By Two
O'clock In The Afternoon Many Black Clouds Gathered Over The Land,
Which I Thought Would Deter Them From Their Enterprise; But They
Solicited Me The More To Let Them Go.
At last I consented, sending
those commodities I had ashore with me in the morning, and giving
them a strict charge to deal by fair means, and to act cautiously
for their own security.
The bay I sent them to was about two miles
from the ship. As soon as they were gone, I got all things ready,
that, if I saw occasion, I might assist them with my great guns.
When they came to land, the natives in great companies stood to
resist them, shaking their lances, and threatening them, and some
were so daring as to wade into the sea, holding a target in one hand
and a lance in the other. Our men held up to them such commodities
as I had sent, and made signs of friendship, but to no purpose, for
the natives waved them off. Seeing, therefore, they could not be
prevailed upon to a friendly commerce, my men, being resolved to
have some provision among them, fired some muskets to scare them
away, which had the desired effect upon all but two or three, who
stood still in a menacing posture, till the boldest dropped his
target and ran away. They supposed he was shot in the arm; he and
some others felt the smart of our bullets, but none were killed, our
design being rather to frighten than to kill them. Our men landed,
and found abundance of tame hogs running among the houses. They
shot down nine, which they brought away, besides many that ran away
wounded. They had but little time, for in less than an hour after
they went from the ship it began to rain; wherefore they got what
they could into the boats, for I had charged them to come away if it
rained. By the time the boat was aboard and the hogs taken in it
cleared up, and my men desired to make another trip thither before
night; this was about five in the evening, and I consented, giving
them orders to repair on board before night. In the close of the
evening they returned accordingly, with eight hogs more, and a
little live pig; and by this time the other hogs were jerked and
salted. These that came last we only dressed and corned till
morning, and then sent both boats ashore for more refreshments
either of hogs or roots; but in the night the natives had conveyed
away their provisions of all sorts. Many of them were now about the
houses, and none offered to resist our boats landing, but, on the
contrary, were so amicable, that one man brought ten or twelve
cocoa-nuts, left them on the shore after he had shown them to our
men, and went out of sight. Our people, finding nothing but nets
and images, brought some of them away, which two of my men brought
aboard in a small canoe, and presently after my boats came off. I
ordered the boatswain to take care of the nets till we came at some
place where they might be disposed of for some refreshment for the
use of all the company. The images I took into my own custody.
In the afternoon I sent the canoe to the place from whence she had
been brought, and in her two axes, two hatchets (one of them
helved), six knives, six looking-glasses, a large bunch of beads,
and four glass bottles. Our men drew the canoe ashore, placed the
things to the best advantage in her, and came off in the pinnace
which I sent to guard them; and now, being well-stocked with wood
and all my water-casks full, I resolved to sail the next morning.
All the time of our stay here we had very fair weather, only
sometimes in the afternoon we had a shower of rain, which lasted not
above an hour at most; also some thunder and lightning, with very
little wind; we had sea and land breezes, the former between the
south-south-east, and the latter from north-east to north-west.
This place I named Port Montague in honour of my noble patron: it
lies in the latitude of 6 degrees 10 minutes south, and meridian
distance from Cape St. George 151 miles west. The country
hereabouts is mountainous and woody, full of rich valleys and
pleasant fresh-water brooks. The mould in the valleys is deep and
yellowish, that on the sides of the hill of a very brown colour, and
not very deep, but rocky underneath, yet excellent planting land.
The trees in general are neither very straight, thick, nor tall, yet
appear green and pleasant enough; some of them bore flowers, some
berries, and others big fruits, but all unknown to any of us; cocoa-
nut trees thrive very well here, as well on the bays by the sea-
side, as more remote among the plantations; the nuts are of an
indifferent size, the milk and kernel very thick and pleasant. Here
is ginger, yams, and other very good roots for the pot, that our men
saw and tasted; what other fruits or roots the country affords I
know not. Here are hogs and dogs; other land animals we saw none.
The fowls we saw and knew were pigeons, parrots, cockatoos, and
crows like those in England; a sort of birds about the bigness of a
blackbird, and smaller birds many. The sea and rivers have plenty
of fish; we saw abundance, though we caught but few, and these were
cavallies, yellow-tails, and whip-rays.
We departed from hence on the 22nd of March, and on the 24th, in the
evening, we saw some high land bearing north-west half-west, to the
west of which we could see no land, though there appeared something
like land bearing west a little southerly, but not being sure of it,
I steered west-north-west all night, and kept going on with an easy
sail, intending to coast along the shore at a distance.
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