GEOGRAPHY, OR THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 5, 1 June 1855, Page 5

GEOGRAPHY, OR THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.

Chapter 111. (Concluded from our last number.) Scotland is not as fertile as England; it is cold and mountainous. The chief city is Edinburgh. The Scotch are a very industrious people. Ireland is a fertile land, and all kinds of food grow well there. The chief city of Ireland is Dublin. We will now cross back again to the continent of Europe, and look at France. This is a large and fine country, warmer than England. It has many inhabitants. The chief city is Paris, which stands inland on the banks of the river Seine. The French language is very different from the English. Formerly, the French and English were often at war with each other, crossing the channel to and fro to fight; but now they are at peace. To the north of France is Holland; this is but a small country, but it is full of people. They have many ships. Holland is one great flat, without any hills ; there are no cliffs to be aDy barrier to the violence of the sea; and so, when a strong wind blows, many villages have been from time to time destroyed by the waves beating in on the coasts, and carrying away houses, men, and cattle. In one of these gales the sea swept in and destroyed many villages. It did not return back again ; there is a great gulf, as far as from Auckland to Hauraki, where

once was land and villages. Another time the sea burst in and destroyed twentv villages and a great number of people. The Hollanders are a hard working people, and they began to think of making dams along the coast, to"defend their villages from the sea There are now dykes and dam& all along the coast of Holland. They looked out for plants having .many roots, and planted them on these dams, to keep the earth together, lest it should be carried away by the sea. They have also high banks of earth on each side of the rivers. There are no natural banks, and so after the rain, the rivers used to overflow all the fields and the country round. These banks are both high and wide ; "the tops of them are used as roads. The chief city is Amsterdam It is built on many small islands; these island? are connected together by bridge?. There are 95 islands and 300 bridges. Goods arc carried there frum house to hous: by boats, instead of by carts. To the east of France is Germany; it is bounded on the east by llussia, and on the south by Italy. The Germans are not all one nation ; thou ah they speak a common language. There arc several kingdoms, each with its own king. The two great divisions however of Germany,°are the kingdom of Prussia, which lies towards the sea. and the kingdom of Austria, which is to the east, inland. The chief town of Prussia is Berlin, and of Austria, Vienna; this city is on the river Danube. There are of course, many other cities and towns. The people of Germany and England come from one stock; their languages are°verv much alike. i Germany is bounded on the north by the Baltic Sea. At the outlet is a narrow neck of land stretching out to sea; this is Denmark. The capital is Copenhagen. Ifjwe sail up the Baltic to the east, we come to St. Petersburg ; thi3 is the capital of Piussia, which is the largest of all the kingdoms in Europe. Russia is bounded on the north by the Frozen Sea; on the south by the Black Sea; on the east it extends all across Asia to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. This eastern part of Russia is called Siberia. The king or emperor of Russia rules over the whole country. St. Petersburg was built by the famous king, Peter the Great. Before his time, the Russians had no ships, because they had no harbours; the people all lived inland ; there were no cities on the shores of the Baltic ; it was all one groat swamp there ;| but this king and his people "all set to work to l

build a city on the coast They had to fetch stones and earth from a great distance to fill up the swamp, and to makc'sure foundations for the city. The Russians have now a large fleet in the harbour outside St. Petersburg. Ships sail thence in the summer, to carry wheat, flax, and hides, and other produce to England; but every winter the ice holds them fast. The Baltic is frozen over ; the river Neva, on which the city stands, is also frozen over. People cross to and fro on the ice; there is a great feast and holiday when the ice melts ; every"body rejoices. There are other sea port towns in the south of Russia, on the shores of the Black Sea ; one of these on the extreme southern point, has a fine harbour; it is named Sebastopol. The Russians are a hard working people; they travel overland to many distant lands to buy goods ; they even go as far as China to buy tea. This is a lone journey. They cannot travel in the winter, because of the ice and snow. It takes three years on this account to get to China and back again. Thev travel up to Siberia in search of ivory and furs. The country lying between the Baltic and the Black Sea, h one great plain; there are no mountains; it would take a long time to travel overland, but the Russians shorten the iourney by means of rivers and canals. They go by boat to St. Petersburg, as far up the river as possible; canals connect this with other rivers, which flow into the Black, or the Caspian Sea. But to return to the Baltic Sea, and to the countries lying to the north and west of itOpposite to England are the two countries of Norway and Sweden. A high chain of mountains runs down from north and south and divides them. Beyond the mountains on the side towards the Atlantic, is Norway. Sweden is on the Baltic. These countries are old. The kauri, or pine tree grows there, which is used for masts. To the north west is Lapland ; which we described at the beginning of this book; how for three months the sun never rises. There are not very many people in Lapland, it is so cold. The people are all short too ; they do not thrive in such cold countries. Cattle do not thrive either there. Cows, .horses, and sheep, were formerly carried there; it was hoped they would breed, and do well; but the larger number died, and the few young ones that" lived, soon dwindled down in size. The Laplanders often suffer greatly from want of food ; nothing will grow well because of the frost and snow ; they often have to use sea-weed for food ; they boil it, and eat it with fish. They wear seal-skin, and rein-deer skin garments, turning the hair inside to keep them warm ; the rein-deer is a great treasure to them. A rich Laplander has often a thousand tame rein-deer about his farm ; these are milked just like our cows; this animal lives on a kind

of moss which covers the rocks and the ground ; when the innss is hidden under the snow, he digs it out with his horns and hoofs. This moss is also e;iten by the people themselves; the women gather it in the summer, and boil it, r.nd then dry it and beat it fin 3 like flour; they keep it till winter,-and use it like flour with milk. The rein deer is the Laplander's horse; he is not ridden upon, but he draws the sledges, which are used instead of carts or carriages. These sledges have no wheels; they would be of no use ; they would only sink into the deep snow. The sledge is very much like a small canoe; only it has a back to support the man who travels in it; he is tied to the high back, lest he should fall out and be left in the snow; he holds along stick in his hand like a paddle, with which he pushes away any sticks or stones that may lie in the path; the people travel iD company; the leader of the party has bells to the neck of his rein deer, that all the other sledges may hear and follow in the right way; he has nothing to guide him but the sun by day. and the stars by night; the ground is all covered w T ith snow. Opposite to Norway is the island of Iceland; the name shows how cold it is there; a large part of the island is not inhabited ; ther< j is a high mountain in Iceland named Hecia; the sides are always covered with snow, but at the top, fire from within flames up; at times burning lava flows down the sides ; this lava is like stone, red hot and melted. When cold, the lava is like scoria. There are violent earthquakes in Iceland; when these come, the moun tain shoots forth fire, steam, smoke, ashes, and pumice stone. The earthquakes in this land, (in New Zealand) are very slight, but in Iceland they are so severe, that sometimes hills disappear and sink into the earth, and a lake is formed where they stood before; the mountains shoot forth springs of hot water and mud ; rivers become dry land, and the water has to flow oft in some new direction, and find another bed. In one such earthquake, two rivers of fire flowed down from Mount Hecla, they flowed on till they reached a river; this the fire dried up; then the burning streams flowed on to a great lake, which they filled up with the scoria and pumice stone carried down by the fire. The burning streams then came to the edge of a cliff, over which they dashed down into the plain below, like a waterfall; and now the fire spread like a great flood, ten miles wide and very deep. One of these streams flowed for forty, and the other for fifty miles, before they reached the sea. A great number of men and animals died, some by the fire—some by the stench ; but the largenumber died of hunger, for all the food was spoiled and covered with ashes; even the fish for a long time deserted the coast; about nine thousand people died. There are no tree 3in

Iceland, only bashes as high as the Manuka; the people there use drift-wood for fire-wood ; it is drifted across from Norway. The Icelanders were very wasteful in old time', burning off whole forests, and so now they have no wood left. There are hot springs in Iceland, like those at Rotorua, only those shoot up much higher than the springs in this land; and in Iceland, snow and ice lie all around them. We have now described all the countries welli i known to our forefathers; parts of Asia wore! i known, Tndia, China, and Tartary; but those; were only visited from time to time by a few i travellers; these were generally merchants, wh..j fetched gold, and spices, and fine muslins and silks i from them. Only kings and great nobles could; buy the things they brought. The price was' so high. The merchants had two ways of go-! ing. One by crossing from Europe to Syria, and travelling across the desert beyond. When they reached the river Euphrates, - they sailed down to the Red Sea. They brought back their goods on horses and camels across the desert. The other way was by Egypt, down it to the Red Sea. They sailed close in shore on the Indian sea. Both these routes were Ions: and fatiguing. It took a great many months to go and return. And after, all they could not bring much back. We shall now show the way which was afterwards found by which we get so easily to India.

Tamati Waka Nene, the son of Tapua of the Ngatirangi a Ngapuhi tribe, Tapua was a great warrior when urged to war; bat lie v.-as a "kind well disposed and hospitable chief, his kindness was frequently evinced towards travellers and

strangers ; and on several occasions he was the means of preventing war and fighting. Two of Tapua's family are dead. The survivors are Tamati Waka and Eruera Patuone. All the people of this Island have heard oi Tamati Waka Nene both European and Native. Waka is a really good man, he is well disposed and friendly towards all the tribes, it is not now only that his name has been so great, it was sc during his father's lifetime. Even before there were many Europeans in the country; and when war was more freely indulged in he was desirous of putting an end to the fighting of the Ngapuhi tribes; he made peacj at Taupo and Tauranga where fighting was greatly carried on several years ago. The first horse that reached the Taupo country was sent by him to Te Heuheu; he was also the first Native that sent a horse to the Ngatikahungunu tribe ; but Waka's friendship was not confined to the Maori's alone, hehas been most friendly and faithful in his attachment to the Europeans, which he fully evinced when some of the Ngapuhi tribes fought against them. Therefore both Europeans and Natives have reason to speak and think well of the worthy old chief Tamati Waka Nene.