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had themselves baptized merely for the sake of the material ad- 
vantages. 1 
With regard to outward observance , therefore , the Maoris are 
the best and strictest Christians. At regular intervals the little 
bell tolls in their villages the summons to morning and evening 
prayers, and in the strict observance of the Sabbath they are ahead 
even of their teachers. The English troops at one time are said 
to have gained an advantage over their enemies during the last 
war by storming a Pah on Sunday, while the natives were assem- 
bled for divine service , the latter not dreaming , that Christian 
soldiers would think of such a thing as waging war on the Sab- 
bath-day. That the natives do not allow the Europeans to travel 
on Sunday, refusing them even any aid or assistance whatever on 
that day, I have experienced myself. The liturgy, the old and 
new testaments , are translated into the Maori language , and it is 
remarkable, what an intimate knowledge of the Bible many Maoris 
display. The old family and village names are changed into bi- 
blical names , and on every occasion biblical sentences are heard 
quoted. But how much of the deeper , moral and spiritual substance 
of Christianity has entered the newly converted pagans ? To answer 
this question satisfactorily might prove rather a difficult task. Maori 
Christianity is only an external creed , which has become the 
fashion. He prays regularly, but lives and works irregularly; 
even the missionaries confess, that religion alone can not save this 
people, but that they need labour and a regular mode of living. 
Progress in the civilization of a people is positive gain and real 
progress only when at the same time the vital powers are improved; 
when the civilizing influence contributes also to the moral and 
physical improvement of the people. It is but too easy to adduce 
proofs, that just the contrary is the case with the Maoris. I will 
only mention a few facts such as I find them recorded in my diary. 
It seems natural to think , that the introduction of the plough, 
the trasliing-machine , or the construction of mills and the like 
1 This holds good especially of the slaves, who were far more ready to adopt 
Christianity, than the chiefs. 
