Duncan. — FoUoiomg the Tracks of Cajitain Cook. 37 



through it we had not only a view of the bay and hills on the 

 other side, but an opportunity of imagining a ship or any 

 other grand object opposite to it. It certainly was the most 

 magnificent surprise I have ever met with ; so much is pure 

 nature superior to art in these cases. I have seen such places 

 made by art, where from an inland view you were led 

 through an arch 6 ft. wide and 7 ft. high to a prospect of the 

 sea, but here was an arch 25 yards in length, 9 in breadth, 

 and at least 15 in height." I roughly measured the archway, 

 and found that the length and breadth as given by Banks is 

 practically correct. I had no means of measuring the height, 

 but think that Banks overestimates it. It is about 30 ft. 

 high, or less. Sydney Parkinson, artist on the " Endeavour," 

 in his Journal, gives a picture of this arch on page 99, of which 

 I show a copy on the screen. In Parkinson's picture the 

 place seems all clear of scrub. At the present day the bush 

 and undergrowth is very thick, and it was impossible to 

 obtain a position with the camera to include all of the open- 

 ing. The creek running through the arch is not as Parkinson 

 shows, but is full of large rocks and uneven boulders. Unfor- 

 tunately, Parkinson did not live to return to England, but 

 died of fever on the voyage Home after the " Endeavour " had 

 sailed from Batavia. His diary and sketches were published 

 by his brother, and it is likely that the picture was only half 

 finished. 



A good deal has been written in the " Transactions of the 

 New Zealand Institute" about a place known as "Cook's 

 Well," and I will now explain my views about it. There is 

 a Maori tradition extant that Cook, or Tupaea, the Tahitian 

 who accompanied him, cut a small hole in a rock near a 

 spring of water in Cook's Cove, Tolaga Bay — I suppose for the 

 purpose of making a basin to get a drink from. No record of 

 this cutting is left by the commander or any of his people, as, 

 of course, it would be an act of little moment to them. The 

 Maori tradition, however, exists, and I am able to explain 

 that the place shown by the natives for many years 

 past, and known to Europeans as " Cook's Well," is not 

 the place shown to Mr. J. S. Polack by the chief of the 

 district in 1835. Every one who visits Cook's Cove is 

 anxious to see Cook's Well, and the place shown is a 

 small round hole in a steep rock face over which runs 

 a trickle of spring water. This so called well is some 

 30 yards up a steep hillside facing the north-west corner 

 of the cove. A number of names and initials have been cut 

 in the rock hereabout Some one, too, has cut in deeply 

 the name "COOK," and the figures "1778." I baled out 

 the water from the hole and found that a more enter- 

 prising visitor had actually cut letters at the bottom. The 



