Page:Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand.pdf/23

Mr. J. Watkins.

Top of the Hills there is only diminutive Fern growing; in the Vales I saw large Trees grow in great Abundance. The Forests of Cowri are very fine; one I measured was Twenty-one Feet in Circumference.

Of what Nature is it?

Of the Pine Kind. That perhaps had not a Branch till it divided into Two, Thirty or Forty Feet above the Surface; then the Branches themselves were of immense Magnitude. That Tree could be seen from a great Distance towering over all the others.

It appears that while you were there Reference was frequently made to the Reverend Henry Williams as a Sort of Mediator there?

Yes; I have heard him mention the Circumstance of his being called upon to interfere between Two of the native Armies on the Western Coast who were going to Battle; one Chief ran across the Country to him to inform him of the Circumstance. He and Mr. Davies, another of the Missionaries, went over. When they arrived they pitched their Tent just between the Two Armies, with a sort of Pole fixed in the Ground, and a Sheet tied to it as a Flag of Truce. The Natives perfectly understood what it meant; the Chiefs on both sides met at the Tent to discuss Matters, and at the same Time the Army were firing over the Tent, but not to touch each other, only firing into the Air, as it were defying each other. The Result of that Intercession was that both Armies broke up, and each went to his own Territories without fighting. And again at Cororareka, at the Time of the Fight between Titori and Pomore, Mr. Henry Williams knew nothing of the Quarrel until he heard the firing; he immediately went across the Bay (it is about Four Miles), and landed alone; the other Missionaries were afraid to land; he took a long Pole in his Hand, and had a White Pocket Handkerchief tied at the Top of it as a Flag of Truce; he walked up the Beach between the Two Armies, who were then firing, and the Balls whizzing from each Side about him. As soon as they saw he was there the whole of them gave up firing, and there was an End to the Battle at once.

Did it appear to you that Mr. Williams's Influence was as great with the European Population as with the native?

Whenever Europeans thought themselves aggrieved they went to him for Redress; he had great Influence with the Natives, even in the Estimation of the lowest Class or worse Characters, who thought he had the most Influence of any.

As between them and the Natives?

Yes. He has no Influence over the English, who are perfectly lawless. Nothing can be more lawless then the Europeans who are there; they frequently lay aside the English Dress, and take up the native Mats, and have promiscuous Intercourse with the Native Women.

Morality is at a low Ebb there?

At the lowest Ebb; and it is much worse amongst those Tribes where the Sailors frequent than the others. I understand Cororareka Beach is proverbially one of the lowest Places,—one of the most degraded of any, even amongst the Natives themselves, and the Women are very much affected with the Venereal Disease, which is of the most virulent Kind. I apprehend there is not One in Fifty of the Women without the Venereal Disease, and that One, perhaps, may be the Wife of a Chief. Frequently the English will go to the Masters of Vessels; they first of all barter with the Natives, and take their Women on board, and get the highest Price they can for them. One Man I know was in the habit of taking Pigs and Women at the same Time to Vessels; selling the Pigs and the Use of the Women for the Time being all in one Lot; the Women were to return again. Sometimes the Women go to Sea with the Masters of Vessels. Two or Three Instances I know of Masters of Vessels giving as much to their Women as would amount to about 100l. a Year each, and carrying them off with them on their Voyage. Then they leave them on the Island from Time to Time; they go out for Three Months, and leave them there, or take them with them, according as they can agree with the Women themselves. But it is invariably the Case that all the Ships there, speaking generally, have Women on board in great Numbers.

The Missionaries take very little Pains with that Class of Persons?

Not the slightest; they do not attempt it. They have every possible Ridicule cast upon them by those People; they have abandoned every Attempt to