A Ride through the Disturbed Districts of New Zealand. [Chapters I-VI.

Herbert Meade

First published by John Murray in 1870

Digitised and made available online by the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services.

Epub © 2013 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927288-98-6

[TITLE PAGES]

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

GEYSER, BOILING CATARACTS, AND STEAM JETS ON THE WAIKATO

A RIDE
THROUGH THE DISTURBED DISTRICTS OF
NEW ZEALAND;

TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

BEING SELECTIONS FROM THE JOURNALS AND LETTERS OF
LIEUT. THE HON. HERBERT MEADE, R. N.

EDITED BY HIS BROTHER.

[Greek] Os d'ot an aixi noos aneros, ost', epi pollin
yaian elilouthos, fresi peukalimisi noisi'
enth' eiin, i entha' menoiniseie te polla' – II. XV. 80

With Maps and Illustrations from the Author's Sketches.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1870.

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

[PREFACE]

PREFACE.

The following pages are extracts from my Brother's Journal which he kept while a Lieutenant of H. M. ships 'Curacoa' and 'Esk' in Southern waters, four years before he was cut off by a fatal accident in the twenty-seventh year of his age. They were originally printed strictly for private circulation, but are now published at the request of friends connected with New Zealand, as serving to illustrate a curious phase in the history of that colony, and therefore likely to possess more than a merely personal interest. They have been edited in moments taken from the pressure of constant work; and, with the exception of a few trifling corrections, are printed almost as they appear in my Brother's MS.

For the revision of the proofs, so far as regards the Maori spelling and nomenclature, I am indebted to the kindness of Sir George Grey, at whose request, while Governor of New Zealand, the expedition to Lake Taupo was undertaken.

The object of this journey is fully explained in

the subjoined fetter from Sir George Grey, by whose permission I here insert it.

September 22, 1869.
MY DEAR MEADE,

I return you the proof-sheets of your poor brother's journal. I hae read it with very great interest. From my knowledge of the country through which he travelled, and of the race who inhabit it, I can testify to the great accuracy of his descriptions. I have never read anything more spirited, and at the same time more faithful, than his descriptions alike of the country and its people are. I seemed, as I read them, to be living again in a country I know so well.

Your brother is quite right in saying that it was at my request he undertook the journey to Lake Taupo, although I did not contemplate his separating himself from Poihipi, or Busby, the native chief who accompanied him.

During the period of the war in New Zealand, no Europeans had visited the great Lake, and the friendly chiefs and tribes of that part of the island complained of their having been quite deserted by the Government. A cessation of hostilities had taken place, and I thought, as your brother states in his journal, that the confidence I should show, by sending Europeans again amongst them, would be productive of much good amongst those who had recently joined the Government, as well as amongst the tribes who had always been friendly to it.

You, who know so well how great was your brother's courage and love of enterprise, how winning was his manner, and how good his heart was, will understand what were the qualities in him which drew me to him, and made me think him the fittest person to undertake such a journey.

I would only add that very great benefits resulted from the expedition to Lake Taupo, which himself and Mr. Brenchley so successfully carried out.

Very truly yours,
(Signed) G. GREY.

I have added his account of two cruises, while on the same station, in the South Sea Islands, which, though not so full as that of the journey inland, will perhaps not be read without interest.

The illustrations are from his own drawings.

R. H. MEADE.
September, 1870.

[Page vi is blank.]

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Departure from Auckland – The party and object of the Expedition – Tauranga – Iguanas and Cuvier Island birds – Gate pah and Te Ranga rifle-pits – Penetake of Wairoa – Crossing the ford – Maketu – Whare for winter use – A Tangi – Holding the Runanga – The Treaty Stone and Arawa politics – Description of the pah – Maori toasts and races – Christmas at Maketu..........Page.1

CHAPTER II.

Start for Taupo – Williams' house – First steam-jet – Lakes Rotoiti and Rotorua – Hostile pah – Mouria pah – Sleep at Ngae Mission-house – Hau-hau faith – Difficulty of a native assessor – Legend of Hinemoa – Hot springs and mineral waters of Ohinemutu – Maori women and tattooing – Warm lounging-stones – Arrival of Hauhau emissaries – Danger from boiling springs at night – The great geyser – Native bathers – Hot fountains – Father Boibeaux – Arrival at Motutawa – Te Kepa's house – Lake Tarawera – Crossing the hot river – Te Tarata, the great hot spring – Mud volcanoes – Lake and mountain scenery – Effect of lightning – Maori alarm – Karolina's visit......................29

CHAPTER III.

Pairoa Range – Honey and the dragon-flies – First view of the Waikato – Geysers and steam-jets at Paul's settlement – The Turkey question – Porokaia's present – Dr. Hooper – Cairns – Poihipi's home on Lake Taupo – Hochstetter's opinion – Kingite neighbours – Lake scenery – Rev. Mr. Grace's mission and its fate – The Falls – Wild fowl at the Bitter Lake – Wardanee and Tangi – Love of fighting inherent in the race – Mount Tongariro and volcanic eruptions – Arawa legends – Cascades – Return to Poihipi's village.......60

CHAPTER IV.

Mr. Grace driven away – Change in the people – More warm springs – Lava and pumice blocks – Warlike rumours – Native cookery – Grand duck-hunt – River scenery – A wild pig – Ascent of Mount Tauhara – The comet – Long delay and difficulty of returning – Hostility of Te Heu-heu – Choice of routes – Reasons for separation from the rest of the party – Determination of the Kingites to fight – Difficulty in procuring a guide – Dark prospects – A clairvoyante cook – Departure with Hemipo – Fear of darkness – Forest scenery......................Page.93

CHAPTER V.

Ihaka's mission – A dangerous meeting – Tataroa – Captured by the Kingites – Pai Marire worship – Ihaka's narrative – Impossibility of escape – Debate on the prisoners' fate – Hemipo's defence – Appearance of Ahumai – Release and alarm of treachery – A ride for life – Reach the friendly pah of Oruanui – Arrival and report of Ihaka – Rejoin Messrs. Mair and Brenchley – Pai Marire tenets – Mr. Mair's escape – Mr. Volkener's murder and escape of Mr. Grace – Murder of Mr. Fulloon – Mr. Mair's expedition against the murderers – Capture of Teko pah.............. ........119

CHAPTER VI.

Cross the Waikato – Meeting with Poihipi – Party of Uriweras – Overtake Mr. Brenchley's party – Camp out – Mountain terraces – New Zealand pigeon – Mohaka – Evening prayers – Pohuhe – Between the sheets – Arrival at Napier – Auckland Club – Points of Maori character – Immorality – Infanticide – Hospitality – - Administration of justice – Capacity for work – Christianity – Prospects of the race....................153

CHAPTER VII.

Norfolk Island – Sydney Bay – Singing and dancing – Confirmation and the Bishop's sermon – Savage Island – Mr. Lawes and the Samoan teachers – Dress and character of the islanders – Tutuila – Pango Pango Harbour – -Beautiful tropical scenery – Native houses – Maunga the chief – Visit to the great waterfall – Native dance on board – Population and religion – A proselytizing captain and a trader's trick – Crime, climate, and government – Upolu – Apian morals – Dinner at the consul's – The Dodunculus – A christening on board – Waterfall – Religion, government, and produce..........171

CHAPTER VIII.

Tongatabu – Protestant missionaries – Visit to King George and his palace – Taxation and land tenure – Royal dinner on hoard – Charley Moafu – Lesieli, the Tongan belle – Repulse and death of Captain Croker, of the 'Favourite' – The King's dinner-party – Religion and dress – Lakunba and Ovalau Islands – Viti Levu – Mr. Moore, the missionary – The gathering of the warriors at Bau – King Thacombau – Cannibal cookery – Viwa Island – Expedition to Rewa – Meet Mr. Crulman – The great river – Rewa, the Fijian Venice' – King Tui Drakete – Messrs. Carey and Baker – The boat capsized – Purchase of curios – Thacombau's history – Fijian proverb – Charles Savage – Fijian cruelties – Fiji group – Exports and government – Kandavu – Messrs. White and Nettleton on polygamy – Amiteum or Annatom – Homicide on board a trader – Mr. Underwood's whaling station ...............Page.203

CHAPTER IX.

Messrs. Gordon and Paton – Their determination and prospects – Nova Scotian Mission Society – Tanna – A chief's dress – Failure of negotiations – Operations of the landing party – The Marum, or dancing-ground – Engagement with the savages – Death of Quatangan – A misfire – Submission of the native chiefs – Laws and government – Dillon Bay – Erromango – Mr. Henry, the sandal-wood trader – Murder of Fletcher – Messrs. Williams and Harris – Projected expedition against Narai's village – Scouting by night, with its results – Submission of Warris Nangri – Fate of the guide – Vila Harbour – Vate and Deception Islands – Moafu's exploit – The chiefs submit – Leave the New Hebrides and sail for Banks Islands......230

CHAPTER X.

Vanua Lava – Unhealthy climate – "Supwe" club-house – Inspection of ladies – Vanikoro – Graciosa Bay – Active barter – Betel-nut chewing – Solomon Islands – An earthquake – Contrarietes – Land with the Bishop – Remarkable canoes – West Bay, Uji – Pigeon-shooting at San Christoval – Recherche Bay – Fate of native teacher – Marau Sound – Guadalcanar – Florida resembles Norfolk Island – Trade – Rodd's atrocities – Exploring party – Isabel Island – First landing of the Bishop – Ebony tree – Visit to a tree village – Pigeon-shooting extraordinary – Native industry and ingenuity – Man overboard – Return to Dillon Bay – Salutary effect of the Tannese operations – Kaniau and Warris Nangri – They refuse to appear – Bombardment

of Sifou – Agreement as to use of firearms – New Caledonia – Good Cove Harbour and Port de France – H. M. S. 'Falcon' with a mail – Reception of the Governor – Picnic at the model farm – Vegetation and scenery – Dinner on board the 'Falcon' – Banquet and ball ashore – Prospects of the colony – The curfew gun – Arrival at Sydney....................Page.264

CHAPTER XI.

Sail for the Friendly Islands – Tongatabu – Father Lamage and missionary squabbles – Wild ducks and flying foxes – Moafu, father and son – Vicarious punishment – Tongan Stonehenge – Kava-ring at Lifuka – Vavau cotton-growing – Governor David and his son Wellington – Legend of the submarine cave – Difficult entrance – Latte – Fiji group – Mbua products – Waterfall – Rubbing fire from two sticks – Mission policy – Canoe-building..........297

CHAPTER XII.

Tui Mbua on board – Nanduri girl – Expedition against Ritova – Village burnt – A sign of disgrace – Search for opercula – - Sharks and sword-fish – Strangers' house at Mbau – Cannibal fork – Sacred tree and the braining-stone – Departure of Messrs. Jones and Thurston – Kandavu – Mosquito tree – Tree ferns – Mr. White's station..........326

CHAPTER XIII.

Mr. Nettleton's house at Richmondi – School examination and students' dormitories – A dispute adjusted – Natural history – Tavuki church service – Examination again – Prayer by pipe and drum – Opercula shells – Good oarsmen – General quarters and native astonishment – Burning bush – Present of turtle – Rival ministers and creeds – Native students – A letter of thanks – Alarm of shoals all round – Mr. Jones, the Consul for Fiji and the Tongan Islands........349

INDEX ........ .................. 369

[LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

GEYSER, BOILING CATARACTS, AND STEAM-JETS ON THE WAIKATO.
(See page 65.) (Chromo.)............ Frontispiece.

GATE PAH REDOUBT, TAURANGA. (Chromo.).... To face 8

MAKETU ........................ 13

EASTERN GATE, MAKETU PAH .............. 24

OHINEMUTU GEYSER, MOKOIA ISLAND, AND LAKE ROTORUA.
(Chromo.) To face 39

EXIT OF THE WAIKATO FROM LAKE TAUPO. (Chromo.) ..... 73

LAKE TAUPO, WITH MOUNTS TONGARIRO AND RUAPEHU.... 75

PAI MARIRE WORSHIP .................. 128

MAP OF THE LAKE DISTRICTS IN THE PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND......
To face 170

MAP OF THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.......... 171

SAVAGE ISLAND WOMAN.................. 181

SAVAGE ISLAND GIRL..................... ib.

PANGO PANGO HARBOUR.................. 183

SAMOAN WOMAN...................... 186

FOA...... ........ ............ 190

APIA, CAPITAL OF UPOLU ................ 196

CHARLEY MOAFU ......, ............. 207

LESIELI, THE TONGAN BELLE................ 209

TANNA. RESOLUTION BAY ................ 234

FRIENDLY VILLAGE OF SAMOA................ 236

DILLON BAY ...................... 251

NATIVE HEAD-DRESS.................... 267

IDOLS PURCHASED AT WANGO................ 274

VIEW OF LATTE...................... 316

CHAPTER I.

A RIDE

THROUGH THE DISTURBED DISTRICTS OF

NEW ZEALAND.

CHAPTER I.

Departure from Auckland – The party and object of the Expedition – Tauranga – Iguanas and Cuvier Island birds – Gate pah and Te Ranga rifle-pits – Penetake of Wairoa – Crossing the ford – Maketu – Whare for winter use – A Tangi – Holding the Runanga – The Treaty Stone and Arawa politics – Description of the pah – Maori toasts and races – Christmas at Maketu.

December 16th, 1864. – The little colonial war-steamer 'Sandfly,' provided by the Governor of New Zealand for the conveyance to Tauranga of the party for Lake Taupo, steamed out of Auckland harbour shortly before midnight. The summer's night was calm and warm, the sea like glass.

We had stayed till the end of an opera, very fairly produced (or it seemed so in the absence of better) by an American company which had gone the rounds of the colonies, and the last strains of 'Maritana' left more pleasing impressions on our minds than the predictions of the numerous friends who ridiculed the idea of our ever reaching our destination, and prophesied every sort of disaster, from

THE PARTY AND

death at the hands of the Kingites as foes or spies, to merely a year or two's captivity, relieved by regular and wholesome exercise, hoeing potatoes for our captors.

The Europeans of our party are three – Mr. Brenchley, a well-known traveller; Mr. Mair, late Interpreter to the "Defence Force" (Colonial cavalry); and the writer. With us also are a small number of natives, including two or three chiefs of note; and others are to join us on the road. By no means an ill-looking lot are they; and their European clothes hang not so awkwardly from their stalwart limbs as is usual with the "brown man" of other lands.

Let us make the acquaintance of the chiefs: 1st, "Te Poihipi Tukairangi." The first part of the name of this chief, to whose especial care the Governor has consigned us, is Maori for "Mr. Busby" – the English Resident under whose auspices was signed the Treaty of Waitangi (our title-deeds to New Zealand). Poihipi, then but a very young man, signed on behalf of his father, who lay ill at Taupo, and thus by virtue of representing the chief of one of the most powerful and distant tribes, assumed the name of the British signitary, in accordance with a custom, which we found common to most of the South Sea Islands, of complimenting a distinguished host or guest by exchange of names. Amongst the whole of the "Queenites" (in contradistinction to the "Kingite" followers of the so-styled Maori king)

OBJECT OF THE EXPEDITION.

Poihipi is probably the most influential chief, being only two removes from being patriarch or senior chief of the whole of the Taupo or Lake country, and having succeeded in attaching to himself far more "Mana" than either of the two chiefs who precede him in the Maori peerage – Kingites though they be. That word "Mana" is the most provoking stumbling-block to the stranger in the land of the Maori; almost a language in itself, yet necessary to be mastered with all its ramifications before any just estimate of the character or customs of the natives can be formed. The new out-settler finds himself in continual danger of unforeseen hot-water in his relations with the natives, from ignorance of the "Mana" of some powerful neighbour. So, being no wiser myself, I will merely say that in this instance it means influence, power, and prestige.

The Poihipi is the soul of loyalty, which quality administers alike to his interest and his pride, and he has rendered good service during the war. A bold navigator also is he, and said to be the only one who ventures to cross the broad waters of Taupo in the crazy lake-canoe.

But the gallant chief is more at home with paddle or tomahawk than with saddle and bridle, and is noted for his preference for a very little steed, on which his legs will nearly meet, and whence he has not far to fall. It was mounted on some such little "nugget" that he, last year, distinguished himself at

THE PARTY AND

Rotoiti, fighting against the Kingites, and galloping about between friends and foes, like the youngest A. D. C. at a grand review – hard times though for his steed, for Poihipi is a jolly burly personage of some sixteen stone.

Wi Karamoa, native surname Takirau, is one of the chiefs of the Waikato (the battle-ground of the last campaign), and was one of the ministers (Chancellor of the Exchequer, or something of that kind) to his late Majesty Potatau I. A clever-looking, gentlemanlike man, very reserved in his manner, and making a favourable impression on better acquaintance. He surrendered at the storming of Orakau, meeting the attacking party with a white flag in his hand, but was near being bayoneted by the excited soldiery, when Mair, who was present, interfered in his behalf.

His own account of himself is, that after the overtures which were made by William Thompson, consequent on the fall of Rangariri, he and many others ceased to take any active part in the war against us; and that he found himself penned up, when the troops surrounded the Orakau pah (to which he had gone in search of some stolen horses), but took no active part in the defence – one of the most desperate of the whole war.

Reihana and Haeana were also taken after Orakau, whence with the rest of the gallant little garrison they had cut their way out of the pah through the

OBJECT OF THE EXPEDITION.

40th regiment, not, however, without suffering tremendous loss.

Haeana, a hoary old warrior, now one of four who are all that remain of a "hapu" 1 which, at the commencement of the war, could muster forty fighting men.

Reihana, a shy young fellow, "very well connected" (at whose wedding fabulous numbers of fat pigs and cartloads of potatoes were devoured), was captured in a swamp by Mair himself. Both these two last levanted with the other prisoners from Kawau, but returned next day, and remained on parole at Auckland, They have now both taken the oath of allegiance, and received permission to rejoin their wives.

Besides these, we have Perenara, a native magistrate, a tall gentlemanlike-looking fellow; Wharetini and Moe, two strapping good-looking young Maories; and some half-dozen more, of whom I know little.

We carry letters from the Governor to most of the principal chiefs of the interior, many of whom are Queenites, and, for our favourable reception by the others. His Excellency relies on his own personal "Mana," which he acquired in former years, with some even of those who were most strongly opposed to British rule.

TAURANGA – IGUANAS.

The Governor expects that the confidence which he shows by sending us amongst them will be productive of much good, as well as with the few and distant tribes who yet remain loyal in the country round the Great Lake, but complain that no official person coming from the governor, nor any other white man, has visited them since the beginning of the war.

The Maories are to provide us with horses, as all our little journey will be on the saddle, with the exception of part of the descent of the river Waikato on the way back, for which a steamer will be provided.

The natives are unable to pronounce some of our consonants, so in the letters to the chiefs we are described as "Te Peretiri" and "Te Mira," the former being the translation of Mr. Brenchley's name; the latter, that of the writer of this narrative.

11th. – Anchored off Tauranga this evening at dusk, the glorious weather all day having enabled us to enjoy the little archipelago of rocks and islands through which we passed on the eastern coast, – many of the most fantastic shapes; one, for instance, pierced so as to form one large arch, surmounted by three smaller ones.

On some of these islets, though only a few hundred yards in diameter, large iguanas are found,

CUVIER ISLAND BIRDS.

differing from any species existing either on the mainland of New Zealand or Australia.

On another, Cuvier Island, there are two species of birds which the natives say are not found elsewhere, and which serve them as barometers. The Maories assert that the peculiar note of one is an unfailing sign of fine weather, whilst the shrill cry of the other is a no less certain warning of storm. Those who live in the neighbourhood place implicit reliance on these signs, and invariably repair to the island to consult them before setting out on a fishing or other lengthened canoe expedition.

18th. – Tauranga is as yet little more than a camp and a mission station, but it must before long-be a thriving settlement, for the harbour is a good one for small craft, and the land is rich.

Here we found excellent quarters at Colonel H – – – 's, an old shipmate of mine in the West Indies.

19th. – -We rode out to-day to see the remains of the Gate pah and of the Te Ranga rifle-pits.

The road to the former place, which is about three miles from the harbour, lies over fine open fern-land, flanked by gullies leading to the sea. On either side little patches of luxuriant wheat and clover, accidentally sown by the troops and horses, bear witness to the fertility of the soil. Beyond this, and a few stray Armstrong percussion 104-pounder shells (which

THE GATE PAH.

failed to explode at the bombardment of the Gate pah, and now lie harmless, half-hidden in the fern, some more than two miles beyond the pah they were fired at), there is little to call to mind the sanguinary struggle of which this was the scene a few months since.

The Gate pah has been built up into a small sandbag redoubt, mounting an Armstrong field-piece. The pah is situated on the summit of a gentle rise, across which the Maories had dug a chain of rifle-pits, extending from each flank of the pah about 200 yards, to where the ground falls away on either side into swamps. It was this formation of the ground which allowed the assaulting party to keep under cover until within a very short distance of the pah, whilst a small body of men from the Naval Brigade and the 60th regiment were enabled to pass round and occupy a position in rear of the natives.

The rifle-pits, as well as the traverses and bolt-holes of the pah, are now filled in, and almost hidden by the rapid vegetation which conceals the little earthworks whereon our guns were placed.

Another half-hour's canter over the same sort of country brought us to the Te Ranga rifle-pits. They had all been filled in by our troops, but the ground was still strewn with ammunition and with natives' clothing, cast away for fight or for flight.

The skill with which the Maories usually make

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

GATE PAH REDOUBT, TAURANGA

TE RANGA RIFLE-PITS.

the best of the ground at their disposal for defence seems to have deserted them on this occasion; for it would be difficult to find any position in the neighbourhood less adapted to withstand the advance of regular troops, or more favourable to the operations of cavalry. It is indeed difficult to understand why heavier loss was not inflicted on the enemy, after they had been driven from their pits.

The Maori entrenchment consisted of a ditch four or five feet deep, and about 200 yards long, stretching across a broad level piece of table-land, without an atom of cover but the low fern, and forming an obtuse angle in the centre, with the apex to the rear. From the half on their proper right having been easily enfiladed by an Armstrong on a neighbouring and convenient spur, they were forced to crowd into the remaining portion of the ditch on the left.

We say that the numbers on both sides were about equal. The 43rd and 68th charged right gallantly, reserving their fire till they got up to the pits, the Maories having delivered theirs when the English were within a few yards, but luckily nearly all firing high. An obstinate hand-to-hand fight ensued, resulting in the expulsion of the Maories, who, after a most plucky resistance, retreated, leaving a large proportion of their number dead in the pits. They were soon followed by the cavalry, and are said to have lost nearly 200 men.

They had the advantage of their entrenchment,

THE WOUNDED MAORIES.

such as it was; our side, that of the field-piece and the cavalry.

At the time when the tomahawks met the bayonets, each side had a reinforcement approaching to its assistance: 200 of the 1st Waikato regiment against a similar number of Maories, rumour said, under William Thompson, the New Zealand Earl of Warwick, or Wiremu Tamehana Te Waharoa, as his countrymen call him; but neither were in time to take any actual share in the fight.

The action over, every kindness was shown to the wounded Maories; and the latter won golden opinions from our men and officers by the heroic stoicism with which they behaved, whilst suffering from the most frightful wounds. One poor fellow who was brought in, calmly smoking his pipe, on throwing open his blanket for the surgeon's inspection, disclosed four bullet holes and five bayonet wounds through his trunk and thighs. This man was pointed out to me walking about the beach, having recovered, in defiance of every precedent in surgery.

After leaving Te Ranga we made for our redoubt at Judea, a strong position on the other side of the creek to the northward of Tauranga, crossing by the ford which it commands.

By the way we met, and made the acquaintance of, Penetake, the chief who built the Gate pah, now a "friendly native." These men fought well as long;

OLD MAORI PAHS.

as they remained in arms against us, and then gave in thoroughly; they are now on very good terms with the troops.

From Judea we went on to Wairoa – Penetake's village – prettily situated on the banks of a river of the same name, which winds through a deep and beautiful valley.

Old Maori pahs are as common about here as feudal castles on the Rhine; some of them rather picturesque, especially that at Bethlehem, one of the largest that we saw, nearly covered with foliage and long drooping creepers, and moreover having, for a foreground to the picture, the only pretty Maori girl that I have yet seen.

Poihipi went on to Maketu to announce our arrival, and bring back horses.

20th. – Left this morning for Maketu, a native settlement and pah at the mouth of a river, about 17 miles farther south, where we are to remain for a day or two, in order to be present at a great meeting, or "runanga," where the Arawa chiefs from the lake and mountain tribes are to meet those of Maketu, for the purpose of deciding on measures for defence against an expected attack from their neighbours the Ngatiporos, a very powerful tribe of Kingites; and for the discussion of other important matters.

We crossed over in a boat to Matapihi, a native

CROSSING THE FORD.

settlement on the southern side of the harbour, where saddle and pack horses had been sent to meet us.

Whilst the latter were being packed with our provisions and slender stock of baggage – no small share of which last was tobacco for presents – we inspected the court-house, or council-chamber of the village, a tolerably spacious "whare," substantially walled and roofed, and decorated inside with many-coloured sinnet and kakaho, a slender and graceful species of flag-reed, which served for wainscoting to the wall – affixed to which we found a code of laws for the suppression of immorality.

Having saddled and bridled, we got a foretaste of the dilatoriness of our native companions, but at last got clear of the village, our party consisting of eleven horsemen and three on foot.

Before reaching the beach we had to ford two swamps, each of them up to our saddles; but afterwards it was all glorious hard sand, alive with myriads of curlew, redbills, and graceful stilt-plover.

A few, very few, small patches of potatoes, scattered here and there at random through the fern-land, were the only signs of native cultivation that we met with.

Mair and I reached the river in time to ford it, and keep dry by crossing our feet between our horses' ears; but the heavy-weights – Brenchley and Poihipi – did not reach it till dusk had set in and the tide risen; so, their horses being small, the night dark.

MAKETU.

and the river deep and broad, they preferred to cross in a rather crank canoe, leaving their steeds to follow next morning. The rotten old canoe ended by capsizing, but luckily not till her last trip, after having safely transported the last of our packs.

Almost overhanging the ford is the pah, which presents an imposing appearance, and is strongly

Maketu

fortified both by nature and by art in every respect, save that it would be commanded by artillery from one neighbouring hill. But the Ngatiporos having no guns, and the hill in question being crowned by a redoubt garrisoned by our troops, the Arawas are safe enough for the present.

Leaving the pah on our left, we came to a settle-

WHARES – THEIR CONSTRUCTION.

ment on a small hill, which is in process of conversion into another pah; here we found a whare prepared for our reception, among the dwellings of the natives from the Lake districts, who are to accompany us to Taupo.

As soon as we were discerned approaching, some of those within the palisades set up a long intoned shout or song of welcome, whilst others conducted us to our whare.

These whares, or native houses, reflect scant credit on the race that remains content to live and die in them; for they are generally far inferior in size and appearance to the habitations of most of the South Sea Islanders, and are not such as might be expected from men so intelligent in most things as the Maories.

They are usually of an oblong shape, with an internal area of about 16 feet by 8, and the doorway too low to be entered without stooping; but the sloping roof gives greater height within.

The skeleton of the house is of wood, the posts, ridgepole and rafters being cut to fit into one another, and then securely lashed.

The roof is thatched with raupo, a plant which' fills the marshes, and the walls are filled in with fascines of the same material, frapped in so tightly as to exclude both wind and water and keep the inmates warm.

On either side of the door a narrow board confines

WHARES FOR WINTER USE.

the loose fern or raupo, which, covered with a few mats, takes the place of bed and bedrooms; and in the centre, the fire-place, lined with a few stones, is sunk in the flooring.

In nearly every "kainga," or native village, two or three whares of a much larger size are to be seen, the common property of all the village; but the Maories, when urged to increase the size of their domiciles, refuse, on the score of the difficulty of warming larger ones.

They have also a kind of whare specially designed for cold weather, which is sunken some three or four feet below the surface, the eaves of the roof alone being on a level with the ground.

In these dens as many natives as can find room assemble, and, after lighting their pipes round a hot fire, close every communication with the external air, till the atmosphere becomes inconceivably foul.

Our little whare was new and clean; fresh green raupo, thickly laid on the hard-trodden floor, made pleasant beds; and two staid matrons were told off to cook and "do for us."

As soon as we had supped and shaken down into our new quarters, we received visits from a number of the heads of families, bringing "salutations to the people from 'Te Kawana' (the Governor)."

They had expected us early in the day, and had accordingly prepared a great feast; but after waiting many hours, they concluded that we would not come

PERFORMANCE OF THE "TANGI."

that day at all, and so fell to, and demolished the viands themselves; an arrangement of which we very much approved.

The worthy females who are specially in charge of our domestic arrangements, were soon called away to perform a duty of a very different nature – that of acting as fugle-women at a "tangi," or general wail, with which Karamoa and Reihana were received on their return from captivity.

When a Maori returns to his friends after a long absence, instead of smiles and joyous faces they receive him with tears and lamentations, intended to express the dreadfully painful state of their feelings while deprived of his company, sorrow for the death of such of his kindred as may have departed this life since he left them; and in this case, sympathy with his real or imaginary sufferings in captivity.

We found the two chiefs standing in an attitude of silent dejection, in the midst of a semicircle of their people, who performed the "tangi" for a good quarter of an hour. Commencing with an almost inaudible moaning, accompanied by a slight but increasing vibration of the head, they worked up their emotions till tears fell like rain – from men, women, and children – and the moaning became of the most doleful description.

The "tangi" concluded, the quondam captives solemnly pressed noses all round, and in ten minutes all hands were as jolly as ever.

THE RUNANGA.

21st. – Old Haeana, who was on foot, arrived during the night, so we were roused from our slumbers at early dawn by the "tangi" renewed with fresh vigour and wind, and headed by an old lady with a shock head of hair and dreadfully powerful lungs.

The Runanga, at which we were duly invited to attend, was assembled at the great pah to-day.

Every precaution had been taken to ensure the comfort as well as the propriety of the meeting, but what tickled my fancy most was the posting of a small Maori member of the shoeblack brigade inside the gate of the pah, with his implements of trade, ready to serve anyone who might happen to wear shoes.

The chiefs assembled in a marquee, which covered a long table with seats around, from the centre of which rose a lofty flagstaff bearing an English ensign, and images typical of the political attitude of the Arawas. On each side of the mast was a head, carved of wood; one looking north to the Governor for arms and troops, the other glaring defiantly southward and challenging their foes to come on. The eastern yardarm was ornamented with the frontispiece of some revered ancestor, gazing towards Hawaii (the supposed land of their forefathers) for assistance – a poetical, but not very practical idea. From the opposite yardarm another ancient hero, who seemed to have a better notion of the "situation," was re-

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RUNANGA.

presented calling the lake and mountain Arawas to the rescue. And finally, the post of honour at the truck was occupied by a bust of the Queen.

The Maories were very anxious to impress upon us that these carvings were intended only for symbols, not portraits.

Close to the door were posted the bye-laws, which enjoined order and obedience to the directions of the chief who acted as chairman; ruled that everyone on entering should uncover and make a sort of quarterdeck salute, by bowing in honour of the Queen; and forbade the use of tobacco during the sitting of the Runanga.

About thirty chiefs were assembled round the table, which groaned under huge piles of bread and butter and biscuit, besides a small quantity of brandy, rum, and cider.

Most of these men were decently dressed in European clothes, but a few clung to the national and rather primitive costume.

The proceedings commenced by everyone in turn drinking the Queen's health. Now the only European present besides ourselves was a missionary, and having been helped first in virtue of the seats of honour where we had been courteously placed, we drank our "tots" in silence and ignorance of the etiquette; but afterwards, fearing that our omission might be ascribed to tepid loyalty, we asked for more, wherein we drank the "Kuini Wikitoria" with all

THE TREATY STONE.

the honours. Yet I fear that our good intentions may have been misconstrued, and that we were looked on as men who had obtained a double allowance of grog under false pretences.

In the centre of the table stood a large wooden vase, handsomely carved out of a single block, which was much valued by the Maories on account of its antiquity, and made an excellent punch-bowl.

One of the chiefs explained that many years ago, before the "pakehas" had brought metals into use, the only means of boiling food was by continually dropping red-hot stones into wooden bowls of water. These urns were very carefully carved, and handed down from father to son; but since the introduction of European utensils, the art of carving the wooden vases has been lost.

The presiding chief, after requesting Mair to translate for us the speeches of the others (which he was kind enough to do and with great fluency), went on to explain the signification of a slab of stone at the foot of the flagstaff, bearing an inscription in Maori, "Let the peace be kept," deeply cut into the surface, with the date, Sept. 16, 1845. On that day peace was concluded, after long years of war, between the allied tribes of Maketu and Taupo on the one side, and the Tauranga and Waikato natives on the other; and this stone, to which they attach great value, is their treaty, a facsimile being kept by the men of Tauranga. It also serves in some degree as

POLICY OF THE ARAWAS.

a sort of Maori temple of Janus, the stone being kept in its present position, with the fair side uppermost, as long as the "good principle remains in the ascendant" – that is, peace between these tribes; but so soon as fighting begins the stone is reversed.

The first resolution proposed at the meeting was one setting forth that the lands of all who have carried arms against the Queen ought to be forfeited to the Crown. This was agreed to, and passed, with all the decision and liberality which usually characterizes the actions of men who are dealing with the property of their foes.

The next subject was the proposed cession, or sale, of 20,000 acres of their own land to the Governor for the purpose of locating a large number of settlers, whom they had petitioned to be sent amongst them.

This was a very different affair, and not to be disposed of in the same summary manner. The object of the Arawas in asking for settlers is to make sure of the assistance of our naval and land forces in case of attack from the Ngatiporos, by identifying the interests of the settlers with their own.

In July last, the Ngatiporos crossed the boundary, a river a few miles farther south, and advanced to the ridge abreast of our redoubt and of the Maketu pah, where they threw up during the night two long lines of rifle-pits.

From these they were dislodged by shell from the guns of the 'Falcon' and 'Sandfly;' so, fording the

ARAWAS AND NGATIPOROS.

Waihi river, close to its mouth, they retreated by the only route possible, a long strip of shingle which separates the sea from a large and impassable swamp. The Arawas turned out of their pah, and pursued their foes with great success, killing many and capturing others whilst fleeing along the beach. But they lost their great fighting chief, Wynard Beckham, a grand old fellow, in revenge for whom they tomahawked some prisoners.

The next morning, at daybreak, they surprised the Ngatiporos a little farther on, at Matata, routed them with great slaughter, and captured their chief. Beckham's wife, Mata (whose acquaintance we made to-day, a very determined-looking, but not repulsive woman), became terribly excited at the death of her husband, to whom she was much attached; and being moreover covertly goaded on by a miscreant who thirsted for revenge for the loss of an eye caused by a recent wound, she seized a gun, and blew out the brains of the captive chief of the Ngatiporos. For this the Ngatiporos, whose numbers far exceed that of the Maketu natives, have sworn to have revenge, and have moreover allied themselves to other east coast tribes, who are hostile alike to the Arawas and to ourselves.

This murder cost Mata the pension which she would otherwise have enjoyed as the widow of a native magistrate. She was in the thick of the fight where her husband fell, and refused to desert his body.

BURIAL OF THE FIGHTING CHIEF.

The Arawas returned from Matata elated with victory and laden with plunder. They popped their dead chief into a bag, and carried him back along the beach towards Maketu; but on the way an alarm was raised that the enemy had rallied and were attacking in force; a panic and stampede ensued, and the shingle being at that place unusually heavy, the dead chief was dropped, and deserted by all save his sturdy old wife, who remained behind and buried him in the sand. The next day she returned alone, in spite of a storm of wind and rain, dug him up again, and carried him on till her strength failed her, when she buried him once more, and returned to report progress. At last some of the young men fetched him into the pah, where he was interred, and still remains. His daughter receives a small pension 2 from Government.

But to return to the meeting. Many of the chiefs spoke in allegories and metaphors, and one of them applied the parable of the ten talents of silver to the land question. They all spoke with dignity and ease; their speeches were sensible, and many had a touch of grim humour. And here, as at every other

CESSION OF LAND OPPOSED.

Maori meeting which I have since witnessed, no abusive language was made use of, no speaker was interrupted, and the greatest courtesy was observed both between those who joined in the debate and the listeners.

One could not help drawing an unpleasant comparison between the behaviour of this assembly of "savages" and the scenes which are too frequently witnessed in one or two of our colonial parliaments.

But the meeting would not all agree to cede the land, notwithstanding their straits. After those who favoured the proposal had spoken, a man, named Fox I think, the principal fighting chief at Maketu, rose and opposed it, concluding by saying, "If land we must give, let it be the salt sea-beach you just have travelled by:" then he straightway left the meeting. When he had gone, up rose an old and hoary chief, in a full suit of mat and feathers, a man of broad acres and influence, who, when he spoke, and that was seldom, moved many with him. He bitterly opposed the bare notion of parting with a single rood of land; and, stretching forth his shrivelled arms, he cried, "Oh that I could thus embrace the land of my forefathers, and, gathering it all within my arms, keep it whole and safe from the grasping Pakeha!" 3 with a good deal more in the same strain.

Poihipi, who is in favour of the cession, made a speech which was much applauded, full of moderation,

EASTERN GATE, MAKETU PAH

good advice, and moral maxims, which rather strangely contrasted with the gesticulations by which, revolver in hand, he emphasized his most telling points.

After this the Runanga adjourned to smoke, which gave me leisure to examine the pah. The stockade which encloses it is of an oblong shape,

Eastern Gate, Maketu Pah.

three sides resting on the edge of a steep cliff, partially scarped, and inaccessible except by the cut pathways to the gates. On the fourth or southern side only, the ground falls away at a gentle slope, and this face is therefore most strongly defended in other ways. The stockade, which is constructed with

DESCRIPTION OF THE PAH.

blinded gates and loopholed flanking angles, consists of a double fence about 9 feet high, with a distance of 1 foot between the two fences. It is only at short intervals that the posts are stout and solidly imbedded in the ground; the remainder consisting of tough and closely-placed, but slighter stakes, so secured with lashings of supplejack and horizontal stakes that the whole will give or bend, but never break. In the outer fence it is only the big posts (two or three yards apart) that are set in the ground at all; the extremities of the intervening stakes, which are sharply pointed, are suspended so as to reach down to within about 18 inches of the soil. This allows the men in the rifle-pits within the stockade to point their muskets freely through the inner fence; and, from its greater elasticity, the outside fence is in fact stronger than if every stake had been driven into the ground. In an obstacle of this description, shot or shell from great guns would make an opening no bigger than their own diameter.

All round the pah, and closely skirting the inner side of the fence, there is a chain of rifle-pits, with traverses and interrupted inner curtains, built of alternate layers of earth and fern. The gates, which. are profusely ornamented with feathers and carved monstrosities, are too narrow to admit more than one man at a time; they are moreover commanded at all points from within by rifle-pits, and blinded without by zigzag double fences.

MAORI TOASTS.

The interior is occupied by the family whares, the whare-karakia, or house of worship, and the storehouses and gardens; the latter all divided and subdivided by tall fences thickened with live green-stuff, so as to form a regular labyrinth, which a handful of determined men, who know their ground, could hold against five times their number.

Meanwhile the evening-bell was rung at the whare-karakia, and prayers were read by the native deacon.

Poihipi, though sanguine of ultimately carrying his point about the land, saw, with the other promoters of the meeting, that the day was going against them, and wisely postponed the question; and some more brandy having been sent for, pipes and grog became the order of the evening.

Each chief in turn had to propose a toast, and it was rather amusing to compare their remarks with similar specimens of post-prandial eloquence at home. The Queen was the most frequent toast, and one of the wildest-looking characters present said, whilst proposing Her Majesty: ".... She is the fountain of all good – before her reign all things went wrong, but now we have good laws. It is she who gives us this brandy (a polite fiction). May she send us plenty of powder, plenty of rum, and may they both be strong! And may she send and open a public-house here." A voice: "And a jail." "Yes, and a jail, too, for that is good for some."

HORSE-RACING.

There was a good deal of light chaff, and we broke up in very orderly style about 9 P. M. The gatekeeper of the pah was found after some little trouble, and we returned to our whare.

22nd. – Some Maori horse-racing to-day, the ardour of the sportsmen and women being in no way damped by the torrents of rain which fell during the greater part of the morning. Several of the jockeys got spilt during the races, for no very apparent reason.

The natives much excited, dancing, shouting, and gesticulating at the success of their favourites. Foremost of all were the fair sex, who would frequently quite overpower with their most demonstrative caresses the fortunate quadruped which won.

23rd. – More racing to-day, but the ladies restrained the expression of their sympathies within more sober bounds, the levity of their conduct yesterday having called forth grave censure from some of the elder chiefs, who apparently do not approve of their daughters imbibing fast and horsey tastes.

25th, Christmas Day. – Still at Maketu, having been detained by delays in issuing the Government provisions to the natives of our party, as well as by the straying of our horses, with which last little misfortune the anxiety of our natives to pass their

CHRISTMAS-DAY AT MAKETU.

Christmas amongst the fleshpots of Maketu is probably in some degree connected.

Not a very lively Christmas, for it poured nearly all day, so we stopped in our whare (some 10 feet square) till the evening, when it cleared up a little, and we went to see the rifle-pits thrown up by the Ngatiporos when they came to attack Maketu, as has been already mentioned.

The advance parallel, about 800 yards from the redoubt, and the other, connecting two little pahs which had been just commenced, were all thrown up in two or three hours, just before daybreak, after marching all night.

At the foot of this hill flows the river Waihi, and beyond is a large swamp with excellent duck-shooting; but the hostile natives have given fair warning that any of the officers whose love of sport may induce them to cross the stream will be shot.

And a short time ago two officers from the redoubt, who had gone after the ducks, had to run for their lives, the Ngatiporos peppering at them all the way to the hill, when the pursuit was abandoned – very fortunately, one of the officers having to lie down from exhaustion.

On our return we received the good news that all the horses had been caught, and safely pounded in the absent missionary's garden; also a welcome invitation to eat our Christmas dinner with the officers of the garrison.

1 Diminutive of "tribe." The loss sustained by this "hapu" is an extreme case, and must by no means be considered a fair specimen of that which the Maories in general have received at our hands.

2 Some of the wretches who were implicated in the murder of the Rev. Mr. Volkener have endeavoured to make out that that crime was committed as "utu," or revenge, for the murder of the Ngatiporo chief; hut this is obviously incorrect, as that very tribe were the first to express their abhorrence of the crime of shedding the missionary's blood, saying that it was not their way of making war. They further offered us immediate assistance in the capture of the murderers, an offer which would have been fulfilled, had it been promptly accepted.

3 "Stranger," i. e. white man.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER II.

Start for Taupo – Williams' house – First steam-jet – Lakes Rotoiti and Rotorua – Hostile pah – Mouria pah – Sleep at Ngae Mission-house – Hau-hau faith – Difficulty of a native assessor – Legend of Hinemoa – Hot springs and mineral waters of Ohinemutu – Maori women and tattooing – Warm lounging stones – Arrival of Hauhau emissaries – -Danger from boiling springs at night – The great geyser – Native bathers – Hot fountains – Father Boibeaux – Arrival at Motutawa – Te Kepa's house – Lake Tarawera – Crossing the hot river – Te Tarata, the great hot spring – Mud volcanoes – Lake and mountain scenery – Effect of lightning – Maori alarm – Karolina's visit.

December 26th. – A bright morning, with a sun whose searching rays lit up the depths of the forest, as the whole party for Taupo, now consisting of thirty horsemen, besides a few men and women on foot and some pack-horses, started in Indian file along the narrow path which at present represents the Queen's highway to the interior.

About three in the afternoon we reached the remains of a small shed, named Williams' House, from the Bishop having slept there many years ago. Here, finding some grass, we halted to feed and water our horses, and allow the rest of the party to overtake us, Wharetini and Moe alone being with us; but an hour or more having passed with-

CROSSING LAKE ROTOITI.

out any signs of our rearguard or commissariat, we saddled, and pushed on again for Rotorua.

Hitherto our route led along the crests of lofty ridges, showing on either side as far as the eye can reach a perfect network of rocky gorges and deep ravines.

We now entered the woods, and the road became more difficult – steep hills slippery from recent rains, with tangled roots crossing high above the path; so the horses got many a fall, though they were led most of the way. At one time my nag entangled his legs in the bight of a tough supplejack, which hung from the overshadowing trees, and so thrown sideways off the path, he lighted on his back on a bush just below; but managed to kick his way down to the ground again unhurt.

The first lake we came to was Rotoiti ("Little Lake"), which, however, is nearly as big as Rotorua ("Second Lake"), of an irregular shape, and far prettier than the other. We crossed at a narrow place in a canoe, swimming our horses after us.

On a far hill-side on the opposite shore we sighted a steam-jet; one little link in the vast chain of volcanic action which stretches from Tongariro to White Island, a distance of some 150 miles. A queer little white cloud, bursting out of the ground at short intervals, like the firing of a minute-gun.

At the opposite end of the lake is a hostile pah, with the rebel flag flying.

NGAE MISSION-HOUSE.

After leaving this lake, from which the natives say the Maketu river takes its source, we crossed a high, fern-covered ridge, and before dark reached the Mouria pah, built on the stream which connects the two lakes of Rotorua and Rotoiti.

The principal strength of this pah lies in the water with which its slight stockade is nearly surrounded.

As we rode across the ford we heard the cry to "put on food," and the natives came running out of their whares, pressing us to pass the night at their pah, or at least to stop and eat; but the day was far spent, and we pushed on to Ngae, a settlement on the shores of Rotorua, where we purposed passing the night. Here we put up at a small house built in European style, though originally constructed for a Maori chief, and at present the residence of the gentleman who combines the functions of magistrate and doctor for this part of the country, but who is now absent. Close by the house we found a neat little waterfall tumbling over a low cliff straight into the lake, from a stream which once turned a mill, now deserted and fast going to ruin and decay; so also the mission-house and the pleasant gardens and orchards which surround it are gradually getting smothered in creepers and weeds – a melancholy business altogether.

We had been over twelve hours on the road, but the rest of the party never arrived at all that night.

HAU-HAU FAITH.

having camped at the place where we crossed Lake Rotoiti.

The Mouria pah was the only place where we passed any dwellings or cultivations during the day's journey, but we met a small party of mounted natives, who brought news that an apostle of the new "Pai Marire," or "Te Hau," fanaticism, had arrived at Taupo with five followers, and had already produced a great effect among the dwellers by the Great Lake.

At present very little is known about the new creed, no white man having as yet witnessed their ceremonies or learnt their tenets.

They are called "Pai Marire," from the words which they subscribe to their signatures and use in greeting or parting from their co-religionists. The words literally mean "good! be appeased;" but the real tendency of the belief is to unite the Kingites of all sects in one common bond of fanatical hostility to the Pakehas. "Te Hau" means only "the hau (faith)." 4

The approaches to this "kainga," or settlement, are defended by a double chain of rifle-pits, roofed over almost flush with the level of the ground, each roof being pierced with small loop-holes.

A lamb having been killed for our supper, we were soon rolled up in our blankets, and fast asleep, on a heap of fresh-cut fern, in spite of the eloquence

LEGEND OF HINEMOA.

of a native assessor, who was endeavouring to extract from Mair a categorical answer as to how far his (the native's) little gallantries with the fair sex might endanger his situation under Government.

21th. – Next morning the rest of our party joined us, after we had enjoyed a long bathe in the lake, with a glorious "douche" under the waterfall. At midday we embarked in canoes and paddled across the lake to Mokoia, a little island, thickly inhabited and carefully cultivated, the sloping sides having been cut into terraces and built up to sustain the soil. It is best known as the scene of one of the most celebrated Maori legends – that of Hinemoa, the ancestress of the present inhabitants of the island, and of the town of Ohinemutu on the mainland – a chief's daughter of the greatest beauty and the bluest blood in all New Zealand, who, finding her family (the powers that were, on the mainland) opposed to the marriage she longed for, answered the midnight trumpet of her island lover by swimming across the lake, supporting herself when tired by a string of gourds round her neck, and concealed herself in the warm bath, till her lover found her hiding beneath the rocks, and throwing her garments on her as she "rose from the waters beautiful as the wild white hawk, and stepped on the ledge of the bath graceful as the shy white crane," took her home as his wife, and lived happily ever after, &c., &c., &c., &c.

HOT SPRINGS OF OHINEMUTU.

The outer edge of the hot bath is separated from the lake by a wall of rocks artificially heightened, and the exact spot where the fair bride is said to have concealed herself is partitioned off, and "tapu."

On the other side of the island we found Poihipi with canoes big enough to embark us all with our saddles and baggage, and made sail for Ohinemutu, a settlement on the southern shore of the lake, built in the very midst of the hot springs, which surround what is considered by one who has seen also those of Iceland, the largest geysers in the world, and an infinite number of hot springs; so that, except during a strong southerly breeze, the inhabitants live in a perpetual cloud of steam.

The Maories aver, however, that this atmosphere is by no means unhealthy for human beings, though it drives away all mosquitoes, sandflies, and vermin; whilst the warm and highly-mineral baths, which are close at hand, in every direction, are a sovereign remedy for cutaneous and many other diseases. And, in fact, some of the natives of our party who had left Maketu, suffering from Psora, were cured by a single day's bathing.

This settlement has always been famed throughout Maori land for the beauty of the women, from the days of Hinemoa down to the present time; and during our stay we saw a few young girls with complexions like southern gipsies, just fair enough to let the warm colour show through the clear olive skin,

MAORI WOMEN AND TATTOOING.

and large dark lustrous eyes, with great and ever-changing expression, rosy lips, as yet undefiled by the blue tattoo, and beautiful snow-white, regular teeth. But even the best-looking Maori girls rarely keep their beauty long – they have hardly reached womanhood or maternity, ere the once firm bust has lost its shapeliness, and the clear white of the eye becomes dimmed and tarnished.

Many are leaving off now the old barbarous unkempt shock head of hair, and comb their abundant locks in the more cleanly and becoming mode of the Pakehas. They have generally small and well-shaped hands and feet.

The custom of tattooing is now falling out of fashion amongst the rising generation of both sexes, and it is to be hoped that before many years have passed, the nickname of "Blue-lips" will no longer be applicable to the native girls of New Zealand. Where the tattooing is confined to the slender lyre-shaped line on the fair one's chin, the effect is really not unpleasing; but the tattooed lip is an abomination.

The whole village is built on a thin crust of rock and soil, roofing over one vast boiler. Hot springs hiss and seethe in every direction; some spouting upwards and boiling with the greatest fury, others merely at an agreeable warmth. From every crack and crevice spurt forth jets of steam or hot air, and the open bay of the lake itself is studded far and near

WARM LOUNGING-STONES.

with boiling springs and bubbling steam-jets. So thin is the crust on which these men have built their little town and lived for generations, that in most places after merely thrusting a walking-stick into the ground beneath our feet, steam instantly followed its withdrawal.

Nature is here the public cook. Food is boiled by being hung in a flaxen basket in one of the countless boiling pools; nature also finding salt. Stewing and baking are performed by simply scraping a shallow hole in the earth, wherein to place the pot, and covering it up again, to keep the steam in; or by burying the food between layers of fern and earth in one of the hot-air passages. The great intermittent and annual geyser, "Waikite," bursts out of the midst of a narrow arm of the bay, which nearly divides the town.

In an open space in the middle of the settlement, stone flags have been laid down, which receive and retain the heat of the ground in which they are sunk. This is the favourite lounge; and here at any hour of the day, but especially when the shades of evening-are closing round, - all the rank and fashion of Ohinemutu may be seen wrapped in their blankets, luxuriously reclining on the warm stones.

Here the inhabitants met this evening, to hear what news the travellers had brought, and to have their usual "korero," or debate, on passing events.

From wars and rumours of wars, the discussion

ARRIVAL OF HAU-HAU EMISSARIES.

soon turned to the new fanaticism, which was ridiculed by all the speakers; yet some spoke as men who feared the object of their scorn, as though they had some lingering misgiving lest after all there might possibly be some truth in all these wonderful tales.

We hear that two emissaries from the headquarters of the new faith arrived here this morning, and are now actually in the settlement; but they keep quiet and out of our way, not showing even at the "korero" to-night, and bide their time till our departure; probably understanding how small would be their chance when pitted against the influence and stubborn loyalty of men like Poihipi and his companions.

Before turning in for the night we went down to bathe in the warm lake, piloted by a native with a light; for it is no easy matter to get about here in the dark, from the immense number of deep, boiling pools, and places where the apparently firm crust will not bear a man's weight.

It is very lucky that there is no liquor to be had in the place: fancy, after a jovial night, having to find one's way home, without a single false step, on pain of being boiled to rags!

Indeed, not long ago three unhappy people actually fell into one of these boiling caldrons, and were cooked in a trice. Stray horses frequently meet with the same horrible fate. 5

THE GREAT GEYSER.

28th. – On exploring some of the adjacent shores of the lake we found many more hot springs of different sorts, with sulphur in great quantity and purity. Whilst walking on what seemed to be hard, dry, firm ground, the treacherous crust gave way and let me into a hot-water spring, luckily only knee-deep and not hot enough to take the skin off.

We have been very fortunate in the date of our arrival, for the great geyser commenced playing this very morning for the first time this season.

It continues to increase in strength and frequency, till it culminates in February, and then gradually dies away again before the winter. At present the eruption occurs with great regularity every twelve minutes, and lasts about twenty-five seconds.

A vast volume of boiling water, surrounded by glittering jets of spray and curling wreaths of steam, rises in one grand bouquet to the height of 40 or 50 feet, an altitude which it retains for some seconds, and then slowly subsides into the bay whence it rose, where it dies away in a surf of seething foam, leaving huge banks of steam rolling slowly up the dark hill-side. An exceedingly grand sight!

Bathed again this evening, but this time at the fashionable hour of eight.

Young and old of both sexes meet in the lake every evening, almost the whole population taking to the water, which is of an agreeable temperature, like that of an ordinary warm bath, all over the bay,

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

OHINEMUTU GEYSER, MOKOIA ISLAND AND LAKE ROTORUA.

PUBLIC BATHING.

except where the water boils. The whole lake seemed alive, for the rising steam prevented any more than the portion containing the bathers being visible, and the scene was a curious one.

From every side were heard Maori songs and shouts from the players at some native game; and joyous peals of laughter came ringing along the surface of the water from beyond those misty veils.

Apart from these revellers, there were a few groups of staid old men, squatting up to their chins in water and smoking their pipes in conclave solemn. Poihipi, with his jolly face, fat corporation, and lighted pipe, looming through the steam, looked the very picture of enjoyment.

We had not been in long, before one of the chiefs called on the girls to come and "haka" to the strangers, and in a few minutes a number of the prettiest young girls in the settlement were seated in a circle in very shallow water, looking like mermaids, with the moonlight streaming over their well-shaped busts and raven locks.

They sang us a wild song, and beat their breasts to the changing time with varied and graceful gestures.

Others soon collected round us; the fear of the Pakehas, which most of the girls had shown at first, had by this time passed away, and the choruses of the songs which followed were joined in by scores of voices.

HOT-WATER FOUNTAINS.

But ever and again even these voices were hushed and stilled, while, with a weird and rushing sound, the great geyser burst from the still waters, rising white and silvery in the moonbeams which shone from the dark outlines of the distant hills, and dashing its feathery sprays high against the starry sky.

The scene was the very incarnation of poetry of living and inanimate nature. We remained in the water for about two hours, which we found quite long enough, though the Maories stopped much longer; for though very relaxing to us, it is just the sort of thing to suit their temperament.

Mair and I swam across the bay; but the ladies who piloted us across lived on the far side, and did not return; so, being unable to find our way back clear of the boiling springs which abound at the bottom of some parts of the lake, we hailed for our clothes and returned by land.

29th. – In our saddles again this morning, and started for Motutawa, an island in Lake Roto-Kakahi. We went a little out of our way to examine the hot fountains and basins of Whakarewarewa.

Some of these fountains play in prettily-incrusted basins; others rise out of curiously-raised circular funnels, five or six feet in height and diameter, and formed of various kinds of stalagmite.

These fountains, the largest of which throws the water from. 8 to 12 feet high, are all grouped to-

FATHER BOIBEAUX.

gether on a little hill, and the curious effect is increased by the brilliantly-varied colours of the water in the pools and basins.

The chemical colouring of the waters, produced by the decomposition of the subterranean rocks through which they have passed, causes the contents of some of these basins to assume a beautiful emerald green, while within a few yards are others of a brilliant turquoise tint, or cobalt blue, or pink, but all perfectly clear and transparent.

After leaving Lake Rotorua, the character of the country we passed through to-day was dismal in the extreme, the path winding along barren valleys and through vast crater-like basins of pumice-stone, sparcely covered with scattered tufts of a poor kind of buffalo grass.

In one of these terraced basins we found two little whares, one of which was surmounted by a cross.

These were the church and dwelling of Father Boibeaux, a French Roman Catholic missionary, who has been out here about five years.

We gladly stopped for an hour or two, and partook of the good father's hospitality.

It would be difficult to conceive a life of greater devotion and self-denial than his. Wifeless, childless, with no companionship save that of his little congregation of natives, most of whom live at great distances from their priest, – no hope of ever again seeing his native land, or returning to the society of educated

ARRIVAL AT MOTUTAWA.

men, his life is passed in his Master's work, in a place where even the barest necessities of life are procured with the greatest difficulty. He spoke with affection of his native friends, and hopefully of the ultimate progress of civilization and Christianity amongst them; though he confessed that, under the combined influence of the war and the new fanaticism, he, as well as the Protestant missionaries, have almost entirely lost the influence enjoyed in years gone by.

We reached Roto-Kakahi before sunset, a very pretty little lake, completely shut in by precipitous but verdure-clad, mountains, with the bright little island of Motutawa set like a jewel in the midst of the dark-blue waters.

Having dismounted and left our horses at Kaiteriria, a "kainga," or village, on the shore of the lake, where we were much pressed to stay, we procured canoes and passed over to Motutawa, the shouts of welcome from the thickly-peopled island arising long before we reached its shores.

After supper blazing bonfires were lighted in the open air, and by their fitful light the young people of both sexes danced and sang till long past midnight,

30th. – Landed from the island and walked through the Wairoa pass to Lake Tarawera, where a canoe awaited us on our way to Lake Rotomahana (or hot lake). This pass takes its name from a mill-stream which runs through it, and joins the two lakes of

TE KEPA'S HOUSE.

Tarawera and Roto-Kakahi. Midway we stopped to lunch at the house of a native magistrate, named Kepa; 6 a good sample of the civilization which a thorough Maori will attain.

We found him living in a clean and orderly weatherboard house, with flooring, door, and windows, which, together with his furniture, had all been constructed by himself. Our host himself, an intelligent-looking fellow, was very decently dressed; and there was an air of comfort and neatness about the place which forced us to confess that it was more like the residence of a civilized man than was the dwelling of any white man or Maori that we had seen since leaving Colonel H – – – 's hospitable house at Tauranga.

Near at hand is a native water-mill in full work. Some little energy must have been required to establish this branch of industry in the heart of a wilderness so difficult of access.

Our host provided, to wash down our lunch, some very palatable honey-beer home made.

The natives expressed some fear lest wandering parties of Kingites might cross us about Rotomahana, and wished us to take our revolvers, which for various reasons we declined to do, and left them at the whare. After leaving the Wairoa we embarked on the western

LAKE TARAWERA AND THE HOT RIVER.

extremity of Lake Tarawera, and made sail to a fair wind for Rotomahana, whose seething floods pour into the former lake in a river of hot water.

Tarawera is perhaps the most extensive as well as the most beautiful of the lower lakes. The shores are much indented, and covered with trees, whose luxuriously overhanging foliage droops to the water. At the easternmost end, from the midst of a chain of densely-wooded hills, rises a very remarkable and lofty mountain, whose summit is shaped like a truncated sugar-loaf, with symmetrical sides and upper edge – a huge, bare mass of rock 2000 feet high. After passing through some narrow straits we traversed Te-Ariki, a part of the lake which is warmed by the current from Rotomahana, and landed on the southern shore, near the mouth of the hot river.

Here we left the canoe, for this being the close season for ducks, the passage up the stream is stopped by a fence, erected to prevent the thousands of wild fowl which breed in the warm lake from being disturbed by canoes.

This lake is one of the very smallest, but the most remarkable of the chain, from the immense number and variety of the geological phenomena which surround it.

We made a detour on foot, and crossed the hot river at a place where it was just fordable, by stretching ourselves full-length on the shoulders of the natives – three to each of us.

TE TARATA, THE GREAT HOT SPRING.

As I write, squatted on the crowded floor of a whare, with my saddle for a table and a twisted rag stuck into pork-fat for a candle, one of the natives, peering over my shoulder, discovers me representing in a vignette the elegant and dignified mode in which we crossed the river, and presses me to record the interesting fact that he (of the utterly unpronounceable name) was the proud man who marched first, in charge of my head and shoulders.

Having crossed the hot river we pushed through the fern and tea tree scrub to the edge of the little lake, skirted it for a short distance, and soon found ourselves at the foot of the great "ngawha," or hot spring, Te Tarata – a natural wonder, which surpasses everything of the kind that has yet been discovered in this or any other part of the world.

To convey an idea of its beauty on paper is impossible; Hochstetter, the historian of the Austrian exploring expedition, got out of the difficulty simply by saying that it baffles description – and he is right.

The Te Tarata flows from a furiously-boiling pool which fills a deep crater opening on the side of one of the mountains surrounding the lake. The sides of the crater are lofty and perpendicular, and its dark and frowning walls afford a striking contrast to the huge, towering column of glistening white steam ever rushing upwards from its mouth.

The size of the crater at the level where the violence of the central action forces the boiling waves

HOT-WATER CASCADES

over the lower margin of the pool, is probably about 60 feet by 80. The water is of an intense and brilliant blue, the reflexion of which slightly tinges part of the column of steam; but the action of the vapour in escaping keeps the middle of the pool perpetually raised in a cluster of foaming hillocks, several feet above the general level.

From the mouth of the crater the wide-spreading waters fall in thousands of cascades, from terrace to terrace of crystallized basins. The water from each successive pool escapes in little curving jets to fill more numerous and broader pools below, or falls in a curtain of glittering drops from the fringes of crystals and glassy stalactites which form the margins of all the basins and terraces, and finally flows into Rotomahana over a smooth, hard flooring of a semi-transparent white glazed surface, which paves the shores of the lake for a considerable distance.

The water in the several basins is of the same deep blue as at the source, but the crystal margins, as well as the delicate crystallized tracery (reminding one of lace in high relief) which covers the whole of the broad flights of steps and curving terraces, are as white as driven snow, save in a few places, where, as if for the sake of contrast, a delicate pink hue is introduced. Anything so fairy-like I should never have dreamt of seeing in nature.

In shape most of the terraces somewhat resemble the curved battlements of ancient castles, though not

AND SWIMMING-BATHS.

so lofty, and the margins of the pools which they contain are disposed in almost symmetrical curves, each of whose extremities rests on the swell of those adjoining.

The traveller may here select a swimming-hath of any temperature he may prefer, from a mild tepid one in the basins nearest the lake to a heat several degrees above 7 boiling point at the crater. The depth of these pools varies from 8 or 9 inches to as many feet; but in all of them the chemical blue colouring of the water is strong enough to bring out a vivid contrast between the graceful patterns of the ridges which rise a fleur d'eau and the snow-white overhanging fringes. We could detect no smell arising from the cascade, but its taste brought to mind the "sky-blue" milk-and-water of school days.

The natives assured us that occasionally the Te Tarata discharges the whole of the water from the crater in one tremendous explosion, which must indeed be a magnificent sight, but rather dangerous to anyone in the neighbourhood.

There is another "ngawha" of a somewhat similar kind, but inferior size and beauty, on the opposite side of the lake, which we unfortunately had not time to explore.

We could make out, however, that instead of the almost spotless white hue of the Te Tarata, its steps and terraces are all variegated with rose colour and a

MUD VOLCANOES AND HOT SPRINGS.

bright salmon tint, with a deep-orange terrace or basin at intervals.

Skirting along the eastern shore of the lake, every minute brought us to some fresh wonder, differing entirely from the last: here, a group of little mud volcanoes in full and rather comical action; there, a furious, boiling pool, clear as crystal, with periodical geyser eruptions; or again, a miniature lake of cold water of a brilliant green, surrounded by miniature cliffs of pumice-stone and silica.

Now a basin of boiling mud of a dull white, then a pink one, and then again a black.

Here a little geyser; there a solfatara, with sulphureous fumes issuing from a yawning orifice incrusted with crystals of sulphur; or occasionally a fumarole, from whose crater escaped a few fitful wreaths of smoke; while from a thousand cracks and crevices in the many-hued and decomposing rocks jets of steam hiss forth.

There are about twenty-five large "ngawha," as the natives term the hot springs of the Te Tarata kind, scattered round the lake, and many hundred smaller ones.

The second in point of size on the eastern shore is to be found about half-way up the hill, but almost hidden in the bush, with a pool about 40 feet in diameter. We found the water in the centre rising to a height which varied from 8 to 10 feet, and driving the boiling waves over the rocky margin

ERUPTIONS OF GEYSERS.

with a suddenness and fury which rendered both caution and agility necessary in approaching it.

At the time of Hochstetter's visit this "ngawha" threw its waters to the height of nearly 30 feet.

The mud volcanoes, of which there are a great number, might serve for miniature models of Mount Etna or Vesuvius, with boiling mud in lieu of lava. They are mostly of a sugar-loaf shape, rising from a flat surface covered with a very thin, smooth crust of naturally-baked earthenware; some so small that, standing at the base, we could peep down the crater, wherein the mud or boiling fuller's-earth was being either violently thrown or "flopped" about in a manner which suggested the notion of its containing some living and sportive animal, or ejected altogether after having been boiled into an almost impalpable paste.

The red porcelain pavement extends to the cold lake mentioned above, whose shores and surface are so covered with floating and stranded pumice-stone that it is difficult to distinguish the outline of terra firma, till the floating pumice has actually given way beneath one's feet and let one into the lake beneath. Some of the earthenware is thinner and more brittle than a teacup.

There are two of these geysers about 100 yards apart, whose eruptions take place alternately, one beginning to play the moment the other ceases, and continuing in full action for about ten minutes, when

FOSSILIZING WATERS.

its neighbour's watch begins again. Into one of these, named the Whacanapa, some years ago there fell two little children, who were boiled alive; and the spot has been "tapu" ever since.

Every part of the valley not occupied by the lake and rushes is covered with a hard half-crystallized crust, as white as snow, and strewn with various objects similarly incrusted, so as to resemble a lake over whose frozen surface had swept a snow-storm. The brittleness of this crust and of the caking of baked clay makes it necessary to step very gingerly, and in some parts to place layers of brushwood to walk upon. Some of the waters have the power of fossilizing wood and similar substances. We found a good-sized fossil tree prostrate in the valley. Others merely cover the objects over which they flow with a hard white crust. So rapidly does this incrustation proceed, that, not very long ago a duck was found completely imbedded in a half-crystallized crust, which had preserved the flesh perfectly sweet.

Crystallized leaves and other objects of beautiful and fantastic shapes lay scattered about in profusion, and we felt that the day had been far too short when the lengthening shadows warned us to return: we could gladly have spent a week or more in exploring the many and ever-varied phenomena which almost every step disclosed.

Our return route to the canoe led us again across the Te Tarata, just below the crater, when we were

LAKE AND MOUNTAIN SCENERY.

greeted with a sight which defies description, but will never be effaced from our memories.

The sun was just setting behind the sombre western hills. Above us were clouds, orange, golden, and purple, of unusually warm and brilliant tints, even for an Australasian sky; before us, acres and acres of water-terraces, such as might belong to some giant's palace in Fairyland; every ray of the sinking sun caught and broken into a thousand prismatic hues by the countless crystals that hung like lustres round the margins of the successive basins, or mingling in the blue waters within them with the gorgeous reflexions of the glowing clouds above.

Lower still, foil to this glorious picture, lay the dark waters of the calm lake, buried in the deep shade which the mountains cast eastward, and motionless save where the still surface was ruffled by the teeming flocks of wild fowl. Beyond the lake, towering dark and sharp against the warm western sky, rose the grim mountain "Te Rangi Pakaru," with its great crater vomiting dense clouds of sulphureous vapour.

The feelings which this spectacle brought forth may perhaps be imagined, but the sight itself was one which no pen could well describe – no brush portray. The veriest clod or most blase and cynical of scenery-hunters must have been touched by such a sight.

During our return the clouds thickened, and a

EFFECT OF LIGHTNING.

few flashes of lightning were seen over a pass between two distant hills. Lightning is much less common in New Zealand than in most countries, and the natives attach great importance to its appearance, as a good or evil omen. We were accordingly told that the flashes between those hills foreboded dire disaster and defeat to the tribe of Arawa; and no amount of argument or of ridicule which we could throw on their fears had any effect in allaying them.

Before re-embarking for the western end of Tarawera, we stopped for supper at a pretty little village on the shore of the lake, completely hemmed in by lofty cliffs. But neither the scalding tea and smoking potatoes, nor the cheerful light of the blazing fires, could drive the confounded lightning out of their heads; and, instead of the uproarious mirth of the previous evening, they ate their suppers in solemn silence, seated in a motionless circle round the fire.

We had a beautiful night, calm and starry, though moonless, and the lake was like glass. We were on the water again by nine, and long before midnight even half-way across Tarawera.

As a touching piece of music that has struck some hidden chord will ring in the ear long after the sound itself has ceased, so the impression of that sunset scene remained pleasingly present to our minds, while the Maories plied their paddles in the dark smooth waters to the time of their wild and uncouth songs.

BATHING.

No more lightning having been seen for a couple of hours, the natives recovered their spirits, and one learned linguist even volunteered to sing an English song, in which the others were to join as best they could. But their alphabet is a deal shorter than their creed; and they had hardly got through the first verse somewhat after this fashion,

"Oh teah! wha can te matta pe?
Jonnie so rong at te pair!"

when a flash of lightning in the ominous quarter stopped their chirruping as suddenly as the report of a gamekeeper's gun amongst a flock of jackdaws, and they relapsed into untuneful laziness for the remainder of the voyage. It was three in the morning before we got back.

31st. – Shifted our quarters this morning to the mainland, after a bath in the lake at which the whole available population assisted (as spectators), the ladies replying to Mair's remonstrances on the impropriety of their conduct, that a white skin was so rare a sight as to render the temptation of a peep quite irresistible.

Not at all sorry to give our friends at Motutawa a wider berth, for they were rather a dirty lot. Our new abode is named Ephesus, a large clean whare on the shore of the lake, roomy and carefully finished. It was built for the late native magistrate, who was killed last June while fighting on our side.

MAORI ALARM.

Mair and Poihipi went to a "korero" at the Wairoa (Kepa's place, where we lunched yesterday), where Poihipi was to propound some patent plan of his own for "bringing in" the Kingites; but the day being very wet, Brenchley and I preferred remaining behind to "put the house in order." There was nothing but the bare walls, though they were prettily ornamented, being lined with kakaho stalks and flaxen sinnet, worked into various designs; but with a couple of tomahawks, some planks, and raw flax lashings, we rigged up a shelf, bedstead, table, and benches, besides effecting sundry other reforms, such as doubling the size of the windows, laying down fresh couches of fern, &c., which made the place look like a palace compared to the little whares we have slept in since leaving Tauranga.

Soon after proceedings had commenced at the Wairoa, a small body of armed horsemen, with a red flag flying, was seen winding down the side of a neighbouring hill.

The cry was immediately raised that the Ngatiporos were coming, so every man shouted to his neighbour to bring out his gun, and nearly every neighbour replied with equal truth and modesty that he had no gun. "Never fear," cried a vigorous old lady, "you have four or five guns among you; bring them out, and shoot a few. That will be better than a bloodless defeat."

Fired to martial ardour by this patriotic speech,

GREETING A FRIENDLY TRIBE.

the worthy Kepa ran indoors, and speedily reappeared, armed with his gun, and in full fighting costume, having put on his belt and cartridge case, and divested himself of his inexpressibles.

Meanwhile Mair, who did not believe that the new-comers were a war party, was devoting his attention to a basket of fruit; and the natives, who have always a keen sense of the ludicrous, became unwilling to lay their fears open to the ridicule of the Pakeha (foreigner or white man), who was so coolly munching his cherries, so one of their number volunteered to go forward as a herald, to meet the strangers, and learn their mission. He started, and when within earshot, hailed them: "Are you for the Queen, or for the King?" They replied, "For the Queen," and the flag having turned out to be the red ensign, the herald returned with the good news that the strangers, instead of being the vanguard of the invading Ngatiporos, were a party of loyal natives who belonged to the hostile tribe of Ngatirangiwehiwehi, but had slipped through their lines to join the Arawas, of whom their tribe was originally an offshoot.

As soon as this was known, the greeting with which they were received became one of the most remarkable that Mair had ever witnessed in New Zealand.

They brought news of very warlike intentions on the part of the Kingites; but it is difficult to

FATHER BOIBEAUX'S CHURCH.

sift the truth from the exaggerations of a native's story.

Poihipi and the other Maories were very anxious for us to spend the night at the island, on account of the proximity of Ngatiporos, but the change of quarters would have been so much for the worse, that, seeing we were obstinate, they departed, affably observing that if the Kingites should come, our throats would certainly be cut before morning.

Mair and the natives who had gone to the "korero" did not return till midnight, but meanwhile Brenchley and I had beguiled the time, after our exertions in the general furniture line of business, by holding open levee to all the belles of Motutawa, who paddled themselves across in their light canoes to sing and "haka" to us.

January 1st, 1865, Sunday. – Many Roman Catholics have gone to attend mass in Father Boibeaux's little "raupo" church, though the journey there and back makes it a whole day's work.

Visited again to-day by many maidens musically inclined, but we are beginning to view these entertainments in the light of crafty contrivances for the extraction from the too susceptible "Pakeha" of tobacco, wherewith the fair serenaders may satisfy the cravings of their Maori sweethearts.

While we were at supper this evening, in marched two natives in full fighting costume, i. e. as little as

A MAORI GIRL.

possible, armed with muskets, and having each on his belt two cartridge cases cram-full of ammunition. They entered silently, and halted with ordered arms in front of us.

Our visitors were obviously on the war path, but by this time our education was too far advanced for us to commit such a solecism as to ask what they were after, so we continued our meal in silence, till our visitors informed us that they had been sent over from the island to keep guard over us during the night, as "the Maories' hearts were dark lest evil should befall us." But having great doubts as to the value of the protection offered, in the actual event of an improbable danger, we dismissed our guards with many thanks, and thought we had seen the last of our friends from the island; but this was not quite the case, for among the troops of girls who had flocked over during the previous two days to satisfy their own curiosity and amuse us with dance and song, one had been a specially frequent visitor, and had been much joked at by her companions on a supposed fancy for one of the travellers.

Not half a bad specimen of a wild young savage girl was she; of middle height, with well-shaped hands and feet, lithe limbs and rounded arms (one of them not much improved by the initials of her name tattooed on the swell of it), strong, abundant, glossy black hair rising and falling in all directions at once, and sometimes almost hiding the wild black eyes;

UNEXPECTED VISIT.

nose a little too broad, but suiting well the ever-laughing face, and a pair of full red lips, showing as glorious a set of teeth as ever bit a potato – a comparison not poetical perhaps, but appropriate, for it is to their simple diet that savage races owe the wholesome beauty of their masticators.

She tried hard to soften the heart of the burly chief to let her follow the fortunes of the travellers, of his Pakehas – "she was young, she was strong, she could cook, she could wash, she would carry, or do anything, if they would only let her come." But the chief was inexorable. They were going to a land which knew her not, to tribes where she had neither kith nor kin; and, moreover, the rest of the natives of our party, whose voracious appetites had already made great progress with the Government provisions drawn at Maketu, looked with small favour on the prospect of an addition to their number. (We did not hear of this till a day or two after we had left the place.)

Late that evening a canoe gently grounded on the strand a short distance from the house where the white men were staying; the native having watched his opportunity through the unglazed casement, beckoned out one of the party sitting "crooning" over their pipes, and, with some little trouble, explained to him that his presence was wished for over the water; but the course of true love never did or will run smooth, and the unaccustomed ear of the

KAROLINA'S VISIT.

white man mistook in the reply of the native the name "Karolina" for that of the damsel described above, which it much resembled.

Now Karolina was a worthy, but by no means attractive old female, who had charge of the dwelling of the deceased assessor.

So the Pakeha taking it but as a joke, or at most scheme for the extraction of tobacco, told the messenger that his friend was a "kuia" (a not very complimentary term for an old woman), and returned to the house. He had not been there long before the real name of the sender of the message flashed across him, and sent him swiftly to the shore in the hope that he might, at least, be in time to send a more courteous answer. But he was too late; for an instant he saw the canoe shooting out from the dark shadows of the steep and fern-clad shore, silently cross the bright path of the moon on the still waters of the lake; but again the vigorous arms of the Maori had sped him across the narrow stream of light, and plunged into the distant darkness; so be paddled him back to the watching girl in her island home without the wished-for passenger.

4 Now more commonly called Hau-haus.

5 Since our departure a native woman has been boiled alive.

6 Otherwise Major Kemp, the well-known native leader, to whom a sword has been presented by the Queen in recognition of his services during the late disturbances.

7 According to Hochstetter.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.

Pairoa Range – Honey and the dragon-flies – First view of the Waikato – Geysers and steam-jets at Paul's settlement – The Turkey question – Porokaia's present – Dr. Hooper – Cairns – Poihipi's home on Lake Taupo – Hochstetter's opinion – Kingite neighbours. – Lake scenery – Rev. Mr. Grace's mission and its fate – The Falls – Wild fowl at the Bitter Lake – Wardanee and Tangi – Love of fighting inherent in the race – Mount Tongariro and volcanic eruptions – Arawa legends – Cascades – Return to Poihipi's village.

January 2nd. – Made an early start and picked up the remainder of our party at the neighbouring settlement of Kaiteriria, whence, after the eternal Tangi business, we got away soon after nine. After crossing a belt of forest, we had to traverse the same melancholy sort of country as on Thursday – pumice-stone hills and valleys covered with stunted fern.

Hove-to at midday in the fern for lunch, cooked by the natives in a neat and ingenious little fireplace, which they cut out of a bank.

After this the road led along the base of a remarkable ridge, rising about 1000 feet above the plain and 35 miles in length, running in a south-western direction, and named the Pairoa Range.

We struck it first after crossing a swamp, at the

THE "SOUFFRIERE."

hot spring Au-Tawa-Kokori, the source of a stream of very respectable dimensions.

The brook retains its heat for a great distance, and the many-hued rocks decomposing under the influence of sulphureous gases, with the countless steam-jets stretched along the hill sides' as far as the eye could reach, showed that the whole range is but one link in the chain of volcanic action extending from Tongariro to White Island.

We bivouacked for the night in the tea-tree scrub near a cluster of boiling mud craters and solfataras named Kopiha, distant about a third from the end of the range. There is here also a "Souffriere," resembling those found in some of the West Indian Islands, but more noisy; the sound apparently caused by large volumes of gas bursting through some heavy and superincumbent weight. These noises were frequent immediately under the open ground where they lay, and had rather a startling effect, when they roused us from our slumbers – sometimes with a loud explosion, or a sound like the passing of subterranean railway trains; at others, dying away in distant rumblings, like thunder among the hills.

Here, as at Rotorua and other places where we have camped, all the boiling necessary for our meals was performed by Dame Nature.

From the foot of the range extends a broad plain intersected by deep gorges through which the

HONEY.

water from the hot springs escapes; here grow great quantities of native flax, perhaps the most useful plant in New Zealand, and to be found in profusion all over the country. It is a handsome plant, with lily-shaped flowers growing on stalks 10 or 12 feet high, and long rush-like leaves, which, from the length and toughness of their fibre, afford the traveller an excellent substitute for leather or cord.

The natives scrape the fibre with sea-shells, and make large fishing-nets and mats of fine texture; but the difficulty of cleansing the fibre from its gummy sap has hitherto excluded it from the European markets. 8 There are ten or twenty orange-red flowers on every stalk, and each contains a drop of honey the size of a pea, which repays the trouble of gathering.

New Zealand is par excellence the land of honey, and though the bees have only been introduced for, I believe, about twenty-five years, the woods are already full of wild honey, A friend assured me that he had taken as much as 70 lbs. from a single tree, and known others to get 200 and 300 lbs. at one haul; another man collected a ton and a half in a few weeks.

The greatest enemies to the bees here are the dragon-flies, which grow to an enormous size. They

DRAGON-FLIES.

waylay the luckless bees when homeward bound and laden with honey, and after nipping off the part containing the sting, devour the remainder with the honey at leisure.

We found one to-day, nearly five inches long, seated on a saddle, devouring one of its-own species; there was a savageness in the manner in which it nipped and tore its victim which could not have been surpassed by a tiger.

When it had finished its repast off its brother dragon-fly we tried in vain to glut its insatiable voracity with various kinds of flies and bees, ending with a spider with a body the size of a pigeon's egg, which he instantly crunched with his cruel jaws, as if he had been famishing for a week.

Just before dark two natives, travelling in the opposite direction, arrived in camp, with an account of having passed a war party of Uriweras, probably the wildest and most savage tribe in New Zealand, whom they asserted to be coming along the path before us; but a short cross-examination having convinced Mair that there was more fiction than fact in their story, we devoted our attention to the preparation of sweet-smelling couches of tea-tree and fern, whereon we soon were dreaming under a cloudless, starry sky.

3rd. – In our saddles by seven, we resumed our journey along the foot of the range. Slow travelling.

PAIROA RANGE.

for our foot people delay us, and the horses have contracted a had habit of getting bogged, or coming to grief in some way or other.

We luckily had a fine night for our bivouac, but it came on to rain heavily soon after we had started. Hot springs and steam-jets at short intervals.

In the course of the forenoon we rounded the southern end of the Pairoa Range, and in another hour obtained our first view of the river Waikato.

And a very pretty view it was, for the river rushes over a succession of foaming rapids, alternated by deep and whirling pools of the darkest blue, and winds between high and partially-wooded mountains, which are further adorned by a number of waterfalls, whose white stalagmite deposits on the rocks over which they fall resemble the boiling cataracts which cause them, and multiply their apparent size.

We crossed in canoes, swimming the horses, which, from the steepness of the banks, the strength of the current, and the proximity of the rapids, was neither a short nor an easy task.

Before noon we had all got safe across, and arrived at a kainga, named Orakei-Korako, where we stopped the night in a whare not much bigger than a dog-kennel.

This village is strongly situated on the crest of a hill commanding a fine view of the rapids and of a cluster of beautiful cascades of boiling water on the opposite side of the river into which they fall almost

GEYSERS AND STEAM-JETS.

perpendicularly. The chemical substances held in solution by these hot cascades have coloured with every hue of the rainbow the rocks over which they flow, leaving a broad margin of pure white, which causes each waterfall to appear three or four times its natural size.

The village takes its name from a great geyser at the foot of the hill, which raises a column of boiling water to the height of about 40 feet. Unfortunately this is not its season for playing, so we had to content ourselves with the descriptions given by the natives, and so estimate its height from their comparisons with surrounding objects.

The funnel from which it rises is close to the bank of the river, in the midst of a place which looked like a great frozen snowdrift, and surrounded by a number of very deep holes, in whose dark profundities water in violent action could be heard, though not seen.

There is also here a large natural warm swimming bath with a bottom like glazed porcelain, and the natives of the village, which is within two minutes' walk, spend half their day in it.

There was another geyser – now defunct – farther up the river, which used to throw the water to so great a height, that its downfall is said to have swamped canoes on the opposite bank of the river, nearly 100 yards wide.

The whole of the hills and woods visible from the

PAUL'S SETTLEMENTS.

crest where the kainga is built, are completely dotted with thousands of steam-jets, whose little wreaths and clouds of steam keep curling upward from amongst the branches of the trees, giving a very singular character to a very beautiful landscape, especially at early morning, when the steam-jets are most clear and well defined.

The village is often called Paul's Settlement, from the name of the chief, instead of by the rather long name Orakeikorako. He joined us last night at our bivouac, and came on with us this morning.

4th. – The Queenites here are both willing and anxious for the advantages of English law, and a rather amusing case came before Mair this morning. Two natives living near here owned some turkeys ("rarae aves" about here – we never saw one), one of which they kept as a great favourite, and named after a celebrated ancestor. During their absence a man and his wife, travelling, stopped at the whare of the owners of the turkeys, and being hungry, killed and ate one of them, which unluckily happened to be the honoured favourite. When the owners returned, the man had died, and finding that the widow had few effects wherewith to make payment, seized on a horse which she had previously disposed of to a third person. And he it was who appealed to Mair. The widow had offered in restitution a large piece of the precious greenstone, though the latter was an heirloom of value.

POROKAIA'S PRESENT.

But this the proprietors of the defunct turkey refused, saying that it was not the bird's value that they cared for so much as the insult they had received in having their great ancestor eaten! The decision was that the horse must be immediately restored to the neutral third party, and that if they chose to give honoured names to their poultry, they must stand the consequences; so they should therefore have the greenstone (which was worth many turkeys) or nothing. To this they at last consented, with the proviso that they should be allowed to throw the greenstone into the river immediately afterwards.

One of the chiefs to whom we carried letters from the Governor was Porokaia, Chief of the Wairoa. He was much puzzled as to how best he might show his good-will, and at last he sent a messenger to Motutawa with 1l. to buy provisions of meat, or some such rare delicacy, to present to us. But there were none to be had, so the old man has followed us on here, and with many apologies for the poverty of the country, begged our acceptance of the sovereign in cash.

Mair accepted it on our behalf with many thanks, but afterwards returned it with some tobacco added, with which I think the old man was very well pleased.

Started again this morning after a leisurely breakfast; the land much richer and more wooded than what we have passed through lately. Halted for lunch at a settlement of a few huts by the edge of

DR. HOOPER.

a great wood, and later at Punu, a settlement belonging to a chief named Reweti, where we were regaled with cherries, while Mair heard all that the chief had to say on affairs in general.

We were much struck with the well-cut and handsome features of two of the young women of the place, more especially the fair Anipeka, who brought us the cherries, the bride of one of our party. She accompanies us to Taupo. From Punu we pushed on to Puke Tarata, one of the settlements which owns Poihipi as chief.

I had lagged behind to gather some rare ferns, when I met a native of rather striking appearance, also mounted, who turned off the narrow path and "tena-koe"-ed (how d' ye do-ed) with great cordiality; this proved to be old Ngaperi, a rabidly Kingite chief of high rank.

Slept in a large whare at Puke Tarata – the Maories on one side and we on the other, with a blazing fire in the middle, but which went out and left us miserably cold.

5th. – We gave up to-day to rest the pack-horses and foot-men; but during the course of the morning guns were fired in our honour at the Oruanui pah, under the impression that we were already on the way thither. Soon afterwards we received a visit from Dr. Hooper, the Government surgeon for the natives, who has lived in this district for the last two

HOHEPA'S ENTERTAINMENT.

years, all through the troublous times, physicking friends and foes alike. And he says that during the whole of this period we are the first Europeans who have come up here, which agrees with what the Governor said. The post is not an enviable one – for, besides the isolation, the difficulty of procuring even the barest necessaries of life is great.

The natives about here keep neither pigs, poultry, nor live-stock of any kind, and the difficulty of transport from the coast is so great, that with the exception of an occasional pigeon, he does not taste meat more than two or three times a-year.

We gladly accepted his invitation to put up at his whare at Oruanui, and after lunch rode on to the pah at that place, about 4 miles distant.

We were received with discharges of musketry on our approach, and shouts and songs of welcome as we entered the gate of the pah, and cordially entertained by the chief, Hohepa (Joseph) Tamamutu, at his house – one of the largest we have seen since leaving Maketu, and having within it many little signs of civilization, such as a standing bedstead, glass windows, neatly-matted floors, and on the table in his bedroom two glass tumblers full of fresh-plucked flowers. The chief himself, a tall, rather stern-looking man, with a strong black beard and moustache, and decently dressed in partly European clothes.

We dined with him luxuriously off fresh pork and potatoes, coffee and milk – a rare luxury indeed;

PUKE-TARATA.

he offered to give up to us his house and bed during our stay, but we preferred the comparative privacy of the doctor's whare outside the pah.

The pah is strongly situated on the crest of a small hill, surrounded by a high stockade consisting of a double row of slab-stake fencing, with flanking angles; and lined with a chain of open and covered rifle-pits.

There being no raupo to be had here, or at Puke-Tarata, the whares are built of wood, and roofed with the bark of the Totara tree. It is difficult to keep these wooden whares warm, as we found to our cost last night.

At Puke-Tarata and in the pah the inhabitants have consequently built most of their dwellings in the style of a "whare-puni" described before, the whole of the house below ground except the roof, and even that plastered over with earth to the thickness of a foot or more; and having no communication with the open air save through the narrow door, which fits quite closely. Hot, stifling, and abominably unwholesome.

The hills surrounding the Oruanui pah are covered with forest. There is plenty of open land in the valley, which is watered by a small stream, but the natives plant all their potatoes in the woods, where the soil is much richer.

6/i. – A brace of "kuku," or "kukupa," had been snared for our breakfast this morning; the kuku is

HOT SPRINGS AND STEAM-PITS.

the name of the New Zealand pigeon, a bird which in size surpasses every other known species, with the exception I believe of one found in the Nicobar islands. They are now out of season and consequently in bad condition, yet these two were much larger than English partridges.

After an early dinner we got our little cavalcade under way again, and pushed on for Tapuae-haruru, Poihipi's home, by the shores of Lake Taupo.

We passed the remains of two recent landslips, caused by the decomposition of the rocks by the fumes of sulphur, and the perpetual undermining of the hills by the hot springs and steam-pits. We saw one of these of great size, at a short distance from the path, discharging its steam in a rapid succession of puffs like some huge high-pressure engine. Our road led mostly through a district of deep and branching gorges, bounded on the right by distant mountains, and on the left by the river Waikato, quite hidden from sight in its winding bed; while ahead of us, towering high above the nearer hills, rose Tauhara, a lofty and very remarkable mountain, rising sheer out of the vast unbroken Kaingaroa plain, on the far side of the river. This plain of pumice stretches to the eastward far beyond the horizon, but is perfectly level with the exception of the narrow fissures which form the beds of the streams and rivers that traverse it, and so broad and blue in the distance as to seem more like sea than land.

CAIRNS.

A great part of the country that we have lately passed through presents the appearance of having been swept by a flood in geologically recent times, the subsiding waters in some places wearing deep channels, and leaving high ridges of singular shape, with very sharp extremities.

It was whilst passing through one of these most dismal valleys, that Poihipi pointed out a cairn of earth and stones which marks the death-place of his last and favourite wife, who died last year whilst on a journey with him to the coast.

The monument had rather a grotesque appearance, in spite of the melancholy nature of the place itself and of the event which caused its erection; for the large stone which had been set up endways to crown the summit of the cairn, was decorated by the defunct lady's bag, which had been inverted and drawn over the top like a stocking, while the lower part was clothed in her European shawl, and surrounded by the teapot, pannikins, and other articles which she had used before her death.

We have at different times passed many of these monuments, often marking a battle-scene where some warrior chief had fallen in savage strife in the good old days of spear and mere. 9

Some of them were surmounted by a grim-looking

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

EXIT OF THE WAIKATO FROM LAKE TAUPO

THE GREAT LAKE.

head, carved out of wood or stone; others had merely a post and flax-mat. They serve only however to "tapu" the actual death-place of the deceased – the graves themselves are neatly fenced in on the top of a hill near a settlement.

It was at five this evening that we first saw the waters of the Great Lake. And the sight was a pleasant one as we rested on the crest of a lofty ridge, and recollected how few before our departure had believed that we should ever be permitted to get thus far: so little was the true state of the interior of the country known in Auckland.

In another hour we had dismounted at Tapuaeharuru, a kainga built on the banks of the Waikato where the river flows out of the lake, and directly opposite Mount Tauhara.

At the actual point of exit the river is not 70 yards wide, but is extremely deep, and the current of waters converging from the surface of the great lake rushes through these narrow portals with tremendous speed and power, expending its surplus energy in a variety of small whirlpools a little farther down the river, where the channel expands to a breadth of 200 or 300 yards, retaining however depth more than enough to float a line-of-battle ship.

The lake itself is very clear, and deep, and cold. Its size has been variously estimated by Dieffenbach and Hochstetter at from 25 to 36 miles from the

POIHIPI'S HOME.

northern to the southern extremity, and from 20 to 25 miles from east to west. It appeared to us that the lesser of these two estimates was the nearer to the mark.

On the crest of a cliff overhanging the lake, and close to the kainga where we are stopping, Poihipi's people are building a pah of ambitious dimensions, and the stockade is already nearly finished, but when the whole structure is completed, it will probably be found too large for defence by any force which Poihipi is likely to be able to muster at Taupo.

With the exception of this settlement, and Hiruharama (Jerusalem), a small and almost entirely deserted kainga, three or four miles to the southward, the whole of the settlements round Taupo are Kingite.

For a short distance eastward of the Waikato and Mount Tauhara, the northern shore is rather tame and flat, as there the lake is bounded by the Kaugaroa plain and the lava from Mount Tauhara with its endless pumice-stone levels, varied only by some spare groves of stunted Manuka, a tree resembling evergreen heather. But to the southward the coup d'oeil presented by the lake is as imposing as a traveller could wish to see, having for background the beautiful Kaimanawha ranges, amongst which towers high above the clouds the great active volcano Tongariro, and beside it, clad in perpetual snow, the still higher mountain Ruapehu – the loftiest in the island.

LAKE SCENERY.

A large portion of the lake is surrounded by perpendicular cliffs of basalt, rising straight out of

Lake Taupo, with Mounts Tongariro and Ruapehu.

the water to the height in some places of over 700 feet, at whose base even a cat could find no footing, and over whose frowning crests many a mountain torrent falls in a single cascade into the dark waters below. In bad weather an awkward chopping sea rises in Taupo suddenly and without warning, and the natives very rarely venture to cross it, knowing that from the inaccessible character of the banks, canoe accidents in Taupo are almost invariably fatal. From the appearance of these cliffs and of the surrounding mountains, Hochstetter opines that the whole lake is formed out of one vast crater.

A WHIRLPOOL.

but to men as unskilled in geology as ourselves, it has rather the appearance of having filled and overflowed many craters.

The supply of water from the very numerous streams which feed the lake, especially from the southern side, is far greater than the discharge by the Waikato, and the difference being greater than can be accounted for by evaporation, the idea suggests itself of a subterranean passage, supplying probably the chain of geysers, hot springs, and steam-jets, between the lake and the sea-coast.

Not far from the centre of the lake there is an island named Motutaiko, which, strictly "tapu" from time immemorial, is still held in awe and fear by the Maories of the present day, who will neither approach it themselves nor allow strangers to do so, for – though they no longer believe in the old legend of heathen times, that asserted the island to be the dwelling-place of a monstrous and most malevolent "Taniwha," or dragon, ever lying in wait to devour any canoes with their luckless crews who might venture too near his dominions – they found their objections on the more reasonable fear of a dreadful whirlpool, which they say is always gyrating near the island, and is strong enough to suck down and ingulf for ever any canoe which has the misfortune to come within reach of its attraction. Should this whirlpool be an existing fact, it would account both for the old legend and in some degree supplement my wild theory of

MR. GRACE'S MISSION.

a subterranean passage from the lake, by indicating the spot where the waters disappear.

A large portion of the river Waikato itself, at a place not very far below Taupo, plunges suddenly underground through a cave-like opening, rising again to daylight a little farther down.

At the opposite end of the lake is the Pukawa pah, which with the neighbouring settlements, including Tokanu where there is a very powerful geyser, own the sway of a great hostile chief named Te Heu-heu, to whom we carry a letter from the Governor, but whose character for hostility to the Pakeha, as shown in his more recent behaviour, makes it doubtful whether we shall ever have the opportunity of presenting our credentials. A messenger has however already been dispatched to ascertain what sort of reception the Pakehas from the Governor are likely to receive at his hands.

There was formerly a Church Mission station at Pukawa, with a native school, &c., under the Rev. Mr. Grace; but when the war broke out a feeling of hostility developed itself towards him. He stayed as long as he dared, till one day, finding his congregation holding a "korero" as to the advisability of removing his head as a reprisal for some murders in Waikato of which they accused us, he deemed it prudent to depart until the storm should have passed away, which he did in a considerable hurry. For a long time after he had left them, the Maories of

HAU-HAU WORSHIP.

Pukawa appeared to regret their conduct which had led to his departure, and to lament his absence, showing their sincerity by keeping inviolate the house which he had left containing all his property, and the live-stock which surrounded it. But then came the last bitter winter, made harder by the war, with its attendant miseries of hunger and cold, and one by one the sheep of their late Pastor found their way to the roasting or the oven; yet still the house with its contents remained untouched. At last another change, and a worse, came over the spirit of the late Christians of Pukawa: the emissaries of the new fanaticism came to the settlement, and found a soil fit for the seed they had to sow, manured by all the evil feelings which the bitterness of strife in the war against the Pakeha together with famine and suffering could engender; and in a very short time, now scarcely three weeks past, a host of perverts were chanting Pai Marire hymns round a Hau-hau post of worship, erected close to the late Christian church.

With the abolition (for the time at least) of the old religion, went all respect for the eighth commandment, without apparently being replaced even by the old rough notions of honesty which certainly distinguished the race in bygone heathen times – the mission-house was broken into and gradually sacked.

They are still, however, rather ashamed of this

THE KINGITES.

last performance, and in the very little intercourse which they have held with the Queenite natives, have endeavoured to make out that they have only distributed the property for safe keeping, ready for restitution to the owner on his return; but some doubt is thrown on this explanation from the circumstance of the chief Te Heu-heu having been recently observed enjoying the morning breeze and his pipe, arrayed in two pairs of the rev. gentleman's smallclothes.

On the opposite side of the Waikato are two ponderous millstones, which, with part of the machinery necessary for a water-mill, have been transported on sledges or drays from the east coast and across the plain, with infinite labour and perseverance, by Poihipi and his people; but the works are now at a standstill, for the fund for the erection of flour-mills and looms, which, in peaceable times had been subscribed by both Queenites and Kingites, was committed to the care of the missionary, and has now with the rest of his property fallen into the hands of the Kingites.

8th. – Walked down the river to the "Te Huka" ("the foam") waterfall, passing by the way through some very pretty scenery of winding river, rapids, and islands. Te Huka is grand in a style of its own, though not remarkable for great height or breadth. About 300 yards above the fall the river contracts

TE HUKA WATERFALL.

into a chasm, or "cannons" as the Americans would call it, scarcely 30 feet wide but tremendously deep, between whose perpendicular walls the whole body of the river in one foaming torrent rushes with deafening violence, till it dashes over the rocky brink into the deep basin beneath. The great pressure from the compressed volume of water in the chasm behind, forces the waterfall to shoot out horizontally farther than any other that I have yet seen elsewhere. The banks of the river below the falls are nearly perpendicular, but covered with foliage to the height of 50 or 70 feet, and crowned with barren sugar-loaf hills.

Judging by the configuration of these banks, the wall of rock over which the river falls, and the time that elapses before any object, however large and light, thrown in above the falls reappears at the surface, the depth of this basin must be enormous,

I narrowly escaped testing this question in a disagreeably practical manner, for whilst climbing the cliff to find a better place whence to sketch the falls, the branch to which I trusted gave way, and I fell bounding through the foliage that clothed the face of the bank, till my downward course was luckily arrested by a stump only a few feet above the surface of the seething whirling waters.

Meanwhile one of our natives had procured us half-a-dozen wild ducks in the very simplest manner he paddled quietly along the bank in a little dug-

WILD FOWL AT THE BITTER LAKE.

out canoe, with his dog on hoard, till he came to a duck between himself and the shore, under the overhanging foliage. The bird, apparently too tame or too lazy to rise, would then land and scuttle up into the narrow belt of bush under the cliff, where he would be speedily caught by the dog.

According to the account of the natives, the ducks repair at certain seasons to the neighbourhood of Roto-Kawa (bitter lake) (whose waters are highly impregnated with sulphur and other mineral substances), not far from here, where they moult their wing feathers, and are thus for the time unable to fly. At this lake are held periodical grand battues, the ducks being hunted with dogs only and sticks.

Unfortunately the ducks were all wholly or partly plucked when we heard this rather tough story on rejoining our natives who had gone to procure a canoe, and there was no time left to catch a fresh duck; but the appearance of the bird which still retained part of its plumage, and an examination of the feathers strewn about, rather corroborated the native account.

We returned by water, starting in the canoe from just above the rapids, and stopping to lunch at the Tewakaturou geyser. This geyser, which in the days of its vigorous youth used to eject a column of water across the river, here some 130 yards wide, is now nearly defunct. The orifice is a funnel of silica and stalagmite about 6 feet in height and diameter, curi-

THE MISSION AT TAUPO.

ously lined like some gigantic bird's-nest with boughs and sticks incrusted with variously-shaped crystals.

The procuring of them for specimens was rendered inconvenient by the behaviour of the effete old geyser, which spouts up every few minutes, with great noise and splash, enough boiling water to scald anyone who does not jump off quick enough.

The ducks and some potatoes were rapidly cooked in a boiling spring hard by, and still more rapidly devoured. Here, as elsewhere, are rare and beautiful ferns close around the hot springs, and all the vegetation which grows in an atmosphere of perpetual steam attains a green, singularly delicate and brilliant.

9th. – Mr. Grace with his son arrived to-day; they have followed us up here to see if there is any hope of re-establishing the mission at Taupo. He anticipates a bad effect being made amongst the Kingite natives (who are always well posted as to anything concerning them published in Auckland) by a stupid paragraph in one of the newspapers, which accounted for the dispatch of the little 'Sandfly,' by saying that she conveyed "Mr. Mair and an officer from the Curacoa, who have been sent to find out what the Kingites are doing;" in plain English, or still plainer Maori, that we are spies. Mr. Grace expects to be able to establish himself again, for a time at least, at Pukawa, and invites us to come and stay at the mission-house when we visit that place; but I

WAIHAHA.

do not think that we will tax his hospitality, as he conceives that our presence under his roof may endanger the present close connection between his head and shoulders, and he expresses his very reasonable fears of the consequences to himself which might be caused by a report, even after our departure, that he had been harbouring spies.

10th. – Started at eight this morning for Waihaha, Perenara's home on the south-western shore of the lake. We travelled in a large canoe propelled by twenty paddles, and accompanied by a rather smaller one containing the rest of our native companions. We hugged the shore nearly all the way, crossing only two or three deep bays, for a nasty sea rises quickly on this lake with very little provocation, and the short deep lop would soon swamp a canoe.

The shores we passed were mainly formed by lofty, dark, and perpendicular rocks, grand in their gloom, but relieved by an occasional cascade.

Waihaha is a village built on a small alluvial flat at the mouth of a river of the same name, and completely shut in, except on the side of the lake, by lofty columnar cliffs of basalt. It belongs nominally to a Queenite tribe, the Ngatiterakaiaki, but is mainly peopled by the men who escaped from Orakau and refugees from other places in the Waikato country now occupied by our troops.

On approaching the shore we found a white flag

WAR-DANCE AND TANGI.

flying over the settlement, in token of a peaceful reception, and the men drawn up under arms in front of the village, and stripped to their fighting costume. They shouted something which our people answered with a corresponding yell, and springing out of the canoes the moment they grounded, formed on the beach, some with muskets and others with only their paddles in their hands, and then, with the red ensign flying, advanced at a run until within 100 yards of the Waihaha natives, when they halted and formed a double line. We, meanwhile, stood off a little, and watched the proceedings. The moment our people stopped, the Waikatos, who had been crouching as though in ambush, sprang to their feet, and went through the war-dance with great spirit and apparent ferocity.

This extraordinary dance is not easily described; but it is well calculated both to strike terror into the heart of the foe and to work up those who join in it to a state of excitement and combativeness far exceeding that produced by grog or martial music. Admirable time is kept by one of the chiefs who acts as fugleman, the whole of the warriors in serried ranks springing from the ground together, and giving the ferocious war yell in perfect chorus – brandishing their muskets and stamping as one man, and throwing their bodies into every sort of position indicative of the slaughter of their foes.

After this our people did the same, taking time

MAORIES' LOVE OF FIGHTING.

from Poihipi; the Waikatos then fired a salute, which was returned on our behalf, and the two parties having joined, a long "Tangi" commenced, the effect in this instance being rather pleasing than otherwise, from the number of voices composing it, the echoes of the rocks, and the striking nature of the surrounding scenery.

The Tangi concluded, we joined the natives, and the usual hand-shaking business having been gone through, we all squatted on the ground, in two adjacent groups for a korero on Maori politics, led off by our friend Poihipi with a solo on his own trumpet, descriptive of his own loyalty ever since the day he signed the Treaty of Viaitangi, and advocating generally loyalty to the Queen.

One of the most permanent difficulties in the way of a complete pacification of New Zealand is the Maories' innate love of fighting, for mere fighting's sake. Centuries of intertribal warfare have left traditions of feats of arms inviting the young men to go and do likewise, and bellicose tastes which are not to be eradicated in one generation. Amongst the refugees here we found Takiuira, a fine young fellow, tall and well made, with a very pleasing countenance; he was one of those who made a dash out of Orakau pah, and escaped through the besieging troops by the skin of his teeth. He then joined the Arawas, and fought on our side against the Ngatiporos; and when twitted by Mair with his inconsistency, cha-

HOSTILE SETTLEMENTS.

racteristically replied, "Oh! as to that, fighting is fighting, and we young men don't care much whom it is against."

We hear that Te Heu-heu has gone to a great war meeting of the Kingites held near the Waikato, so we cannot find out till his return whether he is willing to receive us, which is, however, daily expected.

Karamoa and Reihana, the two of our party who are most highly connected amongst the Kingites, go to ascertain whether we are likely to be allowed to pass through the hostile settlements lying between Taupo and our military posts on the Waikato, which we hope to make our return route.

Meanwhile the few provisions we brought with us being nearly exhausted, Hohepa, the Chief of Oruanui, rides on to Napier, which he can reach in three days, and is to buy us some more.

We rather expected that we might have had the ill-luck to stumble up against Wm. Thompson (Tamihana), the Maori Earl of Warwick, who was to have left Taranaki with a war party for the eastward the same week that we left Auckland, and so would cross our path; but we have seen nothing of him, and he has probably stayed to attend the great war meeting to which Te Heu-heu and others have gone.

11th. – Found too many fleas going about loose

MOUNT TONGARIRO AND VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.

in the whare, so I slept on the beach most luxuriously, having made myself a fern bed on the sand.

The sand is composed of obsidian and clear crystallized olivine and silica, so that by moonlight the strand seems to be literally strewn with diamonds. It was very pleasant being lulled to sleep by the gentle rippling of the tiny waves, and to find a bath ready beside one's couch when roused by the warm rays of the morning sun.

There is here among the refugees from Orakau a young woman named Ahumai, possessing no little influence, a well-made, rather good-looking person, but strong-minded and imperious. Her husband was killed in the pah, and she herself in escaping received from the soldiers three bayonet and gunshot wounds in the breast, arm, and hand, which have, however, now healed, leaving only the scars. 10

The height of the volcano Tongariro has been variously estimated at from 6500 feet and upwards to an absurd figure. The heat of its volcanic fires keeps its black cinder cone bare to the summit far above the line of perpetual snow, which by the contrast only makes Mount Ruapehu with its three snowy peaks look all the more beautiful. The latter mountain is estimated at from 9000 to 10,200 feet high.

We have long determined on the ascent of Ton-

ARAWA LEGENDS.

gariro, should we be allowed to reach the valleys from whence it rises; but it seems now very doubtful whether we shall be able to accomplish our purpose, for this mountain has always been held strictly "tapu," and even in the most peaceful times the natives would never allow anyone to attempt to scale it. A Mr. Bidwell in 1839, and a Mr. Dyson in 1851, claim to have eluded the vigilance of the natives and made the ascent, and Mr. Dyson wrote an account of it; but the natives assert that neither of them ever reached the summit. The Maories say that they tracked his footsteps, and punished him by enforcing on his house and goods the "Muru," a sort of organized confiscation or distraint.

12th. – Slept out on the beach again, and on waking this morning found Tongariro in full blast;. great volumes of steam and smoke issuing from the upper crater; after which the steam collects round the summit of the cone in a glistening cloud of dense whiteness, whilst the smoke, spreading far and wide, stained the clear morning air for miles.

The natives assure us that showers of light ashes are even now falling as far as the south-eastern end of the lake, and that the unusual vigour of the volcano points to the probability of an early eruption. They are but ill pleased at these signs and changes, regarding the volcano as an oracle whose manifestations betoken the coming death of a great chief, or

ARAWA LEGENDS.

too surely the harbinger of some other impending evil to their race.

They have a legend that Tongariro was but an empty crater until the arrival in New Zealand of the progenitors of their race, which is supposed to have taken place early in the fifteenth century, when the ancestor of the great tribe of Arawa, after landing on the east coast, started with a single slave to explore the new country, and left his wife at White Island to tend the sacred fire which they had brought from Hawaii (Sandwich Islands).

Having ascended Tongariro to survey the promised land, his slave fell ill from cold; so, being a man apparently blessed with very powerful lungs, he hailed his wife, then somewhere about 150 miles distant, to bring him some of the sacred fire. The faithful spouse started forthwith by a subterranean passage, and wherever by the way fell any of the holy sparks, the springs began to boil, geysers burst forth through the fissures in the earth, and subterranean fires, never more to be quenched, produced the present fumaroles and solfataras.

She arrived, however, too late to save the life of the slave, so her lord threw the sacred embers down the crater of the volcano, where they have blazed or smouldered ever since; and the principal crater, which is said to have been the tomb, still bears the name of the slave – Ngauruhoe.

Another legend is to the effect that Ruapehu,

PATUTIKI CASCADE.

Mount Egmont, and Tongariro were once three giant brothers living near Taupo; but some lady fair having caused strife and rivalry, the elder and younger made common cause, and ousted their brother Mount Egmont, who retired into Taranaki, where he still remains; but the ultimate disposal of the lady was not much simplified by the ejection of one only out of three candidates; for all the three brothers were punished by being transformed into stone and earth, for a perpetual warning against family discord.

The volcano appears to have been much less active at the time of Hochstetter's visit, and its appearance led him to believe that nothing but steam issued from the crater – in fact that its career as an active volcano was closed,

No later, however, than the summer before last, during the campaign on the Waikato, several eruptions of fire and ashes were observed, the flames being plainly visible during the brightest days, and lighting up the skies by night as far as Rotorua and the hot lakes. 11

To-day we ascended the ravine through which the river finds its way to Waihaha, till we came to the Patutiki cascade, where the stream, after passing through a narrow cleft in the mountains, falls in a series of cascades, the lowest of which is about 25 feet

RETURN TO TAPUAE-HARURU.

high. The falls are well set off by the dark pools which receive them, the wide-spreading foliage which shades them, and the dark, beetling cliffs round them. The natives say that under these falls there once lived a terrible "Taniwha," a fabulous monster whose description answers in every point to that of our own dragon, excepting that he was unprovided with wings.

We were assured that not many years ago one of the monster's teeth was found lying in the stream, but has since been lost. This is a pity, as there seems no reason to doubt that a fossil of some interest was actually found.

As soon as the fiercest heat and glare of the day were past, we launched the canoes and started on the return voyage to Tapuae-haruru.

We passed many of the beautiful cascades mentioned above as falling directly into the lake from the summit of cliffs 700 or 800 feet high.

Towards dusk a smart breeze sprang up, forcing us to take refuge for a short time in a little bay, the Maories paddling as hard as they could to reach shelter in time; they have a clever way of warding off with their broad paddles the little waves when just about to break over the gunwale of the canoe. We then landed for half an hour on a narrow strip of shingle of 100-lb. pebbles, under overhanging rocks, where a fire was lit to dry the clothes of those who had got wet during the squall. In truth, the

ARRIVAL AT TAPUAE-HARURU.

Maories were glad of any excuse for a halt; they would put on a spurt, racing as hard as they could with songs and shouts for ten minutes, but then "spellho" for twenty to chaff and smoke.

A glorious night with a bright moon on one side, and on the other, miles and miles of hills crowned and girt by blazing lines of bush fires, lighting up both land and water; the occasional mingling on the lake of the red and silver-blue reflexions of the fire and moonlight producing a curious effect.

It was nearly two in the morning before we reached Tapuae-haruru, though we had only landed once more for a few minutes to drop some natives at a place named Whakaipo, on the western margin of the lake, where there is said to be excellent duck-shooting.

On arrival we found Mr, Grace and his son encamped close to our whare.

8 Since the above was written a method has been discovered of cleansing the flax, large quantities of which are annually prepared for export.

9 A short double-edged cutting weapon, shaped like a palm-leaf, made of whalebone, or of the precious greenstone. When made of the latter, they have an almost fabulous value.

10 My acquaintance with her was of the slightest, yet a fortnight later she exercised her influence to good purpose, and in a courageous manner, to save my life, when I had fallen into the hands of the fanatics.

11 These eruptions have been repeated with increased force and brilliancy, sometimes lasting for days consecutively, since our return from Taupo.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER IV.

Mr. Grace driven away – Change in the people – More warm springs – -, Lava and pumice blocks – Warlike rumours – Native cookery – Grand duck-hunt – River scenery – A wild pig – Ascent of Mount Tauhara – The Comet – Long delay and difficulty of returning – Hostility of Te Heu-heu – Choice of routes – Reasons for separation from the rest of the party – Determination of the Kingites to fight – Difficulty in procuring a guide – Dark prospects – A clairvoyante cook – Departure with Hemipo – Fear of darkness – Forest scenery.

January 13th. – Mr. Grace's report is not encouraging. He had started for the old mission station at Pukawa after our departure for Waihaha; but in the villages which he passed on the way his reception was so different to what he had been accustomed – sullen silence and lowering looks taking the place of outstretched hands and cries of welcome, that his suspicions were aroused, and further confirmed by an old man, once a teacher in his school, who warned him that his life would be in great danger in Pukawa. He then reluctantly decided to return.

Late last night, some time after he had pitched his camp, a messenger arrived from Pukawa, bearing a request that he would return to his house and congregation, but adding that he was not to bring his boy with him.

CHANGE IN THE PEOPLE.

This proposal savoured strongly of treachery, and was declined accordingly.

We were by the same authority peremptorily forbidden from approaching Pukawa, or from making our way at all along the eastern or Kingite side of the lake.

The house and property at the mission station are a heavy loss to Mr. Grace, for he goes to a fresh appointment in the north; and the home which he had made after ten years' labour in a savage land is gone for ever. He leaves to-morrow for Tauranga, and proposes to visit another scene of his former labours, on the east coast, before proceeding to his new post. 12

He gave us a glowing picture of what the Taupo Maories were five years ago, whilst under missionary rule; of their docility and industry; how they cultivated large tracts of land, sending great quantities of grain for sale at the distant settlements; and then, having gathered in their own crops, travelled away to help at the white man's harvest; – of the well-attended schools, and daily and weekly services; how universal was the ceremony of marriage, how rigidly adhered to; how all these good things, and many more, were and flourished in the days when he had the power of sending an offender against morality to

SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS.

rusticate (quite literally) for a month or two in the bush.

Yet it did occur to us that possibly the very power of exercising this sort of authority had indirectly tended to weaken his influence, and lessen his hold on the affections of his people; that the severity with which habits of at least such doubtful wrongfulness, as, for instance, that of smoking tobacco – the one solitary luxury of this simple people – were repressed, produced in the native mind a feeling of impatience of a rule which in other respects had conferred on them great and lasting benefits, and was almost always in the hands of earnest and disinterested men.

This spirit of intolerance in trifling matters – of governing the people too much in the minutiae of life, seems to have been the bane of all successful missions, and is even now slowly but surely working towards the same end in more than one of the South Sea Islands. 13

We were to have started to-day for Pukawa and Tokanu; but after Mr. Grace's reception and the prohibition addressed to ourselves, it would now be mere folly; so we wait the return of Hohepa with provisions from Napier, and of our avant-couriers who have gone to smooth the way before us by the Waikato route; or of Te Heu-heu himself, to try the effect of the Governor's letter.

MORE WARM SPRINGS.

17th. – Crossed the river and walked to the Waipahihi, described by Hochstetter as "a warm-water river, which, rising in the extinct volcanic cone of Tauhara, falls in a vapour-crowned cascade into Taupo." Now, however, we found only a little brook of hot shallow water which a child might jump over, pouring over a ledge about six or seven feet high.

This brook, which has evidently frequently changed its course, retains its heat till it reaches the lake, and possesses remarkable connective powers, rapidly converting the sand and shingle into a hard and smooth conglomerate. There is a hot swamp and many more hot springs in the vicinity, and on a rocky promontory jutting out into the lake, there is a small geyser, with an orifice scarcely two inches in diameter; but it did not happen to be playing while we were present, though we tried to irritate it into action by stopping up its mouth.

A considerable portion of this shore of the lake is composed solely of long smooth sheets of lava, which, after issuing from Tauhara, have apparently reached the water in a fluid state. On the way back we examined a group of huge blocks of pumice-stone of a different grain to any in the neighbourhood or elsewhere, and remarkable from their shape and position, having apparently been forced upward through the smooth tea-tree plain by some subterranean upheaval; in shape, they bring to mind the Runic stones of Orkney.

WARLIKE RUMOURS.

19th. – Reports have reached us that hostile war parties from the Uriwera and two other tribes are now on the Napier road, travelling in this direction from the southward and eastward to join the Kingites on the Waikato, and great fears are expressed lest Hohepa and the two natives who accompanied him to Napier to get provisions for us, should have fallen into their hands, as they ought to have been back a week ago. In the meanwhile our own provisions have become exhausted, and we have been living for some time on potatoes and tea without sugar or milk, together with a very little musty ship's-biscuit, which latter, however, will only last a few days longer; rather a monotonous diet for breakfast, dinner, and supper; but we soon get accustomed to swallow our meals in a mechanical sort of manner, and enjoyed the luxury of the smoke which followed all the more keenly, for luckily we never were short of tobacco. There are no eels, generally so plentiful in New Zealand, to be found in this neighbourhood; but occasionally a successful day with the nets, at a settlement on the western side of the lake, rewards us with a dish of tiny fish. There are two sorts in the lake, both very good eating if you can only get enough of them; for the larger kind, the "kokopu," rarely attain the length of five inches, and the smaller, named "Inanga," much resemble whitebait m appearance and flavour.

The Maories are very cleanly and careful in pre-

NATIVE COOKERY.

paring food, and their mode of cooking is excellent. They first dig a hole two or three feet deep, in which a blazing wood fire is lighted, and heaps of stones thrown on the flames. Before the wood is burnt up, the stones are all red hot. The embers are then swept out, leaving the hot stones at the bottom of the hole, where they are covered with wet mats, on which the food to be cooked is placed between layers of fresh fern leaves, and more mats or fern placed over all. A quantity of water is then poured on the fern, and earth or clay quickly shovelled over, so as to cover everything completely, the slightest escape of steam being immediately stopped by plastering with clay. By this process potatoes are cooked in about an hour.

To-day we had resolved to recruit our larder by a grand duck-hunt, and started on foot, with horses to carry our blankets, &c., for Roto-Kawa (bitter lake), a small sheet of water about 12 miles from here, at the back of Mount Tauhara.

Besides the natives of our settlement, we were accompanied by Rewiti, the chief whom we met at Punu, and in whose "mana," or right of preserve, the lake and the ducks are held.

The lake is very strictly preserved, the ducks being only allowed to be killed twice or thrice a-year, at stated times; and a very heavy bag is expected for to-morrow, when the battue is to come off. This evening, for fear of disturbing the ducks, we bivouac

GRAND DUCK-HUNT.

about half a mile from the lake in the midst of the tea-tree scrub, and a very jolly little camp too, as we lie on sweet-smelling beds of tea-tree blossom, gathered round a bright blazing fire of the dry wood which lies all around in profusion, the fitful glare playing round the stems of the "Manuka" till it looks like a forest of heather in Giant-land. All hands, Pakeha and Maori, smoking, chaffing, singing, or talking, till a wild young native rushing about with a firebrand for a pipe-light, nearly put out one of Brenchley's eyes with the end of it. Fortunately, the injury is not permanent, and we are soon all snoring under the moonlight. Rewiti very indignant at finding fresh tracks – where tracks should not be – leading towards the lake.

20th. – On approaching the preserve early this morning it became clear that poachers had forestalled us, and spoilt the battue. In one clearing in the bush, where they had plucked the stolen birds, not an inch of the ground could be seen, for though the feathers had mostly blown away, the down had become matted with the grass, and covered a large extent of ground to the depth of many inches. Imprecations loud and deep were heard on all sides against a neighbouring tribe of Kingites accused of being the authors of the mischief.

This is the lake to which the ducks, such as those that were caught for our dinner at the Te Huka

RIVER SCENERY.

waterfall last Sunday week, resort annually and molt their wing feathers. No guns are allowed to be used within sound of the lake, to avoid unnecessarily disturbing more than what are killed. One party in a canoe drove ashore all the ducks whose loss of feathers prevented them from taking wing, and they formed about five-sixths of the flock. They landed, however, only to find half-a-dozen men, armed with sticks, and dogs in leash, ready to hunt them down among the bushes.

But the birds had been scared from their usual haunts by the raid of the freebooters, and in the course of half an hour, only ten having been bagged, the battue was discontinued for fear of permanently depopulating the lake. A miserable failure, for the poachers must evidently have killed several hundreds, Rewiti vowing every sort of vengeance against the said poachers – when he can catch them.

The ducks were soon cooked in a "hangi" or native oven, and still more speedily devoured for breakfast by the whole company of hungry "vegetarians;" after which we returned to our old quarters at Lake Taupo, Brenchley and I, with Poihipi and Moe, taking a new route, while Mair and the rest of the natives returned by the old one. Our line was about five miles longer, but we were rewarded with some exquisite scenery on the Waikato – the prettiest part of the river that we have yet seen; a succession of waterfalls and foaming rapids "cannoning"

RIVER SCENERY.

between lofty cliffs, partly formed of bare grey rocky steeps and rugged boulders, partly clotted with pendent verdure. In some places the river, or part of it, flows completely underground for short distances, vanishing mysteriously under the rocks; in others, the whirlpools from the rapids have formed beautiful little circular bays, in one of which we saw the fragments of a canoe, ceaselessly gyrating, as they have done by day and night ever since the canoe of which they once formed part was dashed to pieces months ago in the rapids above, and its inmates drowned or torn to shreds against the rocks.

The lake we have just left is ugly enough in point of scenery, its shores being flat, and either barren or covered with stunted manuka, its waters of an opaque dull-green hue, and sour to the taste (whence its name, Roto-"Kawa"); but its other natural peculiarities repay the traveller for the want of landscape beauties, for, besides the eccentric habits of its myriads of winged inhabitants, the shores offer an interesting study, being covered in most places with either sulphur or crystallized alum, the latter incrusting great quantities of the drift-wood and pebbles, while most of the phenomena to be found in the country, resulting from the effect of subterranean heat on minerals and on water, find some representation on the shores of the lake.

We ascended the right bank of the river for two or three miles, till, finding that Moe had for some

A WILD HOG.

reason lagged behind and out of sight, we tethered our horses where they could get a feed off the poor native grass, and crawled up to the brink of the cliff, where we lay, enjoying the glorious view, until it should seem good unto Moe to make his appearance.

With such a panorama spread before us, little did we grudge delay, for nowhere could the pleasures of idleness in excelsis be more luxuriously enjoyed. The day was warm and bright, and the clear summer air rendered every part of the landscape brilliant and distinct; the broad rolling plain vanishing into the horizon; the heaving woodlands and distant mountains; the winding stream with its hissing, foaming rapids leaping over the rocky ledges; and farther yet, the Te Huka Falls, the roar of whose waters made itself heard in the distance like thunder amongst the hills; while directly beneath us the whole body of the river flowed deep in its cliff-bound bed calmly, intensely, gloriously blue. We had not lain here long before another object more interesting to men in our situation than even the most beautiful scenery diverted our attention from the landscape; it was Moe, followed by his dog, and dragging after him some dark and ponderous body: a few minutes made it clear that they had killed a wild hog, and thoughts of the savoury stew made our mouths water: so hurrah for that porker fat! Hurrah for the broil so rare!

ASCENT OF MOUNT TAUHARA.

We crossed the river in a canoe far below the falls, and reached home by nightfall.

22nd. – Brenchley, Mair, and I, with Poihipi and a wiry young native named Hori, this day made the ascent of Mount Tauhara; we being at all events the first white men who have ever done so.

We started early, rode as far as we could, and then left our horses tethered by a spring in the mountain side. It appeared to Brenchley and myself, when we were examining the mountain a few days before from Hiruharama (Jerusalem), that it could be scaled most easily by following a wavy ridge which leads up the south-eastern side of the mountain, but Poihipi decided on ascending by a spur on the flank which faces the Waikato.

Tauhara is an extinct volcano, and the northern and southern walls of its now silent crater have fallen in. The lower part of the mountain as well as the whole of the interior of the crater are thickly wooded, and the difficulty of the ascent consisted not so much in the steepness of the rocks as in the network of supplejack and other creepers, which, interlacing the trees in all directions, required the frequent use of the tomahawk or bowie-knife.

The natives expected to find water somewhere up the mountain, but in this we were disappointed, and found nothing wherewith to moisten our parched throats till we returned to the spring where we had

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.

left our steeds. We reached the summit about 2 P. M., and of course enjoyed a magnificent view, embracing a large portion of the course of the Waikato, diminishing in the distance to a mere thread of silver and blue; the whole of Lake Taupo and the Kaimanawha ranges; the broad Kaingaroa plain, stretching away eastward to the sea, and looking terribly barren and thirsty, though in fact watered by many rivers; the hills which surround Rotorua and the rest of the hot lake district; and the comparatively fertile province of Napier, with its rich and mellow-tinted woods.

After having rested awhile, and taken a bird's-eye-view sketch of the surrounding country, together with the compass-bearings of most of the principal mountains of the northern island, we returned in our own footsteps; our downward path being facilitated by the use we had made of our knives in the morning, and reached the foot of the mountain by nightfall.

We made the result of our day's work known to the surrounding country by setting fire to the fern and bush near the top of the mountain, which burnt brilliantly for three days and nights, and on returning to our whare further celebrated the occasion by devouring a pot of beef which we had reserved till now – the solitary remnant of the provisions we had brought with us.

A comet which has been visible for several nights

A COMET.

past is the object of no little speculation amongst our Maori friends. From this part of the country it appears to hang directly over Taranaki, the hotbed of Kingism and rebellion, and its presence is interpreted by the Maories in very different modes, according to their own proclivities. Thus while the Kingites triumphantly point to the protecting finger of God indicating the new Zion of His chosen people, the Queenites retort that it is the avenging sword of the angel Gabriel hanging over the devoted heads of the misguided men who have presumed to use His name in blasphemy of the Christian religion.

Meanwhile the suggestion which we ventured to hazard to the effect that the self-same comet, seen from Taranaki, would appear to be far away over the sea, is treated as downright heresy.

To-night the comet seemed on setting to fall into the very centre of Tongariro's historic crater – most celebrated in Maori traditions – the burial-place of many a generation of Taupo chiefs.

It was a pretty as well as a curious sight, and we joined the little group of Maories who stood without the whares watching the comet's trail of light slowly sinking into the clouds of smoke that curled out of the sombre crater, and asking each other with bated breath what meaning should be attached to these new signs in the heavens. It was no use asking the Pakehas, for it is well known that white men are pitifully ignorant of the meaning of omens.

HOSTILITY OF TE HEU-HEU.

25th. – Three weeks have we now spent by the shores of Taupo, and there is nothing to indicate that three months will find us any opportunities for pursuing our journey, and getting back to Auckland, less risky than those before us at present. We have already considerably exceeded the limit of time within which I individually had promised, if possible, to return to my duty afloat; and reports now reach us almost daily of hostilities already commenced on the plain of the Waikato, and of the blue-jackets having landed – reports whose accuracy we have no means of testing, but still sufficiently probable to form additional motives for me to make a move from here at all hazards. Te Heu-heu has returned to Pukawa, but in a spirit of even greater hostility than before; he is said to be actively engaged in making converts to the new fanaticism, and raising recruits for the Maori king, and moreover flatly refuses to have anything to do with us. Under these circumstances, to visit him, or attempt to pass under his "mana" through the hostile country which lies between Taupo and our military posts on the route to Auckland, via the Waikato – the old mail-track, or to forward to him the Governor's letter, would be only to expose both its writer and ourselves to useless insult. Now this man, Te Heu-heu, is the one in whom, of all the hostile chiefs, His Excellency placed the greatest confidence, and it is clear that all hopes of returning openly by the direct route are now at an end. There

CHOICE OF ROUTES.

are two other routes: the one by which we came, returning to Tauranga, where we should have to wait an indefinite time for a passage to Auckland by sea; that is, supposing that we could now retrace our footsteps, which is doubtful, seeing that two Kingites have recently arrived at Rotorua, which lies on the road to Tauranga, announcing themselves as the avant-couriers of William Thompson, who they say is quickly following with from 400 to 600 men, to clear the way for the Ngatiporos to join the tribes opposed to us on the Waikato; and this the loyal Arawas are determined to resist. Should there be any truth in this story we should probably find the road to Tauranga closed, for other men say that any Pakehas found on their territory will be made the first sacrifice to their new "karakia," and that any Queenite Maories found with them will meet with the same fate.

Lastly, there is the road to Napier, a seaport on the south-eastern coast of the island; whence we could return by sea to Auckland,

But Poihipi will not hear of our going by this route, as nearly the whole of the four days' journey would lie through settlements inhabited by men who are determined Kingites, though not yet supposed to have had their heads turned by the Pai Marire fanaticism; and it is on this road that there is too much reason to fear that the three men have come to grief who went to Napier to get provisions for us; for

DIFFICULTY IN PROCURING A GUIDE.

though they ought to have been with us again a fortnight ago, they have not been heard of since their departure.

Moreover, Poihipi has learnt that war parties from three hostile tribes, the Ngatiporos, Ngatikahungunus, and Uriweras on their way to join the Wailatos, are already slowly travelling along this road.

Under these circumstances I decided to endeavour to cut through the hostile country, and reach one of our outposts in the plain of the Waikato – a distance of about 80 or 90 miles – by riding hard by night and lying close in the bush by day. But for this a guide will of course be necessary, and herein lay the first difficulty.

My two companions, being masters of their own time and movements, have no object in incurring any special risk for the sake of returning, and therefore remain here till some tidings are received of Hohepa and his two companions, showing that the Napier road is practicable, or till some better opportunity presents itself.

I have hitherto utterly failed in my endeavours to persuade any of the natives of this place to act as guide, though I commenced with upset offers of 10l., a large sum for. a Maori, and which they knew would have been increased had any of them been willing to strike a bargain with me; but they said that not a man of them would go for a hundred. My good friend Poihipi tries to dissuade me from going,

DARK PROSPECTS.

saying that the Governor confided the safe conduct of the whole party to his charge; but the force of his arguments is somewhat weakened by his utter inability to understand what possible difference a month or two could make to me – -the value of time is one of the last things that a savage race can learn.

Rode over alone to Oruanui to-day to see if I could there find a native game to go through with me. There is no time to lose, for day by day the increasing spread of the Hau-hau doctrines renders all prospects of travelling through the territory or among its votaries more and more hopeless.

We had heard that a party of these fanatics were already on their way hither, but it was not known how far off they might be; however, I saw nothing of them, though I kept a precious sharp look-out ahead all the way.

At Oruanui, Dr. Hooper and a Pakeha-Maori named Frank, who lives near him, accompanied me to the pah to endeavour to get a guide. Frank is a first cousin by marriage of Rewi, the principal fighting chief of the Maories.

Perenara, lately our host at Waihaha, had just arrived from Te Papa with the latest news of the great meeting of Kingites.

His account confirmed what we had already heard, viz. that the Kingites to a man are bent on war, and at present purpose making a simultaneous attack on as many of our posts on the Waikato as possible.

THE PAI MARIRE.

It appears that Rewi counselled the immediate execution of this plan, but the King, Potatau II. (Matutaera), or rather those whose puppet he is, decided on waiting for a few weeks or a month, till all the Kingites shall have joined the new faith. And for this purpose large bands of propagandists have been dispatched in various directions. One of these bands of fanatics is now on its way hither to convert the tribes on the east coast; and the question as to the expediency or possibility of preventing them from passing through the loyal districts is the subject of no little anxiety to the inhabitants of this pah.

The canoes at the crossing of the Waikato above our posts have been destroyed; and it is reported that the Prophet, whoever that mystical personage may be (not Te Ua), has given orders that all Pakehas and Queenite Maories are to be killed "at sight." And the Pai Marire worshipping-pole has been raised in every pah and kainga lying between this and the British lines – rather a dark look-out ahead! Here, as at Tapuae-haruru, I found the natives very unwilling to trust themselves anywhere within reach of the professors of this new and sanguinary creed, which seems to have thoroughly "funked" even those who have no belief in it. After two or three hours of fruitless negotiations I returned to Frank's whare, weary and dispirited at my failure, and the prospect of being detained an

A MAORI CLAIRVOYANTE.

indefinite time, which, judging from the rapidity with which the fanaticism is even now closing around us, might result in our having to remain cooped up at one of these friendly pahs till the war itself was over.

26th. – Late last evening Frank's wife came in from the pah with the good news that she had succeeded in procuring a guide for me, a good-looking, well-dressed young fellow, named Hemipo, with the great advantage of possessing by far the best horses in the country-side. He is himself a stanch Queenite, and trustworthy, though the son of an influential Kingite chief – old Ngaperi, the same that we chanced to meet after leaving Punu on our way to Oruanui and Taupo. Hemipo provides me with a capital horse, and we soon came to terms about payment.

All details having been arranged at an intolerably long korero at the pah, I returned to Dr. Hooper's whare, where I soon was sleeping soundly on a heap of fern, after the usual meal of potatoes, salt, and tea. About ten o'clock, whilst at supper, we were startled by a succession of piercing screams, evidently the voice of some woman in the pah. It turned out to be Takiara, a Maori clairvoyante, who, when these fits seize her, runs away into the forest, as she did last night, and there details to those who follow her the events which she fancies or pretends to see going on at the seat of war, and other distant

QUARREL AMONGST NATIVES.

parts of the country. When not under the influence of this nonsense she is not an unpleasing-looking woman, but dreadfully "strong-minded," and leads her husband a life of it with a vengeance.

Until recently she was chef de cuisine and quartermaster-general on our private staff, till one day she roused all the dormant jealousy of her female helpmates by reporting us to have said that she alone knew how to cook and dish up in true Pakeha fashion.

The Maories as a race are not addicted to "Billingsgate," and a slighting gesture, or such trifling words as these, have frequently caused a fierce war between two powerful tribes, and will always produce a deeper and more lasting effect than would result from a torrent of abuse amongst the lower classes of other nations.

The case in point was the only one in which it has happened to me to witness any really angry quarrel amongst the natives, during the whole time we have been with them. As it was, the wordy war waged fiercely between the weaker vessels, till a few words from Mr. Grace, who happened to be present (it was the day after he had followed us to Taupo), stilled the tempest of their wrath; but the fair Takiara had to leave the settlement on finding that her companions had detected the false note she had played on her own trumpet.

Returned to Tapuae-haruru in company with

DEPARTURE WITH HEMIPO.

Hemipo this morning to pack what few traps I have with me, which, together with my watch and journal, Brenchley takes charge of till we meet again in Auckland.

Poihipi, who is very jealous at my having secured a guide from his rival Hohepa's place, expatiates on the dangers of the direct route which I have chosen, and now talks of sending Brenchley on to Napier after all, with some of his own tribe. But I hardly believe that he will do this, some excuse being found for delay at the last moment; and if Brenchley should get into a scrape, Poihipi has not a horse which could carry him out of it, or stand the fatigue of a forced march, such as would be necessary should the natives on the road to Napier prove as hostile as they are reported to be.

We – Hemipo and I – leave in a few hours for Oruanui, and push on the next morning for Auckland. We purpose passing rapidly, but openly through the first hostile settlement – Tataroa – where no danger is anticipated, the men being all away at the seat of war, and the place only inhabited by a few old women and children; we then cross the Waikato at a place called Waimahana (warm waters), the residence of some Kingite relations of Hemipo's; but thenceforward till we reach one of our own outposts, we shall have to make the best of our way by night, hiding by day in the thickest part of the bush, or in some well-sheltered gully.

DANGERS OF THE JOURNEY.

Hemipo takes charge of the only provisions that we carry with us – a bag of unleavened biscuits, baked to-night by Frank, who has luckily discovered a native possessing a long-hoarded store of a few pounds of flour. As to meat, there is none to be had for love or money, and potatoes would be too bulky and heavy in proportion to their nutritive qualities to be borne by horses who must be ready at a moment's notice to gallop for their riders' lives; neither should we dare to light a fire on our journey, whether for cooking food or making tea. And besides the consideration of its unavoidable necessity, a bread-and-water diet for three or four days is but the shade of a hardship, even had not the monotonous fare of potatoes and sugarless tea on which we have been living for the last few weeks accustomed us to regard our meals merely as part of the necessary routine of the day, like sleeping and dressing, or at most as giving a greater zest for the enjoyment of the luxury of the pipe which followed.

We both ride as light as possible, I, for instance, having nothing but my blanket, brace of revolvers, a long bowie, and a waterproof sheet. Our route, after crossing the Waikato the first time (we must do so twice), will depend a good deal on what Hemipo learns from his relatives at Waimahana: we shall either push on for the crossing near Mangore, avoiding Waiotu and Whakamaru (very hostile settlements) by a circuit, swim the Waikato at the tails of our

FEAR OF DARKNESS.

horses on the third night, make a dash through Aratitaha at full gallop under cover of the darkness, and reach our redoubt at Kihi-kihi in the morning; or cutting into the longer but less frequented Tokoroa road, after crossing the river the first time at Waimahana, avoid all settlements by riding through the bush or fern land, which is there comparatively level and open, and, if all goes well, swim the Waikato below Maungatautari at daybreak on the third morning; we should then be within a short distance of our redoubt at Cambridge, as it is now called, where we should find ourselves within twenty-four hours of Auckland, if we have the luck to catch a steamer; if not, it is only a matter of two or three days' riding. But at Maungatautari the river is broad and the stream runs fast, with countless thirsty whirlpools; and many a fine fellow, in attempting to cross it, has found a grave beneath its waters.

27th. – Left Oruanui this morning with Hemipo, amidst many expressions of good-will and hopes for our safety from our late hosts and the natives in the pah; and the fresh morning breeze seemed full of life and hope, as we cantered over the swelling plains and woodlands. I had been somewhat concerned to learn, just before leaving, that my guide has a failing common amongst even the best of Maori warriors – a childish fear of darkness and solitude – a misfortune that might easily prove very mischiev-

FOREST SCENERY.

ous in an expedition like the present. Though few in numbers, the Maories are an eminently sociable and gregarious race. They are never found living alone; they could not stand the isolation which constitutes the life of thousands of white squatters, shepherds, and trappers; their superstitious fears, barely scotched – not killed – by the teaching of the missionaries, would people each overhanging rock or lonely cave with some fresh horror to be feared, some malignant spirit of evil.

Until we left the settlement I had been assured that my guide could neither speak nor understand a single word of English, and all our communications previous to starting were carried on through Hooper or Frank; but as soon as we found ourselves alone in the bush he plucked up courage, and showed that he had picked up a certain number of English words and even sentences, which, together with a few words of Maori which I had learnt during our journey, enabled us to understand each other on most necessary subjects. The process of exchanging ideas on things in general was however too laborious to tempt us into much conversation, and the stillness of surrounding nature impressed me to a greater degree than it ever had before.

The woods we traversed were not nearly so grand or gloomy as in many other parts which we had visited, but there is a silence peculiar to the New Zealand forest which must be felt to be understood.

FOREST SCENERY.

I cannot call to mind any tropical forests which excel those of New Zealand in beauty, for here there is magnificent timber, without the jungle of undergrowth which obstructs the view in more torrid climes.

Brilliant parasites and creepers hang from the uppermost boughs of the loftiest trees, straight as cathedral bell-ropes, or, winding from stem to stem with fantastic curves, interlace distant trees, in the very extravagance of their luxuriant beauty. The lofty Totara, and the Rimu with its delicate and gently weeping foliage, and the shade-loving tree fern, the most graceful of all forest trees. Wild flowers are few and rare, but the ferns are more numerous and varied than in any other country.

It is the absence of all living things which renders the silence and solitude of the woods so oppressive. Occasionally a pair of Kaka parrots may be seen wheeling high above the hill tops with harsh discordant cries, or the melancholy note of the great New Zealand pigeon comes booming through the woods; but except at early morning the traveller may often wander for hours, I had almost said for days together, through the gloom of these woods where the sun's rays can scarcely penetrate, and the breeze passing over the tree-tops through the uppermost whispering boughs may be seen and heard, but cannot be felt. Not a sparrow – not a mouse to be

FOREST SCENERY.

seen; it seems the silence of death, or more properly the stillness of the yet unborn; the gigantic Moa and one or two other extinct species of birds which, even in historic times had their home in Kew Zealand, used to shun the gloomy shades of the forest and cleave to the flat marshy lands.

12 It was on this occasion that his own narrow escape, and the murder of his companion, the Rev. Mr. Volkener, took place under circumstances which have attracted much public attention.

13 Tongan and New Hebrides (Wesleyan and Scotch).

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER V.

Ihaka's mission – A dangerous meeting – Tataroa – Captured by the Kingites – Pai Marire worship – Ihaka's narrative – Impossibility of escape – Debate on the prisoners' fate – Hemipo's defence – Appearance of Ahumai – Release and alarm of treachery – A ride for life – Reach the friendly pah of Oruanui – Arrival and report of Ihaka – Rejoin Messrs. Mair and Brenchley – Pai Marire tenets – Mr. Mair's escape – Mr. Volkener's murder and escape of Mr. Grace – Murder of Mr. Fulloon – Mr. Mair's expedition against the murderers – Capture of Teko pah.

IT was known before we started that a large party of Pai Marire fanatics, dispatched from the great meeting of Kingites which has just been held, were to pass this way on their road to spread their new faith amongst the tribes lying between Taupo and the south-eastern coast. The loyal natives of Oruanui accordingly sent them word by letter, that if they purposed endeavouring to proselytize the Queenites, or if they were journeying with hostile intentions against either loyal Maories or white men, they could not be permitted to pass that way. The bearer of this letter was a "serjeant of police," named Ihaka. (In nearly all the loyal tribes there are a certain number of natives receiving a small stipend in the Government service, the chief being styled "Assessor,"

A DANGEROUS MEETING.

or "Native Magistrate," and having under his orders a proportion of Serjeants and privates of police.)

He had left the pah long before daybreak, and had thus a good start of us. We were to meet this man on his way back, and learn from him what amount of danger we should be likely to incur. at the hands of these men, who were about to enter the territory of our allies, and what would be our best route to avoid them.

No danger whatever to Ihaka himself was apprehended by those at the pah, his person being rendered sacred in his character of herald or ambassador by Maori laws and customs immemorial.

The day wore on, and I was beginning to think the non-appearance of Ihaka rather suspicious, when suddenly Hemipo, pointing to some little wreaths of smoke curling up from some freshly-lighted fires just within the bush, which was then several hundred yards from our road, exclaimed that there were a quantity of bad Kingite Maories; and he was right, for in another instant we discerned many figures moving about amongst the trunks of trees, around their cooking fires. But we spurred on our horses, and passed them safely, and apparently unobserved. We concluded that this was the party of propagandists against whom we had been warned, who had turned off the path to cook their mid-day meal; and we congratulated ourselves on having kept dear of them so easily.

A DANGEROUS MEETING.

Unfortunately for us, they were only the advanced guard.

Soon afterwards a very sharp turning in the road brought us opposite the village of Tataroa. It could hardly be called a pah, there being no stockading or continuous earthworks, but it could easily be turned into one, being built on the crest of a small hill or spur.

We met a Maori in the path, leading his horse to water, and he greeted us with the Pai Marire salutation, which we had often heard lately. He stopped in front of each of us in turn, and pronounced some formula, which apparently consisted in repeating the words "Pai Marire" and some other gibberish as rapidly as possible, accompanied by a succession of gestures, commencing like the Roman Catholic sign of the cross, and ending like a military salute. We listened in silence, with difficulty repressing a smile at the somewhat grotesque ceremony, and replied with the usual "Tena-koe" and shaking of hands. We could see two men, of whom Ihaka was one, standing on the edge of the embankment.

To pass, or attempt to pass a settlement openly, without stopping to exchange greetings, smoke a pipe, or partake of food, would have been a great breach of etiquette, sufficient in itself to draw down on the perpetrators very unpleasant attentions from the inhabitants; but perceiving a red flag (the emblem of war) flying from a staff in the midst of the village,

A DANGEROUS MEETING.

I suggested caution to Hemipo. He replied that as Ihaka was there, it would be sure to be all safe, and we cantered up the hill, over the crest or opening in the embankment, into the pah.

Instead of seeing only three or four old women and children, as we had been led to expect, we found ourselves in the presence of about 150 armed men, assembled in the open space in the midst of the whares; and a more villainous-looking crew I have never set eyes on in New Zealand.

Many of them wore English arms and accoutrements which had fallen into their hands during the war – marines' caps, men-of-war's-men's frocks and swords, and soldiers' rifles, water-bottles, &c., double-barrelled guns, and tomahawks.

Instead of the chorus of "Naumai!" and other cries of welcome which usually greet the traveller's ear on arriving at a Maori pah, a single voice bade us "Haere mai" (come hither) and dismount, and a single glance round the lowering countenances before us and the anxious expression on the face of my guide were sufficient to show that we had indeed fallen in evil case.

I was very unwilling to unsaddle my horse as Hemipo was doing, but finding that a Kingite had already approached and cast off my girth, I complied with what I could not prevent. Luckily, however, I had succeeded, when we first dismounted, in passing over unobserved to Hemipo one of my revolvers,

THE PAI MARIRE.

which he adroitly concealed under his coat; the other was already safe out of sight in my pocket.

While this was going on, an excited discussion took place amongst a knot of Kingites; and I had hardly got my saddle off when one of them came striding towards me, followed by two or three others with guns in their hands. He was armed with one of our cutlass-hilted naval sword-bayonets, which he flourished in a decidedly unpleasant manner. I learnt afterwards that he owned to his intention of killing the Pakeha there and then.

There was mischief in his every look and gesture, and I was in the very act of drawing my revolver from its hiding-place, to sell my life as dearly as possible, when, while the would-be murderers were yet some three paces from us, a big ugly-looking fellow sprung forward and drove them back into the crowd. He then called out something in a very powerful voice – the whole assembly were marshalled into two sides of a square, of which the flagstaff was the centre, and forthwith commenced the Pai Marire "Karakia" (worship). I was much surprised at their commencing these rites immediately after my arrival, having heard that no white man had yet been permitted to witness them; but I was not then aware that they were being performed solely on my own account. The man who had just come to my assistance was named Te Aokatoa (which means "All the World"), a great burly ruffian, very much tattooed –

TATAROA.

a fellow who would have made the fortune of any country manager as the melodramatic villain. He was the principal or high priest present, and therefore M. C. of their religious antics. He no more wanted to save my life than did any of his comrades, and was afterwards one of the most violent against me; but he had no notion of permitting so important an event as the sacrifice of the first Pakeha to he consummated except under his direct auspices, and in a manner which should contribute to his own importance and influence over his dupes.

He therefore announced, when he stopped Karouria and his companions who wanted to kill me straight off, that there must first be a great "Karakia," or ceremony of worship, to induce the Great Atua (spirit) to inspire them rightly as to what was to be done with the Pakeha. He, Te Aokatoa, having long ago made up his own mind on the subject in a manner which would have saved any one the trouble of reading these lines.

I must now go back a little, to give Ihaka's version of the circumstances which prevented him from giving us warning of our danger. He says that, on reaching Tataroa in the forenoon, he found that the fanatics whom he had been sent to meet had only just arrived and purposed stopping until the evening; that they had heard that I was coming, in spite of the precautions which were taken at Oruanui to prevent its being known in improper quarters; and,

IHAKA'S NARRATIVE.

connecting my advent with that of Ihaka, they violently upbraided him for "bringing a Pakeha among them, to spy out their doings;" that one of them kept threatening him with a club, and that, being in fear of his life, he could not get away to return and give us warning; but that later a chief named Paora Toki made a speech recommending them not to molest me, on the grounds of not offending the people whose country they wished to pass through. He had scarcely finished speaking, when the cry was raised that the Pakeha was in sight, and immediately afterwards we rode into the pah.

There was no attempt to rob or search us, either because that ceremony was deferred until after the Karakia and the meeting, which was to follow, should have decided as to our disposal, or because there was nothing in our appearance, or the rough clothes we wore, to tempt their cupidity: we were not likely-looking characters to have much money about us, and I need hardly say that our carrying arms was never suspected – had they had the least inkling of this our fate would have been sealed, and that of a few of their number as well. But this part of our little secret was safe enough so long as it was not in danger of discovery by other means than eyesight; for no one would be likely to suspect a Maori of having a revolver, and the other one hung ready to hand, and full-cocked, from two

IMPOSSIBILITY OF ESCAPE.

loops within my inner breast-pocket, so contrived that, though the jacket itself remained ostentatiously thrown open, no one could detect that it contained anything so solid.

Escape was, from the moment we entered the kainga, utterly out of the question: before we could have got twenty yards we should have been riddled. Hemipo and I were seated on some wood, with our backs to a whare, forming as it were the third side of the square, under charge of a sentry with a sword, and another with a gun, with Ihaka close to us. The "Prophet's staff," which had been set up in the middle of the open space, was a stout spar, some 30 feet high, from which floated first the "Riki," or war-flag, a long red pendant with a white cross. Beneath it, a large handsome flag, very carefully made – black, with a white cross next the staff, and a blue fly, the whole surrounded by a narrow scarlet border; and beneath that again another red pendant, much broader than the upper one, with a St, Andrew's cross and some other design which I forget. The priest stood near the staff, which was further "supported," as they say in Heraldry, by three little children who stood with their backs against it, while two men with drawn cutlasses walked up and down the inner sides of the square to prevent anyone approaching too close to the sacred staff, or the high priest, whilst he was under the influence of divine inspiration.

AOKATOA.

As soon as silence and order were established, Te Aokatoa commenced gabbling away at a tremendous rate, varying the performance with occasional yells; he then being supposed to be the favoured mouthpiece of the Deity, and to have the gift of divers tongues. Thus I was told at one time that he was speaking English, at another French, and then Hebrew – I need hardly say that it was all gibberish. At intervals he would stop to make obeisance to the staff and to the four points of the compass, with the usual Pai Marire salutation, but accompanied by genuflexions. When he had apparently come to the end of his wind and his Hebrew, he paused a little to take breath, and then chanted a hymn in Maori, followed by something which appeared to imitate the style of our Litany, to which the people gave responses in their own language.

Then, at a signal from the priest, the whole of the assembled tribes (there were delegates from many) sprang to their feet, men, women, and children, and having formed round the flagstaff in a circular column, eight or ten deep, began slowly marching round the staff, pointing to the skies above them with swords or guns or spears, 14 and chanting the responses after the priest in excellent time and powerful voices. It was the first time that I had heard Maories singing in tune. It appeared to resemble some of our own church music, from whence

PAI MARIRE WORSHIP.

it doubtless took its source, though with many wild variations.

The striking character of the surrounding scenery – the scarlet, black, and blue of the flags, with their

Pai Marire Worship.

white crosses waving forth in strong relief against the dark woods beyond, – the varied and many-coloured dresses – the throng of eager upturned faces, fervent with fanaticism – little children, young girls,

HEMIPO'S ADDRESS.

swarthy warriors, with upraised hands and weapons pointing heavenward – and the swelling chorus rising through the stillness of the primeval forest – -all combined to produce a very remarkable effect.

This was the end of the "Karakia;" and after they had all made obeisance to the staff as described above, the congregation resolved itself into a "Runanga" to decide on my fate.

Of the first two speakers who addressed the meeting, the first urged the immediate execution of myself, the second that of my guide as well; both on grounds furnished by their fanaticism, and the presumption that I was a spy; and after each had concluded, as well as when they paused – for they spoke slowly and deliberately – the bulk of their hearers signified their approval with cries of "Let the pig be stuck!" "Let the calf (te kuao) be killed!"

Then uprose Hemipo and addressed the Runanga on my behalf and his own. He had been well primed by the Pakeha-Maori Frank before starting with some good stiff lies. I had thought it better to trust to their knowledge of their countryman's character for the concoction of a plausible account of myself, which should satisfy any Kingites whom by ill-luck we might chance to meet with, than to any story which I could evolve from my own comparative ignorance of the people whose lands we wanted to traverse, by fair means or by foul. He accordingly explained to his audience that I was a civilian Pa-

TE AOKATOA'S SPEECH.

keha, who had never had anything to do with either army or navy, or been connected in any way with the war; that I had only recently come out in a merchant vessel for my own pleasure to see the country; that I was going to return to England almost immediately, and that my only reason for wishing to pass through their territory was to avoid missing my passage in the ship, which was to sail next week, &c., &c.; and then a good deal more on his own account, addressing himself, more particularly to the Ngatiraukawas present, a tribe to which his father, old Ngaperi, is related.

But though his own life was nearly as much at stake as mine, I could not help admiring the cool, almost careless way in which he spoke, playing with his riding-whip, as though he were speaking to his own people at home; behaving, in fact, as became a "rangatira" 15 in difficulties.

After Hemipo had finished, Te Aokatoa rose, and advocated my death in a very violent speech of a quarter of an hour's duration. "How dares he," said he; "how dares he come amongst us while our blood is still flowing?" (This was rather a strained metaphor, for it is now many months since last our people tapped their claret – they must have a large supply!)

"Mate rawa! Mate rawa! – let him die! let him die!"

Hemipo or Ihaka translated to me at intervals

ABUSIVE LANGUAGE.

what the various speakers said, Ihaka being able to speak quite enough English for the purpose; but no knowledge of the language was necessary to distinguish the excited words of the savages who wanted my life from the calm delivery of those who were for letting me go in peace.

I had with me His Excellency's letter to Te Heu-heu, which I had brought to be used as a last resource, in case of our falling in with any of his tribe; but the animus displayed against the Governor by more than one of the speakers was so bitter, that any allusion to him, or the production of his letter, would only have left us in worse case than before.

The speakers sometimes addressed me personally, "E Pakeha!" (stranger!), but more often spoke of or at me by a term of abuse. I could, of course, take no part in the discussion, in which my ignorance of the language would only have exposed me to ridicule; so I had nothing for it but to light my pipe, and endeavour to look as if I thought that the bare idea of their killing such a swell as the late honoured guest of the Arawas was really too preposterous to be entertained for a moment.

This, however, was not quite so easy as it may seem, for various small boys would come and squat themselves right in front of me, grinning in a way which plainly showed what sport they expected to have with the Pakeha; and at one period of the debate, so confident were the bloody-minded ones of

KAROURIA'S SPEECH.

carrying their point, that they went into the whares for their guns, and loaded them.

The next speaker of any note was Karouria, and he not only recommended that I should be killed, but offered in the most handsome manner to do the job himself, emphasizing his remarks by sundry little preliminary flourishes of the aforesaid cutlass so close to my face as to be exceedingly disagreeable.

It was evident from the tenor of his speech and that of others that they expected the immolation of the Pakeha to be literally as simple a matter as the killing of a calf. But Hemipo was evidently game to the backbone, and ready for action; and it was comforting to think that, by running a muck in the crowd which surrounded us, the moment death should be decided on, we could, having the advantage of surprise with eleven barrels and the bowie-knife, send a good many of the vagabonds to precede us to the world of shades. Hemipo had stipulated before starting that he should be allowed the use of one of my revolvers in the event of any fighting being imminent, and had been duly instructed in its use. I learnt afterwards that the display of loading guns was mere wanton braggadocio, or at most but a precaution in case either of us should try to bolt, and that the tomahawk would have been the instrument. The man who was to have used it stood close at my left side during the latter part of the Runanga; a tall man, with no hair on his face, and rather a humorous

AHUMAI'S INTERCESSION.

expression of countenance; he wore his blanket like most Maories, toga fashion, and twitched it at intervals as if to keep his right arm clear and free, for he carried a small bone-handled tomahawk, which he took small pains to conceal.

But he was so close that I could easily have shot him through the side of my coat before he could have swung his arm, for, by smoking with folded arms, I could keep my finger close to the trigger without exciting suspicion.

At the time when things looked blackest – when the chances of seeing the sun go down that evening seemed small indeed, – a young woman left her place amongst the Kingites, walked slowly across the open space, and sat down by my feet. This was Ahumai, the same whose three bayonet and shot wounds, inflicted by British troops at Orakau, were shown to us at Waihaha. My acquaintance with her had been of the very slightest, and she had no motive for the demonstration she made in my favour other than a kindly wish to save the life of a comparative stranger. We learnt afterwards that she did us no small service, both at this critical time and while they were expecting our arrival. She is, as I have said before, a woman possessing no small influence with her associates of both sexes, being rather feared by the one and liked by the other – a good-looking, self-willed sort of Amazon. Her husband was killed at the same place where she was wounded. It so happened

MR. MAIR'S ESCAPE.

that Mair, who was present, was desired to communicate with the garrison of the pah, for which purpose he went to the end of the sap, which was then close to the native entrenchment, and having called for a cessation of firing, stood up on a little ledge or banquette within the sap, and held a korero with the besieged. But he had scarcely finished the ultimatum which he had to deliver, when one of the men within the pah fired at him. Simultaneously with the shot, the loose soil of the ledge he stood on gave way, and he disappeared into the sap. The Maories concluded that he had been killed, and vehemently condemned the treachery of the man who had fired. This was Ahumai's husband; he was killed a few hours afterwards, and in the words of his fair widow, when relating the circumstance to us at Waihaha, "served him right."

From this time forward our prospects began to mend, and in spite of a hostile speech from an influential old savage, named Paku, the majority of the speakers were of opinion that it would be bad policy to risk provoking an attack from the Arawas, whose territory they wanted to pass through unmolested, by murdering their late guest. But even those best disposed towards us said that had they supposed me to have had any connection with the fighting tribe of Pakehas, or had we met them on the march, we should have been settled with, without any Runanga at all. We were aware of the extra danger of meet-

A TIMELY WARNING.

ing them on the march, and would have taken good care to give them a wide berth. They also said that had not Hemipo been the son of a chief related to the Ngatiraukawas, he would have suffered the same fate.

One chief only was in favour of letting us proceed on our journey.

At last we were told that we might go, returning by the way we came. Finding ourselves at liberty, we walked down the slope to saddle our horses; avoiding, as well as we could, all appearance of hurry, which might have been likely to provoke an attack, in the same way that snatching one's hand away from a parrot induces it to bite.

But we were not yet at the end of our difficulties, for before we had finished saddling, an Uriwera native came running down from the pah, and called Hemipo on one side. This was to me the most unpleasant moment of all, for I made sure that he was called aside to allow the natives to shoot me comfortably from the pah above, not fifty yards distant. To have been finished after a good scrimmage, and having emptied our pistols into the crowd (who could hardly have used firearms against us without shooting one another), would have been bad enough; but to be shot here like a rabbit, and get no change for the coin of life would have been dismal indeed.

Luckily I was wrong: the man had called Hemipo out of sight of the pah to warn him that a reaction

THE KINGITES' TREACHERY.

was taking place among the Kingites, and that a strong party were still bent on our destruction. Hemipo exclaimed, in the wonderful jargon – the medium of communication between us, – each apparently cherishing the pleasing illusion that he, was speaking the language: of the other, "Nga kakino Maori Kingi wantee makee kiri koe!" i. e. "The blackguard Maori Kingites want to kill you!"

No second hint was needed – -we sprang into our saddles and rode for our lives; for whilst the Uriwera was speaking to Hemipo, I had observed four or five vagabonds leaving the pah in the same direction; and from the sneaking way that they were sloping along, in a stooping posture, it was plain that they were after mischief. The fern and bush were thick, so there were probably more whom I could not see. They were doubtless making for a place which commanded the road; and whence, had they got there before us, they would have had some very pretty shooting. As it was, we preceded them, and, avoiding the place where we had seen the Kingites camping in the bush that morning, scarcely drew rein till we had placed some eight or ten miles between ourselves and the enemy. Then perceiving no signs of a pursuit, though we had left some twenty or thirty horses tethered round Taiaroa, and being close to friendly territory, we planted ourselves and horses at the bottom of a gully, well out of sight, and regaled ourselves with biscuit and watercress,

ANSWER FROM THE HAU-HAUS.

which we found growing in profusion. We reached the friendly pah of Oruanui, between 9 and 10 P. M., without further adventure.

The writer was the first white man who fell into the hands of these fanatics. The second was a most excellent missionary – him they hanged, and ate his eyes and brains.

28th. – The history of our adventure, detailed and retailed by Hemipo again and again, caused no little excitement at the pah, and the chief's large whare was crowded with Maories who sat round the fire far into the night, discussing the conduct of the fanatics and the kindred question as to the mode in which they should be received on passing through Oruanui.

Ihaka made his appearance some hours after our return, bearing the written answer from the Hau-haus to the demands of the Queenites,

In this document they promised they would not endeavour to proselytize any of the inhabitants of the loyal districts, and asserted that, far from intending to attack the Queenites, or the white settlers of Napier or elsewhere, they only wished to carry peaceably their revelations of the new faith to the Kingite tribes southward and eastward. They concluded by asking to be allowed to pass unmolested, and in a postscript pointed to the fact that the "Runanga" had permitted me to return safely, as an additional reason for their request (or demand, for such it was)

DIFFICULTY OF PROCEEDING.

being granted. They conveniently omitted all allusion to the attempt that was undoubtedly made to cut us off after we had started; perhaps thinking that we knew nothing of it; but there can be little doubt as to the necessity of the friendly warning which was given to Hemipo, or of the intentions of those whom I at the same time saw creeping away from the pah through the bush; for it is not long since a small party of Queenites, who had fallen into the clutches of similar fanatics, were permitted to depart, and then treacherously followed up and tomahawked or shot – all but one, who escaped to tell the fate of his companions.

Having been baffled on this route I proposed to Hemipo to endeavour to gain our outposts by a road which we had had under discussion before – to recross the Waikato at Orakei-korako, and by following a certain unfrequented track from that place, strike into the Tokoroa road, and thence on to the plain of the Waikato. But he had apparently had enough of the Hau-haus, and assured me that he had learnt from Ahumai and Ihaka that the track in question, as well as all others leading to the military posts to the northward, are carefully watched, and that there would be no chance of getting through. It would have been no use pressing the matter any further, so I concluded a fresh agreement with him to take me on to Napier instead.

Moreover, Ihaka brings word that the Hau-haus whom we met at Tataroa are followed by another

MR. BRENCHLEY'S DEPARTURE.

band of armed fanatics, seventy-five in number, who have just arrived at Waimahana, where they remain for a day; they are of the Ngatimaniapoto (Rewi's 16 tribe), and are bound on a similar mission.

We left again for Tapuae-haruru as soon as a fresh horse could be caught for me, the sturdy black being rather "cooked" from the effects of the previous day's gallop.

A wet morning, and bitterly cold evening. Found Mair alone. News had been received that the two natives who were sent with Hohepa to bring back the provisions are coolly amusing themselves at Napier instead of returning immediately, as they were ordered; and the road is said to be clear.

Under these circumstances Poihipi consented to Brenchley's immediate departure for Napier, and has himself accompanied him part of the way, to judge of his reception at the first two or three Kingite settlements, after which he was to leave him to pursue the rest of the journey with three natives and two pack-horses.

Before Brenchley left all the natives of the settlement assembled in front of the whare that we had been living in, and laid before him various presents, mostly heirlooms of the tribe. With Mair's advice he selected a handsome "taiaha" (a sort of spear, or sword-shaped club, of dark red wood, carved and polished, with plume of white dog's hair and small

THE ORUANUI MAN'S ACCOUNT.

scarlet feathers, and more as a mark of the bearer's rank as chief than as a weapon), and a small eardrop of the precious green-stone, together with a photograph of Poihipi, which the worthy chief had sat for in Auckland.

Mair returns shortly to Maketu and Tauranga, with Hooper. He described to me the stir amongst the natives on hearing, late last night, of the adventure with the Hau-haus; a messenger had been dispatched from Oruanui, who arrived after most of the inhabitants had lain down for the night, but they all turned out at once, and having obtained Mair's leave to assemble the tribe at his whare, the Oruanui man got on his legs, and remained there for a good hour or more, treating his audience to a "full and particular account," with many embellishments. We learnt a good many additional details of the affair at Tataroa from Eruera, who had seen one of the Kingites; amongst others the correctness of my conjecture as to the tall man with the little tomahawk being the intended executioner. And in many ways the conviction of how near a thing it had been came home to me far more vividly than at the time of the occurrence.

"You wouldn't have smiled like that if this had been explained to you yesterday," said Mair, when Eruera, to show the place where the coup de grace would have been struck, gently laid his cold forefinger on my temple. – Possibly not.

PAI MARIRE TENETS.

Sunday, 2th. – Made an early start this morning, after sleeping for the last time at the old whare, and parted with sincere regret from my good friends at the village by the lake, I determined to make my "Sabbath day's journey " a long one, for the double purpose of overtaking Brenchley and of putting a wholesome distance between ourselves and those of the Hau-hau party who are to follow on the Napier road.

The latter, who have reverted to the observance of the Jewish Sabbath instead of the Christian Sunday, remained all yesterday at Tataroa, thereby giving us a clear day's start.

I may as well pause here for awhile to glance at a few of the particulars which we learnt at the time concerning the Pai Marire religion, as well as to mention what I have heard, since writing the above last year, from those we left behind us – friends and foes. The information furnished to us bore out most of what Father Boibeaux had told us, but as the new religion has no recognized head capable of controlling its followers, its tenets and ceremonies are constantly changing.

The original germ sprang from Te Ua, a comparatively well-meaning and harmless old idiot on the west coast, who lost the very few senses that he had ever been troubled with, from vexation at the obstinacy of his tribe in refusing to comply with his exhortations in favour of peace and honesty at the

PAI MARIRE TENETS.

time of the wreck of the 'Lord Worsely;' and it was he who initiated the peaceful greeting, "Pai Marire!" which has since become the watchword of guinary fanaticism. But the leading agitators soon perceived the advantage to the war party which would accrue from the banding together of the whole Maori race in the ties of a common religion, different from that professed by the Pakeha; and while presenting their followers with a brand new religion of their own, they took care to hash up the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish creeds into such a parody on all three, as to allay any sectarian jealousy which existed among those who had previously been members of the Protestant or Romish Churches.

Some one – one can hardly help fancying that it must have been some mischievous white man – has put into their heads that the Maories are the remnant of the lost tribes of Israel; and their observance of the seventh day, their stories of recent miracles at Taranaki, and of the personal appearance of the Almighty on earth in that province, as in the days of the patriarchs, and a great deal more, are all taken from Jewish history. They told us that as soon as all the Maories, or at least all the Kingites, shall have been converted, a certain number of warriors from every tribe are to assemble at some place on the Waikato, whence, after a grand praying-match, a certain holy Seventy will be selected by Divine inspiration, and march down to the sacred river Puniu (a

PAI MARIRE TENETS.

tributary of the Waikato), where they will perform the "karakia" by the banks of the stream, and forthwith the troops will be impelled to advance against them; when a misty veil will descend from heaven, rendering the faithful Seventy invisible to the soldiers, who will be divided by the miraculous cloud, and cut to pieces with impunity by the remainder of the warriors. Then the Maori race shall do unto the Pakeha as the Jews did to the Gentiles, whose cities they went in to possess.

It was obvious that delusions such as these could not long survive the success of our arms, and even now (1866) the Pai Marire faith is on the ebb, and the latest reports say that on the east coast, where the mental disease broke out in the most virulent form, the natives are returning to the Christian religion, and rebuilding their churches.

Two other superstitious delusions have obtained for awhile amongst the natives, in times gone by, since their first conversion to Christianity, but neither of them so dangerous, so wide spread, or so lasting as the present. Curiously enough, the prophet or leader of the last fanaticism, who foretold a millennium, and season of miraculous abundance of food and good things of all sorts, so close at hand and so bountiful that it was both useless and impious to go on planting or rearing stock, himself died of starvation in the woods whilst on a short journey.

The Queenites of Taupo and Oruanui decided to

MR. MAIR'S ESCAPE.

let the Hau-haus pass in peace, for various reasons: the principal of which was that they could not stop them. They reconciled their loyalty to the Queen and aversion to the fanatics with the duty and custom immemorial of showing hospitality to all strangers journeying through their land in any other than hostile array, by placing raw food with fuel for cooking, in heaps outside the settlements, while they themselves remained within the whares with their arms in their hands. At Oruanui, finding how short-handed were the Queenites, the Hau-haus became very bumptious, and having raised their staff, went through their mummeries before the faces of the inmates of the pah. They pushed on to Taupo sooner than was expected, and Mair nearly came to grief in consequence. It appears that the vagabonds wanted to get hold of him, because they believed that it was he who had guided the troops to Orakau, at which place he acted as interpreter. He was on his way to the pah at Oruanui, but luckily turned off the road to examine a large steam-jet. Whilst he was doing SO, the greater part of the band came streaming along the path in a long straggling line, without either seeing or being seen by him. A few minutes more, and Mair, having satisfied his curiosity, cantered back to the path. A sudden turning brought him face to face with a small number of Hau-haus who had lagged behind the rest. They looked at him very hard, but not knowing that he had avoided the

GALLANT CONDUCT OF NATIVE POLICE.

others, took for granted that Paku and Te Aokatoa and the other leading chiefs had some good reason for letting him pass, so they, being moreover on Queenite territory, let him go unmolested. At Taupo they were received in the same manner as at Oruanui; not one of Poihipi's people stirring outside his doors, till the Hau-haus, having got hold of a weak-minded old woman belonging to the place, and having made a circle round her, proceeded to subject her to mesmerism, or whatever their mode of influence may be – one at all events well calculated to obfuscate the mind of the individual operated on. An opinion gained ground in the whares that the old lady was rapidly becoming a Hau-hau, when two young men – native police – very gallantly rushed out of a whare, broke through the circle, and dragged her off; at the same time reproaching the fanatics for breach of their written promise. Somehow the latter were ashamed of themselves, and offered no resistance, though they had vastly the advantage in numbers.

After crossing the Waikato at the Taupo ferry, they appear to have broken up into two or more parties, some going eastward and some to the south. Judging by the account in the newspapers of the arrival in the province of Napier of a portion of this band, I must have considerably underrated their numbers.

In every direction the new religion spread like

MURDER OF MR. VOLKENER.

wildfire, and a month had barely passed before the effects were shown in the abominable murder of the Rev. Mr. Volkener, one of the best and most zealous missionaries in all New Zealand. The leading facts of the martyr's death are well known to the public; the details are unfit for publication.

Mr. Grace remained, though a sort of prisoner at large, in great danger for many days, the Hau-haus occasionally disputing as to whether it would be better to put him to death at once, or to take him with them alive across country to Taranaki, making use of their living prisoner, and of the baked heads of Mr. Volkener and that of a soldier which they had brought with them, to excite the tribes on their road.

On the 15th of March, a fortnight after Mr. Volkener's murder, the natives went to a great meeting a few miles away, to consecrate a new staff, leaving Mr. Grace but slightly guarded; the next day H. M. dispatch gun-vessel 'Eclipse,' sent by the Commodore from Auckland, arrived off the bar, having Bishop Selwyn on board. An opportunity offered, Mr. Grace having been left with only an old woman to guard him, his sentries, thinking there was no chance of an escape, having gone off to- the meeting; Mr. Levy, the master of the schooner 'Eclipse,' who, being a Jew, was allowed to go where he liked, pulled him on board the man-of-war, the namesake of the schooner.

This man published part of his journal in the

ESCAPE OF MR. GRACE.

daily papers, and was soon the hero of the hour; a public meeting being convened to do him honour. But he made a variety of misstatements, all tending to his own glorification and the abuse of Mr. Grace, which were afterwards refuted by the evidence of his own crew and of the other traders living at Opotiki; but not, however, till they had been most recklessly repeated, and sent home for publication in an English Magazine, by one who, though writing only under initials, took small pains to conceal an animus against the minister of a rival creed.

The same day H. M. S. 'Eclipse's' boats, under Lieut. Belson, cut out the schooner, and on the 19th they arrived at Auckland, where Mr. Grace had long been considered a dead man by almost everyone excepting his own wife, who never lost hope and faith. Mair afterwards ascertained that amongst the murderers of Volkener were several of those who had voted for my death at Tataroa.

When the news was first received, the deed was execrated on all hands; even our old and inveterate foes, the Ngatiporos, hastened to assure us that the murder of innocent missionaries was not their mode of making war, and offered to co-operate with us by raising the country to rescue the prisoners and capture the murderers; and the Poverty Bay chiefs came up by sea to make a similar offer, but stipulated for a reward in the event of success. Unfortunately the colonial politicians were busy squabbling as to

MURDER OF MR. FULLOON.

the seat of government, and consequently where the head-quarters of the troops with the fat commissariat contracts should he; so that there was no one in Auckland with authority to take the immediate steps which might have secured success.

Four months later came the murder of Mr. Fulloon, Government interpreter, and the crew of the 'Kate,' by the Hau-haus at Whakatane, both on the east coast. By this time the whole country-side from Taupo to the east Cape was one seething hot-bed of fanaticism, encouraged by the impunity which followed the murder of Volkener. The Government had avowed their inability to assist the plucky little band of loyal natives who yet remained at Taupo, and advised them to fall back on Rotorua, which they did with heavy hearts; and the Queen's flag floats no longer by the waters of the Great Lake.

When Fulloon was killed, Mair was at Rotorua, and as soon as he heard of it, he took measures to avenge his death. In about a week he collected and equipped a sufficient force, and at the end of that time he started from the lower end of Lake Tarawera with 200 Arawas, having sent about 150 more to march down the coast from Maketu.

On the 16th of August the coast party attacked the Pai Marire pah at the confluence of the Awa-o-te-Atua (River of the Spirit) and the Rangitaiki without success, having no boats or canoes. On the same day Mair's party attacked Parawai, a very

MR. MAIR'S EXPEDITION.

strong position on the above-named river, about seven miles from Mount Edgcumbe, but met with no better luck, and for the same reason. He then effected a junction with the coast party, which the enemy tried to prevent, but failed, losing a chief in the attempt. There were three pahs near the sea, but all too strong to be taken without artillery and boats. Several days were spent in skirmishing, usually picking off one or two Hau-haus, and waiting in hopes of assistance from the Opotiki expedition (English troops, which landed Sept. 8); in this, however, they were disappointed. They then detached a party, who seized all the canoes at Whakatane (the scene of the murder), and got them by fresh water to the rear of the enemy, while the remainder dragged others overland into the lake behind the pahs, and thus cut off their supplies. The Hau-haus evacuated all the pahs during the night of the 10th of October, and retreated in canoes up the intricate channels of the Delta, leaving no traces of their route. But on the 15th, Mair learnt that they had thrown themselves into the Teko pah, and following them up, captured all their canoes, with eleven barrels of powder, and lead for bullets. On the 17th, travelling by land and water with nearly 500 Arawas, he reached the pah.

The place was very strong, having in its rear on one side the Rangitaiki – swift, broad, and deep; and on the other three sides nearly 300 yards of smooth

CAPTURE OF TEKO PAH.

glacis. Three lines of palisading with flanking angles and three rows of rifle-pits and breastworks. The pah itself was 90 yards long by 45 broad, and every hut within it was separately fortified. There was, moreover, a covered way communicating with the landing-place on the river.

Sapping was the only way to take such a place. Mair, though a civilian, was present at Orakau, when that place was sapped under the direction of Captain Hurst, E. B., and seems to have made good use of his eyes. Three saps were accordingly started, under cover of a slight undulation of the ground, and, in spite of a heavy fire, made such good progress that on the 19th the Hau-haus craved a truce to arrange terms. Firing was suspended for twenty-four hours, but the saps were kept driving, and the only terms were unconditional surrender. Meanwhile Hemipo, whose father Ngaperi (the old chief whom we met in the wood at Taupo) was one of the leading men in the pah, improved the occasion by lecturing his papa to such good effect, that he came over to the Queenites, bringing with him twenty-five Taupo warriors, the flower of the garrison; and as none of them were implicated in the murders, they were allowed to change sides, and fight in the trenches of the Queenites.

By 2 A. M. on the 20th the Arawas had cut off the covered way, and got close up to the southern angle. Mair then for the last time summoned Te

A WAR-DANCE.

Hura to surrender, assuring him that if forced to carry the place by assault, no quarter would be given.

They saw that the case was hopeless, and at sunrise the whole garrison marched out, and laid down their arms.

As they came out, each hapu of the Arawa sprang from their trenches with a yell, and immediately had as fine a war-dance as ever was seen – dear old Poihipi and three or four other hoary old sinners giving the time. It must indeed have been a stirring sight: the long column of prisoners standing with drooping heads, while their captors danced the wild war-dance with all the fury of excitement and success – the war-cry of the Arawa echoing from hilltop to hill-top, while the earth trembled under the stamp of a thousand feet.

And well might they exult, for besides having captured a number of the murderers who had brought such disgrace on the Maori name, there were among their prisoners many of the men who had carried so high a hand at Tataroa, at Oruanui, and at Taupo.

Mair placed the murderers, thirty-one in number, under the special charge of the native police, and the remainder became prisoners of war to the tribe of Arawa. The murderers were first tried by court-martial, and mostly convicted, but the court being afterwards deemed informal, they were tried again by civil law in Auckland, and the sentences were recently carried into effect; five have been hung.

CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER.

and others sentenced to hard labour for life, or shorter periods.

On the other hand, more than one of our late fellow-travellers have died or been killed.

Poor Wharetini, the "Southern Planter" as we nicknamed him, the handsomest, the merriest, the most impudent of all – foremost in the war-dance, foremost in the fight – has found that consumption is more deadly than the bullets of the Hau-hau.

Wm. Thompson, 17 Te Heu-heu, and Te Ua have recently consented to meet the Governor; Te Ua has given up the religion which he originated, and is now as well as Te Heu-heu at Wellington with the Governor. The two former, by the advice and example of Sir George, have taken "The Pledge."

14 "Taiaha," a weapon between a spear and a cutting-club.

15 A Maori "swell," or gentleman – a chief or chief's son.

16 The principal fighting chief.

17 Since dead.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VI.

Cross the Waikato – Meeting with Poihipi – Party of Uriweras – Overtake Mr. Brenchley's party – Camp out – Mountain terraces – New Zealand pigeon – Mohaka – Evening prayers – Pohuhe – Between the sheets – Arrival at Napier – Auckland Club – Points of Maori character – Immorality – Infanticide – Hospitality – Administration of justice – Capacity for work – Christianity – Prospects of the race.

To return to our journey: –

We crossed the "Waikato by the ferry on Sunday morning, and soon afterwards entering the tea-tree scrub, the last glimpse of Poihipi's pah, with the Queen's flag waving over it, was shut out from our view.

For the greater part of the day we were traversing the south-western extremity of the Kaingaroa plain. Its surface is as even as a pavement, diversified only by a few shallow basins whose sides and bottoms are also perfectly smooth. Though watered by many streams it is altogether barren, nothing but small pumice-stones with widely-scattered tufts of worthless native grass and tea tree stunted to the dimensions of heather.

After fording two rivers, the Waipunga and Rangitaiki, we passed a tremendous chasm, terminat-

MEETING WITH POIHIPI

ing at the edge of the path. It was here that in days of yore prisoners of war were thrown down alive.

We stopped a few minutes at the Kingite village of Opepe, for to have passed by without doing so would have been an insult; but we declined their offer of hospitality and kept pretty close to our horses. There was, however, no cause for alarm, as these people had not then become Hau-haus. After this we came to a belt of wood, a mile or two in breadth, where we halted for our simple dinner of hard biscuit and water and met Poihipi on his return from Brenchley. He was of course much surprised at seeing us at all, but in an instant I saw by the expression of his face that he thought I had merely pretended to go by Waikato to get rid of him and secure the services of the more lively Hemipo and his well-conditioned horses, which would have been very ungrateful after all the trouble he had had with us. Hemipo was too proud to make the necessary explanation, and Poihipi apparently would not understand what had happened by any combination of English, Maori, and signs which I could effect. I know I looked dreadfully guilty, and the old man rode away with a melancholy look of reproach which quite spoilt my dinner.

Soon afterwards, leaving the woods on our right, we passed over more plain, with a little swampy lagoon, and then found ourselves among the hills

PARTY OF URIWERAS.

and mountains which extend thenceforward all the way to Napier, and which include two distinct and lofty ranges.

In the midst of a vast flat-bottomed valley, we met a long train of Kingites, Uriweras (the most savage tribe), with numbers of heavily-laden pack-horses, wending their way from Napier, where they had been making their purchases, to Taupo and the Waikato. Could we have seen the contents of those packs, there is little doubt that many a parcel of gunpowder and lead would we have found. According to custom on these occasions, as Hemipo explained, we diverged from the path a hundred yards or more, and halted with a salutation while they passed, which they did in peace.

Immediately afterwards we descried Brenchley and party in the distance at the end of the valley, and spurring on our horses, overtook them at a gallop. It appears that B – – – 's natives, not expecting to see us, mistook us for some of the Kingites whom we had just passed, and cried out that the Uriweras were galloping back to attack them. We accordingly found Brenchley "cleared away for action," with revolver in hand, ready to defend both life and luggage.

With pack and bad horses and dilatory companions, he had not of course been able to travel as fast as we, who had ridden hard, this being his third day out.

When about abreast of Runanga, a Kingite settle-

CAMP OUT.

ment a little off the road, Takiuira (our handsome friend who fought for "love" like an Irishman) and some of the Waihaha people joined our party: the more the merrier.

30th. – We bivouacked last night in a beautiful ravine, or fissure, in the side of a lofty mountain, whence, looking between the trees on either side, as through a picture-frame, we enjoyed a right glorious view of vistas of thickly-timbered mountains, with curiously well-defined terraces and deep gorges, and here and there a silvery bit of winding river, almost hidden in the foliage of the valleys.

We had a glorious fire, some 30 feet in diameter, round which the natives busied themselves in cutting for us the most luxurious beds, and then laughed and sang till long past midnight.

We left the camp at early dawn; for though there was enough rain to wet us through and chill us to the bones, there was no water for washing or breakfast; so after fording the Aratotara, a stream too deep and rapid to be crossed, even now, dry-seated, in any acrobatic position, and therefore I fancy quite impassable in winter, we reached Tarawera, a village perched on a high and steep terrace overlooking the river Waipunga.

Terraces such as that on which this village is built form the distinctive feature of the scenery throughout the greater part of the Northern Island,

MOUNTAIN TERRACES.

though they differ much from one another in shape, extent, and height.

They occur in single, double, and treble rows, one above another. In the country we are now passing through, there is generally a single row of terraces, suspended as it were, midway between the summits of the mountains and the streams at their feet, with upper surfaces perfectly level and divided by clean-cut edges from their steep and lofty sides, which are far more heavily timbered than the flats above them. The effect is to give the scenery an appearance of singular massiveness and grandeur.

The chief, a silver-haired old man named Paora Motutawa, welcomed us with great cordiality, and producing his little stock of flour for our breakfast, we feasted sumptuously on damper and tea.

Then came a plunge in the cool running river, and after some delay, caused by the unwillingness of our natives to leave such pleasant quarters, we got our little cavalcade clear of the village before noon.

The forest was very beautiful; quantities of graceful tree fern; lofty timber with weeping foliage; and pendent creepers in great variety and luxuriance. We met with a very few small birds, which made up for the want of numbers by the beauty and clearness of their notes. Later in the day we saw several specimens of the kukupa, or great New Zealand pigeon, sitting sometimes on the lowest branches of trees which overhung the path. I fired at two or three

TE HAROTO.

with a revolver, as they sat dreamily gazing at the men with the strangely-coloured skins, but missed them all, in spite of their size and their tameness.

Ve had some heart-breaking mountain ridges to cross during this and the following day, more especially one just before arriving at Te Haroto, – miles of steep and slippery ascent without a single break. We found Te Haroto nearly deserted, but there were a few scattered groups of whares in the neighbourhood, whose inhabitants mounted their horses on seeing our approach, and accompanied us on to Mohaka, where we passed the night.

This settlement is curiously situated on the banks of a river traversing an apparently oval piece of table-land surrounded by mountains, suggesting the very unromantic idea of a deep and gigantic dish, divided by a crack, through which flows the river Waiaoao.

We found here a great concourse of natives, who lodged us royally in a tent carpeted with new mats on fern, and regaled us with beef.

The bullock had only just been killed, and the flesh of the veteran made our teeth ache again; but meat of any sort is a great luxury after living so long on potatoes alone. There has been recently a great sale of land here to the Crown, which accounts for the beef, as well as for the unusual number of natives. Some of the men have very Jewish features: some of the women pretty faces, though of

EVENING PRAYERS.

pure Maori blood. At sunset this evening the little bell of the chapel, or "whare-karakia," checked for a time the eating and smoking and boisterous merriment around us; while from every side, old men and young ones, girls, and mothers with their children in their arms, came streaming in to attend the usual evening prayers read by a Maori deacon.

31st. – A cold night, with a sharp, white frost. Prayers again – well attended – at seven this morning. Left at nine, and crossed the river. The track between Taupo and Napier may occasionally be dignified by the name of a road, some part of it being passable to a cart. For the last two days Brenchley and I have been riding on with Hemipo, leaving the other natives to follow with our baggage more leisurely. It took us several hours to cross the next range of mountains, Brenchley comparing the scenery to that of the Pyrenees; after which we passed two Pakeha-Maories' houses, near the native village of Titiokura, and at two reached Mr. P – – – 's station at Pohuhe, about a mile off the road.

He has only been out about two years, and has at present but 3000 sheep and a small quantity of cattle. His daughters look after the house, while he with his four sons and two servants do the remainder – burning off the fern, sowing English grasses, fencing in the paddocks, and building bridges. There are everywhere signs of cleanliness, of contentment.

ARRIVAL AT IRIN.

and of the cheerful hard work which is daily improving and civilizing the little home in this desert of fern.

Our host soon made us free of the house, and set before us a savoury stew of smoking steaks, with draughts of rich sweet milk. Our table had not had such grazing grounds as these for many a long day, and the trim little damsel who so kindly ministered to our wants could hardly conceal her surprise at the voracity with which, after emptying the ample dishes before us, we hungrily craved for more.

But even eating cannot last for ever, so after declining our host's pressing invitation to pass the night under his roof, we saddled our steeds, which had been enjoying themselves as much as their riders, in a paddock of soft English grass, and started again at four, hoping to reach Napier the same night. In another two hours we reached the river Petane, whose course we had to follow nearly all the rest of the journey, fording it just nineteen times during the evening. The moon set early behind the hills, and we had to ask our way at the only house we saw.

We reached Irin before 11 P. M., but finding that there yet remain some five miles of heavy shingle and a ferry to cross between this and Napier, and our horses having been nearly twelve hours on the road, we stay here the night, revelling in the unwonted luxury of beds.

ARRIVAL AT NAPIER.

February 1st. – In the course of the afternoon the rest of our party came up with the traps, and we all went into Napier the same evening.

Their powers of digestion proved even greater than ours, and kept the kitchen of the little inn in full operation for several hours before they were satisfied. But remembering our own appetites, I shall in future think more charitably of the excesses of savages who, after long mouths of abstinence, gorge themselves when they suddenly obtain possession of an abundance of meat.

9th. – -Arrived at Auckland, after a two days' passage from Napier, where we were made welcome during our short stay at the club, having been introduced by the superintendent of the province, with whom we had to communicate touching the provisioning of the natives of our party by Government until their departure on their return journey. The gentlemen who form the majority of the members of the club are mostly holders of sheep-runs, and amongst them a more kindly spirit is shown towards the Maories than is to be found among the politicians and speculators of one or two of the larger towns.

Several settlers told me of the faithfulness with which the natives have held to their land contracts, permitting the lessees to retain the land for the whole term of years agreed upon at the original rent,

POINTS OF MAORI CHARACTER.

although not bound by law, when they might, from the increased value of land and the competition among the whites, have easily obtained two or three times the amount of rent. Others have told me that they prefer the neighbourhood of Maories on their stations to that of the lower class of whites, on account of the greater security of property.

On the whole I prefer the Maories to any uncivilized race with which I have yet come in contact. We have now been living for the greater part of two months with the Maories, under circumstances of intimacy which have afforded us better opportunities of judging their character than years spent in town or camp. But, of course, I can only speak of those amongst whom we have been, for the natives on the east coast, north of Auckland, and in other parts, differ much in habits and character.

I will endeavour to mention the more prominent points in their character which strike the new comer most forcibly.

The first is their great and undoubted valour: that, at least, is allowed by their bitterest detractors, and they have many.

As a race they are honest. There are thieves among them, but they are few and despised.

During the whole time that I was up the country, living often in the same whares with the natives of our party or our hosts, my baggage was never locked, and often left open in my absence, yet I never missed

INFANTICIDE.

anything, though it contained many things which they covet.

They are a very good-tempered people, easily pleased, but keenly alive to a slight, not quarrelling much among themselves individually, and still more rarely coming to blows.

Much has been said of the immorality of the Maories – rather too much, I venture to think; certainly, at some of the garrisoned seaports they are bad enough, but in the interior, with the exception of Ohinemutu, where the mingling of sexes bathing nightly in the warm lake leads to a singular state of affairs, the standard of morality is not lower, if so low, as in many parts of Scotland and Wales.

Infidelity in the marriage state is rare on the part of the men, but the daughters of Eve are not quite so immaculate. Almost promiscuous free-love follows in the wake of Hau-hauism.

The Church marriage-service has rather fallen into disuse lately, it having been found that it has not the effect of making the married ladies more circumspect in their behaviour. The natives can recover damages before a bench of English and native magistrates for crim. con., but they have no means of obtaining divorce, so that women, knowing that their husbands cannot get rid of them for any cause and be free to marry again, are less careful.

Infanticide was in days gone by a very common crime; now it has succumbed to the influence of

MERCENARY IDEAS.

Christianity, together vsith the fear of national extinction; whilst the viler crimes so common amongst the natives of southern Europe and elsewhere are almost unknown. The ancient hospitality of the Maories is rapidly degenerating, and after a few more years of contact with white men will become a thing of the past.

There was an old chiefone of the old school – who scorned to take payment for feasting his guests; but he too in time caught the thirst for money which at one time became a sort of "quinte" with the natives. One day a friend of mine, who had known him from childhood, stopped at his house, where he slept and left again the next day never thinking of such an insult as offering payment for his board and lodging. He had not gone far when he heard the old chief running after him and calling him back, crying, "You have murdered me," in a very doleful manner. He stopped, and found that his host meant that he had never offered him payment, and therefore forced him to ask for it; he wanted money, but being ignorant of the value of it, laid his "utu" at 6d.

These mercenary ideas are very much on the increase, especially among the "friendly" natives, who see more of us civilized people, and are losing their old feelings of independence and habits of self-support, mainly from the quantity of money they receive from Government in the shape of salaries as native magistrates, assessors, or policemen.

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

The Arawas, with some of their offshoots between Rotorua and Taupo, are the only loyal tribe which we came near during our journey, and at some settlements from the half to two-thirds of the able-bodied men are receiving pay from Government in one of the above capacities.

As far as the administration of justice is concerned, the present system seems to work quite as well as can be expected amongst tribes where European resident magistrates are only appointed at the request of the natives, and cannot act with vigour unless supported by Maori public, or rather local, opinion. And it is to the credit of the magistrates of both races that Europeans, when they have a civil complaint against a Maori, prefer to bring their case before a native magistrate, and vice versa.

This sort of indirect bribery by paying such a large proportion of the faithful for nominal services is no longer necessary to keep them on our side, as the enmity between them and the Kingites, whom they have fought successfully on several occasions has become too deep for any fear of reconciliation; indeed the Kingites have ceased to make overtures to them. But it will now be very difficult to alter this system of Government officials without creating profound dissatisfaction. Another bad effect of this system is the encouragement, if not the creation, of idleness. The Queenite natives are certainly the laziest race I have ever seen. During the whole

CAPACITY FOR WORK.

time that I was with them I never saw one man doing a hand's turn of work, with the exception of occasionally fishing in the lake, which can hardly be called work. There is no doubt that they can work, as is shown by the wonderful rapidity with which they throw up rifle-pits and construct pahs: but they require excitement to keep them up to the mark, and I fear do not understand properly the "dignity of labour," about which we hear so much in England, and are not at all proud of being seen hard at work.

While we were at Taupo the natives began building a whare, in which they hoped Mair would come and live in peaceable times; now though this house rose about as fast as it would have under the hands of the same number of dockyard "maties" working by the day, yet I never succeeded in detecting one of the Maories with adze in hand, though I came out surreptitiously at all hours. As travelling companions or servants their dilatoriness is irritating beyond measure.

They are very intelligent and reflective; they learn what is taught them in the schools much more rapidly than Europeans, and he who wants to "weather" a Maori in a bargain will have to get up very early in the morning. At the same time they are very superstitious, having a childish fear of darkness and solitude, ascribing omens to the commonest occurrences, and often cherishing a doubting, hidden

JEALOUSY OF THE CHIEFS.

terror of their Tohungas 18 and the objects of their old deserted heathen worship.

Amongst the latter is the green tree lizard, from which, whether alive or dead, men, women, and children are said to fly in real terror, and even take refuge in the water.

They do not fear the ordinary ground lizard (at least not where we have been), but merely experience the same sort of loathing that one of us would if required to go to bed with half-a-dozen eels.

Nearly all the chiefs are as proud as Lucifer – pride of race, of influence, and of broad lands. And their mutual jealousy is proportionate; this has always been one of the principal causes of numbers joining our side against their own countrymen.

The residence of a Pakeha is a very frequent cause of bitter jealousy. They look on a Pakeha as a most useful animal causing all sorts of good things to fall in the way of those amongst whom he lives, and speak of him to one another as their "property."

Thus, Hohepa, chief of Oruanui, solemnly and three times over cursed Poihipi: taking a piece of flax, he said, "Here is his body," and then cut it into three pieces, merely because, from our protracted stay at Taupo, he thought Mair was going to take up his abode with Poihipi instead of himself.

What sort of a hold religion has on the Maories it is difficult for me to say when the missionaries

CHRISTIANITY.

themselves disagree. They are certainly not the angels on earth which you read of at home, yet in many places we stopped at where a missionary does not show for months or years together, the good seed sown in former days still bears some fruit in the shape of well-attended daily prayers, both morning and evening. I think that many of them are at least as good Christians as the average run of Europeans, save in the one particular of licentious conversation; and more cannot well be expected when it is remembered that a few years ago these people were all heathen cannibals (many of whom are alive now), and that the Christian religion is the faith of a nation against whom the Maories have fought long and fiercely.

The Maories are an undeniably well-made race, especially about the lower limbs; but in spite of the size of their calves, which would make the fortune of any London footman, they are not so fleet-footed as Europeans; neither in trials of strength can they lift such heavy weights.

The principal causes of the diminishing population are said to be the barrenness of women when married to their own countrymen, intermarrying, which still prevails to a great extent in some places; scrofula, which taints more or less nearly every hapu in the kingdom; the early abuse of tobacco; living in whare pens – hot, unhealthy, half-sunken houses, without ventilation; and eating a favourite

THE HALF-CASTES.

mess made of half-rotten fermenting maize; and lastly – to those who live near towns – drink.

The rotten-corn luxury is now nearly out of fashion, and from the day that we left Auckland till the day we returned, I never saw a Maori drunk, though I can't say as much for the white men.

The possession of horses and the increasing rareness of wars have allowed the Maories to seek wives amongst other tribes, and the Arawas between Taupo and Maketu are now decidedly on the increase, their settlements swarming with children.

The "Half-castes" are one of the finest races I have ever seen, and the Maories are very proud of them, and always endeavour to get hold of the children and bring them up amongst them. Nearly all natives have great individuality of character and countenance. In many places we were struck with the strongly-marked Jewish features of both men and women, especially the former.

They would be a much handsomer race were it not for the custom – now, however, fast falling into disuse – of forcibly flattening by pressure the noses of the children.

The Half-caste race seem well fitted, both by their size and comeliness, their vigorous intelligence and the fecundity of the race, to form in days to come no inconsiderable portion of the inhabitants of this country.

PROSPECTS OF THE RACE.

How long the pure native race may be preserved in times of peace it is difficult to say. At present they seem bent on war – a war not for the redress of grievances, or for revenge, nor for the conservation of their lands, but simply for the sovereignty of New Zealand.

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

Map of THE LAKE DISTRICTS in the PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND

18 Priests and sorcerers.

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