^4 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XIII. 
opposite bank, inhabited by a branch of the Ngatirau- 
kawa tribe. We were welcomed to a house which was 
assigned to our party, and invited to remain till the 
next morning. The threatening appearance of the 
weather, which promised rain and a gale from north- 
west, and the wish to give the whole party a good rest 
before proceeding along the tract of deserted coast, in- 
duced us to acquiesce in this arrangement. Abundance 
of food was placed before us ; ample firewood was fur- 
nished for our fire ; and the few natives were very 
courteous and obliging in their behaviour. They sang 
some of their native songs ; listened with attention 
to ours; and Maori traditions and lessons in the 
language were exchanged for such information, regard- 
ing ourselves, as we found amusing to them, till a late 
hour. Heavy rain detained us here the whole of the 
next day ; and our friendly relations with our hospi- 
table hosts continued. 
In the morning, when we had finished our daylight 
meal, we prepared to start ; but an unexpected occur- 
rence again delayed us. On packing up our bundles, 
we found that numerous goods were missing. Several 
pounds of tobacco, two or three shirts, soap, fish-hooks, 
handkerchiefs, pannikins, and many other things, were 
nowhere to be found ; and three shot-belts, which we 
had hung up on the door-post just before breakfast, 
had also disappeared. In the meanwhile, the congre- 
gation of natives had very much diminished. It soon 
became plain that they had taken advantage of our con- 
fidence in their friendliness to plunder the baggage. 
After mustering the men and their packs outside 
the house, I told those of our party who had guns to 
load them with ball and be on their guard ; and then 
addressed a middle-aged man, who had evidently the 
greatest authority among the tribe, and who had 
