“As the New Hollanders seem all to be of the same extraction, so neither do I think there is any thing peculiar in them. On the contrary, they much resemble many of the inhabitants whom I have seen at the islands Tanna and Manicola. Nay, there is even some foundation for hazarding a supposition, that they may have originally come from the same place with all the inhabitants of the South Sea. For, of only about ten words which we could get from them, that which expresses cold, differs little from that of New Zealand and Otaheite; the first being Mallareede, the second Makka’reede, and the third Ma’reede. The rest of our very scanty Van Diemen’s Land Vocabulary is as follows:
| Quadne, | A woman. |
| Eve’rai, | The eye. |
| Muidje, | The nose. |
| Ka’my, | The teeth, mouth, or tongue. |
| Lae’renne, | A small bird, a native of the woods here. |
| Koy’gee, | The ear. |
| No’onga, | Elevated scars on the body. |
| Teegera, | To eat. |
| Toga’rago, | I must be gone, or I will go. |
“Their pronunciation is not disagreeable, but rather quick; though not more so than is that of other nations of the South Sea; and, if we may depend upon the affinity of languages as a clue to guide us in discovering the origin of nations, I have no doubt but we shall find, on a diligent inquiry, and when opportunities offer to collect accurately a sufficient number of these words, and to compare them, that all the people from New Holland, eastward to Easter Island, have been derived from the same common root.”[[156]]
CHAP. VII.
THE PASSAGE FROM VAN DIEMEN’S LAND TO NEW ZEALAND.—EMPLOYMENTS IN QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S SOUND.—TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES THERE.—INTELLIGENCE ABOUT THE MASSACRE OF THE ADVENTURE’S BOAT’S CREW.—ACCOUNT OF THE CHIEF WHO HEADED THE PARTY ON THAT OCCASION.—OF THE TWO YOUNG MEN WHO EMBARK TO ATTEND OMAI.—VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE INHABITANTS.—ASTRONOMICAL AND NAUTICAL OBSERVATIONS.
At eight o’clock in the morning of the 30th of January, a light breeze springing up at W., we weighed anchor, and put to sea from Adventure Bay. Soon after, the wind veered to the southward, and increased to a perfect storm. Its fury abated in the evening, when it veered to the E. and N. E.
This gale was indicated by the barometer, for the wind no sooner began to blow, than the mercury in the tube began to fall. Another remarkable thing attended the coming on of this wind, which was very faint at first. It brought with it a degree of heat that was almost intolerable. The mercury in the thermometer rose, as it were instantaneously, from about 70° to near 90°. This heat was of so short a continuance, that it seemed to be wafted away before the breeze that brought it; so that some on board did not perceive it.
We pursued our course to the eastward, without meeting with any thing worthy of note, till the night between the 6th and 7th of February, when a marine belonging to the Discovery fell over board, and was never seen afterward. This was the second misfortune of the kind that had happened to Captain Clerke since he left England.
On the 10th, at four in the afternoon, we discovered the land of New Zealand. The part we saw proved to be Rock’s Point, and bore S. E. by S., about eight or nine leagues distant. During this run from Van Diemen’s Land, the wind, for the first four or five days, was at N. E., N., and N. N. W., and blew, for the most part, a gentle breeze. It afterward veered to S. E., where it remained twenty-four hours. It then came to W. and S. W.; in which points it continued, with very little deviation, till we reached New Zealand.
After making the land, I steered for Cape Farewell, which at day-break, the next morning, bore S. by W., distant about four leagues. At eight o’clock, it bore S. W. by S., about five leagues distant; and, in this situation, we had forty-five fathoms’ water over a sandy bottom. In rounding the Cape we had fifty fathoms, and the same sort of bottom.