acquaint me with it. I ran instantly on deck, and saw another man struggling with him; one of those who had been in the cabin, and had leaped out of the window for this purpose. The other seemed resolved, shook him off, and directed his bow again to the boat-keeper; but on my calling to him, pointed it at me. Having a musket in my hand, loaded with small-shot, I gave him the contents. This staggered him for a moment, but did not prevent him from holding his bow still in the attitude of shooting. Another discharge of the same nature made him drop it, and the others, who were in the canoe, to paddle off with all speed. At this time, some began to shoot arrows on the other side. A musket discharged in the air had no effect; but a four-pound shot over their heads sent them off in the utmost confusion. Many quitted their canoes and swam on shore: those in the great cabin leaped out of the windows; and those who were on the deck, and on different parts of the rigging, all leaped overboard. After this we took no farther notice of them, but suffered them to come off and pick up their canoes; and some even ventured again alongside the ship. Immediately after the great gun was fired, we heard the beating of drums on shore; which was, probably, the signal for the country to assemble in arms. We now got everything in readiness to land, to cut some wood, of which we were in want, and to try to get some refreshments, nothing of this kind having been seen in any of the canoes.

About nine o'clock, we put off in two boats, and landed in the face of four or five hundred people, who were assembled on the shore. Though they were all armed with bows and arrows, clubs and spears, they made not the least opposition. On the contrary, seeing me advance alone, with nothing but a green branch in my hand, one of them, who seemed to be a chief, giving his bow and arrows to another, met me in the water, bearing also a green branch, which having exchanged for the one I held, he then took me by the hand, and led me up to the crowd. I immediately distributed presents to them, and, in the mean time, the marines were drawn up on the beach. I then made signs (for we understood not a word of their language) that we wanted wood; and they made signs to us to cut down the trees. By this time, a small pig being brought down and presented to me, I gave the bearer a piece of cloth, with which he seemed well pleased. This made us hope that we should soon have some more; but we were mistaken. The pig was not brought to be exchanged for what we had, but on some other account; probably as a peace-offering. For all we could say or do did not prevail on them to bring down, after this, above half-a-dozen cocoa-nuts, and a small quantity of fresh water. They set no value on nails, or any sort of iron tools; nor indeed on anything we had. They would, now and then, exchange an arrow for a piece of cloth; but very seldom would part with a bow. They were unwilling we should go off the beach, and very desirous we should return on board. At length, about noon, after sending what wood we had cut on board, we embarked ourselves; and they all retired, some one way and some another.

Before we had dined, the afternoon was too far spent to do anything on shore; and all hands were employed, setting up the rigging, and repairing some defects in it. But seeing a man bring along the strand a buoy, which they had taken in the night from the kedgeanchor, I went on shore for it, accompanied by some of the gentlemen. The moment we landed, it was put into the boat by a man who walked off again without speaking one word. It ought to be observed, that this was the only thing they took, or even attempted to take from us, by any means whatever. Being landed near some of their plantations and houses, which were just within the skirts of the woods, I prevailed on one man to conduct me to them; but, though they suffered Mr. Forster to go with me, they were unwilling any more should follow. These houses were something like those of the other isles; rather low, and covered with palm thatch; some were inclosed, or walled round with boards; and the entrance to these was by a square hole at one end, which at this time was shut up, and they were unwilling to open it for us to look in. There were here about six houses, and some small plantations of roots, &c. fenced round with reeds as at the Friendly Isles. There were, likewise, some bread-fruit, cocoa-nut, and plantain trees; but very little fruit on any of them. A good many fine yams were piled up upon sticks, or a kind of raised platform; and about twenty pigs, and a few fowls, were running about loose. After making these observations, having embarked, we proceeded to the S.E. point of the harbour, where we again landed

and walked along the beach till we could see the islands to the S.E. already mentioned. The names of these we now obtained, as well as the name of that on which we were. This they called Mallicollo *: the island that first appeared over the south end of Ambrym is called Apee; and the other, with the hill on it, Paoom. We found on the beach a fruit like an orange, called by them Abbi-mora, but whether it be fit for eating, I cannot say, as this was decayed.

Proceeding next to the other side of the harbour, we there landed, near a few houses, at the invitation of some people who came down to the shore; but we had not been there five minutes before they wanted us to be gone. We complied, and proceeded up the harbour in order to sound it, and to look for fresh water, of which, as yet, we had seen none, but the very little that the natives brought, which we knew not where they got. Nor was our search now attended with success; but this is no proof that there is not any. The day was too far spent to examine the place well enough to determine this point. Night having brought us on board, I was informed that no soul had been off to the ship; so soon was the curiosity of these people satisfied. As we were coming on board, we heard the sound of a drum, and, I think of some other instruments, and saw people dancing; but as soon as they heard the noise of the oars, or saw us, all was silent.

Being unwilling to lose the benefit of the moonlight nights, which now happened, at seven A. M. on the 23d we weighed, and, with a light air of wind, and the assistance of our boats, proceeded out of the harbour; the south end of which, at noon, bore W.S.W. distant about two miles. When the natives saw us under sail, they came off in canoes, making exchanges with more confidence than before, and giving such extraordinary proofs of their honesty as surprised us. As the ship at first had fresh way through the water, several of them dropped astern after they had received our goods, and before they had time to deliver theirs in return. Instead of taking advantage of this, as our friends at the Society Isles would have done, they used their utmost efforts to get up with us, and to deliver what they had already been paid for. One man, in particular, followed us a considerable time, and did not reach us till it was calm, and the thing was forgotten. As soon as he came alongside, he held up the thing which several were ready to buy; but he refused to part with it, till he saw the person to whom he had before sold it, and to him he gave it. The person not knowing him again, offered him something in return, which he refused, and showed him what he had given him before. Pieces of cloth and marble paper were in most esteem with them; but edge-tools, nails, and beads, they seemed to disregard. The greatest number of canoes we had alongside at once did not exceed eight, and not more than four or five people in each; who would frequently retire to the shore all on a sudden, before they had disposed of half their things, and then others would come off.

At the time we came out of the harbour, it was about low water, and great numbers of people were then on the shoals or reefs which lie along the shore, looking, as we supposed, for shell and other fish. Thus our being on their coast, and in one of their ports, did not hinder them from following the necessary employments. By this time they might be satisfied we meant them no harm; so that, had we made a longer stay, we might soon have been upon good terms with this ape-like nation; for, in general, they are the most ugly, illproportioned people I ever saw, and in every respect different from any we had met with in this sea. They are a very dark-coloured and rather diminutive race; with long heads, flat faces, and monkey countenances. Their hair, mostly black or brown, is short and curly; but not quite so soft and woolly as that of a negro. Their beards are very strong, crisp, and bushy, and generally black and short. But what most adds to their deformity, is a belt, or cord, which they wear round the waist, and tie so tight over the belly that the shape of their bodies is not unlike that of an overgrown pismire. The men go quite naked, except a piece of cloth or leaf used as a wrapper †.

Or Mallicolla. Some of our people pronounced it Manicolo or Manicola, and thus it is also written in Quiros's Memorial, as printed by Dalrymple, vol. ii. p.

146.

†The particular manner of applying the wrapper may

be seen in Wafer's' Voyage, who mentions this singular custom as existing, though with some little variation, amongst the Indians of the Isthmus of Darien. See Wafer's Voyage, p. 140.

We saw but few women, and they were not less ugly than the men: their heads, faces, and shoulders are painted red; they wear a kind of petticoat; and some of them had something over their shoulders like a bag, in which they carry their children. None of them came off to the ship, and they generally kept at a distance when we were on shore. Their ornaments are ear-rings, made of tortoiseshell, and bracelets. A curious one of the latter, four or five inches broad, wrought with thread or cord, and studded with shells, is worn by them just above the elbow. Round the right wrist they wear hogs' tusks bent circular and rings made of shells; and round their left, a round piece of wood, which we judged was to ward off the bow-string. The bridge of the nose is pierced, in which they wear a piece of white stone, about an inch and a half long, and in this shape.

As signs of friendship they present a green branch, and sprinkle water with the hand over the head.

Their weapons are clubs, spears, and bows and arrows. The two former are made of hard or iron wood. Their bows are about four feet long, made of a stick split down the middle, and are not circular, but in this form. The arrows, which are a sort of reeds, are sometimes armed with a long and sharp point, made of the hard wood, and sometimes with a

very hard point made of bone; and these points are all covered with a substance which we took for poison. Indeed, the people themselves confirmed our suspicions, by making signs to us not to touch the point, and giving us to understand, that if we were pricked by them we should die. They are very careful of them themselves, and keep them always wrapped up in a quiver. Some of these arrows are armed with two or three points, each with small prickles on the edges, to prevent the arrow being drawn out of the wound.

The people of Mallicollo seemed to be a quite different nation from any we had yet met with, and speak a different language. Of about eighty words which Mr. Forster collected, hardly one bears any affinity to the language spoken at any other island or place I had ever been at. The letter R is used in many of their words; and frequently two or three being joined together, such words we found difficult to pronounce. I observed that they could pronounce most of our words with great ease. They express their admiration by hissing like a goose.

To judge of the country by the little we saw of it, it must be fertile; but I believe their fruits are not so good as those of the Society or Friendly Isles. Their cocoa-nut trees, I am certain, are not; and their bread-fruit and plantains did not seem much better. But their yams appeared to be very good. We saw no other animals than those I have already mentioned. They have not so much as a name for a dog, and consequently have none; for which reason we left them a dog and a bitch; and there is no doubt they will be taken care of, as they were very fond of them. After we had got to sea, we tried what effect one of the poisoned arrows would have on a dog. Indeed we had tried it in the harbour the very first night, but we thought the operation had been too slight, as it had no effect. The surgeon now made a deep incision in the dog's thigh, into which he laid a large portion of the poison just as it was scraped from the arrows, and then bound up the wound with a bandage. For several days after, we thought the dog was not so well as he had been before; but whether this was really so, or only suggested by imagination, I know not. was afterwards as if nothing had been done to him, and lived to be brought home to England. However, I have no doubt of this stuff being of a poisonous quality, as it could answer no other purpose. The people seemed not unacquainted with the nature of poisons ; for when they brought us water on shore, they first tasted it, and then gave us to understand we might with safety drink it.

He

This harbour, which is situated on the N.E. side of Mallicollo, not far from the S.E. end, in latitude 16° 25′ 20′′ S., longitude 167° 57′′ 23′ E., I named Port Sandwich. It lies in S.W. by S. about one league, and is one-third of a league broad. A reef of rocks extends out a little way from each point; but the channel is of a good breadth, and hath in it from forty to twenty-four fathoms water. In the port, the depth of water is from twenty to four fathoms; and it is so sheltered that no winds can disturb a ship at anchor there. Another great advantage is, you can lie so near the shore as to cover your people who may be at work upon it.

CHAPTER IV. AN ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF SEVERAL ISLANDS, AN INTERVIEW AND SKIRMISH WITH THE INHABITANTS UPON ONE OF THEM. THE ARRIVAL OF THE SHIP AT TANNA, AND THE RECEPTION WE MET WITH THERE.

Soon after we got to sea, we had a breeze at E.S.E. with which we stood over for Ambrym till three o'clock in the afternoon, when the wind veering to E.N.E. we tacked and stretched to the S.E. and weathered the S.E. end of Mallicollo, off which we discovered three or four small islands, that before appeared to be connected. At sunset the point bore S. 77° west, distant three leagues, from which the coast seemed to trend away west. At this time the isle of Ambrym extended from N. 30o E. to N. 65° E. The isle of Paoom from N. 76° E. to S. 88° E. and the isle of Apee from S. 83° E. to S. 43° east. We stood for this last isle, which we reached by midnight, and then brought to till daybreak on the 24th, when we made sail to the S.E. with a view of plying up to the eastward on the south side of Apee. At sunrise, we discovered several more islands, extending from the S.E. point of Apee to the south as far as S. E. by S. The nearest to us we reached by ten o'clock, and not being able to weather it, we tacked a mile from its shore in fourteen fathoms water. This island is about four leagues in circuit, is remarkable by having three high peaked hills upon it, by which it has obtained that name. In the P.M. the wind veering more to the north, we resumed our course to the east; and having weathered Threehills, stood for the group of small isles which lie off the S.E. point of Apee. These I called Shepherd's Isles, in honour of my worthy friend Dr. Shepherd, Plumian professor of astronomy at Cambridge. Having a fine breeze, I had thoughts of going through between them; but the channels being narrow, and seeing broken water in the one we were steering for, I gave up the design, and bore up, in order to go without, or to the south of them. Before this could be accomplished, it fell calm, and we were left to the mercy of the current, close to the isles, where we could find no soundings with a line of a hundred and eighty fathoms. We had now lands or islands in every direction, and were not able to count the number which lay round us. The mountain on Paoom was seen over the east end of Apee, bearing N.N.W. at eight o'clock. A breeze at S.E. relieved us from the anxiety the calm had occasioned; and we spent the night making short boards.

The night before we came out of Port Sandwich, two reddish fish, about the size of large bream, and not unlike them, were caught with hook and line. On these fish most of the officers, and some of the petty officers, dined the next day. The night following, every one who had eaten of them was seized with violent pains in the head and bones, attended with a scorching heat all over the skin, and numbness in the joints. There remained no doubt that this was occasioned by the fish being of a poisonous nature, and having communicated its bad effects to all who partook of them; even to the hogs and dogs. One of the former died about sixteen hours after; it was not long before one of the latter shared the same fate; and it was a week or ten days, before all the gentlemen recovered. These must have been the same sort of fish mentioned by Quiros*, under the name of Pargos, which poisoned the crews of his ships, so that it was some time before they recovered; and we should, doubtless, have been in the same situation, had more of them been eaten.

At daybreak on the 25th, we made a short stretch to the east of Shepherd's Isles till after sunrise, when, seeing no more land in that direction, we tacked and stood for the island we had seen in the south, having a gentle breeze at S. E. We passed to the east of Threehills, and likewise of a low isle, which lies on the S.E. side of it, between a remarkable peaked rock which obtained the name of Monument, and a small island named Twohills, on account of two peaked hills upon it, disjoined by a low and narrow isthmus. The channel between this island and the Monument is near a mile broad, and twenty-four fathoms deep. Except this rock, which is only accessible to birds, we did not find an island on which people were not seen. At noon, we observed, in latitude 17° 18′ 30′′ longitude, made from Port Sand

* Dalrymple's Collection of Voyages, vol. i. p. 140, 141.

L

wich, 45' east. In this situation the Monument bore N. 16° east, distant two miles; Twohills bore N. 25° west, distant two miles, and in a line with the S.W. part of Threehills; and the islands to the south extended from S. 16° 30′ E. to S. 42° west.

Continuing our course to the south, at five P.M. we drew near the southern lands, which we found to consist of one large island, whose southern and western extremities extended beyond our sight, and three or four smaller ones, lying off its north side. The two northernmost are much the largest, have a good height, and lie in the direction of E. by S. and W. by N. from each other, distant two leagues. I named the one Montagu, and the other Hinchinbrook, and the large island Sandwich, in honour of my noble patron the earl of Sandwich. Seeing broken water a-head between Montagu and Hinchinbrook Isles, we tacked; and soon after it fell calm. The calm continued till seven o'clock the next morning, when it was succeeded by a breeze from the westward. During the calm, having been carried by the currents and a S.E. swell, four leagues to the W.N.W., we passed Hinchinbrook Isle, saw the western extremity of Sandwich Island, bearing S.S.W. about five leagues distant, and at the same time discovered a small island to the west of this direction. After getting the westerly breeze, I steered S.E. in order to pass between Montagu Isle and the north end of Sandwich Island. At noon we were in the middle of the channel, and observed in latitude 17° 31' S. The distance from one island to the other is about four or five miles; but the channel is not much above half that breadth, being contracted by breakers. We had no soundings in it with a line of forty fathoms.

As we passed Montagu Isle several people came down to the sea-side, and, by signs, seemed to invite us ashore. Some were also seen on Sandwich Island, which exhibited a most delightful prospect, being spotted with woods and lawns, agreeably diversified, over the whole surface. It hath a gentle slope from the hills, which are of a moderate height, down to the sea-coast. This is low and guarded by a chain of breakers, so that there is no approaching it at this part. But more to the west, beyond Hinchinbrook Island, there seemed to run in a bay, sheltered from the reigning winds. The examining it not being so much an object with me as the getting to the south, in order to find the southern extremity of the archipelago, with this view I steered S.S.E., being the direction of the coast of Sandwich Island. We had but just got through the passage, before the west wind left us to variable light airs and calms; so that we were apprehensive of being carried back again by the currents, or rather of being obliged to return in order to avoid being driven on the shoals, as there was no anchorage, a line of a hundred and sixty fathoms not reaching to the bottom. At length a breeze springing up at S.W., we stood to S.E., and at sunset the Monument bore N. 14° 30′ W., and Montagu Island N. 28° W., distant three leagues. We judged we saw the S.E. extremity of Sandwich Island bearing about S. by E.

We continued to stand to S.E. till four A.M. on the 27th, when we tacked to the west. At sunrise having discovered a new land bearing south, and making in three hills, this occasioned us to tack and stand towards it. At this time Montagu Isle bore N. 52° W., distant thirteen leagues; at noon it was nearly in the same direction, and the new land extended from S. E. to S. by W., and three hills seemed to be connected. Our latitude, by observation, was 18° 1' S., and the longitude, made from Port Sandwich, 1° 23′ E. We continued to stand to the S.E. with a gentle breeze at S.W. and S.S.W. till the 28th at sunrise, when, the wind veering to the south, we tacked and stood to the west. The three hills mentioned above, we now saw belonged to one island, which extended from S. 35° to 71° W., distant about ten or twelve leagues.

Retarded by contrary winds, calms, and the currents that set to N.W., we were three days in gaining this space; in which time we discovered an elevated land to the south of this. It first appeared in detached hummocks, but we judged it to be connected. At length, on the 1st of August, about ten A.M. we got a fine breeze at E.S.E. which soon after veered to N.E., and we steered for the N.W. side of the island. Reaching it about two P.M., we ranged the west coast at one mile from shore, on which the inhabitants appeared in several parts, and by signs invited us to land. We continued to sound without finding bottom, till we came before a small bay, or bending of the coast, where, near a mile from