ertainly to any
little matter they coveted: yet, as there are exceptions to all rules,
theft would sometimes be committed--and then, as I was saying, it
became the bounden duty of my _rangatira_ to get the stolen article
back, if he was able, and keep it for himself for his trouble, unless I
gave him something of more value in lieu thereof.

Under the above regulations, things went on pleasantly enough: the
chief being restrained, by public opinion and the danger of the pakeha
running away, from pushing his prerogative to the utmost limit; and the
pakeha, on the other hand, making the commonalty pay for the indirect
taxation he was subjected to; so that in general, after ten or fifteen
years' residence, he would not be much poorer than when he arrived:
unless, indeed, some unlucky accident happened, such as pakehas were
liable to sometimes in the good old times.

Mentioning "public opinion" as a restraint on the chiefs'
acquisitiveness, I must explain that a chief possessing a pakeha was
much envied by his neighbours, who, in consequence, took every
opportunity of scandalizing him, and blaming him for any rough plucking
process he might subject the said pakeha to; and should he, by any
awkward handling of this sort, cause the pakeha at last to run for it,
the chief would never hear the end of it from his own family and
connections: pakehas being, in those glorious old times, considered to
be geese who laid golden eggs, and it was held to be the very extreme
of foolishness and bad policy either to kill them, or, by too rough
handling, to cause them to fly away.

On the other hand, should the pakeha fail in a culpable manner in the
performance of his duties--though he would not, as a rule, be subjected
to any stated punishment--he would soon begin to find a most
unaccountable train of accidents and all sorts of unpleasant
occurrences happening; enough, in the aggregate, to drive Job himself
out of his wits: and, moreover, he would _get a bad name_, which,
though he removed, would follow him from one end of the island to the
other, and effectually prevent him having the slightest chance of doing
any good,--that is, holding his own in the country; as the natives,
wherever he went, would consider him a person out of whom the most was
to be made at once, since he was not to be depended on as a source of
permanent revenue. I have known several industrious, active, and sober
pakehas who never could do any good, and whose liv