Wouters.—(ivilization of Southern Maoris, 125 
Testament had been translated into Maori, and some copies had found their 
way hither. Some of the young people were learning to read and to write; 
yet none were so far as to understand the meaning. It was as much 
as they could do, like children just learning to read, to spell out the 
words. It will be seen, therefore, that I found a “ field here white for the 
harvest.”’ 
When landing at Ruapuke I was taken to the house of the principal 
chief, named Tuhawaiki, commonly called Bloody Jack. The chief himself 
was absent northward—I had met him at Banks Peninsula—but the house 
was full of his relatives. A sort of bedstead was provided for me to sleep 
on, but several persons slept on the floor close by. This did well enough 
for a few days, but it could not go on so for long, or I should lose my 
civilization. I wanted a house for myself alone, and the Maoris were kind 
enough to put up one for me. It was fourteen feet by nine. The walls 
were four feet high. The whole structure, walls and roof, was thatched 
with grass and looked like a heap of hay. Herein, then, I lived like a 
hermit ; but I had always visitors from morning till evening. By and by 
I found that I could not keep up cleanliness in the house as it was. First 
Thad to make a chimney to let the smoke out. I cut a hole through the 
roof, put up a frame of wood and sticks and plastered that over with pre- 
pared clay. When that was done I made a fire and went out to see, and 
lo! the smoke curled up out of my chimney as in a civilized place. 
Then, little by little, I took away grass from the walls, put more wood and 
Sticks in and made clay walls. I also plastered over the insides of the 
roof. My visitors all the time looked and wondered, none offered to help. 
T had brought with me a small parcel of very small panes of window glass, 
not much larger than cardpaper, for convenient carrying. Now I made a 
Window frame with my pocket knife, and so got a window. In order to 
keep the house free from fleas, which my visitors brought me in great 
abundance, I procured some planks and made a floor. I also partitioned 
off a sleeping place, to keep the visitors with their fleas away from my bed. 
The house being now a little refined, visitors were no longer allowed to go 
to sleep in it, nor to stay over long. When a set of them left I took the 
broom and swept the fleas out after them. : | 
T must needs speak a little of myself, because I am so mixed up with 
the recent history of these southern Maoris, and my actions, trifling as 
they may Seem, were not without influence. By the time the spring season 
came round I had fenced in a potatoe garden, and in it, just before my 
window, I planted a flower garden. My visitors always liked to look 
through the glass of my window, and by and by when the flowers were in 
bloom it raised their admiration, 
