1770 MOUNTAINS AND SOIL 223 



much as the Peak of Teneriffe : in that particular, however, I 

 cannot quite agree with them, though that they must be 

 very high is proved by the hill to the northward of Cook's 

 Straits, which was seen, and made no inconsiderable figure, at 

 the distance of many leagues. 



The sea coast, should it ever be examined, will probably 

 be found to abound in good harbours. We saw several, of 

 which the Bay of Islands, or Motuaro, and Queen Charlotte's 

 Sound, or Totarra-nue, are as good as any which seamen 

 need desire to come into, either for good anchorage or for 

 convenience of wooding and watering. The outer ridge of 

 land which is open to the sea is (as I believe is the case of 

 most countries) generally barren, especially to the southward, 

 but within that the hills are covered with thick woods quite 

 to the top, and every valley produces a rivulet of water. 



The soil is in general light, and consequently admirably 

 adapted to the uses for which the natives cultivate it, their 

 crops consisting entirely of roots. On the southern and 

 western sides it is the most barren, the sea being generally 

 bounded either by steep hills or vast tracts of sand, which 

 is probably the reason why the people in these parts were 

 so much less numerous, and lived almost entirely upon fish. 

 The northern and eastern shores make, however, some 

 amends for the barrenness of the others ; on them we often 

 saw very large tracts of ground, which either actually were, 

 or very lately had been, cultivated, and immense areas of 

 woodland which were yet uncleared, but promised great re- 

 turns to the people who would take the trouble of clearing 

 them. Taoneroa,or Poverty Bay, and Tolago especially, besides 

 swamps which might doubtless easily be drained, sufficiently 

 evinced the richness of their soil by the great size of all the 

 plants that grew upon them, and more especially of the 

 timber trees, which were the straightest, cleanest, and I may 

 say the largest I have ever seen, at least speaking of them 

 in the gross. I may have seen several times single trees 

 larger than any I observed among these; but it was not 

 one, but all these trees, which were enormous, and doubtless 

 had we had time and opportunity to search, we might have 



