cook's voyage to dec. 



we sailed into the harbour, had flattered us with the 

 hope of meeting with something considerable grow- 

 ing here, as we observed the sides of many of the 

 hills to be of a lively green. But I now found that 

 this was occasioned by a single plant, which, with 

 the other natural productions, shall be described in 

 another place. Before I returned to my ship, I 

 ascended the first ridge of rocks, which rise in a kind 

 of amphitheatre above one another. I was in hopes, 

 by this means, of obtaining a view of the country ; 

 but before I reached the top, there came on so thick 

 a fog, that I could hardly find my way down again. 

 In the evening, we hauled the seine at the head of 

 the harbour, but caught only half-a-dozen small fish. 

 We had no better success next day, when we tried 

 with hook and line. So that our only resource here, 

 for fresh provisions, were birds, of which there was 

 an inexhaustible store. 



The morning of the 26th proved foggy, with rain. 

 However, we went to work to fill water, and to cut 

 grass for our cattle, which we found in small spots 

 near the head of the harbour. The rain which fell 

 swelled all the rivulets to such a degree, that the 

 sides of the hills, bounding the harbour, seemed to 

 be covered with a sheet of water. For the rain, as 

 it fell, ran into the fissures and crags of the rocks 

 that composed the interior parts of the hills, and was 

 precipitated down their sides in prodigious torrents. 



The people having wrought hard the two pre- 

 ceding days, and nearly completed our water, which 

 we filled from a brook at the left corner of the beach, 

 I allowed them the 27th, as a day of rest, to celebrate 

 Christmas. Upon this indulgence, many of them 

 went on shore, and made excursions, in different 

 directions, into the country, which they found bar- 

 ren and desolate in the highest degree. In the even- 

 ing, one of them brought to me a quart-bottle which 

 he had found, fastened with some wire to a projecting 

 rock on the north side of the harbour. This bottle 



