New Years Eve — The Soulhern Cross. 167 



how to ascertain the precise moment of its departure, as most 

 of those present had left their watches behind, as a something 

 more than superfluous article in the course of a forest excur- 

 sion, and the few which had been brought differed so much, 

 that it was impossible to dej^end upon them for the correct 

 moment at which the old year sank to his rest, and the new 

 began his course of alternate hopes and alarms, joys and 

 griefs. 



'' Suddenly Captain Drummond Hay rose, and opening the 

 door, which, as in most Maori huts, faced the south, exclaimed : 

 ^ Well, we have neither church clock nor night watch to 

 tell us the exact moment when the year changes, but a 

 bountiful Providence has suspended for us in yonder firma- 

 ment another and an unerring sentinel of night and time : — the 

 constellation of the Southern Cross ! During how many sleep- 

 less nights, among the forest^or fern-covered plains of New 

 Zealand, have I lain gazing at that never-failing time-piece of 

 the Almighty's own handiwork ! See, the Cross begins to bend 

 to the west ! It must now be midnight. A happy new year 

 to one and all ! ' Once more the glasses clinked against each 

 other, and hand locked in hand, after which the shades of 

 night were left to gather round our wearied party, who sunk 

 into sound repose, relieved probably by many a cheering 

 vision of distant friends. 



'' The follovring morning, 1st January, 1859, we all rose 

 early, refreshed for the day's work, and found the entire popu- 

 lation of the village collected around us. There were also a 



