| Natives of the Marquesas. |
The difficulty of procuring food decided Cook upon a hasty departure. But he had time to collect some interesting facts about the people, whom he considered the handsomest in Oceania. These natives appear to surpass all others in the regularity of their features. The resemblance in their speech, however, to that of the Tahitans, appears to point to a common origin.
The Marquesas are five in number, Magdalena, San Pedro, Dominica, Santa Cristina, and Hood Island, the latter so called after the volunteer who first discovered it. Santa Cristina is divided by a chain of mountains of considerable elevation, to which the hills that rise from the sea lead. Deep, narrow, and fertile valleys, filled with fruit-trees, and watered by streams of excellent water, intersect this mountain isle. Port Madre de Dios, called by Cook Resolution Harbour, is about the centre of the eastern coast of Santa Cristina. It contains two sandy creeks, into which two streams flow.
II.
A fresh visit to Tahiti and the Friendly Islands—Exploration of New Hebrides—Discovery of New Caledonia and Pine Island—Stay in Queen Charlotte'sSound—South Georgia—Accident to the Adventure.
After leaving these islands, on the 12th of April, and sailing for Tahiti, Cook fell in, five days later, with the Pomotou archipelago. He landed on the Tioukea Island of Byron. The inhabitants, who had cause to complain of earlier navigators, received the advances of the English coldly. The latter could only obtain about two dozen cocoa-nuts and five pigs, which appeared plentiful in this island. In another settlement a more friendly reception was met with. The natives embraced the new-comers, and rubbed their noses in the same fashion as the New Zealanders. OEdidi bought several dogs, the long and white hair of whose skins serves as an ornament for cuirasses in his native land.
Forster relates:—
"The natives told us that they broke up scurvy grass, mixed it with shell-fish, and threw it into the sea on the approach of a shoal of fish. This bait intoxicated the fish for a time, and when they came to the surface it was easy to take them. The captain afterwards saw several other islands of this immense archipelago, which were similar to those he had left, especially the Pernicious Islands, where Roggewein had lost his sloop, the African, and to which Cook gave the name of Palliser Islands."
He then steered for Tahiti, which the sailors, certain of the good-will of the natives, regarded as a home. The Resolution cast anchor in Matavai Bay on the 22nd of April, and their reception was as friendly as had been anticipated. A few days later, King O-Too and several other chiefs visited the English, and brought them a present of ten or a dozen large pigs and some fruit.