aj2 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XI. 
Though prone to drunkenness and its attendant evils, 
the whaler is hospitable in the extreme, and his rough- 
buiit house is a model of cleanliness and order. His 
unbounded generosity would soon have encouraged the 
covetousness of the natives to grasping and bullying, 
had he not gained universal respect among them for 
undoubted courage, and openly expressed his hatred 
and contempt for such as distinguished themselves by 
those bad qualities. His want of book-learning is coun- 
teracted by a considerable knowledge of the world ; 
the consequence of which is a remarkable power of dis- 
crimination between quackery and real ability, between 
hypocrisy and sincerity, in those with whom he meets. 
Thus, since the tirst days of regular colonization, no 
man better than a whaler can distinguish between a 
charlatan doctor, or a low-minded, hypocritical mis- 
sionary, and a doctor who knows his business, or a wor- 
thy minister of the Gospel. He is the first to expose 
and ridicule the faults of one class, while he yields a 
willing respect to the virtues and knowledge of the 
other. 
I of course speak of the general character of this 
class of men ; to which there are some terrible excep- 
tions. It is, however, highly to the credit of the whalers 
generally, that a man of notoriously bad character, 
whether a fellow-countryman or a native, meets with 
the contempt which he deserves. 
It is difficult to learn how soon this rough class of 
pioneers first established themselves in New Zealand, 
As early as 1793, the whaling-ships of different na- 
tions began to touch on the coast. Their intercourse 
with the natives was marked by great cruelty and in- 
justice on one part, great treachery and dishonesty on 
the other, and revolting blood-thirstiness and a strong 
spirit of revenge on both sides. The lives of many 
