/ JLu, * JOURNAL OF THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOSEPH BANKS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/b24764784 Al'D TrUffMOAl- fu C DKMI ' f JOURNAL OF THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOSEPH BANKS BART., K.B., P.R.S. DURING CAPTAIN COOK’S FIRST VOYAGE IN H.M.S. ENDEAVOUR IN 1768-71 TO TERRA DEL FUEGO, OTAHITE, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, THE DUTCH EAST INDIES, ETC. EDITED BY SIR JOSEPH D. HOOKER WITH PORTRAITS AND CHARTS Hcmtioti MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN CO. 1896 All rights reserved (1 1 'I A f K \£> idl I/, .1 > 1 ; >r, ') y n a n m J TO $kar=2ltmutal J. ®SE. 3L. SJEfjarton, (£.13., &c. &c. Hydrographer of the Admiralty My dear Admiral — Allow me to dedicate to you, as the able Editor of Captain Cook’s Journal of liis first voyage round the world, that of his fellow-voyager Sir Joseph Banks, in token of the great assistance afforded me through your labour on the aforesaid work, and as the efficient and accomplished tenant of an office for which I have ever entertained a profound respect, that of Hydrographer of the Admiralty. Let me at the same time take the opportunity of coupling with your name my tribute to the memory of three of your predecessors, who honoured me with their friendship, and encouraged me in my scientific career as an officer in the service to which you belong — Admiral Sir F. Beaufort, Admiral Washington, and Captain Sir F. Evans. Believe me, Very sincerely yours, J. D. HOOKER. The Camp, Sunningdale, May 1896. PREFACE My principal motive for editing the Journal kept by Sir Joseph Banks during Lieutenant Cook’s first voyage round the world is to give prominence to his indefatigable labours as an accomplished observer and ardent collector during the whole period occupied by that expedition, and thus to pre- sent him as the pioneer of those naturalist voyagers of later years, of whom Darwin is the great example. This appears to me to be the more desirable, because in no biographical notice of Banks are his labours and studies as a working naturalist adequately set forth. Indeed, the only allusion I can find to their literally enormous extent and value is in the interesting letter from Linmeus to Ellis, which will he found on p. xl. In respect of Cook’s first voyage this is in a measure due to the course pursued by Dr. Hawkesworth in publishing the account of the expedi- tion, when Banks, with singular disinterestedness, placed his Journal in that editor’s hands, with permission to make what use of it he thought proper. The result was that Hawkesworth 1 selected only such portions as would interest 1 Dr. Hawkesworth devotes his “Introduction to the First Voyage” almost exclusively to the services which Banks rendered, and gratefully acknowledges that all such details as are not directly connected with navi- gation are extracted from the diary of that naturalist. But for the purpose of identifying the work of each observer this is insufficient, and barely does justice to the second of the two authors, who is in reality responsible for the greater portion of the book. In reference to Hawkesworth being employed as editor of Cook’s Journal, the following passage is extracted c PREFACE viii the general public, incorporating them with Cook’s Journal, often without allusion to their author, and not unfrequently introducing into them reflections of his own as being those of Cook or of Banks. Fortunately the recent publication by Admiral Wharton of Cook’s own Journal 1 has helped to rectify this, for any one comparing the two narratives can have no difficulty in recognising the source whence Hawkes- worth derived his information. Another motive for editing Banks’s Journal is to empha- sise the important services which its author rendered to the expedition. It needs no reading between the lines of the great navigator’s Journal, to discover his estimation of the ability of his companion, of the value of his researches, and of the importance of his active co-operation on many occasions. It was Banks who rapidly mastered the lan- guage of the Otahitans and became the interpreter of the party, and who was the investigator of the customs, habits, etc., of these and of the natives of New Zealand. It was often through his activity that the commissariat was sup- plied with food. He was on various occasions the thief- taker, especially in the case of his hazardous expedition for the recovery of the stolen quadrant, upon the use of which, in observing the transit of Venus across the sun’s disc, the success of the expedition so greatly depended. And, above all, it is to Banks’s forethought and at his own risk that an Otahitan man and boy were taken on hoard, through whom Banks directed, when in New Zealand, those inquiries into the customs of its inhabitants, which are the founda- frorn Prior’s Life of Malone : — ■“ Hawkesworth, the writer, was introduced by Garrick to Lord Sandwich, who, thinking to put a few hundred pounds into his pocket, appointed him to revise and publish Cook’s Voyages. He scarcely did anything to the MSS., yet sold it to Cadell and Strahan, the printer and bookseller, for £6000. . . .” 1 Captain Cook's Journal during his First Voyage round the World in H.M. Bark “ Endeavour ,” 1768-71, with Notes and Introduction by Captain W. J. L. Wharton, R.N., F.R.S., Hydrograplier of the Admiralty. PREFACE IX tion of our knowledge of that interesting people. And when it is considered that the information obtained was at comparatively few points, and those on the coast only, the fulness and accuracy of the description of the New Zea- landers, even as viewed in the light of modern knowledge, are very remarkable. Nor should it be forgotten that it was to the drawings made by the artists whom Banks took in his suite that the public is indebted for the magnificent series of plates that adorn Hawkesworth’s account of the voyage. Still another motive is, that Banks’s Journal gives a life-like portrait of a naturalist’s daily occupation at sea and ashore nearly one hundred and thirty years ago ; and thus supplements the history of a voyage which, for extent and im- portance of geographic and hydrographic results, was unique and “ to the English nation the most momentous voyage of discovery that has ever taken place ” (Wharton’s Cook, Pre- face), and which has, moreover, directly led to the prosperity of the Empire ; for it was owing to the reports of Cook and Banks, and, it is believed, to the representations of the latter on the advantages of Botany Bay as a site for a settlement, that Australia was first colonised. The following brief history of the Journal itself is in- teresting. On Sir J. Banks’s death without issue in 1820, his property and effects passed to the Hugessen (his wife’s) family, with the exception of the library, herbarium, and the lease of the house in Soho Square. These were left to his librarian, the late eminent botanist, Robert Brown, F.R.S., with the proviso that after that gentleman’s death, the library and herbarium were to go to the British Museum. Banks’s papers and correspondence, including the Journal of the voyage of the Endeavour, were then placed by the trustees in Mr. Brown’s hands, with the object of his writ- ing a Life of Banks, which he had agreed to do. Age and infirmities, however, interfered with his prosecution of this X PREFACE work, and at his suggestion the materials were transferred with the same object to my maternal grandfather, Dawson Turner, F.R.S.,1 an eminent botanist and antiquarian, who had been a friend of Banks. Mr. Turner at once had the whole faithfully transcribed, but for which precaution the Journal would as a whole have been irretrievably lost, as the sequel will show. Beyond having copies of the manuscript made, Mr. Turner seems to have done nothing towards the Life, and after a lapse of some years the originals were returned, together with the copies, to Mr. Knatchbull Hugessen, who placed them in the hands of the late Mr. Bell, Secretary of the Ptoyal Society, in the hopes that he would undertake to write the Life. For their subsequent wanderings and the ultimate fate of many portions, I am indebted to Mr. Carruthers, F.R.S., late Keeper of the Botanical Collections at the British Museum, who has favoured me with the following interesting letter concerning them : — British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, South Kensington, S.W., 14 th July 1893. Dear Sir Joseph — Since I saw you about the Journal of Sir Joseph Banks in Captain Cook’s Voyage, I have been making further inquiries regarding the original document. The Banksian Journal and correspondence were sent to the Botani- cal Department, after correspondence with Mr. Knatchbull Hugessen, to remain in my keeping till the death of Lady Knatchbull, when it would become the property of the trustees. I was instructed to deposit it in the Manuscript Department. This was in October 1873. Some time thereafter I persuaded Mr. Daydon Jackson to look at the correspondence with the view of preparing a biography of Banks. This he agreed to do. I wrote to Mr. Bell, who informed me in a letter written 14th February 1876, that he had tried to get Lord 1 It was when on a visit to my grandfather in 1833 that I first saw the original Journal in Banks’s handwriting. It was then being copied, and I was employed to verify the copies of the earlier part by comparison with the original. I well remember being as a boy fascinated with the Journal, and I never ceased to hope that it might one day be published. PREFACE xi Stanhope to undertake the biography, when he found that he could not himself face it, and thereafter Mr. Colquhoun and then Mr. John Ball, F.R.S. I obtained from the box, by leave from Mr. Bond, then Keeper of MSS., in the beginning of 1876, the transcripts made for Mr. Dawson Turner by his two daughters, which have remained under my care in the Botanical Department. The story of the originals after I parted with them is a distressing one. Some seven or eight years ago Lord Brabourne claimed the letters as his property. Mr. Maunde Thompson remonstrated, and told him that they were to remain in the museum till the death of Lady Knatchbull, and then they were to become the property of the trustees. Lord Brabourne would not accept this view, but claimed them as his own, and carried off the box and its contents. They were afterwards offered to the museum for sale, but the price offered by the Keeper of the MSS. was not satisfactory, and the whole collec- tion was broken up into lots, 207, and sold by auction at Sotheby’s on 14th April 1886. The Journal of Cook’s voyage was lot 176, and was described in the catalogue as “Banks’s (Sir Joseph) Journal of a Voyage to the Sandwich Islands and New Zealand, from March 1769 1 to July 1771, in the autograph of Banks.” It was purchased by an autograph dealer, John Waller, for .£7 : 2 : 6. Mr. Britten has gone to Waller’s to inquire after the Journal. Waller did not specially remember that purchase, and he does not believe he has got the manuscript. So where it is now no one knows.2 As you will see, the earlier portion of the Journal was missing in the lot sold. Waller bought in all 57 lots. The letters were broken up and sold as autographs ; those that he purchased and did not know, like those of Brass, Nelson, Alex. Anderson, etc., and were of no money value, he would probably at once destroy, so he told Mr. Britten. So now all is gone— for whether the letters are preserved by autograph collectors, or were at once thrown into the wastepaper basket, they are equally lost to science. The 207 lots realised in all £182 : 19s. ! The result is that the Journal and letters transcribed for Dawson Turner, and now here, are the only ones available. I am thankful they have been saved out of the catastrophe. Your transcriber is diligently at work. — I am, faithfully yours, Wm. Carruthers. 1 That is some time after leaving Rio, and before arriving at Otahite. 2 I have since ascertained that the Journal came into the possession of J. Henniker Heaton, Esq., M.P., who informs me that lie disposed of it to a gentleman in Sydney, N.S.W. CONTENTS Biographical Sketches of Banks and Solander . . Page xxiii Naturalists and Voyagers mentioned in the Journal ,, xliii List of Officers of the “Endeavour” and Banks’s Staff ,, lii CHAPTER I ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO Departure — Birds and marine animals — Species of Dagysa — Madeira — Dr. Heberden — Madeira mahogany — Wine-making — Vines — Carts — Vege- table productions — Convent — Cliapel wainscoted with bones — General account of Madeira — Peak of Teneriffe — Marine animals — Cross the equator — Climate of tropiics — Luminous animals in the water — Trade winds — Brazilian fishermen — Sargasso weed — Rio harbour . Page 1 CHAPTER II RIO DE JANEIRO Obstacles to landing — Viceroy memorialised — Boat’s crew imprisoned — Vegetation, etc. — Ship fired at — Leave Rio harbour — Description of Rio — Churches — Government — Hindrances to travellers — Population — - Military — Assassinations — V ege tables — Fruits — Manufactures — Mines — Jewels — Coins — Fortifications — Climate .... Page 26 CHAPTER III RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO Birds — Christmas — Insects floating at sea — “ Baye sans fond” — Cancer gregarius — Fucus giganteus — Penguins— Terra del Fuego — Staten Island — Vegetation — -Winter’s bark, celery — Fuegians — Excursion inland — XVI CONTENTS Great cold and snow-storm — Sufferings of tlie party — Death of two men from cold — Return to ship — Shells — Native huts — General appearance of the country — Animals — Plants — Scurvy grass, celery — Inhabitants and customs — Language' — Food — Arms — Probable nomadic habits — Dogs — Climate ......... Page 43 CHAPTER IV TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE Leave Terra del Fuego — Cape Horn — Albatross and other birds, etc. — Multi- plication of Dagysa — Cuttlefish — Cross the line drawn by the Royal Society between the South Sea and the Pacific Ocean — Tropic birds — Occupation of Saturn — Freshness of the water taken on board at Terra del Fuego — Speculations respecting a southern continent — Marine animals — Suicide of a marine — Scurvy — Lemon juice — Lagoon Island — King George III. Island — Means adopted for preventing the scurvy — Preserved cabbage ........ Page 62 CHAPTER Y OTAHITE Reception by natives — Peace offerings and ceremonies — Thieving — Natives fired upon — Death of Mr. Buchan, the artist — Lycurgus and Hercules — Tents erected — An honest native — Flies — Music — A foreign axe found — Thefts — Names of the natives — The Dolphin’s Queen — Quadrant stolen — Dootahah made prisoner — Visit to Dootahah — Wrestling — - Tubourai offended — Natives at divine service — Cask stolen — Natives swimming in surf — Imao — Transit of Venus — Nails stolen by sailors — Mourning — Previous visit of foreign ships — Banks takes part in a native funeral ceremony — Travelling musicians — Canoes seized for thefts — Dogs as food — Circumnavigation of the island — Image of man made of basket- work — Gigantic buildings ( marai ) — Battlefield — Return to station — Bread-fruit — Excursion inland — Volcanic nature of the island — Seeds planted — Dismantling the fort ■ — Banks engages a native to go to England Page 73 CHAPTER YI OTAHITE TO OHETEROA Departure from Otahite — Huahine — Ulhietea — God-houses — Boats and boat- houses — Otahah — Bola - Bola — Return to Ulhietea — Reception by natives — Dancing — Pearls — The King of Bola-Bola — Native drama — Oheteroa — Dress — Arms Page 110 CONTENTS XVII CHAPTER VII GENERAL ACCOUNT OP THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS Description of the people — Tattowing — Cleanliness — Clothing — Ornaments and head-dress — Houses — Food — Produce of the sea — Fruits — Animals — Cooking — Mahai- making — Drinking salt water — Meals — Women eat apart from the men — Pastimes — Music — Attachment to old customs — Making of cloth from bark — Dyes and dyeing — Mats — Manufacture of fishing-nets — Fish-hooks — Carpentry, etc. — Boats and boat-building — - Fighting, fishing, and travelling ivahahs — Instability of the boats — Paddles, sails, and ornaments — Tallies — Predicting the weather — Astronomy — Measurement of time and space — Language — Its resem- blance to other languages — Diseases — Medicine and surgery — Funeral ceremonies — Disposal of the dead — Religion — Origin of mankind — Gods — -Priests — Marriage — Marais — Bird - gods — Government — Ranks — Army and battles — Justice Page 127 CHAPTER VIII SOUTH SEA ISLANDS TO NEW ZEALAND (THAMES RIVER) Waterspout — Comet : its effect on natives — Diary at sea — Condition of ship’s supplies — Port Egmont hens — Land of New Zealand made — A native shot — Conflict with natives — Capture of a canoe — Poverty Bay — Natives come on board — Their appearance and clothing — Boy seized by natives — Appearance of the land — Occupations of the natives — Bracken as food — Mode of fighting — Religion — A large canoe — Natives throw stones on board — Coast along New Zealand — Habits of natives — Transit of Mercury — Shags — Oysters — Lobster-catching — E 'eppahs or forts — Thames River —Timber trees Page 179 CHAPTER IX CIRCUMNAVIGATION OP NEW ZEALAND Tattowing — Thieving of the natives — Cannibalism — Rapid healing of shot- wounds- — Native seines — Paper mulberry — Native accounts of their ancestors’ expedition to other countries — Three Kings’ Islands — Christ- mas Day — Albatross swimming — Mount Egmont — Murderers’ Bay — Queen Charlotte’s Sound — Threats of natives — Corpses thrown into the sea — Cannibalism — Singing - birds — Fishing- nets— Human head pre- served— Discovery of Cook’s Straits— Native names for New Zealand, and traditions — Courteous native family — Leave Queen Charlotte’s Sound — Tides — Cape Turnagain — Coast along the southern island — Banks’ Peninsula — Appearance of minerals — Mountains along the west coast — Anchor in Admiralty Bay ...... Page 203 CONTENTS xviii CHAPTER X GENERAL ACCOUNT OF NEW ZEALAND Its discovery by Tasman — Mountains — Harbours — Cultivation — Trees — Suita- bility of Thames River for colonisation — Climate — Absence of native quadrupeds — Birds — Insects — Fish — Plants — Native and introduced vegetables — Absence of fruits — New Zealand flax — Population — Qualities of the natives — Tattowing and painting — Dress — Head-dresses — Ear- and nose-ornaments — Houses — Food — Cannibalism amongst men — Freedom from disease — Canoes — Carving — Tools — Cloth fabrics — Nets — Tillage — Weapons — Spontoons — War and other songs — Human trophies — Heppahs — Chiefs — Religion — Burial — Language .... Page 221 CHAPTER XI NEW ZEALAND TO AUSTRALIA (ENDEAVOUR RIVER) Choice of routes — Reasons in favour of and against the existence of a southern continent — Suggestions for a proposed expedition in search of it — Leave New Zealand — Malt wort — Portuguese man-of-war and its sting — Hot weather — Land seen — Waterspouts — Variation of the com- pass— Natives — Their indifference to the ship — Opposition to landing — Excursion into the country — Vegetation and animals seen — Botanising — Timidity of the natives — Enormous sting-rays — Treachery of the natives — Leave Botany Bay — Ants — Stinging caterpillars — Gum trees — Oysters — Crabs — Figs impregnated by Cynips — East Indian plants — Ants’ nests — Butterflies — Amphibious fish — Ship strikes on a coral rock — Critical position— Fothering the ship — Steadiness of the crew — The ship taken into the Endeavour River — Scurvy . . Page 254 CHAPTER XII AUSTRALIA (ENDEAVOUR RIVER) TO TORRES STRAITS Pumice-stone — Ship laid ashore — Kangooroos seen — White ants — Preserving plants — Chama gigas — Fruits thrown up on the beach — Excursion up the country — Making friends with the Indians — A kangooroo killed — Turtle — Indians attempt to steal turtle and fire the grass — Didelphis — Among the shoals and islands — Lizard Island — Signs of natives crossing from the mainland — Ship passes through Cook’s passage — Outside the grand reef — Ship almost driven on to the reef by the tides — Passes inside the reef again — Corals — Straits between Australia and New Guinea Page 281 CONTENTS xix CHAPTER XIII SOME ACCOUNT OF THAT PART OF NEW HOLLAND NOW CALLED NEW SOUTH WALES General appearance of the coast — Dampier’s narrative — Barrenness of the country — Scarcity of water — Vegetables and fruits — Timber — Palms — Gum trees — Quadrupeds — Birds — Insects — Ants and their habitations — Fish — Turtle — Shell-fish — Scarcity of people — Absence of Cultivation- Description of natives — Ornaments — Absence of vermin — Implements for catching fish — Food — Cooking — Habitations — Furniture — Vessels for carrying water — Bags — Tools — Absence of sharp instruments — Native method of procuring fire — Weapons — Throwing - sticks — Shield — Cowardice of the people — Canoes — Climate — Language . Page 296 CHAPTER XIV AUSTRALIA TO SAVU ISLAND “Sea-sawdust” — New Guinea — Landing — Vegetation — Natives throw fire- darts — Home-sickness of the crew — Coast along Timor — Rotte — -Aurora — Savu Island — Signs of Europeans — A boat sent ashore to trade— Anchor — Reception by natives — Their Radja — Mynheer Lange — House of Assembly — Native dinner — Obstacles to trading — Mynheer Lange’s covetousness — Trading — Dutch policy concerning spices . Page 324 CHAPTER XV DESCRIPTION OF SAVU Mr. Lange’s account— Political divisions of the island — Its general appear- ance — Productions — Buffaloes — Horses — Shee p — -Fish — V egetables — Fan-palm — Liquor — Sugar-making — Fire-holes for cooking — Sustaining qualities of sugar — Description of the natives — Dress — Ornaments — Chewing betel, areca, lime, and tobacco — Construction of their houses — Looms and spinning-machines — Surgery — Religion — Christian converts — Radjas — Slaves — Large stones of honour — Feasts — Military — Weapons —Relations with the Dutch — Mynheer Lange — Language — Neighbour- ing islands — Wreck of a French ship — Dutch policy with regard to language Page 340 XX CONTENTS CHAPTER XVI SAVU ISLAND TO BATAVIA Leave Savu — Arrive off Java — European and American news — Formalities required by Dutch authorities — Mille Islands — Batavia road — Land at Batavia — Prices and food at the hotel — Tupia’s impressions of Batavia — Introduction to the Governor — Malarious climate — Bougainville’s visit to Batavia — Orders given to heave down the ship — Illness of Tupia, Dr. Banks, Dr. Solander, etc. — Death of Mr. Monkhouse, Tayeto, and Tupia — Remove to a country-house — Malay women as nurses — Critical state of Dr. Solander — Ship repaired — Captain Cook taken ill — Heavy rains — Frogs and mosquitos — Return to the ship . Page 362 CHAPTER XYII DESCRIPTION OP BATAVIA Situation — Number of houses — Streets — Canals — Houses — Public buildings — Fortifications — Castle — Forts within the city — Soldiers — Harbour — Islands and uses to which they are put — Dutch fleet — Country round Batavia — Thunderstorms — Marshes — Unhealthiness of the climate — Fruitfulness of the soil — Cattle, sheep, etc. — Wild animals- — Fish — Birds — Rice — Mountain rice — Vegetables — Fruits : detailed description, supply and consumption — Palm-wine — Odoriferous flowers — Spices — Population and nationalities — Trade — Cheating — Portuguese — Slaves — Punishment of slaves — Javans — Habits and customs — Native attention to the hair and teeth — Running amoc — Native superstitions — Crocodiles as twin brothers to men — Chinese : their habits, mode of living, and burial — Government — Officials — Justice — Taxation — Money . Page 377 CHAPTER XVIII BATAVIA TO CAPE OP GOOD HOPE Leave Batavia — Cracatoa — Mosquitos on board ship — Prince’s Island — Visit the town — Account of Prince’s Island — Produce — Religion — Nuts of Cycas circinalis — Town — Houses — Bargaining — Language — Affinity of Malay, Madagascar, and South Sea Islands languages — Leave Prince’s Island — Sickness on board — Deaths of Mr. Sporing, Mr. Parkinson, Mr. Green, and many others — Coast of Natal — Dangerous position of the ship — Cape of Good Hope — Dr. Solander’s illness — French ships — Bougainville’s voyage Page 417 CONTENTS xxi CHAPTER XIX CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO ENGLAND Account of the Cape of Good Hope — Its settlement by the Dutch — Cape Town — Dutch customs — Government — Climate — General healthiness — Animals — Wines — Cost of living — Botanical garden — Menagerie — Settlements in the interior — Barrenness of the country — Hottentots : their appearance, language, dancing, customs, etc. — Money — Leave Table Bay — Robben Island — St. Helena — Volcanic rocks — Cultivation — Provisions — Introduced plants — Natural productions — Ebony — Speculations as to how plants and animals originally reached so remote an island— Leave St. Helena — Ascension Island — Ascension to England — Land at Deal ......... Page 432 APPENDIX : Electricity Page 453 INDEX ........... Page 459 PORTRAITS Sir Joseph Banks Dr. D. Solander Frontispiece . To face page xxxviii CHARTS The World, showing the track of the Endeavour . . At end of book Society Islands ,, New Zealand ,, Melanesia ,, East Indian Archipelago ,, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES SIR JOSEPH BANKS1 The name of Sir Joseph Banks is pre-eminent amongst the many distinguished scientific men who adorned the long reign of George the Third, and his career practically coincides with the reign of that monarch, closing in the same year. The hold he has always had on popular estimation is per- haps less due to his high position in the royal favour, or his long tenancy of the presidential chair of the Boyal Society, than to the prominent part he took in the voyage of H.M.S. Endeavour under Lieutenant Cook, and his con- tributions to Hawkesworth’s account of it. Cook’s story is that of a sailor, and his account of his discoveries is rendered more attractive by the introduction of passages from the more graphic pages of Banks’s Diary : it is these passages which attracted so much attention in the narrative drawn up by Dr. Hawkesworth. Cook’s own Journal, recently published by Admiral Wharton, shows this very clearly, and the naturalist’s own record of their discoveries and adven- tures is now for the first time given to the public. Joseph Banks was born in Argyle Street, London, on 2nd February 1743 (o.s.). He was the son of William Banks (sometime Sheriff of Lincolnshire and M.P. for Peterborough), of Kevesby Abbey, Lincolnshire, a gentleman of some fortune, due to his father’s successful practice of medicine in that 1 No adequate Life of Sir Joseph Banks having as yet appeared, the com- piler of the following notes is indebted mainly for his information to Weld’s History of the Royal Society, Sir John Barrow’s Sketches of the Royal Society and the Royal Society Club, to Mr. B. Daydon Jackson’s article on Banks in the Dictionary of National Biography, and to scattered incidental notices. XXIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES county. At the age of nine he was sent to Harrow, and four years later was transferred to Eton, where he displayed an extreme aversion from study, especially of Greek and Latin, and an inordinate love of all kinds of energetic sports. It was while he was here that he was first attracted to the study of botany, and having no better instructor he paid some women — “ cullers of simples,” as Sir Joseph him- self afterwards called them — who were employed in gather- ing plants, for which he paid them sixpence for each article they collected and brought to him. During his holidays he found on his mother’s dressing-table an old torn copy of Gerard’s Herbal , having the names and figures of some of the plants with which he had formed an imperfect acquaint- ance ; and he carried it back with him to school. While at Eton he made considerable collections of plants and insects. He also made many excursions in company with the father of the great Lord Brougham, who describes him as a fine-looking, strong, and healthy boy, whom no fatigue could subdue, and no peril daunt. He left Eton when seventeen to be inoculated for the small-pox, and on his recovery he went up to Oxford, entering as a gentleman commoner at Christ Church. Prior to this, however, after his father’s death in 1761, he had resided with his mother at Chelsea, where he had availed himself of the then famous botanical garden of the Apothecaries’ Company. He found himself unable to get any teaching in botany at Oxford, but obtaining leave, he proceeded to Cam- bridge and returned with Israel Lyons,1 the astronomer and botanist, under whom a class was formed. In December 1763 he left Oxford with an honorary degree, and coming of age in the year following, found himself possessed of an ample fortune, which enabled him to devote himself entirely to the study of natural science. At this time also he formed a friendship with Lord Sandwich, a neighbouring landowner, both being devoted to hunting and other field sports. The two are credited with having formed a project 1 Afterwards calculator for the Nautical Almanac, and, owing to the in- fluence of Banks, astronomer to Captain Phipps’ Polar Voyage in 1773. SIR JOSEPH BANKS XXV to drain the Serpentine, in order to obtain some light on the fishes it contained. In May 1766 he was elected F.R.S., at the early age of twenty-three, and in the summer of that year accompanied his friend Lieutenant Phipps (afterwards Lord Mulgrave) to Newfoundland, where he investigated the Flora of that then botanically unknown island, returning next year by way of Lisbon. His journal of the trip is preserved in manuscript in the British Museum. After his return home, he became acquainted with Dr. Solander, of whom a brief notice is appended, and with whom he was closely connected until the death of the latter. Shortly after the accession of George III., several ships had been sent to the Southern Seas in the interest of geographical science. Commodore Byron sailed in 1764, Captains Wallis and Carteret in 1766, and these had no sooner returned than the Government resolved to fit out an expedition to the island of Tahiti, or, as it was then called, Otahite, under Lieutenant James Cook, in order to observe the transit of Venus in 1769. Mr. Banks decided to avail himself of this opportunity of exploring the unknown Pacific Ocean, and applied to his friend Lord Sandwich, then at the head of the Admiralty, for leave to join the expedi- tion. At his own expense, stated by Ellis to be £10,000, he furnished all the stores needed to make complete collec- tions in every branch of natural science, and engaged Dr. Solander, four draughtsmen or artists, and a staff of servants (or nine in all) to accompany him. The adventures of Banks and his companions on this voyage in the Endeavour are told in the diary which is the main object of this volume. It will be enough here to point out his untiring activity, whether in observing or collecting animals and plants, investigating and recording native customs and languages, bartering for necessaries with the inhabitants, preventing the pillaging to which the expedition was frequently subjected, or in the hazardous chase of the stolen quadrant in the interior of Otahite. In July 177 1 the travellers returned with an immense XXVI BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES amount of material, the botanical part of which was for the most part already described, and needed but little to pre- pare it for the press. The descriptive tickets, which had been drawn up by Solander, were arranged in systematic order in what are still known as “ Solander cases,” and transcribed fairly by an amanuensis for publication. About 700 plates were engraved on copper in folio at Banks’s ex- pense, and a few prints or proofs were taken, but they were never published. Five folio books of neat manuscript, and the coppers, rest in the hands of the trustees of the British Museum. The question arises, why were they never utilised ? The descriptions were ready long before Solander’s death, although the plants collected in Australia do not seem to have been added to the fair copies, and the plates were mainly outlines. This has always been regarded as an insoluble problem, but the following extracts from a letter written by Banks very shortly before Solander died, may be accepted as evidence of his intention to publish. The letter from which the extract is taken is undated, and takes the shape of a draft without any name, but it is a reply to a letter addressed to Banks by Hasted, who was then collect- ing materials for the second edition of his history of the county of Kent. Botany has been my favourite science since my childhood ; and the reason I have not published the account of my travels is that the first from want of time necessarily brought on by the many preparations for my second voyage was entrusted to Dr. Hawkesworth, and since that I have been engaged in a botanical work, which I hope soon to publish, as I have near 700 folio plates prepared ; it is to give an account of all such new plants discovered in my voyage round the world, some- what above 800. Hasted’s letter, to which this is an answer, was dated 25th February 1782, little more than two months before Solander’s death (alluded to on a subsequent page), an event which has generally been accepted as determining the fate of the intended publication. But we must now go back a few years. In 1772 pre- parations were made for a second expedition under Cook in SIR JOSEPH BANKS xxvn the Resolution, with the object of ascertaining the existence, or the contrary, of an Antarctic continent, and Lord Sandwich invited Banks to accompany it as naturalist, to which he readily consented. Towards this new venture he made elabo- rate preparations, on a scale for which even his ample fortune did not suffice, for he had to raise money to complete his out- fit.1 Various surmises or explanations have been advanced to account for Banks’s abandonment of his intention to pro- ceed on this voyage ; amongst others it has been said that Cook raised difficulties concerning the accommodation ; and it is stated that Banks’s equipment would have necessitated the addition of a poop-deck on the vessel destined for the voyage, which would have materially interfered with its sailing powers. But the reason given by Sir John Barrow, who was for many years Secretary of the Admiralty, is no doubt the correct one. He states ( Sketches of the Royal Society, p. 26) that “ such a system was adopted by the Navy Board to thwart every step of his proceedings, especially on the part of its chief, the Comptroller of the Navy, Sir Hugh Palliser, whereby his patience was worn out, and his indig- nation so far excited as to cause him, though reluctantly, to abandon this enterprise altogether.” It may be incident- ally mentioned that the great chemist Priestley, whom Banks had invited to join the expedition (on advantageous terms, including a provision for his family), was also objected to, in his case on account of religious principles, by the Board of Longitude. Although thus bitterly disappointed, Banks never- theless used his utmost endeavour to promote the objects of the voyage ; and that there was no personal bitterness between Banks and Cook seems certain from the following extract from a hasty note by Solander to Banks after Cook’s return : — Two o’clock, Monday, 14th August 1775. This moment Captain Cook is arrived. I have not yet had an opportunity of conversing with him, as he is still in the Board-room 1 The last few cases of specimen bottles prepared for this voyage were not utilised until they were transferred by Robert Brown to the editor of this “Journal,” when the latter was preparing to accompany Captain James Ross on his voyage to the Antarctic Ocean in 1839. xxviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES giving an account of himself and company. He looks as well as ever. Captain Cook desires his best compliments to you ; he expressed himself in the most friendly manner towards you that could be ; he said, “ Nothing could have added to the satisfaction he has had in making this tour, but having had your company.” He has some birds in spr. v. [spirits of wine] for you, etc. etc. Thus baulked of their design, Banks and Solander set out on a scientific expedition to Iceland in a vessel specially chartered for them at a cost of £100 a month. They sailed on the 12th July 1772, and on the way Banks carried out an intention he had formed to visit Staffa, to which he was the first to draw the attention of scientific men, sending a complete description, with drawings and measurements, to Thomas Pennant, who inserted it in his Tour to the Highlands of Scotland. They spent a month in Iceland, exploring Mount Hecla, the geysers, and other remarkable features of the island. Banks made copious observations, which Dr. Troil, one of the party, and afterwards Arch- bishop of Upsala, included in his interesting account of the island, without, however, according to Barrow, doing full justice to the exertions of Banks and his companions, whom he dismisses with a too vague and general eulogium. Banks also afterwards placed his MS. journal at the disposal of Sir William Hooker, whom he had advised to visit the island for scientific purposes, and who made copious use of it, with due acknowledgment, in his Tour in Iceland. Banks always continued to take a keen interest in the Icelanders, and his humanity “ was of signal service to these poor creatures ; for when, some years afterwards, they were in a state of famine, the benevolence and powerful interest of this kind-hearted man brought about the adoption of measures which absolutely saved the inhabitants from star- vation. We were at war with Denmark, and had captured the Danish ships, and no provisions could be received into Iceland. Clausen, a merchant, was sent to England to implore the granting of licences for ships to enter the island, and through the active intervention of Sir Joseph, who, as SIR JOSEPH BANKS XXIX a Privy Councillor, was an honorary member of the Board of Trade, the indulgence was granted ” (Barrow, loc. cit. p. 29). That Banks contemplated a voyage to the North Pole appears from a statement by Barrow that he announced such an intention at a meeting of the Batavian Society at Rotterdam in 1773, when he desired to be put in possession of such discoveries and observations as had been made by the Dutch, promising to acquaint them with any discoveries he might make in the course of such a voyage. On his return from Iceland, Banks settled in Soho Square, where he accumulated a magnificent library (as well as at Revesby Abbey) and large collections, the whole being arranged in the most methodical manner. These business-like habits formed a marked feature in everything he undertook throughout his life, as to which interesting testimony is afforded by Barrow, who, during a visit shortly before Banks’s death, was shown his papers and correspond- ence carefully assorted and labelled. In this he received considerable assistance from his successive librarians, Solander and Dryander. On the resignation of Sir John Pringle in November 1778, Banks was chosen to succeed him as President of the Royal Society, an honour for which he had incontest- able claims, in his many sacrifices to science in all climates during the voyages to Newfoundland, round the world with Cook, and to Iceland, in his ardent love of natural science, his many accomplishments, his wealth and social position, his habitual intercourse with the king and with the heads of public departments whose influence was greatest for the furtherance of scientific research, and, above all, perhaps, in the disinterestedness with which he placed his collections and library at the disposal of all applicants of merit, and in the expenditure of his wealth. Notwithstanding all these claims on the votes of the Pellows of the Society, Banks was not destined to retain tranquil possession of the Presidency, and two or three circumstances, arising out of the zeal with which he dis- charged his duties, made him several enemies. One of XXX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES these causes was his action with regard to the election of Fellows. Owing to the absence of any scrutiny of the claims of the candidates proposed for the Fellowship, Banks announced his intention of performing this office himself, and of making known his views concerning each proposal to the Council and Fellows. This measure, which created considerable dissatisfaction amongst a certain section of the Fellows, was nevertheless necessary, owing to the recent election of numerous candidates of no scientific merit what- ever. “ D’Alembert, in allusion to the extreme prodigality with which the honours of the Fellowship were distributed, was in use to ask jocularly any person going to England, if he desired to be made a Member, as he could easily obtain it for him, should he think it any honour. . . . Upon this subject Lord Brougham says : ‘ Two principles were laid down by him [Banks] ; first, that any person who had successfully cultivated science, especially by original inves- tigations, should be admitted, whatever might be his rank or fortune ; secondly, that men of wealth, or station, disposed to promote, adorn, and patronise science, should, but with due caution and deliberation, be allowed to enter’” (Weld’s History of the Royal Society). A crisis was, however, brought about by the following circumstance. The Council, under the influence, it is said, of the President, passed a resolution recommending that the Foreign Secretary should reside in London ; and this measure was followed by the resignation of Dr. Hutton, then Foreign Secretary, and Professor at Woolwich, who, it was complained, had neglected his duties as secretary of the Society. Dr. Horsley, afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, attacked the President in very bitter terms, lamenting that the chair which had been filled by Newton should be thus lowered in dignity, and predicting all kinds of disasters as the direct consequence of electing a naturalist as President. He induced several influential members to follow him, but when the fact became clear, as it soon did, that he desired the reversion of the chair for himself, his influence declined ; he withdrew from the Society with a few intimates, and SIR JOSEPH BANKS XXXI Banks remained in undisputed possession of the chair till his death in 1820. The excellent qualities of the President whom this victory kept in the chair were clearly exhibited by the temper with which he regarded the opposition. The sketch of his character (says Barrow) given by Lord Brougham is true to the life : “ He showed no jealousy of any rival, no prejudice in anybody’s favour rather than another’s. He was equally accessible to all for counsel and help. His house, his library, his whole valuable collec- tions, were at all times open to men of science, while his credit both with our own and foreign Governments, and, if need were, the resource of his purse, were ever ready to help in the prosecution of their inquiries.” One of the earliest official acts of the new President was a proof of the estimation in which he held his late fellow-voyager Cook. On the death of the latter in 1779, Banks proposed to the Council that a medal should be struck as a mark of the high sense entertained by the Society of the importance of his extensive discoveries in different parts of the globe, the cost being defrayed by subscription among the Fellows. The medal, designed by L. Pingo, bears a portrait of the great navigator in profile on the obverse, with a representation of Britannia pointing to the south pole of a globe on the reverse. Amongst other noteworthy services rendered by Banks in his capacity as President of the Eoyal Society, the following may be mentioned. In 1784 the Council obtained the permission of George III. to commence a geodetical survey under General Roy : this served as the basis of the Ordnance Survey. In the following year he made successful application to the king to guarantee the cost (amounting to £4000) of Sir William Herschel’s 40 -foot telescope. He served on a committee of the Society appointed, at the instance of the Secretary of State, to ascertain the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds of time at various localities in Great Britain. In 1817 the Council at his suggestion recommended Government to fit out an Arctic expedition : xxxn BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES as a result, two were sent, the one under Captain John Eoss in search of the North-West Passage ; the other, which included Franklin, to sail northwards by the east coast of Greenland. He was on several occasions invited to stand for Parlia- ment, but always declined, preferring to devote his entire time to his duties as President of the Eoyal Society, and to the innumerable functions it entailed. It is sometimes said that Banks viewed with strong disapproval the formation of other societies for the pursuit of natural science. This was certainly so in the case of the Astronomical Society, which he considered would seriously decrease the importance of that over which he himself presided. But this was only because he conceived the objects of the former association to be so intimately con- nected with those of the Eoyal Society that there would not be sufficient scope for both. On the other hand, he was one of the founders of the Linnean Society in 1788, and took an even more prominent part in the formation of the Eoyal Institution in 1799. In March 1779 he married Dorothea, daughter of William Western Hugessen, Esq., of Provender, Kent. In 1782 Solander died, and from that time onward Banks became more and more absorbed in the duties of the Eoyal Society, and acted as chief counsellor in all scientific matters to the king. In this capacity he had virtual control of the Eoyal Gardens at Kew, then under the cultural care of the elder Aiton, where were raised the plants produced by seeds brought home by himself, and so many of the novelties described in l’Heritier’s JSertum Anglicurn, Aiton’s Hortus Kewensis, and other botanical works. It was due to his indefatigable exertions and representations that the Eoyal Gardens at Kew were raised to the position of the first in the world, and that collectors were sent to the West Indies, the Cape Colonies, and Australia, to send home living plants and seeds, and herbaria, for the Eoyal Gardens. He kept Francis Bauer (who, and his brother Ferdinand, were the most accomplished botanical artists of the century) at Kew con- SIR JOSEPH BANKS xxxiii stantly occupied in making drawings of Australian and other plants, keeping him in liberal pay, and leaving him a legacy in his will. He was the first to bring indiarubber into notice, and early advocated the cultivation of tea in India. He estab- lished botanic gardens in Jamaica, St. Vincent, and Ceylon, besides giving invaluable support to Colonel Kyd in the foundation of the garden at Sibpur, near Calcutta. He was a keen agriculturist, and amongst his very few published writings one is on Blight Mildew and Bust, another on the introduction of the Potato, and a third on the Apple Aphis. The Horticultural Society was founded in 1804, and Banks is named as one of the persons to whom the Charter was granted in 1809. The esteem in which he was held by this Society is shown by their electing him an honorary member, and by their instituting, after his death, a Banksian medal. Services of an international character were rendered by him when, in the course of war, the collections of foreign naturalists had been captured by British vessels ; on no less than eleven occasions were they restored to their former owners through the direct intervention of Banks with the Lords of the Admiralty and Treasury. The disinterestedness of such a course will be at once understood when it is remembered that these collections, some of them of inestim- able value (now at the Jardin des Plantes at Paris), would otherwise have contributed to the aggrandisement of his own magnificent museum. “ He even sent as far as the Cape of Good Hope to procure some chests belonging to Humboldt ; and it is well known that his active exertions liberated many scientific men from foreign prisons. He used great exertions to mitigate the captivity of the unfor- tunate Flinders, and it was principally by his intercession that our Government issued orders in favour of La Perouse ” (Weld’s History of the Royal Society). Great as his services to science are known to have been, these will never be fully realised till his correspondence in the British Museum and elsewhere shall have been thor- c XXXIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES oughly searched. That they were not confined to natural history is evident. He was an assiduous promoter of the Association for the Exploration of Tropical Africa, and it was under his auspices that Mungo Park, Clapperton, and others were sent out. He was one of a committee to investigate the subject of lightning conductors. His letters to Josiah Wedgwood show his keen appreciation not only of the work of the great potter, but of his other ingenious contrivances ; among the mass of papers left by him on his death was an illustrated dissertation on the history and art of the manufacture of porcelain by the Chinese. He took a deep interest in the coinage, and was in close com- munication with Matthew Boulton on questions of minting. On applying for information on this latter point to Dr. Boberts-Austen, that gentleman informed the editor that, though not officially an officer of the Mint, Banks had probably served on some departmental or Parliamentary commissions charged with mint questions ; and further, that he had presented the mint with a really fine library, embracing all the books it possessed relating to numismatics and coinage questions generally, together with a valuable collection of coins. In reference to this, the editor has also found, on looking over some Banksian MS. in the British Museum, that these included a draft code of regulations for the conduct of the officers of the Mint. His interest in manufactures was also constant ; could his letters be brought together, a flood of light would thereby be thrown upon the progress of arts and sciences in Europe during his long tenure of the presidency of the Boyal Society. As an instance of his zeal for science may be mentioned the interest he took in Sir Charles Blagden’s experiments to determine the power of human beings to exist in rooms heated to an excessive temperature. Sir Joseph Banks was one of the first who plunged into a chamber heated to the temperature of 260° Fahr., and was taken out nearly ex- hausted. It may be mentioned that Sir Francis Chan trey once remained two minutes in a furnace at a temperature of 320°. SIR JOSEPH BANKS XXXV For a man of his distinction the dignities which were conferred upon him by royal favour seem disproportionate. He was created a Baronet in 1781, a Knight of the Bath in 1795, and two years subsequently was sworn of the Privy Council. In 1802 he was chosen one of the eight foreign members of the French Acaddmie des Sciences, in Paris. To the last his house, library, and museum were open to all scientific men, of whatever nationality, and the ser- vices of his successive librarians, Solander, Dryander, and Brown, cannot be over-estimated. His Thursday breakfasts and Sunday soirees in Soho Square made his house the centre of influential gatherings of an informal kind ; curiosities of every description were brought by visitors and exhibited, and each new subject, book, drawing, animal, plant, or mineral, each invention of art or science, was sure to find its way to Sir Joseph’s house. It was at one of these parties that he strongly recommended the acquisition of the Linnean Library and collections to James Edward Smith, a young Norwich physician, and an ardent botanist. This was the turning-point of Smith’s life, and led to the founda- tion of the Linnean Society, which held its meetings for many years, during the lifetime of Bobert Brown, in Banks’s house in Soho Square, where the Linnean collections were placed previous to the Society’s removal to apartments provided by Government in Burlington House. Sir Joseph Banks became latterly a great martyr to the gout, “ which grew to such an intensity as to deprive him entirely of the power of walking, and for fourteen or fifteen years previous to his death, he lost the use of his lower limbs so completely as to oblige him to be carried, or wheeled, as the case might require, by his servants in a chair : in this way he was conveyed to the more dignified chair of the Koyal Society, and also to the [Eoyal Society] Club — the former of which he very rarely omitted to attend, and not often the latter ; he sat apparently so much at his ease, both at the Society and in the Club, and conducted the business of the meetings with so much spirit and dignity, XXXVI BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES that a stranger would not have supposed that he was often suffering at the time, nor even have observed an infirmity, which never disturbed his uniform cheerfulness. “ As the gout increased his difficulty of locomotion, Sir Joseph found it convenient to have some spot to retire to in the neighbourhood of London, and fixed upon a small villa near Hounslow Heath, called Spring Grove, consisting of some woods add a good garden laid out with ornamental shrubs and flower-beds, and neatly kept under the inspection of Lady and Miss Banks ” (his sister) [Barrow, loc. cit. pp. 40-42], Since his death the building has been pulled down and replaced by a mansion now in the possession of A. Pears, Esq. The last occasion on which Banks took the chair at the Koyal Society was on 16th March 1820. In May, declining health led him to announce his resignation of the Presidency, which he had held for over forty-one years ; but the universal desire which was expressed, both by the Council of the Society and by the king himself, that he would retain the office, induced him to withdraw his resignation. He died, however, very shortly afterwards at Spring Grove, on the 19th June 1820, leaving a widow but no lineal issue. He was buried at Heston, Middlesex, in which parish Spring Grove is situated. The church has since been rebuilt, and now covers the spot where he was buried. A tablet with a simple inscription marks as nearly as possible the place where his body lies. By his will he expressly desires that his body be interred in the most private manner in the church or churchyard of the parish in which he should happen to die, and entreats his dear relatives to spare themselves the affliction of attending the ceremony, and earnestly requests that they will not erect any monu- ment to his memory. In July of the same year the Council of the Eoyal Society resolved to erect a full-length marble statue of Sir Joseph Banks, to be executed by Mr. (afterwards Sir Francis) Chantrey. A sum of £2000 was subscribed, of which £525 was paid to the sculptor, the surplus being devoted to an SIR JOSEPH BANKS XXXVll engraving of the statue, copies of which were distributed to various institutions and individuals. The monument now stands in the Natural History Department of the British Museum. Amongst public notices of Sir Joseph Banks after his death, the best known are Cuvier’s Eloge delivered before the French Academy, and Sir Everard Home’s Hunterian Oration. The lease of his house in Soho Square, and an annuity of £200, were left to Robert Brown, to whom were also bequeathed his library and natural history collections, with reversion to the British Museum. On condition of being appointed keeper of the botanical department, Brown made over the whole in 1828, reserving to himself the fullest use of the collections during his life, and accepting the duty of pre- paring a Life of Banks, as told in the preface to this “Journal.” Considering the eminence of Banks’s position in the scientific world, it is surprising to find how little he wrote. The following are the most important of his publications— “ A short Account of the cause of the Disease in Corn, called by farmers the Blight, the Mildew, and the Rust.” — Nicholson, Journ. x. (1805), pp. 225-234; Tilloch, Phil. Mag. xxi. (1805), pp. 320-327 ; Ann. Bot. ii. (1806), pp. 51-61. Also as a separate publication, 1805, 8 vo, 15 pp. 1 tab.; and reprinted in Curtis, Practical Observations on the British Gmsses, 1824, pp. 151-166, t. 1. “ An attempt to ascertain the time when the Potato ( Solanum tuberosum) was first introduced into the United Kingdom ; with some Account of the Hill Wheat of India” (1805). — Hortic. Soc. Trans, i. 1812, pp. 8-12. “ Some Hints respecting the proper Mode of inuring tender Plants to our Climate,” l.c. pp. 21-25. “ On the Forcing-houses of the Romans, with a List of Fruits culti- vated by them now in our Gardens,” l.c. pp. 147-156. “ On ripening the second Crop of Figs that grow on the new Shoots,” l.c. pp. 252-254. “Notes relative to the first appearance of the Aphis lanigera, or the Apple Tree Insect, in this Country ” (1812), l.c. ii. pp. 162-170. “ Observations on the nature and formation of the Stone incrusting the Skeletons which have been found in the Island of Guadeloupe, with some account of the origin of those Skeletons” (1818). — Trans. Linn. Soc. xii. (1818), pp. 53-61. xxxviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES He also published various papers in Archceologia. To the labours of J. Dryander (who succeeded Solander as Banks’s secretary and librarian, and who was on his death succeded by Robert Brown in 1810) is due’ the publication of the catalogue of Banks’s library. It is entitled “ Cata- logus Bibliothecae historico-naturalis Josephi Banks . . . auctore Jono Dryander,” 5 vols. 8vo, 1798-1800. In it are enumerated the works of upwards of 6000 authors, with analyses of their writings, arranged according to the subjects treated. This work has never been superseded. The name of Banks is commemorated botanically in the Australian genus Banksia, so named in his honour by the younger Linnaeus. DR. SOLANDER This sketch cannot be concluded without some notice of the career of Banks’s first librarian, and companion during Cook’s voyage, Daniel Carl Solander. He was the son of a country clergyman, and born in Norrland, Sweden, on the 28th February 1736. He studied at the University of Upsala, took the degree of M.D., and became a pupil of Linnaeus, who recommended him to go to England. He left Upsala in 1759, being warmly commended by his botanical professor to the eminent naturalist John Ellis, F.R.S., but was detained in the south of Sweden by sickness for nearly a year, only reaching our shores in July 1760. In the following October he was strongly recommended by Peter Collinson, F.R.S., to the notice of the trustees of the British Museum, but no permanent employment was the result of this appeal. In the autumn of 1762 Linnseus pro- cured for him the offer of the botanical professorship at St. Petersburg, but after consultation with his English friends, Solander decided to decline the appointment, for “ many reasons,” which are not given. The chief one seems to have been that at this time he was engaged in classifying and cataloguing in the British Museum, with prospect of advance- ment. A few months later he was appointed assistant in DR. SOLANDER XXXIX that institution, and in 1764 elected a Fellow of the Boyal Society. It was in 1767 that he first made the acquaintance of Banks, who, when he had in the following year resolved to accompany Cook to the Pacific, induced Solander to go with him. His situation in the Museum was kept open for him, a deputy being put in to act during his absence with Banks. An extract from a letter from Ellis to Linnaeus gives a clear idea of the arrangements made for the journey : — I must now inform you that Joseph Banks, Esq., a gentleman of ,£6000 per annum estate, has prevailed on your pupil, Dr. Solander, to accompany him in the ship that carries the English astronomers to the new-discovered country in the South Sea 1 . . . where they are to collect all the natural curiosities of the place, and, after the astronomers have finished their observations on the transit of Venus, they are to proceed under the direction of Mr. Banks, by order of the Lords of the Admiralty, on further discoveries. ... No people ever went to sea better fitted out for the purpose of natural history, nor more elegantly. They have got a fine library of natural history : they have all sorts of machines for catching and preserving insects ; all kinds of nets, trawls, drags, and hooks for coral fishing ; they have even a curious contrivance of a telescope by which, put into the water, you can see the bottom at a great depth, where it is clear. They have many cases of bottles with ground stoppers, of several sizes, to preserve animals in spirits. They have the several sorts of salts to surround the seeds ; and wax, both bees’- wax and that of the Myrica ; besides, there are many people whose sole business it is to attend them for this very purpose. They have two painters and draughtsmen, several volunteers who have a tolerable notion of natural history ; in short, Solander assured me this expedition would cost Mr. Banks £10,000. . . . About three days ago I took my leave of Solander, when he assured me he would write to you and to all his family, and acquaint them with the particulars of this expedition. I must observe to you that his places are secured to him, and he has promises from persons in power of much better preferment on his return. Everybody here parted from him with reluctance, for no man was ever more beloved, and in so great esteem with the public from his affable and polite behaviour. On his return from the South Seas, Dr. Solander was installed under Banks’s roof in Soho Square as his secretary and librarian ; and at the British Museum he was advanced to the post of under-librarian. A short time after his return 1 The Society Islands. xl BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES the project of a second voyage was mooted, as already mentioned on p. xxvii. How this idea was received by Linnaeus, the following extracts from his correspondence with Ellis will show : — I have just read, in some foreign newspapers, that our friend Solander intends to revisit those new countries, discovered by Mr. Banks and himself, in the ensuing spring. This report has affected me so much as almost entirely to deprive me of sleep. How vain are the hopes of man ! Whilst the whole botanical world, like myself, has been looking for the most transcendent benefits to our science, from the unrivalled exertions of your countrymen, all their matchless and truly astonishing collection, such as has never been seen before, nor may ever be seen again, is to be put aside untouched, to be thrust into some corner, to become perhaps the prey of insects and of destruction. I have every day been figuring to myself the occupations of my pupil Solander, now putting his collection in order, having first arranged and numbered his plants, in parcels, according to the places where they were gathered, and then written upon each specimen its native country and appropriate number. I then fancied him throw- ing the whole into classes, putting aside and naming such as were already known ; ranging others under known genera, with specific differences, and distinguishing by new names and definitions such as formed new genera, with their species. Thus, thought I, the world will be delighted and benefited by all these discoveries ; and the foundations of true science will be strengthened, so as to endure through all generations ! I am under great apprehension that, if this collection should remain untouched till Solander’s return, it might share the same lot as Forskal’s Arabian specimens at Copenhagen. . . . Solander promised long ago, while detained off the coast of Brazil, in the early part of his voyage, that he would visit me after his return, of which I have been in expectation. If he had brought some of his specimens with him, I could at once have told him what were new ; and we might have turned over some books together, and he might have been informed or satisfied upon many subjects, which after my death will not be so easily explained. I have no answer from him to the letter I enclosed to you, which I cannot but wonder at. You, yourself, know how much I have esteemed him, and how strongly I recommended him to you. By all that is great and good, I entreat you, who know so well the value of science, to do all that in you lies for the publication of these new acquisitions, that the learned world may not be deprived of them. . . . Again the plants of Solander and Banks recur to my imagination. DR. SOLANDER xli When I turn over FeuilRe’s figures, I meet with more extraordinary things among them than anywhere else. I cannot hut presume therefore, as Peru and Chili are so rich, that in the South Sea Islands, as great abundance of rarities have remained in concealment, from the beginning of the world, to reward the labours of our illustrious voyagers. I see these things now but afar off. . . . When I ponder upon the insects they have brought, I am over- whelmed at the reported number of new species. Are there many new genera ? . . . When I think of their Mollusca, I conceive the new ones must be very numerous. These animals cannot be investigated after death, as they contract in dying. Without doubt, as there were draughtsmen on board, they would not fail to afford ample materials for drawing. Do but consider, my friend, if these treasures are kept back, what may happen to them. They may be devoured by vermin of all kinds. The house where they are lodged may be burnt. Those destined to describe them may die. Even you, the promoter of every scientific undertaking in your country, may be taken from us. All sublunary things are uncertain, nor ought anything to be trusted to treacherous futurity. I therefore once more beg, nay I earnestly beseech you, to urge the publication of these new discoveries. I con- fess it to be my most ardent wish to see this done before I die. To whom can I urge my anxious wishes but to you, who are so devoted to me and to science ? Remember me to the immortal Banks and Solander. The writer clearly recognised the dangers of that dilatori- ness which evidently formed a marked feature in the character of Solander ; he had repeatedly complained of his pupil’s neglect in writing, not only to him, but to his mother. This was the subject of reproach even before the great expedition, but it seems to have been intensified after- wards, for after Solander’s death, letters from his mother addressed to him were found actually unopened ! The closing scene came with startling suddenness. Sir Joseph Banks was out of town, and to that fact we owe the following details from the pen of Dr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Blagden, an intimate acquaintance. Soho Square, Wednesday, 8th May 1782, 2.30 p.m. Soon after breakfast this morning Dr. Solander began to find him- self much indisposed, and in a short time the symptoms of a palsy of the left side began to appear. I was conversing with him at the time, and as soon as the stroke became certain, dispatched a messenger xlii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES for Mr. Hunter, whilst Professor Linnaeus 1 went to call Dr. Heberden and Dr. Pitcairne. All these gentlemen have been with him, and the necessary remedies prescribed. I dare not say what the event will be, but am not without hopes, notwithstanding the extreme danger with which you know all paralytic strokes are attended. It was found impossible to move him ; Lady Banks has therefore been so kind as to order an apartment for him in her house, and I shall quit him as little as possible, particularly not to-night. You may judge of the affliction of every one here. I am so much affected myself that I know not what to say to you, hut that I am most affectionately yours, C. Blagden. It is a striking testimony of the regard in which Solander was held, that the foremost physicians of the day should be summoned to his side at the moment of attack, and that the son and successor of his botanical preceptor should be one of the messengers in search of medical aid. All efforts were unavailing to prolong his life, for he died at Soho Square on the 16 th of the same month. He is stated to have been a short, fair man, somewhat stout, with small eyes, and a good-humoured expression of countenance. The genus Solandra is his botanical memorial, named after him by his fellow-countryman, Swartz. A full- length portrait of him, by an unknown artist, in the posses- sion of the Linnean Society (to which body it was given by R. A. Salisbury), is here reproduced. 1 Carl von Linne, son of the eminent naturalist. NATURALISTS AND VOYAGERS MENTIONED IN THE JOURNAL Anson, George, Lord (1697-1762), entered the navy in 1712, and was in 1740 sent to the Pacific in command of a squadron. Reaching his destination by way of South America, he captured the “ Spanish galleon,” and brought it to England, returning by the Cape of Good Hope in 1744. His “Voyage round the World ” was published in 1748. In 1746 he was appointed to the command of the Channel Fleet, and was raised to the peerage in 1747. In 1751 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, having virtually performed all the duties of that office for two or three years previously. Baster, Job (1711-75), a Dutch naturalist, who published many works on natural history, including a treatise on the classification of plants and animals (1768), and “ Opuscula subseciva” (1759-65), consisting of miscellaneous observations on animals and plants, re- ferring more especially to seeds and embryos. Biron, C., author of “ Curiosites de la Nature et de l’Art, apportees de deux Voyages des Indes, en Occident, 1698-99 ; en Orient, 1701-2 ; avec une Relation abregee des deux Voyages” (1703). Bougainville, Louis Antoine de (1729-1811), was successively lawyer, soldier, secretary to the French Embassy in London, and officer under Montcalm in Canada. In 1765 he persuaded the in- habitants of St. Malo to fit out an expedition to colonise the Falkland Islands, hut upon these being claimed by the Spaniards, Bougainville was sent out in 1766, in command of the frigate Boudeuse, with a consort, to transfer them to the latter country. After accomplishing this mission he proceeded through the Straits of Magellan and fell in with Otahite (to which he gave the name of Gythere, but which had been previously seen by Quiros and Wallis), the Navigators, and the New Hebrides (Quiros’ Terra del Espiritu Santo). Endeavouring to steer due west at about the 15th degree of south latitude, he was, when still out of sight of land, brought up by reefs (outside the Great xliv JOURNAL OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS Barrier Reef). Turning northwards he sailed, by the Louisiade Archi- pelago and New Guinea, to the Moluccas, returning to France in 1769 via, Batavia and Mauritius. Bougainville was accompanied on this voyage by a naturalist, Philibert Commerson, whose servant, Jean Bary, passed for a man until her sex was recognised by the Tahitians. Otourrou, a Tahitian whom Bougainville took with him to France, died of small-pox at Mada- gascar while being conveyed back to his native country. The genus Bougainvillea was so named by Commerson in honour of the navigator, who was the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe. Bougain- ville afterwards commanded various vessels in the American War. Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1723-1806), French naturalist and physicist, author of “ Le regne animal” (1756), and “ Ornithologie ” (1760), and various works on physics. Brosse or Brosses, Charles de (1709-77), first President of the Parliament of Burgundy, author of “ Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes” (1756). Browne, Patrick (1720?- 1790), a physician who studied natural history, more particularly botany, and after a voyage to the West Indies published the “Civil and Natural History of Jamaica” (1756). He also compiled more or less local catalogues of birds, fishes, and plants. Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de (1707-88), French naturalist and writer. Upon being appointed Director of the King’s Garden at Paris, in 1739, he conceived the idea of compiling a natural history of creation, and devoted the following fifty years of his life to carrying out this project, with the help of other naturalists. His “Histoire naturelle” (published at various periods from 1749 to 1788) treats of the theory of the earth, nature of animals, man, viviparous quadrupeds, birds, and minerals. The task was continued after his death by Lacepedc. Byron, Vice-Admiral John (1723-86), was the second son of the fourth Lord Byron, and grandfather of the poet. He accompanied Anson on his voyage to the Pacific as a midshipman on board the Wager, which was wrecked on the coast of Chile in 1741 : some years later he published the details of his adventures (1768). In 1764 he was appointed to the Dolphin, with orders to explore the South Seas. He left England in company with the Tamar, and, passing through the Straits of Magellan, stood across the Pacific, but following a course already known, made no discoveries of any importance. With a great deal of scurvy on board he reached the Ladrones, and returned home in 1766. [Otahite was rediscovered on the Dolphin’s second NATURALISTS AND VOYAGERS MENTIONED xlv voyage by Wallis, q.v.] Byron was afterwards (1769-72) Governor of Newfoundland, and had command of the West Indian Fleet in 1778-79. Canton, John (1718-72), F.R.S., electrician, was the first English- man who successfully repeated Franklin’s experiments. He invented an electroscope and an electrometer. The Copley Medal of the Royal Society was awarded him in 1751. Cook, Captain James (1728-79), the son of an agricultural labourer, was born at Marton in Y orkshire. He served several years in the merchant service, but volunteered for the navy in 1755, enter- ing on the Eagle under Captain Hugh Palliser. It was owing to the influence of the latter that Cook, who had previously surveyed the St. Lawrence river, was afterwards appointed “ Marine Surveyor to the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.” He published his results as directions for navigating these coasts (1766-68). The Admiralty having at the instance of the Royal Society resolved to despatch an expedition to observe the transit of Venus in the Pacific, Cook was appointed Lieutenant and placed in command of the En- deavour (1768) : this voyage is described in the following pages. On his return in 1771, Cook was immediately promoted to the rank of Commander and sent again to the Pacific with the Resolution and Adventure, the primary object of the expedition being to verify the existence or non-existence of an antarctic continent. He left Plymouth in 1772, and proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, whence sailing in a south-easterly direction, he was the first to cross the Antarctic circle. After revisiting New Zealand, Otahite, and New Zealand again (when the Resolution and Adventure parted company), he sailed to the south, and reached his highest latitude (71°T0) in January 1774. After touching at Easter Island he explored the New Hebrides and discovered New Caledonia, whence he returned home by New Zealand, Cape Horn, and South Georgia, reaching Plymouth in July 1775. Apart from the geographical discoveries, and finally setting at rest the question of a habitable southern continent, this voyage was, even more than the first, remarkable for the fact that Cook kept his crew absolutely free from scurvy, and lost only a single man during the whole of the three years. Cook’s demonstration of the possibility of maintaining the health of crews during long periods is one of his greatest titles to fame. He gave an account of his methods for the prevention of scurvy to the Royal Society in 1776, and the Copley Medal was in the same year awarded to him, in recognition of his services to the maritime world and to humanity in this connection. Having been promoted to the rank of Captain, he offered to take command of an expedition to the North Pacific in search of a North- west Passage. He left England on this, his third voyage, in July xlvi JOURNAL OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 1776, in the Resolution, his consort, the Discovery, joining him at the Cape of Good Hope. The two ships visited Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand, and spent 1777 among the islands of the South Pacific. Going north, he discovered the Sandwich Islands (1778), and sur- veyed the west coast of North America as far as Icy Cape (thus passing through the Behring Straits). Thence, finding further advance im- possible, he returned to the Sandwich Islands, anchoring in Karakakoa Bay. The natives at first proved friendly, but quarrels afterwards arose, and Cook, going on shore to recover a stolen boat, was killed (14th February 1779), no attempt at a rescue being made. Cowley, Captain, buccaneer, fell in with “ Pepys ” Island, which was afterwards recognised to be one of the Falklands, about the year 1683. He sailed round the world in 1683-86, keeping a Journal from which the account of his voyage in Callander’s “ Terra Australis Cognita ” is taken. Dalrymple, Alexander (1737-1808), went out as a writer in the East India Company’s service in 1752, and undertook several voyages for the Company, particularly to the Sulu Islands and to China. In 1767 he published an “Account of Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean before 1764,” and later a “Historical Collection of South Sea Voyages” (1770-71), besides pamphlets on Indian affairs. He was appointed the first Hydrographer to the Admiralty in 1795, but was dismissed in 1808, and died the same year. Dampier, William (1652-1715), buccaneer, captain in the navy, and hydrographer, made several voyages to the South Seas. In one of these he left Virginia in 1683 and went by way of South America to the East Indies, where he spent some time in trading. He re- turned to England in 1691 and published his “Voyage Round the World ” (1697). On a later voyage he sailed under directions from the Admiralty along the northern coast of New Holland and visited New Guinea (1699-1701). His narrative of this expedition, entitled “Voyage to New Holland in the year 1699” (published 1703-9), is remarkable for the information it contains on the natural history, etc., of Australia. He was again in the South Seas in 1703-7 and in 1708, upon which last occasion he rescued Alexander Selkirk, whom he had himself left there on the former voyage, from the island of Juan Fernandez. “ Dolphin,” the first vessel in the English navy sheathed with copper : 1st voyage, see Byron ; 2nd voyage (to Otaliite), see Wallis. Edwards, George, F.R.S. (1694-1773), naturalist, Librarian to the Royal College of Physicians. He was the author of a “ History of Birds” (1743-64), one volume of which is remarkable for being dedi- cated to God. NATURALISTS AND VOYAGERS MENTIONED xlvii Fernandez, Juan (died 1576), Spanish navigator, appears to have been constantly employed as pilot off the coasts of South America. He discovered the islands bearing his name about 1572, and in 1576 reported another large island or continent, which has not been identified. Fothergill, John, M.D., F.R.S. (1712-80), was a Quaker, and the first graduate of Edinburgh to be admitted as a licentiate of the College of Physicians (1744). He was greatly interested in botany, and possessed a magnificent botanical garden at Upton, near Stratford, where he kept many draughtsmen. He also made large collections of shells and insects. His “ Hortus Uptonensis ” was published amongst his “Works” after his death in 1783-84. Frazier, Amedee Francois (1682-1773), engineer and traveller, born at Chambery, was descended from the Scotch Frasers. He was sent out by the French king in 1711 to examine the Spanish colonies in South America, and on his return in 1714 published his “Relation d’un Voyage de la Mer du Sud aux cotes du Chili et du Perou” (1716). He was afterwards Director of Fortifications of Brittany, and was the author of several works on architecture. Hasselquist, Fredrik (1722-52), Swedish naturalist and pupil of Linnseus. He spent three years (1749-52) travelling in Palestine and Egypt, and made large collections of fishes, reptiles, insects, plants, and minerals, studying also Arab manuscripts, coins, and mummies. He died at Smyrna, and his collections passed into the hands of Linnaeus, who published Hasselquist’s journal and observations under the title of “Iter Palestinum ” (1757). Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes, see Brosse. Hulme, Nathaniel, F.R.S. (1732-1807), was Physician to the Charter-house. Le Maire, Jacob (died 1616), Dutch navigator, left Holland in company with William Cornelissen Schouten (died 1625) in 1615, in the Concorde , with the view of determining the position of the southern point of South America, in defiance of the regulations of the Dutch East India Company, which attempted to close the routes to India, either by the Cape of Good Hope or the Straits of Magellan. Le Maire and Schouten discovered Staten Island and Cape Horn, which they doubled, and thence proceeded to Batavia, passing along the north-east coast of New Guinea. On their arrival at Batavia, their ship was seized and they were sent to Holland, but Le Maire died before reaching Europe. Schouten published an account of the voyage in 1618. xlviii JOURNAL OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS L’Hermite, Jacques (died 1624), Dutch Admiral, was sent out in 1623 by the States-General in command of eleven vessels (the Nassau fleet, so named after Prince Maurice of Nassau) to attack Peru. The expedition did not meet with much success, and L’Hermite himself died at Callao. He appears to have previously served under the Dutch East India Company. Marcgrav, George (1610-44), German physician and traveller, accompanied Piso (q.v.) and the Prince of Nassau to Brazil in 1636, where he travelled for six years. The results of his discoveries are embodied with those of Piso in the “ Historia naturalis Brasilia ” (1648). He afterwards went to the coast of Guinea and there died. Maskelyne, Nevil, F.R.S. (1732-1811), was sent by the Royal Society to St. Helena to observe the transit of Venus in 1761, but the phenomenon was obscured by clouds. He was after- wards Astronomer-Royal (1765) ; and to him we owe the “Nautical Almanac,” the publication of which he superintended for forty-five years. In 1769 he observed the transit of Venus from Greenwich. Later, in 1784, Maskelyne strongly supported Dr. Charles Hutton against Sir Joseph Banks, then President, during the dissensions in the Royal Society (see p. xxx.) M‘Bride, David (1726-78), medical writer, advocated the use of fresh wort or infusion of malt as a preventive of scurvy at sea, a specific adopted by Banks on this voyage. It was, however, soon after superseded by Lind’s lemon juice. Narbrough, Admiral Sir John (1640-88), was sent out to the South Seas in 1669. Passing through the Straits of Magellan, he sailed as far as Valdivia aud then returned home. He was present at the battle of Solebay (1672), and after some years of service, died at Saint Domingo, whither he had gone, at the instance of the Govern- ment, to search for treasure. Nassau Fleet. See L’Hermite. Oldenland, Henry Bernhard, Dutch naturalist, author of “ Catalog! duo plantarum Africanarum ” in the “Thesaurus Zeylanicus” (1737). Osbeck:, Pehr (1723-1805), Swedish naturalist and traveller. He studied natural history, and on the recommendation of Linnaeus was appointed chaplain to a vessel of the Swedish East India Company, in which he visited China, and, on the return voyage, Ascension. Osbeck published his observations under the title of “Journal of a voyage to the East Indies, 1750-52, with observations on the natural history, language, manners, and domestic economy of foreign peoples ” (1757). NATURALISTS AND VOYAGERS MENTIONED xlix Pallas, Peter Simon (1741-1811), traveller and naturalist, was born at Berlin, and in 1767, at the invitation of the Empress Catherine, accepted the professorship of Natural History at St. Petersburg. He went to Siberia in 1768 to observe the transit of Venus, and spent the following six years travelling there, penetrating to the frontiers of China. He remained in Russia till 1810, when he returned to Berlin. He was an indefatigable naturalist, and published many works on natural history, of which the greater part deal with the flora, fauna, and ethnology of the Russian possessions. Pennant, Thomas, LL.D. (1726-98), Scotch naturalist and antiquary. He was the author of “British Zoology” (1766); “ Synopsis of Quadrupeds” (1771), afterwards enlarged and published as the “History of Quadrupeds” (1781); “Genera of Birds” (1773), etc. He was a constant correspondent of Gilbert White of Selborne. Piso, William (17th century), Dutch naturalist and doctor, accompanied Prince Maurice of Nassau as his physician on his voyage to Brazil in 1636, taking with him two young German savants, Marcgrav (q.v.) and Kranitz. The observations which he and Marcgrav made were published in 1648 under the title of “Historia naturalis Brasilia;.” He was the first to introduce into Europe and to describe ipecacuanha and its medicinal properties. Quiros, Pedro Fernandez de (died 1614), Spanish navigator, accompanied Mendana in 1595 to the Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands. On the death of Mendana, Quiros brought the remains of the fleet to Manilla, and then returned by South America to Madrid. Obtain- ing permission to search for the supposed Southern Continent, he set out again from Lima in 1605, and discovered “ Dezana,” afterwards called Osnaburg Island. In the following year he discovered Otahite, which he named “ Sagittaria.” Proceeding westwards he then dis- covered “Terra del Espiritu Santo,” one of the New Hebrides. From this point he turned back to Mexico, and died at Panama in 161 4. Rembrantz von Nierop, Dirk (1610-82), Dutch astronomer and mathematician, published, besides several works on mathematics and astronomy, a short account of Tasman’s voyage. Roggeween, Jacob (1659-1729), Dutch navigator, was at one time counsellor of the Court of Justice at Batavia. In his voyage round the world he started from Holland in 1721, reached the Falkland Islands, and sailed south as far as 62j° S. lat., then went to Chile, Juan Fernandez, Easter Island (of which he was the discoverer), New Britain and Batavia. An account of his voyage was published in 1728. Rumphius or Rumpf, George Eberhard (1627-1702), German doctor and botanist. He went out to the Dutch possessions in the d 1 JOURNAL OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS East Indies about 1654, and entered the Company’s service. He was made Consul at Amboyna, where he resided until his death, making large collections there and in the adjacent islands. Not- withstanding that he became totally blind in 1669, he was the author of several works on natural history, which, however, were not published until after his death, notably the “Herbarium Amboinense” (1741- 55), “ Herbarii Amboinensis Auctuarium” (1755), supplementing the former work, “ D’Amboinische Rariteitkammer ” (1704), and “Thesaurus imaginum piscium, testaceorum, et cochlearum” (1711). Sharp, Captain Bartholomew (17th century), made several buccaneer- ing voyages to the South Seas, chiefly off the coast of South America and Darien. He kept a journal, and published an account of his voyages in 1684. Shelvocke, George (18th century), buccaneer, although he had been long in the navy, went out in command of the Speedwell (privateer) in 1719-22 to the South Seas. He was wrecked on Juan Fernandez, but built a craft out of the remains of the wreck, and reached Peru ; he thence sailed to Formosa. After three years of constant fighting and adventures, he reached England and published his “ Voyage round the World by way of the Great South Sea” (1726). Sloane, Sir Hans, Bart. (1660-1753), botanist and physician. He went to Jamaica in 1687, collecting 800 plants there, and afterwards published an account of his travels (1707-25), and a “Catalogue of the Plants of Jamaica” (1696). He became Secretary to the Royal Society in 1693, and edited its Transactions for twenty years. He was appointed Physician-General to the army, and was the first medical practitioner to be created a baronet (1716). He was elected President of the College of Physicians in 1719, and of the Royal Society in 1727, retaining the latter dignity until 1740. He was an indefatigable collector, and his library and collections, which he by will directed should be offered to the nation for £20,000, were in 1759 opened to the public as the British Museum. Tasman, Abel Jansen (cir. 1602-59), Dutch navigator. In 1639 he was sent by Van Diemen to the Philippines and Japan ; and in 1642 the same Governor directed him to investigate the south of New Holland. He fell in with Van Diemen’s Land, without discover- ing it to be an island, and thence sailed across to New Zealand, which he called Staten Land. Anchoring in Massacre Bay, he lost three men, killed by the natives (whence the name), and then coasted along the west coast of North Island. After leaving this he reached the Friendly Islands, returning to Batavia by the north coast of New Guinea. In 1644 he undertook a third voyage to the north coast of New Holland and discovered the Gulf of Carpentaria. He died at Batavia in 1659. NATURALISTS AND VOYAGERS MENTIONED li Torres, Luis Vaez de, commanded the Almiranta, the second ship on Quiros’ expedition. After accompanying Quiros to “ Sagittaria ” (Otahite), the ships were separated at Terra del Espiritu Santo, and Torres, sailing westwards, passed through the straits between Australia and New Guinea in 1606. In connection with the fire thrown by the natives of this latter country when Banks landed there (see p. 326), it is interesting to find that Torres records that “among the weapons used by them were hollow bamboo sticks, which they filled with lime, and by throwing it endeavoured to blind their enemies,” also that he “ met with Mahometans who had swords and firearms ” (Burney, History of Discoveries in the South Seas). Cook and Banks were unaware of the previous discovery, by Torres, of these straits. Valentijn, Francois (1656-1727), Dutch traveller, was for many years pastor of the Protestant Church at Amboyna. He was the author of “ Oudt en Nieuw Oost-Indie” (1724-26), and of various theological works, including a Malay version of the Bible. Wallis, Captain Samuel (died 1795), was sent out in command of the Dolphin on Byron’s return in 1766. In company with the Swallow , he left England in August 1766, but was separated from his consort in a gale after emerging from the Straits of Magellan. He rediscovered Otahite (already seen by Quiros in 1606) in June 1767, one year before Bougainville. He named it King George III. Island. After a month’s stay he left the island for Batavia, and finally reached England in May 1768. Hawkesworth published an account of this voyage in 1773. It was Wallis who recommended Otahite as a station for observing the transit of Venus in 1769. Wallis retired from active service in 1772, and was in 1780 appointed an extra commissioner of the navy. (For the first voyage of the Dolphin, see Byron.) OFFICERS OF THE “ENDEAVOUR James Cook, Lieutenant in Command. Zachary Hicks, Lieutenant, died 25th May 1771. John Goke, Lieutenant. Robert Molineux, Master, died 17th April 1771. Richard Pickersgill, Master’s Mate (Master, 16tli April 1771). Chester Clerice, Master’s Mate. Francis Wilkinson, A.B. (Master’s Mate, 20th August 1768). John Bootie, Midshipman, died 4th February 1771. Jonathan Monkhouse, Midshipman, died 6th February 1771. Patrick Saunders, Midshipman. Isaac Smith, A.B. (Midshipman, 24th May 1770 ; Master’s Mate, 27th May 1771). Jos. Magra, A.B. (Midshipman, 27th May 1771). Isaac Manley, Master’s Servant (Midshipman, 5th February 1771). William B. Monkhouse, Surgeon, died 5th November 1770. William Perry, Surgeon’s Mate (Surgeon, 6tli November 1770). Richard Orton, Clerk. Charles Green, Astronomer, died 27th January 1771. MR. BANKS’S STAFF Daniel Carl Solander, Naturalist. John Reynolds, Artist, died 18th December 1770. Sydney Parkinson, Artist, died 26tli January 1771. Alexander Buchan, Artist, died 17th April 1769. Herman Sporing, died 24th January 1771. James Roberts, Servant. Peter Briscoe, Servant. Thomas Richmond, Negro Servant George Dollin, Negro Servant j- Frozen to death, 16th February 1769. The total on board (including a seaman pressed at Madeira) was 95 ; of these, 38 were lost by death during the voyage. CHAPTER I ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO Aug. 25— Nov. 13, 1768 Departure — Birds and marine animals — Species of Dagysa — Madeira — Dr. Heberden — Madeira mahogany — Wine - making — Vines — Carts — V ege- table productions — Convent — Chapel wainscoted with bones — General account of Madeira — Peak of Teneritfe — Marine animals — Cross the Equator — Climate of tropics — Luminous animals in the water— Trade winds — Brazilian fishermen — Sargasso weed — Rio harbour. 25 th August 1768. Plymouth. — After having waited in this place ten clays, the ship and everything belonging to me being all that time in perfect readiness to sail at a moment’s warning, we at last got a fair wind ; and this day at three o’clock in the evening weighed anchor and set sail, all in excellent health and spirits, perfectly prepared (in mind at least) to undergo with cheerfulness any fatigues or dangers that may occur in our intended voyage. 26 th. Saw this evening a shoal of those fish which are particularly called Porpoises by the seamen, probably the Delphinus Phoccena of Linnaeus, as their noses are very blunt. 28 th. In some sea water which was on board to season a cask, observed a very minute sea -insect, which Dr. Solander described by the name of Podura marina. Took several specimens of Medusa pelagica, whose different motions in swimming amused us very much ; among the appendages to this animal we found also a new species of Oniscus. We took also another animal, quite different from any we had ever seen ; it was of an angular figure, about three inches 2 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I long and one thick, with a hollow passing quite through it ; on one end was a brown spot, which might be the stomach of the animal. Four of these, the whole number that we took, adhered together when taken by their sides ; so that at first we imagined them to be one animal : but upon being put into a glass of water, they very soon separated, and swam briskly about. 2>lst. Observed about the ship several of the birds called by the seamen Mother Carey’s Chickens, Procellaria pelagica, Linn., which were thought by them to be a sure presage of a storm, as indeed it proved. 2nd September. The casting-net brought up two kinds of animals, different from any before taken. They came up in clusters, both sorts indifferently in each cluster, although there were much fewer of a horned kind than of the other : they seemed to be two species of one genus, but are not at all reducible to any hitherto described. 3rd. We were employed all day in describing the animals taken yesterday : we found them to be of a new genus, and of the same as that taken on the 28 th of August ; we called the genus Dagysa, from the likeness of one species to a gem. 4 th. Employed in fishing with the casting -net. We were fortunate in taking several specimens of Dagysa saccata adhering together, sometimes to the length of a yard or more, and shining in the water with very beautiful colours ; but another insect we took to-day was possessed of more beautiful colouring than anything in nature I have ever seen, hardly excepting gems. It is of a new genus, called Carcinium, of which we took another species, having no beauty to boast of ; but the first, which we called opcilinum , shone in the water with all the splendour and variety of colours that we observe in a real opal. It lived in a glass of salt water, in which it was put for examination, several hours, darting about with great agility, and at every motion showing an almost infinite variety of changeable colours. Towards the evening of this day a new phenomenon appeared : the sea was almost covered with a small species of crab ( Cancer depur ator, Linn.), SEPT. 1768 DAGYSA 3 floating upon the surface of the water, and moving with toler- able agility, as if the surface and not the bottom of the ocean were their proper station. 5 tli. I forgot to mention yesterday that two birds were caught in the rigging, which had probably come from Spain, as we were not then distant more than five or six leagues from that country. This morning another was caught and brought to me, but so weak that it died in my hand almost immediately. All three were of the same species, and not described by Linnams ; we called them Motacillci veliftcans, as they must be sailors who would venture themselves aboard a ship which is going round the world. To balance to some extent our good fortune, now become too prevalent, a misfortune happened this morning, almost the worst which our enemies could have wished. The morning was calm, and Richmond employed in searching for what should appear on the surface of the water ; a shoal of Dagysce was observed, and he, eager to take some of them, threw the casting-net, fastened only to his wrist ; the string slipped from him, and the net at once sunk into the deep, never more to torment its inhabitants. This left us for some time entirely without a resource ; plenty of animals came past the ship, but all the nets were in the hold, stowed under so many other things that it was impossible even to hope that they may be got out to-day at least. However, an old hoop- net was fastened to a fishing-rod, and with it one new species of Dagysa was caught : it was named lobata. 6 th. Towards the middle of the day the sea was almost covered with Dagysce of different kinds, among which two entirely new ones were taken (rostrata and strumosa), but neither were observed hanging in clusters, as most of the other species had been ; whether from the badness of the new machine, or the scarcity of the animals, I cannot say. It is now time to give some account of the genus of Dagysa, of which we have already taken six species, all agreeing very well in many particulars, but chiefly in this very singular one, that they have a hole at each end, com- municating by a tube often as large as the body of the 4 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I animal, by the help of which they swim with some degree of activity when separated from each other. Several sorts are most generally seen joined together, gevimce more par- ticularly, which adhere in irregularly-shaped clusters of some hundreds ; in the midst of These were’ generally found a few specimens of cornuta, from which circumstance we may judge that they are very nearly allied. It seems singular that no naturalist should have taken notice of these animals, as they abound so much where the ship now is, not twenty leagues from the coast of Spain. From hence, however, great hopes may be formed that the inhabitants of the deep have been but little examined, and as Dr. Solander and my- self will have probably greater opportunity in the course of this voyage than any one before us, it is a very encouraging circumstance that so large a field of natural history has remained almost untrod until now, and that we may be able from this circumstance alone (almost unthought of when we embarked in the undertaking) to add considerable lights to the science which we so eagerly pursue. This evening a large quantity of Carcinium opalinum, which may be called the opal insect, came under the ship’s stern, making the very sea appear of uncommon beauty, their colours appearing with vast brightness even at the depth of two or three fathoms, though they are not more than three lines long and one broad. 7 th. On examining the Bagysce which were taken yester- day several small animals were found lodged in the hollow parts of their bodies, and some in the very substance of their flesh, which seems to be their food, as many of the Bagysce were full of scars, which had undoubtedly been the lodgment of these animals some time before. Upon a minute inspection they proved to be animals not to be classed under Linnaeus’s genera, though nearly related to Oniscus, from which circumstance the name of Onidium was given to the new genus, and to them was added an animal taken on the 28 th of August, and mentioned by the name of Oniscus macrophthalmus. In one particular these insects differ from any hitherto SEPT. 1768 MADEIRA 5 described, and in that they all three agree, viz. in having- two eyes joined together under one common membrane without the least distinction or division between them, which circumstance alone seems a sufficient reason for constituting a new genus. 1C )th. To-day for the first time we dined in Africa, and took leave of Europe for heaven alone knows how long, perhaps for ever ; that thought demands a sigh as a tribute due to the memory of friends left behind, and they have it, but two cannot be spared, ’twould give more pain to the sigher than pleasure to those sighed for. ’Tis enough that they are remembered : they would not wish to be too much thought of by one so long to be separated from them, and left alone to the mercy of winds and waves. 12 th. At ten to-night came to an anchor in Funchiale Bay, Madeira. l'ith— l%th. The product boat 1 (as it is called by English sailors) from the officers of health, whose leave must be , obtained before any ship’s crew can land, came on board about eleven, and we immediately went on shore in the town of Funchiale, the capital of the island, situate in latitude 32° 40' 1ST. It is so called from the fennel which grows in plenty upon the rocks in its neighbourhood, and is called funcho in Portuguese. Here we immediately went to the house of the English consul, Mr. Cheap, one of the first merchants in the place, where we were received with un- common marks of civility, he insisting upon our taking possession of his house, and living entirely with him during our stay, which we did, and were by him furnished with every accommodation that we could wish for. Leave was procured by him for us to search the island for whatever natural productions we might find worth noticing ; people were also employed to procure for us fish and shells ; horses and guides were obtained for Dr. Solander and myself to carry us to any part of the island which we might choose to visit. But our very short stay, which was only five days, made it impossible to go to any distance ; so we 1 i.e. the pratique boat. 6 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I contented ourselves with collecting as much as we could in the neighbourhood of the town, never going above three miles from it during our whole stay. The season of the year was undoubtedly the worst for both plants and insects, being that of the vintage, when nothing is green in the country, except just on the verge of small brooks, by which their vines are watered ; we made shift, however, to collect specimens of several plants, etc. The five days which we remained upon the island were spent so exactly in the same manner that it is by no means necessary to divide them. I shall therefore only say that in general we got up in the morning, went out on our researches, returned to dine, and went out again in the evening. On one day, however, we had a visit from the Governor, of which we had notice beforehand, and were obliged to stay at home ; so that this unsought honour lost us very nearly the whole day, a very material part of the short time we were allowed to stay upon the island. We, however, contrived to revenge ourselves upon his Excellency by means of an electrical machine which we had on board ; for, upon his expressing a desire to see it, we sent for it ashore, and shocked him fully as much as he chose. While here we were much indebted to Dr. Heberden, the chief physician of the island, and brother to the physician of that name at London. He had for many years been an inhabitant of the Canaries, and of this island, and had made several observations, chiefly philosophical ; some, how- ever, were botanical, describing the trees of the island. Of these he immediately gave us a copy, together with such specimens as he had in his possession, and indeed spared no pains to get for us living specimens of such as could he procured in flower. We tried here to learn what species of wood it is which has been imported into England, and is now known to cabinet- makers by the name of Madeira mahogany, but without much success, as we could not learn that any wood had been exported from the island by that name. The wood, SEPT. 1768 MADEIRA 7 however, of the tree called here Vigniatico, Laurus indicus,1 Linn., bids fair to be the thing, it being of a fine grain and brown like mahogany, from which it is difficult to distinguish it, as is well shown at Dr. Heberden’s house, where, in a book-case, vigniatico and mahogany were placed close by each other, and were only to be known asunder by the first being of not quite so dark a colour as the other. As much of the island as we saw showed evident signs of a volcano having some time or other possibly produced the whole, for we saw no one piece of stone which did not clearly show signs of having been burnt, some very much, specially the sand, which was absolutely cinders. Indeed, we did not see much of the country, but we were told that the whole resembled the specimen we saw of it. When first approached from seaward the land has a very beautiful appearance, the sides of the hills being entirely covered with vineyards almost as high as the eye can distinguish. This gives a constant appearance of verdure, although at this time nothing but the vines remain green, the grass and herbs being entirely burnt up, except near the rills by which the vines are watered and under the shade of the vines themselves. But even there very few species of plants were in perfection, the greater part being burnt up. The people here in general seem to be as idle, or rather uninformed, a set, as I ever yet saw ; all their instruments, even those with which their wine, the only article of trade in the island, is made, are perfectly simple and unimproved. In making wine the grapes are put into a square wooden vessel, of dimensions depending upon the size of the vine- yard to which it belongs, into which the servants get (having taken off their stockings and jackets), and with their feet and elbows squeeze out as much of the juice as they can ; the stalks, etc., are then collected, tied together with a rope, and put under a square piece of wood which is pressed down by a lever, to the other end of which is fastened a stone that may be raised up at pleasure by a 1 Persea indica, Spreng. 8 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I screw. By this means and this only they make their wine, and by this probably Noah made his when he had newly planted the first vineyard after the general destruction of mankind and their arts, although it is not impossible that he might have used a better, if he remembered the methods he had seen before the Hood. It was with great difficulty that some (and not as yet all) of them were persuaded not long ago to graft their vines, and by this means bring all the fruit of a vineyard to be of one sort. Formerly the wine had been spoiled by various inferior kinds of vines, which were nevertheless suffered to grow, and taken as much care of as the best, because they added to the quantity of the wine. Yet they were perfectly acquainted with the use of grafting, and constantly practised it on their chestnut trees, by which means they were brought to bear much sooner than they would have done had they been allowed to remain unimproved. Wheeled carriages I saw none of any sort or kind ; indeed their roads are so intolerably bad, that if they had any they could scarcely make use of them. They have, however, some horses and mules wonderfully clever in travelling upon these roads, notwithstanding which they bring every drop of wine to town upon men’s heads in vessels made of goat-skins. The only imitation of a carriage which they have is a board slightly hollowed in the middle, to one end of which a pole is tied by a strap of white leather, the whole machine coming about as near the perfec- tion of an European cart as an Indian canoe does to a boat ; with this they move the pipes of wine about the town. I suppose they would never have made use even of this had not the English introduced vessels to contain the wine, which were rather too large to be carried by hand, as they used to do everything else. A speech of their late Governor is recorded here, which shows in what light they are looked upon even by the Portuguese (themselves, I believe, far behind all the rest of Europe, except possibly the Spaniards). “ It was very fortunate,” said he, “ that the island was not Eden, in which SEPT. 1768 MADEIRA 9 Adam and Eve dwelt before the fall, for had it been so, the inhabitants here would never have been induced to put on clothes ; so much are they resolved in every particular to follow exactly the paths of their forefathers.” Indeed, were the people here only tolerably industrious, there is scarcely any luxury which might not be produced that either Europe or the Indies afford, owing to the great difference of climate observable in ascending the hills. This we experienced on a visit to Dr. Heberden, who lives about two miles from the town ; we left the thermometer when we set out at 74°, and found it there at 66°. The hills produce almost spontaneously vast quantities of walnuts, chestnuts, and apples, but in the town you find some few plants natives of both the Indies, whose flourishing state puts it out of all doubt, that were they taken any care of, they might have any quantity of them. Of such they have the banana (Musa sapientum, Linn.) in great abundance, the guava ( Psidium pyriferum, Linn.) not uncommon, and the pine-apple ( Bromelia Ananas , Linn.) — of this I saw some very healthy plants in the provi- sion-garden, the mango (Mangifera indica, Linn.) — one plant also of this in the same garden bearing fruit every year, and the cinnamon ( Laurus Cinnamomum, Linn.) — very healthy plants of which I saw on the top of Dr. Heberden’s house at Funchiale, which had stood there through the winter without any kind of care having been taken of them. These, without mentioning any more, seem very sufficient to show that the tenderest plants might be cultivated here without any trouble ; yet the indolence of the inhabitants is so great, that even that is too much for them. Indeed, the policy here is to hinder them as much as possible from growing anything themselves except what they find their account in taking in exchange for corn, though the people might with much less trouble and expense grow the corn themselves. What corn does grow here (it is not much) is of a most excellent quality, large-grained and very fine. Their meat also is very good, mutton, pork, and beef more especially, which was agreed by all of us to be very little inferior to our own, though we Englishmen value ourselves IO ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I not a little on our peculiar excellence in that production. The fat of this was white, like the fat of mutton, but the meat brown and coarse-grained as ours, though much smaller. The town of Funchiale is situated at the bottom of the bay, very ill-built, though larger than the size of the island seems to deserve. The houses of the better people are in general large, but those of the poorer sort very small, and the streets very narrow and uncommonly ill-paved. The churches here have abundance of ornaments, chiefly bad pictures, and figures of their favourite saints in laced clothes. The Convent of the Franciscans, indeed, which we went to see, had very little ornament ; but the neatness with which those fathers kept everything was well worthy of commenda- tion, especially their infirmary, the contrivance of which deserves to be particularly noticed. It was a long room ; on one side were windows and an altar for the convenience of administering the sacrament to the sick, on the other were the wards, each just capable of containing a bed, and lined with white Dutch tiles. To every one of these was a door communicating with a gallery which ran parallel to the great room, so that any of the sick might be supplied with whatever they wanted without disturbing their neighbours. In this convent was a curiosity of a very singular nature : a small chapel whose whole lining, wainscot and ceiling, was entirely composed of human bones, two large thigh bones being laid crossways, with a skull in each of the openings. Among these was a very singular anatomical curiosity : a skull in which one side of the lower jaw was perfectly and very firmly fastened to the upper by an ossification, so that the man, whoever he was, must have lived some time without being able to open his mouth ; indeed it was plain that a hole had been made on the other side by beating out his teeth, and in some measure damaging his jawbone, by which alone he must have received his nourishment. I must not leave these good fathers without mentioning a thing which does great credit to their civility, and at the same time shows that they are not bigots in their religion. SEPT. 1768 MADEIRA 1 1 We visited them on Thursday evening, just before their supper-time ; they made many apologies, that they could not ask us to sup, not being prepared ; “ but,” said they, “ if you will come to-morrow, notwithstanding that it is a fast with us, we will have a turkey roasted for you.” There are here besides friaries, three or four houses of nuns. To one of these (Saint Clara) we went, and indeed the ladies did us the honour to express great pleasure in seeing us there. They had heard that we were great philosophers, and expected much from us : one of the first questions that they asked was when it would thunder ; they then desired to know if we could put them in a way of find- ing water in their convent, of which it seems they were in want. Notwithstanding that our answers to their questions were not quite so much to the purpose as they expected, they did not at all cease their civilities ; for while we stayed, which was about half an hour, I am sure that there was not a fraction of a second in which their tongues did not go at an uncommonly nimble rate. It remains now that I should say something of the island in general, and then take my leave of Madeira till some other opportunity offers of visiting it again, for the climate is so fine that any man might wish it was in his power to live there under the benefits of English laws and liberty. The hills here are very high, much higher than any one would imagine; Pico Ptuievo, the highest, is 5068 feet,1 which is much higher than any land that has been measured in Great Britain. The whole island, as I hinted before, has probably been the production of a volcano, notwithstanding which its fertility is amazing : all the sides of the hills are covered with vines to a certain height, above which are woods of chestnut and pine of immense extent, and above them forests of wild timber of kinds not known in Europe, which amply supply the inhabitants with whatever they may want. Among these, some there were whose flowers we were not able to procure, and consequently could 1 6059 feet by more recent measurement. 12 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I not settle their genera, particularly those called by the Portuguese mirmulano and pao branco} both which, and especially the first, from the beauty of their leaves, promise to be a great ornament to our European gardens. The inhabitants here are supposed to number about 80,000, and from the town of Funchiale (its custom- house I mean) the King of Portugal receives £20,000 a year, after having paid the Governor and all expenses of every kind, which may serve to show in some degree of what consequence this little island is to the Crown of Portugal. Were it in the hands of any other people in the world its value might easily be doubled from the excellence of its climate, capable of bearing any kind of crop, a cir- cumstance of which the Portuguese do not take the least advantage. The coin current here is entirely Spanish, for the balance of trade with Lisbon being in disfavour of this island, all the Portuguese money naturally goes there, to prevent which Spanish money is allowed to pass ; it is of three denomina- tions, pistereens, bitts, and half bitts, the first worth about a shilling, the second 6d., the third 3d. They have also copper Portuguese money, but it is so scarce that I did not in my stay there see a single piece.2 18 tli. This evening got under weigh. 20 th. Took with the casting-net a most beautiful species of Medusa of a colour equalling, if not exceeding, the finest ultramarine ; it was described and called Medusa azurea. 23rd. A fish was taken which was described and called Scomber serpens ; the seamen said they had never seen it before, except the first lieutenant, who remembered to have taken one before just about these islands. Sir Hans Sloane 3 in his passage out to Jamaica also took one of these fish, and gives a figure of it (vol. i. t. i. f. 2). 24 th. This morning the Pike [of Teneriffe] appeared very plainly, and immensely high above the clouds, as may well 1 Probably Apollonias canariensis, Nees ; and Oreodaphne fcetens, Nees. 2 Here Banks has a list of 18 Madeiran fish and 299 plants. 3 For notes on the naturalists and travellers mentioned throughout the Journal, see pp. xliii.-li. SEPT. 1768 TENERIFFE 13 be imagined by its height, which Dr. Heberden of Madeira, who has been himself upon it, gave as 15,396 feet.1 The Doctor also says that though there is no eruption of visible fire from it, yet that heat issues from the chinks near the top so strongly, that a person who puts his hand into these is scalded. From him we received, among many other favours, some salt which he supposes to be true natron or nitrum of the ancients, and some exceedingly pure native sulphur, both which he collected himself on the top of the mountain, where large quantities, especially of the salt, are found 011 the surface of the earth. 25 th. Wind continued to blow much as it has done, so we were sure we were well in the trade. Now for the first time we saw flying-fish, whose beauty, especially when seen from the cabin window, is beyond imagination, their sides shining like burnished silver. Seen from the deck they do not appear to such advantage, as their backs, which are dark- coloured, are then presented to view. 21th. About one this morning a flying-fish, the first that had been taken, was brought into the cabin ; it flew aboard, chased, I suppose, by some other fish, or may be because he did not see the ship ; at breakfast another was brought, which had flown into Mr. Green the astronomer’s cabin. 28 th. Three birds were to-day about the ship : a swallow, to all appearance the same as our European one, and two Motacillce ; about nightfall one of the latter was taken. About eleven a shoal of porpoises came about the ship, and the fizgig was soon thrown into one of them, but would not hold. 29 th. Employed in drawing and describing the bird taken yesterday ; called it Motacilla avida. While the drawing was in hand, it became very familiar, so much so that we had a brace made for it in hopes of keeping it alive ; as flies were in amazing abundance on board the ship, we had no fear but that the bird would have a plentiful supply of provision. About noon a young shark was seen from the cabin 1 12,300 feet by more recent measurement. 14 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I windows following the ship. It immediately took a bait and was hauled on board. It proved to be the Sgualus carchcirias, Linn., and assisted us in clearing up much confusion, which almost all authors had made about that species. With it came on board four sucking-fish, Echeneis remora, Linn., which were preserved in spirits. Although it was twelve o’clock before the shark was taken, we made shift to have a part of him stewed for dinner, and very good meat he was, at least in the opinion of Dr. Solander and myself, though some of the seamen did not seem to be fond of him, probably from some prejudice founded on the species sometimes feeding on human flesh. 3 (LA. This evening another Motacilla avicla was brought to us ; it differed scarcely at all from the first taken, except that it was somewhat larger ; its head, however, gave us some material, by supplying us with nearly twenty specimens of ticks, which differed but little from Acarus ricinus, Linn. ; it was, however, described, and called Acarus motacillce. 1st October. Bonitos were in great plenty about the ship. We were called up early to see one that had been struck and found it to be the Scomber pelamis, Linn., a drawing being made of it. I confess, however, that I was a good deal disappointed, expecting to find the animal much more beautiful than it proved, though its colours were extremely lively, especially the blue lines on the back (which equalled at least any ultramarine), yet the name, and the accounts I had heard from all who had seen them, made me expect an animal of much greater variety of colour. This consisted merely of blue lines on the back, crossing each other, a changeable gold and purple on the sides, and white with black lines on the bottom of the sides and belly. After having examined and drawn the animal, we proceeded to dissect it, and in the course of the operation were much pleased by the infinite strength we observed in every part of him, especially the stomach, the coats of which were uncommonly strong, especially about the sphincter, or extremity by which the digested meat is discharged ; this I suppose is intended to crush and render useful the scales OCT. 1768 MARINE ANIMALS 15 and bones of fishes which this animal must continually swallow without separating them from the flesh. From the outside of its scales we took a small animal which seemed to be a louse (if I may so call it), as it certainly stuck to him, and preyed upon the juices which it extracted by suction, probably much to his disquiet : it proved to be Monoculus piscinus, Linn. Easter has given a figure of it in his “ Opera Subseciva,” but has by some unlucky accident mistaken the head for the tail. Inside the fish were also found two animals which preyed upon him ; one Fasciola pelami, Mss., in his very flesh, though near the membrane which covers the intestines ; the other Sipunculus piscium, Mss., in the stomach. 2nd. This morning two swallows were about the ship, though we must now be sixty leagues at least from any land ; at night one of them was taken, and proved to be Hirundo domestica, Linn. 4 th. I went out in a boat and took Dagysa strumoscc, Medusa porpitcc, which we had before called azurea, Mimics volutator 1 and a Cimex, which runs upon the water here in the same manner as C. lacustris does in our ponds in England. Towards evening two small fish were taken under the stern ; they were following a shirt which was towing, and showed not the least signs of fear, so that they were taken with a landing-net without the smallest difficulty. They proved to be Batistes monoceros, Linn. 7 th. Went out in the boat, and took what is called by the seamen a Portuguese man-of-war, Holothuria physalis ,2 Linn., also Medusa velella, Linn., Onidium spinosum, Mss., Dioclon erinaceus, Mss., Dagysa vitrea, Mss., Helix ianthina, Linn., violacca, Mss., and Procellaria occccnica, Mss. The Holothuria proved to be one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen ; it consisted of a small bladder, in shape much like the air-bladder of a fish, from the bottom of which descended a number of strings of bright blue and red, some three or four feet in length ; if touched, 1 This cannot be identified. 2 The Portuguese man-of-war is now known as Physalia, and is classed among the Ccelenterata. i6 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I these stung the person who touched them in the same manner as nettles, only much more severely. On the top of this bladder was a membrane which he turned either one way or the other to receive the wind ; this was veined with pink, in an uncommonly beautiful manner ; in short, the whole was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen among the mollusca, though many of them are beautiful. The boating shells, Helix ianthina 1 and violacea, from their particularity, also deserve mention. They are to he found floating on the top of the water by means of a small cluster of bubbles hlled with air, composed of a tenacious slimy substance, not easily parting with its contents ; these keep them suspended on the surface of the water, and serve as a nidus for their eggs : it is probable that they never go down to the bottom, or willingly come near any shore, as the shell is of so brittle a. construction that few sea-water snails are so thin. Every shell contains within it about a teaspoonful of liquid, which it freely discharges on being touched ; this is of a most beautiful red purple colour, and easily dyes linen clothes ; it may be well worth inquiry whether or not this is the purpura 2 of the ancients, as the shell is certainly found in the Mediterranean. We have not yet taken a sufficient quantity of the shells to try the experiment, perhaps we shall soon. Procellaria oceanica differs very little from P. pelagica, Linn., but from his place of abode so far south, and some small difference in plumage, it is more than likely that he is different in species. 9 th. Found two new species of Lepas ( vittata and miclas ) on the stern of the ship ; they were both sticking to the bottom, in company with L. anatifera, of which there was great abundance. 10 th. Took plenty of Helix ianthina and some few of violacea. Shot the black-toed gull of Pennant ; it had not 1 These two species are not Helices, but belong to the genus Ianthina. 2 The purple of the ancients has since been proved to have been derived from a species of Mure x or of Purpura. OCT. 1768 MARINE ANIMALS 17 yet been described according to LinnEeus’s system, so called it Larus crepidatus. Its food here seems to be chiefly Helices, on account of its dung being of a lively red colour, much like that which was procured from the shells. 1 2 th. A shark, Squalus carcharias, Linn., taken this morn- ing, and with it two pilot fish. I went out in the boat and took several blubbers. The pilot fish, Gasterosteus ductor, Linn., is certainly as beautiful a fish as can be imagined ; it is of a light blue, with cross streaks of darker colour. It is wonderful to see them about a shark, swimming round it without expressing the least signs of fear ; what their motive for doing so is, I cannot guess, as I cannot find that they get any provision by it, or any other emolument, except possibly that the company of the shark keeps them free from the attacks of dolphins or other large fish of prey, who would otherwise devour them. The blubbers taken to-day were Beroe labiata and mar- supicdis, Mss., the first of which made a pretty appearance in the water by reason of its swimmers, which line its side like fringes, and are of a fine changeable colour ; and Callirrhoe bivia, Mss., the most lifeless lump of jelly I have seen ; it scarcely seems to be possessed of life, but for one or two motions we saw it make. 13^. A shark taken, but not one pilot fish attended it, which is rather uncommon, as they are seldom without a shoal of from ten to twenty. At noon I went in the boat, and took the Sallee man, Pliyllodoce velella, Linn., which is a sailor, but inferior in size to the Portuguese man-of- war, yet not without its beauty, chiefly from the charming blue of the lower side. Its sail is transparent, but not movable, so it trusts itself to the mercy of the winds, without being able to turn to windward, as the Portuguese man-of-war perhaps can. We saw several of these latter to-day, and observed many small fish under their tentacula, which seemed to shelter there, as if with its stings it could defend them from large enemies. 15 th. I had the good fortune to see a bird of the shear- water kind, which I shot ; it proved not to have been c ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I described. It was about as large as the common kind, but differed from it in being whiter, especially about the face. We named it Procellaria crepidcita, as its feet were like those of the gulls shot last week, black on the outside, but white near the legs. A large shoal of fish were all this day under the ship’s stern, playing about, but refusing to take bait. We contrived to take one of them with a fizgig : it was in make and appearance like a carp, weighing nearly two pounds. Its sides were ornamented with narrow lines, and its fins almost entirely covered with scales : called it Chcetodon cyprinaceus. 1 6 th. I had the opportunity of seeing a phenomenon I had never before met with, a lunar rainbow which appeared about ten o’clock, very faint, and almost or quite without colour, so that it could be traced by little more than an appearance resembling shade on a cloud. 18^/i. This evening, trying, as I have often (foolishly no doubt) done, to exercise myself by playing tricks with two ropes in the cabin, I got a fall which hurt me a good deal, and alarmed me the more as the blow was on my head, and two hours after it I was taken with sickness at my stomach, which made me fear some ill consequence. 19 th. To-day, thank God, I was much better, and eased of all apprehensions. 2 lsh To-day the cat killed our bird, Motacilla avida, which had lived with us ever since the 29th September entirely on the flies which it caught for itself : it was hearty and in high health, so that it might have lived a great while longer had fate been more kind. 25th. This morning about eight o’clock we crossed the equinoctial line in about 33° W. from Greenwich, at the rate of four knots, which our seamen said was uncommonly good, the thermometer standing at 79°. (The thermometers used in this voyage are two of Mr. Bird’s making, after Fahrenheit’s scale, and seldom differ by more than a degree from each other, and that only when they are as high as 80°, in which case the mean reading of the two instruments is set down.) This evening the ceremony of ducking the OCT. 1768 CROSSING THE EQUATOR 19 ship’s company was performed, as is always customary on crossing the line, when those who have crossed it before claim a right of ducking all that have not. The whole of the ceremony I shall describe. About dinner-time a list was brought into the cabin containing the names of everybody and thing aboard the ship (in which the dogs and cats were not forgotten) ; to this was fixed a signed petition from the ship’s company desiring leave to examine everybody in that list, that it might be known whether or not they had crossed the line before. This was immediately granted, everybody being called upon the quarter-deck and examined by one of the lieutenants who had crossed the line : he marked every name either to be ducked or let off as their qualifications directed. Captain Cook and Dr. Solander were on the black list, as were I myself, my servants, and dogs, for all of whom I was obliged to compound by giving the duckers a certain quantity of brandy, for which they willingly excused us the ceremony. Many of the men, however, chose to be ducked rather than give up four days’ allowance of wine, which was the price fixed upon, and as for the boys they are always ducked, of course, so that about twenty-one underwent the ceremony. A block was made fast to the end of the main-yard, and a long line reved through it, to which three pieces of wood were fastened, one of which was put between the legs of the man who was to be ducked, and to this he was tied very fast, another was for him to hold in his hands, and the third was over his head, lest the rope should be hoisted too near the block, and by that means the man be hurt. When he was fastened upon this machine the boatswain gave the command by his whistle, and the man was hoisted up as high as the cross-piece over his head would allow, when another signal was made, and immediately the rope was let go, and his own weight carried him down ; he was then immediately hoisted up again, and three times served in this manner, which was every man’s allowance. Thus ended the diversion of the day, for the ducking lasted until almost night, and sufficiently diverting it certainly was to 20 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I see the different faces that were made on this occasion, some grinning and exulting in their hardiness, whilst others were almost suffocated, and came up ready enough to have com- pounded after the first or second duck, had such a proceeding been allowable. Almost immediately after crossing the tropic the air had sensibly become much damper than usual, though not materially hotter : the thermometer in general stood from 80° to 82°. The nearer we approached to the calms, the damper everything grew ; this was very perceptible even to the human body, but more remarkable was its effect upon all kinds of furniture. Everything made of iron rusted so fast that the knives in people’s pockets became almost use- less, and the razors in cases did not escape ; all kinds of leather became mouldy, portfolios and trunks covered with black leather were almost white. Soon afterwards this mould adhered to almost everything ; all the books in my library became mouldy, so that they had to be wiped to preserve them. About this time we came into the calms, which we met with earlier than usual: the thermometer was then at 83°, and we suffered from the heat and damp together. Bathing, however, kept me in perfect health, although many of the ship’s company were ill of bilious complaints, which, how- ever, were but of short duration. This continued till we got the S.E. trade, when the air became cooler, but the dampness continued yet : to that I chiefly attribute the ill- success of the electrical experiments, of which I have written an account in separate papers, that the different experiments may appear at one view.1 The air, during the whole time since we crossed the tropic, and indeed for some time before, has been nearly of the same temperature throughout the twenty-four hours, the thermometer seldom rising more than a degree during the time the sun is above the horizon ; the cabin windows have been open without once being shut ever since we left Madeira. 2 9 th. This evening the sea appeared uncommonly beautiful, 1 An account of these will be found at the end of the volume. NOV. 1768 MARINE ANIMALS 21 flashes of light coming from it, perfectly resembling small flashes of lightning, and these so frequent that sometimes eight or ten were visible at the same moment ; the seamen were divided in their accounts, some assuring us that it pro- ceeded from fish, who made the light by agitating the salt water, as they called it, in their darting at their prey ; while others said that they had often seen them to be nothing- more than blubbers (Medusae). This made us very eager to procure some of them, which at last we did by the help of the landing-net ; they proved to be a species of Medusa, which ^ when brought on board appeared like metal violently heated, emitting a white light. On the surface of this animal was fixed a small Lcpas of exactly the same colour and almost transparent, not unlike thin starch in which a small quantity of blue is dissolved. In taking these animals three or four species of crabs were also obtained, of which one very small kind gave fully as much light as a glow-worm in England, though the creature was not so large by nine-tenths. Indeed, the sea this night seemed to abound with light in an unusual manner, as if every inhabitant of it furnished its share ; as might have been the case, although none retained that pro- perty after being brought out of the water except the two above mentioned. 30 th. Employed in examining the things caught last night, which being taken by the light of our lamps (for the wind which blows in at the windows always open will not suffer us to burn candles) we could hardly then distinguish into genera, much less into species. We had the good fortune to find that they were all quite new, and named them Medusa pellucens, Lepas pellucens, Clio, Cancer fulgens, and Cancer amplcctens, but we had the misfortune to lose two more species of crabs through the glass in which they were contained falling overboard. Two other species of crabs were taken, one of which was very singular. 31st. Find that the crabs taken yesterday were both new ; called them vitreus and crassicornis. 5 th November. That the trade blows toward the northward upon the coast of Brazil has been observed long ago, although 22 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I I question whether our navigators are yet sufficiently apprised of it. Piso, in his Natural History of the Brazils, says that the winds along shore are constantly to the northward from October to March, and to the southward from March to October. Dampier also, who certainly had as much ex- perience as most men, says the same thing, advising ships outward bound to keep to the westward, where they are almost certain to find the trade more easterly than in mid- channel, where it is sometimes due south, or within half a point of it, as we ourselves experienced 6 th. Towards evening the colour of the water was observed to change, upon which we sounded and found ground at thirty-two fathoms. The lead was cast three times between six and ten without finding a foot’s difference in the depth or quality of the bottom, which was encrusted with coral. We supposed this to be the tail of a great shoal laid down in all our charts by the name of Ahrolhos, on which Lord Anson struck soundings on his outward bound passage. 7 th. About noon long ranges of a yellowish colour appear upon the sea, many of them very large, one (the largest) might be a mile in length and three or four hundred yards in width. The seamen in general affirmed roundly that they were the spawn of fishes, and that they had often seen the same appearance before. Upon taking up some of the water thus coloured, we found it to be caused by innumerable small atoms, each pointed at the end, and of a yellowish colour, none of them above a quarter of a line in length. In the microscope they appeared to be fasciculi of small fibres interwoven one within the other, not unlike the nidi of some Phryganece, which we call caddises ; what they were, or for what purpose designed, we could not even guess, nor so much as distinguish whether their substance was animal or vegetable. 8th. At daybreak to-day we made the land, which proved to be the Continent of South America, in latitude 21° ^6'. About ten we saw a fishing-boat, whose occupants told us that the country formed part of the captainship of Espirito Santo. NOV. 1768 BRAZILIAN FISHERMEN 23 Dr. Solander and I went on board this boat, in which were eleven men (nine of whom were blacks), who all fished with lines. We bought the chief part of their cargo, consisting of dolphins, two kinds of large pelagic scombers, sea bream, and the fish called in the West Indies Welshman, for which they made us pay nineteen shillings and sixpence. We had taken Spanish silver with us, which we imagined was the currency of the country ; we were therefore not a little surprised that they asked us for English shillings, and preferred two, which we by accident had, to the pistereens, though after some words they took them also. The business of the people seemed to consist in going a good distance from land and catching large fish, which they salted in bulk, in the middle of their boat, which was arranged for that purpose. They had about two cpiintals of fish, laid in salt, which they offered for sale for sixteen shillings, and would doubtless have taken half the money had we been inclined to buy them ; but fresh provisions were all we wanted, and the fresh fish which we bought served for the whole ship’s company. Their provisions for the sea consisted of a cask of water and a bag of the flour of cassada, which they call Farinha de Pao, or wooden flour, a very proper name for it, as indeed it tastes more like powdered chips than anything else. Their method of drinking from their cask was truly primitive and pleased me much : the cask was large, as broad as the boat, and exactly fitted a place made for it in the ballast ; they consequently could not get at the bottom of it to put in a tap by which the water might be drawn put. To remedy this difficulty they made use of a cane about three feet long, hollow, and open at each end, this the man who wanted to drink desired his neighbour to fill for him, which he did by putting it into the cask, and laying the palm of his hand over the uppermost end, prevented the water from running out of the lower, to which the drinker applied his mouth, and the other man taking away his hand, let the liquor run into the drinker’s mouth till he was satisfied. 24 ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. I Soon after we came on board, a Sphinx was taken, which proved to be quite new, and a small bird, Tanagra Jaccirini, Linn.; it seemed, however, from Linnaeus’s descrip- tion, as well as Edwards’ and Brisson’s, that neither of them had seen the bird, which was in reality a Loxia nitens. The fish brought on board proved to be Scomber amia, S. falcatus, Coryphcena, Hippums ?, Spams pagrus and Scicena rubens ; the second and last not being before described, we called them by these names. 1 Oth. Species of seaweed now came floating by the ship. It proved to be Sargasso. Fmm natans, which is generally supposed to increase upon the surface of the sea in the same manner as duckweed ( Lemna ) does on fresh-water, without having any root ; this, however, plainly showed that it had been rooted in the coral rock on the bottom, as two specimens particularly had large lumps of the coral still adhering to them. Among the weed were some few animals, but scarcely worth mentioning : one JBalistes, but quite a fry, so young that it was impossible to refer it to its species ; also a worm, which proved to be Nereis pelagica. 12th. This morning we were abreast of the land, which proved, as we thought last night, to be the island just within Cape Frio, called in some maps the Isle of Frio. About noon we saw the hill called the Sugar Loaf, which is just by the harbour’s mouth, but it was a long way off yet, so we had no hopes of reaching it this night. The shore from Cape Frio to this place has been one uninterrupted beach of the whitest colour I ever saw, which they tell me is a white sand. In the course of this evening we approached very near the land, and found it very cold, to our feelings at least : the thermometer at ten o’clock stood at 68^°, which gave us hopes that the country would be cooler than we should expect from the accounts of travellers, especially M. Biron, who says that no business is done here from ten to two on account of the intense heat. 13 th. This morning the harbour of Rio Janeiro was right ahead, about two leagues off, but it being quite calm NOV. 1768 OFF RIO DE JANEIRO 25 we made our approach very slowly. The sea was incon- ceivably full of small vermes, which we took without the least difficulty : they were almost all new, except Beroe labiata, Medusa radiata, fimbriata, crystallina, and a Dagysa. Soon after a fishing -boat came aboard and sold us three scombers, which proved to be new, and were called S. salmoneus. His bait was Clupea chinensis, of which we also procured specimens. CHAPTER II RIO DE JANEIRO Nov. 13— Dec. 7, 1768 Obstacles to landing— Viceroy memorialised — Boat’s crew imprisoned — Vegetation, etc. — Ship fired at — Leave Rio harbour — Description of Rio — Churches — Government — Hindrances to travellers — Population — Military — Assassinations — Vegetables — Fruits — Manufactures — Mines — Jewels — Coins — Fortifications — Climate. 13 th November } As soon as we were well in the river, the captain sent his first lieutenant, Mr. Hicks, with a midshipman, to get a pilot : the boat returned, however, without the officers, but with a Portuguese subaltern. The coxswain informed us that the lieutenant was detained until the captain should go off. A ten-oared boat, containing about a dozen soldiers, then came off and rowed round the ship, no one in it appearing to take the slightest notice of us. A quarter of an hour later another boat came off, on board which was a Disembargador and a colonel of a Portu- guese regiment. The latter asked many questions, and at first seemed to discourage our stay, but ended by being extremely civil, and assuring us that the Governor would give us every assistance in his power. The lieutenant, he said, was not detained, but had not been allowed on shore on account of the prctdica, but that he would be sent on board immediately. l^th. Captain Cook went on shore this morning. He returned with a Portuguese officer with him in the boat, 1 This account, from the 13th to the 24th November inclusive, of the treatment of Captain Cook at Rio, has been much condensed from the original “Journal.” NOV. 1768 OBSTACLES TO LANDING 27 also an Englishman, Mr. Eorster, a lieutenant in the Portu- guese service. We were informed that we could not have a house nor sleep on shore, and that no person except the captain and such common sailors as were required on duty would be permitted to land ; we, the passengers, were par- ticularly objected to. In spite of this we attempted to go on shore in the evening, under excuse of a visit to the Viceroy, but were stopped by the guard-boat. The captain went ashore to remonstrate with the Viceroy, but the latter said that he was acting under the King of Portugal’s orders. 15 th and 16 th. The captain vainly remonstrated with the Viceroy against our being forbidden to land, and par- ticularly against the sentinel placed in his boat, which was done, he was told, as an honour. 1*1 th. The captain and I drew up written memorials complaining of his Excellency’s behaviour, which to us, as a King’s ship, was almost a breach of duty. l%th. Answers to our memorials were received: the captain is told that he had no reason to complain, as he had only received the usual treatment customary in all the ports of Brazil ; as for me, I am informed that as I have not brought proper credentials from the court at Lisbon, it is impossible that I can be permitted to land. 19 th. We sent answers to his Excellency’s memorials. The lieutenant who took them had orders not to suffer a guard to be put into his boat ; the guard-boat let him pass, but the Viceroy, on hearing of it, ordered sentinels to be put on the boat. The lieutenant refused to go on board unless they were taken out, whereupon he was sent on board in a guard-boat and his crew arrested. He reported that the men in our pinnace had not made the least resist- ance, but that they had notwithstanding been treated very roughly, being struck by the soldiers several times. The guard brought back the letters unopened. This evening, by some mismanagement, our long-boat broke adrift, carrying with her my small boat. The yawl was sent after her, and managed to take her in tow, but in 28 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II spite of all the efforts of the crew, the boats soon drifted out of sight. The yawl came back at two in the morning with the news that the other two boats were lost. We were, however, glad to find the men safe, for they had been in considerable danger. 20 tli. The yawl was sent ashore to seek assistance in recovering our long-boat : it returned with our pinnace and its crew, and a boat of the Viceroy, which had orders to assist us in searching for our boats. The crew of the pinnace declared that they had been confined in a loathsome dungeon, where their company was chiefly blacks who were chained. The coxswain purchased a better apartment for seven petacks (about as many English shillings). At dark the pinnace returned with both the boats and all their contents. 2 1st. Letters arrived from the Viceroy ; in mine he told me very politely that it was not in his power to permit me to go ashore. In the captains he raises some doubts about our ship being a King’s ship.1 23rcl. An answer to the captain’s last memorial accuses him of smuggling. 24 th. Dr. Solander went into the town as surgeon of the ship to visit a friar who had desired that the surgeon might be sent to him : he received civilities from the people. 2 6th. I myself went ashore this morning before day- break, and stayed until dark night. While I was ashore I met several of the inhabitants, who were very civil to me, taking me to their houses, where I bought of them stock for the ship tolerably cheap : a middlingly fat porker for eleven shillings, a Muscovy duck for something under two shil- lings, etc. The country, where I saw it, abounded with vast variety of plants and animals, mostly such as had not been described by our naturalists, as so few have had an opportunity of coming here ; indeed, no one even tolerably curious that I 1 “The build and general appearance of the Endeavour not being that of a man-of-war, the Portuguese authorities entertained suspicions regarding her true character, which is not altogether surprising, considering the times.” — Wharton’s Cook, p. 22, footnote. NOV. 1768 VEGETATION NEAR RIO 29 know of has been here since Marcgrav and Piso about 1640 ; so it is easy to guess the state in which the natural history of such a country must be. To give a catalogue of what I found would be a trouble very little to the purpose, as every particular is mentioned in the general catalogues of this place. I cannot, however, help mentioning some which struck me the most, and con- sequently gave me particular pleasure. These were chiefly the parasitic plants, especially Renealmice (for I was not fortunate enough to see one Epidendrum) and the different species of Eromelia, many not before described. Karratas I saw here growing on the decayed trunk of a tree sixty feet high at least, which it had so entirely covered that the whole seemed to be a tree of Karratas. The growth of the Rhizophora 1 also pleased me much, although I had before a very good idea of it from Kumphius, who has a very good figure of the tree in his Herb. Amboin. [v. iii. tab. 71, 72], Add to these that the whole country was covered with the beautiful blossoms of Malpigliice, Bannister ice,, Passiflorce, not forgetting Poinciana and Mimosa sensitiva, and a beautiful species of Clusia, of which I saw great plenty ; in short, the wildest spots here were varied with a greater quantity of flowers, as well as more beautiful ones, than our best- devised gardens ; a sight infinitely pleasing for a short time, though no doubt the eye would soon tire with a con- tinuance of it. The birds of many species, especially the smaller ones, sat in great abundance on the boughs, many of them covered with most elegant plumage. I shot Loxia brasiliensis, and saw several specimens of it. Insects also were here in great quantity, many species very fine, but much more nimble than our European ones, especially the butterflies, almost all which flew near the tops of the trees, and were very difficult to come at, except when the sea breeze blew fresh, which kept them low down among the trees where they might be taken. Humming-birds I also saw of one species, but could not shoot them. 1 Mangrove tree. 30 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II The banks of the sea, and more remarkably all the edges of small brooks, were covered with innumerable quantities of small crabs ( Cancer vocans, Linn.), one hand of which is very large. Among these were many whose two hands were remarkably small and of equal size ; these my black servant told me were the females of the other, and indeed all I examined, which were many, proved to be females, but whether they were really of the same species as C. vocans, I cannot determine on so short an acquaintance. I saw but little cultivation, and small pains seemed to be taken with that. Most of it was grass land, on which were many lean cattle ; and lean they might well be, for almost all the species of grass which I observed here were creepers, and consequently so close to the ground that though there might be upon them a sufficient bite for horses or sheep, yet how horned cattle could live at all appeared extraordinary to me. 1 also saw their gardens, or small patches in which they cultivate many sorts of European garden stuffs, such as cabbages, peas, beans, kidney beans, turnips, white radishes, pumpkins, etc., but all much inferior to ours, except perhaps the last. They also grow water-melons and pine-apples, the only fruits which I have seen them cultivate ; the first are very good, but the pines were much inferior to those I have tasted in Europe ; I have hardly had one which could be reckoned of average quality, many were worse than some I have seen sent away from table in England, where nobody would eat them. Though in general very sweet, they have not the least flavour. In these gardens grow also yams, and mandihoca or cassada, which supplies the place of bread, for as our European bread corn will not grow here, all the flour they have is brought from Portugal at great expense, too great even for the middle-class people to purchase, much less the poorer. 2 7 th. On the boats returning from watering, we were told that men had been sent out yesterday in search of some of our people who were ashore without leave ; we concluded that this referred either to Dr. Solander or myself, which DEC. X768 LEAVE RIO DE JANEIRO 3i made it necessary for us to go no more ashore while we stayed. 1st December. We learnt that Mr. Forster had been taken into custody, charged with smuggling. The real cause, we believe, was that he had shown some countenance to his countrymen, as we heard at the same time that five or six Englishmen residing in the town, and a poor Portuguese, who used to assist our people in bringing things to the boats, had also been put into prison without any reason being given. 2nd. This morning, thank God, we have got all we want from these illiterate, impolite gentry, so we got up our anchor and sailed to the point of Ilhoa dos Cobras, where we were to lie and wait for a fair wind, which should come every night from the land. A Spanish brig from Buenos Ayres with letters for Spain arrived about a week ago ; her officers were received ashore with all possible civility, and allowed to take a house without the least hesitation. The captain, Don Antonio de Monte negro y Velasco, with great politeness offered to take our letters to Europe. Of this very fortunate circumstance we availed ourselves, and sent our letters on board this morning. 5 th. We attempted to tow down with our boats, and came nearly abreast of Santa Cruz, their chief fortification, when to our great surprise the fort fired two shots at us, one of which went just over our mast ; we immediately brought to, and sent ashore to inquire the reason ; we were told that no order had come down to allow us to pass, and that without such no ship was ever suffered to go below that fort. We were now obliged to send to town to know the reason of such extraordinary behaviour ; the answer came back about eleven that it was a mistake, for the brigadier had forgotten to send the letter, which had been written some days ago. It was, however, sent by the boat, and we had leave to proceed. We now began to weigh our anchor, which had been dropped in foul ground, when we were fired upon, but it was so fast in a rock that it could not be got up while the land breeze blew, which to-day continued 32 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II almost till four in the evening. As soon as the sea breeze came we filled our sails, and carrying the ship over the anchor, tripped it, but were obliged to sail hack almost as far as we had towed the ship in the morning. This day and yesterday the air was crowded in an uncommon manner with butterflies, chiefly of one sort, of which we took as many as we pleased on board the ship ; their quantity was so large that at some times I may say many thousands were in view at once in almost any direc- tion you could look, the greater part of them far above our mast-heads. 6 th. No land breeze to-day, so we are confined in our disagreeable situation without a possibility of moving ; many curses were this day expended on his Excellency. 7 th. Weighed and stood out to sea. As soon as we came to Santa Cruz the pilot desired to be discharged, and with him our enemy the guard-boat went off, so we were left our own masters, and immediately resolved to go ashore * on one of the islands in the mouth of the harbour. There was a great swell, but we made shift to land on one called Eaza, on which we gathered many species of plants and some insects. Alstromeria Salsilla was here in tolerable plenty, and Amaryllis mexicana. We stayed until about four o’clock, and then came aboard the ship heartily tired, for the desire of doing as much as we could in a short time had made us all exert ourselves, though exposed to the hottest rays of the sun just at noon- day. Now we are got fairly to sea, and have entirely got rid of these troublesome people, I cannot help spending some time in describing them, though I was not myself once in their town ; yet my intelligence coming from Dr. Solander, and Mr. Monkhouse, our surgeon, a very sensible man, who was ashore every day to buy our provisions, I think cannot err much from truth. The town of Eio Janeiro, the capital of the Portuguese dominions in America, is situate on the banks of the river of that name, and both are so called, I apprehend, from the Eoman Saint Januarius, according to the Spanish and DEC. 1768 RIO DE JANEIRO 33 Portuguese custom of naming their discoveries from the saint on whose feast they are made. It is regular and well built after the fashion of Portugal, every house having before its window a lattice of wood, behind which is a little balcony. In size it is much larger than I could have expected, probably little inferior to any of our country towns in England, Bristol or Liverpool not excepted. The streets are all straight, intersecting each other at right angles, and have this peculiar convenience that the greater number lie in one direction, and are commanded by the guns of their citadel, called St. Sebastian, which is situate on the top of a hill overlooking the town. It is supplied with water from the neighbouring hills by an aqueduct upon two stories of arches, said in some places to be very high ; the water is conveyed into a fountain in the great square immediately opposite the governor’s palace. This is guarded by a sentry, who has sufficient work to keep regularity and order among so many as are always in wait- ing here. Water is laid on in some other part of the town, but how it is brought there I could not hear ; the water there is said to be better than the fountain, which is exceedingly indifferent, so much so as not to be liked by us, though we had been two months at sea, in which time our water was almost continually bad. The churches are very fine, with more ornaments even than those in Europe, and all the ceremonies of their religion are carried on with more show ; their processions in particular are very extraordinary. Every day one or other of the parishes has a solemn procession with all the insignia of its church, altar, and host, etc., through the parish, begging for whatever can be got, and praying in all forms at every corner of a street. While we were there one of the largest churches in the town was being rebuilt, and for that reason the parish had leave to walk through the whole city, which was done once a week, and much money collected for the carrying on of the edifice. At this ceremony all boys under a certain age were obliged to D 34 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II attend, nor were gentlemen’s sons ever excused ; each of these was dressed in a black cassock with a short red cloak reaching half-way down the shoulders, and carried in his hand a lantern hung on the end of a pole about six or seven feet long. The light caused by this (for there were always at least 200 lanterns) is greater than can be imagined ; I myself, who saw it out of the cabin windows, called my messmates, imagining that the town was on fire. Besides this travelling religion, any one walking through the streets has opportunity enough to show his attachment to any saint in the calendar, for every corner and almost every house has before it a little cupboard in which some saint or other keeps his residence ; and lest he should not see his votaries in the night, he is furnished with a small lamp which hangs before his little glass window. To these it is very customary to pray and sing hymns with all the vociferation imaginable, as may be imagined when I say that I and every one in the ship heard it very distinctly every night, though we lay at least half a mile from the town. The government of this place seems to me to be much more despotic even than that of Portugal, although many precautions have been taken to render it otherwise. The chief magistrates are the Viceroy, the Governor of the town, and a Council, whose number I could not learn, but only that the viceroy had in this the casting vote. Without the consent of this council nothing material should be done, yet every day shows that the viceroy and governor at least, if not all the rest, do the most unjust things without consult- ing any one ; putting a man into prison without giving him a hearing, and keeping him there till he is glad at any rate to get out, without asking why he was put in, or at best, sending him to Lisbon to be tried there without letting his family here know where he is gone, as is very common. This we experienced while here, for every one who had interpreted for our people, or who had only assisted in buy- ing provisions for them, was put into jail, merely, I suppose, to show us their power. I should, however, except from DEC. 1768 POPULATION 35 this one John Burrith, an officer in their customs, a man who has been here thirteen years, and has become so com- pletely Portuguese that he is known by no other name than Don John ; he was of service to our people, though what he did was so clogged with a suspicious fear of offend- ing the Portuguese as rendered it disgustful. It is necessary for any one who should come here to know his character, which is mercenary, though contented with a little, as the present given to him demonstrated ; it consisted of one dozen of beer, ten gallons of brandy, ten pieces of ship’s beef, and as many of pork. This was what he himself asked for, and sent on board the keg for the spirit, and with this he was more than satisfied. They have a very extraordinary method of keeping people from travelling ; to hinder them, I suppose, from going into any district where gold or diamonds may be found, as there are more of such districts than they can possibly guard. There are certain bounds beyond which 110 man must go ; these vary every month at the discretion of the viceroy, sometimes they are few, sometimes many leagues from the city. Every man must in consequence of this come to town to know where the bounds are, for if he is taken by the guards, who constantly patrol on their limits, he is infallibly put in prison, even if he is within them, unless he can tell where they are. The inhabitants are very numerous ; they consist of Portuguese, negroes, and Indians, aborigines of the country. The township of Eio, whose extent I could not learn, but was only told that it was but a small part of the capitanea, or province, is said to contain about 37,000 whites, and about 17 negroes to each white, which makes their number 629,000, and the number of inhabitants in all 666,000. As for the Indians, they do not live in this neighbourhood, though many of them are always here doing the king’s work, which they are obliged to do by turns, for small pay, and for which purpose they came from their habitations at a distance. I saw many of them, as our guard-boat was constantly rowed by them ; they are of a light copper colour, 36 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II with long, lank, black hair. As to their policy, or manner of living when at home, I could not learn anything. The military here consist of twelve regiments of regulars, six Portuguese and six Creoles, and as many of provincial militia, who may be assembled upon occasion. To the regulars the inhabitants show great deference, for as Mr. Forster told me, if any of the people did not pull off their hats when they meet an officer, he would immediately knock them down, which custom renders the people remark- ably civil to strangers who have at all a gentlemanlike appearance. All the officers of these regiments are expected to attend three times a day at “ Sala ” or the viceroy’s levee, where they formally ask for commands, and are constantly answered “ there is nothing new.” This policy is intended, as I have been told, to prevent them from going into the country, which it most effectually does. Assassinations are, I fancy, more frequent here than in Lisbon, as the churches still take upon themselves to give protection to criminals. One accident of the kind happened in the sight of S. Evans, our coxswain, a man whom I can depend upon. He saw two people talking together, to all appearance in a friendly manner, when one suddenly drew a knife, stabbed the other twice, and ran away pursued by some negroes who likewise saw the act. What the further event of this was I could not learn. Of the country I know rather more than of the town, as I was ashore one whole day. In that time I saw much cleared ground, hut chiefly of an indifferent quality, though doubtless there is much that is very good, as the sugar and tobacco which is sent to Europe from hence plainly testify ; but all that I saw was employed in breeding cattle, of which they have great plenty, though their pastures are the worst I ever saw on account of the shortness of the grass. Con- sequently the beef sold in the market, though tolerably cheap, is so lean that an Englishman can hardly eat it. I likewise saw great plantations of Jcdropha Manihot, which is called in the West Indies Cassada, and here Farinha da Pao or wooden meal, a very proper name, for the cakes they make DEC. 1768 BRAZILIAN FRUITS 37 with it taste as if they were made of sawdust. Yet it is the only bread which is eaten here, for European bread is sold at nearly the rate of a shilling a pound, and is exceed- ingly bad on account of the flour, which is generally heated in its passage from Europe. The country produces many more articles, but as I did not see them or hear them mentioned, I shall not set them down, though doubtless it is capable of producing anything that our West Indian islands do ; notwithstanding this they have neither coffee nor chocolate, but import both from Lisbon. Their fruits, however, I must not pass over in silence. Those that were in season during our stay were pine-apples, melons, water-melons, oranges, limes, lemons, sweet lemons, citrons, plantains, bananas, mangos, mamme-apples, acajou- apples and nuts, Jambosa} another sort which bears a small black fruit, cocoanuts, palm nuts of two kinds, palm berries. Of these I must separately give my opinion, as no doubt it will seem strange to some that I should assert that I have eaten many of them, and especially pine-apples, better in England than any I have met with here. I begin, then, with the pines, as the fruit from which I expected the most, they being, I believe, natives of this country, though I can- not say I have seen or even heard of their being at this time wild anywhere in this neighbourhood. They are cultivated much as we do cabbages in Europe, or rather with less care, the plants being set between beds of any kind of garden stuff, and suffered to take their chance : the price of them in the market is seldom above, and generally under a vintain, which is three halfpence. All that Dr. Solander and myself tasted we agreed were much inferior to those we had eaten in England, though in general they were more juicy and sweet, yet they had no flavour, but were like sugar melted in water. Their melons are still worse, to judge from the single specimen we had, which was perfectly mealy and insipid ; their water-melons, however, are very good, for they have some little flavour or at least a degree of acid, which ours have not. Oranges are 1 Eugenia jambos, Linn. 38 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II large and very juicy ; we thought them good, doubtless better than any we had tasted at home, but probably Italy and Portugal produce as good, had we been there in the time of their being in perfection. Lemons and limes are like ours ; sweet lemons are sweetish and without flavour. Citrons have a faint sickly taste, otherwise we liked them. Mangoes were not in perfection, but promised to be a very fine fruit ; they are about the size of a peach, full of a yellow melting pulp, not unlike that of a summer peach, with a very grateful flavour; but the one we had was spoilt by a taste of turpentine, which I am told does not occur in the ripe fruit. Bananas are in shape and size like a small thick sausage, covered with a thick yellow rind, which is peeled off, and the fruit within is of a consistence which might be expected of a mixture of butter and flour, but a little slimy ; its taste is sweet with a little perfume. Acajou or casshew is shaped like an apple, but larger ; the taste is very disagreeable, sourish and bitter : the nut grows at the top of it. Plan- tains differ [from bananas] in being longer and thinner and less luscious in taste. Both these fruits were disagreeable to most of our people, but after some use I became tolerably fond of them. Mamme-apples are bigger than an English codlin, and are covered with a deep yellow skin : the pulp is very insipid, or rather disagreeable, and full of small round seeds covered with a thick mucilage, which continually clogs the mouth. Jambosa is the same as I saw at Madeira, a fruit calculated more to please the smell than the taste; the other kind is small and black, and resembles much our English bilberries in taste. Cocoanuts are so well known in England that I need only say I have tasted as good there as any I met with here. Palm nuts are of two sorts, one long and shaped like dates, the other round ; both are roasted before their kernels are eatable, and even then they are not so good as cocoanuts. Palm berries appear much like black grapes ; they are the fruit of Badris minor, but have scarcely any pulp covering a very large stone, and what there is has nothing but a light acid to recommend it. There are also the fruits of several species of prickly DEC. 1768 GOLD AND GEMS 39 pear, which are very insipid, and one peach also proved very bad. Though this country should produce many and very valuable drugs, we could not tind any in the apothecary’s shops except Pareira Brava and Balsam Capivi, both of which we bought at excessively cheap prices, and very good of the sort. I fancy the drug trade is chiefly carried on to the northward, as is that of dyeing woods ; at least we could hear nothing of them here. For manufactures, I know of none carried on here except that of cotton hammocks, which are used by the people to be carried about in, as we do sedan-chairs. These hammocks are made chiefly by the Indians. But the chief riches of the country come from the mines, which are situated far up the country ; indeed, no one could tell me how far, for even the situation of them is concealed as carefully as possible, and troops are continually employed in guarding the roads that lead to them ; so that it is next to impossible for any one to get a sight of them, except those who are employed there. No one at least would attempt it from mere curiosity, for everybody who is found on the road without being able to give a good account of himself is hanged immediately. From these mines a great quantity of gold undoubtedly comes, but it is purchased at a vast cost of lives; 40,000 negroes are annually im- ported on the king’s account for this purpose, and notwith- standing this the year before last they died so fast that 20,000 more were obliged to be drafted from the town of Bio. Precious stones are also found here in very large quantities, so large that they do not allow more than a certain quantity to be collected in a year. A troop of people is sent into the country where they are found, and ordered to return when they have collected a certain quantity, which they sometimes do in a month, more or less ; they then return, and after that it is death for any one to be found in the country on any pretence whatever until the following year. Diamonds, topazes of several different 40 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II qualities, and amethysts, are the stones most usually found. Of the first I did not see any, but was told that the viceroy had by him large quantities, and would sell them on the King of Portugal’s account, but in that case they would not be at all cheaper than those in Europe. I bought a few topazes and amethysts as specimens ; the former were divided into three sorts of very different value, called here ping a d’aguct qualidade premeiro and segondo, and chrystallos ormerillos. They were sold, large and small, good and bad together, by octaves, or the eighth part of an ounce : the first sort 4s. 9d., the second 2s. 4d., the third 3d. ; but it was smuggling in the highest degree to have anything to do with them. Formerly there were jewellers here who cut stones, but about fourteen months ago orders came from the King of Portugal that no more stones should be wrought here except on his account. The jewellers were immediately ordered to bring all their tools to the viceroy, and from that time to this have not been suffered to do anything for their support ; there are, however, a number of slaves who cut stones for the King of Portugal. The coin current here is either that of Portugal, especially thirty-six shilling pieces, or coin made here, which is much debased, particularly the silver. These are called petacks, of which there are two sorts, one of less value than the other, easily distinguishable by the number of reis marked on them, but they are little used. They also have copper coins like those in Portugal of five and ten rey pieces. Two of the latter are worth three halfpence ; forty petacks are worth thirty-six shillings. The harbour of Rio de Janeiro is certainly a very good one : the entrance is not wide, but the sea breeze which blows every morning makes it easy for any ship to go in before the wind, and when you get abreast of the town it increases in breadth prodigiously, so that almost any number of ships might lie in five or six fathoms of water with an oozy bottom. It is defended by many works, especially the entrance, where it is narrow, and where is their strongest DEC. 1768 FORTIFICATIONS 4i fortification, Santa Cruz, and another opposite it. There is also a platform mounting about twenty-two guns, just under the Sugar-loaf on the seaside, but it seems entirely calculated to hinder the landing of an enemy in a sandy bay, from whence there is a passage to the back part of the town, which is entirely undefended, except that the whole town is open to the guns of the citadel, St. Sebastian, as I said before. Between Santa Cruz and the town are several small batteries of five or ten guns, and one fairly large one called Berga Leon. Immediately before the town is the Ilhoa dos Cobras, an island fortified all round, which seems incapable of doing much mischief owing to its immense size ; at least it would take more men to defend it, even tolerably, in case of an attack, than could possibly be spared from a town totally without lines or any defence round it. Santa Cruz, their chief fortification, on which they most rely, seems quite incapable of making any great resistance if smartly attacked by, shipping. It is a stone fort, mounting many guns indeed, but they lie tier above tier, and are consequently very open to the attack of a ship which may come within two cable lengths or less ; besides, they have no supply of water but what they obtain from a cistern, in which they catch the rain, or, in times of drought, which they supply from the adjacent country. This cistern they have been obliged to build above ground, lest the water should become tainted by the heat of the climate, which a free access of air prevents ; consequently should a fortunate shot break the cistern, the defenders would be reduced to the utmost necessity. I was told by a person who certainly knew, and I believe meant to inform me rightly, that a little to the southward, just without the south head of the harbour, was a bay in which boats might land with all facility without obstruction, as there is no kind of work there, and that from this bay it is not above three hours’ march to the town, which is approached from the back, where it is as defence- less as the landing-place ; but this seems incredible. Yet I am inclined to believe it of these people, whose chief policy consists in hindering people as much as possible from 42 RIO DE JANEIRO CHAP. II looking about them. It may therefore be, as my informer said, that the existence of such a bay has been but lately discovered ; indeed, were it not for that policy, I could believe anything of their stupidity and ignorance. As an example of this, the governor of the town, Brigadier-General Don Pedro de Mendozay Furtado, asked the captain of our ship whether the transit of Venus, which we were going to observe, were not the passing of the North Star to the South Pole, as he said he had always understood it to be. The river, and indeed the whole coast, abounds with greater variety of fish than I have ever seen ; seldom a day passed in which we had not one or more new species brought to us. Indeed the bay is the most convenient place for fishing I have ever seen, for it abounds with islands between which there is shallow water and proper beaches for drawing the seine. The sea also without the bay is full of dolphins, and large mackerel of several sorts, who very readily bite at the hooks which the inhabitants tow after their boats for that purpose. In short, the country is capable, with very little industry, of producing infinite plenty, both of necessaries and luxuries : were it in the hands of Englishmen we should soon see its consequence, as things are tolerably plentiful even under the direction of the Portuguese, whom I take to be, without exception, the laziest as well as the most ignorant race in the whole world. The climate here is, I fancy, very good. During our whole stay the thermometer was never above 83°, but we had a good deal of rain, and once it blew very hard. I am inclined to think that this country has rather more rain than those in the same northern latitude are observed to have, not only from what happened during our short stay, but from Marcgrav, who gives us meteorological observations on this climate for three years. It appears that it rained here in those years almost every other day throughout the year, but more especially in May and June, when it rained almost without ceasing.1 1 Here follows, in the manuscript, a list of 316 plants collected by Banks near Rio de Janeiro. CHAPTER III RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO Dec. 8, 1768— Jan. 30, 17C9 Birds — Christmas — Insects floating at sea- — “ Baye sans fond” — Cancer gregarius — Fucus giganteus — Penguins — -Terra del Fuego — Staten Island — Vegetation — Winter’s bark, celery — Fuegians — Excursion inland — Great cold and snow-storm — Sufferings of the party — Death of two men from cold — Return to ship — Shells — Native huts — General appearance of the country — Animals — Plants — Scurvy grass, celery — Inhabitants and customs- — Language — Food — Arms — Probable nomadic habits — Dogs — Climate. 8 th December. Soon after daybreak a shark appeared, which took the bait very readily. While we were playing him under the cabin window he cast something out of his mouth which either was, or appeared very like, his stomach ; this it threw out and drew in again many times. I have often heard from seamen that they can do it, but never before saw anything like it. 1 1th. This morning we took a shark, which cast up its stomach when hooked, or at least appeared to do so. It proved to be a female, and on being opened six young ones were taken out of her, five of which were alive, and swam briskly in a tub of water. The sixth was dead, and seemed to have been so for some time. 1 3 th. At night a squall, with thunder and lightning, which made us hoist the lightning chain. 22nd. Shot one species of Mother Carey’s chickens and two shearwaters ; both proved new, Procellaria gigantea and sandalecta. The Carey was one but ill-described by Linnaeus, Procellaria fregatci. While we were shooting, the people were employed in bending the new set of sails for Cape Horn. 44 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill 23 rd. Killed another new Procellaria ( mquorea ) and many of the sorts we had seen yesterday. Caught Holothuria angustata, and a species of floating Helix, much smaller than those under the line, and a very small Phyllodoce velella, some- times not so large as a silver penny, yet I believe it was the common species. In the evening I went out again, and killed an albatross, Diomedea exulans, measuring nine feet one inch between the tips of his wings, and struck one turtle ( Test ndo caretta). 25 th. Christmas Day : all good Christians, that is to say, all good hands, got abominably drunk, so that all through the night there was scarce a sober man in the ship. Weather, thank God, very moderate, or the Lord knows what would have become of us. 2 7 th. The water has been discoloured all day, the depth being fifty fathoms. All this day I have noticed a singular smell from windward, though the people in the ship did not take notice of it ; it was like rotten seaweed, and at times very strong. During the whole of the gale which was blowing to-day we had many Procellarice about the ship — at some times immense numbers. They seemed perfectly unconcerned at the weather, or the height of the sea, but continued, often flapping, near the surface of the water as if fishing. 29 th. We observed now some feathers and pieces of reed floating by the ship, which made us get up the hoave-net to see what they were. Soon after some drowned Carabi and Phalcence came past, which we took, as well as many other specimens, by means of the hoave. A large Sphinx was also taken (lat. 41° 4 S'). 30 th. Water very white, almost of a clay colour : sounded forty-seven fathoms. Plenty of insects passed by this morning, many especially of the Carabi, alive, some Grylli, and one Phalcena. I stayed in the main chains from eight till twelve, dipping for them with the hoave, and took vast numbers. In the evening many Phalcence and two Papiliones came flying about the ship : of the first we took about twenty, but the last would not come near enough, and at last flew away ; they JAN. 1769 OCEANIC LIFE 45 appeared large. Both yesterday and to-day we also took several ichneumons flying about the rigging. All the sea- men say that we cannot be less than twenty leagues from the land, hut I doubt Grylli, especially, coming so far alive, as they must float all the way upon the water. The sailors ground their opinion chiefly on the soundings, the bottom being continuously of sand of different colours, which, had we been nearer the land, would have been intermixed with shells. Their experience of this coast must, however, he slight. Lat. 42° 31/. A sea-lion was entered in the log-book as being seen to-day, but I did not see it. I saw, however, a whale, covered with barnacles as the seamen told me. It appeared of a reddish colour, except the tail, which was black like those to the northward. 31 st. No insects seen to-day; the water changed to a little better colour. On looking over the insects taken yesterday I find thirty-one land species, all so like in size and shape to those of England that they are scarcely dis- tinguishable from the latter ; probably some will turn out identically the same. We ran among them 160 miles by the log, without reckoning any part of last night, though they were seen till dark. We must be now nearly opposite to “ Baye sans fond,” 1 near which place Mr. Dalrymple supposes that there is a passage quite through the continent of America. It would appear by what we have seen that there is at least a very large river, probably at this time much flooded, although it is doubtful whether even that could have so great an effect (supposing us to be twenty leagues from the land) as to render the water almost of a clay colour, and to bring insects such as Grylli and an Aranea, which never fly twenty yards. I lament much not having tasted the water at the time, which never occurred to me, but probably the difference of saltness would have been hardly perceptible to the taste, and my hydrostatic balance being broken I had no other method of trying it. 2nd January 1769. Met with some small shoals of red 1 Probably the Gulf of San Mathias. 46 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill lobsters, which have been seen by almost every one passing through these seas ; they were, however, so far from colouring the sea red, as Dampier and Cowley say they do, that I may affirm that we never saw more than a few hundreds of them at a time. We called them Cancer gregarius. 3rd. This evening many large bunches of seaweed floated by the ship, and we caught some of it with hooks. It was of immense size, every leaf four feet long, and the stalk about twelve. The footstalk of each leaf was swelled into a long air-vessel. Mr. Gore tells me that he has seen this weed grow quite to the top of the water in twelve fathoms ; if so, the swelled footstalks are probably the trumpet-grass or weed of the Cape of Good Hope. We described it, how- ever, as it appeared, and called it Fucus giganteus d 5 th. In some of the water taken up we observed a small and very nimble insect of a conical figure, which moved with a kind of whorl of legs or tentacula round the base of the cone. We could not find any Nereides, or indeed any other insect than this, in the water, but were not able to prove that he was the cause of the lightness of the water, which was much observed hereabouts, so we deferred our observations on the animal until the morning. 7 th. We now for the first time saw some of the birds called penguins by the southern navigators : they seem much of the size and not unlike Alca pica, but are easily known by streaks upon their faces and their remarkably shrill cry, different from that of any sea-bird I am acquainted with. We saw also several seals, but much smaller than those I have seen in Newfoundland, and black ; they gener- ally appeared in lively action, leaping out of the water like porpoises, so much so that some of our people were deceived by them, mistaking them for fish. During a gale which had lasted yesterday and to-day we observed vast numbers of birds about us. Procellarice of all kinds we have before mentioned ; gray ones and another kind, all black, Procellaria cequinoctialis ? Linn. We could not discern whether or not their beaks were yellow. 1 Macrocystis pyrifera, Ag. JAN. 1769 OFF TERRA DEL FUEGO 47 There were also plenty of albatrosses. Indeed, I have ob- served a much greater quantity of birds upon the wing in gales than in moderate weather, owing perhaps to the tossing of the waves, which must render swimming very uneasy. They must be more often seen flying than when they sit upon the water. The ship has been observed to go much better since her shaking in the last gale of wind ; the seamen say that it is a general observation that ships go better for being, as they say, loosened in their joints, so much so that in a chase it is often customary to knock down stanchions, etc., to make the ship as loose as possible. 10th. Seals plentiful to-day, also a kind of bird, different from any we have before seen. It was black, and a little larger than a pigeon, plump like it, and easily known by its flapping its wings quickly as it flies, contrary to the custom of sea-birds in general. This evening a shoal of porpoises of a new species swam by the ship ; they are spotted with large dabs of white, with white under the belly : in other respects, as swimming, etc., they are like common porpoises, only they leap rather more nimbly, sometimes lifting their whole bodies out of the water. 11 th. This morning at daybreak we saw the land of Terra del Fuego. By eight o’clock we were well in with it. Its appearance was not nearly so barren as the writer of Lord Anson’s voyage has represented it. We stood along shore, about two leagues off, and could see trees distinctly through our glasses. We observed several smokes, made probably by the natives as a signal to us. The hills seemed to be high, and on them were many patches of snow, but the sea-coast appeared fertile, the trees especially being of a bright verdure, except in places exposed to the south-west wind, which were distinguishable by their brown appearance. The shore itself was sometimes beach and sometimes rock. 1 2th. We took Beroe incrctssata, Medusa limpidissima, plicata and obliquata, Alcyonium anguillare (probably the thing that Shelvocke mentions in his Voyage Bound the 48 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill World, p. 60), and A. frustrum, Ulvct intcstinalis, and Corallina officinalis. 14 th. Staten Land is much more craggy than Terra del Fuego, though the view of it in Lord Anson’s voyage is exaggerated. The Captain stood into a bay just within Cape St. Vincent [Staten Island] ; and while the ship stood off and on, Dr. Solander and I went ashore. I found about a hundred plants, though we were not ashore above four hours. Of these I may say every one was new, and entirely different from what either of us had before seen. The country about this bay is, in general, flat. Here is, however, good wood, water, and great quantities of fowl. In the cod of the bay is a flat covered with grass, where much hay might be made. The bay itself is bad, affording but little shelter for shipping, and in many parts of it the bottom is rocky and foul. This, however, may be always known in these countries by the beds of Fucus giganteus, which con- stantly grow upon the rock, and are not seen upon sand or ooze. These weeds grow to an immense length. We sounded upon them, and found fourteen fathoms of water. As they seem to make a very acute angle with the bottom in their situation in the water, it is difficult to guess how long they may be, but probably they are not less than half as long again as the depth of the water, which makes their length 126 feet; a wonderful length for a stalk not thicker than a man’s thumb. Among other things the bay affords, there is plenty of Winter’s bark,1 2 easily known by its broad leaf, like a laurel, of a light green colour, bluish underneath. The bark is easily stripped off with a bone or stick, as oaks are barked in England. Its virtues are so well known that of them I shall say little, except that it may be used as a spice even in culinary matters, and is found to be very wholesome. Here is also plenty of wild celery ( Apium antiscorbuticitm) 2 and scurvy grass ( Gardamine antiscor- 1 Drimys Winteri, Forst. 2 Apium prostratum, Thou. A variety of the European celery, and as wholesome. JAN. 1769 TERRA DEL FUEGO 49 butica ),1 both which are as pleasant to the taste as any herbs of the kind found in Europe, and, I believe, possess as much virtue in curing the scurvy. The trees here are chiefly of one sort, a kind of birch, Betula antardica2 with very small leaves. It has a light white wood, and cleaves very straight. The trees are some- times between two and three feet in diameter, and run thirty or forty feet in the hole ; possibly they might, in cases of necessity, supply top-masts. There are also great quantities of cranberries, both white and red ( Arbutus rigicla ).3 Inhabit- ants I saw none, but found their huts in two places, once in a thick wood, and again close by the beach. They are most unartificially made, conical, but open on one side, where were marks of fire, which last probably served them instead of a door. 1 5th. By dinner we came to an anchor in the Bay of Good Success [Terra del Fuego] : several Indians 4 were in sight near the shore. After dinner, went ashore on the starboard side of the bay, near some rocks, which made the water smooth and the landing good. Before we had walked a hundred yards, many Indians made their appearance on the other side of the bay, at the end of a sandy beach which forms the bottom of the bay, but on seeing our numbers to be ten or twelve they retreated. Dr. Solander and I then walked forward a hundred yards before the rest, and two of the Indians advanced also, and sat down about fifty yards from their companions. As soon as we came up they rose, and each of them threw a stick he had in his hand away from him and us: a token, no doubt, of peace. They then walked briskly towards the others, and waved to us to follow, which we did, and were received with many uncouth signs of friendship. We distributed among them a number of beads and ribbons, which we had brought ashore for that purpose, 1 Closely allied to the common English weed, Cardamine hirsuta, Linn. 2 The Betula of Banks is a species of beech, Fagus betuloides, Mirb. 3 Pernettya mucronata, Gaudich. 4 Banks constantly uses the term Indians to denote the natives of a country, throughout the “Journal.” E 5o RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill and at which they seemed mightily pleased, so much so that when we embarked again on our boat three of them came with us and went aboard the ship. One seemed to be a priest or conjuror, at least we thought so by the noises he made, possibly exorcising every part of the ship he came into, for when anything new caught his attention, he shouted as loud as he could for some minutes, without directing his speech either to us or to any one of his countrymen. They ate bread and beef which we gave them, though not heartily, hut carried the largest part away with them. They would not drink either wine or spirits, but returned the glass, though not before they had put it to their mouths and tasted a drop. We conducted them over the greater part of the ship, and they looked at everything without any remarks of extraordinary admiration, unless the noise which our conjuror did not fail to repeat at every new object he saw might be reckoned as such. After having been aboard about two hours, they expressed a desire to go ashore, and a boat was ordered to carry them. I went with them, and landed them among their countrymen, but I cannot say that I observed either the one party curious to ask questions, or the other to relate what they had seen, or what usage they had met with ; so after having stayed ashore about half an hour, I returned to the ship, and the Indians immediately marched off from the shore. 1 6 th. This morning very early Dr. Solander and I, with our servants and two seamen to assist in carrying baggage, and accompanied by Messrs. Monkhouse and Green, set out from the ship to try to penetrate as far as we could into the country, and, if possible, gain the tops of the hills, which alone were not overgrown with trees. We entered the woods at a small sandy beach a little to the westward of the watering-place, and continued pressing through pathless thickets, always going uphill, until three o’clock, before we gained even a near view of the places we intended to go to. The weather had all this time been vastly fine, much like a sunshiny day in May, so that neither heat nor cold was troublesome to us, nor were there any insects to molest us, JAN. 1769 EXCURSION INLAND Si which made me think the travelling much better than what I had before met with in Newfoundland. Soon after we saw the plains we arrived at them, hut found to our great disappointment that what we took for swathe was no better than low bushes of birch reaching to about a man’s middle. These were so stubborn that they could not be bent out of the way, but at every step the leg must be lifted over them ; on being placed again on the ground it was almost sure to sink above the ankle in bog. No travelling could possibly be worse than this, which seemed to last about a mile, beyond which we expected to meet with bare rock, for such we had seen from the tops of the lower hills as we came. This I in particular was infinitely eager to arrive at, expecting there to find the alpine plants of a country so curious. Our people, though rather fatigued, were yet in good spirits, so we pushed on, intending to rest ourselves as soon as we should arrive on the level ground. We proceeded two-thirds of the way without the least difficulty, and I confess that I thought, for my own part, that all difficulties were surmounted, when Mr. Buchan fell into a fit. A fire was immediately lit for him, and with him all those who were most tired remained behind, while Dr. Solander, Mr. Green, Mr. Monkhouse and myself advanced for the alp, which we reached almost immediately, and found, according to expectation, plants which answered to those we had found before, as in Europe alpine ones do to those which are found on the plains. The air was very cold, and we had frequent snow-blasts. I had now given over all thought of reaching the ship that night, and thought of nothing but getting into the thick of the wood, and making a fire, which, as our road lay all down- hill, seemed very easy to accomplish. So Messrs. Green and Monkhouse returned to the other people, and appointed a hill for our general rendezvous, from whence we should proceed and build our wigwam. The cold now increased apace ; it might be nearly eight .o’clock, though the daylight was still exceedingly good, so we proceeded to the nearest valley, where the short birch, the only thing we now dreaded, 52 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill could not be half a mile across. Our people seemed well, though cold, and Mr. Buchan was stronger than we could have expected. I undertook to bring up the rear and see that no one was left behind. We got about half-way very well, when the cold seemed to have at once an effect in- finitely beyond what 1 have ever experienced. Dr. Solander was the first to feel it : he said he could not go any farther, but must lie down, though the ground was covered with snow, and down he lay, notwithstanding all I could say to the contrary. Richmond, a black servant, now also lay down, and was much in the same way as the Doctor. At this juncture I despatched five in advance, of whom Mr. Buchan was one, to make ready a fire at the very first con- venient place they could find, while I myself, with four more, stayed behind to persuade the Doctor and Richmond to come on if possible. With much persuasion and entreaty we got through the greater part of the birch, when they both gave out. Richmond said that he could not go any farther, and when told that if he did not he must be frozen to death, only answered that there he would lie and die ; the Doctor, on the contrary, said that he must sleep a little before he could go on, and actually did so for a full quarter of an hour, after which time we had the welcome news of a fire being lit about a quarter of a mile ahead. I then undertook to make the Doctor proceed to it, and, finding it impossible to make Richmond stir, left two hands with him who seemed the least affected by the cold, promising to send two to relieve them as soon as I should reach the fire. With much difficulty I got the Doctor to it, and as soon as two men were properly warmed sent them out in hopes that they would bring Richmond and the others. After staying about half an hour they returned, bringing word that they had been all round the place shouting and hallooing, but could not get any answer. We now guessed the cause of the mischief : a bottle of rum, the whole of our stock, was missing, and we soon concluded that it was in one of their knapsacks, and that the two who were left in health had drunk immoderately of it, and had slept like the other. JAN. 1769 A NIGHT IN THE SNOW 53 For two hours now it had snowed almost incessantly, so that we had little hopes of seeing any of the three alive ; about midnight, however, to our great joy, we heard a shout- ing, on which I and four more went out immediately, and found it to he the seaman, who had walked, almost starved to death, from where he lay. I sent him hack to the fire and proceeded by his direction to find the other two. Rich- mond was upon his legs, but not able to walk ; the other lay on the ground as insensible as a stone. We immediately called all hands from the fire, and attempted, by all the means we could contrive, to bring them down, but found it absolutely impossible. The road was so bad, and the night so dark, that we could scarcely ourselves get on, nor did we without many falls. We would then have lit a fire upon the spot, but the snow on the ground, as well as that which continually fell, rendered this plan as impracticable as the other, and to bring fire from the other place was also im- possible from the quantity of snow which fell every moment from the branches of the trees. We were thus obliged to content ourselves with laying out our unfortunate com- panions upon a bed of boughs and covering them over with boughs as thickly as possible, and thus we left them, hope- less of ever seeing them again alive, which, indeed, we never did. In this employment we had spent an hour and a half, exposed to the most penetrating cold I ever felt, as well as to continual snow. Peter Brisco, another servant of mine, began now to complain, and before we came to the fire became very ill, but got there at last almost dead with cold. jSTow might our situation be called terrible : of twelve, our original number, two were already past all hopes, one more was so ill that, though he was with us, I had little hopes of his being able to walk in the morning, and another seemed very likely to relapse into his fits, either before we set out or in the course of our journey. We were distant from the ship, we did not know how far ; we knew only that we had spent the greater part of a day in walking through pathless woods : provision we had none but one 54 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill vulture, which had been shot on the way, and at the shortest allowance could not furnish half a meal ; and, to complete our misfortunes, we were caught in a snowstorm in a climate we were utterly unacquainted with, but which we had reason to believe was as inhospitable as any in the world, not only from all the accounts we had heard or read, but from the quantity of snow which we saw falling, though it was very little after midsummer, a circumstance unheard of in Europe, for even in Norway or Lapland snow is never known to fall in the summer. 1 7 tli. The morning now dawned and showed us the earth as well as the tops of the trees covered with snow ; nor were the snow squalls at all less frequent ; we had no hopes now but of staying here as long as the snow lasted, and how long that would be God alone knew. About six o’clock the sun came out a little, and we immediately thought of sending to see whether the poor wretches we had been so anxious about last night were yet alive ; three of our people went, but soon returned with the melancholy news of their being both dead. The snow con- tinued to fall, though not quite so thickly as before. About eight o’clock a small breeze of wind sprang up, and with the additional power of the sun began (to our great joy) to clear the air, and soon after the snow commenced to fall from the tops of the trees, a sure sign of an approaching thaw. Peter continued very ill, but said he thought himself able to walk ; Mr. Buchan, thank God, was much better than I could have expected ; so we agreed to dress our vulture, and prepare to set out for the ship as soon as the snow should be a little more melted. The vulture was skinned and cut into ten equal shares, every man cooking his own share, which furnished about three mouthfuls of hot meat, the only refreshment we had had since our cold dinner yesterday, and all we were to expect till we should reach the ship. About ten we set out, and after a march of three hours, arrived at the beach fortunate in having met with much better roads on our return than in going out, as well as JAN. 1769 RETURN TO THE SHIP 55 being nearer to the ship than we had any reason to hope for. From the ship we found that we had made a half-circle round the hills instead of penetrating, as we thought we had done, into the inner part of the country. With what pleasure we congratulated each other on our safety no one can tell who has not been in such circumstances. 18f/t. Peter was very ill to-day, and Mr. Buchan not at all well ; the rest of us, thank God, in good health, though not yet recovered from our fatigue. 20 tli. This morning was very fine, so much so that we landed without any difficulty at the bottom of the hay and spent our time very much to our satisfaction in collecting shells and plants. Of the former we found some very scarce and fine, particularly limpets ; of several species of these we observed (as well as the shortness of our time would permit) that the limpet with a longish hole at the top of his shell is inhabited by an animal very different from that which has no such hole. Here were also some fine whelks, one particularly with a long tooth, and an infinite variety of Zepades, Sertularice, Onisci, etc., in much greater variety than I have anywhere seen. But the shortness of our time would not allow us to examine them, so we were obliged to content ourselves with taking specimens of as many of them as we could in so short a time scrape together. We returned on hoard to dinner, and afterwards went about two miles into the country to visit an Indian town, of which some of our people had given us news. We arrived there in about an hour, walking through a path which I suppose was their common road, though it was sometimes up to our knees in mud. The town itself was situated upon a dry knoll among the trees, which had not been at all cleared ; it consisted of not more than twelve or fourteen huts or wigwams of the most unartificial construction imagin- able ; indeed, nothing bearing the name of a hut could pos- sibly be built with less trouble. A hut consisted of a few poles set up and meeting together at the top in a conical figure, and covered 011 the weather side with a few boughs 56 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill and a little grass ; on the lee side about one-eighth part of the circle was left open, and against this opening a fire was made. Furniture, I may justly say, they had none ; a little, a very little, dry grass laid round the edges of the circle furnished both beds and chairs, and for dressing the shell- fish (the only provision I saw them make use of) they had no one contrivance but broiling them upon the coals. For drinking, I saw in a corner of one of their huts a bladder of some beast full of water ; in one side of this near the top was a hole through which they drank by elevating a little the bottom, which made the water spring up into their mouths. In these few huts, and with this small share, or rather none at all, of what we call the necessaries and conveniences of life, lived about fifty men, women, and children, to all appearance contented with what they had, not wishing for anything we could give them except beads. Of these they were very fond, preferring ornamental things to those which might be of real use, and giving more in exchange for a string of beads than they would for a knife or a hatchet. Notwithstanding that almost all writers who have men- tioned this island have imputed to it a want of wood, we plainly distinguished, even at the distance of some leagues, that the largest part of the country, particularly near the sea- coast, was covered with wood, which observation was verified in both the bays we put into. In either of these firing might be got close by the beach in any quantity, and also trees, which to all appearance might be fit for repairing a vessel, or even in cases of necessity for making masts. The hills are high, though not to be called mountains ; the tops of these, however, are quite bare, and on’ them patches of snow were frequently to be seen, yet the time of the year when we were there answered to the beginning of July in England. In the valleys between these, the soil has much the appearance of fruitfulness, and is in some places of considerable depth ; at the bottom of almost every one of these runs a brook, the water of which in general has a reddish cast like that which runs through turf bogs in England ; it is very well tasted. jan. 1769 ANIMALS OF TERRA DEL FUEGO 57 Quadrupeds I saw none in the island, unless the seals and sea-lions, which were often swimming about in the hay, might be called such ; but Dr. Solander and I, when we were on the top of the highest hill reached by us, observed the footsteps of a large beast imprinted on the surface of a hog, but could not with any probability guess of what kind it might be. Land birds were very few, I saw none larger than an English blackbird, except hawks and a vulture ; but water- fowl are much more plentiful. In the first bay we were in I might have shot any quantity of ducks or geese, but would not spare the time from gathering plants ; in the other we shot some, but the Indians in the neighbourhood had made them shy, as well as much less plentiful ; at least so we found. Eish we saw few, nor could we with our hooks take any fit to eat : shell-fish, however, are in the greatest abundance, limpets, mussels, clams, etc., but none of them delicate, yet such as they were we did not despise them. Insects are very scarce, and not one species hurtful or troublesome : during the whole of our stay we saw neither gnat nor mosquito, a circumstance which few, if any, uncleared countries can boast of. Of plants there are many species, and those truly the most extraordinary I can imagine ; in stature and appear- ance they agree a good deal with the European ones, only in general are less specious, white flowers being much more common among them than any other colour ; but, to speak of them botanically, probably no botanist has ever enjoyed more pleasure in the contemplation of his favourite pursuit than did Dr. Solander and I among these plants. We have not yet examined many of them, but what we have, have proved in general so entirely different from any before described, that we are never tired of wondering at the infinite variety of creation, and admiring the infinite care with which Providence has multiplied her productions, suiting them no doubt to the various climates for which they were designed. Trees are not numerous : a birch, 58 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill (. Betula antarctica ),1 a beech ( Fagus antarctica ), and winter’s bark ( Winterana aromatica ),2 are all worth mentioning, the two first for timber, the other for its excellent aromatic bark, so much valued by physicians. Of other plants we could not ascertain the virtues, not being able to converse with the Indians, who may have experienced them ; but the scurvy grass, Cardamine antiscorbutica, and wild celery, Apium antarcticum, may easily be known to contain anti- scorbutic properties, capable of being of great service to ships which may in future touch here. Of these two, there- fore, I shall give a short description. Scurvy grass is found plentifully in damp places near springs, in general every- where near the beach, especially at the watering-place in the Bay of Good Success. When young and in its greatest perfection it lies flat on the ground, having many bright green leaves standing in pairs opposite each other, with an odd one, in general the fifth, at the end. When older it shoots up in stalks sometimes two feet high, at the top of which are small white blossoms, which are succeeded by long pods. The whole plant much resembles what is called Lady’s-smock in England, only that the flowers are much smaller. Wild celery greatly resembles the celery in our gardens, only that the leaves are of a deeper green ; the flowers, as in ours, stand in small tufts at the top of the branches, and are white. It grows plentifully near the beach, generally on soil which is just above the spring tides, and is not easily mistaken, as the taste resembles celery or parsley, or rather is between both. These herbs we used plentifully while we stayed here, putting them in our soup, etc., and derived the benefit from them which seamen in general find from a vegetable diet after having been long deprived of it. The inhabitants we saw here seemed to be one small tribe of Indians, consisting of not more than fifty of all 1 Both tlie beech and birch are species of beech [Fagus) : one, F. betuloides, Mirb. (the birch of Banks), is an evergreen ; the other, F. antarctica, Forst, is deciduous-leaved. 2 Drimys Winteri, Forst. JAN. 1769 INHABITANTS 59 ages and sexes. They are of a reddish colour, nearly resem- bling that of rust of iron mixed with oil ; the men are largely built, but very clumsy, their height being from five feet eight inches to five feet ten inches, and all very much of the same size. The women are much smaller, seldom exceeding five feet. Their clothes are nothing more than a kind of cloak of guanaco or seal skin, thrown loosely over their shoulders, and reaching nearly to their knees ; under this they have nothing at all, nor anything to cover their feet, except a few who had shoes of raw seal hide drawn loosely round their instep like a purse. In this dress there is no dis- tinction between men and women, except that the latter have their cloak tied round their waist with a kind of belt or thong. Their ornaments, of which they are extremely fond, consist of necklaces, or rather solitaires, of shells, and bracelets, which the women wear both on their wrists and legs, the men only on their wrists ; but to compensate for this the men have a kind of wreath of brown worsted which they wear over their foreheads, so that in reality they are more ornamented than the women. They paint their faces generally in horizontal lines, just under their eyes, and sometimes make the whole region round their eyes white, but these marks are so much varied that no two we saw were alike. Whether they were marks of distinction or mere ornaments I could not at all make out. They seem also to paint themselves with something like a mixture of grease and soot on particular occasions, for when we went to their town there came out to meet us two who were daubed with black lines in every direction, so as to form the most diabolical countenance imaginable. These two seemed to exorcise us, or at least make a loud and long harangue, which did not seem to be addressed to us or any of their countrymen. Their language is guttural, especially in particular words, which they seem to express much as an Englishman when he hawks to clear his throat. But they have many words which sound soft enough. During our stay among them I could 6o RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP. Ill learn but two of their words : halUcd, which signifies beads, at least so they always said when they wanted them, instead of the ribbons or other trifles which I offered them ; and ooudd, which signifies water, for so they said when we took them ashore from the ship and by signs asked where water was ; they at the same time made the sign of drinking and pointed to our casks, as well as to the place where we put them ashore, where we found plenty of water. Of civil government I saw no signs ; no one seemed to be more respected than another ; nor did I ever see the least appearance of quarrelling between any two of them. Religion also they seemed to be without, unless those people who made the strange noises I have mentioned before were priests or exorcists ; but this is merely conjectural. Their food, so far as we saw, was either seals or shell- fish. How they took the former we never knew, but the latter were collected by the women, whose business it seemed to be to attend at low water with a basket in one hand, a stick with a point and a barb in the other, and a satchel on their backs. They loosened the limpets with the stick, and put them into the basket, which, when full, was emptied into the satchel. Their arms consisted of bows and arrows, the former neatly enough made, the latter more neatly than any I have seen, polished to the highest degree, and headed either with glass or flint ; this was the only neat thing they had, and the only thing they seemed to take any pains about. That these people have before had intercourse with Europeans was very plain from many instances, first, from the European commodities, of which we saw sail-cloth, brown woollen cloth, beads, nails, glass, etc., especially the last (which they used for pointing their arrows in con- siderable quantity), and also from the confidence they immediately put in us at our first meeting, though well acquainted with our superiority, and from the knowledge they had of the use of our guns, which they very soon showed by making signs to me to shoot a seal. They JAN. 1769 INHABITANTS 61 probably travel and stay but a short time at a place, so at least it would seem from the badness of their houses, which seem all built to stand but for a short time ; from their having no kind of household furniture but what has a handle, adapted either to be carried in the hand or on the back ; from the thinness of their clothing, which seems little calculated even to bear the summers of this country, much less the winters ; from their food of shell-fish, which must soon be exhausted at any one spot ; and from the deserted huts we saw in the first bay we came to, which had plainly been inhabited but a short time previously, probably this spring. Boats they had none with them, but as they were not sea-sick or particularly affected when they came on board our ship, possibly they might have been left at some bay or inlet, which passes partly, but not entirely, through this island from the Straits of Magellan, from which place I should be much inclined to believe these people have come, as so few ships before ours have anchored upon any part of Terra del Fuego. Their dogs, which I forgot to mention before, seem also to indicate a commerce at some time or other with Europeans, they being all of the kind that bark, contrary to what has been observed of (I believe) all dogs natives of America. The weather here has been very uncertain, though in general extremely bad ; every day since the first more or less snow has fallen, and yet the thermometer has never been below 38°. Unseasonable as this weather seems to be in the middle of summer, I am inclined to think it is generally so here, for none of the plants appear at all affected by it, and the insects which hide themselves during a snow blast are, the instant it is fair again, as lively and nimble as the finest weather could make them.1 1 Here follows a list of 104 phanerogamic and 41 cryptogamic plants collected in Terra del Fuego. CHAPTEE IY TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE Jan. 21— Apkil 12, 1769 Leave Terra del Fuego — Cape Horn— Albatross and other birds, etc. — Multi- plication of Dagysa — Cuttlefish — Cross the line drawn by the Royal Society between the South Sea and the Pacific Ocean — Tropic birds — Occultation of Saturn — Freshness of the water taken on board at Terra del Fuego — Speculations respecting a southern continent — Marine animals — Suicide of a marine — Scurvy — Lemon juice — Lagoon Island — King George III. Island — Means adopted for preventing the scurvy — Preserved cabbage. 21 st January 1769. Sailed this morning, the wind foul ; but our keeping-boxes being full of new plants, we little regarded any wind, provided it was but moderate enough to let the draughtsmen work, who, to do them justice, are now so used to the sea that it must blow a gale of wind before they leave off. 25th. Wind to-day north-west; stood in with some large islands, but we could not tell for certain whether we saw any part of the mainland. At some distance the land formed a bluff head, within which another appeared, though but faintly, farther to the southward. Possibly that might be Cape Horn, but a fog which overcast it almost immediately after we saw it, hindered our making any material observations upon it ; so that all we can say is, that it was the southernmost land we saw, and does not answer badly to the description of Cape Horn given by the French, who place it upon an island, and say that it is two bluff headlands (vide Histoire des Navigat. aux terres australes, tom. i. p. 356). FEB. 1769 ALBATROSS 63 1st February. Killed. Diomedea antardica, Procellaria lugens and turtur. The first, or black-billed albatross, is much like the common one, but differs in being scarcely half as large, and having a bill entirely black. Procellaria lugens , the southern shearwater, differs from the common kind in being smaller and of a darker colour on the back, but is easily distinguished by the flight, which is heavy, and by two fasciae or streaks of white, which are very conspicuous when it flies, under its wings. Procellaria turtur , Mother Carey’s dove, is of the petrel kind, about the size of a Barbary dove, of a light silvery blue upon the back, which shines beauti- fully as the bird Hies. Its flight is very swift and it re- mains generally near the surface of the water. More or less of these birds have been seen very often since we left the latitude of Falkland’s Island, where in a gale of wind we saw immense quantities of them. 3rd. Shot Diomedea exulans, an albatross, or alcatrace, much larger than those seen to the northward of the Straits of Le Maire, and often quite white on the back between the wings, though certainly the same species ; D. antardica, lesser black- billed albatross; D. profuga, lesser albatross, with a party-coloured bill differing from the last in few things except the bill, the sides of which were yellow, with black between them. 4 th. I had been unwell these three or four days, and to-day was obliged to keep the cabin with a bilious attack, which, although quite slight, alarmed me a good deal, as Captain Wallis had such an attack in the Straits of Magellan, which he never got the better of throughout the whole voyage. 5 th. I was well enough to eat part of the albatrosses shot on the 3rd ; they were so good that everybody com- mended and ate heartily of them, although there was fresh pork upon the table. To dress them, they are skinned over- night, and the carcases soaked in salt water until morning, then parboiled, and, the water being thrown away, stewed well with very little water, and when sufficiently tender served up with savoury sauce. 64 TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE CHAP. IV 9 tli. This morning some seaweed floated past the ship, and my servant declares that he saw a beetle fly over her. I do not believe he would deceive me, and he certainly knows what a beetle is, as he has these three years been often employed in taking them for me. 15 tli. Went in the boat and killed Procellctria velox, Nectris mitnda and fuliginosa, which two last are a new genus between Procellctria and Piomedea : this we reckon a great acquisition to our bird collection. 1 7 tit. Saw several porpoises without any “ pinna dorsalis,” black on the back, white under the belly and on the nose. We saw also an albatross different from any other I have seen, it being black all over, except the head and bill, which were white. 21st. A bird not seen before attended the ship; it was about the size of a pigeon, black above and light-coloured underneath. It darted swiftly along the surface of the water in the same manner as I have observed the Nectris to do, of which genus it is probably a species. 2 Hth. Albatrosses began to be much less plentiful than they have been (lat. 41° 8'). 3rd March. Killed Procellaria velox, velificans, sordidct, melctnopus, lugens, agilis, and Piomedea exulans. The alba- tross was very brown, exactly the same as the first I killed, which, if I mistake not, was nearly in the same latitude on the other side of the continent. Caught Holotlmria obtusata, Phyllodoce velella, exactly the same as those taken on the other side of the continent, except in size, which in these did not exceed that of an English sixpence. Pagysa vitrea was also the same as that taken off Kio de Janeiro ; now, however, we had an opportunity of seeing its extraordinary manner of breeding. The whole progeny, fifteen or twenty in number, hung in a chain from one end of the mother, the oldest only, or the largest, adhering to her, and the rest to each other. Among a large quantity of birds I had killed (sixty-two in all) I found two Hippoboscce, or forest flies, both of one species, and different from any described. More than probably these MAR. 1769 OCEANIC LIFE 65 belonged to the birds, and came off with them from the land. I found also this day a large Sepia , or cuttlefish, lying in the water, just dead, but so pulled to pieces by the birds that its species could not be determined. Only this I know, that of it was made one of the best soups I ever ate. It was very large ; and its arms, instead of being like the European species, furnished with suckers, were armed with a double row of very sharp talons, resembling in shape those of a cat, and like them, retractable into a sheath of skin, from whence they might be thrust at pleasure. The weather has now become pleasantly warm, and the barnacles on the ship’s bottom seem to regenerate, very few of the old ones remaining alive, but young ones without number, scarcely bigger than lentils. 5 th. It now begins to be very hot; thermometer 70°, and damp, with prodigious dews at night, greater than any I have felt. This renews our uncomfortably damp situation, everything beginning to mould, as it did about the equinoc- tial line in the Atlantic. *lth. No albatrosses have been seen since the 4th, and for some days before that we had only now and then a single one in sight, so we conclude that we have parted with them for good and all. 11 th. A steady breeze had blown during the last three days, and there was no sea at all ; from whence we con- cluded that we had passed the line drawn between the Great South Sea and the Pacific Ocean by the Council of the Eoyal Society ; notwithstanding we are not yet within the tropics. 13 th. I saw a tropic bird for the first time hovering over the ship, but flying very high : if my eyes did not deceive me it differed from that described by Linnaeus {Phaeton aetherius), in having the long feathers of his tail red. The servants with a dipping net took Mimus volutator and Phyllodoce velella, both exactly the same as those we saw in the Atlantic Ocean (lat. 30° 45', long. 126° 23' 45"). 15 th. This night there was an occupation of Saturn by the moon, which Mr. Green observed, but was unlucky in F 66 TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE CHAP. IV having the weather so cloudy that the observation was good for little or nothing. 16 th. Our water which had been taken on board at Terra del Fuego has remained until this time perfectly good without the least change, which I am told is very rare, especially when, as in our case, water is brought from a cold climate into a hot one ; ours, however, has stood it without any damage, and drinks as brisk and pleasant as when first taken on board, or better, for the red colour it had at first has subsided, and it is now as clear as any English spring water. 20 th. When I look on the charts of these seas, and mark our course, which has been nearly straight at N.W. since we left Cape Horn, I cannot help wondering that we have not yet seen land. It is, however, some pleasure to be able to disprove that which only exists in the opinions of theoretical writers, as are most of those who have written anything about these seas without having themselves been in them. They have generally supposed that every foot of sea over which they believed no ship to have passed to be land, although they had little or nothing to support that opinion, except vague reports, many of them mentioned only as such by the authors who first published them. For instance, the Orange Tree, one of the Nassau fleet, having been separated from her companions, and driven to the westward, reported on her joining them again that she had twice seen the Southern continent ; both these places are laid down by Mr. Dalrymple many degrees to the eastward of our track, yet it is probable that he put them down as far to the westward as he thought it possible that the Orange Tree could have gone. To strengthen these weak arguments another theory has been started, according to which as much of the South Sea as its authors call land must necessarily be so, for otherwise this world would not be properly balanced, since the quantity of earth known to be situated in the northern hemisphere would not have a counterpoise in this. The number of square degrees of their land which we have already changed into mar. 1769 SUPPOSED SOUTHERN CONTINENT 67 water sufficiently disproves this, and teaches me at least, that till we know how this globe is fixed in that place which has been since its creation assigned to it in the general system, we need not be anxious to give reasons how any one part of it counterbalances the rest. 21st. Took Turbo fluitans, floating on the water in the same manner as Helix ianthina, Medusa porpita, exactly like that taken on the other side of the continent, and a small Cimex, which had also been taken before. This last appears to be a larva ; if so, it is probably of some animal that lives under water, as I saw many, but none that appeared perfect. On Phaeton erubescens were plenty of a very curious kind of Acarus phaetonis, which either was or appeared to be viviparous. Besides what was shot to day, there were seen man-of-war birds ( Pelecanus aquilus), and a small bird of the Sterna kind, called by the seamen egg-birds; they were white with red beaks, and about the size of Sterna hirundo. Of these I saw several just at nightfall, flying very high and following one another, all standing towards the N.N.W. ; probably there is land in that direction, as we were not far from the spot where Quiros saw his southernmost islands, Incarnation and St. John Baptist. 24 th. The officer of the watch reported that in the middle watch the water, from being roughish, became suddenly as smooth as a mill pond, so that the ship, from going only four knots, at once increased to six, though there was little or no more wind than before. A log of wood also which was seen by several people to pass the ship made them believe that there was land to windward. When I came on deck at eight o’clock the signs were all gone. I saw, how- ever, two birds which seemed to be of the Sterna kind, both very small, one quite white and the other quite black, which from their appearance could not venture far from land. To-day by our reckoning we crossed the tropic. 25 th. This evening one of our marines threw himself overboard, and was not missed until it was much too late even to attempt to recover him. He was a very young man, 68 TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE CHAP. IV scarcely twenty-one years of age, remarkably quiet and industrious, and, to make his exit more melancholy, was driven to the rash resolution by an accident so trifling that it must appear incredible to everybody who is not well acquainted with the powerful effects that shame can work upon young minds. This day at noon he was sentry at the cabin door, and while he was on that duty, one of the captain’s servants, being called away in a hurry, left a piece of sealskin in his charge, which it seems he was going to cut up to make tobacco pouches, some of which he had promised to several of the men. The poor young fellow had several times asked him for one, and when refused had told him that since he refused him so trifling a thing, he would, if he could, steal one from him. This he put into practice as soon as the skin was given into his charge, and was of course found out immediately, as the other returned and took the piece he had cut off from him, but declared that he would not complain to the officers for so trifling a cause. In the meantime the fact came to the ears of his fellow-soldiers, thirteen in number, who stood up for the honour of their corps so highly that before night they drove the young fellow almost mad by representing his crime in the blackest colours as a breach of trust of the worst description. A theft committed by a sentry on duty they made him think a most inexcusable crime, especially when the thing stolen had been given into his charge. The sergeant particularly declared that if the person aggrieved would not complain, he would himself do so, for people should not suffer scandal from the ill-behaviour of one. This affected the young man much, and he went to his hammock ; soon after the sergeant called him on deck ; he got up, and slipping past the sergeant, went forward ; it was dusk, and the people were not convinced that he had gone overboard till half an hour after the event. 31sL Myself not quite so well; a little inflammation in my throat, and swelling of the glands. ls£ April. Somewhat better to-day. As my complaint APR. 1769 LAGOON ISLAND 69 has something in it that puts me in mind of the scurvy, I took up the lemon-juice put up by Dr. Hulme’s direction, and found that that which was concentrated by evaporating six gallons into less than two has kept as well as anything could do. The small cag, in which was lemon-juice with one-fifth of brandy, was also very good, though a large part of it had leaked out by some fault in the cag : this, there- fore, I began to make use of immediately, drinking very weak punch made with it for my common liquor. 4 tli. At ten this morning my servant, Peter Briscoe, saw land which we had almost passed by ; we stood towards it, and found it to be a small island (Lagoon Island) about a mile and a half or two miles in length ; those who were upon the topmast-head perceived it to be nearly circular, and to have- a lagoon or pool of water in the middle, which occupied by far the largest part of the island. About noon we were close to it, within a mile or thereabouts, and dis- tinctly saw inhabitants, of whom we counted twenty-four ; they appeared to us through our glasses to be tall and to have very large heads, or possibly much hair upon them ; eleven of them walked along the beach abreast of the ship, each with a pole or pike as long again as himself in his hand. Every one of them was stark naked, and appeared of a brown copper colour ; as soon, however, as the ship had fairly passed the island they retired higher up on the beach and seemed to put on some clothes, or at least cover themselves with something which made them appear of a light colour. The island was covered with trees of many different verdures : the palms or cocoanut trees we could plainly distinguish, particularly two that were amazingly taller than their fellows, and at a distance bore a great resemblance to flags. The land seemed very low ; though at a distance several parts of it had appeared high, yet when we came near them they proved to be clumps of palms. Under the shade of these were the houses of the natives, in spots cleared of all underwood, so that pleasanter groves cannot be imagined, at least so they appeared to us, whose eyes had so long been unused to any other object than water and sky. 70 TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE CHAP. IV After dinner, land was again seen, with which we came up at sunset ; it proved a small island, not more than three- quarters of a mile in length, but almost round. We ran within less than a mile of it, but saw no signs of inhabitants, or any cocoanut trees, or indeed any that bore the least resemblance to palms, though there were many sorts of trees, or at least many varieties of verdure. In the neighbourhood of both this and the other island were many birds, man-of-war birds, and a small black sort of Sterna with a white spot on its head, which the seamen called noddies, but said that they were much smaller than the West Indian noddies. While we were near the island a large fish was taken with a towing-line baited with a piece of pork rind cut like a swallow’s tail ; the seamen called it a king-fish ( Scomber lanceolatus). 9th. It is now almost night, and time for me to wind up the clue of my this day’s lucubrations ; so, as we have found no island, I shall employ the time and paper which I had allotted to describe one in a work which I am sure will be more useful, if not more entertaining, to all future navigators, by describing the method which we took to cure cabbage in England. This cabbage we have eaten every day since we left Cape Horn, and have now good store remaining ; as good, to our palates at least, and fully as green and pleasing to the eye as if it were bought fresh every morning at Covent Garden Market. Our steward has given me the receipt, which I shall copy exactly — false spelling excepted. Take a strong iron-bound cask, for no weak or wooden- bound one should ever be trusted in a long voyage. Take out the head, and when the whole is well cleaned, cover the bottom with salt ; then take the cabbage, and, stripping off the outside leaves, take the rest leaf by leaf till you come to the heart, which cut into four. Lay these leaves and heart about two or three inches thick upon the salt, and sprinkle salt freely over them ; then lay cabbage upon the salt, stratum super stratum, till the cask is full. Then lay on the head of the cask with a weight which, in five or six apr. 1769 SCURVY AND LEMON JUICE 71 days, will have pressed the cabbage into a much smaller compass. After this, fill up the cask with more cabbage, as before directed, and head it up. N.B. — The cabbage should be gathered in dry weather, some time after sunrise, so that the dew may not be upon it. Halves of cabbages are better for keeping than single leaves. 10th. Weather very hazy and thick: about nine it cleared up a little, and showed us Osnaburg Island, discovered by the Dolphin in her last voyage. About one o’clock land was seen ahead in the direction of George’s Land ; it was, however, so faint that very few could see it. 11th. Up at five this morning to examine a shark caught yesterday evening : it proves to be a blue shark (Squalus glaums). To-day we caught two more, which were the common gray shark (Squalus carcharias), on one of which were some sucking-fish (Echeneis remora). The sea- men tell us that the blue shark is the worst of all to eat ; indeed, its smell is abominably strong, so as we have two of the better sort it was hove overboard. As I am now on the brink of going ashore after a long passage, thank God, in as good health as man can be, I shall fill a little paper in describing the means which I have taken to prevent the scurvy in particular. The ship was supplied by the Admiralty with sour-crout, of which I eat constantly, till our salted cabbage was opened, which I preferred : as a pleasant substitute, wort was served out almost constantly, and of this I drank a pint or more every evening, but all this did not check the distemper so entirely as to prevent my feeling some small effect of it. About a fortnight ago my gums swelled, and some small pimples rose on the inside of my mouth, which threatened to become ulcers ; I then flew to the lemon juice, which had been put up for me according to Dr. Hulme’s method, described in his book, and in his letter, which is inserted here.1 Every kind of liquor which I used was made sour 1 To J. Banks, Esq., Burlington Street. — Sir — The vessels containing the orange and lemon juice, sent by Dr. Fothergill, were to be marked, that you might know their contents ; but lest in the hurry of sending them that 72 TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE CHAP. IV with the lemon juice No. 3, so that I took nearly . six ounces a day of it ; the effect of this was surprising, in less than a week my gums became as firm as ever, and at this time I am troubled with nothing but a few pimples on my face, which have not deterred me from leaving off the juice entirely. circumstance should have been neglected, I will take the liberty to explain them. The case No. 1 contains six gallons of lemon juice evaporated down to less than two gallons. The large cask, No. 2, contains seven gallons of orange juice and one gallon of brandy. The small cask, No. 3, contains five quarts of lemon juice and one of brandy. When you come to make use of the juice which is in the casks, do not open the bung-hole, but draw it off at the end of the cask by means of a wooden cock, and make a vent-hole with a peg in it at the top of the cask ; and always observe this method when you draw off the juice you keep in casks. It would not be amiss if you were to take out with you several wooden cocks, lest any should be lost or broken ; and perhaps two or three strong iron-bound casks, holding ten gallons apiece, might be very useful for taking in a quantity of orange, lemon or lime juice, when you touch at any place abroad where those fruits grow. Besides the juices I would recommend to you to carry out a quantity of molasses, and two or three pounds of the best Ohio and Strasburg turpentine, in order to brew beer with for your daily drink when your water becomes bad. So small a quantity of molasses as two gallons, or two gallons and a half, are said to be sufficient for making an hogshead of tolerably good beer, and this method of brewing beer at sea will be peculiarly useful in case you should have stinking water on board ; for I find by experiments that the smell of stinking water will be entirely destroyed by the process of fermentation. I sincerely wish you and your companions a most prosperous voyage and a safe return to old England, loaded with all the honours you so justly deserve, — and am, sir, your most humble servant, N. Hulme. Hatton Garden, August 1, 1768. CHAPTER V OTAHITE April 13 — July 12, 1769 Reception by natives — Peace offerings and ceremonies — Thieving — Natives fired upon — Death of Mr. Buchan, the artist — Lycurgus and Hercules — Tents erected — An honest native — Flies — Music — A foreign axe found — Thefts — Names of the natives — The Dolphin's queen — Quadrant stolen — Dootahah made prisoner — Visit to Dootahah — Wrestling — Tubourai offended — Natives at divine service — Cask stolen- — Natives swimming in surf — Imao — Transit of Venus — Nails stolen by sailors — 1 Mourning — Previous visit of foreign ships — Banks takes part in a native funeral ceremony — Travelling musicians — Canoes seized for thefts — Dogs as food — Circumnavigation of the island — Image of man made of basket- work — Gigantic buildings (marai) — Battlefield — Return to station — Bread- fruit— Excursion inland — Volcanic nature of the island — Seeds planted — Dismantling the fort — Banks engages a native to go to England. 13 th. This morning early we came to an anchor in Port-royal by King George-the-Third’s Island. Before the anchor was down we were surrounded by a large number of canoes, the people trading very quietly and civilly, chiefly for beads, in exchange for which they gave cocoanuts, bread- fruit both roasted and raw, some small fish and apples. They had one pig with them which they refused to sell for nails upon any account, but repeatedly offered it for a hatchet ; of these we had very few on board, so thought it better to let the pig go than to give one of them in exchange, knowing, on the authority of those who had been here be- fore, that if we did so they would never lower their price. As soon as the anchors were well down the boats were hoisted out, and we all went ashore, where we were met by some hundreds of the inhabitants, whose faces at least gave 74 OTAHITE CHAP. V evident signs that we were not unwelcome guests, although at first they hardly dared approach us ; after a little while they became very familiar. The first who approached us came creeping almost on his hands and knees, and gave us a green hough, the token of peace ; this we received, and immediately each of us gathered a green bough and carried it in our hands. They marched with us about half a mile, then made a general halt, and scraping the ground clean from the plants that grew upon it, every one of the chiefs threw his bough down upon the bare place, and made signs that we should do the same. The marines were drawn up, and, marching in order, dropped each a bough upon those that the Indians had laid down ; we all followed their example, and thus peace was concluded. We then walked into the woods followed by the whole train, to whom we gave beads and small presents. In this manner we proceeded for four or five miles, under groves of cocoanut and bread- fruit trees, loaded with a profusion of fruit, and giving the most grateful shade I have ever experienced. Under these were the habitations of the people, most of them without walls ; in short, the scene that we saw was the truest picture of an Arcadia of which we were going to be kings that the imagination can form. Our pleasure in seeing this was, however, not a little allayed by finding in all our walk only two hogs, and not one fowl. Those of our crew who had been with the Dolphin told us that the people whom we saw were only of the common sort, and that the bettermost had certainly removed : as a proof of this they took us to the place where the Queen’s palace had formerly stood, and of which there were no traces left. We, however, resolved not to be dis- couraged at this, but to proceed to-morrow morning in search of the place to which these superior people had re- moved, in hopes of making the same peace with them as with our friends the blackguards. l^th. Several canoes came to the ship, including two in which were people who, by their dress and appearance, seemed to be of a rank superior to those whom we had seen APR. 1769 RECEPTION BY THE NATIVES 75 yesterday. These we invited to come on board, and in coming into the cabin each singled out his friend : one took the captain, and the other chose myself. Each took off a large part of his clothes, and dressed his friend with what he took off ; in return for this we presented them with a hatchet and some beads apiece. As they made many signs to us to go to the places where they lived, to the south-west of where we lay, the boats were hoisted out, and, taking them with us, we immediately proceeded accord- ing to their directions. After rowing about a league, they beckoned us on shore, and showed us a long house where they gave us to under- stand that they lived : here we landed and were met by some hundreds of the inhabitants, who conducted us into the long house. Mats were spread, and we were desired to sit down fronting an old man whom we had not before seen. He immediately ordered a cock and a hen to be brought, which were presented to Captain Cook and myself. We accepted the present ; a piece of cloth was then presented to each of us, perfumed, not disagreeably, after their manner, as they took great pains to make us understand. My piece was eleven yards long by two wide. For this I made re- turn by presenting him with a large laced silk neck-cloth I had on, and a linen pocket handkerchief : these he immediately put on and seemed much pleased. After this ceremony was over we walked freely about several large houses, attended by the ladies, who showed us all kinds of civilities. We now took leave of our friendly chief, and proceeded along shore for about a mile, when we were met by a throng of people, at the head of whom appeared another chief. We had learned the ceremony we were to go through, namely, to receive the green bough always brought to us at every fresh meeting, and to ratify the peace of which it was the emblem, by laying our hands on our breasts and saying Taio, which I imagine signifies friend. The bough was here offered and accepted, and every one of us said Taio ; the chief then made signs that if we chose to eat, he had victuals ready : 76 OTAHITE CHAP. V we accordingly dined heartily on fish and bread-fruit with plantains, etc., dressed after their method. Eaw fish was offered to us, which it seems they themselves eat. The ad- ventures of this entertainment I much wish to record parti- cularly, but am so much hurried by attending the Indians ashore almost all day long, that I fear I shall scarcely under- stand my own language when I read it again. Our chief’s own wife (ugly enough in conscience) did me the honour with very little invitation to squat down on the mats close by me ; no sooner had she done so than I espied among the common crowd a very pretty girl with a fire in her eyes that I had not before seen in the country. Un- conscious of the dignity of my companion I beckoned to the other, who, after some entreaties, came and sat on the other side of me. I was then desirous of getting rid of my former companion, so I ceased to attend to her, and loaded my pretty girl with beads and every present I could think pleasing to her : the other showed much disgust, but did not quit her place, and continued to supply me with fish and cocoanut milk. How this would have ended is hard to say ; it was interrupted by an accident which gave us an opportunity of seeing much of the people’s manners. Dr. Solander and another gentleman who had not been in as good company as myself found their pockets had been picked : one had lost a snuff-box, the other an opera-glass. Com- plaint was made to the chief, and to give it weight I started up from the ground, and striking the butt end of my gun, made a rattling noise which I had before used in our walk to frighten the people and keep them at a distance. Upon this every one of the common sort (among whom was my pretty girl) ran like sheep from the house, leaving us with only the chief, his three wives, and two or three better dressed than the rest, whose quality I do not guess at. The chief then took me by the hand to the other end of the house where lay a large quantity of their cloth ; this he offered to me piece by piece, making signs that if it would make amends, I might take any part or all. I put APR. 1769 THEFTS OF THE NATIVES 77 it back, and by signs told him that I wanted nothing but our own, which his people had stolen : on this he gave me into the charge of my faithful companion his wife, who had never budged an inch from my elbow. With her I sat down on the mat, and conversed by signs for nearly half an hour, after which time the chief came back bringing the snuff-box and the case of the opera-glass, which, with vast pleasure in his countenance, he returned to the owners ; but his face changed when he was shown that the case was empty. He then took me by the hand and walked along shore with great rapidity about a mile ; on the way he re- received a piece of cloth from a woman which he carried in his hand. At last we came to a house in which we were received by a woman : to her he gave the cloth and told us to give her some beads. The cloth and beads were left on the floor by us, and she went out and returned in about a quarter of an hour, bringing the glass in her hand, with a vast expression of joy on her countenance, for few faces have I seen with more expression in them than those of these people. The beads were now returned with a positive resolution of not accepting them, and the cloth was as resolutely forced upon Dr. Solander as a recompense for his loss ; he then made a present of beads to the lady. Our ceremonies ended, we returned to the ship, admiring a policy, at least equal to any one we had seen in civilised countries, exercised by people who have never had any advantage but mere natural interest uninstructed by the example of any civilised country. 15 tli. This morning we landed at the watering-place, bringing with us a small tent, which we set up. Whilst doing this we were attended by some hundreds of the natives, who showed a deference and respect to us which much amazed me. I drew a line before them with the butt end of my musket, and made signs to them to sit down without it. They obeyed instantly, and not a man attempted to set a foot within it. Above two hours were thus spent, and not the least disorder being committed, we proposed to walk into the woods and see if to-day we might not find 78 OTAHITE CHAP. V more hogs, etc., than when we had last visited them, suppos- ing it probable that some at least had been driven away on our arrival. This in particular tempted us to go, with many other circumstances, although an old man (an Indian well known to the Dolphin's crew) attempted by many signs to hinder us from going into the woods ; the tent was left in charge of a midshipman with the marines, thirteen in number. We marched away, and were absent about two hours. Shortly before we came hack we heard several musket shots. Our old man immediately called us together, and, by waving his hand, sent away every Indian who followed us except three, every one of whom took in their hands a green bough ; on this we suspected that some mischief had happened at the tent, and hastened home with all expedition. On our arrival we found that an Indian had snatched a sentry’s musket from him unawares and run off. The midshipman (may be) imprudently ordered the marines to fire, which they did, into the thickest of the flying crowd, some hundreds in number, and pursuing the man who had stolen the musket, killed him. Whether any others were killed or hurt no one could tell. No Indian was now to be seen about the tent except our old man, who with us took all pains to reconcile them again before night. By his means we got together a few of them, and explaining to them that the man who had suffered was guilty of a crime deserving of death (for so were we forced to make it), we retired to the ship, not well pleased with the day’s expedition, guilty, no doubt, in some measure of the death of a man whom the most severe laws of equity would not have condemned to so severe a punishment. 1 6th. No canoes about the ship this morning, indeed we could not expect any, as it is probable that the news of our behaviour yesterday was now known everywhere, a circum- stance which doubtless will not increase the confidence of our friends the Indians. We were rather surprised that the Dolphin’s old man, who seemed yesterday so desirous of making peace, did not come on board to-day. Some few people were upon the beach, but very few in proportion to APR. 1769 DEATH OF MR. BUCHAN 79 what we saw yesterday. At noon went ashore, the people rather shy of us, as we must expect them to be, till by good usage we can gain anew their confidence. Poor Mr. Buchan, the young man whom I brought out as landscape and figure painter, was yesterday attacked by an epileptic fit ; he was to-day quite insensible, and our surgeon gives me very little hopes of him. 1*7 th. At two this morning Mr. Buchan died ; about nine everything was made ready for his interment, he being already so much changed that it would not be practicable to keep him even till night. Dr. Solander, Mr. Sporing, Mr. Parkinson, and some of the officers of the ship, attended his funeral. I sincerely regret him as an ingenious and good young man, but his loss to me is irretrievable ; my airy dreams of entertaining my friends in England with the scenes that I am to see here have vanished. No account of the figures and dresses of the natives can be satisfactory unless illustrated by figures ; had Providence spared him a month longer, what an advantage would it have been to my undertaking, but I must submit. Our two friends, the chiefs of the west, came this morning to see us. One I shall for the future call Lycurgus, from the justice he executed on his offending subjects on the 14th ; the other, from the large size of his body, I shall call Hercules. Each brought a hog and bread-fruit ready dressed as a present, for which they were presented in return with a hatchet and a nail apiece. Hercules’s present is the largest ; he seems indeed to be the richest man. In the afternoon we all went ashore to measure out the ground for the tents, which done, Captain Cook and Mr. Green slept ashore in a tent erected for that purpose, after having observed an eclipse of one of the satellites of Jupiter. 18 tli. The Indians brought down such great provision of cocoanuts and bread-fruit to-day that before night we were obliged to leave off buying, and acquaint them by signs that we should not want any more for two days. Everything was bought for beads, a bead about as large as a pea 8o OTAHITE CHAP. V purchasing four or six bread-fruits and a like number of cocoanuts. My tents were got up before night, and I slept ashore in them for the first time. The lines were guarded by many sentries, but no Indian attempted to come near them during the whole night. 1 9 th. This morning Lycurgus and his wife came to see us and brought with them all their household furniture, and even houses to be erected in our neighbourhood, a circum- stance which gave me great pleasure, as I had spared no pains to gain the friendship of this man, who seemed more sensible than any of his fellow-chiefs we have seen. His behaviour in this instance makes us sure of having gained his confidence at least. Soon after his arrival he took me by the hand and led me out of the lines, signing that I should accompany him into the woods, which I did willingly, as I was desirous of knowing how near us he intended to settle. I followed him about a quarter of a mile, when we arrived at a small house, or rather the awning of a canoe set up on the shore, which seemed to be his temporary habitation. Here he unfolded a bundle of their cloths and clothed me in two garments, one of red cloth, the other of a very pretty matting, after which we returned to the tents. He ate pork and bread-fruit which was brought him in a basket, using salt- water instead of sauce, and then retired into my bed-chamber and slept about half an hour. About dinner-time Lycurgus’s wife brought a handsome young man of about twenty-two to the tents, whom they both seemed to acknowledge as their son ; at night he and another chief, who had also visited us, went away to the westward, but Lycurgus and his wife went towards the place I was at in the morning, which makes us not doubt of their staying with us for the future. 20 tli. Eained hard all this day, at intervals so much so that we could not stir at all : the people, however, went on briskly with the fortification in spite of weather. Lycurgus dined with us, he imitated our manners in every instance, already holding a knife and fork more handily than a French- APR. 1769 NATIVES’ FRIENDSHIP 81 man could learn to do in years. In spite of the rain some provisions are brought to the market, which is kept just without the lines. 21st. Several of our friends at the tents this morning; one from his grim countenance we have called Ajax, and at one time thought to be a great king. He had in his canoe a hog, but chose rather to sell it in the market than give it to us as a present, which we accounted for by his having in the morning received a shirt in return for a piece of cloth ; this may have made him fear that had he given the hog it might have been taken into the bargain, a proceeding very different from that of our friend Lycurgus, who seems in every instance to place a most unbounded confidence in us. 22nd. Our friends as usual come early to visit us, Hercules with two pigs, and a Dolphin’s axe which he wished to have repaired, as it accordingly was. Lycurgus brought a large fish, an acceptable present, as that article has always been scarce with us. Trade brisk to-day ; since our new manufacture of hatchets has been set on foot we get some hogs, though our tools are so small and bad that I only wonder how they can stand one stroke. The flies have been so troublesome ever since we have been ashore, that we can scarcely get any business done ; they eat the painter’s colours off the paper as fast as they can be laid on, and if a fish has to be drawn, there is more trouble in keeping them off than in the drawing itself. Many expedients have been thought of, but none succeed better than a mosquito-net covering table, chair, painter and drawings, but even that is not sufficient. A fly-trap was necessary within this to attract the vermin from eating the colours. For this purpose tar and molasses were mixed yesterday together, but this did not succeed, for the plate which had been smeared with it was left outside the tent to clean, and one of the Indians noticing this took the oppor- tunity, when he thought no one was observing him, of taking some of this mixture up into his hand. I saw him, and was curious to know for what use it was intended : the gentle- man had a large sore on his body, to which this clammy G 82 OTAHITE CHAP. V liniment was applied, but with what result I never took the trouble to inquire. Hercules to-day gave us a specimen of the music of this country ; four people performed upon flutes, which they sounded with one nostril, while they stopped the other with their thumbs : to these four others sang, keeping very good time, but during half an hour they played only one tune, consisting of not more than five or six notes ; more I am inclined to think they have not upon their instruments, which have only two stops. 23rd. Mr. Green and myself went to-day a little way upon the hills in order to see how the roads were. Lycurgus went with us, but complained much at the ascent, saying that it would kill him. We found as far as we went, possibly three miles, exceedingly good paths, and at the end of our walk we met boys bringing wood from the mountains, which we look upon as a proof that the journey will be very easy whenever we attempt to go higher. We had this evening some conversation about an axe which was brought in the morning by Hercules to be ground. It was very different from our English ones, and several gentle- men were of opinion that it was French. Some went so far as to give it as their opinion that some other ship had been here since the Dolphin. The difficulty, however, appeared to be easily solved by supposing axes to have been taken in the Dolphin for trade, in which case old ones of any make might have been bought, for many such I suppose there are in every old iron shop in London. 23th. I do not know by what accident I have so long omitted to mention how much these people are given to thieving. I will make up for my neglect to-day, however, by saying that great and small, chiefs and common men, all are firmly of opinion that if they can once get possession of anything it immediately becomes their own. This we were convinced of the very second day we were here ; the chiefs were employed in stealing what they could in the cabin, while their dependents took everything that was loose about the ship, even the glass ports not escaping them, of APR. 1769 THIEVING OF THE NATIVES 83 which they got off with two. Lycurgus and Hercules were the only two who had not yet been found guilty ; but they stood in our opinion but upon ticklish ground, as we could not well suppose them entirely free from a vice their country- men were so much given to. Last night Dr. Solander lent his knife to one of Lycurgus’s women, who forgot to return it ; this morning mine was missing. I resolved to go to Lycurgus, and ask him whether or not he had stolen it, trusting that if he had he would return it. On taxing him with it, he denied knowing anything concerning it. I told him I was resolved to have it returned ; on this a man present produced a rag in which were tied up three knives. One was Dr. Solander’s, the other a table-knife, and the third no one claimed. With these he marched to the tents to make restitution, while I remained with the women, who much feared that he would be hurt. Arrived there, he restored the two knives to the proper owners, and began immediately to search for mine in all the places where he had ever seen it. One of my servants seeing what he was about brought it to him ; he had, it seems, laid it aside the day before without my knowledge. Lycurgus then burst into tears, making signs with my knife that if he was ever guilty of such an action he would submit to have his throat cut. He returned immediately to me with a countenance sufficiently upbraid- ing me for my suspicions ; the scene was immediately changed, I became the guilty and he the innocent person. A few presents and staying a little with him reconciled him entirely ; his behaviour, however, has given me a much higher opinion of him than of his countrymen. 2 'Ith. Lycurgus and a friend of his (who ate most monstrously, and was accordingly christened Epicurus) dined with us. At night they took their leave and departed ; but Lycurgus soon returned with fire in his eyes, seized my arm, and signed to me to follow him. I did, and he soon brought me to a place where was our butcher, who, he told me by signs, had either threatened or attempted to cut his wife’s throat with a reaping-hook he had in his hand. 84 OTAHITE CHAP. V I signed to him that the man should be punished to-morrow if he would only clearly explain the offence, which made him so angry that his signs were almost unintelligible. He grew cooler, and showed me that the butcher had taken a fancy to a stone hatchet lying in his house ; this he offered to purchase for a nail ; his wife who was there, refused to part with it, upon which he took it up and, throwing down the nail, threatened to cut her throat if she attempted to hinder him. In evidence of this the hatchet and nail were produced, and the butcher had so little to say in his defence that no one doubted of his guilt ; after this we parted and he appeared satisfied, but did not forget to put me in mind of my promise that the butcher should to-morrow be punished. This day we found that our friends had names, and they were not a little pleased to discover that we had them likewise. For the future Lycurgus will be called Tubourai Tamaide, his wife Tamio, and the three women who commonly came with him, Terapo, Teraro, and Omie. As for our names, they make so poor a hand at pronouncing them that I fear we shall each be obliged to take a new one for the occasion. After breakfast Jno. Molineux came ashore, and the moment he entered the tent, fixed his eyes upon a woman who was sitting there, and declared that she had been the queen when the Dolphin was here. She also instantly acknow- ledged him as a person whom she had seen before. Our attention was now entirely diverted from every other object to the examination of a personage we had heard of so much of in Europe ; she appeared to be about forty, tall, and very lusty, her skin white and her eyes full of meaning; she might have been handsome when young, but now few or no traces of it were left. As soon as her Majesty’s quality was known to us, she was invited to go on hoard the ship, where no presents were spared that were thought to be agreeable to her in consider- ation of her services to the Dolphin. Among other things a child’s doll was given to her, of which she seemed very APR. 1769 THE DOLPHIN'S QUEEN 85 fond ; on her landing she met Hercules (whom for the future I shall call by his real name Dootahah ), and showed him her presents. He became uneasy, and was not satisfied till he also had got a doll, which he now seemed to prefer to a hatchet ; after this, however, dolls were of no value. 29 tli. My first business this morning was to see that the butcher was punished, as I promised Tubourai and Tamio, and of which they had not failed to remind me yesterday, when the crowd of people who were with us had prevented its being carried out. I took them on board the ship, where Captain Cook immediately ordered the offender to be punished ; they stood quietly and saw him stripped and fastened to the rigging, but as soon as the first blow was given, interfered with many tears, begging that the punish- ment might cease, a request which the captain would not comply with. At night I visited Tubourai, as I often did by candle- light, and found him and all his family in a most melancholy mood ; most of them shed tears, so that I soon left them without being at all able to find out the cause of their grief. An old man had prophesied to some of our people that in four days we should fire our guns ; this was the fourth night, and the circumstance of Tubourai crying over me, as we interpreted it, alarmed our officers a good deal ; the sentries are therefore doubled, and we sleep to-night under arms. 3 Oth. A very strict watch was kept last night, as intended, and at two in the morning I myself went round the point, finding everything perfectly quiet. Our little fortification is now complete ; it consists of high breastworks at each end ; the front palisades and the rear guarded by the river, on the bank of which we placed casks full of water : at every angle is mounted a swivel, and two carriage- guns pointed in the two directions by which the Indians might attack us out of the woods. Our sentries are also as well relieved as they could be in the most regular fortification. About ten, Tamio came running to the tents ; she seized my hand and told me that Tubourai was dying, and that I 86 OTAHITE CHAP. V must go instantly with her to his house. I went and found him leaning his head against a post. He had vomited, they said, and he told me he should certainly die in consequence of something our people had given him to eat, the remains of which were shown me carefully wrapped up in a leaf. This upon examination I found to be a chew of tobacco which he had begged of some of our people, and trying to imitate them in keeping it in his mouth, as he saw them do, had chewed it almost to powder, swallowing his spittle. I was now master of his disease, for which I prescribed cocoanut milk, which soon restored him to health. Id May. In walking round the point, I saw a canoe which I supposed to have come from a distance, as she had a quantity of fresh water in her in bamboos. In every other respect she is quite like those we have seen ; her people, however, are absolute strangers to us. 2nd. This morning the astronomical quadrant, which had been brought ashore yesterday, was missed, a circumstance which alarmed us all very much. After some time, we ascer- tained from Tubourai that it was in the hands of an Indian ; so we set out together. At every house we passed Tubourai inquired after the thief by name, and the people readily told which way he had gone, and how long ago it was since he passed by, a circumstance which gave us great hopes of coming up with him. The weather was excessively hot, the thermometer before we left the tents was 91°, which made our journey very tiresome. At times we walked, at times we ran, when we imagined (as we sometimes did) that the chase was just before us, till we arrived at the top of a hill about four miles from the tents : from this place Tubourai showed us a point about three miles off, and made us understand that we were not to expect the instru- ment till we got there. We now considered our situation : no arms among us but a pair of pocket-pistols, which I always carried, going at least seven miles from our fort, where the Indians might not be quite so submissive as at home, going also to take from them a prize for which they had ventured their lives ; all this considered, we thought it MAY 1769 A QUADRANT STOLEN 87 proper that while Mr. Green and myself proceeded, the midshipman should return, and desire Captain Cook to send a party of men after us, telling him at the same time that it was impossible that we could return till night. This done we proceeded, and at the very spot Tubourai had mentioned, were met by one of his people bringing part of the quadrant in his hand : we now stopped, and many Indians gathered about us rather rudely ; the sight of one of my pistols, however, instantly checked them, and they behaved with all the order imaginable, though we quickly had some hundreds surrounding a ring we had marked out on the grass. The box was now brought to us, and some of the small matters such as reading glasses, etc., which in their hurry they had put into a pistol-case. This I knew belonged to me ; it had been stolen from the tents with a horse-pistol in it, which I immediately demanded, and had immediately restored. Mr. Green began to overlook the instrument to see if any part, or parts, were wanting ; several small things were, and people were sent out in search of them, some of whom returned, and others did not : the stand was not there, but that, we were informed, had been left behind by the thief, and we should have it on our return, an answer which, coming from Tubourai, satisfied us. Nothing else was wanting but what could easily be repaired, so we packed up all in grass as well as we could, and proceeded homewards. After walking about two miles we met Captain Cook with a party of marines coming after us, all not a little pleased at the event of our excursion. The captain on leaving the tents left orders, both for the ship and shore, that no canoes should be suffered to go out of the bay, but that nobody’s person should be seized or detained, as we rightly guessed that none of our friends had any hand in the theft. These orders were obeyed by the first lieutenant, who was ashore ; but the second aboard, seeing some canoes going along shore, sent a boat to fetch them back. The boatswain commanding it did so, and with them brought Dootahah ; the rest of the crew leaped over- board. Dootahah was sent ashore prisoner ; the first 88 OTAHITE CHAP. V lieutenant of course could not do less than confine him, to the infinite dissatisfaction of the Indians. This we heard from them two miles before we reached the tents. On our return Tubourai, Tamio, and every Indian that we let in, joined in lamenting over Dootahah with many tears. I arrived about a quarter of an hour before the captain, during which time this scene lasted. As soon as he came he ordered him to be instantly set at liberty, which done he walked off sulkily enough, though at his departure he presented us with a pig. 3rd. No kind of provisions brought to market to-day. 5 th. At breakfast - time two messengers came from Dootahah to remind the captain of his promise [given yester- day] to visit him ; accordingly the boat set out, carrying the captain, Dr. Solander, and myself. We arrived in about an hour, Eparre, his residence, being about four miles from the tents. An immense throng of people met us on the shore, crowding us very much, though they were severely beaten for so doing by a tall good-looking man, who laid about him most unmercifully with a long stick, striking all who did not get out of his way without intermission, till he had cleared for us a path to Dootahah, who was seated under a tree, attended by a few grave-looking old men. With him we sat down, and made our presents, consisting of an axe and a gown of broadcloth made after their fashion, and trimmed with tape ; with these he seemed mightily satisfied. Soon after this Oborea [the queen] joined us, and with her I retired to an adjacent house where I could be free from the suffocating heat, occasioned by so large a crowd of people as was gathered about us. Here was prepared for our diversion an entertainment quite new to us, a wrestling match, at which the other gentlemen soon joined us. A large courtyard railed round with bamboo about three feet high was the scene of the diversion ; at one end of this Dootahah was seated, and near him were seats for us, but we rather chose to range at large among the spectators, than confine our- selves to any particular spot. The diversion began by the combatants, some of them MAY 1769 WRESTLING 89 at least, walking round the yard with a slow and grave pace, every now and then striking their left arms very hard, by which they caused a deep and very loud noise, and which it seems was a challenge to each other, or to any one of the company who chose to engage in the exercise. Within the house stood the old men ready to applaud the victor, and some few women who seemed to be here out of compliment to us, as much the larger number absented themselves upon the occasion. The general challenge being given as above, the par- ticular soon followed it, any man singling out his antagonist by joining the finger-ends of both hands level with the breast, and moving the elbows up and down ; if this was accepted, the challenged immediately returned the signal, and both instantly put themselves in an attitude to engage. This they very soon did, striving to seize each other by the hands, hair, or the cloth round the waist, for they had no other dress. They then attempted to seize each other by the thigh, which commonly decided the contest, by the fall of him who was thus taken at a disadvantage ; if this was not soon done, they always parted either by consent, or their friends interfered in less than a minute, in which case both began to clap their arms, and seek anew for an antagonist, either in each other or some one else. When any one fell, the whole amusement ceased for a few moments, while the old men in the house gave their applause in a few words wThich they repeated together in a kind of tune. This lasted about two hours, during all which time the man whom we observed at our first landing continued to beat the people who did not keep at a proper distance ; we understood that he was some officer belonging to Dootahah, and was called his Tomite. The wrestling over, the gentlemen informed me that they understood that two hogs and a large quantity of bread-fruit, etc., were cooking for our dinner ; news which pleased me very well, as I was by this time sufficiently prepared for the repast. I went out and saw the ovens in which they were buried ; these the Indians readily showed 90 OTAHITE CHAP. V me, telling me at the same time that they would soon be ready, and how good a dinner we should have. In about half an hour all was taken up, but Dootahah began to repent of his intended generosity (he thought, I suppose, that a hog would be looked upon as no more than a dinner, and consequently no present made in return) ; he therefore changed his mind, and ordering one of the pigs into the boat, sent for us, who soon collected together, and getting our knives prepared to fall to, saying that it was civil of the old gentleman to bring the provisions into the boat, where we could with ease keep the people at a proper dis- tance. His intention was, however, very different from ours, for instead of asking us to eat, he asked to go on board of the ship, a measure we were forced to comply with, and row four miles with the pig growing cold under our noses before he would give it to us. On board, how- ever, we dined upon this same pig, and his Majesty ate very heartily with us. After dinner we went ashore. The sight of Dootahah reconciled to us acted like a charm upon the people, and before night, bread-fruit and cocoanuts were brought for sale in tolerable quantity. 10 th. This morning Captain Cook planted divers seeds which he had brought with him in a spot of ground turned up for the purpose ; they were all bought of Gordon at Mile End, and sent in bottles sealed up. Whether or no that method will succeed, the event of this plantation will show. We have now got the Indian name of this island, Otahite, so therefore for the future I shall call it. As for our own names the Indians find so much difficulty in pro- nouncing them that we are forced to indulge them in calling us what they please, or rather what they say when they attempt to pronounce them. I give here the list : Captain Cook is Toote, Dr. Solander Torano, Mr. Hicks Hete, Mr. Gore Toarro, Mr. Molineux Bolci (from his Christian name Robert), Mr. Monkhouse Mato, I myself Tapane. In this manner they have names for almost every man in the ship. 1 Itli. Cocoanuts were brought down so plentifully this may 1769 NATIVE NAMES FOR THE EUROPEANS 9i morning that by half-past six I had bought 350. This made it necessary to lower the price of them, lest so many being brought at once we should exhaust the country, and want hereafter ; notwithstanding which I had before night bought more than a thousand at the rate of six for an amber-coloured bead, ten for a white one, and twenty for a fortypenny nail. 13 th. Going on shore I met Tubourai near his house. I stopped with him ; he took my gun out of my hand, cocked it, and holding it up in the air, drew the trigger. Fortunately for him it flashed in the pan. Where he had obtained so much knowledge of the use of a gun I could not conceive, hut I was sufficiently angry that he should attempt to exercise it upon mine, as I had upon all occa- sions taught him and the rest of the Indians that they could not offend me more than by merely touching it. I scolded him severely, and even threatened to shoot him. He bore all patiently, but the moment I had crossed the river he and his family moved bag and baggage to their other house at Eparre. This step was no sooner taken than I was informed of it by the Indians about the fort. Not willing to lose the assistance of a man who had upon all occasions been particularly useful to us, I resolved to go this evening and bring him back. Accordingly as soon as dinner was over I set out, accompanied by Mr. Molineux. We found him sitting among a large circle of people, him- self and many of the rest with most melancholy countenances, some in tears. One old woman on our coming into the circle struck a shark’s tooth into her head several times till it foamed with blood, but her head seemed to have been so often exercised with this expression of grief that it had become quite callous, for though the crown of it was covered with blood, enough did not issue from the wounds to run upon her cheeks. After some few assurances of forgive- ness Tubourai agreed to return with us, in consequence of which resolution a double canoe was put off, in which we all returned to the tents before supper-time, and as a token of renewal of friendship both he and his wife slept in my tent all night. 92 OTAHITE CHAP. V 14 ih. Our friends Dootahah, Oborea, Otheothea, etc., at the tents this morning as usual. It being Sunday, Captain Cook proposed that divine service should be celebrated, but before the time most of our Indian friends had gone home to eat. I was resolved, however, that some should be present that they might see our behaviour, and we might if possible explain to them (in some degree at least) the reasons of it. I went, therefore, over the river, and brought back Tubourai and Tamio, and having seated them in the tent, placed myself between them. During the whole service they imitated my motions, standing, sitting, or kneeling as they saw me do ; and so much understood that we were about something very serious, that they called to the Indians without the fort to be silent. Notwith- standing this they did not, when the service was over, ask any questions, nor would they attend at all to any explana- tion we attempted to give them. We have not yet seen the least traces of religion among these people, maybe they are entirely without it. 15tli. In the course of last night one of the Indians was clever enough to steal an iron-bound cask. It was indeed without the fort, but so immediately under the eye of the sentry that we could hardly believe the possibility of such a thing having happened. The Indians, however, acknowledged it, and seemed inclined to give intelligence, in consequence of which I set off in pursuit of it, and traced it to a part of the bay where they told me it had been put into a canoe. It was not of sufficient consequence to pursue with any great spirit, so I returned home. At night Tubourai made many signs that another cask would be stolen before morning ; and thinking, I suppose, that we did not sufficiently regard them, came with his wife and family to the place where the cask lay, and said that they themselves would take care that no one should steal them. On being told this I went to them, and explaining to them that a sentry was this night put over these particular casks, they agreed to come and sleep in my tent, but insisted on leaving a servant to assist the sentry in case the thief came, MAY 1769 SURF-SWIMMING 93 which he did about midnight. He was seen by the sentry, who fired at him, on which he retreated most expedi- tiously. 13 th. The apples1 now begin to be ripe, and are brought in large quantities very cheap; so that apple-pies are a standing dish with us. 29th. We saw the Indians amuse or exercise themselves in a manner truly surprising. It was in a place where the shore was not guarded by a reef, as is usually the case, consequently a high surf fell upon the shore, and a more dreadful one I have not often seen ; no European boat could have landed in it, and I think no European who had by any means got into it could possibly have saved his life, as the shore was covered with pebbles and large stones. In the midst of these breakers ten or twelve Indians were swimming. Whenever a surf broke near them they dived under it with infinite ease, rising up on the other side ; but their chief amusement was being carried on by an old canoe ; with this before them they swam out as far as the outermost beach, then one or two would get into it, and opposing the blunt end to the breaking wave, were hurried in with incredible swiftness. Sometimes they were carried almost ashore, but generally the wave broke over them before they were half-way, in which case they dived and quickly rose on the other side with the canoe in their hands. It was then towed out again, and the same method repeated. We stood admiring this very wonderful scene for fully half an hour, in which time no one of the actors attempted to come ashore, but all seemed most highly entertained with their strange diversion. 30 th. Carpenters employed to-day in repairing the long- boat, which is eaten in a most wonderful manner ; every part of her bottom is like a honey-comb, some of the holes being an eighth of an inch in diameter, such progress has this destructive insect made in six weeks. 3 1st. The day of observation now approaches. The weather has for some days been fine, though in general, 1 Spondias dulcis, Forst. 94 OTAHITE CHAP. V since we have been upon the island, we have had as much cloudy as clear weather, which makes us all not a little anxious for the success. In consequence of hints from Lord Morton, the captain resolved to send a party to the eastward and another to Imao, an island in sight of us, thinking that in case of thick weather one or the other might he more successful than those at the observatory. I resolve to go on the Imao expedition. 1st June. The boat was not ready until after dinner, when we set out : we rowed most of the night, and came to a grappling just under the island of Imao. 2nd. Soon after daybreak we saw an Indian canoe, and upon hailing her she showed us an inlet through the reef into which we pulled, and soon fixed upon a coral rock about 150 yards from the shore as a very proper situation for our observatory. It was about eighty yards long and twenty broad, and had in the middle a patch of white sand large enough for our tents. The second lieutenant and people therefore immediately set about fixing them, while I went upon the main island to trade with the inhabitants for provisions, of which I soon bought a sufficient supply. Before night our observatory was in order, the telescopes all set up, and tried, etc., and we went to bed anxious for the events of to-morrow. The evening having been very fine gave us great hopes of success. 3rd. Various were the changes observed in the weather during the course of last night ; some one or other of us was up every half-hour, and constantly informed the rest that it was either clear or hazy. At daybreak we rose, and soon after had the satisfaction of seeing the sun rise as clear and bright as we could wish. I then wished success to the observers, Messrs. Gore and Monkhouse, and repaired to the island, where I could do the double service of examining the natural produce and buying provision for my companions who were engaged in so useful a work. Tarroa, the king of the island, came to pay me a visit. After the first internal contact was over, I went back to the observatory, carrying with me Tarroa, his sister Nuna, and some of their JUNE 1769 THE TRANSIT OF VENUS 95 chief attendants ; we showed them the planet upon the sun, and made them understand that we had come on purpose to see it. I spent the rest of the day in examining the produce of the island, and found it very nearly similar to that of Otahite. The people, indeed, were exactly the same. Many of them we had often seen at Otahite, and every one knew well what kind of trade we had and the value it bore in that island. The hills in general came nearer to the water, and the plains were consequently smaller and less fertile than in Otahite. The low point near which we lay was composed entirely of sand and coral ; here neither bread-fruit nor any other useful vegetables would grow ; the land was covered with Pctndanus sectorius, with which grew several plants we had not seen at Otahite. Among them was Iberis,1 which Mr. Gore tells me is the plant called by the voyagers scurvy grass, and which grows plentifully upon all the low islands. Ath. What with presents and trade our stock of provi- sions was so large that we were obliged to give away a large quantity ; this done we put off, and before night arrived at the tents, where we had the great satisfaction to find that the observation there had been attended with as much success as Mr. Green and the captain could wish, the day having been perfectly clear, without so much as a cloud interven- ing. We also heard the melancholy news that a large part of our stock of nails had been purloined by some of the ship’s company during the time of the observation, when everybody who had any degree of command was ashore. One of the thieves was detected, but only seven nails out of one hundredweight were found upon him, and he bore his punishment without impeaching any of his accomplices. This loss is of a very serious nature, as these nails, if circu- lated by the people among the Indians, will greatly lessen the value of iron, our staple commodity. 5th. During our absence at Imao an old woman of some consequence died, and was placed not far from the fort to rot above ground, as is the custom of the island. I went 1 Lepidium piscidium, Forst. 96 OTAHITE CHAP. V this morning to see her. A small square was neatly railed in with bamboo, and in the midst of it a canoe awning set up upon two posts ; in this the body was laid, covered with fine cloth. Near this was laid fish, meat, etc. for the gods, not for the deceased, but to satisfy the hunger of the deities lest they should eat the body, which Tubourai told us they would certainly do, if this ceremony were neglected. In the front of the square was a kind of stile, or place lower than the rest, where the relatives of the deceased stood when they cried or bled themselves. Under the awning were numberless rags containing the blood and tears they had shed. Within a few yards were two occasional houses ; in one of them some of the relations, generally a good many, constantly remained ; in the other the chief male mourner resided, and kept a very remarkable dress in which he performed a ceremony. Both dress and ceremony I shall describe when I have an opportunity of seeing it in perfection, which Tubourai promises me I shall soon have. This day we kept the King’s birthday, which had been delayed on account of the absence of the two observing parties. Several of the Indians dined with us and drank his Majesty’s health by the name of Kilnargo, for we could not teach them to pronounce a word more like King George. Tupia (Oborea’s right-hand man, who was with her when the Dolphin was here), to show his loyalty, got most enormously drunk. 6 th. In walking into the woods yesterday, I saw in the hands of an Indian an iron tool, made in the shape of the Indian adzes, but very different, I am sure, from anything that had been carried out or made either by the Dolphin or this ship. This excited my curiosity, the more so as I was told that it did not come out of either of those ships, but from two others which came here together. This was a discovery not to he neglected. With much difficulty and labour I at last got the following account of them, viz. that in their month of Pepare (which answers to our January 1768), two Spanish ships came here, commanded by a man whom they called To Otterah ; that they lay eight days in a june 1769 EARLIER VISIT OF EUROPEANS 97 bay called Hidea, some leagues to the eastward of Mcttavie, where our ship now lies ; that during their stay they sent tents ashore, and some slept in them ; that they were chiefly connected with a chief whose name was Orette, and whose younger brother they carried away with them, promising to return in nine months ; that they had on board their ships a woman ; and that on their departure they stood to the westward as long as they were seen from the island. I was very particular in these inquiries, as the knowledge got by them may be of some consequence. The methods by which I gained this account would be much too tedious to mention. One of my greatest difficulties was to determine the nationality of the ships : for this purpose I pointed to our colours and asked whether the two ships had the same or not. “ No,” was the answer, when the question was thoroughly understood. I then opened a large sheet of flags, and asked which of them they had. Tubourai looked steadfastly over them, and at last pitched upon the Spanish ensign, and to that he adhered, although we tried him over and over again.1 9 tli. Yesterday and to-day the Heiva no Mctua, or chief mourner, walked. My curiosity was raised by his most singular dress, and being desirous of knowing what he did during his walk, I asked Tubourai, at the same time desiring leave to attend him to-morrow, which was readily granted upon my consenting to act a character. Bread-fruit has for some time been scarce with us ; about ten days ago, when there had been a great show of fruit, the trees were thinned all at once, and every one was employed in making mahie for about a week. Where the bread-fruit we now have comes from we cannot tell, but we have more than the woods around us can supply us with ; probably our consumption has thinned the trees in this neighbourhood, as the Dolphin, which came here about this time, found great plenty during the whole of her stay. If this is the case, what we now get may be brought from 1 As will appear later (see p. 370), the ships were French, under Bougainville. H 98 OTAHITE CHAP. V some neighbouring place, where the trees are not yet exhausted. 10 tli. This evening, according to my yesterday’s engage- ment, I went to the place where the Metua lay ; there I found Tubourai, Tamio, Hoona, the Metua’s daughter, and a young Indian prepared to receive me. Tubourai was the Heiva, the three others and myself were to be Nineveh. Tubourai put on his most fantastical though not unbecoming dress. I was next prepared by stripping off my European clothes and putting on a small strip of cloth round my waist, the only garment I was allowed to have. They then began to smut me and themselves with charcoal and water, the Indian boy was completely black, the women and myself as low as our shoulders ; we then set out. Tubourai began by praying twice, once near the corpse, and again near his own house. We then proceeded towards the fort ; it was necessary, it seems, that the procession should visit that place, but they dare not do it without our sanction, indeed it was not until they had received many assurances of our consent that they ventured to perform any part of their ceremonies. To the fort then we went, to the surprise of our friends and affright of the Indians who were there, for they every- where fly before the Heiva, like sheep before a wolf ; we soon left it and proceeded along shore towards a place where above a hundred Indians were collected together. We, the Ninevehs, had orders from the Heiva to disperse them ; we ran towards them, but before we came within a hundred yards of them they dispersed every way, running to the first shelter and hiding themselves under grass or whatever else would conceal them. We now crossed the river into the woods and passed several houses, all deserted ; not another Indian did we see during the half-hour that we spent in walking about. We (the Ninevehs ) then came to the Heiva and said imatata (there are no people), after which we re- paired home ; the Heiva undressed, and we went into the river and scrubbed one another until it was dark, before the blacking came off. JUNE 1769 TRAVELLING MUSICIANS 99 12 th. I11 my morning’s walk to-day I met a company of travelling musicians ; they told me where they should be at night, so after supper we all repaired to the place. There was a large concourse of people round the band, which con- sisted of two flutes and three drums, the drummers ac- companying their music with their voices. They sang many songs, generally in praise of us, for these gentlemen, like Homer of old, must be poets as well as musicians. The Indians seeing us entertained with their music, asked us to sing them an English song, which we most readily agreed to, and received much applause, so much so that one of the musicians became desirous of going to England to learn to sing. These people, by what we can learn, go about from house to house, the master of the house and the audience paying them for their music in cloth, meat, beads, or any- thing else which the one wants and the other can spare. I?) th. Mr. Monkhouse, our surgeon, met to-day with an insult from an Indian, the first that has been met with by any of us ; he was pulling a flower from a tree which grew on a burial-ground, and was consequently, I suppose, sacred, when an Indian came behind him and struck him ; Mr. Monkhouse caught and attempted to beat him, but was pre- vented by two more, who, coming up, seized hold of his hair and rescued their companion, after which they all ran away. 1 Mh. I lay in the woods last night, as I very often do ; at daybreak I was called up by Mr. Gore and went with him shooting. We did not return till night, when we saw a large number of canoes in the river behind the tents. It appears that last night an Indian was clever enough to steal a coal-rake out of the fort without being perceived ; in the morning it was missed, and Captain Cook being resolved to recover it, and also to discourage such attempts for the future, went out with a party of men and seized twenty-five of their large sailing canoes which had just come in from Tethurva, a neighbouring island, with a supply of fish. The coal-rake was upon this soon brought back, but Captain Cook thought he had now an opportunity of recovering all the things which had been stolen ; he therefore proclaimed IOO OTAHITE CHAP. V to every one that the boats should not stir until all the things were brought back. A list of the articles was im- mediately drawn up and read several times to the Indians, who at once promised that everything should he returned. Great application was made to me on my arrival that some of the boats might be released. I did not until I got to the fort understand the reason of their detention, but when I did nothing appeared plainer than that no one of them should on any account be given up from favour, but that the whole should be kept till the things were restored — if ever they were — which I much doubted, as the canoes did not belong to the people who had the articles. I confess, that had I taken a step so violent, I would have seized either the persons of the people who had stolen from us (most of whom we either knew, or shrewdly suspected), or at least their goods, instead of those of people who were entirely uncon- cerned in the affair, and had not probably interest enough with their superiors (to whom all valuable things are carried) to procure the restoration demanded. 17 th. Mr. Gore and myself went to Eparre to shoot ducks, little thinking what the consequence of our expedi- tion would be ; for before we had half filled our bags we had frightened away Dootahah and all his household with their furniture. It was no small diversion to us to find his Majesty so much more fearful than his ducks. 2C )th. This morning early Oborea and some others came to the tents, bringing a large quantity of provisions as a present, among the rest a very fat dog. We had lately learnt that these animals were eaten by the Indians, and esteemed more delicate food than pork ; now therefore was an opportunity of trying the experiment. The dog was im- mediately given over to Tupia, who, finding that it was a food that we were not accustomed to, undertook to stand butcher and cook. He killed the animal by stopping his breath, holding his hands fast over his mouth and nose, an operation which took more than a quarter of an hour : he then proceeded to dress him much in the same manner as we would do a pig, singeing him over the fire and scraping JUNE 1769 DOGS AS FOOD 101 him clean with a shell. He then opened him with the same instrument, and taking out his entrails, pluck, etc., sent them to the sea, where they were most carefully washed and put into cocoanut shells with what blood he had found in him. The stones were now laid, and the dog, well covered with leaves, laid upon them ; in about two hours he was dressed, and in another quarter of an hour completely eaten. A most excellent dish he made for us, who were not much prejudiced against any species of food. I cannot, however, promise that an European dog would eat as well, as these in Otahite scarcely in their lives touch animal food ; cocoanut kernel and bread-fruit, yams, etc., being what their masters can best afford to give them, and what indeed from custom I suppose they prefer to any other food. 24th. The market has been totally stopped ever since the boats were seized, nothing being offered for sale but a few .apples ; our friends, however, are liberal in presents, so that we make -shift to live without expending our bread, which last, and spirits, are our most valuable articles. Late in the evening Tubourai and Tamio returned from Eparre, bringing with them several presents, among the rest a large piece of thick cloth, which they desired that I would carry home to my sister Opia, and for which they would take no kind of return. They are often very inquisitive about our families, and remember anything that is told them very well. 26 th. At three o’clock this morning Captain Cook and myself set out to the eastward in the pinnace, intending, if it was convenient, to go round the island.1 28 th. We saw an English goose and a turkey-cock, which they told us had been left by the Dolphin, both of them immensely fat and as tame as possible, following the Indians everywhere, who seemed immensely fond of them. 29 th. We saw a singular curiosity: a figure of a man made of basket-work, roughly but not ill designed. It was 1 Tlie circumnavigation of the island presents few interesting features beyond what was noticed on the 28th and 29th ; any differences in customs are recorded in Chapter VII. (“General Account of the South Sea Islands”). 102 OTAHITE CHAP. V seven feet high, and too bulky in proportion to its height ; the whole was neatly covered with feathers — white to re- present skin, and black to represent hair, and tallow on the head, where were three protuberances which we should have called horns, but the Indians called them tcita ete (little men). The image was called by them Marine. They said it was the only one of the kind in Otahite, and readily attempted to explain its use, but their language was totally unintelligible, and seemed to refer to some customs to which we are perfect strangers. Several miles farther on we went ashore again, though we saw nothing remarkable but a burying-ground, whose pavement was unusually neat. It was ornamented by a pyramid about five feet high, covered entirely with the fruits of Pandanus odorus and Cratceva gynandra. In the middle, near the pyramid, was a small image of stone very roughly worked, the first instance of carving in stone that I have seen among these people. This they seemed to value, as it was protected from the weather by a kind of shed built purposely over it. Near it were three human skulls, laid in order, very white and clean, and quite perfect. We afterwards took a walk towards a point on which we had from afar observed trees of etoa ( Casuarina equiseti- folia), from whence we judged that there would be some marai in the neighbourhood ; nor were we disappointed, for we had no sooner arrived there than we were struck with the sight of a most enormous pile, certainly the masterpiece of Indian architecture in this island, and so all the inhabitants allowed. Its size and workmanship almost exceed belief. Its form was similar to that of marais in general, resembling the roof of a house, not smooth at the sides, but formed into eleven steps, each of these four feet in height, making in all 44 feet; its length was 267 feet, its breadth 71 feet. Every one of these steps was formed of white coral stones, most of them neatly squared and polished ; the rest were round pebbles, but these, from their uniformity of size and roundness, seemed to have been worked. Some of the coral stones were very large, one I measured was 3|- by 2|- feet. JUNE 1769 A LARGE MARAI 103 The foundation was of rock stone, likewise squared ; the corner-stone measured 4 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 4 inches. The building made part of one side of a spacious area walled in with stone ; the size of this, which seemed to be intended for a square, was 118 by 110 paces, and it was entirely paved with flat paving-stones. It is almost beyond belief that Indians could raise so large a structure without the assistance of iron tools to shape their stones or mortar to join them ; which last appears almost essential, as most of them are round : but it is done, and almost as firmly as an European workman would have done it, though in some things they seem to have failed. The steps for instance, which range along its greatest length, are not straight ; they bend downward in the middle, forming a small segment of a circle. Possibly the ground may have sunk a little under the immense weight of such a great pile ; such a sinking, if it took place regularly, would have this effect. The labour of the work is prodigious, the quarried stones are but few, but they must have been brought by hand from some distance ; at least we saw no signs of a quarry near it, though I looked carefully about me. The coral must have been fished up from under the water, where indeed it is most plentiful, but usually covered with at least three or four feet of water, and generally with much more. The labour of forming the blocks when obtained must also have been at least as great as that employed in getting them. The natives have not shown us any way by which they could square a stone except by means of another, which must be a most tedious process, and liable to many accidents through tools breaking. The stones are also polished as well and as truly as stones of the kind could be by the best workman in Europe ; in that particular they excel, owing to the great plenty of a sharp coral sand which is admirably adapted to the purpose, and which is found everywhere upon the sea-shore in this neigh- bourhood. About a hundred yards to the west of this building was another court or paved area, in which were several Eivhattas, a kind of altar raised on wooden pillars about seven feet 104 OTAHITE CHAP. V high ; on these they offer meat of all kinds to the gods. We have thus seen large hogs offered ; and here were the skulls of above fifty of them, besides those of dogs, which the priest who accompanied us assured us were only a small fraction of what had been here sacrificed. This marai and apparatus for sacrifice belonged, we were told, to Oborea and Oamo. The greatest pride of an inhabitant of Otahite is to have a grand marai ; in this particular our friends far exceed any one in the island, and in the Dolphin’s time the first of them exceeded every one else in riches and respect. The reason of the difference of her present appearance, I fonnd by an accident which I now relate. Our road to the marai lay by the seaside, and everywhere under our feet were numberless human bones, chiefly ribs and vertebrae. So singular a sight surprised me much, and I inquired the reason. I was told that in the month called by them Owarahew last, which answers to our December 1768, the people of Tiar- reboo made a descent here and killed a large number of people, whose bones we now saw ; that upon this occasion Oborea and Oamo were obliged to flee for shelter to the mountains ; that the conquerors burnt all the houses, which were very large, and took away all the hogs, etc. ; that the turkey and goose which we had seen were part of the spoils, as were the jaw-bones which we had also seen ; these had been carried away as trophies, and are used by the Indians here in exactly the same manner as the North Americans do scalps. 30 th. At night we came to Otahourou, the very place at which we were on the 28th of May; here we were among our intimate friends, who expressed the pleasure they had in entertaining us, by giving us a good supper and good beds, in which we slept the better for being sure of reaching Matavie [where the ship lay] to-morrow night at the farthest. Here we learned that the bread-fruit (a little of which we saw just sprouting upon the trees) would not be fit to eat in less than three months. 2nd July. All our friends crowded this morning to see JULY 1769 SUPPLY OF BREAD-FRUIT 105 us, and tell us that they were rejoiced at our return ; nor were they empty-handed, most of them brought something or other. The canoes were still in the river, and Captain Cook, finding that there was no likelihood now of any of the stolen goods being restored, resolved to let them go as soon as he could. His friend Potattow solicited for one, which was immediately granted, as it was imagined that the favour was asked for some of his friends ; hut no sooner did he begin to move the boat than the real owners and a number of Indians opposed him, telling him and his people very clamorously that it did not belong to them. He answered that he had bought it of the captain, and given a pig for it ; the people were by this declaration satisfied, and had we not luckily overheard it, he would have taken away this boat, and probably soon after have solicited for more. O11 being detected he became so sulky and ashamed, that for the' rest of the day neither he nor his wife would open their mouths, or look straight at any of us. 3rd. This morning very early Mr. Monkhouse and my- self set out, resolving to follow the course of the valley down which our river comes, in order to see how far up it was inhabited, etc. etc. When we had got about two miles up it, we met several of our neighbours coming down with loads of bread-fruit upon their backs : we had often wondered from whence our small supply of bread-fruit came, as there was none to be seen upon the flats. They soon explained the mystery, showing us bread-fruit trees planted on the sides of the hills, and telling us at the same time that when the fruit in the flats failed, these, which had been by them planted upon the hills to preserve the succession, were ready for use. The quantity was much less than in the lowlands, and not by any means sufficient to supply the whole interval of scarcity. When this was exhausted they were obliged to live on ahee nuts, plantains, and vae (or wild plantain), which grows very high up in the mountains. How the Dolphin's men, who were here much about this time, came to find so great plenty of bread-fruit upon the trees, is a mystery to me, unless perhaps the season of this fruit alters. As for their io6 OTAHITE CHAP. V having met with a much larger supply of hogs, fowls, etc., than we have done, I can most readily account for that, as we have found by constant experience that these people may be frightened into anything. They have often described to us the terror which the Dolphin’s gun caused them, and when we ask how many people were killed, they number names upon their fingers, some ten, some twenty, some thirty, and then say worrow worrow, the same word as is used for a flock of birds or a shoal of fish. The Dolphins journals often serve to confirm this opinion. “ When,” say they, “ towards the latter end of our time provisions were scarce, a party of men were sent towards Eparre to get hogs, etc., an office which they had not the smallest diffi- culty in performing, for the people, as we went along the shore, drove out their hogs to meet us, and would not allow us to pay anything for them.” About a mile farther on we found houses fairly plentiful on each side of the river, the valley being all this way three or four hundred yards across. We were now shown a house which proved the last we saw ; the master offered us cocoa- nuts, and we refreshed ourselves. Beyond this we went maybe six miles (it is difficult to guess distances when roads are bad as this was, for we were generally obliged to travel along the course of the river). We passed by several hollow places under stones where, we were told, that people who were benighted slept. At length we arrived at a place where the river was banked on each side with steep rocks ; and a cascade which fell from them made a pool so deep, that the Indians said we could not go beyond it — they never did. Their business lay below the rocks, on each side of the plains, above which grew great plenty of vae. The avenues to these were truly dreadful, the rocks were nearly perpen- dicular, one being nearly a hundred feet in height, with its face constantly wet and slippery from the water of number- less springs. Directly up the face of even this was a road, or rather a succession of long pieces of bark of Hibiscus tiliaceus, which served as a rope to take hold of and scramble up from ledge to ledge, though upon these very ledges none JULY 1769 INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND 107 but a goat or an Indian could liave stood. One of these ropes was nearly thirty feet in length ; our guides offered to help us up this pass, but rather recommended one lower down, a few hundred yards away, which was much less dangerous. We did not choose to venture on it, as the sight which was to reward our hazard was nothing but a grove of vae trees, such as we had often seen before. In the whole course of this walk the rocks were almost constantly bare to the view, so that I had a most excellent opportunity of searching for any appearance of minerals, but saw not the smallest sign of any. The stones everywhere showed manifest signs of having been at some time or other burnt, indeed I have not yet seen a specimen of stone in the island that has not the visible marks of fire upon it ; small pieces indeed of the hatchet stone may be without them, but I have pieces of the same kind burnt almost to a pumice : the very clay upon the hills shows manifest signs of fire. Possibly the island owes its origin to a volcano, which now no longer burns, or, theoretically speaking, for the sake of those authors who balance this globe by a proper weight of continent placed near these latitudes, this necessary con- tinent may have been sunk by dreadful earthquakes and volcanoes two or three hundred fathoms under the sea, the tops of the highest mountains only remaining above the water in the shape of islands : an undoubted proof being that such a thing now exists, to the great support of their theory, which, were it not for this proof, would have been already totally demolished by the course our ship made from Cape Horn to this island. 4th. I employed myself in planting a large quantity of the seeds of water-melons, oranges, lemons, limes, etc., which I had brought from Eio de Janeiro ; they were planted on both sides of the fort in as many varieties of soil as I could choose. I have very little doubt of the former, especially, coming to perfection, as I have given away large quantities of seed among the natives ; I planted some also in the woods. The natives now continually ask me for seeds, and have already shown me melon plants of their raising which io8 OTAHITE CHAP. V had taken perfectly well. The seeds that Captain Cook sowed have proved so bad that not one has come up, except the mustard ; even the cucumbers and melons have failed, owing probably to their having been packed in small bottles sealed down with rosin. 7 ill. The carpenters were this morning employed in taking down the gates and palisades of our little forti- fication to make us firewood for the ship, when one of the Indians made shift to steal the staple and hook of the great gate. We were immediately apprised of the theft, to the great affright of our visitors, of whom the bell-tent was full ; their fears were, however, presently quieted, and I (as usual) set out on my ordinary occupation of thief-catching. The Indians most readily joined me, and away we set full cry, much like a pack of fox-hounds ; we ran and walked, and walked and ran, for, I believe, six miles with as little delay as possible, when we learnt that we had very early in the chase passed our game, who was washing in a brook when he saw us coming, and hid himself in the rushes. We returned to the place, and by some intelligence which some of our people got, found a scraper which had been stolen from the ship and was hid in those very rushes ; with this we returned, and Tubourai soon after brought the staple. 12 tli. This morning Tupia came on board; he had ex- pressed his intention of going with us to England, a cir- cumstance which gives me much satisfaction ; he is certainly a most proper man, well born, chief Tahowa or priest of this island, consequently skilled in the mysteries of their religion ; but what makes him more than anything desirable is his experience in the navigation of these people and knowledge of the islands in these seas. He has told us the names of above seventy, at most of which he has himself been. The captain refuses to take him on his own account ; in my opinion sensibly enough, as the Government will never in all human probability take any notice of him. I therefore have resolved to take him ; thank Heaven, I have a suffi- ciency, and I do not know why I may not keep him as a curiosity as well as my neighbours do lions and tigers at a JULY 1769 TUPIA JOINS THE SHIP 109 larger expense than he will ever probably put me to. The amusement I shall have in his future conversation, and the benefit which will be derived by this ship, as well as any other which may in the future be sent into these seas, will, I think, fully repay me. As soon as he had made his mind known, he said he would go ashore and return in the evening, when he would make a signal for a boat to be sent off for him. He took with him a miniature picture of mine to show his friends, and several little things to give them as parting presents. CHAPTER VI OTAIIITE TO OHETEROA July 13 — August 14, 1769 Departure from Otahite — Huahine — Ulhietea — God-liouses — Boats and boat- houses— Otaliah — Bola-Bola — Return to Ulhietea — Reception by natives — Dancing — Pearls — The King of Bola-Bola— Native drama — Oheteroa — Dress — Arms. loth July. About ten this morning we sailed from Otahite, leaving our friends, some of them at least, I really believe, personally sorry for our departure. Our nearest friends came on hoard at this critical time, except only Tubourai and Tamio ; we had Oborea, Otheothea, Taysa, ISTuna, Tuanne, Matte, Pottatow, Polothearia, etc., on board. When the anchor was weighed they took their leaves tenderly enough, not without plenty of tears, though entirely without that clamorous weeping made use of by the other Indians, several boats of which were about the ship, shouting out their lament- ations, as vying with each other, not who should cry most, but who should cry loudest, a custom we had often con- demned in conversation with our particular friends, as savouring more of affected than real grief. Tupia, who after all his struggles stood firm at last in his resolution of accompanying us, parted with a few heart- felt tears, so I judge them to have been by the efforts I saw him make to hide them. He sent by Otheothea his last present, a shirt, to Potamia, Dootahah’s favourite ; he and I went then to the topmast-head, where we stood a long time waving to the canoes as they went off, after which he came down and showed no further signs of seriousness or concern. JULY 1769 HUAHINE 1 1 1 1 5th. Our Indian often prayed to Tane for a wind, and as often boasted to me of the success of his prayers, which I plainly saw he never began till he perceived a breeze so near the ship that it generally reached her before his prayer was finished. 1 6th. This morning we were very near the island of Huahine; some canoes very soon came off, but appeared very much frightened ; one, however, came to us bringing a chief and his wife, who on Tupia’s assurance of our friendship came on board. They resembled the Otahite people in language, dress, tattow, in short, in everything. Tupia has always said that the people of this island and Ulhietea will not steal, in which they indeed differ much from our late friends if they only keep up to their character. Soon after dinner we came to an anchor in a very small bay, called by the natives Owalle, and immediately went ashore. As soon as we landed Tupia squatted down on the ground, and ranging us on one side and the Indians 011 the other, began to pray to the chief who stood opposite to him, answering him in a kind of response ; this lasted about a quarter of an hour, in which time he sent at different inter- vals two handkerchiefs and some beads he had prepared for the purpose for Eatuct ; these were sent among many messages which passed backwards and forwards with plantains, etc. In return for this present to their gods, which it seems was very acceptable, we had a hog given for our Eatua , which in this case will certainly be our stomachs. 1 7 th. We found the productions here almost exactly the same as at Otahite — upon the hills the rocks and slag were burnt if anything more than they were in that island. The people also were almost exactly like our late friends, but rather more stupid and lazy, in proof of which I need only say that we should have gone much higher up the hills than we did if we could have persuaded them to accompany us ; their only excuse was the fear of being killed by the fatigue. Their houses are very neat, and their boat-houses particularly very large : one of these I measured was fifty good paces in length, ten in breadth, and twenty-four feet in height. I 12 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI The Gothic arch of which it consisted was supported on one side by twenty-six, and on the other by thirty pillars, or rather clumsy thick posts of about two feet high and one thick ; most of these were carved with the heads of men, boys, or other devices, as the rough fancy and rougher workmanship of these stone-hatchet-furnished gentry suggested and executed. The flats were filled with very fine bread-fruit trees and an infinite number of cocoanuts, upon which latter the inhabitants seem to depend much more than those of Otahite ; we saw, however, large spaces occupied by lagoons and salt swamps, upon which neither bread-fruit nor cocoanut would thrive. 18 th. This morning we went to take a further view of a building which we had seen yesterday, and admired a good deal, taking with us Tupia’s boy Tayeto (he himself was too much engaged with his friends to have time to accompany us). The boy told us that the building was called Ewharre no Eatua, or the house of the god, but could not explain at all the use of it. It consisted of a chest whose lid was nicely sewed on, and very neatly thatched over with palm -nut leaves ; the whole was fixed on two poles by little arches of very neatly carved wood. These poles seemed to be used in carrying it from place to place, though when we saw it, it was supported upon two posts. One end of the chest was open, with a round hole within a square one ; this was yesterday stopped up with a piece of cloth, which, lest I should offend the people, I left untouched ; but to-day the cloth, and probably the contents of the chest, were removed, as there was nothing at all in it. Trade to-day does not go on with any spirit ; the people, when anything is offered them, will not rely on their own judgment, but take the opinion of twenty or thirty people about them, a proceeding which takes up much time. 19 th. This morning trade was rather better; we obtained three very large hogs and some pigs by producing hatchets, which had not been before given, and which we had hoped to have had no occasion for in an island not hitherto seen by Europeans. JULY 1769 ULHIETEA 1 13 Huahine differs scarcely at all from Otahite, either in its productions or in the customs of the people. In all our researches here we have not found above ten or twelve new plants ; there were, indeed, a few insects and a species of scorpion which we had not seen at Otahite. This island seems, however (this year, at least), to be a month more forward than the other, as the ripeness of the cocoanuts, now full of kernel, and the new bread-fruit, some of which is fit to eat, fully evinces. Of the cocoanut kernels they make a food, called poe, by scraping them fine and mixing them with yams, also scraped ; these are then put into a wooden trough, and hot stones laid among them. By this means a kind of oily hasty -pudding is made, which our people relished very well, especially when fried. The men here are large and stout ; one we measured was six feet three inches high and well made. The women are very fair, more so than at Otahite, though we saw none so handsome. Both sexes seemed to be less timid, as well as less curious ; the firing of a gun frightened them, but they did not fall down, as our Otahite friends generally did. On one of their people being taken in the act of stealing, and seized by the hair, the rest did not run away, but coming round, inquired into the cause, and, seemingly at least, ap- proving of the justice, recommended a beating for the offender, which was immediately put into practice. When they first came on board the ship they seemed struck with sights so new, and wondered at everything that was shown to them, but did not seem to search or inquire for matters of curiosity even so much as the people of Otahite did, although the latter had before seen almost everything we had to show them. 2 Oth. At noon to-day we came to anchor at Ulhietea, in a bay called by the natives Oapoa, the entrance of which is very near a small islet called Owhattera. Some Indians soon came on board, expressing signs of fear. There were two canoes, each of which brought a woman, I suppose, as a mark of confidence, and a pig as a present. To each of these ladies was given a spike -nail and some beads, with I OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI 114 which they seemed much pleased. Tupia, who has always expressed much fear of the men. of Bola-Bola, says that they have conquered this island, and will to-morrow come down and fight with us ; we therefore lose no time in going ashore, as we are to have to-day to ourselves. On landing Tupia repeated the ceremony of praying, as at Huahine, after which an English Jack was set up on shore, and Captain Cook took possession of this and the other three islands in sight, viz. Huahine, Otahah, and Bola- Bola, for the use of His Britannic Majesty. After this we walked together to a great marai, called Tapodebocitea, whatever that may signify. It is different from those of Otahite, consisting merely of walls of coral stones (some of an immense size) about eight feet high, filled up with smaller ones, and the whole ornamented with many planks set up on end, and carved throughout their entire length. In the neighbourhood of this we found the altar or Ewhatta , upon which lay the last sacrifice, a hog of about eighty pounds weight, which had been put up there whole, and very nicely roasted. Here were also four or five Ewharre, no Eatua, or god-houses, which were made to be carried on poles ; one of these I examined by putting my head into it. Within was a parcel about five feet long and one thick, wrapped up in mats. These I tore with my fingers till I came to a covering of mat made of plaited cocoanut fibres, which it was impossible to get through, so I was obliged to desist, especially as what I had already done gave much offence to our new friends. In an adjoining long house, among several other things such as rolls of cloth, etc., was standing a model of a canoe about three feet long, upon which were tied eight human lower jaw-bones. Tupia told us that it was the custom of these islanders to cut off the jaw-bones of those whom they had killed in war. These were, he said, the jaw-bones of Ulhietea people, but how they came here, or why tied thus to a canoe, we could not understand ; we therefore contented ourselves with conjectur- ing that they were placed there as a trophy won back from the men of Bola-Bola, their mortal enemies. ISTight now JULY 1769 NATIVE BOATS 115 came on apace, but Dr. Solander and I walked along shore a little way, and saw an Ewharre no Eatua, the under part of which was lined with a row of jaw-bones. These, we were told, were also those of Ulhietea men. We saw also cocoa- nut trees, the stems of which were hung round with nuts, so that no part could be seen ; these, we were told, were put there to dry a little, and be prepared for making poe. A tree of Ficus prolixa was in great perfection ; the trunk, or rather congeries of small roots, being forty-two paces in circumference. 21st. Dr. Solander and I walked out this morning and saw many boat-houses like that described at Huahine (p. Ill); on these the inhabitants were at work, making and repairing the large canoes called by them Pahie, at which business they worked with incredible cleverness, although their tools were as bad as possible. I will first give the description and dimensions of one of their boats, and then their method of building. Her extreme length from stem to stern, not reckoning the bending up of both those parts, 5 1 feet ; breadth in the clear at the top forward, 14 inches, amidships 18, aft 15 ; in the bilge forward 32 inches, amidships 35, aft 33 ; depth amidships, 3 feet 4 inches ; height above the ground, 3 feet 6 inches ; her head raised, without the figure, 1 1 inches ; her stern, 8 feet 9 inches ; the figure, 2 feet. Alongside of her was lashed another like her in all respects, but smaller in proportion, being only 33 feet in her extreme length. The form of these canoes can be better shown by a drawing than by any description ; the annexed may serve to give some idea of a sec- tion : a a is the first seam, b b the second, c c the third. The first stage, or keel under act, is made of trees hollowed out like a trough. For this purpose they choose the longest trees they can find, so that two or three form the bottom of their largest boat (some of which are much larger than that described here, as I make a rule to ii6 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI describe everything of this kind from the commonest size). The next stage, under b b, is formed of straight planks about 4 feet long, 15 inches broad, and 2 inches thick. The third stage, under c c, is made, like the bottom, of trunks of trees hollowed out into its bilging form. The last stage, above c c, is formed also out of the trunks of trees, so that the moulding is of one piece with the plank. This work, difficult as it would be to an European with his iron tools, they perform without iron and with amazing dexterity. They hollow out with their stone axes as fast, at least, as our carpenters could do, and dubb, though slowly, with pro- digious nicety. I have seen them take off the skin of an angular plank without missing a stroke, the skin itself scarce one-sixteentli part of an inch in thickness. Boring the holes through which their sewing is to pass seems to be their greatest difficulty. Their tools are made of the bones of men, generally the thin bone of the upper arm ; these they grind very sharp and fix to a handle of wood, making the instru- ment serve the purpose of a gouge, by striking it with a mallet made of hard black wood. With them they would do as much work as with iron, were it not that the brittle edge of the tool is very liable to be broken. When they have prepared their planks, etc., the keel is laid on blocks and the whole canoe put together much in the same manner as we do a ship, the sides being supported by stanchions and all the seams wedged together before the last sewing is put on, so that they become tolerably tight, considering that they are without caulking. With these boats they venture themselves out of sight of land : we saw several of them at Otahite which had come from Ulliietea ; and Tupia has told us that they undertake voyages of twenty days ; whether this is true or false I do not affirm. They keep the boats very carefully under such boat-houses as are described on p. 111. 22nd. We saw a double pahie, such as that described yesterday, but much longer. She had upon her an awning supported by pillars, which held the floor at least four feet above the deck or upper surface of the boats. We saw JULY 1769 OTAHAH 117 also a trough for making Poe poe, or sour paste, carved out of hard black stone such as their hatchets are made of ; it was 2 feet 7 inches long and 1 foot 4 broad, very thick and substantial, and supported by four short feet, the whole neatly finished and perfectly polished, though quite without ornaments. To-day, as well as yesterday, every one of us who walked out saw many jaw-bones fixed up in houses, as well as out-of-doors, which confirmed what we had been told of their taking these bones instead of scalps. 24:th. The captain attempted to go out of the reef by another passage situated between the two islets of Opourourou and Taumou. Whilst the ship was turning to windward within the reef she narrowly escaped going ashore ; the quartermaster in the chains called out two fathoms, but as the ship drew at least fourteen feet, it was impossible that such a shoal could be under her keel, so that either the man was mistaken, or the ship went along the edge of a coral rock, many of which are here as steep as a wall. Soon after this we came to an anchor, and I went ashore, but saw nothing except a small marai, ornamented with two sticks about five feet long, each hung with as many jaw- bones as possible, and one having a skull stuck on its top. 28 th. Dr. Solander and I went ashore on the island of Otahah. We went through a large breach in the reef situate between two islands called Toahattu and Whennuaia, within which we found very spacious harbours, particularly in one bay, which was at least three miles deep. The in- habitants as usual, so that long before night we had pur- chased three hogs, twenty-one fowls, and as many yams and plantains as the boat would hold ; indeed, of these last we might have had any quantity, and a more useful refreshment they are to us, in my opinion, even than the pork. They have been for this week past boiled, and served instead of bread ; every man in the ship is fond of them, and with us in the cabin they agree much better than the bread-fruit did. But what makes any refreshment of this kind more acceptable is that our bread is at present so full of vermin that, notwithstanding all possible care, I have sometimes had 1 18 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI twenty at a time in my mouth, every one of which tasted as hot as mustard. The island itself seemed more barren than Ulhietea, though the produce was very similar, but bread-fruit was less plentiful than plantains and cocoanuts. The people were exactly the same, so much so that I did not observe one new custom worth mention. They were not very numerous, but flocked from all quarters to the boat where- ever she went, bringing with them whatever they had to sell. Here, as well as in the rest of the islands, they paid us the same compliment as they are used to pay to their own kings, uncovering their shoulders and lapping their garments round their breasts. Here particularly they were so scrupulously observant of it that a man was sent with us who called out to every one we met, telling him who we were and what they should do. 2§th. We are this morning close under the island of Bola-Bola, whose high craggy peak appears, on this side at least, totally inaccessible to man ; round it is a large quantity of low land, which seems very barren. Tupia tells us that between the shore and the mountain is a large salt lagoon, a certain sign of barrenness in this climate. 31 sit Tupia to-day shows us a large breach in the reef of.Otahah, through which the ship might conveniently pass into a large bay, where he says there is good anchorage. We have now a very good opinion of Tupia’s pilotage, especially since we observed him at Huahine send a man to dive down to the heel of the ship’s rudder ; this the man did several times, and reported to him the depth of water the ship drew, since when he had never suffered her to go in less than five fathoms without being much alarmed. 2nd August. Dr. Solander and I have spent this day ashore [on Ulhietea], and been very agreeably entertained by the reception we have met with from the people, though we were not fortunate enough to meet with one new plant. Every one seemed to fear and respect us, but nobody to mistrust us in the smallest degree. Men, women, and children came crowding after us, but no one showed us AUG. 1769 INHABITANTS OF ULFIIETEA 119 the least incivility; on the contrary, wherever there was dirt or water to pass over they strove who should carry ns on their backs. On arriving at the houses of the principal people we were received with a ceremony quite new to us ; the people, who generally followed us, rushed into the houses before us, leaving, however, a lane sufficiently wide for us to pass through. When we came in, we found them ranged on either side of a long mat spread upon the ground, at the farther end of which sat one or more very young women or children, neatly dressed, who, without stirring, expected us to come up to them and make them presents, which we did with no small pleasure, for prettier or better dressed children we had nowhere seen. One of these Tettuas, as they were called, was about six years old, her apron or gown was red, and round her head was wound a large quantity of tamou (plaited hair), an ornament they value more than anything they have ; she sat at the farthest end of a mat thirty feet long, on which no one of the spectators presumed to set a foot, notwithstanding the crowd. She was leaning upon the arm of a well-looking, well-dressed woman of about thirty, possibly her nurse. We walked up to her, and as soon as we approached she stretched out her hand to receive the beads we were to give. Had she been a princess-royal of England giving her hand to be kissed, no instructions could have taught her to do it with a better grace ; so much is untaught nature superior to art, that I have seen no sight of the kind that has struck me half so much. Grateful possibly for the presents we had made to these girls, the people on our return tried every method to oblige us, particularly in one house where the master ordered one of his people to dance for our amusement, which he did thus. He put upon his head a large cylindrical basket about four feet long and eight inches in diameter, on the front of which was fastened a facing of feathers bending forwards at the top and edged round with sharks’ teeth and the tail feathers of tropic birds. With this on he danced, moving slowly, and often turning his head round, sometimes swiftly throwing 120 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI the end of his head-dress, or whow, so near the faces of the spectators as to make them start back, which was a joke that seldom failed to make everybody laugh, especially if it happened to one of us. We had also an opportunity of seeing the inside of the Ewharre no Eatua, so often mentioned : there were three of them, much ornamented with jaw-bones, and very full of bundles wrapped up in their cloth ; these the people opened after some persuasion, and in them we found complete skulls, with their lower jaw-bones in their proper places; perhaps these were the skulls of those of the victorious party who died in battle, and the jaw-bones fastened on the outside were those of the conquered, hut for this conjecture I had no authority from the Indians, who seemed to avoid as much as possible any questions upon the subject. 3rd. Went along shore in the opposite direction to that we took yesterday, intending to spend most of our time in purchasing stock, which we have always found the people ready to part with at their houses, and selling cheaper than at the market. In the course of our walk we met a set of strolling dancers, called by the Indians Jieiva, who detained us two hours, and during all that time entertained us highly indeed. The party consisted of three drums, two women dancers and six men ; these Tupia tells us go round the island, as we have seen the little heivas do at Otahite, hut differ from those in that most of the members of the heiva here are important people, of which assertion we had in the case of one of the women an undoubted proof. The women had on their heads a quantity of tamou, or plaited hair, which was rolled, and flowers of gardenia were stuck between the interstices, making a head-dress truly elegant. Their shoulders, arms, and breasts as low as their arms were bare, below this they were covered with black cloth, and under each shoulder was placed a hunch of black feathers much as our ladies’ nosegays or bouquets. On their hips rested a quantity of cloth plaited very full, which reached almost up to their arms, and fell down below into long petticoats, reaching below their feet, which they managed AUG. 1769 PEARLS 121 with as much dexterity as our opera dancers could have done ; these plaits were brown and white alternately, but the petticoats were all white. In this dress they advanced sideways, keeping excellent time to the drums, which beat briskly and loud : they soon began to shake their hips, giving the folds of cloth that lay upon them a very quick motion, continued during the whole dance. They sometimes stood, sometimes sat, and sometimes rested on their knees and elbows, generally moving their fingers with a quickness scarcely to be imagined. One of these girls had in her ear three pearls, one very large but so foul that it was worth scarce anything ; the other two were as large as a middling pea, and of a clear water as well as a good shape. For these I offered at different times any price the owner would have, but she would not hear of parting with them ; I offered once the price of four hogs down and anything she would ask beside. They have always set a value upon their pearls, if tolerably good, almost equal to our valuation, supposing them (as they' always are, however) not spoiled by the drilling. Between the dances of the women (for they sometimes rested) the men acted a kind of interlude, in which they spoke as well as danced ; we were not, however, sufficiently versed in their language to be able to give an account of the drama. 4 th. We had often heard Tupia speak of lands belonging to him which had been taken away by the Bola-Bola men. These, he tells us now, are situated in the very bay where the ship lies. On going ashore this morning, the inhabitants confirmed what he had told us, and showed us several different whennuas, which, they all acknowledged, belonged of right to him. The greater number of the people here are, it seems, the so-much-feared Bola-Bola men, and we were told that to-morrow Opoony, the king of that island, will come to visit us. We are much inclined to receive him civilly, as we have met with so civil a reception from his subjects. We saw the game which the Indians call erowhaw. It 122 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI consists of nothing more than pitching a kind of light lance, headed with hard wood, at a mark. Of this amusement they seem to be very fond, but none that we then saw excelled in doing it, not above one in twelve striking the mark, which was the bole of a plantain tree about twenty yards distant. 5 th. Went in the boat to the southward with the captain, etc. ; saw two inlets in the reef, and good harbours within them. They were both situate close to islands, having one on each side of them ; indeed, in general, I have seen breaches in reefs wherever there are islands upon them. The people along shore were very poor, so much so that after all our day’s work we did not procure either hog or fowl, nor, indeed, did we see either. 6 th. Yesterday Opoony, the king of Bola-Bola, sent his compliments and a present of hogs and fowls to the king of the ship, sending word also that he would in person wait upon him to-day. We therefore all stayed at home in hopes of the honour of his Excellency’s visit. We were disappointed in our expectations, but not disagreeably, for instead of his Majesty came three handsome, lively girls, who stayed with us the morning, and took off all regret for the want of his Majesty’s company. In the evening we all went to see the great king, and thank him for his civilities. The king of the Tata-toas, or clubmen, who have conquered this island, and are the terror of all others, we expected to see young, lively, handsome, etc. etc., but were disappointed when we were led to an old, decrepit, half-blind man, who seemed to have scarce reason enough left to send hogs, much less gallantry enough to send ladies. 'Itli. We learned from Opoony yesterday that his chief residence was atOtahah: to this place he proposed to accompany us to-day. Captain Cook and Dr. Solander went upon the expedition, while I stayed at home. They proceeded with Opoony and all his train, and many canoes, to a bay in Otahah called Obooto-booto, his Majesty’s chief residence. Here the houses were very large and good, and the canoes also finer AUG. 1769 DANCING 123 than any the gentlemen had before seen. Such a prelude made them expect much from the owners — a boat-load of hogs was the least they thought of, especially as they had plenty of Spartan money to pay for them ; but, alack ! the gentlemen who had fatigued themselves with building their houses chose to refresh themselves with eating the hogs, so that after the whole day was spent a small number only were procured in proportion to what were expected. Took Mr. Parkinson to the heiva that he might sketch the dresses. The dancing was exactly the same as I had seen before, except that another woman was added to the former two. The interludes of the men were varied ; they gave us five or six which resembled much the drama of an English stage dance. Their names and relationships, as they are chiefly one family, are : ( 1 ) Tiarree no Horace, a king or chief. (2) Whannooutooa, wife to 1. (3) Otoolooi, sister to 2. (4) Orai, elder brother to 2. (5) Tettuanne, younger brother to 2. (6) Otehammena, dancing girl. (7) Ouratooa, do. (8), Mattehea, father to 1. (9) Opipi, mother to 1. 8 th. Dr. Solander and I went along shore to gather plants, buy hogs, or anything else that might occur. We took our course towards the heiva, and at last came up with it. It has gradually moved from very near us till now it is two leagues off. Tupia tells us that it will in this manner move gradually round the island. Our friends received us, as usual, with all manner of civility, dancing, and giving us, after the amusement, a very good dinner, as well as offering us a quantity of their cloth as a present, which we should have accepted had we not been full-stocked with it before. We now understood a little more of the interludes than formerly. I shall describe one as well as I can. The men were divided into two parties, differing in the colour of their clothes, one brown, the other white. The chief of the browns gives a basket of meat to his servants that they might take care of it. The whites represent thieves who constantly attempt to steal it, dancing all the time. Several different 124 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI expedients they make use of without success, till at last they find the watchmen asleep ; they then go gently up to them, and lifting them off from the basket, which for security they have placed in their middle, they go off with their prize. The others awake and dance, but seem to show little regret for their loss, or indeed hardly to miss the basket at all. 9 th. We resolved to sail as soon as the people left off bringing provisions, which about noon they did, and we again launched out into the ocean in search of what chance and Tupia might direct us to. 13 th. Many albecores have been about the ship all this evening. Tupia took one, and had not his rod broken, would probably have taken many. He used an Indian fish-hook made of mother-of-pearl, so that it served at the same time for hook and bait. At noon to-day, high land in sight, which proves to be an island which Tupia calls Oheteroa. 14 th. The island of Oheteroa was to all appearance more barren than anything we have seen in these seas, the chief produce seeming to be etoa (from the wood of which the people make their weapons) ; indeed, everywhere along shore where we saw plantations, the trees were of this kind. It is without a reef, and the ground in the bay we were in was so foul and coralline, that although a ship might come almost close to the shore, she could not possibly anchor. The people seemed strong, lusty, and well made, but were rather browner than those we have left behind ; they were not tattowed like them, but had instead black marks about as broad as my hand under their armpits, the sides of which marks were deeply indented. They had also smaller circles round their arms and legs. Their dress was indeed most singular, as well as the cloth of which it was made. It consisted of the same materials as the inhabitants of the other islands make use of, and was gener- ally dyed of a very bright deep yellow ; upon this was spread in some cases a composition, either red or of a dark lead colour, which covered it like oil colour or varnish. Upon AUG. 1769 OHETEROA 125 this again were painted stripes in many different patterns with infinite regularity, much in the same way as lustring silks in England, all ...... ...... ,, , the straight lines upon , ,-p-. j j , j.™ , j ! , ^ , j ! , , them being drawn with j j • ! j ! ! ; such accuracy that we j ! | ; ! j ; were almost in doubt j j ! i | i I ! whether or not they 1 ' ' ' were stamped on with some kind of press. The red cloth was painted in this manner with black, the lead-coloured with white. Of this cloth, generally the lead-coloured, they had on a short jacket that reached about down to their knees, and made of one piece, with a hole through which they put their heads, the sides of which hole differed from anything I have seen, being stitched with long stitches. This was tied round their bodies by a piece of yellow cloth which passed behind their necks and came across the breasts in two broad stripes crossing each other ; it was then collected round the waist in the form of a belt, under which was another of the red cloth, so that the whole made a very gay and warlike appearance. Some had on their heads caps, as described above, of the tails of tropic birds, but these did not become them so well as a piece of white or lead-coloured cloth, which most of them had wound on their heads like a small turban. Their arms consisted of long lances made of the etoa, or hard wood, well polished and sharpened at one end ; of these some were nearly twenty feet long, and scarcely as thick as three fingers ; they had also clubs or pikes of the same wood about seven feet long, well polished, and sharpened at one end into a broad point. How expert they may be in the use of these we cannot tell, but the weapons themselves seem intended more for show than use, as the lance was not pointed with stings of sting-rays, and their clubs or pikes, which must do more execution by their weight than their sharpness, were not more than half as heavy as the smallest I have seen in the other islands. Defensive weapons I saw none ; they, however, guarded 126 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. VI themselves against such weapons as their own by mats folded and laid upon their breasts under their clothes. Of the few things we saw among the people, every one was ornamented in a manner infinitely superior to anything we had hitherto seen. Their cloth was of a better colour, as well as nicely painted ; their clubs were better cut and polished ; the canoe which we saw, though very small and narrow, was nevertheless very highly carved and ornamented. One thing particularly in her seemed to be calculated rather as an ornament for something that was never intended to go into the water, and that was two lines of small white feathers placed on the outside of the canoe, and which were, when we saw them, thoroughly wet with the water. We have now seen seventeen islands in these seas, and have landed on five of the most important ; of these the language, manners, and customs agreed most exactly. I should therefore he tempted to conclude that those islands which we have not seen do not differ materially at least from the others. The account I shall give of them is taken chiefly from Otahite, where I was well acquainted with their policy, as I found them to be a people so free from deceit that I trusted myself among them almost as freely as I could do in my own country, sleeping continually in their houses in the woods without so much as a single companion. Whether or not I am right in judging their manners and customs to be general among these seas, any one who gives himself the trouble of reading this journal through can judge as well as I myself. CHAPTER VII GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS Description of the people — Tattowing — Cleanliness — Clothing — Ornaments and head-dress — Houses — Food — Produce of the sea — Fruits — Animals — Cooking — Mahai- making — Drinking salt-water — Meals — Women eat apart from the men — Pastimes — Music — Attachment to old customs — Making of cloth from bark — Dyes and dyeing — Mats — Manufacture of fishing-nets — Fish-hooks — Carpentry, etc. — Boats and boat-building — Fighting, fishing, and travelling ivahahs — Instability of the boats — Paddles, sails, and ornaments — Pahies — Predicting the weather — Astronomy — Measurement of time and space — Language — Its resemblance to other languages — Diseases — Medicine and surgery — Funeral ceremonies — -Disposal of the dead — Religion — Origin of mankind — Gods — Priests — Marriage — Marais — Bird -gods — Government — Ranks — Army and battles — Justice. All the islands I have seen are very populous along the whole length of the coast, where are generally large flats covered with a great many bread-fruit and cocoanut trees. There are houses scarcely fifty yards apart, with their little plantations of plantains, the trees from which they make their cloth, etc. But the inland parts are totally uninhabited, except in the valleys, where there are rivers, and even there there are hut a small proportion of people in comparison with the numbers who live upon the flats. These people are of the larger size of Europeans, all very well made, and some handsome, both men and women ; the only bad feature they have is their noses, which are in general flat, but to balance this their teeth are almost with- out exception even and white to perfection, and the eyes of the women especially are full of expression and fire. In colour they differ very much ; those of inferior rank who 128 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS ch. vii are obliged in the exercise of their profession, fishing especially, to be much exposed to the sun and air, are of a dark brown, while those of superior rank, who spend most of their time in their houses under shelter, are seldom browner (the women particularly) than that kind of brunette which many in Europe prefer to the finest red and white. Complexion, indeed, they seldom have, though some I have seen show a blush very manifestly ; this is perhaps owing to the thickness of their skin, but that fault is in my opinion well compensated by their infinite smoothness, much superior to anything I have met with in Europe. The men, as I have before said, are rather large. I have measured one 6 feet 3^ inches. The superior women are also as tall as Europeans, but the inferior sort are generally small. Their hair is almost universally black and rather coarse, this the women wear always cropped short round their ears ; the men, on the other hand, wear it in many various ways, sometimes cropping it short, some- times allowing it to grow very long, and tying it at the top of their heads or letting it hang loose on their shoulders, etc. Their beards they all wear in many different fashions, always, however, plucking out a large part of them and keeping what is left very clean and neat. Both sexes eradicate every hair from under their armpits, and they looked upon it as a great mark of uncleanliness in us that we did not do the same. During our stay in these islands I saw some, not more than five or six, who were a total exception to all I have said above. They were whiter even than we, but of a dead colour, like that of the nose of a white horse ; their eyes, hair, eyebrows, and beards were also white ; they were universally short-sighted, and always looked unwholesome, the skin scurfy and scaly, and the eye often full of rheum. As no two of them had any connection with one another, I conclude that the difference of colour, etc., was totally accidental, and did not at all run in families. So much for their persons. I shall now mention their methods of painting their bodies, or tattoiv as it is called in 1769 TATTOWING 129 their language. This they clo by inlaying black under their skins, in such a manner as to be indelible. Every one is thus marked in different parts of his body, according maybe to his humour, or different circumstances of his life. Some have ill-designed figures of men, birds or dogs ; but they more generally have a Z, either plain — as is generally the case with the women on every joint of their fingers and toes and often round the outside of their feet — or in different figures such as squares, circles, crescents, etc., which both sexes have on their arms and legs ; in short, they have an infinite diversity of figure in which they place this mark. Some of them we were told had significations ; but these we never learnt to our satisfaction. Their faces are generally left without any marks ; I did not see more than one instance to the contrary. Some few old men had the greater part of their bodies covered with large patches of black, which ended in deep indentations, like coarse imitations of flame ; these we were told were not natives of Otahite, but came from a low island called Noonoora. Although they vary so much in the application of the figures — I have mentioned that both the quantity and situation seem to depend entirely upon the humour of each individual — yet all the islanders I have seen (except those of Oheteroa) agree in having their buttocks covered with a deep black. Over this most have arches, which are often a quarter of an inch broad, drawn one above the other as high as their short ribs, and neatly worked on their edges with indentations, etc. These arches are their great pride : both men and women show them with great pleasure, whether as a mark of beauty, or a proof of their perseverance and resolution in bearing pain I cannot tell. The pain in doing this is almost intolerable, especially the arches upon the loins, which are so much more susceptible to pain than the fleshy buttocks. The colour they use is lamp black prepared from the smoke of a kind of oily nut, used by them instead of candles. This is kept in cocoanut shells, and occasionally mixed with water for use. Their instruments for pricking this under the skin are made of flat bone or shell ; the lower part of K i3o GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS ch. vii which is cut into sharp teeth, numbering from three to twenty, according to the purposes it is to be used for ; the upper end is fastened to a handle. The teeth are dipped into the black liquor, and then driven by quick sharp blows, struck upon the handle with a stick used for that purpose, into the skin, so deeply that every stroke is followed by a small quantity of blood, or serum at least, and the part so marked remains sore for many days before it heals. I saw this operation performed on the 5 th of July on the buttocks of a girl about fourteen years of age ; for some time she bore it with great resolution, but afterwards began to complain ; and in a little time grew so outrageous that all the threats and force her friends could use could hardly oblige her to endure it. I had occasion to remain in an adjoining house an hour at least after this operation began, and yet went away before it was finished, in which time only one side was blacked, the other having been done some weeks before. It is performed between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, and so essential is it that I have never seen one single person of years of maturity without it. What can be a sufficient inducement to suffer so much pain is difficult to say ; not one Indian (though I have asked hundreds) would ever give me the least reason for it. Possibly superstition may have something to do with it, nothing else in my opinion could be a sufficient cause for so apparently absurd a custom. As for the smaller marks upon the fingers, arms, etc., they may be intended only for beauty ; our European ladies have found the convenience of patches, and something of that kind is more useful here where the best complexions are much inferior to theirs in England ; and yet whiteness is esteemed the first essential in beauty. They are certainly as cleanly a people as any under the sun ; they all wash their whole bodies in running water as soon as they rise in the morning, at noon, and before they sleep at night. If they have not such water near their houses, as often happens, they will go a good way to it. As for their lice, had they the means only they would certainly 1769 DRESS OF OTAHITE 131 be as free from them as any inhabitants of so warm a climate could be. Those to whom combs were given proved this, for those with whom I was best acquainted kept themselves very clean during our stay by the use of them. Eating lice is a custom which none but children, and those of the inferior people, can be charged with. Their clothes also, as well as their persons, are kept almost without spot or stain ; the superior people spend much of their time in repairing, dye- ing, etc., the cloth, which seems to be a genteel amusement for the ladies here as it is in Europe. Their clothes are either of a kind of cloth made of the bark of a tree, or mats of several different sorts ; of all these and of their manner of making them I shall speak in another place ; here I shall only mention their method of covering and adorning their persons, which is most diverse, as they never form dresses, or sew any two pieces together. A piece of cloth, generally two yards wide and eleven long, is sufficient clothing for any one, and this is put on in a thousand different ways, often very genteelly. Their formal dress however is, among the women, a kind of petticoat, joarou, wrapped round their hips, and reaching to about the middle of their legs ; and one, two, or three pieces of thick cloth, about two and a half yards long and one wide, called tebuta, through a hole in the middle of which they put their heads, and suffer the sides to hang before and behind, the open edges serving to give their arms liberty of movement. Bound the ends of this, about as high as their waists, are tied two or three large pieces of thin cloth, and sometimes one or two more thrown loosely over their shoulders, for the rich seem to take the greatest pride in wearing a large quantity of cloth. The dress of the men differs but little from this, their bodies are rather more bare, and instead of the petticoat they have a piece of cloth ( maro ) passed between their legs and round their waists, which gives them rather more liberty to use their limbs than the women’s dress will allow. Thus much of the richer people ; the poorer sort have only a smaller allowance of cloth given them from the tribes or families to which they belong, and must use that to the best advantage. 132 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS ch. vii It is no uncommon thing for the richest men to come to see us with a large quantity of cloth rolled round the loins, and all the rest of the body naked ; though the cloth wrapped round them was sufficient to have clothed a dozen people. The women at sunset always bared their bodies down to the waist, which seemed to be a kind of easy undress to them ; as it is to our ladies to pull off any finery that has been used during the course of the day, and change it for a loose gown or capuchin. Both sexes shade their faces from the sun with little bonnets of cocoanut leaves, which they make occasionally in a very few minutes ; some have these made of fine mat- ting, but that is less common. Of matting they have several sorts ; some very fine, which is used in exactly the same manner as cloth for their dresses, chiefly in rainy weather, as the cloth will not bear the least wet. Ornaments they have very few. They are very fond of earrings, but wear them only in one ear. When we arrived they had their own earrings made of shell, stone, berries, red peas, and some small pearls, of which they wore three tied together ; but our beads very quickly supplied their place. They are also very fond of flowers, especially of the Cape jasmine, of which they have great plenty planted near their houses. These they stick into the holes of their ears and into their hair, if they have enough of them, which is but seldom. The men wear feathers, often the tails of tropic birds stuck upright in their hair. They have also a kind of wig made upon one string, of the hair of men or dogs, or of cocoanut, which they tie under their hair at the back of the head. I have seen them also wear whimsical garlands made of a variety of flowers stuck into a piece of the rind of plantain, or of scarlet peas stuck upon a piece of wood with gum, but these are not common. But their great pride in dress seems to be centred in what they call tamou, which is human hair plaited scarcely thicker than common thread ; of this I may easily affirm that I have seen pieces above a mile 1 1 21st January 1772, measured one 6144 feet, another 7294 feet. (Note by Banks. ) 1769 DWELLINGS 133 in length, worked on end without a single knot ; and I have seen five or six of such pieces wound round the head of one woman, the effect of which, if done with taste, was most becoming. Their dancing dresses I have described in the island of Ulhietea ; and that of the Heiva I shall when I come to their mourning ceremonies. They have also several others suited to particular ceremonies which I had not an opportunity of seeing, although I was desirous of doing so, as the singular taste of those I did see promised much novelty, at least, if not something worth imitation, in whatever they take pains with. I had almost forgotten the oil (monoe it is called in their language) with which they anoint their heads, a custom more disagreeable to Europeans than any other among them. This is made of cocoanut oil, in which some sweet woods or flowers are infused. It is most commonly very rancid, and consequently the wearers of it smell most disagreeably ; at first we found it so, hut very little custom reconciled me, at least, completely to it. The houses, or rather dwellings, of these people are admirably adapted to the continual warmth of the climate. They do not build them in villages or towns, but separate each from the other, according to the size of the estate the owner of the house possesses. They are always in the woods ; and no more ground is cleared for each house than is just sufficient to hinder the dropping off the branches from rotting the thatch with which they are covered, so that you step from the house immediately under shade, and that the most beautiful imaginable. No country can boast such delightful walks as this ; for the whole plains where the people live are covered with groves of bread-fruit and cocoa- nut trees without underwood. These are intersected in all directions by the paths which go from one house to the other, so that the whole country is one shade, than which nothing can be more grateful in a climate where the sun has so powerful an influence. The houses are built without walls, so that the air, cooled by the shade of the trees, has free access in whatever direction it happens to blow. I 134 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS ch. vii shall describe one of the middle size, which will give an idea of all the rest, as they differ scarcely at all in fashion. Its length was 24 feet, breadth 11 feet, extreme height 84 feet, height of the eaves feet ; it consisted of nothing more than a