1777 THE TACIFIC OCEAN. 217 



lake is called by the natives Tavai Poenammoo ; that 

 is, the water of Green Talc ; and it is only the adjoin- 

 ing part of the country, and not the whole southern 

 island of New Zealand, that is known to them by the 

 name which hath been given to it on my chart. 



Polygamy is allowed amongst these people; and 

 it is not uncommon for a man to have two or three 

 wives. The women are marriagable at a very early- 

 age ; and it should seem that one who is unmarried 

 is but in a forlorn state. She can with difficulty get 

 a subsistence ; at least she is, in a great measure, 

 without a protector, though in constant want of a 

 powerful one. 



The New Zealanders seem to be a people perfectly 

 satisfied with the little knowledge they are masters 

 of, without attempting, in the least, to improve it ; 

 nor are they remarkably curious, either in their ob- 

 servations or their enquiries. New objects do not 

 strike them with such a degree of surprise as one 

 would naturally expect; nor do they even fix their 

 attention for a moment. Omai, indeed, who was a 

 great favourite with them, would sometimes attract a 

 circle about him; but they seemed to listen to his 

 speeches like persons who neither understood, nor 

 wished to understand, what they heard. 



One day, on our enquiring of Taweiharooa how 

 many ships, such as ours, had ever arrived in Queen 

 Charlotte's Sound, or in any part of its neighbour- 

 hood? he began with giving an account of one 

 absolutely unknown to us. This, he said, had put 

 into a port on the north-west coast of Teerawitte, 

 but a very few years before I arrived in the Sound 

 in the Endeavour, which the New Zelanders dis- 

 tinguish, by calling Tupia's ship. At first, I thought 

 he might have been mistaken as to the time and 

 place; and that the ship in question might be either 

 Monsieur Survi lie's, who is said to have touched 

 upon the north-east coast of Eaheiiiomauwe, the 



