[1] "The joy which this fortunate event spread on every countenance, is scarcely to be described. We had been one hundred and three days out of sight of land; and the rigorous weather to the south, the fatigues of continual attendance during storms, or amidst dangerous masses of ice, the sudden changes of climate, and the long continuance of a noxious diet, all together had emaciated and worn out our crew. The expectation of a speedy end to their sufferings, and the hope of finding the land stocked with abundance of fowls and planted with fruits, according to the accounts of the Dutch navigator, now filled them with uncommon alacrity and cheerfulness."--G.F.
Captain Cook was much indebted for now falling in with this island, to the superior means he possessed of ascertaining his longitude. Byron, Carteret, and Bouganville, all missed it, although they took their departure from no greater a distance than the islands of Juan Fernandez. Most of the writers who mention Easter Island, agree pretty well together as to its latitude, but the Spanish accounts are not less than thirty leagues erroneous as to its longitude.--E.
[2] See this in vol. XI. p. 95 of this collection; but the description afterwards given is much more satisfactory.--E.
On the 13th, about eight o'clock in the morning, the wind, which had been variable most part of the night, fixed at S.E., and blew in squalls, accompanied with rain; but it was not long before the weather became fair. As the wind now blew right to the S.E. shore, which does not afford that shelter I at first thought, I resolved to look for anchorage on the west and N.W. sides of the island. With this view I bore up round the south point, off which lie two small islets, the one nearest the point high and peaked, and the other low and flattish. After getting round the point, and coming before a sandy beach, we found soundings thirty and forty fathoms, sandy ground, and about one mile from the shore. Here a canoe, conducted by two men, came off to us. They brought with them a bunch of plantains, which they sent into the ship by a rope, and then they returned ashore. This gave us a good opinion of the islanders, and inspired us with hopes of getting some refreshments, which we were in great want of.
I continued to range along the coast, till we opened the northern point of the isle, without seeing a better anchoring-place than the one we had passed. We therefore tacked, and plied back to it; and, in the mean time, sent away the master in a boat to sound the coast. He returned about five o'clock in the evening; and soon after we came to an anchor in thirty-six fathoms water, before the sandy beach above mentioned. As the master drew near the shore with the boat, one of the natives swam off to her, and insisted on coming a-board the ship, where he remained two nights and a day. The first thing he did after coming a-board, was to measure the length of the ship, by fathoming her from the tafferel to the stern, and as he counted the fathoms, we observed that he called the numbers by the same names that they do at Otaheite; nevertheless his language was in a manner wholly unintelligible to all of us.[3]
[3] "He was of the middle size, about five feet eight inches high, and remarkably hairy on the breast, and all over the body. His colour was a chesnut brown, his beard strong, but clipped short, and of a black colour, as was also the hair of his head, which was likewise cut short. His ears were very long, almost hanging on his shoulders, and his legs punctured in compartments after a taste which we had observed no where else. He had only a belt round his middle, from whence a kind of net-work descended before, too thin to conceal any thing from the sight. A string was tied about his neck, and a flat bone, something shaped like a tongue, and about four inches long, was fastened to it, and hung down on the breast. This he told us, was a porpoise's bone (eavee toharra) expressing it exactly by the same words which an Otaheitean would have made use of. Mahine, who had already expressed his impatience to go ashore, was much pleased to find that the inhabitants spoke a language so similar to his own, and attempted to converse with our new visitor several times, but was interrupted by the questions which many other persons in the ship put to him."--G.F.
Having anchored too near the edge of a bank, a fresh breeze from the land, about three o'clock the next morning, drove us off it; on which the anchor was heaved up, and sail made to regain the bank again. While the ship was plying in, I went ashore, accompanied by some of the gentlemen, to see what the island was likely to afford us. We landed at the sandy beach, where some hundreds of the natives were assembled, and who were so impatient to see us, that many of them swam off to meet the boats. Not one of them had so much as a stick or weapon of any sort in their hands. After distributing a few trinkets amongst them, we made signs for something to eat, on which they brought down a few potatoes, plantains, and sugar canes, and exchanged them for nails, looking-glasses, and pieces of cloth.[4]
[4] "Almost all of them were naked, some having only a belt round the middle, from whence a small bit of cloth, six or eight inches long, or a little net, hang down before. A very few of them had a cloak which reached to the knees, made of cloth, resembling that of Otaheite in the texture, and stitched or quilted with thread to make it the more lasting. Most of these cloaks were painted yellow with the turmeric root."--G.F.
We presently discovered that they were as expert thieves and as tricking in their exchanges, as any people we had yet met with. It was with some difficulty we could keep the hats on our heads; but hardly possible to keep any thing in our pockets, not even what themselves had sold us; for they would watch every opportunity to snatch it from us, so that we sometimes bought the same thing two or three times over, and after all did not get it.
Before I sailed from England, I was informed that a Spanish ship had visited this isle in 1769. Some signs of it were seen among the people now about us; one man had a pretty good broad-brimmed European hat on, another had a grego jacket, and another a red silk handkerchief. They also seemed to know the use of a musquet, and to stand in much awe of it; but this they probably learnt from Roggewein, who, if we are to believe the authors of that voyage, left them sufficient tokens.
Near the place where we landed, were some of those statues before mentioned, which I shall describe in another place. The country appeared barren and without wood; there were, nevertheless, several plantations of potatoes, plantains, and sugar-canes; we also saw some fowls, and found a well of brackish water. As these were articles we were in want of, and as the natives seemed not unwilling to part with them, I resolved to stay a day or two. With this view I repaired on board, and brought the ship to an anchor in thirty-two fathoms water; the bottom a fine dark sand. Our station was about a mile from the nearest shore, the south point of a small bay, in the bottom of which is the sandy beach before mentioned, being E.S.E., distant one mile and a-half. The two rocky islets lying off the south point of the island, were just shut behind a point to the north of them; they bore south 3/4 west, four miles distant; and the other extreme of the island bore north 25° E., distant about six miles. But the best mark for this anchoring-place is the beach, because it is the only one on this side of the island. In the afternoon, we got on board a few casks of water, and opened a trade with the natives for such things as they had to dispose of. Some of the gentlemen also made an excursion into the country to see what it produced; and returned again in the evening, with the loss only of a hat, which one of the natives snatched off the head of one of the party.[5]