o«obe'r. day’ that 1 miSht fil1 fome of my empty calks, and give Mr.
'----*---- ' Banks an opportunity of examining the natural produce of
the country.
Saturday21. In the morning of the zift, I fent Lieutenant Gore on
fhore, to fuperintend the watering, with a ftrong party of
men; and they were foon followed by Mr. Banks and Dr.
Solander, with Tupia, Tayeto, and four others.
The natives fat by our people, and feemed pleafed to ob-
ferve them; but did not intermix with them: they traded,
however, chiefly for cloth, and after a Ihort time applied to
their ordinary occupations, as i f no ftranger had been
among them. In the forenoon, feveral of their boats went
out a fifhing, and at dinner time every one repaired to his
refpedlive dwelling; from which, after a certain time, he
returned. Thefe fair appearances encouraged Mr. Banks
and Dr. Solander to range the bay with very little precaution,
where they found many plants, and fhot fome birds of ex-
quilite beauty. In their walk, they vifited feveral houfes of
the natives, and faw fomething of their manner of life ; for
they Ihowed, without any referve, every thing which the
Gentlemen defired to fee. They were fometimes found at
their meals, which the approach of the ftrangers never interrupted.
Their food at this feafon confifted of fifh, with
which, inftead of bread, they eat the root of a kind of fern,
very like that which grows upon our commons in England.
Thefe roots they fcorch over the fire, and then beat with a
flick, till the bark and dry outfide fall off; what remains is
a foft fubftance, fomewhat clammy and fweet, not unpleaf-
ing to the tafte, but mixed with three or four times its quantity
of firings and fibres, which are very difagreeable; thefe
were fwallowed by fome, but fpit out by the far greater
number, who had bafkets under them to receive the rejected
2 part
part of what had been chewed, which had an appearance
verv like that of tobacco in the fame Hate. In other feafons v— -<— -*
/ „ „ , , , Saturday a l.
they have certainly plenty of excellent vegetables ; but no
tame animals were feen among them except dogs, which
were very fmall and ugly. Mr. Banks faw fome of their
plantations, where the ground was as well broken down and
tilled as even in the gardens of the moft curious people
among us: in thefe fpots were fweet potatoes, coccos or
eddas, which are well known and much efleemed both in
the Eaft and Weft Indies, and fome gourds: the fweet potatoes
were planted in fmall hills, fome ranged in rows, and
others in quincunx, all laid by a line with the greateft regularity:
the coccos were planted upon flat land, but none of
them yet appeared above ground ; and the gourds were fet
in fmall hollows, or difhes, much as in England. Thefe
plantations were of different extent, from one or two acres
to ten: taken together, there appeared to be from 150 to
200 acres in cultivation in the whole bay, though we never
faw an hundred people. Each diftrict was fenced in, generally
with reeds, which were placed fo clofe together that
there was fcarcely room for a moufe to creep between.
The women were plain, and made themfelves more fo by
painting their faces with red ocre and oil, which being generally
frefh and wet upon their cheeks and foreheads, was
eafily transferred to the nofes of thofe who thought fit to
falute them; and that they were not wholly averfe to fuch
familiarity, the nofes of feveral of our people flrongly tefti-
fied- they were, however, as great coquets as any of the
moft fafhionable ladies in Europe, and the young ones as
Ikittilh as an unbroken filly: each of them wore a petticoat,
under which there was a girdle, made of the blades o f grafs
highly perfumed, and to the girdle was fattened a lmall
bunch of the leaves of fome fragrant plant, which ferved
their