[Footnote N: Ruatara, a close friend of Mr. Marsden.]

[Footnote O: Hongi.]

[Footnote P: This is exaggerated.]

[Footnote Q: Tui, in the accepted orthography.]

[Footnote R: The ancient Maoris were one of the very few races that had
no intoxicating drinks.]




CHAPTER III.


Dinner being finished, Rutherford and his companions spent the evening
seated around a large fire, while several of the women, whose
countenances he describes as pleasing, amused themselves by playing with
the fingers of the strangers, sometimes opening their shirts at the
breasts, and at other times feeling the calves of their legs, "which
made us think," says Rutherford, "that they were examining us to see if
we were fat enough for eating.

"The large fire," he continues, "that had been made to warm the house,
being now put out, we retired to rest in the usual manner; but although
the fire had been extinguished, the house was still filled with smoke,
the door being shut, and there being neither chimney nor window to let