1770. January. near fome empty huts: as foon as they were on fhore, five or fix of the women fat down upon Tuesday 30. the ground together, and began to cut their legs, arms, and faces, with fhells, and fharp pieces of talc or jafper, in a terrible manner. Our people understood that their husbands had lately been killed by their enemies; but while they were performing this horrid ceremony, the men fet about repairing the huts, with the utmost negligence and unconcern. The carpenter having prepared two posts to be left as memorials of our having visited this place, I ordered them to be inscribed with the fhip's name, and the year and month; one of them I fet up at the watering place, hoifting the Union flag upon the top of it; and the other I carried over to the island that lies nearest to the fea, called by the natives MOTUARA. I went first to the village or Hippah, accompanied by Mr. Monkhoufe and Tupia, where I met with our old man, and told him and feveral others, by means of Tupia, that we were come to fet up a mark upon the island, in order to fhow to any other fhip which fhould happen to come thither, that we had been there before. To this they readily confented, and promised that they never would pull it down: I then gave fomething to every one prefent; and to the old man I gave a filver threepence, dated 1736, and some spike nails, with the king's broad ar row January. row cut deep upon them; things which I thought 1770. most likely to remain long among them: I then took the poft to the highest part of the ifland, Tuesday 30. and after fixing it firmly in the ground, I hoisted upon it the Union-flag, and honoured this inlet with the name of QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S SOUND, at the fame time taking formal poffeffion of this and the adjacent country, in the name and for the use of his Majesty King George the Third. We then drank a bottle of wine to her Majefty's health, and gave the bottle to the old man who had attended us up the hill, and who was mightily delighted with his present. While the poft was fetting up, we inquired of the old man concerning the paffage into the eastern sea, the existence of which he confirmed; and then afked him about the land to the S. W. of the ftreight, where we were then fituated: this land, he said, confifted of two Whennuas or iflands, which might be circumnavigated in a few days, and which he called Tovy POENAMMOO; the literal translation of this word is, "the water of green talc :" and probably, if we had understood him better, we fhould have found that Tovy Poenammoo was the name of fome particular place where they got the green talc or stone of which they make their ornaments and tools, and not a general name for the whole fouthern district: he said, there was also a third Whennua, on the eaft fide of the ftreight, the circum X 3 January. 1770. circumnavigation of which would take up many moons: this he called EAHEINOMAUWE; and Tuesday go to the land on the borders of the ftreight he Wednes. 31. February, Thurid. 1. gave the name of TIERA WITTE. Having fet up our poft, and procured this intelligence, we returned on board the fhip, and brought the old man with us, who was attended by his canoe, in which, after dinner, he returned home. " On the 31ft, having completed our wooding, and filled all our water cafks, I fent out two parties, one to cut and make brooms, and another to catch fish. In the evening, we had a strong gale from the N. W. with fuch a heavy rain, that our little wild musicians on fhore fufpended their fong, which till now we had conftantly. heard during the night, with a pleasure which it was impoffible to lofe without regret. : On the ift, the gale increased to a ftorm, with heavy gufts from the high land, one of which broke the hawfer, that we had fastened to the fhore, and obliged us to let go another anchor. Towards midnight, the gale became more moderate, but the rain continued with fuch violence, that the brook which had fup, plied us with water overflowed its banks, and carried away ten fmall cafks which had been left there full of water, and notwithstanding we fearched the whole cove, we could never recover one of them. On On the 3d, as I intended to fail the first opportunity, I went over to the Hippah on the eaft fide of the Sound, and purchased a confiderable quantity of split and half-dried fish, for fea ftores. The people here confirmed all that the old man had told us concerning the streight and the country, and about noon I took leave of them some of them feemed to be forry, and others glad, that we were going: the fish which I had bought they fold freely, but there were some who fhewed manifeft figns of disapprobation. As we returned to the ship, some of us made an excurfion along the shore to the northward, to traffic with the natives for a farther supply of fish; in which, however, they had no great fuccefs. In the evening, we got every thing off from the fhore, as I intended to fail in the morning, but the wind would not permit. 1770. February. Saturday 3. On the 4th, while we were waiting for a wind, Sunday 4. we amused ourselves by fishing, and gathering shells and feeds of various kinds; and early in the morning of the 5th, we caft off the hawfer, Monday 5. hove short on the bower, and carried the kedge anchor out in order to warp the fship out of the cove, which having done about two o'clock in the afternoon, we hove up the anchor and got under fail; but the wind foon failing, we were obliged to come to an anchor again a little above Motuara. When we were under fail, our old X 4 man February. 1770. man Topaa came on board to take his leave of us, and as we were ftill defirous of making farMonday 5. ther inquiries whether any memory of Tasman had been preferved among thefe people, Tupia was directed to afk him whether he had ever heard that fuch a veffel as ours had before vifited the country. To this he replied in the negative, but faid, that his ancestors had told him there had once come to this place a small veffel, from a distant country, called ULIMAROA, in which were four men, who, upon their coming on fhore, were all killed upon being asked where this distant land lay, he pointed to the northward. Of Ulimaroa we had heard fomething before, from the people about the Bay of Iflands, who faid that their ancestors had visited it; and Tupia had alfo talked to us of Ulimaroa, concerning which he had fome confufed tradiționary notions, not very different from those of our old man, fo that we could draw no certain conclufion from the accounts of either. Soon after the fhip came to an anchor the fecond time, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander went on fhore, to fee if any gleanings of natural knowledge remained, and by accident fell in with the most agreeable Indian family they had feen, which afforded them a better opportunity of remarking the perfonal fubordination among thefe people, than had before offered. The principal perfons were a widow, and a pretty boy |