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

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Sunday the 28th was marked by no incident; but on Monday the 29th, one
of the gunner's party found a piece of saltpetre near as big as an egg.
As this was an object of equal curiosity and importance, diligent
enquiry was immediately made from whence it came. The surgeon, asked
every one of the people on shore, separately, whether he had brought it
from the ship; every one on board also was asked whether he had carried
it on shore, but all declared that they had never had such a thing in
their possession. Application was then made to the natives, but the
meaning of both parties was so imperfectly conveyed by signs, that
nothing could be learnt of them about it: during our whole stay here,
however, we saw no more than this one piece.

While the gunner was trafficking for provisions on shore, we sometimes
hauled the seine, but we caught no fish; we also frequently trawled, but
with no better success: the disappointment, however, was not felt, for
the produce of the island enabled our people to "fare sumptuously every
day."

All matters continued in the same situation till the 2d of July, when,
our old man being absent, the supply of fresh provisions and fruit fell
short; we had, however, enough to serve most of the messes, reserving
plenty for the sick and convalescent.

On the 3d, we heeled the ship, and looked at her bottom, which we found
as clean as when she came out of dock, and, to our great satisfaction,
as sound. During all this time, none of the natives came near our boats,
or the ship, in their canoes. This day, about noon, we caught a very
large shark, and when the boats went to fetch the people on board to
dinner, we sent it on shore. When the boats were putting off again, the
gunner seeing some of the natives on the other side of the river,
beckoned them to come over; they immediately complied, and he gave them
the shark, which they soon cut to pieces, and carried away with great
appearance of satisfaction.

On Sunday the 5th, the old man returned to the market-tent, and made the
gunner understand that he had been up the country, to prevail upon the
people to bring down their hogs, poultry, and fruit, of which the parts
near the watering-place were now nearly exhausted. The good effects of
his expedition soon appeared, for several Indians, whom our people had
never seen before, came in with some hogs that were larger than any that
had been yet brought to market. In the mean time, the old man ventured
off in his canoe to the ship, and brought with him, as a present to me,
a hog ready roasted. I was much pleased with his attention and
liberality, and gave him, in return for his hog, an iron pot, a
looking-glass, a drinking-glass, and several other things, which no man
in the island was in possession of but himself.

While our people were on shore, several young women were permitted to
cross the river, who, though they were not averse to the granting of
personal favours, knew the value of them too well not to stipulate for a
consideration: The price, indeed, was not great, yet it was such as our
men were not always able to pay, and under this temptation they stole
nails and other iron from the ship. The nails that we brought for
traffic were not always in their reach, and therefore they drew several
out of different parts of the vessel, particularly those that fastened
the cleats to the ship's side. This was productive of a double mischief;
damage to the ship, and a considerable rise at market. When the gunner
offered, as usual, small nails for hogs of a middling size, the natives
refused to take them, and produced large spikes, intimating that they
expected such nails as these. A most diligent enquiry was set on foot to
discover the offenders, but all to no purpose; and though a large reward
was offered to procure intelligence, none was obtained. I was mortified
at the disappointment, but I was still more mortified at a fraud which I
found some of our people had practised upon the natives. When no nails
were to be procured, they had stolen lead, and cut it up in the shape of
nails. Many of the natives who had been paid with, this base money,
brought their leaden nails, with great simplicity, to the gunner, and
requested him to give them iron in their stead. With this request,
however reasonable, he could not comply; because, by rendering lead
current, it would have encouraged the stealing it, and the market would
have been as effectually spoiled by those who could not procure nails,
as by those who could; it was therefore necessary, upon every account,
to render this leaden currency of no value, though for our honour I
should have been glad to have called it in.

On Tuesday the 7th, I sent one of the mates, with thirty men, to a
village at a little distance from the market, hoping that refreshments
might there be bought at the original price; but here they were obliged
to give still more than at the water-side. In the mean time, being this
day able to get up for the first time, and the weather being fine, I
went into a boat, and rowed about four miles down the coast. I found the
country populous, and pleasant in the highest degree, and saw many
canoes on the shore; but not one came off to us, nor did the people seem
to take the least notice of us as we passed along. About noon I returned
to the ship.

The commerce which our men had found means to establish with the women
of the island, rendered them much less obedient to the orders that had
been given for the regulation of their conduct on shore, than they were
at first. I found it necessary therefore to read the articles of war,
and I punished James Proctor, the corporal of marines, who had not only
quitted his station, and insulted the officer, but struck the master at
arms such a blow as brought him to the ground.

The next day, I sent a party up the country to cut wood, and they met
with some of the natives, who treated them with great kindness and
hospitality. Several of these friendly Indians came on board in our
boat, and seemed, both by their dress and behaviour, to be of a superior
rank. To these people I paid a particular attention, and to discover
what present would most gratify them, I laid down before them a
Johannes, a guinea, a crown piece, a Spanish dollar, a few shillings,
some new halfpence, and two large nails, making signs that they should
take what they liked best. The nails were first seized, with great
eagerness, and then a few of the halfpence, but the silver and gold lay
neglected. Having presented them, therefore, with some nails and
halfpence, I sent them on shore superlatively happy.

From this time our market was very ill supplied, the Indians refusing to
sell provisions at the usual price, and making signs for large nails. It
was now thought necessary to look more diligently about the ship, to
discover what nails had been drawn; and it was soon round that all the
belaying cleats had been ripped off, and that there was scarcely one of
the hammock nails left. All hands were now ordered up, and I practised
every artifice I could think of to discover the thieves, but without
success. I then told them, that till the thieves were discovered, not a
single man should go on shore: This however produced no effect, except
that Proctor the corporal behaved in a mutinous manner, for which he was
instantly punished.

On Saturday the 11th, in the afternoon, the gunner came on board with a
tall woman, who seemed to be about five-and-forty years of age, of a
pleasing countenance and majestic department. He told me that she was
but just come into that part of the country, and that seeing great
respect paid her by the rest of the natives, he had made her some
presents; in return for which she had invited him to her house, which
was about two miles up the valley, and gave him some large hogs; after
which she returned with him to the watering-place, and expressed a
desire to go on board the ship, in which he had thought it proper, on
all accounts, that she should be gratified. She seemed to be under no
restraint, either from diffidence or fear, when she first came into the
ship; and she behaved, all the while she was on board, with an easy
freedom, that always distinguishes conscious superiority and habitual
command. I gave her a large blue mantle, that reached from her shoulders
to her feet, which I threw over her, and tied on with ribbands; I gave
her also a looking-glass, beads of several sorts, and many other things,
which she accepted with a very good grace, and much pleasure. She took
notice that I had been ill, and pointed to the shore. I understood that
she meant I should go thither to perfect my recovery, and I made signs
that I would go thither the next morning. When she intimated an
inclination to return, I ordered the gunner to go with her who, having
set her on shore, attended her to her habitation, which he described as
being very large and well built. He said, that in this house she had
many guards and domestics, and that she had another at a little
distance, which was enclosed in lattice-work.

The next morning I went on shore for the first time; and my princess, or
rather queen, for such by her authority she appeared to be, soon after
came to me, followed by many of her attendants. As she perceived that my
disorder had left me very weak, she ordered her people to take me in
their arms, and carry me not only over the river, but all the way to
her house; and observing that some of the people who were with me,
particularly the first lieutenant and purser, had also been sick, she
caused them also to be carried in the same manner, and a guard, which I
had ordered out upon the occasion, followed. In our way, a vast
multitude crowded about us, but upon her waving her hand, without
speaking a word, they withdrew, and left us a free passage. When we
approached near her house, a great number of both sexes came out to meet
her: These she presented to me, after having intimated by signs that
they were her relations, and taking hold of my hand, she made them kiss
it. We then entered the house, which covered a piece of ground 327 feet
long, and forty-two feet broad. It consisted of a roof, thatched with
palm leaves, and raised upon thirty-nine pillars on each side, and
fourteen in the middle. The ridge of the thatch, on the inside, was
thirty feet high, and the sides of the house, to the edge of the roof,
were twelve feet high; all below the roof being open. As soon as we
entered the house, she made us sit down, and then calling four young
girls, she assisted them to take off my shoes, draw down my stockings,
and pull off my coat, and then directed them to smooth down the skin,
and gently chafe it with their hands: The same operation was also
performed upon the first lieutenant and purser, but upon none of those
who appeared to be in health. While this was doing, our surgeon, who had
walked till he was very warm, took off his wig to cool and refresh
himself: A sudden exclamation of one of the Indians who saw it, drew the
attention of the rest, and in a moment every eye was fixed upon the
prodigy, and every operation was suspended: the whole assembly stood
some time motionless, in silent astonishment, which could not have been
more strongly expressed if they had discovered that our friend's limbs
had been screwed on to the trunk; in a short time, however, the young
women who were chafing us, resumed their employment, and having
continued it for about half an hour, they dressed us again, but in this
they were, as may easily be imagined, very awkward; I found great
benefit however, from the chafing, and so did the lieutenant and purser.
After a little time, our generous benefactress ordered some bales of
Indian cloth to be brought out, with which she clothed me, and all that
were with me, according to the fashion of the country. At first I
declined the acceptance of this favour, but being unwilling not to seem
pleased with what was intended to please me, I acquiesced. When we went
away, she ordered a very large sow, big with young, to be taken down to
the boat, and accompanied us thither herself. She had given directions
to her people to carry me, as they had done when I came, but as I chose
rather to walk, she took me by the arm, and whenever we came to a plash
of water or dirt, she lifted me over with as little trouble as it would
have cost me to have lifted over a child if I had been well.

The next morning I sent her by the gunner, six hatchets, six bill-hooks,
and several other things; and when he returned, he told me, that he
found her giving an entertainment to a great number of people, which, he
supposed, could not be less than a thousand. The messes were all brought
to her by the servants that prepared them, the meat being put into the
shells of cocoa-nuts, and the shells into wooden trays, somewhat like
those used by our butchers, and she distributed them with her own hands
to the guests, who were seated in rows round the great house. When this
was done, she sat down herself, upon a place somewhat elevated above the
rest, and two women, placing themselves one on each side of her, fed
her, she opening her mouth as they brought their hands up with the food.
When she saw the gunner, she ordered a mess for him; he could not
certainly tell what it was, but he believed it to be fowl picked small,
with apples cut among it, and seasoned with salt water; it was, however,
very well tasted. She accepted the things that I sent her, and seemed to
be much pleased with them. After this correspondence was established
with the queen, provisions of every kind became much more plenty at
market; but though fowls and hogs were every day brought in, we were
still obliged to pay more for them than at the first, the market having
been spoiled by the nails which our men had stolen and given to the
women; I therefore gave orders that every man should be searched before
he went on shore, and that no woman should be suffered to cross the
river.

On the 14th, the gunner being onshore to trade, perceived an old woman
on the other side of the river, weeping bitterly: When she saw that she
had drawn his attention upon her, she sent a young man, who stood by
her, over the river to him, with a branch of the plantain tree in his
hand. When he came up, he made a long speech, and then laid down his
bough at the gunner's feet: After this he went back and brought over the
old woman, another man at the same time bringing over two large fat
hogs. The woman looked round upon our people with great attention,
fixing her eyes sometimes upon one, and sometimes upon another, and at
last burst into tears. The young man who brought her over the river,
perceiving the gunner's concern and astonishment, made another speech,
longer than the first: Still, however, the woman's distress was a
mystery; but at length she made him understand that her husband, and
three of her sons, had been killed in the attack of the ship. During
this explanation, she was so affected, that at last she sunk down unable
to speak, and the two young men who endeavoured to support her, appeared
to be nearly in the same condition? They were probably two more of her
sons, or some very near relations. The gunner did all in his power to
sooth and comfort her, and when she had in some measure recovered her
recollection, she ordered the two hogs to be delivered to him, and gave
him her hand in token of friendship, but would accept nothing in return,
though he offered her ten times as much as would have purchased the hogs
at market.

The next morning, I sent the second lieutenant, with all the boats, and
sixty men, to the westward, to look at the country, and try what was to
be got. About noon he returned, having marched along the shore near six
miles. He found the country very pleasant and populous, and abounding as
well with hogs and fowls, as fruit, and other vegetables of various
kinds. The inhabitants offered him no molestation, but did not seem
willing to part with any of the provisions which our people were most
desirous to purchase: They gave them, however, a few cocoa-nuts and
plantains, and at length sold them nine hogs and a few fowls. The
lieutenant was of opinion, that they might be brought to trade freely by
degrees, but the distance from the ship was so great, that too many men
would be necessary for a guard. He saw a great number of very large
canoes upon the beach, and some that were building. He observed that all
their tools were made of stone, shells, and bone, and very justly
inferred, that they had no metal of any kind. He found no quadrupeds
among them, besides hogs and dogs, nor any earthen vessel, so that all
their food is either baked or roasted. Having no vessel in which water
could be subjected to the action of fire, they had no more idea that it
could be made hot, than that it could be made solid. As the queen was
one morning at breakfast with us on board the ship, one of her
attendants, a man of some note, and one of those that we thought were
priests, saw the surgeon fill the tea-pot by turning the cock of an urn
that stood upon the table: Having remarked this with great curiosity and
attention, he presently turned the cock, and received the water upon his
hand: As soon as he felt himself scalded, he roared out, and began to
dance about the cabin with the most extravagant and ridiculous
expressions of pain and astonishment: The other Indians not being able
to conceive what was the matter with him, stood staring at him in amaze,
and not without some mixture of terror. The surgeon, however, who had
innocently been the cause of the mischief, applied a remedy, though it
was some time before the poor fellow was easy.

On Thursday the 16th, Mr Furneaux, my second lieutenant, was taken very
ill, which distressed me greatly, as the first lieutenant was not yet
recovered, and I was still in a very weak state myself: I was this day
also obliged once more to punish Proctor, the corporal of marines, for
mutinous behaviour. The queen had now been absent several days, but the
natives made us understand, by signs, that the next day she would be
with us again.

Accordingly the next morning she came down to the beach, and soon after
a great number of people, whom we had never seen before, brought to
market provisions of every kind; and the gunner sent off fourteen hogs,
and fruit in great plenty.

In the afternoon of the next day, the queen came on, board, with a
present of two large hogs, for she never condescended to barter, and in
the evening she returned on shore. I sent a present with her, by the
master, and as soon as they landed, she took him by the hand, and having
made a long speech to the people that flocked round them, she led him to
her house, where she clothed him, as she had before done me, according
to the fashion of the country.

The next morning he sent off a greater quantity of stock than we had
ever procured in one day before; it consisted of forty-eight hogs and
pigs, four dozen of fowls, with bread-fruit, bananas, apples, and
cocoa-nuts, almost without number.

On the 20th, we continued to trade with good success, but in the
afternoon it was discovered that Francis Pinckney, one of the seamen,
had drawn the cleats to which the main sheet was belayed, and, after
stealing the spikes, thrown them overboard. Having secured the offender,
I called all the people together upon the deck, and after taking some
pains to explain his crime, with all its aggravations, I ordered that he
should be whipt with nettles, while he ran the gauntlet thrice round the
deck: My rhetoric, however, had very little effect, for most of the crew
being equally criminal with himself, he was handled so tenderly, that
others were rather encouraged to repeat the offence by the hope of
impunity, than deterred by the fear of punishment. To preserve the ship,
therefore, from being pulled to pieces, and the price of refreshments
from being raised so high as soon to exhaust our articles of trade, I
ordered that no man except the wooders and waterers, with their guard,
should be permitted to go on shore.

On the 21st, the queen came again on board, and brought several large
hogs as a present, for which, as usual, she would accept of no return.
When she was about to leave the ship, she expressed a desire that I
should go on shore with her, to which I consented, taking several of the
officers with me. When we arrived at her house, she made us all sit
down, and taking off my hat, she tied to it a bunch or tuft of feathers
of various colours, such as I had seen no person on shore wear but
herself, which produced by no means a disagreeable effect. She also tied
round my hat, and the hats of those who were with me, wreaths of braided
or plaited hair, and gave us to understand that both the hair and
workmanship were her own: She also presented us with some matts, that
were very curiously wrought. In the evening she accompanied us back to
the beach, and when we were getting into the boat, she put on board a
fine large sow, big with young, and a great quantity of fruit. As we
were parting, I made signs that I should quit the island in seven days:
She immediately comprehended my meaning, and made signs that I should
stay twenty days; that I should go two days journey into the country,
stay there a few days, bring down plenty of hogs and poultry, and after
that leave the island. I again made signs, that I must go in seven days;
upon which she burst into tears, and it was not without great
difficulty that she was pacified.

The next morning, the gunner sent off no less than twenty hogs, with
great plenty of fruit. Our decks were now quite full of hogs and
poultry, of which we killed only the small ones, and kept the other for
sea-stores; we found, however, to our great mortification, that neither
the fowls nor the hogs could, without great difficulty, be brought to
eat any thing but fruit, which made it necessary to kill them faster
than we should otherwise have done; two, however, a boar and a sow, were
brought alive to England, of which I made a present to Mr Stephens,
secretary to the Admiralty; the sow afterwards died in pigging, but the
boar was alive at the date of this publication.

On the 23d, we had very heavy rain, with a storm of wind that blew down
several trees on shore, though very little of it was felt where the ship
lay.

The next day, I sent the old man, who had been of great service to the
gunner at the market-tent, another iron pot, some hatchets and bills,
and a piece of cloth. I also sent the queen two turkies, two geese,
three Guinea hens, a cat big with kitten, some china, looking-glasses,
glass-bottles, shirts, needles, thread, cloth, ribbands, pease, some
small white kidney beans, called callivances, and about sixteen
different sorts of garden seeds, and a shovel, besides a considerable
quantity of cutlery wares, consisting of knives, scissars, billhooks,
and other things. We had already planted several sorts of the garden
seeds, and some pease in several places, and had the pleasure to see
them come up in a very flourishing state, yet there were no remains of
them when Captain Cook left the island. I sent her also two iron pots,
and a few spoons. In return for these things, the gunner brought off
eighteen hogs, and some fruit.

In the morning of the 25th, I ordered Mr Gore, one of the mates, with
all the marines, forty seamen, and four midshipmen, to go up the valley
by the river as high as they could, and examine the soil and produce of
the country, noting the trees and plants which they should find, and
when they saw any stream from the mountains, to trace it to its source,
and observe whether it was tinctured with any mineral or ore. I
cautioned them also to keep continually upon their guard against the
natives, and directed them to make a fire, as a signal, if they should
be attacked. At the same time I took a guard on shore, and erected a
tent on a point of land, to observe an eclipse of the sun, which, the
morning being very clear, was done with great accuracy.

Hours. Min. Sec.
The immersion began, by true time, at-- 6 51 50
The emersion, by true time, was at- - - 8 1 O
The duration of the eclipse was- - - - 1 9 10

The latitude of the point, on which the observation was made, was 17 deg.
30'S., the sun's declination was 19 deg. 40'N., and the variation of the
needle 5 deg. 36' E.

After the observation was taken, I went to the queen's house, and shewed
her the telescope, which was a reflector. After she had admired its
structure, I endeavoured to make her comprehend its use, and fixing it
so as to command several distant objects, with which she was well
acquainted, but which could not be distinguished with the naked eye, I
made her look through it. As soon as she saw them, she started back with
astonishment, and, directing her eye as the glass was pointed, stood
some time motionless and silent; she then looked through the glass
again, and again sought in vain, with the naked eye, for the objects
which it discovered. As they by turns vanished and re-appeared, her
countenance and gestures expressed a mixture of wonder and delight which
no language can describe. When the glass was removed, I invited her, and
several of the chiefs that were with her, to go with me on board the
ship, in which I had a view to the security of the party that I had sent
out; for I thought that while the queen and the principal people were
known to be in my power, nothing would be attempted against any person
belonging to the ship on shore. When we got on board, I ordered a good
dinner for their entertainment, but the queen would neither eat nor
drink; the people that were with her eat very heartily of whatever was
set before them, but would drink only plain water.