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

then, to pop out and throw a dart. Four lay, to all appearance, dead on the shore; but two of themafterwards crawled into the bushes. Happy it was for these people, that not half our muskets would go off,otherwise many more must have fallen. We had one man wounded in the cheek with a dart, the point ofwhich was as thick as my finger, and yet it entered above two inches, which shews that it must have comewith great force, though indeed we were very near them. An arrow struck Mr Gilbert's naked breast, whowas about thirty yards off; but probably it had struck something before; for it hardly penetrated the skin.The arrows were pointed with hard wood.As soon as we got on board, I ordered the anchor to be weighed, with a view of anchoring near the landingplace.While this was doing, several people appeared on the low rock point, displaying two oars we hadlost in the scuffle. I looked on this as a sign of submission, and of their wanting to give us the oars. I was,nevertheless, prevailed on to fire a four-pound shot at them, to let them see the effect of our great guns.The ball fell short, but frightened them so much, that none were seen afterwards; and they left the oarsstanding up against the bushes.It was now calm; but the anchor was hardly at the bow before a breeze sprung up at north, of which wetook the advantage, set our sails, and plyed out of the bay, as it did not seem capable of supplying ourwants with that conveniency I wished to have. Besides, I always had it in my power to return to this place,in case I should find none more convenient farther south.These islanders seemed to be a different race from those of Mallicollo; and spoke a different language.They are of the middle size, have a good shape, and tolerable features. Their colour is very dark, and theypaint their faces, some with black, and others with red pigment. Their hair is very curly and crisp, andsomewhat woolly. I saw a few women, and I thought them ugly; they wore a kind of petticoat made ofpalm-leaves, or some plant like it. But the men, like those of Mallicollo, were in a manner naked; havingonly the belt about the waist, and the piece of cloth, or leaf, used as a wrapper. I saw no canoes with thesepeople, nor were any seen in any part of this island. They live in houses covered with thatch, and theirplantations are laid out by a line, and fenced round.At two o'clock in the afternoon, we were clear of the bay, bore up round the head, and steered S.S.E. forthe south end of the island, having a fine breeze at N.W. On the S.W. side of the head is a pretty deep bay,which seemed to run in behind the one on the N.W. side. Its shores are low, and the adjacent landsappeared very fertile. It is exposed to the S.E. winds; for which reason, until it be better known, the N.W.bay is preferable, because it is sheltered from the reigning winds; and the winds to which it is open, viz.from N.W. by N. to E. by N., seldom blow strong. The promontory, or peninsula, which disjoins these twobays, I named Traitor's Head, from the treacherous behaviour of its inhabitants. It is the N.E. point of theisland, situated in the latitude 18° 43' S. longitude 169° '28' E., and terminates in a saddle-hill which is ofheight sufficient to be seen sixteen or eighteen leagues. As we advanced to S.S.E., the new island, we hadbefore discovered, began to appear over the S.E. point of the one near us, bearing S. 1/2 E., distant ten ortwelve leagues. After leaving this one, we steered for the east end of the other, being directed by a greatlight we saw upon it.At one o'clock the next morning, drawing near the shore, we tacked and spent the remainder of the nightmaking short boards. At sun-rise we discovered a high table land (an island) bearing E. by S., and a smalllow isle in the direction of N.N.E., which we had passed in the night without seeing it. Traitor's Head wasstill in sight, bearing N. 20° W. distant fifteen leagues, and the island to the south extended from S. 7° W.to S. 87° W. distant three or four miles. We then found that the light we had seen in the night was