VILLAGE OF KORORAREKA. 89 



They aiford a striking- contrast to the wretched 

 specimens of Australian aborigines one occasionally 

 sees in the streets of Sydney. Many of the men 

 are athletic and well made^ and in their gait and 

 expression exhibit much manliness of character. 

 The faces of some of the principal people present 

 good specimens- of elaborate tattooing'. The women 

 appear strange figures from their ungainly modern 

 dress, consisting merely of a loose smock of calico, 

 fastened at the neck and wrists. Some were toler- 

 ably handsome (according to our notions of female 

 beauty)/ and among them were several half castes. 

 Their fashion of dressing the hair is curious, — in 

 front it is cut short in a line across the forehead, but is 

 allowed to grow long behind. WemetWaka Nene, 

 a Maorie chief, possessing considerable influence, 

 especially in the neighbouring district of Hokianga, 

 w ho, by siding with the English during the war, 

 rendered such important services that the Govern- 

 ment rewarded him with a pension of £100 per 

 annum, and a house in Kororareka. Besides this 

 he owns a small vessel or two employed in the 

 coasting trade. I peeped into the hut of one of his 

 people. A small entrance served the combined 

 purposes of door, window, and chimnej', the roof 

 was so low as to preclude one from standing upright 

 inside, a small fire was burning in the centre of the 

 earthen floor, and a heap of mats and blankets in 

 one corner pointed out a sleeping place. 



Behind Kororareka one of a series of hills over- 



