CHAP. V.] WEST BAY. 117 



the beach. Fine trees surround this bay ; and the 

 flat land, which was about a square mile in extent, 

 bore marks of former cultivation ; but the inhabit- 

 ants have disappeared: they were the tribe called 

 the Rangitane. All that remains of this once 

 numerous people are a few slaves belonging to the 

 Nga-te-awa, who live at the Oieri or Pylorus River. 

 After a war of extermination the right to West 

 Bay was made over to another tribe of Nga-te-awa, 

 who have never occupied the spot. 



Our situation was not without the peculiar interest 

 which an uninhabited land always excites in the 

 mind. Behind and around us high steep and wooded 

 hills towered over the bay in a semicircle. The 

 night was extremely mild and calm ; the air singu- 

 larly clear and transparent. The sonorous fluting 

 call of the large parrots, varied by their harsh scream 

 when, on a sudden alarm, they started over the tops 

 of the hills, and then returned to rest, were the only 

 sounds that broke the deep silence. The water of 

 the bay was as smooth as glass ; for, being sheltered 

 on all sides, it was unaffected by the winds which 

 agitated the sea. Sometimes a parrot would perch 

 on one of the trees embowering our huts, as if curi- 

 ous to ascertain who had ventured to disturb his 

 repose. During the night a solitary cry from one 

 of these birds might be heard from time to time, 

 after which everything again became quiet. The 

 sweet song of the mako-mako, 1 which I can only 

 1 Philedun Dumerilii, Lin 



