324 cook's first voyage NOV. 



were on one side of the river, expressed their friend- 

 ship by all the signs they could devise, beckoning us 

 to land among them ; but we chose to go ashore on 

 the other side, as the situation was more convenient 

 for hauling the seine and shooting birds, of which we 

 saw great numbers of various kinds : the Indians, 

 with much persuasion, about noon, ventured over to 

 us. With the seine we had very little success, catch- 

 ing only a few mullets, neither did we get any thing 

 by the trawl or the dredge, except a few shells ; but 

 we shot several birds, most of them resembling sea- 

 pies, except that they had black plumage, and red 

 bills and feet. While we were absent with our guns, 

 the people who staid by the boats saw two of the In- 

 dians quarrel and fight : they began the battle with 

 their lances, but some old men interposed and took 

 them away, leaving them to decide the difference, 

 like Englishmen, with their fists: they boxed with 

 great vigour and obstinacy for some time, but by de- 

 grees all retired behind a little hill, so that our people 

 could not see the event of the combat. 



In the morning the long-boat was sent again to 

 traul in the bay, and an officer, with the marines, and 

 a party of men, to cut wood and haul the seine. The 

 Indians on shore appeared very peaceable and sub- 

 missive, and we had reason to believe that their ha« 

 bitations were at a considerable distance, for we saw 

 no houses, and found that they slept under the bushes: 

 the bay is probably a place to which they frequently 

 resort in parties to gather shell-fish, of which it af- 

 fords incredible plenty; for wherever we went, whether 

 upon the hills or in the valleys, the woods or the 

 plains, we saw vast heaps of shells, often many wag- 

 gon-loads together, some appearing to be very old, 

 and others recent. We saw no cultivation in this 

 place, which had a desolate and barren appearance ; 

 the tops of the hills were green, but nothing grew 

 there, except a large kind of fern, the roots of which 

 the natives had got together in large quantities, in 



