A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 794 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13.

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 794 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13.
We then carried out the kedge-anchor, in order to warp into the harbour; but when this was done, we could not trip the bower-anchor with all the purchase we could make; we were therefore obliged to lie still all night, and in the morning, when the tide turned, the ship going over the anchor, it tripped of itself, and we warped the ship into a proper birth with ease, and moored in twenty-eight fathom, with a sandy bottom.  While this was doing, many of the natives came off to us with hogs, fowls, and plantains, which they parted with at an easy rate.

When the ship was secured, I went on shore to look for a proper place to get ballast and water, both which I found in a very convenient situation.

This day Mr Banks and Dr Solander spent on shore very much to their satisfaction; every body seemed to fear and respect them, placing in them at the same time the utmost confidence, behaving as if conscious that they possessed the power of doing them mischief, without any propensity to make use of it.  Men, women, and children crowded round them, and followed them wherever they went; but none of them were guilty of the least incivility:  On the contrary, whenever there happened to be dirt or water in the way, the men vied with each other to carry them over on their backs.  They were conducted to the houses of the principal people, and were received in a manner altogether new:  The people, who followed them while they were in their way, rushed forward as soon as they came to a house, and went hastily in before them, leaving however a lane sufficiently wide for them to pass.  When they entered, they found those who had preceded them ranged on each side of a long matt, which was spread upon the ground, and at the farther end of which sat the family:  In the first house they entered they found some very young women or children, dressed with the utmost neatness, who kept their station, expecting the strangers to come up to them and make them presents, which they did with the greatest pleasure; for prettier children or better dressed they had never seen.  One of them was a girl about six years old; her gown, or upper garment, was red; a large quantity of plaited hair was wound round her head, the ornament to which they give the name of Tamou, and which they value more than any thing they possess.  She sat at the upper end of a matt thirty feet long, upon which none of the spectators presumed to set a foot, notwithstanding the crowd; and she leaned upon the arm of a well-looking woman about thirty, who was probably her nurse.  Our gentlemen walked up to her, and as soon as they approached, she stretched out her hand to receive the beads which they offered her, and no princess in Europe could have done it with a better grace.

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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.