intance by "heaving a few stones against the ship." Tupia opened a
conversation, and a few ventured on board, but did not make a long stay.
Cook then landed to look for water, and soon found an excellent supply,
and "as to wood the land is here an entire forest." Whilst he was away,
the crew got out the nets, and caught about 300 pounds of fish. Some
natives also came off with fish, and though it was not good, Cook ordered
it to be bought, in order to open up trade with them. However, they soon
found these people were inclined to be quarrelsome and threatening, and
as the ship was in an awkward position, being already hove down for
cleaning, a charge of small shot was fired at the worst offender, which
quickly taught them to behave better in future.

They had long suspected the natives were addicted to cannibalism, and now
they proved it, as they purchased the bone of a forearm of a man, from
which the flesh had been recently picked, and were given to understand
that a few days before a strange canoe had arrived, and its occupants had
been killed and eaten. They only ate their enemies, but held all
strangers to be such. The place where the ship was careened was,
according to Wharton, about 70 miles from Massacre Bay, where Tasman's
men were killed, and Cook endeavoured to find out if there were any
traditions of visits from ships to the neighbourhood, but could gain no
information. The natives became friendly as time went on, and brought
good fish which they sold for nails, cloth, paper (a great favourite at
first, but when they found it would not stand water, worthless), and Cook
says: "In this Traffic they never once attempted to defraud us of any one
thing, but dealt as fair as people could do."

The surrounding country was too thickly timbered for them to see much,
but one day, being out in a boat trying to find the end of the inlet,
Cook took the opportunity of climbing a thickly timbered hill, and from
there saw, far away to the eastward, that the seas which washed both west
and eastern coasts were united, and that one part of New Zealand, at any
rate, was an island, and he had thus solved one of the problems he had
given him in England. They also saw that much of their immediate
neighbourhood was not mainland as they had thought, but consisted of a
number of small islands.

A MORE SENSIBLE PEOPLE.

The population of the district was estimated at only some three or four
hundred, and appeared to subsist on fish