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i77°- confined our excurfion, however, to the weflern fide, and
C--------1 the country being an impenetrable foreft where we landed,
Thor ay rs, coupj fge nothing worthy of notifce: we killed, however,
a good number of lhaggs, which we faw fitting upon their
nefts in the trees, and which, whether roafted or ftewed, we
Confidered as very good provifion. As we were returning,
we faw a fingle man in a canoe fifhing; we rowed up to
him, and to our great furprize he took not the leaf! notice
of us, but even when we were alongfide of him, continued
to follow his occupation, without adverting to us any more
than i f we had been invifible. He did not, however, appear
to be either füllen or, ftupid: we requefted him to draw up
his net, that we might examine it, and he readily .complied:
it was of a circular form, extended by two hoops, and about
feven or eight feet in diameter: the top was open, and fea-
ears were faftened to the bottom as a bait: .this he let down
fo as to lie upon the ground, and when he thought fifh
enough were aflembled over it, he drew it up by a very
gentle and even motion, fo that the fifh rofe with it, fcarcely
l'enfible that they were lifted, till they came very near the
furface of the water, and then were brought out in the net
by a fudden jerk. By this fimple method he, had caught
^abundance of fifh, and indeed they are fo plenty in this bay,
that the catching them requires neither much labour nor
.art.
This day, fome of our people found in the fkirts of the
wood, near a hole or oven, three human hip-bones, which
they brought on board ; a farther proof that thefe people eat
human flefh: Mr. Monkhoufe, our Surgeon, alfo brought on
board, from a place where he faw many deferred houfes, the
hair of a man’s head, which he had found, among many
.other things, tied up to the branches of trees-
In
In the morning of the ipth, we fet up the armourer’s 1770-
forge to repair the braces of the tiller, and other iron-work, , Ja^"»ry-i
all hands on board being Hill bufy in careening, and other Frlday 19’
neceflary operations about the veflel: this day, fome Indians
came on board from another part of the bay, where they
faid there was a town which we had not feen: they brought
plenty of fifh, which they fold for nails, having now acquired
fome notion of their ufe ; and in this traffic no unfair
practice was attempted.
In the morning o f the 20th, our old man kept his promife, Saturday zs.
and brought on board four of the heads of the feven people
who had been fo much the fubjecl of our enquiries : the hair
and flefh were entire, but we perceived that the brains had
been extracted; the flefh was foft, but had by fome method
been preferved from putrefaction, for it had no difagreeable
fmell. Mr. Banks purchafed one of them, but they fold it
with great reluCtance, and could not by any means be prevailed
upon to part with a fecond; probably they may be
preferved as trophies, like the fcalps in America, and the-'
jaw-bones in the iflands of the South Seas. Upon examining,
the head which had been bought by Mr. Banks, we perceived-
that it had received a blow upon the temples, which had
fraCtured the Ikull. This day we made another excurfion in
the pinnace, to furvey the bay, but we found no flat large
enough for a potatoe garden, nor could we difcover the leaft
appearance of cultivation: we met not a fingle Indian, but
found an excellent harbour; and about eight o’clock in-the-
evening returned on board the fhip.
On the 21 ft, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander went a fifhing Sunday 21,
with hook and line, and caught an immenfe quantity every
where upon the rocks, in between four and five fathom
water: the feine was hauled every night, and feldom failed
S to