Soon after the ship came to an anchor the second time, Mr Banks and Dr Solander went on shore, to see if any gleanings of natural knowledge remained, and by accident fell in with the most agreeable Indian family they had seen, which afforded them a better opportunity of remarking the personal subordination among these people, than had before offered.  The principal persons were a widow, and a pretty boy about ten years old:  The widow was mourning for her husband with tears of blood, according to their custom, and the child, by the death of its father, was become proprietor of the land where we had cut our wood.  The mother and the son were sitting upon matts, and the rest of the family, to the number of sixteen or seventeen, of both sexes, sat round them in the open air, for they did not appear to have any house, or other shelter from the weather, the inclemencies of which, custom has probably enabled them to endure without any lasting inconvenience.  Their whole behaviour was affable, obliging, and unsuspicious; they presented each person with fish, and a brand of fire to dress it, and pressed them many times to stay till the morning, which they would certainly have done if they had not expected the ship to sail, greatly regretting that they had not become acquainted with them sooner, as they made no doubt but that more knowledge of the manners and disposition of the inhabitants of this country would have been obtained from them in a day, than they had yet been able to acquire during our whole stay upon the coast.

On the 6th, about six o’clock in the morning, a light breeze sprung up at north, and we again got under sail, but the wind proving variable, we reached no farther than just without Motuara; in the afternoon, however, a more steady gale at N. by W. set us clear of the Sound, which I shall now describe.

The entrance of Queen Charlotte’s Sound is situated in latitude 41 deg.  S. longitude 184 deg. 45’ W. and near the middle of the south-west side of the streight in which it lies.  The land of the south-east head of the Sound, called by the natives Koamaroo, off which lie two small islands and some rocks, makes the narrowest part of the streight.  From the north-west head a reef of rocks runs out about two miles, in the direction of N.E. by N.; part of which is above the water, and part below.  By this account of the heads, the Sound will be sufficiently known:  At the entrance, it is three leagues broad, and lies in S.W. by S.S.W. and W.S.W. at least ten leagues, and is a collection of some of the finest harbours in the world, as will appear from the plan, which is laid down with all the accuracy that time and circumstances would admit.  The land forming the harbour or cove in which we lay, is called by the natives Totarranue:  The harbour itself, which I called Ship Cove, is not inferior to any in the Sound, either for convenience or safety:  It lies on the west side of the Sound, and is the southermost of three coves, that are situated