22 COOK'S STRAITS. [PART. i. 



obscure than is generally supposed, especially their 

 migrations, and the boundaries between which they 

 are found at different seasons, and which depend, 

 probably, upon the supply of food. The history of 

 one bird is closely allied to that of some other animal, 

 and so on in a chain the links of which are inti- 

 mately connected. The same is the case with other 

 animals, flying-fishes, albicorns, sharks, dolphins, 

 porpoises, &c., which are usually observed during 

 the course of a sea voyage. 



We made the land to the southward of Cape Fare- 

 well, in the middle island of New Zealand. Only 

 the summits of a mountain chain were visible, and 

 even these disappeared when we altered our course 

 to the north-east, and hove-to for the night in the 

 middle of Cook's Straits. 



On the morning of the 17th we were on deck 

 at daybreak. We now saw more of the middle 

 island, which seemed to consist of a chain of steep 

 snow-capped hills, running through the middle of 

 the island, and rising in a succession of ridges from 

 the sea-shore. On the northern island we saw the 

 mountains of Tararua in the neighbourhood of Port 

 Nicholson ; these also were covered with snow. At 

 a farther distance, in a nearly central position, a 

 bulky snow -covered mountain appeared, which 

 proved to be the Ruapahu. 



We drew nearer to the northern coast of the 

 middle island, and approached Stephens's Island, 

 which rises steep and abrupt from the sea, and seems 

 to* be covered with a dense forest from the water's 



