BAT OF ISLANDS AND NEW ZEALAND COAST. 321 



campaign lay before us. Captain Count seemed to be 

 quite easy in bis mind, bowever, and as we bad implicit 

 confidence in bis wisdom and judgment, we were some- 

 wbat reassured. 



Tbe gale at last blew itself out, tbe wind veering to 

 tbe nortbward again, with beautiful, spring-like weather, 

 just cool enough to be pleasant, and, withal, favourable 

 for getting to our destination. We soon made the land 

 again about New Plymouth, jogging along near enough 

 to the coast to admire the splendid rugged scenery of 

 the Britain of the south. All hands were kept busily 

 employed preparing for stormy weather — reeving new 

 running-gear, bending the strongest suit of sails, and 

 looking well to all the whaling gear. 



In this active exercise of real sailor-work, the time, 

 though long for an ordinary passage, passed quickly 

 and pleasantly away, so that when we hauled round 

 the massive promontory guarding the western entrance 

 to Foveaux Straits, we were almost surprised to find 

 ourselves there so soon. 



This, then, was the famous and dreaded Solander 

 whaling ground. Almost in the centre of the wide 

 stretch of sea between Preservation Inlet, on the Middle 

 Island, and the western end of the South, or Stewart's 

 Island, rose a majestic mass of wave-beaten rock some 

 two thousand feet high, like a grim sentinel guarding the 

 Straits. The extent of the fishing grounds was not more 

 than a hundred and fifty square miles, and it was rarely 

 that the vessels cruised over the whole of it. The most 

 likely area for finding whales was said to be well within 

 sight of the Solander Eock itself, but keeping on the 

 western side of it. 



It was a lovely day when we first entered upon our 

 cruising ground, a gentle north-east wind blowing, the 



