Narrative of the Voyages Round the World, Performed by Captain James Cook / With an Account of His Life During the Previous and Intervening Periods

by Andrew Kippis

While on the 3rd of May, Mr. Banks was gathering plants near the watering-place, Lieutenant Cook went with Dr. Solander and Mr. Monkhouse, to the head of the bay, for the purpose of examining that part of the country, and of making further attempts to form some connexions with the natives. In this excursion they acquired additional knowledge concerning the nature of the soil, and its capacities for cultivation, but had no success in their endeavours to engage the inhabitants in coming to a friendly intercourse. Several parties, that were sent into the country, on the next day, with the same view, were equally unsuccessful. In the afternoon our commander himself, with a number of attendants, made an excursion to the north shore, which he found to be without wood, and to resemble in some degree, our moors in England. The surface of the ground was, however, covered with a thin brush of plants, rising to about the height of the knee. Near the coast, the hills are low, but there are others behind them, which gradually ascend to a considerable distance, and are intersected with marshes and morasses. Among the articles of fish which, at different times were caught, were large stingrays. One of them, when his entrails were taken out, weighed three hundred and thirty-six pounds.

It was upon account of the great quantity of plants which Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander collected in this place, that Lieutenant Cook was induced to give it the name of Botany Bay. It is situated in the latitude of 34° south, and in the longitude of 208° 37' west; and affords a capacious, safe, and convenient shelter for shipping. The Endeavour anchored near the south shore, about a mile within the entrance, for the convenience of sailing with a southerly wind, and because the lieutenant thought it the best situation for watering. But afterward he found a very fine stream on the north shore, where was a sandy cove, in which a ship might lie almost land-locked, and procure wood and water to the greatest abundance. Though wood is every where plentiful our commander saw only two species of it that could be considered as timber. Not only the inhabitants who were first discovered, but all who afterward came in sight, were entirely naked. Of their mode of life, our voyagers could know but little, as not the least connexion could be formed with them; but it did not appear that they were numerous, or that they lived in societies. They seemed, like other animals, to be scattered about along the coast, and in the woods. Not a single article was touched by them of all that were left at their huts, or at the places which they frequented; so little sense had they of those small conveniences and ornaments, which are generally very alluring to the uncivilized tribes of the globe. During Mr. Cook's stay at this place, he caused the English colours to be displayed every day on shore, and took care that the ship's name, and the date of the year, should be inscribed upon one of the trees near the watering-place.

At day-break, on Sunday the 6th of May, our navigators sailed from Botany Bay; and as they proceeded on their voyage, the lieutenant gave the names that are indicated upon the map to the bays, capes, points, and remarkable hills which successively appeared in sight. On the 14th, as the Endeavour advanced to the northward, being then in latitude 30° 22' south, and longitude 206° 39' west, the land gradually increased in height, so that it may be called a hilly country. Between this latitude and Botany Bay, it exhibits a pleasing variety of ridges, hills, valleys and plains, all clothed with wood, of the same appearance with that which has been mentioned before. The land near the shore is in general low and sandy, excepting the points, which are rocky, and over many of which are high hills, that, at their first rising out of the water, have the semblance of islands. On the next day, the vessel being about a league from the shore, our voyagers discovered smoke in many places, and having recourse to their glasses, they saw about twenty of the natives, who had each of them a large bundle upon his back. The bundles our people conjectured to be palm leaves for covering the houses of the Indians, and continued to observe them above an hour, during which they walked upon the beach, and up a path that led over a hill of gentle ascent. It was remarkable, that not one of them was seen to stop and look towards the Endeavour. They marched along without the least apparent emotion either of curiosity or surprise, though it was impossible that they should not have discerned the ship, by some casual glance, as they went along the shore, and though she must have been the most stupendous and unaccountable object they had ever beheld.

While on the 17th, our navigators were in a bay, to which Lieutenant Cook had given the name of Moreton's Bay, and at a place were the land was not at that time visible, some on board, having observed that the sea looked paler than usual, were of opinion that the bottom of the bay opened into a river. The lieutenant was sensible that there was no real ground for this supposition. As the Endeavour had here thirty-four fathom water, and a fine sandy bottom, these circumstances alone were sufficient to produce the change which had been noticed in the colour of the sea. Nor was it by any means necessary, to suppose a river, in order to account for the land at the bottom of the bay not being visible. If the land there was as low as it had been experienced to be in a hundred other parts of the coast, it would be impossible to see it from the station of the ship. Our commander would, however, have brought the matter to the test of experiments, if the wind had been favourable to such a purpose. Should any future navigator be disposed to determine the question, whether there is or is not a river in this place, Mr. Cook has taken care to leave the best directions for finding its situation.

On the 22nd, as our voyagers were pursuing their course from Harvey's Bay, they discovered with their glasses that the land was covered with palm-nut trees, which they had not seen from the time of their leaving the islands within the tropic. They saw also two men walking along the shore, who paid them as little attention, as they had met with on former occasions. At eight o'clock in the evening of this day, the ship came to an anchor in five fathom, with a fine sandy bottom. Early in the morning of the next day, the lieutenant, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, the other gentlemen, Tupia, and a party of men, went on shore in order to examine the country. The wind blew fresh, and the weather was so cold, that being at a considerable distance from land, they took their cloaks as a necessary equipment for the voyage. When they landed, they found a channel leading into a large lagoon. Both the channel and the lagoon were examined by our commander with his usual accuracy. There is in the place a small river of fresh water, and room for a few ships to lie in great security. Near the lagoon grows the true mangrove, such as exists in the West India islands, and the first of the kind that had been yet met with by our navigators. Among the shoals and sand banks of the coast, they saw many large birds, and some in particular of the same kind which they had seen in Botany Bay. These they judged to be pelicans, but they were so shy as never to come within reach of a musket. On the shore was found a species of the bustard, one of which was shot that was equal in size to a turkey, weighing seventeen pounds and a half. All the gentlemen agreed that this was the best bird they had eaten since they left England; and in honour of it they called the inlet Bustard Bay. Upon the mud banks, and under the mangroves, were innumerable oysters of various kinds, and among others the hammer oyster, with a large proportion of small pearl oysters. If in deeper water there should be equal plenty of such oysters at their full growth, Mr. Cook was of opinion that a pearl fishery might be established here to very great advantage.

The people who were left on board the ship asserted, that, while the gentlemen were in the woods, about twenty of the natives came down to the beach, abreast of the Endeavour, and, after having looked at her for some time, went away. Not a single Indian was seen by the gentlemen themselves, though they found various proofs, in smoke, fires, and the fragments of recent meals, that the country was inhabited. The place seemed to be much trodden, and yet not a house, or the remains of a house, could be discerned. Hence the lieutenant and his friends were disposed to believe, that the people were destitute of dwellings, as well as of clothes; and that like the other commoner of nature, they spent their nights in the open air. Tupia himself was struck with their apparently unhappy condition; and shaking his head, with an air of superiority and compassion, said that they were taata enos, 'poor wretches.'

On the 25th, our voyagers, at the distance of one mile from the land, were abreast of a point, which Mr. Cook found to lie directly under the tropic of Capricorn; and for this reason he called it Cape Capricorn. In the night of the next day, when the ship had anchored at a place which was distant four leagues from Cape Capricorn, the tide rose and fell near seven feet; and the flood set to the westward, and the ebb to the eastward. This circumstance was just the reverse of what had been experienced when the Endeavour was at anchor to the eastward of Bustard Bay.

While our people were under sail, on the 26th, and were surrounded with islands, which lay at different distance from the main land, they suddenly fell into three fathom of water. Upon this the lieutenant anchored, and sent away the master to sound a channel, which lay between the northernmost island and the main. Though the channel appeared to have a considerable breadth, our commander suspected it to be shallow, and such was in fact the case. The master reported, at his return, that he had only two fathom and a half in many places; and where the vessel lay at anchor, she had only sixteen feet, which was not two feet more than she drew. Mr. Banks who, while the master was sounding the channel, tried to fish from the cabin window with hook and line, was successful in catching two sort of crabs, both of them such as our navigators had not seen before. One of them was adorned with a most beautiful blue, in every respect equal to the ultramarine. With this blue all his claws and joints are deeply tinged; while the under part of him was white, and so exquisitely polished, that to colour and brightness it bore an exact resemblance to the white of old china. The other crab was also marked, though somewhat more sparingly, with the ultramarine on his joints and his toes; and on his back were three brown spots of a singular appearance.

Early the next morning, Lieutenant Cook, having found the passage between the Islands, sailed to the northward, and, on the evening of the succeeding day, anchored at about two miles distance from the main. At this time a great number of islands, lying a long way without the ship, were in sight. On the 29th, the lieutenant sent away the master with two boats to sound the entrance of an inlet, which lay to the west, and into which he intended to go with the vessel, that he might wait a few days for the moon's increase, and have an opportunity of examining the country. As the tide was observed to ebb and flow considerably, when the Endeavour had anchored within the inlet, our commander judged it to be a river, that might run pretty far up into land. Thinking that this might afford a commodious situation for laying the ship ashore, and cleaning her bottom, he landed with the master, in search of a proper place for the purpose. He was accompanied in the excursion by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander; and they found walking exceedingly troublesome, in consequence of the ground's being covered with a kind of grass, the seeds of which were very sharp and bearded. Whenever these seeds stuck into their clothes, which happened at every step, they worked forward by means of the beard, till they got at the flesh. Another disagreeable circumstance was, that the gentlemen were incessantly tormented with the stings of a cloud of musquitos. They soon met with several places where the ship might conveniently be laid ashore; but were much disappointed in not being able to find any fresh water. In proceeding up the country they found gum trees, the gum upon which existed only to very small quantities. Gum trees of a similar kind and as little productive, had occurred in other parts of the coast of New South Wales. Upon the branches of the trees were ants' nests, made of clay as big as a bushel. The ants themselves, by which the nests were inhabited, were small, and their bodies white. Upon another species of the gum trees, was found a small black ant, which perforated all the twigs, and, having worked out the pith, occupied the pipe in which it had been contained. Notwithstanding this, the parts in which these insects, to an amazing number, had formed a lodgment, bore leaves and flowers, and appeared to be entirely in a flourishing state. Butterflies were found in such multitudes, that the account of them seems almost to be incredible. The air was so crowded with them, for the space of three or four acres, that millions might be seen in every direction; and the branches and twigs of the trees were at the same time covered with others that were not upon the wing. A small fish a of singular kind was likewise met with in this place. Its size was about that of a minnow, and it had two very strong breast-fins. It was found in places which were quite dry, and where it might be supposed that it had been left by the tide; and yet it did not appear to have become languid from that circumstance: for when it was approached, it leaped away as nimbly as a frog. Indeed it did not seem to prefer water to land.

Though the curiosity of Mr. Cook and his friends was gratified by the sight of these various objects, they were disappointed in the attainment of their main purpose, the discovery of fresh water; and a second excursion, which was made by them on the afternoon of the same day, was equally unsuccessful. The failure of the lieutenant's hopes determined him to make but a short stay in the place. Having, however, observed from an eminence, that the inlet penetrated a considerable way into the country, he formed a resolution of tracing it in the morning. Accordingly, at sunrise, on Wednesday the 30th of May, he went on shore, and took a view of the coast and the islands that lie off it with their bearings. For this purpose he had with him an azimuth compass; but he found, that the needle differed very considerably in its position, even to thirty degrees; the variation being in some places more, in others less. Once the needle varied from itself no less than two points in the distance of fourteen feet. Mr. Cook having taken up some of the loose stones which lay upon the ground, applied them to the needle, but they produced no effect; whence he concluded that in the hills there was iron ore, traces of which he had remarked both here and in the neighbouring parts. After he had made his observations upon the hill, he proceeded with Dr. Solander up the inlet. He set out with the first of the flood, and had advanced above eight leagues, long before it was high-water. The breadth of the inlet, thus far, was from two to five miles, upon a direction south-west by south; but here it opened every way, and formed a large lake, which to the north-west communicated with the sea. Our commander not only saw the sea in this direction, but found the tide of flood coming strongly in from that point. He observed, also, an arm of this lake extending to the eastward. Hence he thought it not improbable, that it might communicate with the sea in the bottom of the bay, which lies to the westward of the Cape, that on the chart is designated by the name of Cape Townshend. On the south side of the lake is a ridge of hills which the lieutenant was desirous of climbing. As, however, it was high water, and the day was far spent; and as the weather, in particular, was dark and rainy, he was afraid of being bewildered among the shoals in the night, and therefore was obliged to give up his inclination, and to make the best of his way to the ship. Two people only were seen by him, who followed the boat along the shore a good way at some distance; but he could not prudently wait for them, as the tide ran strongly in his favour. Several fires in one direction, and smoke in another, exhibited farther proofs of the country's being in a certain degree inhabited.