Chap. XI. WHALERS-SAWYERS— TRADERS. 337 
preserved their station among the natives by the display 
of their physical force. 
In his dealings with the European settlements, the 
whaler very much resembles a sailor oflpa cruise. After 
the men have been paid the balance due to them at 
the end of the season, they go to Wellington or Nelson 
to spend it. The trade of supplying them and buying 
their oil has naturally fallen out of the hands of the 
Sydney merchants, into those of persons at Wellington, 
who pay them better, and send the oil direct to Eng- 
land. During six weeks or two months, Wellington 
becomes a Portsmouth in miniature. Every public- 
house has its fiddle and hornpipe going ; a little 
theatre fills once a-week ; and the weak constabulary 
force of Wellington suffers from various practical jokes. 
Boat-races, on which heavy bets sometimes depend, 
come off, and an occasional fight, arising from the pro- 
found contempt which the whaler expresses for the 
" lubber of a jimmy-grant^ as he calls the emigrant, 
completes the programme of the amusements during 
the period. Should the whaling-trade increase and 
prosper, the quiet people will soon be forced to reside 
in villas out of town, and resign Wellington to its busi- 
ness as a sea-port. When the money is spent, most of 
the men seek for employment in the settlements. 
Some join with the sawyers, a class of men who are 
composed of nearly the same materials, and whose cha- 
racter is somewhat congenial to that of the whaler, as 
they live a wild life in the forest on the outskirts of the 
settlements, love drink, and have known many of the 
same places and people. The sawyer's habits, however, 
do uot encourage the same hardy daring, or an equal 
degree of order and cleanliness. The sawyer proper is 
decidedly an inferior grade of the whaler. 
Others trade with the natives for pigs and potatoes, 
VOL. L Z 
