SM cook's first voyage OCT. 



streams of fresh water. This convenience, and the 

 friendly heliaviour of tlie people, determined me to 

 stay at least a day, that I might fill some of my empty 

 casks, and give Mr. Banks an opportunity of examin- 

 ing the natural produce of the country. 



In the morning of, the$ 21st, I sent lieutenant 

 Gore on shore, to superintend the watering, with a 

 strong party of men ; and they were soon followed 

 by Mr, Banks and Dr. Solander, w^th Tupia, Tayeto, 

 and four others. 



The natives sat by our people, and seemed pleased 

 to observe them ; but did not intermix with them : 

 they traded, however, chiefly for cloth, and after a 

 short time applied to their ordinary occupations, as 

 if no stranger had been among them. In the fore- 

 noon, several of their boats went out a-fishing, and at 

 dinner time every one repaired to his respective 

 dwelling ; from which, after a certain time, he re- 

 turned. These fair appearances encouraged Mr. 

 Banks and Dr. Solander to range the bay with very 

 little precaution, where they found many plants, and 

 shot some birds of exquisite beauty. In their walk, 

 they visited several houses of the natives, and saw 

 something of their manner of life ; for they showed, 

 without any reserve, every thing w^iich the gentle- 

 men desired to see. They were sometimes found at 

 their meals, which the approach of the strangers 

 never interrupted. Their food at this season con- 

 sisted of fish, with which, instead of bread, they eat 

 the root of a kind of fern, very like that which grows 

 upon our commons in England. These roots they 

 scorch over the fire, and then beat with a stick, till 

 the bark and dry outside fall ofi'; what remains is a 

 soft substance, somewhat clammy and sweet, not un- 

 pl easing to the taste, but mixed with three or four 

 times its quantity of strings and tibres, which are 

 very disagreeable ; these were swallowed by some, 

 but spit out by the far greater number, who had 

 baskets under them to receive the rejected part of 



