winds, but we could find no bottom to anchor upon, a line of an hundred and sixty fathoms not reaching it, within the distance of half a mile from the shore. The islanders having all left us, toward the evening, we ran a few miles down the coast, and then spent the night standing off and

on.

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' lengths from the shore, he had found no soundings with a line of one hundred and sixty fathoms; that, 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 interspersed. Between ten and eleven we saw with pleasure the Discovery coming round the south 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 the next morning, and when we were about a league from the shore, many of the natives visited us. At noon, the observed latitude was 19° 1', and the longitude, by the time-keeper, was 203° 26', the island extending from S. 74° E. to N. 13° W., the nearest part two leagues distant.

At day-break 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 S.W. point of the island. There we brought-to, in order to give the natives an opportunity of trading with us. At noon our observed latitude was 19° 1', and our longitude, by the time-keeper, was 203° 18', the S. W. point of the island N. 30° E., two miles distant.

We spent the night as usual, standing off and on. It happened,

VOL. XVI.

2 D

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 in shore 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 N.W. and S.W., and calms, till eleven in the morning of the 10th, when the wino freshened at W.N.W., which, with a strong current setting to the S.E., so much retarded us, that, in the evening, between seven and eight o'clock, the S. point of the island bore N. 101 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 N.E. of the S. 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 S.W., with the wind at W.N.W., and soon after midnight we had a calm.

At eight o'clock next morning, having got a small breeze at S.S.E., we steered to the N.N.W., in for the land. Soon after, a few canoes came along-side with some hogs, but without any vegetables, which articles we most wanted. We had now made some progress; for at noon the S. point of the island bore S. 863° E., the S.W. point N. 13° W., the nearest shore two leagues distant; latitude, by observation, 18° 56′, and our longitude, by the time-keeper, 203° 40°. We had got the length of the S.W. 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 S.W. point of -the island, some canoes came off; but they had 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

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 E.N.E. 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 every thing. Many of our visitors remained with us on board all night, and we towed their canoes astern.

At day-break 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 ten o'clock, there were no 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 disposition. 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 shew 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 missing, which determined me not to entertain so many another night.

At eleven o'clock in the forenoon, we anchored in the bay, (which is called by the natives Karakakooa,) in thirteen fathoms water, over a sandy bottom, and about a quar

ter

ter of a mile from the N.E. shore. In this situation, the S. point of the bay bore S. by W., and the N. point W. N. We moored with the stream-anchor and cable to the northward, unbent the sails, and struck yards and top-masts. The ships continued to be much crowded with natives, and were surrounded by a multitude of canoes. I had no where, in the course of my voyage, seen so numerous a body of people assembled at one place. For, besides those who 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 Islunds, 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.

CHAPTER

6 Thus ends Captain Cook's journal of his proceedings, and the visible satisfaction which pervades the concluding sentences, as is noticed in the Biog. Brit., must strike the mind of every reader. They indicate the high value which our navigator attached to this last discovery, now so irrevoca bly, but so painfully, associated with the honours of his name; whilst, in his unapprehending confidence, and the wonted calmness of his style, we see the agency of that beneficent law in our system, by which we are preserved ignorant of the evils that every hour and moment of our time mày bring over us. Nor ought we to omit remarking as something peculiar, that Cook's allusion to the present comfortable opinion and feelings of his associates on the failure of their labours in the northern hemisphere, founded, no doubt, on the general expression of satisfaction, serves as a material aggravation, in the way of contrast, to our conceptions of their subsequent distress and grief, under the calamity of his most afflicting death.-E.

J

CHAPTER V.

CAPTAIN KING'S JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS ON RETURNING TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.*

SECTION I.

Description of Karakakooa Bay-Vast Concourse of the Natives.-Power of the Chiefs over the inferior People.-Visit from Koah, a Priest and Warrior.-The Morai at Kakooa described-Ceremonies at the Landing of Captain Cook.Observatories erected.-Powerful Operation of the Taboo.Method of Salting Pork in Tropical Climates.-Society of Priests discovered.-Their Hospitality and Munificence.Reception of Captain Cook.-Artifice of Koah.-Arrival of Terreoboo, King of the Island.-Returned by Captain Čook.

K

ARAKAKOOA 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 S.S.E. and N.N.W. 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,

The reader is informed once for all, that the notes to the remainder of this voyage, to which no signature is attached, are to be considered as forming a part of Captain King's own publication.-E.