ached,
and both were found excellent. Those who have been long at sea and away
from home can best understand the importance attached to such trifles,
and the pleasure they afford.

On the morning of the 30th a comet was seen in the east, a little above
the horizon. Tupia, who observed it with others, instantly cried out
that as soon as the people of Bolabola perceived it they would attack
the inhabitants of Uhetea, who would have to fly to the mountains to
save their lives. Meeting with a heavy sea and strong gales from the
westward, on September 1 Captain Cook wore and stood to the northward.
On the weather moderating he continued his course to the westward during
the whole of September. Several seals were seen asleep on the surface
of the water, and various birds were perceived, a sure indication that
the ship was approaching land. On October 6 land was seen from the
mast-head, bearing west by north. In the evening it could be seen from
the deck. It was not till the evening of the next day that the voyagers
got near enough to observe the nature of the country, when it appeared
of great extent, with four or five ranges of hills rising one over the
other, and beyond them a lofty chain of mountains. The general opinion
was that they had found the _Terra Australia incognita_. A bay was
seen, and smoke rising from the shore, but night coming on, they were
obliged to stand off till daylight. The next day, on standing in again,
some small but neat houses were seen, and a considerable number of
people seated on the beach. Farther on was discovered a tolerably high
and regular paling, enclosing the whole of the top of a hill. Some on
board supposed it to be a park for deer, others an enclosure for oxen or
sheep. In the afternoon the ship came to an anchor in a bay off the
mouth of a river. The sides of the bay were white cliffs of great
height; the middle was low land, with hills rising behind and
terminating in a chain of lofty mountains.

Captain Cook, with Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and a party of men in the
yawl and pinnace, landed on the east side of the river; but some people
being perceived on the west side, the yawl crossed over, and while the
gentlemen landed, four boys were left in charge of her. On the approach
of the Englishmen the natives ran away, and the former advanced towards
some huts two or three hundred yards from the water's edge. When,
however, they had got some distance from the yawl, four m