No Europeans have as yet settled in the inland districts of this portion of the North Island, but the "Queen's son" was as safe among the Arawas in their own country as he would be among the Gordons in Aberdeenshire. We were, however, attended by a guard of honour, consisting of an escort of the clansmen in arms for the Queen. The Duke of Edinburgh and his officers were much interested by the many striking scenes and incidents of life in a Maori camp, especially by the war-songs chanted by the Arawas around the watchfires which they kindled each night in front of our tents. On the other hand, the native warriors were delighted by His Royal Highness's power of enduring fatigue—by his good horsemanship and swimming—by the skill and vigour with which he paddled his canoe across their lakes—and, above all, perhaps, by his constantly wearing the kilt, which is the favourite garb of the Maori as well as of the Scotch Highlanders.
On the 14th December we rode a distance of forty miles, from Maketu to Ohinemutu, the principal inland settlement of the Arawas. It is situated at the north-western extremity of the beautiful lake of Rotorua, and has in front the lofty islet of Mokoia, famous for the legend of Hine Moa, the Hero, and of her lover, the Leander of the Maoris.[1] The road from Maketu to Ohinemutu, winding along the shores of Rotoiti and Rotorua, presents a succession of lovely prospects. It was spontaneously commenced by the Arawas, the chiefs and clansmen labouring together, for the use of the Duke of Edinburgh when his visit was first expected in 1868.
Ohinemutu still exhibits most of the features and scenes of a Maori pa and kainga of the olden time. The dwellings of the chiefs are surrounded with stockades, while many of them are adorned with grotesque woodcarvings, and are curious specimens of native architecture. The boiling springs—sure signs of the volcanic fires smouldering below—seethe, bubble, and steam on every side;—among the houses, where they form excellent natural cooking places;—and in the tepid waters of the neighbouring lake, in which the natives swim, each morning and evening, as in a vast natural bath. On Sunday, the 18th December, a missionary clergyman, the Rev. S. Spencer, who had accompanied our party from Maketu, read the service of the Church of England, in the open air, on the shore of Lake Rotorua. It was a calm, clear, and sunny day, and the scene was highly picturesque and suggestive; with the little knot of Englishmen surrounding the "son of the Queen," and the large congregation of Maoris repeating the responses and chanting the hymns in their own sonorous language; amid some of the finest prospects of lake and mountain, and near some of the most wonderful natural phenomena in the world; in the very heart, moreover, of the native districts
- ↑ See the "Story of Hine Moa, the Maiden of Rotorua," in Sir George Grey's Polynesian Mythology, pages 235–245.
