SECOND VISIT: PAGES 250-301
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This service over, I went home with the Rev. H. Williams, and partook of a hasty dinner at his house, it being his wish that I should accompany him to the head of the Kaua Kaua, where there is a promising body of natives, who receive with meekness the engrafted word. The wind and tide were both in our favour, but some delay occurred through one of the natives refusing to go in the boat, although previously warned that he would be wanted to make up a crew. He was one of the many unbaptized persons who are suffered to remain in the missionary compound, and to avail themselves of the advantages of education to be obtained there, while they are willing to maintain a moral exterior, and careful not to infringe the rules observed by the missionaries. They are found employment, and receive wages; but old inveterate habits, unsubdued by the working of new principles, refuse at times the restraints of mere law; and that stubbornness of their disposition which is the natural consequence of vicious indulgence in infancy, proves, on such occasions as the present, both a trial to the temper and a hindrance to the labours of the missionary. The man was soon made ashamed of his conduct, and then evinced not a little chagrin at finding that his place was to be occupied by another.
The sail up the river was very pleasant, and carried us past the Pa of Pomare, of whom I regret to say, that every successive account becomes increasingly sad; his habits are grown so besotted, and his mode of living is so wretched, that his
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health and vigour of body are very sensibly impaired, and the powers of his mind so diluted by a course of incessant debauchery, as to leave him the merest tool in the hands of the designing men by whom he is surrounded. His Pa is frequently visited, sometimes by a missionary, at other times by the native preachers; on these occasions the inhabitants are again and again entreated to turn from sin unto holiness, and from Satan unto God. But Pomare's ear can rarely be gained: surrounded by a set of the lowest and most debased Englishmen, they effectually deter him from taking any heed to the things that belong to his everlasting peace.
Near this we overtook a small canoe, conveying a New Zealand Christian to the head of another and lesser river, which branches off to the right of the Kaua Kaua: this native was going thither to preach the Gospel to a number of his countrymen, and exchanged salutations with us. Our boat's crew, three out of the five being baptized Christians, and the other two catechumens, employed themselves in the bow of the boat, in alternately reading the Scriptures to one another, and in chaunting their native hymns. Having desired Mr. W. to express to them my regret at being unable to speak to them in their own tongue of the love wherewith they are beloved of God, they replied, "Let him talk, and do you interpret;" which led afterwards to the enquiry, whether a missionary, while studying the language, might hope to preach; and be of use to the natives through an interpreter, and it was
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admitted that much good might by this means be accomplished, since many of the native converts are tolerably well acquainted with colloquial English.
The banks of the river over whose surface we were gliding, present nothing remarkable in scenery for the first few miles; but at that distance from the mouth they become very lovely, the land on either side of the narrowing and tortuous stream sloping gradually upwards from the water's edge to the bases of lofty and well-wooded hills, of a great variety of shapes and forms. Nearer to its source, the river winds so very much as to render its navigation somewhat difficult, meandering through an extensive valley, the soil of which is richer, and its vegetable productions of a more striking character than any thing I had before seen in New Zealand. Several hillocks break the level of this valley, and on almost every one of these, the natives of different tribes have built their respective villages. After a sail of about twelve miles, the boat was made fast in a small creek, and left there, while we proceeded on foot to the end of the journey, about three miles off, the walk lying through a natural garden of wild flowers, among which a lofty variety of scented myrtle in full blossom, and the beautiful flower of the wild turnip, which grows upwards of six feet from the ground, were most conspicuous. About midway from the landing-place to the village where Mr. Williams had to preach, we came to a village densely populated, but the inhabitants of which continue in the darkness of ignorance, notwith-
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standing the changes taking place in every direction around them. Here a couple of Englishmen have a saw-pit and reside; these are beginning, it maybe hoped, to seek their own salvation; and that beginning displays itself in civility to the missionaries, of whom they now enquire why, in their visits to the villages beyond them, they never stop at the house of those of their own country.
We arrived, in a short time, at the hut of a poor fellow, who is in the last stage of consumption, "waiting," to use his own words, "to fall asleep in Jesus, in the hope of being raised again from the dead by Him." As Mr. Williams meant to have this day received him into the visible church by the sacrament of baptism, an examination of this invalid took place, in the course of which he gave satisfactory reason for the hope that was in him. He believed himself to be a sinner, he said, and that the whole of his past life must have been abominable in the sight of God; but nevertheless, he trusted in Christ that he was freely and fully forgiven all his sins, and would not be cast into the outer darkness-- "because of what the Bible told him about the death of Christ." If he lived, he hoped to spend all the rest of his days in the service of God; and if he died, he expected to have part in the first resurrection. But, at the same time that he expressed his desire for baptism to be strong, he thought it would be proper to delay it yet longer, lest he should recover strength, and with the recovery be drawn aside to forget God, and so bring reproach upon the cause of his Redeemer, His
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fear of backsliding bad been excited by the consideration of some cases of apostacy among his neighbours, many of whom have been turned aside by a false prophet that has risen up in the neighbourhood of Ranghiua; a native, who sets himself up as a teacher sent from God, and is suffered to deceive multitudes. His followers observe the last day of the week as holy, and desecrate the first. They profess, also, to approve of the sacred books, while they boldly avow their entire rejection of the missionaries' interpretations. He declares himself to have been formerly one with Christ, but at the same time confesses to have been among the numbers of those by whom Christ was crucified. He promises peculiar privileges, both in time and for eternity, to those whom he succeeds in deceiving; yet admits his power to be limited, and that there are those who believe in the Saviour through the preaching of the missionaries, over whom he will not be able to exercise any power, but who will die as they are living, in the faith and hope of the gospel. His sayings and doings have staggered many, and, being a ventriloquist, he has deceived some and terrified others into the belief and confession of a lie by practising that art, and speaking to them in two voices, one of which he tells them is the voice of Atua, taking especial care at those times to make its oracular saying confirm his own previous declarations.
The rise of this impostor forms a new and awful era in the history of the New Zealand mission, and subjects both the pastors and their flocks
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to a new trial of faith and patience. The appearance of false teachers is not, however, to be wondered at, and only calls upon the church of the living God to send more help over to the heathen that none of all those that shall be saved may be any longer exposed to the cunning craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive. It is pleasing through the darkness of the picture which imposture holds up before us, to perceive the light still shining upon those whose light is Christ: while many are staggered, waver, and are in doubt; while some too, alas! alas! are snared, and taken, and destroyed; the majority of the baptized are only driven by their very fears nearer and nearer unto their risen Lord, for mercy and grace, and wisdom and understanding. In the course of our walk we came across one of the deluded. He was very busily engaged in planting the kumera, and kept on with his work all the while Mr. Williams talked, neither venturing to look up, nor condescending to answer, except by sullen monosyllables. The sight of this poor infatuated man was extremely afflicting, given up as he evidently was to strong delusion to believe a lie, while others of his neighbours were as evidently walking in the truth, and by the truth set free, from sin, its curse, and consequences. Coming upon the river at one of its turns, where it became necessary for us to ford it, several of the natives vied with one another for the task of carrying us across; wishing to thank the one who landed me dry shod, I enquired for New Zealand words to address him in, and was answered that the language
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of the country affords no expressions for gratitude to speak by. "Kapai! Good!" being the only vocable by which satisfaction at the receipt of kindness is communicable. A circumstance strikingly illustrative of the moral debasement of a people, and of the state of utter degradation to which their minds must have been reduced--for where there are no words to describe the actings of an affection of the mind, the most necessary to the good of society-- and which, in every civilized community, it is rightly considered a matter of reproach for any individual to be devoid of, the inference is obvious, that the affection itself must have been stifled not only in individual instances, but generally, throughout the whole of the inhabitants. In confirmation of this, it is not a little remarkable, that at the native baptisms, the heathen priests are in the habit of praying on behalf of the child, especially if a boy, that he may be such an adept in lying as to be able to deceive every body, such a monster of cruelty as to be the terror of the whole land, and that he may be dyed with the blood and fed upon the flesh of his enemies. The whole system of training keeps those ends steadily in view--and the success is proportioned to the efforts that are made for the erasure of every lineament of truth and mercy from the mind. The little boy who had been rescued from the savages at Waimate, exhibited a good deal of that headstrong vehemence of temper which is encouraged among their boys, being looked upon as the germ of a martial spirit, and the source of military prowess. Every thing he
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saw, he coveted; every thing he coveted he put in his claim to; and if aught were withheld from him, he stamped, screamed, thrust out his tongue, clenched his fists, and persevered in such like noisy demonstrations of his impotent wrath, until he had either tired others into compliance with his wishes, or was himself exhausted by the violence of his own anger. When it is considered that this youngster was not five years old; that he was the complete pet of the tribe in which he had been reared for six months before, on account of this very impetuosity of temper; --and that similar passion to his is universally esteemed an accomplishment, it will be evident at once how greatly a Christian mission in a country like New Zealand needs to be strengthened by the addition of schools in every direction for the instruction of the very young; and the introduction of the infant school system, and its general use will, it is hoped, lighten the labours of the missionaries to whose lot it may fall to teach the words of eternal life to the next generation of New Zealanders. 1
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There is another set of words wanting to this people in their own tongue, as strongly indicative of improvidence and want of forethought. Time
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and its divisions had no representative words in New Zealand, until the missionaries added such to the language; arid perhaps no fact could more strikingly exhibit the utter idleness of their habits, than this, that they manifestly took no note of time, no, not even by its loss. If the missionaries had done the natives no better service than to teach them the value of time--and communicate to them the sense of gratitude, their labour would not have been in vain in the Lord. 2
We had now entered a populous village, remarkably clean and very neatly built, swarms of the inhabitants being in waiting to welcome us. These came forward with the outstretched hand; and, Ekero! Ekero! from a hundred voices at once, plainly declared that we were looked upon, in the light of "Friends!"
A congregation was speedily gathered in a small square space, formed by three neighbouring huts, a large block of wood serving the missionary to sit
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upon, while to the right of him, some old, white-haired chiefs, spread out their mats and sat cross-legged upon them; the inferior persons of the tribe, with the women and children ranging themselves in front and on his left band, at the same time that a few individuals sat apart within the large porch of an adjoining bouse, and a very few were engaged at a little distance from the assembly, but within hearing, in cooking the eve-tide meal. They listened with mute attention to Mr. W.'s discourse, for upwards of three quarters of an hour, when he was at length interrupted by several voices, some relating what they had been told by the followers of the false prophet; others making mention of the Scriptures which contradict his prophecies. One, a chief, and, better still, --a Christian, stated that part of their unbelief consists in denying the possibility of ascending up into heaven--and proceeded to exemplify a part of the doctrine taught by them in this way: --taking two pieces of dried grass--one piece he set upright, and disposed the other in lesser pieces around it, so as to give to each of these the appearance of an inclined plane, and to all of them different degrees of inclination. Such being said to resemble the different ways men take to get to heaven; some walking along level ground go very fast, till they arrive at the perpendicular ascent, but no sooner attempt to climb it, than they lose their footing and fall into a pit below, analagous to hell--others are a greater or less time in reaching the turning point, but none are able to get beyond, except a few whom nothing can separate from
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Christ; but even these get not to heaven, and only sleep an eternal sleep; while those who believe the impostor's lies are introduced to an Elysium, the delights of which are altogether carnal, sensual, and devilish. Mr. Williams having answered the several questions put to him, and apparently satisfied the enquirers, resumed his discourse, and was listened to with quietness till the end.
After the exhortation, several sick persons sought to him for advice for themselves, and the friends of others besought him that he would visit their bedridden. Some of the latter were cases of scrofula in a very aggravated form; and some of low fever. It is scarcely possible to imagine circumstances of more complete wretchedness and discomfort than those in which their sicknesses had overtaken them: without a coverlid for their bodies, a log of wood served them for a pillow; and the bare ground, covered only by a thin mat, for their miserable bed; and so, with but scanty and careless attendance on the part of their neighbours, they pine away in weariness and misery, looking to death as a relief; yet, in many cases, tenacious of life and fearful to lose it, although embittered by sorrow and suffering. The missionaries, and such of the native Christians as happen to be in improved circumstances, are the only contributors of their few comforts in bodily sickness, even as they alone attempt to convince them of the sickness of their souls, when nothing seems to ail their bodies.
Would it be practicable to introduce local hospi-
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tals at the several mission stations for the reception of the very sick, and their more comfortable maintenance during so sad a period of their lives? Practical beneficence is and ought to be an inseparable attendant of the religion of Jesus, who ever combined the ministrations of a physician with those of a teacher sent from God, and illustrated his glad tidings of God's benevolence by the activity of his own personal beneficence. An apartment or two fitted up with beds, and provided with necessaries for the sick, within the walls of the native churches, so as to bring them under the public means of grace, while providing for them the more private blessings of mercy and loving kindness, would be a happy addition to, and improvement upon, those religious edifices; and could be raised with little additional labour, and at a small increase only of expense, while the good they might be the means of leading to, both temporal and spiritual, would be great, "incalculably great.
At this village I was much struck with the countenance of a very beautiful little girl, the daughter of a New Zealand woman by an Englishman. who formerly lived in concubinage with the mother and aunt of his child, sisters; one of whom is now married to a Christian native, and gives reason to hope that she is herself under the influence of Divine truth.
On asking if the congregation just dispersed had been composed of Christians, I was informed that many of them were, but that, a greater number still
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were not, nor could even be deemed to be enquirers, although constant in attendance, willing to listen, and well-behaved towards the missionaries.
Haying turned aside at this place to examine a singular shaped, and very elaborately carved habitation, elevated several feet above the ground by a stage supported on four pillars, also decorated with a variety of grotesque figures; the natives, on seeing that my attention was attracted towards it, came forward in a body, all seemingly solicitous to disclaim for themselves having had any part in the adornment of this edifice, alleging it to have been the workmanship of their forefathers, and formerly "their book" the meaning of which expression, as applied to a mass of carved wood, I in vain attempted to ascertain. Was the carving of the New Zealanders hieroglyphical? or did those persons, when they called the specimen before us "their book," mean to signify that, formerly, it served them for amusement and recreation; as now "the book of life" furnishes them with delight and enjoyment?
Taking our leave of these interesting villagers, we walked to another and more numerous cluster of huts, at some distance off, several of the natives going along with us. Part of the way led along the bank of the river, the tranquil repose of whose waters was undisturbed by any passing breath of wind; while on its surface, smooth as the silvered glass, earth and sky met together, as it were to confront one another with looks of peculiar loveliness. A few light and graceful canoes lay floating in readi-
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ness for their owners in the clear stream, but lay so lightly there that they seemed rather to grow out of the crystal beneath them, than to be altogether foreign and distinct bodies. The sky was almost cloudless, the air serene and calm, every part of the picture in perfect keeping, and the whole scene as though inanimate nature both heard and obeyed the command which saith--Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.
As we struck off from the side of the river, the tolling of a distant bell came tinkling across the valley, and announced the assembling of a body of natives to evening prayers at the village to which we were hastening. We had not much farther to go; but every turn of the path pleased the eye with a change of prospect, while it enabled us to perceive how dense the population is compared with that of the Bay of Islands.
This being spring-time with the New Zealanders, we passed several plantations of the kumera. The earth is prepared to receive this vegetable by a very simple process: the surface is broken up, and the mould collected into hummocks, in which holes are then made for the kumera, and that covered in, the whole work is completed. The appearance of the plantations was rather curious, from the regular irregularity, if the phrase may be allowed, with which those hummocks are arranged. Formerly, none of these vegetable gardens could be approached, either at the season of planting, or during the growth of the plants, on account of the tapu, every one being thereby rendered sacred against intru-
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sion; but now very little of this superstitious observance remains, even among tribes who most resolutely persist in their refusal to be taught the religion of Jesus. The number of inclosures, and the care with which every village appears to have been subdivided into separate spaces; for solitary houses in some instances, and in others for small groups of two or three, and but seldom exceeding four, suffice to show how distinctly individual rights must have been recognized in particular properties; but that these were, and are still, made to succumb upon occasions to the law of the strongest, is unquestionable. How desirable, how greatly desirable is it, that the royal law of liberty and love by which The Kingdom of our God is governed, should speedily be proclaimed in every corner of the globe, and recommended by the walk and conversation of true Christians in every country, until every tribe submit itself to the righteous sovereignty of the King of kings; and his commands become the common law of every land, and his favour encompass the habitation of every dweller upon earth as with a shield. For a consummation so devoutly to be wished, it is the duty of every Christian fervently to pray; and what Christian, who calmly deliberates upon the past, the present, and the future, as they affect those who know not God, but will contribute out of his abundance, or according to his ability, that more labourers may be sent forth into this part of the field, ripe unto harvest with precious perishing souls; the wheat of God only waiting to be gathered into the garners of the Lord.
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Having at last reached the expectant congregation, I was gratified to find it a large one. Upwards of three hundred persons were there, not, indeed, in a house made with hands, but in a large open space, ia the centre of a widespread village, with the everlasting hills behind them, and the clear blue sky above, the green-sward for their seat, and the homes of their fathers before and on either side of them, to remind of days gone by; and perhaps to tell of obscene rites and unclean superstitions, soon, it may be hoped, to be forgotten for ever, in the universal substitution of a reasonable faith, --a true and spiritual worship. The most profound attention, and the utmost decency, propriety, and order, prevailed throughout the whole of the service; the responses were audible, distinct, and deeply solemn. The chorus of singers clear, well-timed, and harmonious. The ear of every individual seemed bent for hearing, as though to him alone the message was addressed. Just before the close of the sermon, some of the hearers submitted a few questions to the preacher, but evidently with very great deference, and, as I was afterwards assured, for the sole purpose of getting the difficulties explained which occurred to their own minds, or arose out of the subject-matter of discourse. After the sermon, a native Christian offered up an extempore prayer, the whole assembly kneeling, and the most, complete silence prevailing. The benediction was then pronounced, which having received, these warm-hearted islanders flocked round their friend and me, to greet us with the customary
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shake of the hand before we left them. We afterwards visited some sick, and made for the boat, parties of the natives accompanying us, till they reached successively the various bye-paths leading to their own homes, before turning into which, they all approached to bid us good bye. The now familiar word, Ekero! friend, with the proffered hand, open as charity, which grasped that held out by us in our turn, spoke volumes to the heart of one whose heart was too full of thoughts, of thoughts themselves too big for utterance, to admit of his more than looking them a long and fond farewell. I have contented myself in barely relating a part of what I saw and heard at this time, for I dare not attempt any thing like a description of my emotions throughout the whole afternoon and evening. While witnessing the artless devotions of these poor, half clad savages, I felt abashed and humbled. While hearing them pray, and sing, and give thanks unto Jehovah Jesus, my Lord and my God, the heart within me fainted, and I could only murmur to my mind's ear: --Of what has been done, by the grace of God, for New Zealand, through the instrumentality of his servants the missionaries, the half had not been told me. And to those by whom these pages may be perused, I can only say, that the writer has not told them the half of what he saw, remarked, and felt, while in that far-off isle of the sea.
Night had set in before we gained the boat, and the moon nothing visible, darkness lay upon our homeward track over the waters. The wind in our
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teeth and a slack tide, compelled the boat's crew to pull the whole way to Paihia, where they landed us about ten o'clock. As they were pulling down the Kaua Kaua, a bullet passed over our heads, supposed to have been discharged from the musket of some one returning to Pomare's Pa; and as the boat rounded the point which opens the entrance to the Bay, the flash and sound of a gun from the Alligator, replied to by the bright glare of a burning-blue light from some other vessel, announced the good news of the Isabella's arrival.
Making the best of my way to Mr. Chapman's, I found him sitting up for me, but dispirited and distressed by the coldness of the reception he had met with upon the occasion of his visit to the tribes at the head of the Waikadi, whither he had gone to preach in the afternoon. For some time past he has visited them, regularly on the Lord's Day, meeting with a varied welcome, according to their humour at the period of his visits. To-day he has been deeply pained and greatly discouraged. The natives told him it was useless for him to come among them, for his visits had done them no good: that whereas before he visited them, and before they listened to him, they had all good health, many of them are now sick and ill; thus charging their diseases upon his ministrations. Another reason they assigned for urging him to discontinue his visits was, that such of their females as went to live at the mission settlement, had, in several instances, died there shortly afterwards; a fact explained by him, and accounted for in a way that makes the
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heart sick to think of, and bitterly sad as well as sick, from an entire conviction of its truth. The native women who become members of the settlement, go there, for the most part, from the shipping in the harbour, under a foreboding of disease, or in a state of actual suffering, their sicknesses being the melancholy sequela of the worse than brutal excesses into which they have been forced by their heartless paramours on board. Occasionally an awakened conscience, and emotions of disgust and horror, cause them to look about for some way of escape from the perils and miseries of their condition; when, with that instinctive dread of death, which, shuddering, shrinks from its approach at every premonition of disease, they hie them away to Paihia, there, in some few instances, to undergo that thorough change of heart and mind in the course of which the fear of death is destroyed, and in its stead is brought in the blessed hope of everlasting life; but in other and more numerous instances, they are in so low and lost a state at the time of their arrival, that all in the power of the missionaries to do, is to spread beneath these wretched sacrifices to native cupidity and European lust, a bed whereon they may die with greater ease of body; and, so far as that may be permitted them of God, to comfort the spirits while they minister to the bodies of the dying.
From the above it would appear, that among the other hindrances to the success of Christian missionaries, whose field of labour is fixed in the neighbourhood of places resorted to by the shipping
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of our country and her colonies, must be enumerated not only the contradiction of sinners of their own country and kind, but the very effects of those men's vices upon the bodies of the unhappy natives. Yet principalities and powers are leagued together to shut out the marvellous light of the gospel of Christ from the mind of the sailor, who is thereby rendered almost as destitute of the means of grace as any tribe of savages in New Zealand; even as he in his turn, but ignorantly, in unbelief, busies himself, wherever he may be, in bringing reproach upon the sacred name of Christian, whereby be is called, by criminal indulgence and bestial excess in two of the most deadly vices by which fallen humanity is disgraced--uncleanness and drunkenness. 3
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Oct. 27. --Requested to visit Mrs. Baker, who was confined to her room by sickness.
From a conversation with her husband I derived much gratification, on account of certain particulars stated by him respecting Kororarika, where a moral transformation is going on among the native population, of the most promising character. Since the date of the Alligator's first visit to New Zealand, the extension of missionary labour to other and more remote districts, have occasioned several alterations to be made in the respective places of residence of some of the missionaries, one of whom, the Rev. W. Williams, having removed to the southward from Paihia, Mr. Baker was directed to quit the Keri Keri, and occupy the place left vacant at Paihia. Or his first arrival in the country, he had laboured at Kororarika: his compassion for the people there, revived with his return
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to the opposite shore, and, his brethren consenting to the measure, he determined to renew his work among them. Accordingly, one Lord's Day, between three and four months ago, he crossed the Bay for the purpose of preaching the gospel to them. From 100 to 150 natives soon gathered round, attracted by curiosity to see him, but without any apparent desire to hear what he might have to say to them. At first they refused to let him preach, and a chief, one of three brothers, rose, and ordered him to leave the beach, which of course he declined doing. "I have crossed the Bay to preach to you, and preach to you I will!" The chief then raised his merai, and threatened him with personal violence, if he did not go away instantly; to this the persevering missionary's only reply was, "I shall not go away, and am sure," addressing himself to the man by whom he was opposed, "and am sure you love me too well to hurt me; and am sure," turning round to the rest, "you all love me too well to let him hurt me." They rejoined, that, that was very fine talk, but where was his love for them, when be forsook them formerly, and went away to live with the people at the Keri Keri? "And therefore, as you can have no love for us, you had better go about your business, back with you to Keri Keri! for the people of Kororarika can do without you, and all they want is, that, having once gone away, you should always keep away." He answered, that he was originally forced to leave them, but adduced it in proof of his love having never
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diminished, that now he was ordered back to live in their neighbourhood, he had revisited them, and intended, with the divine blessing, to do so every succeeding Lord's Day. A brother of the chief who had practised intimidation to get rid of him, exclaimed, "Well, really, you are a very pressing man, and it would be a pity not to hear you talk, now you are come so far, and it would be a pity to let you go off without having talked first." The rest of the party appearing to coincide with him, preparations were made for assembling the other natives to church, when another difficulty was started. The missionary had brought no bell with him, and how they were to have church without a bell, seemed to pose the wisest heads among them. He remarked that it was of no consequence, and suggested, as a very good substitute, that a piece of old tin, which lay on the beach, if hung up and hammered with a stick, would make noise enough to warn the people; but they were very unwilling to adopt the proposed expedient, and when at last they had done so, reproached him with being but a sorry fellow after all, to come from home for the purpose of preaching, and forget to bring a bell with him. 4
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When this grave question, Bell versus No Bell, had been disposed of, the people were soon congregated, and the service commenced and was concluded in peace. They listened with their usual attention, and with evident pleasure consented to receive Mr. Baker's future visits. From that day they have been constantly ministered unto by him; and a marked change is said to be visible already in their outward deportment. So much so, that they have proposed to build a watch-house on the beach; to apprehend every individual, native or other, who may be found on shore in a state of intoxication; and to imprison all such till they become sober.
That permanent good is likely to accrue to Ko-
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rorarika from the renewal of Mr. Baker's labours on that spot, may be inferred from the fact, that a church is shortly to be built for the joint accommodation of the English settlers there, and the native inhabitants of the village; some of the former having made an especial request to that effect, and entered into a liberal subscription towards defraying the expense of its erection; one of the chiefs also having offered a piece of ground every way eligible for a site. A similar offer has also been made by one of the settlers, a Hebrew by birth and profession, who proposes to make a legal surrender of the ground to the missionaries as sole trustees, and declares his intention to attend regularly at the seasons of public worship, whenever the church may be opened. "Although," are his words, "I am not, as you must know, of your persuasion, yet I have heard many good sermons, and consider a good sermon an excellent thing; besides, I like to see a church near my house, and to have one to go to, though no Christian myself." Another settler, of the Roman Catholic profession, has contributed liberally to further the object in view, and promises also for himself that his attendance shall not be withholden from the services. In giving in his name as a subscriber of five pounds towards the building, he declared his contribution to be made in gratitude for the many obligations under which he lay on account of the friendly and successful interference of the missionaries, when his house has been surrounded and his property endangered by the natives.
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Instances of liberality like the above are very encouraging, and form an important kind of evidence, from witnesses altogether unexceptionable, to the moral influence possessed by the missionaries, and to their right employment of a power, which neither by force nor fraud could they have acquired; and which, by no other means could be retained than that of patient continuance in well-doing, whereby they are enabled still to commend their cause not only to the hearts of the ignorant and simple-minded savages, but also to the consciences of unbelieving Jew and misbelieving Roman, as the cause of truth, and the cause of God.
From Mr. Baker's I was called out to dispense medicines for the sick persons who had been visited the day before. The dispensary is at Mr. William Williams's residence, and well supplied; it has proved a blessing to hundreds. A native having come down to Paihia to fetch the articles prescribed for his neighbours, led me to see how great inconvenience, and even danger to the lives of the sick, is occasioned for want of the means required to make a more enlarged provision for supplying them with medicines, when deemed to be necessary, without risking the delay of a day and night before they can be administered. A hundred pounds per annum, additional to that already expended upon the New Zealand mission, would enable the missionaries to attach a chest, containing medicines and medical comforts, to every church built by the natives, for at least some few years to come, with the lapse of which it may reasonably be supposed that much of
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the expense of medicines will be diminished by the increased facilities of trading, even should the natural productions of the island not be found to furnish, which however I suspect they will, a tolerable materia medica at the New Zealander's own door. The mission, as I have before remarked, would be greatly benefited also, if the missionary corps could be increased by a few additions of men similarly qualified as the Rev. William Williams, who had completed a medical education before he entered upon his studies for holy orders, and whose medical services have been invaluable to the European families when visited with sickness, as well as to the natives.
Having finished the light labour of love to which I had been called, I left the house to rejoin my friend, and found him engaged with Mr. Busby, Captain Lambert, and the master of a whaling-vessel belonging to Sydney, who were come to enquire after a New Zealand sailor that bad deserted from the latter. On the Rev. H. Williams pledging himself for the safety of the individual while on the mission premises, he ventured forth from his hiding-place elsewhere, and confronted his master, whom he accused of having struck and otherwise ill-treated him, declaring, at the same time, his determination not to return to the ship or service from which he had fled. The master, a "respectable" person in the vocabulary of New South Wales, though cognizant of the terms on which the man had come forth to the conference, proposed, notwithstanding, that he should be seized on the spot,
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put into the boat, and sent on board. Such a proceeding, however, Mr. Williams at once interdicted, and was instantly charged with protecting the natives in their evil practices! "Not so," was the mild reply to this railing accusation. "This man came hither, confiding in my word--that word cannot be broken to him. Without pledging it, I had no power to make him appear before you; and but for my doing so, you could not have had the interview with him which you desired. I shall not, therefore, allow him to be touched while he remains on these premises; let him return to whence my promise of safety brought him, and you may catch him. if you can, and do with him what you please." The master yielded with indifferent grace, to a species of reasoning that admitted of no appeal, and made a merit of necessity; but, afterwards, inveighed against Mr. Busby for not calling in the assistance of the Alligator to force the natives to give up their tribesman, as well as to compel Pomare to make restitution for a boat which he had seized; and expressed his intention to make the Sydney public (!!!) acquainted with the whole affair. Upon which His Majesty's Resident very politely tendered him his hand, and in good time put an end to the argument, now that it assumed so insolent a tone, by quietly walking away.
The afternoon was spent chiefly in the sick chamber of Mrs. W. Williams, who has been an invalid for several months; the Rev. Mr. Brown, who had returned only a few hours previously, and was one of the very few missionaries whom I had not pre-
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viously met with, joined the family party here. He, had been the day before at the Keri Keri settlement to administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to two congregations, one native, the other English. In the conversation which took place, he interested me a good deal by his account of a recent excursion made by him, in company with William Williams, to the Waikato and Tauranga districts, for the purpose of fixing upon the fittest situations for new settlements. Being enabled to correct my memory by a copy of his journal, kept during the said tour, I shall add here a brief narrative thereof, illustrating as it does afresh, what I have over and over had occasion to remark before --the moral influence possessed by the missionaries wherever their character is known; and the beneficial use to which they put it; and at the same time exhibiting a preparation of mind on the part of the natives for the reception of the gospel, which is highly encouraging to those whose efforts are directed towards supplying them with "more missionaries".
A Waikato chief, named Kati, accompanied Messrs. Williams and Brown on their voyage, part of which lay up the river Thames, the natives of which are occasionally at war with the Waikato tribes; even as these are hostile to those of Natihawa and Taranaki. The wind having compelled the captain of their vessel to put into Mahurangi, a harbour at the entrance of the Frith, a canoe came alongside with the intelligence that a party from Waipa (a branch of the Waikato river upon which
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they hoped to form one of their new settlements) had, a few days before, made an attack upon a Pa in the Thames called Wakatiwai; --killed twenty of the Thames people, wounded several others, and carried off about thirty prisoners. It was by this place that "Kati" and his party proposed passing on their way to Waikato; and, with the missionaries, he naturally became alarmed for his own safety and that of his native companions. It, very Providentially, happened, however, that "Warekaua" a chief belonging to Wakatiwai, and several other natives, were at Mahurangi, having come down to Mr. Gordon Browne's to acquaint him with the particulars of the battle. The missionaries, upon hearing this, went on shore to meet them, and obtained their guarantee of, safety for Kati and his friends, who were prohibited, however, from returning by the road that Kauae and the Waikato natives had come over to make their attack, it having been tapu'd in consequence.
On the arrival of the party a few days afterwards, at Wakatiwai, having landed their, baggage, &c, they found a large body of natives assembled-- the Pa in a state of defence; and numbers of canoes crossing to the opposite side of the Frith, to deposit their women and children in a place of safety, lest they should have to sustain a second attack. Kati and the other natives going on shore after the missionaries had been there some time, went direct to the Pa, where "a great crying" was immediately commenced between him and such of the natives whom he met there, as were his relatives;
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during which, a party outside rifled the canoes of all his property, consisting of forty muskets, four casks of powder, blankets, tobacco, axes, &c. With this, the chiefs expressed themselves satisfied, having exacted it as "payment" for the injuries previously done to them by his tribe. "All that a man bath, will he give for his life." This scripture was strikingly exemplified in the case of Kati; when speaking of his loss the same evening, he remarked with the most perfect composure, "What are the Ngapuhi things to me, as long as my neck is whole?"
When they had approached within a mile of the Pa which held his friends, he and his party greased their heads, and made themselves "fine" in readiness for an interview with the former. They were met by a canoe from which several guns were fired, after which the natives in it pulled back to the Pa, and presently a dozen canoes, with upwards of two hundred people in them, advanced rapidly towards the missionaries, "making the hills reverberate with the whizzing of bullets." Having arrived opposite the Pa, an old priest, covered with grease and red-ochre, come off to them, whereupon Kati and his male friends landed, pulled off their garments, and took out their ear and neck ornaments, and sat them down upon the ground, "huddled together," while the priest karakiad over them; of which ceremony, the missionaries could obtain no further explanation than that, in consequence of those who were now returned home having been stopped at Wakatiwai, they were tapu, but
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that the tapu was removed by this karakia. 5 On entering the Pa, a loud cry was set up by the natives, and joined in by Kati and his friends--this lasted a long time, and was followed by speech-making on the part of different individuals, which lasted a still longer time.
The following, being the Lord's-day, the missionaries paid them a visit, and found most of the people at work about a variety of jobs, but, upon Mr. Brown going among them and reminding them of the day, and telling them that it ought to be kept sacred, they discontinued their labours, and assembled themselves together to have the gospel preached unto them. They are said to have been very attentive while Mr. W. Williams addressed them. Nearly five hundred persons in three parties, many of them for the first time, thus heard the gospel of the grace of God.
One evening a splendid meteor was seen, upon which Mr. Brown observes, "the natives, who, like
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the men of Athens, are in all things too superstitious, said it was a sign of the death of some great chief amongst their enemies."
Continuing their course up the river Waipa, they were met by Kauae, the chief who had conducted the assault upon Wakatiwai, and whose reputed character is that of a reckless desperado. On his being told of some of the Ngapuhi chiefs who believe the gospel and rejoice in Christ Jesus, his remark was: --"They have missionaries--Can I believe through the trees?" "Alas" was the comment of the missionary, while mentioning that remark, "how many in this land have no other teachers; but how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not beard, and how are they to hear without a preacher?"
At a place called Mangapouri, situated in that part of the Waipa where another river, the Puriru, branches off, it was deemed expedient to fix the site of a mission settlement. The names of the tribe located there, is Natiata; that of their chief Awarahi, who, though a man of war from his youth upwards, is much pleased at the prospect of a messenger of peace sitting down for a permanence with his people. The place is described as "very lovely," and as presenting "many advantages for a missionary station;" great numbers of the natives being within a convenient distance; the land seems good, and is well watered--the back ground supplying plenty of firewood, while, from a range of high hills (Pirongia) in front; good timber may be procured for building. On the first Lord's-day,
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(August 24th, 1834), spent by them at this place, the weather was so unfavourable as to confine them to their tent. Twice, however, on that day, a cessation of the rain and hail enabled them to assemble the natives for divine service, at the tent door. Adopting Mr. Brown's own language, "May the poor natives flock as doves to the window, around the standard now set up in this place!"
Leaving Mangapouri, they halted farther on at Otawao, the Pa of Natiriru, and were there visited by some chiefs, who expressed themselves as disappointed at the new station not having been fixed with their tribe, in which they number four hundred fighting men. These, however, with their families, may all be visited with ease from the spot already selected.
After prayers with the natives, they pushed on to a place called Orakaa, which they reached in about two hours, and tarried there for a short time, before continuing their route to Maunga Tautari, at which latter place they preached thrice to about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. The natives there, are in connection with Waharoa, a very powerful chief, but seem to be a wild and turbulent set.
After two days further travelling, some miles of which lay through a singularly romantic valley, whose shelving sides, "rising 100 feet above their heads, were so steep and even as to resemble a succession of well-formed ramparts; while at one part they were lined with basaltic pillars placed with equal regularity," they arrived at Mata Mata, and were very graciously received by Waharoa; he
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presenting his nose for the missionaries to rub against their's. From his subsequent conversation it became evident that he would be very much disappointed, unless a missionary could be set down amongst his people, to instruct them. He said he had not got up to battle since their previous visit, ten months ago, although other of the Waikato tribes had done so, because he had put by their talk to him on that occasion, and remembered that they had told him it was not good to make war, and that ever since he had waited for and been expecting his missionary, till he was well nigh tired out with waiting so long. At his request, they went with him, the following morning, to a plantation in the woods, near the Pa, where not less than 600 natives were assembled; the men engaged at planting potatoes, while a number of aged chiefs sat together under the trees, and groups of little children pursued their play together. The planting over, Waharoa proposed that they should return to the fence of the Pa, in order that his people might assemble there, "to hear the talk of the missionaries." After sitting a short time, the people rushed from the plantation towards the Pa, in the style of their country, and began dancing and making speeches, the principal features of which were in strange contrast, being war! and missionaries! Waharoa said, that his residence was at a cross path, and that, while sitting there, he should see a white man coming towards him, whom he should find to be a missionary from Tauranga, passing through his place on a visit to the mission-
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aries at Waipa, that afterwards, he should see another white man coming along, who would prove to be a missionary from Waipa going to Tauranga, or else to the Thames station, and that, when they passed by him and saw that there was no teacher living with him, they would be "bad with exceeding shame!" When the natives had finished their speeches, William Williams addressed them, and throughout his address they were all very attentive. After evening prayers, one of the natives from the Bay of Islands, gathered together a group of people belonging to the Pa, and taught them part of the Church catechism by rote.
Leaving Mata Mata, and its chief, so encouragingly solicitous for a doer of good to abide with him, they proceeded on their journey, and, three days after, arrived at Otumoetai, the principal of the Tauranga Pas. The morning after their arrival there, several of the chiefs came in to pay their respects to them, but these were all very taciturn, and seemed as though they were altogether indifferent to the establishment of a missionary station in their midst. One of the chiefs, Tupaia by name, said, it would be very good, if they, (the missionaries,) could make the Rarawa sit still and not allow them to come and fight against Tauranga. A proposal to hold divine service being agreed to, upwards of five hundred persons assembled for the purpose, paying considerable attention to both the prayers and the preaching. In the afternoon of the same day, the lads accompanying the mission, taught the catechism by rote to different little as-
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semblages of natives whom they had gathered round them for the purpose: and who met together in the evening for public worship to the number of about three hundred.
But, although the missionaries officiated repeatedly among the tribes in this neighbourhood, the chiefs of those tribes appeared to care but little about the proposed settlement, until a spot had been selected for it between Otumoetai and Maunga Papa, at a place called the Papa, the central situation of which constituted its principal recommendation, the neighbourhood surrounding it being destitute of timber, fencing, and fire-wood. One chief objected to the missionaries residing there, alleging that the tribe to whom it belonged, was a very tutu one, although afterwards constrained to admit, that it was the most convenient place from which to visit all the natives by whom the circumjacent country is inhabited. The tribe, in whom was vested the light of property to the nearest timber, threatened to withhold it from the use of the mission, if the Papa should be finally chosen. Another chief remarked, that his people would not attend at the Papa to be instructed. While at Otumoetai it had been reported concerning some, that they had said if the tribe at the Papa went into their woods to obtain wood for building the mission-houses with, they, the Otumoetai people, would "strip" the missionaries for payment. Their chiefs, however, denied that any such threats proceeded from them. Yet, all circumstances being considered, the call of Divine Providence seemed by no means so direct
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upon the missionaries to station themselves here, as it was at the Waipa and at Mata Mata. Nevertheless, they staked out dimensions for two Raupo Houses, and resolved upon remaining there with the standard of the Cross in their hands.
I have thought the above account of the extension of the Church Missionaries' operations in New Zealand, although merely an abridgment of the verbal and written statements of one of themselves, calculated to awaken renewed interest in all that concerns the progress of Divine Truth in that island, and feel satisfied, that the insertion of it, along with the narrative of what fell under my own observation, will need neither excuse nor apology. In the contemplation of those preparations for lengthening the cords, and strengthening the stakes, and enlarging the place of the Church's tent in that country, the heart of every one who is jealous for the honour of the true God, and cherishes a burning zeal for the eternal good of mankind, will join the writer in his desire and prayer, that the desolate cities of this heathen land may yet be inhabited, and that a righteous seed may be raised up to inherit these poor gentiles, among whom we have seen our missionary brethren stretching forth "the curtains of their habitations."
Oct. 28 and 29. --On board, and engaged principally in transcribing an unfinished grammar of the New Zealand tongue, by the Rev. William Williams; which, as it proceeds no farther than nouns substantive and adjective, does not furnish me with the means of analyzing the language; in
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reducing which to grammatical rules, and in assigning to it representative characters, the missionaries have chosen to follow the orthoepy of the continental nations in Europe, and to adopt an orthography of their own, retaining the Roman character for the letters. From the very small proportion of consonants to the number of the vowels, the latter being five in number, while the former are only nine; and from the multitude of diphthongs, of which there are not less than nineteen, the language is uncommonly soft and flowing. It may not be amiss to remark here, that a very close analogy subsists between all the languages spoken on the respective clusters of islands which stud the South Pacific Ocean. A missionary from New Zealand visiting Tonga, was able, after a few weeks residence, to render himself perfectly intelligible to the natives of the latter island; and vice versa. The missionaries from Tahiti, going to the Sandwich Islands, were able to make themselves understood by the inhabitants, and preached the gospel to them effectually. It is much to be regretted that so favourable an opportunity has been lost of making a joint effort towards producing uniformity of language among these several islands of the south. But the missionaries have laboured under many disadvantages; besides being men of different degrees of literary cultivation, they have been ministers of different Christian denominations, and missionaries in connection with different societies. They have therefore had but little or no correspondence with one another, and that little was
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likely, in the very nature of the case, to be limited to topics of loftier import and more overpowering interest, than the construction of a mere form of sound words. But is it too late, even now, to do something towards so desirable, and certainly not unimportant an end, as that of rendering the languages of the south generally intelligible to all the inhabitants thereof? For the purposes of trade and commerce, for the more universal diffusion of religious and other knowledge, for the greater efficiency of future missionary labours, it is equally requisite. The vocabulary of those languages is, in its native state, extremely limited, corresponding to the limited number of ideas, and the very limited range of thought which must characterize every race of savages, and especially every such race, when insulated, as these islanders were up to the end of the last century. The additions that have been made to that vocabulary hitherto, have been a heterogeneous jumble of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and nobody knows how many other languages, and these differing in different islands; such additions having been made from time to time, according as the intercourse of the islanders with foreigners and foreign objects added to their original stock of ideas, and multiplied materials for thinking. Similar additions are every day making to their respective collections of words, and, since all their teachers are Englishmen, or men whose vernacular tongue is English, every missionary in the South Seas being either American or English, would it not be a task worthy
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even of Christian missionaries, to collate the languages of the several islands, to compare and revise, so as to assimilate the grammars of those languages, to determine upon the words hereafter to be introduced, so that they may be the same everywhere, or, where they vary, that they may do so only as the words of one dialect vary from another, and to compile unitedly a dictionary for use in all the islands? I am sure such a measure is practicable; that it would be ultimately economical cannot be doubted; that it might, and most likely would be productive of mutual benefit to the teachers and the taught, to missionaries and people, is an inference fairly deducible from the consideration that the former might acquire a greater familiarity with the language he would want to teach, and wider scope in it for the development of his own ideas, and more facilities of communicating those ideas to others. But upon speculations like these, this, perhaps; is not the place to enter, yet I cannot refrain from making mention of one more advantage which occurs as likely to accrue from the adoption of some such step as that now recommended. Although different, as respects acquirements, denominations, and religious connexions, the missionaries, I hope and trust, feel that their employment is the same, and labour in that employment under the constraining influence of one common motive, and in the desire and expectation of one only result. Their employment, to turn sinners to God; their motive, the love of Christ shed abroad in their
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hearts; and the result they anticipate, the glory of the Most High in the salvation of men. The different Societies by whom the expences of their missions are borne, have sometimes to defray the additional expences incidental to the removal home of sick missionaries and their wives, frequently of both these, where one only has any ailment, whereas, the good to be derived from change of climate might be obtained by a shorter and less expensive voyage to some neighbouring set of islands, and yet that lesser expence be productive of substantial and additional good, by producing an occasional exchange between the labourers of their respective fields of labour; a consequent expansion of their own faculties; and the diffusion of an excellent spirit of emulation among them, without any base mixture of rivalry.
October 30th. --There was a meeting of chiefs this day, in front of the Resident's house; their object being to deliberate upon the measures necessary to be adopted for the punishment of a petty chief, who had made an attack upon the Residency, stolen some of the furniture, and endangered the lives of the inmates. Several months had elapsed without any clue being obtained to a discovery of the guilty parties, and, from the general belief that no native is capable of keeping a secret, the affair was involved in considerable mystery, and unhappily served as an occasion of disagreement between the Resident and the settlers, these latter having addressed to that functionary a proffer of their
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united assistance and, counsel, couched, however, in no very courteous terms, and coupled with a most uncourteous expression of what their opinion of him would be if he declined availing himself of their services; to which his reply was such as might have been looked for--a simple declaration, that the tone of their communication rendered it impossible for him to notice it further. 6
A domestic quarrel between the chief and his wife led at last to the discovery. He had beaten her, and she upbraided him with possessing a stolen rug, which, on being produced, proved to be part of Mr. B.'s lost property. On the chief being interrogated as to how it came into his possession, he boldly replied that he had stolen it from Dr. Ross. a gentleman whose house was near the residency, and had been stripped of all it contained. But that gentleman disclaimed being the owner of the rug in question, upon which the accomplished thief, persisting in his first story, observed, "Perhaps Dr. Ross stole it from Mr. Busby!" but was at last brought to make confession of his own guilt, without which confession the neighbouring chiefs declared themselves incompetent to punish him. After a good many speeches had been made, some proposing one thing, some another, and one that he should be brought out in front of the house, and shot upon the spot; it was at last suggested and agreed upon, that he should be deprived of his land, and, with all his tribe, banished the country; the
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land to be forfeited to the King of England; and proposals to that effect were sent to the Governor of New South Wales for his sanction.
The equity of the above decision cannot be doubted, the condemned person having, on his own showing, been guilty of two daring burglaries, restitution was imperatively called for. Having added an attempt upon the lives of the English families whom he succeeded in plundering; and one of those families being necessarily, because officially, his neighbours, the removal of so dangerous a character from the place was rendered absolutely necessary; to have removed him without at the same time sending away his vassal tribe would, in all probability, have contributed nothing to the safety of either persons or property for the future. Besides escheating his land, there was, perhaps, no other way of obtaining restitution; and, unless his death had been made the forfeit, no adequate mode of making his case a precedent of terror to evildoers like himself could be discovered, but that of passing upon him, and upon all that were subject to him, a sentence of perpetual banishment. One satisfactory result of the proceedings is the distinctness with which the fact has been established, that the attack upon Mr. Busby's house was one of burglary alone, such as might have been made in New South Wales by a party of bush-rangers, and had nothing whatever to do with political dissatisfaction on the part of the natives with the British Resident, either in his official capacity, or as a private individual. Why, in such a case, the
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escheatment of the burglar's land should have been in favour of the King of Great Britain, a national concession in compensation for a private wrong, it might puzzle a lawyer to conjecture. If the possession of that small patch of land should hereafter be made to furnish the government of New South Wales with a pretext for quartering a detachment of soldiery on the country, the heedlessness and folly of the measure will be apparent. It is already too evident that there are many in our colonies who covet, with an evil covetousness, the inheritance of the New Zealanders. The soil of the land is better than that of New Holland. Its harbours more numerous. It is not a dry and parched up territory like that of New South Wales, but, in comparison with it, a fruitful and well-watered garden. Its flax has proved a fortune to several, even when obtained at second hand only; its lofty woods tempt with the promise of inexhaustible riches; its harbours are so numerous and so excellent, as almost to invite the public robber to enter and take possession of them, under the plausible excuse of benefiting all-greedy commerce. Hitherto, the personal courage of the New Zealander has compelled every individual adventurer to conciliate the lords of the soil, and to make, at least, a show of fair play, in order to enjoy the advantages of free trade. If once, however, the colonial government can be induced so far to yield to public clamour as to make New Zealand a military cantonment, farewell! a long farewell to all its independence! it were next to impossible that it should be able, divided as
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it is among many tribes, to make more than a feeble resistance, or to prolong beyond a very short period of time, any thing like resistance at all to the greater power, and better armed and disciplined forces of their opponents.
At the meeting, out of which the foregoing reflections have arisen, the chief Tetori, was conspicuous. He has gained the honourable appellation of peace-maker, from natives and Europeans, both on account of the frequency and success with which he has repeatedly mediated between contending bodies of his own countrymen. His ambition appears to be to excel in riches, and he lately sent his merai to the King of England, with an expression of his desire that a schooner might be sent to him from His Majesty. In lieu of which, the dangerous gift of arms and armour has been vouchsafed him. When I first saw him, it was some time before the hour appointed for assembling, and being meal-time with the natives, furnished me with another opportunity of observing their domestic manners, now rapidly vanishing before the improvements consequent upon their intercourse with Europeans, and their growing desire to be conformed to European usages. The women and children were the companions of their husbands and fathers; and the predominance of heathenism was apparent in the presence of more than one man, having two wives. At their meal, all the members of a family sat together, a basket of potatoes and kumeras in their midst, the household mat spread beneath them, and their household fare shared in common, every
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one dipping his hand into the same dish, i. e. a basket, which at the close of the meal is thrown away, a new one being prepared for each day; a cleanly custom, but not peculiar to this island, being common also to India, where the Hindus prepare for their daily meal of rice, a platter of plaited palm leaves, which once defiled by use, is thenceforth cast off as useless. Whole baskets of potatoes had been brought from their different homes by the several families, according to a rule among them, never to go beyond the limits of their own tribes, without carrying a store of provisions, proportioned to the probable length of their journey, and absence. Most of the chiefs, with their retainers, who had arrived at Waitangi on the present occasion, came in large and handsome canoes; some of them upwards of forty feet in length, and all gaily decorated with tufts of white feathers at the prow and stern, and placed at equal distances along the sides. In one of these there were fourteen thwarts, and a shifting deck, or grating, very neatly put together, under which the provisions were stowed as in a hold. Large unoccupied spaces, one in the centre, and one at either end, are left for the accommodation of the principal persons of the tribe, who stand there and encourage the paddlers; and thence harangue their foes, practising upon their fears by wordy war before closing with them in actual fight.
Crossing from Waitangi to Paihia in a boat belonging to the Keri Keri settlement, I was struck with the very clean and neat appearance of the
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boat's crew, all natives, and only one of them, and he but slightly, tattooed. Their apparel was uniform, they being rigged out, as a sailor would say, in red shirts and white trowsers, with black glazed hats: and their countenances wore an air of happiness and comfort altogether novel in New Zealand--and, indeed, rarely to be met with out of England. Two of the four were baptized Christians, the other two candidates for baptism. On expressing to these last the happiness I felt in acknowledging them as dear brethren in Christ Jesus, one of the baptized replied, "It would be well if they were my brethren indeed"-- upon which, the other remarked: --"The day of judgment will make that manifest, whether we are such or no!" After we had landed, and while walking along the beach, one of them expressed his surprise to Mr. Kemp at my belonging to a ship-of-war, and going about as I did. On being told that the grace of God was not confined to place, any more than it could be said to have respect to persons, and that love to the souls of men might constrain a Christian to go every where, and would enable him to abide any where, he was silent for a minute or two, then rejoined--"Yes, it is all love! it was love in God that sent his Son into the world to save sinners--it was love in the Lord Jesus that brought him down from heaven to earth to die for poor sinners--and it was love in the Spirit to tell the missionaries to go and teach us who were heathen as well as sinners."
The Alligator and schooner having got under weigh, it became necessary for those of the officers
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who were on shore to hasten their return. Before my doing so, however, I found leisure to bid all the dear friends and very kind brethren at the settlement a long, but not a last farewell--we shall all meet again before the judgment seat of Christ, and if, as our hope is, we be all children of the resurrection, we shall all meet before then, at His coming, in His kingdom, and around His throne. May we all have crowns to cast at His feet, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever.
Brown and Chapman accompanied me back to the ship. As the boat pulled alongside, I felt myself shuddering as with a prophetic feeling which said or seemed to say, until time shall be no more, we shall meet no more. It was indeed the pang of parting, felt only and therefore only to be appreciated by kindred souls, who have known what it is to be knit and bound together by a common charity, the very bond of perfectness and peace. But the pang had no sooner been experienced than it was removed--for I felt, and these, my brethren, also felt, that with God, and in Christ, we are all one body, though members in particular, therefore always united, and never in reality separated, time to the Christian being already no more, seeing that his eternal life has even now begun, and distance having no place in the church which is the body of Christ, forasmuch as in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, even as He dwelleth in us and we in Him. The commencement of my intercourse with the
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Church Missionaries in New Zealand, was characterized by an act of generous hospitality, on the part of one of their number; the close of our second visit to the Bay of Islands was marked by a piece of considerate kindness on the part of another, which, as it was not of a private character, I may take permission to add to this unpretending record of occurrences in New Zealand; and in doing so, Mr. Chapman shall speak for himself.
"My Dear Friend,
"I send you a small portion of our Father's common bounty, and pray you to accept it, believing it is what I have to give, rather than what I should wish to give. With respect to the leeks, I have rather the ship's company in my mind, knowing they have soup; the celery I thought would perhaps flavour your pea-soup, and make it, for a few times, more agreeable.
"As you make up King Arthur's round table, I send you a turkey for the top, and a turkey for the bottom, and a ham for the middle, particularly wishing, that they, (the turkeys,) may both be dressed the same day, as then you may perhaps more conveniently spare a plate or two for the very sick," &c. &c. &c.
(Signed) "T. CHAPMAN."
The night closed upon the Alligator's departure from New Zealand, and with the morning's dawn, we were far beyond sight or hearing of all that had interested us there. One reason assigned for sailing
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so hurriedly, was the existence of mutiny among the soldiers of the 50th regiment, who had procured a quantity of spirits from the dealers at Kororarika, where one of them knocked down a Midshipman of the Alligator who was on duty. Some of the men were afterwards brought to a Court Martial at Sydney, but the result had not transpired before we sailed thence. The men who formed that detachment, were certainly as ill disciplined a body as I had ever done duty with, but much may be said in extenuation of this, most of them had arrived in small separate parties, within the current year, from England, and only a few had been any time in the army, fewer still with their regiment at home. The whole company had hardly been completed at Sydney, when ordered on the expedition to Cape Egmont; and were just landed there; when summoned to re-embark. On board the schooner, it would have required talents for command of the first order to subject them to strict discipline, and, after two months at sea, during which they were subject to many privations, it can be no matter of surprise, however much of regret, that they fell before temptation, and, under the maddening effects of strong drink, forgot they were soldiers, having previously forgotten, that they were men.
