The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand [New Zealand sections]

William Howitt

First published by Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green in 1865

Digitised and made available online by the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services and Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Epub © 2016 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-0-947487-58-4

[TITLE PAGES]

THE
HISTORY OF DISCOVERY
IN
AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA,
AND
NEW ZEALAND,

FROM THE EARLIEST DATE TO THE PRESENT DAY.

BYWILLIAM HOWITT,
AUTHOR OF "TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA," ETC., ETC.

With Maps of the Recent Explorations, from Official Sources.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOLUME I.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, AND GREEN.
PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXV.

BILLING,

PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, GUILDFORD SURREY.

[PREFACE]

PREFACE.

The recent expeditions of discovery into the interior and across the continent of Australia, have excited a deep interest, equally by their important results, and by the loss of the lives of some of the explorers under the most melancholy circumstances. These expeditions, however, constitute but a small link in a long chain of such undertakings, ranging over a period of several hundred years. In fact, it is clear that a southern continent was known to the Romans, and it is difficult to decide how long Australia had been known to the Chinese. But there is evidence that the Portuguese were acquainted with the north-west of Australia before the Dutch, who discovered the north of Australia in 1605. Since then, that is, for 260 years, there has been a succession of voyages of discovery to, and travels of discovery in, Australia. The names of TASMAN, DAMPIER, CAPTAIN COOK, LA PEROUSE, D'ENTRECASTEAUX, FLINDERS, BASS, OXLEY, CUNNINGHAM, CAPTAINS KING, STOKES, FITZROY, &c., GREY, LUSHINGTON, FREDERICK SMITH, THE BROTHERS GREGORY, AUSTIN, ROE, BARRAGE, HACK, WARBURTON, HUME, STURT, STRZELECKI, SIR THOMAS MITCHELL, LEICHHARDT, KENNEDY, EYRE, STUART, BURKE and WILLS, MCKINLAY, HOWITT, LANDSBOROUGH, WALKER, and many others, present to those familiar with their labours and adventures, scenes of danger and of wild romance, of heroic daring and devoted deaths, such as few countries have to show. When we consider that they at the same time constitute

much of the history of the most extraordinary growth and development of nations, and that these nations are of our own race and kindred, bound to us by the closest ties of blood, commerce and common fortunes, it is obvious that a complete chronicle of these remarkable labours and events is not only due to ourselves and the colonies, but must possess a deep and lasting interest for the public.

This is the book which the Author has endeavoured to complete in a full and faithful manner. Having had one son engaged in these researches in Australia, as the successful discoverer of the lost expedition of Burke and Wills, and the recoverer of their remains, and having lost another in assisting to open up the interior of New Zealand, he has entered on the undertaking as a labour of love. His personal knowledge of some of the colonies concerned, and the possession of documents not yet given to the public, have enabled him to treat the subject with the greater accuracy, and have excited him to omit no research or exertion to render it attractive and complete.

The Author's best thanks are due to many friends for particular sources of information opened up to him, in the prosecution of the work, amongst whom he ventures to name the gentlemen of the Committee of Exploration of Victoria: Count Strzelecki; Edward Wilson, Esq., of the Melbourne Argus; E. E. Macgeorge, Esq., late of Adelaide; George Augustus Robinson, Esq., late Chief Protector of the Aborigines in Victoria; Alexander William Bell, Esq., secretary of the North Australian Company; Frederick Algar, Esq., proprietor of the Australian and New Zealand Gazette, etc.

LONDON, MARCH, 15th, 1865.

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAPTER I.

PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY TOWARDS AND IN AUSTRALIA.

Discovery of the Bahama Isles by Columbus. Discovery of the mainland of America by Vesputio and Cabot. Progress in American discovery southward. Vesputio arrives within four degrees of Cape Horn. Discovery by Gonneville of a country beyond the Cape of Good Hope, probably some island of the Indian Ocean. Magellan discovers the straits named after him. Discovers the Ladrone Isles, and reaches the Philippine Isles by the Pacific. Magellan there murdered by the inhabitants. His ships reach the Moluccas, and return by the Cape of Good Hope. The Straits of Magellan found to be very dangerous. Many succeeding voyages to the Pacific by Spaniards. Ideas of the classical nations of the Atlantis, and of another continent besides Europe, Asia and Africa. Their assertion of the rotundity of the earth and of antipodes. Them belief of a continent in the southern hemisphere. Belief in the middle ages of an Anticthone or opposite earth. Maps extant proving this. Marco Polo's indications of Australia as discovered by the Chinese. Assumed Portuguese discoveries. Mr. Major's opinions on them. Portuguese and French maps, some of them in the British Museum. Rivalry between the Spaniards and Portuguese regarding discoveries in the Indian Ocean. Prohibition of any maps of such discovery by the King of Portugal. Dutch discoveries, and Dutch concealment of them. Voyages of Schouten and Lemaire, Van Noort and Spilbergen. The Dutch prosecute discoveries on the western coast of Australia, and seize all other vessels in those seas, and their Eastern settlements. Charge against them by Sir William Temple. Defence by Mr. Major. The Portuguese commander, Don de Meneses, supposed to reach New Guinea in 1526. Don de Saavedra, a Spaniard, makes two voyages to the country of the Papous, supposed to be New Guinea, about 1528-30. Della Torre and Admiral Gaetan reach Australia in 1542. Maps of New Guinea and part of Australia in 1582. In 1598, Australia and Torres' Straits mentioned by Wytfliet before Torres discovered those straits. Discovery of the Isles of Espirito Santo, the New Hebrides, by Quiros in 1606, who claimed to have discovered Australia. His fictitious description of it. Torres the same year passed through the straits since called after him. End of the Spanish period of Austral discovery.................1

CHAPTER II.

DISCOVERIES OF THE DUTCH.

Page

Dutch geographers, Ortelius, Mercator, Planchius, De Bry, Hulsius, Cluverius. Linschoten's Voyages, 1618. Establishment of the Dutch East India Company. Their settlements of Batavia, Bantam, Amboyna, Banda, &c. The yacht Duyfhen sent out by the Company reached the west coast of Australia in 1606. It reached Cape Keer Weer or Turn-again. Voyage of Spilbergen from Amsterdam in 1614 to the Pacific. Ideas of Isaac Le Maire on a great southern continent. The voyage of Schouten and James Le Maire in 1615. Plague of flies in the Pacific. Touch at New Guinea. Their ships seized at Batavia by the Dutch East India Company. Le Maire died of a broken heart at the Mauritius. Voyage of Edel. Successive voyages from 1616 to 1622. Amongst these the voyage of Dirck Hartog in the Endracht as far as Shark's Bay. His arrival there recorded on a tin plate left in Hartog's Island. This plate found there in 1697 by Vlaming, and by Hamelin in 1861. Supposed voyage to Arnhem's Land by one Zeachen. In 1618 the ship Mauritius discovers Willem's River. In 1619 Edel discovers Edel's Land. Navigators unknown in 1622 discover Leeuwin's Land, Cape Leeuwin, and Houtman's Abrolhos. Du Quesne's exploration of King George's Land in 1687. Voyage of Carstaens in 1623 to New Guinea. Massacre of himself and eight men. The vessels Pera and Arnhem discover Arnhem's Land. The south coast of Australia discovered in 1627 by the ship Guide Zeepard, and again in 1628 by the ship Vianen, and called Nuyt's Land. The Vianen discovers De Witt's Land. Voyage of Governor Carpenter's fleet, and return with gold. Shipwreck of the Batavia in the Abrolhos. Captain Pelsart's adventures. Gerard Pool murdered in New Guinea in 1636: Pietersen's voyage down the west coast of Australia. Abel Tasman's voyages in 1642 and 1643, on the coasts of New Holland. Struck the south-western corner of Van Diemen's Land first. Anchored in Frederick Henry Bay and Storm Bay. His description of Van Diemen's Land. Sailed towards Australia, but missed it, and reached New Zealand, which he named Staaten Land. Attacked by the natives, and three men killed. Called the place Murderer's Bay. Followed the north-west coast to Point Maria Van Diemen. Discovered the island of the Three Kings. Sailed north by the islands of Horne and Cacaos; discovered the island of Pylstaart, and several of the Friendly Islands. Then west to the Fejee Islands, by New Britain and New Guinea to Batavia. Supposed second voyage of Tasman to the northwest coast of Australia and Torres' Straits. Cunio's instructions to Tasman. Speculations as to the true discoverer of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mr. Major's ideas on this head. Thevenot's statements. Supposed voyages of Governors Carpenter and Van Diemen. Idea of Dr. Lang as to the discovery of Carpentaria. Causes inducing the Dutch to suppress all knowledge of New Holland. Wreck of the Vergulde Draeck on the coast of Western Australia. Fate of the crew. Vlaming's visit to this coast. Successive wrecks on the Abrolhos. Explorations of the coast of north-west Australia by the ships Vossenback, Wager, and Nova Hollandia, to North Van Diemen's Land and Cambridge Gulf. Their misfortunes. Attempt of Commodore Roggewein to reach Australia, 1721. Discovery of the Bowman Islands. Seizure of Roggewein's ships at Batavia............28

CHAPTER III.

DISCOVERIES OF DAMPIER.

Dampier's early life. His wanderings. A logwood cutter. Joins the buccaneers to plunder the Spanish Settlements. His quick and accu-

rate observation of the countries visited by him. In 1687 he and his buccaneer companions reached the west coast of Australia, in the part now called Dampier Land. His description of the country and people. Their low condition. The plague of flies. Lionel Wafer's narrative of this voyage. Appointed by the English Government to the ship Roebuck. His second voyage] to Australia. Touched at Shark's Bay. His description of the coast. The birds and animals. Portraits of the people. In 1699 visited the northern coast of New Guinea. Discovered that New Britain was an island. Wrecked on his return at the Isle of Ascension. His subsequent life. Between 1708 and 1711 again visited New Guinea, and in the Pacific found Alexander Selkirk on Juan Fernandez. His account of kangaroos, emus, and the splendid flower now called Clianthus Damperi.............61

CHAPTER IV.

DISCOVERIES OF CAPTAIN COOK IN AUSTRALIA, VAN DIEMENS LAND, AND NEW ZEALAND, FROM 1768 TO 1770.

Sailed from Plymouth in 1768, to prosecute discoveries in the southern hemisphere. Previous voyages of Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook in the Pacific. Accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander in the ship Endeavour. Passed through the Straits of Le Maire into the Pacific, and noticed a transit of Venus, June the 4th, 1767. Sailed for New Zealand, taking with him Tupia, a native priest, and a native boy with him. October 7, touched the Northern Island at Poverty Bay. Thought they had reached the Australian continent. Striking description of the country and people. Their warlike aspect and character, and unwillingness to be friendly. Cook kidnaps two youths uselessly. Sailed westward, naming Cape Table, Portland Island, Hawke's Bay. People still hostile. Tupia's language intelligible to them. Skirmish with the natives. Natives afterwards come on board. Cook coasted along from Cape Turnagain to Tolega Bay, where they landed. Description of the people, and their mode of life. Their fenced gardens. Boys found whipping tops. Nails not valued. Visited a hippah or pah. Plants and trees of the country. Wild celery. Coasts on eastward to Mercury Bay, and Bay of Islands. People everywhere defiant or thievish. Various birds seen. The vast Kauri pines. Numerous villages on the coast. Many mountains inland. Named many heads, points, and bays on the coast. Bay of Islands. Cape Maria van Diemen. The Three King's Islands. The north-west coast to Queen Charlotte's Sound. Cape and Mount Egmont. Sojourn there in Ship Cove till January, 1770. Murderer's Bay of Tasman. Went on shore. Signs of cannibalism. Steep mountains. The woods impenetrable. Abundance of fish in the sea. Music of birds at sunrise. Natives there friendly. Purchased tattoed heads. Manners and dress of the people. Sailed through the strait between the North and Middle Islands. Named its hays and capes. Various capes and bays named by him. Character of these islands, coasts and mountains. Sailed in March, 1770, in quest of Australia. Cook's opinions of New Zealand and New Zealanders. Recent opinions regarding Captain Cook's treatment of the natives in New Zealand. Cook sighted Point Hicks and Ram Head in Australia. Liked the look of the country. Made a chart of the coast from Hicks' Point to Torres Straits. Named all the bays and points as far as Botany Bay, and laid down a chart of the coast. Delight of Banks and Solander at the prodigality of strange and beautiful flowers. Natives with their painted bodies, boomerangs, and womeras. Huts and canoes. Character of the country. Strange birds. Passed Port Jackson without examining it. Sailed northwards. Moreton Bay. Still northward to Bustard Bay, where they landed. Man-

groves, gum-tree ants, native companions, and natives. Bay of Inlets. Cumberland Islands. Landed again. Cape Tribulation, ship runs on a coral reef. Endeavour River. Land their stores to repair the ship's bottom. New experiences of the country there. Sail for Torres Straits. Names of bays, points, islands, etc. Providential Channel. Cape York. York Isles. Crowds of Islands. Did any one traverse the east coast before Cook? Cook's voyage along the southern coast of New Guinea, and thence home by the Cape of Good Hope. Great work done by Cook in this survey. The value of his charts of the coast. Cook's remarks on Australia and its natives..................76

CHAPTER V.

VISITS OF CAPTAINS DE SURVILLE, ST. ALOUARN, AND MARION DU FRESNE TO AUSTRALIA, VAN DIEMENS LAND, AND NEW ZEALAND IN 1769 AND 1772.

De Surville and Cook crossed at the mouth of Doubtless Bay, New Zealand, without seeing each other. De Surville's treachery to the natives. Carried off one, who pined and died. De Surville drowned at Callao. St. Alouarn's visit. Marion du Fresne massacred with a number of his men. The French version of the affair. The native version of it..............104

CHAPTER VI.

THE VOYAGE OF COOK AND FURNEAUX, JANUARY, 1772 TO 1771, IN WHICH COOK REPEATEDLY VISITED NEW ZEALAND, AND CAPTAIN FURNEAUX VISITED NEW ZEALAND AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

The search for the extreme continent of the south. Not to be found. Cook reaches New Zealand. Furneaux missing. Found at Queen Charlotte's Sound. Furneaux's adventures in Van Diemen's Land. Supposed, but incorrectly, to have seen Australia. Attempt of Maories to seize Furneaux's ship. Furneaux prevents Cook ascertaining the insularity of Van Diemen's Land. The commander planted garden-seeds, and put on shore goats and pigs at Queen Charlotte's Sound. Voyage to the South Sea Islands, and return to New Zealand. Furneaux lost sight of for the rest of the voyage. Cook puts on shore fresh fowls, goats, and hogs. Sailed and discovered New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, and other Islands. Returned to New Zealand. Puts more hogs and fowls on shore. Furneaux arrived in Queen Charlotte's Sound. Massacre of his boat's crew. Captain Cook's last voyage: Cook, Clarke, and King's voyages between 1776 and 1780, in the Resolution and Discovery. The objects of Cook's last voyage. Attempts to find a north-west passage. Prince Edward's Island. Van Diemen's Land. Adventure Bay. The natives. Again at Queen Charlotte's Sound. Natives crowd there. Visited by Kahoora, who headed the massacre of Furneaux's crew. Different versions of the account of the massacre. Account of the natives. Natural productions. Cook killed at Owhyhee................110

CHAPTER VII.

LA PEROUSE, AND THE VOYAGES IN QUEST OF HIM.

La Perouse sailed from Brest in August, 1785. Captain Langle. Followed Captain Cook's route to the South Seas, and Kamschatka. Sails for Aus-

tralia. Last seen at Botany Bay. D'Entrecasteaux sent in search of him. Labillardiere's account of the voyage. D'Entrecasteaux heard at the Cape of men having been seen in the Admiralty Isles in French dresses and uniforms by Commodore Hunter. Sailed for the Admiralty Isles. Van Diemen's Land. Entrance of the estuary of the Derwent. D'Entrecasteaux's Bay. Impressions of the island. Enormous trees seen. A rich botanical harvest. D'Entrecasteaux Strait. Sailed for New Caledonia. New Hebrides. Isle of Mallicola. The real scene of La Perouse's wreck. Sailed by New Guinea, Timor, west and south coast of Australia. Named many parts of this south coast. Narrow escape of M. Riche, the naturalist. Again to Van Diemen's Land. Fresh botanical discoveries. Black swans. Excursion to the mountains. Account of the natives. Their friendliness. Further geographical discoveries of the French in Van Diemen's Land. Labillardiere suspected a passage between Australia and Van Diemen's Land. After course of the voyage. D'Entrecasteaux's death. The vessels seized and detained at Batavia. Death of eighty of the crew. Return home. Captain Dillon finds relics of La Perouse at Tercopia. Hears of his wreck at Mallicola. Commissioned by the British Government in India to go thither to clear up the matter. Seizure and ill-treatment by the authorities at Van Diemen's Land. Success of Dillon in discovering the place of La Perouse's wreck. Recovers many relics. Receives from the King of France the order of the Legion of Honour, and an annuity of 4,000 francs................123

CHAPTER VIII.

DISCOVERIES ON THE COASTS OF AUSTRALIA ANI) VAN DIEMEN's LAND BETWIXT 1788 AND 1795, OR BETWIXT THE PERIODS OF COOK AND FLINDERS.

Voyage of Captain Bligh, of the Bounty. Planted fruit-trees at Adventure Bay. Mutiny of the crew of the Bounty. Pitcairn's Island. Bligh's adventurous escape to England. Land of Arnheim visited by Lieutenant M'Clure in 1791. Discoveries of Admiral Edwards in Torres Straits, in 1791. Wreck of the Pandora. Captain Vancouver's discovery on the South Coast of Australia, in 1791. King George's Sound named by him. Recherche Archipelago. Captain Bligh's discoveries in Torres Straits. Clarence's Archipelago. Voyage of Captains Bampton and Alt. Discoveries in Torres Straits. Massacre of Captain Hill and four seamen in Dauby's Island. Martial character of the natives. Further route of Bampton and Alt. Captain Hayes names the Derwent estuary at the present Hobart Town in 1794....................142

CHAPTER IX.

THE FOUNDING OF SYDNEY, AND THE CONSEQUENT DISCOVERIES OF BASSES STRAITS, ETC., BY BASS AND FLINDERS.

The loss of America. The settlement of a convict colony in Australia. Settlement of New Holland proposed by Colonel Purry in 1723. His proposal in vain offered to England, Holland, and France. Cook's discoveries confirmed Purry's ideas. Folly of establishing convict colonies at Botany Bay predicted by the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews. Contrary views of Wedgewood and Darwin. Darwin's views of the future of Australia. Similar prescience of T. K. Hervey. His verses. These enlightened views of the artists and poets speedily realised. In 1788, Admiral Phillip and Captain Hunter sail with a squadron and a number of convicts. Port

Jackson selected in preference. Captain Flinders' account of the settlement of Sydney. Survey of Botany and Broken Bays. Voyage of adventure by Bass and Flinders in the Tom Thumb. – Beauty and advantages of youthful enthusiasm. Bass and Flinders discover George's River. Curious encounter with natives. Adventures of Mr. Clarke and a boat's mew, wrecked near Cape Howe. Bass's attempt to get over the Blue Mountains. Shortland's discovery of the Hunter. Adventures of Bass in the Van Diemen's Land Strait. Discovery of runaway convicts. Their fate. Flinders' Voyage to Furneaux's Island, in Bass's Straits. Finds Flinders' Island and others. Vast numbers of seals and penguins. Discovery of the Tamar, in Van Diemen's Land, by Bass and Flinders. Description of Port Dalrymple. Subsequent settlement of York Town and Launceston, on the Tamar. Bass and Flinders sailed round Van Diemen's band, establishing its insularity. The strait named Bass's Strait by Governor Hunter. Examination of Glasshouse, Hervey's, and Moreton Bays by Flinders................152

CHAPTER X.

THE SURVEY OF THE SOUTH-EASTERN AND NORTHERN COASTS OF AUSTRALIA BY CAPTAIN FLINDERS.

Flinders sailed in the Investigator from Sheerness in January, 1801, accompanied by Westall the painter, Bauer, natural-history painter, and Robert Brown, the botanist. Reached Cape Leeuwin in December. Recent traces of Europeans on that coast. Recherche Archipelago. Lucky Bay. Enormous nests of a bird. Sailed along the great Australian Bight. Survey of the coast eastward to Cape Catastrophe. The loss of Mr. Thistle, master of the vessel, and a whole boat's crew. Singular prediction of this catastrophe. Survey thence to Kangaroo Island. A kangaroo paradise. Investigator's Strait. Montgomery's Pelican Island. In Encounter Bay Flinders finds Captain Baudin of the French ship Geographe. The discoveries of Flinders subsequently claimed by Napoleon I. for Baudin. The Terre Napoleon. Discoveries of Captain Grant. Cape Otway. Discovery of the harbour of Port Philip by Lieutenant Murray. Re-discovery by Flinders. Careful examination of it by Flinders. View from Station Peak by Flinders. His description of Port Phillip. Return to Sydney, Flinders proceeds up the east coast northward from Sydney. His discoveries along that coast. Enters Torres Straits. Surveys the Gulf of Carpentaria. His discoveries in the Gulf. Skirmish with the natives at Woodall Island. Discovery of the Melville Isles. The Bromley Isles. Old chart of the Gulf. Annual visits of the people of Macassar to the north coast of Australia. Wessel's Islands. Proceed to Timor and Sydney. Fresh voyage of Flinders, and wreck on the Barrier Reef. Base conduct of Captain Palmer, of the Bridgewater. The men and stores landed on a sand-bank. Return of Flinders in an open boat to Sydney. Rescue of the crew. Captivity of Flinders in the Mauritius. Base treatment of him. there. Ungrateful treatment by the English Government. Invaluable services of Flinders in these surveys. Accompanied by Sir John Franklin in some of these voyages................167

CHAPTER XI.

IMPULSE OF DISCOVERY GIVEN BY THE SETTLEMENT OF SYDNEY.

Sailing of the squadron conveying convicts. Number of these. The voyages occupying eight months. Botany Bay found unfit. Sydney founded in Port Jackson. Magnificence of the bay. Character of the environs. Progress of discovery from this centre. Middleton's Island. Mulgrave Islands. River Hawkesbury. Colonel Collins sent to found a settlement at Port Phillip, but proceeded to Tasmania and founded Hobart Town..............186

CHAPTER XII.

THE SETTLEMENT OF TASMANIA AND SUBSEQUENT DISCOVERIES.

Small extent of the island. Opening of the interior from Hobart-Town to Launceston by Lieutenant Laycock. The chief part of the island explored by nameless emigrants. Exploration of William Sorell. Famous attempt to capture the natives. Their extradition peacefully effected by Mr. G. A. Robinson. Discovers part of the island in the course of his work. Perils of the enterprise. Mr. Frankland's discoveries in 1835............193

CHAPTER XIII.

COMMENCEMENT OF PROGRESS INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES. – EVANSES EXPEDITION. – OXLEY'S TWO EXPEDITIONS.

Opening up a route through the Blue Mountains by Messrs. Wentworth, Blaxland, and Lawson, in 1813. Mr. Evans discovers the Macquarie and Lachlan. Road through the mountains by convict labour. Discovery of gold by them. Expedition of Oxley, accompanied by Allan Cunningham and Charles Frazer, botanists, and W. Parr, mineralogist. Find already a good house and flocks and herds at Bathurst. Reach the Lachlan. Marks of great floods. Enter vast flats. Natives numerous, but quiet. Name many hills and streams. First encounter with mallee scrub. Still vast flats, evidently flooded in winter. Allan Cunningham planted peach and other fruit stones. Tracing the Lachlan. Stopped by vast swamps. Lakes discovered. Mounts Cunningham, Melville, &c. They return. Oxley's SECOND EXPEDITION TO THE MACQUARIE: In 1818 Mr. Oxley, accompanied by Messrs. Evans and Frazer, and Dr. Harris, set out to explore the Macquarie. Fell down the river in two boats. Stopped again by swamps. Struck eastwardly from Mount Harris. Discovered the Castlereagh River. Kangaroo Hill. Loadstone Hill. Arbuthnot's Range. Mount Exmouth. Country very hilly. Fine country about Hardwicke's Range. Still fresh hills, and again fine country. Peel's River. Splendid country leading towards the coast. Sydney River. Extensive view of the coast. Beach Port Macquarie. Natives treacherous. Travellers follow the coast to Newcastle................204

CHAPTER XIV.

DISCOVERIES OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER; OF THE PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT, BY HUME AND HOVELL; OF THE PANDORA PASS AND LIVERPOOL PLAINS; AND OF THE BRISBANE RIVER.

Discovery of two rivers by Captain Rous, between Moreton Bay and Port Jackson. Discovery of the Murrumbidgee. And of Maneira Plains by Captain Currie. Discoveries by the Messrs. Hume and Mr. Meehan of Argyle. Lake Bathurst, etc. Discovery of the Port Phillip district by Messrs. Hovell and Hume. Their narrative. Discovery of the Murray, the Goulburn, etc. Scene at a native camp. Difficulties of the return. Attempt to form a settlement at Western Port. Discovery of the Brisbane River by Mr. Oxley. Also of the Pandora Pass into the Liverpool Plains, of the Gwydir and Dumaresque Rivers, by Allan Cunningham..............218

THE TWO EXPEDITIONS OF CAPTAIN CHARLES STURT INTO THE INTERIOR OF AUSTRALIA, FOR TRACING THE COURSES OF THE MACQUARIE AND MURRUMBIDGEE, AND ENDING IN THE DISCOVERY OF THE DARLING AND THE MURRAY IN THE YEARS 1828, 1829, 1830, and 1831.

CAPTAIN STURT'S FIRST EXPEDITION INTO THE INTERIOR: Discovery of the Darling and Murray. Captain Sturt's eminent qualifications for an explorer. Necessity for discovering lands further from Sydney. Expedition of Sturt ordered to explore the farther courses of the Lachlan and Macquarie. Wentworth's idea of the course of the great rivers of Australia. Mr. Hamilton Hume and Surgeon M'Leod accompanied Captain Sturt. They enter on the vast plains described by Oxley. Mr. Oxley's death at Sydney. Channels of the Macquarie and other rivers found dry. Oxley's Table Land. D'Urban's Group. Chain of ponds. Discovery of the river Darling, but salt. Natives fired the bush. Stopped by want of water. Return to Mount Harris. Followed Oxley's course north-east to the Castlereagh river, and traced it to the Darling. Terrible condition of the natives and the country from drought. Channels of the chief rivers all running southwest. Return. Second expedition of Captain Sturt: Descent of the Murrumbidgee and Murray. Setting out of the party. Mr. Hume's station. Crossed the Murrumbidgee near Pondebadgery Plains. Hamilton Plains. Approach the Lachlan. Few natives. Find themselves in the low plains again. Reedy swamps. Some of the party descend the river in boats. Character of the river and country. Suddenly enter the Murray. Surprise at the grand scale of the river. The great alluvial fiats on its banks. Huge trees and chains of ponds. The natives numerous and bold. Attempt of the natives to stop them. A sharp crisis. Preparations for a fight. Interposition of a native. They escape. Parley with a fresh crowd of natives. Providential escape. Reward the friendly native. Discover the junction of the Darling with the Murray. Advance some distance up the Darling. Miserably diseased condition of the natives. Pass the river Rufus. Windings and high cliffs on the Murray as they descend. Great flocks of birds. Sea-gulls. Change of the river southward. The lake of Alexandrine. Attempt to reach the sea by the channel from the lake. Passage unfit for ships. Found themselves in Encounter Bay. Vast flocks of water-fowls. The Murray thus traced to the sea. The question of their return. Their provisions very insufficient, and themselves much weakened. How to pull up against the stream many hundred miles. This arduous labour, however, performed. Difficulties with the natives. Starvation on the Murrumbidgee. Failing powers of the party, rescue and return. Captain Sturt blind in consequence of his sufferings. Captain Barker on the shore of Lake Alexandrina killed by the savages...............230

CHAPTER XVI.

SURVEYS OF THE AUSTRALIAN COASTS BY CAPTAINS KING, STOKES, FITZROY, ETC.

Captain King appointed to complete the survey of the coasts left unfinished by the captivity of Captain Flinders. His instructions and companions. Sailed from Sydney in December, 1817. South-westward by Bass's Straits. Dampier's Archipelago. Cape Van Diemen. Saw and named Goulburn Islands, Port Essington, etc. Great Bay of Van Diemen. Alligator's River. Clarence Strait. Sailed to Timor. Return to Sydney. Visited

Van Diemen's Land. Third voyage up the east coast. Discovered Rodd's Bay and Port Curtis. Torres Straits. Wessell's Islands. Discovered Liverpool River. Discovered Cambridge Gulf. Mount Cockburn. Sailed to Coepang and Sydney. Fourth voyage, again accompanied by Allan Cunningham. Again up the east coast, and through Torres Straits. Resumed their survey at Cassini Island, and continued it to Prince Regent's River. A fifth and last voyage. Again through Torres Straits. In Princess Charlotte's Bay native painting found by Allan Cunningham. Explored Prince Regent's River. Survey coast to Cape La Touch Treville. To the Mauritius. Survey of many parts of west coast. Final return.................258

CHAPTER XVII.

THE THREE EXPEDITIONS OF MAJOR, AFTERWARDS SIR THOMAS, MITCHELL FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER KINDUR, IN EASTERN AUSTRALIA, FOR ASCERTAINING THE JUNCTION OF THE DARLING WITH THE MURRAY, AND FOR THE EXPLORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF PORT PHILLIP, NOW VICTORIA.

EXPEDITIONS OF MAJOR MITCHELL: First expedition in quest of the Kindur. Squatters fast spreading over the whole of the newly-discovered regions. A new and greater Arcadia. – Fame of a great river, north of the Dumarresque, called the Kindur, spread by a convict, George Clarke. Major Mitchell sent in quest of it. Passes the Hunter. The persons of his party. Canvas boats. George Clarke, the barber, amongst the blacks again. Wingen, the burning hill. The Peel River. The Acacia Pendula, a new tree. The Nammoy River. The Pic of Tangulda. Canvas boats found useless on the Nammoy. Following the Gwydir. The village of bowers. Intense heat. Singular interview with Natives. The River Karaula. Build a boat, which proved of little use. The River Barwan. Ferocious wasps. Watched by the natives. Murder of Mr. Finch's men, and seizure of the stores by the blacks. The party commences its return. Funeral song of a native woman. Followed by hostile natives. Scene of the massacre. Re-cross the Nammoy. The journey to Sydney....................264

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE SECOND EXPEDITION OF MAJOR MITCHELL, BEING TO THE DARLING, IN 1835.

Mr. Dixon sent to ascertain the junction of the Darling and the Murray, by following down the Darling. Reached the river Bogan, and returned. In 1835 Major Mitchell, with a strong party, sent to complete this task. Took two whale boats to navigate the Darling. His party. Came on Dixon's track on the Bogan. Native guides supplied abundance of wild honey. Their mode of tracking the bees. The younger Mr. Cunningham lost in the bush, and murdered by the blacks. Consternation and delay of the party. Advance sorrowfully. Reach the Darling, now sweet. Vestiges of poor Cunningham found. Fort Bourke. Diseased natives. Boats found useless. Sturt and Hume's furthest point. Hume's marked tree. Dunlop's Range. The spitting tribe. Native cemetery. Skirmish with the natives. Turn back. Still 400 miles from the Murray. Major Mitchell's general observations on the Darling and its productions. Rapid advance of squatters into the new country....................278

CHAPTER XIX.

THE THIRD EXPEDITION OF MAJOR MITCHELL TO THE DARLING AND MURRAY, AND ACROSS AUSTRALIA FELIX, NOW VICTORIA, IN 1836.

Page

To the Darling and Murray, and across Australia Felix. The Major's party. Piper native guide. Proceeds to the Lachlan. Its appearance. The hills. Tree of Oxley and Evans. Views from Mount Granard. Drought. Diverge from the Lachlan, and return. Native accounts of Oxley's buried bottle, and Sturt's ride from the Murrumbidgee. The aboriginal widow goes as guide. Reach the Murrumbidgee. Alarm of the natives at sheep and horses. Trouble with natives. Accidents. The Murray. Lake Benanee. Followed by the hostile tribes from the Lachlan. Fight with them at Mount Dispersion. Junction of the Darling. Cross the Murray. Throngs of natives. Finer country. Rich flats, swamps, and ponds. Mount Hope. New animal. Pyramid Hill. Surprise at the beautiful and rich country. The Yarrayne and Loddon. Mountains south-west. Numerous streams. The widow sets out to return to the Lachlan. Driven back by hostile natives. Raptures of Major Mitchell over the fine country. Supposes himself the first discoverer. Mount William in the Grampians. Cold night on the mountains. The Wimmera. Mount Arapiles. The Victoria Range. The mallee scrub. Lakes to the west. Fine country. The Glenelg. Sail upon it. Beauty and fertility of the country. The Chetwynd. The Wannon. Mouth of the Glenelg. Turn homewards. Cape Bridgewater. Rifle Range. The Crawford. Portland Bay. Find the brothers Henty settled there. Fishing station. The Pyrenees. Fresh lakes and hills. Major Mitchell divides his party. Advances himself with a light detachment. Mounts Sturgeon and Abrupt. View of Port Phillip. Frighten the natives at Mount Campbell by a stratagem. Home route by the Goulburn, Broken River, the Ovens and the Murray. Stations of the Murrumbidgee. The widow married to the "King of the Murrumbidgee." Sydney................291

CHAPTER XX.

SETTLEMENT OF FORT PHILLIP BY BATMAN AND HIS ASSOCIATES.

Batman and his associates. Mr. Gellibrand. Their proposal to settle in Port Phillip. Proposal declined by the Government of New South Wales. Company formed in Van Diemen's Land to graze in Port Phillip and civilize the natives. Batman purchases land of the natives. Bargain for 500,000 acres. Views of aggrandisement avowed by these civilizers. The home government puts a quietus on the scheme. Arrival of John Fawkner. Settles Melbourne. Buckley. His story. Fate of Gellibrand and Hesse. Their remains. Hills named after them. Discovery of Gippsland by Mr. M'Millan. Strzelecki's explorations. Orr's journey across Gippsland. Botany and flocks of Victoria. Count Strzelecki's theory regarding native women. Refuted by Mr. Robinson...............311

CHAPTER XXI.

VOYAGES OF CAPTAIN WICKHAM, FITZROY, AND STOKES, IN THE BEAGLE, ROUND THE AUSTRALIAN COASTS, FROM 1837 TO 1843.

History of the Beagle. Captain Fitzroy in New Zealand. Mr. Charles Darwin with him on board the Beagle. Touched at Sydney. Captain Wickham. Ordered to survey the coasts of Australia and Van Diemen's Land. The party. Death of Mr. Musters. Swan River settlement.

Surveys northward. Discovery of Fitzroy River. Doubtful Bay. Port George IV. Fall in with Lieutenant Grey and his party. Van Diemen's Land, Sydney. Port Essington in 1839. Surveys of islands in Torres Straits. "The Post Office." State of affairs at Port Essington and Raffles Bay. Monster eagle nest. Discovery of the River Adelaide. Attack of savages. Timor Laut. Discovery of the fate of the Charles Eaton and its crew. Subsequent rescue of Ireland and D'Oyly from the island savages. Rescue of Forbes. Discovery of Port Darwin. Also of the Victoria River. Progress up it. Much good country on Swan River. Discovery of remains of the wreck of the Batavia. Pelsart's Group. Native drawings at Depuch Island. Sailed to Timor. VOYAGE IN 1841: Exploration of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Flinders. Discover the Albert. Its scenery. The Plains of Promise. Discoveries and services of Captain Stokes.................332

CHAPTER XXII.

DISCOVERIES IN NORTH-WEST AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA BETWEEN THE YEARS 1837 AND 1840, BY LIEUTENANTS GREY AND LUSHINGTON.

First expedition of Grey and Lushington. – Founding Western Australia. Objects of the expedition of Grey and Lushington. The party. Sail from the Cape of Good Hope. Water-snakes seen. Arrive at Port George IV. Intense heat on landing. Sufferings of the party. Death of three dogs. Escape out of this burning desert to the ship. The Prince Regent's River. Its exploration. Fury of the tides. Torment of flies. Encamp, and land stores. Send to Timor for ponies. Strange rocky scenery. Surrounded by hostile natives. The gouty-stemmed tree. Ponies arrived, but too weak to carry their loads. Terrible journey amongst rocks and ravines. Attacked by natives. Mr. Grey severely wounded. Rustan's consolation to Mr. Grey on having killed a black fellow. Discover the Glenelg. New trees and scenery. Entangled amongst streams. Mount Lyell. St. George's Basin. Progress down the Glenelg. Vast trees, rocks and swamps. Paintings in a cave. Queries as to their origin. Make their way to Hanover Bay. The Beagle. Turn their remaining ponies loose, and embark for Mauritius. Mr. Grey's estimate of the discovered country. Its natural history. Malay pottery. White savages..............350

CHAPTER XXIII.

SECOND EXPEDITION OF CAPTAIN GREY, NAMELY TO SHARK'S BAY; DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER GASCOYNE.

Shark's Bay. The Gascoyne. Sojourn at Swan River. Search for Mr. Elliot. Sails from Shark's Bay. Takes whale-boats. His party. Deposit the stores on an island in Shark's Bay. Boats and stores ruined by storm on Dorre Island. The delta of the Gascoyne. Babbage Island. Attacked by natives. Miserable situation. Find nearly all their provisions destroyed by the tempest on Bernier Island. The boats useless. Determine to endeavour to reach Perth by land. Commence journey. No tent to protect them. Oppressive heat. Native villages. Mounts Victoria and Albert. The river Hutt. Fine country on the Buller. Troubles with some of the men. Menacing natives. The river Greenough. Water Peak. Captain Grey compels the men to destroy all unnecessary luggage. Only hope of life in sending on the most active to obtain food for the rest. Five or six pounds of flour per man. Collect the dew from the grass for water. Captain Grey starts forward with four men and the native guide.

Leaves Mr. Frederick Smith very unwell. The Arrowsmith. Mount Horner. Mount Perron. Their flour exhausted. Gairdner Range. Men ill from eating zamia nuts. Miserable waterless country. Selfishness of the native guide. His melancholy song. Three days without water. Guide advises to desert the rest of the party. They reel along with failing senses on their way. Abandon almost everything they had. Haggard aspect of the party. Find a little puddle. Shoot a cockatoo. And find mussels. Native superstition. In two days more reach natives and get food. Curious dialogue with a black cook. The Captain reaches Perth like a spectre. Relief sent to the parties behind. Poor Smith dead. Affecting scene at his burial. The rest only reached in time. The native's account of finding poor Smith. Amount of discoveries on this disastrous journey................372

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE EXPEDITIONS OF MR. EYRE INTO CENTRAL AUSTRALIA, AND OVERLAND FROM ADELAIDE TO KING GEORGE'S SOUND, IN THE YEARS 1840-1.

Expedition of Mr. Eyre to Central Australia, and King George's Sound. Founding of South Australia. Mr. Eyre's previous expeditions. Proposal of an expedition overland to Swan River. Mr. Eyre shows the difficulty of it. A northern expedition resolved on. Mr. Eyre's party. Started in June, 1840. Journey to Lake Torrens. A country of drought. Lake Torrens nearly dry. Reach Mount Hopeless. Vast barren plains. Mount Distance. Blanchewater. Dreary, waterless country. He turns back. Sends the drays by Gawler's Ranges to Streaky Bay. Fresh supplies from Adelaide. The Water-Witch sent with supplies to Streaky Bay..................392

CHAPTER XXV.

OVERLAND JOURNEY TO KING GEORGE'S SOUND.

Set out from Streaky Bay the 6th of November. Cut their way with axes through the scrub. Smoky Bay. A mound-bird's nest with large eggs. Wretched waterless country. Fowler's Bay. Mr. Eyre goes with a small party to try to reach the head of the Bight. Dreadful journey. Three horses perish. They bury most of their stores. Get back exhausted to Fowler's Bay. Resolved yet to make another attempt. Mr. Eyre sent back part of his party in the Water-Witch, and again set out. Ever the same frightful country. Again turned back to Fowler's Bay. Advices from Adelaide to give up the undertaking, but he set out on horseback, with one white, three native boys, nine horses, one Timor pony, and six sheep. Still more horrible journey. Abandon pack-saddles, water-kegs, fire-arms, ammunition, etc. Brush the dew from the bushes. Cut roots for water. Kill their last sheep. Kill a horse, and dry the flesh. The overseer murdered by the black boys. Still 500 miles from King George's Sound. Specimen of native voracity. Reach Mount Ragged. Shoot a kangaroo. The black guide's supper. Traces of Europeans. A ship's name cut on a tree. Reach the Russell Ranges. The break in the country for 500 miles. Cape Arid. A pool of rain-water. Another example of the black boy's selfishness. A vessel in view in Thistle Cove. The vessel French. Mr. Eyre hospitably entertained by Captain Rossiter. Supplied with stores. The journey renewed, and Albany reached on the 26th of July. On this journey no water had been found on the surface for 800 miles, and seven days the horses were without water altogether. The great thing demonstrated was the hopelessness of the route. Captain Frome's journey to Mount Serle in 1843. Mr. Eyre's subsequent fortunes............402

CHAPTER IV. DISCOVERIES OF CAPTAIN COOK IN AUSTRALIA, VAN DIEMEN'S LAND, AND NEW ZEALAND FROM 1768 TO 1770.

CHAPTER IV.

DISCOVERIES OF CAPTAIN COOK IN AUSTRALIA, VAN DIEMEN'S LAND, AND NEW ZEALAND FROM 1768 TO 1770.

Sailed from Plymouth in 1768, to prosecute discoveries in the southern hemisphere. – Previous voyages of Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook in the Pacific. – Accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander in the ship Endeavour. – Passed through the Straits of Le Maire into the Pacific, and noticed a transit of Venus, June the 4th, 1767. – Sailed for New Zealand, taking with him Tupia, a native priest, and a native boy with him. – October 7, touched the Northern Island at Poverty Bay. – Thought they had reached the Australian continent. – Striking description of the country and people. – Their warlike aspect and character, and unwillingness to be friendly. – Cook kidnaps two youths uselessly. Sailed westward, naming Cape Table, Portland Island, Hawke's Bay. – People still hostile. – Tupia's language intelligible to them. – Skirmish with the natives Natives afterwards come on board. – Cook coasted along from Cape Turnagain to Tolega Bay, where they landed. – Description of the people, and their mode of life. – Their fenced gardens. – Boys found whipping tops. – Nails not valued. – Visited a hippah or pah. – Plants and trees of the country. – Wild celery. – Coasts on eastward to Mercury Bay, and Bay of Islands. – People everywhere defiant or thievish. – Various birds seen. – The vast Kauri pines. – Numerous villages on the coast. – Many mountains inland. – Named many heads, points, and bays on the coast. – Bay of Islands. – Cape Maria van Diemen. – The Three King's Islands. – The north-west coast to Queen Charlotte's Sound. – Cape and Mount Egmont. – Sojourn there in Ship Cove till January, 1770. – Murderer's Bay of Tasman. – Went on shore. – Signs of cannibalism. – Steep mountains. – The woods impenetrable. – Abundance of fish in the sea. – Music of birds at sunrise. – Natives there friendly. – Purchased tattoed heads. – Manners and dress of the people. – Sailed through the strait between the North and Middle Islands. – Named its bays and capes. – Various capes and bays named by him. – Character of these islands, coasts, and mountains. – Sailed in March, 1770, in quest, of Australia. – Cook's opinions of New Zealand and New Zealanders. – Recent opinions regarding Captain Cook's treatment of the natives in New Zealand. – Cook sighted Point Hicks and Ram Head in Australia. – Liked the look of the country. – Made a chart of the coast from Hicks' Point to Torres Straits. – Named all the bays and points as far as Botany Bay, and laid down a chart of the coast. – Delight of Banks and Solander at the prodigality of strange and beautiful flowers. – Natives with their painted bodies, boomerangs, and womeras. – Huts and canoes. – Character of the country. – Strange birds. – Passed Port Jackson without examining it. – Sailed northwards. – Moreton Bay. – Still northward to Bustard Bay, where they landed. – Mangroves, gum-tree ants, native companions, and natives. – Bay of Inlets. – Cumberland Islands. – Landed again. – Cape Tribulation, ship runs on a coral reef. – Endeavour River. – Land their stores to repair the ship's bottom. – New experiences of the country there. – Sail for Torres Straits. – Names of bays, points, islands, etc. – Providential Channel. – Cape York. – York Isles. – Crowds of Islands. – Did any one traverse the east coast before Cook? – Cook's voyage along the southern coast of New Guinea, and thence home by the Cape of Good Hope. – Great work done by Cook in this survey. – The value of his charts of the coast. – Cook's remarks on Australia and its natives.

IN May, 1708, Captain James Cook sailed down the Thames from Deptford Yard, in the ship Endeavour, and

CAPTAIN COOK SENT OUT BY GEORGE III.

anchored in Plymouth Sound, preparatory to a voyage to Otaheite in the South Seas, in order to observe the transit of Venus, and after that to prosecute discoveries in the southern hemisphere. This voyage was one of a series instituted by George III., and executed under the commands of Commodore Byron, and Captains Wallis, Carteret, and Cook, in the ships Dolphin, Swallow, and Endeavour. As the explorations of the commanders preceding Cook were on the coasts of South America and in the Pacific, not extending to Australia or New Zealand, they concern us no further than as they paved the way for the Australian discoveries.

Captain Cook was now not only to make a more extensive research amongst the islands of the various groups of the South Sea, hut he was directed to follow out the discoveries by Tasman, regarding New Zealand, called by Tasman Staaten Land, and Van Diemen's Land, in order to ascertain whether they constituted portions of the great, and still vaguely known Australian continent.

In order to render effective the discoveries in natural history, Captain Cook was accompanied by Joseph, afterwards Sir Joseph Banks, a gentleman of property in Lincolnshire, but who was zealously devoted to scientific pursuits, especially of botany. Mr. Banks had already made a voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1763, where he had suffered considerable hardships in pursuit of his favourite science, but this did not deter him from engaging in the then formidable enterprise of a visit to the antipodes. He engaged Dr. Solander, another eminent botanist to accompany him. Solander was a Swede, and educated under Linnaeus himself, from whom he had brought letters of recommendation to England, and in consequence of which he had been appointed to an office in the British Museum. Two draftsmen were also engaged by Mr. Banks, one to draw views and figures, the other to paint the various subjects of natural history that they might discover. On the completion of the voyage, the journals of both Mr. Banks and Captain Cook were put into the hands of Dr. Hawksworth, from

THE TRANSIT OF VENUS OBSERVED BY COOK.

whom we have the authentic account of this voyage, in two vols. 4to.

Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth on the 26th of August, and proceeded by Rio Janeiro and through the Straits of Le Maire into the Pacific, and arrived at Otaheite in April of the following year, 1769. The transit of Venus was successfully observed on the 4th of June, and having employed themselves in making a familiar acquaintance with the inhabitants of the Society Islands, they sailed from Oterauh to New Zealand, on the 15th of August, taking with them from Otaheite Tupia, a native, and chief priest, and a boy, his servant, of about thirteen years of age. On the 7th of October they fell in with the south-east coast of Eaheinomawe, or what is now called the North Island of New Zealand, at a place which they named Poverty Ray.

Tasman had struck New Zealand in Queen Charlotte's Sound, and came to anchor in the large bay in the mouth of the Straits between the North and Middle Islands without discovering those straits. The natives attacked one of his boats' crew, and killed three of them, whence he named the bay Murderers' Bay, now called after him, Tasman's Bay. Thence he steered along the north-west coast of New Zealand, not venturing again to land; then continued his course as far as the Three Kings' Islands, which he sailed round; and from this point advanced northwards, not having determined whether this land was an island or islands, or part of the great Terra Australis. It now remained for Cook, and formed part of his duty, according to his instructions, to ascertain what the country really was.

Like Tasman, Cook and his companions found the natives bold and aggressive. They were ready to fight any number of the strangers, and even when they saw the effect of their fire-arms did not appear a whit daunted. Cook did not know that he had fallen in with Staaten Land, but says the country was the subject of much eager conversation, and the general opinion was that they had found the Terra Australis incognita.

DESCRIPTION OF STAATEN LAND.

They describe the first appearance of the country as very striking, with four or five ranges of hills rising one above another, and a chain of mountains above all, which appeared to be of an enormous height. They sailed into a large bay: the hills round covered with wood, some of the trees in the valley very large. They saw smoke rising from various places, and houses small but neat. They were much struck with the sight of a hippah, or fortification of the natives, and could not conceive what it was. "Upon a small peninsula, at the north-east head, we could plainly perceive a pretty high and regular paling, which enclosed the whole top of a hill, which was the subject of much speculation, some supposing it to be a park of deer, others an enclosure for oxen and sheep." The sides of the bay were of white cliffs of a great height, the middle, low land, with hills rising gradually behind, one towering above another, and terminating in the chain of mountains, which appeared far inland. They discovered a small, clear river, and on landing were soon attacked by the natives with lances, and a sort of war-hatchet, of green talc, capable of splitting the hardest skull at a blow. They saw that these daring natives had their hair drawn up on all sides, and tied on the top of their heads, just as Tasman had described the people of Staaten Land, but they had no feathers stuck in this knot. They found it impossible to come to an amicable understanding with them, although they discovered that Tupia was perfectly understood by them, and assured them no harm was intended them; and they could not effect their retreat without shooting one of them dead. The next day, in again endeavouring to open intercourse with them, they succeeded in approaching them, but then they became as thievish as they had before shown themselves daring; they endeavoured to snatch away their arms, and were only prevented by wounding some of them with small shot.

Failing in his attempts at communication on land, Cook now endeavoured to take some of them that came

HOSTILITY OF THE NATIVES.

out in boats, carry them on board, and win their confidence by treating them kindly. This, however, was not accomplished without killing four more of them. Cook captured two youths, and carried them aboard, where they soon became reconciled, and eat and drank voraciously, but on being put ashore, no confidence was inspired by them amongst their friends, as had been expected, and Tupia telling Cook that they were still hostile and dangerous, Cook weighed anchor and followed the coast eastward. He named the south-west point of Poverty Bay, Young Nick's Head, from Nicholas Young, the boy who first saw land. They soon saw and named Cape Table, and Portland Island, and then Hawke's Bay. They could see the mountains inland covered with snow; and vast numbers of people watching from different parts of the shore. These still displayed the same hostility, and came off ever and anon in their boats, and menaced them with great bravado. When some of them came near enough, Tupia told them of their folly, for the white men had weapons that like thunder would kill them in a moment, and tear their canoes to atoms; that to show them the effect without hurting them, they would now use them, whereupon a four-pounder loaded with grape shot was fired, which by its flash, its roar, and the effect of the shot far-off on the water, astonished them for a moment, but only for a moment. Being persuaded to come near, and barter being attempted, they took every thing offered, but then refused to give the articles presented for exchange, and ended by seizing Tayeto, Tupia's boy, who was sent down into the boat along side to hand up the articles to be received from them, and carrying him off in a canoe. This compelled Cook to fire on them again, one man was killed, and two others wounded, the boy was let go and sprang into the water, where, however, he was only protected till he reached the ship, by the fire-arms of the crew.

Finding it hopeless to establish any intercourse with these people, Cook named the south-west point of the bay where this occurred, Kidnapper's Point, and sailed

NATIVES COME ON BOARD.

on eighteen leagues till he reached a high bluff head, with yellowish cliffs, where, seeing no signs of a harbour, he named it Cape Turnagain, and then veered about, and sailed back north-eastward. On passing Portland Island, a chief and his company, five altogether, in a canoe, came aboard, his kindness to the lads having at length produced its effect. They had their canoe hoisted on board, and staid all night without any misgivings. In the morning they were put out at Cape Table, appearing much astonished at finding themselves so far away from home. At twelve leagues from Cape Table, they saw and named Gable-End Foreland, from the likeness of a white cliff at its point to a gable-end. Every day now showed that the natives who came off in their canoes, had heard of what had taken place at Poverty Bay, and were more friendly and more disposed to trade fairly. Kindness and the cannon had done it.

At Tolega Bay, the English gentlemen ventured ashore, taking with them Tupia and Tayeto. Here they had their first close view of the houses and mode of life of the New Zealanders. They entered some of their huts, and saw them at their meals. These huts were very slight, and generally placed ten or fifteen together. They found them generally dining on fish, and eating to it the bruised and roasted roots of fern, the fibres of which some swallowed, but others spit out like quids of tobacco into baskets set beside them for the purpose. This was in October; in the more advanced season, they understood that they had plenty of excellent vegetables, but they saw no animals except dogs, which they understood that they eat like the South Sea Islanders. They visited their gardens, which consisted of from one acre to ten, and altogether in the bay amounted to 150 or 200 acres in extent. They were planted with sweet potatoes, coccos or eddas, such as are used in the East and West Indies, yams and gourds; but few of them were yet above ground. Their plantations were carefully fenced in with reeds.

They found both men and women painted with red

VISITED A HIPPAH.

ochre and oil, but the women much the most so; and like the South Sea Islanders they saluted by touching noses. They wore petticoats of a native cloth made from the New Zealand flax, and a sort of cloak or mantle of a much coarser kind. They found them much more modest in manner, and cleanly in their homes than the Otaheiteans. They had places of retirement, and dung hills to which were carried all offal, remains of fish and the like. They bartered their cloth and war-weapons for European cloth, but nails they set no value on,, having as yet evidently no knowledge of iron and its uses. What astonished the English greatly was to find boys whipping tops exactly like those of Europe. They visited a hippah on a hill in this bay and there learned the use of the enclosures of pallisadoes, namely, for defence from their enemies, in case of invasion. They also found some houses larger and more strongly built than those on the shore. The men had their faces wonderfully tattooed, and their cheeks cut in spiral lines of great regularity: and many of them had their garments bordered with strips of dog and rat skins, which animals, however, they learnt were very scarce. They measured one canoe, made out of the boles of three trees, which was sixty-eight feet and a half long, five wide, and three high. These, as well as their houses, were much adorned with carvings, in which they seemed to prefer spiral lines and distorted faces: but the work was so well done, that they believed they must have much sharper tools than any that they saw.

Dr. Solander and Mr. Banks found various plants and trees unknown to them. The country abounded with excellent celery: the ridges of the hills produced little except fern, but the sides were clothed with luxuriant woods, in which they found above twenty sorts quite new to them. The tree they cut for firing was something like our maple, and yielded a whitish gum: another was of a deep yellow, which they thought would prove a dye wood. There were numbers of cabbage palms; and the forest abounded with birds of great variety, both in

PEOPLE EVERYWHERE DEFIANT.

note and plumage, many very beautiful and very musical. In their walks they came upon a tall cliff, through which was a large opening giving a view of the sea.

In the same manner that they had sailed hither, Cook and his ship's company continued along the south-east coast as far as Mercury Bay, and thence to the Bay of Islands. Everywhere they saw villages along the coast, and everywhere the inhabitants came off in their canoes and uttered defiance to the ship. The New Zealanders displayed the same character that they have done on all occasions, and are doing at this moment in the Maori War, defying any amount of forces, without the least calculation of the relative strength betwixt the two parties – courage without bounds and without reflection. Half a dozen naked men in a crazy canoe would defy a large ship with all its cannon and musketry, even after they had seen their destructive effects. Sometimes they assumed a more friendly aspect, and began to trade; but as soon as they had obtained what they wanted, they refused to give up the equivalent, and laughed at all menace of consequences, till they suffered wounds or death as a punishment, and then the survivors paddled off for the time.

In latitude 37° 59', longitude 193° 7, they saw the island Mowtuhora, and on the main land near it, at no great distance from the sea, a high, round mountain, which they named Mount Edgecombe. Soon after they passed a group of islands, which they called the Mayor and Court of Aldermen, when the people sung their song of defiance at the passing vessel. In one place they went ashore, found several new plants, and shot some birds with black plumage and red legs, and saw a battle with lances between two natives, which soon degenerated into a boxing-match. In another place they saw a woman sitting and weeping, and cutting herself on the arms, face, and breast, in lamentation for the death of her husband, who had been killed in an attempt at stealing from the ship. The shores were lined with mangrove trees, and they named a river Mangrove River, and another Oyster River, from the quantity of fine oys-

CAPE MARIA VAN DIEMEN.

ters. In another place, after leaving Mercury Bay, they measured a pine-tree, no doubt the famous kauri pine, which was eighty-nine feet to the first branch, as straight as an arrow, and nineteen feet in the girth at six feet above the ground; having, as they calculated, 360 feet of solid timber in it, exclusive of the branches.

Thus, occasionally landing, and occasionally fighting, they advanced to a large bay, lying betwixt latitudes 34° and 35°, which they named the Bay of Islands. Having along the coast to that place, named a river the River Thames; the north-west point on the river, Point Rodney, and the north-east promontory, Cape Colville: six leagues from Cape Colville, a group of islands, Barrier Islands. After this came Bream Bay, Bream Head, the Hen and Chicken Isles, and finally Cape Brett, being the point on the south at the entrance of the bay, and the north point of it, Cape Pococke. This bay abounded with islands, and the people showed themselves audaciously hostile; the same people, in fact, who, in 1772, massacred Captain Marion du Fresne, and some of his crew. Mr. Banks and Hr. Solander were attacked by them whilst on shore botanizing, and they were obliged to fire on them. They describe the scenery as very beautiful, the land very populous; the people very much addicted to fishing, having enormous nets, and keeping them in heaps, like hay-cocks covered with a thatch, to protect them from the weather. They saw the paper mulberry growing there. The coast abounded with towns and plantations.

From the Bay of Islands, Cook followed the coast to the very northernmost point, or Cape Maria Van Diemen of Tasman, observing and naming on the way, Doubtless Bay, Knuckle Point, Sandy Bay, Mount Carmel, and North Cape. It was now December, 1769, and after sailing to within view of the Three Kang's Islands, Cook put about and proceeded down the north-west coast of New Zealand to Queen Charlotte's Sound. He must long before this have been certain that it was New Zealand off which he was, though he nowhere says so, till

MURDERER'S BAY OF TASMAN.

he remarks, "This must be the Cape Maria Van Diemen of Tasman." On the northern coast of the island Cook seems to have bestowed little attention, naming only Woody Head, in latitude 37° 43', Gamut Island and Albatross Point, in latitude 38° 4' S., till he struck the far-projecting promontory which he named Cape Egmont, with its lofty mountain, Mount Egmont.

On the west side of the bay lying under Cape Egmont, as Cook at that moment supposed it, but which was the strait betwixt the two main islands, Cook now took up his station, in a snug cove, and put down a flag-staff, on which he hoisted the Union Jack, and had inscribed on the staff the name of his ship, and the date of its arrival. This flag-staff was erected near the watering-place, and another was erected on the island lying nearest to the sea, and he named the inlet Queen Charlotte's Sound. Here he staid from January 14th, 1770, till February 5th, when he sailed out to ascertain whether this was a bay or a strait. Here Cook and his company learned more of the character and habits of the natives than had yet been possible to them. They found themselves only fifteen miles south of Tasman's Murderers' Bay, yet no one remembered having seen a ship before, or even heard of such a thing; the tradition of Tasman's visit 126 years before having evidently died out. At first the natives appeared inclined to be hostile, but the effect of firearms made them think better of it. On going on shore the gentlemen very soon saw indubitable evidences of cannibalism. The people did not attempt to conceal or deny the fact, but asserted that they only eat their enemies, which subsequent information has in the main confirmed.

The bay where they were Captain Cook described as of vast extent, and consisting of numberless small harbours and coves in every direction. The water about four leagues to the other side. The country on both sides was thickly wooded, and so full of bush, that the forest was impenetrable: it was also extremely mountainous, the mountains ascending higher and higher into

FRIENDLY CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES.

the interior. Even near the shore they could find no piece of ground level enough for a potato garden. But the sea abounded with fish, which they caught daily in abundance. The natives had circular nets, held open at the top by hoops; these they baited with sea-ears at the bottom, and after leaving the net in the water some time, they lifted it out with plenty of fish, much after the German fashion. Cook describes the birds as singing early every morning on shore in vast numbers, and with so delightful a melody, that he said he had never heard anything like it. It was like a multitude of small bells most exquisitely tuned. They always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continued till sunrise, when they became silent for the day.

The people became very friendly, and began to ascertain the value of nails; and the gentlemen purchased, amongst other things, some human bones and human heads, finely tattooed, and preserved by drawing the brains out, as proofs of cannibalism, which many in England were disposed to deny the existence of. They daily collected much wild celery, as an anti-scorbutic. In one place they were astonished to see a wooden cross erected, and adorned with feathers, as a monument of some one deceased. The women also wore tufts of black feathers on their heads. They found that, like the Australians, these people were continually at war with other tribes, and they saw numbers of women sitting on the ground and lamenting, and cutting themselves for their husbands, sons, and brothers, who had been killed and eaten.

Captain Cook ascended a hill, and saw enough to persuade him that they were in the mouth of a strait running between Eaheinomauwe and this part of the country called Tavai-Poenammoo. The rest of the gentlemen did not agree with him, but on the 5th of February he sailed out, after making some inquiries of an old man as to a passage into the eastern seas, which he confirmed. The harbour in which they had lain, he called Ship Cove. They found the tide in this passage rising between seven and eight feet perpendicularly. The narrowest part of the

CAPES AND BAYS NAMED BY COOK.

strait lying between Cape Tierawitte and Cape Koamaroo, he judged to be between four and five leagues wide, and the ebb of the tide carried them through with dangerous rapidity; this fact being before unknown to them, as were the various islands, rocks and reefs, which they had to pass. The southernmost land which they had in sight was a mountain, stupendously lofty, and covered with snow. This proved to be the south-western boundary of the entrance to the strait, and was named by Cook, Cape Campbell; whilst the north-western point he named Cape Palliser; the distance between them being calculated by him to be between thirteen and fourteen leagues. A bay which they passed before reaching Cape Campbell, he named Cloudy Bay.

On reaching the South Sea Cook put about and sailed north-east by east to make sure that, after all, they had passed the strait; for some of the officers contended that it might be only a vast bay, and the land stretch away south-east from between Cape Palliser and Cape Turn-again. He therefore sailed till he sighted Cape Turnagain, when he called the officers and asked them what they thought then. They confessed that Eaheinomauwe was an island, for they had gone completely round it. They now put about again, and went westward, and in the same manner sailed round the two other islands, supposing them to be one. Banks's Peninsula Cook took for an island, seeing, he says, an opening near the south point, which however was merely a bay, and he named it Banks's Island after Mr. Banks. He next named Cape Sanders, and finally rounded the western point of the south island, calling it South Cape. Here again he did not discover the strait between the South and Middle Island, though he named the island north-west of the Cape, Solander's Island, and was near enough to see what he thought a large bay between it and South Cape, which, in reality, was Foveaux Strait. At the south-west point of Middle Island, or Tavi-Poenammoo, he discovered Dusky Bay, Five Fingers' Point, Cape West, and sailed by Rock's Point, to a Bay near Queen Charlotte's Sound, which he

COOK'S OPINION OF NEW ZEALAND.

named Admiralty Bay, giving the name of Cape Stephens; to the north-west point, and of Cape Jackson to the south-west point.

He had now sailed round the whole of New Zealand, determining its size and general figure, its character and appearance, yet not so minutely as to leave nothing for future explorers. The land everywhere rose at some little distance from the shore into mountains; which appeared totally barren, and they saw no signs of inhabitants. When they had rounded the west end of the islands, the land rose almost perpendicularly from the sea to a stupendous height, the summits of the mountains being covered with snow. About Cape West, on the 17th of March, the valleys as well as the hills were covered with snow. Near the sea were woody hills and valleys, having much appearance of fertility, but further inland a more craggy, rude and desolate coast could not be conceived; for as far inland as the eye could reach there appeared nothing but the summits of rocks, standing so close together, that instead of valleys, there appeared only fissures. On the 31st of March, 1770, Cook sailed from New Zealand in search of Australia, and named the point of land which he last saw, Cape Farewell.

Cook's general opinion of New Zealand was that it was in fact one long chain of mountains, with fertile valleys near the shores, and dense, and in many places, impenetrable woods. The inhabitants he regarded as robust, active, and clever; extremely warlike, but if you once became friendly with them, inclined to be very friendly. Determined cannibals as they were, they had, however, advanced in the arts beyond many other aborigines. Their canoes were often large, well-constructed, and ornamented with open-work carving of considerable excellence. Their war vessels had a high frame-work at the stem of open work, and from it streamed long cords of feathers. Their houses had also much good carving, especially on chests and implements of war, the handles of feather fans and the like. The bodies of both men and women were tattooed, and the faces of chiefs wonderfully scored with

OPINIONS OF COOK'S TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES.

these markings. They made and wore much cloth from the Phormium tenax, and the Morus papyrifera, both fine and very coarse and shaggy. Of their particular manners, and of the productions of the country, his voyages to these islands furnish ample details, as well as specimens of their language.

Dr. Thomson, in his "Story of New Zealand," says, "Taranga, an inlet on the east coast of the North Island, in the province of Auckland, is still celebrated as the spot were Cook first landed....

"Without measuring the past by the present standard, the savage New Zealanders on several occasions acted as civilized men, and the Christians like savages. For example, Captain Cook left the country without having had one of his men killed or wounded by the natives, while they had to mourn the loss of ten men killed, and many others wounded by the English during this visit.

"Cook's mode of action, and the New Zealanders' style of reasoning are strikingly developed in the following melancholy event. The English part of the story is found in Dr. Hawksworth's 'Narrative of Cook's Voyages;' the native part was furnished by Te Taniwha, a contemporary of Cook, who died in 1853. Lieutenant Gore fired from the ship's deck at a New Zealander in a canoe, who had defrauded him of a piece of calico. In the excitement of paddling to escape, the injury done by the musket was not noticed by the natives in the canoe, although detected by Lieutenant Gore from the ship's deck, as Maru-tu-ahua, the man shot, scarcely altered his position. When the canoe reached the shore the natives found their comrade sitting dead on the stolen calico, which was stained with his life's blood, the ball having entered his back. Several chiefs investigated into the affair, and declared that Maru-tu-ahua deserved his fate; that he stole, and was killed for so doing; and that his life-blood should not he revenged on the strangers. Seeing, however, Maru-tu-ahua had paid for the calico with his life, it was not taken away from him, but was wrapped round his body as a winding-sheet. Sin-

COOK'S CHART OF HICKS'S POINT.

gular to relate, Captain Cook landed soon after the murder, and traded as if nothing had occurred. Would Cook's ship's crew have acted thus if one of them had been slain?" – Vol. i. p. 231.

This account is somewhat unfair to Cook, as the above narrative shows. That the natives killed none of his men on this visit was more owing to the superiority of his arms, than good will towards him. They attacked him on the first landing, and compelled him by their very intense love of thieving, and by actually attempting to kidnap Tupia's boy, to fire on them. They treated Tasman worse. They massacred a number of his men when he was most kindly disposed towards them.

On the 19th of April sighted the south coast of Australia in latitude 38°, and longitude 148° 50', at a point of land which he named. Point Hicks, after the first lieutenant who discovered it. Four leagues more eastward he named another point Ram Head; both of these are well-known localities on the coast of the present Gippsland, in the colony of Victoria. Thence he ran eastward to a point where the coast tended north, and named this Cape Howe. He thought on this, his first view of the great Australian land, "that it had a very pleasing appearance. It is of a moderate height, diversified by hills and valleys, ridges, and plains, interspersed with a few lawns of no great extent, but in general covered with wood. The ascent of the hills and ridges is gentle, and the summits are not high." They saw smoke in several places, and so knew that the country was inhabited.

Cook was the first to give us a chart of the eastern coast of Australia, from Hicks's Point to Torres Straits. It has required considerable correction and completion, the respective latitudes and longitudes more exactly determining, and the whole line of coast more minutely examining, but as a whole it was a great work, and a fine basis for the succeeding labours of Flinders and other navigators and hydrographers.

Between Cape Howe and Sydney Cove he examined

UNFRIENDLY CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES.

and named Mount and Cape Dromedary, Bateman Bay, Point Upright, Pigeon House, Cape St. George, Long Nose, Bed Point, and Botany Bay. He made and noted many soundings, and gave the latitude and longitude, the latitude being generally more correct than the longitude. The distances were all laid down in his chart in leagues, and the variation of the needle recorded.

The first place at which they got an opportunity of landing was at Botany Bay, so called from the variety of new plants and trees that Messrs. Banks and Solander found there. It was in April, an autumnal month of the Australian year; the botanists must have been enchanted at the profusion of flowers, and flowering shrubs, and trees, had it been September. The Banksias, named after Sir Joseph, with their golden bottle bushes and of numerous species, must have struck them with surprise, and they would have found the whole of the sandy heaths around carpeted with bloom, and the shrubs resplendent with blossoms, befitting the most select conservatory. They saw at a distance many trees, which they took for palms, and particularly cabbage palms. Several natives made their appearance, and brandished their weapons in defiance, these weapons being spears and a crooked something like a cimeter – the boomerang. The men were painted with streaks of white, and had their faces dusted with a white powder. These natives came boldly and threw their lances at them by means of their womeras, or throwing sticks, and refused all acquaintance. Notwithstanding, Captain Cook landed with Messrs. Banks, and Solander, and Tupia, but were again attacked by the natives, who were only taught to keep their distance by a discharge or two of small shot; as to all invitations to intercourse, they stoutly rejected them. On one occasion, a midshipman came suddenly in the woods on an old man and woman and some little children, and offered them a parrot that he had shot, but they refused it. Others they saw on the shore striking fish with the spear.

Unlike the Australian natives in general, these had

CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.

huts made by bending long poles down at each end into the ground, thus forming a globular abode open at one side for entrance. These were thatched with evergreen leaves, but were so small that only two or three people could lie down in them with their legs close drawn up. At these huts they more than once left presents, but they found them there on the next visit unregarded. They saw the footmarks of what afterwards proved to be the kangaroo, the wild dog, and the wild cat. They found trees cut down by some blunt instrument, and others barked. Of this bark, they found a canoe made by tying up the two ends, and smearing the joints with gum. The middle of the boat was propped open by a stick, and they pronounced it the most wretched thing in the shape of a boat that they had ever seen amongst any aborigines.

The country round was level, low, and sandy, abounding with woods, the trees of which appeared of two kinds, a eucalyptus and a pine, with several kinds of palm. Beneath the trees, there was no brush-wood, but frequently fine turf, and in others tall and huge tufts of grass. They found a fruit something like a cherry, but not possessing much flavour. Farther inland, they discovered open country interspersed with marshes, in some directions shewing fine meadows, in others wild extents of dry moorland. The head of the bay was lined with mangroves, and the birds were very numerous, and of exquisite beauty, especially those of the parrot kind. One they describe, black and white, much larger than a swan, and in shape resembling a pelican. Quails were in thousands. Fish of various kinds was abundant. The natives were quite naked. Such was the first acquaintance of Cook and Banks with Australia.

In proceeding northwards, Cook passed the heads of Port Jackson without entering to explore the interior. Thereby he lost the honour of opening up that splendid bay. He says only that he came abreast of a bay, or harbour, in which there appeared to be good anchorage, and which he name a Port Jackson. Proceeding onwards, he named Broken Bay, Cape Three Points, Point and

MORETON BAY.

Port Stephens, Cape Hawke, the Three Brothers, and Smoky Cape, with no remarks of particular interest. Arriving in latitude 30° 22', he says that the land gradually increased in height; that between that latitude and Botany Bay the land exhibited pleasing features, hills, vallies, plains, all clothed with wood. The shores low and sandy; more backward, rocky hills, looking like islands. In that latitude, they had also small rocky islands. They saw smoke in many places, and occasionally natives. At Cape Byron, they found themselves earned insensibly hack by a current, and Mount Warning and Point Danger they named on account of shoals and breakers. They next came to Point Look-out, so named also from breakers ahead, and on approaching it saw a wide open bay, which they named Moreton's Bay, in the bottom of which the land was so low that Cook could but just see it from the top-mast; the north point of the bay he named Cape Moreton. The wind did not permit him to enter the bay. He next named Glasshouse Bay, and the Glasshouses, hills shaped like glasshouses, Double Island Point, Indian Head, Wide Bay, and Sandy Cape. The islands here, including Great Sandy Island, Cook, in sailing past, took for points of land. Sandy Cape he placed in latitude 24° 45', and says it is high enough to be seen at the distance of twelve leagues in clear weather.

Here they found the land rapidly trending westward. A great shoal ran far out from Sandy Cape, which they named Break Sea Spit. Cook crossed the shoal at eight leagues from Sandy Cape. Passing a large bay, which they named Hervey's Bay, they came to anchor in another bay, in latitude 24° 19', which they named Bustard Bay, from killing a fine bustard there, commonly known in Australia as the wild turkey. Hear the sea the land was low, but showing lofty hills further inland covered with woods. Captain Cook landed with Messrs. Banks and Solander, the other gentlemen, and Tupia. They soon found themselves amongst bogs and salt-water lagoons, where grew the true mangroves, the first Cook

LANDED AGAIN.

had seen since he was in the West Indies. On the branches of these mangroves, there were numbers of the nests of the same green ants that Leichhardt afterwards noticed, which, if you stirred the trees, dropped down in legions, and stung you unmercifully. Also on the mangrove leaves, were small green caterpillars, ranged close side by side, and the hairs of which stung like nettles. They observed new kinds of eucalyptus, one with leaves which drooped like those of weeping willows, and different acacias yielding gum. They saw the same birds larger than swans, which they had seen at Botany Bay, probably native companions. Natives were seen about who avoided them, and they came upon a native camp, where they saw several rude vessels of bark, and pieces of bark lying on the ground, the length of a man, which they imagined that they slept on; on the wind side of the fires, a small screen of green houghs, about a foot and a half high, and that was all their dwelling-place. Even Tupia shook his head with an air of superiority, and said, "Poor wretches!"

They now followed the shore without much adventure, past various bays and capes, all rapidly trending westward, and along shores studded with islands. These they named Cape Capricorn, Keppel Bay, Keppel's Islands, Cape Manifold, and Cape Townshend. On rounding Cape Townshend, they came into a vast bay abounding with islands, which they named Northumberland Isles. The bay they called the Bay of Inlets, and another extensive group of islands on its northern extremity the Cumberland Islands. Into the depth of this bay they steered, and lay to in an inlet betwixt islands, which they called Thirsty Sound, because they could find no fresh water. The northern point of this bay they named Cape Palmerston.

Penetrating into the land here, they found deep swamps and farther off hills; but they also made acquaintance with various Australian things. They found their clothes penetrated by the sharp grass seeds so familiar to Australians; they found on the branches of gum trees

THE SHIP ON A CORAL REEF.

ants' nests of clay, as large as bushels, the abode of white ants, very different to the white ants of the Indies; for these were sluggish and not much more active than maggots. Besides these were myriads of small black ants, which eat into the centre of young trees, and devouring the pith, ascend into their topmost twigs, leaving all hollow. There were also myriads of butterflies, and a species of fish hopping about on land. It was about the size of a minnow, having two strong breast fins with which it leapt along. They put some of them into the water, but there they preferred to hop from projecting stone to stone, to immersing themselves in the water. They also found the needle of the compass performing variations very strange, even differing from itself as they went from place to place. They picked up different stones to observe whether they affected the needle, but they did not, and they concluded that the influence was collectively in the hills.

From this place to Trinity Bay, they named Cape Hillsborough, Repulse Bay, Cape Conway, Whitsunday Passage, Cape Gloucester, Edgcombe Bay and Holborn Isle, Mount Upstart, Cape and Bay of Cleveland, Halifax Bay, with the Palm and Magnetical Islands at its mouth, Point Hillock and Cape Sandwich, Rockingham Bay, Double Point and Cape Grafton, with various islands. "Hitherto," says Cook, "we had navigated this dangerous coast, where the sea in all parts contains shoals, that suddenly project from the shore, and rocks that rise abruptly like pyramids from the bottom, for an extent of two-and-twenty degrees of latitude, more than a thousand three hundred miles, and therefore hitherto none of the names given by us are memorials of distress; but here we became acquainted with misfortune, and though we named the bay discovered on Trinity Sunday Trinity Bay, we called the northern point of it Cape Tribulation."

Here, indeed, they ran the ship on a coral reef, and she did not float off till ten o'clock on Monday night. Her bottom was so much damaged that they must have speedily sunk, in spite of all that the pumps could do,

EXCURSIONS MADE INTO THE COUNTRY.

had they not managed to haul under the ship a studding sail charged with oakum, wool, and other things, which did wonders, and enabled them to reach a river, which they thence named the Endeavour River, a few leagues to the north, where they ran her high enough to lay her on her side, having first taken down her fore-yard, foretop-masts, and booms. They then got out her stores, and made an enclosure for their preservation from the weather; then got out her coals and ballast, erected their tents on shore, and the carpenters went to work on her. All were amazed when they saw the hole that had been cut into her, and that they had only been saved by a mass of the rock having given way, and remained stuck fast in the opening.

From this time, June 21st to July 5th, was required lor the repair of the ship; and what with getting her reloaded and then by reason of contrary winds, it was not till the 4th of August that they were able to resume their voyage – a delay of upwards of six weeks. They were lying all this time in the latitude of Quiros's land of Experito Santo, which he fancied was part of Australia, but which, the New Hebrides, lay more than a thousand miles eastward of them.

During this long sojourn here, the gentlemen of the ship made many excursions into the country, and became possessed of several new experiences. The country around was a pleasant one of hills, valleys, and woods. They obtained from the sea abundance of fish, and from the shore admirable green turtle. In the country they gathered a kind of wild spinage, which was excellent when boiled. They saw three kinds of palm-trees, gathered the cabbages of the cabbage-palm, of two kinds and also the fruit of one that was poisonous. This last they found only in the northern parts. It was seldom more than ten feet high, with small pinnated leaves resembling some kind of fern. It bore no cabbage, but a plentiful crop of nuts, about the size of a large chesnut, but rounder. As they found the shells of these nuts around the fire-places of the natives, they took it for

CONDUCT OF THE NATIVES.

granted that they eat them; but those who partook of them amongst their company found them violently emetic and cathartic; and pigs to which they were given, though not immediately affected, were so in about a week, and two of them died. They supposed the natives had some means of getting rid of the poison, as is done by the cassava of the West Indies by washing and drying. They found the fruit of a wild plantain, but too full of stones to he very eatable; and also a fruit of the size of a golden pippin, of a deep purple colour, hard when gathered, but becoming in a few days soft, and in taste like an indifferent damson. They saw straw-coloured wild dogs, and at last shot some of the tall, jumping animals which they found the natives called kangaroos. The flesh proved delicious. Mr. Banks endeavoured to catch them with his greyhounds, but these were quickly left behind. They saw bats as large as partridges; killed an opossum; and the botanists discovered some new plants, amongst them the Hibiscus tiliaceus. Amongst the birds were cockatoos, black ones and white ones, numbers of crows, parrots, whistling ducks that sate on trees, curlews, and wild geese. They also made a more familiar acquaintance with the natives, who went quite nude, and did not knock out any of their front teeth, and still despised their presents of nails, beads, and clothes. On offending them they also were taught a characteristic practice of the natives, for they seized firebrands and set fire to the grass, to the windward of their ship and stores, by which they were in danger of having all destroyed. Having failed to burn the ship stores and tackle, they set the woods on fire all round, and were only driven off by firing at them.

From Endeavour River Cooks voyage to Torres Straits was made in a crazy vessel, for, after all its repairs, the ship was found leaky, and the pumps were rotten. Once out of the entangling shoals and reefs, they proceeded cautiously, noting the direction of the coast, the islands, and the soundings. It is not, therefore, necessary, to do more than name the bays, capes,

DISCOVERY OF CAPE YORK.

and islands to which they gave appellations. Passing Cape Flattery, they steered amongst some islands, which Cook named the Islands of Direction, the largest of which they called Lizard Island. On another they found one of those enormous nests on the ground mentioned by Dampier and Flinders, though no one ever saw the birds which built them. This was six-and-twenty feet in circumference, and two feet eight inches high, built with sticks. Amongst subsequent speculations regarding these enormous nests, it was suggested by Professor Hitchcock whether they might not belong to the Dinornis, or Moa, the bones of which have been found both in Victoria and in New Zealand, but Mr. Ronald Gunn, the able naturalist of Tasmania, has ascribed them to the Australian sea eagle, Ichthyoetus leucogaster.

Once clear of Lizard Island, Cook managed to get across an enormous coral reef, which runs at some little distance from the coast for several hundred miles, but the heavy seas from the east made him, in his crazy ship, glad to get once more inside of it. He effected this recrossing at an opening in the reef, which he named Providential Channel, about twenty leagues south of Cape Weymouth. This part of the voyage was performed at such a distance that Cook could make no accurate survey of the coast, and had merely traced there a dotted line. He had now constantly to steer his way amongst isles and shoals. Amongst these the chief were Forbes's, Hardy's, and Cockburn's Isles, lying at various distances off the coast opposite to Bolt Head, Temple Bay, and Cape Grenville, as named by him. Off Cape Grenville he named the islands the Bird Islands. Going onward he named Shelburne Bay, Orford Ness, and Newcastle Bay, and now in latitude 10° 47', as calculated by him; he reached the northernmost point of Australia, and named it Cape York. This is a fact of such great importance in the history of Australian discovery, that I shall give it in Cook's own words: –

"We saw that the northernmost land, which we had

COOK'S DESCRIPTION.

taken for the main, was detached from it, and that we might pass between them by running to leeward of the shoals on our larboard bow. * * * We had a strong flood, which carried us on east very fast. * * * The point of the main, which forms the side of the channel through which we passed, opposite to the island, is the northern promontory of the country, and I called it York Cape. Its longitude is 218° 24' west; the latitude of the north point is 10° 37', and of the east point 10° 41', south. The land over the east point, and to the southward of it, is rather low, and as far as the eye can reach, very flat, and of a barren appearance. To the southward of the cape the shore forms a large open bay, which I call Newcastle Bay, and in which are some low islands and shoals; the land adjacent is also very low, flat, and sandy. The land of the northern part of the cape is more hilly, the vallies seem to be well clothed with wood, and the shore forms some small bays, in which there appeared to be good anchorage. Close to the eastern point of the cape are three small islands, from one of which a small ledge of rocks runs out into the sea; there is also an island close to the northern point. The island that forms the strait or channel through which we had passed, lies about four miles without these, which, except two, are very small; the southernmost is the largest, and much higher than any part of the main land. On the north-west side of this island there appeared to be good anchorage, and on shore valleys, that promised both wood and water. These islands are distinguished in the chart by the name of York Isles. To the southward and south-east, and even to the eastward and northward of them, there are several other low islands, rocks, and shoals; our depth of water in sailing between them and the main was twelve, thirteen, and fourteen fathoms."

After proceeding about four miles, they found it necessary to leave the channel by the main land, and take one between the islands, the next channel to the northwards. At five o'clock they anchored at about two miles within

DISCOVERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

the channel, off the island which lies to the south-east point of the channel. On this island Cook landed with Banks and Solander, and a party of men. They saw ten natives on a hill, nine armed with lances, and the tenth with a bow and arrows, the last being weapons which they had never seen in the hands of Australian natives before. Like the natives of the north-west, mentioned by Tasman, they had no doubt borrowed them from the natives of New Guinea.

"We climbed," says Cook, "the highest hill, which was not more than three times as high as the mast head, and the most barren of any we had seen. From this hill no land could he seen between the south-west and the west-south-west, so that I had no doubt of finding a channel through. The land to the north-west of it consisted of a great number of islands of various extent, and different heights, ranged one behind another, as far to the northward and westward as I could see, which could not be less than thirteen leagues. As I now was about to quit the eastern coast of New Holland, which I had coasted from latitude 38° to this place, and which I am confident no European had ever been before, I once more hoisted English colours, and though I had already taken possession of several particular parts, I now took possession of the whole eastern coast, from latitude 38° to this place, latitude 10 1/2° S., in right of His Majesty King George III., by the name of New South Wales, with all the bays, rivers, and islands situated upon it. We then fired three vollies of small arms, which were answered by the same number from the ship. Having performed this ceremony upon the island, which we called Possession Island, we re-embarked in our boat, but a rapid ebb setting N. E., made our return to the vessel very difficult."-Cook's First Voyage round the World' by Hawksworth, vol. iii. p. 616.

There are two things in this statement worthy of remark. The number of islands crowding Torres Straits, one behind another, sufficiently explains how the captain of Tasman's yacht, the Limmen, came to suppose these to be continuous land, and that there was no passage.

ENDEAVOUR STRAITS.

But still more important is the assertion of Cook, that he is confident that no European had ever been on this eastern coast before. We have seen that in an old map in the British Museum, which was presented to the museum by Sir Joseph Banks, and supposed to be of the date of Francis I., of France; there was a general, though very inaccurate tracing of this coast, and various names having a similarity to those imposed by Cook. On this plea Dalrymple, the well-known hydrographist to the Admiralty, and author of various voyages and travels, charged Cook with being acquainted with this map before his own voyage. The assertion of Cook, that he confidently believed that no person had ever before him been on this coast, will, with every candid mind, be a sufficient assurance, that whoever had ever been on this coast before, Cook neither knew of that fact, nor of the existence of this map. Proceeding westward, Cook sailed along the channel, thence named Endeavour Straits, between the main land on the left, and the islands which he named the Prince of Wales's Islands, the most southwesterly point of which he named Cape Cornwall. Some low islands off the north-western point of Cape York, he named Wallis's Islands. On one of the smallest of these, which he called Booby Island, because it was a great haunt of those birds, he and Mr. Banks landed, and from the open sea westward now felt assured that they had passed the straits on the northernmost point of Australia. The length of these-Endeavour Straits he calculated at ten leagues, and their breadth five leagues, except at the north-east entrance where, contracted by the islands, it is only about two miles.

From this point Cook abandoned further exploration of the coast of Australia. He held north-eastward along the shores of New Guinea, intending to make his way to Batavia, and thence home by the Cape of Good Hope. At about sixty-five leagues north-east of Cape Walsh, where, like all other navigators, they found the natives prepared to repel them, they were at first inclined to believe that they had fire-arms, as they saw them make

COOK'S REMARKS ON AUSTRALIA.

sudden flashes of light in their ranks; but they discovered that these lights were flung from short pieces of cane. With Cook s exit from the Australian shores, however, ceases our present concern with him. He had done a magnificent work in his careful delineation of the great eastern coast, with all its capes, bays, islands, shoals, reefs, currents, winds, and depths of water, which are left recorded in his narrative, or marked on his chart. These have since been tested, and many of them corrected by a closer and more leisurely examination than Cook could give, by Captain Flinders; but our great circumnavigator had done a great work, and made the path of future navigators in that track comparatively easy. He had for the first time made the passage of Torres Straits, knowing that he was doing so. Torres, and perhaps others before him, made that passage, unaware of what they had accomplished. Cook knew what he had done, that he had put the separation between New Guinea and Australia beyond question, and so clearly recorded the fact, that the knowledge of it could not be lost again. Before quitting the shores of his New South Wales, he made a summary of his observations on the country. Most of these we have anticipated, but there are a few of his remarks that yet require to be added.

"To the southward of 33° and 34°, the land in general is low and level; farther northward it is hilly, but in no part can be called mountainous; and the hills and mountains taken together, make but a small part of the surface, in comparison with the valleys and plains. It is upon the whole rather barren than fertile, yet the rising ground is chequered by woods and lawns, and the plains and valleys are in many places covered with herbage; the soil, however, is frequently sandy, and many of the lawns or savannahs are rocky and barren, especially to the northward, where in the best spots, vegetation was less vigorous than in the southern part of the country; the trees were not so tall, nor was the herbage so rich. The grass in general is high, but thin, and the trees, where they are largest, are seldom less than forty feet

GENERAL CORRECTNESS OF COOK'S REMARKS.

asunder; nor is the country inland, as far as we could examine it, better clothed than the sea coast. * * * The soil in some parts seemed to be capable of improvement, but the far greater part is such as can admit of no cultivation. The coast, at least that part which lies to the northward of 25° S., abounds with fine bays and harbours, where vessels may lie in perfect security from all winds."

He adds, that the country appeared well watered, for though it was the dry season, he found innumerable small brooks and springs, but no great rivers, and he naturally supposed that these brooks became large in the rainy season.

Most of these observations are strikingly just; such of them as are not, subsequent and fuller knowledge of the country has corrected. He noticed several kinds of serpents, some noxious, some harmless; scorpions, centipedes, and lizards. The sea round the country he found far more liberal of food than the country; but he did not, and, indeed, in his hasty, coast view, could not perceive how prolific of all the elements of life it would become under the hand of civilized man. He saw but a very scanty sprinkling of population anywhere, and inferred that the same would prove the case in the interior. Whilst the canoes of the natives in the south were the miserable vehicles of bark already described, in the north he found them made of hollowed trunks of trees, about fourteen feet long, and fitted with an out-rigger, to prevent them upsetting. Cook and his friends were greatly puzzled to imagine how, with a wretched stone adze, a wooden mallet, and some shells and fragments of coral, they could fashion these boats. He inferred, from the almost total absence of the mechanic art on the coast, that there could be little civilization in the island, and time has shown that his inferences were sound.

CHAPTER V. VISITS OF CAPTAINS DE SURVILLE, ST. ALOUARN, AND MARION DU FRESNE, TO AUSTRALIA, VAN DIEMEN's LAND, AND NEW ZEALAND, IN 1769 AND 1772.

CHAPTER V.

VISITS OF CAPTAINS DE SURVILLE, ST. ALOUARN, AND MARION DU FRESNE, TO AUSTRALIA, VAN DIEMEN's LAND, AND NEW ZEALAND, IN 1796 AND 1772.

De Surville and Cook crossed at the mouth of Doubtless Bay, New Zealand, without seeing each other. – De Surville's treachery to the natives. – Carried off one, who pined and died. – De Surville drowned at Callao. – St. Alouarn's visit. – Marion du Fresne massacred with a number of his men. – The French version of the affair. – The native version of it.

DE SURVILLE was the next navigator who visited Hew Zealand. When Cook's ship, the Endeavour, was working out of Doubtless Bay in the North Island, De Surville's vessel, the St. Jean Baptiste from India, was sailing on, and neither navigator was aware of the other's vicinity.

What led to this Frenchman's visit was a rumour, widely circulated and universally believed, that the English had discovered an island of gold in the Southern Ocean. De Surville anchored his ship in Doubtless Bay in December, 1769, and immediately landed at Mongonia, and was received by crowds of natives, who were delighted and surprised at the confidence reposed in them, and, in return, they supplied the strangers with food and water. One day a storm arose as a party of invalids were endeavouring to reach the ship from the shore. Being driven back, the sick were detained by the inclemency of the weather for two days in the house of a chief named Naginoui, and by his people they were fed and carefully attended without remuneration. When the storm subsided, one of the ship's boats was missing, and De Surville, without any evidence for so doing, believed that the New Zealanders had stolen it. Under the guise of friendship, he invited Naginoui on board, accused him of the theft, and put him in irons. Not satisfied with this treacherous revenge, he burned the

VOYAGE OF MARION DU FRESNE.

village where his sick had found an asylum in the hour of need, and carried the chief away from his native land.

Naginoui did not survive his capture long; he pined for fern-root, wept that he would never again behold his children, and died of a broken heart eighty days after his seizure. Men's evil deeds are occasionally punished in this world, and so were De Surville's; for eleven days after Naginoui's death, he was drowned in the surf when landing at Callao, in Peru. – Abbe Rochon's Voyages, 1791.

Amongst all nations crime begets crime, and retaliation, not forgiveness, is the ruling principle in the human breast. Three years after Naginoui's capture, and not far from the scene of it, Marion du Fresne landed in New Zealand. It was on the 11th of May, 1772, that this unfortunate man anchored his two ships between Te Wai-iti Whais Island and the Motu Arohia (the Motuaro of navigators), in the Bay of Islands, vol. i. p. 233.

Of the visit of St. Alouarn to the western coast of Australia, nothing seems to he known, except that he saw some points of land, or islands, on a voyage in the French flute Le Gros Ventre, in 1772.

Of Marion's voyage more is known, though it added little or no new information to that of previous navigators. He sailed in the Mascarin, accompanied by the Marquis de Castries, from the Mauritius early in the year 1772, chiefly in search of the supposed southern continent, and arrived off the west coast of Van Diemen's Land on the 3rd of March, of that year, being the first who visited Tasmania after Tasman. He saw an opening leading to the northward, which was probably Bass's Straits, but gave it only a passing notice. Steering south-east and then northward, he passed round all the rocks and islands of the south coast till he reached the Frederick Hendrik's Bay of Tasman. He saw fires and smoke on land, and soon had about thirty men on the shore looking at the ships. On a party landing, the natives received them in a friendly manner, and presented them with a lighted stick, and pointed to a pile of dry

MARION MASSACRED.

wood, as though they expected them to set fire to it as a token of friendship. They complied, and the natives appeared satisfied. Soon after, Captain Marion himself going on shore, the same ceremony took place; but the moment the pile began to blaze, the natives all retreated precipitately to a little hill near, and thence discharged at them a shower of stones. Both Captain Marion and the commander of the De Castries were wounded. It does not appear how the first act should he taken as a matter of friendship, and the second, precisely the same, as one of hostility; but the French, incensed at their treatment, fired on the natives in return, and then open war began. The excited natives sent the women and children into the woods, and assailed the French with their lances. Proceeding along the shore to their boats, the French were fiercely pursued, and a black servant wounded in the leg with a spear. On this, the French fired more determinedly on the natives, killing one of them, and wounding several others. The natives, terrified at this, fled, carrying the wounded with them, and retreated into the woods with wild howlings. A detachment of fifteen men, armed with musquets, was despatched after them, who only came up with one who was dying in the forest.

Before this misunderstanding, the natives had appeared very friendly, but did not set any value on the nails, little looking-glasses, and other things that they offered them. After the affray, it was necessary to send such parties as had to seek water on shore well armed. The descriptions of the country, and the people, and their habits, are exactly those of other navigators. Marion, not succeeding in procuring water, or conciliating the natives, sailed away from Van Diemen's Land on the 10th of March, and directed his course towards New Zealand, where, on arriving in the Bay of Islands, he was massacred by the natives. Various versions of this tragical event have been given. The one detailed in the account of his voyage, published in Paris in 1783, as given by Crozet, the captain of the Mascarin, is as fol-

CROZET'S NARRATIVE OF THE MASSACRE.

lows: – "His masts being damaged, and not being able to find any trees in Van Diemen's Land suitable for making new ones, he looked out for them here. He found excellent pines, but at such a distance from the shore that he was obliged to cut a road through the dense woods for three miles. The natives appeared on the best terms with them, and Marion had one party of his men on an island in the bay cleaning the casks preparatory to refilling them with fresh water. Another party was in the wood cutting down the trees. After thirty-three days of peaceful intercourse, Captain Marion is represented as setting out one evening to visit his different parties at their work. He had been to the watered on the island, and had gone to a hippah of the natives on a hill, where he was accustomed to call on his way into the woods, where Captain Crozet was superintending the operations of the wood-cutters. Here, it is said, that he was suddenly and unexpectedly set upon and murdered together with his few attendants and the boats' crew awaiting him on shore. The alarm was given to Captain Crozet in the wood, who managed to get on board with all his people safe, but had scarcely pushed off from the shore when a host of natives set up their song of defiance, and discharged vollies of stones at them. An attack was then planned against the waterers on the island by night, but was defeated. This having failed, a hundred large canoes openly attacked the ships themselves, and paid dearly for their temerity. As it was impossible to procure the necessary timber without driving the hostile natives from the neighbourhood, Captain Crozet determined to attack and destroy their hippah. The natives boasted that he would find it impregnable, but he soon carried it, killing many of them and putting the rest to flight. After this he completed his operations in peace, and, after an abode of sixty-four days in the Bay of Islands, sailed thence for the South Sea Islands."

Here we have the narrative of the massacre of Marion and a boat's crew of his men as given by Crozet, Marion's

THE NEW ZEALANDERS' VERSION.

second in command; but Dr. Thomson, in his "Story of New Zealand," gives us the New Zealanders' version of this affair: -

"Crozet in his narrative repeatedly states that the French gave no cause of offence – that up to the fatal day nothing could exceed the apparent harmony in which both races lived. 'They treated us,' says Crozet, 'with every show of friendship for thirty-three days with the intention of eating us the thirty-fourth.' Such is the French account of Marion's massacre; the native version of the affair I accidentally heard on a singular occasion. During the winter quarter of 1851, the French corvette L'Alcmene, thirty-two guns, commander Count D'Harcourt, was totally wrecked, and ten lives lost on the west coast of New Zealand, the opposite side of the island, but only fifty miles distant from the place of Marion's massacre. As several men were severely wounded when the ship foundered, the governor requested me to go and assist their transit across the country to Auckland. When so employed, I awoke one night, and saw a crowd of New Zealanders talking earnestly round a fire. There were upwards of a hundred French sailors, and nearly two hundred natives, plunged in sleep in the open air all about. Hearing the name of Marion mentioned, I pretended sleep, and listened to the conversation. From many words, I gathered that two vessels commanded by Marion, belonging to the same nation as the shipwrecked sailors, visited the Bay of Islands, and that a strong friendship sprung up between both races, and that they planted the garlic which flavours the milk, butter, and flesh of cows fed in that district. Before the Wiwis, as the French are now called, departed, they violated sacred places, cooked food with tapued wood, and put two chiefs in irons; that in revenge their ancestors killed Marion, and several of his crew, and in the same spirit the French burned villages, and shot many New Zealanders.

"From inquiries made on the spot in 1853, the above narrative and the reasons assigned for Marion's murder dr. Thomson's remarks.

are, I believe, correct. No man was then alive at the Bay of Islands who had witnessed the affair, and only two old men were acquainted with the particulars of it, although his name was familiar to all. According to the native story, the French, not they, were the aggressors. 'We treated Marion's party,' the New Zealanders may say, 'with every kindness for thirty days, and on the thirty-first they put two of our chiefs in irons, and burnt our sacred places.'

"Civilized men, who judge savage races by civil laws, may deem the native cause assigned for Marion's massacre frivolous; but those acquainted with the ancient customs of the New Zealanders must admit that violating sacred places and enslaving sacred chiefs are ample provocations for strife. The circumstance related of the natives having ceased visiting the ships before Marion's massacre, was a sure sign of hostility. It also affords an evident proof that the whole tale is not told, and that Crozet's narrative is garbled." – Vol. i. p. 236.

CHAPTER VI.THE VOYAGE OF COOK AND FURNEAUX, JANUARY, 1772 TO 1774, IN WHICH COOK REPEATEDLY VISITED NEW ZEALAND, AND CAPTAIN FURNEAUX VISITED NEW ZEALAND AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

CHAPTER VI.

THE VOYAGE OF COOK AND FURNEAUX, JANUARY, 1772 TO 1774, IN WHICH COOK REPEATEDLY VISITED NEW ZEALAND, AND CAPTAIN FURNEAUX VISITED NEW ZEALAND AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

The search for the extreme continent of the south. – Not to be found. – Cook reaches New Zealand. – Furneaux missing. – Found at Queen Charlotte's Sound. – Furneaux's adventures in Van Diemen's Land. – Supposed, but incorrectly, to have seen Australia. – Attempt of Maories to seize Furneaux's ship. – Furneaux prevents Cook ascertaining the insularity of Van Diemen's Land. – The commander planted garden-seeds, and put on shore goats and pigs at Queen Charlotte's Sound. – Voyage to the South Sea Islands, and return to New Zealand. – Furneaux lost sight of for the rest of the voyage. – Cook puts on shore fresh fowls, goats, and hogs. – Sailed and discovered New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, and other Islands. – Returned to New Zealand. – Puts more hogs and fowls on shore. – Furneaux arrived in Queen Charlotte's Sound. – Massacre of his boat's crew. – Captain Cook's last voyage. – Cook, Clarke, and King's voyages, between 1776 and 1780, in the Resolution and Discovery. – The objects of Cook's last voyage. – Attempts to find a north-west passage. – Prince Edward's Island. – Van Diemen's Land. – Adventure Bay. – The natives. – Again at Queen Charlotte's Sound. – Natives crowd there. – Visited by Kahoora who headed the massacre of Furneaux's crew. – Different versions of the account of the massacre. – Account of the natives. – Natural productions. – Cook killed at Owhyhee.

THIS voyage was ordered for the prosecution of discoveries in high southern latitudes, to determine the question of the long asserted continent in the extreme south. M. Bouvet had reported a certain Cape Circumcision, lying in south latitude 54°, and in east longitude 11° 20'. Cook was furnished with two ships, the Resolution and the Adventure. Of the latter vessel, Captain Furneaux was appointed commander; and they had two astronomers, Mr. Wales and Mr. Bayley. Having made their explorations round the antarctic circle, they were to return to Spithead by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and they had each of them instructions in case of the ships being separated, to make rendezvous, in the first place, at Madeira, in the second, at Port Praya, thirdly, at the Cape of Hood Hope, and fourthly, in New Zealand.

COOK MEETS WITH FURNEAUX.

In this voyage, they employed the new mode of calculating the longitude east and west, to the 180° from the meridian of Greenwich. The two vessels set sail from Plymouth Sound, on Monday the 13th of July, 1772. Having reached the quarter where the asserted Cape Circumcision should lie, they sailed about in vain seeking it, and advanced into the Antarctic circle, finding much ice, but no land. There in thick fogs the two ships lost each other, and, therefore, made for their appointed place of rendezvous in Dusky Bay, New Zealand.

Captain Cook anchored in Dusky Bay, on the 26th of March, 1773, and remained there till the 27th of April. As this visit added nothing to discovery, we need not enter into its details, further than that Cook left on shore, five geese and a gander, which he had brought from the Cape of Good Hope; and that amongst the birds which they met with, ducks, wood-hens, and other wild-fowl, they were greatly charmed with a bird about the size of an English black-bird, with feathers of a fine mazarine blue, except on the neck, where they are silver grey. This bird they called the Wattle-bird, and also the Poy-bird, from its having little tufts of curled hair under its throat, which they called poies, from the Otaheitan word for ear-rings. The sweetness of this bird's note they described as extraordinary, and that its flesh was delicious, but that it was a shame to kill it.

Setting sail from Dusky Bay, on the 18th of May, they entered Queen Charlotte's Sound, where they fortunately met with Captain Furneaux. On his voyage thither, Captain Furneaux had made Van Diemen's Land. On the 9th of March, exactly a year after Marion's departure, he found himself in 43° 16' south latitude, and 147° east longitude, off a cape, which proved to be the South Cape of Tasman, about four leagues E. S. E. half E., from which lay three islands, and several rocks, resembling the Mewstone, one of which they thus named. These rocks and islands had not been named by Tasman. They found the shore high and rocky, plenty of water falling from the rocks in

FURNEAUX'S ADVENTURES IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

beautiful cascades, two or three hundred feet perpendicular, into the sea. They landed from a boat, and found the country rich in soil, and finely wooded, but could see no people, but tracks of them. As there was no anchorage, they sailed into Frederick Hendrick's Bay. They eventually anchored in Adventure Bay, which they so named after their ship, having, as they imagined Maria Island in view about five or six leagues off. They lay in this bay only five days, and added little or nothing to discovery. They never saw the natives, but observed the smoke of their fires eight or ten miles to the northward. They, however, found some of their deserted huts, constructed of boughs, stuck with the thick ends in the ground, tied together at the top with grass, then covered with fern or bark. The whole wigwam had a circular form. In the middle of each wigwam was the fire-place surrounded by heaps of muscle and other shells. There were also in them some of their spears, mere pointed sticks, some baskets, and nets of grass, and dry grass on the floor, on which the natives appeared to sleep. On the whole, Captain Furneaux concluded that they were "an ignorant, wretched set of mortals, though natives of a country capable of producing every necessary of life, in a climate, the finest in the world."

On leaving the bay, they stood northward, passed Maria Island, and Schoutens', and reached the islands now named after Captain Furneaux. Here, he observes, "in 40° 50' S., the land trends to the westward, and from this latitude to 39° 50', is nothing but shoals and islands, the land appearing high, rocky, and barren." Here Furneaux was on the very point of making a great discovery – that of the strait cutting off Tasmania from Australia, but he made a greater one still, "that there are no straits between New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, but a very deep bay." Truly a very deep bay indeed, having no bottom! The straits were reserved for the enterprise of Bass and Flinders. "We now stood," says Furneaux, "to the northward, and again made land in 39°, but soon after discontinued this

FURNEAUX LEAVES VAN DIEMEN's LAND.

course, to fall in with the shore being very dangerous."

Here, unknown to himself, Furneaux was long supposed to have struck the south-eastern coast of Australia; but Flinders afterwards demonstrated that from his latitude, he was far short of the mainland in a northerly direction, and that he only saw one of the most northern of Furneaux's Islands. Flinders corrected other mistakes of Furneaux, regarding Van Diemen's Land. He says: – "Captain Furneaux here mistook the Storm and Frederick Hendrik's Bay of Tasman; and he has been followed in this error by the succeeding navigators of the same nation, which has created not a little confusion in the geography of this part of the world.

"The bay supposed to have been Storm Bay has no name in Tasman's chart, though the particular plan shows that he noticed it, as did Marion more distinctly. The rocks marked at the east point of this bay, and called the Friars, are the Boreels Eylanden of Tasman; and the true Storm Bay is the deep inlet, of which Adventure Bay is a cove. Frederick Hendrik's Bay is not within this inlet, but lies to the north-eastward, on the outerside of the land which Captain Furneaux, in consequence of his first mistake, took to be Maria's Island, but which is, in fact, a part of the mainland. All this is evident, from a close comparison of the form of the land in the two charts, and is corroborated by the difference of longitude from the Mewstone. Adventure Bay proved to be a valuable discovery, being a good and well sheltered anchorage, where wood and water were abundant. Flinders' Voyages, Vol. i. Introduction, p. lxxxviii.

Stormy weather induced Furneaux to quit the shores of Van Diemen's Land, and make the best of his way to New Zealand, which he reached in fourteen days. On Tuesday, the 6th of April, he had anchored in Ship Cove, where Captain Cook found him on the 17th of May. Before the arrival of Cook, Furneaux and his people had opened friendly relations with the natives, and exchanged nails and bottles for their implements of

COOK ARRIVES AT TABLE BAY.

war. The officers having a catalogue of New Zealand words, named several things from it, which greatly astonished them, and they offered a quantity of fish for the catalogue. They saw plenty of proofs of cannibalism amongst the natives, who inquired where Tupia was, and when they were assured that he was dead, they wanted to know if the English had eaten him. Soon after this, there was an attempt by a crowd of people in boats, to seize the ship, and they were only deterred by a cannon being fired over their heads.

The Adventure having arrived, Captain Cook announced his intention to proceed to Van Diemen's Land, to ascertain, in pursuance of his orders, whether that country made a part of New Holland, but as Furneaux assured him that he had settled that point, Cook abandoned the design, and thus Furneaux was doubly the cause of the non-discovery of Bass's Straits. Cook and Furneaux sowed garden-seeds, and planted potatoes, and showed them to the natives, that they might value and cultivate them; they also put on shore, a male and female goat, a boar and two breeding sows, in the hope that they might escape and multiply in the woods, a very doubtful experiment. Having procured plenty of celery, scurvy-grass, etc., for the crews, and held much friendly intercourse with the natives, the two vessels sailed on the 7th of June for Otaheite.

They visited various places in the South Seas, and in October, Cook and Furneaux returned towards New Zealand, and Cook arrived at Table Cape, on the 21st of that month, but the Adventure had fallen behind, and did not join the Resolution again during the voyage. Here Cook put on shore two sows, two boars, four hens and two cocks; placing them under the care of a chief, and giving him several sorts of garden-seeds, with instructions how to sow and cultivate them. Thence he sailed to Queen Charlotte's Sound, and caught a glimpse of the Adventure, but lost her again. In Ship Cove, Cook found that old Gobiah, to whom he had on his last visit given two goats to breed from, had killed and eaten

FURNEAUX SEEKS REFUGE IN TOLAGA BAY.

them, but the garden vegetables had flourished wonderfully. He again ventured to put on shore another boar and sow, two cocks and four hens. Again, in a few days, he had a boar and three sows, together with cocks and hens, taken some distance into the woods, in the hope that they might escape the natives, until they had bred. On the 24th of November, Cook quitted Queen Charlotte's Sound, and on the 26th, after in vain having sought for the Adventure in different harbours, he left New Zealand, and proceeded to execute the other objects of his voyage. After the discovery of New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, and other Islands, Cook again returned to New Zealand, and once more anchored in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte's Sound, on the 18th of October, 1774. He remained only to caulk his ship, and inquire after the Adventure, and sailed away again on the 10th of November, for further researches in the higher latitudes of the south, and thence to England. During this short stay, the natives told them that the Adventure had arrived there a little after their departure, staid about twenty days, and had been gone ten moons. They found some of the animals and fowls alive in the woods, and put on shore another boar and sow and two pigs. The vegetable gardens had been totally neglected, yet the vegetables had thriven in a wonderful manner.

In the mean time, Captain Furneaux in the Adventure had reached the southern coast of New Zealand, near Cape Turnagain, and coasted westward as far as Cape Palliser, intending to pass Cook's Straits, and gain Queen Charlotte's Sound, where he expected to find Cook. But he was driven back by storms, and was at length on Tuesday, the 9th of November, obliged to seek refuge in Tolaga Bay. After fresh endeavours they reached Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte's Sound, on the 30th of November, to find by a note left in a bottle that the Resolution, despairing of hearing of the Adventure, had sailed thence six days before, and intended to spend a few days in the Straits on the look-out for them. Though they were extremely anxious to regain the company of the Resolu-

MASSACRE OF SOME OF FURNEAUX'S CREW.

tion, they were compelled to make some repairs, and during this delay a dreadful tragedy occurred. The natives appeared very friendly, but on the night of the 13th they came down to the shore where the astronomer's tent was set up, and robbed it of all its instruments. One man was seen stealing from the tent, and was fired at and wounded. This, no doubt, caused the horrible catastrophe which followed in a few days. On the 17th the cutter, containing two officers and eight men, went to Grass Cove to collect celery and other greens for the ship's crew. They did not return at night, and the next morning the launch was sent out to look for them, and soon discovered that the whole of the party had been massacred by the natives, and the greater part of their bodies devoured. The crew of the launch fired on the cannibals, who seemed to have assembled from all the surrounding districts to the number of 2000 or more, drove them from their horrible feast, and carried to the ship the sanguinary remains of their late companions to be buried with funeral honours. This shocking event was the more mortifying as the ship was prepared to sail the very day on which it occurred. It left this disastrous place on the 23rd of December, and took the way homewards by Cape Horn.

CAPTAIN COOK'S LAST VOYAGE.

The great discoveries made in the southern hemisphere successively by Captains Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook, but especially by Cook, augmented immensely the spirit of discovery, and a grand scheme of extending these discoveries into the northern hemisphere by the route of the Pacific Ocean was planned, and was sanctioned by George III. This plan was carried into execution by Captains Cook, Clarke, and King, in the ships Resolution and Discovery, in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, and 1780, the account of which was published by order of the Admiralty in 1784 in three volumes quarto. The private instructions to Captain Cook were to proceed by the Cape of Good Hope to the Pacific, calling, if he thought proper, at New Zealand on the way; to land at

COOK TRIES TO FIND A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.

Otaheite, and restore to his home Omai, the native whom Cook had brought thence on his last voyage. From Otaheite he was to steer for the north-west of the Pacific, and after arriving at New Albion, to explore the coast northward as far as latitude 65°, if not stopped by ice, for a passage which should lead towards Hudson's or Baffin's Bays – in fact, for the North West Passage, which thenceforward was the occasion of so many voyages and sacrifices of life. Failing to find such passage, he was instructed to winter in the port of St. Peter and St. Paul in Kamtschatka, or some equally convenient port, and to renew the search in the spring. At the same time Lieutenant Pickersgill, and afterwards Lieutenant Young, were sent to Baffin's Bay to prosecute a search westward from that bay. It is unnecessary to say that all these endeavours on each side of the American continent for this object proved failures; but in the course of his voyage Captain Cook made many and extensive discoveries, both north and south, till he met his death at Owhyhee, in the Sandwich islands, on St. Valentine's Hay, 1779. None of these most important discoveries, however, come within the bounds of our subject, except Cook's visits to Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand.

On his outward voyage from the Cape of Good Hope, Captain Cook visited Prince Edward's and Kerguelen's Islands, and thence sailed to Van Diemen's Land. He sighted the South Western Cape on the 24th of January, 1777. He sailed along past the Mewstone, the Swilly Isle, and almost a league to the eastward of Swilly named a remarkable rock the Eddystone from its resemblance to that light-house, observing that the Swilly and Eddystone rocks are placed by nature there for the same purpose as the Eddystone light-house, namely, to warn mariners of the dangers around them, concealed rocks and breakers. Between South Cape and Tasman's Head, especially on the north-east side of Storm Bay, he noted several coves and creeks, and believed that good harbour might be found there. On the 26th he was enabled to cast anchor in Adventure Bay, and lay there till the

COOK VISITS QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S SOUND.

30th, so that his acquaintance with that one and only spot of Van Diemen's Land was merely of four days.

No great discoveries in the popular habits or the national productions of the country were to be expected from such a transient sojourn. The accounts of Cook and of Mr. Anderson, the surgeon of the ship, are on the whole, but fac-similes of those of Tasman and Dampier. Cook, however, saw and corrected the position of Maria Island as laid down by Furneaux. He describes the people as much resembling those of the north of Australia, but with woolly hair, and the women as having theirs shaved or clipped close to their heads. They were offered bread, and shown that it was good to eat, but they threw it away, as they did fish; but they accepted birds that were shot. Here also Cook turned some pigs into the woods, but with little hope that they would escape the native spears. They observed that birds shot had maggots upon them in an hour or two, and attributed this to the heat of the climate, not having learned that the Australian blow-fly deposits not eggs but living maggots on fresh meat, which grow with a marvellous rapidity. They killed an opossum, which the drawing shows to be one of the small ring-tailed kind. Their account of the birds, insects, snakes, &c., are like those of their predecessors; and, like them, they were astonished at the enormous size of some of the trees.

Captain Cook had here a second opportunity of ascertaining whether Van Diemen's Land was an island or not, but though he had seen that Captain Furneaux's observation of Maria Island was not correct, he did not suspect that his account of his "very deep bay" was equally so; and sailed away to New Zealand without further inspection. He left Adventure Bay on the 30th of January, 1777, and reached Rock's Point on the 10th of February. He then bore up for his favourite resort, Queen Charlotte's Sound, though he had learned in England the massacre of Furneaux's cutter's crew there. The natives naturally enough imagined that Cook was now come to punish them for their slaughter of his

ACCOUNT OF THE NATIVES.

people, and they kept aloof from the ship; but as he was anxious to establish friendly relations with them, and to teach them to respect Europeans by further knowledge of their power, he took every means to make them acquainted with his intention to pass over this crime, but to punish any recurrence of it most severely. This had the effect of restoring their confidence. They soon came as usual on board, and drawing from different quarters erected a village close by them on the shore; there was soon no spot in the cove on which a hut could be built, which was not occupied by one. These huts were very superior to those of the Australian natives; they were raised of poles, the walls made of reeds, and they were thatched with grass. "They were," says Cook, "abundantly sufficient to keep out the wind and rain, which was all they were intended for;" and the rapidity with which such a temporary village was erected, he describes as surprising. Many of their more permanent houses, Mr. Anderson, the surgeon, says, were built exactly on the principle of our barns, and were some of them of ample dimensions. They contained generally only a few baskets and fishing tackle.

Amongst the natives who returned to the old familiarity was the chief named Kahoora, who was pointed out as the one who headed the party which committed the massacre, and Omai and even some of the natives were urgent that Captain Cook should put him to death. To this counsel, however, he paid no attention though he spoke seriously to Kahoora on the subject. By the presence of the natives the ships obtained plenty of fish, and every precaution was taken by having an armed party attending every detachment of the ship's crew, which was employed on shore, and every man having arms at hand where he happened to be working. Captain Cook thus let the natives see that, though he was not disposed to vengeance, he had not forgotten their treachery in the case of the crew of the Adventure, nor that of their countrymen at the Bay of Islands towards that of Captain Marion.

DIFFERENT STORIES OF THE MASSACRE.

On visiting the vegetable gardens on shore made by Captain Furneaux, he found them overrun by weeds, but still full of cabbages, onions, leeks, purslain, radishes, mustard, etc., and the potatoes which had been brought from the Cape had greatly improved, and Captain Cook thought they would prove superior to those of most other countries, an anticipation which, I believe, has been fully verified. The natives, however, though they showed themselves very fond of potatoes, had taken no pains to plant any of them afresh.

Captain Cook inquired from different native chiefs how they came to massacre the boat's crew of Captain Furneaux, and heard several different stories, which agreed only in the affray having arisen from a sudden quarrel about the pilfering of some of the natives. There can be little doubt, however, that one of their people having been shot for robbing the observatory, had irritated them to a desire for revenge, for Mr. Anderson justly observes – "No people can have a quicker sense of an injury, and none are more ready to resent it." Their wars amongst themselves were at that time almost incessant, the patoo, or battle-axe, the head of which was generally of green talc, and the spear being their chief weapons, in addition to which, like the Australian natives, they discharged showers of stones. There was a great trade with the Middle Island for talc, which was called poenamnoo, whence that island was probably called Tavai-Poenammoo, or the Talc Island.

Captain Cook, although he found that most, if not all the animals left on former occasions had been killed and eaten, except some cocks and hens, some of which were said to be wild in the woods, and some others in possession of one of the chiefs, again gave to two other chiefs, at their request, goats and pigs, to propagate a breed of them in the island. He would have left some cattle, but he believed no chief powerful enough to protect them. They found the natives as voracious of train or seal oil as Greenlanders. They smeared their faces and heads with a red paint, apparently a mixture of red

PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.

ochre and grease. The women were not so much tattooed as the men, but chiefly on their lips, or a small spot on their chins. They wore necklaces of shark's teeth, or bunches of long beads, apparently made of the leg-bones of small birds, or shells. Some had small, triangular aprons, adorned with the feathers of parrots, or bits of pearl shells, and a double or treble set of cords to fasten them about the waist. Some few had caps or bonnets, made of the feathers of birds, but it was not the general custom to wear anything on their heads. They had their ears slit, and in them they stuck small pieces of jasper, bits of cloth, or beads, and some of them had the septum of the nose bored in its lowest part, like some of the natives of the north of Australia, and of other savage countries, and sometimes wore a ring in it. Their only method of cooking their fish or meat was by roasting or baking, having no idea of boiling. The children were taught at an early age all the practices of the adults, and learnt to make hideous faces, and use frightful gestures to create alarm in their enemies. Amongst the vegetable productions of the country Anderson mentions a species of long-pepper, very common in the country, but not very agreeable, and a species of Philadelphus, which grew on the hills, of the leaves of which the sailors made tea, and thought it very good; and he notices their pine-trees, "but with leaves and small berries on their points, much like the yew;" of this "spruce-beer" was brewed for the sailors. "They have," he says, "a shrubby speedwell near all the beaches; sow-thistles, virgin's-bower, vanello, French willow, euphorbia, and crane's-bill, cudweed, rushes, bull-rushes, flax, all-heal, American nightshade, knot-grass, brambles, eye-bright, and groundsel, but the species of each are different from any we have in Europe."

Amongst the birds he notices black sea-pies, with red bills, among the rocks, crested shags, of a leaden colour, with small black-spots on the wings and shoulders, and the upper part of their bodies velvet black, tinged with green; common shags, that build in companies on trees,

COOK KILLED AT OWHYHEE.

blue herons, sandy-coloured plovers, and sand-larks, small penguins and black divers on the shores, rails about the brooks, nearly as large as common fowls, and a snipe, little different from that of Europe, various parrots, and two cuckoos, the greater and lesser wattle-bird, and a small, greenish bird, almost the only singer which they heard, but which seemed to make the most varied concert by itself, filling the woods with music, and which they therefore called the mocking bird, with many others.

On the 25th of February, 1777, Captain Cook left New Zealand, taking with him two young natives, who volunteered to accompany him, though he assured both these and their friends that it was most unlikely they would ever have the opportunity of returning. This was his last visit to these regions, his voyage not being completed when he perished at Owhyhee.

[TITLE PAGES]

NEW ZEALAND.

HISTORY OF DISCOVERY
IN
AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA,
AND
NEW ZEALAND,

FROM THE EARLIEST DATE TO THE PRESENT DAY.

BY WILLIAM HOWITT ,
AUTHOR OF "TWO YEARS IN VICTORIA," ETC., ETC.

With Maps of the Recent Explorations, from Official Sources.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOLUME II.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, AND GREEN,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLXV.

BILLING,

PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER,

GUILDFORD SURREY.

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTER I.

DR. LEICHHARDTS EXPEDITION OVERLAND FROM MORETON BAY TO PORT ESSINGTON IN THE YEARS 1844 AND 1845.

Proposition to send Sir Thomas Mitchell on an expedition across the continent. Dr. Leichhardt finally employed. Captain Sturt about to start from Adelaide for the same point. Dr. Leichhardt's antecedents. Luther scantily supplied with instruments. His party. At Brisbane. Abundant supplies offered. Their equipments. Messrs. Hodgson and Gilbert join the expedition. Start on the 1st of September. Cross the Darling Downs. Acacia scrubs. Leichhardt notes all facts of natural history. Trouble with the native guides. Dawson River. Calvert Plains. Pursued by hornets. Lakes and mountains. Expedition Lange. Mount Nicholson. The Boyd. Sandstone Rocks. Creek of the Ruined Castles. Bigge's Mountain. Albinia Downs. Comet Creek and Comet Lange. Startled natives from their dinner. Abundance of kangaroos. The Mackenzie. Wild beans which make good coffee. Mount Stewart. Honey plentiful. West Hill. A very mountainous region before them. Calvert's Peak, Gilbert's Downs, Lowe's, MacArthur's and Roper's Peaks. Leichhardt makes a reconnoissance northward. Mountainous region. Zamia Creek. Black ants and hornets. Alarmed black woman and infant. Coxon's Peak. Charley and Brown, the blacks, dismissed, but allowed to come back to the party. Intense heat. The Isaac's and Suttor. Fine valleys. Black man and woman mount into trees. The deaf black woman's fright at seeing Leichhardt on horseback. Water, water plants, and water fowl. Mount M'Connell. The Burdekin. Pelicans and black swans. Geological character of the rocks. Mount Graham. Gourds and calabash. Numerous fig trees. The figs full of ants. Luxuriant wild beans. Roby's and Porter's Ranges. Clarke Liver. Basaltic dykes and fossiliferous limestone. Only thirty miles from Halifax Bay. Hitherto a coast journey. Now strike more westward. The Perry. Fine country. Interesting descriptions of the routine of a day on the journey. Basaltic rocks, lava, lagoons. Mulberry trees. Dividing Range from 2000 to 3000 feet high. Granite, basalt,, and lava. Obliged to diverge. Question of the blacks about the bullocks. Want of water. Separation Creek. A traveller's trials and pleasures. Blacks again fly, and leave their dinner. Fine rock crystal in a bag. New trees and plants. Daring kites. The Lynd. Kirchener's Range. Fig and cotton trees. Sandstone country. A sawfish found, superior huts of the natives. The Mitchell River. The gum-tree ants. The crocodile. Palm trees appear. Natives numerous and hostile. Attempt to drive off the cattle. Murder of Mr. Gilbert. A nocturnal fight. Calvert and Roper wounded severely. The night intensely cold. Chase away the natives. Gilbert's funeral. In sight of the Gulf of Carpentaria. A wild plum found. Fine grassy country. Reach the salt water.

Lagoons, with white, blue, and pink lilies. A native suddenly appears in the camp. Native melons. The Gilbert River. Grevilleas, Barthenias, and Balfourias abound. Numerous natives. Kill abundance of ducks, spoonbills, and three emus. Cross the Plains of Promise. Pugnacious native boy. The Albert River. Carving of an emu's foot. Audacity of natives. The river Leichhardt. The Nicholson. Emu trap. ross a succession of rivers to Tasman's River. Numerous kinds of animal life. Cycas palms. Fruit of the pandanus. Seven Emu River. The Robinson River. Zamia and Cycas palm groves. Desperate condition of their clothes. Moccasins of bullock hide. Tea and sugar gone. Pound seeds for a beverage. The white-barked tree of Tasman, figs, and sterculias. The MacArthur salt-water river. Soup of dry bullock hides. Blistering fruit. Cape Maria. Reduce their baggage. The Limmen River. Swamps, wild geese, ducks, alligators, and thickets of acacias. Native fish traps. The Wickham. Flat-topped sandstone rocks. The Four Archers. Their kangaroo dog died. Strike westward across the Arnheim Peninsula for Port Essington. The Roper River. Abandon more luggage and botanical specimens. A horse drowned. Cattle very much exhausted. Great swamps full of water fowl. Natives with English articles of dress. More speaking some English. East Alligator River. Rocks, hills, swamps, wild geese, and Hying foxes. Shoot a buffalo. Port Essington. Return by sea to Sydney. Honours and rewards.

FRESH EXPEDITION IN 1847. Not heard of again. Traces of Leichhardt seen by Gregory and Walker. Lost probably in the great western desert. His supplies. Mr. Hoveden Hely sent in quest of Leichhardt. Journey fruitless. Blacks' report, Leichhardt murdered with all his party. Seventeen years passed without certain information of Leichhardt's fate............1

CHAPTER II.

THE EXPEDITION OF CAPTAIN STURT INTO CENTRAL AUSTRALIA IN THE YEARS 1844, 45, AND 46.

Reasons for the expedition. – Stuart's theory of an inland sea. His hope to clear this up. His party, and its equipments. Start August 18th, 1844. Reach Mr. Eyre's station at Moorundi, on the Murray. Captain Sturt restrained by his instructions from crossing to the North Sea. Mischiefs of stay-at-home wisdom. Leave Moorundi accompanied for some distance by Mr. Eyre. The River Rufus. Nadbuck and Toonda, black guides. Laidley's Ponds. The building rat. Quit the Darling. Mitchell, Sturt, Burke, and Wills all make journeys northwards from this point. Native remembrance of Sir Thomas Mitchell's castigation. Despatches from Adelaide by three natives. Their excessive fatigue. Talkativeness of Camboli. Mr. Poole reconnoitres a-head. Sturt moves to Cawndilla Lake. Measures a base line. Goes a-head to explore. Treachery of Topar, a native. The country destitute of water. Finds the Clianthus Dampen. A terrible hurricane. Break up camp, and advance. The Coonbaralba Range. Lewis's Hill. Stopped by rocks. Vast desert plains on each side of the ranges. Mr. Poole goes S. W. to seek Lake Torrens. Reached Lake Blanche. Mr. Flood precedes the main party to seek for water. Tremendous heat. Flood finds a little creek. They advance. See Mounts Lyell and Babbage from the hills. Curious hollow balls. Parties go out to seek for water. Abundance of emus and kangaroos. A visit from the natives. An excursion eastward. Burning plains. News of water northward. Drays falling to pieces with the heat. Dreadful travelling in the torrid heat. Two bullocks killed by it. Mount Arrowsmith, the magnetic hill. Plague of ants and flies. Camped in a pleasant glen by deep water in latitude 29° 40' 14" S., longitude 141° 30' 41". Detained there by drought for six

months. Their experiences there. Health of Messrs. Poole and Browne failing. Captain Sturt and others attacked by scurvy. The captain with a party rides forward to reconnoitre, carrying water-barrels. Reach within twenty or thirty miles of Cooper's Creek, but driven back. Two horses abandoned. Another attempt westward, Return to the camp. Discover a grassy valley which they call the Park. Effects of the heat on the ground and on their implements. Make an underground room. All the birds leave. A solitary native appears. A desert philosopher. Chain a line of thirty miles towards Lake Torrens. Rain and flood in the creek. Mr. Poole dies. A monument to him piled on Red Hill. Captain Sturt proceeds westward with a light party to Lake Blanche. Verifies Mr. Eyre's character of the country. Proceed N. W. The bare desert destroys all idea of an inland sea. A creek, with native huts and troughs for grinding seeds. The Stony Desert. Eyre's Creek. They return. Water hole with fish. Reach their camp, which they name Fort Grey. Captain Sturt entreats Mr. Browne to return to Adelaide on account of his health, but in vain. A last effort to penetrate northward. Endeavour to trace the extent of the Stony Desert eastward. Report as of a cannon in the desert. Dismal sandy regions. Salt Lake. The Stony Desert again, a gloomy, herbless, treeless region. Eleven days over this horrid desert. Exhausted condition of the horses. Reach Cooper's Creek, and name it. Sturt's account of this creek. The natives friendly. Signs of floods, and abundance of water fowl and fish. Leave behind a roan horse. Traced the creek eastward into hollow plains, bearing marks of periodical floods. Return to Fort Grey. Leave another horse. Bawley Plains. Intense heat again. Return journey to Adelaide. Results of this expedition, the explosion of an inland sea, and confirmation of desert, but westward. Exploration of the south-eastern sea coast of South Australia by Governor Grey in 1844..............42

CHAPTER III.

EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA CONTINUED.

1. EXPEDITION OP MESSRS. LANDOR AND LEFROY IN SEARCH OF AN INLAND SEA, IN 1843. Journal published in Perth Inquirer. Leave York, January 9. Proceed to the Hotham River. Country level. Cross a large river. Byriering Lake. Lake Novring. Salt Lakes. Go down a fresh water lake. Discover a river named the Landor. Another named the Lefroy. See two Timor ponies. Return by a branch of the Hotham. General report of the country.

2. EXPEDITION OF MR. ROE, Surveyor-General of Western Australia, eastward of Perth, accompanied by Mr. H. GREGORY and others. Set out from York. Pass over heights to Cape Riche. The Jeeramungup. Good grazing country. Mount Madden and Mount Short. Poor country and salt lakes. Bremer Range. Mount Gordon. Fitzgerald Range. Barren country. Severe journey to the Russell Range: no grass, no water. Return by the shore to Cape Riche. Howick Hill, Mount Merivale, and Mount Hawes, named by them. The streamlet Gore and inlet Lort, Phillips's River, and Eyre's named by them. Found coal-beds at the junction of the Elwes and Jeeramungup. Between the Elwes and Cape Richie named Mount Bland, Gairdner River, and Gordon Inlet. In their homeward route by Bunbury, came on a sandal-wood-cutting station. Return to Perth.

3. EXPEDITION OF MESSRS. GREGORY INTO THE INTERIOR OP WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Start from Boyeen Spring, on Swan River, August 7th. Lake Brown. See ranges from N. to E. S. E. Eastward a discouraging country. Columns of red sand or dust. Took a N. W. course. Vast flats and bogs. Cross them by means of hurdles. Lake Moore. Salt, gypsum, and mud beds. Still on to September 3rd over wretched country. Strike the Arrow-

smith River. Followed the river down to its mouth. Found beds of coal. Follow the coast homewards.

4. VOYAGE OF LIEUTENANT HELPMAN TO EXAMINE THE COAL OF THE ARROWSMITH. Examined the country from the Arrowsmith to the Hutt. Mistook the rivers as laid down by Captain Grey. The error rectified by Mr. Arrowsmith. Mr. Hillman's trip to Lake Moore.

5. SETTLERS' EXPEDITION NORTHWARD PROM PERTH UNDER A. C. GREGORY. Instructions for the tour from the Local Government. The object, to discover pasture lands. Joined by friends at Toodyay. At Arrowsmith Creek. Irwin Plains. – Large extent of good pasturage land found. Also on Champion Bay. The Murchison country poor. Freycinet Harbour. Country around wretched. Found lead ore at the Hutt. Some good land on the Bowes. Return to Perth.

6. VISIT OF GOVERNOR FITZGERALD TO THE MURCHISON. Sailed to Champion Bay. Find no coal, but lead in the Murchison. Attacked by natives. The Governor speared through the thigh. Shot one man. Mining commenced on the Murchison and Bowes..............77

CHAPTER IV.

SIR THOMAS MITCHELL'S FOURTH EXPEDITION, DISCOVERY OF THE BARCOO.

Need of an overland route from New South Wales to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Two iron boats built. Expedition left Paramatta November the 7th, 1854. The party well selected and equipped. Blacks meet them on the Bogan to inquire their object. An old native resembling Socrates offers himself again. Traces of conflict between the natives and the squatters. Want of water. The Bogan dry. Attacked by ophthalmia. Encamp on a creek, and wait. Piper, the native guide, dismissed. On the 12th of April advance. Sudden coming down of waters in the Macquarie. A furious flood carrying trees along with it. Reach the Barwan. Messrs. Russell's exploration in 1841. Surprising changes. The white man now lord of the region. The Narran. The Balonne, a fine large river. The Calgoa. Sir Thomas now marks his camping places on trees. Lake Parachute. Advances with a light party. Lakes and lagoons. Lake Turanimga. Mount Toolumba. Name this district Fitzroy Downs. Natives. The Maranoa and Amby. Curious embassage from the natives. Warned away by them. Mr. Kennedy, Sir Thomas's second in command, brings up the rear detachment. Sir Thomas again starts northwards. Distress for water. Water found through a dream. A sulphurous stream, the Salvator. The Claude, fertility of its banks. Abundance of fossil wood. Entered the tropics. The Belyando. Vast numbers of wild fowl and kangaroos. Menacing natives. Return to the Salvator. Beauty and fertility of the country. Remarkable meteor. The Claude. Encamp in a mountain gorge. The depot fixed there. Sir Thomas sets out northwestward. The Nine. Discover the Barcoo. Sir Thomas's warm eulogium of the river and country around. Pronounced by him the finest river and district of Australia. Return homewards. See marks of squatters already on their track...............92

CHAPTER V.

KENNEDY'S EXPLORATIONS OF THE BARCOO AND OF THE YORK PENINSULA, 1847.

Edward Kennedy sent to trace the Barcoo, and find a route to Carpentaria. Crossed the Barcoo at Sir Thomas Mitchell's lowest point on August the 13th. Found the river running a fresh course. The Thomson falling

into the Barcoo. Traces the Barcoo down 100 miles. Then lightens his luggage, and advances downwards through a wretched country to latitude 26° 13' 9", longitude 142° 20'. A low, flat country. The river dividing into many channels. Convinced that it was identical with Cooper's Creek. Returns northwards. The natives had plundered his buried stores. Obliged by this to return home. Kennedy's journal edited by the Rev. W. B. Clarke.

KENNEDY'S EXPEDITION TO THE YORK PENINSULA. Proposed plan of a new expedition towards the Gulf. Provisions to be carried by ship to Albany. York Peninsula to be first examined, then the route towards Carpentaria. Kennedy and party land at Rockingham Bay in May, 1848. Compelled to diverge to the south-west by the mountains. Abandon their carts and heavy stores. Leave eight men at Weymouth Bay. Kennedy and four men, including Jackey, the native guide, push on for Albany. One of the party wounded by a gun, which impeded them. Leave him and the other two whites, and Kennedy and Jackey proceed towards Albany alone. Attacked by natives near Albany. Kennedy killed. Jackey reaches Albany with his journal. Sufferings and deaths in the party at Weymouth Bay. Only two saved. Relief party from the "Ariel." The three other men sought for in vain. Ten out of the original thirteen of this expedition perished. Generous nature of Edward Kennedy..............108

CHAPTER VI.

THE EXPEDITION OF MR. ROBERT AUSTIN, ASSISTANT SURVEYOR, INTO THE INTERIOR OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, IN 1854.

Objects of the expedition. The party. Left Mombe Kine, on Swan River, in July. The samphire plains to Waddoming. The salt lake Cow-cowing. Thence a poor country to Mount Marshall. A miserable region of dead scrub to Mount Kenneth. Views from Mount Kenneth sterile and forbidding. Journey northward over this desert to August 20th. Their horses poisoned by a shrub. Fourteen died. Mount Magnet. Views all round still dismal. Miseries of tight boots. West Mount Magnet. Rude, rocky, and scrubby country. Natives refuse to eat a new kind of kangaroo. Believed it a demon. The Carved Cave Spring. Native art. Accident to Farmer by his own gun. Poison plants again. Farmer dies of lock-jaw. Bequeathes his property. Buried near a hill named Mount Farmer. Mount Charles. Views round into rocky and scrubby regions. Native cross, and springes for emus. Mounts Lake and Murchison. Murchison river. Advanced to within fifty miles of Shark's Bay. Driven back by wretched, waterless country. Mounts Narryer, Welcome, Grass, and Vinden. Sufferings on the retreat to the Geraldine Mines. Bury luggage. Native guide nearly dead. Generous offer of Captain Sanford, but unavailing. Return to Perth. Mr. Austin's estimate of the lands passed over. Mr. Phillip's Report...............120

CHAPTER VII.

EXPEDITION FOR THE EXPLORATION OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA IN 1855-6, UNDER THE COMMAND OF MR. A. C. GREGORY.

Mr. Uzzielli offers £10,000 for an expedition to explore the north of Australia. Offer of Mr. W. S. Lindsay, M. P. Undertaken by the Government. Outfit to be completed at Moreton Bay. The party. Sailed from Brisbane August 12th, 1855. Reached Port Patterson, Arnheim's Land, September 2nd. Ran on a rock. Great damage to, and loss of horses. Land at

Point Pearce. Part of the expedition went by land to the higher part of the river. Two horses poisoned. Horses attacked by alligators on Fitzmaurice River. The party ascending the river struck on a rock. Great loss of stores and sheep. Out of 200 shipped, only twenty-six reached the camp alive. Rules laid down for the conduct of the party. Their good effect. Set out a small party southward. Exploration of the Victoria for 100 miles. Return to camp. Fresh exploration in January, 1856. Stupendous rocks on the river course. Basaltic country with deep gullies. The head waters of the Victoria. Dividing range. Wretched country. Retreat before the heat and drought. Mount Muller. Follow the Wickham to the Victoria. Serious injury to one of the party. Party formed to proceed towards Carpentaria. Start on 21st of June. Reach a creek of the Roper, July 12th. The Roper. Flat country. Creeks and lagoons. Marks of floods. The gigantic water-lily. Proceed S. E., leave basaltic country. Blacks try to surprise them. Two horses poisoned. Bad country. Limmen Bight. MacAdam range and MacArthur river. Sandstone hills. Cross the Robinson and Leichhardt rivers. Country better. Brimstone and basalt. Nicholson River. Poor Country. Beame's Brook a branch of the Albert. The Tom Tough not arrived. Determined to push on for the east course. Buried canisters to say this. September 3rd, continued their journey. Plains of Promise disappoint them. The Leichhardt. Attacked by the natives. The spring season, yet the country looked poor. Betwixt the Flinders and Gilbert saw good country. Gilbert nearly dry. Arrive at ranges 2500 feet high. Head waters of the Lynd. Basaltic country well grassed. Reach the Burdekin in October. Trees marked with an iron axe. Camp of Leichhardt. Rocks of various kinds. Trace the Burdekin to the "Suttor and Belyando." On the Comet noticed a camp of Leichhardt's. Arrival at Brisbane. The expedition completed in sixteen months. Objects accomplished by this expedition. The part of the expedition which went in the Tom Tough to Timor for supplies reaches Sydney by sea. Mr. Baines' boat-voyage of 650 miles. Remarks of Captain Sturt on Mr. Gregory's discoveries, and on the theory of the Australian interior. – Theory of Mr. Alfred Howitt. Diagram in illustration of it. Reports of Messrs. Elsey, Wilson, Flood, Baines, and Lieutenant Chimmo.............133

CHAPTER VIII.

THE EXPEDITIONS OF JOHN MCDOUALL STUART, EXTENDING PROM ADELAIDE TO THE NORTH SEA, FROM 1858 TO 1862.

Mr. Stuart, draftsman of Captain Sturt's expedition, in 1844-5. – Aided in his attempts at discovery by Messrs. Finke and Chambers. In 1858 passed Lake Torrens for the north-west. Mr. Babbage at Yalticourie invites him to Coulthardt's funeral, and proposes to accompany him on his expedition. Mr. Stuart excuses himself. Bottle Hill. Bad country. Enquires after Wingillpin. Mr. Stuart's idea of Wingillpin. Mount Hamilton. Stony country. Mr. Stuart looking out for Cooper's Creek to the west. Supposes a creek near Mount Hamilton, to form the Glenelg of Captain Grey in Western Australia. Turns south, finding scrub and salt lagoons. Turned next N. W. till the 1st of August. Worthless country. Near Lake Gairdner. Proceeds towards Denial Bay. Dismal country about Mount Finke. Reach Gibson's Station, Streaky Bay. Return by Mount Arden. Stuart's Second Journey into the vicinity of Lake Torrens. Assisted by Messrs. Finke and Chambers. Ascends the eastern side of Lake Torrens. Finniss's Springs. Mount Hamilton. Mount Hugh. Elizabeth Springs. Douglas Creek. Davenport Range. Other springs. The Hanson Range. Mounts Kingston and Younghusband. Good country. Barrow

and Freeling Springs. Neale Creek. Mount O'Halloran. No water. Returns to Glen's Station, Termination Hill.

THIRD EXPEDITION. From the Spring of Hope to Mount Anna. Wild grape at Parry's Springs. Thinks he saw Lake Torrens. December 20th set his men to dig for gold. No gold. Returned to Chambers' Creek.

FOURTH EXPEDITION TOWARDS THE CENTRE OF THE CONTINENT. Advances beyond the Neale to new ground. Mount Ben and Head's Range. Goes westward. Wretched scrub. West Neale. Enter extensive ranges. Mounts Beddome, Daniel, Humphries, and the Twins. Gwyder and Finke Creeks. Poor country. Extraordinary sandstone rock, which he names Chambers' Pillar. Numerous Hills named, ending in Mount Stuart. This he named Central Mount Stuart, as the centre of Australia, and planted a flag on it. Went west 150 miles, naming several hills, but found all barren scrub. Again went northward till June 26th. Named various hills and creeks as far as Mount Samuel. At Kekwick Pond says he met with a native freemason. On June 26th at Attack Creek. The native freemasons drive him back. Sufferings of the party. Mr. Stuart nearly blind. Left a horse alive bogged in a creek. On returning found his bones. Returned to Adelaide.

FIFTH EXPEDITION. Mr. Stuart's report of his progress in Adelaide. Fund voted for another expedition. November 29th started from Adelaide. His party and equipments. Squatting stations already near the 28th degree of S. latitude. A little dog killed by the heat. Spitting native. Attack Creek. Whittington Range. Morphett Creek. New plants and trees. Finely grassed country. Mount Primrose. Carruther's and Hunter's Creeks. Sturt's Plains. Ashburton Range. Vain attempt to go westward toward the Victoria river. Curious baby's coffin. Difficult country. Newcastle Water. Mount Shillinglaw. Natives fire the grass. Howell's Ponds. Return to Adelaide.

SIXTH EXPEDITION, in which the Northern Coast is reached. – Offers to proceed north again. News of Burke and Wills being found dead at Cooper's Creek, after crossing the continent. October 21st, 1861, Stuart starts again. Kicked by a horse. December 20th at Moolooloo. His party. Two of these desert. Hottest season of the year. Natives hostile at Marchant's Springs, and Mount Hay. April 17, 1862, at their farthest point, Howell's Springs. Difficulties from drought and dense scrub. Try right and left. Push through. Frew's Water-Hole. King's Ponds. Return to Howell's Ponds, defeated by the scrub. Once more advance. Auld's and McGorrerey's Ponds. Better country. Daly Waters. New tree. Fine grassy country. Blue Grass Swamp. The bean-tree again. Sickness from eating gum. Purdie's Ponds. Strang ways River. Hilly region. Tall trees, and plenty of fish. Mount Muller. Reach the Roper. A horse drowned. Natives firing the grass. Chambers' River. Stony hills. The Waterhouse Creek. Mounts Helpman, Levi, and Watts. Chambers Range. Fanny and Catherine Creeks. Basaltic country. Mount Stone. Kekwick's Springs. The Fan palm. The Adelaide River. Splendid view. Palms and tropical plants. Through stony country. Mary Creek. William Creek. Priscilla Creek. Very tall grass. Helen Creek. The Adelaide again. The Daly Range. Reach the sea in Van Diemen's Gulf. Plant a flag. Return homewards. Natives still fire the grass. Two horses drowned in the Roper. Abandon luggage. Mr. Stuart seized with scurvy. His eyes fail. August 27, a comet is visible. A remarkable native mummy. Reach Attack Creek. Lose several horses through exhaustion. Stuart much worse. Make long halts. Men and horses failing fast. Have to send ahead to look for water. Everywhere drought. Kill now and then a horse for food. November 26, reach Jarvis's Station, Mount Margaret. Stuart travels in a litter. Reach Adelaide, December 18th. General view of the advantages of these expeditions, and prospects of this northern country. Dr. Hardman's edition of Stuart's Journal.

Question of telegraphic communication across the continent. Lease of 1000 square miles of land to Stuart. Grant of £2000 to Stuart, and different sums to other members of his party. Order in which the transit of the continent has been made by different explorers..............159

CHAPTER IX.

THE EXPLORING EXPEDITION OF VICTORIA IN 1860-1 UNDER THE COMMAND OF MESSRS. BURKE AND WILLS.

Offer of £1000 by Mr. Ambrose Kyte towards an expedition across the continent. £3100 subscribed by the public for this object; £6000 voted by the Victoria government: total, £12,400. Camels brought from India by Mr. Landells for the journey. Committee of Royal Society appointed managers of the expedition business, Robert O'Hara Burke selected as leader. His antecedents. Mr. Landells, manager of the camels. William John Wills, astronomer and surveyor. Names of the party. – Start August the 20th, 1860, in great eclat from Melbourne, Misgivings of Wills's father. Ferguson, the foreman, dismissed on the Murrumbidgee. Landells resigns. Prophecies the ruin of the expedition. Wills made second in command. His amiable character. Burke appoints Mr. Wright third in command. Unfitness of Wright. Leaves half of his expedition with Wright at Menindie. Advances to Cooper's Creek. Mr. Wright does not follow. Charged with looking out stations for squatters. Description of the country between Menindie and Cooper's Creek. Mr. Wills advances ninety miles direct northward from Cooper's Creek, but returns from want of water. Wills's description of the country about Cooper's Creek. News of Stuart having crossed the continent carried by Trooper Lyons to Menindie. Sent on by Wright, but returned without finding the way to Cooper's Creek. Wright sends back to Melbourne for more money. Mr. Wright not appearing at Cooper's Creek, Mr. Burke appoints Brahe to the command at Cooper's Creek, and sets out for the Gulf of Carpentaria with a small party. His haste. Threatens to throw the scientific instruments into a creek. Anxiety at Melbourne regarding the expedition. Efforts of Dr. Wills. An expedition sent in quest of Burke and Wills under Mr. Alfred W. Howitt................190

CHAPTER X.

EXPEDITION IN QUEST OF THAT OF MESSRS. BURKE AND WILLS, UNDER THE COMMAND OF MR. ALFRED WILLIAM HOWITT, 1861-2.

Previous bush experience of the leader. – Journey to Stuart's new country in South Australia. His report of that country. Appointed to search for gold in Gippsland. Success. Mr. Howitt met on his way to the Murray by Mr. Brahe with despatches stating that Burke and Wills left Cooper's Creek on the 18th of December, and nothing had since been heard of them. Dr. Becker, Messrs. Purcell and Stone dead. Great sensation in Melbourne. Wright's despatch. A too late visit of Wright and Brahe to Cooper's Creek. Their leaving it altogether. – Brahe's examination by the Exploration Committee. Mr. Howitt ordered to hasten north in quest of Burke and Wills. Mr. Walker ordered to proceed from Rockhampton to the Gulf of Carpentaria in quest of Burke and Wills. Captain Norman, with the Victoria steamer, ordered to the Gulf. The Firefly sent from Brisbane, with a party under Mr. Landsborough, to the Gulf, to proceed thence south for the same object. Mr. Howitt sets out, accompanied by Dr. Wheeler. Mr. Landells offer his services to conduct the camels.

These not accepted. Howitt and Wheeler left Melbourne July 4, 1861. August 13th arrived at Pomomaroo Creek, on the Darling. Menindie and its land-hunters. Dislike of the horses to the camels. At Poria Creek Mr. Howitt leaves Burke's track, and strikes N. W. to Cooper's Creek. Reaches the depot. Finds the papers of Burke and Wills buried at Wills Fort, informing them of Burke and Wills having returned thither. Camel tracks. Find various articles. Find King amongst the natives, and learn the death of Burke and Wills. Find the remains of the explorers, with field-books and papers. Buried the remains. – Failure of an attempt to send word to Melbourne of the news by carrier pigeons. Presents made to the natives for their kindness to King. Return to the Darling. Mr. Howitt and Dr. Wheeler to Melbourne.............212

CHAPTER XI.

THE JOURNEY OF BURKE AND WILLS TO THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA, AND RETURN TO COOPER'S CREEK.

Directed their course to Eyre's Creek. – The water in Cooper's Creek at 97.4 of Fahrenheit. Crossed the Stony Desert and found it not very bad. Spent Christmas Eve at a creek on the other side of the desert. On Christmas Day struck a creek, now called Burke's Creek. Alternate sand-ridges and grassy plains. King's and Wills's Creek. Australian spinach. Patton's Creek. Progress through good country, naming hills and creeks. River which Burke called the Cloncurry, a branch of the Flinders. Followed the Flinders to near the sea. A horse swamped in Billy Creek. Proceed on foot. – Here Wills's journal abruptly ceases. – On the 19th of February they are on their way homewards. Burke says they reached the sea, but not the open ocean. In great anxiety about their provisions holding out. Burke ill from eating snake. Lighten the loads of the camels. Kill a camel and a horse for food. Burke beats Gray for privately taking food. Gray cannot walk. His companions think him shamming. Gray dies. Sunday, April 21st, 1861, arrive at the depot and find it deserted only seven hours before. Their consternation. Find some provisions, but are too weary to follow. Burke decides to make for Mount Hopeless. Leave memoranda of their return and present route at the depot. Started for Mount Hopeless April 23rd. Received fish from the natives. Camel bogged and killed. Only one camel left. Kill that. Wills makes an excursion to find a better track. Treated to "nardoo," a seed, by the natives. Nardoo bread. Bury part of their provisions and return to the depot. Rapidly sink on the nardoo food. Burke and King set out to find the natives. Too weak to carry anything. Burke dies. King returns and finds Wills dead. Joins the natives. Affecting notes in Wills's diary. Letter to his father in prospect of death. Hasty notes of Burke. King's life amongst the natives. Return of Howitt and party to Menindie. His opinion of the natives at Cooper's Creek..............239

CHAPTER XII.

THE EXPLORATION EXPEDITION OF MR. McKINLAY IN SEARCH OF BURKE AND WILLS IN 1861 AND 1862.

Order in which explorers have crossed Australia. McKinlay second as to the whole width. McKinlay summoned from Melbourne. Sets out at once. His party. Evidently well qualified for his office. Left Adelaide August the 16th, 1861. Baker's Station on Blanche Water. Squatting stations beyond Eyre's farthest point. Dry and stony country to Lake Hope. Mr. Elder and Mr. Stuckey. A pelican choked by a fish. Lakes Camel, Perigundi, and Buchanan. Straying of horses and camels. Hear from natives of white men at Cooper's Creek, and one of them dead.

Mr. McKinlay sets out for Cooper's Creek. Sees natives in European clothing. Further rumours of the white men. Lake Kadhi-baerri. Found a flattened pint pot. Abundance of grass and clover. Found a mutilated body in a grave. Story of a battle with white men. Fragments of a tin can, a nautical almanac, &c. Hear of iron-work of saddles, a pistol, &c. A native digs up some baked horse hair for stuffing saddles. Probably the grave was Gray's. The natives of Cooper's Creek are fired on. Probable cause of this. McKinlay and party imagine these natives to have killed and eaten Burke and his party. Name the water Lake Massacre. McKinlay sends despatches to Adelaide with news of his discovery. Laid up with the hot weather. Natives tell of a flood coming down Cooper's Creek. McKinlay rides there to see. No signs of flood. Trees marked by Howitt, indicating the graves of Burke and Wills. Saw a cobby horse. Deposited memorandum at Burke's grave of his visit, and intention to go northward. Moved on December the 20th. Dreadful journey to Lake McKinlay. A bullock killed by the heat. The black guide quits them. Lake Moolionboorrana. Heat awful. Lake Jeannie. Spent Christmas Day there. Natives making nardoo cakes. Lake Appam-barra. Naked country. Lake Hodgkinson. Natives' report, White fellows arrived at Lake Buchanan. A myth. Discovers various other lakes and creeks. Mount McDonnell. Abundance of wild-fowl. A peep at the Stony Desert. Four months nearly spent here. Start January the 6th, 1862. Compelled by intense heat and want of shelter to retreat to Lake Hodgkinson again. This lake soon dried up. Another ride to the Stony Desert. – Camp on Hayward's Creek till the 10th of February. Rain and thunder. The country now deep mud. Passed a camp of Burke's, and remains of his horse Billy. Surrounded by vast floods. Hamilton and Goyder's table-topped hills. – Passed the Stony Desert; still in the midst of floods. Escape Camp. Was Leichhardt caught in such a flood? The natives thereabout possess goat's hair. No goats probably ever there but Leichhardt's. Daly Ranges. Shepherd lost for six days. Name many creeks and ranges. Enter the tropical regions. Palms and grass up to the neck. Ant-hills like decaying columns. Natives firing the grass. New trees. Copper was found. Country looked auriferous. Marks of great floods. Mounts Elephant and McPherson. Jessie and Jeannie Creeks. Crossed the track of Burke and Wills on the Cloncurry. Struck the Leichhardt on the 9th of May. Its aspect. Many windings. Set their own baggage on fire. Stokes's Plains of Promise. Reached the tidal part of the river, but could not get at the sea for swamps and mangrove creeks. Collect salt for their journey. The grass too strong for sheep. Commence the route to Port Denison. Only two bullocks left, and no tea, sugar, or flour. Trees marked by Landsborough. Make boots for the sore-footed camels. Cross the Flinders and the Norman. Involved in ranges. Killed their last bullock. Mountains. Silk cotton growing. Wonderful view of rocky country. A terrible country. The River Gilbert. Losing horses from fatigue. Kill the last bullock. Several men very ill. Reached the Burdekin July the 5th. – Still killing horses for food, or leaving them behind. Only two pack horses and one camel left. Crossed the Burdekin on a raft amongst alligators. Killed their last camel. Reach the station of Harvey and Somers. Met there with Mr. Brahe. Returned by Rockhampton, Sydney, and Melbourne, to Adelaide...............254

CHAPTER XIII.

LANDSBOROUGH'S EXPEDITION FROM THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA IN QUEST OF BURKE AND WILLS, 1861.

Mr. Orkney sends his yacht, Sir Charles Hotham, to look out in the Gulf of Carpentaria for the lost explorers. Disabled on the voyage. The

Government of Queensland send out Landsborough and party. The Firefly carrying the expedition stranded on Sir Charles Hardy's Island. Lose five horses. Assisted to the mouth of the Albert by the Victoria. Anchored in the Albert. Mr. Landsborough explores the Albert 120 miles. Driven back by natives and want of water. Finds Mr. Walker had been at the Albert, and gone back on the traces of Burke and Wills. Insists on going too. Sets out on the 10th of February, 1862. Sees tracks of Walker, but does not follow them. Ceases to speak of Burke and Wills, but strikes eastward in quest of good lands. Follows the Flinders 200 miles to the south-eastward. Crosses the Jardine Creek and Ranges. The Thomson. Follows it, and crosses the Barcoo and Warrego. At Williams's Station on that river hears of the death of Burke and Wills. Descends the Darling, and thence to Melbourne. Visits London. His skirmish with Mr Crawford about the growth of wool. Mr. Landsborough's real service is to have found a good track to the Gulf from Queensland, and good land for squatters. Comments of the Melbourne Argus on his tour...............284

CHAPTER XIV.

MR. FREDERICK WALKER'S EXPEDITION IN QUEST OF BURKE AND WILLS.

Mr. Walker celebrated in Queensland for explorations attended by blacks. His prompt attention to the calls on him to go in quest of the missing explorers. Started from Dutton's Station on the Dawson, September 7th, 1861. By the 16th reached the Nogoa. Went north to the Poma. Crossed the Ranges by his own, Walker's Pass. Began to mark trees where the new country commenced. Crossed at the Barcoo on the 27th. October 15th, found a tree marked by Gregory. Found two trees marked by Leichhardt. Went north-west for the Alice. Saw tracks of horses, which they thought Leichhardt's. Advanced over ranges to the Thomson. Saw other traces of Leichhardt. Remarks of Patrick, the native, on a vast view from Mount Macalister. Head waters of the Barkly. Camlaroy and Houghton Creeks. Mounts Gilbee and Castor and Pollux. Basaltic country on the Barkly, with good grazing land. Struck a tributary of the Flinders, the Norman. Numerous rivers and creek, chiefly dry. A fight with the natives. Their horses scarcely able to travel. Blacks say water all the way now. They must stick to the river. The junction of the Norman and Flinders. Traces of Burke and Wills. Second time traces of them on their return. Walker zealous to get supplies from the steamer, and follow these traces. Leaves of a memorandum book. Morning Inlet. Another fight with the natives. Other natives tell them of whites on the Albert River. Pushed over the box flats. Saw a tree marked V., and a broad arrow. Blacks try to cut them off from the Albert. See a tree marked "Dig," and find a paper in a bottle directing them to the Victoria. Arrived at the vessel in a storm of rain. The journey from Rockhampton thus made in three months and twelve days. Returns to track Burke and Wills. Lost them on the flooded flats of the Flinders. Burke's last camp. Believes Burke gone towards Queensland. Follows along the Norman. Recovers a horse, Jardine Creek. Mount Burry. Mounts Pylades and Orestes. Mount Picken. Numerous flooded creeks. Very mountainous region. On the Gilbert. Mounts Mica and Granite. The Cordilleras or dividing range. The Lynd. All boots worn out and horses lamed by the sharp slates. Enormous quartz reefs. Quartz Creek. The Yananoa. The Clarke. The Burdekin and a large tributary. A very bad grass. Halt on account of the knocked-up horses. A light party goes on to seek provisions. A bad country. Reach the station of Messrs. Wood and Robinson. Reach Rockhampton June 4, having done the journey from the Gulf in five months and two weeks. Great promptness and merit of Mr. Walker.............297

CHAPTER XV.

EXPEDITIONS OF DISCOVERY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN 1850-57 -58, AND 59.

Renewed spirit of discovery in South Australia. The causes. Mr. Babbage sent to examine the country, Tanunda and Angaston, etc. Collected 300 geologic specimens. Captain Cadell reports gold in Kangaroo Island. Tolmer's like report. Tolmer despatched to find it. Mr. Babbage sent to search for gold farther north. The Adelaide Philosophical Society recommends exploration N. W. Mr. Babbage discovers Blanche Water, etc.

MR. BABBAGE'S THIRD TRIP, NOW IN QUEST OF LAND. MR. BABBAGE'S OBJECTS. His party and equipment. Set out in February, 1857. Difficulties from drought. Dromedaries recommended. Discovers the remains of Coulthard. Coulthard, Scott, and Brooks, land-hunters. Coulthard lost. Generous offer of Mr. Swinden for his discovery. Mr. Babbage finds his remains. Affecting account of his death. Babbage proceeds westward by Lake Gairdner and other salt lakes. Lakes Hart and Younghusband. Returns to Elizabeth Creek. Dissatisfaction in Adelaide at Mr. Babbage's progress. Mr. C. Gregory sent to assist him. Finds Mr. Babbage absent, sends back part of his horses and drays, and goes to seek him. Mr. Babbage's resentment. Major Warburton sent to supersede him. The Major finds Mr. Babbage gone north-west. Overtakes him, and turns him back. The Major returns himself, without further progress. Mr. Babbage's real services.

EXPEDITION OF MR. HACK FROM STREAKY BAY. ALSO OF MESSRS. MILLER AND DUTTON from the same point. Mr. Hack sent to examine the country north and east of Streaky Bay. His explorations amongst the salt lakes. Indifferent country. Goes by the Gawler Ranges and Baxter's Range to the head of Spencer's Gulf. Messrs. Miller and Dutton proceed N. W. from Streaky Bay into the interior. Return for want of water..............311

CHAPTER XVI.

EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN 1856-57 -58, AND 59, CONTINUED.

EXPEDITIONS OF MESSRS. GOYDER AND FREELING IN 1856-7-8. Mr. Goyder sent to examine the country about Blanche Water, and make a trigonometric survey of it. His marvellous report. Great sensation in Adelaide. The possessors of flocks and herds already on the way to this Goshen. Those of Victoria on the same march. Captain Freeling sent to ascertain the truth of these tidings. Finds all the results of mirage. His report. Close examination of Lake Torrens. Its old character restored. Mr. Swinden's discovery of available land west of Lake Torrens.

MAJOR WARBURTON'S EXPEDITION TO LAKE GAIRDNER WITH THE HON. S. DAVENPORT. Proceed from Streaky Bay to the Gawler Ranges. Thence to Lake Gairdner. Theory of the country. Low estimate of it. Mr. Davenport's progress west. Major Warburton's examination of the lakes.

MR. PARRY'S SURVEYING EXPEDITION NEAR LAKE TORRENS. Reports all barren.

EXPEDITION OF GOVERNOR MCDONNELL TO LODDON SPRINGS, His voyage up the Darling in 1859............328

CHAPTER XVII.

AUGUSTUS C. GREGORY'S EXPEDITION IN QUEST OF DR. LEICHHARDT'S REMAINS.

A convict reports Leichhardt alive and in captivity in the interior. Mr. Hely's journey to ascertain the fact. Reports Leichhardt murdered by the natives. In 1858, the New South Wales Government sent out Mr. A. C. Gregory from Moreton Bay to seek for traces of Leichhardt. Traces of Leichhardt on the Barcoo near Mount Inniskillen eighty miles beyond Hely's farthest point. Proceeds to the Alice. A terrible country. Loses all traces of Leichhardt. Imagines him gone west. Traces down the Thomson. Return to the Barcoo. Follows down that river to ascertain its real course. Arrives at Cooper's Creek, thus identifying the two waters. Traces the course of Cooper's Creek by Strzelecki's Creek to Lake Torrens. Thus demonstrates the flow of this water from the Mountains of the east to Spencer's Gulf. Crosses Lake Torrens on solid bottom. Arrival in Adelaide. The fate of Leichhardt still a mystery.............337

CHAPTER XVIII.

EXPEDITIONS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN 1858 AND 1861, BY MR. FRANK T. GREGORY.

EXPEDITIONS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, 1858. – Frank Gregory and party examine the country between the river Gascoyne and Mount Murchison. Proceed to the Geraldine Mines. Mount Nairn on the Murchison. Reach the Gascoyne. Country well grassed. Lockyer's Range. Lyons River. The Alma. Mount Augustus 3000 feet. Good country. Proceed S. S. E. Mounts Gould and Hale. Extensive tracts of good country. Return to the Nairn and Geraldine Mines. The natives numerous, and sometimes troublesome. New pigeons and new vegetables. Melons and sweet potatoes. Geologic character of the country. Babbage Island. New yam.

EXPEDITION OF MR. F. T. GREGORY INTO THE INTERIOR OF DE WITT'S LAND, IN 1861. Land at Nickol Bay. Discover the Fortescue. The Hammersley Ranges. Mounts Augustus, Phillips, Samson. The Barlee Ranges. Neighbourhood of the Lyons. Second progress eastward. The Sherlock, Yule, and Oakover Rivers. Ranges in the interior. Great extents of pasturable land. The rivers Strelley, Shaw, and De Grey. Great sea-flats. Sufferings in the last journey. Character of the climate and country. Pearl oyster-beds. Natural productions. Return............343

CHAPTER XIX.

EXPEDITION FOR BRINGING DOWN THE REMAINS OF BURKE AND WILLS.

Wonderful progress of Australia since this history commenced. – The expedition to bring down the remains of Burke and Wills sets out from Melbourne in December, 1861. The party and equipment. Vary the route from Menindie. Proceed more eastward. The country better. Mount Babbage. Boally and Bultilla Creeks. Intense heat and flies. Cadell's Range. Take the old route at Altolka. Rains and grass. Getting Camels over Wilkie's Creek. February the 27th, reach Wills's grave. Mr. Howitt starts to examine the route towards Mount Hopeless. Find McKinlay's mark at Burke's grave. A wilful guide. Return to camp. On March 5th set out to reach Mount Hopeless. Strzelecki's creek. Gregory's camp.

Miserable country. Reach Blanche Water. Baker's Station. Blacks eating poisoned sugar. Barren cattle stations. Return by Bake Hope. Still very wretched country. Lake Hope. Idea that the waters from Cooper's Creek pass this way. McKinlay's guide. Reach the Depot. Coming down of a great flood. Remove the remains of Wills out of its reach. Explore the country northwards. High rocks and red sand-hills. Bateman's Creek. Frightened natives. Other creeks. Natives say McKinlay'3 party detained by floods. Search for McKinlay's party. Teniel Ranges. Lake Lipsom. Kyejoran Creek. William's Creek. A funeral oration. Regain the Depot. Hunt down a cow and calf. Catch Sturt's roan horse. Much frying of beef. Dishonest black guide. The flood still coming down. Arrival of Corporal Wanchope with despatches. Howitt returns with him to Blanche Water. Returns to the Depot. – Orders to wait for arrival of Landsborough from the gulf, and to look out for McKinlay. Journey north-west across the Stony Desert. Appearance of the desert at the time. Very passable. Lake Short. Odd conduct of the guide. Tracks thought to be of McKinlay's party. Vain search for the party. Terrible country. Other horse tracks, supposed of land-hunters. Sampson's Range. Rumours of McKinlay. A camel lost. Another journey to Blanche Water for supplies. Angipena Police Station. Singular scenery. Wilpena Pound. Striking scenery of Jacob's Station. Constant war with the blacks. Try to kill Howitt's black boy. Bloodless affair with them. Their language imitated by the settlers in their converse with them. Evident fate of the aborigines. Seventeen years' residence of a sailor amongst them. His desire to mediate between the blacks and squatters. Opinion of Mr. Wentworth, that the whites are always the aggressors. Before setting out with the remains of Burke and Wills, Howitt buries supplies of food and clothing at the Depot, should any exploring party arrive there. Journey down to Adelaide. An attempt made from Jacob's Station to open up a route eastward to the Darling. Found impracticable. Arrive at Adelaide. Dinner to McKinlay. Honours to the deceased at Adelaide. Arrival of the remains at Melbourne. Their reception by the committee. Lying in state. Meeting to receive the explorers. The funeral of Burke and Wills. Addresses of satisfaction presented to Howitt and his party, Captain Norman and Mr. Kyte, the originators of the expedition. Grants by government to the relatives of Mr. Wills, to the nurse of Burke, and others............352

CHAPTER XX.

CONCLUSION OF DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA.

Introduction of steam on the Murray and other rivers by Captain Cadell, Mr. Randall, and others. Impulse given by the late expeditions across the continent. Squatters advancing on all the tracks of Gregory, Walker, and Landsborough on the east – on those of Stuart and McKinlay centrally. Advances into York Peninsula. Two towns to be built there. Other squatters on the Belyando, Burdekin, and Lynd. Advances on the track of Burke and Wills. In the Stony Desert itself. Of others on Lake Hope. – In Western Australia the same spread of flocks and herds into new regions. Nickol Bay. The De Grey region. Doubtful Bay. Camden Harbour. Applications for islands in Shark's Bay in Recherche Archipelago. Settlement in Dampier's Land. Further attempts to explore the country on the Australian Bight. New settlement on the Adelaide under Colonel Finniss. Conditions of sale of lands. Immediately bought up. News of Colonel Finniss at Adam's Bay. Hopes entertained from this settlement in the north-west.

FRESH EXPLORATIONS IN THE NORTH-EAST. Dalrymple's tour in the district of the Burdekin. Traces its course to the Rockingham Bay. Exploration

of its mouth by Governor Bowen. Voyage of the Governor to Cape York to examine the site of a settlement. His admiration of the scenery along the coast. Advantages of the Great Barrier Reef. Progress of steam navigation on the east course. Sir Charles Nicholson recommends the exploration of New Guinea. Importance of that island to Australia. Mr. Scott traces the valley of the Burdekin from the Valley of Lagoons to the sea. A new port and town contemplated at Rockingham Bay, and direct road to the Lagoons. Amazing advance of settlement northwards. Discoveries of other kinds than geographical. Prospects of the great future...............381

CHAPTER XXI.

INCIDENTS OF DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

The survey of the coasts by Drury, D'Urville, and Stokes. Early explorers, Brunner, Monro, Mitchell, Dashwood, Thomson, Lieutenant-Governor Eyre. Discovery in the Northern Island. Earliest explorers, traders, Pakeha-Maories, missionaries. Dr. Dieffenbach and Captain Symonds. Dieffenbach visits the islands in Cook's Straits. Examines the country north of Port Nicholson. Settlement of Wellington. Dieffenbach ascends Mount Egmont. Lands in the Bay of Islands, accompanied by Captain Bernard. Explores the north-east peninsula. Natives, missionaries, etc. Set out, accompanied by Captain Symonds and Lieutenant Best, for the interior. The Waipa river. A stupendous rata tree. The chief Te-Whero-Whero. The Waikato river. A volcanic country. Hot springs, sulphur jets, and boiling mud springs. The great central lake, Taupo. Forbidden to ascend the volcano Tongariro. Former ascent of it by Mr. Bidwell. The Warm Lake. The Valley of the Thames. Return to Auckland. Explorations and death of Captain Symonds. Explorations of Dr. Hochstetter, Messrs. Purchas and Heaphy. Dana's visit to the Bay of Islands. Hochstetter's journey to the Waipa, Waikato, and Tongarira, accompanied by Dr. Haast, Captain Drummond Hay, Bruno Hamel, and Herr Koch. They go over the same ground as Dr. Dieffenbach. The caves in the limestone district. The Mora Cave. Geologic results of this journey. Gold discoveries. German and French savans and naturalists, discoverers in New Zealand and Australia. Progress of botanical knowledge in New Zealand. Missionaries as openers-up of these islands. Collectors of Maori knowledge and poetry................398

CHAPTER XXII.

DISCOVERY OF THE INSULARITY OF THE SOUTH ISLAND.

Discovery of the insularity of the South Island by Stewart, a sealer. Settlement of the Middle Island in 1847. The River Owerrie already explored in 1840 by the Pelorus. Settlement of Otago by William Cargill, of Canterbury, by a Company projected by Gibbon Wakefield in 1850. Failure of the project. Surveys of Captain Stokes of the coasts of the Foveaux Strait. Discovery of the ports and rivers of the southern extremity of the Middle Island. Explores the New River. Explorations of Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Spencer. Journey from Jacob's River to Otago. Account of the South Island by Captain Stokes. Surveys of Mr. Tuckett. Discoveries of Brown, Duppa, and Thomson. Survey of M'Kerrow of the Lake District of Otago...............418

CHAPTER XXIII.

DISCOVERIES IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND CONTINUED.

Mr. Dobson's discovery of a route over the Canterbury Mountains to the west coast. Discoveries of Mr. Torlesse. Harper's expedition to the west coast. Mr. Dobson's attempt to find a way through the mountains to Nelson. Surveys of Mr. Rochfort on the mountains westward. Discoveries of Mr. Mackay.

DR. HAAST'S EXPLORATIONS OF THE MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS OF THE MIDDLE ISLAND. Report of Dr. Haast's explorations in 1860. Proceeds from Nelson with a party to discover a route to the Buller on the west coast. Wairau Valley. Lake Howard. Passes discovered by Brunner, Heaphy, and Fox. Junction of the Tutaki and Buller. Ascend Mount Murchison. Cross the Buller and various rivers to the Grey. Ascend the Grey. Vast view from Mount Deception. Lakes Brunner and Hochstetter. Beds of coal on the Grey. Follow the coast north. Mounts Rochfort, William, and Frederick. Follow the coast to Cape Farewell, and sail to Nelson. Explorations of the Canterbury Mountains in 1861. Death, by drowning, of his companion, Dr. Sinclair. Continues these explorations in 1862. Sources of the Kowai. Ascends Mount Torlesse. Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki. The Great Tasman glacier and Moorhouse Range. Poetic beauty of the Southern Alps. In 1863 Dr. Haast pursued his explorations into the mountains of Otago. Dr. Drake reports good country between the Rivers Grey and Hokitika. Further explorations of Dr. Haast. Dr. Hector, in 1863, discovered the River Kaduku, the lake Kakapo, and a track to the central lake, Wakatipua. A direct highway across the island. Part of these discoveries made previously by Messrs. Caple, Alabaster, and others. Passes discovered by Mr. Rochfort and Mr. Clarke. These explorations small in extent, but arduous from the obstacles of high mountains, glaciers, and impetuous rivers. Mr. Rochfort's surveys. Mr. A. Dobson...................427

CHAPTER XXIV.

OPENING COMMUNICATION WITH THE WEST COAST.

Opening the way to the West Coast. – Arduous nature of the undertaking. The fatalities of 1863. The story of the loss of Mr. Whitcombe. Loss of Mr. Charlton Howitt and Party. Life and Character of Mr. Charlton Howitt. Sojourn in Australia. Employed in Canterbury to seek for gold. Engaged in making a bridle-road over the mountains to the West Coast. Reputation for zeal and energy. Progress of the work. Wetness of the West Coast. Mode of subsistence in the mountains. Bird-catching. Mr. Herries' account of crossing the mountains. The grandeur of the mountain scenery. The charms of the forests of New Zealand. Enormous and curious trees. Mr. Howitt and two men drowned in Lake Brunner. The sufferings of James Hammett the survivor. Unavailing researches for the remains of the drowned. Subsequent drowning of Mr. Townsend in the Grey. Remarks on the climate of the West Coast. Concluding remarks. Probable extinction of the native race. Remarkable exemplification of native rights by a native. Persuasion of the Maories of their own fate. Appeal to our countrymen in New Zealand on their behalf................439

CHAPTER XXI. INCIDENTS OF DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

CHAPTER XXI.

INCIDENTS OF DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

The survey of the coasts by Drury, D'Urville, and Stokes. – Early explorers, Brunner, Monro, Mitchell, Dashwood, Thomson, Lieutenant-Governor Eyre. – Discovery in the Northern Island – Earliest explorers, traders, Pakeha-Maories, missionaries. – Dr. Dieffenbach and Captain Symonds. – Dieffenbach visits the islands in Cook's Straits. – Examines the country north of Port Nicholson. – -Settlement of Wellington. – Dieffenbach ascends Mount Egmont. – Lands in the Bay of Islands, accompanied by Captain Bernard. – Explores the north-east peninsula. – Natives, missionaries, etc, – Sets out, accompanied by Captain Symonds and Lieutenant Best, for the interior. – The Waipa river. – A stupendous rata tree. – The Chief Te-Whero-Whero. – The Waikato River. – A volcanic country. – Hot springs, sulphur jets, and boiling mud springs. – The great central lake, Taupo. – Forbidden to ascend the volcano Tongariro. – Former ascent of it by Mr. Bidwell. – The Warm Lake. – The Valley of the Thames. – Return to Auckland. – Explorations and death of Captain Symonds. – Explorations of Dr. Hochstetter, Messrs. Purchas and Heaphy. – Dana's visit to the Bay of Islands. – Hochstetter's journey to the Waipa, Waikato, and Tongariro, accompanied by Dr. Haast, Captain Drummond Hay, Bruno Hamel, and Herr Koch. – They go over the same ground as Dr. Dieffenbach. – The caves in the limestone district. – The Mora Cave. – Geologic results of this journey. – Gold discoveries. – German and French savans and naturalists, discoverers in New Zealand and Australia. – Progress of botanical knowledge in New Zealand. – Missionaries as openers-up of these islands. – Collectors of Maori knowledge and poetry.

THE comparative narrowness of the New Zealand Islands has prevented that scope of expeditionary discovery which has prevailed in Australia. Yet there are incidents attending the laying down of its coast lines, the settling and opening up of its islands, mountains, and forests, that possess a deep interest.

THE SURVEY OF THE COASTS.

The great work of surveying the coasts, which Cook commenced in 1769, was nearly completed by Drury in 1856. To D'Urville of the French marines, and Stokes and Drury of the Royal Navy, the world is indebted for a complete outline of the coast; and to Captain Richards, Royal Navy, and Mr. Evans, Royal Navy, for an excellent description of them. The New Zealand coast-line

INFLUENCE OF THE MISSIONARIES.

Pakeha-Maories, or Stranger-Maories, from their adopting the habits of the Maories, and marrying into their families, were the earliest explorers of the interior of the North Island. The Pakeha-Maories became the mediums of trade with the Europeans on the coasts, and found it a profitable business, till the Maories became familiar with them, and discovered that it was their interest to trade directly with the English and other nations who frequented their shores, and were making settlements on them.

The Missionaries, Church of England, Methodists, and Catholics gradually established their influence with the natives, and by degrees penetrated with their schools and chapels into the most central regions of the island.

Mr. Charles Darwin, the naturalist, who visited New Zealand in 1835 in his voyage with Captain Fitzroy in the Beagle, was one of the first to present us with some vivid glimpses of the Maories and the missionary settlements at that period in the Northern Island.

He says: – "I should think a more warlike race of inhabitants could not be found in any part of the world than the New Zealanders. Their conduct on first seeing a ship, as described by Captain Cook, strongly demonstrates this; the act of throwing volleys of stones at so great and novel an object, and their defiance of, 'Come on shore, and we will kill and eat you all,' shows uncommon boldness. This warlike spirit is evident in many of their customs, and even in their smallest actions. If a New Zealander is struck, although but in joke, the blow must be returned.

"At the present day, from the progress of civilization, there is much less warfare, except among some of the southern tribes. I heard a characteristic anecdote of what took place some time ago in the south. A missionary found a chief and his tribe in preparation for war; their muskets clean and bright, and their ammunition ready. He reasoned long on the inutility of the war, and the little provocation which had been given for it. The chief was much shaken in his resolution, and

EFFECTS OF CIVILIZATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

seemed in doubt; but, at length, it occurred to him that a barrel of gunpowder was in a bad state, and that it would not keep much longer. This settled the matter" – P. 419.

Mr. Darwin gives a striking illustration of the magical change produced in New Zealand by the introduction of European civilization: – "At length we reached Waimate. After having passed over so many miles of uninhabited useless country, the sudden appearance of an English farm-house and its well-dressed fields, placed there as by an enchanter's wand, was exceedingly pleasant. * * * * At Waimate there are three larger houses where the missionary gentlemen, Messrs. Williams, Davies, and Clarke, reside; and near them are the huts of the native labourers. On an adjoining slope fine crops of barley and wheat were standing in full ear, and, in another part, fields of potatoes and clover. But I cannot attempt to describe all I saw; there were large gardens, with every fruit and vegetable which England produces, and many belonging to warmer climates. I may instance asparagus, kidney-beans, cucumbers, rhubarb, apples, pears, figs, peaches, apricots, grapes, olives, gooseberries, currants, hops, gorse for fences, and English oaks; also many kinds of flowers. Around the farmyard there were stables, a thrashing barn, with its winnowing machine, a blacksmith's forge, and, on the ground, ploughshares and other tools; in the middle was that happy mixture of pigs and poultry, lying comfortably together, as in every English farm-yard. At the distance of a few hundred yards, where the water of a little rill had been dammed up into a pool, there was a large and substantial water-mill.

"This is very surprising when it is considered that five years ago nothing but the fern flourished here. Moreover, native workmanship, taught by the missionaries, has effected this change – the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house had been built, the windows framed, the fields ploughed, and even the trees grafted by the New Zealander. At the mill a

DIEFFENBACH'S EXPLORATIONS.

New Zealander was seen powdered white with flour, like his brother millers in England." – P.425.

When Dr. Dieffenbach, in 1840 and 1841, visited, in company with Captain Symonds, the most interior regions of Auckland, along the rivers Waikato, Waipa, and the Thames, and amongst the volcanic hills and geysers of the central districts, he found the missionaries almost everywhere settled amongst the natives, and teaching them both from school and pulpit; yet Dieffenbach tells us that he "was the first to visit or describe Mount Egmont, many places in the northern parts of the island, and some of the picturesque and interesting lakes and thermal springs in the interior," and he was of opinion "that a further knowledge would be owing rather to the gradual spread of colonization than to a previous examination of the country." Dieffenbach's explorations were in the character of naturalist to the New Zealand Company. He arrived in the ship Tory from England in Queen Charlotte's Sound in August, 1839. After remaining some time in Ship Cove, he visited many places on the coasts, beginning first with excursions to the island of Motuara, Cannibals' Cove, named Tory Channel after the ship, and paid visits to Te-awa-iti, the settlement of the whalers in Cook's Strait, where they found the whalers all living with native wives, to the islands of Moioio and Arapaoa, Cloudy Bay, Port Underwood, and then crossed over to Port Nicholson in the Northern Island.

Here, at this time, the New Zealand Company purchased Port Nicholson, and commenced the foundation of the town of Wellington. From Port Nicholson, Hr. Dieffenbach made an excursion into the mountains to the north-east, called the Tararua Range. At that time there was no road connecting the town with the valley of the Hutt, or across the neck of land to the Pararua River opposite the island of Mana. Dieffenbach was desirous to cross the snowy mountains northward of Port Nicholson, and to enter the valley of the Manawatu, but as there were no roads through the thick scrub

CLEARING GROUND FOR TOWN OF WELLINGTON.

and dense forests, he was not able to accomplish it. The surveyors were just beginning to cut lines up the right bank of the Eritonga River. The settlers were just clearing the ground for the commencement of the town of Wellington. On the fourth day of their journey they came upon a party under Mr. Deans, who were cutting a track through the hills to the west. Mr. Deans and two men, making Dieffenbach's party eight, soon after joined them. It was in August, and the weather was very rainy, with occasional hail and snow. At about fifty miles from the sea, they came upon another stream running into the Eritonga, and saw numerous footprints of wild pigs, dogs, and cats. After ascending the Tararua Hills amid deep snow, and beholding a very wild prospect as far as Kapiti Island in Cook's Strait, and over regions all around exceedingly mountainous, and covered on the lower land with continuous woods, they returned to Port Nicholson, after an absence of sixteen days, without seeing a single native; but they convinced themselves that roads to Hawke's Bay northeastward, and to the Manawatu north-westward, were quite practicable. At that time the natives in Port Nicholson district were estimated at 1500, but divided into several tribes, and living in the different coves of the harbour.

After again visiting different parts of the strait, they examined the Wanganui, Waimate, and other rivers, on the north of the strait to Cape Egmont. Whilst the company's agent was engaged in the purchase of the land from the natives, Dieffenbach set off with a small party to endeavour to ascend Mount Egmont, never yet ascended by any European. About Sugarloaf Point, where they landed from their boat, they found plenty of natives; the Taranaki tribe, however, were very much harassed by the powerful Waikatos, and glad to sell lands to the English to obtain their support against their too potent enemies.

The natives strove earnestly to dissuade Dieffenbach from ascending Mount Egmont, telling him that it was

DIEFFENBACH ASCENDS MOUNT EGMONT.

"tapu," or sacred, and that there were crocodiles and moas in its glens, and that he would assuredly be eaten. Spite of this, he persuaded an old priest and American man of colour to accompany him, and, on the 3rd of December, they started. On the way they came to concealed potato plantations, which the natives fled to in the woods, when their Waikato enemies came down. The cabbage-palm in the woods were the tallest Dieffenbach had ever seen. The heavy rains and the shortness of provisions, however, defeated their attempt, and they returned to the shore after an absence of fifteen days, but delighted with the beauty and fertility of the country as far as they could see it.

Having laid in a better store of provisions, and adding to their party a chief, E. Kake, and Mr. Heberley, a European, they again set out to ascend the mountain. This time they succeeded, but the natives would not go higher than the limits of perpetual snow, about 7204, the mountain itself being 8839 feet. The natives took out their books and began to pray, overpowered by the silent awe of the mountain heights, and their dread of the mysterious animals that they believe to exist there. Dieffenbach and Heberley found the mountain an old volcano, with its crater filled with snow, and a high piled cone of cinders and scoriaceous lava. The travellers descended, predicting that the picturesque valley of the Waiwakaio, Mount Egmont, and the smiling land at its base, would become as celebrated for their beauty as Vesuvius, and the Bay of Naples, and attract travellers from all parts of the globe.

From Taranaki Dr. Dieffenbach made an excursion to Mokau, but this was merely along the coast. He next made a voyage to the Chatham Islands, which lie to the S. E. of New Zealand, and found the surface of the largest island to contain 305,280 acres, of which 57,000 were occupied by lakes, and 100,000 were considered good for cultivation, the remainder for pasturage. Water and water-fowl in abundance, as well as fish, and materials for building not less so.

EXPLORATION IN BAY OF ISLANDS.

In October, 1840, Dr. Dieffenbach landed in the Bay of Islands, and proceeded with Captain Bernard, an adventurous Frenchman, to explore the northern long peninsular of the island. Commencing at Cape Maria Van Diemen, he traced the coast south-westward. He found on the peninsular missionary and squatting stations. A Mr. Southie was living on the Awaroa river, and employing 300 natives in clearing the land. There were natives busy fishing, and cultivating potatoes, kumeras, melons, pumpkins, and turnips, in neat enclosures. In the valley of the Awaroa, Dieffenbach calculated that there were 120,000 acres of arable land. A bridle road for fifty miles from Kaitaia had been cut through the forests by the natives, at the price of a blanket per mile. Dieffenbach and Captain Bernard extended their explorations into Lauriston Bay, the district round the harbour of Wangaroa, and the Pu-te-kaka river, amongst the forests of the mighty Kauri pines. They complained of the reckless destruction of the Kauri forests by the fire of the settlers, and the log-cutters, then going on; and of the equally wholesale destruction of the curious bird, the kiwi or apterix, which abound in those forests, by dogs and cats, and by the natives to make mats of their skins.

Crossing the peninsular, they visited the harbour of Wangaroa, celebrated for the massacre of the crew of the Boyd in 1809. Amongst the volcanic rocks and hills of this neighbourhood they found 2000 natives who had become Christians, some protestants, some catholics, having missions of both creeds. Returning to the west coast they traced it down to Wangape and Hokianga, around which latter place were 200 Europeans, traders, and sawyers, and all the natives converted to Catholicism or methodism. They visited in the interior the lake of Maupere, and the extinct volcanos, and the hot sulphurous springs about the Waimate, in the direction of the Bay of Islands. In the same manner crossing to and fro, they examined the Keri-Keri river, the Bay of Tauranga, the Bay of Islands, the Kaipara Harbour, and the

MEET WITH LADY FRANKLIN.

Wairoa river with its tributaries. Up these rivers they found Englishmen located as farmers and timber dealers, who claimed most of the land, some of the timber ships ascending the Wairoa to a distance of eighty-five miles from the sea. Thence they continued their examinations of the country to the Gulf of Hauraki, Coromandel Harbour, the Waiho or Thames, to Waitimata Harbour, and Auckland. At Kati-Kati they found the southern boundary of the Kauri forests on the east coast. On the different rivers they still found missions, most of which had possessed themselves of large tracts of country. The church mission catechist, Fairbairn, on the right bank of the Tamaki river claiming the country from thence to the Wairoa, ninety square miles.

From Waitemata, accompanied by Lieutenant Best, Dr. Dieffenbach proceeded to the Manukau, and thence, also accompanied by Captain William Cornwallis Symonds, directly southward into the interior as far as the great central lake Taupo. This was by far the most important exploration on the part of Dieffenbach and his English companions, of whom it is rather remarkable he says so little. We know that they went with him, and that is nearly all. The country from Waitemata to Manukau they found extremely interesting, as consisting of comparatively level land, with pleasant valleys, but with a number of extinct volcanos rising here and there out of the plains; the conical hills reaching 400 or 500 feet with still deep and well defined craters. The shores of the Manukau they represented as the last place on the western coast southward where the Kauri was found at all in any quantity.

Lieutenant Best accompanied some natives to the Awaroa, and thence proceeded to the Waikato, but Dr. Dieffenbach followed the coast southwards, accompanied by Captain Symonds. They found the mouth of the Waikato narrow and shallow, but the river within the heads capable of carrying large vessels for 100 miles. Near the embouchere of the river at the Church Missionary Station, Maraenui, they met with Lady Franklin,

THE PARTY GO INTO THE INTERIOR.

Sir John Franklin at this time being engaged in an extensive examination of New Zealand. The party continued along the shore of Waingaroa harbour, which they found overlooked by limestone cliffs of seventy or eighty feet in height. At Waingaroa they found a tribe of 1200 natives, and a Wesleyan Mission. Thence they continued their coast journey to Aotea and Kawia, an extensive harbour, into which fall the Awaroa and Kauri rivers. On the northern shore of this harbour was formerly the head-quarters of the famous Rauparaha, who was driven from it by the Waikato, and settled at Entry Island. There were about 1500 of the Waikato living here, and they had all become Christians. From the size and capacity of this harbour, the depth of water, the rivers flowing into it, and the quality of the land, it appeared likely to become one of the most important ports of the western coast. There were already about forty Europeans settled on its northern shore, and the greatest part of the land in the vicinity of Kawia was claimed by them.

From this point they struck off into the interior, having engaged a numerous band of natives to carry their luggage, the payment for which service was a shirt or a gown to each. They crossed in a canoe to the small river Operau, and then ascended gentle hills towards the Waipa river. These hills were all of volcanic origin, covered with fern, and in many places with forests. In one place they saw a very ancient rata-tree, its stem fifty-four feet round, and having been hollowed out by fire, served for a convenient shelter to the natives. It was strictly "tapu," that is, no one was allowed to cut down or injure any portion of it. On reaching the summit of the hills overlooking the valley of the Waipa, they had a vast prospect. Seawards they saw Kawia and Aotea, to the N. E. Maunga-Tautari, a volcanic ridge in the interior; before them the broad valley of the Waipa, bounded to the east by distant hills, and to the south-west the hilly chain of Rangitoto, near Mokau. Only some small spots of the valley of the Waipa were wooded, and the

MOST OF THE NATIVES CHRISTIANS.

burnt and blackened stems of old trees were the only signs of the intrusion of man into the dominions of nature.

Natives and missionaries welcomed them to the Valley of the Waipa, which was extensive, flat, and very fertile. At the Church Missionary station of Otawao, they found fine tobacco growing: most of the natives were Christians. Here they saw the old chief, Puata, the father of tha famous Te Whero-Whero, the head of the Waikato tribe. The Waipa there was fifty yards wide, and two fathoms deep. They directed their course eastward for the Valley of the Waikato, which joins the Waipa about a hundred miles below Otawao, passing the ranges of Maunga-Tautari, whence also flowed the rivers Piako and Waiho, or the Thames. The forests were chiefly of the Kahikatea pine. Here and there, in the level of the valley rose conical volcanic hills. As they approached the Waikato river, the woods changed to matai and totara pine; the one red and beautiful for furniture, the other most valuable for ship-building. They found the Waikato lying between steep banks, like an Australian river, about fifty yards broad, but showing that in floods it was frequently 150 yards wide. They saw in the far distance Horo-Horo, the mountain in which the Thames takes its rise. The Valley of the Waikato was very different to that of the Waipa. It was broken up into hillocks of cemented tufa and pumice-stone, the hillocks not descending in regular slopes, but in steps or terraces, evidently formed by the fall of waters. The country was altogether volcanic, barren and stony. Numerous streams ran on all sides; the hills became even more rugged and broken, and the grand forest of totara, rimu, and matai pines, gave a solemn grandeur to the scene. They were now approaching the most extraordinary region of New Zealand, the land of volcanoes, boiling springs, steam and sulphur jets, and mud cauldrons, red as vermillion, and boiling and bubbling heavily. Still they found themselves amongst natives who were partly converted to Christianity.

Three miles from a pah of these natives at Ahirara,

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

they saw the masses of white vapour rising in jets from the hot springs. The scenes which now opened upon them were of the most extraordinary kind. The whole country appeared to be based upon a fire stratum, which was sending up through crevices and through gaping funnel-shaped chasms, boiling waters, spurting steams, and fumes of sulphur. The water which boiled up was not easily approached, and was of a milky, clayey appearance, apparently very much the colour of a glacial river. The water was above the boiling point, and in constant agitation. It had the appearance of a country existing over fire-regions, where a volcano might burst forth at any moment. The party visited similar regions on the opposite side of the hills. They found numbers of these boiling springs sending up their columns of steam in a rugged ravine, under deep and precipitous cliffs.

The water in these was nearly clear, with a pleasant acidulous taste, smelling slightly of hydro-sulphurous gas, and throwing out incrustations of alum and sulphur.

One of the boiling mud-ponds lay at the base of a steep cliff, sixty feet high, white, oxidized, corroded, and undermined. The mud was continually boiling, with a white foam, throwing out jets of fluid ten feet high, with violence and noise. The pond was very deep. Many of these ponds threw up mud and sand, which hardened into truncated cones of about ten feet high, and stood up as many as eight in one pond. The whole scene was most impressive. It was a Tartarus above ground.

On reaching the great central lake, Taupo, they were struck with admiration at its extent, and at the scenery around it. Across it rose to the south-east, the still active volcano, Tongariro, and the mountains, Titiraupena, and Wakakahu. They found the rocks of which these hills consist, a leucitic lava of great fineness. On looking back at the Valley of the Waipa, which they had crossed, they gave the decided preference to it over that of the Waikato. "This valley," says Dieffenbach, "is bounded to the westward by a range of coast hills, to the eastward by the range of Maunga-Tautari. It

has an average breadth of thirty miles, is even and flat in its lowest part, especially up to the point at which the river Waipa joins the Waikato. Higher up, the country is broken and undulating, covered with a vegetation of fern and coarse grass, alternating with groves of the Kahikatea pine. The lower part rivals in fertility the best districts of the island." He says it is not only very sheltered, but has the advantage of the river being navigable for sixty miles above its junction with the Waikato, while the Waikato in the middle of its course is impeded by rapids. The Valley of the Waipa lias also easy communication with the harbour of Waingaroa, and has an almost uninterrupted water communication with Waitemata, or Auckland. They found a great demand for European commodities amongst the natives.

After crossing the lake, to ascend Tongariro, they found the chief Te-Heu-Heu was absent, and had laid a solemn "tapu" on the mysterious mountain.

Lake Taupo, which is thirty-six miles long and twenty-five broad, but very irregular in shape, is surrounded by a volcanic country all alive with boiling springs, solfataras, and stufas; and at its eastern end was an island, called Puhia-i-wakari, or White Island, still active as a volcano. On the western side, where the scenery was magnificent, they saw vapours bursting from hundreds of crevices, and heard a constant subterranean noise, like the working of a steam engine, or the blast of an iron-foundry. The natives cooked their food by laying it on fern over these crevices.

Tongariro had been tapued by Te-Heu-Heu, because Mr. Bidwell, an Englishman, had ascended it without leave; Hr. Dieffenbach could, therefore, only give us Mr. Bidwell's account of his ascent. It was on March 2nd, 1839, that he made his ascent. The natives whom he took with him would only ascend to a certain height, where they said they used to sit down and cover their heads, because it was "tapu" to look at the dreaded peak of the mountain, which they believed to be inhabited by powerful spirits. Two natives only would pass that spot, and they stopped short within a mile of the

PASS THROUGH A VOLCANIC COUNTRY.

base of the cone. As Mr. Bidwell ascended, he heard a noise, and saw an eruption of black smoke. He found the cone composed of loose cinders, not to be climbed without intense labour. It was much higher than volcanic cones in general, and the crater was the most terrific abyss he ever looked into, or imagined. The rocks overhung it on all sides, it was continually discharging steam, and it appeared at least a quarter of a mile in diameter, and very deep. The stones he threw into it did not strike anything for seven or eight minutes, and many were heard no more. The mountains around stood up quite perpendicular, and most magnificent. They were all covered with snow. He had a vast prospect of lakes, rivers, and country clothed with wood. The natives said he ought to have seen Taranaki and the island of Kapiti, in Cook's Straits. Tongariro he calculated to be 6,200 feet above the level of the sea. It did not appear, from the accounts of the natives, that there had been any violent eruption for many years; but Tongariro must be regarded as the centre of the modem volcanic action of the northern island.

Dieffenbach calculated the natives around lake Taupo at 3200, including those about the Rotu-Aire and other hills and lakes of that region. He regarded them as the best specimen of the race he had met with in New Zealand, hospitable to strangers, industrious, cleanly, and disposed to Christianity.

From the Taupo the party continued their route down the banks of the Waikato, through a similar country of lakes, hills, hot springs, and sulphur springs, to the Rotu-Mahana, or Warm Lake. A lake of a blue colour, surrounded by verdant hills; in the lake several islets, in all of which steam issued from a hundred openings between the green foliage of the bushes, without impairing their verdure, and on the opposite side a flight of broad steps, of the colour of marble, of a rosy tint, and a cascade of boiling water falling over them into the lake. The steeps were firm, like porcelain, and had a tinge of carmine. They continued their journey to Tauranga by a number

CAPTAIN SYMONDS AS AN EXPLORER.

of other lakes, of which there are fifteen, extending at intervals from the Taranaki to the eastern coast. From Tauranga they travelled to the valley of the Thames, everywhere finding missionaries, and natives who had sold their land to Europeans, and were vainly trying to get some of it back again. From the valley of the Waiho, or Thames, they sailed up the gulf of Hauraki to Auckland. In this journey Dr. Dieffenbach made a valuable addition to the geology and natural history of New Zealand, the particulars of which will be found in his work.

Amongst the most active explorers of the Northern Island must be reckoned Captain William Cornwallis Symonds, one of Dieffenbach's companions in this journey. Captain Symonds was the son of Sir William Symonds, surveyor of the navy. He was himself deputy-surveyor of New Zealand, and besides this journey with Dieffenbach, made various explorations, especially to the sources of the Wanganui and Manewatu rivers which fall into Cook's Straits. He had prepared a chart, and details of his observations, and had collected a vocabulary of 3000 native words, when he was cut short by the fate so common in New Zealand. He was upset in crossing the bay of Manukau, on a duty of friendly benevolence, and drowned in November of 1841.

At the close of December, 1858, the Novara, an Austrian frigate, out on a voyage of inquiry into the geology and natural history of various countries, especially of the southern hemisphere, entered the harbour of Auckland. On board of this frigate was Dr. Hochstetter, as the geologist of the expedition. At the Cape of Good Hope Sir George Grey, then governor there, had recommended Dr. Hochstetter to devote some time to a geological survey of the north island of New Zealand. On arriving he was readily engaged for this purpose by the Colonial Government. And the result of his visits to various parts of the coast, and into the interior, has resulted in two splendid works, one essentially geologic, the other uniting his scientific with his general observa-

DR. HOCHSTETTER'S OPINION OF NEW ZEALAND.

tions, entitled simply, "Neu Seeland, von Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter," in quarto, Stuttgart, 1863.

The great object of Hochstetter's inquiries was the same volcanic district of the interior which Dieffenbach traversed, his aim being a more close and scientific survey of its geologic structure. Hochstetter informs us that Sir George Grey himself had traversed much of the interior of the North Island since Dieffenbach, and that the Rev. A. G. Purchas and Charles Heaphy had visited some particular districts of the North Island, and that James Dana, geologist of the American Exploring Expedition of 1849, had visited the Bay of Islands, and had scientifically examined the surrounding country. After some preparatory visits to places on the coasts, and a voyage across the straits to Nelson, Dr. Hochstetter prepared to set out for the interior. He was furnished with a strong party and plenty of provisions, and was accompanied by Julius Haast, a fellow German, and also a geologist, who had arrived at the same time on a professional tour in Auckland, and who has since become the government geologist of Canterbury. Captain Drummond Hay, an officer well acquainted both with the Maories and their language, was appointed manager of the expedition and interpreter. Mr. Bruno Hamel attended as photographer, and another German, Herr Koch.

Rich as was this journey in geologic and naturalistic acquisitions, it is unnecessary for us to follow the details of it, for it was chiefly over the ground traversed by Dieffenbach. Dr. Hochstetter describes the country and their reception by natives and missionaries, in terms of the highest enthusiasm. There is no new land that in his opinion can compare with New Zealand. It is a paradise of climate and scenery, and in the peculiarity of its natural productions. He luxuriates in its forests, its mountains, its wonderful volcanic regions, its friendly people, both native and European. "Indelible," he says, "remain in my memory those scenes, when after the labour and fatigue of the day, we encamped on

ADVANTAGES OF DR. HOCHSTETTER'S JOURNEY.

the edge of the forest, near a rushing mountain stream. When the fire blazed up, and the natives sang their songs; and then all became silent till with the awakening day, the birds of the wood, the kokorimolo and the tui commenced their morning strains. I look back on such scenes, on our sailing on the rivers in the canoes of the natives, on our sojourn in their pahs, and on our wanderings through the dark old forests in the shade of trees which are unknown to every other land, with a joy which makes me truly feel how high the pleasures of nature stand above the pleasures of artificial life."

There are a few points which we may however notice. In the upper Waipa valley they explored one of the celebrated caves in the lime-stone hills, called the Moa Cave, the Spirit Cave, and the Dark Cave. The Moa Cave had been successfully examined in 1852, by Dr. A. Thomson, major Hume, and Captain Cooper, for the remains of moas. The Dark, examined by Hochstetter, he describes in one place as having a vault seventy feet high, and magnificent with stalactile formations. Scarcely a cave in these hills but formerly abounded in remains of the moa. They found the Tongariro volcano as strictly "tapu" as ever, but Mr. Dyson, in 1851, had ventured to ascend it unknown to the natives, and found it in much the same state as Mr. Bidwell in 1839. Dyson's account has been published in the Auckland "New Zealander." At Pukawa, on the Taupo Lake, they had an interview with the great chief Te-Heu-Heu, and at Tokanu saw some remarkable native carvings. Like Dieffenbach, Dr. Hochstetter and his party proceeded by the valley of the Thames and the Gulf of Hauraki to Auckland.

Besides the immediate results of this journey which greatly extended the knowledge of the geology of New Zealand, Dr. Hochstetter's work contained a great amount of information on the botany and zoology of the islands, on the discoveries of coal and gold, on the character, manners, poetry and romance of the Maories. The ground over which he went has been the great scene

GOLD DISCOVERIES.

of the struggle in the late war, and he has given a lucid narrative of its origin and progress. Dr. Hochstetter gives a very lively narrative of the gold discoveries in New Zealand from the first formation of a "Reward Committee in Auckland, in 1852," and the discovery of this metal by Mr. Charles Ring, a settler on the peninsular of Cape Colville, near the Coromandel Harbour, of which Mr. Charles Heaphy was made commissioner, to the first faint discovery of gold in 1842 by Mr. M'Donald, one of a party sent out by Captain Wakefield, at Massacre Bay, then converted into Golden Bay, the more important discovery of the Aorere gold-field in the same quarter in 1857, and then the Takata Diggings, and finally, the great outburst of the gold-fever in Otago in 1861. Gold is said to have been found in Otago in 1857 and 1858, by Mr. Ligar, since Surveyor-General of Victoria in Australia: but the discovery of the prolific gold-field of Tuapeka by Mr. Gabriel Reed, in 1861, put the climax to the gold-fever of New Zealand, brought diggers by thousands from Australia, so that by the succeeding January 250,000 ounces of gold, worth one million sterling, were raised in the gold-fields of Otago. Well might the nurses be said to rock the children to sleep with the song-

"Gold! gold! gold! beautiful fine gold!
Wangapeka, Tuapeka – gold! gold! gold!"

Since then extensive gold-fields have been discovered on the western coast of Canterbury.

In quitting this notice of the explorations of the Northern Island I may remark how much German naturalists and scientific men have had to do with Australasian researches. Dr. Solander, who accompanied Sir Joseph Banks on Cook's first voyage to the South Seas, and Dr. Sparrmann, who added to the botanic knowledge of Dusky Bay, and of the south-west coast of the Middle Island, were Swedes; but the Forsters, father and son, who attended Cook on his second voyage, were Germans, as was Dr. Leichhardt, the first great ex-

NAMES OF DISTINGUISHED EXPLORERS.

plorer of Australia to the north coast, and Dr. Dieffenbach, and as are Doctors Haast and Hochstetter. It may not be altogether out of place in a work on Geographical Discovery to notice the distinguished men who have contributed to the botanic knowledge of New Zealand. Besides Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, Doctors Solander and Sparrmann, and the Forsters, already mentioned, Dr. Menzies, who was the naturalist in Vancouver's voyage, collected, principally in Dusky Bay, many mosses and lichens, and added greatly to the collection of the cryptogamic plants of New Zealand. In 1824 and 1827 the French expeditions of Duperrey and D'Urville visited New Zealand, and Professor Richard published descriptions of 200 species of trees and plants there collected. After the establishment of the Sydney Botanic Garden, Charles Frazer, the Sydney botanist, visited New Zealand in 1825, and the brothers Allan and Richard Cunningham in 1826, 1833, and 1838, whilst, at the same time, zealous missionaries, as Dr. Logan and William Colenso, made extensive collections of specimens. Mr. Bidwell, who first climbed the volcano of Tongariro, in 1839, and Dr. Dieffenbach, the first European who ascended Mount Egmont, also in 1839, added very interesting contributions to the sub-alpine and alpine Flora of New Zealand. Then followed M. Raoul, the French savan, who accompanied the frigate L'Aubre from 1840 to 1841, and the frigate L'Allier, as naturalist, and described his botanic acquisitions in a splendid work. But it remained for Dr. J. D. Hooker, the son of Sir William Hooker, who attended the Antarctic Expedition under Captain James Ross, in 1839 to 1843, to put the crown to the botanic knowledge of New Zealand, in his magnificent and most scientific work, "The Flora of New Zealand." To this great work the collections of Dr. Lyall, who accompanied Captain Stokes in the Acheron, in 1847, of Dr. Menzies, rich in cryptogamias, of Captain Drury, Mr. Jolliffe, Lieutenant-Colonel Bolton, the Rev. – Taylor, Thomas H. Hulke, Dr. Andrew Sinclair, and Mr. Knight, of

ESTABLISHMENT OF MISSIONS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland, of Dr. Munro and Captain Rough, of Nelson. These enabled Dr. Hooker to complete the work down to 1853. The work contains nearly 1900 pages, to which Dr. Haast, Dr. Monro, W. T. L. Travers, Captain Rough and others, have since made additions, some of which have been described by Dr. Muller, of Melbourne, in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. xiv.

As the missionaries have been amongst the earliest and most extensive openers-up of New Zealand, it is due to them to remark that the first foundation of missions there originated with the venerable Samuel Marsden, the apostle of the South Sea. The Church Missionary Society established their mission in the Bay of Islands in 1814, the Wesleyans theirs on the Hokianga, in 1822, and the Catholics theirs in New Zealand, in 1838. The last act of cannibalism ceased under their teaching on the Katikati River, near Tauranga, in the Bay of Plenty, in 1843. New Zealand might be said to be a missionary dominion till the New Zealand Company, projected by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, landed their expedition, and founded their first settlement at Wellington, Port Nicholson, in 1839.

For a knowledge of the very interesting traditions, poems, and oratory of the Maories, we are indebted to the collections of Messrs. Polack, Backer, Shortland, and Dieffenbach, to Davis's "Maori Mementos," Taylor's "Te Ika a Maui," and Sir George Grey's "Poetry of the New Zealanders."

CHAPTER XXII. DISCOVERY OF THE INSULARITY OF THE SOUTH ISLAND.

CHAPTER XXII.

DISCOVERY OF THE INSULARITY OF THE SOUTH ISLAND.

Discovery of the insularity of the South Island by Stewart, a sealer. – Settlement of the Middle Island in 1847. – The river Owerrie already explored in 1840 by the Pelorus. – Settlement of Otago by William Cargill. – Of Canterbury by a Company projected by Gibbon Wakefield, in 1850. – Failure of the project. – Surveys of Captain Stokes of the coasts of the Foveaux Strait. – Discovery of the ports and rivers of the southern extremity of the Middle Island. – Explores the New River. – Explorations of Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Spencer. – Journey from Jacob's River to Otago. – Account, of the South Island by Captain Stokes. – Surveys of Mr. Tuckett. – Discoveries of Brown, Duppa, and Thomson. – Survey of M'Kerrow of the Lake District of Otago.

THIS island was discovered to be such by one Stewart, a sealer and whaler, a Scotchman, who found that what had been thought a bay, was in reality a strait, when in pursuit of his business as a sealer. The island is, therefore, now called Stewart Island, though the straits are called Foveaux Straits. Stewart died at Poverty Bay, and, unfortunately, in actual poverty, in 1851, at the age of eighty-five.

SETTLEMENT OF THE MIDDLE ISLAND.

The river Owerrie, in the Middle Island, was explored in 1840 by a party from the Pelorus, who gave it the name of that vessel; its waters are deep enough to serve as a port of refuge in Cook's Strait, though its entrance is not easily perceived. In November, 1847, the first ship of emigrants sailed from Greenock for Otago. This place, chosen for the settlement in place of Canterbury Plain, is near the southern extremity of the Middle Island, and on the east coast of it. The harbour is safe, but difficult of entrance; the land about Otago is hilly, but to the south of it there are large grassy plains, better adapted for pasturage than the land in any other part of New Zealand. There were few natives in this district, and all lived on a piece of ground which had been reserved for them. The leader of the

SETTLEMENT OF CANTERBURY.

colonists was Captain William Cargill, of the 74th regiment, an old soldier of the Peninsula, and a descendant of the celebrated Donald Cargill. Otago, in his hands, became Port Chalmers, the capital, Dunedin, and the settlers Pilgrim Fathers.

SETTLEMENT OF CANTERBURY.

As Otago was a settlement of the Scotch Church, so Canterbury was designed for a settlement of the English Church. It was a project of Edward Gibbon Wakefield's, and established on his land principles. Mr. John Robert Godley was his great coadjutor in the scheme. The association consisted of noblemen, archbishops, bishops, clergy, and gentlemen. Magnificent plans of palaces and colleges were exhibited at home, and as in the Adelaide Wakefield scheme, which had so egregiously failed, gentlemen were to purchase large estates, and labourers were to be brought over by the proceeds from the sale of lands, who were always to remain labourers. It was to be a bit of feudal Old England transported to the antipodes, and there stereotyped for ever. Land was to be sold at £3 an acre, 20s. of which were to be spent in churches and colleges, 20s. in emigration, 10s. in roads, and 10s. left as profits on the land sales to the company.

The first settlers arrived on the 10th of December, 1850, but as God and nature were opposed to any such schemes of aristocrats and helots, the whole went to the wall like the experiment at Adelaide, and government had to step in, advance money as at Adelaide, and then break up the so-much vaunted Canterbury Association, because it could not discharge its engagements to the New Zealand Company for the land. The charter was cancelled in 1852, after a trial of only two years. "In the mean time," says Dr. Thomson, in his "Story of New Zealand," "discontentment and disappointment had spread amongst the upper classes. The bishop designate returned home, and his place was not supplied until 1856; the lord fled to Sydney, and thence to Eng-

THE COAST SURVEYS OF NEW ZEALAND.

land; several priests emigrated to other settlements, and Mr. Godley, the leader of the pilgrims, returned to England in 1853."

The church and Wakefield's plans being broken up, the settlement at once began to prosper.

We have briefly alluded to the coast surveys of New Zealand. In those made by Captain Lort Stokes in 1850, he examined and laid down the seaboard of the Middle Island from Otago to Preservation Harbour on the south-east coast, a distance of 220 miles, and he gives some interesting particulars of that part of the island in a report to the Admiralty, dated Wellington, September 1st, 1850.

In this stretch of coast, Captain Stokes found only four roadsteads and one port; and of the twenty-three rivers in this extent of coast line, four only were available for small vessels, and only two, the Waikawa and Orete or Eurete, the New River, for ships of from 300 to 400 tons. The latter he considered of the most importance, since it led to a fertile district, and is separated nearly by a half-mile pasturage from the head-waters of Bluff Harbour, which had an available block of land within the eastern entrance of Foveaux Strait and distant 130 miles from Otago. This prairie land is bounded by a range of rugged, snow-clad mountains, the highest at a distance of eighty miles, rising to an elevation of 6700 feet. Three openings in the northern hills show the course of the Aparima or Jacob River, winding along the western edge of the plain, that of the New River traversing its central part, with the Mataura running on its eastern side.

They ascended the New River in a whale-boat for nearly thirty miles in a north half east direction. In that distance, the land rose gradually 200 feet by three steps, occasioning somewhat dangerous rapids. The depth of water varied from two to eight feet, the width from 50 to 500 yards. The banks on either side were rich in soil, and varied by verdant meadows or woods. The Mataura and Jacob Rivers were partially examined

SURVEYS OF THE FOVEAUX STRAITS.

by Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Spencer of the Acheron, the surveying vessel, whilst she was occupied on the shores of Stewart Island. They explored the intermediate country, and reached Otago in sixteen days, each carrying 30 lbs. weight of baggage, which from unexpected accidents, was frequently increased to 70 lbs., they being the first Europeans who had accomplished that journey. They regarded the country westward of the Clutha as far as Jacob's River, as well calculated for settlement, the plains stretching eastward of the Jacob to a distance of forty miles, including 600,000 acres of rich soil. Eastward of this plain, a chain of densely wooded hills, extend as far as the Molyneux district, having an elevation towards the sea of 2000 feet. Inland they are lower and more free from wood. This tract of land, broadest towards the south, has an area of from 700,000 to 800,000 acres of good land. There were indications of peat or turf suitable for fuel, and at Tuturau the richness of the soil was shown by a solitary Maori family having raised potatoes, which exceeded those brought by Bishop Selwyn from the Chatham Isles, nine inches each way, which were considered the most remarkable specimens of this root grown in the southern hemisphere. The natives offered to sell all the land from Otago to the western coast, making certain reserves.

Captain Stokes gives a few particulars regarding Stewart Island. He found its coasts, except the south end, which had been surveyed by Cook, extremely inaccurately laid down. The eastern and northern sides have good harbours, Paterson Inlet having no superior in New Zealand. It has many convenient heaving-down coves, and was generally surrounded by fine timber, such as rimu, rata, pine, totara, etc. This inlet appeared very eligible for a small, pastoral settlement. He found on a narrow tongue of land twelve out of the 107 European inhabitants of Foveaux Strait, who had a few cattle. The other white men lived scattered over the north and south shores. Some had passed

DISCOVERIES IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND CONTINENT.

twenty-two years in that solitude, and were generally married to Maori women, and their daughters were the wives of Europeans also. Their small clearings exhibited a fertile but shallow soil. Of the Maori population, amounting to 280 individuals, 105 resided on Ruapuki Island, and though they had sold some portions to Europeans, appeared desirous to retain the rest. A few plants common to the Auckland Islands, were found in Foveaux Strait, and a bird, a snipe, excited their surprise, being the first of the species seen in New Zealand. They heard rumours of beaver in the great lakes on the Middle Island, but could find no native who had seen them, and, therefore, deemed them fabulous. They were told of a large lizard which inspired feelings of awe and fear. They saw 200 head of cattle in fine condition on the New River, and observed lignite on the river, and an inferior coal on the Mataura.

Captain Stokes and Mr. Hamilton had explored a portion of the interior near Bank's Peninsula, and were preparing to proceed to New Plymouth, and afterwards to the west coast of the Middle Island, and expected to complete the survey of these coasts during the summer.

Mr. Tuckett, who had been employed in surveying for the New Zealand Company, had also discovered coal in Foveaux Strait, hut did not think so favourably of the climate of that part of the island as Captain Stokes, Mr. Hamilton, and their friends.

DISCOVERIES IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND CONTINUED.

In 1850, Mr. G. H. Brown and Mr. George Duppa succeeded in riding through, from Nelson to Canterbury, by Mr. Weld's track, who first explored it, namely, by the Wairau gorge and Lake Tennyson. In a letter published in the Nelson Examiner, they reported the route unattended by any difficulty or danger, excepting at one ford in the Wairau gorge, which could be easily avoided by a side cutting less than a hundred yards in length.

EXPLORE THE NEW RIVER.

In the beginning of 1857, Mr. J. Turnbull Thomson, chief surveyor of Otago, explored, in successive trips, the southern extremity of New Zealand on foot, carrying his theodolite and "swag" of clothes over 1500 miles of difficult country, and driving pack-horses laden with flour. It is now curious to see his estimate of the characteristics of the different parts of the country and its population betwixt the Waiau and Mataura Rivers and the Umbrella, Eyre, and Takitimo Mountains.

Square Miles.

Forest land ............ 570
Moss and swamp........ 108
Agricultural............ 400
Pastoral................2150
Barren Mountains........ 500
Total..........3728

Population.

Europeans...............253
Half Castes.............. 70
Maories..................119
Total.......... 442

On the 6th of January, they left Dunedin, and sailed to the mouth of the Oreti, or New River, in Foveaux's Strait. They ascended this river to some distance, and visited some stations amongst the tropical-looking forests on its banks. In this route they were in the early mornings delighted by the songs of birds, which so much charmed Captain Cook. They were aroused by the familiarity of the robin, which was close to them as they sate by their fire, and by the tui, or parson bird, which, of a jet black, seems to be imitating the gestures and exclamations of a preacher in a pulpit. Returning down the New River, he and his companions Drummond and Lindsay went to Invercargill, and hired a pack-horse to carry their provisions into the interior. On their way up the country they came upon various Maori ovens, such as they used till they adopted the camp-oven of the white man. Mr. Thomson made the remains of these ovens indications of the former population of the country. They were holes in the ground, four or five feet in diameter, and of the same depth, lined with stones, which they heated in the same manner as the natives of Polynesia. As these were placed near the forest for the con-

THE JACOB'S RIVER SETTLEMENT.

venience of fuel, when now found far from forest, he regarded that as a proof that the forest had receded, having been destroyed by fires.

Their progress was now to the Hokunnui Hills, of which the Ship Cone was 2000 feet high. These hills were timbered half-way up their southern sides. Thence they proceeded to the foot of the Dome Mountain, complaining much in their progress of Spaniards, that is, cacti with sharp-pointed blades, and Wild Irishmen, scrub full of prickles, and difficult to penetrate. They ascended the Dome and Cupola, the first 4505 feet above the level of the sea, the second 4045 feet. The heads of the Mataura River were seen to come out of the Eyre Mountains, issuing by a deep gorge into the Waimea Plains. On these mountains they gathered the New Zealand strawberry. To the N. N. E. they saw an opening in the hills, through which no high land was visible, and conjectured it to be the pass into the central district, then entirely unknown to the European, and but vaguely described by the Maori. The panorama of the Dome Mountain was extremely fine, presenting to view the snow-clad and serrated outline of the Eyre Mountains, the extensive plains of Waiopai, Mataura, Waiau, Clutha, and Waimea, Molyneux Bay, Tewaiwais Bay, Solander Island, and the boundless Southern Ocean. They then crossed the Oreti; they held down the Aparima, and proceeded to Jacob's River Settlement. This was an old whaling station. Formerly the Maories of that district amounted to 3000 or 4000; many were driven over to Codfish and Centre Island by more powerful northern tribes, and many have perished by the white men's vices, drink, and diseases. At Mr. Thomson's visit, they were estimated at about 400. The settlers, descendants of the old whalers and sealers, struck Mr. Thomson in their secluded and independent life, with their simple hospitality and country manners, as much resembling the Shetlanders, as described by Sir Walter Scott. They frequented the rainy west coast of Middle Island in pursuit of whaling and sealing, and this coast, at that time, was

PERILS OF THE SEALERS LIFE.

almost exclusively left to their visits. The Maories of the settlement had adopted European houses and costume. Their houses, however, contained only one room, abounded with fleas, and they still squatted on the floor instead of using chairs.

Mr. Thomson gives a vivid idea of the perils of the life of these sealers of Jacob River Settlement, and says: – "In these remote regions how many have been the cries of agony and despair emitted in vain! Even the few hardy Europeans of Codfish Island, when occupied in their adventurous enterprises, how often were their experiences of hardships from shipwreck and starvation aggravated by the cannibal tribes which surrounded them! Of these times the 'old hands' have many a heart-rending tale to relate, but they relate them without deigning to expect your sympathy-hard lives and rough usage, surfeits in plenty, and starvation in poverty, have blunted or effaced all relics of what civilization calls 'feelings.'"

On the 26th of February they proceeded with their pack-horses across the Waiau Plains, ascended Twinlaw, and saw the Waiau, the great river of the west, coming from the Takitimo mountains. They forded the Orawia, and saw the great forests extending from the Waiau to the sea, and upwards to the regions of snow. In washing the sands of the Waiau they found a speck of gold. The recent remains of the gigantic moa, led them to believe that this Titan of birds might yet possibly exist amid the deep forests and mountain gorges of this wild region. On the 11th of March they ascended Centre Hill, and traced the Oreti and Waiau to the gorges of the snowy mountains, fifty and seventy miles distant. Mr. Howell, an enterprising settler, informed them of a native track between Milford Sound and the head of the Waiau, the same referred to by Hr. Hector. The area of Mount Hamilton to the south, extending over the valleys of the upper Waiau and Oreti, he calculated at 600 square miles, containing much good pasturage.

They now directed their course eastward to the upper

SURVEY OF THE LAKE DISTRICT OF OTAGO.

Mataura, passing the gorges of the Dome, and reaching and ascending the Slate Range, 2000 feet above the valley, which divides the waters of the Clutha from those of the Mataura, and found a comparatively low and undulating region, stretching as far as the Canterbury province, thus ascertaining an extensive available country in the interior. They saw no lakes, but three Maories told them that the great lake Wakatip was not more than five miles higher up the Mataura. The scenery from the top of the Slate Range was truly magnificent, for they had the bold, precipitous, and peaked Eyre mountains opposite to them; while at their feet in the blue distance meandered the silver Mataura, which they could trace from its source in Eyre's Peak, till it lost itself in the deep gorge beneath the Dome. The prospect was quite Alpine, imitating in wildness the valleys of Savoy, but without the cultivated fields and green pastures of the interval. Thence they returned by the Taringtura Downs, and thence to Jacob River Settlement. In this tour Mr. Thomson surveyed extensive tracts of country, indeed he estimated that he had travelled over 1500 miles of difficult country, chiefly on foot, and surveyed by reconnoisance nearly 2,500,000 acres.

About this time Mr. M'Kerrow, District Surveyor, made a survey of the lake districts of the province of Otago.

CHAPTER XXIII. DISCOVERIES IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND CONTINUED.

CHAPTER XXIII.

DISCOVERIES IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND CONTINUED.

Mr. Dobson's discovery of a route over the Canterbury Mountains to the west coast. – Discoveries of Mr. Torlesse. – Harper's expedition to the west coast. – Mr. Dobson's attempt to find a way through the mountains to Nelson. – Surveys of Mr. Rochfort in the mountains westward. – Discoveries of Mr. Mackay. Dr. Haast's Explorations of the mountains and rivers of the Middle Island. – Report of Dr. Haast's explorations in 1860. – Proceeds from Nelson with a party to discover a route to the Buller on the west coast. – Wairau valley. – Lake Howard. – Passes discovered by Brunner, Heaphy, and Fox. – Junction of the Tutaki and Buller. – Ascend Mount Murchison. – Cross the Buller, and various rivers to the Grey. – Ascend the Grey. – Vast view from Mount Deception. – Lakes Brunner and Hochstetter. – Beds of coal on the Grey. – Follow the coast north. – Mounts Rochfort, William, and Frederick. – Follow the coast to Cape Farewell, and sail to Nelson. – Explorations of the Canterbury mountains in 1861. – Death by drowning of his companion, Dr. Sinclair. – Continues these explorations in 1862, – Sources of the Kowai. – Ascends Mount Torlesse. – Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki. – The Great Tasman glacier and Moorhouse Range. – Poetic beauty of the Southern Alps. – In 1863 Dr. Haast pursues his explorations into the mountains of Otago. – Dr. Drake reports good country between the rivers Grey and Hokitika. – Further explorations of Dr. Haast. – Dr. Hector in 1863 discovered the river Kaduku, the lake Kakapo, and a track to the central lake, Wakatipua. – A direct highway across the island. – Part of these discoveries made previously by Messrs. Caple, Alabaster, and others. – Passes discovered by Mr. Rochfort and Mr. Clarke. – These explorations small in extent, but arduous from the obstacles of high mountains, glaciers, and impetuous rivers. – Mr. Rochfort's surveys. – M. A. Dobson.

MR. DOBSON'S DISCOVERY OF A ROUTE OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE WEST COAST OF THE MIDDLE ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND.

In the Lyttleton Times of October 14, 1857, appeared a report of an expedition by Mr. Dobson, the Provincial Engineer, along the river Hurunui, and over a low saddle to where the waters began to run westward. It appears that a Maori path had been always known from the east to the west coast by the gorge of the Hurunui, at what is called Mount Noble, near Mr. Mason's station, Waitu, and from accounts of Maories, the existence of some level land in the interior had long been understood. A certain precipitous gulley in the gorge

A ROUTE OVER THE CANTERBURY MOUNTAINS.

above mentioned, which the Maories crossed with flax ropes and ladders, has always been the obstacle to exploring expeditions in this direction. Mr. Dobson endeavoured to find a passable road for horses along this route, and with Mr. Mason, Mr. Taylor of the Wairau, Mr. Dampier, a shepherd of Mr. Mason's, and I believe another man, attacked the precipitous gulley in question with spades and pick-axes. In four days a track was cut by which horses could be led from one side to the other, and the party pursued their way up the gorge, keeping a little above the river bank on the south side.

In a very short time they came upon flat land. This was the half-expected country, superior to their anticipations in many respects. Dry, though well watered, open, grassy country, with clumps of wood standing upon it, and with corners of the forest running down to it from the mountain spurs, enclosed in hills, but containing more or less 60,000 acres of pasture land. A good deal of limestone and quartz prevailed in the neighbourhood. The timber trees were the ordinary varieties of pine and totara, with some white birch. The general level was about the same as the great plain, perhaps at the highest 600 feet above the water level. The main branch of the Hurunui flowed slowly along the northern edge of the basin, forming the boundary of the province. On the southern side of the basin another stream of the river flowed and formed an island, which again was divided down the middle by a third water-course.

On all the streams were lakes, six in number, to which the discoverers gave names; one of them, named Lake Sumner, is of considerable dimensions. "The valley is picturesque, having low, grassy hills, and separating streams, with insulated mounds, diversified by woods, and offsets of the mountains. Following this pleasant valley, the head waters of the Hurunui were reached, a low saddle was passed, and the party found themselves upon a tolerable stream running westward. They had thus passed the dividing range, and could have reached the sea without difficulty, but continuous bad weather stopped

DISCOVERIES OF MR. TORLESSE.

them. The stream running westward was the Brunner, only about thirty miles from the west coast, and the highest point of the line was found to be only about 1,000 feet above the sea level. A few miles down the Hurunui, there was a branch valley also passing over a low saddle to the river Grey, said by Brunner to run through a valley sixty miles long, and full of lakes.

Mr. Dobson's report and sketches of this newly discovered country brought instant applications for the land, and all that was available was at once taken up as sheep runs. Quartz, indicating gold, abounded on the western slopes of the mountains. It was decided that a road should be laid out through this route to the west.

This successful expedition soon produced others. Mr. Torlesse reported a tour, and brought down a map of the country discovered by him in the upper valley of the Ashley, and a district lying between Harewood Forest and the snowy range, dividing the basin of the Upper Ashley from the valley of the Hurunui. He stated that from the ranges dividing the Ashley from the Waimakiriri, he had a good view of the country watered by the Waimakiriri, and estimated the available land at 500,000 acres.

Soon after, Mr. Leonard Harper, with a party, made an expedition to the western coast. They started on the 4th of November, 1857, from Mr. Mason's out-station in the Waitohi valley, and passed through the Maori gulley along the south bank of the Hurunui. They then followed the south branch of the Hurunui to Loch Katrine, a small lake connected with Lake Sumner. Arrived at the north western extremity of Lake Sumner, they thence ascended the eastern Teramakau, up to the saddle, which was then covered with melting snow. They then made their way down the north side to the western Teramakau, and followed the bed of the stream, to the junction of the Otira, a south branch of the Hurunui. The natives informed them that out of the Otira ran the river Waimakiriri, and not from a lake, as was supposed. They next reached the Cross Range, and a lake, out of which the natives told them a stream ran

HARPER'S EXPEDITION TO THE WEST COAST.

into the Grey, navigable for canoes. Embarking on a raft on the Teramakau, which they soon after reached, they were whirled amongst trees and bushes torn away by the torrent, to the western coast. Owing to delays, occasioned by bad weather, snow, and want of food, the journey from Mr. Mason's to the coast lasted twenty-three days, but they made the return journey in fourteen days, of which only eight were spent in travelling. The natives assured them that there was an easy way up the valley of the Waitanga to the east coast, through an open country, but which does not yet seem to have been discovered. They found many wild dogs in the bush, which the natives tamed, and used for catching birds. These natives all professed Christianity, and had no pigs or wheat, but lived on potatoes, Maori cabbage, and fern, with eels and other fish.

ROCHFORT'S SURVEYS.

Mr. Rochfort gives some account of two excursions made during the surveys, in the Geographical Journal, vol. xxxii. These took place in 1858. The first excursion was from Port Cooper up the Hurunui to the Taramakau, across Lake Brunner, and down the Arnold, or Kotukuwakaho river to the Grey, on the west coast, now a very familiar track, across the island. In his survey of the Arnold, which runs out at the N. W. end of the lake Brunner, he and his men suffered great hardships. The Arnold at its source is a wide river, taking the overflow of Lake Brunner, and for two miles passes through a dense forest of pine and birch, but has little current, and no fall; but when joined by two streams from the north, falls follow each other in rapid succession: the current increases with such velocity that it becomes a race, and the snags are so plentiful as to leave no available channel whatever. In attempting to sail down this river in a canoe, they were, as might have been expected, soon stuck fast, and were compelled to carry their instruments, papers, and small stock of flour, and march on through the bush amid almost continual and drenching

SURVEYS OF MR. ROCHFORD.

rain – the common account which travellers have to give on the west side of Middle Island. For weeks they had been living on starvation rations. "We suffered," says Mr. Rochford, "other inconveniences than those of wet and cold, for our larder boasted no greater delicacy than thin paste, made of a tablespoonful of flour boiled in a quart of water. This we had twice a day while the flour lasted. In our exhausted condition we were enabled to accomplish but a short distance each day, and our small stock of flour soon vanished. One day we would have nothing to eat; another day, only a small robin between three of us and the dog; and a chance pigeon or two on another day, until at length we reached the Maori pah. Here every civility and kindness awaited us, and though only potatoes were procurable, they were sufficient not merely to support life, but to stimulate appetites, which, for six long months, had submitted to worse than English paupers' fare.

With these Maories, Mr. Rochford says he learned the existence of a wild tribe of natives – the Ngationamoi- or wild men of the bush. A woman of this tribe had been captured by the Maories two years before, but soon eluded them, and escaped into the bush.

Mr. Rochfort's second campaign of survey was on the west coast, commencing from the mouth of the River Buller. He pursued the coast southward some distance, crossing the Okari, the Waitakeri, and the Waitohi, on the latter rivers finding seams of coal. But his most thorough survey was that of the River Buller and the country adjoining it, as far as the nine feet fall, where they lost their canoe and instruments, which were all carried down the rapids, and whirled away from them, as they were endeavouring to haul the canoe up the rocks of the fall. The great incident, during this survey, was the discovery of gold, as described in the following entry of the journal: – "November the 8th, While I was chaining, I was surprised and no less gratified by one of the hands – F. Millington – announcing the discovery of gold, an event as unexpected as propitious, and one

DR. HAAST'S EXPLORATIONS.

which must have a powerful influence on the future prospects of this long-neglected west land. The royal mineral was lying on the edge of the river, glittering in the sun, and in such quantity as induced rather a mutinous spirit, my hands having a greater preference for the golden prospects before them than for the sterner duties of surveying."

In 1858 Mr. Dobson made an adventurous attempt to force a way through the mountains from the Hurunui towards Nelson, in the hope of establishing an inland route to that colony.

In the province of Nelson Mr. Rochfort, the government surveyor, has been for some years engaged in tracing and mapping out the hitherto little known parts of the country, especially on the west coast. In these openings up of the mountains of the Middle Island and its west coast, the indefatigable explorations and discoveries of coal by Mr. J. Mackay also require a prominent mention.

DR. HAAST'S EXPLORATIONS OF THE MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS AND THE RIVERS OF THE MIDDLE ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND.

In 1860 Dr. Julius Haast, the geologist of the province, set out to make an examination of the mountainous regions of Nelson; and the report of this exploratory tour was published by the provincial government in 1861. From this report we learn that Dr. Haast set out on the 8th of January, 1860, from Nelson, the capital of the province, accompanied by Mr. James Burnett, a surveyor, and by three other Europeans, two Maories, and pack-horses carrying their provisions. One of their principal objects was to find a practicable route from Nelson to the fevers Buller and Grey on the west coast, where coal and gold fields had been discovered. They ascended into the mountains from the Motueka Valley, and directed their course through the hills to the Lake Roto-iti. They were greatly struck with the magnificent scenery near this lake, the hills there being

PASS THE CAMP OF MR. ROCHFORT.

nearly 5000 feet high, and giving grand views into the celebrated Wairau Valley. Thence they proceeded through the mountains to Lake Howard, naming a lofty range on the way Mount Franklin, after Sir John Franklin. From the Howard, or Rotoroa, they directed their course over mountains and through passes formerly penetrated by Messrs. Brunner, Heaphy, and Fox, towards the Tiraumea Plains, and through scenery which they pronounced equal to that of Switzerland. On this route they named Mounts McLean and Murchison. On the 31st of January, they arrived at the junction of the Tutaki and Buller. After ascending Mount Murchison, and enjoying a wide view over the surrounding country, and perceiving that a route to the southward was practicable from Nelson, they descended the Buller some distance, and then struck southward for the Grey. On this coast they named a rocky range westward Mount Lyell. Crossing the Tutaki, the Mataki-taki, the Matiri, and the Buller, and other rivers, they struck the Grey, and crossed it and its tributaries repeatedly, amid continual rains, which all travellers alike find plentifully towards the west, or, as some of the party preferred to call it, the wet coast; and, on the 21st of March, they embarked in a canoe, and reached the mouth of the Grey. Going down the river, they passed the camp of Mr. John Rochfort, the surveyor. Thus they had proved the practicability of a track from Nelson to the Grey on the west coast.

Obtaining fresh supplies here, they then ascended the Grey, still through pouring rains, towards its sources, and from the summit of a mountain, which they named Mount Deception, supposing it to have a neighbouring height called Black Hill, they enjoyed immense views of the southern Alps, Mount Cook being conspicuous amid his snows. They had full view of Lake Brunner and another water, which they named Lake Hochstetter. The whole of the route of the Grey lay below them. On returning to the mouth of the river, Dr. Haast observed valuable beds of coal. Thence they set out, and

DR. SINCLAIR LOSES HIS LIFE.

traced the coast to the Buller, which they reached on the 13th of June. From this point, still continuing their way north-east along the coast, crossing numerous streams, and enduring much hardship from wet and cold, they named three hills Mounts Rochfort, William, and Frederick. After ascending Mounts Rochfort and William, and taking observations of the country from their summits, they returned to the Buller, and thence followed the wild and precipitous coast all the way to Cape Farewell, whence they sailed to Nelson. The results of this journey were an elaborate topographical map of the south-west portion of the province and a mass of information in the report on its physical geography, geology, zoology, and botany.

Since then Dr. Haast has been laboriously pursuing his labours amongst the mountains of Canterbury. In 1861 he gave a lecture in Canterbury, detailing his journey up the River Rangitata and its tributaries the Havelock and the Clyde. His descriptions of the scenery amongst these mountains represent it as sublime in the highest degree, mountain peaks piercing the blue sky at from 5000 to 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, glaciers shining like molten silver, waterfalls descending over their sides to a depth sometimes of 1700 feet; huge pyramids rising sublimely from the midst of torrents which swept around them, and vast chains and ridges covered with eternal snows, from whose ice caverns the waters of the Waimakariri, Rakaia, Ashburton, Rangitata, Waitaki, and Waitanga rush. It was in this journey that his companion, Dr. Sinclair, lost his life in attempting to cross a river.

In the following year, Dr. Haast was exploring the sources of the Kowai amongst the mountains of that name, 3000 feet above the plains of Christchurch. His object was to visit the coal beds lying in the heart of these mountains, and in his continued examinations of which he discovered extensive beds of iron ore; he ascended also the highest peak of the Mount Torlesse Range, whence he could gaze, as it were, over a great part

DR. HAAST'S RAPTURE AT THE SCENERY.

of the province, and saw the Southern Alps in all their majesty bound the horizon, amongst which Mount Cook, 13,200 feet high, with its tent-shaped form, rose conspicuously over other ranges, whilst, more in the foreground, Mount Arrowsmith, Mount Ashburton, and the Moorhouse Glaciers, through the clear New Zealand atmosphere, seem almost close at hand. From the Big Ben, the highest summit of the Thirteen Mile Bush Range, the picturesque Rakaia, from its icy sources to its mouth, was wholly visible, and the blue waters of Lake Coleridge, lying at the base of this latter range, gave a striking charm to the noble panorama.

From these mountains, Dr. Haast, in his indefatigable explorations, pursued his way through the valleys and passes to Lake Tekapo, and on to Lake Pukaki, the Great Tasman Glacier, and the Moorhouse Range. It is not often that we hear a sober geologist breaking out into raptures at the scenes around him, his mind being generally attracted by the peculiar substance and tissue of the rocks, but we find Dr. Haast thus exclaiming at the sights around him: – "Oh! that I were a poet to sing the beauty of the Southern Alps. The time will surely come when pilgrims from all parts of the southern hemisphere will hasten to visit these mountains, and then the good folks of Canterbury will be inundated with poetical effusions, and 'My Rambles to the Southern Alps,' or 'Impressions of a Journey to Mount Cook,' with splendid engravings, will be on the drawing-room tables of future generations." This journey was continued to the Ohou, and, in the researches for gold, as well as in his own proper geological pursuits, Dr. Haast bids fair to make the complete tour and survey of the mountains and rivers of the Middle Island.

This idea is confirmed by our last news of Dr. Haast, who, in the early months of 1863, was penetrating into the mountains of Otago, whilst Mr. Drake was pursuing researches in the field he had left, and reported having crossed the Canterbury Mountains to the mouth of the River Taramakau, and reported a large tract of level

RESEARCHES OF DR. HECTOR.

country, though thickly timbered, between the Grey and the Hokitika.

Dr. Haast, meanwhile, had proceeded from the Ahuriri River to Mount Hawea, on the frontiers of Otago, and thence to Lake Oanaka, or Wanaka. Thence they ascended the Makarora, and, from Wilkin's Station, proceeded through dense forests; they returned to Lake Hawea, and back to the Ahuriri. Dr. Haast and his party reached Christchurch on the 12th of May, and reported the country they had explored another Switzerland.

In these latter researches Dr. Haast had entered a field then undergoing examination by Dr. Hector, the government geologist of Otago. In February Dr. Hector left Dunedin to ascend the mountain range of Matukituki, where he encountered tumultuously rushing rivers, eternal snows, and glaciers with awful crevasses and traces of devastating avalanches. The principal glacier he named Haast's Glacier, 'in honour of the enterprising geologist of Canterbury.' Intensely wet weather and shortness of provisions prevented them reaching the west coast in this direction. His companion, Mr. Sullivan, editor of the Otago Times, has given a very vivid description of the scenes and dangers of his journey, which were by no means trivial, especially on the lofty icefields of Mount Aspiring.

In May of the same year Dr. Hector left Port Chalmers in a small schooner of 20 tons, to examine the numerous inlets and sounds of the west coast of Otago. At Preservation Inlet he noticed immense quantities of splendid granite, capable of being easily quarried and shipped; at Paterson's Point strata of very good coal. But his greatest discovery was that of a considerable river between Martin's Bay and the Awarua river, which was named the Kaduku. Tracing this up, it led him to a lake called by him Kakapo Lake, ten miles in length, by four or five miles in width, whence he followed a valley to the central Lake Wakatipua, near the Greenstone River. Dr. Hector was only forty-six hours

MR. DOBSON AND A SURVEYING PARTY.

from leaving the schooner to reaching Queen's Town, and it could have been done in much less time. As these regions lie very near the great Clutha river, this route opens up a direct highway across the island; but Dr. Hector was of opinion that a still better and more direct route to these lakes could be found from Milford Sound, whence there is an old Maori pass. This, on further examination, was found cut off by a large precipice. On Dr. Hector's publication of his discovery, it was soon notified that part of this route had been opened up at an earlier date by a Mr. Charles Cameron, who had in consequence asked for the lease of a squatting station as a reward, as well as by Messrs. Caple, Alabaster and others. Dr. Hector freely admitted these prior claims on their being made known to him, which chiefly consisted of the discovery of the river Kaduku, and the Lake Kakapo.

About the same time Mr. Rochfort announced the discovery of an easy pass connecting the Wangapeka with the Karamea and the Lyell, or some other river running into the Buller on the west coast of Nelson, and another by Mr. David Clarke from the Motupika to the Buller.

The newspapers of Canterbury of Oct. 13, 1863, stated that Mr. A. Dobson, and a surveying party had gone to the west coast of that province via Nelson in a small schooner, which had been wrecked at the entrance of the Grey river, but that Mr. Dobson and his companions escaped and were making their examination of that coast.

Many of these expeditions of exploration are but small compared with the great journeys across the Australian continent, but, though less in extent, they are not the less arduous, as far as they go, from the nature of the country. The steepness, ruggedness, and intricacy of the mountains which run like a huge back-bone from end to end of these islands, from the wild impetus of the mountain rivers, the density of the forest, and the snow,

A GOOD KNOWLEDGE OBTAINED OF NEW ZEALAND.

cataracts, and ice-bergs, which are encountered in the Alpine regions. These expeditions show a spirit of research and adventure which have well nigh laid open the whole of New Zealand to the feet and the knowledge of its population.

CHAPTER XXIV. OPENING COMMUNICATION WITH THE WEST COAST.

CHAPTER XXIV.

OPENING COMMUNICATION WITH THE WEST COAST.

Opening the way to the West Coast. – Arduous nature of the undertaking. – The fatalities of 1863. – The story of the loss of Mr. Whitcombe. – Loss of Mr. Charlton Howitt and Party. – Life and Character of Mr. Charlton Howitt. Sojourn in Australia. – Employed in Canterbury to seek for gold. – Engaged in making a bridle-road over the mountains to the West Coast. – Reputation for zeal and energy. – Progress of the work. – Wetness of the West Coast. – Mode of subsistence in the mountains. – Bird-catching. – Mr. Sherrins' account of crossing the mountains. – The grandeur of the mountain scenery. – The charms of the forests of New Zealand. – Enormous and curious trees. – Mr. Howitt and two men drowned in Lake Brunner. – The sufferings of James Hammett the survivor. – Unavailing researches for the remains of the drowned. – Subsequent drowning of Mr. Townsend in the Grey. – Remarks on the climate of the West Coast. – Concluding remarks. – Probable extinction of the native race. – Remarkable exemplification of native rights by a native. – Persuasion of the Maories of their own fate. – Appeal to our countrymen in New Zealand on their behalf.

COMPARATIVELY small as is the breadth of the islands of New Zealand, yet the height and extent of its mountains, the impetuous rapidity of its rivers, descending from the steep declivities of ranges from 10,000 to 12,000 feet in height, and the denseness of its woods, thick grown with supplejacks and knit together with vines, have made it arduous work for those who have attempted to open up its savage hills and intricate defiles to the passage of civilization. In the Middle Island Mr. Brunner explored at great risk, and amid much hardship, its mountain heights; Hr. Haast, the government geologist, has made these tracks more known, and pointed out fresh saddles and ways of access. Others, equally adventurous but less fortunate, have laid down their lives in these patriotic enterprises. Perhaps in no country are the casualties of drowning so numerous in proportion to the population. The rivers descend with such momentum and velocity from the precipitous hills that persons even passing known fords are continually swept away irresistibly. So that drowning has been said to be a natural death in these islands.

The year 1863 was prolific of such fatalities amongst

FATALITIES OF THE YEAR 1863.

gentlemen in the public service, whose employments led them into the mountains, and required them to cross lakes and rivers. Amongst these was Mr. Whitcombe the civil engineer, a young man of great spirit and power of endurance. He was sent out to endeavour to discover a passage through the range of mountains which separate the east and west sides of the Middle Island. The discovery of extensive fields of gold and coal on the western slopes of the mountains, made such a passage of the highest importance.

The voyage round the island was circuitous and frequently dangerous: a tolerably direct road by land was most desirable. Mr. Whitcombe set out from Christchurch on the 13th of April, 1863, with an ample supply of men, horses, and provisions, but after crossing the Rakaia, on entering the mountains, he soon found that these were useless, for the most part. The horses could not clamber where it was necessary to go; the men carrying their own provisions would consume them without adding to the speed or success of the expedition. He, therefore, sent men and horses back, retaining only Mr. Louper, a Swiss, accustomed to mountain climbing, and as much provision as they could carry on their backs.

They came upon a deep fissure in the mountains, and Mr. Whitcombe thinking this would prove the pass they sought, calculated that they could find their way to the saddle of the Teramakau, in ten days. If their provisions fell short, they could, he said, fall hack on Mr. Howitt's tent on Lake Brunner. In the passes of the mountains, they were soon enveloped in blinding snow, and cut off from all apparent progress by gigantic walls of ice. The snowing soon changed to raining, and all at once they found themselves stopped by a perpendicular fall of the river into the pass, descending from rock to rock, into a roaring whirlpool below. They could not now return, as the pass behind them was snowed up; and to all but a Swiss mountaineer, to cross this cataract and gulf would have been impossible, but by letting

THE STORY OF THE LOSS OF MR. WHITCOMBE.

himself down from rock to rock by the rope, Louper managed to get across, and by fastening the rope to the rocks on the other side, got over their swags, and finally Mr. Whitcombe, Louper having, however, to descend himself up to the neck in the boiling abyss.

Thus, repeatedly crossing torrents and scrambling over rocks, their food getting short, their covering insufficient for the severe nights, they at length came out on the other side of the mountains. They found that the river they were upon was the Hokatika, and on its banks they discovered traces of gold. On reaching the sea-shore they followed the beach to the River Brunner. Prom the time they left the Rakaia to their reaching the sea was thirteen days. They were now in the extremities of famine, for their provisions husbanded with the utmost care, had been totally exhausted for several days. To their consternation and despair, they found the huts of the Maories, where they had confidently expected relief, totally deserted, and destitute of all provisions. In one of the gardens they found a little cabbage and a handful of very small potatoes, which they cooked and eat. They then walked on in this exhausted state, waded up to their chests across the Brunner, and pursued the coast to the Teramakau, but again found no one there. The next morning they could see the Maori Pah on the other side, but, as no smoke issued from it, they feared that that side of the river was deserted too. Mr. Whitcombe was bent on crossing the river where they were, and thought it might be done on two logs of wood tied together. Louper declared it to be impossible, saying that he had crossed there twice in a canoe with five men and a Maori, but it was all they could do to row over from the force of the stream. He advised that they should ascend the river for some distance, and endeavour to catch some wood-hens for food, and cross where it was practicable.

Mr. Whitcombe, who dreaded in their enfeebled state to encounter the woods again, especially as they found that all the wood-hens in the tracts they had lately

DEATH OF MR. WHITCOMBE.

passed, had been killed by the wild dogs, would not listen to this; and finding two old native canoes, he commenced lashing them together by tying two poles across them with flax. Louper helped, and also prepared two oars and two steering poles from young trees, and, though Louper had no hope, they began to cross. In vain had Louper assured Mr. Whitcombe, that they might reach an island which appeared in the middle of the stream, but there they would be swamped, or swept out to sea by the violence of the current. Mr. Whitcombe was deaf to remonstrance, for he saw no chance of escaping death by starvation, except by getting over the river. They entered the boat, reached the island, but the moment they shot beyond it, the boat was swept down the current and began to sink under them. Mr. Whitcombe then seeing the full and awful truth of Louper's assertions, exclaimed, – "We are lost! it is all my fault!"-and pulling off his coat, plunged into the water, to attempt to swim to land. Louper who remained in the boat, was carried away with arrow speed, and was soon whirled over and over in the surf, and finally hurled out upon the sand. When he began to recover his senses and composure, he saw himself standing alone on the desert sands, saved from the water, but with every prospect of perishing by famine on land. His first care, however, was to seek for his companion, and he soon found his dead body flung on the beach, and his head plunged into the sands. After burying his remains as well as he could, having no instrument but his hands to do it with, and in a state of fearful exhaustion from previous famine, and immediate violence of the surf, he managed to make his way to a Maori hut, where he obtained a few potatoes, and by help of these he reached the party under Mr. Charlton Howitt, who were making the horse track over the mountains, and were camped near Lake Brunner. There he arrived a most pitiable spectacle, famished, drenched with wet, perishing with cold, his clothes being saturated with water and sand, and his body, as it were,

MR. LOUPER RETURNS WITH THE SAD NEWS.

bedded in it. He was speedily furnished with food and warm tea; his clothes were stripped off, his body washed, and he was put to bed. By the hospitable care, of this party, in a few days he was sufficiently recovered to be able to proceed on his journey to Christchurch to convey to the government and to his wife and friends the melancholy news of the fate of poor Whitcombe. As Mr. Howitt was wishing to send his horses for the winter down to Mr. Taylor's station, which was on Louper's way, he was mounted on one of these, and furnished with provisions, so that he could lead the other. The poor fellow took his leave of his entertainers, who had no doubt been the savers of his life, with deep emotion. "I came here," he said, "like a beggar, perishing from cold and hunger, and sinking with fatigue, and now I go away refreshed, clothed, strengthened, and on horseback like a gentleman!"

Little did he think that the head of that party, who had given him such timely help, and two of his men were soon themselves to disappear from amongst men without possibility of mortal aid.

LOSS OF MR. CHARLTON HOWITT AND PARTY.

I now come to a narrative which nearly concerns myself. It has been my fortune to have my only two sons engaged in the work of opening-up the wilderness of the antipodes. The share taken in the exploration of Australia by my eldest son, the discoverer of the lost expedition of Burke and Wills, is well known, and is narrated in these volumes. That of my second son, in aiding the accessibility of the interior of New Zealand, I shall now state in as succinct a form as I can. This story is one that may serve as a stimulus to young men in a life of simple and unswerving devotion to the cause of virtue and of progress.

Herbert Charlton Howitt, born at Esher in the year 1838, was remarkable from his infancy for his intense love of nature, and especially for all her forms of animal life. It was his intensest pleasure as a little boy to

EARLY LIFE OF MR. CHARLTON HOWITT.

watch all the proceedings of animals, birds, and insects. He soon became as familiar with them as if he had been admitted by them to all their tenements, and their most secret practices. This disposition grew up with him. For town and conventional life he had not the smallest taste. The warm friendship of a few congenial people, and the enjoyment of the country and its objects, made the constant happiness of his life. Of all the knowledge connected with these things and this life, he had a ready power of acquisition, for the classical and many other departments of knowledge in which so many years of youthful existence are usually spent laboriously, only to be insensibly dropped on the after highways of the world, he had no desire. Work, in gardening, farming, or in constructing the implements and apparatus for these fields of labour, was a sort of passion with him, and it is a singular fact, that scarcely any one who knew him can recollect him ever saying that he was weary. The vigour of his frame, created by this simple, healthy, and active mode of life, was, as it seemed, inexhaustible. For a series of years he walked to the City of London every day, Sundays excepted, a distance of five miles, and back again, thus ten miles a day, walked generally most days some miles about town on business, and both in the morning before going to town, and in the evening after his return, worked in a large garden, in which, as with an avarice of labour, he scarcely allowed any other person to do anything, even of the more laborious kinds of exertion. Sometimes he varied this routine by setting off, after his ten miles' walk to and from Town, including the day's business, to visit some of his most intimate friends, five miles off, and again frequently returning the same evening. Two years in which he lived with myself and his brother in the Australian bush, were, perhaps, his beau ideal of life's perfection. There, travelling on from day to day through the forests, or camping on the banks of some pleasant stream, his mind was constantly engaged in observing the new forms of nature and animal life around him. Trees, flowers, the infinite

HIS QUALIFICATIONS FOR AN EXPLORER.

variety of birds and insects, the flying-fox and squirrel, the climbing opossum, the bounding kangaroo, the glittering shapes, and quaint cries of emus, pelicans, native-companions, the gliding serpent, and the soaring eagle, were a perpetual delight to him, yet little more than a boy. With his train of dogs, he would set out to seek the horses which had strayed during the night in the forests, and amid these various tenants of the woods and the waters whole days would glide over him as a dream. No place was too solitary, no wilderness too vast for him; amid nature and her numerous and ever-varied family, he was everywhere at home.

New Zealand became the country of his choice, and though he passed through several disappointments and hardships there, he grew most affectionately attached to it. Perhaps no person of his age, but five-and-twenty at his death, was ever more qualified for the life of an explorer or pioneer of civilization. From the time when he reluctantly returned with me from Australia, to that of his going out to New Zealand, he never, if he could avoid it, slept in a bed. Rolled up in his blanket, or his opossum rug, with a pillow under his head, on the floor, and his window set invariably open, summer and winter, thus he slept, and sometimes awoke in the morning with a pile of drifted snow on his head, but never took cold, except when the housemaid had closed his chamber-window by mistake, and he had slept without observing it!

In the Canterbury settlement, his rare qualifications for an explorer, and the general energy and uprightness of his character, soon attracted the attention of the Government. He was first employed in an expedition for the discovery of a gold-field, and during the last six months of his life in cutting a horse-track over the mountains between Christchurch and the western coast, where extensive gold and coal-fields had been found. I may quote from the Canterbury journals, and from official reports, the circumstances connected with this un-

EMPLOYED BY GOVERNMENT.

dertaking. The following is from the Lyttleton Times of September 12th, 1803: -

"Last week will long be memorable as having brought us the intelligence of the death of one of the most active and intelligent explorers who has ever responded to the call which has so often to be made in a new and partially-explored country by those whose duty it is to open-up the waste, by forcing roads through what has hitherto been impenetrable mountains and forests. It is now just nine months since Mr. Wylde, as acting head of the public works department, was instructed by the Government to endeavour to cut a track from the Hurunui Plains to the mouth of the Grey or Teramakau, on the West Coast. In pursuance of these instructions, he engaged the services of Mr. Charlton Howitt, who had been previously engaged in exploring for gold in that locality. This gentleman started on the first of January last, accompanied by five men, taking with him two pack-horses, and the necessary outfit, with instructions to track out a line of road on a route indicated by Mr. Wylde, and, if possible, to open it for pack-horse traffic from Lake Taylor to the coast. No one could have been chosen more fitted for this work than Mr. Howitt, a young, active man, somewhat below the ordinary stature, but possessed of immense energy and endurance. No amount of danger or fatigue seemed able to daunt him, and in the prosecution of his work he has been known to carry on his back for twenty miles at a stretch, and over mountains, and through rivers, which would have turned back most men, loads of flour and other necessaries for the use of his companions, which would generally have been considered sufficient for a pack-horse. Out of the five men who accompanied Howitt, two were soon sent back by him as unable to endure the hardships incidental to the work; but with the other three he succeeded in marking out, and cutting, where necessary, a track for a length of about forty miles, over the great dividing range, and down the Teramakau,

HIS INDEFATIGABLE EXERTIONS.

until he encountered what was before known to be the great difficulty to be overcome. This difficulty occurs at a part of the river where it is shut in by rugged, perpendicular rocks for many miles, covered on their summits by dense, impenetrable bush. The only way of passing down the river from this point was by the aid of Mokis (rafts made of flax sticks), which, on being launched on the river, are swept down between the rocks with fearful rapidity.

"As it was useless to attempt to carry the road further in this direction, and the provisions being nearly exhausted, Mr. Howitt returned to Christchurch for instructions. As the winter was then approaching, and it was known that the pass over the mountains would probably be blocked up with snow for some months, it became a grave question whether the prosecution of the work should not be suspended until the spring; but at the urgent request of Mr. Howitt, and his representation that he could support himself and party in a great measure through the winter on the natural productions of the country – such as eels and wild-fowl – Mr. Wylde consented to fit him out again with a fresh supply of provisions, etc., and he again started with instructions to endeavour to carry on the track, by leaving the Teramakau, and striking across the country for Lake Brunner, following the shore of the lake, and then back to the river beyond the point of difficulty.

"The plan of operations embraced the packing over the hills of flour, etc. sufficient for the winter months, and then sending the horses back to Mr. Taylor's station, there not being sufficient food to keep them during the winter on the other side. The packing occupied about six weeks, and then Jacob Louper, the companion of the unfortunate Mr. Whitcombe, having made his way to Mr. Howitt's camp, and having been most kindly treated by him, the horses were given to him to help him over the Teramakau saddle to Mr. Taylor's station. How little could Mr. Howitt have supposed, when succouring Louper, that himself and two

WEATHER CONTINUALLY WET.

out of his three companions were so soon to share the fate of the lamented Mr. Whitcombe."

I may here interrupt the narrative to remark that Charlton with his love of work, partook of all the labours and hardships of his men. He never asked them to do a thing which he would not assist in doing himself. As to "roughing it," he persuaded his men to continue at their labour under circumstances that perhaps no other man could. The climate of New Zealand in the lowlands on the east coast is deemed delicious, but in the mountains and on the west coast, the rains are something extraordinary for strength and continuance. From Charlton's private diary, for months together they seem to have scarcely had a fair day. The journal of Mr. R. A. A. Sherrin, in a journey to the west coast, published in the Christchurch Press, January, 1864, confirms this view of the climate in those parts. The journal of the unfortunate Hammett does the same. This is especially so in the winter months. Mr. Sherrin's journey over the mountains, and westward, commenced on the 21st of June, and lasted six months. This was, of course, during part of the winter, and through the spring to midsummer, and this is his concluding entry regarding the weather – "Whatever may be the cause, there is no doubt that a more considerable quantity of rain falls on the western than on the eastern side of the province. I remember only three fine weeks during the six months we were on the coast." He adds, "I have, however, reason to believe that the cold there is not so excessive, as on this side of the island. In rainy weather the mercury is scarcely ever below 50°. Notwithstanding the quantity of heavy fogs and mists continually arising, the place may be considered eminently healthy. None of us had even a cold during the whole of the winter, and from ailments of every kind we were singularly free. The natives appear to live to a good old age unless cut off by accident." Of course, the cold in the lofty mountain ranges is very much greater. There are glaciers, and avalanches as in the European Alps. Mr. Sherrin

A MISERABLE JOURNEY.

gives some little idea of the weather in the spring month of August, in the very region where my son and his party were at work during the winter, and where they lost their lives. "From the solicitations of Mr. Townsend, I consented to go with him, and form a party for the purpose of searching Lake Brunner, to endeavour to discover the bodies of Mr. Howitt and his men. On the 11th of August we left the Grey with the intention of searching the lake thoroughly, and making a canoe there. It was not until the 25th of the month that we reached the lake. Oh! the unutterable misery of that journey! Rain every day; directed wrongly by the natives; having to cut a line through three or four miles of bad bush, this trip, as a whole, is the worst and hardest that I remember in the whole course of my life. Wet through all the time; scarcely ever dry at night; freshes every hour; a mist heavy and dense, covering everything, the journey was worse than description can paint it. Gone astray; two men knocked up, no chance of retracing our steps, the trip was one that will long be remembered. While travelling the bush, how vividly Humboldt's description of South America are remembered. The density of the vegetation; the rottenness of the soil, the wonderful amount of rain and water; the thousands of decomposed and decomposing trees; the being hemmed in on every side by keikei, supplejack, and tatarama; the network of roots to crawl leisurely over; the canons and rivers to cross and recross with a heavy swag, will only give an idea of travelling in constant rain."

Such was the place, the scene, the weather, and obstacles, against which my son and his party were laboriously forcing their way through the winter months, but which his enthusiasm in performing a public and most necessary work, made him write in his diary, after an encounter of months of such light with the elements, the savage forest, and the rocks, – "And yet I like it!" It may be wondered how he expected to find food in such a region? Sometimes they were compelled to

FEARFUL PRIVATIONS ENDURED.

descend to the west coast for flour, tea, sugar, etc., and to carry them up through these dripping woods and hills; but they had abundance of fish, and especially eels, in the waters, and the mode of catching birds there is something curious to our European notions.

The Maories have a mode of calling the birds in the country around them, by making a peculiar noise with a leaf in their mouths. I saw this experiment tried by the New Zealand natives lately, in London, in a party in some suburban pleasure grounds, to which they had been invited, and they were much surprised to see our birds, instead of being attracted by the call, fly away. In New Zealand, my son had learned this call, and could, on any occasion in the forest assemble around him an audience of numerous and various birds, like another St. Francis, about to preach to them. Amongst the New Zealand birds is one of such extreme simplicity, called the Wood Hen, that he used, at any time, where these birds abounded, to procure as many as were wanted for a meal, by going out with two long rods. At the end of one was hung a bit of red rag; at the end of the other was a noose. Having made the call, on the wood-hens running on all sides out of the thickets, he shook the red rag, and they ran forward to examine it; and whilst they were thus engaged, he slipped the noose, at the end of the other rod, over their heads, one after another, and captured what he wanted.

Of the sort of climate in which the work of my son's party was carried on, we may take another description from Mr. Sherrin's journal: – "It continued to rain steadily from June till November 22nd, and, as a necessary consequence, all the rivers were very high. Of the many dangers encountered and privations endured in a residence for six months on the coast, continually shifting about in constant rain, a better idea can be formed than any description could give. No child's play will be found in travelling by others who will follow in our footsteps, as the fearful loss of life in the neighbourhood will testify. No pecuniary inducement would tempt me

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY.

to travel over the same ground again, in the winter months. You may rise in the morning with the conviction on your mind, that the dangers of the day may possibly be more than you can overcome. In fact, it is a country where no man's life is safe who has constantly to travel, however much experience he may possess, while the constant deaths on the coast from disaster, tend to unnerve your energies, and make you ridiculously cautious. The natives at the Grey were thoroughly persuaded that we were dead, 'like poor Howitt,' having been so impressed by visions of the night, that were corroborated by the constant rain, and almost appeared incredulous to see us safely return. Fifty times have they howled the consolation in my ear, that by-and-by I should be like poor Howitt."

And yet those mountain regions are very magnificent. "Any person," says Mr. Sherrin, "however insensible to the beauties of nature, cannot help gazing on this magnificent tier of peaks whenever the mist clears away. Only with a south-east wind will this occur, when every pinnacle, rugged outline, and snow-field will be distinctly seen. At every place along the beach, wherever the hills are visible, one's pleasure is increased by observing how the difference of position creates a different grouping, how the rugged becomes softened by distance, and that which appeared unbroken and smooth, on closer inspection is found to be broken and confused. The residents of Christchurch will never have any idea of the beauty of the west coast, until some enterprising Albert Smith brings a panorama to their Town Hall, to be appreciated by lamp-light."

The forest scenery is described by Mr. Thomson, with equal admiration: -

"Indescribable is the charm of New Zealand forests for the lovers of nature. There generations of noble trees are seen decaying, and fresh generations rising up around the moss-covered trunks of fallen patriarchs. The profound silence which reigns in these regions produces a pleasing gloom on the mind, and the scene dis-

THE SIZE AND BEAUTY OF THE TREES.

plays, better than the most classic architecture, the grandeur of repose. No sound is heard, save the falling of trees, or the parrot's shrill screech, as birds which enliven the outskirts of forests are mute in their interior. Around the graves of past generations of trees the air is hushed into stillness, while the tops of the living generation are agitated with gales and breezes. At Christmas the pohutukaua (metrosideros) is covered with scarlet flowers, and is then the most gaudy of forest trees; and the rimu (dacrydium cupressimum) possesses a melancholy beauty, and an indescribable grandeur. Few of the pines recall to the settler's eyes the same trees in England, and, singular to relate, unlike their congeners, the majority of them grow intermixed with other trees. The celebrated and beautiful kauri (dammara australis), is the only pine bearing a cone, and the male and female cones are found on the same tree."

Of the size of these trees Mr. Darwin gives us a good idea. "I measured," he says, "one of the famous kauri pines, and found it thirty-one feet in circumference above the roots. I heard of one no less than forty feet. They are remarkable for their smooth, cylindrical boles, which run up to a height of sixty, and even ninety feet, with a nearly equal diameter, and without a single branch."

Still more wonderful is the pohutukaua, or rata tree of New Zealand, mentioned above (metrosideros robusta). The stranger in the forest sees a slender, creeping plant on the ground, more resembling a running moss, or weed, than anything. It is the infant rata, seeking a tree up which to climb. Still it creeps onwards, till, finding a tree, up it goes. It runs rapidly up it. It encloses it on all sides. Still ascending, it at length reaches the loftiest summit. It throws out a head, which smothers the native head of the tree, and the once wiry threads, swelling into thick stems, all unite together, destroy the original usurped bole, and becomes a tree. It assumes a massive trunk, solid as teak, and admirable for shipbuilding, whilst its magnificent head, towering over the

MR. C. HOWITT AND TWO OF THE MEN LOST.

forest, catches the eye everywhere with its blaze of scarlet flowers.

Amid this superb, but dangerous and inclement scenery, Charlton Howitt and his three men had for six months been forcing their way, following the courses of the rivers Hurunui and Teramakau for the most part, examining these rivers for fords, and planting flags to mark them to the traveller. They had arrived at the Brunner, a lake of some ten miles long, and five wide, and were cutting the road along its margin. As the thickness of the bush yet uncut prevented them getting their stores from the west coast to their hut, these were deposited on the other side of the lake in a wooden hut raised on poles, called a watti, or whata. To cross to this, they constructed a canoe, after the fashion of those of the natives, of green pine, and Charlton, in his letters, describes the pleasure with which they launched this canoe from a cliff, and saw it plunge deep under water, and then rise and swim buoyantly on the surface. In this canoe they had crossed the lake repeatedly, to fetch stores from the watti. Once more Charlton set out with two of the men, Robert Little, and Henry Muller, on Saturday, June 27th, to fetch some flour from the watti, and to fish for eels in the river Arnold, which runs out of the head of the lake. They left James Belgrave Hammett alone in the hut. The next day, the wind rose, and it rained heavily. On Monday it was fine, but still blowing. Tuesday and Wednesday passing without their return, Hammett in great alarm set off to walk, or, rather, wade, round the lake, through deep bogs and water, often up to his chest, to seek his missing companions. Finding he could not get further along the swampy shore, Hammett made a raft, and coasted the lake, camping on shore on Thursday night; and on Friday and Saturday he makes these notices in his diary, which include all the discoveries that have ever been made of the fate of the missing party.

"Friday, July 3. Started again. On going round a bend of the lake, near the mouth of the Hohono, I saw

PROOF THAT THEY WERE DROWNED.

something lying on the beach which, to my dismay, on reaching it, proved to be Mr. Howitt's swag rolled up in the little calico tent which he used for travelling with. This, by preventing the blanket becoming soaked with water, had been blown on shore. I searched all around, hut I could see nothing else. I have, therefore, every reason for supposing that the canoe sank with them during the strong wind that has been blowing. The canoe was but of green wood, and floated scarcely three inches out of the water in smooth weather. I took the swag along with me to my watti, made a fire to dry the papers, and camped there. It rained heavily.

"Saturday, July 4. Still raining heavily. Started round the lake again towards the Arnold. Saw no sign of smoke in any direction, no portion of the canoe, nothing which indicated that Mr. Howitt and my mates were alive. I made fast the raft at the mouth of the river, and went down along its bank. I saw that they had been there, because their bobs and lines were there. I made myself a bit of a hut of some flax, and camped till morning. Still raining very heavily, and the lake still rising. I saw no other sign save what I have stated, that Mr. Howitt had been here."

And that is the whole which has transpired of the fate of Charlton Howitt and his two men. Poor Hammett, after getting back to the hut, in the faint hope that they might have reached it by some other way, and finding all as he had left it, set out once more to examine every portion of the lake shores for traces of his lost companions. In this research he persevered in a state of starvation and drenched with continual rains, making raft after raft, and going round and round and round the lake but without any the slightest further discovery. His state of mind was bordering on madness. In his entry of July 7th, he says: – "Rain pouring as hard as ever, I feel lonely, miserable, and cold indeed. No fire, nothing to eat, nothing of any kind, but a little fire and cold water. To tell all the imaginings which are continually passing through my mind could do no good. Frequently,

DESTITUTE STATE OF THE SURVIVOR.

during the last few days, while sitting in this downpouring rain, and while perfectly awake, have I fancied that I could see Mr. Howitt and the others walking towards me, first in one direction and then in another. By an effort, I have shook off this depressing dulness, and have then spoken with my faithful dog as though he was a Christian. Again I wonder whether I shall be able to recover the bodies, that I may give them a burial in a place which I may be able to point out to their surviving friends. No human being can conceive my almost maddening thoughts. If it should please God that I become insane, what will become of me?"

Driven by famine and his ever haunting thoughts, after being twenty-three days on the lake without seeing a sign of any living person, he made one more visit to the hut at their camp, and finding all as he had left it, he started for the Buller diggings, quite certain that his companions had perished. He carried with him Mr. Howitt's tin of maps and papers, and only reached the Teramakau diggings to find them deserted. In a state of the extremest exhaustion, his feet swollen with the rough ground he had had to pass, he reached the beach near the mouth of the Teramakau, where he was kindly received by Mr. Sherrin. This gentleman, in company with Mr. Townsend, the government officer at the Grey, set off to the Lake Brunner, and made a five days' search for the remains of the lost party. In vain: not a trace was discoverable. Afterwards Mr. Sherrin traced the sea-shore for a hundred miles, to see whether the canoe or the oars had been washed to sea, and then thrown on land again, as whatever is carried down those rivers from the lake Brunner is thus cast up again. Not a trace of boat or oar could be found. They were no doubt all at the bottom of that very deep lake with the bodies.

Poor Hammett continued his journey in his worn-out condition to the Buller contrary to the entreaties of Mr. Sherrin and Mr. Townsend, who believed it would cost him his life: but the faithful fellow

DEATH OF MR. HAMMETT.

could not be turned from endeavouring to reach Canterbury by going round by sea to Nelson, the mountain road being, of course, stopped by snow, and conveying to the government and their friends the earliest news of the fate of Mr. Howitt and the two men. He said he had a duty to perform, and he would do it. He accomplished his object, but has since died, probably from the consequences of his sufferings, both of body and mind, on this melancholy occasion. Many a less devoted and heroic soul than that of this poor fellow has been stamped with the highest honours of fame: but the faithful Hammett has this simple record!

Melancholy as is this story of the opening up of a wild country, it cannot be closed without another catastrophe. Mr. Townsend, whose letter first announced to us the loss of our son, and who so generously volunteered to accompany Mr. Sherrin to Lake Brunner to search for the remains of him and his men, soon after perished himself by drowning. This accident occurred near the mouth of the river Grey, when a boat was swamped in a great swell, and Messrs. Townsend and Sherrin, with one white man and two Maories, Simon and Solomon, well known there to the settlers. Mr. Townsend, the man, Peter Michelmore, and Solomon the Maori were drowned, and Mr. Sherrin nearly suffered the same fate in endeavouring to rescue his companions.

Yet let no one imagine that the life of our son in New Zealand was by any means a sad one. On the contrary, I am persuaded that it was one of the highest enjoyment. It was that of all others which he did choose, and would have chosen whatever else had been offered to him. He had lived in, and highly enjoyed the forest life of Australia; but when his brother wished him to return from New Zealand, and join in his fortunes there, though the temptation of being with his brother was great, he could not bring himself to quit New Zealand, saying that its scenery and the friends he had found there were become very dear to him. I am persuaded that the storms and rains during the winter

MR. HOWITT'S LOVE FOR NEW ZEALAND.

in the mountains would scarcely make an impression on his mind, except as they added to the wild solemnity of the scene. He loved to battle with the elements; and it was a source of exquisite delight to him to be able ever and anon to rescue some traveller from the rapid torrent, and to receive weary and famishing wanderers to his mountain hut – to revive them, and furnish them with provisions for their further journey, for which he never would receive compensation. Throughout all his private letters he expressed his deep satisfaction with the country of his adoption, and his chosen track of life. The stormy season in the mountains was but a contrast to the delicious summer days passed on Banks's Peninsula, amid trees, flowers, and creatures all new to him, and in themselves beautiful. With what pleasure he spoke of the tameness of the birds, which, as he cultivated his garden or his fields, came and settled on his spade, and even eat from his hands. Then the wild forests, and the snow-peaked mountains, such as Mr. William Strut has so beautifully painted from intimate acquaintance, were objects of his constant love and admiration. In one of his communications he said to us – "Read all the descriptions of New Zealand scenery that you can find, and then you will understand how happy I am in being in a country so beautiful." As to the moisture of the West Coast, he always asserted that it would greatly diminish as the woods were cut down in the progress of settlement, just as the climates of England, France, Germany, Italy, and, indeed, every part of Europe have become drier and milder since the time when their dense woods were opened up by the Romans. Compare the climate of Italy now with what it is represented in Virgil and Horace. Compare those of England, France, and Germany, with their character in Caesar and Agricola. The dense woods being removed, he believed that the mountain regions would be no wetter than those of Switzerland. As to the general climate of New Zealand, he thought it perfection. "The clear atmosphere, and the lovely scenery," he said, "I

HIS INTEREST IN THE NATIVES.

consider as a most happy combination, and as the country lies in a temperate latitude, you are able to travel or labour without any drawback to your own sense of beauty, and your plans of utility. Take the climate and the scenery together, and it would be impossible to find any more beautiful."

Besides his love of the country, he had a great interest in the natives. Regarding them as a remarkable race, scarcely risen out of cannibalism, yet aspiring to the highest reaches of civilization and Christianity, he felt for them as a people pushed by the white man out of their heritage of ages, and showed them on all occasions the most friendly attention. Add to this, that the transparency, the pure principles, and the indomitable energy of his character, had won for him the public esteem in no ordinary degree, and the deep attachment of friends, which he warmly reciprocated, and there is nothing in such a life, not even its shortness in this stage of being, to a Christian mind, but what is bright, beautiful, and complete.

And now, in putting the last page to this wonderful history of discovery, this wonderful history of the inexhaustible energies of the English race, it is with a deep sense of the magnificent home which they are creating for a numerous branch of that race in New Zealand. In reflecting on its happily located group of islands, its numerous and accessible bays, its noble mountains, and impetuous rivers descending from them, its fertile plains and sheltered valleys, its mineral wealth, its grand forests, and peculiar vegetation, its freedom from poisonous plants, and venomous and destructive animals, all crowned by its mild and genial climate, it is impossible not to admit its claim to entitle itself the Britain of the South. Here, as in Australia, we have but one regret, namely, that the splendour of the future too probably includes the extinction of its native race. Yet, amongst

FEAR OF THE EXTINCTION OF THE ABORIGINES.

all the aboriginal races none appear so capable of accepting civilization. Stern, but at heart kindly, they have less of the aversion to labour and to agriculture than the aboriginal Australian. They have a lively sense of property, and have shown great aptness to trade. Christianity they have widely accepted, and have shown themselves highly capable of civil organization, and of military defence. Unfortunately, in these latter qualities lie the sources of their greatest danger. They stem the onward, inevitable march of European expansion, and thus it is too clear that, whether strong or weak, the aboriginal tribes of earth in general are destined to disappear in the on-rolling tide of Anglo-Saxon civilization.

The sense of this has forced a very severe exclamation from one of the English friends of the Maories, which, I believe, will be found in an Auckland Blue Book: – "I have long since come to the conclusion that the Modern Englishman is as cruel and unprincipled a scoundrel as the world has ever seen. In simple truth, we pay the Maori large sums for his land because he is an acute and powerful savage; we swindle the Australian out of his birth-right, because he is simple and helpless."

Severe as this censure is, every one must concede that as a general feature of English, as well as American advance against the aboriginal races, there is too much truth in it. Yet in no country has the Maori found more noble, more disinterested, more ardent friends – men who have boldly borne the character of genuine Christians in the face of political aggression. But the independent character of the Maories creates difficulties for their friends and the advocates of their just rights. No people feel more acutely the right and wrong of human actions than the Maories. When pressed to sell their lands against their inclinations, and told that God has given it not to lie waste, but that the Bible says, "Thou shalt till the land, that it may bring forth a hundred-fold," they reply – "Yes, but it is nowhere written that we shall sell it for a shilling an acre."

ANECDOTE OF AN OLD CHIEF.

The New Zealand journals record the following striking case. An old Chief in Katiabo, on the Upper Wanganui, when discussing the propriety of joining Werimu Kingi, took three sticks of the edible fern, one long, and two short ones. The long one, he said, represented God, and he planted it upright in the earth before him: the two short ones represented the Maori and the Pakeha, or stranger. "Before the Pakeha came," he said, "we thought ourselves the nearest to God, and standing nearly equal with him," and he planted the Maori stick close to the one representing the Godhead. "But when the Pakehas came, we thought that they stood higher than us – that they stood next to the Godhead," and he now struck down the Pakeha stick near the Godhead, and removed the Maori stick farther off, and struck it deeper into the earth. "But now," added he, "we have learned that the Maori and the Pakeha issue from one and the same source – from God; that they have both good and evil qualities, and are alike before Him." Then he took up the two sticks representing Maori and Pakeha, and planted them near each other before the tall and single stem representing God. "Pakeha and Maori," he said, "are equal; they have equal rights, and it is perfectly natural that the Maories should have their king as the Pakehas have."

Yet with all their spirit of resistance, they have a melancholy internal conviction that they are a doomed race. One of them has said: – "As the clover destroys the fern, and the European dog the Maori dog; as the Maori rat has been annihilated by the Pakeha rat, even so will our people be pushed back and exterminated by the Europeans."

Let us hope for a brighter reality. Let us hope that the bravery and the military skill displayed by the Maori race, in their late struggle to defend their hereditary land; that the tact, and power, and intellectual aptitude of this race, so lately sunk in savagery and cannibalism; the evidences of poetic; oratoric, and literary power, shown amply by various English collections of their pro-

HOPES THAT JUSTICE MAY PREVAIL.

ductions to be inherent in them; their capacity for civilized life and civilized arts; and, finally, their ready adoption of our Christian faith, may raise them friends, counsellors, and protectors, who may avert from them the common fate of aboriginal tribes. That, especially, the missionaries, who have laboured so lovingly and successfully amongst them, and the clergy, with the noble-minded and able Bishop Selwyn at their head, may so influence the colonial and imperial spirit towards them, that a greater than any simply geographical discovery may yet be made-namely, how a noble native race may be preserved amid the triumphs of European civilization, or by gradual amalgamation may add new forces of character, and new features of intellect to the already vigorous and aspiring race of the New Britain of the South.

THE END.

BILLING, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, GUILDFORD, SURREY.

Conditions of Use

By their use of these ebooks, texts and images, users agree to follow these conditions of use:

These ebooks, texts and images may not be used for any commercial purpose without permission from the University of Auckland Library.

These ebooks, texts and images may not be re-published in print or electronic form without permission from the University of Auckland Library. However, educators are welcome to print out items and hand them to their students.

Users are not permitted to download our ebooks, texts, and images in order to mount them on their own servers for public use or for use by a set of subscribers. Individuals and institutions can, of course, make a link to the copies at ENZB, subject to our conditions of use. It is not in our interest or that of our users to have uncontrolled subsets of our holdings available elsewhere on the Internet. We make corrections, add tags, add images, etc. on a continual basis, and we want the most current text to be the only one generally available to all Internet users.

These texts can potentially be used as the basis for additional TEI tagging or for some other etext or ebook project, but we ask that you let us know before you start, so that we can coordinate work on that text and make sure that we are not working on it simultaneously. We would like a copy of the improved text for our collections.

Request for permission form