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A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1 by James Cook

J >> James Cook >> A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1




Here are, as well as in all other parts of New Zealand, a great number of
aromatic trees and shrubs, most of the myrtle kind; but amidst all this
variety, we met with none which bore fruit fit to eat.

In many parts the woods are so over-run with supplejacks, that it is
scarcely possible to force one's way amongst them. I have seen several
which were fifty or sixty fathoms long.

The soil is a deep black mould, evidently composed of decayed vegetables,
and so loose that it sinks under you at every step; and this may be the
reason why we meet with so many large trees as we do, blown down by the
wind, even in the thickest part of the woods. All the ground amongst the
trees is covered with moss and fern, of both which there is a great
variety; but except the flax or hemp plant, and a few other plants, there
is very little herbage of any sort, and none that was eatable, that we
found, except about a handful of water-cresses, and about the same quantity
of cellery. What Dusky Bay most abounds with is fish: A boat with six or
eight men, with hooks and lines, caught daily sufficient to serve the whole
ship's company. Of this article the variety is almost equal to the plenty,
and of such kinds as are common to the more northern coast; but some are
superior, and in particular the cole fish, as we called it, which is both
larger and finer flavoured than any I had seen before, and was, in the
opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded us. The
shell-fish are, muscles, cockles, scallops, cray-fish, and many other
sorts, all such as are to be found in every other part of the coast. The
only amphibious animals are seals: These are to be found in great numbers
about this bay on the small rocks and isles near the sea coast.

We found here five different kinds of ducks, some of which I do not
recollect to have any where seen before. The largest are as big as a
Muscovy duck, with a very beautiful variegated plumage, on which account we
called it the Painted Duck; both male and female have a large white spot on
each wing; the head and neck of the latter is white, but all the other
feathers as well as those on the head and neck of the drake are of a dark
variegated colour. The second sort have a brown plumage, with bright green
feathers in their wings, and are about the size of an English tame duck.
The third sort is the blue-grey duck, before mentioned, or the whistling
duck, as some called them, from the whistling noise they made. What is most
remarkable in these is, that the end of their beaks is soft, and of a
skinny, or more properly, cartilaginous substance. The fourth sort is
something bigger than a teal, and all black except the drake, which has
some white feathers in his wing. There are but few of this sort, and we saw
them no where but in the river at the head of the bay. The last sort is a
good deal like a teal, and very common, I am told, in England. The other
fowls, whether belonging to the sea and land, are the same that are to be
found in common in other parts of this country, except the blue peterel
before-mentioned, and the water or wood-hens. These last, although they
are numerous enough here, are so scarce in other parts, that I never saw
but one. The reason may be, that, as they cannot fly, they inhabit the
skirts of the woods, and feed on the sea-beach, and are so very tame or
foolish, as to stand and stare at us till we knocked them down with a
stick. The natives may have, in a manner, wholly destroyed them. They are a
sort of rail, about the size and a good deal like a common dunghill hen;
most of them are of a dirty black or dark-brown colour, and eat very well
in a pye or fricassee. Among the small birds I must not omit to
particularize the wattle-bird, poy-bird, and fan-tail, on account of their
singularity, especially as I find they are not mentioned in the narrative
of my former voyage.

The wattle-bird, so called, because it has two wattles under its beak as
large as those of a small dunghill-cock, is larger, particularly in length,
than an English black-bird. Its bill is short and thick, and its feathers
of a dark lead colour; the colour of its wattles is a dull yellow, almost
an orange colour.

The poy-bird is less than the wattle-bird. The feathers of a fine mazarine
blue, except those of its neck, which are of a most beautiful silver-grey,
and two or three short white ones, which are on the pinion joint of the
wing. Under its throat hang two little tufts of curled, snow-white
leathers, called its _poies_, which being the Otaheitean word for
earrings, occasioned our giving that name to the bird, which is not more
remarkable for the beauty of its plumage than for the sweetness of its
note. The flesh is also most delicious, and was the greatest luxury the
woods afforded us.

Of the fan-tail there are different sorts; but the body of the most
remarkable one is scarcely larger than a good filbert, yet it spreads a
tail of most beautiful plumage, full three quarters of a semi-circle, of at
least four or five inches radius.

For three or four days after we arrived in Pickersgill harbour, and as we
were clearing the woods to set up our tents, &c. a four-footed animal was
seen by three or four of our people; but as no two gave the same
description of it, I cannot say of what kind it is. All, however, agreed,
that it was about the size of a cat, with short legs, and of a mouse
colour. One of the seamen, and he who had the best view of it, said it had
a bushy tail, and was the most like a jackall of any animal he knew. The
most probable conjecture is, that it is of a new species. Be this as it
may, we are now certain that this country is not so destitute of quadrupeds
as was once thought.

The most mischievous animals here are the small black sand flies, which are
very numerous, and so troublesome, that they exceed every thing of the kind
I ever met with. Wherever they bite they cause a swelling, and such an
intolerable itching, that it is not possible to refrain from scratching,
which at last brings on ulcers like the small-pox.

The almost continual rains may be reckoned another evil attending this bay;
though perhaps this may only happen at this season of the year.
Nevertheless, the situation of the country, the vast height, and nearness
of the mountains, seem to subject it to much rain at all times. Our people,
who were daily exposed to the rain, felt no ill effects from it; on the
contrary, such as were sick and ailing when we came in, recovered daily,
and the whole crew soon became strong and vigorous, which can only be
attributed to the healthiness of the place, and the fresh provisions it
afforded. The beer certainly contributed not a little. As I have already
observed, we at first made it of a decoction of the spruce leaves; but
finding that this alone made the beer too astringent, we afterwards mixed
with it an equal quantity of the tea plant (a name it obtained in my former
voyage, from our using it as tea then as we also did now,) which partly
destroyed the astringency of the other, and made the beer exceedingly
palatable, and esteemed by every one on board. We brewed it in the same
manner as spruce-beer, and the process is as follows: First, make a strong
decoction of the small branches of the spruce and tea plants, by boiling
them three or four hours, or until the bark will strip with ease from off
the branches; then take them out of the copper, and put in the proper
quantity of molasses, ten gallons of which is sufficient to make a ton, or
two hundred and forty gallons of beer; let this mixture just boil, then pot
it into the casks, and to it add an equal quantity of cold water, more or
less, according to the strength of the decoction, or your taste: When the
whole is milk-warm, put in a little grounds of beer, or yeast, if you have
it, or any thing else that will cause fermentation, and in a few days the
beer will be fit to drink. After the casks have been brewed in two or three
times the beer will generally ferment itself, especially if the weather is
warm. As I had inspissated juice of wort on board, and could not apply it
to a better purpose, we used it together with molasses or sugar, to make
these two articles go farther. For of the former I had but one cask, and of
the latter little to spare for this brewing. Had I known how well this beer
would have succeeded, and the great use it was of to the people, I should
have come better provided. Indeed I was partly discouraged by an experiment
made during my former voyage, which did not succeed then, owing, as I now
believe, to some mismanagement.

Any one, who is in the least acquainted with spruce pines, will find the
tree which I have distinguished by that name. There are three sorts of it;
that which has the smallest leaves and deepest colour, is the sort we
brewed with; but doubtless all three might safely serve that purpose. The
tea-plant is a small tree or shrub, with five white petals, or flower-
leaves, shaped like those of a rose, having smaller ones of the same figure
in the intermediate spaces, and twenty or more filaments or threads. The
tree sometimes grows to a moderate height, and is generally bare on the
lower part, with a number of small branches growing close together towards
the top. The leaves are small and pointed, like those of the myrtle; it
bears a dry roundish seed-case, and grows commonly in dry places near the
shores. The leaves, as I have already observed, were used by many of us as
tea, which has a very agreeable bitter and flavour when they are recent,
but loses some of both when they are dried. When the infusion was made
strong, it proved emetic to some in the same manner as green tea.

The inhabitants of this bay are of the same race of people with those in
the other parts of this country, speak the same language, and observe
nearly the same customs. These indeed seem to have a custom of making
presents before they receive any, in which they come nearer to the
Otaheiteans than the rest of their countrymen. What could induce three or
four families (for I believe there are not more) to separate themselves so
far from the society of the rest of their fellow-creatures, is not easy to
guess. By our meeting with inhabitants in this place, it seems probable
that there are people scattered over all this southern island. But the many
vestiges of them in different parts of this bay, compared with the number
that we actually saw, indicates that they live a wandering life; and, if
one may judge from appearances and circumstances, few as they are, they
live not in perfect amity, one family with another. For, if they did, why
do they not form themselves into some society? a thing not only natural to
man, but observed even by the brute creation.

I shall conclude this account of Dusky Bay with some observations made and
communicated to me by Mr Wales. He found by a great variety of
observations, that the latitude of his observatory at Pickersgill Harbour,
was 45 deg. 47' 26" half south; and, by the mean of several distances of the
moon from the sun, that its longitude was 106 deg. 18' E., which is about half
a degree less than it is laid down in my chart constructed in my former
voyage. He found the variation of the needle or compass, by the mean of
three different needles, to be 13 deg. 49' E, and the dip of the south end 70 deg.
5' three quarters. The times of high water, on the full and change days, he
found to be at 10 deg. 57', and the tide to rise and fall, at the former eight
feet, at the latter five feet eight inches. This difference, in the rise of
the tides between the new and full moon, is a little extraordinary, and was
probably occasioned at this time by some accidental cause, such as winds,
&c., but, be it as it will, I am well assured there was no error in the
observations.

Supposing the longitude of the observatory to be as above, the error of Mr
Kendal's watch, in longitude, will be 1 deg. 48' minus, and that of Mr Arnold's
39 deg. 25'. The former was found to be gaining 6",461 a-day on mean time, and
the latter losing 99",361. Agreeably to these rates the longitude by them
was to be determined, until an opportunity of trying them again.

I must observe, that in finding the longitude by Mr Kendal's watch, we
suppose it to have gone mean time from the Cape of Good Hope. Had its cape
rate been allowed, the error would not have been so great.

CHAPTER VI.

_Passage from Dusky Bay to Queen Charlottes Sound, with an Account of
some Water Spouts, and of our joining the Adventure._

1773 May

After leaving Dusky Bay, as hath been already mentioned, I directed my
course along shore for Queen Charlotte's Sound, where I expected to find
the Adventure. In this passage we met with nothing remarkable, or worthy of
notice, till the 17th at four o'clock in the afternoon. Being then about
three leagues to the westward of Cape Stephens; having a gentle gale at
west by south, and clear weather, the wind at once flattened to a calm, the
sky became suddenly obscured by dark dense clouds, and seemed to forebode
much wind. This occasioned as to clew up all our sails, and presently after
six water-spouts were seen. Four rose and spent themselves between us and
the land; that is, to the south-west of us, the fifth was without us, the
sixth first appeared in the south-west, at the distance of two or three
miles at least from us. Its progressive motion was to the north-east, not
in a straight but in a crooked line, and passed within fifty yards of our
stern, without our feeling any of its effects. The diameter of the base of
this spout I judged to be about fifty or sixty feet; that is, the sea
within this space was much agitated, and foamed up to a great height. From
this a tube, or round body, was formed, by which the water or air, or both,
was carried in a spiral stream up to the clouds. Some of our people said
they saw a bird in the one near us, which was whirled round like the fly of
a jack, as it was carried upwards. During the time these spouts lasted, we
had now and then light puffs of wind from all points of the compass, with
some few slight showers of rain, which generally fell in large drops; and
the weather continued thick and hazy for some hours after, with variable
light breezes of wind. At length the wind fixed in its old point, and the
sky resumed its former serenity. Some of these spouts appeared at times to
be stationary; and at other times to have a quick but very unequal
progressive motion, and always in a crooked line, sometimes one way and
sometimes another; so that, once or twice, we observed them to cross one
another. From the ascending motion of the bird, and several other
circumstances, it was very plain to us that these spouts were caused by
whirlwinds, and that the water in them was violently hurried upwards, and
did not descend from the clouds as I have heard some assert. The first
appearance of them is by the violent agitation and rising up of the water;
and, presently after, you see a round column or tube forming from the
clouds above, which apparently descends till it joins the agitated water
below. I say apparently, because I believe it not to be so in reality, but
that the tube is already formed from the agitated water below, and ascends,
though at first it is either too small or too thin to be seen. When the
tube is formed, or becomes visible, its apparent diameter increaseth till
it is pretty large; after that it decreaseth, and at last it breaks or
becomes invisible towards the lower part. Soon after the sea below resumes
its natural state, and the tube is drawn, by little and little, up to the
clouds, where it is dissipated. The same tube would sometimes have a
vertical, and sometimes a crooked or inclined direction. The most rational
account I have read of water-spouts, is in Mr Falconer's Marine Dictionary,
which is chiefly collected from the philosophical writings of the ingenious
Dr Franklin. I have been told that the firing of a gun will dissipate them;
and I am very sorry I did not try the experiment, as we were near enough,
and had a gun ready for the purpose; but as soon as the danger was past, I
thought no more about it, being too attentive in viewing these
extraordinary meteors At the time this happened, the barometer stood at 29,
75, and the thermometer at 56.

In coming from Cape Farewell to Cape Stephens, I had a better view of the
coast than I had when I passed in my former voyage, and observed that about
six leagues to the east of the first-mentioned cape, is a spacious bay,
which is covered from the sea by a low point of land. This is, I believe,
the same that Captain Tasman anchored in on the 18th of December, 1642, and
by him called Murderer's Bay, by reason of some of his men being killed by
the natives. Blind Bay, so named by me in my former voyage, lies to the
S.E. of this, and seems to run a long way inland to the south; the sight,
in this direction, not being bounded by any land. The wind having returned
to the west, as already mentioned, we resumed our course to the east; and
at day-light the next morning (being the 18th,) we appeared off Queen
Charlotte's Sound, where we discovered our consort the Adventure, by the
signals she made to us; an event which every one felt with an agreeable
satisfaction. The fresh westerly wind now died away, and was succeeded by
light airs from the S. and S.W., so that we had to work in with our boats
a-head towing. In the doing of this we discovered a rock, which we did not
see in my former voyage. It lies in the direction of S. by E. 1/2 E.,
distant four miles from the outermost of the Two Brothers, and in a line
with the White Rocks, on with the middle of Long Island. It is just even
with the surface of the sea, and hath deep water all round it. At noon,
Lieutenant Kemp of the Adventure came on board; from whom I learnt that
their ship had been here about six weeks. With the assistance of a light
breeze, our boats, and the tides, we at six o'clock in the evening, got to
an anchor in Ship Cove, near the Adventure, when Captain Furneaux came on
board, and gave me the following account of his proceedings, from the time
we parted to my arrival here.

CHAPTER VII.

_Captain Furneaux's Narrative, from the Time the two Ships were
separated, to their joining again in Queen Charlotte's Sound, with some
Account of Van Diemen's Land._

1773 February

On the 7th of February, 1773, in the morning, the Resolution being then
about two miles a-head, the wind shifting then to the westward, brought on
a very thick fog; so that we lost sight of her. We soon after heard a gun,
the report of which we imagined to be on the larboard beam; we then hauled
up S.E., and kept firing a four-pounder every half hour, but had no answer,
nor further sight of her; then we kept the course we steered on before the
fog came on. In the evening it began to blow hard, and was at intervals
more clear, but could see nothing of her, which gave us much uneasiness. We
then tacked and stood to the westward, to cruise in the place where we last
saw her, according to agreement, in case of separation; but next day came
on a very heavy gale of wind and thick weather, that obliged us to bring
to, and thereby prevented us reaching the intended spot. However, the wind
coming more moderate, and the fog in some measure clearing away, we cruised
as near the place as we could get, for three days; when giving over all
hopes of joining company again, we bore away for winter quarters, distant
fourteen hundred leagues, through a sea entirely unknown and reduced the
allowance of water to one quart per day.

We kept between the latitude of 52 deg. and 53 deg. S., had much westerly wind,
hard gales, with squalls, snow and sleet, with a long hollow sea from the
S.W., so that we judged there is no land in that quarter. After we reached
the longitude of 95 deg. E., we found the variation decrease very fast.

On the 26th, at night, we saw a meteor of uncommon brightness in the N.N.W.
It directed its course to the S.W., with a very great light in the southern
sky, such as is known to the northward by the name of Aurora Borealis, or
Northern Lights. We saw the light for several nights running; and, what is
remarkable, we saw but one ice island after we parted company with the
Resolution, till our making land, though we were most of the time two or
three degrees to the southward of the latitude we first saw it in. We were
daily attended by great numbers of sea birds, and frequently saw porpoises
curiously spotted white and black.

1773 March

On the 1st of March we were alarmed with the cry of land by the man at the
mast-head, on the larboard beam; which gave us great joy. We immediately
hauled our wind and stood for it, but to our mortification were
disappointed in a few hours; for, what we took to be land, proved no more
than clouds, which disappeared as we sailed towards them. We then bore
away, and directed our course towards the land laid down in the charts by
the name of Van Diemen's Land, discovered by Tasman in 1642, and laid down
in the latitude 44 deg. S., and longitude 140 deg. E., and supposed to join to New
Holland.

On the 9th of March, having little wind and pleasant weather, about nine a.
m. being then in the latitude of 43 deg. 37' S. longitude, by lunar
observation, 145 deg. 36' E., and by account 143 deg. 10' E. from Greenwich, we saw
the land bearing N.N.E., about eight or nine leagues distance. It appeared
moderately high, and uneven near the sea; the hills farther back formed a
double land, and much higher. There seemed to be several islands, or broken
land, to the N.W., as the shore trenched; but by reason of clouds that hung
over them, we could not be certain whether they did not join to the main.
We hauled immediately up for it, and by noon were within three or four
leagues of it. A point much like the Ramhead off Plymouth, which I take to
be the same that Tasman calls South Cape, bore north four leagues off us.
The land from this cape runs directly to the eastward; about four leagues
along shore are three islands about two miles long, and several rocks,
resembling the Mewstone, (particularly one which we so named,) about four
or five leagues E.S.E 1/2 E. off the above cape, which Tasman has not
mentioned, or laid down in his draughts. After you pass these islands, the
land lies E. by N., and W. by S., by the compass nearly. It is a bold
shore, and seems to afford several bays or anchoring-places, but believe
deep water. From the S.W. cape, which is in the latitude of 43 deg. 39' S., and
longitude 145 deg. 50' E. to the S.E. cape, in the latitude 43 deg. 36' S.,
longitude 147 deg. E., is nearly sixteen leagues, and sounding from forty-eight
to seventy fathoms, sand and broken shells three or four leagues off shore.
Here the country is hilly and full of trees, the shore rocky and difficult
landing, occasioned by the wind blowing here continually from the westward,
which occasions such a surf that the sand cannot lie on the shore. We saw
no inhabitants here.

The morning, on the 10th of March, being calm, the ship then about four
miles from the land, sent the great cutter on shore with the second
lieutenant, to find if there was any harbour or good bay. Soon after, it
beginning to blow very hard, made the signal for the boat to return several
times, but they did not see or hear any thing of it; the ship then three or
four leagues off, that we could not see any thing of the boat, which gave
us great uneasiness, as there was a very great sea. At half-past one p.m.
to our great satisfaction, the boat returned on board safe. They landed,
but with much difficulty, and saw several places where the Indians had
been, and one they lately had left, where they had a fire, with a great
number of pearl escallop shells round it, which shells they brought on
board, with, some burnt sticks and green boughs. There was a path from this
place, through the woods, which in all probability leads to their
habitations; but, by reason of the weather, had not time to pursue it. The
soil seems to be very rich; the country well clothed with wood,
particularly on the lee side of the hills; plenty of water which falls from
the rocks in beautiful cascades, for two or three hundred feet
perpendicular into the sea; but they did not see the least sign of any
place to anchor in with safety. Hoisted in the boat, and made sail for
Frederick Henry Bay. From noon to three p.m. running along shore E. by N.,
at which time we were abreast of the westernmost point of a very deep bay,
called by Tasman, Stormy Bay. From the west to the east point of this bay
there are several small islands, and black rocks, which we called the
Friars. While crossing this bay we had very heavy squalls and thick
weather; at times, when it cleared up, I saw several fires in the bottom of
the bay, which is near two or three leagues deep, and has, I doubt not,
good places for anchoring, but the weather being so bad, did not think it
safe to stand into it. From the Friars the land trenches away about N. by
E. four leagues: We had smooth water, and kept in shore, having regular
soundings from twenty to fifteen fathoms water. At half-past six we hauled
round a high bluff point, the rocks whereof were like so many fluted
pillars, and had ten fathoms water, fine sand, within half a mile of the
shore. At seven, being abreast of a fine bay, and having little wind, we
came-to, with the small bower, in twenty-four fathoms, sandy bottom. Just
after we anchored, being a fine clear evening, had a good observation of
the star Antares and the moon, which gave the longitude of 147 deg. 34' E.,
being in the latitude of 43 deg. 20' S. We first took this bay to be that
which Tasman called Frederick Henry Bay; but afterwards found that his is
laid down five leagues to the northward of this.

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