James Cook - A Journal of the proceedings of His Majesty's Bark Endeavour on a voyage round the world, by Lieutenant James Cook, Commander, commencing the 25th of May 1768 - 23 Oct. 1770: No. 167

[page 167]

                              NEW ZEALAND

November 1769
[Written in left margin:] Mercury Bay
of which must cost them immense labour considering the Tools they have to work with which are only made of wood & Stone. It is a little strange that with such a Warlike People as these undoubtedly are no Omissive weapons are found among them, such as bows & Arrows, Slings etc things in themselves so easily invented & are common in every other part of the world. The Arms they use are long spears or Lances, a Staff about 5 feet long, some of these are Pointed at one end like a Sergeants Halberd others are round & Sharp the other ends are broad something like the blade of an Oar, they have another sort about 4½ feet long these are shaped at one End like an Axe & the other is made with a Sharp Point, they have short Truncheons about a foot long which they call Pattoo Pattoos, some made of Wood some of bone & stone are of one shape which is with a round handle a broadish blade which is thickest in the Middle & taper'd to an edge all round, the use of these are to knock Mens brains out & to kill them outright after they are wounded & they are certainly well constr'd things for this purpose, besides these weapons they Throw stones & Dash. The Dart are 10 or 12 feet long are made of hard wood & are barded at one end. They handle all their Arms with great agility, Particularly their long Pikes or Lances against which we have no weapon that is an equal match except a Loaded Musquet.
Monday 13th PM Gentle breezes at NW & clear wear, after taking a slight View of the Country & loaded both boats with Sellery, which we found in great plenty near the Sea Beach, we return'd on board about 5 o'Clock the Longboat at the same time returnd out of the River loaded as deep as she could swim with oysters, & now I intended to put to sea in the morning if wind and weather will permit, in the night had the wind at SEt with rainy dirty hazey wear which continued all day, so that I could not think of sailing, but thought myself very happy in being in a good port. Saml Jones Seaman having been confin'd since Saturday last for refusing to come upon deck when all hands were called and afterwards refused to Comply with the orders of the officer on deck, he was this morning punished with 12 lashes and remited back to confinement.
Tuesday 14th Fresh Gs. Easterly & rainy Dirty weather
Wednesday 15th In the evening I went in the Pinnace & landed upon one of the Island that lies off of the So Head of the Bay with a View to see if I could discover any sunken rocks or other Dangers lying before the Entrance of the Bay as there was a pretty large swell at this Time. The Island we landed upon was very small yet there were upon it a Village the Inhabitants of which received us very friendly this little Village was laid out in small Oblong squares & each Pallisaded round The Island afforded no fresh Water and was only accessible on one side, from this I concluded that it was not choose