1779. In favour o f more conciliatory meafures, it was ju ftly urged,
February.^ ti j e m ifch ie f was done, and irreparable ; that the natives
had a ftrong claim to our regard, on account o f their
forme r friendfliip and k in d n e fs ; and the more efpecially,
as the late melancholy accident did not appear to have arifen
from- any premeditated defign : that, on the part o f T er -
reeoboo, his ignorance o f the theft, his readinefs to accompany
Captain Cook on b o a rd , and his h a v in g adtually fent
his two ions into the boat, muft free him from the fmalleft
degree o f fufpicion: that the con d u it o f his women, and
the Erees, migh t eafily be accounted for, from the appre-
henlions occafioned by the armed force w ith w hich Captain.
Cook came on ihore, and the hoftile preparations in the
b a y ; appearances £0 different from the terms o f friendihip-
and. confidence, in w h ich both parties had hitherto lived,,
that the arming o f the natives was evidently with a defign
to refill the attempt, w hich they had fome reafon to imagin e
wou ld be made, to carry o ff their k in g by force, and was-
naturally to be expeited from a people fu ll o f affediion and'
attachment to their Chiefs.
T o thefe motives, o f humanity, others, o f a prudential,
nature were added; that we were in want o f water, and other
re fre fhm en ts : that our foremaft would require fix or eight
days work, before it could be ftepped : that the fpring was.
advancing a p a c e ; and that the fpeedy profecution o f our
next Northern expedition ou ght now to be our foie objedf:.
that therefore to eng ag e in a vindictive conteft with the inhabitants,
might not only la y us under the imputation o f
unneceffary cruelty, but would occafion an unavoidable dela
y in the equipment o f the ihips.
In this latter opinion Captain Clerke concurred; and
though I was convinced, that an early difplay o f vigorous
r.efentmenc
refentment wou ld more e ffe ctu ally have anfwered every „ '779-
• r t t i t • February.
object both o f prudence and humanity, I was not forry, that v.— -r—
the meafures I had recommended were rejedted. For though
the contemptuous behaviour o f the natives, and their fub-
fequent oppofition to our necelfary operations on Ihore, arif-
ing, I have no doubt, from a mifconftrudlion o f our len ity ,
compelled us at laft to have recourfe to violence in our own
d e fen c e ; yet I am not fo fure, that the circumftances o f the
cafe would, in the opinion o f the world, have juftified the
ufe o f force, on our part, in the firft inffance. Cautionary
rig ou r is at all times invidious, and has this additional o b jection
to it, that the feverity o f a preventive courfe,
w h en it belt fucceeds, leaves its expediency the leaft apparent.
Du rin g the time w e were thus engaged,- in concerting
fome plan fo r our future conduct, a prodigious concourfe
o f natives ftill kept polfeflion o f the ih o r e ; and fome o f
them came o ff in canoes, and had the boldnefs to approach
w ithin pifiol-fhot o f the Ihips, and to in fu lt us b y various
marks o f contempt and defiance. It was with great difficulty
we could reftrain the failors from the ufe o f their
arms, on thefe occafions; but as pacific meafures had
been refolved on, the canoes were fufFered to return un -
molefted. -
In purfuance o f this plan, it was determined, that I
fhould proceed toward the ihore, w ith the boats o f both
ihips, w e ll manned and armed, with a view to bring th e
natives to a parley, and, i f poffible, fo obtain a conference
w ith fome o f the Chiefs;
I f this attempt fucceeded, I was to demand the dead
bodies, and particularly that o f Captain C o o k t o threaten
she®