Page:A voyage round the world, in His Britannic Majesty's sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (IA b30413849 0001).pdf/259

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making huts for their temporary shelter. Our people were received with every mark of friendship, and the captain distributed many presents to them. Among these was a number of brass medals, gilt, about one inch and three quarters in diameter, which had been struck on purpose to be left as a memorial of this voyage among the nations we should meet with: on one side was the head of his present majesty, with the inscription, &c. On the reverse, the representation of two men of war, with the names and  over them; and the exergue. Some of these medals had already been given to the natives of Dusky Bay, and those of Queen Charlotte's Sound. In exchange for iron, cloth, and beads, our people collected a great number of arms, tools, dresses, and ornaments, as curiosities among them, they having greater quantities of these things than any New Zeelanders we had seen. The captain and his company perceived that Teiratu seemed to be the principal or chief among them, by a certain degree of regard which the rest paid to him: they could not, however, determine any thing with precision on this subject. Respect is always paid to the old men among them; who may be supposed to owe their consequence to the long experience they have gained. But their