large bay, which we called Admiralty Bay. In the mouth of this bay there anf
fcveral fmall iflands, which we named Admiralty Ifles.
On the 26th, in the evening, we anchored in the Bay, which we found was
about ten leagues N.W. of Charlotte’s Sound, or Cannibal Bay, after having endured
the dangers of foul winds, and the tedious fufpenfe of many calms*. The inhabitants
o f Cannibal Bay, where we were on the 6 th of February, told us, that we might
fail round the fouth land in four days, but we had been near feven weeks in making
the tour. There is no low land hereabout, the hills riling from the water’s edge.
Since we came from Charlotte s Sound, we faw no iigns of inhabitants, except
one fmoke, which, perhaps, arofe from feme other than the hand of man;
for it would (eem that this land was almoii entirely uninhabited, except Charlotte’s
Sound j and it has all the appearance of a duller of iflands, through which there
are various ftraits, though we had no time to difcover them. This fecond part of
the land is about the fize of the other, and the whole together is as large as
Great-Britain.
In this bay we faw feme deferted houies, but no inhabitants; and the land about
it is more wild and not fo flat as Charlotte’s Sound; but the bay abounded as plentifully
with fiih, and we caught a great quantity with hooks and lines, which were
diftributed amongft the ihip’s company. We had now pafled near fix month, on
the eoait of New Zealand; had furveyed it on every fide, and diicovered it to be an
ifland near three hundred leagues in length; inhabited by Cannibals, accuftomed
to the carnage of war from their infancy, and peculiarly undaunted, as well as |p-
feniible o f danger.
The captain having fulfilled his orders, it was at his option to flay as much longer
in thefe feasas the fafety of the fhip and provifions would admit; and to return home
either by the Eaft-Indies or Cape Horn. Confidering that Cape Horn was at a
great diftance from this bay; that the feafon of the year was at hand which is the
moil unfavourable for going into fo high a latitude ; and that at the prefent time,
* The Map annexed, in which the fhi.p’s track is accurately marked, will give the reader an idea
•of the fatigue and danger which attended our traverfe. [See gl. XXV.]
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