Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0389
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[Page 389]
Oheteroa
August 1769
to tell us that they were not our freinds we after this enterd into a parley with them telling them that if they would lay by their arms which were lances & clubbs we would come ashore & truck with them for whatever they would bring they agreed but upon condition that we should lay down our musquets an article which we did not think fit to comply with so our negotiation dropt for the present at least after a little time however they took courage & came nearer to the boat near enough to begin to trade which they did very fairly for a smal quantity of cloth & some of their weapons but as they gave us no hopes of provisions or indeed any thing else unless we would venture through a narrow channel to the shore we put off the boat & left them
In this expedition we labourd under many disadvantages we left the ship in a hurry taking with us no kind of arms but our musquets which without bayonets would have made but a poor resistance against these peoples weapons all meant to fight hand to hand but what was worst of all was the dificulty of landing which we could not do without wetting ourselves & arms unless we had venturd through the passage I have spoke of which was so small that tho the weather was perfectly fine the sea often broke right across it so that had we gone in & the least surf rose we could never have got out again but must have remaind the night in shoal water liabe to any stratagems that our enemies might devise ill furnishd as we were to oppose