Maori Caivcd Houses. 



33 



to grow above the shelter of stone walls, and even in the charming city of Wellington 

 there are storms of wind and rain that make a tight house necessar}^ for comfort. On 

 the northern island where the climate passes into the subtropical, the houses of the 

 aborigines are still well enclosed against the weather. In the King Country, on the 

 Wanganui River, I have seen houses such as Cook describes, and others with more or 

 less carved ornamentation. At Ohinemutu in the Hot Spring district are good examples 



FIG. 25. A MAORI HOUSE. 



of the carved houses. All of the illustrations are of houses or parts of houses that I 

 have seen, and many of the houses I have examined with some care. I will give one 

 more description of the Maori house in modern time, and it will be seen that there is 

 little difference from the pictures left us by the first discoverers, so far as the general 

 plan is concerned. In the matter of decoration there has undoubtably crept in 

 unmistakable traces of foreign influence, but this is of little importance if we know 

 the fact. The most modern as well as the most complete description of the dwellings 

 of the Maori has been given by Mr. Augustus Hamilton,"^ but to his admirable work 



'■•The Art Workmanship of the Maori Race in New Zealand. Dunedin, 1896, p. 79. Published by the New 

 Zealand Institute. 



Memoirs B. P. B. Museum. Vol. II, No. 3. — 3. 



[217] 



