97% ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. IX. 
degree to the universal contentment. And the genial 
climate and almost incredible fertility of the virgin 
soil left no doubt in their minds as to the eligibility of 
the country in which they were so happily circum- 
stanced. 
JE Kuru, who accompanied me on these excursions, 
could not refrain from expressing his unfeigned plea- 
sure at the sight, and would tell me, with tears starting 
from his eyes, that he hoped the same would soon be 
at TJ^anganui. 
At Thorndon, the bustle of settlement was also 
apparent. Numerous houses had been built by the 
natives, and occupied by some of the colonists. Some 
few wooden houses brought from England were also 
in process of erection. Dicky Barrett had returned 
from Queen Charlotte's Sound in the Cuba, with his 
whole establishment and property, and had installed 
himself in a clay- walled house at Thorndon, in exactly 
the same manner as at Te-awa-iti. The house was 
always half full of hungry natives, and idle White 
men who had wandered from the whaling-stations, 
and the large iron pots and spacious table constantly 
extended his too undistinguishing hospitality to all ap- 
plicants. He was quite proud of the change which he 
had aided to produce in the appearance of the place and 
the prospects of his friends the natives, and used to 
spend his time in watching the proceedings of the new- 
comers; sometimes mystifying a whole audience of 
gaping immigrants by a high-flown relation of a whaling 
adventure, or of some part of his Maori campaigns. 
Kind-hearted to a fault, always good-humoured and 
sanguine, and scrupulously honest in all his trans- 
actions, Richard Barrett was eagerly sought as an 
acquaintance by all who were capable of esteeming his 
sterling worth. 
