The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. I. Being the First of the First Voyage.Cook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. I. Being the First of the First Voyage.
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
Having rowed till it was dark, we reached a low neck of land, or
isthmus, at the bottom of the bay, that divides the island into two
peninsulas, each of which is a district or government wholly independent
of the other. From Port-Royal, where the ship was at anchor, the coast
trends E. by S. and E. S. E. ten miles, then S. by E. and S. eleven
miles to the isthmus. In the first direction, the shore is in general
open to the sea; but in the last it is covered by reefs of rocks, which
form several good harbours, with safe anchorage, in 16, 18, 20, and 24
fathom of water, with other conveniences. As we had not yet got into our
enemy’s country, we determined to sleep on shore. We landed, and though
we found but few houses, we saw several double canoes, whose owners were
well known to us, and who provided us with supper and lodging; of which
Mr. Banks was indebted for his share to Ooratooa, the lady who had paid
him her compliments in so singular a manner at the fort.
In the morning we looked about the country, and found it to be a marshy
flat, about two miles over, across which the natives haul their canoes
to the corresponding bay on the other side. We then prepared to continue
our route for what Tituboalo called the other kingdom; he said that the
name of it was TIARRABOU, or OTAHEITE ETE; and that of the chief who
governed it WAHEATUA. Upon this occasion, also, we learnt that the name
of the peninsula where we had taken our station was OPOUREONU, or
OTAHEITE NUE. Our new associate seemed to be now in better spirits than
he had been the day before: the people in Tiarrabou would not kill us,
he said; but he assured us that we should be able to procure no victuals
among them; and, indeed, we had seen no bread-fruit since we set out.
After rowing a few miles, we landed in a district, which was the
dominion of a chief called MARAITATA, the burying-place of men, whose
father’s name was PAHAIREDO, the stealer of boats. Though these names
seemed to favour the account that had been given by Tituboalo, we soon
found that it was not true. Both the father and the son received us with
the greatest civility, gave us provisions, and, after some delay, sold
us a very large hog for a hatchet. A crowd soon gathered round us, but
we saw only two people that we knew; neither did we observe a single
bead or ornament among them that had come from our ship, though we saw
several things which had been brought from Europe. In one of the houses
lay two twelve-pound shot, one of which was marked with the broad arrow
of England, though the people said they had them from the ships that lay
in Bougainville’s harbour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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