The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
Early the next morning, the body of Forby Sutherland, one of our seamen,
who died the evening before, was buried near the watering-place; and
from this incident I called the south point of this bay Sutherland
Point. This day we resolved to make an excursion into the country. Mr.
Banks, Dr. Solander, myself, and seven others, properly accoutred for
the expedition, set out, and repaired first to the huts near the
watering-place, whither some of the natives continued every day to
resort; and though the little presents which we had left there before
had not yet been taken away, we left others of somewhat more value,
consisting of cloth, looking-glasses, combs, and beads, and then went up
into the country. We found the soil to be either swamp or light sand,
and the face of the country finely diversified by wood and lawn. The
trees are tall, straight, and without underwood, standing at such a
distance from each other, that the whole country, at least where the
swamps do not render it incapable of cultivation, might be cultivated
without cutting down one of them. Between the trees the ground is
covered with grass, of which there is great abundance, growing in tufts
about as big as can well be grasped in the hand, which stand very close
to each other. We saw many houses of the inhabitants, and places where
they had slept upon the grass without any shelter; but we saw only one
of the people, who, the moment he discovered us, ran away. At all these
places we left presents, hoping that at length they might produce
confidence and good-will. We had a transient and imperfect view of a
quadruped, about as big as a rabbit. Mr. Banks’s greyhound, which was
with us, got sight of it, and would probably have caught it, but the
moment he set off he lamed himself against a stump which lay concealed
in the long grass. We afterwards saw the dung of an animal which fed
upon grass, and which we judged could not be less than a deer; and the
footsteps of another, which was clawed like a dog, and seemed to be
about as big as a wolf. We also tracked a small animal, whose foot
resembled that of a polecat or weasel. The trees over our head abounded
with birds of various kinds, among which were many of exquisite beauty,
particularly loriquets and cockatoos, which flew in flocks of several
scores together. We found some wood which had been felled by the natives
with a blunt instrument, and some that had been barked. The trees were
not of many species; among others there was a large one which yielded a
gum not unlike the _sanguis draconis_; and in some of them steps had
been cut at about three feet distance from each other, for the
convenience of climbing them.
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