CHAP. VII.
RANGE FROM CAPE TURNAGAIN SOUTHWARD ALONG THE EASTERN COAST OF
POENAMMOO, ROUND CAPE SOUTH, AND BACK TO THE WESTERN ENTRANCE OF COOK’S
STREIGHT, WHICH COMPLETED THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THIS COUNTRY; WITH A
DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST, AND OF ADMIRALTY BAY: THE DEPARTURE FROM NEW
ZEALAND, AND VARIOUS PARTICULARS.
AT four o’clock in the afternoon of Friday the 9th of February, we
tacked, and stood S. W. till eight o’clock the next morning; when, being
not above three or four miles from the shore, we stood off two hours,
and then again S. W. till noon, when, at the distance of about two miles
from the shore, we had twenty-six fathom water.
We continued to make sail to the southward till sunset on the 11th, when
a fresh breeze at N. E. had carried us back again the length of Cape
Palliser, of which as the weather was clear we had a good view. It is of
a height sufficient to be seen in clear weather at the distance of
twelve or fourteen leagues, and the land is of a broken and hilly
surface. Between the foot of the high land and the sea there is a low
flat border, off which there are some rocks that appear above water.
Between this Cape and Cape Turnagain, the land near the shore is, in
many places, low and flat, and has a green and pleasant appearance; but
farther from the sea it rises into hills. The land between Cape Palliser
and Cape Tierawitte is high and makes in table-points; it also seemed to
us to form two bays, but we were at too great a distance from this part
of the coast to judge accurately from appearances. The wind having been
variable, with calms, we had advanced no farther by the 12th at noon
than latitude 41° 52ʹ, Cape Palliser then bearing north, distant about
five leagues; and the snowy mountain S. 83 W.
At noon on the 13th, we found ourselves in the latitude of 42° 2ʹ S.;
Cape Palliser bearing N. 20 E. distant eight leagues. In the afternoon,
a fresh gale sprung up at N. E., and we steered S. W. by W. for the
southermost land in sight, which at sunset bore from us S. 74 W. At this
time the variation was 15° 4ʹ E.
At eight o’clock in the morning of the 14th, having run one-and-twenty
leagues S. 58 W. since the preceding noon, it fell calm. We were then
abreast of the snowy mountain which bore from us N. W. and in this
direction lay behind a mountainous ridge of nearly the same height,
which rises directly from the sea, and runs parallel with the shore,
which lies N. E. ½ N. and S. W. ½ S. The north-west end of the ridge
rises inland, not far from Cape Campbell; and both the mountain and the
ridge are distinctly seen as well from Cape Koamaroo as Cape Palliser:
from Koamaroo they are distant two-and-twenty leagues S. W. ½ S.; and
from Cape Palliser thirty leagues W. S. W.; and are of a height
sufficient to be seen at a much greater distance. Some persons on board
were of opinion that they were as high as Teneriffe; but I did not think
them as high as Mount Egmont on the south-west coast of Eahienomauwe;
because the snow, which almost entirely covered Mount Egmont, lay only
in patches upon these. At noon this day, we were in latitude 42° 34ʹ S.
The southernmost land in sight bore S. W. ½ W.; and some low land that
appeared like an island, and lay close under the foot of the ridge, bore
N. W. by N. about five or six leagues.
In the afternoon, when Mr. Banks was out in the boat a shooting, we saw
with our glasses four double canoes, having on board fifty-seven men,
put off from that shore, and make towards him; we immediately made
signals for him to come on board; but the ship, with respect to him,
being right in the wake of the sun, he did not see them. We were at a
considerable distance from the shore, and he was at a considerable
distance from the ship, which was between him and the shore; so that, it
being a dead calm, I began to be in some pain for him, fearing that he
might not see the canoes time enough to reach the ship before they
should get up with him: soon after, however, we saw his boat in motion,
and had the pleasure to take him on board before the Indians came up,
who probably had not seen him, as their attention seemed to be wholly
fixed upon the ship. They came within about a stone’s cast, and then
stopped, gazing at us with a look of vacant astonishment: Tupia exerted
all his eloquence to prevail upon them to come nearer, but without any
effect. After surveying us for some time, they left us, and made towards
the shore; but had not measured more than half the distance between that
and the ship before it was dark. We imagined that these people had heard
nothing of us, and could not but remark the different behaviour and
dispositions of the inhabitants of the different parts of this coast
upon their first approaching the vessel. These kept aloof with a mixture
of timidity and wonder; others had immediately commenced hostilities, by
pelting us with stones: the gentleman whom we had found alone, fishing
in his boat, seemed to think us entirely unworthy of his notice; and
some, almost without invitation, had come on board with an air of
perfect confidence and good-will. From the behaviour of our last
visitors, I gave the land from which they had put off, and which, as I
have before observed, had the appearance of an island, the name of
LOOKERS-ON.
At eight o’clock in the evening, a breeze sprung up at S. S. W. with
which I stretched off south-east, because some on board thought they saw
land in that quarter. In this course we continued till six o’clock the
next morning, when we had run eleven leagues, but saw no land, except
that which we had left.—Having stood to the S. E. with a light breeze,
which veered from the west to the north, till noon, our latitude by
observation was 42° 56ʹ S., and the high land that we were abreast of
the preceding noon bore N. N. W. ½ W. In the afternoon we had a light
breeze at N. E. with which we steered west, edging in for the land,
which was distant about eight leagues. At seven in the evening, we were
about six leagues from the shore, and the southermost extremity of the
land in sight bore W. S. W.
At daybreak on the 16th, we discovered land bearing S. by W. and
seemingly detached from the coast we were upon. About eight, a breeze
sprung up, at N. by E. and we steered directly for it. At noon, we were
in latitude 43° 19ʹ S. the peak on the snowy mountain bore N. 20 E.
distant twenty-seven leagues; the southern extremity of the land we
could see bore west, and the land which had been discovered in the
morning appeared like an island extending from S. S. W. to S. W. by W. ½
W. distant about eight leagues. In the afternoon, we stood to the
southward of it, with a fresh breeze at north: at eight in the evening,
we had run eleven leagues, and the land then extended from S. W. by W.
to N. by W. We were then distant about three or four leagues from the
nearest shore, and in this situation had fifty fathom water, with a fine
sandy bottom. The variation of the compass by this morning’s amplitude
was 14° 39ʹ E.
At sunrise, the next morning, our opinion that the land we had been
standing for was an island, was confirmed, by our seeing part of the
land of Tovy Poenammoo open to the westward of it, extending as far as
W. by S. At eight in the morning, the extremes of the island bore N. 76
W. and N. N. E. ½ E.; and an opening near the south point, which had the
appearance of a bay or harbour, N. 20 W. distant between three and four
leagues: in this situation we had thirty-eight fathom water with a brown
sandy bottom.
This island, which I named after Mr. Banks, lies about five leagues from
the coast of Tovy Poenammoo; the south point bears S. 21 W. from the
highest peak on the snowy mountain, and lies in latitude 43° 32ʹ S. and
in longitude 186° 30ʹ W. by an observation of the sun and moon which was
made this morning: it is of a circular figure, and about twenty-four
leagues in compass: it is sufficiently high to be seen at the distance
of twelve or fifteen leagues, and the land has a broken irregular
surface, with the appearance rather of barrenness than fertility; yet it
was inhabited, for we saw smoke in one place, and a few straggling
natives in another.
When this island was first discovered in the direction of S. by W. some
persons on board were of opinion that they also saw land bearing S. S.
E. and S. E. by E. I was myself upon the deck at the time, and told
them, that in my opinion it was no more than a cloud, and that as the
sun rose it would dissipate and vanish. However, as I was determined to
leave no subject for disputation which experiment could remove, I
ordered the ship to be wore, and steered E. S. E. by compass, in the
direction which the land was said to bear from us at that time. At noon
we were in latitude 44° 7ʹ S.; the south point of Banks’s Island bearing
north, distant five leagues. By seven o’clock at night we had run
eight-and-twenty miles, when seeing no land, nor any signs of any, but
that which we had left, we bore away S. by W. and continued upon that
course till the next day at noon, when we were in latitude 45° 16ʹ, the
south point of Banks’s Island bearing N. 6° 30ʹ W. distant twenty-eight
leagues. The variation by the azimuth this morning was 15° 30ʹ E. As no
signs of land had yet appeared to the southward, and as I thought that
we had stood far enough in that direction to weather all the land we had
left, judging from the report of the natives in Queen Charlotte’s Sound,
I hauled to the westward.
We had a moderate breeze at N. N. W. and N. till eight in the evening,
when it became unsettled; and at ten fixed at south: during the night,
it blew with such violence that it brought us under our close reefed
topsails. At eight the next morning, having run twenty-eight leagues
upon a W. by N. ½ N. course, and judging ourselves to be to the westward
of the land of Tovy Poenammoo, we bore away N. W. with a fresh gale at
south. At ten, having run eleven miles upon this course, we saw land
extending from the S. W. to the N. W. at the distance of about ten
leagues, which we hauled up for. At noon, our latitude by observation
was 44° 38ʹ, the south-east point of Banks’s Island bore N. 58° 30ʹ E.
distant thirty leagues, and the main body of the land in sight W. by N.
A head sea prevented us from making much way to the southward; at seven
in the evening the extremes of the land stretched from S. W. by S. to N.
by W.; and at six leagues from the shore we had thirty-two fathom water.
At four o’clock the next morning we stood in for the shore W. by S., and
during a course of four leagues our depth of water was from thirty-two
to thirteen fathom. When it was thirteen fathom we were but three miles
distant from the shore, and therefore stood off; its direction is here
nearly N. and S. The surface, to the distance of about five miles from
the sea, is low and flat; but it then rises into hills of a considerable
height. It appeared to be totally barren, and we saw no signs of its
being inhabited. Our latitude, at noon, was 44° 44ʹ; and the longitude
which we made from Banks’s Island to this place was 2° 22ʹ W. During the
last twenty-four hours, though we carried as much sail as the ship would
bear, we were driven three leagues to the leeward.
We continued to stand off and on all this day and the next, keeping at
the distance of between four and twelve leagues from the shore, and
having water from thirty-five to fifty-three fathom. On the 22d, at
noon, we had no observation, but by the land judged ourselves to be
about three leagues farther north than we had been the day before. At
sunset, the weather, which had been hazy, clearing up, we saw a mountain
which rose in a high peak, bearing N. W. by N.; and at the same time we
saw the land more distinctly than before, extending from N. to S. W. by
S. which, at some distance within the coast, had a lofty and mountainous
appearance. We soon found that the accounts which had been given us by
the Indians in Queen Charlotte’s Sound of the land to the southward were
not true; for they had told us that it might be circumnavigated in four
days.
On the 23d, having a hollow swell from the S. E. and expecting wind from
the same quarter, we kept plying between seven and fifteen leagues from
the shore, having from seventy to forty-four fathom. At noon, our
latitude by observation was 44° 40ʹ S. and our longitude from Banks’s
Island 1° 31ʹ W. From this time to six in the evening it was calm; but a
light breeze then springing up at E. N. E. we steered S. S. E. all
night, edging off from the land, the hollow swell still continuing; our
depth of water was from sixty to seventy-five fathom. While we were
becalmed, Mr. Banks, being out in the boat, shot two Port Egmont hens,
which were in every respect the same as those that are found in great
numbers upon the island of Faro, and were the first of the kind we had
seen upon this coast, though we fell in with some a few days before we
made land.
At daybreak, the wind freshened, and before noon we had a strong gale at
N. N. E. At eight in the morning we saw the land extending as far as S.
W. by S. and steered directly for it. At noon, we were in latitude 45°
22ʹ S.; and the land, which now stretched from S. W. ½ S. to N. N. W.
appeared to be rudely diversified by hill and valley. In the afternoon,
we steered S. W. by S. and S. W. edging in for the land with a fresh
gale at north; but though we were at no great distance, the weather was
so hazy that we could see nothing distinctly upon it, except a ridge of
high hills lying not far from the sea, and parallel to the coast, which
in this place stretches S. by W. and N. by E., and seemed to end in a
high bluff point to the southward. By eight in the evening we were
abreast of this point; but it being then dark, and I not knowing which
way the land trended, we brought to for the night. At this time, the
point bore west, and was distant about five miles: our depth of water
was thirty-seven fathom, and the bottom consisted of small pebbles.
At daybreak, having made sail, the point bore north, distant three
leagues, and we now found that the land trended from it S. W. by W. as
far as we could see. This point I named CAPE SAUNDERS, in honour of Sir
Charles. Our latitude was 45° 35ʹ S., and longitude 189° 4ʹ W. By the
latitude, and the angles that are made by the coast, this point will be
sufficiently known; there is, however, about three or four leagues to
the south-west of it, and very near the shore, a remarkable saddle-hill,
which is a good direction to it on that quarter. From one league to four
leagues north of Cape Saunders, the shore forms two or three bays, in
which there appeared to be good anchorage, and effectual shelter from
the S. W. westerly, and N. westerly winds; but my desire of getting to
the southward, in order to ascertain whether this country was an island
or a continent, prevented my putting into any of them.
We kept at a small distance from the shore all this morning, with the
wind at S. W., and had a very distinct view of it: it is of a moderate
height, and the surface is broken by many hills which are green and
woody; but we saw no appearance of inhabitants. At noon, Cape Saunders
bore N. 30 W. distant about four leagues. We had variable winds and
calms till five o’clock in the evening, when it fixed at W. S. W. and
soon blew so hard that it put us past our topsails, and split the
foresail all to pieces: after getting another to the yard, we continued
to stand to the southward under two courses; and at six the next
morning, the southermost land in sight bore W. by N. and Cape Saunders
N. by W. distant eight leagues: at noon, it bore N. 20 W. fourteen
leagues; and our latitude by observation was 46° 36ʹ. The gale
continued, with heavy squalls and a large hollow sea all the afternoon;
and at seven in the evening, we lay to under our foresail, with the
ship’s head to the southward: at noon on the 27th, our latitude was 46°
54ʹ, and our longitude from Cape Saunders 1° 24ʹ E. At seven in the
evening, we made sail under our courses; and at eight the next morning
set the topsails close reefed. At noon, our latitude was 47° 43ʹ, and
our longitude east from Cape Saunders 2° 10ʹ. At this time, we wore and
stood to the northward: in the afternoon, we found the variation to be
16° 34ʹ E. At eight in the evening, we tacked and stood to the
southward, with the wind at west.
At noon this day, our latitude by account was 47° 52ʹ, and our longitude
from Cape Saunders 1° 8ʹ E. We stood to the southward till half an hour
past three in the afternoon; and then, being in latitude 48° S. and
longitude 188° W., and seeing no appearance of land, we tacked and stood
to the northward, having a large swell from the S. W. by W. At noon the
next day, our latitude was 46° 42ʹ S.; and Cape Saunders bore N. 46° W.
distant eighty-six miles. The south-west swell continuing till the 3d,
confirmed our opinion, that there was no land in that quarter. At four
in the afternoon, we stood to the westward with all the sail we could
make. In the morning of the 4th, we found the variation to be 16° 16ʹ E.
This day we saw some whales and seals, as we had done several times
after our having passed the streight; but we saw no seal while we were
upon the coast of Eahienomauwe. We sounded both in the night and this
morning, but had no ground with one hundred and fifty fathom. At noon,
we saw Cape Saunders bearing N. ½ W.; and our latitude by observation
was 46° 31ʹ S. At half an hour past one o’clock, we saw land bearing W.
by S., which we steered for, and before it was dark were within three or
four miles of it: during the whole night we saw fires upon it, and at
seven in the morning were within about three leagues of the shore, which
appeared to be high, but level. At three o’clock in the afternoon, we
saw the land extending from N. E. by N. to N. W. ½ N.; and soon after we
discovered some low land, which appeared like an island, bearing S. ½ W.
We continued our course to the W. by S., and in two hours we saw high
land over the low land, extending to the southward as far as S. W. by
S.; but did not appear to be joined to the land to the northward, so
that there is either water, a deep bay, or low land between them.
At noon on the 6th, we were nearly in the same situation as at noon on
the day before: in the afternoon we found the variation, by several
azimuths and the amplitude, to be 15° 10ʹ E. On the 7th at noon, we were
in latitude 47° 6ʹ S., and had made twelve miles easting during the last
twenty-four hours. We stood to the westward the remainder of this day,
and all the next till sunset, when the extremes of the land bore from N.
by E. to W. distant about seven or eight leagues: in this situation our
depth of water was fifty-five fathom, and the variation by amplitude 16°
29ʹ E. The wind now veered from the N. to the W., and as we had fine
weather, and moonlight, we kept standing close upon the wind to the S.
W. all night. At four in the morning, we had sixty fathom water; and at
daylight we discovered under our bow a ledge of rocks, extending from S.
by W. to W. by S. upon which the sea broke very high: they were not more
than three quarters of a mile distant, yet we had five-and-forty fathom
water. As the wind was at N. W. we could not now weather them, and as I
was unwilling to run to leeward, I tacked and made a trip to the
eastward; the wind however soon after coming to the northward, enabled
us to get clear of all. Our soundings, while we were passing within the
ledge, were from thirty-five to forty-seven fathom, with a rocky bottom.
This ledge lies S. E. six leagues from the southermost part of the land,
and S. E. by E. from some remarkable hills which stand near the shore:
about three leagues to the northward of it, there is another ledge,
which lies full three leagues from the shore, and on which the sea broke
in a dreadful surf. As we passed these rocks to the north in the night,
and discovered the others under our bow at break of day, it is manifest
that our danger was imminent, and our escape critical in the highest
degree: from the situation of these rocks, so well adapted to catch
unwary strangers, I called them the TRAPS. Our latitude at noon was 47°
26ʹ S. The land in sight, which had the appearance of an island,
extended from N. E. by N. to N. W. by W., and seemed to be about five
leagues distant from the main; the eastermost ledge of rocks bore S. S.
E. distant one league and an half, and the northermost N. E. ½ E.
distant about three leagues. This land is high and barren, with nothing
upon it but a few straggling shrubs, for not a single tree was to be
seen; it was however remarkable for a number of white patches, which I
took to be marble, as they reflected the sun’s rays very strongly: other
patches of the same kind we had observed in different parts of this
country, particularly in Mercury Bay: we continued to stand close upon a
wind to the westward, and at sunset the southermost point of land bore
N. 38 E. distant four leagues, and the westermost land in sight bore N.
2 E. The point which lies in latitude 47° 19ʹ S. longitude 192° 12ʹ W. I
named SOUTH CAPE; the westermost land was a small island, lying off the
point of the main.
Supposing South Cape to be the southern extremity of this country, as
indeed it proved to be, I hoped to get round it by the west, for a large
hollow swell from the south-west, ever since our last hard gale, had
convinced me that there was no land in that direction.
In the night we had a hard gale at N. E. by N. and N. which brought us
under our courses, but about eight in the morning it became moderate;
and at noon, veering to the west, we tacked and stood to the northward,
having no land in sight. Our latitude, by observation, was 47° 33ʹ S.,
our longitude, west from the South Cape, 59ʹ. We stood away N. N. E.
close upon a wind, without seeing any land, till two the next morning,
when we discovered an island bearing N. W. by N. distant about five
leagues: about two hours afterwards we saw land a-head, upon which we
tacked and stood off till six, when we stood in to take a nearer view of
it: at eleven we were within three leagues of it, but the wind seeming
to incline upon the shore, I tacked and stood off to the southward. We
had now sailed round the land which we had discovered on the 5th, and
which then did not appear to be joined to the main which lay north of
it; and being now come to the other side of what we supposed to be
water, a bay, or low land, it had the same appearance, but when I came
to lay it down upon paper I saw no reason to suppose it to be an island;
on the contrary, I was clearly of opinion that it made part of the main.
At noon, the western extremity of the main bore N. 59 W., and the island
which we had seen in the morning S. 59 W. distant about five leagues. It
lies in latitude 46° 31ʹ S. longitude 192° 49ʹ W., and is nothing but a
barren rock about a mile in circuit, remarkably high, and lies full five
leagues distant from the main. This island I named after Dr. Solander,
and called it SOLANDER’S ISLAND. The shore of the main lies nearest E.
by S. and W. by N. and forms a large open bay, in which there is no
appearance of any harbour or shelter for shipping against S. W. and
southerly winds: the surface of the country is broken into craggy hills,
of a great height, on the summits of which are several patches of snow:
it is not, however, wholly barren, for we could see wood not only in the
valleys, but upon the highest ground, yet we saw no appearance of its
being inhabited.
We continued to stand to the S. W. by S. till eleven o’clock the next
morning, when the wind shifted to the S. W. by W., upon which we wore,
and stood to the N. N. W., being then in latitude 47° 40ʹ S. longitude
193° 50ʹ W., and having a hollow sea from the S. W.
During the night, we steered N. N. W. till six in the morning, when,
seeing no land, we steered N. by E. till eight, when we steered N. E. by
E. ½ E. to make the land, which at ten we saw bearing E. N. E., but it
being hazy, we could distinguish nothing upon it. At noon, our latitude,
by observation, was 46° S. About two it cleared up, and the land
appeared to be high, rude, and mountainous: about half an hour after
three I hauled in for a bay, in which there appeared to be good
anchorage; but in about an hour, finding the distance too great to run
before it would be dark, and the wind blowing too hard to make the
attempt safe in the night, I bore away along the shore.
This bay, which I called DUSKY BAY, lies in latitude 45° 47ʹ S.: it is
between three and four miles broad at the entrance, and seems to be full
as deep as it is broad: it contains several islands, behind which there
must be shelter from all winds, though possibly there may not be
sufficient depth of water. The north point of this bay, when it bears S.
E. by S., is rendered very remarkable by five high peaked rocks which
lie off it, and have the appearance of the four fingers and thumb of a
man’s hand, for which reason I called it POINT FIVE FINGERS: the land of
this point is farther remarkable, for being the only level land within a
considerable distance. It extends near two leagues to the northward, is
lofty, and covered with wood: the land behind it is very different,
consisting wholly of mountains, totally barren and rocky; and this
difference gives the Cape the appearance of an island.
At sunset, the southermost land in sight bore due south, distant about
five or six leagues; and as this is the westermost point of land upon
the whole coast, I called it WEST CAPE. It lies about three leagues to
the southward of Dusky Bay, in the latitude of 45° 54ʹ S. and in the
longitude of 193° 17ʹ W. The land of this Cape is of a moderate height
next the sea, and has nothing remarkable about it, except a very white
cliff, two or three leagues to the southward of it: to the southward of
it also the land trends away to the S. E. and to the northward it trends
N. N. E.
Having brought to for the night, we made sail along the shore at four in
the morning, in the direction of N. E. ½ N. with a moderate breeze at S.
S. E. At noon our latitude, by observation, was 45° 13ʹ S. At this time,
being about a league and a half from the shore, we sounded, but had no
ground with seventy fathom: we had just passed a small narrow opening in
land, where there seemed to be a very safe and convenient harbour,
formed by an island, which lay in the middle of the opening at east. The
opening lies in latitude 45° 16ʹ S., and on the land behind it are
mountains, the summits of which were covered with snow, that appeared to
have been recently fallen; and indeed for two days past we had found the
weather very cold. On each side of the entrance of the opening, the land
rises almost perpendicularly from the sea to a stupendous height, and
this indeed was the reason why I did not carry the ship into it, for no
wind could blow there but right in, or right out, in the direction of
either east or west, and I thought it by no means advisable to put into
a place whence I could not have got out but with a wind which experience
had taught me did not blow more than one day in a month. In this,
however, I acted contrary to the opinion of some persons on board, who
in very strong terms expressed their desire to harbour for present
convenience, without any regard to future disadvantages.
In the evening, being about two leagues from the shore, we sounded, and
had no ground with 108 fathom: the variation of the needle, by azimuth,
was 14° E. and by amplitude 15° 2ʹ. We made the best of our way along
the shore with what wind we had, keeping at the distance of between two
and three leagues. At noon, we were in latitude 44° 47ʹ, having run only
twelve leagues upon a N. E. ¼ N. course, during the last four-and-twenty
hours.
We continued to steer along the shore, in the direction of N. E. ¼ E.
till six o’clock in the evening, when we brought to for the night. At
four in the morning, we stood in for the land, and when the day broke we
saw what appeared to be an inlet; but upon a nearer approach proved to
be only a deep valley between two high lands: we proceeded therefore in
the same course, keeping the shore at the distance of between four and
five miles. At noon on the 16th, the northermost point of land in sight
bore N. 60 E. at the distance of ten miles; and our latitude, by
observation, was 44° 5ʹ, our longitude from Cape West 2° 8ʹ E. About
two, we past the point which at noon had been distant ten miles, and
found it to consist of high red cliffs, down which there fell a cascade
of water in four small streams, and I therefore gave it the name of
Cascade Point. From this Point, the land trends first N. 76 E. and
afterwards more to the northward. At the distance of eight leagues from
Cascade Point, in the direction of E. N. E., and at a little distance
from the shore, lies a small low island, which bore from us S. by E. at
the distance of about a league and a half.
At seven in the evening, we brought to, in thirty-three fathom, with a
fine sandy bottom; at ten we had fifty fathom, and at twelve wore in
sixty-five fathom, having driven several miles N. N. W. after our having
brought to. At two in the morning, we had no ground with 140 fathom, by
which it appears that the soundings extend but a little way from the
shore. About this time it fell calm; at eight, a breeze sprung up at S.
W. with which we steered along the shore, in the direction of N. E. by
E. ½ E. at the distance of about three leagues. At six in the evening,
being about one league from the shore, we had seventeen fathom; and at
eight, being about three leagues from the shore, we had forty-four; we
now shortened sail, and brought to, having run ten leagues N. E. by E.
since noon.
It was calm most part of the night; but at ten in the morning a light
breeze sprung up at S. W. by W. when we made sail again along the shore
N. E. by N. having a large swell from the W. S. W. which had risen in
the night; at noon, our latitude, by observation, was 43° 4ʹ S. and our
longitude from Cape West 4° 12ʹ E. We observed, that the valleys as well
as the mountains were this morning covered with snow, part of which we
supposed to have fallen during the night, when we had rain. At six in
the evening we shortened sail, and at ten brought to, at the distance of
about five leagues from the shore, where we had 115 fathom. At midnight,
there being little wind, we made sail, and at eight in the morning we
stood to the N. E. close upon a wind till noon, when we tacked, being
about three leagues from the land, and, by observation, in latitude 42°
8ʹ, and longitude from Cape West 5° 5ʹ E.
We continued to stand westward till two in the morning, when we made a
trip to the eastward, and afterwards stood westward till noon, when, by
our reckoning, we were in the latitude 42° 23ʹ, and longitude from Cape
West 3° 55ʹ E. We now tacked and stood eastward, with a fresh gale at N.
by W. till six in the evening, when the wind shifted to the S. and S. S.
W. with which we steered N. E. by N. till six in the morning, when we
hauled in E. by N. to make the land, which we saw soon afterwards; at
noon, our latitude, by account, was 41° 37ʹ, and our longitude from Cape
West 5° 42ʹ E. We were now within three or four leagues of the land, but
it being foggy, we could see nothing upon it distinctly, and as we had
much wind, and a vast swell rolling in upon the shore, from the W. S. W.
I did not think it safe to go nearer.
In the afternoon, we had a gentle breeze from the S. S. W. with which we
steered north along the shore till eight, when, being within between two
and three leagues, we sounded, and had but thirty-four fathom; upon
which we hauled off N. W. by N. till eleven at night, and then brought
to, having sixty-four fathom. At four in the morning, we made sail to
the N. E. with a light breeze at S. S. W. which at eight veered to the
westward, and soon after died away; at this time we were within three or
four miles of the land, and had fifty-four fathom, with a large swell
from the W. S. W. rolling obliquely upon the shore, which made me fear
that I should be obliged to anchor; but by the help of a light air now
and then from the S. W. I was able to keep the ship from driving. At
noon, the northermost land in sight bore N. E. by E. ½ E. distant about
ten leagues; our latitude, by account, was 40° 55ʹ S. longitude from
Cape West 6° 35ʹ E. From this time we had light airs from the southward,
with intervals of calm, till noon on the 23d, when our latitude, by
observation, was 40° 36ʹ 30ʺ S. and our longitude from Cape West 6° 52ʹ
E. The eastermost point of land in sight bore E. 10 N. at the distance
of seven leagues, and a bluff head or point, of which we had been
abreast at noon the day before, and off which lay some rocks above
water, bore S. 18 W. at the distance of six leagues. This point I called
ROCK’S POINT. Our latitude was now 40° 55ʹ S., and having nearly run
down the whole of the north-west coast of Tovy Poenammoo, I shall give
some account of the face of the country.
I have already observed, that on the 11th, when we were off the southern
part, the land then seen was craggy and mountainous, and there is great
reason to believe that the same ridge of mountains extends nearly the
whole length of the island. Between the westermost land which we saw
that day, and the eastermost which we saw on the 13th, there is a space
of about six or eight leagues, of which we did not see the coast, though
we plainly discovered the mountains inland. The sea-coast near Cape West
is low, rising with an easy and gradual ascent to the foot of the
mountains, and being in most parts covered with wood. From Point Five
Fingers, down to latitude 44° 20ʹ, there is a narrow ridge of hills that
rises directly from the sea, and is covered with wood: close behind
these hills are the mountains, extending in another ridge of a
stupendous height, and consisting of rocks that are totally barren and
naked, except where they are covered with snow, which is to be seen in
large patches upon many parts of them; and has probably lain there ever
since the creation of the world: a prospect more rude, craggy, and
desolate than this country affords from the sea, cannot possibly be
conceived, for, as far inland as the eye can reach, nothing appears but
the summits of rocks, which stand so near together, that instead of
valleys there are only fissures between them. From the latitude of 44°
20ʹ, to the latitude of 42° 8ʹ, these mountains lie farther inland, and
the sea-coast consists of woody hills and valleys, of various height and
extent, and has much appearance of fertility: many of the valleys form
plains of considerable extent, wholly covered with wood, but it is very
probable that the ground, in many places, is swampy, and interspersed
with pools of water. From latitude 42° 8ʹ, to 41° 30ʹ, the land is not
distinguished by any thing remarkable: it rises into hills directly from
the sea, and is covered with wood; but the weather being foggy while we
were upon this part of the coast, we could see very little inland,
except now and then the summits of the mountains, towering above the
cloudy mists that obscured them below, which confirmed my opinion that a
chain of mountains extended from one end of the island to the other.
In the afternoon, we had a gentle breeze at S. W., which, before it was
quite dark, brought us abreast of the eastern point which we had seen at
noon; but not knowing what course the land took on the other side of it,
we brought to in thirty-four fathom, at the distance of about one league
from the shore. At eight in the evening, there being little wind, we
filled and stood on till midnight, and then we brought to till four in
the morning, when we again made sail, and at break of day we saw low
land extending from the point to the S. S. E. as far as the eye could
reach, the eastern extremity of which appeared in round hillocks: by
this time the gale had veered to the eastward, which obliged us to ply
to windward. At noon next day, the eastern point bore S. W. by S.
distant sixteen miles, and our latitude was 40° 19ʹ: the wind continuing
easterly, we were nearly in the same situation at noon on the day
following. About three o’clock the wind came to the westward, and we
steered E. S. E. with all the sail we could set till it was dark, and
then shortened sail till the morning: as we had thick hazy weather all
night, we kept sounding continually, and had from thirty-seven to
forty-two fathom. When the day broke we saw land bearing S. E. by E. and
an island lying near it, bearing E. S. E. distant about five leagues:
this island I knew to be the same that I had seen from the entrance of
Queen Charlotte’s Sound, from which it bears N. W. by N. distant nine
leagues. At noon, it bore south, distant four or five miles, and the
north-west head of the sound S. E. by S. distant ten leagues and a half.
Our latitude, by observation, was 40° 33ʹ S.
As we had now circumnavigated the whole country, it became necessary to
think of quitting it; but as I had thirty tons of empty water casks on
board, this could not be done till I had filled them: I therefore hauled
round the island, and entered a bay, which lies between that and Queen
Charlotte’s Sound, leaving three more islands, which lay close under the
western shore, between three or four miles within the entrance, on our
starboard hand: while we were running in, we kept the lead continually
going, and had from forty to twelve fathom. At six o’clock in the
evening, we anchored in eleven fathom with a muddy bottom, under the
west shore, in the second cove, that lies within three islands; and as
soon as it was light the next morning, I took a boat, and went on shore
to look for a watering place, and a proper birth for the ship, both
which I found, much to my satisfaction. As soon as the ship was moored,
I sent an officer on shore to superintend the watering, and the
carpenter, with his crew, to cut wood, while the long-boat was employed
in landing the empty casks.
In this employment we were busy till the 30th, when the wind seeming to
settle at S. E. and our water being nearly completed, we warped the ship
out of the cove, that we might have room to get under sail; and at noon
I went away in the pinnace to examine as much of the bay as my time
would admit.
After rowing about two leagues up it, I went ashore upon a point of land
on the western side, and having climbed a hill, I saw the western arm of
this bay run in S. W. by W. about five leagues farther, yet I could not
discover the end of it: there appeared to be several other inlets, or at
least small bays, between this and the north-west head of Queen
Charlotte’s Sound, in each of which, I make no doubt, there is anchorage
and shelter, as they are all covered from the sea wind by the islands
which lie without them. The land about this bay, as far as I could see
of it, is of a hilly surface, chiefly covered with trees, shrubs, and
fern, which render travelling difficult and fatiguing. In this excursion
I was accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who found several new
plants. We met with some huts, which seemed to have been long deserted,
but saw no inhabitants. Mr. Banks examined several of the stones that
lay upon the beach, which were full of veins, and had a mineral
appearance; but he did not discover any thing in them which he knew to
be ore: if he had had an opportunity to examine any of the bare rocks,
perhaps he might have been more fortunate. He was also of opinion that
what I had taken for marble in another place, was a mineral substance;
and that, considering the correspondence of latitude between this place
and South America, it was not improbable but that, by a proper
examination, something very valuable might be found.
At my return in the evening, I found all the wood and water on board,
and the ship ready for the sea; I resolved therefore to quit the
country, and return home by such a route as might be of most advantage
to the service; and upon this subject took the opinion of my officers. I
had myself a strong desire to return by Cape Horn, because that would
have enabled me finally to determine, whether there is or is not a
southern continent; but against this it was a sufficient objection that
we must have kept in a high southern latitude in the very depth of
winter, with a vessel which was not thought sufficient for the
undertaking; and the same reason was urged against our proceeding
directly for the Cape of Good Hope, with still more force, because no
discovery of moment could be hoped for in that route; it was therefore
resolved that we should return by the East Indies, and that with this
view we should, upon leaving the coast, steer westward, till we should
fall in with the east coast of New Holland, and then follow the
direction of that coast to the northward, till we should arrive at its
northern extremity; but if that should be found impracticable, it was
further resolved that we should endeavour to fall in with the land, or
islands, said to have been discovered by Quiros.
With this view, at break of day on Saturday the 31st of March, 1770, we
got under sail, and put to sea, with the advantage of a fresh gale at S.
E. and clear weather, taking our departure from the eastern point, which
we had seen at noon on the 23d, and to which, on this occasion, I gave
the name of CAPE FAREWELL.
The bay out of which we had just sailed I called ADMIRALTY BAY, giving
the name of CAPE STEPHENS to the north-west point, and CAPE JACKSON to
the south east, after the two gentlemen who at this time were
Secretaries to the Board.
Admiralty Bay may easily be known by the island that has been just
mentioned, which lies two miles N. E. of Cape Stephens, in latitude 40°
37ʹ S. longitude 185° 6ʹ W., and is of a considerable height. Between
this island and Cape Farewell, which are between fourteen and fifteen
leagues distant from each other, in the direction of W. by N. and E. by
S. the shore forms a large deep bay, the bottom of which we could
scarcely see while we were sailing in a straight line from one Cape to
the other; it is, however, probably of less depth than it appeared to
be, for as we found the water shallower here than at the same distance
from any other part of the coast, there is reason to suppose, that the
land at the bottom which lies next the sea is low, and therefore not
easily to be distinguished from it. I have for this reason called it
BLIND BAY, and am of opinion that it is the same which was called
Murderer’s Bay by Tasman.
Such particulars of this country and its inhabitants, with their manners
and customs, as could be learnt while we were circumnavigating the
coast, shall now be related.
CHAP. VIII.
A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF NEW ZEALAND: ITS FIRST DISCOVERY, SITUATION,
EXTENT, CLIMATE, AND PRODUCTIONS.
NEW ZEALAND was first discovered by Abel Jansen Tasman, a Dutch
navigator, whose name has been several times mentioned in this
narrative, on the 13th of December, in the year 1642. He traversed the
eastern coast from latitude 34° to 43°, and entered the streight which
divides the two islands, and in the chart is called COOK’S STREIGHT; but
being attacked by the natives soon after he came to an anchor, in the
place to which he gave the name of Murderer’s Bay, he never went on
shore. He gave the country the name of STAATEN LAND, or the land of the
States, in honour of the States-General, and it is now generally
distinguished in our maps and charts by the name of NEW ZEALAND. As the
whole of this country, except that part of the coast which was seen by
Tasman from on board his ship, has from his time, to the voyage of the
Endeavour, remained altogether unknown, it has by many been supposed to
be part of a southern continent. It is, however, now known to consist of
two large islands, divided from each other by a streight or passage,
which is about four or five leagues broad.
These islands are situated between the latitudes of 34° and 48° S. and
between the longitudes of 181° and 194° W., which is now determined with
uncommon exactness, from innumerable observations of the sun and moon,
and one of the transits of Mercury, by Mr. Green, a person of known
abilities, who, as has been mentioned before, was sent out by the Royal
Society, to observe the transit of Venus in the South Seas.
The northermost of these islands is called by the natives Eaheinomauwe,
and the southermost Tovy, or Tavai Poenammoo; yet, as I have observed
before, we are not sure whether the name Tovy Poenammoo comprehends the
whole southern island, or only part of it. The figure and extent of
these islands, with the situation of the bays and harbours they contain,
and the smaller islands 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 coast of Eaheinomauwe, from Cape Palliser to East
Cape, is laid down with great exactness, both in its figure, and the
course and distance from point to point; for the opportunities that
offered, and the methods that I used, were such as could scarcely admit
of an error. From East Cape to St. Maria van Diemen, the chart, though
perhaps not equally exact, is without any error of moment, except
possibly in some few places which are here, and in other parts of the
chart, distinguished by a dotted line, and which I had no opportunity to
examine: from Cape Maria van Diemen to latitude 36° 15ʹ, we were seldom
nearer the shore than between five and eight leagues; and therefore the
line that marks the sea-coast may possibly be erroneous. From latitude
36° 15ʹ, to nearly the length of Entry Island, our course was very near
the shore, and in this part of the chart therefore there can be no
material error, except perhaps at Cape Tierawitte. Between Entry Island
and Cape Palliser we were again farther from the shore, and this part of
the coast therefore may not be laid down with minute exactness; yet,
upon the whole, I am of opinion that this island will be found not much
to differ from the figure that I have given it, and that upon the coast
there are few or no harbours which are not noticed in the journal, or
delineated in the chart. I cannot however say as much of Tovy Poenammoo:
the season of the year, and the circumstances of the voyage, would not
permit me to spend so much time about this island as I had employed upon
the other; and the storms that we met with made it both difficult and
dangerous to keep near the shore. However, from Queen Charlotte’s Sound
to Cape Campbell, and as far to the S. W. as latitude 43°, the chart
will be found pretty accurate. Between latitude 43° and latitude 44° 20ʹ
the line may be doubted, for of some part of the coast which it
represents we had scarcely a view. From latitude 44° 20ʹ, to Cape
Saunders, our distance would not permit me to be particular, and the
weather was besides extremely unfavourable. From Cape Saunders to Cape
South, and even to Cape West, there is also reason to fear that the
chart will in many places be found erroneous, as we were seldom able to
keep the shore, and were sometimes blown to such a distance that it
could not be seen. From Cape West to Cape Farewell, and even to
Charlotte’s Sound, it is not more to be trusted.
Tovy Poenammoo is for the most part a mountainous, and to all appearance
a barren country; and the people whom we saw in Queen Charlotte’s Sound,
those that came off to us under the snowy mountains, and the fires to
the west of Cape Saunders, were all the inhabitants, and signs of
inhabitants, that we discovered upon the whole island.
Eaheinomauwe has a much better appearance; it is indeed not only hilly
but mountainous, yet even the hills and mountains are covered with wood,
and every valley has a rivulet of water: the soil in these valleys, and
in the plains, of which there are many that are not overgrown with wood,
is in general light but fertile, and in the opinion of Mr. Banks and Dr.
Solander, as well as of every other gentleman on board, all kinds of
European grain, plants, and fruit, would flourish here in the utmost
luxuriance: from the vegetables that we found here, there is reason to
conclude, that the winters are milder than those in England, and we
found the summer not hotter, though it was more equally warm; so that if
this country should be settled by people from Europe, they would, with a
little industry, be very soon supplied not only with the necessaries,
but the luxuries of life in great abundance.
In this country there are no quadrupeds but dogs and rats, at least we
saw no other, and the rats are so scarce that many of us never saw them.
The dogs live with the people, who breed them for no other purpose than
to eat: there might indeed be quadrupeds that we did not see; but this
is not probable, because the chief pride of the natives, with respect to
their dress, is in the skins and hair of such animals as they have, and
we never saw the skin of any animal about them but those of dogs and
birds: there are indeed seals upon the coast, and we once saw a sea
lion, but we imagine they are seldom caught, for though we saw some of
their teeth, which were fashioned into an ornament like a bodkin, and
worn by the natives at their breast, and highly valued, we saw none of
their skins: there are whales also upon this coast, and though the
people did not appear to have any art or instrument by which such an
animal could be taken and killed, we saw pattoo-pattoos in the
possession of some of them, which were made of the bone of a whale, or
of some other animal whose bone had exactly the same appearance.
Of birds the species are not many; and of these none, except perhaps the
gannet, is the same with those of Europe: here are ducks indeed, and
shags of several kinds, sufficiently resembling those of Europe, to be
called the same, by those who have not examined them very nicely. Here
are also hawks, owls, and quails, which differ but little from those of
Europe at first sight; and several small birds, whose song, as has been
remarked in the course of the narrative, is much more melodious than any
that we had ever heard.
The sea-coast is also visited by many oceanic birds, particularly
albatrosses, sheerwaters, pintados, and a few of the birds which Sir
John Narborough has called Penguins, and which indeed are what the
French call _Nuance_, and seem to be a middle species between bird and
fish; for their feathers, especially those upon their wings, differ very
little from scales; and their wings themselves, which they use only in
diving, and not to accelerate their motion even upon the surface of the
water, may, perhaps with equal propriety, be called fins.
Neither are insects in greater plenty than birds: a few butterflies and
beetles, flesh flies, very like those in Europe, and some musquitos and
sand flies, perhaps exactly the same with those of North America, make
up the whole catalogue. Of musquitos and sand flies, however, which are
justly accounted the curse of every country where they abound, we did
not see many: there were indeed a few in almost every place where we
went on shore, but they gave us so little trouble, that we did not make
use of the shades which we had provided for the security of our faces.
For this scarcity of animals upon the land, the sea, however, makes an
abundant recompense; every creek swarming with fish, which are not only
wholesome, but equally delicious with those of Europe: the ship seldom
anchored in any station, or with a light gale passed any place, that did
not afford us enough with hook and line to serve the whole ship’s
company, especially to the southward: when we lay at anchor, the boats,
with hook and line, near the rocks, could take fish in any quantity; and
the seine seldom failed of producing a still more ample supply; so that
both times when we anchored in Cook’s Streight, every mess in the ship,
that was not careless and improvident, salted as much as lasted many
weeks after they went to sea. Of this article, the variety was equal to
the plenty; we had mackrel of many kinds, among which, one was exactly
the same as we have in England: these came in immense shoals, and were
taken by the natives in their seines, who sold them to us at a very easy
rate. Besides these, there were fish of many species which we had never
seen before, but to all which the seamen very readily gave names: so
that we talked here as familiarly of hakes, bream, cole-fish, and many
others, as we do in England; and though they are by no means of the same
family, it must be confessed that they do honour to the name. But the
highest luxury which the sea afforded us, even in this place, was the
lobster or sea cray-fish, which are probably the same that in the
account of Lord Anson’s Voyage are said to have been found at the island
of Juan Fernandes, except that, although large, they are not quite equal
in size: they differ from ours in England in several particulars, they
have a greater number of prickles on their backs, and they are red when
first taken out of the water. These we also bought every where to the
northward in great quantities of the natives, who catch them by diving
near the shore, and finding out where they lie with their feet. We had
also a fish that Frezier, in his Voyage to the Spanish Main in South
America, has described by the names of _Elefant_, _Pejegallo_, or
_Poison coq_, which, though coarse, we eat very heartily. Several
species of the skate, or sting-ray, are also found here, which were
still coarser than the _Elefant_; but as an atonement, we had among many
kinds of dog-fish one spotted with white, which was in flavour exactly
similar to our best skate, but much more delicious. We had also flat
fish resembling both soles and flounders, besides eels and congers of
various kinds, with many others of which those who shall hereafter visit
this coast will not fail to find the advantage; and shell-fish in great
variety, particularly clams, cockles, and oysters.
Among the vegetable productions of this country, the trees claim a
principal place; for here are forests of vast extent, full of the
straightest, the cleanest, and the largest timber trees that we had ever
seen: their size, their grain, and apparent durability, render them fit
for any kind of building, and indeed for every other purpose except
masts; for which, as I have already observed, they are too hard, and too
heavy: there is one in particular which, when we were upon the coast,
was rendered conspicuous by a scarlet flower, that seemed to be a
compendage of many fibres; it is about as large as an oak, and the wood
is exceedingly hard and heavy, and excellently adapted to the use of the
millwright. There is another which grows in the swamps, remarkably tall
and straight, thick enough to make masts for vessels of any size, 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
resemble the pitch-pine, may probably be lightened by tapping, and it
will then make the finest masts in the world: it has a leaf not unlike a
yew, and bears berries in small bunches.
Great part of the country is covered with a luxuriant verdure, and our
natural historians were gratified by the novelty, if not the variety of
the plants. Sow-thistle, garden night-shade, one or two kinds of grass,
the same as in England, and two or three kinds of fern, like those of
the West Indies, with a few of the plants that are to be found in almost
every part of the world, were all, out of about four hundred species,
that have hitherto been described by any botanists, or had been seen
elsewhere during the course of this voyage, except about five or six
which had been gathered at Terra del Fuego.
Of eatable vegetables there are but few; our people, indeed, who had
been long at sea, eat, with equal pleasure and advantage, of wild
celery, and a kind of cresses, which grew in great abundance upon all
parts of the sea-shore. We also, once or twice, met with a plant like
what the country people in England call _Lamb’s quarters_, or Fat-hen,
which we boiled instead of greens; and once we had the good fortune to
find a cabbage-tree, which afforded us a delicious meal; and, except the
fern-root, and one other vegetable, totally unknown in Europe, and
which, though eaten by the natives, was extremely disagreeable to us, we
found no other vegetable production that was fit for food, among those
that appeared to be the wild produce of the country; and we could find
but three esculent plants among those which are raised by cultivation,
yams, sweet potatoes, and coccos. Of the yams and potatoes there are
plantations consisting of many acres; and I believe that any ship which
should happen to be here in the autumn, when they are dug up, might
purchase them in any quantity.
Gourds are also cultivated by the natives of this place, the fruit of
which furnishes them with vessels for various uses. We also found here
the Chinese paper mulberry-tree, the same as that of which the
inhabitants of the South Sea islands make their cloth; but it is so
scarce, that though the New Zealanders also make cloth of it, they have
not enough for any other purpose than to wear as an ornament in the
holes which they make in their ears, as I have observed before.
But among all the trees, shrubs, and plants of this country, there is
not one that produces fruit, except a berry which has neither sweetness
nor flavour, and which none but the boys took pains to gather, should be
honoured with that appellation. There is, however, a plant that serves
the inhabitants instead of hemp and flax, which excels all that are put
to the same purposes in other countries. Of this plant there are two
sorts; the leaves of both resemble those of flags, but the flowers are
smaller, and their clusters more numerous; in one kind they are yellow,
and in the other a deep red. Of the leaves of these plants, with very
little preparation, they make all their common apparel; and of these
they make also their strings, lines, and cordage for every purpose,
which are so much stronger than any thing we can make with hemp, that
they will not bear a comparison. From the same plant, by another
preparation, they draw long slender fibres which shine like silk, and
are as white as snow: of these, which are also surprisingly strong, the
finer clothes are made; and of the leaves, without any other preparation
than splitting them into proper breadths, and tying the strips together,
they make their fishing nets; some of which, as I have before remarked,
are of an enormous size.
A plant which, with such advantage, might be applied to so many useful
and important purposes, would certainly be a great acquisition to
England, where it would probably thrive with very little trouble, as it
seems to be hardy, and to affect no particular soil; being found equally
in hill and valley; in the driest mould, and the deepest bogs: the bog,
however, it seems rather to prefer, as near such places we observed it
to be larger than elsewhere.
I have already observed, that we found great plenty of iron sand in
Mercury Bay, and therefore that iron ore is undoubtedly to be found at
no great distance. As to other metals we had scarcely knowledge enough
of the country for conjecture.
If the settling of this country should ever be thought an object worthy
the attention of Great Britain, the best place for establishing a colony
would be either on the banks of the Thames, or in the country bordering
upon the Bay of Islands. In either place there would be the advantage of
an excellent harbour; and, by means of the river, settlements might be
extended, and a communication established with the inland parts of the
country: vessels might be built of the fine timber which abounds in
these parts, at very little trouble and expence, fit for such a
navigation as would answer the purpose. I cannot indeed exactly assign
the depth of water which a vessel intended to navigate this river, even
as far up as I went with the boat, should draw, because 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 myself
acquainted with them; but I am of opinion, that a vessel which should
draw not more than twelve feet would perfectly answer the purpose.
When we first arrived upon the coast 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 smoke that we saw at a considerable
distance from the shore; and, perhaps, that may really be the case with
respect 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 reason to believe, that, in general, no part of the country but
the sea-coast is inhabited; and even there we found the people but
thinly scattered, all the western coast from Cape Maria Van Diemen to
Mount Egmont being totally desolate; so that upon the whole the number
of inhabitants bears no proportion to the extent of country.
CHAP. IX.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE INHABITANTS, THEIR HABITATIONS, APPAREL, ORNAMENTS,
FOOD, COOKERY, AND MANNER OF LIFE.
THE stature of the men in general is equal to the largest of those in
Europe: they are stout, well limbed, and fleshy; but not fat, like the
lazy and luxurious inhabitants of the islands in the South Seas: they
are also exceedingly vigorous and active; and have an adroitness and
manual dexterity in an uncommon degree, which are discovered in whatever
they do. I have seen the strokes of fifteen paddles on a side in one of
their canoes made with incredible quickness, and yet with such minute
exactness of time, that all the rowers seemed to be actuated by one
common soul. Their colour in general is brown; but in few deeper than
that of a Spaniard, who has been exposed to the sun; in many not so
deep. The women have not a feminine delicacy in their appearance, but
their voice is remarkably soft; and by that, the dress of both sexes
being the same, they are principally distinguished: they have, however,
like the women of other countries, more airy cheerfulness, and a greater
flow of animal spirits, than the other sex. Their hair, both of the head
and beard, is black; and their teeth extremely regular, and as white as
ivory: the features of both sexes are good: they seem to enjoy high
health; and we saw many who appeared to be of a great age. The
dispositions both of the men and women seemed to be mild and gentle:
they treat each other with the tenderest affection, but are implacable
towards their enemies, to whom, as I have before observed, they never
give quarter. It may, perhaps, at first, seem strange, that where there
is so little to be got by victory, there should so often be war; and
that every little district of a country inhabited by people so mild and
placid, should be at enmity with all the rest. But possibly more is to
be gained by victory among these people than at first appears, and they
may be prompted to mutual hostilities by motives which no degree of
friendship or affection is able to resist. It appears, by the account
that has already been given of them, that their principal food is fish,
which can only be procured upon the sea-coast; and there, in sufficient
quantities, only at certain times; the tribes, therefore, who live
inland, if any such there are, and even those upon the coast, must be
frequently in danger of perishing by famine. Their country produces
neither sheep, nor goats, nor hogs, nor cattle; tame fowls they have
none, nor any art by which those that are wild can be caught in
sufficient plenty to serve as provision. If there are any whose
situation cuts them off from a supply of fish, the only succedaneum of
all other animal food, except dogs, they have nothing to support life,
but the vegetables that have already been mentioned, of which the chief
are fern-root, yams, clams, and potatoes; when by any accident these
fail, the distress must be dreadful; and even among the inhabitants of
the coast, many tribes must frequently be reduced to nearly the same
situation, either by the failure of their plantations, or the deficiency
of their dry stock, during the season when but few fish are to be
caught. These considerations 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 practice of eating those who are killed in battle; for the hunger
of him who is pressed by famine to fight, will absorb every feeling, and
every sentiment which would restrain him from allaying it with the body
of his adversary. It may, however, be remarked, that, if this account of
the origin of so horrid a practice is true, the mischief does by no
means end with the necessity that produced it: after the practice has
been once begun on one side by hunger, it will naturally be adopted on
the other by revenge. Nor is this all, for though it may be pretended,
by some who wish to appear speculative and philosophical, that whether
the dead body of an enemy be eaten or buried is in itself a matter
perfectly indifferent; as it is, whether the breasts or thighs of a
woman should be covered or naked; and that prejudice and habit only make
us shudder at the violation of custom in one instance, and blush at it
in the other: yet, leaving this as a point of doubtful disputation, to
be discussed at leisure, it may safely be affirmed, that the practice of
eating human flesh, whatever it may be in itself, is relatively, and in
its consequences, most pernicious; tending manifestly to eradicate a
principle which is the chief security of human life, and more frequently
restrains the hand of murder than the sense of duty, or even the fear of
punishment.
Among those who are accustomed to eat the dead, death must have lost
much of its horror; and where there is little horror at the sight of
death, there will not be much repugnance to kill. A sense of duty, and
fear of punishment, may be more easily surmounted than the feelings of
nature, or those which have been ingrafted upon nature by early
prejudice and uninterrupted custom. The horror of the murderer arises
less from the guilt of the fact, than its natural effect; and he who has
familiarised the effect, will consequently lose much of the horror. By
our laws, and our religion, murder and theft incur the same punishment,
both in this world and the next; yet, of the multitude who would
deliberately steal, there are but very few who would deliberately kill,
even to procure much greater advantage. But there is the strongest
reason to believe, that those who have been so accustomed 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 rabbit for a fricassee, would
feel as little horror in committing a murder as in picking a pocket, and
consequently would take away life with as little compunction as
property; so that men, under these circumstances, would be made
murderers by the slight temptations that now make them thieves. If any
man doubts whether this reasoning is conclusive, let him ask himself,
whether in his own opinion he should not be safer with a man in whom the
horror of destroying life is strong, whether in consequence of natural
instinct unsubdued, 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 restrained only by considerations of interest; for to these
all motives of mere duty may be reduced, as they must terminate either
in hope of good, or fear of evil.
The situation and circumstances, however, of these poor people, as well
as their temper, are favourable to those who shall settle as a colony
among them. Their situation sets them in need of protection, and their
temper renders it easy to attach them by kindness; and whatever may be
said in favour of a savage life among people who live in luxurious
idleness upon the bounty of nature, civilization would certainly be a
blessing to those whom her parsimony scarcely furnishes with the bread
of life, and who are perpetually destroying each other by violence, as
the only alternative of perishing by hunger.
But these people, from whatever cause, being inured to war, and by habit
considering every stranger as an enemy, were always disposed to attack
us when they were not intimidated by our manifest superiority. At first,
they had no notion of any superiority but numbers; and when this was on
their side, they considered all our expressions of kindness as the
artifices of fear and cunning, to circumvent them, and preserve
ourselves: but when they were once convinced of our power, after having
provoked us to the use of our fire-arms, though loaded only with small
shot; and of our clemency, by our forbearing to make use of weapons so
dreadful except in our defence, they became at once friendly, and even
affectionate, placing in us the most unbounded confidence, and doing
every thing which could incite us to put equal confidence in them. It is
also remarkable, that when an intercourse was once established between
us, they were very rarely detected in any act of dishonesty. Before,
indeed, and while they considered us as enemies, who came upon their
coast only to make an advantage of them, they did not scruple by any
means to make any advantage of us; and would, therefore, when they had
received the price of any thing they had offered to sell, pack up both
the purchase and the purchase money with all possible composure, as so
much lawful plunder from people who had no view but to plunder them.
I have observed that our friends in the South Seas had not even the idea
of indecency, with respect to any object or any action; but this was by
no means the case with the inhabitants of New Zealand, in whose carriage
and conversation there was as much modesty, reserve, and decorum with
respect to actions, which yet in their opinion were not criminal, as are
to be found among the politest people in Europe. The women were not
impregnable; but the terms and manner of compliance were as decent as
those in marriage among us, and according to their notions the agreement
was as innocent. When any of our people made an overture to one of their
young women, he was given to understand that the consent of her friends
was necessary, and by the influence of a proper present it was generally
obtained; but when these preliminaries were settled, it was also
necessary to treat the wife for a night with the same delicacy that is
here required by the wife for life, and the lover who presumed to take
any liberties by which this was violated, was sure to be disappointed.
One of our gentlemen having made his addresses to a family of the better
sort, received an answer, which, translated into our language, according
to the mode and spirit of it, as well as the letter, would have been
exactly in these terms: “Any of these young ladies will think themselves
honoured by your addresses, but you must first make me a suitable
present, and you must then come and sleep with us on shore, for daylight
must by no means be a witness of what passes between you.”
I have already observed, that in personal cleanliness they are not quite
equal to our friends at Otaheite; because, not having the advantage of
so warm a climate, they do not so often go into the water; but the most
disgustful thing about them is the oil, with which, like the islanders,
they anoint their hair: it is certainly the fat either of fish or of
birds, melted down, and though the better sort have it fresh, their
inferiors use that which is rancid, and consequently are almost as
disagreeable to the smell as a Hottentot; neither are their heads free
from vermin, though we observed that they were furnished with combs,
both of bone and wood: these combs are sometimes worn stuck upright in
the hair as an ornament, a fashion which at present prevails among the
ladies of England. The men generally wear their beards short, and their
hair tied upon the crown of the head in a bunch, in which they stick the
feathers of various birds in different manners, according to their
fancies; sometimes one is placed on each side of the temples, pointing
forwards, which we thought made a very disagreeable appearance. The
women wear their hair sometimes cropped short, and sometimes flowing
over their shoulders.
The bodies of both sexes are marked with the black stains called Amoco,
by the same method that is used at Otaheite, and called Tattowing; but
the men are more marked, and the women less. The women in general stain
no part of their bodies but the lips, though sometimes they are marked
with small black patches on other parts: the men, on the contrary, seem
to add something every year to the ornaments of the last, so that some
of them, who appeared to be of an advanced age, were almost covered from
head to foot. Besides the Amoco, they have marks impressed by a method
unknown to us, of a very extraordinary kind: they are furrows of about a
line deep, and a line broad, such as appear upon the bark of a tree
which has been cut through, after a year’s growth: the edges of these
furrows are afterwards indented by the same method, and being perfectly
black, they make a most frightful appearance. The faces of the old men
are almost covered with these marks; those who are very young, black
only their lips like the women; when they are somewhat older, they have
generally a black patch upon one cheek, and over one eye, and so proceed
gradually, that they may grow old and honourable together: but though we
could not but be disgusted with the horrid deformity which these stains
and furrows produced in the “human face divine,” we could not but admire
the dexterity and art with which they were impressed. The marks upon the
face in general are spirals, which are drawn with great nicety, and even
elegance, those on one side exactly corresponding with those on the
other: the marks on the body somewhat resemble the foliage in old chased
ornaments, and the convolutions of fillagree work; but in these they
have such a luxuriance of fancy, that of an hundred, which at first
sight appeared to be exactly the same, no two were, upon a close
examination, found to be alike. We observed, that the quantity and form
of these marks were different in different parts of the coast, and that
as the principal seat of them at Otaheite was the breech, in New Zealand
it was sometimes the only part which was free, and in general was less
distinguished than any other.
The skins of these people, however, are not only dyed, but painted; for,
as I have before observed, they smear their bodies with red oker, some
rubbing it on dry, and some applying it in large patches mixed with oil,
which is always wet, and which the least touch will rub off, so that the
transgressions of such of our people as were guilty of ravishing a kiss
from these blooming beauties, were most legibly written upon their
faces.
The dress of a New Zealander is certainly, to a stranger at first sight,
the most uncouth that can be imagined. It is made of the leaves of the
flag, which has been described among the vegetable productions of this
country: these leaves are split into three or four slips, and the slips,
when they are dry, interwoven with each other into a kind of stuff
between netting and cloth, with all the ends, which are eight or nine
inches long, hanging out on the upper side, like the shag or thrump
mats, which we sometimes see lying in a passage. Of this cloth, if cloth
it may be called, two pieces serve for a complete dress; one of them is
tied over their shoulders with a string, and reaches as low as the
knees; to the end of this string is fastened a bodkin of bone, which is
easily passed through any two parts of this upper garment, so as tack
them together; the other piece is wrapped round the waist, and reaches
nearly to the ground: the lower garment, however, is worn by the men
only upon particular occasions; but they wear a belt, to which a string
is fastened, for a very singular use. The inhabitants of the South Sea
islands slit up the prepuce so as to prevent it from covering the glans
of the penis; but these 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 string which hangs from their girdle round the
end of it. The glans, indeed, seemed to be the only part of their body
which they were solicitous to conceal, for they frequently threw off all
their dress but the belt and string, with the most careless
indifference, but showed manifest signs of confusion, when, to gratify
our curiosity, they were requested to untie the string, and never
consented but with the utmost reluctance and shame. When they have only
their upper garment on, and sit upon their hams, they bear some
resemblance to a thatched house; but this covering, though it is ugly,
is well adapted to the use of those who frequently sleep in the open
air, without any other shelter from the rain.
But besides this coarse shag or thatch, they have two sorts of cloth,
which have an even surface, and are very ingeniously made, in the same
manner with that manufactured by the inhabitants of South America, some
of which we procured at Rio de Janeiro. One sort is as coarse as our
coarsest canvass, and somewhat resembles it in the manner of laying the
threads, but it is ten times as strong; the other is formed by many
threads lying very close one way, and a few crossing them the other, so
as to bind them together; but these are about half an inch asunder,
somewhat like the round pieces of cane matting which are sometimes
placed under the dishes upon a table. This is frequently striped, and
always had a pretty appearance, for it is composed of the fibres of the
same plant, which are prepared so as to shine like silk. It is made in a
kind of frame of the size of the cloth, generally about five feet long,
and four broad, across which the long threads, which lie close together,
or warp, are strained, and the cross threads, or woof, are worked in by
hand, which must be a very tedious operation.
To both these kinds of cloth they work borders of different colours, in
stitches, somewhat like carpeting, or rather like those used in the
samplars which girls work at school. These borders are of various
patterns, and wrought with a neatness, and even an elegance, which,
considering they have no needle, is surprising: but the great pride of
their dress consists in the fur of their dogs, which they use with such
economy, that they cut it into stripes, and sew them upon their cloth at
a distance from each other, which is a strong proof that dogs are not
plenty among them; these stripes are also of different colours, and
disposed so as to produce a pleasing effect. We saw some dresses that
were adorned with feathers instead of fur, but these were not common;
and we saw one that was entirely covered with the red feathers of the
parrot.
The dress of the man who was killed when we first went ashore in Poverty
Bay has been described already; but we saw the same dress only once more
during our stay upon the coast, and that was in Queen Charlotte’s Sound.
The women, contrary to the custom of the sex in general, seemed to
affect dress rather less than the men: their hair, which, as I have
observed before, is generally cropt short, is never tied upon the top of
the head when it is suffered to be long, nor is it ever adorned with
feathers. Their garments were made of the same materials, and in the
same form, as those of the other sex, but the lower one was always bound
fast round them, except when they went into the water to catch lobsters,
and then they took great care not to be seen by the men. Some of us
happening one day to land upon a small island in Tolaga Bay, we
surprised several of them at this employment; and the chaste Diana, with
her nymphs, could not have discovered more confusion and distress at the
sight of Actæon than these women expressed upon our approach. Some of
them hid themselves among the rocks, and the rest crouched down in the
sea till they had made themselves a girdle and apron of such weeds as
they could find, and when they came out, even with this veil, we could
perceive that their modesty suffered much pain by our presence. The
girdle and apron which they wear in common have been mentioned before.
Both sexes bore their ears, and, by stretching them, the holes become
large enough to admit a finger at least. In these holes they wear
ornaments of various kinds, cloth, feathers, bones of large birds, and
even sometimes a stick of wood; and to these receptacles of finery they
generally applied the nails which we gave them, and every thing which it
was possible they could contain. The women sometimes thrust through them
the down of the albatros, which is as white as snow, and which,
spreading before and behind the hole in a bunch almost as big as the
fist, makes a very singular, and, however strange it may be thought, not
a disagreeable appearance. Besides the ornaments that are thrust through
the holes of the ears, many others are suspended to them by strings;
such as chissels or bodkins made of green talc, upon which they set a
high value, the nails and teeth of their deceased relations, the teeth
of dogs, and every thing else that they can get, which they think either
curious or valuable. The women also wear bracelets and anclets, made of
the bones of birds, shells, or any other substances which they can
perforate and string upon a thread. The men had sometimes hanging to a
string, which went round the neck, a piece of green talc, or whalebone,
somewhat in the shape of a tongue, with the rude figure of a man carved
upon it; and upon this ornament they set a high value. In one instance,
we saw the gristle that divides the nostrils, and called by anatomists
the _septum nasi_, perforated, and a feather thrust through the hole,
which projected on each side over the cheeks: it is probable that this
frightful singularity was intended as an ornament; but of the many
people we saw, we never observed it in any other, nor even a perforation
that might occasionally serve for such a purpose.
Their houses are the most inartificially made of any thing among them,
being scarcely equal, except in size, to an English dog-kennel: they are
seldom more than eighteen or twenty feet long, eight or ten broad, and
five or six 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
slender sticks, and both walls and roof consist of dry grass and hay,
which, it must be confessed, is very tightly put together; and some are
also lined with the bark of trees, so that in cold weather they must
afford a very comfortable retreat. The roof is sloping, like those of
our barns, and the door is at one end, just high enough to admit a man,
creeping upon his hands and knees: near the door is a square hole, which
serves the double office of window and chimney, for the fire-place is at
that end, nearly in the middle between the two sides. In some
conspicuous part, and generally near the door, a plank is fixed, covered
with carving after their manner: this they value as we do a picture, and
in their estimation it is not an inferior ornament. The side-walls and
roof project about two feet beyond the walls at each end, so 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
enclosed in a hollow square, by partitions either of wood or stone, and
in the middle of it the fire is kindled. The floor, along the inside of
the walls, is thickly covered with straw, and upon this the family
sleep.
Their furniture and implements consist of but few articles, and one
chest commonly contains them all, except their provision-baskets, the
gourds that hold their fresh water, and the hammers that are used to
beat their fern-root, which generally stand without the door: some rude
tools, their clothes, arms, and a few feathers to stick in their hair,
make the rest of their treasure.
Some of the better sort, whose families are large, have three or four
houses enclosed within a court-yard, the walls of which are constructed
of poles and hay, and are about ten or twelve feet high.
When we were on shore in the district called Tolaga, we saw the ruins,
or rather the frame of a house, for it had never been finished, much
superior in size to any that we saw elsewhere: it was thirty feet in
length, about fifteen in breadth, and twelve high: the sides of it were
adorned with many carved planks, of a workmanship much superior to any
other that we had met with in the country; but for what purpose it was
built, or why it was deserted, we could never learn.
But these people, though in their houses they are so well defended from
the inclemency of the weather, seem to be quite indifferent whether they
have any shelter at all during their excursions in search of fern-roots
and fish, sometimes setting up a small shade to windward, and sometimes
altogether neglecting even that precaution, sleeping with their women
and children under bushes, with their weapons ranged round them, in the
manner that has already been described. The party, consisting of forty
or fifty, whom we saw at Mercury Bay, in a district which the natives
call Opoorage, never erected the least shelter while we staid there,
though it sometimes rained incessantly 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 inhabitants of Europe, is the
roots of the fern which grows upon the hills, and is nearly the same
with what grows upon our high commons in England, and is called
indifferently fern, bracken, or brakes. The birds, which sometimes serve
them for a feast, are chiefly penguins and albatrosses, with a few other
species that have been occasionally mentioned in this narrative.
Having no vessel in which water can be boiled, their cookery consists
wholly of baking and roasting. They bake nearly in the same manner as
the inhabitants of the South Seas, and to the account that has been
already given of their roasting, nothing need be added, but that the
long skewer or spit to which the flesh is fastened is placed sloping
towards the fire, by setting one stone against the bottom of it, and
supporting it near the middle with another, by the moving of which, to a
greater or less distance from the end, the degree of obliquity is
increased or diminished at pleasure.
To the northward, as I have observed, there are plantations of yams,
sweet potatoes, and coccos, but we saw no such to the southward; the
inhabitants, therefore, of that part of the country must subsist wholly
upon fern root and fish, except the scanty and accidental resource which
they may find in sea-fowl and dogs; and that fern and fish are not to be
procured at all seasons of the year, even at the sea-side, and upon the
neighbouring hills, is manifest from the stores of both that we saw laid
up dry, and the reluctance which some of them expressed at selling any
part of them to us when we offered to purchase them, at least the fish,
for sea stores. And this particular seems to confirm my opinion, that
this country scarcely sustains the present number of its inhabitants,
who are urged to perpetual hostilities by hunger, which naturally
prompted them to eat the dead bodies of those who were slain in the
contest.
Water is their universal and only liquor, as far as we could discover,
and if they have really no means of intoxication, they are, in this
particular, happy beyond any other people that we have yet seen or heard
of.
As there is, perhaps, no source of disease, either critical or chronic,
but intemperance and inactivity, it cannot be thought strange that these
people enjoy perfect and uninterrupted health. In all our visits to
their towns, where young and old, men and women, crowded about us,
prompted by the same curiosity that carried us to look at them, we never
saw a single person who appeared to have any bodily complaint, nor among
the numbers that we have seen naked did we once perceive the slightest
eruption upon the skin, or any marks that an eruption had left behind.
At first, indeed, observing that some of them when they came off to us
were marked in patches with a white flowery appearance upon different
parts of their bodies, we thought that they were leprous, or highly
scorbutic; but upon examination we found that these marks were owing to
their having been wetted by the spray of the sea in their passage,
which, when it was dried away, left the salts behind it in a fine white
powder.
Another proof of health, which we have mentioned upon a former occasion,
is the facility with which the wounds healed that had left scars behind
them, and that we saw in a recent state; when we saw the man who had
been shot with a musket-ball through the fleshy part of his arm, his
wound seemed to be so well digested, and in so fair a way of being
perfectly healed, that if I had not known no application had been made
to it, I should certainly have enquired, with a very interested
curiosity, after the vulnerary herbs and surgical art of the country.
A farther proof that human nature is here untainted with disease, is the
great number of old men that we saw, many of whom, by the loss of their
hair and teeth, appeared to be very ancient, yet none of them were
decrepit; and though not equal to the young in muscular strength, were
not a whit behind them in cheerfulness and vivacity.
CHAP. X.
OF THE CANOES AND NAVIGATION OF THE INHABITANTS OF NEW ZEALAND: THEIR
TILLAGE, WEAPONS, AND MUSIC: GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, AND LANGUAGE: WITH
SOME REASONS AGAINST THE EXISTENCE OF A SOUTHERN CONTINENT.
THE ingenuity of these people appears in nothing more than in their
canoes: they are long and narrow, and in shape very much resemble a New
England whale-boat: the larger sort seem to be built chiefly for war,
and will carry from forty to eighty, or an hundred armed men. We
measured one which lay ashore at Tolaga: she was sixty-eight feet and a
half long, five feet broad, and three feet and a half deep; the bottom
was sharp, with straight sides like a wedge, and consisted of three
lengths, hollowed out to about two inches, or an inch and a half thick,
and well fastened together with strong plaiting: each side consisted of
one entire plank, sixty-three feet long, ten or twelve inches broad, and
about an inch and quarter thick, and these were fitted and lashed to the
bottom part with great dexterity and strength. A considerable number of
thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to which they were securely
lashed on each side, as a strengthening to the boat. The ornament at the
head projected five or six feet beyond the body, and was about four feet
and a half high; the ornament at the stern was fixed upon that end, as
the stern-post of a ship is upon her keel, and was about fourteen feet
high, two feet broad, and an inch and a half thick. They both consisted
of boards of carved work, of which the design 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 less than twenty feet long: some of the smaller sort
have outriggers, and sometimes two of them are joined together, but this
is not common. The carving upon the stern and head ornaments of the
inferior boats, which seemed to be intended wholly for fishing, consists
of the figure of a man, with a face as ugly as can be conceived, and a
monstrous tongue thrust out of the mouth, with the white shells of
sea-ears stuck in for the eyes. But the canoes of the superior kind,
which seem to be their men-of-war, are magnificently adorned with open
work, and covered with loose fringes of black feathers, which had a most
elegant appearance: the gunwale boards were also frequently carved in a
grotesque taste, and adorned with tufts of white feathers placed upon a
black ground. Of visible objects that are wholly new, no verbal
description can convey a just idea, but in proportion as they resemble
some that are already known, to which the mind of the reader must be
referred: the carving of these people being of a singular kind, and not
in the likeness of any thing that is known on our side of the ocean,
either “in the heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters
that are under the earth,” I must refer wholly to the representations
which will be found of it in Plate XV.
The paddles are small, light, and neatly made; the blade is of an oval
shape, or rather of a shape resembling a large leaf, pointed at the
bottom, broadest in the middle, and gradually losing itself in the
shaft, the whole length being about six feet, of which the shaft or loom
including the handle is four, and the blade two. By the help of these
oars they push on their boats with amazing velocity.
In sailing they are not expert, having no art of going otherwise than
before the wind: the sail is of netting or matt, which is set up between
two poles that are fixed upright upon each gunwale, and serve both for
masts and yards: two ropes answered the purpose of sheets, and were
consequently fastened above to the top of each pole. But clumsy and
inconvenient as this apparatus is, they make good way before the wind,
and are steered by two men who sit in the stern, with each a paddle in
his hand for that purpose.
Having said thus much of their workmanship, I shall now give some
account of their tools: they have adzes, axes, and chisels, which serve
them also as augers for the boring of holes: as they have no metal,
their adzes and axes are made of a hard black stone, or of a green talc,
which is not only hard but tough; and their chisels of human bone, or
small fragments of jasper, which they chip off from a block in sharp
angular pieces like a gun-flint. Their axes they value above all that
they possess, and never would part with one of them for any thing that
we could give: I once offered one of the best axes I had in the ship,
besides a number of other things, for one of them, but the owner would
not sell it; from which I conclude that good ones are scarce among them.
Their small tools of jasper, which are used in finishing their nicest
work, they use till they are blunt, and then, as they have no means of
sharpening them, throw them away. We had given the people at Tolaga a
piece of glass, and in a short time they found means to drill a hole
through it, in order to hang it round the neck as an ornament by a
thread; and we imagine the tool must have been a piece of this jasper.
How they bring their large tools first to an edge, and sharpen the
weapon which they call Patoo-Patoo, we could not certainly learn; but
probably it is by bruising the same substance to powder, and, with this,
grinding two pieces against each other.
Their nets, particularly their seine, which is of an enormous size, have
been mentioned already: one of these seems to be the joint work of a
whole town, and I suppose it to be the joint property also: the other
net, which is circular, and extended by two or three hoops, has been
particularly described, as well as the manner of baiting and using it.
Their hooks are of bone or shell, and in general are ill made. To
receive the fish when it is caught, and to hold their other provisions,
they have baskets of various kinds and dimensions, very neatly made of
wickerwork.
They excel in tillage, as might naturally be expected where the person
that sows is to eat the produce, and where there is so little besides
that can be eaten: when we first came to Tegadoo, a district between
Poverty Bay and East Cape, their crops were just covered, and had not
yet begun to sprout; the mould was as smooth as in a garden, and every
root had its small hillock, ranged in a regular quincunx by lines, which
with the pegs were still remaining in the field. We had not an
opportunity to see any of these husbandmen work, but we saw what serves
them at once for spade and plough: this instrument is nothing more than
a long narrow stake sharpened to an edge at one end, with a short piece
fastened transversely at a little distance above it, for the convenience
of pressing it down with the foot. With this they turn up pieces of
ground six or seven acres in extent, though it is not more than three
inches broad; but as the soil is light and sandy, it makes little
resistance.
Tillage, weaving, and the other arts of peace, seem to be best known and
most practised in the northern part of this country; for there is little
appearance of any of them in the south: but the arts of war flourish
equally through the whole coast.
Of weapons they have no great variety, but such as they have are well
fitted for destruction; they have spears, darts, battle-axes, and the
Patoo-Patoo. The spear is fourteen or fifteen feet long, pointed at both
ends, and sometimes headed with bone: these are grasped by the middle,
so that the part behind balancing that before, makes a push more
difficult to be parried, than that of a weapon which is held by the end.
The dart and other weapons have been sufficiently described already; and
it has also been remarked, that these people have neither sling nor bow.
They throw the dart by hand, and so they do stones; but darts and stones
are seldom used, except in defending their forts. Their battles, whether
in boats or on shore, are generally hand to hand, and the slaughter must
consequently be great, as a second blow with any of their weapons is
unnecessary, if the first takes place: their trust, however, seems to be
principally placed in the Patoo-Patoo, which is fastened to their wrists
by a strong strap, lest it should be wrenched from them, and which the
principal people generally wear sticking in their girdles, considering
it as a military ornament, and part of their dress, like the poniard of
the Asiatic, and the sword of the European. They have no defensive
armour; but, besides their weapons, the chiefs carry a staff of
distinction, in the same manner as our officers do the spontoon: this
was generally the rib of a whale, as white as snow, with many ornaments
of carved work, dog’s hair, and feathers; but sometimes it was a stick,
about six feet long, adorned in the same manner, and inlaid with a shell
like mother-of-pearl. Those who bore this mark of distinction were
generally old, at least past the middle age, and were also more marked
with the _Amoco_ than the rest.
One or more persons, thus distinguished, always appeared in each canoe,
when they came to attack us, according to the size of it. When they came
within about a cable’s length of the ship, they used to stop; and the
chiefs rising from their seat, put on a dress which seemed appropriated
to the occasion, generally of dog’s skin, and holding out their
decorated staff, or weapon, directed the rest of the people what they
should do. When they were at too great a distance to reach us with a
lance or a stone, they presumed that we had no weapon with which we
could reach them; here then the defiance was given, and the words were
almost universally the same,—_Haromai, haromai, harre uta a patoo-patoo
oge_: “Come to us, come on shore, and we will kill you all with our
patoo-patoos.” While they were uttering these menaces, they came
gradually nearer and nearer, till they were close alongside; talking at
intervals in a peaceable strain, and answering any questions that we
asked them; and at intervals renewing their defiance and threats, till
being encouraged by our apparent timidity, they began their war-song and
dance, as a prelude to an attack, which always followed, and was
sometimes continued till it became absolutely necessary to repress them
by firing some small shot; and sometimes ended after throwing a few
stones on board, as if content with having offered us an insult, which
we did not dare to revenge.
The war-dance consists of a great variety of violent motions, and
hideous contortions of the limbs, during which the countenance also
performs its part: the tongue is frequently thrust out to an incredible
length, and the eye-lids so forcibly drawn up, that the white appears
both above and below, as well as on each side of the iris, so as to form
a circle round it; nor is any thing neglected that can render the human
shape frightful and deformed: at the same time they brandish their
spears, shake their darts, and cleave the air with their patoo-patoos.
This horrid dance is always accompanied by a song; it is wild, indeed,
but not disagreeable, and every strain ends in aloud and deep sigh,
which they utter in concert. In the motions of the dance, however
horrid, there is a strength, firmness, and agility, which we could not
but behold with admiration; and in their song they keep time with such
exactness, that I have often heard above an hundred paddles struck
against the sides of their boats at once, so as to produce but a single
sound, at the divisions of their music.
A song not altogether unlike this, they sometimes sing without the
dance, and as a peaceable amusement: they have also other songs which
are sung by the women, whose voices are remarkably mellow and soft, and
have a pleasing and tender effect; the time is slow, and the cadence
mournful; but it is conducted with more taste than could be expected
among the poor ignorant savages of this half-desolate country;
especially as it appeared to us, who were none of us much acquainted
with music as a science, to be sung in parts; it was at least sung by
many voices at the same time.
They have sonorous instruments, but they can scarcely be called
instruments of music; one is the shell, called the Triton’s trumpet,
with which they make a noise not unlike that which our boys sometimes
make with a cow’s horn: the other is a small wooden pipe, resembling a
child’s nine-pin, only much smaller, and in this there is no more music
than in a pea-whistle. They seem sensible indeed that these instruments
are not musical; for we never heard an attempt to sing to them, or to
produce with them any measured tones that bore the least resemblance to
a tune.
To what has been already said of the practice of eating human flesh, I
shall only add, that in almost every cove where we landed, we found
flesh-bones of men near the places where fires had been made; and that
among the heads that were brought on board by the old man, some seemed
to have false eyes, and ornaments in their ears as if alive. That which
Mr. Banks bought was sold with great reluctance by the possessor: the
head was manifestly that of a young person about fourteen or fifteen
years of age, and by the contusions on one side appeared to have
received many violent blows, and indeed a part of the bone near the eye
was wanting. These appearances confirmed us in the opinion that the
natives of this country give no quarter, nor take any prisoners to be
killed and eaten at a future time, as is said to have been a practice
among the Indians of Florida: for if prisoners had been taken, this poor
young creature, who cannot be supposed capable of making much
resistance, would probably have been one, and we knew that he was killed
with the rest, for the fray had happened but a few days before.
The towns or Hippahs of these people, which are all fortified, have been
sufficiently described already, and from the Bay of Plenty to Queen
Charlotte’s Sound they seem to be the constant residence of the people:
but about Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay, Tegadoo, and Tolaga, we saw no
Hippahs, but single houses scattered at a distance from each other; yet
upon the sides of the hills there were stages of a great length,
furnished with stones and darts, probably as retreats for the people at
the last extremity, as upon these stages a fight may be carried on with
much advantage against those below, who may be reached with great effect
by darts and stones, which it is impossible for them to throw up with
equal force. And indeed the forts themselves seem to be no farther
serviceable than by enabling the possessors to repress a sudden attack;
for as there is no supply of water within the lines, it would be
impossible to sustain a siege. A considerable stock of fern-root and dry
fish is indeed laid up in them; but they may be reserved against seasons
of scarcity, and that such seasons there are, our observations left us
no room to doubt; besides, while an enemy should be prowling in the
neighbourhood, it would be easy to snatch a supply of water from the
side of the hill, though it would be impossible to dig up fern-root or
catch fish.
In this district, however, the people seemed to live in a state of
conscious security, and to avail themselves of their advantage: their
plantations were more numerous, their canoes were more decorated, and
they had not only finer carving, but finer clothes. This part of the
coast also was much the most populous, and possibly their apparent peace
and plenty might arise 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 subjects of Teratu: when they pointed to the residence of this
Prince, it was in a direction which we thought inland; but which, when
we knew the country better, we found to be the Bay of Plenty.
It is much to be regretted 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 extensive: he was acknowledged from Cape
Kidnappers to the northward, and westward as far as the Bay of Plenty, a
length of coast upwards of eighty leagues; and we do not yet know how
much farther westward his dominions may extend. Possibly the fortified
towns which we saw in the Bay of Plenty may be his barrier; especially
as at Mercury Bay he was not acknowledged, nor indeed any other single
chief: for wherever we landed, or spoke with the people upon that coast,
they told us that we were at but a small distance from their enemies.
In the dominions of Teratu we saw several subordinate chiefs, to whom
great respect was paid, and by whom justice was probably administered;
for upon our complaint to one of them, of a theft that had been
committed on board the ship by a man that came with him, he gave him
several blows and kicks, which the other received as the chastisement of
authority, against which no resistance was to be made, and which he had
no right to resent. Whether this authority was possessed by appointment
or inheritance we could not learn; but we observed that the chiefs, as
well here as in other parts, were elderly men. In other parts, however,
we learnt that they possessed their authority by inheritance.
The little societies which we found in the southern parts seemed to have
several things in common, particularly their fine clothes, and fishing
nets. Their fine clothes, which possibly might be the spoils of war,
were kept in a small hut, which was erected for that purpose in the
middle of the town: the nets we saw making in almost every house, and
the several parts being afterwards collected were joined together. Less
account seems to be made of the women here than in the South Sea
islands; such at least was the opinion of Tupia, who complained of it as
an indignity to the sex. We observed that the two sexes eat together;
but how they divide their labour we do not certainly know. I am inclined
to believe that the men till the ground, make nets, catch birds, and go
out in their boats to fish; and that the women dig up fern-roots,
collect lobsters and other shell-fish near the beach, dress the
victuals, and weave cloth: such at least were their employments when we
had an opportunity of observing them, which was but seldom; for in
general our appearance made a holiday wherever we went, men, women and
children, flocking round us, either to gratify their curiosity, or to
purchase some of the valuable merchandise which we carried about with
us, consisting principally of nails, paper, and broken glass.
Of the religion of these people it cannot be supposed that we could
learn much; they acknowledge the influence of superior beings, one of
whom is supreme, and the rest subordinate; and gave nearly the same
account of the origin of the world, and the production of mankind, as
our friends in Otaheite: Tupia, however, seemed to have a much more deep
and extensive knowledge of these subjects than any of the people here;
and whenever he was disposed to instruct them, which he sometimes did in
a long discourse, he was sure of a numerous audience, who listened in
profound silence, with such reverence and attention, that we could not
but wish them a better teacher.
What homage they pay to the deities they acknowledge we could not learn;
but we saw no place of public worship, like the Morais of the South Sea
islands: yet we saw, near a plantation of sweet potatoes, a small area,
of a square figure, surrounded with stones, in the middle of which one
of the sharpened stakes which they use as a spade was set up, and upon
it was hung a basket of fern-roots: upon inquiry, the natives told us,
that it was an offering to the gods, by which the owner hoped to render
them propitious, and obtain a plentiful crop.
As to their manner of disposing of their dead, we could form no certain
opinion of it, for the accounts that we received by no means agreed. In
the northern parts, they told us that they buried them in the ground;
and in the southern, that they threw them into the sea: it is however
certain that we saw no grave in the country, and that they affected to
conceal every thing relating to their dead with a kind of mysterious
secrecy. But whatever may be the sepulchre, the living are themselves
the monuments; for we saw scarcely a single person of either sex whose
body was not marked by the scars of wounds which they had inflicted upon
themselves as a testimony of their regret for the loss of a relation or
friend: some of these wounds we saw in a state so recent that the blood
was scarcely staunched, which shows that death had been among them while
we were upon the coast; and makes it more extraordinary that no funeral
ceremony should have fallen under our notice: some of the scars were
very large and deep, and in many instances had greatly disfigured the
face. One monument indeed we observed of another kind,—the cross that
was set up near Queen Charlotte’s Sound.
Having now given the best account in my power of the customs and
opinions of the inhabitants of New Zealand, with their boats, nets,
furniture, and dress, I shall only remark, that the similitude between
these particulars here and in the South Sea islands is a very strong
proof that the inhabitants have the same origin; and that the common
ancestors of both, were natives of the same country. They have both a
tradition that their ancestors, 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 similitude of the language
seems to put the matter altogether out of doubt. I have already
observed, that Tupia, when he accosted the people here in the language
of his own country, was perfectly understood; and I shall give a
specimen of the similitude by a list of words in both languages,
according to the dialect of the northern and southern islands of which
New Zealand consists, by which it will appear that the language of
Otaheite does not differ more from that of New Zealand, than the
language of the two islands from each other.
ENGLISH. NEW ZEALAND. OTAHEITE.
_Northern._ _Southern._
_A Chief_, Eareete, Eareete, Earee.
_A man_, Taata, Taata, Taata.
_A woman_, Whahine, Whahine, Ivahine.
_The head_, Eupo, Heaowpoho, Eupo.
_The hair_, Macauwe, Heoo-oo, Roourou.
_The ear_, Terringa, Hetaheyei, Terrea.
_The forehead_, Erai, Heai, Erai.
_The eyes_, Mata, Hemata, Mata.
_The cheeks_, Paparinga, Hepapaeh, Paparea.
_The nose_, Ahewh, Heeih, Ahew.
_The mouth_, Hangoutou, Hegaowai, Outou.
_The chin_, Ecouwai, Hakaoewai,
_The arm_, Haringaringu, Rema.
_The finger_, Maticara, Hermaigawh, Maneow.
_The belly_, Ateraboo, Oboo.
_The navel_, Apeto, Heeapeto, Peto.
_Come hither_, Haromai, Haromai, Herromai.
_Fish_, Heica, Heica, Eyea.
_A lobster_, Kooura, Kooura, Tooura.
_Coccos_, Taro, Taro, Taro.
_Sweet potatoes_, Cumala, Cumala, Cumala.
_Yams_, Tuphwhe, Tuphwhe, Tuphwhe.
_Birds_, Mannu, Mannu, Mannu.
_No_, Kaoura, Kaoura, Oure.
_One_, Tahai, Tahai.
_Two_, Rua, Rua.
_Three_, Torou, Torou.
_Four_, Ha, Hea.
_Five_, Rema, Rema.
_Six_, Ono, Ono.
_Seven_, Etu, Hetu.
_Eight_, Warou, Warou.
_Nine_, Iva, Heva.
_Ten_, Angahourou, Ahourou.
_The teeth_, Hennihew, Heneaho, Nihio.
_The wind_, Mehow, Mattai.
_A thief_, Amootoo, Teto.
_To examine_, Mataketake, Mataitai.
_To sing_, Eheara, Heiva.
_Bad_, Keno, Keno, Eno.
_Trees_, Eratou, Eratou, Eraou.
_Grandfather_, Toubouna, Toubouna, Toubouna.
_What do you call Owy Terra, Owy Terra,
this or that_,
By this specimen, I think it appears to demonstration that the language
of New Zealand and Otaheite is radically the same. The language of the
northern and southern parts of New Zealand differs chiefly in the
pronunciation, as the same English word is pronounced _gate_ in
Middlesex, and _geäte_ in Yorkshire: and as the southern and northern
words were not written down by the same person, one might possibly use
more letters to produce the same sound than the other.
I must also observe, that it is the genius of the language, especially
in the southern parts, to put some article before a noun, as we do _the_
or _a_; the articles used here were generally _he_ or _ko_; it is also
common here to add the word _öeia_ after another word as an iteration,
especially if it is an answer to a question; as we say, _yes indeed_,
_to be sure_, _really_, _certainly_: this sometimes led our gentlemen
into the formation of words of an enormous length, judging by the ear
only, without being able to refer each sound into its signification. An
example will make this perfectly understood.
In the Bay of Islands there is a remarkable one, called by the natives
MATUARO. One of our gentlemen having asked a native the name of it, he
answered, with the particle, _Kematuaro_; the gentleman hearing the
sound imperfectly, repeated his question, and the Indian repeating his
answer, added _öeia_, which made the word _Kematuaroöeia_; and thus it
happened that in the log book I found _Metuaro_ transformed into
_Cumettiwarroweia_: and the same transformation by the same means, might
happen to an English word. Suppose a native of New Zealand at Hackney
church, to inquire “What village is this?” the answer would be, “It is
Hackney:” suppose the question to be repeated with on air of doubt and
uncertainty, the answer might be, “it is Hackney indeed,” and the New
Zealander, if he had the use of letters, would probably record, for the
information of his countrymen, that during his residence among us he had
visited a village called “Ityshak neeindede.” The article used by the
inhabitants of the South Sea islands, instead of _he_ or _ko_, is _to_
or _ta_, but the word _öeia_ is common to both; and when we began to
learn the language, it led us into many ridiculous mistakes.
But supposing these islands, and those in the South Seas, to have been
peopled originally from the same country, it will perhaps for ever
remain a doubt what country that is: we were, however, unanimously of
opinion, that the people did not come from America, which lies to the
eastward; and except there should appear to be a continent to the
southward, in a moderate latitude, it will follow that they came from
the westward.
Thus far our navigation has certainly been unfavourable to the notion of
a southern continent, for it has swept away at least three-fourths of
the positions upon which it has been founded. The principal navigators,
whose authority has been urged on this occasion, are Tasman, Juan
Fernandes, Hermite, the commander of a Dutch squadron, Quiros, and
Roggewein; and the track of the Endeavour has demonstrated that the land
seen by these persons, and supposed to be part of a continent, is not
so; it has also totally subverted the theoretical arguments which have
been brought to prove that the existence of a southern continent is
necessary to preserve an equilibrium between the two hemispheres; for
upon this principle what we have already proved to be water, would
render the southern hemisphere too light. In our route to the northward,
after doubling Cape Horn, when we were in the latitude of 40°, our
longitude was 110°; and in our return to the southward, after leaving
Ulietea, when we were again in latitude 40°, our longitude was 145°; the
difference is 35°. When we were in latitude 30° the difference of
longitude between the two tracks was 21°, which continued till we were
as low as 20°; but a single view of the chart will convey a better idea
of this than the most minute description: yet as upon a view of the
chart it will appear that there is a large space extending quite to the
tropics, which neither we, nor any other navigators to our knowledge,
have explored, and as there will appear to be room enough for the Cape
of a southern continent to extend northward into a low southern
latitude, I shall give my reason for believing there is no Cape of any
southern continent, to the northward of 40° south.
Notwithstanding what has been laid down by some geographers in their
maps, and alleged by Mr. Dalrymple, with respect to Quiros, it is
improbable in the highest degree that he saw to the southward of two
islands, which he discovered in latitude 25 or 26, and which I suppose
may lie between the longitude of 130° and 140° W., any signs of a
continent, much less any thing which, in his opinion, was a known or
indubitable sign of such land; for if he had, he would certainly have
sailed southward in search of it, and if he had sought, supposing the
signs to have been indubitable, he must have found: the discovery of a
southern continent was the ultimate object of Quiros’s voyage, and no
man appears to have had it more at heart; so that if he was in latitude
26° S. and in longitude 146° W., where Mr. Dalrymple has placed the
islands he discovered, it may fairly be inferred, that no part of a
southern continent extends to that latitude.
It will, I think, appear with equal evidence from the accounts of
Roggewein’s voyage, that between the longitudes of 130° and 150° W.
there is no main land to the northward of 35° S. Mr. Pingre, in a
treatise concerning the transit of Venus, which he went out to observe,
has inserted an extract of Roggewein’s voyage, and a map of the South
Seas; and for reasons which may be seen at large in his work, supposes
him, after leaving Easter Island, which he places in latitude 28-½ S.
longitude 123° W., to have steered S. W. as high as 34° S. and
afterwards W. N. W.; and if this was indeed his route, the proof that
there is no main land to the northward of 35° S. is irrefragable. Mr.
Dalrymple indeed supposes his route to have been different, and that
from Easter Isle he steered N. W., taking a course afterwards very
little different from that of La Maire; but I think it is highly
improbable that a man, who, at his own request was sent to discover a
southern continent, should take a course in which La Maire had already
proved no continent could be found: it must, however, be confessed, that
Roggewein’s track cannot certainly be ascertained, because, in the
accounts that have been published of his voyage, neither longitudes nor
latitudes are mentioned. As to myself, I saw nothing that I thought a
sign of land in my route, either to the northward, southward, or
westward, till a few days before I made the east coast of New Zealand. I
did indeed frequently see large flocks of birds, but they were generally
such as are found at a very remote distance from any coast; and it is
also true that I frequently saw pieces of rock-weed, but I could not
infer the vicinity of land from these, because I have been informed,
upon indubitable authority, that a considerable quantity of the beans
called _ox-eyes_, which are known to grow no where but in the West
Indies, are every year thrown up on the coast of Ireland, which is not
less than twelve hundred leagues distant.
Thus have I given my reasons for thinking that there is no continent to
the northward of latitude 40° S. Of what may lie farther to the
southward than 40°, I can give no opinion; but I am so far from wishing
to discourage any future attempt, finally to determine a question which
has long been an object of attention to many nations; that now this
voyage has reduced the only possible site of a continent in the southern
hemisphere, north of latitude 40°, to so small a space, I think it would
be pity to leave that any longer unexamined, especially as the voyage
may turn to good account, besides determining the principal question, if
no continent should be found, by the discovery of new islands in the
tropical regions, of which there is probably a great number that no
European vessel has ever yet visited. Tupia, from time to time, gave us
an account of about one hundred and thirty; and, in a chart drawn by his
own hand, he actually laid down no less than seventy-four.