It was supposed that they had eaten some poisonous plant; and by this accident all the captain's hopes of stocking New Zealand with a breed of sheep were instantly blasted.
The intercourse which our great navigator had with the inhabitants of the country, during this his second visit to Queen Charlotte's Sound, was of a friendly nature.

Two or three families took up their abode near the ships, and employed themselves daily in fishing, and in supplying the English with the fruits of their labour.

No small advantage hence accrued to our people, who were by no means such expert fishers as the natives, nor were any of our methods of fishing equal to theirs.

Thus, in almost every state of society, particular arts of life are carried to perfection; and there is something which the most polished nations may learn from the most barbarous.
On the 2nd of June, when the Resolution and Adventure were almost ready to put to sea, Captain Cook sent on shore, on the east side of the sound, two goats, a male and female; and Captain Furneaux left, near Cannibal Cove, a boar and two breeding sows.

The gentlemen had little doubt but that the country would, in time, be stocked with these animals, provided they were not destroyed by the Indians before they became wild.