Their arms were long lances, made of the Etoa, the wood of which is very hard; they were well polished and sharpened at one end: some were near twenty feet long, though not more than three fingers thick: they had also a weapon, which was both club and pike, made of the same wood, about seven feet long; this also was well polished, and sharpened at one end into a broad point. As a guard against these weapons, when they attack each other, they have matts folded up many times, which they place under their clothes from the neck to the waist: the weapons themselves indeed are capable of much less mischief than those of the same kind which we saw at the other islands, for the lances were there pointed with the sharp bone of the stingray that is called the sting, and the pikes were of much greater weight. The other things that we saw here were all superior in their kind to any we had seen before; the cloth was of a better colour in the dye, and painted with greater neatness and taste; the clubs were better cut and polished, and the canoe, though a small one, was very rich in ornament, and the carving was executed in a better manner: among other decorations peculiar to this canoe, was a line of small white feathers, which hung from the head and stern on the outside, and which, when we saw them, were thoroughly wetted by the spray.
Tupia told us, that there were several islands lying at different distances, and in different directions from this, between the south and the north west; and that, at the distance of three days’ sail to the north-east, there was an island called Manua, Bird-island: he seemed, however, most desirous that we should sail to the westward, and described several islands in that direction which he said he had visited: he told us that he had been ten or twelve days in going thither, and thirty in coming back, and that the Pahie in which he had made the voyage, sailed much faster than the ship: reckoning his Pahie therefore to go at the rate of forty leagues a day, which, from my own observation, I have great reason to think these boats will do, it would make four hundred leagues in ten days, which I compute to be the distance of Boscawen and Keppel’s Islands, discovered by Captain Wallis, westward of Ulietea, and therefore think it very probable that they were the islands he had visited. The farthest island that he knew any thing of to the southward, he said, lay at the distance of about two days’ sail from Oteroah, and was called Moutou; but he said that his father had told him there were islands to the southward of that: upon the whole, I was determined to stand southward in search of a continent, but to spend no time in searching for islands, if we did not happen to fall in with them during our course.
BOOK II.
CHAP. I.
THE PASSAGE FROM OTEROAH TO NEW ZEALAND; INCIDENTS WHICH HAPPENED ON GOING A-SHORE THERE, AND WHILE THE SHIP LAY IN POVERTY BAY.
We sailed from Oteroah on the 15th of August, and on Friday the 25th we celebrated the anniversary of our leaving England, by taking a Cheshire cheese from a locker, where it had been carefully treasured up for this occasion, and tapping a cask of porter, which proved to be very good, and in excellent order. On the 29th, one of the sailors got so drunk, that the next morning he died: we thought at first that he could not have come honestly by the liquor, but we afterwards learnt that the boatswain, whose mate he was, had, in mere good-nature, given him part of a bottle of rum.
On the 30th, we saw the comet; at one o’clock in the morning, it was a little above the horizon in the eastern part of the heavens; at about half an hour after four it passed the meridian, and its tail subtended an angle of forty-two degrees. Our latitude was 38° 20ʹ S., our longitude, by log, 147° 6ʹ W., and the variation of the needle, by the azimuth, 7° 9ʹ E. Among others that observed the comet, was Tupia, who instantly cried out, that as soon as it should be seen by the people of Bolabola, they would kill the inhabitants of Ulietea, who would, with the utmost precipitation, fly to the mountains.
On the 1st of September, being in the latitude of 40° 22ʹ S., and longitude 147° 29ʹ W., and there not being any signs of land, with a heavy sea from the westward, and strong gales, I wore, and stood back to the northward, fearing that we might receive such damage in our sails and rigging, as would hinder the prosecution of the voyage.
On the next day, there being strong gales to the westward, I brought to, with the ship’s head to the northward; but in the morning of the 3d, the wind being more moderate, we loosened the reef of the main-sail, set the top-sails, and plied to the westward.
We continued our course till the 19th, when our latitude being 29° and our longitude 159° 29ʹ, we observed the variation to be 8° 32ʹ E. On the 24th, being in latitude 33° 18ʹ, longitude 162° 51ʹ, we observed a small piece of sea-weed, and a piece of wood covered with barnacles: the variation here was 10° 48ʹ E.
On the 27th, being in latitude 28° 59ʹ, longitude 169° 5ʹ, we saw a seal asleep upon the water, and several bunches of sea-weed. The next day we saw more sea-weed in bunches, and on the 29th, a bird, which we thought a land-bird; it somewhat resembled a snipe, but had a short bill. On the 1st of October, we saw birds innumerable, and another seal asleep upon the water; it is a general opinion, that seals never go out of soundings, or far from land, but those that we saw in these seas prove the contrary. Rock-weed is, however, a certain indication that land is not far distant. The next day, it being calm, we hoisted out the boat, to try whether there was a current, but found none. Our latitude was 37° 10ʹ, longitude 172° 54ʹ W. On the 3d, being in latitude 36° 56ʹ, longitude 173° 27ʹ, we took up more sea-weed, and another piece of wood covered with barnacles. The next day, we saw two more seals, and a brown bird, about as big as a raven, with some white feathers under the wing. Mr. Gore told us, that birds of this kind were seen in great numbers about Falkland’s Islands, and our people gave them the name of Port-Egmont hens.
On the 5th, we thought the water changed colour, but, upon casting the lead, had no ground with 180 fathom. In the evening of this day, the variation was 12° 50ʹ E., and, while we were going nine leagues, it increased to 14° 2ʹ.