"I went to Taffy's house,
Taffy was from home,
Taffy came to my house,

And stole a marrow-bone.

"I went to Taffy's house,
Taffy was in bed;

I stole the bolster

Away from Taffy's head."

Besides these two customs, there were a great many more than I have space or time at present to relate, and one or two of which Tom saw afterwards, when they had settled in their new home.

As the New Zealanders eat only twice a day, cramming themselves then to such a degree that they do not appear to care what they do until they begin to be hungry again, no more food was prepared that night; and Tom, who had not such a convenient appetite, went to sleep, thinking them particularly unreasonable people, and wishing he had eaten a better dinner. However, he was too tired to stay long awake; so, curling himself up upon the soft pile of mats given by the chief, he was soon fast asleep, and snoring, while Captain Graham, pencil in hand, took a sketch of the fine old chief, as he lay upon his mats; he was a tall, fine man, not at all like an Indian or nigger, but just like a dark-complexioned Englishman; his face was ornamented with lines, and strokes tattoed upon his skin, which gave him a very funny appearance. He was particularly courteous, and tried everything he could to make his guests stay with him, which they were really inclined to do, if they had time; but they had yet many miles of rough country and entangled forests to pass; so, reluctantly enough, left the Pah at daylight, and said farewell to the hospitable natives, most of whom ran up to them, to shake hands, and wish them a safe journey.

CHAPTER IX.

A Walk in the Forest.

Crossing a River Advice from an
Old Settler.

THE road, or path, for road there was none, lay through an immense natural forest, principally of the Kauri, or Yellow Pine, the most valuable tree in the island; it grows to an enormous height; the long straight bole towering high in the air, without a single branch to break its surface; then spreading out giant limbs which, crossing and intermingling with each-covered as they are, too, with a separate vegetable growth, springing out of their own stems, as moss or miseltoe does at home-form an impenetrable roof, and effectually exclude the rays of the sun, rendering the way below dark and close, which adds considerably to the toil of cutting one's way along; by cutting a way, I mean actually using a large clasp-knife to sever the creeping plants, which, running from tree to tree and bush to bush, try to prevent any passage; besides, the rank vegetation, caused by the heat and the damp, is often difficult to push through; and Tom now found that it would have been utterly impossible to attempt to ride, and that the guides had done wisely in leaving the horses on the outskirts of this veritable thicket, where, in charge of a couple of natives, they were to remain until they had fulfilled their journey, and were returning to Nelson.

Tom had read a good deal of tropical forests; but, extravagant as his ideal pictures had been, nothing reached the reality of this, his first introduction to a New Zealand one; and his father, although he had studied the natural history of the country deeply, found himself often at a loss to answer Tom's questions, or satisfy his wondering curiosity as to the name or nature of the hundreds of new plants and trees springing on every side.

The long spars of the Kauri were evidently intended by nature as masts for ships, and instantly established themselves in Tom's favour, and, in his imagination, became a forest of men of war. This, however, is not the sole use of the Kauri, as there is a valuable gum extracted from it, which is sent to England, and sold for a high price; besides, the wood being hard and close grained, it is highly prized by carpenters for household furniture, though the Rimu, or Yellow Pine, is much prettier, and closely resembles mahogany; while the bark is usefully employed in tanyards.

The tree, however, which astonished Tom most, was the fern, which, growing to the height of sixty or seventy feet, still retains a close resemblance to the English plant, and looks very graceful and peculiar. It affords a soft and silky-looking material resembling spun glass, but as delicate and elastic as silk. In some of the Pacific islands, the natives gather this from between the branches in great quantities, and stuff pillows or mattrasses, etc.

After the first novelty of the dark, sombre forest path wore off, Tom began to wonder why he did not see any birds; a circumstance explained by his father as owing to the dense foliage keeping away the, sunlight, no bird