with the true instinct of an explorer, turned a deaf ear
to the murmurings of his crew for roast beef and Old England, and
directed his course again south. From the natives he had learned of
the existence of two islands, and he must needs sail round the southern
as he had sailed round the northern isle. Storms and gales harassed
the navigators through the month of February as they made their way
slowly southwards. Indeed, they had a very narrow escape from death
towards the end of the month, when in a two days' gale, with heavy
squalls of rain, their foresail was split to pieces and they lost sight
of land for seven days, nearly running on to submerged rocks which
Cook named The Traps.

It was nearly dark on 14th March when they entered a bay which they
suitably christened Dusky Bay, from which they sailed to Cascade Point,
named from the four streams that fell over its face.

"No country upon earth," remarks Cook, "can appear with a more rugged
and barren aspect than this does from the sea, for, as far inland as
the eye can reach, nothing is to be seen but the summit of these rocky
mountains." At last on 24th March they rounded the north point of the
South Island. Before them lay the familiar waters of Massacre Bay,
Tasman Bay, and Queen Charlotte Sound.

"As we have now circumnavigated the whole of this country, it is time
for me to think of quitting it," Cook remarks simply enough.

Running into Admiralty Bay, the _Endeavour_ was repaired for her
coming voyage home. Her sails, "ill-provided from the first," says
Banks, "were now worn and damaged by the rough work they had gone
through, particularly on the coast of New Zealand, and they gave no
little trouble to get into order again."

While Banks searched for insects and plants, Cook sat writing up his
_Journal_ of the circumnavigation. He loyally gives Tasman the honour
of the first discovery, but clearly shows his error in supposing it
to be part of the great southern land.

The natives he describes as "a strong, raw-boned, well-made, active
people rather above the common size, of a dark brown colour, with black
hair, thin black beards, and white teeth. Both men and women paint
their faces and bodies with red ochre mixed with fish oil. They wear
ornaments of stone, bone, and shells at their ears and about their
necks, and the men generally wear long white feathers stuck upright
in their hair. They came off in canoes which will carry a hundred
people; when w