THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



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the chief cannot order one party to go here and another 

 there ; but every man fights in the manner which best pleases 

 himself ; and to each separate individual to approach a stock- 

 ade defended by fire-arms must appear certain death. I 

 should think a more warlike race of inhabitants could not 

 be found in any part of the world than the New Zealanders. 

 Their conduct on first seeing a ship, as described by Captain 

 Cook, strongly illustrates this: the act of throwing volleys 

 of stones at so great and novel an object, and their defiance 

 of " Come on shore and we will kill and eat you all," shows 

 uncommon boldness. This warlike spirit is evident in many 

 of their customs, and even in their smallest actions. If a 

 New Zealander is struck, although but in joke, the blow 

 must be returned and of this I saw an instance with one 

 of our officers. 



At the present day, from the progress of civilization, there 

 is much less warfare, except among some of the southern 

 tribes. I heard a characteristic anecdote of what took place 

 some time ago in the south. A missionary found a chief and 

 his tribe in preparation for war; — their muskets clean 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 for- 

 ward as an unanswerable argument for the necessity of im- 

 mediately declaring war: the idea of allowing so much good 

 gunpowder to spoil was not to be thought of; and this set- 

 tled 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 principal chief had at one time been 

 oppressed by another tribe from the Thames River. A 

 solemn oath was taken by the men that when their boys 

 should grow up, and they should be powerful 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. Pres- 

 ents were valued only as they could be converted into arms; 



