Majesty's Bark the Endeavour for the better Establishing a regular and uniform Trade for Provisions, etc., with the Inhabitants of George's Island:—
1. To endeavour by every fair means to Cultivate a Friendship with the Natives, and to treat them with all imaginable humanity.
2. A Proper Person or Persons will be appointed to Trade with the Natives for all manner of Provisions, Fruits, and other Productions of the Earth; and no Officer or Seaman or other person belonging to the Ship, excepting such as are so appointed, shall Trade or offer to Trade for any sort of Provisions, Fruit or other Productions of the Earth, unless they have my leave so to do.
3. Every Person employ'd on shore on any duty whatsoever is strictly to attend to the same, and if by neglect he looseth any of His Arms or working Tools, or suffers them to be stole, the full value thereof will be charged against his pay, according to the Custom of the Navy in such Cases, and he shall receive such further punishment as the nature of the Offence may deserve.
4. The same Penalty will be inflicted upon every person who is found to Embezzle, Trade, or Offer to Trade with any of the Ship's Stores of what Nature so ever.
5. No sort of Iron or anything that is made of Iron, or any sort of Cloth or other useful or necessary Articles, are to be given in Exchange for anything but Provisions.
As soon as the Ship was properly secured I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Banks and the other Gentlemen,[1] with a Party of Men under Arms; we took along with us Owhaa—who took us to the place where the Dolphin watered, and made signs to us as well as we could understand that we might Occupy that ground, but it hapned not to be fit for our purpose. No one of the Natives made the least opposition at our landing, but came to us with all imaginable Marks of Friendship and Submission. We Afterwards made a Circuit through the Woods, and then came on board. We did not find the inhabitants to be numerous, and we imagin'd that several of them had fled from their habitations upon our Arrival in the Bay.
Friday, 14th.—This morning we had a great many Canoes about the Ship; the most of them came from the Westward, and brought nothing with them but a few Cocoa Nuts, etc. Two that appeared to be Chiefs we had on board, together with several others, for it was a hard matter to keep them out of the Ship, as they Climb like Munkeys; but it was still harder to keep them from Stealing but everything that came within their reach; in this they are Prodigious Expert. I made each of these two Chiefs a
- ↑ Cook generally uses this term for the civilians on board.
