a succession of
southerly gales, which Captain Kent informed me were very prevalent at
this season of the year. Notwithstanding all our exertions to prevent it,
we were carried considerably to leeward of the port. We made Lord Howe's
Islands, whose high and bold features rise, as it were, out of the ocean;
as we passed close to them, we perceived they were well wooded and
watered; and one of the men, who had been on shore there, informed me that
there was a tolerably good harbour for small craft. A few miles to the
southward of these islands is Ball's Pyramid, a most singular and
sublime-looking rock, rising perpendicularly out of the sea to a height
of a thousand feet; the base of it is enveloped in perpetual surf,
dashing and climbing up its craggy sides. Its appearance, as we saw it,
relieved by the setting sun, and the coming on of a stormy night, was
awful in the extreme!

Nothing could exceed the delight manifested by our New Zealanders as we
sailed up Port Jackson harbour; but, above all, the windmills most
astonished them. After dancing and screaming with joy at beholding them,
they came running and asking me "if they were not gods." I found they
were inclined to attach that sacred appellation to most things they could
not understand; they did so when they first became possessed of their
muskets, and actually worshipped them, until they discovered how soon
they got out of repair, and then, notwithstanding all the prayers they
could bestow upon them, they would not mend again of their own accord.

Our Chief from the Thames, who had a great idea of his own dignity,
commenced adorning his person, as he felt convinced the Governor would
instantly grant him an audience when he came on shore. All our lamps were
emptied to add a more beautiful gloss to his hair and complexion; his
whole stock of feathers and bones were arranged to the greatest
advantage. He at length became quite enraged when he found that he was
allowed to sit two days on our deck, amongst all manner of dirty porters
and sailors, without either being visited or sent for; and he was loud in
his reproaches to us for having deceived him. We certainly were to blame
in having induced him to believe we had any influence with the Governor,
for however politic we (who had lived in New Zealand) might think it, to
pay some attentions to these simple savages, his Excellency,
unfortunately, thought otherwise; and though the Chief, attended by his
followers, use