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

The Endeavour Journal Of Joseph Banks — Account of New Zealand [march 1770]

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The Endeavour Journal Of Joseph Banks
Account of New Zealand [march 1770]

As we intend to leave this place tomorrow morn, I shall spend a few sheets in drawing together what I have observd of this countrey and its inhabitants; premising in the mean time that in this, and all others of the same kind which may occur in this Journal, I shall give myself liberty of conjecturing and drawing conclusions from what I have observd, in which I may doubtless often be mistaken; in the daily Journal however the Observations may be seen, and any one who referrs to that may draw his own conclusions from them, attending as little as he pleases to any of mine.

This countrey was first discoverd by Abel Jansen Tasman on the 13th of December 1642 and calld by him New Zealand;1 he however never went ashore upon it, probably for fear of the natives; who when he had come to an anchor set upon one of his boats and killd 3 or 4 out of 7 people that were in her.2

Tasman certainly was an able navigator: he saild into the mouth of Cooks streights, and finding himself surrounded in all appearance with land observd the tide of flood to come from the Se; from thence he conjecturd that there was in that place a passage through the land, which conjecture we provd to be true and he himself had certainly done, had not the Wind changd as he though[t] in his favour, giving him an opportunity of returning the way he came in, which he preferrd to standing into a bay with an on shore wind.3 Upon the strengh of conjecture only again, when he

1 Tasman did not call the country New Zealand but Staten Land, on the supposition that it was part of the coast of the southern continent and a westward extension of the Staten Land off Tierra del Fucgo discovered by Schouten and le Maire in 1616. When this was proved to be an island by Brouwer in 1643 the second part of the supposition fell down; but who it was conferred the name New Zealand, within the next few years, we do not know. The reason for it may have been analogy with New Holland. Cf. E. H. McCormick, Tasman and New Zealand (Wellington 1959), p. 11.

2 They killed four of the men in his cockboat as it rowed between his two ships.

3 This may be unjust to Tasman: we do not know that he did think the wind changed in his favour, but after riding at anchor for four days in stormy weather under D'Urville Island he was faced with an easterly wind, against which it might have been difficult for his ships to make headway, and he rather reluctantly, so it seems (the point has been debated)—though perhaps a little uncourageously—turned north.

page 2 came the lengh of Cape Maria Van Dieman he observd hollow waves to come from the Ne, from whence he concluded it to be the northermost part of the Land, which we realy found it to be: Lastly, to his eternal credit be it spoken, tho he had been four months absent from Batavia when he made this land, and had saild both Westward and Eastward, his longitude (allowing for an Error of in that of Batavia as he himself has stated it) differs no more than from ours,1 which is corrected by an innumerable number of observations of the Moon and Sun &c. as well as a transit of Mercury over the Sun; all calculated and observd by Mr Green, a mathematician of well known abilities, who was sent out in this ship by the Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus. Thus much for Tasman: it were much to be wish'd however that we had a fuller account of his voyage than that publis'd by Dirk Rembranse, which seems to be no more than a short extract;2 and that other navigators would Imitate him in mentioning the Latitudes and Longitudes in which they account the places from whence they take their departure to be situated; which precaution, usefull as it is, may almost be said to have been usd by Tasman alone.
The face of the countrey is in general Mountanous, especialy inland, where probably runs a chain of very high hills parts of which we saw at several times; they were generaly coverd with snow and certainly very high — some of our officers, men of experience,

1 It is difficult to fill this second gap in the text, as there are no strictly comparable figures, if by the phrase ‘when he made this land’ Banks refers to Tasman's first New Zealand landfall. Note by Banks: ‘Tho Tasmans Long of Cape Maria Van Diemen comes so near the truth our seamen affirm and seem to make it appear that he errd no less than 4°…49′ in running from the first land he made to Cape Maria van Diemen; if so his exactness must be attributed more to chance than skill’. The truth about Tasman's longitudes is rather complicated. They have been analysed by Miss Helen M. Wallis in an unpublished thesis, ‘The Exploration of the South Sea, 1519 to 1644’, ff. 397–401. His initial error for Batavia was 3. 35. too far east. Because of the trade wind current, he underestimated the distance he sailed to Mauritius, ‘the first land he made’, and made it 5° 07′ too far east. ‘The error for Mauritius in its turn’, writes Miss Wallis, ‘almost cancelled out Tasman's underestimate of the distance that he sailed eastward with the westerlies. At Drie Coningen Island the net result was an error of 1° 50′E… . Tasman did not give an observation for Cape Maria van Diemen, but when west-south-west of it he estimated his longitude to be 191° 09′. This calculation is 3° 15′ too far west, or slightly less than that, allowing for their position west of the Cape… . Banks was not far wrong, therefore, in alleging that where Tasman's resultant error was negligible, the cause was chance, not Tasman's absolute accuracy in observation. At the same time Banks's first judgment was historically more sound. Errors varying mainly between 2° and 3′ are very small for this period’. Cook's error for the longitude of Cape Maria van Diemen was 4′ E.

2 Dirk Rembrantszoon van Nierop, Eenige Oefeningen (1674); a still more abbreviated version, translated from this, appeared in the English Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries (1694 and 1711), which book Banks appears to have had with him—and the 1694 edition, to judge from his reference, p. 116 below.

page 3 did not scruple to say as much so as The pike of Teneriffe; in that particular however I cannot quite agree with them, tho that they must be very high is sufficiently provd by the hill to the Northward of the mouth of Cooks streights,1 which was seen, and made no inconsiderable figure, at the distance of Leagues.

The sea coast (should it ever be examind) will probably be found to abound in good harbours: we saw several, of which the Bay of Islands or Motuaro,2 and Queen Charlots Sound or Totarra nue,3 are as good as any seaman need desire to come into, either for good anchorage or convenience of Wooding and watering. The outer ridge of Land which lies open to the Sea is (as I beleive is the case in most countries) generaly Barren, especialy to the Southward, but within that the hills are Coverd with thick woods quite to the top, and every Valley produces a rivulet of Water.

The soil is in general light, and consequently admirably adapted to the uses for which the natives cultivate it, whose crops consist intirely of roots. On the Southern and western sides it is the most barren, the Sea being there generaly bounded with either steep hills or vast tracts of Sand, which probably is the reason why the people in these parts were so much less numerous, and livd almost intirely upon fish. The Northern and Eastern sides make however some amends for the Barrenness of the others: in them we often saw very large tracts of Ground which either actualy were or very lately had been cultivated, and an immense quantity of Woodland, which was yet uncleard, but promisd great returns to the people who would take the trouble of Clearing it — of the latter especialy in Taoneroa or Poverty bay, and Tolaga — besides Swamps, which might doubtless Easily be draind, and sufficiently evincd the richness of their soil by the great size of all the plants that grew upon them, and more particularly of the timber trees which were the streightest, cleanest, and I may say the largest I have ever seen — at least speaking of them in the Gross; I may have seen several times single trees larger than any I Observd among them, but it was not one but all these trees which were enormous, and doubtless had we had time and opportunity to Search, we might have found much larger ones than any we saw, as we were never but once ashore among them, and that but for a short time on the banks of the River Thames; where we rowd for many miles between

1 Mount Egmont.

2 Banks extended the name of this island to the whole bay.

3 Totaranui.

page 4 woods of these trees, to which we could see no bounds.1 The River Thames is indeed in every respect the properest place we have yet seen for establishing a Colony; a ship as large as Ours might be carried several miles up the river, where she would be moord to the trees as safe as alongside a wharf in London river, a safe and sure retreat in case of an attack from the natives, as she might even be laid on the mud and a bridge built to her. The Noble timber, of which there is such abundance, would furnish plenty of materials either for the building defences, houses, or Vessels. The River would furnish plenty of Fish, and the Soil make ample returns of any European Vegetables sown in it. I have some reason to think from observations made upon the vegetables that the Winters here are extreemly mild, much more so than in England; the Summers we have found to be scarce at all hotter, tho more equably Warm.

The South part, which is much more hilly and barren than the North, I firmly beleive to Abound with minerals in a very high degree. This however is only conjecture; I had not, to my great regret, an opportunity of landing in any place where the signs of them were promising except the last; nor indeed in any one, where from the ship the Countrey appeard likely to produce them, which it did to the Southward in a very high degree, as I have mentiond in my Daily Journal.

I[n] all the times that we have landed in this Countrey, we have seen I had almost said no Quadrupeds realy original natives of it. Dogs and rats indeed there are; the former as in other countries companions of the men, and the latter probably brought hither by the men, especialy as they are so scarce that I myself have not had an opportunity of seeing even one.2 Of Seals indeed we have seen a few, and one Sea Lion3; but these were in the sea, and are certainly very scarce, as we have seen no signs of them among

1 He is obviously in the foregoing lines referring again, and exclusively, to the white pine or Kahikatea; but he must have seen many other great trees of various and distinctive kinds, and it is odd that as a botanist he makes no mention of them in the journal. Kahikatea (Podocarpus dacrydioides), Matai (P. spicatus), and Rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), however, are all three represented both in the Herbarium and in the Pocket Book, p. 121.

2 The dog, called Kuri by the Maori, is now extinct; it was like the dog of Tahiti, whence, very likely, it came; it was a low-set animal, its head somewhat fox-like, and it did not bark. The ‘Kiore maori’, Mus exulans, also came to New Zealand, it seems, with the great migration of the fourteenth century—‘probably stowaways’, thought Sir Peter Buck (op. cit., p. 102). It was a bush-living animal, trapped and valued for food, but it is not surprising that Banks did not see one, as he never was in the forest except on the banks of the Thames and in Queen Charlotte Sound—where he certainly did no trapping.

3 The seal was probably the Fur Seal, Arctocephalus forsteri (Lesson), very common on the New Zealand coast till the ruthless depredations of the sealers, which almost exterminated the animal in the early nineteenth century. It is now legally protected. The New Zealand Sea-lion is Phocarctos hookeri (Gray).

page 5 the natives except a few teeth of the latter, which they make into a kind of Bodkins and value much. It appears not improbable that there realy are no other species of Quadrupeds in the countrey;1 for the natives, whose cheif luxury of Dress consists in the skins and hair of Dogs and the skins of divers birds, and who wear for ornaments the bones and beaks of birds and teeth of Dogs, would probably have made use of some part of any other animal they were acquainted with: a circumstance which tho we carefully sought after, we never saw the least signs of.
Of Birds there are not many species,2 and none except perhaps the Gannet the same as those of Europe. There are however ducks3 and shags of several kinds4 sufficiently like the European ones to be calld the same by the seamen, Both which we eat and accounted good food, especialy the former which are not at all inferior to those of Europe. Beside these there are hawks,5 owls6 and Quails7 differing but little at first sight from those of Europe, and several small birds that sing much more melodiously than any I have heard. The sea coast is also frequently visited by many Oceanick birds as Albatrosses, Shearwaters, Pintados &c. and has also a few of the birds calld by Sr Jno Narbourough Penguins,8 which are truly what the French call Nuance,9 between birds and fishes, as

1 This was so.

2 This was a rash statement, which Banks would not have made had he been more in the forest; for birds were much more obvious than the rat.

3 The Gray Duck, Anas superciliosa Gm. is rather like a dark female mallard, and the New Zealand Shoveler, Spatula rhynchotis (Latham) belongs to the same genus as the European Shoveler.

4 There were several species of shags: cf. I, p. 430, n. 2 above.

5 There are two resident New Zealand hawks, the Australasian Harrier, Circus approximans, Peale, and the New Zealand Falcon, Falco novaeseelandiae Gmelin.

6 There were two New Zealand owls at the time of Cook's voyages, the Morepork or Ruru, Ninox novaeseelandiae (Gm.) and the Laughing Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies, Gray; the latter is now almost extinct.

7 The New Zealand Quail, Coturnix novae-zealandiae Quoy and Gaimard, has been extinct since 1870.

8 There is no particular significance in Narborough's use of the name. It goes back well before his time; O.E.D. dates its first English appearance as 1588 and it appears in Hakluyt. Sir John Narborough (1640-88) made a famous voyage through the Straits of Magellan to the Chilean coast in 1669–71, to try to break the Spanish monopoly of trade on the South American Pacific coast. He afterwards rendered distinguished service as an admiral in the Mediterranean against the Tripoli corsairs. On ‘Penguin Island’ near Port Desire, he ‘took into my Boat three hundred Penguins, in less than half an hour, and could have taken three thousand in the time, if my Boat would have carried ‘em’.—An Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries (1694), p. 25, and other references.

9 He overdoes the resemblance of the penguin's feathers to the fish's scales, but in so overdoing it, his reference to the French use of nuance, as ‘gradation’, is clear, and his conception of the penguin as something between a bird and a fish. Buffon had made a point of the alliance, through a series of grades, of the whole animal kingdom—‘La nature marche toujours et agit en tout par degrés imperceptibles et par nuances’.—Histoire générale des animaux (Vol. II of Histoire naturelle, 1749, chap. XI). Banks was certainly acquainted with the doctrine of the great zoological systematizer of the century.

page 6 their feathers especialy on their wings differ but little from Scales; and their wings themselves, which they use only in diving and by no means in atempting to fly or even accelerate their motion on the surface of the water (as young birds are observd to do), might thence almost as properly be calld fins.

Neither are insects in greater plenty than birds: a few Butterflys and Beetles, flesh flies very like those in Europe, Musquetos, and sandflies maybe exactly the same as those of North America, make up the whole list.1 Of these last however, which are most Justly accounted the curse of any countrey where they abound, we never met with any great abundance; a few indeed there were in almost every place we went into but never enough to make any occupations ashore troublesome, or to give occasion for using shades for the face which we had brough[t] out to defend ourselves from them.2

For this scarcity of animals on the land the Sea however makes abundant recompense. Every creek and corner produces abundance of fish not only wholesome but at least as well tasted as our fish in Europe: the ship seldom anchord in or indeed passd over (in light winds) any place whose bottom was such as fish resort to in general but as many were caught with hook and line as the people could eat, especialy to the Southward, where when we lay at an anchor the boats by fishing with hook and line very near the rocks could take any quantity of fish; besides that the Seine seldom faild of success, insomuch that both the times that we anchord to the Southward of Cooks streights every Mess in the ship that had prudence enough salted as much fish as lasted them many weeks after they went to sea.

For the Sorts, there are Macarel of several kinds, one precisely the same as our English ones3 and another much like our horse macarel,4 besides several more; these come in immence shoals and are taken by the natives in large Seines from whoom we bought them at very easy rates. Besides these were many species which tho they did not at all resemble any fish that I at least have before

1 There were originally only nine species of butterflies in New Zealand, but a rich beetle fauna is found there. Flesh flies comprise the family Sarcophagidae; the larvac for the most part live in decaying flesh. Culicine mosquitoes are endemic, but not anophelines; Culex pervigilans was the commonest. The sandflies are Austrosimulium spp.

2 If he had got ashore at Dusky Sound, as he so much wished, he would probably have revised this opinion. When the Resolution was there on Cook's second voyage, her company found the sandflies a most irritating pest.

3 The Southern Mackerel, Pneumatophorus colias (Gm.).

4 Perhaps Trachurus novae-zelandicae Richardson, which seems to be Scomber clupeoides of Solander (Pisc. Aust., 37) from Motuaro.

page 7 seen, our seamen contrivd to give names to, so that hakes,1 breams,2 Cole fish3 &c. were appellations familiar with us, and I must say that those who bear these names in England need not be ashamd of their nam[e]sakes in this countrey. But above all the luxuries we met with the lobsters or sea crawfish must not be forgot, which are possibly the same that in Lord Ansons Voyage are mentiond to be found at the Island of Juan Fernandes;4 they are large tho not quite so large as those at Juan Fernandes and differ from ours in England in having many more prickles on their backes, and being red when taken out of the water. Of them we bought great quantities of the natives every where to the Northward, who catch them by diving near the shore, feeling first with their feet till they find out where they lie. We had also that fish describd by Frezier in his voyage to Spanish South America by the name of Elefant, Pejegallo, or Poisson Coq,5 which tho coarse we made shift to Eat, several species of Skates or sting rays6 which were abominably coarse, but to make amends for that we had among several sorts

1 Probably Rock Cod, Lotella rachinus (Forster), to which Solander's Gadus rubriginosus (Pisc. Aust., p. 42) appears to refer.

2 Snapper, Pagrosomus auratus and Tarakihi, Dactylopagrus macropterus; cf. I, 438, n. 3 and 453, n. 3 above.

3 These were Blue Cod, Parapercis colias. See I, p. 453, n. 3 above.

4 This surmise was correct. The fish was Jasus lalandi. Walter, in his account of Anson's voyage, pp. 125–6, writes, ‘we found here one delicacy in greater perfection, both as to size, flavour, and quantity, than is, perhaps, to be met with in any part of the world: this was a sea-cra-fish; they generally weighed eight or nine pounds a-piece, were of a most excellent taste, and lay in such abundance near the water's edge, that the boat-hooks often struck into them, in putting the boats to and from the shore’.

5 The Elephant Fish, Callorhincus callorhynchus (Linn.); it has a curious proboscis like a short trunk, which gives it its name. Amédée François Frézier (1682-1775) was the author of a book entitled Relation du voyage de la mer du Sud aux côtes du Chilì et du Pérou, fait pendant les années 1712, 1713 et 1714 (Paris 1716), the fruit of travels at the behest of the French government, to spy out the land in the Spanish colonies of South America. He was a military engineer of high reputation, who became, finally, director of fortifications in Brittany. He wrote also on fireworks, and on architecture and building. An English translation of his Relation (A Voyage to the South-Sea, And along the Coasts of Chili and Peru… . By Monsieur Frezier, Engineer in Ordinary to the French King) appeared in 1717. It is this edition, I think, that Banks refers to, here and elsewhere in his journal. Frézier writes (p. 121), ‘The great Fishery is carry'd on at Concon, a Hamlet two Leagues N. and by E. from Valparaiso by sea… . There they take Corbinos, a Sort of Fish known in Spain, Tollos and Pezegallos, which they dry to send to Santiago, which is also serv'd with fresh Fish from thence. The last of them takes its Name from its Shape, because it has a Sort of Comb, or rather a Trunk, which has given Occasion to the Creolians to call it Pezegallo, that is, Cock-fish. The French call it Demoiselle or Elephant, because of its Trunk, which is here to be seen, as I drew it by the Life’. But the names given on pl. XVII, opposite this passage, are ‘Pejegallo ou Poisson Coq’.

6 Several species of these fishes exist in New Zealand waters; an unsigned pencil sketch, pl. 44 in Parkinson I, is of Raja nasuta (Müller and Henle), from ‘Totarra nue’ (Totaranui); another most interesting capture from that same locality was of Arhyn-chobatis asperrimus Waite 1909, which Solander clearly described (p. 133) as Raia arsata; tho only other specimen known to science was described by Waite. Solander, p. 137, also described the Eagle Ray Aetobatus caudatus (Hector).

page 8 of dog fish one that was spotted with a few white spots,1 whose flavour was similar to but much more delicate than our skate. We had flat fish also like Soles and flounders,2 Eels and Congers3 of several sorts, and many others which any Europæans who may come here after us will not fail to find the advantage of, besides excellent oysters and many sorts of shell fish and cockles, clams &c.

Tho the countrey is generaly coverd with an abundant verdure of grass and trees yet I cannot say that it is productive of so great a variety as many countries I have seen. The intire novelty however of the greatest part of what we found recompens'd us as natural historians for the want of variety. Sow thistle,4 garden nightshade,5 and perhaps 1 or 2 kinds of Grasses were exactly the same as in England,6 3 or 4 kinds of Fern the same as those of the West Indies, and a plant or 2 that are common to almost all the world: these were all that had before been describd by any botanist out of about 400 species, except 5 or 6 which we ourselves had before seen in Terra del Fuego.7

Eatable Vegetables there are very few. We indeed as people who had been long at sea found great benefit in the article of health by eating plentifully of wild Celery,8 and a kind of Cresses which grew every where abundan[t]ly near the sea side.9 We also once or twice met with an herb like that which the countrey people in England call Lambs Quarters or Fat hen,10 which we boild

1 Probably the Spotted or Spiny Dogfish, Squalus fernandinus Molina; Phillipps suggests that the New Zealand fish common in Cook Strait, a good edible species, is distinct from the above and has named it S. kirki. See Parkinson I, pl. 52. The Carpet Shark, Cephaloscyllium isabella (Bonnaterre) was described by Solander (p. 167) as Squalus lima, and painted by Parkinson, I, pl. 53. Banks may have had that in mind also.

2 There are thirteen species of flatfishes in New Zealand; it seems probable that they took several of these, including the Sand Flounder, Rhombosolea plebia (Richardson) apparently a species identical with Solander's Pleuronectes plebius (Pisc. Aust., p. 12).

3 The Conger Eel, Conger verrauxi, is the commonest of the New Zealand marine eels. New Zealand cels and congers belong to the same genera as European species.

4 Sonchus oleraceus, called by the Maori Puwha and eaten by him.

5 Solanum nigrum, which botanists have thought possibly introduced; but this mention seems conclusive that it was a native.

6 Of the grasses that Banks collected only Deschampsia caespitosa is now considered to be the same species in New Zealand as in England; Trisetum subspicatum was formerly so considered.

7 Today the interpretation would be that the spp., e.g. of the genus Pratia, are closely related rather than identical. Apium prostratum and Cardamine glacialis are common to Tierra del Fuego and New Zealand. A. C. Smith (Jour. Arnold Arbor. 26:51-58, 1945) discusses bicentric-paleoantarctic distributions in general with special reference to Wintcraceae. Cockayne (New Zealand Plants and their Story, 2–7, 1910) briefly considers the topic, citing other examples.

8 Apium prostratum and A. filifolium.

9 Probably what Cook called scurvy-grass, Lepidium oleraceum; other candidates would be a wild cress called Poniu, Nasturtium palestre, and Cardamine glacialis.

10 The New Zealand variety of this herb is Chenopodium triandrum. It may be added, as a philological curiosity, that Banks's words, taken over into Hawkesworth, become in O.E.D. the first literary mention of ‘lambs’ quarters’, though ‘fat-hen’ is there ignored in favour of a 1795 appearance.

page 9 instead of Greens, and once only a Cabbage tree the Cabbage of which made us one delicious meal.1 These with the Fern roots and one other vegetable (Pandanus)2 totaly unknown in Europe, which tho eat by the natives no Europæan will probably ever relish, are the whole of the vegetables which I know to be eatable, except those which they cultivate and have probably brought with them from the countrey from whence they themselves have originaly come.

Nor does their cultivated grounds produce many speceis of Esculent plants, three only I have seen — Yams, sweet potatoes, and Coccos, all three well known in both East and West Indies and much esteemd of these, especialy the two former. They cultivate often peices of many acres, and I beleive any ship that was to be to the Northward in the Autumn about the time of digging them up might purchase any quantity. Besides these they cultivate gourds,3 the fruits of which serve them to make bottles, Jugs &c. and a very small quantity of the Chinese paper mulberry tree, the same as the Inhabitants of the South Sea Islands use to make their garments of. This they very much value, but it is so scarce with them probably having been brought from a hotter countrey and not thriving here, that tho they likewise beat it out into cloth we never saw peices of it larger than what servd to put into the holes they bore in their ears, making an ornament they are very fond of, and this was doubtless the reason why they preferrd the Cloth which we had brought from the South Sea Islands with us to any merchandise we could shew them, and next to it white paper.

Fruits they have none, except I should reckon a few kind of insipid berries which had neither sweetness nor flavour to recommend them and which none but the boys took the pains to gather. The woods however abound with excellent timber trees fit for any kind of building in size, grain, and apparent durability. One which bears a very conspicuous scarlet flower made up [of?] many threads, and is a large tree as big as an oak in England, has a very heavy hard wood which seems well adapted for the Cogs of Mill wheels

1 The ‘Cabbage tree’ of New Zealand (Kouka of the Maori, who ate its leaf-heads) is Cordyline australis (Forst. f.) Hook.f. But Hooker, who was certainly familiar with the plant—for he gave the species its present botanical name—identified the source of Banks's ‘one delicious meal’ as the Nikau palm, Areca sapida, characterized by its feather-duster coma, now known as Rhopalostylis sapida. Cf. L. H. Bailey in Gentes Herbarum 3: 429–35, 1935. This identification is strengthened by the reference in George Forster's De Plantis Esculentis Insularum Oceani Australis (1786). Cf. Cook II, p. 567, n. 5.

2 Probably the Kiekie, Freycinetia banksii A. Cunn., related to the pandanus.

3 Hue, Lagenaria siceraria.

page 10 &c. or any purpose for which very hard wood is us'd.1 That which I have before mentiond to grow in the swamps, which has a leaf not unlike Yew and bears small bunches of Berries,2 is tall streight and thick enough to make Masts for vessels of any size, and seems likewise by the streight direction of the fibres to be tough but is too heavy: this however I have been told is the case with the pitch pine in North America, the timber of which this very much resembles, and that the North Americans know how to lighten by tapping it properly and actualy use for Masts. But of all the plants we have seen among these people that which is the most excellent in its kind, and which realy excells most if not all that are put to the Same uses in other Countries, is the plant which serves them instead of Hemp and flax.3 Of this there are two sorts: the leaves of Both much resemble those of flags: the flowers are smaller and grow many more together, in one sort they are Yellowish in the other of a deep red.4 Of the leaves of these plants with very little preparation all their common wearing apparel are made and all Strings, lines, and Cordage for every purpose, and that of a strengh so much superior to hemp as scarce to bear a comparison with it. From the same leaves also by another preparation a kind of snow white fibres are drawn, shining almost as silk and likewise surprizingly strong, of which all their finer cloaths are made; and of the leaves without any other preparation than splitting them into proper breadths and tying those strips together are made their fishing nets. So usefull a plant would doub[t]less be a great acquisition to England, especialy as one might hope that it would thrive there with little trouble, as it seems hardy and affects no

1 The Pohutukawa, Metrosideros tomentosa Soland. ex Gaertn. (M. tomentosa A. Rich.), the ‘iron-hearted myrtle’ of the poet Domett; its timber is extremely hard and durable. It is represented in the Pocket Book, p. 111, its source not recorded more precisely than New Zealand, but there can be no doubt that the specimen is associated with Banks's notation, Cheeseman's scepticism notwithstanding (Manual of the New Zealand Flora, ed. 2 [Wellington 1925], p. 594). Hooker made the identification Metrosideros robusta, Rata, but he was pretty clearly wrong; and no coll. of that species was preserved, if gathered.

2 Podocarpus spicatus; see I, p. 436, n. 2 above, and Pl. 12 in the present volume.

3 Phormium tenax Forst.; the Maori name is Harakeke.

4 There are indeed two species of the plant, Phormium tenax and P. colensoi, the latter smaller and growing on dry hill sides. But this is apparently not what Banks means. There are many varieties of P. tenax. but the colour of the flowers is not the determinant. Some light is thrown on the passage, probably, by a sentence or two from the journal of William Bayly, astronomer of the Adventure on Cook's second voyage. Bayly is writing of Queen Charlotte Sound: ‘The Flax of which they have two sorts, grows here in great plenty; the finer sort resembles the European flax but it is vastly superior both for Beauty and Strength… . The coarser sort grow like a Flag, either on the ground or runs up the side of a Tree and spreading into great tufts at different heights… the fine sort grow on the ground & is a flag of a finer texture & of quite a difft Nature from the coarse sort’. ATL, Bayly's Journal, pp. 62–3. The ‘coarser sort’ here referred to is obviously the plant called Kiekie, Freycinctia banksii.

page 11 particular soil, being found equaly on hills and in Valleys, in dry soil and the deepest bogs, which last land it seems however rather to prefer as I have always seen it in such places of a larger size than any where else.

When first we came ashore we imagind the countrey to be much better peopled than we afterwards found it, concluding from the Smoaks that we saw that there were inhabitants very far inland, which indeed in Poverty bay and the Bay of Plenty, which are much the best peopled parts of the countrey that we have seen, may yet be the case. In all the other parts we have been in we have however found the sea coast only inhabited and that but sparingly, insomuch that the number of inhabitants seem to bear no kind of proportion to the size of the countrey which they possess, and this probably is owing to their frequent wars. Besides this the whole Coast from Cape Maria Van Diemen to Mount Egmont and seven eights of the Southern Island seems totaly without people.1

The men are of the size of the larger Europæans, Stout, Clean Limnd and active, fleshy but never fat as the lazy inhabitants of the South Sea Isles are, vigorous, nimble and at the same time Clever in all their excersizes. I have seen 15 paddles of a side in one of their Canoes move with immensely quick strokes and at the same time as much Justness as if the movers were animated by one Soul: not the fraction of a second could be observd between the dipping and raising any two of them, the Canoe all the While moving with incredible swiftness; and to see them dance their War dance was an amusement which never faild to please every spectator, so much strengh, firmness and agility in their motions and at the same time such excellent time kept that I have often heard above 100 paddles &c.struck against the sides of their boats, as directed by their singing, without a mistake being ever made.2 In Colour they vary a little, some being browner than others, but few are browner than a Spaniard a little sun burnd might be supposd to be. The women without being at all delicate in their outward appearance

1 It is almost impossible to make an instructed guess at the Maori population at this time, and these remarks of Banks do not help us in the least. He seems to have gone purely on the presence or absence of smoke. He could hardly have found any part of the country beyond the sea-coast inhabited, because he had never been beyond the sea-coast. In the North Island there were considerable centres of population inland; and for all Banks knew, there might have been in the South Island too, though in fact, because of the climate, there were not. It is true, however, that according to European ideas the number of inhabitants bore ‘no kind of proportion to the size of the country which they’ possessed—as European settlers were later loud in proclaiming; but the Maori knew the whole habitable part of the country intimately, and each part of it played a clearly understood part in his economy.

2 Either this sentence is unduly compacted, or Banks witnessed something in the nature of a posture-dance carried on in canoes.

page 12 are rather smaller than Europæan women, but have a peculiar softness of Voice which never fails to distinguish them from the men tho both are dressd exactly alike. They are like those of the fair sex that I have seen in other countries, more lively, airy and laughter loving than the men and have more volatile spirits, formd by nature to soften the Cares of more serious man who takes upon [him]1 the laborious toilsome part as War, tilling the Ground &c.2 That disposition appears even in this uncultivated state of nature, shewing in a high degree that as well in uncivilizd as the most polishd nations Mans ultimate happiness must at last be plac'd in Woman. The dispositions of Both Sexes seems mild, gentle, and very affectionate to each other but implacable towards their enemies, who after having killd they eat, probably out of a princ[i]ple of revenge,3 and I beleive never give quarter or take prisoners.4 They seem innurd to war and in their attacks work themselves up by their War Dance to a kind of artificial courage which will not let them think in the least.5 Whenever they met with us and thought themselves superior they always attackd us, tho seldom seeming to mean more than to provoke us to shew them what we were able to do in this case. By many trials we found that good usage and fair words would not avail the least with them, nor would they be convincd by the noise of our fire arms alone that they were superior to theirs; but as soon as they had felt the smart of even a load of small shot and had had time allowd them to recollect themselves from the Effects of their artificial courage, which commonly took up a day, they were sensible of our generosity in not taking the advantage of Our superiority and became at once our good freinds and upon all occasions placd the most unbounded confidence in us. They are not like the Islanders addicted to stealing, but would sometimes before peace was concluded, if they could by offering any thing they had to sale entice us to trust something of ours into their hands, refuse to return it with all the coolness in the world, seeming to look upon it as the plunder of an enemy.

1 Word omitted in Ms; him supplied from S and P.

2 Nevertheless the Maori woman did plenty of hard work.

3 There seem to have been a number of motives—revenge or exultation at the end of a battle or siege; acquisition of mana or prestige; ritual; the lack of flesh foods; simple hunger.

4 This was wrong. Prisoners became slaves.

5 The peruperu or tutu waewae, the war dance, was not needed to work up an artificial courage, for the Maori had enough of the real thing; but there is no doubt it heightened excitement. It seems probable that Banks and his fellows took every haka or posture dance they saw for a war-dance: the haka might be loud and vigorous enough without any intention to intimidate, and the peruperu simply took the haka a stage further, with weapons and an extra zest.

page 13

Both sexes were much more modest in their carriage and decent in their Conversation than the Islanders, which such of our people who had a mind to form any connexions with the Women soon found, but they were not impregnable: if the consent of their relations was askd and the Question accompanied with a proper present it was seldom refusd, but then the strictest decency must be kept up towards the young lady or she might baulk the lover after all. Upon one of our gentlemen making his adresses to a family of the better sort the following answer was made him by the mistress of the family: ‘Any of these young ladies will think themselves honourd by your adresses but you must first make me a proper present and must come and sleep with us ashore, for daylight should by no means be a witness of such proceedings’.

Neither sex are quite so cleanly in their persons as the Islanders, not having the advantage of so warm a climate they do not wash so often. But the most disgustfull thing about them is the Oil with which they daub their hair: this is melted from the fat either of fish or Birds: the better sort indeed have it fresh and then it is intirely void of smell, but the inferior often use that that is rancid and consequently smell something like Greenland dock when they are trying Whale Blubber.

Both sexes stain themselves with the colour of black in the same manner and som[e]thing in the same method as the South Sea Islanders, introducing it under the skin by a sharp instrument furnish'd with many teeth, but the men carry this custom to much greater lenghs and the women not so far, they are generaly content with having their lips black'd but sometimes have patches of black on different parts of their bodies. The men on the contrary seem to add to their quantity every Year of their lives so that some of the Elder were almost coverd with it. There faces are the most remarkable, on them they by some art unknown to me dig furrows in their faces a line deep at least and as broad, the edges of which are often again indented and most perfectly black. This may be done to make them look frightfull in war; indeed it has the Effect of making them most enormously ugly, the old ones at least whose faces are intirely coverd with it. The young again often have a small patch on one cheek or over an eye and those under a certain age (may be 25 or 26) have no more than their lips black. Yet ugly as this certainly looks it is impossible to avoid admiring the immence Elegance and Justness of the figures in which it is form'd,1 which in the face is always different spirals, upon the body generaly

1 S adds in a note, ‘(well as the Resolution of these poor People in bearing pain.)’

page 14 different figures resembling something the foliages of old Chasing upon gold or silver; all these finishd with a masterly taste and execution, for of a hundred which at first sight you would judge to be exactly the same, on a close examination no two will prove alike; nor do I remember to have seen any two alike, for their wild imaginations scorn to copy as appears in almost all their works. In different parts of the coast they varied very much in the quantity and parts of the body on which this Amoco as they call it was placd, but in the spirals upon their faces they generaly agreed, and I have generaly observd that the more populous a countrey was the greater quantity of this Amoco they had; possibly in populous countreys the emulation of Bearing pain with fortitude may be carried to greater lenghs than where there are fewer people and consequently fewer examples to encourage. The Buttocks which in the Islands was the principal seat of this ornament in general here escapes untouchd: in one place only we saw the contrary:1 possibly they might on this account be esteemd as more noble, as having transferrd the seat of their ornament from the dishonourable cheeks of their tail to the more honourable ones of their heads.

Besides this dying in grain as it may be calld they are very fond of painting themselves with Red Ocre which they do in two ways, either rubbing it Dry upon their skins, which some few do, or daubing their faces with large patches of it mixd with oil which consequently never drys: this latter is generaly practisd by the women and was most universaly condemnd by us, for if any of us had unthinkingly ravishd a kiss from one of these fair Savages our transgressions were wrote in most legible Characters on our noses, which our companions could not fail to see on our first interview.

The common dress of these people is certainly to a stranger at first one of the most uncouth and extrordinary sights that can be imagind. It is made of the leaves of the Flag describd before which are split into 3 or 4 Slips each, and these as soon as they are dry are wove into a kind of Stuff between netting and cloth, out of the upper side of which all the ends, of 8 or 9 inches long each, are sufferd to hang in the same manner as thrums out of a thrum mat. Of these peices of cloth 2 serve for a compleat dress one of which is tied over the shoulders and reaches about their knees, the other about the waist which reaches near the ground; but they seldom wear more than one of these and when they have it on resemble not a little a thachd house. These dresses however, ugly as they are, are well adapted for their convenience who are often obligd to

1 Off Cape Brett, on 26 November 1769: I, p. 439 above.

page 15 sleep in the open air and live some time without the least shelter even from rain, so that they must trust intirely to their Cloaths as the only chance they have of keeping themselves dry, for which they are certainly not ill adapted as every strip of leaf becomes in that case a kind of Guttar which serves to conduct the rain down and hinder it from soaking through the cloath beneath. Besides this they have several kinds of Cloth which is smooth and ingeniously enough workd:1 they are cheifly of two sorts, one coarse as our coarsest canvass and ten times stronger but much like it in the lying of the threads, the other is formd by many threads running lenghwise and a few only crossing them which tie them together. This last sort is sometimes stripd and always very pretty, for the threads that compose it are prepard so as to shine almost as much as silk; to both these they work borders of different colours in fine stiches something like Carpeting or girls Samplers in various patterns with an ingenuity truly surprizing to any one who will reflect that they are without needles. They have also Mats with which they sometimes cover themselves, but the great pride of their dress seems to consist in dogs fur, which they use so sparingly that to avoid waste they cut into long strips and sew them at a distance from each other upon their Cloth, varying often the coulours prettily enough. When first we saw these dresses we took them for the skins of Bears or some animal of that kind, but we were soon undeceivd and found upon enquiry that they were acquainted with no-animal that had fur or long hair but their own dogs. Some there were who had these dresses ornamented with feathers and one who had an intire dress of the red feathers of Parrots,2 but these were not common.
The men always wore short beards and tied their hair in a small knot on the top of their heads, sticking into it a kind of comb3 and at the top two or 3 white feathers.4 About their Waists was tied a belt from which hung a string which was tied round the preputium and in this seemd to consist most or all of their decency in that particular; for when that was-tied they often exposd by different motions every part of their bodies to our view and indeed

1 Woven of scutched flax fibre. The best description of technique, including the taniko borders which Banks goes on to mention, is in Buck, pp. 158 ff.

2 The parrot was the Kaka, Nestor meridionalis (Gm.).

3 A man combed his hair when dressing it carefully, but the main purpose of these combs, whalebone or hardwood, was decorative. They were called heru. Women only very rarely wore them. See Pls. 6 and 7.

4 They were not invariably white. The black and white tail feathers of the Huia were greatly valued, among others; white plumes were obtained from such birds as the albatross, white heron, tropic bird, gannet, and so on.

page 16 not seldom threw off all other dress, but shewd visible reluctance and signs of shame when we desird them to untie it from a curiosity to see the manner in which it was tied. The first man we saw when we went ashore at Poverty bay who was killd by one of our people had his dress tied on exactly in the same manner as is represented in Mr Dalrymples account of Tasmans Voyage, in a plat which I beleive is copied from Valentynes history of the East Indies;1 it was tied over his shoulders cross his breast, again under his armpits, likwise across his breast, and round his loins. Of this dress we saw however but one more in [s]tance during our whole stay on the Coast, tho it seems convenient as it leaves the arms quite at liberty while the body is coverd; in general indeed when they chose to set their arms at liberty they at the same time freed all their other limbs by casting off their cloaths intirely.

The Women contrary to the custom of the Sex in general seemd to affect dress rather less than the men. Their hair which they wore short was seldom tied, and if it was it was behind their heads and never ornamented with feathers. Their cloaths were of the same stuff and in the same form as those of the men but in decently covering themselves they far exceeded them; their lower garments were at all times bound fast round them and they never exposd to view any thing even in the neighbourhood of those parts which nature co[n]ceals, except when they gatherd lobsters and shell fish in which occupation they were frequently obligd to dive, but then they never meant to be seen by men and when once or twice accidentaly met by us shewd most evident signs of Confusion, veiling as well as they could their naked beauties with sea weed the only covering their situation afforded. Round their waists instead of a belt they constantly wore a girdle of many platted strings made of the leaves of a very fragrant Grass; into this were tuckd the leaves of some sweet scented plant fresh gatherd which like the fig leaf of our first mother servd as the ultimate guard of their modesty.

Both sexes bord their ears and wore in them a great variety of ornaments; the holes by stretching were generaly large enough to admit a finger at least. These generaly (as if to keep them upon the

1 Cf. I, p. 400, n. 2 above. François Valentijn (1656-1727), a Dutch East Indian traveller, was pastor of the church at Amboina 1686–94 and 1707–14. He wrote a number of theological works and, being an excellent scholar and speaker of Malay, translated the Bible into that tongue; but his real and present fame rests on the eight folio volumes of his Oudt en Nieuw Oost-Indien (Dordrecht 1724–6), which was translated into more than one language. Not very well arranged, the book was nevertheless a mine of information on the Dutch East Indies, though most detailed on Amboina, and collected together accounts of travel and discovery as far east as China and Japan, and as far south as New Zealand (curiously enough, in Vol. V, thrust into a description of Banda).

page 17 stretch) were filld up with a plug of some sort or other, either cloth, feathers, Bones of large birds, or sometimes only a stick of wood; into this hole they often also put nails or any [thing] we gave them which could be put there. The women also often wore bunches of the down of the albatross which is snow white near as large as a fist, which tho very odd made by no means an unelegant appearance.1 Besides these they hung to them by strings many very different thing[s], often chissels or bodkins made of a kind of green talk2 which they value much, the nails and teeth also of their deceasd relations, dogs teeth, and in short every thing they could get which was either valuable or ornamental. Besides these the Women wore sometimes Bracelets and anclets made of the Bones of Birds, shells, &c. and the men often had the figure of a distorted man made of the beforementiond green talk,3 or the tooth of a whale cut slauntwise, so as something to resemble a tongue, and furnishd with two eyes;4 these they wore about their necks and seemd to Value almost above every thing else. I saw one instance also of a very extrordinary ornament, which was a feather stuck through the bridge of the nose and projecting on each side of it over the cheeks; but this I only mention as a singular thing, having met with it only once among the many people I have seen, and never observd in any other even the marks of a hole which might occasionaly serve for such a purpose.
Their houses are certainly the most inartificialy made of any thing among them, scarce equal to a European dog kennel and resembling one in the door at least, which is barely high and wide enough to admit a man crawling upon all fours. They are seldom more than 16 or 18 feet long, 8 or 10 broad and five or 6 high from the ridge pole to the Ground and built with a sloping roof like our European houses. The materials of both walls and roof is dry grass or hay and very tightly it is put together, so that nescessarily they must be very warm. Some are lind with bark of trees on the inside, and many have either over the door or fixd somewhere in the house a peice of Plank coverd with their carving, which they seem to value much as we do a picture, placing it always as conspicuously as possible.

1 Men as well as women wore this ornament.

2 Greenstone ear pendants or kuru were straight, curved, circular or some other shape as the stone or the fancy of the artist dictated.

3 This was the tiki or hei tiki, a neck pendant, one of the most characteristic of Maori art forms. It was also fashioned from whalebone. See Pl. 6.

4 The rei paraoa or reiputa (rei, a large tooth or whale ivory; paraoa, the sperm whale; puta, a hole) was a valuable ornament; the aristocratic person portrayed in Hawkesworth's pl. 13 is wearing one, as well as a fine kurukuru, or straight greenstone ear pendant and a handsome comb. See Pl. 7.

page 18 All these houses have the door at one end and near it is generaly a square hole which serves for a window or probably in winter time more for a chimney, for then they light a fire in the middle of the house. At the same end where this door and window are placed the side walls and roof project, generaly 18 inches or 2 feet beyond the end wall, making a kind of Porch in which are benches where the people of the house often set. Within is a square place fencd of with either boards or stones from the rest, in the middle of which they can make a fire; round this the sides of the house are thick layd with straw on which they sleep. As for furniture they are not much troubled with it: one chest commonly contains all their riches, consisting of Tools, Cloaths, arms, and a few feathers to stick into their hair; their gourds and Baskets made of Bark which serve them to keep fresh water, provision baskets, and the hammers with which they beat their fern roots, are generaly left without the door.

Mean and low as these houses are they most perfectly resist all inclemencies of the weather and answer consequently the purposes of mere shelter as well as larger would do. The people I beleive spend little of the day in them (except may be in winter): the porch seems to be the place for work, and those who have not room there must set upon a stone or the ground in its neighbourhood.1

Some few of the better sort have kind of Court Yards, the walls of which are made of poles and hay 10 or 12 feet high, which as their families are large incloses 3 or 4 houses. But I must not forget the ruins or rather frame of a house (for it had never been finishd) which I saw at Tolaga, as it was so much superior in size to any thing of the kind we have met with in any other part of the land. It was 30 feet in lengh, in breadth and high; the sides of it were ornamented with many broad carvd planks of a workmanship superior to any we saw upon the land; but for what purpose this was built or why deserted we could not find out.2

1 Banks has been describing the commonest sleeping hut or whare puni, the least impressive of Maori architectural forms. By ’dry grass or hay’ he seems to mean the various sedges or rushes which were used for walls and thatching—e.g. toetoe or pampas grass (Arundo conspicua). Whare puni, it is to be noted, might on the other hand be very carefully and skilfully constructed timber buildings. He unfortunately does not seem to have seen any of the great whare whakairo, the ’superior houses’ decorated with carving and woven designs, which were the glory of Maori architecture, apart from the imperfect example mentioned in the next paragraph.

2 It might have been designed as a whare hui, an assembly house for the tribe and its guests, or a whare runanga, where tribal discussions would take place. A possible reason for desertion (if Banks was right about desertion—and he probably was, for it was important to push right on with the construction of a house once it was started) was some infringement of tapu. Cf. Best, The Maori, II, p. 561: ’The tapu of a new house … is, or was, even more stringent than that of an occupied house. For a house in course of construction is placed under the care and control of the gods, and great care has to be taken that no act is committed that will give offence to those gods, or trouble will visit the house, its builders or inmates—this because the gods have withdrawn their protection. No woman was allowed in or near a superior house in course of construction. Such an untoward occurrence would be followed by lack of energy, listlessness on the part of the workmen, and probably the house would never be finished’.

page 19

Tho these people when at home defend themselves so well from the inclemencies of the Weather, yet when abroad upon their excursions which they often make in search of fern roots fish &c. they seem totaly indifferent of shelter: sometimes they make a small shade to wind ward of them but oftener omit that precaution. During our stay at Opoorage1 or Mercury bay such a party of Indians were there consisting of 40 or 50, who during all that time never erected the least covering tho it twice raind almost without ceasing for 24 hours together.

Their food, in the use of which the[y] seem to be moderate, consists of Dogs, Birds, especialy sea fowl as penguins albatrosses2 &c, fish, sweet potatoes,3 Yams,4 Coccos,5 some few wild plants as sow thistles,6 Palm Cabbage7 &c. but Above all and which seems to be to them what bread is to us, the roots of a species of Fern very common upon the hills and which very nearly resembles that which grows on our hilly commons in England and is calld indifferently Fern, Bracken, or Brakes.8 As for the flesh of men, although they certainly do eat it I cannot in my own opinion Debase human nature so much as to imagine that they relish as a dainty or even look upon it as a part of common food. Tho Thirst of Revenge may Drive men to great lenghs when the Passions are allowd to take their full swing Yet nature through all the superior part of the creation shews how much she recoils at the thought of any species preying upon itself: Dogs and cats shew visible signs of disgust at the very sight of a dead carcass of their species, even Wolves or Bears were never sayd to eat one another except in cases of absolute nescessity, when the stings of hunger have

1 Purangi, the Maori name of the ‘Oyster River’ at Mercury Bay, transferred by those in the Endeavour to the whole bay.

2 Buck, p. 98, figures a special form of hook that was used for catching the albatross. It was generally the young of sea birds that were taken. The taste for sea birds is now confined (though the pakeha has also acquired it) to the ‘mutton bird’, the Sooty Shearwater, Puffinus griseus. Banks ignores, and can have had no means of learning, the much greater importance of forest birds for Maori diet.

3 Kumara (cf. Tahitian Umara), Ipomoea batatas.

4 Uhi or Uwhi (Tahitian Uhi), Dioscorea sp.

5 Taro (Tahitian Taro), Colocasia antiquorum.

6 Puwha, Sonchus oleraceus.

7 Kouka, the inner leaf-shoots of the Cordyline australis.

8 Aruhe, the rhizomes of the bracken fern, Pteridium aquilinum. (Cf. I, p. 416 above.) It ranges from Australia to Tahiti, as the regional variant of the world-wide monotypic Pteridium.

page 20 overcome the precepts of nature, in which case the same has been done by the inhabitants of the most civilizd nations.

Among fish and insects indeed there are many instances which prove that those who live by prey regard little whither what they take is of their own or any other species; but any one who considers the admirable chain of nature in which Man, alone endowd with reason, justly claims the highest rank and next to him are placd the half reasoning Elephant, the sagacious dog, the architect Beaver, &c. in Whoom instinct so nearly resembles reason as to have been mistaken for it by men of no mean capacitys, from these descending through the less informd Quadrupeds and birds to the fish and insects, which seem besides the instinct of Fear which is given them for self preservation to be movd only by the stings of hunger to eat and those of lust to propagate their species, which when born are left intirely to their own care, and at last by the medium of the Oyster, &c. &c. which not being able to move but as tost about by the waves must in themselves be furnishd with both sexes that the species may be continued, shading itself away into the vegetable kingdom for the preservation of whoom neither sensation nor instinct is wanting — whoever considers this I say will easily see that no Conclusion in favour of such a practise can be drawn from the actions of a race of beings placd so infinitely below us in the order of Nature.1

But to return to my subject. Simple as their food is their Cookery as far as I saw is as simple: a few stones heated hot and laid in a hole, their meat laid upon them and coverd with Hay seems to be the most dificult part of it.2 Fish and birds they generaly broil

1 Nothing more than this paragraph could place Banks so exactly in his period. The ‘order of nature’ or the ‘chain of nature’ was one of the overruling ideas of the eighteenth century, and perhaps the nearest to a philosophical or general scientific notion that Banks ever had. With a long ancestry in the western world, in his time it was as commonly accepted as the idea of evolution is in ours. All created things, it was held, are linked together in a regular progression, from the non-sentient to the sentient, rocks to man (however many ‘missing links’ there might be to discover), with a further infinite progression beyond man to the Creator; and each had its settled place, as ordained by the Creator, in the whole related scheme. Nature does not proceed by leaps, to quote one of the classic formulations. Banks has already made one allusion to the idea in his remark on penguins (p. 5 above), ‘which are truly what the French call Nuance, between birds and fishes’; and will make others on corals (p. 108 below): ‘we were so intirely taken up with the more conspicuous links of the chain of creation’; and on Hottentots (p. 256 below), ‘that some have been inclined to suppose them more nearly related to Baboons than Men’. The unfortunate Hottentots were always being picked on to illustrate. A. O. Lovejoy's interesting study, The Great Chain of Being (Cambridge, Mass. 1942), is devoted to the subject, Chapters VI (‘The Chain of Being in eighteenth century thought’) and VIII (‘The Chain of Being and some aspects of eighteenth century biology’) being particularly apposite in the present context.

2 He refers to the umu or hangi (Tahitian umu) the traditional Polynesian ‘earth-oven’, described in detail, I, p. 344 above.

page 21 or rather toast, spitting them upon a long skewer, the bottom of which is fixd under a stone and another stone being put under the fore part of the skewer it is raisd or lowerd by moving that stone as the circumstances may require. The Fern roots are layd upon the open fire untill they are thouroughly hot and the bark of them burnt to a coal, they are then beat with a wooden hammer over a stone which causes all the bark to fly off and leaves the inside consisting of a small proportion of a glutinous pulp mixt with many fibres, which they generaly spit out after having suckd each mouthfull a long time. Strange and unheard of as it must appear to an European to draw nourishment from a class of Plant which in Europe no animal, har[d]ly even insects, will taste, I am much inclind to think that it affords a nourishing and wholesome diet: these people eat but little and this is the foundation of their meals, all summer at least from the time that their roots are planted till the season for digging them up. Among them I have seen many very healthy old men and in general the whole of them are as vigorous a race as can be imagind.

To the Southward where little or nothing is planted Fern roots and fish must serve them all the Year. Here therefore we saw that they had made vast piles of Both, especialy the latter which were dryd in the sun very well, I suppose meant for winter stock when possibly Fish is not so plentifull or the trouble of catching it greater than in Winter.

Water is their universal drink nor did I see any signs of any other liquor being at all known to them, or any method of Intoxication. If they realy have not happy they must be allowd to be above all other nations that I at least have heard of.1

So simple a diet accompanied with moderation must be productive of sound health, which indeed these people are blessd with in a very high degree. Tho we were in several of their towns where Young and old crowded to see us, actuated by the same curiosity as made us desirous of seing them, I do not remember a single instance of a person distemperd in any degree that came under my inspection, and among the numbers of them that I have seen naked I have never seen an eruption on the skin or any signs of one by scars or otherwise. Their skins indeed when they came off to us in their canoes were often markd in patches with a white flowery appearance which at first deceivd us, but we afterwards

1 Among happy nations Banks has forgotten the Tierra del Fuegians, whose ignorance of strong liquors was much admired by British seafarers such as Sydney Parkinson. See e.g. Cook I, p. 45, n. 2.

page 22 found that that was owing to their having been in their Passage wetted with the spray of the sea, which when it was dry left the salt behind it in a fine white powder.

Such health drawn from so sound principles must make physicians almost useless: indeed I am inclind to think that their knowledge of Physick is but small from the state of their surgery which more than once came under my inspection. Of this art they seemd totaly ignorant; I saw several who were wounded by our shot without the smallest application upon their wounds, one in particular who had a musquet ball shot through the fleshy part of his arm; he came out of his house and shewd himself to us making a little use of the wounded arm; the wound which was then of several days standing was totaly void of inflammation, seemd well digested, in short appeard to me to be in so good a state that had any application been made use of I should not have faild to enquire carefully what it had Been which had had so good an Effect.1

A farther proof and not a weak one of the sound health that these people enjoy may be taken from the number of old people we saw; hardly a canoe came off to us that did not bring one or more and every town had several whoom if we may judge by gray hairs and worn out teeth were of a very advancd age.2 Of these few or none were decrepid, indeed the greatest number of them seemd in vivacity and chearfullness to equal the young, indeed to be inferior to them in nothing but the want of equal strengh and agility.

That these people have a larger share of ingenuity than usualy falls to the lot of nations who have had so little or indeed no commerce with any others appears at first sight. Their boats, the better sort of them at least, shew it most evidently. They are built of very thin planks sewd together,3 their sides rounding up like ours, but very narrow for their lengh. Some are immensely long: One I saw which the people laid alongside the ship as if to measure how much longer she was than the Canoe, which fairly reachd

1 Cf. I, p. 443 above.

2 The worn-out teeth may have been due to the fern-root diet. Best, who discusses its use in detail, says (I, p. 427), ‘The chewing of these roots was hard on the teeth; I have seen many old skulls containing teeth so worn that the grinders must have been worn pretty well down to the gums, but every tooth as sound as the proverbial bell’.

3 This was not so. The canoes which Banks observed were the seagoing vessels for fishing and coastal travel (waka tete) or the great war-canoes (waka taua). Neither (nor indeed any other Maori canoe) was ‘built of very thin planks sewd together’; he must have been misled by imperfect study of the top or gunwale strakes, which were lashed on to the main part of the hull, and then, writing this general New Zealand summary after he had left the country, incorporated some of his own observations from the Society Islands. The main hull was hewn out of a single tree trunk, a totara or kauri; or, in the case of the waka taua, built up of a long middle section and shorter bow and stern sections joined cunningly and strongly by mortice and tenon.

page 23 from the anchor that hung at the bows quite aft, and consequently could not be less than 1feet long; but indeed we saw few so large as that. All except a few that we saw at Opoorage or Mercury bay, which were merely trunks of trees hollowd out by fire, were more or less ornamented by carving. The common fishing canoes had nothing but the face of a man with a monstrous tongue and whose eyes were generaly inlayd with a kind of shell like mother of Pearl2 in the fore part of them, but the larger sort which seemd to be intended for war were realy magnificently adornd. Their heads were formd by a Plank projecting about 3 feet before the canoe, and on their sterns stood up another proportiond to the size of the canoe, from ten to 18 feet high; both these were richly carvd with open work and coverd with loose fringes of Black feathers that had a most gracefull effect; the gunnel boards were often also carvd in a grotesque taste and ornamentd with white feathers in bunches placd upon a black ground at certain intervals. They sometimes joind two small canoes together and now and then made use of an outligger3 as is practisd in the Islands, seldom towards the north rather oftener to the Southward.
In managing these canoes they are very expert, in the padling of them at least, in one I counted 16 padlers of a side and never did men I beleive keep better time with their strokes, driving on the boat with immense velocity. Their paddles are often ornamented with carving, their blade is of an oval shape pointed towards the bottom, broadest in the middle and again sloping towards the handle, which is about 4 feet long, the whole being generaly near 6 feet long more or less. But in sailing they are not so expert, we very seldom saw them make use of Sails and indeed never unless when they were to go right before the wind. They were made of mat and instead of a mast were hoisted upon two sticks which were fastned one to each side, so that they requird two ropes which answerd the purpose of sheets and were fastned to the tops of these sticks;4 in this clumsey manner they saild with a good deal of

1 This blank argues that Banks was hazy about the length of the Endeavour, which was 106 feet. This was certainly an unusually large canoe, but war canoes eighty feet long, or even longer, were not uncommon.

2 The shell of the Paua, Haliotis sp.

3 ‘Outligger’ or ‘outlicker’, thinks the O.E.D., was probably a corruption of ‘outlier’, and is defined as from 1626 as ‘a spar projecting from a vessel to extend some sail, or to make a greater angle for some rope’. It gave way to ‘outrigger’ in 1755. But ‘outrigger’ has ordinarily a quite different meaning, as here: and S has the note, ‘Outligger. A piece of board at the side, by way of balancing’.

4 Banks does not make this rig altogether clear, and he seems to be describing a square sail. But the author of the anonymous Journal of a Voyage round the World (1771), writing of a sailing canoe in the Bay of Plenty, describes ‘a sail of an odd construction, which was made from a kind of matting, and of a triangular figure, the hypotheneuse, or broadest part, being placed at the top of the mast, and ending in a point at the bottom’ (p. 82). The sole surviving Maori sail is in the British Museum. It is triangular (though certainly not a right-angled triangle, as ‘hypotheneuse’ would infer), 14 ft 6 in. long, 6 ft 4 in. wide at the base, and 12 in. wide at the apex. It was rigged on a vertical mast, the base at the top, the other long side attached to a sprit or boom, which was itself loosely attached at the bottom to the mast just above the thwart. This boom was manoeuvred by a rope tied to it near the top; the mast, the boom, and rope, together with the shrouds and stays of the masts, may have given Banks the impression he records of ‘two sticks … fastned one to each side’. The British Museum sail has been described and figured by Raymond Firth in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, 40 (1931), pp. 129—35, with Additional Notes by Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck), ibid., pp. 136—40.

page 24 swiftness and were steerd by two men who sat in the stern with each a paddle in his hand. I shall set down the dimensions of one that we measurd that was of the largest size: it was in lengh 68½ feet, breadth 5, depth 31½; this was the only one that we measurd or indeed had an opportunity of measuring.

For the beauty of their carving in general I fain would say something more about it but find myself much inferior to the task. I shall therefore content myself with saying that their taste varied into two materialy different Stiles, I will call them. One was intirely formd of a number of Spirals diff[er]ently connected, the other was in a much more wild taste and I may truly say was like nothing but itself.1 Of the former the truth with which the lines were drawn was surprizing, but above all their method of connecting several spirals into one peice, which they did inimitably well, intermingling the ends of them in so dextrous a manner that it was next to impossible for the eye to trace their connections. For the other I shall say nothing but referr intirely to the few drawings which I had an opportunity of getting made of them; premising however that the beauty of all their carvings depended intirely on the design, for the execution was so rough that when you came near it was difficult to find any bea[u]ties in the things which struck you most at a distance.

After having said so much of their workmanship it will be nescessary to say something of their tools. As they have no metal among them these are made of Stone of different kinds, their hatchets2 especialy of any hard stone they can get but cheifly of a kind of Green Talk which is very hard and at the same time tough;3

1 Possibly Banks is here referring to the formalized human figure, or to such pieces as the figure-heads of war canoes—where indeed the spiral and double-spiral were much used, together with scroll-work and straight lines.

2 If Banks means ‘hatchet’ literally, and not ‘adze’, this is evidence for the existence among the ancient Maori of an axe-hafted implement with two bevels to its edge, the toki titaha, about which there has been a good deal of enquiry and controversy. See Best, The Stone Implements of the Maori (Dominion Museum Bulletin 10, Wellington 1912), Chap. VIII, esp. pp. 137 ff. Cook refers to ‘adzes or axes’ as the tools used in building canoes and houses.

3 Greenstone or nephrite, pounamu.

page 25 with axes of this stone they cut so clean that it would often puzzle a man to say if the wood they have shapd was or was not cut with an Iron hatchet. These axes they value above all their riches and would seldom part with them for any thing we could offer. But their nicer work which requires nicer edge tools they do with fragments of Jasper,1 which they break and use the edges of it that are sharp like flints till they are blunt, after which they are thrown away as useless, for it impossible ever again to sharpen them; with these fragments of Jasper I suppose it was that at Tolaga they bord a hole through a peice of Glass that we had given to them, just large enough to admit a thread in order to convert it into an ornament. But what method they make use of to cut and polish their weapons calld by them patoo patoo, which are made of very hard stone, I must confess I am quite ignorant.2

For their Cloths they are made exactly in the same manner as is usd by the inhabitants of South America, some of whose workmanship procurd at Rio de Janeiro I have on board: the warp or long threads are laid very close together and each crossing of the woof is distant from another an inch at least. But they have besides this several other kinds of cloth and work borders to them all, which I have before mentiond, but as to their manner of doing I must confess myself totaly ignorant.3 I never but once saw any of this work going forwards, that was done in a kind of frame of the breadth of the Cloth, across which it was spread, and the cross threads workd in by hand which must be very tedious; but howsoever they may be made the workmanship sufficiently proves the workmen to be dextrous in their way. One peice of notability in them I must not forget, which is that to every garment of the better kind is fixd a Bodkin, as if to remind the wearer that if it should be torn by any accident no time should be lost before it is mended.4

Netts for fishing they make in the same manner as ours, of an amazing size. A seine seems to be the joint work of a whole town and I suppose the joint property: of these I think I have seen as large as ever I saw in Europe. Besides this they have fish pots and

1 By jasper he probably means obsidian.

2 The process was long and complicated, and Banks certainly had no opportunity to observe it. The piece of stone or greenstone deemed suitable was reduced to something like its final shape by hammering, and sawing with a stone file, sand and water; then the inequalities were flaked, chipped, ‘pecked’ and ‘bruised’ off with further stone instruments; then it was ground with wet sandstone; then it was rubbed with a special polishing stone, or with green lacebark wood. Greenstone was polished with shark oil.

3 The reader will find an illuminating discussion of cloth-making technique in Buck, pp. 158 ff.

4 Banks made a bad guess here: the bodkin was not to repair, but to fasten the garment when in use.

page 26 baskets workd with twiggs, and another kind of net which they most generaly make use of that I have never seen in any countrey but this. They are circular and about 7 or 8 feet in diameter and 2 or 3 deep; they are stretchd by two or three hoops and open at the top for near but not quite their whole extent; on the bottom is fastned the bait, a little basket containing the gutts &c. of fish and sea ears which are tied to different parts of the net. This is let down to the bottom where fish are and when enough are supposd to be gatherd together are drawn up with a very gentle motion by which means the fish are insensibly lifted from the bottom; in this manner I have seen them take vast numbers of fish and indeed it is a most general way of fishing all over the coast. Their hooks are but ill made, generaly of bone or shell fastned to a peice of wood; indeed they seem to have little occasion for them for with their netts they take fish much easier than they could do with them.1

In tillage they excell, as people who are themselves to eat the fruit of their industry and have little else to do but to cultivate nescessarily must. When we first came to Tegadu their crops were just coverd and had not yet began to sprout: the mould was as smooth as in a garden, and every root had its small hillock rangd in a regular Quincunx by lines which with the pegs still remaind in the feild.2 We had not an opportunity of seeing them work but once saw their tool, which is a long and narrow stake flatted a little and sharpned, across this is fixd a peice of stick for the convenience of pressing it down with the foot; with this simple tool industry teaches them to turn up peices of ground of 6 or 7 acres in extent; indeed the soil is generaly sandy, is therefore easily turn up, and the narrowness of the tool the blade of which is not more than 3 inches broad makes it meet with the less resistance.3

Tillage, weaving and the rest of the arts of peace are best known and most practisd in the North Eastern parts; indeed in the Southern there is little to be seen of any of them. But War seems to be equaly known to all tho most practisd in the South West parts. The mind of man, ever ingenious in inventing instruments of destruction, has not been Idle here. Their weapons tho few are well calculated for bloody fights and the destruction of numbers, defensive weapons they have none and no Missive ones except stones and darts which

1 There was more than one sort of the circular net here described, of different sizes and names, depending on the sort of fish it was used for. Banks is rather unjust to the Maori fish hook.

2 This seems to refer to kumara cultivation.

3 He is describing the tool called the ko, only one (though an important one) of those used in tilling the ground.

page 27 are cheifly usd in defending their forts, so that if two bodies should meet either in boats, or upon the plain ground, they must fight hand to hand and the slaughter be consequently immense. Their Weapons are Spears made of hard wood and pointed at both ends, sometimes headed with human bones; of these some are 14 or 15 feet long; they are graspd by the middle so that the end which hangs behind, serving as a balance to keep steady that which is before, makes it much more dificult to parry a push from one of them than it would be from one of a spear only half as long which was held by the end.1 Battle axes made likewise of a very hard wood about 6 feet long, the bottom of the handle pointed, and the blade which is perfectly like the blade of an axe but broader made very sharp; with these they chop at the heads of their antagonists when an opportunity offers.2 Patoo patoos as they calld them, a kind of small hand bludgeon of stone, bone or hard wood most admirably calculated for the cracking of sculls; they are of different shapes, some like an old fashiond chopping knife, others of this always however having sharp edges and a sufficient weight to make a second blow unnescessary if the first takes place; in these they seemd to put their cheif dependance, fastning them by a strong strap to their wrists least they should be wrenchd from them. The principal people seldom stirrd out without one of them sticking in his girdle, generaly made of Bone (of Whales as they told us) or of coarse black Jasper very hard, insomuch that we were almost led to conclude that in peace as well as war they wore them as a warlike ornament in the same manner as we Europeans wear swords.3
or

or

1 A spear of this sort seems to be described by no one besides Banks, and there appears to be no specific Maori name for it. As described it comes somewhere between the huata or taoroa, the long spear (18—24 feet) used in the attack on or defence of the fortified pa, and the Ordinargy light fighting spear or tao, 6 to 9 feet long. Best (II, pp. 242—3) remarks that ‘Notched spear points of whale's bone (taraiwi pakake) were occasionally used, lashed to a shaft of ten feet or so in length’. The Maori in any case did not hold his spear ‘by the end’.

2 The tewhatewha. The point was not very sharp or lethal, and the important blow was delivered not with the ‘sharp’ edge of the blade, as Banks assumed, but with the thick back of it—i.e. it was a club rather than an axe, and when made from the favourite root of the tree called Maire, extremely hard and strong, was a very efficient club.

3 The first shape drawn by Banks represents the stone patu, which had the distinctive name onewa. He uses the term ‘Jasper’ rather loosely; he may here be referring to the baked argyllite much used in the Marlborough Sounds area, which he would certainly have seen at Queen Charlotte Sound. Best (II, p. 259) thinks it was a kind of greywacke. The second sketch is that of the whalebone (sometimes wooden) kotiate, described by Buck (p. 278) as ‘somewhat fiddle-shaped owing to a notch on each side’. Whalebone clubs were generically called patu paraoa. The most beautiful of patu was of course the greenstone mere, and this in particular might be worn ‘as a warlike ornament’, in addition to its function as a deadly weapon.

page 28 Darts about 8 feet long made of wood bearded and sharpned, but intended cheifly for the defence of their forts where they have the advantage of throwing them from a hight down upon their enemy; they often brought them out in their boats when they meant to attack us, but so little were they able to make use of them against us who were by reason of the hight of the ship above them that they never but once attempted it, and that dart tho thrown with the utmost effort of the man who held it barely fell on board.1 Sometimes I have seen them pointed with the stings of stingrays but very seldom: why they do not oftener use them I do not know, nothing is more terrible to a Europae[a]n than the sharp Jagged beards of those bones, but I beleive they seldom cause death tho the wounds made by them must be most troublesome and painfull. Stones however they use much more dextrou[s]ly. Tho ignorant of the use of Slings they throw by hand a considerable distance; when they have pelted us with them on board the ship I have seen our people attempt to throw them back and not be able to reach the Canoes, tho they had so manifest an advantage in the hight of their situation.
These are all that can properly be calld arms. But besides these the cheifs when they came to attack us carried in their hands a kind of ensign of distinction in the same manner as ours, or spontoons: they were either the rib of a Whale as white as snow carvd very much and ornamented with dogs hair and feathers,2 or a stick about 6 feet long carvd and ornamented in the same manner and generaly inlayd with shell like mother of Pearl.3 Of these cheifs there were in their War Canoes one two or 3 according to the size

1 The dart or pere seems to have died out of use by the time of early European settlement in New Zealand. It was frequently stuck lightly in the ground at an angle and projected with a sort of throwing stick (Best refers to them as ‘whip-thrown’, II, pp. 273—5,) as well as flung down from a pa as recounted by Banks; so that it does not appear to have been particularly well adapted for offence at sea.

2 This must have been the hoeroa, which Best (II, pp. 276—9) describes as ‘the most peculiar weapon of the native armoury, and, moreover, one concerning which we have very little explanation to offer as to its use. Its extraordinary shape, its lack of a piercing point, render it an extremely puzzling form… . [It] is 5 ft. and upward in length, about two inches wide, flat, and about ¼ in. in thickness, or a little more. Neither end is brought to a piercing point, but merely slightly rounded. It carries its width throughout… . The rear end was adorned with carved designs, and a little carving may appear about the middle’. As a weapon it is said to have been thrown; but examples which were, in Banks's words, ‘carvd very much’ are more likely to have been simply the mark of chiefly rank and authority—an ‘ensign of distinction’. But it now seems certain that it was not a weapon at all. The literal meaning of hoeroa is ‘long paddle’: it was an ‘ensign of distinction’ purely, the mark of chiefly rank and authority.

3 Possibly a wooden version of the hoeroa; but probably the well-known taiaha, one end of which was carved into a grotesque face with a lengthened distended tongue, and eyes of pawa or haliotis. It was much used in ceremonial as well as being a favourite weapon; good examples of this long slim perfectly balanced shaft are matched in beauty only by a fine greenstone mere, with its austere purity of line and colour.

page 29 of them. When within about a Cables lengh of the ship these generaly rose up, dressd themselves in a distinguishing dress, often of Dogs skin, and holding in their hands either one of their Spontoons or a Weapon directed the rest of the people how to proceed; they were always old or at least past the middle age and had upon them a larger quantity than common of the black stains that they call amoco. These Canoes commonly paddled with great vigour till they came within about a stones throw of the ship (having no Idea that any missive weapon could reach them farther) and then began to threaten us, this indeed the smaller canoes did as soon as they were in hearing. Their words were almost universaly the same, ‘haromai haromai harre uta a patoo patoo ’oge1 — come to us, come to us, come but ashore with us and we will kill you with our Patoo patoos: in this manner they continued to threaten us, venturing by degrees nearer and nearer till they were close alongside, at intervals talking very civily and answering any questions we askd them but quickly renewing their threats till they had by our non-resistance gaind courage enough to begin their war song and dance; after which they either became so insolent that we found it nescessary to chastise them by firing small shot at them, or else threw three or four stones on board and as if content with having offerd such an insult unreveng'd left us.

The War Song and dance consists of Various contortions of the limbs during which the tongue is frequently thrust out incredibly far and the orbits of the eyes enlargd so much that a circle of white is distinctly seen round the Iris: in short nothing is omittd which can render a human shape frightful and deformd, which I suppose they think terrible. During this time they brandish their spears, hack the air with their patoo patoos and shake their darts as if they meant every moment to begin the attack, singing all the time in a wild but not disagreable manner and ending every strain with a loud and deep fetchd sigh in which they all join in concert. The whole is accompanied by strokes struck against the sides of the Boats &c with their feet, Paddles and arms, the whole in such excellent time that tho the crews of several Canoes join in concert you rarely or never hear a single stroke wrongly placd.2

1 Haere mai, haere mai, haere ki uta hei patu-patu ake: ‘literally ‘Come here, come here, come on shore to be patu-patued!’

2 Banks seems in this paragraph to be telescoping his impressions of haka or peruperu seen on land and some modified version of song and posture adapted to performance in the canoes. Although the haka was (and is) a posture dance it is difficult to reconcile some of its characteristic figures with a crowded canoe out at sea, even in a flat calm. But no doubt enough could be done to work up a sufficiently intimidating effect; and no doubt the chief himself, with taiaha or patu, could put on a terrifying display. Parkinson made a drawing of the crew of a canoe bidding defiance to the ship, as well as one showing them in more peaceful shape. The best description of the haka seen on land during the Endeavour's visit is by Monkhouse, in Cook I, p. 569.

page 30

This we calld the War song, for tho they seemd fond of using it upon all occasions whether in war or peace they I beleive never omit it in their attacks.1 Besides this they have several other songs which their women sing prettily enough in parts; they are all in a slow melancholy stile but certainly have more taste in them than could be expected from untaught savages. Instrumental musick they have not, unless a kind of wooden pipe2 or the shell calld Tritons Trumpet3 with which they make a noise not much differing from that made by boys with a Cows horn may be calld such. They have indeed besides these a kind of small pipe of wood, crooked and shapd almost like a large tobacco pipe head, but it has hardly more musick in it than a whistle with a Pea in it;4 but on none of these did I ever hear them attempt to play a tune or sing to their musick.

That they eat the bodies of such of their enemies as are killd in war is a fact which, tho universaly acknowledg'd by them from our first landing at every place we came into, I confess I was very loth to give credit to till I by accident found the bones of men well pick'd in the very baskets where these people keep their provision: so convincing a proof I could not withstand, so I proceeded to inquire as well as I could with the small knowledge of their language which I had and the Assistance of Tupia what were their customs upon this occasion. They told us that a few days before a canoe of their enemies had been surprizd by them and that out of her they killd 7 persons, to one of whoom the bones in the basket had belongd, that now all the flesh of these people was eat up and most

1 ‘Tho they seemd fond of using it upon all occasions whether in war or peace’ is a perceptive remark. Haka was a general term for the dance, and a perfectly peaceable, welcoming and fraternal haka might bear all the marks—to the uninitiated—of extreme fury and bloodthirstiness. The war-dance was properly called peruperu, and was a really formidable exhibition: as Banks says, nothing was omitted that could render a human shape frightful. But it still remained a masterpiece of co-ordination and rhythm.

2 Probably this was the instrument known as pu torino (pu to blow; torino, flowing smoothly), about 18 inches long on the average. Not a great deal is known about its use; Buck (p. 261) was ‘informed that it was in the nature of a speaking trumpet, the player singing or reciting words and chants into the instrument’. See also Best, II, pp. 150—2. It was blown into from the end, and was often beautifully carved. Or Banks may have been referring to the whio, another sort of slim flute.

3 The shell trumpet was not a musical instrument, but was used for signalling purposes, e.g. to bring people together or to announce visitors. The shell was that of the New Zealand Triton, Charonia capax euclioides Finlay.

4 Perhaps the koaauau, the shape of which however varied, and might be straight. If so, Banks does a grave injustice to its sound; in the famous legend of Tutanekai and Hinemoa it was the strains of the koauau played by Tutanekai on the island Mokoia that brought Hinemoa swimming across Lake Rotorua to him. But Banks does not appear ever to have heard the instruments played. See Pl. 9.

page 31 of the bones thrown away, which we found to be true for in almost every cove where we landed fresh bones of Men were found near the places where fires had been made. The whole was still more confirmd by the old man who we supposd to be the cheif of an Indian town which was very near us, coming a few days afterwards and at our desire bringing with him in his Canoe 6 or 7 heads of men preservd with the flesh on. These it seems these people keep after having eat the brains as trophies of their victories in the same manner as the Indians of North America do scalps; they had their ornament in their ears as when alive and some seemd to have false eyes.1 He was very jealous of shewing them. One I bought tho much against the inclinations of its owner, for tho he likd the price I offerd he hesitated much to send it up, yet having taken the price I insisted either to have that returnd or the head given, but could not prevail untill I enforc'd my threats by shewing Him a musquet on which he chose to part with the head rather than the price he had got, which was a pair of old Drawers of very white linnen. It appeard to have belongd to a person of about 14 or 15 years of age, and evidently shewd by the contusions on one side of it that it had receivd many violent blows which had chippd of a part of the scull near the eye: from hence and many more circumstances I am inclind to beleive that these Indians give no quarter, or ever take prisoners to eat upon a future occasion2 as is said to have been practisd by the Floridan Indians; for had they done so this young creature who could not make much resistance would have been a very proper subject.
The state of war in which they live, constantly in danger of being surprizd when least upon their guard, has taught them not only to live together in towns, but to fortify those towns; which they do by a broad ditch and a pallisade within it of no despicable construction. For these Towns or Forts, which they call Heppas, they chuse situations naturaly strong; commonly Islands or Peninsulas where the sea or steep cliffs defend the greatest part of their works; and if there is any part weaker than the rest a stage is erected over

1 The heads of friends as well as enemies might be preserved, the former to be wept over, the latter to be reviled. They were first steamed to soften and dispose of interior matter, the eyes taken out and the eyelids sewn down, and then were smoke-dried and oiled. The ‘false eyes’ referred to by Banks were pieces of paua or haliotis shell, as used for the eyes of carved figures. It was these ‘smoked heads’ that were a popular article of Maori-European trade in the 1820’s and 1830’s, especially when the tattooing was good. The Maori however was not a ‘head-hunter’.

2 Quarter was given, and prisoners became slaves of the victors. Battles were not infrequently followed by the slaying and consumption of prisoners, and slaves were killed and eaten on ritual occasions, but it does not seem that the sort of stocking of a larder to which Banks refers was ever a matter of general practice.

page 32 it of a considerable hight, 18 or 20 feet, on the top of which the defendants range themselves and fight with a great advantage as they can throw down their darts and stones with so much greater force than the assailants can throw them up. Within these forts the greatest part of the tribe to whoom they belong reside and have large stocks of provisions, Fern roots and dryd fish laid up but no water; for that article in all that I have seen was not to be had but at some distance without the lines, from whence we were led to conclude that sieges are not usd among them.1 Some however are generaly out in small parties in the neighbouring creeks and coves employd either in taking fish or collecting Fern roots &c, a large quantity of which they bring back with them, a reserve I suppose for times when the neighbourhood of an enemy or other circumstances make the procuring of fresh provision dificult or dangerous.
Of these Forts or towns we saw many, indeed the inhabitants constantly livd in such from the Westermost part of the Bay of Plenty to Queen Charlots Sound; but about Hawk's bay, Poverty Bay, Tegadu and Tolaga there were none, and the houses were scatterd about; there were indeed upon the sides of hills stages built, sometimes of a great lengh, which might serve as a retreat to save their lives at the last extremity, and nothing else, and these were mostly in ruins. Throughout all this district the people seemd free from apprehension and as in a state of Profound peace. Their cultivations were far more numerous and larger than we saw them any where else and they had a far greater quantity of Fine boats, Fine cloaths, Fine carvd work; in short the people were far more numerous, and livd in much greater affluence, than any others we saw. This seemd to be owing to their being joind together under one cheif or king, so at least they always told us, Whose name is Teratu and who lives far up in the countrey.2 It is much to be lamented that we could get no farther knowledge of this cheif or king than only his name: his Dominions are certainly for an Indian Monarch most extensive, he was acknowledgd for a lengh of coast

1 A very erroneous conclusion. Banks here seems to be reverting to the pa at Mercury Bay, cf. I, p. 433 above.

2 Cf. I, p. 424, n. 2 above. Banks at ‘countrey’ refers to a note written by him later, Ms f. 220, as follows: ‘the People who mentiond Teratu to us pointed as we thought always in land, but since the countrey has been laid down upon paper it appears that over the land in that direction lays the Bay of Plenty; from hence it appears probable that this is the residence of Teratu and if so the Countrey in land will probably be found to be quite void of inhabitants’. ‘Inland’ from where the informants pointed was the west— te ra to—an added argument for the confusion of Teratu, the name of a person, with that of a direction. What Banks goes on to say about the ‘Indian Monarch’ adds nothing to what he has said already.

page 33 of upwards of Leagues and yet we do not know the eastern limits of his dominions; we are sure however that they contain the greatest share of the rich part of the Northermost Island and that far the greatest number of people upon it are his subjects. Subordinate to him are lesser cheifs who seem to have Obedience and respect paid them by the tribes to whoom they belong and probably administer justice to them, tho we never saw an instance of it except in the case of theft on board the ship, when upon our complaint the offender receivd kicks and blows from the cheif with whoom he came onboard. These cheifs were generaly old men; whether they had the office of cheif by birth or on account of their age we never learnt, But in the other parts where Teratu was not acknowledg'd we plainly learnt that the cheifs whoom they obeyd, of which every tribe had some, receivd their dignity by inheritance.1 In the Southern parts their societies seemd to have many things in common, particularly their fine cloaths and netts, the former of which they had but few. We never saw any body employd in making [them?], it might be that what they had were the spoils of war.2 They were kept in a small Hut erected for that purpose in the middle of the town; the latter seemd to be the joint work of the whole society. Every house had in it peices of netting upon which they were at work; by the joining together these it is probable that they made the long Seins which we saw.

The Women are less regarded here than at the South Sea Islands, at least so Tupia thought who complaind of it as an insult upon the sex. They eat with the men however. How the sexes divide labour I do not know but I am inclind to beleive that the Men till the ground, fish in boats and take birds, the Women dig up Fern roots,3 collect shell Fish and lobsters near the beach and dress the Victuals and weave cloth, while the men make netts — thus at least these employments have been distributed when I had an opportunity of Observing them which was very seldom, for our approach generaly made a holiday where ever we went; men women and children flocking to us either to satisfy their curiosity or trade with us for whatever they might have, taking in exchange cloth of any kind, especialy linnen or the Indian cloth we had brought from the Islands, Paper, Glass bottles, sometimes peices of broken glass, Nails &c.

1 Chieftainship came from birth, but a man naturally gifted would gain authority, particularly in times of war or other emergency. Age added to authority, as in most societies; and it seems that most of the leaders encountered by Banks were chiefs born.

2 This is unlikely.

3 If by this Banks means the aruhe, the bracken rhizomes, he must have seen something exceptional; for this laborious task was generally carried out by the men.

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We saw few signs of religion among these people: they had no publick places of Worship among them as the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, and only one private one came under my observation, which was in the neighbourhood of a plantation of their sweet potatoes. It was a small square, borderd round with stones; in the middle was a spade, and on it was hung a basket of fern roots, an offering (I suppose) to the Gods for the success of the Crop, so at least one of the natives explaind it.1 They however acknowledged the influence of superior beings and have nearly the same account of the creation of the World, mankind &c. as Tupia; he however seemd to be much better vers'd in such legends than any of them, for whenever he began to preach as we calld it he was sure of a numerous audience who attended with most profound silence to his doctrines.

The Burial of the Dead instead of being a Pompous ceremony as in the Islands is here kept secret.2 We never saw so much as a grave where any one had been interrd; nor were they always alike in the accounts they gave of the manner of disposing of Dead bodies, in the Northern parts they told us that they buried them in the ground and in the southern said that they threw them into the sea, having first tied to them a sufficient weight to cause their sinking. Howsoever they disposd of the dead their regret for the loss of them was sufficiently visible; few or none were without scarrs and some had them hideously large on their cheeks, arms, thighs, legs &c. which proceeded from the cuts they had given themselves during their mourning. I have seen several with such wounds of which the blood was not yet staunchd and one only, a woman, while she was cutting herself and lamenting. She wept much, repeating many sentences in a plaintive tone of voice, at every one of which she with a shell cut a gash in some part of her body; she however contrivd her cutts in such a manner that few of them drew blood and those that did penetrated a small depth only. She was old and had outlivd probably those violent impressions that greif as well as other passions of the mind make upon young people,

1 The ‘Gods’, in this case, would be Rongo, the god of agriculture (and also, logically enough, of peace). It does not seem likely that the ‘small square’ here described, was a place of worship, though no doubt suitably tapu.

2 By ‘Burial of the Dead’ Banks must mean actual interment—or other disposal—of bodies, or of bones: for exhumation of the remains of important people and the scraping clean of their bones for final disposal was not infrequent. Earth, sand, swamp were all used for burial; caves provided natural vaults; bones were sometimes hidden in tapu trees; some tribes practised cremation. Mourning ceremonies—the tangi—however were highly public, and pompous enough in a savage way to figure in Sir Thomas Browne. Banks has already described, and here again goes on to describe, the ritual cutting of the flesh by women which was so important a part of them.

page 35 her greif also was probably of long standing; the scarrs upon the bodies of the greater part of these people evincd however that they had felt sorrows more severely than she did.
Thus much for the manners and customs of these people as far as they have come to my knowledge in the few opportunities I had of seeing them; they differ in many things but agree in more with those of the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands. Their Language I shall next give a short specimen of which is almost precisely the same at least in fundamentals. It is true that they have generaly added several letters to the words as usd by the inhabitants of Otahite &c.1 but the original plainly appears in the composition. The language of the Northern and southern parts differ cheifly in this: the one has added more letters than the others, the original words are however not less visible to the slightest observer. I shall give a short table of each compard with the Otahite, taking care to mention as many words as I know which are either of a doubtfull or different original, Premising however two things: first that the words were so much disguisd by their manner of pronouncing them that I found it very dificult to understand them till I had wrote them down; secondly that Tupia at the very first understood and conversd with them with great facility.8
NorthernSouthernOtahite
a cheifEareeteEareeteEaree
a ManTaataTaataTaata
a Womanwahinewahinewahine
the headEupoHeaowpohoEupo

1 He is thinking primarily no doubt of the consonantal changes which were characteristic of the variants of the Polynesian language-group: e.g. the Tahitian and Society Islands va'a (canoe) in New Zealand was waka; similarly ra'i (sky) was rangi; umete (bowl) was kumete. The southern dialects in New Zealand used k instead of ng. The Tahitian word for house, fare, became whare, but for many Europeans the Maori aspirate wh sound seemed equivalent to f. See for a short, clear discussion Buck, pp. 74—9.

8 This is an interesting list. Examples may be studied, as with Banks's Tahitian vocabulary, I, pp. 372—3 above. As with his Tahitian words, Banks frequently takes the indefinite article e or he as an inherent part of the word: e.g. his words for Forehead, Northern Erai, Southern Heai, Tahitian Erai=[e] rae, [he] rae. [e] rae. He was certainly more characteristic of the southern dialects than e. With his words for Chief we have evidence of consonantal ambiguity: Eareete, Eareete, Earee=[e] ariki, [e] ariki, [e] arii; similarly for Trees: Eratou=[e] rakau, Tahitian [e] rauu. With Yams we have the definite article te plus consonantal ambiguity: Tuphwe = [te] uhi; with Lobster the te only in the Tahitian word: Kooura=koura but Tooura=[te] oura. With Hair we have two different Maori words: Northern Macauwe=makawe; Southern Heoooo apparently=[he] huruhuru; Tahitian Roourou=rouru. With Ear we have two different words and probably some poor reporting for the Southern one: Terringa=taringa, but Hetaheyei may be [he] + [te] hoi (the lobe of the ear); Terrea=Tahitian taria. The Maori word Taata reported for Man has an interest of its own; for it suggests that the consonantal change from Tahitian taata to tangata was not yet made: Banks seems otherwise to pick up the ng sound—e.g. paparinga (cheeks), [he] ringaringa (arm).

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NorthernSouthernOtahite
the HairMacauweHeooooRoourou
the EarTerringaHetaheyeiTerrea
the ForeheadEraiHeaiErai
the EyesMataHemataMata
the CheeksPaparingaHepapaehPaparea
the noseAhewhHeeihahew
the MouthHangoutouHegowaiOutou
the ChinEcouwaiHekaoewai……
the ArmHaringaringa……Rema
the fingerMaticaraHemaigawhManeow
the bellyAteraboo……Oboo
the navelApetoHecapeetoPeto
Come hereHoromaiHoromaiHarromai
FishHeicaHeicaEyca
a lobsterKoouraKoouraTooura
CoccosTaroTaroTaro
Sweet potatoesCumalaCumalaCumala
YammsTuphwheTuphwheTuphwhe
BirdsMannuMannuMannu
NoKaoureKaoureOure
1.Tahai……Tahai
2.Rua……Rua
3.Torou……Torou
4.Ha……Hea
5.Rema……Rema
6.Ono……Otio
7.Etu……Hetu
8.Warou……Warou
9.Iva……Heva
10.Angahourou……Ahourou
the teethhennihuheneahoNihio
the WindMehow……Mattai
a theifAmootoo……Teto
to examineMataketake……Mataitai
to SingEheara……Heiva
BadKenoKenoEno
TreesEratouEratouEraou
GrandfatherToubounaToubounaToubouna

I must remark that the greatest part of the southern Language was not taken down by myself and I am inclind to beleive that the person who did it for me made use of more letters in spelling the page 37 words than were absolutely nescessary. The Genius of the Language especialy in the Southern parts is to add some particle before a noun as we do1 ‘the’ or ‘a’; ‘the’ was generaly He, or Ko;2 they also often add to the end of any word, especialy if it is in answer to a question, the word Oeia3 which signifies yes, realy, or certainly. This sometimes led our gentlemen into most longwinded words, one only of which I shall mention as an example. In the Bay of Islands a very remarkable Island was calld by the natives Motu Aro: some of our gentlemen askd the name of this from one of the Natives, Who answerd I suppose as usual Kemotu aro;4 the Gentleman not hearing well the word repeated his question, on which the Indian again repeated his answer, adding Oeia to the end of the name which made it Kemotuaroeiea:5 this way at least and no other can I account for that Island being calld in the Log book &c Cumattiwarroweia. The same is practisd by the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands only their Particle instead of He, or She, is To, or To;6 their oeia7 is exactly the same which when first I began to learn the language producd many difficulties and mistakes.

From the similarity of customs, the still greater of Traditions and the almost identical sameness of Language between these people and those of the Islands in the South Sea there remains little doubt that they came originaly from the same source: but where that Source is future experience may teach us, at Present I can say no more than that I firmly beleive that it is to the Westward and by no means to the East.8

1 There was no special practice of this sort in ‘the Southern parts’. The ‘Genius of the Language’ was just as much alive in the north.

2 He is the indefinite article (Tahitian c); ko (Tahitian o), a particle ‘used when the predicate is either a proper name, a personal pronoun, a local noun, or the interrogatives wai or hea [or whea]; also before a common noun with any of the definitives except he’.—Tregear, Maori Comparative Dictionary. Ko wai, who?—ko whea, where, what? The answer would begin also ko, he is, or it is (cf. O Tahiti).

3 aheiha, a word denoting acquiescence—‘yes, indeed’, ‘truly’.

4 Ko, Motu-aro, ‘It is Motu-aro’.

5 Ko Motu-aro aheiha, ‘Truly, it is Motu-aro’.

6 O, rather.

7 The Tahitian form was oiha, meaning (according to Davies), ‘yes, it is so, spoken rather contemptuously’.

8 The origin of the Polynesian peoples was no doubt discussed at large in the Endeavour. Cf. Cook, pp, 286–8: to him the common language was a sufficient proof that both the islanders and the New Zealanders ‘have had one Origin cr Source but where this is, even time perhaps may never discover. It certainly is neither to the Southward nor Eastward for I cannot preswaid my self that ever they came from America and as to a Southern Continent I do not believe any such thing exists unless in a high Latitude… .’ Parkinson, on the other hand (Journal, p. 125) fancies a migration from New Zealand to Tahiti. The theory of a western origin for the Polynesian peoples, on the evidence of language, made an immediate appeal also to the French philologist Court de Jebelin, as we learn from the second edition of Bougainville's Voyage (1772), II, p. 435. Language still seems an extremely difficult obstacle for the upholders of an opposing theory to overcome.

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Having now intirely circumnavigated New Zealand and found it, not as generaly has been supposd part of a continent, but 2 Islands: and having not the least reason to imagine that any countrey larger than itself lays in its neighbourhood, it was resolvd to leave it and Proceed upon farther discoveries in our return to England being determind to do as much as the state of the Ship and provisions would allow. In consequence of this resolution a consultation was held and 3 schemes proposd: One, much the most elegible, to return by Cape Horn keeping all the way in the high Latitudes, by which means we might with certainty determine whether or not a Southern Continent existed; but this was unanimously agreed to be more than the Condition of the ship would allow. Our provisions indeed might be equal to it — we had six months at ⅔ allowance — but our Sails and rigging, with which the former especialy we were at first but ill provided, were renderd so bad by the blowing weather that we had met with off New Zealand that we were by no means in a condition to weather the hard Gales that must be expected in a winter passage through high latitudes. The second was to steer to the southward of Van Diemen's Land and stand away directly for the Cape of Good Hope, but this was likewise immediately rejected: if we were in too bad a condition for the former we were in too good a one for this. 6 months provision was much more than enough to carry us to any Port in the East Indies and the over plus was not to be thrown away in a Sea Where so few navigators had been before us: the third therefore was unanimously agreed to, which was to stand immediately to the Westward, fall in with the Coast of New Holland as soon as possible, and after following that to the northward as far as seemd proper, to attempt to fall in with the Lands seen by Quiros in 1606.1 In doing this, although we hopd to make discoveries more interesting to trade at least than any we had yet made, we were obligd intirely to give up our first grand object, the Southern Continent: this for my own part I confess I could not do without much regret. — That a Southern Continent realy exists, I firmly beleive; but if ask'd why I beleive so, I confess my reasons are weak; yet I have a

1 The ‘Lands seen by Quiros in 1606’, and called by him Austrialia del Espiritu Santo, were the New Hebrides. Banks gives a rather different account of the plan from Cook's, which runs (p. 273), ‘upon leaving this coast to steer to the westward untill we fall in with the East Coast of New Holland and than to follow the deriction of that Coast to the northward or what other direction it may take untill we arrive at its northern extremity, and if this should be found impractical than to endeavour to fall in with the lands or Islands discover'd by Quiros’. Banks's ‘to the northward as far as seemd proper’ is not quite as thoroughgoing as Cook's phraseology.

page 39 preposession in favour of the fact which I find it dificult to account for. Ice in large bodies has been seen off Cape Horn now and then; Sharp saw it in [1681]1 and Monsr Frezier, in his return from the Coast of Chili, in the month of March 1714; he also mentions that it has been seen by other French Ships in the same place.2 If this Ice (as is generaly beleivd) is formd by fresh water only there must be land to the Southward:3 for the Coast of Terra del Fuego is by no means cold enough to produce such an Effect. I should be inclind to think also that it lays well away to the Westward, as the West and South West Winds so generaly prevail that the Ice must be supposd to have followd the direction of these winds, and consequently have come from those points. When we saild to the Southward, in the months of August and Septr 1769, we met with signs of land, sea weed, and a seal: which, tho both of them are often seen at large distances from Land, yet they are not met with in open oceans; and we were at that time to[o] far from the Coast of New Zealand, and much too far from that of South America, to have supposd them to have come from either of these. The Body of this land must however be situated in very high latitudes: a part of it may indeed come to the Northward, within our track; but as we never saw any signs of land, except at the time mentiond above, although I made it my particular business (as well as I beleive the most of us) to look out for such, it must be prodigiously

1 Basil Ringrose, in the volume by him added to the English edition of Esquemeling's Buccaneers of America (1685), describes his voyage round the Horn with Captain Bartholomew Sharp, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. In Chapter XXIV, in his entry for 17 November 1681, he writes, ‘At four this morning we saw two or three islands of ice to the S. of us. Soon after this we saw several others, the biggest of them being at least a leagues round. By observation lat. 58° 23′ S. We had now a vehement current to the S. At noon I saw many others of these islands of ice aforementioned, of which some were so long that we could scarce see the end of them, and extended about 10 or 12 fathom above-water’.

2 While Frézier's ship was looking for her consorts, on her homeward voyage, in lat. 58° 30′ S, long. 68° 22′ W, he says, ‘we discover'd a shoal of ice, which might be at least 200 foot high above the water, and above 3 cables long. It was at first sight taken for an unknown island, but the weather clearing up a little, it perfectly appear'd to be ice, whose blewish colour in some parts look'd like smoak; the small pieces of ice we immediately saw floating on both sides of the ship, left us no farther room to doubt’. This berg was followed by another, much higher, ‘which look'd like a coast four or five leagues long’. Ice had been seen by other ships, he added, but by very few.—Voyage, pp. 283–4.

3 Frézier has his own robust feeling over the matter being considered by Banks: ‘If it be true, as many pretend, that the ice in the sea is only form'd of the fresh water, which runs down from the land, it must be concluded that there is land towards the South Pole; but it is not true that there are [sic] any more to the northward than 63 degrees of latitude for the extent of above 200 leagues, from 55 of longitude to 80; for that space has been run over by several ships, which the S.W. and S.S.W. winds have obliged to stand far to the southward, to double the end of the lands. Thus those Southern Lands, or Terra Australis generally laid down in the old charts, are meer Chimeras, which have been justly left out of the new charts’.—ibid., p. 284.

page 40 smaller in extent than the theoretical continent makers have supposd it to be. We have by our track provd the absolute falsity of above three fourths of their positions, and after that the rema[in]ing part can not be much rely'd upon; but above all, we have taken from them their firmest Ground work, in Proving New Zealand to be an Island, which I beleive was lookd upon even by the most thinking people to be in all probability at least a part of some Vast Countrey. All this we have taken from them: the land seen by Juan Fernandes, the land seen by the Duch squadron under Hermite, signs of Continent seen by Quiros, and the same by Roggewein,1 &c &c have by us been provd not to have at all related to a Continent. As for their reasoning about the Balancing of the two poles, which always appeard to me to be a most childish argument, we have already shorn off so much of their supposd counterbalancing land that by their own account the South pole would already be too light, unless what we have left should be made of very ponderous materials. As much fault as I find with these gentlemen will however probably recoil on myself, when I on so slight grounds as those I have mentiond again declare it to be my opinion that a Southern Continent exists, an opinion in favour of which I am strongly preposesd; but foolish and weak as all prepossesions must be thought I would not but declare myself so, least I might be supposd to have stronger reasons which I conceald.
To search for this Continent then the best and readyest way by which at once the existence or nonexistence of it might be Provd appears to me to be this: Let the ship or ships destind for this service leave England in the Spring and proceed directly to the Cape of Good hope, where they might refresh their people and supply in some articles their expence of provision;2 from thence to proceed round Van Diemens Land to the Coast of New Zealand, where

1 The references to Juan Fernandez, Hermite, Quiros and Roggeveen, seem all to point to Banks's reading of Alexander Dalrymple's An Account of the Discoveries made in the South Pacifick Ocean, Previous to 1764; for he was not otherwise learned in the history of Pacific exploration. ‘The land seen by Juan Fernandes’ in 1563, and enlarged by imaginative writers into ‘a very fertile and agreeable continent’, was the island now known by his name. Jacob le Hermite was the admiral put in command of the ‘Nassau fleet’ which sailed round the world in 1623–6; one of its ships, the Orange, which had been blown astray, rejoined the fleet at Juan Fernandez in April 1624 with the news that it had seen the continent—probably cloud-banks-twice, in 50° and 41° S. Quiros, the discoverer of the New Hebrides in 1606, convinced himself he had had the whole continent stretching before him. Roggeveen (1721–2) who had sailed beyond 60° S to get round the Horn on his passage into the Pacific, had there met icebergs which he took as evidence of a continent; later he had discovered Easter Island, some of the Tuamotus, and Samoa.

2 This is followed by about 22 words deleted separately and very heavily, as if Banks were ashamed of what he had written and determined it should not be read; they rouse curiosity, but are certainly quite indecipherable.

page 41 they might again refresh in any of the numerous harbours at the mouth of Cooks streights where they would be sure to meet with plenty of Water, Wood and fish. Here they should arrive by the month of October that they might have the good season before them to run across the South Sea, Which by reason of the Prevailing westerly winds they would easily be able to do in any Latitude; and if in doing this they should not fall in with a Continent they might still be of service by exploring the Islands in the Pacifick Ocean where they might refresh themselves and proceed home by the East Indies.1 Such a Voyage, as a Voyage of Mere Curiosity, should be promoted by the Royal Society to whoom I doubt not but his majesty would upon a proper application grant a ship, as the subject of such a voyage seems at least as interesting to Science in general and the increase of knowledge as the Observation which gave rise to the Present one. The small expence such an equipment is to goverment is easily shown: I will venture roundly to affirm that the Smallest Station Sloop2 in his majesties service is every year more expensive than this ship where every rope, every sail, every rope yarn even, is obligd to do its duty most thouroughly before it can be dismissd; how trifling then must this expence appear when in return for it the nation acquires experiencd seamen in those who execute it, and the Praise which is never denied to countries who in this publick spirited manner promote the increase of knowledge.
At the Cape of Good Hope might be procurd Beef, Bread, Flower, Pease, Spirit, or indeed any kind of Provision at Reasonable Rates. The Beef must be bought alive and salted, for which purpose it would be proper to take out salt from Europe; the general price which i[n]deed never varies is two pence a pound, it is tolerable meat but not so fat as ours in England. Pork is scarce and dear, of that therefore a larger proportion might be taken out. Bread, which varies in price, is of the Rusk kind, very good but rather brown. Spirit is Arrack from Batavia, the Price of which after having paid the Duties of Import and Export is 60 Rd,312 lb Sterling, a Legger4 of 150 Galls. Wine is in vast plenty and very cheap and

1 In the plan thus put forward we see again an indication of the discussions which went on in the great cabin of the Endeavour. Except for the final few words, ‘proceed home by the East Indies’, it is the plan advanced by Cook at the end of his journal, and the plan of his second voyage. We may, one fancies, attribute it to Cook rather than to Banks.

2 ‘Station sloop’: a sloop based on, and in close contact with, some particular naval station, and hence constantly kept under repair. No doubt Banks is thinking of home service.

3 i.e. a Rix dollar, of conventional value 4s English.

4 The conventional spelling is ‘leaguer’.

page 42 while I was there they began to Distill a kind of Brandy, which however at that time was as dear as Arrack and much inferior to it both in Strengh and goodness.

Should a ship upon this Expedition be obligd to go into False Bay,1 into which the Dutch remove on the 12th of May, most of these articles might be got there at a small advance occasiond by the carriage which is very cheap; and any be wanted which could not, they might be brought from the Cape town either by Dutch Scoots2 of which there are several belonging to the Company in the Harbour, or by Waggons over land as the Road is good and much frequented at that season of the Year.3

31 [March]. Our rout being settled in the manner above mentiond we this morn weighd and saild with a fair breeze of wind inclind to fall in with Van Diemen's Land as near as possible to the place where Tasman left it.

1 S has the note, ‘False Bay so call'd because Ships sometimes go into it (by mistake) instead of Table Bay’. Cf. p. 247, n. 1 below.

2 Scoot, Banks's rendering of schuit, a Dutch flat-bottomed boat used at home in the river-trade, and no doubt well suited for employment as lighters at the Cape.

3 It is obvious from the contents that this and the preceding paragraphs were later additions to the journal, written after the call at Cape Town on the Endeavour’s homeward passage. Apart from the fact that the page on which this paragraph comes is not filled, there is no other sign of interpolation, as Banks, in making the addition, evidently went back and fair-copied a number of earlier pages leading up to this one.

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