Chap. m. / filKO REPUDIATES HIS BARGAIN. 65 
reader Will remember the active part which Hiko had 
taken in the sale effected at Kapiti in Oct. 1839. He 
had arrived hither from Porirua, and was living at the 
house of the carpenter, whom I have formerly men- 
tioned as having worked so industriously at Kapiti. 
This carpenter had now become the owner of a large- 
public-house and tavern in the town. Having a claim 
to some land at Porirua, in right of an alleged pur- 
chase from Hiko and other chiefs, he made him various 
presents, and supplied him with grog ad libitum. I 
was called in one morning to relate to Captain Hobson 
what I knew of Hiko's part in the transaction at Ka- 
piti. In the room were the Governor, Colonel Wake- 
field, Mr. Clarke, Mr. Hadfield, the Chief Justice, Dr. 
Dorset, and some other persons. I told briefly what 
I had seen and heard of the affair, and concluded by 
describing the way in which I held the pen straight 
while Hiko made the cross with it opposite his name. 
The deed itself was produced, and Hiko staunchly and 
flatly denied having ever seen it or made the cross. 
He said that he had not touched the pen in my hand, 
as I mentioned — that he knew nothing of the transac- 
tion alluded to — and that he had not sold Colonel 
Wakefield any land ; and this in the face of Colonel 
Wakefield, Brooks the interpreter. Dr. Dorset, and I, 
who had all been present during the whole transac- 
tion, and at his perfectly voluntary signature, after full 
explanation of the deed.* 
* Mr. Clarke made an official report of this visit, which is not 
dated, but is enclosed by the Governor to England on the 13th of 
November, when he got back to Auckland. His Excellency calls it 
a Report on " the state of feeling evinced by the native chiefs in 
" and about Port Nicholson, respecting the occupation of lands in 
" that neighbourhood by the New Zealand Company." The Chief 
Protector of the Aborigines thus relates the occurrence : — " In the 
" examination of the chief Hiko, in the presence of his Excellency 
VOL. II. F 
