208 CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF NEW ZEALAND cu, Ix 
great approbation; and in the evening all hands were as 
drunk as our forefathers used to be upon like occasions. 
1st January 1770.—The new year began with more 
moderate weather than the old one ended with, but wind 
as foul as ever: we ventured to go a little nearer the 
land, which appeared on this side the cape much as it had 
done on the other, almost entirely oceupied by vast sands. 
Our surveyors suppose the cape to be shaped like a shoulder 
of mutton with the knuckle placed inwards, where they say 
that the land cannot be above two or three miles across, 
and that most probably in high winds the sea washes quite 
over the sands, which here are low. 
6th. Calm to day. Shot Procellaria longipes, P. velox, and 
Diomedea exulans (the albatross). I had an opportunity 
of seeing this last sit upon the water; and as it is commonly 
said by seamen that they cannot in a calm rise upon the 
wing, I tried the experiment. There were two of them. 
One I shot dead: the other, which was near it, swam off 
nearly as fast as my small boat could row. We gave chase 
and gained a little; the bird attempted to fly by trying to 
take off from a falling wave, but did not succeed: I who 
was so far off that I knew I could not hurt him, fired at 
him to make his attempts more vigorous, this had the 
desired result, for at the third effort he got upon the wing, 
though I believe that had it not been for a little swell upon 
the water he could not have done it. 
10th. The country we passed by appeared fertile, more 
so, I think, than any part of this country that I have seen; 
rising in gentle slopes not over well wooded, but what trees 
there were, were well grown. Few signs of inhabitants 
were seen: one fire and a very few houses. 
About noon we passed between the main and a small 
island or rock, which seemed almost totally covered with 
birds, probably gannets. Towards evening a very high hill 
was in sight, but very distant. 
12th. This morning we were abreast of the great hill} 
but it was wrapped in clouds, and remained so the whole 
1 Mount Egmont. 
