Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/77

] city of Auckland was at this time in process of erection. Captain Hobson was unfortunately absent on an official inspection of the more remote settlements established by the New Zealand Company, so that I had no opportunity of paying my respects to him. From Mr. Fitzgerald I received every attention, and permission to place our observatories on any part of the government grounds we might think most suitable; but the spot we had selected in the course of a forenoon's pull along the shores of the river, belonged to the Missionaries of the Church of England, and he referred me to the Reverend Mr. Williams, formerly a lieutenant of the Royal Navy. We therefore called upon that gentleman at the Missionary establishment of Paihia, who immediately granted us the required permission: in the afternoon our observatories were landed, and in a few hours were ready to receive the instruments.

The spot I had selected for our observatories was on a low level point of shingle, not more than three or four feet above high water, upon the left bank of the river Kawa Kawa, close by a small stream, whose muddy banks at low water gave occasion to our sailors to call it the "muddy-muddy," and about a quarter of a mile from the place called by the natives, "Haumi," marked by a small cluster of trees, on the beach where the bodies of the French navigator, Marion, and his unfortunate companions, were devoured by the exasperated savages, who conveyed them from the scene of the massacre,