S16 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XH. 
forests. The berry is a small black nut, peeping out of 
a pulpy husk, like a raspberry in size, shajie, and colour.* 
Poor Mr. Swainson was at this time more distressed 
than ever by " Dog's Ear" and Rauperaha^ other 
native emissaries. He had hired three sections, of 
100 acres each, of untouched forest-land on the banks 
of the Hutt. He had fondly made plans for laying 
this out according to principles of his own, by leaving 
belts of timber to shelter the patches of cultivation 
from the wind, clumps in various spots for ornament, 
an orchard here, a flower-garden there. He had 
built a substantial farm-house for his family and 
another for his labourers. And he had begun with a 
clearing of about two acres, in which a fine crop of 
wheat for seed was just coming to perfection. Taringa 
Kuri, who had established himself close to the house, 
at first promised to cut only what Mr. Swainson 
pointed out to him, and pretended only to want one 
crop in return for his trouble. But, notwithstanding 
repeated mediations of Mr. Spain or of Mr. Clarke 
junior, which only seemed to make matters worse in- 
stead of restoring peace, the deceitful chief had cleared 
all the wood indiscriminately off a large tract of ground. 
Belt after belt, clump after clump, fell beneath the 
merciless axes of his followers ; and the native clearing 
at length reached to within a few yards of the house 
and the little patch of wheat. They now openly 
laughed at their victim, and told him to " look out," 
for as the dry weather came on, they should set fire 
to the fallen wood. His appeals to the Police Magis- 
trate for interference, to tlie Crown Prosecutor for an 
indictment, to the Court for an injunction, had been all 
of no avail. He only involved himself in a long cor- 
* A drawing of this plant forms one of the before-mentioned 
illustrations. 
