Our Friend Paowang
Was So; And Yet I Never Heard Him Called Chief, And Have Many Reasons To
Believe That
He had not a right to any more authority than many of his
neighbours, and few, if any, were bound
To obey him, or any other person in
our neighbourhood; for if there had been such a one, we certainly should,
by some means, have known it. I named the harbour Port Resolution, after
the ship, she being the first which ever entered it. It is situated on the
north side of the most eastern point of the island, and about E.N.E. from
the volcano; in the latitude of 19 deg. 32' 25" 1/2 S., and in the longitude of
169 deg. 44' 35" E. It is no more than a little creek running in S. by W. 1/2
W. three quarters of a mile, and is about half that in breadth. A shoal of
sand and rocks, lying on the east side, makes it still narrower. The depth
of water in the harbour is from six to three fathoms, and the bottom is
sand and mud. No place can be more convenient for taking in wood and water;
for both are close to the shore. The water stunk a little after it had been
a few days on board, but it afterwards turned sweet; and even when it was
at the worst, the tin machine would, in a few hours, recover a whole cask.
This is an excellent contrivance for sweetening water at sea, and is well
known in the navy.
Mr Wales, from whom I had the latitude and longitude, found the variation
of the needle to be 7 deg. 14' 12" E., and the dip of its south end 45 deg. 2' 3/4.
He also observed the time of high water, on the full and change days, to be
about 5h 45m; and the tide to rise and fall three feet.
[1] According to Mr G.F. nothing, except this very dubious
circumstance of the solemn song, could be discovered among these
people, to indicate religion or superstitious notions. He mentions
indeed, their practice of taking up the presents given them on a leaf,
but properly enough remarks, that as even this was not general, and as
it even ceased on the parties becoming better acquainted, no stress
ought to be laid upon it. Obviously, the information is too scanty to
warrant decided opinions on the subject; but reasoning from analogy
and what is related of the conduct and enjoyments of these islanders,
one could not readily embrace the notion that they were quite
destitute of both religious ideas and practices. - E.
[2] Mr G.F. informs us that not less than forty different species of
plants are cultivated in this island, and the nutmeg he conceives to
be among its spontaneous ones. Of the fish found here he specifies
mullet, Brasilian pike, garfish, dolphins, cavalhas, parrot-fish,
sting-rays, toothless-rays, angel-fish, sharks, sinking-fish, and
varieties of mackrel.
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