448 



CHARLES DARWIN 



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 inhabitants 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 col- 

 our, had rather a desolate aspect. The sight of so much fern 

 impresses 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 

 shaggy lavas, and craters could clearly be distinguished on 

 several of the neighbouring hills. Although the scenery is 

 nowhere beautiful, and only occasionally pretty, I enjoyed 

 my walk. I should have enjoyed it more, if my companion, 

 the chief, had not possessed 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 he said. This, how- 

 ever, was quite sufficient : I was a good listener, an agreeable 

 person, and he never ceased talking to me. 



At length we reached Waimate. After having passed over 

 so many miles of an uninhabited useless country, the sudden 



