PEEPS INTO THE PAST

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10230, 8 January 1927, Page 4

PEEPS INTO THE PAST

COOK’S FIRST VOYAGE.

NOTES FROM A LITTLE KNOWN WORK

(Specially Written for the “Gisborne Times” by E’LSDON BEST, Esq.)

The fast-growing interest being displayed in connection with the history and discovery of the Pacific Isles, as also the peoples that colonised them in the remote past, has had the e - feet of enhancing the value of the accounts left us by early European navigators of observations in the above region. Among such works those of Captain J as. Cook are found to occupy a place in the front rank, as also do those of his companions, Dr. Banks and Sydney Parkinson. Any additional information connected with Cook’s voyages, that is to other than that contained in the well-known works on the subject, is worthy of keen attention, and, if genuine, is bound to be welcomed.

INTERESTING TITLE PAGE. The work under discussion is a small volume containing a brief account of Cook’s first voyage;, published in London in 1771, the year that the Endeavour reached home waters after her first voyage to the Pacific. It is said to have been the journal of a gentleman who made the voyage with Cook, hut whose name is nob divulged. Presumably it was the work of one of the ship’s officers. The following announcement represents the title page of the hook:—

tho above place at 4 o’clock p.m., while Cook makes no mention of anchoring until the ninth. B°tli state, however, that land was first sighted on October 7th, 1/69. l\c are told nothing concerning the landing at Turanganui or the capture or tho Native youths—a curious omission. The “journalist; tells us that several shoals three miles N.E. from Portland Island, were named ‘The Shambles,” a statement hot found in Wharton’s edition of Cook’s journal. One of these shoals was narrowly escaped. The Natives in the four canoes that approached the ship on October 13 challenged the mariners by throwing spears into the ship, a wellknown Polynesian custom. On October 15, in the vicinity of Cape Kidnappers, our journalist moralises over the commercial morality of the aborigines, as observed during bartering activities. “From their beliavious we concluded that they had never received any sentiment of probity, either from'the suggestions of a moral sense, or the precepts of education; for after bargaining with us for a parcel of fish, as often as they eould get possession of those commodities which they were to receive in payment, before they bad tied tlieii fish to the rope by which we were to draw them on board, they, would laugh at our want of precaution, and resolutely refuse us any return for what they had received, obliging us to repurchase the same parcel of fish with other paper and cloth; and this without appearing to be sensible that there was anything shameful or unjust in their knavery.”

A JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE

ROUND THE WORLD

IN HIS MAJESTY’S SHIP

ENDEAVOUR

IN THEI YEARS 1768, 1769, 1770 AND 1771. UNDERTAKEN IN PURSUIT OF NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE, AT THE DESIRE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY: CONTAINING ALL THE VARIOUS OCCURRENCES OF THE VOYAGE, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF SEVERAL NEW DISCOVERED COUNTRIES IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE: AND ACCOUNTS OF THEIR SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS; AND OF MANY SINGULARITIES IN THE STRUCTURE, APPAREL. CUSTOMS, MANNERS, POLICY. MANUFACTURES, ETC., OF THEIR INHABITANTS TO WHICH IS ADDED A CONCISE VOCABULARY OF THE LANGUAGE OF OTA H'J TEE. London. Printed for T. Becket and P. A. Dc Houdt, in The Strand. MDUCLXXI. ‘ PROPERLY AUTHENTICATED 1 . ’ ’ The next leaf of the work contains a combined dedication and preface which reads as follows: To the Right Honourable the Lords of the Admiralty, and to Mr Banks and Dr. Solander:

SOCIETY

NEITHER BASHFUL NOR TIMID. The journalist’s description of the vicinity ot Napier is not quite cleai, but seems to show that the outlet of the inner harbor was then at the Petane end of the Spit, which, as shown by the late Rev. W. Colenso, was actually the case in the earlier decades of tlie 19th century. Of the Natives taken on board on Thursday, October 19, we are told: “There was nothing like rustic bashfulness or timidity in their behaviour; as they familiarly tasted of everything which they saw us eat , even ’ when uninvited: and appeared to have as much confidence in our hospitality and friendship, as if they had long experienced both. Two of them were finely proportioned in their shapes and limbs, and their features appeared to have an unusual feminine delicacy.” Cook’s journal tells us that .wo of the visitors, appeared to he chiefs, and these- would not partake of proffered food, while the other three ate whatever was offered them.

WHAT HAPPENED AT TOLAGA

BAY

My Lords and Gentlemen, —No consideration whatever could have induced me to publish this journal but a consciousness of its being properly authenticated, both from the veracity of the gentlemen from whom I had it, and in the opinion of my best literary friends. As your Lordships have been pleased, by advertisements in the papers, to caution the public not to he imposed upon by any spurious account, I hope I shall in this particular stand be exempted from such a charge. I did not mean to interfere with the interest of any one concerned in the voyage, hut took, this journal upon the judgment of my friends, and with that right which is in common with my brethren. I was the more induced to it from the agreeable manner in which it is written, as- well as by the honorable mention that is made of those ingenious gentlemen, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander: and I am convinced that 1 it is the production of a gentleman and a scholar, who made the voyage. I therefore am persuaded that this publication will be an acquisition to the public, and a credit to

We are given some information concerning 'J'olaga Bay which, at p. 76. the writer styles Tegadoo Bay, but at p. 79 Tolaga Bay, attributing both forms to the Natives. Cook also gives both forms. Of the Natives of this Bay our journal keeper writes: “The inhabitants had a few houses, surrounded by a fence to intercept the winds . • . They appeared to have . . •_ a great many dogs with small pointed cats. several females had bunches of sea-weeds tied about their middles.” On Tuesday, October 24, a landing party went ashore a little to the southward: “At the watering place we drew a line, and enjoined them (the Natives) not to pass it; an injunction which they obeyed with great .exactness. There were several houses contiguous, and the lands in the adjacent vallies being regular flats, were neatly disposed in small plantations, the ground appearing to be well broken as if designed lor gardens. Sweet potatoes, like those of Carolina, of which they have large quantities, commonly occupy a considerable part of these plantations. In many places we . observed the clotli-plant growing without cultivation.” This statement concerning the ante or cloth plant (broussonetia papyrifera) is not in accord with other evidence. Cook does not mention having seen it on the East Coast, but saw a few inferior plants at the Bay of Islands. It was introduced from Eastern Polynesia bv the Maori voyagers of past centuries, and was here'grown as a cultivated plant, but apparently to no great extent.

My. Lords and Gentlemen. —Your most obedient and humble servant THOMAS BEOKET. Strand, Sept. 28, 1771.

NO ACCOUNT OF LANDING AT GISBORNE.

The account of the voyage given in this work is one little known, which is my only excuse for taking it as the subject for an article. The descriptions given of the various isles visited by the expedition, their inhabitants, productions, etc., arc brief hut of muclx interest. The style adopted by the writer of the journal was a peculiar ‘one, hut also one that lias led to the writing of this paper. Matters of importance, in some cases, are merely referred to, hut no details or explanations are given, while other subjects that received scant notice in the journals of Cook, Banks and Parkinson, aro referred to atl. some length. Thus our anonymous writer gives us no particulars whatever concerning Cook’s first landing in New Zealand, hut gives an interesting description of the fortified villages of the northern part of the vSoutJi Island, such a description as we do not meet with in the pages of better-known wriers. It has occurred to me that this peculiarity may he owing to the fact that our journal keeper entered details only of such scenes, objects, etc., as were witnessed by himself, and that lie diet not form one of the landing party at Poverty Bay. No Tahitian notes are. inserted in this brief paper, hut merely a few of the more interesting ones concerning New Zealand, other than those recorded by better known recorders.

FLAX CONFUSED WITH CHINESE MULBERRY.

It is not mentioned by early settlers or sojourners here of the 19th century. Banks does not mention having seen the aute at Tolaga. Anderson’s account of the voyage states that the cloth plant grew “spontaneous” at Tolaga, but elsewhere he savs: “The Chinese paper mulbciiy is to be found, but in no abundance.” Mr. Hawkesworth’s account of C’ook’s first voyage, lie says in his description of New Zealand products. “We also found here the Chinese paper mulberry tree, the same as that 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 an ornament in the holes which they make in their ears.” Parkinson, again, wrote as follows: “The plant of which they make their cloth is a sort of Hemeocallis, and the leaves yield a very strong and glossy flax, of which then garments and ropes are made. Now; these various quoted remarks show us that the term ‘cloth plant usually employed to denote the ante, or paper mulberry, has been applied by some of these early visitors to New Zealand. to the phormium plant, known to us as flax. The evidence goes to show that the aute. did not nourish in this climate, and that it probably became extinct subsequent to the time of Cook, but prior to the settlement of the North Island by. Europeans. As in the caso of the yjfm, it was preserved!/only by careful cultivation. These facts are of interest to -“those who study the subjects of the distribution of economic plants in the Pacific region. (To be Continued.)

A CURIOUS OMISSION. Our anonymous writer tolls us> that Poverty Bay is in latitude 39” south, where Cook is more precise and gives 38” 57”. - The longitude also differs slightly, but then several observations seem to have been taken. Our journalist states that on October the Bth the ship anchored at