412 MATA-MATA. [PART II. 



site piece of sculpture, and we all admired it greatly. 

 Some of the houses also are finely carved. I under- 

 stood that the heathen natives are inclined to be- 

 come Piki-po, or Roman Catholics. In several 

 cases some members of a family have become Pro- 

 testants and the others Papists, merely, as it would 

 seem, from a motive of opposition. 



The natives at Mata-mata and Tapiri belong to 

 the tribe Nga-te-hauwa, a subdivision of the large 

 Waikato tribe, and amount to about 1500 people. 

 They were constantly at war with the Nga-te-Wa- 

 kaua at Muketti and Rotu-rua, and with the Nga- 

 te-Paoa, at Puriri, in the Gulf of Hauraki. But 

 last year they concluded a peace with the latter ; in 

 confirmation of which a feast was given, at which 

 two hundred pigs were killed and eaten. 



There was formerly a mission-station at Mata- 

 mata, and the house, although half in ruins, is still 

 standing ; in the garden European fruit-trees, roses, 

 asparagus, and other vegetables, have run wild, and 

 the strawberry is spreading over .the country. The 

 station was deserted by the missionary in conse- 

 quence of a misunderstanding between him and the 

 natives. There is a European trader living at Mata- 

 mata, whom the natives supply plentifully with 

 pigs, which he sends to Tauranga. 



At mata-Mata the soil is very fertile in conse- 

 quence of the woods not having yet been destroyed. 

 The plain is here well adapted for the cultivation of 

 grain, and I was much pleased to see the natives 



