Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand [2nd ed.]

R. Cruise

First published by Longman, Rees, Hurst, Orme, Brown and Green in 1824

Digitised and made available online by the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services

Epub © 2013 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927279-02-1

[There is nothing on page i]

[FRONTISPIECE]

Drawn by R.Read. from Life. 1820.
Engraved by Edwd. Finden.
Tetoro, a Chief of New Zealand
London Pubd. by Longman & Co, 4 Augt. 1823

[TITLE PAGE]

JOURNAL OF A
TEN MONTHS' RESIDENCE
IN
NEW ZEALAND.

BY

RICHARD A. CRUISE, ESQ.

MAJOR IN THE 84TH REGT. FOOT.

SECOND EDITION
LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1824.

REPRINT PUBLISHED BY
CAPPER PRESS
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND

Printed offset by The Caxton Press, Christchurch

[PREFACE]

PREFACE.

DURING his residence in New Zealand, the Author, being entrusted with the military detachment on board the Dromedary, a charge quite unconnected with the operations or movements of the ship, was led from motives of curiosity to maintain a constant intercourse with the inhabitants, and to devote much of his leisure to their society.

The incidents recorded in the following pages were noted down while fresh in his memory, and generally on the same day on which they occurred; they are presented to the reader in this state, which, while it tends to establish their accuracy, necessarily restricts the narrative to the simple and abrupt form of a journal. Should they, however, be found to afford a sufficiently clear illustration of the general customs of the country, their destined purpose will be answered; and the

author will deem himself fortunate if this publication should assist in leading to the adoption of proper measures for extending the blessings of civilisation to a people eminently gifted with every natural endowment, and inhabiting one of the finest islands in the South Seas.

In the present edition the author has made a few additions, principally for the purpose of giving the reader fuller information upon some of the subjects brought before him.

The remarks on the state of the weather, before recorded under each day in the journal, have now been thrown into a table, and inserted at the end.

[Preliminary Remarks]

JOURNAL OF A TEN MONTHS' RESIDENCE IN NEW ZEALAND.

To diminish the expense attendant upon the transportation of convicts, as well as to afford to those exiles the comforts of a very large ship during their long voyage to the place of their banishment, it was determined to try the experiment of sending a considerable number of them to New South Wales in one of His Majesty's vessels; and the Dromedary store ship (formerly the Howe frigate) was selected and fitted up at Deptford for this service.

After she should have landed the convicts at New South Wales, the Dromedary was directed to proceed to New Zealand, there to endeavour to get a cargo of those very large

trees or spars known to grow in that country, and in the event of not being successful, to go back to New Holland, and when laden with what useful timber she could procure in the colony, to return to England.

The immense spars requisite for making the topmasts of the larger classes of ships in the navy, had become so extravagant in price, and so scarce in Europe, that it was necessary to look for them elsewhere. – Captain Cook had mentioned in his voyages that he thought the timber he had seen in New Zealand, if light enough, would make the finest masts for ships in the world ; persons who subsequently visited this island had confirmed his opinion, and a small spar which was brought from thence to England by the Catherine whale ship, was much approved of, and purchased for a foretop-gallant-mast for the Dromedary. It was well tried during its return to its native country, and proved itself to be, in seamen's phrase, a stick of first rate quality.

It may be proper here to observe, that two kinds of trees are known in New Zealand, which from the circumstance of their growing

to an immense height without a branch, are considered fit for masts of large ships: the one is called by the natives Kaikaterre, the other Cowry or Cowdy. The Kaikaterre is found in low swampy ground, frequently on the banks of rivers, and is on that account easy to procure; it produces a leaf like the yew and a red berry. The Cowry, to which the inhabitants of the island give a decided preference, grows on dry ground, and often on the tops of the highest hills; its leaf, though considerably larger, is not unlike that of our box tree; it produces a cone, and yields abundance of rosin. Some of the Cowry trees which we measured rose one hundred feet from the ground without a single branch, and afterwards headed almost as umbrageously as the lime; the stems of others not so tall, gave a circumference of forty feet.

The Cowry was the timber which the Dromedary was directed, if possible, to bring home, and as it is requisite that every spar fit to make a topmast for the larger ships of the navy, should be from seventy-four to eighty-four feet long, from twenty-one to twenty-

three inches in diameter, and perfectly straight, the success of the attempt in a great measure depended upon the proximity of the trees to the water's edge, and also in no small degree upon the friendly disposition of the natives.

The fitting up of the Dromedary being accomplished, and her number of hands completed, a guard of soldiers, consisting of detachments of the 69th and 84th regiments, amounting to about sixty men, embarked on board of her on the 9th Aug. 1819. On the 19th of the same month she dropped down to the Nore, where she took in 200 convicts from the Sheerness hulks; and on arriving at Spithead 169 more were sent on board from Portsmouth, making a total of 369 male convicts.

On the evening of the llth Sept., we commenced our voyage, and without any incident that could be considered at all uncommon in so long a navigation, made the South Cape of Van Diemen's Land on the 9th Jan. 1820. On the following day we anchored in the river Derwent, and off the settlement of Hobart's town. Here the convicts were disem-

barked, with the exception of a few individuals who were destined to go to Port Jackson, where we arrived on the 28th of the same month.

The crew having been refreshed, while the ship was refitted, and having got on board twelve bullocks and two timber carriages, we sailed for New Zealand on the 15th February, attended by the Colonial schooner, Prince Regent (of about 30 or 40 tons), Mr. Kent, commander, who was directed by the Governor of New South Wales to give us any assistance we might require.

The wind was at S. E. and light, and the thermometer stood at 71 deg.

To facilitate the object of the Dromedary's present service, we were accompanied by the Rev. S. Marsden, principal chaplain to the colony of New South Wales, who had established some missionaries in New Zealand, and who, from having frequently visited that Island, was considered popular among its inhabitants. He brought on board nine New Zealanders, who were all either chiefs, or the sons of people of that rank. They had been

living with him at Paramatta; some of them had been brought to New South Wales, in charge of their relatives, it being the wish of their parents to have them educated at an establishment instituted for that purpose by Mr. Marsden; others had come to obtain muskets and gunpowder, or merely to gratify their rambling disposition.

In point of hereditary dignity, the greatest among them was a boy about fifteen years old, named Repero, son of the chief Shungie; but the most striking in appearance was Tetoro, a man, one would imagine, in his forty-fifth year; he was six feet two inches high, and was perfectly handsome both as to features and figure; though very much tattooed, the benignity and even beauty of his countenance were not destroyed by this frightful operation.

The other seven were very young men, all more or less tattooed according to their ages, and averaging in height from five feet eight to five feet ten inches. In colour they were little darker than Spaniards, strong, active, and well limbed, and their hair straight,

with the exception of Tetoro's which was curly. They were very dirty in their persons, and from the quantity of vermin they carried about them, not very pleasant neighbours.

[February 1820]

Feb. 16th, Wednesday. Very fine weather, wind N. by E. and light. As the Colonial schooner was considerably astern, we lay to until noon, when she came up and was taken in tow. The water being very smooth, the New Zealanders had got over all tendency to sea sickness, and seemed to enjoy themselves very much; when below, they were generally employed in making spear-handles, or burnishing some firelocks, which they had got at Sidney, and having observed the soldiers' arms, regularly ranged in the arm-racks, they tied theirs in the part of the ship they occupied in a similar manner: nothing could exceed their admiration of some of the fowling-pieces belonging to the officers, and when one was handed to Tetoro, which was double-barrelled, he burst into the most enthusiastic expressions of delight, pressed it to his breast, said he would give thirty of his finest mats for it, and tying a thread pulled out of his Ka-.

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ka-how or upper garment, round the guard of the trigger, said it was tabooed [see Note 1. ], and must be his when he got to New Zealand; however, he soon returned it to its owner, nor did he or his companions seem at all inclined to retain any thing which was shown to them. They expressed much delight at seeing a bullet-mould; and, when one of the sergeants' pikes was brought up, Tetoro asked, if he might not have it? On being told it belonged to King George, he observed, that, "King George, if he were here, would give it to him." The number of valuable articles he saw in the ship, caused him frequently to express his surprise, "that the white people should be so rich, while his countrymen were so poor."

Feb. 17th. Thursday. Fine wind N. N. E. and moderate. It having been ascertained that Tetoro had a quantity of gunpowder in his box, to guard against accidents it was thought prudent to have it taken from him and lodged in the magazine, until the ship arrived at New Zealand. Though every exertion was used to explain the reason why he

was requested to give it up, and the strongest assurances made that it should be restored hereafter, he either could not or would not understand what was said to him. Upon parting with the property, which, next to his musket, was in his eyes the greatest treasure in the world, he fell into an agony of grief and despair which it was quite distressing to witness, repeatedly exclaiming, "no good!" and rolling himself up in his mat, he declined the conversation of every one; he remained in this state so long that the powder was at length brought back, but he refused to take it, saying, "that they might again put it in the magazine, since they must now be aware that he had not stolen it." As no expression had been used that could tend to fix such a suspicion upon him, we were at a loss to discover why he should have formed so strange a conclusion. However, in the course of the afternoon he began to revive, and the evening brought back his composure, and even good humour.

Feb. 18th, Friday. Fine weather, wind N. by E. and light. Tetoro had so far for-

gotten the injury that had been done to him in taking away his powder, that, after some persuasion, he consented to shake hands with those who had been employed upon this ungracious duty. He afterwards got his spear, and went through part of his exercise on the poop with much agility, but with terrible ferocity both of gesture and countenance; and we had afterwards many opportunities of observing, that, even on the most common occasions, and with perfectly peaceable intentions, these people work themselves up to such a pitch of savage frenzy, that it is frightful to look at them.

If asked at any hour of the day, where their country was situated, they pointed to the east with the accuracy of a compass; and when the stars appeared in the evening, they displayed equal sagacity.

Tetoro more than once observed, that the soldiers would not be acceptable guests at New Zealand; he seemed suspicious of the intentions of an armed force, and described the feelings of his countrymen, by saying, that "when the ship arrived, the canoes

would crowd round her, but, that if the natives saw sentinels with arms at the gangways they would immediately go away."

Feb. 19th, Saturday. Fine weather, wind N. by E. and moderate. The New Zealanders were, the greater part of this day, below, employed in burnishing and cleaning their arms, and scarcely showed themselves upon deck, except upon one occasion, when Tetoro came up in the greatest dismay, upon discovering that the lock of a musket which he had purchased for a chief whom he called King George was defective; and he seemed to feel much more chagrin in having made a bad bargain for his friend, than he would have felt, if the article had been bought for himself. However, when the armourer undertook to repair it, his joy could only be contrasted with the mortification he had manifested a few minutes before.

Feb. 20th, Sunday. Fine weather, wind N. and moderate. This morning Mr. Marsden performed divine service, at which all the New Zealanders attended. They behaved remarkably well, and were in general dressed

in European costume; though it did not become them so well as their own, it gave them quite a civilised look, particularly those who were not much tattooed. Two of them had got soldiers' jackets and caps, of which they seemed extremely proud; and as they, in common with most of their countrymen, possessed the art of mimicry to a great extent, they amused themselves when church was over, in imitating the particular manner of walking, or any singularity of attitude which they had observed among the different persons in the ship.

After dinner, Tetoro was admitted into the cabin, a privilege which, if often granted, would be much abused. When a glass of wine was given to him, he took part of it with perfect politeness, though his countenance strongly indicated how much he disliked it. [See Note 2.] His attention was soon taken up in examining one of the officers' swords, which so much excited his admiration, that he asked, if he might not have it? and upon being told that King George would be very angry with any of his officers

who parted with his sword, he said "that as King George was blind, he could not possibly find it out; and that the owner of it had nothing more to do when he returned to England and met King George, than to wave his arm round His Majesty's head, as if he still held the sword in his hand."

He was much gratified by being spoken to when he came upon deck; and he observed of one of the officers of the ship who had been in the habit of not noticing him, that "King George had taken off his hat to Tippahee's son when he was in England, and that King George was much a greater man than the person who had withheld from him the usual salutation."

They seemed much pleased at returning to New Zealand in a king's ship; and they called the Colonial schooner, which attended us, and which was in tow the greater part of the passage, Governor Macquarrie, while the Dromedary was designated by the title of King George.

In the evening, Tetoro cut the hair [see Note 3.] of one of his companions named

Moyhanger, who was of a consumptive habit. He went into the main chains, that he might perform this ceremony with the greater privacy, and continued to repeat a prayer or incantation over him during the whole operation. This young man died not long after our arrival at New Zealand.

On the 21st and 22nd, the weather was fine and the wind light; and as the New Zealanders were aware that they were not very far from their own country, they were constantly employed in getting their arms in the highest order, watching how the soldiers cleaned theirs, and obtaining every instruction they could from them on the subject.

Their jealousy lest the ship should go into any other district than their own was extreme; and they took every opportunity of representing their neighbours to be murderers whom we should avoid, as a visit to them would be attended with the most fatal consequences; promising, at the same time, that they would give us the finest spars possible; that we should never want for hogs, and that they would protect us from insult and annoyance. Indeed,

from the numerous articles of trade which they saw in the ship, they were well aware of the loss they would sustain, if she took in her cargo in another part of the island.

Feb. 23d, Wednesday. Fine, wind N. by E. and moderate, thermometer 70[degrees];. In the afternoon the weather became dark and hazy, with a fresh breeze at north, and at night it rained very heavily.

24th, Thursday. Heavy rain, wind N. by W., thermometer 68[degrees];. In the morning at eleven, the body of Thomas Cowen, seaman, who died the preceding night, was committed to the deep, after the beautiful and impressive service used on those occasions had been read by the Rev. S. Marsden. The whole of the officers and the ship's company were assembled upon deck; and every possible solemnity was observed; but the New Zealanders who attended the funeral seemed disappointed: they expressed their surprise that there was not more lamentation; and they remarked, that "had the body been that of an officer, it would have been kept until the

ship arrived at New Zealand, and interred with greater ceremony." – P.M., fine weather.

Feb. 25th, Friday. Dark hazy weather, wind N. by W. and moderate. At one, P.M., we saw the Three Kings' Islands, bearing N. W. by N., distant ten leagues.

The wild expressions of joy used by the New Zealanders when they beheld their country were quite amusing. As they had passed two Sundays at sea during their voyage to Sydney, it was impossible to persuade them that their return could be effected in a shorter period; and, though, by the usual observations, we were well aware that land would be made in the course of the day, no reasoning could induce them to believe it; they always gave us to understand, that two weeks must pass over their heads before this happy event could take place.

26th, Saturday. Fine weather, wind S.W. and very light.

We lay to the greater part of the morning for the schooner, of which we had lost sight; having a distant view of the coast. In the

evening we made the Cavelles Islands, and soon after, the heads of the Bay of Islands, whither the ship was bound. The delight of the New Zealanders, as they saw successively the different parts of the country with which they were familiar, was excessive; they ran up the rigging with the activity of seamen, shouting the names of the various head-lands; and so acute was their sight, that, though there were very good glasses on board, they were almost always the first to discover a new object.

Feb. 27th, Sunday. Fine, wind E., and very light. At daybreak we found ourselves within the heads of the Bay of Islands, but the wind soon after became very light, and at eight it fell calm. The sea-breeze sprung up at two P. m., and at four we anchored off Kororadica beach. We were not a little surprised to observe, lying at some distance from us, and in a part of a bay called Parro, three whale ships; and some of their boats soon came to us.

Before the ship was brought to, she to surrounded with canoes, full of the friends and relations of the chiefs we had on board.

To salute them, as well as to exhibit the riches they had acquired by their visit to Port Jackson, our New Zealanders began firing their muskets without intermission; and, indeed, so prodigal were they of their powder, that one might presume little of it would remain after their landing for the destructive purposes for which they had gone so far to procure it. When their fathers, brothers, &c. were admitted into the ship, the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, and every appearance of joy vanished.

It is customary with these extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting as upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and remain in this position for at least half an hour; during which time they sob and howl in the most doleful manner. If there be many friends gathered around the person who has returned, the nearest relation takes possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner (if he may be so called) in the various expressions

of his lamentations. This ended, they resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that has happened during their separation. As there were nine New Zealanders just returned, and more than three times that number to commemorate the event, the howl was quite tremendous, and so novel to almost every one in the ship, that it was with difficulty our people's attention could be kept to matters, at that moment, much more essential.

Little Repero, who had frequently boasted during the passage that he was too much of of an Englishman ever to cry again, made a strong effort, when his father, Shungie, approached him, to keep his word; but his early habit soon got the better of his resolution, and he evinced, if possible, more distress than any of the others.

There was something particularly respectable in the appearance of Shungie; in person, he was a fine-looking man, and was dressed in the uniform coat of a British officer. Though one of the most powerful chiefs in the Bay of Islands, and its bravest and most c 2

enterprising warrior, he was by far the least assuming of those who had been permitted to come on board; and, while many of the others tried to force their way into the cabin, he remained with his son on the deck; nor did he attempt to go any where without invitation.

We learned that the "New Zealander" whale ship was to sail for England in two days, carrying thither Shungie, and Mr. Kendall, one of the missionaries. This arrangement was much lamented by the rest: their little settlement had been formed in Shungie's district, and under his protection; and when he was withdrawn from them, it was difficult to say what might be the consequences. Every persuasion was used to divert him from leaving his country, without effect: he always answered, that "he should die if he did not go – that if he once got to England, he was certain of getting twelve muskets, and a double-barrelled gun;" which latter article, in the opinion of a New Zealander, exceeds in value all other earthly possessions.

In the evening it was quite impossible to

clear the ship of many of the natives who had got into her on pretence of seeing their friends; and, as is to be expected, when they are too numerous to be looked after, many petty thefts were committed by them during the night.

Feb. 28th, Monday. In the morning a chief named Perehico, with all his family, came on board to see his brother Evee, who had been to New South Wales in charge of Perehico's only son. The child had unfortunately died at Paramatta, and the doleful tidings were now communicated. The whole family sat in a circle upon the deck; and the mat, which the poor little boy had been accustomed to wear, and which was the only relic of him, was brought up and placed by Evee in the centre of the group. The scene of lamentation that ensued was truly distressing, particularly on the part of the mother and sister of the deceased. To appease the grief of the father, who was an elderly man, and who, from a rheumatic complaint, had lost the use of his limbs, a musket, which had been purchased for him at Port Jackson, was

laid before him. After a time it seemed to have some effect in restoring his composure; and when he had got a little powder, which he said was necessary to salute the memory of his child, he went away in apparent tranquillity.

In the course of the forenoon, so many petty thefts had been committed, that it was necessary to clear the ship altogether of the natives, which was not effected without some trouble.

In the morning Tetoro left us, and as we had promised to follow him in the afternoon, to see the timber he had so often spoken of during the voyage, the tide serving at three o'clock, we set out upon our excursion.

Tetoro described his residence to be on the banks of a river called the Wycaddy, which flows into the southern side of the Bay of Islands, and which we found to be navigable for the Prince Regent schooner for three miles. When it grew shallow we took to the boats; but the distance to the village of the chief was greater than had been anticipated, and it was quite dark before we arrived. His pre-

sence there was announced by his firing his musket, and the salute was returned by a general discharge of all our fowling-pieces.

A number of the natives immediately crowded about the boats, and hauled them on shore; and we were making preparations to take up our quarters among them for the night, when Tetoro pointed out the propriety of still continuing our excursion up the river, as the timber district was some miles from us. We consequently re-embarked, attended by the chief, and as many of his followers as we could well carry; nor did we arrive at the place of our destination till a late hour. The river here was very narrow, and the village where we were to sleep lay about half a mile from it.

On landing, two muskets were discharged in the village; and when we entered it we were given to understand that it belonged to Wevere, Tetoro's elder brother, and, of course, the greater chief. To this man we were presented in due form, and to his protection we were consigned. He was seated on the ground, opposite his house, to receive us, with his

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best mat thrown over his shoulders, his face and body smeared with red ochre, and his hair tied in a bunch on the top of his head, and ornamented with the white feathers of the gannet or the albatross.

This is the universal manner of receiving strangers; and we afterwards frequently observed, that when our boats approached the villages, and the natives had run down to the beach to invite us to land, the moment they observed us preparing to do so, the chiefs retired to arrange their persons and compose their looks for the formal reception which they are in the habit of giving to those whom they wish to compliment.

Wevere desired us to sit down beside him, and sent several of his tribe to assist in carrying our baggage from the boats, and in pitching our tent. In person he was not above the middle stature, and of rather mean appearance; but his youngest brother, whose name was Wyacaddy, was as tall as Tetoro, and stouter made.

The huts of the natives were not very numerous, and the most remarkable among

them was the public store-house, or repository of the general stock of komeras, or sweet potatoes, which stood in the centre of the village. Several posts driven into the ground, and floored over with pieces of timber fastened close together, formed a stage about four feet high, upon which the building was erected. The sides and roof were of reeds, so compactly arranged as to be impervious to rain; a sliding doorway, scarcely large enough for a man to creep through, was the only aperture; beyond which the roof projected so far as to form a kind of verandah, which was ornamented with pieces of plank, painted red, and carved in various grotesque and indecent figures. The carving is a work of much labour and ingenuity; and artists competent to its execution are rare. Wevere pointed out to us the man who was then employed in completing the decorations of his store-house, and told us that he had brought him from the river Thames (a distance of two hundred miles from the Wycaddy) for that purpose.

The store-house is always the largest and the best building in the village; the one de-

scribed was about 20 feet long, eight feet wide, and five feet high; it was quite new, and there seemed to have been more pains taken in erecting it than had been bestowed on most of those which we had subsequent opportunities of examining.

Next to the store-houses, in respectability of appearance, must be ranked the residences of the chiefs. They are built upon the ground; the floor and the space in front are neatly paved; but they are very low, and we seldom met with one in which a man could stand upright. The small sliding door of entrance, which is the only aperture for light or air, is not more than adequate to the size of the owner: they have their verandah and ornamental carving, which being painted red, have a showy appearance, and the quantity of carving often indicates the rank of the individual to whom the house belongs. The huts of the inferior people are wretched, very little better than sheds; but the practice of sleeping in the open air is so scrupulously adhered to, that it must be very bad weather that can force the New Zealanders to seek

the shelter of their houses. They take their rest in a sitting posture, with their legs gathered under them; and from the coarse texture of the outer mat, in which they envelop themselves, they have the appearance, during the night, of a number of bee-hives scattered in groups about a village. They continued to talk to one another to a very late hour: early in the morning they resumed their conversation; and when unengaged either in war or agricultural occupations, it is astonishing what a length of time these islanders sit together, and how uninterrupted their discourse appears to be.

When the baggage was brought up from the boats, it was put under the verandah of the store-house, and tabbooed, or consecrated against violation, by Wevere, who was a priest. It is worthy of observation, that though many of the New Zealanders, when they come on board our ships, make no scruple of thieving, if they see the probability of avoiding detection, still, when the European goes among them, and commits himself and his property to their protection, he may place

implicit confidence in their honesty and honour. In the morning no less a personage than one of Wevere's wives had been detected in the act of stealing from the Dromedary one of the iron scrapers with which the decks are cleaned; but now, though our guns and powder-flasks, which to them were the greatest temptation in the world, lay at the mercy of the natives, not a single article was lost, nor did any one of them attempt to enter our tent without permission.

We had not been long in the village, when Tetoro's wife, whom he had not before seen, arrived, and presented him with a boy, that had been born during his absence. The infant had light hair [see Note 4.], and was singularly fair; but the sobs and lamentations that immediately followed the meeting of the parties deprived us of all further communication with the chief, and were prolonged during the greater part of the night.

At a late hour Wevere ordered a dance to be performed by nearly the whole of the tribe, for our entertainment, and at our solicitation. We had previously made the request

to Tetoro, but the precedence of the elder brother was strictly maintained during the whole of the visit, and we were immediately referred to Wevere.

Preparatory to the dance, the upper mat or garment is laid aside by both men and women; after which, the performers, having ranged themselves in a line, one or sometimes two deep, begin beating their breasts, and frequently joining in chorus with an individual who repeats a song. The action of the arms, the gestures of the body, and the contortions of the countenance, are very violent, and often frightful: in dancing, the parties stamp vehemently with the feet, but seldom move to any considerable distance from the place where they originally ranged themselves. It is singular how simultaneous even the slightest motion of the fingers is, with all the individuals in the group, be their number what it may; no irregularity is perceptible in the time and manner of their movements.

At a later period of our residence in this country, when the natives had frequent opportunities of seeing our people dance, they

observed, and with a degree of ridicule, that no two white men ever moved their arms or legs in the same manner.

Feb. 29th, Tuesday. Early in the morning we set out upon our excursion, attended by Tetoro and a number of the natives, who seemed highly complimented, not only in being permitted to carry our guns, but even ourselves, when we came to a river or morass. The country was hilly, and much diversified with woods, none of which were very extensive, but so numerous and so beautifully dispersed, as to have the appearance of being laid out by the hand of the most skilful artist. The ground, where there was no timber, appeared green and rich at a distance; but when we came to walk over it, we were much disappointed to find that it was covered with a sheet of fern, so strong and tall, that if there had not been a path we should have made very slow progress through it. No natural grass was observed, and the underwood among the trees was almost impenetrable. Through every ravine ran a rivulet of very fine water.

We passed some small patches of cultivated

ground, in which were planted common and sweet potatoes, and which are fenced in with a coarse kind of paling; but our guide forbad us to go too near to them, and pointed out to us that they were tabbooed, or consecrated. Under the same spell was a herd of pigs, which ran wild in a wood, and which Tetoro said belonged to Wevere, and could not be disposed of.

The principal object of our walk, which was long and fatiguing, proved unsuccessful. No cowry trees, of the size of those that the Dromedary was instructed to bring home were to be found; and had they occurred in the woods that we examined, the distance was too great, and the ground too irregular, for them to be conveyed to the banks of the Wycaddy.

Tetoro seemed evidently grieved that the promises he had held out to us during the voyage, of furnishing the ship's cargo, could not be realised by him; and he appeared low and dejected, as we returned to the village, where we were met by the whole of Wevere's tribe. They attended us to the water's edge,

and on taking leave, Tetoro presented us with two domestic fowls, and discharged his musket as the boats pushed off.

There were no domestic fowls in New Zealand, until a stock was brought from Port Jackson by Mr. Marsden and some of the missionaries, when a few of them were given to different chiefs; but their increase has been very trifling, and they are principally esteemed for their feathers, which are used for ornamental purposes. The crowing of the cock in the morning affords the New Zealander much amusement. It is an indispensable attendant in his canoe when he goes far from home.

The banks of the Wycaddy are, in general, steep and richly wooded. There are many villages upon them, in whose immediate neighbourhood were several small spots of cultivation, but the ground, in the other parts of the country, appeared never to have been disturbed. We were much incommoded by the natives that sat in the boat, who urged us, with much importunity, to rest upon our oars opposite every village we passed; while they,

at the highest pitch of their voices, held long conversations with the inhabitants. To them they told who we were, and what we came for: from tribe to tribe the story was repeated; and in this manner is intelligence conveyed from one part of the island to the other with singular rapidity.

We found the Colonial schooner in the river waiting for us, and the wind being perfectly fair, we regained the Dromedary at three o'clock P.M. Here we were met by Shungie, who had come to take leave previously to his departure for England: he was accompanied by our friend Repero, and another of his sons, who was still younger. They were all invited into the cabin after dinner, and behaved themselves extremely well.

[March 1820]

March 1st, Wednesday. At daylight the carpenter and some of the gentlemen went to examine the timber on the banks of the river Cowa-Cowa, which branches off the Wycaddy. They saw a profusion of kaikaterre spars, of the largest dimensions in use for naval purposes, growing close to the water's edge; but they were as unsuccessful in their search for

the cowry tree, as they had been on the former day. The people of a village, near which they stopped to dine, showed them great civility and attention; and they returned in the evening much gratified with their excursion.

The anchorage at Kororadeca appearing too much exposed, the Dromedary was moved into Parro Bay during the forenoon, where the Indian, Echo, New Zealander, and Anne, whale ships, were lying; the last had arrived the preceding day.

March 2d, Thursday. When we first anchored in the Bay of Islands, we learned that the tribes of Timoranga and some other chiefs were upon a fighting expedition at the river Thames, and their return and near approach were announced by a native, who came on board this morning, and who at first excited some curiosity: he was dressed in a blue coat, trowsers, and boots, and wore a cocked hat with a long white feather. From the circumstance of being very little tattooed, he was not unlike a foreign officer; and when he ascended the deck, he addressed the persons around him in English. At breakfast he con-

ducted himself quite like a gentleman, and told us that his name was Tooi, and that he was the younger brother of the chief Krokro, to whom the greater part of Parro Bay belonged: he excused himself for not visiting us sooner on account of his having returned late the preceding evening from the North Cape, whither he and Krokro had gone to perform the customary ceremonies of lamentation over a near relation who had died there, and whose remains they had brought back with them.

As soon as the river Thames expedition entered the head of the bay, some of the gentlemen went to meet it. The fleet was composed of about fifty canoes, many of them seventy or eighty feet long, and few less than sixty. Their prows, sides, and stern-posts were handsomely carved, and ornamented with a profusion of feathers; and they generally carried two sails made of straw matting. They were filled with warriors, who stood up and shouted as they passed our boat, and held up several human heads as trophies of their success.

The barter of powder and muskets, carried

on by the whalers, had already distributed some hundred stand of arms among the inhabitants of this bay; and, as the natives of the river Thames were unprovided with similar weapons, they made little opposition to their more powerful invaders, who, in the present instance, told us that they had killed 200, while they returned with the loss of only four men.

Before we met the canoes we had pretty well learned the result of the expedition from Tooi; who, notwithstanding his long residence in England, and his having returned to New Zealand under the immediate charge of one of the missionaries, still scrupulously adhered to the barbarous prejudices of his country, and gave a striking proof of the difficulty of eradicating the habits of savage life in a person of mature age.

His conversation during breakfast was a continued boast of the atrocities he had committed during an excursion which he and Krokro had made two months before to the river Thames; and he dwelt with marked pleasure upon an instance of his generalship,

when having forced a small party of his enemies into a narrow place, whence there was no egress, he was enabled successively to shoot two-and-twenty of them, without their having the power of making the slightest resistance. To qualify this story he remarked, that though all the dead bodies were devoured by his tribe, "neither he nor his brother ate human flesh, nor did they fight on Sundays." When asked why he did not try to turn the minds of his people to agriculture, he said it was impossible; "that if you told a New Zealander to work, he fell asleep; but if you spoke of fighting, he opened his eyes as wide as a teacup; that the whole bent of his mind was war, and that he looked upon fighting as fun."

The New Zealander whale-ship sailed for England in the morning; and while she was beating out of the bay, we went on board to take leave of Shungie; but as he was at that moment preparing to go through the last farewell ceremony with his immediate relations, and as the deck was crowded with them, we were glad to get into our boat before it began. Shungie's friends pushed off soon after, and

the master of the New Zealander saluted them with a gun and three cheers; the compliment was received with marked satisfaction, and when we met them on shore some time afterwards, every appearance of sorrow had vanished.

We now rowed towards the missionary settlement at Tippoona, whither the greater part of the river Thames expedition directed its course. On one side of a ravine, through which runs a rivulet, is a high steep hill, called Rangehoo, upon the top of which stands a very extensive native village, in all its barbarity; while on the opposite eminence are the cottages of our countrymen, built in the English style, of wood, and as neat and comfortable as their remote situation from the civilised world could admit of.

The beach was crowded with natives, waiting the return of the expedition; and, as the canoes approached, they waded out to meet them, and assisted in hauling them on shore, and in landing the prisoners and the baggage.

The warriors were in their full dress, their hair tied up in a bunch on their heads, and

ornamented with white feathers, and their faces and bodies besmeared with oil and red ochre. They recounted to the groups that surrounded them the different events of their excursion, with much gesture and energy; while the captives sat patiently upon the beach, awaiting the lot which was to consign them to their respective masters. They consisted of men, women, and children, some of the latter not two years old; and forlorn as their situation was, they seemed to have paid as much attention to the ornamenting of their persons as those who were placed in more fortunate circumstances.

Among the women there was one who excited particular interest: she was young and handsome; and though the other prisoners occasionally talked among themselves, she sat silent and alone, and appeared lost in affliction. We learned that her father, who had been a chief of some consequence at the river Thames, was killed by the man whose prisoner she now was; and we observed him sitting at no great distance from her during the greater part of the day. He was the

brother of Towi, the principal person at Rangehoo, and was a singularly fine-looking youth.

The extraordinary scenes that we witnessed detained us in the neighbourhood of Tippoona until evening; and, as we were preparing to return to the ship, we were drawn to that part of the beach where the prisoners were, by the most doleful cries and lamentations. Here was the interesting young slave in a situation that ought to have softened the heart of the most unfeeling.

The man who had slain her father, having cut off his head, and preserved it by a process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket, where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the unhappy daughter. At once she seized it with a degree of frenzy not to be described, pressed its inanimate nose to her own, and held it in this position until her tears ran over every part of it. She then laid it down, and with a bit of sharp shell disfigured her person in so shocking a manner, that in a few minutes not a vestige of her former beauty remained. She

first began by cutting her arms, then her breasts, and lastly her face. Every incision was so deep as to cause a gush of blood; but she seemed quite insensible to pain, and performed the operation with heroic resolution.

He whose cruelty had caused this frightful exhibition was evidently amused at the horror with which we viewed it; and, laying hold of the head by the hair, which was long and black, offered to sell it to us for an axe, turned it in various ways to show it off to the best advantage, and when no purchaser was to be found, replaced it in the basket from whence he had taken it. The features were as perfect as when in life; and though the daughter was quite grown up, the head of her father appeared to be that of a youthful and handsome man.

A few yards from this scene of distress was a prisoner whom the lot of partition had separated from his captive family. He pressed the nose of an infant child to his own, while his wives who sat around and joined in his lamentations, performed with a shell the same operations upon their persons which has just

been described in the case of the young female.

The slaves are condemned by their masters to hard labour; they are fed like the rest of the family, not having of course the privilege of eating with those that are free; and they hold their lives upon a most precarious tenure. [See Note 5. ] When a member of the chief's family dies, a certain number of the slaves, proportioned to the rank of the person, are sacrificed to appease the spirit of the deceased. A woman was pointed out out to us who had been twice selected for execution; but having obtained private information of the doom that awaited her, by concealing herself in the woods until the funeral ceremonies were over, she had hitherto escaped.

The manner of inflicting death is perhaps one of the most humane customs of the country. The existence of the sufferer is terminated by a blow on the head, struck with a stone club called a mearee. The executioner, who is selected by the tribe, cannot decline his office; and the unsuspecting

victim falls without previous intimation of his intended fate.

When we were getting into our boat, we met Shungie's mother on a lonely part of the beach; she was very old, and her hair was perfectly white. In consequence of the departure of her son she was tabbooed; and as, among other restrictions of this superstition, the persons under its influence are forbidden to touch food with their hands, a woman sat beside her with a basket of potatoes, and put them into her mouth as she required them.

We found Tooi's elder brother Krokro on board, and waiting for Mr. Marsden, who was one of our party. Krokro was an elderly man, and far from prepossessing in his appearance. He sat in the cabin until a late hour; and upon our expressing a wish to see the body of his friend, which he had brought from the North Cape, he promised to show it to us, and proposed that we should visit his residence the next day.

March 3d, Friday. In the morning some of the gentlemen accompanied Krokro to his

pah or fort, where he then resided, and which was about a mile from the ship.

The pahs are situated on high, steep, and generally conical hills, ascended by a narrow winding pathway, so rugged that the European climbs it with personal danger; while the New Zealander, from custom and being barefooted [see Note 6.], seems to experience neither inconvenience nor difficulty. As near the top of the pah as possible is the public store-house; the huts of the people are scattered on the declivity; and to augment the natural strength of the place, it is fortified by one or more ditches and lines of palisades firmly fixed in the ground.

These New Zealand forts have been described with accuracy by Captain Cook: no tribe is without one; and, though in times of peace the people generally prefer scattering themselves over the low grounds and close to the sea-side, at the moment of alarm they retire to the pah, as the place of safety and concentration.

During the time the gentlemen were rowing to the shore, Krokro pointed out the place

where Captain Cook had been attacked by the natives; and gave a minute detail of the massacre of part of the crew of Marion's ship. He said that the natives, exasperated against the French captain for having burned two of their villages, determined on revenge; and, concealing every hostile disposition towards him and his people, pointed out a place to haul the seine, and offered to assist the sailors in doing so. The arrangement of the plot accorded with the treachery of the proffered kindness. Next to every white man was placed a New Zealander; and when all hands were busy pulling the net, a sudden and furious attack was made upon the unsuspecting and defenceless Europeans, and every one of them was murdered.

On the arrival of the gentlemen at the foot of the pah, Krokro took them to see the body of his friend, which was laid in a canoe, and watched by two old women, who sat on either side of it. When Krokro mentioned to them his intention of showing it to the strangers, there was an evident opposition on their part, which was overcome with apparent

difficulty by the authority of their chief; and so tenacious are the people of this island of the approach of Europeans near their dead, or even their burying-places, that subsequent observation gave ample proof of how far Krokro had disregarded the prejudices of his countrymen in the present instance.

The body was at first enveloped in mats, but Krokro raised it out of the canoe and stripped it. The temples were bound with a chaplet of leaves, and the hair was ornamented with the feathers of the albatross; the knees were gathered up, and the head rested upon them, the abdomen had collapsed, and the intestines had been evidently removed, though no mark of an incision was visible; and the limbs were much shrivelled from the process that had been adopted to prevent putrefaction, – of which, though the person had been dead for a considerable time, there was not the slightest appearance.

When the body was replaced in the canoe, the women resumed their station on either side of it; and Krokro remarked, that it was

that night to be deposited in its final resting place.

The gentlemen then ascended nearly to the top of the pah where the house of the chief stood: it was about nine feet long, six feet wide, and four feet high, with a small sliding door, through which he could creep with some difficulty. The huts of his people were smaller.

He now produced two human heads, in the same state of preservation as the one mentioned on a former occasion, and offered to sell them for some gunpowder. As the manner of preserving heads so effectually as to prevent decay for many years must be a subject of curiosity, perhaps it may not be amiss here to detail it.

When the head has been separated from the body, and the whole of the interior of it extracted, it is rolled up in leaves, and put into a kind of oven, made of heated stones laid in a hole in the ground, and covered over with earth. The temperature is very moderate, and the head is baked or steamed until all the moisture, which is frequently wiped away, has

exuded; after which it is left in a current of air until perfectly dry. Some of these preserved heads were brought to England: the features, hair, and teeth were as perfect as in life; nor have they since shown any symptoms of decay.

The custom of preserving heads is universal among these islanders. They bring them back from their wars, in the first instance, as a trophy, and, in the event of peace, to restore them to the party from whom they had taken them; an interchange of heads being a common article in their treaties of reconciliation. They now barter them to the Europeans for a trifle.

When the gentlemen took their leave, Krokro presented them with a basket of potatoes, and gave permission to shoot a few pigs, that ran wild upon a neighbouring island. In the afternoon some persons went thither and killed seven.

March 4th, Saturday. The ship was surrounded with canoes, and great quantities of fish were procured in exchange for fish-hooks.

5th, Sunday. It was now determined to

explore the banks of the Shukehanga, on which the cowry tree was reported to grow in great abundance. This river empties itself into the sea on the western coast of the island, and was described by the inhabitants to be navigable for some miles from its mouth.

The gentlemen who undertook the excursion left the ship in the afternoon, and directed their course to the Kiddy-Kiddy, which flows into the Bay of Islands on the eastern side of New Zealand, with the intention of going up that river as far as the new missionary settlement, and of then walking across the island, there reduced to an isthmus not more than thirty miles broad, to Shukehanga. They took with them the necessary instruments to ascertain the latitude of the place and to sound the river; and they were accompanied by Mr. Marsden and Mr. Hall, a missionary, who was quite master of the language of the country.

Several of the natives attended them to carry their baggage: these men bear the heaviest burdens with great patience and perseverance, and willingly follow Europeans in

their longest journeys, attracted either by the novelty of their company, or the comparative magnitude of the reward they receive from them.

During the whole of the day we had no New Zealanders on board except Krokro and his son, who had almost taken up a permanent residence amongst us. The latter, a youth about sixteen years old, who had learned at Port Jackson sufficient English to make himself understood, was very useful in bartering with the natives for what was wanted, and in accompanying the wooding and watering parties on shore.

March 6th, Monday. In the morning we had a visit from an old chief, called Benny, uncle to Krokro, and possessor of a large tract of country in the immediate neighbourhood of the place where the ship lay at anchor. He was scarcely alongside, when his nephew went down into his canoe, joined noses with him, and howled for about half an hour, after which they both came on deck. Benny had met with some interruption in ascending the side from the sentinel, which

so irritated him that he merely looked about him for a moment and went away. He was in his full dress, and his body was besmeared with red paint.

March 7th, Tuesday. The weather this day was very stormy; and at noon a brig in distress entered the bay, fired two guns, and anchored off Tippoona: she proved to be the Haweis, bound for Otaheite, and belonging to the Missionary Society.

A party of men had been sent on shore in the morning to cut fire-wood, and at the place where they were about to begin to work, they found a remarkably well-looking young native sitting on the ground, who addressed them in English, which he said he had learned during a voyage he had made in a South-seaman, and offered his assistance to them in felling the trees. His exertions were so unremitted and so effectual that, when the boat was loaded, the officer in charge of the party told him, that if he remained there until they returned, some dinner should be brought to him. When they came back they found the young man at the place appointed; the officer

gave him a very bountiful meal, and upon the boat being again filled with wood, he sent her off to the ship, remaining on shore himself, and keeping one of the sailors with him, who, with the New Zealander, sat in the wood, while he walked up and down the beach; on a sudden he heard the sailor call for assistance, and hastening to him, he found that the native, whilst his companion was off his guard, had seized his axe and run away with it. The wood was so thick that any attempt at pursuit would have been fruitless.

An axe in this country is much prized, and before the introduction of powder and muskets, was the most valuable payment a New Zealander could obtain.

March 8th, Wednesday. Although the gale still continued with much violence, attended with constant and heavy showers, Krokro requested to be set on shore with one of his children, who was taken ill; and though medical assistance was offered, and an assurance given of its success, such was the father's prejudice in favour of his own manner of treatment, that he declined it, and left the

ship with his boy in the middle of the storm.

March 9th, Thursday. Showery, with strong breezes at E. N. E. In the morning some of the gentlemen left the ship to visit the new missionary establishment on the banks of the Kiddy-Kiddy.

They crossed the bay, in the Colonial schooner, to Tippoona, which was about ten miles from our anchorage, and thence proceeded up the river as far as the depth of water would permit the Prince Regent to navigate it, taking to the small boats when it became shallow, and arrived at the residence of the Rev. J. Butler in the afternoon. As the settlement had been formed but six months, the houses were merely temporary.

Here the surface of the country is comparatively level; there is little wood, and the plains extend several miles. The ground, though covered with heath and fern, was in many places good; but no natural grass was observed during a walk of several miles. A nutritive herbage must, however, grow among the fern, as some cows and sheep, which the

missionaries had lately imported from New South Wales, and which grazed upon it, were in good condition. There was a fine crop of Indian corn; and we ate excellent bread, made of wheat grown in the neighbourhood.

Twenty thousand acres [see Note 7.] of the plains of Kiddy-Kiddy belong to the missionaries; and though their improvements were at this period inconsiderable, every preparation was making for an extension of them.

They were induced to settle at this place in preference to Tippoona, where the ground is too hilly for agriculture; and they considered themselves safer under the protection of Shungie, to whom Kiddy-Kiddy belongs, than under any of the other chiefs.

It is, however, a protection at all times precarious, and maintained at the expense of much forbearance and humiliation. [See Note 8.] The natives, knowing too well that the missionaries are in their power, commit extensive depredations upon them, not unfrequently aggravating their extortions by acts of gross insult; indeed we always found the tribes among whom our countrymen lived,

more troublesome than those whom we met with elsewhere.

Six years had the missionaries been established, and not a convert had yet been made. The food necessary for themselves and their numerous attendants (and except a few domestic fowls, and a small quantity of corn, the Europeans grow nothing) can only be obtained from the natives, who, in a certain degree, are able to command the trade they choose to take. The consequence is, the most murderous weapons have been disseminated among them; and, arrogant at being better armed than their neighbours, their insolence is not confined to their countrymen, but often extends to the missionaries themselves, and to the Europeans that occasionally land among them.

Efforts have frequently been made, and at first with some appearance of success, to turn the islanders' minds to agricultural and mechanical pursuits; but the wild volatility of their character, and their violent prejudices, soon led them to return to their savage habits; and prevented the fairest prospects from being realized.

There is no trade they value so highly as that of the blacksmith, from the circumstance of his being able to forge offensive weapons; and this high-prized science was not only taught by the missionaries to a native, but they established him in a shop and gave him tools to work with. He went on well for a time; but at length a party of his tribe came to him, and told him they were going on a fighting expedition, and he must accompany them. The shop was immediately burned; the tools thrown upon the beach; and the blacksmith disappeared.

At a later period of our detention in the island, some of the missionaries found themselves so uncomfortably situated, that they talked of embarking in the Dromedary, and leaving the country: but the natives told them that though they might go away themselves, their property should not be removed; that they considered whatever was landed at Kiddy-Kiddy to be under their control; and it was too evident that they only valued the missionaries for the articles they distributed among them.

With the exception of Mr. Butler, the missionaries were all tradesmen; and in sending that description of persons to New Zealand, it was supposed their handicrafts would fascinate the islanders, and gain them over to habits of industry; but the hypothesis was erroneous: the haughty chief, while he admired the mechanic, despised the labouring man; and said that he could be nothing more than a cookee in his own country.

When Repero left the ship, he was dressed like a European, and took with him a large supply of clothes. This day he was in his native garb: his face red with ochre and oil; and we were told, he expressed his shame and contrition for appearing among his countrymen in any other costume but theirs. He seemed to have forgotten all the kindness we had heaped upon him; and, whether through bashfulness or timidity, avoided us as much as possible during our visit to his tribe.

Near the settlement there is a very beautiful cascade, the fall being upwards of eighty feet.

March 10th, Friday. The gentlemen passed the night at Mr. Butler's, and early in

the morning we were roused by a shout in the native village (which is close to the missionary settlement, and by the discharge of several muskets. This was a salute given to Timoranga, who had arrived with a war-canoe, which he presented to Shungie's brother.

The tribes of Timoranga and Shungie had been at war some months before; and, among other misfortunes, twenty of Shungie's canoes had been destroyed. Timoranga now came in peace, and there seemed to be a perfect reconciliation. After breakfast we rowed down to the schooner, and crossed the bay with a very heavy swell, and a strong wind against us; nor did we make the ship till late at night. The banks of the Kiddy-Kiddy are less wooded than any of the other rivers that flow into the Bay of Islands, nor is it as deep as the Wycaddy or Cowa-Cowa. We saw upon it a great number of wild ducks and curlews; some of which were shot, and proved very good.

March 11th and 12th. The weather being now more moderate, the canoes again began to make their appearance, and brought a plentiful supply offish.

12th, Sunday. There was a vast number of canoes about us, in which were fish, mats, and some human heads. The fish the natives freely disposed of in exchange for biscuit and fish-hooks; but for the mats they insisted upon getting powder, which was always refused. However, as the last of the whalers was about to sail, and as they foresaw that in a short time we should be the only people with whom they could trade, in the afternoon they began to relent, and some handsome mats were exchanged for axes.

Captain Lowry of the Anne dined with us this day: he seemed much annoyed by the number of natives he had continually on board; and who forced their way into the ship whenever they pleased.

He told us that when he touched at the Bay of Islands during his former voyage, he anchored, off Eangehoo; and going on shore the next day to visit the missionaries, he ordered his boat to be drawn up on the beach. The natives, perceiving that the part of the boat's bow over which the whale line passes was covered with lead, immediately began

to tear it away; and though Mr. Hall was standing by when the master of the whaler remonstrated with them upon the impropriety of their conduct, they told him if he attempted to interfere with them, they would knock him down; and forbad Captain Lowry at the peril of his life to land the next day.

This tribe behaved with equal rudeness to the first mate of the Haweis, which went to sea this morning. The master had sent him on shore with some fish-hooks to buy firewood; but he had no sooner landed than the islanders seized him, took all his fish-hooks from him, and then threw stones at him.

March 13th, Monday. There were many canoes about us laden with fish. In the afternoon a messenger arrived from Shukehanga, bringing accounts that the gentlemen there were well; that the cowry grew in great abundance on the banks of the river; and that though the entrance was narrow, it was deep enough for the ship to be carried into it. This news came by a chief of that district, called Wheety; he was a very intelligent man, and he attached himself to us

during the remainder of our stay in New Zealand.

March 14th, Tuesday. Krokro having mentioned that some cowry grew in the woods near Mannawarra Bay, which was not very far from where we lay at anchor, some of the gentlemen landed after breakfast, and having walked about two miles from the shore, arrived at a range of high hills, the sides of which were covered with timber. The underwood was so thick that it was very difficult to force a way through it, but some cowry trees of the proper height and thickness for the ship's cargo were found; unfortunately, however, between the ground where they grew, and the sea shore, was such a series of hills and morasses that it appeared impracticable to convey them to the water's edge; and when Krokro was asked, if with the assistance of his tribe he could haul them to the beach, he said, in two months he might perhaps drag two thither. We saw a few small birds of very rich plumage, and shot some wild pigeons.

The Anne, whaler, sailed in the morning,

leaving one of the master's apprentices behind. The young man, when the ship was ready for sea, ran away and hid himself in the woods; and though the captain waited a day in hopes of his return, no intelligence could be gained of him. In the evening he came on board the Dromedary in a most miserable state, and asked to be taken on the strength of the vessel, alleging as an excuse for his misconduct, that the mate of the Anne persecuted him to such a degree that he could no longer serve under him. During the night a strong gale of wind set in at S. E., with heavy rain.

On the 15th and 16th the gale continued, and we had no intercourse with the shore.

18th, Saturday. Fine. The natives again made their appearance, and brought plenty of fish.

In the afternoon the gentlemen, who had been at Shukehanga, returned. They were accompanied by some of the principal men of that district, whom they reported to have behaved with much civility and attention, giving them plenty of provisions, and affording

to their persons and property every protection. They seemed to consider the tribe to which these men belonged superior to those we had met in the Bay of Islands; and from the little intercourse they had had with Europeans, much easier to deal with for the articles of barter that had been supplied to the Dromedary, than those amongst whom we now were, and who demanded muskets and powder for every thing. The river was found to be navigable for the ship for some miles, and its banks produced abundance of cowry of the largest description. The entrance, however, was narrow; and across it there was a bar, which gave nineteen feet water at the lowest tide.

As it was possible that the ship might go thither, the chiefs of the district remained on board.

In travelling through the country, Mr. Marsden often wore a red nightcap, and he used spectacles. When taking leave of Mowhenna, who had treated him with the most unbounded hospitality at Shukehanga, he asked the chief to name the present he most wished

to have. Mowhenna immediately asked for a red nightcap and a pair of spectacles, remarking at the same time, that they must be the insignia of a very great man in England.

March 19th, Sunday. Immediately after divine service, an account was brought to Mr. Marsden, that a serious disturbance had taken place at Kiddy-Kiddy, which originated in the misconduct of some of the natives towards the missionaries. He lost no time in repairing thither; and we were glad to find the next evening when we returned, that the affair had not been so bad as was at first reported.

One of the natives, who had forcibly entered Mr. Butler's premises, upon being told to go away, behaved with such violence, breaking one of the windows, and knocking every thing about which was near him, that his brother, who had always been particularly kind to Mr. Butler's family, opposed him, and struck him. The consequence was, that the two brothers, in a state of passion amounting to frenzy, commenced a battle which

must have been fatal to one or the other, had they not been separated by their mutual friends. The noise and confusion were excessive; and the first aggressor, in the height of his rage, declared his determination to bring another tribe to his assistance, who would carry away every thing that the missionaries possessed, while Mr. Butler's friends expressed their determination to prevent his doing so. Things remained in this disagreeable state, until the passion of the brother having abated, all disturbance ended in their reconciliation. Mr. Marsden brought back with him a chief, named Tarrea, who had distinguished himself by his steadfast support of the missionaries, not only on the last, but on former occasions. In size and strength he seemed to surpass all his countrymen: though far from being corpulent, there was not an arm-chair in the cabin in which he could sit, and in Shungie's tribe he was much looked up to for his bravery and skill in leading the warriors to battle. He remained on board during the night, and was treated with every civility.

March 20th, Monday. The Prince Regent schooner sailed in the morning to examine the south-eastern coast, and the timber that grew upon it, as far as Bream Bay.

In the afternoon the Cumberland whaler came into the harbour; and all the canoes, which had been pretty numerous about us for some days, went to her.

A message was immediately sent to the captain, by the commander of the Dromedary, to request that he would not issue powder and muskets to the islanders; but he said he had been five months at sea, and that he must obtain refreshments for his crew in any way he could. This determination soon removed the spell of the Tabboo from the pigs we had seen in Wevere's woods: the next morning they were on board the Cumberland.

The natives traded in the curiosities of their country, which they sold for axes, knives, &c.; but for the articles more essential to the health of the men, viz. hogs and potatoes, there was a determinined struggle of obstinacy between them and us; – they in-

sisted upon muskets, while we as steadfastly refused them.

Long as the ship had been here, scarcely any refreshments had been obtained; and though, on the departure of the whalers, it was presumed that the want of another market would induce the natives to come into our terms, the arrival of the Cumberland now precluded all hopes.

In the afternoon, as we rowed by Benny's village, he invited us to land; which we did, and he immediately spread some very handsome mats on the ground, which he offered for a musket or some powder. When he saw there were no hopes of getting either, his son, who spoke a little English, sold me one for an axe; and, after the bargain was concluded, he put it into the boat, and asked to be taken on board to be paid for it, and to have something done to his leg, which was very badly cut. This was assented to; but we had no sooner got clear of the creek, in which he lived, than, seeing the Cumberland standing into the bay, he vociferated the event to his tribe with all his might, and insisted

upon being put on shore at the nearest landing-place. The boat had scarcely approached the rocks, when he seized the mat, and jumping into the water, ran away, saying, that a ship had now come that had powder to dispose of, and he would have nothing more to do with the Dromedary.

During our visit to Benny, he entered into a long argument, to prove the superiority of the New Zealand arms over the British firelock; and, by way of exemplification, he took up a spear, and placing himself before a person who was supposed to have a musket, he flung himself upon the ground, at the moment he considered the trigger might be pulled; and instantly springing up, attacked his antagonist, whom he described to be then defenceless, with his native weapon.

We were much surprised at the singular agility that Benny displayed on this occasion. He had the advantage of the youngest European amongst us, though the old man must have long passed his sixtieth year, and his grown-up sons and grandchildren were standing around him.

March 23d, Thursday. In the evening the Prince Regent schooner returned. She had examined a considerable part of the coast between the Bay of Islands and Bream Head; but wherever she had met with much timber, there was no safe anchorage, and where shelter for shipping had been found, there was no cowry. As this intelligence removed all hopes of getting a cargo in this part of the island, the necessary preparations were begun for sailing to Shukehanga. The determination was heard by the chiefs of that place with infinite satisfaction, and they immediately despatched a messenger over-land, to inform their countrymen of our approach.

24th, Friday. This day was spent in making preparations for sea, and every thing being ready, Krokro, his son, and his brother Tooi, who had all lived in the ship, and who in many instances had made themselves very useful, were dismissed with several presents. Such, however, was their avarice, that it was not an easy task to send them away satisfied. They said they would meet us the next morning as we went out of the bay and salute us

with their muskets, begging, at the same time, that the compliment might be returned by a gun, which was promised. A number of women, also, who had lived with the sailors and soldiers, left us, and in the evening not a New Zealander was on board, except the four Shukehanga people who were to be the companions of our voyage. They expressed great pleasure at the departure of Krokro's party, saying they were "no good;" that they were in the habit of eating men; and that when we came to their own part of the country, the decks should be covered with potatoes, and we should have every thing we wanted.

In the evening, to prevent all misunderstanding, they were called upon deck to say upon what terms they would load the ship, in the event of her going into their river. They said that they would give the trees for axes; that they would protect our persons from annoyance; and upon being given to understand that none but chiefs, and of these but a few at a time, would be allowed to come on board, they undertook to point out to their

countrymen the necessity of attending to this and other regulations of the vessel.

The jealousy of the people of the Bay of Islands at the departure of the ship, was equal to the joy of those among whom it was intended she should go; and determined as the former were to force us into a traffic for muskets and powder, now that they saw things at a crisis, they would, if the timber had been within their reach, have given it to us for our axes, sooner than let them go into the hands of strangers.

March 25th, Saturday. Fine, wind S. by E. At daylight the anchor was weighed, and the ship stood seaward. As we sailed out of the bay, we were met by Krokro, his son, and his brother Tooi: they were saluted with a gun; and, on coming on board, they presented some mats to different officers. Perceiving that we had no interpreter, Tooi expressed a wish to accompany us; and his brother gave him permission to do so, on receiving a promise from Te-to-ny, the Shukehanga chief, that if we did not return to the Bay of Islands he would give him safe convoy back over-land.

Krokro then addressed a very animated speech to Te-to-ny, the substance of which was, an assurance of his regret at the ship's leaving his district, and of her going to a place where the people were ignorant of the attention due to the English, and cautioning him, as he had seen how they were treated, to teach his tribe to pay them every deference and attention. Te-to-ny made some short replies; and during the whole harangue they both ran, or rather danced up and down the deck, using such violent gestures, that a bystander would have supposed them engaged in a quarrel, rather than an amicable conference.

When we neared the heads of the bay, Krokro took his leave, first asking for some powder to return our salute; but as he did not get it, he dispensed with the performance of the promise he had made the preceding day.

We now stood to sea, having the Prince Regent schooner in company. At noon the weather became dark and rainy; the wind veering more to the east, gradually freshened,

and at night it blew so heavy a gale that the ship was brought to.

March 26th, Sunday. Dark hazy weather, wind east, and blowing a strong gale, with a heavy sea, the ship still lying to, and labouring very much, and the schooner no longer in sight. P. M. constant and heavy rain. At twelve the wind came round to north, and the gale began to moderate,

27th, Monday. Cloudy weather, wind N. and moderate. P. M. hazy and showery. At six we made the North Cape, and Cape Maria Van Diemen. Tacked, and stood off for the night.

28th, Tuesday. Showery, wind S. W. by S. In the morning it was found that a current had carried us twenty-six miles to leeward of Cape Maria Van Diemen; hence, as it was impossible to beat against it with a contrary wind, and as the bullocks on board were without grass, it was determined to put back to some place, where we could get food for them and shelter for the ship. We ran pretty close in shore the whole of the

day, and in the evening anchored off the heads of Wangarooa.

To any one acquainted with New Zealand, the name of Wangarooa must be familiar, as being the scene of the destruction of the Boyd. This ill-fated ship sailed from Port Jackson for England in 1809, with the intention of calling at New Zealand for a cargo of spars. She had seventy persons on board exclusive of some New Zealanders, who were passengers to their own country, and amongst whom was the son of one of the chiefs of Wangarooa: he was called Tarra, but during his intercourse with the English he had laid aside his native title and taken the name of George, by which he is now universally known.

When the Boyd got to sea, George was ordered by the captain to work in common with the other sailors, but upon refusing to do so on account of ill health and of his being the son of a chief, he was (as he afterwards declared) twice flogged with much severity, and deprived of his usual allowance of food. For these outrages he concealed all appearances of resentment; and when the ship made the

coast of New Zealand, he pointed out his native harbour as the safest and best place to procure the cargo, and persuaded the captain to anchor there.

George now detailed his misfortunes and degradation to his tribe; revenge was determined upon, and in a most summary manner inflicted. The captain and a considerable part of the crew having been allured on shore were in an unguarded moment murdered, and their bodies afterwards devoured. Those that remained on board, deceived by the treachery of the New Zealanders, met a similar fate, with the exception of a woman and two children, whose lives were spared; and they were the only persons who survived to tell the tragical story of their companions.

When the ship had been plundered of almost every thing that was valuable, a cask of gunpowder, which had been found below, was brought up between decks; and George's father, by way of trying if it was good, opened it, and snapped a musket over it. The explosion deprived him and all the other New Zealanders then on board of their lives; the upper

works of the vessel were destroyed, and the hull, having broken from its moorings, drifted into the shallow water, where it still lies. [See Note 9.]

The fate of the Boyd has since been a warning to all other European ships not to approach this dangerous harbour. George had frequently been heard to declare his intention to cut off any vessel that dared to enter it; and the treachery of his character, as far as we could observe, was held in such detestation by his countrymen, that they seemed to have little or no intercourse with him.

As soon as the Dromedary had anchored, a boat was sent off to procure food for the cattle, and to sound the harbour; but she did not enter until it was dusk, and the natives came down to the beach in such numbers, that it was not thought prudent to land amongst them at so late an hour. Their chief, however, was civil, and promised to come to the ship the next morning; and the officer who had charge of the boat reported the entrance of the harbour to be narrow but very deep.

From the time the ship began to retrace her course from the North Cape, nothing could exceed the uneasiness of the chiefs of Shukehanga; nor was it possible to persuade them that we had ever intended to visit their part of this country. They had suffered very much from sea-sickness, from which they were not perfectly recovered; and their present disappointment had such an effect upon their spirits, that they declared their intention of leaving us the next day, and making their way home by land as well as they could.

March 29th, Wednesday. In the morning, Tepperree, the chief of Wangarooa, came off, according to promise; but there was something so sulky or timid in his conduct, that he was of no use to us. He was asked to send off grass and potatoes, for which ample payment was promised; and to accompany some of the officers in a boat, which was going into the harbour, and afterwards up a river which flows into it; and to point out to them where the timber, which he said grew in the district, was to be found. All this he promised to do, but when we were

going to pull off, he said he would follow in his canoe; instead of which he lingered in the ship for some time, and, when he left her, avoided the boat for the rest of the day.

We rowed into the harbour, accompanied by Tooi, as guide and interpreter; but as he said he had been at war with the Wangarooa people two years before, and as the quarrel did not seem to be made up, his attendance was as distressing to himself as it was useless to us.

Wangarooa is a singular and beautifully romantic place. Near the northern head is a large perforated rock, presenting the appearance of a deep gothic archway; the sea rolls through it, and the canoes find it a safe passage in moderate weather. The entrance of Wangarooa is not more than half a mile wide, and it is impossible to discover it from any distance at sea; but it is deep quite close to the land on either side, which is bold and steep, and, when entered, it is one of the finest harbours in the world; the largest fleet might ride in it, nor is there a wind from which it is not sheltered.

The interior is lined with lofty hills, richly wooded; and close to the western shore is a series of huge rocks, rising in the most fantastic shapes to an immense height, from the tops of which tumble many cascades that lose themselves among the innumerable trees and shrubs with which the bases of those stupendous piles are profusely covered. The pah or fort of the natives is nearly opposite, but sufficiently to the eastward of the mouth of the harbour to be sheltered from the roll of the sea, nor can it be seen until the heads have been passed. Its site is an insulated rock, 300 feet high, excessively steep, and in some places perpendicular; yet the New Zealanders ascend it without much inconvenience, and find sufficient room upon its extreme summit to form in considerable numbers.

To us its appearance was most imposing; and where fire-arms are little used, it ought to be an impregnable position; though its chief is said to have fled from it when attacked by the tribe of Poro, and to have

abandoned his property and many of his women to the fury of the invader.

The houses are very numerous, and chiefly on the northern declivity: there is one on the very highest point of the rock; and as the boat approached, we observed a concourse of people assembled in different parts of it. Most of them had spears in their hands; and when we rowed up to the foot of the pah, they received us with the same shyness or timidity that we had already experienced from their chief. The salutation of peace (hero-mai) [see Note 10.] was not pronounced by an individual. The more respectable part of the tribe (as to appearance) remained about halfway up the rock, while the few that came down to the boat threw Tooi into such a state of terror, that it was quite ridiculous to see him, and he vehemently and continually urged us to load our muskets, and push off from the shore.

The latter part of his request was, after a time, complied with, as there was little inducement to remain among a people who seemed desirous to get rid of us, and we were

particularly anxious to encounter George, who, we understood, lived a few miles up the river.

To his residence Tooi undertook to be our guide, but as we had some doubts of his sincerity, we hailed several canoes that we saw, to obtain, if possible, certain information as to the course we ought to take; but the people in them, upon our approach, pulled away with all their might, and, after rowing about three miles, we found that our suspicions of Tool's conduct were not without good foundation. He not only brought us precisely opposite to that side of the harbour to which we should have gone, but, by misleading the cockswain, got the boat so frequently aground, that it cost us much time and trouble to float her off.

After having thus lost a considerable part of the day, we returned towards the harbour's mouth. It was low water, and part of the wreck of the Boyd being visible, we paid it a visit. The stump of the mizen-mast was still standing, and had we possessed the proper instruments, we might have drawn one of the

copper bolts, which was more than once laid hold of with the boat-hook.

While employed in examining this monument of New Zealand perfidy, a canoe came up to us, and the principal person in her, by way of conciliation, threw us a basket of dried fish, for which a handsome present was given in return. This man appeared to have every disposition to be civil; he proved to be a relation of George's, and he offered to pilot us up the river to the residence of that celebrated chief, and to show us where the cowry trees grew; but the tide was now too low, nor had we gone half a mile before we got aground again.

On our return, we observed a canoe close to the Boyd, and some of the natives diving into the wreck. Though the vessel had been more than nine years sunk, they brought up some of her copper sheathing, and two six-pound shot, which they held up to us, but refused to dispose of. The persons assembled on the pah took no notice of the boat as we passed under it; but close to the mouth of the harbour we saw some people in their

canoes fishing, who seemed less shy than those we had seen in the morning, and they willingly allowed us to come up to them, and sold us their fish for fish-hooks.

During the day the wind had veered to the S. E., and, on clearing the heads, we observed the ships under weigh, and about ten miles distant. As the breeze was fresh, and there was a good deal of sea, the situation of the boat was far from comfortable; added to which, a shark followed close under the stern; but Tooi, the moment he found himself out of Wangarooa, from a state of the most abject fear got into the highest spirits, and, forgetful of the necessity that every person should sit perfectly quiet in the boat, became a very troublesome companion during the remainder of the excursion.

When we got on board, we found our Shukehanga acquaintances perfectly recovered from their sickness and despondency. They had exerted their utmost strength and agility in assisting the men to weigh the anchor, assuring them that Wangarooa was "no

good," and that if the ship went in there, they would be all murdered and devoured.

In the evening we spoke the Cumberland whale ship: she had left the Bay of Islands that morning, and had heard nothing of the Prince Regent schooner.

Off this part of the coast we saw some whales, several sharks, and a few flying-fish.

March 30th, Thursday. Fine, wind N. E. by N. At four this morning we made the North Cape, at nine doubled Cape Maria Van Diemen, and ran pretty close to the shore during the rest of the day.

It is impossible to imagine any thing more dreary or inhospitable than this side of the island. The coast is lined with a series of sand hills, which seem to run inland to a considerable distance; nor is there for miles a tree or spot of verdure to diversify the sameness of the scene. In the afternoon the breeze became fresh and the weather squally, but it soon cleared up, and at six P. M. we made the heads of Shukehanga. The ship stood off and on during the night, and some guns and a rocket were fired as a signal to

the schooner, in the event of her being in the harbour.

The arrival of the Dromedary in this part of the country had been expected for some days: she was the first ship that had visited it, and what from curiosity and a desire to trade for European articles, the inhabitants appeared determined to show us every attention in their power. During the early part of the night a number of fires were observed along the coast, which the New Zealanders on board said were intended as a compliment to us, and they considered it handsomely returned by the firing of the guns and the rocket.

March 31st, Friday. At daybreak the boats were sent off to sound and place buoys in the harbour, while the ship stood off and on at some distance; and in the course of the morning we were much gratified to hear that the Prince Regent schooner was safe at anchor in the river, having arrived there two days before.

As there is always a swell on the bar, and as the Dromedary was at least four miles

from it, few canoes came near her; but crowds of people flocked in from the adjacent country, and took up their residence upon the beach, in anxious expectation of our coming into the harbour.

[April 1820]

April 1st, Saturday. The whole of this day, and the morning of the next, the boats were employed in sounding the river, the ship standing off and on, or lying to.

In the afternoon they returned, when a signal was made to the schooner to weigh, the commander of the Dromedary considering it too hazardous to attempt the navigation of the harbour. We stood seaward in the evening, and remained under easy sail during the night.

Shukehanga lies in latitude 85[degrees]; 32' south, longitude 173[degrees]; 27' east.

Its bleak and dreary appearance from the sea holds out no inducement to the navigator to approach it; but the passage over the bar is perfectly safe for vessels drawing fifteen feet water (or probably more), and the harbour is well sheltered and commodious. The river, which is wide and navigable for ten

miles from its mouth, forms many deep coves, and branches into several smaller streams, the banks of which are beautifully wooded, and the lofty and luxuriant cowry grows in great profusion close to the water's edge.

A remarkably old man mentioned a tradition related to him by his father, that a boat full of white people, armed with muskets without locks, came into the river a very long time ago. He also told one of the gentlemen, that a ship had been lost off this part of the coast at a much later period; and that a boat's crew having gone on shore to trade for provisions were cut off by the natives; but we did not hear of any one who had been able to discover a vestige of the wreck.

The departure of the Dromedary from Shukehanga was much regretted: the general remark was, that had she gone into the river, there was a certainty of her getting, not only a cargo in a short time, but a plentiful supply of refreshments for the crew during her detention in the harbour. The little intercourse which the natives had hitherto carried on with Europeans made their anxiety to trade

with them so great, that they had already collected their hogs and potatoes from a considerable distance, and only waited for us to come into smooth water, that they might bring them alongside and dispose of them. But now we were to go we knew not where: the object of our voyage was as far from being accomplished as on the first day when we arrived at New Zealand; and the decline of the marine barometer announced that another storm must be weathered before we could reach a place of safety.

The people here seemed to be of industrious habits, of milder manners, and far more under the control of their chiefs, than those at the Bay of Islands. When the Prince Regent schooner, which arrived two days before the Dromedary, anchored in the river, so many war canoes, filled with men, surrounded her, that the commander, whose crew consisted of nine persons, was not a little alarmed at his unprotected situation; but his apprehensions were soon removed by a chief named Moodooi, who came upon deck and tabbooed the vessel, or made it a

crime for any one to ascend the side without permission. The injunction was strictly attended to during her stay in the harbour; while Mowhenna, the chief of the tribe in the immediate neighbourhood of the Heads, daily presented the people with several baskets of potatoes, and extended the same liberality to the boats of the Dromedary, when they accidentally went on shore.

The day after we arrived, one of the natives whom we had brought round from the Bay of Islands announced his intention of leaving us. This man called himself the priest and the pilot of Shukehanga, and was supposed by his tribe to have power over the winds and the waves; an influence which, when he was asked to exert during the late gale, he declined by saying, that "he could not do so in the Dromedary, but that if he were in his own canoe, at his word, the storm would instantly abate."

During his stay in the ship there certainly was nothing of a very sacred character about him; he was by far the wildest of his companions, and, unfortunately, on the morning fixed for his departure, a soldier having missed

his jacket, there was so great a suspicion of the pilot's honesty, that the sentinel at the gangway took the liberty of lifting up his mat, as he prepared to go down the side, and discovered the stolen property under it. The jacket was of course taken from him; and as the only excuse he had to offer for his misconduct was, that he had lost a shirt that had been given to him, and that he considered himself authorised to get remuneration in any way he could, he was dismissed without those presents which were given to the others. We were glad to see that his countrymen seemed to notice his conduct in the strongest terms of disapprobation; and the next day, when they were about to leave us, they seemed, so determined to put him to death, that they were requested not to do so, but to consider his having lost his presents, and his being forbidden ever to come near the ship, a sufficient punishment for his offence.

April 3d, Monday. Fine, wind E. N. E. and moderate. P. M. at one we saw Cape Maria Van Diemen bearing N. E. 1/2 N. distant eight leagues. The barometer fell very

rapidly in the evening, and during the night it blew very hard, with constant rain and a heavy sea, and we again parted company with the Prince Regent shooner.

April 4th, Tuesday. Dark hazy weather, wind E. and light. The ship rolling very much, and no observation. P. M. heavy rain and blowing weather; at five the wind veered to the S. W. and it cleared up; much rain and lightning during the night.

5th, Wednesday. Cloudy and showery, wind S. W. At daylight saw the Cavalles Islands, and at three P. M. we anchored in the Bay of Islands.

In this excursion we had almost as much bad weather as during the whole of the passage from England to New Zealand. The ship was so light, that it was impossible to calculate with any certainty upon her staying; and in the heavy seas we encountered off the North Cape she laboured so much that a cow and a bullock and two sheep were lost, besides the greater part of our poultry. The Prince Regent schooner arrived three hours before us, having suffered much in the late gales.

The American ship, General Gates, lay in Tarrea's river on the north-west side of the bay; she was in the sealing trade, and had put in during our absence for refreshments.

We had not been long at anchor before Krokro came to congratulate us on our return; and he seemed highly pleased at the want of success that attended our excursion. He now, in conjunction with Tooi, made an offer for the first time to muster all his tribe, and cut down and load the ship with any timber that grew in his district; but in proffering this service his only object could be to enhance his welcome, as he was perfectly aware of its impracticability.

April 6th, Thursday. A few canoes came alongside, and sold some fish. The carpenter having pointed out some trees, at no great distance from Mannawarra Bay to Krokro, he undertook to bring them alongside, gathering all his people for that purpose; but from the ruggedness of the ground, and its swampy nature, little hopes of success could be entertained: these swamps, at all times wet, had

now become almost impassable from the heavy rains.

April 7th, Friday. Several canoes came alongside, and sold some fish and a few potatoes. We had a visit from Benny, Krokro's uncle, who, though very distant before, seemed now most anxious to ingratiate himself with us.

8th, Saturday. The carpenter and some of the gentlemen went up the river Cowa-Cowa in the morning, to examine the kaikaterre that grows on its banks, and to ascertain if it were possible to purchase a cargo of it, in the event of the ship being disappointed in getting cowry elsewhere. The current was so rapid from the late rains, that the boat was with great difficulty rowed against it up to the swamp where the timber grew, and the inundation here prevented a near approach to the spars. The Cowa-Cowa is wide and deep for six miles, its banks are generally steep and sometimes perpendicular; and they are richly clothed with trees and shrubs, which grow very thick upon them, and hang over the water in great luxuriance. We saw a number

of birds, some of which sang very sweetly; and though the autumn was far advanced, the verdure of the country was as unimpaired as in the middle of summer.

Where the river begins to get narrow its course is through low and swampy ground, it is often shallow and very much choked with roots and stumps of trees. At one place we observed a head stuck upon a pole, the flesh as yet scarcely decayed. The natives told us it was the head of a slave who had been killed for committing a theft, and that it was exhibited as a warning to others.

In the evening Krokro came on board, and announced the failure of his attempt to get a spar down to Mannawarra Bay: he said he had cut the tree, dragged it out of the wood, and rolled it down a hill, when it unfortunately stuck in a swamp, and defied all his exertions to get it out.

The purser, who had been absent all day endeavouring to purchase provisions, returned at eight in the evening with some potatoes and five pigs, one of which, the moment it was hoisted in, ran to the opposite gangway and

jumped overboard; and though a boat went immediately in pursuit, it could not be found. An hour and a half afterwards the animal came alongside, and was got on board not much the better for its excursion.

April 9th, Sunday. We had a visit from Tekokee, the proprietor of the timber on the banks of the Cowa-Cowa: he undertook to supply the ship with as many spars as she wanted, at the rate of one spar for each axe, and to float them down the river to her; remarking, that though the swamp was impracticable for Europeans to work in, the New Zealanders did not care about it. He was a very strong-built man, quiet and mild in his manners; he was accompanied by a person to whom the whalers had given the name of King George; but this title accorded little with his very moderate pretensions as a chief of the Bay of Islands. As he and the celebrated George of Wangarooa will be frequently mentioned hereafter, it may be proper to caution the reader not to mistake the one for the other.

10th, Monday. Early in the morning the

carpenter, boatswain, and some sailors, were sent on shore with purchase-blocks and tackle, to meet Krokro and his people, and assist them in getting the spar out of the mud. Krokro did not make his appearance till one P. M., and instead of 300 men that he promised to bring, he was only attended by seven. After leading the Europeans from one place to another, under pretence of not knowing where the spar was, they at length ascertained that it had never been cut, and that the whole story was a fabrication.

In visiting the missionary settlement at Tippoona, we learned that a very shocking murder had been committed there during our absence at Shukehanga. A female slave belonging to one of the chiefs, whom he had ill-treated, was said in the bitterness of her heart to have cursed him, a crime in that race never forgiven; and, as she was standing on the beach opposite to the Europeans' houses, he walked up to her, and with one blow of his mearee (or club) laid her dead at his feet. There is a pool of fresh water close to the house of Mr. King, a missionary, to which the

body was immediately carried. The entrails were taken out, it was divided into quarters, and washed perfectly clean. The chief then threw it into a canoe, and, with some of his tribe, crossed over to a neighbouring island to devour it. This horrible act was perpetrated in the presence of some of the missionaries.

At first we understood that the unhappy victim was the interesting young slave who has already been brought to the reader's notice, but we were afterwards undeceived. The person sacrificed was one of the prisoners we had seen on the day alluded to; but the girl in whom we had taken so much interest was still living, and had been made one of the wives of the very man who had treated her with such singular barbarity.

In the evening it blew very hard, and there was much difficulty in getting across the bay.

The captain of the General Gates came on board the Dromedary, and expressed his intention of going soon to sea, having got an ample supply of refreshments in return for powder and muskets.

April 11th, Tuesday. The supply of fish

from the natives beginning to diminish, the seine [see Note 11.] was hauled in the evening, but with little success.

April 12th, Wednesday. Information having been received that the captain of the American ship had seduced several convicts from Port Jackson, and that they were on board the General Gates, the commander of the Dromedary went to the vessel, and, on examination, found that eleven of the crew consisted of that description of people. Eight were brought back; an officer was left to secure another that had been sent on shore, and Captain Riggs confessed that the remaining two had been put upon the Island of St. Paul's, with some of the Americans, to kill seals, and to be picked up at a future period.

The convicts were squalid and miserable in appearance; they were accompanied by Captain Riggs, who remained in the Dromedary during the night.

When Captain Riggs was first examined as to what kind of people his crew was composed of, he most solemnly declared that he had but two convicts, who had secreted themselves in

the ship when she sailed from Port Jackson; and that it was his intention to give them up to Mr. Butler, to whom the powers of a magistrate in the Bay of Islands had been delegated by the Governor of New South Wales. Upon enquiry, however, among the prisoners, it appeared so clear, that Captain Riggs had most deliberately seduced them to leave Port Jackson, in defiance of the port regulations, by holding out to them promises which he had never fulfilled; that they had been most cruelly treated, some of them having been flogged with barbarous severity; and that so far from having any intention to give them up, Captain Riggs had used every effort to conceal them; it was determined to seize the ship and send her into Port Jackson, there to pay the forfeit of her commander's misconduct.

April 13th. In the afternoon the Prince Regent got under weigh, to perform this service, having on board the second master of the Dromedary, some sailors, and a sergeant's guard of the 84th regiment, and at nine o'clock possession was taken of the vessel.

We had a visit during the course of the day from our old friend Tetoro: it was the first he had paid us; and he said he had felt so much ashamed of not having been able to realise the promises he had made during the passage from Port Jackson, of supplying the ship with timber, that he had not been able to prevail upon himself to come near us.

April 14th, Friday. In the morning the General Gates was got under weigh, and anchored alongside the Dromedary; most of her crew were taken out, and replaced by British sailors: the guard remained on board to prevent the intrusion of the natives, and a master's mate was put in charge of her.

In the afternoon Mr. Hall, one of the missionaries, came on board, accompanied by the celebrated George of Wangarooa, who had come into the Bay of Islands the day before, attended by seventy of his tribe. He had great difficulty to induce this man to visit the ship; nor would he do so until Mr. Hall had pledged himself to be answerable for his life. Mr. Hall had put it to George, that, by loading the Dromedary, he might make some

atonement for his former enormities, and ultimately regain the forgiveness of the English: but revenge is such a leading feature in the character of the New Zealander, let the period for its gratification be ever so distant, that he can hardly be persuaded to believe any other nation capable of forgetting an injury; and though many years have elapsed since the destruction of the Boyd, the people of Wangarooa will for a long time view the approach of a ship to their harbour with terror and consternation. George, in stature, is rather under the middle size, but strong and well made; and it appeared to many that the infamy of his character was marked in his countenance. He said that he had plenty of cowry, and that he would load the ship with it for axes: he seemed to be under much apprehension of personal danger, and took his departure early next morning.

April 16th, Sunday. Divine service was performed by Mr. Marsden. One of the soldiers' great-coats having been stolen out of the Prince Regent the evening she went to take possession of the General Gates, and a sus-

picion having fallen upon some of Timoranga's tribe, the circumstance was mentioned to this chief) who came on board in the morning. He said he had heard of the theft a few moments before, that he knew who committed it, and that he would recover the property: for which purpose he soon after crossed the bay.

April 17th, Monday. At eleven the American ship, General Gates, sailed for Port Jackson.

18th, Tuesday. Early in the morning Timoranga brought back the soldier's coat, and received a present for the trouble he had taken to recover it.

The impossibility of procuring a cargo of cowry in the Bay of Islands was now obvious, and the carpenter had latterly formed a more favourable opinion of the kaikaterre. Of this kind of timber, as already has been observed, there was abundance on the banks of the Cowa-Cowa; and a bargain having been concluded with Tekokee and King George, that they should receive an axe for every spar they brought alongside, the carpenter was despatched to mark the

trees, and set the natives to work to fell them. On his reporting that he had completed these arrangements, it was determined to remove the ship as near as possible to the mouth of the Cowa-Cowa, and begin taking in her cargo.

April 19th, Wednesday. In the morning, two boats with several men were sent on shore to assist Krokro in getting down some cowry spars, that he said he had cut. They returned in the afternoon with five, four of which were scarcely large enough to make masts for boats, and the fifth was destined for a top-gallant-yard for the Dromedary.

With this last act of deceit our intimacy with Krokro ceased. His influence in this part of the bay was so great, that it must have been an object to him to detain us as long in it as he could. While at anchor in Parro he considered the ship as his; and it appeared his neighbours had not the power to trade with us without his permission: an indulgence which he seemed almost entirely to withhold from the people of the Wycaddy. The sea-breeze setting in at noon, the ship

was got under weigh, and moved into Kororadeca Bay.

April 20th, Thursday. We visited the swamp where the natives were at work, and found that Tekokee and King George had cut down fourteen spars, but on the opposite side of the Cowa-Cowa to that on which the carpenter had marked the trees he wanted. The reason Tekokee gave for this deviation from his instructions was, that he thought the spars he had cut were nearer the water; but as far as could be learned from others, a different tribe had disputed his claim to the produce of the right bank of the river. The wood was very extensive; and in a long shooting excursion we made through it, during which many pigeons were killed, there was no prospect of its termination. In the evening, as we returned, though the weather was unusually fine, and the sky cloudless, a native, who sat in the boat, remarked that there would be heavy rain the next day: when we got on board the barometer had fallen very much, and the following morning confirmed the truth of the New Zealander's prediction.

During the course of the day the ship had moved nearer the Cowa-Cowa, and was moored at the confluence of that river with the Wycaddy. There had been several canoes alongside, and the supply of vegetables was now more abundant than usual. The weather beginning to get cold, a great value was set by the natives on blankets, and warm articles of clothing.

April 21st, Friday. Very heavy rain; in the afternoon it cleared up; and in some excursions which were made into different parts of the bay, we found the natives, particularly the women, who labour more than the men, very busily employed in gathering their koomeras, or sweet potatoes.

The commencement of the koomera harvest is the great epoch which marks the recurrence of the year; and the labour of gathering it supersedes all other occupations. It is ushered in with the blessing of the priest for its success, and terminated by his tabbooing, or making sacred from intrusion, the store-houses in which this favourite food is deposited. Even in the predatory excursions of

the New Zealanders it has sometimes happened, that, when every thing else has been plundered, the superstition of the tabboo has saved the koomeras from violation.

One of the gentlemen of the ship was present at the shackerie, or harvest-home (if it may so be called), of Shungie's people. It was celebrated in a wood, where a square space had been cleared of trees, in the centre of which three very tall posts, driven into the ground in the form of a triangle, supported an immense pile of baskets of koomeras. The tribe of Teperree of Wangarooa was invited to participate in the rejoicings, which consisted of a number of dances performed round the pile, succeeded by a very bountiful feast; and when Teperree's men were going away, they received a present of as many koomeras as they could carry with them.

It is customary, when the natives of this country sit down to their meals, for the slaves to put the portion of each individual before him, in a new basket, made of a kind of flag; nor are those baskets, under any circum-

stances, used twice; and at the termination of the repast every person carries away the remnant of the food originally set before him.

The rejoicings are the same when the koomeras are planted, as when they are gathered in. During the sowing season, the ground is strictly tabbooed, as well as the people employed in cultivating it: they have temporary huts built upon it; nor can they pass the boundary night or day until their labours are terminated. So cautious were the natives lest we should approach those tabbooed grounds, that they had persons ready to warn us off, and to lead us, often by a considerable circuit, to the place for which we were bound.

In some instances, when the Europeans came accidentally upon them while so employed, and did not immediately go away when desired, the work was suspended; and they seemed to think that they dreaded a failure of the crop, if the seed were put into the ground in the presence of a white man.

April 23d, Sunday. We were visited by many of the neighbouring chiefs, and, among

others, by Perehico, the man to whom we had brought the news of the death of his child at Port Jackson; and as he had lost the use of his limbs, he was hoisted up in the chair.

He appeared much pleased with this compliment; and though in his manner the remembrance of his late affliction was not perceptible, the deep scars inflicted with the shell upon his person gave ample proof how severely he had dealt with himself. Before he lost the use of his limbs, he was considered an active and enterprising warrior. He had now laid aside the name of Perehico, and assumed that of an island which he had conquered in one of his expeditions. He died a short time before we left New Zealand; and the sovereignty of his tribe devolved upon his brother Timoranga.

A fine little child, the son of a British sailor by a native woman, was observed in a canoe alongside; and its mother consented, after some hesitation, to permit it to come on board. She seemed very fond of it, and was quite uneasy during its absence from her. It was nearly naked, but as fair as if it had

been born in England; and it naturally excited so much interest in the ship, that it was returned to its parent with a very comfortable supply of clothing, and several days' provisions.

One of the men who had been employed in cutting food for the bullocks, reported, that curiosity having led him to lift up a mat, which he saw spread upon the ground, near King George's village, he discovered underneath it the body of a recently-murdered child, with the entrails taken out, as if preparatory to its being devoured. The story was so shocking, and almost incredible, particularly as the New Zealanders are very fond of their children, that no belief was attached to it, until it was corroborated by the testimony of some of the other men who were with him; and it was determined the first favourable opportunity to enquire into the business.

April 24th, Monday. Some of the officers went up the Cowa-Cowa to the place where the men were cutting the spars. The wood was much inundated, and the paths, which in

our last visit were very good, had become so deep and muddy as to be almost impassable. Many trees were already cut down, and a party of sailors were employed in clearing the river of stumps and other impediments, to facilitate their passage to the ship. Tekokee now declared his inability to perform his contract, and said, that so far from being able to float the trees down the river, he could not remove one of them from where it lay without the assistance of many Europeans.

April 25th, Tuesday. A few canoes came alongside, but the severity of the weather soon obliged them to go away

26th, Wednesday. It being a subject of general curiosity to ascertain the truth of the story told by the grass-cutters relative to the dead child they had seen near King George's village, and the day being fine, some of the gentlemen went thither to investigate the circumstances. We were met on landing by Keevee-Keevee, the chief's brother, who told us that he recollected the grass-cutters coming there, but that instead of a dead child being under the mat, which they thought proper to lift up, he him-

self was the object they had seen, his body having been newly tattooed that morning, and of course covered with blood. This explanation was far from satisfactory, and one of the gentlemen, having accidentally strayed a short distance from the rest, saw, lying close to the pathway, the head, right arm, and a small part of the breast of a child, which had been dead about four days, but not a vestige of the remainder of the body was forthcoming. When this discovery was mentioned to the chief, he expressed his surprise and ignorance that such a spectacle existed in the precincts of the village; and, when led to the spot, he immediately said it was the child of a cookee , that had died of disease a few days before, and that the remnant we now saw was that which the dogs had not as yet devoured. We endeavoured to point out to him the propriety of burying this disgusting object, but he seemed quite offended at the proposition, saying, "that if it were the child of a rungateeda , or gentleman, it should be laid in tabbooed ground, and every funeral rite paid to it; but that a cookee could not be allowed even

the decency of burial, and that he should disgrace his rank, if he were in this instance to deviate from the customs of his country." During this conversation we stood round the remains of the unhappy infant, which were more than once raised from the ground; and though there were some women and several children about the same age as the deceased, looking on, so far were they from showing any feeling of repugnance upon the occasion, that the sight itself, and our evident horror of it, seemed to afford them a fund of amusement.

We had not left this part of the beach long when we saw two war-canoes filled with people standing towards it; and as soon as they reached the shore, they fired their muskets and ran up to the village, close to which they halted, and immediately commenced their war-dance. This dance is, perhaps, as frightful an exhibition as can be witnessed: the performers, who are perfectly naked, assemble in an irregular group, and jump perpendicular from the ground as high and as frequently as possible, uttering a most piercing and savage

yell; as the dance continues, their countenances become violently distorted, they appear under the influence of an ungovernable frenzy, which they suppose inspires them with courage to attempt the most daring actions, and they describe the war-dance as being always the immediate and indispensable prelude to a battle. Even to a New Zealander the approach of these people must have appeared hostile, and Keevee-Keevee told us when we relanded, which we did as soon as possible, that so little did he know who they were, or the purport of their visit, that he had put himself as well as he could on the defensive to receive them.

The strangers proved to be a tribe from the North Cape, who came on a visit to King George. They were a strong athletic race, and their chief, whose name was Shungie, was a remarkably fine-looking man. When he saw us approach him, he came to meet us, and touched noses with us, and immediately after exhibited, with much self-satisfaction, a musket which he had new-stocked in a very clever and workmanlike manner.

April 27th, Thursday. In the morning we were visited by some of the Shukehanga chiefs, accompanied by a native of the Marquesas Islands, who had settled not very far from their part of New Zealand. They had walked across the country to Kiddy-Kiddy, and the whole object of their journey seemed to be the disposal of three or four mats.

At noon the North Cape chief, whom we had met on the preceding day, came to the ship. He was in his war-canoe, paddled by thirty men, and attended by another canoe, carrying nearly the same number of his tribe. He alone came up the side; and, after gazing about for some time, proceeded to measure the ship from stem to stern. This he effected by prostrating himself upon the deck, and marking upon it the distance between his feet and the extreme ends of his hands, which he extended as far beyond his head as he could, counting at the same time the number of prostrations he had made. When he had got the length, he ascertained in the same way the breadth of the vessel, and announced it from the poop to his astonished followers, who sat

in their canoes, and patiently waited the return of their chief, who, notwithstanding the storminess of the day, detained them some hours alongside. During the night the rain fell in torrents, with much thunder and lightning.

April 28th, Friday. In a shooting excursion to a neighbouring creek, we met with a river which ran much farther inland than any of the party had anticipated. After rowing upwards of two miles through a wood of mangroves, we found ourselves at a large village, and though the most minute examination was made in every part of it, not a single inhabitant was to be found. The pigs, of which we saw fifty at least in the enclosures near the houses, the potatoes, and every thing else that might be considered of value to the inhabitants, lay at the mercy of any one who chose to take them; nor did we learn, until our return, that the place was subject to Tekokee, and that the whole population had gone to assist their chief at the Cowa-Cowa.

During a heavy squall, a canoe that was alongside the ship filled, and the people,

jumping too suddenly into another that lay close by, upset it. The whole population of the two canoes, consisting of men, women, and children, were now in the water; and so much more did they exert themselves for the recovery of some potatoes that they had brought to dispose of, than for their personal preservation, that had it not been for the prompt assistance given them by the boats, many must have perished.

[May 1820]

May 1st, Monday. At ten a. m. the Prince Regent schooner sailed for Port Jackson.

In the afternoon, a shooting party went into a cove, not very far from the ship, and killed some wild ducks. While the boat remained on one side, four of the sportsmen walked round to the other, where they were met by a New Zealander, who asked them "what they wanted there?" and seemed in a most desperate passion, particularly with the man who carried the game. No notice whatever being taken of him, he went away; but when the gentlemen were about to embark, he again came running to the boat,

rather more composed, but still very sulky. Another native, who had attended them during their walk, and who had been very civil, was told, in the presence of his ill-tempered countryman, to come on board the next day for a present; an invitation with which he punctually complied. It would be difficult to say what could have irritated the other man, as the natives always feel so much gratification in seeing a European kill a bird, that they not only volunteer to show them where game is to be found, but to assist them in looking for it. May 2d, Tuesday. Early this morning, observing several war-canoes at the mouth of the Wytangy, some of the gentlemen hastened thither, but their boat was unable to overtake the canoes, which formed a line, and paddled rapidly up the stream. The warriors in them were painted red, and their heads were ornamented with feathers and leaves; they shouted and fired their muskets as they passed the different villages; and, after continuing their course for about three miles up the Wytangy to where a waterfall of twenty feet, extending

across the bed of the river, prevents its further navigation, they disembarked, and encamped on the banks on either side. They said they had had a great battle at Mercury Bay, and that they had brought back many prisoners and heads, some of which they offered for sale.

The prisoners were generally women and children; among the former was one who had received a musket-shot through the fleshy part of the leg, which evidently had not been dressed since it was wounded. She was advanced in years, and the bank upon which the war-party had encamped, being steep and rugged, she sat by the water's edge, crying to them, but in vain, for assistance to ascend it. This tribe were natives of the shores of the Wytangy; but they said it was necessary that they should go inland to a considerable distance the following morning, and that they should not return for some time.

It was positively asserted by the natives in the neighbourhood, and by members of their own tribe, that the object of their excursion into the interior was to devour their prisoners without intrusion or molestation. The wounded

female we never afterwards were able to discover; nor would they give us any satisfactory information about her. Our visit was repeated to their camp the next day, but it had been abandoned, and nothing remained but their canoes.

In the afternoon there was thunder, lightning, and rain, and the Prince Regent schooner had found the weather so bad at sea, that she was obliged to return.

May 3d, Wednesday. The carpenter had been some days up the Cowa-Cowa with ten sailors, assisting the natives in getting down the spars. The chiefs who had contracted to supply them, were, as already mentioned, Tekokee and King George. For each tree was given an axe, which was supposed to be exclusively the property of the chiefs; and as a farther remuneration, the carpenter was in the habit of distributing every second evening articles of minor value among the men and women who worked under them. At noon King George demanded the usual stipend for his people, which the carpenter refused to give, telling him that the day's work

had not been completed, but that they should receive it at sunset; upon this King George grew excessively insolent, and in a few minutes surrounded the carpenter's tent with about 100 persons, threatening to kill a native of Bengal [see Note 12.] who acted as interpreter to the carpenter, and was in the tent with him, and behaving in other respects so outrageously that the unjust demand, from motives of prudence, was complied with. The natives then dispersed, and, with the exception of very few, abandoned their work altogether.

During this affair Tekokee conducted himself extremely well, taking no part in the tumult, and telling the carpenter that so far from not being sufficiently paid, the people had already received too much for their labour. Things were in this state when the commander of the Dromedary accidentally arrived at the wood; and as nothing could be done at the moment, Tekokee and King George promised to come on board the next day, and explain the motives of the disagreement.

May 4th, Thursday. That there might be

no misunderstanding, a boat was sent to Tippoona for one of the missionaries, to interpret what King George had to say for himself; and in the course of the day Tekokee and his fellow-chief arrived.

King George had not been two minutes in the ship when he remarked that his conduct at the carpenter's tent was shenerica , or hoax; "that neither he nor his people meant any harm, and their only object was to get as much as they could from the white men" Both he and Tekokee declared that they were amply paid, that they had no reason to be dissatisfied, and that they would again resume their labours. They urged in extenuation of their not performing their contract, that one of their relations had lately died, that many of the tribe were gone to cry over him, that many more were obliged to attend the planting of the koomeras; but that they would all return at the end of the present moon, and that then the spars should be floated down the river. Notwithstanding this affected satisfaction they seemed sore and out of spirits, particularly King George, who did nothing

but beg for one thing or the other from the time he came into the ship until he left it.

The people of the Bay of Islands having a suspicion that the Dromedary might ultimately go to Wangarooa, took every opportunity of pointing out to us the danger attendant upon a visit to that harbour. Almost daily reports were made of the plots laid for our destruction; and this morning a native, nicknamed George, who had lived as servant with the missionaries, and understood English pretty well, told us that he had it from unquestionable authority, that his namesake of Wangarooa had cut down two spars, which were drawn near the water, and several others which were left more inland, as a snare to induce our people to come on shore, that they might be dealt with in the same manner as the crew of the Boyd.

May 6th, Saturday. Two or three spars having been floated down the river, the carpenters were employed in trimming them; and one of the natives, affecting to make himself particularly useful, took occasion, when the attention of the European workmen was turned

to other objects, to seize an axe, and run away with it into a neighbouring wood as hard as he could; pursuit of course was useless.

May 7th, Sunday. One of the officers of the ship having visited the missionaries' settlement at Tippoona, was presented with a human bone, curiously carved. The person who gave it to him assured him that he had purchased it from a chief of Wangarooa, who had set a high value upon it, from the circumstance of its being the rib of one of the crew of the Boyd.

8th, Monday. The wind being southerly, the Prince Regent schooner sailed for Port Jackson.

9th, Tuesday. In going up the Cowa-Cowa in the morning, we met the carpenter, who told us that the whole of Tekokee's and King George's people had abandoned their work, to attend the taking up of the bones of a deceased relative.

This is one of the last funeral rites that is paid to the dead. After the body has remained sufficiently long in the earth for the flesh to decay, the friends take up the bones,

scrape them clean, and deposit them in a basket, placing the skull at the top, in the burying-ground of the family. These burying-grounds are rigidly tabbooed, and a violation of them is never forgotten or forgiven. On taking up the bones, the tribe perform the ceremony of crying and cutting themselves, which is followed by a grand feast.

Soon after we had parted with the carpenter, we landed on the left bank of the river, and walked to a village about half a mile distant. It was at first almost deserted, but in a short time several women came running into it, very much cut with the shell, and bleeding profusely from their faces and arms: they were followed by the native of Bengal, already mentioned, who hurried to his house, and seizing his musket, discharged it in the air.

In the first hurry we could get no explanation of this extraordinary proceeding; but we were afterwards informed that a man of Tekokee's tribe had just died in the neighbourhood, and that it was customary upon these occasions for every person having a musket to fire it, as a salute to the departed

spirit. The women had been present when the man expired, and had gone through the usual ceremonies of their country; but when they joined our party they were in the highest spirits, and though still bleeding, they continued to laugh and romp, until we parted from them at the water's edge, whither they had followed us.

Previous to abandoning their work, the natives, incensed at an objection made by the carpenter to a spar which they were about to launch, on account of its being under the regulated dimensions, laid it across the bed of the river, so as effectually to stop the passage of the rest that were to follow, and sinking a canoe some distance lower down the stream, went to celebrate the obsequies of their relative.

May 10th, Wednesday. Some of the gentlemen belonging to the ship returned from an excursion into the interior. They had gone up the river Kiddy-Kiddy, and after walking about twenty miles across the country, arrived at a small stream called the Wymatty, which flows into the Wytangy, and gives its

name to the neighbouring district, the property of Tarrea, a chief of Shungie's tribe. They found this man presiding at a general assembly of the people of the Bay of Islands and the country adjacent, and they calculated that there were nearly 3000 persons on the ground. Being cautious in concealing the object of meetings of this kind, the New Zealanders said it originated in the presence of an Atua , or god, and directed the gentlemen to the place where the divinity was to be found.

Here they saw the head of one of their chiefs, who had been killed at Mercury Bay, dressed out with feathers, and placed upon an elevated platform. Near it were the bones of many generations of the family; and the lamentations of the relatives who sat round it began at the rising and terminated at the setting of the sun.

The appearance of this immense assemblage was represented as resembling a fair; and as all meetings, whether to grieve or to rejoice, end in a feast, the quantities of koomeras and potatoes which were seen were enormous.

Though many of the people might have

collected to celebrate the rites of the Atua, it was afterwards ascertained that the chief object of the meeting was to concert measures to avenge the death of one of Shungie's brothers, who had been killed twelve years before in an unsuccessful expedition on the western coast.

The gentlemen afterwards went to a place called Tyama, where they saw some hot sulphureous springs, and collected some specimens of crystallised sulphur. They were attended on their return by Kaiterra, the chief of the place. He had been particularly civil to them, and seemed to be one of the few who had improved by a visit to Port Jackson; having several acres of ground fenced in, and cultivated, and a house of a description very superior to those of the other New Zealanders.

May 11th, Thursday. Two water casks having been anchored right and left of the ship, the great guns were exercised. There were many canoes full of people assembled to witness the spectacle; and as the progress of the shot upon the water was very visible,

the natives seemed greatly surprised at the extent of its range. Krokro being among the spectators, remarked, at the end of the firing, "that the entertainment was over because the powder was all gone:" but that he thought the captain of the ship would have acted much more wisely in giving it to him, as he would have amply supplied the vessel with provisions in return. Another chief named Perehico, who sat by, replied, "that it was very well to fire at a cask at New Zealand, but that he was confident whenever the Dromedary returned to England King George would be very angry with her commander for wasting his powder."

When the crowd had dispersed, we rowed into a cove, whither the greater part of the shots had been directed; and at its extremity we were surprised to find the habitation of a native family. On landing, the principal islander invited us into his house, where he produced a small pig, which he requested us to accept; and he appeared much surprised that, instead of taking it, we gave him a trifling present, which he seemed to value.

Whether his fears had led to this unusual act of generosity, it is impossible to say; but certainly some of the shot had struck the rocks at no great distance from him; for he told us that an Atua, or something wonderful, had been there. This man's attachment to us continued ever after.

On the right bank of the confluence of the Cowa-Cowa and the Wycaddy there lived an islander of something of the same character. It is true, some trifling repair had been done to his musket, which, perhaps, he considered involved him in a debt of gratitude he could not easily repay: but never did our boat pass near his house that his musket was not fired: his children were perched upon the rocks to invite us to land, while he himself waited the honour of carrying us on his back on shore; and so urgent were his solicitations, that it was almost impossible to resist them.

Among the members of his family was the only deformed person we had seen on the island. One of his sons had his hand and arm very much distorted; but so studiously did the boy conceal his calamity from us, by

hiding the limb under his mat, that it was by a mere accident, and after a long acquaintance, that we discovered it.

May 12th, Friday. We were visited by a chief of Bream Bay, who described it as too shallow for the Dromedary; but he said that the neighbouring district produced a considerable quantity of cowry, some of which grew close to the water's edge.

13th, Saturday. In the morning, some of the gentlemen made an excursion up the river Wycaddy; and on approaching Tetoro's village, he fired two muskets as a salute; but as there were no arms in the boat, he asked us, when we landed, why the compliment had not been returned; and seemed displeased until a satisfactory explanation was given. He then led us to his hut, where he had just completed the stock of a musket, and, considering the few miserable tools he possessed, it was done with much ingenuity. The place for the barrel had been hollowed out by fire, and the excavation for the lock, though made with an old knife and a wretched chisel, was singularly accurate.

Whenever Tetoro came on board the Dromedary, he took his station either at the carpenter's or the armourer's bench, where he watched with unremitting attention whatever was going on; and he showed remarkable quickness and sagacity in learning every thing mechanical that came under his observation.

In the evening, the carpenter returned from the Cowa-Cowa, where he had been the whole of the week, with ten sailors, and reported that for the last three days he had scarcely received any assistance from the natives, the greater part of them having gone to a funeral in the neighbourhood, and that it was impossible to say when they would return. The labour had now become very hard, the trees were felled in a swamp, which the late rains had flooded, and the men employed in dragging them to the river were often up to their waists in water.

May 15th, Monday. The working party of sailors up the Cowa-Cowa was increased to twenty men.

One of the midshipmen having gone on shore near where the ship lay, a native, who

spoke English, told him that Tooi had formed a plot to take the Dromedary, and that a night-attack was to be made upon her three Sundays afterwards, with 200 men.

May 16th, Tuesday. In the evening the carpenter came from the Cowa-Cowa, and reported that such was the obstinacy of the natives in cutting down trees which he had decidedly told them were too short, that out of the many they had felled, only four remained sufficiently long to form part of the cargo; and that the missionaries having agreed to take such as were unfit for the Dromedary, he proposed moving higher up the river, to where the ground was drier, and the spars longer. During the night there was a heavy gale of wind, with constant rain.

17th. The natives at the Cowa-Cowa, for some reason which could not be ascertained, refused to assist the sailors, and mustered their whole strength to get down a spar for the missionaries. The next day they returned to their work.

19th, Friday. In going into what appeared a deep cove, near the mouth of the Wycaddy,

we found that it terminated in a river, called the Wykeeno, which was navigable for boats about three miles: its banks, in some parts, were steep, and richly wooded; and we saw a great number of wild ducks upon it. It terminated at a village, where we were received by two very pretty native women, who told us that their father (Cowerapopo) was chief of the place, and proposed to lead us to him. He was an elderly man, and had lost the use of his limbs, apparently from rheumatism. The chief gave us a most gracious reception; and, on taking our leave, the whole family joined in requesting us to return again, which we promised to do.

During our ramble through Cowerapopo's village, we accidentally, and unobserved, entered the burying-ground. In the centre of the enclosure stood a kind of stage, roofed over like a house, and on it were laid several small canoes. In one were the remains of a child, rolled up in a mat, but they were not quite decayed, and in another, was a heap of bones, with a skull placed upon the top of it.

The natives say that when people die, the

bodies are buried until the flesh has rotted off the bones; but what we saw this day, with other circumstances, sufficiently evinces that there are exceptions to this practice; and that among this extraordinary people the same inconsistency prevails in the disposal of the dead, which is observed in many of their other customs.

The remains of the child that were not quite decayed, evidently had not been interred. Krokro would scarcely have taken so much trouble, in the instance described, to prevent the putrefaction of the body of his friend, if it was to be committed to the earth. The upper part of the body of a woman was seen at Shukehanga, in a high state of preservation, while the remainder, in consequence of decomposition immediately after death, was not preserved; and Mr. Marsden saw Wevere's father laid out upon a stage, in precisely the same manner as the child just now described.

We were glad that our visit to this consecrated place did not attract the notice of the natives; as, on all occasions, they so strongly

expressed their superstitious disapprobation of white men approaching the repositories of their dead, our present unintentional intrusion upon them would probably have given uneasiness and offence to the very friendly people who had received us with so much civility.

May 20th, Saturday. In an excursion up the Wytangy, we met a war-canoe, filled with strangers; and the chief seemed to be so anxious for our acquaintance, that he followed our boat up to the fall, whither we were going, offering some potatoes as a present, and using every means to ingratiate himself with us. When we parted, he requested permission to pay us a visit the next day. He proved to be a chief from Bream Bay, and was on his return from the general assembly described at Wymatty.

21st, Sunday. In the morning we had a visit from our Bream Bay friend, who remained on board the greater part of the day; and having got from one of the officers a small bit of iron, called by the natives a tokee , he threw it into his canoe, which lay along-

side. So anxious were two of his followers to seize the prize, that in the struggle, they lost their temper, and came to blows with their paddles.

This was one of the first quarrels that many of us had hitherto witnessed. Their blows were entirely directed against each other's heads, and though the effusion of blood on both sides was considerable, the combat seemed to be regarded for a long time by their companions with the most perfect indifference. At length a woman interfered, and the canoe almost immediately paddled off to the shore. As the natives on board told us, that they had gone thither to renew the battle, some of the officers followed them; but on landing, they found the parties apparently reconciled.

Though disappointed in witnessing a fight, the gentlemen had an opportunity of seeing the operation of the amoco , or tattooing, performed upon the face of a young man of Tekokee's tribe. He lay upon his back, with his head resting upon the knees of the operator, who sat upon the ground, and for

whose guidance the intended form of the amoco had been previously traced in black lines upon the patient's face. The point of the tattooing chisel was about half a quarter of an inch wide; it was made of the wingbone of an albatross, and fastened in a transverse wooden handle. Before each incision the instrument was dipped in a calabash of charcoal and water, and then laid on the part, and lightly struck with a bit of stick not larger than a common pencil. As the lines of the amoco became more contracted, a narrower instrument was used. Though the blood gushed out at every puncture, the patient bore the operation with perfect composure; and whatever the pain might have been at the time, the inflammation that followed and continued for many days was quite frightful. During this week, many canoes were daily round the ship, and the supply of vegetables was tolerably plentiful.

May 22d, Monday. A shooting excursion up the Wykeeno was very successful; and the old chief and his daughters were highly pleased with our repeating our visit.

May 23d, Tuesday. A canoe came alongside in the afternoon, and a girl, who it appeared had been on board the preceding evening, having gone into it, was attacked by two New Zealanders so furiously that they seemed only restrained by our presence from killing her. Some of the men, who were looking over the side, having told them to desist from this outrage, they pushed off from the ship, having first tied her hand and foot in the bottom of the canoe, and paddled to the shore.

Many of the natives having said that the intention was to kill and eat her, some of the officers lost no time in following them to the beach, and on arriving there, we found that she had been released from her fetters, but set apart from the rest, and was crying. The man who had misused her came up, and told us that unless we chose to buy her, he would kill her; but the chief of the party, who was an, acquaintance of ours, arriving at the moment, declared that the whole was a shenerica, or hoax, and that nothing unfortunate should happen; that the irritation of the man was momentary, and that the crime of the poor

girl, who was a slave, consisted in having disappointed her master of the base and discreditable gain upon which he calculated, when he sent her on board the ship.

As these people were preparing their dinner, we remained by invitation to share it with them; and the poor prisoner having received some trifling presents from one of the party, we had the pleasure of observing, before our return to the ship, that she had dismissed her fears and recovered her good spirits.

Before our meal, the natives were extremely chatty; but when the baskets of cockles and vegetables were put before them, not a word was spoken; and they ate with excessive greediness and rapidity. On the subject of their silence, when we made some comments, they told us the New Zealanders had quite enough to do at their dinners without losing their time by talking to their neighbours.

May 24th, Wednesday. There was now a general report among the natives that a large ship had been seen off the heads.

25th, Thursday. In the morning we had a visit from Moodooi, one of the chiefs

of Shukehanga: he was accompanied by Timoranga, and a river Thames chief, named Towretta.

May 27th, Saturday. In the evening died a very fine child, the daughter of Sergeant Brown of the 84th regiment.

28th, Sunday. During the week the daily attendance of the canoes was numerous, and a moderate supply of fish and vegetables was purchased.

29th, Monday. The remains of Sergeant Brown's child were sent to Tippoona, and interred in the garden of Mr. King, one of the missionaries. For some time before its death a native girl had been in the habit of nursing and looking after it, and when the body was lowered into the boat, she was as deeply affected and cried as bitterly as if the child had been her nearest relative.

A message having been received from George of Wangarooa, that he had got several cowry spars cut down, the carpenter, accompanied by Mr. Marsden and one of the missionaries, set out in a whale-boat to make a further examination of his harbour, and to

ascertain what prospect the ship might have, by going thither, of procuring a cargo.

May 30th, Tuesday. At noon the Coromandel store-ship, which was employed on the same service as the Dromedary, was seen within the heads, and in the evening she anchored in Parro Bay.

31st, Wednesday. Fine. This morning the captain of the Coromandel and some of the officers came on board. In the afternoon a heavy gale set in at N. E., and the first cutter, with a midshipman, one sailor, and six soldiers, upset within half a mile of the ship. The promptness with which assistance was rendered, fortunately saved the lives of the whole party, who clung to the bottom of the boat until they were rescued.

The gale continued the whole of the 1st; and on the 2d, the officer in charge of the working party at the Cowa-Cowa came on board in the forenoon, and reported that the sailors' huts had been blown down, and that the river was swollen so much as to be impassable for boats.

[June 1820]

June 3d, Saturday. In the evening the party returned from Wangarooa, and reported that George had treated them with marked civility. He had cut down, and got into the water, twenty trees, only one of which was sufficiently large: but the banks of the river were found to abound with cowry; and as the natives showed every disposition to assist the Europeans, the carpenter was of opinion that there could be no great difficulty in loading the ship. The timber-purveyor of the Coromandel having given cowry a decided preference to kaikaterre, and the carpenter of the Dromedary agreeing with him, it was determined to abandon all further operations at the Cowa-Cowa, and sail as soon as possible to Wangarooa.

The late rains had flooded the banks of the Cowa-Cowa to such a degree that the sailors were obliged to return to the ship; and the natives now declined giving any further assistance till the forest became dry, and the weather moderate.

5th, Monday. At noon, the detachment of

the 84th regiment landed on a neighbouring beach, and fired three volleys, in honour of His Majesty's birthday. The exercise of troops was at all times a spectacle highly gratifying to the natives. They were astonished that so many men could execute with such precision the different movements at the same instant; and they observed of the firing this day, "that all the soldiers were the same as one man."

The mild and friendly manner of the soldiers had almost immediately removed the prejudices that had been at first formed against them, and they were now very great favourites. As their dress and their duties were different from those of any white people whom they had before seen, the New Zealanders could not be persuaded that they belonged to the same tribe as the rest of the crew; and when they occasionally went on shore to amuse themselves in the neighbouring villages, the people collected all their muskets for them to perform the firelock-exercise; an exhibition with which they were so pleased, that

they often rewarded it with some act of kindness or generosity.

The deference that discipline obliged the soldiers to pay to their officers, and the costly dresses of the latter, gave the islanders a very exalted idea of our rank; and in their extreme simplicity, they frequently asked us if we were not the sons of the King of England; and if we did not live in the same house with him, when we were in our own country.

June 6th, Tuesday. Mr. Marsden having received an account, by the Coromandel, of the death of Tekokee's son, whom he had left at his establishment at Paramatta, and the unfortunate parent coming on board, the melancholy tidings were told to him. It would be impossible to describe his grief, and that of a considerable part of his family, who accompanied him. They sat down in a circle upon the deck, and requested that the particular part of the letter where the boy's name was mentioned might be pointed out to them: with it they frequently touched noses; and prolonged for nearly two hours their incessant

and melancholy lamentations for his untimely fate.

June 7th, Wednesday. Sailed, the Coromandel for the river Thames, having on board Towretta, a chief of that place, Mr. Marsden, Tooi, and Timoranga. The latter had passed the night in the Dromedary; and just as he was about to take his leave, cautioned the Captain, with much earnestness, on no account to allow many of the natives of Wangarooa to come on board at the same time.

With the departure of the Coromandel our connection with Tooi ceased. The trouble and expense that had been bestowed in attempting to civilise him, appeared to have entirely failed; and we found him, without exception the greatest savage, and one of the most worthless and profligate men in the Bay of Islands.

During the night, some blocks and ropes, that were used in hauling the spars on the neighbouring beach, were stolen.

8th, Thursday. Tekokee came on board in the morning apparently quite recovered from his late affliction, and offered to ac-

company the ship to Wangarooa, and give every assistance in getting in the cargo: as it was understood that he was on friendly terms with the people of that harbour, his proposal was accepted.

June 9th, Friday. At twelve, died John Taylor, seaman; and to prevent the possibility of his remains being disturbed by the natives, they were interred in the evening in an adjacent wood, with every possible privacy.

In the course of the day a man named Towterree, who was by no means remarkable for his civility, attempted to force his way into the ship, notwithstanding the sentinel's repeated orders to him not to do so. The soldier, finding words to have no effect, presented his bayonet to him, determined to oppose his further intrusion, which so intimidated Towterree, that he returned to his canoe, but in an outrageous passion, declaring his intention of taking revenge upon the first white man that came to his village.

11th, Sunday. Our old friend Tetoro came to take leave, previously to his departure for

the river Thames. He told us his object in going thither was not to fight, but to carry back Mr. Marsden; but his two war-canoes, with sixty men and ten muskets, spoke strongly against the peaceable intention of his journey. In the evening, he passed the ship in very good style, and saluted her with a musket.

June the 12th and 13th. Four spars were taken on board, and the remaining fourteen (being the whole produce of our labours at the Cowa-Cowa) were sent to remain on King George's beach till the return of the ship from Wangarooa. In the course of the day Tekokee brought back the blocks and ropes that had been stolen. He gave himself the credit of having taken a great deal of trouble to recover them, but he would not say who the thieves were.

14th, Wednesday. The morning being very fine some of the gentlemen went on shore; but at noon the wind set in at N. E. and continued to freshen till three P. M., when we attempted to return to the ship. The natives, on seeing us get into the boat, with much

anxiety endeavoured to dissuade us from making any effort to regain the Dromedary at that time, saying there was much wind and much sea; but, as the place where we embarked was quite land-locked, we had little reason to suppose the weather was so very bad; however, upon opening the heads of the bay, we saw the extent of our imprudence, – it blew a gale of wind, the sea was so heavy that the little boat was in danger of filling every moment, and the only resource left was to make the nearest beach, which was effected with some danger.

On landing, the natives, who were of the chief Pomarree's family, received us with the greatest joy and satisfaction: a large fire was made to dry our clothes; potatoes, which nothing could induce them to sell, were voluntarily given, and cooked for our dinner: their houses were offered for our accommodation during the night; and as they had observed that we had eaten nothing during the day, they frequently expressed their surprise that we could do without food so long,

and remarked, with concern, that we must be very hungry.

The people in the ship having observed our boat pull from the shore into the bay, and having then lost sight of her, sent one of the cutters to our assistance; but such was the violence of the wind and sea, that she did not make the cove where we had taken shelter till late in the evening.

The relief on our part was quite unexpected; and, wet as we were, we almost lamented that an opportunity offered, which justified our defeating the hospitable preparations of our entertainers. Consigning the small-boat and all its appendages to their care, we took our leave, and gained the ship with much risk and great difficulty.

June 16th, Friday. Unmoored at daylight, and at noon the ship was got under weigh, and dropped down to Kororadeca, preparatory to her sailing.

17th, Saturday. The weather was squally, and the wind unfair to get out of the bay.

At noon a letter was brought by a native,

from the carpenter, who was at Wangarooa, stating, that the bullocks, which had long since been landed at Kiddy-Kiddy, might, if brought round to Wangarooa, be of much use in dragging the spars from the woods to the water's edge. The launch was immediately sent for them; and they were with great labour and inconvenience, owing to the violence of the wind, brought alongside the next evening. The following morning was fixed for going to sea.

The Bay of Islands is so large, and its coves are so numerous and extensive, that long as we had been in it, something interesting almost daily presented itself. New rivers were accidentally discovered; villages and people were found in places the most remote, and new acquaintances were hourly made.

To enter into a detail of every thing that occurred to some of the gentlemen, who, as their duties did not require their constant presence in the ship, were led to spend a considerable part of their time among the natives, would occasion repetitions very tiresome to the reader; suffice it to say, that if on our

arrival the people felt a friendly disposition towards us, it was now considerably increased; mutual confidence was perfectly established; to the hut of the New Zealander and to his humble fare the white man was ever welcome, and, as a guest, his property was sacred from violation.

It is, perhaps, right to observe, that a moderate liberality was always exercised in the distribution of presents, and it was an established rule, not to receive any thing in return; but certainly that liberality was otherwise well repaid, and we had the satisfaction to think, that not only a high degree of respect for the British character was excited among the natives, but that we carried with us, at our departure, their general good wishes, and the sincere and disinterested regret of many individuals.

June 19th, Monday. At daylight we sailed for Wangarooa with a fine breeze at S. W.; but at half-past eight the weather became squally and showery; and at ten, as the ship was passing between the Cavalles Islands and the main, she struck upon a sunken rock,

and immediately lay down upon her starboard side. The wind was blowing fresh at the time, but as it fortunately came off the land, there was no swell; and when the boats were hoisted out, it was found, that though there were not six feet water on the one side, there were five fathoms on the other. An anchor having been carried out some distance to windward, and hove upon, the ship in a short time was got off and secured.

As she struck on the rock in an oblique direction, the shock was not great, considering the rapid rate at which she was going; and it may easily be imagined how little reason there was to apprehend such an accident, from the circumstance of the men in the chains having sung out, "And a half five," almost at the instant the misfortune happened.

The rock lay opposite the pah of a chief) named Okeeda; and the natives, sensible of our situation, instantly came off in their canoes: they seemed much amused at the confusion natural upon such an occasion, and frequently asked, "why we did not pull away," and "what we stopped so long there for;"

but the ship was no sooner afloat than they returned to the shore.

The feelings of our friends, Tekokee and his wife, were quite different; they both cried most bitterly; and as the former, in a certain degree, affected to assist in the pilotage of the vessel, by pointing out the deep channel, he seemed to take the whole weight of the calamity upon himself.

At three P. M., every thing having been set to rights, we got under weigh, and at ten anchored off Wangarooa, in eighteen fathoms water.

June 20th, Tuesday. Fine. Soon after the ship had struck upon the rock, a letter was sent on shore to Okeeda's village, and a native was offered a reward to hasten with it to Wangarooa, and deliver it to the carpenter. The man executed his commission the same evening, and having described the Dromedary as lying down and very sick, the carpenter and George set out in a canoe at a late hour, to make the best of their way to her. They were obliged, however, to sleep upon an island opposite the mouth of the harbour, and at

eight this morning came on board. George wore a white straw hat, which, from its texture, must have been made in New Zealand; in other respects he was dressed like his countrymen, and he appeared studiously to endeavour to ingratiate himself with our people.

The boats were sent in to sound the harbour, preparatory to the ship going in; but at ten the wind sprung up at S. S. W., and blew in very heavy squalls, with rain, during the remainder of the day.

June 21st, Wednesday. Fine. Light winds and variable. In the morning the ship was towed to the heads, and afterwards warped into the harbour, and at seven P. M. anchored off the native fort, or pah.

No canoes came near us during the whole of the day, and when some of the gentlemen, who visited three or four different villages in the afternoon, approached the shore, the natives seemed rather to shun than court their acquaintance; and they were invariably asked when they landed, "what they came for," or "what they wanted."

22d, Thursday. At daylight the anchor

was weighed, and the ship was warped to the southern side of the pah, where she was moored.

The harbour of Wangarooa, and a considerable part of the surrounding country, belongs to the chief, Teperree, while George's residence is about eight miles to the southward of where the Dromedary anchored, and on the banks of a river called the Kameemy.

In the afternoon we visited the insulated rock, upon which stands the pah of Teperree's tribe. We were accompanied by George; but we had reason to suspect that he and its chief were not on the best terms, from the circumstances of his remaining in the boat when we landed, and his telling us more than once, Teperree "was no good."

We were received with the same reserve as on the day before, and the people asked us the same questions, "what we came for," and "what we wanted;" while the children cried and clung to their mothers when we approached them; nor could any presents induce some of them to come near us.

The ship was surrounded with canoes; and

an ample supply of vegetables was purchased from the natives for biscuit, for which they traded with the greatest avidity.

June 23d, Friday. George having pointed out a p]ace near his village where the bullocks might be landed, they were sent off in the morning in the launch: he showed no anxiety to accompany them; but as this was necessary, he was very urgent that some of the officers should go with him. Just as he was about to get into the boat, he came in a great hurry on the poop to complain, that a native alongside had told him, that "it was our intention not to molest him, till the arrival of the Coromandel, when the soldiers of both ships were to be landed, and he and his tribe destroyed." He pointed out the author of this story; and, notwithstanding the assurances given him of our peaceable intentions, he went away in apparently low spirits.

At noon, the tide being about half-flood, we rowed to the mouth of the Kameemy, and meeting some wild ducks upon it, we continued to pull up the stream until we found ourselves at George's settlement. The water in many places was so shallow, that, though

the boat was small, it was necessary to drag it over the shoals for some distance; nor did the launch arrive for a considerable time after. Many cowry trees grew over the steep banks that overhang the river, but they were too short to form part of the ship's cargo; and that part of the forest, whence those of proper size were to be obtained, lay in a deep valley, or ravine, a mile and a quarter to the right. The intermediate ground was at first level, but afterwards undulating and intersected with a swamp and a deep and rapid brook. The hill under which the trees grew thickest was steep; but it was thought that the spars, when cut and lightened by being trimmed, might be hove to the top of it, by means of a capstan, and dragged to the water's edge by the ten bullocks, with the united strength of the natives and the crew. It was therefore proposed to make a road from the wood to the river, to build a bridge over the brook, and to fill up the swamp with fascines. Having left the boat, and walked to the village with George, we were conducted by him to Tippooi, his elder brother, and, of

course, the greater chief. We found this person seated at the door of his hut, dressed in new mats, painted and decorated with feathers, and the whole of the tribe arranged in a similar position on a rising ground to his right, so as to show their numbers off to the best advantage. They seemed to be perfectly under his control, and during the time we remained in conversation with him, not one of them attempted to approach us.

Tippooi's house was one of the largest we had seen in the country; it was quite new; and when he showed us into it, he remarked "that he had built it for the white men who might be sent to work in the woods."

It was now so late that it seemed almost impracticable to reach the ship that night: the launch and its crew were gone some time; and not having come with the intention of sleeping out, we told George that we must go. This arrangement seemed to annoy him very much; and, when we ultimately agreed to remain with him during the night, he appeared much pleased, and thanked us for having complied with his invitation.

He was now all attention in getting us something to eat, and collecting reeds for our beds; nor would he allow any of his people to come into our hut without permission.

The pah of this tribe is on a circular hill, steep and difficult of ascent. It stands in the middle of a valley, through which the river Kameemy makes many windings.

The ground is generally under cultivation, producing potatoes, degenerated turnips [see Note 13.], and cabbages, while the surrounding hills, which, from their height and diversity of shape, form a very splendid piece of scenery, are covered with wood; and the cowry, whose loftiness and richness of foliage distinguishes it from the other trees of the forest, grows in great abundance.

The houses of the natives were generally at the foot of the pah; near its summit, three of the carronades of the Boyd were planted, and three others and an anchor, lay on the banks of the river.

Though George, personally, was one of the most attentive chiefs we had met, still, there

was something singularly cautious, mistrustful, and uncomfortable in his manner.

In the middle of some of his most animated conversations, his utterance seemed suddenly paralysed, and he observed the countenances of those about him with the most anxious suspicions; while at other times, breaking off the subject he was upon, he would enter into a detail of the different arrangements which he understood us to have made for his destruction; placing a number of little sticks upon the ground, and endeavouring with them to designate the manner in which the soldiers were to act in massacring himself, his brothers, and his tribe. He spoke a very little English, and remembered some verses of the popular British songs, which he had learned during his service in one of our ships. An allusion to the attack upon the Boyd was more than once made; but he declared that he was sick at the time, and that he was not present at the transaction.

In the course of the evening, he brought his children into the hut, and requested that the eldest, a boy about seven years old, might

remain on board the ship; a proposition which was readily assented to, and every care promised to be taken of him.

After George retired from our hut for the night, he addressed a speech to his tribe, which lasted at least two hours. At times his action was so violent, that he became almost unable to articulate, and he was obliged, occasionally, to pause, to recover himself; but, notwithstanding his agitation, his deportment, whether standing or pacing up and down the circle, was commanding and unembarrassed, and he was heard by the audience who sat round him with unwearied attention.

We lamented that we had not an interpreter, in whom we could confide, to explain the purport of his long harangue; but we could not help admiring in this instance, as we had in many others, the free-born confidence with which these people communicate their sentiments to one another; the natural ease and gracefulness of their carriage; and the marked silence and deference with which they are heard.

June 24th, Saturday. At an early hour we took leave of George, and returned to the ship. From the time she came into the harbour, Teperree, the chief of the tribe, residing immediately in the neighbourhood of the anchorage, was, in general, on board. Seeing this morning some of the men heaving at the capstan, he hastened to their assistance; and, after going a few turns round in high spirits, he was not a little surprised to find that the result of the labour in which he was assisting was one of the forecastle guns, which began to show itself above the hatchway, – a sight which so disconcerted him, that he instantly retired.

To prevent the ship from being top-heavy during her passage from the Bay of Islands, some of the guns had been put into the hold; they were now to be restored to their proper places; and Teperree found himself unwittingly lending his strength to the adjustment of, an engine, which, according to his suspicions of our purpose in coming to his harbour, was ultimately destined for the destruction of his tribe.

June 25th, Sunday. In the afternoon, Tippooi, George's brother, accompanied by his wife and two children, paid us a visit,

26th, Monday. A boat went to examine the wreck of the Boyd, and succeeded in unshipping the rudder, which was sent on board. The wood was perfectly sound, and the copper appendages serviceable.

28th, Wednesday. In the morning George came on board, and, contrary to his usual custom of stopping to speak with those whom he met, he hurried down below, and went through the ship with rapid anxiety. It was supposed he had heard of the guns being replaced in their carriages, and that the circumstance had excited his suspicions, for having examined the ship very minutely, he resumed his composure: this was but a temporary calm.

A girl of his tribe, who had been some days in the ship with one of the men, had taken, contrary to the knowledge of her protector, a string of beads, which she gave to George, and which he tied round his neck; while the real owner, recognising his property, asked

him, as he positively declared, in a very civil manner to return it. Some one a few minutes before had been so thoughtless as to give him a glass of grog, the effects of which, added to the supposed insult of demanding the beads, threw him into such a violent rage, that, stripping off his clothes, he rushed upon deck, ordered every one of his family instantly to go down into his canoe, which was alongside, and declared his intention forthwith to go and drive the carpenter and the white men out of the woods, and not to give the vessel a single spar.

The confusion among his family, most of whom were women and children, was immense: the presents they had received, as to clothing or any thing else, he deprived them of, and flung them upon the capstan, not forgetting his own hat and shirt, upon which a few moments before he set the highest value; and, taking a rope's end, applied it without distinction of sex to those of his tribe who seemed at all dilatory in obeying his orders. During this scene he ran up and down the deck, nearly naked, exclaiming

"Me gentleman!" and exhibiting in action and countenance the most violent and savage ferocity.

The storm, however, subsided almost as rapidly as it came on; his senses seemed suddenly to return to him; and, ordering his family below, he declared that all was a shenerica, or humbug, and that he did not mean any harm by what he did. A short time after, having resumed his clothes, he appeared upon the deck with the man who had accidentally been the cause of the tumult, and, taking him by the arm, used every effort to convince the bystanders that he had forgot the injury.

June 29th, Thursday. In the afternoon, Tippooi arrived with a spar. His wife and child had been two or three days on board, and when she came on the deck to meet her husband, for some reason which we could not discover, he instantly struck her. They appeared, however, in a few minutes, to be perfectly good friends.

30th, Friday. In the morning, George,

Tippooi, and their families, took their departure, apparently satisfied with their reception.

In the Bay of Islands such had been the want of moral restraint among the natives, that fathers and mothers, whether chiefs or not, took their daughters to the ship, and handed them over to whoever chose to receive them, without any stipulation as to the reward they might receive, or any reference to the condition of the person to whom they were consigned. The custom here was different. The females were exhibited in fewer numbers, and their relatives manifested an avidity for lucre, in proposing conditions on which they would permit them to visit the ship.

Tippooi, who trafficked in this way to some extent, had left a girl on board, whom he seemed to value so highly that her purchaser had paid more than the usual stipend for her. The latter, considering himself perfectly safe in the possession of his property, was not a little surprised by the appearance of the carpenter in the evening, who came down express from George's village to say, that the moment

Tippooi arrived there, a violent quarrel had ensued between him and his brother Ehoodoo; that every one of the natives had abandoned their work, and declared their determination not to return to it until the woman Tippooi had left on board was restored. She was, of course, given up, and desired to quit the ship at daylight the next morning.

[July 1820]

July 2d, Sunday. Several of the men went to Teperree's pah, to amuse themselves: they were received in the most friendly manner by the natives; and such as chose to return on board before a boat was sent, were brought off by them in their canoes. Either in consequence of the badness of the weather, or because the ship was no longer attractive from its novelty, few trading people came near her during the week, and the supply of vegetables was scanty.

During the whole of the day, the woman, who had been the cause of the disturbance, and who had again returned, remained along-side in a canoe, begging to be admitted on board, and declaring that the whole business, on the part of the tribe, was a shenerica, or

hoax; but it was thought prudent, in order to prevent any future misunderstanding, not to yield to her solicitations, and late in the evening she went away with apparent reluctance.

July 3d, Monday. Frosts in the morning were now pretty frequent, and ice was found as thick as a shilling.

Shooting, which hitherto had been an occasional amusement, began to be considered, by those who had time to attend to it, as an essential occupation. The delay of the ship at New Zealand had so far exceeded the general calculation, that every species of refreshment had been consumed; and scarcely any pork, which is the only kind of fresh meat to be procured, could be obtained from the natives for the articles of trade with which we were provided. There were many wild ducks and curlews in the creeks and rivers about the harbour, and the woods abounded with pigeons, which, besides being of a singularly handsome kind, are large and good to eat. They are found with difficulty by the Europeans, on account of the thickness of the

foliage; but the natives, whose sight is singularly acute, and who for a trifling reward attended us on our shooting parties, pointed them out with remarkable facility.

In a shooting excursion this morning, though our success was trifling, we had an opportunity, by extending our walk over the hills in a north-easterly direction, of discovering a very considerable quantity of cowry, belonging to Teperree's tribe, which grew on that side of the harbour; and a few days after, when following a similar pursuit, we discovered a creek to the west of our anchorage, which terminated in rather a large river. We pursued its course about three miles, when we found ourselves at the edge of a very extensive wood abounding in cowry, and another very fine species of timber called demo ; but the river now became so narrow that the boat could proceed no further. It was obvious, however, from the short distance between the place where the trees grew and the navigable part of the stream, that with the assistance of a road, they might be got down to the water's edge without much difficulty.

This wood also belonged to Teperree; and situated as we were, the discovery afforded much pleasure; for even in the event of a rupture with George, which his conduct gave us frequent reason to fear, we should not be altogether deprived of the means of attaining the object of our voyage.

In these excursions, as in most others, no inhabitants were seen, except on the shores close to the sea. Houses and traces of temporary residences were constantly met with, but for the present they had been universally abandoned.

At noon a boat returned from the Kameemy, and one of the people in her brought a message from George, stating, that understanding it to be the intention of the captain of the ship to land some empty water-casks upon the neighbouring beach, in the tract belonging to Teperree, he requested they might be set on shore in his own district, which was at a considerable distance from our anchorage, and that in the event of a non-compliance with this injunction, he would never come near the Dromedary, nor would he give her a single spar.

In the evening Tippooi arrived, attended by the woman who had caused the quarrel, and by his son. He requested that the former might be admitted into the ship, and with regard to the latter, he remarked, that, as George's boy had got European clothes, he expected that his own son would receive a similar present. What his object could be in endeavouring, after what had happened, to force this woman to remain with our people, it would be difficult to say; but it appeared to many that he intended by this act to show that he was above the control of his tribe, and that he considered himself lowered by having submitted to their interference on a former occasion. Though his wishes in both instances were complied with, he still seemed sulky and dissatisfied, but never mentioned the subject of the casks. At a late hour, the natives reported a ship in sight; and a boat having been sent the next morning to the heads, which returned, being unable to discover one, they said she had stood for the Bay of Islands during the night. A conjecture

prevailed that she was the Catherine whaler, which was expected about this time.

July 4th, Tuesday. The morning was ushered in by one of those acts of violence so common to George and his brother. The former protector of the woman, whom Tippooi had brought on board, having refused to receive her again from him, the chief, when about to take his departure, ordered her into his canoe, and upon her showing some reluctance to obey the command, he instantly knocked her down upon the deck. The unfortunate girl took an early opportunity of escaping below, while he retired sullen and dissatisfied.

6th, Thursday. The indecisive conduct of Tippooi and George, relative to loading the ship, – their frequent declarations to the contrary, on the ground that if they did, other vessels full of troops would come from Europe to take every thing from them, and ultimately destroy them, – was so distressing to those whose duty put them in immediate contact with the brother-chiefs, that it became necessary to enter into a final and

decided explanation; and for this, the arrival of Mr. Hall, who spoke the language very well, afforded a favourable opportunity. It was therefore determined to get them on board as soon as possible, and to make the necessary stipulations with them as to what they were to supply, and how they were to be paid.

July 7th, Friday. For this purpose the carpenter and Mr. Hall went up the Kameemy to bring Tippooi and George on board the following day; and in the afternoon the boat returned with the chiefs. They had shown the greatest reluctance to visit the Dromedary, declaring, "that they were certain that a plot was formed to hang them when they got on board;" nor would they enter the boat until Mr. Hall had pledged himself to answer for their safety with his life.

The necessary explanations having been gone into as to the payment they were to receive, and every assurance given that as long as they conducted themselves properly no injury should be offered to them either now or

hereafter, they seemed perfectly satisfied, agreeing to provide the cargo, and to use every exertion to complete their engagement as soon as possible.

From the 9th to the 14th of July, the weather was extremely bad. The making of the road went on slowly; and nothing of any importance occurred, save that the main-top was brought down upon deck, and found to be so rotten, that it was necessary to construct a new one.

15th, Saturday. In the evening George came on board, having brought down four spars, and the next day he took his departure. His visit was attended with the disagreeable circumstance of his taking offence at something that one of the men had said to him, which produced a paroxysm of anger like that noticed a few days before.

18th, Tuesday. At noon three canoes filled with people who had got some potatoes to dispose of, were swamped alongside. The prompt assistance that was given by the ship not only saved the lives of the sufferers, but also their property, which seemed to them a

matter of much greater consideration. In the evening George came on board.

July 19th, Wednesday. Early in the morning George ran upon the deck in a most furious passion, with a musket in his hand, to shoot one of his cookees, who, he said, had stolen some bread from him: the musket fortunately was not loaded, otherwise there is little doubt that he would have carried his murderous intention into execution.

20th, Thursday. In the forenoon George took his departure in high spirits. A canoe had arrived the preceding evening from the Bay of Islands, where we learned the Catherine whaler was at anchor, with gunpowder to barter for potatoes. George was fortunate enough to make an agreement with the people possessing the treasure; and they all set off to his village to complete the bargain.

21st, Friday. Mr. Kent, the commander of the Prince Regent schooner, arrived with dispatches from the Governor of New South Wales, having come over-land from the Bay of Islands. The Prince Regent had encoun-

tered dreadful weather during her passage to New Zealand; she had been fourteen days between the Three Kings and the Bay of Islands, where she ultimately arrived with the loss of all her sails.

Mr. Kent was accompanied by some of the gentlemen of the ship, who had gone to the Bay of Islands some days before, where they had been received in the most friendly and hospitable manner by the natives.

They found them in the greatest alarm in consequence of the expected invasion of that part of the country by a chief of Kaiperra, a district on the western coast. This man was described as far excelling his countrymen in size and personal strength, and as the leader of a very numerous and powerful tribe. His expected approach was a subject of more than common consternation; the male population of the Bay of Islands were all in arms; and every precaution had been taken to ascertain the point upon which the descent was to be made, and to guard against a surprise.

During the stay of the gentlemen of the Dromedary at the Bay of Islands, two cookees,

belonging to a chief of the Rangehoo tribe, were killed for some alleged crime. The body of one was thrown into the sea, while that of the other, after having lain buried one day, was taken up and devoured.

The gentlemen happening to pass through the village of Rangehoo at the time of this cannibal feast, observed the natives particularly active in throwing their mats over some object round which they were sitting, when they saw the strangers approach. The gentlemen, of course, continued their walk without appearing to notice what they had seen; but a sailor belonging to the Catherine, who followed at some distance, and in whom the natives probably thought that the horrible spectacle would excite less disgust than in his superiors, was not only an eye-witness of their eating the body, but was invited to partake of the repast.

We were concerned to hear that the remains of the sailor that had been interred with every possible secrecy, near where the Dromedary lay at anchor in the Bay of Islands, had been discovered and taken up

by the natives, merely for the clothes that had been buried with him. King George mentioned the circumstance, with apparent regret, to the gentlemen, when they went to see him; remarking, at the same time, "when the ship returns, if you do not find the body, or if you discover that it has been disturbed, I will then tell you who was the offender; but had you openly consigned it to my care, instead of clandestinely disposing of it, this violation should not have been attempted."

To ascertain the truth of King George's story, two of the gentlemen determined to visit the place where the sailor had been buried. They were attended by a young chief) named Gunna, and by two native boys, who paddled their canoe; but as they set out late upon this excursion, they did not arrive at the part of the bay where the man had been interred until dusk. Having left the two boys in the canoe, they walked into the wood with Gunna; but when they drew near the grave, he became so alarmed, that he shrunk behind them, and, bending almost to the ground to conceal himself, conjured them

not to go farther lest they should meet the spirit of the white man.

The grave had evidently been disturbed; and when the gentlemen returned to the beach, they found that the boys had been so terrified at the apprehension of seeing a spectre, that they had pushed off from the shore, and it required some trouble and persuasion to induce them to return.

The belief in the re-appearance of the dead is universal among the New Zealanders: they fancy they hear their deceased relatives speaking to them, when the wind is high: whenever they pass the place where a man has been murdered, it is customary for each person to throw a stone upon it; and the same practice is observed by all those who visit a cavern at the North Cape, through which the spirits of departed men are supposed to pass on their way to a future world.

In alluding to their superstitions, it may not be irrelevant to observe, that they ascribe the most fatal consequences to the act of eating in their houses.

A daughter of King George being very

ill, food was occasionally carried to her from the ship; and her parents were urged on no account to permit her to expose herself to the open air; but the injunction could not be complied with; and in the most inclement weather she was obliged to abandon her hut whenever she had occasion to eat.

Consequences no less calamitous are supposed to await those who enter a house where any article of animal food is suspended over their heads. A dead pigeon, or a piece of pork hung from the roof) was a better protection from molestation than a sentinel; and, latterly, this practice has been followed by our people, who lived on shore, with great success, whenever they wished to be free from the intrusion of the natives.

Though all their superstitions were inviolably respected by themselves, when on shore, the moment a New Zealander came on board, he considered himself absolved from them, and he at once conformed to our manners and customs.

The Catherine, not having seen the ship Echo in an appointed latitude, had serious

apprehensions of her having met with some calamity during the very bad weather that all the whalers had this year encountered.

July 23d, Sunday. The soldiers off duty went on shore into the native villages, to amuse themselves. The road was reported to be getting on well; the attendance of the canoes during the week was numerous; the supply of vegetables was tolerable; and the sportsmen were very successful.

24th, Monday. Early in the morning, Mr. Kent, with some of the gentlemen of the ship, set out to walk to the Bay of Islands.

29th, Saturday. In the evening, the carpenter and George came on board: the badness of the weather had suspended all work, and there had been little intercourse with the shore during the week.

30th, Sunday. Long after dusk a canoe full of people was observed close to the ship; they were apparently using every precaution to conceal themselves: when hailed, and ordered to go away, one of them said they had come from a distance, and had hogs to dispose of, which they would bring the next

day. This was evidently a fabrication: the canoe was not seen afterwards, nor could it be ascertained that any strangers had arrived in the harbour.

George, who remained on board during the whole of the day, was observed counting the men, when assembled for muster, and afterwards the hammocks. Having been allowed to sleep in the ward-room, where several of the ship's muskets were, he was heard to get up during the night, and, after having wandered about that part of the vessel for some time, he went upon the deck, evidently for no object but curiosity. He examined, with marked scrutiny, the sentinels upon it; and at last walked up to the officer of the watch, and asked him "what he did there?"

July 31st, Monday. In the morning George went away; and in the course of the forenoon the new main-top was got up.

The natives having heard that the ship was about to be moored higher up the harbour, and, of course, nearer to George's district, Teperree and his tribe lost no opportunity of pointing out the danger attendant upon such

a step, and declaring that it was George's intention, on the following Sunday, when more men were on shore than usual, to massacre them, and afterwards get possession of the vessel.

[August 1820]

August 1st, Tuesday. The Prince Regent schooner had been expected for some days; and as a native reported a ship to be in sight, a boat was immediately sent off; but, upon clearing the heads, no vessel was to be seen.

2d, Wednesday. Some of the natives observing the gunner fitting the carronade-slide into the launch, and having been informed by one of the sailors, that the ultimate object was to place a gun upon it, took immediate alarm, and spread a report that a party of Europeans were going up the Kameemy to attack and destroy George and his tribe.

In its probable operation on a person of his suspicious nature, this report was particularly disagreeable to us, and had it not been for subsequent circumstances, there is little doubt that he would have come down to examine into the business.

August 3d, Thursday. In the evening several fires were observed in a swamp at the southern extremity of the harbour, and close to the mouth of the river Kameemy; and the natives said it was the camp of the chief Poro, from the North Cape, adding, that there was to be a great fight; but whether the attack was to be made on George's or Teperree's people could not, after numerous enquiries, be satisfactorily ascertained. The inhabitants seemed to be in great alarm, nor did any canoes venture to that part of the harbour.

4th, Friday. The same uneasiness as to Poro's intentions, and the same ignorance of them, prevailed among the natives. Teperree came early on board, nor did he go away before dusk: he was evidently much alarmed, and seemed to remain in the ship more from fear than for business. In the evening Poro's fires disappeared, and the natives reported his having moved up the banks of the Kameemy towards George's district.

5th, Saturday. At daylight the ship was

unmoored, and warped higher up the harbour.

In the afternoon the carpenter and George came on board. The former reported that the appearance of Poro had thrown George and his tribe into the greatest alarm; all work had been suspended for some days, and every preparation had been made against the formidable invader.

After Poro had broken up his camp on the third, he directed his march through the woods, towards George's pah, and took up a position on a hill directly opposite to it, but separated by the Kameemy, which was fordable, and an intermediate valley of about half a mile in extent. The movement of Poro's tribe through the woods was unobserved by the Europeans; but from the time they emerged from them, until they crowned the hill distant nearly a mile, upon which they encamped, their operations were perceptible.

At the verge of the wood they left their women, children, cookees, baggage, and clothes, and advanced to the top of the emi-

nence in three divisions, with great rapidity, and carrying merely their arms. Their bodies were perfectly naked, and painted red; their hair tied up and oiled, and their faces smeared with a kind of blue paint, not uncommon in some parts of New Zealand. On arriving at the top of the hill, they performed the war-dance, and shouted defiance; after which the baggage was moved up, and the encampment formed. The war-dance and shout were immediately repeated by George's people on the opposite side: the men were painted red, and armed, and many of the women appeared in a similar costume, to make as much show as possible. During the night the greatest vigilance was observed; the men ran to their arms at the slightest noise, and Tippooi frequently fired his musket, to let his opponents know that his tribe was not unprovided with these formidable weapons.

The next morning the carpenter announced his intention of going into Poro's camp, to ascertain the object of his visit; and Wheety, the native of Shukehanga before mentioned, who since his acquaintance with us had given

many proofs of his fidelity, having some relations in Poro's tribe, proposed to accompany him. This measure was violently opposed by George, on the presumption of the personal danger that the carpenter might encounter; but it was at length agreed to, and Ehoodoo, George's brother, deputed to attend the embassy. As they approached the camp, Ehoodoo's terrors completely overcame him, and, laying hold of the carpenter's coat, he conjured him, but without effect, not to go farther. The reception, according to the customs of the country, was perfectly gracious and dignified. They found Poro seated in the centre of his immediate relatives, while his tribe, with their arms in their hands, formed a circle round their chief and the strangers. Poro, upon being asked the object of his visit, replied, "that he came to see the ship and the white men, and to trade with them; that if George had any objection to his so doing, he would fight him; but that if he had not, his intentions were amicable." Upon his being informed that no obstruction whatever would be offered to his communications with

the Dromedary, peace was proclaimed by the war-dance being repeated five times by both parties; the women on either side waving their mats, and shouting Heromai (Come hither) to each other.

George soon after crossed the river, and presented two tomahawks to Poro, but it was observed that nothing was given in return. From this circumstance, and from George's not having one hundred fighting men, while his opponent had brought twice that number, it was evident that there was an acknowledgement of Poro's superiority.

George now, from the most abject fear, assumed the tone and demeanour of a conqueror: coming on board he disdained to notice Teperree, who stood on the deck, and whose peace had not yet been made; and, turning to some women of that tribe, ordered them, in the most peremptory manner, in the presence of their chief, instantly to quit the ship.

Teperree remained perfectly silent; but as this was a piece of insolence on the part of George not to be overlooked, he was told by

one of the officers, that as long as the natives conducted themselves properly they should remain in the vessel if they pleased, and that he was not to presume to interfere with any of them.

This admonition had the desired effect, and during the remainder of his visit, he conducted himself very well. Teperree staid on board until dark, and then took his departure with apparent reluctance.

August 6th, Sunday. Several of the men went on shore to amuse themselves.

In the evening, a boat, that had been sent for Poro, returned; bringing him, his son, grandson, and a native of the Marquesas Islands, who had settled in his district. The terror of the old chief was excessive: he trembled like a leaf as he came up the side; and it was ascertained, that, previous to his leaving his camp, he was so alarmed for his safety, that Wheety was detained there as a hostage until his return. To prevent any depredations being committed during his absence, he tabbooed the property of the white men, near whose hut he had encamped; and

sent fifty of his tribe to assist them and George's people in getting down a spar.

August 7th, Monday. For the amusement of our visitors, the guns were discharged in the morning; and though it was a sight which the North Cape people had never before witnessed, their expressions of surprise fell far short of what might have been expected upon such an occasion. The chief's grandson, who was quite a boy, was so alarmed, that he cried incessantly during the firing, notwithstanding the frequent and sometimes very rude rebukes he met with from such of his tribe as happened to be near him.

In the afternoon, Poro, having received several presents, set out for his camp, accompanied by some of the gentlemen of the ship. In rowing up the Kameemy, we met Teperree's father in his canoe. A conversation took place between him and Poro, during the whole of which the latter stood in the boat and frequently showed his mearee. This was pointed out to us as a signal of peace; and we afterwards learned that the head of Teperree's brother, which had been in Poro's possession

since he had killed him in battle, was now restored to his family. It may be well supposed, how great a sensation the recovery of the head of a person of so much consequence as Teperree's brother must have caused in the tribe. What rites were performed to it, the natives took good care that we should neither see nor know; but there can be little doubt that human sacrifices were not wanting to appease the spirit of the deceased chieftain. The people who had been in the habit of living in the ship went away to attend the obsequies; and in a few days there was not an individual of the tribe to be seen, whose disfigured person did not bear testimony to the severity with which he had used the shell, to express his grief for the untimely fate of the brother of his chief.

Poro made it a point to gain his camp some time before the gentlemen of the ship; and when we arrived, we found him seated with his family opposite his hut, which was nearly at the summit of the hill: the remainder of the tribe stood about one hundred yards lower down, with their arms in their hands; and,

upon a signal given by their chief) they rushed up with great rapidity to the spot where we sat with him, shouting, and brandishing their weapons. Here they halted, and performed the war-dance, working themselves up to such a pitch of savage frenzy, that a person un-acquainted with their manners would have supposed it was the prelude to some violent act of aggression.

Their arms consisted of spears, bayonets fastened upon sticks like pikes, pattoo-pattoos, mearees, and twelve muskets, which gave considerable importance to the strength of the tribe. In their persons they were tall, and in general very young men: they were perfectly naked; and besides the red ochre universal to the other tribes of New Zealand, their faces and bodies were smeared with patches of blue paint. The war-dance over, they continued to gaze upon the strangers for some minutes, while George mentioned our names, and endeavoured to explain our different situations. During the conversation a chief stood by to prevent their pressing upon us; and any one passing the line of de-

marcation was treated by him with a good deal of roughness. At another signal from Poro, they retired in precisely the same manner as they had advanced, and, depositing their arms, returned to their occupations.

The camp was formed on the leeward side of the hill, and consisted of four long sheds, built with sticks, and so well covered with reeds, as to be impervious to rain. Each shed was sufficiently large to contain 100 men. That of the chiefs was as near the top of the hill as the shelter afforded by its summit would permit; while the remainder were built right and left of it, and upon the declivity. There appeared to be about 350 or 400 people in the camp: many of them were women, and they seemed to have a profusion of provisions, which they must have brought with them.

Aug. 8th, Tuesday. Having been told that some more of the gentlemen of the ship intended to visit his camp this day, Poro, in compliment to them, altered his intention of marching in the morning. Besides ordering his men to perform the war-dance, he divided them into two bodies, and made them exhibit

a sham-fight. The attacks between the contending parties consisted of a series of charges or rushes made without order or previous formation; on coming to close combat, each individual singled out his man and engaged him. During this exhibition, Poro, who must have passed his sixtieth year, showed as much activity and animation as the youngest of his tribe. The gentlemen left him in the evening, not a little gratified with what they had seen; and Poro prepared for his return to his own district in the morning, expressing his sense of the attention and liberality he had experienced from the white men.

Aug. 9th, Wednesday. Early in the morning Poro set out on his return home. He had expressed his fears that any longer delay would exhaust his provisions; and though it was five days' march to his own territory, he had not only brought on the backs of his slaves a sufficient supply to maintain his tribe until their return, but also the materials to construct their huts.

10th, Thursday. In the forenoon the Prince Regent schooner arrived, having been

three weeks detained in the Bay of Islands by contrary winds.

Aug. 12th, Saturday. The Prince Regent having been directed to proceed to the river Thames, and in the event of not finding the Coromandel there, to seek her in Mercury Bay, and communicate with her, Mr. Kent, the commander of the schooner, was good enough to accommodate the author of this journal with a passage on board his vessel.

From the 13th to the 17th, the wind hung to the northward and eastward, and blew fresh; and so difficult of egress is the harbour of Wangarooa, that, small as the schooner was, though she daily attempted to sail with the ebb, she was as often obliged to return. On one occasion, when she tried to beat out, such was the violence of the sea between the heads, that she missed stays, and was most miraculously saved from being dashed to pieces upon the rocks. In the mean time, Tetoro returned to the Bay of Islands from the river Thames; and a messenger was sent over to us to say, that the Coromandel was in Mercury Bay; and that the natives were cut-

ting down spars for her. Subsequent events will show the incorrectness of this information.

Aug. 18th, Friday. Wind W. and moderate. At six the schooner weighed and towed out of the harbour, at ten cleared the Cavalles, at twelve entered the heads of the Bay of Islands, and at three p. m. anchored off the missionary settlement of Tippoona.

19th, Saturday. Fine, wind S. W. and fresh. At nine weighed and stood for Parro Bay, and at ten came to anchor. Found there the Catherine and Anne (British), and the Independence (American), whalers.

Here we heard several accounts from the natives of an attack having been made by the inhabitants of the river Thames, upon the boats of the Coromandel, which obliged the commander of that ship to fire upon and destroy several of them; and Krokro, who seemed to know more of the business than any one else, declared, that had it not been for the promptitude and energy of his brother Tooi, several British lives must have been lost. He cautioned us strongly against letting many

of the natives of that part of the island on board, and desired us to be always upon our guard.

Aug. 20th, Sunday. Fine, wind W. S. W. and moderate. Weighed, and stood out of the Bay of Islands; at ten passed between Percy's Island and the main, and shaped a course close to the shore.

Percy's Island is a high conical rock, perforated right through its centre, and presenting the appearance of a deep archway. In this singular passage there are five fathoms water; and in moderate weather boats and canoes go through it in perfect safety. These perforations are common in the eastern coast of New Zealand; a very remarkable one has already been mentioned near the mouth of the harbour of Wangarooa, and there are several among the smaller Cavalles Islands; in them have been found some specimens of crystal.

The Prince Regent continued her course during the day along the shore, the wind being off the land, and the weather occasionally squally and showery. At three P. M.

she passed between the Poor Knights and the main. From Percy's Island to the parallel of the Poor Knights the coast is rocky, bold, and deeply indented in many places with bays and coves. There appears to be little or no timber in the immediate vicinity of the shore, but the more inland hills are richly wooded.

At seven, the schooner passed between the Hen and Chickens and Bream Head. From the Poor Knights to this parallel the coast is straight, rocky, and bold, interrupted by a few sandy beaches. There are two inlets, one called Toota-cotta, which, when visited on a former occasion by the schooner, had scarcely water sufficient for that small vessel; and another, a few miles to the southward of it, extended considerably further inland. The country here is wooded almost to the water's edge, and the trees are chiefly cowry. The Barrier Islands were passed during the night; and the course of the vessel was now directed by Wheety, who undertook to pilot her to the Coromandel.

As no one on board knew exactly where that ship lay, Wheety informed the com-

mander of the schooner that it was not his intention to enter the Showrackee, or river Thames, by the usual way of making Cape Colville; but by keeping along the western coast, he proposed to bring the vessel through a passage, which was formed by a chain of islands, lying ten miles to the eastward of the main, and extending about twenty miles parallel to it. As it afterwards appeared, this chain of islands, through which there are six openings, had been evidently mistaken by Captain Cook for the main land.

The passage above mentioned was called Prince Regent's Channel, because that vessel was the first by which it was known to have been navigated. Our pilot's reason for going through it was, that, probably, among the different native tribes whom we should encounter on our way, information might be obtained as to where the Coromandel was; whereas, by striking into the great body of the river, we should have had little chance of finding her in so extensive a place. Proceeded under easy sail during the night.

Aug. 21st, Monday. Fine, wind N. N. W., and fresh.

At nine, the schooner entered Prince Regent's Channel, carrying from six to eight fathoms water; at first it was not more than three miles broad, but it soon widened to about ten. The mouth of a large river, called the Wy-de-matta, was passed at ten o'clock; on its banks there were several natives, and some canoes; the water shoaling almost immediately to three fathoms, we anchored.

The boat having been sent ahead to sound, and soon returning with information that the water rather deepened than otherwise, the schooner weighed, and proceeded about three miles higher. Being anxious to collect information from the natives, as to where the Coromandel was to be found, we came-to in five fathoms, under the lee of the island of Moto-corea.

Abreast of the anchorage, on the western side, was an arm of the sea, terminating in the river Wycotta, and called by the natives Towrerree. The islands to the eastward are high and well wooded, but do not appear to

produce cowry; while the main land to the westward is low, flat, and almost bare of timber. It shelves to the water's edge in sandy beaches; appears arable, and extends inland to a great distance, without the interruption of hills of any magnitude.

The schooner had scarcely anchored when several canoes came alongside, and Wheety, who was now a very important personage, laid aside his European clothes, and putting on his emu-feathered mat [see Note 14.], seated himself upon the deck to receive his countrymen. At his solicitation two chiefs were permitted to remain on board. One of them, whose name was Tetatta, was a very tall handsome man; his hair, which was remarkably long and thick, grew upright upon his head, not unlike the bear-skin of a grenadier's cap; and, besides the usual decorations of a chief, he wore a carved flute or pipe round his neck, upon which he played the simple but plaintive airs of this part of the island, with much correctness. On coming alongside, he fired a pistol, and when received upon the deck, handed it to the commander of the

schooner, and requested him to keep it for him until such time as his attendance on the white people should be dispensed with.

From him we learned that the Coromandel was at no great distance, and he undertook to pilot us to her next morning. He also told us, that Mr. Marsden had gone up the Wy-de-matta in a canoe, two days before, with the intention, after navigating that river as far as possible, to walk to the Bay of Islands.

In the afternoon we went to shoot upon Moto-corea, attended by Wheety, who, before he quitted the vessel, insisted that the two chiefs should be detained on board until our return. Several quails were seen in the heath, and some red-bills killed on the beach. The natives were extremely civil; and their chief, Enacky, told us, that Mr. Marsden had left his baggage in his charge, and requested permission to put it on board the schooner. Enacky's son attended us during our shooting excursion; and he was so thankful for our occasionally loading his musket for him, that he brought us a present of a cat, which he must have intended for our repast, as he

seemed a good deal surprised that we did not eat it. [See Note 15.] In the evening a large canoe full of women came alongside: many of them were handsome; and Tetatta, who said "they were wives for the white men," ordered them to come on board.

When they had formed themselves in a line upon the deck, Tetatta walked aft to where the officers were standing, and very politely and individually asked them to select what number of wives they wanted. He seemed much disappointed that this mark of attention and hospitality was declined by those to whom he wished most to show it; and though many of the women found husbands among the other inmates of the vessel, their chief gave himself no trouble about them. They continued to dance and sing till a late hour; and it was generally observed that in the harmony of their voices, the gracefulness of their movements, as well as in personal appearance, they had far the advantage of any other tribes we had met with. Among their songs, many of which were extempore, and directed to some particular person or object that presented

itself to them, there was one which they frequently repeated. It commemorated the arrival of the Coromandel in their part of the island; their hopes that other ships would come among them; and their wish that the white men would trade with them for muskets and powder, and thus enable their tribe to defend their wives, their children, and their koomeras, from the invasion of their enemies.

Aug. 22d, Tuesday. Fine, wind light and variable. At daylight the schooner was surrounded with canoes filled with men and women: their demeanour was perfectly peaceable; nor did any of them attempt to come on board without permission, though the crew amounted to but twelve persons. They brought alongside an abundance of potatoes, which they sold for nails and similar trifles; and they said if the ship returned that way they would be prepared to supply her with as many hogs as she wanted.

In appearance these people were far superior to any of the New Zealanders we had hitherto seen: they were fairer, taller, and

more athletic; their canoes were larger, and more richly carved and ornamented.

At ten a light breeze springing up at N. E. the schooner weighed, and the canoes left us; but a calm coming on at noon, we anchored in three fathoms water, not having made above five miles. In the afternoon we went on shore to shoot, but without any success.

Abreast of our position at anchor, and on the western side of the channel, was a small island, which rose about forty feet perpendicular from the surface of the sea. Its summit was perfectly level, and its sides, which were composed of a soft kind of sandstone, were so smooth, and the strata so regularly divided, as to present the appearance of a fortification raised by human art. There was but one narrow point at which it was accessible; and, with the exception of a small projection of the main land, which lay near it, and was similarly formed, the general features of the country on either side, within view, were similar to those of the land seen on the preceding day. There were few in-

habitants, and but one canoe came off to the vessel. At five P. M. a breeze springing up from the south, we got under weigh, but anchored again at eight, in consequence of our pilot's avowal of his inability to conduct us to our destination during the night. The soundings this day were from three to five fathoms.

Aug. 23d, Wednesday. Fine, wind S. E. and blowing fresh, weighed at daylight. At eight passed the mouth of a large river called the Wyrooa; at ten, having gained the bottom of the channel, altered our course, which had hitherto been S. W., to N. by E., and entered a bay, formed by two islands, called Peneneekee. At the north-eastern extremity of it there were three passages into the great body of the river Thames; and the schooner, in going through the most western of them, which is full half a mile wide, carried nine and ten fathoms water. The heads are bold and steep, and on the summit of that which stands westward is a native pah, where a vast number of the islanders were collected. The nautical people on board

were of opinion that this bay would afford safe shelter for shipping, and that there was plenty of water for vessels as large as the Coromandel.

The land seen on either side of the channel this morning was beautifully diversified with hill and dale. On the western coast there were many cowry trees; they grew also in great profusion on the northern side of Peneneekee Bay, and close to the water's edge. Being two degrees more to the southward, we found the weather much colder than at Wangarooa; and though it was now the middle of winter, the woods were in their richest verdure.

The schooner had scarcely entered the river Thames, which is here seventeen miles broad, before she encountered a heavy sea, with a strong breeze at S. E.; and being close upon a wind, our pilots expressed their fears that she must upset, and they soon became so sea-sick, that they were of little use to us: they had, however, previously pointed out an inlet on the opposite side of the river, in which they said the Coromandel lay at anchor; and we

had no sooner opened it than we saw her; she fired two guns to attract our attention. At half-past two P. M. we entered Wy-yow Bay, or Coromandel Harbour, and soon anchored near the ship from which it derives the latter name.

We had scarcely come-to when a number of canoes filled with people surrounded us; and a chief, named Towretta, whom we had before seen in the Bay of Islands, jumping upon the deck, began a song of welcome and congratulation upon our arrival at the Show-rackee, or river Thames. The music was far from being devoid of melody; and the surrounding multitude, who frequently joined their voices to that of their chief, kept admirable time in the accompaniment

It is quite impossible to imagine any thing more miserable and squalid than the appearance of the people of Wy-yow; and it turned out, upon enquiry, that they were the unfortunate tribes that the more powerful and better armed inhabitants of the Bay of Islands came down annually to plunder; while, through a family connection with Krokro,

their more fortunate neighbours on the western shore of the river were spared from similar devastations.

The size, the novelty, and the apparent protection of the Coromandel, brought the people from their more inland habitations, whither they had long since been driven; but various circumstances afforded reason to suppose that they anticipated their banishment thither at a future period. They did not cultivate any ground, they dwelt in mere temporary huts, and had laid in an immense quantity of dried muscles and fish, which at present formed their only sustenance.

Among them was a person bearing the title of areekee , or king, who was said to exert a very despotic control over many of the neighbouring chiefs, and to possess an immense tract of country. He was a very old man, his beard white as snow, and his body much tattooed; but it was remarked, notwithstanding his lofty situation, that in the intercourse he maintained with his countrymen, no more respect or distinction was paid to him than to any other chief.

Wy-yow Bay is in latitude 36[degrees]; 40' south, longitude 175[degrees]; 41' east; var. of the compass 15[degrees]; 30' east. High water at 5h 40m at the full and change of the moon; rise and fall of the tide ten feet.

It is very extensive and well sheltered on every side except the south-west, where it is open to the river Thames; in this place seventeen miles broad. The hills which overhang it are high, romantic, and richly wooded; and there appears to be no scarcity of cowry, though whether it be long enough for naval purposes remains to be ascertained.

Ships entering the river can always determine the exact position of Wy-yow Bay by a high castellated rock, which stands upon the top of the loftiest hill on its eastern side. There was no truth in the report of the people in the Coromandel having had a misunderstanding with the natives: the most perfect harmony had constantly subsisted between them.

During our stay in Wy-yow, Wheety went on shore; but he had scarcely landed when several natives coming down to the beach and

threatening to kill him, he jumped into the boat and regained the schooner as fast as he could. The indignity seemed to prey upon his mind for a long time; and he often told us, that however distant the period might be, still he would one day or other take ample revenge for the insult that had been offered to him. He always maintained that his former visit to this part of the island had been amicable; but the cautiousness of his conduct, and the circumstance just mentioned, authorised a different conclusion.

Aug. 24th, Thursday. Fine, wind S. At anchor in Wy-yow Bay, In the afternoon we visited many villages: the inhabitants were very numerous, but civil, and not at all troublesome. At one place we found a number of people collected round an object which seemed to attract general attention, and which they told us, when we entered the circle, was tabbooed. It proved to be a plant of the common English pea, and had been growing about two months. The seed that produced it had been found in the Coromandel; it was fenced

round with little sticks, and the greatest care appeared to be taken of it.

Aug. 25th, Friday. Fine, wind light and variable. At anchor in Wy-yow Bay.

26th, Saturday. Dark, rainy weather, wind N. E. and fresh. At eleven a. m. weighed and sailed for the Bay of Islands, directing our course for the channel through which we had before passed. At one P. M. we entered the opening to Peneneekee Harbour; and at three, it blowing a very heavy gale at N. E., anchored under the lee of the island of Motoeehee in five fathoms water.

Strong gales from the N. E., with heavy rain during the night.

27th, Sunday. Fine, wind N. by W. and fresh. At nine weighed and stood over to the western side of the channel, in hopes of getting some provisions, the wind being contrary to our course for the Bay of Islands, and at ten anchored in four fathoms water between Moto-corea and the main.

In the afternoon we went on shore to shoot, and visited some villages, where we were met

by a great number of natives. Fresh breezes during the night.

Aug. 28th, Monday. Squally and showery, wind N. W. At anchor between the island of Moto-corea and the main.

A number of natives surrounded the schooner during the whole of the day, though in the afternoon the weather was excessively bad. Every moment their canoes appeared on the point of being swamped; but such was their avidity to trade, that they set every danger at defiance. They had scarcely left us in the evening, when a large canoe full of women came alongside, the greater part of whom (together with the hostage-chief) remained on board, and continued to dance and sing till a late hour.

29th, Tuesday. Rainy, and blowing a strong gale at W. S. W. At nine weighed, and took shelter under the south-east side of the island of Moto-corea.

At eleven, it becoming moderate, we went on shore, and shot some red-bill and quail.

The latter are smaller than those seen in England, and rather darker in their plumage.

P. M. strong gales, with heavy rain from the N. W., which continued the whole of the night.

In passing round the northern point of Moto-corea, in the morning, there appeared to be no danger whatsoever, and the soundings were regular; but on the fall of the tide, a long reef was observed to run from it, close to which the schooner must have passed.

Aug. 30th, Wednesday. At anchor on the south-east side of the island of Moto-corea. Strong gales from the westward, with heavy showers and much sea; notwithstanding which, and the imminent danger that seemed to threaten them, many trading canoes came off to the vessel. At noon we went on the island to shoot, and killed some red-bill and a snipe; the only one that any of us had seen in this country: in its plumage it resembled those found in England, but the bird itself was much smaller.

In this excursion, we ascended the top of a high round hill, which rises in the centre of the island, and which we found to be hollow. The crater was perfect, and in it, as

well as on the sides of the hill, were a profusion of cinders and burned stones. At three P. M. there was a remarkably heavy squall.

Aug. 31st, Thursday. Fine, wind N. N. W. and moderate. In the morning, Mr. Clark, a gentleman belonging to the American ship, General Gates, having hired a guide, left the schooner with the intention of walking to the Bay of Islands.

There being every appearance of the day continuing moderate, we went up the arm of the sea, called Towrerree, which leads into the river Wycotta; and after following its course about five miles, the boat arrived at Magoia. This village was about a mile long and half a mile broad, and the houses were larger, and more ornamented with carving, than those we had generally observed. Each family occupied an allotment, which in shape was oblong, and enclosed with a high strong paling. These allotments contained many houses; and the intermediate passages or streets were as clean as the season would permit. The adjacent country was flat, with the exception of a high round hill, which

formed the pah, and which presented the same volcanic appearance as that already noticed in the island of Moto-corea. The ground was good and under cultivation, interspersed with detached houses and hamlets; and, a profusion of potatoes lay in different parts of the village. An immense number of people received us upon landing, and remained with us until we re-embarked: they attended us in our walk over the surrounding country, and showed us every civility. After leaving Magoia, we pulled up the river for about three miles; the banks continued to be thickly inhabited, the ground flat, arable, and well cultivated, producing potatoes, koomeras, and in the more swampy places a great quantity of flax.

The entrance to the Wycotta through the arm of the sea is very shallow, but the river itself is wide and deep; there are few trees upon its banks: and as far as the eye could trace its course, which for many miles is through a flat country, its breadth did not appear to diminish. In the afternoon the weather changed, and it blew so hard from the N. E. that the boat regained the schooner with much difficulty.

During our absence, the mate, having missed an iron pot, acquainted Tetatta with the circumstance, who instantly ordered every native out of the schooner, and seemed much mortified at the supposition that any of them should have taken it. To his great satisfaction, the pot was soon after found by one of the sailors, who had mislaid it; and, after a long harangue from their chief, the natives were again permitted to come on board. Though the deck was, in general, so lumbered with them that it was quite impossible they could be looked after, not an individual belonging to the vessel lost the most trifling article during our stay in this part of the island.

In the evening a number of women came on board, and Tetatta obliged them to dance and sing till a very late hour.

[September 1820]

Sept. 1st, Friday. Dark cloudy weather, with heavy squalls. In the afternoon the hostage-chiefs having left us, and only two female natives remaining on board, we were surprised to see, about nine o'clock at night, a large canoe come alongside. Tetatta, who

was in it, immediately jumped upon the deck, and without any preface demanded that the two women should be instantly given up. The compliance, of course, was as quick as the demand; but it is a fact well known that the New Zealanders always withdraw their women before they attack a ship; and the circumstance seemed so suspicious that, when the girls had gone with the canoe, Tetatta was asked to remain in the schooner for the night. Though his ready consent to this proposal removed all apprehensions of danger, still every defensive preparation was made which lay within the means of so small a vessel.

Tetatta having been asked the following day the reason of his untimely visit, told us that the two girls he had taken away were the daughters of chiefs; that he himself had brought them on board, but that after going amongst his tribe, he had been so severely reprehended for having done so, that he was obliged in his own defence to withdraw them. He said that all the girls that had been in the vessel were slaves; but that the chiefs

considered themselves degraded in permitting their daughters to be disposed of in the same manner.

These were certainly very different opinions from those of many of the chiefs of the Bay of Islands, who force their sisters and daughters into the ships the moment they arrive; being as well satisfied at their becoming the property of the meanest, as of the greatest individual in them.

Sept. 2d, Saturday. Showery, with light and variable winds. The commander of the schooner having promised to take a relation of Tetatta's, and the son of a very powerful chief, named Enacky, to Port Jackson, and having expressed his intention of going to sea this morning, the passengers arrived at an early hour, attended by an immense number of persons belonging to their respective tribes. There were upwards of two hundred natives round the vessel, and the deck was so crowded with them that it was necessary to force them over the side to give the sailors room to do their duty.

From the moment they saw the arrange-

ments begun for departure, until the sails felt the effect of the wind, their lamentations never ceased for a moment: the more immediate relatives hanging upon those from whom they were about to be separated, and giving the time and the tone to the doleful song, which was repeated by the surrounding multitude. When they perceived the vessel in motion, the cry ceased, and, as they jumped into their canoes, every New Zealander possessed of a musket fired it three times; a compliment which was returned by several of the Europeans on board.

The schooner had made but little way when the weather changed: it blew in very heavy gusts, with hail showers, thunder, and lightning. After ineffectually trying to get out of the channel, we were obliged to put back, and again anchored under the island of Moto-corea.

During the remainder of the day the weather was squally, with violent hail showers; and no canoe came near us.

In the evening we went on shore, and were met by Enacky. He asked if his son had got

plenty to eat; and seemed highly gratified when told that he had had his dinner in the cabin.

As he walked with us, we met his wife sitting on the beach: she had cut herself very much with the shell, and was crying bitterly: her eyes had been fixed on the schooner ever since her son had gone on board; and, though it was now very late, she declined all the persuasions of her husband to retire. Enacky explained to her the attention that had been paid to her child, in permitting him to dine in the cabin; and the poor woman insisted upon shaking hands with us, as a mark of her gratitude.

The chief had a remarkably handsome green mearee, which some one had asked him on a former occasion to sell, but which he declined to part with for any remuneration. This kind of mearee is highly prized in families; and venal as most New Zealanders are, they seldom can be induced to dispose of such an heir-loom. When we arrived at his hut, he took out the valued piece of antiquity, and, remarking to the commander of the schooner what a handsome one it was, he

burst into tears, and exclaimed, "If you bring my son back safe, this mearee shall be yours." The affection of the tribe seemed to be centred in this boy, who was destined one day to be its ruler; and as the people followed us at a late hour to the boat, the general and indeed only request was to be kind and attentive to Enacky's child. [See Note 16.]

Sept. 3d, Sunday. Fine, wind S. S. E. and moderate. Weighed at daylight, and stood out of Prince Regent's Channel between the islands of Moto-tappa and Moto-eehee: this passage bore north of Moto-corea, and the soundings through it were from ten to sixteen fathoms. At nine, having cleared all the islands, and being in the great channel between Point Rodney and Cape Colville, altered course to N. W. and by N. At ten the wind became very light, and at twelve it fell calm. We now threw out our fishing lines, and in a short time caught as much snapper (many of which weighed from twelve to fourteen pounds) as we could possibly make use of in several days. At five a breeze sprung up at S. E., and at eight we passed Point Rod-

ney, distant about three miles. On the southern side of this head-land there appeared to be a deep inlet or bay, and the adjacent country is richly wooded.

Light airs during the night.

Sept. 4th, Monday. Fine, wind S. E. and very light. At five passed Bream Head, distant one mile. At six the breeze freshened; at nine saw Cape Brett, distant about twenty-five miles, and continued our course close to the shore during the remainder of the day. At half-past twelve passed the Three Brothers, distant two miles. At four p. m. cleared Cape Brett and stood into the Bay of Islands; and at six anchored off the missionary-settlement at Tippoona. It was generally reported here, that Mr. Marsden had been attacked by the natives in the interior, killed, and devoured.

5th, Tuesday. Fine, wind S. E. At anchor off Tippoona. In the morning we were happy to learn that Mr. Marsden had arrived safe on the preceding evening at Parro Bay, having been twenty-three days upon his journey from the river Thames to the Bay of Islands. During that time he had suffered

much fatigue, and many privations, but had been universally well received by the different tribes he encountered.

Sept. 6th, Wednesday. Fine, wind W. and light. At six weighed, and at eleven anchored in Parro Bay. Found there the Catherine, Anne, and Indian (British), and the Independence (American), whalers.

A few days before, to the inexpressible astonishment of the islanders, two whales that came into the bay were attacked by the boats of the whale ships, and killed; after the blubber had been cut off, the carcass floated on shore.

The flesh of the whale being considered by these people a first-rate delicacy, they gathered from every corner of the bay to feed upon it. Innumerable quarrels took place upon the back of the fish; and even the native girls, who lived as servants to the missionaries, and were fed as well as their masters, either abandoned their employment to take their station at the carcass of the whale, or insisted that some of it should be purchased for their consumption.

Sept. 7th, Thursday. Showery, wind N. W. and moderate. At anchor in Parro Bay. We were visited by several chiefs during the day, and among the rest by our old friend Tetoro.

The object of this man's voyage, some months before, to Port Jackson, had been to leave his nephew at Mr. Marsden's establishment; and before we sailed from Sydney we had many opportunities of observing the tenderness with which he was treated by his uncle. All the little presents of fruit or other eatables which were given to the chief, were laid aside for the boy. He remained on board with Tetoro for some days before we went to sea: they did not take leave of one another until the ship was under weigh; and when they went through the ceremony of parting according to the custom of their own country, (it being the first time we had seen it, ) the strong feelings of affection and regret testified by both uncle and nephew attracted general observation.

The schooner now brought the news of the boy's death to Mr. Marsden, who communicated it in the morning to Tetoro. Q.

In the evening he came on board very much altered in appearance from what he was when we saw him set out upon his expedition to the river Thames. There being many people in the cabin, he remained silent until most of them had gone away, and then, turning round to those with whom he had been more intimately acquainted, his eyes filled with tears, and with a countenance of the most melancholy despair, he exclaimed, "The boy is dead!" and covering his face with his hands, rested his head upon the table.

He soon after went away, nor did we ever see him afterwards; but the industrious habits, the mild and friendly manners, and the upright character, of this untutored savage will be long remembered by many of those who knew him.

In their voyages to Port Jackson the New Zealanders suffer much from sea-sickness. On account of their want of personal cleanliness, they are not permitted to go below in the small vessels, in which they usually embark, and they are often rudely treated. Notwithstanding the certainty of almost all those in-

conveniences, Tetoro had voluntarily undertaken a voyage of 2400 miles, for the improvement of a boy, who, if he had lived, would at a future period have been entitled by his birth to govern his tribe.

Sept. 8th, Friday. Dark cloudy weather, wind N. E. by E. At ten weighed and crossed over the bay to Tippoona, where we anchored at twelve o'clock. Showery during the remainder of the day. At night there was a heavy gale at N. E. with constant rain.

9th, Saturday. Strong gales at N. E. with constant rain. At noon the wind changed to N. W., when it cleared up. Squally and showery during the night.

10th, Sunday. Fine, wind S. and very light. At nine weighed and towed the schooner out of Tippoona. Sailed at the same time the Catherine and Anne whale ships; at half-past eleven the breeze freshened up, and at twelve, having passed between the Sugar-loaf and the main, altered our course to north-west. The wind was now S. E. and light, and there was a very heavy swell; at four passed between the Cavalles and the

main. The sea broke over the rock upon which the Dromedary had struck some weeks before; and the islanders, who had at that time laughed at us in our misfortune, again came off, and offered some vegetables for sale.

At six saw the heads of Wangarooa, distant five miles, when it fell calm. At seven a breeze sprung up from the S. W.; stood off and on during the night.

Sept. 11th, Monday. Fine, wind S. S. W. At seven it fell calm; at ten a breeze sprung up at N. E., and at one we anchored in the harbour of Wangarooa.

During the absence of the Prince Regent schooner the party of Europeans in the woods had been considerably reinforced, and George and his tribe had ceased to give them any assistance. In other respects nothing worthy of observation had occurred except the attempted desertion of a convict, named Dent, who had come with us from Port Jackson in charge of the bullocks. Though Dent had long passed the meridian of life, he was one of the first to endeavour to procure himself a wife wherever the ship anchored; and now

having got one to his fancy, he was so fearful lest her affections might be estranged from him by some of his more youthful companions, that he concerted a plan with her to retire into the interior of the country, and settle in Poro's district. Dent was soon missed from his occupations in the woods; but as it appeared fruitless for Europeans to pursue him, six young natives of George's tribe were armed with tomahawks, and sent after him, with a promise that if they brought back the white man the tomahawks should be their own property. They executed their mission with so much address, that they got ahead of Dent, and lay in ambush for him in a wood close to the pathway, and when he and his intended partner for life approached them, they sprung upon him, and commenced shouting, jumping, and brandishing their tomahawks, while he, giving up all hopes of life, fell upon his knees and began to pray; an action which amused the natives, as much as their conduct had paralysed Dent. They immediately conducted him in triumph to Wangarooa; and when they presented him to the officer in

charge of the working party, they asked him, as a matter of course, if they might not now kill their prisoner. [See Note 17.]

Sept. 17th, Sunday. Sailed the Prince Regent schooner, for Port Jackson, having on board the Rev. S. Marsden.

Since the 12th, there was no occurrence of any importance. A strong party of the ship's company was employed in the woods, preparing the timber for the cargo, and making a road for its conveyance to the water. They received no assistance from the natives, who appeared to be busily employed in killing and drying fish, and planting potatoes. Few canoes came alongside, nor were any vegetables to be obtained.

21st, Thursday. In rowing about the harbour, it was observed that the natives had abandoned their work and their habitations; and, upon going to the pah, they appeared to have all assembled there, and to have taken up a defensive position; their canoes being drawn up on the beach, and their spears arranged in front of their houses. They said that one of Teperree's cookees had stolen a

canoe and a fishing net from Okeeda, a chief of the Cavalles, who was now coming in great force to avenge the insult. Teperree seemed much alarmed, and even hinted his hopes that we would protect him.

He acknowledged that the canoe had been stolen by one of his tribe, but afterwards lost in a storm, between the Cavalles and Wangarooa; but he denied having been privy to the transaction, and declared his readiness, in the event of Okeeda attacking him, to offer him any of his canoes he wished to take, provided a peace could be effected. This arrangement, it is presumed, was carried into execution, as the people the next day resumed their domestic occupations.

Sept. 22d, Friday. When the schooner touched at the Bay of Islands, on her return from the river Thames, several chiefs, and particularly one named Rowa, of Shungie's tribe, assured us that Poro's hostile appearance in George's district was a mere feint; that the real object of his coming thither was to join with George; and that they would have jointly attacked the Dromedary had her nu-

merical force amounted only to sixty instead of 120 men.

It certainly was a fact well known that some of the principal persons of Poro's tribe were on a visit to George three days before the Dromedary anchored in Wangarooa; no disagreement that we ever heard of had taken place; no act of aggression had been committed; and, to the day of our departure from New Zealand, the mystery of Poro's hostile appearance in George's district, and the easy manner in which the anticipated differences were adjusted, was never satisfactorily explained. The reports, now generally circulated, that George had leagued with the tribes of Poro and Okeeda to murder the Europeans employed in the woods, seemed to derive probability from the presence of a number of strangers, who had for several days been observed in the neighbourhood of the huts where the white men lived, and also from the sulky and distant demeanour of George and his brother Tippooi. On these accounts, the officer in charge of the working party was induced to arm the men every night with

tomahawks, and to keep some muskets constantly loaded, and ready for immediate use.

Sept. 23d, Saturday. In the course of the day a party of natives arrived from the Bay of Islands, and encamped not far from the ship: they brought with them the same reports that we had been tormented with for many days, of the intended attack upon the Dromedary, and the people in the woods.

For a long time George had studiously avoided us: day after day he was absent no one knew where; and his ill-wishers universally gave him the credit of spending his time in intriguing with the neighbouring chiefs for our destruction. Latterly, he spread a report that he would forcibly resist our taking away the spars which had already been cut and prepared for embarkation; and the reason he gave for this measure was, that he was perfectly satisfied in his own mind, that when the ship was loaded, we should go to sea, without paying him for the cargo. In the evening, to the great surprise of every one, he came on board: he said his long absence had originated in the necessity he was under of su-

perintending the planting of his potatoes; and that he had just returned from the Cavalles, where he had been to effect a peace between Okeeda and Teperree.

Sept. 24th, Sunday. At noon several large fires having been observed at the southern side of the harbour, a boat rowed thither to ascertain the cause; but long before its approach many natives ran down to the beach, waving their mats, and shouting "Heromai." The water was so shallow that we could not come within forty yards of the shore; observing which, the natives waded out to the boat, and, taking us upon their backs, hurried us with great rapidity, and apparently much joy, to a hut, where their chief was seated with a number of men to receive us. They proved to be a tribe from Shukehanga, that had come overland to dispose of some potatoes; and their reception of us perfectly accorded with the civility we had before received from them, when the Dromedary unsuccessfully attempted to enter their harbour. When we expressed a wish to go away, they again took us upon their backs, and

not only carried us to the boat, but put into it a mat and some potatoes, as a present, for which they could not be prevailed upon to receive any payment.

In the evening intelligence arrived of the Prince Regent schooner having put into the Bay of Islands. She encountered so heavy a gale of wind off the North Cape that she sprung a leak, and was obliged to return to discharge a cargo of spars she had taken in at Wangarooa; and Mr. Marsden, with Enacky's son and the other New Zealanders, had suffered so much in the storm that they gave up all further intention of making a voyage in her to Port Jackson.

During the week the Europeans employed in the woods received little or no assistance from the natives, who in general were planting their potatoes; few canoes came near the ship, and scarcely any vegetables could be obtained.

Sept. 25th, Monday. Mr. Clark, of the American ship General Gates, who had left the schooner when at anchor off the island of Moto-corea, on the 31st August, to walk to Wangarooa, arrived.

He had gone up the river Wy-de-matta in a canoe, as far as it was navigable, and crossing over to the western side of the island, proceeded along its shores to Shukehanga, whence he walked over the isthmus of Kiddy-Kiddy, which place he reached on the 24th.

During this long excursion, in which he was not attended by a single European, he met with civility and attention from every tribe he encountered, and was supplied by them with guides from place to place.

Sept. 28th, Thursday. Okeeda and Wydooa, two chiefs from the Cavalles, having paid us a visit in the morning, George no sooner heard of it than he set out for the ship, and arrived at a late hour. He expressed much anxiety to see our guests; but as they had gone on shore, he said his object in coming was to caution the commander of the Dromedary against receiving strangers, "as he did not know who they were, nor could he be answerable for their conduct."

29th, Friday. In the morning George took his departure, after repeating the admonition of the preceding evening.

[October 1820]

October 1st, Sunday. During the week several Europeans were employed in the woods. They received no assistance from the natives; and the supply of vegetables to the ship was very scanty.

5th, Thursday. Some natives, who were outside the heads fishing, reported their having seen two ships landing off and on the coast.

7th, Saturday. Accounts arrived in the morning of the Cumberland and Vansittart whalers having anchored in the Bay of Islands. They had touched at Port Jackson, and brought the news of the death of King George III., and the accession of His present Majesty to the throne. The Echo whale ship, Captain Spence, had been lost in the Cato Reef, off the coast of New Holland, and part of the crew was picked up at sea, in great distress, by the Cumberland.

8th, Sunday. The weather was so bad that though a strong party of Europeans had been employed in the woods, little could be done by them during the week, and scarcely any refreshments could be procured by the people on board.

9th, Monday. A strong tribe from the

North Cape, who said that their chief was Shungie, a man whom we had before met with, arrived, and encamped on the northern side of the harbour. They were on their way to the Bay of Islands, but put into Wangarooa in consequence of the badness of the weather. They visited the ship in their war-canoes in the course of the day, and appeared to be a fine race of people.

Oct. 10th, Tuesday. Many of George's tribe having finished planting their potatoes, returned to the assistance of the Europeans in the woods, and felled some trees.

12th, Thursday. Came into the harbour the Saracen whaler, Captain Kerr. By her we had accounts of the death of the Duke of Kent, the assassination of the Duke de Berri, and the particulars of the loss of the Echo whaler on the Cato Reef. The Saracen brought round Mr. Marsden from the Bay of Islands.

18th, Friday. The ascendancy that the native women were capable, in some instances, of obtaining over the mind of a European, was strongly exemplified, at this time, in the person of a very young man who held a situation of much respectability in the ship.

Soon after our arrival at Wangarooa, he was employed with others in superintending the men employed in making the road; and during his residence on shore, he so strongly attached himself to the daughter of Towi, the chief of Rangehoo, that he became extremely remiss in his duties; and it was necessary, after a time to oblige him to return to the Dromedary. The female followed him on board; and the same inattention, on the part of the young man, still continuing, she was ordered to leave the vessel.

Nothing of course remained but implicit obedience to this mandate; and the young man obtained permission to see his fair companion, in safety, beyond the boundaries of George's district.

The parties left the Dromedary early in the morning; but at night the young man did not return; and it was soon ascertained that he had taken up his abode at Rangehoo, with the intention of sacrificing his profession and his country to his most misguided attachment.

To recover him was a matter of much delicacy. Situated as they were, force could

not be used; and persuasion was not likely to have much effect.

After some consideration, it was determined to request one of the missionaries to try to entice him to his house, and there make him a prisoner; while a sergeant and corporal were sent to the Bay of Islands to assist in executing this measure, having particular instructions to avoid doing any thing that might endanger their persons, or cause tumult or irritation among the natives.

The young man, after remaining on the hill of Rangehoo for some days, went on board a whale-ship, for the purpose of getting some provisions; and he was immediately followed by the sergeant and corporal and arrested. The master of the whaler lent a boat in which he was conveyed to Kiddy-Kiddy; and the matter was managed so quietly, that it was some time before the islanders were aware of what had happened. The moment it was known, Towi's people sent off a war-canoe after the boat, but she was then far ahead, and under a press of sail; and the natives did not long continue the pursuit.

Towi's rage at first was ungovernable: in his fury he publicly declared that any person belonging to the Dromedary, who landed on his beach, should be instantly murdered; and at a much later period he continued to express his astonishment that the white men should prevent the union of one of their body with his daughter, whom he considered far superior in rank to any individual holding a subordinate situation in the Dromedary.

When the young man came on board, he was put under arrest, in which situation he remained until this day, when he succeeded in effecting his escape, by bribing one of George's people to bring a canoe, at a late hour in the evening, close to one of the raft-ports, which, contrary to custom, was left open.

He had not been long gone when he was missed, and George, who happened to be on board at the time, was summoned to the quarter-deck, and told that, as he was considered answerable for the conduct of his tribe, he must either recover the fugitive immediately, or expect to be treated with the

greatest severity. The chief, who it was generally supposed had been implicated in the transaction, and had probably received the reward of his perfidy, made no hesitation in undertaking the apprehension of his victim; and he was conveyed on board in a canoe the next day. He was taken by his pursuers, in a lonely hut on the banks of the Kameemy. His female companion had joined him a shorttime before; and the parties were found with their noses fastened together, and crying and sobbing in the same melancholy manner as is customary with these islanders after a separation of any length of time.

Oct. 15th, Sunday. There being now but two months' biscuit in the ship, the allowance was this day curtailed, and the deficiency made up to the men in flour. Except as an article of barter with the islanders, for which they gave fish and vegetables, the loss of this part of the ration could not be considered a privation. For many months it was quite unfit for use, on account of the incalculable quantity of vermin it contained; and while no one on board, however hungry, could eat it, the na-

tives devoured it with the most disgusting greediness.

The frequent rains during the week had almost suspended the operations of those employed in the woods; and the quantity of vegetables brought alongside daily became more scanty.

Oct. 16th, Monday. At daylight sailed the Saracen, whaler. In the evening a boat arrived with a sick man from the Bay of Islands, belonging to the ship Janus, at anchor there. She had been thirteen weeks from Port Jackson.

17th, Tuesday. The captain of the Saracen having told the natives that he would return again to refresh his men, and having already given them the only trade they valued, viz. muskets, as an encouragement to grow more potatoes than they required for their own use, the whole country was this day in a blaze.

Setting the heath and brushwood on fire is the usual way of clearing the ground, previous to its being cultivated; and a strong westerly wind had extended the ravages of

the element much further than the natives could have anticipated.

Partial burnings of the country had not been unfrequent for some time, but during this day and the early part of the night the conflagration was so extensive that the scene was truly magnificent. The air was darkened with the smoke, and though the flame was at a considerable distance from the ship, the ashes continued to fall upon the deck during the whole of the afternoon.

Oct. 22d, Sunday. A native and an European dived under the ship, to examine if she had received any material damage when she struck on the rock. They brought up part of her keel, which they reported to be seriously injured, but they said that her bottom was perfectly safe. Many spars were brought down from the woods, and some were taken in. For many days scarcely a canoe came alongside, and no assistance was given by the natives to the European workmen.

27th, Friday. At five p. m. the Janus, whaler, was off the heads of the harbour, and sent a boat in for one of her men, who had

been sent on board the Dromedary, from the Bay of Islands, for medical assistance.

Oct. 29th, Sunday. Several spars came down from the woods during the week, and were taken in. The workmen in the forest still continued their labour, with little assistance from the natives; and George, who now saw that the Europeans were perfectly independent of him and his tribe, gave no trouble.

Teperree and the greater part of his people were in the interior, planting their potatoes; and the few that continued to reside near the ship seldom approached her; those who did, sometimes sold fish and vegetables; but the supply was uncertain and very scanty.

[November 1820]

Nov. 5th, Sunday. The natives having discovered the place in or near which a soldier's musket had fallen out of a boat, on the sixth of the preceding month, many, both of George's and Teperree's tribe, assembled at different times to dive for it, with the intention, as they said, of giving it to the white man, and obtaining the reward that had been offered for its recovery.

It was generally thought that none of the

parties had been successful; but George, who never let an opportunity pass of vilifying his rival, declared that Teperree had fished up the musket during the night with a net; that he had it in his possession, and did not intend to return it.

The musket lay so near the ship that it was almost impossible for any attempt to be made to recover it, even during the night, without attracting the attention of the people on watch; but George asserted the fact so positively that it was thought right to acquaint Teperree with the accusation made against him, and to impress upon him the necessity, if he really had the musket, of giving it up.

The person who undertook this mission called at Teperree's pah, but found it almost deserted; and being told that the chief had retired with his tribe some distance into the interior, the officer took a native boy to guide him to the place. After a walk of about three miles over the hills, to the north-eastward of the harbour, he descended into a beautiful valley, watered by a small river, where there were a few houses and many fires.

To the New Zealanders, whose organs of sight and hearing are so singularly acute, the approach of a stranger is early known; but, in this instance, they were so busy planting potatoes and burning the heath, previous to the ground being cultivated, that the officer was not perceived until he stood in Teperree's presence. The chief was seated on the ground before a large fire, surrounded by his wives and other members of his family, and eating his dinner, which consisted of dried fish and pounded fern root.

The appearance of the stranger seemed to be far from welcome; and his explanation of the cause of his visit, and his assurance that in the event of its being proved that Teperree had the musket, and declined returning it, unpleasant steps would be taken for its recovery, evidently excited much alarm in the whole circle. The tribe soon gathered round their chief, who, after having told them what the officer had said, ordered all the muskets belonging to his people to be collected; and, when they were laid before him, he separately pointed out from whom and where each of

them had been obtained; declaring "that George had told an untruth, and that he was a bad man." Teperree's manner was so candid that it was impossible not to agree with him in what he said of George: he was at once assured that no further suspicion could be attached to him.

This little incident will probably show how much the natives stood in awe of the numerical strength of the Dromedary, when an individual, alone, unarmed, and removed from the possibility of obtaining assistance, could, in the midst of a savage tribe, deliver to its chief so disagreeable a message without meeting with the slightest personal disrespect. When the officer was taking his leave, Teperree remarked, that he had heard the Dromedary was soon going to King George's country (England), and asked when she would return. Upon being told in twelve moons (their way of calculating time), he immediately said, "Then I shall never see you again, for I shall die before that time." The officer having remarked that he saw no reason for such an apprehension, all the members of the

chief's family, and particularly the women, cried out "Yes, yes! before twelve moons Teperree will die." Teperree, who was a young man, and in perfect health, not only heard the prediction of his premature fate with perfect composure, but repeated his conviction of its certainty.

With Teperree's explanation it was presumed the business had ended; but George, whose policy it was to keep him from the ship, maliciously spread a report, "that his denial of having found the musket had gained no credit with the white men, and that it was their intention to hang him the first time he came on board."

Teperree, whose fears magnified this threat even to the probability of being attacked by the Europeans in his pah, continued to reside in the interior with his family and many of his tribe; and though on a subsequent occasion an officer went out to see him, and to declare that there was no intention of injuring him, he could not be prevailed upon to come near the Dromedary.

The misunderstanding was attended with

some inconvenience: all the supplies of fish and vegetables that had hitherto been obtained came from Teperree's people, but since the loss of the musket they had been almost entirely withheld.

This morning, to our general surprise, a quantity of very good new potatoes was brought off from the shore, and sold to the men; and though George, who happened to be in the ship, got into the chains, and in a long and vehement harangue declared to the people who disposed of them, that it was our intention to hang their chief, Teperree, to the astonishment of every one he came alongside in his canoe. His reception soon made it clear that no injury was intended him, and he seemed in the highest spirits.

The potatoes latterly purchased had been planted on speculation by the natives, when the ship first arrived at Wangarooa; and as the general stock for their own consumption was in the course of being put into the ground, it was evident that two crops might be very easily raised within the year.

Such is the fecundity of the climate, that

peas and other European vegetables, which had been sown by different individuals in the depth of winter, sprang up with great rapidity, and were now, and had been for some time, fit for consumption.

In the early part of the week some spars had been got down from the woods, and taken in; but for the last three days the heavy rains had made the road impassable, and almost suspended work.

Tippooi, who had spent the preceding day and night on board, came on deck in the morning, in a furious passion; knocked down a native girl, who was sitting on the waste netting; threw the mat of another overboard; and would have committed still further excesses, had he not been laid hold of by some one who stood near him, and peremptorily ordered to desist. In explanation of his conduct, he said that a woman of his tribe had that morning been discarded by her lover; that he saw no reason why the affections of the white men should be monopolised by strangers, there being many girls from the

Bay of Islands in the ship, and insisted that they should be sent on shore.

During this scene the native women ran for safety in all directions; and though it was explained to Tippooi, that as long as they conducted themselves properly they should not be molested, he persisted in his having a right to force them out of the ship, and remained sulky and morose for the rest of the day.

Nov. 12th, Sunday. Since the 5th, nothing worthy of notice occurred.

During the latter part of the week, the road having dried up, some spars were got down, and taken in. The natives kept rather aloof than otherwise from the people employed in the woods, while George and his brother Tippooi came on board almost every day, apparently contented and in good humour.

19th, Sunday. The badness of the weather put a stop to almost all work during the week, and few canoes came near the ship.

21st, Tuesday. This morning almost all

the men who had been employed in the woods returned to the ship, a sufficient number of spars to complete the cargo having been obtained. It is scarcely possible to imagine that so small a number of people, with such inadequate means, could have effected an undertaking apparently so far beyond their powers. A road was first made, a mile and a quarter long, over a clay surface, which could not be kept in repair in bad weather. The trees were felled in a deep ravine; and, before any attempt could be made to remove them from the spot where they had fallen, it was necessary, by trimming them, to reduce their weight and size as much as possible. This done, they were dragged to the top of the hill by means of a capstan, which was erected upon it; but the distance from the capstan to the tree was often so great, and the obstructions of stumps and swampy ground so numerous, besides that the tackle often got foul or broke, that one spar was often the produce of two days' incessant labour. The men commenced their work before sunrise, nor did their toils cease till late in the even-

ing. They lived in a hut frequently not proof against the inclemency of the weather; and, in point of food, they had to undergo the privations incident to a ship, many months detained in a country where fresh provisions could not be procured.

Nov. 23d, Thursday. The last spar having been brought down, the three brothers, Tippooi, George, and Ehoodoo, came on board, and received the stipulated payment for the cargo, with which they seemed to be perfectly satisfied.

26th, Sunday. The natives observing every preparation making for our departure, and foreseeing that our stay among them would be very short, brought a profusion of potatoes and some hogs alongside; of the former a sufficient supply was obtained for present use; most of the crew were also enabled to lay in a stock for their voyage to Port Jackson: for the latter, however, the natives still insisted on being repaid in powder and muskets.

27th, Monday. A few minutes after midnight died James Aldridge, seaman, in con-

sequence of a wound he had received in a drunken quarrel with a soldier on the 21st inst.; and at noon a very fine little boy, the son of the ship's cook, was killed by a butt of water rolling against him. Divine service having been read over the bodies in the evening, by the Rev. Samuel Marsden, at the request of the sailors, they were taken outside the heads, and committed to the deep.

Nov. 28th, Tuesday. A native girl, the daughter of a chief, had lived for some months with the soldier who was supposed to have caused the death of James Aldridge. As it now appeared prudent to remove her from the ship, she complied with the order for her departure with much reluctance. From the time the unfortunate man had been put in confinement till the present moment she had scarcely left his side or ceased to cry; and having been told that he must inevitably be hanged, she purchased some flax from the natives alongside, and, making a rope of it, declared that if such should be his fate, she would put a similar termination to her own existence: nor is there the slightest doubt

that, in conformity to the customs of her country, she would have executed her intention.

Though turned out of the ship, she remained alongside in a canoe from sunrise to sunset, and no remonstrances or presents could induce her to go away. When the Dromedary went to the Bay of Islands, she followed us over-land, and again taking up her station near that part of the vessel in which she supposed her protector was imprisoned, she remained there even in the most desperate weather, and resumed her daily lamentation for his anticipated fate until we finally sailed from New Zealand.

Nov. 29th, Wednesday. The ship was unmoored at daylight, but the sea-breeze setting in soon after, we could not get out of the harbour.

30th, Thursday. Hazy. Weighed at daylight; and under a very light breeze at S., with the assistance of the boats, got out of the harbour. A number of natives attended the ship to the heads, and the three brothers, George, Tippooi, and Ehoodoo, remained on

board until we were about a mile out at sea, when they took their leave. On getting into their canoes they fired their muskets, and the salute was returned by a great gun.

During our long acquaintance with Ehoodoo, he invariably proved himself to be a quiet, industrious, and well-conducted man; but his two brothers were, without exception, the most troublesome and the worst-disposed chiefs we had met in New Zealand.

Though George had at first denied being present at or accessary to the massacre of the crew of the Boyd, yet, when he became more confident that we had no intention to injure him, he not only acknowledged the leading part he had taken in that atrocity, but more than once told the horrid story with all that gesture for which, when worked into a passion, he was so remarkable. He mentioned particularly the circumstance of one of the sailors, who, in hopes of finding a protector in an old acquaintance, ran to him, and seizing his mat, cried out, "My God, my God!" when he instantly with a single blow of his mearee laid the unfortunate suppliant dead at his feet.

When passing by the wreck of the Boyd with some of the officers of the Dromedary, he pointed at it, and remarked to them in his broken English, "That's my ship;" "she is very sorry;" "she is crying;" but in no instance did he express any compunction for the horrible crime of which he had been guilty.

Wangarooa lies in latitude 35[degrees]; 0' south, longitude 173[degrees]; 15' east; var. of the compass 15[degrees]; 30' east.

At nine a ship was seen about six miles to windward apparently steering for the Bay of Islands, but in the afternoon she came about and stood to sea. There was every reason to suppose that she was the Saracen, whaler.

After beating against a contrary wind the whole of the day with a light breeze, the Cavalles Islands were weathered at eight P. M., when the ship stood for the Bay of Islands.

[December 1820]

December 1st, Friday. Rainy, wind N. E. and blowing fresh. At daylight being off the heads of the Bay of Islands, stood into it, and at seven A. M. anchored off Kororadeca, in order to take in fourteen spars that had

been left there under the care of King George, when the ship sailed for Wangarooa.

Strong gales at N. E., and constant and heavy rain during the remainder of the day.

With the exception of Krokro and Tekokee, all the chiefs and almost all the people had gone to the Kaiperra, on the western coast, to fight. The villages were without men, and the few canoes that came near the ship were paddled by women. There was a general report all over the Bay, that there had been a great battle, in which many persons had been killed.

Dec. 2d, Saturday. In the course of the day Tekokee paid us a visit, and in the evening the whole of the spars were in the ship.

8d, Sunday. Every thing being now ready for sea, the women were ordered to leave the ship: many of them had lived on board and with the same persons since we returned from Shukehanga. They imitated as far as they could the English manner of dress, conformed themselves to English customs, and showed as much regard for their protectors as they could for their real husbands. Their

gentle manners fully proved how the ferocity of savage life is softened down in the female character; and what with their songs and dances, they afforded the people amusement, while, by acquiring a knowledge of washing and other domestic occupations, they became very useful to them. In taking their leave they went through the same ceremony of crying and cutting themselves with the shell, that they usually perform when parting with those who have a more legitimate claim upon their affections. The mild treatment of the Europeans, when compared with that of their own countrymen, had gained their esteem and admiration; and, besides the natural regret they felt in withdrawing from those they had so long lived with, they had to anticipate the inconveniences and miseries of savage life, and the degrading and sometimes brutal treatment of those to whom they were about to return.

Dec. 5th, Tuesday. Fine, wind west and moderate. At daylight we got under weigh; and soon afterwards our faithful friend, Wheety, coming upon deck, took leave in-

dividually of almost every one in the ship. He had been so general a favourite, that there were few from whom he had not received a present; and now, rich in his own estimation and that of his countrymen, he expressed his intention of going back to Shukehanga, of building himself a house as much like the Europeans as he could, and of living in their manner. He had long laid aside his native customs and prejudices, and often remarked "that New Zealand would one day be the white men's country."

The natives who had been in the habit of living on board, followed the ship in their canoes, until the freshness of the breeze made any further attempt to keep near her fruitless; and a few hours removed us many miles from them and their island.

The outer pyramid of the Bay of Islands lies in latitude 35[degrees]; 9' south, longitude 174[degrees]; 9' 30" east.

After a long and boisterous passage, the Dromedary anchored in Sydney Cove, on the evening of the 21st of December. Here she remained to refit and to refresh her crew till

the 14th of February, 1821, when she sailed for England. On the 1st of April she doubled Cape Horn; and on the 3d of July anchored at Plymouth, having completed the circumnavigation of the world.

[Remarks]

REMARKS.

The inhabitants of New Zealand are in general tall, active, and well made; their colour brown, with black hair, sometimes straight and sometimes curling; and they have very fine teeth. There is a striking difference between the rungateedas, that is, the chiefs and better class of people, in stature and cast, and those who are by birth cookees, or slaves. Many of the latter are almost black, and below the middle size. The New Zealanders exhibit as much variety in features as the Europeans: there is little national character in their countenances, which, before they come to the age for being tattooed, may be called regular and pleasing; at least, several of them whom we saw before they had undergone that operation were very handsome. The lines of the tattooing vary in the different

tribes; and when an individual attains his twentieth year, he is considered unmanly, if he has not endured part of this painful process. He bears it with surprising fortitude; and it is renewed occasionally, as the lines become fainter by time, to the latest period of his life. Tetoro, who returned to New Zealand in the Dromedary, was re-tattooed soon after his arrival; and when Wheety, who was half Anglicised by a long residence amongst us, was told that he ought not adopt this frightful custom of his countrymen, he said, "if he did not, he should be despised, and perhaps taken for a woman." The inflammation that follows the tattooing is so very great that it is on all occasions gradually performed; many months, and sometimes years, elapse before the face is completely finished; and though the process disfigures the natives in their youth, it completely conceals the ravages of age. Baldness is very uncommon: we knew but of one instance of it; and many very old men go to the grave without a single grey hair. Benny, a chief in the Bay of Islands, who says he was

a grown-up man when Captain Cook was there, had not one on his head.

Their dress consists of a mat made of the native flax, which is very fine and silky, and woven with much ingenuity by the women; it is thrown over their shoulders; another mat, of the same substance and texture, is fastened round their waist by a belt or girdle. In winter, at night, or in wet weather, they use a very coarse description of mat, which they call kakahow: it is very warm, and impervious to rain, and is so large as to envelop the whole body. Their heads are always exposed even in the bitterest season, which accounts for many of them being afflicted with sore eyes; but the disease seldom affects their sight, which is singularly acute. The wife of the chief Pomarree was an exception to this general blessing. She applied for some eye-water, and when it was given to her, she remarked, that "if she did not see as well as the rest of her countrywomen, at least, she had the happiness of being like King George;" alluding to our late monarch, the only so-

vereign prince known, even by name, to this people.

When the men use violent exercise, they strip themselves naked, retaining only the belt with which they gird their waists very tight. Fulness in this part of the body is unknown among them, and when seen in Europeans excites much ridicule. When they go to war, or when they wish to appear to the greatest advantage, they paint their bodies red, with a composition of oil and ochre; their hair is also oiled, fastened in a bunch on the top of their heads, and ornamented with the feathers of the gannet or the albatross; and a bunch of the more downy feathers of these birds is usually fastened in one ear.

Their ears are always pierced during their infancy, and particularly those of the women. The perforation is gradually distended by means of a piece of stick passed through it; and the larger it becomes, the more ornamental it is considered. From it the better class of people suspend the tooth of a fish, rather scarce on this coast; and so punctilious are the persons authorised to use this distinction, that

the cookee dares not, under any circumstance, infringe upon the prerogative.

They also wear, fastened round the neck by a cord, and hanging on the breast, a piece of green talc, carved to represent what cannot be deemed human. They attach much value to it, not from any superstitious notion, but from its antiquity; and it is hereditary in families.

The dress of the women is precisely the same as that of the men: among the latter, nudity at any time, or on any occasion, is not considered indecorous; but a dereliction of feminine modesty by the former is seldom known. The females are slightly tattooed upon the upper lip, in the centre of the chin, and above the eyebrows. Some of them have a few lines upon their legs; and a woman was seen at Shukehanga, who was described as having come from a place far to the southward of it; she had lines on her breast, not unlike the links of a chain; while a female prisoner of Krokro's was tattooed almost as much as a man. The New Zealand women are as fair as those of the southern parts of

Europe, well made, and, in general, handsome. Before matrimony, concubinage is scarcely considered a crime, nor is it an impediment to the highest connection; after it, they are faithful and affectionate wives, and very fond of their children. They bear with the greatest patience the violent conduct of their husbands, who, considering women as beings infinitely inferior to themselves, often treat them with great brutality.

It would be difficult to define what their religion is. They have innumerable superstitions, but no idolatry. They believe that the chiefs when they die go to a very happy place, but that the cookee has no further existence beyond this world. They address prayers to the sun, to the moon, to the stars, and even to the winds, when their canoes are becalmed or in a storm; but their prayers emanate from casual circumstances, not from any regular form or time of adoration. They believe in a Supreme Being, designated the Atua, or something incomprehensible, the author of good and evil, the divinity who protects them in danger, or destroys them by

disease. A man who has arrived at a certain stage of an incurable illness is under the influence of the Atua; who has taken possession of him, and who, in the shape of a lizard [see Note 18.], is devouring his intestines; after which no human assistance or comfort can be given to the sufferer, and he is carried out of the village, and left to die. He who has had his hair cut is in the immediate charge of the Atua; he is removed from the contact and society of his family and his tribe; he dare not touch his food himself; – it is put into his mouth by another person; nor can he for some days resume his accustomed occupations, or associate with his fellow-men. An elderly female, or kind of priestess, of the tribe of any warrior who is going to fight, abstains from food for two days, and on the third, when purified and influenced by the Atua, after various ceremonies, pronounces an incantation for the success and safety of him whom she is about to send forth to battle. But the attributes of the Atua are so vague, and his power and protection so undefined, and there is, moreover, such a want of una-

nimity among the people themselves in many things relating to him, that it is quite impossible to discover any thing like system in their theology.

Their general food is the koomera, or sweet potatoe; the root of the fern, roasted and pounded; the indigenous taro, which is very sweet; the common potatoe; the cabbage plant; and fish, which they take in great abundance. They dry their fish in the sun without salt, and it continues good for many months. They use an immense quantity of cockles; and though they sometimes eat pork, it is only on great occasions: they generally reserve it to barter with the Europeans. The pigs run wild in the woods, and are caught with much difficulty and with the assistance of dogs, which themselves are sometimes eaten, and are considered a great delicacy. Dogs and rats are the only native quadrupeds of the island; the former are like our fox in shape, but variable in the colour; and the latter are so much smaller than the European rat, that a chief expressed a wish for an importation of some from England to improve the breed,

and thereby give him a more bountiful meal. The taro plant, which has been imported from Otaheite, is cultivated by a few natives with much success. Their appetites are immense; and all their food is cooked in one and the same manner, namely, in hot stones covered over with leaves and earth, so as to form a kind of oven; and, certainly, their vegetables and cockles are particularly good when dressed in this way. They were very fond of our biscuit; and though it was literally so full of vermin that none of us could eat it, the tribes in the neighbourhood of the ship very eagerly bartered for it their potatoes and the other esculent plants introduced into the island by Captain Cook. Reckless, however, of the future, they had soon disposed of their little stock, and they afterwards lived in comparative misery.

Though well aware of our abhorrence of cannibalism, they never denied it to be one of their customs; on the contrary, they too often expressed their predilection for human flesh. The limbs only of a man are eatable, while, with the exception of the head, the

whole body of a female or a child is considered delicious.

Besides the crew of the Boyd, other Europeans have from time to time fallen victims to their ferocity: but they describe the flesh of a white man as tough and unpalatable when compared to that of their own countrymen; and they attribute its inferiority to our universal practice of using salt with our food.

It is from superstitious motives that they devour their enemies when slain in battle: but there is every reason to conclude that anthropophagy is practised on other occasions.

Instances occurred during our residence among them, and under the eyes of Europeans, of female slaves having been murdered for crimes too trifling to justify such severity, and as their bodies were immediately cut up, washed, and removed to a place where they could be eaten without interruption; and as the intended feast was publicly mentioned by the natives themselves, it is to be presumed the horrid propensity was gratified.

Except the sailor of the Catherine, no Englishman witnessed the act of cannibalism dur-

ing our visit to New Zealand; and the people took every precaution for its concealment. But the immediate prelude to it has fallen under the observation of the missionaries, who have had unequivocal proofs of its existence; and what from the information we were able to collect from them, and the confession of the people themselves, it is quite impossible that the most incredulous person in the Dromedary could have returned to England without a firm conviction that anthropophagy exists, and is practised in New Zealand, not only as a superstition, but as a sensual animal gratification. [See Note 19.]

The extensive intercourse that takes place between the crews of European shipping and the native women, compared with the very limited offspring of this connection found in the island, afforded reason to presume that infanticide exists here to a considerable extent. We saw but two individuals of this cast during our stay at New Zealand, and heard of but two others; of those we saw, one was an infant, the son of a seaman of a whale-ship, and the other was a grown-up girl, about sixteen

years old, the daughter of a person residing in New South Wales. They were both fair; and the latter, though brought up in common with the savages, was quite English in her appearance, except that she was much sunburnt. She was a pretty girl, and at that time lived on board a whale-ship.

Illicit intercourse has brought among some of the females of the island that disease which is carried by Europeans to whatever part of the world they go; and some truly melancholy cases of its fatal ravages occurred in the Bay of Islands while the Dromedary lay there.

To us the women denied the crime of infanticide as far as related to their connection with Europeans, of which they declared that the consequences were prevented by causing premature birth. Taking into consideration the fact that all former ships remained but a short time at the island, this is not improbable; but as many native females left the Dromedary in a very advanced stage of their pregnancy, the curious will be led to enquire whether the children be still living, and if

they are, it is to be hoped the humane will be induced to take steps to ameliorate their condition.

In the native families when the number of females has far exceeded that of the males, the disappointed mother has been known to sacrifice the former. A daughter of Pomarree's assured us, that such would have been her fate had not the authority of her father averted it; and a woman at Rangehoo, well known to the missionaries, successively murdered three female children the moment she was delivered of them.

This barbarous act is effected by the mother pressing her finger upon the aperture in the skull of the new-born infant, and thereby causing its immediate death.

Though infanticide is committed where there is a superabundance of females, yet in the manner of rearing children, and in the remarkable tenderness and solicitous care bestowed upon them by the parents, no partiality on account of sex was in any instance observed. But as the males form the strength and consequence of the tribe, the birth of a

boy is hailed with pride and delight by the community: he receives the name of a bird, river, island, or perhaps some part of the human body; a garland of the red berries of a tree called the karamoo, supposed to possess particular virtues, is entwined round his brows; and prayers are uttered over him by his tribe, that he may be strong, swift of foot, and invincible in war. The infant is no sooner weaned than a considerable part of its care devolves upon the father: it is taught to twine its arms round his neck, and in this posture it remains the whole day, asleep or awake, suspended upon his shoulders, and covered with his mat; and in his longest journeys, or his most laborious occupations, it is his constant companion. If the child be a boy, it is taught at a very early age the use of arms, the war-dance, how to paddle the canoe, and to sing the accompanying song, and attends its father upon his expeditions. The first successful effort of the stripling in war is hailed as an omen of what he is one day to be; and the circumstance of Repero, Shungie's son, having shot a man at the North

Cape before he attained his fourteenth year, has given him a powerful ascendency in his tribe.

Plurality of wives among the chiefs is universal; but there is a decided distinction between the head wife and the others. The union with the head wife is a union of policy: she is the daughter of a chief, equal if not superior to the person to whom she is allied; and the offspring of this union in their right of succession take precedence of the progeny of the other wives, whose relative situation to the head wife is nearly that of domestics. The order of succession descends from brother to brother, and reverts to the elder son of the senior brother. The inferior wives are often selected from the prisoners of war; but in these instances the attaint is taken off by the rank of the husband, and the children are born rungateedas, or gentlemen.

Inconstancy in a chief's wife is sometimes punished with the death of the parties; but there have been many instances where the great power of the woman's father has de-

terred the chief from proceeding to this extremity.

In the event of the premature or violent death of the husband, it is the custom of the country for the head wife to hang herself. The places have been pointed out to us, and are marked as sacred by the natives [see Note 20.], where this last testimony of conjugal devotion was exhibited by the wife of Duaterra, under whose immediate protection the missionaries first settled at New Zealand, and by the wife of the brother of Teperree, who was killed in battle near Wangarooa.

In the event of a chief taking a fancy to a woman, her inclinations are seldom consulted on the subject. Instances have occurred where she has been carried off with brutal violence on his part and apparent resistance on hers, but an amicable adjustment soon followed: even in the selection of the head wife, the father's consent alone is requisite.

From every thing we could learn of their wars there is seldom a decided or lasting conflict between the combatants, or any great display of personal courage. The party sur-

prised is the party that suffers; and there is no hardship or privation which this people will not patiently undergo to come upon their enemies when they are least prepared to resist them.

The natives of Rangehoo, describing a successful attack made by them upon a tribe at the North Cape, against whom they went to take revenge for the murder of some of their party, said they arrived in their canoes at the foot of the enemy's pah before daylight, but being discovered, described themselves to the inhabitants, who came down to know who they were and what they wanted, as strangers who had suffered much from bad weather, and whom necessity had driven to seek the shelter and hospitality of their coast. The people of the North Cape, at first suspicious, were lulled into security when their visitors had produced different articles of barter, with which they began to trade for provisions; nor did any opportunity offer to them to carry their purpose into execution until this trade had gone on for some time, and food had been dressed for their breakfast. At length,

upon a signal given, they fell upon their unsuspecting entertainers, and took ample vengeance upon them.

This is the general character of their wars; but there have been various exceptions. The natives of the Bay of Islands openly attacked a chief on the western coast, by whom they were routed: the slaughter was very great; several of Shungie's brothers were killed, and the tribe of Wevere, Tetoro's elder brother, was almost annihilated. But latterly the imputed superiority of the tribes of the Bay of Islands and those adjacent, on account of the quantity of fire-arms in their possession, by overawing the rest of the inhabitants, has made them the terror and the scourge of New Zealand. Every summer they fit out a predatory expedition: they are perpetually the aggressors, but at home they are never attacked; and though a week did not pass without their telling us that some mighty chief was coming to invade them, and that every preparation was making to resist him, yet in the wide circle of our information not a hostile blow was aimed at them during

our stay, unless it were at the battle of Kaiperra, which was said to have been fought just before we sailed. The report, however, did not bear decided marks of authenticity.

It is singular to what a distance they go from home, and what a length of time they remain absent on their predatory excursions. Pomarree had sailed upon one of them a month before we arrived, nor was it known where he was at the time of our departure; and when the Prince Regent schooner was at the river Thames, the people there told us they had seen him, but that he had long ago proceeded very far to the southward. Though his tribe seems to have gone alone in this instance, the expeditions are in general composed of the united strength of three or four chiefs. Each chief is absolute in his tribe, and each tribe independent of its neighbour.

As yet the firelock in the hands of the mass of the New Zealanders is not dangerous: they use it very awkwardly, seldom hit their object unless close to it, and lose an immensity of time in unnecessary action in looking for a rest and in taking aim. We have seen them,

when about to shoot a pigeon, climb the tree where it was sitting, (the New Zealand pigeon being very tame,) with a caution and address peculiar to themselves, and put the muzzle of the gun within a foot of the object, before they attempted to fire at it. Their arms are intrinsically bad, the firelocks being of the very worst description, brought out by the whalers merely for barter; and from their want of knowledge how to take care of them, and the dampness of their houses, they soon find them unserviceable, and though anxious in the extreme to get gunpowder, they seldom care about bullets, substituting stones in their place. Unskilfully, however, as they use the musket, such is the general dread of its effects that the strength of a tribe is not now calculated so much by its numbers as by the quantity of firelocks it can bring into action. When Poro entered George's district, the terrified people described the invader as having twelve muskets; and the name of Krokro, who is known to have fifty stand of arms, is heard with terror 200 miles from the Bay of Islands. In this part of the island the pahs, or strong

places, have been much abandoned and neglected since the introduction of muskets. The original arms of the people, consisting of the mearee, or short stone club, worn in the girdle, the spear, which is long and pointed at both ends, the pattoo-pattoo, or wooden battle-axe, and a long club made of the bone of a whale and curiously carved (but very rare among them), have ceased to be much prized as defensive weapons. They now attach the bayonet, the axe, and the tomahawk to a stick, but their great reliance is placed on the musket.

Their war-canoes have been frequently mentioned in the foregoing pages, and are minutely described in Captain Cook's voyages. The largest we saw was eighty-four feet long, six feet wide, and five feet deep, and belonged to Tarrea, of Shungie's tribe. It was made of a single cowry-tree, hollowed out, and raised about two feet, with planks firmly tied together and to the main trunk, with pieces of the flax plant inserted through them. The crevices were filled up with reeds to make the canoe water-tight. A post fifteen feet high

rose from the stem and stern, which, together with the sides, was carved in open work, painted red, and fringed with a profusion of black feathers.

The chief sat at the stern, and steered the canoe, which was impelled by the united force of ninety naked men, who were painted and ornamented with feathers; three others, standing upon the thwarts, regulated the strokes of the paddles, by repeating with violent gestures a song, in which they were joined by every one in the vessel. The canoe moved with astonishing rapidity, causing the water to foam on either side of it; and we have observed other war-canoes cross the Bay of Islands in perfect safety, when it was thought imprudent to lower the ship's boats.

Consumption, violent rheumatism, and sore eyes, seem to be the prevailing diseases of the New Zealanders; many die of inflammation of the lungs and bowels; but though Teperree told us that some years ago an infectious fever had carried off a great number of his tribe, nothing of that kind came under our observation.

The face of the country in the parts where we were, except at Kiddy-Kiddy and on the western banks of the river Thames, is in general hilly, and beautifully diversified by woods. These woods are seldom very large, and the intermediate and clear ground is covered with heath and fern; but the herbage found amongst it must be nutritious, as the bullocks we brought with us grew fat upon it. There is very little natural grass; the water is abundant, and exceedingly good. The natives cultivate the low and the forest ground, where the land is rich; they never think of reclaiming any soil that seems to be poor. Their only implement of agriculture is a wooden spade; and, content with the produce of the naturally arable patches which are scattered over their district, they make up the deficiency of their food with fish and fern root. There is a variety of birds, which they seldom kill, except for their feathers; and, as already observed, there are no quadrupeds except the dog and the rat; nor are there any reptiles. The pigs, as yet the only animal imported, and left among them by different

persons who have visited the island, have increased very much; but they bear no proportion to the demand made for them by the whale ships. The avidity of these islanders to obtain fire-arms overcomes all kind of prudence; and twenty hogs (perhaps the only ones possessed by the tribe) have been given for a musket not worth ten shillings.

Had it been possible to extend the restrictions under which we were placed, before we sailed from England, of not issuing powder and muskets to the natives, to the other ships that called at the island, we should certainly have fared much better; but our attempt to regulate the trade the people were to receive from us, when they had another market to go to, merely served the whalers and inconvenienced ourselves; while our men were doomed to live ten months on salt provisions, we had the mortification of seeing the crews of other ships refreshed with as much pork as they could consume. Thus situated, the islanders, with their canoes filled with hogs, triumphantly passed us by, and remarked that King George's people were, with regard to

their fire-arms, the stingiest they had ever met.

Even in purchasing the cargo, our axes were held in little estimation. A single musket would have called forth more exertion from the natives, than all the articles of barter we had in the ship. When George received nearly one hundred axes for the spars we got from him, he asked, with a sneer, what he was to do with them? And of what use so many could be to him?

In the management of the axe the islanders are remarkably expert. The most material assistance they gave us was, in felling the enormous trees that composed the cargo; nor was there a European in the ship who could rival them in this most laborious occupation.

They eagerly adopted the improvements we pointed out to them in their system of agriculture; - and they were very grateful for the European seeds distributed among them. Many chiefs had very fine crops of peas before we sailed, which they promised not to consume, but to save the seed, and sow it again:

the water melons were in great luxuriance; and the degenerated cabbages and other vegetables were much improved by their being taught how to transplant them.

Except a wild plum, and various kinds of berries, none of which were particularly palatable, we saw no indigenous fruit in the island; and the flowers were not so numerous nor so handsome as might be expected; but the shrubs were innumerable, and beautiful beyond description; and the woods throughout the year preserved their verdure.

The plumage of the birds is rich, and their notes the sweetest we ever heard, particularly at daybreak, when their united harmony is called into action. The Dromedary lay so close to the shore at Wangarooa, that each morning we were roused by this most enchanting music: it continued till the sun had made some progress above the horizon, when it ceased; and, with the exception of the tooi, and some other birds, whose songs are almost uninterrupted, the woods are comparatively silent for the remainder of the day.

There was scarcely a part of the island

visited by our people, however distant, to which one or more pathways did not lead. They are wide enough for only one person to walk upon, nor do they diverge on account of the nature of the ground, or the obstructions offered by rivers or morasses. They lie over the highest hills and the deepest ravines: where a river winds it is necessary to pass it several times; and the heath on either side of the pathway is so high, or the underwood so thick, that it is impossible to go from it. Both in wet and dry weather, from the extreme inequality of the ground, they are singularly slippery; nor was it possible for a European to travel any considerable distance without getting many falls, a circumstance that always afforded the highest entertainment to our guides.

When we came to a river, unless it was very deep, the islanders undertook to carry us over on their backs; but it was not unusual, when they got us into the middle of a rapid stream, to pretend to be unequal to the weight of their burden, and to demand an addition to the reward we had promised to give them for

landing us on the opposite side. This was done with so much humour, that the application was often attended with success.

A native had undertaken, for a fish-hook, to carry one of the gentlemen over a wide and deep part of the Kameemy: when in the middle of the river he insisted on a second, which was refused; and almost immediately after, the islander slipped his foot, and plunged the European into the water. There were a number of people looking on, to whom this scene afforded the most unbounded amusement: the islander, being perfectly naked, felt no inconvenience from his fall, while the gentleman, scarcely able to open his eyes, and shivering with cold, gained the opposite shore, amidst the laughter and ridicule of the bystanders.

The strength displayed by the bullocks when removing, on a timber carriage, the spars, from the wood to the water's edge, drew forth the most unqualified expressions of surprise and admiration: people from distant parts of the country came to witness the extraordinary spectacle and returned with the

most exaggerated accounts of the karaddee nue, or large dogs, the white men had landed on their island.

The capture of the General Gates excited much curiosity and speculation; nor was it possible to explain to the natives the causes that led to it. That we, and the Americans, were the same nation, they never doubted; and so closely did they observe our conduct and movements, that long before the schooner crossed the bay to take possession of the ship, they were aware that something hostile was intended, and their women were removed from the vessel.

Among the gentlemen taken out of the General Gates, there was one who lived on terms of intimacy and familiarity with the officers of the Dromedary; but this was an error in our conduct which no explanation could excuse: without the slightest reserve they expressed their astonishment that we could so far forget ourselves as to sit down and eat with a towra caracca, or prisoner of war; and this degrading appellation was uni-

versally applied to the American gentleman as long as he remained amongst us.

There appeared to be but one feeling among the chiefs as to the untimely lot their constant quarrels with their neighbours were likely to involve them in; namely, their being killed in battle and devoured by their enemies. To this feeling, perhaps, may be, in part, attributed the calmness with which they view the approach of a natural death, and the resolution with which they meet it. Perehico was well aware, long before his dissolution, that his days were numbered, and he often said so; but confident of the honours that would be paid to his memory, and the ceremonies destined to consecrate his remains, he caused himself, as his dying day drew near, to be carried to the neighbourhood of his family burying-place at Tyama, where he closed his life in the middle of his tribe. That the prospect of a future state, such as the chiefs believe it to be, must have aided in reconciling him to his untimely fate is a point scarcely to be doubted; but it was said, that when he gazed upon the many muskets that were held 21

ready to be discharged by his friends, as a salute to his spirit, the moment it passed away, his agony became less violent, his pains after a time subsided, and an expression of pride and resignation marked the countenance of the expiring chieftain.

From their temperate mode of living, flesh-wounds of every description were very soon healed. We once observed a man, who, accidentally, inflicted a severe cut upon his leg with an axe; he immediately squeezed the juice of a potatoe into the wound, and tied it up, and in a few days it was quite well. There did not appear to be any particular description of persons to whom they applied in cases of sickness; but, when so circumstanced, they have recourse to different herbs and plants, with which they seem extremely well acquainted; and one of the gentlemen who was afflicted with an eruption on his lips was cured by the application of a decoction of herbs, given to him by a native. In cases of violent inflammation, of course, their remedies are unavailing; and many lives might be saved by a skilful practitioner, could the chiefs be only

induced to submit to his treatment; but that shocking superstition of tabbooing the dying man in few instances can be got over. Timoranga was attacked with an inflammation of his lungs on board the Dromedary, and his life was preserved by a timely hemorrhage; but had he been taken ill amongst his tribe, there is scarcely a hope, when the disease took a serious turn, that a European would be allowed to approach him; and he must have fallen a victim to the prejudices of his country.

A native girl accidentally fell into the hold of the Dromedary, and broke her leg; and she remained in the ship until it was perfectly well. During her long confinement, she showed more patience than might be expected from so restless a people; nor did she ever appear to forget the debt of gratitude she owed to those who had taken care of her.

The presents offered by the New Zealanders to us were few in comparison with the liberal manner in which we always acted towards them; and they did not seem to be

as sensible of our munificence as might have been expected. Indeed they appeared to consider our gifts to them more as a right to which they were entitled than as a favour. Their manner of making a present is cold and ungracious: the article is thrown upon the ground opposite the person for whom it is intended; nor is the action accompanied with any expression of courtesy or kindness.

There was a remarkable shyness and timidity amongst those with whom we were intimate, in their mode of receiving us, after an absence of any length of time; and long before we drew near to them, they sat down on the ground, and repeated the word Heromai in so plaintive a manner, that it almost appeared a preamble to the melancholy ceremonies they are wont to go through among themselves, when separated for any considerable period from one another. In a short time their usual cheerfulness returned; nor was the state-ceremony of being led into the presence of the chief, when seated in the

middle of his tribe, ever omitted when it could be performed.

During the first visit of our people to Shukehanga, one of the gentlemen attracted the particular notice of Mowhenna; and a short time before we left the island, the gentleman walked over from Wangarooa, merely accompanied by a native guide, to see and take leave of the chief. Mowhenna received him with every possible mark of courtesy and respect; and having placed him sitting beside him, the chief's brother stood up, and harangued the people at considerable length upon the advantage they must derive from a friendly intercourse with the Europeans. During this speech, he observed one of the natives with a spear in his hand, and desiring him to give it up, he broke it across his knee, and observed that as the white man had come among them alone and unarmed, not a weapon should appear in his presence while he remained a guest.

With the north-east wind [see Note 21.] came almost all the bad weather we experienced at New Zealand: when it sets in, the sky be-

comes darkened, the rain falls in torrents, accompanied by the most tremendous storms; nor is there any hope of a change until the wind has gradually veered to the southward of west, when the weather clears up. From this point we sometimes had very strong gales during the day, but they fell in the evening; and the sea, how greatly soever agitated, became immediately smooth. It is impossible to imagine any thing more magnificent than the effects of one of those dreadful storms upon the lofty rocks that extend along the greater part of the eastern coast of the island. Standing upon their highest pinnacles, the spray dashed over us with a fury seldom seen, and never surpassed; while their undermined bases, deep clifts, and singular perforations, bore ample testimony to the long and constant war they had waged with the frightful element that rolled against them.

Exclusive of the harbour of Wangarooa and the Bay of Islands, shelter for shipping is to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of the mouth of the river Thames. The Coromandel lay many months in Wy-

yow, and on the opposite side is Penaneekee, and several lesser harbours, where vessels of moderate tonnage may ride in safety; nor is there a part of the eastern coast, that we examined, that presents so fair a field for the agriculturist, as the western bank of the river Thames. Here the ground is level, and clear of wood, intersected with deep and navigable rivers; and the people are well disposed and most anxious for Europeans to settle among them. One of the most beautiful islands we ever saw, extending several miles in a parallel direction to the Magoia shore, was offered to us by its chief, when we lay near it in the schooner, for a single musket.

With reference to the western coast, though, from motives of prudence, the Dromedary did not go into Shukehanga, the river was, at different times, minutely surveyed; and the harbour, for ships drawing less water than ours, was found to be perfectly safe and commodious. Here the facility of getting cowry is much greater than in any other part of the country that afterwards fell under our observ-

ation. It grows in greater profusion; and it was remarked that the north-east gales, which did so much havoc on the eastern coast, abated much of their violence before they reached this point of the island; and the climate was less humid. There are large tracts of arable land on the banks of a branch of the river called Mangamooka, which runs very far inland; and we observed that the potatoes, grown upon it, were larger and dryer than those we got on the eastern coast. The gentle manners of its inhabitants at once attracted our notice and regard; nor had we any occasion, during our subsequent intercourse with them, to change our opinion. Honest, industrious, and generous, when all hope of the Dromedary visiting their river had vanished, they carried their baskets of potatoes on their backs to Wangarooa, (a distance of thirty miles,) and frequently left the price they were to be paid for them to our own discretion. – Many enquiries were made, as to the fate of the vessel they reported to have been wrecked on their coast several years before, without obtaining any satisfactory information; and

our curiosity was particularly roused by the supposition, that it was not impossible that upon this inhospitable shore the unfortunate La Perouse had terminated his career.

An extensive harbour to the southward of Shukehanga, called Kaiperra, was seen by some persons who walked overland to examine it; but as they had not the proper instruments, either to sound or to determine the latitude and longitude, we left the country, imperfectly acquainted with its real position or local advantages: however, from what could be gathered from the natives, we learnt that there was not sufficient water in it for very large shipping.

A vocabulary of the language has been published: all its words terminate in vowels; and it is not difficult either to learn or pronounce. Some of our people spoke it tolerably well before we left New Zealand. The following prayer to the wind, repeated by the natives when they are becalmed at sea, is given as a specimen of its general harmony.

Show nue, show roa
Show poo, keede keede

Keedea too pai darro
Tee tee, parera rera
Kokoia, homai te show.

It has appeared in the pages of this journal, that during a stay of ten months in New Zealand a constant intercourse took place between the people of the ship and the natives; and that distant excursions were made by different individuals into the interior and along the coast, without any unfortunate consequences. From personal experience, it is but justice to the New Zealanders to add a particular testimony to their character. Two officers of the detachment of the 84th regiment being provided with a private boat, rowed by two soldiers, and having, as already observed, fewer avocations to detain them on board than the generality of persons belonging to the Dromedary, went on various shooting or other excursions into the country, which brought them in daily contact with the natives, whose assistance was always at their command. When badness of weather or other circumstances obliged us to seek food or

shelter among them, an appeal to their hospitality was never made in vain. Perpetually at their mercy, if they chose to misuse us, not a single insult was ever offered to one of our little party; the most trifling article was never stolen, and we often experienced acts of generosity and disinterestedness from them which would have done honour to a civilised people.

The destruction of the Boyd shows to what excesses they can be driven by avarice and ill treatment; but if in this instance they gratified their revenge, which they boast to be inherent in their nature, and hereditary among all their tribes, it must also be borne in mind, that great outrages have been since committed upon them by the masters and crews of ships, which have passed without retaliation.

This forbearance may be attributed to their being now convinced of the bad policy and of the danger of insulting a people who, from the number of ships which they send to their coast, must inspire them with an idea of greatly superior power. It has been a doctrine always inculcated to them, that though

the massacre of the crew of the Boyd went unrevenged, another aggression made upon the white people would be followed by the most summary punishment; and as long as they are impressed with a notion (as they were by the numerical strength of the Dromedary) that there is a force capable of punishing an outrage, it is but reasonable to conclude, from what we experienced in our own persons, that the European may go in perfect safety among them; may trust himself and his property to their honour; and, by a moderate share of conciliation and liberality on his part, may ensure to himself an ample return on theirs.

[There is nothing on page 304]

[Notes]

NOTES.

Note 1. Page 8.

Said it was tabbooed.

Feb. 16th. We found this custom universal.

When a native is about to make a bargain, he examines the article offered to him by the European, an axe, for instance, with great attention and shrewdness; if he find it without flaw, and agreeable to his fancy, he pulls a thread out of his mat, which he ties round it, remarking, at the same time, that he has "tabbooed it." He then returns it to the owner, until such time as he has completed his contract.

Note 2. Page 12.

How much he disliked it.

Feb. 20th. Their universal drink is water; as a matter of politeness, they may be induced to taste wine or grog, but it is with reluctance.

George of Wangarooa was the only exception we met with; but his habits had been vitiated during his service in one of our ships. He really liked

spirits; a very small quantity made him drunk, and when in that state he was outrageous.

Note 3. Page 13.

Cut the hair.

Feb. 20th. The cutting of the hair is associated with so strange a superstition, that for some days after it the persons are removed from the society of their families, and are described during the time to be "tabbooed" or consecrated. The hair is cut with a shell, and quite close at the top of the head; behind, it is left long. They attached a high value to some combs and scissars which we distributed among them.

Note 4. Page 28.

The infant had light hair.

Feb. 28th. We saw some other children as fair as Tetoro's, and a few grown-up persons with red and sandy hair.

Note 5. Page 42.

A most precarious tenure.

March 2d. At the time that Perehico's son died in New South Wales there were two or three cookee boys, or inferior New Zealanders, at Mr. Marsden's establishment, and it required the interposition of his authority, distant as the parties were from their

own country, to prevent their being sacrificed by the friends of the deceased young chief, to appease his departed spirit.

Note 6. Page 44.

Being barefooted.

March 3. Such is the hardness of their feet that they run over the sharpest rocks and the most rugged ground without the slightest inconvenience. When going through the woods they use no protection against the numerous thorns and brambles, which we found a serious annoyance and impediment; and those to whom we gave shoes were so crippled in them that they could scarcely walk.

Note 7. Page 54.

Twenty thousand acres.

March 9th. This immense tract of country was purchased by the missionaries from Shungie for forty axes, and a deed was executed by the parties. When the missionaries had signed it, Shungie and some of his principal chiefs drew the amoco, or the pattern according to which their faces were tattooed, upon the paper.

The word tattooing has been used in this journal because its meaning is generally understood; but the lines upon the faces and persons of the New Zealanders are universally designated amoco.

Some peculiarity in the figure of the amoco distinguishes the members of every tribe; and a gentleman of the Dromedary, who had a coat of arms engraved upon his seal, was often asked if it was the amoco of his tribe.

Note 8. Page 54.

Forbearance and humiliation.

March 9th. After the establishment of the missionaries at New Zealand, Mr. Hall, finding the ground at Tippoona too hilly for agriculture, was induced to remove with his family to the flat and arable banks of the Wytangy, where he lived unmolested, for a considerable time, unconscious of having given the natives the slightest offence.

One day he observed a number of strangers lurking about his house; but their appearance and manner were so far from hostile, that when they observed him endeavouring to launch his boat they came down to the beach, and voluntarily gave him their assistance.

The very same people, in the evening, suddenly rushed into his house; knocked him and his wife down; plundered him of every thing they could lay hold of; and, when he had sufficiently recovered his senses to see the extent of his calamity, his infant, and only child, was missing.

A native girl was nursing it at the time the house was attacked, and, alarmed for the safety of her charge, she covered it with her mat, and crossing

the Wytangy in a canoe, concealed herself in the woods. At the end of two days, when every thing was quiet, she brought back the child in perfect safety. She still lives with Mr. Hall; and when Europeans visit his house, they generally testify their sense of her fidelity by making her some trifling present.

Note 9. Page 76.

Where it still lies.

March 29th. "We mentioned in our last that Captain Chance had received, at New Zealand, a particular account from an Otaheitean of the loss of the above vessel [the Boyd]; which we premise, by stating upon the foregoing authority, that when the Boyd went from hence she had on board four or five New Zealanders, who made part of her crew. These people were displeased at their treatment on the passage, and determined on revenge. On their arrival, they communicated their complaints to their friends and relatives, who were of the Wangarooa party, and frequently at war with Tippahee and his subjects; and the design of taking the ship was formed in consequence. It being Captain Thompson's intention to take in a quantity of spars, he applied to the natives for assistance in procuring them, which they promised; but in order to entice him on shore, artfully objected to act until he should accompany them to point out such as he might best approve. The

captain was thereby prevailed on to leave the vessel, accompanied by his chief officer, with three boats manned, to get the spars on board. The natives, who had arrived in the ship, being of the party, which was accompanied by a number of others in their canoes, the boats were conducted to a river, on entering which they were out of sight of the ship; and after proceeding some distance up, Captain Thompson was invited to land, and mark the spars he wanted. The boats landed accordingly, the tide being then beginning to ebb, and the crews followed to assist in the work. The guides led the party through various parts of the wood that were least likely to answer the desired end, thus delaying the premeditated attack until the boats should be left by the effluence of the tide sufficiently high to prevent an escape, which part of the horrible plan accomplished, they became insolent and rude, ironically pointing at decayed fragments, and enquiring of Captain Thompson whether they would suit his purpose or not. The natives belonging to the ship then first threw off the mask, and in opprobrious terms upbraided Captain Thompson with their maltreatment, informing him at the same time that he should have no spars there but what he could procure himself. The captain appeared careless of the disappointment, and with his people turned towards the boats, at which instant they were assaulted with clubs and axes, which the assailants had till then concealed under their dresses; and although the boats' crews had several muskets, yet so impetuous

was the attack that every man was prostrated before one could be used.

"Captain Thompson and his unfortunate men were all murdered on the spot, and their bodies were afterwards devoured by the murderers, who, clothing themselves with their apparel, launched the boats at dusk on the same evening, and proceeded towards the ship, which they had determined also to attack. It being very dark before they reached her, and no suspicion being entertained of what had happened, the second officer hailed the boats, and was answered by the villains who had occasioned the disaster, that the captain having chosen to remain on shore that night for the purpose of viewing the country, had ordered them to take on board such spars as had already been procured; which account readily obtained belief, and the officer was knocked down and killed by those who first ascended the ship's side. All the seamen of the watch were in like manner surprised and murdered. Some of the assassins then went down to the cabin door, and asked the passengers and others to go on deck to see the spars, and a female passenger, obeying the summons, was killed on the cabin-ladder. The noise occasioned by her fall alarmed the people that were in bed, who, running on deck in disorder, were all killed as they went up, except four or five, who ran up the shrouds, and remained in the rigging the rest of the night.

"The next morning Tippahee appeared alongside in a canoe, and was much offended at what had

happened; but was not permitted to interfere, or to remain near the ship. The unfortunate men in the rigging called to him, and implored his protection; of which he assured them, if they could make their way to his canoe. This they effected at every hazard, and were by the old king landed on the nearest point, though closely pursued. The pursuit was continued on shore; they were all overtaken, and Tippahee was forcibly held while the murder of the unhappy fugitives was perpetrated. A female passenger and two children, who were afterwards found in the cabin, were spared from the massacre, and taken on shore to a hut, in which situation Mr. Berry and Captain Patterson, of the City of Edinburgh, found them when they rescued them. Tippahee was afterwards permitted by the Wangarooans to take three boat-loads of any property he chose out of the ship, fire-arms and gunpowder excepted; and the bulk they divided among themselves. The salt provisions, flour, and spirits, they threw overboard, as unpalatable; the carriage-guns they also threw overboard, considering them useless: the muskets they prized very much; and one of the savages, in his eagerness to try one, stove in the head of a barrel of gunpowder, and filling the pan of the piece, snapped it directly over the cask, the explosion of which killed five native women, and eight or nine men, and set part of the ship on fire.

"From the foregoing detail it appears that neither Tippahee nor his son Wytye had any share in the barbarous acts committed by those sanguinary mis-

creants, but that the old chief had, on the contrary, endeavoured to preserve the lives of several of the crew; and if we consider the order in which the incidents are narrated, we must at least conclude this to be the most probable account received of the doleful event before us; and the more especially so, as it is the report of an Otaheitean, who was on the spot at the time, and who, as an alien, not being interested on the part either of the Bay of Islands or of the Wangarooans, may still more be entitled to credit. In the principal facts, alas! all accounts unhappily coincide; and while we have to deplore the calamity, we cannot forbear expressing a hope that the commanders and crews of vessels traversing those seas will temper friendship and humanity towards the uncivilised islanders with prudence and caution, and be ever guarded against surprise and treachery, to which numbers of our countrymen have become victims. " – Sydney Gazette, September 1st, 1810.

This account appears very correct, with the exception of George's still positively declaring that Captain Thompson twice inflicted corporal punishment upon him.

The thick and swampy wood in which the people were murdered is on the left bank of the river Kameemy, and the place where their bodies were devoured is close by, and was often pointed out to us.

Tippahee's presence at the transaction was accidental: the object of his visit at the time was to trade for dried fish; and to this day the tribes of the Bay of Islands come to Wangarooa for the same purpose.

The dollars found in the Boyd were at first worn round the necks of the natives as an ornament, but they afterwards sold them for fish-hooks to the crews of ships lying at the Bay of Islands. A silver teaspoon, with the initials of Captain Thompson's name, was purchased for a trifle by one of the people of the Dromedary when we lay at Wangarooa.

Note 10. Page 80.

Heromai.

March 29th. Heromai, or "Come hither," is the salutation of peace and friendship. Where this word is not pronounced on the approach of the stranger the feelings of the people are not favourable towards him.

Note 11. Page 98.

The seine was hauled.

April 11th. Our seine, though of the same size with others served out to king's ships, was contemptible when compared with those of the New Zealanders. Theirs are made of a very strong kind of weed: they are immensely large; and they are hauled remarkably slow, but with great success.

Note 12. Page 120.

A native of Bengal.

May 3d. This man had left an East Indiaman that touched at the Bay of Islands ten years before, and married a woman of the tribe subject to Tekokee, whom he considered his chief.

Though quite a New Zealander in his dress and habits, his diminutive person and dark complexion made him appear to great disadvantage among the handsome and athletic people among whom he had settled. He remembered scarcely a word of English, but as well as he was able to make himself understood, he frequently cautioned the carpenter during the tumult round the tent, "not to appear alarmed." The same advice has frequently been given to us by the missionaries. They found that the firm and undaunted demeanour of a white man will keep many natives at bay, but if he once shows symptoms of fear, or attempts to retreat, he is no longer in safety.

Note 13. Page 159.

Degenerated turnips.

June 23d. The excellent plants left by Captain Cook, viz. cabbages, turnips, parsnips, carrots, &c. &c. are still numerous, but very much degenerated; and a great part of the country is overrun with cow-

itch, which the natives gave Marion the credit of having left among them. Water-melons and peas were raised while we were in the country, with great success, and the people promised to save the seeds and sow them again. The missionaries have got some peach-trees that bear very well, and an acorn and a seed of the orange was sown by a gentleman of the ship near Pomarree's village, and the place rigidly tabbooed by the inhabitants. The orange-plant was over ground before the Dromedary left New Zealand.

Note 14. Page 201.

Emu-feathered mat.

August 21st. The emu is found in New Zealand, though we were never fortunate enough to meet with one. The natives go out after dusk, with lights, which attract their attention, and they kill them with dogs. Their feathers are black, smaller and more delicate than the emu of New Holland, and a mat ornamented with them is the most costly dress a chief can wear.

Note 1. 5. Page 203.

A cat.

This cat must have come from the shipping at the Bay of Islands or from the Coromandel. There are no native cats at New Zealand.

Note 16. Page 222.

Enacky's child.

Enacky, it appears, was afterwards killed by Pomarre; and the head of the ill-fated chief was exhibited in the Bay of Islands not long after we left it.

Note 17. Page 230.

If they might not now kill their prisoner.

Justice, among the New Zealanders, is administered in a summary manner; and those who had been at Port Jackson always reprobated in the strongest terms the cold and deliberate forms in which the white men carried the sentences of their laws into execution. Corporal punishment they considered as a refinement upon cruelty, and their universal argument was, "If a man steals, kill him, and he cannot steal again: and if he is to be killed, knock him on the head the moment he commits the crime; but do not keep him a week to brood over the fate that awaits him."

Note 18. Page 269.

In the shape of a lizard.

This curious hypothesis was accidentally discovered by one of the gentlemen, who, having found a lizard,

carried it to a native woman to ask her the name of it. She shrunk from him in a state of terror that exceeded description, and conjured him not to approach her, as it was in the shape of the animal he held in his hand that the Atua was wont to take possession of the dying, and to devour their bowels.

Note 19. Page 273.

Sensual animal gratification.

The Coromandel store-ship remained longer at New Zealand than we did; and, on her return home, she put into Mercury Bay, on the 2d of August, 1821. While she was at anchor, the natives murdered one of their prisoners, and devoured part of the body. The remainder they brought alongside, and distributed in small pieces to such persons in the ship as chose to receive them; while they, in their canoes, ate the rest. There are many soldiers, now in the 84th regiment, who were present at this horrid spectacle. They describe the flesh as being red, and not sufficiently cooked; and their attention was particularly drawn to the greedy manner in which an islander appeared to suck the marrow from the thigh-bone of the unfortunate man who had been sacrificed, to gratify the detestable appetites of this most savage people.

Note 20. Page 278.

Are marked as sacred by the natives.

Those sacred places where people die, and those where their remains are deposited, are marked in the same way. A post painted red is driven into the ground, and a human face is rudely carved upon it.

Note 21. Page 296.

State of the weather.

Month. | Day. | Therm. |
Feb. | 27 | 69[degrees]; |
March | 1 | 69 |
| 2 | 69 |
| 3 | 68 | Fine.
| 4 | 68 | Do.
| 5 | 68 | Do.
|  | 6 | 71 | Do.
| 7 | 70 | Gales at E. N. E., with rain.
| 8 | 69 | Do.
| 9 |  | Stormy.
| 10 |  | Raining and blowing.
|  | 74 | Dark and rainy.
| 12 | 74 | Fine.
| 13 | 74 | Do.
| 14 | 67 | Dark weather.
| 15 | 68 | Gales at S. E., with rain.
| 16 | 70 | Do.
| 17 | 69 | Fine.
| 18 | 71 | Do.

| Month. | Day. | Therm. |  |
| March | 19 | 71[degrees]; | Fine. |
|  | 20 | 68 | Do. |
|  | 21 | 71 | Do. |
|  | 22 | 67 | Do. |
|  | 23 | 65 | Do. |
|  | 24 | 68 | Do. |
|  | 25 | 67 | Do. |
|  | 26 | 70 | Do. |
|  | 27 | 75 | Moderate. |
|  | 28 | 67 | Showery. |
|  | 29 | 66 | Fine. |
|  | 30 | 69 | Do. E. N. E. |
|  | 31 | 69 | Do. |
| April | 1 | 69 | Do. |
|  | 2 | 68 | Do. |
|  | 3 | 69 | Do. |
|  | 4 | 78 | Hazy. E. |
|  | 5 | 69 | Stormy at S. W. |
|  | 6 | 69 | Showery. |
|  | 7 | 69 | Fine. |
|  | 8 | 62 | Do. |
|  | 9 | 62 | Do. |
|  | 10 | 62 | Do. |
|  | 11 | 65 | Do. |
|  | 12 | 63 | Do. |
|  | 13 | 61 | Showery. |
|  | 14 | 60 | Fine. |
|  | 15 | 60 | Do. |
|  | 16 | 62 | Do. |
|  | 17 | 57 | Do. |
|  | 18 | 58 | Do. |
|  | 19 | 69 | Do. |
|  | 20 | 58 | Do. |
|  | 21 | 68 | Heavy rain. |
|  | 22 | 61 | Fine. |
|  | 23 | 66 | Showery. |
|  | 24 | 67 | Showery and squally.

Month. | Day. | Therm. |
April | 25 | 63[degrees]; | Showery and squally.
| 26 | 61 | Fine.
| 27 | 61 | Stormy and heavy squalls.
| 28 | 64 | Showery.
| 29 | 61 | Do.
| 30 | 60 | Do.
May | 1 | 60 | Do.
| 2 | 60 | Do.
| 3 | 62 | Do.
| 4 | 60 | Do.
| 5 | 65 | Rainy.
| 6 | 60 | Fine.
| 7 | 60 | Do.
| 8 | 52 | Do.
| 9 | 52 | Do.
| 10 | 58 | Do.
| 11 | 58 | Do.
| 12 | 54 | Do.
| 13 | 65 | Do.
| 14 | 69 | Do.
| 15 | 61 | Do.
| 16 | 58 | Hazy and showery.
| 17 | 62 | Fine.
| 18 | 64 | Hazy and squally.
| 19 | 62 | Fine.
| 20 | 65 | Hazy and rainy.
| 21 | 60 | Fine.
| 22 | 54 | Do.
| 23 | 54 | Showery.
| 24 | 55 | Fine.
| 25 | 50 | Do.
| 26 | 68 | Do.
| 27 | 54 | Do.
| 28 | 55 | Do.
| 29 | 54 | Do.
| 30 | 56 | Do.

Month. | Day. 1 | Therm.
May | 31 | 56[degrees]; | Fine.
June | 1 | 65 | Rainy, and blowing at N. E.
| 2 | 64 | Hazy.
| 3 | 64 | Foggy, and heavy rain.
| 4 | 64 | Hazy.
| 5 | 60 | Fine.
| 6 | 56 | Do.
| 7 | 55 | Do.
| 8 | 60 | Do.
| 9 | 65 | Showery.
| 10 | 52 | Fine.
| 11 | 52 | Do.
| 12 | 50 | Showery, and heavy squalls.
| 13 | 58 | Do.
| 14 | 58 | Fine.
| 15 | 55 | Squally, with rain.
| 16 | 63 | Fine.
| 17 | 53 | Showery, and squally.
| 18 | 51 | Heavy squalls, and rain.
| 19 | 50 | Fine.
| 20 | 54 | Do.
| 21 | 53 | Do.
| 22 | 54 | Hazy.
| 23 | 52 | Fine.
| 24 | 52 | Hazy.
| 25 |  | Heavy rain.
| 26 |  | Hazy.
| 27 | 58 | Heavy rain.
| 28 | 60 | Fine.
| 29 | 60 | Foggy, with rain.
| 30 | 60 | Do.
July | 1 | 50 | Fine.
| 2 | 42 | Do.
| 3 | 40 | Do.
| 4 | 40 | Do.
| 5 | 59 | Do.

Month. | Day. | Therm. |
July | 6 | 50[degrees]; | Squally.
| 7 | 50 | Do.
| 8 | 58 | Heavy rain.
| 9 | 51 | Do.
| 10 | 60 | Do.
| 11 | 58 | Showery.
| 12 | 62 | Fine.
| 13 | 60 | Do.
| 14 | 58 | Showery.
| 15 | 50 | Heavy squalls.
| 16 | 58 | Showery.
| 17 | 50 | Fine.
| 18 | 50 | Showery.
| 19 | 52 | Do.
| 20 | 50 | Do.
| 21 | 58 | Fine.
| 22 | 48 | Do.
| 23 | 50 | Do.
| 24 | 50 | Showery and squally.
| 25 | 58 | Heavy squalls at N. E.
| 26 | 56 | Fine.
| 27 | 48 | Squally at N. E.
| 28 | 58 | Do.
| 29 |  | Do.
| 30 | 60 | Showery. N. W.
| 31 |  | Do.
Aug. | 1 | 60 | Fine.
D | 2 | 56 | Do.
| 3 | 60 | Heavy squalls. N. W.
| 4 | 58 | Rainy.
| 5 | 60 | Showery.
| 6 | 60 | Squally at S. W.
| 7 | 58 | Do.
| 8 | 54 | Do.
| 9 | 48 | Fine.
| 10 | 56 | Do.

Month. | Day. | Therm. |
Aug. | 11 | 56[degrees]; | Fine.
| 12 | 58 | Do.
| 13 | 58 | Showery. S. W.
| 14 | 58 | Fine.
| 15 | 58 | Strong gales. N. E.
| 16 | 58 | Do.
| 17 | 58 | Do. S. S. E.
| 18 |  | Moderate. W.
| 19 |  | Fine.
| 20 |  | Do.
| 21 |  | Do.
| 22 |  | Do.
| 23 |  | Do.
| 24 |  | Do.
| 25 |  | Do.
| 26 |  | Rainy, fresh breezes. N. E.
| 27 |  | Fine.
| 28 |  | Squally, with rain.
| 29 |  | Rainy. W. S. W.
| 30 |  | Strong gales.
| 31 |  | Fine. N. N. W.
Sept | 1 |  | Heavy squalls.
| 2 |  | Showery.
| 3 |  | Fine. S. S. E.
| 4 |  | Do.
| 5 |  | Do.
| 6 |  | Do.
| 7 |  | Showery. N. W.
| 8 |  | Cloudy. N. E. by E.
| 9 |  | Strong gales at N. E.
| 10 |  | Fine. S.
| 11 |  | Do.
| 12 | 59 | Do.
| 13 | 60 | Do.
| 14 | 58 | Squally.
| 15 | 58 | Strong gales.

| Month. | Day. | Therm. |
| Sept. | 16 | 64[degrees]; | Fine.
|  | 17 | 64 | Do.
|  | 18 | 60 | Do.
|  | 19 | 60 | Do.
|  | 20 | 62 | Hazy.
|  | 21 | 60 | Fine.
|  | 22 | 60 | Do.
|  | 23 | 60 | Do.
|  | 24 | 62 | Cloudy.
|  | 25 | 56 | Fine.
|  | 26 | 60 | Showery and squally.
|  | 27 | 58 | Fine, strong breezes at S.
|  | 28 | 58 | Do.
|  | 29 | 54 | Showery.
|  | 30 | 54 | Fine.
| Oct. | 1 | 56 | Do.
|  | 2 | 62 | Strong gales. N. W.
|  | 3 | 56 | Cloudy.
|  | 4 | 51 | Do.
|  | 5 | 54 | Squally.
|  | 6 | 59 | Fine.
|  | 7 | 60 | Do.
|  | 8 | 62 | Rainy.
|  | 9 | 64 | Fine.
|  | 10 | 62 | Showery.
|  | 11 | 64 | Fine.
|  | 12 | 60 | Rainy.
|  | 13 | 63 | Fine.
|  | 14 | 62 | Do.
|  | 15 | 62 | Do.
|  | 16 | 56 | Do.
|  | 17 | 64 | Do.
|  | 18 | 62 | Do.
|  | 19 | 58 | Do. S. W.
|  | 20 | 60 | Do.
|  | 21 | 56 | Hazy.

Month. | Day. | Therm. |  |
Oct. | 22 | 66[degrees]; | Fine. |
| 23 | 64 | Do. |
| 24. | 68 | Do. |
| 25 26 | 66 62 | Do. Squally from S. W. |
| 27 | 56 | Fine. |
| 28 | 56 | Strong breezes. S. |
| 29 | 56 | Cloudy. |
| 30 | 62 | Fine. |
| 31 | 64 | Do. |
Nov. | 1 | 58 | Hazy. |
| 2 | 60 | Fine. |
| 8 4 | 64 63 | Cloudy. Hazy, with rain. |
| 5 | 64 | Showery. |
| 6 | 60 | Fine. |
| 7 | 60 | Do. |
| 8 | 60 | Squally. |
| 9 | 60 | Fine. |
| 10 | 60 | Fine, strong breezes at N. E. |
| 11 | 62 | Do. |
| 12 | 62 | Do. |
| 13 | 62 | Do. |
| 14 | 60 | Do. |
| 15 16 | 62 64 | Rainy. Heavy squalls. N. E. |
| 17 | 64 | Do. |
| 18 | 66 | Showery. N. W. |
| 19 | 66 | Do. |
| 20 | 64 | Foggy. |
| 21 |  | Do. |
| 22 | 62 | Rainy. |
| 23 | 69 | Do. |
| 24 | 11 | Showery. |
| 25 | 60 | Fine. |
| 26 | 62 | Do.

Month. | Day. | Therm. |
Nov. | 27 | 69[degrees]; | Fine.
| 28 | 66 | Do.
|  | 29 | 60 | Do.
|  | 30 | 68 | Hazy.
| Dec. | 1 | 64 | Rainy. N. E.
|  | 2 | 66 | Strong gales. S. W.
|  | 3 | 62 | Heavy squalls.
|  | 4 | 62 | Strong gales from W.
|  | 5 | 66 | Fine.

THE END.

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