DEC. 1778.] RESOLUTION GETS TO WINDWARD OF OWHYHEE. 785 we lay, as it were, becalmed, several of the islanders came off with hogs, fowls, fruit, and roots. Out of one canoe we got a goose, which was about the size of a Muscovy duck; its plumage was dark grey, and the bill and legs black. At four in the afternoon, after purchasing everything that the natives had brought off, which was full as much as we had occasion for, we made sail and stretched to the N., with the wind at ENE. At midnight we tacked and stood to the SE. Upon a supposition that the Discovery would see us tack, the signal was omitted; but she did not see us, as we afterwards found, and continued standing to the N., for at daylight next morning she was not in sight. At this time, the weather being hazy, we could not see far, so that it was possible the Discovery might be following us; and being past the north-east part of the island I was tempted to stand on till, by the wind veering to NE., we could not weather the land upon the other tack. Consequently we could not stand to the N. to join or look for the Discovery. At noon we were by observation in the Latitude of 19° 55′ and in the Longitude of 205° 3'; the south-east point of the island bore S. by E. quarter E., six leagues distant; the other extreme bore N. 60° W., and we were two leagues from the nearest shore. At six in the evening the southernmost extreme of the island bore SW., the nearest shore seven or eight miles distant, so that we had now succeeded in getting to the windward of the island, which we had aimed at with so much perseverance. The Discovery, however, was not yet to be seen; but the wind, as we had it, being very favourable for her to follow us, I concluded that it would not be long before she joined us. I therefore kept cruising off this southeast point of the island, which lies in the Latitude of 19° 34′ and in the Longitude of 205° 6', till I was satisfied that Captain Clerke could not join me here. I now conjectured that he had not been able to weather the north-east part of the island, and had gone to leeward in order to meet me that way. As I generally kept from five to ten leagues from the land, no canoes except one came off to us till the 28th, when we were visited by a dozen or fourteen. The people who conducted them brought, as usual, the produce of the island. I was very sorry that they had taken the trouble to come so far. For we could not trade with them, our old stock not being as yet consumed; and we had found by late experience that the hogs could not be kept alive, nor the roots preserved from putrefaction many days. However, I intended not to leave this part of the island before I got a supply, as it would not be easy to return to it again in case it should be found necessary. We began to be in want on the 30th, and I would have stood in near the shore but was prevented by a calm; but a breeze springing up at midnight from S. and SW., we were enabled to stand in for the land at daybreak. At 10 o'clock in the morning we were met by the islanders with fruit and roots, but in all the canoes were only three small pigs. Our not having bought those which had been lately brought off may be supposed to be the reason of this very scanty supply. We brought to for the purposes of trade, but soon after our marketing was interrupted by a very hard rain, and besides we were rather too far from the shore. Nor durst I go nearer, for I could not depend upon the wind's remaining where it was for a moment; the swell also being high, and setting obliquely upon the shore, against which it broke in a frightful surf. In the evening the weather mended, the night was clear, and it was spent in making short boards. Before daybreak the atmosphere was again loaded with heavy clouds, and the New Year was ushered in with very hard rain, which continued at intervals till past 10 o'clock. The wind was southerly, a light breeze with some calms. When the rain ceased, the sky cleared and the breeze freshened. Being at this time about five miles from the land, several explosion of a volcano everywhere presented themselves; and though we had as yet seen nothing like one upon the island, the devastation that it had made in this neighbourhood was visible to the naked eye.1 This part of the coast is sheltered from the reigning winds; but we could find no bottom to anchor upon, a line of 160 fathoms not reaching it, within the distance of half-a-mile from the shore. The islanders having all left us towards the evening, we ran a few miles down the coast, and then spent the night standing off and on. canoes arrived with fruit and roots, and at last some hogs were brought off. We lay to, trading with them, till 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when, having a tolerable supply, we made sail with a view of proceeding to the north-west or leeside of the island, to look for the Discovery. It was necessary, however, the wind being at S., to stretch first to the eastward, till midnight, when the wind came more favourable, and we went upon the other tack. For several days past both wind and weather had been exceedingly unsettled, and there fell a great deal of rain. The three following days were spent in running down the south-east side of the island. For during the nights we stood off and on, and part of each day was employed in lying to, in order to furnish an opportunity to the natives of trading with us. They sometimes came on board while we were five leagues from the shore; but whether from a fearings with a line of 160 fathoms ; that of losing their goods in the sea, or from the uncertainty of the market, they never brought much with them. The principal article procured was salt, which was extremely good. The next morning the natives visited us again, bringing with them the same articles of commerce as before. Being now near the shore, I sent Mr Bligh, the master, in a boat to sound the coast, with orders to land and to look for fresh water. Upon his return he reported that at two cables' length from the shore he had found no sound when he landed he found no stream or spring, but only rain water deposited in holes upon the rocks, and even that was brackish from the spray of the sea; and that the surface of the country was entirely composed of slags and ashes, with a few plants here and there interspersed. Between ten and eleven we saw with pleasure the Discovery coming round the south in-point of the island; and at one in the afternoon she joined us. Captain Clerke then coming on board, informed me that he had cruised four or five days where we were separated. and then plied round the east side of the island; but that, meeting with unfavourable winds, he had been carried to some distance from the coast. He had one of the islanders on board all this time, who had remained there from choice, and had refused to quit the ship though opportunities had offered. Having spent the night standing off and on, we stood in again On the 5th, in the morning, we passed the south point of the island, which lies in the Latitude of 18° 54', and beyond it we found the coast to trend N. 60° W. On this point stands a pretty large village, the habitants of which thronged off to the ship with hogs and women. It was not possible to keep the latter from coming on board; and no women I ever met with were less reserved. Indeed it appeared to me that they visited us with no other view than to make a surrender of their persons. As I had now got a quantity of salt, I purchased no hogs but such as were fit for salting, refusing all that were under size. However we could seldom get any above fifty or sixty pounds weight. It was happy for us that we still had some vegetables on board, for we now received few such productions. Indeed this part of the country, from its appearance, did not seem capable of affording them. Marks of its having been laid waste by the 1 Several volcanoes are still active in the islands; and two of them, Morena Loa and Morena Kea, rise to the very respectable altitude of some 15,000 feet. JAN. 1779.] VAST CONCOURSE OF THE NATIVES. the next morning, and when we were about a league from the shore many of the natives visited us. At daybreak on the 8th we found that the currents during the night, which we spent in plying, had carried us back considerably to windward; so that we were now off the south west point of the island. There we brought to, in order to give the natives an opportunity of trading with us. We spent the night as usual, standing off and on. It happened that four men and ten women who had come on board the preceding day still remained with us. As I did not like the company of the latter, I stood inshore towards noon, principally with a view to get them out of the ship, and some canoes coming off I took that opportunity of sending away our guests. We had light airs from NW. and SW., and calms, till eleven in the morning of the 10th, when the wind freshened at WNW., which, with a strong current setting to the SE., so much retarded us that in the evening between 7 and 8 o'clock the south point of the island bore N. 10 W., four leagues distant. The south snowy hill now bore N. 1 E. At four in the morning of the 11th, the wind having fixed at W., I stood in for the land in order to get some refreshments. As we drew near the shore the natives began to come off. We lay to, or stood on and off, trading with them all the day, but got a very scanty supply at last. Many canoes visited us whose people had not a single thing to barter, which convinced us that this part of the island must be very poor, and that we had already got all that they could spare. We spent the 12th plying off and on, with a fresh gale at W. A mile from the shore, and to the NE. of the south point of the island, having tried soundings, we found ground at fifty-five fathoms depth, the bottom a fine sand. At five in the evening we stood to the SW., with the wind at WNW., and soon after midnight we had a calm. At 8 o'clock next morning, having got a 787 small breeze at SSE., we steered to the NNW. in for the land. Soon after, a few canoes came alongside with some hogs, but without any vegetables, which articles we most wanted. We had now made some progress; for at noon the south point of the island bore S. 864 E., the south-west point N. 13° W., the nearest shore two leagues distant, Latitude by observation 18° 56′, and our Longitude by the timekeeper 203° 40′. We had got the length of the south-west point of the island in the evening; but the wind now veering to the westward and northward, during the night we lost all that we had gained. Next morning, being still off the south-west point of the island, some canoes came off, but they brought nothing that we were in want of. We had now neither fruit nor roots, and were under a necessity of making use of some of our sea provisions. At length some canoes from the northward brought us a small supply of hogs and roots. We had variable light airs, next to a calm, the following day, till five in the afternoon, when a small breeze at ENE. springing up, we were at last enabled to steer along shore to the northward. The weather being fine, we had plenty of company this day, and abundance of everything. Many of our visitors remained with us on board all night, and we towed their canoes astern. At daybreak on the 16th, seeing the appearance of a bay, I sent Mr Bligh, with a boat from each ship, to examine it, being at this time three leagues off. Canoes now began to arrive from all parts, so that before 10 o'clock, there were not fewer than a thousand about the two ships, most of them crowded with people, and well laden with hogs and other productions of the island. We had the most satisfying proof of their friendly intentions, for we did not see a single person who had with him a weapon of any sort. Trade and curiosity alone had brought them off. Among such numbers as we had at times on board, it is no wonder that some should betray a thievish dis had come off to us in canoes, all the shore of the bay was covered with spectators, and many hundreds were swimming round the ships like shoals of fish. We could not but be struck with the singularity of this scene; and perhaps there were few on board who now lamented our having failed in our endeavours to find a northern passage homeward last summer. To this disappointment we owed our having it in our power to revisit the Sandwich Islands, and to enrich our voyage with a discovery which, though the last, seemed in many respects to be the most important that had hitherto been made by Europeans throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean.2 position. One of our visitors took out of the ship a boat's rudder. He was discovered, but too late to recover it. I thought this a good opportunity to show these people the use of fire-arms; and two or three muskets, and as many four-pounders were fired over the canoe which carried off the rudder. As it was not intended that any of the shot should take effect, the surrounding multitude of natives seemed rather more surprised than frightened. In the evening, Mr Bligh returned and reported that he had found a bay in which was good anchorage and fresh water, in a situation tolerably easy to be come at. Into this bay I resolved to carry the ships, there to refit and supply ourselves with every refreshment that the place could afford. As night approached, the greater part of our visitors retired to the shore; but numbers of them requested our permission to sleep on board. Curiosity was not the only motive, at least with some; for the next morning several things were-Captain Cook's journal closes. The missing, which determined me not to entertain so many another night. At 11 o'clock in the forenoon we anchored in the bay (which is called by the natives Karakakooa),1 in thirteen fathoms water, over a sandy bottom, and about a quarter of a mile from the north-east shore. In this situation the south point of the bay bore S. by W., and the north point W. half N. We moored with the stream anchor and cable to the northward, unbent the sails, and struck the yards and topmasts. The ships continued to be much crowded with natives, and were surrounded by a multitude of canoes. I had nowhere in the course of my voyages, seen so numerous a body of people assembled in one place. For besides those who 1 It lies on the west side of Owhyhee or Hawaii, near the southern extremity of the island. With these ardently confident expressions of hopefulness, and of most justifiable satisfaction in the past and prospective achievements of the voyage-so vividly in contrast with the calamity that imminently impended third volume of the Original Edition, written by Captain King, and consisting, with appendices, of between 500 and 600 pages (equal to at least 250 pages of the present edition), recounts in two books, V. and VI., the transactions on returning to the Sandwich Islands," and the "transactions during the second expedition to the north by the way of Kamtschatka; and on the return home by the way of Canton and the Cape of Good Hope." As the death of Captain Cook diminishes notably the interest of the voyage in its sequel, despite the elaborate and curious descriptions of Kamtschatka and the Kamtschadales-and as there is little or nothing in the homeward route, that has not been perhaps more vividly described in the narratives of the older navigators,only that part of Captain King's volume is here given, which relates to the mournful events in Karakakooa Bay. JAN. 1779.] DESCRIPTION OF KARAKAKOOA BAY. BOOK V. 789 CAPTAIN KING'S JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS ON RETURNING TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. CHAPTER I. KARAKAKOOA Bay is situated on the west side of the Island of Owhyhee, in a district called Akona. It is about a mile in depth, and bounded by two low points of land at the distance of half-a-league, and bearing SSE. and NNW. from each other. On the north point, which is flat and barren, stands the village of Kowrowa, and in the bottom of the bay, near a grove of tall cocoa-nut trees, there is another village of a more considerable size called Kakooa: between them runs a high rocky cliff, inaccessible from the sea shore. On the south side, the coast, for about a mile inland, has a rugged appearance; beyond which the country rises with a gradual ascent, and is overspread with cultivated enclosures and groves of cocoa-nut trees, where the habitations of the natives are scattered in great numbers. The shore all around the bay is covered with a black coral rock, which makes the landing very dangerous in rough weather; except at the village of Kakooa, where there is a fine sandy beach, with a "morai," or burying-place, at one extremity, and a small well of fresh water at the other. This bay appearing to Captain Cook a proper place to refit the ships, and lay in an additional supply of water and provisions, we moored on the north side, about a quarter of a mile from the shore, Kowrowa bearing NW. As soon as the inhabitants perceived our intention of anchoring in the bay, they came off from the shore in astonishing numbers, and expressed their joy by singing and shouting and exhibiting a variety of wild and extravagant gestures. The sides, the decks, and rigging of both ships were soon completely covered with them; and a multitude of women and boys, who had not been able to get canoes, came swimming round us in shoals, many of whom, not finding room on board, remained the whole day playing in the water. Among the chiefs who came on board the Resolution was a young man called Pareea, whom we soon perceived to be a person of great authority. On presenting himself to Captain Cook, he told him that he was Jakanee1 to the King of the island, who was at that time engaged on a military expedition at Mowee, and was expected to return within three or four days. A few presents from Captain Cook attached him entirely to our interests, and he became exceedingly useful to us in the management of his countrymen, as we had soon occasion to experience. For we had not been long at anchor when it was observed that the Discovery had such a number of people hanging on one side, as occasioned her to heel considerably; and that the men were unable to keep off the crowds which continued pressing into her. Captain Cook, being apprehensive that she might suffer some injury, pointed out the danger to Pareea, who immediately went to their assistance, cleared the ship of its incumbrances, and drove away the canoes that surrounded her. The authority of the chiefs over the inferior people appeared from this incident to be of the most despotic kind. A similar instance of it happened the same day on board the Resolution, where the crowd being so 1 We afterward met with several others of the same denomination; but whether it be an office, or some degree of affinity, we could never learn with certainty.-Note in Original Edition. |