g at their keen fierce eyes, I do not wonder
that they have given our soldiers so much trouble. I could not help
thinking, as I saw them hanging about the drinking-shops, some half
drunk, that English drink will in the long run prove their conquerors
far more than English rifles.

There were many Maori women mingled with the men. Some of them were
good looking. Their skin is of a clear dark olive; their eyes dark
brown or black; their noses small and their mouths large. But nearly
all of them have a horrid blue tattoo mark on their lips, that serves
to give them--at least to European eyes--a repulsive look.

Many of the women, as well as the men, wear a piece of native
greenstone hanging from their ears, to which is attached a long piece
of black ribbon. This stone is supposed by the Maoris to possess some
magical virtue. Others of them--men, as well as girls--have sharks'
teeth hanging from their ears and dangling about their faces,--the
upper part of the teeth being covered with bright red wax.

Mixed with the Maoris were the sailors of the 'Galatea,' rolling about
the streets, and, like them, frequent customers of the public-houses.
In fact, the sailors and the Maoris seemed to form a considerable
proportion of the population of the place.

The landlord of the hotel at which we stayed--the 'Waitemata'--having
recommended us to take a drive into the interior, we set out at midday
by stage coach for Onehunga. Auckland being situated at the narrowest
part of the North Island, Onehunga, which is on the west coast, is
only seven miles distant by land, though five hundred by water.

The coach started at noon, and it was hard work for the four horses
to drag the vehicle up the long steep hill at the back of the town.
Nice country-houses stood on both sides of the road, amidst fresh
green gardens; the houses almost buried in foliage.

From the high road a magnificent landscape stretched before us. It
reminded me very much of a particular view of the Lake of Geneva,
though this was even more grand and extensive. The open sea was at
such a distance, and so shut out by intervening high land, that it was
scarcely visible. The lovely frith or bay, with its numerous inlets,
islands, and surrounding bright green hills, lay at our feet. The blue
water wound in and out amongst the hills on our right for a distance
of about fifteen miles. There was a large open stretch of water,
surrounded by high mountains, towards the west. Ri