ood-supply,
eked out by cannibalism, was ample though not varied, while their
natural condition involved few necessities. Their wars promoted a
condition of robustness as well as a spirit of enterprise and activity.
But with civilization came rum, tobacco, and laziness. Far be it from us
to argue in favor of the savage life above that of the civilized; but to
judge these savage races correctly or fairly, we must look at them from
their own standpoint, not from ours.

CHAPTER XVII.

The Maori Dog.--A Romantic Island.--Sinking of a Maori
Fort.--Volcanic Destruction.--A Country of Boiling
Springs.--Idleness.--A Lazy Race of Savages.--Native
Religion.--A Fitful Geyser.--Sophia, the Famous Guide.--A
Funeral Dance.--The "Haka" Performance.--Maori
Improvidence.--Rubbing Noses.--Native Babies.--Church-Going
and Card-Playing.--The King's Country.--Eloquent
Aborigines.--A Sanitarium.--Sulphur Point.--Future of New
Zealand.

The funeral wailings of the natives during the day were not sufficient
to fill the measure of uncanny noise; so at night--those wonderfully
bright moonlight nights!--the dogs seemed to feel it incumbent upon them
to take up the refrain, and they howled frightfully by the hour
together. The Maori dog is quite different from any other specimen of
the canine race; he is a mongrel of decidedly conglomerate
character,--the most remarkable fact about these creatures being that no
two of them are at all alike, or seemingly of the same breed. Why the
Maoris keep these dogs we cannot conceive; they certainly have no food
to spare for them, and the poor creatures look nearly starved with their
thin bodies and protruding ribs. At Ohinemutu every cabin had at least
one dog, and frequently three or four of these animals were seen lying
before the entrance. They rushed out and barked fiercely at the passing
stranger, but there the hostile demonstration ended. Dogs are not more
numerous, in proportion to the population, in Cairo or Constantinople,
nor more neglected, than here. We suggested to one of the half-castes
that it would be possible to utilize these animals for food, but he
shook his head knowingly and said, "No, no; him got no meat on him
bones." Their pigs run wild, and feed themselves on fern-roots and sweet
weeds; but their dogs, not being herbivorous, fare hardly for food.

Unable to sleep on account of these canine disturbers of the night, we