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Preface.

The half-caste, whose story is told in the following pages is a true representative of a people whose dignity, patriotism, and rare intelligence have been the admiration of the whole world, and seem the direct outcome of the grand and awe-inspiring scenery of their native land—a land that, probably, was as now at the advent of man upon the earth.

All the circumstances in this simple little tale came within the experience of the writer, to whom the scenery of the Province of Auckland has been familiar since childhood. The brilliant southern sun rising above the cone of gloomy Rangitoto; the blue sky and water that rival the glories of Italy; the marvellous bush garbed in a robe of everlasting green; and last, but not least, the slowly dwindling representatives of a once great people, have been to her the realities of everyday life.

Let us hope that the great qualities of the pagan owners of the soil will descend to us, the children of a race whose humanizing influence is felt all over the world.

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