CHAPTER VII. VOYAGE IN A WHALE-BOAT-COAL DISTRICT-PERILS BY SEAWHALING STATION AT ONEKAKARA-A SICK WHALER-WHALING STATISTICS-MOERAKI-NATIVE VILLAGE-A TRAGEDYBRITISH LAW APPLIED TO NATIVES "THE WESLEY AND THE CHURCH OF PAHIA"-BONES "MOA." CHILDREN OF Nov. 3.-On a Friday, the sailor's day of evil omen, I set sail from Waikouaiti, in Stephen Smith's whale-boat, to visit Moeraki, the principal native settlement in this part of the island. The distance was about twenty miles by water. Besides my natives, who had no skill in boating, we took two who had gained some experience as whalers; and I invited a gentleman named Earle, who had come here to collect birds, and other specimens valuable to a naturalist, to join us. On our way, we proposed to visit a place called Matainaka, where coal had been found. This was not accessible at all times; for a short distance south of it a reef ran from the mainland, several miles seaward, directly in our course; and, though at one point a boat could cross the reef, the passage was dangerous, except in fine weather. We were about two miles distant from this, when the wind came up strong from the southward. As we neared the rocks, one of the natives stood up in the head of the boat to direct the steersman. There was no clear passage to be seen; and we soon found ourselves in a short broken sea, with rocks on all sides, their black summits showing every now and then between the waves. A whaler's skill, with a native pilot, got us through this difficulty, with no more inconvenience than that of shipping a little water; and we landed shortly after on a beach not more than ten yards broad, but protected by a natural breakwater of kelp, so as to form a secure boat-harbour in case of ncy. Here we found the coal: part of bout two feet in thickness, being left ve the level of the beach. A few taken, at different times, to the neighbouring whaling station, and burnt at the forge; but the specimens thus tried were not well reported of, as they were said to contain a good deal of sulphur, and to be very inferior to that brought from New South Wales. These, however, were all obtained from the surface, where, I believe, the coal is always found to be of an inferior quality. In this neighbourhood, the natives find the slabs of freestone, used in grinding the pounamu. It is a district, therefore, where a geologist would look for coal; but the difficulty and expense of transporting it to Otakou, the nearest harbour, will, for a long time, render it useless to settlers. Having brought with us a pick-axe and shovel for the purpose, we dug a few bushels, and then prepared to depart, first taking two reefs in our lug-sail, as the wind was increasing. We had now a broad bay of six or seven miles to cross, and had made about one mile of our distance, when the wind suddenly s1 to south-west, causing the sail sheet being slackened incautio instant, the foot of the sail was mast-head. For some minutes from south and the same he doubtful; but we had an able and cool steersman, who by keeping the boat steadily before the wind prevented her being upset. All efforts, however, to extricate the sail were fruitless, till a stronger blast relieved us by carrying it, with the mast, over the bows. Smith and his two natives for mine lay in the bottom of the boat, wrapt in their blankets, and resigned to whatever might happen-soon set up our shortened mast, and close-reefed the sail, now quite large enough to expose to the fury of the gale. In half an hour we were under shelter of the headland at Katiki, and soon after reached a sandy beach, called Onekakara. At this place a whaling station had been formed, a few years before, by a Mr. Hughes, who met us with a hearty welcome. His wife, a New Zealand lady, as soon as she found her husband had guests, set about making preparations for entertaining us with the best fare her larder could boast; and in a very short time a liberal supply of potatos and nork was placed on the table, with a large oats' milk; and, as Mr. Hughes and ons had long since drained their last a capacious kettle of whalers' tea stood on the hearth, ready for the use of those who liked it. This tea, an infusion of "manuka” boughs, is a beverage much drunk by the whalers; it is very wholesome, and, although not palatable at first, appears to be agreeable to those who have become accustomed to it. The leave of the "manuka" (leptospermum scoparium) furnished Captain Cook with a substitute for tea in his first voyage: and in his following voyage, he used the small branches of this shrub and of the tree "rimu," (dacrydium cupressinum,) in equal proportions, to make the decoction from which he brewed the spruce beer,* frequently referred to by him as a valuable anti-scorbutic. Mr. Hughes had a very comfortable weatherboarded house, and a large barn with a thrashingfloor: for he was a farmer as well as whaler, and had several acres of wheat, besides potatos and other vegetables. The bread we had just been eating was made from home-grown corn, ground in a hand-mill, and was very good. I also observed some very creditable cultivations, the property of the other whalers, appearing as green * Captain Cook's account of his mode of brewing this beer, and his description of the spruce tree, will be found in the Appendix. |