502 cook's voyage to jan. 



der. As it was not intended that any of the shot 

 should take effect, the surrounding multitude of na- 

 tives seemed rather more surprized than frightened. 



In the evening Mr. Bligh returned, and reported 

 that he had found a bay in which was good anchorage, 

 and fresh water, in a situation tolerably easy to be 

 come at. Into this bay I resolved to carry the ships, 

 there to refit, and supply ourselves with every re- 

 freshment that the place could afford. As night ap- 

 proached, the greater part of our visitors retired to 

 the shore ; but numbers of them requested our per- 

 mission to sleep on board. Curiosity was not the only 

 motive, at least with some ; for the next morning 

 several things were missing, which determined me 

 not to entertain so many another night. 



At eleven o'clock in the forenoon we anchored ie 

 the bay (which is called by the natives Karnkakooa), 

 in thirteen fathoms' water, over a sandy bottom, and 

 about a quarter of a mile from the north-east shore. 

 In this situation, the south point of the bay bore south 

 by west, and the north point west half north. We 

 moored with the stream-anchor and cable to the north- 

 ward, unbent the sails, and struck the yards and 

 top-masts. The ships continued to be much crowded 

 with natives, and were surrounded by a multitude of 

 canoes. I had no where, in the course of my voy- 

 ages, seen so numerous a body of people assembled 

 at one place. For besides those who had come off 

 to us in canoes, all the shore of the bay was covered 

 with spectators, and many hundreds were swimming 

 round the ships like shoals of fish. We could not 

 but be struck with the singularity of this scene ; and 

 perhaps there were few on board who now lamented 

 our having failed in our endeavours to find a north- 

 ern passage homeward, last summer. To this dis- 

 appointment we owed our having it in our power 

 to revisit the Sandwich Islands, and to enrich our 

 voyage with a discovery which, though the last, 

 seemed, in many respects, to be the most important 



