dians were alarmed> and drawing all together, retreated in a
j ja g g f r body' Afterafliort time, however, they returned, having heard
a more particular account of the affair; and intimated that
they thought the man who had been killed deferved his fate.
A little before funfet the Indians retired to eat their fupper
•and we went with them to be fpeftators of the repaft; it
-confifled of fifh of different kinds, among which were lob-
iters, and fome birds, of a fpecies unknown to u s : thefe were
cither roafted or baked; to roaft them, they fattened them
upon a fmall flick, which was ftuck up in the ground in
dining towards their fire | and to bake them, they put them
into a hole in the ground with hot ftones, in the fame manner
as the people of Otaheke.
Among the natives that were affembled upon this occafion,
we faw a woman, who, after their manner, was mourning
for the death of her relation: ihe fat upon the ground near
the reft, who, one only excepted, feemed not at all to regard
her: the tears conftantly trickled down her cheeks, and fhe
repeated in a low, but very mournful voice, words, which
even Tupia did not at all underftand: at the end of every
fentence fhe cut her arms, her face, or her breaft with a fliell
that fhe held in her hand, fo that fhe was almoft covered
with blood, and was indeed one of the moft affedting fpec-
tacles that can be conceived. The cuts, however, did not
appear to be fo deep as are fometimes made upon fimilar oc-
cafions, i f we may judge by the fears which we faw upon
the arms, thighs, breads, and cheeks of many of them,
which we were told were the remains of wounds which
they had inflided upon themfelves as teftimonies of their
affection and forrow.
Friday .o. The next day, I went with two boats, accompanied by Mr.
Banks and the other Gentlemen, to examine a large river
• that
that empties itfelf into the head o f the bay. We rowed about >769-
four or five miles up, and could have gone much farther it ----/
the weather had been favourable. It was here wider than at Frlday '°'
the mouth, and divided into many ftreams by fmall flat
iflands, which are covered with mangroves, and overflowed
at high water. From thefe trees exudes a vifeous fubftance
-which very much refemble-s refin: we found it firfl: in fmall
lumps upon the fea beach, and now faw it flicking to the
trees, by which we knew whence it came. We landed on
the eaft fide o f the river, where we faw a tree upon which federal
fhags had built their nefts, and here therefore we determined
to dine ; twenty of the fhags were foon killed, and
being broiled upon the fpot, afforded us an excellent meal.
We then went upon the hills from whericë*!-thought I faw
the head of the river. The fhore on each fide, as well as the
iflands in the middle, were covered with mangroves; and
the fand-banks abounded in cockles and clams; in many
places there were rock oyfters, and every where plenty of
wild fowl, principally fhags, ducks, curlieus, and the fea-
pie, that has been deferibed before. We alfo faw fifh in the
river, but of what kind we could not difeover: the country
on the eaft fide of this river is for the moft part barren, and
deftitute of wood; but on the weft it has a better afpedl, and
in fome places is adorned with trees, but has in no part the
appearance of cultivation. In the entrance of the river, and
for two or three miles up, there is good anchoring in four
and five fathom water, and places very convenient for laying
a veffel on fhore, where the tide rifes and falls feven feet
at the full and change of the moon. We could not determine,
whether any confiderable flream of frefh water came
into this river out of the country; but we faw a number of
fmall rivulets iffue from the adjacent hills. Near the mouth
of this river, on the eaft fide, we found a little Indian village,
Vol. II, X x confifting