164- cook's first voyage July, 



friendly manner : when they came up, we returned 

 the darts or lances that we had taken from them, and 

 we perceived with great satisfaction that this ren- 

 dered the reconciliation complete. We found in this 

 party four persons whom we had never seen before, 

 who as usual were introduced to us by name ; but 

 the man who had been wounded in the attempt to 

 burn our nets and linen, was not among them ; we 

 knew, however, that he could not be dangerously 

 hurt, by the distance at which the shot reached him. 

 We made all of them presents of such trinkets as we 

 had about us, and they walked back with us towards 

 the ship. As we went along, they told us, by signs, 

 that they would not set fire to the grass any more ; 

 and we distributed among them some musket-balls, 

 and endeavoured to make them understand their use 

 and effect. When they came abreast of the ship, they 

 sat down, but could not be prevailed upon to come 

 on board ; we therefore left them, and in about two 

 hours they went away, soon after which we perceived 

 the woods on fire at about two miles' distance. If 

 this accident had happened a very little while sooner, 

 the consequence might have been dreadful ; for our 

 powder had been aboard but a few days, and the 

 store-tent, with many valuable things which it con- 

 tained, had not been removed many hours. We had 

 no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in 

 this hot climate, nor consequently of the difficulty of 

 extinguishing it ; but we determined, that if it should 

 ever again be necessary for us to pitch our tents in 

 such a situation, our first measure should be to clear 

 the ground round us. 



In the afternoon, we got every thing on board the 

 ship, new birthed her, and let her swing wdth the 

 tide ; and at night the master returned, with the 

 discouraging account that there was no passage for 

 the ship to the northward. 



The next morning, at low water, I went and 

 sounded and buoyed the bar, the ship being now 



