306 NEW ZEALAND. [CHAP. xvin. 



connected with the manufacture of arms. When at Sydney, Shongi, 

 by a strange coincidence, met the hostile chief of the Thames River at 

 the house of Mr. Marsden ; their conduct was civil to each other ; but 

 Shongi told him that when again in New Zealand he would never 

 cease to carry war into his country. The challenge was accepted ; and 

 Shongi on his return fulfilled the threat to the utmost letter. The tribe 

 on the Thames River was utterly overthrown, and the chief, to whom 

 the challenge had been given, was himself killed. Shongi, although 

 harbouring such deep feelings of hatred and revenge, is described as 

 having been a good-natured person. 



In the evening I went with Captain Fitz Roy and Mr. Baker, one oi 

 the missionaries, to pay a visit to Kororadika : we wandered about the 

 village, and saw and conversed with many of the people, both men, 

 women, and children. Looking at the New Zealander, one naturally 

 compares him with the Tahitian ; both belonging to the same family of 

 mankind. The comparison, however, tells heavily against the New 

 Zealander. He may, perhaps, be superior in energy, but in every 

 other respect his character is of a much lower order. One glance at 

 their respective expressions, brings conviction to the mind that one is a 

 savage, the other a civilized man. It would be vain to seek in the 

 whole of New Zealand a person with the face and mien of the old 

 Tahitian chief Utamme. No doubt the extraordinary manner in which 

 tattooing is here practised, gives a disagreeable expression to their 

 countenances. The complicated but symmetrical figures covering the 

 whole face, puzzle and mislead an unaccustomed eye : it is moreover 

 probable, that the deep incisions, by destroying the play of the super- 

 ficial muscles, give an air of rigid inflexibility. But, besides this, there 

 is a twinkling in the eye which cannot indicate anything but cunning 

 and ferocity. Their figures are tall and bulky ; but not comparable in 

 elegance with those of the working- classes in Tahiti. 



Both their persons and houses are filthily dirty and offensive ; the 

 idea of washing either their bodies or their clothes never seems to enter 

 their heads. I saw a chief, who was wearing a shirt black and matted 

 with filth, and when askedlhow it came to be so dirty, he replied, with 

 surprise, " Do not you see it is an old one ? " Some of the men have 

 shirts ; but the common dress is one or two large blankets, generally 

 black with dirt, which are thrown over their shoulders in a very 

 inconvenient and awkward fashion. A few of the principal chiefs have 

 decent suits of English clothes ; but these are only worn on great 

 occasions. 



December "zyd. At a place called Waimate, about fifteen miles 

 from the Bay of Islands, and midway between the eastern and western 

 coasts, the missionaries have purchased some land for agricultural 

 purposes. I had been introduced to the Rev. W. Williams, who, upon 

 my expressing a wish, invited me to pay him a visit there. Mr. 

 Bushby, the British resident, offered to take me in his boat by a creek, 

 where I should see a pretty waterfall, and by which means my walk 

 would be shortened. He likewise procured for me a guide. Upon 

 BSking a neighbouring chief to recommend a man, the chief himstlf 



