Chap. IV. RETURN FROM TAUPO. 117 
about the Testaments. During the two or three long 
conversations which I had with him, several months 
after Mr. Brown's visit, his determined animosity 
against the introduction of the Christian faith was 
most remarkable. He told me that Mr. Chapman, 
irom Rotorua, had repeatedly pressed him to accept 
books and to become a missionary ; but that he had 
steadily refused, as he saw in the converting of his 
people an inevitable levelling of ranks, and the end of 
his regal sway. When I last received a message from 
him in August 1843, he was still threatening to use 
the missionary books as cartridge-paper, and the tapu 
still dwelt on the sacred mountain. I do not doubt 
that he used the words reported by the Rev. Mr. 
Brown ; but I feel certain that he was dealing in the 
ironical metaphor, which I have already described as 
employed by Turoa at the great conference near Pu- 
h'lhika, and which has often nearly deceived me on 
other occasions. I know one or two chiefs who 
almost always speak in this way, ironical satire being 
esteemed the chef-d'oeuvre of a Maori orator. 
If Mr. Coates does not plead ignorance of the native 
customs as the apology for the very absurd reasoning 
in his letter to Lord Stanley, it will be painful to con- 
clude that he has been hurried into it rather by his 
" determination to thwart the colonization of New 
" Zealand by every means in his power," than by a 
calm consideration of the just rights of the aborigines. 
On the 1st of January 1842, we left Tokanu; Mr. 
Niblett being carried in his litter, and attended by 
about a dozen natives besides the porters. A large 
train also accompanied us as far as Roto Aera. I 
selected two boys to carry my things, as I intended to 
push on ahead from that point. The progress of a 
large party of natives is always very slow, and we were 
