Chap. VIII. REV. HENRY WILLIAMS. '" 241 
could scarcely believe for some time that such a decepr 
tion could have been made use of by Mr. Williams, in 
order to prevent our completion of a bargain which 
we had commenced at Kapiti a month before his 
arrival. I could not see a single excuse for the action. 
It was by no means calculated to give these ignorant na- 
tives a high opinion of the character of the White man 
for honest and straightforward conduct ; as they were 
kept uninformed' of its motive, either real or apparent. 
Even the alleged motive would have been an unjust 
one, the Ngatiawa tribes having no claim whatever to 
the tract of land in question, and having been but few 
years before at open war with the actual occupants, 
during the great migration from Taranaki. I did not 
hesitate to write on the back of the notice that it was 
an " arrant falsehood," together with the information 
which, gathered from the natives on the spot, had led 
me to form this opinion. I then returned it to Te 
Arna-ua^ convinced that he would hand it to Mr. Wil- 
liams on his next visit. 
I answered the speeches of the chiefs by telling them 
that I was not come to buy their land, but to look at 
the j)eople and the country ; and that they must apply 
to " Wide-awake" for the completion of the purchase, 
as I intended to travel about the country for a month 
or two. I presented each of the three head chiefs 
with a red blanket, and distributed fish-hooks and 
tobacco among the inferior crowd. I also bought with 
some more of the same articles a large store of paicoy 
or native fish-hooks. I have already described these 
hooks, which are used for the kawai fishery, and take 
their name from the halioim-^heW, with pieces of 
which they are lined. I had a long conversation with 
Turoa and some other chiefs after the ceremonial 
visits were over. This old chief described, in a pithy 
VOL. I. R 
