rly constituted show-place to be-at "home." In this new country, it is needless to say, we have no antiquities of that sort. Yet this place, of wh

an be fully appreciated. The charm of poetry and romance is a very real one, and can add much to one's enjoyment of a particular view. I suppose that som

. Much magnificence of nature is passed by unheeded in Scotland, because history or tradition has conferred a higher title to regard upon some less picturesque place beyond. The fiction and poetry of Scott, and of Burns and others in less degre

picturesque still. Therefore, a show-place, to be regarded as such in the true sense of the word, must possess features o

re beautiful than the Rhine; the plains of Canterbury are finer than midland England; the rolling ranges and lakes of Otago may bear comparison with Scotland and with Wales; Mount Egmont or Tongariro would make Vesuvius blush; the hot-spring region of Rotomahana and Ro

the past; and poetry has not crowned them with a diadem of romance. Hence their effect is partly lost, and when we New Zealanders go "h

lready we are beginning to value these things; already we are conscious of the added interest they give to our scenery. But to our children's children, and to their descendants, some of these places will speak with more vivid ear

e best we can to preserve the tales that adorn certain localities. Some of the legends are mythological. Of such sort is that which gives such vivid interest to lonely Cape Reinga; the place where the s

r, which hang around the places where they happened. A country like this, so rich in natur

e for a po

bundance of the tales, both prose and poetry, that they are able to relate about the scenes around them. But Young Maori is more civilize

a good deal. They run Old Colonial pretty close in all respects save one, and that is when he gets into a peculiarly Maori vein. There they cannot follow him, for neither has achieved his comm

wonderful collection of anecdotes to a larger audience than his voice can reach, I have made notes of his narratives, and some day, perh

ourhood was to utilize oysters for this purpose. A rude kiln would be constructed in the bank, where it sloped down to the river-beach. In this would be placed alter

on our beach, and covered the rocks that low-tide laid bare, yet, when a good many tons of them were wanted, all of which must be gathered with a handshovel

ely economize time and labour. It is particularly necessary for him, because of the scarcity of the la

rliaments in the shanty. Then the Saint broke out with one of tho

burn oysters, you know. It must

. It seemed too ridiculous to consider th

mation; "that's a good excuse to get your

argumentatively, "Look here! Wouldn'

, me dear?" asked O'Gayg

lenty on Marahem

iles back from the river. It is about one thousa

e's the bhoy that's afraid to ate an eyester fur fear av hurtin' the baste, an' that's goin' to hump Ma

sage of arms between the tw

lime on Marahemo and to hump it down here, than to hump oysters al

the very foot, there's the Maori middens: a regular reef of nothing but shell, oysters and pipi and scollops and all the rest. There must be hundreds and hundreds of

he long hump from th

ly open it a bit. Half a day's work for the lot of us would make it passable for a bullock-sled; or we might pack the lime down on some of Dandy Jack's horses. Then the stuff we should get there would be easier burnt and make better lime. And we could make enough to supply the neighbourhood. A few boat-loads sold at

, and we went to work on

nder the mid-day sun. All around us was bush-a dense jungle of shrubs and trees. The conical hill on which we stood was thickly clothed, and all round

the bush of Northern New Zealand. The colouring is not so good; in the mass, it is not so lustrous, nor so varied. The rich flowers are hidden away, so that the fewer and less gaudy bloss

hrough some vista of wooded gullies, we could catch a glimpse of shining river reaches, and, in one or two directions, could m

y; the asperities and irregularities of the ground were not seen, even the stumps were almost hidden; and the cattle and sheep that dotted the clearings might have been browsing on English meadows, so fair and smooth was the

some sentimental nonsense or other, in which occurred reference to "prim

, the real primeval stuff," pointing to a well-marke

l this round us is only

woods looked to me as old as the New Forest, at lea

trees; but half a century ago all t

ts. On every point around us similar traces could be found, showing that the district had been thickly inhabited. As the Maoris had no grazing stock in those days, and no grass in these parts, their land

nted with artillery. The space enclosed was considerable; and the immense quantities of shells thrown down the sides of the hill attested the numbers of its population-for all the shell-fish w

, looking in a direction where a strip of the Arapaoa was

d, for I did not f

e never heard the story of the battle and ca

sed account of a conflict having taken place at the latter spo

ot to get some schnapper for supper to-night, so you and I w

ompany who make our shanty their home. Every now and then either of us would pull up a great pink slab-sided schnapper, a glistening silvery mullet, or a white-bellied whapuka; we were in a good pitch, and the fish were biting

into three heads. These three lesser firths, together with the main creek that flows into each a

lowing down to the harbour and the sea thirty miles off. To our left is our own river, the Pahi, narrower than the other. It is, perhaps, a mile across at the mouth. Its shores present a diminishing perspective of woods; and, a

leaming water. Round the base of the bluff are gathered the white houses of Te Pahi township; and the masts of several small

in it, on the further shore, are some low mud-banks, partially covered with stunted mangrove. Here great flocks of grey snipe continually assemble, together with kingfishers, shags, wild duck

forms a bend in the shore of the river, guarded by steep heights on either hand. On the left a long promontory runs out into the Pahi, as though to meet the township bluff upon its furt

ther, forms a complete crescent. No rocks or mangroves, no mud-banks or oyster-beds spoil the effect of a narrow belt of white and glitteri

heights. The general shape is that of an amphitheatre. And here so rich is the soil, so sheltered

g of forms and tints. There are emerald feathery fern-trees, copper-tinted "lancewoods," with their hair-like tufts, the tropic strangeness of nikau palms, crested cabbage

e creepers of strange and beautiful forms twine and suspend and stretch from tree to tree, the woodland greenery is set with a rich variety of sc

sweep of the amphitheatre is a sudden dip in the outline. It is the opening of a little gully, through which a hidden stream comes down below the trees and babbles out across the shingle; and that opening just revea

the tui sing a requiem over them by day, while the morepork and the kiwi wail for them at night. And the wonderfu

hat on canvas, and hang it in Burlington House

le of Te Puke Tapu, in the interval

lace or port for Marahemo, and the subordinate kaingas on the ranges yonder. You can see it was naturally that. As such there would be constant traffic through it, even if there were no wharès in the place itself. Now a wahi tapu was so sa

an inch of this piece to any one; and not a Maori dares go near it. Lots of people have tried to buy it, and have even offered as much as five poun

rstitions, as all the older Maoris do. He was in a terrible stew when this pig, killed on tapu ground, and consequently tapu itself, stranded on his beach. His wife and he came out with long poles and pushed it into the water. Then they got into their boat, and managed to get the pig out into the channel and set it float

, in which he took part. He is one of the 'last of the cannibals,' one of the few survivo

ented to King George and made much of. When he got back to Sydney, this astute savage 'realized' on all the fine things that had been given him, and turned the proceeds into mus

y. But the former never converted him. He remained a ferocious manslayer and cannibal to the

they were drilled in the use of them, he started on a grand maraud all through the island. His notion of kingly power seems to have been to

ht up on the Wairoa, where two or three thousand of our fellows were discomfited by Hongi's army. The fugitives came down the rivers and rallied again. Every man of the Ngatewhatua who was able to bear arms, t

a could not stay the progress of their foes. When, at last, the invaders drove them as near as the Maungaturoto bush, our tri

nd children. Here they would make their last despairing stand. The attack would come from the north-east, co

the fortifications, poured in a hot fire. Frightful were the losses among the besieged; and little could they do in return, spea

pe of the hill, where the principal gate of the pa was. The two outer flanks concentrated all their fire on the point, while the

the Ngatewhatua would be equal to their assailants. Both sides fought with all the fierce courage of their r

en the conquering Ngapuhi had forced their way into the pa, and were mercilessly slaughtering men, women, and children, he did the only thing left to be done. He took from its perch the palladium of the

river. Tama was among them, and he afterwards concealed himself in a tree, and, thus hidden, was a witness of the final sce

ed victors came bounding down the gully, brave old Tuwhare and his remaining warriors, with merè in hand and war-cry ringing through the woods, hurled themselves against the foe. Overpowered by numbers, an

ushed back towards Marahemo to summon Hongi. Now Hongi was brave as man could be, but, like all Maoris

es of the dead lying about where they had fallen-'There! that's the place, to the left yonder, where the koraka trees are thickest!'-the branches were drawn aside to expose the grim trophy of the conquered chief. There it was, sure enough, just where th

osed the tiki. There it now appeared, stuck in a fork, just where he had put it for safety. None of the Ngapuhi knew how it had got t

. He and his men turned and ran out of the amphitheatre of the bay as fast as they could

inated Ngatewhatua tribe, ventured to return here. With much solemn karakia and propitiatory sacrifice, they tremblingly crept into the precincts of the bay. They placed the remain

and fire were to spoil the beauty of Te Puke Tapu. There is plenty of other good land to be had. No need for us to covet this, fertile as it is; no need to make a commonplace farm out of that picturesque

show-place a