Monday

Tuesday, 16th, January 1770

[January 1770. In Queen Charlotte's Sound, New Zealand.]
Variable light Airs and Clear settled weather. At 1 p.m. hauled close round the South-West end of the Island, on which stands the Village before mention'd, the inhabitants of which were all in Arms. At 2 o'Clock we anchor'd in a very Snug Cove,* which is on the North-West side of the Bay facing the South-West end of the Island in 11 fathoms; soft Ground, and moor'd with the Stream Anchor. By this time several of the Natives had come off to the Ship in their Canoes, and after heaving a few stones at us and having some Conversation with Tupia, some of them Ventur'd on board, where they made but a very short stay before they went into their Canoes again, and soon after left us altogether. I then went ashore in the bottom of the Cove, accompanied by most of the Gentlemen on board. We found a fine Stream of Excellent Water, and as to wood the land is here one intire forest. Having the Sean with us we made a few hauls and caught 300 pounds weight of different sorts of fish, which were equally distributed to the Ship's Company. A.M., Careen'd the Ship, scrubb'd and pay'd the Larboard side. Several of the Natives Visited us this Morning, and brought with them some stinking fish, which, however, I order'd to be bought up to encourage them in this kind of Traffick, but Trade at this time seem'd not to be their Object, but were more inclinable to Quarrel, and as the Ship was upon the Carreen I thought they might give us some Trouble, and perhaps hurt some of our people that were in the Boats alongside. For this reason I fir'd some small shott at one of the first Offenders; this made them keep at a proper distance while they stay'd, which was not long before they all went away. These people declared to us this morning, that they never either saw or heard of a Ship like ours being upon this Coast before. From this it appears that they have no Tradition among them of Tasman being here, for I believe Murtherers bay, the place where he anchor'd, not to be far from this place;** but this cannot be it from the Latitude, for I find by an Observation made this day at Noon that we are at an Anchor in 41 degrees 5 minutes 32 seconds South, which is 15 miles to the Southward of Murtherers Bay.***

* Ship Cove, in Queen Charlotte's Sound.

** Tasman's Massacre Bay lies 70 miles to the West-North-West.

*** The bay in Queen Charlotte's Sound in which the Endeavour anchored, Ship Cove, lies 7 miles within the entrance on the western shore.

No comments:

Post a Comment