W hat I believe to be genuine and authentic the collected publications of William Colenso
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| [118] been expected, considering what they had suffered in the late skirmish! Have we not reason to conclude that their dispositions are very flexible, and that resentment with them is a short-lived passion?”
On their voyage south from the islands we have these entries:— “August 27th. We killed a dog and dressed him, which we brought on the 8th from Ulietea (Raiatea); he was excessively fat, although he had eaten nothing while he had been on board. On the evening of the next day, 28th, John Raden, the boatswain’s mate, died. His death was occasioned by drinking too freely of rum the night before.—September 29th. Saw several parcels of sea-weed, and a land-bird that flew like a plover; with a great number of large white albatrosses with the tips of their wings black. We sounded and found no bottom with 120 fathoms of line. The captain apprehended that we were near land, and promised one gallon of rum to the man who should first discover it by day, and two if he discovered it by night; also, that part of the coast of the said land should be named after him. On the 1st of October the weather was fair but very cold, and almost calm. We saw a seal asleep upon the surface of the water, which had, at first, the appearance of a log of wood; we put the ship about to take it up, but it waked and dived out of sight. The master was sent in quest of a current but could find none; we having gone ten leagues farther to the north than what appeared in the log account. Though we had been so long out at sea in a distant part of the world, we had a roasted leg of mutton and French beans for dinner, and the fare of Old England afforded us a grateful repast. On the 2nd the sea was as smooth as the Thames. Mr. Banks went out in a little boat, and diverted himself in shooting of shearwaters; he also shot one white albatros that measured 10.7 feet; the water looked as green as it does in the Channel. On the 4th a great shoal of bottle-nosed porpoises swam alongside of the ship, with a great number of other porpoises having sharp white snouts, and their sides and bellies of the same colour. On the 5th we had light breezes from the N.E. and pleasant weather; about two o’clock in the afternoon, one of our people, Nicholas Young, the surgeon’s boy, descried a point of land of New Zealand from the starboard bow, at about nine leagues distance, bearing W. and by N. We bore up to it, and at sunset we had a good view of it. The land was high, and it appeared like an island. We regaled ourselves in the evening upon the occasion; the land was called ‘Young Nick’s Head,’ and the boy received his reward. The sea on this coast was full of a small transparent animal, which, upon examination, we called Beroe coarctata. On the 8th we had light breezes and dead calms all day, and could not get in nearer the land than two or three leagues: but it appeared at this distance to be of considerable extent. We saw smoke [119] ascend from different parts, and thence concluded that it was inhabited. On the 9th, early in the morning, the wind being favourable, we stood in nearer land, where it seemed to open and form a deep bay; but on approaching it we discovered low land, and it was much shallower than we expected. Upon entering we had regular soundings all the way, from twenty-six to six fathoms, and cast anchor on the east side in ten fathoms water about two or three miles from the shore, over against the land on the right where there was the appearance of a river. ... Having cast anchor, the pinnace, long-boat, and yawl were sent on shore with the marines. As soon as the people who were in the pinnace had passed a little way up into the country, while the long-boat went up the river to see for water, some of the natives, who had hid themselves among the bushes, made their appearance, having long wooden lances in their hands, which they held up in a threatening posture as if they intended to throw them at the boys in the yawl. The cockswain, who stayed in the pinnace, perceiving them, fired a musketoon over their heads, but that did not seem to intimidate them; he therefore fired a musket, and shot one of them through the heart, upon which they were much alarmed and retreated precipitately. The water in the river was found to be brackish, in which we were disappointed; but they shot some wild ducks of a very large size, and gathered a variety of curious plants in flower. “Early on the morning of the 10th the long-boat, pinnace, and yawl went on shore again, landed near the river where they had been the night before, and attempted to find a watering-place. Several of the natives came toward them, and, with much entreating, we prevailed on some of them to cross the river, to whom we gave several things, which they carried back to their companions on the other side of the river, who seemed to be highly pleased with them and testified their joy by a war-dance. Appearing to be so pacifically disposed, our company went over to them and were received in a friendly manner. Some of the natives were armed with lances, and others with a kind of stone-bludgeon; through the handle of it was a string which they twisted round the hand that held it when they attempted to strike at any person. We would have purchased some of their weapons, but could not prevail on them to part with them on any terms. One of them, however, watched an opportunity and snatched a hanger from us; our people resented the affront by firing upon them and killed three of them on the spot; but the rest, to our surprise, did not appear to be intimidated at the sight of their expiring countrymen who lay weltering in their blood, nor did they seem to breathe any revenge upon the occasion; attempting only to wrest the hanger out of the man’s hand that had been shot, and to take the weapons that belonged to their other two [120] deceased comrades, which having effected, they quietly departed. After having taken possession of the country in form for the King, our company embarked and went round the bay in search of water again, and to apprehend, if possible, some of the natives, to gain farther information of them respecting the island. They had not gone far before they saw a canoe, gave chase to it, and when they came up with it, the crew threw stones at them, and were very daring and insolent. Our people had recourse to their arms; the Captain, Dr. Solander, and Mr. Banks fired at them and killed and wounded several of them. The natives fought very desperately with their paddles, but were soon overpowered; their canoe was taken, three of them made prisoners and brought on board the ship, and the rest were suffered to escape. They were in person much like the natives of Otaheite, but were loud and rude in their address, and more unpolished than the Otaheitians. We were much surprised to find they spoke the Otaheitian language, though in a different dialect, speaking very guttural, having a kind of hec which some of the people of Ulietea have in their speech. Tupaea understood them very well, notwithstanding they made frequent use of the g and k, which the people of Otaheite do not. Their canoe was thirty feet long, made of planks sewed together, and had a lug-sail made of matting. ... We found here a sort of long-pepper which tasted very much like mace; a Fulica or a bald-coot of a dark blue colour; and a blackbird, the flesh of which was an orange colour, and tasted like stewed shell-fish. A vast quantity of pumice-stone lies all along upon the shore266 within the bay, which indicates that there is a volcano in this island. On the 12th, early in the morning, we weighed anchor and attempted to find some better anchoring-place, as this bay (which, from the few necessaries we could procure, we called Poverty Bay) was not well sheltered from a S.E. wind, which brings in a heavy sea. The natives called the bay Te Oneroa, and the point of land at the entrance on the east side they called Te Tua Motu. On the 13th, in the afternoon, after we had doubled a small high island, which was called Portland Isle, (or according to the natives, Te Haure,) we got into a sort of large bay, and the night coming on we thought it best to drop anchor, designing, next morning, to make for a harbour in the corner of the bay, where there was the appearance of an inlet. ... On the 14th we made for the inlet which we saw the night before, and on coming up to it found that it was not sheltered, having only some low land at the bottom of it. Ten canoes filled with people chased us, but our ship sailing too fast for them they were obliged to give over the pursuit. We sailed round most part of the bay without finding any opening, and the soundings all along the shore were very regular. The country appeared more fertile [121] hereabout, and well covered with wood, the sea-shore making in clayey cliffs, upon which the surf broke very high. This bay was called Hawke’s Bay. In the afternoon a canoe followed us with eighteen people in her armed with lances, but as they could not keep pace with us they gave up their expedition. In sailing along we could plainly distinguish land that was cultivated, parcelled out into square compartments, having some sorts of herbs growing upon them. On the 15th in the morning, we bent our course round a small peninsula which was joined to the mainland by a low isthmus, on which were many groves of tall straight trees, that looked as if they had been planted by art; and within side of it the water was quite smooth. We saw some very high ridges of hills streaked with snow, and when we had doubled the point of this peninsula, the low isthmus appeared again stretching a long way by the sea-side. The country looked very pleasant, having fine sloping hills which stretched out into beautiful green lawns, though not covered with wood, as other parts of the coast are. In the morning, while we were on the other side of the peninsula, nine canoes came off to us, in which were 160 of the natives; they behaved in a very irresolute manner, sometimes seeming as if they would attack us, then taking fright and retreating a little, one half paddling one way, and the other half paddling another, shaking their lances and bone bludgeons at us, talking very loud and blustering, lolling out their tongues, and making other signs of defiance. We did all we could to make them peaceable but to no purpose, for they seemed at length resolved to do us some mischief; coming alongside of the ship again and threatening us, we fired one of our guns loaded with grape-shot over their heads. They looked upon us for some time with astonishment, and then hastened away as fast as they could. By this time two other canoes came towards us, but stopped a little and held a conference with those that were returning, and then made up to us, leaving the rest at some distance, who seemed to wait their destiny. We made signs to them that we meant them no harm if they would behave peaceably, which they so well understood that they took all their weapons and put them into a canoe and sent it off while they came close to the ship. We threw them several kinds of things, but they were so timorous that they durst not venture on board, nor would they send anything to us. During this interview another canoe came up, threw a lance at the stern of the ship, and made off again. The lance fell into the water and sunk immediately. ... Their canoes had from eighteen to twenty-two men in them, and were adorned with fine heads made out of a thick board, cut through like filagree work, in spirals of very curious workmanship. At the end of this was a head with two large eyes of mother-of-pearl, and a large heart-shaped tongue. This figure went round the bottom of the board, and had feet and [122] hands carved upon it very neatly and painted red; they had also high-peaked sterns, wrought in filagree and adorned with feathers, from the top of which depended two long streamers, made of feathers, which almost reached the water. Some of these canoes were between fifty and sixty feet long, and rowed with eighteen paddles by the like number of men, who look the same way they row, striking their paddles into the water with their points downward, at the same time bending their bodies forward, and as it were, driving the waves behind them. They gave us two heivos in their canoes which were very diverting. They beat time with their paddles, and ended all at once with the word epaah, at the same instant striking their paddles on the thwarts, all which afforded a truly comic act. “On the 16th we had several fisher canoes come to us, and, after much persuasion, they gave us some fish for cloth and trinkets; but none of their fish was quite fresh, and some of it stank intolerably. They went away very well satisfied, and then a larger canoe, full of people, came up to us, having their faces shockingly besmeared with some paint. An old man, who sat in the stern, had on a garment of some beast’s skin, with long hair, dark brown, and white border, which we would have purchased, but they were not willing to part with anything. When the captain threw them a piece of red baize for it, they paddled away immediately, held a conference with the fishers’ boats, and then returned to the ship. We had laid a scheme to trepan them,267 intending to have thrown a running bow-line about the head of the canoe, and to have hoisted her up to the anchor: but just as we had got her ahead for that purpose, they seized Tupaea’s little boy, who was in the main-chains, and made off with him, which prevented the execution of our plan. We fired some muskets and great guns at them, and killed several of them.268 The boy soon after disengaged himself from them, jumped into the sea, swam toward the ship, and we lowered a boat down and took him up, while the canoes made to land as fast as possible. “In the evening we were over against a point of land, which, from the circumstance of stealing the boy, we called Cape Kidnappers. On doubling the cape we thought to have met with a snug bay, but were disappointed, the land tending away to a point southwards. Soon after we saw a small [123] island, which, from its desolate appearance, we called Bare Island. On the 17th we sailed along the coast, near as far as 41°, but not meeting with any convenient harbour to anchor in, the land lying north and south, when we came abreast of a round bluff cape, we turned back, being apprehensive that we should want water if we proceeded farther to the southward. We saw several villages, and in the night some fires burning upon the land. The coast appeared more barren than any we had seen before. There was clear ground and good anchorage upon the coast two or three miles from the shore, and from eight to twenty fathoms water. This cape we named Cape Turnagain. “On the 19th, in the afternoon, we were off Hawke’s Bay, which we could not enter, the wind being foul. A canoe came to us with five people in it, who seemed to place great confidence in us. They came on board, and said they would stay all night. The man who seemed to be the chief had a new garment, made of the white silky flax, which was very strong and thick, with a beautiful border of black, red, and white round it. “On the 20th, early in the morning, having a fine breeze, we made Table Cape, passed Poverty Bay, and came to a remarkable point of land, being a flat, perpendicular, triangular-shaped rock, behind which there appeared to be a harbour, but on opening it we found none. This point we called Gable-end Foreland. The country is full of wood, and looks very pleasant in this part; but towards night we saw some land that appeared very broken and dreary, formed into a number of points, over which we could see the back land. “On the 21st we anchored in a very indifferent harbour, in eight and a-half fathoms water, about one mile and a-half from the shore, having an island on the left hand, which somewhat sheltered us. Many canoes came off to us, and two old men of their chiefs came on board. These people seemed very peaceably inclined, and were willing to trade with us for several trifles which they had brought with them. We saw many houses, and several tracts of land, partly hedged in and cultivated, which formed an agreeable view from the harbour, called by the natives Te Karu. Some of our boats went ashore for water, and found a rivulet, where they filled their casks, and returned to the ship unmolested by the inhabitants, many of whom they saw near the rivulet. “On the 22nd, in the morning, the boats went on shore again for wood and water; and a short time after, Mr. Banks and some others followed them; and while they were absent the natives came on board and trafficked with us, having brought some parcels of kumera and exchanged them with us for Otaheite cloth, which is a scarce commodity among them. They were very cunning in their traffic, and made much of low artifice. One of them [124] had an axe made of the before-mentioned greenstone, which he would not part with for anything we offered him. Several of them were very curiously tattooed. The natives, both on board and on shore, behaved with great civility, and at night they began to heivo and dance in their manner, which was very uncouth. Nothing could be more droll than to see old men with grey beards assuming every antic posture imaginable, rolling their eyes about, lolling out their tongues, and, in short, working themselves up to a sort of phrenzy. “The surf running high, the men who went on shore found great difficulty in getting the water into the long-boat, and in coming off the boat was swamped. We therefore enquired of the natives for a more convenient watering-place, and they pointed to a bay bearing S.W. by W. On receiving this information we weighed anchor, but the wind being against us we stood off and on till the next morning, the 23rd, and then bore away to leeward, and looked into the bay which we had passed before. About noon we dropped anchor, and one of our boats went into a little cove where there was smooth landing and fresh water, and we moored the ship about a mile and a-half from the shore. This bay is called by the natives ‘Tolago,’ and is very open, being exposed to all the violence of the east wind. Several canoes came alongside of the ship, of whom we got some fish, kumeras or sweet potatoes, and several other things; but the natives were indiffernt about most of the things we offered them, except white cloth and glasses which suited their fancy, so that we found it difficult to trade with them. They had some greenstone axes and earrings, but they would not part with them on any terms; and as to their kumeras they set great value upon them. “The country about the bay is agreeable beyond description, and with proper cultivation, might be rendered a kind of second Paradise. The hills are covered with beautiful flowering shrubs, intermingled with a great number of tall and stately palms, which fill the air with a most grateful fragrant perfume. We saw the tree which produces the cabbage, which ate well boiled. We also found some trees yielded a fine transparent gum, and between the hills we discovered some fruitful valleys that are adapted either to cultivation or pasturage. The country abounds with different kinds of herbage fit for food. Our botanists were agreeably employed in investigating the trees and plants of the country. Within land there were many scandent ferns and parasitic plants, and on the sea-shore Salicornias, Mesembryanthemuum, and others. The plant of which they make their cloth is a sort of Hemerocallis, and the leaves yield a very strong and glossy flax, of which their garments and ropes are made. Adjoining their houses are plantations of kumera and taro. These grounds are cultivated with great care and kept clean and neat. [125] “The natives behaved very civil to us; they are, in general, lean and tall yet well-shaped, have faces like Europeans, and, in general, the aquiline nose, with dark-coloured eyes, black hair which is tied up on the crown of the head, and beards of a middling length. … Their cloth is white and as glossy as silk, worked by hands, and wrought as even as if it had been done in a loom, and is chiefly worn by the men though it is made by the women, who also carry burdens and do all the drudgery. Many of the women that we saw had very good features, and not the savage countenance one might expect. The men have their hair tied up, but the women’s hangs down, nor do they wear feathers in it like the men, but adorn it with leaves. They seem to be proud of their sex, and expect you should give them everything they desire because they are women, but they take great care of themselves, and are exceedingly modest, in this respect being very different from the women we saw in the islands. “The men have a particular taste for carving; their boats, paddles, boards to put on their houses, tops of walking-sticks, and even their boats’ valens are carved in a variety of flourishes turnings and windings that are unbroken; but their favourite figure seems to be a volute or spiral which they vary many ways—single, double, and triple—and with as much truth as if done from mathematical draughts; yet the only instrument we have seen are a chisel and an axe, both made of stone. Their fancy, indeed, is very wild and extravagant, and I have seen no imitations of nature in any of their performances, unless the head and the heart-shaped tongue hanging out of the mouth of it may be called natural. “We saw many beautiful parrots and birds of various kinds—one in particular that had a note very much like our blackbird, but we found no ground fowl or domestic poultry. Of quadrupeds we saw no other than dogs, which were like those on the island of Otaheite, and of them but a few. ... From the view which we had of the coast, and the observations made, we might judge that the country is well-situated, naturally fertile, and capable of great improvement by cultivation, especially as the climate is distinguishably mild and favourable. We had clear and fair weather all the time we were on the coast, excepting one day, and though the weather was hot, yet it seemed, by what we observed, that a sea-breeze constantly set in about eleven o’clock in the forenoon which moderated it. “On the 30th, having obtained a sufficient quantity of wood and water, we left the bay, and, sailing along the coast, about noon came up with a point of land before an island; this point we called East Cape, and the island East Island, from which the land altered its direction and tended away to the W. We saw several villages which seemed to have been fenced in by art, and some parcels of ground cultivated. We passed a bay which [126] we called Hicks’s Bay, after our first lieutenant. On the 31st we sailed along the coast and had light breezes and pleasant weather. In the forenoon seven canoes came off to us in a hostile manner, brandishing their lances and waving their paddles. One of these canoes was very large and had between fifty and sixty people in her; some of them gave us an heivo; and one of them—a priest, as we supposed—talked very much. They kept paddling about us, calling out to us that, if we would go on shore, they would beat us with their patta-pattoos, and, being apprehensive that if we suffered them to approach nearer to us we might be obliged to offer violence to them, the captain ordered a gun, loaded with grape-shot, to be fired over their heads, the report of which terrified them so much that they paddled away till they had got, as they supposed, out of our reach, and then they stopped and held a consultation, after which they seemed as if they intended to return, and we fired another gun loaded with ball, and then they made as fast as possible to the shore. Being at this time off a cape, we named it, from the hasty retreat of the natives, Cape Runaway. “On the 1st of November a great number of canoes came off us, one of which had part of a human skull to bale out the water with. We prevailed on some of the natives to come alongside of the ship, and traded with them for cloth, crayfish, and mussels. They gave us several heivos, but some of them seemed to threaten us. A breeze springing up we left them, and a little further on the coast another squadron of fisher boats came off to us, with whom also we had some traffic. These, as well as the rest, were very ready to snatch anything they could lay their hands on; and, watching an opportunity, they stole a pair of sheets that were tied by a line at the ship’s stern, and were going off with them, upon which we fired several muskets, but they did not much regard them. We then fired some grape-shot amongst them, and they paddled away something faster, till they imagined themselves out of our reach, and then they held up their paddles and seemed to defy us. We fired another gun loaded with round and grape-shot, which passed between two canoes and narrowly missed them, on which they hesitated no longer, but repaired immediately to the shore. Toward night we were near a small island, called by the natives Mowtohora, about three leagues from the land. In going between this and the mainland, a canoe came off from the island. This canoe was double, and differed in other respects from those we had seen before. After we had talked with the people which came in it a considerable time, they gave us several heivos, then looked at us very steadfastly, and, having threatened us, stood off towards the mainland. Opposite to this is a high-peaked hill, which we named Mount Edgecombe; and a small bay, which we called Lowland Bay; and the two points thereof, from their situation, Highland [127] Point and Lowland Point, the latter of which stretches a great way, and is covered with trees. Near it there are three small islands or rocks, and it was with difficulty that we steered clear of them in the night, and got into six fathoms water, soon after which we made a point of land, which we called Town Point. This was at the entrance of a little cove. “On the 2nd, in the morning, we discovered three sorts of land; but, as the weather was hazy, could not make many observations. We also passed three other islands: one of them was rocky, high, and barren, which we called White Island. The other two were lower; one of them we named Flat Island, in which we saw a village. A canoe pursued us, but, having a brisk breeze, it could not overtake us. Toward night it blew pretty hard, right on shore; we therefore tacked about, and sailed backward and forward till the next morning, the 3rd. Then the canoe which we saw the night before gave us chase again. Having a sail, they at length came up with us; sailed alongside of us for a considerable time, and now and then gave us a song, the tune of which was much like the chant which some priests use. They also gave us a heivo, but soon after threw some stones at us; we fired a musket, loaded with small shot, at a young man which distinguished himself at the sport, and he shrunk down as if he had been wounded. After a short consultation they doused the sail, and stood back for an island. We sailed along with a moderate breeze, and passed a cluster of rocks, which we called the Court of Aldermen; and, from the vicinity of one of the three last-mentioned islands to them, we gave it the name of the Mayor. This cluster of rocks lies off a point of land, and terminates the bounds of this large bay to the north-west, which, from the number of canoes that came off to us, bringing provisions, we named the Bay of Plenty. “The coast hereabout appeared very barren, and had a great number of rocky islands, from which circumstance we named the point Barren Point. The land is very grotesque, being cleft or torn into a variety of strange figures, and has very few trees upon it. About noon several canoes came off to us, and the people in them were so daring as to throw a lance into the ship, but we fired a musket, and they paddled away from us. Their canoes were formed out of one tree, and shaped like a butcher’s tray, without any ornament about them. The people, who were naked, were of a very dark complexion, and made a mean appearance. We stood in for a bay, and at night anchored in it, having seven fathoms water. Several canoes like the former followed us; they were very merry, and gave us several heivos, or cheers. This bay, which the inhabitants call Purangi, is the best harbour we have found, being well land-locked, and with a good landing at the watering-place. [128] “On the 4th, early in the morning, we were visited by several canoes; the people in them, about 135 in number, had a few arms, but seemed unresolved what to do. At last they traded with us, exchanging the few trifles they had brought for cloth. They were very sly, and attempted to cheat us. We fired several muskets at them, and wounded two of them; the rest, however, did not seem to be alarmed till the captain shot through one of the canoes, which struck them with a panic, and on firing a great gun they made off to land. “On the 9th, a great number of the natives came in canoes about the ship and brought us a large quantity of fish, mostly of the mackerel kind, with a few John Dories, and we pickled down several casks full of them. Some of these canoes came from another part of the country, which were larger and of a better sort than the rest; the people in them, too, had a better appearance; among whom were some of superior rank, furnished with good garments, dressed up with feathers on their heads, and had various things of value amongst them which they readily exchanged for Otaheite cloth. In one of the canoes there was a very handsome young man of whom I bought some things; he seemed by the variety of his garments, which he sold one after another till he had but one left, to be a person of distinction among them; his last garment was an upper one, made of black and white dogskin, which one of the lieutenants would have purchased, and offered him a large piece of cloth for it, which he swung down the stern by a rope into the canoe; but as soon as the young man had taken it, his companions paddled away as fast as possible, shouting and brandishing their weapons as if they had made a great prize, and, being ignorant of the power of our weapons, thought to have carried it off securely; but a musket was fired at them from the stern of the ship; the young man fell down immediately, and, it is probable, was mortally wounded, as we did not see him rise again. What a severe punishment of a crime committed, perhaps, ignorantly! The name of this unfortunate man, we afterwards learned, was Te Riunui. “The wind having been against us for several days, and as we could get no farther with our heavy ship, on the 29th in the morning, having weathered a long point of land, which we named Cape Brett, we bore away to leeward, got into a very large harbour where we were land-locked, and had several pretty coves on every side of us. We passed a small island which we named Piercy Island, and soon after cast anchor. Many canoes came off to us, and the people in them, according to custom, behaved somewhat unruly. While I saluted one of them, in their manner, he picked my pocket. Some of our people fired upon them, but they did not seem to regard it much. One of our boats went on shore, and then they set off all at once and attempted to [129] seize her, in which, however, they failed; but soon after Mr. Banks got on shore he had like to have been apprehended by one of the natives, but happily escaped. The marines fired upon them, five great guns were fired from the ship, and Te Kuku, son to one of their chiefs, was wounded in the thigh.” 269 “On the 15th a canoe came into the bay that had eighty people in her, most of whom paddled; the chiefs wore garments of dog-skins, and were very much tattooed. We saw many plantations of the kumera, and some of the aute, or cloth trees. At night again it was almost calm, and we were near the shore. We designed to tack about but were hurried by an eddy tide upon the breakers off a point of land called by us Point Pococke, before we were aware of it, which threw us into a panic and occasioned great confusion. Not having room to anchor we hoisted out the pinnace to tow her off; we thought we had seen a whale but it proved to be a rock, and we struck upon it twice. We got clear of it again and streamed the buoy, but luckily did not let go the anchor. “On the 15th January we anchored in a snug cove in a bay on the south side of Cook’s Straits. The woods here abound with divers kinds of birds, such as parrots, wood-pigeons, water-hens, three sorts of birds having wattles, hawks, with a variety of birds that sing all night. We also found a great quantity of a species of Philadelphus, which makes a good substitute for tea. At one particular place we met with a substance that appeared like a kid’s skin, but it had so weak a texture that we concluded it was not leather, and were afterwards informed by the natives that it was gathered from some plant called Ti kume; one of them had a garment made of it which looked like their rug cloaks. The natives in this part of New Zealand wear large bunches of feathers on their heads and their garments in a singular manner, just as Abel Tasman, the person who, about 150 years ago, discovered this land, has figured in his work. They were not desirous of anything we had except nails, which they soon discovered to be useful. When these people are pleased on any particular occasion they express it by crying Ai, and make a cluck with their tongues not unlike a hen’s when she calls her chickens. While we lay here some of our people went towards the pa in a boat; several of the natives came out to welcome them; most likely they took it to be a traverse, and Mr. Monkhouse shot at them. An old man came in a few days after and told us that one person was dead of a wound which he received. In this pa there were about thirty-two houses, containing upwards of 200 inhabitants. [130] “On the 7th February we weighed anchor and proceeded along the straits with the tide and a fine breeze which set us through with great rapidity, and, being willing to satisfy ourselves whether the north part of this land was an island, we resolved to sail as far N. as Cape Turnagain. The two easternmost points of the straits we called Cape Campbell and Cape Palliser. On the 8th we sailed along the south coast of the (North) Island. In the afternoon three canoes came off to us—two of them were large and handsome. The natives in them behaved peaceably, and, by asking for nails, we concluded they had heard of us from the people of some other islands where we had been. They were very much like the natives of Matarukau, a village in Tolago Bay, being very neatly dressed, having their hair knotted on the crown of their heads in two bunches, one of which was Tamoou, or plaited, and the wreath bound round them the same. In one of the canoes there was an old man who came on board attended by one of the natives: he was tattooed all over the face with a streak of red paint over his nose and across his cheek. His brow, as well as the brows of many others who were with him, was much furrowed; and the hair of his head and beard quite silvered with age. He had on a flaxen garment ornamented with a beautiful wrought border, and under it a petticoat made out of a sort of cloth which they call “Aooree Waòw;” on his ears hung a bunch of teeth, and an ear-ring of poonamoo or greenstone. For an Indian, his speech was soft, and his voice so low that we could hardly hear it. By his dress, carriage, and the respect paid to him, we supposed him to be a person of distinction amongst them. On the 9th, at noon, we had a good view of Cape Turnagain. We passed two points of land to which we gave the names of Castle Point and Flat Point. “On the 14th we passed Cook’s Straits, without seeing them, on the east side of Te wai pounamu. In the afternoon four double canoes, in which were fifty-seven people, came off to us; they had some leaves about their heads, but few clothes on their bodies. They kept aloof from us; nor could we persuade them to traffic with us. Having beat to windward for several days without gaining any way, with the weather gloomy and very cold, on the 24th we had a fresh breeze from the N. which carried us round the outermost point of the land we had seen, which we called Cape Saunders, beyond which the land tended away to the S.W. On the 4th March, after having beat about near a week, we got sight of land again and saw the appearance of a harbour which we named Molineux’s Harbour, after the name of the master of our ship. We had light breezes and calms till the 9th, and, at the dawn of that day, we narrowly escaped running the ship upon a ledge or parcel of craggy rocks, some of which were but just seen above water. They were luckily discovered by the midshipman’s going [131] to the masthead. The breeze being moderate we put the helm a-lee, and were delivered from this imminent danger by the good providence of God. ... We stood out to sea, but, meeting with contrary winds, we beat to windward for a considerable time; at length, the wind coming fair, we steered westerly, and unexpectedly found ourselves between two large shoals which had some rocks upon them, but we fortunately escaped them. We called these shoals the Traps. This day being one of the inferior officers’ birthday, it was celebrated by a peculiar kind of festival; a dog was killed that had been bred on board; the hind-quarters were roasted, and a pye was made of the fore-quarters, into the crust of which they put the fat; and of the viscera they made a haggis.” On the 31st March Captain Cook and his party left New Zealand on their homeward voyage, and on the 6th May we have the following entry in our artist’s journal when on the coast of New Holland:— “On this day Forbes Sutherland, a native of the Orkneys, who had departed this life, was carried on shore and decently interred.” And on the 22nd of the same month this strange entry:— “This day the captain’s clerk had his ears cut off, and also his clothes cut off his back.” To which is added in a note:— “The captain and officers offered some time after, at Batavia, a reward of fifteen guineas to any one who should discover the person or persons who cut off his ears, and fifteen gallons of arrack to any one that should discover him or them who had cut off his clothes.” And afterwards, in December, while at Batavia, an entry in the journal thus;— “One of our midshipmen ran away from us here, and it was suspected that he was the person who cut off Orton’s ears.” After having been wrecked off the coast of New Holland, and with the greatest difficulty saving the ship, and then, taking out all her cargo, running her on shore and repairing her, which was accompanied with severe labour and hardship, they anchored in the road of Batavia on the 10th of October, where the ship was examined and repaired. During this time several died, and Mr. Parkinson makes this entry:— “While our ship was repairing, three of the crew died; also, Tupaea and the lad Taiota, natives of Otaheite, whom we designed to have brought to England. Before our arrival at Batavia, they had made great progress in the English tongue, in which they were greatly assisted by Mr. Green, the astronomer, who took much pains therein, especially with Taiota. When Taiota was seized with the fatal disorder, as if certain of his approaching dissolution, he frequently said to those of us who were his intimates, ‘My friends, I am dying!’ He took any medicines that were offered him; but Tupaea, who was ill at the same time, and survived him but a few days, refused everything of that kind, and gave himself up to grief, regretting in the highest degree that he [132] had left his own country; and when he heard of Taiota’s death, he was quite inconsolable, crying out frequently, ‘Taiota! Taiota!’ They were both buried in the island of Eadam. During our stay at Batavia, most of us were sickly; Mr. Monkhouse, our surgeon, and the astronomer’s servant also died, and some others hardly escaped with life.” On the 26th December they left Batavia, and on the 5th January arrived at Prince’s Island, where they stayed about ten days. At this place ends S. Parkinson’s Journal. Captain Cook says:— “In the morning of the 26th we weighed and set sail. At this time the number of sick on board amounted to forty, and the rest of the ship’s company were in a feeble condition. Every individual, including myself, had been sick, except the sailmaker, an old man between seventy and eighty years of age, and it is very remarkable that this old man, during our stay at this place, was constantly drunk every day. … We now made the best of our way for the Cape of Good Hope, but the seeds of disease which we had received at Batavia began to appear with the most threatening symptoms in dysenteries and slow fevers. Mr. Banks was among the sick, and for some time there was no hope of his life. We were very soon in a most deplorable condition; the ship was nothing better than a hospital, in which those that were able to go about were too few to attend the sick, who were confined to their hammocks; and we had almost every night a dead body to commit to the sea. In the course of about six weeks we buried Mr. Sporing, a gentleman who was in Mr. Banks’s retinue, Mr. Parkinson, his natural history painter, Mr Green, the astronomer, the boatswain, the carpenter and his mate, Mr Monkhouse the midshipman (who had fothered the ship after she had been stranded on the coast of New Holland), our jolly old sailmaker and his assistant, the ship’s cook, the corporal of marines, two of the carpenter’s crew, a midshipman, and nine seamen; in all twenty-three persons, besides the seven that we buried at Batavia.” A few more sentences from Captain Cook:— “On the 15th March we anchored off the Cape of Good Hope, having only six men capable of doing duty,270 so that we could not send our boat on shore. … Having lain here to recover the sick and procure stores till the 13th of April, I then got all the sick on board, several of whom were still in a dangerous state; I unmoored and got ready to sail, having engaged some Portuguese to supply the loss of our sailors. The next evening I anchored under Robin Island. On the 25th we weighed and put to sea. About an hour afterwards we lost our master, Mr. Robert Molineux, a young man of good parts but unhappily given up to intemperance, which [133] brought on disorders that put an end to his life. On the 1st of May we anchored at St. Helena, where we remained till the 4th, when we weighed and put to sea. On the 23rd died our first lieutenant, Mr. Hicks. Our rigging and sails were now become so bad that something was giving way every day. We continued our course, however, in safety till the 10th of June, when land, which proved to be the Lizard, was discovered by Nicholas Young, the same boy that first saw New Zealand, and on the 12th came to an anchor in the Downs; after having been absent from England within a few days of three years, when we immediately sent our sick on shore.” Voyagers in our day can form but a very poor conception of what Cook and his companions had daily to endure during their three years’ voyage in the “Endeavour.” From New Zealand at that time, though much in want of fresh supplies, they could get little besides fish, and wood, and water, and some sea-side weeds as vegetables. They also got with difficulty a few sweet potatoes; this, however, was owing to its being the wrong season of the year for kumera, being just the planting season, at which time the natives themselves have very few (if any) to use as food. And the New Zealand forests afforded no good edible fruits. By Captain Cook and his officers, as we have seen, a dog was considered a great luxury; and the rank weeds of our shores, wild celery, and scurvy-grass (Apium australe, and Lepidium oleraceum), most welcome vegetables! During their eventful voyage they lost just two-fifths of their number, including a large majority of their officers and principal men, none of whom were killed in battle or lost their lives through storms or dangers. They lost the first lieutenant, the master, the chief mate, two midshipmen, the boatswain, the sailmaker and his assistant, the carpenter, the carpenter’s mate and two of his crew, the ship’s cook, and sixteen seamen; also, the corporal of marines, the surgeon, the astronomer, the two draughtsmen, and Mr. Banks’s secretary, also his negro servant, and the two Tahitians, Tupaea and Taiota—making a sad total of thirty-eight! and, possibly, some more of the sick who were carried on shore. Well might Captain Cook call his ship a “floating hospital!” The names, however, of those officers and gentlemen live here among us in the bays and isles and headlands named after them by Captain Cook. The islet at Anaura (which, as Parkinson said in his journal, “somewhat sheltered their ship “when they first got water in New Zealand) was named after our artist, just as the other small island in the adjoining bay of Tolago was named after Mr. Banks’s secretary, Mr. Sporing.271 “Parkinson Islet” is so named in the very neat map of New Zealand in Sydney Parkinson’s journal; but, curiously enough, while the islet is correctly given in the [134] larger map of New Zealand in Cook’s First Voyage, the name is omitted, while all the other small single islets along the coast seen by them, from Bare Island to the Mayor, have their names inserted. Is this another indication of that “mean and invidious suppression” on the part of Dr. Hawkesworth and Mr. Banks (complained of by the editor of the “Journal”), which feeling caused them to disallow the insertion of Sydney Parkinson’s name at the corner of his engraved drawings? Possibly it may be so. I have also noticed that a few engravings in Cook’s First Voyage of articles taken home in the ship, and of subjects got up in England, bear the names of their designers or copyists—which makes the omission of our artist’s name the more glaring. If such, as I have ventured to suppose, really be the case, it is doubly mean and paltry on their part, as Sydney Parkinson, our artist (who died in Mr. Banks’s service), could never in any way have injured them. His name is but twice mentioned in Dr. Hawkesworth’s narrative of the first voyage: once, briefly, that of his death (which I have already quoted), and once shortly after their arrival at Tahiti, which is as follows:— “Our residence on shore would by no means have been disagreeable if we had not been incessantly tormented by the flies, which, among other mischief, made it almost impossible for Mr. Parkinson, Mr. Banks’ natural history painter, to work; for they not only covered his subject so as that no part of the surface could be seen, but even ate the colour off the paper as fast as he could lay it on. We had recourse to mosquito-nets and fly-traps, which, though they made the inconvenience tolerable, were very far from removing it.”272 In conclusion, I will merely say, as my firm belief, that our young disciple of nature and the first artist who visited these shores of New Zealand, and who so faithfully depicted what he saw with both his pencil and his pen, will yet have justice done him. When, in days to come, the history of New Zealand shall be fully and truthfully written, then the names of Cook and his gallant companions can not be forgotten; and prominently among that faithful and devoted band shall be found the name of our young artist, Sydney Parkinson. “To live in hearts we leave behind, Is not to die ——.” ________________________________________________ |