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Rh already mentioned, were thought to be all or nearly all the inhabitants of the island. Our people saw no trees, nor did they observe any cultivated land, except that near the fresh water there were some square plots of ground, green, and very pleasant but of what kind the greens were they could not distinguish. Two canoes were drawn up on the shore.

"In the evening we anchored in 40 fathoms, good ground, a musket-shot distant from the island (on the north side).

"The 6th, in the morning, we put water-casks in the two boats, and sent them to the shore. As they rowed towards the land, they saw tall men standing in different places, with long staves like pikes in their hands, who called to our people. There was much surf at the watering place, which made landing difficult; and between a point of the island and another very high cliff, or little island, the current ran so strong against the boats that they could scarcely stem it: for which reasons the officers held counsel together, and not being willing to expose the boats and the people, they returned to the ships. Before we saw them coming back, we had fired a gun and hoisted a flag as a signal for them to return. This island we named Drie Koningen Eyland, i.e., Three Kings Island (on account of this being the day of the Epiphany)."

From the number of Natives seen by Tasman, and from the fact that patches of cultivated ground were observed, we may take it for granted that the islands had permanent residents at the time of his visit. But they must have been subsequently abandoned, for all the voyagers immediately after Cook speak of them as being uninhabited; one or two, however, stating that the Maoris were in the habit of crossing from the mainland, at long intervals, to obtain young mutton-birds or gannets. In 1816, the ship Betsey, commanded by Captain Goodenough, was wrecked near the North Cape, and the greater portion of the crew were drowned. The survivors, nine in number, took refuge on the Three Kings, being driven from the mainland by the threatening conduct of the Maoris. They lived there for some time, and saw no appearance of the islands having been inhabited for many years past. Somewhere about 1830, however, a number of Maoris belonging to the Aopuri tribe crossed over and took up their residence on the islands. They were led by a well-known chief, who in his younger days had spent some time in a whaling vessel, and had received the nick-name of Tom Bowline. He, with his wife and immediate followers, remained on the islands for many years, and had several children born there. From a paragraph in the "Missionary Register" for 1836, appears that the Rev. Mr. Puckey visited the Three Kings in October, 1835, being induced to go there through hearing a report that the inhabitants were starving. He found them almost in a state of destitution, and offered to bring them