I Now Tacked, And Endeavoured To Get Into What Appeared To Be A
Bay, On The West Side Of The
Point or S.E. side of the island; but before
this could be accomplished, night came upon us, and we
Stood on and off,
under the land, till the next morning; having sounding from seventy-five to
an hundred and ten fathoms, the same bottom as before.
On the 13th, about eight o'clock in the morning, the wind, which had been
variable most part of the night, fixed at S.E., and blew in squalls,
accompanied with rain; but it was not long before the weather became fair.
As the wind now blew right to the S.E. shore, which does not afford that
shelter I at first thought, I resolved to look for anchorage on the west
and N.W. sides of the island. With this view I bore up round the south
point, off which lie two small islets, the one nearest the point high and
peaked, and the other low and flattish. After getting round the point, and
coming before a sandy beach, we found soundings thirty and forty fathoms,
sandy ground, and about one mile from the shore. Here a canoe, conducted by
two men, came off to us. They brought with them a bunch of plantains, which
they sent into the ship by a rope, and then they returned ashore. This gave
us a good opinion of the islanders, and inspired us with hopes of getting
some refreshments, which we were in great want of.
I continued to range along the coast, till we opened the northern point of
the isle, without seeing a better anchoring-place than the one we had
passed. We therefore tacked, and plied back to it; and, in the mean time,
sent away the master in a boat to sound the coast. He returned about five
o'clock in the evening; and soon after we came to an anchor in thirty-six
fathoms water, before the sandy beach above mentioned. As the master drew
near the shore with the boat, one of the natives swam off to her, and
insisted on coming a-board the ship, where he remained two nights and a
day. The first thing he did after coming a-board, was to measure the length
of the ship, by fathoming her from the tafferel to the stern, and as he
counted the fathoms, we observed that he called the numbers by the same
names that they do at Otaheite; nevertheless his language was in a manner
wholly unintelligible to all of us.[3]
Having anchored too near the edge of a bank, a fresh breeze from the land,
about three o'clock the next morning, drove us off it; on which the anchor
was heaved up, and sail made to regain the bank again. While the ship was
plying in, I went ashore, accompanied by some of the gentlemen, to see what
the island was likely to afford us.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 246 of 461
Words from 127393 to 127892
of 239428
