132 MISERIES OF THE [PART I, 



Their mode of carrying on war by surprise and 

 stratagem has naturally made the tribes fearful and 

 suspicious, and has proved the greatest hinderance 

 to the occupations of peaceful industry. Tribes 

 have been broken up, villages deserted, cultivation 

 neglected ; and it is only now, after complete ex- 

 haustion, that the heavy wounds inflicted since the 

 time when E' Ongi first exchanged for muskets in 

 Sydney the ploughshares which he had received 

 in England begin to cicatrize, and the people to 

 throw off that state of suspicion and alarm in which 

 the perpetual hostility of their neighbours had 

 placed them ; and that a field is at length opened 

 for a government, such as perhaps never existed 

 before, to reclaim them to civilization. 



How far the fear of being surprised by their 

 enemies was carried, will be proved by the custom, 

 very common in a pa, or with a travelling party, of 

 beating the pahu, a canoe-shaped piece of wood 

 about twelve feet long, and suspended by two 

 strings, the hollow din of which sounded far and 

 wide through the stillness of midnight, and was 

 intended to let an approaching party know that 

 they were on the alert. But many a pa has been 

 taken by surprise, and many a party has been cut 

 off, from neglecting any kind of caution. 



One of their most favourite systems of warfare 

 is to get the enemy into their power by cunning. 

 The tribes of Rotu-rua and Waikato were for a 

 long time involved in a war which originated in 



