the deck, and the man in the chains called out "five fathom;" by this time, the rock on which we had ftruck being to windward, the ship went off without having received the least damage, and the water very foon deepened to twenty fathom. 1769. December. Tuesday 5. This rock lies half a mile W. N. W. of the northermoft or outermoft island on the fouth caft fide of the bay. We had light airs from the land, with calms, till nine o'clock the Wednes. 6. next morning, when we got out of the bay, and a breeze fpringing up at N. N. W. we ftood out to fea. This bay, as I have before obferved, lies on the weft fide of Cape Bret, and I named it the BAY OF ISLANDS, from the great number of iflands which line its fhores, and form feveral harbours equally fafe and commodious, where there is room and depth for any number of shipping. That in which we lay is on the fouth weft fide of the south westermost island, called MATUARO, on the fouth east side of the bay. I have made no accurate survey of this bay, being difcouraged by the time it would coft me; I thought also that it was fufficient to be able to affirm that it afforded us good anchorage, and refreshment of every kind. It was not the season for roots, but we had plenty of fish, most of which, however, we purchased of the natives, for we could catch very little ourfelves either with net or line. When we fhewed the natives our feine, which is fuch as the King's 1769. December. Wednef. 6. number of nets, laid in heaps like hay-cocks, and covered with a thatch to keep them from the weather, and we fcarcely entered a house where fome of the people were not employed in making them. The fish we procured here were fharks, fting-rays, fea-bream, mullet, mackrel, and fome others. The inhabitants in this bay are far more numerous than im any other part of the country that we had before visited; it did not appear to us that they were united under one head, and though their towns were fortified, they feemed to live together in perfect amity. It is high water in this bay at the full and change of the moon, about eight o'clock, and the tide then rifes from fix to eight feet perpendicularly. It appears, from fuch obfervations as I was able to make of the tides upon the feacoaft, that the flood comes from the fouthward; and I have reafon to think that there is a current which comes from the weftward, and fets along the fhore to the S. E. or S. S. E. as the land happens to lie. CHAP. CHA P. V. Range from the Bay of Islands round North Cape to Queen Charlotte's Sound; and a Defcription of that Part of the Coaft. 1769. December. Thursday 7. N Thursday the 7th of December, at noon, Cape Bret bore S. S. E. E. diftant ten miles, and our latitude, by obfervation, was 34° 59′ S.; foon after we made feveral obfervations of the fun and moon, the result of which made our longitude 185° 36′ W. The wind being against us, we had made but little way. In the afternoon, we stood in fhore, and fetched clofe under the Cavalles, from which islands the main trends W. by N.: several canoes put off and followed us, but a light breeze springing up, I did not chuse to wait for them. I kept standing to the W. N. W. and N. W. till the next morning ten o'clock, when I tacked and stood Friday 8. in for the fhore, from which we were about five leagues diftant. At noon, the westermoft land in fight bore W. by S. and was about four leagues diftant. In the afternoon, we had a gentle breeze to the west, which in the evening came to the fouth, and continuing fo all night, by day-light Saturday 9. brought us pretty well in with the land, feven leagues to the weftward of the Cavalles, where we found a deep bay running in S. W. by W. and W. S. W. the bottom of which we could but just fee, and there the land appeared to be low and level. To this bay, which I called DOUBTLESS BAY, the entrance is formed by two points, which lie W. N. W. and E. S. E. and are five miles diftant from each other. The 3 B 2 wind 1769. December. Saturday 9. wind not permitting us to look in here, we fteered for the westermoft land in fight, which bore from us W. N. W. about three leagues, but before we got the length of it it fell calm. While we lay becalmed, feveral canoes came off to us, but the people having heard of our guns, it was not without great difficulty that they were perfuaded to come under our ftern: after having bought fome of their cloaths, as well as their fifh, we began to make enquiries concerning their country, and learnt, by the help of Tupia, that, at the diftance of three days rowing in their canoes, at a place called MOORE-WHENNUA, the land would take a fhort turn to the fouthward, and from thence extend no more to the west. This place we concluded to be the land difcovered by Tafman, which he called CAPE MARIA VAN DIEMEN, and finding thefe people fo intelligent, we inquired farther, if they knew of any country befides their own: they answered, that they never had visited any other, but that their ancestors had told them, that to the N. W. by N. or N. N. W. there was a country of great extent, called ULIMAROA, to which fome people had failed in a very large canoe; that only part of them returned, and reported, that after a paffage of a month they had feen a country where the people eat hogs. Tupia then enquired whether thefe adventurers brought any hogs with them when they returned; they faid No: then, replied Tupia, your story is certainly false, for it cannot be believed that men who came back from an expedition without hogs, had ever vifited a country where hogs were to be procured. It is however remarkable, notwithstanding the fhrewdness of Tupia's objection, that when they mentioned hogs it was not by defcription but by name, calling them Booah, the name which is given them in the South-fea iflands; but if the the animal had been wholly unknown to them, and they had had no communication with people to whom it was known, they could not poffibly have been acquainted with the name. 373 1769. December. Saturday 9. About ten o'clock at night, a breeze fprung up at W. N. W. with which we stood off north; and at noon the next day, the Sunday 10. Cavalles bore S. E. by E. diftant eight leagues; the entrance of Doubtless Bay S. by W. diftant three leagues; and the north west extremity of the land in fight, which we judged to be the main, bore N. W. by W.: our latitude by obfervation was 34° 44′ S. In the evening, we found the variation to be 12° 41′E. by the azimuth, and 12° 40′ by the amplitude. Early in the morning, we flood in with the land, feven Monday 11.. leagues to the weftward of Doubtlefs Bay, the bottom of which is not far distant from the bottom of another large bay, which the fhore forms at this place, being separated only by a low neck of land, which juts out into a peninsula that I have called KNUCKLE POINT. About the middle of this bay, which we called SANDY BAY, is a high mountain, standing upon a distant shore, to which I gave the name of MOUNT CAMEL. The latitude here is 34° 51 S. and longitude 186° 50'. We had twenty-four and twenty-five fathom water, with a good bottom; but there feems to be nothing in this bay that can induce a fhip to put into it; for the land about it is utterly barren and defolate, and, except Mount Camel, the fituation is low: the foil appears to be nothing but white fand, thrown up in low irregular hills and narrow ridges, lying parallel with the fhore. But barren and defolate as this place is, it is not without inhabitants: we faw one village on the weft fide of Mount Camel, and another on the caft fide; we faw alfo five canoes full of people, who pulled after the ship, but could not come up with us. As nine: |