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brought it on board, where a piece of the flefh was broiled and eaten by one of the na«-lives, before all the officers and moft of the men. Captain Cook was on ffiore at thistime, but foon after returning on board, was informed of the above circumftance; andfound the quarter-deck crowded with the natives, and the mangled head, or rather partof it, (for the under jaw and lip were wanting) lying on the talferai. The fkull hadbeen broken on the left fide, juft above the temples ; and the remains of the face hadall the appearance of a youth under twenty.
The fight of the head, and the relation of the above circumftances, ftruck him. withhorror, and filled his mind with indignation againft thefe cannibals. Curiofity, how-ever.. got the better of his indignation, efpecially when he confidered that it would availbut little; and being defirous of becoming an eye-witnefs of a fad which many doubted,he ordered a piece of the flefh to be broiled and brought to the quarter deck, where oneof thefe cannibals eat it with furprifing avidity. This had fo great an effect on forne ofthe failors as to make them fick. This youth had been killed in a fkirmifh betweentwo parties.
That the New Zealanders are cannibals, can now no longer be doubted. The ac-count given of this in Captain Cook ’s former voyage being partly founded on circum-ftances, was, as he afterwards underftood, difcredited by many perfons. Few confidertvhat a favage man is in his natural ftate, and even after he is in f’ome degree civilized.
On the 25th, they weighed, with a fmall breeze, out of the cove. The morning be-fore they failed, Captain Cook wrote a memorandum, fetting forth the time he arrived,the day he failed, the route he intended to take, and fuch other information as he thoughtpeceffary for Captain Furneaux, in cafe he fhould put into the Sound; and buriedit in a bottle under the root of a tree in the garden, which is at the bottom of the cove,*n fuch a manner as muft be found by him or any European who might put intodie cove.
At day-light in the morning on the 26th, they made fail round Cape Pallifer, firingguns as ufual, as they ran along the fhore. In this manner they proceeded till they werediree or four leagues to the north-eaft of the Cape.
Every one being unanimoufly of opinion that the Adventure could neither be ftranded°u the cbaft, nor be in any of the harbours thereof, they gave up looking for’her, anda ft thoughts of feeing her any more during the voyage, as no rendezvous was abfolutelyftxed upon after leaving New Zealand .
On quitting the coaft, and confequently all hopes of their being joined by their con-*° rt 5 not a man was dejeSed, or thought the dangers they had yet to go through, were in*ue leaft increafed by being alone.
On the 14th of December they fell in with feveral large iflands of ice, and, aboutn °°n, with a quantity of loofe ice through which they failed. Grey albatroffes, blueP e terels, pintadoes, and fulmers, were feen. As they advanced to the fouth-eaft-by-ea ft, with a frefh gale at weft, they found the number of ice-iflands increafe faft, alfo ac °nfiderable quantity of loofe ice. They tacked, ftretched to the north, and foon gotc ftar of if 5 but not before they had received feveral hard knocks from the larger pieces,^hich, with all their care, they could not avoid. After clearing one danger they ftillanother to encounter ; the weather remained foggy, and many large iflands lay inueir way ; fo that they had to luff for one, and bear up for another. One they were^ er > near falling aboard of; and if it had happened, this circumftance would never havee en related. Thefe difficulties determined them to get more to the north.
, On the 17th they took fomeice out of the fea into their boats, for the ufe of the Ihip,it proved to be none of the beft, being chiefly compoled of frozen fnow; on which
8 account