136 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. V. 
the distribution of the goods after the execution of the 
deed by the numerous chiefs. 
One of the many smaller tribes composing the Nga- 
tiawa, namely the Puketapu, consisted of particularly 
quarrelsome and unruly members ; and, after the other 
tribes had taken their shares ashore, this one found it 
impossible to arrange the distribution without a taua 
or "scramble." 
I was in the 'tween decks when it began ; and, hear- 
ing a loud and continued stamping on the deck, 
thought the natives were " rushing" or attacking the 
ship. Under this impression, I sprang aft to obtain a 
weapon of defence from among those always ready in 
the cabin. On my way, I met E Pf^iti, one of the 
chiefs of a tribe which had effected a quiet division ; 
and he reassured me by telling me that no harm 
would be done to the White people, and that I had 
better go up in the rigging and look upon the way in 
which the natives divided their goods. 
Following his advice, I clambered up into the long- 
boat between the masts, and was at first bewildered at 
the sight. About one hundred and fifty natives were 
piled above the various heaps of goods, writhing, strug- 
gling, stamping, pulling each others' hair and limbs, tear- 
ing blankets, shivering whole cases of pi])es and looking- 
glasses, and withal yelling and screaming in the most 
deafening manner. Some of the wildest had stripped 
naked. Disengaging themselves for a moment from the 
mass, they tightened the thong of their tomahawk- 
handle round their wrist, and prepared to plunge into the 
thickest of the mass, where some dearly-prized article 
was in contention among a heap of furies. Barrett, 
however, and some other White men well known to 
the natives, pinioned the arms of two or three of 
the wildest with their own, and gradually restored 
