On the declivity of the mountain, towards the west, they met with another well; but the water was a very strong mineral, had a thick green scum on the top, and stunk intolerably. Necessity, however, obliged some to drink of it; but it soon made them so sick, that they threw it up the same way it went down.
In all this excursion, as well as the one made the preceding day, only two or three shrubs were seen. The leaf and seed of one (called by the natives Torromedo) were not much unlike those of the common vetch; but the pod was more like that of a tamarind in its size and shape. The seeds have a disagreeable bitter taste; and the natives, when they saw our people chew them, made signs to spit them out; from whence it was concluded that they think them poisonous. The wood is of a reddish colour, and pretty hard and heavy; but very crooked, small, and short, not exceeding six or seven feet in height. At the south-west corner of the island, they found another small shrub, whose wood was white and brittle, and in some measure, as also its leaf, resembling the ash. They also saw in several places the Otaheitean cloth plant; but it was poor and weak, and not above two and a half feet high at most.
They saw not an animal of any sort, and but very few birds; nor indeed any thing which can induce ships that are not in the utmost distress, to touch at this island.
This account of the excursion I had from Mr. Pickersgill and Mr. Wales, men on whose veracity I could depend; and, therefore, I determined to leave the island the next morning, since nothing was to be obtained that could make it worth my while to stay longer; for the water which we had sent on board, was not much better than if it had been taken up out of the sea.
We had a calm till ten o’clock in the morning of the 16th, when a breeze sprung up at west, accompanied with heavy showers of rain, which lasted about an hour. The weather then clearing up, we got under sail, stood to sea, and kept plying to and fro, while an officer was sent on shore with two boats, to purchase such refreshments as the natives might have brought down; for I judged this would be the case, as they knew nothing of our sailing. The event proved that I was not mistaken; for the boats made two trips before night; when we hoisted them in, and made sail to the north-west with a light breeze at north north-east.
CHAP. VIII.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND, ITS PRODUCE, SITUATION, AND INHABITANTS; THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.—CONJECTURES CONCERNING THEIR GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, AND OTHER SUBJECTS; WITH A MORE PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE GIGANTIC STATUES.
I shall now give some farther account of this island, which is undoubtedly the same that Admiral Roggewin touched at in April 1722, although the description given of it by the authors of that voyage does by no means agree with it now. It may also be the same that was seen by Captain Davis in 1686; for when seen from the east, it answers very well to Wafer’s description, as I have before observed. In short, if this is not the land, his discovery cannot lie far from the coast of America, as this latitude has been well explored from the meridian of 80° to 110°. Captain Carteret carried it much farther, but his track seems to have been a little too far south. Had I found fresh water, I intended spending some days looking for the low sandy isle Davis fell in with, which would have determined the point; but as I did not find water, and had a long run to make before I was assured of getting any, and being in want of refreshments, I declined the search, as a small delay might have been attended with bad consequences to the crew, many of them beginning to be more or less affected with the scurvy.
No nation need contend for the honour of the discovery of this island, as there can be few places which afford less convenience for shipping than it does. Here is no safe anchorage, no wood for fuel, nor any fresh water worth taking on board. Nature has been exceedingly sparing of her favours to this spot. As every thing must be raised by dint of labour, it cannot be supposed the inhabitants plant much more than is sufficient for themselves; and as they are but few in number, they cannot have much to spare to supply the wants of visitant strangers. The produce is sweet potatoes, yams, taraoreddy-root, plantains, and sugar-canes, all pretty good, the potatoes especially, which are the best of the kind I ever tasted. Gourds they have also; but so very few, that a coca-nut shell was the most valuable thing we could give them. They have a few tame fowls, such as cocks and hens, small but well tasted. They have also rats, which it seems they eat; for I saw a man with some dead ones in his hand, and he seemed unwilling to part with them, giving me to understand they were for food. Land birds there were hardly any, and sea birds but few; these were, men-of-war, tropic, and egg-birds, nodies, tern, &c. The coast seemed not to abound with fish; at least we could catch none with hook and line, and it was but very little we saw amongst the natives.
Such is the produce of Easter Island, or Davis’s Land, which is situated in the latitude of 27° 5ʹ 30ʺ S., longitude 109° 46ʹ 20ʺ W. It is about ten or twelve leagues in circuit, hath a hilly and stony surface, and an iron-bound shore. The hills are of such an height as to be seen fifteen or sixteen leagues. Off the south end, are two rocky islots lying near the shore. The north and east points of the island rise directly from the sea to a considerable height; between them, on the south-east side, the shore forms an open bay, in which I believe the Dutch anchored. We anchored, as hath been already mentioned, on the west side of the island, three miles to the north of the south point, with the sandy beach bearing east-south-east. This is a very good road with easterly winds, but a dangerous one with westerly, as the other on the south-east side must be with easterly winds.
For this and other bad accommodations already mentioned, nothing but necessity will induce any one to touch at this isle, unless it can be done without going much out of the way; in which case touching here may be advantageous, as the people willingly and readily part with such refreshments as they have, and at an easy rate. We certainly received great benefit from the little we got; but few ships can come here without being in want of water, and this want cannot be here supplied. The little we took on board, could not be made use of; it being only salt water which had filtrated through a stony beach into a stone well. This the natives had made for the purpose, a little to the southward of the sandy beach so often mentioned, and the water ebbed and flowed into it with the tide.