A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13

by Robert Kerr

We found a fine stream of excellent water, and wood in the greatest plenty, for the land here was one forest, of vast extent. As we brought the seine with us, we hauled it once or twice, and with such success, that we caught near three hundred weight of fish, of different sorts, which was equally distributed among the ship's company.

At day-break, while we were busy in careening the ship, three canoes came off to us, having on board above a hundred men, besides several of their women, which we were pleased to see, as in general it is a sign of peace; but they soon afterwards became very troublesome, and gave us reason to apprehend some mischief from them to the people that were in our boats alongside the ship. While we were in this situation, the long-boat was sent ashore with some water-casks, and some of the canoes attempting to follow her, we found it necessary to intimidate them, by firing some small shot: We were at such a distance, that it was impossible to hurt them, yet our reproof had its effect, and they desisted from the pursuit. They had some fish in their canoes, which they now offered to sell, and which, though it stunk, we consented to buy: For this purpose a man in a small boat was sent among them, and they traded for some time very fairly. At length, however, one of them, watching his opportunity, snatched at some paper which our market-man held in his hand, and missing it, immediately put himself in a posture of defence, flourishing his patoo-patoo, and making show as if he was about to strike; some small-shot were then fired at him from the ship, a few of which struck him upon the knee: This put an end to our trade, but the Indians still continued near the ship, rowing round her many times, and conversing with Tupia, chiefly concerning the traditions they had among them with respect to the antiquities of their country. To this subject they were led by the enquiries which Tupia had been directed to make, whether they had ever seen such a vessel as ours, or had ever heard that any such had been upon their coast. These enquiries were all answered in the negative, so that tradition has preserved among them no memorial of Tasman; though, by an observation made this day, we find that we are only fifteen miles south of Murderer's bay, our latitude being 41° 5' 32", and Murderer's bay, according to his account, being 40° 50'.

The women in these canoes, and some of the men, had a head-dress which we had not before seen. It consisted of a bunch of black feathers, made up in a round form, and tied upon the top of the head, which it entirely covered, and made it twice as high, to appearance, as it was in reality.

After dinner, I went in the pinnace with Mr Banks, Dr Solander, Tupia, and some others, into another cove, about two miles distant from that in which the ship lay: In our way we saw something floating upon the water, which we took for a dead seal, but upon rowing up to it, found it to be the body of a woman, which to all appearance had been dead some days. We proceeded to our cove, where we went on shore, and found a small family of Indians, who appeared to be greatly terrified at our approach, and all ran away except one. A conversation between this person and Tupia soon brought hack the rest, except an old man and a child, who still kept aloof, but stood peeping at us from the woods. Of these people, our curiosity naturally led us to enquire after the body of the woman, which we had seen floating upon the water: And they acquainted us, by Tupia, that she was a relation, who had died a natural death; and that, according to their custom, they had tied a stone to the body, and thrown it into the sea, which stone, they supposed, had by some accident been disengaged.

This family, when we came on shore, was employed in dressing some provisions: The body of a dog was at this time buried in their oven, and many provision baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes carelessly into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found in a provision basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end, were the marks of the teeth which had gnawed them: To put an end, however, to conjecture, founded upon circumstances and appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man: They were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied that they had eaten it; but, said Tupia, why did you not eat the body of the woman which we saw floating upon the water: The woman, said they, died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle. Upon enquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us, that about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one of seven whom they had killed. Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still stronger to give. One of us asked if they had any human bones with the flesh remaining upon them, and upon their answering us that all had been eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the bones were human, and said that they were the bones of a dog; upon which one of the Indians with some eagerness took hold of his own fore-arm, and thrusting it towards us, said, that the bone which Mr Banks held in his hand had belonged to that part of a human body; at the same time, to convince us that the flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm with his teeth, and made shew of eating: He also bit and gnawe'd the bone which Mr Banks had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and shewing, by signs, that it had afforded a delicious repast; the bone was then returned to Mr Banks, and he brought it away with him. Among the persons of this family, there was a woman who had her arms, legs, and thighs frightfully cut in several places; and we were told that she had inflicted the wounds upon herself, in token of her grief for the loss of her husband, who had been lately killed and eaten by their enemies, who had come from some place to the eastward, towards which the Indians pointed.

The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the singing of the birds: The number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be like small bells, exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance and the water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon enquiry, we were informed that the birds here always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise, were, like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day.[67] In the forenoon, a small canoe came off from the Indian village to the ship, and among those that were in it, was the old man who had first come on board at our arrival in the bay. As soon as it came alongside, Tupia renewed the conversation that had passed the day before, concerning their practice of eating human flesh, during which they repeated what they had told us already; but, said Tupia, where are the heads? do you eat them too? Of the heads, said the old man, we eat only the brains, and the next time I come I will bring some of them, to convince you that what we have told you is truth. After some farther conversation between these people and Tupia, they told him that they expected their enemies to come very shortly, to revenge the death of the seven men whom they had killed and eaten.

[Footnote 67: This is a vulgar error, though at the same time a poetical one. It is known that nightingales do sing in the day; but their song is then less attended to or distinguished, because it forms a part only of the harmony of the feathered choir.--E.]

On the 18th, the Indians were more quiet than usual, no canoe came near the ship, nor did we see one of them moving on the shore, their fishing, and other usual occupations, being totally suspended. We thought they expected an attack on this day, and therefore attended more diligently to what passed on shore; but we saw nothing to gratify our curiosity.

After breakfast, we went out in the pinnace, to take a view of the bay, which was of vast extent, and consisted of numberless small harbours and coves, in every direction: We confined our excursion, however, to the western side, and the country being an impenetrable forest where we landed, we could see nothing worthy of notice: We killed, however, a good number of shaggs, which we saw sitting upon their nests in the trees, and which, whether roasted or stewed, we considered as very good provision. As we were returning, we saw a single man in a canoe fishing; we rowed up to him, and to our great surprise he took not the least notice of us, but even when we were alongside of him, continued to follow his occupation, without adverting to us any more than if we had been invisible. He did not, however, appear to be either sullen or stupid: We requested him to draw up his net, that we might examine it, and he readily complied: It was of a circular form, extended by two hoops, and about seven or eight feet in diameter: The top was open, and sea-ears were fastened to the bottom as a bait: This he let down so as to lie upon the ground, and when he thought fish enough were assembled over it, he drew it up by a very gentle and even motion, so that the fish rose with it, scarcely sensible that they were lifted, till they came very near the surface of the water, and then were brought out in the net by a sudden jerk. By this simple method, he had caught abundance of fish, and indeed they are so plenty in this bay, that the catching them requires neither much labour nor art.

This day, some of our people found in the skirts of the wood, near a hole or oven, three human hip-bones, which they brought on board; a farther proof that these people eat human flesh: Mr Monkhouse, our surgeon, also brought on board, from a place where he saw many deserted houses, the hair of a man's head, which he had found, among many other things, tied up to the branches of trees.