NATIVE TRIAL. 203 



irony would frequently silence any one of these na- 

 tives in their most blustering moments. This chief 

 has come and harangued Mr. Bushby in a hector- 

 ing manner, saying, " A gi-eat chief, a great man, 

 a friend of mine, has come to pay me a visit — you 

 must give him something good to eat, some fine 

 presents," &c. Mr. Bushby has allowed him to 

 finish his discourse, and then has quietly replied by 

 some such answer as, "What else shall your slave 

 do for you 1" The man would then instantly, with 

 a very comical expression, cease his braggadocio. 



Some time ago, Mr. Bushby suffered a far more 

 serious attack. A chief and a party of men tried 

 to break into his house in the middle of the night, 

 and not finding this so easy, commenced a brisk 

 firing with their muskets. Mr. Bushby was slight- 

 ly wounded, but the party was at length driven 

 away. Shortly afterwards it was discovered who 

 was the aggressor, and a general meeting of the 

 chiefs was convened to consider the case. It was 

 considered by the New Zealanders as very atro- 

 cious, inasmuch as it was a night attack, and that 

 Mrs. Bushby was lying ill in the house : this latter 

 circumstance, much to their honour, being consid- 

 ered in all cases as a protection. The chiefs agreed 

 to confiscate the land of the aggressor to the King 

 of England. The whole proceeding, however, in 

 thus trying and punishing a chief, was entirely with- 

 out precedent. The aggressor, moreover, lost caste 

 in the estimation of his equals ; and this was con- 

 sidered by the British as of more consequence than 

 the confiscation of his land. 



As the boat was shoving off", a second chief step- 

 ped into her, who only wanted the amusement of 

 the passage up and down the creek. I never saw 

 a more homd and ferocious expression than this 

 man had. It immediately struck me I had sonip- 



