We Were, At This Time, About
Seven Or Eight Miles From The Head Of The Bay, Which Is Terminated By A Low
Beach; And Behind That, Is An Extensive Flat Covered With Wood, And Bounded
On Each Side By A Ridge Of Mountains.
At noon we found the latitude to be
15 deg.
5' S., and were detained here by the calm till one o'clock p.m., when
we got a breeze at N. by W., with which we steered up to within two miles
of the head of the bay; and then I sent Mr Cooper and Mr Gilbert to sound
and reconnoitre the coast, while we stood to and fro with the ship. This
gave time to three sailing canoes which had been following us some time, to
come up. There were five or six men in each; and they approached near
enough to receive such things as were thrown to them fastened to a rope,
but would not advance alongside. They were the same sort of people as those
we had seen the preceding evening; indeed we thought they came from the
same place. They seemed to be stouter and better shaped men than those of
Mallicollo; and several circumstances concurred to make us think they were
of another nation. They named the numerals as far as five or six in the
language of Anamocka, and understood us when we asked the names of the
adjacent lands in that language. Some, indeed, had black short frizzled
hair like the natives of Mallicollo, but others had it long, tied up on the
crown of the head, and ornamented with feathers like the New Zealanders.
Their other ornaments were bracelets and necklaces; one man had something
like a white shell on his forehead, and some were painted with a blackish
pigment.
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