124 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. V. 
relations, we proceeded to the iivdin pa, at the mouth 
of the fFaikanae river, about a mile further north. 
•We were loudly greeted, and conducted into a large 
court of the village, where five hundred men, women, 
and children were assembled in a row to shake hands 
with us. This was no small task ; but in order to 
show them that we approved of their newly-acquired 
missionary principles, we carefully went through the 
whole ceremony. 
This was the largest pa we had yet seen. The 
outer stockades were at least a mile in circumference ; 
and the various passages between the different courts 
and divisions formed a perfect labyrinth. A numerous 
train of youths guided us to the houses of the wounded 
men. As we passed, we observed one of the dead chiefs 
laid out in state in the court before his warepuni. His 
body was wrapt in his best mats ; and his head, with 
the hair neatly arranged and copiously ornamented 
with feathers, reclined against a carved post, which was 
painted with kokowai, or red ochre. In circles around 
stood or sat his friends and relations, wailing and 
lacerating their faces and limbs. 
Our surgeons were all three hard at work for some 
hours, extracting bullets, binding up wounds, and 
setting broken limbs. We found the wounds bound 
up by the natives generally with the leaf of the flax, 
and bark splints on the broken limbs. The patients 
bore pain with the most perfect stoicism. 
The inhabitants of this village professed to be all 
Christians, having been converted by native teachers. 
Accordingly, they buried their fallen enemies on the 
field of battle ; adhering, however, in some degree to 
the native superstitions, by burying a stock of tobacco 
and pipes with each, to console him on his way to the 
Reinga, or future life according to their belief. 
