MOTU TAIKO, A SMALL ISLAND IN LAKE TAUPO. 
CHAPTER XV. 
HISTORY. 
Having alluded to the traditions of the natives, relative 
to their country, anterior to the arrival of the Euro¬ 
peans ; we now briefly consider its subsequent history. It 
seems remarkable that so large a portion of our globe should 
have remained totally unknown to the nations of the west, 
until a comparatively recent period, and that then the thick 
mist, which had shut out these fair portions of the globe, from 
our sight, should all at once be rolled aside, and reveal them 
to us. Either the family of man was not before sufficiently 
advanced, to profit by the discovery, or the Anglo-Saxon race 
which was destined to colonize them, was not earlier in a 
position to do so. 
