After this little Taniwha went on shore, bearing with him his precious nail.

He kept it for years, using it in turns as a spear-head and an auger, or carrying it slung round his neck as a sacred charm.[1] But one day, when out in a canoe, he was capsized in the breakers off a certain islet and, to use his own words, "my god was lost to me, though I dived for it." [Footnote 1: _Heitiki_.] Taniwha describes how a thief was shot by Lieutenant Gore for stealing a piece of calico.

The thief offered to sell a dog-skin cloak, but when the calico was handed down over the bulwarks into his canoe which was alongside the _Endeavour_, he simply took it, gave nothing in return, and told his comrades to paddle to land.
"They paddled away.

The goblin went down into the hold of the ship, but soon came up with a walking-stick in his hand, and pointed it at the canoe.

Thunder pealed and lightning flashed, but those in the canoe paddled on.