196 NEW ZEALAND CHAP. VIII 
of their own; they began with lances, which were soon taken 
from them by an old man, apparently a chief, but they were 
allowed to continue their battle, which they did like 
Englishmen with their fists for some time, after which all 
of them retired behind a little hill, so that our people did 
not see the event of the combat. 
6th. The Indians, as yesterday, were tame. Their 
habitations were certainly at a distance, as they had no 
houses, but slept under the bushes. The bay where we now 
are may be a place to which parties of them often resort for 
the sake of shell-fish, which are here very plentiful ; indeed, 
wherever we went, on hills or in valleys, in woods or plains, 
we continually met with vast heaps of shells, often many 
waggon-loads together, some appearing to be very old. 
Wherever these were it is more than probable that parties of 
Indians had at some time or other taken up their residence, 
as our Indians had made such a pile about them. The 
country in general was very barren, but the tops of the hills 
were covered with a very large fern, the roots of which they 
had got together in large quantities, as they said, to carry 
away with them. We did not see any kind of cultivation. 
8th. We botanised with our usual good success, which 
could not be doubted in a country so totally new. In the 
evening we went to our friends the Indians that we might 
see the method in which they slept: it was, as they had 
told us, on the bare ground, without more shelter than a 
few trees over their heads. The women and children were 
placed innermost, or farthest from the sea; the men lay in a 
kind of semicircle round them, and on the trees close by 
were ranged their arms, in order, so no doubt they were 
afraid of an attack from some enemy not far off. They do 
not acknowledge any superior king, as did all those whom 
we had before seen, so possibly these are a set of outlaws 
from Teratu’s kingdom. Their having no cultivation or 
houses makes it clear at least either that it is so or that this 
is not their real habitation; they say, however, that they 
have houses and a fort somewhere at a distance, but do not 
say that even there there is any cultivation. 
