Monday 3. 1770. fiance, and letting off their fires by four or five at a time. September. What thefe fires were, or for what purpofe intended, we could not imagine: thofe who discharged them had in their hands a fhort piece of flick, poffibly a hollow cane, which they fwung fideways from them, and we immediately faw fire and smoke, exactly refembling thofe of a mufquet, and of no longer duration. This wonderful phænomenon was obferved from the fhip, and the deception was fo grear that the people on board thought they had fire-arms; and in the boat, if we had not been fo near as that we must have heard the report, we fhould have thought they had been firing volleys. After we had looked at them attentively fome time, without taking any notice of their flashing and vociferation, we fired fome mufquets over their heads: upon hearing the balls rattle among the trees, they walked leifurely away, and we returned to the fhip. Upon examining the weapons they had thrown at us, we found them to be light darts, about four feet long, very ill made, of a reed or bamboo cane, and pointed with hard wood, in which there were many barbs. They were difcharged with great force; for though we were at fixty yards diftance, they went beyond us, but in what manner we could not exactly fee: poffibly they miglit be flot with a bow; but we faw no bows among them when we furveyed them from the boat, and we were in general of opinion that they were thrown with a flick, in the manner practifed by the New Hollanders. This place lies in the latitude of 6° 15′S. and about fixtyfive leagues to the N. E. of Port Saint Auguftine, or Walche Cacp, and is near what is called in the charts C. de la Colta de St. Bonaventura. The land here, like that in every other part of the coaft, is very low, but covered with a luxuriance of wood and herbage that can scarcely be conceived. We faw the the cocoa-nut, the bread-fruit, and the plantain tree, all flourishing in a state of the highest perfection, though the cocoa-nuts were green, and the bread-fruit not in season; befides most of the trees, fhrubs, and plants that are common to the South Sea iflands, New Zealand, and New Holland. Soon after our return to the ship, we hoifted in the boat and made fail to the weftward, being refolved to spend no more time upon this coaft, to the great fatisfaction of a very confiderable majority of the fhip's company. But I am forry to fay that I was ftrongly urged by fome of the officers to fend a party of men afhore, and cut down the cocoa-nut trees for the fake of the fruit. This I peremptorily refused, as equally unjuft and cruel. The natives had attacked us merely for landing upon their coaft, when we attempted to take nothing away, and it was therefore morally certain that they would have made a vigorous effort to defend their property if it had been invaded, in which cafe many of them. must have fallen a facrifice to our attempt, and perhaps alfo fome of our own people. I fhould have regretted the neceffity of fuch a measure, if I had been in want of the neceffaries of life; and certainly it would have been highly crimi-nal when nothing was to be obtained but two or three hundred of green cocoa-nuts, which would at most have procured us a mere tranfient gratification. I might indeed. have proceeded farther along the coaft to the northward and weftward, in fearch of a place where the fhip might have lain fo near the fhore as to cover the people with her guns when they landed; but this would have obviated only part of the mifchief, and though it might have fecured us, it would probably in the very act have been fatal to the na-tives. Befides, we had reafon to think that before fuch a 1770. September. Monday 3. 1770. September. Monday 3. place would have been found, we should have been carried fo far to the weftward as to have been obliged to go to Batavia, on the north fide of Java; which I did not think so safe a paffage as to the fouth of Java, through the Streights of Sunday: the fhip alfo was fo leaky that I doubted whether it would not be neceffary to heave her down at Batavia, which was another reason for making the best of our way to that place; especially as no discovery could be expected in seas which had already been navigated, and where every coast had been laid down by the Dutch geographers. The Spaniards indeed, as well as the Dutch, feem to have circumnavigated all the islands in New Guinea, as almost every place that is diftinguished in the chart has a name in both languages. The charts with which I compared fuch part of this coaft as I vifited, are bound up with a French work, intitled, "Hiftoire des Navigationes aux Terres Auftrales," which was published in 1756, and I found them tolerably exact; yet I know not by whom, nor when they were taken: and though New Holland and New Guinea are in them reprefented as two diftinct countries, the very history in which they are bound up, leaves it in doubt. I pretend however to no more merit in this part of the voyage, than to have eftablished the fact beyond all controversy. As the two countries lie very near each other, and the intermediate space is full of islands, it is reasonable to fuppofe that they were both peopled from one common stock: yet no intercourse appears to have been kept up between them; for if there had, the cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, plantains, and other fruits of New Guinea, which are equally neceffary for the fupport of life, would certainly have been transplanted to New Holland, where no traces of them are to be found. The Author of the "Hiftoire des Navigationes auxTerres Auftrales," in his account of La Maire's voyage, has given a vocabulary of the language that is spoken in an island near New Britain, and we find, by comparing that vocabulary with the words which we learnt in New Holland, that the languages are not the fame. If therefore it should appear, that the languages of New Britain and New Guinea are the fame, there will be reason to fuppofe that New Britain and New Guinea were peopled from a common ftock; but that the inhabitants of New Holland had a different origin, notwithstanding. the proximity of the countries. 1770. September. Monday 3. VOL. III. Kk CHAP. 1770. September. Tuesday 4. Wednef. 5. Thursday 6. CHA P. VIII. The Pallage from New Guinea to the Island of Savu, and the Tranfactions there. W E made fail, from noon on Monday the 3d to noon on Tuesday the 4th, ftanding to the weftward, and all the time kept in foundings, having from fourteen to thirty fathom; not regular, but fometimes more, sometimes less. At noon on the 4th, we were in fourteen fathom, and latitude 6° 44′ S., longitude 223° 51′ W.; our course and distance fince the 3d at noon, were S. 76 W. one hundred and twenty miles to the weftward. At noon on the 5th of September, we were in latitude 7° 25′ S., longitude 225° 41′ W.; having been in foundings the whole time from ten to twenty fathom. At half an hour after one in the morning of the next day, we paffed a small island which bore from us N. N. W. diftant between three and four miles; and at day-light we difcovered another low ifland, extending from N. N. W. to N. N. E. diftant about two or three leagues. Upon this island, which did not appear to be very fmall, I believe I should have landed to examine its produce, if the wind had not blown too fresh to admit of it. When we passed this island we had only ten fathom water, with a rocky bottom; and therefore I was afraid of running down to leeward, left I should meet with fhoal water and foul ground. These islands have no place in the charts except they are the Arrou islands ; 'and if thefe, |