thers had scarcely a stain, except on the lips, which were black in all
of them without a single exception. These gentlemen, for a long time,
refused to part with any of their weapons, whatever was offered for
them; at last, however, one of them produced a piece of talc, wrought
into the shape of an axe, and agreed to sell it for a piece of cloth:
The cloth was handed over the ship's side, but his honour immediately
put off his canoe with the axe. We had recourse to our usual expedient,
and fired a musket-ball over the canoe, upon which it put back to the
ship, and the piece of cloth was returned; all the boats then went
ashore, without offering any further intercourse.

At noon, the main land extended from S. by E. to N.W. by W. a remarkable
point of land bearing W. distant four or five miles; at three we passed
it, and I gave it the name of Cape Bret, in honour of Sir Piercy. The
land of this Cape is considerably higher than any part of the adjacent
coast: At the point of it is a high round hillock, and N.E. by N. at the
distance of about a mile, is a small high island or rock, which, like
several that have already been described, was perforated quite through,
so as to appear like the arch of a bridge. This Cape, or at least some
part of it, is by the natives called Motugogogo, and it lies in
latitude 35 deg. 10' 30" S. longitude 185 deg. 25' W. On the west side of it is
a large and pretty deep bay, lying in S.W. by W. in which there appeared
to be several small islands: The point that forms the N.W. entrance lies
W. 1/4 N. at the distance of three or four leagues from Cape Bret, and I
distinguished it by the name of Point Pococke. On the west side of the
bay we saw several villages, both upon islands and the main, and several
very large canoes came off to us, full of people, who made a better
appearance than any we had seen yet: They were all stout and well-made;
their hair, which was black, was tied up in a bunch on the crown of
their heads, and stuck with white feathers. In each of the canoes were
two or three chiefs, whose habits were of the best sort of cloth, and
covered with dog's skin, so as to make an agreeable appearance: Most of
these people were marked with the amoco, like those who had been
alongside of us before: Their manner of trading was also equally
fraudulent; and the officers neglecting either to punish or fright them,
one of the midshipmen, who had been defrauded in his bargain, had
recourse for re