Visited by Captain Cook.

From the date of Tasman's flying visit to 1769 no stranger is known to have, visited the Islands. In the latter year Captain Cook reached them in the course of the first of those voyages of great enterprise which have made his name illustrious.

The first of Cook's voyages of discovery began in August, 1768, when he was sent to Tahiti to observe a transit of Venus. After a run of eighty-six days from Tahiti, having touched at some other places, page 8 he sighted the coast of New Zealand on the 6th of October, 1769. On the 8th he landed in Poverty Bay, on the east coast of the North Island, which is therefore held to be the date of the first occupation of the country.