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each other à l’ Anglais; whilst the countenances and the gestures of the Natives, who were squatting grouped together according to their tribes, bore testimony to the interest which they took, if not in the business, in the gaiety and life of the day. Nature appeared for once to have consented to doff her mantle of New Zealand grey,[1] and to have become quite exhilarated. Even the cicadœ, those little gallant monotonous-toned summer gentlemen, sang livelier than usual. Everything, in fact, wore the appearance of cheerfulness and activity. Whilst all this was exhibited and enjoyed without, the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Busby, and Rev. H. Williams were engaged within, translating the treaty, and arranging other preliminary matters for the meeting. About half-past ten a.m. the French Roman Catholic Bishop Pompallier, dressed in canonicals, attended by one of his priests, arrived. They landed, and walked onwards, without the least hesitation, into the room in Mr. Busby’s house where the Lieutenant-Governor and others were closely and privately engaged, brushing by the [mounted] police,[2] who, in uniform, were keeping guard before the door. At this a buzz might be heard among the Natives, one saying to another, “Ko ia ano te tino rangatira! Ko Pikopo[3] anake te hoa mo te Kawana” (i.e., “He, indeed, is the chief gentleman! Pikopo (Pompallier) only is the companion for the Governor”). Hearing the observations made by the Natives, I repeated them to my brethren, Messrs. King, Kemp, Clarke, and Baker, at the same time calling their attention to what had just taken place, saying, “If Pikopo and his priest go in, we, for the sake of our position among the Natives, should go in also.” To which the brethren assenting, we walked on towards the house.
- ↑ Mr. Busby has here, in the margin of the MS., “?, J.B.” My allusion was to the rather sombre appearance of the fern, and manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) scrub, and rushes, on the barren hills around.
- ↑ A small body of them had accompanied Captain Hobson from Sydney.
- ↑ The common Maori name by which the Roman Catholic bishop and the priests were known.
