102 cook's first voyage APRIL, 



CHAP. X. 



AN EXCURSION TO THE EASTWARD, AN ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL 

 INCIDENTS THAT HAPPENED BOTH ON BOARD AND ON SHORE, 

 AND OF THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH OBEREA, THE PERSON 

 WHO, WHEN THE DOLPHIN WAS HERE, WAS SUPPOSED TO 

 BE OUEEN OF THE ISLAND, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE 

 FORT. 



On the 24th, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander examined 

 the country for several miles along the shore to the 

 eastward : for about two miles it was flat and fertile ; 

 after that, the hills stretched quite to the water's 

 edge, and a little farther ran out into the sea, so that 

 they were obliged to climb over them. These hills, 

 which were barren, continued for about three miles 

 more, and then terminated in a large plain, which 

 was full of good houses, and people who appeared 

 to live in great affluence. In this place there was a 

 river, much more considerable than that at our fort, 

 which issued from a deep and beautiful valley, and, 

 where our travellers crossed it, though at some 

 distance from the sea, was near one hundred yards 

 wide. About a mile beyond this river the country 

 became again barren, the rocks every where pro- 

 jecting into the sea, for which reason they resolved 

 to return. Just as they had formed this resolution, 

 one of the natives offered them refreshment, which 

 they accepted. They found this man to be of a kind 

 that has been described by various authors, as mixed 

 with many nations, but distinct from them all. 

 His skin was of a dead white, without the least 

 appearance of what is called complexion, though 

 some parts of his body were in a small degree less 

 white than others : his hair, eye-brows, and beard, 

 were as white as his skin; his eyes appeared as if 



