CAPTAIN COOK. HIS FIRST VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 303, 29 September 1888, Page 3

CAPTAIN COOK. HIS FIRST VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND.

!as; a^ii^e^tirtg* pr^fehoj Auckland DVf^ul'p^^-ftUtl i^|), t R^J?y ; 6 hp«\fo n* Ar ehj^e'ixcp n\; \,V, i) 1i a inf^tp f ' Iru r,ry,pa nor ( waVil 1 . usirjj. bod 'by t wii ;d~x d( '{lon t , n ki ps ,of« L*ovei'tyv33aylntlil i/JLVsVit 1;^.1 ;^. B^iy^/sh^wuiV* 1 . tl\e,A'ariouS' local tbiorfis^f^'i-rccl, to. : Li »,hu 'XrclidQaconjs^opinionJ bhe^jnberosb \vhbh w^ttld^always^abt/acKi^p/ thb^ivn. yi-ib of, 'Clvp bain- Cop It ,bp ;;b hgt^h 9 vssv $$ ,9 f- # w Jkkahi ' ' was sufficient jusbilication for any übbbi'npY olucidate^ any of his mimi Live, and by the aid , of pet&onal, aoqjminbaiii c Kvith the.loqalUies, touched ato and.retei'unco bo -Maori . traditions of the - events,, bo enable, ,reaa era! TV present to .their minds a' more vivid .picture- o( all bho , cii'cuni,stances. , When, as in • cay p, ' places wer.e.nob described iitnunu bo detail, ib was often a matter ot considuable difficulty to identify any , particular sjiot, though this difficluty might. often, in a groat measure,be k overcome by careful, examination of the ground and close attention, bo every hint contained in the narrative [which, might, ? serve as a, clue- to, bhe identification of the actual site of ,any occurrence. .According to Captain Cook's nan abivo it was on Friday, Ocbober 6bh, 1769, that tholand was firstseenfrom the masthead, bearing west by norbli, bhelongibudeof bhe ship having been ascertained to bo , 180 dog. 55min. west. On Saturday,, October 7th, it fell calm till the afternoon. Ab §p.m. Ooolc noticed a deep bay, and stood in for it, but when night came he kepb plying off and on bill daylight. In the morning (Sunday, October Bbh) he found himself considerably to leeward of the bay, the wind being in the north, and it was not till four o'clock in the -afternoon that he anchored "on the N.W. side of the bay before the entrance to a small river, at about, half a league from the shore." In the even,ing Captain Cook went ashore, accompanied Dy Mr Banks and Dr. Solander, and landed abreast of the ship, on the east side of the river, which was hereabout forty yards broad. Seeing some, natives on the west side, with whom Cook wished to speak, .the party crossed in a boat. On reaching the natives, they all ran away, and the party, leaving the boat in chargo of four boys, walked up towards some huts closo by. When they had gob some distance from the boat, four natives, armed with long lances, rushed out of the woods, and running up to the boat, would certainly have cut her off if the boys had not been shouted to and ordered to drop down the stream. The boys instantly obeyed, bat being closely pursued by the natives, the coxswain of the pinnace, who had charge of the boats, fired a musket over their heads. At this, they stopped and looked round them, but in a few minutes renewed their pursuit, brandishing their lances in a threatening manner. The coxswain then fired a second musket over their heads, but of chis they took no notice, and on one of them lifting up his spear to dart ib at the boat, another piece was fired, which shot him dead. he fell, the O;ther three stood motionless , for some minutes, as if petrified with astonishment. As soon as they recovered they retreated, dragging the dead body with them, but soon abandoning it that it might not encumber their flight. After examining the dead natiyej and finding that he had been shot through the heart, the party Vetumod to the sliip, whore they could' hear the people on shore talking with great earnestness and Very loudly, probably about what had happened and what should be done. The place of landing was eyidenbly what was now * known as Boat Harbour, immediately on the S.E. side of the mouth of the river, and separabed from ib by a narrow reef of rocks. The woods out of which the natives rushed upon the boat no longer exist in the neighbourhood, nor have there been any within the last fifty years, but forest is said by the natives to have existed formerly on the hillside within a shorb distance of hierh-water mark, which would form a convenient hiding-place for the natives, from whence they might observe the movements of the strangers without being seen themselves. The four men bei longed to the Ngationeone hapu, of the ! tribe called To j Itanga-a-Hauiti, and the name of the one who was killed was Te Maro. J > On Monday morning, October 9bh, a parby of natives were observed at the Spob ab which they had been seen the previous evening, arid Cook determined at once to try and open up friendly intercourse with them. Cook and party, accompanied by three boats manned by seamen and marines, proceeded to shore, and on advancing towards the natives the latter all started up, showing themselves to be numerous and all well armed with spears and patus, manifesting at. the same time unniistakeable signs of hosbiliby. The sailors and marines were I drawn up and Cook advanced with Tupaea, | Messrs Banks, Green, Monkhouse and Dr. Solander. Tupaea was directed to speak to the natives and ib was soon evident that he could readily make himself understood. After some parleying it was seen that all attempts to establish friendly . relations were in vain, and at last one native' snatched away Mr Green's hanger and retired to a short distance, waving it about his head and uttering loud shouts of exultation. Ifc soon became necessary to repress the natives, and Mr Green, after firing at the man with ' small-shot^ fired at him with ball, and he instantly dropped. A volley from the sailors arid marines subsequently wounded two or three others. The party of natives thusf encountered was not the same as that which had been seen tlie evening before. 1 „ According to the Maori bradiiion ' the ship had ' been seen coining into the Vay the day before, and was thought) , to be a floating island,, and this was a party of the TKongowliakaata tribe, who' had come from^Orakaiapu, a pah just below tlie \ junction^ of the .'Aral, and" Waipaoa^river's, for the, express ' purpose of trying- to take^ possession "of the ship ; hence their 'hostile attitude:" The man' who lost his life in consequence of seizing Mr Green's hangerwas. Te ? Rakau. ,i Having' failed^p establish,any sorb' of friejndly intercourse' wi£K A the^pe6ple, ' < Cook' proceeded 'to examine _the bay in search of, fresh water,* and f als6 with 1 theVde J Bign T : of /surprising;-; if pOBsibldi s ;some bf;'the 1; , natives/ and', getting' 1 bhem jO'nj board his "ship,, , thatsby "Isindjtreatment^eir'^riendBHip;might s ; be /secured; as i 1 also/tliab^ pf^'ttfeir ( !"i&.n^en-' , /tobk^ place 1 "between,- '■&{ f'shlpj' in (the"shobt-> of the 'cfewi^tH'reejyounerfJadsJf named' To fi cafsr^ W^sooVa^ l anaT'Solander^and£Tupaeaisbrollfd}tup\tnei r rigKF banklbMheSWaxkanae^reeK,* beiiftbnl : |#^noJiirecbmescen^dantsip||-Te|Kat^ojfe rdeWenßantBfNyihiß# if morninßHi,w o(*nBSCiiiyjwX* wOrs\i/CCoD©r)»t'av o i

io^lbol^vCookl^eighedianohorranailstood,; 2 s?;afl«^^^ *a£ Nibble [^ojj^l^TlSSif^BOXiblfWG^ 'poinV' of bliol Bay.KelnataedXw bung,' Nickte Head; affce^JNlichplds^.oungathe^boyJ Buy '(roa!l naniefAri^i^oji^fchu 21s •' an'd eb-', jKi'ining "a" supply 'df/?fresh , water,' Cook .pub ,in « l U'olUgcT^ay^asHie'had.'biSoniiWormeU by £01110 riabives.-/ot a. small cose, u little . p/oinb/qjt\)bho buy, \vl»orO' ifosh;\vatoru r as hWijy'j 'Cipd whoru.ijlio boabs,. i lui^li'C l^ind L wi ; lipub f bcliief oxpoiatid 'to "a ! hoaVy i f. > ; l ' i ; ( rKCs i nyas (iti^'cove which* in 4 rocdab' bimes.?has •- always" iborne 'bhe illusbrious navigator's' pame. „ The natives hero' were f riendlj» ar and t a supply of wood, and w&ter" was 'easily/ obbained during 1 he eighb days' sbay of-the shipjiore. Among'sb bbher nabural duriosibies hore seen ,was .blip perforated rock," bhe arch of which M r as called 4 by ,'bhe /Maoris' Te Koborero-be-Whenua.^lSfob'fai:, from the arih, near bhe shore,, was whaVw&s krfbw'n as Cook's Well, a small hole, into^ which trickled • down a tiny rill from i a sp^in^* J above in the hill. That it was nob. a naburjikvQa'vity, bub that ib wad made on bhe "occasion of -Cook's visib,' seemed to, bo satisfactorily shown by bhe name' which' bhe; nabives had given bo ib, viz., '• Te Wai-keri a Tepaea," or Tcpaea's woll, Tepaea (in which bhey had proserved the name of bhe Tahitian Tepaea) having ,been bhoughb by them to have been bho name of Captain Cook. According bo Cook the bay had been called Tolagd, bub this had nob been idenbified with any Maori name now in use in bhe neighbourhood. Tlie bay was named from the river Uawa, which {lowed into it, and thonamo of Cook's Covo was Apoubama. On Monday, Ocbober 30bh, Captain Cook made sail again to the northward, and here leave was baken of him.