A stampede.

To the west side of Cape Brett is a deep bay which was seen but not named, and here the town of Russell is now established, said to possess one of the finest harbours in the world, into which vessels of any draught can enter in all weathers and at any state of the tide.  The natives were found difficult to deal with, and “would cheat whenever they had an opportunity.”  The ship left its anchorage, but was after a time driven back again, and Cook, with a party, took the opportunity to land.  They were followed up by the Maoris, and were soon surrounded by about two hundred of them, some of whom tried to seize the boats, but being driven off tried to break in on the party.  Several charges of small shot, which did no serious damage, were fired into them, and then the ship fired a 4 pounder over them, which caused a stampede, and during the rest of the stay there was no further trouble, but Cook had to punish three of his own men for stealing potatoes from one of the plantations.  He invariably tried to hold the balance fairly between his men and the natives.

The country is described as very similar to that seen before, but the number of inhabitants was greater, and though apparently not under the same chiefs, they were on good terms with each other, and inclined to be civil to their visitors.  A good deal of the ground was under cultivation, producing good sweet-potatoes.  A few trees of the paper-mulberry were seen, from which the natives made a cloth in a similar manner to the Otaheitans, but the quantity was so small that it was only used for ornament.  Tupia, who had been instructed to gain as much information about the people as he could, was informed that some of their ancestors once went off in large canoes and discovered a country to the north-west after a passage of about a month, only a small number returning.  These reported they had been to a place where the people ate hogs, using the same word for the animal as the Otaheitans, Tupia asked if they had any in New Zealand, and the reply was “no.”  He asked if their ancestors brought any back, again the answer was “no”; whereon he told them their story must be a lie, for their ancestors could never have been such fools as to come back without some.  The land said to have been discovered may have been New Caledonia.

One of the men who had been wounded at the first coming of the ship was seen by Banks.  A ball had gone through his arm and grazed his chest.  He did not seem to have any pain, and the wound though exposed to the air, was perfectly healthy, and he was greatly pleased to receive a musket ball like the one which had wounded him.

When leaving the bay they nearly grounded, being set by the current towards a small island, but the boats towed them clear.  Very soon after they struck on an unseen rock, which was named Whale Rock, but almost immediately got clear, with no “perceptible damage,” into twenty fathoms.