As regards dress, also, the European influence has proved 
injurious rather than beneficial. The original dress of the Maoris 
consisted of cloaks and mats of different forms and sizes. They 
were ingeniously wrought of New Zealand flax or made of dog- 
skins, and were very durable. They formed an excellent protec- 
tion against rain and cold. The women manufactured those mats ; 
but now only a few old women still understand this useful art ; 
the younger generation knows nothing of it. And what has now 
taken the place of the Maori mat ? Let us not judge by some 
chiefs, who are seen parading about in the cities in suits of black 
and with Parisian hats, making all possible efforts to keep up their 
proud carriage in that unused dress and in boots which are either 
too tight or too wide ; or by the ridiculous rigging of some Maori 
fair ones, who represent the demimonde of their race; but look 
at the natives in their villages and pahs, when they are among 
their own , and at home. There the woolen cover , the blanket 
is the only fashion. When these blankets first came into fashion, 
the Maoris were perfectly crazy to give up every thing in order 
to procure those rags, which after very short use look abominably 
dirty. Money they had none ; therefore they gave potatoes , pigs, 
or the far superior flax and dog-skin mantles away, and now they 
sit before their huts, scantily wrapped in old ragged, tattered, 
dirty blankets; and by those very blankets they have become pro- 
letarians in reality, not only in appearance. It is cei’tainly most 
true , that in this imperfect , miserable dress of flic Maoris 
we must find one of the various causes of the chest-complaints 
and rheumatic diseases, to which of late they are subject. Not 
less it has been imputed to the potatoes , that they have only con- 
tributed to the physical degeneracy of the race, since they have 
become almost the sole and exclusive article of food of the natives. 
They have taken the place of the original , generally far more 
nutritious, and by virtue of their variety also much more salubrious, 
victuals , and have with the Maoris the same deleterious effect , as 
with our poor mountaineers, who are exclusively limited to this food. 
Formerly the hospitality of the Maoris was praised; traits of 
