452 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XVII 
landed. I immediately offered to put him in irons, 
and send him in the schooner to Port Nicholson ; but 
Mr. Niblett said he had gpt half the money back 
and broken the thief's arm, so he did not think it worth 
while to have the trouble of going to Wellington to 
prosecute, especially as a conviction must be quite un- 
certain under the very undefined jurisdiction and au- 
thority of the Police Magistrate there. So I told 
them to give the honest carpenter his bundle of 
clothes, and bowed him out of the house. He left that 
night, and I never heard of him again ; but his compa- 
nion pretended to know very little of him, and remained 
as carpenter to one of the grog-shops, where he had 
managed to inspire confidence or to meet with kindred 
spirits. 
The reports respecting the war-party, which were 
brought down daily by canoes laden with produce for 
the new market, constantly varied in character. The 
White missionaries, and the Ngatiruaka tribe who 
were their more especial adherents, had alarmed the 
newly arrived immigrants by a description of the fero- 
city and recklessness of the tribes composing the tauay 
or " army." Mr. Matthews, especially, denounced them 
several times in my hearing, as treacherous, dishonest, 
and bloodthirsty ; and predicted the worst consequences 
from their arrival in the vicinity of so much plunder. 
My immediate attendants, most of them still rewera, 
or " devils " (as the missionaries had long taught the 
natives to call all White men not of their own cloth 
and all Maori not converted), told a very different 
tale ; and Turoa and other non-converted natives con- 
firmed my belief that the Tuupo tribes were ruled 
by powerful and generous chiefs, able and willing to 
set an example to their followers of friendliness to- 
wards the White man. 
