When I left the fhip, many canoes were about it; Mr. Banks therefore chofe to ftay on board, and traffic with the natives: they bartered their clothes and arms, chiefly for paper, and behaved' with great friendship and honesty. But while fome of them were below with Mr. Banks, a young man who was upon the deck stole a half minute glass which was in the binacle, and was detected just as he was carrying it off. Mr. Hicks, who was commanding officer on board, took it into his head to punish him, by giving him twelve lafhes with a cat o'nine-tails; and accordingly ordered him to be taken to the gangway, and tied up to the fhrouds. When the other Indians who were on board faw him feized, they attempted to refcue him; and being refift 1769. November. Wednef. 22. ed, called for their arms, which were handed up from the canoes, and the people of one of them attempted to come up the fhip's fide. The tumult was heard by Mr. Banks, who, with Tupia, came haftily upon the deck to fee what had happened. The Indians immediately ran to Tupia, who, finding Mr. Hicks inexorable, could only affure them, that nothing was intended against the life of their companion; but that it was neceffary he should fuffer fome punishment for his offence, which being explained to them, they feemed to be fatisfied. The punish-ment was then inflicted, and as foon as the criminal was unbound, an old man among the specta 1769. November. tors, who was fuppofed to be his father, gave him a hearty beating, and fent him down into Wednef. 22. his canoe. All the canoes then dropped a stern, and the people faid that they were afraid to come any more near the fhip: after much perfuafion, however, they ventured back again, but their cheerful confidence was at an end, and their stay was short; they promised indeed, at their departure, to return with fome fifh, but we faw no more of them. Thurfd. 23. point of the On the 23d, the wind being contrary, we kept plying down the river, and at feven in the evening, got without the N. W. iflands lying on the weft fide of it. The weather being bad, night coming on, and having land on every side of us, I thought it moft advisable to tack, and stretch in under the point, where we anchored in nineteen fathom. At five in the Friday 24. morning of the 24th, we weighed, and made fail to the N. W. under our courfes and double reefed top-fails, the wind being at S. W. by W. and W. S. W. a ftrong gale and fqually. As the gale would not permit us to come near the land, we had but a flight and distant view of it from the time when we got under fail till noon, during a run of twelve leagues, but we never once loft fight of it. At this time, our latitude, by observation, was 36° 15′ 20′′, we were not above two miles from a point of land on the main, and three leagues and an half from a very 1769 November, high fland, which bore N. E. by E.: in this fituation we had twenty-fix fathom water: the farthest point on the main that we could fee Friday 24. bore N. W. but we could perceive feveral fmall islands lying to the north of that direction, The point of land of which we were now a-breast, and which I called POINT RODNEY, is the N. W, extremity of the river Thames; for under that name I comprehend the deep bay, which terminates in the fresh water stream, and the N. E. extremity is the promontory which we paffed when we entered it, and which I called CAPE COLVILLE, in honour of the Right Honourable Lord Colville. Cape Colville lies in latitude 36° 26′, longitude 184° 27'; it rifes directly from the fea, to a confiderable height, and is remarkable for a lofty rock, which ftands to the pitch of the point, and may be diftinguished at a very great distance. From the fouth point of this Cape the river runs in a direct line S. by E., and is no where less than three leagues broad for the dif tance of fourteen leagues above the Cape, and there it is contracted to a narrow ftream, but continues the fame courfe through a low flat country, or broad valley, which lies parallel with the fea coaft, and the end of which we could not fee. On the eaft fide of the broad part of this river the land is tolerably high and hilly; on the west side it is rather low, but the whole November. Friday 24. 1769. is covered with verdure and wood, and has the appearance of great fertility, though there were but a few small spots which had been cultivated. At the entrance of the narrow part of the river the land is covered with mangroves and other fhrubs; but farther, there are immense woods of perhaps the finest timber in the world, of which fome account has already been given: in several places the wood extends to the very edge of the water, and where it is at a little distance, the intermediate space is marfhy, like fome parts of the banks of the Thames in England: it is probable that the river contains plenty of fish, for we saw poles ftuck up in many places to fet nets for catching them, but of what kinds I do not know. The greatest depth of water that we found in this river was fix and twenty fathom, which gradually decreased to one fathom and an half in the mouth of the fresh water ftream it is from four to three fathom, but there are large flats and fand banks lying before it. A ship of moderate draught may, notwithstanding, go a long way up this river with a flowing tide, for it rifes perpendicularly near ten feet, and at the full and change of the moon, it is high water about nine o'clock. Six leagues within Cape Colville, under the eastern fhore, are feveral fmall islands, which, together with the main, seem to form good harbours; and oppofite to these islands, under the western 1769. November. western shore, lie other islands, by which it is alfo probable that good harbours may be formed: but if there are no harbours about this Friday 24. river, there is good anchoring in every part of it where the depth of water is fufficient, for it is defended from the fea by a chain of islands of different extent, which lie cross the mouth of it, and which I have, for that reafon, called BARRIER ISLANDS: they ftretch N. W. and S. E. ten leagues. The fouth end of the chain lies N. E. between two and three leagues from Cape Colville; and the north end lies N. E. four leagues and an half from Point Rodney. Point Rodney lies W. N. W. nine leagues from Cape Colville, in latitude 36° 15' S. longitude 184° 53′ W. The natives refiding about this river do not appear to be numerous, confidering the great extent of the country. But they are a ftrong, well-made, and active people, and all of them paint their bodies with red oker and oil from head to foot, which we had not feen before. Their canoes were large and well built, and adorned with carving, in as good a taste as any that we had feen upon the coaft. We continued to ftand along the fhore till night, with the main land on one fide, and iflands on the other, and then anchored in a bay, with fourteen fathom, and a fandy bottom. We had no fooner come to an anchor, than we tried our |