1845 - Wakefield, E. J. Adventure in New Zealand [Vol.II.] - CHAPTER I

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ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND.

CHAPTER I.

TOWARDS the end of May, I sent the Sandfly on to Kapiti, and started to join her by land; wishing to see the progress of the road, and to visit the wreck of the Jewess. I was accompanied by Lieutenant Thomas, who had engaged in the survey department of the Company's service, and was proceeding to Wanganui by land to assist Mr. Carrington in the completion of the survey, with five or six additional labouring-men. The bridle-road had been completed to the distance of about seven miles from Port Nicholson; and from thence we pushed on by a rough surveyor's line till we reached the old path from Pitone. We slept at Parramatta; and the next day I travelled on to the wreck, Mr. Thomas staying to collect some of his things still remaining at the whaling station.

The Jewess had been driven ashore on the sand, only about half-a-mile north of the rocky coast. I

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here found the captain, who had not yet deserted her; as well as Mr. Carrington from Wanganui, who had been allowed to come to Wellington for a short holiday; and two travellers from Taranaki, who had accompanied him from Wanganui. The vessel was still whole, and we slept in the bunks of the cabin that night, though the high tide, causing rather a smart surf after we had got to sleep, rocked her about, and washed into the cabin through the holes in her bottom. Mr. Churton, a Wanganui settler, had been a great loser by this wreck. Most of the cargo had belonged to him; and although Mr. Hadfield had succeeded in persuading some of the natives to return a few of the stolen things, they only brought back trifling articles, such as pins and tape, pretending to know nothing of the more valuable goods. Between the vessel and Waikanae I met a large body of Port Nicholson natives, who had been to a conference at Waikanae on the subject of a threatened attack of the Taupo war-party.

It appeared that after ravaging Waitotara, from which all the inhabitants had again fled, except a few too old and infirm who were taken, killed, and eaten, the taua of the Ngatipehi had come down to Otaki; and that a union of their force with that of the Ngatiraukawa had been proposed, in order to revenge the defeat at Waikanae in October 1839. The Port Nicholson natives, on the receipt of this news, had mustered 200 or 300 men under Warepori, Epuni, and Taringa Kuri, and hastened to join their relations. Mr. Hadfield had succeeded in frustrating all these warlike preparations. This gentleman had, after very laborious efforts, and in one instance at the peril of his life, managed to acquire a very extensive and honorable influence over the hitherto fierce

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chiefs of the Ngatiraukawa. Watanui and part of his family had become mihanere, as well as several other chiefs of rank; and Mr. Hadfield had wisely managed to introduce the new doctrine without destroying the native aristocracy. He thus dissuaded Watanui, and through him the great part of the tribe, from fighting. Heuheu, I heard, had been furious at this successful interference with his designs; but had ended by confessing himself fairly beaten, when Mr. Hadfield calmly and courageously presented himself before him in the midst of his anger, overthrew his reasoning, and reproached the old chief in the conclave of his people with a want of the dignity and deliberation suitable to his place of kaumatua or "patriarch."

I had not yet been introduced to Mr. Hadfield's acquaintance; but I already began to feel sorry for the prejudices which I had entertained against him on first hearing that he had come with Mr. Williams. All the natives, whether converts or not; spoke in the highest terms of his conduct in every particular. I knew, intimately, many of his more immediate followers at Waikanae, some of them of high rank among the tribe; and could not help imbibing from them some of that respectful admiration for his character which they were proud of acknowledging. His scholars were plainly anxious to deserve his praise and affection, rather than bound to their duties by an irksome restraint. In comparing the persuasion which they had adopted with that of the Wesleyans under the guidance of Mr. Aldred, they were proud of the difference between the tu or "bearing" of the two missionaries, because theirs was so distinctly a rangatira. The heathen natives, too, who had enjoyed an opportunity of observing or conversing with Mr. Hadfield, confessed that he had all the qualities of a chief, and that

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he was a pakeha ngawari, or "mild white man," who did not discourage their ancient customs by anger or coarse tokens of disgust, but by gentle reason. They also admired his manly courage, of which they had noted more than one proof, and his art of gaining the love of the natives even before he had converted them to his creed. Even the corrupt and profane beachcombers and whalers of Kapiti would go out of their way to say a good word or do a service for Mr. Hadfield. "He is a missionary," they would say, with an oath; "but he's a gentleman every inch of him; and when he can do a poor fellow a good turn with the maories, why he will!" They respected him, too, for not interfering, unless applied to, in their dealings with the natives.

With this voluntary and unanimous testimony from all quarters, who could help feeling rejoiced that one good missionary had already acquired so much influence in the immediate neighbourhood of the settlements?

The whaling was at this time going on with great spirit; and I sailed away from Kapiti one morning in the midst of an animated chase, the whale and the boats having crossed my bows more than once.

I now remained at Wanganui for some time; and sent the Sandfly backwards and forwards under the charge of a steady sailor whom I had engaged.

My house was full of goods of various kinds belonging to the settlers, who had not yet got their houses ready to receive them; and I soon found myself as it were forced into keeping what would be called a "store" in America, or a "shop" in England. In trading with the natives, I was obliged to procure all sorts of things from Wellington; and I had numerous applications from people who wanted small quantities,

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and could not get them anywhere else. The same with tea, sugar, flour, and other articles of food, which I took advantage of the trips of the schooner to bring up in bags, casks, or cases; so that I was very soon a shopkeeper in spite of myself. However, I had by this time learned to be anything that might be required; and the "shop" was for some time as amusing an employment as anything else. I have no doubt my books, kept in my own way, would have afforded much matter of laughter to any one brought up as a tradesman. I seldom received money payments. Pigs from one, labour from another, wine from a third; stationery or wooden planks, spades, cart-wheels, or window-frames from some other customer: such was the kind of barter which prevailed. I think that the only customer from whom I ever received cash for a long while was Mr. Mason, the missionary, who paid me in hard silver for two kegs of tobacco.

For this shopkeeping or trading, indeed, I had no vocation; and I entered into it with no views of gain. But as the trading with the White settlers seemed to be an almost indispensable condition of maintaining the sort of feudal attachment, which I have already described, of a large body of natives, I did not disdain to be a shopkeeper for what seemed to me so useful an object. I found that few things had so civilizing an influence over the natives as this kind of commerce, founded on friendship and honour; and I was content to go on losing a considerable sum of money, while I gained their respect and esteem--while I introduced many of the habits and customs of civilized life by showing a due respect for those customs of savage life which are respectable--and while I was enabled, as I imagined, to exercise an extensive and beneficial effect upon the intercourse between the two races.

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I had a large herd of swine running in the swamps and fern-ridges at the back of the settlement. For a long while I had turned out all those which I bought young or in bad condition from the natives, after branding them over the tail. They got very fat as they grew, the feed being excellent about here. The succulent root of the raupo, or bulrush, is a very favourite food of the hog, and the fern was also of good quality.

When I wanted to catch a number to send to Wellington, or to kill and salt down, a grand hunt took place. I had bought one or two good dogs, and bred them to the sport. They soon learn to beat the ground, and follow the scent of a pig; and take great delight in the chase. If large and strong, and found in open ground, a hog will often give a run of some miles, and you follow the dogs on foot through high fern, reeds, wood, scrub, and swamp, till their barking and the snorting of "porker" give notice that he is at bay. The pig-dogs are of rather a mongrel breed, partaking largely of the bull-dog, but mixed with the cross of mastiff and greyhound, which forms the New South Wales kangaroo-dog. The great nurseries for good dogs have been the whaling stations, where they bred them for fighting. It soon became a fashion for travelling settlers like myself to have a pack of pig-dogs, known for their strength, skill, and courage, whether in fighting or hunting. At a rude settlement such as Wanganui, they served also to protect the house from the depredations of the wandering sawyers, and other loose adventurers, who were getting more daring in their undertakings, and from the annoyance of a few among the natives who began to pilfer, or to breed quarrels by rude and insulting behaviour. On one occasion during my absence, the White savages

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had laid a plan for the forcible entry and plunder of my house and several others; but one of their own party betrayed them, and my agent and a few others took the due precautions, and then sallied out upon the gang before they were prepared, and gave them a good licking with their fists. Thus we were living under club-law; and a good watch-dog or two were no despicable guardians of a house, and were very desirable companions out-of-doors at night.

But to return to the hunt. The hog once at bay, bold and unskilled dogs rush straight in for his nose, and are often severely wounded by his long tusks or his hoofs. An experienced dog, without allowing him to escape, watches his opportunity to seize the jowl or the root of the ear. A dog that persists in seizing the legs, or any other part, is generally shot by his owner, as the practice spoils the hams, and is considered contrary to rule. When the dogs are fast, no struggle of the hog, no dragging of the dogs through bushes or swamp, succeeds in shaking them off; and the native lads run up and fasten thongs of the flax-leaf round the hind-legs. If the animal is very wild, they also bind the fore-legs and even the muzzle, as the weight of the dogs, and fatigue, prevent much resistance. The pig is rarely killed in the field, as it is considered more sportsmanlike to bring him in and show him off alive; so that the hunting-knife or rifle, although sometimes carried in case of necessity, is rarely made use of.

This was comparatively tame work to the wild and fatiguing chases, which I have at times enjoyed with E Kuru and a troop of the maori lads, in districts near the river where the hogs had been undisturbed for many years, and were claimed by any one who caught them. Especially in the district between the Wanganui and Wangaihu rivers, we used to spend whole days in this pursuit. E Kuru was a keen

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sportsman, and well skilled in pig-hunting. He took great pride in my excellent dogs; and also in beating me, which he generally did from his superior activity and knowledge of the country. I have often been completely thrown behind, and lost my way among some of the wooded hollows into which we have descended from the open table-lands; and when I at length found my way to the river, and got home an hour or two after dark, dead-beat and faint with hunger, having been afoot since my breakfast at sunrise, I would find E Kuru smoking his pipe after a comfortable meal, swelling with triumph at having returned some hours before, with two or three fine porka.

I found that the settlers had to complain more and more of the annoying conduct of a great number of the natives. The surveyors were more often stopped in their work by parties, chiefly from Putikiwaranui, but almost invariably mihanere. This continued at still more frequent intervals after Messrs. Thomas and Carrington, who were delayed for some time at Waikanae by a circumstance which I shall have to notice hereafter, had returned to complete the survey.

The influences which caused this interference were not difficult to discover. Indeed, no great pains were taken to conceal their origin.

Mr. Bell had arrived in safety with his cattle, after some difficulty in crossing the quicksands of the Turakina and Wangaihu. Having an early choice, he had obtained from those before him an engagement not to choose the land on which he should set to work, and prepared to plant himself on a spot, which the surveyors told him was outside a public reserve, made with some view to a town, if allowed by the Company in England on certain conditions. This was in a valley, about two miles back from the pa where Mr,

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Mason resided. Mr. Bell was very soon warned off by one or two of the natives, who threatened to burn any house he should put up, and prevent his settling. Mr. Mason, on his application, had refused "to say a word which had to do with land to the natives." Bell afterwards removed to an equally good spot higher up the river on the same side; partly on account of the trouble from the natives, and partly because a gentleman who had joined the above-mentioned engagement not to interfere with his selection, had changed his mind as soon as Bell's location pointed out the best spot. In the new place, Bell finally established himself, not without plenty of obstruction from the natives; but how he overcame this we shall see hereafter.

About the same time, Mr. Matthews circulated very industriously among the settlers, that the whole purchase of the place had been a farce from beginning to end; that the natives who signed the deed and received the payment formed but a very insignificant and uninfluential proportion of the owners of the land; that the payment made was not more than one hundred pounds' worth of goods; and that E Kuru, who was said to have managed the whole transaction, and to have secured the largest share of the goods, was hardly a chief, and had not the slightest right to dispose of the country near the sea.

Thus, while the natives began to be divided into two great parties, those who supported and those who repudiated the bargain, the repudiators being almost without exception mihanere, the settlers began to take these long stories for granted, and to grumble and complain that they had been deceived. The "repudiators" grew daily in numbers and obstinacy; and openly confessed, when pressed to explain themselves fully, that Mr. Mason told them "that the settlers

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"would take all their lands and drive them inland, and that their wives and children would die of starvation and misery." So plausibly, however, did Mr. Matthews tell his story to the settlers, that they consulted and held meetings, and questioned and cross-examined me as to the process which I had adopted, till I at length lost patience, and told them at a meeting (at which Mr. Matthews had pointedly contradicted my assertions as to the negotiations at which I was present and he was not) that I was no longer Agent of the Company; and that I had reported my proceedings at the end of my temporary agency in buying the place to the principal Agent in Wellington; and I then left the room.

E Kuru took more direct notice of the insults thrown in his teeth. When some native reported that Mr. Matthews had called him a tutua, which may be fairly translated by the English "plebeian," he ran up to Mr. Matthews's house, and loudly reproved him before a large crowd of natives. I was not present, but heard the scene described by several bystanders.

They described E Kuru as having arrived panting with indignation and anger, but carefully restraining his language. Across the fence of the garden he taxed the catechist with his evil tongue, in plain but not undeserved terms. He accused him of carrying about lies, of defaming one who had done him no harm, and of kindling anger between the natives and their White friends; and asked him whether that was the ritenga or "creed" of a missionary. Although knowing that Mr. Matthews had been of very inferior station in life, 1 the savage did not even retort this upon the Christian

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teacher who had so gratuitously attempted to lower him in the esteem of the White settlers.

E Kuru had till now set the example to his people of following the worship of the missionaries; but from this moment he resolutely and firmly abandoned the new doctrine.

It was a matter of constant observation, now, among all classes of settlers, that the results of the missionary system of instruction were not by any means satisfactory, in a general point of view. At Wellington no less than at Wanganui, and at other places where there were no white settlers, this fact began to startle the impartial observer.

The only good result that appeared to have been obtained, was the strict and rigid adherence to the mere forms of the Christian religion, and a knowledge of reading and writing in their own language. But it was hardly a matter of doubt that the conversion penetrated no deeper than the mere forms; and it was to be regretted that the instruction given generally was purely religious. The mihanere natives, as a body, were distinctly inferior in point of moral character to the natives who remained with their ancient customs unchanged, and also to those who, in the immediate neighbourhood of Wellington, had acquired some degree of civilization and general knowledge, together with the Christian creed. A very common answer from a converted native, accused of theft, was, "How can that be? I am a mihanere." And yet at some places, such as Patea, where their religious enthusiasm was carried, in form, to the most extravagant pitch, they maintained the very worst character for honesty and courtesy to a stranger. My agent, who had been in one of the boats that was wrecked there, described to me both these traits in their present state. It must be

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remembered that no white man had dwelt there, and that they rarely saw one except on a trading or missionary visit. The missionary system had therefore enjoyed a fair trial without the interference of civilization.

They were all mihanere or converts; many of them called themselves "the Apostle Paul," "the Apostle Timothy," or the "Apostle Luke;" "Martin Luther," "Ezekiel," or "Solomon." They sang hymns night and day, almost incessantly; discussed at length obscure points of doctrine, and even words introduced into the books, which were new to their language, with indecent virulence; and carried this exaggeration of religion so far, as to be weaving a gigantic and splendid mat in the pa, which they told all inquirers was for Ihu Karaiti, and therefore not to be sold!

And yet the greatest circumspection could not prevent them from pilfering to an unlimited extent from the traders; they were harassing and overbearing in their dealings, prone to cheat in bargaining by any dishonourable trick, inhospitable in the highest degree, and claiming payment for the very slightest service or gift, such as even fetching a calabashful of water from the river.

The Wanganui settlers had observed a great deal of the same spirit among the mihanere natives with whom they had dealings. But they all acknowledged, that neither the Taupo natives, nor the followers of E Kuru, nor those others who were under any good and powerful chief, could be accused of these bad qualities.

The only case of theft that occurred during the visit of the Taupo war party had been unknown to me, until the stolen things were restored to me. It appears that one of the Rotorua allies, against whose evil designs Heuheu had so vigorously guarded, had taken, through an open window of my house, a large pocket-compass and

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a pair of nail-nippers, probably mistaking them for a tinder-box and a bullet-mould. The old chief, on discovering this when the party returned to their homes, paid the thief two blankets, a cloak, and a double-barrelled gun, to get the things back, and then sent them to E Kuru, who gave them to me.

It is worthy of record, that the Taupo natives, on returning to their home, carried with them the bones of their late chief Tauteka in much state. Wherever these bones had rested, a carved post or other monument was erected to commemorate the event. In the midst of the space which had been occupied by Heuheu and his party among the white settlers, on their passage either way through the place, a small canoe, stuck upright and adorned with carving and painted designs, showed where Tauteka's remains had stopped on their way. This custom bears a curious resemblance to that of our Edward, who erected crosses at Tottenham, Waltham, and other places, to mark the progress of his queen's corpse.

The Putikiwaranui natives plundered a considerable quantity of the goods which they had persuaded some of the settlers to place under their charge during the visit, and then exacted very large utu for the care which they had taken of them. A body of mihanere natives, engaged by a Mr. Nixon to remove his goods back to his house in their canoes, took a sudden fancy to a cask of tobacco which was among them. Upon his refusing to bargain with them for a certain number of pigs in exchange for it, they hustled him into the water at the landing-place; and while he was thus disabled from resisting, the cask was put into another canoe and paddled quickly up the river. They paid him for it, at their own price, in pigs, long afterwards; but this was entirely a matter of option with them.

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The natives about Wellington were becoming a useful and industrious race. Almost every settler had two or three attached to his establishment, who acquired some knowledge of the English language and of the useful arts. Many were building houses after the European fashion, and adopting European clothing; they were learning the use and value of money, and the forms of commerce to a certain extent; and some of them had acquired great decency, and even polish of deportment, by their constant and familiar intercourse with the colonists of all classes. It may be worthy of note, that Epuni was building a wooden cottage with boarded floor, a door, and glass windows, in the pa of Pitone; that his son, E Ware, acted as pilot to an emigrant ship, having boarded her outside the heads, in a whale-boat manned by his own countrymen, all dressed like English sailors, and brought her in to the anchorage in front of the town; that E Tako and Richard Davis took to European clothing entirely, and that both had deposits at the bank; while Davis had bought, a horse for eighty pounds, which he used to let out, with saddle and bridle, at ten shillings a day; and that the captain of the ship London, when half his European crew had deserted the ship, found no difficulty in engaging eight native hands for the voyage to India and England.

In the perfectly wild tribes, the high sense of honour and dignity among the chiefs, and their absolute political authority, served to maintain a certain integrity and straightforward conduct towards the stranger; and those who had talents to acquire authority, had also, with but few exceptions, the will to exercise it with justice and kindness towards the White man by whom it was merited.

In the partly civilized tribes, which were at the same time converted, the political authority of the

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chiefs was already much weakened; but its place was supplied, to a certain degree, by the example of law and order, and by the stirring spirit of emulation; that is, by the influence of the civilized community.

In the merely converted tribes, the authority of the chiefs was suddenly and totally overthrown, without the substitution for it of any political organization, in order to save the tribe from anarchy.

This view was confirmed by my subsequent observations, as the consequences of the two systems became more and more developed.

I had occasion to verify the account given me by my agent of the Patea natives, during a visit which I soon after made to that neighbourhood. It being a matter of urgency to me to overtake a party who had travelled on foot towards Taranaki, I borrowed Mr. Matthews's horse, and rode in a few hours to Waitotara. The horse was known and cared for at that place; but I thought the people rather more distant in their behaviour to me than they had been before. Luckily, I found that liberal payment would buy hospitality from these savages of degraded character; and so I did not starve. I overtook the party of Englishmen here, and they also loudly complained of the mercenary and sordid spirit of the inhabitants. Having a good store of tobacco, however, we procured an abundant supply of piarau, or "lamprey," which is taken in large numbers in this river and some others in this neighbourhood, when the waters are swollen. There was no lack of other food; but that, as well as firewood, house-room, and even cold water, had to be paid for through the nose. This was in a new pa, built with very strong stockades and deep trenches, between the foot of Te Ihupuku hill and the river. The pretty grove of Karaka trees which I had formerly seen growing round

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the base of the hill had been mercilessly cut away, that no besiegers might lie in ambush beneath their protection.

Another object of my journey was to establish a trading connexion on a more permanent footing with the natives of the Wenuakura river. Those who had received me so kindly on my former visit, had sent messengers to me at Wanganui, begging that I would send them a resident trading agent, and promising to build a house for me.

Getting away early from the inhospitable village of the Ngarauru, I pushed along to the northward. To avoid the tedious sand-hills on the top of the cliff, I struck out a path for myself a little further back, and passed along fine open pasture-land, watered by numerous small streams.

As I had got a mile or two in advance of the pedestrians, and rode fast along the last part of the beach, I was not seen by the inhabitants of the pa, until close to the river. They then ran down on to the beach. By this time I had plunged into the river, which here flows over soft and shifting sands. The horse's body was nearly hidden; and though many of my old friends here had recognized me, and shouted "Tiraweke !-- "Haeremai!" they evidently thought that a native was carrying me on his shoulders. There were now nearly a hundred natives collected, many of whom had never seen a horse before, crowding over each other to give me the first greeting.

With two or three vigorous plunges the horse suddenly emerged from the water, and bore me into the middle of them. Such a complete panic can hardly be imagined. They fled yelling in all directions without looking behind them; and as fast as I galloped past those who were running across the sandy flat and

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up the steep path leading to the pa of Tihoe, they fairly lay down on their faces, and gave themselves up for lost. Half-way up the hill I dismounted, and they plucked up courage to come and look at the kuri nui, or "large dog." The most amusing questions were put to me as to its habits and disposition. "Can he talk?" said one; "Does he like boiled potatoes?" said another; and a third, "Mustn't he have a blanket to lie down upon at night?" This unbounded respect and admiration lasted all the time that I remained. The horse was taken into the central courtyard of the pa; a dozen hands were always offering him Indian corn, and grass, and sow-thistles, when they had learned what he really did eat; and a wooden bowl full of water was kept constantly replenished close to him. And little knots of curious observers sat round the circle of his tether-rope, remarking, and conjecturing, and disputing, about the meaning and intention of every whisk of his tail or shake of his ears.

I met at this village with great kindness from all my old friends. Several mats, which I had paid for while in the process of manufacture when here before, were delivered to me on this occasion.

At Patea, whither I accompanied the travellers the next day, we again met with rude and inhospitable treatment; and I returned from thence in two days to Wanganui.

I had, during this long sojourn at Wanganui, a good opportunity of forming an opinion of the country and climate. Pig-hunting, or accompanying the surveyors on exploring parties, I soon became acquainted with most of the district between the sea and the broken country which closes in upon the river about fifteen miles up. For that distance the river runs

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through a broad valley, which, with its tributaries, seems dug out of the surrounding table-land. The ascent to the high ground is in most places steep, and groves of timber of various extent diversify the surface of the valleys. In these, for the most part, is a rich swampy soil, prevented from thorough drainage by a belt of pumice-stone and sand, varying in breadth, which forms the cliffy banks of the river, and bears a growth of high fern. The table-land is for the most part open; in some places teeming with rich pasture, and covered with soil fitted for agriculture; in others light and sandy, but clothed with high fern. The tops of the forest in the hollows, and the summits of the wooded mountains higher than the table-land, bound the view towards the towering peaks of Tonga Riro. When once on the top of the table-land, you might imagine yourself to be on a low and extensive flat, the eye being carried over the top of the numerous hollows, formed by streams, to the next table. These hollows are in some places broken into the most romantic shapes. About five miles up the right bank, especially, is a circular indentation in the table-land, with a deep narrow valley leading to it from the flat near the river. Quaint hillocks and ridges, heaped against each other in the most fantastic forms, and feathering groves of timber, are scattered about the bottom and sides of this natural amphitheatre, of about two miles in diameter, which we christened "The Devil's Punch-bowl." The surface of the table-land is generally so flat, that swamps are formed on its very highest terraces, and large natural ponds are found in many elevated spots.

The climate, although in the middle of winter, was delightful. Dr. Peter Wilson, one of the settlers, who had long resided at Xerez and Seville, did not hesitate

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to compare it with the south of Spain. He only qualified this opinion by asserting that so full-bodied a wine could not be grown here; but that he would answer for one like the light wines of Germany or eastern France. This part of the island, well out of the funnel formed by Cook's Strait, is free from the rushing currents of wind which almost always blow in the neighbourhood of Wellington, one way or the other. There, too, the broken nature of the country, rising into lofty and irregular pinnacles close to the sea, in the projecting tongue of land which contains Port Nicholson and Palliser Bay, causes the prevailing westerly wind to puff in squally and uncertain gusts. All along the uniform country between Otaki and Taranaki, a land-breeze prevails during the night and early in the morning, and is generally followed by a sea-breeze which tempers the heat of the day; but both are moderate and steady in their action. Whole days of cloudless calm and light breezes prevail in summer as well as winter; and violent gales are of rare occurrence. The difference in temperature is but little between winter and summer: there is perhaps more rain in the winter months. But in all the country near Cook's Strait, the climate may be called showery rather than rainy. Rain is often heavy for a time; but rarely obtains dominion over the weather for more than two or three days. And everything dries quickly in the fine-weather intervals; so that though it is rare to be a fortnight without rain all through the year, there is no complaint of excess of wet, and you never hear the question asked which so often meets you in England, "When shall we have some fine weather?"

The lawless state of the place became daily more annoying. I had to lash my cook, who had travelled hither with the Taupo party, and who delighted in

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the sobriquet of "Coffee," to the big post in the middle of the house, with my dog-chains, for theft; intending to send him to Wellington in a schooner, which was to sail the next morning. But he proved to me that I did not understand thief-taking, or at any rate thief-keeping; for he slipped his irons in the night, and started to the northward. I afterwards heard that he was a deserter from the detachment of troops at Auckland, and an accomplice of "Mickey Knight" and his friend, in their robberies in that part of the country.

I had another rather serious instance of the disadvantages of being without law. Three or four loose characters, who had arrived from England in the London, kept the licensed grog-shop which was near my house, and encouraged all kinds of ruffians, as a kind of feudal retinue, by liberal distributions of spirits. It was frequently hinted to me that they salted down a great many more pigs than they ever bought from the natives, or turned out with their brand. My dog had got so fond of the sport, that he would follow any one who held up a rope to him as a sign that they were going to catch a pig; and many of the large hogs were not to be caught by inferior dogs. I detected my neighbours of the grog-shop hunting and killing my pigs as coolly as if they had been their own; and one morning one of the members of the worthy firm came and enticed my dog for the purpose of doing it with more gusto. As soon as I found this out, I went down to the grog-shop, where the hunting-party were consoling themselves with copious draughts of gin for their sorrow at having been deprived of two large pigs bearing my brand by my agent, who had caught them in the fact. I entered into the joke, and cheerfully begged that the innocent amusement of robbing me might now cease, as the pleasant excitement of doing it without my

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knowledge could no longer be said to exist. One of the firm, a poor half-starved and very vulgar son of a tanner, who had in some way obtained the aristocratic name of Burleigh, grandiloquently offered me satisfaction with "swords, pistols, or any other weapon," for what he had done. When I quietly declined this kind offer of satisfaction for stealing my property, and told the hero that he might think himself lucky if I did not put him into gaol for felony, he laughed, and said, "There was no law in New Zealand; there was no fear of his getting put into gaol!" I then gave him fair warning that I would try my best; but by the time I got to Port Nicholson, he had decamped on board an American whaler lying at Kapiti, along with the runaway carpenter, who had also assisted in the felonious amusement. Thus I had no means of securing a ruffian, who had made use of the Government licence for selling grog, to encourage others to assist him in robbing me, and to form head-quarters for a den of thieves.

Yet, during all this time, I would have engaged to provide a very efficient constabulary, extending for twenty miles on the three main tracks by which bad characters could arrive or escape, by means of the authority of E Kuru, and some other native chiefs, on whom dependence might be placed, and with no expense except when called into action.

About the beginning of August, I received intelligence that the Sandfly had struck on a rock in making the anchorage at Kapiti on a dark night, and had sunk with all her cargo. As there was some chance of getting her up again, I proceeded by land to Waikanae, with two native lads to carry my blankets and provisions.

After finding all efforts to raise the vessel vain, I proceeded to Wellington