Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 2.: The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth CenturyVerne, Jules
History
Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 2.: The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century
Verne, Jules
Discoveries in geography; Explorers; Voyages and travels
"They were of ordinary height, but rather slightly built. Their skin
was black and their hair of the same colour, and as woolly as that of
the negroes of New Guinea, but they had not the thick lips or flat
noses of African negroes. There was nothing disagreeable in their
features, and their eyes struck us as beautiful, so did their teeth,
but they were very dirty. Most of them anointed their hair and beards
with a yellow ointment, and some even rubbed their faces with the same
stuff."
Concise as this account is, it is not the less valuable. The race of
Tasmanians is extinct, the last of them died a few years ago.
Cook weighed anchor on the 30th of January, and took up his station at
his usual point in Queen Charlotte's Strait. The vessels were soon
surrounded by pirogues, but not a single native ventured to go on
board, they were so fully persuaded that the English had come to
avenge their murdered comrades. Once convinced that the English had no
such intention, they banished their mistrust and reserve. The captain
soon found out by Mai's interpretation (he understanding the Zealand
tongue) the right cause of this terrible catastrophe.
It appeared that the English had been seated on the grass, taking
their evening meal when the natives committed several thefts. One of
them was caught and struck by a sailor. At his cry, his companions
rushed upon the sailors of the _Adventure_, who killed two of them,
but unfortunately succumbed to numbers. Several of the Zealanders
pointed out to Cook the chief who had directed the carnage, and urged
Cook to kill him. But to the great surprise of the natives and the
stupefaction of Mai, the captain refused.
Mai remarked, "In England they kill a man who assassinates another;
this fellow killed ten, and you take no revenge!"
Before he left, Cook landed pigs and goats, hoping that these animals
might at length become acclimatized to New Zealand.
Mai had a wish to take a New Zealander to Tahiti. Two offered to go,
and Cook agreed to receive them, warning them at the same time that
they would never see their native land again. But no sooner had the
vessels lost sight of the shores of New Zealand than they began to
weep. Sea-sickness added to their distress. But as they recovered from
it their sadness disappeared, and they soon attached themselves to
their new friends.
An island named Mangea was discovered on the 29th of March. At Mai's
representations the inhabitants decided to come on board. Small, but
vigorous and well-proportioned, they wore their hair knotted upon the
top of the head. They wore long beards, and were tatooed in all parts
of their bodies. Cook could not carry out his earnest wish to land, as
the people were too hostile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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