snow, which seemed to lie as thick upon the trees as upon the ground; and the blast returned so frequently, and with such violence, that they found it impossible for them to set out how long this might last they knew not, and they had but too much reason to apprehend that it would confine them in that desolate forest till they perished with hunger and cold.

After having suffered the misery and terror of this situation till six o'clock in the morning, they conceived some hope of deliverance by discovering the place of the sun through the clouds, which were become thinner, and began to break away. Their first care was to see whether the poor wretches whom they had been obliged to leave among the bushes were yet alive, three of the company were dispatched for that purpose, and very soon afterwards returned with the melancholy news, that they were dead.

Notwithstanding the flattering appearance of the sky, the snow still continued to fall so thick that they could not venture out upon their journey to the ship; but about 8 o'clock a small regular breeze sprung up, which, with the prevailing influence of the sun, at length cleared the air; and they soon after, with great joy, saw the snow fall in large flakes from the trees, a certain sign of an approaching thaw: they now examined more critically the state of their invalids; Briscoe was still very ill, but said, that he thought himself able to walk; and Mr. Buchan was much better than either he or his friends had any reason to expect. They were now, however, pressed by the calls of hunger, to which, after

long fasting, every consideration of future good or evil immediately gives way. Before they set forward, therefore, it was unanimously agreed, that they should eat their vulture; the bird was accordingly skinned, and, it being thought best to divide it before it was fit to be eaten, it was cut into ten portions, and every man cooked his own as he thought fit. After this repast, which furnished each of them with about three mouthfuls, they prepared to set out; but it was ten o'clock before the snow was sufficiently gone off to render a march practicable. After a walk of about three hours, they were very agreeably surprised to find themselves upon the beach, and much nearer to the ship than they had any reason to expect. Upon reviewing their track from the vessel, they perceived, that, instead of ascending the hill in a line, so as to penetrate into the country, they had made almost a circle round it. When they came on board, they congratulated each other upon their safety, with a joy that no man can feel who has not been exposed to equal danger; and as I had suffered great anxiety at their not returning in the evening of the day on which they set out, I was not wholly without my share.

Poenammoo and are situated between the latitudes of 34° and 48° South, and between the longitudes of 181° and 194° West.

Tovy Poenammoo is for the most part mountainous, and to all appearance a barren country; and the people whom we saw in Queen Charlotte's Sound, those that came off to us under the snowy mountains, and the fires to the west of Cape Saunders, were all the inhabitants, and signs of inhabitants, that we discovered upon the whole island.

Eaheinomauwe has a much better appearance; it is indeed not only hilly but mountainous, yet even the hills and mountains are covered with wood, and every valley has a rivulet of water: the soil in these vallies, and in the plains, of which there are many that are not overgrown with wood, is in general light but fertile, and in the opinion of Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, as well as of every other gentleman on board, every kind of European grain, plants, and fruit, would flourish here in the utmost luxuriance: from the vegetables that we found here, there is reason to conclude, that the winters are milder than those in England, and we found the summer not hotter, though it was more equally so that if this country should be settled by people from Europe, they would, with a little industry, be very soon supplied not only with the necessaries, but the luxuries of life in great abundance.

warm ;

In this country there are no quadrupeds but dogs and rats, at least we saw no other; and the rats are so scarce, that many of us never saw them. The dogs live with the

people, who breed them for no other purpose than to eat there might indeed be quadrupeds that we did not, see, but this is not probable, because the chief pride of the natives, with respect to their dress, is in the skins and hair of such animals as. they have, and we' never saw the skin of any animal about them but those of dogs and birds there are indeed seals upon the coast, and we once saw a sea lion, but we imagine they are seldom caught; for though we saw some of their teeth, which were fashioned into an ornament like a bodkin, and worn by the natives at their breast, and highly valued, we saw none of their skins; there are whales also upon this coast, and though the people did not appear to have any art or instrument by which such an animal could be taken and killed, we saw patoo-patoos in the possession of some of them, which were made of the bone of a whale, or of some other animal whose bone had exactly the same appearance.,

Of birds the species are not many; and of these none, except perhaps the gannet, is the same with those of Europe; here are ducks indeed, and shags of several kinds, sufficiently resembling those of Europe, to be called the same, by those who have not examined them very nicely. Here are also hawks, owls, and quails, which differ but little from those of Europe at first sight: and several small birds, whose song, as has been remarked in the course of the narrative, is much more melodious than any that we had ever heard.

The sea coast is also visited by many oceanic birds, particularly albatrosses, sheerwaters, pintados, H 3

and

and a few of the birds which Sir John Narborough has called Penguins, and which indeed are what the French call Nuance, and seem to be a middle species between bird and fish; for their feathers, especially those upon their wings, differ very little from scales; and their wings themselves, which they use only in diving, and not to accelerate their motion even upon the surface of the water, may, perhaps, with equal propriety, be called fins.

Neither are insects in greater plenty than birds; a few butterflies and beetles, flesh flies, very like those in Europe, and some musquitos and sand flies, perhaps exactly the same with those of NorthAmerica, make up the whole catalogue. Of musquitos and sand flies, however, which are justly accounted the curse of every country where they abound, we did not see many; there were indeed a few in almost every place where we went on shore, but they gave us so little trouble, that we did not make use of the shades which we had provided for the security of our faces.

For this scarcity of animals upon the land, the sea, however, makes an abundant recompence; every creek swarming with fish, which are not only wholesome, but equally delicious with those of Europe: the ship seldom anchored in any station, or with a light gale passed any place, that did not afford us enough with hook and line to serve the whole ship's company, especially to the southward: when we lay at anchor, the boats, with hook and line, near the rocks, could tike fish in any quantity; and the seine seldom failed of producing a sill more ample supply; so that

both times when we anchored in Crook's Streight, every mess in the ship, that was not careless and improvident, salted as much as lasted many weeks after they went to sea. Of this article, the variety was equal to the plenty; we had maekerel of many kinds, among which one was exactly the same as we have in England: these came in immense shoals, and were taken by the natives in their seines, who sold them to us at a very easy rate. Besides these, there were fish of many species which we had never seen before, but to all which the seamen very readily gave names; so that we talked here as familiarly of hakes, bream, cole-fish, and many others, as we do in England; and though they are by no means of the same family, it must be confessed that they do honour to the name. But the highest luxury which the sea afforded us, even in this place, was the lobster, or sea cray-fish, which are probably the same that in the account of Lord Anson's voyage, are said to have been found at the island of Juan Fernandes, except that, although large, they are not quite equal in size; they differ from ours in England in several particulars, they have a greater number of prickles on their backs, and they are red when first taken out of the water. These we also bought every where to the northward in great quantities of the natives, who catch them by diving near the shore, and finding out where they lie with their feet. We had also a fish, that Frezier, in his voyage to the Spanish main, in South-America, has decribed by the names of Elefant, Pejegallo, or Poisson coq, which, though coarse, we eat very heartily. Several spe

cies of the skate, or sting-ray, are also found here, which were still coarser than the Elefant; but as an atonement, we had, among many kinds of dog-fish, one spotten with white, which was in flavour exactly similar to our best skate, but much more delicious. We had also flat fish, resembling both soles and flounders, besides eels and congers of various kinds, with many others, of which those who shall hereafter visit this coast will not fail to find the advantage; and shell-fish in great variety, particularly clams, cockles, and oysters.

Among the vegetable productions of this country, the trees claim a principal place; for here are forests of vast extent, full of the straitest the cleanest, and the largest timber trees that we had ever seen : their size, their grain, and apparent durability, render them fit for any, kind of building, and indeed for every other purpose except masts; for which, as I have already observed, they are too hard, and too heavy: there is one in particular, which, when we were upon the coast, was rendered conspicuous by a scarlet flower, that seemed to be a compendage of many fibres; it is about as large as an oak, and the wood is exceedingly hard and heavy, and excellently adapted to the use of the mill-wright. There is another which grows in the swamps, remarkably tall and strait, thick enough to make masts for vessels of any size; and if a judgment may be formed by the direction of its grain, very tough: this, which, as has been before remarked, our carpenter thought to resemble the pitch pine, may probably be lightened by tapping, and it will then make the finest masts

in the world: it has a leaf not un like a yew, and bears berries in small bunches.

Great part of the country is covered with luxuriant verdure, and . our natural historians were gratified by the novelty, if not the variety of the plants. of the plants. Sow-thistle, garden night-shade, one or two kinds of grass, the same as in England, and two or three kinds of fern, like those of the West-Indies, with a few of the plants that are to be found in almost every part of the world, were all, out of about four hundred species, that have hitherto been described by any botanists, or had been seen elsewhere during the course of this voyage, except about five or six which had been gathered at Terra del Fuego.

Of eatable vegetables there are but few; our people, indeed, who had been long at sea, eat, with equal pleasure and advantage, of wild celery, and a kind of cresses, which grew in great abundance upon all parts of the sea-shore. We also, once or twice, met with a plant like what the country people in England call Lamb's quarters, or Fat-hen, which we boiled instead of greens; and once we had the good fortune to find a cabbagetree, which afforded us a delicious meal; and, except the fern root, and one other vegetable, totally unknown in Europe, and which, though eaten by the natives, was extremely disagreeable to us, we found no other vegetable production that was fit for food, among those that appear to be the wild produce of the country; and we could find but three esculent plants among those which are raised by cultivation, yams, sweet potatoes, and coccos. Of the yams and 1 4

pota

potatoes, there are plantations consisting of many acres, and I be lieve that any ship which should happen to be here in the autumn, when they are dug up, might purchase them in any quantity.

Gourds are also cultivated by the natives of this place, the fruit of which furnishes them with vessels for various uses. We also found here the Chinese paper mulberrytree, the same as that of which the inhabitants of the South-Sea Islands make their cloth; but it is so scarce, that though the New-Zealanders also make cloth of it, they have not enough for any other purpose, than to wear as an ornament in the holes which they make in their ears, as I have observed before.

But among all the trees, shrubs, and plants of this country, there is not one that produces fruit; except a berry, which has neither sweetness nor flavour, and which none but the boys took pains to gather, should be honoured with that appellation. There is, however, a plant which serves the inhabitants instead of hemp and flax, which excels all that are put to the same purposes in other countries. Of this plant there are two sorts; the leaves of both resemble those of flags, but the flowers are smaller, and their clusters more numerous; in one kind they are yellow, and in the other a deep red. the leaves of these plants, with very little preparation, they make all their common apparel; and of these they make also their strings, lines, and cordage for every purpose, which are so much stronger than any thing we can make with hemp, that they will not bear a comparison. From the same plant,

Of

by another preparation, they draw long slender fibres which shine like silk, and are as white as snow; of these, which are also surprisingly strong, the finer cloths are made; and of the leaves, without any other preparation than splitting them into proper breadths, and tying the stripes together, they make their fishing nests; some of which, as I have before remarked, are of an enormous size.

A plant, which with such advantage might be applied to so many useful and important purposes, would certainly be a great acquisition to England, where it would probably thrive with very little trouble, as it seems to be hardy, and to affect no particular soil; being found equally in bill and valley; in the dryest mould, and the deepest bogs: the bog however, it seems rather to prefer, as near such places we observed it to be larger than elsewhere.

We found great plenty of iron sand in Mercury Bay, and therefore iron ore is undoubtedly to be found at no great distance. As to other metals, we had scarcely knowledge enough of the country for conjecture.