and was now living with a chief named Rawmatty;[BZ] whose daughter he
had married, and whose residence was at a place called Sukyanna,[CA] on
the west coast, within fifty miles of the Bay of Islands. He said that
he had been at the Bay of Islands a short time before, and had seen
several of the English missionaries. He also said that he had heard that
the natives had lately taken a vessel at a place called Wangalore,
which they had plundered and then turned adrift; but that the crew had
escaped in their boats and put to sea. This is the same place where the
crew of the ship 'Boyd' were murdered some years before.[CB]

"While I remained among these people, a slave was brought up before one
of the chiefs, who immediately arose from the ground, and struck him
with his mery and killed him. This mery was different from any of the
rest, being made of steel. The heart was taken out of the slave as soon
as he had fallen, and instantly devoured by the chief who slew him. I
then inquired who this chief was, and was informed that his name was
Shungie, one of the two chiefs who had been at England, and had been
presented to many of the nobility there, from whom he received many
valuable presents; among others, a double-barrelled gun and a suit of
armour, which he has since worn in many battles. His reason, they told
me, for killing the slave, who was one belonging to himself, was that he
had stolen the suit of armour, and was running away with it to the
enemy, when he was taken prisoner by a party stationed on the outskirts
of the encampment. This was the only act of theft which I ever saw
punished in New Zealand.

"Although Shungie has been two years among Europeans, I still consider
him to be one of the most ferocious cannibals in his native country. He
protects the missionaries who live on his ground entirely for the sake
of what he can get from them.

"I now returned to my own party. Early the next morning the enemy
retreated to a distance of about two miles from the river; upon
observing which our party immediately threw off their mats, and got
under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thousand muskets
among them, chiefly purchased from the English and American South Sea
ships which touch at the island. We now crossed the river; and, having
arrived on the opposite side, I took my station on a rising ground,
about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I
had a full view of the engagement.