neck, till the blood flowed copiously from their wounds. These demonstrations of excited feeling, which Rutherford describes as merely their usual manner of receiving any of their friends who have been for some time absent, are rather more extravagant than seem to have been commonly observed to take place on such occasions in other parts of the island. Mr. Marsden,* however, states that on Korro- korro’sf return from Port Jackson, many of the women of his tribe who came out to receive him “cut themselves in their faces, arms, and breasts with sharp shells or flints, till the blood streamed down.” Some time after, when Duaterra** and Shungiell went on shore at the Bay of Islands, they met with a similar reception from the females of their tribes. Mr. Savage asserts that this cutting of their faces by the women always takes place on the meeting of friends who have been long separated; but that the ceremony consists only of embracing and crying, when the separation of the parties has been short. It may be remarked that the custom of receiving strangers with tears, by way of doing them honour, has prevailed with other savages. Among the native tribes of Brazil, according to Lafitau, it used to be the *The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was appointed chaplain to the convict settlement of New South Wales in 1793, and who held the first divine service in New Zealand, on Christmas Day, 1814. tKoro-koro. **Ruatara, a close friend of Mr. Marsden. IIHongi. D