Morris. — On the Tracks of Captain Cook. 507 



desire diminished by being told in Wellington that it was all a 

 mistake, for Domett never lived near the Wairoa. The best 

 authority to be found in Napier assured me that Domett was 

 well known there in the early days, and that it was he that 

 gave the streets their striking names. 



At 8 in the morning the coach started from Gisborne for 

 Tolaga Bay. It was a strange drive — for the most part along 

 the shore, and generally in the water. The waves harden the 

 sand, so that it is found more easy to drive the horses through 

 the waves just as they are spent than altogether above their 

 reach ; but driving along the water-line produces occasionally 

 shrewd bumps over rocks. Almost all the rest of the road is 

 steeply uphill or steeply downhill, as the road cuts off some 

 rocky bluff which it would not be possible to round. Cook's 

 Gable End Foreland was conspicuous, but deserves the name 

 perhaps better as seen from the sea than from the shore. 



Here a note may be inserted as to the spelling of the name 

 "Tolaga." It has locally two variations — " Tolago " and 

 " Tologa " — both wrong. " Tolaga " is the spelling of " Cook's 

 Journal," of Hawkesworth, and of both Cook's charts — the 

 large map of New Zealand and the small one of the cove with 

 its immediate neighbourhood. "Tolaga" is not a native 

 name, so that the spelling cannot have been corrected by 

 Maori use, for the letter "1" is not used in the Maori lan- 

 guage. The best Maori scholar would not venture on a guess 

 what the mistake was; but another gave me " Hautarake" 

 meaning " the wind is off the land." The question put to 

 some Maori by Cook or by another was not understood, and a 

 crooked answer was given. This is, however, pure guess. 



At Tolaga, as at Ship Cove, it was advised that a steam- 

 launch should be hired, and a fine launch was ready for hire. 

 But at 4.30 in the morning I was roused with the news that 

 the sea was too stormy for us to put forth, and arrangements 

 were being made to find horses for a ride of about five miles 

 over (partly) roadless country, when later tidings came that 

 the wind was abating. Forth we went. At the bar of the 

 little Biver Uawa there was a nasty jobble of the waters, and 

 some heavy rolling just as the launch turned into the cove — 

 naught else to complain of. 



There are two special sights to visit, " Cook's Well " and 

 what is locally knowm as the "Hole in the Wall." The 

 Maoris, as the bishop tells, call the former " Tepaea's Well." 

 Did Tepaea, as the Maoris call him, or Tupia (wuth long i) by 

 the English, make out that he was in command of the ex- 

 pedition'? He was a Tahitian priest able to interpret Maori. 

 In Hawkesworth there is a map of Tolaga Bay, and it is 

 quite evident that Cook's watering-place was not here. The 

 name " w T ell " is unfortunate. It is not a well at all, but a 



