176 Voyage of the Novara. 



At last, on 8tli January, the frigate left the harbour of 

 Auckland. Just as the sails were let fall, some boats made 

 their appearance crowded with friends, who presented us 

 with a last bouquet, ere we went on our way. There was 

 also a boat with several natives, and the Vicar-General, who 

 wished to saddle us with some wonderfully tattooed Catholic 

 Maories, anxious apparently that Protestant Maories should 

 not alone be shipped. The zealous father brought with 

 him a, letter from the Catholic Bishop, Pompallier, and was 

 so intent ujDon his mission that despite the somewhat rapid 



metropolis, and all the manners and ciistoms of European civilized life. Of all the 

 numerous sights that must have astonished their unaccustomed senses, there was 

 none that seemed to have made a more powerful impression than the Railway^ 

 " the most splendid evidence of the powers of the foreigners, compared with which 

 all others are unimportant, and which they earnestly trust will soon be introduced 

 into New Zealand." The culmination of their visit to Vienna consisted in a visit 

 they paid to their Majesties in the Imperial Palace, by whom they were received 

 with the most gracious consideration, and orders issued that they should receive a 

 handsome present, and have their return to their native coimtry defrayed at the 

 Government cost. On 26th May, 1860, the two New Zealanders quitted Vienna, 

 and travelled through Germany to London, where they stayed several weeks, were 

 presented to the Queen, and embarked at Southampton for Auckland direct. They 

 arrived in safety at home, and have since then repeatedly written to their friends and 

 associates in Vienna. The style of these epistles is in the highly figurative style pecu- 

 liar to New Zealand. They abound in repetitions, and arenot very inventive in round- 

 ing their sentences or giving their impressions, though they occasionally surprise the 

 reader by the tenderness and poetic fervour of their thoughts. Thus, for example, 

 Toe-toe writes once from Vienna to one of the Expedition resident at Tiieste : " Thou 

 art at Trieste, on the sea-shore ! We climbed the Leopold Berg, — thence to descry 

 the clouds which floated over Styria. Trieste we could not see, for our eyes were 

 veiled by the tears which flowed from them !" The news we have received of Toe- 

 toe since have been rather distressing. He issues from the press, presented to him 

 at Vienna, stirring publications, comparing the Maories to Pharaoh (?) and exciting 

 them to declare their independence ! 



