_Transactions while the Ship was refitting in Endeavour River: A
Description of the adjacent Country, its Inhabitants and Productions_.
In the morning of Monday the 18th, a stage was made from the ship to the
shore, which was so bold that she floated at twenty feet distance: Two
tents were also set up, one for the sick, and the other for stores and
provisions, which were landed in the course of the day. We also landed
all the empty water-casks, and part of the stores. As soon as the tent
for the sick was got ready for their reception, they were sent ashore to
the number of eight or nine, and the boat was dispatched to haul the
seine, in hopes of procuring some fish for their refreshment; but she
returned without success. In the mean time, I climbed one of the highest
hills among those that overlooked the harbour, which afforded by no
means a comfortable prospect: The low land near the river is wholly
over-run with mangroves, among which the salt water flows every tide;
and the high land appeared to be everywhere stoney and barren. In the
mean time, Mr Banks had also taken a walk up the country, and met with
the frames of several old Indian houses, and places where they had
dressed shell-fish; but they seemed not to have been frequented for some
months. Tupia, who had employed himself in angling, and lived entirely
upon what he caught, recovered in a surprising degree; but Mr Green
still continued to be extremely ill.
The next morning I got the four remaining guns out of the hold, and
mounted them upon the quarter-deck; I also got a spare anchor and
anchor-stock ashore, and the remaining part of the stores and ballast
that were in the hold; set up the smith's forge, and employed the
armourer and his mate to make nails and other necessaries for the repair
of the ship. In the afternoon, all the officers' stores and ground tier
of water were got out, so that nothing remained in the fore and main
hold but the coals, and a small quantity of stone ballast. This day Mr
Banks crossed the river to take a view of the country on the other side;
he found it consist principally of sand-hills, where he saw some Indian
houses, which appeared to have been very lately inhabited. In his walk
he met with vast flocks of pigeons and crows: Of the pigeons, which were
exceedingly beautiful, he shot several; but the crows, which were
exactly like those in England, were so shy that he could not get within
reach of them.
On the 20th, we landed the powder and got out the stone ballast and
wood, which brought the ship's draught of water to eight feet ten inches
forward, and thirteen feet abaft; and this I thought, with the
difference that would be made of trimming the coals aft, would be
sufficient; for I found that the water rose and fell perpendicularly
eight feet at the spring-tides: But as soon as the coals were trimmed
from over the leak, we could hear the water rush in a little abaft the
foremast, about three feet from the keel; this determined me to clear
the hold entirely. This evening Mr Banks observed that in many parts of
the inlet there were large quantities of pumice-stones, which lay at a
considerable distance above high-water mark, whither they might have
been carried either by the freshes or extraordinary high tides, for
there could be no doubt but that they came from the sea.
The next morning we went early to work, and by four o'clock in the
afternoon had got out all the coals, cast the moorings loose, and warped
the ship a little higher up the harbour to a place which I thought most
convenient for laying her ashore in order to stop the leak. Her draught
of water forward was now seven feet nine inches, and abaft thirteen feet
six inches. At eight o'clock, it being high water, I hauled her bow
close ashore, but kept her stern afloat, because I was afraid of neiping
her; it was however necessary to lay the whole of her as near the ground
as possible.
At two o'clock in the morning of the 22d, the tide left her, and gave us
an opportunity to examine the leak, which we found to be at her
floor-heads, a little before the starboard fore-chains. In this place
the rocks had made their way through four planks, and even into the
timbers; three more planks were much damaged, and the appearance of
these breaches was very extraordinary: There was not a splinter to be
seen, but all was so smooth as if the whole had been cut away by an
instrument: The timbers in this place were happily very close, and if
they had not, it would have been absolutely impossible to have saved the
ship. But after all, her preservation depended upon a circumstance still
more remarkable: One of the holes, which was big enough to have sunk us,
if we had had eight pumps instead of four, and been able to keep them
incessantly going, was in great measure plugged up by a fragment of the
rock, which, after having made the wound, was left sticking in it, so
that the water which at first had gained upon our pumps was what came in
at the interstices, between the stone and the edges of the hole that
received it. We found also several pieces of the fothering, which had
made their way between the timbers, and in a great measure stopped those
parts of the leak which the stone had left open. Upon further
examination, we found that, besides the leak, considerable damage had
been done to the bottom; great part of the sheathing was gone from under
the larboard bow; a considerable part of the false keel was also
wanting, and these indeed we had seen swim away in fragments from the
vessel, while she lay beating against the rock: The remainder of it was
in so shattered a condition, that it had better have been gone; and the
fore foot and main keel were also damaged, but not so as to produce any
immediate danger: What damage she might have received abaft could not
yet be exactly known, but we have reason to think it was not much, as
but little water made its way into her bottom, while the tide kept below
the leak which has already been described. By nine o'clock in the
morning the carpenters got to work upon her, while the smiths were busy
in making bolts and nails. In the mean time, some of the people were
sent on the other side of the water to shoot pigeons for the sick, who
at their return reported that they had seen an animal as large as a
greyhound, of a slender make, a mouse-colour, and extremely swift; they
discovered also many Indian houses, and a fine stream of fresh water.
The next morning I sent a boat to haul the seine; but at noon it
returned with only three fish, and yet we saw them in plenty leaping
about the harbour. This day the carpenter finished the repairs that were
necessary on the starboard side; and at nine o'clock in the evening we
heeled the ship the other way, and hauled her off about two feet for
fear of neiping. This day almost every body had seen the animal which
the pigeon-shooters had brought an account of the day before; and one of
the seamen, who had been rambling in the woods, told us at his return
that he verily believed he had seen the devil: We naturally enquired in
what form he had appeared, and his answer was in so singular a style,
that I shall set down his own words: "He was," says John, "as large as
a one gallon keg and very like it; he had horns and wings, yet he crept
so slowly through, the grass, that if I had not been afeard I might have
touched him." This formidable apparition we afterwards discovered to
have been a batt; and the batts here must be acknowledged to have a
frightful appearance, for they are nearly black, and full as large as a
partridge; they have indeed no horns, but the fancy of a man who thought
he saw the devil, might easily supply that defect.
Early on the 24th the carpenters began to repair the sheathing under the
larboard bow, where we found two planks cut about half through; and in
the mean time I sent a party of men, under the direction of Mr Gore, in
search, of refreshments for the sick: This party returned about noon
with a few palm cabbages, and a bunch or two of wild plantain; the
plantains were the smallest I had ever seen, and the pulp, though it was
well tasted, was full of small stones. As I was walking this morning at
a little distance from the ship, I saw myself one of the animals which
had been so often described; it was of a light mouse-colour, and in size
and shape very much resembling a greyhound; it had a long tail also,
which it carried like a greyhound; and I should have taken it for a
wild-dog, if, instead of running, it had not leapt like a hare or deer:
Its legs were said to be very slender, and the print of its foot to be
like that of a goat; but where I saw it the grass was so high that the
legs were concealed, and the ground was too hard to receive the track.
Mr Banks also had an imperfect view of this animal, and was of opinion
that its species was hitherto unknown.[83]
[Footnote 83: It is almost superfluous to tell any reader now that the
animal mentioned is the kangaroo, of which specimens are to be seen in
nearly every travelling collection of wild beasts.--E.]
After the ship was hauled ashore, all the water that came into her of
course went backwards; so that although she was dry forwards, she had
nine feet water abaft: As in this part therefore her bottom could not be
examined on the inside, I took the advantage of the tide being out this
evening to get the master and two of the men to go under her, and
examine her whole larboard side without. They found the sheathing gone
about the floor-heads abreast of the main-mast, and part of a plank a
little damaged; but all agreed that she had received no other material
injury. The loss of her sheathing alone was a great misfortune, as the
worm would now be let into her bottom, which might expose us to great
inconvenience and danger; but as I knew no remedy for the mischief but
heaving her down, which would be a work of immense labour and long time,
if practicable at all in our present situation, I was obliged to be
content. The carpenters however continued to work under her bottom in
the evening till they were prevented by the tide; the morning tide did
not ebb out far enough to permit them to work at all, for we had only
one tolerable high and low tide in four-and-twenty hours, as indeed we
had experienced when we lay upon the rock. The position of the ship,
which threw the water in her abaft, was very near depriving the world of
all the knowledge which Mr Banks had endured so much labour, and so many
risks, to procure; for he had removed the curious collection of plants
which he made during the whole voyage into the bread-room, which lies in
the after-part of the ship, as a place of the greatest security; and
nobody having thought of the danger to which laying her head so much
higher than the stem would expose them, they were this day found under
water. Most of them however were, by indefatigable care and attention,
restored to a state of preservation, but some were entirely spoilt and
destroyed.
The 25th was employed in filling water and overhauling the rigging, and
at low-water the carpenters finished the repairs under the larboard bow,
and every other place which the tide would permit them to come at; some
casks were then lashed under her bows to facilitate her floating, and at
night, when it was high water, we endeavoured to heave her off, but
without success, for some of the casks that were lashed to her gave way.
The morning of the 26th was employed in getting more casks ready for the
same purpose, and in the afternoon we lashed no less than
eight-and-thirty under the ship's bottom, but to our great mortification
these also proved ineffectual, and we found ourselves reduced to the
necessity of waiting till the next spring-tide.
This day some of our gentlemen who had made an excursion into the woods,
brought home the leaves of a plant which was thought to be the same that
in the West Indies is called coccos; but upon trial the roots proved too
acrid to be eaten; the leaves, however, were little inferior to
spinnage. In the place where these plants were gathered, grew plenty of
the cabbage trees which have occasionally been mentioned before, a kind
of wild plantain, the fruit of which was so full of stones as scarcely
to be eatable; another fruit was also found about the size of a small
golden pippin, but flatter, and of a deep purple colour: When first
gathered from the tree, it was very hard and disagreeable, but after
being kept a few days became soft, and tasted very much like an
indifferent damascene.
The next morning we began to move some of the weight from the after-part
of the ship forward, to ease her; in the mean time the armourer
continued to work at the forge, the carpenter was busy in caulking the
ship, and the men employed in filling water and overhauling the rigging:
In the forenoon, I went myself in the pinnace up the harbour, and made
several hauls with the seine, but caught only between twenty and thirty
fish, which were given to the sick and convalescent.
On the 28th, Mr Banks went with some of the seamen up the country, to
shew them the plant which in the West Indies is called Indian kale, and
which served us for greens. Tupia had much meliorated the root of the
coccos, by giving them a long dressing in his country oven, but they
were so small that we did not think them an object for the ship. In
their walk they found one tree which had been notched for the
convenience of climbing it, in the same manner with those, we had seen
in Botany Bay: They saw also many nests of white ants, which resemble
those of the East Indies, the most pernicious insects in the world. The
nests were of a pyramidical figure, from a few inches to six feet high,
and very much resembled the stones in England, which are said to be
monuments of the Druids. Mr Gore who was also this day four or five
miles up the country, reported that he had seen the footsteps of men,
and tracked animals of three or four different sorts, but had not been
fortunate enough to see either man or beast.
At two o'clock in the morning of the 20th, I observed, in conjunction
with Mr Green, an emersion of Jupiter's first satellite; the time here
was 2h 18' 53", which gave the longitude of this place 214° 42' 30" W.;
its latitude is 15° 26' S. At break of day, I sent the boat out again
with the seine, and in the afternoon it returned with as much fish as
enabled me to give every man a pound and a half. One of my midshipmen,
an American, who was this day abroad with his gun, reported that he had
seen a wolf, exactly like those which he had been used to see in his own
country, and that he had shot at it, but did not kill it.
The next morning, encouraged by the success of the day before, I sent
the boat again to haul the seine, and another party to gather greens: I
sent also some of the young gentlemen to take a plan of the harbour, and
went myself upon a hill, which lies over the south point, to take a view
of the sea. At this time it was low water, and I saw, with great
concern, innumerable sand-banks and shoals lying all along the coast in
every direction. The innermost lay about three or four miles from the
shore, the outermost extended as far as I could see with my glass, and
many of them did but just rise above water. There was some appearance of
a passage to the northward, and I had no hope of getting clear but in
that direction, for as the wind blows constantly from the S.E., it would
have been difficult, if not impossible, to return back to the southward.
Mr Gore reported that he had this day seen two animals like dogs, of a
straw colour, that they ran like a hare, and were about the same size.
In the afternoon, the people returned from hauling the seine, with still
better success than before, for I was now able to distribute two pounds
and an half to each man: The greens that had been gathered I ordered to
be boiled among the peas, and they made an excellent mess, which, with
copious supplies of fish, afforded us unspeakable refreshment.
The next day, July the 1st, being Sunday, every body had liberty to go
ashore, except one from each mess, who were again sent out with the
seine. The seine was again equally successful, and the people who went
up the country gave an account of having seen several animals, though
none of them were to be caught. They saw a fire also about a mile up the
river, and Mr Gore, the second lieutenant, picked up the husk of a
cocoa-nut, which had been cast upon the beach, and was full of
barnacles: This probably might come from some island to windward,
perhaps from the Terra del Espirito Santo of Quiros, as we were now in
the latitude where it is said to lie. This day the thermometer in the
shade rose to 87, which was higher than it had been on any day since we
came upon this coast.
Early the next morning, I sent the master in the pinnace out of the
harbour, to sound about the shoals in the offing, and look for a channel
to the northward: At this time we had a breeze from the land, which
continued till about nine o'clock, and was the first we had since our
coming into the river. At low water we lashed some empty casks under the
ship's bows, having some hope that as the tides were rising she would
float the next high water. We still continued to fish with great
success, and at high water we again attempted to heave the ship off, but
our utmost efforts were still ineffectual.
The next day at noon the master returned, and reported that he had found
a passage out to sea between the shoals, and described its situation.
The shoals, he said, consisted of coral rocks, many of which were dry at
low water, and upon one of which he had been ashore. He found here some
cockles of so enormous a size, that one of them was more than two men
could eat, and a great variety of other shell-fish, of which he brought
us a plentiful supply: In the evening he had also landed in a bay about
three leagues to the northward of our station, where he disturbed some
of the natives who were at supper; they all fled with the greatest
precipitation at his approach, leaving some fresh sea-eggs, and a fire
ready kindled, behind them, but there was neither house nor hovel near
the place. We observed that although the shoals that lie just within
sight of the coast, abound with shell-fish, which may be easily caught
at low water; yet we saw no such shells about the fire-places on shore.
This day an allegator was seen to swim about us for some time; and at
high water we made another effort to float the ship, which happily
succeeded: We found however that by lying so long with her head
a-ground, and her stern a-float, she had sprung a plank between decks,
a-breast of the main-chains, so that it was become necessary to lay her
ashore again.
The next morning was employed in trimming her upon an even keel, and in
the afternoon, having warped her over, and waited for high water, we
laid her ashore on the sandbank on the south side of the river; for the
damage she had received already from the great descent of the ground,
made me afraid to lay her broad-side to the shore in the same place from
which we had just floated her. I was now very desirous to make another
trial to come at her bottom, where the sheathing had been rubbed off,
but though she had scarcely four feet water under her, when the tide was
out, yet that part was not dry.
On the 5th, I got one of the carpenter's crew, a man in whom I could
confide, to go down again to the ship's bottom, and examine the place.
He reported, that three streaks of the sheathing, about eight feet long,
were wanting, and that the main plank had been a little rubbed. This
account perfectly agreed with the report of the master, and others, who
had been under her bottom before: I had the comfort, however, to find
the carpenter of opinion that this would be of little consequence, and
therefore, the other damage being repaired, she was again floated at
high water, and moored alongside the beach, where the stores had been
deposited; we then went to work to take the stores on board, and put her
in a condition for the sea. This day, Mr Banks crossed to the other side
of the harbour, where, as he walked along a sandy beach, he found
innumerable fruits, and many of them such as no plants which he had
discovered in this country produced: Among others were some cocoa-nuts,
which Tupia said had been opened by a kind of crab, which from his
description we judged to be the same that the Dutch call _Beurs Krabbe_,
and which we had not seen in these seas. All the vegetable substances
which he found in this place were encrusted with marine productions, and
covered with barnacles; a sure sign that they must have come far by sea,
and, as the trade-wind blows right upon the shore, probably from Terra
del Espirito Santo, which has been mentioned already.
The next morning, Mr Banks, with Lieutenant Gore, and three men, set out
in a small boat up the river, with a view to spend two or three days in
an excursion, to examine the country, and kill some of the animals which
had been so often seen at a distance.
On the 7th, I sent the master again out to sound about the shoals, the
account which he had brought me of the channel being by no means
satisfactory; and we spent the remainder of this day, and the morning of
the next, in fishing, and other necessary occupations.
About four o'clock in the afternoon, Mr Banks and his party returned,
and gave us an account of their expedition. Having proceeded about three
leagues among swamps and mangroves, they went up into the country, which
they found to differ but little from what they had seen before: They
pursued their course therefore up the river, which at length was
contracted into a narrow channel, and was bounded, not by swamps and
mangroves, but by steep banks, that were covered with trees of a most
beautiful verdure, among which was that which in the West Indies is
called _Mohoe_, or the bark tree, the _hibiscus tiliaceus_; the land
within was in general low, and had a thick covering of long grass: The
soil seemed to be such as promised great fertility to any who should
plant and improve it. In the course of the day, Tupia saw an animal,
which, by his description, Mr Banks judged to be a wolf: They also saw
three other animals, but could neither catch nor kill one of them, and a
kind of bat, as large, as a partridge, but this also eluded all their
diligence and skill. At night, they took up their lodging close to the
banks of the river, and made a fire, but the musquitos swarmed about
them in such numbers, that their quarters were almost untenable: They
followed them into the smoke, and almost into the fire, which, hot as
the climate was, they could better endure than the stings of these
insects, which were an intolerable torment. The fire, the flies, and the
want of a better bed than the ground, rendered the night extremely
uncomfortable, so that they passed it not in sleep, but in restless
wishes for the return of day. With the first dawn they set out in search
of game, and in a walk of many miles, they saw four animals of the same
kind, two of which Mr Banks's greyhound fairly chaced, but they threw
him out at a great distance, by leaping over the long thick grass, which
prevented his running: This animal was observed not to run upon four
legs, but to bound or hop forward upon two, like the _Jerbua_, or _Mus
Jaculus_. About noon, they returned to the boat, and again proceeded up
the river, which was soon contracted into a fresh-water brook, where,
however, the tide rose to a considerable height. As evening approached,
it became low water, and it was then so shallow that they were obliged
to get out of the boat and drag her along, till they could find a place
in which they might, with some hope of rest, pass the night. Such a
place at length offered, and while they were getting the things out of
the boat, they observed a smoke at the distance of about a furlong: As
they did not doubt but that some of the natives, with whom they had so
long and earnestly desired to become personally acquainted, were about
the fire, three of the party went immediately towards it, hoping that so
small a number would not put them to flight: When they came up to the
place, however, they found it deserted, and therefore they conjectured,
that before they had discovered the Indians, the Indians had discovered
them. They found the fire still burning, in the hollow of an old tree
that was become touch-wood, and several branches of trees newly broken
down, with which children had been playing: They observed also many
footsteps upon the sand, below high-water mark, which were certain
indications that the Indians had been recently upon the spot. Several
houses were found at a little distance, and some ovens dug in the
ground, in the same manner as those of Otaheite, in which victuals
appeared to have been dressed since the morning; and scattered about
them, lay some shells of a kind of clamm, and some fragments of roots,
the refuse of the meal. After regretting their disappointment, they
repaired to their quarters, which was a broad sand-bank, under the
shelter of a bush. Their beds were plantain leaves, which they spread
upon the sand, and which were as soft as a mattress; their cloaks served
them for bed-clothes, and some bunches of grass for pillows: With these
accommodations they hoped to pass a better night than the last,
especially as, to their great comfort, not a musquito was to be seen.
Here then they lay down, and, such is the force of habit, they resigned
themselves to sleep, without once reflecting upon the probability and
danger of being found by the Indians in that situation. If this appears
strange, let us for a moment reflect, that every danger, and every
calamity, after a time becomes familiar, and loses its effect upon the
mind. If it were possible that a man should first be made acquainted
with his mortality, or even with the inevitable debility and infirmities
of old age, when his understanding had arrived at its full strength, and
life was endeared by the enjoyments of youth, and vigour, and health,
with what an agony of terror and distress would the intelligence be
received! yet, being gradually acquainted with these mournful truths, by
insensible degrees, we scarce know when, they lose all their force, and
we think no more of the approach of old age and death, than these
wanderers of an unknown desert did of a less obvious and certain evil,
the approach of the native savages, at a time when they must have fallen
an easy prey to their malice or their fears. And it is remarkable, that
the greater part of those who have been condemned to suffer a violent
death, have slept the night immediately preceding their execution,
though there is perhaps no instance of a person accused of a capital
crime having slept the first night of his confinement. Thus is the evil
of life in some degree a remedy for itself, and though every man at
twenty deprecates fourscore, almost every man is as tenacious of life at
fourscore as at twenty; and if he does not suffer under any painful
disorder, loses as little of the comforts that remain by reflecting that
he is upon the brink of the grave, where the earth already crumbles
under his feet, as he did of the pleasures of his better days, when his
dissolution, though certain, was supposed to be at a distance.[84]
[Footnote 84: The reader will receive this hypothetical statement as he
finds it agreeable, or not, to his own experience,--a better guide, in
all probability, than mere philosophy. The writer has his doubts upon
the subject. But let every one judge for himself. For his part, he is
convinced that frequent contemplation of death, though it certainly aids
the mind in reasoning about it, does not lessen the apprehension of it,
but the reverse: so that, did not _some peculiar principle_ come to his
aid, and seem indeed to acquire continually more clearness and
efficiency, his distress or uneasy feeling would be much heightened by
the exercise. But he sees no reason either to expect, or to wish, that
it may be ever otherwise with him; for he is persuaded, that much of
man's dignity and welfare consists in his seeing things just as they
are, without any disguise or delusion; and that whatever death really
is, there is an infallible remedy provided against its greatest terrors,
to which he can always have recourse. So far, on the other hand, as his
observation on others, which has not been small, extends, he would
notice, that, on the whole, young persons die more easily than the aged;
he means, they submit to that event, when really imminent, with more
apparent tranquillity, though, when at a distance, they are much less
disposed either to think or to speak about it. It will not be easy to
reconcile these two facts with the reasoning in the text. But to be
sure, a wider induction is requisite for the establishment of any
theory. This is not the place for it. The instances adduced by Dr H. in
support of his theory, are explicable on another principle, viz. that
every excitement of mind or body is followed by a depression precisely
proportioned to its intensity. This seems a law in our economy,
deducible from almost unlimited observation, and of extreme importance,
both in point of fact, and as a principle for discussion. Before ending
this note, it is suggested to the reader, to consult, on the subjects of
it, his own heart and mind, in preference to all the books ever written,
_save one_. If that one enforce the dictates promulgated within, and at
the same time minister consolation, he will smile at philosophy, and
gain the best victory over the fear of death. To him then,
notwithstanding every outward difficulty to which he can possibly be
exposed, and all that inward strife and humiliation which he cannot but
experience, the words of Cowper will be expressively applicable:--
"Therefore in Contemplation is his bliss,
Whose power is such, that whom she lifts from earth
She makes familiar with a heaven unseen,
And shows him glories yet to be revealed."
But this is a mystery!--E.]
Our travellers having slept, without once awaking, till the morning,
examined the river, and finding the tide favoured their return, and the
country promised nothing worthy of a farther search, they re-embarked in
their boat, and made the best of their way to the ship.
Soon after the arrival of this party, the master also returned, having
been seven leagues out to sea, and he was now of opinion that there was
no getting out where before, he thought there had been a passage: His
expedition, however, was by no means without its advantage; for having
been a second time upon the rock where he had seen the large cockles, he
met with a great number of turtle, three of which he caught, that
together weighed seven hundred and ninety-one pounds, though he had no
better instrument than a boat-hook.
The next morning, therefore, I sent him out again, with proper
instruments for taking them, and Mr Banks went with him; but the success
did not at all answer our expectations, for, by the unaccountable
conduct of the officer, not a single turtle was taken, nor could he be
persuaded to return: Mr Banks, however, went ashore upon the reef, where
he saw several of the large cockles, and having collected many shells
and marine productions, he returned at eleven o'clock at night in his
own small boat, the master still continuing with the large one upon the
rock. In the afternoon, seven or eight of the natives had appeared on
the south side of the river, and two of them came down to the sandy
point, opposite to the ship; but upon seeing me put off in a boat to
speak with them, they all ran away with the greatest precipitation.
As the master continued absent with the boat all night, I was forced to
send the second lieutenant for him early the next morning in the yawl;
and soon after, four of the natives appeared upon the sandy point, on
the north side of the river, having with them a small wooden canoe, with
out-riggers: They seemed for some time to be busily employed in striking
fish. Some of our people were for going over to them in a boat, but this
I would by no means permit, repeated experience having convinced me that
it was more likely to prevent, than procure an interview. I was
determined to try what could be done by a contrary method, and
accordingly let them alone, without appearing to take the least notice
of them: This succeeded so well, that at length two of them came in the
canoe within a musket-shot of the ship, and there talked a great deal in
a very loud tone. We understood nothing that they said, and therefore
could answer their harangue only by shouting, and making all the signs
of invitation and kindness that we could devise. During this conference,
they came, insensibly, nearer and nearer, holding up their lances, not
in a threatening manner, but as if to intimate that if we offered them
any injury, they had weapons to revenge it. When they were almost
along-side of us, we threw them some cloth, nails, beads, paper, and
other trifles, which they received without the least appearance of
satisfaction: At last, one of the people happened to throw them a small
fish; at this they expressed the greatest joy imaginable, and
intimating, by signs, that they would fetch their companions,
immediately paddled away towards the shore. In the mean time some of our
people, and among them Tupia, landed on the opposite side of the river.
The canoe, with all the four Indians, very soon returned to the ship,
and came quite along-side, without expressing any fear or distrust. We
distributed some more presents among them, and soon after they left us,
and landed on the same side of the river where our people had gone
ashore: Every man carried in his hand two lances, and a stick, which is
used in throwing them, and advanced to the place where Tupia and the
rest of our people were sitting. Tupia soon prevailed upon them to lay
down their arms, and come forward without them: He then made signs that
they should sit down by him, with which they complied, and seemed to be
under no apprehension or constraint: Several more of us then going
ashore, they expressed some jealousy lest we should get between them and
their arms; we took care, however, to shew them that we had no such
intention, and having joined them, we made them some more presents, as a
farther testimony of our good-will, and our desire to obtain theirs. We
continued together, with the utmost cordiality, till dinner-time, and
then giving them to understand that we were going to eat, we invited
them, by signs, to go with us: This, however, they declined, and as soon
as we left them, they went away in their canoe. One of these men was
somewhat above the middle age, the other three were young; they were in
general of the common stature, but their limbs were remarkably small;
their skin was of the colour of wood soot, or what would be called a
dark chocolate colour; their hair was black, but not woolly; it was
short cropped, in some lank, and in others curled. Dampier says, that
the people whom he saw on the western coast of this country wanted two
of their fore-teeth, but these had no such defect. Some part of their
bodies had been painted red, and the upper-lip and breast of one of them
was painted with streaks of white, which he called _Carbanda_; their
features were far from disagreeable, their eyes were lively, and their
teeth even and white; their voices were soft and tunable, and they
repeated many words after us with great facility. In the night, Mr Gore
and the master returned with the long-boat, and brought one turtle and a
few shell-fish. The yawl had been left upon the shoal with six men, to
make a farther trial for turtle.
The next morning, we had another visit from four of the natives; three
of them had been with us before, but the fourth was a stranger, whose
name, as we learnt from his companions who introduced him, was
_Yaparico_. This gentleman was distinguished by an ornament of a very
striking appearance: It was the bone of a bird, nearly as thick as a
man's finger, and five or six inches long, which he had thrust into a
hole made in the gristle that divides the nostrils. Of this we had seen
one instance, and only one, in New Zealand; but upon examination, we
found that among all these people this part of the nose was perforated,
to receive an ornament of the same kind: They had also holes in their
ears, though nothing was then hanging to them, and had bracelets upon
the upper part of their arms, made of plaited hair; so that, like the
inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, they seem to be fond of ornament, though
they are absolutely without apparel; and one of them, to whom I had
given part of an old shirt, instead of throwing it over any part of his
body, tied it as a fillet round his head. They brought with them a fish,
which they gave us, as we supposed, in return for the fish that we had
given them the day before. They seemed to be much pleased, and in no
haste to leave us; but seeing some of our gentlemen examine their canoe
with great curiosity and attention, they were alarmed, and jumping
immediately into it, paddled away without speaking a word.
About two the next morning, the yawl, which had been left upon the
shoal, returned, with three turtles and a large skeat. As it seemed now
probable that this fishery might be prosecuted with advantage, I sent
her out again, after breakfast, for a further supply. Soon after, three
Indians ventured down to Tupia's tent, and were so well pleased with
their reception, that one of them went with the canoe to fetch two
others whom we had never seen: When he returned, he introduced the
strangers by name, a ceremony which, upon such occasions, was never
omitted. As they had received the fish that was thrown into their canoe,
when they first approached the ship, with so much pleasure, some fish
was offered to them now, and we were greatly surprised to see that it
was received with the greatest indifference: They made signs, however,
to some of the people, that they should dress it for them, which was
immediately done, but after eating a little of it, they threw the rest
to Mr Banks's dog. They staid with us all the forenoon, but would never
venture above twenty yards from their canoe. We now perceived that the
colour of their skin was not so dark as it appeared, what we had taken
for their complexion, being the effects of dirt and smoke, in which, we
imagined, they contrived to sleep, notwithstanding the heat of the
climate, as the only means in their power to keep off the musquitos.
Among other things that we had given them when we first saw them, were
some medals, which we had hung round their necks by a ribband; and these
ribbands were so changed by smoke, that we could not easily distinguish
of what colour they had been: This incident led us more narrowly to
examine the colour of their skin. While these people were with us, we
saw two others on the point of land that lay on the opposite side of the
river, at the distance of about two hundred yards, and by our glasses
discovered them to be a woman and a boy; the woman, like the rest, being
stark naked. We observed, that all of them were remarkably clean-limbed,
and exceedingly active and nimble. One of these strangers had a necklace
of shells, very prettily made, and a bracelet upon his arm, formed of
several strings, so as to resemble what in England is called gymp: Both
of them had a piece of bark tied over the forehead, and were disfigured
by the bone in the nose. We thought their language more harsh than that
of the islanders in the South Sea, and they were continually repeating
the word _chercau_, which we imagined to be a term expressing
admiration, by the manner in which it was uttered: They also cried out,
when they saw any thing new, _Cher, tut, tut, tut, tut_! which probably
had a similar signification. Their canoe was not above ten feel long,
and very narrow, but it was fitted with an outrigger, much like those of
the islands, though in every respect very much inferior: When it was in
shallow water, they set it on with poles, and when in deep, they worked
it with paddles about four feet long: It contained just four people, so
that the people who visited us to-day went away at two turns. Their
lances were like those that we had seen in Botany Bay, except that they
had but a single point, which in some of them was the sting of the ray,
and barbed with two or three sharp bones of the same fish: It was indeed
a most terrible weapon, and the instrument which they used in throwing
it, seemed to be formed with more art than any we had seen before. About
twelve o'clock next day, the yawl returned, with another turtle, and a
large sting-ray, and in the evening, was sent out again.
The next morning, two of the Indians came on board, but after a short
stay, went along the shore, and applied themselves with great diligence
to the striking of fish. Mr Gore, who went out this day with his gun,
had the good fortune to kill one of the animals which had been so much
the subject of our speculation. This animal is called by the natives
_Kangaroo_. The next day it was dressed for dinner, and proved most
excellent meat; we might now indeed be said to fare sumptuously every
day, for we had turtle in great plenty, and we all agreed that they were
much better than any we had tasted in England, which we imputed to their
being eaten fresh from the sea, before their natural fat had been
wasted, or their juices changed by a diet and situation so different
from what the sea affords them, as garbage and a tub. Most of those that
we caught here, were of the kind called green turtle, and weighed from
two to three hundred weight, and when these were killed, they were
always found to be full of turtle-grass which our naturalists took to be
a kind of _conferva_: Two of them were loggerheads, the flesh of which
was much less delicious, and in their stomachs nothing was to be found
but shells.
In the morning of the 16th, while the people were employed as usual in
getting the ship ready for the sea, I climbed one of the hills on the
north side of the river, from which I had an extensive view of the
inland country, and found it agreeably diversified by hills, vallies,
and large plains, which in many places were richly covered with wood.
This evening, we observed an emersion of Jupiter's first satellite,
which gave 214° 53' 45" of longitude. The observation which was made on
the 29th of June gave 214° 42' 30"; the mean is 214° 48' 7-1/2", the
longitude of this place west of Greenwich.
On the 17th, I sent the master and one of the mates in the pinnace to
look for a channel to the northward; and I went myself with Mr Banks and
Dr Solander into the woods on the other side of the water. Tupia, who
had been thither by himself, reported, that he had seen three Indians
who had given him some roots about as thick as a man's finger, in shape
not much unlike a radish, and of a very agreeable taste. This induced us
to go over, hoping that we should be able to improve our acquaintance
with the natives; in a very little time we discovered four of them in a
canoe, who, as soon as they saw us, came ashore, and, though they were
all strangers, walked up to us, without any signs of suspicion or fear.
Two of these had necklaces of shells, which we could not persuade them
to part with for any thing we could give them: We presented them however
with some beads, and after a short stay they departed. We attempted to
follow them, hoping that they would conduct us to some place where we
should find more of them, and have an opportunity of seeing their women;
but they made us understand, by signs, that they did not desire our
company.
At eight o'clock the next morning, we were visited by several of the
natives, who were now become quite familiar. One of them, at our desire,
threw his lance, which was about eight feet-long: It flew with a
swiftness and steadiness that surprised us, and though it was never more
than four feet from the ground, it entered deeply into a tree at fifty
paces distance. After this they ventured on board, where I left them, to
all appearance, much entertained, and went again with Mr Banks to take a
view of the country; but chiefly to indulge an anxious curiosity, by
looking round us upon the sea, of which our wishes almost persuaded us
we had formed an idea more disadvantageous than the truth. After having
walked about seven or eight miles along the shore to the northward, we
ascended a very high hill, and were soon convinced that the danger of
our situation was at least equal to our apprehensions; for in whatever
direction we turned our eyes, we saw rocks and shoals without number,
and no passage out to sea, but through the winding channels between
them, which could not be navigated without the last degree of difficulty
and danger. We returned therefore to the ship, not in better spirits
than when we left it: We found several natives still on board, and we
were told that the turtles, of which we had no less than twelve upon the
deck, had fixed their attention more than any thing else in the ship.
On the 19th in the morning, we were visited by ten of the natives, the
greater part from the other side of the river, where we saw six or seven
more, most of them women, and, like all the rest of the people we had
seen in this country, they were stark naked. Our guests brought with
them a greater number of lances than they had ever done before, and
having laid them up in a tree, they set a man and a boy to watch them:
The rest then came on board, and we soon perceived that they had
determined to get one of our turtle, which was probably as great a
dainty to them as to us. They first asked us by signs, to give them one;
and being refused, they expressed, both by looks and gestures, great
disappointment and anger. At this time we happened to have no victuals
dressed, but I offered one of them some biscuit, which he snatched and
threw overboard with great disdain. One of them renewed his request to
Mr Banks, and upon a refusal stamped with his foot, and pushed him from
him in a transport of resentment and indignation: Having applied by
turns to almost every person who appeared to have any command in the
ship, without success, they suddenly seized two of the turtles, and
dragged them towards the side of the ship where their canoe lay: Our
people soon forced them out of their hands, and replaced them with the
rest. They would not however relinquish their enterprise, but made
several other attempts of the same kind, in all which being equally
disappointed, they suddenly leaped into their canoe in a rage, and began
to paddle towards the shore. At the same time I went into the boat with
Mr Banks, and five or six of the ship's crew, and we got ashore before
them, where many more of our people were already engaged in various
employments; as soon as they landed, they seized their arms, and before
we were aware of their design, they snatched a brand from under a pitch
kettle which was boiling, and making a circuit to the windward of the
few things we had on shore, they set fire to the grass in their way,
with surprising quickness and dexterity: The grass, which was five or
six feet high, and as dry as stubble, burnt with amazing fury; and the
fire made a rapid progress towards a tent of Mr Banks's, which had been
set up for Tupia when he was sick, taking in its course a sow and pigs,
one of which it scorched to death. Mr Banks leaped into a boat, and
fetched some people from on board, just time enough to save his tent, by
hauling it down upon the beach; but the smith's forge, at least such
part of it as would burn, was consumed. While this was doing, the
Indians went to a place at some distance, where several of our people
were washing, and where our nets, among which was the seine, and a great
quantity of linen, were laid out to dry; here they again set fire to the
grass, entirely disregarding both threats and entreaties. "We were
therefore obliged to discharge a musquet, loaded with small shot, at one
of them, which drew blood at the distance of about forty yards, and this
putting them to flight, we extinguished the fire at this place before it
had made much progress; but where the grass had been first kindled, it
spread into the woods to a great distance. As the Indians were still in
sight, I fired a musquet, charged with ball, abreast of them among the
mangroves, to convince them that they were not yet out of our reach:
Upon hearing the ball they quickened their pace, and we soon lost sight
of them. We thought they would now give us no more trouble; but soon
after we heard their voices in the woods, and perceived that they came
nearer and nearer. I set out, therefore, with Mr Banks and three or four
more, to meet them: When our parties came in sight of each other, they
halted; except one old man, who came forward to meet us: At length he
stopped, and having uttered some words, which we were very sorry we
could not understand, he went back to his companions, and the whole body
slowly retreated. We found means however to seize some of their darts,
and continued to follow them about a mile: We then sat down upon some
rocks, from which we could observe their motions, and they also sat down
at about an hundred yards distance. After a short time, the old man
again advanced towards us, carrying in his hand a lance without a point:
He stopped several times, at different distances, and spoke; we answered
by beckoning and making such signs of amity as we could devise; upon
which the messenger of peace, as we supposed him to be, turned and spoke
aloud to his companions, who then set up their lances against a tree,
and advanced towards us in a friendly manner: When they came up, we
returned the darts or lances that we had taken from them, and we
perceived with great satisfaction that this rendered the reconciliation
complete. We found in this party four persons whom we had never seen
before, who as usual were introduced to us by name; but the man who had
been wounded in the attempt to burn our nets and linen, was not among
them; we knew however that he could not be dangerously hurt, by the
distance at which the shot reached him. We made all of them presents of
such trinkets as we had about us, and they walked back with us towards
the ship: As we went along, they told us, by signs, that they would not
set fire to the grass any more; and we distributed among them some
musquet balls, and endeavoured to make them understand their use and
effect. When they came abreast of the ship, they sat down, but could not
be prevailed upon to come on board; we therefore left them, and in about
two hours they went away, soon after which we perceived the woods on
fire at about two miles distance. If this accident had happened a very
little while sooner, the consequence might have been dreadful; for our
powder had been aboard but a few-days, and the store-tent, with many
valuable things which it contained, had not been removed many hours. We
had no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in this hot climate,
nor consequently of the difficulty of extinguishing it; but we
determined, that if it should ever again be necessary for us to pitch
our tents in such a situation, our first measure should be to clear the
ground round us.
In the afternoon we got every thing on board the ship, new-birthed her,
and let her swing with the tide; and at night the master returned, with
the discouraging account that there was no passage for the ship to the
northward.
The next morning, at low water, I went and sounded and buoyed the bar,
the ship being now ready for sea. We saw no Indians this day, but all
the hills round us for many miles were on fire, which at night made a
most striking and beautiful appearance.
The 21st past without our getting sight of any of the inhabitants, and
indeed without a single incident worth notice. On the 22d, we killed a
turtle for the day's provision, upon opening which we found a wooden
harpoon or turtle-peg, about as thick as a man's finger, near fifteen
inches long, and bearded at the end, such as we had seen among the
natives, sticking through both shoulders: It appeared to have been
struck a considerable time, for the wound had perfectly healed up over
the weapon.
Early in the morning of the 23d, I sent some people into the country to
gather a supply of the greens which have been before mentioned by the
name of Indian Kale; one of them having straggled from the rest,
suddenly fell in with four Indians, three men and a boy, whom he did not
see, till, by turning short in the wood, he found himself among them.
They had kindled a fire, and were broiling a bird of some kind, and part
of a Kangaroo, the remainder of which, and a cockatoo, hung at a little
distance upon a tree: The man, being unarmed, was at first greatly
terrified; but he had the presence of mind not to run away, judging very
rightly, that he was most likely to incur danger by appearing to
apprehend it; on the contrary, he went and sat down by them, and, with
an air of chearfulness and good humour, offered them his knife, the only
thing he had about him which he thought would be acceptable to them;
they received it, and having handed it from one to the other, they gave
it him again: He then made an offer to leave them; but this they seemed
not disposed to permit: Still however he dissembled his fears, and sat
down again; they considered him with great attention and curiosity,
particularly his clothes, and then felt his hands and face, and
satisfied themselves that his body was of the same texture with their
own. They treated him with the greatest civility, and having kept him
about half an hour, they made signs that he might depart: He did not
wait for a second dismission, but when he left them, not taking the
direct way to the ship, they came from their fire, and directed him; so
that they well knew whence he came.
In the mean time, Mr Banks, having made an excursion on the other side
of the river to gather plants, found the greatest part of the cloth that
had been given to the Indians lying in a heap together, probably as
useless lumber, not worth carrying away; and perhaps if he had sought
further, he might have found the other trinkets; for they seemed to set
very little value upon any thing we had, except our turtle, which was a
commodity that we were least able to spare.
The blowing weather, which prevented our attempt to get out to sea,
still continuing, Mr Banks and Dr Solander went out again on the 24th to
see whether any new plant could be picked up: They traversed the woods
all day without success; but as they were returning through a deep
valley, the sides of which, though almost as perpendicular as a wall,
were covered with trees and bushes; they found lying upon the ground
several marking nuts, the _Anacardium orientate_; these put them upon a
new scent, and they made a most diligent search after the tree that bore
them, which perhaps no European botanist ever saw; but to their great
mortification they could not find it: So that, after spending much time,
and cutting down four or five trees, they returned quite exhausted with
fatigue to the ship.
On the 25th, having made an excursion up the river, I found a canoe
belonging to our friends the Indians, whom we had not seen since the
affair of the turtle; they had left it tied to some mangroves, about a
mile distant from the ship, and I could see by their fires that they
were retired at least six miles directly inland.
As Mr Banks was again gleaning the country for his Natural History on
the 26th, he had the good fortune to take an animal of the _Opossum_
tribe: It was a female, and with, it he took two young ones: It was
found much to resemble the remarkable animal of the kind which Mons. de
Buffon has described in his Natural History by the name of _Phalanger_,
but it was not the same. Mons. Buffon supposes this tribe to be peculiar
to America, but in this he is certainly mistaken; and probably, as
Pallas has observed in his Zoology, the Phalanger itself is a native of
the East Indies, as the animal which was caught by Mr Banks resembled it
in the extraordinary conformation of the feet, in which it differs from
animals of every other tribe.
On the 27th, Mr Gore shot a kangaroo, which, with the skin, entrails,
and head, weighed eighty-four pounds. Upon examination, however, we
found that this animal was not at its full growth, the innermost
grinders not being yet formed. We dressed it for dinner the next day;
but to our great disappointment, we found it had a much worse flavour
than that we had eaten before.
The wind continued in the same quarter, and with the same violence,
till five o'clock in the morning of the 29th, when it fell calm; soon
after a light breeze sprung up from the land, and it being about two
hours ebb, I sent a boat to see what water was upon the bar; in the mean
time we got the anchor up, and made all ready to put to sea. But when
the boat came back, the officer reported that there was only thirteen
feet water upon the bar, which was six inches less than the ship drew.
We were therefore obliged to come to, and the sea breeze setting in
again about eight o'clock; we gave up all hope of sailing that day.
We had fresh gales at S.E., with hazy weather and rain, till two in the
morning of the 31st, when the weather being something more moderate, I
had thoughts of trying to warp the ship out of the harbour; but upon
going out myself first in the boat, I found it still blow too fresh for
the attempt. During all this time the pinnace and yawl continued to ply
the net and hook with tolerable success; sometimes taking a turtle, and
frequently bringing in from two to three hundred-weight of fish.
On the 1st of August, the carpenter examined the pumps, and to our great
mortification, found them all in a state of decay, owing, as he said, to
the sap's being left in the wood; one of them was so rotten, as, when
hoisted up, to drop to pieces, and the rest were little better; so that
our chief trust was now in the soundness of our vessel, which happily
did not admit more than one inch of water in an hour.
At six o'clock in the morning of Friday the 3d, we made another
unsuccessful attempt to warp the ship out of the harbour; but at five
o'clock in the morning of the 4th, our efforts had a better effect, and
about seven we got once more under sail, with a light air from the land,
which soon died away, and was followed by the sea breezes from S.E. by
S., with which we stood off to sea E. by N., having the pinnace a-head,
which was ordered to keep sounding continually. The yawl had been sent
to the turtle bank to take up the net which had been left there; but as
the wind freshened, we got out before her. A little before noon we
anchored in fifteen fathom water, with a sandy bottom, for I did not
think it safe to run in among the shoals till I had well viewed them at
low water from the mast head, which might determine me which way to
steer; for as yet I was in doubt whether I should beat back to the
southward, round all the shoals, or seek a passage to the eastward or
the northward, all which at present appeared to be equally difficult and
dangerous. When we were at anchor, the harbour from which we sailed bore
S. 70 W., distant about five leagues; the northermost point of the main
in sight, which I named _Cape Bedford_, and which lies in latitude 15°
16' S. longitude 214° 45' W., bore N. 20 W., distant three leagues and a
half; but to the N.E. of this cape we could see land which had the
appearance of two high islands: The turtle banks bore east, distant one
mile; our latitude by observation was 15° 32' S., and our depth of water
in standing off from the land was from three and a half to fifteen
fathom.