CHAP. XXIV.] LAKE TAUPO. 361 



more than 3200, including those at Rotu-Aire. 

 The general name of the tribes is the Nga-te-tua- 

 retoa. Their principal points of communication are 

 the coast at Otaki, a settlement of the Nga-te-rau- 

 kaua, and at the mouths of the Manawatu and 

 Wanganui, in Cook's Straits. With the natives of 

 the latter place their communications have more 

 frequently been hostile than friendly. They attacked 

 them in 1840, but were repelled with great loss; 

 and, as already mentioned, they had again gone 

 thither with hostile intentions. The Church mis- 

 sionaries have a few native catechists here, and 

 Christianity is beginning to spread amongst them. 

 Heu Heu, the principal chief on the lake, told Mr. 

 Chapman, at his last visit, that he would only have 

 one more fight with the tribe at Wanganui, to settle 

 his old grievances, then make a durable peace, settle 

 down, and "believe." The natives whom I met 

 were decidedly the best specimens of the race that 

 I had seen in New Zealand, and excelled in their 

 hospitality towards strangers, in prudent attention 

 to their own affairs, in cleanliness and health, most 

 of those who live on the coasts, and who have 

 become converts to Christianity. I shall always 

 remember with gratitude the manner in which we 

 were treated by Te Heu Heu's brother, a grey-headed 

 old man, who, in the absence of the chief, held the 

 highest authority over the tribe. 



In regard to the animal kingdom, the centre of 

 the island is as scantily provided as the rest. The 



