- a<77£ the idea of amity is naturally and neceflarily referred.
'Our boat being neareft to thefe natives, Captain Cook defied
the office^ in it to land, and accept their preferred
friendfliip, whilft he meant to take the advantage of the
tide to get as high up in the river as poffible, Whether
the officer did not underftand Captain Cook’s meaning, or
whether he was too deeply engaged with duck-fhooting, '
we did not land; and the poor people, to all appearance
apprehenfive of the worft confequences, from a fet of men
who remedied their propofals of peace, fled into the woods
with the utmoft precipitation. The Captain in the mean
while rowed about half a mile higher, where his boat
was flopped by the violence of the ftream, and by feveral
huge ftones which lay acrofs the bed of the river, and redoubled
the rapidity of the water. Here, however, he
found a new fpecies of ducks, the fifth we had obferved
in Dufky Bay. Its fize was fomething lefs than that of a
teal, the colour of a fhining greenifh black above, and a
dark footy grey below ; it had a purple caft on the head,
a lead-coloured bill and feet, a golden eye, and a white
bar in the lefler quill feathers. On Captain Cook s return
to us, we perceived two men in the woods along the bank
oppofite to that where we had feen the friendly family.
The captain endeavoured to form an acquaintance with
them, but when the boat came clofe along fhore, they always
retired into the woods, which were fo thick, that they
not
16
not only covered them from our fight, but alfo made it A’P7J|
unadvifeable to follow them. The ebbing tide obliged us
to retire out of this river to the place where we had fpent
the night; and, after breakfafting there, we embarked in
order to fet out on our return to the Refolution. However,
when we had fcarce put off, we perceived the two natives,
who had Walked acrofs the woods to an open fpot, from
whence they halloo’d to us. 'The captain immediately ordered
both the boats to row up to them, and coming into
fhallow water, he got out unarmed, attended by two men,
and waded to the fhore, with a fheet of white paper in his
hand. The two natives flood about one hundred yards
from the water’s fide, each of them with a long fpear in
his hand. When the captain advanced with his two men
they retired; he then proceeded alone, but could not prevail
on them to lay afide their fpears. At laft one of them
ftuck his fpear in the ground, and taking a bunch of
grafs in his hand met the captain, and giving him one
end of the grafs to hold while he kept the other, he pronounced
a folemn fpeech in a loud tone of voice, during a
minute or two, in which he made feveral paufes, perhaps
waiting for a reply. As foon as this' ceremony was over,
they faluted each other, and the New Zeelander took a
new garment from his own fhoulders and prefented it to
the captain, for which he . received a hatchet in return.
Peace and friendfhip being thus firmly eftablifhed, the
. V o l . I. Z other