Chap. XVm. CONVERSATION WITH RAUPERAHA. 497 
quivering head and limbs, and the usual slapping on 
the thigh. 
It was a complete instance of what he called, in whal- 
ing slang, his boo-boo-boo, or " bounce;" and, unarmed 
as I was, I should probably have thought myself in 
some danger, even with the fence between us, had not 
Rauperaha and the other natives continued to whisper 
to me during the whole time of his harangue, " Don't 
" listen to him ! Don't answer ! Don't be afraid, 
" they're only words ! Don't mind him, Tiraweke !" I 
looked steadily at him without saying a word ; and he 
at length appeared to get tired, or to be convinced that 
I would not be intimidated. He finished one of his 
angry runs by returning into his hut. 
I now turned to Rauperaha, and distinctly denied 
every part of the story which had been reported to 
him. I endeavoured, but without avail, to trace its 
origin. We then held a long conversation ; Rauperaha 
taking pains to impress upon me his power, the care 
which he took of his own people, and the accurate in- 
formation which he constantly received of everything 
that was going on in the neighbourhood of the White 
men's settlements. 
To prove the latter assertion, he instanced two cases 
which, he said, were perfectly well known to him, of 
murders committed by natives in the neighbourhood of 
Wellington, and of which the Whites never had any 
sign or suspicion. The first he stated to have been 
committed up the Hutt by a native then alive, whom, 
however, he would not name. He asked me repeatedly, 
whether any one had been missed up there ; and upon 
my answering in the negative, said that showed how 
little care we could take of our people compared with 
that which he took of his. The second murder he 
described as having been committed among the hills at 
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