We had'dear and fair weather all the time we were upon the coaft, excepting
one day* and, though the weather was hot, yet it feemed, by what we obferved,
that a fea breeze conftantly fet in about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, which
moderated it.
On the 30th, having obtained a fufficient quantity of wood and water, we left
the bay, and, failing along the coaft, about noon came up with a point of land before
an ifland : this point we called Eaft Cape ; and the ifland, Eaft Ifland, from
which the land altered its diredtion, and tended away to the weft. This day the
land appeared to us confiderably higher than the reft. It was divided by fine deep
valleys, and had all the appearance of a rich fertile country, being cloathed with
large verdant trees, had fome parcels of ground cultivated, and feveral rivulets
among them which loft themfelves in the fea. We could alfo difcover feveral
villages, which feemed to have been fenced in by art. We pafled a bay which
we called Hicks’s Bay, after our firft lieutenant.
On the 31ft, we failed along the coaft, and had light breezes, and pleafant
weather. In the forenoon feven canoes came off to us in a hoftile manner,- bran-
diihing their lances, and waving their paddles. One of thefe canoes was very large,
and had between fifty and fixty people in herj fome of them gave us an heiyo;
and one of them, a prieft, as we fuppofed, talked very muchk They kept paddling
about us, calling out to us Kaka kse, no lootwais, harre yoota patta pat too-,
that is to fay,- if we would go onfhorethey would beat us with their patta pat-
toos j and, being apprehenfive that if we fuifered them to approach nearer to us,
we might be obliged to offer violence to them, the captain ordered a gun, loaded
with grape-fhot, to be fired over their heads, the report of which terrified them
fo much, that they paddled away till they had got, as they fuppofed, out of our
reach, and then they flopped, and held a confultation ; after which they feemed
as if they intended to return, and we fired another gun loaded with ball, and then-
they made as fail as poffible to the fhore. Thefe were the fame fort of people, and
their canoes of the fame kind with thofe we had feen before. Being at this
lime off a cape, we named it, from the hafty retreat of the natives, Cape Runaway.
This day we difcovered land to the N. E. of us.
On
On the i ft of November, a great number of canoes came off to us, one of which
had part of a human fkull to throw Cut the water with. We prevailed on fome
of the natives to come along-fide of the fhip, and traded with them for doth, cray-
fifh, and muicles. They gave us feverl Heivos, but fome of them feemed to
threaten us. A breeze fpringing up, we left them; and, a little farther on the
coaft, another fquadrCn of fifher-boats came off to us, with whom alfo we had fom e
traffic. Thefe, as well as the reft, were very ready to fnatch any thing they could
lay their hands on j and, watching an opportunity, they ftole a pair of fheets that
were tied by a line at the ihip’s ftern, and were going off with them, upon which
we fired feveral muikets,. but they did not much regard them j we then fired fome
grape-fhot amongft them, and they paddled away fomething fafter, till they imagined
themfelves out of our reach, and then they held up their paddles, and feemed
to defy us. We fired another gun loaded with round and grape-fhot, which
pafled between two canoes, and narrowly mified them ; on which they hefitated
no longer, but repaired immediately to the fhore.
Toward night, we were near a fmall high ifland, called by the natives Mow-
tohora, about three leagues from the land. In going between this and the main
land, a canoe came off to us from the ifland. This canoe was double, and differed
in other refpe&s from thofe we had feen before^ After we had talked with the
people which came in it a confiderable time, they gave us feveral heivos, then
looked at us very ftedfaftly, and, having threatened us, they flood off toward
the main land. Oppofite to this there is a high peaked hill, which we named
Mount Edgecombe j and a fmall bay, which we called Lowland Bay, and the
two points thereof, from their fituation, Highland Point, and Lowland Point ; the
latter of which ftretches a great way, and is covered with trees ; near it there are
three fmall iflands, or rocks, and it was- with difficulty that we fleered clear of
them in the night, and got into fix fathoms water; fbon after which we made a
point of land, which we called Town Point; this was at the entrance of a little
cove.
On