Chap. VIII. HOSPITALITY- DISAGREEABLE CROWDING. 255 
often more effect in repressing the nuisance than pas- 
sionate or testy behaviour. I soon learnt numerous 
expressions which served to make them ashamed of 
their pertinacious staring. Hepura ahau? ^'Am I one- 
-eyed?" Tokohid nga ngarara M taku moJco? " How 
" many lizards are there on my face?" were among the 
most efficacious. If eating, I would ask them if they 
were looking for my kai, or food ; and the old men 
would then reprove the crowd, and tell them that they 
were annoying the guest. The N gatiruanui, who in- 
habit the coast for many miles north of this place, are, 
like the Ngarauru at TVaitotara, a tribe without chiefs 
of consequence, and hence much more difficult to 
hold intercourse with. After I had finished my meal, I 
caused a diversion by purchasing various things from 
them for tobacco and fish-hooks. Porera mats, pawa 
hooks, baskets, fishing-lines, and carved boxes made 
their appearance on all hands, and some even brought 
pigs, dried dog-fish, and baskets of potatoes to barter. 
The crowding continued after I had done buying; and 
I had some difficulty in clearing a space in an open shed 
for my blankets, and getting the natives out in order 
to sleep. After all, they had some excuse for their an- 
noying conduct. They were, perhaps, more wild and 
untaught than the slaves whom we had met at the 
Pelorus River, and stared with more amazement at all 
my clothes and equipments. A large audience assem- 
bled to see me wash in the river at daybreak. Roars 
of laughter and screams of astonishment resounded 
from every quarter when I proceeded to brush my 
teeth. 
Crossing the river in a canoe, I climbed up a steep 
ascent to the main pa. The cliff is nearly precipitous 
on all sides, except where a narrow neck joins it with 
the mainland. This neck, however, slopes upwards to 
