smiles, and now the leading note was of warriors frowning savagely in mimic war. Love succeeded battle, and war gave way to mirth, each time changing the broad face of the scene in a twinkling; and then the frenzied ranks subdued their wild song and action to the moderate stateliness of the ‘haka’ — ‘finest physical drill in the world’, as one of the soldiers in the Duke's suite put it — with military enthusiasm. And ever amid the yells of the ‘peruperu’ and the triumphant chorus of the ‘haka’, ever amid the broad humour of the chants and the playful musical phrases of the women, there was a note of sadness woven into the restless fabric of sound, just as the tone of mourning ran right through the ever-changing masses of colour. It was the ‘irirangi’, as the Maori calls it, growing fainter as the martial cries rose in volume, only to return as they fell away; and as the other sounds decreased it rose higher and higher, until it became the pervading wail of the tribes, the song of mourning for the Great Queen, the ‘tangi’ that every section in its turn raised with mournful cadence and sorrowful expression. THE GIFTS OF THE MAORI One of the great events of the day, this ceremony began very unceremoniously. An ancient warrior, leaving the ranks of his ‘taua’, marched solemnly up to the rail of the stand, flung a big flax mat, yellow and brown, and rustling, over the rail in front of the Royal Party, turned without further sign, and marched grimly back to his station. But no one had time to reflect other than that the reality of this very prompt politeness was greater than its appearance; for at once a stream of presents set in with a rush from all sides — mats, cloaks of fur and feather and flax, ‘piupiu’ and ‘korowai’ floated up in willing hands, and were piled in front of Their Royal Highnesses. The donors approached, making smiling obeisance, deposited their presents, throwing in a pleasant word of goodwill, and, departing, made a stream of diverging figures which, mingling with the stream of present-laden people converging on the grand-stand, filled the space in front of the ‘marae’ with a dense, hurrying crowd. The feathers of these mats and cloaks were of the weka, the pigeon, and the kaka. The flax was made up in many ways, and the skin of the Maori dog (kuri), extinct for forty years, was much in evidence. The weapons were of a emery kind—ancestral ‘mere’ of ‘pounamu’ (greenstone), spears, ‘koikoi’, ‘wero’, ‘tewhatewha’, Enjoy a ‘Royal Tour’ this holiday! for carefree motoring equip your car with- Reidrubber MOTOR TYRES & TUBES WIDER * SAFER * TOUGHER