Shott at one of the Forwardest of them, and Mr. Banks and 2 of the Men fir'd immediately after. This made them retire back a little, but in less than a minute one of the Chiefs rallied them again. Dr. Solander, seeing this, gave him a peppering with small Shott, which sent him off and made them retire a Second time. They attempted to rally several times after, and only seem'd to want some one of resolution to head them; but they were at last intirely dispers'd by the Ship firing a few shott over their Heads and a Musquet now and then from us. In this Skirmish only one or 2 of them was Hurt with small Shott, for I avoided killing any one of them as much as Possible, and for that reason withheld our people from firing. We had observed that some had hid themselves in a Cave in one of the Rocks, and sometime after the whole was over we went Towards them. The Chief who I have mentioned to have been on board the Ship hapned to be one of these; he, his wife, and another came out to meet us, but the rest made off. Those 3 people came and sat down by us, and we gave them of such things as we had about us. After this we went to another part of the Island, where some of the inhabitants came to us, and were as meek as lambs. Having taken a View of the Bay from the Island and Loaded both Boats with Sellery, which we found here in great plenty, we return'd on board, and at 4 A.M. hove up the Anchor in order to put to Sea, with a light breeze at E., but it soon falling Calm, obliged us to come too again, and about 8 or 9 o'Clock, seeing no probability of our getting to Sea, I sent the Master to Sound the Harbour. But before this I order'd Matthew Cox, Henry Stevens, and Emanˡ Parreyra to be punished with a dozen lashes each for leaving their duty when ashore last night, and digging up Potatoes out of one of the Plantations.[1] The first of the 3 I remitted back to Confinement because he insisted that there was no harm in what he had done. All this Forenoon had abundance of the Natives about the Ship and some few on board. We Trafficked with them for a few Trifles, in which they dealt very fair and friendly.
Friday, 1st December.—Winds at N.N.W. a Gentle breeze. At 3 p.m., the Boats having return'd from sounding, I went with them over to the South side of the Harbour, and landed upon the Main, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander. We met with nothing new or remarkable. The place where we landed was in a small sandy Cove, where there are 2 small Streams of Fresh Water and Plenty of Wood for fuel. Here were likewise several little Plantations planted with Potatoes and Yams. The Soil and Natural produce of the Country was much the same as what we have hitherto met with. The people we saw behaved to us with great
- ↑ Cook's care to deal fairly with natives is evinced by this punishment.
