ithin a stone's throw of the ship, the chief of the party
would brandish a battleaxe, calling out: 'Come ashore with us and we
will kill you.' They would certainly have eaten them too, for they
were cannibals."

The ship was now ready and, naming the last point of land Cape Farewell,
they sailed away to the west, "till we fall in with the east coast
of New Holland." They had spent six and a half months sailing about
in New Zealand waters, and had coasted some two thousand four hundred
miles.

Nineteen days' sail brought them to the eagerly sought coast, and on
28th April, Cook anchored for the first time in the bay known afterwards
to history as Botany Bay, so named from the quantity of plants found
in the neighbourhood by Mr. Banks. Cutting an inscription on one of
the trees, with the date and name of the ship, Cook sailed north early
in May, surveying the coast as he passed and giving names to the various
bays and capes. Thus Port Jackson, at the entrance of Sydney harbour,
undiscovered by Cook, was so named after one of the Secretaries of
the Admiralty--Smoky Cape from smoke arising from native
dwellings--Point Danger by reason of a narrow escape on some
shoals--while Moreton Bay, on which Brisbane, the capital of
Queensland, now stands, was named after the President of the Royal
Society. As they advanced, the coast became steep, rocky, and
unpromising.

"Hitherto," reports Cook, "we had safely navigated this dangerous
coast, where the sea in all parts conceals shores that project suddenly
from the shore and rocks that rise abruptly like a pyramid from the
bottom more than one thousand three hundred miles. But here we became
acquainted with misfortune, and we therefore called the point which
we had just seen farthest to the northward, Cape Tribulation."

It was the 10th of May. The gentlemen had left the deck "in great
tranquillity" and gone to bed, when suddenly the ship struck and
remained immovable except for the heaving of the surge that beat her
against the crags of the rock upon which she lay. Every one rushed
to the deck "with countenances which sufficiently expressed the
horrors of our situation." Immediately they took in all sails, lowered
the boats, and found they were on a reef of coral rocks. Two days of
sickening anxiety followed, the ship sprang a leak, and they were
threatened with total destruction. To their intense relief, however,
the ship floated off into deep water with a high tide. Repairs w