On the 7th of September, Carteret accomplished the ridiculous ceremony of taking possession of the country in the name of George III., he then despatched one of his boats upon a reconnoitring expedition, which returned with a quantity of cocoa and palm-cabbages, most precious provision for the sick on board.
In spite of the fact that the monsoon would soon blow from the east for a long time, Carteret, alive to the dilapidated condition of his ship, determined to start for Batavia, where he hoped to make up his crew, and to repair the Swallow.
Upon the 9th September, therefore, he left Carteret harbour, the best which he had met with since leaving the Straits of Magellan.
He soon penetrated to a gulf to which Dampier had given the name of St. George Bay, and was not long in reconnoitring for a strait which separated New Britain and New Ireland. This passage he found and named St. George. He describes it in his narrative with a care which should certainly have earned for him the thanks of all his contemporary navigators. He then followed the coast of New Ireland to its southern extremity. Near a little island, which he named Sandwich, Carteret had some dealings with the natives.
"These natives," he says "are black, and have woolly hair like negroes, but they have not flat noses or large lips. We imagine them to be of the same race as the inhabitants of Egmont Island. Like them they are entirely naked, if we except some ornaments of shells which they attach to their arms and legs. At the same time, they have adopted a fashion, without which our fashionable men and women are not supposed to be perfectly dressed. They powder their hair or rather the wool on their heads white, from which it follows that the fashion of wearing powder is probably of greater antiquity and of more extended fashion than we would have generally supposed. They are armed with spears and large sticks in the shape of clubs, but we perceived neither bows nor arrows."
At the south-western extremity of New Ireland Carteret found another land, to which he gave the name of New Hanover, and shortly afterwards the group of the Duke of Portland.
Although all this portion of the narrative of his voyage, in countries unknown before his time, abounds in precious details, Carteret, a far more able and zealous navigator than his predecessors Byron and Wallis, makes excuses for not having collected more facts.
"The description of the country," he says, "and of its productions and inhabitants, would have been far more complete and detailed had I not been so weakened and overcome by the illness to which I had succumbed through the duties which devolved upon me from want of officers. When I could scarcely drag myself along, I was obliged to take watch after watch and to share in other labours with my lieutenant, who was also in a bad state of health."
After leaving St. George's Strait, the route was westward. Carteret discovered several other islands, but illness for several days prevented his coming on deck, and therefore he could not determine their position. He named them Admiralty Islands, and after two attacks, found himself forced to employ fire-arms to repulse the natives.
He afterwards reconnoitred Durour and Matty Islands and the Cuedes, whose inhabitants were quite delighted at receiving bits of an iron hoop. Carteret affirms, that he might have bought all the productions of this country for a few iron instruments. Although they are the neighbours of New Guinea, and of the groups they had just explored, these natives were not black, but copper coloured. They had very long black hair, regular features, and brilliantly white teeth. Of medium height, strong and active, they were cheerful and friendly, and came on board fearlessly. One of them even asked permission to accompany Carteret upon his voyage, and in spite of all the representations of his countrymen and even of the captain, he refused to leave the Swallow. Carteret, meeting with so decided a will, consented, but the poor Indian, who had received the name of Joseph Freewill, soon faded away and died at Celebes.