450 NEW ZEALAND 



expression than this man had. It immediately struck me I 

 had somewhere seen his hkeness : it will be found in Retzch's 

 outlines to Schiller's ballad of Fridolin, where two men are 

 pushing Robert into the burning iron furnace. It is the man 

 who has his arm on Robert's breast. Physiognomy here spoke 

 the truth ; this chief had been a notorious murderer, and was 

 an arrant coward to boot. At the point where the boat landed 

 Mr. Bushby accompanied me a few hundred yards on the 

 road : I could not help admiring the cool impudence of the 

 hoary old villain, whom we left lying in the boat, when he 

 shouted to Mr. Bushby, " Do not you stay long, I shall be 

 tired of waiting here." 



We now commenced our walk. The road lay along a 

 well-beaten path, bordered on each side by the tall fern which 

 covers the whole country. After travelling some miles we came 

 to a little country village, where a few hovels were collected 

 together, and some patches of ground cultivated with potatoes. 

 The introduction of the potato has been the most essential 

 benefit to the island ; it is now much more used than any native 

 vegetable. New Zealand is favoured by one great natural 

 advantage ; namely, that the inhabitants can never perish from 

 famine. The whole country abounds with fern ; and the roots 

 of this plant, if not very palatable, yet contain much nutriment. 

 A native can always subsist on these, and on the shell-fish which 

 are abundant on all parts of the sea-coast. The villages are 

 chiefly conspicuous by the platforms which are raised on four 

 posts ten or twelve feet above the ground, and on which the 

 produce of the fields is kept secure from all accidents. 



On coming near one of the huts I was much amused by 

 seeing in due form the ceremony of rubbing, or, as it ought to 

 be called, pressing noses. The women, on our first approach, 

 began uttering something in a most dolorous voice ; they then 

 squatted themselves down and held up their faces ; my companion 

 standing over them, one after another, placed the bridge of his 

 nose at right angles to theirs, and commenced pressing. This 

 lasted rather longer than a cordial shake of the hand with us ; 

 and as we vary the force of the grasp of the hand in shaking, 

 so do they in pressing. During the process they uttered 

 comfortable little grunts, very much in the same manner as two 

 pigs do when rubbing against each other. I noticed that the 



