66 A Sketch of New Zealand. [ February, 
have greater natural attractions than New Zealand. As but few 
Americans have visited those distant shores, we venture to offer 
the following notes, which we have gleaned not only from the 
writings of others, but also from personal observations while 
residing in those islands and from conversation with colonial and 
aboriginal inhabitants. 
Like Van Diemans Land, now changed to Tasmania, New 
Zealand is unfortunate in its name, as it is in every way in con- 
trast with the Zealand of the Netherlands; while the latter is 
nearly as level and uniform as the sea, the former possesses some 
of the wildest and grandest scenery in the world. 
We owe the discovery of these islands to the Dutch navigator 
Tasman, who, in December, 1642, then on his great voyage of 
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discovery in the southern hemisphere, came in sight of a bold 
mountainous land wreathed in clouds, which had never before 
been seen by Europeans. He relates in the narrative of his voy- 
age that upon sending a boat to this unknown shore, it was 
furiously attacked by the natives who thronged the beach, and 
three of his sailors killed. This bloody introduction, together 
with the knowledge which was soon gained, that the New Zea- 
landers were cannibals, at once stamped that race in the-sight of 
all civilized people as a most fierce and cruel one. 
This land was next visited, in 1769, by Captain Cook, who, 
