James Cook

“ I once saw them make a batter of fruit and roots diluted with water, in a vessel that was loaded with dirt, and out of which the hogs had been but that moment eating, without giving it the least washing, or even washing their hands, which were equally dirty; and when I expressed a dislike, was laughed at. I know not if all are so. The actions of a few individuals are not sufficient to fix a custom on a whole nation. Nor can I say if it is the custom for men and women to have separate messes. ”

“ On the first of March we were alarmed with the cry of land by the man at the mast head, on the larboard beam; which gave us great joy. We immediately hauled our wind and stood for it, but to our mortification were disappointed in a few hours; for what we took to be land, proved no more than clouds, which disappeared as we sailed towards them. We then bore away and directed our course toward the land laid down in the charts by the name of Van Diemen’s Land, discovered by Tasman in 1642, and laid down in the latitude 44° south, and longitude 140° east, and supposed to join to New Holland. ”

“ They left the beach about nine o’clock in the morning, and took a path which led across to the south-east side of the island, followed by a great crowd of the natives, who pressed much upon them. But they had not proceeded far, before a middle-aged man, punctured from head to foot, and his face painted with a sort of white pigment, appeared with a spear in his hand, and walked alongside of them, making signs to his countrymen to keep at a distance, and not to molest our people. ”

“ At six o’clock in the evening, being in latitude 56° 9ʹ S., I now made signal to the Adventure to come under my stern; and at eight o’clock the next morning, sent her to look out on my starboard beam, having at this time a fresh gale at west, and pretty clear weather. But this was not of long duration, for at two in the afternoon, the sky became cloudy and hazy; the wind increased to a fresh gale; blew in squalls attended with snow, sleet, and drizzling rain. I now made signal to the Adventure to come under my stern, and took another reef in each top-sail. ”

“ The Marai at Oparree at Otaheite, when Tootaha swayed the sceptre, was called Marai no Tootaha; but now it is called Marai no Otoo. What greater proof could we have of these people esteeming us as friends, than their wishing to remember us, even beyond the period of our lives? They had been repeatedly told that we should see them no more; they then wanted to know where we were to mingle with our parent dust.
As I could not promise, or even suppose, that more English ships would be sent to those isles, our faithful companion Oedidee chose to remain in his native country. ”

“ The evening brought every one on board, highly delighted with the country, and the very obliging behaviour of the inhabitants; who seemed to vie with each other in doing what they thought would give us pleasure. The ships were crowded with people the whole day, trafficking with those on board, in which the greatest good order was observed; and I was sorry that the season of the year would not admit of my making a longer stay with them. Early the next morning, while the ships were getting under sail, I went ashore with Captain Furneaux and Mr. Forster, to take leave of the chief. ”

“ But the greatest misfortune that attended us, was the loss of great part of our live stock; which we had brought from the Cape; and which consisted of sheep, hogs, and geese. Indeed this sudden transition from warm mild weather, to extreme cold and wet, made every man in the ship feel its effects. For by this time the mercury in the thermometer had fallen to 38; whereas at the Cape it was generally at 67 and upwards. I now made some addition to the people’s allowance of spirit, by giving them a dram whenever I thought it necessary, and ordered Captain Furneaux to do the same. ”

“ The taking up ice proved such cold work, that it was eight o’clock by the time the boats had made two trips; when we hoisted them in, and made sail to the west, under double-reefed top-sails and courses, with a strong gale at north, attended with snow and sleet, which froze to the rigging as it fell, making the ropes like wires, and the sails like boards or plates of metal. The sheaves also were frozen so fast in the blocks, that it required our utmost efforts to get a top-sail down and up; the cold so intense as hardly to be endured; the whole sea, in a manner, covered with ice ”

“ Among many reasons which I have heard assigned for the prevalence of this horrid custom, the want of animal food has been one; but how far this is deducible either from facts or circumstances, I shall leave those to find out who advanced it. In every part of New Zealand where I have been, fish was in such plenty, that the natives generally caught as much as served both themselves and us. They have also plenty of dogs; nor is there any want of wild-fowl, which they know very well how to kill. So that neither this, nor the want of food of any kind, can in my opinion be the reason. ”

“ We carried out the coasting anchor and cable to seaward, to keep the ship from tailing on the rocks, in case of a shift of wind or a calm. This last anchor lay in forty-seven fathoms’ water; so steep was the bank on which we anchored. By this time we were crowded with people; some came off in canoes, and others swam; but, like those of the other isle, brought nothing with them but cloth, matting, &c., for which the seamen only bartered away their cloaths. ”

“ As the greatest danger to be apprehended and provided against on a voyage of discovery, especially to the most distant parts of the globe, is that of the ship’s being liable to be run aground on an unknown desert, or, perhaps, savage coast, so no consideration should be set in competition with that of her being of a construction of the safest kind, in which the officers may, with the least hazard, venture upon a strange coast. ”

“ We never found more than three or four huts in a place, capable of containing three or four persons each only; and what is remarkable, we never saw the least marks either of canoe or boat, and it is generally thought they have none; being altogether, from what we could judge, a very ignorant and wretched set of people, though natives of a country capable of producing every necessary of life, and a climate the finest in the world. ”

“ When we came to the chief’s house, we found the cloth laid; that is green leaves were strewed thick on the floor. Round them we seated ourselves: presently one of the pigs came over my head souse upon the leaves, and immediately after the other; both so hot as hardly to be touched. The table was garnished round with hot bread-fruit and plantains, and a quantity of cocoa-nuts brought for drink. Each man being ready, with his knife in his hand, we turned to without ceremony; and it must be owned, in favour of their cookery, that victuals were never cleaner, nor better dressed. ”

“ A prospect more rude and craggy is rarely to be met with; for inland appears nothing but the summits of mountains of a stupendous height, and consisting of rocks that are totally barren and naked, except where they are covered with snow. But the land bordering on the sea coast, and all the islands, are thickly clothed with wood, almost down to the water’s edge. ”

“ Being tired with beating against the N. W. winds, I resolved to put into this place, if I found it practicable, or to anchor in the bay which lies before it. The flood being in our favour, after making a stretch off, we fetched under the Cape, and stretched into the bay along by the western shore, having from thirty-five to twelve fathoms, the bottom every where good anchorage. At one o’clock we reached the entrance of the inlet, just as the tide of ebb was making out; the wind being likewise against us, we anchored in 239twelve fathoms water, the bottom a fine sand. ”

“ Thus situated, we began to clear places in the woods, in order to set up the astronomer’s observatory, the forge to repair our iron work, tents for the sail-makers and coopers to repair the sails and casks in; to land our empty casks, to fill water, and to cut down wood for fuel; all of which were absolutely necessary occupations. We also began to brew beer from the branches or leaves of a tree, which much resembles the American black spruce. ”

“ I know not how to account for the scurvy raging more in the one ship than the other, unless it was owing to the crew of the Adventure being more scorbutic when they arrived in New Zealand than we were, and to their eating few or no vegetables while they lay in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, partly for want of knowing the right sorts, and partly because it was a new diet, which alone was sufficient for seamen to reject it. To introduce any new article of food among seamen, let it be ever so much for their good, requires both the example and authority of a commander ”

“ As the winds continued to blow from the N. W. and west, we had no other choice but to stand to the north, inclining more or less every day to the east. In the latitude of 21°, we saw flying fish, gannets and egg-birds. On the sixth, I hoisted a boat out and sent for Captain Furneaux to dinner; from whom I learnt that his people were much better, the flux having left them; and the scurvy was at a stand. ”

“ We ourselves were undoubtedly deceived by the ice hills, the day we first fell in with the field ice. Nor was it an improbable conjecture, that that ice joined to land. The probability was however now greatly lessened, if not entirely set aside. For the space between the northern edge of the ice, along which we sailed, and our route to the west, when south of it, nowhere exceeded 100 leagues; and in some places not 60. But a view of the chart will best explain this. The clear weather continued no longer than three o’clock the next morning, when it was succeeded by a thick fog, sleet, and snow. ”

“ Their strong hold on the point of Motuara hath been long deserted; and we found many forsaken habitations in all parts of the sound; we are not, however, wholly to infer from this, that this place hath been once very populous; for each family may, for their own convenience, when they move from place to place, have more huts than one or two.
It may be asked, if these people had never seen the Endeavour, nor any of her crew, how could they become acquainted with the name of Tupia, or have in their possession (which many of them had) such articles, as they could only have got from that ship? ”

“ This custom of eating their enemies slain in battle (for I firmly believe they eat the flesh of no others) has, undoubtedly, been handed down to them from the earliest times; and we know it is not an easy matter to wean a nation from their ancient customs, let them be ever so inhuman and savage; especially if that nation has no manner of connexion or commerce with strangers. For it is by this that the greatest part of the human race has been civilized ”

“ The account given of this in my former voyage, being partly founded on circumstances, was, as I afterwards understood, discredited by many persons. Few consider what a savage man is in his natural state, and even after he is in some degree civilized. The New Zealanders are certainly in some state of civilization; their behaviour to us was manly and mild, showing on all occasions a readiness to oblige. They have some arts among them which they execute with great judgment, and unwearied patience; they are far less addicted to thieving than the other islanders of the South Sea ”

“ What Dusky Bay most abounds with is fish: a boat with six or eight men with hooks and lines, caught daily sufficient to serve the whole ship’s company: of this article the variety is almost equal to the plenty; and of such kinds as are common to the more northern coast; but some are superior; and in particular the cole fish, as we called it, which is both larger and finer flavoured than any I had seen before, and was, in the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded us. The shell-fish are muscles, cockles, scallops, cray-fish, and many other sorts ”

“ The mean height of the thermometer at noon, for some days past, was about 35; which is something higher than it usually was, in the same latitude, about a month or five weeks before, consequently the air was something warmer. While the weather was really warm, the gales were not only stronger, but more frequent; with almost continual misty, dirty, wet weather. The very animals we had on board felt its effects. A sow having in the morning farrowed nine pigs, every one of them was killed by the cold, before four o’clock in the afternoon, notwithstanding all the care we could take of them. ”

“ Next morning we paid a formal visit to Oreo, the chief of this part of the isle, carrying with us the necessary presents. We went through no sort of ceremony at landing, but were, at once, conducted to him. He was seated in his own house, which stood near the water-side, where he and his friends received us with great cordiality. He expressed much satisfaction at seeing me again, and desired that we might exchange names, which I accordingly agreed to. I believe this is the strongest mark of friendship they can show to a stranger. ”

“ Had I found fresh water, I intended spending some days looking for the low sandy isle Davis fell in with, which would have determined the point; but as I did not find water, and had a long run to make before I was assured of getting any, and being in want of refreshments, I declined the search, as a small delay might have been attended with bad consequences to the crew, many of them beginning to be more or less affected with the scurvy.
No nation need contend for the honour of the discovery of this island, as there can be few places which afford less convenience for shipping than it does. ”

“ Large ships ought not to anchor in less than eight, in which depth the south end of the Green island (a small island lying under the west shore) will bear west. You water at a well that is behind the beach at the head of the bay. The water is tolerable, but scarce; and bad getting off, on account of a great surf on the beach. The refreshments to be got here are, bullocks, hogs, goats, sheep, poultry, and fruits. The goats are of the antelope kind, so extraordinary lean, that hardly any thing can equal them; and the bullocks, hogs, and sheep are not much better. ”