Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/29

 father took a burning stick from the fire, and handing it to the chief, said: “Go on and burn my house, and then I will see the magistrate.” Bukanui wisely declined, and so the matter ended. Bigfellow, the other chief who was associated with Bukanui in the plot, died very soon afterwards, but the latter continued to flourish for many years, owned a large portion of Port Levy, and ultimately became very friendly with the whites, so far flattering them by imitation as to don a top hat at all times when out of doors. He often expressed his regret for his murderous intentions in 1843.

Besides the intervention of Tuhawaiki already mentioned, and the knowledge that their women had divulged their scheme, there can be no doubt that the dread of reprisal by the French man-of-war had a salutary effect on the Maoris. What the early settlers owe to the French who kept a man-of-war on the coast for years has never been sufficiently acknowledged. The British pioneers of the “forties” owed far more to this country than to their own for protection in those troublous times.

The Maoris had a keen sense of humour, and always enjoyed a harmless joke. I