proved by the experience
of the skippers in the coasting trade. I think I am making a correct
statement when I say that the connexion between White Island and the
District of Ohinemutu on the mainland, as volcanic centres, was
established.

My duties, as I have already stated, were not onerous. My chief work, as
instructor, was minimized by the small number of troopers. I had under me
some thirty or forty mounted men. The Maoris were somewhat restless
between the east and west, and they proved that restlessness by making
raids on the working parties which were then employed on road making
through the Parihaka district. Their chief delight was to raid the
road-makers' piles of broken metal and scatter it, broadcast, from their
well-constructed heaps.

Before I left Tauranga an incident occurred which appealed to me very
much as an instance of the curious ways of Providence. I was riding back
one afternoon after visiting some of the country patrols. I had filled my
pipe, but discovered that I had no matches. Presently I noticed, on the
right-hand side of the road amidst the bracken, a very humble abode. As a
matter of fact, it was just what was then known as a "lean-to," the
preliminary stage of the farmhouses that were then being built by the
settlers. These "lean-tos" were, in the first instance used for living
purposes. Later on, when the front parts of the houses were built, they
became the kitchens and domestic offices. The building was only some four
hundred yards from the road, so I turned in to get a light for my pipe. I
noticed, as I was getting near, that a man was standing on a step-ladder,
apparently doing some painting. He looked down on me from his ladder as I
approached. Then I saw that instead of painting he was engaged in tarring
the roof of the building. He was evidently an amateur tar-man. The bucket
which held the tar was tied on to the ladder below him. The roof he was
tarring was a little above him, with the result that he himself was
fairly covered with sprinklings of the tar. As he possessed a pair of
somewhat large whiskers and his head was uncovered, he presented a quaint
appearance. After greetings, I ventured to ask if he could supply me with
a few matches.

As he turned and looked down on me from his perch on the ladder, I
recognized an old friend at whose beautiful country house in the county
of Cork in Ireland I had spent many, many happy hours when I was
quartered at Carlisle Fort. I cou