WoHLEBS. — Civiiizatioa 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 Euapuke 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 

 I had 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. 

 I 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. 



I 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. 



