umably
been murdered. The Maoris fled. But Marion's boat-cloak was seen
on the shoulders of their chief, and in the huts were found more
clothing--blood-stained--and fragments of human flesh.

The ships were hurriedly got ready for sea. The beautiful "cedar"
masts were abandoned, and jury-masts set up instead. Wood and water
were taken in, and the expedition sailed for Manila, turning its back
upon the quest of the great southern continent. Meanwhile the Maoris
had taken refuge in the hills, whence the cries of their sentinels
could be heard by day and their signal fires be descried by night.

Crozet moralizes on the malignant and unprovoked treachery of these
savages. He pours out his contempt on the Parisian _philosophes_ who
idealized primitive man and natural virtue. For his part he would
rather meet a lion or a tiger, for then he would know what to do! But
there is another side to the story. The memory of the _Wi-Wi_,[1] "the
bloody tribe of Marion," lingered long in the Bay of Islands. Fifty
years after Captain Cruise was told by the Maoris how Marion had
been killed for burning their villages. Thirty years later still,
Surgeon-Major Thomson heard natives relating round a fire how the
French had broken into their _tapu_ sanctuaries and put their chiefs
in irons. And then there were the deeds of De Surville. Apart from
certain odd features in Crozet's narrative, it may be remarked that he
errs in making the Maoris act quite causelessly. The Maori code was
strange and fantastic, but a tribal vendetta always had a reason.

[Footnote 1: _Out-Out_.]

Thus did the Dutch, English, and French in succession discover New
Zealand, and forthwith come into conflict with its dauntless and
ferocious natives. The skill and moderation of Cook may be judged by
comparing his success with the episodes of De Surville's roughness and
the troubles which befel Tasman, Furneaux, and Marion du Fresne. Or we
may please ourselves by contrasting English persistency and harsh
but not unjust dealing, with Dutch over-cautiousness and French
carelessness and cruelty. One after the other the Navigators revealed
the islands to the world, and began at the same time that series
of deeds of blood and reprisal which made the name of New Zealand
notorious for generations, and only ended with the massacre of Poverty
Bay a long century afterwards.

[Illustration]

Chapter V

NO MAN'S LAND

"The wild justice of revenge."

The Maoris to