240 
A VOYAGE TO 
1773. 
February, 
U—v——' 
The only iron tools, or rather bits of iron, feen amongft 
them, and which they had before onr arrival, were a piece 
of iron hoop, about two inches long, fitted into a wooden 
handle * ; and another edge-tool, which our people guefled 
to be made of the point of a broad-fword. Their hav¬ 
ing the actual pofiefiion of thefe, and their fo generally 
knowing the ufe of this metal, inclined fome on board to 
think, that we had not been the firfl: European vifiters of 
thefe iflands. But, it feems to me, that the. very great 
iurprize exprefled by them, on feeing our fiiips, and their 
total ignorance of the ufe of fire-arms, cannot be recon¬ 
ciled with fuch a notion. There are many ways, by which 
fuch people may get pieces of iron, or acquire the know¬ 
ledge of the exiftence of fuch a metal, without having 
ever had an immediate connection with nations that ufe 
it. It can hardly be doubted, that it was unknown to all 
the inhabitants of this fea, before Magalhaens led the way 
into it; for no difcoverer, immediately after his voyage, 
ever found any of this metal in their pofiefiion; though, 
in the courfe of our late voyages, it has been obferved, 
that the ufe of it was known at feveral illands, to which 
no former European fhips had ever, as far as we know, 
found their way. At all the places where Mendana touch¬ 
ed, in his two voyages, it mult have been feen and left; 
and this would extend the knowledge of it, no doubt, 
to all the various iflands with which thofe, whom he 
had vifited, had any immediate intercourfe. It might 
even be carried farther; and where fpecimens of this fa¬ 
vourite article could not be procured, defcriptions might, 
in fome meafure, ferve to make it known, when afterward 
feen. The next voyage to the Southward of the line, in 
* Captain King purchafed this, and has it now in his pofTeffian. 
which 
