420 KAURI PINES. [chap, xviii. 



contrast with the women of the filthy hovels In Kororadika. 

 The wives of the missionaries tried to persuade them not 

 to be tattooed ; but a famous operator having arrived from 

 the south, they said, "We really must just have a few 

 lines on our lips ; else when we grow old, our lips will 

 shrivel, and we shall be so very ugly." There is not nearly 

 so much tattooing as formerly ; but as it is a badge of 

 distinction between the chief and the slave. It will probably 

 long be practised. So soon does any train of ideas become 

 habitual, that the missionaries told me that even in their 

 eyes a plain face looked mean, and not like that of a New 

 Zealand gentleman. 



Late in the evening I went to Mr. Williams's house, 

 where I passed the night. I found there a large party of 

 children, collected together for Christmas-day, and all 

 sitting round a table at tea. 1 never saw a nicer or more 

 merry group ; and to think that this was in the centre of 

 the land of cannibalism, murder, and all atrocious crimes I 

 The cordiality and happiness so plainly pictured in the 

 faces of the little circle, appeared equally felt by the older 

 persons of the mission. 



December 2^th. — In the morning prayers were read in 

 the native tongue to the whole family. After breakfast I 

 rambled about the gardens and farm. This was a market- 

 day, when the natives of the surrounding hamlets bring 

 their potatoes, Indian corn, or pigs, to exchange for 

 blankets, tobacco, and sometimes, through the persuasions 

 of the missionaries, for soap. Mr. Davies's eldest son, 

 who manages a farm of his own, is the man of business 

 in the market. The children of the missionaries, who 

 came while young to the Island, understand the language 

 better than their parents, and can get anything more 

 readily done by the natives. 



A little before noon Messrs. Williams and Davles walked 

 with me to part of a neighbouring forest, to show me the 

 famous kauri pine. I measured one of these noble trees, 

 and found it thirty-one feet In circumference above the 

 roots. There was another close by, which I did not see, 

 thirty-three feet ; and I heard of one no less than forty feet. 

 These trees are remarkable for their smooth cylindrical 

 boles, which run up to a height of sixty, and even ninety 

 feet, with a nearly equal diameter, and without a single 

 branch. The crown of branches at the summit is out 

 of all proportion small to the trunk ; and the leaves are 



