1847 - Ross, J. C. A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions [New Zealand Chapters Only]. - Chapter III, p 65-90

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CHAPTER III.

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SMALL-POX.

CHAPTER III.

1841. August 20.

The magnetometrical and other instruments were landed this morning, and their arrangement and adjustment kept us all busily employed. Early in the morning the surgeon of the Yorktown came alongside with a message from Captain Aulick, acquainting me that the small-pox had made its appearance amongst his crew, and requesting to be furnished with a small quantity of vaccine matter, as that which they had brought from America with them was found to have lost its virtue. Unfortunately we had none to give them, nor could any be obtained from the medical officer at Kororarika; so that had this dreadful malady been taken by the natives, it is awful to think how terrible must have been the consequences, and the thousands that would have fallen victims to its virulence. If, as has been asserted, and I believe, proved, the vaccine matter which acts so powerfully as a preventive be merely the virus of the small-pox modified by the constitution of a cow which had been attacked by that disease, might it not be desirable, on its breaking out in a country where vaccine matter is not to be had, immediately to inoculate a cow with the smallpox, and thus obtain the best of all remedies? This question I must leave to be answered by those conversant with these matters; and if the suggestion

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1841. August.

should be considered effectual, it is desirable that it should be as extensively known as possible. 1

Commander Crozier and I returned the visit of Captain Aulicko and prevailed on him and two of his officers to spend the following day on board the Erebus, and in examining the instruments at the observatories, which he was very desirous to see. It was on this occasion, when hearing from him, that he had only recently parted from the squadron under the command of Lieutenant Wilkes, and was likely in a short time to meet that officer again, being also a personal friend of his, I considered it to be the most delicate mode of acquainting Lieutenant Wilkes with the circumstance of our having passed over a large space in clear water, where he had placed mountainous land on the chart he sent me. As I have given a full account of this transaction in the first volume of my narrative, I need not make any further allusion to it here, except to express my regret, that,

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1841. August.

owing to Captain Aulick having sailed from Oahu a few days before Lieutenant Wilkes arrived there, he had no opportunity of making my communication to Lieutenant Wilkes before that officer heard of the circumstance through newspapers, which gave a very distorted view of the question, and not only occasioned him much uneasiness, but left a very erroneous impression on the minds of all who regarded the information derived from that source as conclusive against any land at all having been discovered by the American squadron. And this impression was greatly strengthened by the publicly-declared opinion of one of the officers of the squadron to the same effect whilst at Sydney; but, whether this assertion arose from malicious motives or not, the most conclusive refutation of it is given in the narrative of the voyage, and in the evidence elicited at the several courts of inquiry, which followed the return of the expedition to America. The Yorktown sailed the next morning for the Sandwich Islands.

The unceasing round of hourly observations was soon brought into operation, and provided full occupation for all the executive officers of both ships, except only the senior lieutenants, who remained in charge of the vessels.

The medical officers, in their turn, made short excursions into the interior, for the purpose of increasing our collections of natural history; but the natives at the time of our visit were beginning to feel deeply, and to express in terms of severe

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1841. August.

bitterness, their great disappointment at the effects of the treaty of Waitangi, so that I did not consider it advisable to permit those officers to extend their researches to any considerable distance from the position we had taken up. And although it was necessary to despatch boats several miles up the river, for the purpose of obtaining the spars we required to replace those that had been carried away during our run from Sydney, as well as to increase our store, yet I thought it proper that they should be well armed and prepared to resist any attack which the natives seemed well disposed to make, whenever it could be done with any certainty of success, and also to entrust the conduct of those parties to one of the senior lieutenants: indeed, so strong was the impression upon my mind of the readiness of the natives to seize any favourable opportunity of regaining possession of their lands and driving the Europeans out of the country, that I always felt much anxiety during the absence of our people, although I could fully rely on the prudence and judgment of Lieutenant Bird, by whom they were chiefly conducted. No spars of the size and kind we wanted were to be had near to our anchorage: the demands of the numbers of whalers that in former years used to resort to this port to refit had completely exhausted the forests of the immediate neighbourhood; and Lieutenant Bird found it necessary to proceed to a considerable distance up the river before he could procure any. There he was

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1841. August.

obliged to purchase some of a chief named Awara who was quite prepared to resist their being cut down, as in former years, for only a trifling payment. But now, muskets, and these only, were required for the trees, and without them we should not have been able to have obtained a single spar, except by force, which in the then temper of mind of the "Maories" would have led to serious results. As soon as Awara found his demand for two muskets for the spars was agreed to, he became more civil and obliging, --pointing out the best trees, and the most easy mode of getting them to the water; for although of course our carpenters were of the party, the chief proved that his selection of the trees as they were growing, was invariably better than theirs, after being cut down. He returned with Lieutenant Bird to the ships to receive the promised payment, when it appeared that his two muskets meant a double-barrelled gun, which they all seemed most desirous to possess; but as those we had on board were the private property of the officers, who of course were most unwilling to part with them, Awara was at length well satisfied with two rifles and a complete suit of lieutenant's uniform, which the officers furnished him with, and which he immediately put on, to the amusement of our sailors, and his great delight. I have not seen his name mentioned amongst those who have been engaged in the recent hostile transactions in that neighbourhood, and may therefore hope the rifles have not been employed against our

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1841. August.

own countrymen; and as from his isolated position it would be his policy to be on good terms with the Europeans, he has more probably acted with our forces against the rebellious Heki.

Pomare, another chief, and one who has taken a very questionable, if not a traitorous part in these transactions, also visited our ships, to obtain his customary present of gunpowder and fire-arms, and especially rum, to which he had lately become so addicted as seldom to be seen sober. He had, however, been on all former occasions very friendly to Europeans, and was of material assistance to Governor Hobson, on his first arrival in the colony, for the purpose of taking formal possession of it, in the name of Queen Victoria, and was not only amongst the first to sign the treaty of Waitangi, but was mainly instrumental in inducing many other chiefs, of far greater importance than himself, to do so. He was, therefore, entitled to more than ordinary consideration, and was received on board our ships, when he paid his first visit of ceremony, in all due formality. He did not appear in his usual state, the war-canoe and war-dance were laid aside on this occasion, and he had evidently drunk more rum than was quite consistent with his assumed gravity and dignity. His favourite wife also seemed to have shared his libations, and was therefore equally unfit to sustain the queenly part she endeavoured to perform. In one of her unguarded moments, whilst giving way to her extreme delight on looking over some

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glittering toys that I had selected as a present for her, she recognised a portrait of our most gracious Queen, which was in my cabin, and immediately resuming a most ridiculous air of dignity, walked up to it, and holding out her copper-coloured hand, said, "Yes, all same as me -- Victoria, she queen, -- me queen too." Pomare was well pleased with some carpenter's tools I presented to him, instead of his customary present, and which I selected from a number of useful and ornamental articles which had been sent to me by my excellent friends, Mr. and Mrs. Beaufoy, for distribution amongst any natives we might meet with in the course of our voyage, and which I had now an opportunity of bestowing with great advantage to the natives, and felt much gratification in thus fulfilling the intentions of those benevolent and kind friends.

Pomare complained in strong terms of the treaty to which he had been so instrumental in getting his countrymen to become parties. He had not supposed that it was intended to deprive him of the power of selling his land to whoever he pleased; and although they all clearly understood that the treaty of Waitangi bound them to give the Queen's government the first offer of any portion of their lands they wished to sell, yet he expressed himself highly indignant at the thought that, if his offer were declined by the governor, no private individual could become the legal owner of it; thus, in fact, depriving him of the independent use

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1841. August.

of his own property. Those also who had sold much of their land, years ago, for a comparatively trifling consideration, bitterly repented their having done so now, when they perceived how greatly it had increased in value; and although fully acknowledging the just right of the present possessors, yet they would, no doubt, be glad of any pretext to join any party they thought strong enough to drive the Europeans out of the land; and thus regain possession of it by right of conquest.

The introduction of custom-house and other dues, which had been the means of preventing the southern whalers from refitting in the Bay of Islands, and trading with the natives, was considered by those living in the neighbourhood of the bay a great grievance, as it deprived them of their best customers. The whale-ships that were accustomed to get all their supplies in the harbours of New Zealand, so much more convenient to them from being so near to their principal fishing places, are now obliged to seek refreshments, and supply all their wants, at some of the islands of the Polynesian group.

These were the chief causes of complaint that I heard at the time of our visit; and it was evident that, in consequence of the measures which had so immediately followed the signing of the treaty of Waitangi, it began to be regarded with very different feelings, not only by the generality of the natives, but also by some of the most powerful of their chiefs, who gradually became more and more

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doubtful of the advantage of their altered position as they found their power and influence fast passing away into the hands of the settlers, who had flocked from England to this misrepresented colony in thousands, and established themselves in several parts of the northern island. It could not escape the jealous vigilance of the chiefs that the numbers of Europeans were increasing so rapidly that they would soon outnumber themselves, and gain possession of all their lands. Some of the chiefs had already called together large meetings of the natives, under the pretence of a feast, and had harangued them on the subject, especially calling upon them not to sell their lands to the Pakehas (or strangers); and at a sale of land which took place at Auckland, whilst we were at the Bay of Islands, I understood that some of the chiefs attended the auction, and actually re-purchased some of the land they had previously sold. No acts of violence had yet been perpetrated, and the rights of the present possessors of the land had hitherto been perfectly respected; but it cannot be denied, even by the most inveterate maligners of the missionaries, that this forbearance on the part of the natives was mainly due to the influence and persuasion of these good and pious men, who, having endured so much privation and hardship in their zealous endeavours to diffuse amongst the heathens the blessings of Christianity and the knowledge of the Gospel, were much looked up to by them for their advice on all occasions, and for whom,

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therefore, they very naturally feel the greatest affection and regard.

H. M. S. Favourite arrived early this morning, when Commander Sulivan went on board, and superseded Lieutenant Dunlop, who had been acting commander of her since the death of her lamented captain. He was at this time suffering so much from the severe wounds he had received in that unfortunate affair which deprived the service of one of her most gallant officers, that it was necessary for him to proceed to England for the restoration of his health. He was accordingly invalided the next day, and returned to Auckland, where a ship was lying in readiness to sail for Sydney, and thence to England, which afforded me a favourable opportunity of sending despatches to the Secretary of the Admiralty.

Our magnetometric and pendulum observations proceeded to our entire satisfaction; but as these are now in course of publication, at the expense of government, and will shortly appear in a complete form, under the superintendence of Colonel Sabine, I need not here make any further allusion to them. But as any information respecting the nature of the climate of this newly-colonised country cannot fail to be useful, and as the importance of meteorological inquiries appears hitherto to have been wholly overlooked or neglected, I may hope, by inserting here a monthly abstract of the observations made on board our ships during the three months they were at anchor in the River

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Kawa Kawa, to contribute in a small degree to the beginning of an inquiry which, if carried out for a few years, must prove of great advantage to the settlers in the management and improvement of their farms; for every one must be aware how intimately connected the various states of the atmosphere, and the consequent changes of weather, are with all the more important operations of the agriculturist.

The following tables are founded on observations of the temperature of the air and surface of the sea, the height of the barometer, the direction and force of the wind, and the state of the weather recorded every hour during the whole period, and are divided into equal intervals of about thirty days each, for the convenience of reference as well as of comparison with similar observations made in England, by which our emigrants will more readily perceive the change of climate they will have to make allowance for in all their pastoral and agricultural proceedings in their newly-adopted country.

The first table comprises the result of each day's observation between the 19th of August and the 17th of September; the mean of which corresponds more nearly with the 2nd of September, which may be considered equal to March of the northern hemisphere, and therefore, according to the most natural division of the seasons, is the first month of Spring. The mean temperature of the atmosphere is 53 deg.9, and the range of temperature during the period was 66 deg. to 39 deg. In Eng-

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ABSTRACT OF THE METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIP EREBUS, AT NEW ZEALAND, FROM THE 19th AUGUST TO THE 17th OF SEPTEMBER.

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ABSTRACT OF THE METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIP EREBUS, AT NEW ZEALAND, BETWEEN THE 18th OF SEPTEMBER AND THE 18th OF OCTOBER, 1841.

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CLIMATE.

1841.

land, the mean temperature due to the middle of the month of March is 43 deg.9, and the average range is from 66 deg. to 24 deg. The first month of Spring in New Zealand has therefore a higher temperature by ten degrees than that of England; and, although, the maximum temperature in both is the same, yet the climate of New Zealand is free from those severe frosts which frequently do so much mischief to advanced vegetation in England.

The mean temperature of the dew point, as derived from observations made four times each day, viz.; at 3h and 9h A.M., and 3h and 9h P.M., by Mr. Lyall, assistant-surgeon of the Terror, was found to be 49 deg.6; the amount of dryness is therefore 4 deg.3; the degree of moisture of the air is .862; and the elasticity of vapour is equal to 0. 395 inches. The quantity of rain which fell 11. 76 inches, and the greatest fall occurred between 2 A.M. on the 8th, and 2 A.M. on the 9th September, amounting to 5.5 inches; the barometer during the time being below its mean height, and the wind fresh from the northward: so far, therefore, as regards the moisture of the atmosphere, there is very little difference between the first spring month of England and of New Zealand, the degree of dryness in England being 4 deg.9, the moisture of the air .831, the elasticity of vapour .272, but the quantity of rain amounts to only 1.44 inch.

The mean height of the barometer is 30.034, and its range 1.14 inch. The diurnal variations of pressure, commonly called the atmospheric tides,

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1841.

occur at 9 A.M. and 10 P.M. when it is greatest, and 4 A.M. and 3 P.M. when it is least; and the difference amounts to .041 inch.

The mean temperature of the surface of the sea is 56 deg.

In like manner for the next month, the mean temperature of the air derived from the second table, which comprises an abstract of all the observations made between the 18th September and 18th October, an interval of thirty-one days, and correspond to the 3rd October, is 57 deg.9, -- an increase of four degrees in the mean temperature of the month as the season advances, whilst that of England increases about six degrees. The range of temperature at New Zealand is from 73 deg. to 39 deg.; in England, in April, it is 74 deg. to 29 deg.

The mean temperature of the dew point is 53 deg., making the amount of dryness 4 deg.9; the degree of moisture has consequently varied very little, being .847, the elasticity of vapour, .444, the quantity of rain, 4.1 inches. The greatest fall of rain during the period occurred between 5 P.M. and midnight of the 17th of October, amounting to 2.84 inches, the barometer being rather below its mean height for the season, and the wind strong from the northward.

The mean height of the barometer is 30.118, and its range .738 inch. The greatest pressure occurs at 9 A.M. and 10 P.M., and the least pressure at 4 A.M. and 4 P.M.: the difference amounts to .044 inch.

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ABSTRACT OF THE METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL OF HER MAJESTY'S SHIP EREBUS. AT NEW ZEALAND, FROM THE 19th OF OCTOBER TO THE 17th OF NOVEMBER, 1841.

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1841.

The mean temperature of the surface of the sea is 58 deg.1.

The third table is also derived from all the observations made between the 19th of October and 17th November, an interval of thirty days; the mean temperature corresponding to the 3rd November has advanced two-and-a-half degrees, to 60 deg.5, and its range is from 74 deg. to 47 deg. In England the mean temperature for May is 54 deg., and its range from 70 deg. to 33 deg.

The mean temperature of the dew point is only 52 deg., showing that the atmosphere has attained a greater degree of dryness, being 8 deg.5; the moisture of the air is therefore reduced to 0.735. In England, we also find, that in May, the temperature of the air still outstrips the advance of vapour, and the atmosphere attains very nearly its state of greatest dryness; the mean temperature of the dew point being 46 deg.1; the degree of dryness is 7 deg.9, and the state of saturation, .769. The elasticity of vapour in New Zealand is 0.428; in England, 0.354 inch.

The quantity of rain in New Zealand, 9.5 inches, and the greatest fall occurred on the 8th November, between 4 A.M. and 6 P.M. 2.1 inches, the barometer being about its mean height, and the wind from the north. In England the quantity of rain in May is only 1.85 inch.

The mean height of the barometer is 29.904, and its range 1.80 inch. In the diurnal tides the times of greatest pressure are 9 A.M. and 11 P.M.,

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1841.

and of least pressure, 4 A.M. and 4 P.M.; the difference is 0.032 inch.

The next table contains a summary of the condition of the atmosphere during the three months of the spring season; and that which follows, derived from Mr. Daniell's Essay upon the Climate of London, is inserted here for the sake of comparison.

The mean temperature for the year in England is 49 deg.2, which differs very slightly from the mean temperature of the three months of spring. It is not at all improbable that the mean temperature

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1841.

for the year at New Zealand may likewise not differ greatly from that of the spring, and would be rather more than the mean of the above three months, as their respective means refer to the 2d or 3d, instead of the middle day of each month. It will, therefore, probably prove to be about 59 deg., or ten degrees above that of England.

But we have another mode of arriving at the mean temperature, without apprehension of any considerable amount of error.

In accordance with my instructions, and with the view to collect facts relative to the distribution of temperature on land, five pairs of self-registering thermometers, after having been carefully compared with the standard, and their corrections accurately determined, were packed in vessels, and, after being well covered with non-conducting substances, were buried in the earth at the depths of one, three, six, nine, and twelve feet, on the 18th of October, and were allowed to remain there until the 12th of November following, so as to ensure their acquiring the precise temperature of the soil; and the mean reading of the two thermometers, when corrected at each of the several depths, was as follows: --

The temperature of water in a well at Waimati, thirty-five feet deep, but with only six feet four

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1841.

inches of water in it, was 58 deg.8. From these facts we may be led to conclude the mean temperature for the year will be found to be very nearly 59 deg.

This is, however, a point of considerable importance to have determined accurately, and the observations should be continued throughout several years before this can be accomplished. In looking over the hourly observations that were made by the officers of the Erebus and Terror, during the ninety-one days from which the above results have been obtained, I perceive that the mean temperature for the whole period would have been arrived at with very great accuracy by a single daily observation, either at 8.30 A.M. or 7 P.M.; and I doubt not the mean temperature for the year could be ascertained to within very small limits of error, by a regular register of the temperature at either or both of those hours, as might best suit the convenience of observers.

Besides the great difference of ten degrees of temperature, the quantity of rain which fell during the above interval, exactly five times the amount which falls in the spring, and three inches more than falls during the whole year in England, is very remarkable, and well deserving the attention of the agriculturist.

It is true this quantity differs materially from that given by Dr. Dieffenbach, being more than double the amount of that which fell during the same months of the same year at Port Nicholson; and he further states, that the whole quantity

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which fell there between April, 1841, and February, 1842, was only 34.49 inches; from which he draws the conclusion that New Zealand has a rainy climate, and may be ranked in this respect with several places in England.

It certainly proves, as might have been anticipated, that a much greater quantity of rain falls at the northern than at the southern parts of the island; for the heaviest falls of rain occur during northerly winds, which come from the equatorial regions, fully charged with moisture, of which a large proportion is precipitated as it passes over the first land it meets.

Dr. Dieffenbach states the mean temperature of the whole year at Wellington to be 58.2, and the mean temperature of the three months of spring 57.7, a remarkable accordance with the results and inferences obtained from our observations at the Bay of Islands; and I can therefore with the more confidence quote from him the following table, showing the mean temperature of each month, which, although derived from only one year's observations, will probably be not far from the truth, in a climate which seems to possess an unusual degree of uniformity.

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CLIMATE.

1841.

These results, for the convenience of comparison, I have arranged according to the order of the season, and it will be perceived that the mean of the winter and summer quarter, or that of the autumn and spring quarter, does not differ half a degree from the mean temperature of the year. The coldest month is July, the hottest January, -- the difference of their mean is only 17 deg.7; whilst in England, that of the correspondent months amounts to twenty-five degrees.

At Auckland, which is not more than a hundred miles to the south of the Bay of Islands, the mean temperature of the year is 59 deg., that of the three summer months, 67 deg.2, and of the three winter months, 52 deg., their difference being only 15 deg.2, and their mean six-tenths of a degree above that of the mean annual temperature.