[Captain Cook’s Journal During the First Voyage Round the World by James Cook]@TWC D-Link bookCaptain Cook’s Journal During the First Voyage Round the World CHAPTER 6 3/125
A.M., Careen'd the Ship, scrubb'd and pay'd the Larboard side.
Several of the Natives Visited us this Morning, and brought with them some stinking fish, which, however, I order'd to be bought up to encourage them in this kind of Traffick, but Trade at this time seem'd not to be their Object, but were more inclinable to Quarrel, and as the Ship was upon the Carreen I thought they might give us some Trouble, and perhaps hurt some of our people that were in the Boats alongside.
For this reason I fir'd some small shott at one of the first Offenders; this made them keep at a proper distance while they stay'd, which was not long before they all went away.
These people declared to us this morning, that they never either saw or heard of a Ship like ours being upon this Coast before.
From this it appears that they have no Tradition among them of Tasman being here, for I believe Murtherers bay, the place where he anchor'd, not to be far from this place;* (* Tasman's Massacre Bay lies 70 miles to the West-North-West.) but this cannot be it from the Latitude, for I find by an Observation made this day at Noon that we are at an Anchor in 41 degrees 5 minutes 32 seconds South, which is 15 miles to the Southward of Murtherers Bay.* (* The bay in Queen Charlotte's Sound in which the Endeavour anchored, Ship Cove, lies 7 miles within the entrance on the western shore.) Wednesday, 17th.
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