38 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



hole is round, and about 6 in. in diameter at the top and 

 narrowing to the bottom, and the depth is about 12 in. Down 

 the hillside, some 4 or 5 yards from the well, is a small cave 

 over which the water trickles and drops down in front. The 

 whole place is covered in by light scrub. This well is in an 

 unlikely and out-of-the-way place, and its position does not 

 agree with the description of the spot shown bv the natives in 

 1835. 



The first recorded account of a European visiting Cook's 

 Cove for the sake of its historical associations is that of 

 J. S. Polack, in 1835, and sixty-six years after our great navi- 

 gator. Polack was conducted over the pathways of Cook by 

 Kani-o-takirau, the chief of the district, who took pleasure in 

 showing the place and telling the traditions. I will now ex- 

 plain about the place shown to Polack. Near the north point 

 of the cove, and not many yards up the side of the hill, 

 is a large cavern, not deep, but high and long. Over this 

 cavern from the hill above a small spring drops down 

 immediately in front into a watercourse which is shaded 

 in by shrubbery. This is undoubtedly the cavern shown 

 to Polack by the native chief, and in front of it is 

 where Polack saw the cutting in the rock, which Kani 

 told him was made by the order of Cook. Polack, 

 in his book, " Travels and Adventures in New Zealand," 

 vol. ii., page 130, tells us about this cavern and rock-cutting: 

 " Kani requested me to accompany him next day to Opou- 

 tama, near the south entrance of the bay, where we should 

 walk over the same ground and native paths that existed in 

 the time of Cook, and which had been traversed by him. The 

 following morning, at the beginning of the ebb, we w T ent in 

 the whaleboat, the chief, and the arch-priest (tohunga-nui) , who 

 was his brother-in-law, accompanying us." Polack goes on 

 to describe the cove, and the plants and trees he saw there. 

 Then he says, " The friendly Kani preceded me, and led the 

 way through the devious native paths, which are never to be 

 found in a straight line, even when the road over a plain best 

 admits of it. The chief now wound his way up the side 

 of the hill, followed by myself and the friends who accom- 

 panied us. We were arrested in our progress halfway by 

 a cavern, which stopped our further progress. Its arch was 

 remarkably high, but of little depth ; it was similarly argilla- 

 ceous to the caves we had seen below in the bay. Kani in- 

 quired if I felt gratified, adding, 'This, friend, is Tupia's 

 cavern.' I learnt that in this cave the favourite interpreter of 

 Cook slept with the natives. ' He was often in the habit 

 of doing so during the heat of the day with his native friends, 

 as is the wont of the New-Zealanders,' said my conductor. A 

 few yards in front of the cave is a small hole that was dug in 



