,6,Z ■ ' A V O Y A G E T O
' 1779- they would b y no means anfwer our purpofe ; that he- a fte r
^Februiuy.. procee(jed f arth er into the b a y , w h ich runs inland to
a grea t depth, and ftretches toward the foot o f a ve ry con spicuous
h ig h mountain, fituated on the North Weft end o f
the ifland ; but that inftead o f m e eting w ith fafe anchorage,
as Britannee had tau ght h im to expedí, h e found the fhores
low and ro ck y , and a flat bed o f coral rocks ru nn in g a lon g
the coaft, and extending upward o f a mile from the la n d ;
o n the oiitfide o f w hich, the depth o f w ater was twenty
fathoms, over a fandy bottoms and that, in the mean time,
Britannee had contrived to flip away, b e in g afraid o f re turn,
in g , as we imagined, becaufe his information had not
proved true and fucce fsful.
In the evening, the weather b e in g more moderate, w e
again made f a i l ; but about midnight it b lew fo violently* as
to fplit both the fore and main topfails. On the morn in g o f
Sanday 7. the 7th, w e bent fre ih fails, and had fa ir Weather, and a
lig h t bree?e'. At noon, the latitude, b y obfervation, was
20° i ‘ North, the Weft point o f the ifland bearing South,
70 Eaft, and the North Weft point North, 38o Eaft. As we
were, at this timé, four or five leagu es from the ihore, and
the weather v e ry unfettled, none o f the canoes wou ld venture
out, fo that our guefts were obliged to remain w ith us,
mu ch indeed to their diflatisfatftion ; fo r the y were all fea-
fick, and many o f them had le ft y o u n g children behind
them.
In the afternoon, though the weather was ftill fqually,
we flood in for the land, and being about three leagues’
from it, we faw a canoe, with two men paddling toward us,
o w h ich we immediately conjectured had been driven o ff the.
fhore, by the late boifterous w e a th e r ; and therefore flopped
the
th e fh ip ’s way, in order to take them in. T h e fe poor ¿jjS?-.
wretches were fo entirely exhaufted w ith fatigu e, that had i— .
not one o f the natives on board, obferving their weaknefs,
jumped into the canoe to their afliftance, they wou ld fcarcely
have been able to fallen it to the rope w e had thrown out
for that purpofe. It was w ith difficulty w e got them up the
fliip’s fide, together with a child, about fo u r years old, w hich
-they had laihed under the thwarts o f the canoe, where it
had lain w ith on ly its head above water. T h e y told us,
they had le ft the Ihore the mo rn in g before, and had been,
from that time, without food or water. T h e u fu a l precautions
were taken in g iv in g them victuals, and the child bein
g committed to the care o f one o f the women, w e found
them all next morn in g perfectly recovered.
At midnight, a g a le o f w ind came on, w h ich obliged us
to double re e f the topfails, and g e t down the top-gallant
yards. On the 8th, at day-break, w e foun d, that the fore- Monday s.
ma il had again given way, the fifties, w h ich were put on the
head, in K in g George’s o r Nootka Sound, on the coaft o f
America, being fprun g, and the parts fo v e ry defective, as
to make it abfolutely necefiary to replace them, and, o f
•courfe, to unftep the mail. In this difficulty, Captain Cook
was fo r fome time in doubt, w h e th e r he fhould run the
chance o f me eting w ith a harbour in the iflands to leeward,
or return to Karakakooa. T h a t bay was not fo rem a rk ab
ly commodious, in any refpeCt, but that a better migh t
probably be expeCled, both fo r the purpofe o f repairing
the mails, and for procuring refrefhments, o f w h ich , it was
imagined, that the neighbourhood o f Karakakooa had
been already pretty w e ll drained. On the other hand, it
was confidered as too great a rifk to leave a place, that was
tolerably fheltered, and w h ich , once left,, could not be re-
V ol. III. F gained,