The custom of confiscation, from a variety of causes, is a fixed one among the Natives, and has been practised for centuries in every part of the colony. When Captain Fitzroy failed to take the Wairau plains after the massacre of 1843, Rangihaeata, the principal actor on that occasion, said, "He paukena te Pakeha,"—the Governor is soft: he is a pumpkin.

W. F.