148 Tramactions, — Miscellaneous, 



liar ancient rock-paintings in a cave or rock shelter in the Weka Pass" 

 ranges in that provincial district, accompanied by a plate of the same, — I, 

 at once, thought on what Polack had written, some forty years ago, of some 

 drawings he had noticed in a cave at Tolaga Bay, where Cook had landed 

 and watered in peace. And, bearing also in mind, what a few of the oldest 

 Maoris there had personally told me of Cook, on my first visit to Tolaga 

 Bay, in January, 1838 (when I also saw the hull of Polack's broken vessel), 

 I, naturally, very much wished to know more of this cavern and its draw- 

 ings ; likewise of a very peculiar tree growing there, which Polack also 

 particularly mentions. And finding that my friend, Mr. Locke, who is also 

 a member of our Society, was going thither last summer, I requested him 

 to ascertain, by personal inspection, all he could as to the cavern and its 

 drawings, and the tradition about it, and, also, the said tree ; and, if pos- 

 sible, to bring me— on his return to Napier — a specimen of this latter. 

 This, I am happy to be able to say, Mr. Locke has since done ; but before 

 I give you his information, I will just quote from Polack's work, as his 

 remarks here are good and brief. 



Polack says : " Kani* requested me to accompany him next day to 

 Opoutama, near the south entrance of the bay, where we should walk over 

 the same ground and native paths that existed in the time of Cook, and 

 which had been traversed by him. The following morning we did so * * 

 " * Soon after our landing we reached the indent of Opoutama, beauti- 

 fully situated in a dell, encircled by rising hills covered with a variety of 

 shrubby trees. * * * * One tree was pointed out to me as peculiar to 

 this spot, and stated by the natives who accompanied me, and whose resi- 

 dences were at far distant settlements on the coast, as growing only in this 

 valley ; it was in height thirty-five feet, with spreading branches, frondif- 

 erous, and of a similar colour to a species of Phi/llanthns that is found in 

 large quantities near the beach. The tree is nuciferous, and bore at the 

 time clusters of early berries, which, when in a mature state, are dried by 

 the natives, and used as beads." 



" The chief now wound his way up the side of the hill, followed by 

 myself and the friends who accompanied us. We were arrested in our 

 progress half way by a cavern {ana), which stopped our further progress. Its 

 arch was remarkably high, but of little depth ; it was similarly argillaceous 

 as the caves we had seen below in the bay. Kani enquired if I felt grati- 

 fied, adding : ' E koro, tenei ano te ana no Tupaea ' = This, fiiend, is Tujpaea's 

 cavern. I learnt that in this cave the favourite interpreter of Cook slept 



* Te Kaniotakirau, long the principal chief. I, also, saw him on several occasions ; his 

 father, Rangitumamao, did not see Cook, but his grandfather, Whakatataraoterangi, who 

 was then the prineipal chief there, received Cook and his party. 



