1773.
March.
arrival of British vessels. The thin population in this part of the island makes it probable, that the few families in it lead a nomadic or wandering life, and remove according as the season, the conveniency of fishing, and other circumstances render it necessary. We were therefore of opinion, that our friendly family had only removed upon this principle; but we were likewise told that before they went away, the man had made signs of going to kill men, and employing the hatchet as an offensive weapon. If this circumstance was rightly understood, we cannot sufficiently wonder that a family so secluded from all the rest of the world, in a spacious bay, where they have a superfluity of food, and of all the necessaries of life, the fewness of their wants considered, should still have a thought of warring with their fellow-creatures, when they might live peaceably and happily in their retirement. The pleasing hope of facilitating the œconomical operations of these people; and of encouraging some degree of agriculture among them, by presenting them with useful tools, was defeated by this determination. The state of barbarism, in which the New Zeelanders may justly be said to live, and which generally hearkens to no other voice than that of the strongest, might make them more liable than any other nation to resolve upon the destruction of their fellow-citizens, as soon as an opportunity offered; and their innate and savage valour may probably assist themto
