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When we were under fail, our old man Topaa came 1770. February. on board, to take his leave of us; and as we were still defirous of making farther inquiries, whether any memory of Tasman had been preserved among these people, Tupia was directed to ask him, whether he had ever heard that such 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 diftant land lay, he pointed to the northward. Of Ulimaroa we had heard fomething before from the people about the Bay of Islands, who faid that their ancestors had vifited it; and Tupia had also talked to us of Ulimaroa, concerning which he had fome confused traditionary 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 ship 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 these people, than had before offered. The principal perfons were a widow, and a pretty boy about ten years old: the widow was mourning for her husband with tears of blood, according to their custom, and the child, by the death of its father, was become proprietor of the land where we had cut our wood. The mother and the fon were fitting upon mats, and the rest of the family, to the number of fixteen or feventeen, of both fexes, fat round them in the open air, for they did not appear to have any houfe, or other fhelter from the weather, the inclemencies of which, custom has probably enabled them to endure without any lasting inconvenience. Their whole behaviour was affable, obliging, and unfufpicious; they prefented each perfon with fish, and a brand of fire to drefs it, and preffed them many times to ftay till the morning, which they would certainly have done if they had not expected the ship to fail, greatly regretting that they

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had not been acquainted with them fooner, as they February made no doubt but that more knowledge of the manners and difpofition of the inhabitants of this country would have been obtained from them in a day, than they had yet been able to acquire during our whole stay upon the coast.

Tuesday 6.

On the 6th, about fix o'clock in the morning, a light breeze fprung up at north, and we again got under fail; but the wind proving variable, we reached no farther than just without Motuara. In the afternoon, however, a more steady gale at N. by W. fet us clear of the found, which I fhall now describe.

The entrance of Queen Charlotte's Sound is fituated in latitude 41° S. longitude 184° 45′ W. and near the middle of the fouth-weft fide of the ftreight in which it lies. The land of the south-east head of the Sound, called by the natives KO AMAROO, off which lie two small islands and fome rocks, makes the narrowest part of the ftreight: From the north-west head a reef of rocks runs out about two miles, in the direction of N. E. by N. part of which is above the water, and part below. By this account of the heads, the Sound will be fufficiently known. At the entrance, it is three leagues broad, and lies in S. W. by S. S. W. and W. S. W. at least ten leagues, and is a collection of fome of the finest harbours in the world. The land forming the harbour or cove in which we lay, is called by the natives TOTARRANUE: the harbour itself, which I called SHIP COVE, is not inferior to any in the Sound, either for convenience or fafety; it lies on the weft fide of the Sound, and is the fouthermost 'of three coves, that are fituated within the island of Motuara, which bears east of it. Ship Cove may be entered, either between Motuara and a long ifland, called by the natives HAMOTE, or between Motuara and the western shore. In the last of these channels are two ledges of rock, three fathoms under water, which may easily be known by the fea weed that grows upon them. In failing either in or out of the Sound, with little wind, attention must be had to the tides, which flow about nine or ten o'clock at the full and change of the moon, and rife and fall between feven and eight feet perpendicularly. The flood comes in through the

ftreight,

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ftreight from the S. E. and sets strongly over upon the north-west head, and the reef that lies off it: the ebb January. fets with still greater rapidity to the S. E. over upon the rocks and islands that lie off the fouth-eaft head. The variation of the compass we found from good obfervation, to be 13° 5' E.

The land about this Sound, which is of fuch a height that we saw it at the diftance of twenty leagues, confifts wholly of high hills and deep vallies, well stored with a variety of excellent timber, fit for all purposes except mafts, for which it is too hard and heavy. The fea abounds with a variety of fish, so that, without going out of the cove where we lay, we caught every day, with the feine and hooks and lines, a quantity fufficient to ferve the whole fhip's company and along the shore we found plenty of fhaggs, and a few other fpecies of wild fowl, which those who have long lived upon falt provisions will not think defpicable food.

The number of inhabitants scarcely exceeds four hundred, and they live difperfed along the fhores, where their food, confifting of fish and fern roots, is most eafily procured, for we faw no cultivated ground. Upon any appearance of danger, they retire to their Hippahs, or forts; in this fituation we found them, and in this fituation they continued for fome time after our arrival. In comparison of the inhabitants of other parts of this country, they are poor, and their canoes are without ornament. The little traffic we had with them was wholly for fish, and indeed they had scarcely any thing else to difpofe of. They feemed, however, to have fome knowledge of iron, which the inhabitants of fome other parts had not; for they willingly took nails for their fifh, and fometimes feemed to prefer them to every thing elfe that we could offer, which had not always been the cafe. They were at first very fond of paper, but when they found that it was spoiled by being wet, they would not take it; neither did they fet much value upon the cloth of Otaheite; but English broad-cloth, and red-kerfey, were in high eftimation; which fhewed that they had fenfe enough to appretiate the commodities which we offered by their ufe; which is more than could be faid of fome of their neighbours,

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neighbours, who made a much better appearance. January. Their drefs has been mentioned already, particularly their large round head-dresses of feathers, which were `far from being unbecoming.

As foon as we got out of the Sound, I ftood over to the eastward, in order to get the ftreight well open before the tide of ebb came on. At feven in the evening, the two small islands which lie off Cape Koamaroo, the fouth-east head of Queen Charlotte's Sound, bore east, diftant about four miles. At this time it was nearly calm, and the tide of ebb fetting out, we were, in a very fhort time, carried by the rapidity of the stream close upon one of the islands, which was a rock rifing almost perpendicularly out of the fea. We perceived our danger increase every moment, and had but one expedient to prevent our being dafhed to pieces, the fuccefs of which a few minutes would determine. We were now within little more than a cable's length of the rock, and had more than seventy-five fathoms water; but upon dropping an anchor, and veering about one hundred and fifty fathoms of cable, the ship was happily brought up. This, however, would not have faved us, if the tide, which fet S. by E. had not upon meeting with the ifland, changed its direction to S. E. and carried us beyond the first point. In this fituation, we were not above two cables length from the rocks; and here we remained in the strength of the tide, which fet to the S. E. after the rate of at least five miles an hour, from a little after feven till near midnight, when the tide abated, and we began to Wednef. 7. heave. By three in the morning the anchor was at

the bows, and having a light breeze at N. W. we made fail for the eastern fhore; but the tide being against us, we made but little way. The wind, however, afterwards freshened, and came to N. and N. E. with which, and the tide of ebb, we were in a fhort time hurried through the narrowest part of the ftreight, and then stood away for the fouthermoft land, we had in fight, which bore from us S. by W. Over this land appeared a mountain of ftupendous height, which was covered with snow.

The

The narrowest part of the streight, through which we had been driven with fuch rapidity, lies between FebruaryCape Tierawitte, on the coaft of Eaheinomauwe and Cape Koamaroo: the diftance between them I judged to be between four and five leagues, and, notwithstanding the tide, now its strength is known, may be paffed without much danger. It is safest, however, to keep on the north-east shore, for on that fide there appeared to be nothing to fear; but on the other shore there are not only the islands and rocks which lie off Cape Koamaroo; but a reef of rocks ftretching from thefe iflands fix or feven miles to the fouthward, at the distance of two or three miles from the fhore, which I had difcovered from the hill, when I took my fecond view of the streight from the east to the western fea.

About nine leagues north from Cape Tierawitte, and under the fame fhore, is a high and remarkable ifland, which may be diftinctly seen from Queen Charlotte's Sound, from which it is diftant between fix or feven leagues. This ifland, which was noticed when we paffed it on the 14th of January, I have called ENTRY ISLF.

On the east side of Cape Tierawitte, the land trends away S. E. by E. about eight leagues, where it ends in a point, and is the fouthermoft land on Eaheinomauwe. To this point I have given the name of CAPE PALLISER, in honour of my worthy friend Captain Pallifer. It lies in latitude 41° 37' S. longitude 183° 58′ W. and bore from us this day at noon S. 79 E. distant about thirteen leagues, the ship being then in the latitude of 41° 27' S. Koamaroo at the fame time bearing N. E. diftant feven or eight leagues. fouthermost land in fight bore S. 16 W. and the fnowy mountains S. W. At this time we were about three leagues from the fhore, and a-breast of a deep bay or inlet, to which I gave the name of CLOUDY BAY, and at the bottom of which there appeared low land covered with tall trees.

The

At three o'clock in the afternoon, we were a-breast of the fouthermoft point of land that we had feen at noon, which I called CAPE CAMPBELL; it lies S. by W. diftant between twelve and thirteen leagues from

Cape

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