Its name
is Pahia: it is the residence of the missionaries; and there are no
native residents except servants and labourers. In the vicinity of
the Bay of Islands the number of Englishmen, including their
families, amounts to between two and three hundred. All the
cottages, many of which are whitewashed and look very neat, are the
property of the English. The hovels of the natives are so
diminutive and paltry that they can scarcely be perceived from a
distance. At Pahia it was quite pleasing to behold the English
flowers in the gardens before the houses; there were roses of
several kinds, honeysuckle, jasmine, stocks, and whole hedges of
sweetbriar.
DECEMBER 22, 1835.
In the morning I went out walking; but I soon found that the
country was very impracticable. All the hills are thickly covered
with tall fern, together with a low bush which grows like a
cypress; and very little ground has been cleared or cultivated. I
then tried the sea-beach; but proceeding towards either hand, my
walk was soon stopped by salt-water creeks and deep brooks. The
communication between the inhabitants of the different parts of the
bay is (as in Chiloe) almost entirely kept up by boats.
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