more than throwing together this short notice of a district, upon the wonders and picturesque beauties of which a volume might be written; and I can only express a hope that the time is not far distant when the means of reaching it will be more easy, for although there are many scenes in which the active forces of nature may be observed under grander aspects, there are few more calculated to excite our interest than those which are contained within the Lake District of Auckland.

Art. II.—Notes of the Traditions and Manners and Customs of the Mori-oris. By W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 28th October, 1876.] There are few subjects which excite greater interest amongst those who are engaged in inquiries into the origin and progress of civilization, than authentic accounts of the habits and customs of the lower races of men, especially before these have become modified by contact with civilized peoples; and as it is notorious that modifications resulting from such contact are very rapidly effected, it is important that those who may have opportunities of intercourse with the lower races should make and record their observations at the earliest possible moment. Such inquiries assume a still greater degree of interest when they relate to an uncivilized people which has long occupied an isolated position, remote from chances of intercourse; for if its relationship to any known race, and the period of its separation from the parent stock, can afterwards be established, a comparison of their several existing conditions will be of the highest value in connection with inquiries of the nature alluded to. It is necessary, however, to the correct determination of many of the most important points involved in such inquiries, to note, not merely the habits and customs of the lower types of mankind, but also the physical conditions under which they live; for these conditions must, manifestly, exercise a considerable influence in determining the nature of those habits and customs. This point has not, as I conceive, been sufficiently borne in mind by writers on the history and progress of civilization, when discussing the condition of inferior peoples in their relation to the contemporary state of more advanced branches of the same race. But it is one which cannot be ignored without the certainty of error in the deductions arrived at. I will take an instance: It is more than probable that the Mori-oris, at the time of the invasion of the Chatham Islands by the Ngatitama, in 1835 or 1836, were a mixed race, having a large proportion of Maori blood in their veins. This may, I think, be fairly deduced from what appears in the sequel of this paper, although we have