greater, most of those now existing having been built since May 1845,
when the greater part of the town was burnt down by the natives. Even now
it supports two public houses, and several general stores, where
necessaries may be procured at double the Sydney prices. At one time much
trade was done here, before the duties imposed on the occasion of New
Zealand becoming a British colony drove away the whalers which used to
resort in great numbers to the Bay of Islands to refit; at present,
besides the Rattlesnake, the only vessel here is a brig from Hobart,
bound to California, which put in to this place to get a new rudder.
Livestock is plentiful and the prices are moderate.

There are many natives living in the settlement. They afford a striking
contrast to the wretched specimens of Australian aborigines one
occasionally sees in the streets of Sydney. Many of the men are athletic
and well made, and in their gait and expression exhibit much manliness of
character. The faces of some of the principal people present good
specimens of elaborate tattooing. The women appear strange figures from
their ungainly modern dress, consisting merely of a loose smock of
calico, fastened at the neck and wrists. Some were tolerably handsome
(according to our notions of female beauty) and among them were several
halfcastes. Their fashion of dressing the hair is curious--in front it is
cut short in a line across the forehead, but is allowed to grow long
behind. We met Waka Nene, a Maori chief, possessing considerable
influence, especially in the neighbouring district of Hokianga, who, by
siding with the English during the war, rendered such important services
that the Government rewarded him with a pension of 100 pounds per annum,
and a house in Kororareka. Besides this he owns a small vessel or two
employed in the coasting trade. I peeped into the hut of one of his
people. A small entrance served the combined purposes of door, window,
and chimney, the roof was so low as to preclude one from standing upright