PROOF OF CANNIBALISM. 



473 



the north, where a huge canoe made a hasty retreat, he called 

 Cape Runaway. On the 9th of November, the transit of Mer- 

 cury was successfully observed, and the name of Mercury Bay 

 given to the inlet where the observation was made. Two locali- 

 ties, for reasons which will be obvious, were called Oyster Bay 

 and Mangrove River. Before leaving Mercury Bay, Cook caused 

 to be cut, upon one of the trees near the watering-place, the ship's 

 name, and his own, with the date of their arrival there, and, 

 after displaying the English colors, took formal possession of it 

 in the name of his Britannic Majesty King George the Third. 



On the 17th of December, they doubled North Cape, which 

 is the northern extremity of the island, and commenced de- 

 scending its western side. The weather now became stormy 

 and the coast dangerous, so that the vessel was obliged to stand 

 off to great distances, and intercourse with the natives was very 

 much interrupted. At one point, however, the English satisfied 

 themselves that the inhabitants ate human flesh, — the flesh, at 

 least, of enemies who had been killed in battle. An Indian, to 

 convince Mr. Banks of the truth of this, seized the bone of a 

 human fore-arm divested of its flesh, bit and gnawed it, draw- 

 ing it through his mouth, and indicating by signs that it afforded 

 him a delicious repast. The bone was then returned to Mr. 

 Banks, who took it on board ship with him as a trophy and a 

 souvenir. He was afterwards told that the New Zealanders ate 

 no portion of the heads of their enemies but the seat of the in- 

 tellect, and was assured that as soon as a fight should take place 

 they would treat him to the sight of a banquet of brains. 



By the end of March, 1770, the ship had circumnavigated 

 the two islands forming what is now known as New Zealand, 

 and had therefore proved — what was before uncertain — that it 

 w T as insular, and not a portion of any grand Southern mainland. 

 The whole voyage, in fact, had been unfavorable to the notion 

 of a Southern continent, for it had swept away at least three- 

 quarters of the positions upon which it had been founded. It 



