It is said that the common Norway rat, in the short
space of two years, annihilated in this northern end of the island
the New Zealand species. In many places I noticed several sorts of
weeds, which, like the rats, I was forced to own as countrymen. A
leek has overrun whole districts, and will prove very troublesome,
but it was imported as a favour by a French vessel. The common dock
is also widely disseminated, and will, I fear, for ever remain a
proof of the rascality of an Englishman who sold the seeds for
those of the tobacco plant.
On returning from our pleasant walk to the house, I dined with Mr.
Williams; and then, a horse being lent me, I returned to the Bay of
Islands. I took leave of the missionaries with thankfulness for
their kind welcome, and with feelings of high respect for their
gentlemanlike, useful, and upright characters. I think it would be
difficult to find a body of men better adapted for the high office
which they fulfil.
CHRISTMAS DAY, 1835.
In a few more days the fourth year of our absence from England will
be completed. Our first Christmas Day was spent at Plymouth, the
second at St. Martin's Cove near Cape Horn; the third at Port
Desire in Patagonia; the fourth at anchor in a wild harbour in the
peninsula of Tres Montes, this fifth here, and the next, I trust in
Providence, will be in England.
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