The exploits of heroes were only perpetuated by these frequent recitals. Whenever any notable event occurred it became the motive power of some improvisation. They entertained themselves as people in Europe do, by all sorts of amusements, especially dancing. Certain dances were engaged in by the women alone, others by the men; but in most the men and women danced together. The women had for their especial amusement the _tangi_, or scene of despair. They feigned the deepest grief, wrung their hands, and uttered the most heart-rending cries, while tears flowed in abundance. A stranger moved at the sight always learned with surprise that it was simply a pastime, and reproached himself for having misplaced his sympathy. Whenever a visitor presented himself, the mode of salutation was for the host to rub his nose against the nose of his guest. Small baskets of provisions were brought in, and a cordial invitation given to the visitor to join in partaking of the refreshments. But these people, hard, cruel, without pity in the execution of vengeance, but of a quick intelligence and unquestioned bravery, industrious and ingenious, cultivating a rude kind of art and of poetry, have been crushed in their struggles with the Europeans. The descendants of the fierce New Zealand warriors, as prisoners in certain districts which the English colonists have promised to respect, live sad and miserable, hating the plunderers of their land. At the present time they are scattered by families over the island, nearly always at a distance from the colonies. Each year this population diminishes; in the near future they will have entirely disappeared. Soon there will live only the memory of an extinct race. But while this is true of the Maoris, the English colonists, masters of the country, exceedingly prosperous, occupy all the places possessing the greatest advantages.