only their enemies slain in battle that they thus devour. In the wars which are maintained here no quarter is given. Among the persons who composed the family where this savage festival had been celebrated, was a woman, who had her arms, legs and thighs, frightfully cut in several places; and the gentlemen were told, that she had inflicted these wounds upon herself, in token of her grief for the loss of her husband, who had been lately killed and eaten by their enemies, in another descent which they had made. But to quit this chilling subject.

The ship lay at somewhat less than a quarter of a mile distant from the shore, and in the morning those on board were awakened by the singing of the birds, the number of which was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody surpassed any thing of the kind which had been heard; it seemed to be like small bells, most exquisitely tuned; and perhaps the distance and intervening water might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon inquiry they were informed, that the birds here always begin to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music until sun-rise, were, like the nightingales in England, silent the rest of the day. Many shags were shot whilst sitting on their nests in the trees, which were eaten both roasted and stewed, and thought good food. On the 19th the armourer's forge was set up, and all hands on board were busy in careening, and other necessary operations about the vessel. Fish were now purchased of the Indians for nails, they having at length acquired some notion of their use; and in this traffic no unfair practices were attempted.

The commander having climbed a hill to view

the trendings of the coast, found that the country which he had encircled was separated from that in which the ship then lay by a strait. On this hill he found a parcel of loose stones, with which he erected a pyramid, and left in it some musket balls, small shot, beads and other things, which were likely to stand the test of time, and not being of Indian workmanship, would convince any European who should come to the place, and pull it down, that other natives of Europe had been there before him. In another place he erected a similar pile of stones, in which he left a piece of silver coin, with some musket-balls and beads, together with a piece of an old pendant flying at the top. The carpenter afterwards prepared two posts, which were left as a memorial of the Endeavour having visited the place: they were inscribed with the ship's name, and the year and month in which she arrived in that harbour. On the top of one of them was hoisted the union flag. The natives readily assented to all this being done, and promised that they would not pull them down; but in that particular they do not appear to have kept their word. Our commander at the same time honoured this inlet with the name of Queen Charlotte's Sound, and taking formal possession of this and the adjacent country, in the name, and for the use, of the king of Great Britain, the company present afterwards drank a bottle of wine to the queen's health, and gave the bottle to old Topaa, who was highly delighted with the present. The entrance of this sound is in latitude 41° S. longitude 175° 15′ E. The land about it consists entirely of high hills and deep valleys; these hills are of such a height, that they were seen at the distance of twenty leagues; the country is well

stored with excellent timber, fit for all purposes except masts, for which it is too hard and heavy. The number of inhabitants scarcely exceeded four hundred, who lived dispersed along the shore. On any appearance of danger they retire to their heppahs or forts. In comparison with the inhabitants of the other parts of this country, they are poor, and their canoes are without ornament. They had scarce any thing else but fish to dispose of: at first they were very fond of paper; but when they found that it would spoil by being wet, they would take no more; neither did they set much value upon the cloth of Otaheite, but English broad-cloth and red kersey were in high estimation.

On the 30th of January, early in the morning, Mr. Cook sent a boat to one of the islands near the harbour for celery, and while the people were gathering it, about twenty of the natives, men, women and children, landed near some empty huts: as soon as they were ashore, five or six of the women sat down upon the ground together, and began to cut their legs, arms and faces, with shells, and sharp pieces of talc or jasper, in a terrible manner: it was understood that their husbands had lately been killed by their enemies; but while they were performing this horrid ceremony, the men set about repairing the huts with the utmost negligence and

unconcern.

Old Topaa informed the gentlemen, that the country consisted of two whennuas or islands: that on which they were he called Tovy Poenammoo, the literal translation of which is, the water of green tale; and Mr. Cook thinks, if he could have been better understood, it might have been found that this was the name of some particular place where

the natives procured their green talc or stone, of which they make their ornaments, and not a general name for the whole southern district. The northern island he called Eaheinomauwe; and to the land on the borders of the strait he gave the name of Tiera Witte.

Mr. Cook quitted Queen Charlotte's Sound on the 6th of February, 1770. In sailing out, the ship was carried by the rapidity of the tide close upon one of the islands, which was a rock, rising almost perpendicularly out of the sea: their danger increased every moment, and the only expedient to prevent the ship being dashed to pieces, as she was within little more than a cable's length of the rock, was, to drop an anchor, which was but an improbable means of saving them, as they were then in seventy-five fathoms water; however, upon veering about a hundred and fifty fathoms of cable, the ship was happily brought up. But this would not have been accomplished time enough to have saved her, if the tide, which set S. by E. had not, upon meeting with the island, changed its direction to S. E. and carried the bark beyond the foremost point.

Mr. Cook at first proceeded along the eastern coast of the northern island, until he came within sight of the cape, which had before terminated his progress in a southern direction, on which account he had named it Cape Turn-again. He himself was quite satisfied concerning that part which remained unexplored; but some of his officers had started a doubt, whether Eaheinomauwe was an island, as the land might possibly stretch away to the southeast from between Cape Turn-again to the southern extremity of the coast, which had been named Cape Palliser, and which included a space of between

twelve and fifteen degrees. In this course some Indians came on board, whose behaviour was courteous and friendly. They had no sooner entered the ship, than they asked for whow, the name by which nails were known among the people with whom our voyagers had trafficked: but though they had heard of nails, it was found that they had seen none; for when some were given them, they asked Tupia what they were? Whow is the name by which they distinguish a tool, commonly made of bone, which these people use both as an auger and a chissel; but what they did know of iron showed that their intercourse extended not less than forty-five leagues to the northward, which was the nearest distance at which the Indians had made any exchanges with those on board the ship, and their information must have been obtained from some of their own countrymen.

Our commander then proceeded to trace the coast of that island, which was supposed to bear the name of Poenammoo. On the 1st of March he had reached the 48th degree of latitude, his longitude at the same time being 172 degrees E. in the course of which navigation he fell in with an island about twenty-four leagues in compass; it was called Banks's Island, and is situated in latitude 43° 22' S. longitude 173° 30′ E. Our navigator took a short departure from the coast of New Zealand, which turns in a western direction. As the south-west swell continued, Mr. Cook was confirmed in the opinion that there was no land in that quarter; he therefore desisted from any further pursuit, and standing to the northward regained the southern extremity of the coast. On the 9th a ledge of rocks was discovered under the ship's bow, upon which