102 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. IV. 
it could only be done by means of a process analogous to 
their own customs. It seemed, therefore, reasona])le to 
suppose that their institutions might be most effectually 
improved by means of the very men whom those insti- 
tutions had set forth as the heads and guides of their 
fellow-countrymen. We looked upon IVareporiy 
Epuni, and Puakawa, as capahle of being admitted 
amongst the leading men of the colony ; and as certain, 
when stirred by emulation and worthy ambition, to 
take pride in propagating by their influence a reform, 
easy and gradual because its successive steps should 
be appreciated, recommended, and adopted by those 
whose advice would obtain the greatest respect, and 
whose example would be followed with the most implicit 
confidence. 
We confessed to ourselves that the apparent hostility 
of the native missionaries seemed to augur some difficul- 
ties ; but we persuaded ourselves that they had exceeded 
their mission. They were all men who had been taken 
in war as slaves by the Northern tribes, and who had 
returned, upon their emancipation by their converted 
masters, to spread the doctrines which they had imbibed 
from the European missionaries in that part of the 
island. 
Being debarred by native custom from resuming their 
previous caste after having been once enslaved, they 
were evidently very jealous of the authority of the chiefs, 
which they longed to overthrow, as opposed to the 
recognition of themselves as the guides of the tribe in 
matters temporal as well as spiritual. To this jealousy 
we attributed an undue dislike of such as, like ourselves, 
recognized the chiefs in actual authority as the only fit 
movers of the people. And we felt convinced that their 
hostile aspect was in excess of the instructions which 
they might have received from their Christian and 
