All the canoes seen along this coast were well made, far in advance of anything they had seen before, and the grotesque carving and ornamental work was admirably executed. The dresses warn were usually two cloak-shaped garments, one warn round the shoulders, the other round the loins, and were made of a substance like hemp, some being very fine. Banks had purchased something like them at Rio de Janeiro, for which he gave thirty-six shillings, thinking it cheap, but these were as fine, if not finer, in texture. Dogs, which were used as food, and rats were the only quadrupeds seen. Whilst Banks and Solander were collecting, they discovered a large natural arch, which the former describes as the most magnificent surprise he had ever met with. It was sketched by Parkinson, and is engraved in the History. Cook also made a pen-and-ink sketch of it, which is in the British Museum. COOK'S WASHING STOLEN. On 31st October they rounded East Cape, and following the coast, which trended more to the west, they saw a great number of villages and patches of cultivation, some of the last looking as if freshly ploughed. The whole aspect of the country was changing for the better, but the inhabitants did not seem more peaceably inclined. Five canoes came out to the ship fully armed, and apparently bent on mischief. Cook was very busy, and did not want them on board, so to keep them off ordered a musket to be fired over them; but as it only caused them to stop for a moment, a round shot was sent over them, and they hurriedly turned tail. The place was given the name Cape Runaway. White Island was named, but it must have been quiescent as there is no note of its being a volcano. As they sailed along the coast they met with canoes from which fish, lobsters, and mussels were purchased, and trading seemed well established, when one gentleman took a fancy to Cook's sheets, which were trailing overboard (they were in the wash), and refused to give them up. Muskets were fired over them and they fled, and Cook lost his sheets. From near White Island, Mount Edgecombe was seen, named after the sergeant of marines. It is a high round mountain, and forms a conspicuous landmark on both sides of the North Island. During this day they had noticed several small villages perched on difficult eminences and surrounded by palisades, which Tupia declared were "Mories or places of worship," but, says Cook: "I rather think they are places of retreat or strongholds, where they defend themselves against the attack of an enemy, as some of them seem'd not ill design'd for that purpose." British soldiers have since discovered that a Maori Pah is "not ill designed for that purpose." Cook most unfortunately missed the Harbour of Tauranga, the only safe port on the east coast between Auckland and Wellington for ships of any size. NATIVE ACCOUNT.