( 
dition, the journey itself presents no further difficulties, although 
its progress is, according to European notions, rather slow. Fifteen 
miles with a numerous travelling-company, may be considered a 
fair day’s work considering the miserable roads. As to safety , I 
really know no uncivilized country upon the earth , where one 
can travel so safe and secure, as in New Zealand. Robbers and 
thieves arc as little known there , as wild beasts and venomous ser- 
pents; and as Nature herself, having produced here no poisonous 
plant or venomous beast, is harmless in all her creations, so also 
the native is harmless in his whole conduct and all his actions, 
unless war or revenge rouse his wild passions. One can, there- 
fore, travel with perfect safety, and tranquilly lay down one’s head 
to rest in the mountains or in the valleys, in woods or field, wliere- 
cver one may be , when evening or night sets in. 
The only plague are mosquitoes and sandflies. The former, 
by the natives called Waeroa or Ngairoa, are no other than our 
gnats (CulexJ , which in swarms of thousands of millions live in the 
damp bush, and, at the edge of the bush, along the creeks or 
upon clearings, quite obscuring the air by their dense swarms; shun- 
ning, however, the sea-coast and dry fern-heaths. In summer- 
time, from December to February, they cannot be kept off day 
or night; but in March they already commence being more scarce, 
and in winter they disappear entirely. The sandflies , on the other 
hand, the Ngamu of the natives, small midges (Simulium ) , are most 
frequent on the sea-coast; but they are met also all through the 
interior of the land, on sandy river-banks, and upon dry heaths. 
The very districts , which are clear of mosquitoes , are infested by 
the sandflies. Their sting is keener than that of the mosquitoes, 
but is not attended by any swelling of the part stung; and with 
the last ray of the sun the sandflies disappear entirely, so that at 
night at last one is rid of that plague. But , sometimes , certain 
other still more unwelcome guests intrude at night — rats. They 
arc found even in quite uninhabited countries, and gather after 
the very first night around the camp. To their running at 
night leisurely over his head and body, the traveller will easily 
