latitude, by observation, was now 8° 52′ S., which is in the same parallel as that in which the southern parts of New Guinea are laid down in the charts; but there are only two points so far to the south, and I reckoned that we were a degree to the westward of them both, and therefore did not see the land, which trends more to the northward. We found the sea here to be in many parts covered with a brown scum, such as sailors generally call spawn. When I first saw it, I was alarmed, fearing that we were among shoals; but, upon sounding, we found the same depth of water as in other places. This scum was examined both by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, but they could not determine what it was: it was formed of innumerable small particles, not more than half a line in length, each of which in the microscope appeared to consist of thirty or forty tubes; and each tube was divided through its whole length by small partitions into many cells, like the tubes of the conferva. They were supposed to belong to the vegetable kingdom, because, upon burning them, they produced no smell like that of an animal substance. The same appearance had been observed upon the coast of Brazil and New Holland, but never at any considerable distance from the shore. In the evening a small bird hovered about the ship, and at night, settling among the rigging, was taken. It proved to be exactly the same bird which Dampier has described, and of which he has given a rude figure, by the name of a Noddy, from New Holland.(See his Voyages, vol. iii. p. 98. Tab. of Birds, fig. 5.)

We continued standing to the northward with a fresh gale at E. by S. and S.E. till six in the evening, having very irregular soundings, the depth changing at once from twentyfour fathom to seven. At four, we had seen the land from the mast-head, bearing N.W. by N.; it appeared to be very low, and to stretch from W.N.W. to N.N.E., distant four or five leagues. We now hauled close upon a wind till seven, then tacked and stood to the southward till twelve, at which time we wore and stood to the northward till four in the morning, then laid the head of the vessel off till daylight, when we again saw the land, and stood in N.N.W. directly for it, with a fresh gale at E. by S. Our soundings during the night were very irregular, from seven to five fathom, suddenly changing from deep to shallow, and from shallow to deep, without in the least corresponding with our distance from the land. At half an hour after six in the morning, a small low island, which lay at the distance of about a league from the main, bore N. by W., distant five miles: this island lies in latitude 8° 13′ S., longitude 221° 25′ W.; and I find it laid down in the charts by the names of Bartholomew and Whermoysen. We now steered N.W. by W., W.N.W., W. by N., W. by S., and S.W. by W., as we found the land lie, with from five to nine fathom; and though we reckoned we were not more than four leagues from it, yet it was so low and level, that we could but just see it from the deck. It appeared, however, to be well covered with wood, and among other trees, we thought we could distinguish the cocoanut. We saw smoke in several places, and therefore knew there were inhabitants. noon, we were about three leagues from the land; the westernmost part of which that was in sight bore S. 79° W. Our latitude, by observation, was 8° 19′ S., and longitude 221° 44′ W. The island of St. Bartholomew bore N. 74 E., distant twenty miles.

At

After steering S.W. by W. six miles, we had shoal water on our starboard-bow, which I sent the yawl to sound, and at the same time hauled off upon a wind till four o'clock; and though, during that time, we had run six miles, we had not deepened our water an inch. I then edged away S. W. four miles more; but finding it still shoal water, I brought to, and called the boats aboard. At this time, being between three and four leagues from the shore, and the yawl having found only three fathom water in the place to which I had sent her to sound, I hauled off close upon a wind, and weathered the shoal about half a mile.

Between one and two o'clock, we passed a bay or inlet, before which lies a small island that seems to shelter it from the southerly winds; but I very much doubt whether there is sufficient depth of water behind it for shipping. I could not attempt to determine the question, because the S.E. trade-wind blows right into the bay, and we had not as yet had any breeze from the land. We stretched off to sca till twelve o'clock, when we were about eleven leagues from the land, and had deepened our water to twenty-nine fathom. We now tacked and stood in till five in the morning; when, being in six fathom and a half, we

tacked and laid the head of the vessel off till daylight, when we saw the land, bearing N.W. by W., at about the distance of four leagues. We now made sail, and steered first W.S.W., then W. by S.; but coming into five fathom and a half, we hauled off S.W. till we deepened our water to eight fathom, and then kept away W. by S. and W., having nine fathom, and the land just in sight from the deck; we judged it to be about four leagues distant, and it was still very low and woody. Great quantities of the brown scum continued to appear upon the water, and the sailors, having given up the notion of its being spawn, found a new name for it, and called it Sea-sawdust. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 8° 30′ S., our longitude 222° 34′ W.; and Saint Bartholomew's Isle bore N. 69 E., distant seventy-four miles.

As all this coast appears to have been very minutely examined by the Dutch, and as our track, with the soundings, will appear by the chart *, it is sufficient to say, that we continued our course to the northward with very shallow water, upon a bank of mud, at such a distance from the shore as that it could scarcely be seen from the ship, till the 3rd of September. During this time we made many attempts to get near enough to go on shore, but without success; and having now lost six days of fair wind, at a time when we knew the south-east monsoon to be nearly at an end, we began to be impatient of farther delay, and determined to run the ship in as near to the shore as possible, and then land with the pinnace, while she kept plying off and on, to examine the produce of the country, and the disposition of the inhabitants. For the last two days we had early in the morning a light breeze from the shore, which was strongly impregnated with the fragrance of the trees, shrubs, and herbage that covered it, the smell being something like that of Gum Benjamin. On the 3rd of September, at daybreak, we saw the land extending from N. by E. to S.E., at about four leagues distance, and we then kept standing in for it with a fresh gale at E.S.E. and E. by S. till nine o'clock, when being within about three or four miles of it, and in three fathom water, we brought to. The pinnace being hoisted out, I set off from the ship with the boat's crew, accompanied by Mr. Banks, who also took his servants, and Dr. Solander, being in all twelve persons well armed; we rowed directly towards the shore, but the water was so shallow that we could not reach it by about two hundred yards: we waded, however, the rest of the way, having left two of the seamen to take care of the boat. Hitherto we had seen no signs of inhabitants at this place; but as soon as we got ashore we discovered the prints of human feet, which could not long have been impressed upon the sand, as they were below high-water mark: we therefore concluded that the people were at no great distance, and, as a thick wood came down within a hundred yar of the water, we thought it necessary to proceed with caution, lest we should fall into an ambuscade, and our retreat to the boat be cut off. We walked along the skirts of the wood, and at the distance of about two hundred yards from the place where we landed, we came to a grove of cocoa-nut trees, which stood upon the banks of a little brook of brackish water. The trees were of a small growth, but well hung with fruit; and near them was a shed or hut, which had been covered with their leaves, though most of them were now fallen off about the hut lay a great number of the shells of the fruit, some of which appeared to be just fresh from the tree. We looked at the fruit very wishfully, but not thinking it safe to climb, we were obliged to leave it without tasting a single nut. little distance from this place we found plantains, and a bread-fruit tree, but it had nothing upon it; and having now advanced about a quarter of a mile from the boat, three Indians rushed out of the wood with a hideous shout, at about the distance of a hundred yards; and as they ran towards us, the foremost threw something out of his hand, which flew on one side of him, and burnt exactly like gunpowder, but made no report: the other two instantly threw their lances at us; and, as no time was now to be lost, we discharged our pieces, which were loaded with small shot. It is probable that they did not feel the shot, for though they halted a moment, they did not retreat; and a third dart was thrown at us. As we thought their farther approach might be prevented with less risk of life, than it would cost to defend ourselves against their attack if they should come nearer, we loaded our

At a

The track will appear upon the general map, but the chart here alluded to is omitted in the present edition as valuable only for nautical purposes, and superseded by more modern publications.-ED.

pieces with ball, and fired a second time: by this discharge it is probable that some of them were wounded; yet we had the satisfaction to see that they all ran away with great agility. As I was not disposed forcibly to invade this country, either to gratify our appetites or our curiosity, and perceived that nothing was to be done upon friendly terms, we improved this interval, in which the destruction of the natives was no longer necessary to our own defence, and with all expedition returned towards our boat. As we were advancing along the shore, we perceived that the two men on board made signals that more Indians were coming down; and before we got into the water, we saw several of them coming round a point at the distance of about five hundred yards: it is probable that they had met with the three who first attacked us; for as soon as they saw us they halted, and seemed to wait till their main body should come up. We entered the water, and waded towards the boat; and they remained at their station, without giving us any interruption. As soon as we were aboard we rowed abreast of them, and their number then appeared to be between sixty and a hundred. We now took a view of them at our leisure; they made much the same appearance as the New Hollanders, being nearly of the same stature, and having their hair short-cropped: like them also they were all stark naked, but we thought the colour of their skin was not quite so dark; this, however, might perhaps be merely the effect of their not being quite so dirty. All this while they were shouting defiance, and letting off their fires by four or five at a time. What these fires were, or for what purpose intended, we could not imagine: those who discharged them had in their hands a short piece of stick, possibly a hollow cane, which they swung sideways from them, and we immediately saw fire and smoke, exactly resembling those of a musket, and of no longer duration. This wonderful phenomenon was observed from the ship, and the deception was so great, that the people on board thought they had fire-arms; and in the boat, if we had not been so near as that we must have heard the report, we should have thought they had been firing volleys. After we had looked at them attentively some time, without taking any notice of their flashing and vociferation, we fired some muskets over their heads: upon hearing the balls rattle among the trees, they walked leisurely away, and we returned to the ship. 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 discharged with great force; for though we were at sixty yards' distance, they went beyond us, but in what manner we could not exactly see: possibly they might be shot with a bow; but we saw no bows among them when we surveyed them from the boat, and we were in general of opinion, that they were thrown with a stick, in the manner practised by the New Hollanders.

This place lies in the latitude of 6° 15' S., and about sixty-five leagues to the N.E. of Port St. Augustine, or Walche Caep, 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 coast, is very low, but covered with a luxuriance of wood and herbage that can scarcely be conceived. We saw 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 : besides, most of the trees, shrubs, and plants that are common to the South Sea islands, New Zealand, and New Holland.

Soon after our return to the ship we hoisted in the boat and made sail to the westward, being resolved to spend no more time upon this coast, to the great satisfaction of a very considerable majority of the ship's company. But I am sorry to say that I was strongly urged by some of the officers to send a party of men ashore, and cut down the cocoa-nut trees for the sake of the fruit. This I peremptorily refused, as equally unjust and cruel. The natives had attacked us merely for landing upon their coast, 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 case many of them must have fallen a sacrifice to our attempt, and perhaps also some of our own people. I should have regretted the necessity of such a measure, if I had been in want of the necessaries of * These fires do not appear to have been observed by any other navigator; nor has their nature been hitherto explained.-ED.

T

life; and certainly it would have been highly criminal, when nothing was to be obtained but two or three hundred of green cocoa-nuts, which would at most have procured us a mere transient gratification. I might indeed have proceeded farther along the coast to the northward and westward, in search of a place where the ship might have lain so near the shore as to cover the people with her guns when they landed; but this would have obviated only part of the mischief, and though it might have secured us, would probably in the very act have been fatal to the natives. Besides, we had reason to think that before such a place

would have been found, we should have been carried so far to the westward as to have been obliged to go to Batavia, on the north side of Java; which I did not think so safe a passage as to the south of Java, through the Straits of Sunda: the ship also was so leaky that I doubted whether it would not be necessary 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, seem to have circumnavigated all the islands in New Guinea, as almost every place that is distinguished in the chart has a name in both languages. The charts with which I compared such part of the coast as I visited, are bound up with a French work, entitled "Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes," 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 represented as two distinct 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 established 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 suppose 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 necessary for the support of life, would certainly have been transplanted to New Holland, where no traces of them are to be found. The author of the "Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes," in his account of Le 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 same. If, therefore, it should appear that the languages of New Britain and New Guinea are the same, there will be reason to suppose that New Britain and New Guinea were peopled from a common stock; but that the inhabitants of New Holland had a different origin, notwithstanding the proximity of the countries.

CHAPTER VIII. THE PASSAGE FROM NEW GUINEA TO THE ISLAND OF SAVU, AND THE TRANSACTIONS THERE.

We made sail, from noon on Monday the 3rd to noon on Tuesday the 4th, standing to the westward, and all the time kept in soundings, having from fourteen to thirty fathom; not regular, but sometimes more, sometimes less. At noon on the 4th, we were in fourteen fathom, and latitude 60° 44′ S., longitude 223° 51' W.; our course and distance since the 3rd at noon, were S. 76 W. one hundred and twenty miles to the westward. At noon on the 5th of September we were in latitude 7° 25' S., longitude 225° 41' W.; having been in soundings the whole time from ten to twenty fathom.

At half an hour after one in the morning of the next day we passed a small island, which bore from us N.N. W., distant between three and four miles; and at daylight we discovered another low island, extending from N.N.W. to N.N.E., distant about two or three leagues. Upon this island, which did not appear to be very small, 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, lest I should meet with shoal water and foul ground. These islands have no place in the charts, except they are the Arrou islands; and if these, they are laid down much too far from New Guinea. I found the south part of them to lie in latitude 7° 6' S., longitude 225° W. We continued to steer W.S.W. at the rate of four miles and a half an hour, till ten o'clock at night, when we had forty-two fathom; at eleven we had thirty-seven, at twelve forty-five, at one in the morning forty-nine, and at three one hundred and twenty, after which we had no ground. At daylight we made all the sail we could, and at ten o'clock saw land, extending from N.N.W. to W. by N., distant between five and six leagues at noon it bore from N. to W., and at about the same distance: it appeared to be level, and of a moderate height. By our distance from New Guinea, it ought to have been part of the Arrou islands, but it lies a degree farther to the south than any of these islands are laid down in the charts, and by the latitude should be Timor Laoet: we sounded, but had no ground with fifty fathom. As I was not able to satisfy myself from any chart what land it was that I saw to leeward, and fearing that it might trend away more southerly, the weather also being so hazy that we could not see far, I steered S. W., and by four had lost sight of the island. I was now sure that no part of it lay to the southward of 8° 15' S., and continued standing to the S.W. with an easy sail, and a fresh breeze at S.E. by E., and E.S.E. we sounded every hour, but had no bottom with 120 fathom.

:

At day-break, in the morning, we steered W.S.W., and afterwards W. by S., which by noon brought us into the latitude of 9° 30′ S., longitude 229° 34′ W., and by our run from New Guinea, we ought to have been within sight of Weasel isles, which in the charts are laid down at the distance of twenty or twenty-five leagues from the coast of New Holland: we, however, saw nothing, and, therefore, they must have been placed erroneously; nor can this be thought strange, when it is considered that not only these islands, but the coast which bounds this sea, have been discovered and explored by different people, and at different times, and the charts upon which they are delineated put together by others, perhaps at the distance of more than a century after the discoveries had been made; not to mention that the discoverers themselves had not all the requisites for keeping an accurate journal, of which those of the present age are possessed. We continued our course, steering W. till the evening of the 8th, when the variation of the compass, by several azimuths, was 12′ W., and by the amplitude 5' W. At noon, on the 9th, our latitude, by observation, was 9° 46′ S., longitude 232° 7′ W. For the last two days, we had steered due W., yet by