Cook took advantage of these friendly indications to land an armed detachment for wood and water. Four or five natives were collected on the beach. A chief, leaving the group, advanced to the captain, holding in his hand, as Cook also did, a green bough. The two branches were exchanged, and peace thus concluded, a few slight presents helped to cement it. Cook then obtained permission to take wood, but not to go far from the shore, and the naturalists, who were anxious to prosecute their investigations in the interior, were brought back to the beach, in spite of their protestations.
Iron implements had no value for these people. This made it extremely difficult to obtain provisions. Only a few agreed to exchange arms for stuffs, and exhibited an honesty in their transactions to which the English were unaccustomed.
The exchanges continued after the Resolution had set sail, and the natives hurried in their pirogues to deliver the articles for which they had received the price. One of them, after vigorous efforts, succeeded in gaining the vessels, carrying his weapons to a sailor who had paid for them and forgotten it, it was so long ago. The native refused the recompense the sailor would have given, making him understand that he had been paid already. Cook gave the name of Port Sandwich to this harbour of refuge, which he left on the morning of the 23rd of July.
He was most favourably impressed by the moral qualities of the natives of Mallicolo, but by no means so in regard to their physical powers.
Small and badly proportioned, bronze in colour, with flat faces, they were hideous. Had Darwinian theories been in vogue in those days, no doubt Cook would have recognized in them that missing link between man and monkey, which is the despair of Darwin's followers.
Their coarse, crinkly black hair was short, and their bushy beards did not add to their beauty. But the one thing which made them most grotesque was their habit of tying a cord tightly across the stomach, which made them appear like great emmets. Tortoise-shell ear-rings, bracelets made of hogs'-teeth, large tortoise-shell rings, and a white flat stone which they passed through the cartilage of the nose, constituted their ornaments. Their weapons were bows and arrows, spears and clubs. The points of their arrows, which were occasionally two or three in number, were coated with a substance which the English thought was poisonous, from observing the care with which the natives drew them out of a kind of quiver.
The Resolution had only just left Port Sandwich when all the crew were seized with colic, vomiting, and violent pains in the head and back. Two large fish had been caught and eaten by them, possibly whilst they were under the influence of the narcotic mentioned above. In every case, ten days elapsed before entire recovery. A parrot and dog which had also eaten of the fish died next day. Quiros' companions had suffered in the same way, and since Cook's voyage similar symptoms of poisoning have been noticed in these latitudes.
After leaving Mallicolo, Cook steered for Ambrym Island, which appeared to contain a volcano, and shortly afterwards discovered a group of small islands, which he named Shepherd Islands, in honour of the Cambridge Professor of Astronomy.
He then visited the Islands of Two Hills, Montagu and Hinchinbrook Islands, and the largest of all, Sandwich Island, which must not be mistaken for the group of the same name. All the islands, lying among and protected by breakers, were covered with rich vegetation and were largely populated.