He noticed, with quick eye, the great failing in these native fortresses, that is, the want of storage for water. In these Maori villages it was remarked that sanitary arrangements were provided, such as, says Beckmann in his History of Inventions, did not exist in the palace of the King of Spain at that time.

Large quantities of iron sand were noted here, but the use was quite unknown to the natives, who were indifferent to the iron tools or spikes which had hitherto been such a valuable medium of exchange elsewhere. A large supply of wild celery and a fresh boat-load of oysters were put on board; a tree was marked with the name of the ship, the date, and one or two other particulars, the flag was hoisted, saluted, and possession taken of the country, and the ship sailed again on her journey.

AT THE THAMES.

Running closely along the coast, they hauled round Cape Colville into "the Entrance of a Straight, Bay or River," and anchored for the night, and in the morning they stood on along the east side. Canoes came off, and from the behaviour of the occupants, some of whom came on board at the first invitation, it was judged that favourable accounts had been heard of the ship. After running about 5 leagues the water shoaled to about 6 fathoms, and the ship anchored, and boats were sent out to sound. No great increase of depth being found, the pinnace and long-boat went up a river about 9 miles away, and on account of a fancied resemblance named it the Thames. They landed at a village near the mouth, being well received, but desiring to take advantage of the flood-tide which ran "as strong as it does in the River Thames below bridge," they made no stay; they went up about 14 miles, and then, finding little alteration in the appearance of the country, landed to inspect some large trees of a kind they had previously noticed. One was carefully measured, and was found to be 19 feet 6 inches girth at 6 feet from the ground, and, by means of Cook's quadrant, 89 feet to the lowest branch. It was perfectly straight, and tapered very slightly, and some were seen that were even larger. This was the Black Pine; to the Maoris, Matoi, and to the naturalist, Podocarpus.

On the way down the river their friends of the morning came out and "traffick'd with us in the most friendly manner imaginable, until they had disposed of the few trifles they had." When the boats got outside they had to anchor, as a strong tide and breeze were against them, and they did not reach the ship till next morning, when the breeze had increased to a gale, and topgallant yards had to be struck. When the wind dropped, what was left was against them, and the Endeavour would only go with the tide, so Cook took a run ashore to the west side of the bay, but saw nothing of interest, and concluded it was but sparsely inhabited. Whilst he was away natives went off to trade and behaved remarkably well, with the exception of one man who was caught making off with the half-hour glass, so Mr. Hicks had him triced up, and he was given a dozen lashes. When it was explained to his friends why this was done, they expressed their approval, and on his release an old man gave him another thrashing.

The weather now became very unsettled, and they were not able to keep as near the coast as they desired, but on 26th November some cultivated spots were seen, and several canoes came off.

"Some of the natives ventur'd on board; to two, who appeared to be chiefs, I gave presents. After these were gone out of the ship, the others became so Troublesome that in order to get rid of them, we were at the expense of two or three Musquet Balls and one 4 pound shott, but as no harm was intended them, none they received, unless they happened to overheat themselves in pulling ashore."

A STAMPEDE.

To the west side of Cape Brett is a deep bay which was seen but not named, and here the town of Russell is now established, said to possess one of the finest harbours in the world, into which vessels of any draught can enter in all weathers and at any state of the tide. The natives were found difficult to deal with, and "would cheat whenever they had an opportunity." The ship left its anchorage, but was after a time driven back again, and Cook, with a party, took the opportunity to land. They were followed up by the Maoris, and were soon surrounded by about two hundred of them, some of whom tried to seize the boats, but being driven off tried to break in on the party. Several charges of small shot, which did no serious damage, were fired into them, and then the ship fired a 4 pounder over them, which caused a stampede, and during the rest of the stay there was no further trouble, but Cook had to punish three of his own men for stealing potatoes from one of the plantations. He invariably tried to hold the balance fairly between his men and the natives.

The country is described as very similar to that seen before, but the number of inhabitants was greater, and though apparently not under the same chiefs, they were on good terms with each other, and inclined to be civil to their visitors. A good deal of the ground was under cultivation, producing good sweet-potatoes. A few trees of the paper-mulberry were seen, from which the natives made a cloth in a similar manner to the Otaheitans, but the quantity was so small that it was only used for ornament. Tupia, who had been instructed to gain as much information about the people as he could, was informed that some of their ancestors once went off in large canoes and discovered a country to the north-west after a passage of about a month, only a small number returning. These reported they had been to a place where the people ate hogs, using the same word for the animal as the Otaheitans, Tupia asked if they had any in New Zealand, and the reply was "no." He asked if their ancestors brought any back, again the answer was "no"; whereon he told them their story must be a lie, for their ancestors could never have been such fools as to come back without some. The land said to have been discovered may have been New Caledonia.