160 Transactions. 



Though Kororareka bore such an infamous reputation as 

 to merit the title of the " Alsatia of the Pacific," the place was 

 not singular in this inhuman abuse. Wherever a ship put in. 

 the same game went on to a greater or less degree. At Hokianga. 

 when a ship came for a load of the kauri spars for which this 

 port was noted, she would fire a salute as she sailed up the river, 

 and by the time the anchor was dropped the canoes would be 

 seen paddling down from the tributary streams filled with an 

 excited crowd of men and women, the former to help to load the 

 vessel and the latter to live with the sailors while the work- 

 was going on. 



Long after the festive days of Kororareka and Hokianga 

 were a thing of the past the traffic lingered on in the timber 

 districts, and even the bushman on the tramp would have con- 

 sidered himself inhospitably treated if on arrival at a Maori 

 settlement a young girl were not allotted to him. along with 



free lodgings and the best food the village could afford. 



I 



Waipiro. 



It is stated that, contrary to what is usual amongst savage 

 peoples, the Maoris on their first contact with Europeans did 

 not take readily to ardent spirits. On the contrary, they showed 

 such an aversion that they gave them the name of wai-}>ir<> 

 (stinking water), and refused to touch them after a first trial. 

 The taste probably first came with the association with the 

 sailors just described, as well as with the shore whalers, who had 

 their stations all along the coast from the extreme north down 

 to Stewart Island. But after a time the craving for intoxicating 

 drink became the ruling passion, and the money no longer required 

 for the purchase of arms was spent in securing a supply. It 

 almost seemed as if the system, weakened by the fatigues of 

 war, privation, and vice, required some kind of a stimulant. 

 and for many years every Land Court, tribal meeting, marriage, 

 and funeral was the scene of unlimited indulgence. The evil 

 woidd not have been as great as it was had the liquor been of 

 even average quality; but a special brand was stipplied for the 

 " Native trade," which was maddening in its immediate effect 

 and poisonous in its ultimate results, (asks of adulterated beer 

 and kegs of doctored rum were carted out to the pas, while 

 belated stragglers from the publichouses might be seen trying 

 to struggle borne, or lying l>v the wax-side in a comatose con- 

 dition—women unable to suckle their babies, and the men unable 

 to help them along. 



This craze went on for more than a generation, more or less,. 

 all over the country; but about twenty or twenty-five years 

 ago the habit began to be given up. Wholesale drinking is now- 



