■17 7 9 .
•January.
:«___ I
Saturday i |
Sunday iy .
At day-break on the i6th, feeing the appearance o f a bay,
I fent Mr. Bligh, with a boat from each ihip, to examine it,
being at this time three leagues off. Canoes now began to
arrive from all parts; fo that before ten o’clock, there were
not fewer than a thoufand about the two Ihips, moft o f
them crowded with people, and well laden with hogs and
other produdtions o f the ifland. We had the moft fatisfy-
in g proof o f their friendly intentions ; for we did not fee a
fingle perfon who had with him a weapon o f any forr.
Trade and curiofity alone had brought them off; Among
fu ch numbers as we had, at'times, on board,' it is no wonder
that fome ihould betray a thievilh difpofition. One o f
our vifiters took out o f the ihip a boat’s rudder. He was
difcovered ; but too late to recover it. I thought this a good
opportunity to j h ew thcfp ppnple the ufc- of- Iin.-,ri
two or. three muiquets, and as many four-pounders, were
fired over the canoe, which carried o ff the rudder. As it
was not intended that any o f the fhot ihould take cilcct, the
furrounding multitude o f natives feemed rather more fur-
prized than frightened.
In the evening, Mr. Bligh returned, and reported, that he
had found a bay in which was good anchorage, and freih
water, in a fituation tolerably eafy to be come at. Into this
bay, I refolved to carry the ihips, there to refit, and fupply
ourfelves with every refreihment that the place could afford.
As night approached, the greater part o f our vifiters retired
to the fh o re ; but numbers o f them requefted our permiffion
to ileep on board. Curiofity was not the only motive, at leaft
\vith fom e ; fo r, the next morning, feveral things were
miffing, which determined me not to entertain fo many
another night.
At eleven o ’clock in the forenoon, we anchored in the '779-
j bay (w h ich is called by the natives Karakakooi), in thirteen Jan"ary^.
fathoms water, over a fandy bottom, and about a quarter
o f a mile from the North Eaft fhore. In this fituation the
South point o f the bay bore South by Weft j and the North
point Weft h a lf North. We moored with the ftream-anchor
and cable, to the Northward, unbent the fails, and ftruck
yards and top-mafts. T he Ihips continued to be much
crowded with natives, and were furrounded by a multitude
o f canoes. I had no where, in the courfe o f my voyages,
feen fo numerous a body o f people affembled at one place. '
For, befides thofe who had come off to us in canoes, all the
fhore o f the bay was covered with fpetftators, and many
hundreds were fwim m in g round the ihips like ihoals o f
fiffi. We coulH not but he ftruck with the Angularity o f this-
fcene; and perhaps there were few on board who now lamented
our having failed in our endeavours to find a
Northern paffage homeward, laft fummer. T o this difap-
pointment we owed our having it in our power to revifit the
Sandwich IJlands, and to enrich our voyage with a difcovery
which, though the laft, feemed, in many refpecfts, to be the
moft important that had hitherto been made by Europeans
throughout the extent o f the Pacific Ocean.
[S3 - Here Captain Cook's journal ends. The remaining tranfaBions
of the voyage are related by Captain King, in the third Volume.]
E N D O Ï T H E S E C O N D V O L UM E .