along parallel with the mainland, and its north point is a bluff head just without Cook's Cove. It has an area of about 80 acres, and is unoccupied. The island is named after Mr. Herman Sporing, one of Sir Joseph Banks's retinue on board the “Endeavour.” The channel between the island and the mainland is narrow, and shallow at low water. Our voyagers visited this island, and Banks saw here the largest war-canoe he met with on his voyage to New Zealand. The dimensions of the canoe were: Length, 68 ½ ft.; breadth, 5 ft.; and depth, 3 ft. 6 in. He also saw here a large uncompleted building, with side posts carved, as he says, “in a masterly style, with spirals and distorted human faces.” There is a most extraordinary subterranean cavern here, leading from the sea on the east side of the island to near its centre, where it opens out to daylight in a large crater-like abyss some 50 ft. deep. At low tide the natives say that it is possible to walk and crawl out to the coast from the bottom of this crater. At high tide the water rushes in. Cook's people could not have seen this place, as, being so remarkable, they would surely have mentioned it if they had. Polack records that he did not visit Sporing Island, but was told about the subterranean passage by the natives. Cook sailed from Tolaga Bay on the 29th October, 1769, having been at anchor there for six days, during which time 70 tons of water was shipped and sufficient firewood obtained. He never revisited it, but Captain Furneaux, in the “Adventure,” spent seven days there—from the 9th to the 16th November, 1773—getting wood and water. The cove can never be of use as a harbour as it is too shallow, and is exposed to the north-east and east winds. Before concluding about Cook's Cove, Tolaga Bay, I must say that I think the Government should be prevailed upon to acquire the title to the cove and let the place remain in its natural state, as has been done at Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound. I do not mean to infer that the Government should set aside all places in New Zealand visited by Cook; but this cove above all others has so many natural as well as historical attractions that I am sure the people of this colony and visitors in days to come would be pleased to see it kept in its natural state. After leaving Tolaga the “Endeavour” called at Mercury Bay, Thames Estuary, and Bay of Islands, and, rounding the North Cape, sailed down the west coast of the North Island and anchored in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, which is at the north end of the South Island. At the time of my visit to Queen Charlotte Sound last Easter I was unaware of Cook's chart of this place which is to be found in Hawkesworth's edition of the Voyages, but had