APPENDIX.
It has been considered desirable to supplement the above interesting narrative with translations of several letters from Maori chiefs to the Agent-General, received by the last mail from New Zealand. These letters are not only remarkable for their poetic sentiment, but, coming as they do from leading men, they are a very significant index to the present state of the native mind.
Dr. Featherston, during a residence in the country of about thirty years, and during eighteen years' continuous tenure of office as Superintendent, was in constant official communication with the native tribes of the Wellington Province; and it is well known that during the disturbed period, from 1861 to 1865, the maintenance of peace in this portion of the Colony was in a great measure due to his personal influence with the Ngatiawa and Ngatiraukawa chiefs. It is satisfactory, therefore, to find that he is still remembered among them as their "friend and father," and that they continue to look to him for guidance and advice.
Wi Tako, the writer of the first letter, is a man of good birth and of considerable political influence. He was one of the chief promoters of the Maori-king Movement, and has always taken an active part in native affairs. In 1862 he withdrew himself from all communication with Europeans, fortified his pah at Waikanae, raised the rebel flag, and moved from place to place attended by a body guard of 100 armed men in uniform. At this time Sir George Grey, who had
