C A P T A IN W A L L I S ’ s V O Y A G E
1767.
Jane.
board. At noon, I hoifted the boats in, and there being a
great fea, with a dreadful furf rolling in upon the Ihore,
and no anchorage, I thought it prudent to leave this place,
with fuch refrefliments as we had got. The people who
had refided on ihore, faw no appearance o f metal o f any
kind, but feveral tools, which were made o f Ihells and
ftones, Iharpened and fitted into handles, like adzes, chiflèls,
and awls. They faw feveral canoes building, which are
formed o f planks, fewed together, and fattened to feveral
fmall timbers, that pafs tranfverfely along the bottom and
up the fides. They faw feveral repofitories o f the dead, in
which the body was left to putrefy under a canopy, and not
put into the ground.
When we failed, we left a union jack flying upon thè
ifland, with the Ihip’s name, the time o f our being here,
and an account o f our taking pofleflion o f this place, and
Whitfun Ifland, in the name o f his Britannic Majefty, cut
on a piece of wood, and in the bark o f feveral trees. We alfo
left fome hatchets, nails, glafs bottles, beads, ihillings, fix-
pences, and halfpence, as prefents to the natives, and an
atonement for the difturbanee we had given them. Queen
Charlotte’s Ifland is about fix miles long, and one mile wide,
lies in latitude 19° 18'S. longitude, by obfervation, 138° 4 'W.
and we found the variation here to be 4° 46' E.
We made fail with a fine breeze, and about one o’clock,
faw an ifland W. by S. Queen Charlotte’s Ifland, at this time
bearing E. by N. diftant 15 miles. At ha lf an hour after
three, we were within about three quarters o f a mile o f the
eaft end of the ifland, and ran clofe along the Ihore, but had
no foundings. The eaft and weft ends are joined to each
other by a reef o f rocks, over which the fea breaks into a
lagoon, in the middle o f the ifland, which, therefore, had
the
the appearance o f two.iflands, and feemed to be about fix 1767.
miles long, and four broad. The whole o f it is low land, ■ Jun<:' ■
full of trees, but we fa w not a fingle cocoa-nut, nor any huts * ^e^ne**10*
we found, however, at the weftermoft end, all the canoes
and people who had fled, at our approach, from Queen
Charlotte s Ifland, and Ibme more. We counted eight
double canoes, and about fourfcore people, men, women
and children. The canoes were drawn upon the beach, the
women and children were placed near them, and the men
advanced with their pikes and firebrands, making a great
noife, and dancing in a ftrange manner. We Obferved that
this ifland was fandy, and that under the trees there was no
verdure. As the Ihore was every where rocky, as there was
no anchorage, and as we had no profpedt o f obtaining any
refrefhment here, I fet fail at fix o’clock in the evening,
from this ifland, to which I gave the name o f Egmont Egmont
Is l a n d , in honour o f the Earl o f Egmont,. who was then Illanii'
£rft Lord o f the Admiralty. It lies in latitude ig° 20' S. longitude,
by obfervation, 138° 30' W.
At one o’clock, on the n th , we faw an ifland in the Thurfdayu,
W. S. W. and flood for it. At four in the afternoon, we were
within a quarter of a mile of the Ihore, and ran along it,
founding continually, but could get no ground. It is fur-
rounded on every fide by rocks, on which the fea breaks
very high. It is full of trees, but not one cocoa-nut, and
has much the fame appearance with Egmont ifland, but is
much narrower. Among the rocks, at the weft end, we
faw about fixteen o f the natives, but no canoes: they carried
long pikes or poles in their hands, and feemed to be, in
every refpeft, the fame kind of people that we had feen
before. As nothing was to be had here, and it blew very
hard, I made fail till eight in the evening, and then brought
to. To this ifland, which is about fix miles long, and from
Vow.I. E e one