120 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. V. 
down to the place, and to remain at his disposal until 
he had accomplished his object, on condition that the brig 
should be loaded with flax on her return to Kapiti. 
The White men landed first and enticed the head 
chief, Te Mairanui, on board the ship where his foes lay 
concealed. The latter then went ashore, accompanied 
by the supercargo, and massacred or made captives 
nearly the whole unsuspecting jK)pulation, to the 
amount of two or three thousand persons. The super- 
cargo boasted, on his return to the ship, of the number 
whom he had shot with his own gun, as though he 
had been at a battue of game. Two White adventurers 
who had been befriended by the chief on shore, came 
off' and cried over their protector. They narrowly 
escaped death themselves, the captain having advised 
the natives to get rid of persons who might report the 
affair at Sydney, and bring down punishment on all 
concerned. The natives, however, unlike the ca})tain, 
refused to injure those with whom they had no quarrel ; 
and the White men were landed when the ship returned 
to Kapiti. The ship's coppers are related to have pre- 
pared the inhuman feast of the cannibals as well as the 
food of the other savages ; and the chief, after being 
exhibited as a captive at Kapiti and Otaki, was killed 
with the usual tortures, and his body dispersed among 
the relations of Te Peki. 
Mairanui had been kept for four or five weeks on 
board the ship by Stewart, as a hostage for the pay- 
ment of the flax : but when it was plain that no flax 
was forthcoming, notwithstanding the promises and 
excuses of the natives, Stewart gave him up into their 
hands, and sailed away to Sydney unpaid for his infa- 
mous services. 
Shameful to relate, although a deputation from the 
southern tribe, backed by the representations of the 
