T h e y began, at firft, to a ttack us w ith flones, from behind
the wails o f their inclofures, and finding no refiftance on
our part, they foon g rew more daring. A few refolute fe llows,
h a vin g crept a lon g the beach, under cover o f the
rocks, fuddenly made their appearance at the foot o f the
Morai, with a defign, as it feemed, o f ftorming it on the
fide next the fea, w h ich was its only acceflible p a r t ; and
were not diflodged, till a fter they had flood a confiderablc
number o f ihot, and feen one o f their party fall.
The bravery o f one o f thefe affailants w e ll deferves to be
particularly mentioned. For ha vin g returned to carry o ff
his companion, amidft the fire o f our whole party, a wound,
w h ich he received, made him quit the body and retire ; but,
in a few minutes, he again appeared, and b e in g a ga in
wounded, he was obliged a fecond time to retreat. At this
moment I arrived at the Morai, and faw h im return the
third time, bleeding and fa in t ; and be in g informed o f what
had happened, I forbad the foldiers to fire, and he was fu f-
fered to carry o ff his friend ; w h ich he was juft able to perform,
and then fe ll down h im fe lf, and expired.
About this time, a ftrong reinforcement from both fhips
ha vin g landed, the natives retreated behind their w a l ls ;
w h ich g iv in g me accefs to our friend ly priefts, I fent one o f
them to endeavour to brin g their countrymen to fome terms,
and to propofe to them, that i f they would defift from throwin
g flones, I would not permit our men to fire. T h is truce
was agreed to, and we were fuffered to launch the mail, and
carry o ff the fails, and our aftronomical apparatus, unmo-
lefted. As foon as we had quitted the Morai, the y took
poffeffion o f it, and fome o f them threw a few flo n e s ; but
withou t doing us any mifchief.
It was h a lf an hour paft eleven o’clock, w h en I got on
board the Difcovery, where I found no decifive plan had
been adopted fo r our fu tu re proceedings. T h e reftitution
o f the boat, and the recovery o f the body o f Captain Cook
were the objeCts, w h ich , on all hands, we agreed to infift
o n ; and it was my opinion, that fome vigorous fteps fliould
be taken, in cafe the demand o f them w as not immediately
complied with.
T h o u g h my fe e lin g s, on the death o f a beloved and honoured
friend, may be fufpedted to have had fome lhare
in this opinion, yet there were certainly other reafons, and
thofe o f the moft ferious kind, that had confiderable w e igh t
with me. T h e confidence w h ich their fuccefs in k illin g our
Chief, and fo rcin g us to quit the ihore, mull n aturally have
infpired ; and the advantage, however trifling, w h ich they
had obtained over us the preceding day, would, I had no
doubt, encourage them to make fome furth er dangerous
attempts ; and the more efpecially, as they had little reafon,
from what they had hitherto feen, to dread the effedls o f
our fire-arms. Indeed, contrary to the expectations o f every
one, this fort o f weapon had produced no figns o f terror in
them. On our fide, fuch was the condition o f the fhips,
and the ftate o f difcipline amongft us, that had a vigorous
attack been made on us, in the n igh t, it wou ld have been
impoffible to anfwer.for the confequences.
In thefe apprehenfions, I was fupported b y the opinion
o f moft o f the officers on board j and nothing feemed to
me fo lik e ly to encourage the natives to make the attempt,
as the appearance o f our b e in g inclined to an accommodation,
w hich they could only attribute to weaknefs, or
fear.
1779-.
February,