At three o'clock in the afternoon, I weighed, run in nearer to the shore, and anchored in four fathom and a half water, with a soft sandy bottom, the south point of the bay bearing E. distant one mile, and a river which the boats can enter at low water S.S.E. distant a mile and a half.
In the morning, the natives came off again to the ship, and we had the satisfaction to observe that their behaviour was very different from what it had been yesterday: Among them was an old man, whom we had before remarked for his prudence and honesty: His name was Toiava, and he seemed to be a person of a superior rank; in the transactions of yesterday morning he had behaved with great propriety and good sense, lying in a small canoe, always near the ship, and treating those on board as if he neither intended a fraud nor suspected an injury: With some persuasion this man and another came on board, and ventured into the cabin, where I presented each of them with a piece of English cloth and some spike nails. They told us that the Indians were now very much afraid of us, and on our part we promised friendship if they would behave peaceably, desiring only to purchase what they had to sell upon their own terms.
After the natives had left us, I went with the pinnace and long-boat into the river with a design to haul the seine, and sent the master in the yawl to sound the bay and dredge for fish. The Indians who were on one side of the river, expressed their friendship by all the signs they could devise, beckoning us to land among them; but we chose to go ashore on the other side, as the situation was more convenient for hauling the seine and shooting birds, of which we saw great numbers of various kinds: The Indians, with much persuasion, about noon, ventured over to us. With the seine we had very little success, catching only a few mullets, neither did we get any thing by the trawl or the dredge, except a few shells; but we shot several birds, most of them resembling sea-pies, except that they had black plumage, and red bills and feet. While we were absent with our guns, the people who staid by the boats saw two of the Indians quarrel and fight: They began the battle with their lances, but some old men interposed and took them away, leaving them to decide the difference, like Englishmen, with their fists: They boxed with great vigour and obstinacy for some time, but by degrees all retired behind a little hill, so that our people could not see the event of the combat.
In the morning the long-boat was sent again to trawll in the bay, and an officer, with the marines, and a party of men, to cut wood and haul the seine. The Indians on shore appeared very peaceable and submissive, and we had reason to believe that their habitations were at a considerable distance, for we saw no houses, and found that they slept under the bushes: The bay is probably a place to which they frequently resort in parties to gather shell-fish, of which it affords incredible plenty, for wherever we went, whether upon the hills or in the vallies, the woods or the plains, we saw vast heaps of shells, often many waggon loads together, some appearing to be very old, and others recent. We saw no cultivation in this place, which had a desolate and barren appearance: The tops of the hills were green, but nothing grew there except a large kind of fern, the roots of which the natives had got together in large quantities, in order to carry away with them. In the evening Mr Banks walked up the river, which at the mouth looked fine and broad, but at the distance of about two miles was not deep enough to cover the foot; and the country inland was still more barren than at the sea-side. The seine and dredge were not more successful to-day than yesterday, but the Indians in some measure compensated for the disappointment by bringing us several baskets of fish, some dry, and some fresh dressed; it was not indeed of the best, but I ordered it all to be bought for the encouragement of trade.
On the 7th, the weather was so bad that none of us left the ship, nor did any of the Indians come on board.
On the 8th, I sent a party of men on shore to wood and water; and in the mean time many canoes came off, in one of which was our friend Toiava; soon after he was alongside of the ship, he saw two canoes coming from the opposite side of the bay, upon which he hasted back again to the shore with all his canoes, telling us that he was afraid of the people who were coming: This was a farther proof that the people of this country were perpetually committing hostilities against each other. In a short time, however, he returned, having discovered that the people who had alarmed him were not the same that he had supposed. The natives that came to the ship this morning sold us, for a few pieces of cloth, as much fish of the mackrel kind as served the whole ship's company, and they were as good as ever were eaten. At noon, this day, I observed the sun's meridional zenith distance by an astronomical quadrant, which gave the latitude 36° 47' 43" within the south entrance of the bay.
Mr Banks and Dr Solander went on shore and collected a great variety of plants, altogether unknown, and not returning till the evening, had an opportunity of observing in what manner the Indians disposed themselves to pass the night. They had no shelter but a few shrubs: The women and the children were ranged innermost, or farthest from the sea; the men lay in a kind of half circle round them, and their arms were set up against the trees close by them, in a manner which showed that they were afraid of an attack by some enemy not far distant. It was also discovered that they acknowledged neither Teratu, nor any other person, as their king: As in this particular they differed from all the people that we had seen upon other parts of the coast, we thought it possible that they might be a set of outlaws, in a state of rebellion against Teratu, and in that case they might have no settled habitations, or cultivated land, in any part of the country.
On the 9th, at day-break, a great number of canoes came on board, loaded with mackerel of two sorts, one exactly the same with those caught in England, and the other somewhat different: We imagined the people had taken a large shoal, and brought us an overplus which they could not consume; for they sold them at a very low rate. They were, however, very welcome to us; at eight o'clock the ship had more fish on board than all her people could eat in three days; and before night, the quantity was so much increased, that every man who could get salt, cured as many as would last him a month.
After an early breakfast, I went ashore, with Mr Green and proper instruments, to observe the transit of Mercury, Mr Banks and Dr Solander being of the party; the weather had for some time been very thick, with much rain, but this day was so favourable that not a cloud intervened during the whole transit. The observation of the ingress was made by Mr Green alone, while I was employed in taking the sun's altitude, to ascertain the time. It came on at 7h 20' 58" apparent time: According to Mr Green's observation, the internal contact was at 12h 8' 58", the external at 12h 9' 55" p.m. And according to mine, the internal contact was at 12h 8' 54", and the external 12h 9' 48"; the latitude of the place of observation was 30° 48' 5-1/2". The latitude observed at noon was 36° 48' 28". The mean of this and yesterday's observation gives 36° 48' 5-1/2" S. the latitude of the place of observation; the variation of the compass was 11° 9' E.
About noon we were alarmed by the firing of a great gun from the ship; Mr Gore, my second lieutenant, was at this time commanding officer on board, and the account that he gave was this. While some small canoes were trading with the people, two very large ones came up, full of men, one of them having on board forty-seven, all armed with pikes, darts, and stones, and apparently with a hostile intention: They appeared to be strangers, and to be rather conscious of superiority over us by their numbers, than afraid of any weapons which could give us superiority over them: No attack was however made; probably because they learnt from the people in the other canoes, with whom they immediately entered into conference, what kind of an enemy they had to deal with: After a little time, they began to trade, some of them offering their arms, and one of them a square piece of cloth, which makes a part of their dress, called a haahow; several of the weapons were purchased, and Mr Gore having agreed for a haahow, sent down the price, which was a piece of British cloth, and expected his purchase: But the Indian, as soon as he had got Mr Gore's cloth in his possession, refused to part with his own, and put off the canoe: Upon being threatened for this fraud, he and his companions began to sing their war song in defiance, and shook their paddles: Still, however, they began no attack, only defying Mr Gore to take any remedy in his power, which so provoked him that he levelled a musket loaded with ball at the offender, while he was holding the cloth in his hand, and shot him dead. It would have been happy if the effect of a few small shot had been tried upon this occasion, which upon some others had been successful.