VILLAGE OF KORORAREKA. 89 



They afford a striking- contrast to the wretched 

 specimens of Australian aborigines one occasionally 

 sees in the streets of Sydney. Many of the men 

 are athletic and well made^ and in their g-ait and 

 expression exhibit much manliness of character. 

 The faces of some of the principal people present 

 good specimens of elaborate tattooing". The women 

 appear strange fig'ures fi'om their ungainly modern 

 dresS; consisting merely of a loose smock of calico^ 

 fastened at the neck and wrists. Some were toler- 

 ably handsome (according to our notions of female 

 beauty); and among them were several half castes. 

 Their fashion of dressing the hair is curious^ — in 

 front it is cut short in a line across the forehead^ but is 

 allowed to grow long behind. We met AVaka Nene, 

 a Maorie chief, possessing considerable influence^ 

 especially in the neighbouring district of Hokianga^ 

 who, by siding with the English during the war, 

 rendered such important services that the Govern- 

 ment rewarded him with a pension of £100 per 

 annum, and a house in Kororareka. Besides this 

 he owns a small vessel or two employed in the 

 coasting trade. I peeped into the hut of one of his 

 people. A small entrance served the combined 

 purposes of door, window, and chimney, the roof 

 was so low as to preclude one from standing upright 

 inside, a small fire was burning in the centre of the 

 earthen floor, and a heap of mats and blankets in 

 one corner pointed out a sleeping place. 



Behind Kororareka one of a series of hills over- 



