ly sized hill,
that they may have the advantage of the ground in case of being attacked
by their enemies, or on the bank of a river, which may, in such an
emergency, serve them for a natural moat. A situation in which they are
protected by the water on more sides than one is preferred; and,
accordingly, both on this account, and for the sake of being near the
sea, which supplies them with fish, the New Zealanders and other
savage tribes are much accustomed to establish themselves at the mouths
of rivers. Among the American Indians, as in New Zealand, a piece of
ground is always left unoccupied in the middle of the village, or
contiguous to it, for the holding of public assemblies. So, also, it
used to be in our own country, almost every village in which had
anciently its common and its central open space; the latter of which,
after the introduction of Christianity, was generally decorated by the
erection of a cross.

[Illustration: A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. _Tourist Dept.
photo_]

It is curious to remark how the genius of commerce--the predominating
influence of a more civilized age--has seized upon more than one of
these provisions of the old state of society, and converted them to its
own purposes. The spacious area around the village cross, or the
adjacent common, has been changed into the scene of the fair or the
daily market; and the vicinity of the sea, or the navigable river, no
longer needed as a protection against the attacks of surrounding
enemies, has been taken advantage of to let in the wealth of many
distant climes, and to metamorphose the straggling assemblage of mud
cottages into a thronged and widespread city--the proud abode of
industry, wealth, elegance, and letters.

Rutherford states that the baskets in which the provisions are served up
are never used twice; and the same thing is remarked by Cruise. The
calabash, Rutherford adds, is the only vessel they have for holding any
kind of liquid; and when they drink out of it, they never permit it to
touch their lips, but hold their face up, and pour the liquor into their
mouth.

After dinner they place themselves for this purpose in a row, when a
slave goes from one to another with the calabash, and each holds his
hand under his chin as the liquor is poured by the slave into his mouth.
They never drink anything hot or warm. Indeed, their only beverage
appears to be water;[R] and their strong aversion to wine and spirits is
noticed by al