defiant statues which abound in the islands. The natives say that the lower figure represents Maui, the Atua who, according to Maori tradition, fished up the islands from the bottom of the sea. As may be seen in the illustration, nearly the whole of both figures is carved with most claborate curved patterns, which descend over the arms, and adorn those parts of the statue which do duty for hips. A portion of the village is seen in the background, and around the tiki grow many plants of the phormium, or New Zealand flax.

Near

this wonderful and mysterious piece of carving stand several others, all of an extraordinary type. Two such tikis are shown in the illustration, drawn from sketches taken at Whakapokoko. Although not quite so large as the double tiki of Roera. they are of very grea size, as may be seen by contrasting them with the figure of the woman who is standing by one of them.

The firmest belief in witchcraft prevails in New Zealand, though

GROTESQUE WOODEN IDOLS.

not to such an extent as in many parts of Africa. In cases of illness for which no ordinary cause can be discovered, especially if the person be of high rank, witchcraft is always suspected. If a chief, for example, fancies that he has been bewitched, he thinks over the names of those who are likely to have a spite against him, and pitches upon some un

fortunate individual, who is thereby doomed to death. One curious example of such a murder is related by a missionary. He met a party of natives, who told him that a woman, a relation of the chief Nawaka, had been shot by another chief, who suspected that she had bewitched his son. The young man had been taken ill, and, though the woman in question did her best to cure him, he died. His father took it into his head that she had killed him by her incantations, and, after loading his musket with stick, shot her through the body. As, however, she was the relation of Nawaka, it was expected that the chief would demand compensation for her death, and that the murderer would have to pay a very heavy sum.

There are several modes of witchcraft; but that which is most practised is performed by digging a hole in the ground and invoking the spirit of the person who is to be bewitched. After the incantations are said, the invoked spirit appears above the hole like a flickering light, and is then solemnly cursed by the witch. Sometimes, instead of digging a hole, the witch goes by night to a river bank, and there invokes the spirit, who appears as a flame of fire on the opposite bank. A curious. account is given of a district which is supposed to be the special abode of witches. It is situated in the northern island, and consists of steep and barren hills. The inhabitants of this district are few and scattered, and have the reputation of being the greatest witches in the country.

They are much feared, and have little connection with the neighboring tribes, who avoid them, if possible. If they come to the coast, the natives there scarcely venture to refuse them anything, for fear of incurring their displeasure. Like our witches and sorcerers of old, they appear to be a very harmless people, and but little mixed up with the quarrels of their neighbors. It is a curious fact that many of the old settlers in the country have become complete converts to the belief in these supernatural powers. Witchcraft has been the cause of many murders, in consequence of people declaring on their death-beds that they had been bewitched.

Strange Scenes in the Sandwich Islands.

Few people among the wild races of men are more interesting to the traveller than the natives of the Sandwich Islands. The men are tall, active and powerful, and in color are of an olive brown, the precise depth of tint varying much according to the exposure to the sun, so that the skins of the chiefs are much lighter than those of the common people. The hair is jet black, and not in the least woolly, being sometimes quite straight, and sometimes wavy. The face is mostly wide, and is a very handsome one, the only fault in it being a tendency to width across the

aostrils. The men all wear the maro or malo, which is a slight girdle of cloth, and having this, they consider themselves dressed for all purposes of decency. They also have a tappa, or bark-cloth garment, which is twisted round the waist, and falls below the knees, while the better class wear also a sort of mantle, to shelter their skin from the darkening sunbeams.

The great chiefs have also mantles made of a sort of network, into each mesh of which are interwoven the feathers of various birds, the most precious of them being that which supplies the yellow feathers. This is one of the honey-birds, and under each wing there is a single yellow feather, one inch in length. King Kamehameha, had a cloak made of these feathers alone. It was four feet long, and eleven feet at the bottom. No less than nine successive kings died before this priceless mantle was finished. The head-dress of the chiefs is of so graceful and classical a form as absolutely to startle the spectator. It is a helmet made of wicker-work and covered with feathers, the shape being exactly that of the ancient Grecian helmet even to the elevated crest which runs over the top. It is not intended as a protection for the head, the material being too fragile for such a purpose, but is simply a badge of rank and wealth. Mostly they are covered with scarlet and yellow feathers, disposed in broad bands or belts, and the wealth of the wearer may be known by the proportion which the yellow and scarlet feathers bear to each other.

A Remarkable Female Beauty.

The women, when young, are singularly beautiful, and retain their good looks longer than is usual among Polynesians. Like the other sex, however, they generally attain to great size in their latter years, those of the better sort being remarkable for their enormous corpulence. This development is probably owing, like that of the Kaffir chiefs, to the great quantity of porridge which they are continually cating. When young, however, they are exceedingly beautiful, their features having a peculiar charm of their own, and their forms being like those of the ancient Grecian statues. An American traveller gives a most animated description of a native girl, in his interesting work on the Sandwich Islands, showing that the partial civilization to which the natives have been subjected has not destroyed their beauty of features nor symmetry of form. In truth to nature, it may be safely asserted that beauty is not confined merely to the saloon of the monarch, nor to the tapestried chambers of the patricians. It is more frequently found amid the lowlier walks of life, on the desert, or the distant isle of the ocean.

In this instance I wish to be understood as speaking of physical beauty only. On leaving the shore-road to ascend the mountains for Halawa, I met just such a specimen as has often driven men mad, and whose possession has many a time paved the way to the subversion of empire on the part of monarchs. She was rather above the medium size of American women. Her finely chiselled chin, nose, and forehead were singularly Grecian. Her beautifully moulded neck and shoulders looked as though they might have been borrowed from Juno. The development of her entire form was as perfect as nature could make it. She was arrayed in a single loose robe, beneath which a pretty little nude foot was just peeping out. Her hair and eyebrows were as glossy as a raven's wing. Around her head was carelessly twined a wreath of the beautiful native flowers. Her lips seemed fragrant with the odor of countless and untiring kisses.

But her eyes! I never shall forget those eyes! They retained something that spoke of an affection so deep, a spiritual existence so intense, a dreamy enchantment so inexpressively beautiful, that they reminded one of the beautiful Greek girl Myrrha, in Byron's tragedy of “Sardanapalus," whose love clung to the old monarch when the flame of the funeral pile formed their winding sheet. In no former period of my life had I ever raised my hat in the presence of beauty, but at this moment, and in such a presence, I took it off. I was entirely fascinated, charmed, spellbound now, I stopped my horse; and there I sat, to take a further glance at the fair reality. And the girl stopped, and returned the glance, while a smile parted her lips and partly revealed a set of teeth as white as snow, and of matchless perfection. I felt that smile to be an unsafe atmosphere for the nerves of a bachelor; so I bowed, replaced my hat and passed on my way, feeling fully assured that nothing but the chisel of Praxiteles could have copied her exquisite charms. And as I gently moved past her she exclaimed in the vocabulary of her country, "Love to you."

Extraordinary Agility in the Waters.

The semi-amphibious nature of the Sandwich Islanders is well known. Both sexes turn their aquatic powers into a means of amusement. There is a salt-water lake called Loki Nomilu, which was said by the natives to be the handiwork of the terrible fire-goddess, Pele, who dug deep into the ground in search of fresh water, but was baffled by the sea finding a subterranean entrance, although the lake is many yards from the shore. Being angry with the sea for its misconduct she took her departure, and took up her abode in the crater of the great volcano of Hawaii, which is called by her name. There is little doubt that the lake in question is the crater