Chap. XII. CAPTAIN SMITH'S EXPEDITION. 311 
insults to his native dignity. He knew that they were 
not the chiefs in authority of the White people ; and 
he naturally felt as though they had deceived him wil- 
fully into the belief that they could secure his treat- 
ment as an honoured and influential leader of his 
people. The whole question rankled in his mind ; he 
pined, and fretted, and stormed, and grew thin and 
haggard, negligent in his dress, and undignified in his 
manner ; he took to drink and begging ; and died, a 
notable instance of the misprotection of the aborigines. 
He was buried at Pitone ; where his mausoleum of wood, 
painted with kokowai, or red ochre, forms a prominent 
object. At Nga Haurmiga, too, some quaint figures, 
meant to represent the chief, are erected to his memory 
in a tapu spot,' according to native custom. 
I often wondered how E Punt had managed to escape 
the same fate. He was equally aware of the slight 
cast upon him and others of real rank. But I truly 
believe that he possessed judgment enough to distin- 
guish between the generous esteem of Colonel Wake- 
field and the educated settlers, and that, only springing 
from party motives, of the Government officers ; and 
that he was wise enough to prefer the friendship and 
companionship of the gentlemen, without pining after 
marks of honour from an authority whose burlesque 
pomp must indeed have been more despicable to savages 
than even to civilized men. 
On the 23rd of November, Captain Smith returned 
from an expedition to the Middle Island on the Com- 
pany's service. Colonel Wakefield had despatched him 
in a small cutter, about the time that he himself sailed 
for Auckland, to examine and report upon the coast, 
the harbours, and adjoining country along the whole 
east coast of the Middle Island. He had made a very 
careful and interesting report, with accurate sketches 
