Though these natives have mostly become Christianized, as we understand
the term, still they live more like the lower class of animals than like
human beings, seeming to prefer that sort of life even after half a
century of intercourse with the whites. They now isolate themselves as a
body in what is called the King's Country of the North Island, which
embraces the Hot Lake District, where they live under their own laws and
customs which are held inviolate by treaty with the English crown. Their
decrease in numbers seems to be as rapid in their own district as it is
where they are brought into more intimate relations with the whites. The
English authorities respect their ownership of lands, and not an acre of
it is to be had without just payment for it.

No intelligent person can be blind to the favorable position of New
Zealand or to the promise of its future commercial importance. Situated,
as it were, in the centre of this Southern Ocean, the future highway of
the world, it is accessible from all quarters. On the west, not very far
away, lie the busy harbors of Australia, with which her exchanges of
merchandise are constant. Within easy reach of India and China on one
side, she has California, Mexico, and South America on the other. To the
north lie the hundreds of islands which constitute the groups of
Polynesia, notable for their voluptuous climate and primitive fertility.
With the opening of the Panama Canal or other available means for ships
to cross the isthmus of South America, New Zealand will lie directly in
the highway between Europe and the gold-fields of the great inland
continent, between England and her largest and most promising colony.

The many beautiful islands of the South Sea must sooner or later come
under the commercial sway of New Zealand, as they may be explored and
civilized. Her admirable harbors, noble estuaries, and navigable rivers
are elsewhere unsurpassed. If destined to achieve greatness, these
islands, like those of Great Britain, will do so through the development
and maintenance of maritime power; and with so many natural advantages
as they possess we confidently predict for them this final
accomplishment.

CHAPTER VIII.

From Auckland we take a steamer for Asia by way of Sydney and other
ports of Australia, crossing the Indian Ocean and landing at the extreme
southerly point of India, at Tuticorin. It is a quaint old place of
little present interest, though it was once f