The next day, our kanguroo was dressed for dinner, and proved most excellent meat; we might now indeed be said to fare sumptuously every day, for we had turtle in great plenty, and we all agreed that they were much better than any we had tasted in England, which we imputed to their being eaten fresh from the sea, before their natural fat had been wasted, or their juices changed by a diet and situation so different from what the sea affords them, as garbage and a tub. Most of those that we caught here, were of the kind called green turtle, and weighed from two to three hundred weight, and when these were killed, they were always found to be full of turtle grass, which our naturalists took to be a kind of conferva: two of them were logger-heads, the flesh of which was much less delicious, and in their stomachs nothing was to be found but shells.
In the morning of the 16th, while the people were employed as usual in getting the ship ready for the sea, I climbed one of the hills on the north side of the river, from which I had an extensive view of the inland country, and found it agreeably diversified by hills, vallies, and large plains, which in many places were richly covered with wood. This evening, we observed an emersion of Jupiter’s first satellite, which gave 214° 53ʹ 45ʺ of longitude. The observation which was made on the 29th of June gave 214° 42ʹ 30ʺ, the mean is 214° 48ʹ 7-½ʺ, the longitude of this place west of Greenwich.
On the 17th, I sent the master and one of the mates in the pinnace to look for a channel to the northward; and I went myself with Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander into the woods on the other side of the water. Tupia, who had been thither by himself, reported, that he had seen three Indians who had given him some roots about as thick as a man’s finger, in shape not much unlike a radish, and of a very agreeable taste. This induced us to go over, hoping that we should be able to improve our acquaintance with the natives; in a very little time we discovered four of them in a canoe, who as soon as they saw us come ashore, and, though they were all strangers, walked up to us, without any signs of suspicion or fear. Two of these had necklaces of shells, which we could not persuade them to part with for any thing we could give them: we presented them, however, with some beads, and after a short stay they departed. We attempted to follow them, hoping that they would conduct us to some place where we should find more of them, and have an opportunity of seeing their women; but they made us understand, by signs, that they did not desire our company.
At eight o’clock the next morning, we were visited by several of the natives, who were now become quite familiar. One of them, at our desire, threw his lance, which was about eight feet long; it flew with a swiftness and steadiness that surprised us, and though it was never more than four feet from the ground, it entered deeply into a tree at fifty paces’ distance. After this they ventured on board, where I left them, to all appearance, much entertained, and went again with Mr. Banks to take a view of the country; but chiefly to indulge an anxious curiosity, by looking round us upon the sea, of which our wishes almost persuaded us we had formed an idea more disadvantageous than the truth. After having walked about seven or eight miles along the shore to the northward, we ascended a very high hill, and were soon convinced that the danger of our situation was at least equal to our apprehensions; for in whatever direction we turned our eyes, we saw rocks and shoals without number, and no passage out to sea but through the winding channels between them, which could not be navigated without the last degree of difficulty and danger. We returned therefore to the ship, not in better spirits than when we left it: we found several natives still on board, and we were told that the turtles, of which we had no less than twelve upon the deck, had fixed their attention more than any thing else in the ship.
On the 19th, in the morning, we were visited by ten of the natives, the greater part from the other side of the river, where we saw six or seven more, most of them women, and, like all the rest of the people we had seen in this country, they were stark naked. Our guests brought with them a greater number of lances than they had ever done before, and having laid them up in a tree, they set a man and a boy to watch them: the rest then came on board, and we soon perceived that they had determined to get one of our turtle, which was probably as great a dainty to them as to us. They first asked us by signs to give them one; and being refused, they expressed, both by looks and gestures, great disappointment and anger. At this time we happened to have no victuals dressed, but I offered one of them some biscuit, which he snatched and threw overboard with great disdain. One of them renewed his request to Mr. Banks, and upon a refusal stamped with his foot, and pushed him from him in a transport of resentment and indignation. Having applied by turns to almost every person who appeared to have any command in the ship, without success, they suddenly seized two of the turtles, and dragged them towards the side of the ship where their canoe lay: our people soon forced them out of their hands, and replaced them with the rest. They would not however relinquish their enterprise, but made several other attempts of the same kind, in all which being equally disappointed, they suddenly leaped into their canoe in a rage, and began to paddle towards the shore. At the same time, I went into the boat with Mr. Banks and five or six of the ship’s crew, and we got ashore before them, where many more of our people were already engaged in various employments. As soon as they landed, they seized their arms, and before we were aware of their design, they snatched a brand from under a pitch-kettle which was boiling, and making a circuit to the windward of the few things we had on shore, they set fire to the grass in their way, with surprising quickness and dexterity: the grass, which was five or six feet high, and as dry as stubble, burnt with amazing fury; and the fire made a rapid progress towards a tent of Mr. Banks’s, which had been set up for Tupia when he was sick, taking in its course a sow and pigs, one of which it scorched to death. Mr. Banks leaped into a boat, and fetched some people from on board, just time enough to save his tent, by hauling it down upon the beach; but the smith’s forge, at least such part of it as would burn, was consumed. While this was doing, the Indians went to a place at some distance, where several of our people were washing, and where our nets, among which was the seine, and a great quantity of linen, were laid out to dry; here they again set fire to the grass, entirely disregarding both threats and entreaties. We were therefore obliged to discharge a musket, loaded with small shot, at one of them, which drew blood at the distance of about forty yards, and thus putting them to flight, we extinguished the fire at this place before it had made much progress; but where the grass had been first kindled, it spread into the woods to a great distance. As the Indians were still in sight, I fired a musket, charged with ball, abreast of them among the mangroves, to convince them that they were not yet out of our reach: upon hearing the ball they quickened their pace, and we soon lost sight of them. We thought they would now give us no more trouble; but soon after we heard their voices in the woods, and perceived that they came nearer and nearer. I set out, therefore, with Mr. Banks and three or four more to meet them. When our parties came in sight of each other, they halted; except one old man, who came forward to meet us: at length he stopped, and having uttered some words, which we were very sorry we could not understand, he went back to his companions, and the whole body slowly retreated. We found means, however, to seize some of their darts, and continued to follow them about a mile: we then sat down upon some rocks, from which we could observe their motions, and they also sat down at about an hundred yards’ distance. After a short time, the old man again advanced towards us, carrying in his hand a lance without a point: he stopped several times, at different distances, and spoke; we answered by beckoning, and making such signs of amity as we could devise; upon which the messenger of peace, as we supposed him to be, turned and spoke aloud to his companions, who then set up their lances against a tree, and advanced towards us in a friendly manner: when they came up, we returned the darts or lances that we had taken from them, and we perceived with great satisfaction that this rendered the reconciliation complete. We found in this party four persons whom we had never seen before, who as usual were introduced to us by name; but the man who had been wounded in the attempt to burn our nets and linen, was not among them; we knew, however, that he could not be dangerously hurt, by the distance at which the shot reached him. We made all of them presents of such trinkets as we had about us, and they walked back with us towards the ship. As we went along, they told us, by signs, that they would not set fire to the grass any more; and we distributed among them some musket-balls, and endeavoured to make them understand their use and effect. When they came abreast of the ship, they sat down, but could not be prevailed upon to come on board; we therefore left them, and in about two hours they went away, soon after which we perceived the woods on fire at about two miles’ distance. If this accident had happened a very little while sooner, the consequence might have been dreadful; for our powder had been aboard but a few days, and the store-tent, with many valuable things which it contained, had not been removed many hours. We had no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in this hot climate, nor consequently of the difficulty of extinguishing it; but we determined, that if it should ever again be necessary for us to pitch our tents in such a situation, our first measure should be to clear the ground round us.
In the afternoon, we got every thing on board the ship, new birthed her, and let her swing with the tide; and at night the master returned, with the discouraging account that there was no passage for the ship to the northward.
The next morning, at low water, I went and sounded and buoyed the bar, the ship being now ready for sea. We saw no Indians this day, but all the hills round us for many miles were on fire, which at night made a most striking and beautiful appearance.
The 21st passed without our getting sight of any of the inhabitants, and indeed without a single incident worth notice. On the 22d we killed a turtle for the day’s provision, upon opening which we found a wooden harpoon or turtle-peg, about as thick as a man’s finger, near fifteen inches long, and bearded at the end, such as we had seen among the natives, sticking through both shoulders: it appeared to have been struck a considerable time, for the wound had perfectly healed up over the weapon.
Early in the morning of the 23d I sent some people into the country to gather a supply of the greens which have been before mentioned by the name of Indian kale; one of them having straggled from the rest, suddenly fell in with four Indians, three men and a boy, whom he did not see till, by turning short in the wood, he found himself among them. They had kindled a fire, and were broiling a bird of some kind, and part of a kanguroo, the remainder of which, and a cockatoo, hung at a little distance upon a tree. The man, being unarmed, was at first greatly terrified; but he had the presence of mind not to run away, judging, very rightly, that he was most likely to incur danger by appearing to apprehend it; on the contrary, he went and sat down by them, and, with an air of cheerfulness and good-humour, offered them his knife, the only thing he had about him which he thought would be acceptable to them; they received it, and having handed it from one to the other, they gave it him again: he then made an offer to leave them, but this they seemed not disposed to permit; still, however, he dissembled his fears, and sat down again; they considered him with great attention and curiosity, particularly his clothes, and then felt his hands and face, and satisfied themselves that his body was of the same texture with their own. They treated him with the greatest civility, and having kept him about half an hour, they made signs that he might depart: he did not wait for a second dismission, but when he left them, not taking the direct way to the ship, they came from their fire and directed him, so that they well knew whence he came.
In the mean time, Mr. Banks, having made an excursion on the other side of the river to gather plants, found the greatest part of the cloth that had been given to the Indians lying in a heap together, probably as useless lumber, not worth carrying away; and perhaps, if he had sought further, he might have found the other trinkets; for they seemed to set very little very value upon any thing we had, except our turtle, which was a commodity that we were least able to spare.