Chap. XII. THE " GRUMBLERS." 295 
have got so habituated to the new pursuit that they do 
not leave it when they can. They come to depreciate 
articles of commerce which you may have to sell and 
they may buy cheap. They tell you things are so bad 
that nothing can be sold ; and you are glad to get your 
little venture off your hands at once. They tell you, 
too, that it is quite useless to set up yourself in trade, 
for there's nothing doing and ruin impends over the 
whole settlement. But I remember one, who after 
dwelling upon this for a long while, and then finding out 
that his victim was neither going to become a grocer 
nor had anything for sale, would point out his miscel- 
laneous shop on the beach, and say " That's my store 
" where you see the tri-coloured flag flying. If you 
" should want anything, you'll get it cheaper there than 
" anywhere else." In the early days, the crimps for 
Auckland and the Australian colonies were also among 
the most active grumblers. But there are plenty of 
them who seem to act from the mere spirit of mischief. 
The grumblers are, indeed, an extensive class, aiid 
do not all come on board ship. They are chiefly to be 
met with in the parlours of the hotels, smoking and 
drinking ; pitching stones into the sea off the jetty ; 
wandering lazily from one resort of idlers to the other ; 
in the billiard-rooms, and near the public-houses. But 
the stranger who frequents these places deserves his 
fate, and no pity is felt for him. He often becomes a 
grumbler himself, by constant association with his tor- 
mentors. 
The grumbler takes pride in sneering at every san- 
guine hope, in ridiculing every energetic effort to pro- 
gress ; and will hear of no attempt to examine into the 
discouraging circumstances which do really exist, or of 
any reason for their existence except the systematic 
deceit practised by the founders of the colony and by 
