NEW ZEALANDERS. 
353 
beach were engaged in war-dances, shouting, and 
firing their muskets at frequent intervals. On 
inquiry, we found that on the day we had visited 
Waikadie, a chief of Rangehoo had committed 
suicide, by throwing himself from a high rock 
into the sea. This event had brought the chiefs 
and warriors of the adjacent country, to investigate 
the cause of his death—armed, and prepared for 
revenge, in the event of his having been murdered. 
A council was held for some hours on the beach, 
when the strangers, being satisfied as to the cause 
and manner of the chief’s death, preparations for 
war were discontinued, and the people of Rangehoo 
repaired to their fields, to procure potatoes for 
their entertainment. It was Christmas-day, and 
about twelve o’clock we went on shore, to dine 
with one of the Mission families. In the after¬ 
noon, I walked through the encampment of the 
strangers, which was spread along the sea-shore. 
Their long, stately, and in many instances beau¬ 
tifully carved canoes, were drawn up on the 
pebbly beach, and the chiefs and warriors were 
sitting in circles, at a small distance from them. 
Each party occupied the beach opposite their 
canoes, while the slaves or domestics, at some 
distance further from the shore, were busied round 
their respective fires, preparing their masters’ food. 
Near his side, each warrior’s spear was fixed in the 
ground, while his patapatu, a stone weapon, the 
tomakawk of the New Zealander, was hanging on 
his arm. Several chiefs had a large iron hatchet 
or bill-hook, much resembling those used by 
woodmen, or others, in mending hedges in 
England. These, which in their hands were 
rather terrifying weapons, appeared to be highly 
prized; they were kept clean and polished, and 
in. 2 a 
