112 CAPTAIN COOK 



help to supply the deficiency of vegetables, 

 which were scarce. His experiment was success- 

 ful. He continued unremittingly his warfare 

 against scurvy. For the first time in nautical his- 

 tory he had only had one case of scurvy during 

 the whole of the long and terrible voyage from 

 the Cape to New Zealand, and, as he says in his 

 Journal, "this man had a bad constitution and a 

 complication of other complaints." 



Some days after the arrival of the Resolution 

 in Dusky Bay a few natives showed themselves. 

 They appeared to take no heed of the English- 

 men, who on their side paid no attention to them. 

 Cook knew, from experience, that the best way 

 of enticing them to approach was to seem to 

 ignore them. 



One evening when Cook was returning from 

 exploring the bay, where the ducks were so 

 numerous that fourteen were killed in a day, he 

 was hailed by a Maori, who stood, club in hand, 

 on the summit of a rock. Behind him, at the 

 edge of a wood, were two women, each armed 

 with a spear. Cook landed and went up to him, 

 embraced him and offered him some trifles 

 which he had about him. The officers and men 

 who were with him left the boat and came up. 

 The younger of the two women began to talk at 

 a tremendous rate. One of the sailors observed 

 wisely that women have long tongues in all parts 



