hings occurred from our want of knowledge
of their laws and customs, which compelled them to seek revenge. "It
was," they said, "no act of treachery on our part; we did not invite you
to our shores for the purpose of plunder and murder: but you came, and
ill-used us; you broke into our tabooed grounds. And did not Atua give
those bad white men into the hands of our fathers?"

I am confident that a body of Europeans may now reside in perfect
security in any part of these islands. The late plundering of the
missionaries at Whangaroa was a peculiar circumstance, which might have
happened even in civilised Europe, had the seat of war approached so near
their place of residence. If their houses and chapel had been on the
plains of Waterloo during the June of 1815 they would not have
experienced a better fate.

This recent tumult has brought a circumstance into notice highly
interesting to all who may hereafter wish to settle here. It has hitherto
been their custom, when an accident occurs, such as the sudden death of a
chief, to make a general plunder of everything belonging to the family of
the deceased, and all under their protection. A knowledge of this
horrible custom has deterred many from settling in New Zealand; and even
those who have resolved to run so great a risk have lived in a continued
state of alarm, lest the death of their protecting chief should leave
them at the mercy of a savage enemy.

The deaths of Hongi and Shulitea placed the missionaries and all the
settlers on Kororarika Beach in considerable jeopardy: but it appeared as
if reason had begun to dawn on the minds of these benighted savages, for
this unjust and cruel custom was now for the first time discontinued. I
was on the beach at the time when an immense party, well armed, came for
the express purpose of satiating their revengeful feelings. I had taken
the precaution of removing what I possessed on board a whaler then lying
in the harbour. The chiefs first sat down to discuss the matter over
amongst themselves, and their deliberations ended in their being
satisfied with destroying the village of Matowe, the one adjoining ours,
and which had been the residence of Pomare's son, whose death was the
cause of all the late turbulent events.

The great and leading defect in this country, and the principal cause of
their frequent wars and disturbances, which harass and depopulate the
tribes, and puts a stop to all improvement, is the want of some regul