304 VOYAGE TO THE 



ran away through fear, and all, no doubt, congratu- 

 lated themselves that there was so wide an expanse 

 mS 1, °f water between their country and New Zealand. 

 A dirge over the fallen enemy concluded the per- 

 formance, which it is impossible adequately to de- 

 scribe. We learned from the whaler, that Shonghi, 

 the New Zealand chief who was educated in Eng- 

 land, was availing himself of the superiority he had 

 acquired, and was making terrible ravages among 

 his countrymen, whose heads, when dried, furnished 

 him with a lucrative trade. 



On the 24th we prepared for our departure : dur- 

 ing our stay we visited the natives almost daily in 

 their habitations, and became well acquainted with 

 their habits and manner of living ; but in this inter- 

 course there was so little novelty, that, considering 

 how many volumes have been written upon the 

 country, by persons whose stay far exceeded ours, it 

 would be both tiresome and useless to detain the 

 reader with their description. The conclusion gene- 

 rally arrived at was, that the people retain much of 

 their original character and many of their habits, and 

 appear to have been particularly described by Turn- 

 bull ; but if early historians err not, they have lost 

 much of their cheerfulness, and the women a great 

 deal of their beauty. 



Considering the advances the country had made 

 toward the formation of a government by the elec- 

 tion of a parliament, and by the promulgation of 

 laws, we certainly expected to find something in 

 progress to meet approaching events, yet in none of 

 our excursions did we see any manufactures beyond 

 those which were in use when the island was first 

 discovered, but on the contrary, it was evident that 



