THIRD VOYAGE 345 



" It is called by the natives Samganoodha. Great plenty 

 of good water may be easily got, but nothing else. 



" Having now put to sea, we steered to the north, meeting 

 with nothing to obstruct us in this course, but made very 

 little progress for many successive days, nor met with 

 anything remarkable. 



" In the morning of the 16th we found ourselves nearer 

 the land than we expected. Here, between two points, the 

 coast forms a bay, in some parts of which the land was 

 hardly visible from the masthead. I sent Lieutenant 

 Williamson, with orders to land, and see what direction the 

 coast took, and what the country produced ; for, from the 

 ships, it had but a barren appearance. 



" Soon after, Mr. Williamson returned, and reported that 

 he had landed on the point, and having climbed the highest 

 hill, found that the farthest part of the coast in sight bore 

 nearly north. He took possession of the country in his 

 Majesty's name, and left on the hill a bottle, in which was 

 inscribed on a piece of paper, the names of the ships and 

 the date of the discovery. The promontory, to which he 

 gave the name of Gape Newenham, is a rocky point of 

 tolerable height. The hills are naked, but on the lower 

 grounds grew grass and other plants. He saw no other 

 animal but a doe and her fawn, and a dead sea-horse or 

 cow, upon the beach. 



" From the 16th to the 21st nothing material occurred. 

 On the 21st we were obliged to anchor, to avoid running 

 upon a shoal, which had only a depth of five feet. While 

 we lay here, twenty-seven men of the country, each in a 

 canoe, came off to the ships, which they approached with 

 great caution, hallooing and opening their arms as they 

 advanced. This we understood was to express their pacific 

 intentions. At length some approached near enough to 

 receive a few trifles that were thrown to them. This en- 

 couraged the rest to venture alongside, and a traffic pre- 

 sently commenced between them and our people. They 

 resembled the other natives of the coast, and appeared to be 

 wholly unacquainted with people like us ; they knew not 

 the use of tobacco, nor was any foreign article seen in their 

 possession, unless a knife may be looked upon as such. 

 This indeed was only a piece of common iron, fitted in a 

 wooden handle, so as to answer the purpose of a 

 knife. 



" The canoes were made of skins, like all the others 

 we had lately seen, only with this difference, that these 

 were broader, and the hole in which the man sits was 

 wider than in any I had before met with. 



" Variable winds, with rain, prevailed till the 3rd of 



