The next morning but few of the natives were seen upon the beach, and not one of them came off to the ship.  This convinced us that our endeavours to quiet their apprehensions had not been effectual; and we remarked with particular regret, that we were deserted even by Owhaw, who had hitherto been so constant in his attachment, and so active in renewing the peace that had been broken.

Appearances being thus unfavourable, I warped the ship nearer to the shore, and moored her in such a manner as to command all the N.E. part of the bay, particularly the place which I had marked out for the building a fort.  In the evening, however, I went on shore with only a boat’s crew, and some of the gentlemen:  The natives gathered about us, but not in the same number as before; there were I believe between thirty and forty, and they trafficked with us for cocoa-nuts and other fruit, to all appearance as friendly as ever.

On the 17th, early in the morning, we had the misfortune to lose Mr Buchan, the person whom Mr Banks had brought out as a painter of landscapes and figures.  He was a sober, diligent, and ingenious young man, and greatly regretted by Mr Banks; who hoped, by his means, to have gratified his friends in England with representations of this country and its inhabitants, which no other person on board could delineate with the same accuracy and elegance.  He had always been subject to epileptic fits, one of which seized him on the mountains of Terra del Fuego, and this disorder being aggravated by a bilious complaint which he contracted on board the ship, at length put an end to his life.  It was at first proposed to bury him on shore, but Mr Banks thinking that it might perhaps give offence to the natives, with whose customs we were then wholly unacquainted, we committed his body to the sea, with as much decency and solemnity as our circumstances and situation would admit.

In the forenoon of this day we received a visit from Tubourai Tamaide, and Tootahah, our chiefs, from the west:  They brought with them, as emblems of peace, not branches of plantain, but two young trees, and would not venture on board till these had been received, having probably been alarmed by the mischief which had been done at the tent.  Each of them also brought, as propitiatory gifts, some bread-fruit, and a hog ready dressed:  This was a most acceptable present, as we perceived that hogs were not always to be got; and in return we gave to each of our noble benefactors a hatchet and a nail.  In the evening we went on shore and set up a tent, in which Mr Green and myself spent the night, in order to observe an eclipse of the first satellite of Jupiter; but the weather becoming cloudy, we were disappointed.