1769. that metal not far inland: yet neither the inhabitants of this Novcmbcrf
-*------- ' place, or any other part of the coaft that we have feen, know
\^ednef, 15. , r r . _ . _
the ule or iron, or let the lean: value upon i t ; all of them
preferring the mod worthlefs and ufelefs trifle, not only to a
nail, but to any tool of that metal.
Before we left the bay, we cut upon one of the trees near
the watering-place the Ihip’s name, and that of the Commander,
with the date of the year and month when we
were there; and, after difplaying the Englifh colours, I took
a formal pofleflion of it in the name of his Britannic Majefty
King George the Third.
C H A P .
C H A P . IV.
The Range from Mercury Bay to the Bay o f 1 fu n d s : A n
Expedition up the R iv er Thames: Some Account o f the
Indians who inhabit its Banks, and the fin e Timber that
' grows there: Several Interviews with the N atives on
different P a rts o f the Coaft, and a Skirmijh with them
upon an Ifiand.
I Continued plying to windward two days to get under the ,769:
land, and on the 18th, about feven in the morning, we ,---- ,----1
were abreaft of a very confpicuous promontory, being then Saturday t8.
in latitude 36° 26', and in the direction of N. 48 W. from the
north head of Mercury Bay or Point Mercury, which was
diftant nine leagues: upon this point flood many people, who
feemed to take little notice of us, but talked together with
great earneftnefs. In about half an hour, feveral canoes put
off from different places, and came towards the fhip; upon
which the people on the point alfo launched a canoe, and
about twenty of them came in her up with the others. When
two of thefe canoes, in which there might be about fixty
men, came near enough to make themfelves heard, they
fung their war-fong 1 but feeing that we took little notice
of it, they threw a few ftones at us, and then rowed off towards
the fhore. We hoped that we had now done with
them, but in a iliort time they returned, as if with a fixed
refolution to provoke us into a battle, animating themfelves
by their fong as they had done before. Tupia, without any
Y y 2 directions