At noon, Cape Table bore N. 20 E. distant about four leagues, and a small island, which was the southermost land in sight, bore S. 70 W. at the distance of about three miles. This island, which the natives call TEAHOWRAY, I named the ISLAND OF PORTLAND, from its very great resemblance to Portland in the English Channel: it lies about a mile from a point on the main; but there appears to be a ridge of rocks, extending nearly, if not quite, from one to the other. N. 57 E. two miles from the south point of Portland, lies a sunken rock, upon which the sea breaks with great violence. We passed between this rock and the land, having from seventeen to twenty fathom.

In sailing along the shore, we saw the natives assembled in great numbers as well upon Portland Island as the main: we could also distinguish several spots of ground that were cultivated; some seemed to be fresh turned up, and lay in furrows like ploughed land, and some had plants upon them in different stages of their growth. We saw also in two places, high rails upon the ridges of hills, like what we had seen upon the peninsula at the north east head of Poverty bay: as they were ranged in lines only, and not so as to enclose an area, we could not guess at their use, and therefore supposed they might be the work of superstition.

Voyaging Accounts