1770 MOUNTAINS AND SOIL 223 
much as the Peak of Teneriffe: in that particular, however, I 
cannot quite agree with them, though that they must be 
very high is proved by the hill to the northward of Cook’s 
Straits, which was seen, and made no inconsiderable figure, at 
the distance of many leagues. 
The sea coast, should it ever be examined, will probably 
be found to abound in good harbours. We saw several, of 
which the Bay of Islands, or Motuaro, and Queen Charlotte’s 
Sound, or Totarra-nue, are as good as any which seamen 
need desire to come into, either for good anchorage or for 
convenience of wooding and watering. The outer ridge of 
land which is open to the sea is (as I believe is the case of 
most countries) generally barren, especially to the southward, 
but within that the hills are covered with thick woods quite 
to the top, and every valley produces a rivulet of water. 
The soil is in general light, and consequently admirably 
adapted to the uses for which the natives cultivate it, their 
crops consisting entirely of roots. On the southern and 
western sides it is the most barren, the sea being generally 
bounded either by steep hills or vast tracts of sand, which 
is probably the reason why the people in these parts were 
so much less numerous, and lived almost entirely upon fish. 
The northern and eastern shores make, however, some 
amends for the barrenness of the others; on them we often 
saw very large tracts of ground, which either actually were, 
or very lately had been, cultivated, and immense areas of 
woodland which were yet uncleared, but promised great re- 
turns to the people who would take the trouble of clearing 
them. Taoneroa,or Poverty Bay, and Tolago especially, besides 
swamps which might doubtless easily be drained, sufficiently 
evinced the richness of their soil by the great size of all the 
plants that grew upon them, and more especially of the 
timber trees, which were the straightest, cleanest, and I may 
say the largest I have ever seen, at least speaking of them 
in the gross. I may have seen several times single trees 
larger than any I observed among these; but it was not 
one, but all these trees, which were enormous, and doubtless 
had we had time and opportunity to search, we might have 
