12 June 1769

Joseph Banks's Journal: Daily Entries

Table of Contents On this day ... 12 June 1769 Endeavour Voyage Maps James Cook's Journal Ms 1, National Library of Australia Transcript of Cook's Journal Sydney Parkinson's Journal The authorised published account of Cook's Voyage by John Hawkesworth 1769 Annotations Index Search Contact us Search for in Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine

12 June 1769 12. In my mornings walk today I met a company of traveling musicians; they told me where they should be at night so after supper we all repaird to the place. There was a large concourse of people round this band, which consisted of 2 flutes and three drums, the drummers acompanying their musick with their voices; they sung many songs generaly in praise of us, for these gentlemen like Homer of old must be poets as well as musicians. The Indians seeing us entertaind with their musick, askd us to sing them an English song, which we most readily agreed to and receivd much applause, so much so that one of the musicians became desirous of going to England to learn to sing. These people by what we can learn go about from house to house, the master of the house and the audience paying them for their musick in cloth, meat, beads or any thing else which the one wants and the other can spare. Voyaging Accounts © Derived from State Library of NSW 1998 Transcription of Banks's Endeavour Journal page (vol.1) 268, 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/banks/17690612.html