450 
NEW ZEALAND 
CHAP. 
expression than this man had. It immediately struck me I 
had somewhere seen his likeness : it will be found in Retzch’s 
outlines to Schiller’s ballad of Fridolin, where two men are 
pushing Robert into the burning iron furnace. It is the man 
who has his arm on Robert’s breast. Physiognomy here spoke 
the truth ; this chief had been a notorious murderer, and was 
an arrant coward to boot. At the point where the boat landed 
Mr. Bushby accompanied me a few hundred yards on the 
road : I could not help admiring the cool impudence of the 
hoary old villain, whom we left lying in the boat, when he 
shouted to Mr. Bushby, “ Do not you stay long, I shall be 
tired of waiting here.” 
We now commenced our walk. The road lay along a 
well-beaten path, bordered on each side by the tall fern which 
covers the whole country. After travelling some miles we came 
to a little country village, where a few hovels were collected 
together, and some patches of ground cultivated with potatoes. 
The introduction of the potato has been the most essential 
benefit to the island ; it is now much more used than any native 
vegetable. New Zealand is favoured by one great natural 
advantage ; namely, that the inhabitants can never perish from 
famine. The whole country abounds with fern ; and the roots 
of this plant, if not very palatable, yet contain much nutriment. 
A native can always subsist on these, and on the shell-fish which 
are abundant on all parts of the sea-coast. The villages are 
chiefly conspicuous by the platforms which are raised on four 
posts ten or twelve feet above the ground, and on which the 
produce of the fields is kept secure from all accidents. 
On coming near one of the huts I was much amused by 
seeing in due form the ceremony of rubbing, or, as it ought to 
be called, pressing noses. The women, on our first approach, 
began uttering something in a most dolorous voice ; they then 
squatted themselves down and held up their faces ; my companion 
standing over them, one after another, placed the bridge of his 
nose at right angles to theirs, and commenced pressing. This 
lasted rather longer than a cordial shake of the hand with us ; 
and as we vary the force of the grasp of the hand in shaking, 
so do they in pressing. During the process they uttered 
comfortable little grunts, very much in the same manner as two 
pigs do when rubbing against each other. I noticed that the 
