208 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. Vlir. 
''The Commissioner did not think the case complete ; 
and recommended Colonel Wakefield to call tVare- 
pori. He consented only on account of the recom- 
mendation. This chief, however, was not present, as 
he was suffering from an abscess in his head. 
The Court, on the suggestion of Mr. Hanson, then 
called E Tako. This minor chief will be remembered 
as being a near relation of Barrett's wife ; as having 
taken a most active part in the whole transaction ; and 
as having received one of the six shares for distribu- 
tion among the inhabitants of the Pipitea and Kumu 
toto villages.* He was one of the witnesses to whom 
Colonel Wakefield had alluded as having been tam- 
pered with. Mr. Scott (who claimed a tract of land at 
Kumu toto, in virtue of an alleged purchase from the 
Ngatimutunga tribe, when they resided here five years 
before our arrival) was proved, by E Takos own con- 
fession, to have given him a mare and foal to look after 
the land in question. E Tako also admitted having 
signed the deed, having received one of the six shares, 
and having been present at the war-dance. But he as- 
serted that he had only signed the deed because Barrett 
had told him that the Queen would see his name ; that 
the payment was only made for the anchorage of the 
ship ; and that he had only gone to Pitone at the time 
of the war-dance in order to speak to TVarepori. He 
had evidently been well prepared with his answers 
beforehand. It was a painful exemplification of the 
corruption to which the natives had been subjected, by 
leaving them to the mercy of obstinate litigation and 
the false friendship of selfish land-sharks, and by 
allowing them to choose for themselves their prompters 
Jlnd advisers. 
And the week closed by another day's cross-exanii- 
* Chap. IV. of Vol. T., page 89. 
