Chapter VIII. With regard to many of the other habits of the New Zealanders, Rutherford in general cor roborates the testimony of other travellers. He mentions particularly their extreme inat tention to personal cleanliness, a circumstance which very much surprised Nicholas, as it seemed to present an unaccountable contrast to the neatness and order which were usually to be found both in their plantations and huts. All the natives, Rutherford states, are over run with vermin, which lodge not only in their heads, but in their mats. “Their way of destroying them in their mats,” he adds, “is by making a fire, on which, having thrown a quantity of green bushes, they spread the mat over the whole, when the steam from the leaves compels the vermin to retreat to the surface: these the women are very active in catching on such occasions with both hands, and devouring greedily. Sometimes two or three will be catching them at the same mat.” The New Zealanders cure their fish, Rutherford tells us, by dipping them a great many times in salt water, and then drying them in the sun. The large mussels they first bake in the usual manner, and then, taking them out U7