Soon after the arrival of this party, the master also returned, having been seven leagues out to sea, and he was now of opinion that there was no getting out where before, he thought there had been a passage: His expedition, however, was by no means without its advantage; for having been a second time upon the rock where he had seen the large cockles, he met with a great number of turtle, three of which he caught, that together weighed seven hundred and ninety-one pounds, though he had no better instrument than a boat-hook.
The next morning, therefore, I sent him out again, with proper instruments for taking them, and Mr Banks went with him; but the success did not at all answer our expectations, for, by the unaccountable conduct of the officer, not a single turtle was taken, nor could he be persuaded to return: Mr Banks, however, went ashore upon the reef, where he saw several of the large cockles, and having collected many shells and marine productions, he returned at eleven o'clock at night in his own small boat, the master still continuing with the large one upon the rock. In the afternoon, seven or eight of the natives had appeared on the south side of the river, and two of them came down to the sandy point, opposite to the ship; but upon seeing me put off in a boat to speak with them, they all ran away with the greatest precipitation.
As the master continued absent with the boat all night, I was forced to send the second lieutenant for him early the next morning in the yawl; and soon after, four of the natives appeared upon the sandy point, on the north side of the river, having with them a small wooden canoe, with out-riggers: They seemed for some time to be busily employed in striking fish. Some of our people were for going over to them in a boat, but this I would by no means permit, repeated experience having convinced me that it was more likely to prevent, than procure an interview. I was determined to try what could be done by a contrary method, and accordingly let them alone, without appearing to take the least notice of them: This succeeded so well, that at length two of them came in the canoe within a musket-shot of the ship, and there talked a great deal in a very loud tone. We understood nothing that they said, and therefore could answer their harangue only by shouting, and making all the signs of invitation and kindness that we could devise. During this conference, they came, insensibly, nearer and nearer, holding up their lances, not in a threatening manner, but as if to intimate that if we offered them any injury, they had weapons to revenge it. When they were almost along-side of us, we threw them some cloth, nails, beads, paper, and other trifles, which they received without the least appearance of satisfaction: At last, one of the people happened to throw them a small fish; at this they expressed the greatest joy imaginable, and intimating, by signs, that they would fetch their companions, immediately paddled away towards the shore. In the mean time some of our people, and among them Tupia, landed on the opposite side of the river. The canoe, with all the four Indians, very soon returned to the ship, and came quite along-side, without expressing any fear or distrust. We distributed some more presents among them, and soon after they left us, and landed on the same side of the river where our people had gone ashore: Every man carried in his hand two lances, and a stick, which is used in throwing them, and advanced to the place where Tupia and the rest of our people were sitting. Tupia soon prevailed upon them to lay down their arms, and come forward without them: He then made signs that they should sit down by him, with which they complied, and seemed to be under no apprehension or constraint: Several more of us then going ashore, they expressed some jealousy lest we should get between them and their arms; we took care, however, to shew them that we had no such intention, and having joined them, we made them some more presents, as a farther testimony of our good-will, and our desire to obtain theirs. We continued together, with the utmost cordiality, till dinner-time, and then giving them to understand that we were going to eat, we invited them, by signs, to go with us: This, however, they declined, and as soon as we left them, they went away in their canoe. One of these men was somewhat above the middle age, the other three were young; they were in general of the common stature, but their limbs were remarkably small; their skin was of the colour of wood soot, or what would be called a dark chocolate colour; their hair was black, but not woolly; it was short cropped, in some lank, and in others curled. Dampier says, that the people whom he saw on the western coast of this country wanted two of their fore-teeth, but these had no such defect. Some part of their bodies had been painted red, and the upper-lip and breast of one of them was painted with streaks of white, which he called Carbanda; their features were far from disagreeable, their eyes were lively, and their teeth even and white; their voices were soft and tunable, and they repeated many words after us with great facility. In the night, Mr Gore and the master returned with the long-boat, and brought one turtle and a few shell-fish. The yawl had been left upon the shoal with six men, to make a farther trial for turtle.
The next morning, we had another visit from four of the natives; three of them had been with us before, but the fourth was a stranger, whose name, as we learnt from his companions who introduced him, was Yaparico. This gentleman was distinguished by an ornament of a very striking appearance: It was the bone of a bird, nearly as thick as a man's finger, and five or six inches long, which he had thrust into a hole made in the gristle that divides the nostrils. Of this we had seen one instance, and only one, in New Zealand; but upon examination, we found that among all these people this part of the nose was perforated, to receive an ornament of the same kind: They had also holes in their ears, though nothing was then hanging to them, and had bracelets upon the upper part of their arms, made of plaited hair; so that, like the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, they seem to be fond of ornament, though they are absolutely without apparel; and one of them, to whom I had given part of an old shirt, instead of throwing it over any part of his body, tied it as a fillet round his head. They brought with them a fish, which they gave us, as we supposed, in return for the fish that we had given them the day before. They seemed to be much pleased, and in no haste to leave us; but seeing some of our gentlemen examine their canoe with great curiosity and attention, they were alarmed, and jumping immediately into it, paddled away without speaking a word.
About two the next morning, the yawl, which had been left upon the shoal, returned, with three turtles and a large skeat. As it seemed now probable that this fishery might be prosecuted with advantage, I sent her out again, after breakfast, for a further supply. Soon after, three Indians ventured down to Tupia's tent, and were so well pleased with their reception, that one of them went with the canoe to fetch two others whom we had never seen: When he returned, he introduced the strangers by name, a ceremony which, upon such occasions, was never omitted. As they had received the fish that was thrown into their canoe, when they first approached the ship, with so much pleasure, some fish was offered to them now, and we were greatly surprised to see that it was received with the greatest indifference: They made signs, however, to some of the people, that they should dress it for them, which was immediately done, but after eating a little of it, they threw the rest to Mr Banks's dog. They staid with us all the forenoon, but would never venture above twenty yards from their canoe. We now perceived that the colour of their skin was not so dark as it appeared, what we had taken for their complexion, being the effects of dirt and smoke, in which, we imagined, they contrived to sleep, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, as the only means in their power to keep off the musquitos. Among other things that we had given them when we first saw them, were some medals, which we had hung round their necks by a ribband; and these ribbands were so changed by smoke, that we could not easily distinguish of what colour they had been: This incident led us more narrowly to examine the colour of their skin. While these people were with us, we saw two others on the point of land that lay on the opposite side of the river, at the distance of about two hundred yards, and by our glasses discovered them to be a woman and a boy; the woman, like the rest, being stark naked. We observed, that all of them were remarkably clean-limbed, and exceedingly active and nimble. One of these strangers had a necklace of shells, very prettily made, and a bracelet upon his arm, formed of several strings, so as to resemble what in England is called gymp: Both of them had a piece of bark tied over the forehead, and were disfigured by the bone in the nose. We thought their language more harsh than that of the islanders in the South Sea, and they were continually repeating the word chercau, which we imagined to be a term expressing admiration, by the manner in which it was uttered: They also cried out, when they saw any thing new, Cher, tut, tut, tut, tut! which probably had a similar signification. Their canoe was not above ten feel long, and very narrow, but it was fitted with an outrigger, much like those of the islands, though in every respect very much inferior: When it was in shallow water, they set it on with poles, and when in deep, they worked it with paddles about four feet long: It contained just four people, so that the people who visited us to-day went away at two turns. Their lances were like those that we had seen in Botany Bay, except that they had but a single point, which in some of them was the sting of the ray, and barbed with two or three sharp bones of the same fish: It was indeed a most terrible weapon, and the instrument which they used in throwing it, seemed to be formed with more art than any we had seen before. About twelve o'clock next day, the yawl returned, with another turtle, and a large sting-ray, and in the evening, was sent out again.
The next morning, two of the Indians came on board, but after a short stay, went along the shore, and applied themselves with great diligence to the striking of fish. Mr Gore, who went out this day with his gun, had the good fortune to kill one of the animals which had been so much the subject of our speculation. This animal is called by the natives Kangaroo. The next day it was dressed for dinner, and proved most excellent meat; we might now indeed be said to fare sumptuously every day, for we had turtle in great plenty, and we all agreed that they were much better than any we had tasted in England, which we imputed to their being eaten fresh from the sea, before their natural fat had been wasted, or their juices changed by a diet and situation so different from what the sea affords them, as garbage and a tub. Most of those that we caught here, were of the kind called green turtle, and weighed from two to three hundred weight, and when these were killed, they were always found to be full of turtle-grass which our naturalists took to be a kind of conferva: Two of them were loggerheads, the flesh of which was much less delicious, and in their stomachs nothing was to be found but shells.
In the morning of the 16th, while the people were employed as usual in getting the ship ready for the sea, I climbed one of the hills on the north side of the river, from which I had an extensive view of the inland country, and found it agreeably diversified by hills, vallies, and large plains, which in many places were richly covered with wood. This evening, we observed an emersion of Jupiter's first satellite, which gave 214° 53' 45" of longitude. The observation which was made on the 29th of June gave 214° 42' 30"; the mean is 214° 48' 7-1/2", the longitude of this place west of Greenwich.
On the 17th, I sent the master and one of the mates in the pinnace to look for a channel to the northward; and I went myself with Mr Banks and Dr Solander into the woods on the other side of the water. Tupia, who had been thither by himself, reported, that he had seen three Indians who had given him some roots about as thick as a man's finger, in shape not much unlike a radish, and of a very agreeable taste. This induced us to go over, hoping that we should be able to improve our acquaintance with the natives; in a very little time we discovered four of them in a canoe, who, as soon as they saw us, came ashore, and, though they were all strangers, walked up to us, without any signs of suspicion or fear. Two of these had necklaces of shells, which we could not persuade them to part with for any thing we could give them: We presented them however with some beads, and after a short stay they departed. We attempted to follow them, hoping that they would conduct us to some place where we should find more of them, and have an opportunity of seeing their women; but they made us understand, by signs, that they did not desire our company.
At eight o'clock the next morning, we were visited by several of the natives, who were now become quite familiar. One of them, at our desire, threw his lance, which was about eight feet-long: It flew with a swiftness and steadiness that surprised us, and though it was never more than four feet from the ground, it entered deeply into a tree at fifty paces distance. After this they ventured on board, where I left them, to all appearance, much entertained, and went again with Mr Banks to take a view of the country; but chiefly to indulge an anxious curiosity, by looking round us upon the sea, of which our wishes almost persuaded us we had formed an idea more disadvantageous than the truth. After having walked about seven or eight miles along the shore to the northward, we ascended a very high hill, and were soon convinced that the danger of our situation was at least equal to our apprehensions; for in whatever direction we turned our eyes, we saw rocks and shoals without number, and no passage out to sea, but through the winding channels between them, which could not be navigated without the last degree of difficulty and danger. We returned therefore to the ship, not in better spirits than when we left it: We found several natives still on board, and we were told that the turtles, of which we had no less than twelve upon the deck, had fixed their attention more than any thing else in the ship.
On the 19th in the morning, we were visited by ten of the natives, the greater part from the other side of the river, where we saw six or seven more, most of them women, and, like all the rest of the people we had seen in this country, they were stark naked. Our guests brought with them a greater number of lances than they had ever done before, and having laid them up in a tree, they set a man and a boy to watch them: The rest then came on board, and we soon perceived that they had determined to get one of our turtle, which was probably as great a dainty to them as to us. They first asked us by signs, to give them one; and being refused, they expressed, both by looks and gestures, great disappointment and anger. At this time we happened to have no victuals dressed, but I offered one of them some biscuit, which he snatched and threw overboard with great disdain. One of them renewed his request to Mr Banks, and upon a refusal stamped with his foot, and pushed him from him in a transport of resentment and indignation: Having applied by turns to almost every person who appeared to have any command in the ship, without success, they suddenly seized two of the turtles, and dragged them towards the side of the ship where their canoe lay: Our people soon forced them out of their hands, and replaced them with the rest. They would not however relinquish their enterprise, but made several other attempts of the same kind, in all which being equally disappointed, they suddenly leaped into their canoe in a rage, and began to paddle towards the shore. At the same time I went into the boat with Mr Banks, and five or six of the ship's crew, and we got ashore before them, where many more of our people were already engaged in various employments; as soon as they landed, they seized their arms, and before we were aware of their design, they snatched a brand from under a pitch kettle which was boiling, and making a circuit to the windward of the few things we had on shore, they set fire to the grass in their way, with surprising quickness and dexterity: The grass, which was five or six feet high, and as dry as stubble, burnt with amazing fury; and the fire made a rapid progress towards a tent of Mr Banks's, which had been set up for Tupia when he was sick, taking in its course a sow and pigs, one of which it scorched to death. Mr Banks leaped into a boat, and fetched some people from on board, just time enough to save his tent, by hauling it down upon the beach; but the smith's forge, at least such part of it as would burn, was consumed. While this was doing, the Indians went to a place at some distance, where several of our people were washing, and where our nets, among which was the seine, and a great quantity of linen, were laid out to dry; here they again set fire to the grass, entirely disregarding both threats and entreaties. "We were therefore obliged to discharge a musquet, loaded with small shot, at one of them, which drew blood at the distance of about forty yards, and this putting them to flight, we extinguished the fire at this place before it had made much progress; but where the grass had been first kindled, it spread into the woods to a great distance. As the Indians were still in sight, I fired a musquet, charged with ball, abreast of them among the mangroves, to convince them that they were not yet out of our reach: Upon hearing the ball they quickened their pace, and we soon lost sight of them. We thought they would now give us no more trouble; but soon after we heard their voices in the woods, and perceived that they came nearer and nearer. I set out, therefore, with Mr Banks and three or four more, to meet them: When our parties came in sight of each other, they halted; except one old man, who came forward to meet us: At length he stopped, and having uttered some words, which we were very sorry we could not understand, he went back to his companions, and the whole body slowly retreated. We found means however to seize some of their darts, and continued to follow them about a mile: We then sat down upon some rocks, from which we could observe their motions, and they also sat down at about an hundred yards distance. After a short time, the old man again advanced towards us, carrying in his hand a lance without a point: He stopped several times, at different distances, and spoke; we answered by beckoning and making such signs of amity as we could devise; upon which the messenger of peace, as we supposed him to be, turned and spoke aloud to his companions, who then set up their lances against a tree, and advanced towards us in a friendly manner: When they came up, we returned the darts or lances that we had taken from them, and we perceived with great satisfaction that this rendered the reconciliation complete. We found in this party four persons whom we had never seen before, who as usual were introduced to us by name; but the man who had been wounded in the attempt to burn our nets and linen, was not among them; we knew however that he could not be dangerously hurt, by the distance at which the shot reached him. We made all of them presents of such trinkets as we had about us, and they walked back with us towards the ship: As we went along, they told us, by signs, that they would not set fire to the grass any more; and we distributed among them some musquet balls, and endeavoured to make them understand their use and effect. When they came abreast of the ship, they sat down, but could not be prevailed upon to come on board; we therefore left them, and in about two hours they went away, soon after which we perceived the woods on fire at about two miles distance. If this accident had happened a very little while sooner, the consequence might have been dreadful; for our powder had been aboard but a few-days, and the store-tent, with many valuable things which it contained, had not been removed many hours. We had no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in this hot climate, nor consequently of the difficulty of extinguishing it; but we determined, that if it should ever again be necessary for us to pitch our tents in such a situation, our first measure should be to clear the ground round us.