[47] Those philanthropic individuals who think to change the habits of these savage tribes, expecting those who have lived from the earliest period of their existence on the produce of the chase, to abandon their wandering life, and settle down to cultivate the soil—an employment to which they are quite unaccustomed—can never have reflected how difficult, even in our boasted civilized state, it is to change habits acquired in early childhood. “Men,” observes Hartley, in his Essays on Man, (page 190,) “are brought to any thing almost sooner than to change their habit of life, especially when the change is either inconvenient or made against the force of natural inclination, or with the loss of accustomed indulgences. It is,” he continues, “the most difficult of all things to convert men from vicious habits to virtuous ones, as every one may judge from what he feels in himself as well as from what he sees in others.” “It is almost,” says Paley, after making the above quotation in his Evidences of Christianity, “like making men over again.” [48] At New Zealand the placenta is named “fenua,” which word signifies land. It is applied by the natives to the placenta, from their supposing it to be the residence of the child: on being discharged, it is immediately buried with great care, as they have the superstitious idea that the priests, if offended, would procure it; and, by praying over it, occasion the death of both mother and child, by “praying them to death,” to use their own expression. [49] At New Zealand the women are attended, during labour, by their husbands; but, if it is a difficult labour, they suppose the spirits to be angry, and therefore send for the Tohunga, or priest. On the arrival of the Tohunga, he strides over and breathes on the woman, and then, retiring to a short distance, sits down and prays to the spirits; if the labour terminates favourably, it is looked upon as resulting from the influence of the Tohunga in averting the anger of the spirits; but should the termination be fatal, the priest is considered to have incurred the displeasure of the spirits, and lost his influence. [50] This animal is called “Goribun” by the Yas natives. [51] Distance of miles in travelling in the interior of the colony is nominal, and the time occupied in riding the distance is usually taken into consideration; some stages seem often to be over and others under-calculated. “Shepherd’s miles,” it is a saying in the colony, “are short, those of stockmen long.” [52] The different trees of the _Eucalyptus_ genus are confused, and require botanical arrangement: many, termed species, are merely varieties; and the botanical characters of but few species are accurately known. [53] The “wire-grass” is said to indicate good soil, being found growing in alluvial soil, in clumps, upon flats, swamps, &c. [54] Sedge-grass is used for thatching, as well as beds for the sheep during shearing time, after they have been washed.