BOOK OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2492, 19 June 1915, Page 9

BOOK OF THE DAY.

• the historical records of i NEW ZEALAND. .

: Students of tho early history of the ■■ Dominion and readers generally will welcome the appearaace of the second volume of; "The Historical Records of 'New Zealand" (Wellington: John Mao,way, overnment Printer), the first instalment of which appeared now some seven years ago. The compiler and editor of. tho .many valuable and interesting documents whidh are now reproduced in print, many of the for the first time, is Dr. Robert M'Nab, M.P. Certain of the documents reproduced have already been drawn upon in the historical works for which Dr. M'Nab has been personally responsible; their republication in extenso being now considered desirable in visw of the possibility of their use by other New Zealand historians. The first- volume of tho records consisted mainly of the references, to New Zealand and. New, Zealand affairs which were contained in the printed and imprinted'' Historical. Re- ' cords of New South Wales. Dr. M'Nab hints, in .his preface to the present , volume, that certain errors in transcription have occurred in the : unprinted records, and that later on, in volume 111, he hopes to be able to state what , the deficiencies, actually aro, and will, it is to he presumed, repair them. In this : second volume of the Records the documents reproduced t are, many of them, of quite notable , and peculiar interest to students of the early history of New' Zealand.. Most of them relate to the period before the Treaty of Waita'ngi, an event dealt with, by the way, in great detail by Mr. T. Lindsay Buick in the book published, by Mm last year. The papers are sranged in chronological .order. First come the records relating to Tasman's .Voyage, translated from Tasman's Journal and other papers published in 'Australia in' 1893. Next . we. are given the correspondence between the Admii alty and Captain Cook.. covering tho period between 176S and 1777. Thereafter follows ono of the most interest, irig sections of the volume, being the ■ -reduction, in reduced facsimile," of a the log kept by some person, ■inexact identity is still in doubt, on -d. the Endeavour, during Cook's .jst voyage round the world. The original, which consists of sixty-six leaves, is one of the most valuable of the many historical treasures so carefully collect ©d by and now in the possession of Mr. 'Alexander H. Turnbull, of Wellington, .who has very'kindly permitted the log to he photographed. * Next we have copies of the logs kept respectively by Lieutenant Pickersgill, of the Resolution; and by. James Bur ney, on the DiscoTery; and the exceptionally interesting Journal kept by', iWilliam Bayly, an astronomer, who was on the Adventure (commanded by Captain Fumeaux) during Captain Cook s second voyage; also the log kept by the j same gentleman when he was a member of Captain Cook's company on board the Discovery .'during Cook's third .voy-. age. Neither of these intfere'sting'-'docu-'.: meats has previously appeared'in print. Both are now made available to students and readers generally through , the courtesy of their owner, Mr. A. H. Turnbull. Bayly was a highly observant man, and hiß account of the experiences of the Adventure's company at Grass Cove, Queen Charlotte- Sound, when the crew of one of her boats were massacred by the Natives, i 6 specially interesting. 'After the Bayly papers follow translations specially made for the Records, 'of the Journals kept by French.officers \ who accompanied De Surville on tie famous voyage which included, in 1769, a visit to the New Zealand-coast. Dr. M'Nab discovered the originals of these Journals in the archives of the French Ministry of ..Marine in- Paris, during a visit he paid to the French capital in 1910. He there had them copied, and, upon his return to the Dominion, arranged for them to be translated. They are now published to the world for the first time. As the editor rightly remarks, "their value cannot De overestimated." De Surville, it may here be noted, was considered by the French writer, M. Hombron,. to be identical with "Stivers," wno, according to the Natives, had visited New Zealand before Cook. The first of these French journals is that accredited to M. Monneron, supercargo of the Saint Jean Baptiste, of which M. De Surville was commander. Dr. M'Nab suggests, however, that the journal was actually the work of M. Late, the chief officer of the vessel. The translation now given was made by Mr. J. B. Pascal, of Palmereton North. Monneron's Journal is followed by that of M. Pottier de.l'Horne, who was De Surville's first lieutenant on the Saint Jean Baptiste, the translation again being', the work of Mr. Pascal. Only the English translation is given of matter .dealing with events prior to the expedition reaching New Zealand; otherwise the usual plan is followed of giving the original and its translation on opposite pages. Space will not allow of extracts from these interesting documents, but it may be noted that the Surville carried off in his .ship (to Peru) a young native who claimed to oe of high rank has been considered by many writers to havo been one of the chief contributing causes of the death later on (in 1772) at the Bay of Islands of that admirable ana well-raeanincc and sadly over-trust-ful Frenchman Marion Du Fresno. ! The papers lelating to Marion's illfated voyage succeed those dealing with 'De Suryille's v : *it. Firet is given a translation of tho journal kept on hoard Marion's vessel, the Mascarin .by Lieutenant Roux, of that ship, this (being followed by a translation of a similar journal kept by Captain du Clesmenr, commander of the second ship, the Marquis de Castries. In ,'each case the translation is the work .of Mr. Charles -Wilson, Chief Librarian «f the General Assembly Library. Wellington, ' who has added a number of interesting notes. These journals, now published for the first time, were copied from originals iii the records of the Hy'drographical Service of tho French Navy, i They cover copies of, the originals and .translations, some 140 pages, and make most fascinating reading for students of New Zealand history and ethnography. The Abbe Alexis Rochon first gave the world, in 1783, the story of Marion's Expedition, his work being translated (in 1891) by Mr. H. Ling . Roth. Rochon, however, based his narrative on Crozot's Journal. Crozet- took command of the Mascarin on the death of Marion. No journal of the oxnedi- • tion has ever before been nublished. These Journals of Lieutenant Roux and Captain du. Clesmeur are specially valuable. giving, as they do, the earliest, ■detailed descriptions of the manners land customs of the Natives at the Bav of Islands. Marion practically followed it'ho same route as Tastnnn, hut the Frenchman first sighted Now Zealand at Mount Egmont, which ho named Mount Mascarin, after his vessel. Following upon these intensely in[fer.oeting journals of the! French navi-

gators come certain records relating to Vancouver's Voyage, including a copy of a journal kept by Edward Bell, clerk on board the Chatham. This document is another of the many treasures in Mr. Turnbull's collection. Amongst the remaining records now reproduced, perhaps tie most interesting aro those in which is set forth the gruesome story of tho notorious brig Elizabeth and her scoundrelly skipper, Captain John Stewart. This was the vessel chartered by Te Rauparab'a, who, with a party of warriors, sailed in her to Akaroa, and there. massacred a large number of his enemies. The volume closes with extracts from the United States Consular Records, kept by the American Consul, Mr. James R. Cleridon, at the Bay of Islands, during the years 1839-1841.

It has only been possible to give a bare summary of the contents of the volume, which constitutes an addition of the highest importance and value to the literature of New Zealand history. The editor and all concerned are to be congratulated upon the work already achieved, work which will, it is to be hoped, be continued by the issue of succeeding and equally interesting volumes.