Here is a portrait of a chief showing the method of tattooing 28 the face. Here again we see him with his _taiaha_, or staff of office: he looks civilised enough now; in fact, dressed as he 29 is, he might be mistaken for an Englishman, but doubtless he was very different in the old days. He is nearly ninety years old, and so must have seen the settlement and fighting almost from the very beginning. The building behind the group is a meeting house of the usual Maori shape, though the galvanised iron roof seems scarcely to agree with the elaborate ornamentation of the woodwork. Notice the curious scroll carving on the fetich pillars: it is a favourite design among the Maoris and appears also in the tattooing of their bodies.
We see the Maori here in European dress and we find him entering Parliament and the learned professions, or becoming a successful farmer and grazier in every way as civilised as ourselves. But he is not anxious to be a mere imitator of the white man, as he is intensely proud of his own race and past history. In the remoter districts he still clings to his ancient fashion of life. Here is a typical group, in native dress, and here is the simple 30 private house of a chief. Again we have an interesting portrait 31 of the daughter of a chief, holding her father’s heavy staff; her 32 curious dress is largely made up of the feathers of the wingless Kiwi, which we have already seen.
The Maori dances are among the most interesting of their social customs. We may perhaps see the _haka_, a survival of the 33 old war-dance, performed by half-clad warriors. It is now a ceremonial dance of welcome. Very different is the _poi_, the 34 pretty action-dance and song of women and girls, which we may see in the dancing-house of any native village. We notice that the costumes of the dancers are made up of native flax and feathers. The chief native sport is the canoe race, as the water is everything to the Maori. Here is one of the huge dug-out war 35 canoes, hewn from a single tree-trunk, and now becoming somewhat rare; and here again we see his canoe used to mark the grave of 36 a chief.
We are now in the district south of the Bay of Plenty and near Lake Rotorua, which we reach by a railway running up the valley of the Thames. Here is a typical scene. In the group before us a 37 woman is smoking a pipe; we may often see the same thing among the peasants of Ireland. Down below, a crowd of Maori children 38 are bathing in the stream, while the tourists watch them from the bridge. The place is called Whakarewarewa, a name rather difficult to pronounce. This is the northern end of the geyser district, which we have already visited. Here we see the tourists 39 again, with their cameras, waiting for the great Wairoa Geyser to start; and here is the geyser playing. Not far away are some 40 Maori women cooking by the steam heat provided by nature. 41