or two
mortal hours, there was a dismal and lugubrious travesty of the
performances of that world-famous troupe which never performs out of
London.

But our audience were not captiously critical, and received our
well-meant but weak attempts to please them with hearty pleasure and
vigorous applause; and when we finally took ourselves off down to the
river to wash our faces, every one declared we were a great success, as
they busied themselves in clearing the hall for the dancing that was to
follow.

It is not my purpose to describe the entire spree. I have merely alluded
to it in order to record one of its incidents, which may fittingly
conclude this brief account of our Maori neighbours; moreover, it is an
illustration of something I said once before about caste and class
prejudices.

Of the four young English ladies who were present at the spree, three
were known to us as the daughters or sisters of settlers in the
district. The fourth was a visitor from Auckland, who was staying with
some friends in the district, and had come with them to the township.
Miss "Cityswell" I will call her, the name will do as well as another.

Now, it is the praiseworthy custom of settlers' wives in the bush, to
ask their unmarried lady friends from the city to visit them as much as
possible. There is a dearth of feminine society in the newer districts;
and the most insignificant miss, on her travels from house to house up
country, receives pretty nearly as much homage and attention as did the
Queen of Sheba on her visit to King Solomon. If she be matrimonially
inclined--and, to do them justice, our colonial ladies are not backward
in that respect--she has an infinite variety of choice among suitors
eligible and ineligible. But on that head more anon.

Every woman is a lady in the bush, and Miss Cityswell was, of course, no
exception to the general rule. We were aware, however, that her father
and mother were of the English peasant class, though he had prospered
and was now an Auckland magnate. She was a fairly educated young woman,
passably good-looking; but her head was evidently turned by the
attentions of which she was the recipient. Certainly, if mannerisms,
affectation, vanity, and dress have anything to do with it, her claim to
be called a lady was a most emphatic one.

Auckland city people know little or nothing of Maoridom. In fact, the
generations born and bred in Auckland seem to be as ignorant about the
natives as peo