CHAP. XXVI.] MISSION-STATION. 391 



figure bears the name of some tupuna, or ancestor, 

 and the whole is actually a carved history. Nowhere 

 in New Zealand have I seen anything that could 

 be regarded as an idol, although some persons have 

 said that such exist. This absence of all carved 

 gods among the New Zealanders appeared to me a 

 very attractive trait in their national character. 

 They are too much the children of nature, and 

 perhaps too intellectual, to adore wooden images 

 or animals, and I often heard the heathen natives 

 deride the pewter images of the Holy Virgin which 

 the Roman Catholic priests have brought into the 

 country. They are superstitious, it is true, but not 

 more so than we should expect as the result of the 

 influence with which their mind is instinctively 

 filled by the powers of Nature. What a noble 

 material to work with for the purpose of leading 

 them towards civilization ! Within the pa some 

 were busy carving, or working at canoes, whilst 

 others enjoyed the dolce far niente. The whole 

 scene was complete in itself, and singularly inter- 

 esting. Comparing the upstart settlements of mis- 

 sionary natives with this old heathen pa, the former 

 really look extremely miserable and tame. 



The mission-station is on the eastern shore of 

 the lake. About 150 natives, who have become 

 Christians, have built themselves houses there. A 

 valley runs from the station to the eastward, and in 

 several places is rich and fertile. In its upper part, 

 about three miles from the mission-houses, are more 



