36 Transactions. —Miscellaneous. 



greater part of the cove is dry, except where the stream runs 

 over the white sand. At the present day, at low water, ships' 

 boats coiald not get further up the cove tnan about a chain 

 inside the low spit on the north point. The " Endeavour's " 

 water-casks would need, therefore, to have been rolled up from 

 the boats to the creek some 200 or 300 yards, and when filled 

 rolled back to the boats — that is, of course, if the place be 

 not changed. Old residents of Tolaga and natives who were 

 born there told me that they have not noticed any alteration 

 in the shores of the cove since they could remember. Cook 

 says that "the water was good and the place pretty con- 

 venient," but he was not the kind of man to mention such 

 small troubles as rolling barrels over some hundreds of yards 

 of mud or boulders. 



The firewood was, no doubt, cut just within the cove on 

 the north point, as it is recorded in the log-book that there 

 was "plenty of wood close to high-water mark." This north 

 point is a more convenient place for boats to load at than the 

 south. At the present day there is not a shrub growing on 

 the south point, whereas bush is growing to within a few 

 steps of high-water mark on the north. Nowadays dry drift- 

 wood could be picked up above high-water mark in great 

 quantity, and would be more useful for firing than green stuff. 

 Cook, however, says, " The tree which we cut for firing was 

 something like maple, and yielded a whitish gum." This 

 remark leads us to conclude that green wood was cut. 



A peculiarity of this part of the coast of New Zealand is 

 the number of caves, caverns, and water- worn archways that 

 exist, and these striking features were duly noted by our 

 navigators. Most noticeable is the Isle of Arches, a long 

 high rock washed' through in a number of places with lofty 

 and fanciful perforations. Standing seaward of this is a 

 solitary rock, aptly named by Cook the " Cornstack." Re- 

 ferring to the log again we read: " x\t the entrance into the 

 bay are two high rocks : one is high and round like a corn- 

 stack, but the other is long, with holes through it like the 

 arches of a bridge. Within these rocks is the cove where we 

 cut wood and filled our water." 



What is locally known as the " Hole in the Wall " is 

 without doubt the most interesting sight in Cook's Cove. It 

 is an archway leading from a valley in the cove through a 

 hill to the sea-beach beyond. Sir Joseph Banks and other 

 scientists from the " Endeavour," during their explorations, 

 were very surprised on finding this wonderful freak of nature. 

 Banks, in his Journal, says, "We saw also an extraordinary 

 natural curiosity. In pursuing a valley bounded on each side 

 by steep hills we suddenly saw a most noble arch or cavern 

 through the face of a rock leading directly to the sea, so that 



