where all was safe. By this means a great
deal was re-collected. The fire was now
nearly extinguished j but our two really tolerably
good houses were reduced to a heap of
smoking ruins, and the greater part of what
belonged to us was taken away by the
Narpooes.
This calamity had made us acquainted with
another of their barbarous customs; which is,
whenever a misfortune happens to a community,
or an individual, every person, even
the friends of his own tribe, fall upon and
strip him of all he has remaining. — As an
unfortunate fish, when struck by a harpoon,
is instantly surrounded and devoured by his
companions, so in New Zealand, when a chief
is killed, his former friends plunder his widow
and children; and they, in revenge, ill use
and even murder their slaves: thus one misfortune
gives birth to various cruelties. During
the fire, our allies proved themselves the most
adroit and active thieves imaginable; though
previously to that event we had never lost an
article, although every thing we possessed was
open to them.
When we questioned them about our property,
they frankly told us where it was; and
after some difficulty in settling the amount of
its ransom, we got most of our things back
again, with the exception of such as had
been carried off by the Narpooes.
Upon the cruelty of this custom I shall
make no comments. Probably I should have
remained in ignorance of this savage law,
had I not had the misfortune to become its
victim.
By redeeming from the natives what they
had purloined from the fire, we had restored
to us some of our boxes, desks, and clothes j
but all our little comforts towards housekeeping
were irretrievably lost. When the
fire was over, we received a visit from one of
the missionaries, who made us a cold offer of
assistance. We accepted a little tea, sugar, and
some few articles of crockery from them; but
although they knew we stood there houseless,
amongst a horde of savages, they never offered
us the shelter of their roofs. I am very sure
that had the calamity befallen them, we should
immediately have offered our huts, and shared
H