1835.] PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 403 



heard a characteristic anecdote of what took place some time ago 

 in the south. A missionary found a chief and his tribe in pre- 

 paration for war; their muskets cleau and bright, and their 

 ammunition ready. He reasoned long on the inutility of the war, 

 and the little provocation which had been given for it. The chief 

 was much shaken in his resolution, and seemed in doubt : but at 

 length it occurred to him that a barrel of his gunpowder was in a 

 bad state, and that it would not keep much longer. This was 

 brought forward as an unanswerable argument for the necessity of 

 immediately declaring war: the idea of allowing so much good 

 gunpowder to spoil was not to be thought of; and this settled the 

 point. I was told by the missionaries that in the life of Shongi, 

 the chief who visited England, the love of war was the one and 

 lasting spring of every action. The tribe in which he was a prin- 

 cipal chief, had at one time been much oppressed by another tribe, 

 from the Thames Eiver. A solemn oath was taken by the men, 

 that when their boys should grow up, and they should be power- 

 ful enough, they would never forget or forgive these injuries. 

 To fulfil this oath appears to have been Shongi's chief motive for 

 going to England; and when there it was his sole object. Pre- 

 sents were valued only as they could be converted into arms ; of 

 the arts, those alone interested him which were connected with 

 the manufacture of arms. When at Sydney, Shongi, by a strange 

 coincidence, met the hostile chief of the Thames Paver at the 

 house of Mr. Marsden : their conduct was civil to each other ; 

 but Shongi told him that when again in New Zealand he would 

 never cease to carry war into his country. The challenge was 

 accepted ; and Shongi on his return fulfilled the threat to the 

 iitmost letter. The tribe on the Thames Eiver was utterly over- 

 thrown, and the chief to whom the challenge had been given was 

 himself killed. Shongi, although harbouring such deep feelings 

 of hatred and revenge, is described as having been a good-natured 

 person. 



In the evening I went with Captain Fitz Eoy and Mr. Baker, 

 one of the missionaries, to pay a visit to Kororadika : we wandered 

 about the village, and saw and conversed with many of the people, 

 both men, women, and children. Looking at the New Zealander, 

 one naturally compares him with the Tahitian ; both belonging to 

 the same family of mankind. The comparison, however, tells 

 heavily against the New Zealander. He may, perhaps, be superior 



