lines of a very regular figure: he was covered with a fine cloth, of a manufacture altogether new to us, and it was tied on exactly according to the representation in Valentyn's Account of Abel Tasman's Voyage, vol. iii., part 2, page 50: his hair also was tied in a knot on the top of his head, but had no feather in it. We returned immediately to the ship, where we could hear the people on shore talking with great earnestness, and in a very loud tone, probably about what had happened, and what should be done *.

In the morning, we saw several of the natives where they had been seen the night before, and some walking with a quick pace towards the place where we had landed, most of them unarmed; but three or four with long pikes in their hands. As I was desirous to establish an intercourse with them, I ordered three boats to be manned with seamen and marines; and proceeded towards the shore, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, the other gentlemen, and Tupia; about fifty of them seemed to wait for our landing, on the opposite side of the river, which we thought a sign of fear, and seated themselves upon the ground: at first, therefore, myself, with only M. Banks, Dr. Solander, and Tupia, landed from the little boat, and advanced towards then; but we had not proceeded many paces before they all started up, and every man produced either a long pike, or a small weapon of green talc, extremely well polished, about a foot long, and thick enough to weigh four or five pounds: Tupia called to them in the language of Otaheite; but they answered only by flourishing their weapons, and making signs to us to depart; a musket was then fired wide of them, and the ball struck the water, the river being still between us; they saw the effect, and desisted from their threats: but we thought it prudent to retreat till the marines could be landed. This was soon done; and they marched, with a jack carried before them, to a little bank, about fifty yards from the water-side; here they were drawn up, and I again advanced, with Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander; Tupia, Mr. Green, and Mr. Monkhouse, being with us. Tupia was again directed to speak to them, and it was with great pleasure that we perceived he was perfectly understood, he and the natives speaking only different dialects of the same language. He told them that we wanted provision and water, and would give them iron in exchange, the properties of which he explained as well as he was able. They were willing to trade, and desired that we would come over to them for that purpose to this we consented, provided they would lay by their arms; which, however, they could by no means be persuaded to do. During this conversation, Tupia warned us to be upon our guard, for that they were not our friends: we then pressed them in our turn to come over to us; and at last one of them stripped himself, and swam over without his arms: he was almost immediately followed by two more, and soon after by most of the rest, to the number of twenty or thirty; but these brought their arms with them. We made

:

* Mr. Polack, in his "Narrative of Travels and Adventures during a residence in New Zealand between the years 1831 and 1837," gives the following particulars respecting this affair :-"In relating Cook's transactions in this bay, I must also mention the account given me by Manutai, grandson of Te Ratu, a principal chief, who headed the attack on the Englishmen, and was the first native killed by Europeans, which was done in self-defence. It appears that the tribes who now assaulted Cook had not been long in possession of the land, as they were originally a party of strangers from the southward, who had made war on the inhabitants of the place, and had defeated and destroyed them. This decisive battle had taken place but a very few years previously to the arrival of Cook, and Te Ratu had been one of the principal warriors. Another chief was shot in the shoulder; this man recovered, and had died within a few years previously to my visiting those localities in 1836. I saw the son of this wounded warrior, an elderly man, who pointed out to me, on his body, the spot where the ball had passed through the shoulders of his father. Cook's ship was at first taken for a bird by the natives; and many remarks passed among them as to the beauty and size of its wings, as the sails of this novel specimen in ornithology were supposed to be. But on seeing a smaller bird, unfledged

(without sails) descending into the water, and a number of party-coloured beings, but apparently in the human shape, also descending, the bird was regarded as a houseful of divinities. Nothing could exceed the astonishment of the natives."

When their leader was killed, "the manner of his unseen death was ascribed to a thunderbolt from these new gods; and the noise made by the discharges of the muskets was represented as the watitiri, or thunder, which accompanies that sublime phenomenon. To revenge themselves was the dearest wish of the tribe; but how to accomplish it with divinities who could kill them at a distance without even approaching to them, was difficult to determine. Many of these natives observed that they felt themselves taken ill by only being particularly looked upon by these Atuas. It was therefore agreed, that, as these new comers could bewitch with a single look, the sooner their society was dismissed, the better it would be for the general welfare."

This accounts for the determined hostility of the men in the boat, mentioned a little further on, one of whom must have been the person mentioned by Mr. Polack, as shot through the shoulders; as, by Cook's account, the two men shot on the first and second encounter with the natives, were undoubtedly killed outright.—ED.

them all presents of iron and beads; but they seemed to set little value upon either, particularly the iron, not having the least idea of its use; so that we got nothing in return but a few feathers: they offered indeed to exchange their arms for ours, and when we refused, made many attempts to snatch them out of our hands. As soon as they came over, Tupia repeated his declaration, that they were not our friends, and again warned us to be upon our guard; their attempts to snatch our weapons, therefore, did not succeed; and we gave them to understand by Tupia, that we should be obliged to kill them if they offered any farther violence. In a few minutes, however, Mr. Green happening to turn about, one of them snatched away his hanger, and retiring to a little distance, waved it round his head, with a shout of exultation: the rest now began to be extremely insolent, and we saw more coming to join them from the opposite side of the river. It was therefore become necessary to repress them, and Mr. Banks fired at the man who had taken the hanger, with small shot, at the distance of about fifteen yards: when the shot struck him, he ceased his cry; but instead of returning the hanger, continued to flourish it over his head, at the same time slowly retreating to a greater distance. Mr. Monkhouse seeing this, fired at him with ball, and he instantly dropped. Upon this the main body, who had retired to a rock in the middle of the river upon the first discharge, began to return; two that were near to the man who had been killed, ran up to the body, one seized his weapon of green talc, and the other endeavoured to secure the hanger, which Mr. Monkhouse had but just time to prevent. As all that had retired to the rock were now advancing, three of us discharged our pieces, loaded only with small shot, upon which they swam back for the shore; and we perceived, upon their landing, that two or three of them were wounded. They retired slowly up the country, and we reimbarked in our boats.

As we had unhappily experienced, that nothing was to be done with these people at this place; and finding the water in the river to be salt, I proceeded in the boats round the head of the bay in search of fresh water, and with a design, if possible, to surprise some of the natives, and take them on board, where, by kind treatment and presents, I might obtain their friendship, and by their means establish an amicable correspondence with their countrymen.

I

To my great regret, I found no place where I could land, a dangerous surf every where beating upon the shore; but I saw two canoes coming in from the sea, one under sail, and the other worked with paddles. I thought this a favourable opportunity to get some of the people into my possession without mischief, as those in the canoe were probably fishermen, and without arms, and I had three boats full of men. I therefore disposed the boats so as most effectually to intercept them in their way to the shore; the people in the canoe that was paddled perceived us so soon, that, by making to the nearest land with their utmost strength, they escaped us; the other sailed on till she was in the midst of us without discerning what we were; but the moment she discovered us, the people on board struck their sail, and took to their paddles, which they plied so briskly that she out-ran the boat. They were, however, within hearing, and Tupia called out to them to come along-side, and promised for us that they should come to no hurt they chose, however, rather to trust to their paddles than our promises, and continued to make from us with all their power. then ordered a musket to be fired over their heads, as the least exceptionable expedient to accomplish my design, hoping it would either make them surrender, or leap into the water. Upon the discharge of the piece, they ceased paddling; and all of them, being seven in number, began to strip, as we imagined, to jump overboard: but it happened otherwise. They immediately formed a resolution not to fly, but to fight; and when the boat came up, they began the attack with their paddles, and with stones and other offensive weapons that were in the boat, so vigorously, that we were obliged to fire upon them in our own defence; four were unhappily killed, and the other three, who were boys, the eldest about nineteen, and the youngest about eleven, instantly leaped into the water; the eldest swam with great vigour, and resisted the attempts of our people to take him into the boat by every effort that he could make he was however, at last overpowered, and the other two were taken up with less difficulty. I am conscious that the feeling of every reader of humanity will censure me for having fired upon these unhappy people, and it is impossible that, upon a calm

review, I should approve it myself. They certainly did not deserve death for not choosing to confide in my promises; or not consenting to come on board my boat, even if they had apprehended no danger; but the nature of my service required me to obtain a knowledge of their country, which I could no otherwise effect than by forcing my way into it in a hostile manner, or gaining admission through the confidence and good-will of the people. I had already tried the power of presents without effect; and I was now prompted, by my desire to avoid further hostilities, to get some of them on board, as the only method left of convincing them that we intended them no harm, and had it in our power to contribute to their gratification and convenience. Thus far my intentions certainly were not criminal; and though in the contest, which I had not the least reason to expect, our victory might have been complete without so great an expense of life; yet in such situations, when the command to fire has been given, no man can restrain its excess, or prescribe its effect.

As soon as the poor wretches whom we had taken out of the water were in the boat, they squatted down, expecting no doubt instantly to be put to death: we made haste to convince them of the contrary, by every method in our power; we furnished them with clothes, and gave them every other testimony of kindness that could remove their fears and engage their good-will. Those who are acquainted with human nature will not wonder, that the sudden joy of these young savages at being unexpectedly delivered from the fear of death, and kindly treated by those whom they supposed would have been their instant executioners, surmounted their concern for the friends they had lost, and was strongly expressed in their countenances and behaviour. Before we reached the ship, their suspicions and fears being wholly removed, they appeared to be not only reconciled to their situation, but in high spirits, and upon being offered some bread when they came on board, they devoured it with a voracious appetite. They answered and asked many questions, with great appearance of pleasure and curiosity; and when our dinner came, they expressed an inclination to taste every thing that they saw they seemed best pleased with the salt pork, though we had other provisions upon the table. At sun-set, they ate another meal with great eagerness, each devouring a large quantity of bread, and drinking above a quart of water. We then made them beds upon the lockers, and they went to sleep with great seeming content. In the night, however, the tumult of their minds having subsided, and given way to reflection, they sighed often and loud. Tupia, who was always upon the watch to comfort them, got up, and by soothing and encouragement, made them not only easy but cheerful; their cheerfulness was encouraged so that they sung a song with a degree of taste that surprised us: the tune was solemn and slow, like those of our Psalms, containing many notes and semi-tones. Their countenances were intelligent and expressive, and the middlemost, who seemed to be about fifteen, had an openness in his aspect, and an ease in his deportment, which were very striking: we found that the two eldest were brothers, and that their names were TAAHOURANGE and KOIKERANGE; the name of the youngest was MARAGOVETe. As we were returning to the ship, after having taken these boys into the boat, we picked up a large piece of pumice-stone floating upon the water; a sure sign that there either is, or has been, a volcano in this neighbourhood.

In the morning they all seemed to be cheerful, and ate another enormous meal; after this we dressed them, and adorned them with bracelets, anklets, and necklaces, after their own fashion, and the boat being hoisted out, they were told that we were going to set them ashore; this produced a transport of joy; but upon perceiving that we made towards our first landing-place near the river, their countenances changed, and they entreated with great earnestness that they might not be set ashore at that place, because they said it was inhabited by their enemies, who would kill them and eat them. This was a great disappointment to me, because I hoped the report and appearance of the boys would procure a favourable reception for ourselves. I had already sent an officer on shore with the marines and a party of men to cut wood, and I was determined to land near the place; not, however, to abandon the boys, if, when we got on shore, they should be unwilling to leave us; but to send a boat with them in the evening to that part of the bay to which they pointed, and which they call their home. Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, and Tupia, were with me, and upon our landing with the boys, and crossing the river, they seemed at first to be unwilling to leave

us; but at length they suddenly changed their mind, and, though not without a manifest struggle and some tears, they took their leave; when they were gone we proceeded along a swamp, with a design to shoot some ducks, of which we saw great plenty, and four of the marines attended us, walking abreast of us upon a bank that overlooked the country. After we had advanced about a mile, these men called out to us and told us, that a large body of the Indians was in sight and advancing at a great rate. Upon receiving this intelligence we drew together, and resolved to make the best of our way to the boats; we had scarcely begun to put this into execution, when the three Indian boys started suddenly from some bushes, where they had concealed themselves, and again claimed our protection; we readily received them, and repairing to the beach as the clearest place, we walked briskly towards the boats. The Indians were in two bodies; one ran along the bank which had been quitted by the marines, the other fetched a compass by the swamp, so that we could not see them: when they perceived that we had formed into one body they slackened their pace, but still followed us in a gentle walk; that they slackened their pace, was for us as well as for them, a fortunate circumstance; for when we came to the side of the river, where we expected to find the boats that were to carry us over to the wooders, we found the pinnace at least a mile from her station, having been sent to pick up a bird which had been shot by the officer on shore, and the little boat was obliged to make three trips before we could all get over to the rest of the party. As soon as we were drawn up on the other side, the Indians came down, not in a body as we expected, but by two or three at a time, all armed, and in a short time their number increased to about two hundred: as we now despaired of making peace with them, seeing that the dread of our small arms did not keep them at a distance, and that the ship was too far off to reach the place with a shot, we resolved to re-embark, lest our stay should embroil us in another quarrel, and cost more of the Indians their lives. We therefore advanced towards the pinnace, which was now returning, when one of the boys suddenly cried out that his uncle was among the people who had marched down to us, and desired us to stay and talk with them; we complied, and a parley immediately commenced between them and Tupia; during which the boys held up everything we had given them as tokens of our kindness and liberality; but neither would either of the boys swim over to them, or any of them to the boys. The body of the man who had been killed the day before still lay exposed upon the beach; the boys seeing it lie very near us, went up to it, and covered it with some of the clothes that we had given them; and soon after a single man, unarmed, who proved to be the uncle of Maragovete, the youngest of the boys, swam over to us, bringing in his hand a green branch, which we supposed, as well here as at Otaheite, to be an emblem of peace. We received his branch by the hands of Tupia, to whom he gave it, and made him many presents; we also invited him to go on board the ship, but he declined it; we therefore left him, and expected that his nephew and the two other young Indians would have staid with him, but to our great surprise, they chose rather to go with As soon as we had retired he went and gathered another green branch, and with this in his hand, he approached the dead body which the youth had covered with part of his clothes, walking sideways, with many ceremonies, and then throwing it towards him. When this was done, he returned to his companions, who had sat down upon the sand to observe the issue of his negotiation: they immediately gathered round him, and continued in a body above an hour, without seeming to take any farther notice of us. We were more curious than they, and observing them with our glasses from on board the ship, we saw some of them cross the river upon a kind of raft, or catamarine, and four of them carry off the dead body which had been covered by the boy, and over which his uncle had performed the ceremony of the branch, upon a kind of bier, between four men; the other body was still suffered to remain where it had been first left.

us.

After dinner I directed Tupia to ask the boys if they had now any objection to going ashore, where we had left their uncle, the body having been carried off, which we understood was a ratification of peace; they said, they had not; and the boat being ordered, they went into it with great alacrity: when the boat, in which I had sent two midshipmen, came to land, they went willingly ashore; but soon after she put off they returned to the rocks, and wading into the water, earnestly entreated to be taken on board again; but the people in

the boat having positive orders to leave them, could not comply. We were very attentive to what happened on shore, and keeping a constant watch with our glasses, we saw a man pass the river upon another raft, and fetch them to a place where forty or fifty of the natives were assembled, who closed round them, and continued in the same place till sun-set: upon looking again, when we saw them in motion, we could plainly distinguish our three prisoners, who separated themselves from the rest, came down to the beach, and having waved their hands three times towards the ship, ran nimbly back and joined their companions, who walked leisurely away towards that part which the boys had pointed to as their dwellingplace; we had therefore the greatest reason to believe that no mischief would happen to them, especially as we perceived that they went off in the clothes we had given them.

After it was dark loud voices were heard on shore in the bottom of the bay as usual, of which we could never learn the meaning.

CHAPTER II.-A DESCRIPTION OF POVERTY BAY, AND THE FACE OF THE ADJACENT COUNTRY. THE RANGE FROM THENCE TO CAPE TURNAGAIN, AND BACK TO TOLAGO; WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY, AND SEVERAL INCIDENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THAT PART OF THE COAST.

THE next morning, at six o'clock, we weighed, and stood away from this unfortunate and inhospitable place, to which I gave the name of POVERTY BAY, and which by the natives is called TA-ONE-ROA, or the Long Sand, as it did not afford us a single article that we wanted, except a little wood *. It lies in latitude 38° 42′ S., and longitude 181° 36′ W.; it is in the form of an horse-shoe, and is known by an island lying close under the north-east point. The two points which form the entrance are high, with steep white cliffs, and lie a league and a half or two leagues from each other, N. E. by E., and S. W. by W.; the depth of water in the bay is from twelve to five fathom, with a sandy bottom and good anchorage; but the situation is open to the wind between the south and east. Boats can go in and out of the river at any time of the tide in fine weather; but as there is a bar at the entrance, no boat can go either in or out when the sea runs high: the best place to attempt it is on the northeast side, and it is there practicable when it is not so in any other part. The shore of the bay, a little within its entrance, is a low flat sand; behind which, at a small distance, the face of the country is finely diversified by hills and valleys, all clothed with wood, and covered with verdure. The country also appears to be well inhabited, especially in the valleys leading up from the bay, where we daily saw smoke rising in clouds one behind another to a great distance, till the view terminated in mountains of a stupendous height. The south-west point of the bay I named YOUNG NICK'S HEAD, after Nicholas Young, the boy who first saw the land. At noon it bore N. W. by W., distant about three or four leagues, and we were then about three miles from the shore. The main land extended from N. E. by N. to south, and I proposed to follow the direction of the coast to the southward as far as the latitude of 40 or 41; and then, if I met with no encouragement to proceed farther, to return to the northward.

In the afternoon we lay becalmed, which the people on shore perceiving, several canoes put off, and came within less than a quarter of a mile of the vessel, but could not be persuaded to come nearer, though Tupia exerted all the powers of his lungs and his eloquence upon the occasion, shouting and promising that they should not be hurt. Another canoe was now seen coming from Poverty Bay, with only four people on board, one of whom we well remembered to have seen in our first interview upon the rock. This canoe, without stopping, or taking the least notice of the others, came directly alongside of the ship, and with very little persuasion we got the Indians on board. Their example was soon followed by the rest, and we had about us seven canoes, and about fifty men. We made them all presents with a liberal hand; notwithstanding which, they were so desirous to have more of our

The true name of this place is Turunga; any sandy spot having the appellation of Oné or Oni, Sand attached to it."From the valuable agricultural nature of the country in its vicinity, it merits," says Mr. Polack, “any other name than Poverty."-ED