58 COOK’s VOYAGE, 
very near, the beach, with feme mufcles roafling, upon them, 
ami a few ovfters lying near: by this we judged that there had 
been one man in each canoe, who having picked up fome 
fhell-fiih had cpme aihore to eat it, and that each made his 
feparate lire for that purpofe : we tailed of their cheer, and 
left them, in return, fome firings of beads, and other things 
which we thought would plcafe them. At the foot of a tree in 
this place we found a fmall well of freih water, fupplied by a 
fpring ; and the day being now far fpent, we returned to the 
ihip. In the evening, Mr. Banks made a little excurfion with 
his gun, and found fiich a number of quads, refembiing thofe 
in England, thjtt he might have fhot as many ashepleafedj 
but his object was variety and not number. 
The next morning, as the wind would not permit me to 
fail, I fent out feveral parties into the country, to try again 
whether fome intercourse could not be eilabliihed with the na- 
tives. A midihipman, who belonged to one of thefe parties, 
having ftraggled a 1 *:ig way from his companions, met with a 
very old man and woman, and fome little children ; they were 
fitting under a tree by the water fide, and neither party faw the 
other till they were clofe together : the Indians fhewed figns of 
fear, but did not attempt to run away. The man happened 
to have nothing to give them but a parrot that he had {hot ; 
this he offered, but they refufed to accept it, withdrawing 
t'aemfelves from his hand, either through fear or averfion. 
His flay with them was but Ihort, for he faw feveral canoes 
near the beach a fiftiing, and being alone, he feared they might 
come afhore, and attack him : he laid, that thefe people were 
very dark coloured, but not black; that the man and woman 
appeared to be very old, being both grey-headed ; that the 
hair of the man’s head was bulhy, and his beard long and 
rough ; that the woman’s hair was cropped Ihort, and both 
c-f them were ftark naked. Mr. Monkhoufe the furgeon, 
and one of the men, who were with another party near 
the watering-place, alfo ftrayed from their companions, 
and as they were coming out of a thicket, obferved fix 
Indians {landing together, at the diftance of about fifty 
yards. One of them pronounced a word very loud, which 
was fuppofed tcvbe a lignal, for a lance was immediately 
thrown at him out of the wood, whidi very narrowly miffed 
him. When the Indians faw that the weapon had not taken 
effeft, -they ran away with the greateft precipitation ; but on 
turning about towards the place whence the lance had been 
thrown, he faw a young Indian, whom he judged to be about 
nineteen or twenty years old, come down from a tree, and he 
alfo ran away with fuch fpeed as made it hopelefs to follow 
him. Mr. Monkhoufe was of opinion that he had been watched 
by thefe Indians, in his paffage through the thicket, and that 
