October Many trees which we had left Handing were cut down with
faws and other tools unknown to the natives; the bottle
was removed, and other indubitable veftiges of the new vi-
fitation remained. The.plantations which we had formerly
made were almoft entirely deftroyed, being partly rooted
out, and partly Rifled by the indigenous weeds, which grew
luxuriantly in the foil after it had been turned up. Our
failors dragged a net feveral times, but to no purpofe ; however,
we were fomewhat more fuccefsful after our return to
the fliip, where feveral fith were eaught with the hook and
line- Amongft others, a fine fea-bream ■ $!wrar pagrusj,
weighing eleven pounds, was taken, it being one of thofe
fpecies which are to be met with in almoft every ocean».
About funfet a cannon was fired, with a view to apprize the
natives of our arrival, if any of them happened to be within
hearing. It was our intereft to have them near us, in order
to fupply us with fifli, which our failors were not expert
enough to catch in any quantity, fuppofing we could have
difpenfed with their labours in repairing the rigging, &c.
wedaetd. ' At day-break all our people began to warp the fliip
deeper into, the cove, and about nine o clock they had
brought her into a convenient fituation very near the fliore.
We profited by an interval of fair weather, in order to vifife
» I t is caught on the ooafts of England-in, the Mediterranean, at the Cape of.
Good Hope,, and in the South Seas*.
the.
the beach, where we once more pitched our tents. The
laft year’s generation of birds, unacquainted with the
treacherous arms of Europeans, fat patiently till we came
near enough not to run the rilk of miffing them; and thus
we not only recruited our colleftion, but likewife provided
a delicious refrefliment. The creepers in particular, and
feveral fmaller fpecies, were to the full as grateful to the
palate as ortolans ; and every land-bird of this part of New
Zeeland, hawks excepted, would have been reliflied at the
moft luxurious tables.
In the afternoon we accompanied captain Cook to Cani-
bal Cove, the next to the northward of our anchoring-place.
The fliores of this cove we knew to be rich in celery and
fcurvy-grafs, which it was the captain's conftant care to provide
for his crew, wherever they were to be had. In our
rambles through the woods at this place we found a
true cabbage-palm (areca oleracea), of the fame fort which
we had feen at Norfolk Ifland. Its fituation in this high
latitude was fomewhat furprifing, and feems to prove that
this fpecies is of a more hardy nature than the reft in the
fame clafs. We returned on board with a rich load of
greens, very acceptable to all our ftiipmates, but eyed with
peculiar pleafure by all thofe who had been poifoned, and
who hoped, by the ufe of this wholefome diet, to be reftored
to health and .ftrength, which they had never enjoyed fince
that unfortunate event. Another cannon was fired in the
M m m 2
»774* Oc t o b e r ,'
evening,