NEW ZEALAND 



attitude of the natives. He was the iSrst white man to see 

 these islandvS, as far as we know. He reported his 

 discovery when he returned to Holland and the Dutch 

 authorities named the new country New Zealand, that is 

 New Sea-land. 



Nothing further seems to have been known about this 

 country until a century and a quarter later when in 1769 

 Captain Cook came in ' ' The Endeavor ' ' and landed on 

 the northern island at Poverty Bay, where the town of 

 Gisborne is now situated. He was the first white man to 

 set foot upon New Zealand soil. He shot a few of the 

 natives who opposed him, and they returned the com- 

 pliment by killing and eating the entire crew of his 

 companion ship "The Adventure." For the niOvSt part, 

 however, his relations with the natives were pleasant. He 

 gave them some seed potatoes and the seed of cabbages and 

 turnips, and turned pigs and fowls loose to furnish them 

 with meat. From these pigs are supposed to have come 

 the wild pigs that are still shot in the forests. He sailed 

 entirely around the group and passsed between the north- 

 ern and middle islands through what is now called Cook's 

 Strait. He again visited the islands in 1773, 1774 and 

 1777. He wTOte an interesting account of his obse-rvations 

 which attracted much attention. After that whalers and 

 traders began to visit the new country, and in course of 

 time a few settlers came and started the building of a 

 colony. 



It is a curious fact that, at that time, this land was 

 almost entirely devoid of animal life, except in the sea and 

 air. Fish were plentiful and in great variety, and the same 

 may be said of birds. There were no mammals except two 

 species of bat ; no dogs, sheep, cattle, horses, wolves, 

 squirrels, rabbits, no wild beasts, no snakes, no venomous 

 reptiles or insects. It must not be inferred, however, that 

 conditions in New Zealand are in any way unfavorable to 

 the existence of animal life ; on the contrary both domestic 



