•769- him upon the back; he fhrunk a little when the Ihot hit
<--- ,— » him, but did not regard it more than one of our men would
n ‘ ' have done the ftroke of a rattan: he continued with great
compofure to pack up the linen that he had ftolen. All the
canoes now dropped aftern about a hundred yards, and all
fet up their fong of defiance, which they continued till the
Ihip was dill ant from them about four hundred yards. As
they feemed to have no defign to attack us, I was not willing
to do them any hurt; yet I thought their going off in a
bravado might have a bad effedt when it fhould be reported
afhore. To fhow them therefore that they were ftill in our
power, though very much beyond the reach of any miflile
weapon with which they were acquainted, I gave the Ihip a
yaw, and fired a four pounder fo as to pafs near them. The
Ihot happened to ftrike the water and rife feveral times at
a great diitance beyond the canoes: this ftruck them with,
terror, and they paddled away without once looking behind,
them.
About two in the afternoon, we faw a pretty high ifland.
bearing weft from us ; and at five, faw more, iflands and
rocks to the weftward of that. We hauled our wind, in order
to go without them, but could not weather them before
it was dark. I therefore bore up, and ran between them and'
the main. At feven, I was clofe, under the firft, from which
a large double canoe, or rather, two canoes lafhed together
at the diftance of about, a fopt, and covered with boards fo
as make a deck, put off, and made fail for the Ihip: this was
the firft veffel of tjhe kind that we had l'een fince We left the
South Sea iflands, When Ihe came near, the people on board
entered very freely into converfation with Tupia, and we
thought fliowed a friendly difpofition ; but when it was juft
dark, they ran their canoe clofe to the Ihip’s fide; and threw,
ia a volley of Hones, after which they paddled afhore.
We
We learnt, from Tupia,, that the people in the canoe called N<^ b; r.
the ifland which we were under Mowtohora; it Is-but of a >
final! circuit, though high, and lies fix miles from themain ,
on the fouth fide is 'anchorage in fourteen fathom water.
Upon the main land 's. W. by W. of this ifland, and apparently
at no great diftance from the fea, is a high round
mountain, which I called Mount Edgecombe: it Hands in the
middle of a large plain, and is therefore the more confpi-
cuqus ; latitude 37° 59,5 longitude, 193° 7- Inhanding weftward, we fuddenly flioaled our water from
feventeen to ten fathom ; and knowing ,that we were not far
'from' the fmall iflands and rocks which wehad Jeepbefore
dark ' and which I intended to have palled before I brought
to for the night, I thought it more prudent to tack, and fpend
the night under Mowtohora, where I knew there was no,
danger. It was indeed happy for us that we did fo jfo rm
the morning, after we had, made fail to the weftward, we Th»iCiay*r
difeovered, ahead of us, fevpyal rocks, fome of which were
level with the furface of the water, and fome below it: they
lay N. N.E. from Mount' Edge'comhe,,.,one league and a halt
diftant from the ifland Mowtohora, ,,and about nine miles
from the main. We palled between thefg rocks, and the main,
having from ten to feyen fofoPh1 T,at?r‘'
This morning, many canoes, and much people were feen
along the Ihore ; feveral of the canoes followed us, but none
of them could reach us, except one with a faih which inernl
to be the fame that had pelted; us. the night before., The
neople on board again entered into converfatjop with Tupia^
but we expected another volley .of their ammunition, which
was not indeed dangerous to any thing but the cabbin windows
They continued abreaft of the ihip about an hour,,
and behaved very peaceably; hut at laft the falute