NEW ZEALAND 65 



drinking water was to be found and less aggres- 

 sive natives were to be met with. The sea was 

 too rough for the boats to land, but Cook saw 

 two canoes in the offing. He immediately de- 

 cided to prevent their landing, and to capture 

 some New Zealanders, in order to bring them to 

 a more sociable frame of mind and encourage 

 them to barter. The latter, however, took to 

 flight on seeing the boats. In order to stop 

 them. Cook fired over their heads, but instead of 

 continuing to retire, the valorous Maoris de- 

 termined on battle, and prepared to attack the 

 boats with stones, oars and spears. Cook then 

 fired ball into them. Four were killed, and the 

 captain of the Endeavour, a hard but deeply hu- 

 mane man, reproached himself later with having 

 shed the blood of these men, "who did not de- 

 serve death." Banks highly disapproved of this 

 useless massacre. 



Cook decided to explore the coast of this 

 inhospitable country, and steered northwards, 

 making frequent stops and finding nearly every- 

 where the same hostile temper on the part of the 

 inhabitants, whose tendency to theft was not 

 inferior to that of the Tahitians. One day Cook, 

 having noticed a Maori wearing a black skin 

 which looked like that of a bear, and wishing to 

 find out what animal it came from, offered to 

 exchange it for a piece of red cloth. The Maori 



