208 CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF NEW ZEALAND CH. ix 



great approbation ; and in the evening all hands were as 

 drunk as our forefathers used to be upon like occasions. 



1st January 1770. The new year began with more 

 moderate weather than the old one ended with, but wind 

 as foul as ever : we ventured to go a little nearer the 

 land, which appeared on this side the cape much as it had 

 done on the other, almost entirely occupied by vast sands. 

 Our surveyors suppose the cape to be shaped like a shoulder 

 of mutton with the knuckle placed inwards, where they say 

 that the land cannot be above two or three miles across, 

 and that most probably in high winds the sea washes quite 

 over the sands, which here are low. 



Qth. Calm to day. Shot Procellaria longipes, P. velox, and 

 Diomedea exulans (the albatross). I had an opportunity 

 of seeing this last sit upon the water ; and as it is commonly 

 said by seamen that they cannot in a calm rise upon the 

 wing, I tried the experiment. There were two of them. 

 One I shot dead : the other, which was near it, swam off 

 nearly as fast as my small boat could row. "We gave chase 

 and gained a little ; the bird attempted to fly by trying to 

 take off from a falling wave, but did not succeed : I who 

 was so far off that I knew I could not hurt him, fired at 

 him to make his attempts more vigorous, this had the 

 desired result, for at the third effort he got upon the wing, 

 though I believe that had it not been for a little swell upon 

 the water he could not have done it. 



10th. The country we passed by appeared fertile, more 

 so, I think, than any part of this country that I have seen ; 

 rising in gentle slopes not over well wooded, but what trees 

 there were, were well grown. Few signs of inhabitants 

 were seen : one fire and a very few houses. 



About noon we passed between the main and a small 

 island or rock, which seemed almost totally covered with 

 birds, probably gannets. Towards evening a very high hill 

 was in sight, but very distant. 



12th. This morning we were abreast of the great hill, 1 

 but it was wrapped in clouds, and remained so the whole 



1 Mount Egmont. 



