236 cook's first voyage sept. 



down ; and before we got into the water, we saw 

 several of them coming round a point at the distance 

 of about five hundred yards.: it is probable that they 

 had met with the three who first attacked us ; for as 

 soon as they saw us they halted, and seemed to wait 

 till their main body should come up. We entered the 

 water, and waded towards the boat ; and they re- 

 mained at their station, without giving us any inter- 

 ruption. As soon as we were aboard we rowed 

 abreast of them, and their number then appeared 

 to be between sixty and a hundred. We now took 

 a view of them at our leisure ; they made much the 

 same appearance as the New Hollanders, being 

 nearly of the same stature, and having their hair 

 short cropped : like them also they were all stark 

 naked, but we thought the colour of their skin was 

 not quite so dark ; this however might perhaps be 

 merely the effect of their not being quite so dirty. 

 All this while they were shouting defiance, and 

 letting off their fires by four or five at a time. What 

 these fires were, or for what purpose intended, we 

 could not imagine : those who discharged them had 

 in their hands a short piece of stick, possibly a hollow 

 cane, which they swung sideways from them, and we 

 immediately saw fire and smoke, exactly resembling 

 those of a musket, and of no longer duration. This 

 wonderful phenomenon was observed from the ship, 

 and the deception was so great, that the people on 

 board thought they had fire-arms ; and in the boat, 

 if we had not been so near as that we must have 

 heard the report, we should have thought they had 

 been firing volleys. After we had looked at them 

 attentively some time, without taking any notice of 

 their flashing and vociferation, we fired some muskets 

 over their heads : upon hearing the balls rattle among 

 the trees, they walked leisurely away, and we re- 

 turned to the ship. Upon examining the weapons 

 they had thrown at us, we found them to be light 

 darts, about four feet long, very ill made, of a reed 



