Soon after the ship came to an anchor the second time, Mr Banks and Dr Solander went on shore, to see if any gleanings of natural knowledge remained, and by accident fell in with the most agreeable Indian family they had seen, which afforded them a better opportunity of remarking the personal subordination among these people, than had before offered. The principal persons were a widow, and a pretty boy about ten years old: The widow was mourning for her husband with tears of blood, according to their custom, and the child, by the death of its father, was become proprietor of the land where we had cut our wood. The mother and the son were sitting upon matts, and the rest of the family, to the number of sixteen or seventeen, of both sexes, sat round them in the open air, for they did not appear to have any house, or other shelter from the weather, the inclemencies of which, custom has probably enabled them to endure without any lasting inconvenience. Their whole behaviour was affable, obliging, and unsuspicious; they presented each person with fish, and a brand of fire to dress it, and pressed them many times to stay till the morning, which they would certainly have done if they had not expected the ship to sail, greatly regretting that they had not become acquainted with them sooner, as they made no doubt but that more knowledge of the manners and disposition of the inhabitants of this country would have been obtained from them in a day, than they had yet been able to acquire during our whole stay upon the coast.
On the 6th, about six o'clock in the morning, a light breeze sprung up at north, and we again got under sail, but the wind proving variable, we reached no farther than just without Motuara; in the afternoon, however, a more steady gale at N. by W. set us clear of the Sound, which I shall now describe.
The entrance of Queen Charlotte's Sound is situated in latitude 41° S. longitude 184° 45' W. and near the middle of the south-west side of the streight in which it lies. The land of the south-east head of the Sound, called by the natives Koamaroo, off which lie two small islands and some rocks, makes the narrowest part of the streight. From the north-west head a reef of rocks runs out about two miles, in the direction of N.E. by N.; part of which is above the water, and part below. By this account of the heads, the Sound will be sufficiently known: At the entrance, it is three leagues broad, and lies in S.W. by S.S.W. and W.S.W. at least ten leagues, and is a collection of some of the finest harbours in the world, as will appear from the plan, which is laid down with all the accuracy that time and circumstances would admit. The land forming the harbour or cove in which we lay, is called by the natives Totarranue: The harbour itself, which I called Ship Cove, is not inferior to any in the Sound, either for convenience or safety: It lies on the west side of the Sound, and is the southermost of three coves, that are situated within the island of Motuara, which bears east of it. Ship Cove may be entered, either between Motuara and a long island, called by the natives Hamote, or between Motuara and the western shore. In the last of these channels are two ledges of rocks, three fathom under water, which may easily be known by the sea-weed that grows upon them. In sailing either in or out of the Sound, with little wind, attention must be had to the tides, which flow about nine or ten o'clock at the fall and change of the moon, and rise and fall between seven and eight feet perpendicularly. The flood comes in through the streight from the S.E. and sets strongly over upon the north-west head, and the reef that lies off it: The ebb sets with still greater rapidity to the S.E. over upon the rocks and islands that lie off the south-east head. The variation of the compass we found from good observation to be 13° 5' E.
The land about this Sound, which is of such a height that we saw it at the distance of twenty leagues, consists wholly of high hills and deep vallies, well stored with a variety of excellent timber, fit for all purposes except masts, for which it is too hard and heavy. The sea abounds with a variety of fish, so that without going out of the cove where we lay, we caught every day, with the seine and hooks and lines, a quantity sufficient to serve the whole ship's company: And along the shore we found plenty of shags, and a few other species of wild-fowl, which those who have long lived upon salt provisions will not think despicable food.
The number of inhabitants scarcely exceeds four hundred, and they live dispersed along the shores, where their food, consisting of fish and fern roots, is most easily procured; for we saw no cultivated ground. Upon any appearance of danger, they retire to their Hippahs, or forts; in this situation we found them, and in this situation they continued for some time after our arrival. In comparison of the inhabitants of other parts of this country, they are poor, and their canoes are without ornament; the little traffic we had with them was wholly for fish, and indeed they had scarcely any thing else to dispose of. They seemed, however, to have some knowledge of iron, which the inhabitants of some other parts had not; for they willingly took nails for their fish, and sometimes seemed to prefer it to every thing else that we could offer, which had not always been the case. They were at first very fond of paper; but when they found that it was spoiled by being wet, they would not take it: Neither did they set much value upon the cloth of Otaheite; but English broad-cloth, and red kersey, were in high estimation; which shewed that they had sense enough to appreciate the commodities which we offered by their use, which is more than could be said of some of their neighbours, who made a much better appearance. Their dress has been mentioned already, particularly their large round head-dresses of feathers, which were far from being unbecoming.
As soon as we got out of the Sound I stood over to the eastward, in order to get the streight well open before the tide of ebb came on. At seven in the evening, the two small islands which lie off Cape Koamaroo, the south-east head of Queen Charlotte's Sound, bore east, distant about four miles: At this time it was nearly calm, and the tide of ebb setting out, we were, in a very short time, carried by the rapidity of the stream close upon one of the islands, which was a rock rising almost perpendicularly out of the sea: We perceived our danger increase every moment, and had but one expedient to prevent our being dashed to pieces, the success of which a few minutes would determine. We were now within little more than a cable's length of the rock, and had more than seventy-five fathom water; but upon dropping an anchor, and veering about one hundred and fifty fathom of cable, the ship was happily brought up: This, however, would not have saved us, if the tide which set S. by E. had not, upon meeting with the island, changed its direction to S.E. and carried us beyond the first point. In this situation, we were not above two cables' length, from the rocks; and here we remained in the strength of the tide, which set to the S.E. after the rate of at least five miles an hour, from a little after seven till near midnight, when the tide abated, and we began to heave. By three in the morning the anchor was at the bows, and having a light breeze at N.W. we made sail for the eastern shore; but the tide being against us, we made but little way: The wind however afterwards freshened, and came to N. and N.E. with which, and the tide of ebb, we were in a short time hurried through the narrowest part of the straight, and then stood away for the southermost land we had in sight, which bore from us S. by W. Over this land appeared a mountain of stupendous height, which was covered with snow.
The narrowest part of the streight, through which we had been driven with such rapidity, lies between Cape Tierawitte, on the coast of Eaheinomawe, and Cape Koamaroo: The distance between them I judged to be between four or five leagues, and notwithstanding the tide, now its strength is known, may be passed without much danger. It is however safest to keep on the north-east shore, for on that side there appeared to be nothing to fear; but on the other shore there are not only the islands and rocks which lie off Cape Koamaroo, but a reef of rocks stretching from these islands six or seven miles to the southward, at the distance of two or three miles from the shore, which I had discovered from the hill when I took my second view of the streight from the east to the western sea. The length of the streight we had passed I shall not pretend to assign, but some judgment may be formed of it from a view of the chart.
About nine leagues north from Cape Tierawitte, and under the same shore, is a high and remarkable island which may be distinctly seen from Queen Charlotte's Sound, from which it is distant about six or seven leagues. This island, which was noticed when we passed it on the 14th of January, I have called Entry Isle.
On the east side of Cape Tierawitte, the land trends away S.E. by E. about eight leagues, where it ends in a point, and is the southermost land on Eaheinomawe. To this point I have given the name of Cape Palliser, in honour of my worthy friend Captain Palliser. It lies in latitude 41° 34,' S. longitude 183° 56' W. and bore from us this day at noon S. 79 E. distant about thirteen leagues, the ship being then in the latitude of 41° 27' S.; Koamaroo at the same time bearing N. 1/2 E. distant seven or eight leagues. The southermost land in sight bore S. 16 W. and the snowy mountain S.W. At this time we were about three leagues from the shore, and abreast of a deep bay or inlet, to which I gave the name of Cloudy Bay, and at the bottom of which there appeared low land covered with tall trees.
At three o'clock in the afternoon we were abreast of the southermost point of land that we had seen at noon, which I called Cape Campbell; it lies S. by W. distant between twelve and thirteen leagues from Cape Koamaroo, in latitude 41° 44' S. longitude 185° 45' W.; and with Cape Palliser forms the southern entrance of the streight, the distance between them being between thirteen and fourteen leagues W. by S. and E. by N.