if the people in the pinnace had not discovered them, and called to the boys to drop down the stream:  The boys instantly obeyed; but being closely pursued by the Indians, the cockswain of the pinnace, who had the charge of the boats, fired a musket over their heads; at this they stopped and looked round them, but in a few minutes renewed the pursuit, brandishing their lances in a threatening manner:  The cockswain then fired a second musket over their heads, but of this they took no notice; and one of them lifting up his spear to dart it at the boat, another piece was fired, which shot him dead.  When he fell, the other three stood motionless for some minutes, as if petrified with astonishment; as soon as they recovered, they went back, dragging after them the dead body, which, however, they soon left, that it might not encumber their flight.  At the report of the first musket we drew together, having straggled to a little distance from each other, and made the best of our way back to the boat; and crossing the river, we soon saw the Indian lying dead upon the ground.  Upon examining the body, we found that he had been shot through the heart:  He was a man of the middle size and stature; his complexion was brown, but not very dark; and one side of his face was tattowed in spiral lines of a very regular figure:  He was covered with a fine cloth, of a manufacture altogether new to us, and it was tied on exactly according to the representation in Valentyn’s Account of Abel Tasman’s Voyage, vol. 3, part 2, page 50, his hair also was tied in a knot on the top of his head, but had no feather in it.[48] We returned immediately to the ship, where we could hear the people on shore talking with great earnestness, and in a very loud tone, probably about what had happened, and what should be done.

[Footnote 48:  Abel Tasman was sent out by the Dutch East India Company in 1642, to take surveys of the new-found countries, and, if possible, to make discoveries.  The account of his voyage was published in Low Dutch, by Dirk Rembrant.  A French translation of it was given by Thevenot, in the 4th part of his collection, published at Paris, 1673, an abridgement of which was inserted in Harris’s collection.  Though curious and considerably important, his observations were long disregarded; and in particular, his discovery of New Zealand or Staaten Land, as he called it in honour of the States General, seems to have been either discredited or held immaterial or overlooked, till this voyage of Captain Cook obtained for it the notice it deserved.  Then, as is not unusual, it attracted undue consideration and importance.  Mr Finkerton has re-published the account of this voyage in his collection.  Tasman discovered New Zealand on the 13th September, 1642, but did not land on it, an unfortunate event having given him a total distrust of the natives.  Some of them, after a good deal of backwardness and seeming fear, ventured to go on board the Heenskirk, which was the consort of his