ained with them nearly shared the
same fate. The survivors collected together at night, but their
provisions were exhausted; one or two were very ill, and they were a
long day's journey from the ship. There appeared, indeed, a great
probability that the chief objects of the voyage would be frustrated by
the death of the principal scientific persons engaged in it. After a
night of great anxiety, a vulture they had shot being their only food,
the snow partially cleared off, and they made their way to the beach,
which was not so far distant as they had supposed.

After this disastrous adventure the party again went on shore, and found
a tribe of savages, numbering fifty persons, living in a collection of
conical huts, rudely formed of boughs, and open on the lee side. The
people, who are stout and clumsily formed, had their faces painted, and
were very imperfectly covered with seal-skins. Their chief article of
clothing, indeed, was a small cloak which they wore on the side on which
the wind comes when walking or sitting. They lived chiefly on
shell-fish, and in search of them wandered from place to place. They
were considered as among the most dull and stupid of the human race. No
wonder, indeed, considering the few objects on which their minds could
be expanded. A farther acquaintance with these tribes has shown that
they have minds as capable of receiving good impressions as other human
beings, and that they are not destitute of a considerable amount of
intelligence.

The Endeavour took her departure from Cape Horn on January 26, 1769.
She ran for seven hundred leagues without land being seen. After that
she passed several coral islands, the appearance of which is now
familiar to most people, but in those days was but little-known. To
three of them the names of Lagoon Island, Bow Island, and Chain Island
were given; several of them were inhabited.

On April 11 she sighted Otaheite, [now known as Tahiti] called King
George's Island by Captain Wallis, which appeared high and mountainous,
and on the 13th came to an anchor in Matavai Bay. As she approached the
land numerous canoes came off, their crews carrying young plantains and
other green branches as a sign of friendship. Several of the boughs
were handed on board, and it was intimated that they should be placed in
different parts of the ship to show that the voyagers also wished for
peace. The natives exhibited great satisfaction on this being done.
Th