424 NEW ZEALAND. {cuap. xviii. 
at Tahiti all were formerly obliged to uncover themselves as low 
as the waist in presence of the king. 
The ceremony of pressing noses having been duly completed 
with all present, we seated ourselves in a circle in the front of 
one of the hovels, and rested there half-an-hour. All the hovels 
have nearly the same form and dimensions, and all agree in 
being filthily dirty. They resemble a cow-shed with one end 
open, but having a partition a little way within, with a square 
hole in it, making a small gloomy chamber. In this the inha- 
bitants keep all their property, and when the weather is cold 
they sleep there. They eat, however, and pass their time in the 
open part in front. My guides having finished their pipes, we 
continued our walk. The path led through the same undulating 
country, the whole uniformly clothed as before with fern. On 
our right hand we had a serpentine river, the banks of which were 
fringed with trees, and here and there on the hill sides there was 
a clump of wood. The whole scene, in spite of its green colour, 
had rather a desolate aspect. The sight of so much fern im- 
presses the mind with an idea of sterility: this, however, is not 
correct ; for wherever the fern grows thick and breast-high, the 
land by tillage becomes productive. ‘Some of the residents 
think that all this extensive open country originally was covered 
with forests, and that it has been cleared by fire. It is said, that 
by digging in the barest spots, lumps of the kind of resin which 
flows from the kauri pine are’ frequently found. The natives 
had an evident motive in clearing the country; for the fern, 
formerly a staple article of food, flourishes ‘only in the open 
cleared tracks. The almost entire absence of associated grasses, 
which forms so remarkable a feature in the vegetation of this 
island, may perhaps be accounted for by the land having been 
aboriginally covered with forest-trees. 
The soil is volcanic; in several parts we passed over slaggy 
lavas, and craters could clearly be distinguished on several of 
the neighbouring hills. Although the scenery is nowhere beau- 
tiful, and only occasionally pretty, I enjoyed my walk.. I should 
have enjoyed it more, if my companion, the chief, had not pos- 
sessed extraordinary conversational powers. I knew only three 
words ; “ good,” “bad,” and “yes:” and with these I answered 
all his remarks, without of course having understood one word 
