requesting that he would pilot the _Herald_ in these waters, and likewise use his influence with the chiefs of Mercury Bay in the direction of securing their presence at the meeting, to both of which the sealer Captain gave a ready response. "On the day appointed," so writes the Major, "Captain Nias, with several officers of the ship, together with Mr. Williams and myself, went on shore at 11 o'clock, but no native chiefs had at that hour assembled. A considerable number of Europeans appeared, however, to have been attracted by the report of the expected meeting. Subsequently a number of natives did assemble with six chiefs of different tribes. Mr. Williams explained the treaty; its object in consequence of the increasing influx of strangers; and that the claim for pre-emption on the part of the Crown was intended to check their imprudently selling their lands without sufficiently benefiting themselves or obtaining a fair equivalent. After a variety of objections on the part of the chiefs we succeeded in obtaining the signatures of four, one of these being the principal chief of the district the celebrated Horeta,[127] of Bannin's Island notoriety. The principal orator, an old chief named Piko, and another of inferior note, refused to sign, alleging as a reason that they wanted more time to assemble the different tribes of the Thames district, and to consult with them, when they would also sign; but that he could, for himself, see no necessity for placing himself under the dominion of any prince or queen, as he was desirous of governing his own tribe." This policy of procrastination was obviously induced by the intelligence which had reached them of the arrest at the Bay of Islands of a native, Kiti, for the murder of Mr. Williams's shepherd, Patrick Macdonald, and of his trial and subsequent condemnation. They did not complain of the injustice of the punishment, but the whole proceeding was so novel in its character, and so dubious in its ultimate result that they felt prudence warranted a deeper reflection than the subject had yet received. They therefore hesitated before committing themselves to a policy, the end whereof they could not see. There was also a passing difficulty with those chiefs who signed the treaty, for these gentlemen elected to entertain so exalted an idea of the Queen's munificence that they deemed the homely blanket offered to them as being altogether unworthy of so great a Sovereign's generosity, and expressed a decided preference for forage caps and scarlet cloaks. There was greater unanimity displayed over the feast of pork and potatoes which Major Bunbury had thoughtfully provided for their entertainment before he left.