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
The carpenter having prepared two posts to be left as memorials of our
having visited this place, I ordered them to be inscribed with the
ship’s name, and the year and month: one of them I set up at the
watering-place, hoisting the Union-flag upon the top of it; and the
other I carried over to the island that lies nearest to the sea, called
by the natives MOTUARA. I went first to the village or hippah,
accompanied by Mr. Monkhouse and Tupia, where I met with our old man,
and told him and several others, by means of Tupia, that we were come to
set up a mark upon the island, in order to show to any other ship which
should happen to come thither, that we had been there before. To this
they readily consented, and promised that they never would pull it down:
I then gave something to every one present; and to the old man I gave a
silver three-pence, dated 1736, and some spike-nails, with the king’s
broad arrow cut deep upon them; things which I thought most likely to
remain long among them: I then took the post to the highest part of the
island, and, after fixing it firmly in the ground, I hoisted upon it the
Union-flag, and honoured this inlet with the name of QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S
SOUND; at the same time taking formal possession of this and the
adjacent country, in the name and for the use of his Majesty King George
the Third. We then drank a bottle of wine to her Majesty’s health, and
gave the bottle to the old man who had attended us up the hill, and who
was mightily delighted with his present.
While the post was setting up, we enquired of the old man concerning the
passage into the eastern sea, the existence of which he confirmed; and
then asked him about the land to the S. W. of the streight, where we
were then situated: this land, he said, consisted of two whennuas or
islands, which may be circumnavigated in a few days, and which he called
TOVY POENAMMOO: the literal translation of this word is, “the water of
green talc;” and probably if we had understood him better, we should
have found that Tovy Poenammoo was the name of some particular place
where they got the green talc or stone of which they make their
ornaments and tools, and not a general name for the whole southern
district: he said there was also a third whennua, on the east side of
the streight, the circumnavigation of which would take up many moons:
this he called EAHEINOMAUWE; and to the land on the borders of the
streight he gave the name of TIERA WITTE. Having set up our post, and
procured this intelligence, we returned on board the ship, and brought
the old man with us, who was attended by his canoe, in which, after
dinner, he returned home.
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