On the next day, there being strong gales to the westward, I brought-to, with the ship's head to the northward; but in the morning of the 3d, the wind being more moderate, we loosened the reef of the mainsail, set the top-sails, and plied to the westward.

We continued our course till the 19th, when our latitude being 29° and our longitude 159° 29′, we observed the variation to be 8° 32′ E. On the 24th, being in latitude 33° 18, longitude 162° 51′, we observed a small piece of seaweed, and a piece of wood covered with barnacles: The variation here was 10° 48′ E.

On the 27th, being in latitude 28° 59′, longitude 169° 5, we saw a seal asleep upon the water, and several bunches of sea-weed. The next day we saw more seaweed in bunches, and on the 29th, a bird, which we thought a land bird; it somewhat resembled a snipe, but had a short bill. On the 1st of October, we saw birds innumerable, and another seal asleep upon the water; it is a general opinion that seals never go out of soundings, or far from land, but those that we saw in these seas prove the contrary. Rock-weed is, however, a certain indication that land is not far distant. The next day, it being calm, we hoisted out the boat to try whether there was a current, but found none. Our latitude was 37° 10', longitude 172° 54′ W. On the 3d, being in latitude 36° 56′, longitude 173° 27', we took up more sea-weed, and another piece of wood covered with barnacles. The next day we saw two more seals, and a brown bird, about as big as a raven, with some white feathers under the wing. Mr Gore told us, that birds of this kind were seen in great numbers about Falkland's Islands, and our people gave them the name of Port-Egmont hens. On the 5th, we thought the water changed colour, but upon casting the lead, had no ground with 180 fathom. In the evening of this day, the variation was 12° 50′ E., and while we were going nine leagues it increased to 14° 2′.

On the next day, Friday, October the 6th, we saw land from the mast-head, bearing W. by N. and stood directly for it; in the evening it could just be discerned from the deck, and appeared large. The variation this day was, by azimuth and amplitude, 15° 4' E., and by observation made of the sun and moon, the longitude of the ship appeared to be 180° 55′ W., and by the medium of this, and subsequent observations, there appeared to be an error in the ship's account of her longitude during her run from

Otaheite.

I

Otaheite of 3° 16', she being so much to the westward of the longitude resulting from the log. At midnight I brought to and sounded, but had no ground with one hundred and seventy fathom.

On the 7th it fell calm, we therefore approached the land slowly, and in the afternoon, when a breeze sprung up, we were still distant seven or eight leagues. It appeared still larger as it was more distinctly seen, with four or five ranges of hills, rising one over the other, and a chain of mountains above all, which appeared to be of an enormous height. This land became the subject of much eager conversation; but the general opinion seemed to be that we had found the terra australis incognita. About five o'clock we saw the opening of a bay, which seemed to run pretty far inland, upon which we hauled our wind and stood in for it; we also saw smoke ascending from different places on shore, When night came on, however, we kept plying off and on till day-light, when we found ourselves to the leeward of the bay, the wind being at north: We could now perceive that the hills were clothed with wood, and that some of the trees in the valleys were very large. By noon we fetched in with the south-west point; but not being able to weather it, tacked and stood off: At this time we saw several canoes standing cross the bay, which in a little time made to shore, without seeming to take the least notice of the ship; we also saw some houses, which appeared to be small, but neat; and near one of them a considerable number of the people collected together, who were sitting upon the beach, and who, we thought, were the same that we had seen in the canoes. Upon a small peninsula, at the north-east head, we could plainly perceive a pretty high and regular paling, which inclosed the whole top of a hill; this was also the subject of much speculation, some supposing it to be a park of deer, others an inclosure for oxen and sheep. About four o'clock in the afternoon we anchored on the north-west side of the bay, before the entrance of a small river, in ten fathom water, with a fine sandy bottom, and at about half a league from the shore. The sides of the bay are white cliffs of a great height; the middle is low land, with hills gradually rising behind, one towering above another, and terminating in the chain of mountains which appeared to be far inland.

In the evening I went on shore, accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, with the pinnace and yawl, and a party of men. We landed abreast of the ship, on the east side of the river, which was here about forty yards broad; but seeing some natives on the west side, whom I wished to speak with, and finding the river not fordable, I ordered the yawl in to carry us over, and left the pinnace at the entrance. When we came near the place where the people were assembled, they all ran away; however, we landed, and leaving four boys to take care of the yawl, we walked up to some huts which were about two or three hundred yards from the water-side. When we had got some distance from the boat, four men, armed with long lances, rushed out of the woods, and running up to attack the boat, would certainly have cut her off, if the people in the pinnace had not discovered them, and called to the boys to drop down the stream: The boys instantly obeyed; but being closely pursued by the Indians, the cockswain of the pinnace, who had the charge of the boats, fired a inusket over their heads; at this they stopped and looked round them, but in a few minutes renewed the pursuit, brandishing their lances in a threatening manner: The cockswain then fired a second musket over their heads, but of this they took no notice; and one of them lifting up his spear to dart it at the boat, another piece was fired, which shot him dead. When he fell, the other three stood motionless for some minutes, as if petrified with astonishment; as soon as they recovered, they went back, dragging after them the dead body, which, however, they soon left, that it might not encumber their flight. At the report of the first musket we drew together, having straggled to a little distance from each other, and made the best of our way back to the boat; and crossing the river, we soon saw the Indian lying dead upon the ground. Upon examining the body, we found that he had been shot through the heart: He was a man of the middle size and stature; his complexion was brown, but not very dark; and one side of his face was tattowed in spiral 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. 3, part 2, page 50, his hair also was tied in a

knot

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 Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and Tupia, landed from the little boat, and advanced towards them; 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

Abel Tasman was sent out by the Dutch East India Company in 1642, to take surveys of the new-found countries, and, if possible, to make discoveries. The account of his voyage was published in Low Dutch, by Dirk Rembrant. A French translation of it was given by Thevenot, in the 4th part of his collection, published at Paris, 1672, an abridgement of which was inserted in Harris's collection. Though curious and considerably important, his observations were long disregarded; and in particular, his discovery of New Zealand or Staaten Land, as he called it in honour of the States General, seems to have been either discredited or held immaterial or overlooked, till this voyage of Captain Cook obtained for it the notice it deserved. Then, as is not unusual, it attracted undue consideration and importance. Mr Pinkerton has re-published the account of this voyage in his collection. Tasman discovered New Zealand on the 13th September, 1642, but did not land on it, an unfortunate event having given him a total distrust of the-natives. Some of them, after a good deal of backwardness and seeming fear, ventured to go on board the Heenskirk, which was the consort of his own vessel, named the Zee-Haan. Tasman, not liking their appearance, and being apprehensive of their hostile intentions. sent seven of his men to put the people of that vessel on their guard. The savages attacked them, killed three, and forced the others to seek their lives by swimming. This occasioned his giving the name of the Bay of Murderers, to the place where it happened. The rough weather prevented him from taking vengeance.-E.

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 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.