prisoner, and so interested him with compulsory lessons that he became a regular pupil. Many of the children are almost entirely ignorant of the Bible, and have evidently been dragged up somehow, with the most primitive ideas of morality. Here is an instance: one of the teachers, a lady, who has a class of girls in a side room, about twelve years of age, came to ask my advice; "I am teaching them the Commandments, and whilst explaining the third, I told them how wrong it was to swear and use bad language. 'Not swear, Miss,' said the biggest girl, 'why, Mother swears every day!'" Well, in this, as in all else, it's "dogged as does it," and to our great satisfaction the school wins favour every day, and at times our evenings are quite tame, though lately a guest who was staying with me, much interested in this new country, and keen about school work, had a very lively experience with us several evenings, and declared that he had never enjoyed anything more than our evening school. The Bishop, during his last visit, came to see it, and met with a great reception; there was a large gathering, not only of the children, but of friends who live near the school, who provided a sumptuous tea for all, to mark the occasion.
Some four miles from Hokitika a group of Maoris are settled on the river Arahura, about one hundred in all. They were there before Westland was known to settlers in Canterbury, a tribe driven out from the North Island by raids of a famous warrior, Te Rauparaha; Christians, living in simple fashion, practically shut off from communication with the rest of New Zealand. Before our discovery of gold these Maories knew of its existence, but not of its value,
