170 STATION AT RANGIHOUA 
never, let the cost be what it might to himself, 
would he allow the destruction of any thing be- 
longing to those whom he called his friends. I 
believe that he thus gave his countenance to the 
Missionaries from a sincere conviction that they 
wished well to him, to his countrymen, and to all 
mankind ; and that it was a desire, not to ag- 
grandise themselves, but to benefit others, that 
brought them from their own native land, to his. 
It was long ere the generality of New Zealanders 
were convinced of this truth ; and till this opinion 
was adopted, all the influence of Hongi could 
not, at times, protect the Missionaries from insult. 
Ever exposed to the caprice of uneducated sa- 
vages, the nervous system of some of the mem- 
bers was considerably shaken. Any man, how- 
ever strong his mind or bold his natural dis- 
position, must have felt his unprotected and ex- 
posed situation, when he saw two or three hundred 
naked savages rushing upon him, with spears 
pointed, clubs brandished, muskets loaded — and, 
in their rush, assuming the most terrific postures, 
and uttering the most fiendlike yells : he could 
not but feel that his person and his property, 
together with the persons of his family, were sub- 
ject to the violent passions of those, whose tender 
mercies are cruel. Nothing but a sense that he 
was under the guardianship of a Heavenly Friend, 
who never leaves nor forsakes his people, could 
have preserved him at such moments from sink- 
ing into despair. At Rangihoua, there have been 
