ACCORDING to native tradition, the ancestors of the Maori race reached New Zealand many ages ago from a distant land called Hawaiki. Where Hawaiki was, tradition does not say, but that it lay somewhere in the Pacific is certain from the close affinity of the Maori language to that of the other islands occupied by the Polynesians from Rotumah to Easter Island and New Zealand to Hawaii. Possibly it was Hawaii, the language and traditions of the natives of that group having much in common with those of New Zealand. When a company of Hawaiian singers, under the conductorship of George Kai, toured New Zealand several years ago, his troupe received a great welcome from the Maoris, with whom they were able to converse in their native tongue.
It is one hundred and fifty years since Captain Cook first landed .on the shores of New Zealand. Since that time the face of the country has changed more than Cook would have conceived possible in his wildest visions of colonization and settlement. The formidable native population which swarmed along the shores wherever he attempted to land, has dwindled down to a comparatively insignificant remnant of about forty thousand, while the white population numbers over a million. Except in the vastnesses of the King county there is no considerable area of agriculture or pastoral land that has not its field of corn, or its thousands of cattle and sheep. Stations, townships and cities have sprung up where fifty or sixty years ago nothing was to be seen except tussock, fern and swamp land, or stretches of trackless bush. To-day New Zealand can hold its own among British possessions which are considerably older.
The scenery of South Island differs in character from that of Nbrth Island. In the latter, volcanic forces have been stronger and much more recent in their action, and, as a consequence, North Island is the home of boiling springs and other forms of thermal activity. These are very remarkable and have chiefly attracted the attention of travelers who have visited New Zealand. Yet South Island possesses attractions not inferior in degree, if somewhat different in kind. The lakes of South Island are called the "cold lakes," to distinguish them from the "hot lakes" of North Island.
It is of North Island that I shall speak chiefly, because that is the part of New Zealand with which I am most familiar. Auckland is built along the southern harbor, which forms the western extremity of the island—spangled Hauraki Gulf. The site of the city, flanked by suburbs, rises in a long and gradual slope to the base of Mount Eden, a slumbering old volcano from whose easily scaled summit one obtains a most glorious panoramic view. Auckland's surroundings make her one of the loveliest of cities. Nature has lavishly endowed it with her choicest gifts. It is situated on a narrow neck of land, and a canal of about seven miles across this neck from Tamaki to Onehunga would shorten the distance between Panama and Sydney by several hundred miles. It is indented by bays, pierced by estuaries, interspersed with volcanic hills and mounts; and the gulf outside its portals, fringed with sunny little islands, is a dream of delight. From the sea on either coast a cooling breeze is ever present, to temper the ardor of the sun, and the climate therefore is mild knd equable.
Auckland was the New Zealand port visited by the American fleet, on its round-the-world tour, some years ago, and a right good time they had. The city was beautifully decorated, but what impressed Admiral Sperry and Captain (now Vice-Admiral) Grant, chief of staff, most was the floral decoration of the word "Welcome" over an undertaker's establishment, to which their attention was drawn by Sir Joseph Ward, who, with Lady Ward, accompanied them in the first carriage.
The show place of North Island is Rotorua, about two hundred miles from Auckland, where the Government has spent $500,000 in improvements and buildings. There are to be found the only geysers in the British Empire. Other geysers are to be found in the Yellowstone Park, in Iceland and Thibet. Of those in Thibet we know very little, but geologists tell us that the geysers of the States of Wyoming and Idaho are the oldest in the world; that those of New Zealand are the next, in point of age; and that those of Iceland are the least ancient.
