delicious weather and with every stitch of canvas set, swiftly careering towards our next goal, New Zealand.
On the 9th at 5 P.M. we buried the corpse of one of the gunners, who had died the same morning of dysentery, the remains being committed to the deep with the customary ceremonies and marks of respect.
On the morning of the 19th we sighted Barrier Island off Cape Butt, distant 35 miles. The more we neared the land, the more balmy did the atmosphere become. Innumerable Albatrosses and Procellariæ swarmed around us, and the result of half an hour's shooting from a small boat dropped over the side for the purpose, resulted in our securing eleven different species of storm-birds. A whale about 50 feet in length also came close under our quarter, and only retreated after he had been repeatedly fired upon and had received a number of balls in his carcase.
We steered for the South Point of Barrier Island, the outline of which is very beautiful, relieved as it is by two hills, of which that to the south is about 2000 feet in height, running up into a sharp peak, while the more northerly rises gradually, being only precipitous on the northern face. The broken conical rocks which ascend out of the sea near the northern point of the island unmistakeably indicate their volcanic origin.
Our arrival off New Zealand was signalized by most unusual calms, which indeed materially delayed our entrance into Huraka Gulf, a sort of lateral bay, entering from the harbour
of Auckland. A bark, which had sailed from Sydney three days before us, had, as we were informed by our pilot, been one day in harbour. We now had to tack slowly up under faint puffs of wind towards the anchorage, which we reached finally at 5.30 P.M. of the 22nd December, 1858.
The country round Auckland has none of those majestic features which are presented by New Zealand further south. The enormous volcanic peaks, such as Mount Egmont, 8000 feet high, have dwindled down in this region to numerous but small extinct cones, rarely rising above 800 feet. Instead of the hills covered with perpetual snow of the central island, one sees here only low chains of hills, about 2000 feet high, and a rolling country, which dips into the sea in steep cliffs of sandstone. In the various bays and channels of the wide gulf might be seen numbers of natives in their elegant canoes engaged in fishing. We found but five ships in harbour, and here also the Novara was the largest man-of-war that had ever entered the port. The population of Auckland turned out on the beach as we approached, and began to exchange the usual salutes with the little fort.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A National System of Political Economy. Stuttgart, 1840. (J. C. Cotta.)
[2] In an old map of the year 1542, the Australian continent is named New Java.