1835.] -\VAIMATE. 411 



On returning from our pleasant walk to the house, I dined with 

 Mr. Williams ; and then, a horse being lent me, I returned to the 

 Bay of Islands. I took leave of the missionaries with thankfulness 

 for their kind welcome, and with feelings of high respect for their 

 gentlemanlike, useful, and upright characters. I think it would be 

 difficult to find a body of men better adapted for the high office 

 which they fulfil. 



Christmas Day. In a few more days the fourth year of our 

 absence from England will be completed. Our first Christmas Day 

 was spent at Plymouth ; the second at St. Martin's Cove, near Cape 

 Horn ; the third at Port Desire, in Patagonia ; the fourth at anchor 

 in a wild harbour in the peninsula of Tres Montes ; this fifth here ; 

 and the next, I trust in Providence, will be in England. We 

 attended divine service in the chapel of Pahia ; part of the service 

 being read in English, and part in the native language. Whilst at 

 New Zealand we did not hear of any recent acts of cannibalism ; 

 but Mr. Stokes found burnt human bones strewed round afire-place 

 on a small island near the anchorage; but these remains of a 

 comfortable banquet might have been lying there for several years. 

 It is probable that the moral state of the people will rapidly 

 improve. Mr. Bushby mentioned one pleasing anecdote as a proof 

 of the sincerity of some, at least, of those who profess Christianity. 

 One of his young men left him, who had been accustomed to read 

 prayers to the rest of the servants. Some weeks afterwards, 

 happening to pass late in the evening by an outhouse, he saw and 

 heard one of his men reading the Bible with difficulty by the light 

 of the fire, to the others. After this the party knelt and prayed : 

 in their prayers they mentioned Mr. Bushby and his family, and 

 the missionaries, each separately in his respective district. 



December 26</i. Mr. Bushby offered to take Mr. Sulivan and 

 myself in his boat some miles up t the river to Cawa-Cawa; and 

 proposed afterwards to walk on to the village of Waiomio, where 

 there are some curious rocks. Following one of the arms of the 

 bay, we enjoyed a pleasant row, and passed through pretty scenery, 

 until we came to a village, beyond which the boat could not pass. 

 From this place a chief and a party of men volunteered to walk 

 with us to W T aiomio, a distance of four miles. The chief was at 

 this time rather notorious from having lately hung one of his wives 

 and a slave for adultery. When one of the missionaries re- 

 monstrated with him he seemed surprised, and said he thought he 



