ich threatened so thickly.'

Sir George went quietly among the disaffected natives, hence a dramatic
scene at the graveside of Te-Whero-Whero. He journeyed alone to the Maori
headquarters, feeling that he was in no danger. When he arrived, the
place was almost deserted, the Maoris being elsewhere in council. He
sought out the grave of Te-Whero-Whero, bowed his head in tribute over
it, and there stood to ruminate on old associations. Thus the Maoris
discovered him, to their astonishment, and they cried: 'Come here! Come
here!' If there had been no welcome for him the Maori cry would have
been: 'Go away! Go away!'

'Word of my presence,' Sir George remembered, 'was sent to King Tawhiao,
and he started to ride to me, but was unable, being worn out, to complete
his journey. With royal etiquette, he had a certificate to that purport
made out and sent on to me for my satisfaction. It was drawn up and
attested with every precision, and I got it all right, nor could I help
laughing at the idea.

'But Tawhiao's anxiety that I should be assured of his good faith, even
in so trifling a matter, struck me as a pleasing item of character. I
took a fancy to him after we became personally acquainted, and he was one
of the last persons I saw, when I finally left New Zealand for England.
Years before, I had bidden him another good-bye, he being then the one
who was setting out on a visit to England.'

Estimated by his name, Tawhiao was a 'scorner of the sun,' but unhappily
not of spirits. They were apt, in the days when his kingship had grown an
empty name, to make him quite unkingly. He naturally called upon Sir
George Grey, for years out of official life, to learn about England.

'Will you answer me a question?' Sir George broached him, adding: 'There
need be no false modesty between friends.' Tawhiao waited sedately for
the question, which was: 'What would you think of a man who, by some
wrong means, had brought about the death of a fellow-being?'

'Why, he would be a very bad man; a man deserving of most severe
punishment.'

'If a man brought about the death of several other men, what would you
say?'

'Who could be so cruel? It is not possible that anybody could be so
wicked.'

'If that is your view, Tawhiao, what words would you have for a man who
destroyed the happiness of a whole nation, and that his own?'

Tawhiao could not frame words for such a person, more especially as he
now began to realise that the parables wer