216 
NAPIER 
CHAP. 
west side, and each night we watched the moon in all 
her full-blown glory rise behind it. 
Fifteen miles from Opunake is the largest native 
village in New Zealand, Parahaka, where the great 
prophet, Ti Whiti, lives. On the seventeenth of every 
month he holds a great meeting, when the natives 
feast for several days. We drove over to see the 
village, but the prophet would not come out to meet us. 
I was determined to see him, so we went down to a 
small enclosure where he was surrounded by about 
twenty-five of his followers, who never leave him. 
They were fine men ; but, we were told, probably the 
most troublesome in all New Zealand, and ready to do 
anything their chief may put them up to. Some of them 
were playing draughts with shells and stones on the 
bottom of an old box. One, an immense man, was six 
feet four inches in height. I made him stand up to 
show me his height, but his arms were as soft as putty. 
These men lead a most idle life, doing nothing but 
sleep and eat. Ti Whiti, who is not a bad-looking 
man, with a thick gray beard and hair, was dressed like 
a European. He had a cunning but merry twinkle 
in his eye, shook hands with us all, but beyond that 
paid no attention to us, and we left him. This old 
fellow has probably worked more mischief in New 
Zealand than any other man in it. He knows the 
Bible off by heart, and is very clever in turning each 
prophecy to his own way of thinking. In 1882 he 
was taken prisoner for rebellion and shut up for two 
years, and again a year or two ago for debt, when he 
refused to attend when he was summoned. It seems 
strange that he should have retained his power over 
the natives for so long, for no prophecy of his has 
ever come true in one single instance, and he has a 
remarkable excuse always ready to account for this. 
