Joseph Banks. Patrick O’Brian

on an illicit trade with the Esquimaux indians tho Probably not Countenanced by Government as one ship only had been seen Engaged in it Precautions will be taken this fall to find what ship it is if she ventures to attempt it again this night at 3 o’clock came to the ship very Compleatly tired as we had not Pulld off our Cloaths since we came out nor lodgd any where but in the aft Cuddy of our boat.

      After a few more shattering trips of this kind, in which he kept his notes on small pieces of paper so that his book might not be looked into by “Every Petty officer who chose to peruse it” – the only note of ill-humour in the whole journal, in spite of his frequent and very bad seasickness, the cold, and the discomfort and promiscuity of shipboard life – after a few more trips of this kind, Banks came down with

      a fever which to my great misfortune Confined me the greatest Part of that month [July, 1766, for which there are no entries at all] to the ship incapable of Collecting Plants at the Very season of the Year when they are the most Plentifull Some few indeed I got by the Diligence of my servant who I sent often Out to bring home any thing he thought I had not got He also shot several birds for me But My situation far too weak and dispirited by my illness to Examine Systematically any thing that was brought has made my Bird tub a Chaos of which I Cannot Give so good an account as I could wish & has left many Blanks in my Plants which I fear I must trouble my good freinds in England to fill up.

      As soon as my health was sufficiently Established to be allowed to go on shore I employd my time in Collecting insects & the remainder of the Plants which ought to have been Collected through the month of July and insects tho I was baffled by Every Butterfly who chose to fly away for some time till my strength returned & which it did in an uncommonly short time & I thought myself able to take another Boat Expedition to the Island of Belleisle de Grois for which Place I set out about the 1st or 2nd of this month [August] & was repayd for my Trouble by the acquisition of several Valuable Plants & the sight of a wild Bear who was seen about 4 Miles above Conche into which harbour we were forc’d by Contrary winds

      August 6 But Successfull as This Expedition was in itself in its Consequences it was much the Contrary as Several Plants were left at Croque some not in Perfect order for Drying others which as I could every day Procure were Left For the Present Least they should take up time Better employd in Visiting Places I had not seen since my Illness upon my arrival at Croque I found the Ship under orders to Sail without Delay for Chatteaux Bay which the Next morning august 6th She did & met with as Strong a gale of Wind as She Could have feard had she saild at the worst time of the Year which however She weatherd it out Extremely well & on the 9th arrivd at Chatteaux where she Found the Zephyr Captn Omyny & the Wells Cutter Captn Lawson which Last She had sent from Croque before her.

      In this trip I for the first time Experienced the happiness of Escaping intirely the seasickness which had so much harrassd me always before in the Least Degree of Rough Weather which I attributed in Great measure to my having been so much at sea in Boats which by being so much more uneasy than the Ship made me less Sensible of her motion.

      Here we have remaind Ever since the Ships Company Employd in Assisting in the Building of a Block house in which a leuftenant & 20 men are to be Left in the winter to Defend the winterers & Protect the fishery for the Future from the Indians

The Country about this Place tho much more Barren is far more agreeable than Croque here you may walk for miles over Barren Rocks without being interupted by a Bush or a tree – when there you Could not go as many Yards without being Entangled in the Brushwood it abounds also in Game Partridges of 2 sorts Ducks teal in great abundance But particularly at this season with a Bird of Passage Calld here a Curlew⁷ from his Great Likeness to the smaller sort of that Bird found in England their Chief food is Berries which are here in Great abundance of Several Sorts with which they make themselves very near as fat & I think tho Prejudicd almost as good as our Lincolnshire Ruff & Reve

about a week after the Curlew⁸ The Green Plover made its appearance tho not in near so great abundance feeding like him upon Berries!

      For most of August Banks abandoned the day-by-day chronicle and wrote in a far more general way: he speaks of the finding of an immense amount of whalebone, carefully buried long ago on the nearby Eskimo Island but now so old as to be utterly decayed, “scarce distinguishable from Birch Bark”, and of a few boat expeditions, one to St Peter’s Bay,

where we found the Wreck of a Birch Bark Canoe a sign Probably that some of the Nfland Indians⁹ Live not Very far from them tho as Yet we Know nothing of them.

      This Subject Leads me to say Something (tho I have as yet been able to Learn Very little about them) of the Indians that inhabit the interior Parts of Newfoundland and are supposed to be the original inhabitants of that Countrey they are in general thought to be very few as I have been told not Exceeding 500 in number but why that should be imagind I cannot tell as we Know nothing at all of the Interior Parts of the Island nor Ever had the Least Connextion with them tho the french we are told had

      The only Part of the Island that I have heard of their inhabiting is in the neighbourhood of Fogo where they are said to be as near the coast as 4 miles

      Our People who fish in those Parts Live in a continual State of warfare with them firing at them whenever they meet with them & if they chance to find their houses or wigwams as they call them Plundering them immediately tho a Bow and arrows & what they call their Pudding is generally the whole of their furniture.

      They in return Look upon us in exactly the same Light as we Do them Killing our people whenever they get the advantage of them & Stealing or Destroying their nets wheresoever they find them

      The Pudding which I mentioned in the Last Paragraph is our People say always found in their hutts made of Eggs & Dears hair to make it hang together as we put hair into our mortar and Bakd in the Sun our People beleive it to be Part of their Food – but do not seem Certain whether it is intended for that or any other use They are said to fetch Eggs for this Composition as far as fung or Penguin Island ten Leagues from the nearest Land.

      They are Extreemly Dextrous in the use of the Bows and arrows & will when Pressed by an Enemy take 4 arrows 3 between the Fingers of the Left hand with which they hold the Bow & the fourth notchd in the string & Discharge them as quick as they Can draw the bow & with great Certainty

      Their Canoes by the Gentlemans account from whom I have all this are made like the Canadians of Birch Bark sewd together with Deers sinews or some other material but Differ from the Canadians Essentially in that they are made to shut up by the sides Closing together for the Convenient Carriage of them through the woods which they are obligd to do on account of the many Lakes that abound all over the Island.

      Their Method of scalping to is very different from the Canadian they not being content with the Hair but skinning the whole face at Least as far as the upper Lip

I have a scalp of this Kind which was taken from one Sam Frye a fisherman¹⁰ who they shot in the water as he attempted to swim off to his ship from them they Kept the Scalp a year but the features were so well Preservd that when upon a Party of them being Pursued the next summer they Dropd it it was immediately Known to be the scalp of the Identical Sam Frye who was Killd the year before.

      So much for the Indians if half of what I have wrote about them is true it is more than I expect tho I have not the Least reason to think But that the man who told it to me beleivd it & had heard it all from his own people & those of the neighbouring Planters & fishermen

      It is time that I should give Some account of the Fishery both French & English as they differ much in their methods of Fishing and have Each their Different merits the Englishman indeed has the advantage as he catches considerably a larger quantity of Fish and his Fish fetch more money at Foreign markets being better Cured.

      This