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Ena, or, The Ancient Maori

Preface

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Preface.

The following pages were written among the hills, ravines, and forest wilds of a portion of the writer's adopted country. Years have passed since he first saw from the deck of the barque "Ann Wilson" the lovely scenery of Port Nicholson, during which he has observed the native New Zealanders under their own genial skies, and in daily intercourse with some few of the Maori race. The writer therefore hopes that this not altogether fictitious story will be acceptable to many who desire to know something of those distant islanders, many of whose lives present a continuous tragedy from the cradle to the grave.

He also desires to acknowledge his obligations to the pathetic story of a New Zealand Iphigenia, as page vinarrated in the poem of "Ranolf and Amohia" by Mr. Alfred Domett—a work which is an enduring monument to the Maori of a bygone time. To the truthfulness and classic beauty of that noble gift to New Zealand the writer of the following pages begs to bear his humble testimony.

Native Reserve,
Te Aro pah, Wellington,
New Zealand. Dec. 1872.