Читать книгу Joseph Banks - Patrick O’Brian - Страница 8

MOST PEOPLE would agree that a man can be judged by his friends, by the company he keeps; and it may well be that to see him in the round one needs the indirect light shed upon him by his associates. Joseph Banks was a complex being as well as a sociable one and his many friends ranged from the somewhat rakish Lord Sandwich to the Bishop of Carlisle and to James Lee, the Hammersmith nurseryman. Perhaps the most amiable of them was Constantine John Phipps: he and Banks had been at Eton together and they shared many of the same interests, though Phipps was somewhat more concerned with animals than with plants; but Phipps left school early to go to sea with his uncle, Captain the Hon. A.J. Hervey, then in command of HMS Monmouth, a seventy-gun ship of the line. In her Phipps took part in the blockade of Brest, when Captain Hervey kept the sea, often in appalling weather that blew the rest of the fleet into Torbay or Plymouth Sound, for nearly six months without a break. By 1763, when the Seven Years War came to an end and Phipps was nineteen and a recently promoted lieutenant, he had borne a hand in the taking of Belleisle off the coast of France, in the taking of Martinique and St Lucia in the West Indies, and in the protracted, arduous, bloody siege and eventual storming of the great Moro Castle, which led to the surrender of Havana. It also led to prize-money of about £750,000, which pleased the soldiers and sailors until they found that the general and admiral in charge were to have £122,697 10s 6d each while the private was to be content with £4 1s 8½d and the seaman with £3 14s 9¾d. However, when Captain Hervey, now in the Dragon, 74, was on the way home with Admiral Pocock’s dispatches, he took a French West Indiaman worth £30,000, which must have been some consolation.

Yet although Phipps was no doubt happy to receive his share, which would have been about £2,000 or some thirty years’ pay, he certainly did not need it as much as most junior lieutenants. His father had great estates in Yorkshire that had come into the family by a complicated series of successions from that Duke of Buckingham and Normanby who married an illegitimate daughter of James II, estates which had belonged to the Sheffield earls of Mulgrave, the duke’s ancestors, for a great while, so that when Mr Phipps senior was raised to the peerage in 1767 he too chose Mulgrave for his title, a title that his son Constantine inherited some years later.

In 1766 however Constantine had neither a title nor yet a ship; like so many of his fellows in time of peace he was a half-pay lieutenant, thrown on the beach. But he was a most ardent sailor, and given his zeal, outstanding competence and outstanding connections, it was not surprising to find him entrusted with a naval mission to Newfoundland in that same year. Nor was it surprising that Banks should undertake to go with him, both of them travelling in HMS Niger.

The Treaty of Paris, ending the war in 1763, had transferred Canada, among many other territories, to Great Britain, but it had left France certain fishing rights on the Banks, and in the season very large numbers of French fishermen mingled with the English, Spanish and Portuguese. There was continual disagreement, and serious trouble was prevented only by the presence of a small naval force, based on St John’s. The Niger, a thirty-two gun frigate commanded by Sir Thomas Adams, was part of this force, and she sailed from Plymouth on 22 April 1766, with the wind at east-north-east.

The captain of a man-of-war might carry friends if he chose, so long as he fed them himself – Commodore Keppel, for example, took the young Joshua Reynolds to the Mediterranean in 1749; and many captains had young ladies for company – but Banks was not aboard as the captain’s guest and his presence certainly had a great deal to do with his friendship with Lord Sandwich, who had been First Lord of the Admiralty some time before and who was to be First Lord again some time later, just as his equipment owed much to his acquaintance with Solander, that experienced Lapland naturalist.

The Niger, of course, did not sail as early as might have been wished, but this allowed Banks and Phipps to botanize round Mount Edgcombe, where among other things they found wild madder, Rubia angelica, and stinking gladwin, Iris foetidissima, in peculiar abundance, and deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna, among the rocks; and they observed swallows for the first time that year. They thought they had found the radical leaves of the field eryngo, Eryngium campestre, but were not quite certain. Yet when at last the delays were over and the wind came fair, the Niger set off at a splendid pace, so that by noon the next day they were well out into the Atlantic, twelve leagues beyond the Scillies.

The first few days yielded little but seaweed, a young shark that did not stay to be fished up, and some shoals of porpoises; then the freshening breeze made Banks so ill that he could not write. It does not appear that Phipps was seasick, but whether or no, they were both well and active by the end of April: both, for although Phipps was an ardent sailor, he, like his uncle and so many other naval officers, was no mere seaman. Not only was he a capital astronomer and mathematician, but he was as eager as Banks to haul a jellyfish aboard, identify a sea bird or trail a fine-meshed net for plankton: indeed, it is to the somewhat older Phipps that we owe the first scientific description of the polar bear, Thalarctos maritimus (Phipps) and the ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea (Phipps), both of them encountered in a voyage to the far north in which he was accompanied by the fifteen-year-old Nelson, who also attempted to collect a bear.

Perhaps the best way of dealing with their crossing and with Banks’s journeys in Newfoundland and Labrador is to give large extracts from the journal he kept. A paraphrase might in some ways be clearer and easier to read, but the journal brings one directly into touch with Banks; it also serves as an introduction to his style, which is at first a little disconcerting. Some editors have improved him, making him write more like a Christian, but it seems to me that one should not alter a text and except for the occasional silent correction of an obvious slip of the pen I give Banks unchanged. Yet it must be admitted that printing his manuscript just as he wrote it has disadvantages: cold print differs essentially from a page written by hand, and its inhuman precision makes Banks’s way of writing seem wilder and more outlandish than it really is; for when one reads his papers, particularly his correspondence, one soon grows used to the rather flourishing letters that may or may not be capitals, and one’s eye, helped by vague flecks and dashes of the pen, readily supplies the wanting stops, which is harder to do in the formality of print. The result is that to begin with the printed page gives the impression of someone not very wise nor very highly educated speaking at a breakneck pace, rather like Miss Bates or Flora Finching; but one soon gets accustomed to it; one soon sees the strong good sense beneath the strange exterior; and even if at times one does stumble for a moment, it is at least a genuine Banksian obstacle that interrupts one’s course.

The journal from which I quote is in Adelaide, in the library of the South Australian Branch of the Royal Geographic Society of Australia, and it was edited with the utmost scholarship and with infinite pains by the late Dr Averil Lysaght. She provided a great deal of background material, valuable notes and identification, and when the scientific names of plants or animals have changed she gave the modern versions. With her publishers’ permission I have made the freest use of her splendidly illustrated book Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1766: His Diary, Manuscripts and Collections, and if I have not also transcribed her scientific names or notes it is because I wish to give the pristine Banks; but the zoologist or botanist concerned with North American fauna or flora must certainly turn to Dr Lysaght and her constellation of expert advisers.

This chapter, then, will be written by Joseph Banks, with short connecting pieces and an occasional footnote on some particular eighteenth-century usage that may not be quite familiar, such as penguin for auk or blubber for jellyfish. It will begin with the first entry for the month of May 1766, and it will be printed as Banks wrote it except that I leave out the numbers referring to the plants and animals collected whenever they do not form a kind of punctuation: some entries will be silently omitted, but even so I hope that what is included will give a balanced picture of the whole, which, in its two manuscript volumes, runs to about 22,000 words.

May 3 Today a calm fish’d with a landing net out of the Quarter Gallery window. Caught sea weed, Fucus acinarius, with fruit like Currants on slight Footstalks & Common Knotted Fucus, Fucus Nodosus also two species of what the seamen call Blubbers the one roundish and Transparent with his Edges a little Fringed the inside is hollow adornd with 4 little Clusters of Red spots within the Transparent substances Possibly Eggs from the Center Proceeds 4 feelers spotted from their bases with Longish Red Spotts and each Edged on the upper side with 2 thin Membranes the other is Conical and hollow the outer Part Transparent the inner coverd by a thin Coat of Reddish Purple which Runs up beyond the top of the Hollow Part in a line not unlike the footstalk of some Fruit the Bottom Edge seems to be broke by some accident

4 today being also very fine the business of fishing is Continued we now took what we hope will Prove a compleat Specimen of No (1) it has a large Crenated Fringe round the Lower Edges we also took another Fragment much like that taken yesterday within each of the Broken ones was an appearance which we supposed to be of an Insect devouring it

one Part of this morn the sea was Coverd with small Transparent Bubbles which we supposed to be the spawn of some insect or fish as they were full of small Black specks

we also took another insect of a very Peculiar appearance his Case is triangular with a very Sharp Point of a Transparent substance not unlike very thin Glass the insect within is of a Colour not unlike New Copper

6 Yesterday & today hard Gale of wind with Frequent and some heavy Squalls Carried away Main top Mast Myself far too sick to write

7 This Morn Weather much more moderate a number of Birds are about the ship which the seamen call Penguins Gulls Shearwaters one species of them with sharp tails Puffins and Sea Pigeons^* we could not get any of them tho we took Pains we Comforted ourselves however being told that we should meet with them all upon the Coast at Present they are a sign that we are upon the Banks

8 Birds Continue today in great abundance especially Puffins and Sea Pigeons at twelve Sound¹ & find 75 fathoms Birds Continue at 6 sound again 50 fathoms Let down our fishing Lines but Caught nothing at ten tonight for the first time we see an Island of Ice² the night is Hazy but the Sky clear no moon the Ice itself appears like a body of whitish light the Waves Dashing against it appear much more Luminous the Whole is not unlike the Gleaming of the Aurora Borealis When first seen it was about half a Mile ahead it drives within ¼ of a mile of us accompanied by several small flat Pieces of Ice which the seamen call field Ice which drives very near us and is Easily seen by its white appearance not unlike the Breaking of a wave into foam.

9 This Morn Seven Islands of Ice in sight one Very Large but not high about a League from us we steer very near a small one which from its Transparency & the Greenish Cast in it makes a very Beautiful appearance two very Large Cracks intersect it Lenghways and Look Very Like mineral Veins in Rocks from its Rough appearance the Seamen Judge that it is old Ice that is what formed the Winter before Last In the course of the Day we steer still nearer to another Island which appears as if Layd Strat: Super Stratum one of White another of Greenish at – Past five this afternoon we made NFLand a quantity of sea weed Part of which I fish’d up 3 or 4 Species with my Landing Net tonight we stand of with too little wind to Carry us in

10 this morn a Mist accompanied with Frost which hung our Rigging Full of Ice Continues till about twelve when we see Land again but so little wind that we cannot make it tonight This Even Fish with Landing net take 9 specimens of a singular Kind of Blubber which abounds here tis transparent with 2 or three Reddish lines in the middle tis octangular Each angle being adornd with an undulated red line which serves for the Basis of a fin Longitudinally Stretched upon it which it moves with a quick undulatory Motion it is so tender I have little hopes of Preserving it as it Floats in the sea at Pleasure puts out two Antennae sometimes to a distance of a foot or more, but upon being taken they constantly draw them up & do not shew the Least appearance of them.

11 this Morn quite Calm took a large Float of Long stalkd sea Belts in the Roots of which were a Small sort of Star fish about 3 got into St Johns on the 20th day of our Voyage

12 this morn went on shore found the Spring very Little advanced but hope its approaches will be quick as it is warmer than I Ever felt it at this time in England the Country is Coverd with wood fir is the only tree which can yet be distinguished of which I observed 3 sorts (1) Black Spruce of which they Make a liquor Calld Spruce Beer (2) white Spruce & (3) weymouth Pine no large trees of any Species Possibly so near the Town³ they are Constantly cut down on the Trees and Rocks were 3 or 4 species of Lichens, Lichen Pascalis, Lanatus, ? Hirtus, & under them the Leaves of many rare northern Plants of the Club Mosses 3 sorts, a small plant whose Blossoms have 5 Stamina Mosses 3 sorts Bryum Hornum, or Purpureum, one of which is quite new to me – too sorts of Bird were taken today one the Black Cap Parus ater, the other an american thrush with a ferrugineous Breast Possibly described by Catesby insects were few Cimex lineatus water Bugs in Abundance one Carabus granulatus

13 Walk out Fishing this Morn Took great plenty of small Trouts, Salmo saw a small Fish in the Brooks Very like English Stiklebacks, Gasterosteus Aculeatus, in the way took a small Bird something Between a yellow hammer & a Linnet

15 Walkd this day to a Small Lake north of the Town found in the way another species of Club moss, Lycopodium complanatum, a Shrub with ten Stamina, Andromeda Calyculata, which grew by the side of the Lake – upon a stoney Soil in great abundance a Kind of Moss, Bryum, with Pendant heads in our way home we Killd a musk Rat, Fiber Moscatus in Kitty Vitty Pond

16 This day wind very high NW went into the Harbour with the Traul Took Lobsters, Cancer gammarus Common crab, Cancer, Spider d°, Cancer araneus, Sculpen, another Sort of D°: Cat fish, a Shell of the Scallop Kind One of the Muscles Sea Urchin, Echinus, another Kind of the Spatagus tribe, Echinus, Starfish, Asterias, a … two sort of Sea weed Soldier crab, Cancer diogenes

19 Set out on foot to get as far into the Countrey as Possible Soon after We set out began to snow Continued all the day but did not Cover the Ground deep Enough to hinder our Observing Several Plants a Kind of Bilberry in full Blossom a kind of Juniper with white Berries, The Larch, Pinus Larix, which is here calld Juniper & which is said to make better timber for shipping especially masts than any tree this Countrey affords & a species of Moss with Bending heads and fine golden footstalks, Bryum N°: 19

20 Continues to Snow all this day Which Confines us within doors at a small Town Calld Petty Harbour⁴ the Snow so incessant that we have not an opportunity to Stir out to make the Least Observation

21 Snow Lies now four & five feet deep upon the Ground & the Air looks so Hazey that we think it Prudent to Return upon the Rocks & Barrens (for so they Call the Places where Wood does not Grow) we find that the wind had drifted the Snow Very thin we observe Some few Plants Fir Moss, Lycopodium Selago, Rhein Deer Moss, Lichen Rangiferinus, A Kind of Horned Liverwort, Lichen, a Plant that has very much the Appearance of Crow Berries, Empetrum of which I have only got the female which has 10 Stigmata.

25 Snow Very near gone Walk out to day gather the Male Blossoms of a Plant resembling duch myrtle which like it grows in Bogs & watery Places also a sort of Cyperus which grew upon the same flat but not in so wet a situation & a Kind of Black Liverwort growing upon dry tops of the Barrens the weather grows very mild many Plants are in Bud.

For the rest of the month Banks and Phipps collected plants and birds with the same zeal, although the weather was upon the whole unpleasant, with fog and rain; however, it improved in June.

June 1 This Even very Fine walk’d out Gatherd Currants, Ribes, some Lichens which seemd to be only Varieties of English species & abundance of Water Mnium, Mnium aquaticum, the Female of which has Stellate Heads I have not seen any with dusty ones as they are in England the men of the ship brought me some Large Specimens of a Kind of Stone Coral which is found Fossil in Many Parts of England by the Name of Honeycombstone another man brought me the shell of a tortoise which he told me he got in the Archipelago and that it was found there in fresh water a ship Came into harbour from which I procured specimens of a shell fish calld Glams of a Peculiar use in the fishery as the fishermen depend upon them for their Baitts in their first Voyage to the Banks at that time of the Year the fish feed upon them & Every fish they take has a number of them in his Stomach which the Fishermen take out & with them Bait for others the fish itself is Remarkable as it is far too large for the shell which is so little adapted to Cover its inhabitants that Even when the fish is taken out the sides will not Close together a boy brought me two shells

6 Walkd out to day gatherd some of the Northern English Plants which grow here Every where not Coveting high Land tho indeed we have seen no high Land here (1) the Little dwarf Honeysuckle, Cornus Herbacea, said to grow upon the cheviot hills which part Scotland from England (2) alsinan-themos, Trientalis Europaea & (3) the stone Bramble, Rubus Saxatilis, also some Common English Plants as (4) (5) sorts of Rush grass, Juncus Campestris, Juncus Pilosus (6) Black Carex, Carex strata, (7) vernal grass, Anthoxanthum odoratum, (8) Black headed Bog rush, Scirpus Caespitosus, (9) sundew with round leaves, Drosera rotundifolia, & several more which I mention in my Catalogue – of English Plants Some Plants also of this Country a (10) Kind of Alder, Betula, differing very little if at all from the English sort a beautiful Kind of (11) Medlar, Mespilus Canadensis?, a Kind of cherry, Prunus, which however is so Scarce here that I have got very few Specimens. I have not seen above 2 Plants of it neither in Blossom but at a few Extremities it differ very little if at all from our English garden cherry

7 Today shooting Killd 3 small Birds Probably varieties of the Gold Bird as there is but little difference between them chiefly the want of a black spot on the head, Foemina? N°: 10, & a small Bird N°: 11 which seems to be scarce here as I have seen it only this once.

8 Walk out this day Gatherd a Species of Solomons Seal, Convallaria Racemosa

11 this day at 12 set sail for Croque.

Here a few lines about Newfoundland may help to set Phipps’ and Banks’s journey in its historical context. John Cabot, sailing from Bristol, discovered the island in 1497, claimed it for Henry VII and brought back an account of the extraordinary fishing – his men had only to let down baskets and cod swam into them. Throughout most of the sixteenth century English, French, Spanish Basque and Portuguese ships came to the Banks in the summer, and they carried home immense quantities of dried and salted cod; but no one stayed there for the winter. In 1583 Sir Humphry Gilbert sailed for St John’s with five ships and founded the first British colony in North America; but that same year he was lost at sea. James I encouraged settlement, yet progress was very slow, partly because of raids by the French from Canada and partly because of opposition from the shipowners, who wanted to retain a monopoly of the fishing and who therefore induced government to pass restrictive laws. Indeed, successive governments were very hard on the Newfoundlanders: in 1713 the ministry that negotiated the treaty of Utrecht gave the French the right of fishing and drying their cod from Cape Bonavista northwards and so down the western side of the island as far as Rich Point; and even when the French had been beaten again in the Seven Years War and Canada taken from them, they were given back the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon together with these same fishing rights.

However, by the end of the war, in 1763, Newfoundland had some eight thousand permanent inhabitants, and with the French threat gone at least for the time, the authorities, headed by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Commodore Hugh Palliser of the Royal Navy, were filled with energy; and among other things James Cook, then a master in the Royal Navy, carried out a most painstaking and accurate survey of the coasts and harbours between 1763 and 1767, including part of the coast of Labrador, which, right up to Hudson’s Strait in the icy north, had been added to the colony.

This was largely Eskimo country, and the government hoped that relations with them would be more successful than they had been with the Beothuks, the original Red Indian inhabitants of Newfoundland. At this point Europeans and Indians were killing one another on sight, and since the white men had firearms and the red men had none there was no question which side would win in the end. By Banks’s time there were said to be about five hundred Beothuks living in the most retired parts of the island, as far as they could get from the fishermen; by 1829 they were totally extinct.

The official attitude towards the Eskimos was quite different. For some years the Moravian Brethren, so well known to the Bankses, had been in contact with them, and the Moravians’ influence was regarded as entirely good. If they had been Jesuits the official view of their activities might not have been the same, but the Moravians had been legally recognized as “an ancient Protestant Episcopal Church” and their settlements in Labrador were actively helped and encouraged, since apart from anything else the missionaries told the Eskimos in their own language that King George loved the Innuit; he was like a father to them, and when they obeyed the Governor it was the same as if they were being obedient to the King.

In 1765, the year before Banks’s voyage, the Niger had taken four Moravians to Chateau Bay in Labrador, where two were made to stay (much against their will – Adams was an autocratic captain and by no means a scrupulous one) and two went much farther north in the schooner Hope, commanded by Lieutenant Candler, RN, who was to survey and chart the coast. One of Niger’s tasks in 1766 was to take Phipps up to Croque (it is now usually spelt Croc), a small bay and harbour in the north-west part of the island, well within the Frenchmen’s fishing zone, where he was to set up the building that in his jovial way he called Crusoe Hall and where he also planted a garden. The frigate was then to sail north, crossing the Strait of Belle Isle to Chateau Bay in Labrador, where her Marines and some civilian workmen were to make a regular fortification, a blockhouse and stockaded fort “for the Protection and Encouragement of His Majesty’s Subjects to carry on the Fisheries on the Coast, for the Security of their Boats and Fishing craft and Tackle from being Stolen or destroyed by the Savages of the Country or by Lawless Crews resorting thither from the Colonies”.

June 13 this Morn at 7 anchor in Croque harbour⁵ after a very favourable Passage Walk out gather a species of Bilberry, Vaccinium mucronatum, a species of Orchis, Ophrys, a Beautifull Plant described No: 5, Uvularia Amplexifolia, another of the Hexandria Class No: 6 another No: 7 which is of the Pentandria Class tho both Calyx and Corolla are divided into 6 Laciniae water Ranunculus several sorts of Lichens two sorts of Mosses This morn Experienced a Very Extraordinary Transition from Cold to Heat The air at 5 in the morning while we were at sea being so Cold that with the great Coat buttoned I was forced Every moment to Come down to the Fire at seven we came into harbour in ½ of an hour were set on shore where the weather was as hot or hotter than Ever I knew it in England I lament much not having noted the Difference by Thermometer but hope for future opportunities

14 This day still Extremely Hot spend most of our time working in the garden go out however in the Evening Find (1) a Kind of Bramble, Rubus Arcticus, (2) a Kind of Meadow Rue, Thalictrum alpinum, (3) Dwarf Birch, Betula Nana, (4) 2 Varieties of a Beautifull Plant Possibly our English Birds Eye one of which had flowers of a Clear white the other Blueish (5) in the woods found one tree only of Takamahaka in the Evening went out Fishing had no sport at all at the harbours mouth tho there seemd to be abundance of Small Trout saw no signs of Large ones Killd today a Kind of Mouse, Mus Terrestris, which Differs scarce at all From the English Sort but is Rather Larger & his Ears Extreemly Broad

16 Walkd today from the watering Place to Crusoe hall Mr Phipps’s Habitation of which more when it is finished at Present give him his due he works night & day & Lets the Mosquetos eat more of him than he does of any Kind of food all through Eagerness in the way to him I found Moon wort, Osmunda Lunaria, a Kind of Grass a Plant which seems of the Carex kind dioecious but found only males a Kind of Cuckow flower

18 Walkd out shooting today Killd nothing but found a Plant which I thought had been Peculiar to Lapland, Diapensia Lapponica, it grows however but in one spot & there was only a single Plant of it Wooly Mouse Ear, Cerastium alpinum tomentosum, a small Flower Like a daizy, ?Erigeron ?Philadelphicum, a species of Moss, Bryum, a small nest Nidus, was brought to me by the Master Carpenter who Declard he saw a bee fly out of it When he took it a species of stone which appears white from a great distance Mr Ankille brought me in a species of Owl, Strix ?Ulula, he had shot My servant shot a bird quite Black Neither of which I can find Describd

19 This Morn we had intelligence that a white Bear with two cubbs had been seen on a hill above St Julians a Party was raisd to go in search of her of which I was one but we returnd without success Just as we returnd a shallop with the master of board was Setting Sail to Examine some of the Harbours to the southward I got on board⁶ in hopes of some opportunity of Gathering Plants or Collecting insects that night we arriv’d at Inglie^* in the Mouth of Canada Bay 11 Leagues to the southward of Croque but so late that I had not an opportunity of Collecting any thing the next morn Wind blew to hard for our Vessel to

20 Attempt getting out which gave me an opportunity of Examining a small Island above the Harbour which I found Loaded with Plants I had not seen before in a Wonderful manner …

Banks lists a score of them, including one with “a beautiful Yellow Flower growing on the tops of dry hills a Kind of Anemone in Company with it”: he also observes that there were half a dozen English vessels fishing there and near twice that number of French; “the French indeed have almost the Sole Possession of the Fishery in this Part of the Island Many Harbours (St Julians for instance) not having so much as one Englishman in them they seem to Value & Encourage the trade more than we do sending out infinitely Larger ships and Employing more hands in the Trade.” The next day they looked at two other harbours, Wild Cove and Hilliard’s Arm, where Banks found a most Elegant Plant with red Flowers.

22 here we slept tonight the next morn Early set out for Conche with the wind Directly in our teeth here we found a bad harbour Exposd to both sea and wind only one Englishman & 3 or 4 french were fishing here the Englishman complained grievously of the french hindering him from taking bait by denying him his Proper turn with the Seine while they were fishing and mooring bait boats on the ground where the fish were usualy Caught he told us that if Proper Precautions were not taken mischief would certainly Ensue as the french sent out arms allowing two Musquets to Each Bait boat he had intelligence during this Voyage that the French Carreid 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 Banks did, conscientiously and at some length, following the whole process through from the catching by handline to the heading and gutting, the splitting, the salting, the washing out of the salt, the drying, the sweating and the drying again; and coming to the end of the English way of fishing he says

Lastly Let us remember their Train Oyl for by that name they distinguish it from Whale or Seal Oyle Which they Call Fat Oyle which is sold at a Lower Price being only usd for the Lighting of Lamps than the train oyl which is usd by the Curriers They make it thus they Take a half tub & boring a hole Through the Bottom Press hard down into it a Layer of Spruce boughs upon which they Lay the Livers & place the whole apparatus in as sunny a Place as Possible as the Livers Corrupt the Oyl runs from them and strains itself clear through the Spruce Boughs is caught by a Vessel set under the hole in the tubs bottom

So much For the English Fishery I shall now mention the methods of the French which are Different from ours in some of which as I said before they Excell us but more in their neatness & manner of Carrying on Business among their People than in any Superiority in Point of Curing

Their Boats are not much more than half as Large as ours much more Clumsily Built & Less adapted for sailing

Yet on the other hand their officers had talents of no common order:

The Seconde or mate of the French ships the Major or surgeon occasionaly the Captain are the People who split the Fish by which means it is never Carelessly or ill Done as is too often the Case among our People where splitting is done by the Common People the too first of these officers are not qualified for their office unless they can sing which they Do to amuse the People who occasionally all join the chorus the whole time of their Splitting I remember Coming into a french Stage & hearing Voi amante as agreeably sung as Ever I heard it by the Major & seconde the first of whoom had a remarkably good voice

These Officers being of some Consequence among the People & commonly going Pretty well Dressd have an Ingenious way of Keeping themselves Clean in the Dirty operation of Splitting they have a Case made of Bark to Cover them from their chins to their heels which Constantly stands over their Stools in the splitting table into this they Creep & Putting on sleeves & Large woolen gloves split the fish in a manner without touching it

Their Oyl they also make in a much neater manner than we do if neatness is an excellence in so nasty a thing they certainly excell us much theirs is all straind through a thin Cloth not unlike the Canvas that Ladies work Carpeting upon strechd on the upper side of a Vessel made with Poles Placd in the shape of a Pyramid Reversd under which is Placd a trough for the receiving it as it strains out

After having said so much about Fishing it will not be improper to say a little about the Fish that they catch & of the Dish they make of it Calld Chowder which I believe is Peculiar to this Country tho here it is the Cheif food of the Poorer & when well made a Luxury that the rich Even in England at Least in my opinion might be fond of It is a Soup made with a small quantity of salt Pork cut into Small Slices a good deal of fish and Biscuit Boyled for about an hour unlikely as this mixture appears to be Palatable I have scarce met with any Body in this Country Who is not fond of it whatever it may be in England Here it is certainly the Best method of Dressing the Cod which is not near so firm here as in London whether or not that is owing to the art of the fishmongers I cannot pretend to say Salmon & herrings we also have in Plenty but neither of them near so rich & fat as they are in England Halibuts are the only fish common To both places in which this Country Excells

He goes on to speak of birds from the culinary point of view, curlew, golden plover, ducks and teal, geese and partridges:

these are all good to Eat but Some birds there are that I must mention tho they have not that Excellence Particularly one Known here by the name of Whobby he is of the Loon Kind & an Excellent Diver but Very Often amuses himself especially in the night by flying high in the air and making a very Loud & alarming noise at least to those who do not know the Cause of it as the following circumstance will shew

In August 1765 as Commodore Paliser in the Guernsey a 50 gun ship Lay in this Harbour Expecting the Indians one Dark night in a thick fog the Ships Company were alarmed by a noise they had not heard before Every one awoke Conjecturd what it could Possibly be it came nearer & nearer grew louder & louder the first Lieuftenant was calld up he was the only man in the Ship Who had Ever seen the Esquimaux immediately as he heard the noise he declard he rememberd it well it was the war whoop of the Esquimaux who were certainly Coming in their Canoes to board the Ship & Cut all their throats the Commodore was aquainted up he Bundled upon Deck orderd ship to be cleard for Engaging all hands to Great Guns arms in the Tops Every thing in as good order as if a french man of war of Equal Force was within half a mile Bearing down upon them The Niger which Lay at some Distance from them was haild & told the indians were Coming when the Enemy appeared in the shape of a Troop of these Whobbys swimming & flying about the Harbour which From the Darkness of the night they had not seen before all hands were then sent down to Sleep & no more thought of the indians till the Nigers People came on board next morning who will Probably never Forget that their Companion Cleard Ship & turnd up all hands to a flock of Whobbies

Banks returned to his earlier diary form on 2 September to record a most surprising fish:

This day a Halibut was brought aboard so large that his dimensions I fear will appear incredible in England the first I took with my own hands therefore I can venture to affirm them Exact They are as follows

From the Tip of his nose to the end of his Tail	6ft	11 inches
Breadth from fin to fin	3	10
Thickness of his solid Flesh By running a priming wyer through		8¼
Breadth of his Tail	2	0½
Lengh of the Fin next his Gills	0	10
he weighd		284 lb

which was only 14 lb Less than an Ox Killd for the ships Company the Day he was weighd which was not till near 24 hours after he was Caught so he may fairly be said to have weighd as much as the Ox had he not been wasted as all fish do considerably by Keeping.

After this he gives a receipt for spruce beer and apart from a note on 6 September “Curlews gone” he returns to a general narrative, of which these are extracts.

We were told by the Old Salmoneer that there were Owls there as big as Turkies he indeed gave us the Claws of one which I take to be the Strix Bubo of Linnaeus tho I was never Lucky Enough to See one of them the whole time of our Stay nor any of the Shipps Company tho they were Eternally Employd at cutting wood for the Fort in temple Bay

As an Excuse for my not Stirring More from home while at this Place I mention an escape I had on the Second of this month when mere accident Preservd my Life I set out with the Master of our Ship on a Cruise to the Northwards meaning to Cruise along shore for a week or ten days where no vessel that we Knew of had Ever been we were both Extreemly fond of the Plan & Pushd out of Chatteaux with a foul wind in an open Shallop by way of putting ourselves in a fair winds way we with difficulty Turnd the Lengh of Castle Island when the wind Coming right ahead we agreed it was impossible to go any farther & we Put back into Esquimaux harbour to stay till the next morn in hope of change of wind we had Scarcely made our Boat fast along side of a snow^* there when it began to Blow Very hard and that night Came on a most severe Gale of Wind which Destroyd an infinite number of boats Everywhere the French Particularly whose boats are smaller than ours are said to have lost an hundred men & three of their Ships Drove on shore a brig of Captain Derbys at Isle Bois a little down the Streights was Beat all to Peices this totaly Destroyd our scheme to the northward Sir Thomas being after that very Careful of Letting the boats go out & indeed as the blowing Season was Come in I was Easily Persuaded that I was safer on board the Niger than in any Boat in the Country

About the latter End of this month Partridges Became much more Plenty then they were before Possibly they Came from the Norward Mr Ankille while Shooting in the neighbourhood of St Peters Bay saw by his account at Least 100 in one Company while he was making up to them to have shot at them an Eagle made a stoop among them & Carried of one the rest immediately took wing & went off I should mention here that tho I have not been able to Procure an Eagle from the Scarcity here are two sorts one of which we had a young one who got away is the Chrysaetos of Linnae the other I apprehend to be a Canadensis but I never could see him but upon the Wing

Just before we Left this Place the Sergeant of marines belonging to York fort brought me a Porcupine alive it is quite Black except the Quills which are Black & white alternately about the size of an English hare but shorter made after sulking for three or four Days he begins to Eat & I have great hopes of Carrying him home alive

Early in October the Niger left Labrador for Newfoundland, putting in at Croque, where Banks went to see the garden that Phipps had planted.

This is a very Strong Vegetable mould which with the Quickness of Vegetation in the Climate had such an Effect on many of our English Seeds that they Run themselves out in stalk Producing little or no fruit Pea haulm we had 11 feet high & as thick as my finger which Produced scarce anything Beans ran till they could not support their own weight & fell without Producing a Pod Probably from the ignorance of the gardener we Left behind who did not Know the Common Practise Even in England of Cutting of their tops Cabbage & Lettuce Throve surprizingly as did our Radishes & small Sallet carrots & Turnips which especially the Last were remarkably Sweet The Coldness of our nights made it necessary to Cover our Onions with Hammocks we left them also till the Very Last but when we got them tho they were very small they were very good

The garden had thriven, upon the whole, in spite of the fieldmice, and so had the poultry, in spite of the weasels and goshawks; but Banks could not really love the place:

Croque tho tolerably Pleasant now was intolerable in the Summer on account of its heat & the Closeness of its situation confind on all sides by woods & no place but the Ship Free From mosketos and Gadflies in Prodigious abundance we had only one Clear walk on a morass a little above the Gardens but there you could not Long walk dry shod Sr Thomas & I were both Very Ill here especially me who at one time they did not Expect to recover I know not whether that gave a disgust but we both Joind in Pronouncing the Place the Least agreable of any we had Seen in the Countrey

Banks then gives an account of the seal fishery and goes on

¹¹After this Short Stay at Croque intended only for filling Water & getting on board the Produce of the Gardens & Poultry we Saild for St Johns on the 10th & arriv’d there on the 13th without any Particular Transaction During our Passage Here we found the Greater Part of the Squadron under the Command of Mr Palliser in the Guernsey whose Civilities We ought to acknowledge as he Shewd us all we could Expect we all Felt great Pleasure in Returning to Society which we had so long been deprivd of St Johns tho the Most Disagreeable Town I Ever met with was For some time Perfectly agreable to us I should not omit to mention the Ceremonies with which we Celebrated the Coronation which happened whilst we were there the Guernsey was Dressd upon the Occasion & if I may compare Great things with small Looked Like a Pedlars Basket at a Horse race where ribbons of divers Colours fly in the wind fastend to yard wands stuck around it after this we were all invited to a Ball Given by Mr Governor where the want of Ladies was so great that My Washerwoman & her sister were there by formal invitation but what surprized me the most was that after Dancing we were Conducted to a realy Elegant Supper Set out with all Kinds of Wines & Italian Liqueurs To the Great Emolument of the Ladies who Eat & Drank to some Purpose Dancing it seems agreed with them By its getting them such Excellent Stomachs

The Governor’s ball was given on Saturday, 25 October 1766: on the morning of Monday, 27 October, James Cook arrived in HM Brig Grenville, the vessel in which he had been surveying so much of the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1764. The Niger did not sail until the following Wednesday (Banks says Tuesday, but he was writing this part of his journal from memory, whereas Cook’s log, a daily record of events, gives the later date, which is surely more probable) and although there is no evidence of their having met, naval etiquette required Cook to call upon Commodore Palliser and Sir Thomas Adams, and once he was aboard the Niger it is scarcely possible that he and Banks should not at least have exchanged a how do you do. Banks, however, though a zealous botanist, was no seer; his journal makes no mention of the encounter but goes on

It is very difficult to Compare one town with another tho that Probably is the Best way of Conveying the Idea St Johns however Cannot be Compard to any I have seen it is Built upon the side of a hill facing the Harbour Containing two or three hundred houses & near as many fish Flakes interspersed which in summer time must Cause a stench scarce to be supported thank heaven we were only there spring & fall before the fish were come to the Ground & after they were gone off

For dirt & filth of all Kinds St Johns may in my opinion Reign unrivald as it Far Exceeds any Fishing town I Ever saw in England here is no regular Street the houses being built in rows immediately adjoining to the Flakes Consequently no Pavement offals of Fish of all Kinds are strewd about The remains of The Irish mens chowder who you see making it skinning and gutting fish in Every Corner.

As Every thing here smells of fish so You cannot get any thing that does not Taste of it hogs Can scarce be Kept from it by any Care and When they have got it are by Far the Filthyest meat I ever Met with Poultry of all Kinds Ducks geese Fowls & Turkies infinitely more Fishy than the Worst tame Duck That Ever was sold For a wild one in Lincolnshire The Very Cows Eat the Fish offal & thus milk is Fishy This Last Particular indeed I have not met with myself but have been assured it is often the Case

While we remaind here I Employd some of my Time in searching for Plants but the Season was so far advanced that I could find none in Blossom by the Leaves & remains indeed I discovered that there were several here different from any I had seen to the northward the Leaves of Some I Collected but many were so far destroyd by the Cold that Even that was Impossible so that there remains a feild for any body who will Examine this And the more southern Part of the Island but I have Vanity enough to beleive that to the northward not many will be found to have Escapt my observation

¹²On the 28th of Octr we Left St Johns in our Passage to Lisbon where we arrived on the 17th on the fifth of Novr we had a very hard Gale of Wind of the Western Islands^* which has almost ruind me in the Course of it we shipp’d a Sea which Stove in our Quarter & almost Filld the Cabbin with water in an instant where it washd backward & forward with such rapidity that it Broke in Peices Every chair & table in the Place among other things that Suffered my Poor Box of Seeds was one which was intirely demolish’d as was my Box of Earth with Plants in it which Stood upon deck

This disaster may to some degree account for Banks’s rather cross and censorious remarks about Portugal, where the Niger stayed for some weeks before going home, and about the Portuguese, who had no notion of gardening or of planting trees. “… their Taste in Gardening is more trifling than Can be Conceivd a Pond Scarce Large Enough for a frog to swim in the Sides of Which are lind with Glaz’d tiles and which has two or three fountains in it about as thick as a quill is their Greatest Ornament this with a few Close Walks of Myrtle and Vines & a Statue or two Placed on awkward Pedestals at the Entrance of the Walks make a Place that People are Carried to See.” But these few pages were written as a set piece, not in the true, day-by-day diary form that shows Banks at his best; and in any case they give a somewhat false impression, because in fact when he was not disapproving of Portuguese gardens and Popish magnificence he had quite a good time, becoming a member of the local natural history society and meeting English and Portuguese botanists, some of whom remained his friends for life.

Yet even if the loss of his seeds and some of his plants did combine with Portuguese cooking to depress his spirits for a while they certainly revived quite soon, for in spite of the storm, in spite of his long illness, and in spite of the shortness of his time in Newfoundland and Labrador, he reached home in January 1767 bearing specimens or exact records of at least 340 plants, 91 birds, many fishes and invertebrates, and a few mammals, including the porcupine, that at least began the voyage alive. He possessed the beginnings of a herbarium that was soon to become famous, together with a nascent reputation that was soon to enable him to take part in one of the most interesting voyages ever made by a natural philosopher; and in his absence he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, a body of men who could appreciate his energy and his disinterested love of science at their true value.

^* Black guillemots.

^* Englée.

^* A snow was a vessel very like a brig but with a third mast (or sometimes a horse) just abaft the mainmast for the trysail.

^* The Azores.

¹[Marginalia] Sounding upon the Banks

²[Marginalia] Island of Ice

³[Marginalia] Neighbourhood of St Johns

⁴[Marginalia] Petty Harbour

⁵[Marginalia] Croque

⁶[Marginalia] Inglie

⁷[Marginalia] Curlews came here August 9

⁸[Marginalia] Charadrias Pluvialis

⁹[Marginalia] Nfland Indians

¹⁰[Marginalia] Sam frye

¹¹[Marginalia] Octr 10th

¹²[Marginalia] Octr 28