered directly for it. At noon, we were
in latitude 43° 19' S. the peak on the snowy mountain bore N. 20 E.
distant twenty-seven leagues; the southern extremity of the land we
could see bore west, and the land which had been discovered in the
morning appeared like an island extending from S.S.W. to S.W. by W. 1/2
W. distant about eight leagues. In the afternoon, we stood to the
southward of it, with a fresh breeze at north: At eight in the evening,
we had run eleven leagues, and the land then extended from S.W. by W. to
N. by W. We were then distant about three or four leagues from the
nearest shore, and in this situation had fifty fathom water, with a fine
sandy bottom. The variation of the compass by this morning's amplitude
was 14° 39' E.

At sun-rise, the next morning, our opinion that the land we had been
standing for was an island, was confirmed, by our seeing part of the
land of Tovy Poenammoo open to the westward of it, extending as far as
W. by S. At eight in the morning, the extremes of the island bore N. 76
W. and N.N.E. 1/2 E.; and an opening near the south point, which had the
appearance of a bay or harbour, N. 20 W. distant between three and four
leagues: In this situation we had thirty-eight fathom water, with a
brown sandy bottom.

This island, which I named after Mr Banks, lies about five leagues from
the coast of Tovy Poenamoo; the south point bears S. 21 W. from the
highest peak on the snowy mountain, and lies in latitude 43° 32' S. and
in longitude 186° 30' W. by an observation of the sun and moon which was
made this morning: It is of a circular figure, and about twenty-four
leagues in compass: It is sufficiently high to be seen at the distance
of twelve or fifteen leagues, and the land has a broken irregular
surface, with the appearance rather of barrenness than fertility; yet it
was inhabited, for we saw smoke in one place, and a few straggling
natives in another.

When this island was first discovered in the direction of S. by W. some
persons on board were of opinion that they also saw land bearing S.S.E.
and S.E. by E. I was myself upon the deck at the time, and told them,
that in my opinion it was no more than a cloud, and that as the sun rose
it would dissipate and vanish. However, as I was determined to leave no
subject for disputation which experiment could remove, I ordered the
ship to be wore, and steered E.S.E. by compass, in the direction which
the land was said to bear from us at that time. At noon, we were in
latitude 44° 7' S.; the south point of Banks's Island bearing north,
distant five leagues. By seven o'clock at night we had run
eight-and-twenty miles, when seeing no land, nor any signs of any, but
that which we had left, we bore away S. by W. and continued upon that
course till the next day at noon, when we were in latitude 45° 16', the
south point of Banks's Island bearing N. 6° 30' W. distant twenty-eight
leagues. The variation by the azimuth this morning was 15° 30' E. As no
signs of land had yet appeared to the southward, and as I thought that
we had stood far enough in that direction to weather all the land we had
left, judging from the report of the natives in Queen Charlotte's Sound,
I hauled to the westward.

We had a moderate breeze at N.N.W.N. till eight in the evening, when it
became unsettled; and at ten fixed at south: During the night, it blew
with such violence that it brought us under our close reefed topsails.
At eight the next morning, having run twenty-eight leagues upon a W. by
N. 1/2 N. course, and judging ourselves to be to the westward of the
land of Tovy Poenammoo, we bore away N.W. with a fresh gale at south. At
ten, having run eleven miles upon this course, we saw land extending
from the S.W. to the N.W. at the distance of about ten leagues, which we
hauled up for. At noon, our latitude by observation was 44° 38', the
south-east point of Banks's Island bore N. 58° 30' E. distant thirty
leagues, and the main body of the land in sight W. by N. A head sea
prevented us from making much way to the southward; at seven in the
evening the extremes of the land stretched from S.W. by S. to N. by W.;
and at six leagues from the shore we had thirty-two fathom water. At
four o'clock the next morning, we stood in for the shore W. by S. and
during a course of four leagues, our depth of water was from thirty-two
to thirteen fathom. When it was thirteen fathom we were but three miles
distant from the shore, and therefore stood off; its direction is here
nearly N. and S. The surface, to the distance of about five miles from
the sea, is low and flat; but it then rises into hills of a considerable
height. It appeared to be totally barren, and we saw no signs of its
being inhabited. Our latitude, at noon, was 44° 44'; and the longitude
which we made from Banks's Island to this place was 2° 22' W. During the
last twenty-four hours, though we carried as much sail as the ship would
bear, we were driven three leagues to the leeward.

We continued to stand off and on all this day and the next, keeping at
the distance of between four and twelve leagues from the shore, and
having water from thirty-five to fifty-three fathom. On the 22d, at
noon, we had no observation, but by the land judged ourselves to be
about three leagues farther north than we had been the day before. At
sun-set, the weather, which had been hazy, clearing up, we saw a
mountain which rose in a high peak, bearing N.W. by N.; and at the same
time, we saw the land more distinctly than before, extending from N. to
S.W. by S. which, at some distance within the coast, had a lofty and
mountainous appearance. We soon found that the accounts which had been
given us by the Indians in Queen Charlotte's Sound of the land to the
southward were not true; for they had told us that it might be
circumnavigated in four days.

On the 23d, having a hollow swell from the S.E. and expecting wind from
the same quarter, we kept plying between seven and fifteen leagues from
the shore, having from seventy to forty-four fathom. At noon, our
latitude by observation was 44° 40' S. and our longitude from Banks's
Island 1° 31' W. From this time to six in the evening it was calm; but a
light breeze then springing up at E.N.E. we steered S.S.E. all night,
edging off from the land, the hollow swell still continuing; our depth
of water was from sixty to seventy-five fathom. While we were becalmed,
Mr Banks, being out in the boat, shot two Port Egmont hens, which were
in every respect the same as those that are found in great numbers upon
the island of Faro, and were the first of the kind we had seen upon this
coast, though we fell in with some a few days before we made land.

At day-break, the wind freshened, and before noon we had a strong gale
at N.N.E. At eight in the morning we saw the land extending as far as
S.W. by S. and steered directly for it. At noon, we were in latitude 45°
22' S.; and the land, which now stretched from S.W. 1/2 S. to N.N.W.
appeared to be rudely diversified by hill and valley. In the afternoon,
we steered S.W. by S. and S.W. edging in for the land with a fresh gale
at north; but though we were at no great distance, the weather was so
hazy that we could see nothing distinctly upon it, except a ridge of
high hills, lying not far from the sea, and parallel to the coast, which
in this place stretches S. by W. and N. by E. and seemed to end in a
high bluff point to the southward. By eight in the evening we were
abreast of this point; but it being then dark, and I not knowing which
way the land trended, we brought-to for the night. At this time, the
point bore west, and was distant about five miles: Our depth of water
was thirty-seven fathom, and the bottom consisted of small pebbles.

At day-break, having made sail, the point bore north, distant three
leagues, and we now found that the land trended from it S.W. by W. as
far as we could see. This point I named Cape Saunders, in honour of Sir
Charles. Our latitude was 45° 35' S., and longitude 189° 4' W. By the
latitude, and the angles that are made by the coast, this point will be
sufficiently known; there is, however, about three or four leagues to
the south-west of it, and very near the shore, a remarkable saddle-hill,
which is a good direction to it on that quarter. From one league to four
leagues north of Cape Saunders, the shore forms two or three bays, in
which there appeared to be good anchorage, and effectual shelter from
the S.W. westerly, and N. westerly winds; but my desire of getting to
the southward, in order to ascertain whether this country was an island
or a continent, prevented my putting into any of them.

We kept at a small distance from the shore all this morning, with the
wind at S.W., and had a very distinct view of it: It is of a moderate
height, and the surface is broken by many hills which are green and
woody; but we saw no appearance of inhabitants. At noon, Cape Saunders
bore N. 30 W. distant about four leagues. We had variable winds and
calms till five o'clock in the evening, when it fixed at W.S.W. and soon
blew so hard that it put us past our topsail, and split the foresail
all to pieces: After getting another to the yard, we continued to stand
to the southward under two courses; and at six the next morning, the
southermost land in sight bore W. by N. and Cape Saunders N. by W.
distant eight leagues: At noon, it bore N. 20 W. fourteen leagues; and
our latitude by observation was 46° 36'. The gale continued, with heavy
squalls and a large hollow sea all the afternoon; and at seven in the
evening, we lay-to under our foresail, with the ship's head to the
southward: At noon on the 27th, our latitude was 46° 54', and our
longitude from Cape Saunders 1° 24' E. At seven in the evening, we made
sail under our courses; and at eight the next morning set the top-sails
close reefed. At noon, our latitude was 47° 43', and our longitude east
from Cape Saunders 2° 10'. At this time we wore and stood to the
northward: In the afternoon, we found the variation to be 16° 34' E. At
eight in the evening, we tacked and stood to the southward, with the
wind at west.

At noon, this day, our latitude, by account, was 47° 52', and our
longitude from Cape Saunders 1° 8' E. We stood to the southward till
half an hour past three in the afternoon; and then, being in latitude
48° S. and longitude 188° W., and seeing no appearance of land, we
tacked and stood to the northward, having a large swell from the S.W. by
W. At noon, the next day, our latitude was 46° 42' S.; and Cape Saunders
bore N. 46 W. distant eighty-six miles. The south-west swell continuing
till the 3d, confirmed our opinion, that there was no land in that
quarter. At four in the afternoon, we stood to the westward with all the
sail we could make. In the morning of the 4th, we found the variation to
be 16° 16' E. This day we saw some whales and seals, as we had done
several times after our having passed the streight; but we saw no seals
while we were upon the coast of Eahienomauwe. We sounded both in the
night and this morning, but had no ground with one hundred and fifty
fathom. At noon, we saw Cape Saunders bearing N. 1/2 W.; and our
latitude by observation was 46° 31' S. At half an hour past one o'clock,
we saw land bearing W. by S., which we steered for, and before it was
dark were within three or four miles of it: During the whole night we
saw fires upon it, and at seven in the morning were within about three
leagues of the shore, which appeared to be high, but level. At three
o'clock in the afternoon, we saw the land extending from N.E. by N. to
N.W. 1/2 N.; and soon after we discovered some low land, which appeared
like an island, bearing S. 1/2 W. We continued our course to the W. by
S., and in two hours we saw high land over the low land, extending to
the southward as far as S.W. by S.; but it did not appear to be joined
to the land to the northward, so that there is either water, a deep bay,
or low land between them.

At noon on the 6th, we were nearly in the same situation as at noon on
the day before: In the afternoon we found the variation, by several
azimuths and the amplitude, to be 15° 10' E. On the 7th at noon, we were
in latitude 47° 6' S. and had made twelve miles easting during the last
twenty-four hours. We stood to the westward the remainder of this day,
and all the next till sun-set, when the extremes of the land bore from
N. by E. to W. distant about seven or eight leagues: In this situation
our depth of water was fifty-five fathom, and the variation by amplitude
16° 29' E. The wind now veered from the N. to the W., and as we had fine
weather, and moon-light, we kept standing close upon the wind to the
S.W. all night. At four in the morning, we had sixty fathom water; and
at day-light, we discovered under our bow a ledge of rocks, extending
from S. by W. to W. by S. upon which the sea broke very high: They were
not more than three quarters of a mile distant, yet we had
five-and-forty fathom water. As the wind was at N.W. we could not now
weather them, and as I was unwilling to run to leeward, I tacked and
made a trip to the eastward; the wind however soon after coming to the
northward, enabled us to get clear of all. Our soundings, while we were
passing within the ledge, were from thirty-five to forty-seven fathom,
with a rocky bottom.

This ledge lies S.E. six leagues from the southermost part of the land,
and S.E. by E. from some remarkable hills which stand near the shore:
About three leagues to the northward of it, there is another ledge,
which lies full three leagues from the shore, and on which the sea broke
in a dreadful surf. As we passed these rocks to the north in the night,
and discovered the others under our bow at break of day, it is manifest
that our danger was imminent, and our escape critical in the highest
degree: From the situation of these rocks, so well adapted to catch
unwary strangers, I called them the _Traps_. Our latitude at noon was
47° 26' S. The land in sight, which had the appearance of an island,
extended from N.E. by N. to N.W. by W. and seemed to be about five
leagues distant from the main; the eastermost ledge of rocks bore S.S.E.
distant one league and a half, and the northermost N.E. 1/2 E. distant
about three leagues. This land is high and barren, with nothing upon it
but a few straggling shrubs, for not a single tree was to be seen; it
was however remarkable for a number of white patches which I took to be
marble, as they reflected the sun's rays very strongly: Other patches of
the same kind we had observed in different parts of this country,
particularly in Mercury Bay: We continued to stand close upon a wind to
the westward, and at sun-set the southermost point of land bore N. 38 E.
distant four leagues, and the westermost land in sight bore N. 2 E. The
point which lies in latitude 47° 19' S. longitude.192° 12' W. I named
_South Cape_; the westermost land was a small island, lying off the
point of the main.

Supposing South Cape to be the southern extremity of this country, as
indeed it proved to be, I hoped to get round it by the west, for a large
hollow swell from the south-west, ever since our last hard gale, had
convinced me that there was no land in that direction.

In the night we had a hard gale at N.E. by N. and N. which brought us
under our courses, but about eight in the morning it became moderate;
and at noon veering to the west, we tacked and stood to the northward,
having no land in sight. Our latitude, by observation, was 47° 33' S.
our longitude, west from the South Cape, 59'. We stood away N.N.E. close
upon a wind, without seeing any land, till two the next morning, when we
discovered an island bearing N.W. by N. distant about five leagues:
About two hours afterwards we saw land a-head, upon which we tacked and
stood off till six, when we stood in to take a nearer view of it: At
eleven we were within three leagues of it, but the wind seeming to
incline upon the shore, I tacked and stood off to the southward. We had
now sailed round the land which we had discovered on the 5th, and which
then did not appear to be joined to the main which lay north of it; and
being now come to the other side of what we supposed to be water, a bay,
or low land, it had the same appearance, but when I came to lay it down
upon paper I saw no reason to suppose it to be an island; on the
contrary, I was clearly of opinion that it made part of the main. At
noon, the western extremity of the main bore N. 59 W., and the island
which we had seen in the morning S. 59 W. distant about five leagues.
It lies in latitude 46° 31' S. longitude 192° 49' W., and is nothing
but a barren rock about a mile in circuit, remarkably high, and lies
full five leagues distant from the main. This island I named after Dr
Solander, and called it _Solander's Island_. The shore of the main lies
nearest E. by S. and W. by N. and forms a large open bay, in which there
is no appearance of any harbour or shelter for shipping against S.W. and
southerly winds: The surface of the country is broken into craggy hills,
of a great height, on the summits of which are several patches of snow:
It is not, however, wholly barren, for we could see wood not only in the
vallies, but upon the highest ground, yet we saw no appearance of its
being inhabited.

We continued to stand to the S.W. by S. till eleven o'clock the next
morning, when the wind shifted to the S.W. by W., upon which we wore,
and stood to the N.N.W., being then in latitude 47° 40' S. longitude
193° 50' W., and having a hollow sea from the S.W.

During the night, we steered N.N.W. till six in the morning, when,
seeing no land, we steered N. by E. till eight, when we steered N.E. by
E. 1/2 E. to make the land, which at ten we saw bearing E.N.E., but it
being hazy, we could distinguish nothing upon it. At noon, our latitude,
by observation, was 46° S. About two it cleared up, and the land
appeared to be high, rude, and mountainous.: About half an hour after
three I hauled in for a bay, in which there appeared to be good
anchorage; but in about an hour, finding the distance too great to run
before it would be dark, and the wind blowing too hard to make the
attempt safe in the night, I bore away along the shore.

This bay, which I called _Dusky Bay_, lies in latitude 45° 47' S.: It is
between three and four miles broad at the entrance, and seems to be full
as deep as it is broad: It contains several islands, behind which there
must be shelter from all winds, though possibly there may not be
sufficient depth of water. The north point of this bay, when it bears
S.E. by S, is rendered very remarkable by five high peaked rocks which
lie off it, and have the appearance of the four fingers and thumb of a
man's hand, for which reason I called it _Point Five Fingers_: The land
of this point is farther remarkable, for being the only level land
within a considerable distance. It extends near two leagues to the
northward, is lofty, and covered with wood. The land behind it is very
different, consisting wholly of mountains, totally barren and rocky; and
this difference gives the Cape the appearance of an island.

At sun-set, the southermost land in sight bore due south, distant about
five or six leagues; and as this is the westermost point of land upon
the whole coast, I called it _West Cape_. It lies about three leagues to
the southward of Dusky Bay, in the latitude of 45° 54' S. and in the
longitude of 193° 17' W. The land of this Cape is of a moderate height
next the sea, and has nothing remarkable about it, except a very white
cliff, two or three leagues to the southward of it: To the southward of
it also the land trends away to the S.E. and to the northward it trends
N.N.E.

Having brought-to for the night, we made sail along the shore at four in
the morning, in the direction of N.E. 1/2 N. with a moderate breeze at
S.S.E. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 45° 18' S. At this
time, being about a league and a half from the shore, we sounded, but
had no ground with seventy fathom: We had just passed a small narrow
opening in land, where there seemed to be a very safe and convenient
harbour, formed by an island, which lay in the middle of the opening at
east. The opening lies in latitude 45° 16' S., and on the land behind it
are mountains, the summits of which were covered with snow, that
appeared to have been recently fallen; and indeed for two days past we
had found the weather very cold. On each side the entrance of the
opening, the land rises almost perpendicularly from the sea to a
stupendous height, and this indeed was the reason why I did not carry
the ship into it, for no wind could blow there but right in, or right
out, in the direction of either east or west, and I thought it by no
means advisable to put into a place whence I could not have got out but
with a wind which experience had taught me did not blow more than one
day in a month. In this, however, I acted contrary to the opinion of
some persons on board, who in very strong terms expressed their desire
to harbour for present convenience, without any regard to future
disadvantages.

In the evening, being about two leagues from the shore, we sounded, and
had no ground with 108 fathom: The variation of the needle, by azimuth,
was 14° E. and by amplitude 15° 2'. We made the best of our way along
the shore with what wind we had, keeping at the distance of between two
and three leagues. At noon, we were in latitude 44° 47', having run only
twelve leagues upon a N.E. 1/4 N. course, during the last
four-and-twenty hours.

We continued to steer along the shore, in the direction of N.E. 1/4 E.
till six o'clock in the evening, when we brought-to for the night. At
four in the morning, we stood in for the land, and when the day broke we
saw what appeared to be an inlet; but upon a nearer approach proved to
be only a deep valley between two high lands: We proceeded therefore in
the same course, keeping the shore at the distance of between four and
five miles. At noon on the 16th, the northermost point of land in sight
bore N. 60 E. at the distance of ten miles; and our latitude, by
observation, was 44° 5', our longitude from Cape West 3° 8' E. About
two, we past the point which at noon had been distant ten miles, and
found it to consist of high red cliffs, down which there fell a cascade
of water in four small streams, and I therefore gave it the name of
_Cascade Point_. From this Point the land trends first N. 76 E. and
afterwards more to the northward. At the distance of eight leagues from
Cascade Point, in the direction of E.N.E. and at a little distance from
the shore, lies a small low island, which bore from us S. by E. at the
distance of about a league and a half.

At seven in the evening, we brought-to, in thirty-three fathom, with a
fine sandy bottom; at ten we had fifty fathom, and at twelve wore in
sixty-five fathom, having driven several miles N.N.W. after our having
brought-to. At two in the morning, we had no ground with 140 fathom, by
which it appears that the soundings extend but a little way from the
shore. About this time it fell calm; at eight, a breeze sprung up at
S.W. with which we steered along the shore, in the direction of N.E. by
E. 1/2 E. at the distance of about three leagues. At six in the evening,
being about one league from the shore, we had seventeen fathom; and at
eight, being about three leagues from the shore, we had forty-four; we
now shortened sail, and brought-to, having run ten leagues N.E. by E.
since noon.

It was calm most part of the night; but at ten in the morning a light
breeze sprung up at S.W. by W. when we made sail again along the shore
N.E. by N., having a large swell from the W.S.W. which had risen in the
night; at noon, our latitude, by observation, was 43° 4' S. and our
longitude from Cape West 4° 12' E. We observed, that the vallies as well
as the mountains were this morning covered with snow, part of which we
supposed to have fallen during the night, when we had rain. At six in
the evening we shortened sail, and at ten brought-to, at the distance of
about five leagues from the shore, where we had 115 fathom. At midnight,
there being little wind, we made sail, and at eight in the morning we
stood to the N.E. close upon a wind till noon, when we tacked, being
about three leagues from the land, and, by observation, in latitude 42°
8' and longitude from Cape West 5° 5' E.

We continued to stand westward till two in the morning, when we made a
trip to the eastward, and afterwards stood westward till noon, when, by
our reckoning, we were in the latitude 42° 23', and longitude from Cape
West 3° 55' E. We now tacked and stood eastward, with a fresh gale at N.
by W. till six in the evening, when the wind shifted to the S. and
S.S.W. with which we steered N.E. by N. till six in the morning, when we
hauled in E. by N. to make the land, which we saw soon afterwards; at
noon, our latitude, by account, was 41° 37', and our longitude from Cape
West 5° 42' E. We were now within three or four leagues of the land, but
it being foggy, we could see nothing upon it distinctly, and as we had
much wind, and a vast swell rolling in upon the shore, from the W.S.W. I
did not think it safe to go nearer.

In the afternoon, we had a gentle breeze from the S.S.W. with which we
steered north along the shore till eight, when, being within between two
and three leagues, we sounded, and had but thirty-four fathom; upon
which we hauled off N.W. by N. till eleven at night, and then
brought-to, having sixty-four fathom. At four in the morning, we made
sail to the N.E. with a light breeze at S.S.W. which at eight veered to
the westward, and soon after died away; at this time we were within
three or four miles of the land, and had fifty-four fathom, with a large
swell from the W.S.W. rolling obliquely upon the shore, which made me
fear that I should be obliged to anchor; but by the help of a light air
now and then from the S.W. I was able to keep the ship from driving. At
noon, the northermost land in sight bore N.E. by E. 1/2 E. distant about
ten leagues; our latitude, by account, was 40° 55' S. longitude from
Cape West 6° 35' E. From this time we had light airs from the southward,
with intervals of calm, till noon on the 23d, when our latitude, by
observation, was 40° 36' 30" S. and our longitude from Cape West 6° 52'
E. The eastermost point of land in sight bore E. 10 N. at the distance
of seven leagues, and a bluff head or point, of which we had been
abreast at noon the day before, and off which lay some rocks above
water, bore S. 18 W. at the distance of six leagues. This point I called
_Rock's Point_. Our latitude was now 40° 55' S., and having nearly run
down the whole of the north-west coast of Tovy Poenammoo, I shall give
some account of the face of the country.

I have already observed, that on the 11th, when we were off the southern
part, the land then seen was craggy and mountainous; and there is great
reason to believe that the same ridge of mountains extends nearly the
whole length of the island. Between the westernmost land which we saw
that day, and the easternmost which we saw on the 13th, there is a space
of about six or eight leagues, of which we, did not see the coast,
though we plainly discovered the mountains inland. The sea-coast near
Cape West is low, rising with an easy and gradual ascent to the foot of
the mountains, and being in most parts covered with wood. From Point
Five Fingers, down to latitude 44° 26', there is a narrow ridge of hills
that rises directly from the sea, and is covered with wood: Close behind
these hills are the mountains, extending in another ridge of a
stupendous height, and consisting of rocks that are totally barren and
naked, except where they are covered with snow, which is to be seen in
large patches upon many parts of them, and has probably lain there ever
since the creation of the world: A prospect more rude, craggy, and
desolate than this country affords from the sea, cannot possibly be
conceived, for as far inland as the eye can reach, nothing appears but
the summits of rocks, which stand so near together, that instead of
vallies there are only fissures between them. From the latitude of 44°
20', to the latitude of 42° 8', these mountains lie farther inland, and
the sea-coast consists of woody hills and valleys, of various height
and extent, and has much appearance of fertility: Many of the vallies
form plains of considerable extent, wholly covered with wood, but it is
very probable that the ground, in many places, is swampy, and
interspersed with pools of water. From latitude 42° 8', to 41° 30', the
land is not distinguished by any thing remarkable: It rises into hills
directly from the sea, and is covered with wood; but the weather being
foggy while we were upon this part of the coast, we could see very
little inland, except now and then the summits of the mountains,
towering above the cloudy mists that obscured them below, which
confirmed my opinion that a chain of mountains extended from one end of
the island to the other.

In the afternoon, we had a gentle breeze at S.W., which, before it was
quite dark, brought us abreast of the eastern point which we had seen at
noon; but not knowing what course the land took on the other side of it,
we brought-to in thirty-four fathom, at the distance of about one league
from the shore. At eight in the evening, there being little wind, we
filled and stood on till midnight, and then we brought-to till four in
the morning, when we again made sail, and at break of day we saw low
land extending from the point to the S.S.E. as far as the eye could
reach, the eastern extremity of which appeared in round hillocks: By
this time the gale had veered to the eastward, which obliged us to ply
to windward. At noon next day, the eastern point bore S.W. by S. distant
sixteen miles, and our latitude was 40° 19': The wind continuing
easterly, we were nearly in the same situation at noon on the day
following. About three o'clock the wind came to the westward, and we
steered E.S.E. with all the sail we could set till it was dark, and then
shortened sail till the morning: As we had thick hazy weather all night,
we kept sounding continually, and had from thirty-seven to forty-two
fathom. When the day broke we saw land bearing S.E. by E. and an island
lying near it, bearing E.S.E. distant about five leagues: This island I
knew to be the same that I had seen from the entrance of Queen
Charlotte's Sound, from which it bears N.W. by N. distant nine leagues.
At noon, it bore south, distant four or five miles, and the north-west
head of the Sound S.E. by S. distant ten leagues and a half. Our
latitude, by observation, was 40° 33' S.

As we had now circumnavigated the whole country, it became necessary to
think of quitting it; but as I had thirty tons of empty water casks on
board, this could not be done till I had filled them: I therefore hauled
round the island, and entered a bay which lies between that and Queen
Charlotte's Sound, leaving three more islands, which lay close under the
western shore, between three or four miles within the entrance, on our
starboard hand: While we were running in, we kept the lead continually
going, and had from forty to twelve fathom. At six o'clock in the
evening, we anchored in eleven fathom with a muddy bottom, under the
west shore, in the second cove, that lies within the three islands; and
as soon as it was light the next morning, I took a boat, and went on
shore to look for a watering-place, and a proper birth for the ship,
both which I found, much to my satisfaction. As soon as the ship was
moored, I sent an officer on shore to superintend the watering, and the
carpenter, with his crew, to cut wood, while the long-boat was employed
in landing the empty casks.

In this employment we were busy till the 30th, when the wind seeming to
settle at S.E. and our water being nearly completed, we warped the ship
out of the cove, that we might have room to get under sail: And at noon
I went away in the pinnace to examine as much of the bay as my time
would admit.

After rowing about two leagues up it, I went ashore upon a point of land
on the western side, and having climbed a hill, I saw the western arm of
this bay run in S.W. by W. about five leagues farther, yet I could not
discover the end of it: There appeared to be several other inlets, or at
least small bays, between this and the north-west head of Queen
Charlotte's Sound, in each of which, I make no doubt, there is anchorage
and shelter, as they are all covered from the sea-wind by the islands
which lie without them. The land about this bay, as far as I could see
of it, is of a hilly surface, chiefly covered with trees, shrubs, and
fern, which render travelling difficult and fatiguing. In this excursion
I was accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, who found several new
plants. We met with some huts, which seemed to have been long deserted,
but saw no inhabitants. Mr Banks examined several of the stones that
lay upon the beach, which were full of veins, and had a mineral
appearance; but he did not discover any thing in them which he knew to
be ore: If he had had an opportunity to examine any of the bare rocks,
perhaps he might have been more fortunate. He was also of opinion that
what I had taken for marble in another place, was a mineral substance;
and that, considering the correspondence of latitude between this place
and South America, it was not improbable but that, by a proper
examination, something very valuable might be found.

At my return in the evening, I found all the wood and water on board,
and the ship ready for the sea; I resolved therefore to quit the
country, and return home by such a route as might be of most advantage
to the service; and upon this subject took the opinion of my officers. I
had myself a strong desire to return by Cape Horn, because that would
have enabled me finally to determine, whether there is or is not a
southern continent; but against this it was a sufficient objection that
we must have kept in a high southern latitude in the very depth of
winter, with a vessel which was not thought sufficient for the
undertaking: And the same reason was urged against our proceeding
directly for the Cape of Good Hope, with still more force, because no
discovery of moment could be hoped for in that route; it was therefore
resolved that we should return by the East Indies, and that with this
view we should, upon leaving the coast, steer westward, till we should
fall in with the east coast of New Holland, and then follow the
direction of that coast to the northward, till we should arrive at its
northern extremity; but if that should be found impracticable, it was
further resolved that we should endeavour to fall in with the land, or
islands, said to have been discovered by Quiros.

With this view, at break of day on Saturday the 31st of March, 1770, we
got under sail, and put to sea, with the advantage of a fresh gale at
S.E. and clear weather, taking our departure from the eastern point,
which we had seen at noon on the 23d, and to which, on this occasion I
gave the name of _Cape Farewell_.

The bay out of which we had just sailed I called _Admiralty Bay_, giving
the name of _Cape Stephens_ to the northwest point, and _Cape Jackson_
to the south-east, after the two gentlemen who at this time were
secretaries to the board.

Admiralty Bay may easily be known by the island that has been just
mentioned, which lies two miles N.E. of Cape Stephens, in latitude 40°
37' S. longitude 185° 6' W., and is of a considerable height. Between
this island and Cape Farewell, which are between fourteen and fifteen
leagues distant from each other, in the direction of W. by N. and E. by
S. the shore forms a large deep bay, the bottom of which we could
scarcely see while we were sailing in a straight line from one Cape to
the other; it is, however, probably of less depth than it appeared to
be, for as we found the water shallower here, than at the same distance
from any other part of the coast, there is reason to suppose, that the
land at the bottom which lies next the sea is low, and therefore not
easily to be distinguished from it. I have for this reason called it
_Blind Bay_, and am of opinion that it is the same which was called
Murderer's Bay by Tasman.[68]

[Footnote 68: The three following sections of the original are occupied
by unsatisfactory accounts of New Zealand, which it seemed very
unadvisable to give here, as the subject must be resumed when we come to
the third voyage of Captain Cook. It was equally objectionable to
anticipate fuller information _now_, and to repeat imperfect notices
_hereafter_. The present omission will be made up to the reader's
content. We now go on with the remainder of the narrative.--E.]


SECTION XXVIII.

_The Run from New Zealand to Botany Bay, on the East Coast of New
Holland, now called New South Wales; various Incidents that happened
there; with some Account of the Country and its Inhabitants_.


Having sailed from Cape Farewell, which lies in latitude 40° 33' S.,
longitude 186° W., on Saturday the 31st of March, 1770, we steered
westward, with a fresh gale at N.N.E., and at noon on the 2d of April,
our latitude, by observation, was 40°, our longitude from Cape Farewell
2° 31' W.

In the morning of the 9th, being in latitude 38° 29' S. we saw a tropic
bird which in so high a latitude is very uncommon.

In the morning of the 10th, being in latitude 38° 51' S., longitude 202°
43' W., we found the variation, by the amplitude, to be 11° 25' E. and
by the azimuth 11° 20'.

In the morning of the 11th, the variation was 13° 48', which is two
degrees and a half more than the day before, though I expected to have
found it less.

In the course of the 13th, being in latitude 39° 23' S., longitude 204°
2' W., I found the variation to be 12° 27' E., and in the morning of the
14th, it was 11° 30'; this day we also saw some flying fish. On the
15th, we saw an egg bird and a gannet, and as these are birds that never
go far from the land, we continued to sound all night, but had no ground
with 130 fathom. At noon on the 16th, we were in latitude 39° 45' S.,
longitude 208° W. At about two o'clock the wind came about to the W.S.W.
upon which we tacked and stood to the N.W.; soon after, a small
land-bird perched upon the rigging, but we had no ground with 120
fathom. At eight we wore and stood to the southward till twelve at
night, and then wore and stood to the N.W. till four in the morning,
when we again stood to the southward, having a fresh gale at W.S.W. with
squalls and dark weather till nine, when the weather became clear, and
there being little wind, we had an opportunity to take several
observations of the sun and moon, the mean result of which gave 207° 56'
W. longitude: Our latitude at noon was 39° 36' S. We had now a hard gale
from the southward, and a great sea from the same quarter, which obliged
us to run under our fore-sail and mizen all night, during which we
sounded every two hours, but had no ground with 120 fathom.

In the morning of the 18th, we saw two Port Egmont hens, and a pintado
bird, which are certain signs of approaching land, and indeed by our
reckoning we could not be far from it, for our longitude was now one
degree to the westward of the east side of Van Diemen's land, according
to the longitude laid down by Tasman, whom we could not suppose to have
erred much in so short a run as from this land to New Zealand, and by
our latitude we could not be above fifty or fifty-five leagues from the
place whence he took his departure. All this day we had frequent
squalls and a great swell. At one in the morning we brought-to and
sounded, but had no ground with 130 fathom; at six we saw land extending
from N.E. to W. at the distance of five or six leagues, having eighty
fathom, water with a fine sandy bottom.

We continued standing westward, with the wind at S.S.W. till eight, when
we made all the sail we could, and bore away along the shore N.E. for
the eastermost land in sight, being at this time in latitude 37° 58' S.,
and longitude 210° 39' W. The southermost point of land in sight, which
bore from us W. 1/4 S., I judged to lie in latitude 38°, longitude 211°
7', and gave it the name of _Point Hicks_, because Mr Hicks, the first
lieutenant, was the first who discovered it. To the southward of this
Point no land was to be seen, though it was very clear in that quarter,
and by our longitude, compared with that of Tasman, not as it is laid
down in the printed charts, but in the extracts from Tasman's journal,
published by Rembrantse, the body of Van Diemen's land ought to have
borne due south; and indeed, from the sudden falling of the sea after
the wind abated, I had reason to think it did; yet as I did not see it,
and as I found this coast trend N.E. and S.W. or rather more to the
eastward, I cannot determine whether it joins to Van Diemen's land or
not.[69]

[Footnote 69: This part of geography has been a good deal improved since
Cook's time, as will be illustrated in progress. Van Diemen's land,
which was formerly reckoned a part of New Holland, and is marked as such
in the accompanying chart, is separated from it by Bass's Strait, which
is about 30 leagues in breadth,' and contains several groups of islands.
Of these more hereafter.--E.]

At noon, we were in latitude 370° 5', longitude 210° 29' W. The extremes
of the land extended from N.W. to E.N.E. and a remarkable point bore N.
20 E. at the distance of about four leagues. This point rises in a round
hillock, very much resembling the Ram-Head at the entrance of Plymouth
Sound, and therefore I called it by the same name. The variation by an
azimuth, taken this morning, was 3° 7' E.; and what we had now seen of
the land, appeared low and level: The sea-shore was a white sand, but
the country within was green and woody. About one o'clock, we saw three
water spouts at once; two were between us and the shore, and the third
at some distance, upon our larboard quarter: This phenomenon is so well
known, that it is not necessary to give a particular description of it
here.

At six o'clock in the evening, we shortened sail, and brought-to for the
night, having fifty-six fathom water, and a fine sandy bottom. The
northermost land in sight then bore N. by E. 1/2 E., and a small island
lying close to a point on the main bore W. distant two leagues. This
point, which I called _Cape Howe_, may be known by the trending of the
coast, which is north on the one side, and south-west on the other; it
may also be known by some round hills upon the main, just within it.

We brought-to for the night, and at four in the morning made sail along
shore to the northward. At six, the northermost land in sight bore
N.N.W. and we were at this time about four leagues from the shore. At
noon, we were in latitude 36° 51' S. longitude 209° 53' W. and about
three leagues distant from the shore. The weather being clear, gave us a
good view of the country, which has a very pleasing appearance: It is of
a moderate height, diversified by hills and vallies, ridges and plains,
interspersed with a few lawns of no great extent, but in general covered
with wood: The ascent of the hills and ridges is gentle, and the summits
are not high. We continued to sail along the shore to the northward,
with a southerly wind, and in the afternoon we saw a smoke in several
places, by which we knew the country to be inhabited. At six in the
evening, we shortened sail, and sounded: We found forty-four fathom
water, with a clear sandy bottom, and stood on under an easy sail till
twelve, when we brought-to for the night, and had ninety fathom water.

At four in the morning, we made sail again, at the distance of about
five leagues from the land, and at six, we were abreast of a high
mountain, lying near the shore, which, on account of its figure, I
called _Mount Dromedary_: Under this mountain the shore forms a point,
to which I gave the name of _Point Dromedary_, and over it there is a
peaked hillock. At this time, being in latitude 36° 18' S., longitude
209° 55' W. we found the variation to be 10° 42' E.

Between ten and eleven, Mr Green and I took several observations of the
sun and moon, the mean result of which gave 209° 17' longitude W. By an
observation made the day before, our longitude was 210° 9' W., from.
which 20' being subtracted, there remains 209° 49', the longitude of the
ship this day at noon, the mean of which, with this day's observation,
gives 209° 33', by which I fix the longitude of this coast. At noon, our
latitude was 35° 49' S., Cape Dromedary bore S. 30 W., at the distance
of twelve leagues, and an open bay, in which were three or four small
islands, bore N.W. by W. at the distance of five or six leagues. This
bay seemed to afford but little shelter from the sea winds, and yet it
is the only place where there appeared a probability of finding
anchorage upon the whole coast. We continued to steer along the shore N.
by E. and N.N.E. at the distance of about three leagues, and saw smoke
in many places near the beach. At five in the evening, we were abreast
of a point of land which rose in a perpendicular cliff, and which, for
that reason, I called _Point Upright_. Our latitude was 35° 35' S. when
this point bore from us due west, distant about two leagues: In this
situation, we had about thirty-one fathom water with a sandy bottom. At
six in the evening, the wind falling, we hauled off E.N.E. and at this
time the northermost land in sight bore N. by E. 1/2 E. At midnight,
being in seventy fathom water, we brought-to till four in the morning,
when we made sail in for the land; but at day-break, found our situation
nearly the same as it had been at five the evening before, by which it
was apparent that we had been driven about three leagues to the
southward, by a tide or current, during the night. After this we steered
along the shore N.N.E. with a gentle breeze at S.W., and were so near
the land as to distinguish several of the natives upon the beach, who
appeared to be of a black, or very dark colour. At noon, our latitude,
by observation, was 35° 27' S. and longitude 209° 23' W.; Cape Dromedary
bore S. 28 W. distant nineteen leagues, a remarkable peaked hill, which
resembled a square dove-house, with a dome at the top, and which for
that reason I called the _Pigeon House_, bore N. 32° 30' W., and a small
low island, which lay close under the shore, bore N.W. distant about two
or three leagues. When I first discovered this island, in the morning, I
was in hopes from its appearance, that I should have found shelter for
the ship behind it, but when we came near it, it did not promise
security even for the landing of a boat: I should however have attempted
to send a boat on shore, if the wind had not veered to that direction,
with a large hollow sea rolling in upon the land from the S.E. which
indeed had been the case ever since we had been upon it. The coast still
continued to be of a moderate height, forming alternately rocky points
and sandy beaches; but within, between Mount Dromedary and the Pigeon
House, we saw high mountains, which, except two, are covered with wood:
These two lie inland behind the Pigeon House, and are remarkably flat at
the top, with steep rocky cliffs all round them as far as we could see.
The trees, which almost every where clothe this country, appear to be
large and lofty. This day the variation was found to be 9° 50' E., and
for the two last days, the latitude, by observation, was twelve or
fourteen miles to the southward of the ship's account, which could have
been the effect of nothing but a current setting in that direction.
About four in the afternoon, being near five leagues from the land, we
tacked and stood off S.E. and E., and the wind having veered in the
night, from E. to N.E. and N., we tacked about four in the morning, and
stood in, being then about nine or ten leagues from the shore. At eight,
the wind began to die away, and soon after it was calm. At noon, our
latitude, by observation, was 35° 38', and our distance from the land
about six leagues. Cape Dromedary bore S. 37 W. distant seventeen
leagues, and the Pigeon House N. 40 W.: In this situation we had 74
fathom water. In the afternoon, we had variable light airs and calms,
till six in the evening, when a breeze sprung up at N. by W.: At this
time, being about four or five leagues from the shore, we had seventy
fathom water. The Pigeon House bore N. 45 W. Mount Dromedary S. 30 W.
and the northermost land in sight N. 19 E.

We stood to the north-east till noon the next day, with a gentle breeze
at N.W., and then we tacked and stood westward. At this time, our
latitude, by observation, was 35° 10' S., and longitude 208° 51' W. A
point of land which I had discovered on St George's day, and which
therefore I called _Cape George_, bore W. distant nineteen miles, and
the Pigeon House (the latitude and longitude of which I found to be 35°
19' S. and 209° 42' W.) S. 75 W. In the morning, we had found the
variation, by amplitude, to be 7° 50' E. and by several azimuths 7° 54'
E. We had a fresh breeze at N.W. from noon till three; it then came to
the west, when we tacked and stood to the northward. At five in the
evening, being about five or six leagues from the shore, with the Pigeon
House bearing W.S.W. distant about nine leagues, we had eighty-six
fathom water; and at eight, having thunder and lightning, with heavy
squalls, we brought-to in 120 fathom.

At three in the morning, we made sail again to the northward, having the
advantage of a fresh gale at S.W. At noon, we were about three or four
leagues from the shore, and in latitude 34° 22' S., longitude 208° 36'
W. In the course of this day's run from the preceding noon, which was
forty-five miles north-east, we saw smoke in several places near the
beach. About two leagues to the northward of Cape George, the shore
seemed to form a bay, which promised shelter from the north-east winds,
but as the wind was with us, it was not in my power to look into it
without beating up, which would have cost me more time than I was
willing to spare. The north point of this bay, on account of its figure,
I named _Long Nose_; its latitude is 35° 6', and about eight leagues
north of it there lies a point, which, from the colour of the land about
it, I called _Red Point_: Its latitude is 34° 29', and longitude 208°
45' W. To the north-west of Red Point, and a little way inland, stands a
round hill, the top of which looks like the crown of a hat. In the
afternoon of this day, we had a light breeze at N.N.W. till five in the
evening, when it fell calm: At this time, we were between three and four
leagues from the shore, and had forty-eight fathom water: The variation
by azimuth was 8° 48' E. and the extremities of this land were from N.E.
by N. to S.W. by S. Before it was dark, we saw smoke in several places
along the shore, and a fire two or three times afterwards. During the
night we lay becalmed, driving in before the sea till one in the
morning, when we got a breeze from the land, with which we steered N.E.
being then in thirty-eight fathom. At noon, it veered to N.E. by N. and
we were then in latitude 34° 10' S., longitude 208° 27' W.: The land was
distant about five leagues, and extended from S. 37 W. to N. 1/2 E. In
this latitude, there are some white cliffs, which rise perpendicularly
from the sea to a considerable height. We stood off the shore till two
o'clock, and then tacked and stood in till six, when we were within four
or five miles of it, and at that distance had fifty fathom water. The
extremities of the land bore from S. 28 W. to N. 25° 30' E. We now
tacked and stood off till twelve, then tacked and stood in again till
four in the morning, when we made a trip off till day-light; and during
all this time we lost ground, owing to the variableness of the winds. We
continued at the distance of between four and five miles from the shore,
till the afternoon, when we came within two miles, and I then hoisted
out the pinnace and yawl to attempt a landing, but the pinnace proved to
be so leaky that I was obliged to hoist her in again. At this time we
saw several of the natives walking briskly along the shore, four of whom
carried a small canoe upon their shoulders: We flattered ourselves that
they were going to put her into the water, and come off to the ship, but
finding ourselves disappointed, I determined to go on shore in the yawl,
with as many as it would carry: I embarked, therefore, with only Mr
Banks, Dr Solander, Tupia, and four rowers: We pulled for that part of
the shore where the Indians appeared, near which four small canoes were
lying at the water's edge. The Indians sat down upon the rocks, and
seemed to wait for our landing; but to our great regret, when we came
within about a quarter of a mile, they ran away into the woods: We
determined however to go ashore, and endeavour to procure an interview,
but in this we were again disappointed, for we found so great a surf
beating upon every part of the beach, that landing with our little boat
was altogether impracticable: We were therefore obliged to be content
with gazing at such objects as presented themselves from the water: The
canoes, upon a near view, seemed very much to resemble those of the
smaller sort at New Zealand. We observed, that among the trees on shore,
which were not very large, there was no underwood; and could distinguish
that many of them were of the palm kind, and some of them cabbage trees:
After many a wishful look we were obliged to return, with our curiosity
rather excited than satisfied, and about five in the evening got on
board the ship. About this time it fell calm, and our situation was by
no means agreeable: We were now not more than a mile and a half from the
shore, and within some breakers, which lay to the southward; but happily
a light breeze came off the land, and carried us out of danger. With
this breeze we stood to the northward, and at day-break we discovered a
bay, which seemed to be well sheltered from all winds, and into which
therefore I determined to go with the ship. The pinnace being repaired,
I sent her, with the master, to sound the entrance, while I kept turning
up, having the wind right out. At noon, the mouth of the bay bore N.N.W.
distant about a mile, and seeing a smoke on the shore, we directed our
glasses to the spot, and soon discovered ten people, who, upon our
nearer approach, left their fire, and retired to a little eminence,
whence they could conveniently observe our motions. Soon after two
canoes, each having two men on board, came to the shore just under the
eminence, and the men joined the rest on the top of it. The pinnace,
which had been sent ahead to sound, now approached the place, upon which
all the Indians retired farther up the hill, except one, who hid himself
among some rocks near the landing-place. As the pinnace proceeded along
the shore, most of the people took the same route, and kept abreast of
her at a distance; when she came back, the master told us, that in a
cove a little within the harbour, some of them had come down to the
beach, and invited him to land by many signs and words of which he knew
not the meaning; but that all of them were armed with long pikes, and a
wooden weapon shaped somewhat like a cymitar. The Indians who had not
followed the boat, seeing the ship approach, used many threatening
gestures; and brandished their weapons; particularly two, who made a
very singular appearance, for their faces seemed to have been dusted
with a white powder, and their bodies painted with broad streaks of the
same colour, which, passing obliquely over their breasts and backs,
looked not unlike the cross-belts worn by our soldiers; the same kind of
streaks were also drawn round their legs and thighs like broad garters:
Each of these men held in his hand the weapon that had been described to
us as like a cymitar, which appeared to be about two feet and a half
long, and they seemed to talk to each other with great earnestness.

We continued to stand into the bay, and early in the afternoon anchored
under the south shore, about two miles within the entrance, in six
fathom water, the south point bearing S.E. and the north point east. As
we came in we saw, on both points of the bay, a few huts, and several of
the natives, men, women, and children. Under the south head we saw four
small canoes, with each one man on board, who were very busily employed
in striking fish with a long pike or spear: They ventured almost into
the surf, and were so intent upon what they were doing, that although
the ship passed within a quarter of a mile of them, they scarcely turned
their eyes toward her; possibly being deafened by the surf, and their
attention wholly fixed upon their business or sport, they neither saw
nor heard her go past them.

The place where the ship had anchored was abreast of a small village,
consisting of about six or eight houses; and while we were preparing to
hoist out the boat, we saw an old woman, followed by three children,
come out of the wood; she was loaded with fire-wood, and each of the
children had also its little burden: When she came to the houses, three
more children, younger than the others, came out to meet her: She often
looked at the ship, but expressed neither fear nor surprise: In a short
time she kindled a fire, and the four canoes came in from fishing. The
men landed, and having hauled up their boats, began to dress their
dinner, to all appearance wholly unconcerned about us, though we were
within half a mile of them. We thought it remarkable that of all the
people we had yet seen, not one had the least appearance of clothing,
the old woman herself being destitute even of a fig-leaf.

After dinner the boats were manned, and we set out from the ship, having
Tupia of our party. We intended to land where we saw the people, and
began to hope that as they had so little regarded the ship's coming into
the bay, they would as little regard our coming on shore: In this,
however, we were disappointed; for as soon as we approached the rocks,
two of the men came down upon them to dispute our landing, and the rest
ran away. Each of the two champions was armed with a lance about ten
feet long, and a short stick, which he seemed to handle as if it was a
machine to assist him in managing or throwing the lance: They called to
us in a very loud tone, and in a harsh dissonant language, of which
neither we nor Tupia understood a single word: They brandished their
weapons, and seemed resolved to defend their coast to the uttermost,
though they were but two, and we were forty. I could not but admire
their courage, and being very unwilling that hostilities should commence
with such inequality of force between us, I ordered the boat to lie upon
her oars: We then parlied by signs for about a quarter of an hour, and
to bespeak their good-will, I threw them nails, beads, and other
trifles, which they took up and seemed to be well pleased with. I then
made signs that I wanted water, and, by all the means that I could
devise, endeavoured to convince them that we would do them no harm: They
now waved to us, and I was willing to interpret it as an invitation; but
upon our putting the boat in, they came again to oppose us. One appeared
to be a youth about nineteen or twenty, and the other a man of middle
age: As I had now no other resource, I fired a musquet between them.
Upon the report, the youngest dropped a bundle of lances upon the rock,
but recollecting himself in an instant he snatched them up again with
great haste: A stone was then thrown at us, upon which I ordered a
musquet to be fired with small shot, which struck the eldest upon the
legs, and he immediately ran to one of the houses, which was distant
about an hundred yards: I now hoped that our contest was over, and we
immediately landed; but we had scarcely left the boat when he returned,
and we then perceived that he had left the rock only to fetch a shield
or target for his defence. As soon as he came up, he threw a lance at
us, and his comrade another; they fell where we stood thickest, but
happily hurt nobody. A third musquet with small shot was then fired at
them, upon which one of them threw another lance, and both immediately
ran away: If we had pursued, we might probably have taken one of them;
but Mr Banks suggesting that the lances might be poisoned, I thought it
not prudent to venture into the woods. We repaired immediately to the
huts, in one of which we found the children, who had hidden themselves
behind a shield and some bark; we peeped at them, but left them in their
retreat, without their knowing that they had been discovered, and we
threw into the house when we went away some beads, ribbons, pieces of
cloth, and other presents, which we hoped would procure us the good-will
of the inhabitants when they should return; but the lances which we
found lying about, we took away with us, to the number of about
fifty:[70] They were from six to fifteen feet long, and all of them had
four prongs in the manner of a fish-gig, each of which was pointed with
fish-bone, and very sharp: We observed that they were smeared with a
viscous substance of a green colour, which favoured the opinion of their
being poisoned, though we afterwards discovered that it was a mistake:
They appeared, by the sea-weed that we found sticking to them, to have
been used in striking fish. Upon examining the canoes that lay upon the
beach, we found them to be the worst we had ever seen: They were between
twelve and fourteen feet long, and made of the bark of a tree in one
piece, which was drawn together and tied up at each end, the middle
being kept open by sticks which were placed across them from gunwale to
gunwale as thwarts. We then searched for fresh water, but found none,
except in a small hole which had been dug in the sand.

[Footnote 70: This action is not altogether to be commended--perhaps
indeed, it is scarcely justifiable, but on the same principle that would
warrant these or other savages making off with the muskets or any thing
else belonging to the ship's company. These lances were most valuable
property to their original possessors; and it is doubtful if the plea
which might be set up for the abstraction of them, viz. that they would
be used against our people, can be sustained, seeing the savages had
fled; and more especially as, supposing, them to have so purposed, they
could with readiness be checked by a display of superior means of
annoyance. Is it conceivable, that the unworthy desire to possess these
lances as curiosities, could actuate the persons concerned to such a
piece of pilfering? We have repeatedly seen that our people had not been
scrupulous in allegiance to the commandment--thou shalt not covet,
&c.--E.]

Having re-embarked in our boat, we deposited our lances on board the
ship, and then went over to the north point of the bay, where we had
seen several of the inhabitants when we were entering it, but which we
now found totally deserted. Here however we found fresh water, which
trickled down from the top of the rocks, and stood in pools among the
hollows at the bottom; but it was situated so as not to be procured for
our use without difficulty.

In the morning, therefore, I sent a party of men to that part of the
shore where we first landed, with orders to dig holes in the sand where
the water might gather; but going ashore myself with the gentlemen soon
afterwards, we found, upon a more diligent search, a small stream, more
than sufficient for our purpose.

Upon visiting the hut where we had seen the children, we were greatly
mortified to find that the beads and ribbons which we had left there the
night before, had not been moved from their places, and that not an
Indian was to be seen.[71]

[Footnote 71: Beads and ribbons, and all other niceties in ornament,
could be of little or no value in the estimation of those, who with
difficulty could procure the necessaries of life. The love of such
trifles does not seem to be excited, till the physical wants are so far
supplied, as to leave the mind free to the discursive recreations of
fancy. Their excellence or superiority in attire becomes distinctive of
affluence and ease, and of course procures respect, which, by a
principle inherent in human nature, all persons seek to obtain.--E.]

Having sent some empty water-casks on shore, and left a party of men to
cut wood, I went myself in the pinnace to sound, and examine the bay;
during my excursion I saw several of the natives, but they all fled at
my approach. In one of the places where I landed, I found several small
fires, and fresh mussels broiling upon them; here also I found some of
the largest oyster-shells I had ever seen.

As soon as the wooders and waterers came on board to dinner, ten or
twelve of the natives came down to the place, and looked with great
attention and curiosity at the casks, but did not touch them: They took
away however the canoes which lay near the landing-place, and again
disappeared. In the afternoon, when our people were again ashore,
sixteen or eighteen Indians, all armed, came boldly within about an
hundred yards of them, and then stopped: Two of them advanced somewhat
nearer; and Mr Hicks, who commanded the party on shore, with another,
advanced to meet them, holding out presents to them as he approached,
and expressing kindness and amity by every sign he could think of, but
all without effect; for before he could get up with them they retired,
and it would have answered no purpose to pursue. In the evening, I went
with Mr Banks and Dr Solander to a sandy cove on the north side of the
bay, where, in three or four hauls with the seine, we took above three
hundred-weight of fish, which was equally divided among the ship's
company.

The next morning, before day-break, the Indians came down to the houses
that were abreast of the ship, and were heard frequently to shout very
loud. As soon as it was light, they were seen walking along the beach;
and soon after they retired to the woods, where, at the distance of
about a mile from the shore, they kindled several fires.

Our people went ashore as usual, and with them Mr Banks and Dr Solander;
who, in search of plants, repaired to the woods. Our men, who were
employed in cutting grass, being the farthest removed from the main body
of the people, a company of fourteen or fifteen Indians advanced towards
them, having sticks in their hands, which, according to the report of
the serjeant of the marines, shone like a musquet. The grass-cutters,
upon seeing them approach, drew together, and repaired to the main body.
The Indians, being encouraged by this appearance of a flight, pursued
them; they stopped however when they were within about a furlong of
them, and after shouting several times went back into the woods. In the
evening they came again in the same manner, stopped at the same
distance, shouted and retired. I followed them myself, alone and
unarmed, for a considerable way along the shore, but I could not prevail
upon them to stop.

This day Mr Green took the sun's meridian altitude a little within the
south entrance of the bay, which gave the latitude 34° S., the variation
of the needle was 11° 3' E.

Early the next morning, the body of Forby Sutherland, one of our seamen,
who died the evening before, was buried near the watering-place; and
from this incident I called the south point of this bay _Sutherland
Point_. This day we resolved to make an excursion into the country. Mr
Banks, Dr Solander, myself, and seven others, properly accoutred for the
expedition, set out, and repaired first to the huts, near the
watering-place, whither some of the natives continued every day to
resort; and though the little presents which we had left there before
had not yet been taken away, we left others of somewhat more value,
consisting of cloth, looking-glasses, combs, and beads, and then went up
into the country. We found the soil to be either swamp or light sand,
and the face of the country finely diversified by wood and lawn. The
trees are tall, straight, and without underwood, standing at such a
distance from each other, that the whole country, at least where the
swamps do not render it incapable of cultivation, might be cultivated
without cutting down one of them: Between the trees the ground is
covered with grass, of which there is great abundance, growing in tufts
about as big as can well be grasped in the hand, which stand very close
to each other. We saw many houses of the inhabitants, and places where
they had slept upon the grass without any shelter; but we saw only one
of the people, who the moment he discovered us ran away. At all these
places we left presents, hoping that at length they might produce
confidence and good-will. We had a transient and imperfect view of a
quadruped about as big as a rabbit: Mr Banks's grey-hound, which was
with us, got sight of it, and would probably have caught it, but the
moment he set off he lamed himself, against a stump which lay concealed
in the long grass. We afterwards saw the dung of an animal which fed
upon grass, and which we judged could not be less than a deer; and the
footsteps of another, which was clawed like a dog, and seemed to be
about as big as a wolf; we also tracked a small animal, whose foot
resembled that of a polecat or weasel. The trees over our head abounded
with birds of various kinds, among which were many of exquisite beauty,
particularly loriquets and cockatoos, which flew in flocks of several
scores together. We found some wood which had been felled by the natives
with a blunt instrument, and some that had been barked. The trees were
not of many species; among others there was a large one which yielded a
gum not unlike the _Sanguis draconis_; and in some of them steps that
had been cut at about three feet distance from each other, for the
convenience of climbing them.

From this excursion we returned between three and four o'clock, and
having dined on board, we went ashore again at the watering-place, where
a party of men were filling casks. Mr Gore, the second lieutenant, had
been sent out in the morning with a boat to dredge for oysters at the
head of the bay; when he had performed this service, he went ashore, and
having taken a midshipman with him, and sent the boat away, set out to
join the waterers by land. In his way he fell in with a body of
two-and-twenty Indians, who followed him, and were often not more than
twenty yards distant; when Mr Gore perceived them so near, he stopped,
and faced about, upon which they stopped also; and when he went on
again, continued their pursuit: They did not however attack him, though
they were all armed with lances, and he and the midshipman got in safety
to the watering-place. The Indians, who had slackened their pursuit when
they came in sight of the main body of our people, halted at about the
distance of a quarter of a mile, where they stood still. Mr Monkhouse
and two or three of the waterers took it into their head to march up to
them; but seeing the Indians keep their ground till they came pretty
near them, they were seized with a sudden fear very common to the rash
and fool-hardy, and made a hasty retreat: This step, which insured the
danger that it was taken to avoid, encouraged the Indians, and four of
them running forward discharged their lances at the fugitives, with such
force, that flying no less than forty yards, they went beyond them. As
the Indians did not pursue, our people, recovering their spirits,
stopped to collect the lances when they came up to the place where they
lay; upon which the Indians, in their turn, began to retire. Just at
this time I came up, with Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and Tupia; and being
desirous to convince the Indians that we were neither afraid of them,
nor intended them any mischief, we advanced towards them, making signs
of expostulation and entreaty, but they could not be persuaded to wait
till we could come up. Mr Gore told us, that he had seen some of them up
the bay, who had invited him by signs to come on shore, which he,
certainly with great prudence, declined.

The morning of the next day was so rainy, that we were all glad to stay
on board. In the afternoon, however, it cleared up, and we made another
excursion along the sea-coast to the southward: We went ashore, and Mr
Banks and Dr Solander gathered many plants; but besides these we saw
nothing worthy of notice. At our first entering the woods, we met with
three of the natives, who instantly ran away: More of them were seen by
some of the people, but they all disappeared, with great precipitation,
as soon as they found that they were discovered. By the boldness of
these people at our first landing, and the terror that seized them at
the sight of us afterwards, it appears that they were sufficiently
intimidated by our fire-arms: Not that we had any reason to think the
people much hurt by the small-shot which we were obliged to fire at
them, when they attacked us at our coming out of the boat; but they had
probably seen the effects of them, from their lurking-places, upon the
birds that we had shot. Tupia, who was now become a good marksman,
frequently strayed from us to shoot parrots; and he had told us, that
while he was thus employed, he had once met with nine Indians, who, as
soon as they perceived he saw them, ran from him, in great confusion and
terror.

The next day, twelve canoes, in each of which was a single Indian, came
towards the watering-place, and were within half a mile of it a
considerable time: They were employed in striking fish, upon which, like
others that we had seen before, they were so intent, that they seemed to
regard nothing else. It happened, however, that a party of our people
were out a-shooting near the place, and one of the men, whose curiosity
might at length perhaps be roused by the report of the fowling-pieces,
was observed by Mr Banks to haul up his canoe upon the beach, and go
towards the shooting party: In something more than a quarter of an hour
he returned, launched his canoe, and went off in her to his companions.
This incident makes it probable that the natives acquired a knowledge of
the destructive power of our fire-arms, when we knew nothing of the
matter; for this man was not seen by any of the party whose operations
he had reconnoitred.

While Mr Banks was gathering plants near the watering-place, I went with
Dr Solander and Mr Monkhouse to the head of the bay, that I might
examine that part of the country, and make farther attempts to form some
connection with the natives. In our way we met with eleven or twelve
small canoes, with each a man in it, probably the same that were
afterwards abreast of the shore, who all made into shoal water upon our
approach. We met other Indians on shore the first time we landed, who
instantly took to their canoes, and paddled away. We went up the country
to some distance, and found the face of it nearly the same with that
which has been described already, but the soil was much richer; for
instead of sand, I found a deep black mould, which I thought very fit
for the production of grain of any kind. In the woods we found a tree
which bore fruit that in colour and shape resembled a cherry; the juice
had an agreeable tartness, though but little flavour. We found also
interspersed some of the finest meadows in the world: Some places,
however, were rocky, but these were comparatively few: The stone is
sandy, and might be used with advantage for building. When we returned
to the boat, we saw some smoke upon another part of the coast, and went
thither in hopes of meeting with the people, but at our approach, these
also ran away. We found six small canoes, and six fires very near the
beach, with some mussels roasting upon them, and a few oysters lying
near: By this we judged that there had been one man in each canoe, who,
having picked up some shell-fish, had come ashore to eat it, and made
his separate fire for that purpose: We tasted of their cheer, and left
them in return some strings of beads, and other things which we thought
would please them. At the foot of a tree in this place we found a small
well of fresh water, supplied by a spring; and the day being now far
spent, we returned to the ship. In the evening, Mr Banks made a little
excursion with his gun, and found such a number of quails, resembling
those in England, that he might have shot as many as he pleased; but his
object was variety and not number.

The next morning, as the wind would not permit me to sail, I sent out
several parties into the country to try again whether some intercourse
could not be established with the natives. A midshipman who belonged to
one of these parties having straggled a long way from his companions,
met with a very old man and woman, and some little children; they were
sitting under a tree by the water-side, and neither party saw the other
till they were close together: The Indians showed signs of fear, but did
not attempt to run away. The man happened to have nothing to give them
but a parrot that he had shot; this he offered, but they refused to
accept it, withdrawing themselves from his hand, either through fear or
aversion. His stay with them was but short, for he saw several canoes
near the beach fishing, and being alone, he feared they might come
ashore and attack him: He said, that these people were very
dark-coloured, but not black; that the man and woman appeared to be very
old, being both grey-headed; that the hair of the man's head was bushy,
and his beard long and rough; that the woman's hair was cropped short,
and both of them were stark naked. Mr Monkhouse the surgeon, and one of
the men, who were with another party near the watering-place, also
strayed from their companions, and as they were coming out of a thicket,
observed six Indians standing together, at the distance of about fifty
yards. One of them pronounced a word very loud, which was supposed to be
a signal, for a lance was immediately thrown at him out of the wood,
which very narrowly missed him. When the Indians saw that the weapon had
not taken effect, they ran away with the greatest precipitation; but on
turning about towards the place whence the lance had been thrown, he saw
a young Indian, whom he judged to be about nineteen or twenty years old,
come down from a tree, and he also ran away with such speed as made it
hopeless to follow him. Mr Monkhouse was of opinion that he had been
watched by these Indians in his passage through the thicket, and that
the youth had been stationed in the tree, to discharge the lance at him,
upon a signal as he should come by; but however this be, there could be
no doubt that he was the person who threw the lance.

In the afternoon I went myself with a party over to the north shore, and
while some of our people were hauling the seine, we made an excursion a
few miles into the country, proceeding afterwards in the direction of
the coast. We found this place without wood, and somewhat resembling our
moors in England; the surface of the ground, however, was covered with a
thin brush of plants, about as high as the knees: The hills near the
coast are low, but others rise behind them, increasing by a gradual
ascent to a considerable distance, with marshes and morasses between.
When we returned to the boat, we found that our people had caught with
the seine a great number of small fish, which are well known in the
West-Indies, and which our sailors call leather-jackets, because their
skin is remarkably thick. I had sent the second lieutenant out in the
yawl a-striking, and when we got back to the ship, we found that he also
had been very successful. He had observed that the large sting-rays, of
which there is great plenty in the bay, followed the flowing tide into
very shallow water; he therefore took the opportunity of flood, and
struck several in not more than two or three feet water: One of them
weighed no less than two hundred and forty pounds after his entrails
were taken out.

The next morning, as the wind still continued northerly, I sent out the
yawl again, and the people struck one still larger, for when his
entrails were taken out he weighed three hundred and thirty-six pounds.

The great quantity of plants which Mr Banks and Dr Solander collected in
this place induced me to give it the name of _Botany Bay_.[72] It is
situated in the latitude of 34° S., longitude 208° 37' W. It is
capacious, safe, and convenient, and maybe known by the land on the
sea-coast, which is nearly level, and of a moderate height; in general
higher than it is farther inland, with steep rocky cliffs next the sea,
which have the appearance of a long island lying close under the shore.
The harbour lies about the middle of this land, and in approaching it
from the southward, is discovered before the ship comes abreast of it;
but from, the northward it is not discovered so soon: The entrance is a
little more than a quarter of a mile broad, and lies in W.N.W. To sail
into it the southern shore should be kept on board, till the ship is
within a small bare island, which lies close under the north shore;
within this island the deepest water on that side is seven fathom,
shallowing to five a good way up. At a considerable distance from the
south shore there is a shoal, reaching from the innersouth point quite
to the head of the harbour; But over towards the north and north-west
shore there is a channel of twelve or fourteen feet at low water, for
three or four leagues, up to a place where there is three or four
fathom, but here I found very little fresh water. We anchored near the
south shore, about a mile within the entrance, for the convenience of
sailing with a southerly wind, and because I thought it the best
situation for watering; but I afterwards found a very fine stream on the
north shore, in the first sandy cove within the island, before which a
ship might lie almost land-locked, and procure wood as well as water in
great abundance. Wood indeed is every where plenty, but I saw only two
kinds which may be considered as timber. These trees are as large, or
larger than the English oak, and one of them has not a very different
appearance: This is the same that yields the reddish gum like _sanguis
draconis_, and the wood is heavy, hard, and dark-coloured, like _lignum
vitae_; the other grows tall and straight, something like the pine; and
the wood of this, which has some resemblance to the live oak of America,
is also hard and heavy. There are a few shrubs, and several kinds of the
palm; mangroves also grow in great plenty near the head of the bay. The
country in general is level, low, and woody, as far as we could see. The
woods, as I have before observed, abound with birds of exquisite beauty,
particularly of the parrot kind; we found also crows here, exactly the
same with those in England. About the head of the harbour, where there
are large flats of sand and mud, there is great plenty of water-fowl,
most of which were altogether unknown to us: One of the most remarkable
was black and white, much larger than a swan, and in shape somewhat
resembling a pelican. On these banks of sand and mud there are great
quantities of oysters, mussels, cockles, and other shell-fish, which
seem to be the principal subsistence of the inhabitants, who go into
shoal water with their little canoes, and pick them out with their
hands. We did not observe that they eat any of them raw, nor do they
always go on shore to dress them, for they have frequently fires in
their canoes for that purpose. They do not however subsist wholly upon
this food, for they catch a variety of other fish, some of which they
strike with gigs, and some they take with hook and line. All the
inhabitants that we saw were stark naked: They did not appear to be
numerous, nor to live in societies, but like other animals were
scattered about along the coast, and in the woods. Of their manner of
life, however, we could know but little, as we were never able to form
the least connection with them: After the first contest at our landing,
they would never come near enough to parley; nor did they touch a single
article of all that we had left at their huts, and the places they
frequented, on purpose for them to take away.

[Footnote 72: The reader will be plentifully supplied with information
respecting this noted place, and the settlement of British convicts made
at Port Jackson, in another part of this work. It would be very
injudicious to break down the matter intended to be given there, for
the purpose of ekeing out the limited remarks here made. This intimation
may be equally applied to the whole subject of New Holland: about which
the reader may promise himself very ample satisfaction in the course of
this collection. Let this then be accepted as a pledge in apology for
the paucity of observations on the text.--E.]

During my stay in this harbour, I caused the English colours to be
displayed on shore every day, and the ship's name, and the date of the
year, to be inscribed upon one of the trees near the watering-place.

It is high water here at the full and change of the moon about eight
o'clock, and the tide rises and falls perpendicularly between four and
five feet.


SECTION XXIX.

_The Range from Botany Bay to Trinity Bay; with a farther Account of the
Country, its Inhabitants; and Productions_.


At day-break, on Sunday the 6th of May 1770, we set sail from Botany
Bay, with a light breeze at N.W. which soon after coming to the
southward, we steered along the shore N.N.E.; and at noon, our latitude,
by observation, was 33° 50' S. At this time we were between two and
three miles distant from the land, and a-breast of a bay, or harbour, in
which there appeared to be good anchorage, and which I called _Port
Jackson_. This harbour lies three leagues to the northward of Botany
Bay: The variation, by several azimuths, appeared to be 8° E. At
sun-set, the northermost land in sight bore N. 26 E. and some broken
land, that seemed to form a bay, bore N. 40 W. distant four leagues.
This bay, which lies in latitude 33° 42' I called _Broken Bay_. We
steered along the shore N.N.E. all night, at the distance of about three
leagues from the land, having from thirty-two to thirty-six fathom
water, with a hard sandy bottom.

Soon after sun-rise on the 7th, I took several azimuths, with four
needles belonging to the azimuth compass, the mean result of which gave
the variation 7° 56' E. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 33°
22' S.: We were about three leagues from the shore; the northermost land
in sight bore N. 19 E. and some lands which projected in three bluff
points, and which, for that reason; I called _Cape Three Points_, bore
S.W. distant five leagues. Our longitude from Botany Bay was 19' E. In
the afternoon, we saw smoke in several places upon the shore, and in the
evening, found the variation to be 8° 25' E. At this time we were
between two and three miles from the shore, in twenty-eight fathom; and
at noon the next day, we had not advanced one step to the northward. We
stood off shore, with the winds northerly, till twelve at night, and at
the distance of about five leagues, had seventy fathom; at the distance
of six leagues we had eighty fathom, which is the extent of the
soundings; for at the distance of ten leagues, we had no ground with 150
fathom.

The wind continuing northerly, till the morning of the 10th, we
continued to stand in and off the shore, with very little change of
situation in other respects; but a gale then springing up at S.W. we
made the best of our way along the shore to the northward. At sun-rise,
our latitude was 33° 2' S. and the variation 8° E. At nine in the
forenoon, we passed a remarkable hill, which stood a little way inland,
and somewhat resembled the crown of a hat: And at noon, our latitude, by
observation, was 32° 53' S., and our longitude 208° W. We were about two
leagues distant from the land, which extended from N. 41 E. to S. 41 W.,
and a small round rock, or island, which lay close under the land, bore
S. 82 W. distant between three and four leagues. At four in the
afternoon, we passed, at the distance of about a mile, a low rocky
point, which I called _Point Stephens_, on the north side of which is an
inlet, which I called _Port Stephens_: This inlet appeared to me, from
the mast-head, to be sheltered from all winds. It lies in latitude 32°
40', longitude 207° 51', and at the entrance are three small islands,
two of which are high; and on the main near the shore are some high
round hills, which at a distance appear like islands. In passing this
bay, at the distance of two or three miles from the shore, our soundings
were from thirty-three to twenty-seven fathom, from which I conjectured
that there must be a sufficient depth of water within it. At a little
distance within land, we saw smoke in several places; and at half an
hour past five, the northermost land in sight bore N. 36 E. and Point
Stephens S.W. distant four leagues. Our soundings in the night, were
from forty-eight to sixty-two fathom, at the distance of between three
and four leagues from the shore, which made in two hillocks. This Point
I called _Cape Hawke_: It lies in the latitude of 32° 14' S., longitude
207° 30' W.; and at four o'clock in the morning bore W. distant about
eight miles; at the same time the northermost land in sight bore N. 6 E.
and appeared like an island. At noon, this land bore N. 8 E. the
northermost land in sight N. 13 E. and Cape Hawke S. 37 W. Our latitude,
by observation, was 32° 2' S. which was twelve miles to the southward of
that given by the log; so that probably we had a current setting that
way: By the morning amplitude and azimuth, the variation was 9° 10' E.
During our run along the shore, in the afternoon, we saw smoke in
several places, at a little distance from the beach, and one upon the
top of a hill, which was the first we had seen upon elevated ground
since our arrival upon the coast. At sun-set, we had twenty-three
fathom, at the distance of a league and a half from the shore: The
northermost land then bore N. 13 E. and three hills, remarkably large
and high, lying contiguous to each other, and not far from the beach,
N.N.W. As these hills bore some resemblance to each other, we called
them _The Three Brothers_. They lie in latitude 31° 40' and maybe seen
fourteen or sixteen leagues. We steered N.E. by N. all night, having
from twenty-seven to sixty-seven fathom, at the distance of between two
and six leagues from the shore.

At day-break, we steered north, for the northermost land in sight. At
noon, we were four leagues from the shore, and by observation, in
latitude 31° 18' S., which was fifteen miles to the southward of that
given by the log; our longitude 206° 58' W. In the afternoon, we stood
in for the land, where we saw smoke in several places, till six in the
evening, when, being within three or four miles of it, and in
twenty-four fathom of water, we stood off with a fresh breeze at N. and
N.N.W. till midnight, when we had 118 fathom, at the distance of eight
leagues from the land, and then tacked. At three in the morning, the
wind veered to the westward, when we tacked and stood to the northward.
At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 30° 43' S., and our longitude
206° 45' W. At this time we were between three and four leagues from
the shore, the northermost part of which bore from us N. 13 W. and a
point, or head-land, on which we saw fires that produced a great
quantity of smoke, bore W. distant four leagues. To this Point I gave
the name of _Smokey Cape_: It is of a considerable height, and over the
pitch of the point is a round hillock; within it are two others, much
higher and larger, and within them the land is very low. Our latitude
was 30° 31' S., longitude 206° 54' W.: This day the observed latitude
was only five miles south of the log. We saw smoke in several parts
along the coast, besides that seen upon Smokey Cape.

In the afternoon, the wind being at N.E. we stood off and on, and at
three or four miles distance from the shore had thirty fathom water: The
wind afterwards coming cross of land, we stood to the northward, having
from thirty to twenty-one fathom, at the distance of four or five miles
from the shore.

At five in the morning, the wind veered to the north, and blew fresh,
attended with squalls: At eight, it began to thunder and rain, and in
about an hour it fell calm, which gave us an opportunity to sound, and
we had eighty-six fathom at between four and five leagues from the
shore: Soon after this we had a gale from the southward, with which we
steered N. by W. for the northermost land in sight. At noon, we were
about four leagues from the shore, and by observation, in latitude 30°
22', which was nine miles to the southward of our reckoning, longitude
206° 39' W. Some lands near the shore, of a considerable height, bore W.

As we advanced to the northward from Botany Bay, the land gradually
increased in height, so that in this latitude it may be called a hilly
country. Between this latitude and the Bay, it exhibits a pleasing
variety of ridges, hills, vallies, and plains, all clothed with wood, of
the same appearance with that which has been particularly described: The
land near the shore is in general low and sandy, except the points,
which are rocky, and over many of them are high bills, which, at their
first rising out of the water, have the appearance of islands.[73] In
the afternoon, we had some small rocky islands between us and the land,
the southermost of which lies in latitude 30° 10', and the northermost
in 29° 58', and somewhat more than two leagues from the land: About two
miles without the northermost island we had thirty-three fathom water.
Having the advantage of a moon, we steered along the shore all night, in
the direction of N. and N. by E. keeping at the distance of about three
leagues from the land, and having from twenty to twenty-five fathom
water. As soon as it was light, having a fresh gale, we made all the
sail we could, and at nine o'clock in the morning, being about a league
from the shore, we discovered smoke in many places, and having recourse
to our glasses, we saw about twenty of the natives, who had each a large
bundle upon his back, which we conjectured to be palm-leaves for
covering their houses: We continued to observe them above an hour,
during which they walked upon the beach, and up a path that led over a
hill of a gentle ascent, behind which we lost sight of them: Not one of
them was observed to stop and look towards us, but they trudged along,
to all appearance, without the least emotion either of curiosity or
surprise, though it is impossible they should not have seen the ship by
a casual glance as they walked along the shore; and though she must,
with respect to every other object they had yet seen, have been little
less stupendous and unaccountable than a floating mountain with all its
woods would have been to us. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was
28° 39' S., and longitude 206° 27' W. A high point of land, which I
named _Cape Byron_, bore N.W. by W. at the distance of three miles. It
lies in latitude 28° 37' 30" S., longitude 206° 30' W., and may be known
by a remarkable sharp peaked mountain, which lies inland, and bears from
it N.W. by W. From this point, the land trends N. 13 W.: Inland it is
high and hilly, but low near the shore; to the southward of the point it
is also low and level. We continued to steer along the shore with a
fresh gale, till sun-set, when we suddenly discovered breakers a-head,
directly in the ship's course and also on our larboard bow. At this time
we were about five miles from the land, and had twenty fathom water: We
hauled up east till eight, when we had run eight miles, and increased
our depth of water to forty-four fathom: We then brought-to, with the
ship's head to the eastward, and lay upon this tack till ten, when,
having increased our sounding to seventy-eight fathom, we wore, and lay
with the ship's head to the land till five in the morning, when we made
sail, and at day-light, were greatly surprised to find ourselves farther
to the southward, than we had been the evening before, though the wind
had been southerly, and blown fresh all night: We now saw the breakers
again within us, and passed them at the distance of one league. They
lie in latitude 28° 8' S. stretching off east two leagues from a point
of land, under which is a small island. Their situation may always be
known by the peaked mountain which has been just mentioned, and which
bears from them S.W. by W. for this reason I have named it _Mount
Warning_. It lies seven or eight leagues inland, in latitude 28° 22' S.
The land about it is high and hilly, but it is of itself sufficiently
conspicuous to be at once distinguished from every other object. The
Point off which these shoals lie, I have named _Point Danger_. To the
northward of this Point the land is low, and trends N.W. by N.; but it
soon turns again more to the northward.

[Footnote 73: The appearance and adjustment of the hills in New Holland
have attracted very considerable regard. They are thought to bear a
strong resemblance in disposition to the Andes in South America. Some
interesting information on this topic will be given when we treat of
another voyage. This hint may suffice for the present.--E.]

At noon, we were about two leagues from the land, and by observation, in
latitude 27° 46' S., which was seventeen miles to the southward of the
log; our longitude was 206° 26' W. Mount Warning bore S. 26 W. distant
fourteen leagues, and the northermost land in sight bore N. We pursued
our course along the shore, at the distance of about two leagues, in the
direction of N. 1/4 E. till between four and five in the afternoon, when
we discovered breakers in our larboard bow. Our depth of water was
thirty-seven fathom, and at sun-set, the northermost land bore N. by W.
the breakers N.W. by W. distant four miles, and the northermost land set
at noon, which formed a point, and to which I gave the name of _Point
Look-out_, W. distant five or six miles, in the latitude of 27° 6'. On
the north side of this Point, the shore forms a wide open bay, which I
called _Moreton's Bay_, in the bottom of which the land is so low that I
could but just see it from the top-mast head. The breakers lie between
three or four miles from Point Look-out; and at this time we had a great
sea from the southward, which broke upon them very high. We stood on
N.N.E. till eight o'clock, when having passed the breakers, and deepened
our water to fifty-two fathom, we brought-to till midnight, when we made
sail again to the N.N.E. At four in the morning, we had 135 fathom, and
when the day broke, I perceived that during the night I had got much
farther northward, and from the shore, than I expected from the course
we steered, for we were distant at least seven leagues; I therefore
hauled in N.W. by W. with a fresh gale at S.S.W. The land that was
farthest to the north the night before, now bore S.S.W. distant six
leagues, and I gave it the name of _Cape Moreton_, it being the north
point of Moreton's Bay: Its latitude is 26° 56', and its longitude is
206° 28'. From Cape Moreton the land trends away west, farther than can
be seen, for there is a small space, where at this time no land is
visible, and some on board having also observed that the sea looked
paler than usual, were of opinion that the bottom of Moreton's Bay
opened into a river. We had here thirty-four fathom water, and a fine
sandy bottom: This alone would have produced the change that had been
observed in the colour of the water; and it was by no means necessary to
suppose a river to account for the land at the bottom of the Bay not
being visible, for supposing the land there to be as low as we knew it
to be in a hundred other parts of the coast, it would have been
impossible to see it from the station of the ship; however, if any
future navigator should be disposed to determine the question, whether
there is or is not a river in this place, which the wind would not
permit us to do, the situation may always be found by three hills which
lie to the northward of it, in the latitude of 26° 53'. These hills lie
but a very little way inland, and not far from each other: They are
remarkable for the singular form of their elevation, which very much
resembles a glasshouse, and for which reason I called them the _Glass
Houses_: The northermost of the three is the highest and largest: There
are also several other peaked hills inland to the northward of these,
but they are not nearly so remarkable.[74] At noon, our latitude was, by
observation, 26° 28' S. which was ten miles to the northward of the log,
a circumstance which had never before happened upon this coast; our
longitude was 206° 46'. At this time we were between two and three
leagues from the land, and had twenty-four fathom water. A low bluff
point, which was the south head of a sandy bay, bore N. 62 W., distant
three leagues, and the northermost point of land in sight bore N. 1/4 E.
This day we saw smoke in several places, and some at a considerable
distance inland.

[Footnote 74: The depth of the Bay from Cape Moreton is said to be 34
miles--it then contracts into a small stream; and there is a
considerable river near Glass-House Peaks, as they have been
called.--E.]

In steering along the shore at the distance of two leagues, our
soundings were from twenty-four to thirty-two fathom, with a sandy
bottom. At six in the evening, the northermost point of land bore N. 1/4
W., distant four leagues; at ten it bore N.W. by W. 1/2 W. and as we had
seen no land to the northward of it, we brought-to, not well knowing
which way to steer.

At two in the morning, however, we made sail with the wind at S.W., and
at day-light, we saw the land extending as far as N. 1/4 E. the point we
had set the night before bore S.W. by W., distant between three and four
leagues. It lies in latitude 25° 58', longitude 206° 48' W.: The land
within it is of a moderate and equal height, but the point itself is so
unequal, that it looks like two small islands lying under the land, for
which reason I gave it the name of _Double Island Point_; it may also be
known by the white cliffs on the north side of it. Here the land trends
to the N.W. and forms a large open bay, the bottom of which is so low a
flat that from the deck it could scarcely be seen. In crossing this bay,
our depth of water was from thirty to twenty-two fathom, with a white
sandy bottom. At noon, we were about three leagues from the shore, in
latitude 25° 84' S., longitude 206° 45' W.: Double Island Point bore S.
1/4 W. and the northermost land in sight N. 1/4 E. This part of the
coast, which is of a moderate height, is more barren than any we had
seen, and the soil more sandy. With our glasses we could discover that
the sands, which lay in great patches of many acres, were moveable, and
that some of them had not been long in the place they possessed; for we
saw in several parts, trees half buried, the tops of which were still
green; and in others, the naked trunks of such as the sand had
surrounded long enough to destroy. In other places the woods appeared to
be low and shrubby, and we saw no signs of inhabitants. Two water-snakes
swam by the ship: They were beautifully spotted, and in every respect
like land-snakes, except that their tails were broad and flat, probably
to serve them instead of fins in swimming. In the morning of this day,
the variation was 8° 20' E., and in the evening, 8° 36. During the
night, we continued our course to the northward, with a light breeze
from the land, being distant from it between two and three leagues, and
having from twenty-three to twenty-seven fathom, with a fine sandy
bottom.

At noon on the 19th, we were about four miles from the land, with only
thirteen fathom. Our latitude was 26° 4', and the northermost land in
sight bore N. 21 W., distant eight miles. At one o'clock, being still
four miles distant from the shore, but having seventeen fathom water, we
passed a black bluff head, or point of land, upon which a great number
of the natives were assembled, and which therefore I called _Indian
Head_: it lies in latitude 25° 3'. About four miles N. by W. of this
head, is another very like it, from whence the land trends away somewhat
more to the westward: Next to the sea it is low and sandy, and behind it
nothing was to be seen, even from the mast-head. Near Indian Head we saw
more of the natives, and upon the neighbouring shore fires by night, and
smoke by day. We kept to the northward all night, at the distance of
from four miles to four leagues from the shore, and with a depth of
water from seventeen to thirty-four fathom. At daybreak, the northermost
land bore from us W.S.W. and seemed to end in a point, from which we
discovered a reef running out to the northward as far as we could see.
We had hauled our wind to the westward before it was light, and
continued the course till we saw the breakers upon our lee-bow. We now
edged away N.W. and N.N.W. along the east side of the shoal, from two to
one mile distant, having regular soundings from thirteen to seven
fathom, with a fine sandy bottom. At noon, our latitude, by observation,
was 20°26', which was thirteen miles to the northward of the log: We
judged the extreme point of the shoal to bear from us about N.W. and the
point from which it seemed to run out bore S. 3/4 W., distant twenty
miles. This point I named _Sandy Cape_, from two very large patches of
white sand which lay upon it. It is sufficiently high to be seen at the
distance of twelve leagues, in clear weather, and lies in latitude
24°45', longitude 206° 51': The land trends from it S.W. as far as can
be seen. We kept along the east side of the shoal till two in the
afternoon, when, judging that there was a sufficient depth of water upon
it to allow passage for the ship, I sent the boat a-head to sound, and
upon her making the signal for more than five fathom, we hauled our
wind, and stood over the tail of it in six fathom. At this time we were
in latitude 24°22', and Sandy Cape bore S. 1/2 E., distant eight
leagues; but the direction of the shoal is nearest N.N.W. and S.S.E. It
is remarkable that when on board the ship we had six fathom, the boat,
which was scarcely a quarter of a mile to the southward, had little more
than five, and that immediately after six fathom we had thirteen, and
then twenty, as fast as the man could cast the lead: From these
circumstances, I conjectured that the west side of the shoal was steep.
This shoal I called the _Break Sea Spit_, because we had now smooth
water, and to the southward of it we had always a high sea from the S.E.
At six in the evening, the land of Sandy Cape extended from S. 17 E. to
S. 27 E., at the distance of eight leagues; our depth of water was
twenty-three fathom: With the same soundings we stood to the westward
all night. At seven in the morning, we saw, from the mast-head, the land
of Sandy Cape bearing S.E. 1/2 E., distant about thirteen leagues: At
nine, we discovered land to the westward, and soon after saw smoke in
several places. Our depth of water was now decreased to seventeen
fathom, and by noon we had no more than thirteen, though we were seven
leagues from the land, which extended from S. by W. to W.N.W. Our
latitude at this time was 24° 28' S. For a few days past we had seen
several of the sea-birds called boobies, not having met with any of them
before; last night a small flock of them passed the ship, and went away
to the N.W.; and in the morning, from about half an hour before
sun-rise, to half an hour after, flights of them were continually coming
from the N.N.W. and flying to the S.S.E. nor was one of them seen to fly
in any other direction; we therefore conjectured that there was a
lagoon, river, or inlet of shallow water, in the bottom of the deep bay,
to the southward of us, whither these birds resorted to feed in the day,
and that not far to the northward there were some islands to which they
repaired in the night. To this bay I gave the name of _Hervey's Bay_, in
honour of Captain Hervey. In the afternoon we stood in for the land,
steering S.W. with a gentle breeze at S.E. till four o'clock, when,
being in latitude 24° 36', about two leagues from the shore, and having
nine fathom water, we bore away along the coast N.W. by W. and at the
same time could see land extending to the S.S.E. about eight leagues.
Near the sea the land is very low, but within there are some lofty
hills, all thickly clothed with, wood. While we were running along the
shore, we shallowed our water from nine to seven fathom, and at one time
we had but six, which determined us to anchor for the night.

At six in the morning we weighed, with a gentle breeze from the
southward, and steered N.W. 1/4 W. edging in for the land till we got
within two miles of it, with water from seven to eleven fathom; we then
steered N.N.W. as the land lay, and at noon, our latitude was 24° 19'.
We continued in the same course, at the same distance, with from twelve
fathom to seven, till five in the evening, when we were abreast of the
south point of a large open bay, in which I intended to anchor. During
this course, we discovered with our glasses that the land was covered
with palm-nut trees, which we had not seen from the time of our leaving
the islands within the tropic; we also saw two men walking along the
shore, who did not condescend to take the least notice of us. In the
evening, having hauled close upon a wind, and made two or three trips,
we anchored about eight o'clock in five fathom, with a fine sandy
bottom. The south point of the bay bore E. 3/4 S. distant two miles, the
north point N.W. 1/4 N. and about the same distance from the shore.

Early the next morning I went ashore, with a party of men, in order to
examine the country, accompanied by Mr Banks, Dr Solander, the other
gentlemen, and Tupia: The wind blew fresh, and we found it so cold, that
being at some distance from the shore, we took our cloaks as a necessary
equipment for the voyage. We landed a little within the south point of
the bay, where we found a channel leading into a large lagoon: This
channel I proceeded to examine, and found three fathom water till I got
about a mile up it, where I met with a shoal, upon which there was
little more than one fathom; but having passed over it, I had three
fathom again. The entrance of this channel lies close to the south point
of the bay, being formed by the shore on the east, and on the west by a
large spit of sand: It is about a quarter of a mile broad, and lies in
S. by W. In this place there is room for a few ships to lie in great
security, and a small stream of fresh water; I would have rowed into the
lagoon, but was prevented by shallows. We found several bogs, and swamps
of salt water, upon which, and by the sides of the lagoon, grows the
true mangrove, such as is found in the West Indies, and the first of the
kind that we had met with. In the branches of these mangroves there were
many nests of a remarkable kind of ant, that was as green as grass: When
the branches were disturbed they came out in great numbers, and punished
the offender by a much sharper bite than ever we had felt from the same
kind of animal before.[75] Upon these mangroves also we saw small green
caterpillars in great numbers: Their bodies were thick set with hairs,
and they were ranged upon the leaves side by side like a file of
soldiers, to the number of twenty or thirty together: When we touched
them, we found that the hair of their bodies had the quality of a
nettle, and gave us a much more acute, though less durable pain. The
country here is manifestly worse than about Botany Bay: The soil is dry
and sandy, but the sides of the hills are covered with trees, which grow
separately, without underwood. We found here the tree that yields a gum
like the _sanguis draconis_; but it is somewhat different from the trees
of the same kind which we had seen before, for the leaves are longer,
and hang down like those of the weeping willow.[76] We found also much
less gum upon them, which is contrary to the established opinion, that
the hotter the climate, the more gums exude. Upon a plant also which
yielded a yellow gum, there was less than upon the same kind of plant in
Botany Bay. Among the shoals and sandbanks we saw many large birds, some
in particular of the same kind that we had seen in Botany Bay, much
bigger than swans, which we judged to be pelicans; but they were so shy
that we could not get within gun-shot of them. Upon the shore we saw a
species of the bustard, one of which we shot; it was as large as a
turkey, and weighed seventeen pounds and a half. We all agreed that this
was the best bird we had eaten since we left England; and in honour of
it we called this inlet _Bustard Bay_. It lies in latitude 24° 4',
longitude 208° 18'. The sea seemed to abound with fish; but unhappily,
we tore our seine all to pieces at the first haul: Upon the mud banks,
under the mangroves, we found innumerable oysters of various kinds;
among others the hammer-oyster, and a large proportion of small
pearl-oysters: If in deeper water there is equal plenty of such oysters
at their full growth, a pearl fishery might certainly be established
here to very great advantage.

[Footnote 75: For some remarks on these creatures, see the Section which
treats of this country in general,--E.]

[Footnote 76: There are several trees which yield a resinous substance,
resembling what is called dragon's blood, as the Pterocarpus draco, the
Dracaena draco, the Calamus draco, the Dalbergia monetaria, &c. Some
observations on the botany of New Holland are reserved for a future
page.--E.]

The people who were left on board the ship said, that while we were in
the woods about twenty of the natives came down to the beach, abreast of
her, and having looked at her some time, went away; but we that were
ashore, though we saw smoke in many places, saw no people: The smoke was
at places too distant for us to get to them by land, except one, to
which we repaired. We found ten small fires still burning within a few
paces of each other; but the people were gone: We saw near them several
vessels of bark, which we supposed to have contained water, and some
shells and fish-bones, the remains of a recent meal. We saw also, lying
upon the ground, several pieces of soft bark, about the length and
breadth of a man, which we imagined might be their beds; and, on the
windward side of the fires, a small shade, about a foot and a half high,
of the same substance. The whole was in a thicket of close trees, which
afforded good shelter from the wind. The place seemed to be much
trodden, and as we saw no house, nor any remains of a house, we were
inclined to believe that, as these people had no clothes, they had no
dwelling; but spent their nights, among the other commoners of Nature,
in the open air; and Tupia himself, with an air of superiority and
compassion, shook his head, and said, that they were _Taata Enos_, "poor
wretches,".[77] I measured the perpendicular height of the last tide,
and found it to be eight feet above low-water mark, and from the time of
low-water this day, I found that it must be high-water at the full and
change of the moon at eight o'clock.

[Footnote 77: The natives of New Holland are indeed "poor wretches;" but
let it be remembered that the term poor is relative. The reader must
make allowance for prejudice, in judging of their state from the
testimony of one who had lived in Otaheitan luxury. A Sicilian, it is
probable, would give a very sorry account of the Highlands and
Highlanders of Scotland--

   Yet still e'en here Content can spread a charm,
   Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm.

We never more erroneously estimate the happiness of a people, than when
we set up our own habits as the criterion of perfection. The error of
Tupia is the error of thousands.--E.]

At four o'clock in the morning we weighed, and with a gentle breeze at
south made sail out of the bay. In standing out, our soundings were from
five to fifteen fathom; and at day-light, when we were in the greatest
depth, and abreast of the north head of the bay, we discovered breakers
stretching out from it N.N.E. between two and three miles, with a rock
at the outermost point of them just above water. While we were passing
these rocks, at the distance of about half a mile, we had from fifteen
to twenty fathom; and as soon as we had passed them, we hauled along
shore W.N.W. for the farthest land we had in sight. At noon, our
latitude, by observation, was 23° 52' S.; the north part of Bustard Bay
bore S. 62 E. distant ten miles; and the northermost land in sight N. 60
W.; the longitude was 208° 37', and our distance from the nearest shore
six miles, with fourteen fathom water.

Till five in the afternoon it was calm, but afterwards we steered before
the wind N.W. as the land lay till ten at night, and then brought-to,
having had all along fourteen and fifteen fathom. At five in the morning
we made sail; and at day-light the northermost point of the main bore N.
70 W. Soon after we saw more land, making like islands, and bearing N.W.
by N. At nine, we were abreast of the point, at the distance of one
mile, with fourteen fathom water. This point I found to lie directly
under the tropic of Capricorn; and for that reason I called it _Cape
Capricorn_: Its longitude is 208° 58' W. It is of a considerable height,
looks white and barren, and may be known by some islands which lie to
the N.W. of it, and some small rocks at the distance of about a league
S.E. On the west side of the cape there appeared to be a lagoon, and on
the two spits which formed the entrance we saw an incredible number of
the large birds that resemble a pelican. The northermost land now in
sight bore from Cape Capricorn N. 24 W. and appeared to be an island;
but the main land trended W. by N. 1/2 N. which course we steered,
having from fifteen to six fathom, and from six to nine, with a hard
sandy bottom. At noon, on latitude, by observation, was 23° 24' S.; Cape
Capricorn bore S. 60 E. distant two leagues; and a small island N. by E.
two miles: In this situation we had nine fathom, being about four miles
from the main, which, next the sea, is low and sandy, except the points
which are high and rocky. The country inland is hilly, but by no means
of a pleasing aspect. We continued to stand to the N.W., till four
o'clock in the afternoon, when it fell calm; and we soon after anchored
in twelve fathom, having the main land and islands in a manner all round
us, and Cape Capricorn bearing S. 54 E. distant four leagues. In the
night, we found the tide rise and fall near seven feet; and the flood to
set to the westward, and the ebb to the eastward, which is just contrary
to what we found when we were at anchor to the eastward of Bustard Bay.

At six in the morning we weighed, with a gentle breeze at south, and
stood away to the N.W. between the outermost range of islands and the
main, leaving several small islands between the main and the ship, which
we passed at a very little distance; our soundings being irregular, from
twelve to four fathom, I sent a boat a-head to sound. At noon, we were
about three miles from the main, and about the same distance from the
islands without us: Our latitude, by observation, was 23° 7' S. The main
land here is high and mountainous; the islands which lie off it are also
most of them high, and of a small circuit, having an appearance rather
of barrenness than fertility. At this time we saw smoke in many places
at a considerable distance inland, and therefore conjectured that there
might be a lagoon, river, or inlet, running up the country, the rather
as we had passed two places which had the appearance of being such; but
our depth of water was too little to encourage me to venture where I
should probably have less. We had not stood to the northward above an
hour, before we suddenly fell into three fathom; upon which I anchored,
and sent away the master to sound the channel which lay to the leeward
of us, between the northermost island and the main: It appeared to be
pretty broad, but I suspected that it was shallow, and so indeed it was
found; for the master reported at his return that in many places he had
only two fathom and a half, and where we lay at anchor we had only
sixteen feet, which was not two feet more than the ship drew. While the
master was sounding the channel, Mr Banks tried to fish from the cabin
windows with hook and line: The water was too shallow for fish; but the
ground was almost covered with crabs, which readily took the bait, and
sometimes held it so fast in their claws, that they did not quit their
hold till they were considerably above water. These crabs were of two
sorts, and both of them such as we had not seen before: One of them was
adorned with the finest blue that can be imagined, in every respect
equal to the ultra-marine, with which all his claws and every joint was
deeply tinged; the under part of him was white, and so exquisitely
polished, that in colour and brightness it exactly resembled the white
of old china: The other was also marked with the ultra-marine upon his
joints and his toes, but somewhat more sparingly; and his back was
marked with three brown spots, which had a singular appearance. The
people who had been out with the boat to sound reported, that upon an
island where we had observed two fires, they had seen several of the
inhabitants, who called to them, and seemed very desirous that they
should land. In the evening, the wind veered to E.N.E. which gave us an
opportunity to stretch three or four miles back by the way we came;
after which the wind shifted to the south, and obliged us again to
anchor in six fathom.

At five in the morning, I sent away the master to search for a passage
between the islands, while we got the ship under sail; and as soon as it
was light, we followed the boat, which made a signal that a passage had
been found. As soon as we had got again into deep water, we made sail to
the northward, as the land lay, with soundings from nine fathom to
fifteen, and some small islands still without us. At noon we were about
two leagues distant from the main, and by observation, in latitude 22°
53' S. The northermost point of land in sight now bore N.N.W. distant
ten miles. To this point I gave the name of Cape Manifold, from the
number of high hills which appeared over it. It lies in latitude 22° 43'
S. and distant about seventeen leagues from Cape Capricorn, in the
direction of N. 26 W. Between these capes the shore forms a large bay,
which I called Keppel Bay; and I also distinguished the islands by the
name of Keppel's Islands. In this bay there is good anchorage; but what
refreshments it may afford I know not; we caught no fish, though we were
at anchor, but probably there is fresh water in several places, as both
the islands and the main are inhabited. We saw smoke and fires upon the
main, and upon the islands we saw people. At three in the afternoon we
passed Cape Manifold, from which the land trends N.N.W. The land of the
Cape is high, rising in hills directly from the sea, and may be known
by three islands which lie off it, one of them near the shore, and the
other two eight miles out at sea. One of these islands is low and flat,
and the other high and round. At six o'clock in the evening we
brought-to, when the northermost part of the main in sight bore N.W. and
some islands which lie off it N. 31 W. Our soundings after twelve
o'clock were from twenty to twenty-five fathom, and in the night from
thirty to thirty-four.

At day-break we made sail, Cape Manifold bearing S. by E. distant eight
leagues, and the islands which I had set the night before were distant
four miles in the same direction. The farthest visible point of the main
bore N. 67 W. at the distance of twenty-two miles; but we could see
several islands to the northward of this direction. At nine o'clock in
the forenoon we were abreast of the point which I called Cape Townshend.
It lies in latitude 22° 15', longitude 209° 43'. The land is high and
level, and rather naked than woody. Several islands lie to the northward
of it, at the distance of four or five miles out at sea; three or four
leagues to the S.E. the shore forms a bay, in the bottom of which there
appeared to be an inlet or harbour. To the westward of the Cape the land
trends S.W. 1/2 S. and there forms a very large bay which turns to the
eastward, and probably communicates with the inlet, and makes the land
of the Cape an island. As soon as we got round this cape, we hauled our
wind to the westward, in order to get within the islands, which lie
scattered in the bay in great numbers, and extend out to sea as far as
the eye could reach, even from the mast-head: These islands vary both in
height and circuit from each other, so that although they are very
numerous, no two of them are alike. We had not stood long upon a wind
before we came into shoal water, and were obliged to tack at once to
avoid it. Having sent a boat a-head, I bore away W. by N. many small
islands, rocks, and shoals lying between us and the main, and many of a
larger extent without us; our soundings till near noon were from
fourteen to seventeen fathom, when the boat made the signal for meeting
with shoal water; upon this we hauled close upon a wind to the eastward,
but suddenly fell into three-fathom and a quarter; we immediately
dropped an anchor, which brought the ship up with all her sails
standing. When the ship was brought up we had four fathom, with a
coarse sandy bottom, and found a strong tide setting to the N.W. by W.
1/2 W. at the rate of near three miles an hour, by which we were so
suddenly carried upon the shoal. Our latitude, by observation, was 22°
8' S. Cape Townshend bore E. 16 S. distant thirteen miles; and the
westermost part of the main in sight W. 3/4 N. At this time a great
number of islands lay all round us.

In the afternoon, having sounded round the ship, and found that there
was water sufficient to carry her over the shoal, we weighed, and about
three o'clock made sail and stood to the westward, as the land lay,
having sent a boat a-head to sound. At six in the evening we anchored in
ten fathom, with a sandy bottom, at about two miles distance from the
main; the westermost part of which bore W.N.W. and a great number of
islands, lying along way without us, were still in sight.

At five o'clock the next morning, I sent away the master with two boats
to sound the entrance of an inlet which bore from us west, at about the
distance of a league, into which I intended to go with the ship, that I
might wait a few days till the moon should increase, and in the mean
time examine the country. As soon as the ship could be got under sail,
the boats made the signal for anchorage, upon which we stood in, and
anchored in five fathoms water, about a league within the entrance of
the inlet; which, as I observed a tide to flow and ebb considerably, I
judged to be a river that ran up the country to a considerable distance.
In this place I had thoughts of laying the ship ashore, and cleaning her
bottom; I therefore landed with the master in search of a convenient
place for that purpose, and was accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander.
We found walking here exceedingly troublesome, for the ground was
covered with a kind of grass, the seeds of which were very sharp and
bearded backwards, so that whenever they stuck into our clothes, which
indeed was at every step, they worked forwards by means of the beard,
till they got at the flesh, and at the same time we were surrounded by a
cloud of musquitos, which incessantly tormented us with their stings. We
soon met with several places where the ship might conveniently be laid
ashore, but to our great disappointment we could find no fresh water. We
proceeded however up the country, where we found gum trees like those
that we had seen before, and observed that here also the gum was in very
small quantities. Upon the branches of these trees, and some others, we
found ants nests made of clay, as big as a bushel, something like those
described in Sir Hans Sloan's Natural History of Jamaica, vol. ii. p.
221, tab. 258, but not so smooth; the ants which inhabited these nests
were small and their bodies white. But upon another species of the tree
we found a small black ant, which perforated all the twigs, and having
worked out the pith, occupied the pipe which had contained it, yet the
parts in which these insects had thus formed a lodgment, and in which
they swarmed in amazing numbers, bore leaves and flowers, and appeared
to be in as flourishing a state as those that were sound. We found also
an incredible number of butterflies, so that for the space of three or
four acres the air was so crowded with them, that millions were to be
seen in every direction, at the same time that every branch and twig was
covered with others that were not upon the wing. We found here also a
small fish of a singular kind; it was about the size of a minnow, and
had two very strong breast fins; we found it in places that were quite
dry, where we supposed it might have been left by the tide; but it did
not seem to have become languid by the want of water, for upon our
approach it leaped away, by the help of the breast fins, as nimbly as a
frog; neither indeed did it seem to prefer water to land; for when we
found it in the water, it frequently leaped out, and pursued its way
upon dry ground; we also observed that when it was in places where small
stones were standing above the surface of the water at a little distance
from each other, it chose rather to leap from stone to stone, than to
pass through the water; and we saw several of them pass entirely over
puddles in this manner, till they came to dry ground, and then leap
away.[78]

[Footnote 78: As the natural history department of the account of this
country will be filled up when we come to another voyage, little or no
attention is paid to it at present. Dr Hawkesworth's labours, it may
have been already observed by the intelligent reader, are satisfactory
to any one more than to a student of that science.--E.]

In the afternoon we renewed our search after fresh water, but without
success, and therefore I determined to make my stay here but short;
however, having observed from an eminence that the inlet penetrated a
considerable way into the country, I determined to trace it in the
morning.

At sun-rise I went ashore, and climbing a considerable hill, I took a
view of the coast and the islands that lie off it, with their bearings,
having an azimuth compass with me for that purpose, but I observed that
the needle differed very considerably in its position, even to thirty
degrees, in some places more, in others less; and once I found it differ
from itself no less than two points in the distance of fourteen feet. I
took up some of the loose stones that lay upon the ground, and applied
them to the needle, but they produced no effect, and I therefore
concluded that there was iron ore in the hills, of which I had remarked
other indications both here and in the neighbouring parts. After I had
made my observations upon the hill, I proceeded with Dr Solander up the
inlet; I set out with the first of the flood, and long before high water
I had advanced above eight leagues. Its breadth thus far was from two to
five miles, upon a S.W. by S. direction; but here it opened every way,
and formed a large lake, which to the N.W. communicated with the sea;
and I not only saw the sea in this direction, but found the tide of
flood coming strongly in from that point: I also observed an arm of this
lake extending to the eastward, and it is not improbable that it may
communicate with the sea in the bottom of the bay, which lies to the
westward of Cape Townshend. On the south side of the lake is a ridge of
high hills which I was very desirous to climb; but it being high-water,
and the day far spent, I was afraid of being bewildered among the shoals
in the night, especially as the weather was dark and rainy; and
therefore I made the best of my way to the ship. In this excursion I saw
only two people, and they were at a distance; they followed the boat
along the shore a good way, but the tide running strongly in my favour,
I could not prudently wait for them: I saw however several fires in one
direction, and smoke in another, but they also were at a distance. While
I was tracing the inlet with Dr Solander, Mr Banks was endeavouring to
penetrate into the country, where several of the people who had leave to
go ashore were also rambling about. Mr Banks and his party found their
course obstructed by a swamp, covered with mangroves, which, however,
they resolved to pass; the mud was almost knee deep, yet they resolutely
went on, but before they got half way, they repented of their
undertaking: The bottom was covered with branches of trees interwoven
with each other, sometimes they kept their footing upon them, sometimes
their feet slipt through, and sometimes they were so entangled among
them, that they were forced to free themselves by groping in the mud and
slime with their hands. In about an hour, however, they crossed it, and
judged it might be about a quarter of a mile over. After a short walk
they came up to a place where there had been four small fires, and near
them some shells and bones of fish, that had been roasted: They found
also heaps of grass laid together, where four or five people appeared to
have slept. The second lieutenant, Mr Gore, who was at another place,
saw a little water lying in the bottom of a gully, and near it the track
of a large animal: Some bustards were also seen, but none shot, nor any
other bird except a few of the beautiful loriquets which we had seen in
Botany Bay. Mr Gore, and one of the midshipmen, who were in different
places, said that they had heard the voices of Indians near them, but
had seen none. The country in general appeared sandy and barren, and
being destitute of fresh water, it cannot be supposed to have any
settled inhabitants. The deep gullies, which were worn by torrents from
the hills, prove that at certain seasons the rains here are very copious
and heavy.

The inlet in which the ship lay I called Thirsty Sound, because it
afforded us no fresh water. It lies in latitude 22° 10' S. and longitude
210° 18' W. and may be known by a group of small islands lying under the
shore, from two to five leagues distant, in the direction of N.W. and by
another group of islands that lie right before it, between three and
four leagues out at sea. Over each of the points that form the entrance
is a high round hill, which on the N.W. is a peninsula that at high
water is surrounded by the sea; they are bold to both the shores, and
the distance between them is about two miles. In this inlet is good
anchorage in seven, six, five, and four fathom; and places very
convenient for laying a ship down, where, at spring-tides, the water
does not rise less than sixteen or eighteen feet. The tide flows at the
full and change of the moon about 11 o'clock. I have already observed
that here is no fresh water, nor could we procure refreshment of any
other kind. We saw two turtles, but we were not able to take either of
them; neither did we catch either fish or wild-fowl, except a few small
land-birds: We saw indeed the same sorts of water-fowl as in Botany Bay,
but they were so shy that we could not get a shot at them.

As I had not therefore a single inducement to stay longer in this place,
I weighed anchor at six o'clock in the morning of Thursday the 31st of
May, and put to sea. We stood to the N.W. with a fresh breeze at S.S.E.
and kept without the group of islands that lie in shore, and to the N.W.
of Thirsty Sound, as there appeared to be no safe passage between them
and the main: At the same time we had a number of islands without us,
extending as far as we could see: During our run in this direction our
depth of water was ten, eight, and nine fathom. At noon, the west point
of Thirsty Sound, which I have called Pier Head, bore S. 36 E. distant
five leagues; the east point of the other inlet, which communicates with
the sound, bore S. by W. distant two leagues; the group of islands just
mentioned lay between us and the point, and the farthest part of the
main in sight, on the other side of the inlet, bore N.W. Our latitude by
observation was 21° 53'. At half an hour after twelve, the boat, which
was sounding a-head, made the signal for shoal water, and we immediately
hauled our wind to the N.E. At this time we had seven fathom, at the
next cast five, and at the next three, upon which we instantly dropped
an anchor that brought the ship up. Pier Head, the north-west point of
Thirsty Sound, bore S.E. distant six leagues, being half-way between the
islands which lie off the east point of the western inlet, and three
small islands which lie directly without them. It was now the first of
the flood, which we found to set N.W. by W. 1/2 W.; and having sounded
about the shoal, upon which we had three fathom, and found deep water
all round it, we got under sail, and having hauled round the three
islands that have been just mentioned, came to an anchor under the lee
of them, in fifteen fathom water; and the weather being dark, hazy, and
rainy, we remained there till seven o'clock in the morning. At this time
we got again under sail, and stood to the N.W. with a fresh breeze at
S.S.E.; having the main land in sight, and a number of islands all round
us, some of which lay out at sea as far as the eye could reach. The
western inlet, which in the chart is distinguished by the name of Broad
Sound, we had now all open; at the entrance, it is at least nine or ten
leagues wide: In it, and before it, lie several islands, and probably
shoals also; for our soundings were very irregular, varying suddenly
from ten to four fathom. At noon, our latitude by observation was 21°
29' S., a point of land which forms the north-west entrance into Broad
Sound, and which I named _Cape Palmerston_, lying in latitude 21° 30',
longitude 210° 54' W. bore W. by N. distant three leagues. Our latitude
was 21° 27', our longitude 210° 57'. Between this Cape and Cape
Townshend lies the bay which I called the _Bay of Inlets_. We continued
to stand to the N.W. and N.W. by N. as the land lay, under an easy sail,
having a boat a-head to sound: At first the soundings were very
irregular, from nine to four fathom; but afterwards they were regular,
from nine to eleven. At eight in the evening, being about two leagues
from the main land, we anchored in eleven fathom, with a sandy bottom,
and soon after we found the tide setting with a slow motion to the
westward. At one o'clock it was slack, or low water; and at half an hour
after two the ship tended to the eastward, and rode so till six in the
morning, when the tide had risen eleven feet. We now got under sail, and
stood away in the direction of the coast, N.N.W. From what we had
observed of the tide during the night, it is plain that the flood came
from the N.W., whereas the preceding day, and several days before, it
came from the S.E.; nor was this the first or even second time that we
had remarked the same thing. At sun-rise this morning, we found the
variation to be 6° 45' E.; and in steering along the shore, between the
island and the main, at the distance of about two leagues from the main,
and three or four from the island, our soundings were regular from
twelve to nine fathom; but about eleven o'clock in the forenoon we were
again embarrassed with shoal water, having at one time not more than
three fathom, yet we got clear without casting anchor. At noon we were
about two leagues from the main, and four from the islands without us.
Our latitude by observation was 20° 56', and a high promontory, which I
named _Cape Hillsborough_, bore W. 1/2 N., distant seven miles. The land
here is diversified by mountains, hills, plains, and valleys, and seems
to be well clothed with herbage and wood: The islands which lie parallel
to the coast, and from five to eight or ten miles distant, are of
various height and extent; scarcely any of them are more than five
leagues in circumference, and many are not four miles: Besides this
chain of islands, which lies at a distance from the coast, there are
others much less, which lie under the land, from which we saw smoke
rising in different places. We continued to steer along the shore at the
distance of about two leagues, with regular soundings from nine to ten
fathom. At sun-set, the farthest point of the main bore N. 48 W. and to
the northward of this lay some high land, which I took to be an island,
and of which the north-west point bore 41 W.; but not being sure of a
passage, I came to an anchor about eight o'clock in the evening, in ten
fathom water, with a muddy bottom. About ten we had a tide setting to
the northward, and at two it had fallen nine feet; after this it began
to rise, and the flood came from the northward, in the direction of the
islands which lay out to sea; a plain indication that there was no
passage to the N.W. This however had not appeared at day-break, when we
got under sail and stood to the N.W. At eight o'clock in the morning, we
discovered low land quite across what we took for an opening, which
proved to be a bay, about five or six leagues deep; upon this we hauled
our wind to the eastward round the north point of the bay, which at this
time bore from us N.E. by N. distant four leagues: From this point we
found the land trend away N. by W. 1/2 W. and a streight or passage
between it and a large island, or islands, lying parallel to it. Having
the tide of ebb in our favour, we stood for this passage; and at noon
were just within the entrance: Our latitude by observation was 20° 26'
S.; Cape Hillsborough bore S. by E. distant ten leagues; and the north
point of the bay S. 19 W. distant four miles. This point, which I named
_Cape Conway_, lies in latitude 26° 36' S., longitude 211° 28' W.; and
the bay which lies between this Cape and Cape Hillsborough I called
_Repulse Bay_. The greatest depth of water which we found in it was
thirteen fathom, and the least eight. In all parts there was safe
anchorage, and I believe, that upon proper examination, some good
harbours would be found in it; especially at the north side within Cape
Conway; for just within that Cape there lie two or three small islands,
which alone would shelter that side of the bay from the southerly and
southeasterly winds, that seem to prevail here as a Trade. Among the
many islands that lie upon this coast, there is one more remarkable than
the rest; it is of a small circuit, very high and peaked, and lies E. by
S. ten miles from Cape Conway, at the south end of the passage. In the
afternoon, we steered through this passage, which we found to be from
three to seven miles broad, and eight or nine leagues in length, N. by
W. 1/2 W., S. by E. 1/2 E. It is formed by the main on the west, and by
the islands on the east, one of which is at least five leagues in
length: Our depth of water in running through was from twenty to
five-and-twenty fathom, with good anchorage everywhere, and the whole
passage may be considered as one safe harbour, exclusive of the small
bays and coves which abound on each side, where ships might lie as in a
bason. The land both upon the main and islands is high, and diversified
by hill and valley, wood and lawn, with a green and pleasant appearance.
On one of the islands we discovered with our glasses two men and a
woman, and a canoe with an outrigger, which appeared to be larger, and
of a construction very different from those of bark tied together at the
ends, which we had seen upon other parts of the coast; we hoped
therefore that the people here had made some farther advances beyond
mere animal life than those that we had seen before. At six o'clock in
the evening, we were nearly the length of the north end of the passage;
the north-westermost point of the main in sight bore N. 54.W., and the
north end of the island N.N.E. with an open sea between the two points.
As this passage was discovered on Whitsunday, I called it _Whitsunday's
Passage_, and I called the islands that form it _Cumberland Islands_, in
honour of his Royal Highness the Duke. We kept under an easy sail, with
the lead going all night, being at the distance of about three leagues
from the shore, and having from twenty-one to twenty-three fathom water.
At daybreak, we were abreast of the point which had been the farthest in
sight to the north-west the evening before, which I named _Cape
Gloucester_. It is a lofty promontory, in latitude 19° 59'S., longitude
211° 49' W. and may be known by an island which lies out at sea N. by W.
1/2 W. at the distance of five or six leagues from it, and which I
called _Holborne Isle_; there are also islands lying under the land
between Holborne Isle and Whitsunday's Passage. On the west side of Cape
Gloucester the land trends away S.W. and S.S.W. and forms a deep bay,
the bottom of which I could but just see from the mast-head: It is very
low, and a continuation of the low land which we had seen at the bottom
of Repulse Bay. This bay I called _Edgecumbe Bay_, but without staying,
to look into it, we continued our course to the westward, for the
farthest land we could see in that direction, which bore W. by N. 1/2 N.
and appeared very high. At noon, we were about three leagues from the
shore, by observation in latitude 19° 47' S., and Cape Gloucester bore
S. 63 E. distant seven leagues and a half. At six in the evening, we
were abreast of the westermost point just mentioned, at about three
miles distance, and because it rises abruptly from the low lands which
surround it, I called it _Cape Upstart_. It lies in latitude 19° 39' S.,
longitude 212° 32' W., fourteen leagues W.N.W. from Cape Gloucester, and
is of a height sufficient to be seen at the distance of twelve leagues:
Inland there are some high hills or mountains, which, like the Cape,
afford but a barren prospect. Having passed this Cape, we continued
standing to the W.N.W. as the land lay, under an easy sail, having from
sixteen to ten fathom, till two o'clock in the morning, when we fell
into seven fathom; upon which we hauled our wind to the northward,
judging ourselves to be very near land: At day-break, we found our
conjecture to be true, being within little more than two leagues of it.
In this part of the coast the land, being very low, is nearer than it
appears to be, though it is diversified with here and there a hill. At
noon, we were about four leagues from the land, in fifteen fathom water,
and our latitude, by observation, was 19° 12' S. Cape Upstart bearing S.
32° 30' E. distant twelve leagues. About this time some very large
columns of smoke were seen rising from the low lands. At sun-set, the
preceding night, when we were close under Cape Upstart, the variation
was nearly 9° E., and at sun-rise this day, it was no more than 5° 35'.;
I judged therefore that it had been influenced by iron-ore, or other
magnetical matter, contained under the surface of the earth.

We continued to steer W.N.W. as the land lay, with twelve or fourteen
fathom water, till noon on the 6th, when our latitude by observation was
19° 1' S. and we had the mouth of a bay all open, extending from S. 1/2
E. to S.W. 1/2 S. distant two leagues. This bay, which I named
_Cleaveland Bay_, appeared to be about five or six miles in extent every
way: The east point I named _Cape Cleaveland_, and the west, which had
the appearance of an island, _Magnetical Isle_, as we perceived that the
compass did not traverse well when we were near it: They are both high,
and so is the main-land within them, the whole forming a surface the
most rugged, rocky, and barren of any we had seen upon the coast; it was
not however without inhabitants, for we saw smoke in several parts of
the bottom of the bay. The northermost land that was in sight at this
time, bore N.W. and it had the appearance of an island, for we could not
trace the main-land farther than W. by N. We steered W.N.W. keeping the
main land on board, the outermost part of which, at sun-set, bore W. by
N. but without it lay high land, which we judged not to be part of it.
At day-break, we were abreast of the eastern part of this land, which we
found to be a group of islands, lying about five leagues from the main:
At this time, being between the two shores, we advanced slowly to the
N.W. till noon, when our latitude, by observation, was 18° 49' S. and
our distance from the main about five leagues: The northwest part of it
bore from us N. by W. 1/2 W. the islands extending from N. to E. and the
nearest being distant about two miles: Cape Cleaveland bore S. 50 E.
distant eighteen leagues. Our soundings, in the course that we had
sailed between this time and the preceding noon, were from fourteen to
eleven fathom.

In the afternoon, we saw several large columns of smoke upon the main;
we saw also some people and canoes, and upon one of the islands what had
the appearance of cocoa-nut trees: As a few of these nuts would now have
been very acceptable, I sent Lieutenant Hicks ashore, and with him went
Mr Banks and Dr Solander, to see what refreshment could be procured,
while I kept standing in for the island with the ship. About seven
o'clock in the evening they returned, with an account that what we had
taken for cocoa-nut trees, were a small kind of cabbage-palm, and that,
except about fourteen or fifteen plants, they had met with nothing worth
bringing away. While they were ashore, they saw none of the people, but
just as they had put off, one of them came very near the beach, and
shouted with a loud voice; it was so dark that they could not see him,
however they turned towards the shore, but when he heard the boat
putting back, he ran away or hid himself, for they could not get a
glimpse of him, and though, they shouted he made no reply. After the
return of the boats, we stood away N. by W. for the northermost land in
sight, of which we were abreast at three o'clock in the morning, having
passed all the islands three or four hours before. This land, on account
of its figure, I named _Point Hillock_: It is of a considerable height,
and may be known by a round hillock, or rock, which joins to the Point,
but appears to be detached from it. Between this Cape and Magnetical
Isle the shore forms a large bay, which I called _Halifax Bay_: Before
it lay the group of islands which has been just mentioned, and some
others, at a less distance from the shore. By these islands the Bay is
sheltered from all winds, and it affords good anchorage. The land near
the beach, in the bottom of the Bay, is low and woody, but farther back
it is one continued ridge of high land, which appeared to be barren and
rocky. Having passed Point Hillock, we continued standing to the N.N.W.
as the land trended, having the advantage of a light moon. At six, we
were abreast of a point of land which lies N. by W. 1/2 W., distant
eleven miles from Point Hillock, which I named _Cape Sandwich_. Between
these two points the land is very high, and the surface is craggy and
barren. Cape Sandwich may be known not only by the high craggy land over
it, but by a small island which lies east of it; at the distance of a
mile, and some others that lie about two leagues to the northward. From
Cape Sandwich the land trends W. and afterwards N. forming a fine large
bay, which I called _Rockingham Bay_, where there appears to be good
shelter, and good anchorage, but I did not stay to examine it: I kept
ranging along the shore to the northward, for a cluster of small
islands, which lie off the northern point of the Bay. Between the three
outermost of these islands, and those near the shore, I found a channel
of about a mile broad, through which I passed, and upon one of the
nearest islands we saw with our glasses about thirty of the natives,
men, women, and children, all standing together, and looking with great
attention at the ship; the first instance of curiosity we had seen among
them: They were all stark naked, with short hair, and of the same
complexion with those that we had seen before.[79] At noon, our
latitude, by observation, was 17° 59', and we were abreast of the north
point of Rockingham Bay, which bore from us W. at the distance of about
two miles. This boundary of the Bay is formed by an island of
considerable height, which I distinguished by the name of _Dunk Isle_,
and which lies so near the shore as not to be easily distinguished from
it. Our longitude was 213° 57' W. Cape Sandwich bore S. by E. 1/2 E.
distant nineteen miles, and the northermost land in sight N. 1/2 W.: Our
depth of water for the last ten hours had not been more than sixteen,
nor less than seven fathom. At sun-set, the northern extremity of the
land bore N. 25 W. and we kept our course N. by W. along the coast, at
the distance of between three and four leagues, with an easy sail all
night, having from twelve to fifteen fathom water.

[Footnote 79: Dampier was of opinion, from the inattention of the people
of New Holland whom he fell in with, that they had some defect in
vision, so that they could not see at the usual distance. But this
opinion has been long abandoned. Other savages have occasionally
exhibited as strong marks of indifference to objects, one should think,
well fitted to attract their admiration and astonishment. A certain
degree of civilization seems absolutely requisite to rouse the human
mind to feelings of curiosity. Under this degree, man resembles a
vegetable, much more than that animated and intelligent being he becomes
in cultivated society.--E.]

At six o'clock in the morning, we were abreast of some small islands,
which we called _Frankland's Isles_, and which lie about two leagues
distant from the mainland. The most distant point in sight to the
northward bore N. by W. 1/2 W. and we thought it was part of the main,
but afterwards found it to be an island of considerable height, and
about four miles in circuit. Between this island and a point on the
main, from which it is distant about two miles, I passed with the ship.
At noon, we were in the middle of the channel, and by observation in the
latitude of 16° 57' S. with twenty fathom water. The point on the main,
of which we were now abreast, I called _Cape Grafton_: Its latitude is
16° 57' S., and longitude 214° 6' W., and the land here, as well as the
whole coast for about twenty leagues to the southward, is high, has a
rocky surface, and is thinly covered with wood: During the night we had
seen several fires, and about noon some people. Having hauled round Cape
Grafton, we found the land trend away N.W. by W., and three miles to the
westward of the Cape we found a bay, in which we anchored about two
miles from the shore, in four fathom water with an oozy bottom. The east
point of the bay bore S. 74 E., the west point S. 83 W., and a low,
green, woody island, which lies in the offing, N. 35 E. This island,
which lies N. by E. 1/2 E. distant three or four leagues from Cape
Grafton, I called _Green Island_.

As soon as the ship was brought to an anchor, I went ashore, accompanied
by Mr Banks and Dr Solander. As my principal view was to procure some
fresh water, and as the bottom of the bay was low land covered with
mangroves, where it was not probable fresh water was to be found, I went
out towards the Cape, and found two small streams, which however were
rendered very difficult of access by the surf and rocks upon the shore:
I saw also, as I came round the Cape, a small stream of water run over
the beach, in a sandy cove, but I did not go in with the boat, because I
saw that it would not be easy to land. When we got ashore, we found the
country every where rising into steep rocky hills, and as no fresh water
could conveniently be procured, I was unwilling to lose time by going
in search of lower land elsewhere: We therefore made the best of our way
back to the ship, and about midnight we weighed and stood to the N.W.,
having but little wind, with some showers of rain. At four in the
morning, the breeze freshened at S. by E. and the weather became fair:
We continued steering N.N.W. 1/2 W. as the land lay, at about three
leagues distance, with ten, twelve, and fourteen fathom water. At ten,
we hauled off north, in order to get without a small low island, which
lay at about two leagues distance from the main, and great part of which
at this time, it being high-water, was overflowed: About three leagues
to the north-west of this island, close under the main land, is another
island, the land of which rises to a greater height, and which at noon
bore from us N. 55 W. distant seven or eight miles. At this time our
latitude was 16° 20' S. Cape Grafton bore S. 29 E. distant forty miles,
and the northermost point of land in sight N. 20 W.; our depth of water
was fifteen fathom. Between this point and Cape Grafton, the shore forms
a large, but not a very deep bay, which being discovered on Trinity
Sunday, I called _Trinity Bay_.


SECTION XXX.

_Dangerous Situation of the Ship in her Course from Trinity Bay to
Endeavour River_.[80]


[Footnote 80: We have now to relate some of the most remarkable
incidents in the history of nautical deliverances. These, however, the
philosophical composure of Dr Hawkesworth's creed did not allow him to
particularize, with that acknowledgment of providential interposition,
which those who have actually been in such dangers, are, in general,
strongly enough, and, it may be safely affirmed, sincerely inclined to
offer. It would be unjust not to hear him in defence of his own opinions
and conduct in the matter. It is given with all the candour that becomes
a man who chuses to think for himself, and at the same time with as much
boldness as entitles him to _generous_ treatment from those who think
themselves bound to oppose him. The passage may seem long for a note,
but no one will object to it _as such_, who sets a value on correctness
of sentiment on the subject of which it treats.

"I have now only to request," says he, "of such of my readers as may be
disposed to censure me for not having attributed any of the critical
escapes from danger that I have recorded, to the particular
interposition of Providence, that they would, in this particular, allow
me the right o£ private judgment, which I claim with the greater
confidence, as the very same principle which would have determined them
to have done it, has determined me to the contrary. As I firmly believe
the divine precept delivered by the Author of Christianity, 'there is
not a sparrow falls to the ground without my Father,' and cannot admit
the agency of chance in the government of the world, I must necessarily
refer every event to one cause, as well the danger as the escape, as
well the sufferings as the enjoyments of life: and for this opinion, I
have, among other respectable authorities, that of the Bible. 'Shall
we,' says Job, 'receive good from the hand of God, and shall we not
receive evil?' The Supreme Being is equally wise and benevolent in the
dispensation of both evil and good, as means of effecting ultimate
purposes worthy of his ineffable perfections; so that whether we
consider ourselves as Christians or philosophers, we must acknowledge
that he deserves blessing not more when he gives than when he takes
away. If the fall of a sparrow, as well as its preservation, is imputed
to Providence, why not the fall as well as the preservation of a man?
And why should we attribute to Providence only what appears to be good
in its immediate effect, when we suppose that the whole concatenation of
events, whether the preservation or destruction of particular parts,
tends ultimately to the good of the whole? The same voice commissions
the winds to plough up the deep, which at the appointed time rebukes
them, saying, 'Peace, be still.' If the adorable Author and Preserver of
Nature was such a being as Baal is represented to have been by the
prophet, when he derided his worshippers; if he was sometimes on a
journey, and sometimes asleep, we might with propriety say that a fire
_happened_ to break out, or a storm to rise, but that by the
interposition of Providence life was preserved, expressions which imply
that the mischief had one origin, and the remedy another; but such
language certainly derogates, from the honour of the great Universal
Cause, who, acting through all duration, and subsisting in all space,
fills immensity with his presence, and eternity with his power.

"It will perhaps be said, that in particular instances evil necessarily
results from that constitution of things which is best upon the whole,
and that Providence occasionally interferes, and supplies the defects of
the constitution in these particulars; but this notion will appear not
to be supported by those facts which are said to be providential; it
will always be found that Providence interposes too late, and only
moderates the mischief which it might have prevented. But who can
suppose an extraordinary interposition of Providence to supply
particular defects in the constitution of Nature, who sees those defects
supplied but in part? It is true, that when the Endeavour was upon the
rock off the coast of New Holland, the wind ceased, and that otherwise
she must have been beaten to pieces; but either the subsiding of the
wind was a mere natural event, If it was a natural event, Providence is
out of the question, at least we can with no more propriety say that
providentially the wind ceased, than that providentially the sun rose in
the morning. If it was not a mere natural event, but produced by an
extraordinary interposition, correcting a defect in the constitution of
nature, tending to mischief, it will lie upon those who maintain the
position, to shew, why an extraordinary interposition did not take place
rather to prevent the ship's striking, than to prevent her being beaten
to pieces after she had struck. A very slight impulse upon the ship's
course would have caused her to steer clear of the rock; and if all
things were not equally easy to Omnipotence, we should say that this
might have been done with less difficulty than a calm could be produced
by suspending the general laws of Nature, which had brought on the gale.

"I have, however, paid my homage to the Supreme Being, consonant to my
own ideas of his agency and perfections; and those who are of opinion
that my notions are erroneous, must allow, that he who does what he
thinks to be right, and abstains from what he thinks to be wrong,
acquits himself equally of moral obligation, whether his opinions are
false or true."

Such are the concluding observations in Dr Hawkesworth's General
Introduction to this work. That they have a most specious and rational
aspect, cannot be denied, with the exception of scarcely any thing more
than the last paragraph, in which it is implied, most erroneously, that
the conviction of being right is a sufficient evidence that one is
so,--a sentiment not more certainly the result of ignorance of human
nature in its present condition, than it is the potential source of
almost every immorality and mischief that have degraded or destroyed our
species. But conceding entirely the principles contended for by Dr H.,
it may be demonstrated, that a directly contrary conclusion is their
proper legitimate issue, and that too, independent of any consideration
of other parts of our moral system, which, however, it will be found, in
point of fact, are more concerned than even our reason in the influence
exerted over our conduct. Neither time nor place admits the discussion
of the topic; and to the intelligent reader, this will seem quite
unnecessary, when he recollects a single principle, and follows it out
into its just consequences, viz. That as the Supreme Being is the cause
of all things, and is equally wise and benevolent in the dispensation of
both evil and good, so is he entitled to the homage, the fear, and love
of those whom he has created with faculties competent to the
understanding, in any degree, of his ineffable perfections; and in
consequence, his actions or dispensations become to them the proper
indications of the qualities of mind with which they ought to adore him.
It follows, that though alike proceeding from his benevolence or wisdom,
good and evil must be differently accepted by them, as really intended
for different, though perfectly consistent purposes. The humiliation
therefore of affliction, and the fervour of joy, are alike becoming them
on different occasions. We find accordingly, that in the constitution he
has given us, there is ample provision made for both, and that he acts
in perfect consistency with that constitution: And thus we may cordially
join in the sentiment of Mr Gibbon (ay, Mr Gibbon!) on another occasion:
"The satirist may laugh, the philosopher may preach; but reason herself
will respect the prejudices and habits which have been consecrated by
the experience of mankind." But Dr H., we see, is not content with the
dictates of reason; he calls in another aid to maintain this exercise of
private judgment. Has he appealed to Scripture? Then to Scripture he
shall go. But perhaps it may be said to him, as a popish priest,
defending the doctrine of purgatory, said to a protestant, who did not
relish it, "He may go farther, and fare worse. The language of the Bible
seems not to concur in the propriety of the Doctor's philosophic apathy
in such occurrences. The Psalmist, it may be safely affirmed, knew as
much of human nature as the Doctor, and was as well acquainted too with
what was becoming worship. He, however, differs egregiously in opinion.
In the 107th psalm, which so beautifully describes the manifold
goodness, and yet the varying providences of the Most High, we find a
passage which strikingly applies to such a case as we have been
contemplating, and which, at the same time, points out the natural and
highly proper emotions which result from it. "They that go down to the
sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of
the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the
stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to
heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and
all their wisdom is swallowed up. Then they cry unto the Lord in their
trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the
storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad
because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh
that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful
works to the children of men!" Almost every word of this gives the lie
to the practical consequences of our Doctor's theory. It would be
invidious to oppress him with any other of the numerous such like
instances which this book presents. He appears to make much of the
obvious impropriety of using such terms as _happened_, in speaking of
certain events. But this is childish; for every one knows that by such
terms is expressed merely our ignorance of the series or train of
operations by which those events are brought to pass. They are used in
respect of ourselves, not by any means in reference to the Deity. But
there is something vastly worse than childishness, in his insinuation as
to what Omnipotence might do in preventing, not remedying evils. They
breathe a spirit of malevolent disaffection, which is indeed but very
imperfectly smothered in the decent language of conjectural
propositions. A sounder philosophy than his own would have told Dr H. in
the words of Bacon, that "the prerogative of God extendeth as well to
the reason, as to the will of man;" and that therefore it became him
humbly to contemplate what God _has_ done, rather than to speculate as
to what he _might have_ done. In nothing, however, has he so monstrously
blundered, as in hinting, that if an event is natural, therefore
Providence is out of the question in effecting it; and that, on the
other hand, if it is not natural, therefore even a benevolent
Providence, that has interposed to remedy the evils of it, is faulty in
not having been earlier at work to prevent its occurrence altogether.
This is sophistry of the worst kind. A single remark may be sufficient
to silence it. Nature is the regular operation of an intelligent
Providence; and natural events are the individual instances of it; but
it does not follow, either that events which to us seem irregular, are
therefore uninfluenced by the same Agent, or that the addition of the
word _mere_ to the word _natural_, can signify any thing else than the
presumption of him, who chuses to exercise his right of private judgment
in using it, to exclude entirely the consideration of a Providence. This
is the more extraordinary in Dr H, because in his letter to Mr
Dalrymple, who had taxed him with some errors on this subject, he
affirms his belief to be "that the Supreme Being is perpetually
operating," and "that he is the cause of _all_ events,"--propositions
certainly not very reconcileable with what he says here as to mere
natural events. It is, however, very like the inconsistencies of a man
who esteems his own conviction of consciousness of the rectitude of his
opinions, so highly, as to make him comparatively indifferent whether
they are false or true. Taking the view of the subject, then, which such
an admission offers, the question is readily solved, but not to the
credit of Dr H.'s judgment. If the Supreme Being is continually
operating, and is the cause of _all_ things, then the Supreme Being is
the only providence, and providence is concerned in every event. But
according to the constitution which this providence has given us,
different events produce different effects on us, and these, on the same
principle, are also in the order of providence; and besides, we have the
advice of an inspired writer to this purport. "In the day of prosperity
be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider." It will be difficult
to shew that any prosperity is so blissful to the human heart as
redemption from death, in whatever sense we take the word; or that any
joy is so rational as that which expresses itself in gratitude to God,
the author of the blessing enjoyed. The converse of the text may be
similarly applied. That is the greatest adversity that most threatens
life (for all that a man hath will he give for it); and that is the most
suitable consideration that teaches to acknowledge the hand that smites,
and produces humble submission to the blow,--that leads a man, to say
with Job of old, "I have heard of thee (0 Lord) by the hearing of the
ear; but now mine eye seeth thee: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes."--E.]

Hitherto we had safely navigated this dangerous coast, where the sea in
all parts conceals shoals that suddenly project from the shore, and
rocks that rise abruptly like a pyramid from the bottom, for an extent
of two-and-twenty degrees of latitude, more than one thousand three
hundred miles; and therefore hitherto none of the names which
distinguish the several parts of the country that we saw, are memorials
of distress; but here we became acquainted with misfortune, and we
therefore called the point which we had just seen farthest to the
northward, _Cape Tribulation_. This cape lies in latitude l6° 6' S. and
longitude 214° 39' W. We steered along the shore N. by W. at the
distance of between three and four leagues, having from fourteen to
twelve, and ten fathom water: In the offing we saw two islands, which
lie in latitude 16° S. and about six or seven leagues from the main. At
six in the evening, the northermost land in sight bore N. by W. 1/2 W.
and two low woody islands, which some of us took to be rocks above
water, bore N. 1/2 W. At this time we shortened sail and hauled off
shore E.N.E. and N.E. by E. close upon a wind; for it was my design to
stretch off all night, as well to avoid the danger we saw a-head, as to
see whether any islands lay in the offing, especially as we were now
near the latitude assigned to the islands which were discovered by
Quiros, and which some geographers, for what reason I know not, have
thought fit to join to this land. We had the advantage of a fine breeze,
and a cleat moonlight night, and in standing off from six till near nine
o'clock, we deepened our water from fourteen to twenty-one fathom; but
while we were at supper it suddenly shoaled, and we fell into twelve,
ten, and eight fathom, within the space of a few minutes. I immediately
ordered every body to their station, and all was ready to put about and
come to an anchor; but meeting at the next cast of the lead with deep
water again, we concluded that we had gone over the tail of the shoals
which we had seen at sun-set, and that all danger was past. Before ten,
we had twenty and one-and-twenty fathom, and this depth continuing, the
gentlemen left the deck in great tranquillity, and went to bed; but a
few minutes before eleven, the water shallowed at once from twenty to
seventeen fathom, and before the lead could be cast again, the ship
struck, and remained immoveable, except by the heaving of the surge,
that beat her against the crags of the rock upon which she lay. In a few
moments every body was upon the deck, with countenances which
sufficiently expressed the horrors of our situation. We had stood off
the shore three hours and a half, with a pleasant breeze, and therefore
knew that we could not be very near it, and we had too much reason to
conclude that we were upon a rock of coral, which is more fatal than any
other, because the points of it are sharp, and every part of the surface
so rough as to grind away whatever is rubbed against it, even with the
gentlest motion. In this situation all the sails were immediately taken
in, and the boats hoisted out to examine the depth of water round the
ship. We soon discovered that our fears had not aggravated our
misfortune, and that the vessel had been lifted over a ledge of the
rock, and lay in a hollow within it: In some places there was from three
to four fathom, and in others not so many feet. The ship lay with her
head to the N.E.; and at the distance of about thirty yards on the
starboard side, the water deepened to eight, ten, and twelve fathom. As
soon as the long-boat was out, we struck our yards and topmasts, and
carried out the stream anchor on the starboard bow, got the coasting
anchor and cable into the boat, and were going to carry it out the same
way; but upon sounding a second time round the ship, the water was found
to be deepest astern: the anchor therefore was carried out from the
starboard quarter instead of the starboard bow, that is, from the stern
instead of the head, and having taken ground, our utmost force was
applied to the capstern, hoping that if the anchor did not come home,
the ship would be got off; but, to our great misfortune and
disappointment, we could not move her. During all this time she
continued to beat with great violence against the rock, so that it was
with the utmost difficulty that we kept upon our legs; and to complete
the scene of distress, we saw by the light of the moon the
sheathing-boards from the bottom of the vessel floating away all round
her, and at last her false keel, so that every moment was making way for
the sea to rush in which was to swallow us up. We had now no chance but
to lighten her, and we had lost the opportunity of doing that to the
greatest advantage, for unhappily we went on shore just at high water,
and by this time it had considerably fallen, so that after she should be
lightened so as to draw as much less water as the water had sunk, we
should be but in the same situation as at first; and the only
alleviation of this circumstance was, that as the tide ebbed the ship
settled to the rocks, and was not beaten against them with so much
violence. We had indeed some hope from the next tide, but it was
doubtful whether she would hold together so long, especially as the rock
kept grating her bottom under the starboard bow with such force as to be
heard in the fore store-room. This, however, was no time to indulge
conjecture, nor was any effort remitted in despair of success. That no
time might be lost, the water was immediately started in the hold, and
pumped up; six of our guns, being all we had upon the deck, our iron and
stone ballast, casks, hoop staves, oil jars, decayed stores, and many
other things that lay in the way of heavier materials, were thrown
overboard with the utmost expedition, every one exerting himself with an
alacrity almost approaching to cheerfulness, without the least repining
or discontent; yet the men were so far imprest with a sense of their
situation, that not an oath was heard among them, the habit of
profaneness, however strong, being instantly subdued by the dread of
incurring guilt when death seemed to be so near.

While we were thus employed, day broke upon us, and we saw the land at
about eight leagues distance, without any island in the intermediate
space, upon which, if the ship should have gone to pieces, we might have
been set ashore by the boats, and from which they might have taken us by
different turns to the main: The wind however gradually died away, and
early in the forenoon it was a dead calm; if it had blown hard, the ship
must inevitably have been destroyed. At eleven in the forenoon we
expected high water, and anchors were got out, and every thing made
ready for another effort to heave her off if she should float; but, to
our inexpressible surprise and concern, she did not float by a foot and
a half, though we had lightened her near fifty ton, so much did the day
tide fall short of that in the night. We now proceeded to lighten her
still more, and threw overboard every thing that it was possible for us
to spare: Hitherto she had not admitted much water, but as the tide
fell, it rushed in so fast, that two pumps, incessantly worked, could
scarcely keep her free. At two o'clock, she lay heeling two or three
streaks to starboard, and the pinnace, which lay under her bows, touched
the ground; we had now no hope but from the tide at midnight, and to
prepare for it we carried out our two bower anchors, one on the
starboard quarter, and the other right a-stern, got the blocks and
tackle which were to give us a purchase upon the cables in order, and
brought the falls, or ends of them, in abaft, straining them tight, that
the next effort might operate upon the ship, and by shortening the
length of the cable between that and the anchors, drew her off the ledge
upon which she rested, towards the deep water. About five o'clock in the
afternoon, we observed the tide begin to rise, but we observed at the
same time that the leak increased to a most alarming degree, so that
two, more pumps were manned, but unhappily only one of them, would work;
three of the pumps, however, were kept going, and at nine o'clock the
ship righted, but the leak had gained upon us so considerably, that it
was imagined she must go to the bottom as soon as she ceased to be
supported by the rock: This was a dreadful circumstance, so that we
anticipated the floating of the ship not as an earnest of deliverance,
but as an event that would probably precipitate our destruction. We well
knew that our boats were not capable of carrying us all on shore, and
that when the dreadful crisis should arrive, as all command and
subordination would be at an end, a contest for preference would
probably ensue, that would increase even the horrors of shipwreck, and
terminate in the destruction of us all by the hands of each other; yet
we knew that if any should be left on board to perish in the waves, they
would probably suffer less upon the whole than those who should get on
shore, without any lasting or effectual defence against the natives, in
a country where even nets and fire-arms would scarcely furnish them with
food; and where, if they should find the means of subsistence, they must
be condemned to languish out the remainder of life in a desolate
wilderness, without the possession, or even hope, of any domestic
comfort, and cut off from all commerce with mankind, except the naked
savages who prowled the desert, and who perhaps were some of the most
rude and uncivilized upon the earth.

To those only who have waited in a state of such suspense, Death has
approached in all his tenors; and as the dreadful moment that was to
determine our fate came on, every one saw his own sensations pictured in
the countenances of his companions: However, the capstan and wind-lace
were manned with as many hands as could be spared from the pumps, and
the ship floating about twenty minutes after ten o'clock, the effort was
made, and she was heaved into deep water. It was some comfort to find
that she did not now admit more water than she had done upon the rock;
and though by the gaining of the leak upon the pumps, there was no less
than three feet nine inches water in the hold, yet the men did not
relinquish their labour, and we held the water as it were at bay; but
having now endured excessive fatigue of body and agitation of mind for
more than four-and-twenty hours, and having but little hope of
succeeding at last, they began to flag: None of them could work at the
pump more than five or six minutes together, and then, being totally
exhausted, they threw themselves down upon the deck, though a stream of
water was running over it from the pumps between three and four inches
deep; when those who succeeded them had worked their spell, and were
exhausted in their turn, they threw themselves down in the same manner,
and the others started up again, and renewed their labour; thus
relieving each other till an accident was very near putting an end to
their efforts at once. The planking which lines the inside of the ship's
bottom is called the ceiling, and between this and the outside planking
there is a space of about eighteen inches: The man who till this time
had attended the well to take the depth of water, had taken it only to
the ceiling, and gave the measure accordingly; but he being now
relieved, the person who came in his stead reckoned the depth to the
outside planking, by which it appeared in a few minutes to have gained
upon the pumps eighteen inches, the difference between the planking
without and within. Upon this even the bravest was upon the point of
giving up his labour with his hope, and in a few minutes every thing
would have been involved in all the confusion of despair. But this
accident, however dreadful in its first consequences, was eventually the
cause of our preservation. The mistake was soon detected, and the sudden
joy which every man felt upon finding his situation better than his
fears had suggested, operated like a charm, and seemed to possess him
with a strong belief that scarcely any real danger remained. New
confidence and new hope, however founded, inspired new vigour; and
though our state was the same as when the men first began to slacken in
their labour, through weariness and despondency, they now renewed their
efforts with such alacrity and spirit, that before eight o'clock in the
morning the leak was so far from having gained upon the pumps, that the
pumps had gained considerably upon the leak. Every body now talked of
getting the ship into some harbour, as a thing not to be doubted, and as
hands could be spared from the pumps, they were employed in getting up
the anchors: The stream anchor and best bower we had taken on board; but
it was found impossible to save the little bower, and therefore it was
cut away at a whole cable; we lost also the cable of the stream anchor
among the rocks; but in our situation these were trifles which scarcely
attracted our notice. Our next business was to get up the fore top-mast,
and fore-yard, and warp the ship to the south-east, and at eleven,
having now a breeze from the sea, we once more got under sail and stood
for the land.

It was however impossible long to continue the labour by which the pumps
had been made to gain upon the leak, and as the exact situation of it
could not be discovered, we had no hope of stopping it within. In this
situation, Mr Monkhouse, one of my midshipmen, came to me and proposed
an expedient that he had seen used on board a merchant ship, which
sprung a leak that admitted above four feet water an hour, and which by
this expedient was brought safely from Virginia to London; the master
having such confidence in it, that he took her out of harbour, knowing
her condition, and did not think it worth while to wait till the leak
could be otherwise stopped. To this man, therefore, the care of the
expedient, which is called fothering the ship, was immediately
committed, four or five of the people being appointed to assist him, and
he performed it in this manner: He took a lower studding sail, and
having mixed together a large quantity of oakum and wool, chopped pretty
small, he stitched it down in handfuls upon the sail, as lightly as
possible, and over this he spread the dung of our sheep and other filth;
but horse dung, if we had had it, would have been better. When the sail
was thus prepared, it was hauled under the ship's bottom by ropes, which
kept it extended, and when it came under the leak, the suction which
carried in the water, carried in with it the oakum and wool from the
surface of the sail, which in other parts the water was not sufficiently
agitated to wash off.[81] By the success of this expedient, our leak was
so far reduced, that instead of gaining upon three pumps, it was easily
kept under with one. This was a new source of confidence and comfort;
the people could scarcely have expressed more joy if they had been
already in port; and their views were so far from being limited to
running the ship ashore in some harbour, either of an island or the
main, and building a vessel out of her materials to carry us to the East
Indies, which had so lately been the utmost object of our hope, that
nothing was now thought of but ranging along the shore in search of a
convenient place to repair the damage she had sustained, and then
prosecuting the voyage upon the same plan as if nothing had happened.
Upon this occasion I must observe, both in justice and gratitude to the
ship's company, and the gentlemen on board, that although in the midst
of our distress every one seemed to have a just sense of his danger, yet
no passionate exclamations, or frantic gestures, were to be heard or
seen; every one appeared to have the perfect possession of his mind, and
everyone exerted himself to the uttermost, with a quiet and patient
perseverance, equally distant from the tumultuous violence of terror,
and the gloomy inactivity of despair.[82]

[Footnote 81: A somewhat different account of the operation called
fothering a vessel, is given in the Encyclopædia Britannica. The
expedient does not appear to be adopted. The importance of the benefit
intended by it is so great, as to justify the most sedulous care to
bring the principle within the range of a seaman's professional studies.
It is somewhat singular that Cook was not acquainted with it.--E.]

[Footnote 82: With the modesty of real worth, Cook expends his eulogium
on his companions in danger, without seeming to reserve the smallest
consideration for his own dignified behaviour in such extreme peril. Who
can doubt, that the conduct of the crew was in unison with the fortitude
and intelligence of their commander? It is on such occasions that the
effects of discipline are most conspicuous. In common occurrences, the
mere attention to rules is amply sufficient to call forth our esteem.
What shall we say of their merit, who, in such untoward emergencies,
extend the influence of beneficial authority beyond the force of some of
the strongest passions that agitate our frame?--E.]

In the mean time, having light airs at E.S.E. we got up the main
top-mast, and main-yard, and kept edging in for the land, till about six
o'clock in the evening, when we came to an anchor in seventeen fathom
water, at the distance of seven leagues from the shore, and one from the
ledge of rocks upon which we had struck.

This ledge or shoal lies in latitude 15° 45' S., and between six and
seven leagues from the main. It is not however the only shoal on this
part of the coast, especially to the northward; and at this time we saw
one to the southward, the tail of which we passed over, when we had
uneven soundings about two hours before we struck. A part of this shoal
is always above water, and has the appearance of white sand: A part also
of that upon which we had lain is dry at low water, and in that place
consists of sand stones, but all the rest of it is a coral rock.

Whilst we lay at anchor for the night, we found that the ship made about
fifteen inches water an hour, from which no immediate danger was to be
apprehended; and at six o'clock in the morning we weighed and stood to
the N.W., still edging in for the land with a gentle breeze at S.S.E. At
nine we passed close without two small islands that lie in latitude 15°
41' S., and about four leagues from the main: To reach these islands
had, in the height of our distress, been the object of our hope, or
perhaps rather of our wishes, and therefore I called them _Hope
Islands_. At noon we were about three leagues from the land, and in
latitude 15° 37' S.; the northermost part of the main in sight bore N.
30 W.; and Hope Islands extended from S. 30 E. to S. 40 E. In this
situation we had twelve fathom water, and several sand banks without us.
At this time the leak had not increased; but that we might be prepared
for all events, we got the sail ready for another fothering. In the
afternoon, having a gentle breeze at S.E. by E., I sent out the master
with two boats, as well to sound a-head of the ship as to look out for a
harbour where we might repair our defects, and put the ship in a proper
trim. At three o'clock we saw an opening that had the appearance of an
harbour, and stood off and on while the boats examined it, but they soon
found that there was not depth of water in it sufficient for the ship.
When it was near sun-set, there being many shoals about us, we anchored
in four fathom, at the distance of about two miles from the shore, the
land extending from N. 1/2 E. to S. by E. 1/2 E. The pinnace was still
out with one of the mates; but at nine o'clock she returned, and
reported, that about two leagues to leeward she had discovered just
such a harbour as we wanted, in which there was a sufficient rise of
water, and every other convenience that could be desired, either for
laying the ship ashore, or heading her down.

In consequence of this information, I weighed at six o'clock in the
morning, and having sent two boats a-head, to lie upon the shoals that
we saw in our way, we ran down to the place; but notwithstanding our
precaution, we were once in three fathom water. As soon as these shoals
were passed, I sent the boats to lie in the channel that led to the
harbour, and by this time it began to blow. It was happy for us that a
place of refuge was at hand; for we soon found that the ship would not
work, having twice missed stays: Oar situation, however, though it might
have been much worse, was not without danger; we were entangled among
shoals, and I had great reason to fear being driven to leeward before
the boats could place themselves so as to prescribe our course. I
therefore anchored in four fathom, about a mile from the shore, and then
made the signal for the boats to come on board. When this was done, I
went myself and buoyed the channel, which I found very narrow; the
harbour also I found smaller than I expected, but most excellently
adapted to our purpose; and it is remarkable, that in the whole course
of our voyage we had seen no place which, in our present circumstances,
could have afforded us the same relief. At noon, our latitude was 15°
26' S. During all the rest of this day, and the whole night, it blew too
fresh for us to venture from our anchor and run into the harbour; and
for our farther security, we got down the top-gallant yards, unbent the
main-sail and some of the small sails; got down the
fore-top-gallant-mast, and the jibb-boom, and sprit-sail, with a view to
lighten the ship forwards as much as possible, in order to come at her
leak, which we supposed to be somewhere in that part; for in all the joy
of our unexpected deliverance, we had not forgot that at this time there
was nothing but a lock of wool between us and destruction. The gale
continuing, we kept our station all the 15th. On the 16th, it was
somewhat more moderate; and about six o'clock in the morning we hove the
cable short, with a design to get under sail, but were obliged to
desist, and veer it out again. It is remarkable that the sea-breeze,
which blew fresh when we anchored, continued to do so almost every day
white we stayed here; it was calm only while we were upon the rock,
except once; and even the gale that afterwards wafted us to the shore,
would then certainly have beaten us to pieces. In the evening of the
preceding day, we had observed a fire near the beach over against us;
and, as it would be necessary for us to stay some time in this place, we
were not without hope of making an acquaintance with the people. We saw
more fires upon the hills to-day, and with our glasses discovered four
Indians going along the shore, who stopped and made two fires; but for
what purpose it was impossible we should guess.

The scurvy now began to make its appearance among us, with many
formidable symptoms. Our poor Indian, Tupia, who had some time before
complained that his gums were sore and swelled, and who had taken
plentifully of our lemon juice by the surgeon's direction, had now livid
spots upon his legs, and other indubitable testimonies that the disease
had made a rapid progress, notwithstanding all our remedies, among which
the bark had been liberally administered. Mr Green, our astronomer, was
also declining; and these, among other circumstances, embittered the
delay which prevented our going ashore.

In the morning of the 17th, though the wind was still fresh, we ventured
to weigh, and push in for the harbour; but in doing this we twice run
the ship aground: The first time she went off without any trouble, but
the second time she stuck fast. We now got down the fore-yard, fore
top-masts, and booms, and taking them overboard, made a raft of them
alongside of the ship. The tide was happily rising, and about one
o'clock in the afternoon she floated. We soon warped her into the
harbour, and having moored her alongside of a steep beach to the south,
we got the anchors, cables, and all the hawsers on shore before night.


SECTION XXXI.

_Transactions while the Ship was refitting in Endeavour River: A
Description of the adjacent Country, its Inhabitants and Productions_.



In the morning of Monday the 18th, a stage was made from the ship to the
shore, which was so bold that she floated at twenty feet distance: Two
tents were also set up, one for the sick, and the other for stores and
provisions, which were landed in the course of the day. We also landed
all the empty water-casks, and part of the stores. As soon as the tent
for the sick was got ready for their reception, they were sent ashore to
the number of eight or nine, and the boat was dispatched to haul the
seine, in hopes of procuring some fish for their refreshment; but she
returned without success. In the mean time, I climbed one of the highest
hills among those that overlooked the harbour, which afforded by no
means a comfortable prospect: The low land near the river is wholly
over-run with mangroves, among which the salt water flows every tide;
and the high land appeared to be everywhere stoney and barren. In the
mean time, Mr Banks had also taken a walk up the country, and met with
the frames of several old Indian houses, and places where they had
dressed shell-fish; but they seemed not to have been frequented for some
months. Tupia, who had employed himself in angling, and lived entirely
upon what he caught, recovered in a surprising degree; but Mr Green
still continued to be extremely ill.

The next morning I got the four remaining guns out of the hold, and
mounted them upon the quarter-deck; I also got a spare anchor and
anchor-stock ashore, and the remaining part of the stores and ballast
that were in the hold; set up the smith's forge, and employed the
armourer and his mate to make nails and other necessaries for the repair
of the ship. In the afternoon, all the officers' stores and ground tier
of water were got out, so that nothing remained in the fore and main
hold but the coals, and a small quantity of stone ballast. This day Mr
Banks crossed the river to take a view of the country on the other side;
he found it consist principally of sand-hills, where he saw some Indian
houses, which appeared to have been very lately inhabited. In his walk
he met with vast flocks of pigeons and crows: Of the pigeons, which were
exceedingly beautiful, he shot several; but the crows, which were
exactly like those in England, were so shy that he could not get within
reach of them.

On the 20th, we landed the powder and got out the stone ballast and
wood, which brought the ship's draught of water to eight feet ten inches
forward, and thirteen feet abaft; and this I thought, with the
difference that would be made of trimming the coals aft, would be
sufficient; for I found that the water rose and fell perpendicularly
eight feet at the spring-tides: But as soon as the coals were trimmed
from over the leak, we could hear the water rush in a little abaft the
foremast, about three feet from the keel; this determined me to clear
the hold entirely. This evening Mr Banks observed that in many parts of
the inlet there were large quantities of pumice-stones, which lay at a
considerable distance above high-water mark, whither they might have
been carried either by the freshes or extraordinary high tides, for
there could be no doubt but that they came from the sea.

The next morning we went early to work, and by four o'clock in the
afternoon had got out all the coals, cast the moorings loose, and warped
the ship a little higher up the harbour to a place which I thought most
convenient for laying her ashore in order to stop the leak. Her draught
of water forward was now seven feet nine inches, and abaft thirteen feet
six inches. At eight o'clock, it being high water, I hauled her bow
close ashore, but kept her stern afloat, because I was afraid of neiping
her; it was however necessary to lay the whole of her as near the ground
as possible.

At two o'clock in the morning of the 22d, the tide left her, and gave us
an opportunity to examine the leak, which we found to be at her
floor-heads, a little before the starboard fore-chains. In this place
the rocks had made their way through four planks, and even into the
timbers; three more planks were much damaged, and the appearance of
these breaches was very extraordinary: There was not a splinter to be
seen, but all was so smooth as if the whole had been cut away by an
instrument: The timbers in this place were happily very close, and if
they had not, it would have been absolutely impossible to have saved the
ship. But after all, her preservation depended upon a circumstance still
more remarkable: One of the holes, which was big enough to have sunk us,
if we had had eight pumps instead of four, and been able to keep them
incessantly going, was in great measure plugged up by a fragment of the
rock, which, after having made the wound, was left sticking in it, so
that the water which at first had gained upon our pumps was what came in
at the interstices, between the stone and the edges of the hole that
received it. We found also several pieces of the fothering, which had
made their way between the timbers, and in a great measure stopped those
parts of the leak which the stone had left open. Upon further
examination, we found that, besides the leak, considerable damage had
been done to the bottom; great part of the sheathing was gone from under
the larboard bow; a considerable part of the false keel was also
wanting, and these indeed we had seen swim away in fragments from the
vessel, while she lay beating against the rock: The remainder of it was
in so shattered a condition, that it had better have been gone; and the
fore foot and main keel were also damaged, but not so as to produce any
immediate danger: What damage she might have received abaft could not
yet be exactly known, but we have reason to think it was not much, as
but little water made its way into her bottom, while the tide kept below
the leak which has already been described. By nine o'clock in the
morning the carpenters got to work upon her, while the smiths were busy
in making bolts and nails. In the mean time, some of the people were
sent on the other side of the water to shoot pigeons for the sick, who
at their return reported that they had seen an animal as large as a
greyhound, of a slender make, a mouse-colour, and extremely swift; they
discovered also many Indian houses, and a fine stream of fresh water.

The next morning I sent a boat to haul the seine; but at noon it
returned with only three fish, and yet we saw them in plenty leaping
about the harbour. This day the carpenter finished the repairs that were
necessary on the starboard side; and at nine o'clock in the evening we
heeled the ship the other way, and hauled her off about two feet for
fear of neiping. This day almost every body had seen the animal which
the pigeon-shooters had brought an account of the day before; and one of
the seamen, who had been rambling in the woods, told us at his return
that he verily believed he had seen the devil: We naturally enquired in
what form he had appeared, and his answer was in so singular a style,
that I shall set down his own words: "He was," says John, "as large as
a one gallon keg and very like it; he had horns and wings, yet he crept
so slowly through, the grass, that if I had not been afeard I might have
touched him." This formidable apparition we afterwards discovered to
have been a batt; and the batts here must be acknowledged to have a
frightful appearance, for they are nearly black, and full as large as a
partridge; they have indeed no horns, but the fancy of a man who thought
he saw the devil, might easily supply that defect.

Early on the 24th the carpenters began to repair the sheathing under the
larboard bow, where we found two planks cut about half through; and in
the mean time I sent a party of men, under the direction of Mr Gore, in
search, of refreshments for the sick: This party returned about noon
with a few palm cabbages, and a bunch or two of wild plantain; the
plantains were the smallest I had ever seen, and the pulp, though it was
well tasted, was full of small stones. As I was walking this morning at
a little distance from the ship, I saw myself one of the animals which
had been so often described; it was of a light mouse-colour, and in size
and shape very much resembling a greyhound; it had a long tail also,
which it carried like a greyhound; and I should have taken it for a
wild-dog, if, instead of running, it had not leapt like a hare or deer:
Its legs were said to be very slender, and the print of its foot to be
like that of a goat; but where I saw it the grass was so high that the
legs were concealed, and the ground was too hard to receive the track.
Mr Banks also had an imperfect view of this animal, and was of opinion
that its species was hitherto unknown.[83]

[Footnote 83: It is almost superfluous to tell any reader now that the
animal mentioned is the kangaroo, of which specimens are to be seen in
nearly every travelling collection of wild beasts.--E.]

After the ship was hauled ashore, all the water that came into her of
course went backwards; so that although she was dry forwards, she had
nine feet water abaft: As in this part therefore her bottom could not be
examined on the inside, I took the advantage of the tide being out this
evening to get the master and two of the men to go under her, and
examine her whole larboard side without. They found the sheathing gone
about the floor-heads abreast of the main-mast, and part of a plank a
little damaged; but all agreed that she had received no other material
injury. The loss of her sheathing alone was a great misfortune, as the
worm would now be let into her bottom, which might expose us to great
inconvenience and danger; but as I knew no remedy for the mischief but
heaving her down, which would be a work of immense labour and long time,
if practicable at all in our present situation, I was obliged to be
content. The carpenters however continued to work under her bottom in
the evening till they were prevented by the tide; the morning tide did
not ebb out far enough to permit them to work at all, for we had only
one tolerable high and low tide in four-and-twenty hours, as indeed we
had experienced when we lay upon the rock. The position of the ship,
which threw the water in her abaft, was very near depriving the world of
all the knowledge which Mr Banks had endured so much labour, and so many
risks, to procure; for he had removed the curious collection of plants
which he made during the whole voyage into the bread-room, which lies in
the after-part of the ship, as a place of the greatest security; and
nobody having thought of the danger to which laying her head so much
higher than the stem would expose them, they were this day found under
water. Most of them however were, by indefatigable care and attention,
restored to a state of preservation, but some were entirely spoilt and
destroyed.

The 25th was employed in filling water and overhauling the rigging, and
at low-water the carpenters finished the repairs under the larboard bow,
and every other place which the tide would permit them to come at; some
casks were then lashed under her bows to facilitate her floating, and at
night, when it was high water, we endeavoured to heave her off, but
without success, for some of the casks that were lashed to her gave way.

The morning of the 26th was employed in getting more casks ready for the
same purpose, and in the afternoon we lashed no less than
eight-and-thirty under the ship's bottom, but to our great mortification
these also proved ineffectual, and we found ourselves reduced to the
necessity of waiting till the next spring-tide.

This day some of our gentlemen who had made an excursion into the woods,
brought home the leaves of a plant which was thought to be the same that
in the West Indies is called coccos; but upon trial the roots proved too
acrid to be eaten; the leaves, however, were little inferior to
spinnage. In the place where these plants were gathered, grew plenty of
the cabbage trees which have occasionally been mentioned before, a kind
of wild plantain, the fruit of which was so full of stones as scarcely
to be eatable; another fruit was also found about the size of a small
golden pippin, but flatter, and of a deep purple colour: When first
gathered from the tree, it was very hard and disagreeable, but after
being kept a few days became soft, and tasted very much like an
indifferent damascene.

The next morning we began to move some of the weight from the after-part
of the ship forward, to ease her; in the mean time the armourer
continued to work at the forge, the carpenter was busy in caulking the
ship, and the men employed in filling water and overhauling the rigging:
In the forenoon, I went myself in the pinnace up the harbour, and made
several hauls with the seine, but caught only between twenty and thirty
fish, which were given to the sick and convalescent.

On the 28th, Mr Banks went with some of the seamen up the country, to
shew them the plant which in the West Indies is called Indian kale, and
which served us for greens. Tupia had much meliorated the root of the
coccos, by giving them a long dressing in his country oven, but they
were so small that we did not think them an object for the ship. In
their walk they found one tree which had been notched for the
convenience of climbing it, in the same manner with those, we had seen
in Botany Bay: They saw also many nests of white ants, which resemble
those of the East Indies, the most pernicious insects in the world. The
nests were of a pyramidical figure, from a few inches to six feet high,
and very much resembled the stones in England, which are said to be
monuments of the Druids. Mr Gore who was also this day four or five
miles up the country, reported that he had seen the footsteps of men,
and tracked animals of three or four different sorts, but had not been
fortunate enough to see either man or beast.

At two o'clock in the morning of the 20th, I observed, in conjunction
with Mr Green, an emersion of Jupiter's first satellite; the time here
was 2h 18' 53", which gave the longitude of this place 214° 42' 30" W.;
its latitude is 15° 26' S. At break of day, I sent the boat out again
with the seine, and in the afternoon it returned with as much fish as
enabled me to give every man a pound and a half. One of my midshipmen,
an American, who was this day abroad with his gun, reported that he had
seen a wolf, exactly like those which he had been used to see in his own
country, and that he had shot at it, but did not kill it.

The next morning, encouraged by the success of the day before, I sent
the boat again to haul the seine, and another party to gather greens: I
sent also some of the young gentlemen to take a plan of the harbour, and
went myself upon a hill, which lies over the south point, to take a view
of the sea. At this time it was low water, and I saw, with great
concern, innumerable sand-banks and shoals lying all along the coast in
every direction. The innermost lay about three or four miles from the
shore, the outermost extended as far as I could see with my glass, and
many of them did but just rise above water. There was some appearance of
a passage to the northward, and I had no hope of getting clear but in
that direction, for as the wind blows constantly from the S.E., it would
have been difficult, if not impossible, to return back to the southward.

Mr Gore reported that he had this day seen two animals like dogs, of a
straw colour, that they ran like a hare, and were about the same size.
In the afternoon, the people returned from hauling the seine, with still
better success than before, for I was now able to distribute two pounds
and an half to each man: The greens that had been gathered I ordered to
be boiled among the peas, and they made an excellent mess, which, with
copious supplies of fish, afforded us unspeakable refreshment.

The next day, July the 1st, being Sunday, every body had liberty to go
ashore, except one from each mess, who were again sent out with the
seine. The seine was again equally successful, and the people who went
up the country gave an account of having seen several animals, though
none of them were to be caught. They saw a fire also about a mile up the
river, and Mr Gore, the second lieutenant, picked up the husk of a
cocoa-nut, which had been cast upon the beach, and was full of
barnacles: This probably might come from some island to windward,
perhaps from the Terra del Espirito Santo of Quiros, as we were now in
the latitude where it is said to lie. This day the thermometer in the
shade rose to 87, which was higher than it had been on any day since we
came upon this coast.

Early the next morning, I sent the master in the pinnace out of the
harbour, to sound about the shoals in the offing, and look for a channel
to the northward: At this time we had a breeze from the land, which
continued till about nine o'clock, and was the first we had since our
coming into the river. At low water we lashed some empty casks under the
ship's bows, having some hope that as the tides were rising she would
float the next high water. We still continued to fish with great
success, and at high water we again attempted to heave the ship off, but
our utmost efforts were still ineffectual.

The next day at noon the master returned, and reported that he had found
a passage out to sea between the shoals, and described its situation.
The shoals, he said, consisted of coral rocks, many of which were dry at
low water, and upon one of which he had been ashore. He found here some
cockles of so enormous a size, that one of them was more than two men
could eat, and a great variety of other shell-fish, of which he brought
us a plentiful supply: In the evening he had also landed in a bay about
three leagues to the northward of our station, where he disturbed some
of the natives who were at supper; they all fled with the greatest
precipitation at his approach, leaving some fresh sea-eggs, and a fire
ready kindled, behind them, but there was neither house nor hovel near
the place. We observed that although the shoals that lie just within
sight of the coast, abound with shell-fish, which may be easily caught
at low water; yet we saw no such shells about the fire-places on shore.
This day an allegator was seen to swim about us for some time; and at
high water we made another effort to float the ship, which happily
succeeded: We found however that by lying so long with her head
a-ground, and her stern a-float, she had sprung a plank between decks,
a-breast of the main-chains, so that it was become necessary to lay her
ashore again.

The next morning was employed in trimming her upon an even keel, and in
the afternoon, having warped her over, and waited for high water, we
laid her ashore on the sandbank on the south side of the river; for the
damage she had received already from the great descent of the ground,
made me afraid to lay her broad-side to the shore in the same place from
which we had just floated her. I was now very desirous to make another
trial to come at her bottom, where the sheathing had been rubbed off,
but though she had scarcely four feet water under her, when the tide was
out, yet that part was not dry.

On the 5th, I got one of the carpenter's crew, a man in whom I could
confide, to go down again to the ship's bottom, and examine the place.
He reported, that three streaks of the sheathing, about eight feet long,
were wanting, and that the main plank had been a little rubbed. This
account perfectly agreed with the report of the master, and others, who
had been under her bottom before: I had the comfort, however, to find
the carpenter of opinion that this would be of little consequence, and
therefore, the other damage being repaired, she was again floated at
high water, and moored alongside the beach, where the stores had been
deposited; we then went to work to take the stores on board, and put her
in a condition for the sea. This day, Mr Banks crossed to the other side
of the harbour, where, as he walked along a sandy beach, he found
innumerable fruits, and many of them such as no plants which he had
discovered in this country produced: Among others were some cocoa-nuts,
which Tupia said had been opened by a kind of crab, which from his
description we judged to be the same that the Dutch call _Beurs Krabbe_,
and which we had not seen in these seas. All the vegetable substances
which he found in this place were encrusted with marine productions, and
covered with barnacles; a sure sign that they must have come far by sea,
and, as the trade-wind blows right upon the shore, probably from Terra
del Espirito Santo, which has been mentioned already.

The next morning, Mr Banks, with Lieutenant Gore, and three men, set out
in a small boat up the river, with a view to spend two or three days in
an excursion, to examine the country, and kill some of the animals which
had been so often seen at a distance.

On the 7th, I sent the master again out to sound about the shoals, the
account which he had brought me of the channel being by no means
satisfactory; and we spent the remainder of this day, and the morning of
the next, in fishing, and other necessary occupations.

About four o'clock in the afternoon, Mr Banks and his party returned,
and gave us an account of their expedition. Having proceeded about three
leagues among swamps and mangroves, they went up into the country, which
they found to differ but little from what they had seen before: They
pursued their course therefore up the river, which at length was
contracted into a narrow channel, and was bounded, not by swamps and
mangroves, but by steep banks, that were covered with trees of a most
beautiful verdure, among which was that which in the West Indies is
called _Mohoe_, or the bark tree, the _hibiscus tiliaceus_; the land
within was in general low, and had a thick covering of long grass: The
soil seemed to be such as promised great fertility to any who should
plant and improve it. In the course of the day, Tupia saw an animal,
which, by his description, Mr Banks judged to be a wolf: They also saw
three other animals, but could neither catch nor kill one of them, and a
kind of bat, as large, as a partridge, but this also eluded all their
diligence and skill. At night, they took up their lodging close to the
banks of the river, and made a fire, but the musquitos swarmed about
them in such numbers, that their quarters were almost untenable: They
followed them into the smoke, and almost into the fire, which, hot as
the climate was, they could better endure than the stings of these
insects, which were an intolerable torment. The fire, the flies, and the
want of a better bed than the ground, rendered the night extremely
uncomfortable, so that they passed it not in sleep, but in restless
wishes for the return of day. With the first dawn they set out in search
of game, and in a walk of many miles, they saw four animals of the same
kind, two of which Mr Banks's greyhound fairly chaced, but they threw
him out at a great distance, by leaping over the long thick grass, which
prevented his running: This animal was observed not to run upon four
legs, but to bound or hop forward upon two, like the _Jerbua_, or _Mus
Jaculus_. About noon, they returned to the boat, and again proceeded up
the river, which was soon contracted into a fresh-water brook, where,
however, the tide rose to a considerable height. As evening approached,
it became low water, and it was then so shallow that they were obliged
to get out of the boat and drag her along, till they could find a place
in which they might, with some hope of rest, pass the night. Such a
place at length offered, and while they were getting the things out of
the boat, they observed a smoke at the distance of about a furlong: As
they did not doubt but that some of the natives, with whom they had so
long and earnestly desired to become personally acquainted, were about
the fire, three of the party went immediately towards it, hoping that so
small a number would not put them to flight: When they came up to the
place, however, they found it deserted, and therefore they conjectured,
that before they had discovered the Indians, the Indians had discovered
them. They found the fire still burning, in the hollow of an old tree
that was become touch-wood, and several branches of trees newly broken
down, with which children had been playing: They observed also many
footsteps upon the sand, below high-water mark, which were certain
indications that the Indians had been recently upon the spot. Several
houses were found at a little distance, and some ovens dug in the
ground, in the same manner as those of Otaheite, in which victuals
appeared to have been dressed since the morning; and scattered about
them, lay some shells of a kind of clamm, and some fragments of roots,
the refuse of the meal. After regretting their disappointment, they
repaired to their quarters, which was a broad sand-bank, under the
shelter of a bush. Their beds were plantain leaves, which they spread
upon the sand, and which were as soft as a mattress; their cloaks served
them for bed-clothes, and some bunches of grass for pillows: With these
accommodations they hoped to pass a better night than the last,
especially as, to their great comfort, not a musquito was to be seen.
Here then they lay down, and, such is the force of habit, they resigned
themselves to sleep, without once reflecting upon the probability and
danger of being found by the Indians in that situation. If this appears
strange, let us for a moment reflect, that every danger, and every
calamity, after a time becomes familiar, and loses its effect upon the
mind. If it were possible that a man should first be made acquainted
with his mortality, or even with the inevitable debility and infirmities
of old age, when his understanding had arrived at its full strength, and
life was endeared by the enjoyments of youth, and vigour, and health,
with what an agony of terror and distress would the intelligence be
received! yet, being gradually acquainted with these mournful truths, by
insensible degrees, we scarce know when, they lose all their force, and
we think no more of the approach of old age and death, than these
wanderers of an unknown desert did of a less obvious and certain evil,
the approach of the native savages, at a time when they must have fallen
an easy prey to their malice or their fears. And it is remarkable, that
the greater part of those who have been condemned to suffer a violent
death, have slept the night immediately preceding their execution,
though there is perhaps no instance of a person accused of a capital
crime having slept the first night of his confinement. Thus is the evil
of life in some degree a remedy for itself, and though every man at
twenty deprecates fourscore, almost every man is as tenacious of life at
fourscore as at twenty; and if he does not suffer under any painful
disorder, loses as little of the comforts that remain by reflecting that
he is upon the brink of the grave, where the earth already crumbles
under his feet, as he did of the pleasures of his better days, when his
dissolution, though certain, was supposed to be at a distance.[84]

[Footnote 84: The reader will receive this hypothetical statement as he
finds it agreeable, or not, to his own experience,--a better guide, in
all probability, than mere philosophy. The writer has his doubts upon
the subject. But let every one judge for himself. For his part, he is
convinced that frequent contemplation of death, though it certainly aids
the mind in reasoning about it, does not lessen the apprehension of it,
but the reverse: so that, did not _some peculiar principle_ come to his
aid, and seem indeed to acquire continually more clearness and
efficiency, his distress or uneasy feeling would be much heightened by
the exercise. But he sees no reason either to expect, or to wish, that
it may be ever otherwise with him; for he is persuaded, that much of
man's dignity and welfare consists in his seeing things just as they
are, without any disguise or delusion; and that whatever death really
is, there is an infallible remedy provided against its greatest terrors,
to which he can always have recourse. So far, on the other hand, as his
observation on others, which has not been small, extends, he would
notice, that, on the whole, young persons die more easily than the aged;
he means, they submit to that event, when really imminent, with more
apparent tranquillity, though, when at a distance, they are much less
disposed either to think or to speak about it. It will not be easy to
reconcile these two facts with the reasoning in the text. But to be
sure, a wider induction is requisite for the establishment of any
theory. This is not the place for it. The instances adduced by Dr H. in
support of his theory, are explicable on another principle, viz. that
every excitement of mind or body is followed by a depression precisely
proportioned to its intensity. This seems a law in our economy,
deducible from almost unlimited observation, and of extreme importance,
both in point of fact, and as a principle for discussion. Before ending
this note, it is suggested to the reader, to consult, on the subjects of
it, his own heart and mind, in preference to all the books ever written,
_save one_. If that one enforce the dictates promulgated within, and at
the same time minister consolation, he will smile at philosophy, and
gain the best victory over the fear of death. To him then,
notwithstanding every outward difficulty to which he can possibly be
exposed, and all that inward strife and humiliation which he cannot but
experience, the words of Cowper will be expressively applicable:--

   "Therefore in Contemplation is his bliss,
   Whose power is such, that whom she lifts from earth
   She makes familiar with a heaven unseen,
   And shows him glories yet to be revealed."

But this is a mystery!--E.]

Our travellers having slept, without once awaking, till the morning,
examined the river, and finding the tide favoured their return, and the
country promised nothing worthy of a farther search, they re-embarked in
their boat, and made the best of their way to the ship.

Soon after the arrival of this party, the master also returned, having
been seven leagues out to sea, and he was now of opinion that there was
no getting out where before, he thought there had been a passage: His
expedition, however, was by no means without its advantage; for having
been a second time upon the rock where he had seen the large cockles, he
met with a great number of turtle, three of which he caught, that
together weighed seven hundred and ninety-one pounds, though he had no
better instrument than a boat-hook.

The next morning, therefore, I sent him out again, with proper
instruments for taking them, and Mr Banks went with him; but the success
did not at all answer our expectations, for, by the unaccountable
conduct of the officer, not a single turtle was taken, nor could he be
persuaded to return: Mr Banks, however, went ashore upon the reef, where
he saw several of the large cockles, and having collected many shells
and marine productions, he returned at eleven o'clock at night in his
own small boat, the master still continuing with the large one upon the
rock. In the afternoon, seven or eight of the natives had appeared on
the south side of the river, and two of them came down to the sandy
point, opposite to the ship; but upon seeing me put off in a boat to
speak with them, they all ran away with the greatest precipitation.

As the master continued absent with the boat all night, I was forced to
send the second lieutenant for him early the next morning in the yawl;
and soon after, four of the natives appeared upon the sandy point, on
the north side of the river, having with them a small wooden canoe, with
out-riggers: They seemed for some time to be busily employed in striking
fish. Some of our people were for going over to them in a boat, but this
I would by no means permit, repeated experience having convinced me that
it was more likely to prevent, than procure an interview. I was
determined to try what could be done by a contrary method, and
accordingly let them alone, without appearing to take the least notice
of them: This succeeded so well, that at length two of them came in the
canoe within a musket-shot of the ship, and there talked a great deal in
a very loud tone. We understood nothing that they said, and therefore
could answer their harangue only by shouting, and making all the signs
of invitation and kindness that we could devise. During this conference,
they came, insensibly, nearer and nearer, holding up their lances, not
in a threatening manner, but as if to intimate that if we offered them
any injury, they had weapons to revenge it. When they were almost
along-side of us, we threw them some cloth, nails, beads, paper, and
other trifles, which they received without the least appearance of
satisfaction: At last, one of the people happened to throw them a small
fish; at this they expressed the greatest joy imaginable, and
intimating, by signs, that they would fetch their companions,
immediately paddled away towards the shore. In the mean time some of our
people, and among them Tupia, landed on the opposite side of the river.
The canoe, with all the four Indians, very soon returned to the ship,
and came quite along-side, without expressing any fear or distrust. We
distributed some more presents among them, and soon after they left us,
and landed on the same side of the river where our people had gone
ashore: Every man carried in his hand two lances, and a stick, which is
used in throwing them, and advanced to the place where Tupia and the
rest of our people were sitting. Tupia soon prevailed upon them to lay
down their arms, and come forward without them: He then made signs that
they should sit down by him, with which they complied, and seemed to be
under no apprehension or constraint: Several more of us then going
ashore, they expressed some jealousy lest we should get between them and
their arms; we took care, however, to shew them that we had no such
intention, and having joined them, we made them some more presents, as a
farther testimony of our good-will, and our desire to obtain theirs. We
continued together, with the utmost cordiality, till dinner-time, and
then giving them to understand that we were going to eat, we invited
them, by signs, to go with us: This, however, they declined, and as soon
as we left them, they went away in their canoe. One of these men was
somewhat above the middle age, the other three were young; they were in
general of the common stature, but their limbs were remarkably small;
their skin was of the colour of wood soot, or what would be called a
dark chocolate colour; their hair was black, but not woolly; it was
short cropped, in some lank, and in others curled. Dampier says, that
the people whom he saw on the western coast of this country wanted two
of their fore-teeth, but these had no such defect. Some part of their
bodies had been painted red, and the upper-lip and breast of one of them
was painted with streaks of white, which he called _Carbanda_; their
features were far from disagreeable, their eyes were lively, and their
teeth even and white; their voices were soft and tunable, and they
repeated many words after us with great facility. In the night, Mr Gore
and the master returned with the long-boat, and brought one turtle and a
few shell-fish. The yawl had been left upon the shoal with six men, to
make a farther trial for turtle.

The next morning, we had another visit from four of the natives; three
of them had been with us before, but the fourth was a stranger, whose
name, as we learnt from his companions who introduced him, was
_Yaparico_. This gentleman was distinguished by an ornament of a very
striking appearance: It was the bone of a bird, nearly as thick as a
man's finger, and five or six inches long, which he had thrust into a
hole made in the gristle that divides the nostrils. Of this we had seen
one instance, and only one, in New Zealand; but upon examination, we
found that among all these people this part of the nose was perforated,
to receive an ornament of the same kind: They had also holes in their
ears, though nothing was then hanging to them, and had bracelets upon
the upper part of their arms, made of plaited hair; so that, like the
inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, they seem to be fond of ornament, though
they are absolutely without apparel; and one of them, to whom I had
given part of an old shirt, instead of throwing it over any part of his
body, tied it as a fillet round his head. They brought with them a fish,
which they gave us, as we supposed, in return for the fish that we had
given them the day before. They seemed to be much pleased, and in no
haste to leave us; but seeing some of our gentlemen examine their canoe
with great curiosity and attention, they were alarmed, and jumping
immediately into it, paddled away without speaking a word.

About two the next morning, the yawl, which had been left upon the
shoal, returned, with three turtles and a large skeat. As it seemed now
probable that this fishery might be prosecuted with advantage, I sent
her out again, after breakfast, for a further supply. Soon after, three
Indians ventured down to Tupia's tent, and were so well pleased with
their reception, that one of them went with the canoe to fetch two
others whom we had never seen: When he returned, he introduced the
strangers by name, a ceremony which, upon such occasions, was never
omitted. As they had received the fish that was thrown into their canoe,
when they first approached the ship, with so much pleasure, some fish
was offered to them now, and we were greatly surprised to see that it
was received with the greatest indifference: They made signs, however,
to some of the people, that they should dress it for them, which was
immediately done, but after eating a little of it, they threw the rest
to Mr Banks's dog. They staid with us all the forenoon, but would never
venture above twenty yards from their canoe. We now perceived that the
colour of their skin was not so dark as it appeared, what we had taken
for their complexion, being the effects of dirt and smoke, in which, we
imagined, they contrived to sleep, notwithstanding the heat of the
climate, as the only means in their power to keep off the musquitos.
Among other things that we had given them when we first saw them, were
some medals, which we had hung round their necks by a ribband; and these
ribbands were so changed by smoke, that we could not easily distinguish
of what colour they had been: This incident led us more narrowly to
examine the colour of their skin. While these people were with us, we
saw two others on the point of land that lay on the opposite side of the
river, at the distance of about two hundred yards, and by our glasses
discovered them to be a woman and a boy; the woman, like the rest, being
stark naked. We observed, that all of them were remarkably clean-limbed,
and exceedingly active and nimble. One of these strangers had a necklace
of shells, very prettily made, and a bracelet upon his arm, formed of
several strings, so as to resemble what in England is called gymp: Both
of them had a piece of bark tied over the forehead, and were disfigured
by the bone in the nose. We thought their language more harsh than that
of the islanders in the South Sea, and they were continually repeating
the word _chercau_, which we imagined to be a term expressing
admiration, by the manner in which it was uttered: They also cried out,
when they saw any thing new, _Cher, tut, tut, tut, tut_! which probably
had a similar signification. Their canoe was not above ten feel long,
and very narrow, but it was fitted with an outrigger, much like those of
the islands, though in every respect very much inferior: When it was in
shallow water, they set it on with poles, and when in deep, they worked
it with paddles about four feet long: It contained just four people, so
that the people who visited us to-day went away at two turns. Their
lances were like those that we had seen in Botany Bay, except that they
had but a single point, which in some of them was the sting of the ray,
and barbed with two or three sharp bones of the same fish: It was indeed
a most terrible weapon, and the instrument which they used in throwing
it, seemed to be formed with more art than any we had seen before. About
twelve o'clock next day, the yawl returned, with another turtle, and a
large sting-ray, and in the evening, was sent out again.

The next morning, two of the Indians came on board, but after a short
stay, went along the shore, and applied themselves with great diligence
to the striking of fish. Mr Gore, who went out this day with his gun,
had the good fortune to kill one of the animals which had been so much
the subject of our speculation. This animal is called by the natives
_Kangaroo_. The next day it was dressed for dinner, and proved most
excellent meat; we might now indeed be said to fare sumptuously every
day, for we had turtle in great plenty, and we all agreed that they were
much better than any we had tasted in England, which we imputed to their
being eaten fresh from the sea, before their natural fat had been
wasted, or their juices changed by a diet and situation so different
from what the sea affords them, as garbage and a tub. Most of those that
we caught here, were of the kind called green turtle, and weighed from
two to three hundred weight, and when these were killed, they were
always found to be full of turtle-grass which our naturalists took to be
a kind of _conferva_: Two of them were loggerheads, the flesh of which
was much less delicious, and in their stomachs nothing was to be found
but shells.

In the morning of the 16th, while the people were employed as usual in
getting the ship ready for the sea, I climbed one of the hills on the
north side of the river, from which I had an extensive view of the
inland country, and found it agreeably diversified by hills, vallies,
and large plains, which in many places were richly covered with wood.
This evening, we observed an emersion of Jupiter's first satellite,
which gave 214° 53' 45" of longitude. The observation which was made on
the 29th of June gave 214° 42' 30"; the mean is 214° 48' 7-1/2", the
longitude of this place west of Greenwich.

On the 17th, I sent the master and one of the mates in the pinnace to
look for a channel to the northward; and I went myself with Mr Banks and
Dr Solander into the woods on the other side of the water. Tupia, who
had been thither by himself, reported, that he had seen three Indians
who had given him some roots about as thick as a man's finger, in shape
not much unlike a radish, and of a very agreeable taste. This induced us
to go over, hoping that we should be able to improve our acquaintance
with the natives; in a very little time we discovered four of them in a
canoe, who, as soon as they saw us, came ashore, and, though they were
all strangers, walked up to us, without any signs of suspicion or fear.
Two of these had necklaces of shells, which we could not persuade them
to part with for any thing we could give them: We presented them however
with some beads, and after a short stay they departed. We attempted to
follow them, hoping that they would conduct us to some place where we
should find more of them, and have an opportunity of seeing their women;
but they made us understand, by signs, that they did not desire our
company.

At eight o'clock the next morning, we were visited by several of the
natives, who were now become quite familiar. One of them, at our desire,
threw his lance, which was about eight feet-long: It flew with a
swiftness and steadiness that surprised us, and though it was never more
than four feet from the ground, it entered deeply into a tree at fifty
paces distance. After this they ventured on board, where I left them, to
all appearance, much entertained, and went again with Mr Banks to take a
view of the country; but chiefly to indulge an anxious curiosity, by
looking round us upon the sea, of which our wishes almost persuaded us
we had formed an idea more disadvantageous than the truth. After having
walked about seven or eight miles along the shore to the northward, we
ascended a very high hill, and were soon convinced that the danger of
our situation was at least equal to our apprehensions; for in whatever
direction we turned our eyes, we saw rocks and shoals without number,
and no passage out to sea, but through the winding channels between
them, which could not be navigated without the last degree of difficulty
and danger. We returned therefore to the ship, not in better spirits
than when we left it: We found several natives still on board, and we
were told that the turtles, of which we had no less than twelve upon the
deck, had fixed their attention more than any thing else in the ship.

On the 19th in the morning, we were visited by ten of the natives, the
greater part from the other side of the river, where we saw six or seven
more, most of them women, and, like all the rest of the people we had
seen in this country, they were stark naked. Our guests brought with
them a greater number of lances than they had ever done before, and
having laid them up in a tree, they set a man and a boy to watch them:
The rest then came on board, and we soon perceived that they had
determined to get one of our turtle, which was probably as great a
dainty to them as to us. They first asked us by signs, to give them one;
and being refused, they expressed, both by looks and gestures, great
disappointment and anger. At this time we happened to have no victuals
dressed, but I offered one of them some biscuit, which he snatched and
threw overboard with great disdain. One of them renewed his request to
Mr Banks, and upon a refusal stamped with his foot, and pushed him from
him in a transport of resentment and indignation: Having applied by
turns to almost every person who appeared to have any command in the
ship, without success, they suddenly seized two of the turtles, and
dragged them towards the side of the ship where their canoe lay: Our
people soon forced them out of their hands, and replaced them with the
rest. They would not however relinquish their enterprise, but made
several other attempts of the same kind, in all which being equally
disappointed, they suddenly leaped into their canoe in a rage, and began
to paddle towards the shore. At the same time I went into the boat with
Mr Banks, and five or six of the ship's crew, and we got ashore before
them, where many more of our people were already engaged in various
employments; as soon as they landed, they seized their arms, and before
we were aware of their design, they snatched a brand from under a pitch
kettle which was boiling, and making a circuit to the windward of the
few things we had on shore, they set fire to the grass in their way,
with surprising quickness and dexterity: The grass, which was five or
six feet high, and as dry as stubble, burnt with amazing fury; and the
fire made a rapid progress towards a tent of Mr Banks's, which had been
set up for Tupia when he was sick, taking in its course a sow and pigs,
one of which it scorched to death. Mr Banks leaped into a boat, and
fetched some people from on board, just time enough to save his tent, by
hauling it down upon the beach; but the smith's forge, at least such
part of it as would burn, was consumed. While this was doing, the
Indians went to a place at some distance, where several of our people
were washing, and where our nets, among which was the seine, and a great
quantity of linen, were laid out to dry; here they again set fire to the
grass, entirely disregarding both threats and entreaties. "We were
therefore obliged to discharge a musquet, loaded with small shot, at one
of them, which drew blood at the distance of about forty yards, and this
putting them to flight, we extinguished the fire at this place before it
had made much progress; but where the grass had been first kindled, it
spread into the woods to a great distance. As the Indians were still in
sight, I fired a musquet, charged with ball, abreast of them among the
mangroves, to convince them that they were not yet out of our reach:
Upon hearing the ball they quickened their pace, and we soon lost sight
of them. We thought they would now give us no more trouble; but soon
after we heard their voices in the woods, and perceived that they came
nearer and nearer. I set out, therefore, with Mr Banks and three or four
more, to meet them: When our parties came in sight of each other, they
halted; except one old man, who came forward to meet us: At length he
stopped, and having uttered some words, which we were very sorry we
could not understand, he went back to his companions, and the whole body
slowly retreated. We found means however to seize some of their darts,
and continued to follow them about a mile: We then sat down upon some
rocks, from which we could observe their motions, and they also sat down
at about an hundred yards distance. After a short time, the old man
again advanced towards us, carrying in his hand a lance without a point:
He stopped several times, at different distances, and spoke; we answered
by beckoning and making such signs of amity as we could devise; upon
which the messenger of peace, as we supposed him to be, turned and spoke
aloud to his companions, who then set up their lances against a tree,
and advanced towards us in a friendly manner: When they came up, we
returned the darts or lances that we had taken from them, and we
perceived with great satisfaction that this rendered the reconciliation
complete. We found in this party four persons whom we had never seen
before, who as usual were introduced to us by name; but the man who had
been wounded in the attempt to burn our nets and linen, was not among
them; we knew however that he could not be dangerously hurt, by the
distance at which the shot reached him. We made all of them presents of
such trinkets as we had about us, and they walked back with us towards
the ship: As we went along, they told us, by signs, that they would not
set fire to the grass any more; and we distributed among them some
musquet balls, and endeavoured to make them understand their use and
effect. When they came abreast of the ship, they sat down, but could not
be prevailed upon to come on board; we therefore left them, and in about
two hours they went away, soon after which we perceived the woods on
fire at about two miles distance. If this accident had happened a very
little while sooner, the consequence might have been dreadful; for our
powder had been aboard but a few-days, and the store-tent, with many
valuable things which it contained, had not been removed many hours. We
had no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in this hot climate,
nor consequently of the difficulty of extinguishing it; but we
determined, that if it should ever again be necessary for us to pitch
our tents in such a situation, our first measure should be to clear the
ground round us.

In the afternoon we got every thing on board the ship, new-birthed her,
and let her swing with the tide; and at night the master returned, with
the discouraging account that there was no passage for the ship to the
northward.

The next morning, at low water, I went and sounded and buoyed the bar,
the ship being now ready for sea. We saw no Indians this day, but all
the hills round us for many miles were on fire, which at night made a
most striking and beautiful appearance.

The 21st past without our getting sight of any of the inhabitants, and
indeed without a single incident worth notice. On the 22d, we killed a
turtle for the day's provision, upon opening which we found a wooden
harpoon or turtle-peg, about as thick as a man's finger, near fifteen
inches long, and bearded at the end, such as we had seen among the
natives, sticking through both shoulders: It appeared to have been
struck a considerable time, for the wound had perfectly healed up over
the weapon.

Early in the morning of the 23d, I sent some people into the country to
gather a supply of the greens which have been before mentioned by the
name of Indian Kale; one of them having straggled from the rest,
suddenly fell in with four Indians, three men and a boy, whom he did not
see, till, by turning short in the wood, he found himself among them.
They had kindled a fire, and were broiling a bird of some kind, and part
of a Kangaroo, the remainder of which, and a cockatoo, hung at a little
distance upon a tree: The man, being unarmed, was at first greatly
terrified; but he had the presence of mind not to run away, judging very
rightly, that he was most likely to incur danger by appearing to
apprehend it; on the contrary, he went and sat down by them, and, with
an air of chearfulness and good humour, offered them his knife, the only
thing he had about him which he thought would be acceptable to them;
they received it, and having handed it from one to the other, they gave
it him again: He then made an offer to leave them; but this they seemed
not disposed to permit: Still however he dissembled his fears, and sat
down again; they considered him with great attention and curiosity,
particularly his clothes, and then felt his hands and face, and
satisfied themselves that his body was of the same texture with their
own. They treated him with the greatest civility, and having kept him
about half an hour, they made signs that he might depart: He did not
wait for a second dismission, but when he left them, not taking the
direct way to the ship, they came from their fire, and directed him; so
that they well knew whence he came.

In the mean time, Mr Banks, having made an excursion on the other side
of the river to gather plants, found the greatest part of the cloth that
had been given to the Indians lying in a heap together, probably as
useless lumber, not worth carrying away; and perhaps if he had sought
further, he might have found the other trinkets; for they seemed to set
very little value upon any thing we had, except our turtle, which was a
commodity that we were least able to spare.

The blowing weather, which prevented our attempt to get out to sea,
still continuing, Mr Banks and Dr Solander went out again on the 24th to
see whether any new plant could be picked up: They traversed the woods
all day without success; but as they were returning through a deep
valley, the sides of which, though almost as perpendicular as a wall,
were covered with trees and bushes; they found lying upon the ground
several marking nuts, the _Anacardium orientate_; these put them upon a
new scent, and they made a most diligent search after the tree that bore
them, which perhaps no European botanist ever saw; but to their great
mortification they could not find it: So that, after spending much time,
and cutting down four or five trees, they returned quite exhausted with
fatigue to the ship.

On the 25th, having made an excursion up the river, I found a canoe
belonging to our friends the Indians, whom we had not seen since the
affair of the turtle; they had left it tied to some mangroves, about a
mile distant from the ship, and I could see by their fires that they
were retired at least six miles directly inland.

As Mr Banks was again gleaning the country for his Natural History on
the 26th, he had the good fortune to take an animal of the _Opossum_
tribe: It was a female, and with, it he took two young ones: It was
found much to resemble the remarkable animal of the kind which Mons. de
Buffon has described in his Natural History by the name of _Phalanger_,
but it was not the same. Mons. Buffon supposes this tribe to be peculiar
to America, but in this he is certainly mistaken; and probably, as
Pallas has observed in his Zoology, the Phalanger itself is a native of
the East Indies, as the animal which was caught by Mr Banks resembled it
in the extraordinary conformation of the feet, in which it differs from
animals of every other tribe.

On the 27th, Mr Gore shot a kangaroo, which, with the skin, entrails,
and head, weighed eighty-four pounds. Upon examination, however, we
found that this animal was not at its full growth, the innermost
grinders not being yet formed. We dressed it for dinner the next day;
but to our great disappointment, we found it had a much worse flavour
than that we had eaten before.

The wind continued in the same quarter, and with the same violence,
till five o'clock in the morning of the 29th, when it fell calm; soon
after a light breeze sprung up from the land, and it being about two
hours ebb, I sent a boat to see what water was upon the bar; in the mean
time we got the anchor up, and made all ready to put to sea. But when
the boat came back, the officer reported that there was only thirteen
feet water upon the bar, which was six inches less than the ship drew.
We were therefore obliged to come to, and the sea breeze setting in
again about eight o'clock; we gave up all hope of sailing that day.

We had fresh gales at S.E., with hazy weather and rain, till two in the
morning of the 31st, when the weather being something more moderate, I
had thoughts of trying to warp the ship out of the harbour; but upon
going out myself first in the boat, I found it still blow too fresh for
the attempt. During all this time the pinnace and yawl continued to ply
the net and hook with tolerable success; sometimes taking a turtle, and
frequently bringing in from two to three hundred-weight of fish.

On the 1st of August, the carpenter examined the pumps, and to our great
mortification, found them all in a state of decay, owing, as he said, to
the sap's being left in the wood; one of them was so rotten, as, when
hoisted up, to drop to pieces, and the rest were little better; so that
our chief trust was now in the soundness of our vessel, which happily
did not admit more than one inch of water in an hour.

At six o'clock in the morning of Friday the 3d, we made another
unsuccessful attempt to warp the ship out of the harbour; but at five
o'clock in the morning of the 4th, our efforts had a better effect, and
about seven we got once more under sail, with a light air from the land,
which soon died away, and was followed by the sea breezes from S.E. by
S., with which we stood off to sea E. by N., having the pinnace a-head,
which was ordered to keep sounding continually. The yawl had been sent
to the turtle bank to take up the net which had been left there; but as
the wind freshened, we got out before her. A little before noon we
anchored in fifteen fathom water, with a sandy bottom, for I did not
think it safe to run in among the shoals till I had well viewed them at
low water from the mast head, which might determine me which way to
steer; for as yet I was in doubt whether I should beat back to the
southward, round all the shoals, or seek a passage to the eastward or
the northward, all which at present appeared to be equally difficult and
dangerous. When we were at anchor, the harbour from which we sailed bore
S. 70 W., distant about five leagues; the northermost point of the main
in sight, which I named _Cape Bedford_, and which lies in latitude 15°
16' S. longitude 214° 45' W., bore N. 20 W., distant three leagues and a
half; but to the N.E. of this cape we could see land which had the
appearance of two high islands: The turtle banks bore east, distant one
mile; our latitude by observation was 15° 32' S., and our depth of water
in standing off from the land was from three and a half to fifteen
fathom.


SECTION XXXII.

_Departure from Endeavour River; a particular Description of the Harbour
there, in which the Ship was refitted, the adjacent Country, and several
Islands near the Coast; the Range from Endeavour River to the Northern
Extremity of the Country, and the Dangers of that Navigation_.


To the harbour which we had now left, I gave the name of _Endeavour
River_. It is only a small bar, harbour, or creek, which runs in a
winding channel three or four leagues inland, and at the head of which
there is a small brook of fresh water: There is not depth of water for
shipping above a mile within the bar, and at this distance only on the
north side; where the bank is so steep for near a quarter of a mile,
that a ship may lie afloat at low water, so near the shore as to reach
it with a stage, and the situation is extremely convenient for heaving
down; but at low water the depth upon the bar is not more than nine or
ten feet, nor more than seventeen or eighteen at the height of the tide;
the difference between high and low water, at spring tides, being about
nine feet. At the new and full of the moon it is high water between nine
and ten o'clock: It must also be remembered, that this part of the coast
is so barricaded with shoals, as to make the harbour still more
difficult of access; the safest approach is from the southward, keeping
the main land close upon the board all the way. Its situation may
always be found by the latitude, which has been very accurately laid
down. Over the south point is some high land, but the north point is
formed by a low sandy beach, which extends about three miles to the
northward, where the land begins again to be high.

The chief refreshment that we procured here was turtle, but as they were
not to be had without going five leagues out to sea, and the weather was
frequently tempestuous, we did not abound with this dainty: What we
caught, as well as the fish, was always equally divided among us all by
weight, the meanest person on board having the same share as myself; and
I think every commander, in such a voyage as this, will find it his
interest to follow the same rule. In several parts of the sandy beaches,
and sand hills near the sea, we found purslain, and a kind of bean that
grows upon a stalk, which creeps along the ground: The purslain we found
very good when it was boiled, and the beans are not to be despised, for
we found them of great service to our sick: The best greens, however,
that could be procured here, were the tops of the coccos, which have
been mentioned already, as known in the West Indies by the name of
_Indian kale_: These were, in our opinion, not much inferior to
spinnage, which in taste they somewhat resemble; the roots indeed are
not good, but they might probably be meliorated by proper cultivation.
They are found here chiefly in boggy ground. The few cabbage palms that
we met with were in general small, and yielded so little cabbage that
they were not worth seeking.

Besides the kanguroo and the opossum that have been already mentioned,
and a kind of pole-cat, there are wolves upon this part of the coast, if
we were not deceived by the tracks upon the ground, and several species
of serpents; some of the serpents are venomous, and some harmless: There
are no tame animals here except dogs, and of these we saw but two or
three, which frequently came about the tents to pick up the scraps and
bones that happened to lie scattered near them. There does not indeed
seem to be many of any animal except the kanguroo; we scarcely saw any
other above once, but this we met with almost every time we went into
the woods. Of land-fowls we saw crows, kites, hawks, cockatoos of two
sorts, one white and the other black, a very beautiful kind of
loriquets, some parrots, pigeons of two or three sorts, and several
small birds not known in Europe. The water-fowls are herns, whistling
ducks, which perch, and, I believe, roost upon trees, wild geese,
curlieus, and a few others, but these do not abound. The face of the
country, which has been occasionally mentioned before, is agreeably
diversified by hill and valley, lawn and wood. The soil of the hills is
hard, dry, and stony, yet it produces coarse grass besides wood: The
soil of the plains and vallies is in some places sand, and in some clay;
in some also it is rocky and stony, like the hills; in general, however,
it is well clothed, and has at least the appearance of fertility. The
whole country, both hill and valley, wood and plain, abounds with
anthills, some of which are six or eight feet high, and twice as much in
circumference. The trees here are not of many sorts; the gum tree, which
we found on the southern part of the coast, is the most common, but here
it is not so large: On each side of the river, through its whole course,
there are mangroves in great numbers, which in some places extend a mile
within the coast. The country is in all parts well watered, there being
several fine rivulets at a small distance from each other, but none in
the place where we lay, at least not during the time we were there,
which was the dry season; we were, however, well supplied with water by
springs, which were not far off.

In the afternoon of the 4th, we had a gentle breeze at S.E., and clear
weather, but as I did not intend to sail till the morning, I sent all
the boats to the reef to get what turtle and shell-fish they could. At
low water I went up to the mast-head and took a view of the shoals,
which made a very threatening appearance: I could see several at a
remote distance, and part of many of them was above water. The sea
appeared most open to the north-east of the turtle reef, and I came to a
resolution to stretch out that way close upon a wind, because, if we
should find no passage, we could always return the way we went. In the
evening, the boats brought in a turtle, a sting-ray, and as many large
cockles as came to about a pound and a half a man, for in each of them
there was not less than two pounds of meat: In the night also we caught
several sharks, which, though not a dainty, were an acceptable increase
of our fresh provision.

In the morning I waited till half ebb before I weighed, because at that
time the shoals begin to appear, but the wind then blew so hard that I
was obliged to remain at anchor: In the afternoon, however, the gale
becoming more moderate, we got under sail, and stood out upon a wind
N.E. by E., leaving the turtle reef to windward, and having the pinnace
sounding a-head: We had not kept this course long before we discovered
shoals before us, and upon both the bows; and at half an hour after
four, having run about eight miles, the pinnace made the signal for
shoal water, where we little expected it: Upon this we tacked, and stood
on and off, while the pinnace stretched farther to the eastward, and
night approaching, I came to an anchor in twenty fathom water, with a
muddy bottom. Endeavour River then bore S. 52 W.; Cape Bedford W. by N.
1/2 N., distant five leagues; the northermost land in sight, which had
the appearance of an island, N.; and a shoal, a small sandy part of
which appeared above water, bore N.E., distant between two and three
miles: In standing off from turtle reef to this place, we had from
fourteen to twenty fathom water, but when the pinnace was about a mile
farther to the E.N.E., there was no more than four or five feet water,
with rocky ground, and yet this did not appear to us in the ship. In the
morning of the 6th, we had a strong gale, so that instead of weighing,
we were obliged to veer away more cable, and strike our top-gallant
yards. At low water, myself, with several of the officers, kept a
look-out at the mast-head to see if any passage could be discovered
between the shoals, but nothing was in view except breakers, extending
from the S. round by the E. as far as N.W., and out to sea beyond the
reach of our sight; these breakers, however, did not appear to be caused
by one continued shoal, but by several which lay detached from each
other: On that which lay farthest to the eastward, the sea broke very
high, which made me think it was the outermost, for upon many of these
within, the breakers were inconsiderable, and from about half ebb to
half flood, they were not to be seen at all, which makes sailing among
them still more dangerous, especially as the shoals here consist
principally of coral rocks, which are as steep as a wall; upon some of
them, however, and generally at the north end, there are patches of
sand, which are covered only at high water, and which are to be
discerned at some distance. Being now convinced that there was no
passage to sea but through the labyrinth formed by these shoals, I was
altogether at a loss which way to steer, when the weather should permit
us to get under sail. It was the master's opinion that we should beat
back the way we came, but this would have been an endless labour, as the
wind blew strongly from that quarter, almost without intermission; on
the other hand, if no passage could be found to the northward, we should
be compelled to take that measure at last. These anxious deliberations
engaged us till eleven o'clock at night, when the ship drove, and
obliged us to veer away to a cable and one third, which brought her up;
but in the morning, the gale increasing, she drove again, and we
therefore let go the small bower, and veered away to a whole cable upon
it, and two cables on the other anchors, yet she still drove, though not
so fast; we then got down top gallant-gallant-masts, and struck the
yards and topmasts close down, and at last had the satisfaction to find
that she rode. Cape Bedford now bore W.S.W. distant three leagues and a
half, and in this situation we had shoals to the eastward, extending
from the S.E. by S. to the N.N.W., the nearest of which was about two
miles distant. As the gale continued, with little remission, we rode
till seven o'clock in the morning of the 10th, when it being more
moderate, we weighed and stood in for the land, having at length
determined to seek a passage along the shore to the northward, still
keeping the boat a-head: During our run in we had from nineteen to
twelve fathom: After standing in about an hour, we edged away for three
small islands that lay N.N.E. 1/2 E., three leagues from Cape Bedford,
which the master had visited while we were in port. At nine o'clock we
were a-breast of them, and between them and the main: Between us and the
main there was another low island, which lies N.N.W. four miles from the
three islands; and in this channel we had fourteen fathom water. The
northermost point of land in sight now bore N.N.W. 1/2 W., distant about
two leagues. Four or five leagues to the north of this head-land we saw
three islands, near which lay some that were still smaller, and we could
see the shoals and reefs without us, extending to the northward, as far
as these islands: Between these reefs and the headland we directed our
course, leaving to the eastward a small island, which lies N. by E.,
distant four miles from the three islands. At noon, we were got between
the headland and the three islands: From the head-land we were distant
two leagues, and from the islands four; our latitude by observation was
14° 51'. We now thought we saw a clear opening before us, and hoped that
we were once more out of danger; in this hope, however, we soon found
ourselves disappointed, and for that reason I called the head-land _Cape
Flattery_. It lies in latitude 14° 56' S., longitude 214° 43' W., and is
a lofty promontory, making next the sea in two hills, which have a third
behind them, with low sandy ground on each side: It may, however, be
still better known by the three islands out at sea: The northermost and
largest lies about five leagues from the cape, in the direction of
N.N.E. From Cape Flattery the land trends away N.W. and N.W. by W. We
steered along the shore N.W. by W. till one o'clock, for what we thought
the open channel; when the potty officer at the mast-head cried-out that
he saw land a-head, extending quite round to the islands that lay
without us, and a large reef between us and them: Upon this I ran up to
the mast-head myself, from whence I very plainly saw the reef, which was
now so far to windward, that we could not weather it, but the land
a-head, which he had supposed to be the main, appeared to me to be only
a bluster of small islands. As soon as I got down from the mast-head,
the master and some others went up, who all insisted that the land
a-head was not islands, but the main; and, to make their report still
more alarming, they said that they saw breakers all round us. In this
dilemma, we hauled upon a wind in for the land, and made the signal for
the boat that was sounding a-head to come on board, but as she was far
to leeward, we were obliged to edge away to take her up, and soon after
we came to an anchor, under a point of the main, in somewhat less than
five fathom, and at about the distance of a mile from the shore. Cape
Flattery now bore S.E. distant three leagues and a half. As soon as the
ship was at anchor, I went ashore upon the point, which is high, and
afforded me a good view of the sea coast, trending away N.W. by W. eight
or ten leagues, which, the weather not being very clear, was as far as I
could see. Nine or ten small low islands, and some shoals, appeared off
the coast; I saw also some large shoals between the main and the three
high islands, without which, I was clearly of opinion there were more
islands, and not any part of the main. Except the point I was now upon,
which I called _Point Lookout_, and Cape Flattery, the main-land, to the
northward of Cape Bedford, is low, and chequered with white sand and
green bushes, for ten or twelve miles inland, beyond which it rises to a
considerable height. To the northward of Point Lookout, the coast
appeared to be shoal and flat for a considerable distance, which did not
encourage the hope that the channel we had hitherto found in with the
land would continue. Upon this point, which was narrow, and consisted of
the finest white sand we had ever seen, we discovered the footsteps of
people, and we saw also smoke and fire at a distance up the country.

In the evening, I returned to the ship, and resolved the next morning to
visit one of the high islands in the offing, from the top of which, as
they lay five leagues out to sea, I hoped to discover more distinctly
the situation of the shoals, and the channel between them.

In the morning therefore of the 11th, I set out in the pinnace,
accompanied by Mr Banks, whose fortitude and curiosity made him a party
in every expedition, for the northermost and largest of the three
islands, and at the same time I sent the master in the yawl to leeward,
to sound between the low islands and the main. In my way, I passed over
a reef of coral rock and sand, which lies about two leagues from the
island, and I left another to leeward, which lies about three miles from
it: On the north part of the reef, to the leeward, there is a low sandy
island, with trees upon it; and upon the reef which we passed over, we
saw several turtle: We chased one or two, but having little time to
spare, and the wind blowing fresh, we did not take any.

About one o'clock, we reached the island, and immediately ascended the
highest hill, with a mixture of hope and fear, proportioned to the
importance of our business, and the uncertainty of the event: When I
looked round, I discovered a reef of rocks, lying between two and three
leagues without the islands, and extending in a line N.W. and S.E.
farther than I could see, upon which the sea broke in a dreadful surf:
This however made me think that there were no shoals beyond them, and I
conceived hopes of getting without these, as I perceived several breaks
or openings in the reef, and deep water between that and the islands. I
continued upon this hill till sunset, but the weather was so hazy during
the whole time that I came down much disappointed. After reflecting upon
what I had seen, and comparing the intelligence I had gained with what I
expected, I determined to stay upon the island all night, hoping that
the morning might be clearer, and afford me a more distinct and
comprehensive view. We therefore took up our lodging under the shelter
of a bush which grew upon the beach, and at three in the morning, having
sent the pinnace, with one of the mates whom I had brought out with me,
to sound between the island and the reefs, and examine what appeared to
be a channel through them, I climbed the hill a second time, but to my
great disappointment found the weather much more hazy than it had been
the day before. About noon the pinnace returned, having been as far as
the reef, and found between fifteen and twenty-eight fathom of water;
but it blew so hard that the mate did not dare to venture into one of
the channels, which he said appeared to him to be very narrow: This
however did not discourage me, for I judged, from his description of the
place he had been at, that he had seen it to disadvantage. While I was
busy in my survey, Mr Banks was attentive to his favourite pursuit, and
picked up several plants which he had not before seen. We found the
island, which is visible at twelve leagues distance, to be about eight
leagues in circumference, and in general very rocky and barren. On the
north-west side, however, there are some sandy bays, and some low land,
which is covered with long thin grass, and trees of the same kind with
those upon the main: This part also abounded with lizards of a very
large size, some of which we took. We found also fresh water in two
places: One was a running stream, but that was a little brackish where I
tasted it, which was close to the sea; the other was a standing pool,
close behind the sandy beach, and this was perfectly sweet and good.
Notwithstanding the distance of this island from the main, we saw, to
our great surprise, that it was sometimes visited by the natives; for we
found seven or eight frames of their huts, and vast heaps of shells, the
fish of which we supposed had been their food. We observed that all
these huts were built upon eminences, and entirely exposed to the S.E.
contrary to those which we had seen upon the main; for they were all
built either upon the side of a hill, or under some bushes, which
afforded them shelter from the wind. From these huts, and their
situation, we concluded that at some seasons of the year the weather
here is invariably calm and fine; for the inhabitants have no boat which
can navigate the sea to so great a distance, in such weather as we had
from the time of our first coming upon the coast. As we saw no animals
upon this place but lizards, I called it _Lizard Island_; the other two
high islands, which lie at the distance of four or five miles from it,
are comparatively small; and near them lie three others smaller still,
and low, with several shoals or reefs, especially to the S.E. There is,
however, a clear passage from Cape Flattery to these islands, and even
quite to the outward reefs, leaving Lizard Island to the N.W. and the
others to the S.E.

At two in the afternoon, there being no hope of clear weather, we set
out from Lizard Island to return to the ship, and in our way landed upon
the low sandy island with trees upon it, which we had remarked in our
going out. Upon this island we saw an incredible number of birds,
chiefly sea-fowl: We found also the nest of an eagle with young ones,
which we killed; and the nest of some other bird, we knew not what, of a
most enormous size; it was built with sticks upon the ground, and was no
less than six-and-twenty feet in circumference, and two feet eight
inches high. We found also that this place had been visited by the
Indians, probably to eat turtle, many of which we saw upon the island,
and a great number of their shells, piled one upon another in different
places.

To this spot we gave the name of _Eagle Island_, and after leaving it,
we steered S.W. directly for the ship, sounding all the way, and we had
never less than eight fathom, nor more than fourteen; the same depth of
water that I had found between this and Lizard Island.

When I got on board, the master informed me that he had been down to the
low islands, between which and the main I had directed him to sound;
that he judged them to lie about three leagues from the main; that
without them he found from ten to fourteen fathom, and between them and
the main seven: But that a flat, which ran two leagues out from the
main, made this channel narrow. Upon one of these low islands he slept,
and was ashore upon others; and he reported, that he saw every where
piles of turtle-shells; and fins hanging upon the trees in many places,
with the flesh upon them, so recent, that the boats crew eat of them: He
saw also two spots, clear of grass, which appeared to have been lately
dug up, and from the shape and size of them, he conjectured they were
graves.

After considering what I had seen myself, and the report of the master,
I was of opinion that the passage to leeward would be dangerous, and
that, by keeping in with the main, we should run the risk of being
locked in by the great reef, and at last be compelled to return back in
search of another passage, by which, or any other accident that should
cause the same delay, we should infallibly lose our passage to the East
Indies, and endanger the ruin of the voyage, as we had now but little
more than three months provisions on board at short allowance.

Having stated this opinion, and the facts and appearances upon which it
was founded, to the officers, it was unanimously agreed, that the best
thing we could do would be to quit the coast altogether, till we could
approach it with less danger.

In the morning, therefore, at break of day, we got under sail, and stood
out N.E. for the north-west end of Lizard Island, leaving Eagle Island
to windward, and some other islands and shoals to the leeward, and
having the pinnace a-head to ascertain the depth of water in every part
of our course. In this channel we had from nine to fourteen fathom. At
noon, the north-west end of Lizard Island bore E.S.E. distant one mile;
our latitude, by observation, was 14° 38', and our depth of water
fourteen fathom. We had a steady gale at S.E. and by two o'clock we just
fetched to windward of one of the channels or openings in the outer
reef, which I had seen from the island. We now tacked, and made a short
trip to the S.W. while the master, in the pinnace, examined the channel:
He soon made the signal for the ship to follow, and in a short time she
got safe out. As soon as we had got without the breakers, we had no
ground with one hundred and fifty fathom, and found a large sea rolling
in from the S.E. a certain sign that neither land nor shoals were near
us in that direction.

Our change of situation was now visible in every countenance, for it was
most sensibly felt in every breast: We had been little less than three
months entangled among shoals and rocks, that every moment threatened
us with destruction; frequently passing our nights at anchor within
hearing of the surge that broke over them; sometimes driving towards
them even while our anchors were out, and knowing that if by any
accident, to which an almost continual tempest exposed us, they should
not hold, we must in a few minutes inevitably perish. But now, after
having sailed no less than three hundred and sixty leagues, without once
having a man out of the chains heaving the lead, even for a minute,
which perhaps never happened to any other vessel, we found ourselves in
an open sea, with deep water, and enjoyed a flow of spirits, which was
equally owing to our late dangers and our present security: Yet the very
waves, which by their swell convinced us that we had no rocks or shoals
to fear, convinced us also that we could not safely put the same
confidence in our vessel as before she had struck; for the blows she
received from them so widened her leaks, that she admitted no less than
nine inches water an hour, which, considering the state of our pumps,
and the navigation that was still before us, would have been a subject
of more serious consideration to people whose danger had not so lately
been so much more imminent.

The passage or channel, through which we passed into the open sea beyond
the reef, lies in latitude 14° 32' S. and may always be known by the
three high islands within it, which I have called the _Islands of
Direction_, because by these a stranger may find a safe passage through
the reef quite to the main. The channel lies from Lizard Island N.E. 1/2
N. distant three leagues, and is about one-third of a mile broad, and
not more in length. Lizard Island, which is, as I have before observed,
the largest and the northermost of the three, affords safe anchorage
under the north-west side, fresh water, and wood for fuel. The low
islands and shoals also which lie between it and the main abound with
turtle and fish, which may probably be caught in all seasons of the
year, except when the weather is very tempestuous; so that, all things
considered, there is not perhaps a better place for ships to refresh at
upon the whole coast than this island. And before I dismiss it, I must
observe, that we found upon it, as well as upon the beach in and about
Endeavour River, bamboos, cocoa-nuts, pumice-stone, and the seeds of
plants which are not the produce of this country, and which it is
reasonable to suppose are brought from the eastward by the trade-winds.
The islands which were discovered by Quiros, and called Australia del
Espiritu Santa, lie in this parallel, but how far to the eastward cannot
now be ascertained: In most charts they are placed in the same longitude
with this country, which, as appears by the account of his voyage that
has been published, he never saw; for that places his discoveries no
less than two-and-twenty degrees to the eastward of it.[85]

[Footnote 85: The islands form part of what is now called New Hebrides.
We shall have occasion to speak of them when we treat of a subsequent
voyage, it is needless to say a word about them at present.--E.]

As soon as we were without the reef, we brought-to, and having hoisted
in the boats, we stood off and on upon a wind all night; for I was not
willing to run to leeward till I had a whole day before me. In the
morning, at daybreak, Lizard Island bore S. 15 E. distant ten leagues,
and we then made sail and stood away N.N.W. 1/2 W. till nine o'clock,
when we stood N.W. 1/2 N. having the advantage of a fresh gale at S.E.
At noon, our latitude, by observation, was I3° 46' S. and at this time
we had no land in sight. At six in the evening we shortened sail and
brought the ship to, with her head to the N.E.; and at six in the
morning made sail and steered west, in order to get within sight of the
land, that I might be sure not to overshoot the passage, if a passage
there was, between this land and New Guinea. At noon, our latitude, by
observation, was 13° 2' S., longitude 216° W.; which was 1° 23' W. of
Lizard Island: At this time we had no land in sight; but a little before
one o'clock, we saw high land from the masthead, bearing W.S.W. At two,
we saw more land to the N.W. of that we had seen before: It appeared in
hills, like islands; but we judged it to be a continuation of the main
land. About three, we discovered breakers between the land and the ship,
extending to the southward farther than we could see; but to the north
we thought we saw them terminate abreast of us. What we took for the end
of them in this direction, however, soon appeared to be only an opening
in the reef; for we presently saw them again, extending northward beyond
the reach of our sight. Upon this we hauled close upon a wind, which was
now at E.S.E. and we had scarcely trimmed our sails before it came to
E. by N. which was right upon the reef, and consequently made our
clearing it doubtful. At sun-set the northermost part of it that was in
sight bore from us N. by E. and was two or three leagues distant; this
however being the best tack to clear it, we kept standing to the
northward with all the sail we could set till midnight; when, being
afraid of standing too far in this direction, we tacked and stood to the
southward, our run from sun-set to this time being six leagues N. and N.
by E. When we had stood about two miles S.S.E. it fell calm. We had
sounded several times during the night, but had no bottom with one
hundred and forty fathom, neither had we any ground now with the same
length of line; yet, about four in the morning, we plainly heard the
roaring of the surf, and at break of day saw it foaming to a vast
height, at not more than a mile's distance. Our distress now returned
upon us with double force; the waves, which rolled in upon the reef,
carried us towards it very fast; we could reach no ground with an
anchor, and had not a breath of wind for the sail. In this dreadful
situation, no resource was left us but the boats; and to aggravate our
misfortune the pinnace was under repair: The long-boat and yawl,
however, were put into the water, and sent a-head to tow, which, by the
help of our sweeps abaft, got the ship's head round to the northward;
which, if it could not prevent our destruction, might at least delay it.
But it was six o'clock before this was effected, and we were not then a
hundred yards from the rock upon which the same billow which washed the
side of the ship, broke to a tremendous height the very next time it
rose; so that between us and destruction there was only a dreary valley,
no wider than the base of one wave, and even now the sea under us was
unfathomable, at least no bottom was to be found with a hundred and
twenty fathom. During this scene of distress the carpenter had found
means to patch up the pinnace, so that she was hoisted out, and sent
a-head, in aid of the other boats, to tow; but all our efforts would
have been ineffectual, if, just at this crisis of our fate, a light air
of wind had not sprung up, so light, that at any other time we should
not have observed it, but which was enough to turn the scale in our
favour, and, in conjunction with the assistance which was afforded us by
the boats, to give the ship a perceptible motion obliquely from the
reef. Our hopes now revived; but in less than ten minutes it was again a
dead calm, and the ship was again driven towards the breakers, which
were not now two hundred yards distant. The same light breeze, however,
returned before we had lost all the ground it had enabled us to gain,
and lasted about ten minutes more. During this time we discovered a
small opening in the reef, at about the distance of a quarter of a mile:
I immediately sent one of the mates to examine it, who reported that its
breadth was not more than the length of the ship, but that within it
there was smooth water: This discovery seemed to render our escape
possible, and that was all, by pushing the ship through the opening,
which was immediately attempted. It was uncertain indeed whether we
could reach it; but if we should succeed thus far, we made no doubt of
being able to get through: In this however we were disappointed, for
having reached it by the joint assistance of our boats and the breeze,
we found that in the mean time it had become high water, and to our
great surprise we met the tide of ebb rushing out of it like a
mill-stream. We gained, however, some advantage, though in a manner
directly contrary to our expectations: We found it impossible to go
through the opening, but the stream that prevented us, carried us out
about a quarter of a mile: It was too narrow for us to keep in it
longer; yet this tide of ebb so much assisted the boats, that by noon we
had got an offing of near two miles. We had, however, reason to despair
of deliverance, even if the breeze, which had now died away, should
revive, for we were still embayed in the reef; and the tide of ebb being
spent, the tide of flood, notwithstanding our utmost efforts, again
drove the ship into the bight. About this time, however, we saw another
opening, near a mile to the westward, which I immediately sent the first
lieutenant, Mr Hicks, in the small boat to examine: In the mean time we
struggled hard with the flood, sometimes gaining a little, and sometimes
losing; but every man still did his duty, with as much calmness and
regularity as if no danger had been near. About two o'clock, Mr Hicks
returned with an account that the opening was narrow and dangerous, but
that it might be passed: The possibility of passing it was sufficient
encouragement to make the attempt, for all danger was less imminent than
that of our present situation. A light breeze now sprung up at E.N.E.
with which, by the help of our boats, and the very tide of flood that
without an opening would have been our destruction, we entered it, and
were hurried through with amazing rapidity, by a torrent that kept us
from driving against either side of the channel, which was not more than
a quarter of a mile in breadth. While we were shooting this gulph, our
soundings were from thirty to seven fathom, very irregular, and the
ground at bottom very foul.

As soon as we had got within the reef, we anchored in nineteen fathom,
over a bottom of coral and shells. And now, such is the vicissitude of
life, we thought ourselves happy in having regained a situation, which
but two days before it was the utmost object of our hope to quit. Rocks
and shoals are always dangerous to the mariner, even where their
situation has been ascertained; they are more dangerous in seas which
have never before been navigated, and in this part of the globe they are
more dangerous than in any other; for here there are reefs of coral
rock, rising like a wall almost perpendicularly out of the unfathomable
deep, always overflowed at high-water, and at low-water dry in many
places; and here the enormous waves of the vast Southern Ocean, meeting
with so abrupt a resistance, break with inconceivable violence, in a
surf which no rocks or storms in the northern hemisphere can produce.
The danger of navigating unknown parts of this ocean was now greatly
increased by our having a crazy ship, and being short of provisions and
every other necessary; yet the distinction of a first discoverer made us
cheerfully encounter every danger, and submit to every inconvenience;
and we chose rather to incur the censure of imprudence and temerity,
which the idle and voluptuous so liberally bestow upon unsuccessful
fortitude and perseverance, than leave a country which we had discovered
unexplored, and give colour to a charge of timidity and irresolution.

Having now congratulated ourselves upon getting within the reef,
notwithstanding we had so lately congratulated ourselves upon getting
without it, I resolved to keep the main-land on board in my future route
to the northward, whatever the consequence might be; for if we had now
gone without the reef again, it might have carried us so far from the
coast as to prevent my being able to determine, whether this country
did, or did not, join to New Guinea; a question which I was determined
to resolve from my first coming within sight of land. However, as I had
experienced the disadvantage of having a boat under repair, at a time
when it was possible I might want to use her, I determined to remain
fast at anchor, till the pinnace was perfectly refitted. As I had no
employment for the other boats, I sent them out in the morning to the
reef, to see what refreshments could be procured, and Mr Banks, in his
little boat, accompanied by Dr Solander, went with them. In this
situation I found the variation by amplitude and azimuth to be 4° 9' E.;
and at noon, our latitude by observation was 12° 38' S., and our
longitude 216° 45' W. The main land extended from N. 66 W. to S.W. by
S., and the nearest part of it was distant about nine leagues. The
opening through which we had passed I called _Providential Channel_; and
this bore E.N.E. distant ten or twelve miles: On the main land within us
was a lofty promontory which I called _Cape Weymouth_; on the north side
of which is a bay, which I called _Weymouth Bay_: They lie in latitude
12° 42' S., longitude 217° 15' W. At four o'clock in the afternoon the
boats returned with two hundred and forty pounds of the meat of
shell-fish, chiefly of cockles, some of which were as much as two men
could move, and contained twenty pounds of good meat. Mr Banks also
brought back many curious shells, and _Mollusca_; besides many
species of coral, among which was that called the _Tubipora musica_.

At six o'clock in the morning, we got under sail and stood away to the
N.W., having two boats ahead to direct us; our soundings were very
irregular, varying five or six fathom every cast, between ten and
twenty-seven. A little before noon, we passed a low sandy island, which
we left on our starboard-side, at the distance of two miles. At noon,
our latitude was 12° 28', and our distance from the main about four
leagues: It extended from S. by W. to N. 71 W., and some small islands
from N. 40 W. to 54 W. Between us and the main were several shoals, and
some without us, besides the main or outermost reef, which we could see
from the mast-head, stretching away to the N.E. At two in the afternoon,
as we were steering N.W. by N. we saw a large shoal right ahead,
extending three or four points upon each bow; upon this we hauled up
N.N.E. and N.E. by N. to get round the north point of it, which we
reached by four, and then edged away to the westward, and ran between
the north end of this shoal and another, which lies two miles to the
northward of it, having a boat all the way ahead sounding; our depth of
water was still very irregular, from twenty-two to eight fathom. At half
an hour after six, we anchored in thirteen fathom: The northermost of
the small islands seen at noon bore W. 1/2 S., distant three miles:
These islands, which I distinguished by the name of _Forbes's Islands_,
lie about five leagues from the main, which here forms a high point that
we called _Bolt Head_, from which the land trends more westerly, and is
in that direction all low and sandy; to the southward it is high and
hilly even near the sea.

At six in the morning we got again under sail, and steered for an island
which lay at a small distance from the main, and at this time bore from
us N. 40 W., distant about five leagues: Our course was soon interrupted
by shoals; however, by the help of the boats, and a good look-out from
the top of the mast, we got into a fair channel that led us down to the
island, between a very large shoal on our starboard side and several
small ones towards the main: In this channel we had from twenty to
thirty fathom water. Between eleven and twelve o'clock we hauled round
the north-east side of the island, leaving it between us and the main,
from which it is distant about seven or eight miles. This island is
about a league in circuit, and we saw upon it five of the natives, two
of whom had lances in their hands; they came down upon a point, and
having looked a little while at the ship, retired. To the N.W. of it are
several low islands and quays, which lie not far from the main; and to
the northward and eastward are several other islands and shoals; so that
we were now encompassed on every side: But having lately been exposed to
much greater danger, and rocks and shoals being grown familiar, we
looked at them comparatively with little concern. The main land appeared
to be low and barren, interspersed with large patches of the very fine
white sand, which we had found upon Lizard Island and different parts of
the main. The boats had seen many turtle upon the shoals which they
passed, but it blew too hard for them to take any. At noon, our latitude
by observation was 12°, and our longitude 217° 25': Our depth of water
was fourteen fathom; and our course and distance, reduced to a straight
line, was, between this time and the preceding noon, N. 29 W.
thirty-two miles.

The main land within the islands that have been just mentioned forms a
point, which I called _Cape Grenville_: It lies in latitude 11° 58',
longitude 217° 38'; and between it and Bolt Head is a bay, which I
called _Temple Bay_. At the distance of nine leagues from Cape
Grenville, in the direction of E. 1/2 N. lie some high islands, which I
called _Sir Charles Hardy's Isles_; and those which lie off the Cape I
called _Cockburn's Isles_. Having lain by for the boats, which had got
out of their station, till about one o'clock, we then took the yawl in
tow; and the pinnace having got ahead, we filled, and stood N. by W. for
some small islands which lay in that direction; such at least they were
in appearance, but upon approaching them we perceived that they were
joined together by a large reef: Upon this we edged away N.W. and left
them on our starboard hand; we steered between them and the islands that
lay off the main, having a clear passage, and from fifteen to
twenty-three fathom water. At four o'clock, we discovered some low
islands and rocks, bearing W.N.W., and stood directly for them: At half
an hour after six, we anchored on the north-east side of the northermost
of them, at one mile distance, and in sixteen fathom. These islands lie
N.W. four leagues from Cape Grenville, and from the number of birds that
I saw upon them, I called them _Bird Isles_. A little before sun-set, we
were in sight of the main-land, which appeared all very low and sandy,
extending as far to the northward as N.W. by N., some shoals, quays, and
low sandy isles stretching away to the N.E.

At six o'clock in the morning, we got again under sail, with a fresh
breeze at E., and stood away N.N.W. for some low islands in that
direction, but were soon obliged to haul close upon a wind to weather a
shoal which we discovered upon our larboard bow, having at the same time
others to the eastward: By the time we had weathered this shoal to
leeward, we had brought the islands well upon our lee-bow, but seeing
some shoals run off from them, and some rocks on our starboard-bow,
which we did not discover till we were very near them, I was afraid to
go to windward of the islands, and therefore brought-to, and having made
the signal for the pinnace, which was ahead, to come on board, I sent
her to leeward of the islands, with orders to keep along the edge of
the shoal, which ran off from the south side of the southermost island,
sending the yawl at the same time, to run over the shoal in search of
turtle. As soon as the pinnace had got to a proper distance, we wore,
and stood after her: As we ran to leeward of this land, we took the yawl
in tow, she having seen only one small turtle, and therefore made but
little stay upon the shoal. The island we found to be a small spot of
sand with some trees upon it, and we could discern many huts, or
habitations of the natives whom we supposed occasionally to visit these
islands from the main, they being only five leagues distant, to catch
turtle, when they come ashore to lay their eggs. We continued to stand
after the pinnace N.N.E. and N. by E. for two other low islands, having
two shoals without us, and one between us and the main. At noon, we were
about four leagues from the main, which we saw extending to the
northward, as far as N.W. by N. all flat and sandy. Our latitude, by
observation, was 11° 23' S. and our longitude 217° 46' W. our soundings
were from fourteen to twenty-three fathom. By one o'clock, we had run
nearly the length of the southermost of the two islands in sight, and
finding that the going to windward of them would carry us too far from
the main, we bore up and ran to leeward, where finding a fair open
passage, we steered N. by W. in a direction parallel to the main,
leaving a small island which lay between it and the ship, and some low
sandy isles and shoals without us, of all which we lost sight by four
o'clock, and saw no more before the sun went down: At this time the
farthest part of the land in sight bore N.N.W. 1/2 W., and soon after we
anchored in thirteen fathom, upon soft ground, at the distance of about
five leagues from the land, where we lay till day-light.

Early in the morning, we made sail again, and steered N.N.W. by compass,
for the northermost land in sight; and at this time, we observed the
variation of the needle to be 3° 6' E. At eight o'clock, we discovered
shoals ahead, on our larboard bow, and saw that the northermost land,
which we had taken for the main, was detached from it, and that we might
pass between them, by running to leeward of the shoals on our
larboard-bow, which were now near us: We therefore wore and brought-to,
sending away the pinnace and yawl to direct us, and then steered N.W.
along the S.W. or inside of the shoals, keeping a good look-out from the
mast-head, and having another shoal on our larboard-side: We found
however a good channel of a mile broad between them, in which we had
from ten to fourteen fathom. At eleven o'clock, we were nearly the
length of the land detached from the main, and there appeared to be no
obstruction in the passage between them, yet having the long-boat
astern, and rigged, we sent her away to keep in shore upon our larboard
bow, and at the same time dispatched the pinnace a starboard;
precautions which I thought necessary, as we had a strong flood that
carried us an end very fast, and it was near high water: As soon as the
boats were ahead, we stood after them, and by noon got through the
passage. Our latitude, by observation, was then 10° 36', and the nearest
part of the main, which we soon after found to be the northermost, bore
W. 2 S., distant between three or four miles: We found the land which
was detached from the main, to be a single island, extending from N. to
N. 75 E., distant between two and three miles; at the same time we saw
other islands at a considerable distance, extending from N. by W. to
W.N.W., and behind them another chain of high land, which we judged also
to be islands; there were still other islands, extending as far as N. 71
W., which at this time we took for the main.

The point of the main which forms the side of the channel through which
we passed, opposite to the island, is the northern promontory of the
country, and I called it _York Cape_. Its longitude is 218° 24' W., the
latitude of the north point is 10° 37', and of the east point 10° 42' S.
The land over the east point, and to the southward of it, is rather low,
and as far as the eye can reach, very flat, and of a barren appearance.
To the southward of the Cape the shore forms a large open bay, which I
called _Newcastle Bay_, and in which are some small low islands and
shoals; the land adjacent is also very low, flat, and sandy. The land of
the northern part of the Cape is more hilly, the vallies seem to be well
clothed with wood, and the shore forms some small bays, in which there
appeared to be good anchorage. Close to the eastern point of the Cape
are three small islands, from one of which a small ledge of rocks runs
out into the sea: There is also an island close to the northern point.
The island that forms the streight or channel through which we had
passed, lies about four miles without these, which, except two, are very
small: The southermost is the largest, and much higher than any part of
the main land. On the north-west side of this island there appeared to
be good anchorage, and on shore, vallies that promised both wood and
water. These islands are distinguished in the chart by the name of _York
Isles_. To the southward, and south-east, and even to the eastward and
northward of them, there are several other low islands, rocks, and
shoals: Our depth of water in sailing between them and the main, was
twelve, thirteen, and fourteen fathom.

We stood along the shore to the westward, with a gentle breeze at S.E.
by S., and when we had advanced between three and four miles, we
discovered the land ahead, which, when we first saw it, we took for the
main, to be islands detached from it by several channels: Upon this we
sent away the boats, with proper instructions, to lead us through that
channel which was next the main; but soon after discovering rocks and
shoals in this channel, I made a signal for the boats to go through the
next channel to the northward, which lay between these islands, leaving
some of them between us and the main: The ship followed, and had never
less than five fathom water in the narrowest part of the channel, where
the distance from island to island was about one mile and a half.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored, being about a mile and a
half, or two miles, within the entrance, in six fathom and a half, with
clear ground: The channel here had begun to widen, and the islands on
each side of us were distant about a mile: The main-land stretched away
to the S.W., the farthest point in view bore S. 48 W., and the
southermost point of the islands, on the north-west side of the passage,
bore S. 76 W. Between these two points we could see no land, so that we
conceived hopes of having, at last, found a passage into the Indian sea;
however, that I might be able to determine with more certainty, I
resolved to land upon the island which lies at the south-east point of
the passage. Upon this island we had seen many of the inhabitants when
we first came to an anchor, and when I went into the boat, with a party
of men, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, in order to go ashore,
we saw ten of them upon a hill: Nine of them were armed with such lances
as we had been used to see, and the tenth had a bow, and a bundle of
arrows, which we had never seen in the possession of the natives of
this country before: We also observed, that two of them had large
ornaments of mother-of-pearl hanging round their necks. Three of these,
one of whom was the bowman, placed themselves upon the beach abreast of
us, and we expected that they would have opposed our landing, but when
we came within about a musket's shot of the beach, they walked leisurely
away. We immediately climbed the highest hill, which was not more than
three times as high as the mast-head, and the most barren of any we had
seen. From this hill, no land could be seen between the S.W. and W.S.W.,
so that I had no doubt of finding a channel through. The land to the
north-west of it consisted of a great number of islands of various
extent, and different heights, ranged one behind another, as far to the
northward and westward as I could see, which could not be less than
thirteen leagues. As I was now about to quit the eastern coast of New
Holland, which I had coasted from latitude 38 to this place, and which I
am confident no European had ever seen before, I once more hoisted
English colours, and though I had already taken possession of several
particular parts, I now took possession of the whole eastern coast, from
latitude 38° to this place, latitude 10 1/2 S. in right of his Majesty
King George the Third, by the name of _New South Wales_, with all the
bays, harbours, rivers, and islands situated upon it: We then fired
three vollies of small arms, which were answered by the same number from
the ship. Having performed this ceremony upon the island, which we
called _Possession Island_, we re-embarked in our boat, but a rapid
ebb-tide setting N.E. made our return to the vessel very difficult and
tedious. From the time of our last coming among the shoals, we
constantly found a moderate tide, the flood setting to the N.W. and the
ebb to the S.E. At this place, it is high water at the full and change
of the moon, about one or two o'clock, and the water rises and falls
perpendicularly about twelve feet. We saw smoke rising in many places
from the adjacent lands and islands, as we had done upon every part of
the coast, after our last return to it through the reef.

We continued at anchor all night, and between seven and eight o'clock in
the morning, we saw three or four of the natives upon the beach
gathering shell-fish; we discovered, by the help of our glasses, that
they were women, and, like all the other inhabitants of this country,
stark naked. At low water, which happened about ten o'clock, we got
under sail, and stood to the S.W. with a light breeze at E. which
afterwards veered to N. by E.: Our depth of water was from six to ten
fathom, except in one place, where we had but five. At noon, Possession
Island bore N. 53 E., distant four leagues, the western extremity of the
main-land in sight bore S. 43 W., distant between four and five leagues,
and appeared to be extremely low, the south-west point of the largest
island on the north-west side of the passage bore N. 71 W., distant
eight miles, and this point I called _Cape Cornwall_. It lies in
latitude 10° 43'S., longitude 219° W.; and some lowlands that lie about
the middle of the passage, which I called _Wallis's Isles_, bore W. by
S. 1/2 S., distant about two leagues: Our latitude, by observation, was
10° 46' S. We continued to advance with the tide of flood W.N.W. having
little wind, and from eight to five fathom water. At half an hour after
one, the pinnace, which was a-head, made the signal for shoal-water,
upon which we tacked, and sent away the yawl to sound also: We then
tacked again, and stood after them: In about two hours, they both made
the signal for shoal-water, and the tide being nearly at its greatest
height, I was afraid to stand on, as running aground at that time might
be fatal; I therefore came to an anchor in somewhat less than seven
fathom, sandy ground. Wallis's Islands bore S. by W. 1/2 W., distant
five or six miles, the islands to the northward extended from S. 73 E.
to N. 10 E., and a small island, which was just in sight, bore N.W. 1/2
W. Here we found the flood-tide set to the westward, and the ebb to the
eastward.

After we had come to an anchor, I sent away the master in the long-boat
to sound, who, upon his return in the evening, reported that there was a
bank stretching north, and south, upon which there were but three
fathom, and that beyond it there were seven. About this time it fell
calm, and continued so till nine the next morning, when we weighed with
a light breeze at S.S.E.; and steered N.W. by W. for the small island
which was just in sight, having first sent the boats a-head to sound:
The depth of water was eight, seven, six, five, and four fathom, and
three fathom upon the bank, it being now the last quarter ebb. At this
time, the northermost island in sight bore N. 9 E., Cape Cornwall E.,
distant three leagues, and Wallis's Isles S. 3 E., distant three
leagues. This bank, at least so much as we have sounded, extends nearly
N. and S., but to what distance I do not know: Its breadth is not more
than half a mile at the utmost. When we had got over the bank, we
deepened our water to six fathom three quarters, and had the same depth
all the way to the small island a-head, which we reached by noon, when
it bore S., distant about half a mile. Our depth of water was now five
fathom, and the northermost land in sight, which is part of the same
chain of islands that we had seen to the northward from the time of our
first entering the streight, bore N. 71 E. Our latitude by observation
was 10° 33' S., and our longitude 219° 22' W.: In this situation no part
of the main was in sight. As we were now near the island, and had but
little wind, Mr Banks and I landed upon it, and found it, except a few
patches of wood, to be a barren rock, the haunt of birds, which had
frequented it in such numbers as to make the surface almost uniformly
white with their dung: Of these birds the greater part seemed to be
boobies, and I therefore called the place _Booby Island_. After a short
stay, we returned to the ship, and in the mean time the wind had got to
the S.W.; it was but a gentle breeze, yet it was accompanied by a swell
from the same quarter, which, with other circumstances, confirmed my
opinion that we were got to the westward of Carpentaria, or the northern
extremity of New Holland, and had now an open sea to the westward, which
gave me great satisfaction, not only because the dangers and fatigues of
the voyage were drawing to an end, but because it would no longer be a
doubt whether New Holland and New Guinea were two separate islands, or
different parts of the same.[86]

[Footnote 86: Here it may be proper to introduce a paragraph from M.
Peron's Historical Relation of a Voyage of Discovery to the Southern
Islands, as presented to the Imperial Institute in June 1806. It will
show his conception of the difficulties attendant on navigating these
parts: "In fact, it is not in voyages on the high seas, however long
they may be, that adverse circumstances or shipwrecks are so much to be
dreaded; those, on the contrary, along unknown shores and barbarous
coasts, at every instant present new difficulties to encounter, with
perpetual dangers. Those difficulties and dangers, the woeful appendage
of all expeditions begun for the purposes of geographic detail, were of
more imminent character from the nature of the coasts we had to explore;
for no country has hitherto been discovered more difficult to
reconnoitre than New Holland, and all the voyages of any extent made for
the purpose in this point, have been marked either by reverses or
infructuous attempts. For example, Paliser on the western coast was one
of the first victims of these shores; Vlaming speaks of wrecks by which
Rottnest island was covered when he landed there in 1697; and we
ourselves observed others of much more recent date. Captain Dampier,
notwithstanding his intrepidity and experience, could not preserve his
vessel from grounding when on the northwest coast of this continent, a
coast already famous for the shipwreck of Vianin; on the east,
Bougainville, menaced with destruction, was constrained to precipitate
flight; Cook escaped by a kind of miracle, the rock which pierced his
ship remaining in the breach it made, and alone preventing it from
sinking; on the south-west, Vancouver and D'Entrecasteaux were not more
fortunate in their several plans of completing its geography, and the
French admiral nearly lost both his ships. Towards the south, but a few
years have elapsed since the discovery of Bass's Straits, and already
the major part of the islands of this strait is strewed with the wrecks
of ships; very recently, and almost before our face, I may say, the
French ship Enterprize was dashed to pieces against the dangerous
islands which close its eastern opening. The relation of our voyage, and
the dangers incurred, will still farther demonstrate the perils of this
navigation; and the loss of the two vessels of Captain Flinders, sent by
the English government to compete with us, will but too clearly furnish
a new and lamentable evidence. The circumstance of Cook's escape, we
see, is allowed its due impression on the mind of this gentleman. It is
very probable that had Dr Hawkesworth himself ever been in such critical
perils, and experienced any thing like such a remarkable deliverance,
the placidity of his principles would have given way to more lively
emotions. The deductions of reason, it is certain, are not unusually at
variance with the instantaneous, but perhaps more real and genuine
productions of our feelings, which it is the cant of modern days to
denominate the lower parts of our constitution.--E.]

The north-east entrance of this passage or streight lies in the latitude
of 10° 39' S., and in the longitude of 218° 36' W. It is formed by the
main, or the northern extremity of New Holland, on the S.E., and by a
congeries of islands, which I called the _Prince of Wales's Islands_, to
the N.W., and it is probable that these islands extend quite to New
Guinea. They differ very much both in height and circuit, and many of
them seemed to be well clothed with herbage and wood: Upon most, if not
all of them, we saw smoke, and therefore there can be no doubt of their
being inhabited: It is also probable, that among them there are at least
as good passages as that we came through, perhaps better, though better
would not need to be desired, if the access to it from the eastward were
less dangerous: That a less dangerous access may be discovered, I think
there is little reason to doubt, and to find it, little more seems to be
necessary than to determine how far the principal, or outer reef, which
bounds the shoals to the eastward, extends towards the north, which I
would not have left to future navigators if I had been less harassed by
danger and fatigue, and had had a ship in better condition for the
purpose.

To this channel, or passage, I have given the name of the ship, and
called it _Endeavour Streights_. Its length from N.E. to S.W. is ten
leagues, and it is about five leagues broad, except at the north-east
entrance, where it is somewhat less than two miles, being contracted by
the islands which lie there. That which I called Possession Island is of
a moderate height and circuit, and this we left between us and the main,
passing between it and two small round islands which lie about two miles
to the N.W. of it. The two small islands, which I called Wallis's
Islands, lie in the middle of the south-west entrance, and these we left
to the southward. Our depth of water in the streight was from four to
nine fathom, with every where good anchorage, except upon the bank,
which lies two leagues to the northward of Wallis's Islands, where at
low water there are but three fathom: For a more particular knowledge of
this streight, and of the situations of the several islands and shoals
on the eastern coast of New Wales, I refer to the chart where they are
delineated with all the accuracy that circumstances would admit; yet,
with respect to the shoals, I cannot pretend that one half of them are
laid down, nor can it be supposed possible that one half of them should
be discovered in the course of a single navigation: Many islands also
must have escaped my pencil, especially between latitude 20° and 22°,
where we saw islands out at sea as far as an island could be
distinguished; it must not therefore be supposed, by future navigators,
that where no shoal or island is laid down in my chart, no shoal or
island will be found in these seas: It is enough that the situation of
those that appear in the chart is faithfully ascertained, and, in
general, I have the greatest reason to hope that it will be found as
free from error as any that has not been corrected by subsequent and
successive observations. The latitudes and longitudes of all, or most of
the principal head-lands and bays, may be confided in, for we seldom
failed of getting an observation once at least every day, by which to
correct the latitude of our reckoning, and observations for settling the
longitude were equally numerous, no opportunity that was offered by the
sun and moon being suffered to escape. It would be injurious to the
memory of Mr Green, not to take this opportunity of attesting that he
was indefatigable both in making observations and calculating upon them;
and that, by his instructions and assistance, many of the petty officers
were enabled both to observe and calculate with great exactness. This
method of finding the longitude at sea may be put into universal
practice, and may always be depended upon within half a degree, which is
sufficient for all nautical purposes. If, therefore, observing and
calculating were considered as necessary qualifications for every sea
officer, the labours of the speculative theorist to solve this problem
might be remitted, without much injury to mankind: Neither will it be so
difficult to acquire this qualification, or put it in practice, as may
at first appear; for, with the assistance of the nautical almanack, and
astronomical ephemeris, the calculations for finding the longitude will
take up little more time than the calculation of an azimuth for finding
the variation of the compass.[87]

[Footnote 87: Reference is made above to Cook's large chart, which of
course could not be given here with advantage corresponding to the
expence of engraving it. This omission is of less moment, as the chart
that accompanies the work is quite sufficient for general readers; and
as any additional one that may be afterwards given, must derive much of
its value from the labours of Cook. Important aids have been afforded
the navigator since the date of this publication; and the two great
problems in nautical astronomy, viz. the deducing the longitude from
lunar distances, and the latitude from two altitudes of the sun, have
been brought within the reach of every one who is in full possession of
elementary arithmetic. See a Collection of Tables for those important,
purposes, by Joseph de Mendoza Rios, published at London, 1806,--an
account of which is given in the Edinburgh Review, vol. viii. p. 451.]


SECTION XXXIII.

_Departure from New South Wales; a particular Description of the
Country, its Products, and People: A Specimen of the Language, and some
Observations upon the Currents and Tides_.[88]


[Footnote 88: All these particulars will be more fully illustrated
hereafter. The present account is certainly imperfect, but it has its
value; and it could not have been omitted without some disparagement to
the original work, and some loss of interest to the reader. It is worth
while to possess all the histories, and more especially the original
ones, of a country like New Holland, which, its extent, position, and
nature, as well as some peculiar contingencies, are likely to render
more and more conspicuous in the records of mankind. There is another
reason for wishing to retain the account now given, and which would not
apply to any equally imperfect one of any other country or people where
civilization had made greater progress. Dr Robertson, referring to this
very description, says, "This perhaps is the country where man has been
discovered in the earliest stage of his progress, and it exhibits a
miserable specimen of his condition and powers in the uncultivated
state. If this country shall be more fully explored by future
navigators, the comparison of the manners of its inhabitants, with those
of the Americans, will prove an instructive article in the history of
the human species,"--Note 33, in the ninth volume of his works. What was
held as a desideratum by this historian, has been accomplished in so far
as additional materials are concerned: How far it has been so in a
philosophical point of view, may be afterwards considered.--E.]

Of this country, its products and its people, many particulars have
already been related in the course of the narrative, being so interwoven
with the events as not to admit of a separation. I shall now give a more
full and circumstantial description of each, in which, if some things
should happen to be repeated, the greater part will be found new. New
Holland, or, as I have now called the eastern coast, New South Wales, is
of a larger extent than any other country in the known world that does
not bear the name of a continent: The length of coast along which we
sailed, reduced to a straight line, is no less than twenty-seven degrees
of latitude, amounting to near 2000 miles, so that its square surface
must be much more than equal to all Europe. To the southward of 33 or
34, the land in general is low and level; farther northward it is hilly,
but in no part can be called mountainous; and the hills and mountains,
taken together, make but a small part of the surface, in comparison with
the vallies and plains. It is, upon the whole, rather barren than
fertile, yet the rising ground is chequered by woods and lawns, and the
plains and vallies are in many places covered with herbage: The soil,
however, is frequently sandy, and many of the lawns, or savannahs, are
rocky and barren, especially to the northward, where, in the best spots,
vegetation was less vigorous than in the southern part of the country;
the trees were not so tall, nor was the herbage so rich. The grass in
general is high, but thin, and the trees, where they are largest, are
seldom less than forty feet asunder; nor is the country inland, as far
as we could examine it, better clothed than the sea coast. The banks of
the bays are covered with mangroves to the distance of a mile within the
beach, under which the soil is a rank mud, that is always overflowed by
a spring tide; farther in the country we sometimes met with a bog, upon
which the grass was very thick and luxuriant, and sometimes with a
valley that was clothed with underwood: The soil in some parts seemed to
be capable of improvement, but the far greater part is such as can admit
of no cultivation. The coast, at least that part of it which lies to the
northward of 25° S., abounds with fine bays and harbours, where vessels
may lie in perfect security from all winds.

If we may judge by the appearance of the country while we were there,
which was in the very height of the dry season, it is well watered. We
found innumerable small brooks and springs, but no great rivers; these
brooks, however, probably become large in the rainy season. Thirsty
Sound was the only place where fresh water was not to be procured for
the ship, and even there, one or two small pools were found in the
woods, though the face of the country was every where intersected by
salt-creeks and mangrove-land.

Of trees there is no great variety. Of those that could be called
timber, there are but two sorts; the largest is the gum-tree, which
grows all over the country, and has been mentioned already: It has
narrow leaves, not much unlike a willow; and the gum, or rather resin,
which it yields, is of a deep red, and resembles the _sanguis draconis_;
possibly it may be the same, for this substance is known to be the
produce of more than one plant. It is mentioned by Dampier, and is
perhaps the same that Tasman found upon Diemen's Land, where he says he
saw "gum of the trees, and gum lac of the ground." The other timber
tree is that which grows somewhat like our pines, and has been
particularly mentioned in the account of Botany Bay. The wood of both
these trees, as I have before remarked, is extremely hard and heavy.
Besides these, here are trees covered with a soft bark that is easily
peeled off, and is the same that in the East Indies is used for the
caulking of ships.

We found here the palm of three different sorts. The first, which grows
in great plenty to the southward, has leaves that are plaited like a
fan: The cabbage of these is small, but exquisitely sweet; and the nuts,
which it bears in great abundance, are very good food for hogs. The
second sort bore a much greater resemblance to the true cabbage-tree of
the West Indies: Its leaves were large and pinnated, like those of the
cocoa-nut; and these also produced a cabbage, which, though not so sweet
as the other, was much larger. The third sort, which, like the second,
was found only in the northern parts, was seldom more than ten feet
high, with small pinnated leaves, resembling those of some kind of fern:
It bore no cabbage, but a plentiful crop of nuts, about the size of a
large chesnut, but rounder. As we found the hulls of these scattered
round the places where the Indians had made their fires, we took for
granted that they were fit to eat; those however who made the experiment
paid dear for their knowledge of the contrary, for they operated both as
an emetic and cathartic with great violence. Still, however, we made no
doubt but that they were eaten by the Indians; and judging that the
constitution of the hogs might be as strong as theirs, though our own
had proved to be so much inferior, we carried them to the stye: The hogs
eat them, indeed, and for some time we thought without suffering any
inconvenience; but in about a week they were so much disordered that two
of them died, and the rest were recovered with great difficulty. It is
probable, however, that the poisonous quality of these nuts may lie in
the juice, like that of the cassada of the West Indies; and that the
pulp, when dried, may be not only wholesome, but nutricious. Besides
these species of the palm, and mangroves, there were several small trees
and shrubs altogether unknown in Europe; particularly one which produced
a very poor kind of fig; another that bore what we called a plum, which
it resembled in colour, but not in shape, being flat on the sides like a
little cheese; and a third that bore a kind of purple apple, which,
after it had been kept a few days, became eatable, and tasted somewhat
like a damascene.

Here is a great variety of plants to enrich the collection of a
botanist, but very few of them are of the esculent kind. A small plant,
with long, narrow, grassy leaves, resembling that kind of bulrush which
in England is called the Cat's-tail, yields a resin of a bright yellow
colour, exactly resembling gambouge, except that it does not stain: It
has a sweet smell, but its properties we had no opportunity to discover,
any more than those of many others with which the natives appear to be
acquainted, as they have distinguished them by names.

I have already mentioned the root and leaves of a plant resembling the
coccos of the West Indies, and a kind of bean; to which may be added, a
sort of parsley and purselain, and two kinds of yams; one shaped like a
radish, and the other round, and covered with stringy fibres: Both sorts
are very small, but sweet; and we never could find the plants that
produced them, though we often saw the places where they had been newly
dug up: It is probable that the drought had destroyed the leaves, and we
could not, like the Indians, discover them by the stalks.

Most of the fruits of this country, such as they are, have been
mentioned already. We found one in the southern part of the country
resembling a cherry, except that the stone was soft; and another not
unlike a pine-apple in appearance, but of a very disagreeable taste,
which is well known in the East Indies, and is called by the Dutch _Pyn
Appel Boomen_.

Of the quadrupeds, I have already mentioned the dog, and particularly
described the kangaroo, and the animal of the opossum kind, resembling
the phalanger of Buffon; to which I can add only one more, resembling a
pole-cat, which the natives call _Quoll_: The back is brown, spotted
with white, and the belly white unmixed. Several of our people said they
had seen wolves; but perhaps, if we had not seen tracks that favoured
the account, we might have thought them little more worthy of credit
than he who reported that he had seen the devil.

Of batts, which hold a middle place between the beasts and the birds, we
saw many kinds, particularly one which, as I have observed already, was
larger than a partridge: We were not fortunate enough to take one either
alive or dead, but it was supposed to be the same as Buffon has
described by the name of _Rouset_ or _Rouget_.

The sea and other water-fowl of this country, are gulls, shags, soland
geese, or gannets, of two sorts, boobies, noddies, curlieus, ducks,
pelicans of an enormous size, and many others. The land-birds, are
crows, parrots, paroquets, cockatoos, and other birds of the same kind,
of exquisite beauty; pigeons, doves, quails, bustards, herons, cranes,
hawks, and eagles. The pigeons flew in numerous flocks, so that,
notwithstanding their extreme shyness, our people frequently killed ten
or twelve of them in a day: These birds are very beautiful, and crested
very differently from any we had seen before.

Among other reptiles, here are serpents of various kinds, some noxious,
and some harmless; scorpions, centipieds, and lizards. The insects are
but few. The principal are the musquito and the ant. Of the ant there
are several sorts; some are as green as a leaf, and live upon trees,
where they build their nests of various sizes, between that of a man's
head and his fist. These nests are of a very curious structure: They are
formed by bending down several of the leaves, each of which is as broad
as a man's hand, and gluing the points of them together, so as to form a
purse; the viscus used for this purpose is an animal juice, which Nature
has enabled them to elaborate. Their method of first bending down the
leaves, we had not an opportunity to observe; but we saw thousands
uniting all their strength to hold them in this position, while other
busy multitudes were employed within, in applying the gluten that was to
prevent their returning back. To satisfy ourselves that the leaves were
bent, and held down by the effort of these diminutive artificers, we
disturbed them in their work, and as soon as they were driven from their
station, the leaves on which they were employed sprung up with a force
much greater than we could have thought them able to conquer by any
combination of their strength. But though we gratified our curiosity at
their expence, the injury did not go unrevenged; for thousands
immediately threw themselves upon us, and gave us intolerable pain with
their stings, especially those who took possession of our necks and our
hair, from whence they were not easily driven: The sting was scarcely
less painful than that of a bee; but, except it was repeated, the pain
did not last more than a minute.

Another sort are quite black, and their operations and manner of life
are not less extraordinary. Their habitations are the inside of the
branches of a tree, which they contrive to excavate by working out the
pith almost to the extremity of the slenderest twig; the tree at the
same time flourishing, as if it had no such inmate. When we first found
the tree, we gathered some of the branches, and were scarcely less
astonished than we should have been to find that we had prophaned a
consecrated grove, where every tree, upon being wounded, gave signs of
life; for we were instantly covered with legions of these animals,
swarming from every broken bough, and inflicting their stings with
incessant violence. They are mentioned by Rumphius in his _Herbarium
Amboinense_, vol. ii. p. 257; but the tree in which he saw their
dwelling is very different from that in which we found them.

A third kind we found nested in the root of a plant, which grows on the
bark of trees in the manner of misletoe, and which they had perforated
for that use. This root is commonly as big as a large turnip, and
sometimes much bigger: When we cut it, we found it intersected by
innumerable winding passages, all filled with these animals, by which,
however, the vegetation of the plant did not appear to have suffered any
injury. We never cut one of these roots that was not inhabited, though
some were not bigger than a hazle nut. The animals themselves are very
small, not more than half as big as the common red ant in England. They
had stings, but scarcely force enough to make them felt: They had,
however, a power of tormenting us in an equal, if not a greater degree;
for the moment we handled the root, they swarmed from innumerable holes,
and running about those parts of the body that were uncovered, produced
a titillation more intolerable than pain, except it is increased to
great violence. Rumphius has also given an account of this bulb and its
inhabitants, vol. vi. p. 120, where he mentions another sort that are
black.

We found a fourth kind, which are perfectly harmless, and almost exactly
resemble the white ants of the East Indies: The architecture of these is
still more curious than that of the others. They have houses of two
sorts; one is suspended on the branches of trees, and the other erected
upon the ground: Those upon the trees are about three or four times as
big as a man's head, and are built of a brittle substance, which seems
to consist of small part of vegetables kneaded together with a glutinous
matter, which their bodies probably supply. Upon breaking this crust,
innumerable cells, swarming with inhabitants, appear in a great variety
of winding directions, all communicating with each other, and with
several apertures that lead to other nests upon the same tree; they have
also one large avenue, of covered way, leading to the ground, and
carried on under it to the other nest or house that is constructed
there. This house is generally at the root of a tree, but not of that
upon which their other dwellings are constructed: It is formed like an
irregularly sided cone, and sometimes is more than six feet high, and
nearly as much in diameter. Some are smaller, and these are generally
flat-sided, and very much resemble in figure the stones which are seen
in many parts of England, and supposed to be the remains of druidical
antiquity. The outside of these is of well-tempered clay, about two
inches thick; and within are the cells, which have no opening outwards,
but communicate only with the subterranean way to the houses on the
tree, and to the tree near which they are constructed, where they ascend
up the root, and so up the trunk and branches, under covered ways of the
same kind as those by which they descended from their other dwellings.
To these structures on the ground they probably retire in the winter, or
rainy seasons, as they are proof against any wet that can fall, which
those in the tree, though generally constructed under some overhanging
branch, from the nature and thinness of their crust or wall, cannot
be.[89]

[Footnote 89: There are upwards of twenty species of ants known, which
differ from one another in several respects, but more especially in the
materials and construction of their habitations. Some employ earth,
others the leaves and bark of trees, and others again prefer straw;
whilst another species, as is mentioned above, occupy the central parts
of trees. Their manners too are very different, though all, in various
degrees, no doubt, manifest very remarkable instinctive wisdom, and, if
the expression be allowable, even acquired knowledge. The reader who is
desirous of minute and most instructive information on the subject of
these sagacious animals, will do well to consult the Edinburgh Review,
vol. xx. page 143, &c. where an account is given of Mr Huber's
observations and experiments respecting them. A single extract from the
Review may prove interesting to the reader who has not the convenience
of referring to the volume. "The accounts of these same animals, in
other climates, sufficiently shew what formidable power they acquire
when the efforts of numbers are combined. Mr Malovat mentions, in his
account of his travels through the forest of Guyana, his arriving at a
savannah, extending in a level plain beyond the visible horizon, and in
which he beheld a structure that appeared to have been raised by human
industry. M. de Prefontaine, who accompanied him in the expedition,
informed him that it was an ant-hill, which they could not approach
without danger of being devoured. They passed some of the paths
frequented by the labourers, which belonged to a very large species of
black ants. The nest they had constructed, which had the form of a
truncated pyramid, appeared to be from fifteen to twenty feet in height,
on a base of thirty or forty feet. He was told that when the new
settlers, in their attempt to clear the country, happened to meet with
any of these fortresses, they were obliged to abandon the spot, unless
they could muster sufficient forces to lay regular siege to the enemy.
This they did by digging a circular trench all round the nest, and
filling it with a large quantity of dried wood, to the whole of which
they fire at the same time, by lighting it in different parts all round
the circumference. While the entrenchments are blazing, the edifice may
be destroyed by firing at it with cannon; and the ants being by this
means dispersed, have no avenue for escape except through the flames, in
which they perish." It might be worthy the attention of philosophers to
enquire, what general purposes in the economy of Nature these
wonder-working animals accomplish. The labours of certain other
creatures, there is every reason to believe, are destined to raise up
habitable islands in various parts of the ocean. May not these small
architects be employed in fitting certain soils for the growth of
vegetable substances? There seems, indeed, to exist in our world a
living spirit, or principle, continually operating in the production of
creatures, and places suitable for them, to compensate the loss of those
which an irrevocable law of the great Fabricator has doomed to
successive destruction, as if He chose to manifest the glory of His
wisdom and power, by creating new existences, rather than by preserving
the old ones.--E.]

The sea in this country is much more liberal of food to the inhabitants
than the land; and though fish is not quite so plenty here as they
generally are in higher latitudes, yet we seldom hauled the seine
without taking from fifty to two hundred weight. They are of various
sorts; but, except the mullet, and some of the shell-fish, none of them
are known in Europe: Most of them are palatable, and some are very
delicious. Upon the shoals and reef there are incredible numbers of the
finest green turtle in the world, and oysters of various kinds,
particularly the rock-oyster and the pearl-oyster. The gigantic cockles
have been mentioned already; besides which, there are sea-crayfish, or
lobsters, and crabs: Of these, however, we saw only the shells. In the
rivers and salt creeks there are aligators.

The only person who has hitherto given any account of this country or
its inhabitants is Dampier, and though he is, in general, a writer of
credit, yet in many particulars he is mistaken. The people whom he saw
were indeed inhabitants of a part of the coast very distant from that
which we visited; but we also saw inhabitants upon parts of the coast
very distant from each other, and there being a perfect uniformity in
person and customs among them all, it is reasonable to conclude, that
distance in another direction has not considerably broken it.

The number of inhabitants in this country appears to be very small in
proportion to its extent. We never saw so many as thirty of them
together but once, and that was at Botany Bay, when men, women, and
children, assembled upon a rock to see the ship pass by: When they
manifestly formed a resolution to engage us, they never could muster
above fourteen or fifteen fighting men; and we never saw a number of
their sheds or houses together that could accommodate a larger party. It
is true, indeed, that we saw only the sea-coast on the eastern side; and
that, between this and the western shore, there is an immense tract of
country wholly unexplored: But there is great reason to believe that
this immense tract is either wholly desolate, or at least still more
thinly inhabited than the parts we visited. It is impossible that the
inland country should subsist inhabitants at all seasons without
cultivation; it is extremely improbable that the inhabitants of the
coast should be totally ignorant of arts of cultivation, which were
practised inland; and it is equally improbable that, if they knew such
arts, there should be no traces of them among them. It is certain that
we did not see one foot of ground in a state of cultivation in the whole
country; and therefore it may well be concluded that where the sea does
not contribute to feed the inhabitants, the country is not inhabited.

The only tribe with which we had any intercourse, we found where the
ship was careened; it consisted of one-and-twenty persons; twelve men,
seven women, one boy, and one girl: The women we never saw but at a
distance; for when the men came over the river they were always left
behind. The men here, and in other places, were of a middle size, and in
general well-made, clean-limbed, and remarkably vigorous, active, and
nimble: Their countenances were not altogether without expression, and
their voices were remarkably soft and effeminate.

Their skins were so uniformly covered with dirt, that it was very
difficult to ascertain their true colour: We made several attempts, by
wetting our fingers and rubbing it, to remove the incrustations, but
with very little effect. With the dirt they appear nearly as black as a
negro; and according to our best discoveries, the skin itself is of the
colour of wood-soot, or what is commonly called a chocolate-colour.
Their features are far from being disagreeable, their noses are not
flat, nor are their lips thick; their teeth are white and even, and
their hair naturally long and black, it is however universally cropped
short; in general it is straight, but sometimes it has a slight curl; we
saw none that was not matted and filthy, though without oil or grease,
and to our great astonishment free from lice. Their beards were of the
same colour with their hair, and bushy and thick: They are not however
suffered to grow long. A man whom we had seen one day with his beard
somewhat longer than his companions, we saw the next, with it somewhat
shorter, and upon examination found the ends of the hairs burnt: From
this incident, and our having never seen any sharp instrument among
them, we concluded that both the hair and the beard were kept short by
singeing them.[90]

[Footnote 90: It is somewhat curious that almost all savages entertain
an abhorrence at hair on any other part of the body than the head; and
some of them even to that. Two reasons, at least, may be assigned for
it, both of them, however, somewhat hypothetical, it must be owned. 1.
Their admiration of youth--the same principle which induces some
_civilized_ people to powder their heads, and _dye_ their whiskers, &c.
when assuming the silvery hue of age! And, 2. Their having learned by
experience that it rendered them more obnoxious to vermin and filth. The
hair of the head is one of the finest objects in human beauty, and as
such, probably in defiance of interlopers, has been generally saved in
its natural state, or made the basis of important decorations.--E.]

Both sexes, as I have already observed, go stark naked, and seem to have
no more sense of indecency in discovering the whole body, than we have
in discovering our hands and face. Their principal ornament is the bone
which they thrust through the cartilage that divides the nostrils from
each other: What perversion of taste could make them think this a
decoration, or what could prompt them, before they had worn it or seen
it worn, to suffer the pain and inconvenience that must of necessity
attend it, is perhaps beyond the power of human sagacity to determine:
As this bone is as thick as a man's finger, and between five and six
inches long, it reaches quite across the face, and so effectually stops
up both the nostrils that they are forced to keep their mouths wide open
for breath, and snuffle so when they attempt to speak, that they are
scarcely intelligible even to each other. Our seamen, with some humour,
called it their spritsail-yard; and indeed it had so ludicrous an
appearance, that till we were used to it, we found it difficult to
refrain from laughter.[91] Beside this nose-jewel, they had necklaces
made of shells, very neatly cut and strung together; bracelets of small
cord, wound two or three times about the upper part of their arm, and a
string of plaited human hair about as thick as a thread of yarn, tied
round the waist. Besides these, some of them had gorgets of shells
hanging round the neck, so as to reach cross the breast. But though
these people wear no clothes, their bodies have a covering besides the
dirt, for they paint them both white and red: The red is commonly laid
on in broad patches upon the shoulders and breast; and the white in
stripes, some narrow, and some broad: The narrow were drawn over the
limbs, and the broad over the body, not without some degree of taste.
The white was also laid on in small patches upon the face, and drawn in
a circle round each eye. The red seemed to be ochre, but what the white
was we could not discover; it was close-grained, saponaceous to the
touch, and almost as heavy as white lead; possibly it might be a kind of
_Steatites_, but to our great regret we could not procure a bit of it to
examine. They have holes in their ears, but we never saw any thing worn
in them. Upon such ornaments as they had, they set so great a value,
that they would never part with the least article for any thing we could
offer; which was the more extraordinary as our beads and ribbons were
ornaments of the same kind, but of a more regular form and more showy
materials. They had indeed no idea of traffic, nor could we communicate
any to them: They received the things that we gave them; but never
appeared to understand our signs when we required a return. The same
indifference which prevented them from buying what we had, prevented
them also from attempting to steal: If they had coveted more, they would
have been less honest; for when we refused to give them a turtle, they
were enraged, and attempted to take it by force, and we had nothing
else upon which they seemed to set the least value; for, as I have
observed before, many of the things that we had given them, we found
left negligently about in the woods, like the playthings of children,
which please only while they are new. Upon their bodies we saw no marks
of disease or sores, but large scars in irregular lines, which appeared
to be the remains of wounds which they had inflicted upon themselves
with some blunt instrument, and which we understood by signs to have
been memorials of grief for the dead.[92]

[Footnote 91: Other people, we know, have a fancy for such ornaments.
According to Captain Carver's account of some of the North American
Indians, "it is a common custom among them to bore their noses, and wear
in them pendants of different sorts." And more instances might be
mentioned. But we shall have occasion hereafter to speak of some
remarkable modes in which the love of distinction and ornament manifests
itself The very same principle leads human nature to embellish itself
from the "crown of the head to the sole of the foot." One's own dear
self is so lovely as to become every sort of ornament that ingenuity can
contrive!--E.]

[Footnote 92: It might be worth one's while to enquire as to the
prevalency of this practice amongst different people, and whether or not
it is in general connected with any peculiarities of religious belief.
That it was in use in early times, is certain, for we find a prohibition
against it in the Mosaic code, Deut. xiv. 1. and an allusion to it in
Jerem. xvi. 6. Mr Harmer, who has some observations on the subject,
seems to be of opinion that the expression used in Deuteronomy, _the
dead_, means _idols_, and that the practice accordingly was rather of a
religious nature. But the language of the prophet in the verse alluded
to, does not fall in with such a notion. Cicero speaks contemptuously of
such modes of mourning for the dead, calling them _varie et detestabilia
genera lugendi_. Tusc. Quæst. 3.--E.]

They appeared to have no fixed habitations, for we saw nothing like a
town or village in the whole country. Their houses, if houses they may
be called, seem to be formed with less art and industry than any we had
seen, except the wretched hovels at Terra del Fuego, and in some
respects they are inferior even to them. At Botany Bay, where they were
best, they were just high enough for a man to sit upright in; but not
large enough for him to extend himself in his whole length in any
direction: They are built with pliable rods about as thick as a man's
finger, in the form of an oven, by sticking the two ends into the
ground, and then covering them with palm-leaves, and broad pieces of
bark: The door is nothing but a large hole at one end, opposite to which
the fire is made, as we perceived by the ashes. Under these houses, or
sheds, they sleep, coiled up with their heels to their head; and in
this position one of them will hold three or four persons. As we
advanced northward, and the climate became warmer, we found these sheds
still more slight: They were built, like the others, of twigs, and
covered with bark; but none of them were more than four feet deep, and
one side was entirely open: The close side was always opposed to the
course of the prevailing wind, and opposite to the open side was the
fire, probably more as a defence from the musquitos than the cold. Under
these hovels it is probable, that they thrust only their heads and the
upper part of their bodies, extending their feet towards the fire. They
were set up occasionally by a wandering horde in any place that would
furnish them for a time with subsistence, and left behind them when,
after it was exhausted, they went away: But in places where they
remained only for a night or two, they slept without any shelter, except
the bushes or grass, which is here near two feet high. We observed,
however, that though the sleeping huts which we found upon the main,
were always turned from the prevailing wind, those upon the islands were
turned towards it; which seems to be a proof that they have a mild
season here, during which the sea is calm, and that the same weather
which enables them to visit the islands, makes the air welcome even
while they sleep.

The only furniture belonging to these houses that fell under our
observation, is a kind of oblong vessel made of bark, by the simple
contrivance of tying up the two ends with a withy, which not being cut
off serves for a handle; these we imagined were used as buckets to fetch
water from the spring, which may be supposed sometimes to be at a
considerable distance. They have however a small bag, about the size of
a moderate cabbage-net, which is made by laying threads loop within
loop, somewhat in the manner of knitting used by our ladies to make
purses. This bag the man carries loose upon his back by a small string
which passes over his head; it generally contains a lump or two of paint
and resin, some fish-books and lines, a shell or two, out of which their
hooks are made, a few points of darts, and their usual ornaments, which
includes the whole worldly treasure of the richest man among them.

Their fish-hooks are very neatly made, and some of them are exceedingly
small. For striking turtle they have a peg of wood which is about a
foot long, and very well bearded; this fits into a socket at the end of
a staff of light wood, about as thick as a man's wrist, and about seven
or eight feet long: To the staff is tied one end of a loose line about
three or four fathom long, the other end of which is fastened to the
peg. To strike the turtle, the peg is fixed into the socket, and when it
has entered his body, and is retained there by the barb, the staff flies
off and serves for a float to trace their victim in the water; it
assists also to tire him, till they can overtake him with their canoes,
and haul him ashore. One of these pegs, as I have mentioned already, we
found buried in the body of a turtle, which had healed up over it. Their
lines are from the thickness of a half-inch rope to the fineness of a
hair, and are made of some vegetable substance, but what in particular
we had no opportunity to learn.

Their food is chiefly fish, though they sometimes contrive to kill the
kangaroo, and even birds of various kinds; notwithstanding they are so
shy that we found it difficult to get within reach of them with a
fowling-piece. The only vegetable that can be considered as an article
of food is the yam; yet doubtless they eat the several fruits which have
been mentioned among other productions of the country; and indeed we saw
the shells and hulls of several of them lying about the places where
they had kindled their fire.

They do not appear to eat any animal food raw; but having no vessel in
which water can be boiled, they either broil it upon the coals, or bake
it in a hole by the help of hot stones, in the same manner as is
practised by the inhabitants of the islands in the South Seas.

Whether they are acquainted with any plant that has an intoxicating
quality, we do not know; but we observed that several of them held
leaves of some sort constantly in their mouths, as an European does
tobacco, and an East-Indian betele; we never saw the plant, but when
they took it from their mouths at our request; possibly it might be a
species of the betele, but whatever it was, it had no effect upon the
teeth or lips.

As they have no nets, they catch fish only by striking, or with a hook
and line, except such as they find in the hollows of the rocks, and
shoals, which are dry at half-ebb.

Their manner of hunting we had no opportunity to see; but we
conjectured, by the notches which they had every where cut in large
trees in order to climb them, that they took their station near the tops
of them, and there watched for such animals as might happen to pass near
enough to be reached by their lances: It is possible also, that in this
situation they might take birds when they came to roost.

I have observed that when they went from our tents upon the banks of
Endeavour River, we could trace them by the fires which they kindled in
their way; and we imagined that these fires were intended some way for
the taking the kangaroo, which we observed to be so much afraid of fire,
that our dogs could scarcely force it over places which had been newly
burnt, though the fire was extinguished.

They produce fire with great facility, and spread it in a wonderful
manner. To produce it they take two pieces of dry soft wood, one is a
stick about eight or nine inches long, the other piece is flat: The
stick they shape into an obtuse point at one end, and pressing it upon
the other, turn it nimbly by holding it between both their hands as we
do a chocolate mill, often shifting their hands up, and then moving them
down upon it, to increase the pressure as much as possible. By this
method they get fire in less than two minutes, and from the smallest
spark they increase it with great speed and dexterity. We have often
seen one of them run along the shore, to all appearance with nothing in
his hand, who stooping down for a moment, at the distance of every fifty
or a hundred yards, left fire behind him, as we could see first by the
smoke and then by the flame among the drift-wood, and other litter which
was scattered along the place. We had the curiosity to examine one of
these planters of fire, when he set off, and we saw him wrap up a small
spark in dry grass, which, when he had run a little way, having been
fanned by the air that his motion produced, began to blaze; he then laid
it down in a place convenient for, his purpose, inclosing a spark of it
in another quantity of grass, and so continued his course.

There are perhaps few things in the history of mankind more
extraordinary than the discovery and application of fire: It will
scarcely be disputed that the manner of producing it, whether by
collision or attrition, was discovered by chance: But its first effects
would naturally strike those to whom it was a new object, with
consternation and terror: It would appear to be an enemy to life and
nature, and to torment and destroy whatever was capable of being
destroyed or tormented; and therefore it seems not easy to conceive
what should incline those who first saw it receive a transient existence
from chance, to reproduce it by design. It is by no means probable that
those who first saw fire, approached it with the same caution, as those
who are familiar with its effects, so as to be warmed only and not
burnt; and it is reasonable to think that the intolerable pain which, at
its first appearance, it must produce upon ignorant curiosity, would sow
perpetual enmity between this element and mankind; and that the same
principle which incites them to crush a serpent, would incite them to
destroy fire, and avoid all means by which it would be produced, as soon
as they were known. These circumstances considered, how men became
sufficiently familiar with it to render it useful, seems to be a problem
very difficult to solve: Nor is it easy to account for the first
application of it to culinary purposes, as the eating both animal and
vegetable food raw, must have become a habit, before there was fire to
dress it, and those who have considered the force of habit will readily
believe, that to men who had always eaten the flesh of animals raw, it
would be as disagreeable dressed, as to those who have always eaten it
dressed, it would be raw. It is remarkable that the inhabitants of Terra
del Fuego produce fire from a spark by collision, and that the happier
natives of this country, New Zealand and Otaheite, produce it by the
attrition of one combustible substance against another: Is there not
then some reason to suppose that these different operations correspond
with the manner in which chance produced fire in the neighbourhood of
the torrid and frigid zones? Among the rude inhabitants of a cold
country, neither any operation of art, or occurrence of accident, could
be supposed so easily to produce fire by attrition, as in a climate
where every thing is hot, dry, and adust, teeming with a latent fire
which a slight degree of motion was sufficient to call forth; in a cold
country therefore, it is natural to suppose that fire was produced by
the accidental collision of two metallic substances, and in a cold
country, for that reason, the same expedient was used to produce it by
design: But in hot countries, where two combustible substances easily
kindle by attrition, it is probable that the attrition of such
substances first produced fire, and here it was therefore natural for
art to adopt the same operation, with a view to produce the same effect.
It may indeed be true that fire is now produced in many cold countries
by attrition, and in many hot by a stroke; but perhaps upon enquiry
there may appear reason to conclude that this has arisen from the
communication of one country with another, and that with respect to the
original production of fire in hot and cold countries, the distinction
is well founded.

There may perhaps be some reason to suppose that men became gradually
acquainted with the nature and effects of fire, by its permanent
existence in a volcano, there being remains of volcanoes, or vestiges of
their effects, in almost every part of the world: By a volcano, however,
no method of producing fire, otherwise than by contact, could be learnt;
the production and application of fire therefore, still seem to afford
abundant subject of speculation to the curious.[93]

[Footnote 93: Mr Jones, who writes on this subject in one of his
Physiological Disquisitions, is not a little displeased with some of the
observations made here, which seem to imply that mankind were left
destitute of the knowledge of fire, and had to acquire it by mere
accidental notice.--Mr Jones's zeal, however, appears more conspicuous
in this matter than either his judgment or his acquaintance with the
remarks of various authors. President Goguet has shewn his usual
industry in this matter. He refers to a considerable number of authors
for proof that the knowledge of fire was by no means very extensive
among the early nations, and that even where it existed, it had been
often discovered by accident. A summary of what this excellent writer
has said on the subject, with a quotation or two, cannot fail to be
interesting to the reader, and will scarcely run any risk of being
judged either ill-timed or tedious. The Chinese, Persians, Egyptians,
Phoenicians, Greeks, and several other nations, admit that their
ancestors were once without the use of fire. This is said on the
authority of Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Sanchoniathon, authors mentioned
by Bannier, as Hesiod, Lucretius, Virgil, &c. &c. And we learn from
Pomponius Mela, Pliny, Plutarch, and others, that in their times there
were nations who were either quite ignorant of fire, or had but just
learned its nature and effects. These authorities are strengthened by
what has been related of people discovered in modern times. Thus the
inhabitants of the Marian or Ladrone Islands, and also of the Philippine
and Canaries, are said to have been without this knowledge, at the time
of their discovery. We are told besides of several nations in America
and Africa being in the same state of ignorance. As to these, however,
it is but fair to apprize the reader, that the authorities adduced by
the President are not such as can be implicitly relied on--a remark,
perhaps, which some readers will not fail to apply to certain of the
writers formerly mentioned. The Egyptians owed their knowledge of fire
to thunder and lightning; the Phoenicians to the effect of the wind on
woods and forests; volcanos, burning earth, (as in a province of Persia)
and boiling wells (frequent in several countries), gave rise to this
knowledge amongst other people. "We may form very probable conjectures
about the methods which men at first used to procure fire, when they had
occasion for it, from ancient traditions, and from the present practices
of the savages. They could not be long in discovering, that by striking
two flints each against other, there went sparks from them:" "They
remarked, that by rubbing two pieces of hard wood very strongly against
each other, they raised sparks; nay, that by rubbing for some time two
pieces of wood, they raised flame." "The Chinese say that one of their
first kings taught them this latter method; and the Greeks had nearly
the same tradition." This method, we learn from Lawson, was in use
amongst the natives of Carolina, before they became acquainted, with the
use of steel and flints. "They got their fire," says he, "with sticks,
which by vehement collision, or rubbing together, take fire." "You are
to understand," he adds, "that the two sticks they use to strike fire
withal, are never of one sort of wood, but always differ from each
other." Indeed it is probable that this method has been very generally
practised. Seneca makes mention of it in the 2d book, chap. 22. of his
Nat. Quæst., and he specifies some of the kinds of wood known by the
shepherds to be fit for the purpose, "_sicut lauris, hederæ, et alia in
hunc usum nota pastoribus_." This is noticed by Mr Jones, who gives it
as his opinion that the _lauris_, here spoken of, is the bay-tree,
which, according to the poet Lucretius, is remarkable for its
inflammability. The reader may desire to see the opinion of Mr Jones as
to the origin of man's acquaintance with fire.--It is certainly worthy
of consideration, and supposing it restricted to the parent of our race,
and his immediate offspring, may be held with no small confidence. It
embraces indeed a wider field than can possibly be investigated in this
place. "The first family," says he, "placed by the Creator upon this
earth, offered sacrifices; which being an article of religious duty,
they were certainly possessed of the means of performing it, and
consequently of the knowledge and use of fire, without which it could
not be practised. The next generation presents us with artificers in
brass and iron, which could not possibly be wrought without the complete
knowledge of fire; neither indeed could any works of art be well carried
on. The account of this affair in the Bible is much more natural,
because it is much more agreeable to the goodness of God, and the
dignity of the human species, than to suppose, on the principles of a
wild and savage philosophy (alluding to Dr Hawkesworth's poor
conjectures, as Mr Jones styles them), that men were left ignorant of
the use of an element intended for their accommodation and support. To
interdict a man from the use of fire and water, was accounted the same
in effect as to send him out of life; so that if men, upon the original
terms of their creation, were thus interdicted by the Creator himself,
as the Heathen mythologists supposed them to be, they were sent into
life upon such terms as others were sent out of it. If we admit any such
gloomy suppositions, where shall we stop? If mankind were left destitute
in respect to the knowledge of fire, perhaps they were left without
language, without food, without clothing, without reason, and in a worse
condition than the beasts, who are born with the proper knowledge of
life, but man receives it by education; therefore he who taught the
beasts by instinct, taught man by information." Much might be said for
and against this mode of reasoning, which this place, already so fully
occupied, will not admit. The history of fire is involved in
difficulties, and has really obtained less attention from men of
learning than it deserves. Probably, on appointing the rites of
sacrifice, which there is reason to believe was immediately after the
first gracious promise to Adam, God testified his acceptance of the
offering by fire from heaven, which was the beginning of man's
acquaintance with it, and in this manner it is certain God afterwards
shewed his approbation.--E.]

The weapons of these people are spears or lances, and these are or
different kinds: Some that we saw upon the southern part of the coast
had four prongs, pointed with bone, and barbed; the points were also
smeared with a hard resin, which gave them a polish, and made them enter
deeper into what they struck. To the northward, the lance has but one
point: The shaft is made of cane, or the stalk of a plant somewhat
resembling a bulrush, very straight and light, and from eight to
fourteen feet long, consisting of several joints, where the pieces are
let into each other, and bound together; to this are fitted points of
different kinds; some are of hard heavy wood, and some are the bones of
fish: We saw several that were pointed with the stings of the sting-ray,
the largest that they could procure, and barbed with several that were
smaller, fastened on in a contrary direction; the points of wood were
also sometimes armed with sharp pieces of broken shells, which were
stuck in, and at the junctures covered with resin: The lances that are
thus barbed, are indeed dreadful weapons, for when once they have taken
place, they can never be drawn back without tearing away the flesh, or
leaving the sharp ragged splinters of the bone or shell which forms the
beard, behind them in the wound. These weapons are thrown with great
force and dexterity; if intended to wound at a short distance, between
ten and twenty yards, simply with the hand, but if at the distance of
forty or fifty, with an instrument which we called a throwing-stick.
This is a plain smooth piece of a hard reddish wood, very highly
polished, about two inches broad, half an inch thick, and three feet
long, with a small knob, or hook at one end, and a cross piece about
three or four inches long at the other: The knob at one end is received
in a small dent or hollow, which is made for that purpose in the shaft
of the lance near the point, but from which it easily slips, upon being
impelled forward: When the lance is laid along upon this machine, and
secured in a proper position by the knob, the person that is to throw
it holds it over his shoulder, and after shaking it, delivers both the
throwing-stick and lance with all his force; but the stick being stopped
by the cross piece which comes against the shoulder, with a sudden jerk,
the lance flies forward with incredible swiftness, and with so good an
aim, that at the distance of fifty yards these Indians were more sure of
their mark than we could be with a single bullet. Besides these lances,
we saw no offensive weapon upon this coast, except when we took our last
view of it with our glasses, and then we thought we saw a man with a bow
and arrows, in which it is possible we might be mistaken. We saw,
however, at Botany Bay, a shield or target of an oblong shape, about
three feet long, and eighteen inches broad, which was made of the bark
of a tree: This was fetched out of a hut by one of the men that opposed
our landing, who, when he ran away, left it behind him, and upon taking
it up, we found that it had been pierced through with a single pointed
lance near the center. These shields are certainly in frequent use among
the people here; for though this was the only one that we saw in their
possession, we frequently found trees from which they appeared
manifestly to have been cut, the marks being easily distinguished from
those that were made by cutting buckets: Sometimes also we found the
shields cut out, but not yet taken off from the tree, the edges of the
bark only being a little raised by wedges, so that these people appear
to have discovered that the bark of a tree becomes thicker and stronger
by being suffered to remain upon the trunk after it has been cut round.

The canoes of New Holland are as mean and rude as the houses. Those on
the southern part of the coast are nothing more than a piece of bark,
about twelve feet long, tied together at the ends, and kept open in the
middle by small bows of wood: Yet in a vessel of this construction we
once saw three people. In shallow water they are set forward by a pole,
and in deeper by paddles, about eighteen inches long, one of which the
boatman holds in each hand; mean as they are, they have many
conveniencies; they draw but little water, and they are very light, so
that they go upon mud banks to pick up shell-fish, the most important
use to which they can be applied, better perhaps than vessels of any
other construction. We observed, that in the middle of these canoes
there was a heap of sea-weed, and upon that a small fire; probably that
the fish may be broiled and eaten the moment it is caught.

The canoes that we saw when we advanced farther to the northward, are
not made of bark, but of the trunk of a tree hollowed, perhaps by fire.
They are about fourteen feet long, and, being very narrow, are fitted
with an outrigger to prevent their oversetting. These are worked with
paddles, that are so large as to require both hands to manage one of
them: The outside is wholly unmarked by any tool, but at each end the
wood is left longer at the top than at the bottom, so that there is a
projection beyond the hollow part resembling the end of a plank; the
sides are tolerably thin, but how the tree is felled and fashioned, we
had no opportunity to learn. The only tools that we saw among them are
an adze, wretchedly made of stone, some small pieces of the same
substance in form of a wedge, a wooden mallet, and some shells and
fragments of coral. For polishing their throwing-sticks, and the points
of their lances, they use the leaves of a kind of wild fig-tree, which
bites upon wood almost as keenly as the shave-grass of Europe, which is
used by our joiners: With such tools, the making even such a canoe as I
have described, must be a most difficult and tedious labour: To those
who have been accustomed to the use of metal, it appears altogether
impracticable; but there are few difficulties that will not yield to
patient perseverance, and he who does all he can, will certainly produce
effects that greatly exceed his apparent power.[94]

[Footnote 94: This very just observation cannot be too forcibly urged,
or too frequently recollected. The deficiency of which most men have
reason to complain, is not that of ability, but of industry and
application. Genius is pursued and coveted, because it is imagined to be
a sort of creating energy which produces at will, and without
labour.--It is therefore desirable to indolent minds. But this is a
mistake of no small detriment, though of very common occurrence. Few
people perhaps discover it to be so, till they have to condemn
themselves for the loss of much of their best time, spent in idly
wishing for the inspiration which is to do such wonders, for them
without exertion on their part. Reader, in place of this, fix on some
useful or laudable work, and set about _doing_ it.--E.]

The utmost freight of these canoes is four people, and if more at any
time wanted to come over the river, one of those who came first was
obliged to go back for the rest: From this circumstance we conjectured
that the boat we saw, when we were lying in Endeavour River, was the
only one in the neighbourhood: We have however some reason to believe
that the bark canoes are also used where the wooden ones are
constructed, for upon one of the small islands where the natives had
been fishing for turtle, we found one of the little paddles which had
belonged to such a boat, and would have been useless on board any other.

By what means the inhabitants of this country are reduced to such a
number as it can subsist, is not perhaps very easy to guess; whether,
like the inhabitants of New Zealand, they are destroyed by the hands of
each other in contests for food; whether they are swept off by
accidental famine, or whether there is any cause which prevents the
increase of the species, must be left for future adventurers to
determine.[95] That they have wars, appears by their weapons; for
supposing the lances to serve merely for the striking of fish, the
shield could be intended for nothing but a defence against men; the only
mark of hostility, however, which we saw among them, was the perforation
of the shield by a spear, which has been just mentioned, for none of
them appeared to have been wounded by an enemy. Neither can we determine
whether they are pusillanimous or brave; the resolution with which two
of them attempted to prevent our landing, when we had two boats full of
men, in Botany Bay, even after one of them was wounded with small shot,
gave us reason to conclude that they were not only naturally courageous,
but that they had acquired a familiarity with the dangers of hostility,
and were, by habit as well as nature, a daring and warlike people; but
their precipitate flight from every other place that we approached,
without even a menace, while they were out of our reach, was an
indication of uncommon tameness and timidity, such as those who had only
been occasionally warriors must be supposed to have shaken off, whatever
might have been their natural disposition. I have faithfully related
facts, the reader must judge of the people for himself.[96]

[Footnote 95: Some remarks on this very interesting subject will be
given hereafter.--E.]

[Footnote 96: The reader may wait a little till he has received some
information destined to his use. What has been now given is too scanty
evidence to justify a final decision in the matter.--E.]

From the account that has been given of our commerce with them, it
cannot be supposed that we should know much of their language; yet as
this is an object of great curiosity, especially to the learned, and of
great importance in their researches into the origin of the various
nations that have been discovered, we took some pains to bring away such
a specimen of it as might, in a certain degree, answer the purpose, and
I shall now give an account how it was procured. If we wanted to know
the name of a stone, we took a stone up into our hands, and, as well as
we could, intimated by signs that we wished they should name it: The
word that they pronounced upon the occasion, we immediately wrote down.
This method, though it was the best we could contrive, might certainly
lead us into many mistakes; for if an Indian was to take up a stone, and
ask us the name of it, we might answer a pebble or a flint; so when we
took up a stone and asked an Indian the name of it, he might pronounce a
word that distinguished the species, and not the genus, or that instead
of signifying stone simply, might signify a rough stone, or a smooth
stone: However, as much as possible to avoid mistakes of this kind,
several of us contrived, at different times, to get from them as many
words as we could, and having noted them down, compared our lists; those
which were the same in all, and which, according to every one's account,
signified the same thing, we ventured to record, with a very few others,
which, from the simplicity of the subject, and the ease of expressing
our question with plainness and precision by a sign, have acquired equal
authority.

    English.                               New Holland.

   _The head_,                             Wageegee.
   _Hair_,                                 Morye.
   _Eyes_,                                 Meul.
   _Ears_,                                 Melea.
   _Lips_,                                 Yembe.
   _Nose_,                                 Bonjoo.
   _Tongue_,                               Unjar.
   _Nails_,                                Kulke.
   _Sun_,                                  Gallan.
   _Fire_,                                 Meanang.
   _A stone_,                              Walba.
   _Sand_,                                 Yowall.
   _A rope_,                               Gurka.
   _A man_,                                Bama.
   _Beard_,                                Wallar.
   _Neck_,                                 Doomboo.
   _Nipples_,                              Cayo.
   _Hands_,                                Marigal.
   _Thighs_,                               Coman.
   _Navel_,                                Toolpoor.
   _Knees_,                                Pongo.
   _Feet_,                                 Edamal.
   _Heel_,                                 Kniorror.
   _Cockatoo_,                             Wanda.
   _The soal of the foot_                  Chumal.
   _Ankle_,                                Chongurn.
   _Arms_,                                 Aco, or Acol.
   _Thumb_,                                Eboorbalga.
   _The fore, middle, and ring fingers_,   Egalbaiga.
   _The little finger_,                    Nakil, or Ebornakil.
   _The Sky_,                              Kere, or Kearre.
   _A father_,                             Dunjo.
   _A Son_,                                Jumurre.
   _A male turtle_,                        Poinga.
   _A female_,                             Mameingo.
   _A canoe_,                              Marigan.
   _To paddle_,                            Pelenyo.
   _Sit down_,                             Takai.
   _Smooth_,                               Mier Carrar.
   _A dog_,                                Cotta, or Kota.
   _A loriquet_.                           Perpere, or pier-pier.
   _Blood_,                                Yarmbe.
   _Wood_,                                 Yocou.
   _The bone in the nose_,                 Tapool.
   _A bag_,                                Charngala.
   _A great cockle_,                       Moingo.
   _Cocos, Yams_,                          Maracatou.

   New Holland.                English

   Cherr,               }      _Expressions, as we supposed, of_
   Cherco,              }      _admiration, which they continually_
   Yarcaw,              }      _used when they were_
   Tut, tut, tut, tut,  }      _in company with us_.[97]


[Footnote 97: This table is exceedingly scanty and imperfect, and would
not have been given were it not thought proper, for a reason already
assigned, to preserve entire this early account of New Holland.--E.]

I shall now quit this country with a few observations relative to the
currents and tides upon the coast. From latitude 32°, and somewhat
higher, down to Sandy Cape, in latitude 24° 46', we constantly found a
current setting to the southward, at the rate of about ten or fifteen
miles a-day, being more or less, according to our distance from the
land, for it always ran with more force in-shore than in the offing; but
I could never satisfy myself whether the flood-tide came from the
southward, the eastward, or the northward; I inclined to the opinion
that it came from the southeast; but the first time we anchored off the
coast, which was in latitude 24° 30', about ten leagues to the
south-east of Bustard Bay, I found it came from the north-west; on the
contrary, thirty leagues farther to the north-west, on the south side of
Keppel Bay, I found that it came from the east, and at the northern part
of that bay it came from the northward, but with a much slower motion
than it had come from the east: On the east side of the Bay of Inlets,
it set strongly to the westward, as far as the opening of Broad Sound;
but on the north side of that sound it came with a very slow motion from
the north-west; and when we lay at anchor before Repulse Bay, it came
from the northward: To account for its course in all this variety of
directions, we need only admit that the flood-tide comes from the east
or south-east. It is well known, that where there are deep inlets, and
large creeks into low lands running up from the sea, and not occasioned
by rivers of fresh water, there will always be a great indraught of the
flood-tide, the direction of which will be determined by the position or
direction of the coast which forms the entrance of such inlet, whatever
be its course at sea; and where the tides are weak, which upon this
coast is generally the case, a large inlet will, if I may be allowed the
expression, attract the flood-tide for many leagues.

A view of the chart will at once illustrate this position. To the
northward of Whitsunday's Passage there is no large inlet, consequently
the flood sets to the northward, or northwestward, according to the
direction of the coast, and the ebb to the south, or south-eastward, at
least such is their course at a little distance from the land, for very
near it they will be influenced by small inlets. I also observed that we
had only one high tide in twenty-four hours, which happened in the
night. The difference between the perpendicular rise of the water in the
day and the night, when there is a spring-tide, is no less than three
feet, which, where the tides are so inconsiderable as they are here, is
a great proportion of the whole difference between high and low water.
This irregularity of the tides, which is worthy of notice, we did not
discover till we were ran ashore, and perhaps farther to the northward
it is still greater. After we got within the reef the second time, we
found the tides more considerable than we had ever done before, except
in the Bay of Inlets, and possibly this may be owing to the water being
more confined between the shoals; here also the flood sets to the
north-west, and continues in the same direction to the extremity of New
Wales, from whence its direction is west and south-west into the Indian
sea.


SECTION XXXIV.

_The Passage from New South Wales to New Guinea, with an Account of what
happened upon landing there_.


In the afternoon of Thursday, August the 23d, after leaving Booby
Island, we steered W.N.W. with light airs from the S.S.W. till five
o'clock, when it fell calm, and the tide of ebb soon after setting to
the N.E., we came to an anchor in eight fathom water, with a soft sandy
bottom. Booby Island bore S. 50 E., distant five miles, and the Prince
of Wales's Isles extended from N.E. by N. to S. 55 E.; between these
there appeared to be a clear open passage, extending from N. 46 E. to E.
by N.

At half an hour after five in the morning of the 24th, as we were
purchasing the anchor, the cable parted at about eight or ten fathom
from the ring: The ship then began to drive, but I immediately dropped
another anchor, which brought her up before she got more than a cable's
length from the buoy; the boats were then sent to sweep for the anchor,
but could not succeed. At noon our latitude by observation was 10° 30'
S. As I was resolved not to leave the anchor behind, while there
remained a possibility of recovering it, I sent the boats again after
dinner with a small line, to discover where it lay; this being happily
effected, we swept for it with a hawser, and by the same hawser hove the
ship up to it: We proceeded to weigh it, but just as we were about to
ship it, the hawser slipped, and we had all our labour to repeat: By
this time it was dark, and we were obliged to suspend our operations
till the morning.

As soon as it was light, we sweeped it again, and heaved it to the bows:
By eight o'clock we weighed the other anchor, got under sail, and, with
a fine breeze at E.N.E. stood to the north-west. At noon, our latitude,
by observation, was 10° 18' S., longitude 219° 39' W. At this time we
had no land in sight, but about two miles to the southward of us lay a
large shoal, upon which the sea broke with great violence, and part of
which, I believe, is dry at low water. It extends N.W. and S.E., and is
about five leagues in circuit. Our depth of water, from the time we
weighed till now, was nine fathom, but it soon shallowed to seven
fathom; and at half an hour after one, having run eleven miles between
noon and that time, the boat which was a-head made the signal for shoal
water; we immediately let go an anchor, and brought the ship up with all
the sails standing, for the boat, having just been relieved, was at but
a little distance: Upon looking out from the ship, we saw shoal water
almost all round us, both wind and tide at the same time setting upon
it. The ship was in six fathom, but upon sounding round her, at the
distance of half a cable's length, we found scarcely two. This shoal
reached from the east, round by the north and west, as far as the
south-west, so that there was no way for us to get clear but that which
we came. This was another hair's-breadth escape, for it was near high
water, and there run a short cockling sea, which must very soon have
bulged the ship if she had struck; and if her direction had been half a
cable's length more either to the right or left, she must have struck
before the signal for the shoal was made. The shoals which, like these,
lie a fathom or two under water, are the most dangerous of any, for they
do not discover themselves till the vessel is just upon them, and then
indeed the water looks brown, as if it reflected a dark cloud. Between
three and four o'clock the tide of ebb began to make, and I sent the
master to sound to the southward and south-westward, and in the mean
time, as the ship tended, I weighed anchor, and with a little sail stood
first to the southward, and after edging away to the westward, got once
more out of danger. At sun-set we anchored in ten fathom, with a sandy
bottom, having a fresh gale at E.S.E.

At six in the morning we weighed again and stood west, having, as usual,
first sent a boat a-head to sound. I had intended to steer N.W. till I
had made the south coast of New Guinea, designing, if possible, to touch
upon it; but upon meeting with these shoals, I altered my course, in
hopes of finding a clearer channel, and deeper water. In this I
succeeded, for by noon our depth of water was gradually increased to
seventeen fathom. Our latitude was now, by observation, 10° 10' S., and
our longitude 220° 12' W. No land was in sight. We continued to steer W.
till sun-set, our depth of water being from twenty-seven to twenty-three
fathom: We then shortened sail, and kept upon a wind all night; four
hours on one tack and four on another. At day-light we made all the sail
we could, and steered W.N.W. till eight o'clock, and then N.W. At noon
our latitude, by observation, was 9° 56' S., longitude 221° W.;
variation 2° 30' E. We continued our N.W. course till sun-set, when we
again shortened sail, and hauled close upon a wind to the northward:
Our depth of water was twenty-one fathom. At eight, we tacked and stood
to the southward till twelve; then stood to the northward, with little
sail, till day-light: Our soundings were from twenty-five to seventeen
fathom, the water growing gradually shallow as we stood to the
northward. At this time we made sail and stood to the north, in order to
make the land of New Guinea: From the time of our making sail, till
noon, the depth of water gradually decreased from seventeen to twelve
fathom, with a stoney and shelly bottom. Our latitude, by observation,
was now 8° 52' S, which is in the same parallel as that in which the
southern parts of New Guinea are laid down in the charts; but there are
only two points so far to the south, and I reckoned that we were a
degree to the westward of them both, and therefore did not see the land,
which trends more to the northward. We found the sea here to be in many
parts covered with a brown scum, such as sailors generally call spawn.
When I first saw it, I was alarmed, fearing that we were among shoals;
but upon sounding, we found the same depth of water as in other places.
This scum was examined both by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, but they could
not determine what it was: It was formed of innumerable small particles,
not more than half a line in length, each of which in the microscope
appeared to consist of thirty or forty tubes; and each tube was divided
through its whole length by small partitions into many cells, like the
tubes of the conferva: They were supposed to belong to the vegetable
kingdom, because, upon burning them, they produced no smell like that of
an animal substance. The same appearance had been observed upon the
coast of Brazil and New Holland, but never at any considerable distance
from the shore. In the evening a small bird hovered about the ship, and
at night, settling among the rigging, was taken. It proved to be exactly
the same bird which Dampier has described, and of which he has given a
rude figure, by the name of a Noddy, from New Holland. [See his Voyages,
vol. iii. p. 98, Tab. of Birds, fig. 5.][98]

[Footnote 98: Additional information on this subject remains for a
subsequent part of our work.--E.]

We continued standing to the northward with a fresh gale at E. by S. and
S.E., till six in the evening, having very irregular soundings, the
depth changing at once from twenty-four fathom to seven. At four we had
seen the land from the mast-head, bearing N.W. by N.; it appeared to be
very low, and to stretch from W.N.W. to N.N.E., distant four or five
leagues. We now hauled close upon a wind till seven, then tacked and
stood to the southward till twelve, at which time we wore and stood to
the northward till four in the morning, then laid the head of the vessel
off till daylight, when we again saw the land, and stood in N.N.W.,
directly for it, with a fresh gale at E. by S. Our soundings during the
night were very irregular, from seven to five fathom, suddenly changing
from deep to shallow, and from shallow to deep, without in the least
corresponding with our distance from the land. At half an hour after six
in the morning, a small low island, which lay at the distance of about a
league from the main, bore N. by W. distant five miles: This island lies
in latitude 8° 13' S., longitude 231° 25' W.; and I find it laid down in
the charts by the names of Bartholomew and Whermoysen. We now steered
N.W. by W.W.N.W., W. by N.W. by S., and S.W. by W., as we found the
land lie, with from five to nine fathom; and though we reckoned we were
not more than four leagues from it, yet it was so low and level that we
could but just see it from the deck. It appeared, however, to be well
covered with wood, and, among other trees, we thought we could
distinguish the cocoa-nut. We saw smoke in several places, and therefore
knew there were inhabitants. At noon we were about three leagues from
the land; the westermost part of which that was in sight bore S. 79° W.
Our latitude, by observation, was 8° 19' S., and longitude 221° 44' W.
The island of St Bartholomew bore N. 74 E. distant 20 miles.

After steering S.W. by W. six miles, we had shoal water on our starboard
bow, which I sent the yawl to sound, and at the same time hauled off
upon a wind till four o'clock, and though during that time we had run
six miles, we had not deepened our water an inch. I then edged away S.W.
four miles more; but finding it still shoal water, I brought-to and
called the boats aboard. At this time, being between three and four
leagues from the shore, and the yawl having found only three fathom
water in the place to which I had sent her to sound, I hauled off close
upon a wind, and weathered the shoal about half a mile.

Between one and two o'clock we passed a bay or inlet, before which lies
a small island that seems to shelter it from the southerly winds; but I
very much doubt whether there is sufficient depth of water behind it for
shipping. I could not attempt to determine the question, because the
S.E. trade-wind blows right into the bay, and we had not as yet had any
breeze from the land.

We stretched off to sea till twelve o'clock, when we were about eleven
leagues from the land, and had deepened our water to twenty-nine fathom.
We now tacked and stood in till five in the morning, when, being in six
fathom and a half, we tacked and laid the head of the vessel off till
daylight, when we saw the land, bearing N.W. by W., at about the
distance of four leagues. We now made sail, and steered first W.S.W.,
then W. by S.; but coming into five fathom and a half, we hauled off
S.W. till we deepened our water to eight fathom, and then kept away W.
by S. and W., having nine fathom, and the land just in sight from the
deck; we judged it to be about four leagues distant, and it was still
very low and woody. Great quantities of the brown scum continued to
appear upon the water, and the sailors having given up the notion of its
being spawn, found a new name for it, and called it sea saw-dust. At
noon, our latitude, by observation, was 8° 30' S., our longitude 222°
34' W.; and Saint Bartholomew's Isle bore N. 69 E., distant seventy-four
miles.

As all this coast appears to have been very minutely examined by the
Dutch, and as our track will appear by the chart, it is sufficient to
say, that we continued our course to the northward with very shallow
water, upon a bank of mud, at such a distance from the shore as that it
could scarcely be seen from the ship till the third of September. During
this time we made many attempts to get near enough to go on shore, but
without success; and having now lost six days of fair wind, at a time
when we knew the south-east monsoon to be nearly at an end, we began to
be impatient of farther delay, and determined to run the ship in as near
to the shore as possible, and then land with the pinnace, while she kept
plying off and on to examine the produce of the country, and the
disposition of the inhabitants. For the two last days we had, early in
the morning, a light breeze from the shore, which was strongly
impregnated with the fragrance of the trees, shrubs, and herbage that
covered it, the smell being something like that of gum Benjamin. On the
3d of September, at day-break, we saw the land extending from N. by E.
to S.E., at about four leagues distance, and we then kept standing in
for it with a fresh gale at E.S.E. and E. by S. till nine o'clock, when
being within about three or four miles of it, and in three fathom water,
we brought-to. The pinnace being hoisted out, I set off from the ship
with the boat's crew, accompanied by Mr Banks, who also took his
servants, and Dr Solander, being in all twelve persons, well armed; we
rowed directly towards the shore, but the water was so shallow that we
could not reach it by about two hundred yards; we waded, however, the
rest of the way, having left two of the seamen to take care of the boat.
Hitherto we had seen no signs of inhabitants at this place; but as soon
as we got ashore we discovered the prints of human feet, which could not
long have been impressed upon the sand, as they were below high-water
mark: We therefore concluded that the people were at no great distance,
and, as a thick wood came down within a hundred yards of the water, we
thought it necessary to proceed with caution, lest we should fall into
an ambuscade, and our retreat to the boat be cut off. We walked along
the skirts of the wood, and at the distance of about two hundred yards
from the place where we landed, we came to a grove of cocoa-nut trees,
which stood upon the banks of a little brook of brackish water. The
trees were of a small growth, but well hung with fruit; and near them
was a shed or hut, which had been covered with their leaves, though most
of them were now fallen off: About the hut lay a great number of the
shells of the fruit, some of which appeared to be just fresh from the
tree. We looked at the fruit very wishfully, but not thinking it safe to
climb, we were obliged to leave it without tasting a single nut. At a
little distance from this place we found plantains, and a bread-fruit
tree, but it had nothing upon it; and having now advanced about a
quarter of a mile from the boat, three Indians rushed out of the wood
with a hideous shout, at about the distance of a hundred yards; and as
they ran towards us, the foremost threw something out of his hand, which
flew on one side of him, and burnt exactly like gunpowder, but made no
report: The other two instantly threw their lances at us; and as no time
was now to be lost, we discharged our pieces, which were loaded with
small shot. It is probable that they did not feel the shot, for though
they halted a moment, they did not retreat; and a third dart was thrown
at us. As we thought their farther approach might be prevented with less
risk of life than it would cost to defend ourselves against their attack
if they should come nearer, we loaded our pieces with ball, and fired a
second time: By this discharge it is probable that some of them were
wounded; yet we had the satisfaction to see that they all ran away with
great agility. As I was not disposed forcibly to invade this country,
either to gratify our appetites or our curiosity, and perceived that
nothing was to be done upon friendly terms, we improved this interval,
in which the destruction of the natives was no longer necessary to our
own defence, and with all expedition returned towards our boat. As we
were advancing along the shore, we perceived that the two men on board
made signals that more Indians were coming down; and before we got into
the water we saw several of them coming round a point at the distance of
about five hundred yards: It is probable that they had met with the
three who first attacked as; for as soon as they saw us they halted, and
seemed to wait till their main body should come up. We entered the water
and waded towards the boat, and they remained at their station, without
giving us any interruption. As soon as we were aboard we rowed abreast
of them, and their number then appeared to be between sixty and a
hundred. We now took a view of them at our leisure; they made much the
same appearance as the New Hollanders, being nearly of the same stature,
and having their hair short cropped: Like them also, they were all stark
naked, but we thought the colour of their skin was not quite so dark;
this however might perhaps be merely the effect of their not being
quite so dirty. All this while they were shouting defiance, and letting
off their fires by four or five at a time. What these fires were, or for
what purpose intended, we could not imagine: Those who discharged them
had in their hands a short piece of stick, possibly a hollow cane, which
they swung sideways from them, and we immediately saw fire and smoke,
exactly resembling those of a musket, and of no longer duration. This
wonderful phenomenon was observed from the ship, and the deception was
so great that the people on board thought they had fire-arms; and in the
boat, if we had not been so near as that we must have heard the report,
we should have thought they had been firing volleys.[99] After we had
looked at them attentively some time, without taking any notice of their
flashing and vociferation, we fired some muskets over their heads: Upon
hearing the balls rattle among the trees, they walked leisurely away,
and we returned to the ship. Upon examining the weapons they had thrown
at us, we found them to be light darts, about four feet long, very ill
made, of a reed or bamboo cane, and pointed with hard wood, in which
there were many barbs. They were discharged with great force; for though
we were at sixty yards distance, they went beyond us, but in what manner
we could not exactly see; possibly they might be shot with a bow, but we
saw no bows among them when we surveyed them from the boat, and we were
in general of opinion that they were thrown, with a stick, in the manner
practised by the New Hollanders.

[Footnote 99: So far as the writer recollects, no satisfactory account
of this singular fact has been given. He has long borne it in
remembrance, and sought for further information respecting it, but
hitherto has failed. He can conjecture, it is true, two or three modes
of explanation; but he does not chuse to be wise abase what is
written.--E.]

This place lies in the latitude of 6° 15' S., and about sixty-five
leagues to the N.E. of Port Saint Augustine, or Walche Cape, and is near
what is called in the charts C. de la Colta de St Bonaventura. The land
here, like that in every other part of the coast, is very low, but
covered with a luxuriance of wood and herbage that can scarcely be
conceived. We saw the cocoa-nut, the bread-fruit, and the plantain tree,
all flourishing in a state of the highest perfection, though the
cocoa-nuts were green, and the bread-fruit not in season; besides most
of the trees, shrubs, and plants that are common to the South-Sea
islands, New Zealand, and New Holland.

Soon after our return to the ship, we hoisted in the boat, and made sail
to the westward, being resolved to spend no more time upon this coast,
to the great satisfaction of a very considerable majority of the ship's
company. But I am sorry to say that I was strongly urged by some of the
officers to send a party of men ashore and cut down the cocoa-nut trees
for the sake of the fruit. This I peremptorily refused, as equally
unjust and cruel. The natives had attacked us merely for landing upon
their coast, when we attempted to take nothing away, and it was
therefore morally certain that they would have made a vigorous effort to
defend their property if it had been invaded, in which case many of them
must have fallen a sacrifice to our attempt, and perhaps also some of
our own people. I should have regretted the necessity of such a measure,
if I had been in want of the necessaries of life, and certainly it would
have been highly criminal when nothing was to be obtained but two or
three hundred of green cocoa-nuts, which would at most have procured us
a mere transient gratification.[100] I might indeed have proceeded
farther along the coast to the northward and westward, in search of a
place where the ship might have lain so near the shore as to cover the
people with her guns when they landed; but this would have obviated only
part of the mischief, and though it might have secured us, would
probably in the very act have been fatal to the natives. Besides, we had
reason to think that before such a place would have been found, we
should have been carried so far to the westward as to have been obliged
to go to Batavia, on the north side of Java, which I did not think so
safe a passage as to the south of Java, through the Streights of Sunday:
The ship also was so leaky, that I doubted whether it would not be
necessary to heave her down at Batavia, which was another reason for
making the best of our way to that place, especially as no discovery
could be expected in seas which had already been navigated, and where
every coast had been laid down by the Dutch geographers. The Spaniards,
indeed, as well as the Dutch, seem to have circumnavigated all the
islands in New Guinea, as almost every place that is distinguished in
the chart has a name in both languages. The charts with which I compared
such part of the coast as I visited, are bound up with a French work,
entitled, "Histoire des Navigationes aux Terres Australes," which was
published in 1756, and I found them tolerably exact; yet I know not by
whom, or when they were taken: And though New Holland and New Guinea are
in them represented as two distinct countries, the very history in which
they are bound up, leaves it in doubt.[101] I pretend, however, to no
more merit in this part of the voyage than to have established the fact
beyond all controversy.

[Footnote 100: Delicacy of feeling, perhaps, would have preferred the
omission of what has now been recorded as to the advice of some of the
officers, to the stating it in such a manner as leaves the responsible
persons under the shade of the guiltless, or implicates the latter in
the odium of the former. The advice, at all events, might have been
stated impersonally, as a mere suggestion that would naturally present
itself to any one who considered the benefit of the crew only, without
respect to the rights and properties of the natives,--a suggestion,
however, which it required but a moment's reflection on the laws of
humanity to dissipate with reproach. Some readers, it is probable, will
be sensible, as well as the writer, of an uncomfortable emotion at the
perusal of this part of the text, exclusive entirely of disapprobation
of the matter of which it treats.--E.]

[Footnote 101: The work here mentioned was the valuable labour of
President De Brosses, and appeared at Paris, in two vols. quarto. It was
translated into English, and published at London in 1767. We shall
hereafter have occasion to cull some information from it, and to revert
to the fact of the separation of New Holland and New Guinea now alluded
to. Callender published a work at Edinburgh, in 1766, in three vols.
octavo, entitled, "Terra Australis Cognita; or Voyages to the Terra
Australis, or Southern Hemisphere, &c." It bore to be an original, but
is in fact a translation of what has now been mentioned.--E.]

As the two countries lie very near each other, and the intermediate
space is full of islands, it is reasonable to suppose that they were
both peopled from one common stock; yet no intercourse appears to have
been kept up between them; for if there had, the cocoa-nuts,
bread-fruit, plantains, and other fruits of New Guinea, which are
equally necessary for the support of life, would certainly have been
transplanted to New Holland, where no traces of them are to be found.
The author of the "Histoire des Navigationes aux Terres Australes," in
his account of La Maire's voyage, has given a vocabulary of the language
that is spoken in an island near New Britain, and we find, by comparing
that vocabulary with the words which we learnt in New Holland, that the
languages are not the same. If therefore it should appear that the
languages of New Britain and New Guinea are the same, there will be
reason to suppose that New Britain and New Guinea were peopled from a
common stock, but that the inhabitants of New Holland had a different
origin, notwithstanding the proximity of the countries.[102]

[Footnote 102: An interesting enough subject for enquiry is here
started. We shall, in another part of our work, have to give it some
attention.--E.]


SECTION XXXV.

_The Passage from New Guinea to the Island of Semau, and the
Transactions there_.[103]


[Footnote 103: It is quite unnecessary, and would answer no good
purpose, to occupy the reader's attention with any geographical notes
respecting the islands mentioned in this section. Subsequent voyages,
and other publications, have greatly enriched our acquaintance with this
subject; but it would make sad patch-work to detail it here. The reader
will do better to amuse himself with the narrative for the present, and
to reserve study for a future occasion.--E.]

We made sail, from noon on Monday the 3d, to noon on Tuesday the 4th,
standing to the westward, and all the time kept in soundings, having
from fourteen to thirty fathom; not regular, but sometimes more,
sometimes less. At noon on the 4th, we were in fourteen fathom, and
latitude 6° 44' S., longitude 223° 51' W.; our course and distance since
the 3d, at noon, were S. 76 W., one hundred and twenty miles to the
westward. At noon on the 5th of September, we were in latitude 7° 25'
S., longitude 225° 41' W., having been in soundings the whole time from
ten to twenty fathom.

At half an hour after one in the morning of the next day, we passed a
small island which bore from us N.N.W., distant between three and four
miles; and at day-light we discovered another low island, extending from
N.N.W. to N.N.E., distant about two or three leagues. Upon this island,
which did not appear to be very small, I believe I should have landed to
examine its produce, if the wind had not blown too fresh to admit of it.
When we passed this island we had only ten fathom water, with a rocky
bottom, and therefore I was afraid of running down to leeward, lest I
should meet with shoal water and foul ground. These islands have no
place in the charts except they are the Arrou islands; and if these,
they are laid down much too far from New Guinea. I found the south part
of them to lie in latitude 7° 6' S., longitude 225° W.

We continued to steer W.S.W., at the rate of four miles and a half an
hour, till ten o'clock at night, when we had forty-two fathom, at eleven
we had thirty-seven, at twelve forty-five, at one in the morning,
forty-nine, and at three, 120, after which we had no ground. At
day-light we made all the sail we could, and at ten o'clock saw land
extending from N.N.W. to W. by N., distant between five and six leagues:
At noon it bore from N. to W., and at about the same distance: It
appeared to be level, and of a moderate height; by our distance from New
Guinea, it ought to have been part of the Arrou Islands, but it lies a
degree farther to the south than any of these islands are laid down in
the charts; and, by the latitude, should be Timor Laoet: We sounded, but
had no ground with fifty fathom.

As I was not able to satisfy myself from any chart, what land it was
that I saw to leeward, and fearing that it might trend away more
southerly, the weather also being so hazy that we could not see far, I
steered S.W., and by four had lost sight of the island. I was now sure
that no part of it lay to the southward of 8° 15' S., and continued
standing to the S.W. with an easy sail, and a fresh breeze at S.E. by E.
and E.S.E.: We sounded every hour, but had no bottom with 120 fathom.

At day-break in the morning, we steered W.S.W., and afterwards W. by S.,
which by noon brought us into the latitude of 9° 30' S., longitude 229°
34' W., and by our run from New Guinea, we ought to have been within
sight of Weasel Isles, which in the charts are laid down at the distance
of twenty or twenty-five leagues from the coast of New Holland; we
however saw nothing, and therefore they must have been placed
erroneously; nor can this be thought strange, when it is considered that
not only these islands, but the coast which bounds this sea, have been
discovered and explored by different people, and at different times, and
the charts upon which they are delineated, put together by others,
perhaps at the distance of more than a century after the discoveries had
been made; not to mention that the discoverers themselves had not all
the requisites for keeping an accurate journal, of which those of the
present age are possessed.

We continued our course, steering W. till the evening of the 8th, when
the variation of the compass, by several azimuths, was 12' W., and by
the amplitude 5' W. At noon, on the 9th, our latitude, by observation,
was 9° 46' S., longitude 232° 7' W. For the last two days we had steered
due W., yet, by observation, we made sixteen miles southing, six miles
from noon on the 6th to noon on the 7th, and ten miles from noon on the
7th to noon on the 8th, by which it appeared that there was a current
setting to the southward. At sun-set, we found the variation to be 2 W.,
and at the same time, saw an appearance of very high land bearing N.W.

In the morning of the 10th, we saw clearly that what had appeared to be
land the night before, was Timor. At noon, our latitude, by observation,
was 10° 1' S., which was fifteen miles to the southward of that given by
the log; our longitude, by observation, was 233° 27' W. We steered N.W.
in order to obtain a more distinct view of the land in sight, till four
o'clock in the morning of the 11th, when the wind came to the N.W. and
W., with which we stood to the southward till nine, when we tacked and
stood N.W., having the wind now at W.S.W. At sun-rise the land had
appeared to extend from W.N.W. to N.E., and at noon, we could see it
extend to the westward as far as W. by S. 1/2 S. but no farther to the
eastward than N. by E. We were now well assured, that as the first land
we had seen was Timor, the last island we had passed was Timor Laoet, or
Laut.[104] Laoet, is a word in the language of Malaca, signifying Sea,
and this island was named by the inhabitants of that country. The south
part of it lies in latitude 8° 15' S., longitude 228° 10' W., but in the
charts the south point is laid down in various latitudes, from 8° 30' to
9° 30': It is indeed possible that the land we saw might be some other
island, but the presumption to the contrary is very strong, for if Timor
Laut had lain where it is placed in the charts, we must have seen it
there. We were now in latitude 9° 37' S.; longitude, by an observation
of the sun and moon, 233° 54' W.; we were the day before in 233° 27';
the difference is 27', exactly the same that was given by the log: This,
however, is a degree of accuracy in observation that is seldom to be
expected. In the afternoon, we stood in shore till eight in the evening;
when we tacked and stood off, being at the distance of about three
leagues from the land, which at sun-set extended from S.W. 1/2 W. to
N.E.: At this time we sounded, and had no ground with 140 fathom. At
midnight, having but little wind, we tacked and stood in, and at noon
the next day, our latitude, by observation, was 9° 36' S. This day, we
saw smoke on shore in several places, and had seen many fires during the
night. The land appeared to be very high, rising in gradual slopes one
above another: The hills were in general covered with thick woods, but
among them we could distinguish naked spots of a considerable extent,
which had the appearance of having been cleared by art. At five o'clock
in the afternoon, we were within a mile and a half of the shore, in
sixteen fathom water, and abreast of a small inlet into the low land,
which lies in latitude 9° 34 S., and probably is the same that Dampier
entered with his boat, for it did not seem to have sufficient depth of
water for a ship. The land here answered well to the description that he
has given of it: close to the beach it was covered with high spiry
trees, which he mentions as having the appearance of pines; behind these
there seemed to be salt-water creeks, and many mangroves, interspersed
however with cocoa-nut trees: The flat land at the beach appeared in
some places to extend inward two or three miles before the rise of the
first hill; in this part, however, we saw no appearance of plantations
or houses, but great fertility, and from the number of fires, we judged
that the place most be well peopled.

[Footnote 104: Little is known of this island. Timor is said to have
been discovered by the companions of Magellan in 1522, when it was found
full of white sandal wood. The Portuguese very early settled in it as a
place of refuge from the Dutch, who however soon followed them, and in
1613, drove them from Cupan, their principal town, at the west end of
the island. The possession of this island might be made more valuable
than it seems as yet to have been. With scarcely any help from human
industry, its products in useful articles are considerable. We shall
have to treat of it hereafter.--E.]

When we had approached within a mile and a half of the shore, we tacked
and stood off, and the extremes of the coast then extended from N.E. by
E. to W. by S. 1/2 S. The south-westerly extremity was a low point,
distant from us about three leagues. While we were standing in for the
shore, we sounded several times, but had no ground till we came within
about two miles and a half, and then we had five-and-twenty fathom, with
a soft-bottom. After we had tacked, we stood off till midnight, with the
wind at S.; we then tacked and stood two hours to the westward, when the
wind veered to S.W. and W.S.W., and we then stood to the southward
again. In the morning, we found the variation to be 1° 10' W. by the
amplitude, and by the azimuth 1° 27'. At noon, our latitude was, by
observation, 9° 45' S., our longitude 234° 12' W.; we were then about
seven leagues distant from the land, which extended from N. 31 E. to
W.S.W. 1/2 W.

With light land-breezes from W. by N. for a few hours in a morning, and
sea-breezes from S.S.W. and S. we advanced to the westward but slowly.
At noon on the 14th, we were between six and seven leagues from the
land, which extended from N. by E. to S. 78 W.; we still saw smoke in
many places by day, and fire by night, both upon the low land and the
mountains beyond it. We continued steering along the shore, till the
morning of the 15th, the land still appearing hilly, but not so high as
it had been: The hills in general came quite down to the sea, and where
they did not, we saw instead of flats and mangrove land, immense groves
of cocoa-nut trees, reaching about a mile up from the beach: There the
plantations and houses commenced, and appeared to be innumerable. The
houses were shaded by groves of the fan-palm, or _borassus_, and the
plantations, which were inclosed by a fence, reached almost to the tops
of the highest hills. We saw however neither people nor cattle, though
our glasses were continually employed, at which we were not a little
surprised.

We continued our course, with little variation, till nine o'clock in the
morning of the 16th, when we saw the small island called _Rotte_; and at
noon the island _Semau_, lying off the south end of Timor, bore N.W.

Dampier, who has given a large description of the island of Timor, says,
that it is seventy leagues long, and sixteen broad, and that it lies
nearly N E. and S.W. I found the east side of it to lie nearest N.E. by
E. and S.W. by W., and the south end to lie in latitude 10° 23' S.,
longitude 236° 5' W. We ran about forty-five leagues along the east
side, and found the navigation altogether free from danger. The land
which is bounded by the sea, except near the south end, is low for two
or three miles within the beach, and in general intersected by salt
creeks: Behind the low land are mountains, which rise one above another
to a considerable height. We steered W.N.W. till two in the afternoon,
when, being within a small distance of the north end of Rotte, we hauled
up N.N.W. in order to go between it and Semau: After steering three
leagues upon this coarse, we edged away N.W. and W., and by six, we were
clear of all the islands. At this time, the south part of Semau, which
lies in latitude 10° 15' S., bore N.E. distant four leagues, and the
island of Rotte extended as far to the southward as S. 36 W. The north
end of this island, and the south end of Timor, lie N. 1/2 E. and S. 1/4
W., and are about three or four leagues distant from each other. At the
west end of the passage between Rotte and Semau, are two small islands,
one of which lies near the Rotte shore, and the other off the south-west
point of Semau: There is a good channel between them, about six miles
broad, through which we passed. The isle of Rotte has not so lofty and
mountainous an appearance as Timor, though it is agreeably diversified
by hill and valley: On the north side, there are many sandy beaches,
near which grew some trees of the fan-palm, but the far greater part was
covered with a kind of brushy wood, that was without leaves. The
appearance of Semau was nearly the same with that of Timor, but not
quite so high. About ten o'clock at night, we observed a phænomenon in
the heavens, which in many particulars resembled the aurora borealis,
and in others, was very different: It consisted of a dull reddish light,
and reached about twenty degrees above the horizon: Its extent was very
different at different times, but it was never less than eight or ten
points of the compass: Through and out of this passed rays of light of a
brighter colour, which vanished, and were renewed nearly in the same
time as those of the aurora borealis, but had no degree of the tremulous
or vibratory motion which is observed in that phænomenon: The body of it
bore S.S.E. from the ship, and it continued, without any diminution of
its brightness, till twelve o'clock, when we retired to sleep, but how
long afterwards, I cannot tell.

Being clear of all the islands, which are laid down in the maps we had
on board, between Timor and Java, we steered a west course till six
o'clock the next morning, when we unexpectedly saw an island bearing
W.S.W., and at first I thought we had made a new discovery. We steered
directly for it, and by ten o'clock were close in with the north side of
it, where we saw houses, cocoa-nut trees, and to our very agreeable
surprise, numerous flocks of sheep. This was a temptation not to be
resisted by people in our situation, especially as many of us were in a
bad state of health, and many still repining at my not having touched at
Timor: It was, therefore soon determined to attempt a commerce with
people who appeared to be so well able to supply our many necessities,
and remove at once the sickness and discontent that had got footing
among us. The pinnace was hoisted out, and Mr Gore, the second
lieutenant, sent to see if there was any convenient place to land,
taking with him some trifles, as presents to the natives, if any of them
should appear. While he was gone, we saw from the ship two men on
horseback, who seemed to be riding upon the hills for their amusement,
and often stopped to look at the ship. By this we knew that the place
had been settled by Europeans, and hoped, that the many disagreeable
circumstances which always attend the first establishment of commerce
with savages, would be avoided. In the mean time, Mr Gore landed in a
small sandy cove near some houses, and was met by eight or ten of the
natives, who, as well in their dress as their persons, very much
resembled the Malays; They were without arms, except the knives which it
is their custom to wear in their girdles, and one of them had a jack-ass
with him: They courteously invited him ashore, and conversed with him by
signs, but very little of the meaning of either party could be
understood by the other. In a short time he returned with this report,
and, to our great mortification, added, that there was no anchorage for
the ship. I sent him however a second time, with both money and goods,
that he might, if possible, purchase some refreshments, at least for the
sick; and Dr Solander went in the boat with him. In the mean time I kept
standing on and off with the ship, which at this time was within about a
mile of the shore. Before the boat could land, we saw two other
horsemen, one of whom was in a complete European dress, consisting of a
blue coat, a white waistcoat, and a laced hat: These people, when the
boat came to the shore, took little notice of her, but sauntered about,
and seemed to look with great curiosity at the ship. We saw however
other horsemen, and a great number of persons on foot, gather round our
people, and, to our great satisfaction, perceived several cocoa-nuts
carried into the boat, from which we concluded that peace and commerce
were established between us.

After the boat had been ashore about an hour and a half, she made the
signal for having intelligence that there was a bay to leeward, where we
might anchor: We stood away directly for it, and the boat following,
soon came on board. The lieutenant told us, that he had seen some of the
principal people, who were dressed in fine linen, and had chains of gold
round their necks: He said, that he had not been able to trade, because
the owner of the cocoa-nuts was absent, but that about two dozen had
been sent to the boat as a present, and that some linen had been
accepted in return. The people, to give him the information that he
wanted, drew a map upon the sand, in which they made a rude
representation of a harbour to leeward, and a town near it: They also
gave him to understand, that sheep, hogs, fowls, and fruit might there
be procured in great plenty. Some of them frequently pronounced the word
Portuguese, and said something of Larntuca upon the island of Ende: From
this circumstance, we conjectured that there were Portuguese somewhere
upon the island, and a Portugueze, who was in our boat, attempted to
converse with the Indians in that language, but soon found that they
knew only a word or two of it by rote: One of them however, when they
were giving our people to understand that there was a town near the
harbour to which they had directed us, intimated, that, as a token of
going right, we should see somewhat, which he expressed by crossing his
fingers, and the Portuguese instantly conceived that he meant to express
a cross. Just as our people were putting off, the horsemen in the
European dress came up, but the officer not having his commission about
him, thought it best to decline a conference.

At seven o'clock in the evening, we came to an anchor in the bay to
which we had been directed, at about the distance of a mile from the
shore, in thirty-eight fathom water, with a clear sandy bottom. The
north point of the bay bore N. 30 E., distant two miles and a half, and
the south point, or west end of the island, bore S. 63 W. Just as we got
round the north point, and entered the bay, we discovered a large Indian
town or village, upon which we stood on, hoisting a jack on the fore
top-mast head: Soon after, to our great surprise, Dutch colours were
hoisted in the town, and three guns fired; we stood on, however, till we
had soundings and then anchored.

As soon as it was light in the morning, we saw the same colours hoisted
upon the beach, abreast of the ship; supposing therefore that the Dutch
had a settlement here, I sent Lieutenant Gore ashore, to wait upon the
governor, or the chief person residing upon the spot, and acquaint him
who we were, and for what purpose we had touched upon the coast. As soon
as he came ashore, he was received by a guard of between twenty and
thirty Indians, armed with musquets, who conducted him to the town,
where the colours had been hoisted the night before, carrying with them
those that had been hoisted upon the beach, and marching without any
military regularity. As soon as he arrived, he was introduced to the
Raja, or king of the island, and by a Portuguese interpreter told him,
that the ship was a man-of-war belonging to the king of Great Britain,
and that she had many sick on board, for whom we wanted to purchase such
refreshments as the island afforded. His majesty replied, that he was
willing to supply us with whatever we wanted, but, that being in
alliance with the Dutch East India Company, he was not at liberty to
trade with any other people, without having first procured their
consent, for which, however, he said he would immediately apply to a
Dutchman who belonged to the Company, and who was the only white man
upon the island. To this man, who resided at some distance, a letter was
immediately dispatched, acquainting him with our arrival and request: In
the mean time, Mr Gore dispatched a messenger to me, with an account of
his situation, and the state of the treaty. In about three hours, the
Dutch resident answered the letter that had been sent him, in person: He
proved to be a native of Saxony, and his name was Johan Christopher
Lange, and the same person whom we had seen on horseback in a European
dress: He behaved with great civility to Mr Gore, and assured him, that
we were at liberty to purchase of the natives whatever we pleased. After
a short time, he expressed a desire of coming on board, as did the king
also, and several of his attendants: Mr Gore intimated that he was ready
to attend them, but they desired that two of our people might be left
ashore as hostages, and in this also they were indulged.

About two o'clock, they all came aboard the ship, and our dinner being
ready, they accepted our invitation to partake of it: I expected them
immediately to sit down, but the king seemed to hesitate, and at last,
with some confusion, said, he did not imagine that we, who were white
men, would suffer him, who was of a different colour, to sit down in our
company; a compliment soon removed his scruples, and we all sat down
together with great cheerfulness and cordiality: Happily we were at no
loss for interpreters, both Dr Solander and Mr Sporing understanding
Dutch enough to keep up a conversation with Mr Lange, and several of the
seamen were able to converse with such of the natives as spoke
Portuguese. Our dinner happened to be mutton, and the king expressed a
desire of having an English sheep; we had but one left, however that was
presented to him: The facility with which this was procured, encouraged
him to ask for an English dog, and Mr Banks politely gave up his
greyhound: Mr Lange then intimated that a spying-glass would be
acceptable, and one was immediately put into his hand. Our guests then
told us, that the island abounded with buffaloes, sheep, hogs, and
fowls, plenty of which should be driven down to the beach the next day,
that we might purchase as many of them as we should think fit: This put
us all into high spirits, and the liquor circulated rather faster than
either the Indians or the Saxon could bear; they intimated their desire
to go away, however, before they were quite drunk, and were received
upon deck, as they had been when they came aboard, by the marines under
arms. The king expressed a curiosity to see them exercise, in which he
was gratified, and they fired three rounds: He looked at them with great
attention, and was much surprised at their regularity and expedition,
especially in cocking their pieces; the first time they did it, he
struck the side of the ship with a stick that he had in his hand, and
cried out with great vehemence, that all the locks made but one clink.
They were dismissed with many presents, and when they went away saluted
with nine guns: Mr Banks and Dr Solander went ashore with them; and as
soon as they put off they gave us three cheers.

Our gentlemen, when they came ashore, walked up with them to the town,
which consists of many houses, and some of them are large; they are
however nothing more than a thatched roof, supported over a boarded
floor, by pillars about four feet high. They produced some of their
palm-wine, which was the fresh unfermented juice of the tree; it had a
sweet, but not a disagreeable taste; and hopes were conceived that it
might contribute to recover our sick from the scurvy. Soon after it was
dark, Mr Banks and Dr Solander returned on board.

In the morning of the 19th I went ashore with Mr Banks, and several of
the officers and gentlemen, to return the king's visit; but my chief
business was to procure some of the buffaloes, sheep, and fowls, which
we had been told should be driven down to the beach. We were greatly
mortified to find that no steps had been taken to fulfil this promise;
however, we proceeded to the house of assembly, which, with two or three
more, had been erected by the Dutch East India Company, and are
distinguished from the rest by two pieces of wood resembling a pair of
cow's horns, one of which is set up at each end of the ridge that
terminates the roof; and these were certainly what the Indian intended
to represent by crossing his fingers, though our Portuguese, who was a
good catholic, construed the sign into a cross, which had persuaded us
that the settlement belonged to his countrymen. In this place we met Mr
Lange, and the king, whose name was A. Madocho Lomi Djara, attended by
many of the principal people. We told them that we had in the boat goods
of various kinds, which we proposed to barter for such refreshments as
they would give us in exchange, and desired leave to bring them on
shore; which being granted, they were brought ashore accordingly. We
then attempted to settle the price of the buffaloes, sheep, hogs, and
other commodities which we proposed to purchase, and for which we were
to pay in money; but as soon as this was mentioned, Mr Lange left us,
telling us that these preliminaries must be settled with the natives: He
said, however, that he had received a letter from the governor of
Concordia in Timor, the purport of which he would communicate to us when
he returned.

As the morning was now far advanced, and we were very unwilling to
return on board and eat salt provisions, when so many delicacies
surrounded us ashore, we petitioned his majesty for liberty to purchase
a small hog and some rice, and to employ his subjects to dress them for
us. He answered very graciously, that if we could eat victuals dressed
by his subjects, which he could scarcely suppose, he would do himself
the honour of entertaining us. We expressed our gratitude, and
immediately sent on board for liquors.

About five o'clock dinner was ready; it was served in six-and-thirty
dishes, or rather baskets, containing alternately rice and pork; and
three bowls of earthenware, filled with the liquor in which the pork had
been boiled: These were ranged upon the floor, and mats laid round them
for us to sit upon. We were then conducted by turns to a hole in the
floor, near which stood a man with water in a vessel, made of the leaves
of the fan-palm, who assisted us in washing our hands. When this was
done, we placed ourselves round the victuals, and waited for the king.
As he did not come, we enquired for him, and were told that the custom
of the country did not permit the person who gave the entertainment to
sit down with his guests; but that, if we suspected the victuals to be
poisoned, he would come and taste it. We immediately declared that we
had no such suspicion, and desired that none of the rituals of
hospitality might be violated on our account. The prime minister and Mr
Lange were of our party, and we made a most luxurious meal: We thought
the pork and rice excellent, and the broth not to be despised; but the
spoons, which were made of leaves, were so small, that few of us had
patience to use them. After dinner, our wine passed briskly about, and
we again enquired for our royal host, thinking that though the custom of
his country would not allow him to eat with us, he might at least share
in the jollity of one bottle; but he again excused himself, saying, that
the master of a feast should never be drunk, which there was no certain
way to avoid but by not tasting the liquor. We did not, however, drink
our wine where we had eaten our victuals; but as soon as we had dined,
made room for the seamen and servants, who immediately took our places:
They could not dispatch all that we had left, but the women who came to
clear away the bowls and baskets, obliged them to carry away with them
what they had not eaten. As wine generally warms and opens the heart, we
took an opportunity, when we thought its influence began to be felt, to
revive the subject of the buffaloes and sheep, of which we had not in
all this time heard a syllable, though they were to have been brought
down early in the morning. But our Saxon Dutchman, with great phlegm,
began to communicate to us the contents of the letter which he pretended
to have received from the governor of Concordia. He said, that after
acquainting him that a vessel had steered from thence towards the island
where we were now ashore, it required him, if such ship should apply for
provisions in distress, to relieve her; but not to suffer her to stay
longer than was absolutely necessary, nor to make any large presents to
the inferior people, or to leave any with those of superior rank to be
afterwards distributed among them; but he was graciously pleased to add,
that we were at liberty to give beads and other trifles in exchange for
petty civilities, and palm-wine.

It was the general opinion that this letter was a fiction; that the
prohibitory orders were feigned with a view to get money from us for
breaking them; and that by precluding our liberality to the natives,
this man hoped more easily to turn it into another channel.

In the evening, we received intelligence from our trading-place that no
buffaloes or hogs had been brought down, and only a few sheep, which had
been taken away before our people, who had sent for money, could procure
it. Some fowls, however, had been bought, and a large quantity of a
kind of syrup made of the juice of the palm-tree, which, though
infinitely superior to molasses or treacle, sold at a very low price. We
complained of our disappointment to Mr Lange, who had now another
subterfuge; he said, that if we had gone down to the beach ourselves, we
might have purchased what we pleased, but that the natives were afraid
to take money of our people, lest it should be counterfeit. We could not
but feel some indignation against a man who had concealed this, being
true; or alleged it, being false. I started up, however, and went
immediately to the beach, but no cattle or sheep were to be seen, nor
were any at hand to be produced. While I was gone, Lange, who knew well
enough that I should succeed no better than my people, told Mr Banks
that the natives were displeased at our not having offered them gold for
their stock; and that if gold was not offered, nothing would be bought.
Mr Banks did not think it worth his while to reply, but soon after rose
up, and we all returned on board, very much dissatisfied with the issue
of our negociations. During the course of the day, the king had promised
that some cattle and sheep should be brought down in the morning, and
had given a reason for our disappointment somewhat more plausible; he
said that the buffaloes were far up the country, and that there had not
been time to bring them down to the beach.

The next morning we went ashore again: Dr Solander went up to the town
to speak to Lange, and I remained upon the beach, to see what could be
done in the purchase of provisions. I found here an old Indian, who, as
he appeared to have some authority, we had among ourselves called the
prime minister; to engage this man in our interest, I presented him with
a spying-glass, but I saw nothing at market except one small buffalo. I
enquired the price of it, and was told five guineas: This was twice as
much as it was worth; however, I offered three, which I could perceive
the man who treated with me thought a good price; but he said he must
acquaint the king with what I had offered before he could take it. A
messenger was immediately dispatched to his majesty, who soon returned,
and said that the buffaloe would not be sold for any thing less than
five guineas. This price I absolutely refused to give; and another
messenger was sent away with an account of my refusal: This messenger
was longer absent than the other, and while I was waiting for his
return, I saw, to my great astonishment, Dr Solander coming from the
town, followed by above a hundred men, some armed with muskets and some
with lances. When I enquired the meaning of this hostile appearance, the
Doctor told me that Mr Lange had interpreted to him a message from the
king, purporting that the people would not trade with us, because we had
refused to give them more than half the value of what they had to sell;
and that we should not be permitted to trade upon any terms longer than
this day. Besides the officers who commanded the party, there came with
it a man who was born at Timor; of Portuguese parents, and who, as we
afterwards discovered, was a kind of colleague to the Dutch factor; by
this man, what they pretended to be the king's order was delivered to
me, of the same purport with that which Dr Solander had received from
Lange. We were all clearly of opinion that this was a mere artifice of
the factors to extort money from us, for which we had been prepared by
the account of a letter from Concordia; and while we were hesitating
what step to take, the Portuguese, that he might the sooner accomplish
his purpose, began to drive away the people who had brought down poultry
and syrup, and others that were now coming in with buffaloes and sheep.
At this time I glanced my eye upon the old man whom I had complimented
in the morning with the spying-glass, and I thought, by his looks, that
he did not heartily approve of what was doing; I therefore took him by
the hand, and presented him with an old broad-sword. This instantly
turned the scale in our favour; he received the sword with a transport
of joy, and flourishing it over the busy Portuguese, who crouched like a
fox to a lion, he made him, and the officer who commanded the party, sit
down upon the ground behind him. The people, who, whatever were the
crafty pretences of these iniquitous factors for a Dutch company, were
eager to supply us with whatever we wanted, and seemed also to be more
desirous of goods than money, instantly improved the advantage that had
been procured them, and the market was stocked almost in an instant. To
establish a trade for buffaloes, however, which I most wanted, I found
it necessary to give ten guineas for two, one of which weighed no more
than a hundred and sixty pounds; but I bought seven more much cheaper,
and might afterwards have purchased as many as I pleased almost upon my
own terms, for they were now driven down to the water-side in herds. In
the first two that I bought so dear, Lange had certainly a share, and it
was in hopes to obtain part of the price of others, that he had
pretended that we must pay for them in gold. The natives, however, sold
what they afterwards brought down much to their satisfaction, without
paying part of the price to him as a reward for exacting money from us.
Most of the buffaloes that we bought, after our friend, the prime
minister, had procured us a fair market, were sold for a musket a-piece,
and at this price we might have bought as many as would have freighted
our ship.

The refreshments which we procured here consisted of nine buffaloes, six
sheep, three hogs, thirty dozen of fowls, a few limes, and some
cocoa-nuts; many dozen of eggs, half of which, however, proved to be
rotten; a little garlic, and several hundred gallons of palm syrup.


SECTION XXXVI.

_A particular Description of the Island of Savu, its Produce, and
Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language_.


This island is called by the natives _Savu_; the middle of it lies in
about the latitude 10° 35' S., longitude 237° 30' W.; and has in general
been so little known, that I never saw a map or chart in which it is
clearly or accurately laid down. I have seen a very old one, in which it
is called Sou, and confounded with Sandel Bosch. Rumphius mentions an
island by the name of Saow, and he also says that it is the same which
the Dutch call Sandel Bosch: But neither is this island, nor Timor, nor
Rotte, nor indeed any one of the islands that we have seen in these
seas, placed within a reasonable distance of its true situation.[105] It
is about eight leagues long from east to west; but what is its breadth,
I do not know, as I saw only the north side. The harbour in which we lay
is called Seba, from the district in which it lies: It is on the
north-west side of the island, and well sheltered from the south-west
trade-wind, but it lies open to the north-west. We were told that there
were two other bays where ships might anchor; that the best, called
Timo, was on the south-west side of the south-east point: Of the third
we learnt neither the name nor situation. The sea-coast, in general, is
low; but in the middle of the island there are hills of a considerable
height. We were upon the coast at the latter end of the dry season, when
there had been no rain for seven months; and we were told that when the
dry season continues so long, there is no running stream of fresh water
upon the whole island, but only small springs, which are at a
considerable distance from the sea-side; yet nothing can be imagined so
beautiful as the prospect of the country from the ship. The level ground
next to the sea-side was covered with cocoa-nut trees, and a kind of
palm called _arecas_; and beyond them the hills, which rose in a gentle
and regular ascent, were richly clothed, quite to the summit, with
plantations of the fan-palm, forming an almost impenetrable grove. How
much even this prospect must be improved, when every foot of ground
between the trees is covered with verdure, by maize, and millet, and
indigo, can scarcely be conceived but by a powerful imagination, not
unacquainted with the stateliness and beauty of the trees that adorn
this part of the earth. The dry season commences in March or April, and
ends in October or November.

[Footnote 105: These islands are far from being well known to Europeans;
The policy of both Portuguese and Dutch has ever been unfavourable to
the communication, whatever it may have been to the commercial
extension, of geographical science. Pinkerton has laid down (in his map
of East India isles) Sou, as he has chosen to call it, in 10 S. lat.,
and 121° 30' E. long., but on what authority does not appear. He does
not, however, confound it with Sandle-Wood Island.--E.]

The principal trees of this island are the fan-palm, the cocoa-nut,
tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes; and other vegetable productions
are maize, Guinea-corn, rice, millet, callevances, and water-melons. We
saw also one sugar-cane, and a few kinds of European garden-stuff,
particularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the supply of
luxury, it has betel, areca, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and a small
quantity of cinnamon, which seems to be planted here only for curiosity;
and indeed we doubted whether it was the genuine plant, knowing that the
Dutch are very careful not to trust the spices out of their proper
islands. There are, however, several kinds of fruit besides those which
have been already mentioned; particularly the sweet-sop, which is well
known to the West Indians, and a small oval fruit, called the _blimbi_,
both of which grow upon trees. The blimbi is about three or four inches
long, and in the middle about as thick as a man's finger, tapering
towards each end: It is covered with a very thin skin of a light green
colour, and in the inside are a few seeds disposed in the form of a
star: Its flavour is a light, clean, pleasant acid, but it cannot be
eaten raw; it is said to be excellent as a pickle; and stewed, it made a
most agreeable sour sauce to our boiled dishes.

The tame animals are buffaloes, sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, pigeons,
horses, asses, dogs, and cats; and of all these there is great plenty.
The buffaloes differ very considerably from the horned cattle of Europe
in several particulars; their ears are much larger, their skins are
almost without hair, their horns are curved towards each other, but
together bend directly backwards, and they have no dewlaps. We saw
several that were as big as a well-grown European ox, and there must be
some much larger; for Mr Banks saw a pair of horns which measured, from
tip to tip, three feet nine inches and a half, across their widest
diameter, four feet one inch and a half, and in the whole sweep of their
semicircle in front, seven feet six inches and a half. It must, however,
be observed, that a buffalo here of any given size, does not weigh above
half as much as an ox of the same size in England: Those that we guessed
to weigh four hundred weight, did not weigh more than two hundred and
fifty; the reason is, that so late in the dry season the bones are very
thinly covered with flesh: There is not an ounce of fat in a whole
carcase, and the flanks are literally nothing but skin and bone: The
flesh, however, is well tasted and juicy, and I suppose better than the
flesh of an English ox would be if he was to starve in this sun-burnt
country.

The horses are from eleven to twelve hands high, but though they are
small, they are spirited and nimble, especially in pacing, which is
their common step: The inhabitants generally ride them without a saddle,
and with no better bridle than a halter. The sheep are of the kind which
in England are called Bengal sheep, and differ from ours in many
particulars. They are covered with hair instead of wool; their ears are
very large, and hang down under their horns, and their noses are arched;
they are thought to have a general resemblance to a goat, and for that
reason are frequently called _cabritos_: Their flesh we thought the
worst mutton we had ever eaten, being as lean as that of the buffaloes,
and without flavour. The hogs, however, were some of the fattest we had
ever seen, though, as we were told, their principal food is the outside
husks of rice, and a palm syrup dissolved in water.[106] The fowls are
chiefly of the game breed, and large, but the eggs are remarkably small.

[Footnote 106: The reader will please remember this evidence of the
nutritious quality of the palm-syrup. He will find it useful very
shortly, when the value of sugar as an article of diet is mentioned.--E]

Of the fish which the sea produces here, we know but little: Turtles are
sometimes found upon the coast, and are by these people, as well as all
others, considered as a dainty.

The people are rather under than over the middling size; the women
especially are remarkably short and squat built: Their complexion is a
dark brown, and their hair universally black and lank. We saw no
difference in the colour of rich and poor, though in the South-Sea
islands those that were exposed to the weather were almost as brown as
the New Hollanders, and the better sort nearly as fair as the natives of
Europe. The men are in general well-made, vigorous, and active, and have
a greater variety in the make and disposition of their features than
usual: The countenances of the women, on the contrary, are all alike.

The men fasten their hair up to the top of their heads with a comb, the
women tie it behind in a club, which is very far from becoming. Both
sexes eradicate the hair from under the arm, and the men do the same by
their beards, for which purpose, the better sort always carry a pair of
silver pincers hanging by a string round their necks; some, however,
suffer a very little hair to remain upon their upper-lips, but this is
always kept short.

The dress of both sexes consists of cotton cloth, which being dyed blue
in the yarn, and not uniformly of the same shade, is in clouds or waves
of that colour, and even in our eye had not an inelegant appearance.
This cloth they manufacture themselves, and two pieces, each about two
yards long, and a yard and a half wide, make a dress: One of them is
worn round the middle, and the other covers the upper part of the body:
The lower edge of the piece that goes round the middle, the men draw
pretty tight just below the fork, the upper edge of it is left loose, so
as to form a kind of hollow belt, which serves them as a pocket to carry
their knives, and other little implements which it is convenient to have
about them. The other piece of cloth is passed through this girdle
behind, and one end of it being brought over the left shoulder, and the
other over the right, they fall down over the breast, and are tucked
into the girdle before, so that by opening or closing the plaits, they
can cover more or less of their bodies as they please; the arms, legs,
and feet are always naked. The difference between the dress of the two
sexes consists principally in the manner of wearing the waist-piece; for
the women, instead of drawing the lower edge tight, and leaving the
upper edge loose for a pocket, draw the upper edge tight, and let the
lower edge fall as low as the knees, so as to form a petticoat; the
body-piece, instead of being passed through the girdle, is fastened
under the arms, and cross the breast with the utmost decency. I have
already observed that the men fastened the hair upon the top of the
head, and the women tie it in a club behind, but there is another
difference in the head-dress, by which the sexes are distinguished: The
women wear nothing as a succedaneum for a cap, but the men constantly
wrap something round their heads in the manner of a fillet; it is small,
but generally of the finest materials that can be procured: We saw some
who applied silk handkerchiefs to this purpose, and others that wore
fine cotton, or muslin, in the manner of a small turban.

These people bore their testimony that the love of finery is a universal
passion, for their ornaments were very numerous. Some of the better sort
wore chains of gold round their necks, but they were made of plaited
wire, and consequently were light and of little value; others had rings,
which were so much worn that they seemed to have descended through many
generations; and one person had a silver-headed cane, marked with a kind
of cypher, consisting of the Roman letters, V, O, C, and therefore
probably a present from the Dutch East India Company, whose mark it is:
They have also ornaments made of beads, which some wear round their
necks as a solitaire, and others as bracelets, upon their wrists: These
are common to both sexes, but the women have, besides, strings or
girdles of beads, which they wear round their waists, and which serve
to keep up their petticoat. Both sexes had their ears bored, nor was
there a single exception that fell under our notice, yet we never saw an
ornament in any of them; we never, indeed, saw either man or woman in
any thing but what appeared to be their ordinary dress, except the king
and his minister, who in general wore a kind of night-gown of coarse
chintz, and one of whom once received us in a black robe, which appeared
to be made of what is called prince's stuff. We saw some boys, about
twelve or fourteen years old, who had spiral circles of thick brass-wire
passed three or four times round their arms, above the elbow, and some
men wore rings of ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in
thickness, upon the same part of the arm; these, we were told, were the
sons of the rajas, or chiefs, who wore those cumbrous ornaments as
badges of their high birth.

Almost all the men had their names traced upon their arms, in indelible
characters of a black colour, and the women had a square ornament of
flourished lines, impressed in the same manner, just under the bend of
the elbow. We were struck with the similitude between these marks and
those made by tattowing in the South-Sea islands, and upon enquiring
into its origin, we learnt that it had been practised by the natives
long before any Europeans came among them, and that in the neighbouring
islands the inhabitants were marked with circles upon their necks and
breasts. The universality of this practice, which prevails among savages
in all parts of the world, from the remotest limits of North America, to
the islands in the South-Seas, and which probably differs but little
from the method of staining the body that was in use among the ancient
inhabitants of Britain, is a curious subject of speculation.[107]

[Footnote 107: In the account which Mr Bossu has given of some Indians
who inhabit the banks of the Akanza, a river of North America, which
rises in New Mexico, and falls into the Mississippi, he relates the
following incident: "The Akanzas," says he, "have adopted me, and as a
mark of my privilege, have imprinted the figure of a roebuck upon my
thigh, which was done in this manner: An Indian having burnt some straw,
diluted the ashes with water, and with this mixture drew the figure upon
my skin; he then retraced it, by pricking the lines with needles, so as
at every puncture just to draw the blood, and the blood mixing with the
ashes of the straw, forms a figure which can never be effaced." See
Travels through Louisiana, vol. i, p. 107.

So far this note is by Dr Hawkesworth. Some observations on the practice
of staining or tattowing the body, have been offered in another part of
this work. It may be worth while to add here the account which
Krustenstern has given of the mode adopted in Nukahiwa, one of the
Washington Islands: "As soon as a Nukahiewer arrives at the age of
puberty, his whole body is tatooed; an art carried to a much greater
perfection in this island than in any other, as they paint, in fact,
their bodies with different figures, rubbing a pleasing colour into the
skin, which is first scratched until it bleeds. Black is the colour
generally used for this purpose, which, after some time, takes a bluish
tinge. The king, his father, and the high-priest, were the only persons
who were coloured quite black, nor was any part of their bodies left
unadorned; the face, eye-lids, and even a part of their heads, from
which the hair had been shaved, being tatooed. Neither in the Society
nor the Friendly Islands is this customary. In the latter, the king
alone is not tatooed; and it is only in New Zealand, and the Sandwich
Islands, as Captain King relates, where the face is tatooed. The New
Zealander and the Nukahiwer have a similar mode of performing this
operation; for instance, they not only mark the body with single upright
figures, or animals, as in the Sandwich Islands, but represent upon it,
in the most perfect symmetry, connected ornaments in concentric rings
and knots, which added greatly to the beauty of its appearance. The
women only tatoo their hands and arms, the ends of their ears, and their
lips. The lower classes are less tatooed, and many of them not at all;
and it is therefore not improbable that this ornament serves to point
out a noble, or, at any rate, a distinguished personage. There are some
among them who have particularly acquired this art; one of whom took up
his residence on board the ship, where he found sufficient employment,
as almost all the sailors underwent the operation." Figures of animals
are favourite decorations for the skin with some people. Hutchinson, in
his History of Massachusets Bay, second edition, tells of the
natives,--"Upon their cheeks, and in many parts of their bodies, some of
them, by incisions, into which they convey a black unchangeable ink,
make the figures of bears, deer, moose, wolves, eagles, hawks, &c, which
were indelible, and generally lasted as long as they lived." Not content
with their own art of embellishment, however, he says, in a note, "Since
they have been furnished with paints from Europe, they daub their faces
with vermillion, and sometimes with blue, green, and other colours."
Colden observes of the five nations of Canada, that their faces were
always painted in a frightful manner when they went out to war, "to make
themselves terrible to their enemies." Neal, speaking of the New
Englanders, says,--"They grease their bodies and hair very often, and
paint themselves all over; their faces and shoulders with a deep red,
and their bodies with a variety of ugly mishapen figures; and he is the
bravest fellow that has the most frightful forms drawn upon him, and
looks most terrible." Again, describing their diversions, "If the
dancers or actors are to shew warlike postures, then they come in
painted for war, some with their faces red, and some black; some black
and red, with streaks of white; under their eyes, as they imagine will
appear most terrible." Captain Carver gives a similar account of the
tribes he saw.--E.]

The houses of Savu are all built upon the same plan, and differ only in
size, being large in proportion to the rank and riches of the
proprietor. Some are four hundred feet long, and some are not more than
twenty: They are all raised upon posts, or piles, about four feet high,
one end of which is driven into the ground, and upon the other end is
laid a substantial floor of wood, so that there is a vacant space of
four feet between the floor of the house and the ground. Upon this floor
are placed other posts or pillars, that Support a roof of sloping sides,
which meet in a ridge at the top, like those of our barns: The eaves of
this roof, which is thatched with palm-leaves, reach within two feet of
the floor, and overhang it as much: The space within is generally
divided lengthwise into three equal parts; the middle part, or centre,
is enclosed by a partition of four sides, reaching about six feet above
the floor, and one or two small rooms are also sometimes taken off from
the sides, the rest of the space under the roof is open, so as freely to
admit the air and the light: The particular uses of these different
apartments, our short stay would not permit us to learn, except that the
close room in the centre was appropriated to the women.

The food of these people consists of every tame animal in the country,
of which the hog holds the first place in their estimation, and the
horse the second; next to the horse is the buffalo, next to the buffalo
their poultry, and they prefer dogs and cats to sheep and goats. They
are not fond of fish, and, I believe, it is never eaten but by the poor
people, nor by them except when their duty or business requires them to
be upon the beach, and then every man is furnished with a light
casting-net, which is girt round him, and makes part of his dress; and
with this he takes any small fish which happen to come in his way.

The esculent vegetables and fruits have been mentioned already, but the
fan-palm requires more particular notice, for at certain times it is a
succedaneum for all other food both to man and beast. A kind of wine,
called toddy, is procured from this tree, by cutting the buds which are
to produce flowers, soon after their appearance, and tying under them
small baskets, made of the leaves, which are so close as to hold liquids
without leaking. The juice which trickles into these vessels is
collected by persons who climb the trees for that purpose, morning and
evening, and is the common drink of every individual upon the island;
yet a much greater quantity is drawn off than is consumed in this use,
and of the surplus they make both a syrup and coarse sugar. The liquor
is called _dua_, or _duac_, and both the syrup and sugar, _gula_. The
syrup is prepared by boiling the liquor down in pots of earthen-ware,
till it is sufficiently inspissated; it is not unlike treacle in
appearance, but is somewhat thicker, and has a much more agreeable
taste: The sugar is of a reddish brown, perhaps the same with the Jugata
sugar upon the continent of India, and it was more agreeable to our
palates than any cane-sugar, unrefined, that we had ever tasted. We were
at first afraid that the syrup, of which some of our people eat very
great quantities, would have brought on fluxes, but its aperient quality
was so very slight, that what effect it produced was rather salutary
than hurtful. I have already observed, that it is given with the husks
of rice to the hogs, and that they grow enormously fat without taking
any other food: We were told also, that this syrup is used to fatten
their dogs and their fowls, and that the inhabitants themselves have
subsisted upon this alone for several months, when other crops have
failed, and animal food has been scarce.[108] The leaves of this tree
are also put to various uses, they thatch houses, and make baskets,
cups, umbrellas, and tobacco-pipes. The fruit is least esteemed, and as
the blossoms are wounded for the tuac or toddy, there is not much of it:
It is about as big as a large turnip, and covered, like the cocoa-nut,
with a fibrous coat, under which are three kernels, that must be eaten
before they are ripe, for afterwards they become so hard that they
cannot be chewed; in their eatable state they taste not unlike a green
cocoa-nut, and, like them, probably they yield a nutriment that is
watery and unsubstantial.

[Footnote 108: Few things are so nutritious to animals as sugar; and
vegetable substances, in general, are nutritious in proportion to the
quantity of it they contain. How it can be pernicious, then, as an
ingredient in diet, it would be very difficult to show, without
disparaging the wisdom and goodness by which the world is supported. But
in fact there is not the least reason for such an opinion; and if the
strongest assertions of most respectable men are at all to be regarded,
a very different one, indeed, must be maintained. A few quotations may
satisfy the reader on the subject, and dispossess him of unfounded
prejudices _reluctantly_ imbibed in the nursery. "So palatable,
salutary, and nourishing is the juice of the cane, that every individual
of the animal creation drinking freely of it, derives health and vigour
from its use. The meagre and sickly among the negroes exhibit a
surprising alteration in a few weeks after the mill is set in action.
The labouring horses, oxen, and mules, though almost constantly at work
during this season, yet being indulged with plenty of the green tops of
this noble plant, and some of the scummings from the boiling-house,
improve more than at any one period of the year. Even the pigs and
poultry fatten on the refuse." So says Mr Edwards. Two physicians quoted
by him speak to the same effect,--take the words of one of them; Dr
Rush, of Philadelphia,--"Sugar affords the greatest quantity of
nourishment in a given quantity of matter, of any substance in nature.
Used alone, it has fattened horses and cattle in St Domingo, for a
period of several months. The plentiful use of sugar in diet is one of
the best preventatives that ever has been discovered, of the diseases
which are produced by worms. The plague has never been known in this
country, where sugar composes a material part of the diet of the
inhabitants." Dr Mosely, in his Treatise on Sugar, speaks equally
confidently of the nutritious and beneficial effects of this substance.
Now, indeed, the concurrent testimony and opinions of medical men are so
decided on the subject, that it seems impossible to entertain any other
sentiment. The principal objection to the use of sugar in diet, is what
applies to certain cases only, when the stomach and bowels are
_particularly_ disordered, or where there is a strong tendency to an
over full state of the blood-vessels, tending to the production of palsy
or apoplexy, which this article, from its very nutritious properties,
and because also it perhaps undergoes a sort of fermentation in the
stomach, by which something of the nature of wine may be produced, would
be apt rather to augment.--E.]

The common method of dressing food here is by boiling, and as fire-wood
is very scarce, and the inhabitants have no other fuel, they make use of
a contrivance to save it, that is not wholly unknown in Europe, but is
seldom practised, except in camps. They dig a hollow under ground, in a
horizontal direction, like a rabbit-burrow, about two yards long, and
opening into a hole at each end, one of which is large, and the other
small: By the large hole the fire is put in, and the small one serves
for a draught. The earth over this burrow is perforated by circular
holes, which communicate with the cavity below; and in these holes are
set earthen pots, generally about three to each fire, which are large in
the middle, and taper towards the bottom, so that the fire acts upon a
large part of their surface. Each of these pots generally contains about
eight or ten gallons, and it is surprising to see with how small a
quantity of fire they may be kept boiling; a palm-leaf, or a dry stalk
thrust in now and then, is sufficient: In this manner they boil all
their victuals, and make all their syrup and sugar. It appears by
Frazier's account of his voyage to the South-Sea, that the Peruvian
Indians have a contrivance of the same kind, and perhaps it might be
adopted with advantage by the poor people even of this country, where
fuel is very dear.

Both sexes are enslaved by the hateful and pernicious habit of chewing
betel and areca, which they contract even while they are children, and
practise incessantly from morning till night. With these they always mix
a kind of white lime, made of coral stone and shells, and frequently a
small quantity of tobacco, so that their mouths are disgustful in the
highest degree both to the smell and the sight: The tobacco taints their
breath, and the betel and lime make the teeth not only as black as
charcoal, but as rotten too. I have seen men between twenty and thirty,
whose fore-teeth have been consumed almost down to the gums, though no
two of them were exactly of the same length or thickness, but
irregularly corroded, like iron by rust. The loss of teeth is, I think,
by all who have written upon the subject, imputed to the tough and
stringy coat of the areca-nut; but I impute it wholly to the lime: They
are not loosened, or broken, or forced out, as might be expected if they
were injured by the continual chewing of hard and rough substances, but
they are gradually wasted like metals that are exposed to the action of
powerful acids; the stumps always adhering firmly to the socket in the
jaw, when there is no part of the tooth above the gums: And possibly
those who suppose that sugar has a bad effect upon the teeth of
Europeans, may not be mistaken, for it is well known that refined
loaf-sugar contains a considerable quantity of lime; and he that doubts
whether lime will destroy bone of any kind, may easily ascertain the
fact by experiment.[109]

[Footnote 109: The injurious effect of sugar on the teeth, it is
believed, is not now seriously contended for by any persons who think
and make observations on the matter, though, undoubtedly, the assertion
respecting it holds its place as strongly as ever, among the economical
maxims of prudent matrons. A word or two as to lime. When this is spoken
of, let it be understood always what is meant; whether pure lime, that
is what is called burnt lime, or the same substance in combination with
fixed air, or carbonic acid, of which the process of burning deprives
it. The effects of these two preparations are exceedingly different on
animal bodies; the former causing rapid decomposition and consumption;
the latter being, on the contrary, quite inert. Loaf-sugar, though
prepared by means of lime, ought never to contain a particle of it, and
scarcely ever does. So that, on the whole, the remarks in the text are
totally incorrect. As a matter of fact, again, the writer, from his own
experience, and as what he has often occasion to recommend to others,
takes the liberty of prescribing a tooth-powder, equal in comfort,
efficacy, and safety, to any sold in the shops under such pompous and
imposing titles. It consists of equal parts of lump-sugar, (the finer
the better) Spanish or French chalk, (which is in fact lime) rose-pink,
(for the purpose of colouring, and also as an absorbent) and oris-root,
(remarkable for its pleasant smell, and to be had in the perfumers' or
druggists' shops, ready powdered) all in very fine powder, and properly
mixed together. A box of this never-to-be-excelled dentifrice, may cost
two-pence, or so, for which, however, or for something else not a whit
better, if as good, they who choose may give half-a-crown. When the
teeth are already tolerably clean, and not encrusted with what is called
tartar, a soft brush is always to be preferred, as risking the enamel
less. Hard brushes and gritty powders ruin more teeth than all the sugar
and lime in the world. Charcoal is undoubtedly a good substitute for a
_tooth-powder_; but it is to be objected to as leaving black furrows in
the gums, which even much washing fails to remove in any reasonable
time. This is a good deal obviated when it forms but a part of the
article used. It may be mixed with the powder recommended.--E.]

If the people here are at any time without this odious mouthful, they
are smoking. This operation they perform by rolling up a small quantity
of tobacco, and putting it into one end of a tube about six inches long,
and as thick as a goose-quill, which they make of a palm leaf. As the
quantity of tobacco in these pipes is very small, the effect of it is
increased, especially among the women, by swallowing the smoke.

When the natives of this island were first formed into civil society, is
not certainly known, but at present it is divided into five
principalities or nigrees: _Laai_, _Seba_, _Regeeua_, _Timo_, and
_Massara_, each of which is governed by its respective raja or king. The
raja of Seba, the principality in which we were ashore, seemed to have
great authority, without much external parade or show, or much
appearance of personal respect. He was about five-and-thirty years of
age, and the fattest man we saw upon the whole island; he appeared to
be of a dull phlegmatic disposition, and to be directed almost
implicitly by the old man who, upon my presenting him with a sword, had
procured us a fair market, in spite of the craft and avarice of the
Dutch-factors. The name of this person was _Mannu Djarme_, and it may
reasonably be supposed that he was a man of uncommon integrity and
abilities, as, notwithstanding his possession of power in the character
of a favourite, he was beloved by the whole principality. If any
difference arises among the people, it is settled by the raja and his
counsellors, without delay or appeal, and, as we were told, with the
most solemn deliberation and impartial justice.

We were informed by Mr Lange, that the chiefs who had successively
presided over the five principalities of this island, had lived for time
immemorial in the strictest alliance and most cordial friendship with
each other; yet he said the people were of a warlike disposition, and
had always courageously defended themselves against foreign invaders. We
were told also that the island was able to raise, upon very short
notice, 7300 fighting men, armed with muskets, spears, lances, and
targets. Of this force, Laai was said to furnish 2600; Seba, 2000;
Regeeua, 1500; Timo, 800; and Massara, 400. Besides the arms that have
been already mentioned, each man is furnished with a large pole-ax,
resembling a wood-bill, except that it has a straight edge, and is much
heavier: This, in the hands of people who have courage to come to close
quarters with an enemy, must be a dreadful weapon; and we were told that
they were so dexterous with their lances, that at the distance of sixty
feet they would throw them with such exactness as to pierce a man's
heart, and such force as to go quite through his body.

How far this account of the martial prowess of the inhabitants of Savu
may be true, we cannot take upon us to determine; but during our stay,
we saw no appearance of it. We saw indeed in the town-house, or house of
assembly, about one hundred spears and targets, which served to arm the
people who were sent down to intimidate us at the trading place; but
they seemed to be the refuse of old armories, no two being of the same
make or length, for some were six, and some sixteen feet long: We saw no
lance among them, and as to the muskets, though they were clean on the
outside, they were eaten into holes by the rust within; and the people
themselves appeared to be so little acquainted with military discipline,
that they marched like a disorderly rabble, every one having, instead of
his target, a cock, some tobacco, or other merchandise of the like
kind, which he took that opportunity to bring down to sell, and few or
none of their cartridge-boxes were furnished with either powder or ball,
though a piece of paper was thrust into the hole to save appearances. We
saw a few swivel guns and pateraros at the town-house, and a great gun
before it; but the swivels and pateraros lay out of their carriages, and
the great gun lay upon a heap of stones, almost consumed with rust, with
the touch-hole downwards, possibly to conceal its size, which might
perhaps be little less than that of the bore.

We could not discover that among these people there was any rank of
distinction between the raja and the landowners: The land-owners were
respectable in proportion to their possessions; the inferior ranks
consist of manufacturers, labouring poor, and slaves. The slaves, like
the peasants in some parts of Europe, are connected with the estate, and
both descend together: But though the landowner can sell his slave, he
has no other power over his person, not even to correct him, without the
privity and approbation of the raja. Some have five hundred of these
slaves, and some not half a dozen: The common price of them is a fat
hog. When a great man goes out, he is constantly attended by two or more
of them: One of them carries a sword or hanger, the hilt of which is
commonly of silver, and adorned with large tassels of horse hair; and
another carries a bag which contains betel, areca, lime, and tobacco. In
these attendants consists all their magnificence, for the raja himself
has no other mark of distinction.

The chief object of pride among these people, like that of a Welchman,
is a long pedigree of respectable ancestors, and indeed a veneration for
antiquity seems to be carried farther here than in any other country:
Even a house that has been well inhabited for many generations, becomes
almost sacred, and few articles either of use or luxury bear so high a
price as stones, which having been long sat upon, are become even and
smooth: Those who can purchase such stones, or are possessed of them by
inheritance, place them round their houses, where they serve as seats
for their dependants.[110]

[Footnote 110: The specification of the Welch here is very vulgar, and
the more so, as obviously sarcastic. Deeper or more scientific
observation would have led Dr Hawkesworth to some general principle
which produces a love of ancestry in all our species. Mr Gibbon has very
expressively described it, in the beginning of the memoirs of his own
life, to which the reader is referred. Nothing is less becoming a
philosopher, than wittily pointing out national peculiarities, without
taking the least pains to discover the foundations on which they are
built, or connecting them with circumstances and principles common to
mankind. Every thing, in fact, will seem anomalous and insulated in the
history of different nations, if it is not distinctly recollected that
human nature is the same throughout the globe which it inhabits, and is
merely modified by external causes.--E.]

Every Raja sets up in the principal town of his province, or nigree, a
large stone, which serves as a memorial of his reign. In the principal
town of Seba, where we lay, there are thirteen such stones, besides many
fragments of others, which had been set up in earlier times, and are now
mouldering away: These monuments seem to prove that some kind of civil
establishment here is of considerable antiquity. The last thirteen
reigns in England make something more than 276 years.

Many of these stones are so large, that it is difficult to conceive by
what means they were brought to their present station, especially as it
is the summit of a hill; but the world is full of memorials of human
strength, in which the mechanical powers that have been since added by
mathematical science, seem to be surpassed; and of such monuments there
are not a few among the remains of barbarous antiquity in our own
country, besides those upon Salisbury plain.

These stones not only record the reigns of successive princes, but serve
for a purpose much more extraordinary, and probably altogether peculiar
to this country. When a raja dies, a general feast is proclaimed
throughout his dominions, and all his subjects assemble round these
stones: Almost every living creature that can be caught is then killed,
and the feast lasts for a less or greater number of weeks or months, as
the kingdom happens to be more or lets furnished with live stock at the
time; the stones serve for tables. When this madness is over, a fast
must necessarily ensue, and the whole kingdom is obliged to subsist upon
syrup and water, if it happens in the dry season, when no vegetables can
be procured, till a new stock of animals can be raised from the few that
have escaped by chance, or been preserved by policy from the general
massacre, or can be procured from the neighbouring kingdoms. Such,
however, is the account that we received from Mr Lange.

We had no opportunity to examine any of their manufactures, except that
of their cloth, which they spin, weave, and dye; we did not indeed see
them employed, but many of the instruments which they use fell in our
way. We saw their machine for clearing cotton of its seeds, which is
made upon the same principles as those in Europe, but is so small that
it might be taken for a model, or a toy: It consists of two cylinders,
like our round rulers, somewhat less than an inch in diameter, one of
which, being turned round by a plain winch, turns the other by means of
an endless worm; and the whole machine is not more than fourteen inches
long, and seven high: That which we saw had been much used, and many
pieces of cotton were hanging about it, so that there is no reason to
doubt its being a fair specimen of the rest. We also once saw their
apparatus for spinning; it consisted of a bobbin, on which was wound a
small quantity of thread, and a kind of distaff filled with cotton; we
conjectured therefore that they spin by hand, as the women of Europe did
before the introduction of wheels; and I am told that they have not yet
found their way into some parts of it. Their loom seemed to be in one
respect preferable to ours, for the web was not stretched upon a frame,
but extended by a piece of wood at each end, round one of which the
cloth was rolled, and round the other the threads: The web was about
half a yard broad, and the length of the shuttle was equal to the
breadth of the web, so that probably their work goes on but slowly. That
they dyed this cloth we first guessed from its colour, and from the
indigo which we saw in their plantations; and our conjecture was
afterwards confirmed by Mr Lange's account. I have already observed,
that it is dyed in the yarn, and we once saw them dying what was said to
be girdles for the women, of a dirty red, but with what drug we did not
think it worth while to enquire.

The religion of these people, according to Mr Lange's information, is an
absurd kind of paganism, every man chusing his own god, and determining
for himself how he should be worshipped; so that there are almost as
many gods and modes of worship as people. In their morals, however, they
are said to be irreproachable, even upon the principles of Christianity:
No man is allowed more than one wife; yet an illicit commerce between
the sexes is in a manner unknown among them: Instances of theft are very
rare; and they are so far from revenging a supposed injury by murder,
that if any difference arises between them, they will not so much as
make it the subject of debate, lest they should be provoked to
resentment and ill-will, but immediately and implicitly refer it to the
determination of their king.

They appeared to be a healthy and long-lived people; yet some of them
were marked with the small-pox, which Mr Lange told us had several times
made its appearance among them, and was treated with the same precaution
as the plague. As soon as a person was seized with the distemper, he
was removed to some solitary place, very remote from any habitation,
where the disease was left to take its course, and the patient supplied
with daily food by reaching it to him at the end of a long pole.

Of their domestic economy we could learn but little: In one instance,
however, their delicacy and cleanliness are very remarkable. Many of us
were ashore here three successive days, from a very early hour in the
morning till it was dark; yet we never saw the least trace of an
offering to Cloacina, nor could we so much as guess where they were
made. In a country so populous this is very difficult to be accounted
for, and perhaps there is no other country in the world where the secret
is so effectually kept.

The boats in use here are a kind of proa.

This island was settled by the Portugueze almost as soon as they first
found their way into this part of the ocean; but they were in a short
time supplanted by the Dutch. The Dutch however did not take possession
of it, but only sent sloops to trade with the natives, probably for
provisions to support the inhabitants of their spice islands, who,
applying themselves wholly to the cultivation of that important article
of trade, and laying out all their ground in plantations, can breed few
animals: Possibly their supplies by this occasional traffic were
precarious; possibly they were jealous of being supplanted in their
turn; but however that be, their East India Company, about ten years
before, entered into a treaty with the rajas, by which the Company
stipulated to furnish each of them with a certain quantity of silk, fine
linen, cutlery ware, arrack, and other articles, every year; and the
rajas engaged that neither they nor their subjects should trade with any
person except the Company, without having first obtained their consent,
and that they would admit a resident on behalf of the Company, to reside
upon the island, and see that their part of the treaty was fulfilled:
They also engaged to supply annually a certain quantity of rice, maize,
and calevances. The maize and calevances are sent to Timor in sloops,
which are kept there for that purpose, each of which is navigated by ten
Indians; and the rice is fetched away annually by a ship which brings
the Company's returns, and anchors alternately in each of the three
bays. These returns are delivered to the rajas in the form of a
present, and the cask of arrack they and their principal people never
cease to drink, as long as a drop of it remains. In consequence of this
treaty, the Dutch placed three persons upon the island: Mr Lange, his
colleague, the native of Timor, the son of an Indian woman by a
Portuguese, and one Frederick Craig, the son of an Indian woman by a
Dutchman. Lange visited each of the rajas once in two months, when he
made the tour of the island, attended by fifty slaves on horseback. He
exhorted these chiefs to plant, if it appeared that they had been
remiss, and observed where the crops were got in, that he might order
sloops to fetch it; so that it passed immediately from the ground to the
Dutch store-houses at Timor. In these excursions he always carried with
him some bottles of arrack, which he found of great use in opening the
hearts of the rajas, with whom he had to deal.

During the ten years that he had resided upon this island he had never
seen a European besides ourselves, except at the arrival of the Dutch
ship, which had sailed about two months before we arrived; and he was to
be distinguished from the natives only by his colour and his dress, for
he sate upon the ground, chewed his betel, and in every respect adopted
their character and manners: He had married an Indian woman of the
island of Timor, who kept his house after the fashion of her country;
and he gave that as a reason for not inviting us to visit him, saying,
that he could entertain us in no other manner than the Indians had done,
and he spoke no language readily but that of the country.

The office of Mr Frederick Craig was to instruct the youth of the
country in reading and writing, and the principles of the Christian
religion; the Dutch having printed versions of the New Testament, a
catechism, and several other tracts, in the language of this and the
neighbouring islands. Dr Solander, who was at his house, saw the books,
and the copy-books also, of his scholars, many of whom wrote a very fair
hand. He boasted that there were no less than six hundred Christians in
the township of Seba; but what the Dutch Christianity of these Indians
may be, it is not perhaps very easy to guess, for there was not a
church, nor even a priest, in the whole island.

While we were at this place, we made several enquiries concerning the
neighbouring islands, and the intelligence which we received is to the
following effect:--

A small island to the westward of Savu, the name of which we did not
learn, produces nothing of any consequence but areca-nuts, of which the
Dutch receive annually the freight of two sloops, in return for presents
that they make to the islanders.

Timor is the chief, and the Dutch residents on the other islands go
thither once a-year to pass their accounts. The place was nearly in the
same state as in Dampier's time, the Dutch having there a fort and
storehouses; and by Lange's account we might there have been supplied
with every necessary that we expected to procure at Batavia, salt
provisions and arrack not excepted. But the Portuguese were still in
possession of several towns on the north side of the island,
particularly Laphao and Sesial.

About two years before our arrival, a French ship was wrecked upon the
east coast of Timor; and after she had lain some days upon the shoal, a
sudden gale broke her up at once, and drowned the captain, with the
greatest part of the crew: Those who got ashore, among whom was one of
the lieutenants, made the best of their way to Concordia; they were four
days upon the road, where they were obliged to leave part of their
company through fatigue, and the rest, to the number of about eighty,
arrived at the town. They were supplied with every necessary, and sent
back to the wreck, with proper assistance, for recovering what could be
fished up: They fortunately got up all their bullion, which was in
chests, and several of their guns, which were very large. They then
returned to the town, but their companions who had been left upon the
road were missing, having, as it was supposed, been kept among the
Indians, either by persuasion or force; for they are very desirous of
having Europeans among them, to instruct them in the art of war. After a
stay of more than two months at Concordia, their number was diminished
nearly one half by sickness, in consequence of the fatigue and hardship
which they had suffered by the shipwreck, and the survivors were sent in
a small vessel to Europe.

Rotte was in much the same situation as Savu; a Dutch factor resided
upon it to manage the natives, and look after its produce, which
consists, among other articles, of sugar. Formerly it was made only by
bruising the canes, and boiling the juice to a syrup, in the same manner
as toddy; but great improvements have lately been made in preparing this
valuable commodity. The three little islands called the Solars were also
under the influence of the Dutch settlement at Concordia: They are flat
and low, but abound with provisions of every kind, and the middlemost
is said to have a good harbour for shipping. Ende, another little
island to the westward of the Solars, was still in the hands of the
Portuguese, who had a good town and harbour on the north-east corner of
it called Larntuca: They had formerly an harbour on the south side of
it, but that, being much inferior to Larntuca, had for some time been
altogether neglected.

The inhabitants of each of these little islands speak a language
peculiar to themselves, and it is an object of Dutch policy to prevent,
as much as possible, their learning the language of each other. If they
spoke a common language, they would learn, by a mutual intercourse with
each other, to plant such things as would be of more value to themselves
than their present produce, though of less advantage to the Dutch; but
their languages being different, they can communicate no such knowledge
to each other, and the Dutch secure to themselves the benefit of
supplying their several necessities upon their own terms, which it is
reasonable to suppose are not very moderate. It is probably with a view
to this advantage that the Dutch never teach their own language to the
natives of these islands, and have been at the expence of translating
the Testament and catechisms into the different languages of each; for
in proportion as Dutch had become the language of their religion, it
would have become the common language of them all.[111]

[Footnote 111: The Dutch in all their transactions abroad seem to have
invariably minded the _main chance, the one thing needful_; and to this
consideration, as a fundamental principle in their character, they never
scrupled to sacrifice every and any matter of religion, policy or
humanity,--as if the love of money was (to reverse the language of an
apostle) the root of all virtue, and alone worthy of cultivation in the
breasts of mankind. Whether their contempt of other people were greater
than their indifference to the real interests which necessary connexion
with them recommended, it is impossible to ascertain in some cases. It
is on either supposition, to their indelible disgrace, that not the
least pains were almost at any time bestowed by them, to acquire a
knowledge of the languages of the people whom they had subdued. The
Javanese, a language venerable from its antiquity, as certainly
connected with the Sanscrit or sacred dialect of the Hindus, and
important from its own excellence, as well as because spoken by some
millions of people with whom the Dutch had very long intercourse, was so
completely neglected, that till very lately not a single individual
among them could write or converse in it. Of the Malayan tongue, which
is quite distinct, though it has borrowed much from it, in consequence
of certain commercial and even religious intercourse, a little knowledge
had been acquired, and plainly for this reason, that without it no
communication could have been carried on with the people inhabiting the
sea-coasts and islands of the eastern parts of India. But even this
knowledge, it is probable, extended no farther than to the names of
substances imperatively alluring to the cupidity of Dutch merchants.
What, alas! could be expected of intellectual energy or enterprize, from
men who had surrendered their souls to _mammon_, and whose only
remaining care it was, to guzzle gin and devour enough of victuals?--E.]

To this account of Savu, I shall only add a small specimen of its
language, by which it will appear to have some affinity with that of the
South-Sea islands, many of the words being exactly the same, and the
numbers manifestly derived from the same source.


   _A man_,           Momonne.          _A sheep_,        Doomba.
   _A woman_,         Mobunne.          _A goat_,         Kesavoo.
   _The head_,        Catoo.            _A dog_,          Guaca.
   _The hair_,        Row catoo.        _A cat_,          Maio.
   _The eyes_,        Matta.            _A fowl_,         Mannu.
   _The eye_  }       Rowna matta.      _The tail_,       Carow.
   _lashes_,  }                         _The beak_,       Pangoutoo.
   _The nose_,        Swanga.           _A fish_,         Ica.
   _The cheeks_,      Cavaranga.        _A turtle_,       Unjoo.
   _The ears_,        Wodeeloo.         _A cocoa-nut_,    Nieu.
   _The tongue_,      Vaio.             _Fan-palm_,       Boaceree.
   _The neck_,        Lacoco.           _Areca_,          Calella.
   _The breasts_,     Soosoo.           _Betele_,         Canana.
   _The nipples_,     Caboo soosoo.     _Lime_,           Aou.
   _The belly_,       Dulloo.           _A fish-hook_,    Maänadoo.
   _The navel_,       Assoo.            _Tattow, the_}    Tata.
   _The thighs_,      Tooga.            _marks on_   }
   _The knees_,       Rootoo.           _the skin_,  }
   _The legs_,        Baibo.            _The sun_,        Lodo.
   _The feet_,        Dunceala.         _The moon_,       Wurroo.
   _The toes_,        Kissovei yilla.   _The sea_,        Aidassee.
   _The arms_,        Camacoo.          _Water_,          Ailea.
   _The hand_,        Wulaba.           _Fire_,           Aee.
   _A buffalo_,       Cabaou.           _To die_,         Maate.
   _A horse_,         Djara.            _To sleep_,       Tabudge.
   _A hog_,           Vavee.            _To rise_,        Tateetoo.

   One,            Usse.
   Two,            Lhua.
   Three,          Tullu.
   Four,           Uppah.
   Five,           Lumme.
   Six,            Unna.
   Seven,          Pedu.
   Eight,          Arru.
   Nine,           Saou.
   Ten,            Singooroo.
   Eleven          Singurung usse.
   20,             Lhuangooroo.
   100,            Sing assu.
   1000,           Setuppah.
   10,000,         Selacussa.
   100,000,        Serata.
   1,000,000,      Sereboo.


In this account of the island of Savu it must be remembered, that,
except the facts in which we were parties, and the account of the
objects which we had an opportunity to examine, the whole is founded
merely upon the report of Mr Lange, upon whose authority alone therefore
it most rest.


SECTION XXXVII.

_The Run from the Island of Savu to Batavia, and an Account of the
Transactions there while the Ship was refitting_.


In the morning of Friday the 21st of September, 1770, we got under sail,
and stood away to the westward, along the north side of the island of
Savu, and of the smaller that lies to the westward of it, which at noon
bore from us S.S.E. distant two leagues. At four o'clock in the
afternoon, we discovered a small low island, bearing S.S.W. distant
three leagues, which has no place in any chart now extant, at least in
none that I have been able to procure: It lies in latitude 10° 47' S.,
longitude 238° 28' W.

At noon on the 22d, we were in latitude 11° 10' S., longitude 240° 38'
W. In the evening of the 23d, we found the variation of the needle to be
2° 44' W.; as soon as we got clear of the islands we had constantly a
swell from the southward, which I imagined was not caused by a wind
blowing from that quarter, but by the sea being so determined by the
position of the coast of New Holland.

At noon on the 26th, being in latitude 10° 47' S., longitude 249° 52'
W., we found the variation to be 3° 10' W., and our situation to be
twenty-five miles to the northward of the log; for which I know not how
to account. At noon on the 27th, our latitude by observation was 10° 51'
S., which was agreeable to the log; and our longitude was 252° 11' W. We
steered N.W. all day on the 28th, in order to make the land of Java; and
at noon on the 29th, our latitude by observation was 9° 31' S.,
longitude 254° 10' W.; and in the morning of the 30th, I took into my
possession the log-book and journals, at least all I could find, of the
officers, petty officers, and seamen, and enjoined them secrecy with
respect to where they had been.

At seven in the evening, being in the latitude of Java Head, and not
seeing any land, I concluded that we were too far to the westward: I
therefore hauled up E.N.E. having before steered N. by E. In the night,
we had thunder and lightning; and about twelve o'clock, by the light of
the flashes, we saw the land bearing east. I then tacked and stood to
the S.W. till four o'clock in the morning of the 1st of October; and at
six, Java Head, or the west end of Java, bore S.E. by E., distant five
leagues: Soon after we saw Prince's Island, bearing E. 1/2 S.; and at
ten, the island of Cracatoa, bearing N.E. Cracatoa is a remarkably
high-peaked island, and at noon it bore N. 40 E. distant seven leagues.

I must now observe that, during our run from Savu, I allowed twenty
minutes a-day for the westerly current, which I concluded must run
strong at this time, especially off the coast of Java, and I found that
this allowance was just equivalent to the effect of the current upon the
ship.[112]

[Footnote 112: This is a single but not an inconsiderable instance of
Cook's skill, in the important art of navigation.--E.]

At four o'clock in the morning of the 2d, we fetched close in with the
coast of Java, in fifteen fathom; we then stood along the coast, and
early in the forenoon, I sent the boat ashore to try if she could
procure some fruit for Tupia, who was very ill, and some grass for the
buffaloes that were still alive. In an hour or two she returned with
four cocoa-nuts, and a small bunch of plantains, which had been
purchased for a shilling, and some herbage for the cattle, which the
Indians not only gave us, but assisted our people to cut. The country
looked like one continued wood, and had a very pleasant appearance.

About eleven o'clock, we saw two Dutch ships lying off Anger Point, and
I sent Mr Hicks on board of one of them to enquire news of our country,
from which we had been absent so long. In the mean time it fell calm,
and about noon I anchored in eighteen fathom with a muddy bottom.[113]
When Mr Hicks returned, he reported that the ships were Dutch East
Indiamen from Batavia, one of which was bound to Ceylon, and the other
to the coast of Malabar; and that there was also a flyboat or packet,
which was said to be stationed here to carry letters from the Dutch
ships that came hither to Batavia, but which I rather think was
appointed to examine all ships that pass the Streight: From these ships
we heard, with great pleasure, that the Swallow had been at Batavia
about two years before.[114]

[Footnote 113: Mr Barrow advises that vessels should touch at Anger or
Angeire Point, for refreshments. He says it is vastly better than
stopping near North Island, on the Sumatra side, as the stores are much
superior, and the station is very healthy.--E.]

[Footnote 114: This is related in the preceding volume.--E.]

At seven o'clock a breeze sprung up at S.S.W., with which having
weighed, we stood to the N.E. between Thwart-the-way-Island and the Cap,
sounding from eighteen to twenty-eight fathom: We had but little wind
all night, and having a strong current against us, we got no further by
eight in the morning than Bantam Point. At this time the wind came to
the N.E., and obliged us to anchor in two-and-twenty fathom, at about
the distance of two miles from the shore; the point bore N.E. by E.,
distant one league, and here we found a strong current setting to the
N.W. In the morning we had seen the Dutch packet standing after us, but
when the wind shifted to the N.E. she bore away.[115]

[Footnote 115: There is considerable difficulty at certain seasons, in
working up this strait. Thus it is not unusual for a vessel going at a
wrong time, to be six weeks in accomplishing a distance, which at
another time may be gone over in twelve hours. This, however, is when
the Great Channel, as it is called, is attempted at a wrong season. The
Secured Passage or Bahonden, viz. betwixt Java and Prince's Island, is
more generally navigated, except by vessels coming from Bengal, Surat,
&c. which cannot reach the windward shore of Java against the south-east
monsoon. Those which take the Secured Passage soon get into anchoring
depth off the Java shore, which is one of its greatest advantages,--E.]

At six o'clock in the evening, the wind having obliged us to continue at
anchor, one of the country boats came along side of us, on board of
which was the master of the packet. He seemed to have two motives for
his visit, one to take an account of the ship, and the other to sell us
refreshments; for in the boat were turtle, fowls, ducks, parrots,
paroquets, rice-birds, monkies, and other articles, which they held at a
very high price, and brought to a bad market, for our Savu stock was not
yet expended: However, I gave a Spanish dollar for a small turtle, which
weighed about six-and-thirty pounds: I gave also a dollar for ten large
fowls, and afterwards bought fifteen more at the same price; for a
dollar we might also have bought two monkies, or a whole cage of
rice-birds. The master of the sloop brought with him two books, in one
of which he desired that any of our officers would write down the name
of the ship and its commander, with that of the place from which she
sailed, and of the port to which she was bound, with such other
particulars relating to themselves, as they might think proper, for the
information of any of our friends that should come after us: And in the
other he entered the names of the ship and the commander himself, in
order to transmit them, to the governor and council of the Indies. We
perceived that in the first book many ships, particularly Portuguese,
had made entries of the same kind with that for which it was presented
to us. Mr Hicks, however, having written the name of the ship, only
added "from Europe." He took notice of this, but said, that he was
satisfied with any thing we thought fit to write, it being intended
merely for the information of those who should enquire after us from
motives of friendship.

Having made several attempts to sail with a wind that would not stem the
current, and as often come to an anchor, a proa came along-side of us in
the morning of the 5th, in which was a Dutch officer, who sent me down a
printed paper in English, duplicates of which he had in other languages,
particularly in French and Dutch, all regularly signed, in the name of
the governor and council of the Indies, by their secretary: It
contained nine questions, very ill expressed, in the following terms:

   "1. To what nation the ship belongs, and its name?
   "2. If it comes from Europe, or any other place?
   "3. From what place it lastly departed from?
   "4. Whereunto designed to go?
   "5. What and how many ships of the Dutch Company
       by departure from the last shore there layed, and their
       names?
   "6. If one or more of these ships in company with this,
       is departed for this or any other place?
   "7. If during the voyage any particularities is happened
       or seen?
   "8. If not any ships in sea, or the Streights of Sunda,
       have seen or hailed in, and which?
   "9. If any other news worth of attention, at the place
       from whence the ship lastly departed, or during the voyage,
       is happened?

   BATAVIA, in the Castle.
   "By order of the Governor-General
   and the Counsellors of India,
   J. BRANDER BUNGL, Sec."

Of these questions I answered only the first and the fourth; which when
the officer saw, he said answers to the rest were of no consequence: Yet
he immediately added, that he must send that very paper away to Batavia,
and that it would be there the next day at noon. I have particularly
related this incident, because I have been credibly informed that it is
but of late years that the Dutch have taken upon them to examine the
ships that pass through this Streight.[116]

[Footnote 116: The Dutch East-India Company claimed the absolute
sovereignty of the Straits of Sunda, as possessing the kingdom of
Bantam, on the shore of Java, and having conquered the land of Lampon
and other provinces on the opposite side.--E.]

At ten o'clock the same morning, we weighed, with a light breeze at
S.W.; but did little more than stem the current, and about two o'clock
anchored again under Bantam Point, where we lay till nine; a light
breeze then springing up at S.E. we weighed and stood to the eastward
till ten o'clock the next morning, when the current obliged us again to
anchor in twenty-two fathom, Pulababi bearing E. by S. 1/2 S. distant
between three and four miles. Having alternately weighed and anchored
several times, till four in the afternoon of the 7th, we then stood to
the eastward, with a very faint breeze at N.E. and passed Wapen Island,
and the first island to the eastward of it; when the wind dying away, we
were carried by the current between the first and second of the islands
that lie to the eastward of Wapen Island, where we were obliged to
anchor in thirty fathom, being very near a ledge of rocks that run out
from one of the islands. At two the next morning we weighed with the
land-wind at south, and stood out clear of the shoal; but before noon
were obliged to come-to again in twenty-eight fathom, near a small
island among those that are called the Thousand Islands, which we did
not find laid down in any chart. Pulo Pare at this time bore E.N.E.
distance between six and seven miles.

Mr Banks and Dr Solander went ashore upon the island, which they found
not to be more than five hundred yards long, and one hundred broad; yet
there was a house upon it, and a small plantation, where among other
things was the _Palma Christi_, from which the caster-oil is made in the
West Indies:[117] they made a small addition to their collection of
plants, and shot a bat, whose wings when extended measured three feet
from point to point: They shot also four plovers, which exactly
resembled the golden plover of England. Soon after they returned, a
small Indian boat came along-side with two Malays on board, who brought
three turtles, some dried fish, and a few pumpkins: We bought the
turtle, which altogether weighed a hundred and forty-six pounds, for a
dollar, and considering that we had lately paid the Dutchman a dollar
for one that weighed only six-and-thirty pounds, we thought we had a
good bargain. The seller appeared equally satisfied, and we then treated
with him for his pumpkins, for which he was very unwilling to take any
money but a dollar; we said that a whole dollar was greatly too much; to
which he readily assented, but desired that we would cut one and give
him a part: At last, however, a fine shining Portuguese petack tempted
him, and for that he sold us his whole stock of pumpkins, being in
number twenty-six. At parting, he made signs that we should not tell at
Batavia that any boat had been aboard us.

[Footnote 117: The Ricinus Communis: The oil is obtained from the seeds,
either by expression or decoction.--E.]

We were not able to weather Polo Pare this day, but getting the
land-wind at south about ten o'clock at night, we weighed and stood to
the E.S.E. all night. At ten in the morning, we anchored again, to wait
for the sea-breeze; and at noon it sprung up at N.N.E. with which we
stood in for Batavia road, where at four o'clock in the afternoon we
came to an anchor.

We found here the Harcourt Indiaman from England, two English private
traders of that country, thirteen sail of large Dutch ships, and a
considerable number of small vessels.

A boat came immediately on board from a ship which had a broad pendant
flying, and the officer who commanded having enquired who we were, and
whence we came, immediately returned with such answers as we thought fit
to give him: Both he and his people were pale as spectres a sad presage
of our sufferings in so unhealthy a country; but our people, who, except
Tupia, were all rosy and plump seemed to think themselves so seasoned by
various-climates that nothing could hurt them.[118] In the mean time, I
sent a lieutenant ashore to acquaint the governor of our arrival and to
make an excuse for our not saluting; for as I could salute with only
three guns, except the swivels, which I was of opinion would not be
heard, I thought it was better to let it alone. As soon as the boat was
dispatched, the carpenter delivered me an account of the defects of the
ship, of which the following is a copy:

   "The defects of his Majesty's bark Endeavour,
      "Lieutenant James Cook Commander.

   "The ship very leaky, as she makes from twelve to six
   inches water an hour, occasioned by her main keel being
   wounded in many places, and the scarfs of her stern being
   very open: The false keel gone beyond the midships from
   forward, and perhaps farther, as I had no opportunity of
   seeing for the water; when hauled ashore for repairing:
   Wounded on the larboard side under the main channel,
   where I imagine the greatest leak is, but could not come at
   it for the water: One pump on the larboard side useless; the
   others decayed within an inch and a half of the bore.
   Otherwise masts, yards, boats, and hull, in pretty good condition."

As it was the universal opinion that the ship could not safely proceed
to Europe without an examination of her bottom, I determined to apply
for leave to heave her down at this place; and as I understood that it
would be necessary to make this application in writing, I drew up a
request, and the next morning, having got it translated into Dutch, we
all went ashore.



[Footnote 118: It is of some consequence to remember the circumstance of
the crew's good health on arriving at Batavia. So far the precautions
used for their welfare had been found very efficacious.--E.]

We repaired immediately to the house of Mr Leith, the only Englishman of
any credit who was resident at this place; he received us with great
politeness, and engaged us to dinner: To this gentleman we applied for
instructions how to provide ourselves with lodgings and necessaries
while we should stay ashore, and he told us that there was a hotel, or
kind of inn, kept by the order of government, where all merchants and
strangers were obliged to reside, paying half per cent, upon the value
of their goods for warehouse room, which the master of the house was
obliged to provide; but that as we came in a king's ship, we should be
at liberty to live where we pleased, upon asking the governor's
permission, which would be granted of course. He said that it would be
cheaper for us to take a house in the town, and bring our own servants
ashore, if we had any body upon whom we could depend to buy in our
provisions; but as this was not the case, having no person among us who
could speak the Malay language, our gentlemen determined to go to the
hotel. At the hotel, therefore, beds were immediately hired, and word
was sent that we should sleep there at night.

At five o'clock in the afternoon I was introduced to the
governor-general, who received me very courteously; he told me that I
should have every thing I wanted, and that in the morning my request
should be laid before the council, which I was desired to attend.

About nine o'clock we had a dreadful storm of thunder, lightning, and
rain, during which the main-mast of one of the Dutch East Indiamen was
split, and carried away by the deck; the main-top-mast and
top-gallant-mast were shivered to pieces; she had an iron spindle at the
main-top-mast-head, which probably directed the stroke. This ship lay
not more than the distance of two cables' length from ours, and in all
probability we should have shared the same fate, but for the electrical
chain which we had but just got up, and which conducted the lightning
over the side of the ship; but though we escaped the lightning, the
explosion shook us like an earthquake, the chain at the same time
appearing like a line of fire: A centinel was in the action of charging
his piece, and the shock forced the musket out of his hand, and broke
the rammer-rod. Upon this occasion I cannot but earnestly recommend
chains of the same kind to every ship, whatever be her destination, and
I hope that the fate of the Dutchman will be a warning to all who shall
read this narrative, against having an iron spindle at the
mast-head.[119]

[Footnote 119: Thunder storms are particularly frequent in this climate,
especially about the ends of the monsoons, at which times scarcely an
evening passes without one. But in general, it has been remarked, they
are not productive of much mischief; the reason, perhaps, why the
Indiaman was not furnished in the manner recommended. The Dutch are
scarcely to be charged with want of foresight, or with inattention to
their interests. Nevertheless, the advice here given is worthy of
attention, as well to them as to others.--E.]

The next morning I attended at the council-chamber, and was told that I
should have every thing I wanted. In the mean time, the gentlemen ashore
agreed with the keeper of the hotel for their lodging and board, at the
rate of two rix-dollars, or nine shillings sterling a-day for each; and
as there were five of them, and they would probably have many visitors
from the ship, he agreed to keep them a separate table, upon condition
that they should pay one rix-dollar for the dinner of every stranger,
and another for his supper and bed, if he should sleep ashore. Under
this stipulation they were to be furnished with tea, coffee, punch,
pipes and tobacco, for themselves and their friends, as much as they
could consume; they were also to pay half a rupee, or one shilling and
three-pence a-day for each of their servants.[120]

[Footnote 120: Captain Bligh, who got to Batavia in 1739, speaks very
indifferently of the hotel there. "One of the greatest difficulties,"
says he, "that strangers have to encounter, is their being obliged to
live at the hotel. This hotel was formerly two houses, which, by doors
of communication, have been made one. It is in the middle of a range of
buildings more calculated for a cold country than for such a climate as
Batavia. There is no free circulation of air, and what is equally bad,
it is always very dirty; and there is great want of attendance. What
they call cleaning the house, is another nuisance; for they never use
any water to cool it or lay the dust, but sweep daily with brooms, in
such a manner, that those in the house are almost suffocated by a cloud
of dust." His officers, he tells us, complained of the tradesmen
imposing on them as to the price of goods, in consequence of which he
spoke to the sabander, who gave redress. He himself was obliged; on
account of his health, to have a house in the country.--E.]

They soon learnt that these rates were more than double the common
charges of board and lodging in the town, and their table, though it had
the appearance of magnificence, was wretchedly served. Their dinner
consisted of one course of fifteen dishes, and their supper of one
course of thirteen, but nine or ten of them consisted of bad poultry,
variously dressed, and often served up the second, third, and even the
fourth time: The same duck having appeared more than once roasted, found
his way again to the table as a fricasee, and a fourth time in the form
of forced meat. It was not long, however, before they learnt that this
treatment was only by way of essay, and that it was the invariable
custom of the house to supply all strangers, at their first coming, with
such fare as could be procured for the least money, and consequently
would produce the most gain: That if either through indolence or good
nature they were content, it was continued for the benefit of the host,
but that if they complained, it was gradually amended till they were
satisfied, which sometimes happened before they had the worth of their
money. After this discovery, they remonstrated, and their fare became
better; however, after a few days, Mr Banks hired a little house, the
next door on the left hand to the hotel, for himself and his party, for
which he paid after the rate of ten rix-dollars, or two pounds five
shillings sterling a-month; but here they were very far from having
either the convenience or the privacy which they expected; no person was
permitted to sleep in this private house occasionally, as a guest to the
person who hired it, under a penalty, but almost every Dutchman that
went by ran in without any ceremony, to ask what they sold, there having
been very seldom any private persons at Batavia who had not something to
sell. Every body here hires a carriage, and Mr Banks hired two. They are
open chaises, made to hold two people, and driven by a man sitting on a
coach-box; for each of these he paid two rix-dollars a-day.

As soon as he was settled in his new habitation, he sent for Tupia, who,
till now, had continued on board upon account of his illness, which was
of the bilious kind, and for which he had obstinately refused to take
any medicine. He soon came ashore, with his boy Tayeto, and though while
he was on board, and after he came into the boat, he was exceedingly
listless and dejected, he no sooner entered the town than he seemed to
be animated with a new soul. The houses, carriages, streets, people, and
a multiplicity of other objects, all new, which rushed upon him at once,
produced an effect like the sudden and secret power that is imagined of
fascination. Tayeto expressed his wonder and delight with still less
restraint, and danced along the street in a kind of extasy, examining
every object with a restless and eager curiosity, which was every moment
excited and gratified. One of the first things that Tupia remarked, was
the various dresses of the passing multitude, concerning which he made
many enquiries; and when he was told that in this place, where people of
many different nations were assembled, every one wore the habit of his
country, he desired that he might conform to the custom, and appear in
that of Otaheite. South-Sea cloth was therefore sent for from the ship,
and he equipped himself with great expedition and dexterity. The people
who had seen Otouron, the Indian, who had been brought hither by M.
Bougainville, enquired whether Tupia was not the same person: From these
enquiries, we learnt who it was that we had supposed to be Spaniards,
from the accounts that had been given of two ships by the
islanders.[121]

[Footnote 121: Should our limits allow it, an abstract of Bougainville's
voyage will be given as an appendix, in which mention will be made of
the Indian here alluded to.--E.]

In the mean time, I procured an order to the superintendant of the
Island of Onrust, where the ship was to be repaired, to receive her
there; and sent by one of the ships that sailed for Holland, an account
of our arrival here, to Mr Stephens, the secretary to the Admiralty.

The expences that would be incurred by repairing and refitting the ship,
rendered it necessary for me to take up money in this place, which I
imagined might be done without difficulty, but I found myself mistaken;
for after the most diligent enquiry, I could not find any private person
that had ability and inclination to advance the sum that I wanted. In
this difficulty I applied to the governor himself, by a written request,
in consequence of which, the shebander had orders to supply me with what
money I should require, out of the Company's treasury.

On the 18th, as soon as it was light, having by several accidents and
mistakes suffered a delay of many days, I took up the anchor, and ran
down to Onrust: A few days afterwards we went alongside of the wharf, on
Cooper's Island, which lies close to Onrust, in order to take out our
stores.

By this time, having been here only three days, we began to feel the
fatal effects of the climate and situation. Tupia, after the flow of
spirits which the novelties of the place produced upon his first
landing, sank on a sadden, and grew every day worse and worse. Tayeto
was seized with an inflammation upon his lungs, Mr Banks's two servants
became very ill, and himself and Dr Solander were attacked by fevers; in
a few days, almost every person both on board and ashore were sick;
affected, no doubt, by the low swampy situation of the place, and the
numberless dirty canals which intersect the town in all directions. On
the 26th, I set up the tent for the reception of the ship's company, of
whom there was but a small number able to do duty. Poor Tupia, of whose
life we now began to despair, and who till this time had continued
ashore with Mr Banks, desired to be removed to the ship, where, he said,
he should breathe a freer air than among the numerous houses which
obstructed it ashore: On board the ship, however, he could not go, for
she was unrigged, and preparing to be laid down at the careening-place;
but on the 28th, Mr Banks went with him to Cooper's Island, or, as it is
called here, Kuypor, where she lay, and as he seemed pleased with the
spot, a tent was there pitched for him: At this place both the
sea-breeze and the land-breeze blew directly over him, and he expressed
great satisfaction in his situation. Mr Banks, whose humanity kept him
two days with this poor Indian, returned to the town on the 30th, and
the fits of his intermittent, which was now become a regular tertian,
were so violent as to deprive him of his senses while they lasted, and
leave him so weak that he was scarcely able to crawl down stairs: At
this time, Dr Solander's disorder also increased, and Mr Monkhouse, the
surgeon, was confined to his bed.

On the 5th of November, after many delays in consequence of the Dutch
ships coming alongside the wharfs to load pepper, the ship was laid
down, and the same day, Mr Monkhouse, our surgeon, a sensible skilful
man, fell the first sacrifice to this fatal country, a loss which was
greatly aggravated by our situation. Dr Solander was just able to attend
his funeral, but Mr Banks was confined to his bed. Our distress was now
very great, and the prospect before us discouraging in the highest
degree: Our danger was not such as we could surmount by any efforts of
our own; courage, skill, and diligence were all equally ineffectual, and
death was every day making advances upon us, where we could neither
resist nor fly. Malay servants were hired to attend the sick, but they
had so little sense either of duty or humanity, that they could not be
kept within call, and the patient was frequently obliged to get out of
bed to seek them.[122] On the 9th, we lost our poor Indian boy, Tayeto,
and Tupia was so much affected, that it was doubted whether he would
survive till the next day.

[Footnote 122: The Malays are not indebted to the representations of any
author who has ever been at the pains to paint their character. What
every body says, is at least likely to be true; and if so, they are a
compound of every thing that is terrific in the rudest of the species,
and of every thing that is odious in human nature, when corrupted to the
extreme. Desperadoes in courage, and gluttons in revenge, they have also
the low cunning and the treacherous plausibility with all the licentious
propensities of the most designing and profligate of mankind. Their
advancement in the arts which render life comfortable, and sometimes,
too, embellish even vice, cannot in any measure redeem them into
favourable estimation. They are in most points inferior (perhaps in
every respect, save navigation,) to all the nations that inhabit the
vast peninsula of Eastern India.--E.]

In the mean time, the bottom of the ship being examined, was found to be
in a worse condition than we apprehended: The false keel was all gone to
within twenty feet of the stern-post; the main keel was considerably
injured in many places; and a great quantity of the sheathing was torn
off, and several planks were much damaged; two of them, and the half of
a third, under the main channel near the keel, were, for the length of
six feet, so worn, that they were not above an eighth part of an inch
thick, and here the worms had made their way quite into the timbers; yet
in this condition she had sailed many hundred leagues, where navigation
is as dangerous as in any part of the world: How much misery did we
escape by being ignorant that so considerable a part of the bottom of
the vessel was thinner than the sole of a shoe, and that every life on
board depended upon so slight and fragile a barrier between us and the
unfathomable ocean! It seemed, however, that we had been preserved only
to perish here; Mr Banks and Dr Solander were so bad that the physician
declared they had no chance for recovery but by removing into the
country; a house was therefore hired for them at the distance of about
two miles from the town, which belonged to the master of the hotel, who
engaged to furnish them with provisions, and the use of slaves. As they
had already experienced their want of influence over slaves that had
other masters, and the unfeeling inattention of these fellows to the
sick, they bought each of them a Malay woman, which removed both the
causes of their being so ill served; the women were their own property,
and the tenderness of the sex, even here, made them good nurses.[123]
While these preparations were making, they received an account of the
death of Tupia, who sunk at once after the loss of the boy, whom he
loved with the tenderness of a parent.[124]

[Footnote 123: Dr Hawkesworth seems to have forgotten here the
superiority of a simple diet over the tribe of nurses; it would seem,
too, as if nature did not possess in this climate any considerable
skill in surgery or medicine.--E.]

[Footnote 124: Tupia merited some eulogium; and it is singular that Dr
Hawkesworth did not bestow it. This, however, has been done by Mr
Forster, in his account of Cook's second voyage.--E.]

By the 14th, the bottom of the ship was thoroughly repaired, and very
much to my satisfaction: It would, indeed, be injustice to the officers
and workmen of this yard, not to declare, that, in my opinion, there is
not a marine yard in the world where a ship can be laid down with more
convenience, safety, and dispatch, nor repaired with more diligence and
skill. At this place they heave down by two masts, a method which we do
not now practise; it is, however, unquestionably more safe and
expeditious to heave down with two masts than one, and he must have a
good share of bigotry to old customs, and an equal want of common sense,
who will not allow this, after seeing with what facility the Dutch heave
down their largest ships at this place.

Mr Banks and Dr Solander recovered slowly at their country-house, which
was not only open to the sea breeze, but situated upon a running stream,
which greatly contributed to the circulation of the air: But I was now
taken ill myself; Mr Sporing, and a seaman who had attended Mr Banks,
were also seized with intermittents; and, indeed, there were not more
than ten of the whole ship's company that were able to do duty.

We proceeded however in rigging the ship, and getting water and stores
aboard: The water we were obliged to procure from Batavia, at the rate
of six shillings and eight-pence a leager, or one hundred and fifty
gallons.

About the 26th, the westerly monsoon set in, which generally blows here
in the night from the S.W., and in the day from the N.W. or N. For some
nights before this, we had very heavy rain, with much thunder; and in
the night between the 25th and 26th, such rain as we had seldom seen,
for near four hours without intermission. Mr Banks's house admitted the
water in every part like a sieve, and it ran through the lower rooms in
a stream that would have turned a mill: He was by this time sufficiently
recovered to go out, and upon his entering Batavia the next morning, he
was much surprised to see the bedding every where hung out to dry.

The wet season was now set in, though we had some intervals of fair
weather.[125] The frogs in the ditches, which croak ten times loader
than any frogs in Europe, gave notice of rain by an incessant noise
that was almost intolerable, and the gnats and musquitos, which had been
very troublesome even during the dry weather, were now become
innumerable, swarming from every plash of water like bees from a hive;
they did not, however, much incommode us in the day, and the stings,
however troublesome at first, never continued to itch above half an
hour, so that none of us felt in the day the effects of the wounds they
had received in the night.

[Footnote 125: They reckon two seasons or monsoons in this climate. The
east, or good one, begins about the end of April, and continues till
about the beginning of October. During this, the trade-winds usually
blow from the south-east and east-south-east, and there is fine weather,
with a clear sky. The west, or bad monsoon, begins about the end of
November, or commencement of December, and continues till towards the
end of February, during which the winds are mostly from the west. This
is the most unhealthy season. It has been remarked, but not explained,
that the periods of the monsoons are not so regular as they once were,
so that neither their beginning nor end can be so confidently depended
on. The months not included in either of the monsoons are called
shifting-months.--E.]

On the 8th of December, the ship being perfectly refitted, and having
taken in most of her water and stores, and received the sick on board,
we ran up to Batavia Road, and anchored in four fathom and a half of
water.[126]

[Footnote 126: Batavia Road is reckoned one of the best in the world for
size, safety, and goodness of anchorage. It is open indeed from the
north-west to east north-east and east; nevertheless, ships lie quite
secure in it, as there are several islands on that side which break the
force of the waves. There is no occasion for mooring stern and stern in
it.--E.]

From this time, to the 24th, we were employed in getting on board the
remainder of our water and provisions, with some new pumps, and in
several other operations that were necessary to fit the ship for the
sea, all which would have been effected much sooner, if sickness and
death had not disabled or carried off a great number of our men.

While we lay here, the Earl of Elgin, Captain Cook, a ship belonging to
the English East India Company, came to anchor in the road. She was
bound from Madras to China, but having lost her passage, put in here to
wait for the next season. The Phoenix, Captain Black, an English country
ship, from Bencoolen, also came to an anchor at this place.

In the afternoon of Christmas-eve, the 24th, I took leave of the
governor, and several of the principal gentlemen of the place, with whom
I had formed connexions, and from whom I received every possible
civility and assistance; but in the mean time an accident happened which
might have produced disagreeable consequences. A seaman had run away
from one of the Dutch ships in the road, and entered on board of mine:
The captain had applied to the governor to reclaim him as a subject of
Holland, and an order for that purpose was procured: This order was
brought to me soon after I returned from my last visit, and I said, that
if the man appeared to be a Dutchman, he should certainly be delivered
up. Mr Hicks commanded on board, and I gave the Dutch officer an order
to him to deliver the man up under that condition. I slept myself this
night on shore, and in the morning the captain of the Dutch commodore
came and told me that he had carried my order on board, but that the
officer had refused to deliver up the man, alleging not only that he was
not a Dutchman, but that he was a subject of Great Britain, born in
Ireland; I replied, that the officer had perfectly executed my orders,
and that if the man was an English subject, it could not be expected
that I should deliver him up. The captain then said, that he was just
come from the governor to demand the man of me in his name, as a subject
of Denmark, alleging that he stood in the ship's books as born at
Elsineur. The claim of this man as a subject of Holland being now given
up, I observed to the captain that there appeared to be some mistake in
the general's message, for that he would certainly never demand a Danish
seaman from me who had committed no other crime than preferring the
service of the English to that of the Dutch. I added, however, to
convince him of my sincere desire to avoid disputes, that if the man was
a Dane, he should be delivered up as a courtesy, though he could not be
demanded as a right; but that if I found he was an English subject, I
would keep him at all events. Upon these terms we parted, and soon after
I received a letter from Mr Hicks, containing indubitable proof that the
seaman in question was a subject of his Britannic majesty. This letter I
immediately carried to the shebander, with a request that it might be
shewn to the governor, and that his excellency might at the same time be
told I would not upon any terms part with the man. This had the desired
effect, and I heard no more of the affair.[127]

[Footnote 127: Whatever may be thought of the advantage of such policy,
it is certain that Cook acted here in the full spirit of a British
officer and _minister_. Every reader must be aware how materially the
same determination on the part of our government has tended to embroil
us with the Americans, betwixt whom and us, the question of fact, as to
country, is often much more difficult of solution than it can well be
where any other people oppose our claims.--E.]

In the evening I went on board, accompanied by Mr Banks, and the rest of
the gentlemen who had constantly resided on shore, and who, though
better, were not yet perfectly recovered.

At six in the morning of the 26th, we weighed and set sail, with a light
breeze at S.W. The Elgin Indiaman saluted us with three cheers and
thirteen guns, and the garrison with fourteen; both which, with the help
of our swivels, we returned, and soon after the sea-breeze set in at N.
by W. which obliged us to anchor just without the ships in the road.

At this time the number of sick on board amounted to forty, and the rest
of the ship's company were in a very feeble condition. Every individual
had been sick except the sail-maker, an old man between seventy and
eighty years of age; and it is very remarkable, that this old man,
during our stay at this place, was constantly drunk every day:[128] We
had buried seven, the surgeon, three seamen, Mr Green's servant, Tupia,
and Tayeto, his boy. All but Tupia fell a sacrifice to the unwholesome,
stagnant, putrid air of the country, and he who, from his birth, had
been used to subsist chiefly upon vegetable food, particularly ripe
fruit, soon contracted all the disorders that are incident to a sea
life, and would probably have sunk under them before we could have
completed our voyage, if we had not been obliged to go to Batavia to
refit.

[Footnote 128: Cases similar to this are of constant occurrence, and are
familiarly known to medical men who have a principle to account for it.
The _continual_ operation of exciting causes so as to produce a certain
degree of action of the system, will prevent, as well as remedy,
diseases of debility. The plague has been kept off by a like treatment
on the same principle, and so has the ague, an intermitting fever so
formidable in some countries. Giving over or abating of this stimulating
treatment, however, if other circumstances remain the same, will, of
course, render the person as obnoxious as ever to attack, or rather more
so. It is evident that at times this cure is as bad as the disease; for
scarcely any state of health is more deplorably fatal than constant
drunkenness.--E.]


SECTION XXXVIII.

_Some Account of Batavia, and the adjacent Country; with their Fruits,
Flowers, and other Productions_.


Batavia, the capital of the Dutch dominions in India, and generally
supposed to have no equal among all the possessions of the Europeans in
Asia, is situated on the north side of the island of Java, in a low
fenny plain, where several small rivers, which take their rise in the
mountains called Blaeuwen Berg, about forty miles up the country, empty
themselves into the sea, and where the coast forms a large bay, called
the Bay of Batavia, at the distance of about eight leagues from the
streight of Sunda. It lies in latitude 6° 10' S., and longitude 106° 50'
E. from the meridian of Greenwich, as appears from astronomical
observations made upon the spot, by the Rev. Mr Mohr, who has built an
elegant observatory, which is as well furnished with instruments as most
in Europe.[129]

[Footnote 129: Batavia, called by some writers, the Queen of the East,
on account of its wealth and the beauty of its buildings, is situate
very near the sea, in a fertile plain, watered by the river Jaccatra,
which divides the town. The sea-shore is on the north of the city; and
on the south the land rises with a very gentle slope to the mountains,
which are about fifteen leagues inland. One of these is of great height,
and is called the Blue Mountain. The early history of this city is given
in the tenth volume of the Modern Universal History, to which the reader
is referred for information which it would perhaps be tedious to detail
in this place. Batavia, the reader will easily imagine, has been much
impaired by the calamities of her European parent; but, indeed, for some
considerable time before they commenced, she had very materially
declined in consequence and power.--E.]

The Dutch seem to have pitched upon this spot for the convenience of
water-carriage, and in that it is indeed a second Holland, and superior
to every other place in the world. There are very few streets that have
not a canal of considerable breadth running through them, or rather
stagnating in them, and continued for several miles in almost every
direction beyond the town, which is also intersected by five or six
rivers, some of which are navigable thirty or forty miles up the
country.[130] As the houses are large, and the streets wide, it takes up
a much greater extent, in proportion to the number of houses it
contains, than any city in Europe. Valentyn, who wrote an account of it
about the year 1726, says, that in his time there were, within the
walls, 1242 Dutch houses, and 1200 Chinese; and without the walls, 1066
Dutch, and 1240 Chinese, besides 12 arrack houses, making in all 4760:
But this account appeared to us to be greatly exaggerated, especially
with respect to the number of houses within the walls.

[Footnote 130: The river Jaccatra, as has been mentioned, runs through
the city, viz. from south to north, and having three bridges, one near
the castle, at the lower end, another at the upper end, and the third
about the centre of the town. It is from 160 to 180 feet broad, within
the city, and is fortified, though indifferently, at its mouth, which,
however, is of less importance, as a continually increasing bar renders
access to the city by it impracticable for large vessels.--E.]

The streets are spacious and handsome, and the banks of the canals are
planted with rows of trees, that make a very pleasing appearance; but
the trees concur with the canals to make the situation unwholesome.[131]
The stagnant canals in the dry season exhale an intolerable stench, and
the trees impede the course of the air, by which, in some degree, the
putrid effluvia would be dissipated. In the wet season the inconvenience
is equal, for then these reservoirs of corrupted water overflow their
banks in the lower part of the town, especially in the neighbourhood of
the hotel, and fill the lower stories of the houses, where they leave
behind them an inconceivable quantity of slime and filth: Yet these
canals are sometimes cleaned; but the cleaning them is so managed as to
become as great a nuisance as the foulness of the water; for the black
mud that is taken from the bottom is suffered to lie upon the banks,
that is, in the middle of the street, till it has acquired a sufficient
degree of hardness to be made the lading of a boat, and carried away. As
this mud consists chiefly of human ordure, which is regularly thrown
into the canals every morning, there not being a necessary-house in the
whole town, it poisons the air while it is drying, to a considerable
extent. Even the running streams become nuisances in their turn, by the
nastiness or negligence of the people; for every now and then a dead
hog, or a dead horse, is stranded upon the shallow parts, and it being
the business of no particular person to remove the nuisance, it is
negligently left to time and accident. While we were here, a dead
buffalo lay upon the shoal of a river that ran through one of the
principal streets, above a week, and at last was carried away by a
flood.[132]

[Footnote 131: Some of the streets are paved, but they consist of a hard
clay which allows of being made plain and smooth; and within the city
there are stone foot paths along their sides.--E.]

[Footnote 132: Five roads lead from the city into the country, all of
which are finely planted with trees, and have very agreeable gardens on
both sides. These roads run along the course of the rivulets or canals
which form so remarkable a feature in the history and appearance of this
city. The environs of Batavia have always been highly commended for
their beauty and the fertility of the soil; the consequence, no doubt,
of the extraordinary care taken to have them well watered--E.]

The houses are in general well adapted to the climate; they consist of
one very large room, or hall, on the ground floor, with a door at each
end, both which generally stand open: At one end a room is taken off by
a partition, where the master of the house transacts his business; and
in the middle, between each end, there is a court, which gives light to
the hall, and at the same time increases the draught of air. From one
corner of the hall the stairs go up to the floor above, where also the
rooms are spacious and airy. In the alcove, which is formed by the
court, the family dine; and at other times it is occupied by the female
slaves, who are not allowed to sit down any where else.[133]

[Footnote 133: The houses are mostly built of brick, stuccoed without,
and with sash-windows, so as to have a light agreeable appearance. The
plan of their internal construction is much the same in the whole. On
one side of a narrow passage into which you enter from the street, you
have a parlour, and a little farther on, a large long room, lighted from
an inner court, as is mentioned in the text. The rooms in general are
badly furnished, and are floored with dark-red stones. The upper rooms
are laid out like the under ones; Few of the private houses have
gardens.--E.]

The public buildings are most of them old, heavy, and ungraceful; but
the new church is not inelegant; it is built with a dome, that is seen
from a great distance at sea, and though the outside has rather a heavy
appearance, the inside forms a very fine room: It is furnished with an
organ of a proper size, being very large, and is most magnificently
illuminated by chandeliers.[134]

[Footnote 134: There are several churches for the reformed religion, and
service is performed in the Dutch, Portuguese, and Malay languages. The
description in the text is believed to apply to the Lutheran church,
erected during the government of Baron Van Imhof.--E.]

The town is enclosed by a stone wall of a moderate height; but the whole
of it is old, and many parts are much out of repair. This wall itself is
surrounded by a river, which in some places is fifty, and in some a
hundred yards wide: The stream is rapid, but the water is shallow. The
wall is also lined within by a canal, which in different parts is of
different breadths; so that, in passing either out or in through the
gates, it is necessary to cross two draw-bridges; and there is no
access for idle people or strangers to walk upon the ramparts, which
seem to be but ill provided with guns.[135]

[Footnote 135: The wall is built of coral rock, and part of it,
according to Sir Geo. Staunton's account, of lava of a dark-blue colour,
and firm hard texture. It has twenty two bastions mounted with
artillery, and is surrounded by a broad moat, generally well filled with
water. There are five gates to the city; two on the south, the New Gate,
and the Diast Gate; one on the north, the Square Gate; Rotterdam Gate on
the east; and the Utrecht Gate on the west--E.]

In the north-east corner of the town stands the castle or citadel, the
walls of which are both higher and thicker than those of the town,
especially near the landing-place, where there is depth of water only
for boats, which it completely commands, with several large guns, that
make a very good appearance.

Within this castle are apartments for the governor-general, and all the
council of India, to which they are enjoined to repair in case of a
siege. Here are also large storehouses where great quantities of the
Company's goods are kept, especially those that are brought from Europe,
and where almost all their writers transact their business. In this
place also are laid up a great number of cannon, whether to mount upon
the walls or furnish shipping, we could not learn; and the Company is
said to be well supplied with powder, which is dispersed in various
magazines, that if some should be destroyed by lightning, which in this
place is very frequent, the rest may escape.[136]

[Footnote 136: The castle is a square fortress, having four bastions
connected by curtains, surrounded by a ditch. The walls are about
twenty-four feet high, and built also of coral rock. Besides the houses,
&c. mentioned in the text and near to what is called the Iron Magazine,
is the grass plot where criminals are executed: It is a square space,
artificially elevated, and furnished with gallows, &c. Close adjoining,
and fronting it, is a small building where the magistrates, according to
the Dutch custom, attend during the execution.--E.]

Besides the fortifications of the town, numerous forts are dispersed
about the country to the distance of twenty or thirty miles; these seem
to have been intended merely to keep the natives in awe, and indeed
they are fit for nothing else. For the same purpose a kind of houses,
each of which mounts about eight guns, are placed in such situations as
command the navigation of three or four canals, and consequently the
roads upon their banks: Some of these are in the town itself, and it was
from one of these that all the best houses belonging to the Chinese were
levelled with the ground in the Chinese rebellion of 1740.[137] These
defences are scattered over all parts of Java, and the other islands of
which the Dutch have got possession in these seas. Of one of these
singular forts, or fortified houses, we should have procured a drawing,
if our gentlemen had not been confined by sickness almost all the time
they were upon the island.

[Footnote 137: One of the most shocking transactions ever recorded, is
here alluded to. It has been often described, for it horrified all
Europe, and excited most general disgust at the very name of Dutchmen.
They, however, endeavoured to make the affair look as decent as
possible, and when forced to abandon every other claim to favourable
interpretation, used at last the tyrant's plea, necessity. Rebellion
must be punished, it is admitted; a thousand reasons are in readiness to
justify the punishment of it. But, alas! in this case many hundreds were
punished who had never been in rebellion, never thought of it, never
knew it, were incapable of it. The vengeful spirit of their "High
Mightinesses" in Batavia, was glutted to the throat. Butchery could not
do her work more thoroughly. Not a drop of blood was left in Chinese
veins to circulate disaffection, or boil in the agony of despairing
hate. Extermination smiled in the gloom of Death,--merciful in this at
least, that she suffered not a heart to remain to curse her triumph. See
Modern Universal History, vol. xiv. ch. 7. Our limits will not permit
the dreadful recital.--E.]

If the Dutch fortifications here are not formidable in themselves, they
become so by their situation; for they are among morasses where the
roads, which are nothing more than a bank thrown up between a canal and
a ditch, may easily be destroyed, and consequently the approach of heavy
artillery either totally prevented or greatly retarded: For it would be
exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to transport them in boats, as
they all muster every night under the guns of the castle, a situation
from which it would be impossible for an enemy to take them. Besides, in
this country, delay is death; so that whatever retards an enemy, will
destroy him. In less than a week we were sensible of the unhealthiness
of the climate; and in less than a month half the ship's company were
unable to do their duty. We were told, that of a hundred soldiers who
arrive here from Europe, it was a rare thing for fifty to survive the
first year; that of those fifty, half would then be in the hospital, and
not ten of the rest in perfect health: Possibly this account may be
exaggerated; but the pale and feeble wretches whom we saw crawling about
with a musket, which they were scarcely able to carry, inclined us to
believe that it was true.[138] Every white inhabitant of the town indeed
is a soldier; the younger are constantly mustered, and those who have
served five years are liable to be called out when their assistance is
thought to be necessary; but as neither of them are ever exercised, or
do any kind of duty, much cannot be expected from them. The Portuguese,
indeed, are in general good marksmen, because they employ themselves
much in shooting wild-hogs and deer: Neither the Mardykers nor the
Chinese know the use of fire-arms; but as they are said to be brave,
they might do much execution with their own weapons, swords, lances, and
daggers. The Mardykers are Indians of all nations, who are descended
from free ancestors, or have themselves been made free.

[Footnote 138: Mr Barrow does not give a more favourable report.
According to him, no less than three out of five of the new settlers at
this place die in the first year of their residence; and he learned from
the registers of the military hospital, that though the establishment of
troops never exceeded 1500 men, and sometimes was not half this number,
yet during sixty-two years the annual deaths amounted to 1258! Of those
Europeans who have in some degree got accustomed to the place, he says
that rather more than ten in a hundred die yearly; and that scarcely any
live beyond the middle stage of life. The natives, as might be expected,
suffer less, but even they are exposed to frequent visits of the old
enemy. In Mr B.'s opinion, the climate is not so injurious as the
circumstances of the situation, and the pernicious, though convenient,
prevalency of canals, aided, he admits, by the bad habits of the
people.--E.]

But if it is difficult to attack Batavia by land, it is utterly
impossible to attack it by sea: For the water is so shallow, that it
will scarcely admit a long-boat to come within cannon-shot of the walls,
except in a narrow channel, called the river, that is walled on both
sides by strong piers, and runs about half a mile into the harbour. At
the other end, it terminates under the fire of the strongest part of the
castle; and here its communication with the canals that intersect the
town is cut off by a large wooden boom, which is shut every night at six
o'clock, and upon no pretence opened till the next morning.[139] The
harbour of Batavia is accounted the finest in India, and, to all
appearance, with good reason; it is large enough to contain any number
of ships, and the ground is so good that one anchor will hold till the
cable decays: It never admits any sea that is troublesome, and its only
inconvenience is the shoal water between the road and the river. When
the sea-breeze blows fresh, it makes a cockling sea that is dangerous to
boats: Our long-boat once struck two or three times as she was
attempting to come out, and regained the river's mouth with some
difficulty. A Dutch boat, laden with sails and rigging for one of the
Indiamen, was entirely lost.

[Footnote 139: The reader need not be reminded of the facility with
which Batavia was lately taken by our gallant countrymen. The accounts
of that successful expedition may be advantageously compared with what
is here given. This, however, they must do who are interested in the
subject. The introduction of it here would be very irrelevant--E.]

Round the harbour, on the outside, lie many islands, which the Dutch
have taken possession of, and apply to different uses.[140] To one of
them, called Edam, they transport all Europeans who have been guilty of
crimes that are not worthy of death: Some are sentenced to remain there
ninety-nine years, some forty, some twenty, some less, down to five, in
proportion to their offence; and during their banishment, they are
employed as slaves in making ropes, and other drudgery.[141] In another
island, called Purmerent, they have an hospital, where people are said
to recover much faster than at Batavia.[142] In a third, called Kuyper,
they have warehouses belonging to the Company, chiefly for rice, and
other merchandise of small value; and here the foreign ships, that are
to be laid down at Onrnst, another of these islands, which with Kuyper
has been mentioned before, discharge their cargoes at wharfs which are
very convenient for the purpose.[143] Here the guns, sails, and other
stores of the Falmouth, a man-of-war which was condemned at this place
when she was returning from Manilla, were deposited, and the ship
herself remained in the harbour, with only the warrant officers on
board, for many years. Remittances were regularly made them from home;
but no notice was ever taken of the many memorials they sent, desiring
to be recalled. Happily for them, the Dutch thought fit, about six
months before our arrival, to sell the vessel and all her stores, by
public auction, and send the officers home in their own ships. At
Onrust, they repair all their own shipping, and keep a large quantity of
naval stores.

[Footnote 140: There are fifteen islands in all, but only four of them
are used by the Company; and of these, Onrust is the chief. This is
about three leagues north-west from the city, and is fortified, as
commanding the channel. It is very small, but there are several
warehouses and other buildings on it.--E.]

[Footnote 141: Edam is three leagues north-north-east from the city. It
abounds in wood, and is remarkable for a large tree of the fig kind,
which is an object of high veneration among the superstitious
Javanese.--E.]

[Footnote 142: Purmerent is to the eastward of Onrust, and is half as
large again as that island. It is planted with trees. The hospital on it
is maintained by the voluntary alms of both the natives and
Europeans.--E.]

[Footnote 143: Kuyper, or Cooper's Isle, is considerably less than
Onrust, and lies very near it. Several large tamarind trees yield it an
agreeable shade. It has two pier-heads at its south side, where ships
take in and discharge their freight.--E.]

The country round Batavia is for some miles a continued range of country
houses and gardens. Many of the gardens are very large, and by some
strange fatality, all are planted with trees almost as thick as they can
stand; so that the country derives no advantage from its being cleared
of the wood that originally covered it, except the fruit of that which
has been planted in its room. These impenetrable forests stand in a dead
flat, which extends some miles beyond them, and is intersected in many
directions by rivers, and more still by canals, which are navigable for
small vessels. Nor is this the worst, for the fence of every field and
garden is a ditch; and interspersed among the cultivated ground there
are many filthy fens, bogs, and morasses, as well fresh as salt.

It is not strange that the inhabitants of such a country should be
familiar with disease and death: Preventative medicines are taken almost
as regularly as food; and every body expects the returns of sickness, as
we do the seasons of the year. We did not see a single face in Batavia
that indicated perfect health, for there is not the least tint of colour
in the cheeks either of man or woman: The women indeed are toast
delicately fair; but with the appearance of disease there never can be
perfect beauty. People talk of death with as much indifference as they
do in a camp; and when an acquaintance is said to be dead, the common
reply is, "Well, he owed me nothing;" or, "I must get my money of his
executors."[144]

[Footnote 144: Those parts of the city are said to be most healthy which
are farthest off from the sea; and the reason given for the difference
is, that a great deal of mud, filth, blubber, &c. is thrown up by the
tide close to the other parts, and soon putrifying from the extreme
beat, adds materially to the influence of the generally operating
nuisances. But it seems pretty plain that the difference can be but
small, as the contaminated air must rapidly defuse itself throughout the
neighbourhood. Admitting it, however, to be appreciable, the inference
is very obvious as to what ought to be done for the bettering of
Batavia, considered as a receptacle of human beings, and not as a putrid
ditch from which gold is to be raked at the certain expense of
life.--E.]

To this description of the environs of Batavia there are but two
exceptions. The governor's country house is situated upon a rising
ground; but its ascent is so inconsiderable, that it is known to be
above the common level only by the canals being left behind, and the
appearance of a few bad hedges: His excellency, however, who is a native
of this place, has, with some trouble and expence, contrived to inclose
his own garden with a ditch; such is the influence of habit both upon
the taste and the understanding. A famous market also, called Passar
Tanabank, is held upon an eminency that rises perpendicularly about
thirty feet above the plain; and except these situations, the ground,
for an extent of between thirty and forty miles round Batavia, is
exactly parallel to the horizon. At the distance of about forty miles
inland, there are hills of a considerable height, where, as we were
informed, the air is healthy, and comparatively cool. Here the
vegetables of Europe flourish in great perfection, particularly
strawberries, which, can but ill bear heat, and the inhabitants are
vigorous and ruddy. Upon these hills some of the principal people have
country houses, which they visit once a-year; and one was begun for the
governor, upon the plan of Blenheim, the famous seat of the Duke of
Marlborough in Oxfordshire, but it has never been finished. To these
hills also people are sent by the physicians for the recovery of their
health, and the effects of the air are said to be almost miraculous: The
patient grows well in a short time, but constantly relapses soon after
his return to Batavia.[145]

[Footnote 145: On approaching the mountains towards the southern parts
of the island, the heat of the air gradually diminishes, till at last,
especially in the morning and evening, it is absolutely cold, and cannot
be endured without the aid of such clothing as is used in winter in
other countries. How materially the proper use of such a change of
climate may operate to the restoration of health, can be easily imagined
by any one who has felt the different effects of deleterious heat and
invigorating cold. The island of Jamaica presents something very similar
to what is now related of the different climates in the vicinity of
Batavia.--E.]

But the same situation and circumstances which render Batavia and the
country round it unwholesome, render it the best gardener's ground in
the world. The soil is fruitful beyond imagination, and the conveniences
and luxuries of life that it produces are almost without number.

Rice, which is well known to be the corn of these countries, and to
serve the inhabitants instead of bread, grows in great plenty; and I
must here observe, that in the hilly parts of Java, and in many of the
eastern islands, a species of this grain is planted, which in the
western parts of India is entirely unknown. It is called by the natives
_Paddy Gunung_, or Mountain Rice: This, contrary to the other sort,
which must be under water three parts in four of the time of its
growth, is planted upon the sides of hills where no water but rain can
come: It is however planted at the beginning of the rainy season, and
reaped in the beginning of the dry. How far this kind of rice might be
useful in our West-Indian islands, where no bread corn is grown, it may
perhaps be worth while to enquire.[146]

[Footnote 146: The island of Java produces rice, which is the principal
food of millions, in such quantities, as to have obtained the title of
the granary of the East. Nearly three thousand cwt., it is said, were
furnished by it in the year 1767, for the use of Batavia, Ceylon, and
Banda. It is sown in low ground generally, and after it has got a little
above the ground, is transplanted in small bundles, in rows, each bundle
having about six plants. The waters of the rivulets, &c. are then
allowed to flow on it till the stalk has attained due strength, when the
land is drained. When ripe, the fields of rice have an appearance like
wheat and barley. It is cut down by a small knife, about a foot under
the ear. In place of being threshed, the seed is separated from the husk
by stamping with wooden blocks.--E.]

Indian corn, or maize, is also produced here, which the inhabitants
gather when young, and toast in the ear. Here is also a great variety of
kidney-beans, and lentiles which they call _Cadjang_, and which make a
considerable part of the food of the common people; besides millet, yams
both wet and dry, sweet potatoes, and European potatoes, which are very
good, but not cultivated in great plenty. In the gardens, there are
cabbages, lettuces, cucumbers, radishes, the white radishes of China,
which boil almost as well as a turnip; carrots, parsley, celery, pigeon
peas, the egg plant, which, broiled and eaten with pepper and salt, is
very delicious; a kind of greens resembling spinnage; onions, very
small, but excellent; and asparagus: Besides some European plants of a
strong smell, particularly sage, hysop, and rue. Sugar is also produced
here in immense quantities; very great crops of the finest and largest
canes that can be imagined are produced with very little care, and yield
a much larger proportion of sugar than the canes in the West Indies.
White sugar is sold here at two-pence half-penny a pound; and the
molasses makes the arrack, of which, as of rum, it is the chief
ingredient; a small quantity of rice, and some cocoa-nut wine, being
added, chiefly, I suppose, to give it flavour. A small quantity of
indigo is also produced here, not as an article of trade, but merely for
home consumption.[147]

[Footnote 147: Pepper, sugar, and coffee, are produced in very
considerable quantities, especially the first, which has been reckoned
one of the chief commodities of the place. As to sugar, one may have
some notion of the quantity yielded, by a circumstance noticed by
Stavorinus in his account. He says that thirteen millions of pounds were
manufactured, in 1765, in the province of Jaccatra alone. Much of it
used to be sent to the west of India, and a considerable part found its
way to Europe before the derangement, or rather annihilation of the
Dutch trade, by the effects of the revolutionary wars.--E.]

But the most abundant article of vegetable luxury here, is the fruit; of
which there is no less than six-and-thirty different kinds, and I shall
give a very brief account of each.

1. The pine-apple; _Bromelia Ananas_. This fruit, which is here called
_Nanas_, grows very large, and in such plenty that they may sometimes be
bought at the first hand for a farthing a-piece; and at the common
fruit-shops we got three of them for two-pence half-penny. They are very
juicy and well flavoured; but we all agreed that we had eaten as good
from a hot-house in England: They are however so luxuriant in their
growth that most of them have two or three crowns, and a great number of
suckers from the bottom of the fruit; of these Mr Banks once counted
nine, and they are so forward that very often while they still adhered
to the parent plant they shot out their fruit, which, by the time the
large one became ripe, were of no inconsiderable size. We several times
saw three upon one apple, and were told that a plant once produced a
cluster of nine, besides the principal: This indeed was considered as so
great a curiosity, that it was preserved in sugar, and sent to the
Prince of Orange.

2. Sweet oranges. These are very good, but while we were here, sold for
six-pence a piece.

3. Pumplemoeses, which in the West Indies are called Shaddocks. These
were well flavoured, but not juicy; their want of juice, however, was an
accidental effect of the season.

4. Lemons. These were very scarce; but the want of them was amply
compensated by the plenty of limes.

5. Limes. These were excellent, and to be bought at about twelve-pence a
hundred. We saw only two or three Seville oranges, which were almost all
rind; and there are many sorts, both of oranges and lemons, which I
shall not particularly mention, because they are neither esteemed by
Europeans nor the natives themselves.

6. Mangos. This fruit during our stay was so infested with maggots,
which bred in the inside of them, that scarcely one in three was
eatable; and the best of them were much inferior to those of Brazil:
They are generally compared by Europeans to a melting peach, which
indeed they resemble in softness and sweetness, but certainly fall much
short in flavour. The climate here, we were told, is too hot and damp
for them; but there are as many sorts of them as there are of apples in
England, and some are much superior to others. One sort, which is called
_Mangha Cowani_, has so strong a smell that a European can scarcely bear
one in the room. These, however, the natives are fond of. The three
sorts which are generally preferred, are the _Mangha Doodool_, the
_Mangha Santock_, and the _Mangha Gure_.

7. Bananas. Of these also there are innumerable sorts, but three only
are good; the _Pissang Mas_, the _Pissang Radja_, and the _Pissang
Ambou_: All these have a pleasant vinous taste, and the rest are useful
in different ways; some are fried in batter, and others are boiled and
eaten as bread. There is one which deserves the particular notice of the
botanist, because, contrary to the nature of its tribe, it is full of
seeds, and is therefore called _Pissang Batu_, or _Pissang Bidjie_; it
his however no excellence to recommend it to the taste, but the Malays
use it as a remedy for the flux.

8. Grapes. These are not in great perfection, but they are very dear;
for we could not buy a moderate bunch for less than a shilling or
eighteen-pence.

9. Tamarinds. These are in great plenty, and very cheap: The people,
however, do not put them up in the manner practised by the West Indians,
but cure them with salt, by which means they become a black mass, so
disagreeable to the sight and taste, that few Europeans chuse to meddle
with them.

10. Water melons. These are in great plenty, and very good.

11. Pumpkins. These are beyond comparison the most useful fruit that can
be carried to sea; for they will keep without any care several months,
and with sugar and lemon-juice, make a pye that can scarcely be
distinguished from one made of the best of apples; and with pepper and
salt, they are a substitute for turnips, not to be despised.

12 Papaws. This fruit when it is ripe is full of seeds, and almost
without flavour; but if when it is green it is pared, and the core taken
out, it is better than the best turnip.

13. Guava. This fruit is much commended by the inhabitants of our
islands in the West Indies, who probably have a better sort than we met
with here, where the smell of them was so disagreeably strong that it
made some of us sick; those who tasted them said, that the flavour was
equally rank.

14. Sweet sop. The _Annona Squammosa_ of Linnæus. This is also a
West-Indian fruit: It consists only of a mass of large kernels, from
which a small proportion of pulp may be sucked, which is very sweet, but
has little flavour.

15. Custard apple. The _Annona Reticulata_ of Linnæus. The quality of
this fruit is well expressed by its English name, which it acquired in
the West Indies; for it is as like a custard, and a good one too, as can
be imagined.

16. The cashew apple. This is seldom eaten on account of its
astringency. The nut that grows upon the top of it is well known in
Europe.

17. The cocoa-nut. This is also well known in Europe: There are several
sorts, but the best of those we found here is called _Calappi Edjou_,
and is easily known by the redness of the flesh between the skin and the
shell.

18. Mangostan. The _Garcinia Mangostana_ of Linnæus. This fruit, which
is peculiar to the East Indies, is about the size of the crab apple, and
of a deep red-wine colour: On the top of it is the figure of five or six
small triangles joined in a circle, and at the bottom several hollow
green leaves, which are remains of the blossom. When they are to be
eaten, the skin, or rather flesh, must be taken off, under which are
found six or seven white kernels, placed in a circular order, and the
pulp with which these are enveloped, is the fruit, than which nothing
can be more delicious: It is a happy mixture of the tart and the sweet,
which is no less wholesome than pleasant; and with the sweet orange,
this fruit is allowed in any quantity to those who are afflicted with
fevers, either of the putrid or inflammatory kind.

19. The jamboo. The _Eugenia Mallaccensis_ of Linnæus. This fruit is of
a deep red colour, and an oval shape; the largest, which are always the
best, are not bigger than a small apple; they are pleasant and cooling,
though they have not much flavour.

20. The jambu-eyer. A species of the _Eugenia_ of Linnæus. Of this fruit
there are two sorts of a similar shape, resembling a bell, but differing
in colour; one being red, the other white. They somewhat exceed a large
cherry in size, and in taste have neither flavour nor even sweetness,
containing nothing but a watery juice, slightly acidulated; yet their
coolness recommends them in this hot country.

21. Jambu-eyer mauwar. The _Eugenia Jambos_ of Linnæus. This is more
grateful to the smell than the taste: In taste it resembles the conserve
of roses, and in smell the fresh scent of those flowers.

22. The pomegranate. This is the same fruit that is known by the same
name all over Europe.

23. Durion. A fruit that in shape resembles a small melon, but the skin
is covered with sharp conical spines, whence its name; for _dure_, in
the Malay language, signifies prickle. When it is ripe, it divides
longitudinally into seven or eight compartments, each of which contains
six or seven nuts, not quite so large as chesnuts, which are covered
with a substance that in colour and consistence very much resembles
thick cream: This is the part that is eaten, and the natives are fond of
it to excess. To Europeans it is generally disagreeable at first; for in
taste it somewhat resembles a mixture of cream, sugar, and onions; and
in the smell, the onions predominate.

24. Nanca. This fruit, which in some parts of India is called Jakes,
has, like the Durion, a smell very disagreeable to strangers, and
somewhat resembling that of mellow apples mixed with garlic: The flavour
is not more adapted to the general taste. In some countries that are
favourable to it, it is said to grow to an immense size. Rumphius
relates, that it is sometimes so large that a man cannot easily lift it;
and we were told by a Malay, that at Madura it is sometimes so large as
not to be carried but by the united efforts of two men. At Batavia,
however, they never exceed the size of a large melon, which in shape
they very much resemble: They are covered with angular prickles, like
the shootings of some crystals, which however are not hard enough to
wound those who handle them.

25. Champada. This differs from the Nanca in little except size, it not
being so big. .

26. Rambutan. This is a fruit little known to Europeans. In appearance
it very much resembles a chesnut with the husk on, and like that, is
covered with small points, which are soft, and of a deep red colour:
Under this skin is the fruit, and within the fruit a stone; the eatable
part thereof is small in quantity, but its acid is perhaps more
agreeable than any other in the whole vegetable kingdom.

27. Jambolan. This, in size and appearance, is not unlike a damascene;
but in taste is still more astringent, and therefore less agreeable.

28. The Boa Bidarra, or _Rhamnus Jujuba_ of Linnæus. This is a round
yellow fruit, about the size of a gooseberry; its flavour is like that
of an apple, but it has the astringency of a crab.

29. Nam nam. The _Cynometra Cauliflora_ of Linnæus. This fruit in shape
somewhat resembles a kidney; it is about three inches long, and the
outside is very rough: It is seldom eaten raw, but fried with batter it
makes a good fritter.

30, 31. The Catappa, or _Terminalia Catappa_; and the Canare, the
_Canarium Commune_ of Linnæus, are both nuts, with kernels somewhat
resembling an almond; but the difficulty of breaking the shell is so
great, that they are no where publicly sold. Those which we tasted were
gathered for curiosity by Mr Banks from the tree upon which they grew.

32. The Madja, or _Limoni_ of Linnæus, contains, under a hard brittle
shell, a lightly acid pulp, which cannot be eaten without sugar; and
with it, is not generally thought pleasant.

33. Suntul. The _Trichilia_ of Linnæus. This is the worst of all the
fruits that I shall particularly mention: In size and shape it resembles
the Madja, and within a thick skin contains kernels like those of the
Mangostan, the taste of which is both acid and astringent, and so
disagreeable, that we were surprised to see it exposed upon the
fruit-stalls.

34, 35, 36. The Blimbing, or _Averrhoa Belimbi_; the Blimbing Besse, or
_Averrhoa Carambola_; and the Cherrema, or _Averrhoa Acida_ of Linnæus,
are three species of one genus; and though they differ in shape, are
nearly of the same taste. The Blimbing Besse is the sweetest: the other
two are so austerely acid, that they cannot be used without dressing;
they make, however, excellent pickles and sour sauce.

37. The Salack, or _Calamus Rotang Zalacca_ of Linnæus. This is the
fruit of a prickly bush; it is about as big as a walnut, and covered
with scales, like those of a lizard: Below the scales are two or three
yellow kernels, in flavour somewhat resembling a strawberry.

Besides these, the island of Java, and particularly the country round
Batavia, produces many kinds of fruit which were not in season during
our stay: We were also told that apples, strawberries, and many other
fruits from Europe, had been planted up in the mountains, and flourished
there in great luxuriance. We saw several fruits preserved in sugar,
that we did not see recent from the tree, one of which is called
_Kimkit_, and another _Boa Atap_: And here are several others which are
eaten only by the natives, particularly the _Kellor_, the _Guilindina_,
the _Moringa_, and the _Soccum_. The Soccum is of the same kind with the
breadfruit in the South-Sea islands, but so much inferior, that if it
had not been for the similitude in the outward appearance both of the
fruit and the tree, we should not have referred it to that class. These
and some others do not merit to be particularly mentioned.

The quantity of fruit that is consumed at Batavia is incredible; but
that which is publicly exposed to sale is generally over-ripe. A
stranger, however, may get good fruit in a street called Passar Pissang,
which lies north from the great church, and very near it. This street is
inhabited by none but Chinese fruit-sellers, who are supplied from the
gardens of gentlemen in the neighbourhood of the town with such as is
fresh, and excellent in its kind, for which, however, they must be paid
more than four times the market price.

The town in general is supplied from a considerable distance, where
great quantities of land are cultivated merely for the production of
fruit. The country people, to whom these lands belong, meet the people
of the town at two great markets; one on Monday, called Passar Sineeu,
and the other on Saturday, called Passar Tanabank. These fairs are held
at places considerably distant from each other, for the convenience of
different districts; neither of them, however, are more than five miles
distant from Batavia. At these fairs, the best fruit may be bought at
the cheapest rate, and the sight of them to a European is very
entertaining. The quantity of fruit is astonishing; forty or fifty
cart-loads of the finest pine-apples, packed as carelessly as turnips in
England, are common, and other fruit in the same profusion. The days,
however, on which these markets are held are ill contrived; the time
between Saturday and Monday is too short, and that between Monday and
Saturday too long: Great part of what is bought on Monday is always much
the worse for keeping before a new stock can be bought, either by the
retailer or consumer; so that for several days in every week there is no
good fruit in the hands of any people but the Chinese in Passar Pissang.

The inhabitants of this part of India practise a luxury which seems to
be but little attended to in other countries; they are continually
burning aromatic woods and resins, and scatter odours round them in a
profusion of flowers, possibly as an antidote to the noisome effluvia of
their ditches and canals. Of sweet-smelling flowers they have a great
variety, altogether unknown in Europe, the chief of which I shall
briefly describe.

1. The _Champacka_, or _Michelia Champacca_. This grows upon a tree as
large as an apple-tree, and consists of fifteen long narrow petala,
which give it the appearance of being double, though in reality it is
not so: Its colour is yellow, and much deeper than that of a jonquil, to
which it has some resemblance in smell.

2. The _Cananga_, or _Uvaria Cananga_, is a green flower, not at all
resembling the blossom of any tree or plant in Europe: It has indeed
more the appearance of a bunch of leaves than a flower; its scent is
agreeable, but altogether peculiar to itself.

3. The _Mulatti_, or _Nyctanthes Sambac_. This is well known in English
hot-houses by the name of Arabian jessamine: It grows here in the
greatest profusion, and its fragrance, like that of all other Indian
flowers, though exquisitely pleasing, has not that overpowering strength
which distinguishes some of the same sorts in Europe.

4, 5. The _Combang Caracnassi_, and _Combang Tonquin, Percularia
Glabro_. These are small flowers, of the dog's-bane kind, very much
resembling each other in shape and smell, highly fragrant, but very
different from every product of an English garden.

6. The _Bonga Tanjong_, or _Mimusops Elengi_ of Linnaeus. This flower is
shaped like a star of seven or eight rays, and is about half an inch in
diameter: It is of a yellowish colour, and has an agreeable smell.


Besides these, there is the _Sundal Malam_, or _Polianthes Tuberosa_.
This flower, being the same with our own tuberose, can have no place
among those that are unknown in Europe; but I mention it for its Malay
name, which signifies "Intriguer of the night," and is not inelegantly
conceived. The heat of this climate is so great, that few flowers exhale
their sweets in the day; and this in particular, from its total want of
scent at that time, and the modesty of its colour, which is white,
seems negligent of attracting admirers, but as soon as night comes on,
it diffuses its fragrance, and at once compels the attention, and
excites the complacency, of all who approach it.

These are all sold about the streets every evening at sunset, either
strung upon a thread, in wreaths of about two feet long, or made up into
nosegays of different forms, either of which may be purchased for about
a half-penny. Besides these, there are, in private gardens, many other
sweet flowers, which are not produced in a sufficient quantity to be
brought to market. With a mixture of these flowers, and the leaves of a
plant called _Pandang_, cut into small pieces, persons of both sexes
fill their hair and their clothes, and with the same mixture indulge a
much higher luxury by strewing it on their beds; so that the chamber in
which they sleep breathes the richest and purest of all odours,
unallayed by the fumes which cannot but arise where the sleeper lies
under two or three blankets and a quilt, for the bed covering here is
nothing more than a single piece of fine chintz.

Before I close my account of the vegetable productions of this part of
India, I must take some notice of the spices. Java originally produced
none but pepper. This is now sent from hence into Europe to a great
value, but the quantity consumed here is very small: The inhabitants use
_Capsicum_, or, as it is called in Europe, Cayan pepper, almost
universally in its stead. Cloves and nutmegs, having been monopolized by
the Dutch, are become too dear to be plentifully used by the other
inhabitants of this country, who are very fond of them. Cloves, although
they are said originally to have been the produce of Machian, or
Bachian, a small island far to the eastward, and only fifteen miles to
the northward of the line, and to have been from thence disseminated by
the Dutch, at their first coming into these parts, over all the eastern
islands, are now confined to Amboina, and the small isles that lie in
its neighbourhood; the Dutch having, by different treaties of peace
between them and the conquered kings of all the other islands,
stipulated, that they should have only a certain number of trees in
their dominions; and in future quarrels, as a punishment for
disobedience and rebellion, lessened the quantity, till at last they
left them no claim to any. Nutmegs have in a manner been extirpated in
all the islands except their first native soil, Banda, which easily
supplies every nation upon earth, and would as easily supply every
nation in another globe of the same dimensions, if there was any such
to which the industrious Hollander could transport the commodity: It is,
however, certain, that there are a few trees of this spice upon the
coast of New Guinea. There may perhaps be both cloves and nutmegs upon
other islands to the eastward; for those, neither the Dutch, nor any
other European, seem to think it worth while to examine.

The principal tame quadrupeds of this country, are horses, cattle,
buffaloes, sheep, goats, and hogs The horses are small, never exceeding
in size what we call a stout galloway, but they are nimble and spirited,
and are reported to have been found here when the Europeans first came
round the Cape of Good Hope. The horned cattle are said to be the same
species as those in Europe, but they differ so much in appearance, that
we were inclined to doubt it: They have indeed the _palearia_ or
_dewlap_, which naturalists make the distinguishing characteristic of
the European species, but they certainly are found wild, not only in
Java, but several of the eastern islands. The flesh of those that we eat
at Batavia, had a finer grain than European beef, but it was less juicy,
and miserably lean. Buffaloes are plenty, but the Dutch never eat them,
nor will they drink their milk, being prepossessed with a notion that
both are unwholesome, and tend to produce fevers; though the natives and
Chinese eat both, without any injury to their health. The sheep are of
the kind which have long ears that hang down, and hair instead of wool:
The flesh of these is hard and tough, and in every respect the worst
mutton we ever saw. We found here, however, a few Cape sheep, which are
excellent, but so dear that we gave five-and-forty shillings a-piece for
four of them, the heaviest of which weighed only five-and-forty pounds.
The goats are not better than the sheep; but the hogs, especially the
Chinese breed, are incomparable, and so fat, that the purchaser agrees
for the lean separately. The butcher, who is always a Chinese, without
the least scruple cuts off as much of the fat as he is desired, and
afterwards sells it to his countrymen, who melt it down, and eat it
instead of butter with their rice: But notwithstanding the excellence of
this pork, the Dutch are so strongly prejudiced in favour of every thing
that comes from their native country, that they eat only of the Dutch
breed, which are here sold as much dearer than the Chinese, as the
Chinese are sold dearer than the Dutch in Europe.

Besides these animals, which are tame, they have dogs and cats, and
there are among the distant mountains some wild horses and cattle:
Buffaloes are not found wild in any part of Java, though they abound in
Macassar, and several other eastern islands. The neighbourhood of
Batavia, however, is plentifully supplied with two kinds of deer, and
wild hogs, which are sold at a reasonable price by the Portuguese, who
shoot them, and are very good food.

Among the mountains, and in the desert parts of the island, there are
tigers, it is said, in great abundance, and some rhinoceroses: In these
parts also there are monkies, and there are a few of them even in the
neighbourhood of Batavia.

Of fish, here is an amazing plenty; many sorts are excellent, and all
are very cheap, except the few that are scarce. It happens here, as in
other places, that vanity gets the better even of appetite: The cheap
fish, most of which is of the best kind, is the food only of slaves, and
that which is dear, only because it is scarce, and very much inferior in
every respect, is placed upon the tables of the rich. A. sensible
house-keeper once spoke to us freely upon the subject. "I know," said
he, "as well as you, that I could purchase a better dish of fish for a
shilling, than what now costs me ten; but if I should make so good a use
of my money, I should here be as much despised, as you would be in
Europe, if you were to cover your table with offals, fit only for
beggars, or dogs."

Turtle is also found here, but it is neither so sweet nor so fat as the
West-Indian turtle, even in London; such as it is, however, we should
consider it as a dainty; but the Dutch, among other singularities, do
not eat it. We saw some lizards, or Iguanas, here of a very large size;
we were told that some were as thick as a man's thigh, and Mr Banks shot
one that was five feet long: The flesh of this animal proved to be very
good food.

Poultry is very good here, and in great plenty: Fowls of a very large
size, ducks, and geese, are very cheap; pigeons are dear, and the price
of turkies extravagant. We sometimes found the flesh of these animals
lean and dry, but this was merely the effect of their being ill fed, for
those that we fed ourselves were as good as any of the same kind that we
had tasted in Europe, and we sometimes thought them even better.

Wild fowl in general is scarce. We once saw a wild duck in the fields,
but never any that were to be sold. We frequently saw snipes of two
kinds, one of them exactly the same as that in Europe; and a kind of
thrush was always to be had in great plenty of the Portuguese, who, for
I know not what reason, seem to have monopolized the wild fowl and game.
Of snipes, it is remarkable, that they are found in more parts of the
world than any other bird, being common almost all over Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America.

With respect to drink, Nature has not been quite so liberal to the
inhabitants of Java as to some whom she has placed in the less fruitful
regions of the north. The native Javanese, and most of the other Indians
who inhabit this island, are indeed Mahometans, and therefore have no
reason to regret the want of wine; but, as if the prohibition of their
law respected only the manner of becoming drunk, and not drunkenness
itself, they chew opium, to the total subversion not only of their
understanding, but their health.[148]

[Footnote 148: Besides opium, both betel and a sort of tobacco is much
used by most people at Batavia. A lady scarcely ever goes out unattended
by a slave, who carries her betel box, to which she very frequently has
recourse. The constant use of this substance has a very unpleasant (i.
e. according to European opinion) effect on the teeth, rendering them
quite black! This, however, is not thought any disparagement of their
beauty, and it is believed that the toothache is prevented by the
practice of chewing. A few additional remarks on this subject are given
in the following section.--E.]

The arrack that is made here, is too well known to need a description:
Besides which, the palm yields a wine of the same kind with that which
has already been described in the account of the island of Savu: It is
procured from the same tree, in the same manner, and is sold in three
states. The first, in which it is called _Tuac manise_, differs little
from that in which it comes from the tree; yet even this has received
some preparation altogether unknown to us, in consequence of which it
will keep eight-and-forty hours, though otherwise it would spoil in
twelve: In this state it has an agreeable sweetness, and will not
intoxicate. In the other two states it has undergone a fermentation, and
received an infusion of certain herbs and roots, by which it loses its
sweetness, and acquires a taste very austere and disagreeable. In one of
these states it's called _Tuac cras_, and in the other _Tuac cuning_,
but the specific difference I do not know; in both, however, it
intoxicates very powerfully. A liquor called Tuac is also made from the
cocoa-nut tree, but this is used chiefly to put into the arrack, for in
that which is good it is an essential ingredient.


SECTION XXXIX.

_Some Account of the Inhabitants of Batavia, and the adjacent Country,
their Manners, Customs, and Manner of Life_.


The town of Batavia, although, as I have already observed, it is the
capital of the Dutch dominions in India, is so far from being peopled
with Dutchmen, that not one-fifth part, even of the European inhabitants
of the town, and its environs, are natives of Holland, or of Dutch
extraction: The greater part are Portuguese, and besides Europeans,
there are Indians of various nations, and Chinese, besides a great
number of negro slaves.[149] In the troops, there are natives of almost
every country in Europe, but the Germans are more than all the rest put
together; there are some English and French, but the Dutch, though other
Europeans are permitted to get money here, keep all the power in their
own hands, and consequently possess all public employments. No man, of
whatever nation, can come hither to settle, in any other character than
that of a soldier in the Company's service, in which, before they are
accepted, they must covenant to remain five years. As soon, however, as
this form has been complied with, they are allowed, upon application to
the council, to absent themselves from their corps, and enter
immediately into any branch of trade which their money or credit will
enable them to carry on; and by this means it is that all the white
inhabitants of the place are soldiers.

[Footnote 149: Mr Barrow estimates the population of Batavia, and the
adjacent villages, at 116,000, of which only about 8000 are Europeans;
the slaves are supposed 17,000, the Chinese 22,000, and the remainder
consists of free Javanese or Malays. The streets of Batavia, he says,
present a greater variety of races than are almost any where else to be
found together. Among these, however, as is to be expected, the Dutchman
is by much the most consequential, when he condescends, which is not
frequent, to appear amongst the lower species. Mr B.'s description of
this important being may amuse the reader. "The Dutchman, whose
predominant vice in Europe is avarice, rising into affluence in an
unhealthy foreign settlement, almost invariably changes this part of his
character, and, with a thorough contempt of the frugal maxim of Molier's
L'Avare, lives to eat, rather than eats to live. His motto is, 'Let us
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' He observes, it is true, the old
maxim of rising at an early hour in the morning, not however for the
sake of enjoying the cool breeze, and of taking moderate exercise, but
rather to begin the day's career of eating and drinking. His first essay
is usually a _sopie_, or glass of gin to which succeed a cup of coffee
and a pipe. His stomach thus fortified, he lounges about the great hall
of the house, or the viranda, if in the country, with a loose
night-gown, carelessly thrown over his shoulders, a night-cap and
slippers, till about eight o'clock, which is the usual hour of
breakfast. This is generally a solid meal of dried meat, fish, and
poultry, made into curries, eggs, rice, strong beer, and spirits.
_Currie_ and rice is a standing dish at all meals, and at all seasons of
the year, being considered as an excellent stimulus to the stomach. The
business of the day occupies little more than a couple of hours, from
ten to twelve, when he again sits down to dinner, a meal that is
somewhat more solid than the breakfast. From table he retires to sleep,
and remains invisible till about five in the evening, when he rises and
prepares for a ride or a walk, from which he uniformly returns to a
smoking-hot supper." So much for the portly Dutchman at Batavia,--a sort
of animal not unsuccessfully emulated, as to substantials, by a certain
_genus_ in some islands of the West Indies!-E.]

Women, however, of all nations, are permitted to settle here, without
coming under any restrictions; yet we were told that there were not,
when we arrived at Batavia, twenty women in the place that were born in
Europe, but that the white women, who were by no means scarce, were
descendants from European parents of the third or fourth generation, the
gleanings of many families who had successively come hither, and in the
male line become extinct; for it is certain that, whatever be the cause,
this climate is not so fatal to the ladies as to the other sex.

These women imitate the Indians in every particular; their dress is made
of the same materials, their hair is worn in the same manner, and they
are equally enslaved by the habit of chewing betel.

The merchants carry on their business here with less trouble perhaps
than in any other part of the world: Every manufacture is managed by the
Chinese, who sell the produce of their labour to the merchant resident
here, for they are permitted to sell it to no one else; so that when a
ship comes in, and bespeaks perhaps a hundred leagers of arrack, or any
quantity of other commodities, the merchant has nothing to do but to
send orders to his Chinese to see them delivered on board: He obeys the
command, brings a receipt, signed by the master of the ship, for the
goods to his employer, who receives the money, and having deducted his
profit, pays the Chinese his demand. With goods that are imported,
however, the merchant has a little more trouble, for these he must
examine, receive, and lay up in his warehouse, according to the practice
of other countries.

The Portuguese are called by the natives Oranserrne, or Nazareen men
(Oran, being Man in the language of the country,) to distinguish them
from other Europeans; yet they are included in the general appellation
of _Caper_, or _Cafir_, an opprobrious term, applied by Mahometans to
all who do not profess their faith. These people, however, are
Portuguese only in name; they have renounced the religion of Rome, and
become Lutherans: Neither have they the least communication with the
country of their forefathers, or even knowledge of it: They speak indeed
a corrupt dialect of the Portuguese language, but much more frequently
use the Malay: They are never suffered to employ themselves in any but
mean occupations: Many of them live by hunting, many by washing linen,
and some are handicraftsmen and artificers. They have adopted all the
customs of the Indians, from whom they are distinguished chiefly by
their features and complexion, their skin being considerably darker, and
their noses more sharp; their dress is exactly the same, except in the
manner of wearing their hair.

The Indians, who are mixed with the Dutch and Portuguese in the town of
Batavia, and the country adjacent, are not, as might be supposed,
Javanese, the original natives of the island, but natives of the various
islands from which the Dutch import slaves, and are either such as have
themselves been manumized, or the descendants of those who formerly
received manumission; and they are all comprehended under the general
name of _Oranslam_, or _Isalam_, signifying believers of the true faith.
The natives of every country, however, in other respects, keep
themselves distinct from the rest, and are not less strongly marked than
the slaves by the vices or virtues of their respective nations. Many of
these employ themselves in the cultivation of gardens, and in selling
fruit and flowers. The betel and areca, which are here called _siri_ and
_pinang_, and chewed by both sexes and every rank in amazing quantities,
are all grown by these Indians: Lime is also mixed with these roots here
as it is in Savu, but it is less pernicious to the teeth, because it is
first slaked, and, besides the lime, a substance called _gambir_, which
is brought from the continent of India; the better sort of women also
add cardamum, and many other aromatics, to give the breath an agreeable
smell. Some of the Indians, however, are employed in fishing, and as
lightermen, to carry goods from place to place by water; and some are
rich, and live with much of the splendour of their country, which
chiefly consists in the number of their slaves.

In the article of food, these Isalams are remarkably temperate: It
consists chiefly of boiled rice, with a small portion of buffalo, fish,
or fowl, and sometimes of dried fish, and dried shrimps, which are
brought hither from China; every dish, however, is highly seasoned with
Cayan pepper, and they have many kinds of pastry made of rice-flour, and
other things to which I am a stranger; they eat also a great deal of
fruit, particularly plantains.

But notwithstanding their general temperance their feasts are
plentiful, and, according to their manner, magnificent. As they are
Mahometans, wine and strong liquors professedly make no part of their
entertainment, neither do they often indulge with them privately,
contenting themselves with their betel and opium.

The principal solemnity among them is a wedding, upon which occasion
both the families borrow as many ornaments of gold and silver as they
can, to adorn the bride and bridegroom, so that their dresses are very
showy and magnificent. The feasts that are given upon these occasions
among the rich, last sometimes a fortnight, and sometimes longer; and
during this time the man, although married on the first day, is, by the
women, kept from his wife.

The language that is spoken among all these people, from what place
soever they originally came, is the Malay; at least, it is a language so
called, and probably it is a very corrupt dialect of that spoken at
Malacca. Every little island, indeed, has a language of its own, and
Java has two or three, but this lingua franca is the only language that
is now spoken here, and, as I am told, it prevails over a great part of
the East Indies. A dictionary of Malay and English was published in
London by Thomas Bowrey, in the year 1701.[150]

[Footnote 150: What is here said of the Malay language cannot be
implicitly relied on, information on the subject being exceedingly
scanty at the time of the publication. Mr Marsden has lately favoured
the world with both dictionary and grammar of the Malay, of which a very
important account will be found in the Edinburgh Review for April
1814.--E.]

Their women wear as much hair as can grow upon the head, and to increase
the quantity, they use oils, and other preparations of various kinds. Of
this ornament Nature has been very liberal; it is universally black, and
is formed into a kind of circular wreath upon the top of the head, where
it is fastened with a bodkin, in a taste which we thought inexpressibly
elegant: The wreath of hair is surrounded by another of flowers, in
which the Arabian jessamine is beautifully intermixed with the golden
stars of the _bonger tanjong_.

Both sexes constantly bathe themselves in the river at least once
a-day, a practice which, in this hot country, is equally necessary both
to personal delicacy and health. The teeth of these people also,
whatever they may suffer in their colour by chewing betel, are an object
of great attention: The ends of them, both in the upper and under jaw,
are rubbed with a kind of whetstone, by a very troublesome and painful
operation, till they are perfectly even and flat, so that they cannot
lose less than half a line in their length. A deep groove is then made
across the teeth of the upper jaw, parallel with the gums, and in the
middle between them and the extremity of the teeth; the depth of this
groove is at least equal to one-fourth of the thickness of the teeth, so
that it penetrates far beyond what is called the enamel, the least
injury to which, according to the dentists of Europe, is fatal; yet
among these people, where the practice of thus wounding the enamel is
universal, we never saw a rotten tooth; nor is the blackness a stain,
but a covering, which may be washed off at pleasure, and the teeth, then
appear as white as ivory, which, however, is not an excellence in the
estimation of the belles and beaux of these nations.

These are the people among whom the practice that is called a _mock_, or
running a muck, has prevailed for time immemorial. It is well known,
that to run a muck, in the original sense of the word, is to get
intoxicated with opium, and then rush into the street with a drawn
weapon, and kill whoever comes in the way, till the party is himself
either killed or taken prisoner; of this several instances happened
while we were at Batavia, and one of the officers, whose business it is,
among other things, to apprehend such people, told us, that there was
scarcely a week in which he, or some of his brethren, were not called
upon to take one of them into custody. In one of the instances that came
to our knowledge, the party had been severely injured by the perfidy of
women, and was mad with jealousy before he made himself drunk with
opium; and we were told, that the Indian who runs a muck is always first
driven to desperation by some outrage, and always first revenges himself
upon those who have done him wrong: We were also told, that though these
unhappy wretches afterwards run into the street with a weapon in their
hand, frantic and foaming at the mouth, yet they never kill any but
those who attempt to apprehend them, or those whom they suspect of such
an intention, and that whoever gives them way is safe. They are
generally slaves, who indeed are most subject to insults, and least able
to obtain legal redress: Freemen, however, are sometimes provoked into
this extravagance, and one of the persons who ran a muck while we were
at Batavia, was free, and in easy circumstances. He was jealous of his
own brother, whom he first killed, and afterwards two others, who
attempted to oppose him: He did not, however, come out of his house, but
endeavoured to defend himself in it, though the opium had so far
deprived him of his senses, that of three muskets, which he attempted to
use against the officers of justice, not one was either loaded or
primed. If the officer takes one of these amocks, or mohawks, as they
have been called by an easy corruption, alive, his reward is very
considerable, but if he kills them, nothing is added to his usual pay;
yet such is the fury of their desperation, that three out of four are of
necessity destroyed in the attempt to secure them, though the officers
are provided with instruments like large tongs, or pincers, to lay hold
of them without coming within the reach of their weapon. Those who
happen to be taken alive are generally wounded, but they are always
broken alive upon the wheel, and if the physician who is appointed to
examine their wounds thinks them likely to be mortal, the punishment is
inflicted immediately, and the place of execution is generally the spot
where the first murder was committed.[151]

[Footnote 151: The word _amock_, which is vulgarly applied to this most
extraordinary exhibition of ferocious despair, signifies, in the native
language, _kill_, and is often vociferated by the unhappy madmen as they
prowl the streets, intent on vengeance. There is reason to believe that
opium is no otherwise concerned in producing such frenzy than as it
contributes to keep up the passions which had been previously raised,
and to render the persons under their influence insensible to the
dangers that beset them:--In the same manner as in other countries, the
intemperate use of spirits produces a sort of temporary, but often
fatal, and always hazardous derangement. The Malays are remarkable for
ferocity of temper, and are, at the same time, exceedingly liable to
jealousy, and to take offence. It is usually after such occurrences as
excite their bad passions, that they take to opium and are at last
wrought up to the madness of the "amock," which ends their days and
griefs together.--E.]

Among these people there are many absurd practices and opinions which
they derive from their pagan ancestors: They believe that the devil,
whom they call Satan, is the cause of all sickness and adversity, and
for this reason, when they are sick, or in distress, they consecrate
meat, money, and other things to him as a propitiation. If any one among
them is restless, and dreams for two or three nights successively, he
concludes that Satan has taken that method of laying his commands upon
him, which if he neglects to fulfil, he will certainly suffer sickness
or death, though they are not revealed with sufficient perspicuity to
ascertain their meaning: To interpret his dream, therefore, he taxes his
wits to the uttermost, and if, by taking it literally or figuratively,
directly or by contraries, he can put no explanation upon it that
perfectly satisfies him, he has recourse to the cawin, or priest, who
assists him with a comment and illustrations, and perfectly reveals the
mysterious suggestions of the night. It generally appears that the devil
wants victuals or money, which are always allotted him, and being placed
on a little plate of cocoa-nut leaves, are hung upon the branch of a
tree near the river, so that it seems not to be the opinion of these
people, that in prowling the earth "the devil walketh through dry
places." Mr Banks once asked, whether they thought Satan spent the
money, or eat the victuals? he was answered, that as to the money, it
was considered rather as a mulct upon an offender, than a gift to him
who had enjoined it, and that therefore, if it was devoted by the
dreamer, it mattered not into whose hands it came, and they supposed
that it was generally the prize of some stranger who wandered that way;
but as to the meat, they were clearly of opinion that although the devil
did not eat the gross parts, yet, by bringing his mouth near it, he
sucked out all its savour without changing its position, so that
afterwards it was as tasteless as water.[152]

[Footnote 152: The people of Borneo are said to have a similar mode of
placating the devil by means of victuals, &c. A curious account of it is
given by Capt. Daniel Beeckman, in his relation of a voyage to that
island, published at London, 1718. The following extract may
amuse:--"There was one Cay Deponattee, a very honest man, who often used
to visit us; he happened to come one day when Mr Becher was delirious,
(being ill of a fever) and perceiving him to be very earnest in
speaking, he asked us what he talked of? We told him he was seila, that
is, light-headed; and we explained to him what extravagant things he
said. Whereupon he told us, that he was possessed with the devil, and
that it was not he that spoke, but the devil that was within him. He
begged that we would carry some fowls, rice, and fruit, and offer it to
the devil in the woods, where they have certain places for that purpose,
and that then the devil would leave him; for, says he, what signifies
the expence? We answered him, that we knew better things, and that his
illness did not proceed from what he imagined; that we Christians feared
not the devil, for that he had no power to hurt any but those that put
their trust in him, and not in God. The old man laughed at our notions,
and said, that their sultan was of our opinion, but that, for his own
part, he knew otherwise by experience. The next day he came to see him
again; and upon his enquiry how he did, Mr Becher (being then sensible)
answered him, that he was something better, but that he had a great pain
across his stomach. 'Ay,' says the old man, 'I told you yesterday what
the matter was, but you are fools, and would not believe me, nor be
ruled by me; but though the devil is gone, he has smote you on the
stomach; and without you follow my directions, you will certainly die in
a very little time.' Then he desired that his wife might go and make
such offerings; but Mr Becher answered, that she might do what she
pleased, but not on his account, for that he would rather lose his life
than be beholden to the devil for it. The manner of these offerings is
thus; When any person is very ill, especially in the condition Mr B.
was, imagining him to be possessed, they buy the aforesaid provisions;
and having dressed them with as much care as if they were to make a
splendid entertainment, they carry this banquet into the woods to a
certain house or shed, built always under the largest trees near the
water side, where they leave it. As to what ceremonies of prayer, &c.,
they use on this occasion, I know not particularly, only that they
invite the devil very kindly to it, assuring him that it is very good,
and well dressed, and begging him to accept it. Now these woods are so
full of monkeys, that if never so much was left at night, they would
devour it before morning, which these ignorant creatures believe to be
eaten by the devil; and if the person recovers, they think themselves
very much obliged to him for his civility and good nature, and, by way
of thanks, they send him more; but if the person dies, then they revile
against him, calling him a cross ill-natured devil, that he is often a
deceiver, and that he has been very ungrateful in accepting the present,
and then killing their friend: In fine, they are very angry with him."
He mentions some other ways of enchanting away distempers, where such
offerings to the devil are no inconsiderable part of the
prescription.--E.]

But they have another superstitious opinion that is still more
unaccountable. They believe that women, when they are delivered of
children, are frequently at the same time delivered of a young
crocodile, as a twin to the infant: They believe that these creatures
are received most carefully by the midwife, and immediately carried down
to the river, and put into the water. The family in which such a birth
is supposed to have happened constantly put victuals into the river for
their amphibious relation, and especially the twin, who, as long as he
lives, gets down to the river at stated seasons, to fulfil this
fraternal duly, for the neglect of which it is the universal opinion
that he will be visited with sickness or death. What could at first
produce a notion so extravagant and absurd, it is not easy to guess,
especially as it seems to be totally unconnected with any religious
mystery, and how a fact which never happened, should be pretended to
happen every day, by those who cannot be deceived into a belief of it by
appearances, nor have any apparent interest in the fraud, is a problem
still more difficult to solve. Nothing however can be more certain than
the firm belief of this strange absurdity among them, for we had the
concurrent testimony of every Indian who was questioned about it, in its
favour. It seems to have taken its rise in the islands of Celebes and
Boutou, where many of the inhabitants keep crocodiles in their families;
but however that be, the opinion has spread over all the eastern
islands, even to Timor and Ceram, and westward as far as Java and
Sumatra, where, however, young crocodiles are, I believe, never
kept.[153]

[Footnote 153: Maximus Tyrius tells us a story of an Egyptian woman
having brought up a young crocodile as a companion to her son, who was
much about the same age. Things went on very well with these two friends
for a considerable time; but the crocodile gaining strength and the
common properties of his species, at last devoured his comrade. The
Egyptians, it is well known, had a peculiar regard for this animal, and
esteemed it as sacred. What could have given rise to the strange notions
mentioned in the text, the writer is utterly unable to conjecture, and
he does not recollect any relation or circumstances that can illustrate
them.--E.]

These crocodile twins are called _sudaras_, and I shall Relate one of
the innumerable stories that were told us, in proof of their existence,
from ocular demonstration.

A young female slave, who was born and bred up among the English at
Bencoolen, and had learnt a little of the language, told Mr Banks, that
her father, when he was dying, acquainted her that he had a crocodile
for his _sudara_, and solemnly charged her to give him meat when he
should be dead, telling her in what part of the river he was to be
found, and by what name he was to be called up: That in pursuance of her
father's instructions and command, she went to the river, and standing
upon the bank, called out, _Radja Pouti_, white king, upon which a
crocodile came to her out of the water, and eat from her hand the
provisions that she had brought him. When she was desired to describe
this paternal uncle, who in so strange a shape had taken up his dwelling
in the water, she said, that he was not like other crocodiles, but much
handsomer; that his body was spotted, and his nose red; that he had
bracelets of gold upon his feet, and ear-rings of the same metal in his
ears. Mr Banks heard this tale of ridiculous falsehood patiently to the
end, and then dismissed the girl, without reminding her that a crocodile
with ears was as strange a monster as a dog with a cloven foot. Some
time after this, a servant whom Mr Banks had hired at Batavia, and who
was the son of a Dutchman by a Javanese woman, thought fit to acquaint
his master that he had seen a crocodile of the same kind, which had also
been seen by many others, both Dutchmen and Malays: That being very
young, it was but two feet long, and had bracelets of gold upon its
feet. There is no giving credit to these stories, said Mr Banks, for I
was told the other day that a crocodile had ear-rings, and you know that
could not be true, because crocodiles have no ears. Ah, sir, said the
man, these sudara oran are not like other crocodiles; they have five
toes upon each foot, a large tongue that fills their mouth, and ears
also, although they are indeed very small.

How much of what these people related, they believed, cannot be known;
for there are no bounds to the credulity of ignorance and folly. In the
girl's relation, however, there are some things in which she could not
be deceived; and therefore must have been guilty of wilful falsehood.
Her father might perhaps give her a charge to feed a crocodile, in
consequence of his believing that it was his sudara; but its coming to
her out of the river when she called it by the name of white king, and
taking the food she had brought it, must have been a fable of her own
invention; for this being false, it was impossible that she should
believe it to be true. The girl's story, however, as well as that of the
man, is a strong proof that they both firmly believed the existence of
crocodiles that are sudaras to men; and the girl's fiction will be
easily accounted for, if we recollect that the earnest desire which
every one feels to make others believe what he believes himself, is a
strong temptation to support it by unjustifiable evidence. And the
averring what is known to be false, in order to produce in others the
belief of what is thought to be true, must, upon the most charitable
principles, be imputed to many, otherwise venerable characters, through
whose hands the doctrines of Christianity passed for many ages in their
way to us, as the source of all the silly fables related of the Romish
saints, many of them not less extravagant and absurd than this story of
the white king, and all of them the invention of the first relater.[154]

[Footnote 154: It is no doubt very true, that many of the _pious
frauds_, as they have been called, are as absurd as the story alluded
to; but really there does not seem to be any occasion whatever for
lugging them in here, in order to shew a sort of malicious contempt of
those who framed them. Dr Hawkesworth, it is very clear, kept himself
much on the look-out for subjects capable of serving as baits for the
greedy scoffers of his day. Few people have candour or patience enough
to discriminate betwixt truth and its counterpart, when religion is to
be investigated; and nothing is more common among the witlings, than a
sneer at the bullion, because of its being occasionally blended with
dross. But such behaviour has much stronger indications of spite than
claims to the merit of ability or good sense.--E.]

The Bougis, Macassars, and Boetons, are so firmly persuaded that they
have relations of the crocodile species in the rivers of their own
country, that they perform a periodical ceremony in remembrance of them.
Large parties of them go out in a boat, furnished with great plenty of
provisions, and all kinds of music, and row backwards and forwards, in
places where crocodiles and alligators are most common, singing and
weeping by turns, each invoking his kindred, till a crocodile appears,
when the music instantly stops, and provisions, betel, and tobacco are
thrown into the water. By this civility to the species, they hope to
recommend themselves to their relations at home, and that it will be
accepted instead of offerings immediately to themselves, which it is not
in their power to pay.

In the next rank to the Indians stand the Chinese, who in this place are
numerous, but possess very little property; many of then live within the
walls, and keep shops. The fruit-sellers of Passar-Pissang have been
mentioned already; but others have a rich show of European and Chinese
goods: The far greater part, however, live in a quarter by themselves,
without the walls, called Campang China. Many of them are carpenters,
joiners, smiths, tailors, slipper-makers, dyers of cotton, and
embroiderers, maintaining the character of industry that is universally
given of them; and some are scattered about the country, where they
cultivate gardens, sow rice and sugar, and keep cattle and buffaloes,
whose milk they bring daily to town.[155]

[Footnote 155: The Chinese who carry on any trade or profession, _i.e._
almost all of them, pay a monthly tax to the government. In Stavorinus's
time, this was about six shillings sterling a-piece.--E.]

There is nothing clean or dirty, honest or dishonest, provided there is
not too much danger of a halter, that the Chinese will not readily do
for money. But though they work with great diligence, and patiently
undergo any degree of labour, yet no sooner have they laid down their
tools than they begin to game, either at cards or dice, or some other
play among the multitude that they have invented, which are altogether
unknown in Europe: To this they apply with such eagerness as scarcely to
allow time for the necessary refreshments of food and sleep; so that it
is as rare to see a Chinese idle, as it is to see a Dutchman or an
Indian employed.

In manners they are always civil, or rather obsequious; and in dress
they are remarkably neat and clean, to whatever rank of life they
belong.[156] I shall not attempt a description either of their persons
or habits, for the better kind of China paper, which is now common in
England, exhibits a perfect representation of both, though perhaps with
some slight exaggerations approaching towards the caricatura.

[Footnote 156: Whatever may be their personal cleanliness in appearance,
their moral impurity, according to all accounts, is most gross and
detestable. We shall not pollute our page by the slightest mention of
the abominable gratifications in which they are said to indulge,
contrary to the most palpable enactments of nature.--E.]

In eating, they are easily satisfied, though the few that are rich have
many savory dishes. Rice, with a small proportion of flesh or fish, is
the food of the poor; and they have greatly the advantage of the
Mahometan Indians, whose religion forbids them to eat of many things
which they could most easily procure. The Chinese, on the contrary,
being under no restraint, eat, besides pork, dogs, cats, frogs, lizards,
serpents of many kinds, and a great variety of sea-animals, which the
other inhabitants of this country do not consider as food: They also eat
many vegetables, which an European, except he was perishing with hunger,
would never touch.[157]

[Footnote 157: The reader may turn to our account of Anson's voyage for
some particulars respecting their taste. Indeed, in almost every voyage
he will find abundantly disgusting information of this singularly
unamiable people. It is but fair, however, to allow them credit for one
of the virtues of necessity. Their capability of subsisting on such food
as others reject, is a very requisite part of education in their own
country, where the danger of famine is so great and frequent.--E.]

The Chinese have a singular superstition with regard to the burial of
their dead; for they will upon no occasion open the ground a second time
where a body has been interred. Their burying-grounds, therefore, in the
neighbourhood of Batavia, cover many hundred acres, and the Dutch,
grudging the waste of so much land, will not sell any for this purpose
but at the most exorbitant price. The Chinese, however, contrive to
raise the purchase-money, and afford another instance of the folly and
weakness of human nature, in transferring a regard for the living to the
dead, and making that the object of solicitude and expence, which cannot
receive the least benefit from either. Under the influence of this
universal prejudice, they take an uncommon method to preserve the body
entire, and prevent the remains of it from being mixed with the earth
that surrounds it. They enclose it in a large thick coffin of wood, not
made of planks joined together, but hollowed out of the solid timber
like a canoe; this being covered, and let down into the grave, is
surrounded with a coat of their mortar, called chinam, about eight or
ten inches thick, which in a short time becomes as hard as a stone. The
relations of the deceased attend the funeral ceremony, with a
considerable number of women that are hired to weep: It might reasonably
be supposed that the hired appearance of sorrow could no more flatter
the living than benefit the dead, yet the appearance of sorrow is known
to be hired among people much more reflective and enlightened than the
Chinese. In Batavia, the law requires that every man should be buried
according to his rank, which is in no case dispensed with; so that if
the deceased has not left sufficient to pay his debts, an officer takes
an inventory of what was in his possession when he died, and out of the
produce buries him in the manner prescribed, leaving only the overplus
to his creditors. Thus in many instances are the living sacrificed to
the dead, and money that should discharge a debt, or feed an orphan,
lavished in idle processions, or materials that are deposited in the
earth to rot.[158]

[Footnote 158: Their veneration for the dead is certainly excessive, and
by no means in unison with the rest of their character, which seems to
be made up of the grossest selfishness, avarice, and apathy. They often
visit the graves of their friends, strew flowers around them, and when
they leave them, deposit presents and sundry articles of provisions,
which, of course, are soon removed, though not by the dead. In this,
respect, then, it is very obvious that their mourning may not be quite
useless to the living.--E.]

Another numerous class among the inhabitants of this country is the
slaves; for by slaves the Dutch, Portuguese, and Indians, however
different in their rank or situation, are constantly attended: They are
purchased from Sumatra, Malacca, and almost all the eastern islands.
The natives of Java, very few of whom, as I have before observed, live
in the neighbourhood of Batavia, have an exemption from slavery under
the sanction of very severe penal laws, which I believe are seldom
violated. The price of these slaves is from ten to twenty pounds
sterling; but girls, if they have beauty, sometimes fetch a hundred.
They are a very lazy set of people; but as they will do but little work,
they are content with a little victuals, subsisting altogether upon
boiled rice, and a small quantity of the cheapest fish. As they are
natives of different countries, they differ from each other extremely,
both in person and disposition. The African negroes, called here
_Papua_, are the worst, and consequently may be purchased for the least
money: They are all thieves, and all incorrigible. Next to these are the
Bougis and Macassars, both from the island of Celebes: These are lazy in
the highest degree, and though not so much addicted to theft as the
negroes, have a cruel and vindictive spirit, which renders them
extremely dangerous, especially as, to gratify their resentment, they
will make no scruple of sacrificing life. The best slaves, and
consequently the dearest, are procured from the island of Bali: The most
beautiful women from Nias, a small island on the coast of Sumatra; but
they are of a tender and delicate constitution, and soon fall a
sacrifice to the unwholesome air of Batavia.[159] Besides these, there
are Malays, and slaves of several other denominations, whose particular
characteristics I do not remember.

[Footnote 159: Other causes operate to the early extinction of these
unfortunate females,--the lusts of their masters, and the cruel
jealousy, ingenious and discriminating in torture, of their mistresses.
Stavorinus well explains what is here meant. Speaking of the ladies of
Batavia, he writes to this effect. In common with most women in India,
they have an extreme jealousy of their husbands and female slaves. If
they observe the least familiarity between them, they set no bounds to
their revenge against the poor creatures, who, in general, have no
alternative but that of gratifying their masters, or experiencing very
harsh usage from them. On such discovery, their mistresses punish them
in different ways, whipping them with ropes; or beating them with canes,
till they fall down exhausted. One of the modes of tormenting them, is
to pinch them with their toes in a certain tender part, against which
their vengeance is chiefly directed; for this purpose, these wretched
girls are made to sit before them in a peculiar position, and so
exquisite is their suffering, that they often faint away. Indeed, the
refinements in cruelty practised on them almost exceed belief.--E.]

These slaves are wholly in the power of their masters, with respect to
any punishment that does not take away life; but if a slave dies in
consequence of punishment, though his death should not appear to have
been intended, the master is called to a severe account, and he is
generally condemned to suffer capitally. For this reason the master
seldom inflicts punishment upon the slave himself, but applies to an
officer called a Marineu, one of whom is stationed in every district.
The duty of the Marineu is to quell riots, and take offenders into
custody; but more particularly to apprehend runaway slaves, and punish
them for such crimes as the master, supported by proper evidence, lays
to their charge: The punishment, however, is not inflicted by the
Marineu in person, but by slaves who are bred up to the business. Men
are punished publicly, before the door of their master's house; but
women within it. The punishment is, by stripes, the number being
proportioned to the offence; and they are given with rods made of
rattans, which are split into slender twigs for the purpose, and fetch
blood at every stroke. A common punishment costs the master a
rix-dollar, and a severe one a ducatoon, about six shillings and
eight-pence. The master is also obliged to allow the slave three
dubbelcheys, equal to about seven-pence half-penny a-week, as an
encouragement, and to prevent his being under temptations to steal, too
strong to be resisted.

Concerning the government of this place I can say but little. We
observed, however, a remarkable subordination among the people. Every
man who is able to keep house has a certain specific rank, acquired by
the length of his services to the Company: The different ranks which are
thus acquired are distinguished by the ornaments of the coaches and the
dresses of the coachmen: Some are obliged to ride in plain coaches, some
are allowed to paint them in different manners and degrees, and some to
gild them. The coachman also appears in clothes that are quite plain, or
more or less adorned with lace.[160]

[Footnote 160: The distinctions of rank, and all the punctilios of the
respective ceremonies and homage, are attended to at Batavia with the
most religious exactness. Stavorinus specifies many instances, which, to
some readers, it might be amusing enough to transcribe. But in fact, and
to be honest, the writer has neither time, inclination, nor patience to
interfere with such mummeries, or investigate the claims to precedency
and peculiarly modified respect set up by Dutch merchants, and their
still more consequential spouses. He has not the smallest pretensions to
the office of master of the ceremonies for any society whatever.--E.]

The officer who presides here has the title of Governor General of the
Indies, and the Dutch governors of all the other settlements are
subordinate to him, and obliged to repair to Batavia that he may pass
their accounts. If they appear to have been criminal, or even negligent,
he punishes them by delay, and detains them during pleasure, sometimes
one year, sometimes two years, and sometimes three; for they cannot quit
the place till he gives them a dismission. Next to the governor are the
members of the council, called here _Edele Heeren_, and by the
corruption of the English, _Idoleers_. These Idoleers take upon them so
much state, that whoever meets them in a carriage is expected to rise up
and bow, then to drive on one side of the road, and there stop till they
are past: The same homage is required also to their wives, and even
their children; and it is commonly paid them by the inhabitants. But
some of our captains have thought so slavish a mark of respect beneath
the dignity which they derive from the service of his Britannic majesty,
and have refused to pay it; yet, if they were in a hired carriage,
nothing could deter the coachman from honouring the Dutch grandee at
their expence, but the most peremptory menace of immediate death.[161]

[Footnote 161: The reader will remember what Captain Carteret says on
this subject, in the account given of his voyage.--E.]

Justice is administered here by a body of lawyers, who have ranks of
distinction among themselves. Concerning their proceedings in questions
of property, I know nothing; but their decisions in criminal cases seem
to be severe with respect to the natives, and lenient with respect to
their own people, in a criminal degree. A Christian always is indulged
with an opportunity of escaping before he is brought to a trial,
whatever may have been his offence; and if he is brought to a trial and
convicted, he is seldom punished with death; while the poor Indians, on
the contrary, are hanged, and broken upon the wheel, and even impaled
alive without mercy.[162]

[Footnote 162: Impalement, as practised at Batavia, is one of the most
shocking punishments ever invented. An iron spike, about six feet long,
is forcibly passed between the back-bone and the skin from the lower
part of the body, where a cross cut is made for its insertion, till it
come out betwixt the shoulders and neck, the executioner guiding the
point of it so that none of the vitals or large blood vessels may be
wounded. The under end of the spike is afterwards made fast to a wooden
post, which is then stuck into the ground, so that the miserable wretch
is raised aloft, where he is supported partly by the iron spike in his
skin, and partly by a little bench, projecting about ten feet from the
ground. He may remain alive in this most cruel situation for several
days, during which period he is tortured besides with hunger and thirst,
for no victuals, of any kind, are allowed him; and numerous insects also
continually torment him in the fervent heat of the sun. His misery is
the greater and longer, as the weather is clear and dry. Should a shower
of rain fall, he is soon relieved from torment, as it is noticed that
any water getting into the wounds speedily induces gangrene and death.
Stavorinus saw an execution of this sort, and relates some very
affecting particulars. The fortitude of the wretched sufferer was
astonishing. He uttered no complaint, unless when the spike was fastened
to the post, when the agitation occasioned by hammering, &c. appeared to
give him intolerable pain, so that he roared out. He did so again when
the post was lifted up and put into the ground. In this dreadful
situation he continued till death ended his torment, which happened next
day. This was owing to a light shower of rain, of about an hour's
continuance, half an hour after which he breathed his last. He
continually complained of thirst, which no one was allowed to relieve by
a single drop of water.--E.]

The Malays and Chinese have judicial officers of their own, under the
denominations of captains and lieutenants, who determine in civil cases,
subject to an appeal to the Dutch court.

The taxes paid by these people to the Company are very considerable; and
that which is exacted of them for liberty to wear their hair, is by no
means the least. They are paid monthly, and, to save the trouble and
charge of collecting them, a flag is hoisted upon the top of a house in
the middle of the town when a payment is due, and the Chinese have
experienced that it is their interest to repair thither with their money
without delay.

The money current here consists of ducats, worth a hundred and
thirty-two stivers; ducatoons, eighty stivers; imperial rix-dollars,
sixty; rupees of Batavia, thirty; schellings, six; double cheys, two
stivers and a half; and doits, one fourth of a stiver. Spanish dollars,
when we were here, were at five shillings and five-pence; and we were
told, that they were never lower than five shillings and four-pence,
even at the Company's warehouse. For English guineas we could never get
more than nineteen shillings upon an average; for though the Chinese
would give twenty shillings for some of the brightest, they would give
no more than seventeen shillings for those that were much worn.

It may perhaps be of some advantage to strangers to be told that there
are two kinds of coin here, of the same denomination, milled and
unmilled, and that the milled is of most value. A milled ducatoon is
worth eighty stivers; but an unmilled ducatoon is worth no more than
seventy-two. All accounts are kept in rix-dollars and stivers, which,
here at least, are mere nominal coins, like our pound sterling. The
rix-dollar is equal to forty-eight stivers, about four shillings and
six-pence English currency.[163]

[Footnote 163: The reader need scarcely be informed, that the statements
given in the text as to the respective value of the coin, are fitted to
the circumstances of the period at which the account of the voyage was
published. It was thought unnecessary to correct them to the present
times in this place.--E.]


SECTION XL.

_The Passage from Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope. Some Account of
Prince's Island and its Inhabitants. Our Arrival at the Cape of Good
Hope. Some Remarks on the Run from Java Head to that Place, and to Saint
Helena. The Return of the Ship to England_.[164]


[Footnote 164: The original contains some remarks on the language of
Prince's Island, and a comparative view of it with the Malay and
Javanese. These have been omitted, because another opportunity will
present of treating the subject more fully than could be done here,
without anticipating information which belongs to another place. Much
additional light has been thrown on this interesting topic since the
date of this navigation.--E.]

On Thursday the 27th of December, at six o'clock in the morning, we
weighed again and stood out to sea. After much delay by contrary winds,
we weathered Pulo Pare on the 29th, and stood in for the main: Soon
after, we fetched a small island under the main, in the midway between
Batavia and Bantam, called Maneater's Island. The next day, we weathered
first Wapping Island, and then Pulo Babi. On the 31st, we stood over to
the Sumatra shore; and on the morning of new-year's-day, 1771, we stood
over for the Java shore.

We continued our course as the wind permitted us till three o'clock in
the afternoon of the 5th, when we anchored under the south-east side of
Prince's Island in eighteen fathom, in order to recruit our wood and
water, and procure refreshments for the sick, many of whom were now
become much worse than they were when we left Batavia. As soon as the
ship was secured, I went ashore, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr
Solander, and we were met upon the beach by some Indians, who carried us
immediately to a man, who, they said, was their king. After we had
exchanged a few compliments with his majesty, we proceeded to business;
but in settling the price of turtle we could not agree: This however did
not discourage us, as we made no doubt but that we should buy them at
our own price in the morning. As soon as we parted, the Indians
dispersed, and we proceeded along the shore in search of a
watering-place. In this we were more successful; we found water very
conveniently situated, and, if a little care was taken in filling it, we
had reason to believe that it would prove good. Just as we were going
off, some Indians, who remained with a canoe upon the beach, sold us
three turtle, but exacted a promise of us that we should not tell the
king.

The next morning, while a party was employed in filling water, we
renewed our traffic for turtle: At first, the Indians dropped their
demands slowly, but about noon they agreed to take the price that we
offered, so that before night we had turtle in plenty: The three that we
had purchased the evening before, were in the mean time served to the
ship's company, who, till the day before, had not once been served with
salt provisions from the time of our arrival at Savu, which was now near
four months. In the evening, Mr Banks went to pay his respects to the
king, at his palace, in the middle of a rice field, and though his
majesty was busily employed in dressing his own supper, he received the
stranger very graciously.

The next day, the natives came down to the trading place, with fowls,
fish, monkies, small deer, and some vegetables, but no turtle; for they
said that we had bought them all the day before. The next day, however,
more turtle appeared at market, and some were brought down every day
afterwards, during our stay, though the whole, together, was not equal
to the quantity that we bought the day after our arrival.

On the 11th, Mr Banks having learnt from the servant whom he had hired
at Batavia, that the Indians of this island had a town upon the shore,
at some distance to the westward, determined to see it. With this view
he set out in the morning, accompanied by the second lieutenant; and as
he had some reason to think that his visit would not be agreeable to the
inhabitants, he told the people whom he met, as he was advancing along
the shore, that he was in search of plants, which indeed was also true.
In about two hours they arrived at a place where there were four or five
houses, and meeting with an old man, they ventured to make some
enquiries concerning the town. He said that it was far distant; but they
were not to be discouraged in their enterprize, and he, seeing them
proceed in their journey, joined company and went on with them. He
attempted several times to lead them out of the way, but without
success; and at length they came within sight of the houses. The old man
then entered cordially into their party, and conducted them into the
town. The name of it is Samadang; it consists of about four hundred
houses, and is divided by a river of brackish water into two parts, one
of which is called the old town, and the other the new. As soon as they
entered the old town, they met several Indians whom they had seen at the
trading-place, and one of them undertook to carry them over to the new
town, at the rate of two-pence a-head. When the bargain was made, two
very small canoes were produced, in which they embarked; the canoes
being placed along-side of each other, and held together, a precaution
which was absolutely necessary to prevent their oversetting, the
navigation was at length safely performed, though not without some
difficulty; and when they landed in the new town, the people received
them with great friendship, and showed them the houses of their kings
and principal people, which are in this district: Few of them, however,
were open, for at this time the people had taken up their residence in
the rice-grounds, to defend the crop against the birds and monkies, by
which it would otherwise have been destroyed. When their curiosity was
satisfied, they hired a large sailing boat for two rupees, four
shillings, which brought them back to the ship time enough to dine upon
one of the small deer, weighing only forty pounds, which had been bought
the day before, and proved to be very good and savoury meat.

We went on shore in the evening, to see how the people who were employed
in wooding and watering went on, and were informed that an axe had been
stolen. As the passing over this fault might encourage the commission of
others of the same kind, application was immediately made to the king,
who, after some altercation, promised that the axe should be restored in
the morning; and kept his word, for it was brought to us by a man who
pretended that the thief, being afraid of a discovery, had privately
brought it and left it at his house in the night.

We continued to purchase between two and three hundred weight of turtle
in a day, besides fowls and other necessaries; and in the evening of the
13th, having nearly completed our wood and water, Mr Banks went ashore
to take leave of his majesty, to whom he had made several trifling
presents, and at parting gave him two quires of paper, which he
graciously received. They had much conversation, in the course of which
his majesty enquired, why the English did not touch there as they had
been used to do. Mr Banks replied, that he supposed it was because they
found a deficiency of turtle, of which there not being enough to supply
one ship, many could not be expected. To supply this defect, he advised
his majesty to breed cattle, buffaloes, and sheep, a measure which he
did not seem much inclined to adopt.

On the 14th, we made ready to sail, having on board a good stock of
refreshments, which we purchased of the natives, consisting of turtle,
fowl, fish, two species of deer, one as big as a sheep, the other not
larger than a rabbit; with cocoa-nuts, plantains, limes, and other
vegetables. The deer, however, served only for present use, for we could
seldom keep one of them alive more than four-and-twenty hours after it
was on board. On our part, the trade was carried on chiefly with Spanish
dollars, the natives seeming to set little value upon any thing else; so
that our people, who had a general permission to trade, parted with old
shirts and other articles, which they were obliged to substitute for
money, to great disadvantage. In the morning of the 15th, we weighed,
with a light breeze at N.E. and stood out to sea. Java Head, from which
I took my departure, lies in latitude 6° 49' S., longitude 258° 12' W.

Prince's Island, where we lay about ten days, is, in the Malay language,
called _Pulo Selan_, and in the language of the inhabitants, _Pulo
Paneitan_. It is a small island, situated in the western mouth of the
Streight of Sunda. It is woody, and a very small part of it only has
been cleared: There is no remarkable hill upon it, yet the English call
the small eminence which is just over the landing-place the Pike. It was
formerly much frequented by the India ships of many nations, but
especially those of England, which of late have forsaken it, as it is
said, because the water is bad; and touch either at North Island, a
small island that lies on the coast of Sumatra, without the east
entrance of the streight, or at Mew Bay, which lies only a few leagues
from Prince's Island, at neither of which places any considerable
quantity of other refreshments can be procured. Prince's Island is,
upon the whole, certainly more eligible than either of them; and though
the water is brackish if it is filled at the lower part of the brook,
yet higher up it will be found excellent.

The first and second, and perhaps the third ship that comes in the
season, may be tolerably supplied with turtle; but those that come
afterwards must be content with small ones. Those that we bought were of
the green kind, and at an average cost us about a half-penny or three
farthings a pound. We were much disappointed to find them neither fat
nor well flavoured; and we imputed it to their having been long kept in
crawls or pens of brackish water, without food. The fowls are large, and
we bought a dozen of them for a Spanish dollar, which is about
five-pence a-piece: The small deer cost us two-pence a-piece, and the
larger, of which two only were brought down, a rupee. Many kinds of fish
are to be had here, which the natives sell by hand, and we found them
tolerably cheap. Cocoa-nuts we bought at the rate of a hundred for a
dollar, if they were picked; and if they were taken promiscuously, one
hundred and thirty. Plantains we found in great plenty: We procured also
some pine-apples, water melons, jaccas, and pumpkins; besides rice, the
greater part of which was of the mountain kind, that grows on dry land;
yams, and several other vegetables, at a very reasonable rate.

The inhabitants are Javanese, whose Raja is subject to the Sultan of
Bantam. Their customs are very similar to those of the Indians about
Batavia; but they seem to be more jealous of their women, for we never
saw any of them during all the time we were there, except one by chance
in the woods, as she was running away to hide herself. They profess the
Mahometan religion, but I believe there is not a mosque in the whole
island: We were among them during the fast, which the Turks call
_Ramadan_, which they seemed to keep with great rigour, for not one of
them would touch a morsel of victuals, or even chew their betel, till
sun-set.

Their food is nearly the same as that of the Batavian Indians, except
the addition of the nuts of the palm, called _Cycas circinalis_, with
which, upon the coast of New Holland, some of our people were made sick,
and some of our hogs poisoned.

Upon observing these nuts to be part of their food, we enquired by what
means they deprived them of their deleterious quality; and they told
us, that, they first cut them into thin slices, and dried them in the
sun; then steeped them in fresh water for three months, and afterwards,
pressing out the water, dried them in the sun a second time; but we
learnt that, after all, they are eaten only in times of scarcity, when
they mix them with their rice to make it go farther.

The houses of their town are built upon piles, or pillars, four or five
feet above the ground: Upon these is laid a floor of bamboo canes, which
are placed at some distance from each other, so as to leave a free
passage for the air from below; the walls also are of bamboo, which are
interwoven, hurdlewise, with small sticks, that are fastened
perpendicularly to the beams which form the frame of the building: It
has a sloping roof, which is so well thatched with palm leaves, that
neither the sun nor the rain can find entrance. The ground over which
this building is erected, is an oblong square. In the middle of one side
is the door, and in the middle between that and the end of the house,
towards the left hand, is a window: A partition runs out from each end
towards the middle, which, if continued, would divide the whole floor
into two equal parts, longitudinally; but they do not meet in the
middle, so that an opening is left over-against the door: Each end of
the house therefore, to the right and left of the door, is divided into
two rooms, like stalls in a stable, all open towards the passage from
the door to the wall on the opposite side: In that next the door to the
left hand, the children sleep; that opposite to it, on the right hand,
is allotted to strangers; the master and his wife sleep in the inner
room on the left hand, and that opposite to it is the kitchen. There is
no difference between the houses of the poor and the rich, but in the
size; except that the royal palace, and the house of a man, whose name
was _Gundang_, the next in riches and influence to the king, were walled
with boards, instead of being wattled with sticks and bamboo.

As the people are obliged to abandon the town, and live in the
rice-fields at certain seasons, to secure their crops from the birds and
the monkies, they have occasional houses there for their accommodation.
They are exactly the same as the houses in the town, except that they
are smaller, and are elevated eight or ten feet above the ground instead
of four.

The disposition of the people, as far as we could discover it, is good.
They dealt with us very honestly, except, like all other Indians, and
the itinerant retailers of fish in London, they asked sometimes twice,
and sometimes thrice as much for their commodities as they would take.
As what they brought to market belonged, in different proportions, to a
considerable number of the natives, and it would have been difficult to
purchase it in separate lots, they found out a very easy expedient, with
which every one was satisfied: They put all that was bought of one kind,
as plantains, or cocoa-nuts, together; and when we had agreed for the
heap, they divided the money that was paid for it among those of whose
separate property it consisted, in a proportion corresponding with their
contributions. Sometimes, indeed, they changed our money, giving us 240
doits, amounting to five shillings, for a Spanish dollar, and
ninety-six, amounting to two shillings, for a Bengal rupee.

They all speak the Malay language, though they have a language of their
own, different both from the Malay and the Javanese. Their own language
they call _Catta Gunung_, the language of the mountains; and they say
that it is spoken upon the mountains of Java, whence their tribe
originally migrated, first to Mew Bay, and then to their present
station, being driven from their first settlement by tygers, which they
found too numerous to subdue.

We now made the best of our way for the Cape of Good Hope, but the seeds
of disease which we had received at Batavia began to appear with the
most threatening symptoms in dysenteries and slow fevers. Lest the water
which we had taken in at Prince's Island should have any share in our
sickness, we purified it with lime, and we washed all parts of the ship
between decks with vinegar, as a remedy against infection. Mr Banks was
among the sick, and for some time there was no hope of his life. We were
very soon in a most deplorable situation; the ship was nothing better
than an hospital, in which those that were able to go about were too few
to attend the sick, who were confined to their hammocks; and we had
almost every night a dead body to commit to the sea. In the course of
about six weeks, we buried Mr Sporing, a gentleman who was in Mr Banks's
retinue, Mr Parkinson, his natural history painter, Mr Green, the
astronomer, the boatswain, the carpenter and his mate, Mr Monkhouse, the
midshipman, who had fothered the ship after she had been stranded on the
coast of New Holland, our old jolly sail-maker and his assistant, the
ship's cook, the corporal of the marines, two of the carpenter's crew, a
midshipman, and nine seamen; in all three-and-twenty persons, besides
the seven that we buried at Batavia.[165] On Friday the 15th of March,
about ten o'clock in the morning, we anchored off the Cape of Good Hope,
in seven fathom, with an oozy bottom. The west point of the bay, called
the Lion's Tail, bore W.N.W., and the castle S.W., distant about a mile
and a half. I immediately waited upon the governor, who told me that I
should have every thing the country afforded. My first care was to
provide a proper place ashore for the sick, which were not a few; and a
house was soon found, where it was agreed they should be lodged and
boarded at the rate of two shillings a-head per day.

[Footnote 165: In the Biog. Brit. where a summary of Cook's Voyages is
given, an observation is made on this melancholy part of the narrative,
which the reader may not be displeased to see copied here. "It is
probable that these calamitous events, which could not fail of making a
powerful impression on the mind of Lieutenant Cook, might give occasion
to his turning his thoughts more zealously to those methods of
preserving the health of seamen, which he afterwards pursued with such
remarkable success." These methods will be amply detailed
hereafter.--E.]

Our run from Java Head to this place afforded very few subjects of
remark that can be of use to future navigators; such as occurred,
however, I shall set down. We had left Java Head eleven days before we
got the general south-east trade-wind, during which time we did not
advance above 5° to the southward, and 3° to the west, having variable
light airs, interrupted by calms, with sultry weather, and an
unwholesome air, occasioned probably by the load of vapours which the
eastern trade-wind and westerly monsoons bring into these latitudes,
both which blow in these seas at the time of the year when we happened
to be there. The easterly wind prevails as far as 10° or 12° S., and the
westerly as far as 6° or 8°; in the intermediate space the winds are
variable, and the air, I believe, always unwholesome; it certainly
aggravated the diseases which we brought with us from Batavia, and
particularly the flux, which was not in the least degree checked by any
medicine, so that whoever was seized with it considered himself as a
dead man; but we had no sooner got into the trade-wind, than we began to
feel its salutary effects: We buried indeed several of our people
afterwards, but they were such as had been taken on board in a state so
low and feeble that there was scarcely a possibility of their recovery.
At first we suspected that this dreadful disorder might have been
brought upon us by the water that we took on board at Prince's Island,
or even by the turtle that we bought there; but there is not the least
reason to believe that this suspicion was well-grounded, for all the
ships that came from Batavia at the same season, suffered in the same
degree, and some of them even more severely, though none of them touched
at Prince's Island in their way.

A few days after we left Java, we saw boobies about the ship for several
nights successively, and as these birds are known to roost every night
on shore, we thought them an indication that some island was not far
distant; perhaps it might be the island of Selam, which, in different
charts, is very differently laid down both in name and situation.

The variation of the compass off the west coast of Java, is about 3° W.,
and so it continued without any sensible variation, in the common track
of ships, to the longitude of 288° W., latitude 22° S., after which it
increased apace, so that in longitude 295°, latitude 23°, the variation
was 10° 20' W.: In seven degrees more of longitude, and one of latitude,
it increased two degrees; in the same space farther to the west, it
increased five degrees: In latitude 28°, longitude 314°, it was 24°,
20', in latitude 29°, longitude 317°, it was 26° 10', and was then
stationary for the space of about ten degrees farther to the west; but
in latitude 34°, longitude 333°, we observed it twice to be 28° 1/4 W.,
and this was its greatest variation, for in latitude 35° 1/2 longitude
337°, it was 24°, and continued gradually to decrease; so that off Cape
Anguillas it was 22° 30', and in Table Bay 20° 30' W.

As to currents, it did not appear that they were at all considerable,
till we came within a little distance of the meridian of Madagascar; for
after we had made 52° of longitude from Java Head, we found, by
observation, that our error in longitude was only two degrees, and it
was the same when we had made only nineteen. This error might be owing
partly to a current setting to the westward, partly to our not making
proper allowances for the setting of the sea before which we run, and
perhaps to an error in the assumed longitude of Java Head. If that
longitude is erroneous, the error must be imputed to the imperfection of
the charts of which I made use in reducing the longitude from Batavia to
that place, for there can be no doubt but that the longitude of Batavia
is well determined. After we had passed the longitude of 307°, the
effects of the westerly currents began to be considerable; for, in three
days, our error in longitude was 1° 5': The velocity of the current kept
increasing as we proceeded to the westward, in so much, that for five
days successively after we made the land, we were driven to the S.W. or
S.W. by W., not less than twenty leagues a-day; and this continued till
we were within sixty or seventy leagues of the Cape, where the current
set sometimes one way, and sometimes the other, though inclining rather
to the westward.

After the boobies had left us, we saw no more birds till we got nearly
abreast of Madagascar, where, in latitude 27° 3/4 S., we saw an
albatross, and after that time we saw them every day in great numbers,
with birds of several other sorts, particularly one about as big as a
duck, of a very dark brown colour, with a yellowish bill. These birds
became more numerous as we approached the shore, and as soon as we got
into soundings, we saw gannets, which we continued to see as long as we
were upon the bank which stretches off Anguillas to the distance of
forty leagues, and extends along the shore to the eastward, from Cape
False, according to some charts, one hundred and sixty leagues. The real
extent of this bank is not exactly known; it is, however, useful as a
direction to shipping when to haul in, in order to make the land.

While we lay here, the Houghton Indiaman sailed for England, who,
during, her stay in India, lost by sickness between thirty and forty
men; and when she left the Cape, had many in a helpless condition with
the scurvy. Other ships suffered in the same proportion, who had been
little more than twelve months absent from England; our sufferings,
therefore, were comparatively light, considering that we had been absent
near three times as long.

Having lain here to recover the sick, procure stores, and perform
several necessary operations upon the ship and rigging, till the 13th of
April, I then got all the sick on board, several of whom were still in a
dangerous state, and having taken leave of the governor, I unmoored the
nest morning, and got ready to sail.[166]

[Footnote 166: Some remarks concerning the Cape of Good Hope are now
given in the original. They are omitted here, as being only
supplementary to other accounts, and because we shall elsewhere have an
opportunity of drawing the reader's attention very fully to the subject.
The same thing may be said respecting some notices of St Helena,
contained in this section. Whatever is of value in either of these
accounts, will be had recourse to on another occasion.--E.]

On the morning of the 14th we weighed and stood out of the bay; and at
five in the evening anchored under Penquin, or Robin Island: We lay here
all night, and as I could not sail in the morning for want of wind, I
sent a boat to the island for a few trifling articles which we had
forgot to take in at the Cape. But as soon as the boat came near the
shore, the Dutch hailed her, and warned the people not to land, at their
peril, bringing down at the same time six men armed with muskets, who
paraded upon the beach. The officer who commanded the boat not thinking
it worth while to risk the lives of the people on board for the sake of
a few cabbages, which were all we wanted, returned to the ship. At first
we were at a loss to account for our repulse, but we afterwards
recollected, that to this island the Dutch at the Cape banish such
criminals as are not thought worthy of death, for a certain number of
years, proportioned to the offence, and employ them as slaves in digging
lime-stone, which, though scarce upon the continent, is in plenty here;
and that a Danish ship, which by sickness had lost great part of her
crew, and had been refused assistance at the Cape, came down to this
island, and sending her boat ashore, secured the guard, and took on
board as many of the criminals as she thought proper to navigate her
home: We concluded therefore that the Dutch, to prevent the rescue of
their criminals in time to come, had given order to their people here to
suffer no boat of any foreign nation to come ashore.

On the 25th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we weighed, with a light
breeze at S.E., and put to sea. About an hour afterwards, we lost our
master, Mr Robert Mollineux, a young man of good parts, but unhappily
given up to intemperance, which brought on disorders that put an end to
his life.

We proceeded in our voyage homeward without any remarkable incident; and
in the morning of the 29th we crossed our first meridian, having
circumnavigated the globe in the direction from east to west, and
consequently lost a day, for which we made an allowance at Batavia.

At day-break on the first of May, we saw the island of Saint Helena; and
at noon we anchored in the road before James's fort.

We staid here till the 4th, to refresh, and Mr Banks improved the time
in making the complete circuit of the island, and visiting the most
remarkable places upon it. At one o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th of
May, we weighed and stood out of the road, in company with the Portland
man-of-war, and twelve sail of Indiamen.

We continued to sail in company with the fleet, till the 10th in the
morning, when, perceiving that we sailed much heavier than any other
ship, and thinking it for that reason probable that the Portland would
get home before us, I made the signal to speak with her, upon which
Captain Elliot himself came on board, and I delivered to him a letter
to the Admiralty, with a box, containing the common logbooks of the
ship, and the journals of some of the officers. We continued in company,
however, till the 23d in the morning, and then there was not one of the
ships in sight. About one o'clock in the afternoon, died our first
lieutenant, Mr Hicks, and in the evening we committed his body to the
sea, with the usual ceremonies. The disease of which he died was a
consumption, and as he was not free from it when we sailed from England,
it may truly be said that he was dying during the whole voyage, though
his decline was very gradual till we came to Batavia: The next day I
gave Mr Charles Clerk an order to act as lieutenant in his room, a young
man who was extremely well qualified for that station.

Our rigging and sails were now become so bad, that something was giving
way every day. We continued our course, however, in safety till the 10th
of June, when land, which proved to be the Lizard, was discovered by
Nicholas Young, the same boy that first saw New Zealand; on the 11th we
run up the Channel, at six in the morning of the 12th we passed Beachy
Head, at noon we were abreast of Dover, and about three came to an
anchor in the Downs, and went ashore at Deal.




APPENDIX.


_An Abstract of the_ VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, _performed by_ LEWIS DE
BOUGAINVILLE, _Colonel of Foot, and Commander of the Expedition, in the
Frigate_La Boudeuse, _and the Store-ship_ L'Etoile, _in the Years_
1766-7-8 _and_ 9. (_Drawn up expressly for this Work_.)

The restitution of the Falkland Islands to the Spaniards was the first
object of this voyage. So early as February 1764, France had commenced a
settlement on them, and in all probability would have ensured its
prosperity; but the property was claimed by Spain, in virtue of the old
and at best imaginary rights conferred on that power by the Pope to the
lands of the western hemisphere, of which they were held to be a part.
It is sometimes more politic, and perhaps almost always more convenient,
to avoid war, by the display of generosity in concession, than to run
the hazard of expensive contension, and an unprofitable issue, by the
obstinate maintenance of dubious advantages. Such seems to have been the
opinion of the French king, in this instance. He acknowledged the claim
of the Spaniards, and accordingly gave orders for the delivering up of
the settlement. In this determination, it is probable, he was
strengthened by the apprehension of the difficulties of supporting and
defending an establishment, at so great a distance from his dominions.
M. Bougainville, the person who had proposed the settlement, and in a
considerable degree accomplished it, by carrying out several French
families, and cultivating and stocking some parts of the islands, was
appointed to execute a formal surrender; and he was further instructed,
after doing so, to traverse the South Sea between the tropics, for the
purpose of making discoveries, and to return home by the East Indies.
The fulfilment of these directions constitutes his voyage round the
world, with a short, but it is believed satisfactory abstract of which,
it is now intended to supply the reader. The account of the voyage was
drawn up and published by Bougainville himself, and has always been
highly esteemed by his countrymen, who are commonly patriotic enough in
their commendations. In this instance, however, if one may judge from
the concurrence in opinion of others, their praise has not been
injudicious; though it must be admitted on the other hand, that the
partiality is ridiculous, which would place it above the narratives of
Anson's and Cook's Voyages. Bougainville seems to have been a man of
talents, of refined taste, and considerable literary acquirements; and
his work, though, as he says in his introduction, written for seamen
chiefly, yet presents some very interesting features to the general
reader, and not a little information to scientific observers. He has
thought proper to apologize for his deficiency in composition; but it is
questionable if this be not mere affectation, common with writers who
are far from thinking too meanly of themselves, for the reasons they
chuse to state in the way of deprecating critical severity, and
abundantly disposed to attach magnitude of consequence to the very
particulars which they have employed to indicate their own inferiority.
A translation of his work by Mr John Reinhold Forster, was published at
London 1772, and contains additional notes. This has principally been
consulted in drawing up the present abstract, which is intended as a
companion to the accounts of voyages it is the object of our work to
give entire. This is the proper place for its insertion, if it be right
to insert it at all, and opportunities will present themselves as we
proceed, for giving similar abstracts of other voyages.

Bougainville had under his command the frigate La Boudeuse, carrying 26
twelve-pounders, and the store-ship L'Etoile, appointed to supply him
with provisions and stores, and to accompany him during the whole of his
voyage. His establishment consisted of eleven commissioned officers,
three volunteers, and two hundred sailors, &c. The prince of
Nassau-Sieghen obtained leave from the king to go out on this
expedition, and availed himself of it. He sailed from Nantes on the 15th
November, 1766, purposing to make the river La Plata, where two Spanish
frigates, appointed to receive possession of the islands, were to wait
for his arrival. A squall of wind occasioned him much confusion, and
forced him to put into Brest, whence, after having undergone several
repairs and alterations, which the deficient state of his vessel
rendered necessary, he departed on the 5th December, but not without
being obliged to cut his cable, as the east wind and the ebb tide
prevented his tacking about to keep clear of the shore. A pretty
constant and fresh wind accompanied him, till he got sight of the
Salvages on the 17th, in the afternoon. These are uninhabited islands or
rocks, lying to the north of the Canary islands, and belong to the
Portuguese, who, although making little or no use of them, are jealously
careful to prevent others from visiting or profiting by them. The sight
of these rocks convinced M. Bougainville of a considerable error in his
reckoning, during even this short trip. Having rectified it, and made
observations for their position, he took a fresh departure on the 19th
December, at noon, when he got sight of the Isle of Ferro. On the 8th of
January, he crossed the Line between 27° and 28° of longitude, and on
the 31st of the same month, after an easy and uninteresting voyage, came
to an anchor in Monte Video bay, where the Spanish frigates had lain
expecting him four weeks. He made some observations on the currents
noticed during this voyage, which are well known to occasion much error
in the calculations of the navigator; but as these are not interesting
to the general reader, they are omitted here, and the more properly so,
because we have had frequent occasion to notice the subject in our
accounts of other voyages.

Bougainville left Monte Video on the 28th February, in company with the
Spanish ships, but having encountered a storm and a good deal of
contrary wind, he did not quit the river till the 3d March. The voyage
to the Falkland Islands was rough and troublesome, especially to the two
Spanish frigates, which suffered a good deal during the course, and were
for some time separated from Bougainville's ship. On the 23d and 24th of
March, however, they all arrived at the place of their destination,
where a formal surrender of the settlement was made according to the
instructions of the two governments. The islands were delivered up on
the 1st April, the Spaniards taking possession by planting their
colours, which were saluted both on shore and from aboard the vessels.
Several families resident there availed themselves of the French king's
permission to remain under the new government, and the others embarked
in the Spanish frigates to return home. M. Bougainville has related
several particulars respecting the history of these islands, which,
however, it is quite unnecessary to consider here, as we have either
already stated them, or may hereafter have occasion to do so; they are,
besides, little connected with our present object, that of tracing his
course round the world.

As the store-ship did not join him at the time expected, and as it was
impossible for him to traverse the Pacific Ocean, without the supplies
and assistance she was appointed to afford, Bougainville resolved to
quit these islands, and go to Rio Janeiro, the place specified as the
rendezvous to both vessels. He sailed therefore on the 2d June, got in
sight of the high head-lands of the Brazils on the 20th, and in the
evening of the following day came to an anchor in the roads of Rio
Janeiro, where the Etoile had arrived but a few days before. Being
still, however, imperfectly furnished with provisions, he returned to
Monte Video, as a fitter place for procuring them. The Etoile being a
bad sailer, and having made a good deal of water, he was retarded in
this voyage, which in consequence took him up from the 14th to the 31st
of July. A little before his departure, he rendered some important
services to a Spanish man-of-war, which had been obliged to put into Rio
Janeiro to refit for her voyage to Europe, and was most ungenerously
denied what was needful by the Portuguese government, for eight months.
The viceroy seems to have been of an unfeeling and absurdly
consequential disposition, of which some instances have been already
related in our account of another voyage.

Whilst lying in Montevideo bay, a register ship ran foul of the Etoile
during a hurricane, and did her so much damage, as to render it
necessary to heave her down to be repaired. This was done at the
Encenada de Baragan up the river, Monte Video itself not having proper
accommodation for the purpose. But the requisite repairs were after all
accomplished with much difficulty, and at a great expence of money, and
occupied the whole of the month of October. To add to these sources of
regret, this vessel had the misfortune to lose three of her crew, in
returning down the river to Monte Video, a passage, which, though short,
is described as very difficult, and requiring almost constant soundings
to avoid danger. This accident happened from the boat containing them
and other two men getting foul under the ship when it was wearing.
During this passage too, it was observed, that the Etoile still
continued to take in water, notwithstanding the overhauling she had
received.

Some days were now occupied in the necessary preparations for leaving
the Rio La Plata, such as stowing and caulking the Boudeuse, repairing
the Etoile's boat, cutting grass for the live cattle on board, &c. Part
of the delay, however, which these preparations occasioned, was
fortunate, as a schooner happened to come from Buenos Ayres laden with
flour, of which they contrived to stow sixty hundred weight on board
their ships, and which proved to be a valuable addition to their stock
of provisions. At this time, the crew was in perfect health, and
notwithstanding the loss already mentioned, and the desertion of twelve
men from the two ships, was made up to its original establishment, as
some sailors had been engaged at the Falkland Islands, besides an
engineer, a supercargo, and a surgeon. The provisions laid in were
supposed enough for a voyage of ten months.

They left Monte Video the 14th November, with a fine breeze from the
north, which was favourable for their course to Magellan's Straits. The
wind was contrary from the 16th to the 21st, and they had a very high
sea, so that they were obliged to keep what advantageous boards they
could in tacking under their courses and close-reefed top-sails. On the
22d there was a hard gale, accompanied with squalls and showers, which
continued during the night, over a frightful sea. The Etoile made
signals of distress, but it was not till the 24th that she came within
hail, or could specify the damage she had received. Her
fore-top-sail-yard had been carried away, and four of her chain plates;
and all the cattle she had taken in at Monte Video, except two, were
lost in the storm. This last misfortune, unluckily, was common to both
vessels, and in their present situation admitted no remedy. During the
remainder of this month, the wind was variable from S.W. to N.W. and the
currents ran rapidly to the southward, as far as 45° latitude, where
they were merely perceptible. No ground was reached by sounding till the
27th at night, when they were in latitude 47°, and about thirty-five
leagues from the coast of Patagonia. In this position, they had seventy
fathoms, and an oozy bottom with black and grey sand. From the 27th till
they saw land, they had pretty regular soundings, in 67, 60, 55, 50, 47,
and 40 fathoms, when they got sight of Cape Virgin, or, as Anson calls
it, Cape Virgin Mary, the same name by which it was known to Sir John
Narborough. Bougainville advises not to approach near the coast till
coming to latitude 49°, as there is a hidden rock in 48° 30', at six or
seven leagues off shore, which he says he discovered when sailing here
in 1765. He then ran within a quarter of a league of it, and the person
who first saw it, took it to be a _grampus_.

He now enters upon a discussion respecting the longitude of this cape,
of which he got sight on the 2d December, and which is certainly an
interesting point in geography, as it determines the length of the
straits. This however may be omitted, as the question is considered in
the account of Captain Cook's Second Voyage, and will of course come
before the reader in its proper place. Though differing with Anson as to
its precise position, Bougainville admits that his lordship's view of it
is most exactly true.

Contrary winds and stormy weather opposed the entrance into the straits
for several days, and after having entered, obliged him to lie-to
between the shores of Terra del Fuego and the continent. His foresail
was split on the 4th December, and as he had then only twenty fathom,
the fear of the breakers which extend S.S.E. off the cape, induced him
to scud under bare poles, which, however, facilitated his bending
another foresail to the yard. He afterwards discovered that these
soundings were not so alarming as he then imagined them to be, as they
were in fact those in the channel; and he remarks, for the benefit of
succeeding navigators, that a gravelly bottom shews the position to be
nearer the Terra del Fuego coast, than that of the continent, where a
fine sandy, and sometimes an oozy bottom will be found. On the evening
of this day, he brought-to again, under main and mizen-stay-sails, but
after several disadvantageous tacks, got somewhat further from the coast
towards night. At four o'clock the next afternoon, he again got sight of
Cape Virgin, when he made sail in order to double it, at about a league
and a half or two leagues distance. In his opinion, it was improper to
sail nearer, as a bank lies off it, over the tail of which he thought he
passed even at that distance; for between two soundings made by his own
vessel, one of twenty-four, and the other of seventeen fathom, the
Etoile, which sailed in his wake, found no more at one time than eight
fathom, but immediately afterwards deepened her water. On the night of
the 5th, he got Cape Virgin to bear N., but as there was a fresh breeze,
and the night was gloomy, threatening a storm, he kept off and on till
day-break, when having unreefed his top-sails, he run to W.N.W. He
continued plying to windward, under courses and top-sails, for the whole
of the 6th, during which he discovered Cape Possession on the continent
coast, and also got sight of Terra del Fuego. By noon on the 7th,
however, he found himself still at Cape Possession, as, besides his
never going more than three leagues from the northern shore, which,
obliged him to sound continually, he lost as much by the tides as he
ever gained by them. About this time the wind shifting favourably, he
continued his voyage, and got to the entrance of the first gut about
half after two o'clock; but now with all his sails set, and aided by a
fine breeze, he could not stem the tide, which ran six knots an hour
against him, and carried him astern. It was in vain to strive; and
fearing, as the wind was unsteady, that he might be becalmed in the gut,
and therefore exposed to danger on the ledges off the capes forming the
entrance, especially a long one on the Terra del Fuego side, he was at
last constrained to turn in search of anchorage in the bottom of
Possession Bay, for which he steered N. by E. This he found at seven in
the evening, about two leagues from the land, in twenty fathom, having a
mud and sand ground, with black and white gravel. He was more successful
in his exertions the following morning, when having stemmed a contrary
tide, the current set to windward, and carried him, tacking frequently
to avoid both coasts, through the first gut, in spite of the wind which
blew hard against him. It was noon before he accomplished this, after
which he made sail, as the wind had veered to S., and the tide still ran
to windward; both, however, failing about three o'clock, he anchored in
Boucalt Bay on the continent side, in eighteen fathom, having an oozy
bottom. Immediately afterwards he hoisted out one of his boats, as did
also the Etoile, and embarking in them to the number of ten officers,
each armed with his musket landed at the bottom of the bay to have an
interview with the Patagonians, who had kept up fires all night on the
coast, and in the morning had hoisted a white flag, supposed to be the
same which the Etoile, when here in June 1766, had left with them as a
sign of friendship and alliance. Their having kept it, is properly
enough considered by Bougainville, as an indication of very laudable
social qualities. The Spaniards, indeed, have given a favourable report
of the people that inhabit this part of the strait, mentioning several
circumstances in praise of their humanity and good faith.

As soon as the officers got ashore, six of the natives rode up to them
in full gallop, and having alighted when about fifty yards off,
immediately came up to them with outstretched arms, and congratulatory
shouts of _Shawa, shawa_, which the officers were careful to repeat,
with similar marks of satisfaction. Some symptoms of fear were visible
on two of these people, but they were speedily removed; and shortly
afterwards this party was joined by many more of their countrymen, who
manifested entire confidence and good nature. They did not seem
surprised at seeing the strangers; and as they imitated the report of
muskets, it was inferred that they were not ignorant of the use of these
arms, and that consequently, they had had previous intercourse with
Europeans, in proof of their willingness to please their visitors, it is
mentioned, that they immediately set about picking plants, and carrying
them to some of the officers who had commenced searching for them; and
it is noted, as an evidence of their having some notions of the use of
medicines, that one of them afflicted with a sore eye, applied by signs
to Chevalier du Bouchage, one of the gentlemen so engaged, to point out
a remedy for it. They asked in a similar manner for tobacco. Any thing
of a red colour pleased them highly; and always when any presents had
been made them, and at every mark of kindness, they testified their
satisfaction by loud shouts of _shawa_. Among other things given them
in exchange for skins, or in mere condescension, was some brandy, of
which each got a little drop. The effect of it was singular; immediately
on swallowing it, they beat with their hands on their throats, and
uttered a sort of tremulous, but inarticulate sound, which was
terminated by a quick motion of the lips. This is said to have been done
by all of them. They expressed a degree of uneasiness and concern, when
they understood the officers were preparing to leave them. This was
appeased, however, when it was intimated to them that they would be
visited again on the following day; and they accompanied the party to
the sea-shore, one of their number singing during the march. Some of
them even waded into the water, and got within reach of the boats; but
this was not so convenient, as they manifested a pretty strong
disposition to furnish themselves with whatever they could lay hold on.
Before the boats got to any distance, the number of the savages
increased very much, many coming up in the same manner as these had
done, at full gallop.

In the opinion of Bougainville, these people were the same that had been
seen by the Etoile in 1765; for he says, that one of his present
sailors, who was then on board that vessel, distinctly recognised one of
them. They were well shaped, and their height was estimated at betwixt 5
feet 5 inches, and 5 feet 10 inches French; or in English, measure, 5
feet 10,334 inches, and 6 feet 2,5704 inches. They appeared gigantic, it
is added very properly, because they had very broad shoulders, their
heads were large, and their limbs thick. They were robust and very
muscular, and seemed to enjoy perfection of health, and to possess
abundance of wholesome diet. Their figures, notwithstanding the
dimensions, were far from being coarse or unpleasant; on the contrary,
many of them might be esteemed handsome. The peculiarities of their
features were, a round and somewhat flat face, very fiery eyes,
uncommonly white teeth, and long black hair which was worn tied on the
top of the head. In the colour of the skin, they did not differ from
other Americans. Some of them had their cheeks painted red. The language
they used is said to have been very delicate. The description now given
of these people, it must be remarked, applies to the men, for hitherto
none of the women had been seen. In dress they nearly resembled the
Indians residing about the Rio de la Plata. A piece of leather served
them for an _apron_, and a cloak of skin fastened round the body with a
girdle, hung as far down as their heels, but had besides a part,
generally allowed to fall down also, which might occasionally cover
their shoulders, though this was not often done. They did not seem very
sensible to the cold of the climate, which, even at this season, viz.
their summer, was only ten degrees less than that which freezes water.
Their legs were covered with a sort of half boot, open behind; and some
of them, wore on the thigh a copper ring about two inches broad. That
they had had acquaintance with Europeans was still more clearly
manifested by sundry articles amongst them, of which are mentioned
particularly little iron knives, supposed to have been given them by
Commodore Byron a short time before. Their horses were bridled and
saddled in the same manner as those of the inhabitants of Rio de la
Plata; and one of these bulky cavaliers had gilt nails at his saddle,
wooden stirrups covered with copper plates, a bridle of twisted leather,
and an entire Spanish harness. Here did not appear to be any thing like
superiority of rank or subordination established among them; nor could
it be remarked, that three old men who were in the party, received any
peculiar marks of esteem from the rest. Bougainville gives it as his
opinion, that these savages lived somewhat in the manner of the Tartars,
traversing the immense plains of South America, living almost constantly
on horse-back, and subsisting on such fare as their hunting expeditions,
if not their pillaging ones, brought them in.

On the morning of the 9th, an attempt was made to stem the tide, by
steering S.W. by W., but the progress was very inconsiderable; and the
wind having veered from N.W. to S.W., it was found necessary to come to
an anchor again, which was done in nineteen fathom. The weather during
this day and the following one, was so exceedingly unfavourable, that
not one fit opportunity presented of sending out a boat to fulfil the
promise made to the Patagonians, which probably was an equal
disappointment to both parties. Whole troops of the natives were seen at
the place where the landing had been made, and where, there can be no
doubt, another was anxiously expected. At midnight on the 11th, the wind
having veered to N.E., and the tide having set to the westward, a signal
was made for weighing, but unfortunately the cable parted the bits and
the hawse, so that the anchor was lost. The sails being set, some way
was made next morning; but it was little, however, as the tide soon ran
contrary, and could scarcely be stemmed with the light breeze at N.W.
This difficulty was removed at noon, about which time the tide ebbed,
and favoured their passing the second gut, when the frigate came to an
anchor to the northward of the Isle of Elizabeth, in seven fathom, at
about two miles off shore, and the store-ship a quarter of a league
farther to the S.E. in seventeen fathom. A boat landed at the island on
the 12th, but the description of it is uninteresting, as, except its
presenting great facility for landing, and having some bustards, it was
no way remarkable.

On the 13th in the afternoon, they weighed and made sail betwixt the
island and the Isles of St Bartholomew and Lions, the only practicable
channel here in the opinion of Bougainville, who, however, it is likely,
rather followed the example of Byron, than investigated for himself.
Here the tide set to the southward, and was very strong, and there were
continual squalls coming off the high land of Elizabeth Island, to which
they were forced to keep near, in order to avoid the breakers extending
round the other islands. The coast of the continent from below Cape
Noir, and which runs southward, was well covered with woods, and had a
very pleasant appearance. They sailed along the coast at about a league
distance, and for a considerable time this day, hoping to be able to
double Cape Round during the night; but in this they were disappointed,
for a little after midnight, very suddenly the wind got round to the
S.W., the coast became foggy, and the weather altogether exceedingly
foul; an evidence of the fickleness of the climate. Having split their
main-sail, they had to ply to windward as well as they could,
endeavouring to get shelter in Port Famine; but this they were unable to
effect; and, as in consequence of the short tacks they had to make, and
their being obliged to wear, they were in some risk of being taken by a
strong current into a great inlet on the Terra del Fuego side, it became
necessary for them, after losing much time and labour, to go along the
coast in search of anchorage to leeward. It was not till eleven o'clock
next morning that they succeeded in this, when they got to a bay named
by him Duclos Bay, after the second in command, where they cast anchor
in eight and a half fathom, and an oozy bottom. This bay is a little to
the south of Fresh-Water Bay, and, besides having good anchorage,
affords water of an excellent quality, about four hundred yards from the
mouth of two rivers, which discharge themselves into it: No quadrupeds
were seen here, and only a very few birds. At four o'clock on the 16th,
they set sail with a pretty favourable wind, but a cloudy sky, passed
Point St Anne and Cape Round, the Cape Shutup of others, and
brought-to, within a league and a half from Cape Forward, where they
were becalmed for two hours. Between the two points last mentioned, a
distance, according to Byron, of seven leagues S.W. by S. course,
Bougainville says there are four bays in which a vessel may anchor, and
that two of them are separated from each other by a cape of a very
singular appearance and structure. It rises more than 150 feet above the
level of the sea, and consists entirely of petrified shells lying in
horizontal strata; a line of 100 fathom, it is added, did not reach the
bottom of the sea at the foot of it. This very extraordinary monument of
the revolutions which our globe has undergone, does not seem to have
been noticed by the geologists.

Cape Forward, or St Isidore, as it has been named by some navigators,
and which is the most southerly point of the American continent, lies in
lat. 54° 5' 45". It is a perpendicular rock, the top of which is covered
with snow, but some trees are to be seen on its sides. The sea below it
is too deep for anchorage; however, between two hillocks which shew on
part of its surface, there is a little bay provided with a rivulet,
where, in case of necessity, a vessel might anchor in about fifteen
fathom. Having ascertained these and some other matters during the calm
which allowed him to use his pinnace, Bougainville returned on board,
and set out for Cape Holland. But the wind veering to S.W., he went in
search of the harbour which M. de Gennes named French Bay, and anchored
between the two points which constitute its entrance, in ten fathom.
Here he resolved to take in wood and water for his voyage across the
Pacific Ocean, as it had been so favourably described by that gentleman,
and as he himself was ignorant of the remaining navigation of the
straits. But having ascertained, however, that the anchorage was not
safe here, and that the boats could not get up the river, except at high
water, he removed eastward to a small bay, in which in 1765, as related
in the account of Byron's voyage, he had taken in wood for the Falkland
Islands, and which had been named after him Bougainville's Bay. Here
then he anchored in twenty-eight fathom, and afterwards warped into the
bottom of the bay, to ensure all safety during his continuance for the
necessary repairs and getting supplies, which took him up till the end
of December, and would in all probability have consumed more time, had
not the labours of the Etoile, his present consort, when here before,
facilitated his operations. This residence, it was expected, would allow
opportunity for examining the straits in this part, besides occupying
the astronomer and botanist, and the useful pursuits of hunting and
fowling. Their success, however, was not very considerable in any of
these respects. The sky was exceedingly unfavourable for observation;
many obstacles impeded those who searched for plants; the only animal
seen was a fox, which was killed amongst the workmen; and the attempt to
explore the coast of the continent was fruitless, as the weather became
so very tempestuous, as to force those who were engaged in it to return
to the vessel with all possible celerity, after being thoroughly
drenched in rain, and almost starved to death by cold, though in the
middle of summer. Some days after this uncomfortable expedition, another
was planned to the Terra del Fuego side, and succeeded better. On the
27th, the party intended for it, consisting among others of Bougainville
himself, Messrs de Bournand, and d'Oraison, and the Prince of Nassau,
well armed with swivel-guns and muskets, sailed in the Boudeuse's
long-boat, and the Etoile's barge, across the straits, and landed at the
mouth of a little river, on the banks of which they dined beneath the
shade of a pleasant wood, where they discovered several huts belonging
to the natives. After dinner, they rowed along the coast of Terra del
Fuego in a hollow sea, and with the wind somewhat westerly, which was
unfavourable. It carried them, however, across a great inlet, of which
they could not see the end, and which, indeed, they believed, from the
circumstances of the high rolling sea, and the numbers of whales they
observed, to have a communication with the ocean at Cape Horn. On the
farther side of this inlet, they saw several fires, which were
afterwards extinguished and again lighted, when some savages made their
appearance on the low point of a bay where it was intended to touch.
They were recognized by Bougainville, as the same people he had seen in
his first voyage in the straits, and then denominated _Pecherais_, from
the word which they pronounced so often to their visitants. They are
described as most disgustingly filthy, and extremely wretched as to
provisions, and every accommodation that renders life desirable; in
short, as the poorest and most miserable of all that bear the name of
savages. Meanly, however, as they are spoken of, it is admitted, that
they have some social virtues; but, perhaps, it is a doubtful article in
the short catalogue of their commendation, that they are superstitions
enough to put implicit confidence in the efficacy of their physicians
and priests. The number of this forlorn tribe is too inconsiderable to
render their history important, even though their manners and characters
were more calculated than they are represented to be, to excite interest
or call forth sympathy on the part of the reader. The enthusiastic
eulogist of Optimism will readily reconcile their condition to the
principles which claim his admiration, by the obvious discovery, that
their natures are in alliance with their circumstances, and by the easy
belief, that hitherto no hope or idea of greater comfort had enhanced
the magnitude of their present misery. The wretch, he would say, whose
taste can regale itself on putridity and corruption, need never be held
up as an exception to the philosophical system, which finds nothing but
beauty and happiness diffused throughout the universe; though his
appearance, it must be owned, in the very act of indulgence especially,
might somewhat stagger the student who was still engaged in enquiring
into the grounds of the theory. To be content, it is often preached, is
to be happy; the reason is, however, what perhaps they who so strongly
urge the proposition, are not quite aware of in their voluntary
complacency, that, in order to be happy, one must be contented. The
dialectical skill of an Aquinas would fail to prove the theme, that
happiness exists where there are desires ungratified, and appetites
unprovided for; and most certainly, these poor _Pecherais_ would never
be adduced by him as evidence, till he had humanely, though
sophistically, secured their testimony by bribing their stomachs. If one
may judge from the experience of Bougainville, this kind of subornation
would be somewhat difficult of accomplishment. To return.--The night
after falling in with these people, was passed on the banks of a pretty
considerable river, on which the party made a fire, and erected a sort
of tents with the sails of their boats, the weather being cold, though
fine. Next morning they discovered the bay and port of Beaubassin, so
called by them from the beauty of the anchoring-place, and which is
represented to be a commodious and safe situation. Bougainville
continued his survey to the westward, of which he has given a minute,
and to navigators, it is probable, a very useful description, not,
however, requisite for this work. Having spent a little time in this
excursion, and encountered a good deal of disagreeable weather, he
returned to the frigate, and on the last day of December weighed and set
sail, in order to pass the remainder of the straits. On the evening of
this day he doubled Cape Holland, and came to an anchor in the road of
Port Gallant, which was very fortunate, as the succeeding night became
tempestuous, the wind blowing hard at S.W. In this place, however, they
were forced by the state of the weather, which, it is said, was
inconceivably worse than the severest winter at Paris, to remain for
three weeks together, a space abundantly long to give them an intimate
acquaintance with the parts in their neighbourhood. Amongst the objects
which attracted their notice here, they found vestiges of the passage
and touching of English ships, especially a label of wood with the words
_Chatham, March_, 1766, and initial letters and names with the same
date, marked on several of the trees. M. Verron, who had got his
astronomical instruments on shore, made an observation, by which he
found the latitude to be 53° 40' 41" S., from which, and some bearings
taken at different times, it was inferred that the distance from Port
Gallant to Port Forward was twelve leagues. An attempt was made by the
same gentleman to determine the longitude of the bay, by means of an
eclipse of the moon which occurred on the 3d January (1768); but the
excessive rain which continued through the whole day and night
frustrated his endeavours. The declination of the needle was observed by
the azimuth-compass to be 22° 30' 32" N.E., and its inclination from the
elevation of the pole, 11° 11'. Such is the poor amount of the
astronomical labours for nearly a month, in this so uncourteous a season
and climate. During this long and disagreeable residence, most annoying
to both men of science and common sailors, some visits from the
_Pecherais_, already mentioned, afforded a little recreation, but of no
very elegant or dignified kind; and even this, indifferent as it was,
presented a melancholy accident, with which the reader has been already
made acquainted--one of the children of these poor creatures swallowing
some bits of glass, improvidently given him by the sailors, and losing
his life in consequence.[167] On the 13th, 14th, and 15th of January,
the weather assumed something of a milder form; and on the 16th,
appearances were altogether so agreeable, as to induce Bougainville to
weigh, the breeze being from the north, and the tide, which was ebbing,
in his favour. He was not long, however, before he had cause to repent
his facility of confidence. The wind soon shifted to W. and W.S.W., and
the tide would not serve him to gain Rupert Isle. His vessel sailed very
ill, and drove rapidly to leeward. The Etoile, it seems, had now
considerably the advantage over her. They plied all this day between
Rupert Island, and a head-land of the continent, waiting for the ebb,
with which it was hoped they might gain either the anchoring-place in
Bay Dauphine on Louis le Grand Island, or Elizabeth Bay. But as ground
was lost in this labour, Bougainville sent out a boat to sound for an
anchorage to the S.E. of Rupert's Island, where he now intended to wait,
if possible, till the tide became favourable. A signal was made from the
boat that this was found, but by this time they had fallen to leeward of
it, and had to endeavour to gain it by making a board in-shore. The
frigate unfortunately missed stays twice, and it became necessary to
wear, in the very act of which, the force of the tide brought her to the
wind again, a strong current having already taken her within half a
cable's length of the shore. In this state, an anchor was let go in
eight fathom, but falling upon rocks it came home again. At this time,
they had only three fathom and a half of water astern, and were not more
than thrice the length of the ship from the shore, when a little breeze
opportunely springing up, filled their sails, and carried them to
leeward, the boats of both vessels coming a-head, and taking her in tow.
Their danger, however, was yet to be increased, for when veering away
their cable, it happened to get foul between decks, and so stopt their
course; a hinderance, for which there remained no other remedy than that
of cutting it, which was most promptly done, and saved the ship. The
breeze then freshened, and enabled them with some difficulty and
tacking, to return to Port Gallant, where they anchored in twenty
fathom, and an oozy bottom. Thus ended their enjoyment of the fine
weather.

[Footnote 167: This is particularly related in our account of Cook's
voyage, vol. xii. p. 397.]

On the following day, a greater storm came on than had been yet
experienced. The sea ran mountains high in the channel, and often
exhibited waves striking in contrary directions against each other. A
clap of thunder was heard at noon, the only one they had ever noticed in
this strait, and it seemed to be a signal for an increased violence of
the wind. They dragged their anchor in the storm, and were obliged to
let go the sheet-anchor, and to strike their lower yards and top-masts.
Some intervals between the bad weather occurred on the 18th and 19th,
and allowed them, among other things, to send the Etoile's barge, which
was in peculiar good condition, to view the channel of _Sainte Barbe_,
about which, however, his information was so scanty and apparently
incorrect, at least imperfect, as to prove of little utility in his
present situation. This he the more regretted, as, in his opinion, the
perfect knowledge of it would have considerably shortened the passage of
the straits. It requires little time, he remarks, to get to Port
Gallant, the chief difficulty being to double Cape Forward, which, he
says, is rendered easier by the discovery he made of three ports on the
Terra del Fuego side; and when once that port is gained, even though the
winds should prevent a vessel taking the ordinary course, this channel
is open, and may be gone through in twenty-four hours, so as to reach
the South Sea. He could not perfectly demonstrate the truth of this
opinion he entertained, as the bad weather prevented the examination of
some points as he had projected.

The storm and bad weather continued with little intermission till the
24th, when a calm and some sun-shine induced him to make another attempt
to proceed. Since re-entering Port Gallant, he had taken in several tons
of ballast, and altered his stowage, by which he succeeded in getting
the frigate to sail better than it did before. On the whole, however, he
remarks, it will always be found very difficult to manage so long a
vessel as a frigate usually is, in the midst of currents. Captain Cook,
perhaps, had contemplated such a difficulty, when he assigned his
reasons for preferring a vessel like the Endeavour, for the purposes of
discovery.

On the 25th, at one in the morning, they unmoored, weighed at three, the
breeze being northerly, but settling in the east at half-past five, when
they got top-gallant and studding-sails set, a circumstance somewhat
unusual in this navigation. They kept the middle of the strait,
following the windings of what Narborough justly calls Crooked Reach.
The coast runs W.N.W. for about two leagues from Bay Elizabeth, when
you reach the Bachelor river of that navigator. This is easily known; it
comes from a deep valley, having a high mountain on the west, the most
westerly point of which is low and wooded, and the coast is sandy.
Bougainville reckons three leagues from this river to the entrance of St
Jerome's channel, or the False Strait as others have called it, and the
bearing is N.W. by W. This channel, the entrance of which is said to be
about half a league broad, may be easily mistaken for the true one, as
it is admitted, happened at first on the present occasion. In order to
avoid it, Bougainville advises to keep the coast of Louis le Grand
Island on board, which may be done, he says, without danger. He himself
ran within a mile of the shore of this island, which is about four
leagues long, and the north side of which runs W.N.W., as far as Bay
Dauphine. At noon this day, Cape Quade (or Quod) which is about four
leagues from St Jerome's channel, bore W. 13° S. two leagues distant,
and Cape St Louis, E. by N. about two leagues and a half. The weather
continued fair, and they had the advantage of all their sails being set.

The strait runs W.N.W. and N.W. by W. from Cape Quade, and being without
any considerable turnings, has obtained the name of Long-Reach. The cape
consists of craggy rocks, resembling some ancient ruins, and the coast,
up to it is wooded, the verdure of the trees contrasting finely with the
frozen and snowy summits of the neighbouring mountains; but after
doubling this point, the nature of the country is said to be very
different, presenting scarcely any thing but barren rocks, the intervals
of which are filled up with immense masses of no less unfriendly ice,
altogether meriting the name which Narborough bestowed on it in the
penury of his feelings, the Desolation of the South. Opposite this cape,
and about fifteen leagues off, is Cape Monday on the Terra del Fuego
side, which, with other remarkable points of this strait, we have
elsewhere described. Bougainville was tempted by the fineness of the
weather to continue his course in this strait during the night, but the
excessive rain and wind which came on about ten o'clock, made him repent
his temerity, and rendered his situation betwixt two shores, which it
required the greatest caution and continual activity to avoid, one of
the most critical and unpleasant he experienced during the voyage. The
dawn of the following day, gave them sight of the land, which for some
hours they had been groping against in the utmost fear of collision;
and about noon, they descried Cape Pillar, the termination of this
perilous strait, beyond which, there beamed on their joyful eyes an
immense horizon and an unspotted sea.

Fifty-two days were elapsed since they left Cape Virgin, the half of
which had been spent in inactive but painful suffering at Port Gallant.
Bougainville reckons the length of the strait at about one-hundred and
fourteen leagues, viz. from Cape Virgin Mary to Cape Pillar; and in his
opinion, notwithstanding the difficulties of the passage, it is to be
preferred to doubling Cape Horn, especially in the period from September
to the end of March. His reasons for this opinion, and the concurrent
and contrary sentiments of other navigators, have been either already
stated, or will require to be so hereafter, and need not now interrupt
our prosecution of the remainder of his voyage.

A few days after entering the Western Sea, the wind got S. and S.S.W.
This was sooner than Bougainville expected, as it was thought the west
winds generally lasted to about 30°, and obliged him to lay aside his
intention of going to the isle of Juan Fernandez, as the doing so would
necessarily prolong his voyage. He stood, therefore, as much as possible
to the west, in order to keep the wind, and to get off the coast; and
with a view to discover a greater space of the ocean, he directed the
commander of the Etoile to go every morning southward as far from him as
the weather would permit, keeping in sight, and to join, him in the
evening, and follow in his wake at about half a league's distance. This
it was hoped would both facilitate examination, and secure mutual
assistance, and was the order of sailing preserved throughout the
voyage.

He now directed his course in search of the land seen by Davis in 1686,
between 27° and 28° south latitude, and sought for in vain by Roggewein.
This search, however, was equally fruitless, though Bougainville crossed
the position laid down for it in M. de Bellin's chart. His conclusion,
in consequence, is, that the land spoken of by Davis was no other than
the isles of St Ambrose and St Felix, which are about two hundred
leagues off the coast of Chili. Westerly winds came on about the 23d of
February, and lasted to the 3d of March, the weather varying much, but
almost every day bringing rain about noon, accompanied with thunder.
This seemed strange to Bougainville, as this ocean under the tropic had
always been renowned for the uniformity and freshness of the E. and S.E.
trade-winds, supposed to last throughout the year. In the month of
February, four astronomical observations were made for determining the
longitude. The first, made on the 6th, differed 31' from the reckoning,
the latter being to the westward. The second, on the 11th, differed 37'
45", in the opposite direction. By the third, made on the 22d, the
reckoning was 42' 30", westward in excess; and that of the 27th shewed a
difference of 1' 25" in the same line. At this time they had calms and
contrary winds. The thermometer, till they came to 45° latitude, had
always kept between 5° and 8° above the freezing point; after that, it
rose successively, and when they were between 27° and 24° latitude,
varied upwards a good deal. A sore throat prevailed among the crew of
the frigate ever since leaving the straits, and was attributed, whether
justly or not, to the snow waters they had been in the habit of using
there. It was not, however, very obstinate, readily yielding to simple
remedies; and at the end of March, it is said, there was no body on the
sick list.

On the 21st of this month, a tunny was caught with some little fish, not
yet digested in its belly, which are noticed never to go any great
distance from the shore. This accordingly was held as an indication of
land being near, and indeed a just one, in the present instance; for
about six in the morning of the next day, they got sight of four little
isles at one time, bearing S.S.E. 1/2 E., and of another about four
leagues west. The former, Bougainville called _les quatre Facardins_,
but being too far to windward for him at present, he preferred standing
for the single one a-head. On approaching this, it was discovered to be
surrounded with a very level sand, and to have all its interior parts
covered with thick woods surmounted by cocoa-trees. So delightful an
appearance as it presented, lost none of its charms in the eyes of men
who longed for the refreshments of dry land and the vegetable world. But
their desires must have consumed them, had this been the only shore
which could gratify them. It was found impossible to land on it, or to
obtain the advantages which it seemed to hold out to their hopes.
Bougainville bestowed on it the name of _Isle des Lanciers_, from the
circumstance of his noticing about fifteen or twenty of its inhabitants
carrying very long pikes, as in the act of brandishing them against the
ship, with signs of threatening. After this idle display of courage,
they were seen to retire to the woods, where it was possible to
distinguish their huts by means of glasses. The men are represented as
being tall, and of a bronze colour, and destitute of clothing.

In the night of the 22d, a storm came on attended with thunder and rain,
which obliged Bougainville to bring to, for fear of running against some
of the lowlands in this sea. At day-break on the following day, land was
seen bearing from N.E. by N. to N.N.W., which he stood for; at eight
o'clock, he got about three leagues from its eastermost point; but then
perceiving that there were breakers all along the opposite coast, which
seemed low and covered with trees, he stood out to sea again, waiting
for fairer weather to permit a nearer approach. This was done towards
ten o'clock, when the island was not more than a league off. Similar
difficulties, however, were experienced here, as at the former island;
and after several fruitless attempts to find anchorage for the ships, or
a landing-place for the boats, it was necessary to abandon it, which was
done with similar feelings of chagrin on the morning of the 24th. This
island was denominated Harp Island, from its figure, and had inhabitants
much resembling those of the one which had been previously discovered.
At five in the afternoon of this day, an island was discovered about
seven or eight leagues distant; another, in the morning of the 25th,
extending S.E. and N.W.; and the course was continued till the 27th,
between several low and partly overflowed islands, four of which were
examined and found quite inaccessible, or undeserving of being visited.
To the whole cluster, Bougainville gave the name of _Dangerous
Archipelago_, by which they have been generally known since his day, and
which sufficiently indicates the nature of the navigation around them.

He now shaped his course more southerly, in order to avoid a situation
which presented him with so many difficulties, and yielded so few
comforts; and on the 28th, he ceased to see land. About this time, it is
noted, the scurvy made its appearance on eight or ten of the crew,
which was imputed in a great degree to the moistness of the weather.
Lemonade was the principal article used for the removal or prevention of
it. From the 3d of March till his arrival at New Britain, Bougainville
constantly used Poissonier's distilling apparatus, by which, he says,
above a barrel of tolerably fresh water was obtained daily.

On the 2d of April, the island of Otaheite, or Taiti, as Bougainville
calls it, was got sight of, and soon afterwards were discovered some of
the islands in its neighbourhood. But it was not till the 4th, that,
when standing in for the shore of the former, as likely to realize the
hopes of refreshment, which had been so eagerly entertained by the crew,
some of the natives came off to them in their canoes, and commenced a
friendly intercourse. Being ignorant of the coast and nature of the
situation, for to Bougainville, at this time, Otaheite was a new
discovery, a good deal of time was lost in examining the island for an
anchoring-place, which was not determined on till the 6th. The numbers
of islanders that surrounded the ships as they neared the land, rendered
the operations of mooring and warping somewhat difficult and
troublesome. The manners too of these _easy_ people multiplied
embarrassments, of a particular kind, which it required no ordinary
authority and self-denial to controul. In one instance, however, it is
said, the presence of an Otaheitan Venus, in any thing else than a
repulsive attitude, had the effect of expediting the necessary work.
Both sailors and soldiers, it seems, pressed towards the hatch-way,
where she had planted herself in all the revealed attraction of _native_
beauty; and the capstern was in consequence hove with more than common
eagerness and expedition. But the utmost care, one may readily believe,
was requisite to keep these enchanted fellows in good order. It is a
trite remark, that the imaginary anticipation of pleasure is seldom or
ever equalled by the enjoyment of it. Independent of the causes which
may account for such commonly experienced disappointment, it is ten to
one in almost any case, but that in a world like this, some vexatious
occurrence or other, nowise calculated on by an excited fancy, will
altogether prevent the realization hoped for. Such was the fortune of
Bougainville's cook, who, in spite of the law to the contrary, effected
his escape to the shore in company with a complying damsel. The poor
fellow soon returned on board, more dead than alive. Immediately on
landing, it seems, the natives surrounded him, and with all the ease and
genuine curiosity of naturalists inspecting a non-descript mineral,
proceeded to turn him over and over, undressing him from head to foot,
and pawing him about most tumultuously. They afterwards returned him his
clothes, replacing whatever they had taken out of his pockets, and then
brought the girl to him. But after such a scrutinizing and fatiguing
process, it was no wonder that the terrified cook should desist from his
addresses, and make the best of his way back. He afterwards said, his
master might reprimand him as much as he pleased, but could never
frighten him so much as he had been frightened on shore. When the ships
were moored, Bougainville with several of his officers went to survey
the watering-place. The natives expressed joy at their arrival; and the
chief of the district conducted them into his own house, and entertained
them there with liberal hospitality. The rights of friendship,
nevertheless, did not obliterate the inclination to thieving, so
prevalent among these people, for a little before going on board, one of
the gentlemen missed a pistol, which he had been in the habit of
carrying in his pocket. The chief was immediately informed of it, and
gave orders for searching all the persons present. Bougainville stopped
him, and endeavoured to make him understand, that the thief would
certainly be the victim of his own dishonesty, for that what he had
stolen would kill him. This hint had the desired effect; for on the
following day, the pistol was brought on board by the chief himself.

It was now proposed to erect a camp on shore for the sick, and to carry
on the watering and other necessary operations. But this was soon
opposed, the principal people of the district, headed by the chief,
whose name was Ereti, and his father, coming to Bougainville, and
expressing their unwillingness to suffer any of the crew to remain on
shore at night, though they did not object to frequenting it in the
day-time. To this tolerably reasonable intimation, Bougainville replied,
that encampment was absolutely necessary for him, and would facilitate
the friendly intercourse that had been commenced. On this, the natives
held a council, the result of which was, that the chief came to
Bougainville, and made enquiry of him, whether or not he intended to
remain there for ever, and if the latter, how long it would be before he
departed. He was informed that the ships were to sail in eighteen days.
Another council was now held, at which Bougainville was desired to be
present. A grave man who took an active part in the conference, was very
desirous to reduce the time of encamping to half the number of days; but
Bougainville still insisted on his original proposal, to which at last
the council assented, and a good understanding was immediately restored.
The remainder of the stay here does not seem, however, to have been
either very peaceable or free from danger. The thieving disposition of
the natives occasioned several unpleasant contentions and perpetual
jealousy. Two of them were murdered by some of the crew, but on what
grounds, or by whom particularly, it is said, could not be discovered.
The circumstance led to much apprehension of an attempt to revenge, and
measures were accordingly taken to render it inefficient, but they were
seemingly unnecessary. The dangers at sea were much more formidable, and
far less easily provided against. It is perhaps quite enough to say of
them, that the ships were for a considerable time in the greatest risque
of being wrecked on the reef coast of the island, and that in the short
space of nine days during which they were here, they lost no less than
six anchors. All this, it is probable, would have been avoided, if
Bougainville had been better acquainted with the island. His description
of it, indeed, is so imperfect, and in several respects erroneous, as to
be altogether void of interest to any one who peruses what we have
already given on the subject, in the preceding and present volumes. We
shall accordingly pass it over, specifying only a few particulars
respecting one of its natives Aotourou, who, at his own desire,
accompanied Bougainville to Europe, and whose history has attracted a
little notice.

This young man was the son of an Otaheitan chief, and a captive woman of
the neighbouring isle of Oopoa, with the natives of which the Otaheitans
often carried on war. Immediately on Bougainville's arrival at his
native place, he expressed a determination to follow the strangers,
which his countrymen seemed to applaud, and his zeal in which was so
great as to overcome an attachment to a handsome girl, from whom he had
to tear himself on coming aboard the ship. Bougainville admits, that in
yielding to this determination, he hoped to avail himself of one whose
knowledge of the language of the people in this part of the world, was
likely to be useful in the remainder of his voyage; and besides this,
which perhaps was laudable enough, or at least justifiable, he
entertained the supposition, rather an unlikely one indeed, that through
him on his return, _enriched by the useful knowledge_ which he would
bring, a profitable union might be established betwixt these islanders
and his own nation. The immediate advantages were not considerable, for
this youth's talents were but slender, and the ultimate object was never
accomplished, as he died of the small-pox in the voyage out to Otaheite.
Bougainville, notwithstanding, is deserving of credit for the care and
attention he bestowed on him. He spared neither money nor trouble to
render his residence at Paris both comfortable and useful, and so far
succeeded, it appears, as that during the long time Aotourou was there,
he gave no symptoms of weariness. But it is certain, on the other hand,
that his advancement in useful knowledge was not very flattering to his
teachers, and never equalled the favourable ideas Bougainville had
entertained of his capabilities. Mr Forster says, in a footnote to the
translation, that some Englishmen who saw him at Paris, and whose
testimony, were their names mentioned, would be decisive with the
public, were decidedly of opinion, that Aotourou was naturally a stupid
fellow, an opinion, it seems, in which his own countrymen unanimously
concurred. The amount of his improvements, even on Bougainville's own
evidence, was, his _scarcely_ blabbering out some French words, his
finding his way through Paris, his _hardly ever_ paying for things
beyond their real value, and his _perfectly well knowing the days of the
opera_, to the amusements of which he shewed an excessive partiality.
These degrees of refinement, it must be allowed, do not indicate
superlative talents; yet, if one may judge from the advancement in
_Frenchification_ made by many who have visited Paris from other
countries, they may not depreciate the docility of poor Aotourou, much
below the common average! He embarked at Rochelle in 1770, on board the
Brisson, which was to take him to the Isle of France, whence, by orders
of the ministry, he was to be conveyed home, which, as already
mentioned, he never reached.

At eight in the morning of the 16th of April, the ships were about ten
leagues N.E. by N. off the north point of Otaheite, from which point,
Bougainville now took his departure. He got sight of some land in the
vicinity on the same day, and shaped his course so as to avoid what
Roggewein called the Pernicious Isles. During the remainder of this
month, the weather continued very fine, and the winds were chiefly from
the east inclining to the north. In the first week of May, several
islands were discovered, which Bougainville divided into two clusters,
calling one the Archipelago of Bourbon, and the other the Archipelago of
the Navigators. Some of them, it is probable, had been known before, as
the ascertained longitude corresponded tolerably well with that which
Abel Tasman gave for the isles of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, &c. bad weather
came on the 6th of this month, and continued with scarcely any
interruption till the 20th, during which period, calms, rains, and
westerly winds were to be encountered. The situation of the ships had
now become very distressing. There was a scarcity of water and wholesome
provisions; the scurvy broke out among the crew, and several men were
affected with venereal symptoms, the consequence, it is said, of
infection got at Otaheite. Hence it is asked, but by no means is the
affirmative reply distinctly asserted, if the English brought it there?
This subject has been discussed with tolerable freedom in another part
of this work, and need not be resumed here. Such critical circumstances
induced Bougainville to use all possible speed in getting to some place
of refreshment, and of course materially interfered with his plan of
making discoveries.

On the 22d of May, two isles were observed, the most southerly bearing
from S. by E. to S.W. by S., and seeming to be about twelve leagues
long, in a N.N.W. direction; the other bore from S.W. 1/2 S. to W.N.W.,
and having been first seen at day-break, was called Aurora. To the
former, in honour of the day, was given the name of _Isle de la
Pentecôte_, or Whitsun Isle. Bougainville attempted to pass betwixt
these two islands, but the wind failing him, he was obliged to go to
leeward of Aurora. In getting to the northward, along its eastern shore,
he saw a little isle, rising like a sugar-loaf and bearing N. by W.
which he denominated Peak of the Etoile. He now ranged along the Isle
of Aurora, at about a league and a half distant. It is described as
about ten leagues in length, but not more than two in breadth, with
steep shores, and as covered with wood. At two in the afternoon, when
coasting this isle, the summits of high mountains were perceived over
it, about ten leagues off, which belonged to another island, as was
found next morning. This island lay S.W. of Aurora, and at the nearest
part was about three or four leagues from it. Several canoes were seen
along its coasts, but none of the natives put off to the ships. Though
no bottom could be found near the shore with fifty fathom, yet
Bougainville resolved, if possible, to make a landing on it, in order to
get wood and necessary refreshments. A party of men was accordingly sent
off in three armed boats; and effected a landing without any opposition.
Bougainville himself and some others went to join this party in the
afternoon, and found it busily employed as directed, the natives lending
considerable assistance by conveying wood, &c. to the boats. At first,
indeed, they presented themselves in an armed posture, and seemed
resolved to prevent any intrusion on their ground, but the prudent and
conciliatory conduct of the officers effected a relinquishment of
immediate hostility. This, it is thought, was but deceitful, and
apparently intended to throw the party off its guard. Very probably,
they meditated a serious attack, but were disconcerted by the party
embarking sooner than they expected. In doing so, they exhibited what
had continued to actuate them, for when the party put off in their
boats, these people followed it, and showed their dexterity in throwing
stones and arrows, from which they did not desist, till twice fired on
by the crew. These savages are unfavourably described; they are said to
have been ugly, of short stature, and ill proportioned; and as they were
affected with a disease which Bougainville considered leprosy, this
island got the name of Isle of Lepers. The few women that were seen, at
best rivalled the men in disagreeable appearance, and were about as
naked.

Bougainville now made sail to the S.W. for a long coast in sight,
extending as far as the eye could reach, from S.W. to W.N.W., but as
there was little or no wind during the 24th, both day and night, he was
left to the mercy of the currents, which would scarcely allow him to get
three leagues off the Isle of Lepers. He advanced somewhat better on the
25th, though the Etoile still lay becalmed, and at last found himself,
as it were, shut up in a great gulph in the land, which lay to the west.
Not knowing whether he was so or not, it became necessary to stand again
towards that island, and in consequence the 25th was lost in making
short tacks, which were the more required, as the Etoile did not feel
the breeze till the evening.

The bearings taken on the 26th, shewed that the currents had taken them
several miles to the southward of their reckoning. Whitsun-isle still
appeared separated from the S.W. land, but by a narrower passage, and
what had before been considered a continued coast, was now found to be a
cluster of islands. Some agreeable appearances induced several attempts
at landing, but they were unavailing, and only exposed those that made
them to attacks from the natives, who seemed to concur with the natural
difficulties around their islands, in preventing too near an approach.
Bougainville bestowed the name of Archipelago of the Great Cyclades on
these very numerous isles, which lie in 30° S. latitude, and 180°
longitude west of Ferro, and which have been better known since the time
of Cook by the name of New Hebrides. During Bougainville's being on
board the Etoile about this time, transacting some necessary business,
he had the opportunity of verifying a report, which had for a good while
been circulated in both ships, viz. that M. de Commerçon's servant,
named Baré, was a woman. Several suspicious circumstances had been
noticed as to her sex, and something amounting to a discovery of it had
been made, it seems, by the _very discerning_ people of Otaheite; but
now, she came to Bougainville, her face covered with tears, and
confessed it, giving a history of herself, and an explanation of her
reasons for undertaking so romantic an expedition. "She will be the
first woman," says Bougainville, "that ever made such a voyage, and I
must do her the justice to affirm, that she always behaved on board with
the most scrupulous modesty. She was neither ugly nor handsome, and not
more than twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age. It must be owned,
that if the two ships had been wrecked on any uninhabited island in the
ocean, the fate of Baré would have been a very singular one." The idea
perhaps is scarcely susceptible of embellishment, but one may wonder,
that it never struck the fancy of a poet.

On the 29th of May, they lost sight of the land, which had so much but
so fruitlessly engaged their attention, and sailed westward with a very
fresh south-east wind. This brought them on the 4th June, to a low flat
island, surrounded, by a dangerous shoal, to which with little courtesy,
perhaps, to the goddess, was given the name of the Shoal of Diana. A
sand-bank and breakers were discovered on the 6th, and indicated such a
dangerous navigation, that Bougainville immediately resolved on altering
his course, which he did by steering N.E. by N., abandoning entirely his
scheme of proceeding westward, in the latitude of 15°. He justifies this
conduct by the reflection, that though he had persevered in his original
intention, he must have reached the eastern coast of New Holland, which,
estimating it by what Dampier ascertained of the western coast, would
have proved both unimportant and inhospitable. The judicious reader,
however, will allow far greater weight to the circumstances of his
deficiency for an uncertain navigation, than to such hypothetical
reasoning. He had only bread for two months, and pulse for forty days;
and his salt meat had become so bad, that the crew preferred the rats to
it, whenever they were fortunate enough to catch them.

The S.E. wind unluckily failing them, their course from the 7th made
good, was only N. by E., when on the 10th at day-break, land was seen,
bearing from E. to N.W., a delicious smell having previously intimated
its vicinity. This was off the N.E. coast of New Holland, the passage
betwixt which and New Britain, Bougainville mistook for a deep gulph or
bay, and which of course he had the utmost difficulty to get clear of,
with an unfavourable wind, very bad weather, and a great south-eastern
swell. This mistake seems to have occasioned him more danger and much
greater hardships than had yet been experienced. To this imaginary
gulph, Bougainville gave the name of Gulph of the Louisiade, and that of
Cape Deliverance to its N. or N.N.E. extremity, which he doubled after
no less than a fortnight spent in extreme peril and continual fears. In
the morning of the 28th, when about sixty leagues to the northward of
this cape, and steering N.E. on the coast of New Britain, he discovered
land to the N.W. nine or ten leagues off. This proved to be two isles,
and about the same time there appeared a long high coast, extending to
the northward for some distance, and then turning to N.N.W. His
situation was extremely hazardous among these lands, to him altogether
unknown, often surrounded with dangerous shoals, and his boats, which
were occasionally sent out to sound, being sometimes beset by the
natives. It was not till the 5th of July, that he succeeded in finding
any thing like safe anchorage, which he at last effected in Carteret's
Harbour, or, as he calls it, Port Praslin. It was here, as we have
elsewhere related, that he found some vestiges of the Swallow's
residence a short time before. The situation was far from yielding the
advantages so much longed for; no refreshments could be procured for the
sick, and scarcely any thing solid for the healthy. The miseries of
famine stared them in the face, and the delay occasioned by the
necessity of repairing the vessels, and the wretched state of the
weather, aggravated their sufferings in the highest degree. At last, on
the evening of the 24th, a breeze springing up from the bottom of the
harbour, enabled them, with the help of the boats, to get out to sea,
when they steered from E. by S. to N.N.E., turning to northward with the
land. The longitude was corrected by observation on leaving Port
Praslin, which gave a difference of about 3°, the reckoning being to the
eastward.

Bougainville now coasted New Britain for some time, passing betwixt it
and a series of islands, on which he bestowed the names of his principal
officers. The sufferings of the crew for want of proper and sufficient
victuals, were now extreme; but no one, we are told, was dejected or
altogether lost patience. On the contrary, it was quite usual for both
officers and men to dance in the evenings, as if in a time of the
greatest ease and plenty. Such recreation, one may most certainly infer
from Bougainville's own words, must soon have been performed very
languidly, and in a little time longer ceased entirely; for it became
necessary to shorten even the small allowance of food, which, repeated
attempts at landing on different shores failed to augment, and the
quality of the provisions too, was such, as in the emphatic language of
Bougainville, rendered those the hardest moments of the sad days they
passed, when the bell gave notice to receive the disgusting and
unwholesome fare. The scurvy also made fearful impression on them after
leaving Port Praslin; no one could be said to be quite free from it,
and half of the ships' companies could not do duty. But such misery was
now near a termination, for having navigated, with several nautical
difficulties, a strait formed by the Papou Isles denominated _Passage
des Francois_, the ships came to an anchor on the last day of August, in
Cajeli Bay, on the coast of the island Boero, where there was a Dutch
settlement, and where provisions of an excellent sort, and the necessary
refreshments, were got in abundance. The effects of such a favourable
change were most speedy and obvious, so that in the course of six days,
all things were ready for prosecuting the voyage. Bougainville therefore
left Boero on the 7th September, and steered successively N.E. by N. and
N.N.E in order to clear the guiph of Cajeli. Having accomplished this,
he directed his course through the straits of Bouton, of which, and of
the adjacent coasts, he has given a tolerably minute description,
useful, it is likely, to mariners. After this, he got sight of the high
lands of the island Saleyer, on the 18th September, and passed the
strait betwixt it and the island of Celebes. On the 21st, he got sight
of the isles Alambia, the position of which, as of several other
interesting points in this navigation, it is candidly admitted, is very
inaccurately laid down in the common French charts; but Bougainville
takes the opportunity, which, it is believed, no one will grudge, of
paying a tribute of commendation to the labours and worth of D'Anville.
His map of Asia, he says, published in 1752, gave him the greatest
assistance, and is very good from Ceram to the isles of Alambia,
Bougainville having verified his positions in this navigation. He adds,
"I do this justice to M. D'Anville's work with pleasure; I knew him
intimately, and he appeared to me to be as good a member of society as
he was a critic and a man of erudition." Bougainville now kept along the
shore of Java, and after being out at sea for ten months and a half,
arrived at Batavia on the 28th of September.

After the account we have already given of Batavia in this volume, it
would be quite unnecessary to notice what Bougainville says of it. We
shall only mention that his experience of its unhealthiness was such, as
made him use all imaginable expedition to leave it, in order to save the
lives of his people, who were reduced to a most deplorable state of
health. What Captain Cook says of his old sail-makers is somewhat
paralleled by what Bougainville relates of the effect of the novelties
of Batavia on the Otaheitan man Aotourou, in keeping him so highly and
constantly excited, as for long to preserve him from the prevailing
illnesses. At last, we are told, the poor fellow fell sick, and it is
mentioned, evidently in praise of his docility, that he became as good a
swallower of physic, as a man born in Paris! The inference from this is
somewhat dubious, but not to be sceptical, _valeat quantum valere
potest_. Aotourou's remembrance of the evils of Batavia was such, as
prompted him, whenever he named it, to call it, in the language of his
country, _enoua mate_, "the land which kills."

It was the 16th October when Bougainville quitted Batavia, on the 19th
he cleared the straits of Sunda, and in little more than a fortnight
afterwards, he came in sight of the Isle of France, where he found it
necessary to put in, to have the frigate hove down and repaired, and to
procure refreshments for his voyage home. Having accomplished these
objects, he set sail on the 12th December, leaving the Etoile there to
be careened, as his junction with her was no longer needed for either
vessel. On touching at the Cape of Good Hope, he learned, as is
elsewhere mentioned, that Captain Carteret was eleven days before him.
This, however, owing to the state of the Swallow, was an inconsiderable
advantage, and soon ceased to exist. The particulars of the meeting
which took place betwixt that vessel and Bougainville's, have been
related in our account of Carteret's voyage, to which the reader is
referred.

On the 4th of March, Bougainville got sight of the isle of Tereera, on
the 14th of Ushant, and on the 16th entered the port of St Maloes, after
a voyage of two years and four months.


END OF THE THIRTEENTH VOLUME.