the stream, went to celebrate the obsequies

of their relative.

May 10th, Wednesday.

Fine, thermometer 58°. Some of the gentlemen belonging to the ship returned from an excursion into the interior. They had gone up the river Kiddy-Kiddy, and after walking about twenty miles across the country, arrived at a small stream, called the Wymatty, which flows into the Wytangy, and gives its name to the neighbouring district, the property of Tarrea, a chief of Shungie's tribe. They found this man presiding at a general assembly of the people of the Bay of Islands and the country adjacent, and they calculated that there were nearly 3,000 persons on the ground. Being cautious in concealing the object of meetings of this kind, the New Zealanders said it originated in the presence of an Atua, or god, and directed the gentlemen to the place where the divinity was to be found. Here they saw the head of one of their chiefs, who had been killed at Mercury Bay, dressed out

with feathers, and placed upon an elevated platform. Near it were the bones of many generations of the family; and the lamentations of the relatives who sat round it began at the rising and terminated at the setting of the

sun.

The appearance of this immense assemblage was represented as resembling a fair; and as all meetings, whether to grieve or to rejoice, end in a feast, the quantities of koomeras and potatoes which were seen were enormous. Though many of the people might have collected to celebrate the rites of the Atua, it was afterwards ascertained that the chief object of the meeting was to concert measures to avenge the death of one of Shungie's brothers, who had been killed twelve years before in an unsuccessful expedition on the

western coast.

The gentlemen afterwards went to a place called Tyama, where they saw some hot sulphurous springs, and collected some specimens of crystalised sulphur. They were attended

K

on their return by Kaiterra, the chief of the place. He had been particularly civil to them, and seemed to be one of the few who had improved by a visit to Port Jackson; having several acres of ground fenced in, and cultivated, and a house of a description very superior to those of the other New Zealanders.

May 11th, Thursday. Fine, thermometer 58°. Two casks having been anchored right and left of the ship, the great guns were exercised. There were many canoes full of people assembled to witness the spectacle; and as the progress of the shot upon the water was very visible, the natives seemed greatly surprised at the extent of its range. Krokro being among the spectators, remarked, at the end of the firing, "that the entertainment was over because the powder was all gone;" but that he thought the captain of the ship would have acted much more wisely in giving it to him, as he would have amply supplied the vessel with provisions in return. Another chief, named Perehico, who sat by, replied,

"that it was very well to fire at a cask at New Zealand, but that he was confident whenever the Dromedary returned to England, King George would be very angry with her commander for wasting his powder."

May 12th, Friday. Fine, thermometer 54°. We were visited by a chief of Bream Bay, who described it as too shallow for the Dromedary; but he said that the neighbouring district produced a considerable quantity of cowry, some of which grew close to the water's edge.

13th, Saturday. Fine, thermometer 65°. In the morning, some of the gentlemen made an excursion up the river Wycaddy; and on approaching Jetoro's village, he fired two muskets as a salute, but as there were no arms in the boat, he asked us, when we landed, why the compliment had not been returned? and seemed displeased until a satisfactory explanation was given. He then led us to his hut, where he had just completed the stock of a musket, and considering the

few miserable tools he possessed, it was done with much ingenuity. The place for the barrel had been hollowed out by fire, and the excavation for the lock, though made with an old knife and a wretched chisel, was singularly accurate.

Whenever Jetoro came on board the Dromedary, he took his station either at the carpenter's or the armourer's bench, where he watched with unremitting attention whatever was going on; and he showed remarkable quickness and sagacity in learning every thing mechanical that came under his observation.

In the evening, the carpenter returned from the Cowa-Cowa, where he had been the whole of the week, with ten sailors, and reported that for the last three days he had scarcely received any assistance from the natives; the greater part of them having gone to a funeral in the neighbourhood; and that it was impossible to say when they would return. The labour had now become very hard, the trees were felled in a swamp, which the late rains