OF THE SETTLEMENT AT WAIMATE. 193 
its gaze over a wilderness of fern. Numberless 
native villages are visible in every direction; 
but, alas ! they do not present the pleasing pro- 
spect which civilized man delights to gaze upon : 
the rude, untutored sons of nature have only habi- 
tations rude like themselves. To the left of the set- 
tlement, we have a distant view of the hills on the 
coast, and of the heads of the Bay of Islands; 
and in the near ground, some rich and luxuriant 
land, belonging to the tribe called Ngai-te-wiu. 
At the back of the Station runs a small creek, 
which forms its boundary; and on the other side 
of it are several small villages, with hill and dale 
beautifully diversified ; with here and there a 
small sacred grove, dear to many a New Zea- 
lander, as containing the mouldering bones of 
relatives and friends. One of these groves forms 
the boundary of the Mission-land on the right of 
the settlement, and presents a most beautiful ob- 
ject in the scenery of the place. I think, with 
Baron Hiigel, an Austrian nobleman, who paid 
us a visit to the Waimate, from His Majesty’s 
ship ‘‘Alligator'’, that it would form a study, and 
be worthy of the attention of the first artists. It 
was indeed a singularly lovely place, before it 
was dismantled by the fury of the equinoctial 
gale in March 1834. 
To all the native residences in connexion with 
the Waimate, stretching thirty-five miles to the 
south-west, roads have been cut by the people, to 
facilitate our visits to them, for the purpose of 
K 
