either for the head or the feet, the feathers with which both sexes ornament the head being excepted. The food upon which they principally live is the root of the fern-plant, which grows all over the country. Rutherford’s account of the method of pre paring it, which we have already transcribed, corresponds exactly with that given by Cook, Nicholas, and others. This root, sometimes swallowed entirely, and sometimes only masticated, and the fibres rejected after the juice has been extracted, serves the New Zealanders not only for bread, but even occa sionally for a meal by itself. When fish are used, they do not appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten raw, but are always cooked, either by being fixed upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so exposed to the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and then placed between heated stones to bake. But little of any other animal food is consumed, birds being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being only produced on days of special festivity. The first pigs were left in New Zealand by Cook, who made many attempts to stock the country both with this and other useful animals, most of whom, however, were so much neglected that they soon disappeared. Cook, likewise, introduced the potato into New Zealand; and that valuable root appears to be