13*2 MOUNT EGMONT. [PART I. 



on our deck between them and Tuarau was almost 

 solemn ; they did not utter a word, and struggled to 

 conceal the deep feelings which evidently agitated 

 them. 



Our anchorage was not regarded as safe ; and as 

 the continual gales of the last few days had left a 

 heavy swell, which made communication with the 

 shore difficult and hazardous, it was determined that 

 the Tory should proceed on her voyage to the north- 

 ward, and that Mr. Barret should remain in Taran- 

 aki to keep possession of the land for the New Zea- 

 land Company. I immediately resolved to stay with 

 him, and we landed on the morning of the 28th. I 

 could not have found a better opportunity for exa- 

 mining a district so little known, and determined to 

 occupy the time until the return of the Tory in as- 

 cending Mount Egmont, which I expected would 

 prove in more than one respect an interesting and 

 profitable achievement. I must mention that Mr. 

 Barret had lived for several years near the Sugar- 

 loaf Islands, prior to the period when almost all the 

 original natives yielded, after a long-continued con- 

 test, to the tribe of the Waikato, who live about 

 sixty miles to the northward. The natives of Ta- 

 ranaki migrated to the eastward, and settled on both 

 sides of Cook's Straits, and especially at Kapiti, Port 

 Nicholson, and Queen Charlotte's Sound. Only a few 

 remained, who could not be persuaded to leave the 

 land of their forefathers, for which, indeed, all mi- 

 grated tribes evince the greatest predilection, and 



