Hocken. — Early Visits of the French to New Zealand. 145 



new friends : his features lighted up, his eyes rolled in their 

 orbits, his knees shook convulsively, he thrust his tongue out 

 of his mouth, and presently, in spite of himself, he joined heart 

 and soul in the yells and leaps of the warriors. The " Coquille " 

 brought down with her from Sydney, in polite compliance with 

 Mr. Marsden's desire, Mr. George Clarke and family, who had 

 b^en awaiting a suitable opportunity to proceed to the Bay 

 of Islands as one of the band of missionary settlers there. Mr. 

 Clarke's name is well known in early New Zealand history as 

 Protector of Aborigines, an appointment conferred on him by 

 Governor Hobson in 1840, and filled by him with advantage 

 to both colonists and Natives during the stormy period of those 

 early days. 



The next visit to bo recorded is that of Captain D'Urville, 

 who circumnavigated the globe during the years 1826 to 1829. 

 On this occasion he commanded the old vessel in which, as junior, 

 he had sailed two years before with Duperrey ; but now her 

 name was changei from the " Coquille " to the " Astrolabe," 

 in memory of La Perouse, whose sad fate was yet shrouded in 

 mystery, and still unceasingly deplored. Her crew were eighty 

 in number, thirteen of whom were officers and scientific men, 

 and as such their names will ever b3 held in repute — Quoy, 

 Gaimard, Lesson, and De Sainson. The stay in and about the 

 coasts of New Zealand extended over two months — from January 

 to March, 1827 — during which time D'Urville sailed up the 

 west coast of the South Island from about Cape Foul wind, 

 through Cook Strait, and along the whole east coast of the North 

 Island, finally departing from the Bay of Islands. Throughout 

 this course he added greatly to our geographical knowledge, 

 though gained in the face of violent storms, and bos^t more 

 than once with imminent danger of shipwreck. This was espe- 

 cially the case whilst exploring Massacre (or Tasman's) and 

 Blind Bays. With these his name will ever be associated in 

 D'Urville Island, Astrolabe Roads, the Croixelles, and the famous 

 French Pass, through which at ebb and flow the waters rush 

 with all the fury of a cataract. He first sailed through these 

 tumultuous waves, pointing out to the mariner how he might 

 thereby save twenty miles of his course ; and the story of those 

 few but exciting moments is told with such dramatic force as 

 to be worth repeating. He is now about to proceed northward 

 from his anchorage in Tasman's Bay to Admiralty Bay, through 

 the French Pass. ; ' Throughout the evening and the night the 

 unvarying east wind blew with fury and in violent gusts. Our 

 position was still more precarious than on the previous nights, 

 for, had we drifted, the wind would have driven us directly 

 upon the reef of the pass, and there our lot could not have been 



