1770* ROUND THE WORLD. 79 



as he came up, he threw a lance at us, and his com- 

 rade another ; they fell where we stood thickest, but 

 happily hurt nobody. A third musket with small 

 shot was then fired at them, upon which one of them 

 threw another lance, and both immediately ran 

 away : if we had pursued, we might probably have 

 taken one of them ; but Mr. Banks suggesting that 

 the lances might be poisoned, I thought it not pru- 

 dent to venture into the woods. We repaired imme- 

 diately to the huts, in one of which we found the 

 children, who had hidden themselves behind a shield 

 and some bark ; we peeped at them, but left them in 

 their retreat, without their knowing that they had 

 been discovered, and we threw into the house, when 

 we went away, some beads, ribbons, pieces of cloth, 

 and other presents, which we hoped would procure 

 us the good-will of the inhabitants when they should 

 return ; but the lances which we found lying about, 

 we took away with us, to the number of about fifty : 

 they were from six to fifteen feet long, and all of 

 them had four prongs in the manner of a fish-gig, 

 each of which was pointed with fish-bone, and very 

 sharp : we observed that they were smeared with a 

 viscous substance of a green colour, which favoured 

 the opinion of their being poisoned, though we after- 

 wards discovered that it was a mistake : they ap- 

 peared, by the sea- weed that we found sticking to 

 them, to have been used in striking fish. Upon 

 examining the canoes that lay upon the beach, we 

 found them to be the worst we had ever seen : they 

 were between twelve and fourteen feet long, and 

 made of the bark of a tree in one piece, which was 

 drawn together and tied up at each end, the middle 

 being kept open by sticks, which were placed across 

 them from gunwale to gunwale as thwarts. We then 

 searched for fresh water, but found none, except in a 

 small hole which had been dug in the sand. 



Having reimbarked in our boat, we deposited our 

 lances on board the ship, and then went over to the 



