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New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 677, 28 January 1852, Page 3

On Saturday evening the members of the New Zealand Society were invited by his Excellency to a conversazione at Government House. In addition to the valuable scientific works illustrative of the natural history and ornithology of the Australian

colonies with which the tables were covered, we noticed several novelties of great interest connected with these Islands. Among them were some beautiful specimens of petrifactions from the springs of Taupo which had the appearance of delicately formed coral, a large piece of obsidian from the same district, a large and elaborate specimen of carving of considerable antiquity from an old native house at Otawa, a district in the interior of the Northern Pro- ' ince, and a beautifully carved, feather box, presented by Rangihaeatato his Excellency. 1 his box (used for containing the albatross and other feathers with which New Zealand chiefs were wont to adorn their persons on important occasions) is about three feet long, and is covered with elaborate and grotesque carving.itwas amongthe most valued of the personal possessions of the old chief, and may be considered as having been a sort of heir loom, having been distinctly traced back as being ia his family for a period of upwards of three centuries. We believe it was so highly prized by Rangihaeata and his ancestors as to have been kept until very recently carefully hidden from the profane gaze of the pakeha. The present may be regarded as a mark of the personal good will and respect which Rangihaeta entertains towards his Excellency, and may be taken as a significant proof of the beneficial change caused bv his Excel- ; lency s administration of the government, to whose authority, when Sir George Grey first arrived in these Islands, Rangihaeata was the most determined opponent. Near at hand was a very beautiful specimen of turning in wood of the most delicate and complicated patterns by Mr. Kebble of Manawatu, and the contrast between this finished work of lines “ concentric and eccentric turned,” produced bv the ingenious appliances and exquisite workmanship of a high state of civilization, and the flowing ornaments and scroll work of these workmen of nature’s school, to whom the use of iron was at that time unknown, was redete with interest and food for reflection. Two carefully executed drawings of Dunedin and Poit Chalmers, by Mr. Shaw, were also exhibited ; these are, we believe, intended by the artist to be lithographed and published by subscription. There were also some interesting specimens of ornaments and greenstone from the Loyalty Islands, the only Islands in the Pacific besides New Zealand in which greenstone is known to exist, and the natives of which closely resemble the New Zealanders in their language, customs and personal appearance.