Maori Woman Who Saw Cook.

“An old whaler named William Brown lived at Tahoka, on the Taruheru, within half a mile of our residence. He had several descendants living around him there, and a very old Maori woman was the only occupant of a whare close to Brown's. I saw the woman once; she was crouched in a dark corner of her whare. An interesting statement regarding her, and I believe it to be a fact, was that she had seen Captain Cook. It is quite likely that when I saw her she was over 110 years of age. She was mother of Brown's wife, who had died years before. Living within quarter of a mile of Brown's were George Williamson and Bill Ward; they had V huts about a chain apart on the bank of the Taruheru. Each had an aboriginal as a companion and cook, and each had a canoe, used between his abode and Turanganui. I think I've embraced all the Europeans living in 1868 between Turanganui and Makauri, except William King, who was a new arrival and lived in one of the U'Ren's houses.