The women in these canoes, and some of the men, had a head-dress which we had not before seen. It consisted of a bunch of black feathers, made up in a round form, and tied upon the top of the head, which it entirely covered, and made it twice as high, to appearance, as it was in reality.
After dinner I went in the pinnace with Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and some others, into another cove, about two miles distant from that in which the ship lay: in our way we saw something floating upon the water, which we took for a dead seal, but upon rowing up to it, found it to be the body of a woman, which, to all appearance, had been dead some days. We proceeded to our cove, where we went on shore, and found a small family of Indians, who appeared to be greatly terrified at our approach, and all ran away except one. A conversation between this person and Tupia soon brought back the rest, except an old man and a child, who still kept aloof, but stood peeping at us from the woods. Of these people, our curiosity naturally led us to enquire after the body of the woman, which we had seen floating upon the water: and they acquainted us, by Tupia, that she was a relation, who had died a natural death; and that, according to their custom, they had tied a stone to the body, and thrown it into the sea, which stone, they supposed, had, by some accident, been disengaged.
This family, when we came on shore, was employed in dressing some provisions: the body of a dog was at this time buried in their oven, and many provision-baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes carelessly into one of these, as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any doubt but that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found in a provision basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end, were the marks of the teeth which had gnawed them: to put an end, however, to conjecture, founded upon circumstances and appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man: they were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied that they had eaten it; but, said Tupia, why did you not eat the body of the woman which we saw floating upon the water: the woman, said they, died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle. Upon enquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us, that about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was of the seven whom they had killed. Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still stronger to give. One of us asked if they had any human bones with the flesh remaining upon them, and upon their answering us that all had been eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the bones were human, and said that they were the bones of a dog; upon which one of the Indians, with some eagerness, took hold of his own fore-arm, and thrusting it towards us, said, that the bone which Mr. Banks held in his hand had belonged to that part of the human body; at the same time, to convince us that the flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm with his teeth, and made show of eating: he also bit and gnawed the bone which Mr. Banks had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and showing, by signs, that it had afforded a delicious repast; the bone was then returned to Mr. Banks, and he brought it away with him. Among the persons of this family, there was a woman who had her arms, legs, and thighs, frightfully cut in several places; and we were told that she had inflicted the wounds upon herself, in token of her grief for the loss of her husband, who had been lately killed and eaten by their enemies, who had come from some place to the eastward, towards which the Indians pointed.
The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the singing of the birds: the number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be like small bells, most exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance, and the water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon inquiry, we were informed that the birds here always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise, were, like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day. In the forenoon, a small canoe came off from the Indian village to the ship, and among those that were in it, was the old man who had first come on board at our arrival in the bay. As soon as it came alongside, Tupia renewed the conversation that had passed the day before, concerning their practice of eating human flesh, during which they repeated what they had told us already; but, said Tupia, where are the heads? do you eat them too? Of the heads, said the old man, we eat only the brains, and the next time I come I will bring some of them to convince you that what we have told you is truth. After some farther conversation between these people and Tupia, they told him that they expected their enemies to come very shortly, to revenge the death of the seven men whom they had killed and eaten.
On the 18th, the Indians were more quiet than usual, no canoe came near the ship, nor did we see one of them moving on the shore, their fishing, and other usual occupations being totally suspended. We thought they expected an attack on this day, and, therefore, attended more diligently to what passed on shore; but we saw nothing to gratify our curiosity.
After breakfast, we went out in the pinnace, to take a view of the bay, which was of vast extent, and consisted of numberless small harbours and coves, in every direction: we confined our excursion, however, to the western side, and the country being an impenetrable forest where we landed, we could see nothing worthy of notice: we killed, however, a good number of shags, which we saw sitting upon their nests in the trees, and which, whether roasted or stewed, we considered as very good provision. As we were returning, we saw a single man in a canoe fishing; we rowed up to him, and, to our great surprise, he took not the least notice of us, but even when we were alongside of him, continued to follow his occupation, without adverting to us any more than if we had been invisible. He did not, however, appear to be either sullen or stupid: we requested him to draw up his net, that we might examine it, and he readily complied: it was of a circular form, extended by two hoops, and about seven or eight feet in diameter: the top was open, and sea-ears were fastened to the bottom as a bait: this he let down so as to lie upon the ground, and when he thought fish enough were assembled over it, he drew it up by a very gentle and even motion, so that the fish rose with it, scarcely sensible that they were lifted, till they came very near the surface of the water, and then were brought out in the net by a sudden jerk. By this simple method, he had caught abundance of fish, and, indeed, they are so plenty in this bay, that the catching them requires neither much labour nor art.
This day, some of our people found in the skirts of the wood, near a hole or oven, three human hipbones, which they brought on board; a farther proof that these people eat human flesh: Mr. Monkhouse, our surgeon, also brought on board, from a place where he saw many deserted houses, the hair of a man’s head, which he had found, among many other things, tied up to the branches of trees.
In the morning of the 19th, we set up the armourer’s forge to repair the braces of the tiller, and other iron-work, all hands on board being still busy in careening, and other necessary operations about the vessel: this day, some Indians came on board from another part of the bay, where they said there was a town which we had not seen: they brought plenty of fish, which they sold for nails, having now acquired some notion of their use; and in this traffic no unfair practice was attempted.
In the morning of the 20th, our old man kept his promise, and brought on board four of the heads of the seven people who had been so much the subject of our inquiries: the hair and flesh were entire, but we perceived that the brains had been extracted; the flesh was soft, but had by some method been preserved from putrefaction, for it had no disagreeable smell. Mr. Banks purchased one of them, but they sold it with great reluctance, and could not by any means be prevailed upon to part with a second; probably they may be preserved as trophies, like the scalps in America, and the jaw-bones in the islands of the South Seas. Upon examining the head which had been bought by Mr. Banks, we perceived that it had received a blow upon the temples, which had fractured the skull. This day we made another excursion in the pinnace, to survey the bay, but we found no flat large enough for a potatoe garden, nor could we discover the least appearance of cultivation: we met not a single Indian, but found an excellent harbour; and about eight o’clock in the evening returned on board the ship.
On the 21st, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander went a fishing with hook and line, and caught an immense quantity every where upon the rocks, in between four and five fathom water: the seine was hauled every night, and seldom failed to supply the whole ship’s company with as much fish as they could eat. This day all the people had leave to go on shore at the watering-place, and divert themselves as they should think proper.