A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xv Part 35

They were quite naked, and wore no ornaments, unless we consider as such, and as a proof of their love of finery, some small punctures or ridges raised on different parts of their bodies, some in straight, and others in curved lines.

They were of the common stature, but rather slender. Their skin was black, and also their hair, which was as woolly as that of any native of Guinea; but they were not distinguished by remarkably thick lips, nor flat noses. On the contrary, their features were far from being disagreeable. They had pretty good eyes; and their teeth were tolerably even, but very dirty. Most of them had their hair and beards smeared with a red ointment; and some had their faces also painted with the same composition.

They received every present we made to them without the least appearance of satisfaction. When some bread was given, as soon as they understood that it was to be eaten, they either returned it, or threw it away, without even tasting it. They also refused some elephant fish, both raw and dressed, which we offered to them. But upon giving some birds to them, they did not return these, and easily made us comprehend that they were fond of such food. I had brought two pigs ash.o.r.e, with a view to leave them in the woods. The instant these came within their reach, they seized them, as a dog would have done, by the ears, and were for carrying them off immediately, with no other intention, as we could perceive, but to kill them.

Being desirous of knowing the use of the stick which one of our visitors carried in his hand, I made signs to them to shew me; and so far succeeded, that one of them set up a piece of wood as a mark, and threw at it at the distance of about twenty yards. But we had little reason to commend his dexterity; for, after repeated trials, he was still very wide from the object. Omai, to shew them how much superior our weapons were to theirs, then fired his musquet at it, which alarmed them so much, that notwithstanding all we could do or say, they ran instantly into the woods. One of them was so frightened, that he let drop an axe and two knives that had been given to him. From us, however, they went to the place where some of the Discovery's people were employed in taking water into their boat. The officer of that party, not knowing that they had paid us so friendly a visit, nor what their intent might be, fired a musquet in the air, which sent them off with the greatest precipitation.

Thus ended our first interview with the natives. Immediately after their final retreat, judging that their fears would prevent their remaining near enough to observe what was pa.s.sing, I ordered the two pigs, being a boar and sow, to be carried about a mile within the woods at the head of the bay. I saw them left there, by the side of a fresh-water brook. A young bull and a cow, and some sheep and goats, were also, at first, intended to have been left by me, as an additional present to Van Diemen's Land. But I soon laid aside all thought of this, from a persuasion that the natives, incapable of entering into my views of improving their country, would destroy them. If ever they should meet with the pigs, I have no doubt this will be their fate. But as that race of animals soon becomes wild, and is fond of the thickest cover of the woods, there is great probability of their being preserved. An open place must have been chosen for the accommodation of the other cattle; and, in such a situation, they could not possibly have remained concealed many days.

The morning of the 29th was ushered in with a dead calm, which continued all day, and effectually prevented our sailing. I therefore sent a party over to the E. point of the bay to cut gra.s.s, having been informed that some of a superior quality grew there. Another party, to cut wood, was ordered to go to the usual place, and I accompanied them myself. We had observed several of the natives this morning sauntering along the sh.o.r.e, which a.s.sured us, that though their consternation had made them leave us so abruptly the day before, they were convinced that we intended them no mischief, and were desirous of renewing the intercourse. It was natural that I should wish to be present on the occasion.

We had not been long landed, before about twenty of them, men and boys, joined us, without expressing the least sign of fear or distrust. There was one of this company conspicuously deformed, and who was not more distinguishable by the hump upon his back, than by the drollery of his gestures, and the seeming humour of his speeches, which he was very fond of exhibiting, as we supposed, for our entertainment. But, unfortunately, we could not understand him; the language spoken here being wholly unintelligible to us. It appeared to me to be different from that spoken by the inhabitants of the more northern parts of this country, whom I met with in my first voyage; which is not extraordinary, since those we now saw, and those we then visited, differ in many other respects.[130] Nor did they seem to be such miserable wretches as the natives whom Dampier mentions to have seen on its western coast.[131]

[Footnote 130: The most striking difference seems to be with regard to the texture of the hair. The natives whom Captain Cook met with at Endeavour River in 1769, are said, by him, to have "naturally long and black hair, though it be universally cropped short. In general it is straight, but sometimes it has a slight curl. We saw none that was not matted and filthy. Their beards were of the same colour with the hair, and bushy and thick."

It may be necessary to mention here, on the authority of Captain King, that Captain Cook was very unwilling to allow that the hair of the natives now met with in Adventure Bay was _woolly_, fancying that his people, who first observed this, had been deceived, from its being clotted with grease and red ochre. But Captain King prevailed upon him afterward to examine carefully the hair of the boys, which was generally, as well as that of the women, free from this dirt; and then he owned himself satisfied that it was naturally _woolly_. Perhaps we may suppose it possible, that he himself had been deceived when he was in Endeavour River, from this very circ.u.mstance, as he expressly says, that "they saw none that was not matted and filthy."--D.]

[Footnote 131: And yet Dampier's New Hollanders, on the western coast, bear a striking resemblance to Captain Cook's at Van Diemen's Land, in many remarkable instances:--

1st, As to their becoming familiar with the strangers.

2dly, As to their persons; being straight-bodied and thin, their skin black, and black, short, curled hair, like the negroes of Guinea, with wide mouths.

3dly, As to their wretched condition, having no houses, no garment, no canoes, no instrument to catch large fish; feeding on broiled muscles, c.o.c.kles, and periwinkles; having no fruits of the earth; their weapons a straight pole, sharpened and hardened at the end, &c. &c.

The chief peculiarities of Dampier's _miserable wretches_ are, 1st, Their eye-lids being always half closed, to keep the flies out, which were excessively troublesome there; and, 2dly, Their wanting the two fore-teeth of the upper jaw, and their having no beards. See Dampier's Voyages, vol. i. p. 464, &c. There seems to be no reason for supposing that Dampier was mistaken in the above account of what he saw.--D.]

Some of our present group wore, loose, round their necks, three or four folds of small cord, made of the fur of some animal; and others of them had a narrow slip of the kangooroo skin tied round their ankles. I gave to each of them a string of beads and a medal, which I thought they received with some satisfaction. They seemed to set no value on iron, or on iron tools. They were even ignorant of the use of fish-hooks, if we might judge from their manner of looking at some of ours which we shewed to them.

We cannot, however, suppose it to be possible that a people who inhabit a sea-coast, and who seem to derive no part of their sustenance from the productions of the ground, should not be acquainted with some mode of catching fish, though we did not happen to see any of them thus employed, nor observe any canoe, or vessel, in which they could go upon the water. Though they absolutely rejected the sort of fish that we offered to them, it was evident that sh.e.l.l-fish, at least, made a part of their food, from the many heaps of muscle-sh.e.l.ls we saw in different parts near the sh.o.r.e, and about some deserted habitations near the head of the bay. These were little sheds, or hovels, built of sticks, and covered with bark. We could also perceive evident signs of their sometimes taking up their abode in the trunks of large trees, which had been hollowed out by fire, most probably for this very purpose. In or near all these habitations, and wherever there was a heap of sh.e.l.ls, there remained the marks of fire, an indubitable proof that they do not eat their food raw.

After staying about an hour with the wooding party and the natives, as I could now be pretty confident that the latter were not likely to give the former any disturbance, I left them, and went over to the gra.s.s-cutters on the east point of the bay, and found that they had met with a fine patch. Having seen the boats loaded, I left that party, and returned on board to dinner; where, some time after, Lieutenant King arrived.

From him I learnt, that I had but just left the sh.o.r.e, when several women and children made their appearance, and were introduced to him by some of the men who attended them. He gave presents to all of them, of such trifles as he had about him. These females wore a kangooroo skin (in the same shape as it came from the animal) tied over the shoulders, and round the waist. But its only use seemed to be to support their children when carried on their backs, for it did not cover those parts which most nations conceal; being, in all other respects, as naked as the men, and as black, and their bodies marked with scars in the same manner. But in this they differed from the men, that though their hair was of the same colour and texture, some of them had their heads completely shorn or shaved; in others this operation had been performed only on one side, while the rest of them had all the upper part of the head shorn close, leaving a circle of hair all round, somewhat like the tonsure of the Romish ecclesiastics.[132] Many of the children had fine features, and were thought pretty; but of the persons of the women, especially those advanced in years, a less favourable report was made.

However, some of the gentlemen belonging to the Discovery, I was told, paid their addresses, and made liberal offers of presents, which were rejected with great disdain; whether from a sense of virtue, or the fear of displeasing their men, I shall not pretend to determine. That this gallantry was not very agreeable to the latter, is certain; for an elderly man, as soon as he observed it, ordered all the women and children to retire, which they obeyed, though some of them shewed a little reluctance.

[Footnote 132: Captain Cook's account of the natives of Van Diemen's Land, in this chapter, no doubt proves that they differ, in many respects, as he says, from the inhabitants of the more northerly parts of the east coast of New Holland, whom he met with in his first voyage.

It seems very remarkable, however, that the only woman any of his people came close to, in Botany Bay, should have her hair cropped short, while the man who was with her, is said to have had the hair of his head bushy, and his beard long and rough. Could the natives of Van Diemen's Land be more accurately described, than by saying that the hair of the men's heads is bushy, and their beards long and rough, and that the women's hair is cropped short? So far north, therefore, as Botany Bay, the natives of the east coast of New Holland seem to resemble those of Van Diemen's Land, in this circ.u.mstance.--D.]

This conduct of Europeans amongst savages, to their women, is highly blameable; as it creates a jealousy in their men, that may be attended with consequences fatal to the success of the common enterprise, and to the whole body of adventurers, without advancing the private purpose of the individual, or enabling him to gain the object of his wishes. I believe it has been generally found among uncivilized people, that where the women are easy of access, the men are the first to offer them to strangers; and that, where this is not the case, neither the allurement of presents, nor the opportunity of privacy, will be likely to have the desired effect. This observation, I am sure, will hold good, throughout all the parts of the South Sea where I have been. Why then should men act so absurd a part, as to risk their own safety, and that of all their companions, in pursuit of a gratification which they have no probability of obtaining?[133]

[Footnote 133: In uncivilized nations, the women are completely subservient to the power and desires of the men, without seeming to possess, or to be allowed, a will or thought of their own. Amongst them, therefore, the primitive mode of temptation must be reversed, and the husband is first to be gained over. When this is done, all that follows, is understood and intended by him, as a sort of temporary barter; and the favours of his wife, or daughter, are valued by him just in the proportion they are sought for by those with whom he is dealing. But where his animal necessities can scarcely be supplied, it cannot be imagined that he will be very sensible to the force of toys and trinkets as objects of temptation. These, on the other hand, will carry most persuasion, where, through the greater bounty of nature, an avenue has been opened for the display of vanity and the love of ornament. Any opposition on the female part in either case, is of no avail as a barrier against strangers, as he who is most concerned to protect it, finds his account in its sacrifice. We have instances of both in Captain Cook's voyages.--E.]

In the afternoon I went again to the gra.s.s-cutters, to forward their work. I found them then upon Penguin Island, where they had met with a plentiful crop of excellent gra.s.s. We laboured hard till sun-set, and then repaired on board, satisfied with the quant.i.ty we had collected, and which I judged sufficient to last till our arrival in New Zealand.

During our whole stay, we had either calms or light airs from the eastward. Little or no time, therefore, was lost by my putting in at this place. For if I had kept the sea, we should not have been twenty leagues advanced farther on our voyage. And, short as our continuance was here, it has enabled me to add somewhat to the imperfect acquaintance that hath hitherto been acquired, with this part of the globe.

Van Diemen's Land has been twice visited before. It was so named by Tasman, who discovered it in November 1642. From that time it had escaped all farther notice by European navigators, till Captain Furneaux touched at it in March 1773.[134] I hardly need say, that it is the southern point of New Holland, which, if it doth not deserve the name of a continent, is by far the largest island in the world.

[Footnote 134: This is a mistake, though unintentional, no doubt, and ignorantly on the part of Cook. Captain Marion, a French navigator, and mentioned occasionally in these voyages, visited Van Diemen's Land about a twelve-month before Captain Furneaux. The account of his voyage was published at Paris in 1783, but is little known in England; for which reason, and because of its possessing a considerable degree of interest, Captain Flinders has given an abridgment of that portion of its contents which respects the land in question. This the reader will find in his introduction, p. 83, or he may content himself with being informed, that the description it gives of the natives, &c, generally coincides with what is furnished in the text. Subsequent to this voyage, it may be remarked, Captain Bligh put into Adventure Bay with his majesty's ship Bounty, viz. in 1788: and afterwards, viz. in 1792, the coast of Van Diemen's Land was visited by the French Rear-Admiral D'Entrecasteaux.--E.]

The land is, for the most part, of a good height, diversified with hills and valleys, and every where of a greenish hue. It is well wooded; and, if one may judge from appearances, and from what we met with in Adventure Bay, is not ill supplied with water. We found plenty of it in three or four places in this bay. The best, or what is most convenient for ships that touch here, is a rivulet, which is one of several that fall into a pond, that lies behind the beach at the head of the bay. It there mixes with the sea-water, so that it must be taken up above this pond, which may be done without any great trouble. Fire-wood is to be got, with great ease, in several places.

The only wind to which this bay is exposed, is the N.E. But as this wind blows from Maria's Islands, it can bring no very great sea along with it; and therefore, upon the whole, this may be accounted a very safe road. The bottom is clean, good holding ground; and the depth of water from twelve to five and four fathoms.

Captain Furneaux's sketch of Van Diemen's Land, published with the narrative of my last voyage, appears to me to be without any material error, except with regard to Maria's Islands, which have a different situation from what is there represented.[135] The longitude was determined by a great number of lunar observations, which we had before we made the land, while we were in sight of it, and after we had left it; and reduced to Adventure Bay, and the several princ.i.p.al points, by the time-keeper. The following table will exhibit both the longitude and lat.i.tude at one view:

Lat.i.tude South. Longitude East: Adventure Bay, 43 21' 20" 147 29' 0"

Tasman's Head, 43 33 0 147 28 0 South Cape, 43 42 0 146 56 0 South-west Cape, 43 37 0 146 7 0 Sw.i.l.l.y Isle, 43 55 0 147 6 0

Adventure { Variation of the compa.s.s 5 15' E.

Bay, { Dip of the south end of the needle 70 15 1/2'.

We had high-water on the 29th, being two days before the last quarter of the moon, at nine in the morning. The perpendicular rise then was eighteen inches, and there was no appearance of its ever having exceeded two feet and a half. These are all the memorials useful to navigation, which my short stay has enabled me to preserve, with respect to Van Diemen's Land.

[Footnote 135: But Captain Flinders has pointed out some other mistakes, especially as to the Storm and Frederik Hendrik's Bays of Tasman, in which, says he, "He has been followed by all the succeeding navigators, of the same nation, which has created not a little confusion in the geography of this part of the world." Let us prevent the perpetuity of errors, by quoting another pa.s.sage from the same most accurate and skilful navigator. "The bay supposed to have been Storm Bay, has no name in Tasman's chart; though the particular plan shews that he noticed it, as did Marion, more distinctly. The rocks marked at the east point of this bay, and called the Friars, are the _Boreal's Eylanden_ of Tasman; the true Storm Bay is the deep inlet, of which Adventure Bay is a cove.

Frederik Hendrik's Bay is not within this inlet, but lies to the north-eastward, on the outer side of the land which Captain Furneaux, in consequence of his first mistake, took to be Maria's Island, but which, in fact, is a part of the main land." A copy of Tasman's charts is given in the atlas to D'Entrecasteaux's voyage; it is taken from Valantyn, and is conformable to the ma.n.u.script charts in the Dutch journal. But according to Flinders, it has an error of one degree too much east, in the scale of longitude. Besides, he informs us, "In the plan of Frederik Hendrik's Bay, the name is placed _within_ the inner bay, instead of being written, as in the original, on the point of land between the inner and outer bays." He imagines the name was intended to comprise both, and refers to vol. iii. of Captain Burney's History of Discoveries in the South Sea, for a copy of Tasman's charts as they stand in the original.--E.]

Mr Anderson, my surgeon, with his usual diligence, spent the few days we remained in Adventure Bay, in examining the country. His account of its natural productions, with which he favoured me, will more than compensate for my silence about them: Some of his remarks on the inhabitants will supply what I may have omitted, or represented imperfectly; and his specimen of their language, however short, will be thought worth attending to, by those who wish to collect materials for tracing the origin of nations. I shall only premise, that the tall strait forest trees, which Mr Anderson describes in the following account, are of a different sort from those which are found in the more northern parts of this coast. The wood is very long and close-grained, extremely tough, fit for spars, oars, and many other uses; and would, on occasion, make good masts, (perhaps none better,) if a method could be found to lighten it.

"At the bottom of Adventure Bay is a beautiful sandy beach, which seems to be wholly formed by the particles washed by the sea from a very fine white sand-stone, that in many places bounds the sh.o.r.e, and of which Fluted Cape, in the neighbourhood, from its appearance, seems to be composed. This beach is about two miles long, and is excellently adapted for hauling a seine, which both ships did repeatedly with success.

Behind this is a plain or flat, with a salt, or rather brackish lake (running in length parallel with the beach), out of which we caught, with angling rods, many whitish bream, and some small trout. The other parts of the country adjoining the bay are quite hilly; and both those and the flat are an entire forest of very tall trees, rendered almost impa.s.sable by shrubs, brakes of fern, and fallen trees; except on the sides of some of the hills, where the trees are but thin, and a coa.r.s.e gra.s.s is the only interruption."

"To the northward of the bay there is low land, stretching farther than the eye can reach, which is only covered with wood in certain spots; but we had no opportunity to examine in what respects it differed from the hilly country. The soil on the flat land is either sandy, or consists of a yellowish mould, and, in some places, of a reddish clay. The same is found on the lower part of the hills; but farther up, especially where there are few trees, it is of a grey tough cast, to appearance very poor."

"In the valleys between the hills, the water drains down from their sides; and at last, in some places, forms small brooks; such, indeed, as were sufficient to supply us with water, but by no means of that size we might expect in so extensive a country, especially as it is both hilly and well wooded. Upon the whole, it has many marks of being naturally a very dry country; and perhaps might (independent of its wood) be compared to Africa, about the Cape of Good Hope, though that lies ten degrees farther northward, rather than to New Zealand, on its other side, in the same lat.i.tude, where we find every valley, however small, furnished with a considerable stream of water. The heat, too, appears to be great, as the thermometer stood at 64, 70, and once at 74. And it was remarked, that birds were seldom killed an hour or two, before they were almost covered with small maggots, which I would rather attribute merely to the heat; as we had not any reason to suppose there is a peculiar disposition in the climate to render substances soon putrid."

"No mineral bodies, nor indeed stones of any other sort but the white sand one already mentioned, were observed.

"Amongst the vegetable productions, there is not one, that we could find, which afforded the smallest subsistence for man."

"The forest trees are all of one sort, growing to a great height, and in general quite straight, branching but little, till toward the top. The bark is white, which makes them appear, at a distance, as if they had been peeled; it is also thick; and within it are sometimes collected, pieces of a reddish transparent gum or rosin, which has an astringent taste. The leaves of this tree are long, narrow, and pointed; and it bears cl.u.s.ters of small white flowers, whose cups were, at this time, plentifully scattered about the ground, with another sort resembling them somewhat in shape, but much larger; which makes it probable that there are two _species_ of this tree. The bark of the smaller branches, fruit, and leaves, have an agreeable pungent taste, and aromatic smell, not unlike peppermint; and in its nature, it has some affinity to the _myrtus_ of botanists."

"The most common tree, next to this, is a small one about ten feet high, branching pretty much, with narrow leaves, and a large, yellow, cylindrical flower, consisting only of a vast number of filaments; which, being shed, leave a fruit like a pine-top. Both the above-mentioned trees are unknown in Europe."

"The underwood consists chiefly of a shrub somewhat resembling a myrtle, and which seems to be the _leptospermum scoparium_, mentioned in Dr Foster's _Char. Gen. Plant._; and, in some places, of another, rather smaller, which is a new _species_ of the _melaleuca_ of Linnaeus."

"Of other plants, which are by no means numerous, there is a _species_ of _gladiolus_, rush, bell-flower, samphire, a small sort of wood-sorrel, milk-wort, cudweed, and Job's tears; with a few others, peculiar to the place. There are several kinds of fern, as polypody, spleenwort, female fern, and some mosses; but the _species_ are either common, or at least found in some other countries, especially New Zealand."

"The only animal of the quadruped kind we got, was a sort of _opossum_, about twice the size of a large rat; and is, most probably, the male of that _species_ found at Endeavour river, as mentioned in Cook's first voyage. It is of a dusky colour above, tinged with a brown or rusty cast, and whitish below. About a third of the tail, towards its tip, is white, and bare underneath; by which it probably hangs on the branches of trees, as it climbs these, and lives on berries. The _kangooroo_, another animal found farther northward in New Holland, as described in the same voyage, without all doubt also inhabits here, as the natives we met with had some pieces of their skins; and we several times saw animals, though indistinctly, run from the thickets when we walked in the woods, which, from the size, could be no other. It should seem also, that they are in considerable numbers, from the dung we saw almost every where, and from the narrow tracks or paths they have made amongst the shrubbery."

"There are several sorts of birds, but all so scarce and shy, that they are evidently harra.s.sed by the natives, who, perhaps, draw much of their subsistence from them. In the woods, the princ.i.p.al sorts are large brown hawks or eagles; crows, nearly the same as ours in England; yellowish paroquets; and large pigeons. There are also three or four small birds, one of which is of the thrush kind; and another small one, with a pretty long tail, has part of the head and neck of a most beautiful azure colour; from whence we named it _motacilla cyanea_. On the sh.o.r.e were several common and sea gulls; a few black oyster-catchers, or sea-pies; and a pretty plover of a stone colour, with a black hood. About the pond or lake behind the beach, a few wild-ducks were seen; and some s.h.a.gs used to perch upon the high leafless trees near the sh.o.r.e."

"Some pretty large blackish snakes were seen in the woods; and we killed a large, hitherto unknown, lizard, fifteen inches long, and six round, elegantly clouded with black and yellow; besides a small sort, of a brown gilded colour above, and rusty below."

"The sea affords a much greater plenty, and at least as great a variety, as the land. Of these the elephant fish, or _pejegallo_, mentioned in Frezier's voyage,[136] are the most numerous; and though inferior to many other fish, were very palatable food. Several large rays, nurses, and small leather-jackets, were caught; with some small white bream, which were firmer and better than those caught in the lake. We likewise got a few soles and flounders; two sorts of gurnards, one of them a new _species_; some small spotted mullet; and, very unexpectedly, the small fish with a silver band on its side, called _atherina hipsetus_ by Ha.s.seiquist."[137]

[Footnote 136: Tom. ii. p. 211. 12mo. Planche XVII.]