s, pieces of
cloth, and other presents, which we hoped would procure us the good-will
of the inhabitants when they should return; but the lances which we
found lying about, we took away with us, to the number of about
fifty:[70] They were from six to fifteen feet long, and all of them had
four prongs in the manner of a fish-gig, each of which was pointed with
fish-bone, and very sharp: We observed that they were smeared with a
viscous substance of a green colour, which favoured the opinion of their
being poisoned, though we afterwards discovered that it was a mistake:
They appeared, by the sea-weed that we found sticking to them, to have
been used in striking fish. Upon examining the canoes that lay upon the
beach, we found them to be the worst we had ever seen: They were between
twelve and fourteen feet long, and made of the bark of a tree in one
piece, which was drawn together and tied up at each end, the middle
being kept open by sticks which were placed across them from gunwale to
gunwale as thwarts. We then searched for fresh water, but found none,
except in a small hole which had been dug in the sand.

[Footnote 70: This action is not altogether to be commended--perhaps
indeed, it is scarcely justifiable, but on the same principle that would
warrant these or other savages making off with the muskets or any thing
else belonging to the ship's company. These lances were most valuable
property to their original possessors; and it is doubtful if the plea
which might be set up for the abstraction of them, viz. that they would
be used against our people, can be sustained, seeing the savages had
fled; and more especially as, supposing, them to have so purposed, they
could with readiness be checked by a display of superior means of
annoyance. Is it conceivable, that the unworthy desire to possess these
lances as curiosities, could actuate the persons concerned to such a
piece of pilfering? We have repeatedly seen that our people had not been
scrupulous in allegiance to the commandment--thou shalt not covet,
&c.--E.]

Having re-embarked in our boat, we deposited our lances on board the
ship, and then went over to the north point of the bay, where we had
seen several of the inhabitants when we were entering it, but which we
now found totally deserted. Here however we found fresh water, which
trickled down from the top of the rocks, and stood in pools among the
hollows at the bottom; but it was situated so as not to be procu