424 NEW ZEALAND. [chap. xvm. 



at Tahiti all were formerly obliged to uncover themselves as low 

 as the waist in presence of the king. 



The ceremony of pressing noses having been duly completed 

 with all present, we seated ourselves in a circle in the front of 

 one of the hovels, and rested there half-an-hour. All the hovels 

 have nearly the same form and dimensions, and all agree in 

 being filthily dirty. They resemble a cow-shed with one end 

 open, but having a partition a little way within, with a square 

 hole in it, making a small gloomy chamber. In this the inha- 

 bitants keep all their property, and when the weather is cold 

 they sleep there. They eat, however, and pass their time in the 

 open part in front. My guides having finished their pipes, we 

 continued our walk. The path led through the same undulating 

 country, the whole uniformly clothed as before with fern. On 

 our right hand we had a serpentine river, the banks of which were 

 fringed with trees, and here and there on the hill sides there was 

 a clump of wood. The whole scene, in spite of its green colour, 

 had rather a desolate aspect. The sight of so much fern im- 

 presses the mind with an idea of sterility : this, however, is not 

 correct ; for wherever the fern grows thick and breast-high, the 

 land by tillage becomes productive. Some of the residents 

 think that all this extensive open country originally was covered 

 with forests, and that it has been cleared by fire. It is said, that 

 by digging in the barest spots, lumps of the kind of resin which 

 flows from the kauri pine are frequently found. The natives 

 nad an evident motive in clearing the country ; for the fern, 

 formerly a staple article of food, flourishes only in the open 

 cleared tracks. The almost entire absence of associated grasses, 

 which forms so remarkable a feature in the vegetation of this 

 island, may perhaps be accounted for by the land having been 

 aboriginally covered with forest-trees. 



The soil is volcanic ; in several parts we passed over slaggy 

 lavas, and craters could clearly be distinguished on several of 

 the neighbouring hills. Although the scenery £g nowhere beau- 

 tiful, and only occasionally pretty, I enjoyed my walk. I should 

 have enjoyed it more, if my companion, the chief, had not pos- 

 sessed extraordinary conversational powers. I knew only three 

 words ; " good," " bad," and " yes :" and with these I answered 

 a\\ his remarks, without of course having understood one word 



