like
countenances. Their hair was black or brown, short and curly, but not
so soft or woolly as that of a negro. Their beards were strong, crisp,
and bushy. A belt round the middle curiously contracted that part of
the body, while, with the exception of a wrapper between the legs, they
went naked. The women wore a petticoat, and a bag over their shoulders
in which the children were carried; but none came near the ship. A
piece of white stone, an inch and a half long, with a slight curve in
it, was worn in a hole made through the nose. Their arms were clubs,
spears, and bows and arrows. Some of the officers were very nearly
poisoned by eating portions of two reddish fish, the size of large
bream, caught with hook and line. They were seized with violent pains
in the head and bones, attended by a scorching heat all over the body,
and a numbness of the joints. A pig and dog died from eating the
remainder. It was a week or ten days before the officers quite
recovered. The crews of Quiros had suffered in the same way. He had
named the fish Porgos.

A number of islands were now passed, to which the names of Montagu,
Sandwich, Hitchinbrook, and Shepherd were given; the ship continuing
along the coast to the south-east.

On August 3 the Resolution approached another island, and anchored about
a mile from the shore, when several natives attempted to swim off to
her, but a boat being lowered they returned. The next morning the
captain went off to the shore in search of wood and water, with presents
which he distributed among some people who appeared on the rocks which
line the coast. In return, they offered, as he supposed with a friendly
feeling, to drag the boat through the surf on shore; but he declined the
offer, wishing to have a better place to land at. This he found on a
sandy beach, in a bay where he could land without wetting his feet. To
this spot crowds followed him, headed by a chief, who made them form a
semicircle, while with only a green branch in his hand Cook stepped on
shore. The chief was loaded with presents, which he received
courteously; and when, by signs, water and fruit were asked for, he
immediately sent for some. Still, as all the people were armed with
clubs, spears, bows and arrows, the captain was suspicious of their
intentions, and kept his eye on the chief. Again signs were made by the
natives that they would haul the boat up, and just then the chief
disappeared among the crowd.