Chapter XI: Book III: Chap. I (7)

They do not appear to eat any animal food raw; but having no vessel in which water can be boiled, they either broil it upon the coals, or bake it in a hole by the help of hot stones, in the same manner as is practised by the inhabitants of the islands in the South Seas.

Whether they are acquainted with any plant that has an intoxicating quality, we do not know; but we observed that several of them held leaves of some sort constantly in their mouths, as an European does tobacco, and an East Indian betle: we never saw the plant, but when they took it from their mouths at our request; possibly it might be a species of the betle, but whatever it was, it had no effect upon the teeth or the lips.

As they have no nets, they catch fish only by striking, or with a hook and line, except such as they find in the hollows of the rocks and shoals, which are dry at half ebb.

Their manner of hunting we had no opportunity to see; but we conjectured by the notches which they had every where cut in large trees in order to climb them, that they took their station near the tops of them, and there watched for such animals as might happen to pass near enough to be reached by their lances: it is possible, also, that in this situation they might take birds when they came to roost.

I have observed that when they went from our tents upon the banks of Endeavour River, we could trace them by the fires which they kindled in their way; and we imagined that these fires were intended some way for the taking the kanguroo, which we observed to be so much afraid of fire, that our dogs could scarcely force it over places which had been newly burnt, though the fire was extinguished.

They produce fire with great facility, and spread it in a wonderful manner. To produce it they take two pieces of dry soft wood, one is a stick about eight or nine inches long, the other piece is flat: the stick they shape into an obtuse point at one end, and pressing it upon the other, turn it nimbly by holding it between both their hands as we do a chocolate mill, often shifting their hands up, and then moving them down upon it, to increase the pressure as much as possible. By this method they get fire in less than two minutes, and from the smallest spark, they increase it with great speed and dexterity. We have often seen one of them run along the shore, to all appearance with nothing in his hand, who stooping down for a moment, at the distance of every fifty or a hundred yards, left fire behind him, as we could see first by the smoke, and then by the flame among the drift wood, and other litter which was scattered along the place. We had the curiosity to examine one of these planters of fire, when he set off, and we saw him wrap up a small spark in dry grass, which, when he had run a little way, having been fanned by the air that his motion produced, began to blaze; he then laid it down in a place convenient for his purpose, inclosing a spark of it in another quantity of grass, and so continued his course.

There are perhaps few things in the history of mankind more extraordinary than the discovery and application of fire: it will scarcely be disputed that the manner of producing it, whether by collision or attrition, was discovered by chance: but its first effects would naturally strike those to whom it was a new object, with consternation and terror: it would appear to be an enemy to life and nature, and to torment and destroy whatever was capable of being destroyed or tormented; and therefore it seems not easy to conceive what should incline those who first saw it receive a transient existence from chance, to reproduce it by design. It is by no means probable that those who first saw fire approached it with the same caution as those who are familiar with its effects, so as to be warmed only, and not burnt; and it is reasonable to think that the intolerable pain which, at its first appearance, it must produce upon ignorant curiosity, would sow perpetual enmity between this element and mankind; and that the same principle which incites them to crush a serpent would incite them to destroy fire, and avoid all means by which it would be produced, as soon as they were known. These circumstances considered, how men became sufficiently familiar with it to render it useful, seems to be a problem very difficult to solve: nor is it easy to account for the first application of it to culinary purposes, as the eating both animal and vegetable food raw, must have become a habit, before there was fire to dress it, and those who have considered the force of habit will readily believe, that to men who had always eaten the flesh of animals raw, it would be as disagreeable dressed, as to those who have always eaten it dressed, it would be raw. It is remarkable that the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego produce fire from a spark by collision, and that the happier natives of this country, New Zealand, and Otaheite, produce it by the attrition of one combustible substance against another: is there not, then, some reason to suppose that these different operations correspond with the manner in which chance produced fire in the neighbourhood of the torrid and frigid zones? Among the rude inhabitants of a cold country, neither any operation of art, or occurrence of accident, could be supposed so easily to produce fire by attrition, as in a climate where every thing is hot, dry, and adust, teeming with a latent fire which a slight degree of motion was sufficient to call forth; in a cold country, therefore, it is natural to suppose that fire was produced by the accidental collision of two metallic substances, and in a cold country, for that reason, the same expedient was used to produce it by design: but in hot countries, where two combustible substances easily kindle by attrition, it is probable that the attrition of such substances first produced fire, and here it was therefore natural for art to adopt the same operation, with a view to produce the same effect. It may indeed be true that fire is now produced in many cold countries by attrition, and in many hot by a stroke; but perhaps upon enquiry there may appear reason to conclude that this has arisen from the communication of one country with another, and that with respect to the original production of fire in hot and cold countries, the distinction is well founded.

There may perhaps be some reason to suppose that men became gradually acquainted with the nature and effects of fire, by its permanent existence in a volcano, there being remains of volcanoes, or vestiges of their effects, in almost every part of the world: by a volcano, however, no method of producing fire, otherwise than by contact, could be learnt; the production and application of fire, therefore, still seem to afford abundant subject of speculation to the curious.

The weapons of these people are spears or lances, and these are of different kinds: some that we saw upon the southern part of the coast had four prongs, pointed with bone, and barbed; the points were also smeared with a hard resin, which gave them a polish, and made them enter deeper into what they struck. To the northward, the lance has but one point: the shaft is made of cane, or the stalk of a plant somewhat resembling a bulrush, very straight and light, and from eight to fourteen feet long, consisting of several joints, where the pieces are let into each other, and bound together; to this are fitted points of different kinds; some are of hard heavy wood, and some are the bones of fish: we saw several that were pointed with the stings of the sting-ray, the largest that they could procure, and barbed with several that were smaller, fastened on in a contrary direction; the points of wood were also sometimes armed with sharp pieces of broken shells, which were stuck in, and at the junctures covered with resin: the lances that are thus barbed are indeed dreadful weapons; for when once they have taken place, they can never be drawn back without tearing away the flesh, or leaving the sharp ragged splinters of the bone or shell which forms the beard, behind them in the wound. These weapons are thrown with great force and dexterity: if intended to wound at a short distance, between ten and twenty yards, simply with the hand, but if at the distance of forty or fifty, with an instrument which we called a throwing stick. This is a plain smooth piece of a hard reddish wood, very highly polished, about two inches broad, half an inch thick, and three feet long, with a small knob, or hook at one end, and a cross piece about three or four inches long at the other: the knob at one end is received in a small dent or hollow, which is made for that purpose in the shaft of the lance near the point, but from which it easily slips, upon being impelled forward: when the lance is laid along upon this machine, and secured in a proper position by the knob, the person that is to throw it holds it over his shoulder, and after shaking it, delivers both the throwing stick and lance with all his force; but the stick being stopped by the cross piece which comes against the shoulder, with a sudden jerk, the lance flies forward with incredible swiftness, and with so good an aim, that at the distance of fifty yards these Indians were more sure of their mark than we could be with a single bullet. Besides these lances, we saw no offensive weapon upon this coast, except when we took our last view of it with our glasses, and then we thought we saw a man with a bow and arrows, in which it is possible we might be mistaken. We saw, however, at Botany Bay, a shield or target of an oblong shape, about three feet long, and eighteen inches broad, which was made of the bark of a tree: this was fetched out of a hut by one of the men that opposed our landing, who, when he ran away, left it behind him, and upon taking it up, we found that it had been pierced through with a single pointed lance near the centre. These shields are certainly in frequent use among the people here; for though this was the only one that we saw in their possession, we frequently found trees from which they appeared manifestly to have been cut, the marks being easily distinguished from those that were made by cutting buckets: sometimes also we found the shields cut out, but not yet taken off from the tree, the edges of the bark only being a little raised by wedges, so that these people appear to have discovered that the bark of a tree becomes thicker and stronger by being suffered to remain upon the trunk after it has been cut round.

The canoes of New Holland are as mean and rude as the houses. Those on the southern part of the coast are nothing more than a piece of bark, about twelve feet long, tied together at the ends, and kept open in the middle by small bows of wood: yet in a vessel of this construction we once saw three people. In shallow water they are set forward by a pole, and in deeper by paddles, about eighteen inches long, one of which the boatman holds in each hand; mean as they are, they have many conveniencies, they draw but little water, and they are very light, so that they go upon mud banks to pick up shell-fish, the most important use to which they can be applied, better perhaps than vessels of any other construction. We observed, that in the middle of these canoes there was a heap of sea-weed, and upon that a small fire; probably that the fish may be broiled and eaten the moment it is caught.

The canoes that we saw when we advanced farther to the northward, are not made of bark, but of the trunk of a tree hollowed, perhaps by fire. They are about fourteen feet long, and, being very narrow, are fitted with an outrigger to prevent their oversetting. These are worked with paddles, that are so large as to require both hands to manage one of them: the outside is wholly unmarked by any tool, but at each end the wood is left longer at the top than at the bottom, so that there is a projection beyond the hollow part resembling the end of a plank; the sides are tolerably thin, but how the tree is felled and fashioned, we had no opportunity to learn. The only tools that we saw among them are an adze, wretchedly made of stone, some small pieces of the same substance in form of a wedge, a wooden mallet, and some shells and fragments of coral. For polishing their throwing sticks, and the points of their lances, they use the leaves of a kind of wild fig-tree, which bites upon wood almost as keenly as the shave-grass of Europe, which is used by our joiners: with such tools, the making even such a canoe as I have described must be a most difficult and tedious labour: to those who have been accustomed to the use of metal, it appears altogether impracticable; but there are few difficulties that will not yield to patient perseverance; and he who does all he can, will certainly produce effects that greatly exceed his apparent power.

The utmost freight of these canoes is four people; and if more at any time wanted to come over the river, one of those who came first was obliged to go back for the rest: from this circumstance, we conjectured that the boat we saw, when we were lying in Endeavour River, was the only one in the neighbourhood: we have however some reason to believe that the bark canoes are also used where the wooden ones are constructed; for upon one of the small islands where the natives had been fishing for turtle, we found one of the little paddles which had belonged to such a boat, and would have been useless on board any other.

By what means the inhabitants of this country are reduced to such a number as it can subsist, is not perhaps very easy to guess; whether, like the inhabitants of New Zealand, they are destroyed by the hands of each other in contests for food; whether they are swept off by accidental famine, or whether there is any cause which prevents the increase of the species, must be left for future adventurers to determine. That they have wars, appears by their weapons; for supposing the lances to serve merely for the striking of fish, the shield could be intended for nothing but a defence against men; the only mark of hostility, however, which we saw among them, was the perforation of the shield by a spear, which has been just mentioned, for none of them appeared to have been wounded by an enemy. Neither can we determine whether they are pusillanimous or brave; the resolution with which two of them attempted to prevent our landing, when we had two boats full of men, in Botany Bay, even after one of them was wounded with small shot, gave us reason to conclude that they were not only naturally courageous, but that they had acquired a familiarity with the dangers of hostility, and were, by habit as well as nature, a daring and warlike people; but their precipitate flight from every other place that we approached, without even a menace, while they were out of our reach, was an indication of uncommon tameness and timidity, such as those who had only been occasionally warriors must be supposed to have shaken off, whatever might have been their natural disposition. I have faithfully related facts, the reader must judge of the people for himself.

From the account that has been given of our commerce with them, it cannot be supposed that we should know much of their language; yet as this is an object of great curiosity, especially to the learned, and of great importance in their researches into the origin of the various nations that have been discovered, we took some pains to bring away such a specimen of it as might, in a certain degree, answer the purpose, and I shall now give an account how it was procured. If we wanted to know the name of a stone, we took a stone up into our hands, and as well as we could, intimated by signs, that we wished they should name it: the word that they pronounced upon the occasion, we immediately wrote down. This method, though it was the best we could contrive, might certainly lead us into many mistakes; for if an Indian was to take up a stone, and ask us the name of it, we might answer a pebble or a flint; so when we took up a stone, and asked an Indian the name of it, he might pronounce a word that distinguished the species and not the genus, or that, instead of signifying stone simply, might signify a rough stone, or a smooth stone; however, as much as possible to avoid mistakes of this kind, several of us contrived, at different times, to get from them as many words as we could, and having noted them down, compared our lists: those which were the same in all, and which, according to every one’s account, signified the same thing, we ventured to record, with a very few others, which, from the simplicity of the subject, and the ease of expressing our question with plainness and precision by a sign, have acquired equal authority.

ENGLISH. NEW HOLLAND.

_The head_, Wageegee.

_Hair_, Morye.

_Eyes_, Meul.

_Ears_, Melea.

_Lips_, Yembe.

_Nose_, Bonjoo.

_Tongue_, Unjar.

_Nails_, Kulke.

_Sun_, Gallan.

_Fire_, Meanang.

_A stone_, Walba.

_Sand_, Yowall.

_A rope_, Gurka.

_A man_, Bama.

_Beard_, Wallar.

_Neck_, Doomboo.

_Nipples_, Cayo.

_Hands_, Marigal.

_Thighs_, Coman.

_Navel_, Toolpoor.

_Knees_, Pongo.

_Feet_, Edamal.

_Heel_, Kniorror.

_Cockatoo_, Wanda.

_The sole of the foot_, Chumal.

_Ankle_, Chongurn.

_Arms_, Aco, _or_ Acol.

_Thumb_, Eboorbalga.

_The fore, middle, and ring Egalbaiga.
fingers_,

_The little finger_, Nakil, _or_ Eboornakil.

_The sky_, Kere, _or_ Kearre.

_A father_, Dunjo.

_A son_, Jumurre.

_A male turtle_, Poinga.

_A female_, Mameingo.

_A canoe_, Marigan.

_To paddle_, Pelenyo.

_Sit down_, Takai.

_Smooth_, Mier Carrar.

_A dog_, Cotta, _or_ Kota.

_A loriquet_, Perpere, _or_ pier-pier.

_Blood_, Garmbe.

_Wood_, Yocou.

_The bone in the nose_, Tapool.

_A bag_, Charngala.

_A great cockle_, Moingo.

_Cocos_, _Yams_, Maracotu.

Cherr, Cherco, Yarcaw, Tut, _Expressions, as we supposed,
tut, tut, tut, of admiration, which they
continually used when they
were in company with us._

I shall now quit this country, with a few observations relative to the currents and tides upon the coast. From latitude 32°, and somewhat higher, down to Sandy Cape, in latitude 24° 46ʹ, we constantly found a current setting to the southward, at the rate of about ten or fifteen miles a day, being more or less, according to our distance from the land, for it always ran with more force in shore than in the offing; but I could never satisfy myself whether the flood-tide came from the southward, the eastward, or the northward; I inclined to the opinion that it came from the south-east, but the first time we anchored off the coast, which was in latitude 24° 30ʹ, about ten leagues to the south-east of Bustard Bay, I found it come from the north-west; on the contrary, thirty leagues farther to the north-west, on the south side of Keppel Bay, I found that it came from the east, and at the northern part of that Bay it came from the northward, but with a much slower motion than it had come from the east: on the east side of the Bay of Inlets, it set strongly to the westward, as far as the opening of Broad Sound; but on the north side of that sound, it came with a very slow motion from the north-west; and when we lay at anchor before Repulse Bay, it came from the northward: to account for its course in all this variety of directions, we need only admit that the flood-tide comes from the east, or south-east. It is well known, that where there are deep inlets, and large creeks into low lands, running up from the sea, and not occasioned by rivers of fresh water, there will always be a great indraught of the flood-tide, the direction of which will be determined by the position or direction of the coast which forms the entrance of such inlet, whatever be its course at sea; and where the tides are weak, which upon this coast is generally the case, a large inlet will, if I may be allowed the expression, attract the flood-tide for many leagues.

A view of the chart will at once illustrate this position. To the northward of Whitsunday’s Passage there is no large inlet, consequently the flood sets to the northward, or north-westward, according to the direction of the coast, and the ebb to the south, or south-eastward; at least such is their course at a little distance from the land, for very near it they will be influenced by small inlets. I also observed, that we had only one high tide in twenty-four hours, which happened in the night. The difference between the perpendicular rise of the water in the day and the night, when there is a spring-tide, is no less than three feet, which, where the tides are so inconsiderable as they are here, is a great proportion of the whole difference between high and low water. This irregularity of the tides, which is worthy of notice, we did not discover till we were run ashore, and perhaps farther to the northward it is still greater: after we got within the reef the second time, we found the tides more considerable than we had ever done before, except in the Bay of Inlets, and possibly this may be owing to the water being more confined between the shoals; here also the flood sets to the north-west, and continues in the same direction to the extremity of New Wales, from whence its direction is west and south-west into the Indian sea.

CHAP. VII.

THE PASSAGE FROM NEW SOUTH WALES TO NEW GUINEA, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT
HAPPENED UPON LANDING THERE.

IN the afternoon of Thursday, August the 23d, after leaving Booby Island, we steered W. N. W., with light airs from the S. S. W. till five o’clock, when it fell calm, and the tide of ebb soon after setting to the N. E., we came to an anchor in eight fathom water, with a soft sandy bottom. Booby Island bore S. 50 E., distant five miles, and the Prince of Wales’s Isles extended from N. E. by N. to S. 55 E.; between these there appeared to be a clear open passage, extending from N. 46 E. to E. by N.

At half an hour after five, in the morning of the 24th, as we were purchasing the anchor, the cable parted at about eight or ten fathom from the ring: the ship then began to drive, but I immediately dropped another anchor, which brought her up before she got more than a cable’s length from the buoy; the boats were then sent to sweep for the anchor, but could not succeed. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 10° 30ʹ S. As I was resolved not to leave the anchor behind, while there remained a possibility of recovering it, I sent the boats again after dinner, with a small line, to discover where it lay; this being happily effected, we swept for it with a hawser, and by the same hawser hove the ship up to it: we proceeded to weigh it, but just as we were about to ship it, the hawser slipped, and we had all our labour to repeat. By this time it was dark, and we were obliged to suspend our operations till the morning.

As soon as it was light, we sweeped it again, and heaved it to the bows; by eight o’clock, we weighed the other anchor, got under sail, and, with a fine breeze at E. N. E., stood to the north-west. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 10° 18ʹ S., longitude 219° 39ʹ W. At this time we had no land in sight, but about two miles to the southward of us lay a large shoal, upon which the sea broke with great violence, and part of which, I believe, is dry at low water. It extends N. W. and S. E., and is about five leagues in circuit. Our depth of water, from the time we weighed till now, was nine fathom, but it soon shallowed to seven fathom; and at half an hour after one, having run eleven miles between noon and that time, the boat which was a-head made the signal for shoal water; we immediately let go an anchor, and brought the ship up with all the sails standing, for the boat having just been relieved, was at but a little distance: upon looking out from the ship, we saw shoal water almost all round us, both wind and tide at the same time setting upon it. The ship was in six fathom, but upon sounding round her, at the distance of half a cable’s length, we found scarcely two. This shoal reached from the east, round by the north and west, as far as the south-west, so that there was no way for us to get clear but that which we came. This was another hair’s-breadth escape, for it was near high-water, and there run a short cockling sea, which must very soon have bulged the ship if she had struck; and if her direction had been half a cable’s length more either to the right or left, she must have struck before the signal for the shoal was made. The shoals which, like these, lie a fathom or two under water, are the most dangerous of any, for they do not discover themselves till the vessel is just upon them, and then indeed the water looks brown, as if it reflected a dark cloud. Between three and four o’clock, the tide of ebb began to make, and I sent the master to sound to the southward and south-westward, and in the mean time, as the ship tended, I weighed anchor, and with a little sail stood first to the southward, and afterwards edging away to the westward, got once more out of danger. At sunset, we anchored in ten fathom, with a sandy bottom, having a fresh gale at E. S. E.

At six in the morning, we weighed again and stood west, having, as usual, first sent a boat a-head to sound. I had intended to steer N. W. till I had made the south coast of New Guinea, designing, if possible, to touch upon it; but upon meeting with these shoals, I altered my course, in hopes of finding a clearer channel and deeper water. In this I succeeded, for by noon our depth of water was gradually increased to seventeen fathom. Our latitude was now, by observation, 10° 10ʹ S.; and our longitude 220° 12ʹ W. No land was in sight. We continued to steer west till sunset, our depth of water being from twenty-seven to twenty-three fathom: we then shortened sail, and kept upon a wind all night; four hours on one tack, and four on another. At daylight, we made all the sail we could, and steered W. N. W. till eight o’clock, and then N. W. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 9° 56ʹ S., longitude 221° W., variation 2° 30ʹ E. We continued our N. W. course till sunset, when we again shortened sail, and hauled close upon a wind to the northward: our depth of water was twenty-one fathom. At eight, we tacked and stood to the southward till twelve; then stood to the northward with little sail till daylight: our soundings were from twenty-five to seventeen fathom, the water growing gradually shallow as we stood to the northward. At this time we made sail and stood to the north, in order to make the land of New Guinea: from the time of our making sail till noon, the depth of water gradually decreased from seventeen to twelve fathom, with a stoney and shelly bottom. Our latitude, by observation, was now 8° 52ʹ S., which is in the same parallel as that in which the southern parts of New Guinea are laid down in the charts; but there are only two points so far to the south, and I reckoned that we were a degree to the westward of them both, and therefore did not see the land, which trends more to the northward. We found the sea here to be in many parts covered with a brown scum, such as sailors generally call spawn. When I first saw it, I was alarmed, fearing that we were among shoals; but upon sounding, we found the same depth of water as in other places. This scum was examined both by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, but they could not determine what it was: it was formed of innumerable small particles, not more than half a line in length, each of which in the microscope appeared to consist of thirty or forty tubes; and each tube was divided through its whole length by small partitions into many cells, like the tubes of the conferva: they were supposed to belong to the vegetable kingdom, because, upon burning them, they produced no smell like that of an animal substance. The same appearance had been observed upon the coast of Brazil and New Holland, but never at any considerable distance from the shore. In the evening a small bird hovered about the ship, and at night, settling among the rigging, was taken. It proved to be exactly the same bird which Dampier has described, and of which he has given a rude figure, by the name of a Noddy from New Holland. (See his Voyages, vol. iii. p. 98. Tab. of Birds, fig. 5.)

We continued standing to the northward with a fresh gale at E. by S. and S. E. till six in the evening, having very irregular soundings, the depth changing at once from twenty-four fathom to seven. At four, we had seen the land from the mast-head, bearing N. W. by N.; it appeared to be very low, and to stretch from W. N. W. to N. N. E., distant four or five leagues. We now hauled close upon a wind till seven, then tacked and stood to the southward till twelve, at which time we wore and stood to the northward till four in the morning, then laid the head of the vessel off till daylight, when we again saw the land, and stood in N. N. W. directly for it, with a fresh gale at E. by S. Our soundings during the night were very irregular, from seven to five fathom, suddenly changing from deep to shallow, and from shallow to deep, without in the least corresponding with our distance from the land. At half an hour after six in the morning, a small low island, which lay at the distance of about a league from the main, bore N. by W. distant five miles: this island lies in latitude 8° 13ʹ S., longitude 221° 25ʹ W.; and I find it laid down in the charts by the names of Bartholomew and Whermoysen. We now steered N. W. by W., W. N. W., W. by N., W. by S., and S. W. by W., as we found the land lie, with from five to nine fathom; and though we reckoned we were not more than four leagues from it, yet it was so low and level, that we could but just see it from the deck. It appeared, however, to be well covered with wood, and among other trees, we thought we could distinguish the cocoa-nut. We saw smoke in several places, and therefore knew there were inhabitants. At noon, we were about three leagues from the land; the westernmost part of which that was in sight bore S. 79° W. Our latitude, by observation, was 8° 19ʹ S., and longitude 221° 44ʹ W. The island of St. Bartholomew bore N. 74 E. distant twenty miles.

After steering S. W. by W. six miles, we had shoal water on our starboard-bow, which I sent the yawl to sound, and at the same time hauled off upon a wind till four o’clock; and though, during that time, we had run six miles, we had not deepened our water an inch. I then edged away S. W. four miles more; but finding it still shoal water, I brought to, and called the boats aboard. At this time, being between three and four leagues from the shore, and the yawl having found only three fathom water in the place to which I had sent her to sound, I hauled off close upon a wind, and weathered the shoal about half a mile.

Between one and two o’clock, we passed a bay or inlet, before which lies a small island that seems to shelter it from the southerly winds; but I very much doubt whether there is sufficient depth of water behind it for shipping. I could not attempt to determine the question, because the S. E. trade-wind blows right into the bay, and we had not as yet had any breeze from the land.

We stretched off to sea till twelve o’clock, when we were about eleven leagues from the land, and had deepened our water to twenty-nine fathom. We now tacked and stood in till five in the morning; when, being in six fathom and a half, we tacked and laid the head of the vessel off till daylight, when we saw the land, bearing N. W. by W., at about the distance of four leagues. We now made sail, and steered first W. S. W., then W. by S.; but coming into five fathom and a half, we hauled off S. W. till we deepened our water to eight fathom, and then kept away W. by S. and W., having nine fathom, and the land just in sight from the deck; we judged it to be about four leagues distant, and it was still very low and woody. Great quantities of the brown scum continued to appear upon the water, and the sailors having given up the notion of its being spawn, found a new name for it, and called it Sea-saw-dust. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 8° 30ʹ S., our longitude 222° 34ʹ W.; and Saint Bartholomew’s Isle bore N. 69 E., distant seventy-four miles.

As all this coast appears to have been very minutely examined by the Dutch, and as our track, with the soundings, will appear by the chart, it is sufficient to say, that we continued our course to the northward with very shallow water, upon a bank of mud, at such a distance from the shore as that it could scarcely be seen from the ship, till the third of September. During this time we made many attempts to get near enough to go on shore, but without success; and having now lost six days of fair wind, at a time when we knew the south-east monsoon to be nearly at an end, we began to be impatient of farther delay, and determined to run the ship in as near to the shore as possible, and then land with the pinnace, while she kept plying off and on, to examine the produce of the country, and the disposition of the inhabitants. For the two last days we had early in the morning a light breeze from the shore, which was strongly impregnated with the fragrance of the trees, shrubs, and herbage that covered it, the smell being something like that of Gum Benjamin. On the 3d of September, at day-break, we saw the land extending from N. by E. to S. E., at about four leagues distance, and we then kept standing in for it with a fresh gale at E. S. E. and E. by S. till nine o’clock, when being within about three or four miles of it, and in three fathom water, we brought to. The pinnace being hoisted out, I set off from the ship with the boat’s crew, accompanied by Mr. Banks, who also took his servants, and Dr. Solander, being in all twelve persons well armed; we rowed directly towards the shore, but the water was so shallow that we could not reach it by about two hundred yards: we waded, however, the rest of the way, having left two of the seamen to take care of the boat. Hitherto we had seen no signs of inhabitants at this place; but as soon as we got ashore we discovered the prints of human feet, which could not long have been impressed upon the sand, as they were below high water mark: we therefore concluded that the people were at no great distance, and, as a thick wood came down within a hundred yards of the water, we thought it necessary to proceed with caution, lest we should fall into an ambuscade and our retreat to the boat be cut off. We walked along the skirts of the wood, and at the distance of about two hundred yards from the place where we landed, we came to a grove of cocoa-nut trees, which stood upon the banks of a little brook of brackish water. The trees were of a small growth, but well hung with fruit; and near them was a shed or hut, which had been covered with their leaves, though most of them were now fallen off: about the hut lay a great number of the shells of the fruit, some of which appeared to be just fresh from the tree. We looked at the fruit very wishfully, but not thinking it safe to climb, we were obliged to leave it without tasting a single nut. At a little distance from this place we found plantains, and a bread-fruit tree, but it had nothing upon it; and having now advanced about a quarter of a mile from the boat, three Indians rushed out of the wood with a hideous shout, at about the distance of a hundred yards; and as they ran towards us, the foremost threw something out of his hand, which flew on one side of him, and burnt exactly like gunpowder, but made no report: the other two instantly threw their lances at us; and, as no time was now to be lost, we discharged our pieces, which were loaded with small shot. It is probable that they did not feel the shot, for though they halted a moment, they did not retreat; and a third dart was thrown at us. As we thought their farther approach might be prevented with less risk of life, than it would cost to defend ourselves against their attack if they should come nearer, we loaded our pieces with ball, and fired a second time: by this discharge it is probable that some of them were wounded; yet we had the satisfaction to see that they all ran away with great agility. As I was not disposed forcibly to invade this country, either to gratify our appetites or our curiosity, and perceived that nothing was to be done upon friendly terms, we improved this interval, in which the destruction of the natives was no longer necessary to our own defence, and with all expedition returned towards our boat. As we were advancing along the shore, we perceived that the two men on board made signals that more Indians were coming down; and before we got into the water, we saw several of them coming round a point at the distance of about five hundred yards: it is probable that they had met with the three who first attacked us; for as soon as they saw us they halted, and seemed to wait till their main body should come up. We entered the water, and waded towards the boat; and they remained at their station, without giving us any interruption. As soon as we were aboard we rowed abreast of them, and their number then appeared to be between sixty and a hundred. We now took a view of them at our leisure; they made much the same appearance as the New Hollanders, being nearly of the same stature, and having their hair short cropped: like them also they were all stark naked, but we thought the colour of their skin was not quite so dark; this however might perhaps be merely the effect of their not being quite so dirty. All this while they were shouting defiance, and letting off their fires by four or five at a time. What these fires were, or for what purpose intended, we could not imagine: those who discharged them had in their hands a short piece of stick, possibly a hollow cane, which they swung sideways from them, and we immediately saw fire and smoke, exactly resembling those of a musket, and of no longer duration. This wonderful phenomenon was observed from the ship, and the deception was so great, that the people on board thought they had fire-arms; and in the boat, if we had not been so near as that we must have heard the report, we should have thought they had been firing volleys. After we had looked at them attentively some time, without taking any notice of their flashing and vociferation, we fired some muskets over their heads: upon hearing the balls rattle among the trees, they walked leisurely away, and we returned to the ship. Upon examining the weapons they had thrown at us, we found them to be light darts, about four feet long, very ill made, of a reed or bamboo cane, and pointed with hard wood, in which there were many barbs. They were discharged with great force; for though we were at sixty yards distance, they went beyond us, but in what manner we could not exactly see: possibly they might be shot with a bow; but we saw no bows among them when we surveyed them from the boat, and we were in general of opinion, that they were thrown with a stick, in the manner practised by the New Hollanders.

This place lies in the latitude of 6° 15ʹ S., and about sixty-five leagues to the N. E. of Port Saint Augustine, or Walche Caep, and is near what is called in the charts C. de la Colta de St. Bonaventura. The land here, like that in every other part of the coast, is very low, but covered with a luxuriance of wood and herbage that can scarcely be conceived. We saw the cocoa-nut, the bread-fruit, and the plantain tree, all flourishing in a state of the highest perfection, though the cocoa-nuts were green, and the bread-fruit not in season; besides most of the trees, shrubs, and plants that are common to the South Sea islands, New Zealand, and New Holland.

Soon after our return to the ship, we hoisted in the boat and made sail to the westward, being resolved to spend no more time upon this coast, to the great satisfaction of a very considerable majority of the ship’s company. But I am sorry to say that I was strongly urged by some of the officers to send a party of men ashore, and cut down the cocoa-nut trees for the sake of the fruit. This I peremptorily refused, as equally unjust and cruel. The natives had attacked us merely for landing upon their coast, when we attempted to take nothing away, and it was therefore morally certain that they would have made a vigorous effort to defend their property if it had been invaded, in which case many of them must have fallen a sacrifice to our attempt, and perhaps also some of our own people. I should have regretted the necessity of such a measure, if I had been in want of the necessaries of life; and certainly it would have been highly criminal when nothing was to be obtained but two or three hundred of green cocoa-nuts, which would at most have procured us a mere transient gratification. I might indeed have proceeded farther along the coast to the northward and westward, in search of a place where the ship might have lain so near the shore as to cover the people with her guns when they landed; but this would have obviated only part of the mischief, and though it might have secured us, would probably in the very act have been fatal to the natives. Besides, we had reason to think that before such a place would have been found, we should have been carried so far to the westward, as to have been obliged to go to Batavia, on the north side of Java; which I did not think so safe a passage as to the south of Java, through the Straights of Sunday: the ship also was so leaky that I doubted whether it would not be necessary to heave her down at Batavia, which was another reason for making the best of our way to that place; especially as no discovery could be expected in seas which had already been navigated, and where every coast had been laid down by the Dutch geographers. The Spaniards indeed, as well as the Dutch, seem to have circumnavigated all the islands in New Guinea, as almost every place that is distinguished in the chart has a name in both languages. The charts with which I compared such part of the coast as I visited, are bound up with a French work, intitled, “Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes,” which was published in 1756, and I found them tolerably exact; yet I know not by whom, nor when they were taken: and though New Holland and New Guinea are in them represented as two distinct countries, the very history in which they are bound up leaves it in doubt. I pretend however to no more merit in this part of the voyage, than to have established the fact beyond all controversy.

As the two countries lie very near each other, and the intermediate space is full of islands, it is reasonable to suppose that they were both peopled from one common stock: yet no intercourse appears to have been kept up between them; for if there had, the cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, plantains, and other fruits of New Guinea, which are equally necessary for the support of life, would certainly have been transplanted to New Holland, where no traces of them are to be found. The author of the “Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes,” in his account of La Maire’s voyage, has given a vocabulary of the language that is spoken in an island near New Britain, and we find, by comparing that vocabulary with the words which we learnt in New Holland, that the languages are not the same. If, therefore, it should appear, that the languages of New Britain and New Guinea are the same, there will be reason to suppose that New Britain and New Guinea were peopled from a common stock; but that the inhabitants of New Holland had a different origin, notwithstanding the proximity of the countries.

CHAP. VIII.

THE PASSAGE FROM NEW GUINEA TO THE ISLAND OF SAVU, AND THE TRANSACTIONS
THERE.

WE made sail, from noon on Monday the 3d to noon on Tuesday the 4th, standing to the westward, and all the time kept in soundings, having from fourteen to thirty fathom; not regular, but sometimes more, sometimes less. At noon on the 4th, we were in fourteen fathom, and latitude 6° 44ʹ S., longitude 223° 51ʹ W.; our course and distance since the 3d at noon, were S. 76 W. one hundred and twenty miles to the westward. At noon on the 5th of September, we were in latitude 7° 25ʹ S., longitude 225° 41ʹ W.; having been in soundings the whole time from ten to twenty fathom.

At half an hour after one in the morning of the next day, we passed a small island which bore from us N. N. W., distant between three and four miles; and at day-light we discovered another low island, extending from N. N. W. to N. N. E., distant about two or three leagues. Upon this island, which did not appear to be very small, I believe I should have landed to examine its produce, if the wind had not blown too fresh to admit of it. When we passed this island we had only ten fathom water, with a rocky bottom; and therefore I was afraid of running down to leeward, lest I should meet with shoal water and foul ground. These islands have no place in the charts except they are the Arrou islands; and if these, they are laid down much too far from New Guinea. I found the south part of them to lie in latitude 7° 6ʹ S., longitude 225° W.

We continued to steer W. S. W. at the rate of four miles and a half an hour, till ten o’clock at night, when we had forty-two fathom, at eleven we had thirty-seven, at twelve forty-five, at one in the morning forty-nine, and at three 120, after which we had no ground. At day-light, we made all the sail we could, and at ten o’clock, saw land, extending from N. N. W. to W. by N., distant between five and six leagues: at noon, it bore from N. to W., and at about the same distance: it appeared to be level, and of a moderate height. By our distance from New Guinea, it ought to have been part of the Arrou islands, but it lies a degree farther to the south than any of these islands are laid down in the charts; and by the latitude should be Timor Laoet: we sounded, but had no ground with fifty fathom.

As I was not able to satisfy myself from any chart, what land it was that I saw to leeward, and fearing that it might trend away more southerly, the weather also being so hazy that we could not see far, I steered S. W., and by four had lost sight of the island. I was now sure that no part of it lay to the southward of 8° 15ʹ S., and continued standing to the S. W. with an easy sail, and a fresh breeze at S. E. by E. and E. S. E.: we sounded every hour, but had no bottom with 120 fathom.

At day-break, in the morning, we steered W. S. W., and afterwards W. by S., which by noon brought us into the latitude of 9° 30ʹ S., longitude 229° 34ʹ W., and by our run from New Guinea, we ought to have been within sight of Weasel isles, which in the charts are laid down at the distance of twenty or twenty-five leagues from the coast of New Holland; we, however, saw nothing, and, therefore, they must have been placed erroneously; nor can this be thought strange, when it is considered that not only these islands, but the coast which bounds this sea, have been discovered and explored by different people, and at different times, and the charts upon which they are delineated, put together by others, perhaps at the distance of more than a century after the discoveries had been made; not to mention that the discoverers themselves had not all the requisites for keeping an accurate journal, of which those of the present age are possessed.

We continued our course, steering W. till the evening of the 8th, when the variation of the compass, by several azimuths, was 12ʹ W., and by the amplitude 5ʹ W. At noon, on the 9th, our latitude, by observation, was 9° 46ʹ S., longitude 232° 7ʹ W. For the last two days, we had steered due W., yet, by observation, we made sixteen miles southing, six miles from noon on the 6th to noon on the 7th, and ten miles from noon on the 7th to noon on the 8th, by which it appeared that there was a current setting to the southward. At sunset, we found the variation to be 2ʹ W., and at the same time, saw an appearance of very high land bearing N. W.