296 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. X. 
ttiges which I have formerly described as " Comish- 
" row" had been burnt down ; the inflammable nature 
oi the roofs and walls having overcome all the efforts 
of the settlers of all classes, who had hurried from their 
beds to the scene on the first alarm. No lives, how- 
ever, were lost. The houseless families were received, 
some by their neighbours, some in the Company's 
emigrants' houses ; and a ready subscription had re- 
placed the burnt clothes and other things belonging to 
some of the labourers, who, being poor, could ill afford 
even so small a loss. 
The blaze had hardly subsided, when the sleepers 
were again aroused by the shock of an earthquake. 
This had been but slight, and had done no damage. I 
was much amused by the description of the alarm pro- 
duced upon some settlers, who ran out in very light 
clothing and fired their muskets and pistols, under the 
idea that a troop of natives were trying to pull the hut 
down. The natives, especially, related with great glee 
the want of presence of mind displayed by some of the 
more timid Whites. It was now remembered that 
Captain Cook had mentioned his feeling the slight 
shock of an earthquake in Ship Cove seventy years 
before, and that a shake had been felt at Te-awa-iti 
whilst we were up the Pelorus river with Jacky 
Guard. The effect seemed to have been only ])artia], 
for no one at TVanganui had ex{)erienced the slightest 
vibration. 
On the 30th of May, Colonel Wakefield, as Presi- 
dent of the Council, and with their consent, had issued 
a notice to the inhabitiints between the ages of eigh- 
teen and sixty, requiring them to form themselves into 
a militia under his direction. The last paragraj)h of 
the notice thus explained the motives of this measure. 
