Having made up my mind to visit the island of New Zealand, and having
persuaded my friend Mr. Shand to accompany me, we made an arrangement for
the passage with Captain Kent, of the brig Governor Macquarie, and,
bidding adieu to our friends at Sydney, in a few hours (on October 20th,
1827) we were wafted into the great Pacific Ocean.

There were several other passengers on board, who were proceeding to New
Zealand to form a Wesleyan missionary establishment at Hokianga. Amongst
these were a Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs, who were most enthusiastic in the cause.
They had formerly belonged to the same mission at Whangaroa, when a war
which took place amongst the natives totally destroyed their
establishment; and, after enduring great varieties of suffering, they
escaped, but lost everything they possessed, except the clothes they had
on. We had a very fine wind for nine days, and on the 29th we saw a
gannet, a sure sign we were within a hundred miles of land, for these
birds are never seen at a greater distance from it. True to our
anticipations, towards the afternoon the water became discoloured, and at
midnight we saw the land.

This interesting island, of which we now got sight, was first discovered
by that eminent and enterprising Dutch navigator, Tasman, subsequently to
the discovery of Van Diemen's Land. His voyage from Batavia in 1642,
undertaken by order of the then Governor-General of Dutch India, Anthony
Van Diemen, was one of the most important and successful ever undertaken,
for it was during this voyage that New Holland was discovered, of which
Van Diemen's Land was then supposed to form a part, the extensive island
of New Zealand being supposed to form another portion.[1]

The slight intercourse of the discoverers with the natives had so