did credit to the Pakeha, or English, style of preserving dried
human heads! Like Duaterra, their great anxiety was to see King George;
but, in 1817, the apology recorded in Teterree's English letter was only
too true,--"I never see the King of England, he very poorly; and Queen
Charlotte very poorly too."

On their return to Paramatta, Mr. Marsden made a second visit to New
Zealand, taking them back, and also going to instal some fresh
missionaries and mechanics on a new settlement. There was great
competition among the chiefs; for the possession of a Pakeha, or
Englishman, was greatly coveted as a means of bringing the material good
things of life, and Mr. Marsden was eagerly assured that there was no
danger of the English being killed and eaten, since the Maori flesh was
much sweeter, because the whites ate so much salt. There was as yet no
convert, but Mr. Marsden's resolution by no means failed him; he
believed--and he was right--that kindness, truth, and uprightness, in
those who could confer temporal benefits, would, in time, lead these
intelligent men to appreciate the spiritual blessings that were offered
to them.

Presents of hoes, with which to plant the sweet potato, were greatly
appreciated. Hunghi's head wife was working away with a wooden spade,
though perfectly blind, and was delighted with the new instrument.
Indeed, Hunghi was one of the most eager friends of the mission, though
the splendidly tattooed heads of his enemies decorated his abode, and he
defended cannibalism, on the ground that animals preyed upon one another,
and that the gods devoured each other. His manners had all the high-bred
courtesy that marked the chief, and he was a noble-looking creature, full
of native majesty and gentleness. Every hope was entertained of him, and
he was sent, in 1820, to visit England, where he had an interview with
George IV., and received presents of weapons from him. But the moral
Hunghi brought home was, "There is but one king in England. There shall
be but one in New Zealand." And this consummation he endeavoured to
bring about by challenging a hostile chief whom he met on his way back
from Sydney to New Zealand. He gained the battle, by arranging his men
in the form of a wedge, and likewise by the number of muskets with which
he was able to arm them. When the chief himself fell by his hand, he
drank his fresh blood, and devoured his eye, in the belief that it thus
became a star in the firmam