Summary: When Captain Cook skirted the coastline of Canterbury in 1770, the bleak and ill-defined shores which he could make out to westward, between squalls, appeared to offer little attraction for human habitation. Cook�s first impression seems to have had a retarding influence on European interest in Canterbury, until the pursuit of the whale brought other shipping to those waters. But Cook�s impression was for once misleading; for Canterbury was at this time inhabited by the tribe of Ngaitahu (1), whose numbers have been estimated variously at from two to ten thousand (2). With their headquarters at Kaiapoi (3), a pa famous alike for the strength of its defences, the wealth of its inhabitants, and the aristocratic bearing of its chiefs, the Ngaitahu were the undisputed masters of the whole island, from the Clarence river southwards.

Summary: When Captain Cook skirted the coastline of Canterbury in 1770, the bleak and ill-defined shores which he could make out to westward, between squalls, appeared to offer little attraction for human habitation. Cook�s first impression seems to have had a retarding influence on European interest in Canterbury, until the pursuit of the whale brought other shipping to those waters. But Cook�s impression was for once misleading; for Canterbury was at this time inhabited by the tribe of Ngaitahu (1), whose numbers have been estimated variously at from two to ten thousand (2). With their headquarters at Kaiapoi (3), a pa famous alike for the strength of its defences, the wealth of its inhabitants, and the aristocratic bearing of its chiefs, the Ngaitahu were the undisputed masters of the whole island, from the Clarence river southwards.