150 cook's FIRST VOYAGE JULY, 



excursion, to examine the country, and kill some of 

 the animals which had been so often seen at a dis- 

 tance. 



On the 7th, I sent the master again out to sound 

 about the shoals, the account which he had brought 

 me of the channel being by no means satisfactory ; 

 and we spent the remainder of this day, and the 

 morning of the next, in fishing, and other necessary 

 occupations. 



About four o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Banks 

 and his party returned, and gave us an account of 

 their expedition. Having proceeded about three 

 leagues among swamps and mangroves, they went up 

 into the country, which they found to differ but little 

 from what they had seen before : they pursued their 

 course therefore up the river, which at length was 

 contracted into a narrow channel, and was bounded, 

 not by swamps and mangroves, but by steep banks, 

 that were covered with trees of a most beautiful ver- 

 dure, among which was that which in the West In- 

 dies is called Mohoe, or the bark-tree, the hibiscus 

 tiliaceus ; the land within was in general 1ow t , and had 

 a thick covering of long grass : the soil seemed to be 

 such as promised great fertility, to any who should 

 plant and improve it. In the course of the day, 

 Tupia saw an animal, which, by his description, Mr. 

 Banks judged to be a wolf: they also saw three other 

 animals, but could neither catch nor kill one of them, 

 and a kind of bat, as large as a partridge, but this also 

 eluded all their diligence and skill. At night, they 

 took up their lodging close to the banks of the river, 

 and made a tire, but the musquitos swarmed about 

 them in such numbers, that their quarters were al- 

 most untenable ; they followed them into the smoke, 

 and almost into the fire, which, hot as the climate 

 was, they could better endure than the stings of these 

 insects, which were an intolerable torment. The fire, 

 the flies, and the want of a better bed than the 

 ground, rendered the night extremely uncomfortable, 



