338 
overgrown with the most beautiful ferns looks like a real flower- 
table; and on the left an equally decorated stalactite represents a 
flower- vase suspended from the ceiling. Thirty yards from the 
portal there is a precipice 20 feet deep, down which, however, it 
was possible to climb. Below , there is a water-pool with a 
temperature of 55° Fahr. The vault of the apartment, about 40 feet 
high , is decorated by stalactites. Beyond the water-pool , a narrow 
passage leads farther into the interior of the cave. Owing to the 
scantiness of our illuminating apparatus , however , we were unable 
to proceed very far; and we moreover greatly regretted our not 
finding a single vestige of moa-bones. 
We had to return a distance of about three miles by the same 
way we had come; then we turned off to the village Pukahuku 
on the Mangaokewa Creek, and about sun-set reached a small settle- 
ment Tahualiu on the right bank of the Mangapu. 
Having sent my Maoris ahead by the direct road, 
I found our tents already pitched. An enormously 
corpulent woman and a Maori teacher, with a whole 
pack of dogs for their company, were the only in- 
habitants present. Beside my tent there stood an 
odd half decomposed figure carved of wood ; it was 
designated to me by the natives as a Tiki, mark- 
ing the tomb of a chief. 
April 3. — Sabbath-day. — A beautiful day, 
indeed; as though all Nature had been created anew. 
Who could under such circumstances remain idle in his tent? 1 
determined on travelling on despite the Sunday, having moreover 
another special reason, as our provisions were nearly exhausted, 
and the Maori schoolmaster at Tahualiu could not be prevailed upon 
by any means, to sell us some; on the contrary he deemed it his 
duty to lecture us on the keeping of the Ratapu. I consequently 
set out on my way to Mangawhitikau , a settlement five miles farther 
up the valley, where we arrived just at the close of the morning 
services. I had cherished the hope of finding the natives there less 
bigoted; but was sadly disappointed in my expectations. At first 
