28 THE GBTJI8E OF THE 'OUItAgOA.' 



wear a kind of pinafore, which covers their breasts and 

 reaches to the skirt. Like the men, too, though exceptions 

 are to be found among these, they wear their hair short ; I 

 did not see a single instance to the contrary. They are 

 well made, have splendid teeth, and soft hands with delicate 

 taper fingers. In the course of my ramble I met a young 

 woman fit to be, from head to foot, a model for a sculptor ; 

 never did I see anything like or even approaching it in 

 New Zealand. 



These people, so well knit, vigorous, and active, are 

 endowed with an intelligence which makes them easily 

 receptive of instruction. Not a single pagan exists any 

 longer in tlie island, and nearly everybody knows how to 

 read and write, thanks to the schools established in each 

 village. 



The language has a great affinity to that of Hawaii, so 

 much so that the ten first numerals are almost identical in 

 the two languages, and that many substantives are precisely 

 similar : as, for instance, ihu, nose ; vavae, leg ; lima, hand ; 

 mate, death, &c. 



It appears that they were once ferocious in their wars, 

 though there is reason to believe they never were canni- 

 bals. Their principal arms were spears, tomahawks, and 

 missiles made of the stalagmites, rounded by the action 

 of water, to which I have already referred. The form of 

 government was formerly aristocratic or feudal ; but in a 

 revolt at a comparatively recent period, the chiefs were all 



