numberless boiling springs and steam-holes which occur over the whole surface—appear to occupy every inch of available space, the scene being completed by Maori women preparing food, naked men and boys lying in the open baths, and ancient females squatted on the warm stones used for drying the berries of the tawa. In fact, it is difficult to describe the state of filth and demoralization into which the Maori population of this and the adjacent settlement of Wairau are gradually sliding; and it is certainly to be regretted that the efforts and self-denial of the early missionaries, in their attempts to introduce civilized habits amongst these people, should have been neutralized by the drunkenness and vice into which they have lapsed, as the result of contact with brandy-sellers and Pakeha-Maoris, and from their own abandonment of habits of industry in reliance upon extraneous means of support. In keeping with this lowering of character, is the present appearance of the Rev. Mr. Spencer's once beautiful residence, at Te Temu, formerly kept in order by the members of his Maori flock, but which, in its decay and desolation, appears to keep pace with the degradation of the neighbouring Maori people. But Ohinemutu, though no longer possessing its former characteristics as a famous Maori pah, still affords to the contemplation of the visitor objects of the very highest interest. There is not a square rod of the lower ground that is not occupied by one or more of the hot springs and fumaroles, which give it so peculiar an appearance when the whole are in high activity. This was the case on the second morning after my arrival there; and as the whares and enclosures, with the people moving about them, were only dimly visible through the dense clouds of steam which rose on all sides, the scene presented a weird appearance to which no mere description can fully do justice. I propose, in the sequel, to refer to these intermittent accessions of activity, without, however, being able to afford any explanation of them; but certainly nothing can be more striking than the difference in the appearance of the settlement when these phenomena are quiescent, and when they are in full, active operation. I was also much interested by discovering, amongst the ancient carvings which once decorated the palisading of the pah, a couple of grotesque carved figures in the ordinary style of Maori art, but which had, to my surprise, the full complement of fingers and toes. On inspection of the carvings in the Maori House annexed to the Museum at Wellington, and of those to be seen elsewhere, it will be found that, in every case, the number of fingers and toes on the figures is limited to three; and, until I noticed the peculiarity in the figures referred to, at Ohinemutu, I had never seen any Maori carving in which the number of fingers and toes was complete. Upon this subject I do not hesitate to quote the following passage from