164 MOTU-ROA ISLAND. [PART I. 



selling any of the land, which they regarded as their 

 property. In consequence of this information we 

 prepared for defence, in case a tribe of the Waikato 

 should attack us during the night, although I did 

 not think that our party had anything to fear. It 

 was impossible to sleep, as the natives talked all 

 night as to the possible result of a conflict with the 

 Waikato. On the following morning they advised 

 us to shift our habitation to Motu-roa, the largest of 

 the Sugarloaf Islands, and to take all the women and 

 children with us. The men resolved to remain on 

 the mainland opposite the island, and to provide us 

 with necessaries : if the Waikato should make a de- 

 scent, they might thus more easily resist, or fly 

 towards the mountain. We followed their advice, 

 and lived on Motu-roa during the rest of our stay, as 

 we daily expected the arrival of the Tory. This 

 island is a conical rock, extremely steep, about one 

 mile in circumference and 500 feet high ; the form* 

 ation is trachyte. The rock contains much augite 

 and felspar, and includes here and there fragments 

 of a different formation. The augite appears often 

 in nests; and micaceous iron-ore occurs in thin veins. 

 The summit was scarcely accessible, but the native 

 women, with their children on their backs, walked 

 up and down the hill, and along steep precipices, 

 with the utmost unconcern. From time immemo- 

 rial Motu-roa has been a place of refuge and security 

 for the Nga-te-awa tribes, but more so of late; since 

 the departure of the greater portion of them. Wher- 



