A LETTER FROM ANGELESEA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 30 March 1904, Page 71

A LETTER FROM ANGELESEA.

Hohouia, March 11

Dear Dot,— l shall try to write as short a letter as possible this time, for my last letter took up so much of your valuable space. 1 shall describe 1 short trip we took in *he Waikato diakict a few weeks asro. We drove

bom Bxmiiton to Whalawhata (pronounced " Fotafota ■'), a dtsinnce of nine miles. On errival there W3 were told that a Maori gathoi- , ing was being held about two mile:- away: a | iiew meeting-house was to be opened the next day by King Mahutu. Next morning, before proceed" ng on to Raglan, we drove ovjc to the camp. The fii9t thing that struck me on ncaiing it was the variety of flaming colours — reel, pink, ceriss, yc-liow, 'blue— all of tlie very brightest hues. When we drove i_p to the gate a chief met us and told us which way to go. It; seenis that no one wa.s allowed to go straight over to the m.eeting-r>ouse, but "had to walk in >a. iraifcirele — some superstition, I suppose. It was quite a European house, with a verandah, two Windows, and a door in front, anil the windows had curtains and fancy blinds. They don't go in for building carvecli houses nowadays. There were between 400 and 500 Maoris there, and a great many more were expected. The Premier and the Hon. Mr Carroll were also expected to bo present. There were a nvrcnbei of tentc put up, end. one long one was used as the dining tent. Breakfa&t was being served at the time we v. ere th-ore. The tables were about six inches from the ground, the Natives squatting down to havo their meals. There were some yourg fellow 3 with girls with bright pinafore on waiting at the table. They used 200 loaves of bread a nieil. Outside the tent vere two Maori canoes. These, with, about 3in of water in the bottom cf t<hem, were used by the women for washing the dishes in. I l oticecT a bullock's hea-i and eight leg 3 lying jibout. I wonder if that animal had eight legs. Acrcss a. rroek in the nex!> pai:lock were j cozens of sharks hanging- in the sun to diy. . Thoy ere hung outside till — well, nc faminestricken person would eat them. The Maoris ccr.sidor this a great delicacy. The wind happened to be blowing the wrong way, and oh! the odour! They were bieakfr.sting off this when we s>aw them. I wonder if Mr Seddon ■vvcul<?i bo expiated to share it with them! I ran when I thought a Maori woman wag going to offer me a piecs of bread and butter : where wouldn't I get to if they offered me a picco of shark 9 Just yesterday father was speaking to some Maoris, and he happened to mention tilie shark. One Maori said that the smell would knock a bullock down, but the taste was lovely. They had a band, consisting of tin whistles and a drum, but before they started to play wo drove away. Our destination was Raglan, about 28 miles. It was a very pleasant drive through, pretty valleys and gorges and over bvsh-covered hilla. Eaglan is a verj srnail township, situated on the west coast, about half-way between New Plymouth and Attckisnd. Although fc'ie township is very small, the surroundir.g district is thickly populated. We stayed there the night, and next day drove back to Hamilton. Leaving at 9.30, we arrived at Wpitetuna (the stopping place for coaches) at 12.30 for lunch. We found that no one but the stable boy was at home, the family not hoving yet returned from Eaglan. We have travelled too much to be upset by such, an occurrence &s this. The boy let us into the kitchen and showed us whaie things were, and we scon ma^le ourselves quite at home. Mother soon liad the kett'e boiling, and we enjoyed our lunch all the better for havirg made it ourselves, it ninclc us think iiiat v.-c vraie home again. "While we were having tea a hovsemau cams to the door and asked mother if he could get, dinner. She sadd she was not the pioprietrc33, but he might 'have a enp of tea with us. "We washed up the dishes and set them straight, just for the fun of it. After resting the horses for two ho.irs we pioceeded on to Hamilton, arriving theie at 5 o'clock. "We a.re at present in Hohoura, the most northern township in New Zealand. It is* about CO mils* from here to the North Cape. But theve, I will give you my impressions of the " Far North " some other time. For the piescnt I shall say ''An revoir." — Yours tiuly, ANGELESEA.