of female beauty) and among them were several
halfcastes. Their fashion of dressing the hair is curious--in front it is
cut short in a line across the forehead, but is allowed to grow long
behind. We met Waka Nene, a Maori chief, possessing considerable
influence, especially in the neighbouring district of Hokianga, who, by
siding with the English during the war, rendered such important services
that the Government rewarded him with a pension of 100 pounds per annum,
and a house in Kororareka. Besides this he owns a small vessel or two
employed in the coasting trade. I peeped into the hut of one of his
people. A small entrance served the combined purposes of door, window,
and chimney, the roof was so low as to preclude one from standing upright
inside, a small fire was burning in the centre of the earthen floor, and
a heap of mats and blankets in one corner pointed out a sleeping-place.

Behind Kororareka one of a series of hills overlooking the town is
memorable as the site of the flagstaff, the cutting down of which by Heke
was one of the first incidents of the Maori war. On March 11th, 1845, an
attack was made upon the place before daylight, by three of the
disaffected chiefs. Kawiti with one division entered the town from the
southward by a pass between two hills, and after a short conflict forced
a party of marines and seaman from H.M.S. Hazard to retire with the loss
of seven killed and many wounded. While this work was going on, a small
detachment of soldiers occupying a blockhouse on the flagstaff hill was
surprised by Heke and his party, who killed four men, and drove away the
remainder, and levelled the flagstaff to the ground. The English
residents took refuge on board the shipping, and two days afterwards the
Maoris sacked and burned the town with the exception of the two churches,
and a few houses contiguous to the property of the Roman Catholic
Mission.

The greater part of the country about the town is covered with fern and
the manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium) the latter a low shrub with
handsome white or pinkish flowers. In some of the ravines two species of
tree-ferns of the genus Cyathea grow luxuriantly in the moist clayey
soil. Everywhere one sees common English weeds scattered about,
especially the sow-thistle and common dock, and a British landshell
(Helix cellaria) has even found its way to New Zealand and is to be met
with in some of the gardens.

Much rain had lately fallen, and many of th