dart. Four lay, to all appearance, dead on the fliore; but two
of them afterwards crawled into the bullies. Happy it was
for thefe people, that not half our mufquets would go off,
otherwife many more mull have fallen. We had one man
wounded in the cheek with a dart, the point of wliich'was as
thick as my finger, and yet it entered above two inches;
which {hews that it mull have come with great force, though
indeed we were very near them. An arrow ftruck Mr. Gilbert’s
naked breaft, who was about thirty yards ofF; but probably
it had ftruck fomething before ; for it hardly penetrated
the fkin. The arrows were pointed with hard wood.
As foon as we got on board, I ordered the anchor to be
weighed, with a view of anchoring near the landing-place.
While this was doing, feveral people appeared on the low
rocky point, difplaying two oars we had loft in the fcuffle.
1 looked on this as a fign of fubmiflion, and of their wanting
to give us the oars. I was, neverthelefs, prevailed on to
fire a four pound {hot at them, to let them fee the effedt of
our great guns. The ball fell fliort, but frightened them [o
much’, that none were feen afterwards ; and they left the
oars {landing up againft the bufties.
It was now calm; but the anchor was hardly at the bow before
a breeze fprung up at North, of which we took the advantage,
fet our fails, and plyed out of the bay, as it did not
feem capable of fupplying our wants, with that conveniency
I wifhed to have. Befides, I always had it in my power to
return to this place, in cafe I ftiould. find none more convenient
farther South. ‘
Thefe iflanders feemed to be a different race from thofe of
Mallicollo, and fpoke a different language. They are of
the
the middle fize, have a good fliape, and tolerable features.
Their colour is very dark, and they paint their faces, fome *■— ~—
. . . . . Thurfday with black, and others with red pigment. Their hair is very
curly and crifp, and fomewhat woolly. I faw a few women,
and I thought them u g ly ; they wore a kind of petticoat
made of palm-leaves, or fome plant like it. But the
men, like thofe of Mallicollo, were in a manner naked; having
only the belt about the waift, and the piece of cloth, or
leaf, ufed as a wrapper *. I faw no canoes with thele people,,
nor were any feen in any part of this ifland. They live in
houfes covered with thatch, and their plantations are laid
out by line, and fenced round.
At two o’clock in the afternoon, we were clear of the bay,
bore up round the head, and fleered S. S. E. for the South
end of the ifland, having a fine breeze at N. W. . On the S.
W. fide of the head is a pretty deep bay, which feemed to run
in behind the one on the N. W. fide. Its fliores are low, and
the adjacent lands appeared very fertile. It is expofed to the
S. E. winds; for which reafon, until it be better known, the
N. W. bay is preferable, becaufe it is flieltered from the
reigning winds ; and the winds to Which it is open, viz. from
N. W. by N. to E. by N., feldorn blow ftrong. The promontory,
or peninfula, which disjoins thefe two bays, I named
Traitor’s Head, from the treacherous behaviour of its inhabitants.
It is the N. E. point of the ifland, fituated in the latitude
18° 43' South, longitude 169° 28' Eaft, and terminates,
in a faddle hill which is of height fufficient to be feen fixteen
or eighteen leagues. As we advanced to S. S. E. the new
ifland, we had before difeovered, began to appear over the
S. E. point of the one near us, bearing S. 4 E., diftant ten or
twelve leagues. After leaving this one, we fleered for the
* Sec the Note, p. 34,
V01. II. H Eaft