Chapter IX: A Voyage to Batavia (1)

March 1791 to September 1791

-Captain Hunter leaves Port Jackson in the Waaksamheyd transport.--In danger amongst some islands.--Isle of Pines described.--Stewart's islands discovered.--Fall in with Bradley's shoals.--Discover a cluster of islands.--Name them Lord Howe's Groupe.--The natives described.--Attempt to find anchorage on the coast of New-Britain.--Are disappointed.--Anchor at the Duke of York's island.--Attempt to procure water.--Are attacked by the natives.--A few shots fired.--The natives dispersed.--A reconciliation effected.--Natives described.--Weapons.--Ornaments, etc.--Produce and soil.--Leave the Duke of York's island.--Natives from the Admiralty islands visit the ship.--Their canoes described.--Phillip's islands discovered.--Anchor at Hummock island.--Refreshments procured.--Visited by the Raja.--A quarrel ensues.--Several of the natives killed.--Articles of barter in request.--Canoes described.--Leave Hummock island.--Anchor at Batavia.--Tables of latitude and longitude, etc.-

On the 27th of March, 1791, every thing being embarked, we left Sydney-cove, in the Waaksamheyd transport, and sailed down the harbour; when we were accompanied by the governor, and most of the civil and military officers in the settlement. When we passed the lower point of the Cove, all the marines and the New South Wales corps, who were off duty, came down and cheered our people, by way of taking leave, and wishing us a good passage.

Never, upon any service, did there a better, or a more friendly, understanding subsist between different corps, than had ever been the case between the seamen and soldiers employed upon this. When we came near the lower part of the harbour, our friends took leave, and soon after the wind setting in from the sea, we were obliged to anchor until the next morning, when a land wind carried us clear out. The master of the ship had orders from Governor Phillip to call at Norfolk Island, in order to take on board the dispatches of Lieutenant-Governor Ross; but this order was meant only in case it could be done without any material loss of time.

We were in all, on board that little vessel, one hundred and twenty-three souls, victualled for sixteen weeks. We had a very long voyage before us. It was my wish, if possible, to avoid touching at Batavia, in order to prevent sickness among our people, in the very crouded state they were in, which, at the season we should probably be there, was much to be dreaded. I had expressed a desire to pass through amongst the Molucca Islands, and endeavour to call at Timor, for the purpose of watering, and getting such other articles as could be had there; as by the time we could arrive among those islands, the easterly wind would be set in strong; and from thence, to have proceeded as far as I could with the provisions I had, either to the Mauritius, or the Cape of Good Hope.

We therefore could not afford to lose much time in an attempt to call at Norfolk Island; three weeks, however, we persevered in endeavouring to reach it, and had arrived within twenty-five leagues of it, when the wind set in strong from the eastward. I now called the officers and the master of the ship together, to consider of our situation, with respect to water and provisions. We had been fitted out in a very hasty and careless manner, with water-casks built from old worm-eaten staves, which had been laying exposed to the sun for more than a year; so that by the time we had arrived within the above distance of the island, we had lost by leakage full three weeks water, and had every reason to fear the loss of much more from the same cause: it was not therefore time, with a heavy sailing vessel, to attempt beating to windward, in order to reach a place, which we knew we could not gain without a change of wind; and the very great difficulty and uncertainty of getting a supply of water there, determined every one's opinion in favour of bearing away to the northward.

Much time had already been lost in making the attempt, we therefore steered to the northward, intending to pass between the New Hebrides and Nova Caledonia; but in this intention we were disappointed. Upon making the Isle of Pines, (on the 23d of April,) which lies off the south end of New Caledonia, (the island bore when we made it north,) the wind blew so strong from the northward of east, that we could not weather and pass to the eastward of it. We had not Cook's Second Voyage on board, so that we had no account of this land, and as I had always understood that the Isle of Pines was a small inconsiderable spot, with many tall pine-trees upon it, we all concluded, that, what afterwards proved really the island was the land which Captain Cook had called the Prince of Wales's Foreland, and is the south-west part of New Caledonia.

We had moreover farther reason to believe this to be the case, from the circumstance, that from this land to the south-east there lay a low island on which grew high pine-trees; from which circumstance, we considered it to be the Isle of Pines; and being unable, as I have already observed, to weather it, we bore away, intending to run along the western coast of New Caledonia: this mistake had nearly proved of fatal consequences to us, for after we had coasted along for a few leagues, and had been employed in taking angles for ascertaining the shape of the coast, as we sailed along it, land was discovered a-head; upon which the course was altered: soon afterwards, more land was seen still a-head, and as we hauled up to avoid it, more land and broken keys or low islands were discovered a-head, and as far to windward as the eye could reach; we consequently hauled our wind, and stood towards it, in order to discover our situation with more certainty.

We soon found that we had sailed into a very deep bay, formed between the Isle of Pines to the eastward, and a most dangerous reef on the west, which extended from the high land or south-west point of New Caledonia, not less than ten or eleven leagues, and was nearly that distance in a south-west direction from the high part of the Isle of Pines: in this situation there was no alternative; for we must either beat to windward to go round the reef, find a channel through it, or go on shore: the first, therefore, we determined to attempt, so we made all the sail the ship could bear, and stood towards the reef, and it being then evening we wished to ascertain our exact situation before dark.

We found the reef composed of a number of low islands or keys, and many rocks above the water, and of considerable breadth; in short, there was not the smallest hope of passing through it, the sea broke very high on every part of it, which we could reach with the eye from the mast-head. As soon as it was dark, and we thought ourselves near enough to it, we tacked, and kept every person upon deck during the night. We had, during the time we were running to leeward and making observations on the coast, passed by a number of low islands, covered with trees or shrubs, and had observed they were all surrounded with a reef, which the sea broke upon, and among these little islands were many reefs, which appeared only by the breaking of the sea: we were then thoroughly sensible of our mistake, and that the land which we had taken from its extent to be a part of New Caledonia, was the Isle of Pines; and that the height which we had steered down for, and thought to be a part of the coast which Captain Cook had not seen, was what he called the Prince of Wales's Foreland, and was the farthest land he had seen to the westward.

We kept working to windward all night, between that extensive reef to the westward, and those small keys and reefs which lay between us and the land, and of which I have since observed, Captain Cook, in his sketch, takes no notice; the outer reef he marks, but leaves a large open space between it and the land, which describes the reef to be a round cluster of rocks above and under water: he probably had not an opportunity of observing this dangerous place so near to the land as we had: there may be a channel to the leeward between the inner end of this reef and the shore, but it had very little the appearance of it; as we saw many low shrubby islands between us and the shore, to which they were probably connected by a reef under water, which, at the distance we were from it, could not be ascertained.

At day-light in the morning of the 24th, we observed with no small degree of pleasure, that we had gained ground to windward; but this we knew was not owing to any weatherly qualities in the ship, but to the wind having varied several points during the night, and of which we had availed ourselves: by noon we were so far to windward as to perceive the utmost extent of the reef to the southward under our lee, and we had a prospect of weathering it; we, of course, carried a press of sail, and did weather it about two or three miles: when a-breast of it, the highest part of the Isle of Pines was just to be seen above the horizon, which was very clear, and it bore by compass north-east by north, distant ten or eleven leagues; having passed without the reef, at noon we observed our latitude to be 23° 7' south, so that the south extremity of this dangerous reef lies in latitude 23° 00' south nearly: as soon as we were fairly clear of this situation, we bore away to the westward.

The Isle of Pines, so far from being an inconsiderable spot, as I had believed, is not less than 14 or 15 miles over in a south-east and north-west direction; it is high and remarkable in the middle, being quite a pointed hill, sloping towards the extremities, which are very low; the low land had many tall pine-trees upon it; these trees, in length, seemed exceedingly to surpass those of Norfolk Island, but their branches did not appear to extend so far from the body of the tree.

We continued to steer to the north-westward without seeing any thing, and when we had reached the latitude of 19° 00' south, which is supposed to be as far to the northward as any part of New Caledonia extends, we hauled to the north-east, so as to pass between Queen Charlotte's Islands and that large track of land which had been seen by Monsieurs Bougainville and Surville formerly, and lately by Lieutenant Shortland, in the Alexander Transport, and more recently still by Lieutenant Ball, in his Majesty's armed tender Supply. The part seen by Lieutenant Ball is, I believe, more to the southward, than that seen by the French, and is no doubt the same as that seen by Lieutenant Shortland; but the one sailed along the east, the other along the west side of it. It is highly probable that there is a continuation of the same track, and it is farther probable, by the breaks which have been observed in it, that it is a chain of islands extending in a south-east and north-west direction, and very nearly connected with the coast of New Guinea.

On the 5th of May we were near as far to the northward as the southermost part of this land, but did not see it, being by our longitude in 163° 33' east, which is more than a degree to the eastward of the south part seen by the Supply; the weather was now dark and gloomy, with heavy rain at times, and light, variable winds. Queen Charlotte's Islands certainly lie farther to the eastward than has generally been supposed, otherwise we must have made them, for we crossed their latitude in 163° 30' east longitude, which is nearly what the west end of Egmont Island is said to lie in.

On the 8th of May we had a number of very good observations of the sun and moon's distance, by which our longitude was at noon 163° 32' east, and the latitude at the same time 9° 33' south. On the 10th, in the morning, we saw land bearing west-north-west, distant about seven leagues; we bore down to make it plain, and it proved to be a cluster of small islands, five in number; they were well covered with trees, amongst which we thought we observed the cocoa-nut.

These islands, when we first discovered them, appeared as only one, which induced me to think it might be Carteret's Island; and had it not been that by going nearer we discovered that there were five of them, and that they did not at all answer the description of that given by Captain Carteret, I should have concluded that it was so, although the longitude of his island must have been very erroneous, had it been the case. Their latitude is 8° 26' south, which is nearly the latitude of Carteret's; and their longitude, deduced from the preceding day's observations, is 163° 18' east. We steered from them directly to the northward, in order to see if we could discover Gower's Island, which Captain Carteret says lies about ten or eleven leagues to the northward of Carteret's; but as we saw nothing, I concluded they had never been seen before; I therefore called them Stewart's Islands, as a mark of my respect for the honourable Keith Stewart.

The two largest of the islands just mentioned I judged to be about three miles in length; whether they were inhabited or not we could not discover: we passed to windward of them, and not being situated conveniently for making discoveries, or exploring unknown lands, we made the best of our way to the northward: just after we left these islands, we passed through a very strong ripling of a tide or current, and saw the trunks of several large trees in the water. On the 12th, at nine o'clock in the morning, the man at the mast-head discovered breakers on the starboard bow, and not more than six miles distant; soon after, breakers were seen on the starboard quarter, and on the beam, extending in the direction of east-south-east and west-north-west five leagues distant: at eleven, breakers were seen on the larboard beam, in different patches about two miles long, and lying parallel to those on the starboard side.

On this we brought to, and sounded with 130 fathoms of line, but had no ground. This had the appearance of a dangerous cluster of shoals, for being situated in a climate where it seldom blows so strong as to raise a large sea, a ship might in the night, without a very good look-out, be in very great danger before they could be perceived: they appeared to be sand shoals, and very little below the surface: the passage we sailed through is in latitude 6° 52' south, and longitude 161° 06' east: these patches should not be crossed in the night: I called them Bradley's Shoals. The variation was here 8° 01' east.

On the 14th, at day-light in the morning, we saw land, and at sunrise we observed this land to be a number of islands; some were of considerable extent, and many of a smaller size. Thirty-two were distinctly counted from the mast-head, bearing from north-west half north to north-east half east; many of them were considerably distant, so far as to make it probable that we did not see the whole of this extensive groupe. At ten o'clock we perceived six or seven canoes coming off, with large triangular sails; a little after noon, one of them, with nine men in it, came up with us, although we did not shorten sail: we could not persuade them to come along-side, or touch the ship, but we threw a few beads and nails, and other trifles, into their boat, with which they appeared much pleased; and in return, they threw some pieces of cocoa-nut on board; at one o'clock a fresh breeze sprung up, and they left us. The men in this boat were a stout, clean, well made people, of a dark copper colour; their hair was tied in a knot on the back of their head, and they seemed to have some method of taking off their beards; for they appeared to us as if clean shaved, but they had an ornament, consisting of a number of fringes, like an artificial beard, which was fastened on between the nose and mouth, and close under the nose; to that beard hung a row of teeth, which gave them the appearance of having a mouth lower than their natural one; they had holes run through the sides of the nose into the passage, into which, as well as through the septum, were thrust pieces of reed or bone; their arms and thighs were marked in the manner described by Captain Cook, of some of the natives of the islands he visited in these seas, called tatowing; and some were painted with red and white streaks; they wore a wrapper round their middle. Their canoe was about 40 feet long; it was badly made, and had an out-rigger.

The islands appeared very thickly covered with wood, among which the cocoa-nut was very distinguishable; I think it highly probable that there may be good anchorage amongst them, but my situation would not admit of my examining into that matter. They lie in an east and west direction along that side on which we sailed (south side), and their latitude on that side is 5° 30' south, the longitude from 159° 14' east to 159° 37' east*.

[* These islands I called Lord Howe's Groupe.]

On the 18th, at eight o'clock in the morning, we saw three small islands bearing west-north-west, and very high land bearing south-west: at eleven o'clock two more islands were in sight from the mast-head, and two smaller ones, which appeared no larger than rocks: at noon five islands and two rocks were to be seen; they seemed all to be connected by a reef which on the west side extended some distance from them; great part of a sand bank within the reef appeared dry, and some natives were seen upon it; two canoes, with triangular sails, endeavoured to reach the ship, but it blew very fresh, and we could not afford to lose time. These I took to be a part of Captain Carteret's nine islands; they seemed to lie in the direction of south-east and north-west.

We sailed round the south end, from which, to the westward, a reef extends about two miles. The southermost island lies in the latitude of 4 53' south, and longitude 155° 20' east; the south-westernmost island is in 4° 50' south, and longitude 155° 13' east. The land seen in the south-west was exceedingly high, and bore at noon south-south-west half west: at sun-set, the extremes of the high land bore from south by east to west-south-west, and seemed to terminate to the northward in a low woody point; about the middle part of this high land there is a considerable breach or opening, which had much the appearance of a streight or passage through; and as I judge this is the land, along the west side of which Lieutenant Shortland, in the Alexander transport, sailed, until he found an opening through which he passed to the eastward, I think it highly probable that this may be the streight; particularly as he says, "That soon after he was clear, and stretching to the north-east, he fell in with four islands, which he took to be part of Carteret's nine islands*." This opening was intersected from two stations, and the run of the ship, and was found to lie in the latitude of 5° 25' south, and longitude 154° 30' east.

[* See Shortland's Journal and Charts in Phillip's Voyage, fourth Edition; and "Discoveries of the French," by M. Fleurieu, late minister of the French Navy: a very ingenious and able work on the discoveries of the French and Spaniards in the South Seas.]

Whether these islands, which I have last mentioned are Captain Carteret's nine islands, or those Lieutenant Shortland saw, I will not be very positive; he says, they extended north-west by west and south-east by east; the direction is nearly the same, and the distance in that direction is fifteen leagues, and their number nine. We did not see much more than half that distance, in which seven only were to be seen.

Our latitude, considering that he passed round the north end, and we the south, will agree very well; and with respect to longitude, his was determined by the reckoning of the ship, mine by lunar observations, and the difference is only about a degree.

At day-light in the morning of the 19th, we saw Sir Charles Hardy's Island, bearing north 2° 00' west, five leagues distant; and Winchelsea, (or Lord Anson's Island, as marked in Captain Carteret's chart) south 48° 00' east; this last was certainly the point which terminated the high land before-mentioned, for we had kept it in sight since the evening before, and were a-breast of it at two in the morning, and were not more than fourteen or fifteen miles from it. Its latitude will be 5° 08' south, and the longitude 154° 31' east. Sir Charles Hardy's Island is low, level, and covered with wood; its latitude is 4° 41' south, and the longitude 154° 20' east.

At noon on the 19th, we saw high land bearing from west to west-north-west. It was very cloudy over it, so that we could not see its extent to the northward; it was distant eight or nine leagues: the west point of it was, no doubt, Cape Saint George, New Ireland. At six in the afternoon of the 20th, Cape Saint George bore north 80° 00' west, five leagues distant. We had light winds during the night, and in the morning, the land was so covered with clouds that we could not discover the extremity or point of the Cape; we steered to the north-north-west, having found, from the general bearings of the land, that we had been set to the southward during the night: at noon it was clearer, and the Cape bore north 14° 00' east ten or eleven miles distant. We had very light and baffling airs during the night of the 21st, which made me apprehensive, from what Captain Carteret has said of strong westerly currents here, that as we had now opened St. George's Channel, we might be set past both Gower and Carteret's harbours, before we could get as much wind as would command the ship; for she was as dull and heavy sailing a vessel as I ever was embarked in, and in my opinion was wholly unfit for the service she was now employed in. When any other vessel would be going three knots with a light wind, we could scarcely give her steerage-way.

In the evening, finding, as I apprehended, the ship setting fast to the westward, we hauled up to the eastward, in order to keep as near the Cape as possible, until day-light. That night also we had little wind, and that was variable; we kept her head as much as possible to the eastward, and at eight in the morning the Cape bore north 16° 00' east, distant eleven or twelve miles; which was much farther off than I wished; at the same time, a projecting point on the coast of New-Britain bore west north-west: we were becalmed most of this day, and were still setting to the westward. In the afternoon of the 22d, a very light breeze sprung up from the eastward, with which we endeavoured to get within Wallis's island; we sounded frequently, but had no ground with 130 fathoms of line: this situation was truly distressing, for although we had every thing set, we could not force the ship more than a knot and a half through the water, and had the mortification to see that we were driving to the westward: about two o'clock the breeze freshened up a little, and although we were within three miles of anchorage in Gower's harbour, we saw plainly we could not fetch it; however I had hope, as Carteret's harbour is laid down in the chart four leagues to leeward of it, that we might with ease get in there; we had a boat in shore at this time sounding, and it was the general opinion, that unless we bore away soon, we should not run the distance before dark, we therefore made the signal for the boat, and bore away.

The northermost point in sight from the ship was, according to the sketch made in the Swallow, Point Carteret; we considered the north-west entrance as near to that point, but intended of course to avail ourselves of being to windward to go in at the southermost passage. The distance, as I have already mentioned, being marked four leagues from Wallis's Island to Carteret harbour, unfortunately deceived us; and Cocoa-nut island being low, when compared with the high land under which it lies, appeared like a low point projecting from it: we were past the south entrance of this harbour, before we thought ourselves within six miles of it, and had now a strong south-east wind, which two hours sooner, would have enabled us to have got into English Cove, in Gower harbour: the distance from harbour to harbour did not appear to me to be more than two leagues, if so much. It was our misfortune, that the distances marked in the sketch just mentioned, did not agree with our judgment of them.

And there is another error which I must take the liberty to correct, and which also tended to deceive us; Point Carteret, in the Swallow's sketch, is the extremity of the land westward, which can be seen from a ship off Gower harbour, and the land from that point inclines immediately to the northward; but there is a point which lies north-west from Point Carteret, not less than four miles, and from that point the land trends to the northward: this point comes suddenly down from very high land to a round bluff point, which is steep to, and Point Carteret is low and woody. We discovered our mistake when it was too late to recover it in such a vessel.

We ran along the shore close in, and endeavoured to find anchorage; we had also a boat a-head for the same purpose, but although we went sometimes within a cable's length of the shore, we could not find bottom. Our situation now became serious, for our water was become short, and we had yet a long voyage before us; it was now absolutely necessary to look for some supply of that article, and as we were only victualled for sixteen weeks when we left Port Jackson, and had already been eight at sea, we could not on that account lose much time, lest we should meet with calms as we came near the Line. Full allowance of water, in so sultry a climate, and so crowded a ship, was a matter which I was exceedingly anxious about, for without a sufficiency of that article, sickness amongst the people was much to be dreaded.

Before we went any farther to the northward, I was determined to try the coast of New-Britain; we therefore stood over for that land, intending, if possible, to find an anchoring place. On the morning of the 22d, we came within three or four leagues of the shore; it then fell calm, and the boat was sent in shore with Mr. Keltie, the master of the Sirius, who had directions to make a certain signal if he found anchorage: in the afternoon, a light breeze sprung up, which enabled us to stand in and meet the boat. Mr. Keltie reported, that the part of the coast which he had been in with, was streight, and had no appearance of any sort of bay, or the smallest probability of anchorage; that he had frequently tried to get bottom within three cables length of the shore, but without success. On this coast we found a regular tide, its general direction was south-east and north-west.

The hills mentioned by Captain Carteret, on the coast of New-Britain, by the name of the Mother and Daughters, are very remarkable; a little way within the south-eastermost Daughter, there is a small flat-top'd hill, or volcano, which all the time we were within sight of it, emitted vast columns of black smoke. On this coast there appeared many extensive spots of cleared, and apparently cultivated land.

The next step that was to be pursued, was to examine the Duke of York's Island, and on the night of the 22d, we ran off the east point of it, with a light air from the westward, and brought to till day-light; having been near enough to the south-east part of the island the whole of the preceding day, to discover that there was little prospect of anchorage on that side. In the night we heard breakers at no great distance from us; this we found at day-light was a spit, which runs a small distance off the east point of the island.

On the 23d in the morning, we had very little wind, and the boat was sent in shore to sound; the ship was at this time about a mile and a half off. Many canoes came off, with every appearance of friendly disposition; we gave them a few trifles, and they seemed to insist on making a return for every thing they received; cocoa-nuts, yams, and bananas, were held out on the point of a long spear, or pole, for they seemed afraid to touch the ship; the boat which was sounding endeavoured to make them understand that we wanted water, and showed a small keg, intimating by signs that they wanted it filled; the people in one of the canoes went to the boat, received the keg, went immediately on shore, filled it, and brought it back to the boat: the officer then gave them another small keg, which he meant as a present, but it was immediately sent on shore by another canoe: in the mean time a breeze sprung up, the boat steered along shore and the ship followed: the people who had taken the last keg, after having filled it, followed our boat with the utmost speed, came up with her and delivered it; this I thought a striking proof of the honesty of these people, and it will particularly appear so, when it is considered, that the keg was hooped with iron.

As we ran round the western side of the island, we observed a small bay or cove, into which the boat went, followed by many canoes, and an immense multitude of people on the shore. We shortened sail to give the boat time to examine it; she very soon returned, and Mr. Keltie informed us that there was anchorage in the bay; we immediately made sail into it, and at noon of the 23d, anchored in twenty-one fathoms soft ground, with some loose patches of coral; here we were within a cable and a half of the beach.

In the afternoon, we sent the boats armed to look for fresh water; a vast multitude of the natives were by this time assembled on the shore, and the bay was filled with canoes; in consequence of which we got the ship's guns loaded and ready; (she mounted six three-pounders) but although they were exceedingly clamorous, they were still apparently well disposed; they showed the officer in the boat how to find water by digging holes in the sandy beach, in the manner frequently practised in the West-Indies; we followed their advice, and sunk a cask in the sand; the water flowed into it, but was too much mixed with the sea water to be used. Some of the natives, however, afterwards pointed out another place, from which the fresh water issued in a considerable stream, out of chasms in the rocky face of a high bank: this discovery set our people upon farther searches, and they found several such discharges from the side of the bank, enough to answer our purpose, if the natives remained quiet and friendly.

This business I was particularly desirous we might be able to effect, without being under the necessity of convincing them of our superiority in arms. The first day was spent in endeavouring to show them, that we were desirous of a friendly intercourse with them, and that we wanted nothing but water, which they could well spare: however, on discovering that water was to be had, we were of course determined to have as much as might be necessary for our purpose, and by such means as might be found necessary and effectual.

This first night there was a very strict look-out kept, as well by the natives as by us; they had a regular watch-word, which they sung out in a very pleasing and musical manner, and it was answered by those on the next post, and so all round the skirt of the wood. The next morning we loaded one boat with empty casks, and had the other armed, to lie off the shore and cover the people employed filling water; the ship's guns were loaded with round and grape shot, and were within less than two cables length of the watering-place; twelve men, with small arms, attended on shore with the waterers.

The watering business was now begun, and might have satisfied the natives what our business was there; however, their numbers increased to such a degree, all armed, and they were so very troublesome, that very little work could be done in the watering. An old man, who was powdered all over with a white powder, and who seemed to possess great authority and influence amongst his countrymen, disposed them to be more and more troublesome; presents were offered him, but he rejected every thing with a very surly and determined air; in short, he seemed resolved that we should not fill water, or remain upon their territory; he carried every appearance of an intention to dispute the point by force; every means were used to please this old fellow, but without effect.

At last some stones were thrown from a sling, but this was not done until the principal part of the natives had retired to some distance from the place where our people were employed; the men who were armed for the protection of the waterers, stood the whole time with their arms ready to fire at a moment's notice, and the natives, ignorant of what the musquets were, had certainly taken them for clubs. Some of the stones, which they threw, came with the force of a shot from a gun among the sailors. The consequence of this unmerited attack was, that the officer was obliged to fire, the covering boat fired, and a few shot were fired from the ship: at this time, there were thirty or forty canoes about the ship, full of people; their terror and consternation at the noise, and probably the effect of the guns, was such, that many leaped from their boats overboard, and swam under water as far as they were able; such guns as were fired from the side on which the canoes were, were pointed well over them, being more intended to intimidate than destroy. This firing occasioned a general dispersion of the natives, and the filling of water was carried on with case and expedition.

We received on board that afternoon about seven tons. The next morning, before the boats went on shore, we fired a few grape shot into the woods, and the boats landed without seeing any of the natives; at the same time we warped the ship within a cable's length of the watering-place, and secured her head and stern for covering the party on shore; the covering boat was directed to fire whenever any of the natives were seen in the woods over the watering party, which, in the course of the day, they had frequent occasion to do.

Many canoes came into the bay this day, but kept at an awful distance, holding up green boughs as a signal of peace and amity; to some we made signs to go away; to others, who ventured a little nearer, we showed signs of friendship, and made them perfectly understand, that our firing was occasioned by their slinging of stones among our people, who were watering: after these hostilities, our watering went on without the smallest interruption, except that the covering boat had occasion sometimes to fire a few musquets into the woods over the watering place.

In four days we compleated our water, and on the last evening, as the sailors were coming from the shore, a number of the natives from the woods right above the watering place, came down to the beach with green boughs in their hands, bringing with them cocoa-nuts, yams, plantains, etc. accompanied by a song of friendship: they seemed earnestly to with for a reconciliation, and took every means in their power to testify their concern for what had happened; a boat was sent on shore to meet them, with a green branch in the bow, and the boat's crew were desired to spread open their arms when they came near the breach, to show they were well disposed to peace.

When the boat landed, the natives retired back a little, but not out of sight; having piled up upon the beach their peace-offering, which consisted of yams, cocoa-nuts, plantains, bananas, sugar-cane, and some other articles: on the top of this pile was laid a small living male and female dog, with their mouths and feet tied: (they appeared to be of the small terrier kind) in the middle of the heap was stuck in the sand, a young tree of the palm kind, upon a branch of which were hung a number of braded lines, like what is called by seamen, _sennit_, and much of the same colour, being made of the bark of a particular tree: what this could mean we were wholly at a loss to comprehend, unless, as the head of this young tree was designedly bent down by the lines above-mentioned, it was meant as a token of submission; be that as it might, they received the boat's crew, etc. with every demonstration of a true concern for what had happened; and I fear and believe they had much cause to be sorry, for I think some must have lost their lives by the grape shot from the ship.

It is much to be regretted, that after having seen us employed in getting what we wanted, in doing which every person was completely employed, and not the most distant appearance of insult, or any sort of provocation had been offered them, they could not have desisted from hostility until some kind of offence had been offered, a circumstance which, during the whole time, was most particularly guarded against in those employed on shore: but from an ignorance of the effect of our arms, and from their very superior numbers, they were inclined to be insolent and troublesome; our sailors on shore were so very few, when compared with their numbers, that it became absolutely necessary to resent the first unprovoked offence which they gave, and thereby to convince them, before it might be too late, that although their numbers far exceeded ours, their real force was very inferior.

After peace had been re-established on shore, the conk shell was sounded, which is the signal whereby they assemble considerable numbers; and in a very short time, they appeared coming from all parts of the wood round the bay, and were met by those who had been the means of bringing about a reconciliation, with a song of friendship, in which the whole joined, and which was really harmonious and very pleasing: the canoes crowded the bay from different parts of the island, and were as familiar as ever, except that they would not now venture on board, which many had done before this quarrel: every boat brought a green bough, that was conspicuously held up; they also brought many things to barter, and were pleased with such trifles as we had to give them in return.

They are, I believe, the only people in those seas, who do not set a value upon iron work, in preference to any other thing; beads or looking-glasses they were not much pleased with, but rags of white linen, strips of scarlet cloth, or any thing of gay colours, they were very anxious to have: nails they would not accept at all.

The natives of the Duke of York's Island are a stout, robust, well made people, of a light copper colour; I saw none who could be called black; they go entirely naked; the hair is woolly, but it is so managed by some sort of grease or ointment, and a white or red powder with which they dress it, that it hangs on some like so many candle wicks, or rather like the thrums of a new mop reversed, or turned upside down; they are generally as fully powdered as a beau dressed for an assembly; some have their hair of a yellow, sun burnt colour, others quite red, as if powdered wholly with the true marechall; none are seen with the hair of its natural colour.

This yellow or red appearance, I believe, may be occasioned by this universal method of powdering, for the powder seems to be made from burnt shells, or coral, and is really a kind of lime; they generally carry a small goard or box filled with it about them, and when they are hostilely disposed, they frequently take a quantity of this powder into the hollow of the hand, from which, with a strong blast from the mouth, they blew it before them; and at a small distance it has exactly the appearance of firing gunpowder, and no doubt is meant as a token of defiance. This practice is certainly used by the people of New Guinea, for Captain Cook takes notice of it when his boat landed on that coast near Cape Walsh, and says, that he supposes those people have some method of producing fire in that sudden manner.

He also observes, that they had a bamboo or hollow cane from which fire and smoke was observed to issue; but I am disposed to think, that the conjecture of having seen fire could only have been occasioned by the appearance of smoke, which we naturally suppose to have proceeded from fire, for it is probable that fire and smoke being projected suddenly from any confined engine, would occasion some degree of explosion, although it is also probable that the gentlemen in the Endeavour's boat might not have been near enough to have heard it: however, after all, there is much reason to believe, that what Captain Cook saw upon that coast was the very practice used here, where we saw it in a much nearer interview, as some of our people had it blown in their eyes. Their chief, upon hostile occasions, powdered his body all over, so that it was no difficult matter to discover him.

They also upon such occasions painted their faces red; some had marks upon their arms and shoulders, occasioned by scarifying those parts in long stripes, and letting the sore rise above the surface of the skin; they frequently wore a bone or reed thrust through the septum of the nose, and, like the natives of Lord Howe's Groupe, had also holes cut through the wings of the nose, into which were fixed short pieces of hollow reed, as ladies wear wires to keep the ears open when newly bored; into these hollows or rings they occasionally stuck long pieces of reed, which are no doubt considered by them as ornamental. The men in general were well looking people, but such of their women as I saw were very ordinary.

The weapons used by the people of this island were lances of different kinds, some were made of a kind of ebony, or hard wood, about ten feet long, frequently ornamented with feathers of different colours at the upper end; others were made of bamboo, pointed with hard wood; the lance is thrown by hand, but they had not the use of the throwing stick, like the natives of New South Wales: they also, in their quarrels, used the sling for throwing stones, which appears to be made of some tough dried leaf, several times doubled; the strings were manufactured from some soft, silky, and fibrous plant; they throw a round hard pebble, of which they generally carried a small nett full about them; the stones were about the size of a small fowl's egg, and flew with much force, and great exactness from the sling: they had also a long unhandy kind of club. They used, in fishing, a fishing spear, small seine netts, and hooks and lines; their hooks were of tortoise-shell, from which circumstance there can be no doubt but they have either turtle in their neighbourhood, or the tortoise upon the island.

They had a kind of musical instrument, with which they sometimes, in their canoes alongside, endeavoured to amuse us; it was composed of a number of hollow reeds of different lengths, fastened together, but they did not seem to be very expert in proportioning their lengths, or tuning them to harmony: sound, not concord, seemed to be all they expected from it; they blew into the mouth of the different reeds by drawing the instrument across their lips, and in that manner they produced sounds: their vocal music was far more harmonious, although there was not much variety in it. Those who were considered as people of distinction were always to be found in a better sort of boat than common; and I observed, that when any canoe came near the ship with people of distinction on board, the higher ranks were always to be known by a man sitting in the middle of the boat, who held a wooden instrument in his hand, resembling in shape a common paddle, but handsomely carved and painted, with its handle finished something like the hilt of a sword.

When those people were disposed to be kind and friendly, they frequently sung out in one particular tone, in which, if there were five hundred together, the nicest ear could not discover one to differ in the tone or particular note; and immediately after they all mimicked the barking of a dog: this was meant by them as a _certain proof_ of their friendly disposition. Before we had cause to quarrel with them many came on board and were shaved, an operation with which they were much pleased.

This island, by its appearance from the sea, I judged to be about ten miles long, in a south-south-west and north-north-east direction; it is not high, nor can it be called low land, but appears, when near it, of moderate height and flat: it is well covered with wood, and along the sea shore were to be seen many huts of the natives, which were small and neatly made; they were chiefly built of bamboo, and generally situated under the shade of a grove of cocoa-nut trees, with a fence or railing before them, within which the ground was well cleared and trodden, which gave their little habitations a very neat and cleanly appearance: I examined whilst we lay there several neat and well fenced inclosures, in which were the plantain, banana, yam, sugar cane, and several other articles, which they seem to take some pains to cultivate.

In short, from what we could discover in the little time we remained there, I may venture to pronounce the island a perfect garden, as far as it can with propriety be called so in the hands of a people, who, no doubt, trust chiefly to nature, and who are ignorant of the means of assisting her, in the improvement of those advantages, which she has so bountifully bestowed upon them.

Although our time here was so short, we had an opportunity of knowing that this island produced cocoa-nuts, yams, plantains, bananas, sugar-cane, beetle-nut, mangos, bread-fruit, and guavas. There are also dogs, hogs, and the common fowls, and some spices, (the nutmeg I saw). Most of the natives chew the beetle, and with it used the chenam and a leaf, as practised in the East-Indies; by which the mouth appeared very red, and their teeth, after a time, became black.

Their canoes were neatly made, and of various sizes, with an out-rigger to balance them. I sent the carpenter of the Sirius on shore, to examine the different kinds of timber; he reported to me, that he found one tree which was hard, and had something like the appearance of ebony, but was not quite so black; all the others he tried were soft and spongy, like the palm or cabbage tree.

The soil I think for richness beyond any I ever saw; it exceeded Norfolk Island in that respect: I had a man with me who had been upon that island from its first settlement, and who had cleared and cultivated land there; he assured me that this was superior to any he had ever opened at that island.

On the 27th in the morning, we prepared for sailing; before we got under way, two English pointers, male and female, which had been given to the master of the ship at Port Jackson, were sent on shore, and given to a party of the natives, who seemed highly delighted with them; a cock and hen were also given to them.

At ten o'clock we sailed out of the bay. This bay was named Port Hunter; its latitude is 4° 7' 30" south, and longitude 152° 42' east; although it is not large, it is convenient and safe at this season; it lies on the north-west part of the island, and you may anchor in any part of it, from twenty-five to fifteen fathoms, but the shoal-water has the worst ground: in twenty fathoms it is soft, with loose patches of coral; the watering place is on the east side, but as the tide flows up to the place from whence the fresh water issues, it is best to fill from half ebb to half flood. The water is so exceedingly soft, that there were some amongst us who were so prejudiced against it that they believed it brackish; a quality I own which I never could discover in it; I was therefore of opinion that this prejudice could only have proceeded from knowing that the salt water was so very near it at high water time; such opinions were not however confirmed from experience, as we never felt any inconvenience from it. The tide here seemed to rise five or six feet, but the exact period of high water was not noticed, we had so much business to do.

We steered north-west by west, and west-north-west, and at eight o'clock in the morning, saw Sandwich Island, bearing north-west; at noon, our latitude was 3° 13' south, and longitude 150° 42' east; the south-west point of Sandwich Island bearing north 45° west, distant from the nearest shore six leagues. The latitude of the south-west point will be 2° 58' south, and its longitude 150° 27' east. This island is of moderate height, and well covered with wood; we passed on the south side; its general direction is about east-north-east and west-south-west, and in that direction is about seven leagues in length: it appeared to be of considerable breadth at its eastern end, and narrow towards its western, where it terminates in a narrow point, off which lies a small woody island, with a narrow passage between that and the main island, to which it appears connected by a reef. On the north side of Sandwich Island, we observed the remarkable peaked hill mentioned by Captain Carteret, and also the corresponding one on the coast of New Ireland.

As soon as we were passed Sandwich Island, we observed that the western current, which we had hitherto experienced in this strait, now took a turn more northerly, having opened the strait, or passage between New Ireland and New Hanover, which last land we saw before night. We steered during the night west by north by compass, intending to pass at a convenient distance from the Portland Islands, but at day-light we were obliged to haul up west by south, having been more to the northward than we expected: we passed them at four miles distance; they are nine in number, are low and covered with wood; the center of them is in latitude 2° 38' south, and longitude 149° 08' east.