72 THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE. [PART I. 



European settlements on the coast, either for the 

 purpose of trading or to see what the pakea 

 (stranger) is doing. I have scarcely ever been at 

 a settlement where I did not meet visitors from 

 distant parts of the country. These occasional visits 

 are probably as useful to the natives, and tend as 

 much to their real improvement, as a constant re- 

 sidence with the white people would do : they have 

 an insatiable curiosity to know and see every- 

 thing that is going on, and an equal eagerness to 

 communicate it to others. In this manner news 

 and information of every description make their 

 tour through the island, carried from tribe to tribe 

 by oral communication. They are excellent ob- 

 servers ; they soon discover the weak points of body 

 or mind in others ; and although they regard us as 

 vastly superior to themselves, they soon become 

 sensible of the evils our civilization carries with it. 

 The points they find the most difficulty in under- 

 standing are the different grades into which our 

 society is divided, and the poverty and misery under 

 which some of our classes labour, while others seem 

 to lead a life of abundance and idleness. 



It is well known that the inhabitants of New 

 Zealand are divided into numerous tribes, who live 

 dispersed over the country, both on the coast and in 

 the interior ; and, indeed, almost every powerful 

 family has its own designation. These tribes are 

 apportioned into the following large divisions : 



I. Rarewa, who live between the North Cape 



