CHAPTEE XII. 



NEW ZEALAND. 

 1840. 



Having replenished our stores of provisions, we took, with much 

 regret, a final leave of our friends at Sydney. The Vincennes weighed 

 anchor, and at 3 p. m. on the 19th March, we discharged our pilot, 

 and bade adieu to these hospitable shores. The Peacock, not having 

 completed her repairs, was left at Sydney for a few days, with orders 

 to follow us to Tongataboo. 



On reaching a distance of thirty miles from the coast, we again 

 found a difference of three degrees in the temperature of the water, 

 and experienced the effects of a strong current towards the south. 

 The wind was from the northward and eastward. 



On tbe 23d we spoke the French whale-ship Ville de Bordeaux, 

 in want of provisions, which we supplied her. She had been out 

 three years, and had on board four thousand barrels of oil. The 

 crew was reduced to bread and water, and the vessel was apparently 

 in a bad condition in other respects. 



On the 25th, in latitude 34° 24' S., longitude 160° 26' E., we ex- 

 perienced a current setting to the south at the rate of twenty miles in 

 twenty-four hours. 



On the 26th the current set east-southeast at the rate of twelve 

 miles per day. 



The wind on the 27th hauled to south-southeast by the east, and 

 became a fine breeze. 



On the 29th, we made the North Cape of New Zealand. The 

 current for the two previous days had been setting north-northwest, 

 and the temperature of the air varied during our passage from Sydney, 

 from 63° 3', to 76° 4' ; that of the water from 70° to 72°. 



At daylight on the 30th, we made Cape Brett, and after groping 



