WoutErs.—Civilization of Southern Maoris. 129 
and ruled over by Christian fathers. I do not say that these fathers were 
regenerated Christians ; but they were born and had grown up in Christian 
countries, had got used to civilized habits, and, as sailors, had learned dis- 
cipline. The mothers in such families, had, therefore, better food, better 
clothing, better dwellings, than the other women of their race who had 
Maori husbands. This raised their minds to a higher level of humanity. 
They got self-respect. This made them willing to fall in with the discipline 
of their husband. They became healthier and had more children. 
Such chaste, soul-ennobling love, as exists in refined Christian societies, 
was at that time unknown among the Maoris. All marriages were treated 
as political affairs. The tribal divisions were subdivided again and again, 
‘to mere parties. Such parties had many things in common. Now 
marriages among the young people, if left to themselves, might be to the 
advantage of one party and the disadvantage of another. There were rights 
to be considered. Therefore the councils of the parties, in which all free 
men and women had voices, decided how people should marry. On the 
Same wise were some of the girls given away to become wives of the 
Pakehas among them—not without a consideration. 
The minds of the Pakeha Maori wives were affected by the agitation of 
the conversion among the Maoris; the half-caste children were so lovely as 
“to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to 
the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 
When a mother with her children had been baptized, and the blessings of 
a Christian marriage pronounced over father and mother, then all felt so 
happy that now they formed a Christian family. 
It was a time of revival here then, and as such a happy time, but it was 
& poor time in temporal affairs. It was asif we had been left and forgotten 
in this out-of-the-way corner of the world. The whales and the seals had 
been exterminated, and it did not pay any longer for ships to come this 
way. Wellington, at Cook Strait, was the nearest civilized settlement, 
and that was far away. The communication was by Maori boats from 
Place to place along the coast. It took about two years before my clothes 
and books, which I had left at Nelson, found their way to Ruapuke, and it 
was a marvel that they arrived at all. Correspondence here was not so 
easily carried on then as it is now. When I wrote home to Germany, it 
took two years and a half before I could receive an answer. I lived, when 
not travelling, like a hermit, cultivated my food and cooked it myself; did 
also my washing. When I could get no flour, then cooked peas were a good 
Substitate for bread. I also tried to introduce the cultivation of peas 
among the Maoris, who needed such nutritious food, but could not succeed ; 
the time for industry had not yet come. 
