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Towards noon some canoes came off to us from one of the isles, having two or three people in each; who advanced boldly alongside, and exchanged some cocoa-nuts, and shaddocks, for small nails. They pointed out to us Anamocka, or Rotterdam; an advantage we derived from knowing the proper names.
Oghao is not so much; but more round and peaked. They lie in the direction of N.N.W. 1/2 W. from Anamocka, eleven or twelve leagues distant; they are both inhabited, but neither of them seemed fertile. We were hardly through the passage before we got a fresh breeze at south. That moment all the natives made haste to be gone, and we steered to the west; all sails set.
In pursuing his course to the west-south-west, Captain Cook passed by a number of small islands, and, on the 26th, anchored on the north side of Anamocka, or Rotterdam. A traffic immediately commenced with the natives, who brought what provisions they had, being chiefly yams and shaddocks, which they exchanged for nails, beads, and other small articles.
I therefore stood for the north side of the island, where we anchored about three-fourths of a mile from shore; the extremes of it bearing south, 88° E. to S.W.; a cove with a sandy beach at the bottom of it S. 50° E. Reception at Anamocka; a Robbery and its Consequences, with a Variety of other Incidents. Departure from the Island. A sailing Canoe described.
Some of them were in sight; and two of them, which are most to the west, are remarkable on account of their great height. These are Amattafoa and Oghao. From a continual column of smoke which was seen daily ascending from the middle of Amattafoa, it was judged that there was a volcano in that island. Anamocka was first discovered by Tasman, and by him was named Rotterdam.
They seemed to be stouter and better shaped men than those of Mallicollo; and several circumstances concurred to make us think they were of another nation. They named the numerals as far as five or six in the language of Anamocka, and understood us when we asked the names of the adjacent lands in that language.
Having got clear of the low isles, we made a stretch to the south, and did but fetch a little to windward of the south end of Anamocka; so that we got little by this day's plying. Here we spent the night, making short boards over that space with which we had made ourselves acquainted the preceding day.
The first time that our commander landed at Anamocka, an old lady presented him with a girl, and gave him to understand that she was at his service. Miss, who had previously been instructed, wanted a spikenail or a shirt, neither of which he had to give her; and he flattered himself, that by making the two women sensible of his poverty, he should easily get clear of their importunities.
They likewise gave us the names of some of the other isles, and invited us much to go to theirs, which they called Cornango. The breeze freshening, we left them astern, and steered for Anamocka; meeting with a clear passage, in which we found unequal sounding, from forty to nine fathoms, depending, I believe, in a great measure, on our distance from the islands which form it.
After landing at a number of islands, and not finding adequate supplies, the ships sailed for Anamocka, and the Resolution was brought up in exactly the same anchorage that she had occupied three years before. The natives behaved in a most friendly manner, and but for their habits of stealing, quiet would have been uninterrupted.
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