THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 



371 



attacked: three of them were killed, and the other four forced 

 to swim for their lives. The two vessels opened their fire upon 

 the canoes of the islanders, and Tasman branded the spot with 

 a name which still exists upon the charts, — Murderers' Bay. 



MURDERERS' BAT. 



On the 21st of January, 1643, he saw three islands, in latitude 

 21° south: he named them Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Middle- 

 bourg. The inhabitants were peaceable and friendly, were un- 

 acquainted with # the use of weapons, and very skilful in stealing. 

 The natives called Amsterdam Tonga-Tabou; Rotterdam, Ana- 

 Mocka; and Middlebourg, Eoa. These are now the principal 

 members of the group known as the Friendly Islands. They 

 remained unvisited by Europeans from the time of Tasman, in 

 1643, to the second voyage of Cook, in 1773, — a space of one 

 hundred and thirty years. Cook found traditions still existing 

 respecting Tasman's ships ; and a nail was shown him which had 

 been left by the Dutch navigator. Proceeding to the north and 

 then to the west, Tasman discovered a group of twenty islands, 

 girt with shoals and sands. He named them Prince William's 

 Islands and Heemskirk's Shallows. These now form the eastern 

 portion of the Feejee archipelago. They remained unvisited for 

 a century and a half, until the people of the Friendly Islands 

 spoke of them to Cook and his successors and induced them to 

 visit them. 



Tasman now feared that the currents and winds had driven 

 him more to the westward than he had supposed; for he had 



