natives from both villages had assembled, and a scene
similar to this was never before witnessed in New Zealand. Six unarmed
men, quite unprotected (for there was not a single vessel in the harbour,
nor had there been for a month), had attacked and destroyed all the
preparations of the natives for what they consider a national feast; and
this was done in the presence of a great body of armed chiefs, who had
assembled to partake of it. After having finished this exploit, and our
passion and disgust had somewhat subsided, I could not help feeling that
we had acted very imprudently in thus tempting the fury of these savages,
and interfering in an affair that certainly was no concern of ours; but
as no harm accrued to any of our party, it plainly shows the influence
"the white men" have already obtained over them; had the offence we
committed been done by any hostile tribe, hundreds of lives would have
been sacrificed.

The next day our old friend King George paid us a long visit, and we
talked over the affair very calmly. He highly disapproved of our conduct.
"In the first place," said he, "you did a foolish thing, which might have
cost you your lives; and yet did not accomplish your purpose after all,
as you merely succeeded in burying the flesh near the spot on which you
found it. After you went away it was again taken up, and every bit was
eaten"--a fact I afterwards ascertained by examining the grave and
finding it empty. King George further said: "It was an old custom, which
their fathers practised before them; and you had no right to interfere
with their ceremonies. I myself," added he, "have left off eating human
flesh, out of compliment to you white men; but you have no reason to
expect the same compliance from all the other chiefs. What punishment
have you in England for thieves and runaways?" We answered, "After trial,
flogging or hanging." "Then," he replied, "the only difference in our
laws is, you flog and hang, but we shoot and eat."

After thus reproving us, he became very communicative on the subject of
cannibalism. He said, he recollected the time prior to pigs and potatoes
being introduced into the island (an epoch of great importance to the New
Zealanders), and stated that he was born and reared in an inland
district, and the only food they then had consisted of fern roots and
kumara; fish they never saw, and the only flesh he then partook of was
human. But I will no longer dwell on this humiliating subj