2 DISCOVERY, AND FIRST ACCOUNTS 
The discovery of the islands of New Zealand 
has generally been attributed to Tasman, the 
Dutch navigator, by whom they were first called 
Staten Land; but, at a subsequent period, they 
received, from the same commander, the name 
by which they are now known. Little notice 
seems to have been taken of these islands by the 
world at large, till a new discovery — for so it 
may be called — was made of them by Captain 
Cook ; when they obtained a very prominent place 
in the publications of that celebrated circumna- 
vigator of the globe. 
The survey which Cook made of the coast and 
its various harbours, and the charts which he 
published, are among the most correct extant. 
The line of coast, and its indentations, as de- 
lineated in his charts, are, for the most part, 
minutely given. More recent surveys have been 
taken ; but little improvement has been made in 
the general outlines. The bays and harbours 
have been sounded, and the rivers explored ; and 
thus large additions have been made to the 
mariner's stock of knowledge. All however ac- 
knowledge, that the greatest praise is due to the 
memory of the British Captain, for his investiga- 
tions ; and for the pains which he took in giving 
a correct delineation and particular description of 
the result of his labours in this distant part of 
the world. A French navigator, in the following 
passage, copied from a publication of the Society 
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, thus bears 
