GEOGRAPHY, OR THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 February 1855, Page 20

GEOGRAPHY, OR THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.

Chapter I. In old time, the Maories lived here in their own land. They did not know if there were any other lands besides New Zealand. SoDte said that there was an island far away, from which their fathers came. Some said the canoes came from Hawaiki. Some from Raratonga. This book is to teach how many countries there are in the world. This Earth that we live on is made, like the sun and moon. The Earth goes round and round the sun, and as it goes it spins round and round on itself. When one side is turned full towards the sun, there is day ir those lands. As it turns, there is evening and morning. When it has spun round, there it night. It takes one year for the earth to go round the sun. The earth dees not travel on an upright but a slant. This is the cause of summei and winter. At one time one part is near the sun) at another time another way, and so the seasons change from heat to cold.

Let us look at the map of the world. There are two sides of the world drawn upon this one map. On the side we live on is New Zealand, and the many islands to the North and East of us. The great country beyond us is America. To the East of America are many lands : Europe, Africa, and Asia. To the South-east of Asia lie the two islands of Australia and Van Diemen's Land. Now, those two islands are near to us, though ' O they seem so far away. That is only because the map is flat while the earth is round like a ball. These countries are not alike. Some are hot some are cold. The men, too, are not alike. Some are black, some brown, some white. Let us look first at the countries lying to the North and South in the map. Those are very cold. The ground there is always covered with snow, even the sea is frozen over. Only when summer comes the ice is melted by the sun, and breaks up into great pieces, often as big as a ship. These pieces float along and are rolled about by the waves. And so sailors sail very carefully in those seas,] when they go there in the summer to catch seals and whales. They fear lest their ships should be crushed. At one time all is clear before them and then up come the great ice hills, and dash against the sides. There is little food in these very cold countries. Neither wheat, nor potatoes, nor kumaras will grow there. It is too cold for cows, and sheep, and horses. There are, however, plenty of reindeer . This is a large beast with very large horns. The people eat the flesh, and make butter and cheese from the milk, as we do from cow's milk. They make clothes from the skin. Even the sinews are used for string, and thread to sew with, and the bones for spear heads. The rein deer is used, too, as a horse by the people in the North. They cannot travel on foot, for the ground is covered with snow. They make sledges, that is carriages without wheels. They are like canoes in shape. The rein deer is harnessed to this sledge, and away they go flying over the ice. There are other beasts in those countries. Great white bears, and wolves. These often kill men. But in the very far north there are no beasts, no living thing, because of the cold. For it is exceedingly cold there. There are sis months of winter. For three months, the people do not see the sun. The moon and the stars give them light,

and often there is a bright light that plays all across the sky, like long flames of fire shooting up. People burn lamps in their houses all day. When the summer comes, then there is day light for three months. The sun never sets. People only know it is night by being sleepy and tired. In the middle of the earth it is very hot all the year long. The sun is'high up in the sky. There are many hot countries j some very beautiful, some a sandy desert. It is burning hot there, for there is no water, and nothing will grow to make a shade. No man can bear to live in those deserts. When the wind blows, the hot sand flies about, and chokes any one who is travelling across them. The wind is as hot as if from an oven. The only thing to save him, is to lie down and cover his face till the storm is over. There are many wild beasts in the sandy desert. There is the lion. He likes to live there, it is so hot. He lurks in strong dens. And there are great serpents lying there, basking in the sun. And ostriches. These are great birds, eiglit feet high, much higher than a horse. They are like the Moa, which used to live in New Zealand. These birds run very fast, they have such long strong legs, a horse could not overtake them. Their wings are very small, they merely spread them out and clap them when they run. They cannot lift themselves off the ground or fly. The camel, too, inhabits these countries. He can travel better than the horse over the sand. But the camel has large soft hoofs, like a sponge. They do not sink in. His stomach has two bags in it, and so he can travel patiently on, two days at least, without any water, if he has*drunk his fill before he sets out. But in many of the hot countries there is plenty of water, and there all kinds of good things grow. In the wet swampy places, men plant rice, and in drier places coffee bushes grow, canes, and cocoa nut trees, and arrow root, and the cotton bushes. All these will only grow in hot countries. There are all kinds of beautiful birds, parrots and others, with bright coloured feathers. And the trees are full of monkeys, tumbling about, and playing, and chattering; and large swarms of large pretty butterflies.

Now, there aie other countries besides these, I where it is neither very hot nor very cold. England is such a country, and so is New Zealand, j These lie between the North and the middle, and between the middle and the South of the earth. I