426 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XVI. 
" fighting men ; that the chief Taiaroa, from the 
" Middle Island, had joined Te Rauperaha, and having 
" been an ancient enemy to him, had made peace ; that 
" the pa at Porirua was fortified, and every preparation 
•* made for an attack on the town of Wellington. 
" I told him in answer, that I could do nothing; and 
" that all that was in my opinion necessary, was for the 
" ship to remain where she was. I however wrote a 
" letter to Te Rauperaha." 
Here follows the letter from the Captain of an 
English man-of-war to a man who lay under the 
accusation of having murdered his countrymen, and 
among them two brother-officers of the writer : — 
" Friend Rauperaha, 
'* It has come to my knowledge that you are col- 
" lecting the tribes round you, because you expect that 
" I am going to attack you. Those who told you so 
" said that which is not true. 
*' It was to keep peace, and not to make war, that I 
" came here. You know, that where many men meet 
•' together, and continue without employment, they 
" will find something to do. They had best go home." 
A day or two after the arrival of the North Star I 
went to Otaki on horseback, in company with a gentle- 
man named Carter, a settler in New South Wales, and 
a relation of one of the officers of the frigate, who had 
come to see what inducements the country held out 
for removing hither with cattle and sheep. 
At Taupo Bay in Porirua, where the natives had 
told us, when deputed by the Magistrates, that ajoa 
was to be built, we found about 200 natives in a new 
village, 12 or 15 large canoes, and the Company's 
boat hauled up among them. 
Hiko came out on the beach, and beckoned to me 
