In the afternoon we got every thing on board the ship, new-birthed her, and let her swing with the tide; and at night the master returned, with the discouraging account that there was no passage for the ship to the northward.
The next morning, at low water, I went and sounded and buoyed the bar, the ship being now ready for sea. We saw no Indians this day, but all the hills round us for many miles were on fire, which at night made a most striking and beautiful appearance.
The 21st past without our getting sight of any of the inhabitants, and indeed without a single incident worth notice. On the 22d, we killed a turtle for the day's provision, upon opening which we found a wooden harpoon or turtle-peg, about as thick as a man's finger, near fifteen inches long, and bearded at the end, such as we had seen among the natives, sticking through both shoulders: It appeared to have been struck a considerable time, for the wound had perfectly healed up over the weapon.
Early in the morning of the 23d, I sent some people into the country to gather a supply of the greens which have been before mentioned by the name of Indian Kale; one of them having straggled from the rest, suddenly fell in with four Indians, three men and a boy, whom he did not see, till, by turning short in the wood, he found himself among them. They had kindled a fire, and were broiling a bird of some kind, and part of a Kangaroo, the remainder of which, and a cockatoo, hung at a little distance upon a tree: The man, being unarmed, was at first greatly terrified; but he had the presence of mind not to run away, judging very rightly, that he was most likely to incur danger by appearing to apprehend it; on the contrary, he went and sat down by them, and, with an air of chearfulness and good humour, offered them his knife, the only thing he had about him which he thought would be acceptable to them; they received it, and having handed it from one to the other, they gave it him again: He then made an offer to leave them; but this they seemed not disposed to permit: Still however he dissembled his fears, and sat down again; they considered him with great attention and curiosity, particularly his clothes, and then felt his hands and face, and satisfied themselves that his body was of the same texture with their own. They treated him with the greatest civility, and having kept him about half an hour, they made signs that he might depart: He did not wait for a second dismission, but when he left them, not taking the direct way to the ship, they came from their fire, and directed him; so that they well knew whence he came.
In the mean time, Mr Banks, having made an excursion on the other side of the river to gather plants, found the greatest part of the cloth that had been given to the Indians lying in a heap together, probably as useless lumber, not worth carrying away; and perhaps if he had sought further, he might have found the other trinkets; for they seemed to set very little value upon any thing we had, except our turtle, which was a commodity that we were least able to spare.
The blowing weather, which prevented our attempt to get out to sea, still continuing, Mr Banks and Dr Solander went out again on the 24th to see whether any new plant could be picked up: They traversed the woods all day without success; but as they were returning through a deep valley, the sides of which, though almost as perpendicular as a wall, were covered with trees and bushes; they found lying upon the ground several marking nuts, the Anacardium orientate; these put them upon a new scent, and they made a most diligent search after the tree that bore them, which perhaps no European botanist ever saw; but to their great mortification they could not find it: So that, after spending much time, and cutting down four or five trees, they returned quite exhausted with fatigue to the ship.
On the 25th, having made an excursion up the river, I found a canoe belonging to our friends the Indians, whom we had not seen since the affair of the turtle; they had left it tied to some mangroves, about a mile distant from the ship, and I could see by their fires that they were retired at least six miles directly inland.
As Mr Banks was again gleaning the country for his Natural History on the 26th, he had the good fortune to take an animal of the Opossum tribe: It was a female, and with, it he took two young ones: It was found much to resemble the remarkable animal of the kind which Mons. de Buffon has described in his Natural History by the name of Phalanger, but it was not the same. Mons. Buffon supposes this tribe to be peculiar to America, but in this he is certainly mistaken; and probably, as Pallas has observed in his Zoology, the Phalanger itself is a native of the East Indies, as the animal which was caught by Mr Banks resembled it in the extraordinary conformation of the feet, in which it differs from animals of every other tribe.
On the 27th, Mr Gore shot a kangaroo, which, with the skin, entrails, and head, weighed eighty-four pounds. Upon examination, however, we found that this animal was not at its full growth, the innermost grinders not being yet formed. We dressed it for dinner the next day; but to our great disappointment, we found it had a much worse flavour than that we had eaten before.
The wind continued in the same quarter, and with the same violence, till five o'clock in the morning of the 29th, when it fell calm; soon after a light breeze sprung up from the land, and it being about two hours ebb, I sent a boat to see what water was upon the bar; in the mean time we got the anchor up, and made all ready to put to sea. But when the boat came back, the officer reported that there was only thirteen feet water upon the bar, which was six inches less than the ship drew. We were therefore obliged to come to, and the sea breeze setting in again about eight o'clock; we gave up all hope of sailing that day.