The ships were thus engaged until the 8th of February, when, during thick weather, the Adventure was separated from the Resolution. For three days Captain Cook cruised in search of her, and was at last compelled to proceed. Here numerous whales were seen, and flocks of antarctic petrels. While two of the boats were engaged in collecting loose ice off an iceberg, to melt for water, it was seen to lean over until it completely turned bottom up, though it thus lost neither in height nor size. The boats providentially escaped. By the middle of March, the antarctic summer being over, Captain Cook shaped a course for New Zealand, where he intended to recruit his crew and refit the ship. On the 26th he entered Dusky Bay in the middle island, having sailed over nearly ten thousand miles without having once sighted land. His crew had been kept in excellent health by the anti-scorbutic provisions on which they were fed, and by the frequent airing of the ship by fires. A snug harbour having been found, the ship was warped into it, and places forthwith cleared in which the observatories, forge, and the tents were set up. By the suggestion of Captain Cook, wholesome beer was brewed from the leaves of a tree resembling the American black spruce; indeed, he at all times attended to the most minute points calculated to maintain the health of his people.
A few families of natives only were met with. One of these having taken up their quarters near the watering-place, soon became intimate. They looked with perfect indifference on the trinkets offered them, but evidently set a high value on hatchets and spike nails.
The head of the family and his daughter paid a visit to the ship. Before stepping on board, however, he presented a couple of talc hatchets to the captain and Mr Foster, and the girl gave one to Mr Hodges. He also waved a green branch, with which he struck the ship, and made a speech before coming on board.
On a shooting expedition another party of natives was met with, the chief of whom approached with a plant in his hand, one end of which he presented to the captain, while he himself held the other. After making a speech, he took off his cloak, which he placed on Cook’s shoulders. After this he and his companions attended the English to the boat, and assisted in launching her, and seemed much inclined to carry off anything they could lay hands on.
Captain Cook, according to his universal plan, here left five geese in a retired cove, hoping that by multiplying they might benefit the natives. He also had a garden dug, and sown with seeds of various sorts.
Leaving this harbour, the Resolution sailed for Queen Charlotte’s Sound, encountering on the way no less than six waterspouts of unusual size. A gun was got ready to fire, but they all passed by without touching her. On reaching their destination, the Adventure, to the satisfaction of all, was found to have arrived there first. At Queen Charlotte’s Sound a garden was also planted, and Captain Cook gave the natives some potatoes, explaining their use, and the mode of cultivating them. A boar and two sows, and a pair of goats, were likewise landed. The natives appeared to be friendly, and some came on board with their children, for whom they hoped to obtain presents, though at first it was supposed with the intention of selling them. To one of the
boys, about ten years old, a white shirt had been given, and he went about showing it until he encountered an old goat, who knocked him over into some dirt. The boy was inconsolable until his shirt had been washed and dried. While a party of the natives were on board, a large canoe was seen coming into the harbour. Some of the natives hurried on shore to look after the women and children, but two who remained begged the captain to fight for them, and fire at the strangers.
The latter, however, came alongside without fear. Their first question was for Tupia. On hearing that he was dead, some of them expressed their sorrow. Among those he saw, Captain Cook did not recognise a single person he knew when there in 1770, and he concluded, therefore, that the entire population had changed since then.