CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH 273 



placed where wanted without cost or care. Slips as thick as a man's 

 wrist, and of sufficient height to stand above reach of cattle, thrust 

 into suitable soil, will in a few years provide a fine circumference of 

 shade. It is the harbinger of spring, the verdure of its pendent 

 trailers bearing promise to the struggling settler of warmth returned, 

 grass-growth, and lambs on hillsides once more green. Bare of leaves 

 for only six or seven weeks of the year, this exquisitely graceful tree 

 has become in the north at any rate almost an evergreen. The 

 growth of the weeping - willow, in fact, is so rapid, its vitality so 

 exuberant, that, had it not perforce remained celibate, the waterways 

 of the colony would have been seriously affected. The old-world origin 

 of our New Zealand groves is, as stated, the celebrated tree growing 

 over Napoleon's tomb at St Helena. From it cuttings were brought 

 to the Bay of Islands Mission Station by two English ladies Mrs 

 Malcolm, wife of Admiral Malcolm, and Mrs Abel. 1 These ladies, 

 reaching New Zealand by one of the sailing ships which in the 

 early part of last century were accustomed to call at St Helena, 

 presented a box full of small rooted twigs to Henry, afterwards Arch- 

 deacon Henry Williams. His daughter, Mrs Davies now a venerable 

 lady of ninety - nine, to whom I am indebted for the anecdote of 

 Napoleon and for other information recollects well the circumstance 

 of her father's call on the newly - arrived ship, and his enthusiasm 

 over his cuttings. 2 From the Bay of Islands the willow spread 

 south. 



Reaching the Meanee Mission Station in Hawke's Bay, a slip was 

 taken by Colenso, who planted it at Tangoio, where in '85 a willow- 

 tree grew measuring over seven feet in diameter. From Tangoio a slip 

 was carried to Tutira and planted on the pa Te Rewa. That tree is 

 dead, but its branches have populated the station. In the 'seventies the 

 Stuart Brothers and Kiernan had begun that planting which has since so 

 beautified the place. Trees were still, however, in the 'eighties, few and 



1 Mrs Abel had a small daughter on board. This child had been a favourite of Napoleon ; 

 with her at St Helena he used to play, even apparently to romp, if such a skittish term can 

 be applied to the movements of the Man of Destiny. On one occasion, at any rate, the girl 

 during their play managed to capture his sword, exclaiming in glee, as a child might, that she 

 had done alone what the nations of Europe had leagued to accomplish. Napoleon never forgot 

 this speech, or cared again to play with the child. 



2 There are probably willows of the same descent in England also. Major-General Smith, 

 to whom this book is dedicated, when returning from service abroad, recollects brother officers 

 having to make restitution of slips clandestinely gathered from St Helena ; doubtless, however, 

 all offenders were not detected by the sentinel on guard. 



