174 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



confidence did they inspire that boats' crews would sometimes 

 " neglect " to take their firearms when they went ashore. On 

 3 ist May, one crew netted a good haul of fish, which they shared 

 with the natives. Greatly to their surprise, they were assailed 

 shortly afterwards with SPEARS AND STONES. Mr. Weekes, the boat- 

 swain, was struck by a stone, which laid him off duty for a week. 

 One of the men happened to have an uncharged fowling-piece, and 

 after some search a ball was found on the bottom of the boat, and 

 with this one of the foremost of the blacks was wounded, whereupon 

 the attack was abandoned. 



On another occasion, Jukes, Ince and Pym, when on a creek on 

 the north side of Rockingham Bay, were STONED by some forty or 

 fifty blacks, and replied with small shot. One of the blacks was 

 slightly wounded. 



On \tb June, Jukes and others landed in ENDEAVOUR HARBOUR, 

 but found no trace of the visit of Captain Cook, nor even of Captain 

 King. (SEE MAP E.) 



On $th June, Jukes, with Evans and others, climbed the hill on 

 LIZARD ISLAND to make barometrical observations. They camped 

 on the summit for the night and took a series of bearings in the 

 morning. They made the altitude nearly 1,200 feet. While they 

 descended, a party of NATIVES, five men and some women and 

 children, were seen below them. After they joined the ship, the 

 voyage to the north was resumed. 



From Jth to ijth June, the " Fly " was engaged in surveying 

 the outer edge of the BARRIER REEF between Lizard Island and Cape 

 Melville. 



On i Jth June, Blackwood, Mackay and Jukes landed 2 miles 

 south of CAPE MELVILLE and Jukes observed that the formation was 

 granite. Some NATIVES approached, and after mutual laying down 

 of arms, guided the visitors to water. At sunset, the latter boarded 

 the boat which was waiting for them. They then discharged 

 their guns into the sea with what object does not appear, unless 

 they meant to " impress " the natives, who were observing them 

 from some cliffs about 200 yards distant. It may be conjectured 

 that the natives took this to mean that, having " shot their bolt," 

 the visitors were at their mercy. At all events, the stowing away 

 of the guns in the lockers was the signal for the discharge of two 

 SPEARS, which fell close to the boat. The arms were got out again, 

 and Jukes, having loaded one barrel with ball and the other with 

 shot, fired at trees in the vicinity of the blacks, alarming the blacks 

 sufficiently to put them to flight. A confiscated spear was found 

 to be barbed with an iron nail and two sting-ray spines. 



For some time after this incident, the " Fly " was " in and out " 

 of the BARRIER REEF near Cape Melville. Jukes himself was not 

 on board, and Blackwood is silent, but the expression "in and out" 

 may be taken to mean that the inner passage and the landward side 



