t essential to our comfort
to continue on friendly terms with them.

Although we were situated in the same latitude as Sydney, we found the
climate of New Zealand infinitely superior. Moderate heats and
beautifully clear skies succeeded each other every day. We were quite
free from those oppressive, feverish heats which invariably prevail in
the middle of the day at Sydney, and from those hot pestilential winds
which are the terror of the inhabitants of New South Wales; nor were we
subject to those long droughts, which are often the ruin of the
Australian farmer. The temperature here was neither too hot nor too cold,
neither too wet nor too dry. Reflecting on this country--its situation,
inhabitants, and climate--I felt convinced that, if it were the object of
our Government to form a new colony, they could not select a more
desirable spot than New Zealand. When we left Sydney, a disease was
raging there of a most disagreeable nature, namely, catarrh. As usual, it
affected strongly the eyes and nose, and generally proved fatal to the
very old and to children. We found the poor natives here subject to the
same complaint, which they called the "Murray," or "Murraybad"; and they
declared they caught it from us Europeans.

I could scarcely refrain from laughing while witnessing the strange
methods they adopted to effect a cure. Sometimes they would envelope
their heads entirely in green leaves, at other times they would almost
roast themselves in a heated hut; but their universal remedy, and the one
they generally found successful, was starvation, which is, in fact, the
doctor who cures them of all the diseases the Europeans have imported
amongst them: and, I confess, I have often been amazed at their rapid
recovery from maladies which I should have thought incurable. The other
day I asked the opinion of a clever medical man, who came here with one
of the whalers, and he informed me the only cases he had met with amongst
the natives, which terminated fatally, were a few instances of
consumption.

After the novelty of our savage life began to wear away, I rambled much
about the country, in order to form some judgment of its capability of
improvement. I never possessed any practical knowledge of farming, and
therefore cannot give a scientific opinion or description of the
different soils. In whatever direction I travelled, and at this time I
had crossed the country in various directions several times, the soil
appeared to