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A
NEW V O Y A G
ROUND the
In the YEARS
1768, 1769, 1770 and 1771 ;
Undertaken by Order of his prefent Majefty,
PERFORMED BY
Captain JAMES COOK,
In the Ship ENDEAVOUR,
Drawn up from liis own Journal, and from the Papers of
JOSEPH BANKS, Esq. F. R. S.
And publifhed by the Ipecial Direction of
the Right Honourable the
Lords of the ADMIRALTY,.
By JOHN HAWKESWORTH, L. L. D.
And late Diredor of the Eaft-India Company.
IN TWO VOLUMES: '
With Cutts and a Map of the whole Navigation.
Voi. II.
N E W-T O R K:
Printed by Jambs Rivjngton, 1774.
A N
-M
ACCOUNT
O F A
VOYAGE round the WORLD.
BOOK IT.
CHAPTER VII.
AT four o’clock in the afternoon, of Friday the 9 th of
February, having tacked, we Hood S. W. and con-
tinued to make fail to the fouthward till funfet on the
1 ith, when a freih breeze at N. E. had carried us back again
the length of Cape Pallifer, of which, as the weather was
dear, we had a good view. Between the foot of the high
land and the fea there is a low flat border, off which there are
feme rocks that appear above water. Between this Cape and
Cape Turnagain, the land near the Ihore is, in many places,
low and flat, and has a green and pleafant appearance ; but
farther from the fea it rifes into hills. The land between
Cape Pallifer and Cape Tierawitte is high, and makes in table-
points ; it alfo feemed to us to form two bays, but we were at
too great a diftance from this part of the coail, to judge ac-
curately from appearances. The wind having been variable
with calms, we had adv; -.ced no farther by the izth at noon
than latitude 41 : 52, Cape Pallifer then bearing north, diilant
about five leagues ; and the fnowy mountain S, 83 W.
At noon on the 13th, we found ourl'elves in the latitude of
42 : 2 S. ; Cape Pallifer bearing N. 20 E. 'diftant eight
leagues. In the afternoon a frefh gale fprung up at N. E. and
we fleered S. W. by W. for the fouthermofl land in fight,
which at funfet bore from us S. 74 W. At this time the va-
riation was 1 5 : 4 E.
At eight o’clock in the morning of the 14th, having run
one and twenty leagues S. 58 W. since the preceeding noon,
it fell calm. We were then abreafl of the fnowy mountain,
which bore .from us N. W. and in this direction lay behind a
mountainous ridge of nearly the fame height, \vhi:h rifes di-
redtly from the fea, and runs parallel with the ihore, which
lies N. E. { N. and S. W. \ S. The north well end of the
ridge rifes inland, not far from Cape Campbell ; and bpth
the mountain and the ridge are diflinct.lv lien as well from
Cape Koamaroo as Cape tCUijhr : tfTOjnrtmumaroo they are
Vol.I. diftant
2 COOK’s VOYA G,E
diftant two and twenty leagues S. W. £• S. ; and from Cape
Pallifer thirty leagues W. S. W. ; and are" of a height fuffi-
cient to be feen at a much greater diftance. At noon this day,
we were in latitude 42 : 34 S. .The fcSuthermoft land in fight
bore S. W. | Wi ; and fome low land that appeared like an
Ifland, and lay clofe under the foot of the ridge, bore N. W.
by N. about five or fix leagues/
In the afternoon j when Mr.. Banks was out in the boat a
Ihooting, vve faw,' 'with our glades, four double canoes, having
on board fifty-fevc-n men, put off from that fhore, and make
towards him : vve immediately made fignals for him to come
on board ; but the fhip, with refpeft to him, being right in
the wake of the fun, he did not fee them. We were at a con-
fiderable diffance from the fhore, and he was at a confider-
able diftance from the fhip, which was between him and the
fhore ; fo that, it being a dead calm, I began to be in fome
pain for him, fearing that he might not fee the canoes time
enough to reach the fhip before they fhould get up with him :
foon after, however, we faw his boat in motion, and had the
pleafure to take him on board before the Indians ,came up,
who probably had not feen him, as their attention, feemed to
be wholly fixed upon the fhip. They came within' about a
flor.e’s call, and then flopped, gazing at us with a look of va-
cant aftonifhment : Tupia exerted all his eloquence to prevail
upon them to come nearer, but without any effeft. After fur-
veying us for fome time, they left us, and made . towards the
fhore; but had not meafured more than half the diftance be-
tween that and the fhip before it was dark. We imagined
that thefe people had heard nothing of us, and could not but
remark the different behaviour and difipofiticns of the inhabi-
tants of the different parts of this ccaft upon their firft ap-
proaching the veffel. Thefe kept aloof with a mixture of ti-
midity and wonder ; others had immediately commenced hof-
' tilities, 'by pelting us with" ftones .• the gentleman whom we
-had found alone, filhing ip his boat, feemed to think us en-
tirely unworthy of his notice ; and fome, almoft without in-
vitation, had come on board with an air of perfeft confidence
and good-will, from the-oehaviour of our laft vifitors, I gave
the land from which they had put oft, and which, as I have
before obferved, . had the appearance of an ifland, the name of
Lookers-on.
At eight o’clock in the evening, a breeze fprung up at S.
8. W. with which I ftretched off fouth eaft, becaufe fome on
board thought they faw land in that quarter. In this courfe we
continued till fix o’clock the next morning, when we had run
eleven leagues, but faw no land, except that which we had
left. Having flood to the S. E. with a light breeze, which
veered from the weft to the north, till noon, our latitude by
obfervation was 42 ; 56 S. and the high land that we were
. - abreaft
Coast of TOVY POfikAMMOO. 3
abreaft cf the preceeding noon bore N. N. W. £ W. In the
Afternoon we had a light breeze at N. E. with which we
fleered well, edging in for the land, which was diftant about
eight leagues. At feven in the evening, we were about fix
leagues from the fhore, and the i'ou thermo it extremity of the
land in light bore W. S. W,
At daj -break on the 16th, we difeovered land bearing S.
by W. and feemingly detached from the coalt we were upon ,
About eight, a breeze fprung up, at N. by E. and we fleered
airedtly for it. At r.ccn, we were in latitude 43 : 19 S. the
peak on the fnowy mountain bore N. 20 E. difrant twenty-
feven leagues ; the fouthern extremity of the land we could
fee bore weit, and the land which had been difeovered in the
morning appeared like an illand extending from S. S. W. to
S. W. by W. | W. diftant about eight leagues. In the after-
noon we flood to the fouthward of it, with a frelh 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 diftant about three or four leagues from the
neareft fhore, and in this lituation had fifty fathom water, with
a fine fandy bottom. The variation of the compafs by this
morning’s amplitude was 14 : 39 E.
At fun-rife, the next morning, our opinion that the land
we had been Handing for was an i'fland, was confirmed, by our
feeing part cf the land of Tovy Pdenammoo open to the weft-
ward of it, extending as far as W. by S. At eight in the
morning, the extremes cf theifland bore N. 76 W. and N.
N. E. E. ; and an opening near die fouth point, which had
the appearance of a bay or harbour, N. 20 W. diftant between
three anifour leagues : in this fituation we had thirty-eight
fathom water, with a brown fandy bottom.
This illand, which I named after Mr. Banks, lies about five
leagues from the coaft of Tovy •Poenammoo ; the fouth point
bears S. 21 W. from the higheft peak on the fnowy mountain,
and lies in latitude 43 : 32 S. and in longitude 186 : 30 W.
by an obfervation of the fun' and moon which was made this
morning : it is of a circular figure, and about 24 leagues
in compafs : it is fufficiently high to be feen at the diftance of
twelve or fifteen leagues, and the land has a broken irregular
furface, with the appearance rather of barrennefs than fertility;
yet it was inhabited, for we faw Invoke in one place, and a
few (haggling natives in another.
When this ifland was firft difeovered in the direction of S,
by W. fome perfons on board were of opinion that they alfo
faw land bearing S. S. E. and S. E. by E.- Iwasmyfelf upon
the deck at the time, and told them, that in my opinion it
was no more than a cloud, and that as the fun rofe it would
difiipate and vanifh. Elowever, as I was determined to leave
no fubjeil for deputation which experiment could remove, T
A z ordered
4 COOK’s VOYAGE
ordered the fhip to be wore, and fleered E. S. E. by compafs,
in the direction which the land was faid to bear from us at that
time. At noon we were in latitude 44 : 7 S. ; the fouth
point of Banks’s Ifland bearing north, diflant five leagues. By
Jeven o’clock at night we had run eight and twenty miles,
when feeing no land, nor any figns of any, but that which we
had left, we bore away S. by W. and continued upon that
courie till the next day at noon, when we were in latitude 45 :
j6, the fouth point cf Banks’s ifland bearing N. 6 : 30 W'.
diflant twenty eight leagues. The variation by the azimuth
this morning was 15 : 30 E. As no figns of land had yet
appeared to the fouthward, and as I thought that we had flood
far enough in that direction to weather all the land we had
left, judging from the report cf the natives in Q«een Char-
lotte's Sound, 1 hauled to the weftward.
We had a moderate breeze at N. N. W. and N. till eight
in the evening, when it became unfettled ; and at ten fixed at
fouth : during the night, it blew with fuch violence that it
brought us under our clcfe reefed topfails. At eight the next
morning, having run twenty-eight leagues upon a W. by N. \
N. courie, and judging ourfelves to be to the weftward of the
land of Vovy Poenammoo, we bore away N. W. with a frefh
gale at fouth. At ten, having run eleven rhiles upon this
courfe, wefaw land extending from the S. W. to the N. W. at
the alliance of about ten leagues, which we hauled up for.
At noon, our latitude by obfervation was 44 : 38, the fouth eall
point of Banks’s Ifland bore N. 58 : 30 E. diflant thirty
leagues, and the main body of the land in fight W. by N. A
head fea prevented us from making much way to the fouth-
ward ; at ieven in the evening the extremes of the land flretch-
ed from S. W. by S. to N. bv W. ; and at fix leagues from
me In ore we had thirty- two fathom water. At four o’ clock
the next morning, we flood in for the fiiore W. by S. and dur-
ing a courfe of four leagues, our depth of water was from thir-
ty-two to thirteen fathom. When it was thirteen fathom we
were but three miles diflant from the fhore, and therefore flood
off; its dire&ion is here nearly N. and S. The furface, to
the diltance of about five miles from the fea, is low and flat ;
but it then rifes into hills of a confiderable height. It appeared
to be totally barren, and we faw no figns of its being inhabited.
Our latitude, at noon, was 44:44; and the longitude which
we made from Banks’s Ifland to this place was 2 : 22 W,
During the laii twenty-four hours, though we carried as much
fail as the ihip would bear, we were driven three leagues to the
leeward.
We continued to ftand off and on all this day and the next,
keeping at the diflance of between four and twelve leagues
from the fhore, and having water from thirty-five to fifty-three
Jiuhujn. Oil the zzd, at noon, we had nc obfervation, but by
the
CAPE SAUNDERS. 5
the land judged ourfelves to be about three leagues farther
north than we had been the day before. At fun-fet, the wea-
ther, which had been hazey, clearing up, we faw a mountain
which rofe in a high peak, bearing N. W. by N. ; and at the
fame time, we faw the land more diflinttly than before, ex-
tending from N. to S. W. by S. whichrat fome diflance with-
in the coafl, had a lofty and mountainous appearance. We
foon found that the accounts which had been given us by the
Indians in Queen Charlotte’s Sound of the land to the fouth-
ward were not true ; for they had told us that it might be cir-
cumnavigated in four days.
On the 23d, having a hollow fwell from the S. E. and ex-
petting wind from the fame quarter, we kept plying between
feven and fifteen leagues from die fhore, having from feventy
to 44 fathom. At noon, our latitude by obfervation was 44 :
40 S. and our longitude from Banks’s Ifland 1 : 31 W. From
this time to fix in the evening it was calm ; but a light
breeze then fpringing up at E. N. E. we fleered S. S. E. all
night, edging off from the land, the hollow fwell Hill conti-
nuing ; our depth of water was from fixty to ' feventy-five fa-
thom. While we were becalmed, Mr. Banks, being out in
the boat, fhot two Port Egmont hens, which were in every re-
fpett the fame as t-hofe that are found in great numbers upon
the ifland of Faro, and were the firfl of the kind we had feen
upon this coafl, though we fell in with fome a few days before
we made land. = - ■
At day-break, the wind frefhened, and before noon we had
a flrong gale at N. N. E. At eight in the morning v/e faw
the land expending as far as S. W. by S. and fleered direttly
for it. At noon we were in latitude 45 :22 s.; and the land,
which now flretched from S. W. \ S. to N. N. W. appeared
to be rudely diverfified by hill and valley. In the afternoon,
we fleered S. W. by S. and S. W. edging in for the land with
a frefh gale at north ; but though we were at ito great alliance,
die weather was fo hazey that we could fee nothing diflinftly
upon it, except a ridge of high hills, lying not far from the
fea, and parallel to the coafl, which in this place flretches S.
by W. and N. by E. and feemed to end in a high bluff point-
to the fouthward. By eight in the evening we were abreafl 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 well, and was diflant about five miles ;
our depth' of water was thirty- feven fathom, and the bottom
confifled of fmall pebbles. ••
At day- break, having made fail, the point bore north, dif-
tant three leagues, and we now found that the land trended
from it S. W. by W. as far as we could fee. This point I,
named Cape Saunders, in honour of Sir Charles! Our
latitude was 45 : 35 S. and longitude 189 : 4 W. By the la-
titude,
■6 COOK's VOYAG2
titudey and the angles that are made by the coaft, this point
will be fufficiently known ; there is, however, about three or
lour leagues to the fouth welt of it, and very near the (here, a
remarkable faddle-hiil, which is a good direction to it on that
quarter. From one league to four leagues north of Cape Saun-
ders, the fhore forms two or three bays, in which there ap-
peared to be good anchorage, and effectual fhelter from the S.
W. wefterly, and N. welter! y winds; but my deft re of getting
to the fouth ward, in order to afeertain whether this country
was an ifland or continent, prevented my putting into any of
them.
We kept at a fmall diilance from the fhore all this morning,
with the Wind at S. W. and had a very difiindt view of it : it
is of a moderate height, and the furface is broken by many
hills, which are green and woody ; but we faw no appearance
of inhabitants. At noon, Cape Saunders bore N. 30 W. dis-
tant about four leagues. We had variable winds and calms,
till five o’clock in the evening, when it fixed at W. S. W. and
foon blew fo hard that it put us paft our topfails, and fplit the
forefail all to pieces : after getting another to the yard, we
continued to liana to the fouthward under two courfes ; and at
fix the next morning, the fouthermoft laud in fight bore W.
by N. and Cape Saunders N. by W. diftant eight leagues : at
noon, it bore N. 20 W. fourteen leagues ; and our latitude by
obfervation was 46 : 36. The gale continued with heavy
fqualls, and a large hollow fea all the afternoon ; and at feven
in the evening, we lay too under our forefail, with the fliip’s
head to the fouthward : at noon on the 27th, our latitude was
46 : 34, and our longitude from Cape Saunders 1 : 24 E.
At feven in the evening, we made fail under our courfes ; and
at eight the next morning fet the topfails clofe reefed. At
noon our latitude was 47 : 43, and our longitude eaft from
Cape Saunders 2 : 10. At this time, vvewore and flood to the
northward : in the afternoon, we found the variation to be
16 : 34 E. At eight in the evening, we tacked and flood to
the fouthward, with the wind at weft.
A: noon this day, our latitude by account was 47 : 32, and
cur longitude from Cape Saunders 1 : 8 E. We flood to the
fouthward till half an hour paft three in the afternoon ; and
then, being in latitude 48 S. and longitude 188 W. and fee-
ing no appearance of land, we tacked and flood to the north-
ward, having a large fwell from the S. W. by W. At noon
the next day, our latitude was 46 : 42 S. ; and Cape Saunders
tore N. 46 W. diftant eighty-fix miles. The fouth weft fwell
continuing till the 3d, confirmed our opinion, that there was
no land in that quarter. At four in the Afternoon, we flood
to the weftvvard with ail the fail we could make.- In the morn-
ing of the 4th, we found the variation to be 16 : 16E. This
day we faw foine whales and feals, as we had done feveral
femes
SOUTH-CAFE. 7
times after our having paffed the ft r eight ; but wc faw no feal
while we were upon the coaft of Eahienomauwe. Wc foun-
ded both in the night and this morning, but had no ground
with one hundred and fifty fathom. At noon, we faw Cape
Saunders bearing N. ~ W. ; and our latitude by oblervation
was 46 : 3 1 S. At half an hour paft one o’clock, we faw
land bearing W. by S. which we fleered for, and before it was
dark were within three or four miles of it : during the whole
night we faw fires upon it, and at feven in the morning were
within about three leagues of the fhore, which appeared to be
high, but level. At three o’clock in the afternoon we faw
the land extending from N. E. by N. to N. W. \ N. ; and
foon after we difeovered fome low land, which appeared like
an ifland, bearing S. \ W, We continued our courfe to the
W. by S. and in two hours we faw high land over the low
land, extending to the fouthward as far as S, W. by S. ; but it:
did not appear to be joined to the land to the northward, To
that there is either water, a deep bay, or low land between
them.
At noon on the 6th, we were nearly in the fame fituation as
at noon on the day before : in the afternoon we found the va-
riation by feveral azimuths and the amplitude, to be 13:10
E. On the 7th at noon, we were in latitude 47 : 6 S. and had
made twelve miles eafting during the lafl twenty-four hours.
We flood to the weflward the remainder of this day, and all the
next till fun-fet, when the extremes of the land bore from N.
by E to W. diflant about feven or eight leagues : in this Situa-
tion 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 moonlight, we kept
ftanding clofe upon the wind to the S. W. all night. At four
in the morning, we had fixty fathom water ; and at day-
light, we difeovered under our bow a ledge of rocks, extend-
ing from S. by W. to W. by S. upon which the fea broke very
high : they were not more than three quarters of a mile diflant,
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 unwil-
ling to run to leeward, I tacked and made a trip to the eafl-
ward ; the wind however loon after coming to the northward,
enabled us to get clear of all. Our foundings, while we were
palling within the ledge, were froth thirty-five to forty-feven
fathom, with a rocky bottom.
This ledge lies S. E. fix leagues from the fouthermofl part
of the land, and S. E. by E. from fome remarkable hills
which ftand near the fhore : about three leagues to the north-
ward of it, there is another ledge, which lies full three leagues
2rom the fhore, and on which the fea broke in a dreadful iurf.
As we puffed thefe rocks to the north in the night, and dif-
ifccvercd the others under our bow at break of day, it is mani-
feii
f COOK’s VOYAGE
fell: that our danger was imminent, and our efcape critical in
the higheft degree : from the fituation of thefe rocks, fo well
adapted to catch unwary ftrangers, I called them the Traps.
Our latitude at noon was 47 ; 26 S. The Land in Sight, which
had the appearance of an ifland, extended from N. E. by N.
to N. W. by W. and feemed to be about five leagues diftant from
the main ; the eaftermoft ledge of rocks bore S. S. E. diftant
one league and an half, and the northermoft N. E. \ E. dif-
tant about three leagues. This land is high and barren, with
nothing upon it but a few ftraggling ftirubs, for not a fingle
tree was to be feen ; it was however remarkable for a number
of white patches, which I took to be marble, as they refleded
the fun’s rays very ftrongly : other patches of the fame kind
we had obferved in different parts of this country, particularly
in Mercury Bay : we continued to ftand clofe upon a wind to
the weftward, and at fun-fet the fouthermoft point of land bore
N. 38 E. diftant four leagues, and the weftermoft land in fight
bore N. 2 E. The point which lies in latitude 47 : 19 S. lon-
gitude 192 : 12W, I named South-Cape : the weftermoft
land was a fmall ifland, lying off the point of the main.
Suppofing South Cape to be the fouthern extremity of this
country, as indeed it proved to be, I hoped to get round it by
the weft, for a large hollow fwell from the fouth weft, ever
fince our iaft 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 courfes, but about eight in the
morning it became moderate ; and at noon, veering to the weft,
we tacked and ftood to the northward, having no land in fight.
Our latitude, by obfervation, was 47 : 33 S. our longitude,,
weft from the South Cape, 59. We ftood away N. N. E. clofe
upon a wind, without feeing any land, till two the next morn-
ing, when we difcovered an ifland bearing N. W. by N. dif-
tant about five leagues : about two hours afterwards we faw
land a-head, upon which we tacked and ftood off till fix, when
we ftood in to take a nearer view of it : at eleven we were
within three leagues of it, but the wind feeming to incline
upon the lhore, I tacked and ftood off to the fouthward. We
had now failed round the land which we had difcovered on the
5 th, and which then did not appear to be joined to the main,
which lay north of it ; and being now come to the other fide of
what we fuppofed to be water, a bay, or low land, it had the
fame appearance, but when I came to lay it down upon paper
I faw no reafon to fuppofe it to be an ifland ; on the contrary,
I was clearly of opinion that it made part of the main. At
noon, the weftern extremity of the main bore N. 59 W. and
the ifland which we had feen in the morning, S. 59 W. dif-
tant about five leagues. It lies in latitude 46 : 3 1 S. longitude
192 : 49 W. and is nothing but a barren rock, about a mile in
circuit,
B tr’ S K V t A Y. 9
circuit, remarkably high, and lies full five leagues d'fiant from
the main. This ifland I named after Dr. Solander, and called
it Solander’s Island. The Ihore of the main lies nearelf
E. by S. and W. by N. and forms a large open bay, in which
there is no appearance of any harbour, cr fhelter for lhipping
sgainft S. W. and foutherly winds : the furface of the country
is broken into craggy hills, of a great height, on the fummits
of which are feveral patches of fnow : it is not, however, wholly
barren, for we could fee wood not only in the vallies, but upon
the higheft ground, yet we faw no appearance of its being in-
habited.
We continued to Hand to the S. W. by S. till eleven o’clock
the next morning, wl>en the wind lhifted to the S. W. by W.
upon which we wore* and Hood to the N. N. W. being then
in latitude 47 : 40 S. longitude 193 : 50 W-. and having a
hollow fea from the S. W.
During the night we fleered N. N. W. till fix in the morn-
ing, when, feeing no land, we fleered N. by E. till eight,
when we fleered N. E. by E. £ E. to make the land, which
at ten we faw bearing E. N. E. but it being hazy, we could
diflinguifh nothing upon it. At noon, our latitude, by obler-
vation, 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 dis-
tance too great to run before it .would be dark, and the wind
blowing too hard to make the attempt fafe in the night, I bore
away along the Ihore.
This bay, which I called Dusky Bay, lies in latitude 45
47 S. : it is between three and four miles broad at the en-
trance, and feems to be full as deep as it is broad : it contains
feveral iflands, behind which there rnuft be lhelter from all
winds, though poflibly there may not be fufficient depth of wa-
ter. 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 lour fingers and thumb
of a man’s hand, for which reafon I called it Point Five
Fingers: the land of this point is farther remarkable, for
being the only level land within a conflderable diftance. It
extends near two leagues to the northward, is lofty, and co-
vered with wood : the land behind it is very different, con-
fiding wholly of mountains, totally barren and rocky ; and
this difference gives the Cape the appearance of an ifland.
At fun-fet, the fouthermoft land in fight bore due fcuth,
diflant about five or fix leagues ; and as this is the weftermoft
point of land upon the whole coaft, I called it West Cape.
It lies about three leagues to the fouthward of Dufky Bay, in
the latitude of 45 : 54 S. and in longitude 393 : 17 W. The
land of this Cape is of a moderate height next' the fea, and
has
10
COOK’s VOYAGE
has nothing remarkable about it, except a very white cliff,
two or three leagues to the fouthward of it : to the fouthward
of it alfo the land trends away to the S. E. and to the north-
ward it trends N. N. E.
Having brought to for the night, we made fail along the
fhore at four in the morning, in the direction of N. E. \ N.
with a moderate breeze at S. S. E. At noon, our latitude, by
obfervation, was 45 : 13 S. At this time, being about a
league and an half from the Ihore, we founded, but had no
ground with feventy fathom : we had juft palled a fmall nar-
row opening in land, where there fedmed to be a very fafe and
convenient harbour, formed by an ifland, which lay in the
middle of the opening at eaft. The opening lies in lat. 45: 16 S.
and on the land behind it are mountains, the fummits of which
were covered with fnow, that appeared to have been recently
fallen ; and indeed for two days paft we had found the weather
very cold. On each fide the entrance of the opening,, the land
riles almoft perpendicularly from the fea to a ftupendous height,
and this indeed was the reafon why I did not carry the Ihip in-
to it, for no wind could blow there but right in, or right out,
in the direction of either eaft or weft, and I thought it by no
means advifeable 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 adted contrary to the opinion of lome perfons on board, who,
in very ftrong terms, exprefted their daiire to harbour for pre-
fent convenience, without any regard to future difadvantages.
In the evening! being about two leagues from the Ihore, we
founded, and had no ground with 108 fathom' : the variation
of the needle, by azimuth, was 14 E. and by amplitude 15
z. We made the bell of our way along the Ihore with what
wind we had, keeping at the diftance of between two and three
leagues. At noon, we were in latitude 44 : 47, having run
only twelve leagues upon a N. E. | N. courfe, during the lall
four and twenty hours.
We continued to fteer along the Ihore, in the dire&ion of
N. E. | E. till fix o’clock in die evening, when we brought
to for the night. As four in the morning, v/e ftood in for
the land, and w'hen the day broke we law v/hat 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 fame courfe, keeping the Ihore at the diftance of be-
tween four and five miles. At noon on the 16th, the nor-
thermoll point of land in fight bore N. 60 E. at the diftance
of ten miles ; and our latitude, by obfervation, was 44 :
our longitude from Cape Weft 2 : 8 E. About two, we paft
the point which at noon had been diftant ten miles, and found
it to conftft of high red cliffs, down which there fell a esfeade
of water in four fmall ftreams, and I therefore gave it the name
CASCADE POINT. ft
.of Cascade Point. From this Point the land trends firft
_ JST. 76 E. and afterwards more to the northward. At the dis-
tance of eight leagues from Cafcade Point, in the dire&ion of
E. N. E. and at a little diftance from the lhore, lies a fmall
low ifland, which bore from us S. by E. at thp diftance of
about a league and a half.
At feven in the evening, we brought to, in thirty-three
fathom, with a fine fasidy bottom, at ten we had fifty fathom,
and at twelve wore in fixty-five fathom, having driven feveral
miles N. N. W. after our haying brought to. At two in the
morning, we had no ground with 14,0 fathom ; by which it
appears that the foundings extend but a little way from the
lhore. About this. time it fell calm ; at eight a breeze fprung
up at S. W, with which we fleered along the lhore, in the di-
reftion of ,N. E. by E. \ E. at the diftance of about three
leagues. .-At fix in the evening, being about one league from
the lhore, we had feventeen fathom ; and at eight, being about
three leagues from the lhore, we had forty-four : we now
Ihortenpd fail and brought to, having run ten leagues N. E. by
E. fincenoon.
It was calm moft part of the night ; but at ten in the morn-
mg a light breeze fprung up at S. W. by W. when we made
( fail again along lhore, N. E. by N. having a large fwell from
the W. S. W. which had rifen in the night ; at noon, our Ia~
. titude, by obfervaticn, was 43 : 4 S. and our longitude from
Cape Weft 4 : 12 E. We obferved, that the vallies as we
' -as the mountains were this morning covered with fnow, part 0
which we fuppofed .to have fallen during the. night, when we
had rain. At fix in the evening we Ihprtened fail, and at ten
brought to, at the diftance of about .five leagues from the
lhore, where we had 1 15 fathom. .At midnight there being
. little wind, we . made fail, and at eight in the morning we
Hood to the N.-E clofe upon a wind till noon, when we tack-
ed, being about three leagues from the land, and, by obfer-
' vation, in latitude 42 : 8, and,. -longitude -from Cape Weft;
, 5 : 5 E- ’ ; "
We continued to Hand weftward till two in the morning,
when we made a trip to the eaftward, and afterwards ftood weft-
. ward till noon, when, by our reckoning, we were in the lati-
tude of 42 : 23, and longitude fiom Cape Weft 3 : 55 E.
We now tacked and ftood eaftward, with a frefli gale at N. by
W. till fix in the evening, when the wind Ihifted to the S.
and S. S. W. with which we fleered N. E. by N. till lix in
the morning, when we hauled in E. by N. to make the land,
which we Saw foon afterwards ; at noon, our latitude, by ac-
. -count was 41 : 37, and our longitude from Cape Weft 5 : 42 E.
We were now within three or four leagues of the land, but it
p being foggy, we .could fee nothing upon it diftinftly, and as
1 ’ , we
is COOK’s VOYAGE
we had much wind, and avail fwell rolling in uteri the r . s r£,
from the W. S. W. I did not think it fafe to .go -.v-.rst/-'-
In the afternoon, we had a gentle breeze the S. f . W
with which we fleered north along the Ihcre till eight, when,
being within between two and three leagues, we founded, end
had but thirty-four fathom ; upon which we hauled off N. W.
by N. till eleven at night, and then brought to, having fix-
ty-four fathom. At four in the morning we made fail to the
N. E. with a light breeze at S. S W. which at eight veered
to the wellward, and fbon after died away : at this time we
were within three or four miles of the land, and had fifty-four
fathom, with a large fwell from the W. S. W. rolling oblique-
ly upon the fhore, which made me fear that I fhould be oblig-
ed to anchor ; but by the help of a light air now and then
from the S. W. I was able to keep the fhip from driving. At
noon, the northermoll land in fight bore N. E. by E. f'E.
diilant about ten leagues ; our latitude, by account, was 40 :
55 S. longitude from Cape Well 6 : 35 E. From this time
we had light airs from the fouthward, with intervals cf calm,
till noon on the 23d, when our latitude, by obfervation, was
40 : 36 : 30 S. and our longitude from Cape Well 6:52 E.
The eallermolt point of land in fight bore E. 10 N. at the
diilance of feven leagues, and a bluff head or point, of which
we had been abrealt at noon the day before, and off which lay
. .fome rocks above water, bore S. 18 W. at the diilance of fix
leagues. This point I called Rock’s Point. Our latitude
*'*was now 40 j 55 S. and having nearly run down the whole of
the north well coall ofTovy Poenammoo, I fhall give fome ac-
count of die face of the country.
I have already obferved, that on the 1 ith, when we were off
the fouthern part, the land then feen was craggy and moun-
tainous, and there is great reafon to believe {hat the fame ridge
of mountains extends nearly the whole length of the ifland.
Between the weltermoll land, which we law that day, and the
ealtermoll which wefaw on the 13th, there is a fpaceof about
fix or eight leagues, of which we did not fee the coall, though
we plainly difeovered the mountains in-land. The fea coall
near Cape Well is low, rifing with an eafy and gradual afeent
to the foot of the mountains, and being in mcll parts covered
with wood. Frojp Point Five Fingers, down to latitude 44 :
20, there is a narrow ridge of hills that rifes direftly from the
fea, and is covered with wood : clofe behind thefe hills are the
mountains, extending in another ridge of a llupenduous height,
and confining of rocks that are totally barren and naked, ex-
cept where they are covered with fnow, which is to be feen in
large patches upon many parts of them, and has probably lain
there fever fince the creation of the world : a prpfpeft more
rude, craggy, and defolate than this country affords from the
fga, cannot polfibly be conceived, for as far inland as the
g-c
CAPE FA REWE L hi 13-
eye can reach, nothing appears but the fummits of rocks,
which (land fo near together, that inflfead of Vallies there are
only Allures between them. From the latitude of 44 : 20, t*
the latitude of 42 : 8, thefe mountains lie farther inland, and
the fea coail confifts of woody hills and vallies, of various height
and extent, and has much appearance of fertility : many of the
vallies form plains of cor.fiderable extent, wholly covered with
wood, but it is very probable that the ground, in many places,
is fwampy and interfperfed with pools of water. From lati -
tude 42 : 8, to 41 : 30, the land is not dillirguilhed by any-
thing remarkable : it rifes into hills direftly from the fea, and
is covered with wood ; but the weather being foggy while we
were upon this Part of the coaft, we could fee very little in-
land, except now and then the fummits of the mountains, tow-
ing above the cloudy mills that obfeured them below, which
confirmed my opinion that a chain of mountain's extended
■ from one end of the illand to the other.
In the afternoon we had a gentle breeze at S. W. which,
i before it was quite dark, brought us abrealt of the eailern
point, which we had feen at noon ; but not knowing what
courfe the land took on the other fide of it, we brought to in
thirty-four fathom, at the dillance of about one league from
the Ihcre. At eight in the evening, there being little wind,
• we filled and Hood on till midnight, and then we brought to
. till four in the morningt when we again made fail, and at
• break of day we faw low land extending from the point to
the S. S. E. as far as the eye could reach, the eailern extremi-
ty of which appeared in round hillocks: by this time the “gale
had veered to the eallward, which obliged us to ply to wind-
ward. At noon, next day, the eailern point bore S. W. by
S. dillant fixteen miles, and our latitude was 40: 19: the
wind continuing eallerly, we were nearly in the fame fituation
at noon on the day following. About 3 o’clock the wind came
to the wellward, and we lleered E. S. E. with all the fail we
could fet till it was dark, and then Ihortened fail till the
morning : as we had thick hazey weather all night, we kept
founding continually, and had from thirty-feven to forty-two
fathom. When the day broke we faw land bearing S. E. by E,
and an illand lying near it, bearing E. S. E. dillant about five
leagues : this iilaud I knew to be the fame that I had feen
from the entrance of Queen Charlotte’s SounS, from which ic
.bears N. W. by N. dillant nine leagues. At noon, it bore
fouth, dillant four or five miles, and the north well head of
the Sound S. E. by S. dillant ten leagues and an half. Our
latitude, by obfervation, was 40 : 33 S-.
As we had now circumnavigated the whole country, it be-
came neceflary to think of quitting it ; but as I had thirty tons
of empty water calks on board, this could not be done till I
You II. £ hud
M C O O K ’s VOYAGE,
had filled them : I therefore hauled found the lfland, and en*
tered a bay, which lies between that and Queen Charlotte’s
Sound, leaving three more illands, which lay clofe under the
weftern Ihore, between 3 and 4 miles within the entrance, on
our ftarboard hand: while we were running in, we kept the
lead continually going, and had from forty to twelve fathom.
At fix o’clock in the evening, we anchored in eleven fathom
with a muddy bottom, under the well: fit ore, in the fetond cove,
that lies within the three illands ; and as foon as it was light
the next morning, I took a boat, and went on Ihore to look
for a watering place, and a proper birth for the Ihip, both
which I found, much to my fatisfa&ion. As foon as the Ihip
was moored I fent an officer on Ihore to fuperintend the water-
ing, and the carpenter, with his crew, to cut wood, while the
long-boat was employed in landing the empty calks.
In this employment we were bufy till the 30th, v/hen the
wind feeming to fettle at S. E. and our water being nearly
completed, we warped the Ihip out of the cove, that we might
have room to get under fail : 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, 1 went alhore upon
a point of land on the weftern fide, and having climbed a
hill, I faw the weftern arm of this bay run in S. W. by W.
about five leagues farther, yet I could not difeover the end of
it : there appeared to be feveral other inlets, or at leaft fmall
bays, between this and the north weft head of Queen Char-
lotte’s Sound, in each of which, I make no doubt, there is
anchorage and lhelter, as they are all covered from ' the fea
wind by the illands which lie without them. The land about
this bay, as far as I could fee of it, is of a hilly furface, chiefly
covered with trees, Ihrubs, and fern, which render travelling
difficult and fatiguing. In this Excurfion J was accompanied
by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who found feveral new plants.
We met with fome hutts, which feemed to have been long de-
ferted, but faw no inhabitants. Mr. Banks examined feveral of
the ftones that lay upon the. beach, which were full of veins, and
had a mineral abearance ; but he did not .difeover any thing
jn them which he knew to be ore : if he had an opportunity to
examine any of the bare rocks, perhaps he might have been
more fortunate. *He was alfo of opinion that what I had taken
for irrrble in another place, was a mineral fubftance ; and that,
confioering the correfpondence of latitude between this place
gird South- America, it was not improbable but that, by a pro-
per examination, fomething very valuable might be found.
At my return in the evening, I found all the wood and wa-
fer on board, and the Ihip ready for the fea; I refolved
therefore to quit the country, and return home by luch a
route
ADMIRALTY BAY. 15
froute as might be of moft advantage to the fervice ; and upon
this fiibjefl took the opinion of my officers. I had myfelf a
ftrong defire to return by Cape Horn, becaufe that would have
enabled me finally to determine, whether there is or not a
fbuthern continent ; but againft this it was a Efficient objec-
tion that we mult have kept in a high fouthern latitude, in the
very depth of winter, with a vefl'el which was not thought Ef-
ficient for the undertaking : and the fame reafon was urged
againft our proceeding directly for the Cape of Good Hope,
with ftill more force, becaufe no difcovery of moment could
be hoped for in that rout ; it was therefore refolved that we
ftiould return by the Eail- Indies, and that with this view we
fhould, upon leaving the coaft, lleer weftward, till we ftiould
fall in with the eaft coaft of New- Holland, and then follow
the direction of that coaft to the northward, till we fhould ar-
rive at its northern extremity ; but if that fhould be found im-
practicable, it was further refolved that we fhould endeavour
to fall in with the land, or iflands, faid to have been difcover-
ed by Quiros,
With this view, at break of day on Saturday the 31ft of
March 1770, we got under fail, and put to fea, with the ad-
vantage of a frefh gale at S. E. and clear weather, taking
our departure from the eaftern point, which we had l'een at
noon on the 23, and to which, on this occaiion, I gave the
name of Cape Farewell.
The bay out of which we had juft failed I called Ad mi
ralty Bay, giving the name of Cape Stephens to the
north weft point, and of Cape Jackson to the fouth eaft,
after the two gentlemen who at this time were Secretaries to
the Board.
Admiralty Bay may be eafily known by the ifland that has
been juft mentioned, which lies two miles N. E. of Cape Ste-
phens, in latitude 40 : 37 S. longitude, 185 : 6 W. and is of
a confiderable height. Between this ifland and Cape Fare-
well, which are between fourteen and fifteen leagues diftant
from each other, in thediredion of W. by N. and E. by S.
the fhore forms a large deep bay, the bottom of which we could
fcarcely fee while vve were failing in a ftrait line from one cape
to the other ; it is, however, probable of lefs depth than it ap-
peared to be, for as we found the water lhallower here, than at
the diftance from any other part of the coaft, there is reafon to
fuppofe, that the land at the bottom which lies next the fea is
low, and therefore not eafily to be diftinguilhed from it. I
have for this reafcn called it Blind Bay, and am of opinion
that it is the fame which was called Murderer’s Bay by Tafman.
Such particulars of this country and its inhabitants, with
their manners and cuftoms, as could be learnt while we were
circumnavigating the coaft, /hall now be related. *
B 2
CHAP,
COOK’s V O Y AGE
a 6
CHAP. VIII.
A general Account of New Zealand : its frji difeovery, Ifc.
NEW ZEALAND was firft difeovered by Abel Jan-
fen Tafman, a Dutch Navigator, whofe name has been
feveral times mentioned in this narrative, on the 13 th of De-
cember, in the year 164^. He traveried the eaftern coaft from
latitude 34 to 43, and entered the ftreight which divides the
two iflands, and in the chart is called Cook’s Streight :
hut being attacked by the natives foon after he came to an
anchor, in the place to which he gave the name of Murderer’s
Bay, he never went on Ihore. He gave the country the name -
of staat en-Isl a n d, or the land of the States, in honour of
the Statcs-General, and it is now generally diftinguilhed in our
maps and charts by the name of New Zealand. As the
whole of this country, except that part of the coaft which was
fee n by' Tafman from on board his ihip, has from his time,
to the voyage of the Endeavour, remained altogether un-
. known, it has by many been fuppoled to be part of a fouthern
continent. It is however now known to confift of two large
iflands,' divided from each other by a ftreight or paflage, which
is about four or five leagues broad.
Thefe iilands are fituated between the- latitudes of 34ana 48
S» and between the longitude of 181 and 194 W. which is -
now determined with uncommon exa&nefs, from innumerable
jobfervadons of the fun and moon, and one of the tranfits of >
-Mercury, l y Mr. Green, a perlcn of known abilities, who,,
as has been obftrved before, was font out by the Royal Socie-
ty, .to oblerve the tranfrt of Venus in the South Seas.
The .ncr.herrnoft cf thefe iflands is called by the natives .
Eahern&inauwe, and die for therm eft Tovy, or Tavai Poe-,
.nanmoo ; yet, as I have obferyed before, we are not fuse
whether the name .of Tovy Poenammoo comprehends the
.whole fouthern illaad, or only part of it. The figure and
.extent of thefe iflands, with the lituation cf the bays and har-
bours they contain, and the fxn slier Iflands that lie about them,
will appear from the chart that I have drawn, every part of
which, however, I cannot vouch to be equally accurate. The
coaft of Eaheinomauwe, from Cape Pall ifer to Eaft Cape, is
laid down with great exa&nefs, both in its figure, and the
courfe and diftance from point to point ; for the opportunities
that offered, and the rnerhodsvhat I ufed, were fuch as could
fearcely admit of an error. Ftom Eaft Cape to St. Maria van
Diemen, the chart, tho’ perhaps not. equally exaft, is without
any error cf moment, except potlibly in feme tew places which
are here, and in other parts, of die chart, diftinguilhed by a
dotted
Dcsckiption of NEW ZEALAND. 17
dotted line, and which I had no opportunity to examine : from
Cape Maria van Diemen to latitude. 36 : 15, we were feldom
nearer the ihore than between five and eight leagues ; and
therefore the line that marks the fea coaft may poffibly be er-
roneous. From latitude 36 : 15, to nearly the length ofEn-
trv Ifland, our courfe was very near the Ihore, and in this part
of the chart, therefore, there can be no material error, except,
pethaps, at CapeTierawitte. Between Entry Ifland and Cape
Pallifer we were again farther from the fhore, - and this part of
the coaft therefore may not be laid down with minute exaft-
nefs : yet, upon the whole, I am of opinion that this ifland
will be found not much to differ from the figure that I have
given it, and that upon the* coaft ther»are few or no harbours
which are not noticed in the journal or delineated in the chart,
I cannot however fay as much of Tovy Poenammoo, the feafoa ;
of the year, and the circumftantes of the voyage, would not
permit me to fpend fb much time about this ifland as I had
employed upon the other ; and the florms that we met with
made it both difficult and dangerous to keep near the fhore, -
However, from Queen Charlotte’s Sound to Cape Campbe], •
and as far to the S. W. as latitude 43,.' the- chart will be found
pretty accurate.' Between latitude 43, and latitude 44 : 20'
the line may be doubted, for of fome-part of the coaft which it
reprefents, we had fcarcely a view. From latitude 44 ; 20, to
Cape Saunders, our diftance would not permit me to be parti- '
cular, and the weather- was befides extremely unfavourable.
From Cape Saunders to Cape South, and even to Cape Weft,
there is alfo reafon to fear that the chart will in many places
be fouod erroneous, as we were feldom able to keep the fhore, '«
and were fometimes blown to fuch a diftance that it could net
be feen, - From Cape Weft to Cape -Farewell, and even to
Charlotte’s Sound, it is not more to be trufted,
Tovy Poenammoo is for the moft part a mountainous, and
to all appearance a barren country ; and the people whom we -‘
faw in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, thofe that came off to us un-
der the fnov/y mountains, and the fires to the weft of Cape
Saunders, were all the inhabitants, and figns of inhabitants, t
that we difeovered upon the whole ifland, -
Eahernomauwe' has much better appearance f it is indeed not -r
only hilly but mountainous, yet even the hills and mountains
are covered with wood, aiid every valley has a rivulet of water :
the foil in thefc vallies, and in the plains, of which there are *
many that are not overgrown with wood, is in general lmht r
but fertile, and in the opinion of Mr. Banks and Dr. Salan-
der, as well as of every other gentleman on board, every kind
of European grain, plants, and fruit, would flourifh here in '
the utmoft luxuriance : from thevegetables that we found here,
there is reafon to conclude, that the winters are milder than
B 3 thoft*'
18 COOK’s VOYAGE,
thofe in England, and we found the fummer not hotter, tho’
it was more equally warm ; fo that if this country Ihould be
fettled by people from Europe, they would, with a little in-
duftry, be very foon fupplied not only with the neceffaries,
but luxuries of life in great abundance.
In this country there are no quadrupeds but dogs and rats,
at lead: we faw no other, and the rats are fo fcarce that many
of us never faw them. The dogs live with the people, who
breed them for no other purpofe than to eat : there might in-
deed be quadrupeds that we did not fee, but this is not pro-
bable, becaufe the chief pride of the natives, with refpeft to
their drefs, is in the Ikins and hair of fuch animals as they
have, and we never faw the fldfnS of any animal about them
but thofe of dogs and birds: there are indeed feals upon the
coaft, and we once faw a fea lion ; but we imagine they are
feldom caught, for though we faw fome of their teeth, which
were fafhioned into an Ornament like a bodkin, and worn by
the natives at their bread, and highly valued, we faw none of
their ikins: there are -whales alfo upon this coaft, and though
the people did not appear to have any art or inftrument by
which fiich an animal could be taken and killed, wc faw pat-
too-pattoos in the poffeflion of fome of them, which were
made of the bone of a whale, or of fome other animal w'hofe
bone had exaftly the fame appearance.
Of birds the fpecies are not many ; and of thefe none, ex-
cept perhaps the gannet, is the fame with thofe of Europe :
here are ducks indeed, and lhaggs of feveral kinds, fufficient-
ly refembling thofe of Europe, to be called the fame, by
thofe who have not examined them very nicely. Here are alfo
hawks, owls, and quails, which differ but little from thofe cf
Europe at firft fight ; and feveral fmall birds, whofe fong, as
has been remarked in the courfcof the narrative, is much
more melodious than any that we had ever heard.
The fea coaft is alfo vifited by many oceanic birds, parti-
cularly albatrofles, fheerwaters, pintados, and a few of the
birds, which Sir John Narborough has called Penguins, and
which indeed are what the French call Nuance, and feem to
be a middle fpecies between bird and fifh ; for their feathers,
efpecially thofe upon their wings, differ very little from feales ;
and their wings themfelves, which they ufe only in diving,
and net to accelerate their motioA even upon the furface of
the water, may, perhaps, with equal propriety, be called fins.
Neither are in lefts in greater plenty than birds : a few but-
terflies and beetles, flefh flies, very like thofe in Europe, and
fome mufquitos and fand-fiies, perhaps exaftly the fame with
thofe of North-America, make up the whole catalogue. Of
mufquitos and fand flies, however, which are juftlv accounted
the curfe of every country where they abound, we did not fee
many ; there were indeed a few in almoft every place where
we
Produce of the Coast of N. ZEALAND^ tg
we went cn (bore, but they gave us fo little trouble, that we
did not make ufe of the (hades which we had provided for the
fecurity of our faces.
For this fcarcity of animals upon the land, the fea, how-
ever, makes an abundant recompenfe ; every creek fvvarming
with fifli, which are not only vvholefome, but equally deli-
cious with thofe of Europe : the (hip feldom anchored in any
dation, or with a light gale pafled any place, that did not
afford us enough with hook and line to ferve the whole (hip’s-
company, efpeciaily to the fouthward : when we lay at an-
chor, the boats, with hook and- line, near the rocks, could
take n!h in any quantity ; and the feine feldom failed of pro-
ducing a llill more ample (apply ; fo that both times when we
anchored in Cook’s Streight, every mefs in the (hip, that was
not carelefs a id improvident, falted as much as laded many
weeks after they went to fea. Of this article, the variety was
eq ;• 1 to the plenty ; we had mackrel of many kinds, among
which one was exactly the fame as we have in England : thefe
came in immenfe (hoals, and were taken by tire natives in
their feines, who fold them to us at a very eafy rate. Befides
thefe, there were fi fh of many fpecies which we had never feen
before, but to all which the feamen very readily gave names;
fo that we talked here as familiarly of hakes, bream, cole-
fifli, and many ethers, as we do in England ; and though
they are by no means of the fame family, it mult be confeJTed
that they do honour to the. name. But the highed luxury which
the fea afforded us, even in this place, was the lobfter or fea
crav-filh, which are probably the fame that in the account of
Lord Anfon's voyage are faid to have been found at the idand of
Juan Fernandes, except that, although large, they are not quite
equal in free : they differfrom ours in England in feveral parti-
culars, they have a greater number of prickles on their backs,
and tiiey are red when (irft taken out of the water. Thefe we
alfo bought every where to the northward in great quantities
of the natives, who catch them by diving near the (hore, and
finding out where they lie with their feet. We had alfo a
ffh that Frezier, in his voyage to the Spanidi Main in South-
America, has deferibed by the names Elefant, Pcjtgallo, or
Poifoncoq, which, though courfe, we eat very heartily. Seve-
ral fpecies of the (kate, or (ling-ray, are alfo found here,
which were dill coarfer than the Elefant ; but as an atone-
ment, we had among many kind of dog-fifhone, fpotted with
white, whicli was in devour exactly limilar to our bed (kate,
but much.more delicious. We had alfo a flat fi(h refembling
both foies and flounders, befides eels and congers of various
kinds, with many others of which thofe who (hall hereafter vi-
(it this coad will not fail to find the advantage ; and dieli-fi£h
in great variety, particularly clams, cockles, and oyfter3.
Among
20
C 0 O IC ’a VOYAGE,
Among the vegetable produ&ions of this country, the trees
claim a principal place ; for here are forrefts of vaft extent, full
of the llraiteft, the cleaned, and the lagged timber trees that
we had ever fee'n ; their fize, their grain, and apparent dura-
bility, render them fit for any kind of building, and indeed
for every other purpofe except mails ; for which, as I have al-
ready obferved, they are too hard, and too heavy : there is
one in particular which, when we were upon the coaft, was
rendered confpicuous by a fcarlet flower, that feemed to be a
compendage of many fibres ; it is about as large as- an oak,
and the w'ood is exceedingly hard and heavy, and excellently
. adapted to the ufe of the rnill-wright. There is another which
grows in the fwamps, remaikably tall and llrait, thick enough
to make mails for velfels of any fize, and, if a judgment may
be formed by the direction of its grain, very tough : this, ■
which, as has been before remarked, our carpenter thought to
refemble the pitch-pine, may probably be lightened by tap-
ping, and it will then make the fined mails in the world : it
has a leaf not unlike a yew, and bears berries in Email bunches.
Great part of the country is covered with a luxuriant ver-
dure, and our natural hiftorians were gratified by the novelty,
if not the variety of the plants, • Sow-thiille, garden night-
lhade, one or two kinds of grafsl the fame as in England, and
two or three kinds of fern, like thofe of the Well Indies, with
a few of the plants that are to be found in alrnofi every part of '
the world, were all, out of about four hundred fpecies, that
have hitherto been defcribed by any botanills, or had been *
feen elfe where during the courfe of this voyage, except about
five or fix which had been gathered at Terra del Fuego.
Of eatable vegetables there are but few ; our people indeed,
. who had been long at fea, eat, with equal pleafure and ad-
vantage, of wild celery, and a kind of creffes, which grew in
great abundance upon all parts of the fea-lhore. We alfo,
once or twice, met with a plant like what the country people
in England call Lamb's quarters, or Fat-hen, which we boiled
inftead of greens ; and once we had the good fortune to find a
cabbage tree, which afforded us a delicious meal ; and, ex-
cept the fern-root; and one other -vegetable, totally unknown1
in Europe, and which, though eaten by the natives, was ex-
tremely difagreeable to us, we found no other vegetable pro-
duction that was fit for food, among thofe that appeared to be
the wild produce of the country ; and we could find but three
efculent plants among thofe which are raifed by cultivation ,
yams, fweet potatoes, and coccos. Of the yams and potatoes
there are plantations confiding of many acres, and I believe
that any fhip which Ihould happen to be here in the autumn,
...when they are dug up, might purchafe them in any quantity.
Gourds are alfo cidU’/ated by the natives of this place, the
fruit'-'
*
Pxants, &c. of NEW ZEALAND. 21
fruit of which furniihes them with velTels for various ufes. We
alfo found here the Chinefe paper mulberry tree, the fame as
that which the inhabitants of the South Sea iflands make their
clbth ; but it is fo fcarce, that though the New Zealanders
alfo make cloth of it, they have not enough for any other pur-
pofe than to wear as an • ornament , in the holes which they
make in their ears, as I have obferved before.
But among all the trees, Ihrubs, and plants of this country',
there is not one that produces fruit, except a berry which
has neither fweetnefs nor flavour, and which' none but the
boys took the pains to gather, lhould be honoured with that-
appellation. There is, however, a plant that ferves the inha-
bitants inftead of hemp and flax, which excels all that are
put to the fame purpofes in other countries. Of this plant
there are two forts ; the leaves of both refemble thofe of flags,
but the flowers are fmaller, and their clufters more numerous ;
in one kind they are yellow, and in the other a deep red. Of
the leaves of thefe plants, with very little preparation, they
make all their, common apparel ; and of thefe they make alfo
their firings, lines, and- cordage for every purpofe, which are
lb much flronger than any thing we can make with hemp,
that they will not bear a comparifon. From the fame plant,
by another preparation, they draw long (lender fibres, which
Ihine like filk, and are as white as fnow : of thefe, which are
alfo furprizingly flrong, the finer clothes are made ; and of
the leaves, without any other preparation than fplitting them
into proper breadths, aix^ tying, the flrips together, they make •
their fifhing nets ; fome of which, as I have before remarked,
are of an enormous fize. .
A plant, which with fuch advantage might be applied to fo-
many ufextri and important purpofes, would certainly be a
great acquiiition to England, where it would probably thrive
with very little trouble, .as it feems to be hardy, and to afletil
no particular foil ; .being fdund equally in hill and valley , in
the dried mould, and the'deepeft bogs : the bog, however, it
feems rather to prefer; as near fuch places we obferved it to
be larger than elfewhere. •
I have already obferved, that we found great plenty of iron ■
find in Mercury Bay, and therefore .that iron ore is undoub-
tedly to be found at no great diftance. As to other metals we
had fcarcely knowledge enough of the country for conjecture.
If the fettling of this country fhould ever be thought an ob-
ject worthy the attention of Great Britain, the bell place for
eflablifhing a colony would be either on the banks of the
Thames, or in the country bordering upon the Bay of Iflands.
In either place there would be the advantage of an excellent
harbour ; and, by means of the river, fettlements might be
extended, , and a communication eftablilhed with the inland
parts
-.*> *
22 COOK’S VOYAGE, "
parts of the country : veflels might be built of the ’fine timbe?
which abounds in thefe parts, at very little trouble and ex-
pence, fit for fuch a navigation as would anfwer the purpofe.
I cannot indeed exaftly aflign the depth of water which a vef-
fel intended to navigate this river, even as far up as I went
wi h the boat, fhould draw, becaufe this depends upon the
depth of water that is upon the bar or ’flats, which lie before
the narrow part of the river, for I had no opportunity to make
myfelf acquainted with them ; but I am of opinion, that a vef-
fel which fhould draw not more than twelve feet would perfect-
ly anfwer the purpofe.
When we firfl arrived upon the coaft of this country, we
imagined it to be much better peopled than we afterwards
found it, concluding that the inland parts were populous from
the fmoke that we faw at a confiderable diftance from the
/here ; and perhaps that may really be the cafe with refpeCt to
the country behind Poverty Bay, and the Bay of Plenty, where
the inhabitants appeared to be more numerous than in other
places. But we had reafon to believe, that, in general, no part of
country bnt the fea coaft is inhabited ; and even there we found
the people but thinly fcattered, all the weftern coaft from Cape
Maria Van Diemen to Mount Egmont being totally defolate ;
fo that upon the whole the number of inhabitants bears no pro-
portion to the extent of country.
CHAP. IX.
A defer ipt ion of the inhabitants, their habitations, apparel, Eff c.
THE ftature of the men in general is equal to the largeft of
thofein Europe : they are flout, well limbed, and flefhy ;
but not fat, like the lazy and luxurious inhabitants of the iflands
in the South Seas : they are alfo exceedingly vigorous and ac-
tive ; and have an adroitnefs, and manual dexterity in an un-
common degree, which are difeovered in whatever they do. I
have feen the flrokes of fifteen paddles on a fide, in one of their
canoes made with incredible quicknefs, and yet with fuch mi-
nute exaClnefs of time, that all the rowers feemed to be actuat-
ed by one common foul. Their colour in general is brown ;
but in few deeper than that of a Spaniard, who has been ex-
pofed to the fun ; in many not fo deep. The women have
not a feminine delicacy in their appearance, bnt their voice is
remarkably foft ; and by that, the drefs of both fexes being
the fame, they are principally diflinguifhed : they have, how-
ever, like women of other countries, more airy cheerfulnefs,
and a greater flow of animal fpirits, than the other fex. Their
hair, both of the head and beard, is black ; and their teeth
extremely regular, and as white as ivory : the features of both
fexes
* • '
The Inhabitants of NEW ZEALAND. 23
{exes are vo’od ; they feem to enjoy high health* and we faw
mans vno appeared to be of a great age. The difpontions
both of ■ rve men and women feemed to be mild and gentle ;
they treat each other with the tendered affeftion, but are im-
placable towards their enemies, to whom, as 1 have before ob-
ferved, they never give quarter. It may perhaps, at firft, feem
ftrange, that where there is fo little to be got by viftory, there
fhoukc fo often be war ; and that every little diftrift of a country
inhabited by people fo mild and placid, fhouid be at enmity
with all the reft. But poflibly more is to be gained by victo-
ry among thefe people than at firft appears, and they may be
prompted to mutual hoftilities by motives which no degree of
friendihip or affeftion is able to refill. It appears, by the ac-
count that has alreadyfbeen given of them, that their princi-
pal food is fiffi, which can only be procured upon the fea-coaft ;
and there, in fufficient quantities, only at certain times : the
tribes, therefore, who live inland, if any fuch there are, and
even thofe upon the coaft, mull be frequently in danger of pe-
riling by famine. Their country produces neither lheep, nor
goats, nor hogs, nor cattle ; tame fowls they have none, nor
any art by which thofe that are wild can be caught in fufHci-
ent plenty to ferve as provifion, If there are any whofe fitua-
tion cuts them off from a fupply of fifth, the only fuccedaneum
of all other animal fo*d, except dogs, they have nothing to
fiupport life, but the vegetables that have already been mention-
ed, of which the chief are fern root, yams, clams, aod potatoes :
when by any accident thefe fail , the diftrefs mull be dreadful ;
and even among the inhabitants of rhe coaft, many tribes mull
frequently be reduced to nearly the fame fttuation, either by
the failure of their plantations, or the deficiency of their dry
ftock, during the feafon when but few fiffi are to be caught.
Thefe confiderations will enable us to account, not only for
the perpetual danger in which the people who inhabit this
country appear to live, by the care which they take to fortify
every village, but for the horrid praftice of eating thofe who
are killed in battle ; for the hunger of him who is preffed by
famine to fight, will abforb every feeling, and every fenti-
ment which would reftrain him from allaying it with the body
of his adverfary. It may however be remarked, that if this
account of the origin of fo horrid a praftice is true, the mif-
chief does by no means end wdth the neceffity that produced
it : after the praftice has been once begun on one fide by hum
ger, it will naturally be adopted on the other by ."revenge.
Nor is this all, for though it m3y be pretended, by fome wno
• wiffi to appear fpeculative and philofophical, that whether the
dead body of an enemy be eaten or buried, is in itfelf a mat-
ter perfeftly indifferent ; as it is, whether the breafts and thighs
of a wsman fhouid be covered or naked ; and that prejudice
and
2+
C O O K ’s O V Y A GE,
and habit only make us lhudder at the violation of cuftonv in
one inftance, and blulh at it in the other : yet, leaving this as
a point|of doubtful difputation, to be difcufled at leifure, it
may fafely be affirmed, that thepraftice of eati ng human flelh,
whatever it may be in itfelf, is relatively, and in its confe-
quences, moft pernicious ; tending manifeftly to eradicate a
principle which is the chief fecurity of human life, and more
frequently reftrains the hand of murder than the fenfe of duty,
or even the . fear of „punifhment.
Among thofe who are accuftomed to eat the dead, death
muft have loft, much of its horror ; and where there is little
horror at the fight of death, there will not be much repug-
nance to kill. A fenfe of duty, and fear of punifhment, may
be more eafily furmounted than the feelings of nature, or thofe
v/hich have beer, engrafted upon nature by early prejudice and
uninterrupted cuftom. The horror of the murderer arifes lefs
from the guilt of the faff, than its natural cfFeft ; and he wlio
has familiarifed the effeft, will confequently loofe much of the
‘horror. By our laws, and our religion, murder and theft in-
cur the fame panifhment, both in this world and the next ;
yet, of the multitude who would deliberately fteal, there are
but very few who would deliberately kill, even to procure
much greater advantage. But there is the ftrongeft reafon to
believe, that thofe who have been fo accuftomed to prepare a
human body for a meal, that they can with as little feeling cut
up a dead man, as our cook-maids divide a dead rabit for a fri-
caffee, would feel as little horror in committing a murder, as
in picking a pocket, and confequently would take away life
with as little compunfiion as property ; fo that men, under
thofe circumftances, would be made murderers by the flight
temptations that now make them thieves. If any man doubts
whether this reafon is conclufive, let him alk himfelf, whether
in his own opinion he fheuld not be fafer with a man in whom
the horror of deftroying life is ftrong, whether in confequence
of natural inftinfi unlubdued, or of early prejudice, which
has nearly an equal influence ; than in the power of a man who
under any temptation to murder him would be reftrained only
by conflderations of intereft ; for to thefe all motives of mere
duty may be reduced, as they mull terminate ^either in hope
of good, or fear of evil.
The fituation and circumftances, however, of thefe poor
people, as well as their temper, are favourable to thofe who
t hall fettle as a colony among them. Their fituation lets them
in need of proteftion, and their temper renders it eafy to at-
tach them by kindnefs ; and whatever may be faid in favour of
a favage life, among people who live in luxurious idlenefs
upon the bounty of nature, civilization would certainly be a
blefting -to thofe whom Jicr pariimeny fcorcely furnifiies with
Manners of the New Zealanders. 25
the bread of life, and who are perpetually deftroying each
other by violence* as the only alternative of perilhing by hun-
ger.
But thefe people, from whatever caufe, being inured to war,
and by habit confidering every llranger as an enemy, were al-
ways tiilpofed to attack us when they were not intimidated by
our man i left fuperiority. At firil, they had no notion of any
fuperiority but numbers ; and when this was on their fide, they
confidered all our expreflions ofkindnefs as the artifices of fear
and cunning, to circumvent them,, andpreferve ourfelves; but
when they were once convinced of our power, aftqr having pro-
voked us to the uie of our fire-arms, tho’ loaded only with fimall
Ihot; a..d of our clemency by forbearing to make ufe of wea-
pons fp dreadful, except in our defence ; they became at once
friendly, and even affectionate, placing in us the moft un-
bounded confidence, and doing every thing which could incite
us to put equal confidence in them. It is alfo remarkable, that
when an intercourfe was once eitablilhed between us, they were
very rarely detected in any ad of dilhoneily. Before, indeed, and
while they confidered us as enemies, who came upon their
coaft only to make an advantage of them, they did not fcruple
by any means to make an advantage of us ; and would, there-
fore, when they had received the price of any thing they had
offered to fell, pack up both the purchafe and purchafe-money
with all poffible compofure, as fo much lawful plunder from
people who had no view but to plunder them.
I have obferved that our friends in the South Seas had not
even the idea of indecency, with refpefi to any object or any
a&ion ; but this was by no means the cafe with the inhabitants
of New Zealand, in whofe carriage and converfation there was
as much modeil referve and decorum with refpeft to actions,
which yet in their opinion w&re not criminal, as are to be found
among the politeft people in Europe. The women were not
impregnable ; but the terms and manner of compliance were as
decent as thofe in marriage among us, and according to their
notions, the agreement was as innocent. When any of out-
people made an overture to one of their young women, he was
given to underftand that the confent of her friends was necef-
ihry, and by the influence of a proper ;prefen t, it was general-
ly obtained ; but when thefe preliminaries were fettled, it
was alfo neceffary to treat the wife for a night, with the fame
delicacy that is here required by the wife for life, and the lo-
ver who prefumed to take any liberties by which this was vio-
lated, was fure to be difappointed.
One of our gentlemen having made hie addreffes to a fami-
ly of the better fort, received an anfwer, which, tranflated into
our language, according to the mode and fpirit of it, as well
.as the letter, would have been exadly in thels terms • “ An”
Vo L . II, £ * u/f
*6 COOK’s VOYAGE,
*l of thefe young ladies will think themfelves honoured byyour-
“ addreffes, but you muft firft make me a fuitable prefent,
“ and you muft then come and lleep with us on ftvore, for
day-light muft by no means be a witnefs of what paftes be..
“ tween you.”
I have already obferved, that in perfonal cleanlinefs they are
not quite equal to our friends at Otaheite ; beeaufe, not having
the advantage of fo warm a cjimate, they do not fo often go in-
to the watery but the moil; difguftful thing about them is the
oil, with which, like the iflanders, they anoint their hair : it
}s certainly tfie fat either of fiih or birds, melted down, and
though the better fort have it freih, their inferiors ufe that
which is rancid, and conlequently are almoft as difagreeable to
the fmell as a Hottentot; neither are their heads free from
Vermin, though we obferved that they were furniihed with
combs, both of bone and wood : thefe combs are fometimes
worn, ftuck upright in the hair as an ornament, a falhion which
at prefent prevails among the ladies of England. The men
generally wear their beards fhort, and their hair tied upon the
crown of the head, in a bunch, in which they flick the fea-
thers of various birds, in different manners, according to their
fancies ; fometimes one is placed on each fide of the temples,
pointing forwards,, which, we thought, made a very difagree-
able appearance. The women wear their hair fometimes
propped fhort, and fometimes flowing; over their fhoulders.
The bodies of both fexes are marked with the black ftains
called Amoco, by the fame method that is ufed at Otaheite,
and called Tattowir.g ; but the men are more marked, and the
womei lefs. The women in general ftain no part of their bo-
dies but the lips, though fometimes they are marked with fmall
black patches on other parts ; the men, on the contrary, feem
to add fomething every year to the ornaments of the laft, fo that
fome of them, who appeared to be of an advanced age, were
almoft covered from head to foot. Befides the Amoco, they
have marks imprefied by a method unknown to us, of a very ex-
traordinary kind : they are furrows of about a line deep, and a
line broad, fuch as appear upon the bark of a tree which has
been cut through, after a year’s growth : the edges of thefe
furrows are afterwards indented by the fame method, and be-
ing perfectly black, they make a raoft frightful appearance.
The faces of the old men are almoft covered with thefe marks ;
thofe who are very young, black only their Ups like the women ;
when they are fomewhat older, they have generally a black
patch upon one cheek, and over one eye, and fo proceed gra-
dually, that they may grow old and honourable together : but
though we could not but be difgufted with the horrid Deformi-
ty which thefe ftains and furrows produced in the “ human
h face divine,” we could not but admire the dexterity and art
Dress of the New Zealanders/ rf
with which they were impreffed. The marks upon the face i»
general are fpirals, which are drawn with great nicety, and
even elegance, thefe on one fide exactly correfponding with
thofe on the other : the marks on the body fomewhat referable
the foliage in old chafed ornaments, and the convolutions of
filagree work ; but in thefe they have fuch a luxuriance of
fancy, that of an hundred, which at firft fight appeared to be
exactly the fame, no two were, upon a clofe examination,
found to be alike. We obferved, that the quantity and form
of thefe marks were different in different parts of the coaft, and
that as the principal feat of them at Otaheite was the breach,
in New Zealand it was fometimes the only part which was
free, and in general was lefs dillinguifhed than any other-
The fkins of thefe people, however, are not only dyed, but
painted, for as I have before obferved, they fmear their bo-
dies with red oker, fome rubbing it on dry, and fome apply-
ing it in large patches mixed with oil, which is always wet, '
and which the leaf! touch wilf rub off, fo that the tranfgref-
fions of fuch of our people as were guilty of ravifhing a kifs
from thefe blooming beauties, were moll legibly ^written upon
their faces.
The drefs of a New Zealander is certainly, to a fir anger
at firll fight, the moll uncouth that can be imagined. It is
made of the leaves of the flag, which has been defcribed
among the vegetable productions of this country : thefe leaves
are fplit into three or four flips, and the flips, when they are
cry, interwoven with each other into a kind of fluff between
netting and cloth, with all the ends, which are eight or nine
inches long, hanging out on the upper fide, like the- ihag or
thrum b matts, which we fometimes fee lying in a pillage.
Of this cloth, if cloth it may be called, two pieces ferve for a
complete drefs ; one of them is tied over their fhoulders with a
firing, and reaches as low as their knees ; to the end of this
firing is fattened a bodkin of bone, which is eafily paffed
through any two parts of this upper garment, fo as to tack
them together ; the other piece is wrapped round the waifl,
and reaches nearly to the ground : the lower garment, how-
ever, is worn by the men only upon particular occafions ; but
they wear a belt, to which a firing is fattened, fcr a very fin-
. gular ufe. The inhabitants of the South Sea iflands flit up the
prepuce fo as to prevent it from covering the glans of the pe-
nis, but thefe people, on the contrary, bring the prepuce over
the glans, and to prevent it from being drawn back by the
contraction of the part, they tie the firing which hangs from
their girdle, round the' end of it. The glans indeed feemed
to be the only part of their body which they were folicitous to
conceal, for they frequently threw off all their drefs but the
belt and firing, with the molt carelefs indifference, but fhewed
C z manifeit
2$ COOK’s VOYAGE,
manifeft figns of confufion, when, to gratify our euriofity,
they were requefled to untie the firing, and never confented
but with the utmofl reludlance and fhame. When they have
only their upper garment on, and fit upon their hams, they
bear fome refemblance to a thatched houfe ; but this covering,
though it is ugly, is well adapted to the ufe of thofe who fre-
quently fieep in the open air, without any other fhelter from
the rain.
But befides this courfe fhag or thatch, they have two forts of
cloth, which have an even furface, and are very ingenicufly
made, in the fame manner with that manufactured by the inha-
bitants of South America, fome of which we procured at Rio
de Janeiro. One fort is as coarfe as our coarfefl canvas, and
fomewhat refembles it in the manner of laying the threads, but
it is ten times as lirong the other is formed by many threads
lying very clofe one way, and a few crolfing them the other, fo
ns to bind them together ; but thefe are about half an inch
afander, fomewhat like the round pieces of cane matting which
are fometimes placed under the difhes upon a table. This n
frequently flriped. and always had a pretty appearance, for it is
compofed of the fibres, of the fame plant, which are prepared
fo as to fhine like filk. It is made in a kind of frame, of th®
fize of the cloth, generally about five feet long, and four broad,
acrofs which the long threads, which lie clofe together, or
warp, are flrained, and the crofs threads or woof, are worked in
by hand, which mull be a vefy tedious operation.
To both thefe kinds of cloth they work borders of different
colours, in flitches, fomewhat like carpeting, or rather like
thofe rnfed in the famplars which girls work at fchool. Thefe
borders are of various patterns, and wrought with a neatnefs,
and even an elegance, which, confidering they have no needle,
is furprizing : but the great pride of their drefs confifls in the
fur of their dogs, which they ufe with fuch ©economy that they
cut it into flripes, and few them upon their cloth at a diilance
from each other, which is a flrong proof that dogs are not
plenty among them ; thefe flripes are alfo of different colours,
and difpofed fo as to produce a pleafing effefl. We favv fome
dreffes that were adorned with feathers inflead of fur, but thefe
were not common ; and we faw one that was entirely covered
with the red feathers of the parrot.
The drefs of the man who was killed, when we firfl went
afhore in Poverty Bay, has been deferibed already ; but we faw
the fame drefs only once more during our flay upon the coafl,
and that was in Queen Charlotte’s Sound.
The women, contrary to the cuflom of the fex in general,
feemed to affedl drefs rather lefs than the men : their hair,
which, as I have obferved before, is generally cropt faort, is
never tied upon' the top of the head when it is fuffered to be
long.
Ornaments of the New Zealanders. 29
long, nor is it ever adorned with feathers. Their garments
were made of the fame materials, and in the fame form, as
thofe of the other fex, but the lower one was always bound
fail round them, except when they went into the water to
catch lobllers, and then they took great care not to be feen by
the men. Some of us happening one day to land upon a fmall
iildfod in Tolaga Bay, we furprized feveral of them at this em-
ployment; and the chaite Diana, with her nymphs, could not
have difcovered more confufion and diilrefs at the fight of Ac-
tion, than thefe women expreffed upon our approach. Some
of them hid themfelves among the rocks, and the refl.crouched
down in the fea till they had made themfelves a girdle and
apron of fuch weeds as they could find, ana when they came
out, even with this veil, we could perceive that them modefly
fuffered much pain by our prefence. The girdle and apron
which they wear in common, have been mentioned before.
Both fexes bore their ears, and by firetching them the holes
become large enough to admit a finger at leafl. In thefe holes
they wear ornaments of various lands, cloth, feathers, bones of
large birds, and even fometimes a flick of wood ; and to thefe
receptacles of finery they generally applied the nails which we
gave them, and every thing which it was poffible they could
contain. The women fometimes thruft through them the
down of the albatrofs, which is as white as fnow, and which,
fpreading before and behind the hole in a bunch almofl as big
as the fill, makes a very fingular, and however flrange it may
be thought, not a difagreable appearance. Befides the orna-
ments that are thruft through the holes of the ears, many others
are fufpended to them by firings ; fuch as chiffels or bodkins
made of green talc, upon which they fet a high value, the nails
and teeth of their deceafed relations, the teeth of dogs, and eve-
ry thing elfe that they can get, which they think either curious
or valuable. The women alfo wear bracelets and anclets, made
of the bones of birds, fhells, or any other fubflances which they^-
can perforate, and firing upon a thread. The men had fome-
times hanging to a firing, which went round the neck, a piece
of green talc, or whalebone, fomewhat in the fhape of a tongue,
with the rude figure of a man carved upon it ; and upon this
ornament they fet a high value. In one inflance, we faw the
griflle that divides the noflrils, and called by anatomifls, the
feptum uaft, perforated, and a feather thrufl through the hole,
which projected on each fide over the cheek's : it is probable
that this frightful Angularity was intended as an ornament,
but of the many people we faw, we never obferved it in any
other, nor even a perforation that might occaftonally ferve for
fuch a purpofe.
Their houfes are the moll inartificially made of any thing among
them, being fcareely e^ual, except in fize, to an Englilh dog-
C 3 • kennel
3° COOK’s VOYAGE,
kennel : they are feldom more than eighteen or twenty feet
long, eight or ten broad, and five or fix high, from the pole
that runs from one end to the other, and forms the ridge, to
the ground : the framing is of wood, generally fiender ilicks,
and both walls and roof confift of dry grafs and hay, which,
it mull be confeffed, is very tightly put together ; and fame
are alfo lined with the bark of trees, fo that in cold weamer
they mud afford a very comforftble retreat. The roof is Hop-
ing, like thofe of our barns, and the door is at one end, juft
high enough to admit a man, creeping upon his hands and
knees : near the door is a fquare hole, which ferves for the
double office of window and chimney, for the fire-place is at
that end, nearly in the middle between the two fides : in fome
confpicuous part, and generally near the door, a plank is fixed,
covered with carving after their manner : this they value as we,
do a pidture, and in their eftimation it is not an inferior orna-
ment : the fide walls aud roof project about two feet beyond
the walls at each end, fo as to form a kind of porch, in which
there are benches for the accommodation of the family. That
part of the floor which is allotted for the fire-place, is enclofed
in a hollow fquare, by partitions either of wood or ftone, and
in the middle of it the fire is kindled. The floor along the
infide of the walls, is thickly covered with ftraw, and upon
this the family fleep.
Their furniture and implements confift of but few articles,
and one cheft commonly contains them all, except their pro-
vifion balkets, the gourds that hold their frelh water, and the
hammers that are ufed to beat their fern-root, which generally
ftand without the door : fome rude tools, their cloaths, arms,
and a few feathers to flick in their hair, make the reft of their
treafure.
Some of the better fort, whofe families are large, have three
er four houfes enclofed within a court-yard, the walls of which
are conftrudted of poles and hay, and are about ten or twelve
feet high.
When we were on fhore in the diftridl called Tolaga, we
faw the ruins, or rather the frame of a houfe, for it had never
been finilhed, much fuperior in flze to any that we faw' elfe-
where : it was thirty feet in length, about fifteen in breadth,
and twelve high : the fides of it were adorned with many carv-
ed planks, of a workmanlhip much fuperior to any other that
we had met with in the country ; but for what purpofe it was
built, or why it was deferted, we could never learn.
But thefe people, though in their houfes they are fo well de-
fended from the inclemency of the weather, feem to be quite
indifferent whether they have any fhelter at all during their ex-
curfions in fearch of fern roots and fifii, fometimes letting up
a finall lhade to windward, and fometimes altogether negledting
even
Food of the New Zealanders. 31
even that precaution, deeping with their women and children
under bufhes, with their weapons ranged round them, in the
manner that has already been defcribed. The party confiding
of forty or fifty, whom we faw at Mercury Bay, in a diftrici
which the natives call Opoorage, never ereCted the lead fhelter
while we daid there, though it fometimes rained incelfantly for
four and twenty hours together.
The articles of their food have been enumerated already ;
the principal, which to them is what bread is to the inhabi-
tants of Europe, is the roots of the fern which grows upon
the hills, and is nearly the fame with what grows upon our
high commons in England, and’ is called indifferently fern,
bracken, or brakes. The birds which fometimes ferve them
for a fead, are chiefly penguins and albatrodes, with a few
other fpecies that have been occafionally mentioned in this
narrative.
Having no veffel in which water can be boiled, their cooke-
ry condds wholly of baking and roading. They bake nearly
in the fame manner as the inhabitants of the South Seas, and
to the account that has been already given of their roading,
nothing need be added, but that the long fewer or fpit, to
which the flefh is fadened, is placed doping towards the dre,
by fetting one done againd the bottom of it, and fupporting
it near the middle with another, by the moving of which to a
greater or lefs didance from the end, the degree of obliquity
is increafed, or diminifhed, at pjeafure.
To the northward, as I have obferved, there are plantations
of yams, fweet potatoes, and coccos, but we faw no Inch to the
fouthward ; the inhabitants therefore of that part of the
country mud fubfid wholly upon fern root and filh, except the
fcanty and accidental refource which they may find in fea
fowl and dpgs ; and that fern and filh are not to be procured
at all feafons of the year, even at the fea fide, and upon the
neighbouring hills, is manifed from the dores of both that we
faw laid up dry, and the reluctance which feme of them ex-
p reded at felling any part of them to us when we offered to
purchafe them, at lead the fife, for fea dores : and this parti-*
cular feems to confirm my opinion that this country fcarcely
fudains the prefent number of its inhabitants, who are urged to
perpetual hodilities by hunger, which naturally prompted them
to eat the dead bodies of thofe who were dain in the conted.
Water is their univerfal and only liquor, as far as we could
difcover, and if they have really no means of intoxication,
they are, in this particular, happy beyond any other people
that we have yet feen or heard of.
As there is perhaps no fource of difeafe either critical or
chronic, but intemperance and inactivity, it cannot be though^
grange that thei'e people enjoy perfect ajid uninterrupted
health j
32 COOK'S VOYAGE
health : in all our vifits to their towns, where young and old,
men and women, crouded about us, prompted by the fame
curiolity that carried us to look at them, we never faw a fingle
perfon who appeared to ha v e any bodily complaint, nor among
the numbers that we have feen naked, did we once perceive
the flighted eruption upon the Iki.n, or any marks that an
eruption had left behind : at fxrft, indeed, obferving that fome
of them when they came off to us were marked in patches with
a white flowery appearance upon different parts of their bo-
dies, we thought that they were leprous; or highly fcorbutic ;
but upon examination we found that thefe marks were owing
to their having been wetted by the fprey of the fea in their
paflage, which, when it was dried away, left the falts behind
it in a fine white powder.
Another proof of health, which we have mentioned upon a
former occaiion, is the facility with which the wounds healed
that had left fears behind them, and that we faw in a recent
ftate ; when we faw the man who had been fhot with a mufket
ball thro’ the flefhy part of his arm, his wound feemed to be fo
well digefted, and in fo fair a way of being perfectly healed,
that if 1 had not known no application had been made to it,
I fliould certainly have enquired, with a very interefted curio-
flty , after the vulnerary herbs, and furgical art of the country.
A farther proof that human nature is here untainted with
difeafe, is the great number of old men that we faw, many of
whom, by the lofs of their hair and teeth, appeared to be very
ancient, yet none of them were decrepit, and though not equal
to the young in mufcular ftrength, were not a whit behind
them in cheerfulnefs and vivacity.
CHAP. X.
Of the canoes and navigation of the inhabitants of New Zealand ;
their tillage , weapons, & c.
TH E ingenuity of thefe people appears in nothing more
than in their canoes ; they are long and narrow, and in
fhspe very much refemble a New England whale boat : the lar-
ger fort feem to be built chiefly for war, and will carry from
forty to eighty, or an hundred armed men. We meafured
one which lay afhore atTolaga : fhe was fixty-eight feet and
an half long, five feet broad, and three feet and an half deep ;
the bottom was lharp, with itrait fldes like a„wedge, and con-
fided of three lengths, hollowed out to about two inches, or an
Navigation of New Zealand. 33'
inch and an half thick, and well fattened together with ttrong
plaiting : each fide confifted of one entire plank, fixty-three
feet long, ten or twelve inches broad, and about an inch and
a quarter thick, and thefe were fitted and lafhed to the bot-
tom part with great dexterity and ftrength. A confiderable
number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to
which they were fecurely lafhed on each fide, as a ftrenthening
to the boat. The ornament at the head projedted five or fix
feet beyond the body, and was about four feet and an half
high ; the ornament at the ftern w'as fixed upon that end, as
the ftern-poft of a fhip is upon her keel, and was about four-
teen feet high, two feet broad, and an inch and and half thick.
They both confifted of boards of carved work: of which the
dettgn was much better than the execution. All their canoes,
except a few at Opoorage or Mercury Bay, which were of one
piece, and hollowed by fire, are built after this plan, and few
are lefs than twenty feet long : fome of the frnaller fort have
outriggers, and fometimes two of them are joined together,
but this is not common. The carving upon the ftern and head
ornaments of the inferior boats, which feem to be intended
wholly for fifhing, confifts 'of the figure of a man, with a face
as ugly as can be conceived, and a mOnftrous tongue tliruft out
of the mouth, with the white fliells of fea ears ftuck in for the
eyes. But the canoes of the fuperior kind, which feein to be
their men of war, are magnificently adorned with open work,
and covered with loofe fringes of black feathers, which had a
mOft elegant appearance -. the gunwale boards were alfo fre-
quently carved in a grotefque tafte, and adorned with tufts oF
white feathers, placed upon a black ground. Of vifible ob-
jects that are wholly new, no verbal defcription can convey a
juft idea, but in proportion as they refemble fome that are al-
ready known, to which the mirrd of the reader muft be re-
ferred: the carving of thefe people are of a Angular kind,
and not in the likenefs of any thing that is known on our
fide of the ocean, ,c either in the heaven above, or in the
“ earth beneath, or in the waters that are under the earth.”
The paddles are fmall, light, and neatly made ; the blade
of it is of an oval fnape, or rather of a fhape refembling a large
leaf^ pointed at the bottom, broadeft in the middle, and gra-
dually loofing itfelf in the fhaft, the whole length being about
fix feet, of which the fhaft or loom, including the handle, is
four, and the blade two. By the ffelp of thefe oars they pufh
on their boats with amazing velocity.
In failing they are not expert, having no art of going other-
wife than before the wind : the fail is of netting or matt, which
is fet up between two poles that are fixed upright upon each
gunwale, and ferve both for mills and yards : two ropes an-
l'wered the purpofe of flieets, and were confequently fattened
above
34 C O O K’s V O Y A G E,
above, to the top of each pole. But clumfy and inconvenient
as this apparatus is, they make good way before the wind,
and are fleered by two men who fit in the ftern, with each a
paddle in his hand for that purpofe.
Having faid thus much of their workmanfhip, I fhall now
give fome account of their tools; they have adzes, axes, and
chi fiels, which ferve them alfo as augers for the boring of
holes : as they have no metal, their adzes and axes are made
of a hard black ftone, or of a green talc, which is not only hard
but tough ; and their chiffels of human bone, or fmall frag-
ments of jafpar, which they chip off from a block in fharp an-
gular pieces, like a gun-flint. Their axes they value above all
that they poffefs, and never wouldpart with one of them for any
thing that we could give : I once offered one of the beft axes I
had in the fliip, befides a number of other things for one of
them, but the owner would not fell it ; from which I conclude
that good ones are fcarce among them. Their /mail tools of
jafpar, which are ufed in finifhing their niceft work, they ufe
till they are blunt, and then, as they have no means of fhar-
pening them, throw them away. We had given the people at
Tolaga a piece of glafs, and in a fhort time they found means
to drill a hole through it, in order to hang it round the neck
as as ornament by a thread ; and we imagine the tool muft have
been a piece of this jafpar. How they bring their large tools
firft to an edge, and fharpen the weapon which they call Patoo-
Patoo, we could not certainly learn ; but probably it is by
bruifing the fame fubftance to powder,, and, with this, grind-
ing two pieces againft each other.
Their nets, particularly their feine, which is of an enor-
mous fize, have been mentioned already : one of thefe feems
to be the joint work of a whole town, and I fuppofe it to be
the joint property alfo : the other net, which is circular, and
extended by two or three hoops, has been particularly de-
fcribed, as well as the manner of baiting and ufing it. Their
hooks are of bone or fhell, and in general are ill made. To
receive the fifh when it is caught, and to hold their other pro-
vifions, they have bafkets of various kinds and dimenfions,
very neatly made of wicker work.
They excel in tillage, as might naturally be expefted where
the perfon that fows is to eat the produce, and where there is
fo little befides that can be eaten : when we firft came to Te-
gadoo, a diftrift between Poverty Bay and Eaft Cape, their
crops were juft covered, and had not yet begun to fprout ; the
mould was as fmooth as in a garden, and every root had its
fmall hillock, ranged in a regular quincunx by lines, which,
with the pegs, were ftill remaining in the field. ' We had not
an opportunity to fee any of thefe hufbandmen work, but we
faw what ferves them at once for fpade and plough : this in-
ftrument
Husbandry and Weapons of N. Zealand, 35
ftrument is nothing more than a long narrow flake lharpened
to an edge at one end, with a Ihort piece faftened tranfverfely
'at a little diftance above it, for the convenience of prefling it
down with the foot. With this they turn up pieces of ground
iix or feven acres in extent, though it is not more than three
inches broad ; but as the foil is light and fandy it makes little
refiflance.
Tillage, weaving, and theother arts of peace, leem to ba beft
known and moft pradlifed in the northern part of this country ;
for there is little appearance of any of them in the South : but
the arts of war flourifh equally through the whole coaft.
Of weapons they have no great variety, but fuch as they
have are well fitted for deftrudtion ; they hare fpears, darts,
battle-axes, and the Patoo-Patoo. The fpear is fourteen or
fifteen feet long, pointed at both ends, and fometimes headed
with bone : thefe are grafped by the middle, fo that the part
behind balancing that before, makes a pulh more difficult to
be parried, than that of a weapon which is held by the end..
The dart and other weapons have been fufficientlydefcribed al-
ready ; and it has alfo been remarked, that thefe people have
neither fling nor bow. They throw the dart by hand, and fo
they do ftones ; but darts and ftones are feldom ufed, except in
defending their forts. Their battles, whether in boats or on
Ihore, are generally hand to hand, and the daughter muft con-
lequently be great, as a fecond blow with any of their wea*
pons is unnecefiary, if the firft takes place : their truft, how-
ever, feems to be^principally placed in the Patoo-Patoo, which
is faftened to their wrifts by a flrong Trap, left it fhould be
wrenched from them, and which the principal people generally
wear flicking in their girdles, confidering it as a military or-
nament, and part of their drefs, like the poinard of the Afia •
tic, and the fword of the European. They have no defenflve
armour ; but, befides their weapons, the Chiefs carried a ftaff
of diftin&ion, in the fame manner as our officers do the fpon-
toon : this was generally the rib of a whale, as white as fnow,
with many ornaments of carved work, dog’s hair, and feathers ;
but fometimes it was a flick, about fix feet long, adorned in
the fame manner, and inlaid with a fhell like mother-of-pearl.
Thofe who bore this mark of diftimftion were generally old,
at leaft pall the middle age, and were alfo more marked with
the Amoco than the reft.
One or more perfons, thus diltinguifhed, always appeared
in each canoe; when they came to attack us, according to the
li-ze of it. When they came within about a cable’s length of
the fhip, they ufed to flop, and the Chiefs Tiling from their
feat, put on a drefs which feemed appropriated to the occafion,
generally of dog’s fkin, and holding out their decorated ftaff,
or a vysapon, directed the reft of the people what they fhould
3 6 COOK’j VOYAGE,
do. When they were at too great a diftance to reach us with a
lance or a ftone, they prefumed that we had no weapons with
which we could reach them , here then the defiance was given,
and the words were almofl univerfally the fame, Haromai, ha-
remai, harre uta a P atoo-Patoo oge : “ Come to us, come on
“ fhore, and we will kill you all with our Patoc-Patoos.”
While they were uttering thefe menaces they came gradually
nearer and nearer, till they were clofe along fide ; talking at
intervals in a peaceable drain, and anfwering any quefl^ons
that we afked them ; and at intervals renewing their defiance
and threats, till being encouraged by our apparent timidity,
they began their war-fong and dance, as a preljjde to an attack,
which always followed, and was fometimes continued till it
became abfolutely neceffary to reprefs them by firing fome
fmall-fhot ; and fometimes ended after throwing a few ftoncs
on board, as if content with having offered us an infult, which
we did not dare to revenge.
The war-dance confifls of a great variety of violent motions,
and hideous contortions of the limbs, during which the coun-
tenance alfo performs its part : the tongue is frequently thrud
out to an incredible length, ana the eye-lids- fo forcibly drawn
up that the white appears both above and below, as well as
on each fide of the iris, fo as to form a circle round it ; nor is
any thing negledled that can render the human fhape frightful
and deformed : at the fame time they brandifh their fpears,
fhake their darts, and cleave the air with their Patco-Patoos,
This horrid dance is always accompanied by a fong ; it is wild
indeed, but not dil'agreeable, and every if rain ends in a loud
and deep figh, which they utter in concert. In the motions
of the dance, however horrid, there is a flrength, firmnefs,
and agility, which we could not but behold with admiration ;
and in their fong they keep time with fuch exaftnefs, that I
have often heard above an hundred paddles ft ruck again ft the
fides, of their boats at once, fo as to produce but a fingle found,
at the divifions of their mufic,
A fong not altogether unlike this, they fometimes fmg
without the dance, and as a peaceable amufement ; they have
alfo other fongs which are fung by the women, whcfc voices
are remarkably mellow and foft, and have a pleafir.g and ten-
der effedl ; the time is flow, and the cadence mournful ; but it
is conducted with more tafte than could be expected among the
poor ignorant favages of this half defolate country ; efpecially
as it appeared to us, who were none of us much acquainted
with mufic as a fcience, to be fung in parts ; it was at ler.fi
fung by many voices at the fame time.
They have fonorous increments, but they can fcarcely be
called inftruments of mufic ; one is the fhell, called the Tri-
ton’s trumpet, with which they make a nolfe not unlike that
which
Horrid Custom of the New Zealanders. 37
which our boys fometimes make with a cow’s horn : the ether
is a fmall wooden pipe, refembling a child’s nine-pin, only
much fmaller, and in this there is no more nuific than in a
pea-whiftle. They feem fenfible indeed that thefe infiruments
arc not mulical ; for we never heard an attempt to fing to them,
.or to produce with them any meafured tones that bore the leail
refemblance to a tune.
To what has been already faid of the practice of eating hu-
man Hefh, I lhall only add, that in almoft every cove where
we landed, we found flelh bones of men near the places where
iires had been made ; and that among the heads that were
brought. on board by the old man, fame fecmed to have falfe
eves, and ornaments in their e;irs as if alive. That which Mr.
Banks bought was fold with great reluctance by tire po fie ft or ;
fhe-head was manifeftly that of a young perfon about fot:rteen
or fifteen years of age, and by the contufions on one tide ap-
peared to have received many violent blows, and indeed a part
of the bone near the eye was wanting. Thefe appearances
confirmed us in the opinion that the natives of this country
- give no quarter, nor take any priforters to be killed and eaten
at a future time, as is faid to have been £ practice among tire
.Indians of Florida : for if prisoners had been taken, this poor
young creature, who cannot be fuppofed capable of making
much refiitance, would probably have been one, and we knew
.that he was killed with the reft, for the fray had happened but
a few days before.
The towns or Hippahs of thefe people, which are all forti-
fied, have been Sufficiently deferibed already, and from the
Bay of Plenty to Queen Charlotte’s Sound they feem to be the
conftant refidence of the people : hut about Poverty Bay,
Hawk’s Bay, Tegadoo, and Tolaga, we faw no Hippahs, but
fingle houfes Scattered at a distance from each other ; yet upon
the files of the hills there were Stages of great length, fnr-
. rallied with Hones and darts, probably as retreats for the
people kit the laft extremity, as ^pon*thefe ilages a fight map
•be carried on with much advantage againft thofe below, who
.may be reached, with great efFedt, by darts and ftor.es, which
it is impoftible for' them to throw up with equal force'. .And
indeed the forts themfelves feem to be no farther Serviceable
than by enabling the polleficrs to repress a Sudden attack ; for
as there is no fupply of water within the lines, it would he im-
poffiblc to fuftain a fiege. A considerable ftock of fern-root
and dry filh is indeed laid up in them ; but they may be re-
served againft feufens of fc..r ity, and tiiat fuch fe Tons there
.are, our observations left us no ro>...r» to uoubt ; bellies, while
.an enemy Should be prowling m t : neighbourhood, it would
be eaJy to /natch a fupply or water From thfe fide of tne hill,
Xbccgli it would be impofiiole to dig up fern root, or catch fiflu
VOL. II. id la
33 COOK’s VOYAGE,
In this diftrid, however, the people Teemed to live in a
ftate of confcious fecurity, and to avail themfelves of their
advantage : their plantations were more numerous, their ca-
noes were more decorated, and they had not only finer carv-
ing, but finer clothes. This part of the coaft alfo was much
the moil populous, and poflibly their apparent peace and plenty
might arife from their being united under one Chief, or King ;
for the inhabitants of all this part of the country told us, that
they were the fubjeds of Teratu: when they pointed to the
refidence of this Prince, it was in a direction which we though t
inland ; but which, when we knew .the country better, we
found to be the Bay of Plenty.
It is much to be regrette'd that we were obliged to leave this
country without knowing any thing of Teratu but his name.
As an Indian Monarch his territory is certainly extenfive : he
was acknowledged from Cape Kidnappers to the northward,
and wefhyard as far as the Bay , of Plenty, a length of coaft
upwards of eighty leagues ; and we do not yet know how much
farther weltward his dominions may extend.. Poflibly the for-
tified towns we faw in the Bay of Plenty may be his Barrier
efpecially as at Mercury Bay he was not acknowledged, nor
indeed any other fingle Chief : for wherever we landed, or
ipoke with the people upon that coaft, they told us that we
were but at a fmall diftance from their enemies.
In the dominions of Teratu we faw feveral fubordin.ite
Chiefs, to whom great refped was paid, and by whom juftice
was probably adminiftered ; for upon our complaint to one of
them, of a theft that had been committed on board the lhip
by a man that came with him, he gave him feveral blows and
.kicks, which the other received as the chafiifement of authori-
ty, againft wfyich no reftftance was to be made, and which he
had no right to refent. Whether this Authority was poflefled
by appointment or inheritance we could not learn; but we
Ipbferved that the Chiefs, as well here as in other parts, were
elderly men. In other parts, *howev er, we learnt that they pof-
fefled their authority bp inheritance.
The little focieties which we found in the fouthern parts
Teemed to have feveral things in common, particularly their
fine clothes and filhing nets. Their fine clothes, which pof-
fibly might be the fpoils of war, were kept in a fmall hut,
which was erected for that purpole in the middle of the town :
the nets v/e faw making in almolt every houfe, and the feveral
parts being afterwards colleded were joined together. Lefs ac-
count feems to be made of the women here than in the South
Sea iflands ; fuch at leaft was the opinion of Tupia, who com-
plained of it as an indignity to the fex. We obferved that the
two fexc* est together ; but how they divide their labour we
do not ecrtainlv know. I am inclined to believe that the men
* 4 ' i-l 1J
Religion of the New Zealander3. 39
tiii the ground, make nets, catch birds, and go out in their
fcbais to fi'ftry and that the women dig up fern roots, colleft
lobfters and other fheli filh near the beach, drefs the victuals,
arid weave cloth : fuch at lead were their employments when
we had an opportunity of obferving them, which was but fel-
dom ; for in general our appearance made a holiday wherever
we went, men, women, and children, flocking round us, either '
to gratify their curiofity, or to purchafe fome of the valuable
merchandize which we carried about with us, confiding prin-
cipally of nails, paper, and broken glafs.
Of the religion of thefe people it cannot be fuppofed that r
we could learn much ; they acknowledge rhe influence of fu-
perior beings, one of whom is fupreme, and the reft fubor-'
dinate ; and gave nearly the fame account of the origin of the
world, and the produrilion of mank'nd, as our friends in Ota-.
hfeite : T upia, • however, feemed to have a much more deep
arid extenfive knowledge of thefe-fubjects than any of the people
here ; and whenever he was difpofed to inftruft them, which
he fometimes did in a long difeourfe, he was fure of a nume .
rous audience, who liftened in profound filence, with fuch re- *
verence and attention, that we could not but wifh them a bet- ’
tfer teacher.
What homage' they pay to the deities they acknowledge we
could not learn ; but we faiv noplace of public worfhip, like'
the Morais of the South Sea iilands : yet we faw, near a plan-
tation of fweet potatoes, a fniail area, of a fquare figure, fur-
rounded with ftones, in the middle of which one of the fhar-
pened flakes, which they nle as a lpade, was let up, and upon •
it was hung a baikec of fern roots : upon enquiry, the natives -
told us, chat it was an offering to the gods, by which the -
owner hoped to rentier them propitious, and obtain a plenti-
ful crop.
As srj their manner of difpofing of their dead, we could form
no certain opinion of it, for the uccou:: s that we received by
no means agreed. In the northern parts; -hey tol 1 us t.L.
they buried them in the ground ; ana n tb: V .ut'mm, that:
they threw them into the lea: it is however certain, mat we
faw no grave in the country, and that they affe&ed to conceal
every thing relating to their dead with a kind of myftenous fc-
crecy. Eat whatever maybe the fepulchre, the living are
themfelves the monuments ; for we faw fcarceiy a hngie perfon
of either lex vvhofe body was not marked by the fears of wounds
which they had inflifted upon themfelves as a teftimeny of their
regret for the lofs of a relation or friend' : fome of thefe wounds
we faw in a ftate fo recent that the blood was fcarceiy {launch-
ed,- which Ihows that death had been among them while we
were upon the coaft ; and makes it more extraordinary that no
funeral ceremony should 'have fallen under our notice : fome of
D 3 the
*
40 C 0 O K ’j VOYAGE,
the fears were very large and deep, and in many inftances hat!
greatly disfigured the face. One monument indeed we obferv-
ed of another kind, the crofs that was fet up near Queen Char-
lotte’s Sound.
Having now given the bcftaccount in my powerof the cuftoms-
and opinions of he inhabitants of New Zealand, with their
boats, nets, furniture, and drel's, I fhall only remark, that the
fimilitude between thefe particulars here and in the South Sea
ifiands is a very ilrong proof that the inhabitants have the fame
origin ; and that the common anceftors of both, were natives
of the fame country. They have both a tradition that their
anceftcrs, at a very remote period of time, came from another
country ; and, according to the tradition of both, that the
name of that country was Heawije ; but the fimilitude of the
language feems to put the matter altogether out of doubt. I
nave already obferved, that Tupia, when he accofted the people
here in' the language of his own country, wasjaerfeftly under-
ftood ; and I lhall give a fpecimen of the fimilitude by a lift of
words in both languages, according to the dialect of the nor-
thern and fouthern ifiands of which New Zealand confifts, by
which it will appear that the language of Otaheite does-
iiotciffer mere from that of New Zealand, than the language •
or the two ifiands from each other.
English.
New
. "Northern .
Zealand.
Southern,
Otaheite. .
A Chief,
Eareete,
Eareete,
Earee.
A man.
Taata,
Taata,
Taata.
A woman.
Whahine,
yvhahine,
Ivahine..
9 he heady
Eupc,
Heaowpoho,
Eupo.
'if he hair,
Macauvve,
Heoo-oo,
Roourou.
The ear ,
Terringa,
Hetaheyei,
Terrea.
'■The Forehead,
Erai,
Heai,
Erai.
The eye.',
Mata,
Piero ata.
Mata.
9 he cheeks.
Papai inga.
Hepapaeh,
P^parea.
The Kofe,
Ahewh,
Heeih,
Ahew.
The mouth..
Hangoutou,
Hegaowai,
Outou.
The chin.
Ecouwai,
Hakaoewai,
The artfl.
Haringaringu,
h
Rema.
Ti e finger,
Maticara,
Hermaigawh,
Manecw.
The kelly.
Ateraboo,
Oboo.
The nevvel.
Apeto,
Pleeapeto,
Peto.
C.ome hit hi r.
Haroinai,
Hercmai,
Harromai.
Fi/h,
Heica,
Heica,
Eyea.
A lobfier.
Xcoura,
Kooura, •
Tooura.
Cocos,
Taro,
Taro,
Taro.
Sweet potatoes,
Cmnala,
Cumala,
Cumala.
1 a ms.
Tuphwhe,
T uphwhe,
t
Tuphwhe.
. Mar.r.u
Language gf the
New Zealanders.
Birds,
Mannu,
Mannu,
Mannu.
No,
Kaoura,
Kaoura,
Oure.
One,
Tahai,
Tahei.
Thus,
Rua,
Rua.
Three,
Torou,
Torou.
Four,
Ha,
Hea.
Five,
Renia,
Rema,
Six,
Ono,
Ono.
Seven,
Etu, .
Hetu.
Eight,
Warou, ■
AVarou, •
Nine ,
Iva,
rleva.
Ten,
Angahourou,
Ahourou,
The teeth.
Henniliew,
fleneaho.
Nihio
The wind.
Mehow,
Mattai. ■
A thief.
Amcotoo,
Teto.
To examine,
Ma take take.
Mataitai.
To fng.
Eheara,
Heiva.
Bad,
Kenoy
Keno,/
Eno.
Trees, ■
Eratou,
Eratou, -
E'raou.
Grandfather,
Toubouna,
Toubouna,
Toubouna.
What do you
}
call this or J
s Owy Terra,
Owy Terra.
that , j
By this fpecimen, I think it appears to demonftration that
the language of New Zealand and Otaheite is radically the
faine. The language of the northern and fouthern parts of
New Zealand differs chiefly in the pronunciation, as the fame
Engliin word is pronounced gate in Middlefex, and geate in
Yorkihire : and as the fouthern and northern words were no":
written down by the fame perfon, one might poihbly ufe more
letters to produce the fame found than the other.
I mull alfo obferve, that it is the genius of the language,
efpeciaily in the fouthern parts, to put fome article before a
noun, as we do the cr a ; the articles ufed here were generally
he or ho : it is alio common here to add the word oeid after an-
other word, as an iteration, efpeciaily if it is an anfwer to a
queftion : as we lay y si indeed, to befure, really , certainly ; this
fometiroes led our gentlemen into the formation of words of an
enormous length, judging by the ear only, without being able
to refer each’ found into its fignilication. An example will
make this perfectly undei flood.
In the Bay of Ilianus there is a. remarkable one, called by
the natives Matu- aro. One of our gentlemen having alked
a native the name or it, he an.'yvered, with the particle, Ke-
matuaro ; the gentleman hearing the found imperfectly, re-
peated his queftion, and the Indian repeating his anfwer, ad-
«Led octet, which • made the word Kmatverowia ; and thus it
jl 3. . happened
4* COOK’s VOYAGE,
happened that in the log book I found Matuaro transformed
into CumeitizvarroTVeia : and the fame transformation, by the
fame means, might happen to an Engliih word. Suppofe a
native of New Zealand at Hackney church, to enquire “ what
village is this ?” the anfwer would be, “ it is Hackney
fuppofe the queftion to be repeated with an air of doubt and an-
certainty, the anfwer might be “it is Hackney indeed,” and
the New Zealander, if he had the ufe of letters, would probab-
ly record, for the information of his countrymen, that during
his reftdence among us he had vifited a village called “ Ityf-
hakneeindede.” The article ufed by the inhabitants of the
South Sea iflands inftead of he or kc , is to or ta, but the word
•eia is common to both ; and when we began to learn the lan-
guage, it led us into many ridiculous miftakes.
But fuppofxng thefe iflands, and thofe in the South Seas,
to have been peopled originally from the fame country, it
will perhaps for ever remain a doubt what country that is r
we were, However, unanimoufly of opinion, that the people
did not come from America, which lies to the eaftward ; and
except there fhould appear to be a continent to the fouthward ^
in a moderate latitude, it will follow that they came from the-
weftvrard.
Thus far our navigation has certainly been unfavourable to
the notion of a fouthern continent, for it has fwept away at
leak three-fourths of the portions upon which it has been found-
ed. The principal navigators, whofe authority has been urged
t<n this occafion, are Tafman, Juan Fernandes, Hermite^
the commander of a Dutch fquadron, Quiros, and Roggeweinj
and the track of the Endeavour has demonftrated that the
land fecn by thefe perfons, and fuppofed to be part of a conti-
nent, is net fo ; it has alfo totally l'ubverted the theoretical ar-
guments which have been brought to prove that the exiftence o£
3 Cuthern continent is neceffary to preferve an equilibrium be-
tween the two hemifpheres; for upon this principle what we
have already proved to be water, would render the fouthern
hemifphere too light. In our rout to the northward, after
doubling Cape Horn, when we were in the latitude of 403,
oar longitude was 1 io° ; and in our return to the fouthward,
after leaiing Ulietea, when we were again in latitude 40°, our
longitude was 1450; the difference is 3 50. When we were
in latitude 30° the difference of longitude between the two
tracks was 210, which continued till we were as low as 20° ;
but a fingle view of the chart will convey a better Elea of this
than the moil minute defeription r yet. as upon a view of the
chart it will appear that there is a large fpace extending quite
to the Tropics, which neither we, nor any other navigators
to our knowledge have explored, and as there will appear to
Le room enough for the Cape of a fouthern continent, to ex-
tend
On the Existence of a S. Continent* 43
tend northward into a low fouthern latitude, I fhail give my
reafons for believing there is no Cape, of any fouthern con-
tinent, to the northward of 40° fouth. -
Notwithftanding what has been been laid down by fome geo-
graphers in their maps, and alledged by Mr. Dairymple, with,
refpecl to Quiros, it is improbable in the highe'l degree, that
he faw to the fouthward of two iflanls, which lie difcovered in
latitude 25 or 26, and which I fupppfe may lie between the
longitude of 1 30? and 14a0 W. any iigns of a continent, much
lefs any thing, which, in his opinion, was a known or indu-
bitable fign of luch land ; for if he had, he would, certainly
have failed fouthward in fearch of it, and if he had fought,
fuppofing the iigns to have been indubitable, he muft have
found : the difcovery of a fouthern continent was the ultimate
obyeft of Quiros ’s voyage, and no man appeal's to have had it
more at heart ; fo that if he was in latitude 26.° S. and in lon-
gitude 146° W. where Mr. Dalrymple has placed the Elands he
diicovered, it may fairly be inferred that no part of a fouthern
continent extends to that latitude.
It will, I think, . appear wi th equal evidence from .the ac-
counts of Roggewein’s voyage, that between the longitudes of
130° and 150° W. there is no main land to ths northward of
33 S. Mr. Pingre, in a treatife concerning the tranfk of Ve-
nus, which he went out to obferve, has inferted an exiracl of
Roggewein’s voyage, and a map of the South Seas; and for
reafons which may befeen at large in his work, fuppofes him;
after leaving Eafter Ifland, which he places in latitude agf S.
longitude 1230 W. tohave fleered S... W. as high as 34° S.
and afterwards W. N. W , and if iris was- indeed his rout,
the proof that there is no main land to the northward of 35° S.
is irrefragable. Mr. Dalrvmple indeed fuppcfes his rout to
have, been different, and that from Ealier Iile lie fleered N. W.
taking a courfe afterwards very little different from that of La
Maire; but I think it highly improbable that a man, who
at his own requefl was fent to d Lover a fouthern continent,
lhould take a courfe inr which La Maire had already proved no
continent could be found it mud however be confeffed, that
Roggewein's trade cannot certainly be ascertained, becaufein
the accounts that have beep published of his voyage, neither
longitudes nor latitudes are. mentioned. As to myfelf I faw
nothing that I thought a fign oi land, in my rout either to the
northward* fouthward or well ward, till a few days before I
made the eali coal! of. New Zealand * I did. indeed frequently
fee large flocks of birds,, but they were generally fuch as are
found at a remote diilance from any coall ; and it is alfo
true that I frequently faw pieces of rock- weed, but I could not
infer the vicinity of land from thefe, becaufe I have been in-
formed, upon indubitable authority, that a considerable quan-
44
COOK’s VOYAGE,
tity of the beans called ox-eyes, which are known to grow no-
where but in the Weft-Indies, are eV'ery year- thrown up on the
coaft of Ireland, which is not lefs than twelve hundred leagues
diftant.
Thus have I given my reafons for thinking that there is no
cdntinent to the northward of latitude 40° S. ; of what may-
lie farther to the fouthward than 40° I can give no opinion ;
but I am fo far from whiling to dilcourage any future attempt,
finally to determine a queftion which has long been- an object
of attention to many nations ; that now this- voyage has re-
duced the only poifihle feite of a continent- in the fouthern he-
mifphere, north of latitude 4c0, to-To fmall a fpace, I think
it would be pity to leave that any longer unexamined, efpe-
cially as the voyage may turn to good account, befides deter-
mining the principal queftion, if no continent fhould be found,
by the difeovery of new iflands in the tropical regions, of which,
there is probably a great number, that no European veflel
has ever yet viuted. Tupia from time to time gave us an ac-
count of about one hundred and thirty, and in a chart drawn-
by his own hand, he actually laid down no lefs than feventy-
four.
A N
MC.C O U N TV
o :« a ?
VOYAGE' round the WORLD.
BOOK -III.
CHAP T. E R I.
f’fte run from New Zealand to Botany Bay , on the Eajl Conf of
New Holland, nonv called New South Wales ; ‘various incidents
that happened there ; with fame account of the- country , and its
inhabitants.
AVING failed from Cape Farewell, which lies in
latitude 40: 33 S. longitude 186 W. on Saturday
• the 31ft of March 1770, we fleered weft ward, with a
fj-efh gale at N. N< E. and at noon on the 2d of April, our
latitude by obi’ervation, was 40 °} our longitude from Cape
Farewell 2:31 W»-
In
Th* Run to Botany Bay* 4%
In the morning of the 9th, being in latitude 3$ 129 S. we
faw a tropic bird, which in fo high a latitude is very uncom-
mon.
In the morning of the 10th, being in latitude 38: 51 S.
longitude 202 : 43 W. we found the variation, by the ampli-
tude, to be 11 : 25 E. and by the azimuth 11 : zo.
In the morning of the nth,: the variation was 13 : 48,
which is two degrees and an half more than the day before, *
though I expected to have found it lefs.
In the courfe of the 13th, being in latitude 39 : 23 S. lon-
gitude 204 : 2.W. I found the variation to be 12 : 27 E. and
in the morning of the 14th, it was 1 1 : 30 ; this day we alfo
faw fome flying fifli. On the 1 $th, we faw an egg bird and a
gannet, and as thefe are birds that never go far from the land,
we continued to found all night, but had no ground with 130
fathom, . At noon on the 16th, we were in latitude 39 : 43 3,.
longitude 208° W. At about two o’clock the wind came
about to the W. S. W. upon which we tacked and flood to the
N. W. ; foon after a frnall land-bird perched upon the rig-
ging, but we had no ground with 120 fathom. At eight we
wore and flood to the fouthward till twelve at night, and then
wore and flood to the N. W. till four in the morning, when
we again flood to the fouthward, having a freih gale at W. S, ■
W. with fqualls and dark weather till nine, when the weather-
became clear, .and there being little wind, we had an oppor-
tunity to take feveral obfervations of the fun and moon, the
mean refult of which gave 207 : 56 W. longitude : our lati-
tude at noon was 39 : 36 S. We had .now a hard gale from
the fouthward, and a great fea from the fame quarter, which
obliged us to run under our fore-fail and mi?en all night,
during which we founded every two hours, . but had no ground’
with 120 fathom.
In the morning of the 1 8th, we faw two Port Egmont hens, .
and a pintadobira, which are certain flgns of approaching land,
and indeed by our reckoning we could not be far from it, for
our longitude was now one degree to the weflward, of the eaflr
fide of Van Diemen’s land, according to the longitude laid
down by Tafman, whom we could not fuppofe to have erred
much in fo lhort arun as from this land to New Zealand, and by ■
our latitude we could not he above fifty or fifty-five leagues
from the place whence he took his departure. All this day
v.e had frequent fqualls and a great^pwsH. At one in the
morning we brought to and founded, but had no ground with
130 fathom ; at fix we faw land extending from N. E, to W.
at the diftance of five or fix leagues, having eighty fathom wa-
ter, with a fine fandy bottom.
We continued Handing weflward, with the wind at S. S. W.
till eight, when, we made all the fail we could, and bore away
Cooi’s VOYAGE,
along the fiiore N. E. for the eaftermoft land in fight, being^tt
this time in latitude 37 : 58 S. and longitude 210 : 39 W.
The fouthermoft point of land in fight, which bore from us W.
■% S. I judged to lie in latitude' 38°, -longitude 21 1 17, and
gave it the name of Point Hicics,-becaufe Mr. Hicks, the
Firft Lieutenant, was the firft who difcovered it. To the fouth-
ward of this point no land was to be feen, though it was very
'clear in that quarter, and by our longitude,- compared with that
of Tafman, not as it is laid down iii-the printed charts, but in
the extracts from Tafrrian’s journal, published by Rembrantfe,
the body of Van Diemen’s land-ought to have borne due fouth ;
and indeed, from the- fudden falling of the lea, after the wind
abated, I had reafon'to think*it did ; yet as I did not fee it,
and as I found -this coaft trend N. E. and S. W. or rather more
to theeaftward, I cannot determine whether it joins to Van
Diemen’s land or not.
At noon, we were in latitude 37 : 50, longitude 210 : 29
W. The extreams of the land extended from N. W. to E. N.
E. and a remarkable point bore N. zo° E. at the diftance of
about four leagues. This point rifes in a round hillock, very
much refembling the Ram Head, at the entrance of Plymouth
Sound, and therefore I called it by the fame name.- The va-
riation by an azimuth, taken this morning, was 3 : 7 E. ; -
and what we had now leen of the land, appeared low and le-
vel : the fea there was a white fand, but the country within ■
was green and woody. About one o’clock, we faw three wa-
ter fpouts at once ; two were between us and the ftrore, and
the third at fome diftance, upo® our larboard quarter : this
phenomenon is fo well known, that it is not necelfary to give
a particular defcription of it hers.
At fix o’clock in- the ev'Tiiuo-, wfe Ihortined fail, and brought
to for theniuht, having fill y-ilx-jjithoin water, and a fine Ian-
dy bottom. - The northern:. oft land- in fight-then bore N. by E.
| E. and a fma!! ifland lying clofe to a point on the main bore-
W. diftant two leagues. - This point which I called Cap*
Howe, may ,z known by the trending cf the coaft, which is
north on the one fide, and fouth- weft on. the ether ; it mayal-
fo be known by. fome round rills upon the main, juft within it.
We brought to- for the night, and and at four in the morning
made fail along dbere to the northward. At fix, the northcr-
moft rand in fight bore N. N. W. and we were qt this time
about four leagues irom^he fhore. At noon, we were in la-
titude 36 : 52 S. longitude 209 : 53 W. and about three
leagues diftant from the Hr ore. The weather being clear, gave
us a good view of the country, which has a very pleafing ap-
pearance : it is of a moderate height, diverfified by hills and
vallies, ridges and plains, iaiterfperfed with a few lawns of no
great extent, but in general covered -with wood : -the afeent of
Point Dromedary. 4y
the lulls and ridges is gentle, and the fummits are not high.
We continued to fail along the fhore to die northward, with
a foutherly wind, and in the afternoon we faw fraoke in fe-
veral places, by which we knew the country to be^nhabited.
At fix in the evening we fhortened fail, and founded : w'e found
forty-four fathom water, writh a clear fandy bottom, and flood
on under an eafy fail till twelve, when we brought to for the
night, and had ninety fathom water.
At four in the morning we made fail again, at die dis-
tance of about five leagues from the land, and at fix, we were
abreafl of a high mountain, lying near the fhore, which, on
account of its figure, I called Mount Dromedary: under
this mountain the fhore forms a point, to which I gave the
nameof Point Dromedary, and over it there is a peaked
•hillock. At this time, being in latitude 36 •: J.2.S, longitude
209 : 55 W. we found the variation -to be 10 : 42 E.
Between ten and eleven, Mr. Green and I took feveral ob-
fervations of the fun and moon, the mean, reful t of which gave
209 : 17 longitude W. B-y an obfervation made the day be-
fore, our longitude was 210 : .9 W. from jvhich, 20 being fub-
tradled, there remains 209 : 4.9, the longitude of the fhip this
day at noon, the mean of which, with this day’s obfervation,
gives 209 : 35, by which I. fix the longitude of this coaft.
At noon, our latitude was 35 : 49 S. Cape Dromedary bore
S. 30 W. at the di fiance of twelve leagues, and an open bay,
in which' were three or four fmall ifiands, bore N. W. by W.
at the diftance of five or fix leagues. This bay feemed to af-
ford but little fhelter from the fea winds, and yet it is the. only
place where there appeared a probability of finding anchorage
upon the whole coaft. .We continued to fleer along the fhore
N. by E. and N. N, E. at the diftance of about three leagues,
and faw fmoke in many places near the beach. At five in the
evening, we were abreaft of a point of land which rofe in a
perpendicular cliff, and which, for .that reafor, I called Poi nt
Upright. Our latitude wns 35 2 35 S. when this Point
bore from us due weft, diftant about two leagues : in this fi-
tuation, we had about thirty-one fathom water, with a fandy
bottom. At fix in the evening, the wind falling, we hauled
off £, N. E. and at this time the northermoll land in fight
Lore N. by E. ~ E. At midnight, being in feventy fathom
water, we brought to till four in the morning, when we made
fail in for the land ; but at day break, found our fituation
nearly the fame as it had been at five in the evening before,
by which it was apparent that we had been driven about three
leagues to the fouthward, by a tide or current during the night.
After this we fleered along the fhore N. N. E. with a gentle
breeze at S. W. and were fo near the land as to diftinguifh fe-
deral of the native* upon the beach, who appealed to be of 1
black.
4§ CO OKJs VOYAGE
black,, or very dark colour. At men, our latitude, by'obfer-
-vation, was 35 : 27 S. and longitude 209 : 23 W. Cape
Dromedary bore S. 28 W. diflan t nineteen leagues, a re-
nt arkable^jeiaked hill, which refembled a fquare dove-houfe,
with a dome at the top, and which for that reafon I called
the Pigeon House, bore N. 32 : 30 W. and a fmall low
ifland, which lay clofe under the fhore, bore N. W. diflant
about two or three leagues. When I firft dilcovered this ifland,
in the morning, I was in hopes, from its appearance, that I
fhould have found fhelter for the fhip behind it, but when we
came near it, it did not promife fecurity even for the landing
cf a boat : I fhould however have attempted to fend a boat on
•fhore, if the wind had not veered to that direction, with a
large hollow fea rolling in upon the land from the S. E. which
indeed had been the cafe ever flnee we had been upon it. The
coafl flill continued to be of a moderate height, forming alter-
nately rocky points and fandy beaches ; but within, between
Mount Dromedary, and the -Pigeon Houfe, we faw high
-mountains, which, except two, are covered with wood ;
thefe two lie inland, behind the Pigeon Houfe, and are re-
markably flat at the top, with fteep rocky cliffs all round therp,
as far as we could fee. The trees which alrnoft every where
clothe this country, appear to be large and lofty. This day
the variation was found to beg 1.30 £. and for the two lafl
.days, the latitude, by obfervatlou, was twelve or fourteen
tniles to the fouthward of the fnip’s account, which could have
been the efledt of nothing but a current fetting in that direc-
tion. About four in the afternoon, being .near five leagues
from the land, we tacked and flood 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 flood in, being then
about nine or ten leagues from the fhore. At eight, the wind
began to die away, and foon after it was calm. At noon, our
latitude, by observation, was 33 : 38, and oar diitance from
the land about fix leagues. Cape Dromedary bore S. 3/ W.
diitant feventeen leagues, and the Pigeon Houfe N. 40 W. In
this fituatior. we bad feventy-four fathom water. In the after-
noon we had variable light airs and calms, till fix in the even-
ing, when a brew e fpruftg tfp at N. by W. ; at this time,
feeing about four or .five leagu s from the lhore, we had feven-
ty fathom water. The Pigeon Houfe bore N. 45 W. Mount
Dromedary S. 30 W. and the northermoil land in fight i\-
19 E.
We flood to the north eaft till noon the next day, with a
gentle breeze at N. W. and tlltn we ta ked and flood vveilward.
At this time, pur latitude, by cbiervatk .1, was 35 : 10 S. and
longitude 208 : 51 W. A poi.it of laud which 1 had dilcover-
ed on St. George’s day, add which Jihcrcfore I called Cap e
Georgs
Arrival at Botany Bay. 49
George, ' ore W. diltant nineteen miles, and the Pigeon
Hoiii'e, (the latitude and longitude of \vh ich I found to be 35 :
1 9 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 fe-
veral azimuths 7 : 54 E. We had a frefh breeze at N. W.
from noon dll three ; it then came to the well, when we tacked
and Hood to the northward. At live in the evening, being
about five or fix leagues from the Ihore, with the Pigeon Houle
bearing W. S. W. diltant about nine leagues, we had eighty-
fix fathom water ; and at eight, having thunder and lightning,
with heavy fqualls, we brought to in 120 fathom.
At three in the morning, we made fail again to the north-
ward, having the advantage cf a frelh gale at S. W. At
noon, we were about three or four leagues from the Ihore,
and in latitude 34 : 22 S. longitude 208 : 36 W. In the courfe
of this day’s run from the preceding noon, which was
forty-five miles north eall, we law fmoke in feveral places
near the beach. About two leagues to the northward of
Cape George, the Ihore feemed to form a bay, which pro-
njiled Ihelter from the north eall winds, but as the wind
was with us, it was not in my power to look into it without
b.eating up, which would have coll me more time than I was
willing to fpare, 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 cf it there lies a point, which, from
tfie colour of the land about it, I called Red Point: its
latitude is 34 : 49, and longitude 208 : 45 W. To the north,
weft of Red Point, and a little way inland, Hands a round hill,,
the top of which looks like the crown of a hat. In the after-
noon of this day, we had a light breeze at N. N. W. till five
ip the evening, when it fell calm : at this time, we were be-
tween three and four leagues from the Ihore, and had forty-
eight fathom water : the variation by azimuth was 8 : 48 E.
aird the extremities of this land were from N. E. by N. to
S. W. by S. Before it was dark, we faw fmoke in feveral
places along the ihore, and a fire two or three times afterwards.
During the night we lay becalmed, driving in before the fea
till one in the morning, when we got a breeze from the land,
with which >vefieered N. E, being then in thirty-eight fathom.
At noon, it yeered to the N. E. by N. and we were then in
latitude 34:10 S. longitude 208 : 27 W. : the land was
diilant about five leagues, and extended from S. 37. W, to N.
i E. In this latitude, there are fome white cliffs, which rile
perpendicularly from the fea to ,a confiderable height. We
IJood off the ihore till two o’clo k, and then tacked and flood
in till fix, when we were within four or five miles of it, and
at that diflance had fifty fathom water. The extremities of
the land bcre from S. 38 W. to N. 25 : 30 J2. We now
Yol.IL E tacked
50 COOK’S VOYAGE,
tacked and flood off till twelve, then tacked and flood in again
till rour in the morning, \vh en we made a trip off till day light ;
and during all this time we loft ground, owing to the variable-
nefs of the winds. We continued at the diftance of between
four and five miles from the ihore, till the afternoon, when
we came within two miles, and I then hoifted out the pinnace
and yawl to attempt a landing, but the pinnace proved to be
fo leaky that I was obliged to hoift her in again. At this time
we faw feveral of the natives walking brilkly along the Ihore,
four of whom carried a fmall canoe upon their Ihoulders : we
flattered ourfclves that they were going to put her into the
water, and come off to the ihip, but finding ourfelves difap-
pointed, I determined to go on Ihore in the yawl, with as
.many as it would carry : I embarked therefore, only with Mr.
Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and four rowers : we pulled for
that part of the Ihore where the Indians appeared, near which
four fmall canoes were lying at the water’ t edge. The Indians
fat down upon the rocks, and feemed 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 aihore, and endeavour to procure an interview,
but ir. this w'e were again difappointed, for we found fo great
a furf beating upon every part of the beach, that landing with
our little boat was altogether imprafticable : we were there-
fore obliged to be content with gazing at fuch objefts as pre-
fented themfelves from the water : the canoes, upon a near
view, feemed very much to refemble thofe of the fmaller fort
at New Zealand. We obferved, that among the trees on
ihore, which were not very large, there was no undemood ; and
could diftinguilh that many of them were of the palm kind,
and fome of them cabbage trees : after many a wifhful look we
were obliged to return, with our curicfity rather excited than
fatisfied, and about five in the evening got on board the ihip.
About this time it fell calm, and our fituation was by no means
agreeable : we wete now not more than a mile and a half from
the Ihore, and within fome breakers, which lay to the fouth-
vvard ; but happily a light breeze came off the land, and car-
ried us out of danger : with this breeze we flood to the north-
vvard, and at day- break we difeovered a bay, which feemed to
be well iheltered from all winds, and into which, therefore, I
determined to go with the ftlip. The pinnace being repair-
ed, I fent her, with the Mailer, to found the entrance, while
I kept turning up, having the wind right out. At noon, the
mouth of the bay bore N. N. W. diftant about a mile, and fe-
ing a fmoke on the ihore, we directed our glades to the fpot,
and foen difeovered ten people, who, upon our nearer approach,
left their fire, and retired to a little eminence, whence they
pould conveniently obferve our motions. Soon after two ca-
noe?
* .
View of the Inhabitants. 51
noes, each having two men on board, came to the Ihore, juft
under the eminence, and the men joined the reft on the top it.
The pinnace, which had been fent a head to found, now ap-
proached the place, upon which all the Indians retired farther
up the hill, except one, who hid himfelf among fome rocks,
near the landing-place. As the pinnace proceeded along the
Ihore, molt of the people took the fame route, and kept abreaft
of her at a diftance : when fne came back, the mailer told us,
that in a cove, a little within the harbour, fome of them had
come down to the beach, and invited him to land bymanyfigns
and words, of which he knew not the meaning ; but that all of
them were armed with long pikes, and a wooden weapon,
fliaped fomewhat like a cimeter. The Indians who had not
followed the boat, feeing the Ihip approach, ufed many threat-
ening geitures, and brand ifhed their weapons ; particularly
two, who made a very fmgular appearance, for their faces
feemed to have been dulled with a white powder, and their
bodies painted with broad ftreakes of the fame colour, which,
palling obliquely over their breads and backs, looked not un-
like the crofs-belts worn by our foldiers ; the fame kind of
ftreaks were alfo drawn round their legs and thighs, like broad
garters : each of thefe men held in his hand the weapen that
had been deferibed to us as like a cimeter, which appeared to
be about two feet and a half long, and they feemed to talk
to erch other with great earneftnefs.
We continued to Hand into the bay, and early in the after-
noon anchored under the fouth Ihore, about two miles with-
in the entrance, in fix fathom water, the fouth point bearing
S. E. and the north point Eall. As we came in we faw,
on both points of the bay, a few huts, and fevetal of the
natives, men, women, and children. Under the fouth head
we daw four fmall- canoes, with each one man on board, who
were very bulily employed in ftriking filh with a long pike
or fpear; they ventured almoft into the furf, and were lo
intent upon what they were doing, that although the lhip
palfed within a quarter of a mile of them, they fcarcely turned
their eyes towards her ; poffibly being deafened by the furf,
and their attention wholly fixed upon their bufinefs or fport,
they neither faw nor heard her go pall them.
The place where the Ihip had anchored was abreaft of a fmall
village, confifting of about fix or eight houfes ; and while we
were preparing to hoi ft out the boat, we faw an old woman,
followed by three children, come out of the wood ; Ihe was
loaded with fire-wood, and each of the children had alfo its
little burden : when Ihe came to the houfes three more child-
ren, younger than the others, came out to meet her : fire of-
ten looked at the Ihip, but exprelfed neither fear nor furprife :
In a Ihort time Ihe kindled a fire, and the four canoes came in
E 2 from
52 COOK’S VOYAG E,
from filling. The men landed, and having hauled up their
boats, began to drefs 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 feen, not one had the lead appearance of clothing, the old
woman herfelf being deftitute even of a fig-leaf.
After dinner the boats were manned, and we fet out from
the ihip, having Tupia of our party. We intended to land
where we faw the people, and began to hope that as they had
fo little regarded the fhip’s coming into the bay, they would
as little regard our coming on fhore ; in this, however, we
were difappointed ; for as foon as we approached the rocks,
two of the men came down upon them to difpute our landing,
and the red ran away. Each of the two champions was armed
with a lance, about ten feet long, and a fhort dick, which
he feemed to handle as if it was a machine to allid him irr
managing or throwing the lance r they called to us in a very
loud tone, and in a harfh diifonant language, of which neither
we nor Tupia undrrftood a fingle word : they brandifhcd their;
weapons, and feemed refolved to defend their coaft to the ut-
termoft, though they were but two, and we were forty, I'
could not but admire their courage, and being very unwilling
that hoftilities ihould commence with fuch inequality of force
between us, I ordered the boat to lie upon her oars : we then'
parked by figns for about a quarter of an hour, and to beipealt
their gccd-v/ill, I threw them nails, beads, and other trifles,,
which they took up and feemed to be well pleafed with. ?
then made figns that I wanted water, and by all the means-
that I could devife, endeavoured to- convince 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 oppofe us. One appeared to be x
youth about nineteen or twenty, and the other a man of middle
age : as I had now no other refource I fired a mufket between
them. Upon the report, the youngeft dropped a bundle of
lances upon the rock, but recollecting himfeif in an inilant
he fnatched them up again with great hafte : a Hone was then
thrown at us, upon which I ordered a mufquet to be fired
with fmall fhot, which ftruck the eldeft upon the legs, and he
immediately ran to one of thehoufes,. which was diftant about
an hundred yards : I now hoped that our contefl was over,
and we immediately landed ; but we had fcarcely left the boat
when he returned, and we then perceived that he had left the
rock only to fetch a fhield or target for his defence. As foon
as he came up, he threw a lance at us, and his comrade an-
other ; they fell where we flood thickefl, but happily hurt no-
body. A third mufquet with fmall fhot was then fired at them,
upon which one of them threw another lance, and both imme-
diately
H OSTIUTIES WITH THE INHABITANT s. 53
diately ran away : if we had purfued, we might probably
have taken one of them ; bat Mr. Banks fuggefling that the
lances might bepoifoned, 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 themfelves
behind a fhield and fome bark ; we peeped at them, but left
them in their retreat, without their knowing that they had
been difcovered, and we threw into the houfe, when we went
away, fome beads, ribbons, pieces of cloth, and other prefents,
which we hoped would procure us the good-will of the inha-
bitants when they fhould return; but the lances which we found
lying about, we took away with us, to the number of about fif-
ty: they were from fix to fifteen feet long, and all of them
had four prongs in the manner of a fi'h-gig, each of which was
pointed with fi ill-bone, and very lharp : we obferved that
they were fmeared with a vifcous fubitance of a green colour,
which favoured the opinion of their being poifoned, though
we afterwards difcovered that it was a mifiake : they appeared
by the fea-weed that we found flicking to them, to have been
ufed in linking fifh. Upon examining the canoes that lay
upon the beach, we found. them to be the worfl we had ever
feen : they were between twelve and fourteen feet long, and
made of the bark of a tree, in one piece, vvhicn was drawn to-
gether, and tied up at each end, the middle being kept open
by llicks, which were placed acrofs them from gunwale to
gunwale, as thwarts. We then fearched for frefh water, but
found none, exeept in a fmall hole which had been dag in the
fand.
Having reimbarked in our boat, we depofited our lances on
board the fhip, and then went over to the north point of the
bay, where we had feen feveral of the inhabitants when we
were entering it, but which we now found totally deferred..
Here however we found frefh water, which trickled down from
the top of the rocks, and flood in pools among the hollows at •
the bottom ; but it was fituatei fo as not to be procured for
our ufe without difficulty.
In the morning, therefore, I fent a party of men to that
part of the fliore where we firu landed, with orders to dig holes
in the fand, where the water might gather ; but upon" goino-
afljore myfelfwith the Gentlemen foon afterwards, we found,
upon a more diligent fearch, a fmall flream, mors than fuf-
ficient for our purpofe.
Upon vifiting tne hut, where we had feen 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 feen.
Having fent Come empty water calcs on fliore, and left a par-
ty of men to cut wood, I myfelf went in the pinnace to
E 3 found.
54 COOK's VOYAGE,
found, and examine the bay ; during my excurfion I faw feve-
ral of the natives, but they all fled at my approach. In one
of the places where I landed I found feveral fmall fires, and freih.
mufcles broiling upon them ; here alfo I found feme of the larg-
eft oyfter-lhells I had ever feen.
As foon as the wooders and vvaterers came on board to din-
ner, ten or twelve of the natives came down to the place, and
looked with great attention and curiofity at the calks, but did
not touch them : they took away however the canoes, which
lay near the landing-place, and again difappeared. In the af-
ternoon, when our people were again afhore, fixteen or eigh-
teen Indians, all armed, came boldly within about an hundred
yards of them, and then flopped : two of them advanced fome-
what nearer ; and Mr. Hicks, who commanded the party on
fliore, with another, advanced to meet them, holding out pre-
fents to them as he approached, and expreffing kindnefs and
amity by every fign he could think of, but all without efleft ;
for before he could get up with them they retired, and it would
have anfwered no purpofe to purfue. In the evening I went
with Mr. Banks, and Dr. Solander, to a fandy cove, on the
north fide of the bay, where, in three or four hauls with the
feine, we took above three hundred weight of filh, which was
equally divided among the drip’s company.
The next morning, before day-break, the Indians came
down to the houfes that were abreaft of the lhip, and were heard
frequently to Ihout very loud. As foon as it was light, they
were feen walking along the beach ; and foon after they re-
tired to the woods, where, at the diftance of about a mile from
the fhore, they kindled feveral fires.
Our people went alhore as ufual, and with them Mr. Banks,
and Dr. Solander, who, in fearch, of plants, repaired to the
woods. Our men, who were employed in cutting grafs, being the
farthefl removed from the main body of the people, a company
' of 14 or 15 Indians advanced towards them, having flicks
in their hands, which, according to the report of the Serjeant
of the marines, flione like a mufquet. The grafs-cutters,
upon feeing them approach, drew together, and repaired to
the main body. The Indians, being encouraged by this ap-
pearance of a flight, purfued them ; they flopped however
when they were within about a furlong of them, and after
fhouting feveral times went back into the woods. In the even-
ing they came again in the fame manner, flopped at the . fame
diftance, fliouted and retired. I followed them myfelf, alone
and unarmed, for a confiderable way along the Ihore, but I
could not prevail upon them to flop.
This day Mr. Green took the fun’s meridian altitude, a little
within the fouth entrance of the bay, which gave the latitude
34 S. the variation of the needle was 11:3 E.
Early
Description of the Country. 55
Early the ne5ct morning, the body of Forby Sutherland,
one of our feamen, who died the evening before, was buried
near the watering-place ; and from this incident I called the
fouth point of this bay Sutherland Point. This day we
refolved to make an excurfion into the country. Mr. Banks,
Dr. Solander, myfelf, and feven others, properly accoutred
for the expedition, fet out, and repaired hill to the huts, near
the watering place, whither fome of the natives .continued
every day to refort ; and though the little prefents which we
had left there before had not yet been taken away, we left
others of fomewhat more value, confiding of cloth, looking-
glaffes, combs, and beads, and then went up into the country.
We found the foil to be either fwamp or light fand, and the
face of the country finely diverfified by wood and lawn. The
trees are tall, ftrait, and without underwood, Handing- at fuch
a diftance from each other that the whole country, at lead
where the fwamps do not render it incapable of cultivation,
might be cultivated without cutting down one of them :
between the trees the ground is covered with grafs, of which
there is great abundance, growing in tufts about as big as can
well be grafped in the hand, which hand very clofe to each
other. We law many houfes of the inhabitants, and places
where they had flept upon the grafs without any fhelter ; but
we faw only one of the people, who, the moment hedifcovered
us, ran away. At all thefe places we left prefents, hoping
that at length they might produce confidence and good will.
We had a tranfient and imperfett view of a quadruped, about
as big as a rabbit : Mr. Banks’s greyhound, which was with
us, got fight of it, and would probably have caught it, but the
moment he fet off he lamed himfelf, againlt a flump which lay
concealed in the long grafs. We afterwards faw the dung of
an animal which fed upon grafs, and which we judged could
not be lefs than a deer ; and the footfteps of another, which
was clawed like a dog, and feemed to be about as big as a
wolf : we alfo tracked a fmall animal, whofe foot refembled
that of a polcat, or weafel. The trees over our head abounded
with birds of various kinds, among which were many of ex-
quifite beauty, particularly loriquets, and cockatoos, which
flew in flocks of feveral fcores together. We found fome wood
which had been felled by the natives, with a blunt inllrument,
and fome that had been barked. The trees were not of many
fpecies ; among others there was a large one which yielded a
gum not unlike the Sanguis draconis ; and in fome of them
Heps had been cut at about three feet diftance from each other,
for the .convenience of climbing them.
From this excurfion we returned between three and four
o’clock, and having dined on board, we went afliore again at
the watering place, where a party of men were filling calks.
Mr.
$6 COOK’s VOYAGE,
Mr. Gore, the Second Lieutenant, had been fent out in the
morning with a boat to dredge for oyiters, at the head of the
bay ; when he had performed this ferviee, he went afliore, and
having taken a midlhipman with him, and fent the boat away,
fet 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 twentyyards dillance ; when Mr.
Gore perceived them fo near, he Hopped, and faced abcut,
upon which they Hopped alfo; and when he went on again,
continued their purfuit : they did not however attack him,
though they were all armed with lances, and he and the mid-
f lipman got in fafety to the watering-place. The Indians,
who had ilackened their purfuit when they came in light of
the main body of our people, halted at about the dillance of a
quarter of a mile, where they Hood Hill. Mr. Monkhoufe and
two or three of the waterers took it in their head to march up
to them ; but feeing the Indians keep their ground, till they
came pretty near them, they were feized with a Hidden fear,
very common to the rafii and fool-hardy, and made a haHy re-
treat : this Hep, which infured the danger that it was taken t<J
avoid, encouraged the Indians, and four of them running for-
ward, difcharged their lances at the fugitives,, with fuch force
that. Hying no lefs than forty yards,, they went beyond them.
As the Indians did not purfue, our people, recovering their
fpirits, Hopped to colled! the lances, when they came to the
place where they lay ; upon which the Indians, in. their turn,
began to retire. Jufl at this time I came up, with Mr. Banks,
Dr. Solander, and Tupia; and being defirous to convince the
Indians that we were neither afraid of them, nor intended
them any mifchief, we advanced towards them, making figns
of expoHulation and entreaty, but they could no: be perfuaded
to wait till we could come up. Mr. Gore told us, that he had
feen fome of them up the bay, who had invited him by figns
to come on fhore, which he, certainly with great prudence,
declined.
The morning of the next day was fo rainy, that we were all
glad to Hay on board. In the afternoon, however, it cleared
up, and we made another excurfion along the fea coaH to the
fouthward : we went afhore, and Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander
gathered many plants ; but befides thefe we faw nothing wor-
thy of notice. At our HrH entering the woods, we met with
three of the natives, who inflantly ran away: more of them
were feen by fome of the people, but they all difappeared, with
great precipitation, as foon as they found that they were dif-.
covered. By the boldnefs of thefe people at our firfl landing,
and the terror that feized them at the fight of us afterwards, it
appears that they were fufhciently intimidated by our fire-arms :
not that we had any reafon to think the people much hurt by
Exceuence of the Soit, 57
the fra all (hot wnich we were obliged to fire at them, when
they attacked us at our coming out of the boat ; but they had
probably feen the efte&s of them, from their lurking-places, *
upon the birds that we had (hot. Tupia, who was now be-
come a good markfman, frequently (frayed from us to (hoot
parrots; and he had told us, that while he was thus employed,
he had once met with nine Indians, who, as foon as they per-
ceived he faw them, ran from him, in great confufion and
terror.
The next day, twelve canoes, in each of which was a Angle
Indian, came towards the watering place, and were within
half a mile of it a confiderable time : they were employed in
ftriking fiih, upon which, like others that we had feen before,
they were fo intent, that they feemed to regard nothing elfe.
It happened, however, that a party of our people were out a
(hooting near the place, and one of the men, whofe curiofity
might at length perhaps be roufed by the report of the fowling
pieces, was obferved by Mr. Banks to haul up his canoe, upon
the beach, and go towards the (hooting party : in (omething-
more than a quarter of an hour he returned, launched his ca-
noe, and went offinhertohis companions. This incident
makes it probable that the natives acquired a knowledge of the
deftru&ive power of our fire arms, when we knew nothing of
the matter ; for this man was not feen by any of the party
whofe operations he had reconnoitred,
While Mr. Banks was gathering plants near the watering-
place, I went with Dr. Solander and Mr. Monkhoufe to the
head of the bay, that I might examine' that part of the country,
and make farther attempts to form feme connexion with the'
natives. In our way we met with eleven or twelve frnall ca-
n-oes, with each a man in it, probably the fame that were after-
wards abread of tlxe (hore, who all made into fhoal water upon
our approach’. We met other- Indians on (hore the fird time we'
landed, who inllandy took to their canoes, and paddled away.
"We went up the country to fome didance, and found the
face of it nearly the fame with that which has been deferibed
already, but the foil was much richer ; for indead of fand , I
found a deep black mould, which I thought very fit for the
produftion of grain of any kind. In the wood's we fonnd a tree-
which bore fruit that in colour and (hape refembled a cherry f
the juice had an- agreeable tartnefs, though but little flavour.
We found alfo interfperfed fome of the- fined meadows in the
world ; fome places however were rocky, but thefe were com-
paratively few : the done is fandy, and might be ufed with,
advantage for building. When we returned to the boat, we
faw fome fmoke upon another part of the coad, and went thi-
ther in hopes of meeting with the people, but at our approach,
thefe alfo ran away. We found fix finall canoes, and fix fires
very
58 COOK’s VOYAGE,
very near, the beach, with feme mufcles roafling, upon them,
ami a few ovfters lying near: by this we judged that there had
been one man in each canoe, who having picked up fome
fhell-fiih had cpme aihore to eat it, and that each made his
feparate lire for that purpofe : we tailed of their cheer, and
left them, in return, fome firings of beads, and other things
which we thought would plcafe them. At the foot of a tree in
this place we found a fmall well of freih water, fupplied by a
fpring ; and the day being now far fpent, we returned to the
ihip. In the evening, Mr. Banks made a little excurfion with
his gun, and found fiich a number of quads, refembiing thofe
in England, thjtt he might have fhot as many ashepleafedj
but his object was variety and not number.
The next morning, as the wind would not permit me to
fail, I fent out feveral parties into the country, to try again
whether fome intercourse could not be eilabliihed with the na-
tives. A midihipman, who belonged to one of thefe parties,
having ftraggled a 1 *:ig way from his companions, met with a
very old man and woman, and fome little children ; they were
fitting under a tree by the water fide, and neither party faw the
other till they were clofe together : the Indians fhewed figns of
fear, but did not attempt to run away. The man happened
to have nothing to give them but a parrot that he had {hot ;
this he offered, but they refufed to accept it, withdrawing
t'aemfelves from his hand, either through fear or averfion.
His flay with them was but Ihort, for he faw feveral canoes
near the beach a fiftiing, and being alone, he feared they might
come afhore, and attack him : he laid, that thefe 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 bulhy, and his beard long and
rough ; that the woman’s hair was cropped Ihort, and both
c-f them were ftark naked. Mr. Monkhoufe the furgeon,
and one of the men, who were with another party near
the watering-place, alfo ftrayed from their companions,
and as they were coming out of a thicket, obferved fix
Indians {landing together, at the diftance of about fifty
yards. One of them pronounced a word very loud, which
was fuppofed tcvbe a lignal, for a lance was immediately
thrown at him out of the wood, whidi very narrowly miffed
him. When the Indians faw that the weapon had not taken
effeft, -they ran away with the greateft precipitation ; but on
turning about towards the place whence the lance had been
thrown, he faw a young Indian, whom he judged to be about
nineteen or twenty years old, come down from a tree, and he
alfo ran away with fuch fpeed as made it hopelefs to follow
him. Mr. Monkhoufe was of opinion that he had been watched
by thefe Indians, in his paffage through the thicket, and that
Plenty of Botanical Plants. 59
the youth had been ftationed in the tree, to difcharge the lance
at him, upon a iignal as he fhould come by ; but however
this be, there could be no doubt but that he was the perfori
who threw the lance.
In the afternoon, I went myfelf with a party over to the
north fhore, and while feme of our people were hauling the
feine, we made an excurfion a few miles into the country,
proceeding afterwards in the direction of the coaft. We
found this place without wood, and fomewhat refembling
our moors in England; the furface of the ground, however,
was covered with a thin brufh of plants, about as high as
the knees; the hills near the ' coaft are low, but others rife
behind them, increafing by a gradual afeent, to a confiderable
diftance, with marfhes and moraffes between. When we re-
turned to the boat, we found that our people had caught with
the feine a great number of fmall filh, which are well known
in the Weft-Indies, and which our failors call Leather jackets,
becaufc their {kin is remarkably thick. I hadfent the Second
Lieutenant out in the yawl a ftriking, and when we got back
to the {hip, we found that he had alfo been very fuccefsful.
He had obferved that the large fting-rays, of which there is
great plenty in the bay, followed the flowing tide into very
fhallow water ; he therefore took the opportunity of flood,
and ftruck feveral in not more than two or three feet water :
one of them weighed no lefs than two hundred and forty
pounds after his entrails were taken out.
The next morning, as the wind {till continued northerly,
I fent out the yawl again, and the people {truck one {till larger,
for when his entrails were taken out, he weighed three hundred
ana thirty-fix pounds.
The great quantity of plants which Mr. Banks and Dr. So-
lander collefted in this place induced me to give it the name
of Botany Bay. It is fituated in thelatitude of 34.0 S. lon-
gitude 208 : 37 W, It is capacious, fafe, and convenient,
and may be known by the land on the fea-coaft, which is near-
ly level, and of a moderate height ; in general higher than it
is farther inland, with lleep rocky cliffs next the fea, which
have the appearance of a long ifland, lying clofe under the
fhore. The harbour lies about the middle of this land, and in
approaching it from the foutlnvard, is discovered before the
ihip comes abreaft of it ; but from the northward it is not dif-
covered fo foon ; the entrance is a little more than a quarter
of a mile broad, and lies in W. N. W. To fail into it the
fouthern fhore fhould be kept on board, till the {hip is within
a fmall bare ifland, which lies clofe under the north fhore ;
within this ifland the deepefl water on that fide is feven fa-
thom, {hallowing to five a good way up. At a confiderable
diftance from the foyth fliore there i* a ihoal, reaching from
6o COOK »s VOYAGE,
the inner fouth point, quite to the head of the harbour; but
over towards the north and north weft ftiore 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
Jfonnd very little frefh water. We anchored near the fouth
fhore, about a mile within the entrance, for the convenience
of failing with a foutherly wind, and becaufe I thought it the
beft fituation for watering ; but I afterwards found a very fine
ftream on the north fhore, in the firft fandy cove within the
ifland, before which a fhip might lie aimed land-locked, and
procure wood as well as water in great abundance. Wood in-
deed is every where plenty, but I faw only two kinds
which may be confidered as timber. Thefe trees are as large,
or larger than the Englifh oak, and one of them has not a
very different appearance : this is the fame that yields the red-
difh gum like fanguis dracanis, and the wood is heavy, hard,
and dark-coloured, like lignum vita .- the other grows tall
and ftrait, fometliing like the pine ; and the wood of this,
which has feme refemblance to the live oak of America, is al-
fo hard and heavy. There are a few fhrubs, and feveral kinds
of the palm ; mangroves alfo grow in great plenty near the
head of the bay. The country in general is level, Jow, and
woody, as far as we could fee. The woods, as I have before
obferved, abound with birds of exquifite beauty, particularly
of the parrot kind ; we found alfo crows here, exactly the
fame with thofe in England. About the head of the harbour,
where there are large flats of fand and mud, there is great
plenty of water-fowl, moft of which were altogether unknow nto
us : one of the moft remarkable was black and white, much
larger than a fwan, and in fhape femewhat refembling a pe- •
lican. On thefe banks of fand and mud there are great quan-
tities of oyfters, mufcles, cockles, and other fhell-filh, which
feem to be the principal fubfiftence of the inhabitants, who go
into fhcal water with their little canoes, and pick them out
with their hands. We did not obferve that they eat any of
them raw, nor do they always go on fhore to drefs them, for
they have frequently fires in their canoes for that purpofe.
They do not however fubiift wholly upon this food, for they
catch a variety of other fifh, fome of which they ftrike with
gigs, and fome they take with hook and line. All the inha-
bitants that w'e faw were ftark naked : they did" not appear to
be numerous, nor to live in focieties, but like other animals
were fcattered about along the coaft, and in the woods. Of
their manner of life, however, we could know but little, as
we w'ere never able to form the leaft connexion svith them : af-
ter the firft conteft at our landing, they would never come near
enough to parley ; nor did they touch a Angle article of all
Port Jackson. 6i
that we had left them at their huts, and the places they fre7
quented, on purpofe for them to take away.
During my .ay in this harbour, I caufed the Engliih colours
to be d-.fplayed on lhore every day, and the (hip's name, and
the date of the year, to be infcribed upon one or the trees near
the watering- place.
It is high wai r here at the ful< and change of the moon
about eight o’clock, at a the tide rites and falls perpendicu-
larly between four and five feet.
CHAP. IV.
The Range from Botan ; Bay to Trinity Bay ; with a farther Ac-
count of the Country, its Inhabitants , and Productions.
AT day-break, on Sunday the 6th of May 1770, we fet
fail from Botany Bay, with a light breeze at N. W.
which foon after coming to the fouthvvard, we fleered along
the lhore N. N. E. ; and at noon, our latitude, by obfervation,
was 33 : 50 S. At this time we were between two and three
miles dillant from the land, and a-breall 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 feveral azi-
muths, appeared to be 8° E. At fun-fet, the northermoll
land in fight bore N. 26 E. and fome broken land, that feern-
cd to form a bay, bore N. 40 W. diflant four leagues. This
bay, which lies in 1 ititude 33 : 42, I called Broken Bay.
We fleered along the fhoore N. N. E. all night, at the dis-
tance of about three leagues from the land, having from thirty-
two to thirty-fix fathom water, with a hard fandy bottom.
Soon after fun-rife on the 7th, I took feveral azimuths,
with four needles belonging to die azimuth compafs, the mean
refult 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 fnore ; the northermoll land in fight bore N.
19 E. and fome lands which projefted in three bluff points,
and which, for that reafon, I called Cape Three Points,
bore S. W. diflant five leagues. Our longitude from Botany
Bay was 19 E. In the afternoon, we faw fmoke in feveral
places upon the fhore, and in the evening, found the variation
to be 8 : 25 E. At this time we were between two and three
miles from the fhore, in twenty-eight fathom ; and at noon
the next day, we had not advanced one flep to the northward.
We flood off fhore, with the winds northerly, till twelve at
night, and at the dillance of about five leagues, had feventy
^ Vol. II. F fathom j
62 COOK’S VOYAGE,
fathom ; at the diftance of fix leagues we had eighty fathom,
which is the extent of the foundings ; for at the diftance of
ten leagues, we had no ground with 150 fathom.
The wind continuing northerly, till the morning of the 10th,
we continued to ftand in and off the fhore, with verv little
change of fituation in other refpedts ; but a gale then fpring-
ing up at S. W. we made the belt of our way along the fhore
to the northward. At fun rife, our latitude was 33 ; 2 S. and
the variation 8° E, At nine in the forenoon, we palled a re-
markable hill, which flood a little way inland, and fomevvhat
refembled the crown of a hat : and at noon, our latitude, by
obfervation, was 32 : 53 S. and our longitude 208° W. We
were about two leagues diftant from the land, which extended
from N. 41 E. to S. 41 W., and a fmall round rock, orifland,
which lay clofe under the land, bore S. 82 W. diftant between
three and four leagues. At four in the afternoon, we palled,
at the diftance of about a mile, a low rocky point, which I
called Point Stephens, on the north fide of which is an
Inlet, which I called Pout Stephens : this inlet appeared
to me, from the mall head, to be fheljrered from all winds. It
lies in latitude 32 : 40, longitude 207 : 51, and at the enr
trance are three fmall illands, two of which are high ; and on
the main, near the fhore, are fome high round hills, which at
a diftance appear like illands. In palling this bay, at the dif-
tance of two or three miles from the fhore, our foundings were
from thirty-three, to twenty-feven fathom, from which I con-
jectured that there mull be a fufticient depth of water within
it. At a little diftance within land, we faw fmoke in feveral
places ; and at half an hour pall five, the northermoll land in
fight bore N. 36 E. and Point Stephens S, W. diftant four
leagues. Our foundings in the night, were from forty-eight
to fixty-two fathom, at the diftance of between three and
four leagues from the fhore, which made in two hillocks.
This Point I called Ca pe Hawke : it lies in the latitude of
32 : 14 S., longitude 207 : 30 W. ; and at four o’clock in
the morning bore W. diftant about eight miles ; at the fame
time the northermoll land in light bore' N. 6 E. and appeared
like an illand. At noon, this land bore N. 8 E. the norther-
jnoft land in fight N. 13 E. and Cape Hawke S. 37 W. Our
latitude, by obfervation was 32 : 2 S. which was twelve miles
to the fouthward of that given by the log ; fo that probably
we had a current fetting that way : by the morning ampli-
tude and azimuth, the variation was 9 : 10 E. During our
run along the Ihore, in the afternoon, we faw fmoke in feveral
places, at a little diftance from the beach, and one upon the
top of a hill, which was the firft we had feen upon elevated
ground, lince our arrival upon the coall. At fun fet, we had^
twenty-three fathom, at the diftance of a league and an half
from
Smokey Capi, 63
from the fliore : the northermoil 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 thefe
hills bore fome refemblance to each other, we called them the
Three Brothers. They lie in latitude 31 : 40, and may
be feen fourteen or iixteen leagues. We fleered N. E. by N.
all night, having from twenty-ieven to fixty-feven fathom, at
the diftance of between two and fix leagues from the Ihore.
At day-break, we fleered north, for the northermoil: land in
fight. At noon we were four leagues from the fhore, and by
obfervation, in latitude 31 : 18 S., which was fi ft- m miles to
the fouthward of that given by the log ; our longitude 206 :
58 W. In the afternoon we flood in for the land, where we
'faw fmcke in feveral places, till flx in the evening, when, be-
ing within three or four miles of it, and in twenty-four fathom
of water, we flood off with a frefh breeze at N. and N. N. W.
'till midnight, when we had 1 1 8 fathom, at the diftance of
eight leagues from the land, and then tacked. At three in
the morning, the wind veered to the weftward, when v/e
tacked and flood to the northward. At noon, our latitude,
by obfervation, was 30 : 43 S., and our longitude 206 : 45
W. At this time we were between three and four leagues
from the fliore, the northermoil part of which bore from us
N. 13 W. and a point, or head land, on which we faw fires
that produced a great quantity of fmoke, bore W. diftant
four leagues. To this point I gave “the name of Smoke y
Cape : it is of a confiderable height, and over the pitch of the
point is a round hillock ; within it are two others, much high-
er and larger, and within them the land is very low. Our la-
titude was 30 : 31 S., longitude 206 : 54 W. : this day the
obferved latitude was only five miles fouth of the log. We
faw fmoke in feveral parts along the coafl, befides that feen.
upon Smoky Cape.
In the afternoon, the wind being at N. E. we flood off and
on, and at three or four miles diflance from the Ihore had thirty
fathom water : the wind afterwards coming crofs off land, we
flood to the northward, having from thirty to twenty-one fa-
thom, at the diflance of four or five miles from the fliore.
At five in the morning the wind veered to the north, and
blew frelh, attended with fqualls : at eight, it began to thun-
der and rain, and in about an hour it fell calm, which gave us
an opportunity to found, and we had eighty-fix fathom at be-
tween four and five leagues from the Ihore : foon after this we
had a gale from the fouthward, with which we fleered N. by
W. for the northermoil land in fight. At noon we were about
four leagues from the fliore, and by obfervation, in latitude
30 : 22, which was nine miles to the fouthward of our reckon-
F 2 ing,
64 COOK’s VOYAGE,
ing, longitude 206 : 39 W. Some lands near the Ihofe, of a
confiderab'le height, bore W.
As we advanced to the northward, from Botany Bay, the
land gradually increafed in height, fo that in this latitude it
may be called a hilly country. Between this latitude and the
Bay, it exhibits a pleafmg variety of ridges, hills, vallies, and
plains, all clothed with wood, of the lame appearance with
that which has been particularly defcribed : the land near the
Ihore is in general low and fandy, except the points, which
are rocky, and over many of them are high hills, which, at
their firft rifing out of the water, have the appearance of
illands. In the afternoon, we had fome fmall rocky illands
between us and the land, the fouthermoft of which lies in la-
titude 30 : 10, and the northermoft in 29 : 58, and fomewhat
more than two leagues from the land : about two miles with-
out the northermoft ifland we had thirty-three fathom water,
having the advantage of a moon, we fteered along the Ihore
all night, in the direction of N. and N. by E. keeping at the
diftance of about three leagues from the land, and having from
twenty to twenty-five fathom water. As loon as it was light,
having a frelh gale, we made all the fail we could, and at nine
o’clock in the morning, being about a league from the Ihore,
we difcovered fmoke in many places, and having recourfe to
our glafles, we faw about twenty of the natives, who had
each a large bundle upon his back, which we conjeftured to
be palm leaves far covering their houfes : we continued to ob-
lerve them above an hour, during which they walked upon
the beach, and up a path that led over a hill of a gentle afcent,
behind which we loft fight of them : not one of them was ob-
ferved to ftop and look towards us, but they trudged along,
to all appearance, without the leaft emotion either of curiofity
or furprize, though it is impofiible they lhould not have fee n
the Ihip by a cafual glance, as they walked along the Ihore ;
and though they mull, vvith refpeil to every other objedl they
had yet ieen, have been little lefs ftupenduous, and unac-
countable, than a floating mountain, with all its woods,
would have been to us. At noon, our latitude, by obfervation,
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 diftance of three miles. It lies in latitude 28 : 37^: 30 S.,
longitude 206 : 30 W. and may be known by a remarkable
fharp 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 Ihore ; to the
fouthward of the point it is alfo low and level. We conti-
nued to fteer along the Ihore with a frelh gale, till fun-fet,
when we fuddenly difcovered breakers a-head, dire&Jy in the
fhip’s courfe, and alfo on our larboard bow. At this time we
• S/” were
M 0 R E T O N ’s B A V. 65
were about five miles from the land, and had twenty fathom
water : we hauled up eaft till eight, when we had run eight
miles, and increafed our depth of water to forty-four fathom :
we then brought to, with the fhip’s head to the eaihvard, and
lay upon this tack till ten, when, having increafed our found-
ing to feventy-eight fathpm, we wore, and lay with the ihip’s
head to the land till five in the morning, when we made fail,
and at daylight we were greatly furprized to find ourfelves far-
ther to the fouthward, than we had been the evening before,
though the wind had been foutherlv, and blown frefh all
night : we now faw the breakers again within 11s, and paffed
them at the diftance of one league. They lie in latitude 28 :
8 S. firetching ofF eafl two leagues, from a point of land, un-
der which is a final 1 ifland. Their fituation may always be
known by the peaked mountain which has been juft mentioned,
and which bears from them S. W. by W. tor this reafon I have
named it Mount Warning. It lies feven or eight leagues
inland, in latitude 28 : 22 S. The land about it is high and
hilly, but it is of itfelf fufficiently confpicuous to be at once
diftinguifhed from every other object. The point off which
thefe lhoals lie, I have na/ned Point Danger. To the
northward of this point- the land is low, and trends N. W. by
N. ; but it foon turns again more to the northward.
At noon we were about two leagues from the land, and by
obfervation, in latitude 27 : 46 S. which was feventeen miles
to the fouthward of the log ; our longitude was 206 : 26 W.
Mount Warning bore S. 26 V/. diftant 14 leagues, and the
northermoft land in fight bore N. We purfued our courfe
along the fhore, at the diftance of about two leagues, in the
direction ofN. \ E. till between four and five in the after-
noon, when we difcovered breakers on our larboard bow.
Our depth of water was thirty-feven fathom, and at fun-fet,
.the northermoft land bore N. by W. the breakers N. W. by
W. diftant four miles, and the northermoft land fet at noon,
which formed a point, and to which I gave the name ofPoiNT
Look-out, W. diftant five or fix miles, in the latitude of 27
6. On the north fide of this point, the fhore forms a wide
open bay, which I called Moreton’s Bay, in the bottom of
which the land is fo low that I could but juft fee it from the
top-maft head. The breakers lie between three and four
miles from Point Look-out ; and at this time we had a great
fea from the fouth, which broke upon them very high. We
flood on N. N. E. till e ght o’clock, when having paffed the
breakers, and deepened our water to fifty-two fathom, we
brought to till midnight, when we made fail 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 fhore than I ex-
F 3 pefled
66 COOK’s VOYAGE,
pefted from the courfe we fleered, for we were diftant at leafl
feven leagues ; I therefore hauled in N. W. by W. with a freih
gale at S. S. W. The land that was fartheft to the north the
night before, now bore S. S. W. diftant fix 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 weft,
farther than can be feen, for there is a fmall fpace, where at
this time no land is vifible, and fome onboard having alfo ob-
ferved that the fea looked paler than ufual, we were of opinion
that the bottom of Moreton’s Bay opened into a river : we had
here thirty-four fathom water, and a fine fandy bottom : this
alone would have produced the change that had been obferved
in the colour of the water ; and it was by no means neceflary
to fuppofe a river to account for the land at the bottom of the
bay not being vifible, for fuppofing the land there to be as low as
we knew it to be in an hundred other parts of the coaft, it would
have been impoffible to fee it from the ftation of the lhip ; how-
ever, if any future navigator fhould be difpofed to determine
the queftion, whether there is or is not a river in this place,
which the wind would not permit us to do, the fituation may
always be found by three hills, which lie to the northward of
it, in the latitude of 26 : 53. Thefe hills lie but a little way
inland, and not far from each other : they are remarkable for
the fingulaj- form of their elevation, which very much re-
fembles a glafs-houfe, and for which reafon I called them the
Gla,ss Houses : the northermoft of the three is the higheft
and largeft : there are alfo feveral other peaked hills, inland to
the northward of thefe, but they are not nearly fo remarkable.
At noon, our latitude was, by obfervation, 26 : 28 S. which
was ten miles to the northward of the log, a circumftance
which had never before happened upon this coaft ; our longi-
tude was 206 : 46. At this time we were between two and
three leagues from the land, and had twenty-four fathom wa-
ter. A low bluff poiut, which was the fouth head of a fandy
bay, bore N. 62 W. diftant three leagues, and the northermoft
point of land in fight bore N. £ E, This day we faw fmoke
in feveral places, and fome at a confiderable diftance inland.
In fleering along the fhore, at the diftance of two leagues,
our foundings were from twenty-four to thirty-two fathom,
with a fandy bottom. At fix in the evening, the northermoft
point of land bore N. | W. diftant four leagues ; at ten it
bore N. W. by W. \ W. and as we had feen no land to the
northward of it, we brought to, not well knowing which way
to fleer.
At two in the morning, however, we made fail with the
wind at S. W. and at day-light, we faw the land extending as
far as N. | E. the point we had fet the night before bore S. VV.
by
Double Island Point. 67
by W. dillant between three and four leagues. It lies in la-
titude 25 : 58, longitude 206 : 48 W. : the land within it is
of a moderate and equal height, but the point itlelf is fo unequal
that it looks like t.vo fmall iflands lying under the land, for
which reafon I gave it the name of Double Island Point ;
it may alfo be known by the white cliffs on the north fide of it.
Here the land trends to the N. W. and forms a large open bay,
the bottom of which is fo low a flat that from the de.k it could
fcarcely be feen. In eroding this bay, our depth of water was
from thirty to twenty-two fathom, with a white fandy bottom.
At noon we were about three leagues from the fhore, in lati-
tude 25 : 34 S. longitude 206 : 45 W. : Double Ifland Point
bore S. ~ W. and the northermod land in fight N. \ E. This
part of the coaft, which is of a moderate height, is more bar-
ren than any we had feen, and the foil more fandy. Withourglaf-
fes we could difeover that the fands, which lay in great patches
of many acres, were moveable, and that fome of them had not
been long in the place they poffeffed ; for we faw in feveral
parts, the trees half buried, the tops of which were Hill green;
and in others, the naked trunks of fuch as the fand had fur-
rounded long enough to deftroy. In other places the woods
appeared to be low and fhrubby, and we faw no figns of in-
habitants. T wo water fnakes fwam by the fhip : they were
beautifully fpotted, and in every refpeft like land fnakes, ex-
cept that their tails were broad and flat, probably to ferve
them initead of fins in fwimming. In the morning of this
day, the variation was 8 : 20 E. and in the evening, 8 : 36.
During the night, we continued our courfe tQ the northward,
with a light breeze from the land, being diftant from it be-
tween two and three leagues, and having from twenty-three to
twenty-feven fathom, with a fine fandy bottom.
At noon, on the 19th, we were about four miles from the
land, with only thirteen fathom. Our latitude was 25 : 4,
and the northermod and inflight bore N. 2 1 W. d’ftant eight
miles. At one o’clock, being dill four miles didant from the
fhore, but having feventeen fathom water, we paffed a black
bluff head, or point of land, upon which a great number of the
natives were affembled, 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 fomewhat more to the wedward : next to the
fea it is low and fandy, and behind it nothing was to be feen,
even from the mad-head; Near Indian Head we faw more of
the natives, and upon the neighbouring fhore fires by night,
and fmoke by day. We kept to the northward all night, at
the didance of from four miles to four leagues from the ihore,
and with a depth of water from feventeen to thirty-four fa-
thom. At day- break, the northermod land bore from us W.
S. Wi
63 iCOOK’s VOYAGE,
S. W. and feemed to end in a point, from which we difco-
vered a reef running out to the northward as far as we could
fee. We had hauled our wind to the wefhvard before it was
light, and continued the courfe till we faw the breakers upon
our lee bow. We now edged away N. W. and N. N. »W.
along the ead fide of the fhoal, from two to one mile didant,
having regular foundings from thirteen to feven fathem, w ith
a fine fandy bottom. At noon, our latitude, by obfervation,
was 20 : 26, which was thirteen miles to the northward of
the log : we judged the extream point of the fiioal to bear from
us about N. W. and the point from which it feemed to run
out, bore S. \ W. diftant .twenty miles. This point I named
Sandy Cape, from two very large patches of white fand
which lay upon it. It is fuffibiently high to be feen at the dis-
tance of twelve leagues, in clear weather, and lies in latirude
24 : 45, longitude 206 151: the land trends from it S. W.
as far as it can be feen. We kept along the ealt fide of the
fhoal till two in the afternoon, when, judging that there was
a fufficient depth of water upon it, to allow paflage for the
fhip, I fient the boat a-head to found, and upon her making
the iignal for more than five fathom, we hauled our wind,
and ftood over the tail of it in fix fathom. At this time we
were in latitude 24 : 22, and Sandy Cape bore S. \ E. dif-
tant eight leagues; but the direftion on the fhoal is neared
N. 1M . W. and S. S. E. It it remarkable that when on board
the fhip we had fix fathom, the boat, which was fcarcely a
quarter of a mile to the fouthward, had little more than five,
and that immediately after fix fathom we had thirteen, and
then twenty, as fall as the man could cad the lead : from
thefe circumdances, I conjectured that the wed fide of the
dioal was deep. This fhoal I called the Break Sea Spit,
becaufe we had now fmooth water, and to the fouthward of
it we had always a high fea from the S. E. At fix in the
evening, the land of Sandy Cape extended from S. 17 E. to
S. 27 E. at he didance of eight leagues ; our depth of water
was twenry-three fathom : with the fame foundings we dood
to the wedward all night. At feven in the morning, we faw,
from the maft head, the land of Sandy Cape bearing S. E. §•
E. didant about thirteen leagues : at nine we difeovered land
to the wedward, and foon after faw fmoke in feveral places.
Our depth of water was now decreafed to feveoteen fathom,
and by noon we had no more than thirteen, though we were
feven 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 pad we had feen feveral of the fea birds called boo-
bies, not having met with any of them before ; lad night a
fmall flock of them palled the fliip, and went away to the
N. W. and in the morning, from about half an hour before
fun-
Hervev’s Bay. 69
fun-rife, to half an hour after, flights of them were continu-
ally coming from the N. N. W. and flying to the S. S. E. nor
was one of them fcen to fly in any other direction ; we there-
fore conjedlured that there was a lagoon, river, or inlet of fhal-
low water, in the bottom of the deep bay, ta the fouthward of
us, whither thefe birds reforted to feed in the day, and that
not far to the northward there were fome iflands to which they
repaired in the night. To this bay I gave the name of Her-
vey’s Bay, in honour of Captain Hervey. In the afternoon,
we flood in for the land, fleering S. W. with a gentle breeze
at S. E. till four o’clock, when, being in latitude Z4 : 36,
about two leagues from the fhore, and having nine fathom
water, we bore away along the coaft N. W. by W. and at the
fame time could fee land extending to the S. S. E. about eight
leagues. Near the fea the land is very low, but within there
are iome lofty hills, all thickly clothed with wood. While
we were running along the fhore, we fhallovved our water from
nine to feven fathom, and at one time we had but fix, which
determined us to anchor for the night.
At fix in the morning we weighed, with a gentle breeze
from the fouthward, and fleered N. W. | W. edging in for
the land till we got within two miles of it, with water from
feven to eleven fathom : we then fleered N. N. W. as the land
lay, and at noon, our latitude was 24 : 19. We continued
in the fame courfe, at the fame diftance, with from twelve
fathom to feven, till five in the evening, when we were abreafl
of the fouth point of a large open bay, in which I intended to
anchor. During this courfe, we difcvered with our glafles
that the land was covered with palm-nut- trees, which we had
not feen from the t:me of our leaving the iflands within the
Tropick : we alfo law two men walking along the fhore, who
did not condefcend to take the leaf! notice of us. In the even-
ing, having hauled clofe upon a wind, and made two or three
trips, we anchored about eight o’clock in five fathom, with a
fine Tandy bottom. The fouth point of the bay bore E. £ S.
dirtant two miles, the north point N. W. \ N. and about
the fame diftance from the fhore.
Early the next morning I went afhore, 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 freih, and we found it fo cold- that being at fome diftance
from the fhore, we took our cloaks as a neceflary equipment
fo-- the voyage. We lamed a little within the fouth point of
the bay, where we found a channel leading into a large la-
goon : this channel I proceeded to examine, and found three
fathom water till I got about a mile up it, where I met with a
fhoal, upon which there was little more than one fathom,
but having paffed over it, I had three fathom again. The
entrance
70 C 0 O IC’s VOYAGE,
entrance of this channel lies clofe to the fouth point of the ba)',
being formed by the fhore on the eaft, and on the weft by a
large fpit of fand : it is about a quarter of a mile broad, and
lies in S. by W. In this place there is room for a few flips
to lie in great fecurity, and a fmall ftream of frefli water ; I
would have rowed into the lagoon, but was prevented by
mallows. We found feveral bogs; and fwamps of fait water,
upon which, and by the ftdes of the lagoon, grows the true
mangrove, fuchas is found in the Weft-Indies, and the firft ot
the kind that we had met with. In the branches of thefe
mangroves therfe-were many nefts of a remarkable kind of ant,
that was as green as grafs : when the branches were difturbed
they came out in great numbers, and pun^fhed the offender by
a much /harper bite than ever wehadfelt from the fame kind
of animal before. Upon thefe. maftgrcves alfo we faw fmall
green caterpillars in great numbers': their bodies were thick'
fet with hairs, and' they were ranged ‘upon the leaves fide by'
fide, like a file of foldiers, to the number of twenty or thirty
together: when we touched them, we found that the hair on'
their bodies had the quality of a nettle, and gave us a much
more acute, though lefs durable pain. The country here is
manifeftly worfe thrin about Botany Bay : the foil is dry and
fandy, but the ftdes of the hills are covered with trees, which
grow feparately, without underwood. We found here the
tree that yields a gum like the Sanguis draconis ; but it is fome-
what different from the trees of the fame kind which we had
feen before, for the leaves are longer, and hang down like
thofe of the weeping willow. We found alfo much lefs gum
upon them, which is contrary to the eftablifhed opinion, that
the hotter the climate, the more gums exude. Upon a plant
alfo, which yielded a yellow gum, there was lefs than upon
the fame kind of plant in Botany Bay, among the fhoals and
land banks we faw many large birds, fome in particular of the
fame kind, that we had feen in Botany Bay, much bigger than
fwans, which we judged to be pelicans ; but they were fo fhy that
we could riot get within gun-lhot of them. Upon the Ihore
we faw a fpecies of the buftard, one of which we (hot, it was
as large as a turkey, and weighed feventeen pounds and an
half. We all agreed that this was the beft bird we had eaten
iince we left England ; and in honour of it we called this inlet
Bustard Bay. li lies in latitude 24 : 4, longitude 208 :
18. The fea feerned to abound with fifh ; but, unhappily,
we tore our feme all to pieces at the firft haul : upon the mud
banks, under the mangroves, we found innumerable oyfters
of various kinds ; among others the hammer oyfter, and a
large proportion of fmall pearl-oyfters : if in deeper water there
is equal plenty of fuch oyfters at their full growth, a pearl fiihe-
ry might certainly be eftablifhed here to a very great advantage.
Bustard Bat, 71
The people who were left on board the^fhip faid, that while
we were in the woods about twenty of the natives came down
to the beach, abreall of her, and having looked at her feme-
tint *, went away ; but we, that were afhore, though we faw
fmoke in many places, faw no people : the fmoke was at
places too aidant for us to get to them by land, except one,
to which we repaired : we found ten fmall fires Hill burning
within a few paces of each other ; but the people were gone :
we faw near them feveral veffels of bark, which we fuppofed
to have contained water, and fome Ihelis and iifh-bones, the
remains of a recent meal. We faw alio, lying upon the ground,
feveral pieces of foft bark, about the length and breadth of a
man, which we imagined might be their beds; and, on the
windward fide of the fires, a fmall ihade, about a foot and an
half high, of the fame fubllance. The whole was in a thicket
of dole trees, which afforded good fhelter from the wind. The
place leerned to be much trodden, and as we faw no houfe,
nor any remains of a houfe, we were inclined to believe that as
thefe people had no clothes, they had no dwelling ; but fpent
their nights among the other commoners of Nature, in the
open air : and Tupia himfelf, with an air of fuperiority and
■compaflion, (hook his head, and faid that they were Taata
Enos , * poor wretches.’ I meafured the perpendicular height
of the lafb tide, and found it to be 8 feet above low-water
mark, and from the time of low water this day, I found that
it mull be high water at the full and change of the moon at
eight o’clock.
At four o’clock in the morning we weighed, and with a
gentle breeze at fouth made fail out of the bay. In Handing
out, our foundings were from five to fifteen fathom ; and at
day-light, when we were in die greatefl depth, and abreall of
the north head of the bay, we difeovered breakers firetching
out from it N. N, E. between two and three miles, with a
rock at the outermoft point of them, jufi above water. While
we were piaffing thefe rocks, at the difiance of about half a
mile, we had from fifteen to twenty fathom, and as foon as
we had palled them, we hauled along fhore W. N. W-. for
the fartheft land we had in fight. At noon, our latitude by
obfervation was 25:52s.; the north part of Bullard Bay bore
S. 62 E. difiant ten miles ; and the northermofi land in fight
N. 60 W. ; the longitude was 208:37, and. our diftance
from the neareft fhore fix miles, with fourteen fathom water.
Till five in the afternoon it was calm, but afterwards we
fleered before the wind N. W. as the land lay, till ten at
night, and then brought to, having had all along 14 and 15
fathom. At five in the morning we made fail : and at day-light
the northermofi point of the main bore N. 70 W. Soon af-
ter we faw more land, making like i (lands, and bearing N. W.
72 C O O K »S V O y A G E,
by N. At nine, we were abreaft of a p oint, at the diftance of
one mile, with fourteen fathom water. This point 1 found to
lie direftly under t e Tropic cf Capricorn ; and for that rea-
fon I called it Cape Capricorn : its longitude is 208 : 58
W. ; it is of a ccnliderable height, looks white and ba ren,
and may be known by home illands which lie to the N. W. of
it, and fome fmal' r cks at the diftance of about a league S.
E. On the weft side of the Cape there appeared to be a la-
goon, and on rh nvo /pits whi n formed die entrance we law
an incredible run u r , he large bir-ds that relent Me a peli-
can. 1 he noithermoft land now in light bore rrom Cape
Capricorn N. 24 W. and appeared tc bean ii nd ; but the
mainland maided y . \ I\. whi li courle we .fleered,
having irem fd een to nx and Irom fix to nine, wi'h a
hard 1 indy bottom. At no 11, our latitude by obiervation
was 23 : 24 b. ; Cape Capricorn bore S. 60 E. diftaut two
leagues ; and a fmali ilLnd 3N. by E. two miles : in this litu-
a don we had nine fathom, being abcut four miles Iron, the
main, which, next the fea, is' lew and landy, except the points
whim are high and rocky, 1 he country inland is hilly, but
by no means of a pleafing afpeft. V. e continued to Hand to
the N. W. till four o’clock in the afternoi n, when it fell
calm ; and we foon after anchored in twelve 1: them, having
the main land and illands in a manner all round us, and Cape
Capricorn bearing S. 54 E. diftnnt four league's. In the night,
we found the tide rife and fall near feven fee ; and the flood
to fet to the weftward, and the ebb to the ealtward, which is
juft contrary to whhat we found v/hen we were at anchor to the
call: ward of Buftard Bay.
At fix in the morning we weighed, with a gentle breeze at
South, and flood away to the N. W. between the outermoll
range of iflandsy and the main, leaving feveral fmali illands
between the main and the flrip, which we palled at a very little
diftance: our foundings being irregular, from twelve to four
fathom, I fent a boat a-head to found. At noon we were about
three miles from the main, and about the fame diftance from
the illands without us : our latitude by obfervation was 23 : 7
S. : the main land here is high and mountainous ; the illands
which lie off- it are alfo moll of them high, and of a fmali
circuit, having an appearance rather of barrennefs than ferti-
lity.- At this time we faw fmoke in many places, at a con-
flderable diftance inland, and therefore conjedlured that there
might be a lagoon, river, or inlet running up the country,
the rather as we had palled two places which had the appear-
ance of being fuch ; but our depth of water was too little to
encourage me to venture where I Ihouid probably have lefs.- We
had not flood to the northward above an hour, before we hid-
den ly fell into three fathom ; upon which I anchored, and
Cape Manifolb. 7j
feni; away the Matter to found the channel which lay to leeward
ef us, between the northermoft ifland and the main : it ap-
peared to be pretty broad, but I fufpedted that it was lhallow,
and fo indeed it was found ; for the matter reported at his re-
turn that in many places he had only two fathom and an half,
and where we lay at anchor we had only fixteen feet, which
was not two feet more than the fhip drew. While the matter
was founding the channel, Mr. Banks tried to filh from the
cabin windows, with hook and line : the water was too lhal-
low for filh ; but the ground was almoft covered with crabs,
which readily took the bait, and fometimes held it fo fail in
their claws, that they did not quit their hold till they were
confiderably above water. Thefe crabs were of two forts, and
both of them fuch as we had not feen before : one of them
was adorned with the fineft blue that can be imagined, in
every refpeft equal to the ultramarine, with which all his claws,
and every joint was deeply tinged : the under part of him
was white, and fo exquilitely polilhed that in colour and
brightnefs it exadtly refembled the white of old china : the
other was alfo marked with the ultramarine upon his joints,
and his toes, but fomewhat more fparingly ; and his back was
marked with three brown fpots, which had a lingular ap-
pearance. The people who had been out with the boat to
found, reported, that upon an illand where we had obferved
two fires, they had feen feveral of the inhabitants, who called
to them, and feemed very delirous that they Ihould land.
In the evening, the wind veered to E. N. E. which gave us
an opportunity to ftretch three or four miles back by the way
we came ; after which, the wind Ihifted to the fouth, and
obliged us again to anchor in fix fathom.
At five in the morning, I lent away the matter to fearch
for a palfage between the illands, while we got the fhip un-
der fail ; and as foon as it was light we followed the boat,
which made a fignal that a palfage had been found. As foon
as we got again into deep water, we made fail to the north-
ward, as the land lay, with foundings from nine fathom to
fifteen, and fome fmall illands Hill without us. At noon we
were about two leagues dittant from the main ; and by obfer-
vation in latitude 22 : 53 S. The northermoft point of land
in fight now bore N. N . W. dittant 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 dittant about feventeen leagues from Cape Capricorn, in
the direction of N. 26 W. Between thefe Capes the lliore
forms a large bay, which I called Kepfel Bay ; and I alfo
diltinguifhed the illands by the name of Keppel’s Islands.
In this bay there is a good anchorage ; but what refreihments
it may ail'ord, I know not : we caught no filh, ihoimh we
Vol.H. G
were
74 COOE’s VOYAGE,
were at anchor ; but probably there is frelh water in feveral
places, as both the iflands and the main are inhabited. We
few fmoke and fires upon the main ; and upon the iflands we
faw people. At three in the afternoon, we paffed Cape Ma-
nifold, from which the land trends N. N. W. The land of
the Cape is high, rifing in hills direttly from the fea ; and
may be known by three illands which lie off it, one of them
near the Ihore, and the other two eight miles out at fea. One
of thefe iflands is low and flat, and the other high and round.
At fix o’clock in the evening we brought to, when the npr-
thermoft part of the main in fight bore N. W. and feme iflands
which lie off it ^ST. 3 1 W, Our foundings 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 fail, Cape Manifold bearing S. by E.
diftant eight leagues, and the iflands which I had fet the night-
before were diftant four miles in the feme dirp&ion. The far-
theft vifible point of the main bore N. 67 W. at the diftance
of twenty-two miles ; but we could fee feveral iflands to the
northward of this diredion. At nine o’clock in the forenoon,
we were abreaft of the point which I called Cape Town-
send. It lies in Jatitqde 25 : 15 ; longitude 209 : 43 : the
land is high and levpl, and rather naked than woody. Seve-
ral iflands lie to the northward of it, at the diftance of four or
five miles out at fea ; three or four leagues to the S. E. the
ihore forms a bay, in the bottom of which there appeared to
h>e an inlet or harbour. To the weftward of the Cape the land
trends S. W. i S. and there forms a very Jorge bay, which
turns to the eaftward, and probably communicates with the in-
let, and makes the land of the cape an ifland. As foon as we
got round this cape, we hauled our wind to the weftward, in
order to get within the iflands, which lie fcattered in the bay
an great numbers, and extend out to fea as far as the eye could
peach, even from the maft head : thefe iflands vary both in
height and circuit from each other ; fo that, although they are
very numerous, no two of them are alike. We had not flood
Jong upon a wind before we came into Ihoal water, and were
obliged to tack at once to avoid it. Having fent a boat ahead,
I bore away W. by N. many fmall iflands, rocks and Ihoals,
lying betweep us and the main, and many of - a larger extent
without us : our foundings till near noon were from fourteen
to feventeen fathom, when the boat made the figqal for meet-
ing with flioal water : upon this we hauled clofe upon a wind
to the eaftward, but fuddenly fell into three fathom and a
quarter ; we immediately dropped an anchor, w'hich brought
the Ihip up with all her fails Handing. When the feip was
brought up we had four fathom, with a coarfe iandy bottom,
sqid found a ftroqgtide felting to the N. W. by W. f; W. at
Insects of the Country. 75
tie rate of rear three miles an hour, by which we were fo fud-
denly carried upon the fhoal. Our latitude by obfervation was
22 : 8 S. ; Cape Townlhend bore E. 16 S. diftant thirteen
miles ; and the weftermoft part of the main in fight W. ^ N.
At this time a great number of iflands lay all round us.
In the afternoon, having founded round the fhip, and found
that there was water fufficient to carry her over the Ihoal, we
weighed, and about three o’clock made fail and ftood to the
weft ward, as the land lay, having lent a boat ahead to found.
At fix in the evening, we anchored in ten fathom, with a fan-
dy bottom, at about two miles diflance from the' main ; the
weltermoft part of which bore W. N. W. and a great number
of iflands, lying a long way without us, were ftill in fight.
At five o’clock the next morning, I fent away the mailer
with two boats to found the entrance of an inlet, which bore
from us weft, at about the diftance of a league, into which I
intended to go with the fhip, that I might wait a few days till
the moon fhould encreafe, and in the mean time examine the
country. As foon as the fhip could be got under fail, the boats
made the fignal for anchorage ; upon which we ftood in, and
anchored in five fathom water, about a league within the en-
trance of the inlet ; which, as I obferved a tide to flow and ebb
cOnfiderably, I judged to be a river that ran up the country to a
confiderable diftance. In this place I had thoughts of laying
the fhip afhore, and cleaning fier bottom ; I therefore landed
with the mafter in fearch of a convenient place for that pur-
pofe, and was accompanied by Mr. Banks, and Dr. Solander.
We found walking here exceedingly troublefome, for the ground
wa3 covered with a kind of grafs, the feeds of which were very
Jharp, and bearded backwards ; fo that whenever they ftuck
into our clothes, which indeed was at every ftep, they worked
forwards by means of the beard, till they got at theflefh ; and
at the fame time we were furrounded by a cloud of mufquitos,
which inceffantly tormented us with their flings. We foon
met with feveral places where the fhip might conveniently be
laid aihore ; but to our great difappointment we could find no
frefh water. We proceeded however up the country, where we
found gum trees like thofe that we had feen before, and ob-
ferved that here alfo the gum was in very fmall quantities. Upon
the branches of thefe trees, and fome others, we found ants
nefts, made of clay, as big as a bufhel, fomething like thofe
defcribed in Sir Hans Sloan’s Natural Hiftory of Jamaica, val.
2. p. 221, tab. 258, but not fo fmooth : the ants which in-
hibited thefe nefts were fmall, and their bodies white. But
upon another fpecies of the tree we found a fmall black ant,
which perforated all the twigs, and having worked out the
pit ., occupied the pipe which had contained, it ; yet the parts
in which thefe infedts had thus formed a lodgment, and in
G 2 which
76 COO's VO Y A G E,K
which they fvv armed in fuch amazing numbers, bore leaves ancl
flowers, and appeared to be in as flourilhing a ftate as thofe
that were found. We found alfo an incredible number of but-
terflies, fo that for the fpace of three or four acres the air was fo
crowded with them that millions were to be feen in every di-
rection, at the fame time that every branch and twig was co-
vered with others that were not upon the wing. We found here
alfo a fmall fifh of a Angular kind ; it was. about the Aze of a
minnow, and had two very ftrong breafl: flns : we found it in
places that vyere quite dry, where we fuppofed it might have
been left by the tide ; but it did not feem to have become lan-
guid by the want of water ; for upon our approach it leaped
away, by the help of the breafl: fins, as nimbly as a frog, nei-
ther indeed did it feem to prefer water to land ; for when we
found it in the water, it frequently leaped out, and purfued
itstvay upon dry ground : we alfo obferved that when it was
in places where fmall flcnes were Handing above the furface of
the water, at a little diflance from each other, it chofe rather '
to leap from ftone to ftone, than to pafs through the water ;
arfd we faw feveral of them pafs entirely over puddles in this
m’Shner, till they came to dry ground, and then leap away.
In the afternoon we renewed our fearch after frefli water,
blit without fuccefs ; and therefore I determined to make my
fiay here but fliort : however, having obferved from an emi-
nence that the inlet penetrated a conflderable way into the
couhtry, I determined to trace it in the morning.
At fun-rile I went alhore, and climbing a conflderable hill,
I took a view of the coaft and the iflands that lie offit, with their
bearings, having an azimuth compafs with me for that pur-
pole ; but I obferved that the needle differed very confiderably
in its pofition, even to thirty degrees, in fome places more, in '
others lefs ; and once I found it differ from itfelf no lefs than ‘
two points, in the diflance of fourteen feet. I took up fome of
the loofe ftone3 that lay upon the ground, and applied them to
the needle, but they produced no effect ; and I therefore con-
cluded that there was iron ore in the hills, of which I had re-
marked other indications both here, and in the neighbouring
parts. After I had made my obfervations upon the hill, I pro-
ceeded with Dr. Solander up the inlet ; I fet out with the firft
of the flood, and long before high-water T 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 fea ; and I not only faw the fea in this direttion, but lt
found the tide of flood coming flrongly in from that point : I
alfo obferved an arm of this lake extending to the eaftward,
and it is not improbable that it may communicate with the
fea in the bottom of the bay, which lies to the "weftward of*
Cape
Thirsty Sound. 77
Cape Townfhend. On the fouth fide of the lake is a ridge of.
high hills which I was very defirous to climb ; but it being
high water, and the day far fpent, I was afraid of being be-
wildered among the Ihoals in the night, efpecially as the wea-
ther was dark and rainy ; and therefore I made the bed of my
way to the fnip. In this excurdon I faw only two people, and
they were at a didance; they followed the boat along the
Ihore a good way, but the tide running ftrongly in my favour,
I. could not prudently wait -for them ; I faw however feveral
fires in one direction, and fmoke in another, but they alfo
were at a ciilance. While I was tracing the inlet with Dr.'
Solander, Mr. Banks was endeavouring to penetrate into the
country, where feveral of the people, who had leave to go "
alhore, were alfo rambling about. Mr. Banks and his party
found their courfe obdrudted by a fwamp, covered with man- '
groves, which however they refolved to pafs ; the mud was
almoil knee deep, yet they refolutely went on ; but before"
they got half way, they repented of their undertaking ; the
bottom w'as covered with branches of trees, interwoven with
each other, fometimes they kept their footing upon them,
fometimes their feet dipt through, and fometimes they were
fo entangled among them, that they were forced to free them-
felves by groping in the mud and dime with their hands. In.
about an hour however they eroded it, and judged it might be
about a quarter of a mile over. After a Ihort walk they came
op to a place where there had been four fmall fires, and near
them fome Ihells and bones of fifh, that had been roaded
they found alfo heaps of grafs laid together, where four or five
people appeared to have dept. The Second Lieutenant, Mr,
Gore, who was at another place, itW a little water lying in
the bottom of a gully, and near it the track of a large animal :
fonie budards were alfo feen, but none of them diot, nor any
otjier bird except a few of the beautiful loriquets, which we
had feen in Botany Bay. Mr. Gore, and one of the midihip-
mfn, who were in different places, laid that they had heard
thef voices of Indians near them, but had feen none : the coun-
try dn general appeared faridy and barren, and being dellitute
of fredt water, it cannot be fuppofed to have any fettled in-
habitants. The deep gullies, which were worn by torrents
from the hills, prove, that at certain feafons the rains here
are very copious and heavy.
The inlet in which the Ihip lay I called Thirsty Sound,
becaufe it afforded us no fr’dh water. It lies in latitude 22 ;
10 S. and ionguu.de 210 : i-8 W. ; and may be known by 3
group of final! lfiands lying under the fhore, from two to five
leagues diiiant, in the direction of N. W. and by another
group of ill inds that .ie right before it, between three and four
leagues out at lea* Over each of the points that form the en-
G 3, trance
78 COOK’s VOYAGE,
trance is a high round hill, which on the N. W. is apeninfula
that at high water is furrounded by the fea : they are bold to
both the Ihores, and the diftance between them is about two
miles. In this inlet is good anchorage in feven, fix, five, and
four fathom ; and places very convenient for laying a ihip
down, where, at fpring-tides, the water does not rife lefs than
fixteen or eighteen feet. The tide flows at the full and change
of the moon about eleven o’clock. I have already obferved
that here is no frefh water, nor could we procure refrefhment
of any other kind : we faw two turtles, but we were not able
to take either of them : neither did we catch either fifh or wild
fowl, except a few fmall land-birds : we faw indeed the fame
forts of water-fowl as in Botany Bay, but they were fo fhy that
we could not get a fhot at them.
As I had not therefore a Angle inducement to flay longer in
this place, I weighed anchor at fix o’clock in the morning,
of Thurfday the 31 ft of May, and put to fea. We ftood to
the N. W. with a frelh breeze at S. S. E. and kept without
the group of iflands that lie in fltore, and to the N. W. of
Thirfty Sound, as there appeared to be no fafe pafiage be-
tween them and the main : at the fame time we had a number
of iflands without us, extending as far as we could fee : during
our run in this dire&ion our depth of water was ten, eight, and
nine fathom. At noon, the weft point of Thirfty Sound,
which I have called Pier Head, bore S. 36 E. diftant five
leagues ; the eaft point of the other inlet, which communi-
cates with the found, bore S. by W. diftant two leagues ; the
group of iflands juft mentioned lay between us and the point,
and the fartheft part of the jnain in fight, on the other fide of
the inlet, bere N. W. Our latitude by obfervation was 2 1 :
53. At half an hour after twelve, the boat, which was found-
ing ahead, made the fignal for fhoal water, and we immedi-
ately hauled our wind to the N. E. At this time we had
feven fathom, at the next caft five, and at the next three,
upon which we inftantly dropped an anchor, that brought the
fhip up. Pier Head the north weft point of Thirfty-Sound,
bore S. E. diftant fix leagues, being half way between the
iflands which lie off the eaft point of the weftern inlet, and
three fmall iflands which lie diredlly without them. It was
now the firft of the flood, which we found to fet N. W. by
W. | W. ; and having founded about the fhoal, upon which
we had three fathom, and found deep water all round it, we
got under fail, and having hauled round the three iflands that
have been juft mentioned, came to an anchor under the lee of
them, in fifteen fathom water j and the weather being dark,
hazy, and rainy, we remained there till feven o’clock in the
morning. At this time we got again under fail, and ftood to
the N, W, with a frefh breeze at §» 5. E. } having the maia
Cape Hillsborough. jf
land in fight, and a number of iflands all round us, Tome of
which lay out at fea as far as the eye could reach. The vvef-
tern inlet, which in the chart is dillinguifhed by the name of
Broad Sound, vve had now all open ; at the entrance, is at
leail nine or ten leagues wide : in it, and before it lie feveral
iilands, and probably lhoals alfo ; for our foundings were very
irregular, varying luddenly from ten to four fathom. At noon,
cur latitude by obiervation was 21 : 29 S. ; ji point of land
which forms the north weft entrance into Broad Sound, and
which I have named Cape Palmerston, lying in latitude
2 1 : 30, longitude 2CO : 14 W. bore W. by N. diftant three
leagues. Our latitude was 21 : 27, our longitude 210 : 57.
Between this Cape and Cape Townlhend lies the bay which I
have called the Bay of Inlets. We continued to ftand to
the N. W. and N. W. by N. as the land lay, under an eafy
fail, having a boat ahead to found : at firft the foundings 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 Tandy bottom ; and foon after we found
the tide fetting with a flow motion to the weftward. Atone
o’clock it was flack or low- water ; and at half an hour after 2
the fhip tended to the eaftward, and rode fo till fix in the mor-
ning, when the tide had rifen eleven feet. We now got un-
der fail, and flood away in the dire£lion of the coaft, N. N.
W. From what we had obferved of the tide during the night,
it is plain, that the flood came from the N. W. ; whereas the
preceeding day, and feveral days before, it came from the S.
E. ; nor was this the firft, or even fecond time that we had
remarked the fame thing. At fun-rife this morning, we found
the variation to be 6 : 45 E. ; and in fleering along the fhore,
between the ifland and the main, at thediftance of about two
leagues from the main, and three or four from the ifland, our
foundings were regular from twelve to nine fathom ; but about
eleven o’clock in the forenoon we were again embarafled in
fhoal water, having at one time not more than three fathom ;
yet we got clear without calling anchor. At noon we were
about two leagues from the main, and four from the iflands
without us. Our latitude by ob ervation was 20 : 56, and a
high promontory, which I named Cape Hillsborough,
bore W. \ N. diftant feven miles. The land here is diverfl-
fied by mountains, hills, plains, and valleys, and feems to be
well clothed with herbage and wood : the iflands which lie
parallel to the coaft, and from five to eight or nine miles dif-
tant, are of various height and extent ; fcarcely any cf them
-are more than five leagues in circumference, and many are not
four miles: befides this chain, of iflands, which lie at ' a dif-
tance from the coaft, there are others much left, which lie un-
So COOK’s voyage,
der the land, from which we faw fmoke rifing in different’
places. We continued to fleer along the fhore, at the dis-
tance of about two leagues, with regular foundings from nine
to ten fathom. At fun-fet, the farthefl point of the main
bore N. 48 W. and to the northward of this lay fome high
land, which I took to be an ifland, and of which the north
well point bore 41 W. ; but not being fure of a paffage, 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 lot-
ting to the northward, and at two it had fallen nine feet ; after
this it began to rife, and the flood came from the northward,
in the direction of the iflands which lay out to fea; a plain in-
dication that there was no paffage to the N. W. This how-
ever had not appeared at day-break, when we got under fail
and flood to the N. W. At eight o’clock in the morning, we
difcovered low land quite acrcfs what we took for an opening,
which proved to be a bay, about five or fix leagues deep ;
upon this we hauled our wind to the eallward round the north
point of the bay, which at this time bore from us N. E. by N.
diftant four leagues : from this point we found the land trend
way N. by W. \ W, and a {freight or paflage between it and a
large ifland, or iflands, lying parallel to it- Having the tide
of ebb in our favour, we flood for this paffage ; and at noon'
were juft within the entrance : our latitude by obfervation was"’ :
20 : 26 S. ; Cape Hiillborough bore S.. by E. diftant ten,
leagues ; and the north point of the bay S. 19 W. diftant 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 Killfbcrough I called'
Re pulse Bay. The greateft depth of water which we found
in it was thirteen fathom, and the leaft eight. In all parts
there was fafe anchorage, and I believe that, upon proper exa-
mination, fome good harbours would be found in it; efpe-
ciallv at the north fide within Cape Conway; for juft within
that cape there lie two or three fmall iflands, which alone
would fhelter that fide of The bay from the loutherly and fouth
eafterly winds, that feem to prevail here as a Trade. Among
the many iflands that lie upon this coaft, there is one more re-
markable than the reft ; it is of a fmall circuit, very high and
peaked, end lies E. by S. ten miles from Cape Conway, at
the fouth end of the paflage. In the afternoon we fleered
through this paflage, which we found to be from three to fe-
ven miles broad, and eight or nine” leagues in length, N. by
W. j VV. , S. by E. I E. It is formed by the main on the
weft, and by the iflands on the-eaft, one of which is at leall
five leagues in leng’h : our depth of water in running through
was from twenty to twenty-five fathom, with good anchorage
every where, and’’ the whole paffage may be coniidered as one
Whitsun bay's Passage. 8j
fa fe harbour, exclufive of the fmall bays and coves which
abound on each fide, where fhips might lie as in a bafon. The
land both upon the main and iflands is high, and diverfified by
hill and valley, wood and lawn, with a green and pleafant
appearance. On one of the iflands we difcovered with our
glafles two men and a woman, and a canoe with an outrigger,
which appeared to be larger, and of a conftnnftion very diffe-
reht from thofe of bark tied together at the ends, which we
had feen upon other parts of the coaft ; we hoped therefore
that the people here had made fome farther advances beyond
mere animal life, than thofe we had feen before. At fix o*
clock in the evening, we were nearly the length of the north
end of the paflage ; the north weftermoft point of the main in
fight bore N. 54 W. and the north end of the ifland N. N. E.
with an open fea between the two points. As this paffage
was difcovered on Whitfunday, I called it WhItsund'ay’s
Passage, and I called the iflands that form it Cumberland
Islands, in honour of his Royal Highnefs the Duke. We
kept under an eafy fail, with the lead going all night, being
about three leagues from the fhore, aud having from twenty-
oiie to twenty-three fathcm water. At day-break, we were
abreaft of the point which had been the fartheft in fight to the
north well the evening before, which I named C-ape Glou-
cester. It is a lofty promontory, in latitude 19 : 59 S. lon-
gitude, 21 1 : 49 W. and may be known by an ifland which
lies out at fea N. by W. \ W. at the diftance of five or fix
leages from it, and which I called Holborne Isle; there
are alfo iflands lying under the land between Holborne Ifle,
and Whitfunday’s Paffage. On the weft fide of Cape Glou-
cefter the land trends away S. W. and S. S. W. and forms a
deep bay, the bottom of'which I could but juft fee from the
maft-head : it is very low, and a continuation of the low land
which we had feen at the bottom of Repulfe Bay. This bay
I called Edgecumbe Bay ; but without flaying to look into
it, we continued our courfe to the weftward, for the fartheft
land we could fee in that direction, whjph bore W. by N. §■
N. and appeared very high. At neon we were about three
leagues from the fhore, by obfervation in latitude 19 : 47 S.
and Cape Gloucefter bore S. 63 E. diftant feven leagues and
an half. At fix in the evening, we v/ere abreaft of the wef-
tefmoll: point juft mentioned, at about three miles diftance,
andbecaufe it rifes abruptly from the low lands which furround
it,' I called it Cape Upstart. It lies in latitude 19 : 39 S.
longitude 21 2 : 32 W. fourteen leagues W. N. W. from Cape
Gloucefter, and is of a height fufheient to be feen at the dif-
tance of twelve leagues : inland there are fome high hills or
mountains, which, like the Cape, afford but a barren pro-
fpKV.’ Having paffed this Cape, we continued Banding to
ts COOK’S VOYAGE,
the W, N, W. as the land lay, tinder an eafy fail, having
from lixteen to ten fathom, till two o’clock in the morning,
when we fell into feven fathom ; upon which we hauled our
wind to the northward, judging ourfelves 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
coaft the land, being very low, is nearer than it appear* t«
be, though it is diverfified with here and there a hill. At noon
we were about four leagues from the land, in fifteen fathom
water, and our latitude, by obfervation, was 19 : 12 S. Cape
Upilart bearing S. 32 : 30 E. diftant twelve leagues. About
this time fome very large columns of fmoke were feen rifing
from the low lands. At fun-fet, the proceeding night, when
we were clofe under Cape Upftart, the variation was nearly
9 E. and at fun-rife 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 furface of the
'earth.
We continued to fleer W. N. W„ as the land lay, with
twelve or fourteen fathom water, till noon on the 6th, when
our latitude by obfervation, was 19 : 1 S. and we had the
mouth of a bay all open, extending from S. £ E. to S. W.
f S. diftant two leagues. This bay, which named Cleave-
iand Bat, appeared to be about five or fix miles in extent
everyway: the eaft point I named Cape Cleaveland, and
the wefi, which had the appearance of an ifland, Magneti-
cal Isle, as we perceived that the compafs did not traverfe
well when we were near it ; they are both high, and fo is the
main land within them, the whole forming a furface the moil
rugged, rocky, and barren of any we had feen upon the coaft ;
it was not however without inhabitants, for we faw fmoke in
feveral parts of the bottom of the bay. The northermoft land
that was in fight at this time, bore N. W. and it had the
appearance of an ifland, for we could not trace the main land
farther than W. by N. We fleered W. N. W. keeping the
main land on board, tl^ outermoft part of which, at fun-fet,
bore W. by N. but without it lay high land, which we judged
not to be part of it. At day-break, we were abreaft of the
eaftern part of this land, which we found to be a group of
iflands, lying about five leagues from the main : at this time,
being between the two ftiores, we advanced {lowly to the N,
W. till noon, when our latitude, by obfervation, was 18 : 49
S. and our diftance from the main about five leagues : the
north weft part of it bore from us N. by W. \ W. the iflands
extending from N. to E. and the nearell being diftant about
two miles : Cape Cleaveland bore S. 50 E. diftant eighteen
leagues. Our foundings, in the courfe that we had failed be-
tween
Rockingham Bay. 83
tween this time and the preceeding noon, were from fourteen
to eleven fathom.
In the afternoon, we faw feveral large columns of fmoke
upon the main ; we faw alfo fome people and canoes, and upon
one of the iflands what had the appearance of cocoa nut-trees :
as a few of thefe nuts would have been very acceptable, I fent
Lieutenant Hicks afhore, and with him went Mr. Banks and
Dr. Solander, to fee what refrefhment could be procured,
while I kept Handing in for the ifland with the Ihip. About
feven o’clock in the evening they returned, with an account
that what we had taken for cocoa nut-trees, were a fmall kind
of cabbage palm, and that, except about fourteen or fifteen
plants, they had met with nothing worth bringing away.
While they were afhore, they faw none of the people, but juft
as they had put off, one of them came very near the beach,
and fhouted with a loud voice ; it was fo dark that they could
not fee him, however they turned towards the fhore, but when
he heard the boat putting back, he ran away or hid himfelf,
for they could not get u glimpfe of him, and though they
fhouted, he made no reply. After the return of the boats, we
flood away N. by W. for the northermofl land in fight, of
which we were abreaft at three o’clock in the morning, hav-
ing pa/Ted all the iflands three or four hours before. This
land, on account of its figure, I name Point Hillock :
it is of a confiderable 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 ifle the
fhcre forms a large bay, which I called Halifax Bay : be-
fore it lay the group of iflands which has been juft mentioned,
and fome others, at a lefs diftance from the fhore. By thefe
iflands the bay is Iheltered 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 paffed Point Hillock, we continued Handing to the
N. N. W. as the land trended, having the advaptage of a
light moon. At fix, we were abreaft of a point of land which
lies N. by W. i W. diftant eleven miles froip Point Hillock,
which I named Cape Sandwich. Between thefe two points
the land is very high, and the furface is craggy and barren.
Cape Sandwich may be known not only by the high craggy
land over it, but by a fmall ifland which lies eaft of it, at the
diftance of a mile, and fome others that lie about two leagues
to the northward. From Cape Sandwich the lands trends W.
and afterwards N. forming a fine large bay, which I called
Rockingham Bay, where there appears to be good fhelter,
and good anchorage, but I did notftay to examine it : I kept
ranging along the fhore to the northward, for a duller of fmall
iflands.
.84 COOK’s VOYAGE.
idands, which lie off the northern point of the bay. , Between
the three outermod of thefe idands, and thofe near the lhore, X
found a channel about a mile broad, through which I paffed,
and upon one of the neared idands we faw with our glaffes
about thirty of the natives, men, women, and children, all
Handing together, and looking with great attention at the
ihip ; the fird inftance of curiofity that we had feen among
them : they were all hark naked, with fhort hair, and of the
fame complexion with thofe that we had feen before. At
noon, our latitude, by obfervation, was 17 : 59, and we were
abread of the north point of Rockingham Bay, which bore
from us W. at the diftance of about two miles. This boun-
dary of the bay is formed by an idand of confiderable height,
which in the chart is didinguilhed by the name of Dunk
Isle, and which lies fo near the lhore as not to be ealily dif-
tinguilhed from it. Our longitude was 213 : 57 W. Cape
Sandwich bore S. byE. f-E. didant nineteen miles, and the
northermoll land in fight N. \ W. : our depth of water for
the lad ten hours had not been more than fixteen, nor lefs
than feven fathom. At fun-fet, the northern extremity of die
land bore N. 25 W. and we kept our courfe N. by W. along
the coad, at the didance of between three and four leagues,
with an eafy fail all night, having from twelve to fifteen fa-
thom water.
At fix o’clock in the morning, we were abread of fome
fmall idands, which we called Frankland’s Isles, and
which lie about two leagues didant from the main land. The
mod didant point in fight to the northward bore N. by W. \
W. and we thought it was part of the main, but afterwards
found it to be an iiland of confiderable height, and about four
miles in circuit. Between this idand and a point on the
main, from which it is didant about two miles, I paffed with
the Ihip. At noon, we were in the middle of the channel, and
by obfervation in the latitude of 16 : 57 S. with 20 fathom wa-
ter, the point on the main of which we were now abread, I cal-
led Cape Grafton*, its latitude is 16 : 57 S. and longitude
214:6 W. and the land here, as well as the whole coad for
about twenty leagues to the fouthward, is high, has a rocky
fuiface, and is thinly covered with wood : during the night
we had feen feveral fires, and about noon fome people. Hav-
ing hauled round Cape Grafton, we found the land trend
away N. W. by W. and three miles the wedward of the Cape
we found a bay, in which we anchored about two miles from
the lhore, in four fathom water, with an ouzey bottom. The
ead point of the bay bore 5. 74 E. the wed point S. 83 W. and
a low, green, woody iiland, which lies in the offing, N. 35
E. This idand, which .lies N. by E. £ E. didant three or four
leagues
Dancer, op ths Ship Endeavour. 8$
leagues from Cape Grafton, is called in the chart. Green
Island.
As foon as the fliip was brought to an anchor, I went affiore,
accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander. As my prin-
cipal view was to procure feme frefh water, and as the bot-
tom of the bay was low land covered with mangroves, where ic
Was not probable fre(h water was to be found, I went -out to-
wards the cape, and found two fmall dreams, which however
were rendered very difficult of accei's by th. furf and rocks upon
the there : I faw alfo, as I came round the cape, a fmali dream
of water run over the beach, in a fandy cove, but I did not
go in with the boat, becaufe I faw that it would not be eafy
to land. When we got adiore we found the country every
where rifing into deep rocky hills, and as no frefh water ccuid
conveniently be procured, Iwas unwilling tolofe time by going
in fearch of lower land elfevvhere : we therefore made the bed of
Our way back to the (hip, and about midnight we weighed and
flood to the N. W. having but little wind, with fome fhowers
of rain. At four in the morning, the breeze frelhened at S.
by E. and the weather became fair : we continued deering N.
N. W. i W. as the land lay, at about three leagues didance,
with ten, twelve, and fourteen fathom water. At ten we
hauled off north, in order to get without a fmall low island,
which lay about two leagues didant from the main, and great
part of which at this time, it being high water, was overflowed :
about three leagues to the north wed of this iiland, clofe under
the main land, is another idand, the land of which riies to a
greater height, and which at noon bore from us N. 155 W.
didant feven or eight miles. At this time our latitude was;
16 : 20 S. Cape Grafton bore S. 29 E. didant 40 miles, and
the r.orthermod point of land in fight N, 20 W. ; our depth
of water was fifteen fathom. Between this point and Cape
Grafton, the ihore forms a large, but not a very deep bay,
which being difeovered on Trinity Sunday, I called Trini-
ty Bay.
CHAP. V.
J) angcrous Situation of the Ship in htr Courfe from \ Trinity Bay to
Endeavour River.
HITHERTO we had fafely navigated this dangerous
coad, where the fea in all parts con .eals fhoals that fud-
project from the fhore, and rocks that rife abruptly like
a pyramid from the bottom, for an extent of two and twenty
degrees of latitude, more than one thousand three hundred
Vol. II. H mires 5
3 6 COOK’s VOYAGE.
miles ; and therefore hitherto none of the names which dif-
iiinguifh the feveral parts of the country that we faw are me-
morials of diftrefs ; but here we became acquainted with mis-
fortune, and we therefore called the point which we had juft
feen fartheft to the northward Cape Tribulation.
This Cape lies in latitude 16 : 6 S. and longitude 214. : 39
W. We fleered along the fliore N. by W. at the diftance of
between three and four leagues, having from fourteen to twelve,
and ten fathom water : in the offing we faw two iflands, which
lie in latitude ,6 S. and about 6 or 7 leagues from the main.
At fix in the evening, the northermoft land in fight bore N. by
W. \ W. and 2 low woody iflands, which fome of us took to be
rocks above water, bore N. ~ W. At this time we (hortened fail,
and hauled offihoreE.N.E. andN.E. by E. cjofe upon a wind,
for it was my delign to ftretch oft' all night, as well to avoid
the danger we faw ahead, as to fed whether any iflands lay in
the offing, efpecia}ly as we were now near the latitude affigned
to the iflands which were difcovered by Quiros, and which
fome geographers, for what reafon I know not, have thought
fit to join to this land, We had the advantage of a fine breeze,
and a dear moonlight night, and in ftanding oft from fix till
near nine o’clock, we deepened our water from fourteen to
twenty-one fathom, but while we were at fupper it fuddenly
Shoaled, and we fell into twelve, ten, and eight fathom, with-
in the fpace of a few minutes ; I immediately ordered every
body to their ftation, and all was ready to put about, and corne
to an anchor, but meeting at the next caft of the lead with
deep water again, we concluded that we had gone over the tail
of the ihoals, which we had feen at fun-fet, and that all dan-
ger was paft : before ten we had twenty and one and twenty
fathom, and this depth continuing, the gentlemen left the deck
in great tranquility and went to bed ; but a few minutes be-
fore eleven, the water fhallowed at once from twenty to feven-
teen fathom, and before the lead could be caft again, the ihip
ft ruck, and remained immoveable, except by the heaving of
the furge, that beat her againft the craggs of the rock upon
which ihe lay. In a few moments every body was upon deck,
with countenances which fufficiently expreffed the horrors of
our firuation. We had flood eft the fhore three hours and an
half, with a pleafant breeze, and therefore knew that we could
not be very near it, and we had too much reafon to conclude
that we were upon a rock of coral, which is more fatal than
any other, becaufe the points of it are fharp, and every part
pf the furface fo rough as to grind away whatever is rubbed
againft it, even with the genrleft motion. In this fituaticn all
the fails were immediately taken in, and the boats hoifted out
to examine the depth of water rou:.d the fhip : we foon dif-
yoyeffd that our fears had not aggravated our misfortune, and
The Endeavour in the east Extremity.
that the veffel had been lifted over a ledge of the rock, and
lay in a hollow within it : in fome places there was from three
to four fathom, and in others not fo man/ feet. The Ihip
lay with her head to the N. E. ; and at the diftance of about
thirty yards on the darboard fide, the water deepened to eight,
ten, and twelve fathom. As foon as the long boat was out,
we (truck our yards and top-mafis, and carried out the dream
anchor on the (larboard bow, got the co ailing anchor and cable
into the boat, and were going to carry it out the fame way ; but
upon founding a fecond time round the (hip, the water Was
found to be deeped aliern : the anchor therefore was carried out
from the fttrboard quarter, indead of the darboard bow, that is,
from the dern indead of the head, and having taken ground,
our utmod force was applied to the capftern,* hoping that if
the anchor did not come home, the drip would be got off, but
to our great misfortune and difappointment we could not move
her : during all this time (lie continued to beat with great vio-
lence againd the rock, fo that it wa»s with the utmod difficulty
that we kept upon our legs ; and to complete the feene of dif-
trefs, we faw by the light of the moon the (heathing boards
from the bottom of the veiTel floating away all round her, and
at lad her falfe keel, fo that every moment was making way
for thefea to rufliin, which was to fwallow us up. We had now"
no chance to lighten her, and we had loll the opportunity of
doing that to the greateil advantage, for unhappily we went
on (horejud at high water, and by this time it had confiderably
fallen, fo that after (he (hould be lightened fo as to draw as
much lefs water as the water had funk, we (hould be but in the
fame fituation as at fird ; and the only alleviation of this cir-
cumdance was, that as the tide ebbed the (hip fettled to the
rocks, and was not beaten againd them with fo much violence.
We had indeed fome hope from the next tide, but it was
doubtful whether (he would hold together fo long, efpecially
as the rock kept grating her bottom under the darboard bow
with fiich force as to be heard in the fore dore-rooni. This
however was no time to indulge conjecture, nor was any effort
remitted in dcfpair of fuccefs : that no time might be lod, the
wa.:er was immediately darted into the hold, and pumped up ;
fix of our guns, being all vve had upon the deck, our iron and
done ballad, caflcs, hoops, daves, oil jars, decayed ltores, and
many other things that lay in the way of heavier materials
were thrown over board with the utmod expedition, every one
exerting himfelf with an alacrity almod approaching to cheer-
fulnefs, without the lead repining or difconcent ; yet the men
werefo far impred with a fenfeof their fituation, that not an
oath was heard among them, the habit of profanenefs, how-
ever drong, being indantly fubdued, by the dread of incurring
guilt, when dead n feemed to be fo near.
Hz
While
83
COO K ’s VOYAGE.
While we were thus employed, day broke upon us, and we
faw the Land at about eight leagues diitance, without any ifland
in the intermediate Ipace, upon which, if (lie Ihip fhould have
gene to pieces, we might have been fet afhore 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
ihip mult inevitably have been deftroyed. At 1 1 in the forenoon
we expected high water, and anchors were got out, and every
thing made ready for another effort to heave her oft if (he ftioi ld
Hoat, but to our inexprefiible fur prize and concern fhe did not
float by | foot, though we had lightened her near fifty ton,
fo much did the day-tide fall fnort of that in the night. We
now proceeded to lighten her ftil, more, and threw overboard
every thing that it was poflible for us to fpare : hitherto (Lie
had not admitted much water, but as the tide fell, it rufhed in
io fali^, that two pumps, inceftantly worked, could fear ely
keep her free. At two o’clock fhe lay heeling two or three
breaks to ftarboard, and the pinnace, which lay under her bows,
touched the ground : we had now no hope but from the tide
at midnigh-, and to prepare for it we carried out our two
bower anchors, one on the ftarboard quarter, and the other
right a-ftern, got the blocks and tackle which were to give us
a purchafe upon the cables in order, and brought the falls, or
ends of them, in abaft, ftraining them tight, that the next
eftort might operate upon the Ihip, and by fhortening the
length of the cable between that and the anchors, draw her off
the ledge upon which fhe refted, towards the deep water.
About five o’clock in the afternoon, we obferved the tide be-
gin to rife, but we obferved at the fame time that the leak in-
creased to a moft alarming degree, fo that two more pumps
were manned, but unhap ily only one of them would work ;
three of the pumps however were kept goirrg, and at nine
o’clock the fhip righted, but the leak had gained upon us Jo
coniiderably, that it v/as imagined fhe muft go to the bottom as
foon as fhe leafed to be fupported by the.rock , this was a dread-
ful circumftance, fo that we anticipated the floating of the fhip
not as an earned of deliverance, but as an event that would
probably precipitate our deftruftion. We well knew that cur
boats were not capable of carrying us all on fhore, and that
when the dreadful criiis fhould arrive, as all command and fub-
ordination would be at an end, a conteft for preference would
probably enfue, that would encreafe the horrors even of fhip-
wreck, and terminate in the deftrudtion of us all by the hands
of each other ; yet we knew that if any (hould be left on board
to perifli in the waves, they would probably fuffer lefs upon
the whole than thofe who fhould get on fhore, without any
lafting
Continuation of the Endeavour’s Distress. 89
Jailing or effectual defence again!: the natives, in a country,
w :ere eve nets and fire-arms would fcarcely furnifn them with
food ; and where, if they fhould find the means of fubfiiience,
they muft be con lemned to languilh out the remainder of life
in a deiohte wildernefs, without the poffellion, or even hope,
of an/ domeftic comfort, and cut off from all commerce with
mankind, except the naked favages who prowled the defert,
an d who perhaps were fome of the moll rude and uncivilized
upon the earth.
To thofe only who have waited in a flate of fuch fufpenfe,
death has approached in all its terrors ; and as the dreadful,
moment that was to determine our fate came on, every onefaw
his own fenfations pictured in the countenances of his compa-
nions : however, the capilern and windiace were m-Jined with,
as many hands as could be fpared from the pumps, and the
flap floating about twenty minutes after ten o’clock, the effort
was made, and Ihe was heaved into deep water. It was fome
comfort to find that fhe did not now admit more water than
fhe had do e upon the rock ; and though, by the gaining of
the leak upon the pumps, there was no lefs 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
havi tg now endured exceffive fatigue of body, and agitation
of the mind, for more than four and twenty hours, and having
but little hope of fucceeding at lait, they began to flag : none
of them could work at Me pump more than five or fix minutes
together, and then, being totally exhauiteJ, they threw them-
felves down upon deck, though a ftream of water was running
over it from the pumps between three and four inches deep ;
when thofe who fucceeded them had worked their fpell, and
were exhaulled in their turn, they threw themfelves down in
the fame manner, and the others flaited 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 plank-
ing which lines the inlide gf the fhip’s bottom is called the
cieling, and between this, and the outfide planking, there is
a fpace 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 cieling, and gave the meafure accordingly ; but he
being now relieved, the perfon who came in his Head, reckon-
ed the depth to the outfide planking, by which it appeared in
a fev minutes to have gained upon the pumps eighteen inches :
the difference between the planking without and within.
Upon this, even the bravefl was upon the point of giving up
his labour with his hope, and in & few minutes every thing
would have been involved in all the confufion of defoair. But
thi' accident, however dreadful in its firfl confequences, was
eventually the caufe of our prefervation : the midake was fcon
K 3 dete&edy
9® COOK’s VOYAGE.
detefled, and the Hidden joy which every man felt upon find-
ing his fituation better than his fears had fuggefted, operated
like a charm, and feemed to poffefs him with a llrong belief
that fcar^e any real danger remained. New confidence and
new hope, however founded, infpired new vigour; and though
cur itaie was the fame as when the men firit began to llacken
in their labour, through wearinefs and defpondency, they
now renewed their efforts with fuch alacrity an.. fpirit, that
befo.e e ght o’clock in the morning the leak was fo far from
having gained upon the pumps, that the pumps had gained
confi ier. bly upon the leak. Every body now talked of getting
the fhip into (ome harbour, as a thing r.ct to be doubted, and
as hands could be fpared from the pumps, they were employed
in getting up the anchors : the ftream anchor and bell bower
we had taken on board ; but it was found impofiible to fave
the little bower, and therefore it was cut away at a whole
cable ; we alfo loft the cable of the ftream anchor among the
rocks ; but in our fituation thefe w'ere trifles which fcarcely at-
tracted our notice. Our next bufinefs was to get up the fore-
top-maft and fore-yard, and warp the fhip to the fouth-eaft,
and at eleven, having now a breeze from the fea, we once
more got under fail, and flood for the land.
It was however impoflible long to continue the labour by
which the pumps had been made to gain upon the leak, and
as the exafl fltuation of it could not be aifcovered, we had no.
hope of flopping it within. In this fituation, Mr. Monkhoufe,
one of my midlhipmen, came to me and propofed an expe-
dient that he had once feen ufed on board a merchant (hip*
which fprung a leak that admitted above four feet water an
hour, and which by this expedient was brought fafely from
Virginia to London ; rhe mailer having fuch 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
otherwife flopped. To this man, therefore, the care of the
expedient, which is called fathering the Ihip, was immediate-
ly committed, four or five of the people being appointed to
afiift him, and he performed it in this manner : He took a
lower ftudding fail, and having mixed together a large quan-
tity of oakham and wool, chopped pretty fmall, he Hitched it
down in handfuls upon the fail, as lightly as poflible, and
over this he ffpread the dung of our Iheep and other filth ; but
horfe dung if we had had it, would have been better. When
the fail was thus prepared, it w^s hauled under the Ihip’s bot-
tom by ropes, which kept it extended, and when it came un-
der the leak, the fuftion which carried in the water, carried in
wich it the oakham and wool from the furface of the fail,
which in other parts the water was not fufliciently agitated to
walh off. By the fuccefs of this expedient our leak was fo far
reduced.
Arrival off Hope Islands. 5*
reduced, that inftead of gaining upon three pumps, it w.;S
ealily kept under with one. This was a new fource of confi-
dence and comfort ; the people could fcarcely have exprelfed
more joy if they had been already in port ; and their views
were io far from being limited to running the Ihip alhore in
fome harbour, either of an ifland or the main, and building a
veil'd out of her materials, to carry us to the Earl-Indies, which
had fo lately been ihe utmoft object of our h~pe, that nothing
was now thought of but rang rig along the ihore, in fearch of
a convenient place to repair the damage fhe had fuftained,
and then prcfecuiing the voyage upon the Tame plan as if no-
thing had happened. Upon this occafionl mud obierve, both
in jullice and gratitude to the fhip's company, and the Gentle-
men on board, that although in the midiTof our diftrefs eve-
ry one feemed to have a juft fenfe of his danger, yet no paf-
fionate exclamations, or frantic geftures, were to be heard or
feen ; every one appeared to have the perfect poffelTion of hi«
mind, and every one exerted himfelf to the uttermoft, with a
quiet and patient perle reran ce, equally diilant from tumultu-
ous violence of terror, and the gloomy inactivity of defpair.
In the mean time, having light airs at E. S. E. we got
up the main top-mad, and main-yard, and kept edging in
for the land, till about fix o’clock in the evening, when we
came to an anchor in feventeen fathom water, at the diltance
of feven leagues from the fhore, and one from the ledge of
rocks upon which we had frruck.
This ledge or Ihoal lies in latitude 13 : 45 S. and berween
fix and feven leagues from the main. It is not however the
only Ihoal on this t art of the coaft, efpecially to the north-
ward ; and at this time we faw one to the fouthward, the tail
of which we palled over, when we had uneven foundings about
two hours before we ftruck. A part of this fheal is always
above water, and has the appearance of white fand : a part
alfo of that upon which we had lain is dry at low water, and
in that place confifts of fand Hones ; but all the relt of it is %
coral rock.
While we lay at anchor for the night, we found tSiat the
fhip made about fifteen inches of water an hour, from which
no immediate danger was to be apprehended ; and at fix
o’ -lock in the morning, we weighed and flood to the N. W.
flill edging in for the land with a gentle b.eeze at S. S. E. At
nine we palled clofe without two fmall iilands that lie in la-
titude 15 : 41 S. and about four leagues from the main: to
reach thefe iilands had, in the height of our diftrefs, been the
objedl of our hope, or perhaps rather of our wilhes, and there-
fore I called them Hope Islands. At noon we were about
three leagues from the land, and in Irtitude 15 : 37 S. ; the
porthermoft part of the main in fight bore -N. 30 W. ; and
Hope
9* COOK-’s VOYAGE.
Hope Iflands extended from S. 30 E. to S. 40 E. In tins
lituatfm we had twelve fathom water, and feveral fandbrnks
without us. At tills time the leak had not increafed ; but
that we might be prepared for all events, we got the fail
ready for another fathering. In tffie afternoon having a .gentle
breeze at S. E. by E. I lent out the mailer with two boats, as
well to found ahead of the fmp, as to look out for a harbour
where we might repair cur defeats, and put the (flip in a pro-
per trim. At three o’clock we iaw an opening that had the
appearance of an harbour, and flood oft and on while the boats
examined it ; but they loon found that there was not depth of
water in it fufficient tor the fhip. When it was near fun -let,
there b ing many fhoals about us, we anchored in four fathom,
at the diitan e of about two miles from the fhore, the laud ex-
tending from N. i E. to S. by E. £ E. 1 he pinnace was dill
out with one of the mates ; but at nine o’clock the returned,
and reported, that about two leagues to the lewtcrd fee hud
difeovered juft fuch a harbour as we wan ed, in which there
was a fufficient rife cf water, and every other convenience that
could be deiired, either for laying the ihip afhore, or heaung
her down .
In confluence of this infotmation, I weighed at fix o’clock
in the morning, and having fent two boats ahead, to lie upon,
the fhoals that we faw in our way, we ran down to the place ;
but notsvith Handing our precaution, we were once in three
fathom water. As foon as theie fnoals werepafTed, I fent 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 foon found that the fhip would
not work, having twice miffed ftays : our fituaticn, however,
though it might have been much worfe, was not without dan-
ger ; we were entangled among fhoals, and I had great reafen
to fear being driven to leeward, before the boats could place
themfelves fo as to preferibe our courfe. I therefore anchored
in four fathom, about a mile from the fhore, and then made
the fignal for the boats to come on board. When this was
done.fj&vent myfeif and buoyed the channel, which I found
very narrow ; the h rbour alfo I found fmaller than I expected,
but moft excellently adapted to our purpofe ; and it is remark-
able^ that in the whole courfe of our voyage we had feen no
place which, in cur prefent circumftances, could have afforded
us the fame relief. At noon, our latitude was 15 : z6 S. Dur-
ing all .the reft of this day, and the whole night, it blew too
frefh for us to venture from our anchor, and run into the har-
bour ; and for our farther fecurity, we got down the top-gal-
lant yards, unbent the mainfail, and feme of the fmall fails ;
got down the fore-top-gallant malt, and the gibb boom, and
fprit-fail, with a view to lighten the ffupfar*wds as much as
poffible.
The Scurvy grows formidable. 93
pofiible, in order to come at her leak, which we fuppofea to
be fomewhere in that part ; for in all the joy of our unexpected
deliverance, we had not forgot that at this time there was no-
thing but a lock of wool between us and del tract ion. 1 he
gale continuing, we kept our ftation ail the fifteenth. On the
16th, it was fomewhat more moderate : and about fix o’clock
in the morn ng, we hove the cable fhort, with a defign to get
under fail, but were obliged to defift, and veer it cut again.
It is remarkable that the fea bteeze, which blew frefh when
we anchored, continued to do fo aimoil every day while we
flayed here ; it was calm only while we were upon the rock,
except once ; and even the gale that afterwards wafted us to
the Ihore, would then certainly have beaten us to pieces. I11
the evening of the preceding day, we' had obferved a fire near
the beach over againft us ; and as it would be necefTary for us
to flay fometime in this place, we were not without hope of
making an acquaintance with the people. We law moie fires
upon the hills to-day, and with our glades dif.overed four In-
dians going along the fhore, who flopped, and made two fires;
but for what purpole it was im pofiible we Ihould guefs.
The fcurvy now began to make its appearance among us,
with many formidable fymptoms. Our poor Indian, Tupia,
who had fometime before complained that his gums were fore
and fweiied, and who had taken plentifully of our lemon juice
by the furgeon’s direction, had now livid fpots upon his legs,
and other indubitable teftimonies that the difeafe had made a
rapid progrefs, notwithflanding all our remedies, among
which the bark had been liberally adminiflered. Mr. Green,
our aflronomer, was alfo declining ; and thefe, among other
circumftances, imbittered the delay which prevented our going
all i ore.
In the morning of the 17th, though the wind was ftill
frefh, we ventured to weigh, and pufh in 'for the harbour; but
in doing this we twice run the {hip aground : the full time fhe
went off without any trouble, but the fecond time fhe fluck fall.
We now got down the fore yard, fore top-mails and booms,
ana taking them overboard, made a raft of them alongfide of
the ihip. The tide was happily- riling, and about one o’clock
in rhe afternoon fhe floated. We loon warped her into the
harbour, and having moored her along-fiae of .1 fleep beach,
to the fouth, we got the anchors, cables, and all the liawlers
on Ihore before night.
G H A P;
94
COOK’s VOYAGE.
■ — ■>— — ■ ■ - .11
CHAP. VI.
* Tranfaliians 'while the Ship 'was refitting in Endeavour River:
A DeJcription of the adjacent Country, its Inhabitants and
Productions.
IN the morning of Monday the 1 8, a fiage was made from
the Hi ip to the Ihore, which was fo bold that (he floated at
twenty feet diftance : two tents were alfo fet up, one for the
fick, and the other for Acres and provifions, whici were land-
ed in the courfe of the day. We alfo landed all the empty
water calks, and part of the ftores. As foon as the tent for the
flek was got ready for their reception, they were fent alhore to
the number of eight or nine, and the boat was difpatched to
haul the feine, in hopes of procuring fome fillr for their re-
frefhment; but (he returned without fuccefs. In the mean
time, : climbed one of the hrighelc hills among thole that over-
looked the harbour, which afforded by no means a comfortable
pro fp eel : theJow land near the river is wholly over-run with
mangroves, among which the fait water flows every tide j and
the high land appeared to be every where .i-oney and barren.
In the mean time Mr. Banks had alfo taken a walk up rhe
country, and met w: h the frames cf fevera! old Indian uou.es,
and places where they had dreffed Ihell-filh ; but they ; smed
not to have been frequented for fome months. T nr .a, who
had employed himfelf in angling, and lived in nrely upon what
he caught, recovered in a furp riling degree ; but Mr. Green,
ftill 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 j I alfo got a
fpare anchor, and anchor flock alhere, and the remaining part
of the flores and ballaft that were in the h. id : fet up the
.fmith’s.forge, and employed the armourer ana his mate to make
nails and other neceflarics for the repair cf me fhip. In the
afternoon, all the officers ftores and the ground tier of water
were got out ; fo that nothing remained in the fere and main
hold, but the coals, and a I 'm J1 quantity of ftone ballaft.
This day Mr. Banks crofted the river, to take a view of the
country on the other fide : he found it confilt principally of
fand-hills, where he faw fome Indian houfes, which appeared
to have been very lately inhabited. In his walk, he met with
vaft flocks of pigeons and crows : of the pigeons, which were
exceedingly beautiful, he (hot feverai : but the crows, which
were exaftly like thofe in England, were lo Ihy that he could
Ctot get within reach of them.
The Endeavour’s Leake examined.
On the 20th we landed the powder, and go' out the flone
ballad: and wood, which brought the ihip’s draught of wa-
ter to eighi feet ten indies forward, and thirteen reet abaft;
and this I thought, with the difference that would he made
bv trim. hi ng the coals aft, would be fufficient ; fori found
that the water role and fell perpendicularly eight feet at the
fpring tides : but as foon as the coals were trinuned from over
the leak, we could hear the water ruih in a little abaft the
foremali, about three feet from the keel : this- determined me
to clear the hold entirely. This evening Mr. Banks obferved
that in many parts of the inlet there were large quantities of
pumice ftones, which lay at a conliderable distance above high
water mark ; whi her they might have been carried either by
the frefhes, or extraordinary high tides, for there could be
no doubt but that they came from the tea.
The next morning we went early to work, and by four o’
clock in the afternoon had got out all the coals, call the moor-
ings loo fe, and warped the Ihg a little higher up the harbour,
to a place which I thought molt convenient for laying her
alhore, in order to flop the leak. Her draught of water for-
ward was now feven feet nine inches, and abaft thirteen feet
fix inches. At eight o’clock, it being high water, I hauled
her bow clofe alhore ; but kept her ilern afloat, becaule I was
afraid of neiping her ; it was however necelfary to lay the
whole of her as near the ground as poffible.
At two o’clock in the morning of the 22d, the tide left her,
and gave us an opportunity to examine her leak, which we
found to be at her floor heads, a little before the ftarboard
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 thefe
breaches was very extraordinary : there was not a fp inter to
be leen, but all was as fmooth, as if the whole had been
cut away by an inilrument : the timbers in this phce were
happily very clofe, and if they had not, it would have been
abi'olutely impo'lible to have faved the Ihip. But after all,
her prefervacion d^ended upon a circurnftance ftill more re-
markable : in one of the holes, which was big enough to have
funk us, if vve had h id eight pumps inflead of four, and been
.able to keep them mcelTaptly going, was in a great meafure
plugged up by a fiagment of the rock, which, after having
made the wound, was left flicking in it; fo that the water
which at fir A had gained upon our pumps, was what came in
at the interftices, between the flone and the edges of the hole
that received it. We found alfo leverai pieces of die fothering,
which had made their way between the timbers, and in a
great meafure floppy . thofe parts of the leak which the ftone
had left open. Upon further examination, we found that, be-
tides
9 6 COOK ’s VOYAGE.
Tides the leak, confiderable damage had been done to the bot-
tom ; great part of the lheathing was gone from under the lar-
board bow ; a confiderable part of tfie falfe keel was alfo want-
ing, and thefe indeed we had ieen fwim away in fragments
from the vefiel, while file lay beating againft the rock : the re-
mainder of it was i To fhattered a condition that it had bet-
ter have been gone, and the fore foot and mai keel were alfo
damaged, but not fo as to produce any immediate danger :
what damage Ihe might have received abaft could not yet be
exactly known ; but we had reafon to think it was not much,
as but little water made its way into her bo torn, while the
tide kept below the leak, which has already been deferibed.
By nine o’clock in the morning : he carpenters got to work
upon her, while the fmiths were bui'y in making bolts and
nails. In the mean time, fame of the people were fenton the
other fide of the water to ihoot pigeons for the Tick, who at
their ret rn reported that they had feen an animal as large as
a greyhound, of a flender make, a moufe colour, and ex-
tremely fwilt ; they difeovered alio many Indian houfes, and
a fine ifream of freih water.
The next morning I fent a boat to haul the feine ; but at
noon it returned with only three filh, and yet we faw them in
plenty lea ing about the harbour. This day the carpenter
fini ihei the repairs that were neceffary on the ftarboard fide ;
and at nine o’clock in the evening, we heeled the Ihip the odier
way, and hauled her off about two feet for fear of Helping.
This day almofi: every body had feen the animal which the
pigeon-fhooters had brought an account of the day before;
and one of the feamen, who had been rambling in the woods,
told us at his return, that he verily believed he had feen the
devil : we naturally enquired in what iorm he had appeared,
and his anfwer was in fo Angular ftiie, that I fiiali let down
his own words ; “ He was (fays John) as large as a one gal-
“ Ion keg, and very like it ; he had horns and wings, yet he
“ crept fo fiowly through the grafs, that if I had not been
il afeardl might- have touched him.” ri his formidable appa-
rition we afterwards difeovered to have jj^en a batt; and the
•bates here mufi be acknowledged to have’ a frightful appear-
an :e, for they are nearly black, and full as large as a part-
ridge ; they have indeed no horns, but the fancy of a man
who thought he faw the devil might eafily fupply that defedt.
Early on the z pth the carpenters began to repair the Sheath-
ing under the larboard bow. where we found two planks cut
about half through ; and in the mean time I fent a party of men,
under the direddi m of Mr. Gore, in fearch of refreih meats for
the lick : this party returned about noon with a few palm
cabbages, and a baoch or two of wild plantains; the plan-
tains wore the fmalied. I had ever feen, and the pulp, though
it
The Endeavour hauled ashore.
97
it was well tailed, was full of fmall flones. As I was walk-
ing this morning at a little dillance from the fhip, I faw my-
felt one of the animals which had been fo often defcribed : it
was of a light moule colour, and in fize and lhape very much
refembling a greyhound ; it had a long tail alfo, which it
carried like a greyhound ; and I fhould have taken it for a
wild dog, if inltead of running, it had not leapt like a hare
or deer : its legs were faid to be very llender, and the print
of its foot to be like that of a goat ; but where 1 faw it the
grafs was fo high that the legs were concealed, and the ground
was too hard to receive the track. Mr. Banks alfo had an im-
perfect view of this animal, and was of opinion that its fpe-
cies was hitherto unknown.
After the fhip was hauled afhore, all the water that came
into her of courfe went backwards ; fo that although fhe was
dry forward, fhe had nine feet water abaft : as in this part
therefore her bottom could not be examined on the infidte, I
took the advantage of the tide being out this evening to get
the mafler and two of the men to go under her, and examine
her whole larboard fide without. They found the flieathing
gone about the floor heads abreaft of the mainmaft, and part of
a plank a little damaged ; but all agreed that fhe had received
no other material injury. The lofs of her fheathing alone
was a great misfortune, as the worm would now be let into
her bottom, which might expofe us to great inconvenience
and danger ; but as I knew no remedy for the mifchief but
heaving her down, which would be a work of immenfe labour
and long time if practicable at all in our prefent fltuation, I
was obliged to be content. The carpenters however conti-
nued 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 pofition
of the fhip, which threw the water in her abaft, was very-
near depriving the world of all the knowledge which Mr.
Banks had endured fo much labour, and fo many rifks, to pro-
cure; for he had removed the curious collection of plants,
which he made during the whole voyage, into the bread room,
which lies ia the after part of the fhip, as a place of the greateft
fecurity ; and nobody having thought of the danger to which
laying her head fo much higher than the Hern would expofe
them, they wei% this day found under water. Mod of them
however were, by indefatigable care* and attention, reftored
to a ftate of prefervation, but fome were entirely fpoilt and
deftroyed.
The 25 th was employed in Ailing water, and over-hauling
the rigging, and at low water the carpenters iiniihed the re-
Vo Lj II. I pairs
9$ COOK’s VOYAGE.
pairs under the larboard bow, and every other place which the
tide would them permit to come at ; fome calks were then
lalhed under her bows to facilitate her floating, and at night,
when it was high water, we endeavoured to heave her eft,
but without iuccefs, for l'ome of the calks that were lalhed to
her gave way.
The morning of the 26th was employed in getting more
calks ready for the fame purpole, and in the afternoon we lalhed
no lefs than eight and thirty under the Ihip’s bottom, but to
our great mortification thefe lfo proved inefiedlua , and we
found ourfelves reduced to the necefiityof waiting till the next
dlpriiig-tide.
This day, fome of our gentlemen who had made an excur-
hon into the woods, brought home the leaves of a plant,
which was thought to be the fame that in the Weft-Indies is
called coccos, but upon trial, the roots roved too acrid to be
eaten ; the leaves however w ere little inferior to fpinnage. In
the place where thefe plants were gathered, grew plenty of the
cabbage trees, wdiich have -occaflonally been mentioned be-
fore, a kind of wild- plantain, the fruit of which was fo full of
Clones as fcarcely to be eatable ; another fruit was alfo found
about the fize of a fmail golden pippin, but flatter, and of a
deep purple colour : when firft gathered from the tree it was
very hard and difagreeable, but after being kept a few days
became foft, and tailed very much like an indilferent da-
mascene.
The next morning we began to move fome of the weight
from the after-part of the ftiip forward, to eafe her ; in the
jnean time the armourer continued to work at the forge, the
carpenter was bufy in caulking the fhip, and the men employ-
ed in filling water and over-hauling the rigging : in the fore-
noon, I went myfelf in the pinnace up the harbour, and made
leverai hauls with the feine, but caught only between twenty
and thirty filb, which were given to the fick and convalefcent.
On the 28th Mr. Banks went with feme of the :eamen up
the country, to lhew them the plant which in the Weft-In-
dies is called Indian kale, and which ferved us for greens,
Tupiahad much meliorated the root of the coccos, by giving
them a long drefling in his country oven, but they were fo fmail
that we did not think them an objeft for the ft, ip. In their
walk they found one tree which had been notched for the con-
venience of climbing It, in the fame manner with thofe we
had feen in Bofany Bay : they faw alfo many^iefts of white
ants, which refemble thofe of the Eaft-Indies, the moll perni-
cious infers in the world. The nefts were of a pyramidical
figure, from a few inches to fix feet high, and very much re*
^enabled the Hones in England, which are faid to be monu-
fn^Qt^ of the Druids, Mr, Gore, who was alio this day four
Plenty of Pish caught. 09
4v five miles up the country, reported that he had feen the
footfteps of men, arid tracked^ animals of three or four different
forts, but had not been fortunate enough to fee either man or
bead.
At two o’clock in the morning of the 29th, I obferved, in
conjunction with Mr. Green, an emerfion of Jupiter’s firff fa-
teliite ; the time here was 2h i8m 53s,' which gave the longi-
tude of this place 21411 42™ 303 W. : its- latitude is 15 : 26 S.
At break of day, I fent the boat out again^vith the feine,
and in the afternoon, it returned with as muWfifh as enabled
me to give every man a pound and an half. One of my mid-
fhipmen, an American, who was this day abroad with his
gun, reported that he had feen a wolf, exaftly like thofe
which he had been ufed to fee in his own-country, and that he
had fhot at it, but did not kill it.
The next morning, encouraged by the fuccefs of the day-
before, I fent the boat again to haul the feine, and another
party to gather greens : I fent alfo fome of the young gentle-
men to take a plan of the harbour, and went m.yfelr upon a
hill, which lies over the fout’n point, to take a view of the
fea. At this time it was low water, and I faw, with great
concern innumerable tahct banks and fri als lying ail along the
Coaff in every d redd on. Tire innermoli lay about three or
four miies from the lhor^, the outermod extended as far as I
cou d lee with my glafs, and many of them did but jud rife
above water There was fome appearance of a paffage to the
northward, and I hud no hope of getting clear but in that di-
rection, for as the wind blows condantly from the S. E. it
would have been difficult if not impoffibie, to return back to
the fouthvvard.
Mr. Gore reported, that he had 'this day feen two animals
like dogs, of a draw colour, that they ran like a hare, and
were about the fame fize. In the afternoon the people returned
from hauling the feine, with dill better fucceis than before,
for I wa now able to didribute 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 mefs,
which, with two copious fupplies of hill, afforded us unfpeak-
able refreihment.
The next day, July the iff, being Sunday, every body had
liberty to go aihore, except one from each mefs, who were
again fent out with the feine. The- feine was again equally
fuccefsful, and the people who went up the country gave an
account of having feen feveral animals, though none of them
were to be caught. They faw a fire alfo about a mile up the
river, and Mr. Gore, the Second Lieutenant, picked up- the'
hulk of a cocoa nut, which had been caff upon the beach, and
was full of barnacles : this probably might come from fome
I 2 iilaild
loo COOK’s VOYAGE,
ifland to windward, perhaps from the Terra del Efpirito San-
to of Quiros, as we were now in the latitude where it is faid
to lie. This day the thermometer in the fhade rofe to 87,
which was higher than it had been on any day fince we came
upon this coaft.
Early the next morning, I fent the mailer in the pinnace,
out of the harbour, to found about the fhoals in the offing, and
look for a channel to the northward : at this time we had a
breeze from thaJand, which continued till about 9 o’clock, and
was ihe firlt wenad had ftnce our coming into the river. At
low water we lathed fome empty calks under the Ihip’s bows,
having fome hopes that as the tides were riling Ihe would float
the next high water. We Hill continued to filh with great
fuccefs, and at high water we again attempted to heave the
ihip off, but our utmoll efforts were Hill ineffectual.
The next day at noon, the maker returned, and reported,
that he had found a paffage out to fea between the Ihoals, and
defcribed its lituaticn. The Ihoals, he faid, conlilted of coral
rocks, many of which were dry at low water, and upon one
of which he had been alhore. He found here fome cockles of
fo enormous a fize that one of them was more than two men
could eat, and a great variety of other Ihell filh, of which he
brought us a plentiful fupply : in the evening, he had alfo
landed in a bay about three leagues to the northward of our
llation, where he dilturbed feme of the natives who were at
fupper : they all fled with the greatell precipitation at his ap-
proach, leaving fome frelh fea eggs, and a fire ready kindled
behind them, but there was neither houfe nor hovel near the
place. We obferved, that although the Ihoals that lie juft
within light of thecoaft, abound with Ihell-filh, which may be
ealily caught at low water ; yet we faw no fuch Ihells about
the fire-places on Ihore. This day an allegator was feen to
fvvim about the Ihip for fome time, and at high water we made
an other effort to float her, which happily fucceeded : we found
however that by lying fo long with her head a-greund, and
her ftern a-fl«at, Ihe had fprung a plank between decks,
a-breaft of the main chains, fo that it was become neceffary to
lay her alhore 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. alhore on the fand bank,
on the fouth fide of the’river, for the damage lire had received
already from the great defeent of the ground, made me afraid
to lay her broad-fide to the lhcre in the fame place, from which
we had juft floated her. I was now very defirous to make an-
other trial to come at her bottom, where the fheathing had
been rubbed off, but though Ihe had fcarcely four feet water
under her, when the tide was out, yet that part was not dry.
Mr. Banks travels up the Country. ioi
On the qth, I got one of the carpenter’s crew, a man in
Whom I could confide, to go down again to the Ihip’s bottoni,
and examine the place. He reported, that three ftreaks of
the lheathing, about eight, feet long, were wanting, and that
the main plank had been^a little rubbed ; this account per-
fectly agreed with the report of the mailer, and others, who
had been under her bottom before : 1 had the comfort how-
ever to find the carpenter of opinion that this would be of little
conlequence, and therefore, the other damlge being repaired,
fhe was again floated at high water, and moored along-fide
the beach, where the ftores had been depofited ; we then went
to work to take the llores on board, and put her in a condi-
tion for the fea. This day, Mr. Banks crofledto the other fide of
the harbour, where, as he walked along a fandy beach, he
found innumerable fruits, and many of them fuch as no plants
which he had difcovered in this country produced : among
' others were fome cocoa nuts, which Tupia faid had been open-
ed by a kind of crab, which from his defcription we judged to
be the fame that the Dutch call Beurs Krai be, and which we
had not feen in thefe feas. All the vegetable fubllances which
he found in this place, were eneruited with marine productions,
and covered with barnacles ; a fure fign that they mull have
come far by fea, and, as the trade-wind blows right upon the
flhore, probably from Terra del Efpirito Santo, which has
been mentioned already.
The next morning, Mr. Banks, with Lieutenant Gore, and
• three men fet out in a fmall boat up the river, with a view to
Ipend two or three days in an excurfion, to examine the couni
try, and kill fome of the animals which had been fo often
feen at a diftance.
On the 7th, I fent the mailer again out to found about the
fhoals, the account whicn he had brought me of a channel
being by no means fatisfaclory ; and we fpent the remainder
of this day, and the morning of the next, in fifhing, and other
neceflary occupations.
About four o’clock in the afternoon, Mr. Banks and his par-
ty returned, and gave us an account of tin ir expedition.
Having proceeded about three leagues among ihe fwamps and
mangroves, they went up into the country, which they found
to differ but little from what they had feen before : they pur-
fued their courfe therefore up the river, which at length,
was contraCled into a narrow channel, and was bounded,
not by fwamps and mangroves, but by lleep banks, that
were covered with trees of a mod beautiful verdure, a- ■
mong which was that which in the Well Indies is calledf
Moboe, or the bark tree, the hibifcus tiliaceur, the land with-
in was in general low, and had a thick covering of long
grafs: the foil feemed to be fuch as promifed great fertility,
to any who fhould plant and improve it. In the courfe of
l 3 the
♦
I®2 C O O K ’3 V O Y A G E.
the day, Tupia faw an animal, which, by his defcriplion,
Mr. Banks judged to be a wolf : they alio faw three other
animals, but could neither catch nor kill one of them, and a
kind of bat, as large as a partridge, but this alfo eluded all
their diligence and (kill. At night, they took up their lodg-
ing clofe to the banks of the river, and made a fire, but the
mufquitos fwarmed about them in fuch numbers, that their
quarters were almoft untenable ; they followed them into the
fmoke, and almofl into the fire, which, hot as the climate
was, they could better endure than the flings of thefe infedls,
which were an intolerable torment. The fire, the flies, and
the want of a better bed than the ground, rendered the night
extremely uncomfortable, fo that they pafled it not in
Beep, but in reftlefs wifhes for the return of day. With the
firfl dawn they fet out in fearch of game, and in a walk of ma-
ny miles, they faw four animals of the fame kind, two of
which Mr. Banks’s greyhound fairly chafed, but they threw
him out at a great diflance, by leaping over the long thick
grafs, which prevented his running : this animal was obferved
not to run upon four legs, but to bound or hop forward upon
two, like the Jcrbua, or Mus Jaculus. About noon, they re-
turned to the boat, and again proceeded up the river, which
was foon contracted into afrefh water brook, where, however,
the tide rofe to a confiderable height : as evening approached,
it became low water, and it was then fo fhallow 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 fome hope of reft,
pafs the night. Such a place at length offered, and while they
were getting the things cut of the boat, they obfcved a fmoke
at the diflance of about a furlong: as they did not doubt but
that fome of the natives, with whom they had fo long and
earneftly defired to become perfonally acquainted, were about
the fire, three of the party went immediately towards it, hope-
ing that fo fmall a number would not put them to flight :
when they came up to the place, however, they found it de-
feated, and therefore they conjectured that before they had dis-
covered the Indians, the Indians had difcovered them. They
found the fire flill burning, in the hollow of an old tree that
was become touch-wood, and feveral branches of trees newly
broken down, with which children appeared to have been
playing : they obferved alfo many foot-fteps upon the fand,
below high water mark, which were certain indications that
the Indians had been recently upon the fpot. Several houfes
were found at a little diflance, and fome ovens dug in the
ground, in the lame manner as thofe of Otaheite, in which
viftuals appeared to have been dreffed fince the morning, and
fcattered about them, lay fome fhells of a kind of clamm, and
fome fragments of roots, the refufe Qf the weal. After regret-
ti&g
Mr. Banks returns disappointed. 103
ting their difappointment, they repaired to their quarters,
which- -was a broad band bank, under the fhelter of a bufh.
Their beds were plantain leaves, which they fpread upon the
fand, and which were as foftas a mattrefs ; their cloaks ferved
them for bed-cmthes, and fome bunches of grafs for pillows :
with thefe accommodations they hoped to pafs a better night
than the lad, efpe ially as, to their great- comfort, not a muf-
quito was to be feen. Here then they lay do.wn, and, luch is
the force of habit, they refigned themfelves to fleep, without
once reflecting upon the probability and danger of being found
by the Indians in that fituation. If this appears ftrange, let
us for a moment reflefl, that every danger, and every cala-
mity, after a time becomes familiar, and lofes its effeCt upon
the mind. If it were poffible --hat a man Ihould fird be made
acquainted with his mortality, or even with the inevitable
debility and infirmities of old age, when his underftanding
had arrived at its full drength, and life was endeared by the en-
joyments of youth, and vigour, and health, with what an ago-
ny of terror and didrefs would the intelligence be received 1
yet, being gradually acquainted with thefe mournful truths, by
infenfible degrees, we fcarce know when they lofe all their
force, and we think no more of the approach of old age and
death, than thefe wanderers of an unknown defart did of a
lefs obvious and certain evil, the approach of the native fa-
vages, at a time vvhe ' they mud have fallen an eafy prey to
their malice or their fears. And it is remarkable that the
greater part of thofe who have been condemned to fuller a vio-
lent death, have dept the night immediately preceeding their
execution, though there is perhaps no indance of aperfon ac-
cufed of a capital crime having dept the fird night of his
confinement. Thus is the evil of life in fome degree a reme-
dy for itfeif, and though every man at twenty deprecates four-
fcore, almod every man is as tenacious off life at fourfcore as at
twenty ; and if he does not differ under any painful diforder,
lofes as little of-the comforts that remain by reflecting that he
is upon the brink of the grave, where the earth already crumb-
les under his feet, as he did of the pleafures of his better days,
when his diffolution, though certain, was fuppofed to be at a-
difiance.
Our travellers having dept, without once awaking, till
the morning, examined the river, and finding the tide favour-
ed their return, and the country promifed nothing worthy of
a further fearch, they reimbarked in their boat, and made the
bed of their way to the jfhip.
Soon after the arrival of this party, the mafier alfo re-
turned, having been fev'en leagues out to fea, and he was now
of opinion, that there was no getting out where before he
fought there had been apaifege ■, his expedition however was-
104 COOK’s VOYAGE.
by no means without its advantage, for having been a fe-
cond time upon the rock where he had feen the large cockles,
he met with a great number of turtle, three of which he caught,
that together weighed feven hundred and ninety-one pounds,
though he had no better inftrument than a boat-hook.
The next morning therefore, 1 feat him out again, with
proper inllruments for taking them, and Mr. Banks went with
him, but the fuccefs did not at all anfwer our expectations,
for, by the unaccountable conduct of the officer, not a fingle
turtle was taken, nor could he be per funded to return : Mr,
Banks, however, went afhore upon the r ef, w here he faw fe-
veral of the large cockles, and having collected many (hells,
and marine productions, he returned at eleven o’clock at night,
in his own imall boat, the mailer (till continuing with the large
one upon the rock. In the afternoon, feven or eight of the
natives had appeared on the fouth fide of the river, and two of
them came down tc the Candy point, cpgoflte to the (Lip ; but
upon feeing me put off in a boat, to fpeak with them, they ail
ran away with thegreatelt precipitation.
As the the mailer continued abfent with the boat all night,
I was forced to fend the fecond lieutenant for him, early the
next morning in the yawl; and (con after four cf the natives
appeared upon the fandy point, on the north fide of the river,
having with them a fmall wooden canoe, with cut-riggers :
they ieemed forfome time to be buiily employed in ftiikinghffi :
fome 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 lead notice cf them : this fucceeded fo
well, that at length two of them came in the canoe within a
mufket (hot of the (hip, and there talked a great deal in a very
loud tone : we underdood nothing that they faid, and there-
fore could anfvver their harangue only by fhouting, and mak-
ing all the figns of invitation and kindnefs that we could de-
vife. During this conference, they came, infenfibly, nearer
and nearer, holding up their lances, not in a threatning man-
ner, but as' if to intimate that if we offered them any injury,
they had weapons to revenge it. When they were aimed
along-fide of us, v/e threw them fome cloth, nails, beads, pa-
per, and fome other trifles, which they received without the
lead appearance of fatisfaCtion : at lad, one cf the people hap-
pened to throw them a fmall fifh ; at this they expreifed the
greateft joy imaginable, and intimating, by figns, that they
would fetch their companions, immediately paddled away to-
wards the (here. In the mean time fome of our people, and
among them T upia, landed on the oppohte fide of the river ;
toe
Observations upon the Inhabitants.
the canoe, with all the four Indians, very loon returned to the
Ihip, and came quite along-fide, without expreffing any fear
or diftruft. We diftributed fome more prefents among them,
and foon after they left us, and landed on the fame fide of the
river where our people had gone alhore : every man carried in
his hand two lances, and a Hick, which is ufed in throwing
them, and advanced to the place where Tupia and the reft of
our people were fitting ; Tupia foon prevailed upon them to
lay down their arms, and come forward without them : he then
made figns that they fhould fit down by him, with which they
complied, and feemed to be under no apprehenfion or con-
ftraint : feveral more of us then going afttore, they exprelfed
fome jealoufy left we fhould get between them and their arms ;
we took care however to fhew them that we had no fuch inten-
tion, and having joined them, we made them fome more pre-
fents, as a farther teftimony of our good-will, and our defire
to obtain theirs. We continued together, with the utmoft
cordiality, till dinner time, and then giving them to under-
ftand that we were going to eat, we invited them, by figns,
to go with us : this however they declined* and,as foon as we
left them, they went away in their canoe. One of thefe men
was fomewhat above the middle age, the other three were
young ; they were in general of the common ftature, but their
limbs v/ere remarkably fmall ; their fkin was of the colour oT
wood foot, or what would be called a dark chocolate colour ;
their hair was black, but not woolly ; it was fhort cropped, in
fome lank, and in others curled. . Dampier fays, that the
people whom he faw on the weftern coaft of this country,
wanted two of their fore-teeth, but thefe had no fuch defedt ;
fome part of their bodies had been painted red, and the upper
lip and breaftof one of them was painted with ftreaks of white;
which he called Carbanda ; their features were far from dis-
agreeable, their eyes were lively, and their teeth even and
white, their voices were foft and tuneable, and they repeated
many words after us with great facility. In the night, Mr.
Gore and the mafter returned with the long-boat, and brought
one turtle and a few fhell-fifh. The yawl had been left upon
the fhoal with fix men, to make a farther trial lor turtle.
The next morning we had another vifit frcm four of the na-
tives ; three of them had been with us before, but the fourth
was a ftranger, whofe name, as we learnt fiom his companions,
who introduced him. was Yaparico. This gentleman was
diftinguifhed by an ornament of a very ftri king appearance;
it was the bone of a bird, nearly as thick as a man’s finger,
and five or fix inches long, which he had thruft into a hcle,
made in the griftle that divides the ncftrils ; of this we had
feen one inftance, and only one, in New Zealand ; but upon
examination, we found that among all theie people this part
to6 COOl’s VOYAG E,
of the nofe was perforated, to receive an ornament of the farA^
kind : they had alfo 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,- fo that, like the inhabi-
tants of Terra del Fuego, they feem to be fond of ornament,
though they are abfolutely without apparel ; and one of them,
to whom I had given part of an old (hirt, inftead of chrowing
it over any part of his body, tied it as a fillet round his head.
They brought with them a fifh, which they gave us, as we
fuppofed, in return for the fifli we had given them the day be-
fore. They ieemed to be much pleafed, and in no hafte to
leave us, but feeing feme of our gentlemen examine their ca-
noe with great curiofityand attent.on. they were alarmed, and
jumping immediately into it, paddled away without lppaking
a word.
.About two the next morning, the yawl, which had been'
left upon the lhoal, returned with three turtles and a large
dkeat. As it feemed now probable that this fifhery might be
profecuted with advantage, I fent her cut again, after break -
faft,' for a further fupply. Soon after, three Indians ventured
down to T upia’s tent, and were fo well pleafed with their re-
ception, that one of them went with the canoe to fetch two
others whom we had never feen ; when he returned he intro-
duced the ftrangers by name, a ceremony which, upon fuch
iccaiiom, was never omitted. As they had received the fifti .
that was thrown into their canoe, when they firfi approached the
fhip, with fo much pleafure, fome filh was offered to them
now, and we were greatly furprized to fee that it was received
with the greateft indifference: they made figns, however, to
fome of the people, that they fhould drefs it for them, which
was immediately done, bn after eating a little of it, they threw
the reft to Mr-. Banks’s dog. They (laid with us all the fore-
noon, but would never venture above twenty yards from their
canoe. We now perceived that the colour of their Ikin was not
fo dark as it appeared, what we had taken for their com-
plexion, being the effe&s of dirt and fmoke, in which, we
imagined, they contrived to fleep, notwithftanding the heat of
the climate, as the only means in their power to keep eft the
mufquitos. Among other tilings that we had given them
when we firft favv them, were fome medals, which he had
hung round their necks by a riband ; and thefe ribands were
fo changed by fmoke, that we could not eafily diftinguifh
of what colour they had been : this incident led us more . ar-
rowly to examine the colour of their (kin. While thefe people
were with us, we faw two others on the point of land that lay
on the oppofite fide of the river, at the diftance of about two
hundred yards, and by our glaffes difeovered them to be a
woman and a boy ; the woman* like the reft, being dark
naked.
Language, &C. oe the Inhabitants. io*a
naked. We obierved, that all of them were remarkably clean
jlim bed, and exceedingly aftive and nimole. One of thefe
ftrangers had a necklace of ihells, very prettily made, and a
bracelet upon his arm, formed of feveral firings, fo as to re-
.femble what in England is called gynrp : both of them had a
piece of bark tied over tne forehead, an i were disfigured by
the bone in the nofe. We thought their language rpore harfih
than that of the blunders in the South Sea, and they were con-
tinually repeating the word ckercau, which we imagined to be
.a term expreffing admiration, by the manner in which it was
uttered : they aifo cried out, when they faw any thing new,
cher, tut , tut , tut, tut ! which probably had a fimilar fignifi-
cation. Their canoe was not above ten feet long, and very
narrow, but it was fitted with an outrigger, much like thofe
of the iflands, tho’ in every refpeft very much inferior : when it
was in (hallow water, they fet it on with poles, and when in
deep, they worked it with paddles about four feet long : it
contained juft four people, fo that the people who vifited us to-
day went away at two turns. Their lances were like thofe
that we had feen in Botany Bay, except that they had but a
iingle point, which in force of them was the fling of the ray,
and barbed with two or three fharp bones of the fame fifh : it
was indeed a moil terrible weapon, and the inftrument which
they nfed in throwing it, feemed to be formed with more art
than any we had -feen before. About .twelve o'clock next day,
the yawl returned, with another turtle: and a large fling-ray.,
and in the evening was fent out again.
The next morning, two of the Indians came on board,
-but after a fhort flay, went along the fhore, and applied
tkemfelves with great diligence to the flriking of fifh. Mr.
Gore, who went out this day with his gun, had the good
fortune to kill one of the animals which had been fo much the
fubje&of our fpeculation: In form, it is moil like the gerbua,
which it alfo refembles in its motion, as has been obferved al-
ready, but it greatly differs in fize, the gerbua not being lar-
ger than a common rat, and this animal, when full grown,
being as big as a fheep : this individual was a young one,
much under its full growth, weighing only thirty-eight pounds.
Tne head, neck, and fhoulders, are very final 1 in proportion
to the other parts of the body ; the tail is nearly as long as
the body, thick near the rump, and tapering towards the end:
the fore-legs of this individual were only weight inches long,
and the hind-legs two and twenty : its progrefs is b> fucceffive
leaps or hops, of a great length, in an ere£t poflure ; the fore-
legs are kept bent clofe to the bread:, and feemed to be of ufe
only for digging : the fkin is covered with a fhort fur, of a
• dark mouf’e or grey colour, excepting the head and ears, which
1 bear
to* C O O K’s V O Y A G E.
bear a flight refemblance to thofe of a hare. This animal it
called by the natives Kangutoo.
The next day, our Kanguroo was dreffed for dinner, and
proved moll excellent meat ; we might now indeed be faid to
fare fumptuoufly every day, for we had turtle in great plenty,
and we all agreed that they were much better than any we had
tailed in England, which we imputed to their being eaten
frelh from the fea, -before their natural fat had been waited, or
their juices changed by a diet and fituation fo different from
what the fea affords them, as garbage and a tub. Molt of
thofe that we caught here, were of the kind called green turtle,
and weighed from two to three hundred weight, and when
thefe were killed, they were always found to be full of turtle
grafs, which our naturalilts took to be a kind of conferva ;
two of them were loggerheads, the flefn of which was much
lefs delicious, and in their Itomachs nothing was to be found
but Ihells.
In the morning of the 16th, while the people were employed
as ufual in getting the fhip ready for the fea, I climbed one of
the hills on the north fide of the river, from which I had an
extenfive view of the inland country, and found it agreeably
diverfified by hills, rallies, and large plains, which in many
places were richly covered with wood. This evening we
obferved an emerfion of Jupiter’s firft fate’ life, which gave
2140 53' 45" of longitude. The obfervation which was mdde
on the 29th of June gave 2140 42' 30" ; the mean1 is 2140 48'
7§", the longitude of this place weft of Greenwich.
On the 17 th, I fent the Mafter and one of the mates in the
pinnace, to look for a channel to the northward ; and I went
myfelf with Mr, Banks and Dr. Solander into the woods, on
the other fide of the water. Tupia, who had been thither by
himfelf, reported, that he had feen three Indians who had
given him fome roots, about as thick as a man’s finger, in
flrape not much unlike a rhadifn, and of a very agreeable tafte.
This induced us to go over, hoping that we ftiouid be able to
improve our acquaintance with the natives : in a very little
time we aifeovered four of them in a canoe, who, as foon as
they faw us, came afhore, and, though they were all ftrangers,
walked up to us, without any figns of fufpicion or fear. Two
of thefe had necklaces of Ihells, which we could not perfuade
them to part with for any thing we could give them : we pre-
sented them however with fome beads, and after a fliort ftay
they departed. We attempted to follow them, hoping that
they w'ould conduct us to fome place where we fhould find more
of them, and have an opportunity of feeing their woman ; but
they made us unierftand, by figns, that they did not defire
our company. At eight o’clock next morning, we were vifited
by feveral of the natives, who were now become’ quite familiar,
The Inhabitants go on board the Ship. 109
One of them, at our defire, threw his lance, which was
about eight feet long: it flew with a fvviftnefs and fieadinefs
that furprifed us, and though it was never more than four
feet from the ground, it entered deeply into a tree at fifty
paces diftance. 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 curiofity, by looking round us
upon the fea, of which our wiihes almoft periuaded us we
had formed an idea more difadvantageous than the truth.
After having walked about feven or eight miles along the
Ihore to the northward, we afcended a very high hill, and
were foon convinced that the danger of our fituation was at
leaft equal to our apprehenfions ; for in whatever direction
we turned our eyes, we faw rocks and lhoals without num-
ber, and no palfage out to fea, but through the winding
channels between them, which could not be navigated with-
out the lad degree of difficulty and danger. We returned
therefore to the fnip, not in better fpirits than when we left
it; we found feveral natives ftill on board, and we were told
that the turtles, of which we had then no lefs than twelve
upon the deck, had fixed their attention more than any thing
elfe in the fhip.
On the 19th in the morning, we were vifited by ten of the
'natives, the greater part from the other fide of the river, where
we faw fix or feven more, moll: of them women, and like
all the reft of the people we had feen in this country, they
were ftark naked. Our guefts brought with them a greater
number of lances than they had ever done before, and hav-
ving laid them up in a tree, they fet a man and a boy to
watch them : the reft then came on board, and we foon per-
ceived .that they had determined to get one of our turtle,
which was probably as great a dainty to them as to us.
They firft alked us, by figns, to give them one ; and being
refufed, they exprefied, both by looks and geliures, great
diffappointmept and anger. At this time we happened to
have no vidluals dreffed, but I offered one of them fome bif-
cuit, which he fnatched and threw overboard with great dif-
dain. One of them renewed his requeft to Mr. Banks, and
upon a refufal ftamped with his foot, and pulhed him from
him in a tranfport of refentment and indignation : having
applied by turns to almoft every perfon who appeared to
have any command in the (hip, without fuccefs, they fu'd-
denly feized two of the turtles, and dragged them towards
the fide of the Ihip where their canoe lay : our people foon
forced them out of their' hands, and replaced them with the
Tell. They would not however reiinquifh their enterprife
but made feveral other attempts of the fame kind, in all
Von. II. K which
no COO K*s VOYAGE,
which being equally difappointed, they fuddenly leaped into
their canoe in a rage, and began to paddle towards the lhore.
At the fame time, I went into the boat with Mr. Banks,
and five or fix of the Ihip’s crew, and we got aftiore before
them, where many more of our people were already en-
gaged in various employments ; as icon as they landed, they
leized their arms, and, before we were aware of their de-
fign, they fnatched a brand from under a pitch ket le which
was boiling, and makiug a circuit o the windward of the
few things we had on lhore, they fet fire to the grals in their
way, with lurprifing quicknels and dexterity : the grafs,
which was five or fix feet high, and as dry as ftubble, burnt
with amazing fury ; and the fire made a rapid prcgrefs to-
wards a tent of Mr. Banks’s, which had been fet up for
Tupia when he was lick, taking in its courle a fow and pigs,
one of which it fcorched to death. Mr, Banks leaped into a
boat, and fetched feme people from on board, juft time
enough to fave his tent, by hauling it down upon the beach ;
but the fmith’s forge, at leaft fuch part of it as would burn,
was confirmed, While this was doing, the Indians went to a
place at fome diftance, where feveral of our people were
walhing, and where our nets, among which was *he feine,
and a great quantity of linen, were laid out to dry; here
they again fet fire to the grafs, entirely difregarding both
threats and entreaties. We were therefore obliged to dif-
eharge a mufquet, loaded with fmall Ihot, at one of them,
which drew blood at the diftance of about forty yards, and
this putting them to flight, we extinguilhed the fire at this
place before it had made much progrefs ; but where the
grafs had been firft kindled, it fpread into the woods to a
great diftance. As the Indians were ftill in fight, I fired a
mufquet, charged with ball, abreaft 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 foon loft fight of them. We thought they would now give
u no more trouble ; but foon after we heard their voices in
til • woods, and perceived they came nearer and nearer. I fet
oui., therefore, with Mr. Banks and 3 or 4m. re, to meet them:
when our parties came in fight of each other, they halted ; ex-
cept one old man who came forward to meet us : at length he
flopped, and having uttered fome words, which we were very
forry we could not underftand, he went back to his compa-
nions, and the whole body flowly retreated. We found means
however to feize fome of their darts, and continued “o follow
them about a mile : we then fat down upon fome ock , from
which we could obferve their rcodons, and they al o f.t down
at about an hundred yards diftance. After a ftiort ti ne, the
old man again advanced towards us, carrying in his hand a
lance
The iNDiANS SET Fire to the Woods, in
lance without a point : he flopped feveral times, at different
diftances, and fpoke ; we anfwered by beckoning and making
fuch flgns of amity as we could devife ; upon which the mef-
fen^erof peace, as we fuppofel him to be, turnea and fpoke
aloud to h:s companions, who then fet up their lances againft
a tree, and advanced to us in a friendly manner: when they
came up, we returned the darts or lan.es that we had taken
from them, and we perceived with great fatisfa&ion that this
rendered the reconciliation complete. We found in this party
four per ons whom we had never feen before, who as ufual
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 danger-
oufly hurt, by the diftance at which the fhot reached him.
We made ail of them p efents of fuch trinkets as we had about
us, and they walked back with us towards the Ihip : as we
went along, they told us, by figns, that they would not fet
fire to the grafs any more ; and we diftributed among them
fome mufquet balls, and endeavoured to make them under-
ftand their ufe and effed. When they came abreaft of the fhip,
they fat down, but could not be prevailed upon to come on
board ; we therefore left them, and in about two hours they
went away, foon after which we perceived the woods on lire
at about two miles diftance. If this accident had happened a
very little while fooner, the confequence might have been
dreadful ; for our powder had been aboard but a few days, and
the ftore tent, with many valuable things, which it contained,
had not been removed many hours. We had no idea of the
fury with which grafs would burn in this hot climate, nor con-
fequently of the difficulty of extinguilhing it ; but we deter-
mined, that if it fhould ever again be neceffary for us to pitch
our tents in fuch a lituation, our firft meafure fhould be to clear
the ground round us.
In the afternoon we got every thing on board the Ihip, new
birthed her, and let her fwing with the tide ; and at night
the mafter returned, with the difcouraging account that there
was no paffage for the Ihip to the northward.
The next morning, at low water, I went and founded, and
bouyed the bar, the Ihip being now ready for the fea. We
faw no Indians this day, but all the hills round us for many
miles were on fire, which at night made a moft ftriking and
beautiful appearance.
The 2 1 ft paffed without our getting fight of any of the in-
habitants, and indeed without a Angle incident wortll notice.
On the 2 2d, we killed a turtle for the day’s provilion, upon
opening which we found a wooden harpoon, or turtle peg,
about as thick as as man’s linger, near fifteen inches long, and
bearded at the end, fuch as we had feen among the natives,
K 2 flicking
712
COOK’S VOYAGE,
flicking through both fhoulders : it appeared to have beeft
ftruck a confiderable time, for the wound had perfedlly healed
up over the weapon.
Early in the morning of the 23d, I fent fome people into
the country, to gather a fupply of the greens which have been
before mentioned by the name of Indian Kale ; and one of
them having ftraggied from the reft, fuddenly fell in with
four Indians, three men and a boy, whom he did not fee till, by
turning fhort in the wood, he found himfelf among them.
' They had kindled a fire, and were broiling a bird of fome kind,
and part of a Kanguroo, the remainder of which, and a cocka-
too, hung at a little diftanee upon a tree : the man, being un-
armed, was at f.rft greatly terrified ; but he had the prefence
of mind not to run away, judging very rightly, that he was
moft likely to incur danger by appearing to apprehend it ; on
the contrary, he went and fat down by them, and, with an
air of chearfulnefs 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 feemed not difpofed to
permit : ftill however he diffembled his fears, and fat down
again ; they confidered him with great attention and curicfity,
particularly his clothes, and then felt his hands and face, and
Satisfied themfelves that his body was of the fame texture with
their own. The}'- treated him with the greateft civility, and
having kept him about half an hour, they made figns that he
might depart : he did not wait for a fecond difmifticn, but
when he left them, not taking the direct way to the fhip, they
came from their fire and directed him ; fo that they well knew
whence he came.
In the mean time, Mr. Banks, having made an excurftcn
on the other fide of the river, to gather plants, found the
greateft part of the cloth that had been given to the Indians,
lying in a heap together, probably as ufelefs lumber, not w'orth
carrying away ; and perhaps, if he had fought further, he
might have found the other trinkets; for they feemed to fet
very litt’e value upon any thing we had, except our turtle,
which was a commodity that w-ewere leait able to fpare.
The blowing weather, which prevented our attempt to get
out to fea, ftill continuing, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander w'ent
again out on the 24th to fee whether any new plant could be
picked up : they traverfed the w'oods all day without fuccefs ;
but as "ftey were returning through a deep valley, the fides of
which, though- almoft as perpendicular as a wall, were covered
with trees and bufhes ; they found lying upon the ground feve-
ral marking nuts, the Anacardium orieniale ; thefe put them
upon a new fcent," and they made a moft diligent fearch after
Of the Plants -and Animals.
the tree that bore them, whieh perhaps no European botanift
ever faw ; but to their great mortification they could not find
it : To that, after fpending much time, and cutting down four
or five trees, they returned quite exhaufted with fatigue to the
fliip.
On the 25th, having made an excursion up the river, I
found a canoe belonging to our friends the Indians, whom
we had not feen fince the affair of the turtle ; they had left it
tied to fome mangroves, about a mile diftant from the fliip,
and I could fee by their fires that they were retired at lead fix
miles diredlly inland.
As Mr. Banks was agaip gleaning the country for his natu-
ral hiilory on the 26th, he had the good fortune to take an ani-
mal of the Opojfum tribe : it was a female, and with it he took
two young ones : it was found much to reiemble the remarkable
animal of the kind, which Monf. de Buffon has defcribed in
his natural hiilory by the name of Phalanger, but it was not
the fame. Monf. Buffon fuppofes this tribe to be peculiar to
America, but in this he is certainly millaken ; and probably,
as Pallas has obferved in his Zoology, the Phalanger itfelf is
a native of the Ea!l Indies, as the animal which was caught by
Mr. Banks refembled in the extraordinary conformation of the
feet, in which it differs from animals of every other tribe.
On the 27th, Mr. Gore fhot a Kangurcc, which, with the
Ikin, entrails, and head, weighed eighty-four pounds. Upon
examination, however, we found that this animal was not at
its full growth, the innermoil grinders not being yet formed.
We dreffed it for dinner the next day ; but to our great difap-
pointment, we found it had a much worfe flavour than that'
we had eaten before.
The wind continued in the fame quarter, and with the fame
violence, till five o’clock in the morning of the 29th. when it
fell calm ; foon after a light breeze fprang up from the land,
and it being about two hours ebb, I fent a boat to fee what wa-
ter was upon the bar ; in the mean time we got the anchor up,
and made all ready to put to fea. But when the boat came
back, the offlcer| reported that there was only thirteen feet
water upon the bar, which was fix inches lefs than the fhip
drew. We were therefore obliged to come to, and the fea
breeze fetting in again about eight o’clock, we gave up all
hope oUfailing that day.
We had frefh gales at S. E. with hazy ’weather and rain,'
till two in the morning of the 3 1 ft, when the weather being
fomethmg more moderate, I had thoughts of trying to warp
the ihip out of the harbour ; but upon going out myfelf firft
in the boat, I found it ftill blow too frefh for the attempt.
During all this time the pinnace and yawl continued to ply tha
net and hook with tolerable fuccefs ; fometimes taking a
. K 3 turtle.
1X4 C 0 0 K ’s VOYAGE.
tnrtle, and frequently bringing in from two to three hundred
weight of filh.
On the firft of Auguft, the carpenter examined the pumps,
and, to our great mortification, found them all in a Hate of
decay, owing, as he faid, to the Taps having been left in the
wood ; one of them was fo rotten as, when hoifted up, to
drop to pieces, and the reft were little better ; fo that cur chief
truft was now in the foundnefs of our veffel, which happily
did not admit more than one inch of water in an hour.
At fix o’cloik-in the morning of Friday the third, we made
another unfuccefsful attempt to warp the Ihip out of the har-
bour ; but at five o’clock in the morning of the 4th, our ef-
forts had a better effedt, and about feven, we got once mere
under fail, with a light air from the land, which foon died
away, and was followed by the fea-breezes from S. E. by S.
with which we flood off to fea E. by N. having the pinnace
ahead, which was ordered to keep founding continually. The
yawl had been fent to the turtle bank, to take up the net
which had been left there ; but as the wind frelhened we got
out before her. A little before noon we anchored in fifteen
fathom water, w'ith a fandy bottom ; for I did not think it
fafe to run in among the Ihoals, till I had well viewed them,
at low-water, from the maft-head, which might determine
me which way to fleer : for as yet I was in doubt whether I
Ihould beat back to the fouthward, round all the Ihoals, orfeek
a paffage to the eaftward or the northward, all which at pre-
fent appeared equally difficult and dangerous. When we were
at anchor the harbour from which we failed bore S. 70 W.
diftant about five leagues ; the northermoft point of the main
in fight, which I named Cape Bedford, and which lies in
latitude 150 16' S., longitude 21 40 45' W., bore N. zo W.
diftant three leagues and a half ; but to the N. E. of this cape
we could fee land which had the appearance of two high
iflands : the turtle banks bore eaft, diftant one mile : our la-
titude by obfervation was 150 32' S. and our depth of water in
Handing off from the land was from three and an half to fifteen
fathom.
CHAP. VII.
Departure from Endeavour River ; a particular Defer iptidh of the
Harlour there , in which the Ship was refitted , the adjacent
Country, and feveral Iflands near the Coafi : the Range from
. Endeavour River to the northern Extremity of the Country, and
the Dangers of that Navigation.
TO the harbour which we new had left, I gave the name
^of Endeayovr River, It is pnly a Imall bar har-
bour.
Description of Endeavour Harbour. 115
hour or creek, which runs in a winding channel, three or four
leagues inland, and at the head of which there is a fmall brook
of frefn water : there is no depth of water for fhipping above a
mile within the bar, and at this diftance only on the north iide,
where the bank is fo deep for near a quarter of a mile, that a
fhi p may lie afloat at low water, fo near the Ihore as to reach it
with a ftage, and thefifuation is extremely convenient for heav-
ing down ; but at low water, the depth upon the bar is not
more than nine or ten feet, nor more than feventeen or eigh-
teen at the height of the tide ; the d’fference between high
and low water, at fpring tides, being about nine feet. At the
new and full of the moon it is high water between nine and
ten o’clock : it mull alfo be remembered, that this part of the
coaft is fo barricaded with Ihoals, as to make the harbour Hill
more difficult of accefs ; the fafeft approach is from the fouth-
ward, keeping the main land clofe upon the board all the way.
Its fituation may always be found by the latitude, which has
been very accurately laid down. Over the fouth point is fome
high land, but the north point is formed by a low Tandy beach,
which extends about three miles to the northward, where the
land begins again to be high.
The chief refrelhment that we procured here, was turtle,
but as they were not to be had without going five leagues out
to fea, and the weather was frequently tempeftuous, we did
not abound with this dainty : what we caught, well as the
fiih, was always equally divided among us all by weight, the
meaneft perfon on board having the fame fnare as myfelf •
and I think every commander, in fuch a voyage as this, will
find it his ifltereft to follow the fame rule. In feveral parts of
the fandy beaches, and fand hills near the fea, we found purf-
lain, and a kind of bean that grows upon a ftalk, which creeps
along the ground : the purflain we found very good when it
was boiled, and the beans are not to be defpifed, for we found
them of great fervice to our fick : the bell greens, however,
that could be procured here, were the tops of the coccos,
which have been mentioned already, as known in the Welt-
Indies by the name of Indian kale : thefe were, in our opinion,
not much inferior to fpinnage, which, in talle, they fomewhat
refemble ; the roots indeed are not good, but they might pro-
bably be meliorated by proper cultivation. They are found
here chiefly in boggy ground. The few cabbage palms that
we meet with, were in general fmall, and yielded fo little
cabbage that they were not worth feeking.
Befides the kanguroo, and the oppolTum that have been al-
ready mentioned, and a kind of polecat, there are wolves upon
this part of the coaft, if we were not deceived by the tracks upon
the ground, and feveral fpecies of ferpents ; fome of the fer-
psnts are venemous, and feme harmlefs ; there are no tame
anixna
1 16 COOK’s VOYAGE.
animals here except dogs, and of thefe we faw but two or three,
which frequently came about the tents, to pick up the fcraps
and bones that happened to lie fcattered near them. There
does not indeed feem to be many of any animal, except the
kanguroo ; we fcarcely faw any other above once, but this we
met with almoft every time we went into the woods. Of land
fowls we faw crows, kites, haws, cokatoos of two forts, one
white and the other black, a very beautiful kind of loriquets,
fome parrots, pigeons of two or three forts, and feveral fmall
birds not known in Europe. The water fowls are herns,
whittling ducks, which perch, and I believe, roott upon trees,
wild geefe, curlieus, and a few others, but thefe do not abound.
The face of the country, which has been occattonally men-
tioned before, is agreeably diverfified by hill and valley, lawn
and wood. The foil of the hills is hard, dry and ftony, yet it
produces coarfe grafs befides wood : the foil of the plains and
vallies is in fome places fand, and in fome clay ; in fome aifo
it is rocky and ftony, like the hills ; in genera!, however, it
is well clothed, and has at leaft the appeararce of fertility.
The whole country, both hill and valley, wood and plain,
abounds with ant hills, fome of which are fix or eight feet
high, and twice as much in circumference. The trees here
are not of many forts ; the gum tree, which we found on the
fouthern part of the coaft, is the moil: common, but here it is
not fo large ; on each ftde of the river, through its whole
courfe, there are mangroves in great numbers, which, in fome
places, extend a mile within the coaft. The country is in all
parts well watered, there being feveral fine rivulets at a fmall
diftance from each other, but none in the place wl^re we lay,
at leaft not during the time we were there, which was the dry
feafon ; we were however well fupplied with water by fprings,
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 fail till the morn-
ing, I fent all the boats td the reef, to get what turtle and
fhell fiih they could. At low water, I went up to the mail-
head, and took a view of the fhoals, which made a very
threatening appearance : 1 could fee feveral at a remote dif-
tance, and part of many of them was above water. The fea
appeared, moft open to the north eaft of the turtle reef, and I
came to a refolution to ftretch out that way, clofe upon a wind,
becaufe if we fhould find no paffage, we could always return
the way we went. In the evening the boats brought in a
turtle, a fting-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
lefs than two pounds of meat : in the night alfo we caught
feveral lharks, which, though not a dainty, were an accep-
table_increafe of ounfrelh provifion.
Description op the Rocks and Shoals. 117
In the morning I waited till half ebb before I weighed, be-
caufe at that time the fhoals begin to appear, but the wind then
blew lb hard that I was obliged to remain at anchor : in the
afternoon, however, the gale becoming more moderate, we
got under fail, and flood out upon a wind N. E. by E. leaving
the turtle reef to windward, and having the pinnace founding
ahead : we had not kept this courie long, before we difcovered
ihoals before us, and upon both the bows ; and at half an hour
after four, having run about eight miles, the pinnace made
the flgnal for lhoal water, where we little expedited it : upon
this we tacked, and flood on and off, while the pinnace
flretched farther to the eaflward, 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. £ N. diftant five leagues, the northermoft land in
fight, which had the appearance of anilland, N. ; and a fhoal,
a fmall fandy part of which appeared above water, boreN. E.
diflant between 2 and 3 miles : in Handing 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 fhip. In the
morning of the 6th, we had a ftrong gale, fo that inftead of
weighing, we were obliged lo veer away more cable, and ftrike
our top-gallant yards. At low water, myfelf, with feveral of
the officers, kept a look-out at the maft-head, to fee if any
paffage could be difcovered between .the fhoals, but nothing
was in view except breakers, extending from the S. round by
the E. as far as N. W. and out to fea beyond the reach of our
fight ; thefe breakers, however, did not appear to be caufed
by one continual fhoal, but by feveral, which lay detached
from each other : on that which lay fartheft to the eaflward,
the fea broke very high, which made me think it was the out-
ermoft, for upon many of thefe within, the breakers were in-
confiderable, and from about half ebb to half flood, they
were not to be feen at all, which makes failing among them
ftill more dangerous, efpecially as the fhoals here conflft prin-
cipally of coral recks, which are as fteep as a wall ; upon fome
of them however, and generally at the north end, there are
patches of fand, which are covered only at high water, and
which are to be difeerned at fome diflance. Being now con-
vinced that there was no paffage to fea, but through the laby-
rinth formed by thefe fhoals, I was altogether at a lofs which
way to fleer, when the weather fhould permit us to get under
fail. It was the Mafter’s opinion, that we fhould beat back
the way we came, but this would have been an endlefs labour,
as the wind blew ftrongly from that quarter, almoft without
iatermiflion ; on the other hand, if no paflage could be found
to
tig C O O K’s V 0 Y A G E.
to the northward, we Ihould be compelled to take that measure
&t laft. Thefe anxious deliberations engaged us till eleven
o’clock at night, when the fliip drove, and obliged us to veer
away to a cable and one third, which brought her up ; but in
the morning, the gale increafing, Ihe d.ove again, and we
therefore let go the fmall bower, and veered away to a whole
cable upon it, and two cables on the other anchors, yet Ihe
ftill drove, though not fo fail ; we then got down top-gallant
mafts, and ftruck the yards and top-malls clofe down, and at
laft haJ the fatisfa&ion to find that Ihe rode. Gape Bedford
now bore W. S. W. diftant three leagues and an half, and in
this fitaation We had (hoals to the eallw ;rd, extending from
fhe S. E. by S. to the N. N. W. the neareil of which was
about two miles diftant. As the gale continued with little re-
mifiion, we rode till feven o’clock in the morning of the ioth*
When, it being more moderate, we weighed, and flood in for
the land, having at length determined to feek a paflage along
the fliore to the northward, ftill keeping the boat ahead : during
Our run in we had from nineteen to twelve fathom: after
ftanding in about an hour, we edged away for three fmall
iflands that lay N. N. E. \ E. three leagues from Cape Bed-
ford, which the mafter had vilited while we were in port. At
nine o’clock we were abreaft of them* und between them and
the main : between us and the ma:n there was another low
ifland, which lies N. N. W, four miles from the three iflands ;
and in this channel we had fourteen fathom water. The nor-
thermoft point of land in fight now bore N. N. W. A W. dif-
tant about two leagues. Four or five leagues to the north of
this head land, we faw three iflands, near which lay fome
that were ftill fmaller, and we could fee the fhoals and reefs
without us, extending to the northward, as far as thefe iflands :
between thefe reefs and the head land, we directed our courfe,
leaving to the eaftward a fmall ifland, which lies N. by E.
diftant four miles from the three iflands. At noon, we were
got between the head land and the three iflands : from the
head land we were diftant two leagues, and from the iflands
four; our latitude, by obfervation, was I4°5i'. We now
thought we faw a clear opening before us, and hoped that we
were once more out of danger ; in this hope, however, we
foon found ourfelves difappointed, and for that reafon I called
the head land Cape Flattery, kt lies in latitude 140 56'
S. longitude 2140 43' W. and is a lofty promontory, making
next the fea into two hills, which have a third behind them,
with low fandy ground on each fide : it may however be ftill
better known by the three iflands out at fea : the horthermoft
and largeft lies about five leagues from the cape, in the direc-
tion of N. N. E. From Cape Flattery the land trends away
N. W. and N. W. by W. We fleered along the fliore N. W.
Point Look Out# i
by W. till one o’clock, for what we thought the open channel,
jwnen the petty officer at the malt-head cried out that he faw
land ahead, extending quite round to the illands that lay
witiiout s, and a large reef between us and them : upon this I
ran up to the matt head niyfelf, from whence 1 very plainly iaw
the reef, which was now lo far to windward, that we could
pot weather it, but the land ahead, whi h he had fuppofed to
be the main, appeared to me to be only a cjufter of fmall
illands. As foon as I got down from the mal't-head, the maf-
ter, and fome others went up, who all inliftea that the la d
ahead was not illands, but the ma;n, and to make their report
Hill more alarming, they faid that they faw bieakers all round
us. In this dilemma, we hauled upon a wind in for the land,
and made thefignal for the boat, that was founding ahead, to
come on boara, but as Ihe was far to leward, we were ob iged
.to edge away to take her up, and foon after we came to an an-
chor, under a point ol 'the main, in fomewhat lefs than live
fathom, and about the diftai ce of a mile from the Ihore. Cape
Flattery now bore S. E, aiitant three leagues and an half. As
foon as the fhip was at anchor, I wept alhore upon the point,
which is high, and afforded me a good view of the fea coaft,
trending away N, W, by W. eight or ten leagues, which, the
weather not being very clear, was as far as I cou d fee. Nine
or ten fmall low illands, and fome (hoals, appeared off t‘ e
coaft ; I faw alio fome large Ihoals between the main and the
three high illands, without which, I was clearly of opinion
there wer more illands-, and not any part of the mam. Ex-
cept the p int I was now upon, whicr. I called Point Look-
out, and Cape Flurery, toe main land, to che northward of
Cape Bedford, is low, and chequered with whi e fand and
green bulhes, for ten or tvelve nvles inlind, beyond whi hit
xifes to a confideruble height. To he northward of Point
Look-cut, the coaft appeared to be focal and flat, for a con-
fiderabfo diftance, which did not en oarage the hope that the
channel we had hitherto found i.i with the land would con-
tinue. Upon this po nt, which was n -ncnv, ana confifted of
the lineft win ■. fand we had. ever fe-n, wedifccvered the foot-
fteps of people, and we law alfp l'nioke and foe at a diftance
up the cou': try.
In the evening I r turned -o the foip, and refolved the next
morning to vifit one of the high iflan .s in the offing, from
the top of wh.ch, as they lay five leagues out to fea, 1 hoped
to dif over more fofti dly the duration of the fooals, and the
channel between tfom.
In the morning therefore, of the nth, I let cut in the pin-
nace, accompanied by.x.r. Banks who'e fortitudeand curio-
fity made hi n a party in every expedition, for the norrhermoft
and largeft of the three illands, and at the lame time I lent the
m after
12 fr COOK *s VOYAGE.
mailer in the yaw] to leeward, to found between the low illands
and the main. In my way, I palled over a reef of coral rock
and fand, which lies about two leagues from the illand, and I
left another to leeward, which lies about three miles from it :
on che north part of the reef, to the leeward, there is a low
fandy illand, with trees upon it ; and upon the reef which we
palTed over, we faw feveral turtle : we chafed one or two, but
having little time to fpare, and the wind blowing frelh, we
did not take any.
About one o’dcck we reached the illand, and immediately
afcended the higheft hill, with a mixture of hope and fear,
proportioned to the importance of our bufinefs, .and the uncer-
tainty of the event : when I looked round, I difcovered a reef
of rocks, lying between two and three leagues without the
illands, and extending in a line N. W. and S. E. farther than
I could fee, upon which the fea broke in a dreadful furl ; this
however made me think that there were qo lhoals beyond them,
and I conceived hopes of getting without thefe, as I perceived
feveral breaks, or openings, in the reef, and deep water be-
tween that and the illands. I continued upon this hill till
fun fet, but the weather was fo hazy during the whole time
that I came down much difappointed. After refledt ng upon
what I had feen, and comparing the inteliige ce I had gained
with what I expedled, I determined to Hay upon the illand all
night, hoping that the morning might be clearer, and afford
me a more diftindt and comprehensive view. Wg therefore
took up our lodging under the Ihelter q! a bulli, which grew
upon the beach, and at three in the morning, having fen t the
pinnace with one of the mates, whpm I had brought out with
me, to found between the illands and the reefs, and examine
what appeared to be a channel through them, I climbed the
hill a fecor.d time ; but to my great difappointment 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 fo hard that the mate did not dare to ven-
ture into one of the channels, which he faid appeared to him,
to be very narrow : this however did not dilcourage me, for I
judged from his defeription of the place he had been at, that
he. had feen it to difadvantage. While I was bufy in my fur-
vey, Mr. Banks was attentive to his favourite purluit, and
picked up feveral plants which he had not befoie feen. We
found the illand, which is vifible at twelve leagues dillance. to
be about eight leagues in circumference, and in general very
rocky and barren. On the north well fide, howev er, there are
fome fandy bays, and feme low land, which is covered with
long thin graft, and trees of the fame kind wrh thofe upon
the main : this part alfo abounded with lizards of a very large
Lizard and Eagle Islands. 121
fize, fome of which we took. We found alfo frefh water in
two places ; one was a running ftream, but that was a little
brackifh where I tailed it, v/hich was clofe to the fea ; the
other was a handing pool, clofe behind the fandy beach, and
this was perfeftly fweet and good. Notwithflanding the dis-
tance of this ifland from the main, we faw, to our great fur-
prize, that it was fometimes vifited by the natives ; for we
found feven or eight frames of their huts, and vail heaps of
Ihells, the fifh of which we fuppofed had been their food. We
obferved that all thefe huts were built upon eminences, and
entirely expofed to the S. E. contrary to thofe which we had
feen upon the maini for they were all built either upon the
fide of a hill, or under fome buihes which afforded them fhelter
from the wind. From thefe huts, and their fituation, we con-
cluded that at fome feafons of the year the weather here is in-
variably calm and fine ; for the inhabitants have no boat
which can navigate the fea to fo great a diilance, in fuch wea-
ther as we had from the time of our firfl coming upon the coafl.
As we "faw no animals upon this place but lizards, I called it
Lizard Island; the other two high iflands, which lie at th.
diilance of four or 5 miles from it, are comparatively fmall ; and
near them lie three others fmaller Hill, and low, with feveral
fhoals or reefs, efpecially to the S. E. : there is however a
clear palfage from Cape Flattery to thefe iflands, and even
quite to the outward reefs, leaving Lizard ifland to the north
well, and the others to the fouth eafl.
At two in the afternoon, there being no hope of clear wea-
ther, we fet out from Lizard Ifland to return to the fhip, and
in our way landed upon the low fandy ifland with trees upon it,
which we had remarked in our going out. Upon this ifland
we faw an incredible number of birds, chiefly fea-fowl : we
found alfo the nefl of an eagle with young ones, which we kil-
led ; and the nefl of fome other bird, we knew not what, of a
mofl enormous fize ; it was built with flicks upon the ground,
and was no lefs than fix and twenty feet in circumference, and
two feet eight inches high. We found alfo that this place had
been vifited by the Indians, probably to eat turtle, many of
which we faw upon the ifland, and a great number of their
fhells, piled one upon another in different places.
To this fpot we gave the name of Eagle Island, and af-
ter leaving it, we fleered S. W. diredtly for the lh ip, found-
ing all the way, and we had never lefs than eight fathom,
nor more than fourteen ; the fame depth of water that I had
found between this and Lizard Ifland.
When I got on board, the mailer informed me that he had
been down to the low iflands, between which and the main
I had direfled him to found ; that he judged them to lie about
three leagues from the main ; that without them he found from
V 0 l . II. L ten
122
COOK’S VOYAGE.
ten to fourteen fathom', and between them and the main feven :
but that a flat, which ran two leagues out from the main, made
this channel narrow. Upon one of thefe low iflands he flepr,
and was alhore u^on others ; and he reported, that he faw
every where piles of turtle-lhells, and fins hanging upon the
trees in many places, with the flelh upon them, fo recent, that
tire boat’s crew eat of them : he faw alfo two fpots, clear of
grafs, which appeared to have been lately dug up, and from
the fhape and fize of them he conjeftured they were graves.
After confidering what I had feen myfelf, and the report of
the Mafter, I was of opinion that the pafiage to leeward would
be dangerous, and that, by keeping in with the main, we
fnould run the rifk of being locked in by the great reef, and
at lalt be compelled to return back in learch of another paf-
fage, by which, or any other accident that fhould caufe the
fame delay, we fhould infallible lofe our paflage to the Eaft-
Indies, and endanger the ruin of the voyage, as we had now
but little more than three months proviiions on board at fhort
allowance.
Having Hated this opinion, and the fafts and appearances
upon which it was founded, to the officers, it was unanimoufly
agreed, that the beft thing we could do would be to quit the
coaft altogether, till we could approach it with lefs danger.
In the morning therefore, at break of day, we got under
fail, and flood out N. E. for the north weft end of Lizard
Hand, leaving Eagle Hand to windward, and fome other
iflands and fhoals to the leeward, and having the pinnace
ahead to afcertain the depth of water in every part of onr
courfe. In this channel we had from nine to fourteen fathom.
At noon, the north weft end of Lizard Hand bore E. S. E.
diftant one mile ; our latitude by observation was 14° 38', and
our depth of water fourteen fathom. We had a Heady gale at
S. E. and by two o'clock we juft fetched to windward of one
of the channels or openings in the outer reef, which I had feen
from the Hand. We now tacked, and made a fhort trip to
the S. W. while the mafter in the pinnace examined the chan-
nel : he focn made the fignal for the fhip to follow, and in a
fhort time fhe got fafa out. As foon as we had got without the
breakers, we had no ground with one hundred and fifty fathom,
and found a large fea rolling in from the S. E. a certain fign
that neither land nor fhoals were near us in that dire&ion.
Our change of fituation was now vifible in every counte-
nance, for it was moft fenfibly felt in every breaft : we had
been little lefs than three months entangled among fhoals and
rocks, that every moment threatened us with deftruction ;
frequently paffing our nights at anchor within hearing of the
fur«-e that broke over them ; fometimes driving towards them
flyen while our anchors were out, and knowing that if by any
accident,
The Islands of Direction. 123
accident, to which an almoft continual temped: expofed us,
they fliould not hold, we mud in a few minutes inevitably pe-
rifh. But now, after having failed no lefs than three hundred
and lixty leagues, without once having a man out of the chains,
heaving the lead, even for a Minute, which perhaps never
happened to any other veflel, we found ourfelves in an open
fea, with deep water ; and enjoyed a dow of fpirits which wa9
equally owing to our late dangers, and our prefent fecurity ;
yet the very waves, which by their dwell convinced us that we
had no rocks cr Ihoals to fear, convinced us alfo that we could
not fafely put the fame confidence in our vefiel as before die
had druck ; for the blows die received from them fo widened
her leaks, that (he admitted no lefs than nine inches water in
an hour, which, confidering the Hate of our pumps, and the
navigation that was dill before us, would have been a fubjetl
of more ferious confideration, to people whofe danger had not
fo lately been fo much more imminent.
The paiTage or channel, through which we paded into the
open fea beyond the reef, lies in latitude 140 32' S. and may
always be known by the three high illands within it, which
I have called the Islands of Direction, becaufe by thefe
a ftranger may find a fafe paiTage though the reef quite to the
main. The channel lies from Lizard Ifland N. E. 5- N. dis-
tant three leagues, and is about one third of a mile broad,
and not Lore in length. Lizard Iiland which is, as I have
before obferved, the largeft and the northermoft of the three,
affords fafe anchorage under the north weft fide, freih water,
and wood for fuel. The low iflands and fhoals alfo which lie
between it and the main abound with turtle and fifh, which
may probably be caught in all feafons of the year, except when
the weather is very tempeftuous ; fo that, all tilings confidered,
there is not perhaps a better place for flips to refreih at upon
the whole coaft than this ifland. And before I difmifs it, I
mull obferve, that we found upon it, as well as upon the
beach, in and about Endeavour River, bamboos, cocoa nuts,
pumice ftone, and the feeds of plants which are not the produce
of this country, and which it is reafonable to fuppofe are
brought from the eaftward by the trade winds. The iflands
which were difcovered by Quiros, and called Auftralia del
Efpiritu Santa, lie in this parallel ; but how far to the eaftward
cannot now be afcertained : in moft charts they are placed in
the fame longitude with this country, which, as appears by
the account of his voyage that has been publifhed, he never
faw ; for that places his difcoveries no lefs than two and
twenty degrees to the eaftward of it.
As foon as we were without the reef, we brought to, and
having hoilledin the boats, we flood off and on upon a wind
L 2 -ail
!24 COOK’s voyage.
all night; for I was not willing to run to leeward till I had a
whole day before me. In the morning, at day-break. Lizard
Ifland bore S. 15 E. diflant ten leagues; and we then made
fail and Hood away N. N.W.fW. till 9 o’clock, when we flood
N. W. \ N. having the advantage of a frefh gale at S. E.
At noon, our latitude by obfervation was 130 46' S. and at
this time we had no land in fight. At fix in the evening we
Ihortened fail and brought the fhip to, with her head to the
W. E. ; and at fix in the morning made fail and fleered weft,
in order to get within fight of the land, that I' might be fure
not to overfhoot the paffage, if a paflage there was, between
this land and New Guinea. At noon, our latitude by obfer-
vation was 130 2 S., longitude 216° W. ; which was i° 23'
W. of Lizard Ifland : at this time we had no land in fight;
but a little before one o’clock, we faw high land from the maft
head, bearing W. S. W. At two we faw no more land to the
N. W. of that we had feen before : it appeared in hills, like
lflands ; but we judged it to be a continuation of the main
land. About three we difcovered breakers between the land
and the fhip, extending to the fouthward farther than we could
fee ; but to the north we thought we faw them terminate
abreaft of us. What we took for the end of them in this di-
rection, however, foon appeared to be only an opening in the
reef ; for we prefen tly faw them again, extending northward
beyond the reach of our fight. Upon this we hauled iSofe upon
a wind, which was' now at E. S. E. and we had fcarcely trim-
med our fails before it came to E. by N. which was right upon
the reef, and confequently made our clearing it doubtful. At
funfet the northermoft part of it that was in fight bore from us
N. by E. and was two or three leagues dittany ; this however
being the beft tack to clear it, we kept Handing to the north-
ward with all the fail we could fet till midnight; when, being
afraid of Handing too far in this direction, we tacked and flood
to the fouthward, our run from funfet to this time being fix
leagues N. andN. by E. When we had flood about two miles
S. S. E. it fell calm ; we had founded feveral times during the
night, but had no bottom with one hundred and forty fathom,
neither had we any ground now with the fame length of line ;
yet, about four in the morning, we plainly heard the roaring
of the furf, and at break of day faw it foaming to a vaft height,
at not more than a mile’s diftance. Our diftrefs now re-
turned upon us with double force ; the waves which rolled in
upon the reef, carried us towards it very fail ; we could reach
no ground with an anchor, and had not a breath of wind for
the^fail. In this dreadful fituation, no refource 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 fent ahead to tow, which, by the help of
our
Imminent Danger of the Ship. 125
our fweeps- abaft, got the Ihip’s head round to the northward ;
which, if it could not prevent our deftruction, might at lead:
delay it. But it was fix o’clock before this was effected, and
we were not then a hundred yards from the rock upon which
the fame billow which wafhed the fide of the lhip, broke to a
tremendous height the very next time it rofe ; fo that between
us and deftrudtion there was only a dreary valley, no wider
than the bafe of one wave, and even now the fea under us was
unfathomable, at lead: no bottom was to be found with an
hundred and twenty fathom. During this fceneof didrefs the
carpenter had found means to patch up the pinnace ; fo that
Ihe was hoiked out, and fent ahead, in aid of the other boats,
to tow ; but all our efforts would have been ineffedlual, if, juft
at this crifis of our fate, a light air of wind had not fprung
up, fo light, that* at any other time we Ihould not have ob-
ferved it, but which was enough to turn the fcale in our fa-
vour, and, in conjunction with the afiiftance which was affor-
ded us by the boats, to give the lhip a perceptible motion ob-
liquely from the reef. Our hopes now revived ; but in lefs
than ten minutes it was ag^iin a dead calm, and the lhip was
again driven towards the breakers, which were not now two
hundred yards diftance. The fame light breeze however re-
turned before we had loft: all the ground it had enabled us to
gain, and lafted about ten minutes more. During this time
we difcovered a frnall opening in the reef, at about the diftance
of a quarter of a mile : I immediately fent one of the mates
to examine it, who reported that its breadth was not more
than the length of the lhip, but that within it there was
fmooth water : this aifcovery feemed to render our efcape pof-
fible, and that was all, by pufning the lhip through the open-
ing, which was immediately attempted. It was uncertain in-
deed whether we could reach it ; but if we Ihould fucceed thus
far, we made no doubt of being able to get through : in this
however we were difappointed, for having reached it by the
joint afiiftance of our boats and the breeze, we found chat in
the mean time it had become high water, and to our^great
furprize we met the tide of ebb rulhing out of it like a mill-
llream. We gained however fome advantage, though in a
manner direftly contrary to our expectations ; we found it im-
poffible to go through the opening, but the ftteam that pre-
vented us, carried us about a quarter of a mile : it was too
narrow for us to keep in it longer ; yet this tide of ebb fo
much aflifted the boats that by noon we got an offingof near
two miles. We had, however, reafon to defpair of delive-
rance, even if the breeze, which had now died away, Ihould
revive, for we were ftill embayed in the reef ; and the tide of
ebb being fpent, the tide of flood, notwithftanding our utmoft;
efforts, again drove the lhip into the bite. About this time,
JL 3 howeverj
126 COOK’S VOYAGE.
however, we faw another opening, near a mile to the weft-
ward, which I immediately Cent the firft Lieutenant, Mr.
Hicks, in the fmall boat to examine : in the mean time we
flruggled hard with the flood, lemetimes gaining a little, and
fometimes lofing ; bu' every man liill did his duty, with as
much calmnefs 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
palled : the pofiibility of palling it was fufficient encourage-
ment to make the attempt, for all danger was lefs imminent
than that of our prelent lituation. A light breeze now fprung
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 deftruftion, we .entered it, and were hurried through with
amazing rapidity, by a torrent that kept us from driving
againit either fide of the channel, which was not more than a
quarter of a mile in breadth. While we were lhooting this
gulph, our foundings were from thirty to feven fathom, very
irregular, and the ground at bottom very foul.
As foon as we had got within the reef we anchored in nine-
teen fathom, over a bottom of coral and fnelis. And now,
fu;h is the viciflitude of life, we thought ouneTves happy in
having regained a lituation, which but two days before it was
the utmoft objeft of our hope to quit. Rocks and Ihoals are
always dangerous to the mariner, even where their fituation
has been afeertained ; they are more dangerous in feas which
have never before been navigated, and in this pai;t of the globe
they are more dangerous than in any other ; for here they are
reefs of coral rock, riflng like a wall almotf perpendicularly
out of the unfathomable deep, always overflowed at high wa-
ter, and at low water dry in many places ; and here the enor-
mous waves of the vaft Southern Ocean, meeting with fo ab-
rupt a reiiftance, break with inconceivable violence, in a lurf
which no rooks or dorms in the northern hemifphere can pro-
duce. The danger of navigating unknown parts of this
ocean was now greatly increaied by our having a crazy Ihip,
and being Ihort of proviflons and every other neceliary ; yet
the dillinction of a firlt difeoverer made us cheerfully encounter
every danger, and fubmit to every inconvenience ; and we
chofe rather to incur the cenfure of imprudence and temerity,
which the idle and voluptuous fo liberally bellow upon un-
fuccefsful fortitude and perfeverance, that leave a country
which we had difeovered unexplored, and giveN colour to a
charge of timidity and irreiolution.
Having now congratulated ourfelves upon getting within
the reef, notwithstanding we had fo lately congratulated oui-
felves upon getting without it, I refolved to keep the main
land on board in my future route to the northward, whareve,
the
Providential Channel. 127
the confequence might be-; far if we had now gone without
the reef again, it might have carried us fo far from the coaft,
as to prevent my being able to determine, whether this coun-
try did, or did not, join to New-Guinea ; a queflion which I
was determined to re.olve from my firll coming within fight
of land. However, as I had experienced the difadvantage of
having a boat under repair, at a time when it was poliible I
might want to ule her, I determined to remain fad at anchor,
till the pinnace was perfectly refitted. As I had no employ-
ment for the other boats, I fent them out in the morning to
the reef, to fee what refrelhments could be procured, and Mr.
Banks in his little boat, accompanied by Dr. Solander, went
with them. In this fituation I found the variation by ampli-
tude and azimuth to be 40 9' E. ; and at noon, our latitude by
obfervation was 120 38' S. and our longitude 216° 45' W.
The main land extended from N. 66 W. to S. W. by S. and
the nearelt part of it was diftant about 9 leagues. The open-
ing through which we had palfed, I called Providential
Channel; and this bore E. N. E. diftant ten or twelve
miles : on the main land within us was a lofty promontory,
which I called Cape Weymouth; on the north fide of
which is a bay, which I called Weymouth Bay : they lie
in latitude 1 20 42' S., longitude 1 270 1 5' W. At four o’clock
in the afternoon the boats returned with two hundred and forty
poundof the meat of Ihell filh, chiefly of cockles, fome of which
were as much as two men could move, and contained twenty
pounds of good meat. Mr. Banks alio brought back many
curious fhells, and Mollufca ; befides many fpecies of coral,
among which was that called the ’Tubipora Mujica.
At fix o’clock in the morning we got under fail and flood
away to the N. W. having two boats ahead to diredt us ; our
foundings were very irregular, varying five or fix fathom every
call, between ten and twenty-feven. A little before noon,
we palfed a low fandy ifland, which we left on our ftarboard
fide, at the diflance of two miles. At noon our latitude was
120 28', and oar diflance from the main about four leagues ■
it extended from S. by W. to N. 71 W. and fomefmall iflands
from N. 40 W. to 54 W. Between us and the main were fe-
veral Ihoals, and fome without us, befides tl^e main or outer-
moft reef, which we could fee from the mart-head, ftrelching
away to theN. E. At two in the afternoon, as we were fleer-
ing N. W. by N. we faw a large fhoal right ahead, extend-
ing 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
weftward, and ran between the north end of this fhoal and
another, which lies two miles to thenorthward of it, having- a
boat all the way ahead founding ; our depth of water was frill
very
128 COOK’S voy AGE,
very irregular, from twenty-two to eight fathom. At half an
hour after fix, we anchored in thirteen fathom : the norther-
moft of the fmall iflands feen at noon bore W. \ S. diftant
th ree miles : thefe ill mds are diftinguifhed in the chart .by the
name of Forbes’s Islands, and lie about five leagues from
the main, which here forms a high point that we called Bolt
Mead, from which the land trends more welterly, and is in
that diredtion all low and fand)* ; to the fouthward it is high
and hilly, even near the fea.
At fix in the morning we got again under fail, and fleered
for an ifland which lay at a fmall diftance from the main, and
at this time bore from us N. 40 W. diftant about five leagues :
our courfe was foon interrupted by Ihoals ; however, by the
help of the boats, and a good look-out from the top of the
malt, we got into a fair channel that led us down to the ifland,
between a very large flioal on our ftarboard fide, and feveral
fmall 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 eaft fide of the ifland, leav-
ing it between us and the main, from which it is diftant about
feven or eight miles. This ifland is about a league in circuit,
and we faw upon it five of the natives, two of whom had
lances in their hands ; they came down upon a point, and hav-
ing looked a little while at the ftiip, retired. To the N. W.
of it are feveral low iflands and quays, which lie not far from
the main ; and to the northward and eaftward are feveral other
iflands and ihoals ; lo that we were now encompafled on every
fide ; but having lately been expofed to much greater danger,
and rocks and ihoals being grown familiar, we looked at them
comparatively with little concern. The main land appeared to
be low and barren, interfperfed with large patches of very fine
white fand, which we had founa upon Lizard Ifland and dif-
ferent parts of the main. The boats had feen many turtle
upon the ihoals which they paffed, but it blew toq hard for
them to take any. At noon our latitude by obfervation was
120, and our longitude 21 70 25' : our depth of water was four-
teen fathom ;'and our courfe and diftance, reduced to a ftrait
line, was, between this time and the preceeding noon N. 29
W. thirty-two miles.
The main land within the iflands that have been juft men-
tioned forms a point, which I dalled Cape Grenville : it
lies in latitude 1 1° 58', longitude 2170 38'; and between it
and Bolt Hea^ is a bay, which I called Temple Bay. At
the diftance of nine leagues from Cape Grenville, in the di-
reiftion of E. \ N. lie fome high iflands, which I called Sir
Charles Hardy’s Isles; and thofe which lie off the
Cape I called Cockburn’s Isles. Having lain by for the
boats, which had got out of thejur ftation, till about one o’clock,
Bird Isles. 129
we then took the yawl in tow ; and the pinnace having got
ahead, we filled, and flood N. by W. for fome fmall iflands
which lay in that dircdtion ; fuch at leaft they were in ap-
pearance, 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 ftarboard hand ; we fleered
between them and the iflands that lay off the main, having a
clear paffage, and from fifteen to twenty-three fathom water.
At four o’clock, we difcovered fome low illands and rocks,
bearing W. N. W. and flood diredtly for them : at half an
hour after fix, we anchored on the north eaft fide of the nor-
thermoft of them, at one mile diftance, and in fixteen fathom.
Thefe illands lieN. W. four leagues from Cape Grenville, and
from the number of birds that I faw upon them, I called them
Bird Isles. A little before fun-fet, we were in fight of the
main land, which appeared all very low and fandy, extending
as far to the northward as N. W. by N. fome Ihoals, quays,
and low fandy ifles firetching away to the N. E.
At fix o’clock in the morning, we got again under fail,
with a frelh breeze at E. and flood away N. N. W: for fome
lew illands in that direction, but were foon obliged to haul
clofe upon a wind, to weather a Ihoal which we difcovered upon
our larboard bow, having at the fame time others to the eaft-
ward : by the time we had weathered this Ihoal to leeward, we
had brought the iflands well upon our lee bow, but feeing fome
Ihoals running off from them, and fome rocks on our ftarboard
bow, which we did not difeover till we were very near them,
I was afraid to go to windward of the iflands, and therefore
brought to, and having made the fignal for the pinnace,
which was ahead, to come on board, I lent her to leeward of
the iflands, with orders to keep along the edge of the Ihoal,
which ran off from the fouth fide of the fouthermoft ifland,
fending the yawl at the fame time, to run over the Ihoal in
fearch of turtle. As foon as the pinnace had got to a proper
diftance, we wore, and flood after her : as we ran to leeward
of this ifland, we took the yawl in tow, Ihe having feen only
one fmall turtle, and therefore made but little flay upon the
Ihoal. The ifland we found to be a fmall fpot of /and, with
fome trees upon it, and we could difeern many huts, or habi-
tations of the natives, whom we fuppofed occafionally to vifit
thefe iflands from the main, they being only five leagues dif-
tant, to catch turtle, when they come aihore to lay their
eggs. We continued to Hand af|£r the pinnace N. N. E. and
N. by E. for two other low iflands, having two ihoals with-
out us, and one between us and the main. At noon, we were
about four leagues from the main, which we faw extending to
the northward, as far asN. W. byN. all flat and fandy. Our
latitude by obfervation, was 1 1° 23' S. and our longitude Z170
130 COOK’s VOYAGE.
46' W. our foundings were from fourteen to twenty-three
fathom ; but thefe, as well as the fhoals and iilands, are too
numerous to be particularly mentioned. Ey one o’clock, we
had run nearly the length of the fouthermoft of the two iflands
in fight, 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 paffage, we fteered
N. by W. in a direction parallel to the main, leaving a fmall
i/land which lay between it and the Chip, and fome low fandy
illes and fhoals without us, of all which we loll fight by four
o’clock, and faw no more before the fun went down : at this
time the fartheii part of the land in fight bore N. N. W, £ W.
and foon after we anchored in thirteen fathom, upon foft
ground, at the dlftance of about five leagues from the land,
where we lay till day-light.
Early in the morning, we made fail again, and fteered N.
N. W. by compafs, for the northermoft land in fight ; and at
. this time we obferved the variation of the needle to be 30 6' E.
At 8 o’clock, we difcovered fhoals ahead, and on our larboard
bow, and faw that the northermoft land, which we had taken
for the main, was detached from it, and that we might pafs
between them, by running to leeward of the fhoals on our
larboard bow, which were now near us : we therefore wore
and brought to, fending away the pinnace and yawl to diredl
us, and then fteered N. W. along the S. W. or infide of the
fhoals, keeping a good look-out from the mail-head, and
having another Ihoal on our larboard fide : 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 obftruftion in the paffage between
them, yet having the long boat allern and rigged, we fent
her away to keep in fhore upon our larboard bow, and at the
fame time difpatched the pinnace a-ftarboard ; precautions
which I thought neceftary, as we had a ftrong flood that car-
ried us an end very fall, and it was near high water : as
fcon as the boats were ahead, we ftood after them, and by
noon got through the paffage. Our latitude by obfervation,
was then io° 30 , and the neareft part of the main, which we
foon after found to be the northermoft, bore W. 2 S. diftant
between three or four miles : we found the land which was
detached from the main, to be a fingle ifland, extending from
N. to N. 75 E. diftant between two and three miles ; at the
fame time we faw other iflands at a confiderable diftance, ex-
tending from N. by W. to V/. N. W. and behind them an-
other chain of high land, which we judged alfo to be iflands :
there were ftiii other iflands, extending a* far as N. 71 W.
which at this time we took for the main.
The
York Cape. 131
The point of the main which forms the fide of the channel,
through which we had palled, oppolite to the ifland, 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 io° 3 7', and of the eafi point io° 42' S. The land
over the eafi point, and to the fouthward of it, is rather low,
and as far as the eye can reach, very flat, and of a barren ap-
pearance. To the fouthward of the cape the fliore forms a
large open bay, which I called Newcastle Bay, and in
which are fome fmall low iflands and fhoals ; the land adja-
cent is alfo very low, flat, and fandy. The land of the nor-
thern part of the cape is more hilly, the vallies feem to be
well clothed with wood, and the lhore forms fome fmall bays,
in which there appeared to be good anchorage. Clofe to the
eaftern point of the cape are three fmall iflands, from one of
which a fmall ledge of rocks runs out into the fea : there is alfo
an ifland clofe to the northern point. The ifland that forms
the ftreight or channel through which we had palled, lies
about four miles without thefe, which, except two, are very
fmall : the fouthermofl is the largeA. and much higher than
any part of the mainland. On the north weA fide of this
ifland there appeared to be good anchorage, and on fliore, val-
lies that promifed both wood and water. To the fouthward
and fouth eafi, and even to the eaflward and northward of
them, there are feveral other low iflands, rocks, and flioals :
our depth of water in failing between them and the main,
was twelve, thirteen, and fourteen fathom.
We flood along the fliore to the weflward, with a gentle
breeze at S. E. by S. and when we had advanced between three
and four miles, we difcovered the lank! ahead, which, when
we firfl faw it, we took for the main, to be iflands detached
from it by feveral channels : upon this we fent away the boats,
with proper inflruttions, to lead us through that channel which
was next the main ; but foon after difcovering rocks and flioals
in this channel, I made a fignal for the boats to go through
the next channel to the northward, which lay between thefe
iflands, leaving fome of them between us and the main : the
fnip followed, and had never lefs than five fathom water in
the narrowefi part of the channel, where the difiance from
ifland to ifland was about one mile and an half.
At. four o’clock in the afternoon we anchored, being about
a mile and a half, or two miles within the entrance, in fix
fathom and a half, with clear ground : the channel here had
begun to widen, and the iflands on each fide of us were dif-
tant about a mile : the main land flretched away to the S. W.
the farthefi point in view bore S. 48 W. and the fouthermofl:
point of the iflands, on the north wefifide of the pafiage, bore
S. 76 W. Between thefe two points we could fee no land, fo
that
132 COOKV VOYAGE,
that we conceived hopes of having, at laft, found a paflage in-
to the Indian fea^ however, that I might be able to determine
with more certainty, I refolved to land upon the illand which
lies at the fouth eaft point of the paflage. Upon this illand
we had feen many of the inhabitants when we firlt came to an
anchor, and when I went into the boat, with a party of men,
accompanied by Mr. Banks, and Dr. Solar.der, in order to go
alhore, we faw ten of them upon a hill : nine of them were
armed with fuch lances as we had been ufed to fee, and the
tenth had a bow, and a bundle of arrows, which we had never
feen in the pofieffion of the natives of this country before : we
alfo obferved, that two of them had large ornaments of mother
of pearl hanging round their necks. Three of thefe, one of
whom was the bowman, placed themfelves upon the beach
abreaft of us, and we expedled that they would have oppofed
our landing, but when we came within about a mulket’s Ihot
of the beach, they walked leifurely away. We immediately
climbed the higheft hill, which was not more than three times
as high as the mdft-head, and the mofc barren of any we had
fee n. From this hill, no land could be feen between the S.
W. and W. S. W. fo that I had no doubt of finding a dftnnel
through. The land to the north weft of it confifted of a great
number of illands of various extent, and different heights,
ranged one behind another, as far to the northward and weft-
ward as I could fee, which could not be lefs than thirteen
leagues. As I was now about to quit the eaftern coaft of
New-Holland, which I had coafted from latitude 38 to this
place, and which I am confident no European had ever feen
before, I once more hoifted Englifh colours, and though I had
already taken pofleffion of feveral particular parts, I now took
poifelTion of the whole eaftern coaft, from latitude 38° to this
place, latitude iof S. in right of his Majefty King George
the Third, by the name of New South Wales, with all
the bays, harbours, rivers and illands fituated upon it : we
then fired three vollies of fmall arms, which were anfwered by
the fame number from the Ihip. Having performed this cere-
mony upon the illand, which we called Possession Island,
we reimbarkedin our boat, but a rapid ebb-tide fetting N. E.
made our return to the velfel very difficult and tedious. From
the time of our laft coming among the Ihoals, we conftantly
found a moderate tide, the flood fetting 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 rifes and falls perpendicularly about twelve feet. We
faw fmoke rifing in many places from the adjacent lands and
illands, as we had done upon every part of the coaft, after our
laft return to it through the reef.
We continued at anchor all night, and between feven and
eight
Wallis’s Isles. 133
eight o’clock in the morning, we faw three or four of the
natives upon the beach gathering ihell-fiih ; we difcovercd,
by the help of our glafles, that they were women, and, like
all the other inhabitants of this country, Hark naked. At
low water, which happened about ten o’clock, we got under
fail, and flood to the S. W. with a light breeze at E. which
afterwards veered toN. by E.-: our depth of water was from
fix to ten fathom, except in one place where we had but five.
At noon, PolTeffion ifland bore N. 53 E. diflant four leagues,
the weflern extremity of the main land in fight bore S. 43 W.
diflant between four and five leagues, and appeared to be ex-
tremely low, the fouth weft point of the largeft ifland on the
northweft fide of the paflage bore N. 71 W. diflant eight miles,
and this point I called Cape Cornwall. It lies in latitude
io° 43' S., longitude 2190 W. ; and fome low lands that lie
about the middle of the paflage, which I called Wallis’s
Isles, bore W. by S. \ S. diflant about two leages : our la-
titude by obfervation, was io° 46' S. We continued to ad-
vance 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 ahead, made the fignai for fhoal
water, upon which we tacked, and fent away the yawl to
found alfo : we then tacked again, and flood after them : in
about two hours, they both made the fignai for fhoal water,
and the tide being nearly at its greateft height, I was afraid
to ftand on, as running aground at that time might be fatal :
I therefore came to an anchor in fomewhat lefs that feven fa-
thom, fandy ground. Wallis’s ifland bore S. by W. \ W.
diflant five or fix miles, the iflands to the northward extended
from S. 73 E. to N. 10 E. and a fmall ifland. which was juft
in fight, bore N. W. \ W. Here we found the flood tide fet
to the welhvard, and the ebb to the eaftward.
After we had come to an anchor, I fent away the mafter in
the long-boat, to found, who, upon his return in the evening,
reported, that there was a bank ftretching north and fouth,
upon which there were but three fathom, and that beyond it
there were feven. About this time it fell calm, and continued
fo till nine the next morning, when we weighed, with a light
breeze at S. S. E. and fleered N. W. by W. for the fmall ifland
which was juft in fight, having firft fent the boats ahead to
found : the depth of water was eight, feven, fix, five, and
four fathom, and three fatham upon the bank, it being now
the iaft quarter ebb. At this time, the northermoic ifland in
fight bore N. 9 E. Cape Cornwall E. diflant three leagues.
This bank, at leaft fo much as we have founded, extends
nearly N. and S. but to what diftance I do not know : Its
breadth is not more than half a mile at the utmoft. When
we had got over the bank, we deepened our water to fix fathom
Vol. II, M three
13+ COOK’s VOYAGE,
quarters, and had the fame depth all the way to the fmaU
ifland ahead, which we reached by noon, when it bore S,
diftant about half a mile. Our depth of water was now five
fathom, and the northermoft land in fight, which is part of
the fame chain of iflands that we had feen to the northward
from the time of our firft entering the ftreight, bore N. 7 1 E,
Our latitude by obfervation, was io° 33' S. and our longitude
2 1 90 22' W. : in this fituation, no part of the main was in
fight. As we were now near the ifland, 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 fuch numbers, as to make the fur-
face almoft uniformly white with their dung : of thefe "birds,
the greater part feemed to be boobies, ana I therefore called
the place Booby Island. After a fhort flay, we returned
to the fhip, 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
fwell from the fame quarter, which, with other circumftances,
confirmed my opinion, that we were got to the weftward of
Carpentaria, or the northern extremity of New-Holland, and
had now an open fea to the weftward, which gave me great
fatisfa&ion, not only becaufe the dangers and fatigues of the
voyage were drawing to an end, but becaufe it would no lon-
ger be a doubt whether New Holland and New Guinea were
two feparate iflands, or different parts of the fame.
The north eaft entrance of this paflage, or ftreight, lies in
the latitude of io° 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 iflands, which I
called the Prince of Wales’s Islands, to the N. W. and
it is probable that thefe iflands extend quite to New Guinea.
They differ very much both in height and circuit, and many
of them feemed to be well clothed with herbage and wood :
Upon moll, if not all of them, we faw fmoke, and therefore
there can be no doubt of their being inhabited : it is alfo
probable, that among them there are at leaft as good paffages as
that we came through, perhaps better, though better would not
need to be defired, if the accefs to it from the eaftward, were
lefs dangerous : that a lefs dangerous accefs may be difcovered,
I think there is little reafon to doubt, and to find it little
more feems to be neceflary, than to determine how far the
principal, or outer reef, which bounds the flioals to the eaft-
ward, extends towards the north, which I would not have
left to future navigators if I had been lefs haraffed by danger
and fatigue, and had had a fhip in better condition for the
purpofe.
To this channel, or paflage, I have given the name of the
fhip, and called it Endeavour Streichts. Its length
from
Arrival at Endeavou'r Streichts. 135
from N. E. to S. W. is ten leagues, and is about five leagues
broad, except at the north eait entrance, where it is Some-
what lefs than two miles, being contracted by the iflands
which lie there. That which I called PofTeffion ifland is of a
moderate height and circuit, and this we left between us and
the main, palling between it and two Small round illands,
which lie about two miles to the N. W. of it. The two Small
illands, which I called Wallis’s illands, lie in the middle of
the South welt entrance, and thefe we left to the Southward.
Our depth of water in the ftreight, was from four to nine fa-
thom, with every where good anchorage, except upon the
bank, which lies two leagues to the northward of Wallis’s
Iflands, where, at low water, there are but three fathom : for
a more particular knowledge of this llreight, and of the Situa-
tions of the Several iflands and Ihoals on the eaflern coafl: of
New Wales, I refer to the chart ; yet with refpeCt to the
Ihoals, I cannot pretend that one half of them are laid
down, nor can it be fuppofed poflible that one half of them
fhould be discovered in the courSe of a Angle na- vigation :
many iflands alfo mult have efcaped my pencil, efpecially
between latitude 20° and 2 2°, where we faw iflands out
at fea as far as an ifland could be diftinguilhed ; it 'mult
not therefore be fuppofed, by future navigators, that where
no fhoal or ifland is laid down in my chart, no flioal nor ifland
will be found in thefe Seas : it is enough that the Situation of
thofe that appear in the chart is faithfully ascertained, and, in
general, I have the greatell reafon to hope that it will be
found as free from error as any that has not been corrected by
Subsequent and fucceflive obfervafions. The latitudes and
longitudes of all, or molt of the principal head lands and bays,
may be confided in, for we Seldom failed of getting an obser-
vation once at leaft every day, by which to correCt the lati-
tude of our reckoning, and observations for fettling the lon-
gitude were equally numerous, no opportunity that was of-
fered 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 attefting that he was indefatigable both in
making observations and calculating upon them j and that, by
his inflruClions and afliftance, many of the petty officers were
enabled both to obferve and calculate with great exa&nefs.
This method of finding the longitude at fea, may be put
into univerSal praCIice, and may always be depended upon
within half a degree, which is Sufficient for all nautical pur-
poSes. If, therefore, obferving and calculating were confi-
dered as neceflary qualifications for every fea officer, the la-
bour of the Speculative theorift to Solve this problem might be
remitted, without much injury to mankind ; neither will it
M2 be
136 COOK’s VOYAGE.
be fo difficult to acquire this qualification, or put it in prac-
tice^ as may at firft appear; for, with the afiiftance of the
nautical almanack, and aftronomical ephemeris, the calcu-
lations for finding the longitude will take up little more
time than the calculation of an azimuth, for finding the va-
riation of the ccmpafs. '
CHAP. VIII.
Departure from New South IV ales ; a particular Defcription of
the Country , its Produils , and People : A Specimen of the
Language, and fane Obfirvations upon the Currents and Tides .
OF this country, its produfts, and its people, many parti-
culars have already been related in the courfe of the
narrative, being fo interwoven with the events, as not to ad-
mit of a feparation. I fhall now give a more full and cir-
cumftantial defcription of each, in which, if fome things
Ihould happen to be repeated, the greater part will be found
new.
New Holland, or, as I have now called the eaftern coaft,
New South Wales, is of a larger extent than any other coun-
try in the known world that does bear the name of a conti-
nent : the length of coaft along which we failed, reduced to
a ftreight line, is no lefs than twenty-feven degrees of lati-
tude, amounting to near 2000 miles, fo that its fquare furface
muft be much more than equal to all Europe. To the fouth-
ward of 33 or 34, the land in general is low and level ; far-
ther northward it is hilly, but in no part can be called moun-
tainous, and the hills and mountains, taken together, make
but a fmall part of the furface, in comparifon with the vallies
and plains. It is upon the whole rather barren than fertile,
yet the rifing ground is chequered by woods and lawns, and the
plains and vallies are in many places covered with herbage :
the foil however is frequently fandy, and many of the lawns,
or favannahs, are rocky and barren, efpecially to the north-
ward, where, in the bell: fpots, vegetation was lefs vigorous
than in the fouthern part of the country ; the trees were not
fo tall, nor was the herbage fo rich. The grafs in general is
high, but thin, and the trees, where they are largeft, are fel-
dom lefs than forty feet afunder ; nor is the country inland,
as far as we could examine it, better clothed than the fea coaft.
The banks of the bays are covered with mangroves, to the
diftance of a mile within the beach, under which the foil is a
rank mud, that is always overflowed by a fpring tide ; far-
ther in the country we fometime« met with a bog, upon which
Description of the Trees. 137
the grafs was very thick and luxurient, and fometimes with a
valley, that was clothed with underwood : the foil in fome
parts feemed to be capable of improvement, but the far greater
part is fuch as can admit of no cultivation. The coaft, at
lealf that part of it which lies to the northward of 250 S.
abounds with fine bays and harbours, where veffels may lie in
perfect fecurity 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 fea-
fon, it is well watered : we found innumerable fmall brooks
and fprings, but no great rivers ; thefe brooks, however, pro-
bably become large in the rainy feafon. Thirfty found was
the only place where frelh water was not to be procured for
the fhip, and even there one or two fmall pools were found in
the woods, though the face of the country was every where in-
terfered by falt-creeks, and mangrove land.
Of trees there is no great variety. Of thofe that could be
called timber, there are but two forts ; the largeft is the gum
tree, which grows all over the country, and has been men-
tioned already : it has narrow leaves, not much unlike a wil-
low ; and the gum, or rather refin, which it yields, is of a
deep red, and refembles the f unguis draconis ; poffibly it may-
be the fame, for this fubftance is known to be the produce of
more than one plant. It is mentioned by Dampier, and is
perhaps the fame that Tafman found upon Diemen’s land,
where he fays he faw “ gum of the trees, and gum lac of the
ground.” The other timber tree is that which grows fome-
wh.it like our pines, and has been particularly mentioned in
the account of Botany Bay. The wood of both thefe trees, as
I have before remarked, is extremely hard and heavy. Be-
fides thefe, here are trees covered with a foft bark that is eafily
peeled off, and is the fame that in the Eart-Indies is ufed for
the caulking of fhips.
We found here the palm of three different forts. The firft,
which grows in great plenty to the fouthward, has leaves that
are plaited like a fan : the cabbage of thefe is fmall, but ex-
quisitely fweet ; and the nuts, which it bears in great abun-
dance, are very good food for hogs. The fecond fort bore a
much greater refemblance to the true cabbage tree of the Weft-
Indies ; its leaves were large and pinnated, like thofe of the
cocoa-nut; and thefe alfo produced a cabbage, which, though
not fo fweet as the other, was much larger. The third fort,
which, like the fecond, was found only in the northern parts,
was feldom more than ten feet high, with fmall pinnated
leaves, refembling thofe of fome kind of fern : it bore no
cabbage, but a plentiful crop of nuts, about the fize of ajarge
chefnut, but rounder : as we found the hulls of thefe fcattered
round the places where the Indians had made their iires, we
M 3 took
133 COOK's VOYAGE.
took for granted that they were fit to eat ; thofe 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
conftitution of the hogs might be as ftrong as theirs, tho’ our
own had proved to be fo much inferior, we carried them to the
ftye ; the hogs eat them, indeed, and for fome time we tho't
without fullering any inconvenience ; but in about a week they
were fo much difordered that two of them died, and the reft
were recovered with great difficulty. It is probable, how-
ever, that the poifonous quality of thefe nuts may lie in the
juice, like that of the calTada of the Well Indies ; and that
the pulp, when dried, may be not only wholefome, but nu-
tricious. Befides thefe fpecies of the palm, and mangroves,
there were feveral fmall trees and fhrubs, altogether unknown
in Europe ^particularly one which produced a very poor kind
of fig ; another that bore what we called a plum, which it
refembled in colour, but not in ffiape,, being fiat on the fides
like a little cheefe ; and a th rd that bore a kind of purple
apple; which, after it had been kept a few days, became eat-
able, and tailed fomewhat like a damafcene.
Here is a great variety of plants to enrich the colleflion of
a botaniil, but very few of them are of the aefculent kind. A
fmall plant, with long, narrow, graffy leaves, refembling
that kind of bulrulh which in England is called the Cat’s-tail,
yields a refin of a bright yellow colour, exaflly refembling
gambouge, except that it does not llain ; it has a fweet fmeil,
but its properties we had no opportunity to difcover, any more
than thofe of many others with which the natives appear to
be ac-quainted, as they have dillinguilhed them by names.
I have already mentioned the root and leaves of a plant
refembling the coccos of the Well Indies, and a kind of bean ;
to which may be added, a fort of parfiey and purfeiain, and
two kinds of yams ; one lhaped like a rhadilh, and the other
round, and covered with ilringy fibres : both forts are very
fmall, but fweet ; and we never could find the plants that pro-
duced them, though we often faw the places where they had
been newly dugup ; it is probable that thedrought had dellroy-
ed the leaves, and wecould not, like the Indians, difcover them
by the ftalks.
Moll of the fruits of this country, fuch as they are, have
been mentioned already. We found one in the fouthern part
of the country refembling a cherry, except that the ftone was
foft ; and another not unlike a pine-aple in appearance, but
of a very difagreeable tafte, which is well know in the Eaft
Indie’s, and is called by the Dutch Pjn Jppel Boomen.
Of the quadrupeds, I have already mentioned the dog, and
particularly
Description of the Birds and Reptiles. 139
particularly defcribed the kanguroo, and the animal of the
opoffum kind, refembling the phalanger of BufFon ; to which
I can add only one more, refembling a polecat, which the
natives call Quoll ; the back is brown, fpotted with white, and
the belly white unmixed. Several of our people faid they
had fcen wolves ; but perhaps, if we had not feen tracks that
favoured the account, we might have thought them little more
worthy of credit than he who reported that he had feen the
devil.
Of batts, which hold a middle place between the beads and
the birds, we faw many kinds, particularly one which, as I have
oblerved already, was larger than a partridge ; we were not
fortunate enough to take one either alive or dead, but it was
fuppofed to be the fame as BuiTon has defcribed by the name of
Roijet or Rouget,
The fea and other water-fowl of this country, are gulls,
fhaggs, foland geefe, or gannets, of two forts ; boobies, nod-
dies, curlieus, ducks, pelicans of an enormous nze, and ma-
ny others. The land birds are crows, parrots, paroquets,
cockatoos, and other birds of the fame kind, of exquifite beau-
ty ; pigeons, doves, quails, buflards, herons, cranes, hawks,
and eagles. The pigeons flew in numerous flocks, fo that,
notwithilanding their ex reme fhynefs, our people frequently
killed ten or twelve of them in a day : thefe birds are very
beautiful, and creiled very differently from any we had feen
before.
Among other reptiles, here are ferpents of various kinds,
fome noxious, and fome harmlefs ; fcorpions, centipieds, and
lizards. The infedls are but few. The principal are the
mufquito, and the ant. Of the ant there are feveral forts ;
fome are as green as a leaf, and live upon trees, where they
build their nefls of various iizes, between that of a man’s
head and his fill. Thefe nefls are of a very curious flrudlure :
they are formed by bending down feveral of the leaves, each
of which is as broad as a man’s hand, and gluing the points
of them together, fo as to form a purfe ; the vifcus ufed for
this purpofe, is an animal juice, which nature has enabled
them to elaborate. Their method of firft bending down the
leaves, we had notan opportunity to obferve ;"but we faw thou-
fands uniting all their ilrength to hold them in this pofition,
while other bufy multitudes were employed within, in apply-
ing the gluten that was to prevent their returning back. To
fatisfy ourfelves that the leaves were bent, and held down
by the effort of thefe diminutive artificers, we dillurbed them
in their work, and as foon as they were driven from their
flation, the leaves on which they were employed fprung up
with a force much greater than we could have thought them
able to conquer by any combination of their Ilrength. But
though
1^.0 C O O K ’s VOYAGE.
though we gratified our curiofity at their expence, the injury
did not go unrevenged ; for thoufands immediately threw
themfelves upon us, and gave us intoleiable pain with their
flings, efpecially thofe which took pofieffion of our necks and
our hair, from whence they were not eafily driven : the ding
was fcarceiy lefs painful than that of a bee ; but, except it was
repeated, the pain did not laftmore than a minute.
Another fort are quite black, and their operations and man-
ner of life are not lefs extraordinary. Their habitations are
the infide of the branches of a tree, which they contrive to
excavate by working out the pith almoft to the extremity of
the flendereit twig ; the tree at the fame time flourifhing as if
it had no fuch inmate. When we firft found the tree, we
gathered fome of the branches, and were fcarceiy lefs afton-
ilhed than we Ihould have been to find that we had prophaned
a confecrated grove, where every tree, upon being wounded,
gave figns of life ; for we were inflantly covered with legions
of thefe animals, fwarming from every broken bough, and in-
flicting their flings with inceffant violence. They are men-
tioned by Rumphius in his Herbarium Amboinenfe, vol. 2.
p. 257 ; but the tree in which he faw their dwelling, is very
different from that in which we found them.
A third kind we found nefled in the root of a plant, which
grows on the bark of trees in the manner of raifletoe, and
which they had perforated for that ufe. This root is common-
ly as big as a large turnip, and fometimes much bigger :
when we cut it, we found it interfered by innumerable wind-
ing paffages, all filled with thefe animals, by which however
the vegetation of the plant did not appear to have fuffered any
injury. We never cut one of thefe roots that was not inha-
bited, though fome were not bigger than a hazel-nut. The
animals themfelves are very fmall, not more than half as big
as the common red ant in England. They had flings but
fcarceiy 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 fwarmed from in-
numerable holes, and running about thofe parts of the body
that were uncove/ed, produced a titula.ion more intolerable
than pain, except it is increafed to great violence. Rumphius
has alfo given an account of this bulb and its inhabitants,
vol. 6- p. 120. where he mentions another fort that are black.
We found a fourth kind, which are perfectly harmlefs, and
almoft exaCtiy refemble the white-ants of the Eafl-Indies ;
the architecture of thefe is flill more curious than that of the
others. They have houfes of two forts, one is fufpended on
the branches of trees, and the other eredted upon the ground :
thofe upon the trees are about tree or four times as big as a
man’s head, aud are built ©f a brittle fubliance, which feems
to
Creat Plenty of Fish. 14.1
toconfiftof fmall parts of vegetables, kneaded together with
a glutinous matter, which their bodies probably fupply ; upon
breaking this cruft, innumerable cells, fwarming with inha-
bitants, appear in a great variety of winding directions, all
communicating with each other, and with leveral apertures
that led to other nefts upon the fame tree : they have alfo one
large avenue, or covered way, leading to the ground, and
carried on under it to the other neft or houfe that is conftrudied
there. This houfe is generally at the root of a tree, but not
of that upon which their other dwellings are conftrudled : it is
formed like an irregularly fided cone, and fometimes is more
than fix feet high, and nearly as much in diameter. Some
are fmaller, and thefe are generally fiat fided, and very much
refemble in figure the ftones which are feen in many parts of
England, and fuppofed to be the remains of druidical anti-
quity. The outftde of thefe is of well tempered clay, about
two inches thick ; and within are the cells, which have no
opening outwards, but communicate only with the fubterra-
nean way to the houfes on the tree, and to the tree near which
they are conftrudted, where they afcend up the root, and fo up
the trunk and branches, under covered ways of the fame kind
as thofe by which they defcended from their other dwellings.
To thefe firadbires on the ground they probably retire in the
winter, or rainy feafons, as* they are proof againft any wet
that can fall ; which thofe in the tree, though generally con-
ftrutted under fome overhanging branch, from the nature and
thinnefs of their cruft of wall, cannot be.
The fea in this country is much more liberal of food to the
inhabitants than the land ; and though fifh is not quite fo
plenty here as they generally are in higher latitudes, yet we
feidom hauled the feine without taking from fifty to two hund-
red weight. They are of various forts ; but, except the mul-
let, and fome of the fhell-filh, none of them are known in
Europe : mod of them are palatable, and fome are very deli-
cious. Upon the Ihoals and reef there are incredible numbers
of the fineft green turtle in the world, and oyfters of various
kinds, particularly the rock oyfter and the pearl-oylter. The
gigantic cockles have been mentioned already ; befides which
there are fea-crayfi/h, orlobfters, and crabs ; of thefe however
we faw only the lhells. In the rivers and fait creeks there are
aligators.
The only perfon 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
miftaken. The people whom he faw were indeed inhabitants
of a part of the coaft very diftant from each other, and there
being a perfect uniformity in perfon and cuftoms among them
all.
HI COO K’s VOYAGE.
all, it is reafonable to conclude, that diftance in another di*.
tedion has not confiderably broken it.
The number of inhabitants in this country appears to be
very fmall in proportion to its extent. We never faw fo many
as thirty of them together but once, and that was at Botany
Bay, when men, women, and children, aflembled upon a
rock to fee the Ihip pafs by : when they manifeftly formed a
refolution to engage us, they never could multer above fourteen
or fifteen fighting men ; and we never faw a number of their
fhed or houfes together that could accommodate a larger party.
It is true, indeed, that we faw only the fea-coa/1 on the eaftcrn
fide ; and that, between this and the weftern fhore, there is
an immenfe trad of country wholly unexplored : but there is
great reafon to believe that this immenfe trad is either wholly
defolate, or at leaft ftill more thinly inhabited than the parts
we vilited. It is impoflikle that the inland country Ihould
fubfift inhabitants at all feafons without cultivation ; it is ex-
tremely improbable that the inhabitants of the coaft fhould be
totally ignorant of arts of cultivation, which were pradifed in-
land ; and it is equally improbable that, if they knew fuch
arts, there Ihould be no traces of them among them. It is
certain that we did not fee one foot of ground in a ftate of cul-
tivation in the whole country ; and therefore it may well be
concluded that where the fea does not contribute to feed the
inhabitants, the country is not inhabited.
The only tribe with which we had any intercourfe, we found
where the Ihip was careened ; it confided of one ond twenty
perfons ; twelve men, feven women, one boy, and one girl :
the women we never faw but at a diftance ; for when the men
came over the river they were always left behind. The men
here, and in other places, were of a middle fize, and in gene-
ral well made, clean limbed, and remarkably vigorous, adive,
and nimble : their countenances were not altogether without
expreftion, and their voices were remarkably foft and effe-
minate.
Their (kins were fo uniformely covered with dirt, that it
was very difficult to afcertain their true colour : we made le-
veral attempts, by wetting our fingers and rubbing it, to re-
move the incruftations, but with very little effed. With the
dirt they appear nearly as black as a negro ; and according to
our bell difcoveries, the (kin is of the colour ot wood foot, or
what is commonly called a chocolate colour. Their features
are far from being difagreeable, their nofes are not flat, nor
are their lips thick ; their teeth are white and even, and their
hair naturally long and black, it is however univerfally crop-
ped Ihort ; in general it is ftrait, but fometimes it has a flight
curl ; we faw none that was not matted and filthy, though
without oil or greafe, and to our great aftonilhment free from
Description of the Men and Women. 143
lice. Their beards were of the fame colour with their hair,
and bufhy and thick : they are not however fullered to grow
leng. A man whom we had feen one day with his beard
fomewhat longer than his companions, we faw the next, with
it fomewhat fhorter, and upon examination found the ends of
the hair burnt : from this incident, and our having never
feen any fharp inftrument among them, we concluded that
both the hair and the beard were kept lhort by linging them.
Both fexes, as I have already obferved, go Hark naked, and
feem to have no more fenfe of indecency in difcovering the
whole body, than we. have in difcovering our hands and face.
Their principal ornament is the bone which they thrull thro’
the cartilage that divides the noflrils from each other : what
perverfion of talte could make them think this a decoration, or
what could prompt them, before they had worn it, or feen it
worn, to fuffer the pain or inconvenience that mull of necef-
fity attend it, is perhaps beyond the power of human fagacity
to determine : as this bone is as thick as a man’s finger, and
between live and fix inches long, it reaches quite acrofs the
face, and fo effeflually Hops up both the noltrils that they are
forced to keep their mouths wide open for breath, and fnuffle
fo When they attempt to fpeak, that they are fcarcely intel-
ligible even to each other. Our feamen, with feme humour,
called it their fprit-fail-yard ; and indeed it had fo ludicrous
an appearance, that till we were ufed to it, we found it diffi-
cult to refrain from laughter. Belide this nofe-jewel, they
had necklaces made of fhells, very neatly cut and llrung toge-
ther ; bracelets of fmall cord, wound two or three times about
the upper part of their arm, and a firing of plaited human hair,
about as thick as a thread of yarn, tied round the waill. Be-
fides thefe, fome of them had gorgets of fhells hanging round
the neck, fo as to reach crofs the bread. But though thefe
people wear no clothes, their bodies have a covering befides
the dirt, for they paint them both white and red : the red is
commonly laid on in broad patches upon the fhoulders and
bread ; and the white in llripes, fome narrow, and fome broad:
the narrow were drawn over the limbs, and the broad over the
body, not without fome degree of talle. The white was
alfo laid on in fmall patches upon the face, and drawn in a
circle round each eye. The redfeemed to be ochre, but what
the white was we could not difeover ; it was clofe grained, fa-
ponaceous to the touch, and almolt as heavy as white lead ;
poffibly 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 faw any thing worn in them.
Upon fuch ornaments as they had, they fet fo great a value,
that they would never part with the leal! article for any thing
we could offer ; which was the more extraordinary as our beads
and
H4 C O O K’s V O Y A G E.
and ribbons were ornaments of the fame kind, but of a more
regular form, and more ihowy materials. They had indeed
no idea of traffic, nor could we comtjiunicate any to them :
they received the things that we gave them ; but never ap-
peared to underhand our figns when we required a return.
The fame indifference which prevented them from buying
what we had, prevented them alfo from attempting to flea! :
If they had coveted more they would have been lefs honeft ;
for when we refufed to give them a turtle, they were enraged,
and attempted to take it by force, and we had nothing elfe
upon which they fet the leaf! value ; for, as I have before ob-
ferved, many of the things that we had given them, we found
left negligently about in the woods, like the play-things of
children, which pleafe only while they are new. Upon their
bodies we faw no marks of difeafe or fores, but large fears in
irregular lines, which appeared to be the remains of wounds
which they had inflidled upon themfelves with fome blunt in-
firument, and which we underilood by figns to have been me-
morials of grief for the dead.
They appeared to have no fixed habitations, for we faw
nothing like a town or village in the whole country. Their
houfes (if houfes they may be called) feem to be formed with
lefs art and induftry than any we had feen, except the wretched
hovels at Terra del Fuego, and in fome refpefts they are infe-
rior even to them. At Botany Bay, where they were belt,
they where juft high enough for a man to fit upright in ; but
not large enoug-h for him to extend himfelf in his whole length
in any direction : they are built with pliable rods about as
thick as a naan’s finger, in the form of an oven, by flicking
the tv.'o ends into the ground, and then covering them w ith
palm leaves, and broad pieces of bark : the door is nothing
but a large hole at oiie end, oppofite to which the fire is made,
as we perceived by the afhes. Under thefe houfes, or flieds,
they fieep, coiled up with their heels to their head ; and in
this pofition one of them will hold three or four perfons. As
we advanced northward, and the climate became warmer, we
found thefe flreds ftill more flight: they w'ere built, like the
others, of twigs, and covered with bark ; but none of them
were more than four feet deep, and one fide wasintirely open :
the clofe fide w'as always oppofed to the courfe of the prevail-
ing wind, and oppofite to the open fide was the fire, probably
more as a defence from the mufquitg^than the cold. Under
thefe hovels it is probable, that they thruft only their heads,
and the upper part of their bodies, extending their feet to-
wards the fire. They were fet up occafionally by a wandering
hord, in any place that would furnifh them for a time with
fubfiftence, and left behind them when (after it was exhauft-
od) they went away : but in places w here they remained only
Their Furniture and fishing Implements. 145
a night or two, they fiept without any ihelter, except the
.bufhos or gra!'s, which is here near two feet high. We ob-
ferved, however, that though the fleeping huts which we
found upon the main, were always turned from the prevailing
wind, thofe upon the iflands were turned towards it ; which
feems to be a proof that they have a mild feafon here, during
which the fea is calm, and that the fame weather which en-
ables them to vilit the iflands, makes the air welcome even
while they fleep.
The only furniture belonging to thefe houfes that fell un-
der our oblervation, is a kind of oblong veifel made of bark,
by the fimple contrivance of tying up the two ends with a
withy, which not being cut off ferves for a handle ; thefe
we imagined were ufed as buckets to fetch water from the
fpring, which may be fuppofed fometimes to be at a confider-
able diltance. They have however a fmall bag, about the
fize of a moderate cabbage-net, which is made by laying
threads loop within loop, fomewhat in the manner of knif-
ing ufed by our ladies to make purfes. This bag the man
•carries looie upon his back, by a fmall firing which partes
over his head ; it generally contains a lump or two of paint
and refin, fome filh-hooks and lines, a fhell or two, out of
•which their hooks are made, a few points of darts, and their
ufual ornaments, which includes the whole worldly treafure of
the richell man among them.
Their filh-hooks are very neatly made, and fome of them
are exceedingly fmall. . For flriking turtle they have a peg of
wood which is about a foot long, and very well bearded ;
this fits into a focket at the end of a flaff of light wood, about
as thick as a man’s wrill, and about feven or eight feet long ;
to the flaff is tied one end of a loofe line, about three or four
fathom long, the other end of which is fattened to the peg.
To flrike the turtle, the peg is fixed into the focket, and when
it has entered his body, and is retained there by the barb, the
flaff flies off and ferves for a float to trace their vidtim in the
water ; i^aflifls alfo to tire him, till they can overtake him
with their canoes, and haul him afhore. One of thefe pegs,
as I have mentioned already, we fouad buried in the body of a
turtle, which had healed up over it. Their lines are from
the thicknefs of a half inch rope to the finenefs of a hair, and
are made of fome vegetable fubllance, but what in particular
we had no opportunity to learn.
Their food is chiefly fifh, though they fometimes contrive
to kill the kanguroo, and even birds of various kinds ; not-
withflanding they are fo fhy that we found it difficult to get
within reach of them with a fowling-piece. The only vege-
table that can be conflierei as an^rricle of food is the yam ;
yet dou'jtlefs they eat the fevera! fruits which have been men-
VT ol.IL N tioned
14-6 cook’s voyage.
tioned among other productions of the country ; and indeed
we iaw the fhells and hulls of feveral of them lying abtmt the
places where they had kindled their fire.
They do not appear to eat any animal food raw ; but hav-
ing no veffel in which water can be boiled, they either broil
it upon the coals, or bake it in a hole by the help of hot
flones, in the fame manner as is praftifed by the inhabitants
of the iflapds in the South Seas.
Whether they are acquainted with any plant that has an in-
toxicating quality, we do not know ; but we obferved that
feveral of them held leaves of fdVne fort conftantly in their
mouths, as an European does tobacco, and an Eaft Indian
betele, but whatever it was, it had no effect upon the teeth
pr the lips.
As they have no nets, they catch fifh pnly by firiking, or
with a hook and line, except fuch as they find in the hol-
lows of the rocks and fhoals, which are dry at half ebb.
Their manner of hunting we had no opportunity to fee $
but we conjectured by the notches which they had every where
cut in large trees in order to climb them, that they took their
ftations near the tops of them, and there watched for fuch ani-
mals as might happen to pafs near enough to be reached
by their lances : it is poffible alfo, that in this fituation they
might take birds when they came to rood.
I have obferved 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
thefe fires were intended fome way for the taking the kangu-
yoo, which we obferved to be fo much afraid of fire, that our
dogs could fiercely force it over places which had been newly
burnt, though the fire was extinguifhed.
They produce firp with great facility, and fpread it in a
wonderful manner. To produce it they take two pieces of
dry foft wood, one is a flick about eight or nine inches long,
the other pie.e is flat : the flick they fhape into an obtufe
point at one end, and prefling it upon the other, turn it nimb-
ly by holding it between both their hands as we do a chocolate
mill, often ihifting their hands up, and then moving them
down upon it, to i'ncreafe the prefl'ure as much as poffible. By
this method they get firp in lefs than tw'O minutes, and from
the fmallefl fpark they increafe it with great fpeed and dexte-
rity. We have often feen one of them run along the fhore,
to all appearance with nothing in his hand, who {looping
down fora moment, at the diltance of every fifty or a hundred
yards, left fire behind him, as we could fee firfl by the fmoke,
and then by the flame among the drift wood, and other littep
which was fcattered along the place. We had the curiofity to
pxamine one of thefe planters of fire, when he fett off, and we
Their Method ov Producing FIRE. 14?
few him wrap up a fmall fpark in dry grafs, 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 purpofe, incloling a fpark of it in an-
other quantity of grafs, and fo continued his courfe.
There are perhaps few things in the hiftory of mankind
more extraordinary than the difcovery and application of
fire : it will fcarCely be difputed that the manner of pro-
ducing it, whether by collifion or attrition, was difcovered
by chance : but its firft effects would naturally ftrike thofe ro
whom it was a new objeft, with confirmation and terror : it
Would appear to be an enemy to life and nature, and to tor-
tnent and deftroy whatever was capable of being deftroyed or
tormented ; and therefore it feems not eafy to conceive what
fhould incline thofe who firft faw it receive a tranfient exif-
tence from chance, to produce it by defign. It is by no means
probable that thofe who firft faw fire, approached it with the
fame caution, as thofe who are familiar with its effedts, fo as
to be warmed only and not burnt ; and it is reafonable to
think that the intolerable pain which, at its firft appearance,
it muft produce upon ignorant curiofity, would fow perpetual
enmity between this element and mankind ; and that the fame
principle which incites them to crufh a ferpent, would incite
them to deftroy fire, and avoid all means by which it would
be produced, as foon as they were known. Thefe circum-
ftances confidered, how men became fufficiently familiar with
it to render it ufeful, feems to be a problem very difficult to
folve : nor is it eafy to account for the firft application of it to
culinary purpofes, as the eating both animal and vegetable
food raw, muft have become a habit, before there was fire to
drefs it, and thofe who have confidered the force of habit will
readily believe, that to men who had always eaten the flelh
of animals raw, it would be as difagreeable drefted, as to thofe
who have always eaten it drefled, it would be raw. It is re-
markable that the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego produce fire
from a fpark by collifion, and that the happier natives of this
country, New Zealand and Otaheite, produce it by the attri-
tion of one combuftible fubftance againft another : is there not
then the famereafon to fuppofe that thefe different operations
correfpond 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 concurrence of accident, could be fuppofed fo eafily
to produce fire by attrition, as in a climate where every thing
is hot, dry, and aduft, teeming with a latent fire which a.
flight degree of motion was fufficient to call forth ; in a cold
country therefore, it is natural to fuppofe that fire was pro-
duced by the accidental collifion- of two metallic fubftances,
N z and *
r4» C O O K *s VOYAGE.
and in a cold country for that reafon, the fame expedient Wa3
ufed to produce it by defign : but in hot countries, where two'
combuftible fubftances eafily kindle by attrition, it is pro-
bable that the attrition of fuch fubftances firft produced fire,-
and here it was therefore natural for art to adopt the fame ope-
ration, with a view to produce the fame efteft. It may in-
deed be true that fire is now produced in many cold countries'
by attrition, and in many hot by a ftroke ; but perhaps upon
enquiry there may appear reafon to conclude that this has arifen
from the communication of one country with another, and
that with refpeft to the original produftion of fire in hot and
cold countries, the diftindtion is well founded.
There may perhaps be fome reafon to fuppofe that men
became gradually acquainted with the nature and effe&s of
fire, by its permanent exiftence in a volcano, there being re-
mains of volcanoes, or veftiges of their effects, in almoft every
part of the world : by a volcano, however, no method of pro-
ducing fire, otherwise than by eontadt, could be learnt ; the
production and application of lire therefore, ftill feem to af-
ford abundant fubjedt of fpeculation to the curious.
The weapons of thefe people are fpears or lances, and1
thefe are of different kinds : fome that we faw upon the fouth-
ern part of the coaft had four prongs, pointed with bone, and
barbed ; the points were alfo fmeared with a hard refin, which
gave them a polilh, and made them enter deeper into what
they ftruck. To the northward, the lance has but one point:
the lhaft is made of cane, or the ftalk of a plant fomewhat re-
fembling a bulrulh, very ftreight and light, and from eight to
fourteen feet long, conlifting of feveral joints, where the
pieces are let into each other, and bound together ; to this are
fitted points of different kinds ; fome are of hard heavy wood,
and fome are the bones of fiftr : we faw feveral that were point-
ed with the filings of the fting-ray, the largeft that they could
procure, and barbed with feveral that were fmaller, faftened on
in a contrary direction ; the points of wood were alfo fometimes
armed with Iharp pieces of broken fhells, which were ftuck in,
and at the junctures covered with refin : the lances that are
thus barbed, are indeed dreadful weapons, for when once they
have taken place, they can never be drawn back without tear-
ing away the flefh, or leaving the Iharp ragged fplinters of the
bone or Ihell, which forms the beard, behind them in the
wound. Thefe weapons are thrown with great force and dex-
terity ; if intended to wound at a fhort diftance, between ten
and twenty yards, fimply with the hand, but if at the diftance
of forty or fifty, with an inftrument which we called a throw-
ing flick. This is a plain fmooth piece of a hard reddifh
wood, very highly polilhed, about two inches broad, half an
inch thick, and three feet long, with a imall knob, or hook
Their offensive Weapons, &c. described. 149
atone end, and a crofs piece about three or four inches Jong at
the other : the knob at one end is received in a fmall dent or
hollow, which is made for that purpofe in the (haft of the
lance, near the point, but from which it eaftly flips, upon be-
ing impelled forward : when the lance is laid along upon this
machine, and fecured in a proper pofition by the knob, the
Serfon that is to throw it holds it over his fhoulder, and after
inking it, delivers both the throwing flick and lance with all
his force, but the flick being flopped by the crofs piece which
comes again ft the fhoulder, with a fudden jerk, 'the lance flies
forward with incredible fwiftnefs, and with fo good an aim*
that at the diftance of fifty yards thefe Indians were more fure
of their mark than we could be with a Angle bullet. BeAdes
thefe lances we faw no offenfive weapon upon this coaft, ex-
cept when we took our laft view of it with our glafles, and
then we thought we faw a man with a bow and arrows, in
which it is poffible we might be miftaken. We faw, how-
ever, at Botany Bay, a fhield or target, of an oblong fhape,
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 oppofed 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 Angle pointed lance
near the center. Thefe fhields aie certainly in frequent ufe
among the people here, for though this was the only one that
we faw in their pofleffion, we frequently found trees from
which they appeared manifeftly to have been cut, the marks
being eaAly diilinguifhed from thole that were made by cut-
ting buckets : fometimes alfo we found the fhields cut out,
but not yet taken off from the tree, the edgts of the bark on-
ly being a little raifed by wedges, fo that thefe people appear
to have difcovered that the bark of a tree becomes thicker and
ftronger by being fuffered to remain upon the trunk after it
has been cut round.
The canoes of New Holland are as mean and rude as the
houfes. Thofe on the fouthern part of the coaft are nothing
more than a piece of bark, about twelve feet long, tied toge-
ther at the ends, and kept open in the middle by fmall bows of
wood : yet in a vefi'el of this conflruflion we once faw three
people. In fhallovv water they arc fet 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 conveniences, they draw but little water, and
tney are very light, fo that they go upon mud banks to pick
Bp fhell Afh, the moll important ufe to which they can be ap-
plied, better perhaps than veftels of any other confirmation.
We ©bferved, that in the middle of thefe canoes there was a
N 3 heap
iSo C O O K ’s VOYAGE.
heap of fea-weed, and upon that a fmall fire ; probably that
the fiffi may be broiled and eaten the moment it is caught.
The canoes that we faw 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 pre-
vent their overfetting. Thefe are worked with paddles, that
are fo large as to require both hands to manage one of them :
the outfide is <wholly unmarked by any tool, but at each end
the wood is left longer at the top than at the bottom, fo that
there is a proje&ion beyond the hollow part, refembling the
end of a plank ; the fides are tolerably thin, but how the
tree is felled and falhioned, we had no opportunity to learn.
The only tools that we faw among them are an adze, wretch-
edly made of ftone, fome fmall pieces of the fame fubftance
an form of a wedge, a wooden mallet, and fome fhells and
fragments of coral. For poliffiing their throwing Hicks, and
the points of their lances, they ufe the leaves of a kind of wild
fig-tree, which bites upon wood almoft as keenly as the Ihave-
grafs of Europe, which is ufed by pur joiners : with fuch tools,
the making even fuch a canoe as I have defcribed, muft be a
moll difficult and tedious labour : to thofe who have been ac-
quftomed to the ufe of metal, it appears altogether imprac-
ticable ; but there are few difficulties that will not yield to
patient perfeverance, and he who does all he can, will cer-
tainly produce effefts that greatly exceed his apparent power.
The utmoft freight of thefe canoes is four people, and if
more at any time wanted to come over the river, one of thofe
who came firft was obliged to go back for the reft : from this
circumftance we conjectured that the boat we faw, when we
were lying in Endeavour River, was the only one in the neigh-
bourhood : we have however fome reafon to believe that the
bark canoes are alfo ufed where the wooden ones are con-
ftrufted, for upon one of the fmall iflands where the natives
had been fifning for turtle, we found one of the little paddles,
which had belonged to fuch a boat, and would have been ufe*
fefs on board any other.
By what means the inhabitants of this country are reduced
to fuch a number as it can fubfift, is not perhaps very ealy
to guefs ; whether, like the inhabitants of New Zealand,
they are deftroyed by the hands of each other in contefts for
food; whether they are fwept off by accidental famine, or
whether there is any caufe which prevents the increafe of the*
fpecies, muft be left to future adventurers to determine. That
they have wars, appears by their weapons ; for fuppofing the
lances to ferve merely for the ftriking of fiffi, the ffiield could
be intended for nothing but a defence againft men ; the only
mark of hofiility, however, wlueh we faw among ?h«n, was
Specimens of their Language. 151
the perforation of the Ihield by a fpear which has been juft
mentioned, for none of them appeared to have been wounded
by an enemy. Neither can we determine whether they are
pofilanimous or brave ; the refolution 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 wound-
ed with fmall Ihot, gave us reafon to conclude that they were
not only naturally courageous, but that they had acquired a
familiarity with the dangers of hoftility, and were, by habit
as well as nature, a daring and warlike people ; but their pre-
cipitate flight from every other place that we approached,
without even a menace, while they ware out of our reach,
was an indication of uncommon tamenefs and timidity, fuch
as thofe who had only been occafionally warriors mnft be fup-
pofed to have fhaken off, whatever might have been their
natural difpofition. I have faithfully related fads, the reader
mull judge of the people for himfelf.
From the account that has been given of our commerce with
them, it cannot be fuppofed that we Ihould know much of
their language ; yet as this is an objed of great curiofity, es-
pecially to the learned, and of great importance in their re-
searches into the origin of the various nations that have been
difcovered, we took Some pains to bring away fuch a Specimen
of it as might, in a certain degree, anfwer thepurpofe, and I
lhall now give an account how it was procured. If we want-
ed to know the name of a ftone, we took a ftone up into our
hands, and as well as we could, intimated by Signs that we
wilhed they fhould name it.; the word that they pronounced
upon the occafion, we immediately wrote down. This me-
thod, though it was the beft we could contrive, might cer-
tainly lead us into many miftakes ; for if an Indian was to
take up a ftone, and alk us the name of it, we might anfwer a
pebble or a flint ; fo when we took up a ftone, and alked an
Indian the name of it, he might pronounce a word that dif-
tinguilhed the Species and not the genus, or that, inftead of
fignifying ftone Simply, might Signify a rough ftone, or a
Smooth ftone ; however, as much as poflible to avoid miftakes
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 lifts : thole which were the Same in
and which, according to every one’s account, figniiied
the fame thing, we ventured to record, with a very few
others, which, from the Simplicity of the Subject, and
the eafe of expreffing our queftion with plainnefs and precifion
by a Sign, have acquired equal authority.
Englilh,
*53
COOK’s VOYAGE.
Englifh.
New Holland.
The head ,
Wageegee.
Hair,
Morye.
Eyes,
Meul.
Ears,
Melea.
Lips,
Yembe.
No/e,
Bonjoo.
Tongue,
.Unjar.
Beard,
Wallar.
Neek,
Doomboo.
Hippies,
Cayo.
Hands , *
Marigal.
'Thighs,
Coman.
Navel,
Toolpoor.
Knees,
Pongo.
Feet,
Edamal.
Heel,
Kniorror.
Cockatoo ,
Wanda.
Tie foal of the 1
Chumal.
JOOty 1
Ankle,
Chongurn.
Arms,
Aco, or Acol.
rhumb.
Eboorbalga.
The fore, middle -j
and ring >
Egalbaiga.
fingers, J
7 he little 1
Nakil, or Eboor-
finger, j
nak.il .
The Jkj,
Kere, or Kearre.
A father.
Bunjo.
A /on.
Jumurre.
Nails,
Kulke.
Sun,
Gallan.
Fire,
Meanang.
A fione ,
Walba.
Sand,
Yowall.
A rope.
Gurka.
A man ,
Bama.
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,
Garmbe,
Engliih
Observations on th
Engliffi.
Wood,
The bone in 1
the nofe , j
A bag,
A great cockle ,
Cocos, yams,
ExpreJJions as tvs
Jupptfed of admi-
ration, which
they continually
ufed tvhen they
were in company
* with us.
Tides an& Currents.
New Holland,
Yocou.
Tapool.
Gharngala,
Moingo.
* Maracotu,
"Cherr,
Cherco,
< Yarcaw,
Tut, tut,
« L tut, tut.
*53
I Ihall now quit this country, with a few obfervations re-
lative to the currents and tides upon the coaft. From lati-
tude 3 2°, and fomewhat higher, down to Sandy Cape, in
latitude 24° 46', we conftantly found a current fetting to the
fouthward, at the rate of about ten or fifteen miles a day,
being more or lefs, according to our diitance from the land,
for it always ran with more force in ffiore than in the offing ;
but I could never fatisfy myfeif whether the flood-tide came
from the fouthward, the eaftward, or the northward : I in-
clined to the opinion that it came from the fouth-eaft, but
the firft time we anchored off the coaft, which was in latitude
240 30', about ten leagues to the fouth eaft of Bullard Bay, I
found it come from the north weft ; on the contrary, thirty
leagues farther to the north weft, on the fouth fide of Keppel
Bay, I found that it came from the eaft, and at the northern
part of that bay it came from the northward, but with a much
flower motion than it had come from the eaft : on the eaft fide
of the Bay of Inlets, it fet ftrongly to the weftward, as far as
the opening of Broad Sound j but on the north fide of that
found, it came with a very flow motion from the north wgft ;
and when we lay at anchor before Repulfe Bay, it came from
the northward : to account for its courfe in all this variety
of directions, we need only admit that the flood-tide comes
from the eaft or fouth eaft. It is well-known, that where there
are deep inlets, and large creeks into low lands, running up
from the fea, and not occafioned by rivers of frelh water,
there will always be a great indraught of the flood-tide, the
direction of which will be determined by the pofition of di-
rection of the coaft which forms the entrance of fuch inlet,
whatever be its courfe at fea ; and where the tides are weak,
which upon this coaft is generally the cafe, a large inlet will,
if I may be allowed the expreflion, attraCl the flood-tide for
many leagues.
154 COOK’s VOUGI.
To the the northward of Whitfun day’s PafTage there is ho
large inlet, confequently the flood fets to the northward, o t
north weftward, according to the diredtion of the coalt, and
the ebb to the fouth, or fouth eaftward, at leaft fuch is their
courfe at a little diftance from the land, for very near it they
will be influenced by fmall inlets. I alfo obferved, that we!
had only one high tide in twenty-four hours, which happen-
ed in the night. The difference between the perpendicular
rife of the water in the day and the night* when there is a
fpring-tide, is no lefs than three feet, which, where the tides
are fo inconfidcrable as they are here, is a great proportion
of the whole difference between high and low water. This ir-
regularity of the tides, whichJs worthy of notice, we did not
difcover till v»e were run afhore, and perhaps farth er to the
northward it is ftili greater : after we got within the reef the
fecond time, we found the tides more conflderable than we!
had ever done before, except in the Bay of Inlets, and pof-
fibly this may be owing to the water being more confined be-
tween the fhoals ; here alfo the flood fets to the north weft, and
continues in the fame diredtion to the extremity of New Wales,
from whence its diredtion is weft, and fouth weft, into the
Indian fea.
CHAP. IX.
The Pajfage from New South Wales to New Guinea, with an
Account of what happened upon Landing there.
IN the afternoon of Thurfday Auguft the 23d, after leaving
Booby Ifland, we fteered W. N. W. with light airs front
the S. S. W. till fitfe' o’clock, when it fell calm, and the tide
of ebb foon after fetting to the N. E. we came to an anchor in
ei^it fathom water, with a foft fandy bottom. Booby Ifland
bore S. 50 E. diftant five miles, and the Prince of Wales’s
Ifles extended from the N. E. by N. to S. 55 E. ; between
thefe there appeared to be a clear open paffage, extending from
N. 46 E. to E. by N. '4
At half an hour after five, in the morning of the 24th, as
we were purchafing the anchor, the cable parted at about
eight or ten fathom from the ring : the fhip then began to
drive, but I immediately dropped another anchor, which
brought her up before fhe got more than a cable’s length front
the buoy ; the boats were then fent to fweep for the anchor,
but could not fucceed. At noon, our latitude, by obfervation,
was io° 30' S. As I was refolved not to leave the anchor be-
hind, while their remained a pofiibility of recovering it, I fent
Departure for New Guinea. J55
the boats again after dinner, with a fmall line, to difcover
where it lay ; this being happily effected, we fwept for it
with a hawfer, and by the fame hawfer hove the lliip up to it :
we proceeded to weigh it, but juft as we were about to Ihip it,
the haufer flipped, and we had all our labour to repeat : by
this time it was dark, and we were obliged to fufpend our
operations till the morning.
As foonas it was light, we fweeped it again, and heaved
it to the bows : by eight o’clock, we weighed the other an-
chor, got under fail, and, with a fine breeze at E. N. E.
flood to the north weft. At noon, our latitude, by obferva-
tion, was io° 18' S. longitude 219° 39' W. At this time,
we had no land in fight, but about two miles to the fouthward
pf us lay a large fhoal, upon which the fea broke with great
violence, and part of which, I believe, is dry at low water,
It extends N. W. andS. E. and is about five leagues in cir-
cuit. Our depth of water, from the time we weighed till
now, was nine fathom, but it foon fhallowed to feven 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
fignal for fhoal water ; we immediately let go an anchor,
and brought the Ihip up with all her fails Handing, for the
boat having juft been relieved, was at but a little diftance :
upon looking out from the Ihip, we faw fhoal water almoft all
yound us, both wind and tide at the fame time fetting upon
it. The fhip was in fix fathom, but upon founding round
her, at the diftance of half a cable’s length, we found fcarce-
ly two. This fhoal reached from the eaft, round by the north
and weft, as far as the fouth weft, fo that there was no way
for us to get clear, but that which we came, This was an-
other hair’s breadth efcape, for it was near high water, and
there run a fhort cockling fea, which muft very foon havp
bulged the fhip if fhe had ftruck ; and if her direction had
been half a cable’s length more either to the right or left,
fhe muft have ftruck before the fignal for the fhoal was made.
The fboals which, like thefe, lie a fathom or two under wai-
ter, are the moft dangerous of any, for they do not difcover
themfelves till the veflel is juft upon them, and then indeed
the water looks brown, as if it reflected a dark cloud. Be-
tween three and four o’clock the tide of ebb began to make,
and I fent the Mafter to found to the fouthward and fouth-
weftward, and in the mean time, as the fhip tended, I weigh-
ed anchor, apd with a little fail flood firft to the fouthward,
and afterwards edging away to the weflward, get once more
out of danger. At funfet we anchored in ten fathom, wifh a
fandy bottom, having a frefh gale at E. S. E.
' At fix in the morning we weighed again and flood weft,
having, as ufual, firft fend a boat ahead to found. I had in-
tended
156 C O O K’s V O y A G E.
tended to fleer N. W. till I had made the fouth coaft of New
Guinea, deiigning, if poilible, to touch upon it j but upon
meeting with theie Ihoals, I altered my courfe, in hopes of
finding a clearer channel, and deeper water. In this I fuc-
ceedea, for by noon our depth of water was gradually in-
creafed to feventeen fathom. Our latitude was now by obfer-
vation io° io' 8. ; and our longitude 220° 12' W. No land
was in fight. We continued to fleer weft till fun-fet, our
depth of water being from twenty-leven to twenty-three fa-
thom : we then ihortened fail, and kept upon a wind all
night : four hours on one tack, ana four on another. At
day-light, we made all the iail we could, and fleered W. N.
W. till eight o'clock, and then N. W. At noon, our lati-
tude by oblervation was 90 56' S. ; longitude 221° W. ; va-
riation 20 30' E. We continued our N. W. courfe till funfet,
when we again Ihortened lail, and hauled clofe upon a wind
to the northward : our depth of water was twenty-one fathom.
At eight, we tacked and flood to the fouthward till twelve ;
then flood to the northward with little lail till day-light :
our foundings were from twenty-live to feventeen fathom,
the water growing gradually fhailow as we flood to the north-
ward. At this time we made fail and flood to the north, in
order to make the land of New Guinea: from the time of our
making fail till noon, the depth of water gradually decreas-
ed from feventeen to twelve fathom, with a itoney 2nd fhelly
bottom. Our latitude by oblervation was now 8° 52' S.
which is in the fame parallel as that in which the fouthern
parts of New Guinea are laid down in the charts ; but there
are only two points fo far to the louth, and I reckoned that
we were a degree to the weftward of them both, and therefore
did not fee the land which trends more to the northward. We
found the fea here to be in many j. arts covered with a brown
fcu-m, fuch as failors generally call fpawn. When I firfl faw
it, I was alarmed, fearing that we were among Ihoals ; but
upon founding, we found the fame depth of water as in other
places. This feum was examined both by Mr. Banks and
Dr. Solander, but they could not determine what it was : it
was formed of innumerable fmall particles, not more than
half a line in length, each of which in the microfcope appear-
ed to conftft of thirty or forty' tubes ; and each tube was di-
vided through its whole length by fmall partitions into many
cells, like the tubes of the conferva : they were fuppofed to
belong to the vegetable kingdom, becaufe upon burning them
they produced no fmell like that of an animal fubflance. 1 he
fame appearance had been obfervtd upon the coaft of Biazil
and New Holland, but never at any conftderable diftance
from the fliore. In the evening a fmall bird hovered about
the ihip, and at night, fettling among the rigging, was taken.
They Approach the Land. 157
It proved to be exaftly the fame bird which Dampier has oef-
cribed, and of which he has given a ruae figure, by the name
of a Noddy from New Holland. [See his Voyages, vol. iii.
p. 98. Tab. of Birds, Fig. 5.]
We continued Handing to the northward with a frefh gale at
E. by E. and S. E. till fix in the evening, having very irregular
foundings, the depth changing at once from twenty-four
fathom to feven. A t four, we had feen the land fromthe maft-
head, bearing N. W. by N. ; it appeared to be ver*ow, and
to ftretch from W. N. W. to N. N. E. diftant four or five
leagues. We now hauled clofeupon a wind till feven, then
tacked and llood to the fouthward till twelve, at which time
we wore and Hood to the northward till four in the morning,
then laid the head of the vciTel off till day-iigtit, when we
again faw the land, and Hood in N. N. W. direfUy for it,
with a frefh gale at E. by S. Our foundings during the night
were very irregular from feven to five fathom, fuddenly chang-
ing from deep to fhallow, and from fhailow to deep, without
in the leaft correfponding with our'diftance from the land. At
half an hour after fix in the morning a final! low HI and which
lay at the diitance of about a league from the main, here N.
by W. diftant five miles : this ifland lies in latitude 8° 13* S.
longitude 22 1° 25' W. ; and I find it laid down in the chart
bv the names of Bartholomew and Whermoyfen. We now
fleered 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 5 to 9 fathom,
and though we reckoned we were not more than four leagues
from it, yet it was fo low and level that we could but juft fee it
from the deck. It appeared however to be well covered with
wood, and among other trees, we thought we could diiiinguifli
the cocoa-nut. We faw fmoke in feveral places, and therefore
knew there were inhabitants. At noon we were about three
leagues from the land ; the weilermoft part of which that was
in fight bore S. 79° W. Our latitude by obfervation was V
19' S. and longitude 221 0 44.' W. The ifland of St. Bartholo-
mew bore N. 74 E. diftant 20 miles.
After fleering S. W. by W. fix miles, we had Ihoa! water en
our ftarboard bow, which 1 lent the yawl to found, and at the
fame time hauled off upon a wind till four o’clock, and though
during that time we had run fix miles, we had not deepened
our water an inch. I then edged away S. W. four miles more ,
but finding it Hill lhoal water, I brought to and called the
boats aboard. At this time, being between three and four
leagues from the (here, and the yawl having found-only three
fathom water in the place to which I had fent her to found, 1
hauled off clofe upon a wind, and weathered . the fftoal about
half a mile.
Between one and two o’clock, we palled a bav cr inlet be-
Vol. II. O ' foie
*5* COOK’s VOYAG E.
fore which lies a fmall ifland that feeras to flicker it frora the
foutherly winds ; but I very much doubt whether there is fuf-
ficient depth of water behind it for fhipping. I could not
attempt to determine the queftion, becaufe the S. E, trade wind
blows right into the bay, and we had not as yet had any breeze
from the land.
We ftretched off to fea till twelve o’clock, when we were
about elevejfyleagues from the land, and had deepened our water
to twenty-nine fathom. We now tacked and flood in tilliivein
the morning; when, being in fix fathom and an half, we tacked
and laid the head of the vefiel off till day-light, when we faw
the land, bearing N. W. by W. at about the diflance of four
leagues. We now made fail, and fleered firft W. S. W. then
W. by S. ; but coming into five fathom and an 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 jufl in fight from the deck; we judged it to be
about four leagues diftant, and it was ftill very low and woody.
Great quantities of the brown feum continued to appear upon
the water, and the failors, having given up the notion of
its being fwamp, found a new name for it, and called it Sea-
faw-dufl. At noon, our latitude by obfervation was 8° 30'S.;
our longitude 222° 34 W, ; and Saint Bartholomew’s ifle bore
N. 69 E. diftant feventy-four miles.
As all this coaft appears to have been very minutely examined
by the Dutch, it is fufficient to fay, that we continued our courfe
to the northward with very fhallow water, upon a bank of mud,
at fuch a diflance from the fhore as that it could fcarcely be feen
from the (hip, till the 3d of September. During this time we
made many attempts to get near enough to go on fhore, but
without fuccefs ; and having now loft fix days of fair wind, at
a time when we knew the foyth eaft monfoon to be nearly at
an end, we began to he impatient of farther delay, and deter-
mined to run the fhip in as near to the fhore as pofiible, and
then land with the pinnace, while fhe kept plying off and on,
to examine theproduce of the country, and thedifpofitionof the
inhabitants, For the two laft days we had early in the morn-
ing a light breeze from the fhore, which was flrongly impreg-
nated with the fragrance of the trees, fhrubs, and herbage,
that covered it, the fmell being fomething like that of Gum
Benjamin. On the 3d of September, at day-break, we faw
the land extending from N. by E. to S. E. at about four leagues
diflance, and we then kept ftandir.g in for it with a frefh gale
at E. S. E. and E. by S. tijl nine o’clock, when being within
p-bout three or four miles of it, and in three fathom water, we
brought to. The pinnace being hoifted out, I fet off from the
fhip with the boat’s <frew, accompanied by Mr. Banks, who
gjfq took his fervants, and Dr. Solander^ being in all twelve
I’crfou*
They are provoked to fir? on the Ink a bit ants. 155
peribns well armed ; we rowed dire&ly towards to the fhore,
but the water was fo lhallow that we could not reach it by
about two hundred yards: we waded however the reft of the
way, having left two of the feamen to take care of the boat.
Hitherto we had feen no figns of inhabitants at this place;
but as foon as we got alhore we difcovcred the prints of human
feet, which could not long have been impreffed upon the fand,
as they were below high-water mark : we therefore concluded
that the people were at no great diftance, and, as a thick wood
came down within a hundred yards of the water, we thought
it neceftary to proceed with caution, left we Ihould fall into an
ambufcade and our retreat to the boat be cut off. We walked
along the Ikirts of the wood, and at the diftance of about two
hundred yards from the place where we landed, we came to a
grove of cocoa-nut trees, which flood upon the banks of a little
brook of brackiih water. The trees were of a fmall growth,
but well hung with fruit; and near them was a lhed or hut,
which had been covered with their leaves, though moll of them
were now fallen off: about the hut lay a great number of the
/hells of the fruit, fome of which appeared to be juft fre/h from
the tree. We looked at the fruit very wilhfully, but not think**
ing it fafe to climb, we were obliged to leave it without tailing
a Angle nut. At a little diftance from this place we found plan-
tains, 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 rulhed out of the wood with a hideous Ihout, at
about the diftance of a hundred yards ; and as they ran towards
us, the foremoft threw fomething out of his hand, which flew
on one fide of him, and burnt exadlly like gunpowder, but
made no report: the other two inftantly threw their lances at
us; and, as no time was now to be loft, we difeharged our
pieces, which were loaded with fmall fhot. It is probable that
they did not feel the fhot, 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 lefs
ri(k of life, than it would coll to defend ourfelves againft their
attack if they /hould come nearer, we loaded our pieces with
ball, and fired a fecond time : by this difeharge it is probable
that fome of them were wounded ; yet we had the fatisfaftion
to fee that they all ran away with great agility. . As I was not
difpofed forcibly to invade this country, either to gratify our
appetites or our curiofity, and perceived that nothing was to be
done upon friendly terms, we improved this interval, in which
the deftrudtion of the natives was no longer neceffary to our
own defence, and with all expedition returned towards our
boat. As we were advancing along the fhore, we perceived
that the two men onboard made fignals that more Indians were
coming
i6o C O O K ’s VOYAGE,
coming down ; and before we got into the water we faw feveral
of them coming round a point at the diflance of about five
hundred yards; it is probable that they had met with the three
who firft attacked us ; for as foon as they faw us they halted,
and feemed to wait till their main body fhould come up. We
entered the water, and waded towards the boat; and they re-
mained at their flation, without giving us any interruption.
As foon as we were aboard we rowed abreall of them, and th<?ir
number then appeared to be between fixty and a hundred. We
now took a view of them at our leifure ; they made much the
fame appearance as the New Hollanders, being nearly of the
fame llature, and having their hair fhort cropped : like them
alfo they were all dark naked, but we thought the colour of
their fkin was not quite fo dark ; this however might perhaps
be merely the effedt of their not being quite fo dirty. All this
while <hey were fhcuting defiance, and letting off their fires by
four or five at a time- What thefe fires were, or for whatpur-
pofe intended, we could not imagine; thofe who difcharged
them had in their hands a fhort piece of flick, poffibly a hollow
cane, which they fwung fideways from them, and we imme-
diately faw fire and fmoke, exadlly refembling thofe of amuf-
quet, and of no longer duration. This wonderful phtenomenon
was obferved from the fbip, and the deception was fo great
that the people cn board thought they had fire-arms; and in
the boat, if we had not been fo near as that we mull have heard
the report, we fhould have thought they had been firing volleys.
After we had looked at them attentively fome time, without
taking any notice of their flafhing and vociferation, we fired
fome mufquets over their heads: upon hearing the balls rattle
among the trees, they walked leifurely away, and we returned
to the flip. 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 w'ere
difcharged with great force ; for though we were at fixty j ards
diftance, they went beyond us, but in what manner we could
not exactly fee: poffiblv they might be fhot with a bow; but
we faw no bows among them when vve furveyed them from the
boat, and v/e were in general of opinion that they were thrown
with a flick, in the manner pradlifed by the New Hollanders.
This place lies in the latitude of 6° 15' S. and about fixty-
five leagues to the N. E. of Port Saint Augufline, or Walche
Caep, and is near what is called C. de la Coita
de St. Bonaventura. The land here, like that in every other
part of the coafl is very low, but covered with a luxuriance of
wood and herbage that can fcarcely be conceived. We faw
thecocoa-nut, the bread-fruit, and the plantain tree, alLflourifh-
tino-in a fate of the higheft perfedlion, though the cocoa-nuts
*“■' 1I-PPO
They return to the Ship. i6i
were green, and the bread-fruit not in feafon ; befides moft of
the trees, ihrubs, and plants that- are common to the South Sea
ifiands, New Zealand, and New Holland.
Soon after our return to the Ihip, we hoi lied in the boat and
made fail to the weft ward, being refolved to fpend no more
time upon this coaft, to the great fatisfaftion of a very con-
fiderable majority of the {hip’s company. But [ am forry to
fay that I was ftrongly urged by fome of the officers to fend a
party of men afhore, and cut down the cocoa-nut trees for the
fake of the fruit. This I peremptorily refufed, as equally un-
juft and cruel. The natives had attacked us merely for landing
upon their coaft, 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 cafe many of them muft have fallen a facrifice' to our
attempt, and perhaps alfo fome of our own people. I Ihould
have regretted the necefiity of fuch a meafure, if I had been in
want of the neceffaries 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 moft
have procured us a mere transient gratification. I might indeed
"have proceeded farther along the coaft to the northward and
weftward, in fearch of a place where the ihip might have lain
fo near the fhore as to cover the people with her guns when
they landed,- but this would have obviated only part of the
mifchief, and though it might have fecured us, it would probab-
ly in the very aft have been fatal to the natives. Befides, we
had reafon to think that before fuch a place would have been
found, we Ihould have been carried fo far to the weftward as to
have been obliged to go to Satavia, on the north fide of Java;
which I did not think fo fafe a paffage as to the fouth of Java,
through the Streights of Sunday : the fhip alfo was fo leaky
that I doubted whether it would not be necefliiry to -heave her
down at Batavia, which was another reafon for making the
beft of our way to that place; efpecially as no difcovery could
be expefted in feas which had already been navigated, and
where every coaft had been laid down by the Dutch geographers.
The Spaniards indeed, as well as the Dutch, feem to have
circum -navigated all the ifiands in New Guinea, as almoft every
place that is diftinguifhed in the chart has a name in both lang-
uages. The charts with which I compared fuch part of this
coaft as 1 vifited, are bound up with a French work, intitled,
“ Hiftoire des Naviga^iones aux Terres Auftrales,” which
was publithed in 1756, and I found them tolerably exaft ; yet
I kn cw not by whom, nor when they were taken : and though
New Holland and New Guinea are in them reprefented as
two diftinft countries, the very hiftory in which they are bound
Bp, leaves it in dcubt. I pretend however to no more merit
O z in
j6 2 COOK’s VOYAGE.
in this part of the voyage, than to have eftablifhed the faft
beyond all controverfy.
As the two countries lie very near each other, and the inter-
mediate fpaceis fullofillands, itisreafonabletofuppcfethat they
were both peopled from one common flock: yet no intercourse
appears to have been kept up between them ; for if there had, the
cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, plantains, & other fruits of New Guinea,
which are equally neceflary for the fupport of life, would cer-
tainly have been tranfplanted to New Holland, whare no traces
of them are to be found. The Author of the “ Hifloire des
Navigationes aux Terres Auftrales,” in his account of La
Maire’s voyage, has given a vocabulary of the language that is,
fpoken in an ifland near New Britain, and we find, by com-
paring that vocabulary with the words which we learnt in New
Holland, that the languages are not the fame. If therefore it
fhould appear, that the languages of New Britain and New
Guinea are the fame, there will be reafon to fuppofe that New
Britain and New Guinea were peopled from a common flock ;
but that the inhabitants of New Holland had a different origin,,
notwithftanding the proximity of the countries.
CHAP. X.
The Paffage from New Guinea to the If and of Savu, and tht
T ranfadions there.
WE made fail, from noon on Monday the 3d to noon on
Tuefday the 4th, ftanding to the weftward, and all the
time kept in foundings, having from fourteen to thirty fathom ;
not reo-ular, but fometimes more,, fome times lefs. At noon on:
the 4th, vvt were in fourteen fathom, and latitude 6° 44' S.r
longitude 223° 51' W,; our courfe and diftance fince the 3d at
noon, were S. 76 W. one hundred and twenty miles to the
wefhvard. At noon on the 5 th of September, we were in lati-
tude 70 25' S., longitude 2250 41' W.; having been in found-
ings the whole time from ten to twenty fathom.
At half an hour after one in the morning of the next day,
we pa fled a fmall ifland which bore from us N. N. W. diftant
between three and foui miles; and at day-light we difcovered
another low ifland, extending from N. N. W. to N. N. E.
diftant about two or three leagues. Upon this ifland, which
did not appear to be very fmall, I believe I fhould have landed
to examine its produce, if the wind had not blown too frefh to
admit of it. When we palled this ifland we had only ten
fathom water, with a rocky bottom ; and therefore I was afraid
ef running down to leeward, left l fhould £iee! with fboal water
Departure por the Island Savu. 163
and foul ground. Thefe iflands have no place in the charts
except they are the Arrou iflands ; and if thefe, they are laid
down much too far from New Guinea. I found the fouth part
of them to lie in latitude 70 6' S., longitude 225 '' W.
We continued to ileer W. S. W. at the rate offour miles and
an half an hour, till ten o’clock at night, when we had forty-
two fathom, at eleven we thirty-feven, 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 fail we
eould, and at ten o’clock, faw land, extending from N. N.
W. to W. by N. diilant between five and fix leagues : at noon,
it bore from N. to W. and at about the fame diilance: it ap-
peared to be level, and of a moderate height: by our diilance
from New Guinea, it ought to have been part of the Arrou
Iflands, but it lies a degree faither to the fouth than any of
thefe iflands are laid down in the charts ; and by the latitude
fhould be Jimor Laoet : we founded, but had no ground with
fifty fathom.
As I was not able to fatisfy myfelf from any chart, what
land it was that I faw to leeward, and fearing that it might
trend away more foutherly, the weather alfo being fo hazy that
we could not fee far, I fleered S. W. and by four had loft fight
of the iiland. I was now fure that no part of it lay to the
fouthward of 8° 1 5' S. and continued Handing to the S. W. with
an eafy fail, and a frefh breeze at S. E. by E. and E. S. E. :
we founded every hour, but had no bottom with 120 fathom.
Atday-break in the morning, we fteered W. S. W. and after-
wards W. by S. which by noon brought uc into the latitude of
90 30'S, longitude 2290 34/ W. and by our run from New
Guinea, we ought to have been within fight of Weafel Ifles,
which in the charts are laid down at the diilance of twenty or
twenty-five leagues from the coaft of New Holland; we how-,
ever faw nothing, and therefore they mull have been placed
erroneoufly; nor can this be thought ftrange, when it is con-
fidered that not only thefe iflands, but the coaft which bounds
this fea, have been difcovered and explored by different people,
and at different times, and the charts upon which they are de-
lineated, put together by others, perhaps at the diilance of
more than a century after the difcoveries had be^n made; not
to mention that the difcoverers themfelves had not all the re-
quires for keeping an accurate journal, of wh.ch thofe of the
prefent age are pofieffed.
We continued onr courfe, fleering W. till the evening of
the 8th, when the variation of the compafs, by feveral azi-
muths, was 12' W. and by the amplitude 5' W. At noon, on
the gth, our latitude, by obfervation, was 90 46' S., longitude
2 3>2& i W. For the laft two days we had fteered due W. yet,
by obfervation, we madefixteen miles fcuthing, fix miles from
noon
*64 COOK’? VOYAGE,
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 fetting to the fouthward. At funfet, we found
the variation to be 2 W. and at the fame time, f^w an appear-
ance of very high land bearing N. W.
In the morning of the 10th, we faw clearly that what had
appeared to be land the night before, was Timor. At noon,
our latitude, by obfervation, was io° i'S. which was fifteen
miles to the fouthward of that given by the log; our longitude,
by obfervation, was 2330 27' W. We fleered N. W. in order
to obtain a more diftind view of the land in fight, till four
o’clack in the morning of the 1 1 th, when the wind came to
the N. W. and W. with which we flood to the fouthward till
nine, when we tacked and flood N. V/. having the wind now
at W. S. W. At fun-rife, the land had appeared to extend
from W. N. W. to N. E. and at noon, we could fee it extend
to the weftward as far as W. by S. \ S. but no farther to the
eaftward than N. by E. We were now well allured, that as
the firfl land we had feen was Timor, the laft ifland we had
palled was Timor Laoet, or Laut. Laoet, is a word in the
language of Malaca, fignifying Sea, and this illand was named
by the inhabitants of that country. The fouth part of it lies in
latitude 8° 15' S. longitude 228° 10' W. but in the charts the
fouth point is laid down in various latitudes, from 8° 30' to 9“
30' : it is indeed polfible that the land we faw might be fome
ether illand, but the prefumption to the contrary is very ftrong,
for if Timor Laut had lain where it is placed in the charts, we
mull have feen it there. We were now in latitude 9 9 37' S. ;
longitude, by an obfervation of the fun and moon, 233° 54'
W. we were the day before in 233° 27'; the difference is 27',
exaftly the fame that was given by the log : this, however, is
a degree of accuracy in obfervation that is feldom to be expedted.
In the afternoon, we flood in Ihore till eight in the evening,
when we tacked and flood off-, being at the diftance of about
three leagues from the land, which at fun-fet extended from
S. W. i W. to N. E. : at this time we founded, and had no
ground with 140 fathom. At midnight, having but little wind,
we tacked and flood in, and at noon the next day, our latitude,
by obfervatioiw was 90 36' S. This day, we faw fmoke on
Ihore in feveral places, and had feen many fires during the
night. The land appeared to be very high, riling in gradual
Hopes one above another : the hills were in general covered
with thick woods, but among them we could diftinguilh naked
fpots of a confiderable extent, which had the appearance of
having been cleared by art. At five o’clock in the afternoon,
we were within a mile and an half of the Ihore, in fixteen
fathom water, and abreaft of a fmall inlet into the low land,
which lies in latitude g° 34 S. and probably is the fame that
Dampier
They discover theIslands Rotte and Semall, 165
Dampier entered with his boat, for it did not feem to have fuf-
ficient depth of water for a fhip. The land here anfwered well
to the defcription that he has given of it: clofe to the beach it
was covered with high fpiry trees, which he mentions as hav-
ing the appearance of pines ; behind thefe there feemed to be
fait water creeks, and many mangroves, interfperfed however
with cocoa-nut trees: the flat land at the beach appeared in
fome places to extend inward two or three miles before the rife
of the fir ft hill; in this part, however, we faw no appearance
of plantations or houfes, but great fertility, and from the
number of fires, we judged that the place mull be well peopled.
When we had approached within a mile and an half of the
fhore, we tacked and flood off, and the extreams of the coaft
then extended from N. E. by E. to W. by S. | S, The fouth
wefterly extremity was a low point, diftant from us about three
leagues. While we were Handing in for the Ihore, w'e founded
feveral 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 foft bottom. After w'e had tacked, we flood off till
midnight, with the wind at S. ; we then tacked and flood two
hours to theweftward, when the wind veered to S. W.andW.S.
W. and we thenftood to the fcuthward again. In the morning,
we found the variation to be t° io' W. by the amplitude, and
by the azimuth i° 27'. At noon, our latitude was, by obfier-
vaticn, 90 45' S. our longitude 234° 12' W. ; we were then
about leven leagues diftant from the land, which extended from
N. 31 E. to W. S.W.iW.
With light land breezes from W. by N. for a few hours in a
morning, and fea breezes from S. S. V/. and S. we advanced
to the weftward but flowly. At noon on the 14th; we were
between fix and feven leagues from the land, which extended
from N. by E. to S. 78 W. ; we Hill faw fmoke in many places
by day, and fire by night, both upon the low land and the
mountains beyond it. We continued fleering along the fhore,
till the morning of the 15th, the land Hill appearing hilly,
but not lo high as it had been : the hills in general came quite
down to the fea, and where they did not, we faw in.ftead of
flats and mangrove land, immenfe groves of cocoa- nut trees,
reaching about a mile up from the beach : there the plantations
and houfes commenced, and appeared to be innumerable. The
houfes were lhaded by groves of the fan palm, or borajj'us , and
the plantations, which were inclofed by a fence, reached almoft
to the tops of the highell hiils. We faw however neither people
nor cattle, though our glaflis were continually employed, at
which we were not a little furprifed.
We continued our courfe, with little variation, till nine
o’clock in the*morning of the 16th, when we faw the fm all
ifland called Rotte ; and at noon, the illand Semau, lying
off the fouth end of Timor, bore N. W. Dampier,
166 COOK ’s VOYAGE.
Dampier, who has given a large defcription of the ifland of
Timor, fays, that it is feventy leagues long, and fixteen
broad, and that it lies nearly N. E. and S. W. I found the
eafl fide of it to lie neareft N. E. by E. and S. W. by W. and
the fouth end to lie in latitude io° 23' S. longitude 236° 5' W.
We ran about forty- five leagues along the eafl; fide, and round
the navigation altogether free from danger. The land which
is' bounded by the fea, except near the fouth end, is low for
two or three miles within the beach, and in general interfered
by fait creeks : behind the low land are mountains, which rife
one above another to a confiderable height. We fleered W.
N. W. till two in the afternoon, when, being within a fmall
diflance of the north end of Rotte, we hauled up N. N. W. in
order to go between it and Semau : after fleering three leagues
upon this courfe, we edged away N. W. and W. and by fix
we were clear of all the iflands. At this time, the fouth part
of Semau, which lies in latitude 108 15' S. bore N. E. diflant
four leagues, and the ifland of Rotte extended as far to the
fouthward as S. 36 W. The north end of this ifland, and the
fouth end of Timor, lie N. \ E. and S. \ W. and are about
three or four leagues diflant from each other. At the weft end
of the paflage between Rotte and Semau, are two fmall iflands,
one of which lies near the Rotte Ihore, and the other off the
fouth weft point of Semau : there is a good channel between
them, about fix miles broad, through which vve pafled.
The ifle of Rotte has not fo lofty and mountainous an appear-
ance as Timor, though it is agreeably diverfified by hill and
valley : on the north fide, there are many fandy beaches, near
which grew fome trees of the fan palm, but the far greater
part was covered with a kind of bruihy wood, that was with-
out leaves. The appearance of Semau was nearly the fame
with that of Timor, but not quite fohigh. About ten o’clock
at night, we obferved a phenomenon in the heavens, which
in many particulars refembled the aurora borealis, and in
others was very different : it confided of a dull reddilh light,
and reached about twenty degrees above the horizon : its ex-
tent was very different at different times, but it was never left
than eight or ten points of the compafs : through, and out of
this, palfed rays of light of a brighter colour, which vanilhed,
and were renewed nearly in the lame time as thofe of the auro-
ra borealis, but had no degree of the tremulous or vibratory
motion which is obferved in that phenomenon : the body of
it bore S. S. E. from the fliip, and it continued, without any
diminution of its brightness, till twelve o’clock, when we
retired to fleep, but how long afterwards, I cannot tell.
Being clear of all the iflands, which are laid down in the ♦
maps we had on board, between Timor and Java, we fleered
a weft courfe till fix o’clock the next morning, when we
unexpectedly
Lieutenant Gore land* &c. 167
unexpectedly faw an ifland bearing weft fouth weft, and at
Hrft i thought we had made a new difcovery. We fleered
<iircd>ly for it, and by ten o’clock were dole in with the nOith
fide of it, where we faw houfes, cocoa-nut trees, and, to our
very agreeable furprife, numerous flocks of lheep. This was
a temptation not to be refilled by people in our fituation, efpe-
cially as many of us were in a bad ftate ot health, and many
ftill repining at my not having touched at Timor : it was
therefore foon determined to attempt a commerce with people
who appeared to be fo well able to fupply our many necefikies,
and remove at once the ficknels and dilcontent that had got
footing among us. The pinnace was hoilted out, and Mr.
Gore, the Second Lieutenant, fent to fee if there was any con-
venient place to land, taking with him feme trifles, as pre-
fents to the natives, if any of them Ihould appear. While he
was gone, we faw from the fhip two men on horfeback, who
feemed to be riding upon the hills for their amyfement, and
often flopped to look at the ftiip. By this we knew that the
place had been fettled by Europeans, and hoped, that the ma-
ny dilagreeable circumftances which always attend the firft
eftablilhment of commerce with favages, would be avoided.
In the mean time, Mr. Gore landed in a fmall fandy cove,
near fome houfes, and was met by eight or ten.of the natives,
who, as well in their drefs as their perfons, very much refemb-
led the Malays : they were without arms, except the knives
which it is their cuftom to wear in their girdles, and one of
them had a jackafs with him : they courtecufly invited him
alhore, and converfe.d with him by figns, but very little of the
meaning of either party could be underftood by the other. In
a fliort time he returned with this report, and, to cur great
mortification, added, that there was no anchorage for the
ftiip. I fent him however a fecond time, with both money and
goods, that he might, if poflible, purchafe fome refrefhmehts,
at leaft for the fick ; and Dr. Solander w'ent in the boat with
him. In the mean time Irkept Handing on and off with the
ftiip, which at this time was within about a mile of the fliore.
Before the boat could land, we faw two other horfemen, one
of whom was in a compleat European drefs, confiding of a
blue coat, a white waiftcoat, and a laced hat : thefe people,
when the boat came to the fnore, took little notice of her, but
fauntered about, and feemed to look with great curiofity at the
fhip. We law however other horfemen,- ana a great number
of perfons on foot, gather round our people, and, to our great
fatisfadlion, perceived ieyeral cocoa-nuts carried into the boat,
from which we concluded that peace and commerce vvereeftab-
lilhed between us.
After the boat had been alhore about an hour and a half,
lhe made the fign.il for having intelligence that there was a
bay to leeward where vye might anchor : we ftoed away dt-
' . KCly
i6S C O O- K »* V O Y A G E.
reCly for it, and the boat following, foon came on board.
The Lieutenant told u?, that he had feen fome of the princi-
pal people, who were dreffed in fine linen, and had chains of
gold round their necks : he faid, that he had not been able
to trade, becaufe the owner of the cocoa-nuts was abfent, but
that about two dozen had been lent to the boat as a pre'fent,
and that fome linen had been accepted in return. The people,
to give him the information that he wanted, drew a map upen
the fand, in which they made a rude reprefentation of a har-
bour to leeward, and a town near it : they alfo gave him to
nnderftand, that fheep, hogs, fowls, and fruit might there be
procured in great plenty. Some of them frequently pronoun-
ced the word Portuguefe, and faid fomething of Larntuca,.
upon the ifland of Ende : from this circumftnnce, we conjec-
tured that there were Portuguefe fomewhere upon the ifland,
and a Portuguefe who was in our boat, attempted to converfe
with the Ind^ns in that language, but foon found that they
knew only a word or two of it by rote : one of them however,
when they were giving our people tounderftand that there was.
a town near the harbour to which they had directed us, inti-
mated, that as a token of going right, we fhould fee fome-
W'hat, which he exprefled by eroding his fingers, and the Por-
thguefe inftantly conceived that he meant to exprefs a crofs.
Juft as our people were putting off, the horfeman in the Eu-
ropean drefs came up, but the officer not having his commif-
fion about him, thought it beft to decline a conference.
At feven o’clock in the evening, we came to an anchor in
the bay to which we had been direCed, at about the diftance
of a mile front the fltore, in thirty-eight fatnom water, with a
clear fandy bottom. The north point of the bay bore N. 30
E. diftant two miles and an half, and the fouth point, or weft
end of the iftand, bore S. 63 W. Juft as we got round" the
north point, and entered the bay, we difeovered a large In-
dian town or village, upon which we ftoodon, hoifting a jack
on the fore top-maft head : foon after, to our great furprize,
Dutch colours were hoillci in the town, and 3 guns fired ; we
flood on, however, till we had foundings, and then anchored.
As foon as it was light in the morning, we faw rhe fame
colours hoifted upon the beach, abreaft of the fhip ; fuppefing
therefore that the Dutch had a fettlement here, 1 fent Lieuten-
ant Gore afhorc, to wait upon the Governor, or the chief
perfon reftding upon therfpot, and acquaint him who vve were,
and for what purpofe we had touched upon thecoaft. As foon
as he came afhore, he was received by a guard of between
twenty and thirty Indians, armed with mufkets, who con-
duced him to the town, where the colours had been hoifted
the night before, carrying with them thofe that had been
hoifted upon the beach, and marching without any military re-
gularity. As foon as he arrived, Jie was introduced to the
« ■ Raja,
The King of Savu dines on board. 169
or King of the ifland, and by a Portuguefe interpreter, told
him, that the fhip was a man of wtar belonging to the King of
Grear-Britain, and that Ihe had many lick on board, for
whom he wanted to purchafe fuch refrefliments as the ifland
afforded. His Majefty replied, that he was willing to fup-
ply us with whatever we wanted, but, that being in alliance
with the Dutch EaA India Company, he was not at liberty to
trade with any other people, without having firfl: procured
their confent, for which, however, he faid he would imme-
diately apply to a Dutchman, who belonged to the company,
and who was the only white man upon the illand. To this
man, who refided at fome diftance, a letter was immediately
difpatched, acquainting him with our arrival and requeft : in
the mean time, Mr. Gore difpatched a meffenger to me, with
an account of his fituation, and the Hate of the treaty. In
abont three hours the Dutch refldent anfwered the letter that
had been fent him, in perfon : he proved to be a native of
Saxony, and his name is Johan Chriftopher Lange, and the
fame perfon whom we had feen on horfeback in a European
drefs : he behaved with great civility to Mr. Gore, and af-
fured him, that we were at liberty to purchafe of the natives
whatever we pleafed. After a Ihort time he expreffed a defire
of coming on board, fo did the King al o, and feveral of his
attendants : Mr. Gore intimated that he was ready to attend
them, but they defired that two of our people might be left
alhore as hoftages, and in this alfo they were indulged.
About two o’clock, they all came aboard the fhip, and our
dinner being ready, they accepted our invitation to partake
of it : I expefted them immediately to fit down, but the King
feemed to hefitate, and at laft, with fome confufion, faid he
did not imagine that we, who were white men, would fuffer
him, who was of a different colour, to fit down in our com-
pany ; a compliment loon removed his fcruples, and we all
fat down together with great cheerfulnefs and cordiality : hap-
pily we were at no lofs for interpreters, both Dr. Solander
and Mr. Sporing underft ending Dutch enough to keep up a
converfation with Mr. Lange, and feveral of the feao .en were
able to converfe with fuch of the natives as fpoke Portuguefe.
Oar dinner happened to be mutton, and the King expreffed a
defire of having an Englilh (heep ; we had but one left, how-
ever that was prefented to him : the facility with which this
was procured, encouraged him to alk for an Eogliih dog, and
Mr. Banks politely gave up his greyhound : Mr. Lange then
intimated that a fpying-glafs would be acceptable, and one
was immediately put into his hand. Oar guefts then told us
that the ifland abounded with buffaloes, (he,ep, hogs, and
fowls, plenty of which Ihould be driven down to the beach the
next aay, that we might’ purchafe as many of them
VOL. II. ' P
f .'.o’ • , %
as we
Ihould
170 COOK’s VOYAGE.
Ihould think fit : this put us all into high fpirits, and the li-
quor circulated rather taller than either .the Indians or the Sa-
xcn could bear ; they intimated their delire to go away, how-
ever, before they were quite drunk, and were received upon
deck, as they had been when they came on board, by the ma-
rines under arms. The King expreft'ed acuriefity to fee them
exercife, in which he was gratified, and they fired three,
rounds : he looked at them with great attention, and was
much furprifed at their regularity and expedition, efpecially
in cocking their pieces ; the firft time they did it, he ftruck
the fide of the fit ip with a Hick that he had in his hand, and
cried out with great vehemence, that all the locks made but
one click. They were difmiffed with many prefents, and
when they went away faluted with nine guns : Mr. Banks and
Dr. Solander went afhore with them ; and as focn as they put
ofF they gave us three cheers.
Our Gentlemen, when they came afhore, walked up with
them to the town, which confiils of many houfes, and fome
of them are large ; they are however nothing more than a
thatched roof, fupported. over a boarded floor, by pillars about
four feet high. They produced fome of their palm-wine,
which was the frefh, unfermented juice of the tree ; it had a
fweet, but not a difagreeable take ; and hopes were conceived
that it might contribute to recover our fick from the feurvy.
Soon after it was dark, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander returned
on board.
In the morning of the igth, I went afhore with Mr. Banks,
and feveral of the officers and gentlemen, to return the king’s
vifit ; but my chief buflnefs was to procure fome of the buffa-
loes, fheep and fowls, which we had been told fhould be driven
down to the beach. We were greatly mortified to find that no
fleps had been taken to fulfill this promife ; however, we pro-
ceeded to the houfe of aftembly, which with two or three more
had been erebted by the Dutch Eaft India company, and are
diftinguifhed from the reft by two pieces of wood rcfembling a
pair of cow’s horns, one of which is fet up at each end of the
ridge that terminates the roof ; and thefc were certainly what
the Indian intended to reprefen t by crofting his fingers, though
our Portuguefe, who was a good Catholic, conftrued the fign
into a crofs, which had perfuaded us that the fettlement be-
longed to his countrymen. In this place we met Mr. Lange,
and the King, whole name was A Madocho Lomi Djara, at-
tended by rpany of the principal people. We told them that we
had in the boat goods of various kinds, which we propofedto
barter for fuch refrefhments as they would give us in exchange,
and defired leave to bring them on fhore ; which being granted,
they were brought afhore accordingly. We then attempted
tp fettle the price of the buffaloes, fheep, hogs *nd other
The King of Saw entertains Capt. Coor. ih
Commodities which we propofed to purchafe, and for which
we were to pay in money ; but as foon as this was mentioned
Mr. Lange left us, telling us that thefe preliminaries mud be
fettled with the natives : he faid, however, that he had re-
ceived a letter from the Governor of Concordia in Timor, the
purport of which he would communicate to us when he re-
turned.
As the morning was now far advanced, and we were very
unwilling to return on board and eat fait provifions, when
fo many delicacies furrounde'd us alhore, we petitioned his
Majefty for liberty to purchafe a fmall hog and fome rice, and
to employ his fubjedls to drefs them for us. Heanfwered very
graciotrfly, that if we could eat victuals drefled by his fubjedbs-,
which he could fcarcely fuppofe, he would do himfelf the ho-
nour of entertaining us. We exprefled our gratitude, and im-
mediately fent on board for liquors*
About five o’clock, dinner was ready ; it was ferved in fix
and thirty dilhes, or rather balkets, containing alternately
rice and pork ; and three bowls of earthen v/are, filled with
the liquor in which the pork had been boiled : thefe were
ranged upon the floor, and mats laid round them for us to fit
Upon. We were then conducted by turns to a hole in the
floor, near which flood a man with water in a v|fiel, made of
the leaves of the fan-palm, who afiifled us in walhing our
hands. When this was done, we placed ourfelves round the
victuals, and waited for the King. As he did not come, we
enquired for Ijfpi, and were told that the cuftom of the country
did not perm per fon who gave the entertainment to fit
down with hir^Rfls ; but that, if we fufpeCted the victuals
to be poifoned, ha^ould come and tafte it. We immediately
declared that we had no fuch fufpicion, and defired that none
of the rituals of hofpitality might be violated on our account.
The prime minifter and Mr. Lange were of our party, and we
made a molt luxurious meal : we thought the pork and rice ex-
cellent, and the broth not to be defpifed ; but the fpoons,
which were made of leaves, were fo fmall that few of us had
patience to ufe them. After dinner, our wine pafied brifidy
about, and we again enquired for our royal hoft, thinking
that though the cuftom of this country would not allow him to
eat with us, he might at lead ftiare in the jollity of our bottle ;
but he again excufed himfelf, faying, that the mafter of a
fealt ihould never be drunk, which there was no certain way to
avoid but by not tailing the liquor. We did not however drink
our wine where we had eaten out victuals ; but as foon as we
had dined made room for the feamen and fervants, who imme-
diately took our places : they could not difpatch all that we
had left, but the women who catne to clear away the bowls
and balkets, obliged them to carry away with them what they
172 COOK’S VOYAGE.
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 fubjetl of the buffaloes and flieep, of
which we had not in all this time heard a fyllable, though
they were to have been brought down early in the morning.
But our Saxon Dutchman, with great phlegm, began to com-
municate to us the contents of the letter which he pretended
to have received from the Governor of Concordia. He faid,
that after acquainting him that a vefiel had fleered from
thence towards the ifland where we were now afliore, it required
him, if fuch ihip fhould apply for proviflon in diflrefs, to re-
lieve her ; but not to fuffer her to flay longer than was abfo-
lutely neceflary, nor to make any large prefents to the infe-
rior people, or to leave any with thofe of fuperior rank to be
afterwards diftributed among them : but he was gracioufly
pleafed 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 fidtion ;
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 eaflly to
turn it into another channel.
In the evening, we receiv.d intelligence from our trading-
place. that no buffaloes or hogs had been brought down, and
only a few fheep, which had been taken away before our
people, who had fent for money, could pr^jure it. Seme
fowls however had been bought, and a lai^^quantity of a
kind of fyrup made of the juice of the palmKP^vhich, though
infinitely fuperior to molafles or treacle^Mfeld at a very lew
price. We complained of our difappointment to Mr. Lange,
who had now another fubterfuge ; he faid, that if we had gone
l down to the beach ourielves, we might have purchafd what we
pleafed ; but that the natives were afraid to take money of our
people, lefi It fhould be counterfeit. We could not but feel
feme ind’gnation againft a man who had comealed this, be-
ing true ; or alledged it, being falfe. I ftarted up, however,
and went immediately to the beach, but no cattle or flieep
were to be feen, nor were any at hand to be produced. "While
I was gone, Lange, who knew well enough that 1 fhould iuc-
ceed no better than my people, told Mr. Banks that the na-
tives were difpleafed at our not having offered gold for their
flock ; and that if gold was not offered, nothing would be
bought. Mr. Banks did not think it worth his while to reply,
but foon after rofe up, and we all returned on board, very
much diflatisfied with the iffue of our negociations. During
the courfe of the day, the King had promiled that fome cattle
and fheep fhould be brought down in the morning, and had
given a reafon for our difappointment fotnewhat more plau-
Able ;
Difficulties' in purchasing Provisions. 173
fible ; he faid 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 afhore again : Dr. Solander
went up to the town to fpeak to Lange, ana I remained upon
the beach, to fee what could be done in the purchafe of pro-
vifions. I found here an old Indian, who, as he appeared to
have fome authority, we had among ourfelves called the Prime
Minifter ; to engage this’ man in our interell I prefented him
with a fpying-glafs, but I faw nothing at market except one
fmall 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 faid that he mull ac-
quaint the King with what I had offered before he could take
it. A meifenger was immediately difpatched to his Majefiy,
who foon returned, and faid, that the buffalo would not be
fold for any thing lefs than five guineas. This price I abfo-
lutely refufed to give ; and another meifenger was fent away
with an account of my refufal : this meffenger was longer ab-
fent than the other, and while I was waiting for his return, I
faw, to* my great aflonifnment, Dr. Solander coming from the
town, followed by above an hundred men, fome armed with
mufquets, and fome with lances. When I enquired the mean-
ing of this hoflile appearance, the Doflor told me, that Mr.
Lange had interpreted to him a meffage from the King, pur-
porting that the people would not trade with us, becaufe we
had refufed to give them more than half the value of what they
had to fell ; and that we fhould not be permitted to trade
upon any terms longer than this day. Befides the officers
who commanded the party, there came with it a man who was
born at Timor, of Portuguefe parents, and who, as we after-
wards difeovered, was a kind of colleague to the Dutch fac-
tor ; by this man what they preten fed to be the King’s order
was delivered tome, of the fame purport with that which Dr,
Solander had received from Lange. W e were all clearly of
opinion that this .was a mere artifice of the fadlors to extort
money from us, for which we had been prepared by the ac-
count of a letter from Concordia ; and while we were hefi rat-
ing what flep to take, the Portuguefe, that he might the
fooner accomplish his purpofe, began to drive away the people
who had brought down poultry and fyrup, and others that;
were now comi ,g in with buffaloes and fheep. At this time,
I glanced my eye upon the old man whom I had compliment-
ed in tire morning with the fpying-glafs, and I thought, by
his looks, that he did not heartily approve of what was doing 5
I therefore took him by the hand, and prefented him with an
old broad fword. This inilantly turned the fcale in our fa-
vour j he received the fw ord with a tranfport of joy, and
P 3 fiourifhing
174 COOK’s VOYAGE,
flourifhing it over the bufy Portuguefe, who crouched like a
fox to a lion, he made him, 'and the officer who commanded
the party, fit down upon the ground behind him : the people,
who, whatever were the crafty pretences of thefe iniquitous
factors for a Dutch company, were eager to fupply us with
vdiatever we wanted, and feemed alfo to be more defirous of
goods than money, inftantly improved the advantage that
had been procured them, and the market was flocked almolt
in an inftant. To eflablifh a trade for buffaloes, however,
which I mod wanted, I found it neceffary to give ten guineas
for two, one of which weighed no more than a hundred and
fixty pounds ; but I bought feven more much cheaper, and
might afterwards have purchafed as many as I pleafed almofl
upon my own terms, for they were now driven down to tire
water-fide in herds. In the firft two that I bought fo dear,
Lange had certainly a fhare, and it was in hopes to obtain
part of the price of others, that he had pretended we mud
pay for them in gold. The natives however fold what they
afterwards brought down much to their fatisfa&ion, without
paying part of the price to him as a reward for exadling mo-
ney from us. Molt of the buffaloes that we bought, after our
friend, the Prime Minifter, had procured us a fair market,
were fold for a mufquet a piece, and at this price we might
have bought as many as would have freighted our fhip.
The refrelhments which we procured here, confided of nine
buffaloes, fix fheep, three hogs, thirty dozen of fowls, a few
limes, and fome cocoa-nuts ; many dozen of eggs, half of
which however proved to be rotten ; a little garlic, and fe-
veral hundred gallons of palm-fyrup.
CHAP. XL
particular Defcripticn cf the IJland of Sansu, its Produce and
Inhabitants, * with a Specimen of their Language.
THIS ifland is called by the natives Savu ; the middle
of it lies in about the latitude io° 35' S., longitude 2370
30' W. ; and has in general been fo little known that I never
faw a map or chart in which it is clearly or accurately laid
down. I have feen a very old one, in which it is called Sou,
and confounded with Saudel Bofch. Rumphius mentions
an ifland by the name of Saow ; and he alfo fays that it is the
fame which the Dutch call Sandel Bofch ; but neither is this
ifland, nor Timor, norRotte, nor indeed any one of theiflands
that we have feen in thefe feas, placed within a reafonable
diftance of its true fituation. It is about eight leagues long
from
Description of the Island of Savl\ 175
from eaft to weft ; but what is its breadth, I do not know, as
I faw only the north fide. The harbour in which we lay is
called Seba, from the diftrift in which it lies : it is on the
north welt fide of the ifland, and well Iheltered from the fouth
weft trade wind, but it lies open to the north weft. We were
told, that there were two other bays where flaps might an-
chor ; that the beft, called Timo, was on the fouth weft fide
of the fouth eaft point : of the third we learnt neither the
name nor fituation. The fea-coaft, in general, is low ; but
in the middle of the ifland there are hills of a confiderable
height. We were upon the coaft at the latter end of the dry
feafon, when there had been no rain for feven months ; and
we were told that when the dry feafon continues folong, there
is no mnning ftream of frefli water upon the whole ifland,
but only final! fprings, which are at a confiderable diftance
from the fea-fide : yet nothing can be imagined fo beautiful
as the profpeift of the country from the flap. The level ground
next to the fea-ftde was covered with cocoa-nut trees, and a
kind of palm called Arecas ; and beyond them the hills,
which rofe in a gentle and regular afcent, were richly clothed,
quite to the fummit, with plantations of the fan-palm, form-
ing- an almc-ft impenetrable grove. How much even this
profpeft mail be improved, when every foot of ground between
the trees is covered with verdure, by maize, and millet and
indico, can fcarcely be conceived but by a powerful imagina-
tion, not unacquainted with the ftateiinefs and beauty of the
trees that adorn this part of the earth. The dry feafon com-
mences in March or Aprii, and ends in OClcberor November.
The principal trees of shis ifland, are the fan-palm, the
cocoa-nut, tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes ; the
other vegetable productions are maize, Guinea corn, rice,
millet, callevances, and water-melons. We faw alio one
fugar-cane, and a few kinds of European garden-fluff ; par-
ticularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the iup-
ply of luxury, it has betele, areca, tobacco, cotton, indico,
and a final! quantity of cinnamon, which feems to be planted
.here only for curiofity ; and indeed we doubted whether it was
the genuine plant, knowing that the Dutch are very careful
not to truft the fpices out of their proper iflands. There are
however feveral kinds of fruit, be ikies thofe which have been
already mentioned ; particularly the-fvveet fop, which is well
known to the Weft Indians, and a fmail aval fruit, called the
B limbi, both of which grow upon trees. The E limbi 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 (kin of a light green colour, and in the infide are a
few feeds difpofed in the form of a ftar : its flavour is a light,
clean, pleafant acid, but it cannot be eaten ravy 5 it is faid to
ba
i76 C O O K’s V O Y A G E.
be excellent as a pickle ; and ftewed, it mada a mod agreeable
four fauce to our boiled dilhes.
The tame animals are buffaloes, fheep, goats, hogs, fowls,
pigeons, horfes, affes, dogs and cats ; and of all tnefe there
is great plenty. The buffaloes differ very confiderably from
the horned cattle of Europe in feveral particulars ; their ears
are much larger, their {kins are almoit without hair, their
horns are curved towards each other, but together bend di-
reftly backwards, and they have no dewlaps. We faw fiyeral
that were as big as a well grown European ox, and there muff
be fome much larger ; for Mr. Banks faw a pair of horns
which meafured from tip to tip three feet nine inches and an
half, acrofs their wideft diameter four feet one inch and an
half, and in the whole fweep of their femi-circle in front fe-
ven feet fix inches and a half. It muff however be obferved,
that a buffalo here of any given fize, does not weigh above
half as much as an ox of the fame fize in England : thofe that
we gueffed to weigh four hundredweight did not weigh more
than two hundred and fifty ; the reafon is, that fo late in the
dry feafon the bones are very thinly covered with flefh : there
is not an ounce of fat in a whole carcafs, and the flanks are li-
terally nothing but Ikin and bone : the fieih however is well
tafted and juicy, and I fuppofe better than the fieih of an Eng-
liffi ox would be if he was to ftarve in this fun-burnt country.
The horfes are from eleven to twelve hands high, but
though they are fmall, they are fpirited and nimble, especially
in pacing, which is their common Itep : the inhabitants ge-
nerally ride them without a faddle, and with no better bridle
than a halter. The Iheep are of the kind which in England
are called Bengal Iheep, and differ from ours in many parti-
culars. They are covered with hair inftead of wool, their
ears are veiy large, and hang down under their horns, and
their nofes are arched ; they are thought to have a general
refemblance to a goat, and for that reafon are frequently cal-
led cabritos : their fieih we thought the worfl: mutton we had
ever eaten, being as lean as that of the buffaloes, and with-
out flavour. The hogs, however, were fome of the fatteff
that we had ever feen, though, as we were told, their princi-
pal food is the outfi.de hulks of rice, and the pa;m fyrup difi'olv-
ed in water. The fowls are • hiefiy of the game breed, and
large, but the eggs are remarkably fmali.
Oi the filh which the fea produces here, we know but little :
turtles are fometimes found upon the coaft, and are by thefe
people, as well as all o ittrs, confi Jered as a dainty.
The people are rather under, than over the middling fize ;
the women efpeckfily ire remarka ly fhort and lquat built :
their complexion is a dark brown, and their hair univerfally
black and lank. We faw no difference in the colour of rich
and
The Inhabitants of Savu, &c. described. 177
and poor, though in the South Sea iflands thofe that were
expofed to the weather were almoft as brown as the New Hol-
landers, and the better fort nearly as fair as the natives of Eu-
rope. The men are in general well-made, vigorous, and
aftive, and have a greater variety in the make and difpolition
of their features than ufual ; the countenances of the women,
on the contrary, are all alike.
The men fallen their hair up to the top of their heads with
a comb, the women tie it behind in a club, which is very
very far from becoming. Both fexes eradicate the hair from
under the arm, and the men do the fame by their beards, for
which purpofe the better fort always carry a pair of filver
pincers hanging by a firing round their necks ; fome however
fuller a very little hair to remain upon their upper lips, but
this is always kept ihort.
The drefs of both fexes confids of cotton cloth, which be-
ing died blue in the yarn, and not uniformly of the fame
fliade, is in clouds or waves of that colour, and even in our
eye had not an inelegant appearance. This cloth they ma-
nufadture themfelves, and two p eces, each about two yards
long, and a yard and a half wide, make a drefs : one of them
is worn round tne middle, and the other covers the upper part
of tne body : the lower edge of the piece that goes round the
middle, the men draw pretty tight juft below the fork, the
upper edge of it is 1e:': oie, ;o as to form a kind of hollow
beit, which ferces them as a pocket to carry their knives, and
other little implements wki-.h it is convenient to have about
them. The other piece of cloth is palled through this girdle
behind, and one end of it being brought over the left (boulder,
and the other over the right, they fall down over the bread,
and are tad ed into the girdle before, fo that by opening or
deling the plaits, they can cover more or lefs of their bodies
as they plead ; the arms, legs, and feet are always naked.
The differen. e between tne drefs of the two fexes confids prin-
cipally in the manner of wearing the waiil- piece, for the wo -
men, inftead of drawing the lower edge tight, and leaving
the upper edge loofe for a pocket, draw the upper edge tight,
and let the lower edge fail as low as the knees, fo as to form a
petticoat ; the body-piece, inllead of being palled through the
girdle, is fattened under the arms, and crofs the bread, with
the utmoft decency. I have already obferved, that the men
fallen 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-
drefs, by which the fexes are diftinguilhed : the women wear
nothing as a fuccedaneum for a cap,' but the men conftanjdy
wrap fomething round their heads in the manner of a fillet ; it
is frnall, but generally of the finell materials that can be pro-
cured : we faw fome who applied filk handkerchiefs to this
purpofe.
*78 COOK’s VOYAGE.
purpofe, and others that wore fine cotton, or muflin, in the
manner of a fmalJ turban.
Thefe people bore their teftimony that the love of finery is
a umverfal pafficn, for their ornaments were very numerous.
Some of the better fort wore chains of goli round their necks,
but they were made of plaited wire, and confequently were
light and of little value ; others had rings, which were fo
much worn that they feemed to have defeended through many
generations ; and oneperfon had a filver-headed cane, marked
with a kind of cypher, conflfting of the Roman letters V. O.
C. and therefore probably a prefent from the Dutch Eaft In-
dia Company, whole mark it is : they have alfo ornaments
made of beads, which fome wear round their necks as a foli-
taire, and others, as bracelets, upon their wrifts : thefe are
common to both fexes, but the women have befides, firings
or girdles of beads, which they wear round their waifis, and
which ferve to keep up their petticoat. Both fexes had their
ears bored, nor was there a fingle exception t at fell under
our notice, yet we never faw an ornament in any of them ;
we never indeed faw either man or woman in anv thine but
what appeared to be their ordinary drefs, except the King and
his Minifter, -who in general wore a k:nd of night-gown of
CCSTtS CniP.tz, md nr.C of whom once received us in a black
robe, which appeared to be made of what is called prince’s
fiuif. We faw fome boys, about twelve or fourteen years old,
who had fpiral circles of thick brafs wire palled three or four
times round their arms, above the elbow, and fome men wore
rings of ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in
thicknefs, upon the fame part of the arm : thefe, we were told,
were the fons of the Rajas, or Chiefs, who w'ore thefe cum-
brous ornaments as badges of their high birth.
Almofi all the men had their names traced upon their arms,
in indelible charadters of a black colour, and the women had
a fquare ornament of flourifhed lines, impreffed in the fame
manner, juft under the bend of the elbow. V/e were ftruck
with the fimilitude between thefe marks, and thofe made by
tattowing in the South Sea iflands, and upon enquiring into
its origin, we learnt that it had been praftifed by the natives
long before any Europeans came among them ; and that in
the neighbouring iflands the inhabitants were marked with
circles upon their necks and breafts. The univerfality of this
practice, which prevails among favages in all parts of the
world, from the remoteft limits of North America, to the
iflands in the South Seas, and which probably differs but little
from the method of ftaining the body that was in ufe among
the ancient inhabitants of Britain, is a curious fubjeft for fpe-
culation f . The
•f In the account which Mr. BofTu has given of fome Indians w he inhabit
the
Description of the Buildings of Savu. ijq
The houfes of Savu are all built upon the fame plan, and
differ only in fize, being large in proportion to the rank and
riches of the proprietor. Some are four hundred feet long,
and forne are not more than twenty : they are all raifed upon
ports, or piles, about four feet high, one end of which is
driven into the ground, and upon the ocher end is laid a fub-
Aantial floor of wood, fo that there is a vacant fpace of four
feet between the floor of the houle and the ground. Upon this
floor are placed other ports or pillars, that fupport a roof cf
hoping fldes, which meet in a ridge at the top, like tflofe of
our bams : the eaves of this roof, which is thatched with palm
leaves, reach within two feet of the floor, and over-hang it as
much : the fpace within is generally divided lengthwile into
three equal parts ; the middle part, or center, is inclofed by a
partition of four fldes, reaching about fix feet above the floor,
and one or two fmall rooms are alfo fometimes taken off from
the fldes, the reft of the fpace under the roof is open, fo as
freely to admit the air and the light : the particular ufes of
thefe different apartments, our fliort ftay would not permit us
to learn, except that the clofe room in the center was appro-
priated to the women.
The food of thefe people conflfts of every tame animal in
"the country, of which the hog holds the firft place in their
eitimation, and the horfe the fecond ; next to the horfe is the
buffalo, next to the buffalo their poultry, and they prefer
dogs and cats to fiieep and goats. They are not fond of filh,
and, I believe, it is never eaten but by the poor people, nor
by them, except when their duty or buflnefs requires them |p
be upon the beach, and then every man is furnifiied with a
light carting net, which is girt round him, and makes part of
his drefs ; and with this he takes any fmall fifli which happen
to come in his way.
The efculent vegetables and fruits have been mentioned al-
ready, but the fan-palm requires more particular notice, for
at certain times it is a fuccedaneum for all other food both to
ipan and heart. A kind of wine, called toddy, is procured
from this tree, by cutting the buds which are to produce flow-
ers, loon after their appearance, and tying under them fmall
bafkets, made of the leaves, which are fo clofe as to hold li-
quids
the banks of the Akanzn, i fiver of North America, which rifes in NewMexico,
a>id falls into the Miffrfllppi, he relates the following incident : “ '1 he A.kan-
za’s, fays he, have adopted me, and as a mark of my privilege, have imprint-*
"J the figure of a roe-buck upon my thigh, which was done in this manner :
an Indian having burnt fome ftraw, diluted the allies with water, and with
tf.i . mixture, drew the figure upon my fkin ; he then retraced it, by pricking
the line; with needle:,, fo as at every puntture juft to draw the blood, and the
blood mixing' with the aihej of the ftraw, forms a figure which can never be
tfluced.” See Travels through Louifiana, col* i. p. 107.
i8o C O O K’s VOYAGE.
quids without leaking. The juice which trickles into the/e
veflels, is collected by perfons who climb the trees for that
purpofe, morning and evening, and is the common drink of
every individual upon theiftand^ yet a much greater quantity
is drawn off than is confumed in this ufe, and of the furplus
they make both a fyrup and coarfe fugar. The liquor is
called dua, or duac, and both the fyrup and fugar gula. The
fyrup is prepared by boiling the liquor down in pots of earthen
ware, till it is fufficiently infpiflated ; it is not unlike treacle
in appearance, but is fomewhat thicker, and has a-much more
agreeable tafte : tlft fugar is of a reddifh brown, perhaps the
fame with the Jugata fugar upon the continent of India, and
it was more agreeable to our palates than any cane fugar unre-
fined, that we had ever tailed. We were at firlt afraid that
the fyrup, of which fome of our people eat very great quanti-
ties, would have brought on fluxes, but its aperient quality
was fo very flight, that what effect it produced was rather falu-
tary than hurtful. I have already obferved, that it is given
with the hulks of rice to the hogs, and that they grow enor-
moully fat without taking any other food : we were told alfo,
that this fyrup is ufed to fatten their dogs and their fowls, and
that the inhabitants themfelves have fubfllled upon this alone
for feveral months, when other crops have failed, and animal
food has been fcarce. The leaves of this tree are alfo put to
various ufes, they thatch houfes, and make bafkets, cups,
umbrellas, and tobacco-pipes. The fruit is leal! efteemed,
and as the blolfoms are wounded for the tuac or toddy, there
is not much of it : it is about as big as a large turnip, and
cWvei ed like the cocoa-nut, with a fibrous coat, under which
are three kernels, that mull be eaten before they are ripe,
for afterwards they become fo hard that they cannot be chew-
ed; in their eatable ftate they tafte not unlike a green cocoa-
nut, and, like them, probably they yield a nutriment that is
watry and unfubftantial.
The common method of drefiing food here is by boiling,
and as fire-wood is very fcarce, and the inhabitants have no
other fuel, they make ufe of a contrivance to fave it, that is
not wholly unknown in Europe, but is feldom pradtifed ex-
cept in camps. They dig a hollow under ground, in a hori-
zontal direction, like a rabbit burrow, about two yards leng,
and opening into a hole at each end, or e of which is large
and the other fmall : by the large hole the fire is put in, and
the fmall one ferves for a draught. The earth over this bur-
row is perforated by circular holes, which communicate with
the cavity below ; and in Jhefe holes are fet ear. hen pots, ge-
nerally about three to each fire, which are large in the middle,
and taper towards the bottom, fo that the fire aids upon amrge
part of their furface. Each of thele pots generally contains
about
Their Habit of chewinq Betele. 181
about eight or ten gallons, and it is furprifing to fee with
how fmall a quantity of fire they may be kept boiling ; a palm
leaf, or a dry italk, thruft in now and then, is fufficient : in
this manner they boil all their vidtuals, and make all their
fyrup and fugar. It appears by Frazier’s account of his voy-
age to the South Sea, that the Peruvian Indians have a con-
trivance of the fame kind, and perhaps it might be adopted
with advantage by the poor people even of this country, where
fuel is very dear.
Both fexes are enflaved by the hateful and pernicious habit
of chewing betele and areca, which they contradl even while
they are children, and pradtife inceflantly from morning till
night. With thefe they always mix a kind of white lime,
made of coral ftone and Ihells, and frequently a fmall quan-
tity of tobacco, fo that their mouths are difguftful in the high-
eft degree both to the fmell and the fight : the tobacco taints
their breath, and the beetle and lime make the teeth not on-
ly as black as charcoal, but as rotten too. I have feen men
between twenty and thirty, whofe fore-teeth have been con-
firmed almoft down to the gums, tho’ no 2 of them were exact-
ly of the fame length or thicknefs, but irregularly corroded
like iron by ruft. This lofs of teeth is, I think, by all who
have written upon the fubjedt, imputed to the tough and ilrin-
gy coat of the areca nut ; but I impute it wholly to the lime ;
they are not loofened, or broken, or forced out, as might be
expedted if they were injured by the continual chewing of hard
and rough fubftances, but they are gradually wafted like me-
tals that are expofed to the adtion of powerful acids ; the
flumps always adhering firmly to the focket in the jaw, when
there is no part of the tooth above the gums : and poftibly thofe
who fuppofe that fugar has a bad effedt upon the teeth of Eu-
ropeans, may not be miftaken, for it is well known' that re-
fined loaf fugar contains a confiderable quantity of lime ; and
he that doubts whether lime will deftroy bone of any kind,
may eafily afeertain the fadt by experiment.
If the people here are at any time without this odious
mouthful, they are fmoaking. This operation they perform
by rolling up a fmall quantity of tobacco, and putting it into
one end of a tube about fix inches long, and as thick as a
goofe quill, which they make of a palm leaf. As the quanti-
ty of tobacco in thefe pipes is very fmall, the efted! of it is in-
creafed, efpecially among the women, by fwallowing the
fmoke.
Wnen the natives of this ifiand were firft formed into a
civil fociety, is not certainly known, but at prefent it is di-
vided into five principalities or nigrees : Laai, Seba, Re-
oeeua, Timo, and Massara, each of which is governed
by its refpeclive Raja or King. The Raja of Seba, the prin-
Vol. II. cipality
1 82 C O O K’s V 0 Y A G E.
cipality in which we were afhore, feemed to have great autho-
rity, without much external parade or Ihow, or much appear-
ance of perfonal refpeft. He was about five and thirty years
of agp, and the fattefi: man we favv upon the whole ifland : he
appeared to be of a dull phlegmatic difpofition, and to be di-
rected almofi: implicitly by the old man who, upon my pre-
senting him with a fword, had procured us a fair market, in
fpight of the craft and avarice of the Dutch faftors. The name
of this perfon was Mannu Djarme, and it may reafonably
be fuppofed that he was a man of uncommon integrity and
abilities, as, notwithftanding his poffeflion of power in the
charafter of a favourite, he was bcdoved by the whole princi-
pality. If any difference arifes among the people, it is fettled
by the Raja and his counfellors, without delay or appeal, and,
as we were told, with the molt folemn deliberation and im-
partial j uftice.
We were informed by Mr. Lange, that the chiefs who had
fucceflively prefidcd over the five principalities of this ifland,
had lived for time immemorial in the ftridleft alliance and molt
cordial friendfhip with each other ; yet he faid the people
were of a warlike difpofition, and had always courageoufly
defended themfelves againft foreign invaders. We were told
alfo, that the ifland wras able to raife, upon very fhort notice,
7300 fighting men, armed with mufkets, fpears, lances, an<j
targets. Of this force, Laai was faid to furnifh 2600, Seba
2-00, Regeeua 1500, Timo 800, and Maffara 400. Befides
the arms that have been already mentioned, each man is fur-
;i ; died with a large pole-ax, refembling a wood-bill, except
that it has a flrait edge, and is much heavier : this, in the
hands of people who have courage to come to clofe quarters
with an enemy, muft be a dreadful weapon ; and we were told
that they were fo dextrous with their lances, that at the dis-
tance of fixty feet they would throw them with fuch exaftnefs
as to pierce a man’s heart, and fuch force as to go quite
through his body.
How far this account of the martial prowefs pf the inha-
bitants of Savu may be true, we cannot take upon us to de-
termine, but during our fiay, we faw no appearance of it.
Wc faw indeed in the town-houfe, or houfe of affembly,
about one hundred fpears and targets, which ferved to arm
the people who were fent down to intimidate us at the trading
place ; but they feemed to be the refufe of old armories, no
two being of the fame make or length, for fome were fix, and
fome fix teen feet long : v/e favv no lance among them, and as
jo the mufkets, though they were clean on the outfide, they
Were eaten into holes by the ruft within ; and the people them-
fdves anpeared to be fo little acquainted with military difei-
pline, jhat they marched like a diforderly rabble, every one
having,
Thehi Veneration for AnTuynTY. 183
Win?, inftead of his target, a cock, fome tobacco, or other
merchandife of the like kind, which he took that opportunity
to bring down to fell, and a few or none of their cartridge
boxes were furnifhed with either powder or ball, though a
piece of paper was thruft into the whole to fave appearances.
We faw a few fvvivel guns, and pateraroes at the town-houle,
and a great gun before it ; but the fwivels and pateraros lay
out of their carriages, and the great gun lay upon a heap of
ftones, almoft coniumed with rail, with the touch-hole down-
wards, poflibly to conceal its fize, which might perhaps be
little lefs than that of the bore.
We could not difcover that among thefe people there was
any rank of diftinftion between the Raja and the land-owners .
the land-owners were refpe£table in proportion to their pof-
feflions ; the inferior ranks confift of manufacturers, labouring
poor, and Haves. The Haves, like the peafants in fome parts
of Europe, are connected with the eftate, and both defcend
together : but though the laad-owner can fell his Have, he has
no other power over his perfon, not even to correct him, with-
out the privity and approbation of the Raja. Some have five
hundred of thefe Haves, and fome not half a dozen : the com-
mon price of them is a fat hog. When a great man goes out,
he is conftantly attended bv two or more of them : one of
them carries a fword or hanger, the hilt of which is common-
ly of filver, and adorned with large taflels of horfe hair ; and
another carries a bag which contains betel, areca, lime and
tobacco. In thefe attendants confifts all their magnificence,
for the Raja himfelf has no other mark of diftinftion.
The chief objeCt of pride among thefe people, like that of
a Welchman, is a long pedigree of refpe Table anceftors, and
indeed a veneration for antiquity feems to be carried farther
here than in any other country : even a houfe that has been
well inhabited for many generations, becomes almoft facred,
and few articles either of ufe or luxury bear fo high a price as
ftones, which having been long fat upon, are become even
and fmooth : thofe who can purchafe fuch ftones, or are pof-
fefl'ed of them by inheritance, place them round their houfes,
where they ferve as feats for their dependants.
Every Raja fets up in the principal town of his province,
or nigree, a large ftone, which ferves as a memorial of his
reign. In the principal town of Seba, where we lay, there
are thirteen fuch ftones, befides many fragments of others,
which had been fet up in earlier times, and are now moulder-
ing away : thefe monuments feem to prove that fome kind of
civil eftablifhment here is of confiderable antiquity. The laft
thirteen reigns in England make fomething more than 276
years.
Many of thefe ftones are To large, that it is difficult to con-
0^.2 ceive
■i 84 C O O E »s VOYAGE.
cei.ve by what means they were brought to their prefent lia-
tion, efpecially as it is the fummit of a hill ; but the world is
full of memorials of human ftrength, in which the me-
chanical powers that have been fince added by mathematical
fcience, feem to be furpafled ; and of fuch monuments there
are not a few among the remains of barbarous antiquity in our
cwn .ountry, befides thofe upon Salilbury plain.
Thefe ftones not only record the reigns of fucceflive princes,
but ferve for a purpofe much more extraordinary, and pro-
bably altogether peculiar to this country. When a Raja dies,
a general feaft is proclaimed throughout his dominions, and
all his fubjedts aflemble round thefe ftones ; almoft every liv-
ing creature that can be caught is then killed, and the feaft
lafts for a lefs or greater number of weeks or months, as the
kingdom happens to be more or lefs furnifhed with live ftock
at the time ; the ftones ferve for tables. When this madnefs
is over, a fall: muft neceftarily enfue, and the whole kingdom
is obliged to fubfift upon fyrup and water, if it happens in
the dry feafon, when no vegetables can be procured, till a
new ftock of animals can be raifed from the few that have
efcaped by chance, or been preferved by policy from the ge-
neral maffacre, or can be procured from the neighbouring
kingdoms. Such, however, is the account we received from
Mr. Lange.
We had no opportunity to examine any of their manufac-
tures, except that of their cloth, which they fpin, weave,
and dye ; we did not indeed fee them employed, but many of
the inftruments which they ufe fell in our way. We faw their
machine for clearing cotton of its feed, which is made upon
the fame principles as thofe in Europe, but is fo fmall that it
might be taken for a model, or a toy : it confifts of two cy-
linders, like our round rulers, fomewhat lefs than an inch in
diameter, one of which being turned round by a plain winch,
turns the other by means of an endlefs worm ; and the whole
machine is not more than fourteen inches long, and feven
high : that which we faw had been much ufed, and many
pieces of cotton were hanging about it, fo that there is no
reafon to doubt its being a fair fpecimen of the reft. We alfo
once faw their apparatus for fpinning ; it confifled of a bob-
bin, on which was wound a fmall quantity of thread, and a
kind of diftaff filled with cotton ; we conjectured therefore
that they fpin 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 fome parts of it. Their loom feemed
to be in one refpeCt preferable to ours, for the web was not
ftretched 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 webb was about half a yard broad.
Their. Religion and excellent Morals.
and the length of the Ihuttle was equal to the breadth of the
webb, fo that probably their work goes on. but flowly. That
they dyed this cloth we full gueffed from its colour, and from,
the indigo which we faw in their plantations; and our con-
jecture was afterwards confirmed by Mr. Lange’s account. I
have already obferved, that it is dyed in the yarn, and we
once faw them dying what was faid to be girdles for»the wo-
men, of a dirty red, but with what drug we did not think it
worth while to enquire.
The religion of thefe people, according to Mr. Lange’s in-
formation, is an abfurd kind of paganifm, every man chufing
his own god, and determining for himfelf how he Ihculd be
worihipped ; fo that there are almoll as many go::s and modes
of worihip as people. In their morals, however, they are faid
to be irreproachable, even upon the principles of Chriffianity :
no man is allowed more than one wife ; yet an illicit com-
merce between the fexes is in a manner unknown among them:
inllances of theft are very rare; and they are fo far from re-
venging a fuppofed injury by murder, that if any difference
arifes between them, they will not fo much as make it the fub-
jeCl of debate, led they fhould be provoked to refentment and
ill-will, but immediately and implicitly refer it to the deter-
mination of their King.
They appeared to be a healthy and long-lived people ; yet
fome of them were marked with the fmall-pox, which Mr,
Lange told us had feveral times made its appearance among
them, and was treated with the fame precautions as the plague.
As foon as a perfon was feized with the dillemper, he was re-
moved to forne folitary place, very remote from any habita-
tion, where the difeafe was left to take its courfe, and the pa-
tient fuppiied with daily food by reaching it to him at the end
of a long pole.
Of their domedic ceconomy we could learn but little : in
one indance however their delicacy and cleanlinefs are very
remarkab'e. Many of us were alhore here three fuccefiive
days, from a very early hour in the morning till it was dark ;
yet we never faw the lead trace of an offering to Cloacina,
nor could we fo much as guefs where they were made. In a
country fo populous this is very difficult to be accounted fob,
and perhaps there is no other country in the world where the
fecret is fo effectually kept.
The boats in ufe here are a kind of proa.
Thisifland was fettled by the Portuguefe almod as foon as
they fird found their way into this part of the ocean ; but they
were in a fhort time fupplanted by the Dutch. The Dutch
however did not take poffeffion of it, but only fent Hoops to
trade with the natives, probably for provifions to fupport the
inhabitants or their fpice iflands, who applying themfelvcs
Q.3 ^ wholly
iS6 C O O K’s VOYAGE.
wholly to the cultivation of that important article of trade, and
laying out all their ground in plantations, can breed few ani-
mals : poffibly their fupplies by this occaftonal traffic were
precarious ; poffibly they were jealous of being fupplanted in
their turn ; but however that be, their Ealt India Company,
about ten years ago, entered into a treaty with the Rajas, by
which the Company ftipulatea to furniffi each of them w'ith a
certain quantity of filk, fine linen, cutlery ware, arrack and
other articles, every year ; and the Rajas engaged that neither
they nor their fubjetls fhould trade w'ith any perfon except the
Company, without having firft obtained their confent, and
that they would admit a refident on behalf of the Company,
to refide upon the iiland, and fee that their part of the treaty
was fulfilled ; they alfo engaged to fupply annually a certain
quantity of rice, maize, and calevances. Their maize and
calevances are fent to Timor in floops, which are kept there
for that purpofe, each of which is navigated by ten Indians;
and the rice is fetched away annually by a fhip which brings
the Company’s returns, and anchors alternately in each of the
three bays. Thefe returns are delivered to the Rajas in the
form of a prefent, and the calk of arrack they and their principal
people never ceafe to drink, as long as a drop of it remains.
In confequence of this treaty, the Dutch placed three per-
fons upon the iftand : Mr. Lange, his colleague, the native of
Timor, the fon of an Indian woman by a Portuguefe, and one
Frederick Craig, he fon of an Indian woman, by a Dutchman.
Lange vihis each of the Rajas in two months, when he makes
the tour cf the ifland, attended by fifty flaves on horfeback.
He exhorts thefe Chiefs to plant,- if it appears that they have
been remifs, and obferves where the crops are got in, that he
may order floops to fetch it ; fo that it paffes immediately
from the ground to the Dutch ftorehoufes at Timor. In thefe
excurfions he always carries with him fome bottles of arrack,
which he finds of great ufe in opening the hearts of the Rajas
with whom he is to deal. .
During the ten years that he had refided upon this ifland
he had never feen a European befides ourfelves, except at the „
arrival of the Dutch fhip, which had failed about two months
before we arrived ; and he is now to be diflinguifhed from
the natives only by his colour and his drefs, for he fits upon
the ground, chews his betele, and in every refpedl has adopted
their character and manners : he has married an Indian weman
of the ifland of Timor, who keeps his houfe after the fafhion
of her country ; and lie gave that as a reafon for not inviting
us to vifit him, faying, that he could entertain us in no other
manner than the Indians had done, and he fpokeno language
readily but that of the country.
The office of Mr. Frederic Craig is to inftruft the youth of
the
Account of Timor. 187
the country in reading and writing, and the principles of the
Chriftian religion; the Dutch having printed verfions of the
New Teftament, a catechifm, and feveral other trafts, in the
language of this and the neighbouring ilknds. Dr. Solan-
der, who was at his houfe, faw the books, and the copy books
alfo, ol nis fcholars, many of whom wrote a very fair hand.
He bonded that there were no lefs than fix hundred Chriftians
in the townfhip of Seba ; but what the Dutch Chriftianity of
thefe Indians may be, it is not perhaps very eafy to guefs for
there is not a church, nor even a prieft, in the whole illand.
While we were at this place, we made feveral enquiries
concerning the neighbouring illands, and the intelligence
which we received, is to the following effedt :
A'fmall illand to the weltward of Savu, the name of which
we did not learn, produces nothing of any confequence but
areca-nuts, of which the Dutch receive annually the freight of
two Hoops, in return for prefents that they make to the
ilianders.
Timor is the chief, and the Dutch refidents on the other
illands go thither once a year to pafs their accounts. The
place is nearly in the fame Hate as in Dampier’s time, the
Dutch having there a fort and ftore-houfes ; and, by Lange’s
account, we might there have been fupplied with every necef-
fary that we expefted to procure at Batavia, fait provifions
and arrack not excepted. But the Portuguefe are Hill in pof-
fefiion of feveral towns on the north fide of the illand, parti-
cularly Laphoa and Sefial.
About two years before our arrival, a French lhip was
wrecked upon theeaft coal! of Timor ; and after Ihe had lain
forne days upon the Ihoal, a fudden gale broke her up at once,
and drowned the Captain, with the greateft part of the crew :
thofe who got alhore, among whom was one of the Lieute-
nants, made the bell 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 reft to the number
of about eighty, arrived at the town. They were fupplied
with every necelfary, and fent back to the wreck, with pro-
per afiiftance, for recovering what could be filhed. up ; they
fortunately got up all their bullion, which was in chefts, and
feveral of their guns which were very large. They then re-
turned to the town, but their companions who had been left
upon the road were miffing, having, as it was fuppofed, been
kept among the Indians, either by perfuafion or force ; for
they are very defirous of having Europeans among them, to
inftrudl them in the art of war. After a ftay of more than
two months at Concordia, their number was diminilhed near-
ly one half by ficknefs, in confequence of the fatigue and
hardlhip
1 88 COOK’s VOYAGE.
hardfhip which they had fuffered by the fhipwreck, and the
furvivors were fent in a fmad velTel to Europe.
Rotte is in much the lame fituation as Savu ; a Dutch fac-
tor refides upon it to manage the natives, and look after its
produce, which con hits among other articles, of fugar. For-
merly it was made only by bruifing the canes, ar.d boiling the
juice to a fyrup, in the fame manner as Toddy ; but great
improvements have lately been made in preparing this valu-
able commodity. The three little iflands called the Solars
are alfo under the in fluen e of the Dutch fettlement at Con-
cordia : they are flat and low, but abound with proiifions of
every kind, and the middlemen is faid to have a good har-
bour for (hipping. Elide, another little ifiand to the weflvvard
of the Solars, is ftill in the hands of the Portuguese, who have
a good towm and harbour on the north eafl: corner of it, called
Larntuca : they had formerly an harbour on the fouth fide of
it, but that being much inferior to Larntuca, has for fome
time been altogether neglefted.
The inhabitants of each of thefe little iflands fpeak a lan-
guage peculiar to themfelves^ and it is an obje£t of Dutch po-
licy to prevent as much as poflibie, their learning the lan-
guage of each other. If they fpoke a common language,
they would learn, by mutual- intercourfe with each other, to
plant fuch things as would be of more value to themfelves than
their prefent produce, though of lefs advantage to the Dutch ;
but their languages being different, they can communicate no
fu:h knowlege to each other, and the Dutch fecure to them-
felves the benefit of fupplying their feveral neceffities upon
their own terms, which it is reafonable to fuppofe are not ve-
ry moderate. It is probable with a view to this advantage
that the Dutch never teach their own language to the natives
of thefe iflands, and have been at the expence of tranfiating
the Teffament and catechifms 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. "
To this account of Savu, 1 fhall only add a fmall fpecimen
of its language, by which it will appear to have fome affinity
with that of the South Sea iflands, many of the words being
exactly the fame, and the numbers manifeftly derived from
the lame fource.
A man ,
A <wQ?nan,
T he head ,
’The hair ,
The Eyes,
' The Eje-laJhts ,
Momonne.
Mobunnee.
Catoo.
Row Catoo.
Matta.
Rowna matta.
Swanga.
w
1 8c?
The Language of
The nofe ,
7 Fe cheeks ,
The ears ,
The tongue ,
The neck.
The breajls ,
The nipples ,
The belly.
The navel.
The thighs ,
The knees ,
Tifo feet ,
The toes ,
The arms ,
handy
A buffalo ,
^ horfe,
A hog,
A jheep,
A voat,
A dog ,
^ re/,
^ fowl.
The tail.
The beak ,
AJifl>,
A turtle,
A cocoa-nut.
Fan-palm,
Areca,
Betele,
Lime,
A fifto-hook,
Tattow, the marks
on the Jkin,
The fun,
The moon ,
The fea,
W iter.
Fire,
To die.
To feep.
To rife ,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Savu.
Swanga.
Cavaranga.
Wodeeloo.
Vaio.
Lacoco.
Soofoo.
Caboo fbofoo.
Dulloo.
Affoo.
Tooga.
Rootoo.
Baibo.
Dunceala.
Kiffovei yilla.
Camacoo.
Wulaba.
Cabaou.
Djara.
Vavee.
Doomba,
Kefavoo.
Guaca.
Maio.
Mannu.
Carovv.
PangoutOO.
Ica.
Unjoo.
Nieu.
Boaceree.
Calella.
Canana.
Aou.
Maanadoo.
Tata,
Lodo.
W urroo.
AidafTee.
Ailea.
Aee.
Maate.
Tabudge.
Tateetoo.
Ufle.
Lhua.
Tullu.
Uppa.
Five
»9©
C O O K’a V O y A G fi,
Five,
Lumme.
Six,
Unna.
Seven,
Pedu.
Eight,
Arru.
Niie,
Saou.
Ven,
Singooroo.
Eleven,
Singurung ufle.
20,
Lhuangooroo.
10 0,
Sing alfu.
1000,
Setuppah.
10,000,
Selacufia,
100,000,
Serata.
1,000,000,
Sereboo.
In this account of the illand of Savu it mud be remem-
bered, that except the fails in which wc were parties, and ther
account of the objefts which we had an opportunity to exa-
mine, the whole is founded merely upon the report of Mr.
Lange, upon whofe authority alone therefore it mull reft.
CHAP. XII.
*The Run from the If and of Savu to Batavia , and an Account of
the cfranf aft ions there, while the Ship was refitting.
IN the morning of Friday the 21ft of September, 1770, we
got under fail, and Hood away to the weftward, along the
north fide of the illand of Savu, and of the fmaller that lies
to the weftward of it, which at noon bore from us S. S. E.
diftant two leagues. At four o’clock in the afternoon, we
difcovered a fmall low illand, bearing S. S. W. diftant three
leagues, which has no place in any chart now extant, at
leaft in none that I have been able to procure : it lies in lati-
tude io° 47 ' S., longitude 238° 28' W.
At noon on the 2zd, we were in latitude 1 1° 10' S., longi-
tude 240° 38' W. In <he evening of the 23d, we found the
variation of the needle to be 20 44' W. ; as foon as we got
clear of the illands we had conftantly a fwell from the fouth-
ward, which I imagined was not caufed by a wind blowing
from that quarter, but by the fea being fo determined by the
pofition of the coall of New Holland.
At noon on the 26th, being in latitude 1O0 47' S., longi-
tude 249'“ 52' W. we found the variation to be 3“ 10' W. and
our fituation 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 obfervation was to5 51' S. which was
agreeable
They arrive off the Island of Java, igi
agreeable to the log; and our longitude was 25 z° ii'W.
We lleered N. W. all day on the 28th, in order to make the
land of Java ; and at noon on the 29th, our latitude by ob-
fervation Was 9® 31' S., longitude 254® 10' W. ; and in the
morning of the 30th, I took into my poffeffion the log-book
and journals, at leatl all I could find, of the officers, petty
officers, and feamen, and enjoined them fecrecy with refpeft
to where they had been.
At feven in the evening, being in the latitude of Java
Head, and not feeing any land, I concluded that we were too far
to the weftward : I therefore hauled up E. N. E. having be-
fore fleered N. by E. In the night we had thunder and light-
ning ; and about twelve o’clock, by the light of the flafhes,
we faw the land bearing eaft. 1 then tacked and flood to the
S. W. till four o’clock in the morning of the firft of O&ober ;
and at fix, Java Head, or the weft end of Java, bore S. E.
by E. diftant five leagues : foon after we faw Prince’s Ifland,
bearing E. i- S. ; and at ten, the ifland of Cracatoa, bearing
N. E. Cracatoa is a remarkably high-peaked ifland, and at
r.oon it bore N. 40 E. diftant feven leagues.
I muft now obferve that, during our run from Savu, I al-
lowed twenty minutes a day for the wefterly current, which I
concluded muft run ftrong at this time, efpecially off the coaft
of Java, and I found that this allowance was juft equivalent
to the effedl of the current upon the fhip.
At four o’clock in the morning of the 2d, we fetched clofe
in with the coaft of Java, in fifteen fathom ; we then flood,
along the coaft, and early in the forenoon, I fent the boat
alhore to try if Ihe could procure fome fruit for Tupia, who
was very ill, and fome grafs for the buffaloes that were ftill
alive. Ir. an hour or two Ihe returned with four cocoa-nuts,
and a fmall bunch of plantains, which had been purchafed for
a fhilling, and fome herbage for the cattle, which the In-
dians not only gave us, but aflifted our people to cut. The
country looked like one continued wood, and had a very plea-
fant appearance.
About eleven o’clock, we faw two Dutch fliips lying off
Anger point, and I fent Mr. Hicks on board one of them, to
enquire news of our country, from which we had been abfent
fo long. In the mean time it fell calm, and about noon I
anchored in eighteen fathom with a muddy bottom. When
Mr. Hicks returned, he reported that the fliips were Dutch
Eaft Indiamen from Batavia, one of which was bound to Cey-
lon, and the other to the coaft of Malabar ; and that there
was alfo a flyboat or packet, which was faid to be flationed
here to carry letters from the Dutch fliips that came hither to
Batavia, but which I rather think was appointed to examine
all fhips that pafs the ftreight : from thefe fliips we heard
with
,92 C O O K ’s V O Y A G E.
with great pleafure, that the Swallow had been at Batavia
about two years before.
At feven o’clock a breeze fprung up at S. S. W. with which
having weighed, we flood to the N. E. between Thwart-the-
way-Iiland and the Cap, founding from eighteen to twenty-
eight fathom : we had but little wind all night, and having
a ftrong current againft 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 diftance of two miles from the fhore ;
the point bore N. E. by E. diftant one league, and here we
found a ftrong current fetting to the N. W. In the morning
we had feen the Dutch packet ftanding after us, but when the
wind fluffed to the N. E. fhe bore away.
At fix o’clock in the evening, the wind having obliged us
to continue at anchor, one of the country boats came along
fide of us, on board of which was the mafter of the packet.
He feemed to have two motives for his vifit, one to take an
account of the Ihip, and the other to fell us refreftiments ;
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
flock was not yet expended : however, I gave a Spanifti dol-
lar for a fmall turtle, which weighed about fix and thirty
pounds ; Tgave alfo a dollar for ten large fowls, and after-
wards bought fifteen more at the fame price ; for a dollar we
might alfo have bought two monkies, or a whole cage of rice-
birds. The Mafter of the floop brought with him two books,
in one of which he defired that any of our officers would write
down the name of the ftiip and its commander, with that of
the place from which fhe failed, and of the port to which flie
was bound, with fuch other particulars relating to themfelves,
as they might think proper, for the information of any of our
friends that fhould come after us : and in the other he entered
the names of the fhip and the Commander himfelf, in order
to tranfmit them to the Governor and Council of the Indies.
We perceived that in the firft book many fhips, particularly
Portuguefe, had made entries of the fame kind with that for
which it was prefented to us. Mr. Hicks, however, having
written the name of the fhip, only added “ from Europe.”
He took notice of this, but faid, that he was fatisfied with
ary thing we thought fit to write, it being intended merely
for the information of thofe who fhould enquire after us from
motives of friendfhip.
Having made feveral attempts to fail with a wind that
would not ftem the current, and as often come to an anchor,
a proa came along fide of us in the morning of the ^th, in
which was a Dutch officer, who fentme down a printed paper
in
Inquisitive Behaviour of the Dutch. 193
in Englifh, duplicates of which he had in other languages,
particularly in French and Dutch, all regularly figrifcd, in the
name of the Governor and Council of the Indies, by their fe-
cretary: it contained nine queftions, very ill exprefled in the
following terms: • ■ _
“ j. To what nation the fhip belongs, and its name?
“ 2. If it comes from Europe, or any other place ?
“ 3. From what place it laltly departed from?
“ 4. Whereunto deiigned to go ?
“ 5. What and how many fhips of the Dutch Company
“ by departure from the laft fnore there layed, and their names ?
“ 6. If one or more of thefe fhips in company with this, is
“ departed for this, or any other place?
“ 7. If during the voyage any particularities is happened
*c or feen ?
“ 8. If not any fhips in fea, or the Streights of Sunaa,
“ have feen or hailed in, and which?
“ 9. If any other news worth of attention, at the place from
“ whence the fhip laftly departed, or during the voyage, is
“ happened.
Batavia, in the Caflle.
“ By order of the Governor General, and the_
“ Counfellors of India,
“ J. Brander Buncl, Sec.”
Of thefe queftions I anfwered only the firft and the fourth;
-which when the officer faw, he faid anfwers to the reft were of
no confequence : yet he immediately added, that he muft fend
•that very paper away to Batavia, and that it would be there the
next day at noon. I have particularly related this incident,
becaufe I have been credibly informed that it is but of late years
that the Dutch have taken upon them to examine fhips that
pafs through this Streight.
At ten o’clock the fame morning, we weighed, with a ligh,t
breeze at S. W. ; but did little more than ftern the current, and
about two o’clock anchored again under Bantam Point, where
we lay till nine; . a light breeze then fpringing up at S. E. we
weighed and flood to the eaftward till ten o’clock the next morn-
ing, when the current obliged us again to anchor r twenty-
two fathom, Pulababi bearing E. by S. \ S. diftani between,
three and four miles. Having alternately weighed and anchored
feveral times, till four. in the afternoon of the 7th, we then
flood to the eaftward, with a very faint breeze at N. E. and
puffed Wapprng Ifland, and the firft ifland to the eaftward of
it; when the wind dying away, w-ewe^e carried by the current
between the firft and fecond of the iflanSs that lie to the eaft-
ward of Wapping Ifland, where we were obliged to anchor in
thirty fathom, being very near a ledge of rocks that run out
from one of the ifiands. At two the next morning we weighed
VOL. II. . . R.. _ * ' jlitb
t94 GOOK’s ’VOYAGE,
with the land wind at fouth, and flood out clear of the fhoal j
]but before noon were obliged to come to again in twenty-eight
fathom, near a fmall ifland among thofe that are called the
Thoufand Iflands, which we did not find laid down in any
chart. Pufri Pare at this time bore E. N. E. diflance between
fix and feven miles.
Mr. Banks and Dr. Solar.der went afhore upon the ifland,
which they found not to be more than five hundred yards long,
and one hundred broad ; yet there was a houfe upon it, and a
fmall plantation, where among other things was the Palma.
Cht-ijli, from which the caflor oil is made in the Weft Indies :
they made a fmall addition to their collection of plants, and
fhot a bat, whofe wings when extended meafured three feet
from point to point; they (hot alfo four plovers, which exactly
refembled the golden plover of England. Soon after they re-
turned, a fmall Indian boat came alongfide with two Malay*
on board, who brought three turtles, forne dried fifh, and a
few pumpkins ; we bought the turtle, which altogether weighed
a hundred and forty-fix pounds, for a dollar, and confidering
that we had lately paid the Dutchman a dollar for one that
weighed only fix and thirty pounds, we thought we had a good
bargain. The feller appeared equally fatisfied, and we then
treated with him for his pumpkins, for which he was very un-
willing to take any money but a dollar; we faid that a whole
dollar was greatly too much ; tp which he readily aflented, but
defired that we wpuld cut one and give him a part; at laft,
however, a fine fnining Portuguefe petacka temptedJhim, and
for that he fold us his whole flock of pumpkins, being in number
twenty-fix. At parting, he made figns that we fhould not tell
at Batavia that any boat had been aboard us.
*We were not able to weather Pulo Pare this day, but getting
the land wind at fouth about ten o’clock at night, we weighed
and flood" to the E. S. E. all night. At ten in the morning,
we anchored again, to wait for the fea breeze; and at noon it
iprung up at N. N. E. with which we flood in for Batavia road,
where at four o’clock in the afternoon wre came to ah anchor.
We found here the Harcourt Indiaman from England, two
Englifh private traders of that country, thirteen fail of large
Dutch fhips, and a confiderable pumper of fmall veffels. A
boat came immediately on board, from a fhip which had a
broad pendant flying, and the officer who commanded having
enquired who we were, and whence we came, immediately re-
turned with fuch anfiwers as we thought fit to give him; both
he and his people were as pale as fpefitres, a fad prefage of our
fufFeiings in fo unhealthy a country ; but our people, who*
except Tupia, were all rofy and plump, feemed to thick them-
felves fo feafoned by various climates that nothing could hurt
item. ' In tke meaR time, I fcr.t a lieutenant adore to acquaint
< tbr.
The Endeavour arrives at Batavia.
the Governor of our arrival, and to make an excufe for our not
fainting ; for as I could falute with only three guns, except the
fwiveb, which I was of opinion would not be heard, I thought
it was better to let it alone. As foon as the boat was difpatched
the carpenter delivered me an account of the defeats of the fhip,
of which the following is a copy i
“ The defects of his Majefty’s bark Endeavour, Lieutenant
“ James Cook, Commander.
“ The lhip very leaky, as fhe makes from twelve to fix
“ inches water an hour, occafioned by her main keel being
“ wounded in many places, and the fcarfs of her ftern being
“ very open : the falfe keel gone beyond the midfhips from
“ forward, and perhaps farther, as I had no opportunity
“ of feeing for the water when hauled afhore for repairing *
wounded on the larboard fide under the main channel, where
“ I imagine the greateft leak is} but could not come at it for
“ the water: one pump on the larboard fide ufelefs ; theothcrs
“ decayed within an inch and a half of the bore. Otherwife
“ mails, yards, boats, and hull,- in pretty good condition.
As it was the universal opinion that the fhip could not fafely
proceed to Europe without an examination of her bottom, I de-
termined to apply for leave to heave her down at this place ;
and as I underitood that it would be neceflary to make this ap-
plication in writing, I drew up si requefl, and the next morn-
ing, having got it tranflated into Dutch, we all went afhore.
We repaired immediately to the houfe of Mr. Leith, the only
Englifhman of any credit who is refident at this place; he re-
ceived us with great politenefs, and engaged us to dinner: to’
this gentleman we applied for inftruttions how to provide our*
felves with lodgings and neceffaries while we fhould flay afhore,
and he told us, that there was a hotel, or kind of inn, kept by
the order of government, where all merchants and Grangers
were obliged to refide, paying half per cent upon the value of
their goods for warehouse room, which the matter of the houfe
was obliged to provide; but that as we Came in a King’s fhip,
we fhould be at liberty to live where we pleafed, upon afking
the Governor’s permiffion, which would be granted of courfe.
He faid, that it would be cheaper for us to take a houfe in the
town, and bring our own fervants afhore, if we had any body
upon whom we could depend to buy in our provifions ; but as
this was not the cafe, having no perfon among us who could
fpeak the Malay language, our gentlemen determined to go to
the hotel. At the hotel, therefore, beds were immediately
hired, and word was fent that we fhould fie^p there at night.
At five o’clock in the afternoon, I was introduced to th£
Governor-General, who received my very courteoufly ; he told
me, that I fhould have every thing I wanted, and that in the
morning my requett fhould be laid befcxe the council, which
I was defircd to attend. About;
>9« COO K.’s VOYAGE.
About nine o’clock, we had a dreadful ftorm of thunder,,
lightning, and rain, during which the main-maft of one of the
35utch Eail Indiamen was fplit, and carried away by the deck;
.the main-top-maft and top-gallant-maft were /hivered ail to
pieces; fib e had an iron fpindle at the main-top-gallant-maft-
Jiead, which probably direfled the ilroke. This Ihip lay not
more than the diilance of two cables length from ours, and in
all probability .we fhould have fhared the fame fate, but for the
eledrical chain which we had but juft got up, and which con-
duced the lightning over the fide of the fh ip ; but though we
efcaped the lightning, the explcfion Ihook us like an earth-
quake, the chain at the fame time appearing like a line of
lire : a ceutinel was in the aftion of charging his piece, and
the fhock forced the mufquet out of his hand, and broke the
rammer rod. Upon this occafion, I cannot but earneftly re-
commend chains of the fame kind to every fhip, whatever be
her deftination, and I hope that the fate of the Dutchman will
be a warning to all who fhail read this narrative, againft hav-
ing-an iron fpindle at themaft-head.
The next morning, I attended at the council-chamber, and
was told that I fhould have every thing I wanted. In the mean
time, the gentlemen aftiore agreed with the keeper of the hotel
for their lodging and board, at the rate of two rix-dollars, or
nine drillings fterling a day for each ; and as there were live of
them, and they would probably have many vifitors from the
ihip, he agreed to keep them a feparate table, upon condition
that they fhould pay one rix-dollar for the dinner of every
ilranger, and another for his fupper and bed, if he lhould deep
aihore. Under this llipulation they were to be furnilhed with
tea, coffee, punch, pipes and tobacco, for themfelves and their
friends, as much as they could confume ; they were alfo to
pay half a rupee, or one drilling and three pence a day for each
of their fervants.
They foon learnt that thefe 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 ferved. Their dinner confided of one courfe of
fifteen dilhes, and their fupper of one courfe of thirteen, but
nine or ten of them confided of bad poultry, varioudy drefied,
and often ferved up the fecond, third, and even the fourth
time: the fame duck having appeared more than onceroaded,
found his way again to the table as africafee, 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 eflay, and that
it was the invariable cuftom of the hpufe, to fupply all ftrangers,
at their firit coming, with fuch fire as could be procured for
the leaft money, and confequently would produce the mod
gain : that if either through indolence or good-nature they
were
The transports ©f Tupia and Tateto, &c. igj
wore content, it was continued for the benefit of the hoft, but
that if they complained, it was gradually amended till they
were fatisfied, which fometimes happened before they had the
worth of their money. After this difcovery, they remonftrated,
and their fare became better; however, after a few days, Mr,
Banks hired a little houfe, the next door on the left hand to
the hotel, for himfelf and his party, for which he paid after
the rate of ten rix-dollars, or two pounds five (hillings fierling
a month; but here they were very far from having either the
convenience or the privacy which they expefted; no perfon
was permitted to fleep in this private houfe occafionally, as a
guell to the perfon who hired it, under a penalty, but almoft
every Dutchman that went by ran in without any ceremony*
to a(k what they fold, there having been very feldom any
private perfons at Batavia who had not fomething to fell.
Every body here hires a carriage, and Mr. Banks hired two.
They are open chaifes, made to hold two people, and driven
by a man fitting on a coach-box; for each of thefe he paid
two rix-dollars a day.
As foon as he was fettled in his new habitation, he fent for
Tupia, who till now had continued on board upon account of
his illnefs, which was of the bilious kind, and for which he
bad obftinately refufed to take any medicine. He foon came
afhore, with his boy Tayeto, and though while he was on
board, and after he came into the boat, he was exceedingly
liftlefs and dejeded, he no fooner entered the town than h®
feemed to animated with a new foul. The houfes, carriages*
ftreets, people, and a multiplicity of other obje&s, all new,
which rufhed upon him at once, produced an effed like the
fudden and fecret power that is imagined of fafcination, Tayeto
expreffed his wonder and delight with Hill Iefs reflraint, and
danced’along the ftreet in a kind of extafy, examining every
cbjed with a reftlefs and eager curiofity, which was every
moment excited and gratified. One of the firft things that
Tupia remarked, was the various drefies of the pafiing multi-
tude, concerning which he made many enquiries ; and when
he was told that in this place, where people of many different
nations were aifembled, every one wore the habit of his country,
he defired that he might conform to the cuftom, and appear in
that of Otaheite, South Sea cloth was therefore fent for from
the (hip, and he equipped himfelf with great expedition and
dexterity. The people who had feen Otourou, the Indian
who had been brought hither by M. Bougainville, enquired
whether Tupia was not the fame perfon : from thefe enquiries,
we learnt who it was that we had fuppofed to be Spaniards,
from the accounts that had been given of two fliips by the
Iflanders.
Ia the mean time* I procured an order to the fuperintendant
B. 2 ef
i98 C O O K ’s V O Y A G E.
of the ifland of Ouruft, where the fhip was to be repaired, to
receive her there; and fent by one of the (hips that failed 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 re-
fitting the ihip, rendered it necefiary for me to take up money
in this place, which I imagined might be done without difficul-
ty, but I found myfelf miftaken ; for after the mofl diligent
enquiry, I could not find any private perfon that had ability
and inclination to advance the fum that I wanted. In this
difficulty I applied to the Governor himfelf, by a written rcqueft,
in confequence of which, the Shebander had orders to fupply
me with what money I ffiould require out of the Company’s
Treafury.
On the iSth, as foon as it was light, having by feveral acci-
dents and miftakes differed a delay of many days, I took up the
anchor, and ran down to Ouruft : a few days afterwards, we
went slong-fide of the wharf, on Cooper’s Ifland, wiiich lies-
clofe to Ouruft, in order to take out our ftores.
By this time, having been here only nine days, we began ta
feel the fatal efrefts of the climate and fituation. Tupia, after
the flow of fpirits which the novelties of the place produced
upon his firft landing, fank on a fudden, and grew every day
worfe and worfe. Tayeto was feized with an inflammation
■upon his lungs, Mr. Banks’s two fervants became very ill, and
himfelf and Dr. Sclander were attacked by fevers : in a few
days, almoft every perfon both on board and affiore was flck ;
affedled, no doubt, by the low fwampy fituation of the place,
and the numberlefs dirty canals which interfecl the town in all
diredHons. On the 26th, I fet up the tent for the reception of
the fhip’s company, of whom there was but a fmall number
able to do duty. Poor Tupia, of whofe life we now began to
defpair, and who till this time had continued alhore with Mr.
Banks, aefired to be removed to the fhip, where, he faid, he
Ihould breathe a freer air than among the numerous houfes
which obftrudted it afhore : on board the fhip, however, he
could not go, for fhe was unrigged, and preparing to be laid
down at the careening place.; but on the 28th, Mr. Banks went
with him to Cooper’s Ifland, or, as it is called here, Xuyporr
where fhe lav, and as he feemed pleafed with the fpot, a tent
was there pitched for him : at this place, both the fea breeze
and the land breeze blew diredlly over him, and he expreffed
great fatisfaftion in his fituation. Mr. Banks, whofe huma-
nity 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 fo violent as to deprive
him of his fenfes while they lafted, and leave him fo weak that
hje was fcarcely able to crawl down ftaits: at this time, Dr.
Bolander’s
The Deaths of Dr. Monkhouse, kc. 199
Sclander’s diforder alfo increafed, and Mr. Monkhoufe, the
Surgeon, was confined to his bed.
On the fifth of November, after many delays in confequence
of the Dutch fhips coming along-fide the wharfs to load pepper,
the Ihip was laid down, and the fame day, Mr. Monkhoufe,
our Surgeon, a fenfible, Ikillful man, fell the firft facrifice to
this fatal country, a lofs which was greatly aggravated by our
fituation. Dr. Solander was juft able to attend his funeral,
but Mr. Banks was confined to his bed. Our diftrefs was now
very great, and the profpeft before us difcouraging in the
higheft degree : our danger was ot fuch as we could furmount
by any efforts of our own ; courage, fkill, and diligence were
all equally ineffeftual, and death was every day making ad-
vances upon us, where we could neither relift nor fly. Malay
fervants were hired to attend the lick, but they had fo little
fenfe either of duty or humanity, that they could net be kept
within call, and the patient was frequently obliged to get out
of bed to feek them. On the 9th, we loft our poor Indian boy
Tayeto, and Tupia was fo much affefled, that it was doubted
whether he would furvive till the next day.
In the mean time, the bottom of the Ihip being examined,
was found to be in a worfe condition than we apprehended:
the falfe keel was all gone to within twenty feet of the ftern
poll; the main keel was confiderably injured in many places;
a great quantity of the lheating was torn off, and feveral 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
fix feet, fo worn, that they were not above an eight part of an
inch thick, and here the worms had made their way quite into
the timbers ; yet in this condition fine had failed many hundred
leagues, where navigation is as dangerous as in any part of
the world : how much mifery did we efcape, by being ignorant
that foconfiderable apart of the bottom of the veffel was thinner
than the foie of a fhoe, and that every life on board depended
upon fo flight and fragile a barrier between us and the un-
fathomable ocean ! It feemed, however, that we had been pre-
ferved only to perifh here ; Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander were
fo bad that the phyfidan declared they had no chance for re-
covery but by removing into the country ; a houfe was therefore
hired for them, at the diftance of about two miles from the
town, which belonged to the mailer of the hotel, who engaged
to furnifh them with proviiions, and the ufeof Haves. As they
had already experienced their want ofinfluence ove'rflaves that
had other mailers, and the unfeeling inattention of thefe fellows
to the fick, they bought each of them a Mallay woman, which
removed both the caufes of their being fo ill ferved ; the women
were their own property, and the tendernefs of the fex, even
■here, made them good aurfes. While thefe preparations were
making.
SCO CO.OJt’i VOYAGE.
making, they received an account of the death of Tupia, who
fknk at once after the lois of the boy, whont he loved with the
tendernefs of a parent.
By the 14th, the bottom of the (hip was thorougly repaired,
and very much .to my fatisfadtion : it would, indeed, be in-
juilice 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 ffiip can be laid down with more convenience, fafety,
and difpatch, nor repaired with more diligence and fkill. At
this place they heave down by two mafts, a method which we
do not now pradtife; it is, however, unqueltionably more fafe
and expeditious to heave down with two mafts than one, and
he muft have a good lhare of bigotry to old cuftoms, and an.
equal want of common fenfe, who will not allow this, after
feeing with what facility the Dutch heave down their largeft
Blips ^ this place.
Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander recovered flowly at their coun-
try-houfe, which was not only open to the fea breeze, but
fituated upon a running ftream, which greatly contributed to
the circulation of the air : but I was now taken ill myfelf ; Mr.
Sporing, and a feaman who had attended Mr. Banks, were alfo
feized with intermittents ; and indeed there was not more than
ten of the whole Blip’s company that were able to do duty.
We proceeded however in rigging the fhip, and getting
water and ftores aboard : the water we were obliged to procure
from Batavia, at the rate of fix Ihillings and eight pence a
leager, or one hundred and fifty gallons.
About the 26th, the wefterly monfoon fet in, which gene-
rally blows here in the night from the S. W. and in the day
from the N. W. or N. For fome nights before this, we had
very heavy rain, with much thunder; and in the night between
the 25th and 26th, fuch rain as we had feldom feen, for near
four hours without intermiffion. Mr. Banks’s houfe admitted
the water in every part like a fieve, and it ran through the
lower rooms in a ftream that would have turned a mill : he was
by this time fufficiently recovered to go out, and upon his enter-
ing Batavia the next morning, he was much furprifed to fee
the bedding every where hung out to dry.
The wet feafon was now fet in, though we had fome inter-
vals of fair weather. The frogs in the ditches, which croak
ten times louder than any frogs in Europe, gave notice of rain
by an incefiant noife that was almoft intolerable, and the gnats
and mufquitos, which had been very troublefome even during
the dry weather, were -mow become innumerable, fvvarming
from every plafh of water like bees from a hive ; they did not,
however, much incommode us in the day, and the ftings,
however troublefome at firft, never continued to itch above half
an hour, fo that none of us felt in the day, the dfetts of the
wounds they had received in the night, Oa
A Dispute with the Governor of Batavia. 201
On the 8th of December, the fhip being perfedly refitted,
and having taken in molt of her water and ftores, and received
her Tick on board, we ran up to Batavia Road, and anchored
in four fathom and an half water
From this time, to the 24th, we were employed in getting
on board the remainder of our water and provifions, with i'ome
new pumps, and in feveral other operations that were neceflary
to fit the fhip for the fea, all which would have been effected
much fooner, if ficknefs and death had not difabled or carried
off a great number of our men.
While we lay here, the Earl of Elgin, Captain Cook, a
fhip belonging to the Englilh Eaft India Company, came to
an anchor in the Road. She was bound from Madrafs to China,
but having loft her paffage, put in here to wait for the next
feafon. The Phcenix, Captain Black, an Englilh country
fhip, from Bencoolen, alfo came to an anchor at this place.
In the afternoon of Chriftmas eve, the 24th, I took leave of
the Governor, and feveral of the principal gentlemen of the
place, with whom I had formed connedions, and from whom
I received every poffible civility and afiiftance ; but in the mean
time an accident happened, which might have produced dis-
agreeable confequences. A feaman had run away from one of
the Dutch (hips in the Road, and entered on board of mine:
the Captain had applied to the Governor^ to reclaim him as a
fubjed of Holland, and an order for that purpofe was procured :
this order was brought to me foon after I returned from my laft
vifit, and I laid, that if the man appeared to i_e a Dutchman,
he should certainly be delivered up. Mr. Hicks commanded
on board, and I gave the Dutch officer an order to him, to de-
liver the man up under that condition; I Dept myfelf this night
on Ihore, and in the morning, the Captain of the Dutch Com-
modore came and told me that he had carried my order on
board, but that the officer had refufed to deliver up the man,
alleging, not only that he was not a Dutchman, but that he
was a fubjed of Great Britain, born in Ireland; I replied, that
the officer had perfedly executed my orders, and that if the'
man was an Englilh fubjed, it could not be expeded that I
fhould deliver him up. The Captain then faid, that he was
juft come from the Governor, to demand the man of me in hi$,
name, as a fubjed of Denmark, alleging, that he flood in
the Ihip’s books as born at Eifineur. The claim of this man
as a fubjed of Holland, being now given up, I obferved to the
Captain, that there appeared to be fome miftake in the Gene-
ral’s melfage, for that he would certainly never demand a
Daniffi feaman from me, who had committed no other crime
than preferring the fervice of the Englifh to that of the Dutch.
I added, however, to convince him of my fincere defire to
avoid difputes, that if the man was a' Dane he Ihould be de-
livered
202 COOK’s voyage.
live red up as a courtefy, though he could not be demanded ar
a right; but that if I found he was an Englilh fubjeft, I would
keep him at all events. Upon thefe terms we parted, and foon
after I received a letter from Mr. Hicks, containing indutiabler
proof that the feaman in queftion was afubjed of his Britannic
Majefty. This letter I immediately carried to the Shebander,
with a requeft that it might be fhewn to the Governor, and
that his Excellency might at the fame time be told, I would
not upon any terms part with the man. This had the defsred'
effedt, and I heard no more of the affair.
In the evening, I went on board, accompanied by Mr.
Banks, and the reft of the gentlemen who had conltantly re-
fided on Ihore, and who, though better, were not yet per-
fectly recovered.
At fix in the morning, of the 26th, we weighed and fet fail,
with a light breeze at S. W. The Elgin Indiaman faluted us
with three cheers and thirteen guns, and the garrifon with
fourteen, both which, with the help of ourfwivels, we returned,
and foon after the fea breeze fet in at N. by W. which obliged
us to anchor juft without the fhips in the Road.
At this time, the number of fick on board amounted to forty,
and the reft of the Ihip’s company were in a very feeble con-
dition. Every individual had been lick except the fail-maker,
an old man between feventy and eighty years of age, and it is
very reparkable that this old man, during our ftay at this place,
was cdnftantly drunk every day: we had burned feven, the
furgeon, three feamen, Mr. Green’s fervant, Tupia, andTayeto
his boy. All but Tupia fell a facrifice to the unwholefome,
ftagnant, putrid air of the country, and he who from his birth
had been ufed to fubfift chiefly upon vegetable food, particu-
larly ripe fruit, loon contracted all the diforders that are inci-
dene to a fea life, and would probably have funk under them
before we could have completed onr voyage, if we had not
been obliged to go to Batavia to refit.
CHAP. XIII.
Same Account of Batavia, and the adjacent Country ; with the:'
Fruits, Flowers, and other Production's.
BATAVIA, the capital of the Dutch dominions in India,
and generally fuppofed to have no equal among all the
pofleflions of the Europeans in Afia, is fituated on the north
fide of the iflanH of Java, in a low fenny plain, where feveral
fmall rivers, which take their rife in the mountains called
Blaeuwen Berg, about forty miles up the country, empty them-
felvcs
Batavia am usiwhoiesome City and t«2 Cause. 205
felves into the fea, and where the coaft forms a large bay, called
the Bay of Batavia, at the difiance of about eight leagues from
the ftreight of Sunda. It lies in latitude 6° 10' S. and longi-
tude 1060 50' E. from the meridian of Greenwich, as appears
from aftronornical obfervations made upon the fpot, by the
Reverend Mr. Mohr, who has built an elegant obfervatory,
which is as well furnifhed with inftruments as moil in Europe.
The Dutch feem to have pitched upon this fpot for the con-
venience of water-carriage, and in that it is indeed a fecond
Holland, and fuperior to every other place in the world. There
are very few ftreets that have not a canal of confiderable breadth
running through them, or rather ftagnating in them, and con-
tinued for feveral miles in almoft every diredlion beyond the
town, which is alfo interfefled by five or fix rivers, fome of
which are navigable thirty or forty miles up the country. As
the houfes are large, and the ftreets wide, it takes up a much
greater extent, in proportion to the number of houfes it con-
tains, than any city in Europe. Valentyn, who wrote an
account of it about the year 1726, fays, that in his time there
were, within the walls, 1 242 Dutch houfes, and izooChinefe,
and without the walls 1066 Dutch and 1240 C'hinefe,
befides 12 arrack houfes, making in all 4760 : but this account
appeared to us to be greatly exaggerated, efpecially with re-
fpett to the number of houfes within the walls.
The ftreets ate fpacious and handfome, and the banks of the
canals are planted with rows of trees, that make a very pleafing
appearance; but the trees concur with the canals to make the
iituation unwholefome. The ftagnant canals in the dry feafon
exhale an intolerable ftencb, and the trees impede thecourfe of
the air. by which in fome degree the putrid effluvia would be
diffipated. In the wet feafon the inconvenience is equal, for
then thefe refervoirs of corrupted water overflow their banks in
the lower part of the town, efpecially in the neighbourhood
of the hotel, and fill the lower fi cries of the houfes, where they
leave behind them an inconceivable quantity of flime and filth:
yet thefe canals are fometimes cleaned ; but the cleaning them
is fo managed as to become as great a nuifance as the foulnefs
of the water ; for the black mud that is taken from the bottom
is fuftered to lie upon the banks, that is, in the middle of the
ftreet, till it has acquired a fufficient degree of hardnefs to be
made the lading of a boat, and carried away. As this mud
confifts chiefly of human ordure, which is regularly thrown
into the canals evey morning, there not being a neceftary-houfe
in the whole town, it poifons the air while it is drying to 2
confiderable extent. Even the running ftreams become nuifancee
in their turn, by the naftinefs or negligence of the people; for
every now and then a dead hog, or a dead horfe, is ftranded
upon the fhallow parts, ar.d it being the bufmefs of no parti-
cul*
.204 COOK’s V 0 Y a G E.
cular perfon to remove the nuifance, it is negligently left
time and accident. While we were here, a dead buffalo lay
upon the lhoal of a river that ran through one of the principal
ffreets above a week, and at laft was carried away by a flood.
The houfes are in general well adapted to the climate; they
confift of one very large room or hall on thegrotind floor, with
a door at each end, both which generally Hand open : at one
end a room is taken off by a partition, where the mafter of the
houfe tranfadts his bufinefs ; and in the middle between each
end there is a court, which gives light to the hall, and at the
fame time increafes the draught of air. From one corner of
the hall the flairs go up to the floor above, where alfo the rooms
are fpacious and airy. In the alcove, which is formed by the
court, the family dine; and at other times it is occupied by the
female flaves, who are not allowed to fit down any where elfe.
The public buildings are, moft of them, old, heavy, and
ungraceful; but the new church is not inelegant ; it is built
with a dome, that is feen from a great diftance at fea, and
though the outfide has rather a heavy appearance, the infide
forms a very fine room: it is furnilhed with an organ of a
proper flze, being very large, and is moft magnificently illu-
minated by chandeliers.
The town is inclofed by a ftone wall, of a moderate height;
but the whole of it is old, and many parts are much out of re-
pair. This wall itfelf is furrounded by a river, which in fome
places is fifty, and in fome a hundred yards wide: the flream
is rapid, but the water is (hallow. The wall is alfo lined within
by a canal, which indifferent parts is of different breadths;
fo that, in palling either out or in through the gates, it is
neceffary to crofs two draw-bridges; and there is no accefs for
idle people or ftrangers to walk upon the ramparts, which feem
to be but ill provided with guns.
In the north eaft corner of tlffe town Hands the caftle or cita-
del, the walls of which are both higher and thicker than thofe ■>
of the town, efpecially near the landing-place, where there is
depth of water only for boats, which it completely commands,
with feveral large guns that make a very good appearance.
Within this caftle are apartments for the Governor General,
and all the Council of India, to which they are enjoined to re-
pair in cafe of a fiege. Here are alfo large ftorehoufes, where
great quantities of the Company’s goods are kept, efpecially
thofe that are brought from Europe, and where almoft all their
writers tranfaft their bufinefs. In this place alfo are laid up
a great number of cannon, whether to mount upon the walls
or furnifti (hipping, we could not learn ; and the Company is
faid to be well fupplied with powder, which is difperfed in
various magazines, that if fome fhoull be deftroyed by light-
ning, which in this place is very frequent, the reft may efcape.
. Befides
Fortifications of Batavia. 2P%
Befides the fortifications of the town, numerous forts are
difperfed about the country to the difrance of twenty or thirty
miles ; thefe feem to have been intended merely to keep the
natives in awe, and indeed they are fit for nothing elfe. For
the fame purpofe a kind of houfes, each of which mounts about
eight guns, are placed in fuch fituations as command the na-
vigation of three or four canals, and confequently the roads
upon their banks : fome of thefe are in the town itfelf, and it
was from one of thefe that all the belt houfes belonging to
the Chinefe were levelled with the ground, in the Chinefe
rebellion of 1740, Thefe defences are fcattered over all parts
of Java, and the other illands of which the Dutch have got
pofieffion in thefe feas. Of one of thefe lingular forts, or for-
tified houfes, we Ihould have procured a drawing, if our Gent-
lemen had not been confined by licknefs, almoft all the time
they were upon theilland.
If the Dutch fortifications here are not formidable in them-
felves, they become fo by their fituation ; for they ate
among moraftes where the roads, which are nothing more than
a bank thrown up between a canal and a ditch, may eafily be
deltroyed, and confequently the approach of heavy artillery
either totally prevented or greatly retarded : for it would be
exceedingly difficult, if not impoffible to tranfport them in
boats, as they all mufter every night under the guns of the
cattle, a fituation from which it would be impoffible for an
enemy to take them. Befides, in this country, delay is death;
fo that whatever retards an enemy, will deilroy him. In lefs
than a week we were fenfible of the unheal thinpfs of the cli-
mate ; and in lofs than a month half the flip’s company were
unable to do their duty. We were told, that of a hurdred
foldiers who arrive here from Europe, it was a rare thing for
fifty to furvive the firlt year ; that of thole fifty, half would
then be in the hofpital, and not ten of the reft in perfect
health : pollibly this account may be exaggerated ; but the
pale and feeble wretches whom we faw crawling about with a
mufquet, which they were fcarcely able to carry, inclined us
to believe that it was true. Every white inhabitant of the
town indeed is a foldier ; the younger are conftantly muftered,
and thole who have ferved five years are liable to be called out,
when their affi fence is thought necelfary ; but as neither of
them are ever exercifed, or do any kind of duty, much cannot
be expected from them. The Portuguefe, indeed, are in ge-
neral good markfinen, becaufe they employ themfelves much
in {hooting wild hogs and deer : neither the Mardykers, nor
the Chinefe know the ufe of fire-arms ; but as they are faid to
be brave they might do much execution with their own wea-
pons, fwords, lances, and daggers. The Mardykers are In-
dians of all nations, who are deicended from free anceitors, or
have themfelves been made free.
Vol. II. S But
S
2o5 C O O K’s V O Y A G E.
But if it is difficult to attack Batavia by land, it is utterly
impoffible to attack it by fea : for the water is fo fhallow, that
it will fcarcely admit a long boat to come within cannon fhot
of the walls, except in a narrow channel, called the river,
that is walled on both fides by ftrong piers, and runs about
half a mile into the harbour. At the other end, it terminates
under the fire of the flrongefl part of the caftle ; and here its
communication with the canals that interfeft the town is cut
off by a large wooden boom, which is fhut every night at lix
o’clo k, and upon no pretence opened till the next morning.
The harbour of Batavia is accounted the finef in India, and to
all appearance with good reafon ; it is large enough to con-
tain any number of mips, and the ground is fo good that one
anchor will hold till the cable decays : it never admits any fea
that is troublefome, and its only inconvenience is the fhoal
water between the road and the river. When the tea breeze
blows frelh, it makes a cockling fea that is dangerous to beats :
our long boat once flruck tv/o or three times, as fhe was at-
tempting to come out, and regained the river’s mouth with
fome difficulty. A Dutch boat, laden with fails and rigging
for-one of thelndiamen, w'as entirely loft.
Round the harbour, on the outfide lie many iflands, which
the Dutch have taken poffeffion of, and apply to different ufes.
To one of them, called Edam, they transport all Europeans
who have been guilty of crimes that are not worthy of death :
fome are fentenced to remain there ninety-nine years, fome
forty, fame twenty, fome lefs, down to five, in proportion to
their offence ; and during their banifhment, they are employ-
ed as flaves in making ropes, and other drudgery. In another
ifland, called Purmerent, they have an hofpital, where people
are faid to recover much fafler than at Batavia. In a third,
called Kuyper, they have warehoufes belonging to the Com-
pany, chiefly for rice, and other merchandize of fmall value ;
and here the foreign fhips, that are to be laid down at Ourufl,
another of thefe iflands, which with Kuyper has been men-
tioned before, difeharge their cargoes at wharfs which are ve-
ry convenient for the purpofe. Here the guns, fails, and other
ftores of the Falmouth, a man of war, which was condemned
at this place, when fhe was returning from Manilla, were de-
pofited, and the fliip herfelf remained into the harbour with
the only warrant officers on board for many years. Remit-
tances were regularly made them from home ; but no notice
was ever taken of the many memorials they fent, defiring to
be recalled. Happily for them, the Dutch thought fit, about
fix months before our arrival, to fell the veffel and all her
fores, by public auftion, and fend the officers home in their
own fhips. At Ourufl, they repair all their own flipping,
puad keep a large quantity of naval fores.
The Inhabitants familiar with Disease, &c. zoy
The country round Batavia is for fome miles a continued
range of country houfes and gardens. Many of the gardens
are very large, and, by fome ilrange fatality, all are planted
with trees almolt as thick as they can Band ; fo that the coun-
try 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. Thefe impenetrable forefls Hand
in a dead flat, which extends fome miles beyond them, and
is interfecled in many directions by rivers, and more flill by
canals, which are navigable for fmall veffels. Nor is this the
word, for the fence of every field and garden is a ditch ; and
interfperied among the cultivated ground there are many fil-
thy fens, bogs and moraffes, as well frefh as fait.
It is not drange that the inhabitants of fuch a country
fhould be familiar with difeafe and death : preventive medi-
cines are taken almofl as regularly as food ; and every body
expeCts the returns of ficknefs, as we do the feafons of the
year. We did not fee a fingle face in Batavia that indicated
perfect health, for there is not the lead tint of colour in the
cheeks either of men or woman : the women indeed are mcft
delicately fair ; but with the appearance of difeafe there never
can be perfect beauty. People talk of death with as much in-
difference as they do in a camp ; and when an acquaintance i3
laid to be dead, the common reply is, “ Well, he owed me
“ nothing ; or, “ I mull yet my money ofhis executors.”
To this dei’eription of the environs of Batavia there are but
two exceptions. The Governor’s country houfe is fituated
upon a riling ground ; but its afeent is fo inconfiderable, 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 fome trouble and expence, contrived to inclofe his own
garden with a ditch ; fuch is the influence of habit both upon
the take and the underftanding. A famous market alfo, cal-
led Paffar Tanabank, is held upon an eminence that rifes per-
peniicuLtrly.about thirty feet above the plain ; and except
thefe fituations, the ground, for an extent of between thirty
and forty miles round Batavia, is exaCtly parallel to the hori-
zon. At the diilance of about forty miles inland there are hills
of a confiderable height, where, as we were informed, the air
is healthy, and comparatively cool. Here the vegetables of
Europe flourifh in great perfection, particularly ftrawberries,
which can but ill bear heat ; and the inhabitants are vigo-
rous and ruddy. Upon thefe hills fome of the principal people
have country houles, which they vilit once a year ; and one
was begun for the Governor, upon the plan of Blenheim, the
famous feat of the Duke of Marlborough, in Oxfordfhire, but
it has never been finiihed, To thefe hills alfo people are fent
208 COOK’S VOYAGE,
by the phyficians, for the recovery of their health, and the
effedts of the air are faid to be almoft miraculous : the patient
groves well in a fnort time, but conftantly relapfes foon after
his return to Batavia.
But the fame fuuation and circumftances which render Ba-
tavia and the country round it unwholefome, render it the belt
gardener’s ground in the world. The foil is fruitful beyond
imagination, and the conveniencies and luxuries of life that
at produces are almoft without number.
Rice, which is well known to be the corn of thefe coun-
tries, and to ferve the inhabitants inftead of bread, grows in
great plenty : and I muft here obferve, that in the hilly parts
of Java, and in many of the eaftem illands, a fpecies of this
grain is planted, which in the weftern parts o India is intire-
ly unknown. It is called by the natives Paddy Gununc,
or Mountain rice ; this, contrary to the other fort which muft
be under water three parts in four of the time of its growth, is
planted upon the lides of hills, where no water but rain can
come : it is however planted at the beginning of the rainy fea-
fon, and reaped in the beginning of ihe dry. How far this
kind of rice might beufeful in our Weft Indian illands, where
no bread corn is grown, it may perhaps be worth while to en-
quire.
Indian corn, or maize, is alfo produced here, which the
inhabitants gather when young, and toaft in the ear. Here
is aifo a great variety of kidney beans, and lentiles, which
they call Cadjang, and which make a confiderable part of
the food of the common people ; befldes millet, yams both
wet and dry, fweet potatoes, and European potatoes, which
are very good, but not cultivated in great plenty. In the
gardens, there are cabbages, lettuces, cucumbers, rhadifhes,
the white rhadillies of China, which boil almoft as well as a
turnep ; carrots, parlley, celery, pigeon peas, the egg plant,
which broiled, and eaten with pepper and fait, is very deli-
cious; a kind of greens refemblmg fpinage ; onions, very
fmall, but excellent ; and afparagus : befldes fome European
plants of a ftrong fmell, particularly fage, hyfop, and rue.
SUo-ar is alfo produced here in immenfe quantities : very gieat
crops of the fineft and largeft canes that can be imagined are
produced with very little care, and yield a much larger pro-
portion of fugar than the canes of the Weft Indies. Vv hi te
iugar is fold here at two pence half-penny a pound ; and the
molafles makes the arrack, of which, as or rum, it is the chiei
ingredient; a fmall quantity of rice, and fome cocoa-nut
wine being added, chiefly, I fuppofe, to give it flavour. A
fmall quantity of indigo is alfo produced here, not as an ar-
ticle of trade, but merely for home coniumption.
But the moll; abundant article of vegetable luxury here, is
The Fruits ©f Batavia. 209
the fruit ; of which there is no lefs than fix and thirty diffe-
rent kinds, and I lhali give a very brief account of each.
1. The pine apple; Bromelia Ananas, This fruit, vdiich
is here called Nanas, grows very large, and in fuch plenty
that they may fometimes be bought at the Aril hand for a far-
thing a piece ; and at the common fruit (hops we got three of
them for two pence half-penny. They are very juicy and
well flavoured ; but we all agreed we had eaten as good
from a hot-houfe in England : they are however fo luxuriant
in their growth that moll of them have two or three crowns,
and a great number of fuckers from the bottom of the fruit ;
of thele Mr. Banks once counted nine, and they are fo for-
ward that very often while they flill adhered to the parent
plant they fhot out their fruit, which, by the time the large
one became ripe, were of no inconflderable fize. We feve-
ral times faw three upon one apple, and were told that a plant
once produced a duller of nine, befldes the principal : this
indeed was confldered as fo great a curioflty, that it was pre-
ferved in fugar, and fent to the Prince of Orange.
2. Sweet Oranges. Thefe are very good, but while we
were "here fold for fix pence a piece.
3. Pumplemoefes, which in the Weft Indies are called
Shaddocks. Thefe were well flavoured, but not juicy! their
want of juice however was an accidental effefl of the feafon.
4. Lemons. Thefe were very fcarce ; but the want of
them was amply compenfated by the plenty of limes.
5. Limes. Thefe were excellent, and to be bought at about
twelve pence a hundred. We faw only two or three Seville
crangesj which were almoft ail rind ; and there are many forts
both of oranges and lemons, which I fnall not particularly
mention, because they are neither efteemed by Europeans,
nor the natives themfelves.
6. Mangos. This fruit during our flay was fo infefted with
maggots, which bred in the infide of them, that fcarcely
one in three was eatable ; and the beft of them were much in-
ferior to thofe of Brazil ; they are generally compared by Eu-
ropeans to a melting peach, which, indeed, they referable
in foftnefs and fweetnefs, but certainly fall much fhort in
flavour. The climate here, we were told, is too hot and damp
for them ; but there are as many forts of them as there are of
apples in England, and fome are much fuperior to ctuers.
One fort which is called Mangha Covmni, has fo ftrong a fmell
that a European can fcarcely bear one in the room ; thefe, ’
however, the natives are fond of. The three forts which are
generally preferred, are the Mangha Doodool, the Mangha San-
i;ck, and th c Mangha Gure.
7. Bananes. Of thefe alfo there are innumerable forts,
but three are only good ; thd Pijfang Has, the Piffdng Radja,
S 2 and
210 COOK's VOYAGE,
and the Pijfang Amhou : all thefe have a pleafant vinous tafte,
and the relt are ufeful in different ways j fome are fried in
batl^r, and others are boiled and eaten as bread. There is
one which deferves the particular notice of the botanift, be-
caufe contrary to the nature of its tribe, it is full of feeds, and
is therefore called Pijfang Batu, or Pijfang Bidjie ; it has how-
ever no excellence to recommend it to the tafte, but the Ma-
lays-ufe it as a remedy for the flux.
8. Grapes. Thefe are not in great perfedlion, but they are
very dear ; for we could not buy a moderate hunch for lcfs
than a Ihilling or eighteen pence.
9. Tamarinds. Thefe are in great plenty, and very cheap :
The people however do not put them up in the manner prac-
tifed by the Weft-Indians,. but cure them with fait, by which
means they become a black mafs, fo difagreeable to the fight
and tafte, that few Europeans chufe to meddle with them.
10. Watermelons. Thefe are in great plenty, and very
good.
1 1. Pumpkins. Thefe are beyond comparifon the moft ufe-
ful fruit that can be carried to fea ; for they will keep without
any care feveral months, and with fugar and lemon juice, make
a pye that can fcarcely be diftinguilhed from one made of the
beft apples ; and with pepper and fait, they are a fubftitute
for turneps not to be defpifed.
12. Papaws. This fruit when it is ripe is full of feeds, and
almoft without flavour ; but if when it is green it is pared, and
the core taken out, it is better than the beft turnep.
13. Guava. This fruit is much commended by the inha-
bitants of our iflands in the Weft Indies, who probably have a
better fort than we met with here, where the fmell of them
was fo difagreeably ftrong that it made fome of us fick ; thole
who tailed them, faid, that the flavour was equally rank.
14. Sweet fop. Th Q Annona fquammofa of Linaeus. This
is alfo a Weft Indian fruit ; it connfts only of a mafs of large
kernels, from which a fmall proportion of pulp may be
fucked, which is very fweet, but has little flavour.
15. Cuftard apple. The Annona reticulata ofLinasus. The
quality of this fruit is well expreffed by its Englilh name,
which it acquired in the Weft Indies ; for it is as like a cuf-
- tard, and a good one too, as can be imagined.
i5. The calhew apple. This is feldom eaten on account
©fits aftringency. The nut that grows upon the top of it is
well known in Europe.
17. The cocoa-nut. This is alfo well known in Europe :
there are feveral forts, but the beft of thofe we found here is
called Calappi Edjou, and is eafily known by the rednefs of
the flelh between the Ikin and the Ihell.
18. Mangoftan. The GarcinidMangoJlana of Linteus. This
fruit
211
The Fruits of Batavia continued,
fruit, which is peculiar to the Eaft-Indies, is about the fize of
the crab apple, and of a deep red wine-colour : on the top of
it is the figure of five or fix fmall triangles joined in a^circle,
and at the bottom fever a 1 hollow green leaves, which are re-
mains of the blofibm. When they are to be eaten, the fkin,
or rather flefh, mull be taken off; under which are found fix
or feven white kernels, placed in a circular order, and the
pulp with which thefe are inveloped, is the fruit, than which
nothing can be more delicious : it is a happy mixture of the
tart and the fweet, whi :h is no lefs wholefome than pleafant ;
and with the fweet orange, this fruit is allowed in any quanti-
ty to thofe who are afflicted with fevers, either of the putrid or
inflammatory kind.
19. Thejamboo. The Eugenia Mallaccenjis of Linnaeus.
This fruit is of a deep red colour, and an oval fhape ; the
largeft, which are always the bed, are not bigger than a fmall
apple • they are pleafant and coding, though they have not
much flavour.
20. The jambu-eyer. A fpecies of the Eugenia of Linnaeus.
Of this fruit there are two forts of a iimilar ihape, refembling
a bell, but differing in colour ; one being red, the other
white. They fomewhat exceed a large cherry in fize, and in
tafle have neither flavour nor even fweetnefs, containing no-
thing but a vvatry juice, llightly acidulated; yet their cool-
nefs recommends them in this hot country.
21. Jambu-eyer mauwar. The Eugenia jamhos of Linnaeus.
This is more grateful to the frnell than the tafle ; in tafle it re-
fembles the conferve of rofes, and in fmell the frelh fcent of
thofe flowers.
22. The pomgranate. This is the fame fruit that is known
by the fame name all over Europe.
23. Durion. A fruit that in fhape refembles a fmall melon,
but the fkin is covered with lharp conical fpines, whence its
name; for dure, in the Malay language, fignifies prickle.
When it is ripe, it divides longitudinally into feven or eight
compartments, each of which contains fix or feven nuts,
not quite fo large as chefnuts, which are covered with a fub-
ftance that in colour and confidence very much refembles thick
cream : this, is the part that is eaten, and the natives are fond
of it to excefs. To Europeans it is generally difagreeable at
firft ; for in tafle, it fomewhat refembles a mixture of cream,
fugar, and onions ; and in the fmell the onions predominate.
24. Nanca. This fruit, which in fome parts of India is
called jack, has, like the Durion, a fmell very difagreeable
to flrangers, and fomewhat refembling that of mellow apples
mixed with garlic : the flavour is not more adapted to the ge-
neral tafle. In fome countries that are favourable to it, it is
faid to -gro w to amimmcnfe fize. Rumphius relates, that it
I
eiz C O O K’s V O Y A G E.
is fometimes fo large that a man cannot eafily lift it; and we
were ^©ld by a Malay, that at Madura it is fometimes fo
large as not to be carried but by the united efforts of two men.
At Batavia, however, they never exceed the fize of a large
melon, which in fhape they very much refemble : they are
covered with angular prickles, like the fhootings of fome chryf-
tals, which however are not hard enough to wound thofe who
handle them.
25. Cnampada. This differs from the Nanca in little ex-
cept fize, it not being fo big.
26. Rambutan. This is a fruit little known to Europeans ;
in appearance it very much refembles a chefnut with the hulk
on, and like that, is covered with fmall points, which are
foft and of a deep red colour : under this fkin is the fruit, and
within the fruit a Hone ; the eatable part therefore is fmall in
quantity, but its acid is perhaps more agreeable than any other
in the whole vegetable kingdom.
27. Jambolan. This in fize and appearance is not unlike a
damafcene ; but in tafte is fiill more aftringent, and therefore
lefs agreeable.
28. The Boa Bidarra ; or Rhamnus Jujuba of Linnaeus.
This is a round yellow fruit, about the fize of a goofeberry ;
its flavour is like that of an apple, but it has the aftringency
of a crab.
29. Nam nam. The Cyr.otnetra Caulificra of Linnaeus.
This fruit in fhape fomevvhat refembles a kidney ; it is about
three inches long, and the outiide is very rough : it is feldom
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 Linaeus ; are both nuts, with
kernels fomewhat refembiing an almond ; but the di.ficulty of
breaking the fhell is fo great, that they are no where publicly
fold. Thofe which we tailed were gathered for curiofity by
Mr. Banks, from the tree upon which they grew.
32. TheMadja; 01 Limoni a of Linnaeus ; contains, under
a hard brittle fhell, a lightly acid pulp, which cannot be eaten
without fugar ; and with it, is not generally thought pleafant.
33. Suntul. The Trichilia of Linnreus. This is the word
of all the fruits that I fhall particularly mention : in fize and
fhape it refembles the Madja ; and within a thick ficin con-
tains kernels like thofe of the Mangoftan, the tafte of which
is both acid and aftringent, and fo difagreeable that we were
furprifed to fee it expoled upon the fruit-ftalh.
34. 33, 36. The Blimbing, or Averrboa Belimli ; the
Blimbing Beffe, or A-vcrrhoa Carambcla ; and the Cherrema,
or Averhoa acida of Linnceus, are three fpecies of one genus ;
and though they differ in fhape, are nearly of the fame tafte.
The Blimbing Beffe is the fweeteft ; the other two are fo auf-
tcrely
Accounts of the Fruit Fairs. 213
terely acid, that they cannot be ufed \vith®ut dreffmg ; they
make however excellent pickles and four fauce.
37. The Salack ; or Calamus Rotang Zalacca of Lianasus.
This is the fruit of a prickly bufh ; it is about as big as a wal-
nut, and covered with fcales, lik® thofe of a lizard : below
the fcales are two or three yellow kernels, in flavour fcmevvhat
refembling a firawberry.
Beiides thefe, the ifland of Java, and particularly the coun-
try round Batavia, produces many kinds of fruit which were
not in feafon during our flay; we were alfo told that apples,
ftrawberries, and many other fruits from Europe, had been
planted up in the mountains, and flourilhed there in great lu-
xuriance. We faw feveral fruits preferved in fugar, that we
did not fee recent from the tree, one of which is called Kim-
hit, and another Boa Atap : and here are feveral others which are
eaten only by the natives, particularly the Kellor , the Guilin-
dina, the Moringa, and the Soccum. The Scccum is of the
fame kind with the bread-fruit in the South Sea iflands, fyit
fo much inferior, that if it had not been for the flmiiitude in
the outward appearance both of the fruit and the tree, we
fnould not have referred it to that clafs. Thefe and fome
Others do not merit to be particularly mentioned.
The quantity of fruit that is confumed at Batavia is incre-
dible ; but that which is publicly expofed to fale is generally
over-ripe. A flranger however may get good fruit in a ftreet
called PaiTar PiTang, which lies north from the great church,
and very near it. This flreet is inhabited by none but Chi-
nefe fruit- fellers, who are fupplied from the gardens of gentle-
men in the neighbourhood of the town, with fuch as is fieih,
and excellent in its kind, for which however they mull be
paid more than four times the market price.
The town in general is fupplied from a conflderable dis-
tance, where great quantities of land are cultivated merely for
the production of fruit. The country people, to whom thefe
lands belong, meet the people of the town at two great mar-
kets ; one on Ivfbnday, called Pailar Sineen ; and the other
on Saturday, called Paffar Tanabank. Thefe fairs are held at
places conliderably dillant from each other, for the convenience
of different ditlrifts ; neither of them' however are more than
five miles diftant from Batavia. At thefe fairs, the bell fruit
may be bought at the cheapen rate; and the fight of them to
a European is very entertaining. The quantity of fruit is
aftonilhing ; forty or fifty cart loads of the finefc pine apples,
packed as carelekly as turneps in England, are common, and
other fruit in the fame profufion. The days however on
which thefe markers are held are ill contrived ; the time be-
tween Saturday and Monday is too Ihort, and that between
Monday and Saturday too long : great part of what is bought
214 COOK’S VOYAGE,
on Monday is always much the worfe for keeping before a
new flock can be bought, either by the retailer or confumer ;
fo tha* for feveral days in every week there is no good fruit in
the hands of any people but the Chinefe in Paffar Piffang.
The inhabitants of this part of India praftife a luxury which
feems to be but little attended to in other countries ; they are
continually burning aromatic woods and refins, and fcatter
odours round them in a profufion of flowers, poflibly as an
antidote to the noifome effluvia of their ditches and canals.
Offweet fmelling flowers they have a great variety, altogether
unknown in Europe, the chief of which I fiiall briefly describe.
I. The Champaka or Micbelia Ghampacca. This grows
upon a tree as large as an apple tree, and ccnfiils of fifteen long
narrow petala, which give it the appearance of being double,
though in reality it is not fo : its colour is yellow, and much
deeper than that of a jonquil, to which it has lome refem-
blance in fmell.
g. The Cananga or U-varia Cananga, is a green flower, not
at all resembling thebloffom of any tree or plant in Europe :
It has indeed more the appearance of a bunch of leaves than a
flower ; its fcent is agreeable, but altogether peculiar to itfelf.
3. The Mulatti , or Nyclantbes Sambac. This is well known
in English hot-houfes by the name of Arabian jefTamine : it
grows here in the greatefl profuficn, and its fragrance, like
that of all other Indian flowers, though exquifitely pleafing,
has not that over, powering flrength which diftinguifhes fome
of the fame forts in Europe.
4, 5. The Comb an g CaraaiaJJi, and Co?nlang Tonquin, Per-
cularia Glubro. Theie are fmall flowers, of the dog’s-bane
kind, very much refembling each other in fhape and fmell,
h'ghly fragrant, but very different from every produdl of an
Englifn garden.
6. The Bonga ' Tanjong , cr Mimcufops Elengi of Linnaeus.
This flower is fhaped like a flar of feven or eight rays, and is
about half an inch in diameter ; it is of a yellowifh colour,
and has an agreeable fmell. *
Befides thefe, there is the Suntfal Malam , or Pollavthes Tu-
berefa. This flower, being the fame with our own tuberofe,
can have no place among thofe that are unknown in Europe,
but I mention it for its Malay name, which fignifies “ In-
“ triguer of the Night,” and is not inelegantly conceived.
The heat of this climate is fo great, that few flowers exhale
their fweets in the day ; and this in particular, from its total
want of feent at that time, and the modefly of its colour, which
is white, feems negligent of attracting admirers, but as focn
as night comes on, it diffufes its fragrance, and at once com-
pels the attention, and excites the complacency of all who ap-
proach it.
Thefe
Flowers and Spices op Batavia. 215
Thefe are all fold about the fireets every evening at fun-
fet, either ftrung upon a thread, in wreaths of about two feet
lone, or made up into nofegays of different forms, either of
which may be purchafed for about a halfpenny. Befides thefe,
there are in private gardens, many other fweet flowers, which
are not produced in a fuflicient quantity to be brought to mar-
ket. With a mixture of thefe flowers, and the leaves of a
plant called patidang, cut into fmail pieces, perfons of both
fexes fill their hair and their clothes, and with the fame mix-
ture indulge a much higher luxury by firewing it on their
beds, fo that the chamber in which they fleep, breathes the
richeft and purefl of all odours, unallayed by the fumes which
cannot but arife where the fleeper lies under two or three blan-
kets and a quilt, for the bed covering here is nothing more
than a Angle piece of fine chintz.
Before I clofe my account of the vegetable productions, of
this part of India, I mu ft take fome notice of the fpices. Ja-
va originally produced none but pepper. This is now fent
from hence into Europe to a great value, but the quantity con-
fumed here is very ftnall : the inhabitants ule Capjtcum, or, as
it is called in Europe, Cayan pepper, almcft univerfally in its
ftead. Cloves and nutmegs, having been monopolized by the
Dutch, are become too dear to be plentifully ufed by the other
inhabitants of this country, who are very fond of them.
Cloves, although they are faid originally to have been the
produce of Machian, or Bachian, a fmail ifland far to the
eafiwara, and only fifteen miles to the northward of the line,
and to have been from thence diffeminated by the Dutch, at
their firfl coming into thefe parts, over all the eaflern iflands,
are now confined to Amboina, and the fmail illes that lie in its
neighbourhood ; the Dutch having, by different treaties of
peace between them and the conquered kings of all the other
iflands, ftipulated, that they fhould have only a certain num-
ber of trees in their dominions, and in future quarrels, as a
punifhment for difobedience and rebellion leffened the quan-
tity, till at laft they left them no claim to any. Nutmegs
have in a manner been extirpated in all the iflands except their
firfl; native foil, Banda, which eafily fupplies every nation
upon earth, and would as eafily fupply every nation upon
earth, and would as eafily fupply every nation in another globe
of- the fame dimenfions, if there was any fuch to which the
induflrious Hollander could tranfport the commodity ; it is,
however, certain, that there are a few trees of this fpice upon
the coaft of New Guinea. There may perhaps be both cloves
and nutmegs upon the other iflands to the eafiward ; for thofe,
neither the Dutch, nor any other European, feem to think it
woith while to examine.
The principal tame quadrupeds of this county are horfes,
ca5*le>
21 6 COOK’S VOYAGE,
9
cattle, buffalos, fheep, goat's, a*d hogs. The horfes are
fmall, never exceeding in lize what we call a flout galloway,
but they are nimble and fpirited, and are reported to have been
found here when the Europeans firfl came round the Cape of
Good Hope. The horned cattle are faid to be the fame fpe-
cies as thofe in Europe, but they differ fo much in appearance,
that we were inclined to doubt it : they have indeed the pa-
learia or denvlap, which naturalifts make the diflingui firing
charafteriftic of the European fpecies, but they certainly are
found wild, not only in Java but feveral of the eaftern ifiands.
The flefli of thofe that we eat at Batavia, had a finer grain than
European beef, but it was lefs juicy, and miferably lean.
Buffaloes are plenty, but the Dutch never eat them, nor will
they drink their milk, being prepoffeffed with a notion that
both are unwholefome, and tend to produce fevers ; though
the natives and Chinefe feat both, without any injury to their
health. The fheep are of the kind which have long ears that
hang down, and hair inftead of wool : the flelh of thefe is
hard and tough, and in every refpect the worft mutton we ever
faw : we found here, however, a few Cape fheep, which are
excellent, but fo dear that we gave five and forty Hulling a
piece for four of them, the heavieft of which weighed only five
and forty pounds. The goats are not better than the fheep,
but the hogs, efpecially the Chinefe breed, are incomparable,
and fo far, that the purchafer agrees for the lean feperatelv.
The butcher, who is always a Chinefe, without the leaft
fcrunle cuts off as much of the fa. as he is defired, and after-
wards fells it to his countrymen, who melt it down, and eat
it in Head of butter with their rice : but notwithflanding the
excellence of this pork, the Dutch are fo flrongly prejudiced
in favour of everv thing that comes from their native country',
that they eat only of the Dutch breed, which are here fold as
much dearer than the Chinefe, as the Chinefe are fold dearer
than the Dutch in Europe.
Befides thefe animals, which are tame, they have dogs and
cats, and there are among the difiant mountains fome wild
horfes and cattle : buffalos are not found wild in any part of
Java, though they abound in Maccaffar, and feveral other
eaftern ifland. The neighbourhood of Batavia, however, is
plentifully fupplied with two kinds of deer, and wil’d hogs,
which are fold at a reafonable price by the Portuguefe, who
fnoot them, and are very good food.
Among the mountains, and in the defart parts of the ifland,
there are ,tygers, it is faid, in great abundance, and fome
rhinocerofes ; in thefe parts alfo there are monkies, and there
area few of them even in the neighbourhood cf Batavia.
Of fifh, here is an amazing plenty ; many forts are excel-
lent, and ail arc very cheap, except the few that are fcarce.
It
The Poultry of Batavia. zxj
It happens here, as in other places, that vanity gets the better
even of appetite : the cheap fiih, moil of which is of the belt
.kind, is the food only of Haves, and that which is dear, oniy
becaufe it is fcarce, and very much inferior in every refpecl, is
jdaced upon the tables of the rich. A fenfible houfe-keeper
.once fpoke to us freely upon the fubjefl. I know', faid he, as
well as you, that I could purchale a better dilh of filh for a
fhiiiing, than what now coils me ten ; but if I ihould make fo
good al e of my money, I ihould here be as much defpifed, as
you would be in Europe, if you were to cover) our table with
offals, fit only for beggars or dogs.
Turtle is alfo found here, but it is neither fo fweet, nor fo
fat as the Weil Indian turtle, even in London ; fuch as it is,
however, we fhculd confider it as a Sainty ; but the Dutch,
among other fingularicies, do not eat it. We faw feme li-
zards, or Inguanas, here of a very large fize ; we were told
that lome were as thick as man’s thigh, and Mr. Banks ihot
one that was five feet long : the fleih of this animal proved to
be very good food.
Poultry is very good here, and in great plenty : fowls of a
very large fize, ducks, and geele are very cheap ; pigeons are
dear, and the price of turkies extravagant. We iometimes
found the fleih of thefe animals lean and dry, but this was
merely the effect of their being ill fed, for thofe that we fed
ourfelves were as good as any of the fame kind that we had
tailed in Europe, and we fometimes thought them even better.
Wild fowl in general is fcarce. W7e once fa w a wild duck
in the fields, but never any that were to be fold. We fre-
quently faw fnipes of two kinds, one of them exactly the fame
as that in’ Europe, and a kind of thrufh was always to be had
in great plenty of the Portuguefe, who, for I know not what
reafon, feem to have monopolized the wild fowl and game.
Of fnipes it is remarkable that they are found in more parts of
the world than any other bird, being common almoil all over
Europe, Afia, Africa, and America.
With refpecl to drink, Nature lias not been quite fo liberal
to the inhabitants of Java as to feme whom fhe has placed in
the lefs fruitful regions of the north. The native Javanese,
and moll of the other Indians who inhabit this ifland, are in-
deed Mahometans, and therefore have no reafon to regret the
want of wine ; but, as if the prohibition of their law refoedl-
ed only the manner of becoming drunk, and not drunkennefs
itfelf, they chew opium, to the total fubverfion not only of
their underfianding but their health.
The arrack that is made here, is too well known to need a
deferiprion : befides which, the palm yields a v/ine of the
fame kind with that which has already been deferibed in the
account of the iiland of Savu j is is procured from the fame
Vol. II. . T tree,
,C O O K’s VOYAGE.
/tree, yi the fame manner, and is fold in three dates, The
^jirft, in which it is called Tuac inanife, differs little from that
which it comes from the tree ; yet even this fas received
dome preparation altogether unknown to us, in confequence of
which it will keep eight and forty hours, though otherwifeit
would fpoil in twelve : in this date it has an agreeable fweet-
jaefs and will not intoxicate. In the other two hates it has un-
dergone a fermentation, and received an infufion of certain
herbs and roots, by which it loofes its fweetnefs, and acquires
a talle very auftere -and difagreeable. In one of thefe ftates it
is called Tuac eras, and in the other Tuac cunning, but the fpe-
cific difference I do noiknovv ; in both, however, it intoxi-
cates very powerfully, A liquor called Tuac is alio mate
(from the cocoa-mit tree, but this is ufed chiefly to put into .the
■arrack, for in that which is good it is an effential ingredient.
CHAP. XIV.
Scene Account of the Inhabitants of Bat ami a, and the adjacent
Country, their Manners, Cti/lomS , and Manner cf Lije.
Til E town of Batavia, although, as I have already ob-
forved, it is .the capital of the- Dutch dominions in In-
dia, is fo far from being peopled .with Dutchmen, that not
one fifth part, even of the European inhabitants of the towr,
and its environs, are natives of Holland, or of Dutch extrac-
tion : the greater part are Portuguefe, and hefides Europeans,
there are Indians of various nations, and Chinefe, Sefides
a great number of negro Haves. In the troops, there are na-
tives of almoft every country in Europe, but the .Germans are
more than all the red put together ; there are fome Englilh and
^French, but the Dutch, though other Europeans are permitted
fo get.money here, ‘keep all the power' in their own hands,
>and con-fequently'poffefs all public employments. No mar,
of whatever nation, can come hither to fettle, in any othfer
character than that of a foldier in the Company’s fervice, in
.which, before they are accepted, they muff covenant to re-
main five years. As foon 'however, as this form has been
'complied with, they are allowed, upon application to the
council, to abfent themfelves from their corps, and enter im-
mediately into any branch of trade, which their money or cre-
dit will enable them to carry on and by this means it is that
all the’ white inhabitants of the place are foldiers.
W.orcen, however, of all nations, are permitted to fettle
he re, without coming under any reflriclions ; yet we were told
$GTit were not, when when we were at Batavia, twenty
. i womca
The Manufactitres hat aged by Chinese’. £l#
women in the plac^ that were born in Europe but that the1
white women, who were by no means fcarce, were defendants'
from European parents of the third and fourth generation, the
gleanings of many families who had fuccefliveiy come hither,
and in the male line become extindl ; for it is certain that,*
whatever be the caufe, this climate is not fo fatal to the ladiorf
as to the other fex.
Thefe women imitate the Indians in every particular ; their
drefs is made of the fame materials, their hair is worn in the
fame manner, and they are equally enflaved by the habit of
chewing betele.
The' merchants carry on their bufmefs here with lefs trouble
perhaps than in any other part of the world : every manufac-
ture is managed by the Chinefe, who fell the produce of their
labour to the merchant, refident here, for they are permitted
to fell it to no one eife ; fo that when a fnip comes in,- and'
befpeaks perhaps an hundred leagers of arrack, or any quan-
tity of other commodities, the merchant has nothing to do-'
but to fend orders to his C’hinefe,- to fee them delivered on'
board : he obeys the command, brings’ a receipt figrted by the
mailer of the fhip for the goods to his employer,- who receives
the money, and having deducted his profit, pays the Chinefe
his demand. With goods that are imported, however, the
merchant has a little more trouble,- for thefe he mull examine,*
receive, and lay up in his warehoufe, according to the practice^
of other countries.
The Portuguefe are called by the natives Qraiiferarie, or
Nazareen men, (Oran, being Man in the language of the
country) to diliinguilh them from other Europeans ; yet they
are included in the general appellation of Caper , or Cafir, am
opprobrious term, applied by Mahometans to all who do not
profefs their faith. Thefe people, however, are Portuguefe'
only in name ; they have renounced the religion cf Rome, and:
become Lutherans : neither have they the leaf! communication'
with the country of their forefathers, or even knowledge of it ;
they fpeak indeed a corrupt dialed! of the Portuguele language,
but much more frequently ufe the Malay : they are never fuf-
feredto employ themfelves in any but mean occupations : ma-
ny of them live by hunting, many by wafning linen, and
fome are handycraftfmen and artificers. They have adopted-
all the cuftoms of the Indians, from whom they are diliinguilh-
ed chiefly by their features and complexion, their Ikin being'
confiderably darker, and their nofes more lharp ; their drefs
is exadlly the fame, except in the manner of wearing their
hair.
The Indians, who are mixed with the Dutch and Portu-
guefe in the town of Batavia, and the country adjacent, are
aot,: as might be fuppofed, Javanefe, the original natives of
T 2 the
220
COOK’S VOYAGE.
the ifla'id, but natives of the various iHands from which the
Dutch import Haves, and are either fuch as have themfeivee
been manumized, or the defendants of thofe who formerly
received manumiilion ; and they are all comprehended under
the general name of Oranjlam , or Ijalam , Hgnifying Believers
of the true Faith. The natives of every country, however, in
other refpedts keep themfelves diftinft from the reft, and are
not lefs ftrongly inaiked than the Haves by the vices or virtues
of their refpcftive nations. Many of thefe employ themfelves
in the cultivation of gardens, and in felling fruit and Bowers.
The fcctele and areca, whi;h are here called Siri and Pinang,
and chewed by both fexes and every rank in amazing quanti-
ties, are all grown by thefe Indians : lime is alfo mixed with
thefe roots here as it is in Savu, but it is lefs pernicious to the
teeth, becaufe it is iirft flaked, and, befldes the lime, a fub-
itance called gambit, which is brought from the continent of
India; the better fort of women alio add cardamum, and many
urb.ei aromatic?, to give the breath an agreeable fmell. Some
of the Indians, however, are employed in hftiing, and as lighter-
men, to carry goods from place to place by water; and feme
are rich, and live with much of the fplendour of their country,
which chiefly ccn fills in the number of their Haves.
1 1 the a i cle of food thefe Ifalams are remarkably temper-
ate; it conisfh chiefly of boiled rice, with a finall proportion
of buffalo, £fft, or fowl, and fometimesof dried fifli,. and dried
fhrinps, which are brought hither from China; every difh,
however, is highly feafoned with Cayan pepper, and they have
m ny kinds of paftry made of rice flower, and other things to
which I am a ftranger; they eat alfo a great deal of fruit, par-
ticularly plantanes.
But notwithftanding their general temperance, their feafts are
plentiful, and, according to their manner, magnificent. As
they are Mahometans, wine and ftrong liquors prcfeftedly m eke
no part of their entertainment, neither do they often indulge
with them privately, contenting themfelves with their betele
and opium.
The principal folemnily among them is a wedding, upon
which occafion both the families borrow as many ornaments of
geld and filver as they can, to adorn the bride and bridegroom,
fo that their drefies are very fhowy and magnificent. The
feafts that are given upon thefe occasions among the rich, laft
fometimes a fortnight, and fonietimes longer ; and curing this
time, the mam, although married on the firft day, is by the
women, ke{. t from his wife.
The language that it fpoken among all thefe people, frem
what p’ace fower they originally came, is the Malay; at lead
it is a language fo called, and probablyitisavery corrupt dialed
of that fpoken at Malacca. Every little i liana indeed has a
language
221
The Practice of running a Muck.
language of its own, and Java has two or three, but this lingua-
franca is the only language that is now fpoken here, and, as I
am told, it prevails over a great part of the E all Indies. A
dictionary of Malay and Englilh was publilhed in London by
Thomas Bowrey, in the year 1701.
Their women wear as much hair as can grow upon the head,*
and to increafe the quantity, they ufe oils, and other prepa-
rations of various kinds. Of this ornament Nature has been
very liberal ; it is univerfally black, and is formed into a kind
of circular wreath upon the top of the head, where it is falle'ned
with a bodkin, in a talte which we thought inexpreiubly
elegant : the wreath of hair is furrounded by another of flowers,
in which the Arabian jelTamine is beautifully intermixed with
the golden liars of the Bong a- Tanjong.
Both fexes conllantly bathe themfelves in the river at leall
once a day, a practice which1, in this hot country, is equally
neceflary both to perfonal delicacy and health. The teeth of
thefe people alfo, whatever they may fuffer in their colour by-
chewing- betele, are an ohjefl of great attention : the ends of
them, both in the upper and under jaw, are nibbed with a
kind of whetllone, by a- very troubleforne and painful operation,
till they are perfeftly eyen and flat, fo that they cannot lofe
lefs than half a line in their length. A deep groove is then
made crofs 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 its groove is at lead equal to one-fourth of the
thicknefs of the teeth, fo that it penetrates far beyond what is
called the enamel, the leall injury to which, according to the
dentills of Europe, is fatal; yet among thefe people, where the
practice of thus wounding the enamel is univerfal, we never
faw a rotten tooth ; nor is the blacknefs a llain, but a covering,
which may be walked off at pleafure, and the teeth then appear
as white as ivory, which however is not am excellence in the
eilimation of thg belles and beaus of thefe nations. -
Thefe are the people among whom, the praftice that is called1
a mock, or running a muck, has prevailed for time' immemorial.
It is wei* known, that to run a muck in the original fenfe of
the word, is to get intoxicated with opium, and then rulhinto
the llreet wich a drawn weapon, and kill whoever comes in the
way, till the party is hi mfelf either killed, or taken prifoner;
of this feveral inftances happened while we were at Batavia,
and one of the officers, whofe bulinefs it is, among other things,
to apprehend fuch people, told us, that there was fcarcely a
week in which he, or fome of his brethren, were not called
upon to take one of them into cuilody. In one of the infiances
that came to our knowledge, the party had been feverely in-
jured by the perfidy of women, and vas mad with jealoufy
before he made himfelf drunk with opium ; and we were told,
T 3 that
222 C O O K »s VOYAGE,
that the Indian who runs a muck is always firft driven to defpar
ation by fome outrage, and always firft revenges himfelf upon
thofe who have done him wrong: we were alfo told, that
though thefe unhappy wretches afterwards run into the ftreet
with a weapon in their hand, frantic and foaming at the mouth,
yet they never kill any but thofe who attempt to apprehend
them, or thofe whom they fufpeft of fuch an intention, and
that whoever gives them way is fafe. They are generally
flaves, who indeed are more fubjedl to infults, and lead able
to obtain legal redrefs : freemen, however, are fometim.es pro*
vokcd into this extravagance, and one of the perfons who run
a muck while we were at Batavia, was free and in eafy circum-
ftances. He was jealous of his own brother, *whom he firft
killed, and afterwards two others, who attempted to oppofe
him : he did not, however, come out of his houfe, but en-
deavoured to defend himfelf in it, though the opium had fo far
deprived him of his fen res, that of three mufquets, which he
attempted to ufe againft the officers of juftice, not one was
either loaded or primed. If the officer takes one of thefe amocks,
or mohawks, as they have been called by an eafy corruption,
alive, his reward is very confiderable, but if he kills them,
nothing is added to his ufual pay; yet fuch is the fury of their
defperation, that three cut of four are of neceffity deftroyed in
the attempt to fecure them, though the officers are provided
with inllruments like large tongs, or pincers, to lay hold of
them without coming within the reach of their weapon. Thofe
who happen to be taken alive are generally wounded, but they
are always broken alive upon the wheel, and if the phyfician
v/ho is appointed to examine their wounds, thinks them likely
to be mortal, the punifhment is inflicted immediately, and the
place of execution is generally the fpot where the firft murder
was committed.
Among thefe people, there are many abfurd practices and
opinions which they derive from their Pagan .anceftors : they
believe that the devil, whom they call Satan, is the caufe of
ail ficknefs and adverfity, and for this reafon, when ,thcy are
lick, or in diftrefs, they confecrate meat, money, and other
things to him as a propitiation. If any one among them is
relflefs, and dreams fortwo or three nights fucceffively, he con-
cludes that Satan has taken that method of laying his com-
mands upon him, which ifheneglefts to fulfil, he will cer-
tainly fuffer ficknefs or death, though they are not revealed
with ft ffinentperfpicuitytoafcertain theirmeaning : toir.terpret
his dream, therefore, he taxes his wits to the uttermoft, and if,
by taking it literally or figuratively, diredily or by contraries, he
can put no explanation upon it that perfe&ly fatisfies him, he
has recourfe to the cawin or prieft, who affifts him with a
comment and illuftrations, and perfectly reveals the myf erious
fuggeftiona
They allott Money to the Devil. 223
fuggeftions 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, fo that it feems not
to be the opinion of thefe people, that in prowling the earth
the devil “ walketh through dry places.” Mr. Banks once
alked, whether they thought Satan fpent the money, or eat
the victuals ; he was anfwered, that as to the money it was
conlidered rather as a mulft upon an offender, than a gift to
him who had enjoined it, and that therefore if it was de-
voted by the dreamer, it mattered not into whofe hands it
came, and they fuppofed that it was generally the prize of fome
ffranger who wandered that way; but as to the meat they were
clearly of opinion that, although the devil did not eat the grofs
parts, yet, by bringing his mouth near it, he fucked out all
its favour without changing its pofition, fo that afterwards it
was as taflelefs as water.
But they have another fuperfiitious opinion that is Hill more
unaccountable. They believe that women, when they are de-
livered of children, are frequently at the fame time delivered of
a young crocodile, as a twin to the infant: they believe that
thefe creatures are received moll carefully by the midwife, and
immediately carried down to the river, and put into the water.
The family in which fitch a birth is fuppofed to have happened,
conftantly put viftuals into the river for their amphibious rela-
tion, and efpecially the twin, who, as long as he lives, goes
down to the river at hated feafons, to fulfil this fraternal duty,
for the negleft of which it is the univerfal opinion that he will
be vilited with ficknefs or death. What could atfirh produce
a notion fo extravagant and abfurd, it is not eafy to guefi>,
efpecially as it feems to be totally unconnected with any reli-
gious myftery, and how a fad which never happened, fhould
be pretended to happen every day, by thofe who cannot be
deceived into a belief of it by appearances, nor have any ap-
parent interelt in the fraud, is a problem ftill more difficult to
i'olve. Nothing however can be more certain than the firm
believe of this ltrange abfurdity among them, for we had the
concurrent teftimony of every Indian who was queftioned about
it, in its favour. It feems to have taken its rife in the iflands
of Celebes and Boutou, where many of the inhabitants keep
crocodiles in their families; but however that be, the opinion
has fpread over all the eaftern iflands, even to Timor and Ce-
ram, and weftward as far as Java and Sumatra, where, how-
ever, young crocodiles are, I believe never kept.
Thefe crocodile twins are called Sudarar, and I fhall relate
one of the innumerable ftories that were told us, in proof of
their exiftence, from ocular demonftration.
A young female flave, who was born and bred up among the
Englilh
zz+ COOI’s VOYAGE.
Englilh at B'encoolen, 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 fudara, and folemnly charged
her to give him meat when he lhould 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 purfuance of her father’s in-
ftrudlions and command, Ihe went to the river, and Handing
upon fhe bank, called out Radja Pouii, white king, upon
which a crocodile came to her out of the watet, and eat from
her hand the provifions that fhe had brought him. When fhe
was defired to defcribe this paternal uncle, who in foitrange a
/hape had taken up his dwelling in the water, Hie faid,' that he
was not like other crocodiles, but much handfomer ; that his
body was fpotted and his nofe red ; that he had bracelets of
gold upon his feet, and earrings of the fame metal in his ears.
Mr. Banks heard this tale of ridiculous falfehood patiently to
the end, and then difmifted the girlr without reminding her,
that a crocodile with ears was as ftrange a monfter as a dog
with a cloven foot. Some time after this a fervant whom Mr.
Banks had hired at Batavia, and' who was the fon of a Dutch-
man by a Javanefe woman, thought ft to acquaint his mailer
that he had feen a crocodile of the fame kind, which had alfo-
been feen 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 thefe dories,-
faid Mr. Banks, for I was told the other day that a crocodile
had earrings; and you know that could not be true, becaufe
crocodiles have no ears. Ah Sir, faid the man, thefe Sudara
Oran arc not like other crocodiles ; they have five toes upon-
each foot, a large tongue that fills their mouth, and ears alio,,
although they are indeed very frnall.
How much of what thefe people related they believed, cannot1
be known ; for there are no bounds to the credulity of ignorance
and folly. In the girl’s relation, however, there are feme things
in which Ihe could not be deceived; and therefore mult have
been guilty of wilful falfehood. Her father might perhapsgive
her a charge to feed a crocodile, in confequence of his believing
that it was his Sudara; but its coming to her out of the river,
when Ihe called it by the name of White King, and taking the
food Ihe had brought it, mull have been a fable of her own in-
vention ; for this being falfe, it was impolfible that (he fhouid
believe it to be true. The girl’s ftory, however, as well as
that of the man, is a ftrong proof that they both firmly believed
the exiftence of crocodiles that are Sudaras to men; and the
girl’s fiftion will be eafily accounted for, if we recolledt, that
the earned defire which every one feels to make others believe
what he believes himfeif, is a ftrong temptation to fupport it
by unjuftifiable evidence. And the averring what is known to
Industry and Knavery of the Chinese. 22^
be falfe, in order to produce in other* the belief of what is
thought to be true, muft, upon themofl charitable principles,
be imputed to many, otherwife venerable characters, through
whofe hands the doctrines of Chriflianity pa/fed for many ages
in their way to us, as the fource of all the filly fables' related of
the Romifh faints, many of them not lefs extravagant and ab-
furd than this (lory of the White King, and all of them the
invention of the firll relater.
The Bougis, MacafTars, and Boetons, are fo firmly per-
fuaded that they have relations of the crocodile fpecies in the
rivers of their own country, that they perform a periodical cere-
mony in remembrance of them. Large parties of them go out in
a boat, furnifhed with great plenty of provifions, and all kinds
of mufic, and row backwards and forwards, in places where
crocodiles and ailegators are moll common, finging and weep-
ing by turns, each invoking his kindred, till a crocodile ap-
pears, when the mufic inftantly Hops, and provifions, beteie,
and tobacco are thrown into the water. By this civility to the
fpecies, they hope to recommend themfelves to their relations
at home ; and that it will be accepted inllead of offerings
immediately to themfelves, which it is not in-their power to
Fay-
In the next rank to the Indians (land the Chinefe, who ill
this place are numerous, but poffefs very little property ; many
ef them live within the walls, and keep fliops. The fruit-
fellers of PafTar Piflang havo been mentioned already ; but
others have a rich fhow of European and Chinefe goods : the
far greater part however live in a quarter by themfelves, with-
out the walls, called Campang China. Many of them are
carpenters, joiners, fmiths, taylors, flipper makers, dyers of
cotton, and embroiderers; maintaining the character of in-
duftry that is univerfaliy given of them : and foiiie are fcattered
about the country, where they cultivate gardens, fow rice and
fugar, or keep cattle and buffaloes, whofe milk they bring
daily to town.
There is nothing clean cr dirty, honefl or diihonefl, pro-
vided there is not too much danger of a halter, that the Chi-
nefe will not readily do for money. But though they work
with great diligence, and patiently undergo any degree of
labour ; yet no fooner have they laid down their tools than they
begin to game, either at cards or dice, or fome other play
among the multitude that they have invented, which are al-
together unknown in Europe: to this they apply with fuch
eagernefs, as fcarcely to allow time for the neceffary refrefh-
ments of food and fleep ; fo that it is rare to fee a Chinefe idle,
as it is to fee a Dutchman or an Indian employed.
In manners they are always civil, or rather obfequious; and
i* drefs they arc remarkably neat and dean, to whatever rank
of
GOOK’s VOYAO
Of live they belong. I ftiall not attempt a defcription either o:
their perfons or habits, for the better kind of China paper,-
which is now common in England, exhibits a perfedt reprefen-
tation of both, though perhaps with feme flight exaggerations
approaching towards the caricatura.
In eating they are eafily fatisfied,- though the few that are
rich have many favory diihes. Rice, with a fmall proportion'
of flefh or fi(h, is the food of the poor; and they have greatly'
the advantage of the Mahometan Indians, whole religion for-
bids them to eat of many things which they could moll eafily
procure. The Chinefe,- on the contrary, being under no re-
ilraint, eat, befides pork, dogs, cats, frog6, lizards, ferpents-
of many kinds, and a great variety of fea animals, which the
other inhabitants of this country do not confider as food; they
cat alfo many vegetables, which an European, except he was-
periihing with hunger, would never touch.
The Chinefe have a fingular fuperftition with regard to the
burial of their dead ; for they will upon no occafion open the
ground a fecond time, where a body has been interred. Their
burying grounds, therefore, in the neighbourhood of Batavia, -
oover many hundred acres, and the Dutch, grudging the wafte
of fo much land, will not fell any for this purpofe but at the
3io(l exorbitant price. The Chinefe, however, conirive to
raife the purchafe money, and afford another inflance of the
folly and weaknefs of human nature, in transferring a regard-
for the living to the dead, and making that the objeft of fo-
licitude and expence, which cannot receive the leail benefit
from either. Under the influenceof this univerfal prejudice,
they take an uncommon method to preferve the body intire,
and prevent the- remains of it from being mixed with the earth
that furrounds it. They inclofe it in a large thick coffin of
wood, not made of planks joined together, but hollowed out-
of the folid timber, like a canoe ; this being covered, and let
down into the grave, is furrounded with a coat of their mor^
tar, called Chinam, about eight or ten inches thick, which
in a fhort time becomes as hard as a ftone. The relations of
the deceafed attend the funeral ceremony, with a confiderable
number of women that are hired to weep ; it might reafonably
be fuppoied that the hired appearance of forrow could no more
flatter the living than benefit the dead ; yet the appearance of
forrow is known to be hired among people more reflective and
enlightened than the Chinefe, In Batavia, the law requires
that every man Ihould be buried according to his rank, which
is in no cafe difpenfed with ; fo that if the deceafed has not
left fufficient to pay his debts, an officer takes an inventory of
what was in his poffeflion when he died, and out of the pro-
duce buries him in the manner prclcribed, leaving only the
overplus to his creditors. Thus in many initances are the liv-
Their Slaves Lazy and Vicious. ^27
ing fucrificed to the dead, and money that fhould difcharge
-a debt, or feed an orphan, lavidild in idle proceflions, or ma-
terials that are depofited in the earth to rot.
Another numerous clafs among the inhabitants of this
country is the Haws; for by flat es the Dutch, Portuguese,
and Indians, however different in their rank or fituation, are
conftantly attended : they are purchafed from Sumatra, Ma-
lacca, and almoll all -the eailern iflands. The natives of Ja-
va, very few of whom, as I have before obferved, live in the
neighbourhood of Batavia, have an exemption from flavery
under the fanftion of very fevere penal laws, which I believe
are feldom violated. The price of thefe flaves is from ten to
twenty pounds fterling ; but girls, if they have beauty, lome-
times fetch a hundred. They are a very lazy -fet of people ;
■but as they will do but little work, they are content with a
little viftuals, fubfifting altogether upon boiled rice, and a
•fmall quantity of the cheapefl: filh. As they are natives of
different countries, they differ from each other extremely,
-both in perfon and difpofition. The African negroes, called
here Papua, are the word, and confequently may be purchafed
Tor the lead money : they are all thieves, and all incorrigible.
Next to thefe are the Bougis and Macaflars, both from the
ifland of Celebes ; thefe are lazy in the highell degree, and
-though not fo much addifted to theft as the negroes, have a
cruel and vindictive fpirit, which renders them extremely
dangerous ; efperially as, to gratify their refen tment, they
will make no fcruple of facri firing life. The bell: flaves, and
confequently the dearelt, are procured from the ifland of Bali :
the moil beautiful women from Nias, a fmall ifland on the
coall of Sumatra*; but they are of a tender and delicate con-
-ftitution, and foon fall a facrifice.to the unwholefome air of
•Batavia. Befldes thefe, there are Malavs, and flaves of fe-
veral other denominations, wdiol'e particular charafterillic I
do not remember.
Thefe flaves are wholly in the power of their m afters with
refpeft to any punilhment that does not fake away life; but
if a Have dies in confequence of punifhment, though his death
■fhould not appear to have been intended, the mailer is called
■to a fevere account, and he is generally condemned to fuffer
capitally. For this reafon .the maker Teldom inflifts punifli-
ment upon the Have himfelf, but applies to an officer called a
Marineu, one of whom is llationedih every di Hr i ft. The du-
ty-of the Marineu is to quell .riots, and take offenders into cuf-
•tody ; but more particularly to apprehend runaway flaves,
and punifh them for fuch crimes as the mailer, fupported by
proper evidence, lays to their charge : the punilhment how-
ever is not inflifted by the Marineu in perlon, but by flaves
v ho are bred up to tlie.bufuiefs. Men are punilhed publicly,
before
228 COO K.’s VO Y A G E.
before the door of their mailer’s houfe ; but women within
The punifhment is by {Iripe^, the number being proportioned
to the offence ; and they are given with rods made of ratans,
which are fplit into flender twigs for the purpofe, and fetch
blood at every ftroke. A common punifhment cods the maf-
ter a rixdollar, and a fevere one a ducatoon, about fix fhiliings
and eight pence. The mailer is alfo obliged to allow the
flave three dubblecheys, equal to about feven pence half-pen-
ny a week, as an encouragement, and to prevent his being
under temptations to fleal too ilrong not to be refilled.
Concerning the government of this^place I can fay but
little. We obferved however a remar able fiibordination
among the people. Every man who is able to keep houfe has
a certain fpecific rank acquired by the length of his fervices
to the company; the different ranks which are thus acquired are
diilinguiihed by the ornaments cf the coaches and the dreffes of
the coachmen: fome are obliged to ride in plain coaches, fome
are allowed to paint them in different manners and degrees,
and fome to gild them. The coachman alfo appears in clothes
that are quite plain, or more or lefs adorned with lace.
The officer who prefides here has the title of Governor Gene-
ral of the Indies, and the Dutch Governors of all the other
fettlements are fubordinate to him, and obliged to repair to
Batavia that he may pafs their accounts. Jf they appear to
have been criminal, or even negligent, he puniihes them by
delay, and detains them during pleafure, fometimes one year,
fometimes two years, and fometimes three ; for they cannot quit
the place till he gives them a difmiifion. Next to the Governor
are the members of the council, called here Ed. le Hecren, and
by the corruption of the Engliih Idolcers. Theie Idoleers take
upon them fo much ilate that whoever meets them in a carriage,
is expefled to rife up and bow, then to drive on one fide of the
road, and there flop till they are pail: the fame homage is re-
quired alfo to their wives and even their children ; and it is
commonly paid them by the inhabitants. But fome of our Cap-
tains have thought fo flaviih a mark of refpedt beneath the dig-
nity which they derived from the fervice of his Britannic Ma-
jeflv, and have refufed 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 moll peremptory
menace of immediate death.
Jullice is a.dminillered here by a body of lawyers, who have
•ranks of dillindlion jimong themfelves. Concerning their pro-
ceedings in queftions of property, I know nothing; but their
decifions in criminal cafes teem to be fevere with tefpedl to the
natives, and lenient with refpefl to their own people, in a
criminal degree. A C hr i Ilian always is indulged with an op-
portunity of efcaping before he is brought to a trial, whatever
may
The Coin current in Batavia. 229
may have been his offence ; and if he is brought to a trial
and convicted, he is feldom punilhed with death : while the
poor Indians on the contrary are hanged, and broken upon
the wheel, and even impaled alive without mercy.
The Malays and Chinefe have judicial officers of their own,
under the denominations of Captains and .Lieutenants, who
determine in civil cafes, fubjedt to an appeal to the Dutch
court.
The taxes paid by thefe people to the Company are very
confiderable ; and that which is exafted of them for liberty
to wear their hair, is by no means the leaft. They are paid
monthly, and to fave the trouble and charge of collefting
them, a flag is hoifted upon the top of a houfe, in the middle
of the town, when a payment is due ; and the .Chinefe have
experienced it their in ter eft to repair thither, with their mo-
ney, without delay.
The money current here confilts of ducats, worth a hundred
and thirty-two ftivers ; ducatoons, eighty ffivers ; imperial
rixdollars, fixty ; rupees of Batavia, thirty; fchellings, fix-;
double cheys, two ftivers and a half ; and doits, one fourth
of a ftiver. Spanilh dollars, when we were here, were at
five fhillings and five pence ; and we were told, that they
were never lower than five fhillings and four pence, even at
the Company’s ware-houfe. For Englilh Guineas we could
never get more than nineteen fhiliings upon an average ; for
though the Chinefe would give twenty fhillings for fome of
the brighteft, they would give no more than feventeen fhillings
for thofe that were much worn.
It may perhaps be of feme advantage to ftrangers to be told
that there are two kinds of coin here, of the fame denomina-
tion, milled and unmilled, and that the milled is of mofi va-
lue. A milled ducatoon is worth eighty ftivers ; but an un-
milied ducatoon is worth no more than feventy-tvvo. All ac-
counts are kept in lix-dollars and ftivers, which, here at leaft,
are mere nominal coins, like our pound fterling. The rix-
dollar is equal to forty-eight ftivers, about four fhillings and
fix pence Englilh currency.
CHAP. XV.
The Pajfage f'oin Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope : Some
Account oj Prince's If and and its Inhabitants , and a compa-
rative View of their Language with the Malay and fa uanefe.
ON Thurfday the 27th of December at fix o’clock in
the morning, we weighed again and flood out to fea.
Vol. II. U ' After
230 COOK’S VO y AGE,
After much delay by contrary winds, we weathered Pulo Pare
on the 29th, and flood in for the main ; foon after we fetched
a fmall ifland under the main, in the midway between Ba-
tavia and Bantam, called Maneater’s Ifland. The next day,
we weathered firft Wapping iflaud, and then Pulo Babi. On
the 31 A, we flood over to the Sumatra fhore ; and on the
morning of New Year’sday, 1771, w'e flood over for the Java
-fhore.
We continued our courfe as the wind permitted us till three
o’clock in the afternoon of the 5th, when we anchored under
the fouth eaft fide of Prince’s Ifland in eighteen fathom, in
order to recruit our wood and water, and procure refrefhments
for the flck, many of whom were now become much worie
than they were when w'e left Batavia. As focn as the fhip
was fecured, I went afhore, accompanied by Mr. Banks and
Dr. Solander, and we were met upon the beach by fome In-
dians, who carried us immediately to a man, who, they faid,
was their King. After we had exchanged a few compliments
with his Majefly, we proceeded to bufinefs ; but in fettling the
prke of turtle we could not agree : this however did not dif-
courage us, as we made no doubt but that we fhould buy them
at our own price in the morning. As foon as we parted, the
Indians difperfed, and we proceeded along the fhore in fearch
ef a watering-place. In this we were more fuccefsful ; we
found water very conveniently fituated, and, if a little care
was taken in filling it, we had reafon to believe that it would
prove good. Juft as we were going off, fome Indians, who
remained'with a canoe upon the beach, fold us three turtle;
but exadled a promife of us that we fhould not tell the King.
The next morning, while a party was employed in filling
water, we renewed pur traffic for turtle : at firft, the Indians
dropped their demands flowly, but about noon, they agreed
to take the price that we offered, fo that before night we
had turtle in plenty : the three that we had purchafed the evenr
ing before, were in the mean lime ferved to the fhip’s com-
pany, who, till the day before, }ud not once been ferved
with fait proviflons from the time of our arrival at Savu, which
was now near four months. In the evening Mr. Banks went
to pay his refpefts to the King, at his palace, in the middle
of a rice-field, and though his Majefly was bifily employed in
drefiing his own fupper, he received the ftranger very gra-
eioufly.
The next day, the natives came down to the trading-place,
with fowls, fifli, monkies, fmall beer, and fome vegetables,
but no turtle, for they faid that we had bought them all the
day before. The next day, however, more turtle appeared at
pprket, and fome were brought down every day afterwards,
during
They Visit the Town of Samodang. 231
during our flay, though the whole, together, was net equal
to the quantity that we bought the day after our arrival.
On the nth, Mr. Banks having'iearnt from the fervant
whom he had hired at Batavia, that the Indians of this iiland
had a town upon the fhore, at fome diftance to the weftward,
he determined to fee it : with this view he fet out in the
morning, accompanied by the fecond lieutenant, and as he
had fome reafon to think that his vifit would not be agreeable
to the inhabitants, he told the people whom he met, as he
was advancing along the fhore, that he was in fearch of
plants, which indeed was alfo true. In about two hours
they arrived at a place where there were four or five houfes,
and meeting with an old man, they ventured to make feme
enquiries Concerning the town. He faid that it was far dif-
tant ; but they were not to be difeouraged in their enterprife,
and he, feeing them proceed in their journey, joined company
and went on with them. He attempted feveral times*to lead
them out the way, but without fuccefs ; and at length they
came within fight of the houfes. The old man then entered
cordially into their party, and conduced them into the town.
The name of it is Samodang, it confiils of about four hundred
houfes, and is divided by a river of brackifh water iftto two
parts, one of which is called the old town, and the other the
new. As foon as they entered the old town, they met feve-
ral Indians whom they had feen at -the trading-place, arid
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, tw'O very fmall canoes were produced, in which they
embarked; the canoes being placed along fide of each other,
and held together, a precaution which was abfolutely necef-
fary to prevent their overfetting, the navigation was at length
fafely performed, though not without fome difficulty ; and
when they landed in the new town, the people received them
with great friendfhip, and fliowed them the houfes of their
Kings and principal people, which are in this diflrift : few
of them however were open, for at this time the people had
taken up their refidence in the rice-grounds, to defend the
crop againfl the birds and monkies, by which it would other-
wife have been deltroyed. When their curiofity was fatisfied,
they hired a large failing boat for two roupees, four Ihiilings,
which brought them back to the fhip time enough to dine
upon one of the fmall deer, weighing only forty pounds,
which had been bought the day before, and proved to be very
good and favory meat.
We went on fhore in the evening, to fee how the people
- who were employed in wooding and watering went on, and
were informed that an ax had been ftolen. As the pafiing
over this fault might encourage the commifiion of others of the
U 2 fame
%
232 COOK’s VOYAGE,
fame kind, application was immediately made to the King,
who after fome altercation promifed that the ax fhould be re-
ftored in the morning ; and kept his word, for it was brought
to us by a man who pretended that the thief, being afraid cf
a difcov^ry, had privately brought it, and left it at his hcufe
in the night.
We continued to purchrtfe between two and three hundred
weight of turtle in a day, befides fowls and other neceffaries ;
and in the evening of the 1 3th, having nearly completed our
wood and water, Mr. Banks went alhore to take leave of his
Majefty, to whom he had made feveral trifling prefents, and
at parting gave him two quires of paper, which he gracioufly
received. 'They had much conversation, in the courfe of
which his Majefty enquired, why the Englifh did not touch
there as they had been ufed to do. Mr. Banks replied, that
he fuppofed it was becaufe they found a deficiency cf turtle, of
which there not being enough to fupply one fbip, many could
not be expedited. To fupply this defeft, he advifed his Majef-
ty to breed cattle, buffaloes, and iheep, a meafure which he
did not feem much inclined to adopt.
On the 14th we made ready to fail, having on board a good
flock of refrefhments, which we purchafed cf the natives, con-
fiding of turtle, fowl, filh, two fpecies of deer, one as big as
a iheep, the other not larger than a rabit ; with cocoa-nuts,
plantains, limes, and other vegetables. The deer however
ferved only for prefent ufe, for we could feldom 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 Spa-
niih dollars, the natives feeming to let little value upon any
thing elfe ; fothat our people, who had a general permiffion
to trade, parted with old fhirts and other articles, which they
were obliged to fubftitute for money to great difadvantage.
In the morning of the 1 5 th we weighed, with a light breeze
at N. E. and ftood out to fea. java Head, from which I
took my departure, lies in latitude 6° Ag S., longitude 25 30
12' W.
Prince’s Iiland, where we lay about ten days, is, in the
Malay language called Pulo Selan ; and in the language cf the
inhabitants, Pulo Paneitan. It is a Small iiland, fnuated in
the weftern mouth of the Streight of Sunda. It is woody, and
a very fmall part of it only has been cleared : there is no re-
markable hill upon it, yet the Englilh call the fmall eminence
which is juft over the landing-place the pike. It was formerly
much frequented by the India iliips of many nations, but efpe-
cially thofe of England, which of late have forfaken it, as it
is faid, becaufe the water is bad ; and touch either at North
Iiland, a fmall iiland that lies on the coaft of Sumatra, without
the eaft entrance of the Streight, or at New Bay, which lies
Goon Accommodations at Prince’s Island. 233
only a few leagues from Prince’s Ifland, at neither of which
places any confiderable quantity of other refrefhments can be
procured. Prince’s Ifland is, upon the whole, certainly more
eligible than either of them; and though the water is brackifh,
if it is filled at the lower part of the brook, yet higher up it
will be found excellent.
The firft and lecond, and perhaps the third lhip that comes
in the feafon may be tolerably fupplied with turtle; but thofe
that come afterwards muft be content with fmall ones. Thofe
that we bought were of the green kind, and at an average colt
us about a half-penny or three farthings a pound. We were
much difappointed to find them neither fat nor well flavoured ;
and we imputed it tq their having been long kept in crawls or
pens of brackifh water, without food. The fowls are large,
and we bought a dozen of them for a Spanifh dollar, which is
about five pence a piece : the fmall deer cofl: us two pence a
piece, and the larger, of which two only were brought down,
a rupee. Many kinds of fifh are to be had here, which the
natives fell 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 promifeuoufly, one
hundred and thirty. Plantains we found in great plenty; we
procured alfo fome pine apples, water melons, jaccas, and
pumpkins; befides rice, the greater part of which was of the
mountain kind, that grows in dry land; yams, and feverai
other vegetables, at a very reafonable rate.
The inhabitants are Javanefe, whofe Raja is fubjeft to the
Sultan of Bantam. Their cuftoms are very fimilar to thofe of
the Indians about Batavia ; but they feem to be more jealous of
their women, for we never faw any of them during all the time
that we were there, except one by chance in the woods, as fhe
was running away to hide herfelf. They profefs the Mahome-
tan religion, but I believe there is not a mofque in the whole
ifland: we were among them during the fall, which the Turks
call Ramadan , which they feemed to keep with great rigour,
for not one of them would touch a morfel of vidluals, or even
chew their betele till fun-fet.
Their food is nearly the fame as that of the Batavian Indians,
except the addition of the nuts of the palm, called Cyca cird-
nalis, with which, upon the coail of New Holland, fome of
our people were made fick, and fome of our hogs poifoned.
Upon obferving thefe nuts to be part of their food, we en-
quired by what means they deprived them of their deleterious
quality ; and they told us, that they firft cut them into thin
flice.i, and dried them in the fun, then fteeped them in frefh
water for three months, and afterwards, preiiingout the water,
dried them in the fun a fecond time; but we learnt that, after
all, they are eaten only in times of fcarcity, when they mix
them wuh their rice to make it go farther. ' T-te
234 COOK’s VOYAGE,
The houfes of their town are built upon piles, or pillars, four
or five feet above the ground : upon thefe is laid a floor c :
bamboo .canes, which are placed at fome aittance from each
other, fo as to leave a free paffage for the air from below : the
walls alfo are of bamboo, which are interwoven, hurdlewife,
with fmall flicks, that are fattened perpendicularly to the,beams
which form the frame of the building: it has a Hoping roof,
which is fo well thatched with palm leaves, that neither the
fun nor the rain can find entrance. The ground over which this
building is eredted, is an oblong fquare. In the middle of one
fide is the door, and in the middle between that and the end
of the houfe, towards the left hand, is a window : a partition
runs out from each end towards the middle, which, if conti-
nued, would divide the whole floor into two equal parts, Ion- •
gitudinally, but they do not meet in the middle, fo that an
opening is left over-againft the door; each end of the hcufe
therefore, to the right and left of the door, is divided into two
rooms, like flails in a liable, all open towards the palfage from
the door to the wall on the oppofite fide : in that next the
door, to the left hand, the children fleep ; that oppofite to it,
on the right hand, is allotted to ftrangers; the matter and his
wife fleep in the inner room on the left hand, and that oppofite
to it is the kitchen. There is no difference between the houfes
of the poor and the rich, but in thefize; except that the royal
palace, and the houfe of a man, whofe name is Gundang, the
next in riches and influence to the King, is walled with boards
inflead of being wattled with flicks and bamboo.
As the people are obliged to abandon the town, and live in
the rice-fields at certain feafons, to fecure their crops from the
birds and the monkies, they have occafional houfes there for
their accommodation. They are exa£tly the fame as the houfes
in the town, except that they are fmaller; and are elevated eight
or ten feet above the ground inflead of four.
The difpofition of the people, as far as we could difcover it,
is good. They dealt with us very honeftly, except, like all
other Indians, and the itinerant retailers of fifh in London,
they afked fometimes twice, and fometimes thrice as much for
their commodities as-they would take. As what they brought
to market, belonged, in different proportions, to aconfiderable
number of the natives, and it would have been difficult to pur-
chafe it in feperate lots, they found out a very eafy expedient
with which every one was fatisfied : 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 thofe of whofe feparate property it confifted,
in a proportion correfpondrng with their contributions. Some-
times, indeed, they changed our money, giving us 240 doits,
amounting to five fhillings, for a Spanifh dollar, and ninety-
fix, amounting to two (hillings, for a Bengal roupee.
Language 'at Paince’s Island.
They all fpeak the Malay language, though they have alang-
uage of their own, different both from the Malay and the Javanefe.
Their own language they call Ca/ta Gunung , the language of
the mountains; and they fay that it is fpoken upon the moun-
tains of Java, whence their tribe originally migrated, firft to
New Bay, and then to their prefent ftation, being driven from
their ftrft fettlement by tygers, which they found too'numerous
to fubdue. I have already obferved, that feveral languages are
fpoken by the native Javanefe, in different parts of their ifland ;
but when I fay that the language of thefe people is different
from the Javanefe, I mean that it is different from the language
which is fpoken at Samarang, a place that is diftant only one
day’s journey from the refidence of the emperor of Java. The
following is a lift of correfponding words in the languages of
Prince’s Ifland, Java, and Malacca.
Englifh.
Prince’s Ifland.
Javanefe.
Malay.
A man
Jalma
OongLanang
Oran Lacki Lacki.
A woman
Becang
Oon Wadong
Parampuan.
A child
Oroculatacke
Lari
Anack.
The head
Holo
Undafs
Capalla.
The noj'e
Erung
Erung
Edung.
The eyes
Mata
Moto
Mata.
The ears
Chole
Cuping
Cuping.
The teeth
Cutock
Untu
Ghigi.
The Belly
Beatung
Wuttong
Prot.
The Backjide Serit
Celit
Pan tat.
The thigh
Pimping
Poopoo
Paha.
The knee
Hullootoor
Duncul
Lon tour.
The leg
Metis
Sickil
Kauki.
A nail
Cucu
Cucu
Cucu.
A hand
Langan
Tangan
Tangan.
A finger
Ramo Langan
Jari
Jaring.
In this fpecimen of the languages of places fo near to each
other, the names of different parts of the body are chofen,
becaufe they are ealily obtained from people whofe language is
utterly unknown, and becaufe they are more likely to be part
of the original ftamen of the language, than any other, as
types of the firft objects to which they would give names. It is
very remarkable that the Malay, the Javanefe, and the Prince’s
Ifland language, have words, which, if not exaflly fimilar to
the correfponding words in the language of the iflands in the
South Seas, are manifeftly derived from the fame fource, as will
appear from the following table;
Englilh. South Sea. Malay. Javanefe. Prince’s Ifland.
An eye Matta Mata Moto Mata.
j Vo eat Maa Macan Mangan
To
Engliih. South Sea.
Malay.
Javan efe. Prince’s Ifland.
To drink
Einu
Menum
Gnumbe.
To kill
Matte
Matte
Matte.
A loufe
Outou
Coutou,
Rain
Euwa
Udian
Udan.
Bamboo cane
Owhe
Awe.
A breajl
Eu
Soufou
Soufou.
A bird
Mannu
Mannu Mannuck.
A
Eyca
lean
Iwa.
The foot
Tapao
Tapaan.
A lobjier
Tooura
Udang
Urang.
Tams
Eufwhe
Ubi
Urve. _
To bury
Etannou
Tannam
Tandour.
A mofchito
Enammou
Gnammuck
To f cratch
Hearu
Garru
Garu.
Coccos roots
Taro
Tallas
Talas.
In-land
Uta
Utan.
This fimilitude is particularly remarkable in the words ex-
prefling number, which at find fight Teems to be no inconfider-
able proof that the fcience at lead of thefe different peoplehas a
common root. But the names ofnumbers in the ifland ofMa-
dagafcar, are, in fome inftances, fimilar to all thefe, which is
a problem ftill more difficult to folve. That the names of
numbers, in particular, are in a manner common to all thefe
countries, will appear from the following comparative table,
which Mr. Banks drew up, with the afliftance of a negro ilave,
born at Madagafcar, who was on board an Englifh fhip at Ba-
tavia, and fent to him to gratify his curiofity on this fubjett.
Englifh. S.Sea Ifiands. Malay.
Javanefe.
Prince’s Ifland.
Madagafcar.
One Tahie
Satou
Sigi
Hegie
Ifle.
Tvoo Rua
Dua
Lorou
Dua
Rua.
Three Torou
Tiga
Tullu
Tollu
Tellou.
Four Haa
Ampat
Pappat
Opat
Effats.
Five Reina
Lima
Limo
Limah
Limi.
Six Wheney
Annam
Nunn am
Gunnap
Ene.
Seven Hetu
T udju
Petu
Tudju
Titou.
Eight Warn
Delapau
Wolo
Delapan
Walon.
Nine Iva
Sembiian
Songo
Salap^an
Sivi.
Ten Ahouroa
Sapoulou
Sapoulou
Sapoulou
Tourou.
In the language of Madagafcar, there are other words fimilar
to words of the fame import in the Malay. The nofe in Malay
is called Erung, at Madagafcar Ourou ; Lida the tongue, is
Lala ; Tangan, the hand, is Tang', and Tanna, the ground, is
Taan.
From the fimilitude between the language of the Eaftern
Indies,
Difference of the Javanese and Madagascar^. 237
Indies, and the illands of the South Sea, conjeftures may be
formed with refpect to the peopling thofe countries, which
cannot eafily be referred to Madagafcar. The inhabitants
of Java and Madagafcar appear to be a different race ; the
Javanefe is of an olive complexion, and has long hair; the
native of Madagafcar is black, and his head is not covered
with hair, but wool; and yet perhaps this will not conclude
againft their having common anceftors fo flrongly as at firft ap-
pears. It does not feem lefs difficult to account for the perfonal
difference between a native of England and France, as an effedt
of 'mere local fituation, than for the difference between the
natives of Java and Madagafcar; yet it has never been fuppofed,
that England and France were not peopled from common an-
ceftors. If two natives of England marry in their own country,-
and afterwards remove to our fettlements in the Weft Indies,
the children that are conceived and born there will have the
complexion and caft of countenance that diftinguifh the Creole ;
if they return, the children conceived and born afterwards, will
have no ffich characferiftics. If it be faid that the mother’s
mind being impreffed with different external objsdts, iinpreffes
correfpending features and complexion upon the child during
her pregnancy, it will be as difficult to refer the effeft into this
caufe, upon mere phyfical principles, as into the other; for it
can no more be Ihewn how a mere idea, conceived in the
mother’s imagination, can change the corporeal form of her
infant, than how its form can be changed by mere local fitua-
tion. We know that people within the fmall circle of Great
Eritain and Ireland, who are born at the diftance of two or
three hundred miles from each other, will be diftinguifhed by
the Scotch face, the Welfh face, and the Irilh face ; may we
not then reafonably fuppofe, that there are in nature qualities
which act powerfully as efficient caufes, and yet are not cog-
nizable by any of the five modes of perception which we call
fenfes ? A deaf man, who fees the ftringof a harpfichord vibrate,
when a correfponding tone is produced by blowing into a flute
at a diftance, will fee an effeft of which he can no more con-
ceive the caufe to exift in the blowing air into the flute, than
we can conceive the caufe of the perfonal difference of the various
inhabitants of the globe to exift in mere local fituation; nor
can he any more form an idea of the caufe itfelf, in one cafe,
than we can in the other: what happens to him then, in con-
fequence of having but four fenfes inftead of five, may, with
refpeft to many phenomena of nature, happen to us, in con-
fequence of having but five fenfes inftead of fix, or any greater
number.
Poffi1 ly, however, the learning of ancient .Asgypt might
run in two courfes, one through Africa, and the other through
Afia, diffeminating the fame words in each, efpecially terms
of
238 COOK’s VOYAGE.
of number, which might thus become part of the language of
people who never had any communication with each other.
We now made the bell of our way for the Cape of Good
Hope, but the feeds of difeafe which we had received at Bata-
via began to appear with the moll threatning fymptons in dy-
fenteries and flow fevers. Left the water which we had taken
in at Prince’s Illand Ihould have had any lhare in our ftcknefs,
we purified it with lime, and we walked all parts of the fhip
between decks with vinegar, as a remedy againft infection.
Mr. Banks was among the fick, and for fome time there was no
hope of his life. We were very ibea in a molt deplorable fitu-
ation ; the fhip was nothing better than an hofpital, in which
thofe that were able to go about, were too few to attend the
fick, who were confined to their hammocks ; and we had almoft
every night a dead body to commit to the fea. In the courfe
of about fix weeks, we buried Mr. Sporing, a gentleman who
was in Mr. Banks’s retinue, Mr. Parkinfon, his natural hillory
painter, Mr. Green the aftronomer, the boatfwain, the carp-
enter and his mate, Mr. Mor.khoufe the midlhipman, who had
fothered the fhip after Ihe had been ftranded on the coaft of
New Holland, our old jolly fail-maker and his afiillant, the
fhip’s cook, the corporal of the marines, two of the carpenter’s
crew, a midlhipman, and nine feamen ; in all three and twenty
perfons, befides the feven that we buried at Batavia.
CHAP. XVI.
Our Arrival at the Cape of Good Hope ; fome Remarks on the Run
from Java Head to that Place ; a Defcription of the Cape , and
of Saint Helena: With fome Account of the Hottentots, and the
Return of the Ship to England.
ON Friday the 15 th of March, about ten o’clock in the
morning, we anchored off the Cape of Good Hope, in
feven fathom with an ouzey bottom. The weft point of the
bay, called the Lion’s Tail, bore W. N. W. and the caille S.
W. diftant about a mile and a half. I immediately waited upon
the Governor, who told me that I Ihould have every thing the
country afforded. My firft care was to provide a proper place
alhore for the fick, which were not a few; and a houfe was
feon found, where it was agreed they Ihould be lodged and
boarded at the rate of two Ihillings a head per day.
Our run from Java head, to this place, afforded very few
fubjedlsof remark that can be of ufe to future navigators ; fuch as
occurred, however, 1 Hiall fet down. We had left Java Head
eleven days before we got the general fouth eaft trade-wind,
during which time, we did not advance above c° to the fouth-
ward.
Arrival at the Cape of Good Hope. 239
ward, and 30 to the weft, having variable light airs, interrupted
by calms, with fultry weath#, and an unwholefome air, oc-
caftoned probably by the load of vapours which the eaftern
trade-wind, and vvefterly monfoons, bring into thefe latitudes,
both which blow in thefe Teas at the time of year when we
happened to be there. The eafterly wind prevails as far as 10
or 1 20 S. and the wefterly as far as 6 or 8° ; in the intermediate
fpace the winds are variable, and the air, I believe, always
unwholefome ; it certainly aggravated the difeafes which we
brought with us from Batavia, and particularly the flux, which
was not in the lead; degree checked by any medicine, fo that
whoever was feized with it, conftdered himfelf as a dead man ;
but we had no fooner got into the trade-wind, than we began
to feel its falutary effefts : we buried indeed feveral of our
people afterwards, but they were fuch as had been taken on
board in aftate fo low and feeble that there was fcarcely apoflibi-
lity of their recovery. At firft we fufpected that this dreadful
diforder might have been brought upon us by the water that we
took on board at Prince’s Ifland, or even the turtle that we
bought there; but there is not the leaft reafon to believe that
this fufpicion was well grounded, for all the ftiips that came
from Batavia at the fame feafon, differed in the fame degree,
and fome of them even more feverely, though none of them
touched at Prince’s Ifland in their way.
A few days after we left Java, we faw boobies about the
ihip for feveral nights fucceflively, and as thefe birds are known
to rooft every night on Ihore, we thought them an indication
that fome ifland was not far diftant; perhaps it might be the
ifland of Selam, which, in different charts, is very differently
laid down both in name and fltuation.
The variation of the compafs off the weft coaft of Java is
about 30 W, and fo it* continued without any fenftble variation,
in the common track of fhips to the longitude of 288° W. lati-
tude 22 S. after which it increafed apace, fo that in longitude
295°, latitude 2 30, the variation was io° 20' W. in feven
degrees more of longitude, and one of latitude, it increafed
two degrees ; in the fame fpace, farther to the weft, it in-
creafed fi ve degrees : in latitude 28°, longitude 3140, it was
240 20', in latitude 29° longitude 3170, it was 26° 10', and
was then ftationary for the fpace of about ten degrees farther
to the weft; but in latitude 34®, longitude 333V, we obferved
it twice to be 280! W. and this was its greateft variation, for
in latitude 3 j°£, longitude 337°, it was 240, and continued
gradually to decreafe ; fo 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 con-
fiderablc, till we came within a little diftance of the meridian
of Madagafcar ; for after we had made 52° of longitude from
Java
24o COOK ’s voyage.
Java Head, we found, by obfervation, that our error in longi-
tude was only two degrees, and it was the fame when we had
made only nineteen. This error might be owing partly to a
current fetting to the weftward, partly to our not making proper
allowances for the fetting of the fea before which we run, and
perhaps to an error in the affirmed longitude of Java Head. If
that longitude is erroneous, the error muft be imputed to the
imperfection of the charts of which I made ufe in reducing the
Ipngitude from Batavia, to that place, for there can be no doubt
but that the longitude ofBatavia is well determined. After we
had paffed the longitude of 307°, the effects of the welterly
currents began to be confiderable; for in three days, our error
in longitude was i9 5 : the velocity of the current kept in-
creafing, as we proceeded to the weftward, in fo much that for
five days fucceftively after we made the land, we were driven
to the S. W. or S. W. by W. not lefs than twenty leagues a
day; and this continued till we were within fixty or feventy
leagues of the Cape, where the current fet fometimes one way,
and fometimes the other, though inclining rather to the weft-
ward.
After the boobies had left us, we faw no more birds till we
got nearly a breaft of Madagafcar, where, in latitude 27 " J S.
we faw an albatrols, and after that time we faw them every day
in great numbers, with Birds of feveral other forts, particularly
one about as big as a duck, of a very dark brown colour, with
a yellowilh bill. Thefe birds became more numerous as we
approached the Ihore, and as foon as we got into foundings we
f4w gannets, which we continued to fee as long as we were upon
the bank which ftretches off Anguillas to the diftance of forty
leagues, and extends along the Ihore to the eaftward, from
Cape Falfe, according to fome charts, one hundred and fixty
leagues. The real extent of this bank is not exactly known;
it is however ufeful as a diredtion to (hipping when tc haul in,
in order to make the land. *
While we lay here, the Houghton Indiaman failed for
England, who, during her ftay in India, loft by ficknefs be-
tween thirty and forty men; and when Ihe left the Cape had
many in a helplefs condition with the fcurvy. Other Ihips
Buffered in the fame proportion, who had been little more than
twelve months abfent from England; our fufrerings therefore
were comparatively light, confidering that we had been abfent
near three times as long.
Having Iain here to. recover the fick, procure fto res, and per-
form feveral neceftary operations upon the (hip and rigging,
till the 13th of April, I then got all the fick on board, feveral
of whom were ftill in a dangerous ftate, and having taken leave
of the Governor, I unmoored the next morning, and got ready
to fail.
The
Description op the Cape op Good Hops. 241
The Cape of Good Hope has beenfo often defcribed, and is
fo well known in Europe, that I lhall mention only a few par-
ticulars, which in other relations are omitted or mifieprefented.
Notwithllanding all that has been faid to the contrap'’, no
country that we faw during the voyage makes a more forlorn
appearance, or is in reality a more llerile defart. The land
over the cape, which conftitutes the peninfula formed by Table
Bay on the north, and FalfeBay on the fouth, confifts of high
mountains, altogether naked and defolate : the land behind
thefe to the ealt, which may be confidered as the ifihmus, is a
plain of vaft extent, confifting almoft wholly of a light kind of
fea fand, which produces nothing but heath, and is utterly in-
capable of cultivation. All the fpots that will admit of im-
provement, which together bear about the fame proportion to
the whole as one to one thoufand, are laid out in vineyards,
orchards, and kitchen grounds ; and moll of thefe little fpots
lie at a confiderable dillance from each other. There is alfo
the greateil reafon to believe, that in the interior parts of this
country, that wfich is capable of cultivation does not bear a
greater proportion to that which is incorrigibly barren ; for
the Dutch told us, that they had fettlement^ekht and twenty
days journey up the country, a dillance edual to at leaft nine
hundred miles, from which they bring pftjvifions to the Cape
by land; fo that it feems reafonable toiconclude that pro vi-
fions are not to be had within a lefs compafe. While we were
at the Cape, a farmer came thither from the country, at the
dillance of fifteen days journey, and brought his young child-
ren with him. We were furprifed at this, and alked him, if
it would not have been better to have left them with his next
neighbour : Neighbour ! faid the man, I have no neighbour
within lefs than five days journey of me. Surely the country
mufl be deplorably barren in which thofe who fettle only to
raife provifions for a market, are difperfed at fuch dillances
from each other. That the country is every where deftitute of
wood appears to demonllration ; for timber and planks are im-
ported from Batavia, and fuel is almoll as dear as food. We faw
no tree, except in plantations near the town, that was fix feet
high ; and the Hems that were not thicker than a man’s
thumb, had roots as thick as an arm or leg ; fuch is the in-
fluence of winds here to the difadvantage of vegetation, letting
the llerility of the foil out of the queftion.
The only town which the Dutch have built here is, from
its fituation, called Cape Town, and confifts of about a thou-
fand houfes, neatly built of brick, and in general whited oa
the outfide ; they are however covered only with thatch, for
the violence of the fouth eall winds would render any other
roof inconvenient and dangerous. The llreets are broad and
commodious, all eroding each other at right angles. In the
X principal
242 COOK’s VOYAGE,
principal ftreet there is a canal, on each fide of which is plant-
ed a row of oaks, that have flourifhed tolerably well, and yield
an agreeable fhade : there is a canal alfo in one other part of
the tewn, but the Hope of the ground in the courfe of both is
fo great, that they are furnilhed with flood-gates, or locks, at
intervals of little more than fifty yards.
A much greater proportion of the inhabitants are Dutch in
this place than in Batavia ; and as the town is fupported prin-
cipally by entertaining ftrangers, and fupplying them with
neceiTaries, every man, to a certain degree, imitates the man-
ners jand cuftoms of the nation with which he is chiefly con-
cerned. The ladies however are fo faithful to the mode of
their country, that not one of them will ftir without a chaud-
pied or chaufFet, which is carried by a fervant, that it may be
ready to place under her feet whenever fhe fhall fit down.
This practice is the more remarkable, as very few of thefe
chauffets have fire in them, which indeed the climate renders
•unneceflfary.
The women in general are very handfome ; they have fine
clear Ikins, and a bloom of colour that indicates a purity of
conllitution, and £igh health. They make the befl: wives in
the world, both as.miftrefles of a family and mothers ; and
there is fcarcely ahoufe that does not fwarm with children.
The air is falut'Sry in a high degree ; fo that thofe who
bring difeafes hither from Europe, generally recover perfedl
health in a fhort time ; but the difeafes that are brought from
India are not fo certainly cured.
Notwithfianding the natural fterility of the climate, induf-
try has fupplied this place with all the neceiTaries, and even
the luxuries of life in the greateft profufion. The beef and
mutton are excellent, though the cattle and Iheep are natives
of the country; the cattle are lighter than ours, more neatly
made, and have horns that fpread to a much wider extent.
The Iheep are cloathed with a fubftance between wool & hair,
and have tails of an enormous fize ; wefaw fome that weighed
twelve pounds, and were told that there were many much
larger. Good butter is made of the milk of the cows, but the
cheefe is very much inferior to our own. Here are goats, but
they are never eaten, hogs, and a variety of poultry. Hares
are alfo found here, exactly like thofe of Europe ; antelopes
of many kinds, quails of two forts, and buftards, which are
well flavoured, but not juicy. The fields produce European
'►heat and barley, and the gardens European vegetables, and
fruitof all kinds, befides plantains, guavas, jambu, and fome
other Indian fruits, but thefe are not in perfection ; the plan-
tains in particular^ are very bad, and the guavas no larger
than goufeberries. The vineyards alfo produce wine of va-
rious forts. but net equal to thofe of Europe, except the Con-
An Account of the Hottentots, 2(43
ftantia, which is made genuine only at one vineyard, aboiit
ten miles diftant from the town. There is another vineyard
near it, where wine is made that is called by the lame name,
but it is greatly inferior.
The common method in which (Grangers live here, is to
lodge and board with fome.of the inhabitants, many of whole
houfes are always open for their reception : the rates are from
five (hillings to two (hillings a day, for which all neceffarie*
ste found. Coaches may be hired at four and twenty (hillings
a'day, and horfes at fix (hillings ; but the country affords very
little temptation to ufe them. There are no public entertain-
ments : and thofe that are private, to which Grangers, of the
rank of Gentlemen are always admitted, were fufpended
while we were there by the breaking out of the mealies.
At the farther end of the high (Ireet, the Company have a
garden, which is about two thirds of an Englifh mile long -t
the whole is divided by walks that interfedl each other at right
angles, and are planted with oaks that are dipt into wall
(ledges, except in the center walk, where they are fuffered to
grew to their fulL fize, and* afford an agreeable (lra.de, which
rs the more welcome, as, except the plantations by the fides
of the two canals, there is not a (ingle tree that would ferve even
for a (hepherd’s bu(h, within many miles of the town. The
greater part of this garden is kitchen ground ; but two fmall
fquares are allotted to botanical plants, which did not appear
to be fo numerous by one half as they were when Oldenland
Wrote his catalogue. At the farther end of the garden is a
menagerie, in which there are many birds and beads that are
never feen in Europe ; particularly a beaft called by the Hot-
tentots Coe Doe, which is as large as a horfe, and has the fine
fpiral horns which are fometimes feen in private and public
colledions of curioilties.
Of the natives of this country, we could learn but little,
except from report ; for there were none of their habitations,
where alone they retain their original cuftoms, within lei's
than four days journey from the town ; thofe that we faw
at the Cape were all fervants to Dutch farmers, whofe cattle
they take care of, and are employed in other drudgery of the
meaneft kind. Thefe are in general of a dim make, and ra-
ther lean than plump, but remarkably ftrong, nimble, and
aftive. Their (ize is nearly the fame with that of Europeans,
and we faw fome that were fix feet high : their eyes are dull
and without expreflion : their (kins are of the colour of foot,
but that is in a great meafure caufed by dirt, which is. fo
wrought into the grain that it cannot be diftinguifhed from
complexion ; for I believe they never wafh any part of their
bodies. Their hair curls ftrongly, not like a negroe’s, but
fells in ringlets about feven or eight inches long. Their
X 2' clothing
244 COOK’s VOYAGE.
clothing confifls of a lkin, generally that of a Iheep, thrown
ever their fhoulders ; befides which, the men wear a fmall
pouch in the middle of the waift, and the women, a broad
leather flap, both which hang from a girdle, or belt, that 13
adorned wdth beads, and fmall pieces of copper. Eoth men
and women wear necklaces, and fometimes bracelets, of
l eads ; and the women wear rings of hard leather round
their ancles, to defend them from the thorns, with which
their country every where abounds : fome of them have a
fan dal, made of wood or bark ; but the greater part of them
2re unihod.
To a European, their language appears to be fcarcely arti-
culate; befides which it is diftinguifned by a very remarkable
Angularity. At very frequent intervals, while they are {peak-
ing, they cluck with their tongue againft the roof of the
mouth : thefe clucks do not appear to have any meaning, but
rather to divide what they fay into fentences. Moll: of thefe
Hottentots fpeak Dutch, without any peculiarity of pronun-
ciation.
They are all modeft, even to Iheepilhnefs ; for it was not
without the greateft difficulty that we could perfuade any of
them to dance, or even to fpeak in their own language ta
each other, in our prefence. We did however both fee them
dance, and hear them fing ; their dances are by turns adtive
and fluggith to excefs ; fometimes confifting of quick and vio-
lent motions, with llrange aiftertions of the body, and un-
natural leaps backwards and forwards, with the legs crofiing
each other ; and being fometimes fo fpiritlefs that the darner
only flukes the ground firft with one foot, and then with the
other, neither changing place, nor moving any other part of
his body : the fengs alfo are alternately to quick and flow
movements, in the fame extremes as the dance.
V7e made many enquiries concerning thefe people of she
Dutch, and the following particulars are related upon the
credit cf their report.
Within the boundaries of the Dutch fettlements there are
feveral nations of thefe people, who very much differ frem
each other in their cufloms and manner of life : all how ever
are friendly and peaceable, except one clan that is fettled to
the eaftward, which the Dutch call Bojch men, and thefe live
entirely by plunder, or rather by theft ; lor they never attack
their neighbours openly, but fteal the cattle privately in the
night. 1 hey are armed however to defend themfelves, if
they happen to be detected, with lances or affagays, and ar-
rows, which they know how to poifon by various ways, fome
with the juice of herbs, and fome with the venom of the fer-
pent called Ccbra di Cctpelo ; in the hands of thefe people a
flone alfo is a very formidable weapon, for they can throw it
with
Strange Customs or the Hottentots. 245
With fuch force and exaftnefs as repeatedly to hit a dollar at
the didance of a hundred paces. As a defence againil thefe
free-booters, the other Indians train up bulls, fvhich they
place round their towns in the night, and which, upon the
approach of either man or bead, will alTemble and oppOfe
them, till they hear the voice of their mailers encouraging
them to fight, or calling them off, which they obey with
the fame docility as a dog.
Some nations have the art of melting and preparing copper,
which is found among them, probably native ; and of this
they make broad plates, which they wear as ornaments upon
their foreheads. Some of them alfo know how to harden bits
of iron, which they procure from the Dutch, and form into
knives, fo as to give them a temper fuperior to that of any
they can buy.
The Chiefs, many of whom are pofleffors of very nume-
rous herds of cattle, are generally clad in the fkins of lions,
tygers, or zebras, to which they add fringes, and other or-
naments in a very good talle. Both fexes frequently anoint
the body with greafe, but never ufe any that is rancid or foe-
tid, if frelh can be had. Mutton fuet and butter are generally
ufed for this purpofe ; butter is preferred, which they make
by fhaking the milk in a bag made of the Ikin of feme bead.
We were told that the pried certainly gives the nuptial be-
nediction by fprinkling the bride and bridegroom with his
urine. But the Dutch univerfally declared that the women
never wrapped the entrails of fheep round their legs, as they
have been laid to do, and afterwards make them part of their
food. Semicadration was alfo abfolutely denied to be gene-
ral ; but it was acknowledged that fome among the particular
nation which knew how to melt copper had fuffered that ope-
ration, who were faid to be the bed warriors, and particu-
larly to excel in the art of throwing dones.
We were very dedrous to detejmine the great quedion
among natural hidorians,* whether the women of this country
have or have not that defhy flap or apron which has been cal-
led the Sinus pudoris, and what we learnt I fhall relate. Jv^a-
ny of the Dutch and Malays, who faid they had received fa-
vours from Hottentots women, pofitively denied its exidence;
but a phyfician of the place declared that he had cured many
hundred of venereal complaints, and never faw one without
two defhy, or rather fkinny appendages, proceeding from the
upper part of the Labia , in appearance fomewhat refembling
the teats of a cow, but flat; they hung down, he faid, before
the Pudendum, and were in different fubjeits of different
lengths, in fome not more than half an inch, in others three
or four inches : thefe he imagined .to be what fome writers
have exaggerated into a flap, or apron, hanging down from
X 3 the
246 * C O O IC’s VOYAGE,
the bottom of the abdomen, of fufficient extent to render an ar-
tificial covering of the neighbouring parts unneceflary.
Thus much for the country, its productions, and inhabit
tants. The bay is large, fafe, and commodious ; it lies open
indeed to the north weft winds, but they feldom blow hard
yet as they fometimes fend in a great fea, the lhips moor N. E.
and S. W. fo as to have an open hawfer with north weft winds :
the fouth eaft winds blow frequently with great violence, but
as this direction is right out of the bay, they are not dan-
gerous. Near the town a wharf of wood is run out to - a proper
diftance, for the convenience of landing and {hipping goods'.
To this wharf water is conveyed in pipes., from which feve-
ral boats may fill water at the fame time ; and feveral large
boats or hoys are kept by the Company to carry ftores and
provifions to and from the flipping in the harbour. The bay
is defended by a fquare fort, fituated clofe to the beach on
the eaft fide of the town, and by feveral outworks and batteries
extending along the ftiore, as wellon this fide of the town as
the other; but they are fo fituated as- to be cannonaded by
flipping, and are in a manner defcnceleC againft an enemy of
any force by land. The garrifon confilts of eight hundred re-
gular troops, befdes militia of the country, in which is com-
prehended every man able to bear arms. They have con-
trivances to alarm the whole country by fignals in a very fhort
time, and the militia is then to repair immediately to the
town;
The French, at Mauritius, are fopplied from this place
with falted beef, bifeuit, flour, and wine; the provifions for
which the French contracted this year were 500,000 jb..
weight cf fait beef, 400,000 ffo. of four, 400,000 jfe. of bif-
euit, and 1,200 leagers of wine.
In the morning of the 14, we weighed and food out of the
bay ; and at five in the evening anchored under Penquin, or-
Robin Ifand : we lay here all night, and as I could not fail
in the morning for want of wind, 1 fent a boat to the ifand
for a few trifling articles which we had forgot to take in at
the Cape. Eut as foon as the boat came near the fliore, the
Dutch hailed her, and warned the people not to land at their
peril, bringing down at the fame time fix armed men with
Mufquets, who paraded upon the beach. The officer who
commanded the boat, not thinking it worth while to rifle the
lives of the people on board for the fake of a few cabbages,
width were all we wanted, returned to the flip. At firft we
u tre at a lefis to account for our repulfe, but we afterwards re-
cel’e&ed, that to this ifand the Dutch at the Cape banilh
fuch criminals as are not thought worthy of death, for a cer-
tain number of years, proportioned to the offence; and em-
ploy them <.s Haves in digging limc-fone, which though
fcaice
Arrival at Saint Helena. »47
fcarce upon the continent is plenty here : and that a Danifh
Ihip, which by ficknefs had lcll great part of her crew, and
had been refufed alhftance at the Cape, came down to this
ifiand, and fending her boat afhore, fecured the guard, and
took on board as many of the criminals as die thought proper
to navigate her home : we concluded therefore that the Dutch,
to prevent the refcue of their criminals in time to come, had
given order to their people here to fuller no boat of any fo-
reign nation to come alhore.
On the 25 th, at three o’clock in the afternoon, we weigh-
ed, with a light breeze at S. E. and put to fea. About an
hour afterwards, we loft our Mailer, Mr. Robert Mollineux,
a young man of good parts, but unhappily given to intem-
perance, which brought on diforders that put an end to his
life.
We proceeded in our voyage homeward without any re-
markable incident ; and in the morning of the 29th, we
eroded our firft meridian, having circumnavigated the globe
in the dire&ion from eaft to weft,, and confequently loft a day,
for which we made an allowance at Batavia.
At day- break, on the 1 ft of May, we faw the idand of St»
Helena ; and at noon,, we anchored in the road before
James’s Fort.,
We ftaid here till the 4th, to refredi, and Mr. Banks im-
proved the time in making the complete circuit of the idand,
and vifitingthe mod remarkable places upon it.
It is fituated as it were in the middle of the vaft Atlantic
ocean, being four hundred leagues diftant from the coaft of
Africa, and fix hundred from that of America. It is the fum-
mit of an immenfe mountain rifing out of the fea, which, at a
little diftance albround it, is of an unfathomable depth, and
is no more than twelve leagues long and fix broad.
The feat of volcanoes has, without exception, been found
to be-the higheft part of the countries in which they are
found1. Astna and Vefuvius have no land higher than them-
felves, in. their neighbourhood; Heda is the higheft hill in
Iceland ; volcanoes are frequent in the higheft part of the
Andes in South. America ; and the pike of Teneriffe is known
to be the covering of fubterraneous fire : thefe are dill burn-
ing, but there are innumerable other mountains which bear
evident marks of fire that is now extindl, and has been fo
from the time of our earlieft traditions : among thefe is Saint
Helena, where the inequalities of the ground, in its external
furface, are manifeftly the eft'edl of the finking, of the earth,
for the oppofite ridges, though feparated always by deep,
and fometimes by broad vallies, are exactly fimilar both
appearance and direction ; and that the finking of the
in thefe parts, was caufed by fubterraneous fire, is ec,
248 C O O K »s V O Y A G E.
manifeft from the (tones, for fome of them, efpecially thofc
in the bottom of the valiies, are burnt almoft to a cinder : in
fome there are l'mall bubbles, like t’nofe that are feen in glafs
which has been urged almoft to fufion, and fome, though at
firft fight they do not appear to have been expofed to the action
of great heat, will be found, upon a clofer infpedtion, to con-
tain lmall pieces of extraneous bodies, particularly mundick,
which have yielded to the power of fire, though it was not fuf-
ficientto alter the appearance ofthe ftone which contained them.
It appeared, as we approached it on the windward fide,
like a rude heap of rocks, bounded by precipices of amazing
height, and confiding of a kind of half friable ftone, which
fhows not the lead fign of vegetation ; nor is it more pro-
mifing upon a nearer view: in failing along the fhore, we
came fo near the huge c iffs, that they ,'ecmed to over-hang
the Ihip, and the tremendous effeft of their giving way, made
us almoft fear the event : at length we opened a valley, called
Chappel Valley, which refembles a large trench ; and in this
Valley we difcovered the '■own. The bottom cf it is (lightly
covered with herbage, but the fides are as naked as the cliffs
that are next the fea. Such is the firft appearance of the ifland
in its prefent cultivated date, and the firft hills muft be pafied
before the valiies look green, or the country difplays any other
marks of fertility.
The town (lands juft by the fea-fide, and the far greater
pari of the houfes are ill built ; the church, which originally
was a mean ftrudlure, is in ruins, and the market-houfe is
nearly in the fame condition.
The white inhabitants are all Englifh, who, as they are
not permitted by the Eaft India Company, to whom the ifland
belongs, to carry on any trade or commerce on their own ac-
count, fubfift wholly by fupplying fuch fhips as touch at the
place with refrefhments, which, however, they do not pro-
vide in proportion to the fertility of the foil, and thfe tempe-
rament of the climate, which would enable them, by cultiva-
tion, to product all the fruits and vegetables both of Europe
and India. This ifland indeed, frr.ail as it is, enjoys the dif-
fers nt advantages of different climates, for the cabbage-trees
which grow upon the higheft ridges can by no art be cultivated
upon the ridges next below, where the red-wood and gum-
wood both flourifh, which will not grow upon the ridges above,
and neither of the three are to be found in the valiies, which,
in general, are covered with European plants, and the more
common ones of India.
Here are a few horfes, but they are kept only for the faddle,
’’at all labour is performed by (laves ; nor are they furnifli'-
ith any of the various machines which art has invented to
;ate their talk. The ground is not every where too fteep
for
The Endeavour returns to England. £4$
for a cart, and where it is, the wheel-barrow might be ufed
with great advantage, yet there is no wheelbarrow in the
whole illand ; every thing is conveyed from place to place by
the Haves, and they are not furnilhed even with the Ample
convenience of a porter’s knot, but carry their burden upon
their heads. They are indeed very numerous, and are brought
almoft from every part of the world, but they appeared to be
a miferable race, worn cut partly by exceffive labour, and
partly by ill ufage, of which they frequently complained ; and
I am forry to fay, that inftances of wanton cruelty are much
more frequent among my countrymen here, than among the
Dutch, who are, and perhaps not without reaion, generally
reproached with want of humanity at Batavia and the Cape.
Among the native produfts ol this illand, which are not
numerous, mull be reckoned ebony, though the trees are now
nearly extinfl, and are not remembered to have been plenty:
pieces of the wood are frequently found in the vallies, of a
fine black colour, and a hardnefs almoll equal to iron : thefe
pieces, however, are always fo fhort and crooked, that no
ufe can be made of them. Whethel* the tree is the fame with
that which produces ebony upon the ille of Bourbon, or the
illands adjacent, is not known, as the French have not yet
publilhed any account of it.
There are but few infects in this place, but there is a fpe-
cies of fnail found upon the tops of the higheft ridges, which
probably has been there fince the original creation of their
kind, at the beginni. g of the world. It is indeed very diffi-
cult to conceive how any thing w hich was not depofited here
at its creation, or brought hither by the diligence of man,
could find its way to a place fo fevered from the reft of the
world, by feas of immenfe extent, except the hypothefis that
has been mentioned on another occafion be adopted, and this
rock be fuppofed to have been left behind, when a large tradl
of country, of wffiich it was part, fubfided by fome convulfion
of nature, and was fwallowed up in the ocean.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, of the 4th of May, we
weighed and ftood out of the road, in company with the Port-
land man of war, and twelve fail of Indiamen.
We continued to fail in company with the fleet, till the
I~th in the morning, when, perceiving that we failed much
heavier than any other lhip, and thinking it for that reafon
probable that the Portland would get home before us, I made
the fignalto fpeak with her, upon which Captain Elliot him-
felf came on board, and I delivered to him a letter for the Ad-
miralty, with a box, containing the common leg books of
the fhip, and the journals of fome of the officers. We conti-
nued in company, however, till the 23d in the morning, and
then there was not one of the ffiips in fight. About one
o’clock
C O O K ’s V O Y A G E.
o’clock in the afternoon, died our Firft Lieutenant Mr. Hicks,
and in the evening we committed his body to the fea, with
the ufual ceremonies. The difeafe of which he died, was a
confumption, and as he was not free from it when we failed
from England, it may truly be faid 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 aft as Lieutenant in his room, a young man who
was extremely well qualified for that ftation.
Our rigging and fails were now become fo bad, that fome-
thing was giving way every day. We continued our courfe,
however, in fafety till the 10th of June, when land, which
proved to be the Lizard, was difcovered by Nicholas Young,
the fame boy that firll faw New Zealand ; on the i ith we rurt
up the channel, at fix in the morning ef the 12th we palled
Beachy Head, and at noon we were abreaft ef Dover, and
about three came to an anchor in the Downs, and went afliord
at Deal.
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