32 SHIP COVE. [PART i. 



been disturbed. The interruption was not, however, 

 serious. It appeared that Ship Cove was claimed 

 as the property of E Hiko, now living in Entry 

 Island, the son of the former principal chief and 

 warrior of the whole tribe, Tupahi, a native well 

 known in England, which he had visited. E Hiko 

 had buried a child in Ship Cove, and for that 

 reason the place had become sacred, or " tapu." For 

 this " Dogskin" wanted " utu," or payment, putting 

 himself forward as E Hiko's representative. He 

 was, however, compelled to lower his demands, and 

 the matter having been amicably settled by a mo- 

 derate present of tobacco, we had thenceforth permis- 

 sion to take as much wood and water as we wanted. 

 Besides the natives from Anaho, we frequently 

 had visitors from neighbouring districts . From one 

 of these parties, which came from Admiralty Bay, 

 in four large canoes deeply laden with pigs and 

 potatoes, we heard for the first time that Queen 

 Charlotte s Sound opens by a passage into Cloudy 

 Bay. The natives and Europeans, who go from 

 Entry Island and the other parts of Cook's Straits 

 to the latter place, generally choose this passage, 

 which is by far the safest way for boats and frail 

 canoes. We also heard that there was in this 

 passage a whaling establishment, in which many 

 Englishmen were living. Captain Cook suspected 

 the existence of such a passage from Queen Char- 

 lotte's Sound, but the southern entrance of it is not 

 laid down in his chart of the Straits, which is most 



