412 NEW ZEALAND. 



much spoken of by voyagers, were to be seen. There appeared to 

 be little carving recently done, in comparison with former times. 

 They are said to have improved in the construction of their houses ; 

 but there is still great room for improvement, before they can vie 

 with any of the other islanders we have visited. Their food consists 

 principally of the potato, fish, kumara, or sweet-potato, Indian corn, 

 and fern-root, which is found throughout the country. The kumara 

 is much smaller and inferior in quality to those grown in the other 

 Polynesian isles. Here it is a small watery root, and is generally 

 disliked by foreigners. It is preserved in houses constructed for the 

 purpose, to prevent the depredations of the rats. These are built on 

 four posts, which are scraped exceedingly smooth, and are only 

 entered by a single slanting post. One of these houses is represented 

 in the drawing. The roots are also suspended beneath these houses 

 in large baskets. 



Fish are taken with hooks and nets, and are dried and laid by for 

 use. They also eat a clam, which they call pipi. Hogs and poultry 

 are raised in abundance, for their own use and the supply of ships. 

 They have, as I before stated, peaches, as well as many small berries, 

 and iti a few years they will have all the fruits of the temperate zone 

 introduced by settlers. They formerly ate their fish raw, or cooked 

 with the kumara, after the Polynesian fashion, in the ground, with 

 hot stones ; but now they use an iron pot, in which all their food is 

 boiled together. They have a great fondness for rice, with sugar or 

 molasses. They do not want for food, for their country is well 

 supplied with wild roots, which in case of necessity or scarcity can 

 be resorted to. They also make a pleasant beverage, resembling 

 spruce-beer, which they call wai-maori. 



The greatest changes which have taken place in their customs are 

 the introduction of the use of fire-arms, and the adoption of whale- 

 boats instead of their canoes. The latter are without an out-riof<jer, 

 and differ in this respect from the boats of all the other Polynesians 

 south of the equator. They have also adopted the square sail (which 

 generally consists of a blanket), in place of the triangular one 

 common to all Polynesia. 



The ornaments of the New Zealanders are few ; those of the men, 

 who are chiefs, generally consist in an elaborate tattooing, that gives 

 a striking appearance to the face; the regularity with which it is 

 done is wonderful. They all have their ears bored, and have small 

 rings in them, made of jade or shark's-teeth, tipped with sealing-wax, 



