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The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks 1768–1771 [Volume One]

December 1768

December 1768

1. This Morn our boat returning from shore brought us the very disagreable news that Mr Forster, who I before mentiond, was taken into custody chargd with having smuggled things ashore from our ship: this charge tho totaly without foundation was lookd upon as a sufficient reason for his being put into prison, but we beleive the real cause to be his having shewn some countenance to his Countrey men, as we heard at the same time that five or six Englishmen residing in the town and a poor Portugese who used to assist our people in buying things were all put into prison also without any reason being given.1

2. This Morn thank god we have got all we want from these illiterate impolite gentry, so we got up our anchor and saild to the point of Ilhoa dos cobras, where we were to lay and wait for a fair wind which shoud come every night from the Land. We were fortunate in the arrival of a Spanish Brig comeing from Buenos

1 For further information about the unfortunate Thomas Forster, see his letter to Banks of 5 November 1771, printed in the Appendix, II pp. 321–3 below.

page 194 Ayres with Letters for Spain which arrivd about a week ago; her officers were receivd ashore with all possible politeness and allowd to take a house without the least hesitation. The Captn Don Antonio de Monte Negro y Velasco with all possible politeness offerd to take our letters to Europe which we accepted of as a very Fortunate circumstance and sent them on board this morn.1

3. 4.} We remaind without any Sea breeze.

5. This Morn early a dead calm, we attemptd to tow down with our boats and came near abreast of Sta Cruz their cheif Forti fication, when to our great surprize the Fort fird two shot at us one of which went just over our Mast: we immediately brought to and sent ashore to enquire the reason, were told that no order had come down to allow us to pass without which no ship was ever sufferd to go below that fort. We were now obligd to send to town to know the reason of such extraordinary behavior, the Answer came back about 11 that it was a mistake, for the Brigadier had forgot to send the letter which had been wrote some days: it was however sent by the boat and we had leave to proceed. We now began to weigh our anchor which had been droppd in foul ground when we were fird at, but it was hung so fast in a rock that it could not be got out while the Land breeze blew, which today continued almost till four in the Even; as soon as the Sea breeze came we filld our sails and carrying the ship over the anchor tripd it but were obligd to sail back almost as far as we had towd the ship in the Morn.

This day and yesterday the air was crowded in an uncommon manner with Butterflies cheifly of one sort, of which we took as many as we pleasd on board the ship, their quantity was so large that at some times I may say many thousands were in view at once in almost any direction you could look, the greatest part of them much above our mast heads.

6. No land breeze today so we are confind in our disagreable situation without a possibility of moving: many curses were this day expended on his excellence.

7. This morn weighd and stood out to sea. As soon as we came to Sta Cruz the pilot desired to be dischargd and with him our enemy

1 These letters included a very full and indignant report by Cook to the Admiralty on his controversy with the Viceroy, and a letter from Banks to the President of the Royal Society.—See II pp. 313 ff- below. Cook also left a packet of his correspondence with the Viceroy with that official for forwarding to Lisbon, and thence to London.

page 195 the guard boat went off, so we were left our own masters and immediately resolved to go ashore on one of the Islands in the mouth of the harbour: their ran a great swell but we made shift to land on one calld Raza,1 on which we gatherd many species of Plants and some insects. Alstromeria salsilla2 was here in tolerable plenty and Amarillis mexicana,3 they were the most specious4 plants; we stayd till about 4 o Clock and then came aboard the ship heartily tired, for the desire of doing as much as we could in a short time had made us all exert ourselves in a particular manner tho exposd to the hottest rays of the sun just at noonday.

Now we are got fairly to Sea and have intirely got rid of these troublesome people I cannot help spending some time in describing thern tho I was not myself once in their town, yet my intelligence coming from Dr Solander who was, and our Surgeon Mr Monkhouse a very sensible man who was ashore every day to buy our provisions, I think cannot err much from truth.

The town of Rio de Janiero the capital of the Portugese dominions in America situate on the banks of the River of that name, both are call'd I apprehend from the Roman saint Januarius accord[in]g to the Spanish and Portugese custom of naming their discoveries from the Saint on whose feast they are made.5

It is regular and well built after the fashion of Portugal, every house having before its windows a Lattice of wood behind which is a little balcony. For size it is much larger than I could have thought, probably little inferior to any of our Countrey towns

1 ’… sent a Boat to one of the Islands laying before the Bay to cut Brooms a thing we were not permitted to do while we lay in the Harbour’.—Cook I, p. 29.

2 Bomarea edulis Herb., but the Banks and Solander specimen is immature and identification uncertain. All the Brazilian specimens collected have tickets with two slits for supping over the stem; those from Madeira lack this feature.

3 Probably Hippeastrum reginae Herb.—Amaryllis reginae of the Banks-Solander MS. Catalogue, p. 12—but the pertinent coll. has not been located. According to Spix and Martius, Banks on this occasion secured one very lovely prize, the irid Neomarica northiana, referred to by them under a different name: ‘it was upon an island … which lies before the mouth of the bay, and is called Ilha raza, that Sir Joseph Banks, when he touched at Rio de Janeiro in the company of Captain Cook, discovered the beautiful Moraea northiana, which has since then become the ornament of European gardens’. Travels in Brazil, in the years 1817–1820 (London 1824); I, p. 226. If this is so, it is curious that Banks does not mention collecting the very distinctive plant; nor can any name used by him for it be perceived in the Catalogue. We may note another very beautiful plant that he did collect, Bougainvillea spectabilis, Willd.—the Calyxis ternaria Mscr. of the Pocket Book, p. 21.

4 Specious: used apparently in its obsolete sense of beautiful, pleasing to the sight. Sir Thomas Browne, quoted in O.E.D., refers to ‘fair and specious Plants’.

5 Banks's apprehension was wrong. Rio de Janeiro is not situated on a river but on a bay, the discovery of which is generally attributed by Portuguese historians to Andrè Gonçalves, on 1 January 1502. Gonçalves however thought he had found the mouth of a great river—hence its name, the River of January.

page 196 in England Bristol or Liverpool not excepted;1 the streets are all straight intersecting each other at Right angles and have this peculiar Convenience, that much the greater number lay in one direction and are commanded by the Gunns of their citadel calld St Sebastian which is situate on the top of a hill over looking the town.

It is supplyd with water by an aqueduct which brings it from the neighbouring hills upon two stories of arches, said in some places to be very high; the water that this brings is conveyd into a fountain in the great square immediately opposite the Governors palace, which2 is guarded by a sentry who has sufficient work to keep regularity and order among so many as are always in waiting at this place; there is also water laid into some other part of the town but how it is brought there I could not hear, only that it was better than the fountain which is exceedingly indifferent, so much so as not to be likd by us tho we had been two months at sea in which time our water was almost continualy bad.3

The Churches here are very fine dressd out with more ornaments even than those in Europe, and all parts of their religion is carried on with more shew; their processions in particular are very extrordinary, every day one or other of the parishes go in solemn order with all the insignia of their church, altar, host &c through their parish, begging for what they can get and praying in all form at every Corner of a street.

While we were there one of the largest churches in the town was rebuilding and for that reason the parish belonging to it had leave to walk through the whole City, which they did once a week and collected much money for the carrying on of their Edifice: at this ceremony all boys under a certain age were obligd to attend nor were the gentlemens sons ever excusd. Each of these were dressd in a Black cassock with a short red Cloak reaching half way down their shoulders, and carried in his hand a Lanthorn hung on the End of a pole about 6 or 7 feet long, the light caused by this (for there were always at least 200 Lights) is greater than can be imagind; I myself who saw it out of the cabbin windows

1 Cook: ‘This City and adjacent parts about the Bay are said to contain one hundred thousand Souls, but not much above a twentieth part are Whites the rest are blacks many of whom are free and seem to live in tolerable circumstances’.—I, p. 33.

2 i.e. the fountain, not the palace.

3 This is a revealing comment; for it summarizes one of the great problems of nautical administration at the time, and explains Cook's determination to lose no opportunity of supplying his ships with fresh water. If Cook could not keep water sweet, who could ? There was no solution to the problem till the discovery in the nineteenth century that wooden casks were unsuitable containers, and the substitution of metal.

page break
Pl. II. Bougainvillea spectabilis Brazil

Pl. II. Bougainvillea spectabilis
Brazil

page break page 197 call[d] together my mess mates and shewd it to them imagining that the town was on fire.

Besides this traveling1 religion a man who walks the streets has opportunity enough to shew his attachment to any saint in the Calendar, for every corner and almost every house has before it a little cupboard in which some Saint or other keeps his Residence, and least he should not see his votaries in the night he is furnishd with a small lamp which hangs before his little glass window: to these it is very customary to pray and sing hymns with all the vociferation imaginable, as may be imagind when I say that I and every one Else in the Ship heard it very distinctly every night tho we lay at least half a mile from the town.

The Goverment of this place Seems to me to be much more despotick even than that of Portugal tho many precautions have been taken to render it otherwise. The Cheif Magistrates are the Viceroy, the Governour of the town and a Council whose number I could not Learn, but only that the Viceroy had in this the casting vote: without the consent of this Council nothing material should be done, yet every day shews that the Viceroy and Governour at least if not all the rest do the most unjust things without consulting any one. Puting a man into prison without giving him a hearing and keeping him there till he is glad at any rate to get out without asking why he was put in, or at best sending him to Lisbon to be tried there without letting his family here know where he is gone to, is very common. This we experien[c]d while here, for every one who had interpreted for our people, and some who had only assisted in buying provisions for them, were put into Jail merely I suppose to shew us their power. I should however except from this one John Burrish an officer in their customs, a man who has been here 13 years and is so compleatly become a Portugese that he is known by no other name than Don John: he was of service to our people, tho what he did was so clogd with a suspicious fear of offending the Portugese as renderd it disgustfull. It is nescessary that any one who should Come here should know his Character, which is mercenary tho contented with a little as the present given to him demonstrated, which consisted of 1 dozn of beer 10 galls of Brandy 10 peices of ships beef and as many of Pork: this was what he himself askd for, and sent on board the Cagg for the spirit and with this he was more than satisfied.2

1 traveling substituted for the more accurate walking, no doubt because of the phrase who walks immediately after.

2 Burrish does not come into either Cook's Journal or his account of the Rio de Janeiro affair written to the Admiralty, but in his draft of that account, now in the Mitchell Library, is a passage omitted from his final version: [referring to his memorial to the Viceroy of 17 November] ‘a Copy of which to gether with the answer I the next day receved I have here inclosed, with his Excellencys answer came on board Mr Burrish an English Gentlemen who resides here, to translate it, this gentlemen offer'd to accommodate me with directions for sailing in to the southern parts on this coast and in some measure advised me to gon [sic] on shore and by force oppose a Soldier being put into my Boat, this advice of his surprised me as he had upon all occation before been very shy of giving his advice, but when he did it, it was to bear patiently any restrictions they laid upon me’. Burrish's signature to a receipt for an account paid by Cook, transmitted to the Victualling Board, 30 November, appears on the documents now in the Public Library. Auckland. No douot as an agent the man was in a difficult position—particularly if, as Banks says, he was a customs officer.

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They have a very extrordinary method of keeping people from traveling — to hinder them I suppose from going into any districk where gold or diamonds may be found, as there are more of such than they can possibly guard, which is this: there are certain bounds beyond which no man must go, these vary every month at the discretion of the Vic[e]roy, sometimes they are a few sometimes many Leagues Round the City: Every man must in consequence of this come to town to know where the Bounds are, for if he is taken by the guards who constantly patrole on their edges he is infallibly put in prison, even if he is within them, unless he can tell where they are.

The inhabitants here are very numerous, they consist of Portugese, negroes, and Indians aborigines of the countrey. The township of Rio, whose extent I could not learn but was only told that it was but a small part of the Capitanea or province, is said to contain 37,000 whites and about 17 negroes to each white, which makes their numbers 629,000 and the number of inhabitants in all 666,000. As for the Indians they do not live in this neighbourhood tho many of them are always here doing the Kings work, which they are obligd to do by turns. for small pay for which purpose they come from their habitations at a distance. I saw many of them as the guard boat was constantly rowd by them, they are of a light copper colour with long lank black hair; as to their policy or manner of living when at home I could not learn any thing about it.

The military here consist of 12 regiments of Regulars, 6 Portugese and 6 Creolians and as many of Provincial militia who may be assembled upon occasion. To the regulars the inhabitants shew great deference, for as Mr Forster an English Gentleman in their service told me, if any of the people were not to pull off their hatts when they meet an officer he would immediately knock them down, which custom renders the people remarkably Civil to strangers who have at all a gentlemanlike appearance. All the officers of these regiments are expected three times a day to attend at the page 199 Sala or Viceroys levee, where they formaly ask for commands, where their constant answer is there is nothing new: this policy is Intended as I have been told to prevent them, from going into the countrey which it most effectualy does.

This town as well as all others in South America belonging either to Spanyards or Portugese has long been infamous for the un-chastity of its women; the people who we talkd with here confirmd the accounts declaring, especialy Mr Forster, that he did not beleive there was one modest woman in the township, which I must own appeard to me a most wonderfull assertion but I must take it for granted as I had not even the least opportunity to go among them. Dr Solander who was ashore declares however that as soon as it was night the windows were every one furnishd with one or more women, who as he walkd along with two more gentlemen gave nosegays to which ever of them each preferrd, which Complement the gentlemen returnd in kind, notwithstanding which each of them threw away whole hatfulls of flowers in their walk tho it was not a long one.

Assassinations are I fancy more frequent here than in Lisbon as the churches still take upon them to give protection to criminals: one accident of the kind happned in the sight of S. Evans our Cockswain, a man who I can depend upon, who told me he saw two people talking together to all appearance in a freindly manner, when one on a sudden drew a knife and stabbd the other twice and ran away pursued by some negroes who saw the fact likewise, but what the farther Event of this was I could not learn.

Thus much for the town and its inhabitants. I shall now speak of the countrey which I know rather more of than of the other as I was ashore one whole day: in that time I saw much Cleard ground but cheifly of an indifferent quality, tho doubtless there is such as is very good as the sugar and tobacco which is sent to Europe from hence plainly testifies; but all that I saw was employd in Breeding cattle of which they have great plenty, tho their pastures are the worst I ever saw on account of the shortness of the grass, and consequently the beef sold in the market tho it is tolerably cheap is so lean that an Englishman can hardly Eat it.1 I likewise saw great plantations of Iatropha manikot2 which is calld in the West Indies Cassada and here Farina de Pao i.e. wooden meal, a very proper name, for the cakes they make with it taste as if

1 Cook: ‘Fresh Beef (tho bad) is to be had in plenty, at about 2¼d a pound and Jerke'd [dried] Beef about the same price’.—Cook I, p. 33.

2 Banks seems to write ‘manikot’ rather than ‘manihot’, perhaps with ‘manioc’, the alternative name for cassava, in his mind. See p. 183, n. 1 above.

page 200 they were made of Sawdust and yet it is the only bread which is Eat here—for European bread is sold at nearly the rate of a shilling a pound, and is also exceeding bad on account of the flour which is generaly heated in its passage from Europe.

The Countrey produces many more articles but as I did not see them or hear them mentiond I shall not set them down, tho doubtless it is capable of bringing1 any thing that our West India Islands do, notwithstanding this they have neither Coffee or chocolate but import both from Lisbon.

Their fruits however I must not pass over in Silence, they have several I shall particularly mention those that were in season while we were there, which were Pine apples, Melons, water melons, oranges, Limes, Lemons, sweet Lemons, citrons, Plantanes, Bananes, Mangos, Mamme apples,2 acajou apples and nutts,3 Jamboira,4 another sort which bears a small black fruit,5 Coco nutts, Palm nuts of two kinds,6 Palm berries.7 Of these I must seperately give my opinion, as no doubt it will seem strange to some that I should assert that I have eat many of them and especialy pine apples better in England than any I have met with here. Begin then with the pines as the Fruit from which I expected the most, they being I beleive natives of this countrey, tho I cannot say I have seen or even heard of their being at this time wild any where in this neighbourhood: they are cultivated much as we do cabbages in Europe or rather with less care, the plants being set between bedds of any kind of garden stuff and sufferd to take their chance, the price of them in the Market is seldom above and generaly under a vintain which is 3 halfpence. All that Dr Solander and myself tasted we agreed were much inferior to those we had eat in England; tho in general they were more Juicy and sweet yet they had no flavour but were like sugar melted in water. Their Melins are still worse from the Specimen we had, for we got but one, which was perfectly mealy and insipid; their water melons

1 Apparently in the obsolete sense of ‘bringing forth’.

2 The Mamey, or Mammee Apple, Mammea americana L., has a large fruit with a yellow pulp of taste generally esteemed pleasant; but for Banks's opinion see p. 201 below.

3 Anacardium occidentale L.; acajou generally corrupted in English to ‘cashew’. The ‘apple’ is a fleshy pear-shaped receptacle—not the fruit—which bears the nut on its end. As will be seen, Banks ate the wrong thing, and formed an unfavourable opinion.

4 Jambosa, Eugenia jambos L. The early spread of Eugenias is indicated by Philip Miller's account (Gard, Diet. ed. 8, 1768), where there is mention of Dr Heberden's sending him plants of E. malaccensis received from Brazil.

5 Jaboticaba, Myrciaria caudiflora, which Banks probably saw detached, otherwise he would surely have remarked on the cauliflorous habit.

6 He seems here to be referring to the fruit of the pandanus.

7 ‘Palm berries’: the allusion is doubtless to soft-fruited palms such as genus Butia.

page 201 however are very good for they have some little flavour or at least a degree of acid which ours have not. Oranges are large and very juicy, we thought them good, doubtless better than any we had tasted at home, but probably Italy and Portugal produce as good had we been there in the time of their being in perfection. Lemons and limes are like ours, Sweet Lemons are sweetish and without flavour, Citrons have a sickly faint taste otherwise are like them. Mangos were not in perfection but promisd to be a very fine fruit, they are about the size of a peach, full of a melting yellow pulp not unlike that of a summer peach which has a very gratefull flavour, but in all we had it was spoild by a taste of turpentine which I am told is not found in the ripe ones. Bananas are in shape and size like a small thick sausage, coverd with a thick yellow rind, which is peeld off and the fruit within is of a consistence which might be expected from a mixture of Butter and flour but a little Slimey, its taste is sweet with a little perfume. Plantanes differ from these in being longer and thinner and having less lusciousness in their taste: both these fruits were disagreable to most of our people but after some use I became tolerably fond of them. Acajou or casshou is shapd like an apple but larger, he taste very disagreab[l]e sourish and bitter, the nut grows at the top of them.1 Mamme apples are bigger than a Codlin in England, Coverd with a deep yellow skin, the pulp on the inside is very insipid or rather disagreable to the taste, and full of small round seeds coverd with a thick mucilage which continualy Cloy your mouth. Jamboira is the same as I saw at Madeira, a fruit calculated more to please the smell than the taste; the other sort are small and black and resemble much the taste of our English bilberries. Coco nutts are so well known in England that I need only say I have tasted as good there as any I met with here. Palm nutts of two sorts, one long and shapd like dates the other round, both these are rosted before their kernels are Eatable and Even then they are not so good a[s] Coco nuts. Palm berries appear much like Black grapes, they are the fruit of Bactris minor,2 but for Eating have scarce any pulp covering a very large stone and what there is has nothing but a light acid to recommend it. Here are also the

1 Cashew nuts contain a poisonous juice in the shell which is driven off by roasting. The kernel contains an irritant oil painful to the lips and tongue when eaten raw.

2 Bactris minor is of difficult identity. Perhaps Banks refers to Jacquin's B. minor. Gaertner based his name on a Banks collection but not of Banks's own gathering; it was evidently of Jamaican origin. Index Kewensis identifies this as Acrocomia lasiospatha?; Dahlgren (1936), as A. aculeata.

page 202 fruits of several species of prickle pears1 which are very insipid. Of European Fruits I saw apples but very mealy and insipid and one peach which was also a very bad one.

Tho this Countrey should produce many and very valuable druggs we could not find any in the apothecarys shops but Pareira Brava and Balsam Copivi,2 of both which we bought at excessive cheap prices and had very good of the sort. I fancy the drug trade is cheifly carried on to the northward as is that of the Dying woods, at least we could hear nothing of them here.

For manufactures I know of none carried on here except that of Cotton hammocks, which are usd for people to be carried about in as we do Sedan chairs, these are made cheifly by the Indians. But the cheif riches of the countrey comes from the mines, which are situated far up in the countrey, indeed no one could tell me how far, for even the situation of them is as carefully as possible conceald and Troops are continualy employd in guarding the Roads that lead to them, so that it is next to impossible for any man to get a sight of them except those who are employd there; at least no man would attempt it from mere curiosity for every body who is found on the road without being able to give a good account of himself is hangd immediately.

From these mines a great quantity of gold certainly comes but it is purchasd at a vast expence of lives; 40,000 negroes are annualy imported on the Kings accompt for this purpose, and notwithstanding that the year before last they dyed so fast that 20,000 more were obligd to be draughted from the town of Rio.

Pretious stones are also found here in very large quantities, so large that they do not allow more than a certain quantity to be collected in a year, which is done thus: a troop of people are sent into the Countrey where they are found and orderd to return when they have collected a certain quantity, which they sometimes do in a month more or less, then they return and after that it is

1 Fleshy fruit of the cactus Opuntia ficus-indica, a cultigen of ancient and uncertain derivation. Though the genus is most probably of American origin, Theophrastus asserted that it grew about Opuntium, hence the generic name. Cf. Philip Miller (Gard. Dict. ed. 8, 1768) for early notes.

2 Pareira brava in Linnaeus's time referred to Cissampelos pareira, ‘Velvet-leaf’; but the name was later given to the related plants, Chondrodendron tomentosum R. and P. or C. ovatum—the former Peruvian, the latter Brazilian. The root was much esteemed for urinary complaints, and seems to have been an important export from Brazil in the late eighteenth century and through most of the nineteenth. ‘Balsam Copivi’ is a seldom used name for the drug extracted from the widely known Copaiba or Copaiva, Copaifera lansdorfii Desv. (properly langsdorfii)—‘Copaiva Balsam’. Burton has an interesting note on the tree, to which he refers as a ‘leguminous celebrity’, and calls Pau de Oleo, ‘Oil-wood’: he describes the Indian mode of gathering the oil and its uses.—Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil (London 1869), II, p. 84.

page 203 death for any one to be found in the Countrey on any pretence whatever till the next year.

Diamonds Topazes of several different qualities and amethysts are the stones that are cheifly found. Of the first I did not see any but was told that the viceroy had by him large quantities and would sell them on the King of Portugals account, but in that case they would not be at all cheaper than those in Europe. Topazes and amethysts I bought a few of for specimens; the former were divided into three sorts of very different value, Calld here pinga dogua Qualidade premeiro and segondo, and chrystallos ormerilles; they were sold large and small good and bad together by octavos or the eighth part of an ounce, the first sort 4sh:9d; 2[nd sort] 4:0; 3 [rd sort]. Amethysts. But it was smugling in the highest degree to have any thing to do with them formerly there were Jewelers here who wo[r]kd stones, but about 14 months ago orders came from the Court of Portugal that no more stones should be wrought here except on his account; the Jewellers were immediately orderd to bring all their tools to the Viceroy which they were obligd to do, and from that time to this have not been sufferd to do any thing for their support. Here are however a number of slaves who work stones for the King of Portugal.

The Coin current here is either that of Portugal especialy 36 shill peices, or Coin made here which is much debasd, especialy the silver which are calld petacks, of which there are two sorts one of less value than the other, easily distinguishable by the number of rees markd on the outside, but they are little used; they also have Copper coin like that in Portugal, 5 and 10 rey peices, two of the latter are worth 3 halfpence, 40 petacks are worth 36 shillings.

The harbour of Rio de Janeiro is certainly a very good one: the Entrance is not wide but the Sea breeze which blows every morning makes it easy for any ship to go in before the wind, and when you get abreast the town it increases in breadth prodigiously so that almost any number of ships might lay in 5 or 6 fathom water oozey bottom. It is defended by many works, especialy the entrance where it is narrow, there is their strongest fortification calld Sta Cruz and another opposite it; there is also a platform mounting about 22 gunns without that just under the Sugar Loaf on the sea side, but that seems intirely calculated to hinder the Landing of an Enemy in a sandy bay from whence there is a passage to the back part of the town, which is intirely void of Defence except that the whole town is open to the Gunns of the Citadel St Sebastian as I said before. Between Sta Cruz and the town are page 204 several small batteries of 5 to 10 gunns and one pretty large one calld Berga Leon. Immediately before the town is Ilhoa dos Cobras, an Island fortified all round, which seems incapable of doing much mischeif from its immense size, at least it would take more men to defend it even tolerably in case of an attack than could Possibly be spard from a town totaly without Lines or any defence round itself. As for Sta Cruz, their cheif fortification on which they most rely seems very incaple of making any great resistance if smartly attackd by shipping: it is a stone fort which mounts many gunns indeed, but they lie tier above tier and are consequently very open to the atack of a ship which may come within 2 cable lengh's or less of them. Besides they have no supply of water there but what they have from a cistern in which they catch rain, or in times of Drouth are supplyd from the adjacent countrey; this they have been obligd to build above ground Least the water should taint by the heat of the climate, which a free access of air prevents; a shot consequently which fortunately should break that cistern would reduce the defenders to the utmost nescessity.

I was told by a person who certainly knew and I beleive meant to inform me right, that a little to the southward just without the South head of the harbour was a bay in which boats might land with all facility without an obstruction, as there is no kind of work there, and from this bay it is not above three hours march to the town, which you aproach on the Back part where it is as defenceless as the Landing place; but this seems incredible yet I am inclind to beleive it of these people whose cheif policy consists in hindering people from looking about them as much as possible. It may therefore be as my informer said that the existence of such a bay is but lately found out, indeed was it not for that policy I could beleive any thing of their stupidity and ignorance, when the Governor of the town Brigadier General Don Pedro de Mendoza y Furtado ask'd the Captain of our ship whether the transit of Venus which we were going to observe was not the passing of the North star to the South pole, which he said he always understood it to be.1

1 Banks has the name of the governor wrong: it should be (in full) Antonio Carlos Vicente Xavier Furtado de Castro do Rio e Mendonça; in 1767 he was appointed a colonel of the Regiment of Elvas stationed at Rio de Janeiro. The peculiar idea of the Transit of Venus also appears to be wrongly fathered on him. Cook attributes this to the Viceroy in his conversation of 14 November, and Cook is much more likely to be right than Banks: ‘he could form no other idea of that Phenomenon (after I had explained it to him) than the North Star passing thro the South Pole (these were his own words)’. Cook does not seem to have had any contact with the governor. But Banks in his letter to Lord Morton, 1 December 1768, also attributes the remark to the Viceroy (see II, p. 315 below).

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The river and indeed the whole coast abounds with greater variety of Fish than I have ever seen;1 seldom a day passd in which we had not one or more new species brought to us, indeed the bay is the most convenient place for fishing I have ever seen for it abounds with Islands between which there is shallow water and proper beaches for drawing the Seine. The sea also without the bay is full of Dolphins and large mackrell of several sorts who very readily bite at hooks which the inhabitants tow after their boats for that purpose, in short the Countrey is Capable with a very little industry of producing infinite plenty both of nesscessaries and luxuries: was it in the hands of Englishmen we should soon see its consequence, as things are tolerably plentifull even under the direction of the Portugese, who I take to be without exception the laziest as well as the most ignorant race in the whole world.

The Climate here is I fancy very good, the Countrey certainly is very wholesome, during our whole stay the Thermometer was never above 83. We had however a good deal of Rain and once it blew very hard. I am rather inclind to think that this countrey has rather more rain than those in the same northern Latitude are observd to have, not only from what happend during our short stay but from Marcgrave who gives us metereological observations on this Climate for 3 years: you may observe that it raind here in those years almost every other Day throughout the year, but more especialy in May and June in which months it raind along without Ceasing.

8. This morn at day break a dolphin was taken and soon after a shark appeard who took the bait very readily, and during the time that we were playing him under the cabbin window it cast something out of his mouth that either was or appeard very like its stomack, this it threw out and drew in again many times. I have often heard from seamen that they can do it but never before saw anything like it before.2 (this circumstance which by mistake is attributed to this shark belongs to one taken the IIth).

9. A very heavy swell last night and this morn: we Judge that it has blown very hard to the Southward and in this particular think ourselves obligd to the viceroy of Brasil who by his dilatoryness in supplying us kept us out of it, the swell however carried away

1 There are twenty-two paintings and drawings of Brazilian fishes in the Parkinson collection; a list of these will be published in the fourth volume of the edition of Cook's voyages now in preparation by the Hakluyt Society.

2 Dr D. L. Serventy states (personal communication) that this symptom of extreme distress in sharks is well known to fishermen in Australasian waters.

page 206 our fore top galant mast. The sea is today coulord with infin[it]e1 small Particles the same as those seen Novr 7th and laying like them in broad streaks.

10. Today also we see large quantities of the same small particles.

11. This morn took a shark who cast up his stomack when hookd or at least appears so to do, it proves to be a female and on being opend 6 young ones were taken out of her, five of which were alive and swam briskly in a tub of water, the 6th was dead and seemd to have been so for some time.

12. Wind fair today, no events.

13. Fair wind today likewise, at night a squall with thunder and lightning which made us hoist the Lightning chain.

14. Wind Foul, blew fresh all day, in the evening saw a sail standing to the northward.

15. Less wind but a great swell.

16. Wind fair.

17. Wind foul, blew rather fresh, so the ship heeld much which made our affairs go on rather uncomfortably.

18. Calm at night, wind to the northward; we began to feel ourselves rather cool tho the thermometer was at 76 and shut two of the Cabbin windows, all which have been open ever since we left Madeira.

19. Charming fair wind and fine weather; the people were employd in preparing a new suit of sails for the bad weather we are to expect. Therm 70.

20. Fair wind today and rather warmer than it has been. During the course of last night we had a very heavy squall which tho it did not last above 10 minutes yet in that time blew as hard as it has done since we have been on board the ship.

21. Foul wind and little of it.

22. This morn quite calm. A very large shoal of Porpoises came close to the ship, they were of a kind different from any I have seen but so large that I dared not throw the gig into any of them, some were 4 yards long, their heads quite round but their hinder parts compressd, they had one fin upon their backs like a porpoise and white lines over their eyes also a spot of white behind the fin;2

1 The MS reads infine, in which it is followed by P and S, but the emendation seems necessary.

2 These were Globicepala edwardii (Smith), the Southern Pilot Whale.

page 207 they stayd above ½ an hour about the ship. When they were gone Dr Solander and myself went out in the boat and shot one species of Mother Careys chickens and two shearwaters, both provd new, Procellaria Gigantea and sandaliata.1 The Carey was one but ill describd by Linnæus, Procellaria fregata.2 While we were out the people were employed in bending the new set of sails for Cape Horn.

23. This morn calm again: went out shooting, killd another new procellaria, æquorea,3 and many of the sorts we had seen yesterday; caught Holothuria angustata,4 a species of floating helix much smaller than those under the line,5 Phyllodoce velella very small, sometimes not so large as a silver penny ye. I beleive the common species;6 in the evening went out again, killd an albatross Diomedéa exulans, who measurd 9 ft I inch between the tipps of his wings,7 and struck one turtle testudo caretta.8

24. Fair wind and steady tho but little of it.

25. Christmas day; all good Christians that is to say all hands get abominably drunk so that at night there was scarce a sober man in the ship, wind thank god very moderate or the lord knows what would have become of us.9

26. Blows fresh today. A vast many birds are about the ship cheifly procellarias, all that we shot last week and one more who is quite

1 Procellaria gigantea, now the Giant Petrel, Macronectes giganteus (Gm.). Parkinson I, pls. 17, 18; Solander, pp. 73, 75. Procellaria sandaliata: currently Pterodroma incerta (Schlegel), Schlegel's Petrel. Parkinson I, pI. 20, Solander, p. 89.

2 The White-bellied Storm Petrel, Fregetta grallaria (Vieill.). Parkinson I, pl. 14. Only the first part of Solander's note (p. 51) on P. fregata applies to F. grallaria; the rest concerns Fregetta tropica (Gould), the Black-bellied Storm Petrel.

3 The White-faced Storm Petrel, Pelagodroma marina (Lath.). Latham actually described the species from Parkinson's drawing, I, pl. 13, which is therefore the type (General Synopsis of Birds 1785, p. 410, Index Ornithologicus 1790, p. 826). See also Solander, p. 57. Wilson's Petrel was also taken on this day.

4 The Portuguese Man-of-war. Cf. 7 October 1768. This particular specimen was the subject of several pencil studies by Parkinson, and one painting, III, pls. 39, 40.

5 This helix is unidentifiable.

6 Velella velella. See 7 October above.

7 The Wandering Albatross. Parkinson's dated painting (I, pl, 25) shows that this bird was apparently in second-year plumage; this is confirmed by Solander's account, p. 3. (Cf. Fleming's fig. 2, D, C, Emu, 49, 1950, p. 174).

8 There is a description by Solander, p. 127, and dated drawings by Parkinson, I, pls. 41–3, of this loggerhead. These suggest that it was probably not Caretta caretta (Linn.) but more probably Lepidochelys kempi (Garman). The figures show four infra-marginal plates, a number which is normal in Lepidochelys but unusual in the other loggerhead genus Caretta; the description of the colour, ‘Testa nigrofusca, absque ullis maculis…’ is also more compatible with the former, which is dark grey to olive green, whereas Caretta is reddish brown.

9 Cook puts it more mildly: ‘Yesterday being Christmas day the People, [i.e. the crew] were none of the Soberest’. Cook I, p. 37.

page 208 Black without spot or speck that can be seen as he flies1 Towards even many beds of seaweed came past the ship which the seamen call rockweed, but none near enough to the ship for us to catch them tho we were constantly prepard.

27. Blows strong this evning, at night came to under a balancd mizzen2 till day light when it grows more moderate. The water has been discoulerd all day 50 fathom. All this day I have smelt a singular smell from windward tho the people in the ship did not take notice of it, it was like rotten seaweed and at some times very strong.

During the whole of this gale we had many procellarias about the ship, at some times immense numbers, who seemd perfectly unconcernd at the badness of the weather or the hight of the sea but continued often flapping near the surface of the water as if fishing.

28. Less wind, the sea soon falls; the water both yesterday and today has been a good deal discolourd. Sound and find 48 fathom.

29. Fair wind, water very white, sounded 46 fathom, about 4 in the Even 44. We observd now some feathers and peices of reed to float by the hip which made us get up the hoave net to see what they were; soon after some drowned Carabi3 and Phalænæ4 came past which we took and employd the hoave till dark night taking many specimens. Lat. 41:48. This morn a large sphinx came off probably from the land and was taken.

30. This morn fine weather, water whiter than ever almost of a clay colour; sounded 47 fathom. Plenty of insects passd by this morn, many especialy of the carabi, alive, some grylli5 and one Phalæna. I stayd in the main chains from 8 till 12 dipping for them with the hoave and took vast numbers. In the evening Many Phalenæ and two papilios6 came flying about the ship, of the first took about 20 but the last would not come near enough to be taken and at last flew away; they appeard Large. We have

1 Either the Cape Hen, Procellaria aequinoctialis, or the Sooty Shearwater, Puffinus griseus (Gm.). The former species constantly follows ships in the southern hemisphere, but Sooty Shearwaters are indifferent to them. The Cape Hen is particularly abundant in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope—hence its popular name.

2 A balanced mixen was a mixen sail reduced to as small an area as possible by a reefband that crossed it diagonally, so that the ship was put under the minimum sail to hold her steady when brought to. But Banks may have been too technical: Cook merely says ‘At 8 pm it blew a Storm of wind with rain which brought us under our Main sail with her head to the westward’.—Cook I, p. 37.

3 Carabus, a genus of beetles.

4 Phalaena: a name used by Linnaeus to include many different kinds of moths.

5 Linnaeus used Gryllus for a variety of orthopterous insects.

6 Linnaeus placed all the butterflies known to him in the genus Papilio.

page 209 also both yesterday and today taken several Ichneumons1 flying about the rigging. All the seamen say that we cannot be less than 20 leagues from the land,2 but I doubt Grylli especialy coming so far alive as they must float all the way upon the water. They ground their opinion cheifly on the sounding[s] which have been all along sand of different colours, which had we been nearer the land would have been intermixd with shells; their experience on this coast must however be but slight.

This whole day the evening especialy has been a series of calms and squalls, towards night a thunderstorm in which the lightning was remarkably bright, and rangd in long streaks sometimes horizontal and sometimes perpendicular, the thunder was not loud but continued an immence while with a noise in some claps so like the flapping of sails that had I not been upon dcek I should not have beleivd it to be thunder. Just before the storm we had an appearance of land to the westward which all who had not been in these latitudes before imagind to be real; it made like a long extent of lowish land and two Islands to the Northward of it, the South end was buried in the clouds; this lasted about £½ an hour and then rose gradualy up and disapeard.

Lat. 42:31. A sea lion was enterd in the log book of today as being seen but I did not see him.3 I saw however a whale coverd with barnacles as the seamen told me, he appeard of a reddish colour4 except his tail which was black like those to the Northward.

31. No insects seen today; the water changd to a little better colour. On looking over those taken yesterday find 31 species of land insects all so like in size and shape to those of England &c. that they are scarcely distinguishable, probably some will turn out identicaly the same. We ran among them 160 miles by the log without reckoning any part of last night, tho they were seen till dark, and most of this southing. Our latitude made us nearly opposite Baye Sans Fond near which place Mr Dalrymple supposes

1 These ichneumons do not appear to have been sketched by Parkinson, nor does there appear to be any specific reference to them in Morley's paper on the Banksian Ichneumonidae (The Entomologist, 42, 1909, pp. 131–7).—‘For several evenings, swarms of butterflies, moths, and other insects, flew about the rigging, which we apprehended had been blown to us from the shore. Thousands of them settled upon the vessel; Mr. Banks ordered the men to gather them up; and, after selecting such as he thought proper, the rest were thrown overboard; and he gave the men some bottles of rum for their trouble.’—Parkinson, Journal, p. 6.

2 Cook: ‘yet at this time we could not be less than 30 Leagues from land’.—p. 38. His position for November 30 puts him roughly 150 miles east of the Valdés Peninsula, the nearest land

3 Probably the Southern Sea Lion, Otaria byronia (Blainville).

4 The whale is unidentifiable: its red colour would be caused not by barnacles but by lice, Cyamidae.

page 210 there to be a passage quite through the Continent of America.1 It should seem by what we have seen that there should be at least a very large river, and that probably at this time much flooded: if even that could have so great an effect as (supposing us to be 20 leagues from the land) discolouring the water to almost a clay Colour and bringing of insects who never fly 20 yards such as grylli and one aranea.2

I lament much not having tasted the water at the time which never occurrd to me, but probably the difference of saltness would have been hardly perceptible to the taste and my Hydrostatick balance being broke I had no other method of trying it.

1 The bay seems to be the ‘Baye Sinfondo’ of the French charts, on the South Atlantic coast of America, c. 42° S. The name baia sin fondo was given to the Gulf of San Mathias either by Magellan or Loaysa, but whether because it could not be sounded or because its limits could not be seen we do not know. Dalrymple, both on his ‘Chart of the South Pacifick Ocean’ (1767) and his ‘Chart of the Ocean between S. America and Africa’ (1769) simply continued the bay through America as a strait emerging on the Pacific ocean opposite Chiloe island. I know of no printed reference by him apart from this.

2 A spider; no painting or description of it is known.