I was told by the
missionaries that in the life of Shongi, the chief who visited
England, the love of war was the one and lasting spring of every
action. The tribe in which he was a principal chief had at one time
been much oppressed by another tribe from the Thames River. A
solemn oath was taken by the men that when their boys should grow
up, and they should be powerful enough, they would never forget or
forgive these injuries. To fulfil this oath appears to have been
Shongi's chief motive for going to England; and when there it was
his sole object. Presents were valued only as they could be
converted into arms; of the arts, those alone interested him which
were connected with the manufacture of arms. When at Sydney,
Shongi, by a strange coincidence, met the hostile chief of the
Thames River at the house of Mr. Marsden: their conduct was civil
to each other; but Shongi told him that when again in New Zealand
he would never cease to carry war into his country. The challenge
was accepted; and Shongi on his return fulfilled the threat to the
utmost letter. The tribe on the Thames River was utterly
overthrown, and the chief to whom the challenge had been given was
himself killed.
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