Page:Overland Journey of the Governor of New Zealand.djvu/15

In the wars and troubles of the last few years, Poihipi has stood firm to the Queen, even as the rocky isle of Motu Taiko, now before us, stands firm as ever amid the winds and waves of the great lake. When evil times came on, and the sky was dark and lowering, the friends of law and order took refuge with him, even as canoes caught by a storm take refuge under the lee of Motu Taiko. Now the storm is passing away; the sun shines forth again; and the tribes lately disaffected are returning to their allegiance, and are following his good example. In a word, the influence of Poihipi (as he himself said just now) has driven away the demons of war and murder which were devastating this fair land, even as the sea-god Horomatangi, celebrated in the old Maori legends, destroyed the taniwhas (sea monsters) which once infested the shores of the lake of Taupo. And now, my friends, I rejoice that you are industrious in peace as you have been brave in war. You were the first to join the Government in making the roads through your district, those roads which confer such great benefits on all alike—on the Maoris and on the pakehas. I trust you will also join the Government in founding schools, as your countrymen have already done at Pakowhai, Maketu, and elsewhere. Thus your children will grow up in good nurture, well educated, and able to cultivate the arts of peace, and live in friendship and harmony with the English. Then the two nations, the white skin and the brown, which inhabit this island, will grow up into one people, with common laws and institutions. O, my friends, I