a number of presents to the
chief, which were accepted. Still the natives were armed with clubs,
spears, bows and arrows, and kept advancing in a suspicious manner. On
this the captain stepped back into the boat, when the islanders, rushing
forward, attempted to drag her up the beach. Others snatched at the
oars. In this predicament he was compelled to raise his gun, but the
piece only flashed in the pan. The savages now began throwing stones,
darts, and shooting their arrows, one of the crew being wounded in the
chin. Captain Cook now ordered his men to fire. The first discharge
threw the savages into confusion, but a second was hardly sufficient to
drive them from the beach. They then retired behind the trees, from
which they continued to shoot their arrows. The boat succeeded in
getting off, and returning to the ship. Cook now ordered a gun to be
fired, and a shot was pitched among the crowd. Happily no one was
killed, but it prevented all further communication with the savages, who
too probably did not forget the way they had been treated.

After leaving Erromango, Cook steered for another island, which was
called Tanna, and on which a volcano was seen in full activity. The
natives, coming off, proved to be daring thieves, some attempting to
steal even the rings from the rudder. An effort was made to carry off
the buoys, but a musket or two, fired over their heads, had the effect
of driving them off. One old man, who said his name was Paowang,
continued to bring off provisions, and barter with the English. After
some time Cook, with a well-armed party, landed, but the natives,
instead of being frightened, began to use such threatening gestures that
it was necessary to fire upon them. At the same time the guns opened
from the ship. At first the savages dispersed, but soon came back in a
humble manner, and there appeared every probability that they would
prove submissive.

After this the English were able to make excursions in various parts of
the island, while old Paowang enabled them to obtain as much wood as was
required, as also bread-fruit, plantains, and cocoa-nuts.

Black and savage as were the inhabitants, every hill was covered with
plantations. The vegetation was luxuriant, and the valleys watered by
sparkling streams. Having surveyed the whole of the group, Captain Cook
left Tanna on the 20th of August, and stood for New Zealand. On her
course to the north-west a fourth island was disc