HOUSES IN NEW ZEALAND. 153 
fangs. I have frequently seen dead birds with 
the head squeezed through the hole made in a 
person’s ear, where it has remained until it has 
rotted off ; and I have seen live birds served in 
the same way, and allowed to hang there, and 
flap their wings and struggle, till they were dead ; 
the blood streaming down the person’s cheek, 
from the scratches received from the dying bird. 
Large tufts of down, purely white and soft, from 
the breast of the gannet or albatross, are often 
w^orn in each ear, and, to a stranger’s eye, have 
a very grotesque appearance. Anointing the 
body wdth oil, and painting it with red ochre, is a 
common custom with all who can obtain the ma- 
terials ; and when they are thus plastered over 
their tattooed faces, their appearance is as dis- 
gusting as it is possible to conceive. 
The houses of the better order, which the New 
Zealanders build, are snug and warm, and are 
highly ornamented with images and other carved 
work. Tliey are built of bulrushes, and lined 
with the leaves of the palm-tree, neatly platted 
together. The length of some of the best houses 
is about sixteen feet, and the breadth ten feet, with 
a verandah in front. Their height is very incon- 
venient ; being not more than four or five feet, at 
the utmost. They are all gable-ended ; and the 
entrance is by a low sliding door, at the verandah 
end. A small window, about nine inches long 
and six inches high, serves the double purpose of 
ventilation and light : this is also closed by a 
H 3 
