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. - 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. We attended divine
service in the chapel of Pahia; part of the service being
read in English, and part in the native language.
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