nations, that threw such a gentle calm across the rugged features of the chief, as he watched his people depart; or was it the more vulgar contentment which springs from the realization or prospect of an excellent dinner? Who shall say? Let it suffice that Kai Tamaru's face was illumined by a light of almost ecstatic enthusiasm, as he turned back into his warri, closed and barred the door, threw some fagots on the fire, and prepared for the sacrifice.

Night had closed in, and the old chief had completed his meal. He still kept his warri shut fast; and now slumbered on his fern-couch, with the sound and unbroken slumber which springs from repletion and contentment. And, indeed, it is probable that Kai Tamaru would have slept on till morning, had he not been awakened by a sudden glare of light which fell upon his face. Opening his eyes lazily, he saw that this arose from his fire, which had apparently been recently replenished with fagots, and now blazed and sputtered and crackled, as though it were a thing of life.

A brisk and lively fire is a pleasant thing, and Kai Tamaru felt all its genial influence, as, with sleepy enjoyment, he watched the bright flames leap and frolic upwards, towards the roof-tree. But, presently, a dim idea occurred to him that somebody was sitting on the floor, warming his shins at the other side of the fire. A hazy perception of a form and face, not altogether unfamiliar, came to the chief; a form of gigantic size, and a face of sinister and disagreeable expression. Thinking this a dream, Kai Tamaru rubbed his eyes, jerked himself on to his elbow, and looked fixedly, through the smoke and flame, at the apparitionif such it was. To his great surprise, and no little indignation, he discovered that there was, indeed, a stranger present, and that there really sat a personage of large stature and malignant looks, warming his shins by the fire, in the manner described. He was a tall lean individual, clothed in the flax mat and robes usually worn, in those days, by the Maoris. His head was shaped like a cocoanut, and from his forehead projected two excresences, which, while they could not well be likened to horns, were of too ambitious a character to be appropriately called wens. His nose was long,