Chap. VIII. EVIDENCE OF E PUNI. 205 
and I both went through, the same process of exami- 
nation and searching cross-examination by all parties. 
Mr. Halswell, who attended as Sub-Protector of Abo- 
rigines for Port Nicholson, also put occasional ques- 
tions. 
E Punt was afterwards called, and thoroughly con- 
firmed our statements by his manly and straightfor- 
ward evidence. Truth was in every feature, and con- 
viction in every word. The old chief had asked me, 
some days before, what was the meaning of this 
Kaiwakawa or "man to decide," as the Commissioner 
was called among them, and what need there was of 
his relating the transaction ? — " It was well known to 
" everybody ; why talk it all over again ?" He had 
also asked me what he should say, I had answered 
him, " Kia pono, he oti ano ! " '' Let it be true ; that 
" is enough ! " And he had nobly followed the simple 
instruction. Although he seemed somewhat confused, 
and at a loss to understand the object of such repeated 
and minute questions upon the points of a transaction 
which had been publicly known to so many, the 
searching examination could not elicit a syllable of 
contradiction in his evidence. I was indeed delighted 
to find that this nobleman among his fellows had not 
been changed or sullied in his integrity by the long 
delay, or by the active insinuations and artifices of our 
interested enemies. 
Colonel Wakefield's own letter, in describing this 
whole day's scene to the Directors, so thoroughly 
conveys the impression which it had left on the mind 
of every spectator, that I shall not attempt to para- 
phrase his words : — 
" In managing the case," he says, " and conducting 
" this examination, I laboured under the disadvantage 
" of complete inexperience in the rules of evidence, the 
