which we had anchored. They were Well
known to our captain, who spoke their language.
They were accustomed to the society
of Europeans, also to transact business with
them ; and as they were flax, timber, and
hog merchants, they and the captain talked
over the state of the markets during the evening.
They were clothed in mats, called Ka-
ka-hoos. The ladies joined our party at supper,
and we spent a very cheerful time with
our savage visiters, who both behaved in as
polite and respectful a manner as the best
educated gentlemen could have done ; their
pleasing manners so ingratiated them into the
good opinion of the ladies, that they all declared,
“ they would be really very handsome
men if their faces were not tattooed.”
The next day we received a visit from Mr.
and Mrs. Butler, English people, who had
taken up their residence here for the purpose
of trading, and we returned with them on
shore, taking our female passengers with
us, and leaving them in charge of Mrs. Butler.
I determined to stroll through the village,
which is, in fact, a collection of rude
huts, huddled together without system or
regularity. Dock leaves and weeds of every
description were growing luxuriantly all round
them, and in many places actually overtopping
the houses, few being more than four
feet high, with a door-way about two feet.
Scarcely any of them were inhabited; as at
this season of the year the greater part of the
population prefer living in the open air, to
remaining in their small, smoky, ovens of
houses.
I had not rambled far, before I witnessed
a scene which forcibly reminded me of the
savage country in which I then was ; and
the great alteration of character and customs
a few days’ sail will make. The sight to me
so appalling was, that of the remains of a
human body which had been roasted, and a
number of hogs and dogs were snarling and
feasting upon it! I was more shocked than
surprised, for I had been informed of the cha-
racter of the New Zealanders long before my
arrival amongst them; still the coming suddenly
and unexpectedly upon a sight like
this completely sickened me of rambling, at