A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

grounds, for such an inference.--E.SECTION XI.A Description of several Islands discovered, or seen in the Passage from the Marquesas to Otaheite; withan Account of a Naval Review.With a fine easterly wind I steered S.W.--S.W. by W. and W. by S. till the 17th, at ten o'clock in themorning, when land was seen bearing W. 1/2 N., which, upon a nearer approach, we found to be a string oflow islets connected together by a reef of coral rocks. We ranged the northwest coast, at the distance of onemile from shore, to three quarters of its length, which in the whole is near four leagues, when we came to acreek or inlet that seemed to open a communication into the lake in the middle of the isle. As I wanted toobtain some knowledge of the produce of these half- drowned isles, we brought-to, hoisted out a boat, andsent the master in to sound; there being no soundings without.As we ran along the coast, the natives appeared in several places armed with long spears and clubs; andsome were got together on one side of the creek. When the master returned he reported that there was nopassage into the lake by the creek, which was fifty fathoms wide at the entrance, and thirty deep; farther in,thirty wide, and twelve deep; that the bottom was every where rocky, and the sides bounded by a wall ofcoral rocks. We were under no necessity to put the ship into such a place as this; but as the natives hadshewn some signs of a friendly disposition, by coming peaceably to the boat, and taking such things aswere given them, I sent two boats well armed ashore, under the command of Lieutenant Cooper, with aview of having some intercourse with them, and to give Mr Forster an opportunity of collecting somethingin his way. We saw our people land without the least opposition being made by a few natives who were onthe shores. Some little time after, observing forty or fifty more, all armed, coming to join them, we stoodclose in shore, in order to be ready to support our people in case of an attack. But nothing of this kindhappened; and soon after our boats returned aboard, when Mr Cooper informed me, that, on his landing,only a few of the natives met him on the beach, but there were many in the skirts of the woods with spearsin their hands. The presents he made them were received with great coolness, which plainly shewed wewere unwelcome visitors. When their reinforcement arrived he thought proper to embark, as the day wasalready far spent, and I had given orders to avoid an attack by all possible means. When his men got intothe boats, some were for pushing them off, others for detaining them; but at last they suffered them todepart at their leisure. They brought aboard five dogs, which seemed to be in plenty there. They saw nofruit but cocoa-nuts, of which, they got, by exchanges, two dozen. One of our people got a dog for a singleplantain, which led us to conjecture they had none of this fruit.[1][1] Mr G.F., who was one of the party that went ashore, gives a sketch of the people. They were a setof stout men, of a dark-brown colour, not disagreeable features, with dark curling hair and beards,perfectly naked, and variously marked on different parts of the body. They had the New Zealandcustom of touching noses as a salutation; and their language seemed a dialect of the Otaheitean.--E.This island, which is called by the inhabitants Ti-oo-kea, was discovered and visited by CommodoreByron. It has something of an oval shape, is about ten leagues in circuit, lying in the direction of E.S.E. andW.N.W., and situated in the latitude of 14° 27' 30" S., longitude 144° 56' W. The inhabitants of this island,and perhaps of all the low ones, are of a much darker colour than those of the higher islands, and seem tobe of a more ferine disposition. This may be owing to their situation. Nature not having bestowed herfavours to these low islands with that profusion she has done to some of the others, the inhabitants are