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Hospitality is practised on a large scale in New Zealand, not only by the native, but, as we had proved, by the European community; and in olden times this was still more the case. The missionary's house was then the natural hotel of the stranger, and great was the interest of some of the passing acquaintanceships and friendships thus formed. One day in 1835, when Mrs. Williams

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was sitting at tea at Waimate, in the Bay of Islands, surrounded by her own and Mrs. Henry Williams's children, thirteen little ones in all, two gentlemen appeared, who proved to be Darwin and Mr. (afterwards Admiral) Fitzroy. They had lately landed from the Beagle, and had come to Waimate to claim the shelter and welcome which had been promised and was heartily accorded them. In Darwin's account of his voyage he tells of this incident¹ and speaks admiringly of the large band of little cousins he found assembled. As to the children, the only tradition preserved amongst them of this their first and last introduction to the man who was afterwards to make so great a noise in the world, is the fact that he went out next

¹ At length we reached Waimate. After having passed over so many miles of an uninhabited useless country, the sudden appearance of an English farmhouse, and its well-dressed fields, placed there as if by an enchanter's wand, was exceedingly pleasant. . . . Native work manship, taught by the missionaries, has effected this change ; the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house had been built, the fields ploughed, and even the trees grafted, by the New Zealander. At the mill a New Zealander was seen powdered white with flour, like his brother in England. When I looked at this whole scene, I thought it admirable. . . .
Late in the evening I went to Mr. Williams's house, where I passed the night. I found there a large party of children, collected together for Christmas Day, and all sitting round a table at tea. I never saw a nicer or more merry group ; and to think that this was in the centre of the land of cannibalism, murder, and all atrocious crimes | The cordiality and happiness so plainly pictured in the faces of the little circle appeared equally felt by the older persons of the mission. . . . I took leave of the missionaries (Williams, Davies, and Clarke) with thankfulness for their kind welcome and with feelings of high respect for their gentlemanlike, useful, and upright characters. I think it would be difficult to find a body of men better adapted for the high office which they fulfil.—Naturalist's Voyage Round the World.

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morning into the garden to gather sage to eat with his bread-and-butter. This, for some reason unexplained, made a deep impression on their minds.