clothed in well-made cloth manufactured from the paper mulberry-tree, and ingeniously painted. In wet weather they wore instead garments made of matting, some of a very fine and beautiful description. They produced a great variety of basket-work, and made string and rope of various thicknesses. Their houses were neat, and they were remarkably clean in their habits, many of them washing twice or oftener in a day. The last event of importance which occurred was the desertion of two marines, who stole from the fort, intending to remain in the country.
As Captain Cook could not allow so bad an example to be set, he was compelled, in order to recover them, to detain Tootahah and several other chiefs until the fugitives should be restored. The natives retaliated by capturing two petty officers, and the arms of two others, and matters began to look serious, until, by the intervention of Tootahah, the deserters were restored and received due punishment.
After a stay of three months the voyagers, having bade farewell to their friends on shore, prepared for sailing, when Tupia, accompanied by a boy as his servant, came on board, and expressed his readiness to accompany them.
About noon on the 12th of April the anchor was weighed, and the vessel getting under sail, the Indians on board took their leave of their visitors and Tupia, weeping with a deep and silent sorrow, in which there was something very striking and tender. Tupia evinced great firmness, struggling to conceal his tears, and, climbing to the masthead, made signals until he was carried out of sight of the friends he was destined never again to see. As they sailed along he frequently prayed to his god Tane for a favourable breeze, but it was observed that he never commenced his orisons until he saw the signs of the coming gale.
The islands of Eimeo, Huaheine, Ulietea, and Bolabola were visited in succession. The ship anchoring near Ulietea, Captain Cook took the opportunity to stop a leak, and take in ballast; he went also to visit Opoony, the warlike sovereign of Bolabola, who had conquered this and many of the neighbouring islands. Instead of seeing a fine-looking warrior, as he expected, he found a withered, half-blind, decrepit old man, who was, notwithstanding, the terror of the surrounding islands. The people on shore welcomed their visitors with all possible courtesy. On their way they met a company of dancers, men and women, who were said by Tupia to be among the principal people. The women wore graceful head-dresses of long braids of hair and flowers, with pearls in their ears. The upper parts of their bodies were unclothed, but they were amply covered from the breast downwards in native cloth stained black. Regular dramas were represented before the strangers, and the style of dancing was objectionable in the extreme. An ample supply of hogs, poultry, and provisions having been obtained at Ulietea, the Endeavour again sailed. When off Bolabola, at which the landing was found to be extremely difficult, to gratify Tupia Captain Cook fired one of his guns, though the ship was several leagues off. Tupia’s object was to exhibit his hatred of the King of that island, as well as the power of his new allies. To the group of islands which had been seen or visited, Captain Cook gave the name of the Society’s Islands, but Otaheite was not included among them, and continued to be known as King George’s Island.
On the 13th of August the Endeavour came off Oheteroa, considerably to the south of the others. Here the natives, dressed in coloured cloths and feathers, stood ready to oppose a landing; and after several fruitless attempts to conciliate them, Captain Cook continued his course to the southward. On the 25th of August, the anniversary of their departure from England, the day was celebrated by taking a Cheshire cheese from a locker where it had been preserved for the purpose, and tapping a cask of porter, which proved to be in excellent order. On the morning of the 30th a comet was seen in the east, a little above the horizon. After this, a heavy sea and strong gales were met with from the westward, and the ship being wore round, stood to the northward. On the weather moderating, the cruise was continued westward during the whole month of September, and on the 6th of October land was seen from the masthead bearing West-by-North.
On the evening of the next day the voyagers got near enough to observe that the country was of great extent, with several ranges of hills rising one above the other, and beyond them a lofty chain of mountains. The general notion was that they had found the Terra Australis Incognita. Night coming on, they were compelled to stand off, but the following day again sailed for the shore.
They saw some neat small houses, and a large number of people seated on the beach. Farther on was discovered a high regular paling, enclosing the whole top of a hill. In the afternoon the ship came to an anchor off the mouth of a river in a bay, the sides of which were composed of white cliffs of great height.
Such was the first view the English obtained of New Zealand, which has since become the home of many thousands of our countrymen. Captain Cook, Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and a party of men having landed, tried to open a communication with the natives across a river. While they were on the bank, a party of savages with long lances rushed out of a wood, and were on the point of spearing the men left in charge of the boat, when the coxswain fired and shot one of them dead. The natives then ran away. On examining the dress of the dead man, it was found to answer the description given in an account of Tasman’s voyage, which convinced the explorers that that navigator had previously