*774-
A üCWST. and fêized the boat itfelf, taking out two other oars. The
chief flood near the boat, and feemed to diredt this whole
manoeuvre. Captain Cook levelled his mufket at the natives,
but here, as at Savage Ifland, (fee pag. i 6 6.) the piece
miffed fir-e feveral times. The natives feeing him take aim,
and readily conceiving -that what he held in his hand was
a weapon, drew their bows and poifed their fpears. A
volley of arrows was directed at our people, and feveral
fpears were thrown into the boat. One of them, without
any -carving and .perfectly blunt, wounded a feaman in the
cheek. Captain Cook, feeing the lives of his people in
danger, ordered them to fire, hut it was dome time before
any of them could difcharge their mufkets. The firft discharge,
killed. two natives, who fell clofe.ro the boat. The
reft, ftill undifmayed, ran back a little at firft, but returned
brifkly to the charge, throwing ftones and fhooting
arrows at our-people. The other boat likewife fired upon
them, but only two or three of their mufkets went off;
however, they alfo killed and wounded fome other natives.
It. is remarkable, that though theJbeft flints are to be had in
England, and though government allows the higheft price
for them to the contractors, yet are our troops fupplied with
the yery worft flints by thefe people, who ufe every means
to anaafs a fortune.at the expence of the public. Some attention
ought, to.,be paid to an .article, upon which the lives
of
of many thoufand fubjeéts, nay often the fuccefs of engage- Av’0” t’r.
ments, in great meafure depends *. An arrow hit the
matter on the naked breaft, but being entirely fpent, it did
not even fetch blood. It confided of a reed, armed with a
long point of black wood, which was jagged or bearded
with many indentures on one fide. Some of the natives
who were wounded crawled upon all fours into the bufhes.
When our fwivels and cannon were fired from the fhip, the
whole croud difperfed ; fome, however, hid themfelves behind
a fandy elevation, which ferved as a breaft-work, from
whence they continued to annoy our people, who for fome
time amufed themfelves to fire at them as often as their
heads appeared. At laft, captain Cook feeing a third boat
come to his afliftance returned on board, and ordered the
other two to found the bay. From his account of this
unhappy difpute, Mr. Hodges has invented a drawing, which
is meant as a reprefentation of his interview with the natives.
For my own part, I cannot entirely perfuade myfelf
that thefe people had any hoftile intentions in detaining our
boat. The levelling o f a mufket at them, or rather at their
chief, provoked them to attack our crew. On our part this
* It has been oh ferved by foreigners, who have been fpeftators of military
manoeuvres, abroad as well as in Hyde-Park, that upon a company’ s firing feve- '
ral rounds, fix private men at leaft retire behind the lines to draw or to fire their
mulkefs, which did not go off before. T h is lingular circumftance is not owing
to any defedfc in the locks, but to the bad nefs of the flints. A ll foreign troops are
in that refpedt-fuperior to the B ritilh.
V o l . IL L 1 manoeuvre