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

ing us fish and other provisions, we gave them several things, with which they seemed highlypleased. One of our young gentlemen seeing something wrapt up in a better manner than common,had the curiosity to examine what it was; and to his great surprise found it to be the head of a manlately killed. They were very apprehensive of its being forced from them; and particularly the manwho seemed most interested in it, whose very flesh crept on his bones, for fear of being punished byus, as Captain Cook had expressed his great abhorrence of this unnatural act. They used everymethod to conceal the head, by shifting it from one to another; and by signs endeavouring toconvince us, that there was no such thing amongst them, though we had seen it but a few minutesbefore. They then took their leave of us, and went on shore.They frequently mentioned Tupia, which was the name of the native of George's Island (orOtaheite), brought here by the Endeavour, and who died at Batavia; and when we told them he wasdead, some of them seemed to be very much concerned, and, as well as we could understand them,wanted to know whether we killed him, or if he died a natural death. By these questions, they are thesame tribe Captain Cook saw. In the afternoon, they returned again with fish and fern roots, whichthey sold for nails and other trifles; though the nails are what they set the most value on. The manand woman who had the head, did not come off again. Having a catalogue of words in theirlanguage, we called several things by name, which surprised them greatly. They wanted it much, andoffered a great quantity of fish for it.Next morning, they returned again, to the number of fifty or sixty, with their chief at their head (aswe supposed), in five double canoes. They gave us their implements of war, stone hatchets, andclothes, &c. for nails and old bottles, which they put a great value on. A number of the head mencame on board us, and it was with some difficulty we got them out of the ship by fair means; but onthe appearance of a musket with a fixed bayonet, they all went into their canoes very quickly. Wewere daily visited by more or less, who brought us fish in great plenty for nails, beads, and othertrifles, and behaved very peaceably.We settled the astronomer with his instruments, and a sufficient guard, on a small island, that isjoined to Motuara at low water, called the Hippa, where there was an old fortified town that thenatives had forsaken. Their houses served our people to live in; and, by sinking them about a footinside, we made them very comfortable. Having done this, we struck our tents on the Motuara, andhaving removed the ship farther into the cove on the west shore, moored her for the winter. We thenerected our tents near the river or watering-place, and sent ashore all the spars and lumber off thedecks, that they might be caulked; and gave her a winter coat to preserve the hull and rigging. On the11th of May, we felt two severe shocks of an earthquake, but received no kind of damage. On the17th, we were surprised by the people firing guns on the Hippa, and having sent the boat, as soon asshe opened the sound, had the pleasure of seeing the Resolution off the mouth of it. We immediatelysent out the boats to tow her in, it being calm. In the evening she anchored about a mile without us;and next morning weighed and warped within us. Both ships felt uncommon joy at our meeting,after an absence of fourteen weeks.[1][1] It is, perhaps, unnecessary to state, that the opinion expressed in this section, as to therebeing no straits between New Holland and Diemen's Land, is erroneous. The reader musthave previously known this.--E.SECTION VIII.Transactions in Queen Charlotte's Sound, with some Remarks on the Inhabitants.Knowing that scurvy-grass, celery, and other vegetables, were to be found in this sound, I went