36 WHALES AND WHALERS. [PART I. 



us to be thievish and troublesome ; but I have 

 learned to regard the evidence of Europeans against 

 the natives with great distrust. Her Majesty's brig 

 Pylorus had been here during the previous year, to 

 punish a theft which the whalers stated had been 

 committed by the natives. The captain was satis- 

 fied with firing some shots into the rock, and the 

 vessel went afterwards as far as the settlement of 

 Te-awa-iti, and returned through the north-west en- 

 trance of Queen Charlotte's Sound. The Pylorus 

 did not, therefore, actually go through Tory Chan- 

 nel. At all events, I think that the account of the 

 Tory's passage of this channel and Captain ChafFers's 

 survey of it are the first published. 



We had the advantage of a strong tide, of at least 

 five miles an hour, which was sufficient to carry us 

 forward when the wind failed, as frequently hap- 

 pened on account of the landlocked position of the 

 Sound. Night had however already set in when we 

 anchored before the settlement Te-awa-iti (the little 

 river). But even then the aspect of this place of- 

 fered a most exhilarating scene. Large fires glared 

 through the darkness from the neighbouring beach, 

 lighted for the trying out of the blubber of a large 

 whale, which had been brought in that morning ; 

 a confused sound of voices reached our ears, and 

 proved to us that even in this remote corner of the 

 world it was the custom to celebrate any happy event 

 with profuse libations. Mr. Barret, superintendent 

 of one of the whaling establishments, came off in his 



