floor, the woman went out, and in about half an hour returned with the opera-glass, expressing the same joy upon the occasion that had before been expressed by the chief. The beads were now returned, with an inflexible resolution not to accept them; and the cloth was, with the same pertinacity, forced upon Dr Solander, as a recompence for the injury that had been done him. He could not avoid accepting the cloth, but insisted in his turn upon giving a new present of beads to the woman. It will not perhaps be easy to account for all the steps that were taken in the recovery of this glass and snuff-box; but this cannot be thought strange, considering that the scene of action was among a people whose language, policy, and connections are even now but imperfectly known; upon the whole, however, they show an intelligence and influence which would do honour to any system of government, however regular and improved. In the evening, about six o'clock, we returned to the ship.

SECTION IX.

A place fixed upon for an Observatory and Fort: an Excursion into the Woods, and its Consequences. The Fort erected: a Visit from several Chiefs on board and at the Fort, with some Account of the Music of the Natives, and the Manner in which they dispose of their Dead.

On the next morning, Saturday the 15th, several of the chiefs whom we had seen the day before came on board, and brought with them, hogs, bread-fruit, and other refreshments, for which we gave them hatchets and linen, and such things as seemed to be most acceptable.

As in my excursion to the westward, I had not found any more convenient harbour than that in which we lay, I determined to go on shore and fix upon some spot, commanded by the ship's guns, where I might throw up a small fort for our defence, and prepare for making our astronomical observation.

I therefore took a party of men, and landed without delay, accompanied by Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and the astronomer, Mr Green. We soon fixed upon a part of the sandy beach, on the N.E. point of the bay, which was in

every respect convenient for our purpose, and not near any habitation of the natives. Having marked out the ground that we intended to occupy, a small tent belonging to Mr Banks was set up, which had been brought on shore for that purpose: by this time a great number of the people had ga thered about us; but, as it appeared, only to look on, there not being a single weapon of any kind among them. I intimated, however, that none of them were to come within the line I had drawn, except one who appeared to be a chief, and Owhaw. To these two persons I addressed myself by signs, and endeavoured to make them understand, that we wanted the ground which we had marked out to sleep upon for a certain number of nights, and that then we should go away. Whether I was understood I cannot certainly determine; but the people behaved with a deference and respect that at once pleased and surprised us; they sat down peaceably without the circle, and looked on, without giving us any interruption, till we had done, which was upwards of two hours. As we had seen no poultry, and but two hogs, in our walk when we were last on shore at this place, we suspected that, upon our arrival, they had been driven farther up the country; and the rather, as Owhaw was very importunate with us, by signs, not to go into the woods, which, however, and partly for these reasons, we were determined to do. Having therefore appointed the thirteen marines and a petty officer to guard the tent, we set out, and a great number of the natives joined our party. As we were crossing a little river that lay in our way we saw some ducks, and Mr Banks, as soon as he had got over, fired at them, and happened to kill three at one shot: this struck them with the utmost terror, so that most of them fell suddenly to the ground, as if they also had been shot at the same discharge: it was not long, however, before they recovered from their fright, and we continued our route; but we had not gone far before we were alarmed by the report of two pieces, which were fired by the guard at the tent. We had then straggled a little distance from each other, but Owhaw immediately called us together, and by waving his hand, sent away every Indian who followed us except three, each of whom, as a pledge of peace on their part, and an entreaty that there might be peace on ours, hastily broke a branch from the trees, and came to us with it in their hands. As we had too much reason to fear that some

mischief

mischief had happened, we hasted back to the tent, which was not distant above half a mile, and when we came up, we found it entirely deserted, except by our own people.

It appeared, that one of the Indians who remained about the tent after we left it, had watched his opportunity, and, taking the centry unawares, had snatched away his musquet. Upon this, the petty officer, a midshipman, who commanded the party, perhaps from a sudden fear of farther violence, perhaps from the natural petulance of power newly acquired, and perhaps from a brutality in his nature, ordered the marines to fire: the men, with as little consideration or humanity as the officer, immediately discharged their pieces among the thickest of the flying crowd, consisting of more than a hundred; and observing that the thief did not fall, pursued him, and shot him dead. We afterwards learnt, that none of the others were either killed or wounded.

Owhaw, who had never left us, observing that we were now totally deserted, got together a few of those who had fled, though not without some difficulty, and ranged them about us; we endeavoured to justify our people as well as we could, and to convince the Indians that if they did no wrong to us, we should do no wrong to them: they went away without any appearance of distrust or resentment; and having struck our tent, we returned to the ship, but by no means satisfied with the transactions of the day.

Upon questioning our people more particularly, whose conduct they soon perceived we could not approve, they alleged that the centinel whose musket was taken away, was violently assaulted and thrown down, and that a push was afterwards made at him by the man who took the musket, before any command was given to fire. It was also suggested, that Owhaw had suspicions, at least, if not certain knowledge, that something would be attempted against our people at the tent, which made him so very earnest in his endeavours to prevent our leaving it; others imputed his importunity to his desire that we should confine ourselves to the beach: and it was remarked that neither Owhaw, nor the chiefs who remained with us after he had sent the rest of the people away, would have inferred the breach of peace from the firing at the tent, if they had had no reason to suspect that some injury had been offered by their countrymen; espe

cially as Mr Banks had just fired at the ducks: And yet that they did infer a breach of peace from that incident, was manifest from their waving their hands for the people to disperse, and instantly pulling green branches from the trees. But what were the real circumstances of this unhappy affair, and whether either, and which of these conjectures were true, could never certainly be known.

The next morning but few of the natives were seen upon the beach, and not one of them came off to the ship. This convinced us that our endeavours to quiet their apprehensions had not been effectual; and we remarked with particular regret, that we were deserted even by Owhaw, who had hitherto been so constant in his attachment, and so active in renewing the peace that had been broken.

Appearances being thus unfavourable, I warped the ship nearer to the shore, and moored her in such a manner as to command all the N. E. part of the bay, particularly the place which I had marked out for the building a fort. In the evening, however, I went on shore with only a boat's crew, and some of the gentlemen: The natives gathered about us, but not in the same number as before; there were I believe between thirty and forty, and they trafficked with us for cocoa-nuts and other fruit, to all appearance as friendly as ever.

On the 17th, early in the morning, we had the misfortune to lose Mr Buchan, the person whom Mr Banks had brought out as a painter of landscapes and figures. He was a sober, diligent, and ingenious young man, and greatly regretted by Mr Banks; who hoped, by his means, to have gratified his friends in England with representations of this country and its inhabitants, which no other person on board could delineate with the same accuracy and elegance. He had always been subject to epileptic fits, one of which seized him on the mountains of Terra del Fuego, and this disorder being aggravated by a bilious complaint which he contracted on board the ship, at length put an end to his life. It was at first proposed to bury him on shore, but Mr Banks thinking that it might perhaps give offence to the natives, with whose customs we were then wholly unacquainted, we committed his body to the sea, with as much decency and solemnity as our circumstances and situation would admit.

In the forenoon of this day we received a visit from Tu

bourai Tamaide, and Tootahah, our chiefs, from the west: They brought with them, as emblems of peace, not branches of plantain, but two young trees, and would not venture on board till these had been received, having probably been alarmed by the mischief which had been done at the tent. Each of them also brought, as propitiatory gifts, some bread-fruit, and a hog ready dressed: This was a most acceptable present, as we perceived that hogs were not always to be got; and in return we gave to each of our noble benefactors a hatchet and a nail. In the evening we went on shore and set up a tent, in which Mr Green and myself spent the night, in order to observe an eclipse of the first satellite of Jupiter; but the weather becoming cloudy, we were disappointed.

On the 18th, at day-break, I went on shore, with as many people as could possibly be spared from the ship, and began to erect our fort. While some were employed in throwing up intrenchments, others were busy in cutting pickets and fascines, which the natives, who soon gathered round us as they had been used to do, were so far from hindering, that many of them voluntarily assisted us, bringing the pickets and fascines from the wood where they had been cut, with great alacrity: We had indeed been so scrupulous of invading their property, that we purchased every stake which was used upon this occasion, and cut down no tree till we had first obtained their consent. The soil where we constructed our fort was sandy, and this made it necessary to strengthen the entrenchments with wood; three sides were to be fortified in this manner; the fourth was bounded by a river, upon the banks of which I proposed to place a proper number of water-casks. This day we served pork to the ship's company for the first time, and the Indians brought down so much bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, that we found it necessary to send away part of them unbought, and to acquaint them, by signs, that we should want no more for two days to come. Every thing was purchased this day with beads: A single bead, as big as a pea, being the purchase of five or six cocoa-nuts, and as many of the bread-fruit. Mr Banks's tent was got up before night within the works, and he slept on shore for the first time. Proper centries were placed round it, but no Indian attempted to approach it the whole night.

VOL. XII.

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