ander, and
Tupia. As we approached the Shore they all made off, except 2 Men, who
seem'd resolved to oppose our landing. As soon as I saw this I order'd
the boats to lay upon their Oars, in order to speak to them; but this was
to little purpose, for neither us nor Tupia could understand one word
they said. We then threw them some nails, beads, etc., a shore, which
they took up, and seem'd not ill pleased with, in so much that I thought
that they beckon'd to us to come ashore; but in this we were mistaken,
for as soon as we put the boat in they again came to oppose us, upon
which I fir'd a musquet between the 2, which had no other Effect than to
make them retire back, where bundles of their darts lay, and one of them
took up a stone and threw at us, which caused my firing a Second Musquet,
load with small Shott; and altho' some of the shott struck the man, yet
it had no other effect than making him lay hold on a Target. Immediately
after this we landed, which we had no sooner done than they throw'd 2
darts at us; this obliged me to fire a third shott, soon after which they
both made off, but not in such haste but what we might have taken one;
but Mr. Banks being of Opinion that the darts were poisoned, made me
cautious how I advanced into the Woods. We found here a few small hutts
made of the Bark of Trees, in one of which were 4 or 5 Small Children,
with whom we left some strings of beads, etc. A quantity of Darts lay
about the Hutts; these we took away with us. 3 Canoes lay upon the beach,
the worst I think I ever saw; they were about 12 or 14 feet long, made of
one piece of the Bark of a Tree, drawn or tied up at each end, and the
middle keept open by means of pieces of Stick by way of Thwarts. After
searching for fresh water without success, except a little in a Small
hole dug in the Sand, we embarqued, and went over to the North point of
the bay, where in coming in we saw several people; but when we landed now
there were nobody to be seen. We found here some fresh Water, which came
trinkling down and stood in pools among the rocks; but as this was
troublesome to come at I sent a party of men ashore in the morning to the
place where we first landed to dig holes in the sand, by which means and
a Small stream they found fresh Water sufficient to Water the Ship. The
String of Beads, etc., we had left with the Children last night were
found laying in the Hutts this morning; probably the Natives were afraid
to take them awa