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1766. September.

Duke of Portland's LAands

with thick weather, hard squalls, and much rain, we could not fee more of it diftinctly enough to defcribe its appearance.

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Sunday 13. We steered westward all night, and in the morning, the weather being still thick, our view of New Hanover was very imperfect; but we faw, about eight leagues to the weftward of it, fix or seven small islands, which I called the DUKE OF PORTLAND'S ISLANDS, two of which are pretty large. I now perceived by the fwell of the fea that we were clear of all the land, and I found Saint George's Channel to be a much better and shorter paffage, whether from the eastward or the westward, than round all the land and islands to the northward; the distress therefore which pushed me upon this discovery, may probably be, in its confequences, of great advantage to future navigators, efpecially as there can be no doubt but that refreshments of every kind may cafily be procured from the natives who inhabit either of the coafts of the channel, or the iflands that lie near them, for beads, ribbands, lookingglaffes, and especially iron tools and cutlery-ware, of which they are immoderately fond, and with which, to our great misfortune, we were not furnished.

Queen Charlotte's Foreland, the fouth-weft part of New Hanover, lies in latitude 2o 29' S. longitude 148° 27′ E. and the middle of Portland's Islands in fatitude 2° 27′ S. longitude 148° 3′ E. The length of this ftreight or channel, from Cape Saint George to Cape Byron, the fouth-weft extremity of New Ireland, is above eighty leagues; the diftance from Cape Byron to Queen Charlotte's Foreland is about twelve leagues, and from the Foreland to Portland's Inlands about eight leagues; fo that the whole length of Saint George's Channel is about one hundred teagues, or three hundred miles.

Though we cleared the Streight in the morning of Sunday the 13th of September, we had no obfervation of the fun till the 15th, which I could not but greatly regret, as it prevented my being fo exact in my latitude and longitude as might be expected. The defcription alfo of the country, its productions and people, would have been much more full and circumftantial, if I had not been fo much infeebled and difpirited by. fickness,

fickness, as almost to fink under the duty that for, want of officers devolved upon me, being obliged, when I was fcarcely able to crawl, to keep watch and fhare other duties with my Lieutenant, whofe health alfo was greatly impaired.

CHA P. VII.

The Paffage from St. George's Channel to the Island of Mindanao, with an Account of many Islands that were feen, and Incidents that happened by the Way.

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1767. September.

S foon as we had cleared Saint George's Channel, we steered westward, and the next day we difcovered land bearing W. N. W. and hauled up for it; it proved to be an island of confiderable extent, and foon afterwards we faw another to the north-east of it, but this appeared to be little more than a large rock above water. As I had here strong currents, and for several days had not been able to get an observation of the fun, I cannot fo exactly ascertain the fituation of these islands as I might otherwise have done. As we proceeded to the weftward, we difcovered more land, confifting of many islands lying to the fouthward of the large one which we had first discovered. As the nights were now moon-light, we kept on till eleven o'clock, and the Lieutenant, who was then officer of the watch, finding that the course we were steering would carry us among them, and not being willing to awaken me till it was my turn to watch, hauled off S. by E. and S. S. E. I came upon deck about midnight, and at one in the morning, perceiving that we were clear of Tuesd. 18. them, I bore away again to the westward with an easy fail the iflands, however, were not far diftant, and about fix o'clock, a confiderable number of canoes, with feveral hundred people on board, came off, and paddled towards the fhip: one of them, with feven men on board, came near enough to hail us, and made us feveral figns which we could not perfectly underftand, but repeated, as near as we could, to fhew that whatever they meant to us we meant to them: however, the better to bespeak their good-will, and invite them to come on board, we held up to them several

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1767. of the few trifles we had: upon this they drew nearer September. to the fhip, and I flattered myself that they were coming on board; but on the contrary, as foon as they came within reach of us they threw their lances, with great force, where we ftood thickest upon the deck. As I thought it better to prevent than repress a general attack, in which, as the number would be more, the mischief would be greater, and having no doubt of their hoftile intentions, I fired fome mufkets and one of the swivel guns, upon which, fome of them being killed or wounded, they rowed off and joined the other canoes, of which there were twelve or fourteen, with feveral hundred men on board. I then brought to, waiting the iffue, and had the fatisfaction to fee, that, after having long confulted together, they made for the fhore: that I might ftill farther intimidate them, and more effectually prevent their return, I fired a round shot from one of my fix pounders, fo as to fall into the water beyond them: this feemed to haye a good effect, for they not only used their paddles more nimbly, but hoifted fail, still standing towards the fhore. Soon after, however, feveral more canoes put off from another part of the island, and came towards us very faft: they stopped at about the fame. diftance as the others had done, and one of them alfo in the fame manner came forward: to the people on board this veffel we made all the signs of friendship we could devife, fhewing them every thing we had which we thought would please them, opening our arms and inviting them on board: but our rhetoric was to no effect, for as foon as they came within a caft of the ship, they poured in a fhower of darts and lances, which, however, did us no harm. We returned the affault by firing fome muskets, and one man being killed, the reft precipitately leaped into the fea, and fwimming to the others who waited at a distance, all returned together from whence they came. As foon as the canoe was deferted, we got out our boat and brought it on board: it was full fifty feet long. though one of the smallest that came against us; it was very rudely made out of one tree, but had an outrigger. We found in it fix fine fish, and a turtle, fome yams, one cocoa-nut, and a bag full of a fmall

kind of apple or plum, of a sweetish taste and farinace- 1767. ous fubftance; it had a flattish kernel, and was wholly September. different from every thing we have feen either before or fince it was eatable raw, but much better boiled, or roafted in the embers: we found alfo two large earthen pots, fhaped fomewhat like a jug, with a wide mouth, but without handles, and a confiderable quantity of matting, which these people use both for fails and awning, fpreading it over bent fticks, much in the fame manner as the tilts of the London wherries. From the contents of the veffel we judged that it had been fishing, and we obferved the people had a fire on board, with one of their pots on it, in which they were boiling their provision. When we had fatisfied our curiofity by examining it, we cut it up for fire-wood.

Thefe Indians were the fame kind of people that we had feen before on the coast of New Ireland, and at Egmont Ifland: they were of a very dark copper colour, nearly black, with woolly heads. They chew beetlenut, and go quite naked, except the rude ornaments of shells ftrung together, which they wear round their legs and arms; they were alfo powdered like our laft visitors, and had, besides, their faces painted with white ftreaks; but I did not obferve that they had any beards. Their lances were pointed with a kind of bluish flint.

Having difengaged ourselves from this fierce and unfriendly people, we purfued our courfe along the other iflands, which are between twenty and thirty in number, and of confiderable extent; one in particular would alone make a large kingdom. I called them the ADMIRALTY ISLANDS, and thould have been glad to Admiralty have examined them, if my fhip had been in a better lands. condition, and I had been provided with fuch articles as are proper for an Indian trade, efpecially as their appearance is very inviting: they are cloathed with a moft beautiful verdure; the woods are lofty and luxuriant, interspersed with spots that have been cleared for plantations, groves of cocoa-nut trees, and houses of the na tives, who seem to be very numerous. Nothing would be more easy than to establish an amicable intercourse with them, as they would foon be fenfible that our fuperiority would render conteft vain, and traffic advantageous. I judge the middle of the largest to lie in lati

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1767 tude 2° 18' S. longitude 146° 44' E. and at the distance September. of five and thirty leagues from Queen Charlotte's Foreland in New Hanover, in the direction of W. N. On the fouth fide of this ifland, there is a fmall one, which rifes conically in a high peak. The latitude of this peak is 2o 27' S. and it lies five degrees and an half weftward of cape Saint George in New Ireland. As we ran along the fouth fide of the large ifland, we found it to be eighteen leagues long, in the direction of east and weft; how far it runs to the northward, I do not know, but by its appearance there is reason to fuppofe a very confiderable diftance. I think it probable, in the highest degree, that these islands produce many valuable articles of trade, particularly fpices, especially as they lie in the fame climate and latitude as the Malaccas, and as I found the nutmeg tree in a foil comparatively rocky and barren upon the coaft of New Ireland.

Having paffed thefe iflands we continued our course W. by N. with a fine eaftern breeze, and fmooth water. Wedn. 16. On the 16th in the morning, we found the variation, by a medium of feveral azimuths, to be 6o 30' E. our latitude being 20 19' S. and our longitude 145° 40' E. by obfervation. I was furprised to find the variation on this fide the land of New Britain and New Ireland fo much, as we had found it gradually decreafing during our progress to the N. W. but I recollected that about two years before I had found nearly the fame variation in this meridian, about the island of Tinian.

Satur. 19.

Durour's
Iland.

Matty's

Inland.

On Saturday evening the 19th, we discovered two fmall islands, both low land, level, and green: one of them we faw only from the main-top-gallant-maft head; this I called DUROUR'S ISLAND. Its latitude is about 1° 14' or 16' S. its longitude 143° 21' E. The other ifland, which I called MATTY'S ISLAND, we coafted during the night, and faw the inhabitants, in great numbers, run along the beach, a-breast of the ship, with lights: the fide along which we failed feemed to be about fix miles in length, E. by N. and W. by S. As it was dark we could fee no more of it, and having a fine breeze which we could not afford to lofe, we kept on. Its latitude is about 1° 45' S. and its longitude about 143° 2' E. the variation here was 4° 40' E. and we found a ftrong north-westerly current. We had now fresh gales

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