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

Recommendations

Info

Before I finish this account of these islands, it is necessary to mention all I know concerning thegovernment of Ulietea and Otaha. Oree, so often mentioned, is a native of Bolabola; but is possessed ofWhenooas or lands at Ulietea; which I suppose he, as well as many of his countrymen, got at the conquest.He resides here as Opoony's lieutenant; seeming to be vested with regal authority, and to be the suprememagistrate in the island. Oo-oo-rou, who is the Earee by hereditary right, seems to have little more left himthan the bare title, and his own Whenooa or district, in which I think he is sovereign. I have always seenOree pay him the respect due to his rank; and he was pleased when he saw me distinguish him from others.Otaha, so far as I can find, is upon the very same footing. Boba and Ota are the two chiefs; the latter I havenot seen; Boba is a stout, well-made young man; and we were told is, after Opoony's death, to marry hisdaughter, by which marriage he will be vested with the same regal authority as Opoony has now; so that itshould seem, though a woman may be vested with regal dignity, she cannot have regal power. I cannot findthat Opoony has got any thing to himself by the conquest of these isles, any farther than providing for hisnobles, who have seized on best part of the lands. He seems to have no demand on them for any of themany articles they have had from us. Oedidee has several times enumerated to me all the axes, nails, &c.which Opoony is possessed of, which hardly amount to as many as he had from me when I saw him in1769. Old as this famous man is, he seems not to spend his last days in indolence. When we first arrivedhere, he was at Maurana; soon after he returned to Bolabola; and we were now told, he was gone to Tubi.I shall conclude this account of these islands, with some observations on the watch which Mr Wales hathcommunicated to me. At our arrival in Matavai Bay in Otaheite, the longitude pointed out by the watchwas 2° 8' 38" ½ too far to the west; that is, it had gained, since our leaving Queen Charlotte's Sound, of itsthen rate of going, 8' 34" 1/2. This was in about five months, or rather more, during which time it hadpassed through the extremes of cold and heat. It was judged that half this error arose after we left EasterIsland; by which it appeared that it went better in the cold than in the hot climates.CHAPTER III.FROM ULIETEA TO NEW ZEALAND.SECTION I.Passage from Ulietea to the Friendly Isles, with a Description of several Islands that were discovered, andthe Incidents which happened in that Track.On the 6th, being the day after leaving Ulietea, at eleven o'clock a.m., we saw land bearing N.W., which,upon a nearer approach, we found to be a low reef island about four leagues in compass, and of a circularform. It is composed of several small patches connected together by breakers, the largest lying on the N.E.part. This is Howe Island, discovered by Captain Wallis, who, I think, sent his boat to examine it; and, if Ihave not been misinformed, found a channel through, within the reef, near the N.W. part. The inhabitantsof Ulietea speak of an uninhabited island about this situation, called by them Mopeha, to which they go atcertain seasons for turtle. Perhaps, this may be the same; as we saw no signs of inhabitants upon it. Itslatitude is 16° 46' S. longitude 154° 8' W.From this day to the 16th, we met nothing remarkable, and our course was west southerly; the winds
variable from north round by the east to S.W., attended with cloudy, rainy, unsettled weather, and asoutherly swell. We generally brought-to, or stood upon a wind during night; and in the day made all thesail we could. About half an hour after sun-rise this morning, land was seen from the top-mast head,bearing N.N.E. We immediately altered the course, and steering for it, found it to be another reef island,composed of five or six woody islets, connected together by sand-banks and breakers inclosing a lake, intowhich we could see no entrance. We ranged the west and N.W. coasts, from its southern to its northernextremity,which is about two leagues, and so near the shore, that at one time we could see the rocks underus; yet we found no anchorage, nor saw we any signs of inhabitants. There were plenty of various kinds ofbirds, and the coast seemed to abound with fish. The situation of this isle is not very distant from thatassigned by Mr Dalrymple for La Sagitaria, discovered by Quiros; but, by the description the discovererhas given of it, it cannot be the same. For this reason, I looked upon it as a new discovery, and named itPalmerston Island, in honour of Lord Palmerston, one of the lords of the Admiralty. It is situated in latitude18° 4' S. longitude 163° 10' W.At four o'clock in the afternoon, we left this isle, and resumed our course to the W. by S. with a fine steadygale easterly, till noon on the 20th, at which time, being in latitude 18° 50', longitude 168° 52, we thoughtwe saw land to S.S.W. and hauled up for it accordingly. But two hours after, we discovered our mistake,and resumed our course W. by S. Soon after, we saw land from the mast-head in the same direction; and,as we drew nearer, found it to be an island, which, at five o'clock, bore west, distant five leagues. Here wespent the night plying under the topsails; and at day- break next morning, bore away, steering to thenorthern point, and ranging the west coast at the distance of one mile, till near noon. Then perceiving somepeople on the shore, and landing seeming to be easy, we brought-to, and hoisted out two boats, with whichI put off to the land, accompanied by some of the officers and gentlemen. As we drew near the shore, someof the inhabitants, who were on the rocks, retired to the woods, to meet us, as we supposed; and weafterwards found our conjectures right. We landed with ease in a small creek, and took post on a high rockto prevent a surprise. Here we displayed our colours, and Mr Forster and his party began to collect plants,&c. The coast was so over-run with woods, bushes, plants, stones, &c. that we could not see forty yardsround us. I took two men, and with them entered a kind of chasm, which opened a way into the woods. Wehad not gone far before we heard the natives approaching; upon which I called to Mr Forster to retire to theparty, as I did likewise. We had no sooner joined than the islanders appeared at the entrance of a chasm nota stone's throw from us. We began to speak, and make all the friendly signs we could think of, to them,which they answered by menaces; and one of two men, who were advanced before the rest, threw a stone,which struck Mr Sparrman on the arm. Upon this two muskets were fired, without order, which made themall retire under cover of the woods; and we saw them no more.After waiting for some little time, and till we were satisfied nothing was to be done here, the country beingso overrun with bushes, that it was hardly possible to come to parley with them, we embarked andproceeded down along shore, in hopes of meeting with better success in another place. After ranging thecoast for some miles, without seeing a living soul, or any convenient landing-place, we at length camebefore a small beach, on which lay four canoes. Here we landed by means of a little creek, formed by theflat rocks before it, with a view of just looking at the canoes, and to leave some medals, nails, &c. in them;for not a soul was to be seen. The situation of this place was to us worse than the former. A flat rock laynext the sea; behind it a narrow stone beach; this was bounded by a perpendicular rocky cliff of unequalheight, whose top was covered with shrubs; two deep and narrow chasms in the cliff seemed to open acommunication into the country. In or before one of these lay the four canoes which we were going to lookat; but in the doing of this, I saw we should be exposed to an attack from the natives, if there were any,without being in a situation proper for defence. To prevent this, as much as could be, and to secure a retreatin case of an attack, I ordered the men to be drawn up upon the rock, from whence they had a view of the
Page 1 and 2:
AGENERALHISTORY AND COLLECTIONOFVOY
Page 3 and 4:
Produce, and Inhabitants: Astronomi
Page 5 and 6:
SECTION I. Passage from Ulietea to
Page 7 and 8:
First Voyage, &c., second edition.
Page 9 and 10:
After leaving these islands, Quiros
Page 11 and 12:
of his instructions, he did not fin
Page 13:
had been well ascertained, and foun
Page 16 and 17:
[14] Till the discovery of what has
Page 18 and 19:
third lieutenants, the lieutenant o
Page 20 and 21:
have made, would have done honour t
Page 22 and 23:
learning from his voyage; that he w
Page 24 and 25:
long as the condition of the ships,
Page 26 and 27:
occasional use of fires to destroy
Page 28 and 29:
To record incidents such as these,
Page 30 and 31:
on this occasion, was not omitted.T
Page 32 and 33:
At two in the afternoon on the 29th
Page 34 and 35:
[10] Mr G.F. speaks with much more
Page 36 and 37:
steering directly for, till we were
Page 38 and 39:
ears; they immediately rowed toward
Page 40 and 41:
On the 24th, the wind blew from N.W
Page 42 and 43:
This longitude is nearly the same t
Page 44 and 45:
Myself, being the mean of six dista
Page 46 and 47:
land.At nine o'clock, the wind veer
Page 48 and 49:
elieve that land of any extent lay
Page 50 and 51:
seen in the heavens, similar to tho
Page 52 and 53:
and dashing of the waves into the c
Page 54 and 55:
longitude was 121° 9'. At three o'
Page 56 and 57:
We continued to advance to the N.E.
Page 58 and 59:
come nearer. After dinner I took tw
Page 60 and 61:
discover himself, had taken some li
Page 62 and 63:
These he never would suffer to go o
Page 64 and 65:
continued without intermission till
Page 66 and 67:
emote from the present trading part
Page 68 and 69:
which is not more remarkable for th
Page 70 and 71:
clouds, and seemed to forebode much
Page 72 and 73:
which appears supernatural, and wil
Page 74 and 75:
hills; plenty of water which falls
Page 76 and 77:
and with much difficulty we saved h
Page 78 and 79:
myself the morning after my arrival
Page 80 and 81:
lioness. It certainly bore much res
Page 82 and 83:
me before that time, he was then to
Page 84 and 85:
their existence. But nature, we may
Page 86 and 87:
subject, this disease was indigenou
Page 88 and 89:
and seldom higher than 54, at the s
Page 90 and 91:
the time, blew from different direc
Page 92 and 93:
inhabiting the lithophytes. They ra
Page 94 and 95:
were striking, and left us a little
Page 96 and 97:
After the first salutation was over
Page 98 and 99:
presented the king with two fine go
Page 100 and 101:
former. I told them to return me th
Page 102 and 103:
the harbour, I chose to turn in by
Page 104 and 105:
going. As his intention in coming i
Page 106 and 107:
which taught him to avoid the socie
Page 108 and 109:
On the 11th, early in the morning,
Page 110 and 111:
one; at last, all my enquiries gave
Page 112 and 113:
disease existed at Otaheite previou
Page 114 and 115:
is soft and pulpy, then they spit i
Page 116 and 117:
many parts of England."-G.F.After r
Page 118 and 119:
they did not seem willing to part w
Page 120 and 121:
extraordinary value at Otaheite and
Page 122 and 123:
After we had done examining this pl
Page 124 and 125:
The officer informed me that the na
Page 126 and 127:
ass kettle, a saw, two large spikes
Page 128 and 129:
[1] This subject is resumed in the
Page 130 and 131:
desirous of those we had on board.
Page 132 and 133:
Their ornaments are amulets, neckla
Page 134 and 135:
wants the common necessaries of lif
Page 136 and 137:
common features, and cannot, theref
Page 138 and 139:
"Though we were situated under the
Page 140 and 141:
six o'clock, being off Cloudy Bay,
Page 142 and 143:
eing persuaded they would take prop
Page 144 and 145:
we embarked, in order to return on
Page 146 and 147:
youth under twenty.[8][7] An instan
Page 148 and 149:
in the history of almost all nation
Page 150 and 151:
for Cape Teerawhitte, and afterward
Page 152 and 153:
The Sun himselfe cannot forgetHis f
Page 154 and 155:
place where they are formed.[3][3]
Page 156 and 157:
manner, covered with ice; a hard ga
Page 158 and 159:
improvement of discipline, the incr
Page 160 and 161:
[10] A few days before, according t
Page 162 and 163:
pintadoe peterel, some blue peterel
Page 164 and 165:
south, which soon after freshened,
Page 166 and 167:
Endeavour; so that this can hardly
Page 168 and 169: stocked with abundance of fowls and
Page 170 and 171: lackish brown cavernous and brittle
Page 172 and 173: passed along, they observed on a hi
Page 174 and 175: fresh water worth taking on board.
Page 176 and 177: towards each end. To these are tied
Page 178 and 179: perseverance of these islanders in
Page 180 and 181: I continued to steer to the west ti
Page 182 and 183: ut could not prevail on the chief t
Page 184 and 185: are a mile from each other, in the
Page 186 and 187: grounds, for such an inference.--E.
Page 188 and 189: abounding, I have been told, with f
Page 190 and 191: now entirely recovered from the blo
Page 192 and 193: come forwards in a curve. This fron
Page 194 and 195: Next day we had a present of a hog
Page 196 and 197: dinner; after which I went down to
Page 198 and 199: more proper for me to go. All his a
Page 200 and 201: end; and all I could expect, after
Page 202 and 203: We had no sooner dispatched our fri
Page 204 and 205: send him red feathers in abundance.
Page 206 and 207: hundred and ten, besides smaller ca
Page 208 and 209: especially by the ladies; as many o
Page 210 and 211: went on shore with a boat's crew, a
Page 212 and 213: in the neighbourhood; but they were
Page 214 and 215: which, according to the simplicity
Page 216 and 217: their religion, customs, traditions
Page 220 and 221: heights; and only myself, and four
Page 222 and 223: the same that Tasman watered at. In
Page 224 and 225: officer. One time, after he had bee
Page 226 and 227: uncultivated. There is, however, fa
Page 228 and 229: the 9th, when we had for a few hour
Page 230 and 231: small shot, I gave him the contents
Page 232 and 233: of a negroe. Their beards are very
Page 234 and 235: view of plying up to the eastward o
Page 236 and 237: acceptable entertainment, and were
Page 238 and 239: then, to pop out and throw a dart.
Page 240 and 241: SECTION V.An Intercourse establishe
Page 242 and 243: troublesome to the eyes.Early in th
Page 244 and 245: island. Hence, that gentleman infer
Page 246 and 247: expeditious as it can well be. They
Page 248 and 249: observed, were planted as thick as
Page 250 and 251: that were prevailed on to stay, ran
Page 252 and 253: We understood that the little isle
Page 254 and 255: weapons; almost every one of them c
Page 256 and 257: appeared over the west end of Tanna
Page 258 and 259: it. The wind being at south, we wer
Page 260 and 261: [6] "Quiros had great reason to ext
Page 262 and 263: went; and the middle of it is in la
Page 264 and 265: untoward circumstances of the world
Page 266 and 267: weather side of it, we stood in wit
Page 268 and 269:
appearance of the country.--"We wal
Page 270 and 271:
after my return on board.It was of
Page 272 and 273:
Accordingly I ordered them to be ta
Page 274 and 275:
of it. A nation of women, we may co
Page 276 and 277:
I have before observed, that the co
Page 278 and 279:
in their country, and the scanty su
Page 280 and 281:
hoisted in the boats, and made sail
Page 282 and 283:
leagues. In the afternoon, with a f
Page 284 and 285:
e done. We had from the top-mast-he
Page 286 and 287:
in a space of two hundred leagues;
Page 288 and 289:
eighteen fathoms water close to the
Page 290 and 291:
[3] "They continued from time to ti
Page 292 and 293:
A little within the entrance on the
Page 294 and 295:
then squatted herself down, on her
Page 296 and 297:
longitude 166° 15' W.On the 20th,
Page 298 and 299:
Two hours after, we made the land,
Page 300 and 301:
inlet was another, with several isl
Page 302 and 303:
harbour is not quite free from this
Page 304 and 305:
enough to spoil the appetite of any
Page 306:
which we called EMBOTHRIUM coccineu
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?