Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1773-12-13 00:00:00, page 1

✓7 place fixed upon for an observatory and fort, at
King George's Island: an excurfan into the
moods, and its confluences : the fort erected : a
"lift from federal chiefs on board and at the fort,
mithfome account of the inujick of the natives, and
'the manner in which they difoofe of their dead.
From Lieutenant CoOK'a voyage, published by
Dr. Hawkesworth.
^^y^^) N the morning of Saturday the
^^^^,,} 15th of April, 1769, fe-veral of
,jn O §% the Chiefs whom we had seen the
j^y, day before came on board, and
g ^f^ brought with them, hogs, bread
h^^^N/j fruit, an d other refrefhmen ts, for
which we gave them hatchets and linen, and such
things as leemed to be most acceptable.
As in my excursion to the westward, I had not
found any more convenient harbour than that in
which we lay, I determined to go on Hore and
fix upon some spot, commanded by the Hip's guns,
Where I might throw up a small fort for our de
fence, and prepare for making our astronomical
observation.
I therefore took a party of men, and landed
without delay, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr.
Solander, and the astronomer, Mr. Green. We
loon fixed upon a part of the sandy beach, on the
N. E. point of the bay, which was in every ref
ped convenient for our purpose, and not near any
habitation of the natives. Having marked out the
ground that we intended to occupy, a small tent
belonging to Mr. Banks was set up, which had
been brought on Hore for that purpose: by this
time a great number of the people had gathered
about us; but, as it appeared, only to look on,
there not being a single weapon of any kind among
them. I intimated, however, that none of them
Were to come within the line I had drawn, except
one who appeared to be a chief, and Owhaw. To
these two persons I addressed myfelf by signs, and
endeavoured to make them understand, that we
wanted the ground which we had marked cut to
sleep upon for a certain number nights, and that
then we Should go away. Whether I was under
flood I cannot certainly determine; but the people
behaved with a deference and refpe& that at once
pleased and surprised us: they fat down peaceably
without the circle, and looked on, without giving
us any interruption, till we had done, which was
upwardsof two hours. As wehad seen no poultry,
end but two hogs, in our walk when we were last
on Hore at this place, we fufpe&ed that, upon
our arrival, they had been driven farther up the
country ; and the,rather, as Owhaw was very im
portunate with us, by fgns, not to go into the
woods, which, however, and partly for these
reasons, we were determined to do. Having
therefore appointed the thirteen marines and a petty
officer to guard the tent, we set out, and a great
number of the.natives joined our party. As we
were eroding a little liver that lay in our way we
saw some ducks, and Mr. Banks, as soon as he
had got over, fired at them, and happened to kill
three at one shot: this ftiuck them with the ut
most terror, (0 that most of them fell suddenly to
the ground, as if they also had been Hot at the
fame difeharge: it was not long, however, before
they recovered from their fright, and we continued
our rout; but we had not gone far before we were
alarmed by the report of two pieces, which were
fired by the guard atthe tent. Wehad then drag
gled a little distance from each other, but Owhaw
immediately called us together, and by waving his
hand, sent away every Indian who followed us
except three, each of whom, as a pledge of peace
on their part, and an entreaty that there neight be
peace on ours, hastily broke a branch from the
trees, and came to us with it in their hands. As
we had too much reason to fear that some mifehief
had happened, we hafted back to the tent, which
was not distant above half a mile, and when we
came up, we foundit entirely deserted, except by
our own people.
It appeared, that one of the Indians who re
mained about the tent after we left it, had watched
his opportunity, and, taking the centry unawares,
had Hatched away his mufquet. Upon this, the
petty officer, a midHipman, who commanded the
party, perhaps from a sudden fear of farther vio
lence, perhaps from the natural petulance of power
newly acquired, and perhaps from a brutality in
his nature, ordered the marines to fire: the men,
with as little confederation or humanity as the
officer, immediately difeharged their pieces among
the thickest of the frying crowd, confining of
more than a hundred; and observing that the thief ^
did not fall, pursued him, and Hot him dead.
We afterwards learnt, that none of the others
were either killed or wounded.
Owhaw, who had never left us, observing
that we were now totally deserted, got together
a few of those who had fled, though not w.thout
some difficulty, and ranged them about us: we
endeavoured to juftify our people as well as we
could, and to convince the Indians that if they did
no wrong to us, we Hould do no wrong to them :
they went away without any appearance of diHruft
%&|^^^ @^^^Q)
ffllt^w^
0 R,
GENERAL
V 0 L. 111.
M° O N D A Y,
or resentment; and having struck our tent, we
returned to the Hip, but by no means fatisfied with
the tranfaaions of the day.
Upon questioning our people more particularly,
whole condud they soon perceived we could not
approve, they alledged that the centinel whose
muiquet was taken away, was violently assaulted
and thrown down, and that a puH was afterwards
made at him by the man who took the mufquet,
before any command was given t> fire. It was
also suggested, that Owhaw had lufpicions, at
least if not certain knowledge, that something
would be attempted against our people at the tent,
which made him so very earnest in his endeavours
to prevent our leaving it; others imputed his im
portunity to his desire that we Hould confine our
selves to the beach: and it was remarked that
neither Owhaw, nor the chiefs who remained
with us after he had lent the rest of the people
away, would have inferred the breach of peace
from the firing at the tent, if they had had no rea
son to fufped that some injury had been offered by
their countrymen; especially as Mr. Banks had
just fired at the ducks: and yet that they did infer
a breach of peace from that incident, as was ma
nifeft from their waving their hands for the people
to dilperfe, and instantly pulling green branches
from the trees. But what were the real circum
stances of this unhappy affair, and whether either
and which of these conjectures were true, can never
certainly be known.
The next morning but few of the natives were
seen upon the beach, and not one of them came off
to the Hip. This convinced us that our endea
vours to quiet their apprehensions bad not been
effectual; and we remarked with particular regret,
that we were defected even by Owhaw, who had
hitherto been so constant in his attachment, and so
active in renewing the peace that had been broken.
Appearances beingthus unfavourable, 1 warped
the Hip nearer to the Hore, and moored her in
meh a manner as to command all the N. E. part
of the bay, particularly the place which I had
marked out for the building a fort. In the even
ing, however, I went on Hore with only a boat's
crew, and some of the Gentlemen: the natives
gathered about us, but not in the fame number as
before; there were I believe between thirty and
forty, and they trafficked with us for cocoa-nuts
and other fruit, to all appearance as friendly as ever.
On the 17th, early in the morning, wehad the
misfortune to lose Mr. Buchan, the person whom
Mr. Banks had brought out as a painter of land
scapes and figures. He was a sober, diligent,
and ingenious young man, and greatly regretted
by Mr. Banks; who hoped, by his means, to
have gratified his friends in England with repre
sentations of this country and its inhabitants,
which no other person on board could delineate
with the fame accuracy and elegance. He hid
always been fubjed to epileptic fits, one of which
seized him on the mountains of Terra del Fuego,
and this disorder being aggravated by a bilious
complaint which he contrasted on board the Hip,
at length put an end to his life. It was at firft
proposed to bury him on Hore, but Mr. Banks
thinking that it might perhaps give offence to the
natives, with whose customs we were then wholly
unacquainted, we committed his body to the sea,
with as much decency and solemnity as our circum
stances and situation would admit.
In the forenoon of this day we received a visit
from Tubourai Tamaide and Tootahah, our chiefs,
from the Weft: they brought with them, as em
blems of peace, not branches of plantain, but two
young trees, and would not venture on board till
these had been received, having probably been
alarmed by the mifehief which had been done at
the tent. Each of them also brought, as propiti
atory gifts, some bread-fruit, and a hog ready
dressed: this was a most acceptable present, as we
perceived that hogs were not always to be got ;
and in return we gave to each of onr noble bene
factors a hatchet and a nail. In the evening we
went on Hore and set up a tent, in which Mr.
Green and myfelf spent the night, in order to
observe an eclipse of the firft fatellire of Jupiter :
but the weather becoming cloudy, we were dis
appointed.
On the 18th, at day-break, I went on Hore,
with as many people as could possibly be spared
from the Hip, and began to ereCt our fort. While
some were employed in throwing up Entrenchments,
others were busy in cutting pickets and fafeines,
which the natives, who soon gathered round us
as they had used to do, were so far from hindering,
that many of them voluntarily assisted us, bringing
the pickets and fafeines from the wood where they
had been cut, with great alacrity: wehad indeed
been so scrupulous of invading their property,
that we purchased every Hake which was used up
on this occasion, and cut down no tree till we
had firft obtained their consent. The foil where
we conftruded our fort was sandy. and this made
it necessary to (Lengthen the entrenchments with
wood ; three sides were to be fortified in this man
ner; the fourth was bounded by a river, upon
the banks of which I propofc'd to place a proper
D U N L A P's
I =-.======== -—^=a -======^^
number of water-calks. This day we served pork
to the Hip's company for the firft time, and the
Indians brought down so much bread-fruit and
cocoa-nuts, that we found it necessary to fend
away part of them unbought, and to acquaint
them, by signs, that we Hould want no more for
two days to come. Every thing was purchased
this day with beads: a single bead, as big as a pea,
being the purchase of five or fix cocoa-nuts, and
as many of the bread-fruit. Mr. Banks's tent
was got up before night within the works, and he
slept on Hore for the firft time. Proper centries
were placed round it, but no Indian attempted to
approach it the whole night.
The next morning, our friend Tubourai Ta
maide made Mr. Banks a visit at the tent, and
brought with him not only his wife and family,
but the roof of a house, and several materials for
fettiug it up, with furniture and implements of
various kinds, intending, as we understood him,
to take up his residence in our neighbourhood;
this instance ofhis confidence and good-will gave
us great pleasure, and we determined to strength
en his attachment to us by every means in our
power. Soon after his arrival, he took Mr. Banks
by the hand, and leading him out of the line, lig
nified that he should accompany him into the
woods. Mr. Banks readily consented, and hav
ing walked with him about a quarter of a mile,
they arrived ata kind of awning which he had
already set up, and which seemed to be his occasi
onal habitation. Here he unfolded a bundle of
his country cloth, and taking out two garments,
one of red cloth, and the other of very neat mat
ting, he eloathed Mr. Banks in them, and with
out any other ceremony, immediately conduced
him back to the tent. His attendants soon after
brought him some pork and bread-fruit, which he
eat, dipping his meat into salt water instead of
sauce: after his meal he retired to Mr. Banks's
bed, and slept about an hour. In the afternoon,
his wife I omio brought to the tent a young man
about two and twenty years of age, of a very
comely appearance, whom they both seemed to
acknowledge as their son, though we afterwards
difeovered that he was not so. In the evening,
this young man and another chief, who had also
paid us a visit, went away to the westward, but
Tubourai Tamaide and his wife returned to the
awning in the Hirts of the wood.
Our Surgeon, Mr. Monkhoufe, having walked
out this evening, reported, that he had Teen the
body of the man who had been Hot at the tents,
which he said was wrapped in cloth, and placed
on a kind of bier, Supported by Hakes, under a
roof that seemed to have been set up for the pur
pose: that near it were deposited some instruments
of war, and other things, which he would parti
cularly have examined but for the flench of his
body, which was intolerable. He said, that he
saw also two more Heds of the fame kind, in one
of which were the bones of a human body that
had lain till they were quite dry. We difeovered
afterwards, that this was the way in which they
usually disposed of their dead.
A kind of market now began to be kept just
without the line; and was plentifully supplied
with every thing but pork. Tubourai Tamaide
was our constant guest, imitating our manners,
even to the tiling of a knife and fork, which he
did very handily.
As my curiosity was excited by Mr. Monk
houfe's account of the situation of the man who
had been Hot, I took an opportunity to go with
some others to fee it. I found the shed under
which his body lay, close by the house in which
he resided when he was alive, some others being
not more than ten yards distant; it was about 15
feet long, and 11 broad, and of a proportionable
height: one end was wholly open, and the other
end, and the two sides, were partly enclosed with
a kind of wicker work. The bier on which the
corpse was deposited, was a frame of wood like
that in which the sea beds, called cotts, are placed,
with a matted bottom, and supported by four
posts, at the height of about five feet from the
ground. The body was covered firft with a matt,
and then with white cloth; by the fide of it lay a
wooden made, one of their weapons of war, and
near the head of it, which lay next to the close
end of the Hed, lay two cocoa nut-Hells, such as
are sometimes used to carry water in; at the other
end a bunch of green leaves, with some dried twigs,
all tied together, were stuck in the ground, by
which lay a done about as big as a cocoa nut:
near these lay one of the young plantain trees,
which are used for emblems of peace, and
by it a stone ax. Atthe open end of the Hed #lli
hung, in several firings, a great number of palm
nuts, and without the Hed, was stuck upright in
the ground, the Hem of a plantain tree about
five feet high, upon the top of which was placed
a cocoa nut-Hell full of freH water: against the
fide of one of the polls hung a small bag, contain
ing a few pieces ofbread-fruit ready loafted, which
were not all put in at the fame time, for some of
them were frefli and others Hile. I took notice
that several of the natives observed us with a mix
T HE
ADVERTISER.
DECEMBER 13th, 1773.
ture of solicitude and jealousy in their counte
nances, and by their gestures exprefTed tineafineH
when we went near the body, Handing themselves
at a little distance while we were making our ex
amination, and appeared to be pleased when w^
came away.
Our refidende on Hore would by no means have
been disagreeable if we had not been inceffantl,
tormented by the flies, which, among other mif
ehief, made it almost impoflible for Mr. Patkin
fon, Mr. Banks's natural history painter, to work;
for they not only covered his fubjed so as that no
part of its furface could be seen, but even eat die
colour off the paper as faft as he Could lay it^. 1
We had recourse to mufquito nets and fly-trap's,
which, though they made the inconvenience tole
rable, were very far from removing it.
On the 22d, Tootahah gave us a specimen of
the inufic of this country ; fourperfons performed
upon flutes which had only two flops, and there
fore could not .found more than four notes, by
half tones: they were founded like our German
flutes, except that the performer, instead of ap
plying it to his mouth, blew into it with one nos
tril, while he flopped the other with his thumb:
to these instruments four other persons sung, and
kept very good time; but only one tune was played
during the whole concert.
Several of the natives brought us axes, which
they had received from on board the Dolphin, to
grind and repair; but among others, there 'was
one which became the fubjeci of much fpecuhtion,
as it appeared to be French: after much enquiry,
we learnt that a Hip had been here between out
arrival and the departure of the Dolphin, which
we then conjectured to have been a Spaniard, but
now know to have been the Boudeufe, commanded
by M. Bougainville.
**w^^***^^cfe%ofoofr&,%g)
T 0 B E LE T,'
A NE A T three story brick DWELLING
/ xHOUSE, hath two parlcurs, four chambers,
a kitchen and yard belonging to the fame, situate
in Moravian-alley, three do^rs from Arch-ftrect.
Also a good commodious $ TORE, in Water
ftreet, midway between Market and Arch-ilreets,
with Helves, and a coigpting-houfe, suitable for
the dry goods business, and a large dry celier under
the fame. Enquire of the printer.
jVh-n-fT 7)-MITE ~r~g~e
FURRIE R, living on the eatt fide of Second
ibeet, and next door to Mr. Milne, Jeweller,
HAS just imported a frefh aflortment of
FUR R S, which are Manufactured by
him into MUFFS, TIPPETS, ERMINES, and
LINING fer CLOAKS; those ladies who will
pleale to favour him with their custom, may de
pend upon the best of usage, and upon reasonable
terms - .Those who purchase any article of value in
furriery, may have it secured from the moths in
the fiimmer season, by him. Midenets and country
Hop-keepers may be supplied at the cheapen rate :
He has likewise; a general assortment of SHOP
GOODS to &@ofe off, 011 very reasonable terms.
N. B. H< bast all forts of Hipping furrs, such as
otters, minks ; foxes, ground fquirels, &c. &c.
wy-MA^rTtnn^^
over in the ship Glasgow, from Glasgow, faft
fail, and proposed going to Cumberland county as
well to purchase land !as to fell a few dry goods,
will dire& a line to the fubferiber, merchant, in
Philadelphia, (who has not heard from him since
he left that place) he may hear of something in
which he* is materially concerned. Should he be
dead, or left that country, any person giving in
formation of him, will much oblige, and be re
warded for their trouble.
WILLIAM SEMPLE.
Who has just imported in the Glasgow, Capt,
Marquis, via New-York, a neat assortment of
Scotch threads, checks, check and printed hand
kerchiefs ; fine lawns, handkerchiefs, aprons and
ruffles, &c.
Just imported in the Hip Montague, Capt. Pickles,
from London, and to be SOLD by
WILLIAM RICH ARDS,
At the sign of the Spread Eagle, in Market. Erect,
near the Court-house, Philadelphia,
AL ARGE and general assortment of drugs and
medicines, Hop furniture, Surgeons pocket
instruments, lancets, feiffars, tooth drawers, pill
boxes, phials, fyrop and galley pots, &c. &c,
Patent Medicines, from the original ware-houses ;
wiftf!an elegant assortment of fine paints, such as
verZigrcafe, Prufiian blue, sap green, drop lake,
Indian red, carmine, role and Dutch pink, vermil
lion. &c. large brushes; tools; camels, pig-hair,
and black lead pencils; oil cloth; gold and fiber
leaf; gold beaters ikin ; court aad issue phhdtri
linseed and nut oils, &c. &C. Dye Stuffs, as mad
der, copperas, arnetto, indigo, redwood, logwood,
cochineal, Ac. pumice and rotten (tone, &c, &c.
N. B. He manufactures corks, chocolate and
mustard, and gives the belt prices for mustard feed.
; f - -y — ^ R~O W,~
At ONE O'CLOCK, at
J O H N H A R T's
V ENDU E - S TOR E,
At the corner of South and Front-Streets,
Will begin the SALE of a large and neat
allotment of
MERC H A N DI Z E,
HeuHold Furniture, Wealing Apparel, &c.
NUMB. 112 .