on a visit to Rarotonga, informed me that the names of the fleet of canoes which came to New Zealand in about 1350 were known to the Rarotongans. At that time I was under the belief that these names might have been learned from some Maori visitor to Rarotonga, of which the earliest on record is that of a few men who had been taken by the notorious Goodenough from New Zealand in the year 1820 or 1821. This Goodenough, who was well known on the northern coasts of New Zealand about that time as an unscrupulous trader, of which there were so many in those times, made a voyage to the Pacific, and there discovered the lovely island of Rarotonga; but his conduct is said to have been so atrocious in his dealings with the people that he kept his discovery a secret, and thereby lost the honour of being recognised as its discoverer. It was the Rev. J. Williams who first made known the existence of Rarotonga, where he arrived from Ra'iatea in a small schooner in April or May, 1823. Williams brought back to Rarotonga from Aitutaki a woman named Tapairu, who was a relative of the Makea family. She had been taken away by Goodenough (or Kurunaki as the Rarotongans called him; his Maori name was Kurunape) and she helped materially in the introduction of the Gospel.
But the visit of Kurunaki was not the first occasion on which the Rarotongans became acquainted with the white man. Pa-ariki told me that many years before Kurunaki appeared, a large ship was seen in the offing, and one man was daring enough to go on board amongst the atua, or gods, as they supposed the crew to be. On his return he described the many wonders he had seen, and amongst other things he said they had groves of breadfruit trees growing there, and streams of running water. The captain's name was Makore. There can be little doubt as to what ship this was. It will be remembered that the
