CHAP. II.] WHALES AND WHALERS. 41 



sence of all restraint and law, outrages on each 

 other's property and persons are not of a more fre- 

 quent occurrence. 



I was astonished, and at the same time gratified, 

 to find that the character of the natives had been so 

 little affected by this state of things. I have not 

 seen one instance of drunkenness amongst them, 

 common as the vice is amongst the Europeans; 

 although mixing with the latter in the boats, they 

 did not join in their revelries, which are contrary 

 to their taste and inclinations, and which do not 

 begin until the evening, after the return of the boats. 



In the summer season the whalers live dispersed 

 over the Sound ; sometimes trading in a small way 

 with the passing ships in potatoes and pigs, which 

 they obtain through the families of their wives, but 

 more generally spending their lives in idleness. 

 There are, however, some very respectable men 

 amongst them, who have been provident enough to 

 cultivate small patches of ground, and these of 

 course live in comparative ease and comfort, as all 

 European vegetables thrive extremely well : poultry 

 also increases rapidly and throughout the year: 

 goats thrive better than cattle, to the introduction 

 of which the almost total want of grass is a most 

 serious objection. 



As whales and whaling were the principal ob- 

 jects which in Te-awa-iti, and afterwards in Cloudy 

 Bay, excited my curiosity, I may be allowed to give 

 here a short account of that interesting and valu- 



