AEMVE AT THE BAY OF ISLANDS. 87 



after leaving' Sydney some defects in the ship were 

 found out, which rendered it necessary to put into 

 the nearest port, as the principal one, causing a 

 leak in the after gxinroom, could not be repaired at 

 sea. It was also considered expedient to get rid of 

 the Asp in order to lessen the straining of the ship 

 during the prospective passage round Cape Horn, 

 which so much top weight was considered mate- 

 rially to increase. On May 14th the land about 

 Cape Maria Yan Diemen and the North Cape of 

 New Zealand Avas in sight at daylight, appearing 

 high and mountainous, with steep maritime cliffs. 

 On our passage across from Australia we had seen 

 few sea birds, but now albatrosses of three or four 

 species were very numerous, together with a few 

 petrels, chiefly Procellaria Cookii. Next morning 

 we found om"selves to leeward of Cape Brett, having 

 experienced a southerly current during the night 

 of two knots an hour ; it took us the whole day to 

 work up into the Bay of Islands, and after dark ^ve 

 anchored in 98 fathoms, about six miles from the 

 entrance of the Kawa-Kawa. 



May 16th. — The view from our anchorage, although 

 under the favourable conditions of fine weather, struck 

 me as being dull and cheerless. The surface of the 

 country is hilly and undulating, shewing patches of 

 wood more or less extensive, and large tracts of fern 

 of a dull greenish hue. The shores of the main 

 land and the numerous islands exhibit every here 

 and there argillaceous cliffs, and banks of a brown, 



