330 COOK*S FIRST VOYAGE NOV. 



very convenient for laying a vessel on shore, where 

 the tide rises and falls seven feet at the full and 

 change of the moon. We could not determine, 

 whether any considerable stream of fresh water came 

 into this river out of the country ; but we saw a 

 number of small rivulets issue from the adjacent hills. 

 Near the mouth of this river, on the east side, we 

 found a little Indian village, consisting of small 

 temporary sheds, where we landed, and were re- 

 ceived by the people with the utmost kindness and 

 hospitality: they treated us with a flat shell flsh of a 

 most delicious taste, somewhat like a cockle, which 

 we eat hot from the coals. Near this place is a high 

 point or peninsula, projecting into the river, and 

 upon it are the remains of a fort, which they call 

 EppaJi, or Heppah, The best engineer in Europe 

 could not have chosen a situation better adapted to 

 enable a small number to defend themselves against 

 a greater. The steepness of the cliffs renders it 

 wholly inaccessible from the water which incloses it 

 on three sides ; and, to the land, it is fortified by a 

 ditch, and a bank raised on the inside: from the top 

 of the bank to the bottom of the ditch, is two and 

 twenty feet ; the ditch on the outside is fourteen feet 

 deep, and its breadth is in proportion. The whole 

 seemed to have been executed with great judgment; 

 and there had been a row of pickets or pallisadoes, 

 both on the top of the bank and along the brink of the 

 ditch on the outside ; those on the outside had been 

 driven very deep into the ground, and were inclined 

 towards the ditch, so as to project over it ; but of 

 these the thickest posts only were left, and upon 

 them there were evident marks of fire, so that the 

 place had probably been taken and destroyed by an 

 enemy. If any occasion should make it necessary 

 for a ship to winter here, or stay any time, tents 

 might be built in this place, which is sufficiently 

 spacious, with great convenience, and might easily 

 be made impregnable to the whole country. 



