228 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. VIII 
at the back, we came to the banks of the JVaikanae 
river, here narrow and deep. A numerous fleet of 
canoes of all sizes was moored inside. We followed 
the stream for 200 yards, and then diverged across 
some fertile potato-grounds on a sandy flat, in the 
midst of which an oblong stockade surrounds the 
dozen houses of which the village is composed. We 
here found only two or three female slaves, the old 
chief not being yet arrived with his canoe. 
I amused myself by pursuing a bird called the pukeko 
about the neighbouring country. The sand-hills were 
all covered with cultivation, and these birds creep 
out of the intervening swamps to feed on the potatoes. 
^\iQ pukeko is of a dark blue colour, and about as large 
as a pheasant. The legs, the bill, and a horny conti- 
nuation of it over the front of the head, are of a bright 
crimson colour. Its long legs adapt it for its swampy 
life ; its flight is slow and heavy, resembling that of a 
bittern. I succeeded in killing two or three ; and al- 
though my boys told me that it was kai kinoy or " bad 
** food," I found one of them a very good addition to 
my meal of boiled potatoes. In the course of my rambles 
I came across two strong-looking nags, which the na- 
tives told me were the missionary's property. 
In the native villages there are always two kinds of 
houses. The ware puni, or " house of rest," I have 
already de-cribed at the village near Ship Cove. I 
had since seen many much larger and more commo- 
dious than those at that place. They are all, however, 
built on the same principle, of keeping in the animal 
heat ; and are therefore most repulsive to a European. 
Some of them have their front wall removed back 
three feet from the front of the roof. In this case a 
nice airy veranda is formed, which makes a very good 
sleeping-place. The ware umu, or " oven-houses," 
