Women (who generally followed out-door active employments a considerable portion of the day), as soon as they experience the first symptoms of labor, retire some little distance from the settlements, among the _fern_ (a native growth resembling bushes in the United States), by the side of a stream of pure water. Within about one hour not unfrequently the mother returns with her new-born infant, both herself and it having been previously washed in the pure stream. The child is never bound with clothes or swathed, but for a few days at first it is dressed in one light flaxen garment. This is placed loosely about the trunk of the body, the extremities being left wholly free and exposed to the action of air and light, and after a few days, they are left entirely naked, being allowed freely to roll about and exercise their limbs upon a mat of smooth texture. It is left much of the time in the open air, but not exposed to the sun’s rays. At other times, when the mothers are at work, planting or hoeing in the ground, they are allowed, even when not more than one week old, to roll among the potatoes and corn. They are often taken to the streams of pure water with which the island abounds, for the purpose of being bathed. The mothers, in consequence of their almost constant labor and exercise in the open air, and their simple habits generally, are remarkably strong and muscular, and free from deformity and disease. Their food, particularly of the inland parts (where the finest specimens of physical development are to be found), consists almost wholly of the vegetable productions of the earth, such as corn, pumpkins, potatoes, common and sweet, peaches, and various other fruits, all of which articles grow to great perfection on the island. The New Zealanders wear but a single garment of flax, sometimes thrown loosely over the shoulders, and sometimes only about the loins. They have a great dislike to head-dresses, and never wear them. In civilized countries, also, we find among the laboring classes, some remarkable examples of the general safety with which childbirth is endured; and it has often been remarked among the legal profession, that in cases of concealment and child-murder, a most wonderful degree of strength and capability of exertion is often exhibited. There is, it is true, in cases of this kind, a powerful stimulant for extra exertion; but even admitting this consideration in its full force, these examples afford a striking proof of what the human constitution is able to endure, even under many untoward circumstances.