A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xv Part 37

As we returned down the sound, we visited Gra.s.s Cove, the memorable scene of the ma.s.sacre of Captain Furneaux's people. Here I met with my old friend Pedro, who was almost continually with me the last time I was in this sound, and is mentioned in my History of that Voyage. He, and another of his countrymen, received us on the beach, armed with the pa-too and spear. Whether this form of reception was a mark of their courtesy or of their fear, I cannot say; but I thought they betrayed manifest signs of the latter. However, if they had any apprehensions, a few presents soon removed them, and brought down to the beach two or three more of the family; but the greatest part of them remained out of sight.

Whilst we were at this place, our curiosity prompted us to enquire into the circ.u.mstances attending the melancholy fate of our countrymen; and Omai was made use of as our interpreter for this purpose. Pedro, and the rest of the natives present, answered all the questions that were put to them on the subject, without reserve, and like men who are under no dread of punishment for a crime of which they are not guilty. For we already knew that none of them had been concerned in the unhappy transaction. They told us, that while our people were sitting at dinner, surrounded by several of the natives, some of the latter stole, or s.n.a.t.c.hed from them, some bread and fish, for which they were beat. This being resented, a quarrel ensued, and two New Zealanders were shot dead, by the only two musquets that were fired. For before our people had time to discharge a third, or to load again those that had been fired, the natives rushed in upon them, overpowered them with their numbers, and put them all to death. Pedro and his companions, besides relating the history of the ma.s.sacre, made us acquainted with the very spot that was the scene of it. It is at the corner of the cove on the right hand. They pointed to the place of the sun, to mark to us at what hour of the day it happened; and, according to this, it must have been late in the afternoon. They also shewed us the place where the boat lay; and it appeared to be about two hundred yards distant from that where the crew were seated. One of their number, a black servant of Captain Furneaux, was left in the boat to take care of her.

We were afterward told that this black was the cause of the quarrel, which was said to have happened thus: One of the natives stealing something out of the boat, the Negro gave him a severe blow with a stick. The cries of the fellow being heard by his countrymen at a distance, they imagined he was killed, and immediately began the attack on our people; who, before they had time to reach the boat, or to arm themselves against the unexpected impending danger, fell a sacrifice to the fury of their savage a.s.sailants.

The first of these accounts was confirmed by the testimony of many of the natives whom we conversed with at different times, and who, I think, could have no interest in deceiving us. The second manner of relating the transaction, rests upon the authority of the young New Zealander, who chose to abandon his country and go away with us, and who, consequently, could have no possible view in disguising the truth. All agreeing that the quarrel happened when the boat's crew were sitting at their meal, it is highly probable that both accounts are true, as they perfectly coincide. For we may very naturally suppose, that while some of the natives were stealing from the man who had been left in the boat, others of them might take the same liberties with the property of our people who were on sh.o.r.e.

Be this as it will, all agree that the quarrel first took its rise from some thefts, in the commission of which the natives were detected. All agree, also, that there was no premeditated plan of bloodshed, and that, if these thefts had not been unfortunately too hastily resented no mischief would have happened. For Kahoora's greatest enemies, those who solicited his destruction most earnestly, at the same time confessed that he had no intention to quarrel, much less to kill, till the fray had actually commenced. It also appears that the unhappy victims were under no sort of apprehension of their fate, otherwise they never would have ventured to sit down to a repast at so considerable a distance from their boat, amongst people who were the next moment to be their murderers. What became of the boat I never could learn. Some said she was pulled to pieces and burnt, others told us that she was carried, they knew not whither, by a party of strangers.

We stayed here till the evening, when, having loaded the rest of the boats with gra.s.s, celery, scurvy-gra.s.s, &c. we embarked to return to the s.h.i.+ps. We had prevailed upon Pedro to launch his canoe, and accompany us; but we had scarcely put off from the sh.o.r.e when the wind began to blow very hard at N.W., which obliged him to put back, We proceeded ourselves, but it was with a good deal of difficulty that we could reach the s.h.i.+ps, where some of the boats did not arrive till one o'clock the next morning; and it was fortunate that they got on board then, for it afterward blew a perfect storm, with abundance of rain, so that no manner of work could go forward that day. In the evening the gale ceased, and the wind, having veered to the E., brought with it fair weather.

The next day we resumed our works; the natives ventured out to catch fish; and Pedro, with all his family, came and took up his abode near us. The chief's proper name is Matahouah; the other being given him by some of my people during my last voyage, which I did not know till now.

He was, however, equally well known amongst his countrymen by both names.

On the 20th, in the forenoon, we had another storm from, the N.W. Though this was not of so long continuance as the former, the gusts of wind from the hills were far more violent, insomuch that we were obliged to strike the yards and top-masts to the very utmost; and, even with all this precaution, it was with difficulty that we rode it out. These storms are very frequent here, and sometimes violent and troublesome.

The neighbouring mountains, which at these times are always loaded with vapours, not only increase the force of the wind, but alter its direction in such a manner, that no two blasts follow each other from the same quarter; and the nearer the sh.o.r.e, the more their effects are felt.

The next day we were visited by a tribe or family, consisting of about thirty persons, men, women and children, who came from the upper part of the Sound. I had never seen them before. The name of their chief was Tomatongeauooranuc, a man of about forty-five years of age, with a cheerful open countenance; and, indeed, the rest of his tribe were, in general, the handsomest of the New Zealand race I had ever met with.

By this time more than two-thirds of the inhabitants, of the Sound had settled themselves about us. Great numbers of them daily frequented the s.h.i.+ps, and the encampment on sh.o.r.e; but the latter became, by far, the most favourite place of resort, while our people there were melting some seal blubber. No Greenlander was ever fonder of train-oil than our friends here seemed to be. They relished the very skimmings of the kettle, and dregs of the casks; but a little of the pure stinking oil was a delicious feast, so eagerly desired, that I suppose it is seldom enjoyed.

Having got on board as much hay and gra.s.s as we judged sufficient to serve the cattle till our arrival at Otaheite, and having completed the wood and water of both s.h.i.+ps, on the 23d we struck our tents, and carried every thing off from the sh.o.r.e, and next morning we weighed anchor, and stood out of the cove. But the wind not being very fair, and finding that the tide of ebb would be spent before we could get out of the Sound, we cast anchor again a little without the island Motuara, to wait for a more favourable opportunity of putting into the strait.

While we were unmooring and getting under sail, Tomatongeauooranuc, Matahouah, and many more of the natives, came to take their leave of us, or rather to obtain, if they could, some additional presents from us before we left them. These two chiefs became suitors to me for some goats and hogs. Accordingly, I gave to Matahouah two goats, a male, and female with kid; and to Tomatongeauooranuc two pigs, a boar and a sow.

They made me a promise not to kill them; though, I must own, I put no great faith in this. The animals which Captain Furneaux sent on sh.o.r.e here, and which soon after fell into the hands of the natives, I was now told were all dead; but I could get no intelligence about the fate of those I had left in West Bay, and in Cannibal Cove, when I was here in the course of my last voyage. However, all the natives whom I conversed with, agreed, that poultry are now to be met with wild in the woods behind s.h.i.+p Cove; and I was afterward informed, by the two youths who went away with us, that Tiratou, a popular chief amongst them, had a great many c.o.c.ks and hens in his separate possession, and one of the sows.

On my present arrival at this place, I fully intended to have left not only goats and hogs, but sheep, and a young bull, with two heifers, if I could have found either a chief powerful enough to protect and keep them, or a place where there might be a probability of their being concealed from those who would ignorantly attempt to destroy them. But neither the one nor the other presented itself to me. Tiratou was now absent; and Tringoboohee, whom I had met with during my last voyage, and who seemed to be a person of much consequence at that time, had been killed five months ago, with about seventy persons of his tribe; and I could not learn that there now remained in our neighbourhood any tribe, whose numbers could secure to them a superiority of power over the rest of their countrymen. To have given the animals to any of the natives who possessed no such power, would not have answered the intention; for in a country like this, where no man's property is secure, they would soon have fallen a prey to different parties, and been either separated or killed, but most likely both. This was so evident, from what we had observed since our arrival, that I had resolved to leave no kind of animal till Matahouah and the other chief solicited me for the hogs and goats. As I could spare them, I let them go, to take their chance. I have at different times, left in New Zealand not less than ten or a dozen hogs, besides those put on sh.o.r.e by Captain Furneaux. It will be a little extraordinary, therefore, if this race should not increase and be preserved here, either in a wild or in a domestic state, or in both.

We had not been long at anchor near Motuara, before three or four canoes, filled with natives, came off to us from the S.E. side of the sound; and a brisk trade was carried on with them for the curiosities of this place. In one of these canoes was Kahoora, whom I have already mentioned as the leader of the party who cut off the crew of the Adventure's boat. This was the third time he had visited us, without betraying the smallest appearance of fear. I was ash.o.r.e when he now arrived, but had got on board just as he was going away. Omai, who had returned with me, presently pointed him out, and solicited me to shoot him. Not satisfied with this, he addressed himself to Kahoora, threatening to be his executioner if ever he presumed to visit us again.

The New Zealander paid so little regard to these threats, that he returned the next morning with his whole family, men, women, and children, to the number of twenty and upward. Omai was the first who acquainted me with his being along-side the s.h.i.+p, and desired to know if he should ask him to come on board. I told him he might; and accordingly he introduced the chief into the cabin, saying, "There is Kahoora, kill him!" But, as if he had forgot his former threats, or were afraid that I should call upon him to perform them, he immediately retired. In a short time, however, he returned; and seeing the chief unhurt, he expostulated with me very earnestly, saying, "Why do you not kill him? You tell me, if a man kills another in England that he is hanged for it. This man has killed ten, and yet you will not kill him, though many of his countrymen desire it, and it would be very good." Omai's arguments, though specious enough, having no weight with me, I desired him to ask the chief why he had killed Captain Furneaux's people? At this question, Kahoora folded his arms, hung down his head, and looked like one caught in a trap; and I firmly believe he expected instant death. But no sooner was he a.s.sured of his safety, than he became cheerful. He did not, however, seem willing to give me an answer to the question that had been put to him, till I had, again and again, repeated my promise that he should not be hurt. Then he ventured to tell us, "That one of his countrymen having brought a stone hatchet to barter, the man, to whom it was offered, took it, and would neither return it, nor give any thing for it; on which the owner of it s.n.a.t.c.hed up the bread as an equivalent, and then the quarrel began."

The remainder of Kahoora's account of this unhappy affair, differed very little from what we had before learnt from the rest of his countrymen.

He mentioned the narrow escape he had during the fray; a musquet being levelled at him, which he avoided by skulking behind the boat; and another man, who stood close to him, was shot dead. As soon as the musquet was discharged, he instantly seized the opportunity to attack Mr Rowe, who commanded the party, and who defended himself with his hanger, (with which he wounded Kahoora in the arm,) till he was overpowered by numbers.

Mr Burney, who was sent by Captain Furneaux the next day, with an armed party, to look for his missing people, upon discovering the horrid proofs of their shocking fate, had fired several vollies amongst the crowds of natives who still remained a.s.sembled on the spot, and were probably partaking of the detestable banquet. It was natural to suppose that he had not fired in vain; and that, therefore, some of the murderers and devourers of our unhappy countrymen had suffered under our just resentment. Upon enquiry, however, into this matter, not only from Kahoora, but from others who had opportunities of knowing, it appeared that our supposition was groundless, and that not one of the shot fired by Mr Burney's people had taken effect, so as to kill, or even to hurt, a single person.[143]

[Footnote 143: Mr Burney was not warranted in firing. It was not possible for him, at the time, to know whether or not his comrades had been justly punished for aggressions on the savages. He acted, therefore, from the impulse of blind revenge. But such a motive, though natural enough it may be, must, nevertheless, be condemned by every law recognised among civilized nations. Even his observing these people engaged in feasting on the victims of their fury, much indeed as it would necessarily augment his abhorrence, could not be allowed a sufficient plea for his attacking them; because the principles which ought to govern the conduct of a member of such a society as he belonged to, are indiscriminately imperative in their nature, and do not allow any lat.i.tude of dispensation to an individual. The only thing that warrants the violation of them, is the necessity imposed by a still higher law,--that of preserving his own existence. But, in the present instance, it does not appear that he was in any danger.--E.]

It was evident, that most of the natives we had met with since our arrival, as they knew I was fully acquainted with the history of the ma.s.sacre, expected I should avenge it with the death of Kahoora. And many of them seemed not only to wish it, but expressed their surprise at my forbearance. As he could not be ignorant of this, it was a matter of wonder to me that he put himself so often in my power. When he visited us while the s.h.i.+ps lay in the cove, confiding in the number of his friends that accompanied him, he might think himself safe; but his two last visits had been made under such circ.u.mstances, that he could no longer rely upon this. We were then at anchor in the entrance of the sound, and at some distance from any sh.o.r.e; so that he could not have any a.s.sistance from thence, nor flatter himself he could have the means of making his escape, had I determined to detain him. And yet, after his first fears, on being interrogated, were over, he was so far from entertaining any uneasy sensations, that, on seeing a portrait of one of his countrymen hanging up in the cabin, he desired to have his own portrait drawn; and sat till Mr Webber had finished it, without marking the least impatience. I must confess I admired his courage, and was not a little pleased to observe the extent of the confidence he put in me; for he placed his whole safety in the declarations I had uniformly made to those who solicited his death, That I had always been a friend to them all, and would continue so, unless they gave me cause to act otherwise; that as to their inhuman treatment of our people, I should think no more of it, the transaction having happened long ago, and when I was not present; but that, if ever they made a second attempt of that kind, they might rest a.s.sured of feeling the weight of my resentment.[144]

[Footnote 144: Here Captain Cook acted wisely; and, indeed, throughout the whole transaction, his conduct merits the highest applause. To resist the solicitations of envy and revenge, where acquiescence would have proved so availing to his reputation, and so secure in its display, implied a conscientious regard to an invisible authority, which must ever be allowed to const.i.tute a feature of excellence in any man to whom power is committed. His threatening is not to be considered as any exception to what is now said in his praise, being, in fact, a beneficial intimation calculated to secure subjection to a necessary law. Here it may not be amiss to remark, that savages, little as some men think of them, are possessed of all the faculties of human nature; and that conscience, that principle, which, more than reason, characterizes our species, has as true and as efficient an existence in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Now this always respects a superior power, and is the source of that indescribable dread of some opposing and awful agency, which never fails to visit the transgressor of its dictates. We must not, however, ascribe to it every apprehension of danger with which the mind is occasionally disturbed. There is a sort of fear of evil which seems common to us with the lower animals, and which cannot therefore be imagined to have any connection with moral delinquency. This latter, it is probable, was all that Kahoora experienced in his first interview with Cook after the ma.s.sacre; and hence his apprehensions would easily be subdued by the a.s.surances which that gentleman made him. In fact, from the facility of his confidence, we may almost certainly infer his consciousness of innocence, notwithstanding his share in the commission of the deed. This implies no inconsistency, as every thinking person will at once perceive; for it must be remembered, that there is no evidence whatever as to any design or premeditated plan on the part of the savages. Had his dread been of the former kind, it is scarcely conceivable that the utmost a.s.surances of indemnity which Cook could give, would have produced so unaffected a manifestation of ease as is described.--E.]

For some time before we arrived at New Zealand, Omai had expressed a desire to take one of the natives with him to his own country. We had not been there many days before he had an opportunity of being gratified in this; for a youth, about seventeen or eighteen years of age, named Taweiharooa, offered to accompany him, and took up his residence on board. I paid little attention to this at first, imagining that he would leave us when we were about to depart, and after he had got what he could from Omai. At length, finding that he was fixed in his resolution to go with us, and having learnt that he was the only son of a deceased chief, and that his mother, still living, was a woman much respected here, I was apprehensive that Omai had deceived him and his friends, by giving them hopes and a.s.surances of his being sent back. I therefore caused it to be made known to them all, that if the young man went away with us he would never return. But this declaration seemed to make no sort of impression. The afternoon before we left the cove, Tiratoutou, his mother, came on board, to receive her last present from Omai. The same evening she and Taweiharooa parted, with all the marks of tender affection that might be expected between a parent and a child, who were never to meet again. But she said she would cry no more; and, sure enough, she kept her word. For when she returned the next morning, to take her last farewell of him, all the time she was on board she remained quite cheerful, and went away wholly unconcerned.

That Taweiharooa might be sent away in a manner becoming his birth, another youth was to have gone with him as his servant; and, with this view, as we supposed, he remained on board till we were about to sail, when his friends took him ash.o.r.e. However, his place was supplied next morning by another, a boy of about nine or ten years of age, named Kokoa. He was presented to me by his own father, who, I believe, would have parted with his dog with far less indifference. The very little clothing the boy had he stript him of, and left him as naked as he was born. It was to no purpose that I endeavoured to convince these people of the improbability, or rather of the impossibility, of these youths ever returning home. Not one, not even their nearest relations, seemed to trouble themselves about their future fate. Since this was the case, and I was well satisfied that the boys would be no losers by exchange of place, I the more readily gave my consent to their going.

From my own observations, and from the information of Taweiharooa and others, it appears to me that the New Zealanders must live under perpetual apprehensions of being destroyed by each other; there being few of their tribes that have not, as they think, sustained wrongs from some other tribe, which they are continually upon the watch to revenge.

And, perhaps, the desire of a good meal may be no small incitement. I am told that many years sometimes elapse before a favourable opportunity happens, and that the son never loses sight of an injury that has been done to his father.[145] Their method of executing their horrible designs, is by stealing upon the adverse party in the night; and if they find them unguarded, (which, however, I believe, is very seldom the case,) they kill every one indiscriminately; not even sparing the women and children. When the ma.s.sacre is completed, they either feast and gorge themselves on the spot, or carry off as many of the dead bodies as they can, and devour them at home, with acts of brutality too shocking to be described. If they are discovered before they can execute their b.l.o.o.d.y purpose, they generally steal off again, and sometimes are pursued and attacked by the other party in their turn. To give quarter, or to take prisoners, makes no part of their military law; so that the vanquished can only save their lives by flight. This perpetual state of war, and destructive method of conducting it, operates so strongly in producing habitual circ.u.mspection, that one hardly ever finds a New Zealander off his guard either by night or by day. Indeed, no other man can have such powerful motives to be vigilant, as the preservation both of body and of soul depends upon it; for, according to their system of belief, the soul of the man whose flesh is devoured by the enemy, is doomed to a perpetual fire, while the soul of the man whose body has been rescued from those who killed him, as well as the souls of all who die a natural death, ascend to the habitations of the G.o.ds. I asked, Whether they eat the flesh of such of their friends as had been killed in war, but whose bodies were saved from falling into the enemy's hands?

They seemed surprised at the question, which they answered in the negative, expressing some abhorrence at the very idea. Their common method of disposing of their dead, is by depositing their bodies in the earth; but if they have more of their slaughtered enemies than they can eat, they throw them into the sea.

[Footnote 145: Every reader almost will here recollect, that a similar disposition to perpetuate grievances has been found to operate in all barbarous nations, and indeed amongst many people who lay great claims to refinement in civilization. It will be found, in truth, too strong an effort for most men's charity, to regard with perfect impartiality either a person or a nation whom their fathers had pointed out as an enemy. On the great scale of the world, we see it is the nearly inevitable consequence of war to generate malicious feelings. In addition, then, to some contrariety of interest, to some real or imaginary aggression, or even a bare possibility of being injured, it is almost enough, at any time, for the commencement of a new struggle betwixt rival nations, that one, or both of them, remember they were formerly at variance. Nor is it at all requisite for due rancour in such cases, that politicians explain the grounds of the quarrel, and aggravate the enormous injustice of the opponent, or prove his readiness to do mischief. The animosity is already conceived, and waits only the removal of the gauze-like part.i.tion, to be able, with greater certainty of effect, to guide its instruments of destruction. "Hear," says Mr Ferguson, in his essay on this subject, "hear the peasants on different sides of the Alps, and the Pyrenees, the Rhyne, or the British channel, give vent to their prejudices and national pa.s.sions; it is among them that we find the materials of war and dissension laid without the direction of government, and sparks ready to kindle into a flame, which the statesman is frequently disposed to extinguish. The fire will not always catch where his reasons of state would direct, nor stop where the concurrence of interest has produced an alliance. 'My father,' said a Spanish peasant, 'would rise from his grave if he could foresee a war with France.' What interest had he, or the bones of his father, in the quarrels of princes?" The answer might easily be given by another anecdote. During a parley betwixt the leaders of two rival Highland clans, which had for its object the peaceable termination of their differences, a subordinate officer, not relis.h.i.+ng the unusual homily, went up to his chief in a rage, and upbraided him for delaying the combat. "Don't you see," says he, brandis.h.i.+ng his claymore, "that the sun is almost set?--we'll no hae half time to kill thae rascals!" The peasant naturally enough wished that his father might rise again to take his share in the delightful work of slaughter. Pray, what childish scruples withhold persons of such keen appet.i.tes from occasionally taking a belly-full of their enemy's flesh?--E.]

They have no such thing as _morais_, or other places of public wors.h.i.+p; nor do they ever a.s.semble together with this view. But they have priests, who alone address the G.o.ds in prayer for the prosperity of their temporal affairs, such as an enterprise against a hostile tribe, a fis.h.i.+ng party, or the like.

Whatever the principles of their religion may be, of which we remain very ignorant, its instructions are very strongly inculcated into them from their very infancy. Of this I saw a remarkable instance, in the youth who was first destined to accompany Taweiharooa. He refrained from eating the greatest part of the day, on account of his hair being cut, though every method was tried to induce him to break his resolution, and he was tempted with the offer of such victuals as he was known to esteem the most. He said, if he eat any thing that day the _Eatooa_ would kill him. However, toward evening, the cravings of nature got the better of the precepts of his religion, and he ate, though but sparingly. I had often conjectured, before this, that they had some superst.i.tious notions about their hair, having frequently observed quant.i.ties of it tied to the branches of trees near some of their habitations; but what these notions are I could never learn.

Notwithstanding the divided and hostile state in which the New Zealanders live, travelling strangers, who come with no ill design, are well received and entertained during their stay; which, however, it is expected will be no longer than is requisite to transact the business they come upon. Thus it is that a trade for _poenammoo_, or green talc, is carried on throughout the whole northern island. For they tell us, that there is none of this stone to be found but at a place which bears its name, somewhere about the head of Queen Charlotte's Sound, and not above one or two days journey, at most, from the station of our s.h.i.+ps. I regretted much that I could not spare time sufficient for paying a visit to the place; as we were told a hundred fabulous stories about this stone, not one of which carried with it the least probability of truth, though some of their most sensible men would have us believe them. One of these stories is, that this stone is originally a fish, which they strike with a gig in the water, tie a rope to it, and drag it to the sh.o.r.e, to which they fasten it, and it afterwards becomes stone. As they all agree that it is fished out of a large lake, or collection of waters, the most probable conjecture is, that it is brought from the mountains, and deposited in the water by the torrents. This lake is called by the natives Tavai Poenammoo, that is, the Water of Green Talc; and it is only the adjoining part of the country, and not the whole southern island of New Zealand, that is known to them by the name which hath been given to it on my chart.

Polygamy is allowed amongst these people; and it is not uncommon for a man to have two or three wives. The women are marriageable at a very early age; and it should seem, that one who is unmarried, is but in a forlorn state. She can with difficulty get a subsistence; at least she is, in a great measure, without a protector, though in constant want of a powerful one.

The New Zealanders seem to be a people perfectly satisfied with the little knowledge they are masters of, without attempting, in the least, to improve it. Nor are they remarkably curious, either in their observations or their enquiries. New objects do not strike them with such a degree of surprise as one would naturally expect; nor do they even fix their attention for a moment. Omai, indeed, who was a great favourite with them, would sometimes attract a circle about him; but they seemed to listen to his speeches like persons who neither understood, nor wished to understand, what they heard.

One day, on our enquiring of Taweiharooa, how many s.h.i.+ps, such as ours, had ever arrived in Queen Charlotte's Sound, or in any part of its neighbourhood? he began with giving an account of one absolutely unknown to us. This, he said, had put into a port on the N.W. coast of Teerawitte, but a very few years before I arrived in the Sound in the Endeavour, which the New Zealanders distinguish by calling it Tupia's s.h.i.+p. At first, I thought he might have been mistaken as to the time and place; and that the s.h.i.+p in question might be either Monsieur Surville's, who is said to have touched upon the N.E. coast of Eaheinomauwe, the same year I was there in the Endeavour; or else Monsieur Marion du Fresne's, who was in the Bay of Islands, on the same coast, a few years after. But he a.s.sured us that he was not mistaken, either as to the time, or as to the place of this s.h.i.+p's arrival, and that it was well known to every body about Queen Charlotte's Sound and Teerawitte. He said, that the captain of her, during his stay here, cohabited with a woman of the country; and that she had a son by him still living, about the age of Kokoa, who, though not born then, seemed to be equally well acquainted with the story. We were also informed by Taweiharooa, that this s.h.i.+p first introduced the venereal disease amongst the New Zealanders. I wish that subsequent visitors from Europe may not have their share of guilt in leaving so dreadful a remembrance of them amongst this unhappy race. The disorder now is but too common here, though they do not seem to regard it, saying, that its effects are not near so pernicious at present as they were at its first appearance.

The only method, as far as I ever heard, that they make use of as a remedy, is by giving the patient the use of a sort of hot bath, which they produce by the steam of certain green plants laid over hot stones.

I regretted much that we did not hear of this s.h.i.+p while we were in the sound; as, by means of Omai, we might have had full and correct information about her from eyewitnesses. For Taweiharooa's account was only from what he had been told, and therefore liable to many mistakes.

I have not the least doubt, however, that his testimony may so far be depended upon, as to induce us to believe that a s.h.i.+p really had been at Teerawitte prior to my arrival in the Endeavour, as it corresponds with what I had formerly heard. For in the latter end of 1773, the second time I visited New Zealand, during my late voyage, when we were continually making enquiries about the Adventure, after our separation, some of the natives informed us of a s.h.i.+p's having been in a port on the coast of Teerawitte. But, at this time, we thought we must have misunderstood them, and took no notice of the intelligence.

The arrival of this unknown s.h.i.+p has been marked by the New Zealanders with more causes of remembrance than the unhappy one just mentioned.

Taweiharooa told us their country was indebted to her people for the present of an animal, which they left behind them. But as he had not seen it himself, no sort of judgment could be formed from his description of what kind it was.

We had another piece of intelligence from him, more correctly given, though not confirmed by our own observations, that there are snakes and lizards there of an enormous size. He described the latter as being eight feet in length, and as big round as a man's body. He said they sometimes seize and devour men; that they burrow in the ground; and that they are killed by making fires at the mouths of the holes. We could not be mistaken as to the animal; for, with his own hand, he drew a very good representation of a lizard on a piece of paper, as also of a snake, in order to shew what he meant.[146]

[Footnote 146: There can be little doubt that the animal here called a lizard is an alligator.--E.]

Though much has been said, in the narratives of my two former voyages, about this country and its inhabitants, Mr Anderson's remarks, as serving either to confirm or to correct our former accounts, may not be superfluous. He had been three times with me to Queen Charlotte's Sound during my last voyage; and, after this fourth visit, what he thought proper to record, may be considered as the result of sufficient observation. The reader will find it in the next section; and I have nothing farther to add, before I quit New Zealand, but to give some account of the astronomical and nautical observations made during our stay there.

The longitude of the observatory in s.h.i.+p Cove, by a mean of 103 sets of observations, each set consisting of six or more observed distances, was 174 25' 15" E.

By the time-keeper, at Greenwich rate, it was 175 26 30

By ditto, at the Cape rate, it was 174 56 12

Variation of the compa.s.s, being the mean of six needles, observed on board the s.h.i.+p 12 40 0 E.

By the same needles on sh.o.r.e, it was 13 53 0

The dip of the south end, observed on sh.o.r.e was 63 42 0

By a mean of the results of eleven days observations, the time-keeper was too slow for mean time on February 22, at noon, by 11h 50' 37",396; and she was found to be losing on mean time at the rate of 2",913 per day. From this rate the longitude will be computed, till some other opportunity offers to ascertain her rate anew. The astronomical clock, with the same length of pendulum as at Greenwich, was found to be losing on sidereal time 40",239 per day.

It will not be amiss to mention, that the longitude, by lunar observations, as above, differs only 6' 45" from what Mr Wales made it during my last voyage; his being so much more to the W. or 174 18' 30".

The lat.i.tude of s.h.i.+p Cove is 41 6' 0", as found by Mr Wales.

SECTION VIII.