short sentences; to each of which two or three old men answered, by noddding their heads, and giving a kind of grunt, significant, as I thought, of approbation. It was impossible for us to know the purport of these speeches; but we had reason to think they were favourable to us, on whose account they doubtless were made. I kept my eyes fixed on the people all the time, and saw nothing to induce me to think otherwise. While we were with them, having inquired, by signs, for fresh water, some pointed to the east, and others to the west. My friend undertook to conduct us to it, and embarked with us for that purpose. We rowed about two miles up the coast to the east, where the shore was mostly covered with mangrove trees; and entering amongst them, by a narrow creek or river, which brought us to a little straggling village above all the mangroves, there we landed, and were shown fresh water. The ground near this village was finely cultivated, being laid out in plantations of sugarcanes, plantains, yams, and other roots; and watered by little rills, conducted by art from the main stream, whose source was in the hills. Here were some cocoa-nut trees, which did not seem burdened with fruit. We heard the crowing of cocks, but saw none. Some roots were baking on a fire, in an earthen jar, which would have held six or eight gallons; nor did we doubt its being their own manufacture. As we proceeded up the creek, Mr. Forster having shot a duck flying over our heads, which was the first use these people saw made of our fire-arms, my friend begged to have it; and when he landed, told his countrymen in what manner it was killed. The day being far spent, and the tide not permitting us to stay longer in the creek, we took leave of the people, and got on board a little after sunset. From this little excursion, I found that we were to expect nothing from these people but the privilege of visiting their country undisturbed. For it was easy to see they had little else than good-nature to bestow. In this they exceeded all the nations we had yet met with; and, although it did not satisfy the demands of nature, it at once pleased and left our minds at ease. Next morning we were visited by some hundreds of the natives; some coming in canoes, and others swimming off; so that before ten o'clock, our decks, and all other parts of the ship, were quite full with them. My friend, who was of the number, brought me a few roots, but all the others came empty in respect to eatables. Some few had with them their arms, such as clubs and darts, which they exchanged for nails, pieces of cloth, &c. After breakfast, I sent Lieutenant Pickersgill with two armed boats to look for fresh water; for what we found the day before was by no means convenient for us to get on board. At the same time, Mr. Wales, accompanied by Lieutenant Clerke, went to the little isle to make preparations for observing the eclipse of the sun, which was to be in the afternoon. Pickersgill soon returning, informed me that he had found a stream of fresh water, pretty convenient to come at. I therefore ordered the launch to be hoisted out to complete our water, and then went to the isle to assist in the observation. Mr. About one P.M. the eclipse came on. Clouds interposed, and we lost the first contact, but were more fortunate in the end, which was observed as follows: By Mr. Wales with Dollond's 3 foot achromatic refractor, at 3h 28′ 491" 3 28 524 3 28 534 Apparent time. And by me with an 18 inch reflector, made by Watkins Latitude of the isle or place of observation, 20° 17′ 39′′ south. Longitude per distance of the sun and moon, and moon and stars, 48 sets, 164° 41′ 21′′ E. Ditto per watch 163 58 0 Mr. Wales measured the quantity eclipsed by a Hadley's quadrant, a method never before thought of. I am of opinion it answers the purpose of a micrometer to a great degree of certainty, and is a great addition to the use of this most valuable instrument. After all was over, we returned on board, where I found Teabooma the chief, who soon after slipped out of the ship without my knowledge, and by that means lost the present I had made up for him. In the evening I went ashore to the watering-place, which was at the head of a little creek, at a fine stream that came from the hills. It was necessary to have a small boat in the creek to convey the casks from and to the beach over which they were rolled, and then put into the launch; as only a small boat could enter the creek, and that only at high water. Excellent wood for fuel was here far more convenient than water, but this was an article we did not want. About seven o'clock this evening, died Simon Monk, our butcher, a man much esteemed in the ship; his death being occasioned by a fall down the fore-hatchway the preceding night. Early in the morning of the 7th, the watering-party, and a guard, under the command of an officer, were sent ashore; and soon after, a party of us went to take a view of the country. As soon as we landed, we made known our design to the natives, and two of them undertaking to be our guides, conducted us up the hills by a tolerably good path. In our route we met several people, most of whom turned back with us; so that at last our train was numerous. Some we met who wanted us to return; but we paid no regard to their signs, nor did they seem uneasy when we proceeded. At length we reached the summit of one of the hills, from which we saw the sea in two places, between some advanced hills on the opposite or S.W. side of the land. This was a useful discovery, as it enabled us to judge of the breadth of the land, which, in this part, did not exceed ten leagues. Between those advanced hills and the ridge we were upon, was a large valley, through which ran a serpentine river. On the banks of this were several plantations, and some villages, whose inhabitants we had met on the road, and found more on the top of the hill gazing at the ship, as might be supposed. The plain or flat land, which lies along the shore we were upon, appeared from the hills to a great advantage; the winding streams which ran through it, the plantations, the little straggling villages, the variety in the woods, and the shoals on the coast, so variegating the scene, that the whole might afford a picture for romance. Indeed, if it were not for those fertile spots on the plains, and some few on the sides of the mountains, the whole country might be called a dreary waste. The mountains and other high places are, for the most part, incapable of cultivation, consisting chiefly of rocks, many of which are full of mundicks. The little soil that is upon them is scorched and burnt up with the sun; it is, nevertheless, coated with coarse grass and other plants, and here and there trees and shrubs. The country in general bore great resemblance to some parts of New Holland under the same parallel of latitude, several of its natural productions seeming to be the same, and the woods being without underwood, as in that country. The reefs on the coast, and several other similarities, were obvious to every one who had seen both countries. We observed all the N.E. coast to be covered with shoals and breakers, extending to the northward, beyond the isle of Balabea, till they were lost in the horizon. Having made these observations, and our guides not choosing to go farther, we descended the mountains by a road different from that by which we ascended. This brought us down through some of their plantations in the plains, which I observed were laid out with great judgment, and cultivated with much labour. Some of them were lying in fallow; some scemingly lately laid down, and others of longer date, pieces of which they were again beginning to dig up. The first thing I observed they did, was to set fire to the grass, &c. which had over-run the surface. Recruiting the land by letting it lie some years untouched, is observed by all the nations in the sea; but they seem to have no notion of manuring it, at least I have nowhere seen it done. Our excursion was finished by noon, when we returned on board to dinner; and one of our guides having left us, we brought the other with us, whose fidelity was rewarded at a small expense. In the afternoon, I made a little excursion alongshore to the westward, in company with Mr. Wales. Besides making observations on such things as we met, we got the names of several places, which I then thought were islands; but, upon farther inquiry, I found they were districts upon this same land. This afternoon, a fish being struck by one of the natives near the watering-place, my clerk purchased it, and sent it to me after my return on board. It was of a new species, something like a sun-fish, with a large, long, ugly head. Having no suspicion of its being of a poisonous nature, we ordered it to be dressed for supper; but, very luckily, the operation of drawing and describing took up so much time, that it was too late, so that only the liver and roe were dressed, of which the two Mr. Forsters and myself did but taste. About three o'clock in the morning, we found ourselves seized with an extraordinary weakness and numbness all over our limbs: I had almost lost the sense of feeling, nor could I distinguish between light and heavy bodies, of such as I had strength to move; M M a quart pot full of water and a feather being the same in my hand. We each of us took an emetic, and after that a sweat, which gave us much relief. In the morning, one of the pigs which had eaten the entrails was found dead. When the natives came on board, and saw the fish hang up, they immediately gave us to understand it was not wholesome food, and expressed the utmost abhorrence of it; though no one was observed to do this when the fish was to be sold, or even after it was purchased. On the 8th, the guard and a party of men were on shore as usual. In the afternoon, I received a message from the officer, acquainting me that Teabooma, the chief, was come with a present, consisting of a few yams and sugar-canes. In return I sent him, amongst other articles, a dog and a bitch, both young, but nearly full-grown. The dog was red and white, but the bitch was all red, or the colour of an English fox. I mention this, because they may prove the Adam and Eve of their species in that country. When the officer returned on board in the evening, he informed me that the chief came attended by about twenty men, so that it looked like a visit of ceremony. It was some time before he would believe the dog and bitch were intended for him; but as soon as he was convinced, he seemed lost in an excess of joy, and sent them away immediately. Next morning early, I despatched Lieutenant Pickersgill and Mr. Gilbert, with the launch and cutter, to explore the coast to the west; judging this would be better effected in the boats than in the ship, as the reefs would force the latter several leagues from land. After breakfast, a party of men was sent ashore to make brooms; but myself and the two Mr. Forsters were confined on board, though much better, a good sweat having had a happy effect. In the afternoon, a man was seen, both ashore and alongside the ship, said to be as white as any European. From the account I had of him (for I did not see him), his whiteness did not proceed from hereditary descent, but from chance or some disease; and such have been seen at Otaheite and the Society Isles *. A fresh easterly wind, and the ship lying a mile from the shore, did not hinder these goodnatured people from swimming off to us in shoals of twenty or thirty, and returning the same way. On the 10th, a party was on shore as usual; and Mr. Forster so well recovered as to go out botanizing. In the evening of the 11th the boats returned, when I was informed of the following circumstances. From an elevation which they reached the morning they set out, they had a view of the coast. Mr. Gilbert was of opinion that they saw the termination of it to the west, but Mr. Pickersgill thought not; though both agreed that there was no passage for the ship that way. From this place, accompanied by two of the natives, they went to Balabea, which they did not reach till after sunset, and left again next morning before sunrise; consequently this was a fruitless expedition, and the two following days were spent in getting up to the ship. As they went down to the isle, they saw abundance of turtle, but the violence of the wind and sea made it impossible to strike any. The cutter was near being lost, by suddenly filling with water, which obliged them to throw several things overboard before they could free her and stop the leak she had sprung. From a fishing canoe, which they met coming in from the reefs, they got as much fish as they could eat ; and they were received by Teabi, the chief of the isle of Balabea, and the people, who came in numbers to see them, with great courtesy. In order not to be too much crowded, our people drew a line on the ground, and gave the others to understand they were not to come within it. This restriction they observed; and one of them, soon after, turned it to his own advantage for happening to have a few cocoa-nuts, which one of our people wanted to buy, and he was unwilling to part with, he walked off, and was followed by the man who wanted them. On seeing this, he sat down on the sand, made a circle round him, as he had seen our people do, and signified that the other was not to come within it; which was accordingly observed. As this story was well attested, I thought it not unworthy of a place in this journal. Early in the morning of the 12th, I ordered the carpenter to work, to repair the cutter, and the water to be replaced which we had expended the three preceding days. As Tea • Wafer met with Indians in the Isthmus of Darien of the colour of a white horse. See his Description of the Isthmus. p. 134. See also Mr. de Paw's Philosophical Inquiries concerning the Americans, where several other instances of this remarkable whiteness are mentioned, and the causes of it attempted to be explained. booma, the chief, had not been seen since he got the dogs, and I wanted to lay a foundation for stocking the country with hogs also, I took a young boar and sow with me in the boat, and went up the mangrove creek to look for my friend, in order to give them to him. But when we arrived there, we were told that he lived at some distance, and that they would send for him. Whether they did or not, I cannot say; but, he not coming, I resolved to give them to the first man of note I met with. The guide we had to the hills happening to be there, I made him understand that I intended to leave the two pigs on shore, and ordered them out of the boat for that purpose. I offered them to a grave old man, thinking he was a proper person to entrust them with; but he shook his head, and he, and all present, made signs to take them into the boat again. When they saw I did not comply, they seemed to consult with one another what was to be done; and then our guide told me to carry them to the Alekee (chief). Accordingly I ordered them to be taken up, and we were conducted by him to a house wherein were seated, in a circle, eight or ten middle-aged persons. To them I and my pigs being introduced, with great courtesy they desired me to sit down; and then I began to expatiate on the merits of the two pigs, explaining to them how many young ones the female would have at one time, and how soon these would multiply to some hundreds. My only motive was to enhance their value, that they might take the more care of them; and I had reason to think I, in some measure, succeeded. In the mean time, two men having left the company, soon returned with six yams, which were presented to me; and then I took leave and went on board. I have already observed, that here was a little village; I now found it much larger than I expected, and about it a good deal of cultivated land, regularly laid out, planted and planting with taro or eddy root, yams, sugar-canes, and plantains. The taro plantations were prettily watered by little rills, continually supplied from the main channel at the foot of the mountains, from whence these streams were conducted in artful meanders. They have two methods of planting these roots; some are in square or oblong patches, which lie perfectly horizontal, and sink below the common level of the adjacent land; so that they can let in on them as much water as they think necessary. I have generally seen them covered two or three inches deep; but I do not know that this is always necessary. Others are planted in ridges about three or four feet broad, and two or two and a half high. On the middle or top of the ridge is a narrow gutter, in and along which is conveyed, as above described, a little rill that waters the roots planted in the ridge on each side of it; and these plantations are so judiciously laid out, that the same stream waters several ridges. These ridges are sometimes the divisions to the horizontal plantations; and when this method is used, which is for the most part observed where a pathway or something of that sort is requisite, not an inch of ground is lost. Perhaps there may be some difference in the roots, which may make these two methods of raising them necessary. Some are better tasted than others, and they are not all of a colour; but be this as it may, they are a very wholesome food, and the tops make good greens, and are eaten as such by the natives. On these plantations, men, women, and children were employed. In the afternoon I went on shore, and, on a large tree, which stood close to the shore, near the watering-place, had an inscription cut, setting forth the ship's name, date, &c., as a testimony of our being the first discoverers of this country, as I had done at all others at which we had touched, where this ceremony was necessary. This being done, we took leave of our friends, and returned on board, when I ordered all the boats to be hoisted in, in order to be ready to put to sea in the morning. CHAPTER IX.—A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS; THEIR MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND ARTS. I SHALL Conclude our transactions at this place with some account of the country and its inhabitants. They are strong, robust, active, well-made people, courteous and friendly, and not in the least addicted to pilfering, which is more than can be said of any other nation in this sea. They are nearly of the same colour as the natives of Tanna, but have better features, more agreeable countenances, and are a much stouter race; a few being seen who measured six feet four inches. I observed some who had thick lips, flat noses, and full cheeks, and, in some degree, the features and look of a negro. Two things contributed to the forming of such an idea: first, their rough mop heads; and secondly, their besmearing their faces with black pigment. Their hair and beards are in general black. The former is very much frizzled; so that at first sight it appears like that of a negro. It is, nevertheless, very different, though both coarser and stronger than ours. Some, who wear it long, tie it up on the crown of the head; others suffer only a large lock to grow on each side, which they tie up in clubs; many others, as well as all the women, wear it cropped short. These rough heads most probably want frequent scratching, for which purpose they have a most excellent instrument. This is a kind of comb made of sticks of hard wood, from seven to nine inches long, and about the thickness of knitting-needles. A number of these, seldom exceeding twenty, but generally fewer, are fastened together at one end, parallel to, and near 1-10th of an inch from each other. The other ends, which are a little pointed, will spread out or open like the sticks of a fan, by which means they can beat up the quarters of a hundred lice at a time. These combs or scratchers-for I believe they serve both purposes they always wear in their hair, on one side their head. The people of Tanna have an instrument of this kind, for the same use; but theirs is forked, I think never exceeding three or four prongs; and sometimes only a small pointed stick. Their beards, which are of the same crisp nature as their hair, are, for the most part, worn short. Swelled and ulcerated legs and feet are common among the men, as also a swelling of the scrotum. I know not whether this is occasioned by disease, or by the mode of applying the wrapper before mentioned, and which they use as at Tanna and Mallicollo. This is their only covering, and is made generally of the bark of a tree, but sometimes of leaves. The small pieces of cloth, paper, &c., which they got from us, were commonly applied to this use. We saw coarse garments amongst them, made of a sort of matting; but they seemed never to wear them, except when out in their canoes, and unemployed. Some had a kind of concave, cylindrical, stiff black cap, which appeared to be a great ornament among them, and, we thought, was only worn by men of note, or warriors. A large sheet of strong paper, when they got one from us, was generally applied to this use. The women's dress is a short petticoat, made of the filaments of the plantain-tree laid over a cord, to which they are fastened, and tied round the waist. The petticoat is made at least six or eight inches thick, but not one inch longer than necessary for the use designed. The outer filaments are dyed black; and, as an additional ornament, the most of them have a few pearl oyster-shells fixed on the right side. The general ornaments of both sexes are ear-rings of tortoise-shell, necklaces or amulets, made both of shells and stones, and bracelets, made of large shells, which they wear above the elbow. They have punctures, or marks on the skin, on several parts of the body; but none, I think, are black as at the eastern islands. I know not if they have any other design than ornament; and the people of Tanna are marked much in the same manner. Were I to judge of the origin of this nation, I should take them to be a race between the people of Tanna and of the Friendly Isles; or between those of Tanna and the New Zealanders, or all three; their language, in some respects, being a mixture of them all. In their disposition they are like the natives of the Friendly Isles, but in affability and honesty they excel them. Notwithstanding their pacific inclination, they must sometimes have wars, as they are well provided with offensive weapons, such as clubs, spears, darts, and slings for throwing stones. The clubs are about two feet and a half long, and variously formed; some like a scythe, others like a pick-axe; some have a head like a hawk, and others have round heads; but all are neatly made. Many of their darts and spears are no less neat, and ornamented with carvings. The slings are as simple as possible; but they take some pains to form the stones that they use into a proper shape, which is something like an egg, supposing both ends to be like the small one. They use a becket in the same manner as at Tanna, in throwing the dart, which, I believe, is much used in striking fish, &c. In this they seem very dexterous; nor, indeed, do I know that they have any other method of catching large fish; for I neither saw hooks nor lines among them. It is needless |