Smith. — Captain Dumont D'Urville'^ Visit in 1827. 423 



year has barely passed since he fought with guns against the redoubtable 

 Pomare. After having exchanged several shots, Pomare had finally suc- 

 cumbed. As is the custom, his body was devoured on the field of battle, 

 and his head, prepared in mokomokai, was conserved in the Waikato Pa, 

 the principal fortress of the league of the people of Shouraki Bay. I could 

 have become its owner for a few pounds of powder ; it was only necessary 

 to wait four or five days, the time required to send a messenger to bring 

 the head from Waikato. That proposition was assuredly very seducing to 

 me, and I should have been pleased to have taken to Europe the skin [or 

 head] of a warrior so famous in these, antarctic regions. Unfortunately, 

 the exploration of New Zealand was only a secondary object of the expedi- 

 tion, and my instructions were to proceed to the tropics. 



[Pomare, the celebrated Nga-Puhi warrior and leader, had been killed 

 near Te Rore, on the Waipa branch of the Waikato, in about the month of 

 March, 1826, together with almost the whole of his war-party, only some 

 half a dozen men escaping to carry back the news to their homes. The 

 expedition of Te Rangi-tuke that D'Urville saw at Wangarei was organized 

 to obtain revenge for Pomare's death. Te Rangi and Tawhiti's tribe, 

 Ngati-Paoa, assisted at the death of Pomare.] 



Rangui and Tawiti. impressed with the desire to satisfy my curiosity, 

 gave me also the names of the districts, channels, and islands surrounding 

 us. It is thus that the following names figure on our chart — namely, 

 Rangui-Toto [Rangitoto] for the volcanic island situated N.W. of the 

 anchorage ; Taka-Pouni [Takapuna] for the shore opposite ; Wai-Tamata 

 [Waitemata] for the channel to the west ; W^ai-Mogoia [Mokoia, an old 

 pa near Panmure ; Tamaki is the name of the channel], a channel to the 

 south ; and Wai-Roa [Wairoa River] for a third, situated to the east. They 

 confirmed the fact that the Wai-Tamata did not communicate with the 

 western sea ; but they repeated several times, and in a positive manner, 

 that in following the course of the Wai-Mogoia one arrived at a place only 

 separated by a very short distance from the banks of the Manou - Kao 

 [Manukau], a lar'ge port situated on the west coast of New Zealand. 



This information appeared to me so important that I instantly con- 

 ceived the project of verifying its truth. I immediately proposed to Rangui 

 to remain on board with Tawiti, whilst I sent some one of our officers to 

 Manoukao under the escort of his warriors. He consented with such good 

 grace and with such an open air that I thought there would not be the least 

 danger for my companions. In consequence, I let go the anchor at no 

 great distance from the place where we had passed tie. night ; and after- 

 wards, at 6 a.m., the whaleboat, under the orders of M. Lottin, accompanied 

 by MM. Guilbert, Gaimard, Bertrand, and Faraguet, departed. A guide 

 supplied by Rangui was charged to conduct them, and to make them re- 

 spected in the name of that chief. 



M. Lottin had oi'ders to proceed as far as Manoukao to reconnoitre 

 the western sea, but so arranging his proceedings as to return by night. 

 The greatest care on their part, in their dealings with the Natives, was 

 impressed upon them. Too many fatal catastrophies, dating from the 

 discovery by Tasman up to the taking of the " Boyd " at Wangaroa 

 [Whangaroa, 1809], have sadly signalised the presence of Europeans in 

 these parts for me to be perfectly tranquil as to the disposition of these 

 people, as easy to irritate as they are barbarous in their vengeance. 



At the same time I sent the yawl, under the orders of the boatswain, 

 to obtain wood on a little island adjacent, named Koreha [Motu-Korehu ; 



