174 



Mr. Couthouy's observations. 

 Port Cooper. 



NEW ZEALAND. 



Charley, or Karakiharuru. 



believed to be erroneous *, for only a small portion 

 of the top was covered with snow. The day pre- 

 vious to their making land, they had been set to the 

 northward by current about twenty miles in four- 

 teen hours. 



They next passed through Cook's Straits to Port 

 Cooper, on the north side of Banks' Peninsula, 

 where they anchored. This harbour is sheltered, 

 except from the northerly winds, and is much fre- 

 quented by whalers, who resort thither to try out 

 the whale- blubber. The beach is in consequence 

 strewn with the bones of these monsters. On 

 going on shore, a party of three natives and their 

 wives were found in a state of wretchedness and 

 degradation, their only clothing being an old 

 blanket, disgustingly dirty, besmeared with oil 

 and with a reddish earth which had been nib- 

 bed from their bodies, and a coarse mat of New 

 Zealand flax ; they depended for subsistence on 

 a small potato-patch, and smoked fish; they lived 

 in low huts formed of stakes, covered with mats, 

 and thatched with grass in the rudest manner : 

 their condition was but little better than that of 

 the Fuegians. A fellow-passenger, who had seen 

 the oldest man left of the tribe, stated that these 

 were the remnants of a tribe that, but a dozen 

 years before, could muster six hundred fighting 

 men ; they were all cut off, about ten years since, 

 by the noted chief Robolua, residing near Cook's 

 Straits. The old man appeared deeply affected 

 whilst dwelling on the history of his people. 

 The cupidity of the whites in this case, as in 

 many ^othei-s, had brought about, or was the 

 cause of, this deadly attack ; the particulars were 

 as follow. 



The 'master of an English vessel, by the name 

 of Stewart, (the same person from whom the small 

 southern island takes its name,) was trading 

 along the northern island, and fell in with the 

 chief, Robolua, who was then meditating an ex- 

 cursion to the south. Feeling confident that if 

 he could come upon his enemies unawares their 

 defeat was certain, he offered Stewart to load 

 his vessel with flax, if he would transport him 

 and his warriors to the place he wished to attack. 

 The contract was readily entered into by Stewart, 

 and the warriors were taken on board, and landed 

 on various parts of the coast, where the inhabit- 

 ants, taken by surprise, were butchered without 

 mercy. Not less than fifteen hundred persons 

 were cut off at this and the adjoining harbour of 

 Port Levy, or Kickurarapa. This Stewart is 

 said to be still living on the northern island of New 

 Zealand. 



Many specimens of shells were obtained here, 

 and a few presents, consisting of pipes and tobacco, 

 were made to the remnant of this once powerful 

 tribe. Two of their fellow-passengers intended to 

 land here for the purpose of establishing them- 

 selves, but the place offered so little inducement 

 that they determined to proceed to Port Levy, a 

 larger harbour to the eastward, where the natives 

 informed them that refreshments could be had 

 in plenty. The next day they anchored in it, 

 and found it somewhat similar to Port Cooper, 

 but more open. In the afternoon a party went 

 on shore, and returned with sixty-four brace of 



* I have seen other authorities, -which give its height at 

 eight thousand feet. 



pigeons, and three black parrots. The former 

 were in great abundance and very large, some 

 of them weighing twenty ounces : the colour of 

 their backs was a dull slate, passing into bronze on 

 the neck and wings ; the head was very black, the 

 breast white, deepening into a reddish brown on 

 the belly, the bill and feet of a bright red. The 

 parrots were quite black, about the size of a crow, 

 and remarkable for two rose-coloured wattles at 

 the lower mandible, like the common fowl. They 

 also killed a species of pica, called cuga by the 

 natives, about the size of a blackbird ; it was of a 

 dull black, with greenish reflections on the back, 

 and on each side of the neck was a single white 

 feather, which curled forward and upward. 



Here they became acquainted with Charley, or 

 Karakiharuru, the chief proprietor of Port Cooper, 

 Port Levy, and Pigeon Bay. Notwithstanding 

 these extensive possessions, neither himself nor 

 his followers were better clad, housed, or supe- 

 rior in any respect to those already described. 

 As for Charley himself, he appeared in a striped 

 shirt, pea-jacket, and trousers, the cast-off cloth- 

 ing of some sailor. From having made the voyage 

 to Sydney, Charley fancied he had seen the world, 

 and took great pains to show his knowledge and 

 excite the admiration of those about him. The 

 captain of the vessel obtained from him about 

 twenty bushels of potatoes, at the rate of a pound 

 of tobacco for a basket containing about a peck ; 

 he besides offered to sell one-third of his dominions 

 or estate for a new whale boat. Charley had on 

 the usual heitiki or neck ornament. The only ac- 

 count he could give of the locality of this green 

 stone was, that it was found to the southward, in a 

 large bed between two mountains. Among other 

 things in Charley's possession, was an enormous 

 wax doll, dressed in the height of the Parisian 

 fashion, which had been presented to him by the 

 officers of a French expedition that had touched 

 there, some time previously, rather a droll occu- 

 pant of a dirty New Zealand hut. 



About Port Levy the laud rises nearly twelve 

 hundred feet high : the soil is every where exceed- 

 ingly rich, but its value for agricultural purposes is 

 diminished by its steepness ; it would be impracti- 

 cable to use cattle in ploughing. The land in all 

 parts of the peninsula exhibited the same character: 

 a succession of steep hills, intersected by deep and 

 narrow ravines, clothed with a thick forest, except 

 where they terminate on the coast, and form a 

 tolerably level spot of a few acres in extent, avail- 

 able for cultivation. The forest consisted of an 

 abundance of fine timber, principally the Kaurie 

 pine, from one hundred and twenty to one hundred 

 and thirty feet in height, and seven to eight feet in 

 diameter. The fern was thick in patches, but in 

 no great variety ; some scandent and parasitic 

 plants were met with, and a great number of 

 flourishing ones observed; but Mr. Couthouy having 

 no means for the purpose, was not enabled to 

 secure any specimens. He remarked that the 

 vegetation appeared much more luxuriant and 

 diversified than that of any country he had seen 

 since leaving Brazil. The soil is a rich black 

 loam, composed of vegetable mould and decom- 

 posed basalt; the structure of the rocks decidedly 

 columnar, exposing at the summit of the hills 

 large masses of compact dark gray basalt, con- 

 taining numerous crystals of olivine, pyroxine, and 



