ck on one side of the cove, close to the Resolution. A
party of men, with an officer, was sent to cut wood, and to clear a
place for the conveniency of watering. Others were employed to brew
spruce-beer, as pine-trees abounded here. The forge was also set up,
to make the iron-work wanting for the repairs of the fore-mast. For,
besides one of the bibs being defective, the larboard trestle-tree and
one of the cross-trees were sprung.

A considerable number of the natives visited us daily; and every now
and then we saw new faces. On their first coming, they generally went
through a singular mode of introducing themselves. They would paddle,
with all their strength, quite round both ships, a chief, or other
principal person in the canoe, standing up with a spear, or some other
weapon, in his hand, and speaking, or rather hollowing, all the time.
Sometimes the orator of the canoe would have his face covered with a
mask, representing either a human visage, or that of some animal;
and, instead of a weapon, would hold a rattle in his hand, as before
described. After making this circuit round the ships, they would come
alongside, and begin to trade without further ceremony. Very often,
indeed, they would first give us a song, in which all in the canoe
joined, with a very pleasing harmony.

During these visits, they gave us no other trouble than to guard
against their thievish tricks. But, in the morning of the 4th, we
had a serious alarm. Our party on shore, who were employed in cutting
wood, and filling water, observed, that the natives all around them
were arming themselves in the best manner they could; those, who were
not possessed of proper weapons, preparing sticks, and collecting
stones. On hearing this, I thought it prudent to arm also; but, being
determined to act upon the defensive, I ordered all our workmen to
retreat to the rock, upon which we had placed our observatories,
leaving the natives in quiet possession of the ground where they had
assembled, which was within a stone's throw of the Resolution's stern.
Our fears were ill-grounded; these hostile preparations were not
directed against us, but against a body of their own countrymen, who
were coming to fight them; and our friends of the Sound, on observing
our apprehensions, used their best endeavours to convince us that this
was the case. We could see that they had people looking out on each
point of the cove, and canoes frequently passed between them and the