440 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



we had met with in the course of our discoveries. These 

 were now again mixed and eked out with the gaudiest 

 silks and cottons of China. 



" On the 12th of January, 1780, at noon, we unmoored 

 and scaled the guns, which on board my ship now amounted 

 to ten ; so that, by means of four additional ports, we could, 

 if occasion required, fight seven on a side. 



" We thought it our duty to provide ourselves with these 

 means of defence, though we had some reason to believe, 

 from the public prints last received at Canton, that the 

 generosity of our enemies had in a great measure rendered 

 them superfluous. As this intelligence was farther con- 

 firmed by the private letters of several of the supercargoes, 

 Captain Gore thought himself bound, in return for the 

 liberal exceptions made in our favour, to refrain from 

 availing himself of any opportunities of capture which these 

 might afford, and to preserve throughout his voyage the 

 strictest neutrality. 



" At two in the afternoon on the 13th, having got under 

 sail, the Resolution saluted the fort of Macao with eleven 

 guns, which was returned with the same number. 



" In the morning of the 20th we steered for Pulo Condore ; 

 and at half-past twelve we got sight of the island. As soon 

 as we were come to anchor, Captain Gore fired a gun with a 

 view of apprizing the natives of our arrival, and drawing 

 them towards the shore, but without effect. Early in the 

 morning of the 21st, parties were sent to cut wood, which 

 was Captain Gore's principal motive for coming hither. 



" None of the natives having yet made their appearance, 

 notwithstanding a second gun had been fired, Captain Gore 

 thought it advisable to land and go in search of them. We 

 proceeded through a thick wood, up a steep hill, to the 

 distance of a mile, when, after descending, we arrived at 

 some huts ; I ordered the party to stay without, lest the 

 sight of so many armed men should terrify the inhabitants, 

 whilst I entered and reconnoitred alone. I found in one 

 of the huts an elderly man who was in a great fright, and 

 preparing to make off with the most valuable effects. How- 

 ever, a few signs, particularly that most significant one of 

 holding out a handful of dollars, and then pointing to a herd 

 of buffaloes, and the fowls that were running about the huts 

 in great numbers, left him without any doubts as to the 

 objects of our visit. He pointed towards a place where the 

 town stood, and made us comprehend that, by going thither, 

 all our wants would be supplied. He ordered a young man 

 to conduct us to the town as soon as an obstacle should be 

 removed, of which we were not aware. On our first coming 

 out of the wood, a herd of buffaloes, to the number of 



