484 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XYTH. 
** though I have only a blanket instead of a red coat. 
" And the ships can do us no harm, if we get away 
*' from the coast when we see them coming." Thus 
it began to be their firm belief, that the pakeha was 
not only timid but powerless. E Puni and many 
other of the Port Nicholson natives who still remained 
our friends, often remarked to us, that we were no 
longer, as they had hoped, a protection to them against 
the possible attacks of Rauperaha and his followers. 
They candidly confessed that they did not think us 
strong enough to resist him. And some among them 
spoke seriously of removing to Taranaki, or some other 
part of the country less subject to a sudden attack 
from their old enemy. 
If such were the impressions produced upon the 
well-disposed natives by tbe puling indulgence shown 
to them by a Government spiritless except against its 
own people, what could be those produced upon such 
among them as were naturally disposed to support and 
exemplify the supremacy of brute force over law and 
order? For, however much may have been said of 
innocent, harmless, well-disposed, intelligent savages, 
and their remarkable capacity for civilization, it must 
not be denied that many among the inhabitants of 
New Zealand, as among the inhabitants of Great 
Britain, are ruffians by nature. Under the most com- 
plete and humane system of civilization, such savages 
as were naturally ferocious and depraved, or corrupted 
by the irregular colonization M'^hich had taken place 
previous to the arrival of the quiet and orderly settlers 
from England, would have required a firm and un- 
flinching coercion from those most eager to benefit the 
whole race. Even with a view to the protection of 
their fellow-savages from the pernicious example as well 
as the immediate consequences of their barl)arian ca- 
