The Maoris were of course, like all the Polynesians, completely in the Stone Age when first visited by Cook, and ignored the use of any metal. Their adzes and axes were made of a hard basaltic stone; and a jasper-like stone was very useful in its small fragments for making a sharp, hard borer. These fragments were chipped off a block as flints might be. They were used in finishing their nicest work until they were blunt, and then they were thrown away. With these splinters of jasper they were able in no time to drill a hole through a piece of glass. Their canoes were long and narrow, and the largest sort would carry as many as 100 armed men. One such war canoe was 68 feet long, 5 feet broad, and 3½ feet deep, with a sharp keel. It consisted of three lengths hollowed out to a thickness of about 2 inches, and fastened together with strong plaiting. Each side consisted of one entire plank, 63 feet long and nearly 1 foot broad. Both the prow and the stern were decorated with wonderful pieces of carved wood. Some of the canoes, however, were only dug-outs, trunks hollowed by fire and axes. The Maoris were experts at sailing of the simpler kind, but their canoes could only go before the wind. The sail was made of netting or mats set up between two poles that were fixed upright upon each gunwale and served both as masts and yards. [Illustration: A VIEW OF DUSKY BAY, ON THE GREAT SOUTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND, WITH A MAORI FAMILY:] CHAPTER VII New South Wales On 31 March, 1770, the _Endeavour_ sailed from Cape Farewell on the north coast of the South Island of New Zealand, and on 19 April sighted the coast of what Cook still knew as "New Holland", which was, of course, the south-eastern extremity of Australia near Cape Howe. Cook then sailed along the coast to the northward, seeing smoke in several places, by which he knew the country to be inhabited. A camel-like mountain was called Mount Dromedary, a peaked hill, which resembled a square dovehouse with a dome at the top, was called Pigeonhouse, names which seem to have disappeared from the map of Australia. An attempt to land near the place now called Sutherland[82] was defeated by the heavy surf which lashed the white cliffs, while the natives on the beach, whose presence had attracted them, ran away. They were therefore obliged to guess at the landscape from a distance, and even then they observed that although there were numerous trees there was no underwood. [82] Sutherland--really Cape Sutherland, at the entrance to Port Hacking--was named after Forby Sutherland, an English seaman, who died and was buried near here, the first white man, probably, and certainly the first Englishman, to lie in the soil of Australia. He was buried near the watering place.