they were there; neverthelefs, the fitu.atioi^ of the eg uij try, the vaft height and
proximity of the mountains, feem to fobjefl: it to much rain at all times, The
people of the Refolution, however, who we^e daily expofed to the rain> felt
no ill effe&s from it; on the contrary, fuch/a$ were hefc and.ailing, when they,
arrived, recovered daily, and the whole crew foon. became ftrong and vigorous,
which can only be attributed to the healthigefs of the place, and the. freih prcy-
vifions if afforded. The beer, Captain Cook here remarks, certainly contributed
not a little to this falutary event. As already ohferved, they made it
at firft of a deco&ion of the fpruce leaves; but finding that this ufed alone
gaufed it to be too aftringent, they afterwards mixed it with, an equal quantity
of the tea plant. This was a plant to which they had given that name in
their former voyage, from their ufing it as tea. It partly deftroyed the aftrin-.
gency of the other, and made the beer extremely palatable; fo that it was
efteemed by every one on board.
p. iQ*. The inhabitants of this bay áre. of the fame race of people with thofe in the
other parts of this country; fpeak the fame language, and obferve nearly the
fame cuftoms. What could induce, three or four families (for there appeared
to. be no more) to feparate themfelves fo. far from the fociety o f the reft- of
tkeir fellow-creatures, is not eafy to guefs. By Captain Cook’s meeting with
inhabitants, in that place, he thinks it probable that there are people fcattered
over all this fouthern iftand. But the many veftiges of them in different
parts of this bay, compared with the number of the natives actually feen, indicates
that they live a wandering life. And, judging from appearances and
circumftances, there is reafon to believe, that, few as they are, they live not in
perfect amity one family with another.
p 102. ^ r* Wales, by a variety of obiervations, found that the latitude of his obfervatory
at Pickerfgill Harbour was 45* 47’' 26*' £ fouth, and by the mean of
feveral diftancés of the moon from the fun, that its longitude was 166°* x8’ eaft,
which is about half a degree lefs than it is laid down in Captain Cook’s chart,
conftruited in his former voyage.
After
After leaving Duiky Bay, May 11 th, as already related, Captain Cook dirfe&ed P- *°3-
his courfe along fhore for Queen Charlotte’s Sound, where he expected to find the
Adventure. In this paffage they met with nothing remarkable, or worthy of
notice, till the 17th, at four o’clock in the afternoon : being then about three
leagues to the weftward of Cape Stephens, having a gentle ga-le at weft by fouth,
and clear weather, the wind at once flattened to a calm, the iky became fuddenly
obfeured by dark denfe clouds, and feemed to forebode much wind. This oc-
cafioned them to clew up all their fails; and prefently after fix water-ipouts
were feen, four rofe and fpeftt themfelves between the ihip and the land, that
is to the S. W. o f them; the fifth was without them; the fixth firft appeared
in the S. W. at the diftance of two or three miles at leaft from them: its pro-
greflive motion was to the N. E. not in a ftrait, but in a crooked line, and'
palled within fifty yards of their ftern, without their feeling any of its effects.
The diameter of the bafe o f this fpout Captain Cook judged to be about 50 or
60 feet; that is, the fea within fuch a fpace was much agitated, and foamed up
to a great height; from this a tube or round body was formed, by which the
water, or air, or bothy was carried: in a fpiral ftream up to the clouds. Some
of the people laid they faw a bird in the one near them, which was whirled
about like the fly of a. jack as it was carried upwards. During the time thefe
fpouts lafted, they had, now and then, light puffs of wind from all points of
the compafs, with fome few flight fhowers of rain, which generally fell in large
drops; and the weather continued thick and hazy for fome hours after, with
variable light breezes o f wind ; at length the wind fixed in its old point, and
the iky refumed its. former ferenity.
Some of thefe fpouts appeared at times to .be ftationary, and at other times to
hare a. quick* bat very unequal progreffive motion, and always in a croofeed I f ?
line, fometimes one way, and fometimes another,, fo that once or twice they
were obferved to crofs one another. From the afcending motion o f the bird,
and feveral: other circumftances, it was very evident that thefe fpouts were ,
caufed by whirlwinds; and that the water in them was violently hurried upwards,
and did not defcend from the clouds, as-feme have, afierted, The firft
appearance: o f them is by the violent agitation and riling up o f the water, and
prefently after, a round column, or tube. is. feen forming from the clouds above,
which’