22 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. II. 
maroo of Cook) and the Brothers, Entry Island, 
and the mainland on the north coast of Cook's Strait, 
were now very distinctly visible ; a bright warm sun 
gave the most charming appearance to the romantic 
shores of the Sound ; and we exclaimed against the 
calm which seemed likely to detain us another night 
at sea. Two or three of the most impatient got into 
the cutter, and pulled towards Point Jackson, to try 
and catch some fish ; but they had not got far before 
a light air sprang up, and we glided into the Sound. 
The tide favouring us, they had some trouble in over- 
taking the ship. The scenery became more and more 
majestic as we advanced into this noble estuary. Its 
outer mouth is nine miles wide. High wooded 
mountains rise on both sides ; numerous islands and 
projecting points dot the expanse of still water which 
penetrates far into the interior ; and a glimpse of the 
Southern Alps is obtained in the extreme distance. 
We proceeded between Long Island and Motuara. 
The former, a narrow ridge bare of wood, was crowned 
with native fortifications ; a small pa or fort was also 
visible on the south point of Motuara. As we entered 
the Sound, we saw four canoes under sail, coming 
from the westward. Before we anchored for the night 
in the S. E. entrance of Ship Cove, another canoe came 
paddling off to us, containing eight natives. We at 
first thought they hesitated about venturing near us ; 
but it turned out that they were only stopping to bale 
out their canoe, which was a very ill-constructed 
distinct sound to each vowel, similar to that which it would have in 
the Continental languages. Thus maori is sounded like " mowree ;" 
muka, like " mookah ;" here kie hie, like " herray keeay keeay ;" 
and Koumaru, " Ko-oo-mah-roo :" and I have maintained the or- 
thodox orthography throughout, and have made such words as 
" taboo " tapu. Every word to be so sounded is therefore printed 
in Italics. 
