132
A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
1773.
March.
Captain Cook resolved to visit them in the afternoon, in order to quiet the apprehension which they seemed to have entertained. We went in two boats, accompanying him and several of the officers into the cove, where the natives had been first seen. Here we found a double canoe hauled upon the shore, near some old, low huts, about which we saw vestiges of fire places, some fishing-nets, and a few scattered fish. The canoe which appeared to be old and in bad order, consisted of two troughs or boats joined together with sticks, tied across the gunwales with strings of the New Zeeland flax-plant
[1]. Each part consisted of planks sowed together with ropes made of the flax-plant, and had a carved head coarsely representing a human face, with eyes made of round pieces of ear-shell, which somewhat resembled mother of pearl. This canoe contained two paddles, a basket full of berries of the
coriaria ruscifolia Lin. and some fishes; but the natives were not to be seen or heard, which gave us reason to believe that they had retired into the woods. To conciliate their good will, we left some medals, looking-glasses, beads, &c. in the canoe, and embarked again after a short stay. We then rowed to the head of the cove, in order to survey it, where we found a fine brook of fresh water coming down on a flat beach, from whence the water continued shallow to a con-
- ↑ See Hawkesworth's compilation, vol. III. p. 443.
siderable
