102 cook's second voyage SEPT. 



the land, which, in this part, did not exceed ten 

 leagues. 



Between those advanced hills and the ridge we 

 were upon, was a large valley, through which ran a 

 serpentine river. On the banks of this were several 

 plantations, and some villages, whose inhabitants we 

 had met on the road, and found more on the top of 

 the hill gazing at the ship, as might be supposed. 

 The plain or flat land, which lies along the 

 shore we were upon, appeared from the hills to a 

 great advantage ; the winding streams which ran 

 through it, the plantations, the little straggling vil- 

 lages, the variety in the woods, and the shoals on the 

 coast, so variegating the scene, that the whole might 

 afford a picture for romance. Indeed, if it were not 

 for those fertile spots on the plains, and some few on 

 the sides of the mountains, the whole country might 

 be called a dreary waste. The mountains and other 

 high places are, for the most part, incapable of cul- 

 tivation, consisting chiefly of rocks, many of which 

 are full of mundicks. The little soil that is upon 

 them is scorched and burnt up with the sun ; it is, 

 nevertheless, coated with coarse grass and other 

 plants, and here and there trees and shrubs. The 

 country in general bore great resemblance to some 

 parts of New Holland under the same parallel of 

 latitude, several of its natural productions seeming 

 to be the same, and the woods being without under- 

 wood, as in that country. The reefs on the coast, 

 and several other similarities, were obvious to every 

 one who had seen both countries. We observed all 

 the N. E. coast to be covered with shoals and break- 

 ers, extending to the northward, beyond the isle of 

 Balabea, till they were lost in the horizon. ■ — Having 

 made these observations, and our guides not choosing 

 to go farther, we descended the mountains by a road 

 different from that by which we ascended. This 

 brought us down through some of their plantations 

 in the plains, which, I observed, were laid out with 



8 



