by a disastrous wreck. The whaling barque _Harriet_,
under the command of a man named Guard, a low fellow who had formerly
been a convict, was trading among the islands when she was wrecked off
the coast of Taranaki. The Maoris attacked the stranded ship, but the
crew stayed on her and fired into the assailants, and it was not till
after quite a siege, in which twelve seamen were killed, that the rest
fled from the wreck, leaving Mrs. Guard and her two children in the
hands of the Taranaki tribe. Guard and twelve seamen, however, though
they escaped for a time were caught by a neighbouring tribe, to whom he
promised a cask of gunpowder if they would help him to reach an English
ship. This they did, and Guard reached Sydney, where he begged Sir
Richard Bourke to send a vessel for the rescue of his wife and children.
Bourke sent the _Alligator_, with a company of soldiers, who landed and
demanded the captive seamen. These were given up, but the captain of the
ship supported Guard in breaking his promise and refusing to give the
powder, under the plea that it was a bad thing for natives. The
_Alligator_ then went round to Taranaki for the woman and children. The
chief of the tribe came down to the beach and said they would be given
up for a ransom. The white men seized him, dragged him into their boat
to be a hostage, but he jumped out of the boat and was speared with
bayonets. He was taken to the ship nearly dead. Then the natives gave up
the woman and one child in return for their chief. After some parley a
native came down to the beach with the other child on his shoulders. He
said he would give it up if a proper ransom was paid. The English said
they would give no ransom, and when the man turned to go away again,
they shot him through the back, quite dead. The child was recovered,
but Mrs. Guard and the children testified that this native had been a
good friend to them when in captivity. Nevertheless, his head was cut
off and tumbled about on the beach. The _Alligator_ then bombarded the
native pah, destroyed all its houses to the number of 200, with all the
provisions they contained, killing from twenty to thirty men in the
process. This scarcely agreed with the letter which Mr. Busby had just
received, in which he was directed to express to the Maori chiefs the
regret which the King of England felt at the injuries committed by white
men against Maoris.

#4. Captain Hobson.#--But there were many difficulties in secu