390 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



vivid picture of all the circumstances. Wheu, as in this case, 

 places are not described in minute detail, it is often a matter 

 of considerable difficulty to identify any particular spot ; 

 though this difficulty may often in a great measure be over- 

 come by careful examination of the ground, and close atten- 

 tion to every hint contained in the narrative which may serve 

 as a clue to the identification of the actual site of any occur- 

 rence. This, then, is what it is proposed to attempt in this 

 paper with reference to Captain Cook's visit to Poverty Bay 

 and Tolaga Bay. 



It was on Friday, the 6th October, 1769, that the land 

 was first seen from the masthead, bearing west by north, 

 the longitude of the ship having been ascertained to be 

 180° 55' W. On Saturday, the 7th October, it fell calm till 

 the afternoon, hi 5 p.m. Cook noticed a deep bay, and stood 

 in for it, but when night came he kept plying off and on till 

 daylight. In the morning (Sunday, 8th October) he found 

 himself considerably to leeward of the bay, the wind being at 

 north, and it was not till 4 o'clock in the afternoon that he 

 anchored " on the north-west side of the bay, before the 

 entrance to a small river, .... at about half a league 

 from the shore." 



" In the evening," Cook says, "I went on shore, accom- 

 panied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, with the pinnace and 

 yawl and a party of men. We landed abreast of the ship, on 

 the east side of the river, which was here about forty yards 

 broad ; but, seeing some natives on the west side, whom I 

 wished to speak with, and finding the river not fordable, I 

 ordered the yawl in to carry us over, and left the pinnace at 

 the entrance. When we came near the place where the people 

 were assembled they all ran away ; however, we landed, and, 

 leaving four boys to take care of the yawl, we walked up to 

 some huts, which were about two or three hundred yards from 

 the water-side. When we had got some distance from the 

 boat, four men, armed with long lances, rushed out of the 

 woods, and, running up to attack the boat, would certainly 

 have cut her oil' if the people in the pinnace had not dis- 

 covered them, and called to the boys to dropdown the stream. 

 The boys instantly obeyed, but, being closely pursued by the 

 natives, the cockswain of the pinnace, who had charge of the 

 boats, fired a musket over their heads. At this they stopped 

 and looked round them, but in a few minutes renewed the 

 pursuit, brandishing their lances in a threatening manner. 

 The cockswain then fired a second musket over their heads, 

 but of this they took no notice, and, one of them lifting up his 

 spear to dart it at the boat, another piece was fired, which 

 shot him dead. When he fell the other three stood motionless 

 for some minutes, as if petrified with astonishment. As soon as 



