p before, and at first thought it was a very large
bird, being struck by the size and beauty of its wings (sails). When
a small boat was let down from the ship's side they thought it must
be a young unfledged bird, but when the white men in their
bright-coloured clothes rowed off in the boat they concluded these
were gods.

Cook found the low sandy coast backed by well-wooded hills rising to
mountains on which patches of snow were visible, while smoke could
be seen through the trees, speaking of native dwellings. The natives
were too treacherous to make it safe landing for the white men, so
they sailed out of Poverty Bay and proceeded south. Angry Maoris shook
their spears at the Englishmen as they coasted south along the east
coast of the North Island. But the face of the country was unpromising,
and Cook altered his course for the north at a point he named Cape
Turnagain. Unfortunately he missed the only safe port on the east coast
between Auckland and Wellington, but he found good anchorage in what
is now known as Cook's Bay. Here they got plenty of good fish, wild
fowl, and oysters, "as good as ever came out of Colchester." Taking
possession of the land they passed in the name of King George, Cook
continued his northerly course, passing many a river which seemed to
resemble the Thames at home. A heavy December gale blew them off the
northernmost point of land, which they named North Cape, and Christmas
was celebrated off Tasman's islands, with goose-pie.

[Illustration: AN IPAH, OR MAORI FORT, ON THE COAST BETWEEN POVERTY
BAY AND CAPE TURNAGAIN. From an engraving in the Atlas to Cook's first
_Voyage_.]

The New Year of 1770 found Cook off Cape Maria van Diemen, sailing
south along the western coast of the North Island, till the _Endeavour_
was anchored in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte's Sound, only about seventy
miles from the spot where Tasman first sighted land.

Here the English explorer landed. The country was thickly wooded, but
he climbed a hill, and away to the eastward he saw that the seas washing
both east and west coasts of the northern island were united. He had
solved one problem. Tasman's Staaten Land was not part of a great
southern continent. He now resolved to push through his newly
discovered straits between the two islands, and, having done this,
he sailed north till he reached Cape Turnagain. And so he proved beyond
a doubt that this was an island. The men thought they had done enough.
But Cook,