a
_rangatira_, if I had plenty of _taonga_ (goods) on board, and other
particulars; and having been answered by the captain in the most
satisfactory manner,--came up to me and gave me a most sincere welcome.
(I love sincerity.) He would have welcomed me, however, had I been as
poor as Job, for pakehas were, in those days, at an enormous premium.
Even Job, at the worst (a _pakeha_ Job), might be supposed to have an
old coat, or a spike nail, or a couple of iron hoops left on hand, and
these were "good trade" in the times I speak of; and under a process
well understood at the time by my friend the chief, were sure to change
hands soon after his becoming aware of their whereabouts.

His idea of trade was this:--He took them, and never paid for them till
he took something else of greater value, which, whatever it might be,
he never paid for till he made a third still heavier haul. He always
paid just what he thought fit to give, and when he chose to withdraw
his patronage from any pakeha who might be getting too knowing for him,
and extend it to some newer arrival, he never paid for the last "lot of
trade;" but, to give him his due, he allowed his pakeha friends to make
the best bargain they could with the rest of the tribe, with the
exception of a few of his nearest relations, over whose interests he
would watch. So, after all, the pakeha would make a living; but I have
never heard of one of the old traders who got rich by trading with the
natives: there were too many drawbacks of the nature I have mentioned,
as well as others unnecessary to mention just yet, which prevented it.

I positively vow and protest to you, gentle and patient reader, that if
ever I get safe on shore, I will do my best to give you satisfaction;
let me get once on shore, and I am all right: but, unless I get my feet
on _terra firma_, how can I ever begin my tale of the good old times?
As long as I am on board ship I am cramped and crippled, and a mere
slave to Greenwich time, and can't get on. Some people, I am aware,
would make a dash at it, and manage the thing without the aid of boat,
canoe, or life preserver; but such people are, for the most part,
dealers in fiction, which I am not: my story is a true story, not
"founded on fact," but fact itself, and so I cannot manage to get on
shore a moment sooner than circumstances will permit.

It may be that I ought to have landed before this; but I must confess I
don't know any more about the right w