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the flefh they eat. Their haflets are equal to that of a hog, and the flelh of fome ofthem eats little inferior to beef-deaks.
In the morning of the 23d, Mr. Pickerfgill, Mr. Gilbert, and two others, went to acove called Cafcade Cove, in order to afcend one of the mountains, the fummit of whichthey reached by two o’clock in the afternoon. In the evening they returned on board,and reported that, inland, nothing was to be feen but barren mountains with hugecraggy precipices, disjoined by valleys, or rather chafms, frightful to behold.
Having five geefe left out of thofe brought from the Cape of Good Hope , the cap-tain w'ent with them next morning to Goofe Cove 1 (named fo on this account), where heleft them. He chofe this place for two reafons ; fird, here are no inhabitants to dif-turb them ; and fecondly,, here being the molt food, there is no doubt but that theywill breed, and may in time fpread over the whole country, and fully anfwer the inten-tion in leaving them. This day they fhot a white heron, which agreed exactly withMr. Pennant’s defcription, in his Britifh Zoology, of the white herons that either noware or were formerly in England.
On the 27th they had hazy weather. In the morning Captain Cook fet out, accom-panied by Mr. Pickerfgill and the two Mr. Forllers, to explore an inlet feen the day be-fore. After rowing about two leagues up it, it was found to communicate with the fea,and to afford a better outlet for {hips bound to the north than the one they came in by.After making this difeovery, and refrefhing themfeves on broiled fifh and wild fowl,they fet out for the fhip,. and got on board at eleven o’clock at night. In this expeditionthey fhot forty-four birds, fea-pies, ducks, &c. without going one foot out of their way,-or caufing any other delay than picking them up.
Having got the tents and every other article on board on the 28th, they weighed witha light breeze at fouth-weft and flood up the bay for the new paffage.
In the morning of the 1 ith of May, at nine o’clock, they weighed with a light breezeat fouth-ead and flood out to fea. It was noon before they got clear of the land.
The country is exceedingly mountainous ; a profpeft more rude and craggy is rarelyto be met with ; for inland appears nothing but the fummits of mountains of a dupen-dous height, and confiding of rocks that are totally barren and naked, except wherethey are covered with fnow. But the land bordering on the fea coaft, and all thetflands, are thickly clothed with wood, almoft down to the water’s edge. The trees are°f various kinds, fuch as are common to other parts of the country, and are fit for theShipwright , houfe-carpenter, cabinet-maker, and many other ufes.
Here are, as well as in all other parts of New Zealand , a great number of aromatictr ees and fhrubs, mod of the myrtle kind ; but amidd all this variety, there were none^hich bore fruit fit to eat.
In many parts the woods were fo over-run with fupple-jacks, that it is fcarcely pofiibleto force one’s way amond them. Several were fifty or fixty fathoms long.
The foil is a deep black mould, evidently compofed of decayed vegetables, and fotaofe that it finks under you at every dep. Except the flax or hemp plant, and a few°(her plants, there is very little herbage of any fort. What Bulky Bay mod abounds^ith is fifh: a boat with fix or eight men, with hooks and lines, caught daily fufficientto ferve the whole fhip’s company. Of this article the variety is almofl equal to theplenty, and of fuch kinds as are common to the more northern coads; but fome areSuperior, and in particular the cole fifh, as it was called, which is both larger and finerflavoured than any they had feen before, and was, in the opinion of mod on board theSighed luxury the fea afforded. The fhell fifh are, mufcles, cockles, icailops, crayftfh,