36 JOURNAL OF A NATURALIST 
beautiful long-fronded and pendulous Moss (174) grew soli- 
tarily in the sides of ravines in these damp woods. I could, 
however, only detect a single specimen bearing capsules; two 
were on it, one of which, with some barren fronds, I send 
you. gathered specimens of other Mosses (182, 183) 
which appeared to be scarce, and of a very large-leaved 
Jungermannia (186), and of a small decumbent plant without 
flower or fruit (180). 
About noon, to our very great surprise, our runaway guide 
overtook us, bearing a large basket of fine potatoes on his 
shoulders, for which he had purposely gone back all the way 
to Waikare, in that heavy rain, in order that we might not 
suffer from hunger. I could not but applaud the man’s kind 
consideration, whilst I disapproved of his leaving us in the 
manner he did, without saying a syllable as to the object of 
his returning. "This, however, is quite in keeping with the 
national character of the New Zealander. Prompted inces- 
santly by an ever-restless and indomitably independent prin- 
ciple of doing some capricious work of supererogation, 
their defined duties are left unperformed, they often sadly 
try to the utmost the patience of those by whom they are em- 
ployed. In their own language they have a word (pokanoa), 
which, while it fully conveys the force and meaning of the 
foregoing remark, is, from the frequency of the occurrence of 
such behaviour, in daily if not hourly use by every native of 
New Zealand. Nor is this capricious way of acting confined to 
those who are still in their novitiate ; on the contrary, those 
who may have been for years in your employ are equally, if - 
not more prone to such conduct. At two P.M., we arrived at 
Ruatahuna, a small village, surrounded on all sides by dense 
forests, where we were hospitably received. "The natives 
soon cooked us some potatoes, on which we made a very 
hearty meal. 
I remained for three days at this village, during which my 
whole time was fully occupied with the natives. On the 
morning of the 4th we again recommenced our journey. 
Our route, at first, lay over very high and steep hills, clothed 
