On this day ...
28 October 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
28. This morn we went ashore in an Island on the left hand as you come into the bay calld by the natives Tubolai. Here we saw the largest canoe we had met with: her lengh was 68_ feet, her breadth 5, hight 3:6: she was built with a sharp bottom made in 3 peices of trunks of trees hollowd, the middlemost of which was much longer than either of the other two; Her gunnel planks were in one peice 62 ft 2 in lengh carvd prettily enough in bass releif, the head was also richly carvd in their fashion. We saw also a house larger than any we had seen tho not more than 30 feet long, it seemd as if it had never been finishd being full of chipps. The woodwork of it was squard so even and smooth that we could not doubt of their having among them very sharp tools; all the side posts were carvd in a masterly stile of their whimsical taste which seems confind to the making of spirals and distorted human faces. All these had clearly been removd from some other place so probably such work bears a value among them.
While Mr Sporing was drawing on the Island he saw a most strange bird fly over his head; he describd it about as large as a kite and brown like one, his tail however was of so enormous a [length] that he at first took it for a flock of small birds flying after him. He who is a grave thinking man and is not at all given to telling wonderfull stories says he judg'd it to be at least yards in lengh.
 |
Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW 1998 Transcription of Banks's Endeavour Journal page (vol.2) 59, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/banks/17691028.html