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
On the 7th, it fell calm, we therefore approached the land slowly, and
in the afternoon, when a breeze sprung up, we were still distant seven
or eight leagues. It appeared still larger as it was more distinctly
seen, with four or five ranges of hills, rising one over the other, and
a chain of mountains above all, which appeared to be of an enormous
height. This land became the subject of much eager conversation; but the
general opinion seemed to be that we had found the _Terra australis
incognita_. About five o’clock, we saw the opening of a bay, which
seemed to run pretty far inland, upon which we hauled our wind and stood
in for it; we also saw smoke ascending from different places on shore.
When night came on, however, we kept plying off and on till day-light,
when we found ourselves to the leeward of the bay, the wind being at
north: we could now perceive that the hills were clothed with wood, and
that some of the trees in the valleys were very large. By noon we
fetched in with the south-west point; but not being able to weather it,
tacked and stood off: at this time we saw several canoes standing cross
the bay, which, in a little time, made to shore, without seeming to take
the least notice of the ship; we also saw some houses, which appeared to
be small, but neat; and near one of them a considerable number of the
people collected together, who were sitting upon the beach, and who, we
thought, were the same that we had seen in the canoes. Upon a small
peninsula, at the north-east head, we could plainly perceive a pretty
high and regular paling, which inclosed the whole top of a hill; this
was also the subject of much speculation, some supposing it to be a park
of deer, others an inclosure for oxen and sheep. About four o’clock in
the afternoon, we anchored on the north-west side of the bay, before the
entrance of a small river, in ten fathom water, with a fine sandy
bottom, and at about half a league from the shore. The sides of the bay
are white cliffs of a great height; the middle is low land, with hills
gradually rising behind, one towering above another, and terminating in
the chain of mountains, which appeared to be far inland.
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