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

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heights; and only myself, and four of the gentlemen, went up to the canoes. We had been there but a fewminutes, before the natives, I cannot say how many, rushed down the chasm out of the wood upon us. Theendeavours we used to bring them to a parley, were to no purpose; for they came with the ferocity of wildboars, and threw their darts. Two or three muskets, discharged in the air did not hinder one of them fromadvancing still farther, and throwing another dart, or rather a spear, which passed close over my shoulder.His courage would have cost him his life, had not my musket missed fire; for I was not five paces fromhim when he threw his spear, and had resolved to shoot him to save myself. I was glad afterwards that ithappened as it did. At this instant, our men on the rock began to fire at others who appeared on the heights,which abated the ardour of the party we were engaged with, and gave us time to join our people, when Icaused the firing to cease. The last discharge sent all the islanders to the woods, from whence they did notreturn so long as we remained. We did not know that any were hurt. It was remarkable, that when I joinedour party, I tried my musket in the air, and it went off as well as a piece could do. Seeing no good was tobe got with these people, or at the isle, as having no port, we returned on board, and having hoisted in theboats, made sail to the W.S.W. I had forgot to mention in its proper order, that having put ashore a littlebefore we came to this last place, three or four of us went upon the cliffs, where we found the country, asbefore, nothing but coral rocks, all over-run with bushes, so that it was hardly possible to penetrate into it;and we embarked again with intent to return directly on board, till we saw the canoes; being directed to theplace by the opinion of some of us, who thought they heard some people.The conduct and aspect of these islanders occasioned my naming it Savage Island. It is situated in thelatitude 19° 1' S. longitude 169° 37' W. It is about eleven leagues in circuit; of a round form, and goodheight; and hath deep waters close to its shores. All the sea-coast, and as far inland as we could see, iswholly covered with trees, shrubs, &c.; amongst which were some cocoa-nut trees; but what the interiorparts may produce we know not. To judge of the whole garment by the skirts, it cannot produce much; forso much as we saw of it consisted wholly of coral rocks, all over-run with woods and bushes. Not a bit ofsoil was to be seen; the rocks alone supplying the trees with humidity. If these coral rocks were firstformed in the sea by animals, how came they thrown up to such an height? Has this island been raised byan earthquake? Or has the sea receded from it? Some philosophers have attempted to account for theformation of low isles, such as are in the sea; but I do not know that any thing has been said of highislands, or such as I have been speaking of. In this island, not only the loose rocks which cover the surface,but the cliffs which bound the shores, are of coral stone, which the continual beating of the sea has formedinto a variety of curious caverns, some of them very large: The roof or rock over them being supported bypillars, which the foaming waves have formed into a multitude of shapes, and made more curious than thecaverns themselves. In one we saw light was admitted through a hole at the top; in another place, weobserved that the whole roof of one of these caverns had sunk in, and formed a kind of valley above, whichlay considerably below the circumjacent rocks.I can say but little of the inhabitants, who, I believe, are not numerous. They seemed to be stout well-mademen, were naked except round the waists, and some of them had their faces, breasts, and thighs paintedblack. The canoes were precisely like those of Amsterdam; with the addition of a little rising like agunwale on each side of the open part; and had some carving about them, which shewed that these peopleare full as ingenious. Both these islanders and their canoes agree very well with the description M. deBougainville has given of those he saw off the Isle of Navigators, which lies nearly under the samemeridian.After leaving Savage Island, we continued to steer W.S.W. with a fine easterly trade-wind, till the 24th inthe evening, when, judging ourselves not far from Rotterdam, we brought-to, and spent the night plyingunder the top-sails. At daybreak next morning, we bore away west; and soon after, saw a string of islands
extending from S.S.W. by the west to N.N.W. The wind being at N.E., we hauled to N.W., with a view ofdiscovering more distinctly the isles in that quarter; but, presently after, we discovered a reef of rocks a-head, extending on each bow farther than we could see. As we could not weather them, it becamenecessary to tack and bear up to the south, to look for a passage that way. At noon the southernmost islandbore S.W., distant four miles. North of this isle were three others, all connected by breakers, which wewere not sure did not join to those we had seen in the morning, as some were observed in the intermediatespace. Some islands were also seen to the west of those four; but Rotterdam was not yet in sight. Latitude20° 23' S. longitude 174° 6' W. During the whole afternoon, we had little wind; so that at sunset, thesouthernmost isle bore W.N.W., distant five miles; and some breakers, we had seen to the south, bore nowS.S.W. 1/2 W. Soon after it fell calm, and we were left to the mercy of a great easterly swell; which,however, happened to have no great effect upon the ship. The calm continued till four o'clock the nextmorning, when it was succeeded by a breeze from the south. At day-light, perceiving a likelihood of apassage between the islands to the north and the breakers to the south, we stretched in west, and soon aftersaw more islands, both to the S.W. and N.W., but the passage seemed open and clear. Upon drawing nearthe islands, we sounded, and found forty-five and forty fathoms, a clear sandy bottom. I was now quiteeasy, since it was in our power to anchor, in case of a calm; or to spend the night, if we found no passage.Towards noon some canoes came off to us from one of the isles, having two or three people in each; whoadvanced boldly alongside, and exchanged some cocoa-nuts, and shaddocks, for small nails. They pointedout to us Anamocka, or Rotterdam; an advantage we derived from knowing the proper names. Theylikewise gave us the names of some of the other isles, and invited us much to go to theirs, which theycalled Cornango. The breeze freshening, we left them astern, and steered for Anamocka; meeting with aclear passage, in which we found unequal sounding, from forty to nine fathoms, depending, I believe, in agreat measure, on our distance from the islands which form it.As we drew near the south end of Rotterdam, or Anamocka, we were met by a number of canoes, ladenwith fruit and roots; but as I did not shorten sail, we had but little traffic with them. The people in onecanoe enquired for me by name; a proof that these people have an intercourse with those of Amsterdam.They importuned us much to go towards their coast, letting us know, as we understood them, that we mightanchor there. This was on the S.W. side of the island, where the coast seemed to be sheltered from the S.and S.E. winds; but as the day was far spent, I could not attempt to go in there, as it would have beennecessary to have sent first a boat to examine it. I therefore stood for the north side of the island, where weanchored about three-fourths of a mile from shore; the extremes of it bearing south, 88° E. to S.W.; a covewith a sandy beach at the bottom of it S. 50° E.SECTION II.Reception at Anamocka; a Robbery and its Consequences, with a Variety of other Incidents. Departurefrom the Island. A sailing Canoe described. Some Observations on the Navigation of these Islanders. ADescription of the Island, and of those in the Neighbourhood, with some Account of the Inhabitants, andnautical Remarks.Before we had well got to an anchor, the natives came off from all parts in canoes, bringing with themyams and shaddocks, which they exchanged for small nails and old rags. One man taking a vast liking toour lead and line, got hold of it, and, in spite of all the threats I could make use of, cut the line with a stone;but a discharge of small shot made him return it. Early in the morning, I went ashore with Mr Gilbert tolook for fresh water. We landed in the cove above-mentioned, and were received with great courtesy by thenatives. After I had distributed some presents amongst them, I asked for water, and was conducted to apond of it that was brackish, about three-fourths of a mile from the landing-place, which I supposed to be
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AGENERALHISTORY AND COLLECTIONOFVOY
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Produce, and Inhabitants: Astronomi
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SECTION I. Passage from Ulietea to
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First Voyage, &c., second edition.
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After leaving these islands, Quiros
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of his instructions, he did not fin
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had been well ascertained, and foun
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[14] Till the discovery of what has
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third lieutenants, the lieutenant o
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have made, would have done honour t
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learning from his voyage; that he w
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long as the condition of the ships,
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occasional use of fires to destroy
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To record incidents such as these,
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on this occasion, was not omitted.T
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At two in the afternoon on the 29th
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[10] Mr G.F. speaks with much more
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steering directly for, till we were
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ears; they immediately rowed toward
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On the 24th, the wind blew from N.W
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This longitude is nearly the same t
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Myself, being the mean of six dista
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land.At nine o'clock, the wind veer
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elieve that land of any extent lay
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seen in the heavens, similar to tho
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and dashing of the waves into the c
Page 54 and 55:
longitude was 121° 9'. At three o'
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We continued to advance to the N.E.
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come nearer. After dinner I took tw
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discover himself, had taken some li
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These he never would suffer to go o
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continued without intermission till
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emote from the present trading part
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which is not more remarkable for th
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clouds, and seemed to forebode much
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which appears supernatural, and wil
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hills; plenty of water which falls
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and with much difficulty we saved h
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myself the morning after my arrival
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lioness. It certainly bore much res
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me before that time, he was then to
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their existence. But nature, we may
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subject, this disease was indigenou
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and seldom higher than 54, at the s
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the time, blew from different direc
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inhabiting the lithophytes. They ra
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were striking, and left us a little
Page 96 and 97:
After the first salutation was over
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presented the king with two fine go
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former. I told them to return me th
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the harbour, I chose to turn in by
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going. As his intention in coming i
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which taught him to avoid the socie
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On the 11th, early in the morning,
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one; at last, all my enquiries gave
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disease existed at Otaheite previou
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is soft and pulpy, then they spit i
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many parts of England."-G.F.After r
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they did not seem willing to part w
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extraordinary value at Otaheite and
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After we had done examining this pl
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The officer informed me that the na
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ass kettle, a saw, two large spikes
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[1] This subject is resumed in the
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desirous of those we had on board.
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Their ornaments are amulets, neckla
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wants the common necessaries of lif
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common features, and cannot, theref
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"Though we were situated under the
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six o'clock, being off Cloudy Bay,
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eing persuaded they would take prop
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we embarked, in order to return on
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youth under twenty.[8][7] An instan
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in the history of almost all nation
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for Cape Teerawhitte, and afterward
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The Sun himselfe cannot forgetHis f
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place where they are formed.[3][3]
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manner, covered with ice; a hard ga
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improvement of discipline, the incr
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[10] A few days before, according t
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pintadoe peterel, some blue peterel
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south, which soon after freshened,
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Endeavour; so that this can hardly
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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 218 and 219: Before I finish this account of the
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
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after my return on board.It was of
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Accordingly I ordered them to be ta
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of it. A nation of women, we may co
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I have before observed, that the co
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in their country, and the scanty su
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hoisted in the boats, and made sail
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leagues. In the afternoon, with a f
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e done. We had from the top-mast-he
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in a space of two hundred leagues;
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eighteen fathoms water close to the
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[3] "They continued from time to ti
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A little within the entrance on the
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then squatted herself down, on her
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longitude 166° 15' W.On the 20th,
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Two hours after, we made the land,
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inlet was another, with several isl
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harbour is not quite free from this
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enough to spoil the appetite of any
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which we called EMBOTHRIUM coccineu
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