200 NEW ZEALAND CHAP, vm 



more than one or two houses, others twelve or fourteen. 

 Every one of these was enclosed by its own palisade, though 

 not so high and strong as the general one ; in these were 

 vast heaps of dried fish and fern roots piled up, so much so 

 that if they had had water, I should have thought them 

 well prepared for a siege, but that had to be fetched from 

 a brook below ; so that they probably do not besiege a town 

 as we do in Europe. Without the fence were many houses 

 and large nets, the latter, I suppose, being brought in upon 

 any alarm ; there was also about half an acre planted with 

 gourds and sweet potatoes, the only cultivation we have 

 seen in this bay. 



~L4Jh. As we were resolved to stay no longer here, we all 

 went ashore, the boats to get as much celery and oysters as 

 possible, Dr. Solander and myself to get as many green plants 

 as possible, in order to finish the sketches, etc., while at sea; 

 so an enormous number of all these articles came on board. 



Dr. Solander, who was to-day in a cove different from 

 that I was in, saw the natives catch many lobsters in a very 

 simple manner ; they walked among the rocks at low water, 

 about waist-deep in water, and moved their feet about till 

 they felt one, on which they dived down, and constantly 

 brought him up. I do not know whether I have before 

 mentioned these lobsters, but we have had them in tolerable 

 plenty in almost every place we have been in, and they are 

 certainly the largest and best I have ever eaten. 



20th. We had yesterday resolved to employ this day in 

 examining a bay we saw, so at daybreak we set out in the 

 boats. A fresh breeze of wind soon carried us to the 

 bottom of the bay, where we found a very fine river, broad 

 as the Thames at Greenwich, though not quite so deep ; 

 there was, however, water enough for vessels of more than a 

 middling size, and a bottom of mud so soft that nothing 

 could possibly take damage by running ashore. 



About a mile up this was an Indian town built upon a 

 small bank of dry sand, but totally surrounded by deep mud, 

 so much so that I believe they had purposely built it there 

 as a defence. The people came out in flocks upon the banks, 



