Sei-Jembes. the principles of hofpitality, which render all the natives of'
the South Sea fo amiable in the eyes of their vifitors.
We walked about till noon, when the boats returned on
board with a load of water, having only left a fmall party
with the calks ; a precaution, which the honefty of the natives
perhaps did not render neceffary. Mr. Wales,- our
■ aftronomer,. had in the meanwhile fixed fome inftruments
on the little fandy illet, in order to obferve an eclipfe of the
fun, which happened this day. The captain joined him
there, and from this, as well as fubfequent obfervations,
they deduced the fituation of this little iflancLtabe in a a °
i s 'S. and 164° 4o/ E.
In the evening we went on Ihore with captain Cook, to
the watering-place. The cayputi-trees (melaleuca), of which
we found feveral in flower, had. a loofe bark,, which in
many places burft off from the wood, and concealed within
it. beetles,, ants, fpiders, lizards, and fcorpions. We thought
weobferved quails among the tall dry grafles this day, but
could not be certain; we walked about till funfet, on the hillocks
neareft to our watering-place, where we faw but very
few natives, who fold fome of their arms to us. We endeavoured
to reprefent to them that we flood in need of. pr.o-
vifions, but they lent a deaf ear. to every hint of that kind,
fince it was plain they had barely enough for their own
fubfiftence. The foil of New Caledonia is indeed very unfit
for
for agriculture, and poorly rewards the labours which the
natives beftow upon it.
Early in the morning, before any natives come on board,
we fent a boat to the offing with the body of one of our
feamen, who had afted as butcher on board the fhip, but
died the day before, o f a hurt which he had received on the
yth of September by a fall. He was a laborious man, indefatigable
in his employment, though he feemed to be near
fixty years old. This was the third man whom we loft on
this voyage, one having been drowned, and another dying
of a dropfy.
We fet out with the captain, the mafter, two midffiip-
men, and three failors, after breakfaft, and afcended the
hills from whence the rivulet fprung, at which we watered.
We found a convenient path all the way, though the mountain
was very fteep in fome places. The rock was every
where of the fame nature; it was always a mixture of a
kind of glimmer and quartz, more or lefs tinged with an
ochreous or reddilh colour, which owed its origin to particles
of iron. We found the cayputi trees all the way up;
but as we came higher, we met with various forts of ffirubs,
though thinly fcattered, which offered new fpecies of flowers
to our eyes. The higher we came, the more the trees
dwindled into flirubs, except in a few deep glens, where we
obferved fome fmall rills guffiing down, which fertilized
the ground fo much, that a variety of plants ffiot up in
E e e 2 them
1774.
Se p t emb e r .