Skinner. — Notes on Marsland Hill. 211 



historical Buddha (the Gautama) taught that he was one of a 

 long series of Buddhas who appear at intervals in the world, 

 and all teach the same doctrines. After the death of each Buddha 

 his religion flourishes for a time and then decays, and is at last 

 completely forgotten, until a new Buddha appears, who again 

 preaches the lost truth (or Dharma). The next Buddha will be 

 Maitraya Buddha, " the Buddha of Kindness." In many he is 

 holding the urn of wisdom. At a future time I would like to 

 have more to say on the subject ; I would only observe now 

 that it seems somewhat strange in all cases I have come across 

 the urn is made of a different piece of metal, and fits into the 

 hands by a pin. It cannot be on account of the difficulty of 

 casting, for I have seen some far more intricate ; in fact, I have 

 some bronzes myself from Japan that are so beautifully made 

 that the idea of its being beyond the skill of the old Chinese 

 masters to make the urn in one piece with the Buddha is not 

 to be thought of. Probably it was done so that the urn may be 

 taken out on certain occasions and something else put in. All 

 the ornamentation has it's uses and reasons, in the same way as 

 the prescribed dress of the Jewish priesthood, or our Catholic 

 and Episcopal clergy. 



Some day a paper might be read on the Buddhist dress ; but 

 this present paper was merely intended to be a few notes on the 

 making of an image of Buddha and the methods of casting. 



Art. XL — Notes on Marsland Hill. 



By W. H. Skinner, New Plymouth. 

 [Bead before the Manawatu Philosophical Society, 15th September, 1904.] 



Prefatory Kemarks. 



There is probably no spot in New Plymouth and its neighbour- 

 hood that the memories of the earlier pioneer and his children 

 so universally cling to as Marsland Hill, as in the days of the 

 fierce struggle, when British supremacy practically hung in the 

 balance, this spot was their city of refuge : hallowed in no 

 small degree by the old stone church at its base, which for nearly 

 sixty years has been the silent witness of the din of battle as 

 well as the blessings of peace, whilst on its sombre walls inside 

 are hung mementoes of regiments taking part in the turmoil of 

 those stormy clays of long ago. Here also sleep many of the 

 heroes who fell, and the lonely graves of these brave men bring 

 back to mind deeds of valour, many of which are almost for- 

 gotten, or at any rate find no place in the pages of history. 



