Adventure in New Zealand, from 1839 to 1844 : with some account of the beginning of the British colonization of the islands

Chapter I

Early History of New Zealand — Tasman, 1642 — Cook, 1769 — Church Mission, 1814 — Magistrates appointed — Wesleyan Mission, 1822 — Travellers and their books — Visit of Hongi to England, 1820 — Baron de Thierry — New Zealand Company of 1825 — " Land-sharking" and straggling colonization — Hongi' s fire-arnis— Bloodshed and depopulation — Captain Stewart and Rauperaha — Letter of Thirteen Chiefs to William IV., 1831 — British Resident — Continuation of wars — Declaration of Independence and Recognition of Flag, 1835 — Absurdities— New Zealand Association of 1837 — Negotiations with Government — Hostility of Mr. Dandeson Coates — Offer by Lord Glenelg of a Charter to the Association — Refused : why — Mr. Baring's Bill, 1838 — New Zealand Land Company of 1839 — Its views — Colonel Wakefield appointed to take charge of Preliminary Expedition — I resolve to accompany him . . . Page 1

Chapter II

Departure from Plymouth — Passengers — Voyage — First sight of New Zealand — Cook's Strait — Queen Charlotte's Sound — Ship Cove — Natives — Village — Wretched houses — Dispute with Natives — Reconciliation — European settlement — Messenger sent — Returns with two Englishmen — Mountains — Forest — Scenery of Queen Charlotte's Sound — Tory Channel — Native Pa, or Fort— H. M. B. Pelorus — Te-awa-iti — Richard Barrett— Tribes of Cook's Strait — Proprietorship of land unsettled — Vague notions of Natives — Plan of Native Reserves as real payment 19

Chapter III

The Whaling-town — Try-works — Joseph Toms— History of Te-awa-iti — Foundation — Hardships — Progress — Wages of whalers — Summer life — Jealousies — Lawlessness — Hospitality — Cleana CONTENTS. IV liness— Native whale-boats — Wretched houses and food — Boat expedition — Tide-rip — Jack Guard — His perilous adventures in 1834— H. M.S. Alligator— Port Gore— Admiralty Bay — Wild cattle — Estuary of the Pelorus — Bivouac — Ducks — Tree ferns — Teal — Tributary Natives — Pigeons — Precautions — Rapids — Canoe — Horror of brandy — Old Pa — Phormium tenax — Scraping — Guard's Island — A sacred Chief — Gale— Arrival at the ship — Climate — Illness of Natives — Departure for Port Nicholson — Shores of Cook's Strait 44

Chapter IV

Entrance of Port Nicholson — Warepori and Epuni — History of the tribe — Missionary notions — Talk about land — Tangi, or crying — Nayti — Excursion round harbour — Speeches as to sale of land— Native cookery — Mocking-bird — Discussions — Sham-fighting — The purchase — Opposition — Vague notions of Natives as to ownership of land — No title but occupancy — Distribution of payment — Signature of deed — Nicknames — The Huia — Fish — Native hook — Preparations for rejoicing — Gathering — Dress — War-dance — Haka, or recitative — Feast ■ — Contentment of Natives — Nomenclature — Our satisfaction — Sanguine prospects — Intentions towards Natives — Hostility of Native missionaries — Reasons ......... 70

Chapter V

Port Underwood in Cloudy Bay — Angry Natives — Peace restored — Whaling-stations — Fishing — We sail for Te-awa-iti — Fighting Bay — We cross the strait to Kapiti— Islets near it — Battle of Waikanae — Funeral feast — Rauperaha — His appearance — His history — Hongi's wars — The Kawia tribe — Te Pehi Kupe — Invasion of Cook's Strait — The contending tribes — Immense slaughter — Allies — Siege and capture of Kapiti — Extermination of Aborigines — Visit of Te Pehi to England — His return and death — Rauperaha 's revenge— His White coadjutors — He acquires influence — Opposes the Ngatiawa — His unbounded treachery — His behaviour to White men — Rangihaeata assists him in marauding — Whaling-stations — Waikanae village — Wounded and dead— Rauperaha on board — Hiko — Negotiations for sale of land — News from Sydney — Quarrel among chiefs — CONTENTS.

V Threats — Reconciliation — The deed signed — Raupera/ia's rapacity — Gale of wind — Mana, or Table Island — East Bay in Queen Charlotte's Sound — Funeral of trader at Te-awa-ili — Ne gotiations for land — Another deed — Scramble — Extent of rights now acquired — Return to Kapiti — Land-buyers from Sydney — War-canoes — Warepori and Rauperaha — Wanganui chiefs — A warrior — Rauperaha repudiates his bargain . . . 105

Chapter VI

Search for Wanganui river — Appearance of country — The chief E Kuru lands — Coast — Tonga Riro and Mount Egmont — Sugar-loaf Islands — Surf — Native greetings- — Barrett and Doctor Dieffenbach land — False Hokianga — Hokianga — Signals — Pilot — European Settlements — Nature of country — Wesleyan mission — Mr. Bumby, a worthy missionary — Kauri timber — Natives tamed, but not civilized — Lieutenant Macdonnell's establishment — Vineyard — Baron de Thierry — Colonel Wakefield buys title-deeds of Wairau near Cloudy Bay — Our shipwreck outside Kaipara — A cool man-of-war's man — Perils in a boat — Estuary of Kaipara — Bivouac — Mosquitoes — The Navarino — A sailor's hospitality — The Tory is hove down — Colonel Wakefield proceeds to Bay of Islands — Wairoa river — Mr. Symonds — Country about Kaipara —Mr. White, a missionary and " land-shark" — The Guide arrives ■ — Mr. John Blackett — Dr. Dorset and I embark in the Guide — Dangers — A whaler at sea— Navigation — Sugar-loaf Islands — Moturoa — Barrett's adventures— Mr. White — His letters — The view from Sugar-loaf Peak— Dangerous situation of the Guide — Our dormitory — Twelve days on a rocky islet — Missionary hostility — Native language as manufactured by the missionaries — Punishment of adultery — Keturn of the Guide — Two deeds signed — Preparations for a skirmish — Mediation — Barracoota fishing — Arrival at Port Nicholson 144

Chapter VII

Shipping and tents insight— We land — Greetings— Colonel Wakefield's journey — Overland path — Roman Catholic converts— Kororareka in the Bay of Islands — Hire of the Guide and her crew — Port Hardy — Native raillery— D'Urville's Island— Voyage in whale-boat — Welcome by natives — Arrival of emigrants — Rivals in buying land -Mr. Tod — The Rev. Henry Williams — Richard Davis, the native missionary — Dispute between missions — The CONTENTS. VI massacre of Puakawa— Sincere regrets— Colonists from Australia Authority of Native chiefs employed against lawless White men — First squatting — Good class of colonists— The settlement like an extensive pic-nic — Friendliness of the Natives— Their first doubts and fears — How removed — Native-built house, or ware— The tent of an Eastern traveller— The hut of an Austra lian " over-lander " — Cattle from Sydney — Proclamation by the Governor of New South Wales against further land-sharking— Committee of colonists— Why and how formed — Provisional Constitution— Agreement— Flood— TheCuba— Weather— Squa dron arrives— Bank — Salute — Canoe procession — Ratification of Constitution by Native chiefs 184

Chapter VIII

An exploring journey — The " boys " pack their loads — Farewell — Porirua — Parramatta — Waikawa — Nayti — Failure of the attempt to civilize him — Potato-grounds — Pukerua — Madman — Kumera, or sweet potato — Melons — Coast — Waikanae — Village of the Wanganui chief — Pukeko shooting — Native houses —Night alarm — Whalers and Natives at Kapiti — Gratitude for books — Shark's tooth — Canoe voyage — Karaka-nuts — Coast — Surf — Wangaihu river — Pumice-stone— E Kuru — Wanganui river — Encampment — Speeches — Putikiwaranui — Head chiefs — Vestiges of Rev. Henry Williams — Fishing fleet — Fishing villages — Eagerness to sell land — Native mats — Dishonesty reproved — Land-mark — Cliffy shore — Waitotara — Suspicion — A tutua, or" plebeian" tribe — Missionary calumnies — Valley — Fishing - weir — Lampreys — Tedious travelling — Wenuakura, or " land of plumage " — Hospitality — Crowding — Tihoe pa — Patea — Robbery — Utu, or payment — Threats — Restitution — I am obliged to return — Parrots — Open plains — Religious scruples exaggerated — Excursion up the Wanganui — Scenery — Village — Return to Wangaihu — Camp — Fleet of canoes — Rangitikei river — Eels — Native gluttony — Prayers at sea — Festival at Waikanae — Shipping at Kapiti— Whale-boat journey — Mana— Rangihaeata— Carving — We go on to Pitone . . 216

Chapter IX

House built by Natives — Manuka wood — Stock from Australia- Horses— Arrival of Captain Hobson at the Bay of Islands CONTENTS. VII Council — Newspaper — Appointments — Harmony interrupted by a stranger — The Rev. Henry Williams — Proceedings of the Lieutenant-Governor at the Bay of Islands — Mr. Williams sent to extend them to Cook's Strait — Mr. Williams's selfish views — Clergymen arrive from England — Settlers in the valley of the Hutt — Cheerful progress — Politics — Contentment — Thorndon — Dicky Barrett— New South Wales land-sharks — The Surprise schooner — Voyage to Wanganui — E Kuru's joy — Arrival — The Rev. Messrs. Williams and Hadfield — Cession of sovereignty — Delusion— Gathering of tribes — Purchase of Wanganui — Conference — Authority of a head chief — Deed signed — Distri bution — Greediness — Scramble — Fears — Anger of E Kuru — Homai no homai, or a " gift for a gift " — Freshet — Return to Port Nicholson 270

Chapter X

Town of " Britannia " — English boy killed by native — Harmony undisturbed — Fire of " Cornish Row " — Earthquake — Notice to inhabitants to drill — Lieutenant Shortland, the Colonial Secretary, arrives with troops — Burlesque pomposity of a constable — Proclamation of British sovereignty— British loyalty and good feeling — Mounted policemen — Brutality — Laws of a penal colony — Mr. Tod excites Natives against the settlers — They begin to repudiate — Change in feelings of Natives — The chiefs offended by the Government authorities — News from the Bay of Islands — Riot of Natives quelled by military — Survey — I postpone my return to England ........ 294

Chapter XI

A colonist hires a whaling-station — Porirua — Native custom of plunder — H. M. S. Herald — Kapiti — The whalers — Ingredients of the class — Character — Knowledge — Early history- — Savage intercourse between shipping and Natives — -Mr. Marsden brought convicts to New Zealand — Sealers of the south — Foundation of whaling settlements in Cook's Strait — Perils — Increase in strength — Precarious commerce — Social arrangements- — Articles — Laws of the Bay — The season — Ranks — Whaling argot, or " slang " — Preparations — The boats — The tackle — Words of CONTENTS. VIII command — Works on shore — Officers — Native wives, or wahine —A whale signalled— The chase — Stratagems — A new hand — "Making fast" — Running — She "sounds" — The headsman — Killing a whale — -The " flurry " — Towing home — Orgies — Hos pitality — A whaler's house— Cleanliness — The " old man " — His boat — Discipline of whalers — Courage — Dispute between whalers and Rauperaha — Improvement among Natives owing to whalers —Bad qualities acquired from the same source — The whalers the first pioneers — Their life in the new settlements — Sawyers — Traders — "Beach-combers" — List of whaling-stations in 1844— Statistics — Inexpediency of shore-whaling — The whalers might have become buccaneers — Disorderly whalers — Industrious carpenter — Wareho fishing . . ... . . 308

Chapter XII

Company's store-ships — Major Bunbury's expedition in H. M. S. Herald — Proclamation of British sovereignty in Stewart's and Middle Islands — Rauperaha and Rangihaeata sign the cession of sovereignty — Cattle at Cloudy Bay — Public meeting — Colonel Wakefield deputed to present address to the Lieutenant-Governor — News from England — Plymouth Company of New Zealand — Sanguine hopes — Purchase of the Chatham Islands — Selection of town-lands — New Zealand Land Bill of New South Wales — Inconsistencies in government — Mr. Busby— Panic of settlers — A trip to the Manawatu river — Level country — Ship-building — Morose chief — Ascent of the river by a trader — Its course — ■ Return to Port Nicholson — The Chilian project — Return of Colonel Wakefield with the answer of the Lieutenant-Governor — Deputation to Sir George Gipps — The towns in the North- French expedition — Its object frustrated — Second riot at the Bay of Islands — Disturbance at Port Nicholson— Proclamation of Lieutenant Shortland — His offensive pomposity — His undignified conduct — A bullock-driver — Settlers drowned at Pitone— Affectionate Natives — Exploring expedition towards Mount Egmont 344

Chapter XIII

Journey to Otaki— Troublesome natives — Waikawa — Natives deceive and rob us— Firmness procures restitution — Manawatu — CONTENTS. IX Rangitikei — Scarcity of food — Timid natives — Fine country — Cold — Fording rivers — Wanganui — Greetings— E Kuru gives me a house — His chieftain-like treatment of his inferiors — New Zealand slaves— Missionaries— Native feud— Battle of Waitotara —Ship-building — Confirmation of the purchase — Return to Ka piti— Walk to Pi'towe— Harmlessness of night-air . .371

Chapter XIV

Ships arrive from Sydney — Arrival of Mr. Murphy as Police Magistrate — Departure of the Colonial Secretary — Straggling news from the north — Death of Mr. Bumby — Progress of Britannia — Club — Country lands — Mr. Bidwill — " Captain " Williams — Hire of a schooner — Cloudy Bay — Suspicious death of Mr. Wilton — Queen Charlotte's Sound— Wild cattle hunting on Kapiti — Expedition of the Brougham with Mr. Murphy and the soldiers — Want of a Coroner and Jury — Licences — Discontent of whalers — Advantages of barter with good natives at Wanganui . 391

Chapter XV

News from the north — Selection of Capital — H.M.S. Favourite — Secret calumnies against Port Nicholson — Abstraction of labourers by Government — The burlesque foundation of Auckland — Mr. Felton Mathew's epaulettes — Sawyers' activity — Absence of Police Magistrate- — News from England — New Zealand Church Society — Wool — The name of the town changed to " Welling- " ton"— Return of the deputation from Sydney— Concessions made by Sir George Gipps — Ill-humour of Captain Hobson — The Rev. Mr. Churton — Flour-ships from Valparaiso — Health Officer appointed— Harbour-master paid by the Company— Preliminary expedition of the Plymouth Company. — Lord Eliot advocates the cause of New Zealand in the House of Commons — Grief for the death of Lord Durham — Statesmen and colonists — Abstraction of labour for neighbouring colonies— Plain of the Wairarapa — Arrival of a Wesleyan Missionary — Christmas at Kapiti — Plunder of a wreck near Wanganui — Ascent of the Wanganui — Rapids —Canoe-song — E Kuru and his guests — Open house at Wanganui — A feudal retinue — Gale of wind— Drift out to sea — Roman Catholic Bishop— A " happy New Year " — Hopes and fears — Merry disputes between higher and lower classes— Anniversary fete — Injudicious missionary injunctions 408 b CONTENTS. X

Chapter XVI

Official crimping of labourers — Withdrawal of the troops from Wellington — Once employed — Surprise of colonists — Anger — Notice against occupation of lands— Sir John Franklin reproves crimping— The New Plymouth pioneers — Public meeting — Petition for the recall of Captain Hobson — Why sent home informally — Mr. Petre — Mr. Sinclair — Increasing trade with the natives — Working Men's Land Association— Lady Franklin . . 436

Chapter XVII

The Sandfly — Joseph Toms — Tory Channel — We meet the Brougham — Foundation of New Plymouth — Calm night — Wanganui bar — Curious effects of mist— Native news — Progress of the European settlement — -Lawless vagabonds — Fears of a war-party, or taua — Determination to reconnoitre — Pleasant journey with a fleet of canoes — Gaiety of the natives — Exaggerated gravity of a missionary — -Rapids — E Kuru's political dilemma —Fortified villages — Spies — Doubts — Encampment — First view of the war-party — Their camp — Speeches — The patriarch Heuheu — Interview with him — Pukihika pa — The war-party at the settlement — Good faith — Native guards ..... 446

Chapter XVIII

Ne« Zealand is made a separate colony — The New Zealand Company is Chartered — Reconciled with the Government — Lord John Russell's Agreement of 1840— A Bishop of New Zealand is appointed — Magistrates are appointed — Abuse of authority by the Police — Address of the Magistrates to the Governor — West of England colonists— Mr. Halswell — Company's roads — Wreck- Plunder by natives— Party of volunteers— Stagnation in the Government settlements — "Hobson's coming!"— The Harbourmaster is discharged — Wish for a Municipal Corporation — Progress of Wellington— Cattle-driving— Mr. Bell, the Scotch farmer — He drives the first herd to Wanganui — Sale of townallotments at Auckland ....... ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND.

Chapter I

Early History of New Zealand— Tasman, 1642— Cook, 1769— Church Mission, 1814 — Magistrates appointed — Wesleyan Mission, 1822 — Travellers and their books — Visit of Hongi to England, 1820— Baron de Thierry — New Zealand Company of 1825 — "Land-sharking" and straggling colonization — Hongi's fire-arms — Bloodshed and depopulation — Captain Stewart and Rauperaha — Letter of Thirteen Chiefs to William IV., 1831 — British Resident — Continuation of wars — Declaration of Independence and Recognition of Flag, 1835 — Absurdities— New Zealand Association of 1837 — Negotiations with Government — Hostility of Mr. Dandeson Coates — Offer by Lord Glenelg of a Charter to the Association — Refused : why — Mr. Baring's Bill, 1838 — New Zealand Land Company of 1839 — Its views — Colonel Wakefield appointed to take charge of Preliminary Expedition — I resolve to accompany him.

In order that parts of the subsequent narrative should not be misunderstood, it is necessary to furnish a brief statement of circumstances relating to New Zealand previous to the expedition and events which it is my object to narrate. The islands of New Zealand were first seen by Tas man in 1642 ; but he was prevented from landing by a conflict with the natives, in which he lost four men. Until 1769, New Zealand was supposed to form part. of the great Terra.' Australis Incognita : but in that year, Captain Cook circumnavigated and surveyed the two principal islands, gave his own name to the Strait by which they are separated, landed at various places, VOL. I. B Chap. I. ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. 2 and took formal possession of the country, in pursuance of the following instructions : — " You are also, with " the consent of the natives, to take possession, in the " name of the King of Great Britain, of convenient " situations in such countries as you may discover, that " have not already been discovered or visited by any " European power ; and to distribute among the inha " bitants such things as will remain as traces and tes '•' timonies of your having been there ; but if you find " that the countries so discovered are uninhabited, you "are to take possession of them for His Majesty, by '" setting up proper marks and inscriptions as first dis " coverers and possessors."

Cook suggested the regular colonization of New Zealand ; but no attempt was made to carry his recommendation into effect, though many schemes for the purpose were formed by various persons, including Dr. Franklin. In the Parliamentary debates which led to the es tablishment of New South Wales in 1788, New Zea land was mentioned as very suitable for an experiment of penal colonization, and narrowly escaped through a terror of its savage inhabitants and their cannibalism. In course of time, however, the frequent visits of whaling-ships to the coasts led to such intercourse be tween Europeans and the natives, as suggested to the Rev. Samuel Marsden, Colonial Chaplain of New South Wales, the project of establishing at the Bay of Islands a mission of the Church Missionary Society. In 1814, this benevolent scheme was carried into effect by Mr. Marsden himself, under the sanction of the Governor of New South Wales, who issued a proclamation on the occasion ; whereby he declared himself " equally solicitous to protect the natives of New Zea land and the Bay of Islands in all their just rights Chap. I. EARLY HISTORY— MISSIONS. 3 " and privileges, as those of every other dependency of " the territory of New South Wales ;" gave various orders and directions ; appointed Mr. Thomas Kendal, the first missionary, " resident magistrate at the Bay " of Islands ;" extended the orders and directions to the adjacent isles, and appointed three natives, Duaterra, Shunghee, and Korokoro, to be magistrates.

In 1819, Mr. Leigh, a missionary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society stationed in New South Wales, was induced by Mr. Marsden to visit the Bay of Islands for the sake of his health ; in lb22 he returned thither with his wife; and in 1823, Messrs. White and Turner joined him at the Church Missionary station, whence they proceeded to found a station of their own at JVangaroa, north of the Bay of Islands. These gentlemen endured great hardships, dangers, and priva tions among the turbulent natives of those parts, with but little success in their endeavours, for four years from this time. I shall hereafter dwell more minutely upon the doubts, struggles, and ultimate progress of this second missionary enterprise. The country was now visited by travellers who pub lished their observations. The works of Mr. Nicholas, who had accompanied Mr. Marsden to New Zealand, of Mr. Savage,* and Major Cruises especially, together with the periodical reports of the Church Mis sionary Society relating to New Zealand, had a con siderable effect in England in removing the impressions of fear which had been made by the savage character of the natives.

This result was further promoted by * ' Some Account of New Zealand, ' by John Savage, Esq., Surgeon. London, 1807. j" ' Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand,' by R. A. Cruise, Esq., Major in the 84th Regiment of Foot. London, .,<--d824. B Chap. I. 4 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. a visit of two chiefs, Hongi* and JJraikato, who ac companied Mr. Kendal to England in 1820, and who so artfully adapted themselves to the predilections of the circles into which they were introduced, as to pass for perfect and very devout Christians. Among other places at which Hongi and Waikato were exhibited as Christian converts was the Univer sity of Cambridge. Here, by means of Mr. Kendal, they became acquainted with Baron de Thierry, a Frenchman by birth. They led the Baron to enter tain the hope of acquiring extensive territories and rights of chieftainship in New Zealand ; and Mr. Kendal undertook to act as his agent for that purpose in the islands.

This circumstance deserves notice, as having laid the foundation of the attempt made by the French Government in 1840 to establish a penal settle ment in the Middle Island. Mr. Kendal received the sum of seven hundred pounds from Baron de Thierry as the intended purchase-money of lands ; and, in 1822, effected a purchase, of which I afterwards heard the particulars. In 1825, a Company was formed in London for the purpose of establishing a s it was composed of the foil George Lyall, Esq. Stewart Marjokibanks, a settlement in New Zealand : following members : — J. W. Buckle, Esq. (ks, Ralph Fenwick, Esq. Jas. Pattison, Esq. Lord Hatherton. A. W. Robarts, Esq. i. George Varlo, Esq. Anthony Gordon, Esq. John Dixon, Esq. imonly mis-spelt Shunghee, Shonghee, The natives cannot pronounce sh. Esq. George Palmer, Esq. Colonel Torrens.

The Earl of Durham. Edward Ellice, Esq. The Hon. Courtenay Boyle. * This name has been commonly mis-spelt Shunghee, Shonghee, -or Shongie, in former works. The natives cannot pronounce sh. Chap. I. COMPANY OF 1825— "LAND-SHARKING." 5 The views of this Company were submitted to Mr. Huskisson, then President of the Board of Trade ; who highly approved of the undertaking, and promised them the grant of a Royal Charter in case their pre liminary expedition should accomplish its object : but the expedition was confided to incompetent manage ment ; its leader was alarmed by a war-dance of the natives, performed, there is every reason to believe, as a mark of welcome ; and he abandoned his task after purchasing some land at Hokianga and in the Frith of the Thames. The very ideas which belong to contracts for the transfer of land as private property had been unknown to the natives until 1814, when Mr. Marsden, desirous of obtaining a site for the first missionary establishment according to the forms of European law, carried with him a technical deed of feoffment prepared by lawyers at Sydney.

This instrument, when its blanks for the names of places were filled up, was signed by the mark of certain chiefs in consideration of a trifling payment. It became the model of a vast number of contracts for the sale of land to Europeans, into which natives were induced to enter by the number of Whites who now straggled into New Zealand from the neighbouring colonies, from French, American, and British shipping, and even from England. This mode of acquiring land from savages is now well known as land sharking ; a name which implies preying on the weak ness of childish ignorance. Although the natives were even unconscious of the purport of the deeds which they executed, because they had not even conceived the idea of private property in land according to European notions, they neverthe less set great store by the European goods paid to them for signing the deeds.

Of these commodities ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. I. 6 muskets and gunpowder formed the principal item. During the residence of Hongi and Waikato in Eng land, their attention was steadily directed to the acqui sition of fire-arms. Hongi had no sooner returned home with Mr. Kendal than he armed his own tribe, and its allies, with the warlike presents which he had received in England ; and, throwing aside the mask of Christian meekness which he had worn in this country, he appeared in his true character of an ambitious and bloodthirsty warrior. His superior weapons gave him an immense advantage over the tribes which he at tacked in all directions from the seat of his own tribe near the Bay of Islands. Besides a bloody raid to the northward, which had the effect of ruining for a time the Wesleyan mission at JVangaroa, he directed all his strength against the powerful JJ^aikato tribes which inhabited the western coast of the North Island, be tween Kaipara and JVaikato.

These, after a bloody struggle of about two years' duration, were driven from their home. Turning to the southward in search of a new location, they employed against weaker tribes the skill and hardihood which they had acquired in resisting Hongi ; and these, again, being driven from their abode, attacked and either exterminated or drove out other tribes still more to the southward. The Waikato, expelled by Hongi and the Ngapuhi tribes, in their turn expelled the Ngatitoa tribes inhabiting Kawia and Mokau ; who again, being led by the chiefs Te Pehi and Rauperaha, advanced upon the northern shore of Cook's Strait, crossed the sea into the Middle Island, and extended their ravages as far as Otako, almost exterminating the abori ginal inhabitants in their progress. The waves of destruction, to which Hongi with his muskets gave the first impulse, passed over nearly the whole Chap. I. HONGPS WARS— DEPOPULATION. 7 length of New Zealand, a distance of more than seven hundred miles.

The population of the North Island was thinned and scattered ; and that of the Middle Island destroyed, with the exception of a miserable remnant. In one of these wholesale massacres of men, women, and children, which was remarkable for extreme treachery and cruelty, Rauperaha received the most efficient aid from an English savage of the name of Stewart. Some particulars of this horrible event will be related hereafter ; at present it suffices to state, that the wretch was tried for murder at Sydney, but acquitted. If British law had been established in the country where the event took place, he would inevi tably have been convicted and hanged. The whole case is one of many. The irregular settlement of Eu ropeans, which was now making rapid progress, led to numerous instances of crime for which no punishment could be inflicted.

In addition to the spectacle of savage warfare in its most destructive excess, the country exhibited that of perfect anarchy as respects the European settlers. Such a state of things urgently required some remedy. It would be difficult to conceive one more inefficient than that which was applied. In 1831 there was transmitted to the King, William the Fourth, a letter signed with the names or marks of thirteen chiefs, residing in the immediate neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, whereby they prayed his Majesty "to " become their friend, and the guardian of these islands, " lest the teasing of other tribes should come near to " them, and lest strangers should come and take away " their land ;" and also " to be angry with such of " his people as might be vicious or troublesome " towards the natives.

Chap. I. ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. 8 The application was transmitted by the Rev. Wil liam Yate, then head of the mission in New Zealand, and supported by the managers of the Church Mis sionary Society in England, who have for many years enjoyed an influence at the Colonial Office, not the less for being exercised in secret ; and accordingly Lord Goderich, then the Colonial Minister, wrote to the thirteen chiefs, granting their request in the name of the King. Instructions were at the same time trans mitted to the Governor of New South Wales, which induced him to appoint an officer of the British Go vernment to reside at the Bay of Islands, in a capacity which it is impossible otherwise to define than by observing that its title, that of Resident, would indicate diplomatic functions. If we are to judge by the in structions given to Mr. Busby, the Resident, and by his official dispatches to the Governor of New South Wales, under whose authority he was placed, he was accredited, not to any natives, but to the missionaries inhabiting the small peninsula at the northern ex tremity of the North Island.