166 cook's FIRST VOYAGE JULY, 



was of the same texture with their own. They treat- 

 ed him with the greatest civility, and having kept 

 him about half an hour, they made signs that he 

 might depart : he did not wait for a second dismis- 

 sion, but when he left them, not taking the direct 

 way to the ship, they came from their fire and di- 

 rected him, so that they well knew whence he 

 came. 



In the mean time, Mr. Banks, having made an ex- 

 cursion on the other side of the river to gather plants, 

 found the greatest part of the cloth that had been 

 given to the Indians lying in a heap together, pro- 

 bably as useless lumber, not worth carrying away ; 

 and perhaps, if he had sought further, he might have 

 found the other trinkets ; for they seemed to set very 

 little very value upon any thing we had, except our 

 turtle, which was a commodity that we were least 

 able to spare. 



The blowing weather, which prevented our at- 

 tempt to get out to sea, still continuing, Mr. Banks 

 and Dr. Solander went out again on the 24th to see 

 whether any new plant could be picked up : they 

 traversed the woods all day without success ; but as 

 they were returning through a deep valley, the sides 

 of which, though almost as perpendicular as a wall, 

 were covered with trees and bushes, they found lying 

 upon the ground several marking nuts, the anacar- 

 dium orientate ; these put them upon a new scent, 

 and they made a most diligent search after the tree 

 that bore them, which perhaps no European botanist 

 ever saw ; but to their great mortification they could 

 not find it : so that, after spending much time, and 

 cutting down four or five trees, they returned quite 

 exhausted with fatigue to the ship. 



On the 25th, having made an excursion up the 

 river, I found a canoe belonging to our friends the 

 Indians, whom we had not seen since the affair of the 

 turtle - 9 they had left it tied to some mangroves, 

 about a mile distant from the ship, and I could see 



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