To judge of the country by the little water we saw of it, it must be fertile; but I believe their fruits are not so good as those of the Society or Friendly Isles. Their cocoa-nut trees, I am certain, are not; and their bread-fruit and plantains did not seem much better. But their yams appeared to be very good. We saw no other animals than those I have already mentioned. They have not so much as a name for a dog, and consequently have none, for which reason we left them a dog and a bitch; and there is no doubt they will be taken care of, as they were very fond of them.[5]
[5] "The productions of Mallicollo are less remarkable and striking at first sight than the race of its inhabitants. To judge of their numbers from the crowd we saw at Port Sandwich, I should conclude, that they are far from inconsiderable; but considering the great size of the island, I cannot suppose it to be very populous. Fifty thousand is, I think, the greatest number we can admit, and these are not confined to the skirts of the hills, as at Otaheite, but dispersed over the whole extent of more than six hundred square miles. We ought to figure their country to ourselves as one extensive forest: They have only begun to clear and plant a few insulated spots, which are lost in it, like small islands in the vast Pacific Ocean. Perhaps if we could ever penetrate through the darkness which involves the history of this nation, we might find that they have arrived in the South Sea much later than the natives of the Friendly and Society Isles. So much at least is certain, that they appear to be of a race totally distinct from these. Their form, their language, and their manners, strongly and completely mark the difference. The natives on some parts of New Guinea and Papua, seem to correspond in many particulars with what we have observed among the Mallicollese. The black colour and woolly hair in particular are characteristics common to both nations. The slender form of the Mallicolese is a character, as far as I know, peculiar to them and the New Zealanders; but that nation hath nothing in common with them in all other respects. The features of these people, though remarkably irregular and ugly, yet are full of great sprightliness, and express a quick comprehension. Their lips, and the lower part of their face, are entirely different from those of African negroes; but the upper part, especially the nose, is of very similar conformation, and the substance of the hair is the same. The climate of Mallicollo, and the adjacent islands, is very warm, but perhaps not at all times so temperate as at Otaheite, because the extent of land is vastly greater. However, during our short stay, we experienced no unusual degree of heat, the thermometer being at 76° and 78°, which is very moderate in the torrid zone."-- G.F.
After we had got to sea, we tried what effect one of the poisoned arrows would have on a dog. Indeed we had tried it in the harbour the very first night, but we thought the operation was too slight, as it had no effect. The surgeon now made a deep incision in the dog's thigh, into which he laid a large portion of the poison, just as it was scraped from the arrows, and then bound up the wound with a bandage. For several days after we thought the dog was not so well as it had been before, but whether this was really so, or only suggested by imagination, I know not. He was afterwards as if nothing had been done to him, and lived to be brought home to England. However, I have no doubt of this stuff being of a poisonous quality, as it could answer no other purpose. The people seemed not unacquainted with the nature of poison, for when they brought us water on shore, they first tasted it, and then gave us to understand we might with safety drink it.
This harbour, which is situated on the N.E. side of Mallicollo, not far from the S.E. end, in latitude 16° 25' 20" S., longitude 167° 57' 23" E., I named Port Sandwich. It lies in S.W. by S. about one league, and is one- third of a league broad. A reef of rocks extends out a little way from each point, but the channel is of a good breadth, and hath in it from forty to twenty-four fathoms water. In the port, the depth of water is from twenty to four fathoms; and it is so sheltered that no winds can disturb a ship at anchor there. Another great advantage is, you can lie so near the shore, as to cover your people, who may be at work upon it.
SECTION IV.
An Account of the Discovery of several Islands, and an Interview and Skirmish with the Inhabitants upon one of them. The Arrival of the Ship at Tanna, and the Reception we met with there.
Soon after we got to sea, we had a breeze at E.S.E. with which we stood over for Ambrym till three o'clock in the afternoon, when the wind veering to the E.N.E. we tacked and stretched to the S.E. and weathered the S.E. end of Mallicolo, off which we discovered three or four small islands, that before appeared to be connected. At sun-set the point bore S. 77° W., distant three leagues, from which the coast seemed to trend away west. At this time, the isle of Ambrym extended from N. 3° E. to N. 65° E. The isle of Paoon from N. 76° E. to S. 88° E.; and the isle of Apee from S. 83° E. to S. 43° E. We stood for this last isle, which we reached by midnight, and then brought-to till day-break on the 24th, when we made sail to the S.E., with a view of plying up to the eastward on the south side of Apee. At sun- rise we discovered several more islands, extending from the S.E. point of Apee to the south as far as S.E. by S. The nearest to us we reached by ten o'clock, and not being able to weather it, we tacked a mile from its shore in fourteen fathoms water. This island is about four leagues in circuit, is remarkable by having three high peaked hills upon it, by which it has obtained that name. In the p.m. the wind veering more to the north, we resumed our course to the east; and having weathered Threehills, stood for the group of small isles which lie off the S.E. point of Apee. These I called Shepherd's Isles, in honour of my worthy friend Dr Shepherd, Plumian professor of astronomy at Cambridge. Having a fine breeze, I had thoughts of going through between them; but the channels being narrow, and seeing broken water in the one we were steering for, I gave up the design, and bore up, in order to go without, or to the south of them. Before this could be accomplished, it fell calm, and we were left to the mercy of the current, close to the isles, where we could find no soundings with a line of an hundred and eighty fathoms. We had now land or islands in every direction, and were not able to count the number which lay round us. The mountain on Paoon was seen over the east end of Apee, bearing N.N.W. at eight o'clock. A breeze at S.E. relieved us from the anxiety the calm had occasioned; and we spent the night in making short boards.
The night before we came out of Port Sandwich, two reddish fish, about the size of large bream, and not unlike them, were caught with hook and line. On these fish most of the officers, and some of the petty officers, dined the next day. The night following, every one who had eaten of them was seized with violent pains in the head and bones, attended with a scorching heat all over the skin, and numbness in the joints. There remained no doubt that this was occasioned by the fish being of a poisonous nature, and having communicated its bad effects to all who partook of them, even to the hogs and dogs. One of the former died about sixteen hours after; it was not long before one of the latter shared the same fate; and it was a week or ten days before all the gentlemen recovered. These must have been the same sort of fish mentioned by Quiros,[1] under the name of pargos, which poisoned the crews of his ships, so that it was some time before they recovered; and we should, doubtless, have been in the same situation, had more of them been eaten.
[1] Dalrymple's Collection of Voyages, vol. I. p. 140, 141.
At day break on the 25th, we made a short stretch to the east of Shepherd's Isles till after sun-rise, when seeing no more land in that direction, we tacked and stood for the island we had seen in the south, having a gentle breeze at S.E. We passed to the east of Threehills, and likewise of a low isle, which lies on the S.E. side of it, between a remarkable peaked rock which obtained the name of Monument, and a small island named Twohills, on account of two peaked hills upon it, disjoined by a low and narrow isthmus. The channel between this island and the Monument is near a mile broad, and twenty-four fathoms deep. Except this rock, which is only accessible to birds, we did not find an island on which people were not seen. At noon, we observed, in latitude 17° 18' 30"; longitude, made from Port Sandwich, 45' E. In this situation, the Monument bore N. 16° E. distant two miles; Twohills bore N. 25° W. distant two miles, and in a line with the S.W. part of Threehills; and the islands to the south extended from S. 16° 30' E. to S. 42° W.