in New Zealand. 
229 
ing the Uawa twice, I proceeded over rich alluvial plains, 
which form its banks to the sea-side; obtaining a few small 
plants by the way, which were new to me. At 2 p.in. I 
reached Ilonurora, a large village on the sea coast, at the 
mouth of I he Uawa river. This river has a bar at its mouth, 
but small vessels of 20 to 40 tons can come in, and lay quite 
alongside of the village. Such have entered, but the master 
of one of them informed me, that it is an utter impossibility 
to remain in the river during a fresh occasioned by heavy 
rains in the winter season. 
This bay, or rather open roadstead, is the Tolaga Cay of 
our illustrious circumnavigator, Cook. Here, his ships were 
at an anchor in October, 17G9; here it was, that the first of 
those elegant trees, Knightia excelsa , Brown , was seen, and 
the first New Zealand Palm ( Areca sapida , Sol.) cut down 
for the sake of its edible top. Here, too, near the S.E. 
headland of the bay, Cook dug a well, for the supplying of 
his ships with water; which well is shown at this day by the 
natives, to the curious “ white man” travelling this way. 
The native-built chapel at this village, though not so large 
as some which I had lately seen, is well worthy of notice. 
Without, it is a plain building, 34 feet long by 24 feet wide, 
and nearly 20 feet to the roof. Within, however, it has an 
elegant appearance, being very neatly reeded with the long 
slender culms of Arundo australis , closely placed and firmly 
fastened on the outer wall, composed of flat bundles of 
Typha angustifolia . The broad posts, or rather pilasters, 
are of the dark and almost fossil Totara already mentioned, 
cut and smoothed nicely with a little adze, without the help 
of a plane; whilst, upon and across the reeds in the instcr- 
tices between the posts, narrow black and red wands of thin 
slips of wood are alternately disposed at regular distances, 
each being continuously and doubly bound, in the shape of 
a St. Andrew’s cross, with very narrow strips of the white 
fibres of Freycinetia Bank sit. 
