I have before observed, that the country bears great resemblance to New South Wales, or New Holland, and that some of its natural productions are the same. In particular, we found here, the tree which is covered with a soft white ragged bark, easily peeled off, and is, as I have been told, the same that, in the East Indies, is used for caulking of ships. The wood is very hard, the leaves are long and narrow, of a pale dead green, and a fine aromatic; so that it may properly be said to belong to that continent. Nevertheless, here are several plants, etc. common to the eastern and northern islands, and even a species of the passionflower, which, I am told, has never before been known to grow wild any where but in America. Our botanists did not complain for want of employment at this place; every day bringing something new in botany or other branches of natural history. Land-birds, indeed, are not numerous, but several are new. One of these is a kind of crow, at least so we called it, though it is not half so big, and its feathers are tinged with blue. They also have some very beautiful turtle-doves, and other small birds, such as I never saw before.
All our endeavours to get the name of the whole island proved ineffectual. Probably it is too large for them to know by one name. Whenever we made this enquiry, they always gave us the name of some district or place, which we pointed to; and, as before observed, I got the names of several, with the name of the king or chief of each. Hence I conclude, that the country is divided into several districts, each governed by a chief; but we know nothing of the extent of his power. Balade was the name of the district we were at, and Tea Booma the chief. He lived on the other side of the ridge of hills, so that we had but little of his company, and therefore could not see much of his power. Tea seems a title prefixed to the names of all, or most, of their chiefs or great men. My friend honoured me by calling me Tea Cook.
They deposit their dead in the ground. I saw none of their burying-places, but several of the gentlemen did. In one, they were informed, lay the remains of a chief who was slain in battle; and his grave, which bore some resemblance to a large mole-hill, was decorated with spears, darts, paddles, etc. all stuck upright in the ground round about it. The canoes, which these people use, are somewhat like those of the Friendly Isles; but the most heavy clumsy vessels I ever saw. They are what I call double canoes, made out of two large trees, hollowed out, having a raised gunnel, about two inches high, and closed at each end with a kind of bulk-head of the same height; so that the whole is like a long square trough, about three feet shorter than the body of the canoe; that is, a foot and a half at each end. Two canoes, thus fitted, are secured to each other, about three feet asunder, by means of cross spars, which project about a foot over each side. Over these spars is laid a deck, or very heavy platform, made of plank, and small round spars, on which they have a fire-hearth, and generally a fire burning; and they carry a pot or jar to dress their victuals in. The space between the two canoes is laid with plank, and the rest with spars. On one side of the deck, and close to the edge, is fixed a row of knees, pretty near to each other, the use of which is to keep the masts, yards, etc. from, rolling over-board. They are navigated by one or two lateen-sails, extended to a small lateen-yard, the end of which fixes in a notch or hole in the deck. The foot of the sail is extended to a small boom. The sail is composed of pieces of matting, the ropes are made of the coarse filaments of the plantain-tree, twisted into cords of the thickness of a finger; and three or four more such cords, marled together, serve them for shrouds, etc. I thought they sailed very well; but they are not at all calculated for rowing or paddling. Their method of proceeding, when they cannot sail, is by sculling, and for this purpose there are holes in the boarded deck or platform. Through these they put the sculls, which are of such a length, that, when the blade is in the water, the loom or handle is four or five feet above the deck. The man who works it stands behind, and with both his hands sculls the vessel forward. This method of proceeding is very slow; and for this reason, the canoes are but ill calculated for fishing, especially for striking of turtle, which, I think, can hardly ever be done in them. Their fishing implements, such as I have seen, are turtle-nets, made, I believe, of the filaments of the plantain-tree twisted; and small hand-nets, with very minute meshes made of fine twine and fish-gigs. Their general method of fishing, I guess, is to lie on the reefs in shoal water, and to strike the fish that may come in their way. They may, however, have other methods, which we had no opportunity to see, as no boat went out while we were here; all their time and attention being taken up with us. Their canoes are about thirty feet long, and the deck or platform about twenty-four in length, and ten in breadth. We had not, at this time, seen any timber in the country so large as that of which their canoes were made. It was observed that the holes, made in the several parts, in order to sew them together, were burnt through, but with what instrument we never learnt. Most probably it was of stone, which may be the reason why they were so fond of large spikes, seeing at once they would answer this purpose. I was convinced they were not wholly designed for edge-tools, because every one shewed a desire for the iron belaying-pins which were fixed in the quarter-deck rail, and seemed to value them far more than a spike-nail, although it might be twice as big. These pins, which are round, perhaps have the very shape of the tool they wanted to make of the nails. I did not find that a hatchet was quite so valuable as a large spike. Small nails were of little or no value; and beads, looking-glasses, etc. they did not admire.
The women of this country, and likewise those of Tanna, are, so far as I could judge, far more chaste than those of the more eastern islands. I never heard that one of our people obtained the least favour from any one of them. I have been told that the ladies here would frequently divert themselves by going a little aside with our gentlemen, as if they meant to be kind to them, and then would run away laughing at them. Whether this was chastity or coquetry, I shall not pretend to determine; nor is it material, since the consequences were the same.
CHAPTER X.
Proceedings on the Coast of New Caledonia, with Geographical and Nautical Observations.
1774 September
Everything being in readiness to put to sea, at sun-rise, on the 13th of September, we weighed, and with a fine gale at E. by S., stood out for the same channel we came in by. At half past seven we were in the middle of it. Observatory Isle bore S. 5° E., distant four miles, and the isle of Balabea W.N.W. As soon as we were clear of the reef, we hauled the wind to the starboard tack, with a view of plying in to the S.E.; but as Mr Gilbert was of opinion that he had seen the end, or N.W. extremity of the land, and that it would be easier to get round by the N.W., I gave over plying, and bore up along the outside of the reef, steering N.N.W., N.W., and N.W. by W., as it trended. At noon the island of Balabea bore S. by W., distant thirteen miles; and what we judged to be the west end of the great land, bore S.W. 1/2 S., and the direction of the reef was N.W. by W., latitude observed 19° 53' 20". Longitude from Observatory Isle 14' W. We continued to steer N.W. by W. along the outside of the reef till three o'clock, at which time the isle of Balabea bore S. by E. 1/2 E. In this direction we observed a partition in the reef, which we judged to be a channel, by the strong tide which set out of it. From this place the reef inclined to the north for three or four leagues, and then to the N.W. We followed its direction, and as we advanced to N.W., raised more land, which seemed to be connected with what we had seen before; so that Mr Gilbert was mistaken, and did not see the extremity of the coast. At five o'clock this land bore W. by N. 1/2 N., distant twenty miles; but what we could see of the reef trended in the direction of N.W. by N.
Having hauled the wind to the starboard tack, and spent the night plying, on the 14th, at sun-rise, the island of Balabea bore S. 6 E., and the land seen the preceding night W., but the reef still trended N.W., along which we steered with a light breeze at E.S.E. At noon we observed in latitude 19° 28', longitude from Observatory Isle 27' W. We had now no sight of Balabea; and the other land, that is, the N.W. part of it, bore W. by S. 1/2 S., but we were not sure if this was one continued coast, or separate islands. For though some partitions were seen, from space to space, which made it look like the latter, a multitude of shoals rendered a nearer approach to it exceedingly dangerous, if not impracticable. In the afternoon, with a fine breeze at E.S.E., we ranged the outside of these shoals, which we found to trend in the direction of N.W. by W., N.W. by N., and N.N.E. At three o'clock we passed a low sandy isle, lying on the outer edge of the reef, in latitude 19° 25', and in the direction of N.E. from the north-westernmost land, six or seven leagues distant. So much as we could see of this space was strewed with shoals, seemingly detached from each other; and the channel leading in amongst them appeared to be on the S.E. side of the sandy isle; at least, there was a space where the sea did not break. At sun-set we could but just see the land, which bore S.W. by S., about ten leagues distant. A clear horizon produced the discovery of no land to the westward of this direction; the reef too trended away W. by N. 1/2 N., and seemed to terminate in a point which was seen from the mast-head. Thus every thing conspired to make us believe that we should soon get round these shoals; and with these flattering expectations we hauled the wind, which was at E.N.E., and spent the night making short boards.
Next morning at sun-rise, seeing neither land nor breakers, we bore away N.W. by W., and two hours after saw the reef extending N.W. farther than the eye could reach; no land was to be seen. It was therefore probable that we had passed its N.W. extremity; and, as we had seen from the hills of Balade its extent to the S.W., it was necessary to know how far it extended to the east or southeast, while it was in our power to recover the coast; for, by following the direction of the shoals, we might have been carried so far to leeward as not to be able to beat back without considerable loss of time. We were already far out of sight of land; and there was no knowing how much farther we might be carried, before we found an end to them. These considerations, together with the risk we must run in exploring a sea strewed with shoals, and where no anchorage, without them, is to be found, induced me to abandon the design of proceeding round by the N.W., and to ply up to the S.E., in which direction I knew there was a clear sea. With this view we tacked and stood to the S.E., with the wind at N.E. by E., a gentle breeze. At this time we were in the latitude of 19° 7' S., longitude 163° 57' E.