State Library of NSW
NEW ZEALAND the Hanger to be fir'd at which was accordingly done & wounded in such a manner that he died soon after upon the first fire wch was only 2 Musquets [note left]-Poverty Bay the others retir'd to a rock which lay nearly in the middle of the River but upon seeing the man fall they returned probably to carry him off or his Arms the last of which they accomplished & this we could not prevent unless we had run our Bayonets into them for upon their returning from off the Rock we had discharged of our Peices[sic] which were load with small Shott & wounded 3 more but these got over the River & were carried off by the others who now thought proper to retire Finding nothing was to be done with the People on this side & the water in the river being salt I embarked with an intent to row round the head of the Bay in search of Fresh water & if Possible to surprise some of the Natives & to take then onboard & by good Treatment & Presents endeavour to gain their friendship with this view only Tuesday 10.th PM. I rowed round the head of the bay but could find no place to land on account of the Great Surff which beat every where upon the Shore seeing 2 Boats or Canoes coming in from from Sea I rowed to one of them in order to seize upon the People & came so near before they took notice of us that Tupia called to them to come alongside & we would not hurt them, but instead of doing this they endeavoured to get away upon which I ordered a Musquet to be fir'd over their Heads thinking this would either make them surrender or jump overboard, but here I was mistaken for they immediately took to their Arms or whatever they had in the Boat & began to attack us , this obliged us to fire upon them & unfortunately either 2 or 3 were kill'd & one wounded & 3 Jumped overboard these last we took up & bro.t onboard where they were Cloathed & treated with all imaginable kindness & to the surprise of every body became at once as cheerful & as merry as if they had been with their own Friends, they were all 3 Young the eldest not above 20 years of Age & the Youngest about 10 or 12. I am aware that most Humane Men who have not experienced things of this nature will Censure my Conduct in firing upon the People in this Boat nor do I myself think that the reason I had for seizing upon them will at all Justify me & had I thought that they would have made the Least Resistance I would not have come near them but as they did I was not to stand still & suffer either myself or those that were with me to be knocked on the head- In the morning as I intended to put our 3 Prisoners ashore & stay here the day to see what effect it might have upon the other Natives I sent an Officer ashore with the Marines & a party of men to cut wood & soon after followed myself accompanied by Mr Banks Dr.Solander & Tupia taking the 3 Natives with us whom we landed on the W.t side of the River before mentioned, they were very unwilling to leave us pretending
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