226 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. VIII. 
wind ; but on this day a hot sun shone upon the bank, 
and I was told that such a position was esteemed highly 
productive. 
We soon reached Pari pari, E Puke's residence ; and 
he insisted on my remaining there till the next morn- 
ing. The village is situated on a terrace of the hill, 
about fifty feet above the beach, and very neatly built. 
Below, two or three canoes were hauled up under 
some karaka trees, which formed a pleasant grove in 
a sort of recess from the beach. The old men of the 
pa were sitting beneath their shade, enjoying their 
pipes. They greeted me very cordially, and held out 
their hands to be shaken, having lately become miha- 
nere. Puke explained to me that they were all of the 
JVgatiawa tribe. Arrived at the house assigned for 
my sleeping-place, one of the numerous children who 
had eagerly followed me presented me with a water- 
melon, which the heat of the day made me enjoy very 
much. I gave him a fish-hook in return, which the 
rest of the audience no sooner saw, than a large pro- 
portion of them started for more melons, and before 
the evening I was abundantly supplied. The natives 
were rather annoying by their eagerness in crowding 
round me, especially when eating a melon, as they 
would scramble across me for each single seed. I at 
last declared that 1 would throw all the seeds away 
if they did not all sit at a convenient distance ; but 
that if they did I would take care of the seeds, and 
return them to the person who had sold me the melon. 
There were about one hundred natives at this village, 
men, women, and children : at Pukerua 1 had only 
seen about twenty, but some others were said to be 
absent at Kapiti with their chief. 
About half-a-mile beyond Pari pari the hills recede 
from the coast, and the rocky shore is replaced by a 
