1769.]

DISTURBANCE WITH THE NATIVES.

485

the natives. Having marked out the | We had then straggled a little distance ground that we intended to occupy, a from each other, but Owhaw immedismall tent belonging to Mr Banks was ately called us together, and by waving set up, which had been brought on his hand, sent away every Indian who shore for that purpose; by this time followed us except three, each of whom, a great number of the people had as a pledge of peace on their part, and gathered about us, but, as it appeared, an entreaty that there might be peace only to look on, there not being a on ours, hastily broke a branch from single weapon of any kind among the trees, and came to us with it in them. I intimated, however, that their hands. As we had too much none of them were to come within the reason to fear that some mischief had line I had drawn, except one, who ap- happened, we hastened back to the peared to be a chief, and Owhaw. To tent, which was not distant above halfthese two persons I addressed myself a-mile; and when we came up, we by signs, and endeavoured to make found it entirely deserted, except by them understand that we wanted the our own people. ground which we had marked out to sleep upon for a certain number of nights, and that then we should go away. Whether I was understood, I cannot certainly determine; but the people behaved with a deference and respect that at once pleased and surprised us; they sat down peaceably without the circle, and looked on, without giving us any interruption, till we had done, which was upwards of two hours. As we had seen no poultry, and but two hogs, in our walk when we were last on shore at this place, we suspected that upon our arrival they had been driven farther up the country; and the rather, as Owhaw was very importunate with us, by signs, not to go into the woods, which, however, and partly for these reasons, we were determined to do. Having therefore appointed the thirteen marines and a petty officer to guard the tent, we set out, and a great number of the natives joined our party. As we were crossing a little river that lay in our way, we saw some ducks, and Mr Banks, as soon as he had got over, fired at them, and happened to kill three at one shot. This struck [the natives] with the utmost terror, so that most of them fell suddenly to the ground as if they also had been shot at the same discharge. It was not long, however, before they recovered from their fright, Upon questioning our people more and we continued our route; but we particularly, whose conduct they soon had not gone far before we were alarm-perceived we could not approve, they ed by the report of two pieces, which alleged that the sentinel whose musket were fired by the guard at the tent. was taken away, was violently assault

It appeared that one of the Indians who remained about the tent after we left it, had watched his opportunity, and, taking the sentry unawares, had snatched away his musket. Upon this the petty officer, a midshipman, who commanded the party-perhaps from a sudden fear of further violence, perhaps from the natural petulance of power newly acquired, and perhaps from a brutality in his nature-ordered the marines to fire. The men, with as little consideration or humanity as the officer, immediately discharged their pieces among the thickest of the flying crowd, consisting of more than a hundred; and, observing that the thief did not fall, pursued him and shot him dead. We afterwards learned that none of the others were either killed or wounded. Owhaw, who had never left us, observing that we were now totally deserted, got together a few of those who had fled, though not without some difficulty, and ranged them about us. We endeavoured to justify our people as well as we could, and to convince the Indians that if they did no wrong to us, we should do no wrong to them. They went away without any appearance of distrust or resentment; and having struck our tent, we returned to the ship, but by no means satisfied with the transactions of the day.

1769.]

ERECTION OF A FORT.

487

ship, and began to erect our fort. | leading him out of the line, signified While some were employed in throw- that he should accompany him into ing up entrenchments, others were the woods. Mr Banks readily conbusy in cutting pickets and fascines, sented, and having walked with him which the natives, who soon gathered about a quarter of a mile, they arrived round us as they had been used to do, at a kind of awning which he had were so far from hindering, that many already set up, and which seemed to of them voluntarily assisted us, bring- be his occasional habitation. Here ing the pickets and fascines from the he unfolded a bundle of his country wood where they had been cut, with cloth, and taking out two garments, great alacrity. We had, indeed, been one of red cloth, and the other of very so scrupulous of invading their pro- neat matting, he clothed Mr Banks perty, that we purchased every stake in them, and without any other cerewhich was used upon this occasion, mony immediately conducted him and cut down no tree till we had first back to the tent. His attendants obtained their consent. The soil soon after brought him some pork where we constructed our fort was and bread-fruit, which he ate, dipsandy, and this made it necessary to ping his meat into salt water instead strengthen the entrenchments with of sauce; after his meal he retired to wood; three sides were to be fortified Mr Banks's bed, and slept about an in this manner; the fourth was hour. In the afternoon, his wife bounded by a river, upon the banks Tomio brought to the tent a young of which I proposed to place a proper man about two-and-twenty years of number of water-casks. This day we age, of a very comely appearance, served pork to the ship's company for whom they both seemed to acknowthe first time, and the Indians brought ledge as their son, though we afterdown so much bread-fruit and cocoawards discovered that he was not so. nuts, that we found it necessary to In the evening, this young man and send away part of them unbought, another chief, who had also paid us and to acquaint them by signs, that a visit, went away to the westward, we should want no more for two days but Tubourai Tamaide and his wife to come. Everything was purchased returned to the awning in the skirts this day with beads; a single bead, of the wood. as big as a pea, being the purchase of five or six cocoa-nuts, and as many of the bread-fruit. Mr Banks's tent was got up before night within the works, and he slept on shore for the first time. Proper sentries were placed round it, but no Indian attempted to approach it the whole night.

The next morning, our friend Tubourai Tamaide made Mr Banks a visit at the tent, and brought with him not only his wife and family, but the roof of a house, and several materials for setting it up, with furniture and implements of various kinds, intending, as we understood him, to take up his residence in our neighbourhood. This instance of his confidence and good-will gave us great pleasure, and we determined to strengthen his attachment to us by every means in our power. Soon after his arrival he took Mr Banks by the hand, and

Our surgeon, Mr Monkhouse, having walked out this evening, reported that he had seen the body of the man who had been shot at the tents, which he said was wrapped in cloth, and placed on a kind of bier, supported by stakes, under a roof that seemed to have been set up for the purpose; that near it were deposited some instruments of war, and other things, which he would particularly have examined but for the stench of the body, which was intolerable. said, that he saw also two more sheds of the same kind, in one of which were the bones of a human body that had lain till they were quite dry. We discovered, afterwards, that this was the way in which they usually disposed of their dead.

He

A kind of market now began to be kept just without the lines, and was plentifully supplied with everything

but pork.
Tubourai Tamaide was
our constant guest, imitating our
manners, even to the using of a knife
and fork, which he did very handily.
As my curiosity was excited by Mr
Monkhouse's account of the situation
of the man who had been shot, I took
an opportunity to go with some others
to see it. I found the shed under
which his body lay, close by the
house in which he resided when he
was alive, some others being not more
than ten yards distant; it was about
fifteen feet long, and eleven broad,
and of a proportionable height; one
end was wholly open, and the other
end, and the two sides, were partly
enclosed with a kind of wicker work.
The bier on which the corpse was
deposited was a frame of wood like
that in which the sea-beds, called
cots, are placed, with a matted bot-
tom, and supported by four posts, at
the height of about five feet from the
ground. The body was covered first
with a mat, and then with white
cloth; by the side of it lay a wooden
mace, one of their weapons of war,
and near the head of it, which lay
next to the close end of the shed, lay
two cocoa-nut shells, such as are some-
times used to carry water in; at the
other end a bunch of green leaves,
with some dried twigs, all tied to-
gether, were stuck in the ground, by
which lay a stone about as big as a
cocoa-nut. Near these lay one of the
young plantain trees, which are used
for emblems of peace, and close by it
a stone axe. At the open end of the
shed also hung, in several strings, a
great number of palm-nuts, and with-
out the shed was stuck upright in the
ground the stem of a plantain tree
about five feet high, upon the top of
which was placed a cocoa-nut shell
full of fresh water. Against the side
of one of the posts hung a small bag,
containing a few pieces of bread-fruit
ready roasted, which were not all put
in at the same time, for some of them |
were fresh; and others stale. I took
notice that several of the natives ob-
served us with a mixture of solicitude
and jealousy in their countenances,
and by their gestures expressed uneasi-

ness when we went near the body, standing themselves at a little distance while we were making our examination, and appearing to be pleased when we came away.

Our residence on shore would by no means have been disagreeable if we had not been incessantly tormented by the flies, which, among other mischief, made it almost impossible for Mr Parkinson, Mr Bank's natural history painter, to work; for they not only covered his subject so as that no part of its surface could be seen, but even ate the colour off the paper as fast as he could lay it on. We had recourse to mosquito-nets and flytraps, which, though they made the inconvenience tolerable, were very far from removing it.

On the 22d, Tootahah gave us a specimen of the music of this country: four persons performed upon flutes, which had only two stops, and therefore could not sound more than four notes by half tones. They were sounded like our German flutes, except that the performer, instead of applying it to his mouth, blew into it with one nostril, while he stopped the other with his thumb. To these instruments four other persons sung, and kept very good time; but only one tune was played during the whole concert.

Several of the natives brought us axes, which they had received from on board the Dolphin, to grind and repair; but among others there was one which became the subject of much speculation, as it appeared to be French. After much inquiry, we learned that a ship had been here between our arrival and the departure of the Dolphin, which we then conjectured to have been a Spaniard, but afterwards knew to have been the Boudeuse, commanded by M. de Bougainville.

On the 24th, Mr Banks and Dr Solander examined the country for several miles along the shore to the eastward. For about two miles it was flat and fertile; after that the hills stretched quite to the water's edge, and a little farther ran out into