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

it. The wind being at south, we were obliged to ply, and first stretched over for the west shore, from whichwe were three miles at noon, when our latitude was 14° 55' 30" S., longitude 167° 3' E.; the mouth of thebay extending from N. 64° W., to S. 86° E., which last direction was the bluff-head, distant three leagues.In the afternoon the wind veering to E.S.E., we could look up to the head of the bay; but as the breeze wasfaint, a N.E. swell hurtled us over to the west shore; so that, at half past four o'clock p.m., we were no morethan two miles from it, and tacked in one hundred and twenty fathoms water, a soft muddy bottom. Thebluff-head, or east point of the bay, bore north 53° east.We had no sooner tacked than it fell calm, and we were left to the mercy of the swell, which continued tohurtle us towards the shore, where large troops of people were assembled. Some ventured off in twocanoes; but all the signs of friendship we could make, did not induce them to come along- side, or nearenough to receive any present from us. At last they took sudden fright at something, and returned ashore.They were naked, except having some long grass, like flags, fastened to a belt, and hanging down beforeand behind, nearly as low as the knee. Their colour was very dark, and their hair woolly, or cut short,which made it seem so.[5] The canoes were small and had outriggers. The calm continued till near eighto'clock, in which time we drove into eighty-five fathoms water, and so near the shore that I expected weshould be obliged to anchor. A breeze of wind sprung up at E.S.E., and first took us on the wrong side; but,contrary to all our expectations, and when we had hardly room to veer, the ship came about, and havingfilled on the starboard tack, we stood off N.E. Thus we were relieved from the apprehensions of beingforced to anchor in a great depth, on a lee shore, and in a dark and obscure night.[5] Mr G.F. says some of them had bunches of feathers on their heads, others a white shell tied onthe forehead, and one a sago leaf rolled round his head forming a kind of cap. They came nearenough to the vessel to receive presents, and shewed a peculiar partiality for nails, which impliedsome acquaintance with their value and use. It was impossible to hold conversation with them byany known language, but it would seem, that their numerals bore strong resemblance to those of theFriendly Islands, or were indeed the same. There is reason to think then, as Captain Cook afterwardsnotices, that these are the same sort of people, if not the same individuals, that were seen on thefollowing day.--E.We continued to ply upwards, with variable light breezes between E.S.E. and S., till ten next morning,when it fell calm. We were, at this time, about seven or eight miles from the head of the bay, which isterminated by a low beach; and behind that, is an extensive flat covered with wood, and bounded on eachside by a ridge of mountains. At noon we found the latitude to be 15° 5' S., and were detained here by thecalm till one o'clock p.m., when we got a breeze at N. by W., with which we steered up to within two milesof the head of the bay; and then I sent Mr Cooper and Mr Gilbert to sound and reconnoitre the coast, whilewe stood to and fro with the ship. This gave time to three sailing canoes which had been following us sometime, to come up. There were five or six men in each; and they approached near enough to receive suchthings as were thrown to them fastened to a rope, but would not advance alongside. They were the samesort of people as those we had seen the preceding evening; indeed we thought they came from the sameplace. They seemed to be stouter and better shaped men than those of Mallicollo; and severalcircumstances concurred to make us think they were of another nation. They named the numerals as far asfive or six in the language of Anamocka, and understood us when we asked the names of the adjacent landsin that language. Some, indeed, had black short frizzled hair like the natives of Mallicollo, but others had itlong, tied up on the crown of the head, and ornamented with feathers like the New Zealanders. Their otherornaments were bracelets and necklaces; one man had something like a white shell on his forehead, andsome were painted with a blackish pigment. I did not see that they had any other weapon but darts andgigs, intended only for striking of fish. Their canoes were much like those of Tanna, and navigated in thesame manner, or nearly so. They readily gave us the names of such parts as we pointed to; but we could not