nd of the small
beaches; and in some places oysters, which, though very small, are well
tasted. Of other shell-fish there are ten or twelve sorts, such as
periwinkles, wilks, limpets, and some very beautiful sea-ears, also
another sort which stick to the weeds; with some other things, as
sea-eggs, star-fish, &c. several of which are peculiar to the place. The
natives likewise sometimes brought us very fine cray-fish, equal to our
largest lobsters, and cuttle-fish, which they eat themselves.

Insects are very rare. Of these we only saw two sorts of dragon-flies,
some butterflies, small grasshoppers, several sorts of spiders, some
small black ants, and vast numbers of scorpion-flies, with whose
chirping the woods resound. The only noxious one is the sand-fly, very
numerous here, and almost as troublesome as the musquitoe; for we found
no reptile here, except two or three sorts of small harmless
lizards.[148]

[Footnote 148: In a separate memorandum-book, Mr Anderson mentions the
monstrous animal of the lizard kind, described by the two boys after
they left the island.--D.]

It is remarkable, that, in this extensive land, there should not even be
the traces of any quadruped, only excepting a few rats, and a sort of
fox-dog, which is a domestic animal with the natives.

Neither is there any mineral worth notice, but a green, jasper or
serpent-stone, of which the New Zealanders make their tools and
ornaments. This is esteemed a precious article by them; and they have
some superstitious notions about the method of its generation, which we
could not perfectly understand. It is plain, however, that wherever it
may be found, (which, they say, is in the channel of a large river far
to the southward,) it is disposed in the earth, in thin layers, or
perhaps in detached pieces, like our flints; for the edges of those
pieces, which have not been cut, are covered with a whitish crust like
these. A piece of this sort was purchased, about eighteen inches long, a
foot broad, and near two inches thick, which yet seemed to be only the
fragment of a larger piece.

The natives do not exceed the common stature of Europeans; and, in
general, are not so well made, especially about the limbs. This is,
perhaps, the effect of sitting, for the most part, on their hams, and of
being confined, by the hilly disposition of the country, from using that
sort of exercise which contributes to render the body straight and
well-proportioned. There are,