_The Discovery of King George's Islands, with a Description of them,
and an Account of several Incidents that happened there._
At half an hour after five o'clock in the afternoon of the 9th, we saw
land again, bearing W.S.W. at the distance of six or seven leagues; and
at seven we brought-to for the night. In the morning, being within three
miles of the shore, we discovered it to be a long low island, with a
white beach, of a pleasant appearance, full of cocoa-nut and other
trees, and surrounded with a rock of red coral. We stood along the
north-east side of it, within half a mile of the shore; and the savages,
as soon as they saw us, made great fires, as we supposed, to alarm the
distant inhabitants of the island, and ran along the beach, abreast of
the ship, in great numbers, armed in the same manner as the natives of
the Islands of Disappointment. Over the land on this side of the island
we could see a large lake of salt water, or lagoon, which appeared to be
two or three leagues wide, and to reach within a small distance of the
opposite shore. Into this lagoon we saw a small inlet about a league
from the south-west point, off which we brought-to. At this place the
natives have built a little town, under the shade of a fine grove of
cocoa-nut trees. I immediately sent off the boats, with an officer in
each, to sound; but they could find no anchorage, the shore being every
where as steep as a wall, except at the very mouth of the inlet, which
was scarcely a ship's length wide, and there they had thirteen fathom,
with a bottom of coral rock. We stood close in with the ships, and saw
hundreds of the savages, ranged in very good order, and standing up to
their waists in water; they were all armed in the same manner as those
that we had seen at the other islands, and one of them carried a piece
of mat fastened to the top of a pole which we imagined was an ensign.
They made a most hideous and incessant noise, and in a short time many
large canoes came down the lake to join them. Our boats were still out,
and the people on board them made all the signs of friendship that they
could invent, upon which some of the canoes came through the inlet and
drew near them. We now began to hope that a friendly intercourse might
be established; but we soon discovered that the Indians had no other
design than to haul the boats on shore: Many of them leaped off the
rocks, and swam to them; and one of them got into that which belonged to
the Tamar, and in the twinkling of an eye seized a seaman's jacket, and
jumping over board with it, never once appeared above water till he was
close in shore among his companions. Another of them got hold of a
midshipman's hat, but not knowing how to take it off, he pulled it
downward instead of lifting it up so that the owner had time to prevent
its being taken away, otherwise it would probably have disappeared as
suddenly as the jacket. Our men bore all this with much patience, and
the Indians seemed to triumph in their impunity.
[Footnote 37: "They were in much greater number than at the other
island, and followed us in the same manner, several hundreds of them
running along the coast in great disorder."--"They had many canoes,
which, on our approaching the shore, they dragged into the woods, and at
the same time, the women came with great stones in their hands to assist
the men in preventing our landing."--"We had now 50 sick on board, to
whom the land air, the fruit and vegetables, that appeared so beautiful
and attractive, would doubtless have afforded immediate relief." It
seems very probable, from the conduct of these islanders, and of the
others mentioned in the next section, that some former visitants had
used them so ill, as to unite them in determined opposition to the
entrance of all strangers. Would it be unfair to imagine, from a
circumstance afterwards narrated, that these visitants were Dutch? All
the seafaring nations of Europe, alas! are too deeply implicated in the
animosities and miseries of the South Sea inhabitants.--E.]
About noon, finding there was no anchorage here, I bore away and steered
along the shore to the westermost point of the island: The boats
immediately followed us, and kept sounding close to the beach, but could
get no ground.
When we came to the westermost point of this island, we saw another,
bearing S.W. by W. about four leagues distant. We were at this time
about a league beyond the inlet where we had left the natives, but they
were not satisfied with having got rid of us quietly; for I now
perceived two large double canoes sailing after the ship, with about
thirty men in each, all armed after the manner of their country. The
boats were a good way to leeward of us, and the canoes passing between
the ship and the shore, seemed very eagerly to give them chace. Upon
this I made the signal for the boats to speak with the canoes, and as
soon as they perceived it, they turned, and made towards the Indians,
who, seeing this, were seized with a sudden panic, and immediately
hauling down their sails, paddled back again at a surprising rate. Our
boats however came up with them; but notwithstanding the dreadful surf
that broke upon the shore, the canoes pushed through it, and the Indians
immediately hauled them up upon the beach. Our boats followed them, and
the Indians, dreading an invasion of their coast, prepared to defend it
with clubs and stones, upon which our men fired, and killed two or three
of them: One of them received three balls which went quite through his
body; yet he afterwards took up a large stone, and died in the action of
throwing it against his enemy. This man fell close to our boats, so that
the Indians who remained unhurt did not dare to attempt the carrying off
his body, which gave us an opportunity to examine it; but they carried
off the rest of their dead, and made the best of their way back to their
companions at the inlet. Our boats then returned, and brought off the
two canoes, which they had pursued. One of them was thirty-two feet
long, and the other somewhat less, but they were both of a very curious
construction, and must have cost those who made them infinite labour.
They consisted of planks exceedingly well wrought, and in many places
adorned with carving; these planks were sewed together, and over every
seam there was a stripe of tortoise-shell, very artificially fastened,
to keep out the weather: Their bottoms were as sharp as a wedge, and
they were very narrow; and therefore two of them were joined laterally
together by a couple of strong spars, so that there was a space of about
six or eight feet between them: A mast was hoisted in each of them, and
the sail was spread between the masts: The sail, which I preserved, and
which is now in my possession, is made of matting, and is as neat a
piece of work as ever I saw: their paddles were very curious, and their
cordage was as good and as well laid as any in England, though it
appeared to be made of the outer covering of the cocoa-nut. When these
vessels sail, several men sit upon the spars which hold the canoes
together.
As the surf, which broke very high upon the shore, rendered it
impossible to procure refreshments for the sick in this part of the
island, I hauled the wind, and worked back to the inlet, being
determined to try once more what could be done there.
I recovered that station in the afternoon, and immediately sent the
boats to sound the inlet again, but they confirmed the account which had
been made before, that it afforded no anchorage for a ship. While the
boats were absent, I observed a great number of the natives upon the
point near the spot where we had left them in the morning, and they
seemed to be very busy in loading a great number of large canoes which
lay close to the beach. As I thought they might be troublesome, and was
unwilling that they should suffer by another unequal contest with our
people, I fired a shot over their heads, which produced the effect I
intended, for they all disappeared in a moment.
Just before the evening closed in, our boats landed, and got a few
cocoa-nuts, which they brought off, and saw none of the inhabitants. In
the night, during which we had rain and hard squalls, I stood off and on
with the ships, and at seven o'clock in the morning brought-to off the
inlet. I immediately sent the boats on shore in search of refreshments,
and made all the men who were not so ill of the scurvy as to be laid up,
go in them; I also went on shore myself, and continued there the whole
day. We saw many houses or wigwams of the natives, but they were totally
deserted, except by the dogs, who kept an incessant howling from the
time we came on shore till we returned to the ship: They were low mean
hovels, thatched with cocoa-nut branches; but they were most
delightfully situated in a fine grove of stately trees, many of which
were the cocoa-nut, and many such as we were utterly unacquainted with.
The cocoa-nut trees seem to furnish them with almost all the necessaries
of life; particularly food, sails, cordage; timber, and vessels to hold
water; so that probably these people always fix their habitations where
the trees abound. We observed the shore to be covered with coral, and
the shells of very large pearl oysters; so that I make no doubt but that
as profitable a pearl fishery might be established here as any in the
world. We saw but little of the people, except at a distance; we could
however perceive that the women had a piece of cloth of some kind,
probably fabricated of the same stuff as their sail, hanging from the
waist as low as the knee; the men were naked.
Our people, in rummaging some of the huts, found the carved head of a
rudder, which--had manifestly belonged to a Dutch long-boat, and was
very old and worm-eaten. They found also a piece of hammered iron, a
piece of brass, and some small iron tools, which the ancestors of the
present inhabitants of this place probably obtained from the Dutch ship
to which the long-boat had belonged, all which I brought away with me.
Whether these people found means to cut off the ship, or whether she was
lost upon the island, or after she left it, cannot be known; but there
is reason to believe that she never returned to Europe, because no
account of her voyage, or of any discoveries that she made, is extant.
If the ship sailed from this place in safety, it is not perhaps easy to
account for her leaving the rudder of her long-boat behind her: And if
she was cut off by the natives, there must be much more considerable
remains of her in the island, especially of her iron-work, upon which
all Indian nations, who have no metal, set the highest value; we had no
opportunities however to examine this matter farther. The hammered-iron,
brass, and iron tools, I brought away with me; but we found a tool
exactly in the form of a carpenter's adze, the blade of which was a
pearl oyster-shell; possibly this might have been made in imitation of
an adze which had belonged to the carpenter of the Dutch ship, for among
the tools that I brought away there was one which seemed to be the
remains of such an implement, though it was worn away almost to nothing.
Close to the houses of these people, we saw buildings of another kind,
which appeared to be burying-places, and from which we judged that they
had great veneration for their dead. They were situated under lofty
trees, that gave a thick shade; the sides and tops were of stone; and in
their figure they somewhat resembled the square tombs, with a flat top,
which are always to be found in our country church-yards. Near these
buildings we found many neat boxes full of human bones, and upon the
branches of the trees which shaded them, hung a great number of the
heads and bones of turtle, and a variety of fish, inclosed in a kind of
basket-work of reeds: Some of the fish we took down, and found that
nothing remained but the skin and the teeth; the bones and entrails
seemed to have been extracted, and the muscular flesh dried away.
We sent off several boat-loads of cocoa-nuts, and a great quantity of
scurvy-grass, with which the island is covered; refreshments which were
of infinite service to us, as by this time I believe there was not a man
among us wholly untouched by the scurvy.
The fresh water here is very good, but it is scarce; the wells which
supply the natives are so small, that when two or three cocoa-nut shells
have been filled from them, they are dry for a few minutes; but as they
presently fill again, if a little pains were taken to enlarge them, they
would abundantly supply any ship with water.
We saw no venomous creature here; but the flies were an intolerable
torment, they covered us from head to foot, and filled not only the
boat, but the ships. We saw great numbers of parrots and paroquets, and
several other birds which were altogether unknown to us; we saw also a
beautiful kind of dove, so tame that some of them frequently came close
to us, and even followed us into the Indian huts.
All this day the natives kept themselves closely concealed, and did not
even make a smoke upon any part of the islands as far as we could see;
probably fearing that a smoke might discover the place of their retreat.
In the evening, we all returned on board the ship.
This part of the island lies in latitude 14° 29' S., longitude 148° 50'
W. and after I got on board, I hauled a little way farther from the
shore, intending to visit the other island in the morning, which had
been seen to the westward of that before which the ship lay, and which
is distant about sixty-nine leagues from the Islands of Disappointment,
in the direction of W.1/2 S.
The next morning at six o'clock, I made sail for the island which I
intended to visit, and when I reached it, I steered S.W. by W. close
along the north-east side of it, but could get no soundings: This side
is about six or seven leagues long, and the whole makes much the same
appearance as the other, having a large salt-water lake in the middle of
it. As soon as the ship came in sight, the natives ran down to the beach
in great numbers: They were armed in the same manner as those that we
had seen upon the other island, and kept abreast of the ship for several
leagues. As the heat of this climate is very great, they seemed to
suffer much by running so far in the sun, for they sometimes plunged
into the sea, and sometimes fell flat upon the sand, that the surf might
break over them, after which they renewed the race with great vigour.
Our boats were at this time sounding along the shore, as usual, but I
had given strict orders to the officers who commanded them never to
molest the natives, except it should become absolutely necessary for
their own defence, but to try all possible means to obtain their
confidence and good will: Our people therefore went as near to the shore
as they durst for the surf, and made signs that they wanted water; the
Indians readily understood them, and directed them to run down farther
along the shore, which they did, till they came abreast of such a
cluster of houses as we had just left upon the other island; to this
place the Indians still followed them, and were there joined by many
others: The boats immediately hauled close into the surf, and we
brought-to, with the ships, at a little distance from the shore, upon
which a stout old man, with a long white beard, that gave him a very
venerable appearance, came down from the houses to the beach. He was
attended by a young man, and appeared to have the authority of a chief
or king: The rest of the Indians, at a signal which he made, retired to
a little distance, and he then advanced quite to the water's edge; in
one hand he held the green branch of a tree, and in the other he grasped
his beard, which he pressed to his bosom; in this attitude he made a
long oration, or rather song, for it had a musical cadence which was by
no means disagreeable. We regretted infinitely that we could not
understand what he said to us, and not less that he could not understand
any thing which we should say to him; to shew our good-will, however, we
threw him some trifling presents, while he was yet speaking, but he
would neither touch them himself, nor suffer them to be touched by
others till he had done: He then walked into the water, and threw our
people the green branch, after which he took up the things which had
been thrown from the boats. Every thing now having a friendly
appearance, our people made signs that they should lay down their arms,
and most of them having complied, one of the midshipmen, encouraged by
this testimony of confidence and friendship, leaped out of the boat with
his clothes on, and swam through the surf to shore. The Indians
immediately gathered round him, and began to examine his clothes with
great curiosity; they seemed particularly to admire his waistcoat, and
being willing to gratify his new friends, he took it off, and presented
it to them; this courtesy, however, produced a disagreeable effect, for
he had no sooner given away his waistcoat; than one of the Indians very
ingeniously untied his cravat, and the next moment snatched it from his
neck, and ran away with it. Our adventurer, therefore, to prevent his
being stripped by piece-meal, made the best of his way back again to the
boat: Still, however, we were upon good terms, and several of the
Indians swam off to our people, some of them bringing a cocoa-nut, and
others a little fresh water in a cocoa-nut shell. But the principal
object of our boats was to obtain some pearls; and the men, to assist
them in explaining their meaning, had taken with them some of the pearl
oyster-shells which they had found in great numbers upon the coast; but
all their endeavours were ineffectual, for they could not, even with
this assistance, at all make themselves understood. It is indeed
probable that we should have succeeded better, if an intercourse of any
kind could have been established between us, but it was our misfortune
that no anchorage could be found for the ships. As all Indians are fond
of beads, it can scarcely be supposed that the pearls, which the oysters
at this place contained, were overlooked by the natives, and it is more
than probable that if we could have continued here a few weeks, we might
have obtained some of great value in exchange for nails, hatchets, and
billhooks, upon which the natives, with more reason, set a much higher
value. We observed, that in the lake, or lagoon, there were two or three
very large vessels, one of which had two masts, and some cordage aloft
to support them.
To these two islands, I gave the name of King George's Islands, in
honour of his majesty. That which we last visited, lies in latitude
14°41'S., longitude 149°15'W; the variation of the compass here was 5°E.