ry any of them. We have tried to urge the Little'un, or the Saint,
or even O'Gaygun into some such match; but they are shy, I suppose, and
do not seem to fancy taking "a savage woman to rear their dusky race."
Yet it would be unfair to call the brunette beauties of Tanoa savages.

_Place aux dames!_ Let us get on to consider the ladies.

Ema, and Piha, and Ana, and Hirene, and Mehere; there they are, the pick
and particular flower of all that is beautiful, fashionable, young, and
_marriageable_ in Tanoa. Bright and cheerful, neat and comely, pleasant
partners at a bush-ball are these half-Anglicized daughters of the
Ngatewhatua. They can prattle prettily in their soft Maori-English,
while their glancing eyes and saucy lips are provoking the by no means
too hard hearts of Pakeha bushmen.

Ah! live in the bush, reader! Live and work from month's end to month's
end without even a sight of a petticoat, and then go slap into the
middle of a "spree" at some such place as Tanoa or Te Pahi. Then you
would appreciate the charms of our Maori belles. Under the influence of
music and the dance, supple forms and graceful motions, scented hair and
flower-wreaths, smiles and sparkling eyes, the graces of nature not
wholly lost under the polish of civilization, you would say our Maori
girls were very nice indeed. And so say all of us, _although_ the Saint
and the Little'un and O'Gaygun hold aloof from matrimony--as yet.

These Maori maidens are not to be thought of as savages. Far from it.
They can read and they can write, in English as well as Maori. They can
read the newspaper or the Bible to their less accomplished papas and
mammas. They can cipher and sew; have an idea of the rotundity of the
earth, with some knowledge of the other countries beyond the sea. They
are fully up in all the subjects that are usually taught in Sunday
schools. They can play croquet--with flirtation accompaniment--and wear
chignons. Oh no! they are not savages. At least, _I_ should say not.

But far pre-eminent among the young ladies of Tanoa is Rakope. She is
the daughter of Mihake, the nephew and heir of Arama, and who is himself
a great favourite and good friend of ours. Mihake is a jolly,
good-tempered kind of man, very knowing in stock and farming matters,
and a frequent guest of ours. His daughter, as Arama is childless, ranks
as the principal unmarried lady of the tribe, and most worthy is she to
bear such a dignity.

O Rakope! princess of the