454 NEW ZEALAND chap. 



Late in the evening I went to Mr. Williams's house, where 

 I passed the night. I found there a large party of children, 

 collected together for Christmas Day, and all sitting round a 

 table at tea. I never saw a nicer or more merry group ; and 

 to think that this was in the centre of the land of cannibalism, 

 murder, and all atrocious crimes ! The cordiality and happiness 

 so plainly pictured in the faces of the little circle appeared 

 equally felt by the older persons of the mission. 



December 24///. — In the morning prayers were read in the 

 native tongue to the whole family. After breakfast I rambled 

 about the gardens and farm. This was a market-day, when 

 the natives of the surrounding hamlets bring their potatoes, 

 Indian corn, or pigs, to exchange for blankets, tobacco, and 

 sometimes, through the persuasions of the missionaries, for 

 soap. Mr. Davies's eldest son, who manages a farm of his 

 own, is the man of business in the market. The children of 

 the missionaries, who came while young to the island, under- 

 stand the language better than their parents, and can get 

 anything more readily done by the natives. 



A little before noon Messrs. Williams and Davies walked 

 with me to part of a neighbouring forest, to show me the 

 famous kauri pine. I measured one of these noble trees, and 

 found it thirty-one feet in circumference above the roots. There 

 was another close by, which I did not see, thirty-three feet ; 

 and I heard of one no less than forty feet. These trees are 

 remarkable for their smooth cylindrical boles, which run up to 

 a height of sixty, and even ninety feet, with a nearly equal 

 diameter, and without a single branch. The crown of branches 

 at the summit is out of all proportion small to the trunk ; and 

 the leaves are likewise small compared with the branches. The 

 forest was here almost composed of the kauri ; and the largest 

 trees, from the parallelism of their sides, stood up like gigantic 

 columns of wood. The timber of the kauri is the most 

 valuable production of the island ; moreover, a quantity of 

 resin oozes from the bark, which is sold at a penny a pound 

 to the Americans, but its use was then unknown. Some of 

 the New Zealand forests must be impenetrable to an extra- 

 ordinary degree. Mr. Matthews informed me that one forest 

 only thirty-four miles in width, and separating two inhabited 



