Joseph Banks - Endeavour Journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0290
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 290]
been servd to the ships company above once
21. Several of our freinds at the tents this morn one whoom from his grim countenance we have calld Ajax & at one time thought to be a great king he had on his canoe a hog but he chose rather to sell it at the market than give it to us as a present which we account for by his having in the morning receivd a shirt in return for a peice of cloth which made him fear that had he given the hog it might have been taken into the bargain a conduct very different from that of our freind Lycurgus who seems in every instance to place a most unbounded confidence in us
22. pleasant weather our freinds as usual come early to visit us Hercules with two piggs & a dolphins ax which he wishd to have repaird as it acordingly was. Lycurgus brought 2 large fish an acceptable present as that article has always been scarce with us trade brisk today since our new manufacture of hatchets has been set on foot we get some hogs tho our tools are so small & bad that I only wonder how they can stand one stroke
The flies have been so troublesome ever since we have been ashore that we can scarce get any business done for them they eat the painters colours off the paper as fast as they can be laid on & if a fish is to be drawn there is more trouble in keeping them off it than in the drawing itself
Many expedients have been thought of none succeed better than a mosquito net which covers table chair painter & drawings but even that is not sufficent a fly trap was nesscessary to set within this to