SECTION I.
Prosecution of the Voyage.--Behaviour of the Two New Zealanders on board.--Unfavourable Winds.--An Island called Mangeea discovered.--The Coast of it examined.--Transactions with the Natives,--An Account of their Persons, Dress, and Canoe.--Description of the Island.--A Specimen of the Language.--Disposition of the Inhabitants.
On the 25th of February, at ten o'clock in the morning, a light breeze springing up at N.W. by W., we weighed, stood out of the Sound, and made sail through the strait, with the Discovery in company. We had hardly got the length of Cape Teerawitte, when the wind took us aback at S.E. It continued in this quarter till two o'clock the next morning, when we had a few hours calm. After which we had a breeze at north; but here it fixed not long, before it veered to the east, and after that to the south. At length on the 27th, at eight o'clock in the morning, we took our departure from Cape Palliser, which, at this time, bore W., seven or eight leagues distant. We had a fine gale, and I steered E. by N.
We had no sooner lost sight of the land, than our two New Zealand adventurers, the sea sickness they now experienced giving a turn to their reflections, repented heartily of the step they had taken. All the soothing encouragement we could think of availed but little. They wept, both in public and in private, and made their lamentations in a kind of song, which, as far as we could comprehend the meaning of the words, was expressive of their praises of their country and people, from which they were to be separated for ever. Thus they continued for many days, till their sea sickness wore off, and the tumult of their minds began to subside. Then these fits of lamentation became less and less frequent, and at length entirely ceased. Their native country and their friends were, by degrees, forgot, and they appeared to be as firmly attached to us, as if they had been born amongst us.
The wind had not remained many hours at S., before it veered to S.E. and E.; and, with this, we stood to the N., till the 28th at noon. Being then in the latitude of 41° 17', and in the longitude of 177° 17' E., we tacked and stood to the S.E., with a gentle breeze at E.N.E. It afterward freshened, and came about to N.E.; in which quarter it continued two days, and sometimes blew a fresh gale with squalls, accompanied with showers of rain.
On the 2d of March at noon, being in the latitude of 42° 35' 30", longitude 180° 8' E., the wind shifted to N.W.; afterward to S.W.; and between this point and north it continued to blow, sometimes a strong gale with hard squalls, and at other times very moderate. With this wind we steered N.E. by E. and E., under all the sail we could carry, till the 11th at noon, at which time we were in the latitude of 39° 29', longitude 196° 4' E.
The wind now veered to N.E. and S.E., and I stood to the N., and to the N.E., as the wind would admit, till one o'clock in the morning on the 16th, when having a more favourable gale from the north, I tacked and stood to the east; the latitude being 33° 40', and the longitude 198° 50' E. We had light airs and calms by turns, till noon the next day, when the wind began to freshen at E.S.E., and I again stood to the N.E. But as the wind often veered to E. and E.N.E., we frequently made no better than a northerly course; nay sometimes to the westward of north. But the hopes of the wind coming more southerly, or of meeting with it from the westward, a little without the Tropic, as I had experienced in my former visits to this ocean, encouraged me to continue this course. Indeed it was necessary that I should run all risks, as my proceeding to the north this year, in prosecution of the principal object of the voyage, depended entirely on my making a quick passage to Otaheite, or the Society Islands.
The wind continued invariably fixed at E.S.E., or seldom shifting above two points on either side. It also blew very faint, so that it was the 27th before we crossed the Tropic, and then we were only in the longitude of 201° 25' E., which was nine degrees to the westward of our intended port. In all this run we saw nothing, except now and then a Tropic bird, that could induce us to think that we had sailed near any land. In the latitude of 34° 20', longitude 199° we passed the trunk of a large tree, which was covered with barnacles; a sign that it had been long at sea.
On the 29th, at ten in the morning, as we were standing to the N.E., the Discovery made the signal of seeing land. We saw it from the mast-head almost the same moment, bearing N.E. by E. by compass. We soon discovered it to be an island of no great extent, and stood for it till sunset, when it bore N.N.E., distant about two or three leagues.
The night was spent in standing off and on, and at daybreak the next morning, I bore up for the lee or west side of the island, as neither anchorage nor landing appeared to be practicable on the south side, on account of a great surf,[149] which broke every where with violence against the shore, or against the reef that surrounded it.