A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12

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About four in the afternoon the master returned, and reported, that
there was every-where good anchorage; I therefore determined to warp the
ship up the bay early in the morning, and in the mean time, I put the
people at four watches, one watch to be always under arms; loaded and
primed all the guns, fixed musquetoons in all the boats, and ordered all
the people who were not upon the watch, to repair to the quarters
assigned them, at a moment's warning, there being a great number of
canoes, some of them very large, and full of men, hovering upon the
shore, and many smaller venturing to the ship, with hogs, fowls, and
fruit, which we purchased of them, much to the satisfaction of both
parties; and at sun-set, all the canoes rowed in to the shore.

At six o'clock the next morning, we began to warp the ship up the
harbour, and soon after, a great number of canoes came under her stern.
As I perceived that they had hogs, fowls, and fruit on board, I ordered
the gunner, and two midshipmen, to purchase them for knives, nails,
beads, and other trinkets, at the same time prohibiting the trade to all
other persons on board. By eight o'clock, the number of canoes was
greatly increased, and those that came last up were double, of a very
large size, with twelve or fifteen stout men in each. I observed, with
some concern, that they appeared to be furnished rather for war than
trade, having very little on board except round pebble stones; I
therefore sent for Mr Furneaux, my first lieutenant being still very
ill, and ordered him to keep the fourth watch constantly at their arms,
while the rest of the people were warping the ship. In the mean time
more canoes were continually coming off from the shore, which were
freighted very differently from the rest, for they had on board a number
of women, who were placed in a row, and who, when they came near the
ship, made all the wanton gestures that can be conceived. While these
ladies were practising their allurements, the large canoes, which were
freighted with stones, drew together very close round the ship, some of
the men on board singing in a hoarse voice, some blowing conchs, and
some playing on a flute. After some time, a man who sat upon a canopy
that was fixed on one of the large double canoes, made signs that he
wished to come up to the ship's side; I immediately intimated my
consent, and when he came alongside, he gave one of the men a bunch of
red and yellow feathers, making signs that he should carry it to me. I
received it with expressions of amity, and immediately got some trinkets
to present him in return, but to my great surprise he had put off to a
little distance from the ship, and upon his throwing up the branch of a
cocoa-nut tree, there was an universal shout from all the canoes, which
at once moved towards the ship, and a shower of stones was poured into
her on every side. As an attack was now begun, in which our arms only
could render us superior to the multitude that assailed us, especially
as great part of the ship's company was in a sick and feeble condition,
I ordered the guard to fire; two of the quarter-deck guns, which I had
loaded with small shot, were also fired nearly at the same time, and the
Indians appeared to be thrown into some confusion: In a few minutes,
however, they renewed the attack, and all our people that were able to
come upon deck, having by this time got to their quarters, I ordered
them to fire the great guns, and to play some of them constantly at a
place on shore, where a great number of canoes were still taking in men,
and pushing off towards the ship with the utmost expedition. When the
great guns began to fire, there were not less than three hundred canoes
about the ship, having on board at least two thousand men; many
thousands were also upon the shore, and more canoes coming from every
quarter: The firing, however, soon drove away the canoes that were about
the ship, and put a stop to the coming off of others. As soon as I saw
some of them retreating, and the rest quiet, I ordered the firing to
cease, hoping that they were sufficiently convinced of our superiority,
not to renew the contest. In this, however, I was unhappily mistaken: A
great number of the canoes that had been dispersed, soon drew together
again, and lay some time on their paddles, looking at the ship from the
distance of about a quarter of a mile, and then suddenly hoisting white
streamers, pulled towards the ship's stern, and began again to throw
stones, with great force and dexterity, by the help of slings, from a
considerable distance: Each of these stones weighed about two pounds,
and many of them wounded the people on board, who would have suffered
much more, if an awning had not been spread over the whole deck to keep
out the sun, and the hammocks placed in the nettings. At the same time
several canoes, well manned, were making towards the ship's bow, having
probably taken notice that no shot had been fired from this part: I
therefore ordered some guns forward, to be well pointed and fired at
these canoes; at the same time running out two guns abaft, and pointing
them well at the canoes that were making the attack. Among the canoes
that were coming toward the bow, there was one which appeared to have
some chief on board, as it was by signals made from her that the others
had been called together: It happened that a shot, fired from the guns
forward, hit this canoe so full as to cut it asunder. As soon as this
was observed by the rest, they dispersed with such haste that in half an
hour there was not a single canoe to be seen; the people also who had
crowded the shore, immediately fled over the hills with the utmost
precipitation.

Having now no reason to fear any further interruption, we warped the
ship up the harbour, and by noon, we were not more than half a mile from
the upper part of the bay, within less than two cables' length of a fine
river, and about two and a half of the reef. We had here nine fathom
water, and close to the shore there were five. We moored the ship, and
carried out the stream-anchor, with the two shroud-hawsers, for a
spring, to keep the ship's broadside abreast of the river; we also got
up and mounted the eight guns which had been put into the hold. As soon
as this was done, the boats were employed in sounding all around the
bay, and in examining the shore where any of the inhabitants appeared,
in order to discover, whether it was probable that they would give us
any further disturbance. All the afternoon, and part of the next
morning, was spent in this service; and about noon, the master returned,
with a tolerable survey of the place, and reported, that there were no
canoes in sight; that there was good landing on every part of the beach;
that there was nothing in the bay from which danger could be
apprehended, except the reef, and some rocks at the upper end, which
appeared above water; and that the river, though it emptied itself on
the other side of the point, was fresh water.

Soon after the master had brought me this account, I sent Mr Furneaux
again, with all the boats manned and armed, the marines being also put
on board, with orders to land opposite to our station, and secure
himself, under cover of the boats and the ship, in the clearest ground
he could find. About two o'clock the boats landed without any
opposition, and Mr Furneaux stuck up a staff, upon which he hoisted a
pendant, turned a turf, and took possession of the island in his
majesty's name, in honour of whom he called it _King George the Third's
Island_:[52] He then went to the river, and tasted the water, which he
found excellent, and, mixing some of it with rum, every man drank his
majesty's health. While he was at the river, which was about twelve
yards wide, and fordable, he saw two old men on the opposite side of it,
who perceiving that they were discovered, put themselves in a
supplicatory posture, and seemed to be in great terror and confusion. Mr
Furneaux made signs that they should come over the river, and one of
them complied. When he landed, he came forward, creeping upon his hands
and knees, but Mr Furneaux raised him up, and, while he stood trembling,
shewed him some of the stones that were thrown at the ship, and
endeavoured to make him apprehend that if the natives attempted no
mischief against us, we should do no harm to them. He ordered two of the
water-casks to be filled, to shew the Indian that we wanted water, and
produced some hatchets, and other things, to intimate that he wished to
trade for provisions. The old man, during this pantomimical
conversation, in some degree recovered his spirits; and Mr Furneaux, to
confirm his professions of friendship, gave him a hatchet, some nails,
beads, and other trifles; after which he re-embarked on board the boats,
and left the pendant flying. As soon as the boats were put off, the old
man went up to the pendant, and danced round it a considerable time: He
then retired, but soon after returned with some green boughs, which he
threw down, and retired a second time: It was not long, however, before
he appeared again, with about a dozen of the inhabitants, and putting
themselves in a supplicating posture, they all approached the pendant in
a slow pace; but the wind happening to move it, when they were got close
to it, they suddenly retreated with the greatest precipitation. After
standing some time at a distance, and gazing at it, they went away, but
in a short time came back, with two large hogs alive, which they laid
down at the foot of the staff, and at length, taking courage, they began
to dance. When they had performed this ceremony, they brought the hogs
down to the water-side, launched a canoe, and put them on board. The old
man, who had a large white beard, then embarked with them alone, and
brought them to the ship: When he came alongside, he made a set speech,
and afterwards handed in several green plantain-leaves, one by one,
uttering a sentence, in a solemn slow tone, with each of them as he
delivered it; after this he sent on board the two hogs, and then,
turning round, pointed to the land. I ordered some presents to be given
him, but he would accept of nothing; and soon after put off his canoe,
and went on shore.

[Footnote 52: This island is much better known by the name given it by
its inhabitants--Otaheite. The reader need scarcely to be informed that
a description of it, and an account of many interesting particulars
respecting it, must occupy no small place in the pages devoted to the
history of Cook's Voyages.--E.]

At night, soon after it was dark, we heard the noise of many drums, with
conchs, and other wind-instruments, and saw a multitude of lights all
along the coast. At six in the morning, seeing none of the natives on
shore, and observing that the pendant was taken away, which probably
they had learnt to despise, as the frogs in the fable did King Log, I
ordered the lieutenant to take a guard on shore, and, if all was well,
to send off, that we might begin watering: In a short time, I had the
satisfaction to find that he had sent off for water-casks, and by eight
o'clock, we had four tons of water on board. While our people were
employed in filling the casks, several of the natives appeared on the
opposite side of the river, with the old man whom the officer had seen
the day before; and soon after he came over, and brought with him a
little fruit, and a few fowls, which were also sent off to the ship. At
this time, having been very ill for near a fortnight, I was so weak that
I could scarcely crawl about; however, I employed my glasses to see what
was doing on shore. At near half an hour after eight o'clock, I
perceived a multitude of the natives coming over a hill at about the
distance of a mile, and at the same time a great number of canoes making
round the western point, and keeping close along the shore. I then
looked at the watering-place, and saw at the back of it, where it was
clear, a very numerous party of the natives creeping along behind the
bushes; I saw also many thousands in the woods, pushing along towards
the watering-place, and canoes coming very fast round the other point of
the bay to the eastward. Being alarmed at these appearances, I
dispatched a boat, to acquaint the officer on shore with what I had
seen, and order him immediately to come on board with his men, and leave
the casks behind him: He had, however, discovered his danger, and
embarked before the boat reached him. Having perceived the Indians that
were creeping towards him under shelter of the wood, he immediately
dispatched the old man to them, making signs that they should keep at a
distance, and that he wanted nothing but water. As soon as they
perceived that they were discovered, they began to shout, and advanced
with greater speed. The officer immediately repaired to the boats with
his people, and the Indians, in the mean time, having crossed the river,
took possession of the water-casks, with great appearance of exultation
and joy. The canoes now pulled along the shore, towards the place, with
the utmost expedition, all the people on land keeping pace with them,
except a multitude of women and children, who seated themselves upon a
hill which overlooked the bay and the beach. The canoes from each point
of the bay, as they drew nearer to that part of it where the ship was at
anchor, put on shore, and took in more men, who had great bags in their
hands, which afterwards appeared to be filled with stones. All the
canoes that had come round the points, and many others that had put off
from the shore within the bay, now made towards the ship, so that I had
no doubt but that they intended to try their fortune in a second attack.
As to shorten the contest would certainly lessen the mischief, I
determined to make this action decisive, and put an end to hostilities
at once; I therefore ordered the people, who were at all their quarters,
to fire first upon the canoes, which were drawn together in groups:
this was immediately done so effectually, that those which were to the
westward made towards the shore as fast as possible, and those to the
eastward, getting round the reef, were soon beyond the reach of oar
guns. I then directed the fire into the wood in different parts, which
soon drove the Indians out of it, who ran up the hill where the women
and children had seated themselves to see the battle. Upon this bill
there were now several thousands who thought themselves in perfect
security; but to convince them of the contrary, and hoping that when
they saw the shot fall much farther than they could think possible, they
would suppose it could reach them at any distance, I ordered some of the
guns to be let down as low as they would admit, and fired four shot
towards them. Two of the balls fell close by a tree where a great number
of these people were sitting, and struck them with such terror and
consternation, that in less than two minutes not one of them was to be
seen. Having thus cleared the coast, I manned and armed the boats, and
putting a strong guard on board, I sent all the carpenters with their
axes, and ordered them to destroy every canoe that had been run ashore.
Before noon, this service was effectually performed, and more than fifty
canoes, many of which were sixty feet long, and three broad, and lashed
together, were cut to pieces. Nothing was found in them but stones and
slings, except a little fruit, and a few fowls and hogs, which were on
board two or three canoes of a much smaller size.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, about ten of the natives came out of
the wood with green boughs in their hands, which they stuck up near the
water side, and retired. After a short time, they appeared again, and
brought with them several hogs, with their legs tied, which they placed
near the green boughs, and retired a second time. After this they
brought down several more hogs, and some dogs, with their fore-legs tied
over their heads, and going again into the woods, brought back several
bundles of the cloth which they use for apparel, and which has some
resemblance to Indian paper. These they placed upon the beach, and
called to us on board to fetch them away. As we were at the distance of
about three cables' length, we could not then perfectly discover of what
this peace-offering consisted: we guessed at the hogs and the cloth, but
seeing the dogs, with their fore-legs appearing over the hinder part of
the neck, rise up several times, and run a little way in an erect
posture, we took them for some strange unknown animal, and were very
impatient to have a nearer view of them. The boat was therefore sent on
shore with all expedition, and our wonder was soon at an end. Our people
found nine good hogs, besides the dogs and the cloth: the hogs were
brought off, but the dogs were turned loose, and with the cloth left
behind. In return for the hogs, our people left upon the shore some
hatchets, nails, and other things, making signs to some of the Indians
who were in sight, to take them away with their cloth. Soon after the
boat had come on board, the Indians brought down two more hogs, and
called to us to fetch them; the boat therefore returned, and fetched off
the two hogs, but still left the cloth, though the Indians made signs
that we should take it. Our people reported, that they had not touched
any of the things which they had left upon the beach for them, and
somebody suggesting that they would not take our offering because we had
not accepted their cloth, I gave orders that it should be fetched away.
The event proved that the conjecture was true, for the moment the boat
had taken the cloth on board, the Indians came down, and, with every
possible demonstration of joy, carried away all I had sent them into the
wood. Our boats then went to the watering-place, and filled and brought
off all the casks, to the amount of about six tons. We found that they
had suffered no injury while they had been in the possession of the
Indians, but some leathern buckets and funnels, which had been taken
away with the casks, were not returned.

The next morning I sent the boats on shore, with a guard, to fill some
more casks with water, and soon after the people were on shore, the same
old man who had come over the river to them the first day, came again to
the farther side of it, where he made a long speech, and then crossed
the water. When he came up to the waterers, the officer shewed him the
stones that were piled up like cannon balls upon the shore, and had been
brought thither since our first landing, and some of the bags that had
been taken out of the canoes, which I had ordered to be destroyed,
filled with stones, and endeavoured to make him understand that the
Indians had been the aggressors, and that the mischief we had done them
was in our own defence. The old man seemed to apprehend his meaning,
but not to admit it: he immediately made a speech to the people,
pointing to the stones, slings, and bags, with great emotion, and
sometimes his looks, gestures, and voice were so furious as to be
frightful. His passions, however, subsided by degrees, and the officer,
who, to his great regret, could not understand one word of all that he
had said, endeavoured to convince him, by all the signs he could devise,
that we wished to live in friendship with them, and were disposed to
shew them every mark of kindness in our power. He then shook hands with
him, and embraced him, giving him at the same time several such trinkets
as he thought would be most acceptable. He contrived also to make the
old man understand that we wished to traffic for provisions, that the
Indians should not come down in great numbers, and that they should keep
on one side of the river and we on the other. After this the old man
went away with great appearance of satisfaction, and before noon a trade
was established, which furnished us with hogs, fowls, and fruit in great
abundance, so that all the ship's company, whether sick or well, had as
much as they could use.

SECTION VI.

_The Sick sent on Shore, and a regular Trade established with the
Natives; some Account of their Character and Manners, of their Visits on
board the Ship, and a Variety of Incidents that happened during this
Intercourse_.

Matters being thus happily settled, I sent the surgeon, with the second
lieutenant, to examine the country, and fix upon some place where the
sick might take up their residence on shore. When they returned, they
said, that with respect to health and convenience, all the places they
had seen upon the island seemed to be equally proper; but that with
respect to safety, they could recommend none but the watering-place, as
they would be there under the protection of the ship and the guard, and
would easily be prevented from straggling into the country, and brought
off to their meals. To the watering-place therefore I sent them, with
those that were employed in filling the casks, and appointed the gunner
to command the party that was to be their guard. A tent was erected for
them as a shelter both from the sun and the rain, and the surgeon was
sent to superintend their conduct, and give his advice if it should be
wanted. It happened that walking out with his gun, after he had seen the
sick properly disposed of in the tent, a wild duck flew over his head,
which he shot, and it fell dead among some of the natives who were on
the other side of the river. This threw them into a panic, and they all
ran away; when they got to some distance they stopped, and he made signs
to them to bring the duck over: This one of them at last ventured to do,
and, pale and trembling, laid it down at his feet. Several other ducks
happening at the instant to fly over the spot where they were standing,
he fired again, and fortunately brought down three more. This incident
gave the natives such a dread of a gun, that if a musket was pointed at
a thousand of them, they would all run away like a flock of sheep; and
probably the ease with which they were afterwards kept at a distance,
and their orderly behaviour in their traffic, was in a great measure
owing to their having upon this occasion seen the instrument, of which
before they had only felt the effects.

As I foresaw that a private traffic would probably commence between such
of our people as were on shore, and the natives, and that if it was left
to their own caprice, perpetual quarrels and mischief would ensue, I
ordered that all matters of traffic should be transacted by the gunner
on behalf of both parties, and I directed him to see that no injury was
done to the natives, either by violence or fraud, and by all possible
means to attach the old man to his interest. This service he performed
with great diligence and fidelity, nor did he neglect to complain of
those who transgressed my orders, which was of infinite advantage to all
parties; for as I punished the first offenders with a necessary
severity, many irregularities, that would otherwise have produced the
most disagreeable consequences, were prevented: we were also indebted
for many advantages to the old man, whose caution kept our people
perpetually upon their guard, and soon brought back those who straggled
from the party. The natives would indeed sometimes pilfer, but by the
terror of a gun, without using it, he always found means to make them
bring back what was stolen. A fellow had one day the dexterity and
address to cross the river unperceived, and steal a hatchet; the gunner,
as soon as he missed it, made the old man understand what had happened,
and got his party ready, as if he would have gone into the woods after
the thief: the old man, however, made signs that he would save him the
trouble, and, immediately setting off, returned in a very short time
with the hatchet. The gunner then insisted that the offender should be
delivered up, and with this also the old man, though not without great
reluctance, complied. When the fellow was brought down, the gunner knew
him to be an old offender, and therefore sent him prisoner on board. I
had no intention to punish him otherwise, than by the fear of
punishment, and therefore, after great entreaty and intercession, I gave
him his liberty, and sent him on shore. When the natives saw him return
in safety, it is hard to say whether their astonishment or joy was
greatest; they received him with universal acclamations; and immediately
carried him off into the woods: the next day, however, he returned, and
as a propitiation to the gunner, he brought him a considerable quantity
of bread-fruit, and a large hog, ready roasted.

At this time, the people on board were employed in caulking and painting
the weather-work, over-hauling the rigging, stowing the hold, and doing
other necessary business; but my disorder, which was a bilious cholic,
increased so much, that this day I was obliged to take to my bed; my
first lieutenant also still continued very ill, and the purser was
incapable of his duty. The whole command devolved upon Mr Furneaux, the
second lieutenant, to whom I gave general directions, and recommended a
particular attention to the people on shore. I also ordered that fruit
and fresh provisions should be served to the ship's company as long as
they could be procured, and that the boats should never be absent from
the ship after sunset. These directions were fulfilled with such
prudence and punctuality, that during all my sickness I was not troubled
with any business, nor had the mortification to hear a single complaint
or appeal. The men were constantly served with fresh pork, fowls, and
fruit, in such plenty, that when I left my bed, after having been
confined to it near a fortnight, my ship's company looked so fresh and
healthy, that I could scarcely believe them to be the same people.