A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1Cook, James
History
A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1
Cook, James
Antarctica; Oceania -- Discovery and exploration -- Early works to 1800; Voyages around the world -- Early works to 1800
Such is the produce of Easter Island, or Davis's Land, which is situated in
latitude 27 deg. 5' 30" S., longitude 109 deg. 46' 20" W. It is about ten or twelve
leagues in circuit, hath a hilly and stony surface, and an iron-bound
shore. The hills are of such a height as to be seen fifteen or sixteen
leagues. Off the south end, are two rocky islets, lying near the shore. The
north and east points of the island rise directly from the sea to a
considerable height; between them and the S.E. side, the shore forms an
open bay, in which I believe the Dutch anchored. We anchored, as hath been
already mentioned, on the west side of the island, three miles to the north
of the south point, with the sandy beach bearing E.S.S. This is a very good
road with easterly winds, but a dangerous one with westerly; as the other
on the S.E. side must be with easterly winds.
For this, and other bad accommodations already mentioned, nothing but
necessity will induce any one to touch at this isle, unless it can be done
without going much out of the way; in which case, touching here may be
advantageous, as the people willingly and readily part with such
refreshments as they have, and at an easy rate. We certainly received great
benefit from the little we got; but few ships can come here without being
in want of water, and this want cannot be here supplied. The little we took
on board, could not be made use of, it being only salt water which had
filtered through a stony beach into a stone well; this the natives had made
for the purpose, a little to the southward of the sandy beach so often
mentioned, and the water ebbed and flowed into it with the tide.
The inhabitants of this island do not seem to exceed six or seven hundred
souls, and above two-thirds of those we saw were males. They either have
but few females amongst them, or else many were restrained from making
their appearance during our stay, for though we saw nothing to induce us to
believe the men were of a jealous disposition, or the women afraid to
appear in public, something of this kind was probably the case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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