Rovings in the Pacific, from 1837 to 1849 [New Zealand sections]

Edward Lucett

First published by Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans in 1851

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

Epub © 2013 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927279-87-8

[TITLE PAGES]

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

THE HARBOUR OF PAPEETI.
TAKEN FROM THE HILL AT THE BACK OF THE TOWN.
DRAWN BY W. WILES ESQR.
M & N. HANHART LITH.

ROVINGS
IN
THE PACIFIC,
FROM 1837 TO 1849;

WITH
A GLANCE AT CALIFORNIA.

BY A MERCHANT
LONG RESIDENT AT TAHITI.

WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS PRINTED IN COLOURS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1851.

London:

SPOTTISWOODES and SHAW.

New-street-Square.

[DEDICATION]

TO

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON, BART.

WHOSE VARIED WORKS

HAVE YIELDED LARGE STORES OF INTELLECTUAL ENJOYMENT

TO A ROVER IN HIS WANDERINGS

O'ER THE DEEP;

The following Notes

ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

AS A SMALL

BUT SINCERE TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE AND ADMIRATION,

BY

THE AUTHOR.

[Page iv is blank]

[PREFACE]

PREFACE.

The notes in the following pages have been copied, during the monotony of a protracted voyage, from the original entries, extending, as will be seen, over a series of years. The author has often been without sailing directions, and for the most part without charts, other than general ones of the Pacific; and as the results of his experience might save delay and doubt, to others similarly circumstanced, he has been recommended to submit them to the public. Wherever he could obtain the native names of Islands he has done so; they are spelt after the orthography of dialects in Polynesia; the vowels being accentuated as in France and other Continental nations. The notes have undergone little alteration, addition, or subtraction, and but few remarks have been interpolated. They are entirely without claim to literary merit; but for the sake of easy reference, they have been divided into chapters, and furnished with such mottoes, more or less applicable to the subject in hand, as the author's memory could supply. The interest which has more recently

been felt in England for all that relates to the islands of the Pacific, leads him to cherish the belief that the general information which he has scattered throughout his pages, will be deemed no unfit accompaniment to the story of his personal adventures. The author's days, it will be seen, have been passed, not in the idealities of life, but in its downright rough realities; and he is not without hope that this simple record of his experience may stimulate many a youth, whose energies are lying dormant for want of a field for their exertion in this densely peopled country, to seek, in the Isles of the Pacific, the home and the adventurous career which he is sure to find there, "if he faint not." Should this be the case, the principal end which the author had in view, by publishing these notes, will be fully attained.

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS

THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

Determine on leaving England. – Visit the School-house of my Boyhood. – Appointed to a Vessel bound to New South Wales. – Farewell of Home. – Join the Vessel at Deptford. – Description of my Berth. – Chance of being starved. – Ship unmoored for Spithead. – Prison-ship described. – Captain, &c. comes on Board, and shortly after Three hundred and ten Prisoners............1

CHAP. II.

Get under Weigh. – Put into the Boatswain's Mess. – The Messplace and its Members. – Blue Water and a Watch. – Symptoms of Opposition to Imposition. – A boxing Bout. – Prisoners un-manacled. – Night Phenomena. – Steward's Bewilderment: Ghost Stories do not relieve it. – A Second Tom Tucker. – The Captain imparts a Knowledge of the "Royal Brace." – Chinese Drawings lead to a Threat of exhibiting the Pictures – Capo de Verde and Tristan de Cunha. – Gale to the southward of the Cape of Good Hope. – A Discovery: the Cook's Galley a better Night Station than the Quarter Deck. – A Growl with Chips. – How to hail the Watch. – Pass through Bass's Straits. – First Glimpse at Savage Life.....................15

CHAP. III.

Sydney Harbour. – Involuntary Acquaintance with the Water, before making that of the Land. – Not quite friendless. – The Town of Sydney. – Botany Bay. – "Brickfielders." – Birds and Beasts. – Hunters' River. – Newcastle. – The Country. – River Paterson. – Deadly Instances of the Venom of Snakes. – A Ride after wild Cattle. – The Country talked of. – Corn Stalks. – Illawara. – Notices of the Aborigines................41

CHAP. IV.

Off to New Zealand. – A Gale. – Bream Bay. – Bay of Islands – Kororarika. – Paihia. – River Waitangi. – River Kawakawa – White's Island. – Roadstead of Warakaihika. – Roadstead of Rungatukaia. – Abandoned by the Schooner. – Overland Trip to Warakaihika. – Selfish Conduct of a Chief – A Musical Cargo. – Return to the Bay of Islands. – Sojourn on one of the Islands................63

CHAP. V.

Take Passage in a small Schooner bound to the Thames District. – Captain and Crew. – Coromandel Harbour. – Cross the Frith in an open Boat for Wakatinai. – Arrival at the Maramarua. – Conduct of Chief. – The Maramarua – – Waikato River. – An Excursion in the Company of Natives. – A Night Bivouac broken up by Rain. – A Chief taboos himself against himself. – Veneration of the Head by New Zealanders. – Their Disregard of the Value of Time. – Sleeping in Maori Huts. – The Waipa. – Anecdote of a young Giant. – Left in the Lurch. – Relieved by a chance Traveller. – Natives attempt at Extortion – Scene with a Fury. – Journey Back. – Burning Coal – The Animal and Vegetable Kingdom glanced at. – The Return to Coromandel Harbour. – A "Plant" discovered, not a botanical one. – Removal of a Taboo. – Tale of a Pipe. – Natives jolly. – He that can help himself will find plenty to assist him. – New Zealand Tactics. – English Impudence. – Hot Springs at Wakatinai. – Excursion up the River Thames. – Construct a Steamer. – A Fracas from sleeping unconsciously on tabooed Ground. – Two Chiefs blown up with Gunpowder. – Mischievous Influence of Atua Chiefs. – Scene round a

sick Couch. – A Halt at the Mouth of the River. – A Religious Thief. – Anecdote of a Suicide. – Estimate of New Zealanders' Character. – "Wasteful Billy." – A sick Headache. – Put up for the Night at a Sawyer's Station. – The River Thames..............84

CHAP. VI.

Harbour of Waikato. – Directions for taking the Bar. – Canoe Excursion. – Excitement of the Natives. – Anecdotes. – Proceedings regarding Adultery. – A Mission for Port Nicholson. – Get under weigh. – A Night Descent into the Forecastle. – A Meeting with the Chief. – Seizure of the Vessel averted. – Leave the Harbour. – Mount Egmont. – Cook's Straits. – North Part of the Middle Island. – Port Nicholson. – The River "Hut." – Erroneous Representations and Dealings of Land-sharks. – Waitimatta or Auckland. – A Stroll to Manukao. – Lady Franklin. – Return to Sydney. – Remarks on New Zealand..............124

CHAP. VII.

Bound on a wrecking Expedition, &c. – A Squall. – Howe's Island and Ball's Pyramid. – Norfolk Island. – Nepean Island – Philip Island. – Sight the "Rapid" Reef, but a Gale coming on, stand for Rotumah. – Roadstead of Rotumah, the Island described. – A Crater converted into a Sepulchre. – The Cocoa-nut Tree. – Natives. – Their Government. – The Division of the Island. – The winning and the losing Side. – The Power of the Chiefs, and whence derived. – A singular Custom with their Virgins. – A Marriage Festival and attendant Ceremonies. – Punishment for Adultery, &c.. – Atua Chiefs, and their Mode of proceeding to recover the Sick. – Interment of an Infant. – Painful Infliction on the bereaved Mother. – Women always the Sacrifice. – Kava, its Preparation. – Sensations of those about to drink, and its subsequent Effects. – Mode of propitiating an offended Chief. – Play Houses. – Burial Grounds – Sports at Night. – Vanity piqued. – Disease of the Country. – A Method of taking Fish. – Islands off Rotumah..............149

CHAP. VIII.

Sail for the Reef. – Difficulty in finding it. – The wrecked Hull heaves in sight. – The Reef. – Land in a Boat, and whilst overhauling one Wreck, see our own Vessel fast. – Sleep on the Sandspit. – Apprehensions, and a narrow Escape. – Load three Boats, and pass another Night on the Spit. – Load two Boats, and go on Board for a Spell. – The Dollars discovered. – Return to Rotumah. – The Tamaun Tree. – Native Canoes. – Process of Tattooing. – Circumcision – Traditionary Origin of Rotumah. – Superstitious Observances on the Culture and Manufacture of the Turmeric Root – An unprecedented Privilege. – Bearings of the Island off Rotumah from the Anchorage. – Particular Description of Auth Luna or Split Island – Its difficult Landing. – A perilous Pass. – Bold Action of a Native. – Wea Islanders, excellent Cragsmen – A novel Egg Basket. – Bird Catching. – Kindness of the Wea Islanders. – Landing of the Party from Rotumah. – A Natural Cave. – A Native Banquet. – Departure from Auth Luna. – Attan Islet. – Regain the Schooner. – Their Navigator deserts them. – A Row – Departure from Rotumah..................170

CHAP. IX.

Mywolla. – Make the Reef again. – The Captain takes all the Seamen to the Wreck and it falls calm. – The Vessel drifts out of Sight of the Reef. – Westerly Current in part accounted for. – Abandonment of the Wreck. – Make for the Bay of Islands. – Alteration of Plans. – The Vessel grounds on a Shoal off the North Shore opposite Auckland. – Auckland improved, but Cash scarce. – "Little Tom" quits the Vessel – New Master engaged. – Under weigh for Tahiti. – Sight Huaheine and Raiatea. – Pass between Moorea and Tahiti. – The entrance to it – Tahiti described. – Its People. – Missionary Influence. – Queen Pomare the Head of the Island. – The Government shared by seven Chiefs – Laws in force at Night. – Ancient Rites superseded by more enlightened Instructions. – Avata Shark. – Horrible Sacrifice of an Infant by its Father. – The Symbol conveyed to an intended Human Sacrifice. – Form of the unhollowed Oblation. – Want of Jealousy towards White Men accounted for. – Conversation with Flowers. – Process of manufacturing Tappa. – Native Colours, – A curious Method of producing a Red Dye. – Canoes – Novel mode of Fishing. – Native Houses. – Method of Cooking. – Diseases of the Country.................203

CHAP. X.

A Pearling Expedition. – The Island of Maitea. – Chain Island. – Engage Divers. – Neingo Neingo. – Bow Island. – Amanu. – Entrance to Bow Island. – The Fara Tree. – A Moral. – Custom of making Offerings to the Spirit and the Manes of the Departed. – The manner of Diving. – Finish Diving. – The Bow Islanders. – Visits Agatan, a Savage Island. – Words not Deeds. – Timidity of the Divers. – Singular Ceremonies. – Valorous Deportment of the Interpreter. – Takume or Walchonsky Island – Risks which the Writer had unconsciously encountered. – Raroia. – Tainga. – Makimo. – Katin. – Migratory Disposition of the Natives. – Faiti and Tania. – Red Pearls. – Advantages which the Cocoa-nut Tree confers upon the Chain Islanders. – Their invading Disposition. – War with Agatan Averted. – Character of the Natives. – Get under weigh for Manilla – Spring a Leak and put back. – Alter the Voyage, and clear out for Valparaiso. – Sight the Andes. – Narrowly escape being wrecked. – The Port of Valparaiso. – The Town or Almadral – Sunday Practices. – Saints' Days. – Road to Santiago, the Capital. – Agricultural Instruments. – Muleteers. – Country Waggoners. – Costume of the Ox-goaders. – A mounted Wassan. – Mode of Life common to the Muleteers and Carriage Drivers. – Santiago. – Anniversary Rejoicings. – Anecdote of an English Equestrian. – Equestrian Skill of the Chilenos – The Maypo. – Its Bridge. – Traditionary Saying of the Indians. – The Almeida. – Signoritas. – Ball-rooms. – Gota. – -The Theatre. – Quiltota. – Exports of Chili. – Foreign Commerce. – Extraordinary Requirement to render written Documents valid. – A Case in point. – Periodical Visits of Small-pox. – Shocks of Earthquakes common. – Aboriginal Race apparently extinct in the Neighbourhood..............236

CHAP. XI.

The Classes that should quit England. – Under weigh for Tahiti. – Gambler's Islands. – French Priests and their Influence. – Timoe or Crescent Island. – Osnaburg Island, or Matilda Rocks. – Sight Ana – Drop Anchor in Taonoa Passage, Tahiti. – French Protection forced on Tahiti by Admiral du Petit Thouars – Taken to the Calliboose by Natives – Dish of Sauce from a Mutineer. – Condolence from a Descendant of the House of Israel. – Liberation from Confinement. – The Captors tried and fined. – The

Author of "Typee" and "Omoo." – His Memory assisted. – Commodore Wilkes – Bound for Raiatea. – Industry of the Natives. – Tapoa, the King of Borabora. – Tahaa and its Reefs, &c. – Bound on another Pearling Voyage. – The Island of Ohiteroa or Rurutu. – Tedious Passage to Rapa. – Engage Divers with Difficulty. – Tioo. – The Queen of Rapa. – Her Character for Gallantry. – Religion of the People. – A narrow Escape. – Bass's Rocks. – Adverse Winds – Gambier's Islands again. – Conduct of French Priests. – Behaviour of Mareva Natives. – Leave Gambier's Islands – A Comet. – Sight Lord Hood's Island. – Les four Facardines – Thrum Cap Island. – At Anchor in the Lagoon of Bow Island – – Engage Bow Islanders. – Sudden Sickness and Death of a Native. – Visible Tokens from the Tupapan. – An Arrival from Amann. – Perfidy of a Sandwich Islander. – Fishing Excursions. – Cease Diving for want of Food. – A Fugitive from the Island of Faeatae. – Return of the Schooner. – Captain's Report. – The Jules de Blosville, a French Brig. – Conduct of her Captain. – Give up Diving. – Remarks on Pearls – The "Doctor's" Saucepan. – A Calm. – Aviri, or Prince William Henry Island. – A Gale. – Sight Rapa. – Go ashore in a Boat. – Mortality amongst the Natives. – Superstitiously accounted for. – Parting Benediction from Rapa. – Gale renewed. – Speak the French Barque Jules Cesar – The Gale continues. – Again fall in with the Jules Cesar. – Isle Masafuera. – Juan Fernandez. – Reach Valparaiso. – Arrival of a Schooner. – Bad Passage made by every Vessel coming from the Westward. – Loss of the Vessel into which Cargo had been transhipped at Tahiti for Sydney.

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

THE VALLEY OF OPONOHU.
DRAWN BY E. L.
M & N HANHART LITH.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAP. IV.

Off to New Zealand. – A Gale. – Bream Bay. – Bay of Islands. – Kororarika. – Paihia. – River Waitangi. – River Kawakawa. – White's Island. – Roadstead of Warakaihika. – Roadstead of Rungatukaia. – Abandoned by the Schooner. Overland Trip to Warakaihika. – Selfish Conduct of a Chief. – A Musical Cargo. – Return to the Bay of Islands. – Sojourn on one of the Islands. –

"The wind was fair, the sea was blue.
The sky without a speck.
As the good ship o'er the waters flew,
With King John upon its deck."

MY worldly wealth not having much increased after a sojourn of upwards of two years and a half in New South Wales, I determined on proceeding to New Zealand, to try the unexplored resources of a new country, and on

February 14th, 1840. – I shipped goods and took passage in a small schooner bound to the Bay of Islands.

February 27th. – Sighted a cluster of islets to the north-west of the North Cape, called the "Three Kings;" a few natives reside upon these hummocks, as we could discern the smoke of their fires in passing.

February 29th. – A violent gale commenced from the northward, which increased to such a height, that we were compelled to lay to under a balanced-reef-

mainsail. It seems as if we had sailed into the very centre of its encircling fury, and had no power subsequently to escape from it: being deeply laden we were completely drenched with the sea breaking over us, and hail and salt drift drove in our faces with such resistless force, that there was no turning your head to windward. The vessel laboured violently as if she had been subject to the influence of a succession of whirlpools: suddenly the mainsail being blown from the bolt ropes she was cast on her beam ends, and buried with her lee coamings in the water. I thought she was gone: the mate called to the captain to cut before it was too late; but he very coolly replied, "If she wasn't fit to carry her masts she wasn't fit to float." The hatches and scuttles were well secured by battens, and fortunately nothing started: the vessel, though small, had great beam, and was very stiff, and she gradually righted, the worst of the gale having spent itself; and though it continued all that night and through the greater part of next day its violence had abated. I narrowly escaped being washed overboard in the height of the gale; for desirous of witnessing the battling of the elements I stripped to my trowsers, and went on deck. The captain advised my lying down in the lee scuppers to avoid taking cold, and I had just taken a bath when the schooner was thrown on her beam ends. I clung to a spar that was made fast to the bulwarks, but the rushing of the water had caused the lashings at one end to give way, and I was swept overboard, but as I did not abandon my hold I came in again with the recoil, when I lost no time in scrambling to the

BREAM BAY.

weather rail. The wind gradually veered round to the south-east, but before it had reached this point we had drifted to the southward of the Bay of Islands, and as we had had no sights we mistook the Poor Knights, small rocky islets off the main, for the Caralle Islands, and took a cruize in Bream Bay, thinking we had reached our port, the Hen and Chickens and Barrier Islands being mistaken for the islands which gave rise to the name of the bay we were bound for. We had been three days without observations, and no one on board had visited New Zealand before, which is some excuse for our error. Discovering no signs of man or his habitations, we began to fancy all was not right; the miserable outline chart that we had gave us no assistance; but what helped us to our conclusion was the hundreds of red bream we met floating on the water, supposed to have been killed during the gale which had just subsided. We therefore tacked, and next day at noon we were still to the southward of our port. Its approach is very romantic, numerous small islands are grouped about with rocks of singular and grotesque forms, particularly one at the north head, called from its shape the Ninepin Rock, and another off Cape Brett, the south head, which has a natural arch completely through it. There is also another peculiar rock called the Whale rock, which is only observable at low water, and then betrays its dangerous proximity like the back of a whale. On reaching Kororarika, the commercial settlement which is about nine miles from the Heads, I felt myself a disappointed man. The land rises abruptly on every side

in steep irregular hills; there is no inland communication from the township, nor is there reasonable ground, from the features of the country, to hope there ever will be. A narrow sandy beach in the form of a crescent with a swamp at the back, a few hundred square yards of higher ground shut in by abrupt surrounding hills, is a faithful portraiture of Kororarika. The only level spot available has been seized upon for the township, which does not exceed in extent a good-sized kitchen-garden. There are thirty or forty wooden houses of European construction, which have arisen in the style termed higglety-pigglety, no attention having, been paid to any thing like order or regularity: a "pah" or native village occupies a prominent part of the beach, and "Maori" huts are interspersed amongst the houses of the English residents. I do not see how it is possible that commercial transactions to any extent can be conducted here. The place has no exports, and the whale ships are ceasing to make it a harbour for refreshing, &c., as they find the increase of white faces has raised the price of native labour and every commodity to such a degree that they are all seeking for other harbours, where they may, procure shelter during the season of retirement from the whaling grounds, and obtain refreshments at their former easy rate. Such a rush has been made to New Zealand that the place is crowded with Europeans; and when I first landed, I heard some of the idlers about the beach saying one to the other, "here come more victims." Every house has got more than threefold its complement of inhabitants: tents pitched here and

RIVER WAITANGI.

there supply with some the deficiency of house room. The market is glutted with goods. Auction bells are going all day long, and, notwithstanding the government proclamations, land is daily being bought and sold; a monomaniacal plague or land fever is abroad, and the whole atmosphere is infected with it. I have mentioned the precipitous character of the land generally at the Bay of Islands, and in some places where a level spot has tempted an individual to fix his residence, the only communication to or from it is by water. Opposite Kororarika is Pihea, the missionary settlement. It is not very large, nor, owing to the nature of the land, will it admit of much greater extension, that is, in the direction of the bay, for the missionaries lay claim to extensive tracts of country as "Church property;" their site possesses more level soil than that about the commercial township, and it also communicates with the interior; but a great drawback exists in the heavy surf that plays upon the beach, which renders it impracticable to construct wharfs or jetties. Kororarika is open to the same objection. The only way they have of landing goods is by rolling them on planks from boats, whereby much damage is at times occasioned.

February 29th. – The river Waitangi on the missionary side of the bay takes a very sinuous course; at high water vessels of from forty to sixty tons burthen might enter its channel, but at low ebb there is not sufficient water for the entrance of a boat. The banks in many places are under agricultural improvement, and I noticed corn, potatoes,

pumpkins, and other vegetables in thriving condition. The soil is rich alluvial and yields abundantly; a picturesque waterfall bounded my excursion up this river, and it is from this fall its name is derived, "Waitangi," or the "crying waters."

The river Kawakawa, in another direction, is navigable for vessels of burthen eight or nine miles up: in fact it is a continuation thus far of the harbour of the Bay of Islands, but the land on either side is of the acclivitous nature before alluded to; and from the various detached spots where parties have fixed their isolated abodes, the only means of intercourse with other places is by boats. Vessels may anchor within a few hundred yards of the beach at Kororarika, and the harbour is esteemed perfectly safe; but when it blows hard from the N. E. there is a heavy ground swell: no trade is to be conducted with the natives. Flax does not grow in the neighbourhood, timber is scarcer than in Sydney, and what few pigs and potatoes are brought by the natives for barter are required for home consumption, and they have now learnt to demand for their produce more than its full value. Few as the Europeans comparatively are they are nevertheless divided. The missionary residents at Pihea will have no transactions with the settlers at Kororarika, and the "old hands" at the last-mentioned place combine to prevent new arrivals from selling their goods advantageously. The numbers that from false and high-coloured representations have flocked to the bay lately have caused store-room to be very scarce, and the terms most exorbitant, and the deluded beings, compelled to part

WHITE'S ISLAND.

with their goods, have in many instances been obliged to dispose of them at less than cost price; hence every new comer is hailed with the soubriquet of victim.

Finding no possibility of disposing of my cargo without being subject to great loss, I stored it and gave instruction for its sale at favourable opportunities. The schooner being chartered for the East Cape and elsewhere, for the purpose of trading with the natives, I agreed with the master to go with him as a passenger, and on March 28th we weighed and stood out to sea. The coast as we passed along had the same broken, bluff, repulsive, sterile look. Our old friends, the Poor Knights, Bream Head, and Barrier Isles again greeted our view, and on April 1st we sighted Vhite's Island, a small sulphuric volcanic isle. It was emitting volumes of smoke, and its spectral white sides caused it to resemble the ghost of an island "blowing a cloud." I was informed that it yielded good sulphur of commerce, but there is no anchorage off it; landing could be effected by boats, but not at all times practicable. As night approached I expected to see flames issuing from the crater, but gradually the smoke became less dense, and as the sun went down nothing but a thin spiral wreath could be faintly disterned.

April 4th. – Came to anchor in a roadstead off Warakaihika, a Kainga or native settlement to the southward of Hicke's Bay. The natives came off to us, and I went ashore in a double-banked canoe, paddled by twenty of them; the canoe was dubbed out of a single tree and appeared so crank that I expected we should capsize, but there was no ground for fear. Keeping

time with their paddles to a peculiar cry of "Tohia," they propelled her along with great dexterity and speed, and without shipping a spoonful of water piloted her through the surf into a chasm in the rocks only sufficiently wide to receive her. On landing we were surrounded by natives, who came running from all directions to gaze at the Pakihas; we were overwhelmed with greetings, and nothing could be heard but "Te-na-ra-ka-kui." The men were fine athletic-built fellows, some clad in mats and others partly in European clothing; the women not very tempting in appearance, and very ungraceful in their motions, their gait resembling the awkward waddle of a duck. The old people were extremely ugly, so shrivelled and full of harsh wrinkles they looked like animated mummies; numerous children were running about, but they seemed very puny, and did not indicate future promise of the strength and stature of their progenitors. We found that most of the natives could read and write, and that all were impressed with notions of the Christian religion. One among them officiated as minister: prayer was offered three times a day, at break of day, at noon, and at sun-down, all which times of devotion were observed with the strictest attention. In every hut was to be found a testament, prayer book, or some other religious token of the exertions of the missionaries. Wars between them are in a great measure suspended, and the sabbath is observed with great sanctity: they pay great attention to the instruction of their teachers, who are natives first taught by Europeans; and no presents, however

ROADSTEAD OF WARAKAHAIKA.

eagerly coveted, would cause them to violate the Lord's day. The land here is of the same acclivitous character; it ranges far as the eye can see like a barrier wall, but it is cultivated by the natives in almost inaccessible spots. A narrow strip at the foot of the perpendicular cliffs, comprising about 800 acres of table land, is attached to this Kainga. It was under good cultivation, being intersected by channels for the purpose of irrigation and showing crops of potatoes, koomras, tara, maize, melons, pumpkins, cabbages, onions, and other vegetables. It is well and abundantly watered by springs from above, and at any moment by damming the channels they can cause it to be overflowed. There is good anchorage a mile and a half from the beach, and plenty of sea room to up and away if it should come to blow upon the land. The natives appear very partial to cultivating the face of the hills; they contend that the crops are better in such situations, probably owing to alluvial deposits washed by the heavy rains from, above. I have seen heavy crops of maize growing in such acclivitous positions, as quite fatigued me to reach them.

Whilst the person who chartered the vessel remained at Warakaihika to barter with the natives, he despatched the schooner to another settlement called Rangatukaia, about thirty miles to the southward of the East Cape, to take in corn, pigs, potatoes, &c., purchased by a trading master in his employ, an Englishman, long resident on the coast. This man went in the vessel, and I also again honoured her with my company. We steered between a small

islet and the East Cape: it was blowing fresh when we arrived off Rangatukaia, and a heavy swell was setting upon the land; the captain hesitated what to do, for, as off Warakaihika, there is good holding ground, but no shelter for shipping. Whilst casting his eyes around in doubt he observed breakers outside us. This determined him and he immediately tacked and stood to sea again; towards afternoon, the weather moderating we brought to in eight fathoms' water, about two miles distant from the pah. A large war canoe came off to us with thirty natives, and a white man in her, the latter a runaway seaman; they stated they had between two and three hundred bushels of maize ready, and as they intended starting for Poverty Bay in the morning, they would bring it off at daylight. They were as good as their word; and a wild scene it was – three large war canoes ornamented with feathers, and beautifully carved stem and stern pieces. One of the canoes being considerably longer than the schooner came alongside: they were filled with naked figures, who threw themselves on board hallooing, shouting, and whooping, like imps of darkness. Their canoes were emptied and the produce stowed in the hold in a few minutes; and when they came to receive payment for their labour such an outburst of double discord took place, that the confusion of Babel must have been melody to it. Some time elapsed before all were satisfied and had taken to their canoes; they then gave a flourish with their paddles and pulled away with vigorous stroke, keeping time with their blades to the inspiriting cry of one of their war songs. Whilst

WILD SCENERY.

the agent was engaged trying what more trade he could effect, the captain, a fellow-passenger, and myself strolled over the hills to survey the country. The skipper succumbed before he had proceeded three miles, and left us to gain the summit of a lofty hill, which promised a bird's-eye-view of the surrounding country. We had to surmount many an unexpected hill and hollow 'ere we reached our Mount Prospect. Every hill was under cultivation in greater or less degree, and most of the natives we fell in with were engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Maize seemed to be in abundance, but not, as yet, fully ripe. April is the best month for potatoes, and May for maize. On gaining the mountain top, the country to the southward, far as our gaze extended, was all hill and mountain, the deep narrow gorges between being densely wooded, not with available timber, but with an impervious interlacing scrub. Towards the north, at the back of the bold rising ground facing the sea, there appeared a level valley, apparently four miles long by two in breadth, through which we could discern the meandering course of two silvery streams converging towards a gorge leading to the sea. Lofty ranges of hill and mountain encircle this vale on all sides, and beyond which the eye could not penetrate. Having finished our survey, we were for making the best of our way back again; but our little Maori guide would conduct us by a fresh route, that he might introduce us to as many of his countrymen as he could. He led us through all the cultivated spots on our way, where we had to interchange the friendly shake of the hand and the

salutation "Te-na-ra-ka-koi." We were considerably surprised at the loads we saw females carrying: we met on the summit of the highest hill an aged female just ascended from the opposite side, with two baskets of potatoes on her back, which could not have weighed less than eighty pounds: she did not seem at all incommoded with her burthen, and commenced the descent with less appearance of fatigue than probably I exhibited, who was entirely unencumbered. On nearing the beach, to our great surprise we saw the vessel getting under weigh, and when we reached the pah, lo! she was standing seaward with a spread of canvass. This was mortifying; but no help for it. The white blackguard at the pah told us we had better start overland for Warakaihika, and that the road was so direct we could not miss it: however, as neither relished this advice, we bargained for a guide. After some hesitation, one at length offered: "Come on," said he, with a resolute shake of the head, tightening his blanket around him; "come on:" and forthwith he led the way. He was a powerfully-built fellow, and active as a deer: he could make use of one or two English words, but did not understand any sentence, and our intercourse was managed by signs, with a word dropped now and then. For the first eight miles we journeyed along the sea-coast, and the guide, to shorten the distance, would catch me by the hand as the waves receded, and run me as hard as he could, by this means cutting off angles and securing firmer footing, as the sands just laved by the ocean were much harder than where exposed to the wind and sun; but it was fatiguing work, and when

OVERLAND TRIP TO WARAKAIHIKA.

we came to ascend the cliffs I was seized with cramp in the thighs, so painful that I was frequently obliged to halt. When, however, we had mastered the ascent, I forgot my pains, on finding we wore about to enter the valley we had seen from Mount Prospect. Descending, we traversed it in a winding direction; and my companion, who was something of an agriculturist, declared he had never seen richer soil. We waded the streams we had noticed, the deepest parts at the fords not reaching above our waists: the water was intensely cold, and we hastened to resume our clothes after we had crossed the first river, but our guide signed to us not to do so, indicating, by holding up four of his fingers, that we should have to enter it four times more. We were joined by several other natives as we proceeded, apparently delighted at the chance of accompanying us. The land was cultivated through the whole extent of the vale, and we noticed many separate "" Our guide asked us if we would " kai-kai te dinner," meaning would we eat some dinner: signifying our assent, he led us directly to the chief pah. Old and young came flocking round us; and whilst we were going through the salutation ceremony, Toma disappeared. In a few minutes, however, he returned, bringing with him a basket of cold potatoes: we intimated a desire for hot ones, and he made us understand that he had only brought these for the present, but that the afternoon meal was cooking, and would soon be ready.

The chief named Ne-pere was a young man, tall and very robust: he wrote down his name, and brought from his hut several books; they were all much

amused at our readiness in reading them, though not able to understand a word, and when we used a wrong pronunciation, one and all would call out to correct us. Whilst thus engaged, the cramp returned upon me; my toes became distorted, and painful swellings arose in the muscles of my thighs and legs. On observing this, Ne-pere pressed our staying with him that night, promising, if we did, to accompany us in the morning to Warakaihika. We were half disposed to stop, but fearing to miss the vessel we resisted his hospitable entreaties. Ne-pere shook his head, and made signs that we should never be able to reach Warakaihika that night; he laid his head upon the ground, and closing his eyes, intimated that we should go to sleep before we could get there. He took us into his hut and showed us mats, blankets, and coats to keep us warm, and signified that if we would but wait till morning we should be refreshed and well able to continue our journey. His signs were most expressive; but finding that all his kind entreaties were of no avail, he ceased to press us, saying in English, "Well, well." The potatoes and other vegetables being ready, a new basket was taken, and the choice of the lot being selected and laid before us, a clean mat was spread for us to sit on, and we were left to ourselves. The rest helped themselves indiscriminately from the oven, and kept at a respectful distance, except Ne-pere and Toma, who sat immediately behind us. We were a long distance from the sea or brackish water; but on contriving to make Ne-pere understand I would like some salt, one of his slaves brought me a paper of Epsom salts. The repast being done, we distributed

OVERLAND TRIP TO WARAKAIHIKA.

what tobacco we had, and returning thanks in the best way we could, bade farewell to the kind group, shaking hands with the whole of them. They seemed particularly pleased with this shaking of hands, as if they deemed it an honour. Our guide acted very cavalierly. Seeing we had finished eating, he looked at us and just made use of the word "Ready?" and interpreting aright our nod of acquiescence, away he started, without leave-taking or anything else, and when we overtook him ho was at a considerable distance from the kainga waiting for us. His nonchalance was very amusing. He entered two or three huts on the road, and, without addressing a syllable to the inmate, coolly helped himself and us to what we wanted, and departed in the same silent manner; nor did his countrymen manifest any surprise at this treatment. Having reached the extremity of the valley, by crossing the streams before they formed a confluence, we again emerged upon the beach, which we followed for a few miles till brought to a stand-still by the cliffs shooting precipitously from the sea. By some subterraneous convulsion, these cliffs had been rent asunder, and the yawning ravine or chasm rose wall sided for several hundred feet, at the bottom of which a dark rolling stream discharged its headlong current, and threatened to put a stop to our further progress. We were completely at fault, and could not see the possibility of continuing our journey. Toma stripped, and, taking me on his shoulders, waded up the stream for about fifty yards, landed me on a narrow shelf of rock, and then returned for my companion: thus he kept wading and landing us on either side the stream

as it winded through the dark chasm, till at last there appeared no prospect of a resting-place for the foot. "Come on," said he; and to our surprise commenced an almost perpendicular ascent. No track was visible, and we had to use hands and feet. Now commenced our troubles. Having surmounted the first painful ascent, we got into a narrow footpath which led us over what appeared to our tired legs an endless variety of steep ridges; sometimes we had to force our way through brushwood and fern that reached above our heads, and at others we were obliged to use the utmost precaution that our feet did not slip and precipitate us into the gullies below; and now our guide began to play us tricks, thinking he had us in his power. He first demanded one thing and then another; he even requested me to give my trousers off my body, saying that I had got another pair on, alluding to my drawers, and on our refusing to comply with his attempts at extortion, he made as if he would leave us: however, finding we were not intimidated, but continued our career without him, he again joined us, and, as if nothing had occurred to excite our distrust, he handed me his pipe, and, in a tone of the most friendly confidence, made use of the monosyllable "Smoke?" As evening approached, he became very urgent for us to quicken our speed, seemingly entertaining the greatest dread lest darkness should overtake us. We endeavoured to reassure him by evincing our indifference; but still, at every halt we made to relieve our fatigued legs, he did not fail to torment us with his "Haere! haere!" We had been travelling some hours, and were now

FATIGUING EXERTIONS.

about two-thirds of the way over this interminable pass, when I was so exhausted with fatigue and pain proceeding from cramp, that I made up my mind to throw myself amongst the fern, determined to rest there till morning. On reaching Toma, who was somewhat ahead of us, with the intention of declaring my resolve, he motioned us to take off our hats, and pointed to the sun, which was disappearing in a flood of crimson light below the distant sea-girt horizon: concealing his face in the folds of his blanket, and sinking on his knees, he poured out his evening orisons to the Almighty; he sang a hymn and offered several prayers. I was much affected as I looked at the wild tattooed savage; and that scriptural passage wherein it is said that the Word of God should be preached throughout all nations upon earth, to every people and in every tongue, rushed forcibly to my recollection. We did not scorn to follow the example set us by the converted heathen, and after we had concluded our petitions again resumed our journey; and we observed that, from this time, Toma was more considerately deferential and attempted no more impositions. Buried in thought, we continued walking for some time in silence. Darkness at length rendered our footing so precarious, that it required the whole of our attention and exertions to keep ourselves from falling. Our last descent was particularly fatiguing and hazardous; it was nearly perpendicular. The trees entwined their limbs above our heads, shutting out what little light we might have received from the heavens; and the blind track was formed by the twisted, interlacing roots of trees, that obtruded

through the earth. We were literally compelled to feel our way, and in many places had to hang on with our hands as we groped with our feet for the next rest. It seemed as if we were never to reach the bottom; and we were so thoroughly and completely knocked up, that our trembling limbs well nigh refused to support us. At last, like thirsty pilgrims at the sight of water, we were once more delighted at beholding the beach, and, what enhanced our satisfaction, a hut only a stone's throw from us. But on signifying our wish to pass the night there, Toma betrayed most unequivocal signs of alarm: he shook his head, and hurried quickly past it, muttering "Tapi tap," which we subsequently learnt meant sacred. From some cause or other the chief of the tribe had tabooed it, and until this rite had been removed, no native dared enter It; so we had to trudge another weary mile or two in no enviable plight.

I could scarcely drag one limb after the other, and continued loud in my lamentations, when Toma suddenly stopped and asked, "Kai-kai ti supper?" Heartily did we express our readiness to fall to, at which he began ascending a sand-hill, leaving us to follow. The moment I attempted to do so, cramp in the muscles seized me with tenfold violence, and I was obliged to crawl upon my hands and knees. This was a settler, and I vowed to go no further that night. It was dark as pitch, and Toma appeared very anxious to keep us close to his side; I ridiculed his fears, and, I suppose, fancying from that I would be a good protection against evil spirits, he caught my hand and motioned me to accompany him. But

A NIGHT'S REST.

the great reluctance I evinced to move caused him to transfer his attention to my companion, who was in rather better condition. Handing me his tinder-box and instructing me to get a fire in readiness, he took my companion to aid him in a search for an iron pot, secreted for the use of the initiated. Owing to the extreme darkness, and Toma's fear of moving from my companion's side, they returned unsuccessful, but not without forage, as Toma unrolled his blanket and produced several heads of green maize and a large pumpkin. I had consumed all the tinder in a vain endeavour to procure a light, and was busily clicking away with the flint and steel, when, luckily for my credit, Toma stumbled on the smouldering remains of a fire. With lungs inflated like a blacksmith's bellows, he quickly kindled a flame, and it was not long before our provender was roasting in the ashes. I did not make much of a meal, but as for our guide, he despatched enough to have satisfied a horse. His appetite appeased, he stretched his blanket in the sand before the fire, and inviting me to lie down on the edge of it, he rolled himself up in the remainder, sheltering my back from the wind, which, being only in my shirt and trousers, was very acceptable: I got little, if any, sleep, as Toma disturbed me by continually rubbing and scratching himself, and we were obliged to rise frequently to procure wood to feed the fire, for Toma would not budge a yard from the light, being as much inspired with superstitious dread of the darkness as were the Australian blacks.

At four o'clock A. M. we again started, our guide having been entreating us to move since half-past two; but this my companion would by no means stand. The remainder of our trip, being about twenty miles, was along the beach, being a succession of long sandy reaches, which occasioned us much disappointment, as we were in hopes that every point we rounded would be last. Soon as the flushed appearance of the eastern horizon announced the break of day, Toma quickened his speed and hurried on to a native hut. Not knowing his motive, we waited for him on the beach. Presently he reappeared and beckoned for us, and we found it was to join him and the family in morning prayers. The decent and respectful attitude with which they listened to the one who read, and the fervency with which they seemed to feel and utter the responses and join in the hymn of praise, would put to the blush many of our more civilised congregations. A few miles further on we breakfasted on potatoes at a pah, the chief of which accompanied us to Warakaihika, which haven of rest we contrived to reach at half-past ten, never before so jaded and foot-foundered. We found the chief who had accompanied us the latter part of our journey had a motive for so doing, as, greatly to our surprise, he demanded payment for the few potatoes we had eaten, and again for carrying my companion across the narrow stream. Tobacco is much prized amongst the natives, and we started with a good stock, and so long as we had it we gave it away freely. This, perhaps, saved us from previous similar requests, but as it was the first

SOJOURN ON ONE OF THE ISLANDS.

we had been subjected to, we turned to our guide, who looked much mortified and ashamed.

The schooner did not reach her old anchorage till the following morning, having encountered a stiff gale which had carried her considerably to the northward. I was not sorry to get to my berth again, as I cannot expatiate much on the luxuries of a Maori hut. A day or two after, the vessel's hold being filled with maize and potatoes, and her deck covered with pigs, we again got under weigh for the Bay of Islands. The wind freshened till it blew a strong breeze, and then commenced rude harmony. What with the hoarse roaring of Boreas and the varied notes of our live cargo, it was indeed "most musical, most melancholy." Defend me from such another freight of sweet voices. We arrived in safety at the bay, but instead of proceeding direct to Kororarika, I accepted an invitation to spend a week or two on one of the small islands at the entrance of the harbour. Great importance seems to be attached to these small islands by parties claiming them, but I cannot see why, as there is very little level land upon them: they would do very well for persons of independent property, who wish to enact Robinson Crusoe in a small way; but in a commercial point of view I confess I cannot see their utility.

CHAPTER V.

CHAP. V.

Take Passage in a small Schooner bound to the Thames District. – Captain and Crew. – Coromandel Harbour. – Cross the Frith in an open Boat for Wakatinai. – Arrival at the Maramarua. – Conduct of Chief. – The Maramarua. – Waikato River. – An Excursion in the Company of Natives. – A Night Bivouac broken up by Rain. – A Chief taboos himself against himself. – Veneration of the Head by New Zealanders. – Their Disregard of the Value of Time. – Sleeping in Maori Huts. – The Waipa. – Anecdote of a young Giant. – Left in the Lurch. – Relieved by a chance Traveller. – Natives attempt at Extortion. – Scene with a Fury. – Journey back. – Burning Coal. – The Animal and Vegetable Kingdom glanced at. – The Return to Coromandel Harbour. – A "Plant" discovered, not a botanical one. – Removal of a Taboo. – Tale of a Pipe. – Natives jolly. – He that can help himself will find plenty to assist him. – New Zealand Tactics. – English Impudence. – Hot Springs at Wakatinai. – Excursion up the River Thames. – Construct a Steamer. – A Fracas from sleeping unconsciously on tabooed Ground. – Two Chiefs blown up with Gunpowder. – Mischievous Influence of Atua Chiefs. – Scene round a sick Couch. – A Halt at the Mouth of the River. – A Religious Thief. – Anecdote of a Suicide. – Estimate of New Zealanders' Character. – "Wasteful Billy." – A sick Headache. – Put up for the Night at a Sawyer's Station. – The River Thames.

"I've put my foot on earth's most distant strand,
And travers'd many a wild and savage land."

DESIROUS of seeing the lauded district of the Thames, I broached the idea to my companion of the East

PASSAGE TO THE THAMES DISTRICT.

Cape excursion; and we again agreed to become travelling companions. We secured a passage in a small coasting schooner, and early one Sunday morning made a start for this highly praised district. The passage was rendered amusing by the eccentricities of our crew and passengers. The captain was a little dare-devil of a Scotchman, who took great delight in exciting the nervous apprehensions of a great lout of a fellow, a countryman of his, who was in constant dread of some accident occurring. "Little Jock," as we used to call the skipper, would sling the deep sea-lead against the side of the vessel near the berth occupied by this man of tremors, and then sing out to clear away the boat, in order to cause his fears to induce him to show his nose upon deck. One of the crew seemed as if he had been raked from a dunghill, for a filthier union of dirt and rags I never saw, and he was honoured with the appellative of the dog's-meat-man; a darkey, made still darker by dirt, was our cook; and two New Zealand boys who spoke broken English, completed the vessel's complement: one of the latter expressed much satisfaction at my companion's conduct, but didn't like me at all, as he said I was too fond of "te kyrak." 1 We sailed past several small islands in the estuary of the Thames, and dropped anchor in Waihao or Coromandel harbour, a small, well-sheltered harbour, formed by an island and the main. I was much struck, on landing, with the appearance of the beach; it was literally one mass of oysters; and the rocks all

round the island, and the shore on the main opposite, was in like manner swarming with clusters of these bivalve fish, which are well flavoured, and often caused me to spoil my dinner. After a day or two's stay on the island, we agreed with the owner of a small boat for a passage to Wakatinai, on the opposite side of the Frith, a distance of about thirty miles from where we were; intending to cross the country to Waikato river, where a friend of ours had long resided. The shore on either side the Frith rises abrupt, rugged, and broken; we were becalmed when about one-third of the way across, and enjoyed the luxury of passing two nights on the water in an open boat. 'Twas bitter cold, and heavy dews fell during the night. There was a very large kainga at the landing-place, and some of the natives were as big and athletic as any men I have seen. With some difficulty and hard bargaining, we engaged two stout young fellows to carry our traps and serve as guides. The features of the country we traversed were hilly and swampy; in a distance of one or two and twenty miles we crossed not less than forty swamps, varying in breadth from one to five hundred yards, and from ankle to waist deep in the crossing places. On arriving at the Maramarua, a tributary of the Waikato, we found a temporary station and several natives; it was nearly sun-down, and I felt tired and unwell: there were several canoes there, and the chief wanted to treat with us then for renewing our journey in the morning; but finding he wanted to impose upon us, and not being in spirits to "argue the point," I walked into the only shed

CONDUCT OF A CHIEF.

there was, a sort of cook-house, and the only place where there was a fire; and taking out my blankets, rolled myself in them as close to it as possible, and with my carpet-bag for a pillow, turning a deaf ear to all importunities, was soon fast asleep; for the natives, finding we would neither listen nor reply, ceased troubling us, and the sacredness of the chief's person debarred his coming into any place where food was cooked. Nor did I envy him his notions of caste; for, cold and frosty as the air was, he remained crouched in it the whole night; his back merely sheltered by a few rushes from the wind. Before my senses were closed to the world, I called to him, and beckoned him to approach; but he replied, in the figurative language of his country, that the place was too low for him, he could not enter, and one of our boys contrived to make us understand, that if we would speak with the Rangatara we must go to him, as he was too great a chief to rise. Being too unwell to contend about the matter, we left him in the unenvied enjoyment of his unsocial dignity. Next morning I awoke about five o'clock, free from pain, full of spirits, and prepared for debate; the Rangatara or chief, on commencing business, opened his mouth to an unmerciful extent, and, persuaded that he had us in his power, sought by a deal of knavish cunning, to extort most exorbitantly. As neither could talk the language of the other, he wilfully misinterpreted our signs, and insisted upon receiving most exorbitant pay for the hire of a canoe, as he would not understand that the canoe was to be returned by the guides. When at length, after much squabbling,

we had arranged matters, we told the boys to jump in and lose no more time; but no, the chief had incited them not to stir, unless we first gave them a sovereign each, and, however willing they might have been to accompany us, they dared not act contrary to his injunctions. At this I burst out laughing, and calling to my companion, we jumped into the canoe, determined to find our own way, though neither of us could boast of our skill at handling the paddle; but as we were shoving off, the chief dashed down the bank and seized the paddles, giving us to understand, that though we had bought the canoe we had not paid for them. Incensed and reckless of consequences, I again leapt ashore, and snatched away the payment I had given, and after having exhausted a vocabulary of Maori abuse upon him, which vocabulary had been drawn up as a safeguard for us, that we might not fall into danger by using any of the words therein contained, we commenced fastening our carpet bags and blankets to our shoulders, resolving to return rather than submit to his exactions. The dark savage's eyes glistened, and his mouth worked, and I have often wondered since how he restrained himself; but I was utterly regardless, and defied him. We were turning away when the boys came as intercessors, and, after a sharp and angry controversy, we gave the lads five shillings each, and paid half a pound of tobacco for the two paddles. They invariably insist upon payment down, not reposing much confidence in our good faith.

The Maramarua is the most extraordinarily wriggling river that ever I beheld; it winds about like the

WAIKATO RIVER.

convolution of a snake, and the greater part of it is so narrow, and the bends so abrupt, that it is impossible to turn a canoe in it. We were compelled to get out at these turnings, and by two dragging at the stem, and two pushing at the stern, would set her going again. Instead of a river it appears more like a passage forced by the natives through an immense flax swamp: It abounds with wild ducks and eels, and at almost every hundred yards you will find an eel-pot fixed. I cannot form any idea of the length of this river in a direct course from our starting place to the Waikato. We commenced our journey at eight o'clock in the morning, stopped an hour on the way, and about four in the afternoon burst suddenly upon the Waikato, and I suppose we proceeded at the rate of four miles an hour. The Waikato presented a fine appearance, compared with the wriggling creek we had just left; but I was much disappointed, for though the sheet of water is of considerable width, it is at the same time shallow, and full of sand spits: there is no timber on its banks, nor did I see any in the immediate neighbourhood. The soil I cannot consider good, it being either of a light spongy nature, composed chiefly of what is called pumice stone, or of a red burnt sandy nature, except where the banks are nearly on a level with the water, and the land consequently always in a state of partial irrigation. It here seems black and good, and the flax plant grows most luxuriantly, attaining the height of fourteen or fifteen feet: in short, the Waikato is considered the flax district of the island, but, taken generally, it presents the same appearance

as the rest of the country, being broken and uneven, hilly and swampy, and bearing evident marks of its volcanic formation. We reached the kainga where our countryman was residing, at seven o'clock in the evening; the natives crowded to see us, but when we were about to partake of refreshments, they all quitted the house, excepting the head chief, who sat himself down on the opposite side of the room, eyeing with stern curiosity the two strangers. Our friend had hinted the customs of Europeans to eat in privacy, and at a word from their chief they all retired. We found our friend on the point of removing from the native settlement, to a house and store he had built, three miles higher up the river, as, in consequence of his wife not liking the presence of the natives, disturbances would continually ensue, and he found his influence with them gradually becoming less. We arrived opportunely to aid him in the transportation of his goods and chattels. The natives assisted with great alacrity, and my wonder was frequently excited at the ponderous burthens the women carried.

The current of the river is very rapid, which renders it exceedingly fatiguing and tedious to convey goods up it. The practice is to keep as close in to the banks as possible, to avoid the full force of the current; and canoes are by far the preferable mode of conveyance, as the paddles do not require the extensive sweep that oars do, nor does the canoe draw so much water as the boat. Whale boats have been used upon the river, but they do not answer, and they have invariably been obliged to put the

EXCURSION WITH NATIVES.

oars aside, and have recourse to native paddles. It appears that when our friend arrived amongst the natives this last time, they were rejoiced to see him, and forsook their plantations in the season of planting, to aid him in bringing his goods across from Manukao. They were six weeks engaged in doing so, and such was their strict integrity, that our friend did not lose a single article; but the poor fellows, in consequence of having neglected their plantations, were now without potatoes, which form the staple of their diet, and nineteen or twenty canoes of them were going a long way up the river to borrow supplies, or to a potatoe feast as it is colloquially termed; the tribe they intended visiting having been down to them, some time previously, to a dried eel feast. Our friend was also suffering from "short commons," and my chief object being to gain as much insight of the country, and the customs of its people, as I could, we agreed to participate in the feast. Accordingly nineteen canoes, each containing, on an average, fifteen persons, set off one afternoon, and a very animating spectacle it was. The air resounded with their different songs and energetic shouts, the paddles keeping time to the measure; each canoe had a singer; but the one in ours was the most famous on the river: the refrain was joined in by all hands, and then the canoe would seem to be ploughing through the water. As night drew near, we bivouacked on a small islet covered with fern. The moon was shining brilliantly, and the various swarthy groups seated around the different fires, their wild garbs, and dark tattooed features, illuminated

with the ruddy glare, lent a singularly picturesque effect to the scene, when, oh sorrow! at one o'clock p. m. it came on to rain in a mercilessly pelting style: then was scramble, hurry skurry; some commenced forming temporary shelters by bending the flax leaves, and weaving them into an umbrageous form; others gathered up their traps, ran to their canoes, and commenced pulling down the river again to a deserted settlement six miles off: we followed the latter example, not relishing the prospect of a night's exposure to the pitiless storm. The ready kindness of the natives was manifested on this occasion, for on our arrival we found that those who had preceded us had prepared the best house for our reception, and a good fire to comfort us. As a proof that the chiefs do not preserve their authority over the rest without some personal sacrifice, Taowira, the most influential chief on the river, sat all night in the open air, exposed to a perfect deluge of rain; his person being too sacred to allow of his sleeping in any of the deserted houses. The chief had the orphan daughter of a brother with him, a little child for whom he seemed to entertain great solicitude: the little thing remained carefully nestled beneath his blanket, and in the morning Taowira combed out the entangled masses of her hair: but by this act his hands became tabooed even to himself, so that he could not use them in taking food, nor could he light his own pipe; and it was amusing to see one of his slave women take his pipe, light it, and then transfer it from her mouth to his, Taowira's hands being all this time snug under his blanket. The taboo lasted

three days, and I happened to be absent when the ceremony of removing it took place. The head, we may remark, is held by the New Zealanders in great veneration; no greater indignity can be offered than by touching their hair or alluding to their head in an offensive way: many serious fracas have taken place between Europeans and them, from a wanton or ignorant violation of this observance.

We were detained by heavy rains two or three days in one spot, and our progress up the river was very slow. The natives do not understand the value of time; so long as they can procure warm clothing and fill their bellies, they care not how they pass their days, nor can they comprehend why an European wishes to hurry on his journey. Vegetables being their chief food, after they have undergone the trouble of preparing the ground for the reception of the seed, they eschew hard labour till the time of gathering the crops. All our persuasions could not induce them to quicken their movements; no, they had plenty of food with them, and they could not see why they should be put to unnecessary exertion. The flax plant and the skins of dogs supply them with materials for clothing, which the women dress and prepare, and, as far as my observation extended, a more than due proportion of labour falls to the lot of the women, as. independent of their domestic duties, they engage in planting and digging, and participate in nearly all the out-door labour of their lords. Since Europeans have introduced luxuries into the land, they find that if they would possess a continuance of them, they must make suitable returns, and consequently many have of late

been induced to cultivate more land than their own immediate wants require. Tobacco has become an absolute necessary of life with them; and blankets are much coveted, being warmer and more pleasant to the skin than mats; and as other wants are created amongst them by the introduction of European habits, so will they learn more fully to appreciate the value of time. At another halting place, we were detained three days by the continuance of wet weather, and we had the luxury of sleeping in a hut with about forty natives: there we were, jammed together on the ground like pilchards in a barrel, Nga Maori lying at our feet, our heads, and by our sides. Not anticipating that I should be detained out longer than three or four days, I had taken no change of clothing with me; and on one or two occasions of getting wet through, I had no other course but to wrap a blanket round my shoulders a la maori, whilst my other habiliments were drying; and I must disclose the truth, such close bodily contact with our dark-skinned friends did not tend greatly to the comfort of our persons, for we speedily became – tell it not in Gath – covered with vermin. Great was my horror at the discovery, and great was our friend's diversion; for as he was an old resident, they never molested him; and he used to scream with laughter as my companion and myself proceeded every morning to the water, to shake our shirts in the wind, and bury our heads in the stream: not that the loathsome insects infested our heads; they were too lazy to crawl so high. They are monsters in size, and would stick to our linen with their hind legs, whilst they banquetted on our backs. They

THE WAIPA.

are nick-named "havy dragoons" by the old hands; and fleas they call "light cavalry:" but body vermin, fleas, musquitos, and sand-flies confine their attacks principally to new comers. Our friend who was exposed in every respect as we were, yet remained entirely free from intruders.

There was nothing gratifying, or to call for remark, on either side the river, till we reached the point where it forks into two branches, one called the Horotu, the other the Waipa. The scenery about the Waipa is picturesque, and the soil is good immediately on the banks. About sixty miles beyond the termination of our jaunt, we were informed that the land was level, rich, and exceedingly fertile to a considerable extent; but this I cannot vouch for. The whole of the Waikato district must have been at one time very thickly populated: it abounds with the remains of native fortifications, and the meaning of Waipa is the water of fortified villages. Our patience becoming exhausted by the dilatory movements of our deliberate escort, we resolved on abandoning it, and engaged a small canoe at the kainga we last rested at, and proceeded to finish our journey by our own exertions; but this we were not allowed to do; for we had scarcely pulled six miles, when we were hailed from the banks, and, after a conversation of nearly an hour's length, the party hailing us launched a large canoe, and ten strapping fellows jumped into it, to bear us to the end of our destination. Their leader was a gigantic young fellow between six and seven feet high, finely formed, and rendered notorious and terrible to his foes from the fact of his having been shot through the body

in a bloody conflict in the river, and afterwards surviving, though carried away as dead; the ball had entered his right side, traversed his chest, and passed out on the left side. He is the hero of many hundreds of songs on account of his gallantry and daring. On one occasion he and three others had gone up the river, beyond the limits of safety, and unexpectedly fell into an ambush; a war canoe with twenty hands in it was lying in wait for him, and when he appeared within range of musket-shot, the whole party, in their impatience, fired a volley and gave chase. Nga Maori are miserable marksmen, and not one of the shot took effect. Seeing the extremity to which they were reduced, the four gave way: dear life was at stake; the current was with them, but it also favoured their enemies: desperation lent them strength; they kept their distance, they even gained a little; but no, the struggle was too unequal, – in vain they used their utmost efforts, gradually their foes encroached upon them: observing this, and that their own strength was failing, the tall young fellow, conscious that his opponents' arms were discharged, rose from his seat, and taking deliberate aim, fired: two fell to rise no more, and a third tumbled off the thwarts into the water; the canoe was stopped to take in the wounded sinking wretch, and then Seven Feet, uttering a shout of derision, applied all his strength to the paddle, and accomplished their escape.

Our canoemen requested payment for their services, which was conceded them; but on our refusing to extend similar payment to a little boy whom they had brought with them, we found ourselves next morning

ATTEMPTS AT EXTORTION.

left in the lurch. They had taken away the canoe, leaving us without the chance of returning for some time as they imagined; but it so happened that an Englishman, who had been traversing the country collecting pigs, came down the river at this critical moment, and immediately accommodated us with his canoe. We were detained a couple of days by the obstinacy of the natives, who would, yet would not, barter with us; they threatened to starve our friend out, and talked of compelling all Europeans to quit the country. This was only an attempt to extort disproportionate terms; but finding they persisted, we laughed at them, packed up our traps, and proceeded to launch the canoe. This signal of our being in earnest brought them to their senses; fellows came scrambling down the bank in all directions with baskets of potatoes on their backs, and soon we had more than we could convey; but being disgusted with the whole mob we did not wait the arrival of the party who were coming to the feast. Whether selfishness is a natural feature in New Zealand character, or whether it has been taught them by their intercourse with Europeans I know not; but we were greatly annoyed by their attempts at exaction. As we were returning we stopped in the afternoon to kindle a fire on the banks of the Waipa to cook some potatoes, when a party came and demanded payment for our so doing. "Omai ti utu" (give me the payment) was eternally in their mouths. "Yes, I'll give you payment," said the owner of the canoe, who was familiar with the language. "Here, give me some wood" (the natives were dis-

charging wood at the time from two large canoes). Down he went, and as fast as they handed it out so he received it and placed it on his fire, they imagining he was carrying it to their stack; but when the old woman, the proprietress of the wood, discovered the cheat, a most ludicrous scene took place. She was a hideous-looking creature, naked to the waist, blind with one eye, her face shrivelled and lined with a thousand wrinkles, and her coarse grizzled hair in wild disorder resembling knots of twisted snakes; her sightless ball protruded horribly, whilst the other glistened like a spark of fire. She stretched out her long skinny arms and talon-like fingers, and fairly foamed with fury as she endeavoured to snatch the wood from the fire; but the "white man" seized a red-hot brand, and every time she made the attempt he would thrust it at her, whilst she yelled again at her disappointment. Macbeth's witches were beaten hollow. The natives could not stand it, and exploded with such uproarious laughter, that the demoniacal old hag was fain to turn away and hide herself. I was nearly getting into a scrape here, for on coming down the bank, forgetting the sacred character of their heads, I carelessly leaped over a group of four or five who were seated in my way. They started and gave me a very fiendish sort of scowl, which I returned with a broad grin, and our friend happening to be by, prevented further ill consequences by explaining my ignorance of their customs, at which they evinced a surly sort of satisfaction; but I should not like to have renewed the feat. We were not quite so long in reaching our

BURNING COAL.

friend's house as we had been in making the journey from it; our canoe was manned by ten stout New Zealanders and four Englishmen; and every time Nga Maori relaxed in their exertions we jeered and set the example of continued paddling, so that with the current and our manful plying we estimated that we accomplished more than one hundred miles in ten hours. One of the lads was a famous singer, and he cheered us with his wild chaunts nearly the whole way, by which means we contrived to maintain admirable stroke; occasionally when he took a breathing spell I would take up the burden, adapting English words to their tune, but we found they all left off pulling to listen, so I was obliged to desist notwithstanding their reiterated cries of "Tena! Tena!" (Go on! Go on!)

Not far from our friend's house, there is a fresh-water lake at the foot of a range of mountains, and through the very centre of it runs a stream of salt water. A large coal district is also close at hand, which accidentally took fire; at the time I write it had continued burning for upwards of two years. This coal might serve for steamers if the river was navigable for any available purpose, but in many places it is so shallow that a whaleboat cannot pass. It is a singular fact that there are no peculiar quadrupeds indigenous to New Zealand, and only one or two varieties of birds. There are no venomous reptiles, and a person may lay himself down to sleep in any part of the country without fear of injury from noxious animals. There are few shrubs, and one or

two varieties of vegetables only indigenous to the country; but most of the fruits and vegetables have been introduced by Cook and other voyagers.

As the owner of the canoe was bound to Waihao we availed ourselves of his escort. Having plenty of hands to collect fern for our beds, and to procure us firewood and water, and the weather fortunately proving fine, the jaunt was tolerably pleasant, though it took us five days to reach Wakatiwai, as we could not pursue our former track, the canoe we were now in being three times the size of the other. One night we had to sleep on a small dry patch of sand, not above ten feet square, after several abortive attempts to continue our journey. The night was piercingly cold, and the water intensely so, and I could not but admire the indifference with which the lads threw off their blankets to force the canoe along, sometimes plumping up to their necks, and at others being only ankle-deep. They appeared insensible to cold or fatigue, but my blood was chilled by the biting influence of the night atmosphere. At last, it being past midnight and very dark, we agreed to rest till day-dawn on the patch above mentioned. On leaving the Maramarua we arrived at a different landing-place from where we took our departure, and there were evident traces of pigs having recently preceded us, which when our boys observed they commenced beating the bush in all directions. I wondered at the meaning of this manoeuvre, but soon found it was not without an object, for in a little time they returned bringing with them half the carcase of a large hog partially roasted. It appears they

REMOVAL OF A TABOO.

had discovered signs of one having been killed, and concluding the party could not carry the whole away, they dispersed in search of the "plant," which in case of discovery is fair game amongst them. The natives rarely kill pigs on their own account, excepting on great occasions or feasts, and when they do sit down to a feed of flesh, the sight is any thing but agreeable. They eat most voraciously, and gorge to repletion; each man consuming as much as would satisfy four English ploughmen. Our lads formed no exception to this disgusting rule, and though it was only midday when they had completed their feed, we could not induce them to proceed more than four miles further that day, when we bivouacked for the night. Next morning the natives refused to carry our luggage unless we would agree to give a pound of tobacco to each man of the party. "Very well," said I, "don't, we'll carry it ourselves." At this they all laughed and seemed mightily entertained, and one of them cried out in broken English, "Very goodee, very goodee, te pakiha makee carry." Preparatory to starting, one of the natives, in cutting the rind off a piece of pork to grease his musket, gashed his finger with the knife: he immediately dropped it and called to another of the party, who taking it up, and sticking it into a potato that was boiling over the fire, peeled it with the same knife, and placing it on its point, put it into the mouth of the man who had cut himself. On inquiring the meaning of this ceremony, I was told that in consequence of the knife having drawn the blood of a chief, it became tabooed, and no one could use it till the taboo was removed, which was taken off by this

operation. I remember on another occasion when these same lads were with us at the Waikato, one of them was playing with the pipe of a slave, who had been lent to our friend by Taowira. "Take care," said Ekao, the slave, "you don't break that pipe." "What if I do?" returned the other. "Why, your mat will hardly be payment for it?" Such an answer would have caused his instant death in former times, and nothing could have saved him; as it was, the young chief seized him by the throat, and one of his companions sprang at him with a knife, and would have passed it through his body had not the wife of our friend who arrived at the moment rushed in between them and prevented it. I heard her shrieks, and ran out. She was abusing them with great vehemence, and keeping them off in fine style. But master Ekao himself was not at all disposed to prove an unresisting martyr; he had freed himself from the grasp of the chief, and now stood stark naked, armed with a billet of wood and snorting at the nostrils like a bull, with his fright and exertion. He was a short thick-necked fellow, and the play of his muscles would have afforded a fine treat to a student of anatomy: however, this was not the time for indulging such speculations – Ekao's life was in danger, and approaching the chief I quietly disarmed him of the knife, at the same time telling him, if he wanted to fight, to go down to the pah and not create brawls in the presence of a white woman. Upon this they again laid hold of poor Ekao and tried to drag him away, but he again shook himself free; and as I would suffer no fighting there, they

HELP YOURSELF, AND OTHERS WILL ASSIST.

agreed to wait till his pakiha master came home, when they threatened to take vengeance. But by that time their anger had evaporated, the pipe, the cause of the uproar, having been smashed to atoms, as the slave would never have dared smoke it again.

Finding the lads persisted in refusing to carry our luggage without such exorbitant payment, we made bands from the flax plant and strapped it on our shoulders. At first they set up a loud laugh, but when they saw how heedlessly we walked away with our burden, they came running after us, making signs for us to put it down. This was what we expected, and we therefore spurned them from us and continued our course. I overtook one of the lads, who had started the first thing in the morning, sweating under the burden of a large wooden chest and other things. "What!" said he, "poys no goodee? Tam te poys' proory eyes." I am unconscious at what seminary he acquired these elegant expletives, but I think they were the only words meant for English I heard him utter. We had jogged along for about four miles, and had passed through three wide swamps, when we stopped for a breathing spell, as my burden did not weigh less than eighty pounds. Whilst resting, the remainder of the party came up, and one of the lads stole through the fern, and secured my bundle to his back. I was advised not to notice him, as we had still seventeen or eighteen long miles to go, and over no pleasant road, otherwise I had made up my mind to carry it myself, to show we were independent of them when we chose; but as the lad

voluntarily assumed the load without stipulation for payment, I considered it good policy to let him groan under it. We made another halt on the top of a high hill overlooking the country, and here the natives gave us a specimen of their mode of fighting. They dashed about in a zigzag course from right to left, still advancing, going through the motions of loading and firing, but never staying for an instant longer than to discharge their pieces. I inquired their motive for such tactics, and they answered, because they would not stand as marks for the enemy to fire at. During their manoeuvres they kept up a hideous yelling, and made the ugliest grimaces, a practice which they adopt either to conceal their own fears or to endeavour to frighten others. But all this mock display subsided on the man who was with us turning his back and stooping and calling out to them to fire; they instantly dropped their muskets, and sneaked away, looking as sheepish as possible, and never again attempted to show off before us. The wind was blowing strong from the eastward, and the fire we had kindled to heat some water communicated to the fern on the hill side, which spreading with great rapidity, the whole surface was presently in a state of conflagration, blazing, roaring, and consuming every thing before it. The very soil was burnt and embrowned, and yet a few weeks after the fern was as thick as ever, and not the slightest trace of fire could be distinguished. We regained the settlement at Wakatiwai on a Sunday evening, and nearly all the natives were engaged in church service. Many a curious

ENGLISH IMPUDENCE.

eye was turned towards the strangers as we passed through the Kianga, but no one quitted his devotion to come to us. I arrived first at the settlement, having outstripped my companions by nearly half an hour. Anxious to arrive at my journey's end, somewhat fatigued, and not wishing to be troubled with questions I could not answer, I took no notice of the various parties I met, and it was quite laughable to witness the curious expression of their faces at my dogged nonchalance. I have often reflected since at the cool impudence we English possess, and at the way we treat these poor fellows. Fancy one or two comparative pigmies traversing a country of savages, knowing nothing of the language, entering houses "sans ceremonie," helping themselves to whatever might be in their way, the natives looking on with deferential awe, bullying chiefs upon their own land regardless of consequences – and yet this I have often done without a thought of my arrogant assumption. In leaving behind you a few trifles, which to the natives are important gifts, you become so sensible of the disparity between them and you that you lose all sense of having intruded. Nevertheless, I almost wonder that the natives submit to it: nothing but an intuitive perception of our intellectual superiority would induce them to do so, as it is well known that they do not lack physical capabilities. There are several hot springs in the vicinity of Wakatiwai of sufficient heat to scald a pig or a fowl; there is also a spring of a similar nature in the neighbourhood of the Waikato river, but I was prevented seeing it.

A vessel was observed lying at anchor about six miles lower down the estuary than where we rested for that night, and at early dawn my companion and I started ahead to secure, if possible, passages to Waihao. Instead of proceeding along the beach, we made a straight cut of it; passing through several plantations of potatoes, maize, &c., we met several natives, but merely exchanged the usual greeting of "Te na ra ka kui." We reached the beach in time to secure a passage; the master was loosing his topsails when we hailed: we entered into the necessary agreement, and about half an hour after our fellow traveller came up with his mob, hurrying along the beach; and when he came on board, we learnt that he narrowly escaped a serious "fracas," as one particular point of the beach was tabooed, and had it not been for his excellent knowledge of the language, he certainly would have been plundered of every thing he had. It was well for my companion and me, that in our innocence we avoided this danger. The settlements of the natives are numerous in this district, and it appeared, to my judgment, to be the best cultivated and the most picturesque of any I had yet seen in New Zealand.

Whilst waiting at Waihao for an opportunity to get to the Bay of Islands, a Scotch gentleman proposed that we should join him in an excursion up the Thames river. Having nothing better to occupy our time, we agreed to do so; we could not engage natives to row for us, and to obviate this difficulty the projector of the excursion constructed a pair of paddle-wheels to attach to his whale-boat by an iron

CONSTRUCT A STEAMER.

crank fixed to the axles. Having got all things ready, off we started, amidst the cheering of those assembled to witness the first "steamer" set going in New Zealand: two of us sat one on either thwart, facing each other, and worked the crank, whilst the other steered spell and spell; and steaming work we found it: but we contrived to propel her along as fast as four men with oars could have done. Both wind and tide were against us, which rendered it very fatiguing; notwithstanding, we overtook a canoe paddled by fourteen natives. We excited the utmost astonishment all along as we went, the natives crowding down to the beach to gaze at us: nor did we cease in our manful exertions till past midnight, when symptoms of exhaustion began to betray themselves. We had laboured thus hard in the expectation of gaining the residence of a white man, where we hoped to have received good cheer, and to have refreshed ourselves; but the night closed in so dark, we could not distinguish objects. When we imagined we were somewhere near the spot, we shouted, and heard responding cries; but though we continued to hail, they were not repeated, and there being many sunken rocks between us and the shore, with rugged, sharp projections, we thought it more prudent to proceed higher up, where it was free from these ugly customers, and beach it for the night. Accordingly, we did so; and whilst the others were securing the boat and getting out the traps, I went in search of a roosting place, and to collect driftwood for a fire.

The coast, on either side the estuary save here

and there, as I have before remarked, rises almost precipitously from the water, and to the eye it appears covered with an impenetrable scrub. I selected, for our night's encampment, a sandy spot at the foot of a gorge or chasm of the hills, beneath the wide-spreading branches of a noble tree; a torrent came down this gorge at times, as was evident from the accumulation of lifeless trunks and branches of trees which must have been swept from above – but now there was only a trickling stream. We soon had a roaring fire under weigh, and when we had taken off our wet clothes and hung them up to dry, wrapped in our blankets, we contrived, by the aid of some tea and cold food we had with us, to pass a very agreeable and profitable hour; and shortly after, the comfortable glow occasioned by satisfied hunger and a cheering fire prepared us for slumber, and we sank back on our beds of leaves, and became lost to all fatigue in a deep sleep. I was roused from this comfortable state of insensibility by an extraordinary jabbering, and on raising myself discovered an old long-bearded Maori, who was talking and gesticulating in a very energetic strain. On finishing his address, of which I did not comprehend one syllable, he retired to the distance of forty paces and sat down. Scarcely awake, unable to fathom the meaning of this mysterious proceeding, and not being willing to disturb my companions, I beckoned the old man to me again; with much hesitation he came, and having enlightened me with a similar display of unintelligible oratory, once more placed the same distance between us. Deeming there must be something more in this than met the

A FRACAS.

eye, with considerable reluctance I awoke my companions, and apprised them of what was going on: our Scotch Archimedes, who was best acquainted with the language, hastened to the old fellow for an explanation; but he came back much faster than he went, and urged us to lose no time in getting everything into the boat and launching her, for we had been sleeping on tabooed ground, and run the risk of being robbed, or atoning for our error by cumpulsory payment. In the blissful confidence of my ignorance, I curled my lip in scornful pride, and vowed I would neither submit to robbery, nor yield payment; but still bearing in mind that "discretion is the better part of valour," I did not neglect the advice of preparing for immediate departure. It was only half-flood at the time, and our boat was high and dry; it required the united exertion of our utmost strength to move her, and the old man would not come to our assistance. By slow and painful degrees, moving foot by foot, we had just got her into the water, when down came half a dozen strapping fellows, calling on us to stop and speak with their chief. Conjecturing pretty shrewdly to what the conversation might lead, we politely declined the invitation, and were shoving off, when lo! the chief made his appearance, followed by ten or twelve more ferocious-looking fellows; and all our labour was destroyed in an instant, for in that period of time they darted into the water and hauled us aground. As we showed fight, the chief darted at our commissariat basket, and carried it off: this was affecting us in a vital part. Archimedes was grappling with a fellow who had

seized his coat; my East Cape companion was defending the boat with a spare oar, and, not to be worse than my word, I sprang at the fellow who had ravished the food: but nothing daunted at seeing me coming, he let go the basket and caught me by the throat. He was of gigantic size, and from his daring had acquired amongst Europeans the nomenclature of "Terror of the Thames." Of course this we did not know at the time, or perhaps it would not have improved my nerves. As it was, I did not feel much alarm at his grip, but only thought of freeing myself from it, and of recovering the basket. I therefore grappled him firmly by the sides, burying my fingers just above his hips, and then with a rush and quick movement of the foot gave him a spin which seemed to astonish him. The tattooed varlet was too heavy to cross-buttock: he stood staggered for a moment as if in amazement how so light a man, in comparison, could play him such a trick; but his confusion did not last: throwing off his mat, he waved his arm over his head, and, with a savage dance and fiendish yell, prepared to come at me again; and at the same time I had the satisfaction of seeing his followers running: to arm themselves with heavy pieces of drift-wood that were lying on the beach. I thought it was all up with me; but determined to die with my face to my foes, I turned my back to the water to avoid being surrounded, and stood in boxing attitude to receive the charge. We had a fowling-piece in the boat, and I shouted for it, intending to exercise the butt end of it on the chief's head; but every one had his own work to contend with. And now, whether

DANGER OF NOT KNOWING TABOOED SPOTS.

excited by a generous sort of sympathy at seeing us three so stoutly resist his mob, or from unwillingness to shed blood, or impelled by what other motive, the chief suddenly restrained the attack, and called out for peace; observing that "he was fond of the pakihani (white people), for they were brave men, and he did not want to quarrel with them." He said "we had been doing wrong, he could not make us understand, but he would send for a countryman of ours, who lived not far off, and he would explain;" and he requested to be allowed to stop with us in the boat till our countryman arrived. We could not object to this, and we also allowed a slave to accompany him, who, however, stripped himself, and sat under cover of the chief's mat, to show that no treachery was contemplated; but lest any thing of the kind should be attempted, we pushed off a few yards from the shore, and there rested on our paddles. In a little time we saw the Englishman approaching; the very party whose house we had been attempting to make the evening previous; and we had absolutely slept upon the beach, within a quarter of a mile of his abode. He regretted the predicament into which we had got, but it was out of his power to assist us: we had profaned the taboo of a most sacred spot, and he recommended us to make the best settlement we could now we had got the chief in our power; for which reason he would not ask us to stay breakfast, as the natives would be sure to avail themselves of the opportunity for plundering the boat. I was for pitching the vagabonds overboard, and giving them a swim, but this was not listened to; and the

chief was rather moderate in his demands, as he only required a dollar to appease the broken sanctity of the taboo. I was opposed, upon principle, to giving them any thing; but Archimedes, who was arguing the point, fumbled in his pocket till he succeeded in catching a stray half-crown, which, when the chief saw, he seized it with the greatest avidity, and jumped overboard, followed by his attendant; but, in making their exit, they contrived, with the adroitness of a London pickpocket, to abstract from the boat a cannister of sporting powder, and all our stock of tobacco. We did not detect our loss at the time. Another chief came running down to extort payment for our infringement of the taboo. We saw a fellow stamping, shaking his fist at us, and distorting his features, the deep furrows of his tattooed face imparting to it an expression of tiger-like ferocity: but we only laughed at him, and continued our work at the crank. We heard that he threatened to pursue us in his war canoes, and vowed to break up our boat and take every thing from us; but his anger was mollified on seeing how cleverly his comrade had rifled us: perhaps, also, the astonishment excited by our steamer operated in our favour, as they spread a report of some white men having visited their place in a boat propelled by two grindstones. It was a fortunate thing for us, perhaps, that the powder was stolen, and not less fortunate that the gun was withheld from me when I shouted for it; as we discovered, on rounding a projecting point, a large pah, with about four hundred natives in i, who all turned out to gaze at our wondrous mode of journeying. There were three large canoes lying on the beach,

TWO CHIEFS BLOWN UP WITH GUNPOWDER.

which they could have run into the water in an instant; so that if we had escaped the first party, we should have been nicely seized by the second. There was a sandspit at the foot of the salient bluff, which was covered with myriads of ducks: we paddled quietly till within a short distance of them, and three times I snapped the gun at them; and in searching for the powder to prime the nipple, we first became conscious of our loss. The natives had followed on the cliffs, watching our proceedings, and the fall of one of these ducks was to have been the signal for an attack upon us; as this sandspit, owing to some battle that had been fought there, was venerated more highly than the spot where we had presumed to take our night's repose.

After grinding a few miles, we reached the location of another white man, where we obtained kai-kai-te (breakfast). A few days previous to our visit, a party of natives were sitting round a fire in this neighbourhood, one of the chiefs being seated on a keg of gunpowder; another chief called to a slave to hand him a keg for a seat, which he fetched, and passed to him over the flames; a few grains escaping from the plug-hole, the keg exploded, and communicating, caused the explosion of the other. The slave was blown to atoms, and the two chiefs were burned from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, but neither was killed; and they were picked up by their horror-stricken followers, and carried to the Caranga. It so happened that at this time two English gentlemen were staying i the vicinity, one of whom was a medical man, and often rendered little

acts of kindness to the natives in the way of his profession; and now a whole body came to him, craving his assistance for their mangled chiefs, promising him great payment if he would but cure them. The doctor went, and though they were fearfully mangled, he did not despair of eventually restoring them. He was unceasing in his attention, and one of the chiefs showed rapid signs of convalescence, when an Atua or spirit chief paid them a visit. These chiefs possess wonderful power over the people, and are held in great awe and reverence by them; they pretend to gifts of vaticination, and their curse has been known to wither the limbs, and affect the lives of their wretched victims. Such is the extraordinary influence acquired by the craft of one savage over the fears of another. I have seen living instances of the effect of these maledictions, and Europeans who have watched the result, without being able to shake the credulity of the ignorant wretches, have assured me that without apparent cause a sound and healthy limb has gradually withered and contracted, until the fountains of its strength have dried up, and it has hung an useless incumbrance to the body: so much for the effects of the imagination – the power of mind over matter. I wonder if the power exercised by these chiefs is what the learned term mesmerism or animal magnetism. The Atua chief, willing to display his superior knowledge, and to give the lie to the prognostications of the Englishman, addressed the chief, who was going on most favourably, saying "What fools these foreigners are! The medicine man tells you that you are doing well – that you will recover – the

INFLUENCE OF ATUA CHIEFS.

fool! – the finger of death is already upon you, and when the moon reaches the full to-morrow night, you will be called to leave us." Short as the notice was, and unprepared as the poor fellow was for death, he had such religious faith in the prediction, that when the doctor came to visit him in the morning he was in a high fever; he refused all medicines, and at the appointed time, like a true disciple, he yielded up his spirit and fulfilled the prophecy of his priest. Under other circumstances, the doctor would have been persecuted for having administered medicines to the defunct that did not produce the results contemplated; but he turned the tables upon them, and attributed the chiefs death to his obstinacy in refusing all medicines on the morning of the night when his spirit fled to join his father's in the happy planting grounds. But it was not without reason that the doctor became troubled with doubts and anxieties, for he had just cause to fear that the other chief would slip through his fingers, in which case, instead of receiving payment, in all probability he would have to make it. The doctor having expressed his doubts to us, we proposed accompanying him in his matutinal visit, with the idea of ridiculing the natives out of their superstitious belief. Our entertainer at breakfast could speak the language well, and we all set off in a body to destroy if possible any mischievous impressions that might have been created. As we neared the pah a regular concert of crying and groaning burst upon our ears, and the disheartened doctor gave vent to a groan in sympathy. We hurried as fast as we could to the supposed scene

of death, and came upon an extraordinary tableau. The friends and followers of the roasted chief had assembled in a body to cry over him before he died; they had formed themselves into two deep semicircles, squatted on the ground in front of the hut where the poor fellow lay, his head resting on the lap of his father, who was mingling his tears with his son's, condoling over his premature fate. The young chief was stretched on some of their softest mats, and a piece of calico spread upon pliant wands was laid over him to prevent anything from touching his body, A more melancholy scene could not be well imagined, as the renewed burst of grief from the old man caused the others to break forth in louder lamentations. It was in itself enough to have killed the young fellow. We immediately commenced pulling the party from their sorrowing positions, making signs of dissatisfaction at their behaviour, and giving them to understand that they ought to laugh rather than cry, and do all they could to cheer the spirits of their wounded chief, instead of endeavouring to depress them; and by dint of laughing and joking we got them to laugh too, even the patient himself "grinned horribly a ghastly smile;" and much to his credit the young Medico shortly after this effected a complete cure.

Having to contend against wind and tide our progress was not very rapid, and at night we had only gained the mouth of the river. Although it was not late we resolved to wait till morning before prosecuting our journey further. We beached our boat opposite a large Kaianga, and some of the natives came to our assistance in securing her, and in conveying our

A RELIGIOUS THIEF.

things to one of their huts. We purchased some fish from them, and after supping, as the place was cold and cheerless, the hut proving the deserted tenement of some English trader, only partially roofed and the sides nearly demolished, we spread our blankets to the best advantage to keep ourselves warm, and endeavoured to sleep away the time till morning. The moon was in that quarter influencing neap tides, and on awaking we saw that the tide was already ebbing, and unless we immediately got our boat into a narrow channel about fifty paces from where she lay, there would be no chance of our getting off till late in the afternoon, which, as we were short of food, and the natives not too much disposed to be hospitable, was a thing to be avoided if possible. We made many attempts, but it was of no use, we could not move her. We then asked the natives to assist us; but no, the day was Sunday and they would not stir. They pointed to the sky and shook their heads in a very deprecatory manner: all arguments and entreaties were vain, not a foot would they budge to help us; but I could not help noticing one fellow who seemed to pay more than ordinary attention to the boat, and deeming his affectionate regard not without its object, I determined to watch him, and in a little time when he thought he was unobserved, I saw him lean forward, and with the speed of light snatch something from the bottom of the boat and conceal it beneath his blanket; he then stood as cool and unconcerned as possible. At this instant my companions returned with some pieces of wood they had gone to fetch to serve as

rollers to get the boat off, and walking quickly up to this dexterous gentleman, I gave him a smart rap on the shoulder. "Come, old fellow," said I, "give us a shove." In his surprise he stretched out his arm, and down tumbled a knife, the article he had stolen; he hastily attempted to conceal it with his foot, but I pushed him on one side, and pointing to it asked him what he meant by that? He was utterly confounded, and the expression of his face was such that it quite pained me to look at him. I therefore only shook my head, and let him understand that as the day was not too sacred for him to steal, neither could it be for him to render us assistance, and picking up the knife I desired him to help us. He seemed thankful to escape so easily, but our exertions were of no use, and we were fain to content ourselves in the best way we could till afternoon. The delinquent withdrew himself as speedily as possible, and we saw him no more.

Nga Maori are keenly alive to the degradation of exposure; one of them, on being reproached by his tribe as a thief, took his fowling-piece, went out, fired it into a keg of powder, and blew himself to atoms. At the time I write, this fact is well known to all the European residents at Port Nicholson.

The observance of the Sabbath by the natives generally at this place was very punctilious. It is a privileged day amongst them both for slave and chief, and nothing seems to delight them more than assembling together in large bodies to chant and sing, I have lived to discover that one of the leading principles in a New Zealander's character is, "nothing

ESTIMATE OF NEW ZEALANDERS' CHARACTER.

for nothing." They will entertain you with all hospitality when there is a prospect of their receiving any thing in return; they understand well the principle of "venturing a sprat to catch a mackarel," and will overwhelm you with trifles and proffers of service if they see you have plenty of goods with you, and at the time they make you presents, they are scrupulously particular in expressing they don't require payment for them; but should you take them at their word, and omit to make them presents in return, they will not fail to jog your memory, and moreover will not cease to torment you till they obtain three times the value of the property if bartered for in the regular way. This will account for the ready hospitality we received when travelling on the east coast: so long as we had tobacco, we distributed it freely; but when we came to the last halting-place, having no more tobacco to give, the chief accompanied us nine miles to seek payment for the few potatoes we partook of. And now these religious varlets being precluded by the observances of the day from selling food, so neither would they give us any, and we were compelled to undergo a fasting vigil against our will. They knew we intended leaving when the tide served, and as they could not receive payment on a Sunday, they would not risk the chance of a gift. We made some tea, and boiled the remnant of our potatoes, and whilst rioting on this sumptuous fare, the chief and several of his mob paid a visit to us. We handed him a pot of tea, but he declined taking it, and so did several others to whom we offered it; but we could

observe that it was with reluctance they did so. The place had been tabooed against their taking food in it, and in presence of their chief they did not dare to transgress. On the night previous, when no chief was present, two or three natives who happened to be in the hut whilst were supping did not scruple to despatch our remnants. Probably the secret of this taboo was, that as they would not administer to our wants, a sense of shame prevented their receiving any thing from us, for I never heard of an instance of a taboo proper having been violated. On a signal for prayers, we got rid of our mob, and as we were enjoying our "otium cum dignitate," a messenger from a pah a mile or two higher up, came and made signs for us to accompany him; we could not make out his meaning, but he became so earnest in his gesticulations, that I jumped up and followed his guidance, promising to send word if better fare was to be obtained. The guide led the way along the beach for about half a mile, and as some reddened pieces of wood stuck in the sands indicated the preposterous imposition of the taboo, we had to strike off and make a circuit through a native plantation. A great many huts and potato stores were scattered about the plantation, and at its termination we came to an extensive pah, where I was met by a white man, who had been residing amongst the natives for many years. We learnt subsequently that he was an escaped convict from New South Wales; be that as it may, he behaved to us with gentlemanly feeling, set before us the best his house afforded, and on our leaving loaded us with provisions, and would accept no remu-

"WASTEFUL BILLY."

neration. He has enforced some respect from the natives; and I may here mention as illustrative of his character an anecdote related of him. He had travelled to a port occasionally touched at by whalers, with stock of his own rearing, which he bartered for prints and calico. On his return he wished to commence trading with his new property, but the natives would not deal on old terms, and as he had no other way of convincing them of his sincerity, he took the whole of the cloth and set fire to it, for which reason he now goes by the name "Billy Maomo," which being interpreted means "Wasteful Billy."

On stepping into the boat to prosecute our journey, I was seized with a violent sick headache, and became so totally helpless, that my companions had to endure all the fatigue of working at the crank. I was so dreadfully convulsed with pain, that I almost imagined my hour was come; and gratefully relieved were my companions when they assisted me ashore at a sawyer's station on the banks of the river, where we intended passing the night. I had a violent fit of vomiting, which left me without the power to stand, and with scarce the strength to speak: the sawyer and his mate made a bed for me on the floor, and there I lay in the most agonizing pain I ever experienced. Towards morning, a lethargic torpor came over me, and when I recovered from it I was free from pain.

This sawing station was on the skirts of what had once been an extensive and very strongly-fortified, pah, now nearly deserted, and falling to decay in all directions; nor do I wonder at it, as

the land on either side the river is nearly level with the water, and after heavy rains must be completely swampy. The tide rises nine or ten feet, and when we wanted to start, we found it was low water, and the boat fast on the slimy bank, certainly the most unctuous and adhesive in its nature of any banks I have seen. With much difficulty, we got afloat at half-flood, but had scarcely proceeded 300 yards, when we were aground in the centre of this much misrepresented river. The low, marshy, uninviting aspect of the country on either side; the extent and unwholesome appearance of the unsightly, slate-coloured, fat mud-banks; and the turbid, muddy stream, wriggling its course between them, offered anything but a tempting prospect to the enterprise of the settler. We were detained nearly an hour before we were afloat again, and it required the most watchful navigation to prevent our being continually aground afterwards. This exposed us to the chance of having to paddle a considerable distance against the tide, a benefit of which we were by no means desirous, as it sets with great rapidity, not less I should say than five or six knots, in the strength of the current. We proceeded between thirty and forty miles up the river, the character of the country continuing still the same, low, swampy, and unwholesome, with no appearance of pasture or timber of any size. The vale of level country, or the "Valley of the Thames," according to some, is from twelve to twenty miles in breadth, and extends to 120 in length. The mouth of the frith or estuary is studded with islets, as I noticed at the com-

VALLEY OF THE THAMES.

mencement of this chapter; and it varies in breadth from fifteen to thirty miles, until, at about thirty miles up, it suddenly contracts; a tongue of land runs out, dividing it into two parts: the northern and most insignificant branch receives the waters of the river Piaka; and the lower, or southern one, those of the boasted river Thames. We regained Waihoa just in time to secure a passage in a vessel bound to the Bay of Islands, whence I shortly after shipped for Sydney, not over delighted with what I had seen of this "Granary of the Southern Hemisphere."

1 Sky-larking.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAP. VI.

Harbour of Waikato. – Directions for taking the Bar. – Canoe Excursion. – Excitement of the Natives. – Anecdotes. – Proceedings regarding Adultery. – A Mission for Port Nicholson. – Get under weigh. – A Night Descent into the Forecastle. – A Meeting with the Chief. – Seizure of the Vessel averted. – Leave the Harbour. – Mount Egmont. – Cook's Straits. – North Part of the Middle Island. – Port Nicholson. – The River "Hut." – Erroneous Representations and Dealings of Land-sharks. – Waitimatta or Auckland. – A Stroll to Manukao. – Lady Franklin. – Return to Sydney. – Remarks on New Zealand.

"A – - way!
Away! away! the white man's here,
The morn shines bright, the stream runs clear;
Row, brothers, row! cheer, brothers, cheer!
Te - - - na!"
Refrain of a New Zealander's Boat-song.

December 26th. – I AGAIN started for New Zealand on a general coasting voyage. We endeavoured to make the harbour of Waikato on the west coast direct; but a series of contrary winds drove us so far to the northward, that we came between the North Head and the Three Kings, and so worked down the coast, opening all the harbours and bays, till, after a tedious, procrastinated passage, we reached the wished for port. The coast, as we beat our way, presented every where the same sterile, savage appearance: hill rising abruptly above hill; and bold

HARBOUR OF WAIKATO.

repulsive cliffs, relieved at intervals by sandy wastes. The harbour of Waikato cannot be approached with a westerly wind, as it is a bar-harbour, with only two fathoms of water on it at low ebb; and the entrance to the bar is rendered difficult and hazardous by two sandspits, running in contrary directions, causing them to overlap, the one tending northerly, the other to the southward. From a long continuance of south-easterly winds, the bar was almost smooth when we sighted it; a leading wind also favoured us; but as we were all strangers to the place, and without charts, the captain took the precaution to sound the passage in the boat before taking it with the vessel. The report of the sounding party, being favourable, when the southern extremity of the north, sandspit bore by compass E. N. E., and the southern extremity of the south sandspit, E. half N., we ran in E. by N. half N., and were carried over the bar in safety. We encountered a heavy swell, which, fortunately, did not break. Owing to mismanagement, our whale-boat, towing astern, got capsized, and we lost a set of oars; but this would not have happened if she had been properly hauled up. I was disappointed in the harbour: it is safe enough after you have passed the bar, but it is of no extent, and not fit for vessels over 200 tons burthen. The South Head is a frowning, black-looking mass, called "Woody Head;" it is covered with a dense growth of dwarf trees: the North Head is a sandhill, being the termination of a dreary waste extending for several miles, with scarcely the shadow of vegetation to be seen; and

when the wind prevails, and blows hard from the southward, the air is filled with showers of drift sand, exceedingly unpleasant both to sight and respiration. No sooner had we come to an anchor, than the deck became crowded with natives, who created the clamour and confusion of Babel. As usual, a white man, demi-uncivilised, was residing in the pah; and not far distant, two of the London missionaries, with their families, had taken up their abodes. The white man came off to us and proffered his services; and as I was desirous of engaging four boys to convey me up the river, I requested him to negotiate for them. Plenty were found willing to go, but demanded payment beforehand, which I would not give, and as they persisted, I bundled them ashore. I wanted to make all the haste possible; and knew that by prepayment they would take their own time. I would recommend to every one travelling in New Zealand, if they can manage it, to withhold compensation till services are performed, and proportion the reward according to the merit of the parties. The natives have no notion of the value of time. About seven o'clock in the evening, four of a party whom I had dismissed came off in a light, swift-pulling canoe, stating their readiness to go with me; but that if I decided on going, I must start at once, while the tide served. I imagined that there was some concerted plan in this, and that it was their intention to rob me; but not liking to mention my suspicions, I privately armed myself, and stepped into the canoe. The tide only affects the river for about seven miles, and you then have to contend against the force of

CANOE EXCURSION.

the current, which sets towards the ocean at about the rate of four knots. My "boys" – (it is customary, but I don't know why, to call all New Zealanders travelling with you boys or lads, though their being fathers may have fully justified their claims to manhood. I suppose it is upon the same principle that the French continue to call grey-headed waiters "garcons, " or that we apply to sexagenarian riders the title of "post-boys") – my "boys" behaved very civilly, and continued pulling the greater part of the night. Towards morning, as they complained of hunger and fatigue, at the same time expressed their willingness to persevere in their exertions if I wished it, I consented to their securing the canoe, and reposing on the banks of the river for a few hours: I gave the poor fellows some of the salt beef I had with me, and their curiosity respecting it was quite ludicrous: they turned it over, examined it in all directions, smelt it, and at length appealing to me, made use of the monosyllable "Cow?" The missionary residents had some cattle at their stations, which, I suppose, gave them the idea. The country, generally, was much as I had left it, nor did I see any great improvement in my friend's farm. His natives had all quitted him, and he now found it a difficult task to procure workmen from amongst them, although for many years they had looked up to him as something more than mortal. The invasion of their land by so many European immigrants had created a painful sort of consternation amongst the natives, and many had drawn towards the European quarters to ascertain their manoeuvres.

I could not afford a long sojourn with my friend, and on my return to the vessel he accompanied me to receive the goods I had brought for him; we could only get two natives to assist us in working the canoe, those engaged by me having returned immediately. When about one fourth of our way, we met two large canoes, well manned and containing several chiefs. Observing how slightly we were attended, and that we ourselves were using the paddles, two of them, to show their respect, instead of ordering their slaves to assist us, stopped themselves into our canoe and aided in working her down. One of these chiefs was a kind, benevolent-minded man, and recognized as a missionary teacher. When in his heathen condition, some of his comrades taunted him with the fact, that his sister, the widow of a chief of high caste, was in the habit of granting personal favours to a slave. Few chiefs in New Zealand would have endured such ignominy "and yet have refrained to kill." – Loth to shed the blood he could not restore, he warned the slave, and threatened him with death if he repeated the offence: this had its effect for a time. – But, as fatalists would say, "the wretch could not resist his fate." – The chief was again apprised that the slave continued to visit his sister. Still reluctant to take life, he again admonished him, and extended his mercy even to a third warning. But this only emboldened the slave. He again renewed his visits; and the fourth time the chief was taunted by his compeers, who bitingly told him that his slave-brother was at that moment in a certain hut with his sister. Not a word did he utter in reply. Gather-

ANECDOTES OF NATIVES.

ing his mat around him, he hastened at once to the place designated, and raising his tomahawk severed the slave's head from his body. The chief's sister made no attempt to save her paramour; but when his lifeless body lay stretched before her, she threw herself upon her knees; and with the wildest pathos implored him "not to cook his head," a token of the most contemptuous indignity.

As an instance of the high sanctity in which the chiefs are held, and of the fearful nature of the penalty inflicted on those who have the boldness to desecrate the taboo, I may here notice that on one occasion, when this friend of mine was travelling in the country, he halted for the night at a friendly settlement, and partook of the common fare. The season had been one of scarcity, and the crops, such as they were, not of good quality; the slaves in consequence fared badly. At the time of my friend's arrival at the kainga, a basket of superior koomeras or sweet potatoes had been set aside and tabooed for the especial use of a young chieftainess. One of her female attendants, prompted by hunger and a favourable opportunity, as she imagined, had the temerity to take some of these koomeras for her own consumption. In the morning, on my friend's turning out, he observed a pool of blood close to the hut in which he had been reposing. On asking the meaning of it, he was told, "Oh, nothing!" they had been killing a pig. Having heard no noise, and missing the woman, his suspicions were raised, and on further inquiry he learnt that the hapless creature had been detected in the theft, and was subsequently dragged outside the

hut and slaughtered. When these poor wretches are doomed, they meet their fate with absolute indifference, never giving vent to a murmur.

Formerly it was the custom, when a native committed adultery with another man's wife, to place the transgressor, naked and unarmed, about thirty paces from the injured party, who was provided with three spears, which he was allowed to hurl at the offender. If by his agility he could ward them off with his hands, he was so far safe; but if the injured husband still remained unsatisfied, tomahawks were placed in the hands of either party, and they were suffered to fight it out on equal terms. Polygamy was common amongst them; but the custom is fast disappearing before the labours of the missionaries. On regaining the "Heads," we had an opportunity of witnessing how different the proceedings in a case of adultery are now. Instead of suffering the accused party to run the risk of being speared if innocent, or of escaping by his address if guilty, a general meeting was convened by one of the tribe going from place to place ringing a large bell; at which summons upwards of two hundred assembled to be present at the trial. The husband stated his grounds of suspicion, and brought forward witnesses to prove certain appearances which tended to furnish tolerably conclusive circumstantial evidence. Judging by the countenance, I should say the accused was guilty; but he was a "master of that rhetoric the learned call rigmarole," and after he had surmounted the first embarrassment of his position, he pleaded with such success, that he was honourably. acquitted, and pronounced "not

A MISSION FOR PORT NICHOLSON.

guilty." Had the verdict been the other way, his punishment would have been expulsion as a church communicant, a disgrace much dreaded.

Intending to proceed to Port Nicholson from the Waikato, one of the missionary residents requested that I would give him a passage with four of his lads, that he might on his return overland have an opportunity of visiting tribes who had not as yet received any European minister of the gospel amongst them. The subject had been mentioned to the Waikato natives, who expressed their approbation of the design, and their readiness to raise a contribution to defray the expenses of the mission. Having consented to take them on their own terms, the natives collected about 200 baskets of potatoes, between one and two pounds in money, three old knives, two half-worn cotton handkerchiefs, and the lid of a shaving-box. I told them it was no wish of mine to deprive them of articles we had introduced amongst them, and that the potatoes would suffice. "No," said the chief, "it is our free present, and all that we have to give; if you set such little value on the goods you now reject, we will go on board and take from you all articles of similar description." The missionary gentleman explained that it would be treating them with indignity to refuse any part of their gift, and I then accepted it as it was made. We had to wait a long time before a wind offered for our getting away, and when at length we made the attempt, just as we were on the bar, the wind died suddenly away, and we had to drop anchor to prevent driving on the North Head. Shortly after it came on to blow hard from the westward,

compelling us to return to our old anchorage. It was fortunate, perhaps, that we failed on this occasion, as it soon afterwards became known ashore that two of the seamen had smuggled two slave women belonging to the chief on board, and had contrived to conceal them from the knowledge of any one; and had we succeeded in getting out, the probability is, we should have been met by the natives in their war canoes, and the vessel would have been plundered. On resuming our berth, the chief suppressed all outer show of knowledge or resentment till the dead of night. The crafty savage, accompanied by a single attendant, then stole softly on board, and suddenly stood over the sleeping men as they were lying in the forecastle. He aroused the delinquents by a gentle grip on their throats, and their horror may be Imagined, on starting from sleep, to find themselves in the clutch of the justly incensed chief, whose eyes were glittering with ferocity. I was told the fellows wero completely paralysed, and made no attempts at defence or resistance, not that either would have availed, as the two athletic savages could have destroyed with their tomahawks all in the forecastle before they had recovered from their fright. The chief enforced silence by waving his tomahawk with one hand and placing the fore-finger of the other on his lips. The trembling women sank speechless to the deck; and the guilty seamen, with nervous trepidation, opened their chests and made signs for the chief to take anything he pleased as payment. He weeded them pretty decently, taking from them their Sunday clothing, their whole stock

SEIZURE OF THE VESSEL AVERTED.

of money, amounting to between four and five pounds, and every other serviceable article. Seizing the women by the hair of the head, he then dragged them up the forecastle ladder, and forced them to descend into the water by the chain cable, and having secured his booty, he quietly got over the vessel's side and paddled after the women in the same noiseless manner he had come on board. Not a soul but those in the forecastle knew anything of this summary proceeding, the news of it being carefully kept from the officers and myself. Of course no such occurrence could have taken place had a proper anchor watch been maintained; as it was, every soul lay buried in sleep. The chief administered a severe flogging to the women, and, not content with rifling the seamen's chests, the opportunity for plundering the vessel with an apparently justifiable motive was too great for his cupidity to withstand.

I had been passing the evening with one of the missionaries, and whilst wending my way back to the vessel, a native crept cautiously to me, and made me understand that the chief intended plundering her that night, and, by dint of broken English and broken Maori, acquainted me with all that had taken place. My astonishment was only equalled by my indignation, and I feed my informant to put me on board without disturbing any one. "All hands" were asleep, and I alarmed the captain not a little by my information: the mate was sent to summon all hands on deck, and I went up and harangued them on the egregious folly which had placed our lives in such jeopardy. We could

distinguish an unusual number of canoes hauled up on the beach, which added to the excitement of the crew. They begged me to give them arms; but I told them "No! I was determined to sell my life as dearly as I could in case of an attack; but as they had reduced me to this predicament, they might get out of the danger the best way they could." The fellows remonstrated in vain, and I went below, leaving them to adopt what mode of defence they pleased. Throughout the night they relieved each other in patrolling the deck with shouldered handspikes, and the danger for that time was averted. At daylight, putting two pair of loaded pistols in my belt and wrapping my coat over them, I went ashore to face the chief. He did not deny his intentions, but pleaded justification and the customs of the country. Suddenly I covered him with a pistol, and asked, what could save his life if I chose to move my finger?" He started; and as I replaced the pistol in my belt, I bade him be cautious, for that we were all prepared and ready to mark the chiefs that should lead the attack. "But," said he, "I can bring ten to one." "Never mind if you can bring forty; you won't live to enjoy the plunder, even if our deaths follow." And I asked him, "Suppose one of your slaves came on board and robbed me, would you think it right in me to come and set fire to your house whilst you were sleeping; and, on your attempting to make your escape, to knock you on the head?"

"Ah I" he ejaculated, "that's very good talk; my thoughts never came to me in that way; but I know something of the wisdom of the white men, and am

LEAVE THE HARBOUR.

not such a fool as to throw away my life for a trifle: and so, from this time, if your men do wrong, I will let you know; and if my men do wrong, come you and let me know."

To this I agreed, and we parted good friends; but during the remainder of our stay, we did not relax in our state of watchfulness. No hostilities were attempted, and the gentlemen of the missionary station were of opinion that it was more talk than anything else; although they admitted, that a year or two back nothing could have saved the vessel. 'Tis true enough that the chief had us all in his power beyond resistance, if he had chosen to exercise it, the night he surprised the forecastle; and I cannot divine the cause of his forbearance, unless it was ignorance of our unguarded state, and the desire to appear simply in the character of a complainant, if he found us on the alert: be that as it may, I would not repose implicit faith in their safe conduct.

We were detained so long in the harbour for want of a favourable wind, that I began to despair of getting out again; early in the morning, a flaw of wind would prevail from the land for a short time, which might have sufficed to carry us over the bar; but then if it died away again, as it invariably appeared to do, it would have been impossible for us to have escaped the rollers. Almost reckless from long detention, we at last resolved to run the risk, and, taking advantage of the customary flaw, with the first grey of the morning, we happily effected our escape, and secured a good offing before the wind fell light again.

Kawai is the next harbour to the southward, after you leave Waikato, and is of a similar nature; no other presents itself until you reach Port Nicholson. With our usual good fortune, we had to beat the whole of the way to Cook's Straits; and Mount Egmont, the highest land in New Zealand, was continually in sight: in some charts it has been estimated as 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, in others only 9,000; it is crowned with an eternal diadem of snow, which, at times, was all we could discern, glistening above the clouds: in more favourable moments, the whole of its bold outline would be revealed, again to be shrouded from our sight by a veil of mist. Cook's Straits separate the northern from the middle island, and is dotted by several small islets. Kapiti, the largest of them, seemed to me to be a barren rock; it is used, in the season, for a "look out," or whaling station, for which I have heard it said it is admirably adapted: the other islets are mere clumps, scarcely worth noticing. The northern extremity of the middle island appeared still more broken than any part I had yet visited; but from assurances of those holding stations on it, the land is generally of a more level character, and the soil of a better quality than that of the Northern Island. It does not, however, possess so many good harbours; and the climate is more frigid; for it is asserted that a range of hills intersects the island from north to south like a back-bone, which, for the greater part of the year, is covered with snow. Port Nicholson is situated in nearly the south extreme of the Northern Isle; and the

PORT NICHOLSON.

navigator is somewhat startled, on entering it, to see a belt of rocks stretching, apparently, across its mouth. Many vessels have at first been scared away by their unexpected rencontre, conceiving they had mistaken the entrance, not deeming it probable that any harbour existed beyond such foes to plain sailing. It was blowing half a gale, and we had to beat our way in almost dead in the wind's eye, as sailors have it; but we found plenty of room to work.

The country around is a succession of barren abrupt hills, or broken bluffs chilling to contemplate. The township of Wellington is situate on the western side of the harbour; it bears some resemblance to Kororarika, but is larger in extent. There is a semicircular sweep of sand, curving like a horse-shoe, backed by high unavailable ridges supporting a growth of thick impervious scrub. The houses are built without order or regularity, on the narrow flat between the sandy beach and these ridges: they are of various orders, at present the "Maori" being the most prevailing. There are some of the composite order, a cross between Maori hut and Irish hovel, plastered with mud inside and out; and again, there are a few of the ornate cottage style, built of weather-boards. The first attempt at location was made at the eastern extremity of the harbour, and the settlement was called Pitonia or Thornton; but the site was found too open and exposed for shipping; and though a motley group of hovels and huts at first rose quickly into being, they were as speedily abandoned, as the spot selected for the foundation of the capital proved to be the treacherous bed of a dried swamp; and when the rains

set in, the flat being below the level of the beach, with high, acclivitous, wall-sided hills inclosing it in the rear, the rush of waters was so great, that the unfortunate emigrants found themselves inundated, and for some time were compelled to communicate from house to house by means of canoes.

The river Hut, about which so many glaring misrepresentations have been made, is a miserable streamlet, just without the deserted township of Pitonia; it is navigable for small boats or wherries for about half a mile, or from that to a mile, perhaps, but it then doubles like a hare, and is choked with sand-flats; it deserves no other name than a watercourse, in fact it is no other, winding its way through an opening in the hills, its resources derived from their drainage. The land on either side this gorge is densely wooded with valueless timber. Where small patches have been cleared by the desperate exertions of the beguiled settler, or through the financial scheming of the land-jobber, the fecundity of the soil has been proved by the luxuriance of the vegetable crops produced; but the expense of clearing an acre of land to render it fit for cropping is so heavy, that no poor emigrant could. stand it. It is asserted that this gorge opens to a fine vale, extending all the way to the "Thames;" but of course I only vouch for what I see. I was likewise assured that the land trending to the north-west, called the Taranake district, at the foot of Mount Egmont, is felicitously provided with every requisite for the agriculturist. Granting that this was true as regarded the land, it strikes me that the expense of conveying the produce to a market would more than equal

PORT NICHOLSON.

its value. There is no harbour for shipping near the Taranake district; and here I may mention, once for all, that the whole of the harbours on the west coast are bar harbours, dangerous and uncertain; the winds prevail from the westward for the greater part of the year, and if you succeed in entering safely, you cannot rely on any time of effecting your departure, which ought to be an item in the estimation of every trader speculating on the west coast. The harbours may not inaptly be compared to rat-traps; at times offering tempting baits and facilities of entrance, but on wanting to prosecute your voyage, you unexpectedly find yourself a prisoner, with the gilt taken off your gingerbread. Vessels frequently get windbound in Port Nicholson, and, as I heard an old settler say, "It is a regular trap for fools." It possesses no exports: it is not a good flax district, if flax could be rendered a payable exportable commodity, which, from every experiment I have seen or heard of, I am inclined to doubt. Whaling ships rarely approach it; the cash is being drained from it, as it is incapable of making other returns; and, notwithstanding the pains taken to conceal the fact, the mechanics and labourers are fast leaving it for a more auspicious field for their exertions. It is subject to continual rains and heavy gales, common at all times of the year, from the south-east or north-west; and my own experience leads me to confirm the statement made by several masters of merchantmen, that three days in the week throughout the year are above, rather than under the average opportunities for discharging or receiving cargo; and to crown all, it is subject

to earthquakes, so vibratory that many have declared they would never think of erecting a brick house, for fear any casual shock should bring it about their ears. Port Nicholson appears to me to be a focus for the concentration of every wind passing over New Zealand; it is eternally blowing a gale, and the most obstinately prejudiced and interested were compelled to cry out, "there really was no standing these cursed winds." The communication from place to place being chiefly by water, the accidents occasioned by the capsizing of boats in sudden squalls are frightful; and the tumbling and rolling of the surf on the beach is such, that when a boat with ten persons in her was swamped within a few yards of the sand, and although the water was only breast-deep where the accident occurred, one only escaped with life: the bodies of the nine unfortunates repose in one common grave. We were instrumental in saving the lives of nine or ten individuals, who, but for our being anchored a considerable way out, must have perished ere assistance could have reached them.

It is laughable though pitiable to see the readiness with which the residents try and cheat themselves into the belief that Port Nicholson is a paradise; if they have a continuance of fair weather for three or four days, nothing is heard but congratulations. "Isn't this beautiful?" "Isn't this lovely?" "Charming weather!" "Port Nicholson will do yet!" are some of the exulting exclamations of those who wish to be deceived. It is stated that Port Nicholson belongs to a company in England, who were supposed to have paid a fair equivalent for it to the natives; but

DEALINGS OF LAND-SHARKS.

this is denied, and private individuals have had prior possession of places which the company lay claim to. There has been a great deal of anarchy and confusion in the settlement, nor do I see any likelihood of a speedy arrangement of the matters in dispute. No individual will give up his claims merely because a body of scheming speculators, far away from the scene of action, choose to assume a right to this or that portion of territory. Allotments have been put up to public auction in England, and needy adventurers, allured by the descriptions given of the place and the prospects held out, have purchased to the full extent of their means, anticipating (can it be believed?) that on their arrival in the new country they would be able to lease their property at an annual rental exceeding in amount that of the purchase-money. The consequences can be foreseen on the true state of things staring the luckless speculator in the face, dispelling his dreams and dissipating his extravagant notions. Some, unable to bear up against the utter prostration of their aerial visions, have yielded to drunkenness and despair; others have appeared overwhelmed with stupor; and I, have conversed with others who have been loud in their execrations of those who had caused their ruin; and there have not been wanting men of influential names, connected with the company at home, who have proceeded to Port Nicholson, and lent themselves to the cheat palmed upon the public. They have both bought and sold land, at second and third hand, at enormous prices, thus creating a high fictitious value for the land, to beguile others, and induce them to lay out

capital on these money-begetting investments; and so soon as the bait has taken, the crafty projectors of the scheme have sold their interests and departed, leaving the stultified purchasers to ponder at leisure on the changeful shadows of their bubble. Private letters remitted by these schemers to their friends in England, containing the most fallacious flourishes, have been published in the journals of the day, and no means have been spared to tempt others to embark in the same fortunate speculation. Hundreds have done so upon the chances, a large proportion of the buyers remaining in England, waiting till some subsequent period to resell their bargains, with the intention, I presume, of retiring from the cares of business with the happy results – infatuated mortals! The specious accounts sent home lately of the high prices that allotments here and there have fetched, will, I have no doubt, cause many to send out powers of attorney for the disposal of their allodial investments, and it would not be surprising if land in Port Nicholson became like stinking fish, every one eager to get rid of it, but no one willing to buy; but apart from this, the cry is that no man is certain of his title to land purchased of the company, that its rights have not yet been ascertained, and that they have in their sales exceeded all limits, in direct violation of orders from government; even so, I cannot see that the poor emigrants will be any the worse, as it may tend the more quickly to direct their energies into a better channel.

The native residents of Port Nicholson appear to me to look upon the proceedings of the European

WAITIMATTA OR AUCKLAND.

settlers with a moody and jealous eye. It never entered into their imaginations that, when they sold their land, they were to be restricted from locating in any part they pleased. It is true that they have courted the residence of Europeans amongst them, but more with the idea of introducing one or two into each settlement, to assist them in trading and teaching them the ways of white men; and one or two in a kainga was all they ever wished for, so that they might be dependent upon the chief for protection, and the superior power remain vested in him; but it never formed part of their contemplations that swarms of Nga Pakihani should come and drive them from their dwellings when they stood in the way of their convenience; and every fresh arrival of immigrants seemed to me still more to excite their astonishment and discontent.

On leaving Port Nicholson we stretched away to the eastward until clear of the straits, and then skirted the coast till we made Waitimatta, a harbour in the estuary of the Thames. There are a number of small islands grouped about this part of the estuary which shut it in from the sea; but it is open to the seaman-like objection of being exposed to too long reaches. It is here that the government have determined upon fixing their capital, and to my regret, instead of preserving for it the euphonious native title of Waitimatta, they have bestowed upon it the pawkish name of Auckland. The harbour is of considerable extent and includes a succession of bays, styled with wretched taste Mechanic's Bay, Cooper's Bay, Official Bay, Commercial Bay, &c.

Commercial Bay will be the emporium for commerce, as it possesses greater facilities for landing or shipping goods than any of the others. Much difficulty and inconvenience attend this operation at present, for at low water shiny mud flats extend nearly half a mile from the shore, and it is only at the top of high water that you can land cargo, unless you go to the expence of dragging trucks to the boats, the trouble and expence of such a proceeding requiring no comment. If New Zealand should ultimately become a place of importance, of which I have my doubts, this evil might be easily remedied by throwing out jetties, as there is not the same surf to contend with that curls its crest upon the beaches of Port Nicholson and the Bay of Islands. Waitimatta is the only place I have seen in New Zealand adapted for the establishment of a commercial town to any extent. There are no native residents in its immediate vicinity, owing probably to the scarcity of fresh water, and the poverty of the soil. I allude more particularly to the point called Waitimatta where the ground is covered with a sort of vitrified scoria. The absence of any commanding eminences to overlook the interior, and serve as stations to guard against surprise, may also be taken into account, as in their feuds the natives take more credit to themselves for destroying an enemy by treachery than in open fight, and in selecting a site for a Kainga or settlement, they rarely neglect the desideratum of a look-out station; but be the cause of their absence what it may, the European residents, I should think, would have no cause to regret it.

A STROLL TO MANUKAO.

I walked from Auckland to a place called Manukao, the harbour of which is on the west coast: the distance is seven or eight miles, and in crossing this portage the country opposed no Impediments for overland communication of any description; it is of a gently undulating character, and the soil, after leaving the capital, appeared rich and fertile, but there was an evident want of running streams, as I called at two or three native plantations for a drink of fresh water without being able to procure any, and on promising a lad sixpence if he would bring me some, he darted off, and after a prolonged absence returned with a little in a calabash, which looked as if it had been ladled out of a muddy puddle. There were no settlements till very near Manukao, but the place must at one time have been thickly peopled, as to the right and left of the country I traversed were the remains of native fortifications, which must have called for much labour and time. Advantage had been taken of high conical eminences rising from the plains like molehills, the summits furnishing a bird's-eye view of the surrounding country. These they had cut into flats or different landing places, so that if driven from the lower defences, they could have retreated upwards, and by withdrawing the means of ascent, rendered the further progress of their invaders nearly impracticable, particularly if each step or flat was surrounded by a strong palisade according to the present custom of their pahs or fortified places. Upon each flat were several deep pits, which I imagined were intended as snares, or, what is as likely, they may have been used as granaries or

depositaries for their food and valuables in case of a siege. Many of these abandoned eminences were covered in places several feet deep with the heaped-up shells of the "pipi," a sort of fresh-water muscle much used by the natives as food. It cost me four hours' severe exercise to make these observations, and two or three times I was on the point of giving up the attempt. The ascents were difficult, although the soil had crumbled, rendering them less perpendicular, and I was aided by shrubs and fern, which have sprung up since the desertion of these admirable fortresses.

I must not omit to observe, as a proof of the facilities of land carriage in this district, that as I was pursuing my way to Manukao, an orderly on horseback came galloping past me; and on arriving at the harbour, I found Lady Franklin and her female servant, with two or three gentlemen in attendance. Her Ladyship having unfortunately sprained her ancle in a former exploratory expedition, had been carried on a couch by a party of New Zealanders; and I do not know a place in New Zealand where the country would have afforded a similar means of gratifying her thirst for novelty and adventure. I afterwards heard that his Excellency, Governor Hobson, had received an invitation from the mission station at Waikato, to be present at the annual examination of the natives. Lady Franklin, being at Government House, begged to accompany his Excellency, and there being no wheeled vehicles in the country, several chiefs contended for the honour of carrying her, saying, that

REMARKS ON NEW ZEALAND.

as she was a great chieftainess, none but chiefs should carry her. I suppose that the jaunt was tedious; and it being late in the evening when the party arrived at the place of embarkation, the Lady Errant bivouacked with her attendants under tents which they carried with them, while the governor returned to Auckland, with the intention of rejoining the party early next morning; but whether the exertion had proved too much for him (his Excellency being in feeble health), or he had not been accustomed to bush travelling with ladies, instead of appearing himself, an orderly came with an apology for his absence, and stating that indisposition would prevent him from fulfilling his intention of bearing her Ladyship company. Lady Franklin is the wife of the governor of Hobart Town, and has acquired much notoriety from her masculine spirit of travel and adventure.

From Waitimatta we took the northern passage through the Islands of the harbour, touched at the Bay of Islands, and then again wended our way to Sydney.

I am no geologist, botanist, or agriculturist, and cannot judge of the mineral resources of New Zealand. Botany is an amusing pursuit for the leisurely researches of superfluous talent In old countries; but I should have thought that our Pharmacopoeia and alimentary lists were already replete with the agencies of life and death; nor do I see that civilized life, with all its aids, is extended to greater length of days than savage life. Many are of opinion that New Zealand will make a fine grain country: this may be; but my opinion is that it would be a much

finer one if its bogs and marshes were filled up by its tumultuous jumble of hills. This earth of ours must have been sorely troubled with the colic when New Zealand sprang into creation. It bears marks of having been upraised from the deep by the mightiest throes and wildest eructations: it possesses some good harbours, valuable as whaling stations, and it has limited capabilities of furnishing an export of timber. So long as the British government maintain an expensive establishment, and capitalists go there, the settlements around head-quarters will thrive, but an inversion of the order of things will take place; those who brought wealth will lose it, and the poor will become rich; the hard-working labourer and the astute store-keeper will be the principal recipients and holders of the money introduced into the country. I certainly am not favourably impressed with the unrevealed resources that are yet to be brought to light in New Zealand, and am of opinion that our Australian colonies would have benefited far more if we had suffered any other nation than our own to colonize it. Some dread that it might have nursed a naval power that would one day compete with our own, and interfere with British commerce in the Pacific. It is true that our formally taking possession will keep others from it, but it will prove rather an expensive act of diplomacy, or I am greatly mistaken.

CHAPTER IX. [Part]

CHAP. IX.

Mywolla. – Make the Reef again. – The Captain takes all the Seamen to the Wreck, and it falls calm. – The Vessel drifts out of Sight of the Reef. – Westerly Current in part accounted for. – Abandonment of the Wreck. – Make for the Bay of Islands – Alteration of Plans. – The Vessel grounds on a Shoal off the North Shore opposite Auckland. – Auckland improved, but Cash scarce. – "Little Tom" quits the Vessel. – New Master engaged. – Under weigh for Tahiti. – Sight Huaheine and Raiatea. – Pass between Moorea and Tahiti. – The entrance to it. – Tahiti described. – Its People. – Missionary Influence. – Queen Pomare the Head of the Island. – The Government shared by seven Chiefs. – Laws in force at Night. – Ancient Rites superseded by more enlightened Instructions. – Avata Shark. – Horrible Sacrifice of an Infant by its Father. – The Symbol conveyed to an intended Human Sacrifice. – Form of the unhallowed Oblation. – Want of Jealousy towards White Men accounted for. – Conversation with Flowers. – Process of manufacturing Tappa. – Native Colours. – A curious Method of producing a Red Dye. – Canoes. – Novel mode of Fishing. – Native Houses. – Method of Cooking. – Diseases of the Country.

"Darker grew the heavens, as the sun descended.
Till the starless storm-sky with the wave was blended.
Soon a horrid calm fell on the gloomy night.
Nor a growling breeze now wing'd the vessel's flight."

September 27th. – At two o'clock A. M., civil time, we made the island of Mywolla, one of the Fejee group; for after a long and baffled search for the reef, we discovered that a false rate had been left with the chronometer, which was calculated to lead

us astray; and I had my doubts whether foul tricks had not been played with the instrument itself to insure the fulfilment of the predictions made by the scoundrel who deserted me. Every vestige of paper which contained the working of the sights was destroyed, and I had nothing to guide or direct me. Subsequently, I was fortunate enough to discover, in an old memorandum-book, the original error and daily rate of the time-keeper, given, to a certain date, by the Observer in Sydney. I worked up the rate from that time, and, adding it to the error, the island as laid down on the chart very nearly accorded in longitude with the time shown by the watch; but the island has been inaccurately surveyed, and, from the great disparity of its bearings to those expressed on the different charts, we could not prove the chronometer to any nicety.

Mywolla is much larger than it is laid down, and its points and bays bear not the remotest resemblance to those mapped. We circumnavigated it, and were nearly wrecked upon some unnoticed islets with reefs off them. As far as we could judge it is a rich and fertile isle: but the many reports of the treachery of the natives prevented my going ashore. We stood close along the land, but no natives put off to us, although we could see them on the beach running about in a state of nudity. They lit fires at night on the hills, which I was told was an indubitable token of friendliness; but still I did not like their keeping away so entirely from us, particularly as we noticed several canoes plying close in shore. On the third morning we

NATIVES OF MYWOLLA.

made a last effort to induce them to visit us, by standing as close in as it was advisable to venture; and after a while we were gratified by seeing two canoes bearing towards us. To provide against accidents, that is, lest our visitors should be coming with "hostile arms intent," we prepared our own, to give them, under such circumstances, a warm reception; but when the first fellow came alongside, our fears on that head were dispelled. They brought a few clubs, spears, yams, and some tortoiseshell for barter; but they had nothing with them of much value. Their canoes are something similar to those of Rotumah; but they have very wide outriggers, to counterbalance a square platform elevated above the gunwales of the canoe. They handle their paddles differently from any natives I have seen, as they stand upon the thwarts of the outrigger with their faces towards the stern, and in this manner they propel the canoe forward with a motion like that used in sculling; only in sculling the man stands with his back to the bow, and his oar rests in a chock placed in the stern, whereas they have nothing to rest their paddles against, which resemble broad-bladed oars; and the rate they go at is inconceivable.

The men, if we saw a fair sample, are a nobly built powerful race, darker than any other islanders I have seen; but this may perhaps appear from the custom they have of rubbing their bodies and filling their hair with a black powder. In the second canoe that came alongside was a chief of note apparently, and he was exceedingly anxious for me

to go on shore. He continued reiterating, with much earnestness, the word "Trunke, Trunke," and made signs that he would remain on board to answer for my safety. I was about to go; but the captain caught my arm, and earnestly dissuaded me from doing so, as he said he was certain that they only wanted to get me ashore for the purpose of obtaining ransom; and if, after I was gone, the chief jumped overboard and swam to his canoe, they would have no other means of rescuing me. There was reason in this; for if they attempted to shoot the chief for escaping, my fate would be inevitably sealed; I therefore suffered my inclinations to be overruled, much to the mortification of the chief, who bestowed upon the captain a most unmistakable scowl, only to be fully appreciated by those that saw it. This fortified me in my prudential resolution; and I returned, to carry on the best intercourse I could with telegraphic signs. One of the canoes pushed off for the shore, to bring, as they intended, some pigs and more yams and tortoiseshell; but on its return, it only had a few trifling articles in it, and some new faces, who earnestly pointed to the shore, and repeated the exclamation of "Trunke, Trunke." Finding we could make nothing of our intercourse, and determined not to put myself in their power, I hinted thus much to them, when they left us with a sullen air of disappointment and ferocity. We remarked that several of the men had lost their little fingers. The chief was one of Nature's noblemen; he stood nearly seven feet high, and his limbs, athletic in proportion, were beautifully moulded. He

MAKE THE REEF AGAIN.

had cicatrised wounds from musket-balls in two or three places, and I endeavoured to ascertain under what circumstances he had got them, whether in any row with white men; but he pointed to a distant part of Mywolla, wishing me to understand that they had been received in an engagement with an opposite tribe. I doubted it very much; for he pretended ignorance of the nature of a musket, and I detected the shining barrels of several, which were only partially concealed in the bottom of his canoe, and he was evidently familiar with fire-arms. From the bearings of the land, our chronometer, as we stood away again for a fresh trial at the reef, put us twenty-five miles to the westward of our position; but, as before observed, no dependence can be placed upon the bearings laid down on the charts. By a lunar observation, it made our position to the eastward: however, I hope this time we may be more fortunate.

October 5th. – Early this morning we again sighted the reef, and made directly for it. By our chronometer it was in 174 deg. 14' E., differing twenty-six miles from the instructions given us; but I cannot tell at present whether our chronometer is correct. 21 deg. 41' S. is the correct latitude. On one chart in my possession there is a reef laid down in this latitude or nearly so, and in longitude 175 deg. 15' E. By various daily observations, our chronometer still continued to give the reef in 174 deg. 14' E., which tempts me to believe it to be the trite longitude. The placing it in 175 deg. 15' E. may have been a typographical error on the part of the engraver.

The fellow who quitted me at Rotumah, and who had previously navigated the vessel at his own urgent request, on the plea of his knowledge of the seas, made the reef to be in 174 deg. 28' E.; but be concealed his work from every one, and, so far as lay in his power, I believe he did his best to cause us to be wrecked. And why? Because he thought that his services were indispensable. Even had they been so, that circumstance ought to have bound him the more to me, as it was at his own earnest solicitation that he joined us; but it served only as an inducement to throw obstacles in our way. I had reposed the fullest confidence in him, and never thought of inspecting his work, as I never could have surmised the result of his conduct; nor did it strike me as being any thing extraordinary that, previous to our first making the reef, we sailed for several days over and about the spot where he affirmed it should be. Roused to exertion, and to look into matters myself, I speedily acquired sufficient knowledge to detect him in error, as he certainly had left a false rate with the chronometer, whether from design or ignorance I will not say. By the bearings of the land at Mywolla, it was twenty-five miles eastward of what our chronometer gave; and twenty-five miles added to 174 deg. 14' E., will make the longitude within one mile of that given us in the instructions, which was the mean of observations by three chronometers: however, I shall keep the rate we have been applying lately, and ascertain the truth on reaching the first harbour we drop anchor in.

When we were about six miles from the sandspit,

IT FALLS CALM.

the captain had both boats lowered, and carried with him all the seamen, leaving on board only the cook, the cabin-boy, and myself. Shortly after he had left us, it fell dead calm; and it was with some little apprehension that I noticed we were slowly, but gradually, drifting towards the reef. Not a ripple disturbed the surface of the water, and the ocean bore the appearance of undulating glass. The vessel lost her steerage-way, and at last we approached within two miles of the breakers. - The boats and all hands being away, rendered our position somewhat precarious; and I was on the point of firing off the guns, as a signal for their return, when we had the satisfaction to find we had got into a counter currents that was setting us in an opposite direction. The boats came on board about two o'clock P. M., and the hands having refreshed themselves they started off again. The calm continued, not a breath of air was stirring, and, towards sunset, we had drifted nearly out of sight of the reef; no boats made their appearance, the sun went down, and the reef was no longer visible. The night closed upon us very dark, and one, two, three hours passed away, and the boats did not appear, whilst we were helplessly drifting to where the current liked to take us. My sensations were by no means enviable; for, if the boats missed us, and it should afterwards come on to blow – the usual sequence of such a calm – what a plight we should all be in! we had not strength to work the vessel, and those in the boats would probably be lost. We kept a light burning at our fore-topgallant mast-head, and we fired guns, and let off

rockets at intervals; still no boats, and not a sound could we hear in answer to our firing. The deep silence of the night, the profound calm, and dead repose of every thing, was absolutely painful; and my anxiety increased as the chances of their arrival decreased. Once more we fired. This time, to my great thankfulness, a responding shout came booming over the water, as if a legion of bulls had conspired to raise the cry; showing, at all events, that the anxiety of the boating parties was little less than ours. We continued exchanging halloos until one boat only came alongside, all hands sufficiently comfortable. They had seen nothing of their consort. Whilst I was expressing my fears and anxiety, she also came alongside, having approached us in a different direction. Her crew was also glorious. It appeared they had been detained for the want of water, assuredly not for want of beer. The tide had enabled them to get in easily enough, but they were compelled to wait till half-flood before they could get out again with the boats laden.

I omitted to notice, when we had the navigator par excellence on board, the astonishment excited in me by the wonderful influence of the current in the space of twenty-four hours. Although we had been steering S., and S. by E., we had made seventy miles westing; but now the murder was out. On casually turning over the pages of the memorandum-book before alluded to, I discovered that our scientific genius had been in the habit of subtracting the daily gain from the original error of the chronometer, although that error was too fast for Greenwich; so that, accord-

WESTERLY CURRENT ACCOUNTED FOR.

ing to his system, we should soon have had no error at all. I heard the little master arguing; with him upon the subject, and it seemed to me that the theory maintained by the other was erroneous; but concluding that a man of his vaunted experience could not be mistaken, the question ceased to trouble me. On coming now to look into matters for myself, and inquiring into causes and effects, by lighting on this chance memorandum it turned out that, on the day we made such a wonderful jump to the westward, our worthy had covertly become a convert to his error, and, without in any way alluding to the circumstance, made the necessary alteration, which naturally placed us so much further to the westward, but which he vehemently maintained was the effect of the current. There are currents it is true, but they appear to have no direct set; they are ever varying, and we have had ample opportunity of testing their inconstancy. We have had the current northerly, easterly, at other times westerly, and again we have had it southerly, in fact it has boxed all round the compass in the same latitude and longitude, and baffled all our calculations; and unless there is in these troubled regions some submarine action of fire to influence the waters, I am at a loss how to account for its instability.

October 21th. – On the evening of this day, in consequence of the unmanageable conduct of the crew, who would persist in getting drunk in spite of all remonstrance, and notwithstanding the dangerous proximity to the reef we were compelled to maintain, with much reluctance, I own, I came to the resolu-

tion of abandoning it. For three and twenty days had we been standing off and on – off at night, and making it again in the morning. We had contrived to get out of the brig all the beef that was in good condition and which was the only valuable part of the cargo; but if dependence could have been placed upon the men, we should have likewise recovered her anchors, cables, guns, sails, and other gear; but so much bottled ale lying loose in the hold offered such facilities for getting drunk, that sailor-like, the men could not resist it, and the lives of all hands were repeatedly endangered by their recklessness. In bringing off the beef some chance of escape might have offered if the boats had got swamped, as there was the capability of starting the goods overboard; but a similar occurrence happening when the boats were laden with guns, anchors, chains, &c., the weight would have prevented the possibility of lightening them, and they would have been settled beyond the power of redemption. We might have constructed a raft; but this would have required the calmest weather, for the weather that would have admitted of our bringing it off would not have suffered the vessel to come near the reef. And supposing we had made a raft, we might have waited long enough, and perhaps to no purpose, for the chance of getting it away: for the water is shoal over a long extent of coral reef, and the rolling swell that usually plays upon it would have baffled any attempts to have got the raft over it. Besides, it would have taken many days to have got all in readiness, which might have proved expensive, and labour thrown away; and

BAY OF ISLANDS ALMOST DESERTED.

above all, there was the drunkenness of the men to combat with; so, in reflecting upon the whole, I came to the resolution of abandoning further exertions. It had been my intention to have cruised amongst the islands for tortoiseshell, &c. until I reached Manilla or Macao; but so much time had been lost, and so much unexpected delay occasioned by the working at the reef, that I feared to encounter the changing of the Monsoon in the China seas, and, by attempting too much, lose all. Solacing myself with the reflection that I had used my utmost exertions, and hoping still to dispose favourably of every thing, we now stood for the Bay of Islands.

November 11th. – At four o'clock A. M. this day, we were beating between the heads; and at about nine, the wind falling light, I landed in a boat at Tapeka Point. From there I walked over to Kororarika, and was struck with the apparent solitude of the place. Scarcely an individual was to be seen; the place seemed deserted, and business suspended; silence had usurped the place of noise, bustle, and activity, that prevailed the last time I was there; and instead of the crowd of shipping that used generally to be at anchor off the town, the government brig, and one or two small coasting craft were all that could be seen. No improvements had taken place; and works I had seen in progress had been abandoned. "Something ails it now, the place is cursed;" but I don't see how it could have been expected otherwise, the whalers were the only means of keeping up any commercial activity, and the government impositions have driven them away.

Is it not extraordinary that we, who have colonies immediately upon the whaling grounds, should yet be beaten out of the field by the Yankees, who have to come a distance of from 16,000 to 18,000 miles? I am acquainted with the son of a gentleman who was formerly one of the largest owners of whalers out of Sydney, He served his apprenticeship on board one of his father's vessels; and amongst other remarks, the fruits of his experience, he stated that one of the most expensive items in the outfit of a whaler was her casks. The English casks are made of very stout oaken staves and heading, the latter being particularly so, and are long and narrow, with a great booge and depth of chime, bad to stow, occupying much unnecessary room, and not only difficult, but dangerous to up-end and cooper in heavy weather. The Yankee casks are built like a drum, the staves not much above half the thickness of ours, and the heads made of well seasoned pine: in consequence, they don't cost half the price, stow in much less room, the strain on each cask is more equally divided, and, as they have no more chime than is absolutely necessary, not only is there so much space saved, but the chimes stand less chance of being broken, and can be coopered without danger in any weather; and, from the jointing of the staves and beading being finer than that of the English casks, owing to the great thickness of the latter, they are less liable to loss by leakage. John Bull, amongst the operatives, is particularly pig-headed and wedded to his own opinion; he will not believe that a Yankee can teach him anything: and the captain of an English

AUCKLAND IMPROVED, BUT CASH SHORT.

whaler would rather pride himself on, and boast of, the greater expense of his outfit, than try and lessen that expense by taking a wrinkle from a Yankee.

I strolled down the beach to renew acquaintance with faces I had formerly known; but nearly all had deserted for Waitematta, the seat of government, and "nothing was moving but stagnation." In the evening I pulled up the Kawakawa, where the Yankee whalers resort. Only two were there, and the acting American consul was absent, his affairs being in difficulty; and I was compelled to abandon the hope I had formed of exchanging supplies for bone, oil, &c. No business was stirring, and money was not to be had. We waited in the bay for a few days, to admit of repairs being done to the vessel; and, whilst these were going on with, a vessel arrived, bringing most melancholy intelligence of the state of the market in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, – scarcely a house but what was in difficulty, and many firms deemed infallible had called a meeting of creditors. This distressing account altered my views, and I cleared out for Waitematta and the island of Otaheite, intending to meet the whalers about the time they would be seeking the harbour of the latter island, and to be guided thereafter by the chapter of accidents.

November 22nd. – Dropped anchor opposite the town of Auckland Waitematta: however, before coming to our anchorage, we grounded on a soft sand or mud-bank on the north shore. The water having suddenly shoaled whilst they were heaving the lead,

from five fathoms to ten feet, we had to wait till high water before we floated again, and sustained no injury. Auckland had assumed an improved appearance; new and neat-looking stores and houses had superseded the straggling buildings of the composite order, between Maori hut and Irish hovel. Streets had been formed (many of which, by the by, will have to be laid out anew, their unwholesome narrowness engendering filth of every description); and in front of many of the houses were patches of garden ground clothed with verdure. But business – business – was in the same desponding state; most of the settlers had exhausted their capital in the purchase of their allotments and the erection of their dwellings, and now they were without cash to carry on business, or to liquidate the liabilities they had incurred. The saying, that "fools build houses, and wise men inhabit them," seems equally to apply in new countries as in old. When the government first planned Auckland, and put up building allotments for public competition, certain officials and land-sharks from Port Nicholson purchased all they could at the first flush, upon speculation; and subsequently dividing and subdividing their purchases, have sold their divisions at such ruinous rates as to tie the hands of the artisans and petty traders. Any one coming into the market now, with plenty of money, might buy house-property cheap enough.

Having effected what sales I could, my old travelling companion of the East Cape joined me; and "Little Tom," the master, not wishing to extend his absence from his wife, whom he had left in delicate

NEAR TAHITI.

circumstances, I engaged another in his place; and, on November 27th, we left Waitematta for the Great Barrier, to allow the new master to collect his traps which he had left on that island. As we neared the land, a thick mist enshrouded it; and not thinking it safe to make the harbour till it cleared away, we stood off and on till four o'clock A. M.

November 28th, when we came to our anchor in Port Abercrombie, at the west end of the island. The harbour is completely land-locked, circular as a basin; no winds can affect it, as it is shut in, and surrounded by Alpine cliffs. On entering the harbour, we got the south-east end of the Little Barrier, to bear W. half N., and run in E. half S. The Westernmost headland, as you enter, is called Wellington Head, from the semblance, real or imaginary, it bears to that hero's profile. A captain Nayle has fixed his solitary abode in this secluded bay, and contemplates opening a copper-mine in the island, veritable specimens of valuable ore having been detected. As he was not present, I did not hear the particulars; but from the superficial glance I had at the rugged character of the island, I should think the operations of mining and transporting the ores for shipment would be found an expensive undertaking.

November 29th. – Again purchased our anchor, and are now on our way for Tahiti.

December 31st. – Our passage has been tediously prolonged by a succession of head-winds. To-day we sighted the islands of Raiatea and Huaheine, which lie in a W. N. W. direction, 100 to 140 miles from Tahiti; we passed to leeward of them. They

[End of New Zealand sections digitised]

Conditions of Use

By their use of these ebooks, texts and images, users agree to follow these conditions of use:

These ebooks, texts and images may not be used for any commercial purpose without permission from the University of Auckland Library.

These ebooks, texts and images may not be re-published in print or electronic form without permission from the University of Auckland Library. However, educators are welcome to print out items and hand them to their students.

Users are not permitted to download our ebooks, texts, and images in order to mount them on their own servers for public use or for use by a set of subscribers. Individuals and institutions can, of course, make a link to the copies at ENZB, subject to our conditions of use. It is not in our interest or that of our users to have uncontrolled subsets of our holdings available elsewhere on the Internet. We make corrections, add tags, add images, etc. on a continual basis, and we want the most current text to be the only one generally available to all Internet users.

These texts can potentially be used as the basis for additional TEI tagging or for some other etext or ebook project, but we ask that you let us know before you start, so that we can coordinate work on that text and make sure that we are not working on it simultaneously. We would like a copy of the improved text for our collections.

Request for permission form