It Did Not Appear That Any Thing I Had Left Had Been Touched;
However, I Now Added A Hatchet, And, With The Night, Returned On Board.
On the 29th, were showers till the afternoon; when a party of the officers
made an excursion up the bay; and Mr Forster and his party were out
botanizing.
Both parties returned in the evening without meeting with any
thing worthy of notice; and the two following days, every one was confined
to the ship on account of rainy stormy weather.
In the afternoon of the 1st of April, accompanied by several of the
gentlemen, I went to see if any of the articles I had left for the Indians
were taken away. We found every thing remaining in the canoe; nor did it
appear that any body had been there since. After shooting some birds, one
of which was a duck, with a blue-grey plumage and soft bill, we, in the
evening, returned on board.
The 2d, being a pleasant morning, Lieutenants Clerke and Edgecumbe, and the
two Mr Forsters, went in a boat up the bay to search for the productions of
nature; and myself, Lieutenant Pickersgill, and Mr Hodges, went to take a
view of the N.W. side. In our way, we touched at the seal-rock, and killed
three seals, one of which afforded us much sport. After passing several
isles, we at length came to the most northern and western arms of the bay;
the same as is formed by the land of Five Fingers Point. In the bottom of
this arm or cove, we found many ducks, wood-hens, and other wild fowl, some
of which we killed, and returned on board at ten o'clock in the evening;
where the other party had arrived several hours before us, after having had
but indifferent sport. They took with them a black dog we had got at the
Cape, who, at the first musket they fired, ran into the woods, from whence
he would not return. The three following days were rainy; so that no
excursions were made.
Early in the morning on the 6th, a shooting party, made up of the officers,
went to Goose Cove, the place where I was the 2d; and myself, accompanied
by the two Mr Forsters, and Mr Hodges, set out to continue the survey of
the bay. My attention was directed to the north side, where I discovered a
fine capacious cove, in the bottom of which is a fresh-water river; on the
west side several beautiful small cascades; and the shores are so steep
that a ship might lie near enough to convey the water into her by a hose.
In this cove we shot fourteen ducks, besides other birds, which occasioned
my calling it Duck Cove.
As we returned in the evening, we had a short interview with three of the
natives, one man and two women. They were the first that discovered
themselves on the N.E. point of Indian Island, named so on this occasion.
We should have passed without seeing them, had not the man hallooed to us.
He stood with his club in his hand upon the point of a rock, and behind
him, at the skirts of the wood, stood the two women, with each of them a
spear. The man could not help discovering great signs of fear when we
approached the rock with our boat. He however stood firm; nor did he move
to take up some things we threw him ashore. At length I landed, went up and
embraced him; and presented him with such articles as I had about me, which
at once dissipated his fears. Presently after, we were joined by the two
women, the gentlemen that were with me, and some of the seamen. After this,
we spent about half an hour in chit-chat, little understood on either side,
in which the youngest of the two women bore by far the greatest share. This
occasioned one of the seamen to say, that women did not want tongue in any
part of the world. We presented them with fish and fowl which we had in our
boat; but these they threw into the boat again, giving us to understand
that such things they wanted not. Night approaching, obliged us to take
leave of them; when the youngest of the two women, whose volubility of
tongue exceeded every thing I ever met with, gave us a dance; but the man
viewed us with great attention. Some hours after we got on board, the other
party returned, having had but indifferent sport.
Next morning, I made the natives another visit, accompanied by Mr Forster
and Mr Hodges, carrying with me various articles which I presented them
with, and which they received with a great deal of indifference, except
hatchets and spike-nails; these they most esteemed. This interview was at
the same place as last night; and now we saw the whole family, it consisted
of the man, his two wives (as we supposed), the young woman before
mentioned, a boy about fourteen years old, and three small children, the
youngest of which was at the breast. They were all well-looking, except one
woman, who had a large wen on her upper-lip, which made her disagreeable;
and she seemed, on that account, to be in a great measure neglected by the
man. They conducted us to their habitation, which was but a little way
within the skirts of the wood, and consisted of two mean huts made of the
bark of trees. Their canoe, which was a small double one, just large enough
to transport the whole family from place to place, lay in a small creek
near the huts. During our stay, Mr Hodges made drawings of most of them;
this occasioned them to give him the name of Toe-toe, which word, we
suppose signifies marking or painting. When we took leave, the chief
presented me with a piece of cloth or garment of their own manufacturing,
and some other trifles.
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