A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World Volume Ii Part 7

The 31st being a fine pleasant day, our botanists went over to Long Island, where one of the party saw a large black boar. As it was described to me, I thought it might be one of those which Captain Furneaux left behind, and had been brought over to this isle by those who had it in keeping. Since they did not destroy those hogs when first in their possession, we cannot suppose they will do it now; so that there is little fear but that this country will in time be stocked with these animals, both in a wild and domestic state.

1774 November

Next day we were visited by a number of strangers who came up from the sound, and brought with them but little fish. Their chief commodity was green stone or talc, an article which never came to a bad market; and some of the largest pieces of it I had ever seen were got this day.

On the 2d I went over to the east side of the sound, and, without meeting any thing remarkable, returned on board in the evening, when I learnt that the same people who visited us the preceding day, had been on board most of this, with their usual article of trade.

On the 3d, Mr Pickersgill met with some of the natives, who related to him the story of a s.h.i.+p being lost, and the people being killed; but added, with great earnestness, it was not done by them.

On the 4th, fine pleasant weather. Most of the natives now retired up the sound. Indeed, I had taken every gentle method, to oblige them to be gone, for since these newcomers had been with us, our old friends had disappeared, and we had been without fish. Having gone over to Long Island, to look for the hog which had been seen there, I found it to be one of the sows left by Captain Furneaux; the same that was in the possession of the natives when we were last here. From the supposition of its being a boar, I had carried over a sow to leave with him; but on seeing my mistake, brought her back, as the leaving her there would answer no end.

Early in the morning of the 5th, our old friends made us a visit, and brought a seasonable supply of fish. At the same time I embarked in the pinnace, with Messrs Forsters and Sparrman, in order to proceed up the sound. I was desirous of finding the termination of it; or rather of seeing if I could find any pa.s.sage out to sea by the S.E., as I suspected from some discoveries I had made when first here. In our way up, we met with some fishers, of whom we made the necessary enquiry; and they all agreed that there was no pa.s.sage to the sea by the head of the sound. As we proceeded, we, some time after, met a canoe conducted by four men coming down the sound. These confirmed what the others had said, in regard to there being no pa.s.sage to the sea the way we were going; but gave us to understand that there was one to the east, in the very place where I expected to find it. I now laid aside the scheme of going to the head of the sound, and proceeded to this arm, which is on the S.E. side, about four or five leagues above the isle of Motuara.

A little within the entrance on the S.E. side, at a place called Kotieghenooee, we found a large settlement of the natives., The chief, whose name was Tringo-boohee, and his people, whom we found to be some of those who had lately been on board the s.h.i.+p, received us with great courtesy. They seemed to be pretty numerous both here and in the neighbourhood. Our stay with them was short, as the information they gave us encouraged us to pursue the object we had in view. Accordingly, we proceeded down the arm E.N.E. and E. by N., leaving several fine coves on both sides, and at last found it to open into the strait by a channel about a mile wide, in which ran out a strong tide; having also observed one setting down the arm, all the time we had been in it. It was now about four o'clock in the afternoon, and in less than an hour after, this tide ceased, and was succeeded by the flood, which came in with equal strength.

The outlet lies S.E. by E. and N.W. by W. and nearly in the direction of E.S.E. and W.N.W. from Cape Terrawhitte. We found thirteen fathoms water a little within the entrance, clear ground. It seemed to me that a leading wind was necessary to go in and out of this pa.s.sage, on account of the rapidity of the tides. I, however, had but little time to make observations of this nature, as night was at hand, and I had resolved to return on board. On that account I omitted visiting a large _hippa_, or strong-hold, built on an elevation on the north side, and about a mile or two within the entrance, The inhabitants of it, by signs, invited us to go to them; but, without paying any regard to them, we proceeded directly for the s.h.i.+p, which we reached by ten o'clock, bringing with us some fish we had got from the natives, and a few birds we had shot. Amongst the latter were some of the same kinds of ducks we found in Dusky Bay, and we have reason to believe that they are all to be met with here. For the natives knew them all by the drawings, and had a particular name for each.

On the 6th, wind at N.E., gloomy weather with rain. Our old friends having taken up their abode near us, one of them, whose name was Pedero, (a man of some note,) made me a present of a staff of honour, such as the chiefs generally carry. In return, I dressed him in a suit of old clothes, of which he was not a little proud. He had a fine person, and a good presence, and nothing but his colour distinguished him from an European. Having got him, and another, into a communicative mood, we began to enquire of them if the Adventure had been there during my absence; and they gave us to understand, in a manner which admitted of no doubt, that, soon after we were gone, she arrived; that she staid between ten and twenty days, and had been gone ten months. They likewise a.s.serted that neither she, nor any other s.h.i.+p, had been stranded on the coast, as had been reported. This a.s.sertion, and the manner in which they related the coming and going of the Adventure, made me easy about her; but did not wholly set aside our suspicions of a disaster having happened to some other strangers. Besides what has been already related, we had been told that a s.h.i.+p had lately been here, and was gone to a place called Terato, which is on the north side of the strait. Whether this story related to the former or no, I cannot say.

Whenever I questioned the natives about it, they always denied all knowledge of it, and for some time past, had avoided mentioning it. It was but a few days before, that one man received a box on the ear for naming it to some of our people.

After breakfast I took a number of hands over to Long Island, in order to catch the sow, to put her to the boar and remove her to some other place; but we returned without seeing her. Some of the natives had been there not long before us, as their fires were yet burning; and they had undoubtedly taken her away. Pedero dined with us, eat of every thing at table, and drank more wine than any one of us, without being in the least affected by it.

The 7th, fresh gales at N.E. with continual rain.

The 8th, fore-part rain, remainder fair weather. We put two pigs, a boar, and a sow, on sh.o.r.e, in the cove next without Cannibal Cove; so that it is hardly possible all the methods I have taken to stock this country with these animals should fail. We had also reason to believe that some of the c.o.c.ks and hens which I left here still existed, although we had not seen any of them; for an hen's egg was, some days before, found in the woods almost new laid.

On the 9th, wind westerly or N.W., squally with rain. In the morning we unmoored, and s.h.i.+fted our birth farther out of the cove, for the more ready getting to sea the next morning; for at present the caulkers had not finished the sides, and till this work was done we could not sail. Our friends having brought us a very large and seasonable supply of fish, I bestowed on Pedero a present of an empty oil-jar, which made him as happy as a prince. Soon after, he and his party left the cove, and retired to their proper place of abode, with all the treasure they had received from us. I believe that they gave away many of the things they, at different times, got from us, to their friends and neighbours, or else parted with them to purchase peace of their more powerful enemies; for we never saw any of our presents after they were once in their possession: And every time we visited them they were as much in want of hatchets, nails, etc. to all appearance, as if they never had had any among them.

I am satisfied that the people in this sound, who are, upon the whole, pretty numerous, are under no regular form of government, or so united as to form one body politic. The head of each tribe, or family, seems to be respected; and that respect may, on some occasions, command obedience; but I doubt if any amongst them have either a right or power to enforce it. The day we were with Tringo-boohee, the people came from all parts to see us, which he endeavoured to prevent. But though he went so far as to throw stones at some, I observed that very few paid any regard either to his words or actions; and yet this man was spoken of as a chief of some note. I have, before, made some remarks on the evils attending these people for want of union among themselves; and the more I was acquainted with them, the more I found it to be so. Notwithstanding they are cannibals, they are naturally of a good disposition, and have not a little humanity.

In the afternoon a party of us went ash.o.r.e into one of the coves, where were two families of the natives variously employed; some sleeping, some making mats, others roasting fish and fir roots, and one girl, I observed, was heating of stones. Curious to know what they were for, I remained near her. As soon as the stones were made hot, she took them out of the fire, and gave them to an old woman, who was sitting in the hut. She placed them in a heap, laid over them a handful of green celery, and over that a coa.r.s.e mat, and then squatted herself down, on her heels, on the top of all; thus making a kind of Dutch warming-pan, on which she sat as close as a hare on her seat. I should hardly have mentioned this operation, if I had thought it had no other view than to warm the old woman's backside. I rather suppose it was intended to cure some disorder she might have on her, which the steams arising from the green celery might be a specific for. I was led to think so by there being hardly any celery in the place, we having gathered it long before; and gra.s.s, of which there was great plenty, would have kept the stones from burning the mat full as well, if that had been all that was meant. Besides, the woman looked to me sickly, and not in a good state of health.

Mr Wales, from time to time, communicated to me the observations he had made in this Sound for determining the longitude, the mean results of which give 174 25' 7" 1/2 east, for the bottom of s.h.i.+p Cove, where the observations were made; and the lat.i.tude of it is 41 5' 50" 1/2 south. In my chart, const.i.tuted in my former voyage, this place is laid down in 184 54' 30" west, equal to 175 5' 30" east. The error of the chart is therefore 0 40' 0", and nearly equal to what was found at Dusky Bay; by which it appears that the whole of Tavai-poenamoo is laid down 40' too far east in the said chart, as well as in the journal of the voyage. But the error in Eaheino-mauwe, is not more than half a degree, or thirty minutes; because the distance between. Queen Charlotte's Sound and Cape Palliser has been found to be greater by 10' of longitude than it is laid down in the chart. I mention these errors, not from a fear that they will affect either navigation or geography, but because I have no doubt of their existence; for, from the mult.i.tude of observations which Mr Wales took, the situation of few parts of the world is better ascertained than Queen Charlotte's Sound. Indeed, I might, with equal truth, say the same of all the other places where we made any stay; for Mr Wales, whose abilities are equal to his a.s.siduity, lost no one observation that could possibly be obtained.

Even the situation of those islands, which we pa.s.sed without touching at them, is, by means of Kendal's watch, determined with almost equal accuracy. The error of the watch from Otaheite to this place was only 43'

39" 1/2 in longitude, reckoning at the rate it was found to go at, at that island and at Tanna; but by reckoning at the rate it was going when last at Queen Charlotte's Sound, and from the time of our leaving it, to our return to it again, which was near a year, the error was 19' 31", 25 in time, or 4 52' 48" 1/4 in longitude. This error cannot be thought great, if we consider the length of time, and that we had gone over a s.p.a.ce equal to upwards of three-fourths of the equatorial circ.u.mference of the earth, and through all the climates and lat.i.tudes from 9 to 71. Mr Wales found its rate of going here to be that of gaining 12",576, on mean time, per day.

The mean result of all the observations he made for ascertaining the variation of the compa.s.s and the dip of the south end of the needle, the three several times we had been here, gave 14 9' 1/5 east for the former; and 64 36" 2/3 for the latter. He also found, from very accurate observations, that the time of high-water preceded the moon's southing, on the full and change days, by three hours; and that the greatest rise and fall of the water was five feet ten inches, and a half; but there were evident tokens on the beach, of its having risen two feet higher than ever it did in the course of his experiments.

A VOYAGE TOWARDS THE SOUTH POLE, AND ROUND THE WORLD.

BOOK IV.

FROM LEAVING NEW ZEALAND TO OUR RETURN TO ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I.

_The Run from New Zealand to Terra del Fuego, with the Range from Cape Deseada to Christmas Sound, and Description of that Part of the Coast._

1774 November

At day-break on the 10th, with a fine breeze at W.N.W., we weighed and stood out of the Sound; and, after getting round the Two Brothers, steered for Cape Campbell, which is at the S.W. entrance of the Strait, all sails set, with a fine breeze at north. At four in the afternoon, we pa.s.sed the Cape, at the distance of four or five leagues, and then steered S.S.E. 1/2 E. with the wind at N.W., a gentle gale, and cloudy weather.

Next morning the wind veered round by the west to south, and forced us more to the east than I intended. At seven o'clock in the evening, the snowy mountains bore W. by S., and Cape Palliser N. 1/2 W., distant sixteen or seventeen leagues; from which cape I, for the third time, took my departure. After a few hours calm, a breeze springing up at north, we steered S. by E. all sails set, with a view of getting into the lat.i.tude of 54 or 55; my intention being to cross this vast ocean nearly in these parallels, and so as to pa.s.s over those parts which were left unexplored the preceding summer.

In the morning of the 12th, the wind increased to a fine gale: At noon we observed in lat.i.tude 43 13' 30" S., longitude 176 41' E.; an extraordinary fish of the whale kind was seen, which some called a sea monster. I did not see it myself. In the afternoon, our old companions the pintado peterels began to appear.

On the 13th, in the morning, the wind veered to W.S.W. At seven, seeing the appearance of land to S.W., we hauled up towards it, and soon found it to be a fog-bank. Afterwards we steered S.E. by S., and soon after saw a seal.

At noon, lat.i.tude, by account, 44 25', longitude 177 31' E. Foggy weather, which continued all the afternoon. At six in the evening, the wind veered to N.E. by N., and increased to a fresh gale, attended with thick hazy weather; course steered S.E. 1/4 S.

On the 14th, a.m. saw another seal. At noon, lat.i.tude 45 54', longitude 179 29' E.

On the 15th, a.m. the wind veered to the westward; the fog cleared away, but the weather continued cloudy. At noon, lat.i.tude 47 30', longitude 178 19' W.; for, having pa.s.sed the meridian of 180 E., I now reckon my longitude west of the first meridian, viz. Greenwich. In the evening heard penguins, and the next morning saw some sea or rock weed. At noon a fresh gale from the west and fine weather. Lat.i.tude observed 49 33', longitude 175 31' W.

Next morning fresh gales and hazy weather; saw a seal and several pieces of weed. At noon, lat.i.tude 51 12', longitude 173 17' W. The wind veered to the N. and N.E. by N., blew a strong gale by squalls, which split an old topgallant sail, and obliged us to double-reef the top-sails; but in the evening the wind moderated, and veered to W.N.W., when we loosed a reef out of each top-sail; and found the variation of the compa.s.s to be 9 52' E., being then in the lat.i.tude 51 47', longitude 172 21' W., and the next morning, the 18th, in the lat.i.tude of 52 25', longitude 170 45' W., it was 10 26' E. Towards noon, had moderate but cloudy weather, and a great swell from the west: Some penguins and pieces of sea-weed seen.

On the 19th, steered E.S.E, with a very fresh gale at north, hazy dirty weather. At noon, lat.i.tude 53 43', longitude 166 15' W.

On the 20th, steered E. by S., with a moderate breeze at north, attended with thick hazy weather. At noon, lat.i.tude 54 8', longitude 162 18' W.

On the 21st, winds mostly from the N.E., a fresh gale attended with thick, hazy, dirty weather. Course S.E. by S.; lat.i.tude, at noon, 55 31', longitude 160 29'; abundance of blue peterels and some penguins seen.

Fresh gales at N.W. by N. and N. by W., and hazy till towards noon of the 22d, when the weather cleared up, and we observed in lat.i.tude 55 48' S., longitude 156 56' W. In the afternoon had a few hours calm; after that, the wind came at S.S.E. and S.E. by S. a light breeze, with which we steered east northerly. In the night the aurora australis was visible, but very faint, and no ways remarkable.

On the 23d, in the lat.i.tude of 55 46' S., longitude 156 13' W., the variation was 9 42' E. We had a calm from ten in the morning till six in the evening, when a breeze sprung up at west; at first it blew a gentle gale, but afterwards freshened. Our course was now E. 1/2 N.

On the 24th, a fresh breeze at N.W. by W. and N. by W. At noon, in lat.i.tude 55 38' S., longitude 153 37' W., foggy in the night, but next day had a fine gale at N.W., attended with clear pleasant weather; course steered E.

by N. In the evening, being in the lat.i.tude of 55 8' S., longitude 148 10' W., the variation, by the mean of two compa.s.ses, was 6 35' E.

Having a steady fresh gale at N.N.W. on the 26th and 27th, we steered east; and at noon on the latter were in lat.i.tude 55 6' S., longitude 138 56' W.

I now gave up all hopes of finding any more land in this ocean, and came to a resolution to steer directly for the west entrance of the Straits of Magalhaeus, with a view of coasting the out, or south side of Terra del Fuego round Cape Horn to the strait Le Maire. As the world has but a very imperfect knowledge of this sh.o.r.e, I thought the coasting of it would be of more advantage, both to navigation and to geography, than any thing I could expect to find in a higher lat.i.tude. In the afternoon of this day, the wind blew in squalls, and carried away the main top-gallant mast.

A very strong gale northerly, with hazy rainy weather, on the 28th, obliged us to double-reef the fore and main top-sail to hand the mizen top-sail, and get down the fore top-gallant yard. In the morning, the bolt rope of the main top-sail broke, and occasioned the sail to be split. I have observed that the ropes to all our sails, the square sails especially, are not of a size and strength sufficient to wear out the canva.s.s. At noon, lat.i.tude 55 20' S., longitude 134 16' W., a great swell from N.W.: Albatrosses and blue peterels seen.

Next day towards noon, the wind abating, we loosed all the reefs out of the top-sails, rigged another top-gallant mast, and got the yards across. P.M.

little wind, and hazy weather; at midnight calm, that continued till noon the next day, when a breeze sprung up at east, with which we stretched to the northward. At this time we were in the lat.i.tude 55 32' S., longitude 128 45' W.; some albatrosses and peterels seen. At eight, p.m., the wind veering to N.E., we tacked and stood to E.S.E.

1774 December

On the 1st of December, thick hazy weather, with drizzling rain, and a moderate breeze of wind, which, at three o'clock p.m. fell to a calm; at this time in lat.i.tude 55 41' S., longitude 127 5' W. After four hours calm, the fog cleared away, and we got a wind at S.E. with which we stood N.E.

Next day, a fresh breeze at S.E. and hazy foggy weather, except a few hours in the morning, when we found the variation to be 1 28' E. Lat.i.tude 55 17', longitude 125 41' W. The variation after this was supposed to increase; for on the 4th, in the morning, being in lat.i.tude 53 31', longitude 121 31' W., it was 3 16' E.; in the evening, in lat.i.tude 53 13', longitude 119 46' W., it was 3 28' E.; and on the 5th, at six o'clock in the evening, in lat.i.tude 53 8', longitude 115 58' W., it was 4 1' E.

For more than twenty-four hours, having had a fine gale at south, this enabled us to steer east, with very little deviation to the north; and the wind now altering to S.W. and blowing a steady fresh breeze, we continued to steer east, inclining a little to south.

On the 6th, had some snow-showers. In the evening, being in lat.i.tude 53 13', longitude 111 12', the variation was 4 58' E.; and the next morning, being in lat.i.tude 58 16', longitude 109 33', it was 5 1' E.

The wind was now at west, a fine pleasant gale, sometimes with showers of rain. Nothing remarkable happened, till the 9th, at noon, when being in the lat.i.tude of 53 37', longitude 103 44' W., the wind veered to N.E., and afterwards came insensibly round to the south, by the E. and S.E., attended with cloudy hazy weather, and some showers of rain.