POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
23 
CHAP. II. 
Voyage to New Zealand—Intercourse with the inhabitants—Sabbath 
on shore—Visit to Waikadie—Instance of parental tenderness—Forest 
scenery—Sham fight and war-dances—Character of the New Zealanders 
■—Prospects of the Mission—Arrival at the Island of Rapa—Singularity 
of its structure—Appearance of the natives—Violent proceedings on 
board—Remarkable interposition of Providence—Visit of the natives 
to Tahiti—Introduction of Christianity to Rapa—Increased geographical 
acquaintance with the Pacific. 
On the tenth of December^ 1816^ we sailed from Sydney in 
the Queen Charlotte^ a brig belonging to J. Birnie^ Esq.^ 
bound for the Society and Marquesan Islands. On the 
21 st of the same months we reached New Zealand; and 
here for the first time saw the rude^ untutored inha¬ 
bitants of the South Sea Islands^ in their native state. 
At daylight^ on the morning after our arrival on the 
coast^ we found ourselves off Wangaroa bay, where, six 
years before, the murderous quarrel took place, in which 
the crew of the Boyd were cut off by the natives, and 
near which, subsequently, the Methodist Missionary sta¬ 
tion at Wesley dale, established "^in 1823, has been, 
through the alarming and violent conduct of the inha¬ 
bitants, abandoned by the Missionaries, and utterly 
destroyed by the natives. Several canoes, with three 
or four men in each, approached our vessel at a very 
early hour, with fish, fishing-lines, hooks, and a few 
curiosities for sale. Their canoes were all single, ge¬ 
nerally between twenty and thirty feet long, formed 
