4i6 PUNISHING A CHIEF. [chap. xvm. 



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 atrocious, 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 considered 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 without 

 precedent. The aggressor, moreover, lost caste in the 

 estimation of his equals : and this was considered by the 

 British as of more consequence than the confiscation of 

 his land. 



As the boat was shoving off, a second chief stepped into 

 her, who only wanted the amusement of the passage up 

 and down the creek. I never saw a more horrid and 

 ferocious expression than this man had. It immediately 

 struck me I had somewhere seen his likeness : it will 

 be found in Retzch's outlines to Schiller's ballad of Fridolin, 

 where two men are pushing Robert into the burning 

 iron furnace. It is the man who has his arm on Robert's 

 breast. Physiognomy here spoke the truth ; this chief had 

 been a notorious murderer, and was an arrant coward to 

 boot. At the point where the boat landed, Mr. Bushby 

 accompanied me a few hundred yards on the road : I could 

 not help admiring the cool impudence of the hoary old 

 villain, whom we left lying in the boat, when he shouted 

 to Mr. Bushby, "Do not you stay long, I shall be tired of 

 waiting here." 



We now commenced our walk. The road lay along a 

 well-beaten path, bordered on each side by the tall fern 

 which covers the whole country. After travelling some 

 miles, we came to a little country village, where a few 

 hovels were collected together, and some patches of ground 

 cultivated with potatoes. The introduction of the potato 

 has been the most essential benefit to the island ; it is now 

 much more used than any native vegetable. New Zealand 

 is favoured by one great natural advantage ; namely, that 

 the inhabitants can never perish from famine. The whole 

 country abounds with fern; and the roots of this plant, if 

 not very palatable, yet contain much nutriment. A native 

 can always subsist on these, and on the shell-fish which 

 are abundant on all parts of the sea-coast. The villages 

 are chiefly conspicuous by the platforms which are raisef 



I 



