1770- chief perfon refiding upon the fpot, and acquaint him who
September.^ wer6) antj f0r what purpofe we had touched upon the
Tuefday 18. coâ£L foon as he came alhore, he was received by a
guard of between twenty and thirty Indians, armed with
muflcèts who conducted him to the town, where the colours
had been hoifted the night before, carrying with them thofe
that had been hoifted upon the beach, and marching without
any military regularity. As foon as he arrived, he was
introduced to the Raja, or King of the ifland, and by a Por-
tuguefe interpreter, told him, that the fhip was a man of
war belonging to the King of Great Britain, and‘ that file had
many lick on board, for whom he wanted to purchafe fuch
refrelhments as the ifland afforded. His Majefty replied,
that he was willing to fupply us with whatever we wanted,
but, that being in alliance with the Dutch Eaft India Company,
he was not at liberty to trade with any other people,
without having firft procured their confent, for which, however,
he faid he would immediately apply to a Dutchman
who belonged to the company,, and who was the only white
man upon the ifland. To this man, who refided at fome
diftance, a letter was immediately difpatched, acquainting
him with our arrival and requeft : in the mean time, Mr.
Gore difpatched a melfenger to me, with an account of his
fituation, and the ftate of the treaty. In about three hours,
the Dutch refid en t anfwered the letter that had been fent
him, in perfon : he proved to be a native of Saxony, and his
name is Johan Chriftopher Lange, and the fame perfon whom
we had feen on horfeback in a European drefs : he behaved
with great civility to Mr. Gore, and allured him, that we
were at liberty to purchafe of the natives whatever we
pleafed. After a Ihort time, he exprefled a defire of coming
on board, fo did the king alfo, and feveral of his attendants r
Mr. Gore intimated that he was ready to attend them, but
they
they defired that two of our people might be left alhore as
hoftages, and in this alfo they were indulged.
About two o’clock, they all came aboard the fhip, and our
dinner being ready, they accepted our invitation to partake
of i t : I expedled them immediately to fit down, but the King
feemed to hefitate, and at laft, with fome confufion, faid he
did not imagine that we, who were white men, would fufifer
him, who was of a different colour, to fit down in our company
; a compliment- foon removed his fcruples, and we all
fat down together with great cheerfulnefs and cordiality:
happily we were at no lofs- for interpreters, both Dr.Solander
and Mr. Sporing underftanding Dutch enough to keep up a
converfation with Mr. Lange, and feveral of the feamen
were able to converfe with fuch of the natives as fpoke Por-
tuguefe. Our dinner happened to be mutton, and the King
exprefled a defire of having; an Englifh fheep; we had but
one left, however that was prefented to him: the facility
with which this was procured, encouraged him to afk for
an Englilh dog, and Mr. Banks politely gave up his greyhound:
Mr. Lange then intimated that a fpying-glafs would
be acceptable, and one was immediately put into his hand.
Our guefts then told us that the ifland abounded with buffaloes^
fheep, hogs, and fowls, plenty of which fhould be
driven down to the beach the next day, that we might purchafe
as many of them as we fhould think fit: this put us
all into high fpirits, and the liquor circulated rather fafter
than either the Indians or the Saxon could bear; they intimated
their defire to go away, however, before they were
quite drunk, and were received upon deck, as they had
been when they came aboard, by the marines under arms.
The King exprefled a curiofity to fee them exercife, in which
he was gratified, and they fired three rounds: he looked at
them with great attention, and was much furprifed at their
regularity
Tuefday 18.-