A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 14

by Robert Kerr

[3] "The shapes of these large frozen masses, were frequently singularly ruinous, and so far picturesque enough; among them we passed one of a great size, with a hollow in the middle, resembling a grotto or cavern, which was pierced through, and admitted the light from the other side. Some had the appearance of a spire or steeple; and many others gave full scope to our imagination, which compared them to several known objects, by that means attempting to overcome the tediousness of our cruise, which the sight of birds, porpoises, seals, and whales, now too familiar to our eyes, could not prevent from falling heavily upon us."--G.F.

[4] "One island of ice, which we passed in the afternoon, was near a mile and a half long, and very high. It was calm most part of the night, so that we found ourselves very near it in the morning, but observed that several very large pieces had broke off from it. Many great reports, like thunder, were heard in the night, which I conceive were occasioned by these pieces breaking off."--W.

On the 29th, were showers till the afternoon; when a party of the officers made an excursion up the bay; and Mr Forster and his party were out botanizing. Both parties returned in the evening without meeting with any thing worthy of notice; and the two following days, every one was confined to the ship on account of rainy stormy weather.

In the afternoon of the 1st of April, accompanied by several of the gentlemen, I went to see if any of the articles I had left for the Indians were taken away. We found every thing remaining in the canoe; nor did it appear that any body had been there since. After shooting some birds, one of which was a duck, with a blue-grey plumage and soft bill, we, in the evening, returned on board.

The 2d, being a pleasant morning, Lieutenants Clerke and Edgecumbe, and the two Mr Forsters, went in a boat up the bay to search for the productions of nature; and myself, Lieutenant Pickersgill, and Mr Hodges, went to take a view of the N.W. side. In our way, we touched at the seal-rock, and killed three seals, one of which afforded us much sport. After passing several isles, we at length came to the most northern and western arms of the bay; the same as is formed by the land of Five Fingers Point. In the bottom of this arm or cove, we found many ducks, wood-hens, and other wild fowl, some of which we killed, and returned on board at ten o'clock in the evening; where the other party had arrived several hours before us, after having had but indifferent sport. They took with them a black dog we had got at the Cape, who, at the first musket they fired, ran into the woods, from whence he would not return. The three following days were rainy; so that no excursions were made.

Early in the morning on the 6th, a shooting party, made up of the officers, went to Goose Cove, the place where I was the 2d; and myself, accompanied by the two Mr Forsters, and Mr Hodges, set out to continue the survey of the bay. My attention was directed to the north side, where I discovered a fine capacious cove, in the bottom of which is a fresh-water river; on the west side several beautiful small cascades; and the shores are so steep that a ship might lie near enough to convey the water into her by a hose. In this cove we shot fourteen ducks, besides other birds, which occasioned my calling it Duck Cove.

As we returned in the evening, we had a short interview with three of the natives, one man and two women. They were the first that discovered themselves on the N.E. point of Indian Island, named so on this occasion. We should have passed without seeing them, had not the man hallooed to us. He stood with his club in his hand upon the point of a rock, and behind him, at the skirts of the wood, stood the two women, with each of them a spear. The man could not help discovering great signs of fear when we approached the rock with our boat. He however stood firm; nor did he move to take up some things we threw him ashore. At length I landed, went up and embraced him; and presented him with such articles as I had about me, which at once dissipated his fears. Presently after, we were joined by the two women, the gentlemen that were with me, and some of the seamen. After this, we spent about half an hour in chit-chat, little understood on either side, in which the youngest of the two women bore by far the greatest share. This occasioned one of the seamen to say, that women did not want tongue in any part of the world. We presented them with fish and fowl which we had in our boat; but these they threw into the boat again, giving us to understand that such things they wanted not. Night approaching, obliged us to take leave of them; when the youngest of the two women, whose volubility of tongue exceeded every thing I ever met with, gave us a dance; but the man viewed us with great attention. Some hours after we got on board, the other party returned, having had but indifferent sport.

Next morning, I made the natives another visit, accompanied by Mr Forster and Mr Hodges, carrying with me various articles which I presented them with, and which they received with a great deal of indifference, except hatchets and spike-nails; these they most esteemed. This interview was at the same place as last night; and now we saw the whole family, it consisted of the man, his two wives (as we supposed), the young woman before mentioned, a boy about fourteen years old, and three small children, the youngest of which was at the breast. They were all well-looking, except one woman, who had a large wen on her upper-lip, which made her disagreeable; and she seemed, on that account, to be in a great measure neglected by the man. They conducted us to their habitation, which was but a little way within the skirts of the wood, and consisted of two mean huts made of the bark of trees. Their canoe, which was a small double one, just large enough to transport the whole family from place to place, lay in a small creek near the huts. During our stay, Mr Hodges made drawings of most of them; this occasioned them to give him the name of Toe-toe, which word, we suppose signifies marking or painting. When we took leave, the chief presented me with a piece of cloth or garment of their own manufacturing, and some other trifles. I at first thought it was meant as a return for the presents I had made him; but he soon undeceived me, by expressing a desire for one of our boat cloaks. I took the hint, and ordered one to be made for him of red baise, as soon as I got aboard; where rainy weather detained me the following day.

The 9th, being fair weather, we paid the natives another visit, and made known our approach by hallooing to them; but they neither answered us, nor met us at the shore as usual. The reason of this we soon saw; for we found them at their habitations, all dressed and dressing, in their very best, with their hair combed and oiled, tied up upon the crowns of their heads, and stuck with white feathers. Some wore a fillet of feathers round their heads; and all of them had bunches of white feathers stuck in their ears: Thus dressed, and all standing, they received us with great courtesy. I presented the chief with the cloak I had got made for him, with which he seemed so well pleased, that he took his pattapattou from his girdle and gave it me. After a short stay, we took leave; and having spent the remainder of the day in continuing my survey of the bay, with the night returned on board.

Very heavy rains falling on the two following days, no work was done; but the 12th proved clear and serene, and afforded us an opportunity to dry our sails and linen; two things very much wanted; not having had fair weather enough for this purpose since we put into this bay. Mr Forster and his party also profited by the day in botanizing.

About ten o'clock, the family of the natives paid us a visit. Seeing that they approached the ship with great caution, I met them in a boat, which I quitted when I got to them, and went into their canoe. Yet, after all, I could not prevail on them to put along-side the ship, and at last was obliged to leave them to follow their own inclination. At length they put ashore in a little creek hard by us; and afterwards came and sat down on the shore a-breast of the ship, near enough to speak with us. I now caused the bagpipes and fife to play, and the drum to beat. The two first they did not regard; but the latter caused some little attention in them; nothing however could induce them to come on board. But they entered, with great familiarity, into conversation (little understood) with such of the officers and seamen as went to them, paying much greater regard to some than to others; and these, we had reason to believe, they took for women. To one man in particular, the young woman shewed an extraordinary fondness until she discovered his sex, after which she would not suffer him to come near her. Whether it was that she before took him for one of her own sex, or that the man, in order to discover himself, had taken some liberties with her which she thus resented, I know not.

In the afternoon, I took Mr Hodges to a large cascade, which falls from a high mountain on the south side of the bay, about a league above the place where we lay. He made a drawing of it on paper, and afterwards painted it in oil colours; which exhibits, at once, a better description of it than any I can give. Huge heaps of stones lay at the foot of this cascade, which had been broken off and brought by the stream from the adjacent mountains. These stones were of different sorts; none however, according to Mr Forster's opinion, (whom I believe to be a judge,) containing either minerals or metals. Nevertheless, I brought away specimens of every sort, as the whole country, that is, the rocky part of it, seemed to consist of those stones and no other. This cascade is at the east point of a cove, lying in S.W. two miles, which I named Cascade Cove. In it is good anchorage and other necessaries. At the entrance, lies an island, on each side of which is a passage; that on the east side is much the widest. A little above the isle, and near the S.E. shore, are two rocks which are covered at high water. It was in this cove we first saw the natives.

When I returned aboard in the evening, I found our friends, the natives, had taken up their quarters at about a hundred yards from our watering- place; a very great mark of the confidence they placed in us. This evening a shooting party of the officers went over to the north side of the bay, having with them the small cutter to convey them from place to place.

Next morning, accompanied by Mr Forster, I went in the pinnace to survey the isles and rocks which lie in the mouth of the bay. I began first with those which lie on the S.E. side of Anchor Isle. I found here a very snug cove sheltered from all winds, which we called Luncheon Cove, because here we dined on cray fish, on the side of a pleasant brook, shaded by the trees from both wind and sun. After dinner we proceeded, by rowing, out to the outermost isles, where we saw many seals, fourteen of which we killed and brought away with us; and might have got many more, if the surf had permitted us to land with safety on all the rocks. The next morning, I went out again to continue the survey, accompanied by Mr Forster. I intended to have landed again on the Seal Isles; but there ran such a high sea that I could not come near them. With some difficulty we rowed out to sea, and round the S.W. point of Anchor Isle. It happened very fortunately that chance directed me to take this course, in which we found the sportsmen's boat adrift, and laid hold of her the very moment she would have been dashed against the rocks. I was not long at a loss to guess how she came there, nor was I under any apprehensions for the gentlemen that had been in her; and after refreshing ourselves with such as we had to eat and drink, and securing the boat in a small creek, we proceeded to the place where we supposed them to be. This we reached about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, and found them upon a small isle in Goose Cove, where, as it was low water, we could not come with our boat until the return of the tide. As this did not happen till three o'clock in the morning, we landed on a naked beach, not knowing where to find a better place, and, after some time, having got a fire and broiled some fish, we made a hearty supper, having for sauce a good appetite. This done, we lay down to sleep, having a stony beach for a bed, and the canopy of heaven for a covering. At length the tide permitted us to take off the sportsmen; and with them we embarked, and proceeded for the place where we had left their boat, which, we soon reached, having a fresh breeze of wind in our favour, attended with rain. When we came to the creek which was on the N.W. side of Anchor Isle, we found there an immense number of blue peterels, some on the wing, others in the woods in holes in the ground, under the roots of trees and in the crevices of rocks, where there was no getting them, and where we supposed their young were deposited. As not one was to be seen in the day, the old ones were probably, at that time, out at sea searching for food, which in the evening they bring to their young. The noise they made was like the croaking of many frogs. They were, I believe, of the broad-bill kind, which, are not so commonly seen at sea as the others. Here, however, they are in great numbers, and flying much about in the night, some of our gentlemen at first took them for bats. After restoring the sportsmen to their boat, we all proceeded for the ship, which we reached by seven o'clock in the morning, not a little fatigued with our expedition. I now learned that our friends the natives returned to their habitation at night; probably foreseeing that rain was at hand; which sort of weather continued the whole of this day.

On the morning of the 15th, the weather having cleared up and become fair, I set out with two boats to continue the survey of the N.W. side of the bay, accompanied by the two Mr Forsters and several of the officers, whom I detached in one boat to Goose Cove, where we intended to lodge the night, while I proceeded in the other, examining the harbours and isles which lay in my way. In the doing of this, I picked up about a score of wild fowl, and caught fish sufficient to serve the whole party; and reaching the place of rendezvous a little before dark, I found all the gentlemen out duck- shooting. They however soon returned, not overloaded with game. By this time, the cooks had done their parts, in which little art was required; and after a hearty repast, on what the day had produced, we lay down to rest; but took care to rise early the next morning, in order to have the other bout among the ducks, before we left the cove.

Accordingly, at day-light, we prepared for the attack. Those who had reconnoitred the place before, chose their stations accordingly; whilst myself and another remained in the boat, and rowed to the head of the cove to start the game, which we did so effectually, that, out of some scores of ducks, we only detained one to ourselves, sending all the rest down to those stationed below. After this I landed at the head of the cove, and walked across the narrow isthmus that disjoins it from the sea, or rather from another cove which runs in from the sea about one mile, and lies open to the north winds. It, however, had all the appearance of a good harbour and safe anchorage. At the head is a fine sandy beach, where I found an immense number of wood hens, and brought away ten couple of them, which recompensed me for the trouble of crossing the isthmus, through the wet woods, up to the middle in water. About nine o'clock we all got collected together, when the success of everyone was known, which was by no means answerable to our expectations. The morning, indeed, was very unfavourable for shooting, being rainy the most of the time we were out. After breakfast we set out on our return to the ship, which we reached by seven o'clock in the evening, with about seven dozen of wild fowl, and two seals; the most of them shot while I was rowing about, exploring the harbours and coves which I found in my way; every place affording something, especially to us, to whom nothing came amiss.

It rained all the 17th, but the 18th bringing fair and clear weather, in the evening our friends, the natives before-mentioned, paid us another visit; and, the next morning, the chief and his daughter were induced to come on board, while the others went out in the canoe fishing. Before they came on board I shewed them our goats and sheep that were on shore, which they viewed for a moment with a kind of stupid insensibility. After this I conducted them to the brow; but before the chief set his foot upon it to come into the ship, he took a small green branch in his hand, with which he struck the ship's side several times, repeating a speech or prayer. When this was over, he threw the branch into the main chains, and came on board. This custom and manner of making peace, as it were, is practised by all the nations in the South Seas that I have seen.

I took them both down into the cabin, where we were to breakfast. They sat at table with us, but would not taste any of our victuals. The chief wanted to know where we slept, and indeed to pry into every corner of the cabin, every part of which he viewed with some surprise. But it was not possible to fix his attention to any one thing a single moment. The works of art appeared to him in the same light as those of nature, and were as far removed beyond his comprehension. What seemed to strike them most was the number and strength of our decks, and other parts of the ship. The chief, before he came aboard, presented me with a piece of cloth and a green talc hatchet; to Mr Forster he also gave a piece or cloth; and the girl gave another to Mr Hodges. This custom of making presents before they receive any, is common with the natives of the South Sea isles; but I never saw it practised in New Zealand before. Of all the various articles I gave my guest, hatchets and spike-nails were the most valuable in his eyes.

These he never would suffer to go out of his hands after he once laid hold of them; whereas many other articles he would lay carelessly down any where, and at last leave them behind him.

As soon as I could get quit of them, they were conducted into the gun-room, where I left them, and set out with two boats to examine the head of the bay; myself in one, accompanied by Mr Forster and Mr Hodges, and Lieutenant Cooper in the other. We proceeded up the south side, and without meeting with any thing remarkable, got to the head of the bay by sun-set; where we took up our lodging for the night, at the first place we could land upon; for the flats hindered us from getting quite to the head.

At day-light in the morning, I took two men in the small boat, and with Mr Forster went to take a view of the flat land at the head of the bay, near to where we spent the night. We landed on one side, and ordered the boat to meet us on the other side; but had not been long on shore before we saw some ducks, which, by their creeping through the bushes, we got a shot at, and killed one. The moment we had fired, the natives, whom we had not discovered before, set up a most hideous noise in two or three places close by us. We hallooed in our turn; and, at the same time, retired to our boat, which was full half a mile off. The natives kept up their clamouring noise, but did not follow us. Indeed we found afterwards that they could not, because of a branch of the river between us and them, nor did we find their numbers answerable to the noise they made. As soon as we got to our boat, and found that there was a river that would admit us, I rowed in, and was soon after joined by Mr Cooper in the other boat. With this reinforcement I proceeded up the river, shooting wild ducks, of which there were great numbers; as we went along, now and then hearing the natives in the woods. At length two appeared on the banks of the river, a man and a woman; and the latter kept waving something white in her hand, as a sign of friendship. Mr Cooper being near them, I called to him to land, as I wanted to take the advantage of the tide to get as high up as possible, which did not much exceed half a mile, when I was stopped by the strength of the stream and great stones which lay in the bed of the river.

On my return, I found that as Mr Cooper did not land when the natives expected him, they had retired into the woods, but two others now appeared on the opposite bank. I endeavoured to have an interview with them, but this I could not effect. For as I approached the shore, they always retired farther into the woods, which were so thick as to cover them from our sight. The falling tide obliged me to retire out of the river to the place where we had spent the night. There we breakfasted, and afterwards embarked, in order to return on board; but, just as we were going, we saw two men on the opposite shore, hallooing to us, which induced me to row over to them. I landed with two others, unarmed; the two natives standing about 100 yards from the water-side, with each a spear in his hand. When we three advanced, they retired; but stood when I advanced alone.

It was some little time before I could prevail upon them to lay down their spears. This, at last, one of them did; and met me with a grass plant in his hand, one end of which he gave me to hold, while he held the other. Standing in this manner, he began a speech, not one word of which I understood, and made some long pauses, waiting, as I thought, for me to answer; for, when I spoke, he proceeded. As soon as this ceremony was over, which was not long, we saluted each other. He then took his hahou, or coat, from off his own back, and put it upon mine; after which peace seemed firmly established. More people joining us did not in the least alarm them; on the contrary, they saluted every one as he came up.

I gave to each a hatchet and a knife, having nothing else with me: Perhaps these were the most valuable things I could give them, at least they were the most useful. They wanted us to go to their habitation, telling us they would give us something to eat; and I was sorry that the tide and other circumstances would not permit me to accept of their invitation. More people were seen in the skirts of the wood, but none of them joined us: Probably these were their wives and children. When we took leave they followed us to our boat; and, seeing the musquets lying across the stern, they made signs for them to be taken away, which being done, they came alongside, and assisted us to launch her. At this time it was necessary for us to look well after them, for they wanted to take away every thing they could lay their hands upon, except the muskets. These they took care not to touch, being taught, by the slaughter they had seen us make among the wild- fowl, to look upon them as instruments of death.

We saw no canoes or other boats with them, two or three logs of wood tied together served the same purpose, and were indeed sufficient for the navigation of the river, on the banks of which they lived. There fish and fowl were in such plenty, that they had no occasion to go far for food; and they have but few neighbours to disturb them. The whole number at this place, I believe, does not exceed three families.

It was noon when we took leave of these two men, and proceeded down the north side of the bay, which I explored in my way, and the isles that lie in the middle. Night, however, overtook us, and obliged me to leave one arm unlooked into, and hasten to the ship, which we reached by eight o'clock. I then learnt that the man and his daughter stayed on board the day before till noon; and that having understood from our people what things were left in Cascade Cove, the place where they were first seen, he sent and took them away. He and his family remained near us till today, when they all went away, and we saw them no more; which was the more extraordinary, as he never left us empty-handed. From one or another he did not get less than nine or ten hatchets, three or four times that number of large spike-nails, besides many other articles. So far as these things may be counted riches in New Zealand, he exceeds every man there; being, at this time, possessed of more hatchets and axes than are in the whole country besides.

In the afternoon of the 21st, I went with a party out to the isles on seal- hunting. The surf ran so high that we could only land in one place, where we killed ten. These animals served us for three purposes; the skins we made use of for our rigging; the fat gave oil for our lamps; and the flesh we eat. Their haslets are equal to that of a hog, and the flesh of some of them eats little inferior to beef-steaks. The following day nothing worthy of notice was done.

In the morning of the 23d, Mr Pickersgill, Mr Gilbert, and two others, went to the Cascade Cove, in order to ascend one of the mountains, the summit of which they reached by two o'clock in the afternoon, as we could see by the fire they made. In the evening they returned on board, and reported that inland, nothing was to be seen but barren mountains, with huge craggy precipices, disjoined by valleys, or rather chasms, frightful to behold. On the southeast side of Cape West, four miles out at sea, they discovered a ridge of rocks, on which the waves broke very high. I believe these rocks to be the same we saw the evening we first fell in with the land.

Having five geese left out of those we brought from the Cape of Good Hope, I went with them next morning to Goose Cove (named so on this account,) where I left them. I chose this place for two reasons; first, here are no inhabitants to disturb them; and, secondly, here being the most food, I make no doubt but that they will breed, and may in time spread over the whole country, and fully answer my intention in leaving them. We spent the day shooting in and about the cove, and returned aboard about ten o'clock in the evening. One of the party shot a white hern, which agreed exactly with Mr Pennant's description, in his British Zoology, of the white herns that either now are, or were formerly, in England.

The 20th was the eighth fair day we had had successively; a circumstance, I believe, very uncommon in this place, especially at this season of the year. This fair weather gave us an opportunity to complete our wood and water, to overhaul the rigging, caulk the ship, and put her in a condition for sea. Fair weather was, however, now at an end; for it began to rain this evening, and continued without intermission till noon the next day, when we cast off the shore fasts, hove the ship out of the creek to her anchor, and steadied her with an hawser to the shore.

On the 27th, hazy weather, with showers of rain. In the morning I set out, accompanied by Mr Pickersgill and the two Mr Forsters, to explore the arm or inlet I discovered the day I returned from the head of the bay. After rowing about two leagues up it, or rather down, I found it to communicate with the sea, and to afford a better outlet for ships bound to the north than the one I came in by. After making this discovery, and refreshing ourselves on broiled fish and wild fowl, we set out for the ship, and got on board at eleven o'clock at night, leaving two arms we had discovered, and which ran into the east, unexplored. In this expedition we shot forty- four birds, sea-pies, ducks, &c., without going one foot out of our way, or causing any other delay than picking them up.

Having got the tents, and every other article on board on the 28th, we only now waited for a wind to carry us out of the harbour, and through New Passage, the way I proposed to go to sea. Every thing being removed from the shore, I set fire to the top-wood, &c., in order to dry a piece of the ground we had occupied, which, next morning, I dug up, and sowed with several sorts of garden seeds. The soil was such as did not promise success to the planter; it was, however, the best we could find. At two o clock in the afternoon, we weighed with a light breeze at S.W., and stood up the bay for the New Passage. Soon after we had got through, between the east end of Indian Island and the west end of Long Island, it fell calm, which obliged us to anchor in forty-three fathom water, under the north side of the latter island.

In the morning of the 30th we weighed again with a light breeze at west, which, together with all our boats a-head towing, was hardly sufficient to stem the current. For, after struggling till six o'clock in the evening, and not getting more than five miles from our last anchoring-place, we anchored under the north side of Long Island, not more than one hundred yards from the shore, to which we fastened a hawser.

At day-light next morning, May 1st, we got again under sail, and attempted to work to windward, having a light breeze down the bay. At first we gained ground, but at last the breeze died away; when we soon lost more than we had got, and were obliged to bear up for a cove on the north side of Long Island, where we anchored in nineteen fathom water, a muddy bottom: In this cove we found two huts not long since inhabited; and near them two very large fire-places or ovens, such as they have in the Society Isles. In this cove we were detained by calms, attended with continual rain, till the 4th in the afternoon, when, with the assistance of a small breeze at south- west, we got the length of the reach or passage leading to sea. The breeze then left us, and we anchored under the east point, before a sandy beach, in thirty fathoms water; but this anchoring-place hath nothing to recommend it like the one we came from, which hath every thing in its favour.

In the night we had some very heavy squalls of wind, attended with rain, hail, and snow, and some thunder. Daylight exhibited to our view all the hills and mountains covered with snow. At two o'clock in the afternoon, a light breeze sprung up at S.S.W., which, with the help of our boats, carried us down the passage to our intended anchor-place, where, at eight o'clock, we anchored in sixteen fathoms water, and moored with a hawser to the shore, under the first point on the starboard side as you come in from sea, from which we were covered by the point.

In the morning of the 6th, I sent Lieutenant Pickersgill, accompanied by the two Mr Forsters, to explore the second arm which turns in to the east, myself being confined on board by a cold. At the same time I had every thing got up from between decks, the decks well cleaned and well aired with fires; a thing that ought never to be long neglected in wet moist weather. The fair weather, which had continued all this day, was succeeded in the night by a storm from north-west, which blew in hard squalls, attended with rain, and obliged us to strike top-gallant and lower yards, and to carry out another hawser to the shore. The bad weather continued the whole day and the succeeding night, after which it fell calm with fair weather.

At seven in the morning, on the 8th, Mr Pickersgill returned, together with his companions, in no very good plight, having been at the head of the arm he was sent to explore, which he judged to extend in to the eastward about eight miles. In it is a good anchoring-place, wood, fresh water, wild fowl, and fish. At nine o'clock I set out to explore the other inlet, or the one next the sea; and ordered Mr Gilbert, the master, to go and examine the passage out to sea, while those on board were getting every thing in readiness to depart. I proceeded up the inlet till five o'clock in the afternoon, when bad weather obliged me to return before I had seen the end of it. As this inlet lay nearly parallel with the sea-coast, I was of opinion that it might communicate with Doubtful Harbour, or some other inlet to the northward. Appearances were, however, against this opinion, and the bad weather hindered me from determining the point, although a few hours would have done it. I was about ten miles up, and thought I saw the end of it: I found on the north side three coves, in which, as also on the south side, between the main and the isles that lie four miles up the inlet, is good anchorage, wood, water, and what else can be expected, such as fish and wild fowl: Of the latter, we killed in this excursion, three dozen. After a very hard row, against both wind and rain, we got on board about nine o'clock at night, without a dry thread on our backs.

This bad weather continued no longer than till the next morning, when it became fair, and the sky cleared up. But, as we had not wind to carry us to sea, we made up two shooting parties; myself, accompanied by the two Mr. Forsters and some others, went to the area I was in the day before; and the other party to the coves and isles Mr Gilbert had discovered when he was out, and where he found many wild fowl. We had a pleasant day, and the evening brought us all on board; myself and party met with good sport; but the other party found little.

All the forenoon of the 10th, we had strong gales from the west, attended with heavy showers of rain, and blowing in such flurries over high land, as made it unsafe for us to get under sail. The afternoon was more moderate, and became fair; when myself, Mr Cooper, and some others, went out in the boats to the rocks, which lie at this entrance of the bay, to kill seals. The weather was rather unfavourable for this sport, and the sea ran high, so as to make landing difficult; we, however, killed ten, but could only wait to bring away five, with which we returned on board.

In the morning of the 11th, while we were getting under sail, I sent a boat for the other five seals. At nine o'clock we weighed with a light breeze at south-east, and stood out to sea, taking up the boat in our way. It was noon before we got clear of the land; at which time we observed in 45° 34' 30" S.; the entrance of the bay bore S.E. by E., and Break-sea Isles (the outermost isles that lie at the south point of the entrance of the bay,) bore S.S.E., distant three miles; the southernmost point, or that of Five Fingers Point, bore south 42° W., and the northernmost land N.N.E. In this situation we had a prodigious swell from S.W., which broke with great violence on all the shores that were exposed to it.

SECTION V.

Directions for sailing in and out of Dusky Bay, with an Account of the adjacent Country, its Produce, and Inhabitants: Astronomical and Nautical Observations.

As there are few places where I have been in New Zealand that afford the necessary refreshments in such plenty as Dusky Bay, a short description of it, and of the adjacent country, may prove of use to some future navigators, as well as acceptable to the curious reader. For although this country be far remote from the present trading part of the world, we can, by no means, tell what use future ages may make of the discoveries made in the present. The reader of this journal must already know that there are two entrances to this bay. The south entrance is situated on the north side of Cape West, in latitude 45° 48' S. It is formed by the land of the Cape to the south, and Five Fingers Point to the north. This point is made remarkable by several pointed rocks lying off it, which, when viewed from certain situations, have some resemblance to the five fingers of a man's hand; from whence it takes its name. The land of this point is still more remarkable by the little similarity it bears to any other of the lands adjacent; being a narrow peninsula lying north and south, of a moderate and equal height, and all covered with wood.

To sail into the bay by this entrance is by no means difficult, as I know of no danger but what shews itself. The worst that attends it, is the depth of water, which is too great to admit of anchorage, except in the coves and harbours, and very near the shores; and even, in many places, this last cannot be done. The anchoring-places are, however, numerous enough, and equally safe and commodious. Pickersgill Harbour, where we lay, is not inferior to any other bay, for two or three ships: It is situated on the south shore abreast of the west end of Indian island; which island may be known from the others by its greater proximity to that shore. There is a passage into the harbour on both sides of the isle, which lies before it. The most room is on the upper or east side, having regard to a sunken rock, near the main, abreast this end of the isle: Keep the isle close aboard, and you will not only avoid the rock, but keep in anchoring-ground. The next place, on this side, is Cascade Cove, where there is room for a fleet of ships, and also a passage in on either side of the isle, which lies in the entrance, taking care to avoid a sunken rock which lies near the south- east shore, a little above the isle. This rock, as well as the one in Pickersgill Harbour, may be seen at half-ebb It must be needless to enumerate all the anchoring-places in this capacious bay.

The north entrance lies in the latitude of 45° 38' S., and five leagues to the north of Five Fingers Point. To make this entrance plain, it will be necessary to approach the shore within a few miles, as all the land within and on each side is of considerable height. Its situation may, however, be known at a greater distance, as it lies under the first craggy mountains which rise to the north of the land of Five Fingers Point. The southernmost of these mountains is remarkable, having at its summit two small hillocks. When this mountain bears S.S.E. you will be before the entrance, on the south side of which are several isles. The westernmost and outermost is the most considerable, both for height and circuit, and this I have called Break sea Isle, because it effectually covers this entrance from the violence of the southwest swell, which the other entrance is so much exposed to. In sailing in you leave this isle as well as all the others to the south. The best anchorage is in the first or north arm, which is on the larboard hand going in, either in one of the coves, or behind the isles that lie under the south-east shore.

The country is exceedingly mountainous, not only about Dusky Bay, but through all the southern part of this western coast of Tavai Poenammoo. A prospect more rude and craggy is rarely to be met with, for inland appears nothing but the summits of mountains of a stupendous height, and consisting of rocks that are totally barren and naked, except where they are covered with snow. But the land bordering on the sea-coast, and all the islands, are thickly clothed with wood, almost down to the water's edge. The trees are of various kinds, such as are common to other parts of this country, and are fit for the shipwright, house-carpenter, cabinet-maker, and many other uses. Except in the river Thames, I have not seen finer timber in all New Zealand; both here and in that river, the most considerable for size is the Spruce-tree, as we called it, from the similarity of its foliage to the American spruce, though the wood is more ponderous, and bears a greater resemblance to the pitch-pine. Many of these trees are from six to eight and ten feet in girt, and from sixty to eighty or one hundred feet in length, large enough to make a main-mast for a fifty-gun ship.

Here are, as well as in all other parts of New Zealand, a great number of aromatic trees and shrubs, most of the myrtle kind; but amidst all this variety, we met with none which bore fruit fit to eat.

In many parts the woods are so over-run with supplejacks, that it is scarcely possible to force one's way amongst them. I have seen several which were fifty or sixty fathoms long.

The soil is a deep black mould, evidently composed of decayed vegetables, and so loose that it sinks under you at every step; and this may be the reason why we meet with so many large trees as we do, blown down by the wind, even in the thickest part of the woods. All the ground amongst the trees is covered with moss and fern, of both which there is a great variety; but except the flax or hemp plant, and a few other plants, there is very little herbage of any sort, and none that was eatable, that we found, except about a handful of water-cresses, and about the same quantity of cellery. What Dusky Bay most abounds with is fish: A boat with six or eight men, with hooks and lines, caught daily sufficient to serve the whole ship's company. Of this article the variety is almost equal to the plenty, and of such kinds as are common to the more northern coast; but some are superior, and in particular the cole fish, as we called it, which is both larger and finer flavoured than any I had seen before, and was, in the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded us. The shell-fish are, muscles, cockles, scallops, cray-fish, and many other sorts, all such as are to be found in every other part of the coast. The only amphibious animals are seals: These are to be found in great numbers about this bay on the small rocks and isles near the sea coast.

We found here five different kinds of ducks, some of which I do not recollect to have any where seen before. The largest are as big as a Muscovy duck, with a very beautiful variegated plumage, on which account we called it the Painted Duck; both male and female have a large white spot on each wing; the head and neck of the latter is white, but all the other feathers as well as those on the head and neck of the drake are of a dark variegated colour. The second sort have a brown plumage, with bright green feathers in their wings, and are about the size of an English tame duck. The third sort is the blue-grey duck, before mentioned, or the whistling duck, as some called them, from the whistling noise they made. What is most remarkable in these is, that the end of their beaks is soft, and of a skinny, or more properly, cartilaginous substance. The fourth sort is something bigger than a teal, and all black except the drake, which has some white feathers in his wing. There are but few of this sort, and we saw them no where but in the river at the head of the bay. The last sort is a good deal like a teal, and very common, I am told, in England. The other fowls, whether belonging to the sea and land, are the same that are to be found in common in other parts of this country, except the blue peterel before-mentioned, and the water or wood-hens. These last, although they are numerous enough here, are so scarce in other parts, that I never saw but one. The reason may be, that, as they cannot fly, they inhabit the skirts of the woods, and feed on the sea-beach, and are so very tame or foolish, as to stand and stare at us till we knocked them down with a stick. The natives may have, in a manner, wholly destroyed them. They are a sort of rail, about the size and a good deal like a common dunghill hen; most of them are of a dirty black or dark-brown colour, and eat very well in a pye or fricassée. Among the small birds I must not omit to particularize the wattle-bird, poy-bird, and fan-tail, on account of their singularity, especially as I find they are not mentioned in the narrative of my former voyage.

The wattle-bird, so called, because it has two wattles under its beak as large as those of a small dunghill-cock, is larger, particularly in length, than an English black-bird. Its bill is short and thick, and its feathers of a dark lead colour; the colour of its wattles is a dull yellow, almost an orange colour.

The poy-bird is less than the wattle-bird. The feathers of a fine mazarine blue, except those of its neck, which are of a most beautiful silver-grey, and two or three short white ones, which are on the pinion joint of the wing. Under its throat hang two little tufts of curled, snow-white leathers, called its poies, which being the Otaheitean word for earrings, occasioned our giving that name to the bird, which is not more remarkable for the beauty of its plumage than for the sweetness of its note. The flesh is also most delicious, and was the greatest luxury the woods afforded us.

Of the fan-tail there are different sorts; but the body of the most remarkable one is scarcely larger than a good filbert, yet it spreads a tail of most beautiful plumage, full three quarters of a semi-circle, of at least four or five inches radius.

For three or four days after we arrived in Pickersgill harbour, and as we were clearing the woods to set up our tents, &c. a four-footed animal was seen by three or four of our people; but as no two gave the same description of it, I cannot say of what kind it is. All, however, agreed, that it was about the size of a cat, with short legs, and of a mouse colour. One of the seamen, and he who had the best view of it, said it had a bushy tail, and was the most like a jackall of any animal he knew. The most probable conjecture is, that it is of a new species. Be this as it may, we are now certain that this country is not so destitute of quadrupeds as was once thought.

The most mischievous animals here are the small black sand flies, which are very numerous, and so troublesome, that they exceed every thing of the kind I ever met with. Wherever they bite they cause a swelling, and such an intolerable itching, that it is not possible to refrain from scratching, which at last brings on ulcers like the small-pox.

The almost continual rains may be reckoned another evil attending this bay; though perhaps this may only happen at this season of the year. Nevertheless, the situation of the country, the vast height, and nearness of the mountains, seem to subject it to much rain at all times. Our people, who were daily exposed to the rain, felt no ill effects from it; on the contrary, such as were sick and ailing when we came in, recovered daily, and the whole crew soon became strong and vigorous, which can only be attributed to the healthiness of the place, and the fresh provisions it afforded. The beer certainly contributed not a little. As I have already observed, we at first made it of a decoction of the spruce leaves; but finding that this alone made the beer too astringent, we afterwards mixed with it an equal quantity of the tea plant (a name it obtained in my former voyage, from our using it as tea then as we also did now,) which partly destroyed the astringency of the other, and made the beer exceedingly palatable, and esteemed by every one on board. We brewed it in the same manner as spruce-beer, and the process is as follows: First, make a strong decoction of the small branches of the spruce and tea plants, by boiling them three or four hours, or until the bark will strip with ease from off the branches; then take them out of the copper, and put in the proper quantity of molasses, ten gallons of which is sufficient to make a ton, or two hundred and forty gallons of beer; let this mixture just boil, then pot it into the casks, and to it add an equal quantity of cold water, more or less, according to the strength of the decoction, or your taste: When the whole is milk-warm, put in a little grounds of beer, or yeast, if you have it, or any thing else that will cause fermentation, and in a few days the beer will be fit to drink. After the casks have been brewed in two or three times the beer will generally ferment itself, especially if the weather is warm. As I had inspissated juice of wort on board, and could not apply it to a better purpose, we used it together with molasses or sugar, to make these two articles go farther. For of the former I had but one cask, and of the latter little to spare for this brewing. Had I known how well this beer would have succeeded, and the great use it was of to the people, I should have come better provided. Indeed I was partly discouraged by an experiment made during my former voyage, which did not succeed then, owing, as I now believe, to some mismanagement.

Any one, who is in the least acquainted with spruce pines, will find the tree which I have distinguished by that name. There are three sorts of it; that which has the smallest leaves and deepest colour, is the sort we brewed with; but doubtless all three might safely serve that purpose. The tea-plant is a small tree or shrub, with five white petals, or flower- leaves, shaped like those of a rose, having smaller ones of the same figure in the intermediate spaces, and twenty or more filaments or threads. The tree sometimes grows to a moderate height, and is generally bare on the lower part, with a number of small branches growing close together towards the top. The leaves are small and pointed, like those of the myrtle; it bears a dry roundish seed-case, and grows commonly in dry places near the shores. The leaves, as I have already observed, were used by many of us as tea, which has a very agreeable bitter and flavour when they are recent, but loses some of both when they are dried. When the infusion was made strong, it proved emetic to some in the same manner as green tea.

The inhabitants of this bay are of the same race of people with those in the other parts of this country, speak the same language, and observe nearly the same customs. These indeed seem to have a custom of making presents before they receive any, in which they come nearer to the Otaheiteans than the rest of their countrymen. What could induce three or four families (for I believe there are not more) to separate themselves so far from the society of the rest of their fellow-creatures, is not easy to guess. By our meeting with inhabitants in this place, it seems probable that there are people scattered over all this southern island. But the many vestiges of them in different parts of this bay, compared with the number that we actually saw, indicates that they live a wandering life; and, if one may judge from appearances and circumstances, few as they are, they live not in perfect amity, one family with another. For, if they did, why do they not form themselves into some society? a thing not only natural to man, but observed even by the brute creation.

I shall conclude this account of Dusky Bay with some observations made and communicated to me by Mr Wales. He found by a great variety of observations, that the latitude of his observatory at Pickersgill Harbour, was 45° 47' 26" half south; and, by the mean of several distances of the moon from the sun, that its longitude was 106° 18' E., which is about half a degree less than it is laid down in my chart constructed in my former voyage. He found the variation of the needle or compass, by the mean of three different needles, to be 13° 49' E, and the dip of the south end 70° 5' three quarters. The times of high water, on the full and change days, he found to be at 10° 57', and the tide to rise and fall, at the former eight feet, at the latter five feet eight inches. This difference, in the rise of the tides between the new and full moon, is a little extraordinary, and was probably occasioned at this time by some accidental cause, such as winds, &c., but, be it as it will, I am well assured there was no error in the observations.

Supposing the longitude of the observatory to be as above, the error of Mr Kendal's watch, in longitude, will be 1° 48' minus, and that of Mr Arnold's 39° 25'. The former was found to be gaining 6",461 a-day on mean time, and the latter losing 99",361. Agreeably to these rates the longitude by them was to be determined, until an opportunity of trying them again.

I must observe, that in finding the longitude by Mr Kendal's watch, we suppose it to have gone mean time from the Cape of Good Hope. Had its cape rate been allowed, the error would not have been so great.

SECTION VI.

Passage from Dusky Bay to Queen Charlottes Sound, with an Account of some Water Spouts, and of our joining the Adventure.

After leaving Dusky Bay, as hath been already mentioned, I directed my course along shore for Queen Charlotte's Sound, where I expected to find the Adventure. In this passage we met with nothing remarkable, or worthy of notice, till the 17th at four o'clock in the afternoon. Being then about three leagues to the westward of Cape Stephens; having a gentle gale at west by south, and clear weather, the wind at once flattened to a calm, the sky became suddenly obscured by dark dense clouds, and seemed to forebode much wind. This occasioned as to clew up all our sails, and presently after six water-spouts were seen. Four rose and spent themselves between us and the land; that is, to the south-west of us, the fifth was without us, the sixth first appeared in the south-west, at the distance of two or three miles at least from us. Its progressive motion was to the north-east, not in a straight but in a crooked line, and passed within fifty yards of our stern, without our feeling any of its effects. The diameter of the base of this spout I judged to be about fifty or sixty feet; that is, the sea within this space was much agitated, and foamed up to a great height. From this a tube, or round body, was formed, by which the water or air, or both, was carried in a spiral stream up to the clouds. Some of our people said they saw a bird in the one near us, which was whirled round like the fly of a jack, as it was carried upwards. During the time these spouts lasted, we had now and then light puffs of wind from all points of the compass, with some few slight showers of rain, which generally fell in large drops; and the weather continued thick and hazy for some hours after, with variable light breezes of wind. At length the wind fixed in its old point, and the sky resumed its former serenity. Some of these spouts appeared at times to be stationary; and at other times to have a quick but very unequal progressive motion, and always in a crooked line, sometimes one way and sometimes another; so that, once or twice, we observed them to cross one another. From the ascending motion of the bird, and several other circumstances, it was very plain to us that these spouts were caused by whirlwinds, and that the water in them was violently hurried upwards, and did not descend from the clouds as I have heard some assert. The first appearance of them is by the violent agitation and rising up of the water; and, presently after, you see a round column or tube forming from the clouds above, which apparently descends till it joins the agitated water below. I say apparently, because I believe it not to be so in reality, but that the tube is already formed from the agitated water below, and ascends, though at first it is either too small or too thin to be seen. When the tube is formed, or becomes visible, its apparent diameter increaseth till it is pretty large; after that it decreaseth, and at last it breaks or becomes invisible towards the lower part. Soon after the sea below resumes its natural state, and the tube is drawn, by little and little, up to the clouds, where it is dissipated. The same tube would sometimes have a vertical, and sometimes a crooked or inclined direction. The most rational account I have read of water-spouts, is in Mr Falconer's Marine Dictionary, which is chiefly collected from the philosophical writings of the ingenious Dr Franklin. I have been told that the firing of a gun will dissipate them; and I am very sorry I did not try the experiment, as we were near enough, and had a gun ready for the purpose; but as soon as the danger was past, I thought no more about it, being too attentive in viewing these extraordinary meteors At the time this happened, the barometer stood at 29, 75, and the thermometer at 56.[1]

[1] "This afternoon we had an opportunity of observing, in as complete a manner as could be wished, one of the most curious, and perhaps the most extraordinary and powerful, of Nature's productions. The forenoon had been in general pretty clear, but subject to heavy squalls of wind, and some flying clouds, which were very black and heavy, and moved with great velocity from the S.W. towards the N.E., (the direction of the wind.) About four o'clock in the afternoon it became calm, and the heavens were almost covered with very black clouds, particularly towards the W. and N.W., and presently after we saw several tail-like appearances, descending from the clouds in that quarter: These appearances were whiter than the clouds they hung from, which made them very conspicuous, and they increased gradually in length, until they extended, as near as I could judge, about one-sixth part of the distance between the clouds and the surface of the sea. About this time, the water under them began to be violently agitated, and lifted up with a whirling motion towards the impending part of the cloud, which, on account of a motion they all had the contrary way to that the wind had blown, was not directly over it, but a little towards the south-west. As the water rose, the end of the cloud descended, and in a little time they joined; after which the water appeared to me to ascend out of the sea into the cloud, with great velocity. I think that none of these spouts, as they are usually called, continued entire more than ten minutes; perhaps not quite so long. I saw four complete at one time; but there were great numbers which began to form, and were dispersed by what cause I know not, before the cloud and water joined. One of them came, I was told, within thirty or forty yards of the ship, which lay becalmed; but I was then below looking at the barometer; when I got upon deck, it was about 100 fathoms from her. It is impossible to say what would have been the consequences if it had gone over her; but I believe they would have been very dreadful. At the time when this happened, the barometer stood at 29,75 inches, and the thermometer at 56°. The whole of this passed within the space of an hour, or thereabouts; for at five o'clock a small breeze of wind sprung up in the south-east quarter, and dispersed every appearance of this kind, although the black clouds remained until about ten, when the wind veered round to the W.S.W., and settled there in a moderate steady gale, and the weather cleared up."--W.

"The nature of water-spouts and their causes, being hitherto very little known, we were extremely attentive to mark every little circumstance attendant on this appearance. Their base, where the water of the sea was violently agitated, and rose in a spiral form in vapours, was a broad spot, which looked bright and yellowish when illuminated by the sun. The column was of a cylindrical form, rather increasing in width towards the upper extremity. These columns moved forward on the surface of the sea, and the clouds not following them with equal rapidity, they assumed a bent or incurvated shape, and frequently appeared crossing each other, evidently proceeding in different directions; from whence we concluded, that it being calm, each of these water-spouts caused a wind of its own. At last they broke one after another, being probably too much distended by the difference between their motion and that of the clouds. In proportion as the clouds came nearer to us, the sea appeared more and more covered with short broken waves, and the wind continually veered all round the compass without fixing in any point. We soon saw a spot on the sea, within two hundred fathoms of us, in a violent agitation. The water, in a space of fifty or sixty fathoms, moved towards the centre, and there rising into vapour, by the force of the whirling motion, ascended in a spiral form towards the clouds. Some hailstones fell on board about this time, and the clouds looked exceedingly black and louring above us. Directly over the whirl-pool, if I may so call the agitated spot on the sea, a cloud gradually tapered into a long slender tube, which seemed to descend to meet the rising spiral, and soon united with it into a short column of a cylindrical form. We could distinctly observe the water hurled upwards with the greatest violence in a spiral, and it appeared that it left a hollow space in the centre; so that we concluded the water only formed a hollow tube, instead of a solid column. We were strongly confirmed in this belief by the colour, which was exactly like any hollow glass-tube. After some time the last water-spout was incurvated and broke like the others, with this difference, that its disjunction was attended with a flash of lightning, but no explosion was heard. Our situation during all this time was very dangerous and alarming; a phenomenon which carried so much terrific majesty in it, and connected, as it were, the sea with the clouds, made our oldest mariners uneasy, and at a loss how to behave; for most of them, though they had viewed water-spouts at a distance, yet had never been so beset with them as we were; and all without exception had heard dreadful accounts of their pernicious effects, when they happened to break over a ship. We prepared, indeed, for the worst, by clewing up our top-sails; but it was the general opinion that our masts and yards must have gone to wreck if we had been drawn into the vortex. It was hinted that firing a gun had commonly succeeded in breaking water-spouts, by the strong vibration it causes in the air; and accordingly a four-pounder was ordered to be got ready, but our people, being, as usual, very dilatory about it, the danger was past before we could try the experiment. How far electricity may be considered as the cause of this phenomenon, we could not determine with any precision; so much however seems certain, that it has some connection with it, from the flash of lightning, which was plainly observed at the bursting of the last column. The whole time, from their first appearance to the dissolution of the last, was about three quarters of an hour. It was five o'clock when the latter happened, and the thermometer then stood at fifty-four degrees, or two and a half degrees lower, than when they began to make their appearance. The depth of water we had under us was thirty-six fathom."--G.F.

The description which Mr F. has given, is very similar to the preceding. Both these gentlemen seem to concur in opinion with Cook, in maintaining Dr Franklin's theory. Mr Jones, in his Philosophical Disquisitions, mentions a circumstance which is no less curious in itself, than strongly demonstrative that the tube, as it has been called, is formed from below, and ascends towards the clouds, and not the contrary, as the appearances would indicate. "In the torrid zone, (says he,) the water-spout is sometimes attended with an effect which appears supernatural, and will scarcely find credit in this part of the world; for who will believe that fish should fall from the sky in a shower of rain? A gentleman of veracity, who spent many years in the East Indies, declares to his friends that he has been witness to this several times; but speaks of it with caution, knowing that it will be thought incredible by those who are not acquainted with the cause. I have a servant, a native of the West Indies, who assures me he was once a witness to this fact himself, when small fish, about two or three inches long, fell in great numbers during a storm of rain. The spot where this happened was in the island of Jamaica, within about a mile of the sea. When water is carried with violence from the sea up the column of a spout, small fish, which are too weak to escape when the column is forming, are conveyed up to the clouds, and fall from them afterwards on land, not far distant from the sea." He had before related an instance of one that passed over the town of Hatfield, in Yorkshire, filling the air with the thatch it plucked off from the houses, and rolling strangely together several sheets of lead on the corner of the church.--E.

In coming from Cape Farewell to Cape Stephens, I had a better view of the coast than I had when I passed in my former voyage, and observed that about six leagues to the east of the first-mentioned cape, is a spacious bay, which is covered from the sea by a low point of land. This is, I believe, the same that Captain Tasman anchored in on the 18th of December, 1642, and by him called Murderer's Bay, by reason of some of his men being killed by the natives. Blind Bay, so named by me in my former voyage, lies to the S.E. of this, and seems to run a long way inland to the south; the sight, in this direction, not being bounded by any land. The wind having returned to the west, as already mentioned, we resumed our course to the east; and at day-light the next morning (being the 18th,) we appeared off Queen Charlotte's Sound, where we discovered our consort the Adventure, by the signals she made to us; an event which every one felt with an agreeable satisfaction. The fresh westerly wind now died away, and was succeeded by light airs from the S. and S.W., so that we had to work in with our boats a-head towing. In the doing of this we discovered a rock, which we did not see in my former voyage. It lies in the direction of S. by E. 1/2 E., distant four miles from the outermost of the Two Brothers, and in a line with the White Rocks, on with the middle of Long Island. It is just even with the surface of the sea, and hath deep water all round it. At noon, Lieutenant Kemp of the Adventure came on board; from whom I learnt that their ship had been here about six weeks. With the assistance of a light breeze, our boats, and the tides, we at six o'clock in the evening, got to an anchor in Ship Cove, near the Adventure, when Captain Furneaux came on board, and gave me the following account of his proceedings, from the time we parted to my arrival here.

SECTION VII.

Captain Furneaux's Narrative, from the Time the two Ships were separated, to their joining again in Queen Charlotte's Sound, with some Account of Van Diemen's Land.

On the 7th of February, 1773, in the morning, the Resolution being then about two miles a-head, the wind shifting then to the westward, brought on a very thick fog; so that we lost sight of her. We soon after heard a gun, the report of which we imagined to be on the larboard beam; we then hauled up S.E., and kept firing a four-pounder every half hour, but had no answer, nor further sight of her; then we kept the course we steered on before the fog came on. In the evening it began to blow hard, and was at intervals more clear, but could see nothing of her, which gave us much uneasiness. We then tacked and stood to the westward, to cruise in the place where we last saw her, according to agreement, in case of separation; but next day came on a very heavy gale of wind and thick weather, that obliged us to bring to, and thereby prevented us reaching the intended spot. However, the wind coming more moderate, and the fog in some measure clearing away, we cruised as near the place as we could get, for three days; when giving over all hopes of joining company again, we bore away for winter quarters, distant fourteen hundred leagues, through a sea entirely unknown and reduced the allowance of water to one quart per day.

We kept between the latitude of 52° and 53° S., had much westerly wind, hard gales, with squalls, snow and sleet, with a long hollow sea from the S.W., so that we judged there is no land in that quarter. After we reached the longitude of 95° E., we found the variation decrease very fast.

On the 26th, at night, we saw a meteor of uncommon brightness in the N.N.W. It directed its course to the S.W., with a very great light in the southern sky, such as is known to the northward by the name of Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. We saw the light for several nights running; and, what is remarkable, we saw but one ice island after we parted company with the Resolution, till our making land, though we were most of the time two or three degrees to the southward of the latitude we first saw it in. We were daily attended by great numbers of sea birds, and frequently saw porpoises curiously spotted white and black.

On the 1st of March we were alarmed with the cry of land by the man at the mast-head, on the larboard beam; which gave us great joy. We immediately hauled our wind and stood for it, but to our mortification were disappointed in a few hours; for, what we took to be land, proved no more than clouds, which disappeared as we sailed towards them. We then bore away, and directed our course towards the land laid down in the charts by the name of Van Diemen's Land, discovered by Tasman in 1642, and laid down in the latitude 44° S., and longitude 140° E., and supposed to join to New Holland.

On the 9th of March, having little wind and pleasant weather, about nine a. m. being then in the latitude of 43° 37' S. longitude, by lunar observation, 145° 36' E., and by account 143° 10' E. from Greenwich, we saw the land bearing N.N.E., about eight or nine leagues distance. It appeared moderately high, and uneven near the sea; the hills farther back formed a double land, and much higher. There seemed to be several islands, or broken land, to the N.W., as the shore trenched; but by reason of clouds that hung over them, we could not be certain whether they did not join to the main. We hauled immediately up for it, and by noon were within three or four leagues of it. A point much like the Ramhead off Plymouth, which I take to be the same that Tasman calls South Cape, bore north four leagues off us. The land from this cape runs directly to the eastward; about four leagues along shore are three islands about two miles long, and several rocks, resembling the Mewstone, (particularly one which we so named,) about four or five leagues E.S.E 1/2 E. off the above cape, which Tasman has not mentioned, or laid down in his draughts. After you pass these islands, the land lies E. by N., and W. by S., by the compass nearly. It is a bold shore, and seems to afford several bays or anchoring-places, but believe deep water. From the S.W. cape, which is in the latitude of 43° 39' S., and longitude 145° 50' E. to the S.E. cape, in the latitude 43° 36' S., longitude 147° E., is nearly sixteen leagues, and sounding from forty-eight to seventy fathoms, sand and broken shells three or four leagues off shore. Here the country is hilly and full of trees, the shore rocky and difficult landing, occasioned by the wind blowing here continually from the westward, which occasions such a surf that the sand cannot lie on the shore. We saw no inhabitants here.

The morning, on the 10th of March, being calm, the ship then about four miles from the land, sent the great cutter on shore with the second lieutenant, to find if there was any harbour or good bay. Soon after, it beginning to blow very hard, made the signal for the boat to return several times, but they did not see or hear any thing of it; the ship then three or four leagues off, that we could not see any thing of the boat, which gave us great uneasiness, as there was a very great sea. At half-past one p.m. to our great satisfaction, the boat returned on board safe. They landed, but with much difficulty, and saw several places where the Indians had been, and one they lately had left, where they had a fire, with a great number of pearl escallop shells round it, which shells they brought on board, with, some burnt sticks and green boughs. There was a path from this place, through the woods, which in all probability leads to their habitations; but, by reason of the weather, had not time to pursue it. The soil seems to be very rich; the country well clothed with wood, particularly on the lee side of the hills; plenty of water which falls from the rocks in beautiful cascades, for two or three hundred feet perpendicular into the sea; but they did not see the least sign of any place to anchor in with safety. Hoisted in the boat, and made sail for Frederick Henry Bay. From noon to three p.m. running along shore E. by N., at which time we were abreast of the westernmost point of a very deep bay, called by Tasman, Stormy Bay. From the west to the east point of this bay there are several small islands, and black rocks, which we called the Friars. While crossing this bay we had very heavy squalls and thick weather; at times, when it cleared up, I saw several fires in the bottom of the bay, which is near two or three leagues deep, and has, I doubt not, good places for anchoring, but the weather being so bad, did not think it safe to stand into it. From the Friars the land trenches away about N. by E. four leagues: We had smooth water, and kept in shore, having regular soundings from twenty to fifteen fathoms water. At half-past six we hauled round a high bluff point, the rocks whereof were like so many fluted pillars, and had ten fathoms water, fine sand, within half a mile of the shore. At seven, being abreast of a fine bay, and having little wind, we came-to, with the small bower, in twenty-four fathoms, sandy bottom. Just after we anchored, being a fine clear evening, had a good observation of the star Antares and the moon, which gave the longitude of 147° 34' E., being in the latitude of 43° 20' S. We first took this bay to be that which Tasman called Frederick Henry Bay; but afterwards found that his is laid down five leagues to the northward of this.

At day-break the next morning, I sent the master in shore to sound the bay, and to find out a watering-place; at eight he returned, having found a most excellent harbour, clear ground from side to side, from eighteen to five fathom water all over the bay, gradually decreasing as you go in shore. We weighed and turned up into the bay; the wind being westerly, and very little of it, which baffled us much in getting in. At seven o'clock in the evening, we anchored in seven fathoms water, with a small bower, and moored with the coasting anchor to the westward, the north point of the bay N.N.E. 1/2 E. (which we take to be Tasman's Head), and the easternmost point (which we named Penguin Island, from a curious one we caught there) N.E. by E 3/4 E.; the watering-place W. 1/2 N.; about one mile from the shore on each side; Maria's Island, which is about five or six leagues off, shut in with both points; so that you are quite land-locked in a most spacious harbour.

We lay here five days, which time was employed in wooding and watering (which is easily got), and over-hauling the rigging. We found the country very pleasant; the soil a black, rich, though thin one; the sides of the hills covered with large trees, and very thick, growing to a great height before they branch off. They are all of the evergreen kind, different from any I ever saw; the wood is very brittle, and easily split; there is a very little variety of sorts, having seen but two. The leaves of one are long and narrow; and the seed (of which I got a few) is in the shape of a button, and has a very agreeable smell. The leaves of the other are like the bay, and it has a seed like the white thorn, with an agreeable spicy taste and smell. Out of the trees we cut down for fire-wood, there issued some gum, which the surgeon called gum-lac. The trees are mostly burnt or scorched, near the ground, occasioned by the natives setting fire to the under-wood, in the most frequented places; and by these means they have rendered it easy walking. The land birds we saw, are a bird like a raven; some of the crow kind, black, with the tips of the feathers of the tail and wings white, their bill long and very sharp; some paroquets; and several kinds of small birds. The sea-fowl are ducks, teal, and the sheldrake. I forgot to mention a large white bird, that one of the gentlemen shot, about the size of a large kite of the eagle kind. As for beasts, we saw but one, which was an opossom; but we observed the dung of some, which we judged to be of the deer kind. The fish in the bay are scarce; those we caught were mostly sharks, dog-fish, and a fish called by the seamen nurses, like the dog-fish, only full of small white spots; and some small fish not unlike sprats. The lagoons (which are brackish) abound with trout, and several other sorts of fish, of which we caught a few with lines, but being much encumbered with stumps of trees, we could not haul the seine.

While we lay here, we saw several smokes and large fires, about eight or ten miles in shore to the northward, but did not see any of the natives; though they frequently come into this bay, as there were several wigwams or huts, where we found some bags and nets made of grass, in which I imagine they carry their provisions and other necessaries. In one of them there was the stone they strike fire with, and tinder made of bark, but of what tree could not be distinguished. We found in one of their huts, one of their spears, which was made sharp at one end, I suppose, with a shell or stone. Those things we brought away, leaving in the room of them medals, gun- flints, a few nails, and an old empty barrel with the iron hoops on it. They seem to be quite ignorant of every sort of metal. The boughs, of which their huts are made, are either broken or split, and tied together with grass in a circular form, the largest end stuck in the ground, and the smaller parts meeting in a point at the top, and covered with fern and bark, so poorly done, that they will hardly keep out a shower of rain. In the middle is the fire-place, surrounded with heaps of muscle, pearl, scallop, and cray-fish shells, which I believe to be their chief food, though we could not find any of them. They lie on the ground, on dried grass, round the fire; and I believe they have no settled place of habitation (as their houses seemed built only for a few days), but wander about in small parties from place to place in search of food, and are actuated by no other motive. We never found more than three or four huts in a place, capable of containing three or four persons each only; and what is remarkable, we never saw the least marks either of canoe or boat, and it is generally thought they have none; being altogether, from what we could judge, a very ignorant and wretched set of people, though natives of a country capable of producing every necessary of life, and a climate the finest in the world. We found not the least signs of any minerals or metals.

Having completed our wood and water, we sailed from Adventure Bay, intending to coast it up along shore, till we should fall in with the land seen by Captain Cook, and discover whether Van Diemen's Land joins with New Holland. On the 16th, we passed Maria's Islands, so named by Tassman; they appear to be the same as the main land. On the 17th, having passed Shouten's Islands, we hauled in for the main land, and stood along shore at the distance of two or three leagues off. The country here appears to be very thickly inhabited, as there was a continual fire along shore as we sailed. The land hereabouts is much pleasanter, low, and even; but no signs of a harbour or bay, where a ship might anchor with safety. The weather being bad, and blowing hard at S.S.E., we could not send a boat on shore to have any intercourse with the inhabitants. In the latitude of 40° 50' S., the land trenches away to the westward, which I believe forms a deep bay, as we saw from the deck several smokes arising a-back of the islands that lay before it, when we could not see the least signs of land from the mast head.

[1] "This afternoon we had an opportunity of observing, in as complete a manner as could be wished, one of the most curious, and perhaps the most extraordinary and powerful, of Nature's productions. The forenoon had been in general pretty clear, but subject to heavy squalls of wind, and some flying clouds, which were very black and heavy, and moved with great velocity from the S.W. towards the N.E., (the direction of the wind.) About four o'clock in the afternoon it became calm, and the heavens were almost covered with very black clouds, particularly towards the W. and N.W., and presently after we saw several tail-like appearances, descending from the clouds in that quarter: These appearances were whiter than the clouds they hung from, which made them very conspicuous, and they increased gradually in length, until they extended, as near as I could judge, about one-sixth part of the distance between the clouds and the surface of the sea. About this time, the water under them began to be violently agitated, and lifted up with a whirling motion towards the impending part of the cloud, which, on account of a motion they all had the contrary way to that the wind had blown, was not directly over it, but a little towards the south-west. As the water rose, the end of the cloud descended, and in a little time they joined; after which the water appeared to me to ascend out of the sea into the cloud, with great velocity. I think that none of these spouts, as they are usually called, continued entire more than ten minutes; perhaps not quite so long. I saw four complete at one time; but there were great numbers which began to form, and were dispersed by what cause I know not, before the cloud and water joined. One of them came, I was told, within thirty or forty yards of the ship, which lay becalmed; but I was then below looking at the barometer; when I got upon deck, it was about 100 fathoms from her. It is impossible to say what would have been the consequences if it had gone over her; but I believe they would have been very dreadful. At the time when this happened, the barometer stood at 29,75 inches, and the thermometer at 56°. The whole of this passed within the space of an hour, or thereabouts; for at five o'clock a small breeze of wind sprung up in the south-east quarter, and dispersed every appearance of this kind, although the black clouds remained until about ten, when the wind veered round to the W.S.W., and settled there in a moderate steady gale, and the weather cleared up."--W.

"The nature of water-spouts and their causes, being hitherto very little known, we were extremely attentive to mark every little circumstance attendant on this appearance. Their base, where the water of the sea was violently agitated, and rose in a spiral form in vapours, was a broad spot, which looked bright and yellowish when illuminated by the sun. The column was of a cylindrical form, rather increasing in width towards the upper extremity. These columns moved forward on the surface of the sea, and the clouds not following them with equal rapidity, they assumed a bent or incurvated shape, and frequently appeared crossing each other, evidently proceeding in different directions; from whence we concluded, that it being calm, each of these water-spouts caused a wind of its own. At last they broke one after another, being probably too much distended by the difference between their motion and that of the clouds. In proportion as the clouds came nearer to us, the sea appeared more and more covered with short broken waves, and the wind continually veered all round the compass without fixing in any point. We soon saw a spot on the sea, within two hundred fathoms of us, in a violent agitation. The water, in a space of fifty or sixty fathoms, moved towards the centre, and there rising into vapour, by the force of the whirling motion, ascended in a spiral form towards the clouds. Some hailstones fell on board about this time, and the clouds looked exceedingly black and louring above us. Directly over the whirl-pool, if I may so call the agitated spot on the sea, a cloud gradually tapered into a long slender tube, which seemed to descend to meet the rising spiral, and soon united with it into a short column of a cylindrical form. We could distinctly observe the water hurled upwards with the greatest violence in a spiral, and it appeared that it left a hollow space in the centre; so that we concluded the water only formed a hollow tube, instead of a solid column. We were strongly confirmed in this belief by the colour, which was exactly like any hollow glass-tube. After some time the last water-spout was incurvated and broke like the others, with this difference, that its disjunction was attended with a flash of lightning, but no explosion was heard. Our situation during all this time was very dangerous and alarming; a phenomenon which carried so much terrific majesty in it, and connected, as it were, the sea with the clouds, made our oldest mariners uneasy, and at a loss how to behave; for most of them, though they had viewed water-spouts at a distance, yet had never been so beset with them as we were; and all without exception had heard dreadful accounts of their pernicious effects, when they happened to break over a ship. We prepared, indeed, for the worst, by clewing up our top-sails; but it was the general opinion that our masts and yards must have gone to wreck if we had been drawn into the vortex. It was hinted that firing a gun had commonly succeeded in breaking water-spouts, by the strong vibration it causes in the air; and accordingly a four-pounder was ordered to be got ready, but our people, being, as usual, very dilatory about it, the danger was past before we could try the experiment. How far electricity may be considered as the cause of this phenomenon, we could not determine with any precision; so much however seems certain, that it has some connection with it, from the flash of lightning, which was plainly observed at the bursting of the last column. The whole time, from their first appearance to the dissolution of the last, was about three quarters of an hour. It was five o'clock when the latter happened, and the thermometer then stood at fifty-four degrees, or two and a half degrees lower, than when they began to make their appearance. The depth of water we had under us was thirty-six fathom."--G.F.

The description which Mr F. has given, is very similar to the preceding. Both these gentlemen seem to concur in opinion with Cook, in maintaining Dr Franklin's theory. Mr Jones, in his Philosophical Disquisitions, mentions a circumstance which is no less curious in itself, than strongly demonstrative that the tube, as it has been called, is formed from below, and ascends towards the clouds, and not the contrary, as the appearances would indicate. "In the torrid zone, (says he,) the water-spout is sometimes attended with an effect which appears supernatural, and will scarcely find credit in this part of the world; for who will believe that fish should fall from the sky in a shower of rain? A gentleman of veracity, who spent many years in the East Indies, declares to his friends that he has been witness to this several times; but speaks of it with caution, knowing that it will be thought incredible by those who are not acquainted with the cause. I have a servant, a native of the West Indies, who assures me he was once a witness to this fact himself, when small fish, about two or three inches long, fell in great numbers during a storm of rain. The spot where this happened was in the island of Jamaica, within about a mile of the sea. When water is carried with violence from the sea up the column of a spout, small fish, which are too weak to escape when the column is forming, are conveyed up to the clouds, and fall from them afterwards on land, not far distant from the sea." He had before related an instance of one that passed over the town of Hatfield, in Yorkshire, filling the air with the thatch it plucked off from the houses, and rolling strangely together several sheets of lead on the corner of the church.--E.

From the latitude of 40° 50' S., to the latitude of 39° 50' S., is nothing but islands and shoals; the land high, rocky, and barren. On the 19th, in the latitude of 40° 30' S., observing breakers about half a mile within shore of us, we sounded, and finding but eight fathoms, immediately hauled off, deepened our water to fifteen fathoms, then bore away and kept along shore again. From the latitude of 39° 50' to 39° S., we saw no land, but had regular soundings from fifteen to thirty fathoms. As we stood on to the northward, we made land again in about 39°; after which we discontinued our northerly course, as we found the ground very uneven, and shoal-water some distance off. I think it a very dangerous shore to fall in with.

The coast, from Adventure Bay to the place where we stood away for New Zealand, lies in the direction S. 1/2 W., and N. 1/2 E., about seventy-five leagues; and it is my opinion that there are no straits between New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, but a very deep bay.--I should have stood farther to the northward, but the wind blowing strong at S.S.E., and looking likely to haul round to the eastward, which would have blown right on the land, I therefore thought it more proper to leave the coast and steer for New Zealand.

After we left Van Diemen's Land, we had very uncertain weather, with rain and very heavy gusts of wind. On the 24th, we were surprised with a very severe squall, that reduced us from top-gallant sails to reefed courses, in the space of an hour. The sea rising equally quick, we shipped many waves, one of which stove the large cutter, and drove the small one from her lashing in the waist; and with much difficulty we saved her from being washed overboard. This gale lasted twelve hours, after which we had more moderate weather, intermixed with calms. We frequently hoisted out the boats to try the currents, and in general found a small drift to the W.S.W. We shot many birds; and had, upon the whole, good weather; but as we got near to the land, it came on thick and dirty for several days, till we made the coast of New Zealand in 40° 30' S., having made twenty-four degrees of longitude, from Adventure Bay, after a passage of fifteen days.

We had the winds much southerly in this passage, and I was under some apprehensions of not being able to fetch the straits, which would have obliged us to steer away for George's Island; I would therefore advise any who sail to this part, to keep to the southward, particularly in the fall of the year, when the S. and S.E. winds prevail.

The land, when we first made it, appeared high, and formed a confused jumble of hills and mountains. We steered along shore to the northward, but were much retarded in our course by reason of the swell from the N.E. At noon, on the 3rd of April, Cape Farewell, which is the south point of the entrance of the west side of the straits, bore E. by N. 1/2 N. by the compass, three or four leagues distant. About eight o'clock we entered the straits, and steered N.E. till midnight; then brought-to till day-light, and had soundings from forty-five to fifty-eight fathoms, sand and broken shells. At day-light, made sail and steered S.E. by E.; had light airs; Mount Egmont N.N.E. eleven or twelve leagues, and Point Stephens S.E. 1/2 E. seven leagues. At noon, Mount Egmont N. by E. twelve leagues; Stephens Island S.E. five leagues. In the afternoon we put the dredge over-board in sixty-five fathoms; but caught nothing except a few small scallops, two or three oysters, and broken shells.

Standing to the eastward for Charlotte's Sound, with a light breeze at N.W., in the morning on the 5th, Stephens Island bearing S.W. by W. four leagues, we were taken a-back with a strong easterly gale, which obliged us to haul our wind to the S.E. and work to windward up under Port Jackson. The course from Stephens Island to Point Jackson, is nearly S.E. by the compass, eleven leagues distant, depth of water from forty to thirty-two fathoms, sandy ground. As we stood off and on, we fired several guns, but saw no signs of any inhabitants. In the afternoon, at half-past two, o'clock, finding the tide set the ship to the westward, we anchored with the coasting anchor in thirty-nine fathoms water, muddy ground; Point Jackson S.E. 1/2 E. three leagues; the east point of an inlet (about four leagues to the westward of Point Jackson, and which appears to be a good harbour) S.W. by W. 1/2 W. At eight p.m. the tide slackening, we weighed and made sail (having while at anchor caught several fish with hook and line), and found the tide to run to the westward, at the rate of two and a half knots per hour. Standing to the east, we found no ground at seventy fathoms, off Point Jackson N.N.W., two leagues. At eight the next morning, had the sound open; but the wind being down, it obliged us to work up under the western shore, as the tide sets up strong there, when it runs down in mid channel. At ten, the tide being done, was obliged to come-to with the best bower in thirty-eight fathoms, close to some white rocks, Point Jackson bearing N.W. 1/2 N.; the northernmost of the Brothers E. by S.; and the middle of Entry Island (which lies on the north side of the straits) N.E. We made 15° 30' E., variation in the straits. As we sailed up the sound we saw the tops of high mountains covered with snow, which remains all the year. When the tide slackened, we weighed and sailed up the sound; and about five o'clock on the 7th, anchored in Ship Cove, in ten fathoms water, muddy ground, and moored the best bower to the N.N.E., and small to S.S.W. In the night, we heard the howling of dogs, and people hallooing on the east shore.

The two following days were employed in clearing a place on Motuara Island for erecting our tents for the sick (having then several on board much afflicted with the scurvy), the sail-makers and coopers. On the top of the island was a post erected, by the Endeavour's people, with her name and time of departure on it.

On the 9th, we were visited by three canoes with about sixteen of the natives; and to induce them to bring us fish and other provisions, we gave them several things, with which they seemed highly pleased. One of our young gentlemen seeing something wrapt up in a better manner than common, had the curiosity to examine what it was; and to his great surprise found it to be the head of a man lately killed. They were very apprehensive of its being forced from them; and particularly the man who seemed most interested in it, whose very flesh crept on his bones, for fear of being punished by us, as Captain Cook had expressed his great abhorrence of this unnatural act. They used every method to conceal the head, by shifting it from one to another; and by signs endeavouring to convince us, that there was no such thing amongst them, though we had seen it but a few minutes before. They then took their leave of us, and went on shore.

They frequently mentioned Tupia, which was the name of the native of George's Island (or Otaheite), brought here by the Endeavour, and who died at Batavia; and when we told them he was dead, some of them seemed to be very much concerned, and, as well as we could understand them, wanted to know whether we killed him, or if he died a natural death. By these questions, they are the same tribe Captain Cook saw. In the afternoon, they returned again with fish and fern roots, which they sold for nails and other trifles; though the nails are what they set the most value on. The man and woman who had the head, did not come off again. Having a catalogue of words in their language, we called several things by name, which surprised them greatly. They wanted it much, and offered a great quantity of fish for it.

Next morning, they returned again, to the number of fifty or sixty, with their chief at their head (as we supposed), in five double canoes. They gave us their implements of war, stone hatchets, and clothes, &c. for nails and old bottles, which they put a great value on. A number of the head men came on board us, and it was with some difficulty we got them out of the ship by fair means; but on the appearance of a musket with a fixed bayonet, they all went into their canoes very quickly. We were daily visited by more or less, who brought us fish in great plenty for nails, beads, and other trifles, and behaved very peaceably.

We settled the astronomer with his instruments, and a sufficient guard, on a small island, that is joined to Motuara at low water, called the Hippa, where there was an old fortified town that the natives had forsaken. Their houses served our people to live in; and, by sinking them about a foot inside, we made them very comfortable. Having done this, we struck our tents on the Motuara, and having removed the ship farther into the cove on the west shore, moored her for the winter. We then erected our tents near the river or watering-place, and sent ashore all the spars and lumber off the decks, that they might be caulked; and gave her a winter coat to preserve the hull and rigging. On the 11th of May, we felt two severe shocks of an earthquake, but received no kind of damage. On the 17th, we were surprised by the people firing guns on the Hippa, and having sent the boat, as soon as she opened the sound, had the pleasure of seeing the Resolution off the mouth of it. We immediately sent out the boats to tow her in, it being calm. In the evening she anchored about a mile without us; and next morning weighed and warped within us. Both ships felt uncommon joy at our meeting, after an absence of fourteen weeks.[1]

[1] It is, perhaps, unnecessary to state, that the opinion expressed in this section, as to there being no straits between New Holland and Diemen's Land, is erroneous. The reader must have previously known this.--E.

SECTION VIII.

Transactions in Queen Charlotte's Sound, with some Remarks on the Inhabitants.

Knowing that scurvy-grass, celery, and other vegetables, were to be found in this sound, I went myself the morning after my arrival, at day-break, to look for some, and returned on board at breakfast with a boat-load. Being now satisfied, that enough was to be got for the crews of both ships, I gave orders that they should be boiled, with wheat and portable broth, every morning for breakfast; and with peas and broth for dinner; knowing from experience, that these vegetables, thus dressed, are extremely beneficial, in removing all manner of scorbutic complaints.

I have already mentioned a desire I had of visiting Van Diemen's Land, in order to inform myself if it made a part of New Holland; and I certainly should have done this, had the winds proved favourable. But as Captain Furneaux had now, in a great measure, cleared up that point, I could have no business there; and therefore came to a resolution to continue our researches to the east, between the latitudes of 41° and 46°. I acquainted Captain Furneaux therewith, and ordered him to get his ship in readiness to put to sea as soon as possible.

In the morning of the 20th, I sent ashore, to the watering-place near the Adventure's tent, the only ewe and ram remaining, of those which I brought from the Cape of Good Hope, with an intent to leave them in this country. Soon after I visited the several gardens Captain Furneaux had caused to be made and planted with various articles; all of which were in a flourishing state, and, if attended to by the natives, may prove of great utility to them. The next day I set some men to work to make a garden on Long Island, which I planted with garden seeds, roots, &c.

On the 22d in the morning, the ewe and ram, I had with so much care and trouble brought to this place, were both found dead, occasioned, as was supposed, by eating some poisonous plant. Thus my hopes of stocking this country with a breed of sheep, were blasted in a moment. About noon, we were visited, for the first time since I arrived, by some of the natives, who dined with us; and it was not a little they devoured. In the evening they were dismissed with presents.[1]

[1] Mr G.F. represents these people as very like those which had been seen at Dusky Bay, only much more familiar. At dinner, it is said, they would not drink either wine or brandy, but took large quantities of water sweetened with sugar, of which they were very fond. They shewed extreme covetousness, but were readily induced to lay down what they had seized on. They seemed to have acquaintance with the value of iron, and highly prized any thing made of it.--E.

Early in the morning of the 24th, I sent Mr Gilbert the master to sound about the rock we had discovered in the entrance of the sound. Myself, accompanied by Captain Furneaux and Mr Forster, went in a boat to the west bay on a shooting party. In our way, we met a large canoe in which were fourteen or fifteen people. One of the first questions they asked was for Tupia, the person I brought from Otaheite on my former voyage; and they seemed to express some concern when we told them he was dead. These people made the same enquiry of Captain Furneaux when he first arrived; and, on my return to the ship in the evening, I was told that a canoe had been along- side, the people in which seemed to be strangers, and who also enquired for Tupia.[2] Late in the evening Mr Gilbert returned, having sounded all round the rock, which he found to be very small and steep.

[2] "When they were told that he was dead, they seemed much concerned, and pronounced some words in a plaintive voice. So much had this man's superior knowledge, and his ability to converse in their language, rendered him valuable and beloved, even among a nation in a state of barbarism. Perhaps with the capacity which Providence had allotted to him, and which had been cultivated no farther than the simplicity of his education would permit, he was more adapted to raise the New Zealanders to a state of civilization similar to that of his own islands than ourselves, to whom the want of the intermediate links, which connect their narrow views to our extended sphere of knowledge, must prove an obstacle in such an undertaking."--G.F.

This is a liberal observation in respect of Tupia, but it is liable to much objection as a general maxim. Besides the greater number of impracticable prejudices which attach themselves to imperfectly cultivated minds when placed in new situations, and which often render well-meant exertions unavailing, it is certain, that superior knowledge both affords greater aptitude of accommodation to unusual circumstances by the speedy discovery it enables the person to make of the principles on which they depend, and, at the same time, facilitates the management and direction of them when known, by the accustomed exercise of the faculties which it implies. Mr F. seems to have imposed on himself by the gratuitous use of figurative language. Where there is a want of intermediate links, there is certainly no connection; but admitting that all mankind is made up of the same materials, it may be very safely inferred, that the most civilized and best educated European carries about with him the whole chain, betwixt the "narrow views" of the New Zealanders and his own "extended sphere of knowledge." The physical wants of our species are the same in all regions of the globe, and so are our passions. These are grand levellers of the proud distinctions, by which some of us exalt ourselves so much above others; and they have never yet been set aside or eradicated by any process which human ingenuity has contrived. Often, indeed, savages excel in the knowledge and dexterous attainment of the means necessary to supply and gratify them. Our judicious Shakespeare seems to have been aware of this, when he causes the brutish Caliban to address Triaculo thus,--

"I'll shew thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee berries; I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough," &c.

Mr F. himself, as we shall soon see, has specified one link large and strong enough to answer for a chain in holding together British sailors at least, and New Zealanders, or, indeed, any other savages, however degenerate and abominable, to the end of the chapter!--E.

Nothing worthy of notice happened till the 29th, when several of the natives made us a visit, and brought with them a quantity of fish, which they exchanged for nails, &c. One of these people I took over to Motuara, and shewed him some potatoes planted there by Mr Fannen, master of the Adventure. There seemed to be no doubt of their succeeding; and the man was so well pleased with them, that he, of his own accord, began to hoe the earth up about the plants. We next took him to the other gardens, and shewed him the turnips, carrots, and parsnips; roots which, together with the potatoes, will be of more real use to them than all the other articles we had planted. It was easy to give them an idea of these roots, by comparing them with such as they knew.

Two or three families of these people now took up their abode near us, employing themselves daily in fishing, and supplying us with the fruits of their labour; the good effects of which we soon felt. For we were, by no means, such expert fishers as they are; nor were any of our methods of fishing equal to theirs.

On the 2d of June, the ships being nearly ready to put to sea, I sent on shore on the east side of the sound, two goats, male and female. The former was something more than a year old; but the latter was much older. She had two fine kids, some time before we arrived in Dusky Bay, which were killed by cold, as hath been already mentioned. Captain Furneaux also put on shore, in Cannibal Cove, a boar and two breeding sows; so that we have reason to hope this country will in time be stocked with these animals, if they are not destroyed by the natives before they become wild; for, afterwards, they will be in no danger. But as the natives knew nothing of their being left behind, it may be some time before they are discovered.

In our excursion to the east, we met with the largest seal I had ever seen. It was swimming on the surface of the water, and suffered us to come near enough to fire at it; but without effect; for, after a chase of near an hour, we were obliged to leave it. By the size of this animal, it probably was a sea-lioness. It certainly bore much resemblance to the drawing in Lord Anson's voyage; our seeing a sea-lion when we entered this sound, in my former voyage, increaseth the probability; and I am of opinion, they have their abode on some of the rocks, which lie in the strait, or off Admiralty Bay.

On the 3d, I sent a boat with the carpenter over to the east side of the sound, to cut down some spars which we were in want of. As she was returning, she was chased by a large double canoe full of people; but with what intent is not known. Early the next morning, some of our friends brought us a large supply of fish. One of them agreed to go away with us; but afterwards, that is, when it came to the point, he changed his mind; as did some others who had promised to go with the Adventure.

It was even said that some of them offered their children to sale. I however found that this was a mistake. The report first took its rise on board the Adventure, where they were utter strangers to their language and customs. It was very common for these people to bring their children with them, and present them to us, in expectation that we would make them presents; this happened to me the preceding morning. A man brought his son, a boy about nine or ten years of age, and presented him to me. As the report of selling their children was then current, I thought, at first, that he wanted me to buy the boy. But at last I found that he wanted me to give him a white shirt, which I accordingly did. The boy was so fond of his new dress, that he went all over the ship, presenting himself before every one that came in his way. This freedom used by him offended Old Will, the ram goat, who gave him a butt with his horns, and knocked him backward on the deck. Will would have repeated his blow, had not some of the people come to the boy's assistance. The misfortune, however, seemed to him irreparable. The shirt was dirtied, and he was afraid to appear in the cabin before his father, until brought in by Mr Forster; when he told a very lamentable story against goury the great dog (for so they call all the quadrupeds we had aboard), nor could he be reconciled, till his shirt was washed and dried. This story, though extremely trifling in itself, will shew how liable we are to mistake these people's meaning, and to ascribe to them customs they never knew even in thought.

About nine o'clock, a large double canoe, in which were twenty or thirty people, appeared in sight. Our friends on board seemed much alarmed, telling us that these were their enemies. Two of them, the one with a spear, and the other with a stone-hatchet in his hand, mounted the arm- chests on the poop, and there, in a kind of bravado, bid those enemies defiance; while the others, who were on board, took to their canoe and went ashore, probably to secure the women and children.

All I could do, I could not prevail on the two that remained to call these strangers along-side; on the contrary, they were displeased at my doing it, and wanted me to fire upon them. The people in the canoe seemed to pay very little regard to those on board, but kept advancing slowly towards the ship, and after performing the usual ceremonies, put along-side. After this the chief was easily prevailed upon to come on board, followed by many others, and peace was immediately established on all sides. Indeed, it did not appear to me that these people had any intention to make war upon their brethren. At least, if they had, they were sensible enough to know, that this was neither the time nor place for them to commit hostilities.

One of the first questions these strangers asked, was for Tupia; and when I told them he was dead, one or two expressed their sorrow by a kind of lamentation, which to me appeared more formal than real. A trade soon commenced between our people and them. It was not possible to hinder the former from selling the clothes from off their backs for the merest trifles, things that were neither useful nor curious. This caused me to dismiss the strangers sooner than I would have done. When they departed, they went to Motuara, where, by the help of our glasses, we discovered four or five canoes, and several people on the shore. This induced me to go over in my boat, accompanied by Mr Forster and one of the officers. We were well received by the chief and the whole tribe, which consisted of between ninety and a hundred persons, men, women, and children, having with them six canoes, and all their utensils; which made it probable that they were come to reside in this sound. But this is only conjecture; for it is very common for them, when they go but a little way, to carry their whole property with them; every place being alike, if it affords them the necessary subsistence; so that it can hardly be said they are ever from home. Thus we may easily account for the emigration of those few families we found in Dusky Bay.

Living thus dispersed in small parties, knowing no head but the chief of the family or tribe, whose authority may be very little, they feel many inconveniences, to which well-regulated societies, united under one head or any other form of government, are not subject. These form laws and regulations for their general good; they are not alarmed at the appearance of every stranger; and, if attacked or invaded by a public enemy, have strong-holds to retire to, where they can with advantage defend themselves, their property, and their country. This seems to be the state of most of the inhabitants of Eahei-nomauwe; whereas those of Tavai-poenammoo, by living a wandering life in small parties, are destitute of most of these advantages, which subjects them to perpetual alarms. We generally found them upon their guard, travelling and working, as it were with their arms in their hands. Even the women are not exempted from bearing arms, as appeared by the first interview I had with the family in Dusky Bay; where each of the two women was armed with a spear, not less than 18 feet in length.

I was led into these reflections, by not being able to recollect the face of any one person I had seen here three years ago: Nor did it once appear, that any one of them had the least knowledge of me, or of any person with me that was here at that time. It is therefore highly probable that the greatest part of the people which inhabited this sound in the beginning of the year 1770, have been since driven out of it, or have, of their own accord, removed somewhere else. Certain it is, that not one third of the inhabitants were here now, that were then. Their stronghold on the point of Motuara hath been long deserted; and we found many forsaken habitations in all parts of the sound. We are not, however, wholly to infer from this, that this place hath been once very populous; for each family may, for their own convenience, when they move from place to place, have more huts than one or two.

It may be asked, if these people had never seen the Endeavour, nor any of her crew, how could they become acquainted with the name of Tupia, or have in their possession (which many of them had) such articles, as they could only have got from that ship? To this it may be answered, that the name of Tupia was so popular among them when the Endeavour was here, that it would be no wonder if, at this time, it was known over great part of New Zealand, and as familiar to those who never saw him, as to those who did. Had ships, of any other nation whatever, arrived here, they would have equally enquired of them for Tupia. By the same way of reasoning, many of the articles left here by the Endeavour, may be now in possession of those who never saw her. I got from one of the people, now present, an ear ornament, made of glass very well formed and polished. The glass they must have got from the Endeavour.

After passing about an hour on Motuara with these people, and having distributed among them some presents, and shewed to the chief the gardens we had made, I returned on board, and spent the remainder of our royal master's birth-day in festivity; having the company of Captain Furneaux and all his officers. Double allowance enabled the seamen to share in the general joy.

Both ships being now ready for sea, I gave Captain Furneaux an account in writing of the route I intended to take; which was to proceed to the east, between the latitudes of 41° and 46° S., until I arrived in the longitude of 140° or 135° W., then, provided no land was discovered; to proceed to Otaheite; from thence back to this place, by the shortest route; and after taking in wood and water, to proceed to the south, and explore all the unknown parts of the sea between the meridian of New Zealand and Cape Horn. Therefore, in case of separation before we reached Otaheite, I appointed that island for the place of rendezvous, where he was to wait till the 20th of August: If not joined by me before that time, he was then to make the best of his way back to Queen Charlotte's Sound, where he was to wait until the 20th of November: After which (if not joined by me,) he was to put to sea, and carry into execution their lordships' instructions.

Some may think it an extraordinary step in me to proceed on discoveries as far south at 46° degrees of latitude, in the very depth of winter. But though it most be owned, that winter is by no means favourable for discoveries, it nevertheless appeared to me necessary that something should be done in it, in order to lessen the work I was upon; lest I should not be able to finish the discovery of the southern part of the South Pacific Ocean the ensuing summer. Besides, if I should discover any land in my route to the east, I should be ready to begin, with the summer, to explore it. Setting aside all these considerations, I had little to fear; having two good ships well provided; and healthy crews. Where then could I spend my time better? If I did nothing more, I was at least in hopes of being able to point out to posterity, that these seas may be navigated, and that it is practicable to go on discoveries; even in the very depth of winter.

During our stay in the sound, I had observed that this second visit made to this country, had not mended the morals of the natives of either sex. I had always looked upon the females of New Zealand to be more chaste than the generality of Indian women. Whatever favours a few of them might have granted to the people in the Endeavour, it was generally done in a private manner, and the men did not seem to interest themselves much in it. But now, I was told, they were the chief promoters of a shameful traffic, and that for a spike-nail, or any other thing they value, they would oblige the women to prostitute themselves, whether they would or no; and even without any regard to that privacy which decency required.[3]

[3] "Our crews, who had not conversed with women since our departure from the Cape, found these ladies very agreeable, and from the manner in which their advances were received, it appeared very plainly that chastity was not rigorously observed here, and that the sex were far from being impregnable. However, their favours did not depend upon their own inclination, but the men, as absolute masters, were always to be consulted upon the occasion; if a spike-nail, or a shirt, or a similar present, had been given for their connivance, the lady was at liberty to make her lover happy, and to exact, if possible, the tribute of another present for herself. Some among them, however, submitted with reluctance to this vile prostitution: and but for the authority and menaces of the men, would not have complied with the desires of a set of people, who could, with unconcern, behold their tears and hear their complaints. Whether the members of a civilized society, who could act such a brutal part, or the barbarians who could force their own women to submit to such indignity, deserve the greatest abhorrence, is a question not easily to be decided. Encouraged by the lucrative nature of this infamous commerce, the New Zealanders went through the whole vessel, offering their daughters and sisters promiscuously to every person's embraces, in exchange for our iron tools, which they knew could not be purchased at an easier rate. It does not appear, that their married women were ever suffered to have this kind of intercourse with our people. Their ideas of female chastity are, in this respect, so different from ours, that a girl may favour a number of lovers without any detriment to her character; but if she marries, conjugal fidelity is exacted from her with the greatest rigour. It may therefore be alleged, that as the New Zealanders place no value on the continence of their unmarried women, the arrival of Europeans among them does not injure their moral characters in this respect; but we doubt whether they ever debased themselves so much as to make a trade of their women, before we created new wants by shewing these iron tools, for the possession of which they do not hesitate to commit an action, that, in our eyes, deprives them of the very shadow of sensibility. It is unhappy enough, that the unavoidable consequence of all our voyages of discovery has always been the loss of a number of innocent lives; but this heavy injury done to the little uncivilized communities which Europeans have visited, is trifling when compared to the irretrievable harm entailed upon them by corrupting their morals. If these evils were compensated in some measure by the introduction of some real benefit in these countries, or by the abolition of some other immoral custom among their inhabitants, we might at least comfort ourselves, that what they lost on one hand, they gained on the other; but I fear that hitherto our intercourse has been wholly disadvantageous to the natives of the South Seas; and that those communities have been the least injured, who have always kept aloof from us, and whose jealous disposition did not suffer our sailors to become too familiar among them, as if they had perceived in their countenances that levity of disposition, and that spirit of debauchery, with which they are generally reproached."

A little afterwards, relating a trip over to Long Island, it is said, "In the afternoon, many of our sailors were allowed to go on shore, among the natives, where they traded for curiosities, and purchased the embraces of the ladies, notwithstanding the disgust which their uncleanliness inspired. Their custom of painting their cheeks with ochre and oil, was alone sufficient to deter the more sensible from such intimate connections with them; and if we add to this a certain stench which announced them even at a distance, and the abundance of vermin which not only infested their hair, but also crawled on their clothes, and which they occasionally cracked between their teeth, it is astonishing that persons should be found, who could gratify an animal appetite with such loathsome objects, whom a civilized education and national customs should have taught them to hold in abhorrence."--G.F.

May this sad picture have the same effect, which the fathers of Sparta expected from the exhibition of their drunken slaves!--E.

During our stay here, Mr Wales lost no opportunity to observe equal altitudes of the sun, for obtaining the rates of the watches. The result of his labours proved, that Mr Kendal's was gaining 9", 5 per day, and Mr Arnold's losing 94", 15s per day, on mean time.[4]

[4] A few miscellaneous observations respecting New Zealand, collected from Mr G.F.'s work, may be given here with interest to some readers:--The arrival at New Zealand, was most delightful to men who had so long suffered the inclemencies and hardships of a navigation in the southern sea. Every object seen on the land afforded some agreeable sensation, heightened in no ordinary degree by the contrast which memory presented. No wonder then, that the description given of the scenery should be somewhat enthusiastic; besides, for every obvious reason, one might be inclined to expect, that Mr G. Forster should exceed even Cook in the warmth of colouring. It is so. He speaks in evidently poetical feeling of the delightfully fair weather, the lightly wafting airs, the numerous evergreens mingling with the various shades of autumnal yellow, the wild notes of the feathered tribe, &c. This was on getting sight of Dusky Bay. The effects of such charming panorama were visible on all the crew; "emotions of joy and satisfaction," he tells us, "were strongly marked in the countenance of every individual." He is quite aware of the magic at work in his own mind, when contemplating the picture, and accordingly very candidly and very justly says, "So apt is mankind, after a long absence from land, to be prejudiced in favour of the wildest shore, that we looked upon the country at that time, as one of the most beautiful which nature, unassisted by art, could produce. Such are the general ideas of travellers and voyagers long exhausted by distresses; and with such warmth of imagination they have viewed the rude cliffs of Juan Fernandez, and the impenetrable forests of Tinian!" So much, by the bye, as a hint for understanding the works of some other painters! But all was not mere semblance of good. Several substantial advantages were enjoyed, abundance of excellent fish and water-fowl, plenty of wood and water, &c. To a naturalist besides, there was much to occupy attention and excite curiosity, as a store of animal and vegetable bodies was perceived, bearing little or no resemblance to known species. But the dream of pleasure, and the hopes of much additional science, were not of very long duration. The necessary occupations of the different artificers, soon involved the people in very embarrassing intricacies and much bodily labour, occasioned by the prodigious variety and numbers of climbers, briars, shrubs, and ferns, interwoven through the forests, and almost totally precluding access to the interior of the country. From the appearance of these impediments, and the quantity of rotten trees which had been either felled by the winds, or brought low from age, it is conjectured, and plausibly enough, that the forests in the southern parts of New Zealand had escaped the hand of human industry since the origin of their existence. But nature, we may often see, is prodigal of life, and in the very act of dissolving one generation, seems to rejoice in providing for another that is to succeed it. Thus, we are told, there sprouted out young trees from the rich mould, to which the old ones were at last reduced. A deceitful bark, it is added, sometimes still covered the interior rotten substance, in which a person attempting to step on it, might sink to the waist. Such were the common disappointments in this Utopia. The naturalists had to add to them, the appropriate mortification of seeing numerous trees and shrubs, of which, as the time of flowering was past, it was impossible to make any scientific examination, and which, accordingly, only tantalized them with the idea of the profusion of new vegetables in this interesting country. A short residence here, especially during wet gloomy weather, proved that all was not so perfect in this climate as had been fondly imagined. The land about Dusky Bay, and indeed throughout most of the southern extremity of this island, was found to consist of steep rocky mountains, with craggy precipices, either clad with impenetrable forests, or quite barren, and covered with snow on the tops. No meadows or lawns were to be seen, and the only spot of flat land that was found, presented so much wood and briars as to be useless for either garden ground or pasture, without very considerable toil. This heartless description is somewhat relieved by a glowing picture of the scenery about what was called Cascade Cove, which seems to have arrested the attention of Mr F., and which, he says, could only have justice done it by the very successful pencil of Mr Hodges. The soil here was found to be quite like to what had elsewhere been found, and the rocks and stones consisted of granite, moor-stone, and brown talcous clay-stone. In one of the excursions to the country, it was observed, that as they receded from the sea, the mountains became much higher, and were more steep and barren, and that the trees dwindled in size, so as to resemble shrubs, circumstances rather the reverse of what is usually noticed in other countries. The climate of Dusky Bay is spoken unfavourably of, as its greatest inconvenience, and to this must be added its being deficient in celery, scurvy-grass, and other antiscorbutics. But with all its defects, Mr G.F. admits, that Dusky Bay is one of the finest places in New Zealand, for a crew to touch at in such a situation as that of his companions. The land about Cape Traveller appeared low and sandy near the shore, but rising into high snow-capt mountains interiorly. In one respect, according to this gentleman, Queen Charlotte's Sound has greatly the advantage of Dusky Bay, viz. its abounding in salutary vegetables. This it no doubt owes to the superior mildness of the climate, which is represented as highly favourable to botanical pursuits. The tea-tree and spruce, as they were called, were found here in great plenty, as well as at Dusky Bay; besides several species of plants in flower, which had not been seen before. The hills consisted chiefly of argillaceous stone, running in oblique strata, commonly dipping a little towards the south, of a greenish-grey, or bluish, or yellowish-brown colour, sometimes containing veins of white quartz, and sometimes a green talcous or nephritic stone, which, as it was capable of a good polish from its hardness, the natives used for chissels, &c. Mr F. specifies several other mineral substances found in this neighbourhood, particularly argillaceous strata of a rusty colour, which is inferred to contain iron, and a black compact and ponderous basalt, of which the natives form their pattoo-pattoos. It is unnecessary to make remarks on the subjects now mentioned, as they must be resumed in our account of Cook's third voyage, where we shall have to consider Mr Anderson's report respecting them and other topics, with greater attention, than was required for the present imperfect though valuable notices.--E.

SECTION IX.

Route from New Zealand to Otaheite, with an Account of some low Islands, supposed to be the same that were seen by M. de Bougainville.

On the 7th of June, at four in the morning, the wind being more favourable, we unmoored, and at seven weighed and put to sea, with the Adventure in company. We had no sooner got out of the sound, than we found the wind at south, so that we had to ply through the straits. About noon the tide of ebb setting out in our favour, made our boards advantageous; so that, at five o'clock in the evening. Cape Palliser, on the island of Eahei-nomauwe, bore S.S E. 1/2 S., and Cape Koamaroo, or the S.E. point of the sound, N by W. 3/4 W.; presently after it fell calm, and the tide of flood now making against us, carried us at a great rate back to the north. A little before high-water, the calm was succeeded by a breeze from the north, which soon increased to a brisk gale. This, together with the ebb, carried us by eight o'clock the next morning quite through the strait. Cape Palliser at this time bore E.N.E., and at noon N. by W. distant seven leagues.[1]

[1] Great shoals of cetaceous fish, of a perfectly black colour, with a white spot before the back-fin, passed by us. They were fired at from our vessel, and one of them being shot through the head, could no longer plunge under water, but began to beat about furiously on the surface, and tinged the sea with its blood. It seemed to be about three yards long, and was slender and blunt-headed, from whence our sailors called it the Bottle-nose, a name which Dale applies to a very different fish, the beaked whale, of which the beak or nose resembles the neck of a bottle."--G.F.

This day at noon, when we attended the winding-up of the watches, the fusee of Mr Arnold's would not turn round, so that after several unsuccessful trials we were obliged to let it go down.

After getting clear of the straits, I directed my course S.E. by E., having a gentle gale, but variable between the north and west. The late S.E. winds having caused a swell from the same quarter, which did not go down for some days, we had little hopes of meeting with land in that direction. We however continued to steer to the S.E., and on the 11th crossed the meridian of 180°, and got into the west longitude, according to my way of reckoning.

On the 16th, at seven in the morning, the wind having veered round to S.E., we tacked and stretched to N.E., being at this time in the latitude of 47° 7', longitude 173° W. In this situation we had a great swell from N.E.[2]

[2] "Beds of sea-weeds frequently were seen floating on the sea, but we were now too much accustomed to their appearance, to attempt to draw any conclusions from it. The thermometer, which at our departure from New Zealand, stood at 51° at eight o'clock in the morning, sunk in proportion as we came to the southward to 48°, and sometimes to 47°, at the same time of day; but the temperature of the air upon the whole was extremely variable, and the weather equally unsettled. From thence it arose, that we daily observed rainbows, or parts of them about the horizon, especially in the morning. The wind during this time was likewise very changeable, and veered round the compass in a direction contrary to the course of the sun, that is, from west round by the north towards east, and so further on; but it chiefly prevailed from the easterly quarter, where we least expected it, so that our situation became tedious, and was made more irksome by frequent fogs, rains, and heavy swells."--G.F.

The wind continued at S.E. and S.S.E., blew fresh at intervals, and was attended with sometimes fair, and at other times rainy weather, till the 20th, on which day, being in the latitude of 44° 30', longitude 165° 45' W., the wind shifted to the west, blew a gentle gale, and was attended with fair weather. With this we steered E. by N., E. by S., and E., till the 23d at noon, when, being in the latitude of 44° 38' S., longitude 161° 27' W., we had a few hours calm. The calm was succeeded by a wind at east, with which we stood to the north. The wind increased and blew in squalls, attended with rain, which at last brought us under our courses; and at two o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, we were obliged to lie-to under the foresail, having a very hard gale from E.N.E., and a great sea from the same direction.[3]

[3] According to Sir G.F., it seems that the venereal disease made its appearance on some of the Adventure's crew, as was intimated by Captain Furneaux to Captain Cook, during a visit paid to the latter. In the opinion of Mr F., who is at some pains to investigate the subject, this disease was indigenous in New Zealand where the sailors contracted it, and not imported there by Europeans. This opinion is, no doubt, in confirmation of what the writer has elsewhere stated to be his own as to the general question respecting the origin of the disease; but he is bound in candour to admit, that it seems to rest on rather slender evidence and insufficient reasoning, in the present instance--so that he is less disposed to avail himself of it. Mr F. himself is not positive as to the facts on which he founds his opinion, and consequently is not so as to the opinion. This is to be inferred from his concluding remarks, which, besides, exhibit so fair a specimen of just indignation and regret, as may deserve to be offered to the reader's notice. "If," says he, "in spite of appearances, our conclusions should prove erroneous, it is another crime added to the score of civilized nations, which must make their memory execrated by the unhappy people, whom they have poisoned. Nothing can in the least atone for the injury they have done to society, since the price at which their libidinous enjoyments were purchased, instils another poison into the mind, and destroys the moral principles, while the disease corrupts and enervates the body. A race of men, who, amidst all their savage roughness, their fiery temper, and cruel customs, are brave, generous, hospitable, and incapable of deceiving, are justly to be pitied, that love, the source of their sweetest and happiest feelings, is converted into the origin of the most dreadful scourge of life." In this last paragraph, there is reason to imagine Mr F. has somewhat overstepped the modesty of both history and nature--the former, by too high commendation of the New Zealanders, who, whatever merit they may claim on other grounds, can scarcely be said, at least if facts are to be trusted, to be incapable of deceiving; and the latter, in ascribing greater influence to love among these savages, than perhaps will ever be found realised in such a condition of our nature. One cannot believe, that so philosophical an enquirer should impute much efficacy as a source of happiness to the mere brute passion; and it is equally unlikely that so acute an observer should discover any thing more refined than such an appetite in the sexual intercourse among so rude a tribe. Probably then his language is fully more poetic than becomes the sober narrator. This, indeed, is nowise uncommon with him, as the reader perhaps is already convinced. But this very circumstance, it is obvious, is to his advantage as a writer.--E.

At seven o'clock in the morning of the 25th, the gale being more moderate, we made sail under the courses, and in the afternoon set the top-sails close-reefed. At midnight, the wind having veered more to the north, we tacked and stretched to the S.E., being at this time in the latitude of 42° 53' S., longitude 163° 20' W.

We continued to stretch to the S.E., with a fresh gale and fair weather, till four o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, when we stood again to the N.E., till midnight between the 27th and 28th. Then we had a few hours calm, which was succeeded by faint breezes from the west. At this time we were in the latitude of 42° 32', longitude 161° 15' W. The wind remained not long at west, before it veered back to the E. by the N., and kept between the S.E. and N.E., but never blew strong.

On July 2d, being in the latitude of 53° 3', longitude 156° 17' W., we had again a calm, which brought the wind back to the west; but it was of no longer continuance than before. For the next day it returned to the E. and S.E., blew fresh at times, and by squalls, with rain.

On the 7th, being in the latitude of 41° 22', longitude 156° 12' W., we had two hours calm; in which time Mr Wales went on board the Adventure to compare the watches, and they were found to agree, allowing for the difference of their rates of going: A probable, if not a certain proof, that they had gone well since we had been in this sea.

The calm was succeeded by a wind from the south; between which point and the N.W., it continued for the six succeeding days, but never blew strong. It was, however, attended with a great hollow swell from the S.W. and W., a sure indication that no large land was near in those directions. We now steered east, inclining to the south, and on the 10th, in the latitude of 43° 39', longitude 144° 43' W., the variation was found, by several azimuths, to be more than 3° E., but the next morning it was found to be 4° 5' 30", and in the afternoon, 5° 56' E. The same day, at noon, we were in the latitude of 43° 44', longitude 141° 56' W.

At nine o'clock in the morning of the 12th, the longitude was observed as follows, viz.

[1] It is, perhaps, unnecessary to state, that the opinion expressed in this section, as to there being no straits between New Holland and Diemen's Land, is erroneous. The reader must have previously known this.--E.

[1] Mr G.F. represents these people as very like those which had been seen at Dusky Bay, only much more familiar. At dinner, it is said, they would not drink either wine or brandy, but took large quantities of water sweetened with sugar, of which they were very fond. They shewed extreme covetousness, but were readily induced to lay down what they had seized on. They seemed to have acquaintance with the value of iron, and highly prized any thing made of it.--E.

[2] "When they were told that he was dead, they seemed much concerned, and pronounced some words in a plaintive voice. So much had this man's superior knowledge, and his ability to converse in their language, rendered him valuable and beloved, even among a nation in a state of barbarism. Perhaps with the capacity which Providence had allotted to him, and which had been cultivated no farther than the simplicity of his education would permit, he was more adapted to raise the New Zealanders to a state of civilization similar to that of his own islands than ourselves, to whom the want of the intermediate links, which connect their narrow views to our extended sphere of knowledge, must prove an obstacle in such an undertaking."--G.F.

This is a liberal observation in respect of Tupia, but it is liable to much objection as a general maxim. Besides the greater number of impracticable prejudices which attach themselves to imperfectly cultivated minds when placed in new situations, and which often render well-meant exertions unavailing, it is certain, that superior knowledge both affords greater aptitude of accommodation to unusual circumstances by the speedy discovery it enables the person to make of the principles on which they depend, and, at the same time, facilitates the management and direction of them when known, by the accustomed exercise of the faculties which it implies. Mr F. seems to have imposed on himself by the gratuitous use of figurative language. Where there is a want of intermediate links, there is certainly no connection; but admitting that all mankind is made up of the same materials, it may be very safely inferred, that the most civilized and best educated European carries about with him the whole chain, betwixt the "narrow views" of the New Zealanders and his own "extended sphere of knowledge." The physical wants of our species are the same in all regions of the globe, and so are our passions. These are grand levellers of the proud distinctions, by which some of us exalt ourselves so much above others; and they have never yet been set aside or eradicated by any process which human ingenuity has contrived. Often, indeed, savages excel in the knowledge and dexterous attainment of the means necessary to supply and gratify them. Our judicious Shakespeare seems to have been aware of this, when he causes the brutish Caliban to address Triaculo thus,--

"I'll shew thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee berries; I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough," &c.

Mr F. himself, as we shall soon see, has specified one link large and strong enough to answer for a chain in holding together British sailors at least, and New Zealanders, or, indeed, any other savages, however degenerate and abominable, to the end of the chapter!--E.

[3] "Our crews, who had not conversed with women since our departure from the Cape, found these ladies very agreeable, and from the manner in which their advances were received, it appeared very plainly that chastity was not rigorously observed here, and that the sex were far from being impregnable. However, their favours did not depend upon their own inclination, but the men, as absolute masters, were always to be consulted upon the occasion; if a spike-nail, or a shirt, or a similar present, had been given for their connivance, the lady was at liberty to make her lover happy, and to exact, if possible, the tribute of another present for herself. Some among them, however, submitted with reluctance to this vile prostitution: and but for the authority and menaces of the men, would not have complied with the desires of a set of people, who could, with unconcern, behold their tears and hear their complaints. Whether the members of a civilized society, who could act such a brutal part, or the barbarians who could force their own women to submit to such indignity, deserve the greatest abhorrence, is a question not easily to be decided. Encouraged by the lucrative nature of this infamous commerce, the New Zealanders went through the whole vessel, offering their daughters and sisters promiscuously to every person's embraces, in exchange for our iron tools, which they knew could not be purchased at an easier rate. It does not appear, that their married women were ever suffered to have this kind of intercourse with our people. Their ideas of female chastity are, in this respect, so different from ours, that a girl may favour a number of lovers without any detriment to her character; but if she marries, conjugal fidelity is exacted from her with the greatest rigour. It may therefore be alleged, that as the New Zealanders place no value on the continence of their unmarried women, the arrival of Europeans among them does not injure their moral characters in this respect; but we doubt whether they ever debased themselves so much as to make a trade of their women, before we created new wants by shewing these iron tools, for the possession of which they do not hesitate to commit an action, that, in our eyes, deprives them of the very shadow of sensibility. It is unhappy enough, that the unavoidable consequence of all our voyages of discovery has always been the loss of a number of innocent lives; but this heavy injury done to the little uncivilized communities which Europeans have visited, is trifling when compared to the irretrievable harm entailed upon them by corrupting their morals. If these evils were compensated in some measure by the introduction of some real benefit in these countries, or by the abolition of some other immoral custom among their inhabitants, we might at least comfort ourselves, that what they lost on one hand, they gained on the other; but I fear that hitherto our intercourse has been wholly disadvantageous to the natives of the South Seas; and that those communities have been the least injured, who have always kept aloof from us, and whose jealous disposition did not suffer our sailors to become too familiar among them, as if they had perceived in their countenances that levity of disposition, and that spirit of debauchery, with which they are generally reproached."

A little afterwards, relating a trip over to Long Island, it is said, "In the afternoon, many of our sailors were allowed to go on shore, among the natives, where they traded for curiosities, and purchased the embraces of the ladies, notwithstanding the disgust which their uncleanliness inspired. Their custom of painting their cheeks with ochre and oil, was alone sufficient to deter the more sensible from such intimate connections with them; and if we add to this a certain stench which announced them even at a distance, and the abundance of vermin which not only infested their hair, but also crawled on their clothes, and which they occasionally cracked between their teeth, it is astonishing that persons should be found, who could gratify an animal appetite with such loathsome objects, whom a civilized education and national customs should have taught them to hold in abhorrence."--G.F.

May this sad picture have the same effect, which the fathers of Sparta expected from the exhibition of their drunken slaves!--E.

[4] A few miscellaneous observations respecting New Zealand, collected from Mr G.F.'s work, may be given here with interest to some readers:--The arrival at New Zealand, was most delightful to men who had so long suffered the inclemencies and hardships of a navigation in the southern sea. Every object seen on the land afforded some agreeable sensation, heightened in no ordinary degree by the contrast which memory presented. No wonder then, that the description given of the scenery should be somewhat enthusiastic; besides, for every obvious reason, one might be inclined to expect, that Mr G. Forster should exceed even Cook in the warmth of colouring. It is so. He speaks in evidently poetical feeling of the delightfully fair weather, the lightly wafting airs, the numerous evergreens mingling with the various shades of autumnal yellow, the wild notes of the feathered tribe, &c. This was on getting sight of Dusky Bay. The effects of such charming panorama were visible on all the crew; "emotions of joy and satisfaction," he tells us, "were strongly marked in the countenance of every individual." He is quite aware of the magic at work in his own mind, when contemplating the picture, and accordingly very candidly and very justly says, "So apt is mankind, after a long absence from land, to be prejudiced in favour of the wildest shore, that we looked upon the country at that time, as one of the most beautiful which nature, unassisted by art, could produce. Such are the general ideas of travellers and voyagers long exhausted by distresses; and with such warmth of imagination they have viewed the rude cliffs of Juan Fernandez, and the impenetrable forests of Tinian!" So much, by the bye, as a hint for understanding the works of some other painters! But all was not mere semblance of good. Several substantial advantages were enjoyed, abundance of excellent fish and water-fowl, plenty of wood and water, &c. To a naturalist besides, there was much to occupy attention and excite curiosity, as a store of animal and vegetable bodies was perceived, bearing little or no resemblance to known species. But the dream of pleasure, and the hopes of much additional science, were not of very long duration. The necessary occupations of the different artificers, soon involved the people in very embarrassing intricacies and much bodily labour, occasioned by the prodigious variety and numbers of climbers, briars, shrubs, and ferns, interwoven through the forests, and almost totally precluding access to the interior of the country. From the appearance of these impediments, and the quantity of rotten trees which had been either felled by the winds, or brought low from age, it is conjectured, and plausibly enough, that the forests in the southern parts of New Zealand had escaped the hand of human industry since the origin of their existence. But nature, we may often see, is prodigal of life, and in the very act of dissolving one generation, seems to rejoice in providing for another that is to succeed it. Thus, we are told, there sprouted out young trees from the rich mould, to which the old ones were at last reduced. A deceitful bark, it is added, sometimes still covered the interior rotten substance, in which a person attempting to step on it, might sink to the waist. Such were the common disappointments in this Utopia. The naturalists had to add to them, the appropriate mortification of seeing numerous trees and shrubs, of which, as the time of flowering was past, it was impossible to make any scientific examination, and which, accordingly, only tantalized them with the idea of the profusion of new vegetables in this interesting country. A short residence here, especially during wet gloomy weather, proved that all was not so perfect in this climate as had been fondly imagined. The land about Dusky Bay, and indeed throughout most of the southern extremity of this island, was found to consist of steep rocky mountains, with craggy precipices, either clad with impenetrable forests, or quite barren, and covered with snow on the tops. No meadows or lawns were to be seen, and the only spot of flat land that was found, presented so much wood and briars as to be useless for either garden ground or pasture, without very considerable toil. This heartless description is somewhat relieved by a glowing picture of the scenery about what was called Cascade Cove, which seems to have arrested the attention of Mr F., and which, he says, could only have justice done it by the very successful pencil of Mr Hodges. The soil here was found to be quite like to what had elsewhere been found, and the rocks and stones consisted of granite, moor-stone, and brown talcous clay-stone. In one of the excursions to the country, it was observed, that as they receded from the sea, the mountains became much higher, and were more steep and barren, and that the trees dwindled in size, so as to resemble shrubs, circumstances rather the reverse of what is usually noticed in other countries. The climate of Dusky Bay is spoken unfavourably of, as its greatest inconvenience, and to this must be added its being deficient in celery, scurvy-grass, and other antiscorbutics. But with all its defects, Mr G.F. admits, that Dusky Bay is one of the finest places in New Zealand, for a crew to touch at in such a situation as that of his companions. The land about Cape Traveller appeared low and sandy near the shore, but rising into high snow-capt mountains interiorly. In one respect, according to this gentleman, Queen Charlotte's Sound has greatly the advantage of Dusky Bay, viz. its abounding in salutary vegetables. This it no doubt owes to the superior mildness of the climate, which is represented as highly favourable to botanical pursuits. The tea-tree and spruce, as they were called, were found here in great plenty, as well as at Dusky Bay; besides several species of plants in flower, which had not been seen before. The hills consisted chiefly of argillaceous stone, running in oblique strata, commonly dipping a little towards the south, of a greenish-grey, or bluish, or yellowish-brown colour, sometimes containing veins of white quartz, and sometimes a green talcous or nephritic stone, which, as it was capable of a good polish from its hardness, the natives used for chissels, &c. Mr F. specifies several other mineral substances found in this neighbourhood, particularly argillaceous strata of a rusty colour, which is inferred to contain iron, and a black compact and ponderous basalt, of which the natives form their pattoo-pattoos. It is unnecessary to make remarks on the subjects now mentioned, as they must be resumed in our account of Cook's third voyage, where we shall have to consider Mr Anderson's report respecting them and other topics, with greater attention, than was required for the present imperfect though valuable notices.--E.