254 L I E UT ENA NT C O O K ’s V O Y A G E
September. fianc€’ and lettinS off their fires by four or five at a time.
What thefe fires were> or for what purpofe intended, we
could not imagine: thofe who difeharged them had in their
hands a Ihort piece of flick, poffibly a hollow cane, which
they fwung fideways from them, and we immediately faw
fire and fmoke, exadtly refembling thofe of a mufquet, and
of no longer duration. This wonderful phenomenon was
obferved from the fhip, and the deception was fo great that
the people on board thought they had fire-arms ; and in the
boat, if we had not been fo near as that we muft have heard
the report, we fiiould have thought they had been firing
volleys. After we had looked at them attentively fome time,
without taking any notice of their flafliing and vociferation!
we fired fome mufquets over their heads: upon hearing the
balls rattle among the trees, they walked leifurely away,
and we returned to the fhip. Upon examining the weapons
they had thrown at us, we found them to be light darts,
about four feet long, very ill made, of a reed or bamboo cane!
and pointed with hard wood, in which there were many
barbs. They were difeharged with great force; for though
we were at fixty yards diftance, they went beyond us, but in
what manner we could not exaftly fee: poffibly they might
be fhot with a bow; but we faw no bows among them
when we Purveyed them from the boat, and we were in ge-.
neral of opinion that they were thrown with a flick, in the
manner praftifed by the New Hollanders.
This place lies in the latitude of 6° 15'S. and about fixty-
five leagues to the N. E. of Port Saint Auguftine, or Walche
Caep, and is near what is called in the charts C. de la Colta de
St. Bonaventura. The land here, like that in every other part
of the coaft, is very low, but covered with a luxuriance of
wood and herbage that can fcarcely be conceived. We faw
the
R O U N D T H E W O R L D . 2 55
the cocoa-nut, the bread-fruit, and the plantain tree, all >77°-
flourifhing in a ftate of the higheft perfection, though the
cocoa-nuts were green, and the bread-fruit not in feafon; M°" ay 3’
befides moll of the trees, fhrubs, and plants that are common
to the South Sea iflands, New Zealand, and New Holland,
Soon after our return to the fhip, we hoifted in the boat
and made fail to the weftward, being refolved to fpend no
more time upon this coaft, to the great fatisfaclion of a very
confiderable majority of the fhip’s company. But I am forry
to fay that I was ftrongly urged by fome of the officers to
fend a party of men afhore, and cut down the cocoa-nut
trees for the fake of the fruit. This I peremptorily refufed,
as equally unjuft and cruel. The natives had attacked us
merely for landing upon their coaft, when we attempted to
take nothing away, and it was therefore morally certain
that they would have made a vigorous effort to defend their
property if it had been invaded, in which cafe many of them
muft have fallen a facrifice to our attempt, and perhaps alfo»
fome of our own people. I fhould have regretted the necef-
fity o f fuch a meafure, if I had been in want of the neceffa-
ries of life ; and certainly it would have been highly criminal
when nothing was to be obtained but two or three
hundred of green cocoa-nuts, which would at mofi have
procured us a mere tranfient gratification. I might indeed'
have proceeded farther along the coaft to the northward and
weftward, in fearch of a place where the fhip might have-
lain fo near the fhore as to cover the people with her guns:
when they landed; but this would have obviated only part
of the mifehief, and though it might have feeured us, it
would probably in the very aft have been fatal to the natives..
Befides, we. had, reafon to think that beforefuch a:
• place