entary
life.

[Illustration: MAORIS CONVEYING GUESTS IN A CANOE

Photo by Beattie & Sanderson, Auckland.]

Among the Churches the Church of England claims 40 per cent. of the
people; the Presbyterians 23 per cent.; other Protestants, chiefly
Methodists, 17 per cent.; and Catholics 14. Methodists seem increasing
rather faster than any other denomination. Though the National School
system is secular, it is not anti-Christian. 11,000 persons teach
105,000 children in Sunday-schools. In the census returns about
two per cent. of the population object or neglect to specify their
religion; only about one per cent. style themselves as definitely
outside the Christian camp.

The average density of population throughout the Colony's 104,000
square miles is somewhat less than eight to the mile. Two-thirds of
the New Zealanders live in the country, in villages, or in towns
of less than 5,000 inhabitants. Even the larger towns cover, taken
together, about seventy square miles of ground--not very cramping
limits for a quarter of a million of people. Nor is there overcrowding
in houses; less than five persons to a house is the proportion. There
are very few spots in the towns where trees, flower gardens, and grass
are not close at hand, and even orchards and fields not far away. The
dwelling-houses, almost all of wood, seldom more than two storeys
high, commonly show by their shady verandahs and veiling creepers that
the New Zealand sun is warmer than the English. Bright, windy, and
full of the salt of the ocean, the air is perhaps the wholesomest on
earth, and the Island race naturally shows its influence. Bronzed
faces display on every side the power of sun and wind. Pallor is rare;
so also is the more delicate pink and white of certain English skins.
The rainier, softer skies of the western coasts have their result in
smoother skins and better complexions on that side of the Islands than
in the drier east. On the warm shores of Auckland there are signs of
a more slightly-built breed, but not in the interior, which almost
everywhere rises quickly into hill or plateau. Athletic records show
that the North Islanders hold their own well enough against Southern
rivals. More heavily built as a rule than the Australians, the New
Zealanders have darker hair and thicker eyebrows than is common with
the Anglo-Saxon of Northern England and Scotland. Tall and robust, the
men do not carry themselves as straight as the nations which have be