"At four o’clock in the morning, of Saturday the 25th of June, I landed, with four midshipmen, a serjeant and twelve marines, and twenty-four seamen, all armed, besides four who carried hatchets and other articles of traffick, and four who were loaded with ammunition and provisions, the rest being left with the boat: every man had his day’s allowance of brandy, and the hatchet men two small kegs, to give out when I should think proper.

"As soon as I got on shore, I called upon our old man, and took him with us: we then followed the course of the river in two parties, one marching on each side. For the first two miles it flowed through a valley of considerable width, in which were many habitations, with gardens walled in, and abundance of hogs, poultry, and fruit; the soil here seemed to be a rich fat earth, and was of a blackish colour. After this the valley became very narrow, and the ground rising abruptly on one side of the river, we were all obliged to march on the other. Where the stream was precipitated from the hills, channels had been cut to lead the water into gardens and plantations of fruit trees: in these gardens we found an herb which had never been brought down to the

Voyaging Accounts