Historical.

Otago Witness, Issue 1503, 4 September 1880, Page 12

Historical.

THE EAELY HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND.

LBCTUEE DELIVERED BEFORE THB MEMBWBS OT THE OTAGO IMSMTUTB BY DB T. M. HOCKBN.

Dr Hocken delivered an interesting lecture on the above subject at the fortnighly meeting of the members of the Otago Institute, held at the Museum on Tuesday night, and introduced his lecture by expressing his thanks to Mr Edwin Hardy, of the Survey Department, for the excellent and faithful copy he had made of Captain Cook's first chart of New Zealand. This and other maps were exhibited, and were of great service in illustrating the lecture. Other articles of great interest were also exhibited. Dr Hockbn then said : I propose, in this and Bncceeding lectures, to give a sketch of the history of New Zealand from its earliest discovery in 1642 to the successful settlement of its last and youngest Province in 1850— that of Canterbury. I have often been surprised that so many intelligent and educated persons should be comparatively ignorant of the history of their adopted country— a country of surpassing interest to bo many sections of cultivated men ; to the geologist who in its islands, the oldest on the globe, studies the last remains of a vast and ancient continent now buried beneath the Pacific waves ; to the zoologist from whose eyes are but now departing strange wingless birds — some of gigantic size, and which strode over the surface of that -continent; to the ethnologist who studies in the Maori the foremost race of savage man, whose mythology, songs, and traditions are of a high class, and whose migrations, yet shrouded in mystery, offer for solution a problem of the greatest interest ; to the politician and praialogist who here see a new scheme of emigration worked out, and a large section ef the British race, freed from the trammels and traditions of their former heme, grappling under quite Dew conditions with social questions always and everywhere of the first importance to the luocest of the race. To me these studies have ever had a great charm, and if I can but succeed in interesting yon in them, and so in leading you tostudy themfor yourselves, my object is gained, and I am well repaid. Foremost of the early maritime adventurers were the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English, who successively discovered the Pacific Ocean, many of the more northerly islands scattered through it, and America. The spirit of adventure, the greed of gold, and conquest for the sake of Holy Mother Church continually incited these bold seamen to sail through the trackleis Pacific in quest of new discoveries.

Ie was, too, a favourite fancy of the old geographers and philosophers that there was a great southern land — an analogue of the great continents of Europa and Asia in the Northern Hemisphere, whereby the proper balance of the earth was supposed to be preserved, and a distribution of land and Water secured. To this theoretical and undiscovered country was given the name of "Terra Australis Incognita "—the unknown Southern land, and nnder this name it figures in an old map in my possession 300 years old nearly. Of this wonderful continent the northern outline ' is alone given ; but that encircles the globe — its lowest latitude, including New Guinea, near the equator, and its highest, running down to 55 3. Such an outline would, as you perceive, Include Australia, and as successive portions of the coastline of that continent were discovered by various voyagers from the year 1615 and upwards, it was thought that these constituted parts of the vast Terra Australis Incognita, and to these were given the namea of the discoverers or of their ships, »s seen in any old map of Australia— De Witt's L«nd, Endraohtfe Land, Van Diemen's Land, of which, by-the-bye, there are two — Lenwin's, Peter Nuytfs, and co on. New Zealand hitherto had lain far south of the discoverers' tracks. The honour of first entering the unexplored and silent seas washing New Zealand was reserved for Abel Jansen Tasman, the Dutch commander, who was' sent on the 14th August, 1642, on a voyage of discovery for the purpose of adding to the possessions of the Dutch in the Netherlands of India. Anthony Van Diemen was the then Governor of these possessions, and under his directions Tasman sailed from the capital and port of B&tavia, in the isle of Java, having under his command the vessels Heemskirk and Zeehaan, or Seahen. Sailing south, he first discovered Van Dieman's Land, the coasts of which he examined. Then steering E., he mads the New Zealand coast on the 13 th September, along which he sailed to the north, anchoring finally in an open bay, where he made his first and almost only acquaintance with New Zealand and its inhabitants. Then, as now, they were a bold, warlike race, and soon came off to his ships in their canoes, loudly shouting in an unknown tongue, blowing large shell trumpets, and evidently preparing to attack when opportunity offered, and this presently occurred, when a boat containing seven sailors put off from from one vessel to visit the other. The New Zealanders attacked the boat so violently as to cause it to heel over, and killed the sailors with what Tasman called a pike and clnbs, but which were probably a taiaha and meres. They then retreated, carrying the poor murdered victims with them, whom they doubtless cooked and ate. Failing to procure refreshments Tasman coasted north, applying to the ■pot where he had been so inhospitably received, the name of Murderer's Bay — the first name ever given in this fair land ; by it and Massaore Bay it Is still known, though, from gold having been found there, it has also bf en called Golden Bay. Times have changed, and in a hollow near it, in Blind Bay, slumbers tbe peaceful town of Nelson. Tasman named the North Cape, Capa Maria Yon DienJOT, after the Governor's daughter, whose memory was ever with him, and whom he afterwards married. Still seeking for refreshment be sought to anchor at one of tbe islands to the north-west of the cape, but here, to use poor Taeman's words, he' saw " thirty-five Natives of very large size, taking prodigious long strides, snd with olubs in heir hands." This was quite eaeugh for the

affrighted sailor, who, without the least delay, bouted ship and refreshed nearer Batavia. It was Epiphany Day— the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles — upon which he sighted these islands, and after the custom of the superstitious semi-pious sailors of those days, who frequently named their discoveries after some incident in Holy Writ, he named them the Three Kings, after the magi or wise men of the East who visited the nfant Christ In Catholic countries the magi are com* monly called the Three Kings of Cologne — the legend being that their bodies or bones were brought from the East to Constantinople, thence to Milan, and were finally transferred te the cathedral at Cologne by Frederic the Red-bearded, where they may still be seen by the devout believer in relics. Stacten or Statesland was the first name given by Tasman to New Zealand, believing as he did that his discovery was but a continuation of that made 25 years before by his countrymen Schouten and Le Maire, and considered by them to be part of that geographical will-o'-the-wisp — the Polar Continent. But three months after it was proved that Schouten's Statenland was an island, so Tasman on his return to Holland reohristened I his discovery NovaZealandia or New Zealand, and by this name it will be known when it is old. Says Tasman : "It is a very fine country, and we hope it is a part of the unknown South Continent " ; and elsewhere, "As for New Zealand, we never set foot in it." Nothing farther was known of New Zealand for 127 years, until 1769, when, in the person of the celebrated navigator, Captain James Cook, the first intelligent and ■ accurate account of this country was given. Cook was born at Mir ton, near Whitby, in Yorkshire, in October, 1728, his father being a labourer. He was apprenticed to a shopkeeper in a neighbouring village, but soon quitted the counter in disgust for the more congenial occupation of the sea, serving for some years in the coal trade. At the I breaking out of the American War in 1755 he eolfcted into the navy on board the Eagle, commanded by Sir Hugh Palliser, who speedily discovered his great merit and promoted him. In 1758 he was master of the Northumberland, the flagship of Lord Colville, who then had charge of the squadron on the American coast. Here, during a hard winter, he applied himself earnestly to the study of mathematics, astronomy, and other branches of science whilst engaged in the i active and laborious duties of the war. In 1768 he was made a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and was selected by Sir Edward Hawke to command an expedition to the South Seas for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus and of makißg discoveries in those parts. Thus commenced his first voyage, which is {of so much interest to us, and' to which I shall presently more particularly refer. He returned to England in June, 1771. after an absence of nearly three years, having discovered the Society Islands, shown that New Zealand consisted of two islands (a wonderfully correct survey of which he made), sailed through and named Cook's Straits, and afterwards explored the eastern coast of Australia, previously unknown. In his second expedition, extending also over a period of three years— from 1772 to 1775— he made several new discoveries, again visited New Zealand, and finally solved that troublesome problem of the Terra Australia Incognita by showing that it could not possibly exist unless near the South Pole and out of reach of navigation. On his third and last voyage his- discoveries were again numerous and splendid, but were unfortunately terminated by his sad massacre by the Natives- at Hawaii— or Owhyhee, as he calls it -on the 14th February, 1779. Until last year, when it was reserved for the people of New South Wales to repair the omission by the erection of a splendid statue, no memorial had been raised in the Australian Colonies to the immortal memory of this celebrated navigator. At least I have somewhere read that the only tribute to him in •these Colonies took the shape of a wooden pump, erected in one of the streets of Geelong by a public spirited individual, and known as Captain Cook's pump. This fact is not creditable to us dwellers in New Zealand, and though these are not the times in which to practice anything but the strictest economy, let us not forget, when brighter days dawn, to raise such a tribute to the memory of him, our great countryman, ss will do credit to our taste, and shall show that we are not unmindful of our indebtedness. The portrait of Captain Cook now hanging in the University was presented by Mr James Rattray, and is a faithful copy of the original in Greenwich Hospital. Mr Rattray must have taken much trouble, and 1 am sure mußt have been at much expense, in procuring permission from the Hospital authorities to make a copy of the portrait, and in selecting the services of a competent artist. In the most obliging manner Mr Rattray has given me minute particulars of this portrait, and as they are of historical interest, I take this opportunity of placing them on record. When at home in 1875, Mr Rattray applied to Mr Hart, R, A., who is honorary librarian and curator of the national pictures, for a direction to the best portrait of Captain Cook Neither ke nor any other person of whom Mr Rattray inquired knew of more than two portraits. One is a small picture in the National Portrait Gallery at South Kensington, by an artist named Webber. This Webber, by. the-bye, was one of Cook's draughtsmen on his last expedition ; and he frequently introduces a likeness of the great commander into the illustrations of this voyage. It |is not interesting. The other is the picture now copied and gracing our Museum. It is an exact fac simile of the origin al, even to the frame, and is a very handsome and spirited picture, and was executed by Dr B. S. Marks, of Fitzroy Square, London. Captain Cook sat for this picture at the request of Sir Joseph Banks, before setting out on hi« third voyage to the South Seas It was bequeathed to the nation in Banks' will, and on the death of Lady Banks, in 1829, was transferred from Soho Square to Greenwich Palace, in the Painted Hall of which it now hangs. The painter was Nathaniel Dance, R.A., a yrung artist of great ability, who was becomicg a formidable rival at that time of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Unfortunately for art, he was very good looking, and so attracted the love of a lady of rank and for. tune, who married him, and converted him

into a man of fashion, so much so that he became ashamed of his former position and busied himself in buying up and destroying all the canvas he had embellished. Mr Rattray's giffcis not only graceful but munificent. More on this point I may not say. In concluding thia short sketch of Captain Cook, I would make momentary reference to his published works. The acccount of his firßt voyage was published in two vols. quarto, and edited by Dr Hawkesworth, to whom Cook's journal was entrusted by the Lords of the Admiralty. It is well illustrated by maps and plates, the latter chiefly drawn by Sidney Parkinson, the principal draughtsman of the expedition, concerning whom so much research has been made, and so excellent an account given by Mr Colenso, ef Napier, in the eighth vol. of our Transactions. Cook, I believe, was not pleased with the mode in which his first voyage had been edited, and he therefore wrote the account himself of bis record voyage in two volumes quarto, also illustrated by numerous maps and engravings drawn by Mr Hodges. The general introduction or preface to this work concludes in such manly and modest language, so indicative of the style of the man, that I shall be excused for extracting it : — " I shall, therefore, conclude this introductory discourse with desiring the reader to excuse the inaccuracies of style, which doubtless he will meet with in the following narrative ; and that when such occur, he will recollect that it is tbe production of a man who has not had the advantage of much school education, but who has been constantly at sea from his youth ; and though, with the assistance of a few good friends, he has passed through all the stations belonging to a seaman, from an apprentice boy in the cnal trade to a post captain in the Royal Navy, he has had no opportunity of cultivating letters. After this account of myself, the public must not expect from me the elegance of a fine writer, or the plausibility of a professed book-maker ; but will, 1 hope, consider me as a plain man zealously exerting himself in the service of his country, and determined to give the best account he is able of his proceedings." Well worth reading ! The account of the third and last voyage in the ships Resolution and Discovery in three volumes, quarto, and with an accom panying volume of plates in elephant folio, by Webber, was published by csmmand of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty from the journal kept by Cook, who knew that it was expected of him to relate, as well as to execute, the operations of his expedition. It is therefore virtually written by himself. Captain King, who was one of Cook's lieutenants on the Resolution, wrote the third volume, dating from the massacre of his commander. With this short preliminary sketch of the great explorer of New Zealand, I proceed to give a more minute account of his labours.

Captain Cook, then, siiled on his first voyage on the 26th August, 1768, accompanied by Dr Solander, Mr (afterwards Sir) Joseph Banks, and Mr Green, the astronomer, in the barque Endeavour, of 350 tons, which had been built for the coal trade. His instructions were to proceed to Otaheite to observe the transit of Venus across the Bun's disc on the 4th of June ; afterwards to prosecute the design of making discoveries in the South Pacific, to make and explore New Zealand, and tbence to return to England. After leaving Otaheiti he sailed south. On the 6th of October, morning, a lad, Nicholas Young, one of the crew, from the masthe&d said that he saw the loom of the land, and this proved to be the fact, although denied by others on board, for in the evening it was undoubtedly visible, and oould be seen from deck. On the 7th it looked still larger, as it was more distinctly • seen, with four or five ranges of hills rising one above another, and a chain of mountains above all, which appeared to he of an enormous height. This land became the subject of much eager conversation, says Captain Cook, but the general opinion seemed to be that we had feund the Terra Australis Incognita. In the evening they sailed into a bay and anchored, and went ashore in the boat. Cook's first experience of tha Maoris — or tbe Indians, as he calls them — seems much akin to that of Tasmau, for soon after lauding they were attacked by armed natives, who tried to cut off the boat. Two muskets were fired over their heads, but as this had little or no effect in frightening them, and as they were about to throw their lances into the boat, another shot was fired, with the effect of killing one of the. number. Thas fell the first of the many Maoris who have since fallen by the hand of the European, or by tbe not less deadly accompaniments of his civilisation. Cook stayed in this bay three dayp, finding the natives warlike and hostile. To it ha gave the name of Poverty Bay, besause in that unfortunate and inhospitable place not a single article conld he get but a little wood ; and to its S.W. point, in compliment to young Nicholas' sharp eyes, he gave the name of Young Nick's Head, by which it is still known. 1 need hardly say that Cook here trod the ground on which the town of Giaborne now stands, and that the fertile district no longer deserves its first appellation. Thence he sailed south, entering tlawke's Bay, so called after Sir Edward Hawke, the First Lord of the Admiralty, a position so pleasantly filled now by Sir Joseph Porter of H.M.S. " Pinafore." It would be tedious to follow Cook's steps too minutely ; suffice it to say that they were marked by numerous adventures, in which the courage and ferocity of the New Zealanders were frequently displayed, and which more than once necessitated the taking of life. They themselves imagined that Captain Cook's ship was a bird, and many remarks passed amongst them as to the size and beanty of its wings. On seeing a smaller bird without wings (the beat) descend into the water, and a nnmber of human beings also descending, [ the bird was regarded as a houseful of divi. nities, and nothing could exceed their astonishmenfc The musket fire was considered to bo a, thunderbolt of the new gods. Many of the Natives observed that they felt themselves takba ill by only being looked upon by these Atuas, and considered that they were bewitched by a single look. This account was given to Mr Pokch nearly 50 years ago by Manutai, a grandson of one who witnessed the first landing. Cook surveyed the coast with the gieateat accuracy, naming all the

headlands, capes, and islands he passed. M. Crozets, the celebrated French navigator, says, "As soon a3 I got hold of the voyage of the English, I compared with care the chart which I had drawn of a portion of the 1 New Zealand coast with that taken by Captain Cook. I found it to possess an exactness and minutenes3 which astonished me beyond all expression. I doubt whether our own coasts of France have been delineated with more precision." In Mercnry Bay, so called from the fact that here observations were taken of the transit of Mercury, Cook displayed the English colours and took formal possession ia the name of his Britannic Majesty King George 111. This was on Wednesday, the 16 oh November, 1769. Northward still the Bay of Islands waa reached and named — a spot which 70 years later was to teem with matters of historical interest, for here was the Gospel first planted and preached, the first English settlement — that of Kororareka — founded, the Treaty of Waitangi signed, and the first battle between the European and Maori fought. Bounding the North Oape and Ta3man's Three Kings, the Endeavour sailed down the western coast, naming Mount Egmont after the earl, and entering a sound, to which the name of Qaeen Charlotte was given. Cook spent nearly a month here, visiting many of the delightful bays and coves which abound in this neighbourhood, and whose scenery at this day gives so much pleasure to the traveller who passes through those magnificent labyrinthic windings traversed by the Union Company's steamer on the passage from Nelson to Picton.

Here, tco, Cook pays a tribute which has so often since been paid by after travel* lers to the songsters of the New Zealand forests. He says :—": — " In the morning we were awakened by the singing of the birds ; the nnmber .was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. The wild melody was infinitely euperior to anything we had ever heard of the same kind ; it seemed to be like small bells exquisitely tuned. We found that the birds here always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music until sunrise, were, like our nightingales, s lent during the raat of the day." The principal contributors to this delightful concert are kuotm to us as the tui, or parson bird, and the mocking or bell bird, whose songs, alas, are, as the years go by, more and more faintly heard in our bush. Here Cook gained, for the first time, indisputable knowledge of the practice of cannibalism, which he characterises as being a horrid custom of the inhabitants. One of the Indians bit and gnawed a bone which Mr Banks had taken up, drawing it through his mouth and showing by signs that it had afforded him a delicious repast. This knowledge, as I shall presently explain, was to be of great use and benefit to those who, more than two ages later, were to colonise I the New Zealand shores. In Qaeen Charlotte's Sound possession of the South Island was taken in the name of and for the use of his Majesty King George the Third. This was ou the 30th January, 1770. The Union Jack was hoisted, the inlet honoured with the name of Queen Charlotte Sound, a' bottle of wine drunk to her Majesty's health, and the empty bottle given to the old Native who attended the party up the hill, and who was mightily pleased with his present. From the top of a lofty hill in the Sound Cook' descried enough to lead him to the conclusion that a channel or straits separated New Zealand into a north and south island, and thitj conclusion was verified by his sailing through the channel, known to this day" as | Cook's Straits, and there seeing Cape Turnagain, 1 the point from which- the Endeavour had first started. Here they hauled their wind to the eastward, and commenced the exploration of the eastern coast. The remains of Captain Cook's garden — or perhaps now only its site — are still painted out in Queen Charlotte Sound ; also Ship Cove, where the old Endeavour was careened, scraped, and cleaned. Here, too, were let loose those celebrated pigs, whose wild descendants, now known as Captain Cookers, have overrnn the interior of this island, and have afforded one of the staples of barter between the Natives aud ships' crews. Here Cook learned that the Native name of the South Island was Tovy Poenammoo, and of the North Eaheinomauwe, by which designation they are known on his maps. The first, or as we ! should more correctly spell it, Te W»i Panama, literally means the water of the greenstone — the place where the valuable greenstone is procured, of which the most valued weapons, tools, and ornaments were made. This greenstone is found in various places along the great watershed of the West Coast mountains, extending from the neighbourhood of Hokitika to the district of the sounds and lakes. He mea hi no Maui is the correct orthography of Cook's old name for the North Island. It means " the thing fished from the sea by Maui," or "the fish of Maui," and has evident reference, as you will see by the map, to the fish-like shape of this island. It is not, indeed, unlike one of the flat or rhombeidal fisher. Maui was one of the greatest heroes in old Maori mythology. Ho was out fishing one day in a canoe with his brothers, with whom he had had some misunderstanding. They consequently refused to give him any bait ; but Maui was equal to the emergency. He gave his no3e a blow and drew blood, wherewith he saturated a piece of flax, which he affixed to his hook. .This, by-the-by, was made of his grandfather's jaw. He threw his bait overboard, uttering his spells, — "Blow gently, blow gently, my line; let it pull straight ; let it pnll strong. It has caught ; it has come. The land is gained, is in the hand, long waited for. The boasting of Maui ; fhia great land, for which he went to sea. His boasting, ib is caught." And co he pulled until tbe canoe nearly capsized. At last the tops of the mountains appeared, and finally the whole island. So now you know haw the North Island of New Zealand was created. It ia Maui's fiab. Its salt- ' water eye is now Wellington harbour ; its ] fresh water one, Wairarapa lake. The jawa ! are formed by the north and south heads ; the head is a mountain near Wairarapa j the body is Taupo and Tongsriio, and the tail is situated at Cape Reinga or Spirits' Bay, so called as here tbe spirits of the dead leave this earth for the darkness of Po, the Maori Hades. \% face* to the went, and, with the

| dying sun .sinking into the western aea, the spirit of the Maori plunges into the waters of obliyion. Sir George Grey has done inestimable service by collecting amidst great difficulty stores of valuable information relating- to the mythology, traditions, and songs of the New Zealander. The Importance of his work- can hardly be exaggerated. The time for the recognition of the fall value of his labours has not yet come. It is a matter for regret that one of Sir George Grey's taste and culture Should not have confined himself to the pursuit of studies evidently so congenial, and which would have done more to hand his fame down to posterity than his participation in the vexatious quarrels of New Zealand politics —at least such is the regret of a non-poli-tician. Cook then hauled his wind to the eastward and saUed southward towards our am countree," naming Oape Gampbell and Banks Island, for so the Peninsula appeared to him to be. He then kept close in to land, passing a part "widely diverafied by hill and valley." This refers to the very broke* country at the back of Waikouaiti and Palmerston— a feature noticeable by anyone who has travelled by aea to Oamaru I think that somewhere he has also given the name of the " val ey of cones" to this region-a title particularly applicable to the numerous conical hills dispersed through the Shaz Valley district. ' Cape Saundera and Saddle Hill ,were passed and named— the nearest spotsj approached by Cook to ourf Otaco settlement. I suppose it is hardly necessary here to give a denial to that statement often made by unthinking people th*t Captain Cook 'sailed over the site of our Ocean Beach into the Upper Harbour. Still proceeding south, the Endeavour narrowly escaped being I wrecked upon some rocks which were discovered under the bows at break of day. The danger was imminent, and the escape critical in the highest degree. From the situation of these rocks, so well adapted to catch unwary strangers, they were called the Traps. South Oape was not recognised as being the south point of what is now known as Stewart's Island. Solander's Island was, of course, named after' Dr Solander, and now makes the first ': point of sight for the Melbourne steamers. The course was then northerly, past Dusky B*y, Open B»y, Cascade Point, Cape Poalwind, and Admiralty Bay, where the Endeavour anchored, and whence she finally, sailed from Cape Farewell for Botany Bay on the east coast of New Holland, the insularity of the South Island having thus been proved. I have purposely sketched at some length the history of the discovery and first oiroumnavigation of these; islands by oar great countryman. His opinion of them was very high 1 , and he thought that if . the settling of the j country should ever be thought an object worthy the attention of Great Britain, the best place for establishing a colony would be 1 either on the banks of the Thames which is near Auckland— or in the country | bordering on the Bay of Islands, and, as yon well know, when the fulness of time earns the I first little colony was ' planted at KotWareka, now called Russell, in the B»y lof Islands ; and the first capital erected on the site of Auckland. He also referred to a tree — known to w\ as the kauri — growing in swamps, tall and straight, and fit to make | tbe|finest masts in the world. Fifty years later this reference was remembered, and thence sprang up one of t the earliest trades with ' New Zealand — that for epara. and masts. I shall make but the shortest allusion to Cook's next visits— the second and third. In each of these he visited Queen Charlotte's . Sound and Dusky Bay, an .accurate chart of -which latter place he | drew, and which is in use at the present day. Those who have, been, a> trip to the Sounds will remember, doubtless, many of the names there given by him. PickersgUl Harbour, after ' one of his lieutenants ; Observation Point, where his observatory was planted ; Goose Cove, Cascade Cove, Facile Harbour; &c. In this voyage he correeled his errors of longitude, for he fonnd that in the chart accompanying the first voyage he had laid down the North Island 30min. and the South Island 40min, too far east. Near the Strait the two ships of the expedition were separated during a violent gale of wind, and it was not for five or cix weeks after that Captain Fur. neaux, commanding the Adventure: made Ship Cove in Qaeen Charlotte Sound, their point of rendezvous, only to find that the Resolution had left. Here a terrible disaster befel one of the Adventure's boat's crew. This- was sant ashore in the morning to gather fresh greens, with strict orders to return to tin ship the same night, as it was Captain Farneaux's intention to sail early the following morning. As, however, bo boat returned, a party started in search the following day, and before long had horrid and undeniable proof that their comrades had been killed and eaten, ten in number, and the best hands in the ship. When the search party landed the Natives ran into the bash. About twenty baskets were found lying oq the beach ; these were opened and found to contain principally roasted human flesh ; a little farther oa they discovered shoes and a human hand, with "T.H." tattooed- on it, and so recognised as having belonged to one Thomas Hill, a forecastle man ; and farther on the heads, hearts, and lungs of several of the crew; and at a little distance the Native dogs gnawing their entrails. Revenge was out of the question, as the Natives remained in the woods and made no appearance. After a detention of four days, owing to contrary winds, the Adventure set sail for England. On this voyage Captain Cook was in the habit of diatribatiag amongst the Natives copper medals as tokens, whereby his visit to New Zealand might be made known to any future voyager. The only one I know of in existence is this, kindly lent to me for exhibition this evening by Mra Thomson, widnw of the late Mr Peter Thomson, recently a valued member of this Institute. It waa found in the garden of an old settler —Mr Hunter —at Murdering Beach, near the north head of Otago harbour. On the obverse is a head of George 111., Burroimded by an almost effaced and illegible ißscription, "George 111., King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, 1.0." On the reverse is the representation of two quaint ships, over them the words "Resolution, Adventure"; and below them, "Sailed from England, May, kjkcwkxu. 11 OooWi

*st viiit wa B in 1777, »nd waa of a fortnight's duration. The Natives dreaded that he had come to revenge the massacre, and for * long time would not venture on board. They were »tlengthreaißured,»nd somepwticulatßwere thenobtained fromthemregarding it. A chief, K»hnra, was pointed out as having been moat active in the terrible He seemed to be detested L and dreaded l by his followers, who frequently asked Captain Coot to kill him, S»d one of them. You tell me if one man kills another io .England helihwgedforit. This Kahu« juj kiUed ten, and you will not kill him, though many ofh "countrymen desire it, »d t. would be very ffood " "But," says Cook, "if lhad t«Sn their advice I might have extirpated the whole race, for the people of each hamlet or village by turns applied to me to destroy the other." After much pressure igbJL ventured to say "One of his countrymen having brought a stone hatchet for barter the men to whom it was offered took it, and would neither return it nor give anything for it, on which the owner matched up the bread as an equivalent, and then the quarrel bogan/' This story seems probable. How often since then have similar occurrences takenplace with slight variations of circumstances — the white man cheating and oppressing the unsuspicious tavsge, who naturally turning upon his oppressor- is called bloodthirsty and ferocious. (To be continued)