diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-0.txt | 5663 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/13760-h.htm | 5753 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 27781 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image01.png | bin | 0 -> 35365 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image02.png | bin | 0 -> 35882 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image03.png | bin | 0 -> 26695 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image04.png | bin | 0 -> 43065 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image05.png | bin | 0 -> 37846 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image06.png | bin | 0 -> 30058 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image07.png | bin | 0 -> 39886 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image08.png | bin | 0 -> 52949 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image09.png | bin | 0 -> 13737 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image10.png | bin | 0 -> 49816 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image11.png | bin | 0 -> 19813 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image12.png | bin | 0 -> 35231 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image13.png | bin | 0 -> 42574 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image14.png | bin | 0 -> 19273 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13760-h/images/image15.png | bin | 0 -> 13257 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-8.txt | 6054 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 128043 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 661067 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/13760-h.htm | 6156 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 27781 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image01.png | bin | 0 -> 35365 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image02.png | bin | 0 -> 35882 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image03.png | bin | 0 -> 26695 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image04.png | bin | 0 -> 43065 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image05.png | bin | 0 -> 37846 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image06.png | bin | 0 -> 30058 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image07.png | bin | 0 -> 39886 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image08.png | bin | 0 -> 52949 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image09.png | bin | 0 -> 13737 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image10.png | bin | 0 -> 49816 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image11.png | bin | 0 -> 19813 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image12.png | bin | 0 -> 35231 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image13.png | bin | 0 -> 42574 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image14.png | bin | 0 -> 19273 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760-h/images/image15.png | bin | 0 -> 13257 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760.txt | 6054 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13760.zip | bin | 0 -> 128023 bytes |
43 files changed, 29696 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13760-0.txt b/13760-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f8eeffc --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5663 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13760 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 13760-h.htm or 13760-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760/13760-h/13760-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760/13760-h.zip) + + + + + +JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF + +A Story of Adventure in New Zealand + +Edited by + +JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: John Rutherford. From an original drawing taken in +1828.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + INTRODUCTION + CHAPTER I. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. + CHAPTER IX. + CHAPTER X. + CHAPTER XI. + CHAPTER XII. + CHAPTER XIII. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + John Rutherford + + A Maori's shoulder mat + + Short striking weapons (clubs) used by the Maoris + + Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of + Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place + + A door-lintel, showing Maori carving + + "Moko" on a man's face and on a woman's lips and chin + + Two Maori Chiefs--Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, + or "Dark House" + + Scene in a New Zealand Forest + + Flute of bone + + A waist-mat + + Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair + + Carved boxes + + Greenstone axes, with carved wooden bandies, and ornamented + with dogs' hair and birds' feathers + + Long striking and thrusting weapons used by the Maoris + + A Maori war-canoe + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Eighty years ago, when the story told in these pages was first +published, "forecastle yarns" were more thrilling than they are now. In +these days we look for information in regard to a new land's +capabilities for pastoral, agricultural, and commercial pursuits; in +those days it was customary, with a large portion of the British public, +at any rate, to expect sailors to tell stories + + Of the cannibals that each other eat, + The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads + Do grow beneath their shoulders, + +and to relate other particulars likely to arrest the attention and +excite the imagination. Men then sailed to unknown lands, peopled by +unknown barbarians, and their adventures in strange and mysterious +countries were clothed in a romance which has been almost completely +dispelled by the telegraph, the newspaper press, cheap books, and rapid +transit, and by the utilitarian ideas which have swept over the world. + +It was largely to meet the public taste for something wonderful and +striking that John Rutherford's story of adventures in New Zealand saw +the light of publicity. In fairness to the original editor and the +publisher, however, it should be stated that the story was given also as +a means of supplying interesting information in regard to a country and +a race of which very little was then known. It was embodied in a book of +400 pages, entitled "The New Zealanders," published in 1830, for the +Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by the famous publisher, +Charles Knight. + +He was a versatile, talented, and ambitious man; but all his ambitions +ran in the direction of the public good. From the time of his early +manhood, he wished to become a public instructor. At first he tried to +achieve his end by means of journalism, which he entered in 1812, by +reporting Parliamentary debates for "The Globe" and "The British Press," +two London journals. Later on he started a publishing business in +London. Dealing only with instructive subjects, he established "Knight's +Quarterly Magazine," and other periodicals, to which he was one of the +prominent contributors. + +He was not a business man, and in 1828 he was overwhelmed by financial +difficulties. In the meantime he had become acquainted with the +brilliant but erratic Lord Brougham, who had completed arrangements for +putting into operation one of his great enterprises for educating the +masses. This was the establishment of the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge. It began a series of publications under the title of +"The Library of Entertaining Knowledge," which Knight published. The +first volume, written by Knight himself, was "The Menageries"; the +second was "The New Zealanders." Other publications were issued by the +society until it was dissolved in 1846. Knight continued to send works +out of the press nearly to the end of his useful life, in March, 1873. +Some of these were written by himself, some by friends, and some were +translations. His "Penny Magazine," at the end of its first year, had a +sale of 200,000 copies. Amongst his other publications are Lane's +"Arabian Nights," "The Pictorial Bible," "The Pictorial History of +England," and--the object of his highest ambition--"The Pictorial +Shakespeare." In "Passages of a Working Life," he wrote his own +biography. In spite of his strenuous life he died a poor man. He was an +enthusiast, but his impetuous nature induced him to attempt to carry out +his schemes before they had matured. He had a quick temper and an +eloquent tongue. The esteem in which he was held by his friends is shown +by the admirable jest with which Douglas Jerrold took leave of him one +evening at a social gathering. "Good Knight," Jerrold said. + +The "New Zealanders" was published anonymously, and for many years the +authorship was attributed to Lord Brougham. There is no doubt now, +however, that the author was George Lillie Craik, a scholar and a man of +letters. He was born at Kennoway, Fife, in 1798. He studied at St. +Andrew's, and went through a divinity course, but never applied to be +licensed as a preacher. Like Knight, he was attracted by journalism, +which he regarded as a means of instructing the public. When he was only +twenty years of age he was editor of "The Star," a local newspaper. In +London he adopted authorship as a profession. In 1849, he was appointed +Professor of English Literature and History at the Queen's College, +Belfast, and later on, although he still resided at Belfast, he became +examiner for the Indian Civil Service. All his literary work is +distinguished by careful research. Perhaps his best effort is +represented by "The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties," published +in the same year as "The New Zealanders." With a colleague he edited +"The Pictorial History of England," in four volumes. Amongst his other +works are "A Romance of the Peerage," "Spencer and his Poetry," "A +History of Commerce," "The English of Shakespeare," and "Bacon, his +Writings and Philosophy." He had a flowing and cultured style, and he +embellished his work with many references to the classics. He was one of +the best read men of his time. His extensive reading and the simplicity +of his style made him a very welcome contributor to the "Penny +Magazine," the "Penny Cyclopædia," and other popular publications. He +had a paralytic stroke while lecturing in Belfast in February, 1866, +and he died in June of the same year. It is said of him that he was +popular with students and welcome in society. + +It is not known if Craik met Rutherford. He probably did not. He may +have had "The New Zealanders" partly written when the manuscript +describing Rutherford's adventures was placed in his hands. In that +case, he wove it into his book, using it as a means of illustrating his +remarks on the Maoris' customs. His work bears the stamp of honesty and +industrious care. He collected all the information dealing with New +Zealand available at the time, and he produced a fairly large book, +which, for many years after it was published, must have been a valuable +contribution to the public's store of "entertaining knowledge." + +Rutherford, as his narrative shows, was ten years amongst the Maoris. He +was an ignorant sailor. He could not write, and the account of his +adventures, it is explained, was dictated to a friend while he was on +the voyage back to England. Craik says that if allowance is made for +some grammatical solecisms, the story, as it appeared in the manuscript, +was told with great clearness, and sometimes with considerable spirit. +Knight evidently knew him, as it is stated in "The New Zealanders" that +"the publisher of this volume had many conversations with him when he +was exhibited in London." It is probable, too, that Brougham knew him. +Brougham, indeed, may have "discovered" him and introduced him to +Knight. Rutherford was just the kind of man in whose company Brougham +delighted to spend hours. He would listen to the recital of the +thrilling adventures with the Maoris with breathless interest. A story +told of the madcap days of Brougham's youth gives some idea of the +welcome he would extend to Rutherford. One evening, after Brougham and +some other gay spirits had supped together in London, they saw a mob of +idle scoundrels beating an unfortunate woman with brutal ferocity. The +young fellows went to her rescue. Their interference increased the +tumult, and all the watchmen in the neighbourhood were soon about their +ears. In return for their chivalry they were lodged in the watch-house. +Amongst their fellow-prisoners there was an old sailor, who sat cowering +over the embers of the fire. He had been in the American War. Brougham +picked up an acquaintance with him, and all night long the young man +held the old one in conversation, ascertaining the strength of the +forces in the engagements, the scenes of the battles, the nature of the +manoeuvres, the advances and reverses, and so on, until his +avariciousness for knowledge was satisfied. + +Neither Brougham nor Knight, nor even Craik, had sufficient means of +testing the accuracy of Rutherford's story. Unfortunately there are many +points on which the narrative is not only inaccurate but misleading. +Craik concludes that Poverty Bay, where Cook first landed in New +Zealand, is the scene of the capture of the "Agnes." Rutherford, +however, gives the name as "Tokomardo." This corresponds with a bay some +miles further north, and about forty miles from the East Cape. The +Maoris call it Tokomaru, which Rutherford evidently intended. His +description of the place might represent Tokomaru almost as well as +Poverty Bay. The strangest part of the affair, however, is that the +Maoris on that coast have no knowledge whatever of the "Agnes," the +vessel which, according to Rutherford, was captured in the bay he +describes. Eighty years ago the arrival of a vessel at New Zealand was +an advent of the utmost importance. The news spread throughout the land +with surprising rapidity, and whole tribes flocked to the port to see +the "Pakehas" and trade for their iron implements and guns. The Maoris +of the district know of three white men, whom they called Riki, Punga, +and Tapore, who lived amongst them for some time in the early days, +before colonization began; but they have no knowledge of Rutherford. The +chiefs to whom Rutherford frequently refers did not belong to that +district. The chief who takes the principal part in the story, "Aimy," +cannot be traced. The name is spelt wrongly, and it is difficult to +supply a Maori name that the spelling in the book might represent. This +is surprising, as the Maoris are very careful in regard to their +genealogical records.[A] While Rutherford was in New Zealand some +terrible slaughters took place in the Poverty Bay district, but he does +not refer to these, although they must have been one of the principal +subjects of conversation amongst the Maoris for months, perhaps years. + +Near the end of the narrative, Rutherford gives an account of a great +battle, in which the chief Hongi was a prominent figure. His description +of what took place is incorrect in several respects. Victory went to +Hongi, not, as Rutherford says, to the people of Kaipara and their +allies, although they were victorious in the first skirmish. The battle +is known as Te Ika-a-rangi-nui, that is the Great Fish of the Sky or the +Milky Way, and it took place in February, 1825. As Rutherford states, +Hongi was present, and wore the famous coat of mail armour which had +been given to him by His Majesty King George IV. when he was in England +in 1820. The strife was caused not by an attempt to steal Hongi's +armour, as Rutherford suggests, but by a thirst for revenge for the +death of a chief of the Nga-Puhi tribe, to which Hongi belonged. The +chief Whare-umu, evidently identical with "Ewarree-hum" in Rutherford's +narrative, did not belong to the party that Rutherford was connected +with; he was related to the man whose murder was avenged, and seems to +have been Hongi's first lieutenant. Some authorities, notably Bishop +Williams, of Waiapu,[B] and Mr. Percy Smith,[C] believe that Rutherford +was not present at the battle, and that he obtained all his information +from others. Bishop Williams, who knows the Poverty Bay district as well +as anyone, has come to the conclusion that Rutherford must have spent +his years in New Zealand in the Bay of Islands district; and Mr Percy +Smith, in a letter to me, says that he has always entertained the idea +that Rutherford was one of the men taken when the schooner "Brothers" +was attacked at Kennedy Bay in 1815. Bishop Williams sets up the theory +that Rutherford was a deserter from a vessel which visited New Zealand, +that he induced the Maoris to tattoo him in order that he might escape +detection after he had returned to civilization, and that he concocted +the story of the capture of the "Agnes" to account for his reappearance +amongst Europeans. The weakness of this theory is that he evidently did +not object to publicity, and that the tattooing would make him a +conspicuous man who could not avoid public attention. If Bishop Williams +is right in assuming that Rutherford wished to escape detection, he +took the very best course to defeat his object. + +Whatever Rutherford's object may have been, and whether he deceived the +author and publisher of "The New Zealanders," or merely erred through +ignorance and lack of observation, there is no doubt that he spent some +years with the Maoris in the northern part of New Zealand. His tattooed +face is sufficient evidence of that. The pattern is the Maori "moko." +The tattooing on his breast, stomach, and arms, however, is not the work +of Maoris; that was done, probably, by natives at some of the islands, +or by sailors. I hardly think that those who read the narrative will +agree with Bishop Williams's opinion that it is "a mere romance." It is +more like the story of an ignorant, unobservant, careless sailor, who +entertained no idea that any importance would be attached to his +statements. Many mistakes were probably made in the work of dictating +the narrative to a fellow-sailor. If Rutherford had been bent upon +making a romantic story, he would have told it in a different form. +There is no straining after effect in the manuscript reproduced by +Craik. The faults are inaccuracies, not exaggerations. Some excuse may +be found for Rutherford's mistakes in the description of the battle Te +Ika-a-rangi-nui in the fact that modern Maori scholars cannot agree on +important details, there being differences of opinion in regard to +even the year in which the battle was fought. + +[Illustration: A Maori's shoulder mat _Christchurch Museum_.] + +It is felt that, with all its blemishes, the story has a good claim to +be included in the list of New Zealand works that are now being +reprinted by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, to whom the people of New +Zealand are deeply indebted. When Mr. Whitcombe first asked me to edit +Rutherford's story for his firm, I proposed to take it alone, leaving +out all the rest of Craik's work in "The New Zealanders." On reading the +book again I came to the conclusion that many of Craik's remarks, +although discursive at times, are sufficiently interesting to be read +now, and I have included in the reprint a large portion of his original +writings. I have retained his spelling of Maori words, but have made +many corrections in footnotes. The book is not sent out as an authentic +account of the Maoris. "The New Zealanders" was the first book that +attempted to deal with them, and it has been superseded by many which +have been written in the light of more extensive knowledge, and in them +students will find results of much patient study and research. + +JAMES DRUMMOND. + +Christchurch, + +February 13th, 1908. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: At my request, Mr. S. Percy Smith, the author of "Hawaiki, +the Original Home of the Maori," endeavoured to trace "Aimy," but even +his extensive knowledge of the Maori language and tribal histories +failed to bring that man to light. Mr. Smith explains that "Ai" in +Rutherford's spelling represents "E," a vocative, in the accepted method +of spelling, and "my" represents "mai." The two words, combined, would +be "E Mai." In this way, "Mai's" attention would be called. But "Mai" +may be the first, second, or third syllable of a man's name, according +to euphony. The name supplied in the narrative, therefore, is no guide +in a search for Rutherford's friendly chief.] + +[Footnote B: Transactions New Zealand Institute, volume xxiii., page +453.] + +[Footnote C: "Journal of the Polynesian Society," volume x., page 35.] + + + + +JOHN RUTHERFORD + +THE WHITE CHIEF. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +John Rutherford, according to his own account, was born at Manchester +about the year 1796. He went to sea, he states, when he was hardly more +than ten years of age, having up to that time been employed as a piecer +in a cotton factory in his native town; and after that he appears to +have been but little in England, or even on shore, for many years. + +He served for a considerable time on board a man-of-war off the coast of +Brazil; and was afterwards at the storming of San Sebastian, in August, +1813. On coming home from Spain, he entered himself on board another +king's ship, bound for Madras, in which he afterwards proceeded to China +by the east passage, and lay for about a year at Macao. + +In the course of this voyage his ship touched at several islands in the +great Indian Archipelago, among others at the Bashee Islands,[D] which +have been rarely visited. On his return from the east he embarked on +board a convict vessel bound for New South Wales; and afterwards made +two trading voyages among the islands of the South Sea. + +It was in the course of the former of these that he first saw New +Zealand, the vessel having touched at the Bay of Islands, on her way +home to Port Jackson. + +His second trading voyage in those seas was made in the "Magnet," a +three-masted schooner, commanded by Captain Vine; but this vessel having +put in at Owhyhee,[E] Rutherford fell sick and was left on that island. +Having recovered, however, in about a fortnight, he was taken on board +the "Agnes," an American brig of six guns and fourteen men, commanded by +Captain Coffin, which was then engaged in trading for pearl and +tortoiseshell among the islands of the Pacific. + +This vessel, after having touched at various other places, on her return +from Owhyhee, approached the east coast of New Zealand, intending to put +in for refreshments at the Bay of Islands. + +Rutherford states in his journal that this event, which was to him of +such importance, occurred on March 6th, 1816. They first came in sight +of the Barrier Islands, some distance to the south of the port for which +they were making. They accordingly directed their course to the north; +but they had not got far on their way when it began to blow a gale from +the north-east, which, being aided by a current, not only made it +impossible for them to proceed to the Bay of Islands, but even carried +them past the mouth of the Thames. It lasted for five days, and when it +abated they found themselves some distance to the south of a high point +of land, which, from Rutherford's description, there can be no doubt +must have been that to which Captain Cook gave the name of East Cape. +Rutherford calls it sometimes the East, and sometimes the South-East +Cape, and describes it as the highest part of the coast. It lies nearly +in latitude 37° 42' S. + +The land directly opposite to them was indented by a large bay. This the +captain was very unwilling to enter, believing that no ship had ever +anchored in it before. We have little doubt, however, that this was the +very bay into which Cook first put, on his arrival on the coasts of New +Zealand, in the beginning of October, 1769. He called it Poverty Bay, +and found it to lie in latitude 38° 42' S. The bay in which Rutherford +now was must have been at least very near this part of the coast; and +his description answers exactly to that which Cook gives of Poverty Bay. + +It was, says Rutherford, in the form of a half-moon, with a sandy beach +round it, and at its head a fresh-water river, having a bar across its +mouth, which makes it navigable only for boats. He mentions also the +height of the land which forms its sides. All these particulars are +noticed by Cook. Even the name given to it by the natives, as reported +by the one, is not so entirely unlike that stated by the other, as to +make it quite improbable that the two are merely the same word +differently misrepresented. Cook writes it Taoneroa, and Rutherford +Takomardo. The slightest examination of the vocabularies of barbarous +tongues, which have been collected by voyagers and travellers, will +convince every one of the extremely imperfect manner in which the ear +catches sounds to which it is unaccustomed, and of the mistakes to which +this and other causes give rise, in every attempt which is made to take +down the words of a language from the native pronunciation, by a person +who does not understand it. + +Reluctant as the captain was to enter this bay, from his ignorance of +the coast, and the doubts he consequently felt as to the disposition of +the inhabitants, they at last determined to stand in for it, as they had +great need of water, and did not know when the wind might permit them to +get to the Bay of Islands. + +They came to anchor, accordingly, off the termination of a reef of +rocks, immediately under some elevated land, which formed one of the +sides of the bay. As soon as they had dropped anchor, a great many +canoes came off to the ship from every part of the bay, each containing +about thirty women, by whom it was paddled. Very few men made their +appearance that day; but many of the women remained on board all night, +employing themselves chiefly in stealing whatever they could lay their +hands on. Their conduct greatly alarmed the captain, and a strict watch +was kept during the night. + +The next morning one of the chiefs came on board, whose name they were +told was Aimy, in a large war-canoe, about sixty feet long, and carrying +above a hundred of the natives, all provided with quantities of mats and +fishing-lines, made of the strong white flax[F] of the country, with +which they professed to be anxious to trade with the crew. + +After this chief had been for some time on board, it was agreed that he +should return to the land, with some others of his tribe, in the ship's +boat, to procure a supply of water. This arrangement the captain was +very anxious to make, as he was averse from allowing any of the crew to +go on shore, wishing to keep them all on board for the protection of the +ship. + +In due time the boat returned, laden with water, which was immediately +hoisted on board; and the chief and his men were despatched a second +time on the same errand. Meanwhile, the rest of the natives continued to +take pigs to the ship in considerable numbers; and by the close of the +day about two hundred had been purchased, together with a quantity of +fern-root to feed them on. + +Up to this time, therefore, no hostile disposition had been manifested +by the savages; and their intercourse with the ship had been carried on +with every appearance of friendship and cordiality, if we except the +propensity they had shown to pilfer a few of the tempting rarities +exhibited to them by their civilised visitors. Their conduct as to this +matter ought perhaps to be taken rather as an evidence that they had not +as yet formed any design of attacking the vessel, as they would, in that +case, scarcely have taken the trouble of stealing a small part of what +they meant immediately to seize upon altogether. On the other hand, such +an infraction of the rules of hospitality would not have accorded with +that system of insidious kindness by which it is their practice to lull +the suspicions of those whom they are on the watch to destroy. + +During the night, however, the thieving was renewed, and carried to a +more alarming extent, inasmuch as it was found in the morning that some +of the natives had not only stolen the lead off the ship's stern, but +had also cut away many of the ropes, and carried them off in their +canoes. It was not till daybreak, too, that the chief returned with his +second cargo of water; and it was then observed that the ship's boat he +had taken with him leaked a great deal; on which the carpenter examined +her, and found that a great many of the nails had been drawn out of her +planks. + +About the same time, Rutherford detected one of the natives in the act +of stealing the dipson lead,--"which, when I took it from him," says he, +"he grinded his teeth and shook his tomahawk at me." + +"The captain," he continues, "now paid the chief for fetching the water, +giving him two muskets, and a quantity of powder and shot, arms and +ammunition being the only articles these people will trade for. + +"There were at this time about three hundred of the natives on the deck, +with Aimy, the chief, in the midst of them; every man was armed with a +green stone, slung with a string around his waist. This weapon they call +a 'mery,'[G] the stone being about a foot long, flat, and of an oblong +shape, having both edges sharp, and a handle at the end. They use it for +the purpose of killing their enemies, by striking them on the head. + +"Smoke was now observed rising from several of the hills; and the +natives appearing to be mustering on the beach from every part of the +bay, the captain grew much afraid, and desired us to loosen the sails, +and make haste down to get our dinners, as he intended to put to sea +immediately. As soon as we had dined, we went aloft, and I proceeded to +loosen the jib. At this time, none of the crew was on deck except the +captain and the cook, the chief mate being employed in loading some +pistols at the cabin table. + +"The natives seized this opportunity of commencing an attack upon the +ship. First, the chief threw off the mat which he wore as a cloak, and, +brandishing a tomahawk in his hand, began a war-song, when all the rest +immediately threw off their mats likewise, and, being entirely naked, +began to dance with such violence that I thought they would have stove +in the ship's deck. + +"The captain, in the meantime, was leaning against the companion, when +one of the natives went unperceived behind him, and struck him three or +four blows on the head with a tomahawk, which instantly killed him. The +cook, on seeing him attacked, ran to his assistance, but was immediately +murdered in the same manner. + +"I now sat down on the jib-boom, with tears in my eyes, and trembling +with terror. + +"Here I next saw the chief mate come running up the companion ladder, +but before he reached the deck he was struck on the back of the neck in +the same manner as the captain and the cook had been. He fell with the +blow, but did not die immediately. + +"A number of the natives now rushed in at the cabin door, while others +jumped down through the skylight, and others were employed in cutting +the lanyards of the rigging of the stays. At the same time, four of our +crew jumped overboard off the foreyard, but were picked up by some +canoes that were coming from the shore, and immediately bound hand and +foot. + +"The natives now mounted the rigging, and drove the rest of the crew +down, all of whom were made prisoners. One of the chiefs beckoned to me +to come to him, which I immediately did, and surrendered myself. We were +then put all together into a large canoe, our hands being tied; and the +New Zealanders, searching us, took from us our knives, pipes, +tobacco-boxes, and various other articles. The two dead bodies, and the +wounded mate, were thrown into the canoe along with us. The mate groaned +terribly, and seemed in great agony, the tomahawk having cut two inches +deep into the back of his neck; and all the while one of the natives, +who sat in the canoe with us, kept licking the blood from the wound with +his tongue. Meantime, a number of women who had been left in the ship +had jumped overboard, and were swimming to the shore, after having cut +her cable, so that she drifted, and ran aground on the bar near the +mouth of the river. The natives had not sense to shake the reefs out of +the sails, but had chopped them off along the yards with their +tomahawks, leaving the reefed part behind. + +"The pigs, which we had bought from them, were, many of them, killed on +board, and carried ashore dead in the canoes, and others were thrown +overboard alive, and attempted to swim to the land; but many of them +were killed in the water by the natives, who got astride on their backs, +and then struck them on the head with their merys. Many of the canoes +came to the land loaded with plunder from the ship; and numbers of the +natives quarrelled about the division of the spoil, and fought and slew +each other. I observed, too, that they broke up our water-casks for the +sake of the iron hoops. + +"While all this was going on, we were detained in the canoe; but at +last, when the sun was set, they conveyed us on shore to one of the +villages, where they tied us by the hands to several small trees. The +mate had expired before we got on shore, so that there now remained only +twelve of us alive. The three dead bodies were then brought forward, and +hung up by the heels to the branch of a tree, in order that the dogs +might not get at them. A number of large fires were also kindled on the +beach, for the purpose of giving light to the canoes, which were +employed all night in going backward and forward between the shore and +the ship, although it rained the greater part of the time. + +"Gentle reader," Rutherford continues, "we will now consider the sad +situation we were in; our ship lost, three of our companions already +killed, and the rest of us tied each to a tree, starving with hunger, +wet, and cold, and knowing that we were in the hands of cannibals. + +"The next morning, I observed that the surf had driven the ship over the +bar, and she was now in the mouth of the river, and aground near the end +of the village. Everything being now out of her, about ten o'clock in +the morning they set fire to her; after which they all mustered together +on an unoccupied piece of ground near the village, where they remained +standing for some time; but at last they all sat down except five, who +were chiefs, for whom a large ring was left vacant in the middle. The +five chiefs, of whom Aimy was one, then approached the place where we +were, and after they had stood consulting for some time, Aimy released +me and another, and, taking us into the middle of the ring, made signs +for us to sit down, which we did. In a few minutes, the other four +chiefs came also into the ring, bringing along with them four more of +our men, who were made to sit down beside us. + +"The chiefs now walked backward and forward in the ring with their merys +in their hands, and continued talking together for some time, but we +understood nothing of what they said. The rest of the natives were all +the while very silent, and seemed to listen to them with great +attention. At length, one of the chiefs spoke to one of the natives who +was seated on the ground, and the latter immediately rose, and, taking +his tomahawk in his hand, went and killed the other six men who were +tied to the trees. They groaned several times as they were struggling in +the agonies of death, and at every groan the natives burst out in great +fits of laughter. + +"We could not refrain from weeping for the sad fate of our comrades, not +knowing, at the same time, whose turn it might be next. Many of the +natives, on seeing our tears, laughed aloud, and brandished their merys +at us. + +"Some of them now proceeded to dig eight large round holes, each about a +foot deep, into which they afterwards put a great quantity of dry wood, +and covered it over with a number of stones. They then set fire to the +wood, which continued burning till the stones became red hot. In the +meantime, some of them were employed in stripping the bodies of my +deceased shipmates, which they afterwards cut up, for the purpose of +cooking them, having first washed them in the river, and then brought +them and laid them down on several green boughs which had been broken +off the trees and spread on the ground, near the fires, for that +purpose. + +"The stones being now red hot, the largest pieces of the burning wood +were pulled from under them and thrown away, and some green bushes, +having been first dipped in water, were laid round their edges, while +they were at the same time covered over with a few green leaves. The +mangled bodies were then laid upon the top of the leaves, with a +quantity of leaves also strewed over them; and after this a straw mat +was spread over the top of each hole. Lastly, about three pints of water +were poured upon each mat, which, running through to the stones, caused +a great steam, and then the whole was instantly covered with earth. + +"They afterwards gave us some roasted fish to eat, and three women were +employed in roasting fern-root for us. When they had roasted it, they +laid it on a stone, and beat it with a piece of wood, until it became +soft like dough. When cold again, however, it becomes hard, and snaps +like gingerbread. We ate but sparingly of what they gave us. After this +they took us to a house, and gave each of us a mat and some dried grass +to sleep upon. Here we spent the night, two of the chiefs sleeping along +with us. + +"We got up next morning as soon as it was daylight, as did also the two +chiefs, and went and sat down outside the house. Here we found a number +of women busy in making baskets of green flax, into some of which, when +they were finished, the bodies of our messmates, which had been cooking +all night, were put, while others were filled with potatoes, which had +been prepared by a similar process. + +"I observed some of the children tearing the flesh from the bones of our +comrades, before they were taken from the fires. A short time after this +the chiefs assembled, and, having seated themselves on the ground, the +baskets were placed before them and they proceeded to divide the flesh +among the multitude, at the rate of a basket among so many. They also +sent us a basket of potatoes and some of the flesh, which resembled +pork; but instead of partaking of it we shuddered at the very idea of +such an unnatural and horrid custom, and made a present of it to one of +the natives." + +According to this account, the editor says, the attack made upon the +"Agnes" would seem to have been altogether unprovoked by the conduct +either of the captain or any of the crew; but we must not, in matters of +this kind, assume that we are in possession of the whole truth, when we +have heard the statement of only one of the parties. What may have been +the exact nature of the offence given to the natives in the present +case, the narrative we have just transcribed hardly gives us any data +even for conjecturing; unless we are to suppose that their vindictive +feelings were called forth by the manner in which their pilfering may +have been resented or punished, about which, however, nothing is said in +the account. But perhaps, after all, it is not necessary to refer +their hostility to any immediate cause of this kind. These savages had +probably many old injuries, sustained from former European visitors, yet +unrevenged; and, according to their notions, therefore, they had reason +enough to hold every ship that approached their coast an enemy, and a +fair subject for spoliation. It is lamentable that the conduct of +Europeans should have offered them an excuse for such conduct. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum_. + + 1. Club (_patu_) of wood, inlaid with _paua_ shell and carved. + 2. Greenstone club (_mere pounanu_). + 3. Club (_onewa_) of stone. + 4. _Kotiate_ of wood or bone.] + +The wanton cruelties committed upon these people by the commanders and +crews of many of the vessels that have been of late years in the habit +of resorting to their shores, are testified to, by too many evidences, +to allow us to doubt the enormous extent to which they have been +carried; and they are, at the same time, too much in the spirit of that +systematic aggression and violence, which even British sailors are apt +to conceive themselves entitled to practise upon naked and unarmed +savages, to make the fact of their perpetration a matter of surprise to +us. We must refer to Mr. Nicholas's book[H] for many specific instances +of such atrocities; but we may merely mention here that the conduct in +question is distinctly noticed and denounced in the strongest terms, +both in a proclamation by Governor Macquarie, dated the 9th of November, +1814, and also in another by Sir Thomas Brisbane, dated the 17th of +May, 1824. So strong a feeling, indeed, had been excited upon this +subject among the more respectable inhabitants of the English colony, +that, in the year 1814, a society was formed in Sydney Town, with the +Governor at its head, for the especial protection of the natives of the +South Sea Islands against the oppressions practised upon them by the +crews of European vessels. + +The reports of the missionaries likewise abound in notices of the +flagrant barbarities by which, in New Zealand, as well as elsewhere, the +white man has signalised his superiority over his darker-complexioned +brother. But it may be enough to quote one of their statements, namely, +that within the first two or three years after the establishment of the +society's settlement at the Bay of Islands, not less than a hundred at +least of the natives had been murdered by Europeans in their immediate +neighbourhood. With such facts on record, it ought indeed to excite but +little of our surprise, that the sight of the white man's ship in their +horizon should be to these injured people in every district the signal +for a general muster, to meet the universal foe, and, if it may be +accomplished by force or cunning, to gratify the great passion of savage +life--revenge. + +The circumstances of this attack are all illustrative of the New Zealand +character; and, indeed, the whole narrative is strikingly accordant +with the accounts we have from other sources of the manner in which +these savages are wont to act on such occasions, although there +certainly never has before appeared so minute and complete a detail of +any similar transaction. The gathering of the inland population by fires +lighted on the hills, the previous crowding and almost complete +occupation of the vessel, the sly and patient watching for the moment of +opportunity, the instant seizure of it when it came, the management of +the whole with such precision and skill, as in the case of the +"Boyd,"[I] and indeed in every other known instance, while the success +of the movement was perfect--this result was obtained without the +expense of so much as a drop of blood on the part of the assailants--all +these things are the uniform accompaniments of New Zealand treachery +when displayed in such enterprises. + +The rule of military tactics among this people is, in the first place, +if possible, to surprise their enemies; and, in the second, to endeavour +to alarm and confound them. This latter is doubtless partly the purpose +of the song and dance, which form with them the constant prelude to the +assault, although these vehement expressions of passion operate also +powerfully as excitements to their own sanguinary valour and contempt +of death. + +Rutherford's description of the violence with which they danced on board +the ship in the present case, immediately before commencing their attack +on the crew, reminds us strikingly, even by its expression, of the +account Crozet gives us, in his narrative of the voyage of M. Marion, of +their exhibitions of a similar sort even when they were only in sport. +"They would often dance," says he "with such fury when on board the ship +that we feared they would drive in our deck." + +The alleged cannibalism of the New Zealanders is a subject that has +given rise to a good deal of controversy; and it has been even very +recently contended that the imputation, if not altogether unfounded, is +very nearly so, and that the horrid practice in question, if it does +exist among these people at all, has certainly never been carried beyond +the mere act of tasting human flesh, in obedience to some feeling of +superstition or frantic revenge, and even that perpetrated only rarely +and with repugnance. + +Without attempting to theorise as to such a matter on the ground of such +narrow views as ordinary experience would suggest, we may here state +what the evidence is which we really have for the cannibalism of the New +Zealanders. + +Cook was the first who discovered the fact, which he did in his first +visit to the country. The strongest proof of all was that which was +obtained in Queen Charlotte Sound. Captain Cook having one day gone +ashore here, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and other +persons belonging to the ship, found a family of the natives employed in +dressing some provisions. + +"The body of a dog," says Cook, "was at this time buried in their oven, +and many provision baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes +carelessly into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty +cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, +upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At +this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation +of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we +could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any +doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found +in a provision-basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to +have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end were the marks +of the teeth which had gnawed them. + +"To put an end, however, to conjecture founded upon circumstances and +appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the +Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man. +They were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied +that they had eaten it; 'but,' said Tupia, 'why did you not eat the body +of the woman we saw floating upon the water?' 'The woman,' said they, +'died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the +bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle.' + +"Upon inquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us +that, about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came +into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one of +seven whom they had killed. + +"Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the +inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still +stronger to give. One of us asked if they had any human bones with the +flesh remaining upon them; and upon their answering us that all had been +eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the bones were human, and said +that they were the bones of a dog; upon which one of the Indians, with +some eagerness, took hold of his own forearm, and thrusting it towards +us, said that the bone which Mr. Banks held in his hand had belonged to +that part of a human body; at the same time, to convince us that the +flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm with his teeth, and +made a show of eating. He also bit and gnawed the bone which Mr. Banks +had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and showing by signs that it +had afforded a delicious repast. Some others of them, in a conversation +with Tupia next day, confirmed all this in the fullest manner; and they +were afterwards in the habit of bringing human bones, the flesh of which +they had eaten, and offering them to the English for sale." + +When Cook was at the same place in November, 1773, in the course of his +second voyage, he obtained still stronger evidence of what he expressly +calls their "great liking for this kind of food," his former account of +their indulgence in which had been discredited, he tells us, by many. +Some of the officers of the ship having gone one afternoon on shore, +observed the head and bowels of a youth, who had been lately killed, +lying on the beach; and one of them, having purchased the head, brought +it on board. A piece of the flesh having then been broiled and given to +one of the natives, he ate it immediately in the presence of all the +officers and most of the men. Nothing is said of any aversion he seemed +to feel to the shocking repast. Nay, when, upon Cook's return on board, +for he had been at this time absent on shore, another piece of the flesh +was broiled and brought to the quarter-deck, that he also might be an +eye-witness of what his officers had already seen, one of the New +Zealanders, he tells us, "ate it with surprising avidity. This," he +adds, "had such an effect on some of our people as to make them sick." + +Of the persons who sailed with Cook, no one seems eventually to have +retained a doubt as to the prevalence of cannibalism among these +savages. Mr. Burney, who had been long sceptical, was at last convinced +of the fact, by what he observed when he went to look after the crew of +the "Adventure's" boat who had been killed in Grass Cove; and both the +elder and the younger Forster, who accompanied Cook on his second +voyage, express their participation in the general belief. John Ledyard, +who was afterwards distinguished as an adventurous African traveller, +but who sailed with Cook in the capacity of a corporal of marines, bears +testimony to the same fact. + +It thus appears that the testimony of those who have actually visited +New Zealand, in so far as it has been recorded, is unanimous upon this +head. + +To the authorities that have been already adduced, may be now added that +of Rutherford, whose evidence, both in the extract from his journal that +has been already given, and in other passages to which we shall +afterwards have occasion to refer, is in perfect accordance with the +statements of all preceding reporters entitled to speak upon the +subject. The facts that have been quoted would seem to show that the +eating of human flesh among this people is not merely an occasional +excess, prompted only by the phrenzy of revenge, but that it is actually +resorted to as a gratification of appetite, as well as of passion. + +It is very probable, however, that the practice may have had its origin +in those vindictive feelings which mix, to so remarkable a degree, in +all the enmities and wars of these savages. This is a much more likely +supposition than that it originated in the difficulty of procuring other +food, in which case, as has been remarked, it could not well have, at +any time, sprung up either in New Zealand or in almost any other of the +countries in which it is known to prevail. Certain superstitious +notions, besides, which are connected with it among this people, +sufficiently indicate the motives which must have first led to it; for +they believe that, by eating their enemies, they not only dishonour +their bodies, but consign their souls to perpetual misery. This is +stated by Cook. + +Other accounts, which we have from more recent authorities, concur in +showing that the person who eats any part of the body of another whom he +has slain in battle, fancies he secures to himself thereby a portion of +the valour or good fortune which had hitherto belonged to his dead +enemy. The most common occasion, too, on which slaves are slain and +eaten is by way of an offering to the "_mana_" of a chief or any of his +family who may have been cut off in battle. + +All this would go to prove that the cannibalism of the New Zealanders +had, on its first introduction, been intimately associated with certain +feelings or notions which seemed to demand the act as a duty, and not +at all with any circumstances of distress or famine which compelled a +resort to it as a dire necessity. There is too much reason for +apprehending, however, that the unnatural repast, having ceased in this +way to be regarded with that disgust with which it is turned from by +every unpolluted appetite, has now become an enjoyment in which they not +unfrequently indulge without any reference to the considerations which +originally tempted them to partake of it. Indeed, such a result, instead +of being incredible or improbable, would appear to be almost an +inevitable consequence of the general and systematic perpetration, under +any pretext, of so daring an outrage upon Nature as that of which these +savages are, on all hands, allowed to be guilty. + +The practice of cannibalism, which has prevailed among other nations as +well as the New Zealanders, has probably not had always exactly the same +origin. According to Mr. Mariner, it is of very recent introduction +among the people of Tonga, having been unknown among them till it was +imported about fifty or sixty years ago, along with other warlike +tastes, by their neighbours of the Fiji Islands, whose assistance had +been called in by one of the parties in a civil struggle. Here is an +instance of the practice having originated purely in the ferocity +engendered by the habit of war. In other cases it has, perhaps, arisen +out of the kindred practice of offering up human beings as sacrifices +to the gods. + +Humboldt, in his work on the indigenous inhabitants of South America, +gives us an interesting account of the introduction of this latter +atrocity among the Aztecs, a people of Mexico, whose annals record its +first perpetration to have taken place so late as the year 1317. + +But the most extraordinary instance of cannibalism which is known to +exist in the world is that practised by the Battas, an extensive and +populous nation of Sumatra. These people, according to Sir Stamford +Raffles, have a regular government, and deliberative assemblies; they +possess a peculiar language and written character, can generally write, +and have a talent for eloquence; they acknowledge a God, are fair and +honourable in their dealings, and crimes amongst them are few; their +country is highly cultivated. Yet this people, so far advanced in +civilization, are cannibals upon principle and system. Mr. Marsden,[J] +in his "History of Sumatra," seems to confine their cannibalism to the +accustomed cases of prisoners taken in war and to other gratifications +of revenge. But it is stated by Sir Stamford Raffles, upon testimony +which is unimpeachable, that criminals and prisoners are not only eaten +according to the law of the land, but that the same law permits their +being mangled and eaten while alive. The following extraordinary +account, which we extract from a letter of Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. +Marsden himself, dated February 27, 1820, is sufficiently revolting; but +it is important as showing the wonderful influence of ancient customs in +hardening the hearts of an otherwise mild and respectable people, and is +therefore calculated to make us look with less severity upon the +practices of the more ignorant New Zealanders. The progress of knowledge +and of true religion can alone eradicate such fearful relics of a +tremendous superstition--the offering, in another shape, to + + Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood + Of human sacrifice. + + I have found all you say on the subject of cannibalism more than + confirmed. I do not think you have even gone far enough. You + might have broadly stated, that it is the practice, not only to + eat the victim, but to eat him alive. I shall pass over the + particulars of all previous information which I have received, + and endeavour to give you, in a few words, the result of a + deliberate inquiry from the Batta chiefs of Tappanooly. I caused + the most intelligent to be assembled; and in the presence of Mr. + Prince and Dr. Jack, obtained the following information, of the + truth of which none of us have the least doubt. It is the + universal and standing law of the Battas, that death by eating + shall be inflicted in the following cases:--Adultery; midnight + robbery; wars of importance, that is to say, one district against + another, the prisoners are sacrificed; intermarrying in the same + tribe, which is forbidden from the circumstance of their having + ancestors in common; treacherous attacks on a house, village, or + person. In all the above cases it is lawful for the victims to be + eaten, and they are eaten alive, that is to say, they are not + previously put to death. The victim is tied to a stake, with his + arms extended, the party collect in a circle around him, and the + chief gives the order to commence eating. The chief enemy, when + it is a prisoner, or the chief party injured in other cases, has + the first selection; and after he has cut off his slice, others + cut off pieces according to their taste and fancy, until all the + flesh is devoured. It is either eaten raw or grilled, and + generally dipped in sambul (a preparation of Chili pepper and + salt), which is always in readiness. Rajah Bandaharra, a Batta, + and one of the chiefs of Tappanooly, asserted that he was present + at a festival of this kind about eight years ago, at the village + of Subluan, on the other side of the bay, not nine miles distant, + where the heads may still be seen. + + When the party is a prisoner taken in war, he is eaten + immediately, and on the spot. Whether dead or alive he is equally + eaten, and it is usual even to drag the bodies from the graves, + and, after disinterring them, to eat the flesh. This only in + cases of war. From the clear and concurring testimony of all + parties, it is certain that it is the practice not to kill the + victim till the whole of the flesh cut off by the party is eaten, + should he live so long; the chief or party injured then comes + forward and cuts off the head, which he carries home as a trophy. + Within the last three years there have been two instances of this + kind of punishment within ten miles of Tappanooly, and the heads + are still preserved. In cases of adultery the injured party + usually takes the ear or ears; but the ceremony is not allowed to + take place except the wife's relations are present and partake of + it. In these and other cases where the criminal is directed to be + eaten, he is secured and kept for two or three days, till every + person (that is to say males) is assembled. He is then eaten + quietly, and in cold blood, with as much ceremony, and perhaps + more, than attends the execution of a capital sentence in Europe. + + The bones are scattered abroad after the flesh has been eaten, + and the head alone preserved. The brains belong to the chief, or + injured party, who usually preserves them in a bottle, for + purposes of witchcraft, &c. They do not eat the bowels, but like + the heart; and many drink the blood from bamboos. The palms of + the hands and the soles of the feet are the delicacies of + epicures. Horrid and diabolical as these practices may appear, it + is no less true that they are the result of much deliberation + among the parties, and seldom, except in the case of prisoners in + war, the effect of immediate and private revenge. In all cases of + crimes, the party has a regular trial, and no punishment can be + inflicted until sentence is regularly and formally passed in the + public fair. Here the chiefs of the neighbouring kampong + assemble, hear the evidence, and deliberate upon the crime and + probable guilt of the party; when condemned, the sentence is + ratified by the chiefs drinking the tuah, or toddy, which is + final, and may be considered equivalent to signing and sealing + with us. + + I was very particular in my inquiries whether the assembly were + intoxicated on the occasions of these punishments. I was assured + it was never the case. The people take rice with them, and eat it + with the meat, but no tuah is allowed. The punishment is always + inflicted in public. The men alone are allowed to partake, as the + flesh of man is prohibited to women (probably from an + apprehension they might become too fond of it). The flesh is not + allowed to be carried away from the spot, but must be consumed at + the time. I am assured that the Battas are more attached to these + laws than the Mahomedans are to the Koran, and that the number of + the punishments is very considerable. My informants considered + that there could be no less than fifty or sixty men eaten in a + year, and this in times of peace; but they were unable to + estimate the true extent, considering the great population of the + country; they were confident, however, that these laws were + strictly enforced wherever the name of Batta was known, and that + it was only in the immediate vicinity of our settlements that + they were modified and neglected. For proof, they referred me to + every Batta in the vicinity, and to the number of skulls to be + seen in every village, each of which was from a victim of the + kind. + + With regard to the relish with which the parties devour the + flesh, it appeared that, independent of the desire of revenge + which may be supposed to exist among the principals, about + one-half of the people eat it with a relish, and speak of it with + delight; the other half, though present, may not partake. Human + flesh is, however, generally considered preferable to cow or + buffalo beef, or hog, and was admitted to be so even by my + informants. Adverting to the possible origin of this practice, it + was observed that formerly they ate their parents when too old + for work; this, however, is no longer the case, and thus a step + has been gained in civilization. It is admitted that the parties + may be redeemed for a pecuniary compensation, but this is + entirely at the option of the chief enemy or injured party, who, + after his sentence is passed, may either have his victim eaten, + or he may sell him for a slave; but the law is that he shall be + eaten, and the prisoner is entirely at the mercy of his + prosecutor. + + The laws by which these sentences are inflicted are too well + known to require reference to books, but I am promised some MS. + accounts which relate to the subject. These laws are called huhum + pinang à n,--from depang à n, to eat--law or sentence to eat. + + I could give you many more details, but the above may be + sufficient to show that our friends the Battas are even worse + than you have represented them, and that those who are still + sceptical have yet more to learn. I have also a great deal to say + on the other side of the character, for the Battas have many + virtues. I prize them highly. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote D: At the extreme north of the Philippine Islands.] + +[Footnote E: Hawaii.] + +[Footnote F: Phormium tenax.] + +[Footnote G: méré.] + +[Footnote H: Nicholas's "Voyage to New Zealand."] + +[Footnote I: The transport "Boyd" was taken by Maoris and burned at +Whangaroa Harbour in 1809. Most of the people on board were massacred, +there being only four survivors out of seventy souls.] + +[Footnote J: William Marsden, who was sent out from Dublin to Sumatra, +about 1775, as a writer in the East India Company's service.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Rutherford and his comrades spent another night in the same manner as +they had done the previous one; and on the following morning set out, in +company with the five chiefs, on a journey into the interior. + +When they left the coast, the ship was still burning. They were attended +by about fifty natives, who were loaded with the plunder of the +unfortunate vessel. That day, he calculates, they travelled only about +ten miles, the journey being very fatiguing from the want of any regular +roads, and the necessity for making their way through a succession of +woods and swamps. + +The village at which their walk terminated was the residence of one of +the chiefs, whose name was Rangadi,[K] and who was received on his +arrival by about two hundred of the inhabitants. + +They came in a crowd, and, kneeling down around him, began to cry aloud +and cut their arms, faces, and other parts of their bodies with pieces +of sharp flint, of which each of them carried a number tied with a +string about his neck, till the blood flowed copiously from their +wounds. + +[Illustration: Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of +Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place.] + +These demonstrations of excited feeling, which Rutherford describes as +merely their usual manner of receiving any of their friends who have +been for some time absent, are rather more extravagant than seem to have +been commonly observed to take place on such occasions in other parts of +the island. Mr. Marsden,[L] however, states that on Korro-korro's[M] +return from Port Jackson, many of the women of his tribe who came out to +receive him "cut themselves in their faces, arms, and breasts with sharp +shells or flints, till the blood streamed down." Some time after, when +Duaterra[N] and Shungie[O] went on shore at the Bay of Islands, they met +with a similar reception from the females of their tribes. Mr. Savage +asserts that this cutting of their faces by the women always takes place +on the meeting of friends who have been long separated; but that the +ceremony consists only of embracing and crying, when the separation of +the parties has been short. It may be remarked that the custom of +receiving strangers with tears, by way of doing them honour, has +prevailed with other savages. Among the native tribes of Brazil, +according to Lafitau, it used to be the custom for the women, on the +approach of any one to whom they wished to show especial fidelity, to +crouch down on their heels, and, spreading their hands over their faces, +to remain for a considerable time in that posture, howling in a sort of +cadence, and shedding tears. Among the Sioux, again, it was the duty of +the men to perform this ceremony of lamentation on such occasions, which +they did standing, and laying their hands on the heads of their +visitors. + +In some cases, the wounds which the New Zealand women inflict on +themselves are intended to express their grief for friends who have +perished in war; and probably this may have been a reason for the strong +exhibition of feeling in the instance just noticed by Rutherford, as the +chiefs had then returned from an expedition. Such a mode of mourning has +been often observed in New Zealand. During the time that Cruise was at +the Bay of Islands, they found one day, upon going on shore, that a body +of the natives had just returned from a war expedition, in which they +had taken considerable numbers of prisoners, consisting of men, women, +and children, some of the latter of whom were not two years old; and +among the women was one, distinguished by her superior beauty, who sat +apart from the rest upon the beach, and, though silent, seemed buried in +affliction. They learned that her father, a chief of some consequence, +had been killed by the man whose prisoner she now was, and who kept +near her during the greater part of the day. + +The officers remained on shore till the evening; "and as we were +preparing to return to the ship," continues Cruise, "we were drawn to +that part of the beach where the prisoners were, by the most doleful +cries and lamentations. Here was the interesting young slave in a +situation that ought to have softened the heart of the most unfeeling. +The man who had slain her father, having cut off his head, and preserved +it by a process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket, +where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the +unhappy daughter." At once she seized it with a degree of phrenzy not to +be described; and subsequently, with a bit of sharp shell, disfigured +her person in so shocking a manner that in a few minutes not a vestige +of her former beauty remained. They afterwards learned that this fellow +had married the very woman he had treated with such singular barbarity. + +The crying, however, seems to be a ceremony that takes place universally +on the meeting of friends who have been for some time parted. We may +give, in illustration of this custom, Cruise's description of the +reception by their relatives of the nine New Zealanders who came along +with him in the "Dromedary" from Port Jackson. + +"When their fathers, brothers, etc., were admitted into the ship," says +he, "the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, +and every appearance of joy vanished. It is customary with these +extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting as +upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and +remain in this position for at least half-an-hour;[P] during which time +they sob and howl in the most doleful manner. If there be many friends +gathered around the person who has returned, the nearest relation takes +possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, +and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner (if he may be so +called) in the various expressions of his lamentation. This ended, they +resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that +has happened during their separation. As there were nine New Zealanders +just returned, and more than three times that number to commemorate the +event, the howl was quite tremendous, and so novel to almost every one +in the ship that it was with difficulty our people's attention could be +kept to matters at that moment more essential. Little Repero, who had +frequently boasted, during the passage, that he was too much of an +Englishman ever to cry again, made a strong effort when his father, +Shungie, approached him, to keep his word; but his early habit soon got +the better of his resolution, and he evinced, if possible, more +distress than any of the others." + +The sudden thawing of poor Repero's heroic resolves was an incident +exactly similar to another which Mr. Nicholas had witnessed. Among the +New Zealanders who, after having resided for some time in New South +Wales, returned with him and Mr. Marsden to their native country, was +one named Tooi,[Q] who prided himself greatly on being able to imitate +European manners; and accordingly, declaring that he would not cry, but +would behave like an Englishman, began, as the trying moment approached, +to converse most manfully with Mr. Nicholas, evidently, however, forcing +his spirits the whole time. But "his fortitude," continues Nicholas, +"was very soon subdued; for being joined by a young chief about his own +age, and one of his best friends, he flew to his arms, and, bursting +into tears, indulged exactly the same emotions as the others." + +Tooi was afterwards brought to England, and remained for some time in +this country. He was in attendance upon his brother Korro-korro, one of +the greatest chiefs in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, and, as +well as Shungie, who has just been mentioned, celebrated all over the +country for his love of fighting, and the number of victories he had +won. + +Yet even this hardy warrior was no more proof than any one of his wives +or children against this strange habit of emotion. The first person he +met on his landing happened to be his aunt, whose appearance, as, bent +to the earth with age and infirmities, she ascended a hill, supporting +herself upon a long staff, Nicholas compares to that which we might +conceive the Sibyl bore, when she presented herself to Tarquin. Yet, +when she came up to Korro-korro, the chief, we are told, having fallen +upon her neck, and applied his nose to hers, the two continued in this +posture for some minutes, talking together in a low and mournful voice; +and then disengaging themselves, they gave vent to their feelings by +weeping bitterly, the chief remaining for about a quarter of an hour +leaning on his musket, while the big drops continued to roll down his +cheeks. + +The old woman's daughter, who had come along with her, then made her +approach, and another scene, if possible of still more tumultuous +tenderness than the former, took place between the two cousins. The +chief hung, as before, in an agony of affection, on the neck of his +relation; and "as for the woman," says Nicholas, "she was so affected +that the mat she wore was literally soaked through with her tears." A +passionate attachment to friends is, indeed, one of the most prevailing +feelings of the savage state. Dampier tells us of an Indian who +recovered his friend unexpectedly on the island of Juan Fernandez, and +who immediately prostrated himself on the ground at his feet. "We stood +gazing in silence," says the manly sailor, "at this tender scene." + +The house of the chief to which Rutherford and his comrades were taken +was the largest in the village, being both long and wide, although very +low, and having no other entrance than an aperture, which was shut by +means of a sliding door, and was so much lower even than the roof that +it was necessary to crawl upon the hands and knees to get through it. + +Two large pigs and a quantity of potatoes were now cooked; and when they +were ready, a portion having been allotted to the slaves, who are never +permitted to eat along with the chiefs, the latter sat down to their +repast, the white men taking their places beside them. + +The feast was not held within the house, but in the open air; and the +meat that was not consumed was hung up on posts for a future occasion. +One of the strongest prejudices of the New Zealanders is an aversion to +be where any article of food is suspended over their heads; and on this +account, they never permit anything eatable to be brought within their +huts, but take all their meals out of doors, in an open space adjoining +to the house, which has been called by some writers the kitchen, it +being there that the meal is cooked as well as eaten. Crozet says that +every one of these kitchens has in it a cooking hole, dug in the +ground, of about two feet in diameter, and between one and two feet +deep. Even when the natives are confined to their beds by sickness, and, +it may be, at the point of death, they must receive whatever food they +take in this outer room, which, however, is sometimes provided with a +shed, supported upon posts, although in no case does it appear to be +enclosed by walls. It is here, accordingly, that those who are in so +weak a state from illness as not to be able to bear removal from one +place to another usually have their couches spread; as, were they to +choose to recline inside the house, it would be necessary to leave them +to die of want. + +Nicholas, in the course of an excursion which he made in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, was once not a little annoyed and +put out of humour by this absurd superstition. It rained heavily when he +and Marsden arrived very hungry at a village belonging to a chief of +their acquaintance, where, although the chief was not at home, they were +very hospitably received, their friends proceeding immediately to dress +some potatoes to make them a dinner. But after they had prepared the +meal, they insisted, as usual, that it should be eaten in the open air. + +This condition, Nicholas, in the circumstances, naturally thought a +somewhat hard one; but it was absolutely necessary either to comply with +it, or to go without potatoes. To make matters worse, the dining-room +had not even a shed. So they had no course left but to take shelter in +the best way they could, under a projection from the roof of the house, +extending about three feet; and here they contrived to take their +repast, without being very much drenched. However, they were not allowed +this indulgence without many anxious scruples on the part of their +friends, who considered even their venturing so near to the house on +such an occasion as an act of daring impiety. As they had got possession +of the potatoes, their entertainers, though very much shocked and +alarmed, did not proceed to such rudeness as to take these from them +again; but whenever they wanted to drink out of the calabash that had +been brought to them, they obliged them to thrust out their heads for it +from under the covering, although the rain continued to fall in +torrents. + +Fatigued as he was, and vexed at being in this way kept out of the +comfortable shelter he had expected, Nicholas at last commenced +inveighing, he tells us, against the inhospitable custom, with much +acrimony; and as Tooi, who was with them, had always shown so strong a +predilection for European customs, he turned to him, and asked him if he +did not think that these notions of his countrymen were all gammon. +Tooi, however, replied sharply, that "it was no gammon at all"; adding, +"New Zealand man say that Mr. Marsden's _crackee crackee_ (preaching) +of a Sunday is all gammon," in indignant retaliation for the insult that +had been offered to his national customs. + +But the worst part of the adventure was yet to come; for as the night +was now fast approaching, and the rain still pouring down incessantly, +it was impossible to think of returning to the ship; "and we were +therefore," continues Nicholas, "obliged to resolve upon remaining where +we were, although we had no bed to expect, nor even a comfortable floor +to stretch upon. We wrapped ourselves up in our great coats, which by +good fortune we had brought with us, and when the hour of rest came on, +laid ourselves down under the projecting roof, choosing rather to remain +here together, than to go into the house and mingle with its crowded +inmates, which we knew would be very disagreeable. Mr. Marsden, who is +blessed by nature with a strong constitution, and capable of enduring +almost any fatigue, was very soon asleep; but I, who have not been cast +in a Herculean mould, nor much accustomed to severe privations, felt all +the misery of the situation, while the cold and wet to which I was +unavoidably exposed, from the place being open, brought on a violent +rheumatic headache, that prevented me from once closing my eyes, and +kept me awake in the greatest anguish. + +"Being at length driven from this wretched shelter by the rain, which +was still beating against me, I crept into the house, through the +narrow aperture that served for a door; and, stretching myself among my +rude friends, I endeavoured to get some repose; but I found this equally +impossible here as in the place I had left. The pain in my head still +continued; and those around me, being all buried in profound sleep, +played, during the whole night, such music through their noses, as +effectually prevented me from being able to join in the same chorus." + +On one occasion, in the course of his second visit, Marsden spent the +night in the house of a chief, the entrance to which was of such narrow +dimensions that he could not, he says, creep in without taking his coat +off. The apartment altogether measured only about fourteen feet by ten; +and when he looked into it he found a fire blazing on the centre of the +floor, which made the place as hot as an oven, there being no vent for +the smoke, except through the hole which served for a door. However, the +fire, on his entreating it, was taken out, and then he and his friend, +Butler, who was with him, crept in, and were followed by their +entertainer, his wife and nephew. The hut was still extremely hot, and +they perspired profusely when they lay down, but they were a little +relieved by the New Zealanders consenting to allow the door to remain +open during the night. + +Another time he was thrust into a still closer dormitory. "The +entrance," says he, "was just sufficient for a man to creep into. Being +very cold, I was glad to occupy such a warm berth. I judged the hut to +be about eight feet wide, and twelve long. It had a fire in the centre; +and no vent either for smoke or heat. The chiefs who were with us threw +off their mats and lay down close together in a state of perfect nudity. +I had not been many minutes in this oven, before I found the heat and +smoke, above, below, and on every side, to be insufferable. Though the +night was cold, Mr. Kendall and myself were compelled to quit our +habitation. I crept out, and walked in the village, to see if I could +meet with a shed to keep me from the damp air till the morning. I found +one empty, into which I entered. I had not been long under my present +cover before I observed a chief, who came with us from the last village, +come out of the hut which I had left, perfectly naked. The moon shone +very bright. I saw him run from hut to hut, till at last he found me +under my shed, and urged me to return. I told him I could not bear the +heat, and requested him to allow me to remain where I was; to which he +at length consented with reluctance. I was surprised at the little +effect that heat or cold seemed to have upon him. He had come out of the +hut smoking like a hot loaf drawn from the oven, walked about to find +me, and then sat down, conversed some time, without any clothing, though +the night was cold. Mr. Kendall remained sitting under his mat, in the +open air, till morning." + +The New Zealanders make only two meals in the day, one in the morning +and another at sunset; but their voracity when they do eat is often very +great. Nicholas remarks that the chiefs and their followers, with whom +he made the voyage from Port Jackson, used, while in the ship, to seize +upon every thing they could lay their hands upon in the shape of food. +In consequence of this habit of consuming an extraordinary quantity of +food, a New Zealander, with all his powers of endurance in other +respects, suffers dreadfully when he has not the usual means of +satisfying his hunger. + +The huts of the common people are described as very wretched, and little +better than sheds; but Nicholas mentions that those which he saw in the +northern part of the country had uniformly well-cultivated gardens +attached to them, which were stocked with turnips, and sweet and common +potatoes. Crozet tells us that the only articles of furniture the French +ever found in these huts, were fishing-hooks, nets, and lines, +calabashes containing water, a few tools made of stone, and several +cloaks and other garments suspended from the walls. + +Amongst the tools, one resembling our adze is in the most common use; +and it is remarkable that the handles of these implements are often +composed of human bones. In the museum of the Church Missionary Society +there are adzes, the handle of one of which is formed of the bone of a +human arm, and another of that of a leg. + +The common people generally sleep in the open air, in a sitting +posture, and covered by their mats, all but the head; which has been +described as giving them the appearance of so many hay-cocks or +beehives. + +The house of the chief is generally, as Rutherford found it to be in the +present case, the largest in the village; but every village has, in +addition to the dwelling-houses of which it consists, a public +storehouse, or repository of the common stock of sweet potatoes, which +is a still larger structure than the habitation of the chief. One which +Cruise describes was erected upon several posts driven into the ground, +which were floored over with deals at the height of about four feet, as +a foundation. Both the sides and the roof were compactly formed of +stakes intertwisted with grass; and a sliding doorway, scarcely large +enough to admit a man, formed the entrance. The roof projected over +this, and was ornamented with pieces of plank painted red, and having a +variety of grotesque figures carved on them. The whole building was +about twenty feet long, eight feet wide, and five feet high. + +The residences of the chiefs are built upon the ground, and have +generally the floor, and a small space in front, neatly paved; but they +are so low that a man can stand upright in very few of them. The huts, +as well as the storehouses, are adorned with carving over the door. + +One of the arts in which the New Zealanders most excel is that of +carving in wood. Some of their performances in this way are, no doubt, +grotesque enough; but they often display both a taste and ingenuity +which, especially when we consider their miserably imperfect tools, it +is impossible to behold without admiration. This is one of the arts +which, even in civilized countries, does not seem to flourish best in a +highly advanced state of society. Even among ourselves, it certainly is +not at present cultivated with so much success as it was a century or +two ago. + +Machinery, the monopolizing power of our age, is not well fitted to the +production of striking effects in this particular branch of the arts. +Fine carving is displayed, as in the works of Gibbons, by a rich and +natural variety, altogether opposed to that faultless and inflexible +regularity of operation which is the perfection of a machine. Hence the +lathe, with all the miraculous capabilities it has been made to evolve, +can never here come into successful competition with the chisel, in so +far as the quality and spirit of the performance are concerned; but the +former may, nevertheless, drive the latter out of the market, and seems +in a great measure to have done so, by the infinitely superior facility +and rapidity of its operation. Hence the gradual decay, and almost +extinction among us, of this old art, of which former ages have left us +so many beautiful specimens. It is said to survive now, if at all, not +among our artists by profession, whose taste is expended upon higher +objects, but among the common workmen of our villages, who have pursued +it as an amusement, long after it has ceased to be profitable. + +The New Zealand artist has no lathe to compete with; but neither has he +even those ordinary hand-tools which every civilized country has always +afforded. The only instruments he has to cut with are rudely fashioned +of stone or bone. Yet even with these, his skill and patient +perseverance contrive to grave the wood into any forms which his fancy +may suggest. Many of the carvings thus produced are distinguished by +both a grace and richness of design that would do no discredit even to +European art. + +The considerations by which the New Zealanders are directed in choosing +the sites of their villages are the same which usually regulate that +matter among other savages. The North American Indians, for example, +generally build their huts on the sides of some moderately sized hill, +that they may have the advantage of the ground in case of being attacked +by their enemies, or on the bank of a river, which may, in such an +emergency, serve them for a natural moat. A situation in which they are +protected by the water on more sides than one is preferred; and, +accordingly, both on this account, and for the sake of being near the +sea, which supplies them with fish, the New Zealanders and other +savage tribes are much accustomed to establish themselves at the mouths +of rivers. Among the American Indians, as in New Zealand, a piece of +ground is always left unoccupied in the middle of the village, or +contiguous to it, for the holding of public assemblies. So, also, it +used to be in our own country, almost every village in which had +anciently its common and its central open space; the latter of which, +after the introduction of Christianity, was generally decorated by the +erection of a cross. + +[Illustration: A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. _Tourist Dept. +photo_] + +It is curious to remark how the genius of commerce--the predominating +influence of a more civilized age--has seized upon more than one of +these provisions of the old state of society, and converted them to its +own purposes. The spacious area around the village cross, or the +adjacent common, has been changed into the scene of the fair or the +daily market; and the vicinity of the sea, or the navigable river, no +longer needed as a protection against the attacks of surrounding +enemies, has been taken advantage of to let in the wealth of many +distant climes, and to metamorphose the straggling assemblage of mud +cottages into a thronged and widespread city--the proud abode of +industry, wealth, elegance, and letters. + +Rutherford states that the baskets in which the provisions are served up +are never used twice; and the same thing is remarked by Cruise. The +calabash, Rutherford adds, is the only vessel they have for holding any +kind of liquid; and when they drink out of it, they never permit it to +touch their lips, but hold their face up, and pour the liquor into their +mouth. + +After dinner they place themselves for this purpose in a row, when a +slave goes from one to another with the calabash, and each holds his +hand under his chin as the liquor is poured by the slave into his mouth. +They never drink anything hot or warm. Indeed, their only beverage +appears to be water;[R] and their strong aversion to wine and spirits is +noticed by almost all who have described their manners. + +Tetoro, one of the chiefs who returned from Port Jackson in the +"Dromedary," was sometimes admitted, during the passage, into the cabin, +and asked by the officers to take a glass of wine, when he always tasted +it, with perfect politeness, though his countenance strongly indicated +how much he disliked it. George of Wangaroa, the chief who headed the +attack on the "Boyd," was the only New Zealander that Cruise met with +who could be induced to taste grog without reluctance; and he really +liked it, though a very small quantity made him drunk, in which state he +was quite outrageous. His natural habits had been vitiated by having +served for some time in an English ship. + +It is probable, however, that the sobriety of this people has been +hitherto principally preserved by their ignorance of the mode of +manufacturing any intoxicating beverage. Even the females, it would +appear, have some of them of late years learned the habit of drinking +grog from the English sailors; and Captain Dillon gives an account of a +priestess, who visited him on board the "Besearch," and who, having +among several other somewhat indecorous requests, demanded a tumbler of +rum, quaffed off the whole at a draught as soon as it was set before +her. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote K: Probably Rangatai, although no chief of that name is +known.] + +[Footnote L: The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was appointed chaplain to the +convict settlement of New South Wales in 1793, and who held the first +divine service in New Zealand, on Christmas Day, 1814.] + +[Footnote M: Koro-koro.] + +[Footnote N: Ruatara, a close friend of Mr. Marsden.] + +[Footnote O: Hongi.] + +[Footnote P: This is exaggerated.] + +[Footnote Q: Tui, in the accepted orthography.] + +[Footnote R: The ancient Maoris were one of the very few races that had +no intoxicating drinks.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Dinner being finished, Rutherford and his companions spent the evening +seated around a large fire, while several of the women, whose +countenances he describes as pleasing, amused themselves by playing with +the fingers of the strangers, sometimes opening their shirts at the +breasts, and at other times feeling the calves of their legs, "which +made us think," says Rutherford, "that they were examining us to see if +we were fat enough for eating. + +"The large fire," he continues, "that had been made to warm the house, +being now put out, we retired to rest in the usual manner; but although +the fire had been extinguished, the house was still filled with smoke, +the door being shut, and there being neither chimney nor window to let +it out. + +"In the morning, when we arose, the chief gave us back our knives and +tobacco-boxes, which they had taken from us while in the canoe, on our +first being made prisoners; and we then breakfasted on some potatoes and +cockles, which had been cooked while we were at the sea-coast, and +brought thence in baskets. + +"Aimy's wife and two daughters now arrived, which occasioned another +grand crying ceremony; and when it was over, the three ladies came to +look at me and my companions. In a short time, they had taken a fancy to +some small gilt buttons which I had on my waist-coat; and Aimy making a +sign for me to cut them off, I immediately did so, and presented them +for their acceptance. They received them very gladly, and, shaking hands +with me, exclaimed, 'The white man is very good.' + +"The whole of the natives having then seated themselves on the ground in +a ring, we were brought into the middle and, being stripped of our +clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or +six men, while two others commenced the operation of tattooing us. + +"Having taken a piece of charcoal, and rubbed it upon a stone with a +little water until they had produced a thickish liquid, they then dipped +into it an instrument made of bone, having a sharp edge like a chisel, +and shaped in the fashion of a garden-hoe, and immediately applied it to +the skin, striking it twice or thrice with a small piece of wood. This +made it cut into the flesh as a knife would have done, and caused a +great deal of blood to flow, which they kept wiping off with the side of +the hand, in order to see if the impression was sufficiently clear. When +it was not, they applied the bone a second time to the same place. They +employed, however, various instruments in the course of the operation; +one which they sometimes used being made of a shark's tooth, and another +having teeth like a saw. They had them also of different sizes, to suit +the different parts of the work. + +"While I was undergoing this operation, although the pain was most +acute, I never either moved or uttered a sound; but my comrades moaned +dreadfully. Although the operators were very quick and dexterous, I was +four hours under their hands; and during the operation Aimy's eldest +daughter several times wiped the blood from my face with some dressed +flax. After it was over she led me to the river, that I might wash +myself, for it had made me completely blind, and then conducted me to a +great fire. They now returned us all our clothes, with the exception of +our shirts, which the women kept for themselves, wearing them, as we +observed, with the fronts behind. + +"We were now not only tattooed, but what they called tabooed,[S] the +meaning of which is, made sacred, or forbidden to touch any provisions +of any kind with our hands. This state of things lasted for three days, +during which time we were fed by the daughters of the chiefs, with the +same victuals, and out of the same baskets, as the chiefs themselves, +and the persons who had tattooed us. In three days, the swelling which +had been produced by the operation had greatly subsided, and I began to +recover my sight; but it was six weeks before I was completely well. I +had no medical assistance of any kind during my illness; but Aimy's two +daughters were very attentive to me, and would frequently sit beside me, +and talk to me in their language, of which, as yet, however, I did not +understand much." + +The custom of marking the skin, called _tattooing_, is one of the most +widely-diffused practices of savage life, having been found, even in +modern times, to exist, in one modification or another, not only in most +of the inhabited lands of the Pacific, from New Zealand as far north as +the Sandwich Isles, but also among many of the aboriginal tribes both of +Africa and America. In the ancient world it appears to have been at +least equally prevalent. It is evidently alluded to, as well as the +other practice that has just been noticed, of wounding the body by way +of mourning, in the twenty-eighth verse of the nineteenth chapter of +Leviticus, among the laws delivered to the Israelites through +Moses:--"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor +print any marks upon you," both of these being doubtless habits of the +surrounding nations, which the chosen people, according to their usual +propensity, had shown a disposition to imitate. + +The few civilized communities of antiquity seem to have been all of them +both singularly incurious as to the manners and conditions of the +barbarous races by whom they were on all sides so closely encompassed, +and, as might be expected, extremely ill-informed on the subject; so +much so, as has been remarked by an author who has written on this topic +with admirable learning and ability, that when Hanno, the Carthaginian, +returned from his investigation of a small part of the west coast of +Africa, he had no difficulty in making his countrymen believe that two +hides, with the hair still on, which he brought back with him, and which +he had taken from two large apes, were actually the skins of savage +women, and deserving of being suspended in the temple of Juno as most +uncommon curiosities. + +But, little as these matters seem in general to have attracted the +attention of the ancient writers, their works still contain many notices +of the practice of tattooing. We may cite only one or two of a +considerable number that have been collected by Lafitau,[T] although +even his enumeration might be easily extended. Herodotus mentions it as +prevailing among the Thracians, certain of whom, he says, exhibit such +marks on their faces as an indication of their nobility. Other authors +speak of it as a practice of the Scythians, the Agathyrses, and the +Assyrians. Cæsar remarks it as prevailing among the Britons; and there +can be no doubt that the term _Picti_ was merely a name given to those +more northerly tribes of our countrymen who retained this custom after +it had fallen into decay among their southern brethren, who were in +reality of the same race with themselves, under the ascendancy of the +arts and manners of their Roman conquerors. + +The Britons, according to Cæsar, painted their skins to make themselves +objects of greater terror to their enemies; but it is not unlikely that +the real object of these decorations was with them, as it appears to +have been among the other barbarous nations of antiquity, to denote +certain ranks of nobility or chieftainship; and thus to serve, in fact, +nearly the same purpose with our modern coats of arms. + +Pliny states that the dye with which the Britons stained themselves was +that of a herb called _glastum_, which is understood to be the same with +plantain. They introduced the juice of this herb into punctures +previously made in the skin, so as to form permanent delineations of +various animals, and other objects, on different parts of the body. The +operation, which seems to have been performed by regular artists, is +said to have been commonly undergone in boyhood; and a stoical endurance +of the pain which it inflicted was considered one of the best proofs the +sufferer could give of his resolution and manliness. + +Among the Indians of America, some races are much more tattooed than +others, and some scarcely at all. It it stated that, among the Iroquois +only, a few of the women are in the habit of tracing a single row of +this sort of embroidery along the jaw; and that merely with the intent +of curing or preventing toothache, an effect which they conceive is +produced by the punctures destroying certain nerves. It appears to be +the general practice in America, first to finish the cutting, or graving +of the lines, and afterwards to introduce the colouring, which is +commonly made of pulverised charcoal. This last part of the operation +occasions by far the greatest pain. Among the native tribes of Southern +Africa, the fashion is merely to raise the epidermis by a slight +pricking, which is described as affording rather a pleasurable +excitement. + +At the Society Isles these marks, according to Cook, were so general, +that hardly anybody was to be seen without them. Persons of both sexes +were commonly tattooed about the age of twelve or fourteen; and the +decorations, which Cook imagined to vary according to the fancy, or +perhaps, which is more likely, the rank of the individual, were +liberally bestowed upon every part of the body, with the exception, +however, of the face, which was generally left unmarked. They consisted +not only of squares, circles, and other such figures, but frequently +also of rude delineations of men, birds, dogs, and other animals. Banks +saw the operation performed on a girl of about thirteen years of age, +who was held down all the while by several women, and both struggled +hard and made no little outcry as the artist proceeded with his +labours. Yet it would seem that the process in use here is considerably +more gentle than that practised in New Zealand; for the punctures, Cook +affirms, could hardly be said to draw blood. Being afflicted by means of +an instrument with small teeth, somewhat resembling a fine comb, the +effect would be rather a pricking than a cutting, or carving, of the +flesh. Unlike what we have seen to be the practice among the American +savages, the tincture was here introduced by the same blow by which the +skin was punctured. The substance employed was a species of lamp black, +formed of the smoke of an oily nut which the natives burned to give them +light. + +The practice of tattooing is now, we believe, discontinued at Otaheite; +but the progress of civilization has not yet altogether banished it at +the Sandwich Islands. When Lord Byron was at Hawaii, in 1825, he found +it used as a mark of mourning, though some still had themselves tattooed +merely by way of ornament. On the death of one of the late kings of the +island, it is stated that all the chiefs had his name and the date of +his death engraved in this manner on their arms. The ladies here, it +seems, follow the very singular practice of tattooing the tips of their +tongues, in memory of their departed friends. In the Tonga, or Friendly +Islands, it would appear from Mariner's very minute description of the +operation as there practised, as at Otaheite and elsewhere, the +instrument used is always a sort of comb, having from six up to fifty or +sixty teeth. There are, Mariner tells us, certain patterns or forms of +the tattoo, and the individual may choose which he likes. On the brown +skins of the natives the marks, which are imprinted by means of a +tincture made of soot, have a black appearance; but on that of a +European, their colour is a fine blue. The women here are not tattooed, +though a few of them have some marks on the inside of their fingers. At +the Fiji Islands, on the contrary, in the neighbourhood of the Tonga +group, the men are not tattooed, but the women are. + +The term "tattoo" is not known in New Zealand, the name given to the +marks, which are elsewhere so called, being in this country "Moko," or, +as it has been more generally written, from a habit which the natives +seem to have of prefixing the sound "a" to many of their words, +"Amoco."[U] + +The description which Rutherford gives of the process agrees entirely +with what has been stated by other observers; although it certainly has +been generally understood that, in no case, was the whole operation +undergone at once, as it would, however, appear to have been in his. +Both Cruise and Marsden expressly state, that, according to their +information, it always required several months, and sometimes several +years, to tattoo a chief perfectly; owing to the necessity for one part +of the face or body being allowed to heal before commencing the +decoration of another. Perhaps, however, this prolongation of the +process may only be necessary when the moko is of a more intricate +pattern, or extends over a larger portion of the person, than that which +Rutherford received; or, in his peculiar circumstances, it may have been +determined that he should have his powers of endurance put to still +harder proof than a native would have been required to submit to in +undergoing the same ceremony. + +The portrait of Rutherford accurately represents the tattooing on his +body. Cruise asserts that the tattooing in New Zealand is renewed +occasionally, as the lines become fainter by time, to the latest period +of life; and that one of the chiefs who returned home in the "Dromedary" +was re-tattooed soon after his arrival. + +From Rutherford's account, and he is corroborated as to that point by +the other authorities, it will be perceived that the operation of +tattooing is one of a still more severe and sanguinary description in +New Zealand than it would seem to be in any of the other islands of the +South Sea; for it is performed here, not merely by means of a sort of +fine comb, which merely pricks the skin and draws from it a little serum +slightly tinged with blood, but also by an instrument of the nature of a +chisel, which at every application makes an incision into the flesh, +and causes the blood to start forth in gushes. This chisel is sometimes +nearly a quarter of an inch broad, although, for the more minute parts +of the figure, a smaller instrument is used. + +The stick with which the chisel is struck is occasionally formed into a +broad blade at one end, which is applied to wipe away the blood. The +tincture is said to be sometimes obtained from the juice of a particular +tree. + +Rutherford has forgotten to mention that, before the cutting has begun +the figure is traced out upon the place; this appears to be always done +in New Zealand as well as elsewhere, a piece of burnt stick or red earth +being, according to Savage,[V] used for the purpose. + +Some are tattooed at eight or ten years of age; but a young man is +accounted very effeminate who reaches his twentieth year without having +undergone the operation. Marsden told one of the chiefs, King George, as +he was called, that he must not tattoo his nephew Racow,[W] who was a +very fine-looking youth, with a dignified, open, and placid countenance, +remarking that it would quite disfigure his face; "but he laughed at my +advice," says Marsden, "and said he must be tattooed, as it would give +him a noble, masculine, and warlike appearance; that he would not be fit +for his successor with a smooth face; the New Zealanders would look on +him merely as a woman if he was not tattooed." + +Savage says that a small spiral figure on each side of the chin, a +semi-circular figure over each eyebrow, and two, or sometimes three, +lines on each lip, are all the tattooing the New Zealand women are +required to submit to. + +Rutherford's account is that they have a figure tattooed on the chin +resembling a crown turned upside down; that the inside of their lips is +also tattooed, the figures here appearing of a blue colour; and that +they have also a mark on each side of the mouth resembling a +candlestick, as well as two stripes about an inch long on the forehead, +and one on each side of the nose. Their decorations of this description, +as well as of the other sex, are no doubt different in different parts +of the country. + +"With respect to the amocos," says Cook in his First Voyage, "every +different tribe seemed to have a different custom; for all the men in +some canoes seemed to be almost covered with it, and those in others had +scarcely a stain, except on the lips, which were black in all of them, +without a single exception." + +Rutherford states that in the part of the country where he was, the men +were commonly tattooed on their face, hips, and bodies, and some as low +as the knee. None were allowed to be tattooed on the forehead, chin, and +upper lip, except the very greatest among the chiefs. The more they are +tattooed, he adds, the more they are honoured. The priests, Savage says, +have only a small square patch of tattooing over the right eye. + +These stains, although their brilliancy may perhaps decay with time, +being thus fixed in the flesh, are of course indelible, just as much as +the marks of a similar nature which our own sailors frequently make on +their arms and breasts, by introducing gunpowder under the skin. One +effect, we are told, which they produce on the countenances of the New +Zealanders, is to conceal the ravages of old age. Being thus permanent +when once imprinted, each becomes also the peculiar distinction of the +individual to whom it belongs, and is probably sometimes employed by him +as his mark or sign manual. An officer belonging to the "Dromedary," who +happened to have a coat of arms engraved on his seal, was frequently +asked by the New Zealanders if the device was his "amoco." When the +missionaries purchased a piece of land from one of the Bay of Islands +chiefs, named Gunnah,[X] a copy of the tattooing on the face of the +latter, being drawn by a brother chief, was affixed to the grant as his +signature; while another native signed as a witness, by adding the +"amoco" of one of his own cheeks. + +[Illustration: _Moko_ on woman's lips and chin. + +_Moko_ on man's face. + + Names of lines in order of incision-- + 1. _Kau-wae_ (13) + 2. _Pere-pehi_ (7) + 3. _Hupe_ (15) + 4. _Ko-kiri_ (9) + 5. _Koro-aha_ (10) + 6. _Puta-ringa_ (12) + 7. _Po-ngia-ngia_ (4) and _Tara-whakatara_ (5) + 8. _Pae-pae_ (11), _Kumi-kumi_ (6), and _Wero_ (8) + 9. _Rerepi_ (3) + 10. _Ti-whana_ (1) and _Rawha_ (2) + 11. _Ti-ti_ (14) + 12. _Ipu-rangi_ (16)] + +This is certainly a more perfect substitute for a written name than +that said to have been anciently in use in some parts of Europe. In +Russia, for example, it is affirmed that in old times the way in which +an individual generally gave his signature to a writing was by covering +the palm of his hand with ink, and then laying it on the paper. Balbi, +who states this, adds that the Russian language still retains an +evidence of the practice in its phrase for signing a document, which is +_roukou prilojite_, signifying, literally, to put the hand to it. It may +be remarked, however, that this is a form of expression even in our own +country; although there is certainly no trace of the singular custom in +question having ever prevailed among our ancestors. Whatever may be the +fact as to the Russian idiom, our own undoubtedly refers merely to the +application of the hand with the pen in it. Each chief appears to be +intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of his own "amoco." + +There is also in the possession of the Church Missionary Society a bust +of Shungie, cut in a very hard wood by himself, with a rude iron +instrument of his own fabrication, on which the tattooing on his face is +exactly copied. + +The tattooing of the young New Zealander, before he takes his rank as +one of the warriors of his tribe, is doubtless also intended to put his +manhood to the proof; and may thus be regarded as having the same object +with those ceremonies of initiation, as they have been called, which +are practised among some other savage nations on the admission of an +individual to any new degree of honour or chieftainship. + +Among many nations of the American Indians, indeed, this cutting and +marking of the person is one of the principal inflictions to which the +aspirant is required to submit on such occasions. Thus, in the account +which Rochefort, in his "History of the Antilles," gives us of the +initiation of a warrior among the people of those islands, it is stated +that the father of the young man, after a very rude flagellation of his +son, used to proceed to scarify (as he expresses it) his whole body with +a tooth of the animal called the "acouti"; and then, in order to heal +the gashes thus made, he rubbed into them an infusion of pimento, which +occasioned an agonizing pain to the poor patient; but it was +indispensable that he should endure the whole, adds our author, without +the least contortion of countenance or any other evidence of suffering. + +Wherever, indeed, the spirit of war has entered largely into the +institutions of a people, as it has almost always done among savage and +imperfectly civilized nations, we find traces of similar observances. +Something of the same object which has just been attributed to the +tattooing of the New Zealanders, and the more complicated ceremonies of +initiation practised among the American Indians, may be recognised even +in certain of the rites of European chivalry, whether we take them as +described in the learned volumes of Du Cange, or in the more amusing +recitals of Cervantes. + +The New Zealanders, like many other savages, are also in the habit of +anointing themselves with a mixture of grease and red ochre. This sort +of rouge is very much used by the women, and "being generally," says +Cook, "fresh and wet upon their cheeks and foreheads, was easily +transferred to the noses of those who thought fit to salute them; and +that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, the noses of +several of our men strongly testified." "The faces of the men," he adds, +"were not so generally painted; yet we saw one, whose whole body, and +even his garments, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a +piece constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the +decoration in one part or another, where he supposed it was become +deficient." + +It has been conjectured that this painting of the body, among its other +uses, might also be intended, in some cases, as a protection against the +weather, or, in other words, to serve the same purpose as clothing. Even +where there is no plastering, the tattooing may be found to indurate the +skin, and to render it less sensible to cold. This notion, perhaps, +derives some confirmation from the appearance which these marks often +assume. + +Cook describes some of the New Zealanders, whom he saw on his first +visit to the country, as having their thighs stained entirely black, +with the exception of a few narrow lines, "so that at first sight," says +he, "they appeared to wear striped breeches." + +The Baron de Humboldt, too, informs us that the Indians of Guiana +sometimes imitate, in the oddest manner, the clothes of Europeans in +painting their skin. This observant traveller was much amused by seeing +the body of a native painted to represent a blue jacket and black +buttons. The missionaries also told him that the people of the Rio Caura +paint themselves of a red ground, and then variegate the colour with +transverse stripes of silver mica, so that they look most gallantly +dressed. The painted cheeks that were once common in Europe, and are +still occasionally seen, are relics of the same barbarism. + +The "taboo," or "tapu," prevails also in many of the South Sea Islands, +where it may be considered as the substitute for law; although its +authority, in reality, rests on what we should rather call religious +considerations, inasmuch as it appears to be obeyed entirely from the +apprehension that its violation would bring down the anger of heaven. + +It would require more space than we can afford to enumerate the various +cases in which the "taboo" operates as a matter of course, even were we +to say nothing of the numerous exigencies in which a resort to it seems +to be at the option of the parties concerned. Among the former, we may +merely mention that a person supposed to be dying seems to be uniformly +placed under the "taboo"; and that the like consecration, if it may be +so called, is always imposed for a certain space upon the individual who +has undergone any part of the process of tattooing. But we are by no +means fully informed either as to the exact rules that govern this +matter, or even as to the peculiar description of persons to whom it +belongs, on any occasion, to impose the "taboo." It is common in New +Zealand for such of the chiefs as possess this power to separate, by +means of the "taboo," any thing which they wish either to appropriate to +themselves, or to protect, with any other object, from indiscriminate +use. + +When Tetoro was shown, in the "Dromedary," a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, belonging to one of the officers, he "tabooed" it by +tying a thread, pulled out of his cloak, round the guard of the trigger, +and said that it must be his when he got to New Zealand, and that the +owner should have thirty of his finest mats for it. But this, according +to Cruise, any native may do with regard to an article for which he has +bargained, in order to secure it till he has paid the price agreed upon. + +On another occasion, Cruise found a number of people collected round an +object which seemed to attract general attention, and which they told +him was "tabooed." It turned out to be a plant of the common English +pea, which was fenced round with little sticks, and had apparently been +tended with very anxious care. + +When the "Prince Regent" schooner, which accompanied the "Dromedary," +lay at anchor in the river Shukehanga,[Y] a chief named Moodooi,[Z] +greatly to the comfort of the captain, came one day on deck and +"tabooed" the vessel, or made it a crime for any one to ascend the side +without permission, which injunction was strictly attended to by the +natives during his stay in the harbour. + +So, when any land is purchased, it is secured to the purchaser by being +"tabooed." + +Marsden states that upon one occasion he found a great number of canoes +employed in fishing, and all the fish which they took were immediately +"tabooed," and could not be purchased. These fish were probably intended +to be cured and preserved as part of the common stock of the tribe. + +The principal inconveniences sustained by the person who is "tabooed" +seem to be that he must have no communication with any who are not in +the same condition as himself, and that in eating he must not help +himself to his food with his hands. The chiefs are in such a case fed +by their attendant; but the absurd prohibition is a serious punishment +to the common people, who have nobody to assist them. + +Nicholas relates an amusing incident illustrative of this. "On going +into the town," says he, "in the course of the day, I beheld several of +the natives sitting round some baskets of dressed potatoes; and being +invited to join them in their meal, I mingled with the group, when I +observed one man stoop down with his mouth for each morsel, and +scrupulously careful in avoiding all contact between his hands and the +food he was eating. From this I knew at once that he was 'tabooed;' and +upon asking the reason of his being so, as he appeared in good health, +and not afflicted with any complaint that could set him without the pale +of ordinary intercourse, I found that it was because he was then +building a house, and that he could not be released from the 'taboo' +till he had it finished. Being only a "cookee,"[AA] he had no person to +wait upon him, but was obliged to submit to the distressing operation of +feeding himself in the manner proscribed by the superstitious ordinance; +and he was told by the tohunga, or priest, that if he presumed to put +one finger to his mouth before he had completed the work he was about, +the atua (divinity) would certainly punish his impious contempt, by +getting into his stomach before his time, and eating him out of the +world. Of this premature destiny he seemed so apprehensive that he kept +his hands as though they were never made for touching any article of +diet; nor did he suffer them by even a single motion to show the least +sympathy for his mouth, while that organ was obliged to use double +exertions, and act for those members which superstition had paralysed. + +"Sitting down by the side of this deluded being, whom credulity and +ignorance had rendered hopeless," says Nicholas, "I undertook to feed +him; and his appetite being quite voracious, I could hardly supply it as +fast as he devoured. Without ever consulting his digestive powers, of +which we cannot suppose he had any idea, he spared himself the trouble +of mastication; and, to lose no time, swallowed down every lump as I put +it into his mouth: and I speak within compass when I assert that he +consumed more food than would have served any two ploughmen in England. + +"Perfectly tired of administering to his insatiable gluttony, which was +still as ravenous as when he commenced, I now wished for a little +intermission; and taking advantage of his situation, I resolved to give +him as much to do as would employ him for at least a few minutes, +while, in the meantime, it would afford me some amusement for my +trouble. I therefore thrust into his mouth the largest hot potato I +could find, and this had exactly the intended effect; for the fellow, +unwilling to drop it, and not daring to penetrate it before it should +get cool, held it slightly compressed between his teeth, to the great +enjoyment of his countrymen, who laughed heartily, as well as myself, at +the wry faces he made, and the efforts he used with his tongue to +moderate the heat of the potato, and bring it to the temperature of his +gums, which were evidently smarting from the contact. But he bore this +trick with the greatest possible good humour, and to make him amends for +it, I took care to supply him plentifully, till he cried out, 'Nuee nuee +kiki,'[AB] and could eat no more; an exclamation, however, which he did +not make till there was no more in the baskets."[AC] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote S: tapu'd.] + +[Footnote T: "Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains."] + +[Footnote U: "Moko" is the accepted form of spelling the word.] + +[Footnote V: "Account of New Zealand."] + +[Footnote W: Probably Rakau.] + +[Footnote X: This is the name given in the deed of sale, dated February +24th, 1815, but the correct spelling is probably "Kuna" or "Kena."] + +[Footnote Y: Hokianga Harbour.] + +[Footnote Z: Probably Muriwai, a celebrated Hokianga chief.] + +[Footnote AA: Mr. S. Percy Smith, of New Plymouth, states that this word +was very common in New Zealand fifty or sixty years ago. It was applied +to servants, and was derived from the English word "cook." In Maori it +is "kuki."] + +[Footnote AB: This means "plenty of food," or "sufficient"; but it is +European Maori. One Maori, speaking to another, would say "He nui te +kai."] + +[Footnote AC: The best account of the operation of the law of tapu is +given by Judge Maning in "Old New Zealand."] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Rutherford remained at the village for about six months, together with +the others who had been taken prisoners with him and who had not been +put to death, all except one, John Watson, who, soon after their arrival +there, was carried away by a chief named Nainy.[AD] A house was assigned +for them to live in, and the natives gave them also an iron pot they had +taken from the ship, in which to cook their victuals. This they found a +very useful article. It was "tabooed," so that no slave was allowed to +eat anything cooked in it; that, we suppose, being considered the surest +way of preventing it from being stolen. + +At last they set out in company with Aimy and another chief, to pursue +their way further into the interior; one of them, however, whose name is +not given, remaining with Rangadi. + +Having come to another village, the chief of which was called Plama,[AE] +another of them, whose name was John Smith, was left with him. + +The number of those preserved alive, it will be recollected, was six; so +that, three of them having been disposed of in the manner that has been +stated, there were now, including Rutherford, as many more remaining +together. + +When they had travelled about twelve miles further, they stopped at a +third village, and there they remained two days. + +"We were treated very kindly," says Rutherford, "at this village by the +natives. The chief, whose name was Ewanna,[AF] made us a present of a +large pig, which we killed after our own country fashion, not a little +to the surprise of the New Zealanders. I observed many of the children +catch the flowing blood in their hands, and drink it with the greatest +eagerness. Their own method of killing a pig is generally by drowning, +in order that they may not lose the blood. The natives then singed off +the hair for us, by holding the animal over a fire, and also gutted it, +desiring nothing but the entrails for their trouble. We cooked it in our +iron pot, which the slaves who followed us had brought along with the +rest of the luggage belonging to our party. + +"No person was allowed to take any part of the pig unless he received +some from us; and not even then, if he did not belong to a chief's +family. + +"On taking our departure from this village, we left with Ewanna one of +our comrades named Jefferson, who, on parting from us, pressed my hand +in his, and with tears in his eyes, exclaimed, 'God bless you both! we +shall never see each other again.' + +"We proceeded on our journey, in company with Aimy and his family, and +another chief; and having walked about two miles without one word being +spoken by any of the party, we arrived at the side of a river. Here we +stopped, and lighted a fire; and the natives who had charge of the +luggage having come up in about an hour, bringing with them some +potatoes and dried fish, we cooked a dinner for ourselves in the usual +manner. We then crossed the river, which was only about knee deep, and +immediately entered a wood, through which we continued to make our way +till sunset. On getting out of it we found ourselves in the midst of +some cultivated ground, on which we saw growing potatoes, turnips, +cabbage, tara[AG] (which is a root resembling a yam), water-melons, and +coomeras,[AH] or sweet potatoes. + +"After a little while we arrived at another river, on the opposite side +of which stood the village in which Aimy resided. Having got into a +canoe, we crossed over to the village, in front of which many women were +standing, who, waving their mats, exclaimed, as they saw us approaching, +'Arami, arami,'[AI] which means, 'Welcome home.' + +"We were then taken to Aimy's house, which was the largest in the +village, having the walls formed of large twigs covered with rushes, +with which it was also thatched. A pig was now killed for us, and cooked +with some coomeras, from which we supped; and, afterwards seating +ourselves around the fire, we amused ourselves by listening to several +of the women singing. + +"In the meantime, a slave girl was killed, and put into a hole in the +earth to roast in the manner already described in order to furnish a +feast the following day, in honour of the chief's return home. + +"We slept that night in the chief's house; but the next morning a number +of the natives were set to work to build one for ourselves, of the same +form with that in which the chief lived, and nearly of the same size. + +"In the course of this day, many other chiefs arrived at the village, +accompanied by their families and slaves, to welcome Aimy home, which +they did in the usual manner. Some of them brought with them a quantity +of water-melons, which they gave to me and my comrade. At last they all +seated themselves upon the ground to have their feast; several large +pigs, together with some scores of baskets of potatoes, tara, and +water-melons, having first been brought forward by Aimy's people. The +pigs, after being drowned in the river and dressed, had been laid to +roast beside the potatoes. When these were eaten, the fire that had +been made the night before was opened, and the body of the slave girl +taken out of it, which they next proceeded to feast upon in the eagerest +manner. We were not asked to partake of it, for Aimy knew that we had +refused to eat human flesh before. After the feast was over, the +fragments were collected, and carried home by the slaves of the +different chiefs, according to the custom which is always observed on +such occasions in New Zealand." + +The house that had been ordered to be built for Rutherford and his +companion was ready in about a week; and, having taken up their abode in +it, they were permitted to live, as far as circumstances would allow, +according to their own customs. As it was in this village that +Rutherford continued to reside during the remainder of the time he spent +in New Zealand, we may consider him as now fairly domesticated among his +new associates, and may therefore conveniently take the present +opportunity of completing our general picture of the country and its +inhabitants, by adverting to a few matters which have not yet found a +place in our narrative. + +No doubt whatever can exist as to the relationship of the New Zealanders +to the numerous other tribes of the same complexion, by whom nearly all +the islands of the South Sea are peopled, and who, in physical +conformation, language, religion, institutions, and habits, evidently +constitute only one great family. + +Recent investigations, likewise, must be considered to have +sufficiently proved that the wave of population, which has spread itself +over so large a portion of the surface of the globe, has flowed from the +same central region, which all history points to as the cradle of our +race, and which may be here described generally as the southern tract of +the great continent of Asia. This prolific clime, while it has on the +one hand sent out its successive detachments of emigrants to occupy the +wide plains of Europe, has on the other discharged its overflowing +numbers upon the islands of the Pacific, and, with the exception of New +Holland[AJ] and a few other lands in its immediate vicinity, the +population of which seems to be of African origin, has, in this way, +gradually spread a race of common parentage over all of them, from those +that constitute what has been called the great Indian Archipelago, in +the immediate neighbourhood of China, to the Sandwich Islands and Easter +Island, in the remotest east of that immense expanse of waters. + +The Malay language is spoken, although in many different dialects and +degrees of corruption, throughout the whole of this extensive range, +which, measured in one direction, stretches over nearly half the +equatorial circumference of the globe, and in another over at least +seventy degrees of latitude. The people are all also of the same brown +or copper complexion, by which the Malay is distinguished from the +white man on the one hand, and the negro on the other. + +In New Zealand, however, as, indeed, in most of the other seats of this +race, the inhabitants are distinguished from each other by a very +considerable diversity in the shades of what may be called the common +hue. Crozet was so much struck with this circumstance that he does not +hesitate to divide them into three classes--whites, browns, and +blacks,--the last of whom he conceives to be a foreign admixture +received from the neighbouring continent of New Holland, and who, by +their union with the whites, the original inhabitants of the country, +and still decidedly the prevalent race, have produced those of the +intermediate colour. + +[Illustration: Two Maori Chiefs--Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, +or "Dark House."] + +Whatever may be thought of this hypothesis, it is certain that in some +parts of New Zealand the natives are much fairer than in others. Cook +remarks, in the account of his first voyage, that the people about the +Bay of Islands seemed darker than those he had seen further to the +south; and their colour generally is afterwards described as varying +from a pretty deep black to a yellowish or olive tinge. In like manner, +Marsden states that the people in the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga +are much fairer than those on the east coast. It may also, perhaps, be +considered some confirmation of Crozet's opinion as to the origin of the +darkest coloured portion of the population, that those who come under +this description are asserted to be characterized, in addition, by the +other negro peculiarity of a diminutive stature.[AK] + +In general, however, the New Zealanders are a tall race of men, many of +the individuals belonging to the upper classes being six feet high and +upwards. They are also described as strong, active, and almost uniformly +well-shaped. Their hair is commonly straight, but sometimes curly; +Crozet says he saw a few of them with red hair. Cook describes the +females as far from attractive; but other observers give a more +flattering account of them. Savage, for example, assures us that their +features are regular and pleasing; and he seems to have been much struck +by their "long black hair and dark penetrating eyes," as well as "their +well-formed figure, the interesting cast of their countenance, and the +sweet tone of their voice." Cruise's testimony is almost equally +favourable. + +The dress of the two sexes is exactly the same, and consists of an inner +mat or tunic, fastened by a girdle round their waists, and an upper +cloak, which is made of very coarse materials for ordinary wear, but is +of a much finer fabric, and often, indeed, elaborately ornamented, when +intended for occasions of display. Both these articles of attire are +always made of the native flax. The New Zealanders wear no covering +either for the head or the feet, the feathers with which both sexes +ornament the head being excepted. + +The food upon which they principally live is the root of the fern-plant, +which grows all over the country. + +Rutherford's account of the method of preparing it, which we have +already transcribed, corresponds exactly with that given by Cook, +Nicholas, and others. This root, sometimes swallowed entirely, and +sometimes only masticated, and the fibres rejected after the juice has +been extracted, serves the New Zealanders not only for bread, but even +occasionally for a meal by itself. When fish are used, they do not +appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten raw, but are always +cooked, either by being fixed upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so +exposed to the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and then placed +between heated stones to bake. But little of any other animal food is +consumed, birds being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being +only produced on days of special festivity. + +The first pigs were left in New Zealand by Cook, who made many attempts +to stock the country both with this and other useful animals, most of +whom, however, were so much neglected that they soon disappeared. Cook, +likewise, introduced the potato into New Zealand; and that valuable root +appears to be now pretty generally cultivated throughout the northern +island. + +The only agricultural implements, however, which the natives possess are +of the rudest description; that with which they dig their potatoes being +merely a wooden pole, with a cross-bar of the same material fixed to it +about three feet from the ground. Marsden saw the wives of several of +the chiefs toiling hard in the fields with no better spade than this; +among others the head wife of the great Shungie, who, though quite +blind, appeared to dig the ground, he says, as fast as those who had +their sight, and as well, first pulling up the weeds as she went along +with her hands, then setting her feet upon them that she might know +where they were; and, finally, after she had broken the soil, throwing +the mould over the weeds with her hands. + +The labours of agriculture in New Zealand are, in this way, rendered +exceedingly toilsome, by the imperfection of the only instruments which +the natives possess. Hence, principally, their extreme desire for iron. +Marsden, in the "Journal of his Second Visit," gives us some very +interesting details touching the anxiety which the chiefs universally +manifested to obtain agricultural tools of this metal. One morning, he +tells us, a number of them arrived at the settlement, some having come +twenty, others fifty miles. "They were ready to tear us to pieces," says +he, "for hoes and axes. One of them said his heart would burst if he +did not get a hoe." + +They were told that a supply had been written for to England; but "they +replied that many of them would be in their graves before the ship would +come from England, and the hoes and axes would be of no advantage to +them when dead. They wanted them now. They had no tools at present, but +wooden ones to work their potato-grounds with; and requested that we +would relieve their present distress." + +When he returned from his visit to Shukehanga, many of the natives of +that part of the country followed him, with a similar object, to the +settlement. "When we left Patuona's village," says he, "we were more +than fifty in number, most of them going for an axe or a hoe, or some +small edge-tool. They would have to travel, by land and water, from a +hundred to a hundred and forty miles, in some of the worst paths, +through woods, that can be conceived, and to carry their provisions for +their journey. A chief's wife came with us all the way, and I believe +her load would not be less than one hundred pounds; and many carried +much more." But, perhaps, the most importunate pleader the reverend +gentleman encountered on this journey was an old chief, with a very long +beard, and his face tattooed all over, who followed him during part of +his progress among the villages of the western coast. "He wanted an +axe," says Marsden, "very much; and at last he said that if we would +give him an axe, he would give us his head. Nothing is held in so much +veneration by the natives as the head of their chief. I asked him who +should have the axe when I had got his head. At length he said, 'Perhaps +you will trust me a little time; and, when I die, you shall have my +head.' This venerable personage afterwards got his axe by sending a man +for it to the settlement." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AD: Probably Nene.] + +[Footnote AE: There is no "l" in the Maori orthography, and the name +cannot be traced.] + +[Footnote AF: This is another case where Rutherford's pronunciation +seems to have been at fault.] + +[Footnote AG: The taro.] + +[Footnote AH: The kumera, a sweet potato, which was extensively +cultivated by the ancient Maoris.] + +[Footnote AI: "Haere mai," "come here," the usual words of welcome.] + +[Footnote AJ: That is, Australia.] + +[Footnote AK: The origin of the Maori is dealt with exhaustively by Mr. +S Percy Smith in "Hawaiki"; by Mr. E. Tregear, in "The Maori Race"; and +by Professor Macmillan Brown, in "Maori and Polynesian."] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Taken altogether, New Zealand presents a great variety of landscape, +although, even where the scenery is most subdued, it partakes of a bold +and irregular character, derived not more from the aspect of undisturbed +Nature, which still obtrudes itself everywhere among the traces of +commencing cultivation, than from the confusion of hill and valley which +marks the face of the soil, and the precipitous eminences, with their +sides covered by forests, and their summits barren of all vegetation, or +terminating perhaps in a naked rock, that often rise close beside the +most sheltered spots of fertility and verdure. + +If this brokenness and inequality of surface oppose difficulties in the +way of agricultural improvement, the variety and striking contrasts +thereby produced must be often at least highly picturesque; and all, +accordingly, who have visited New Zealand, agree in extolling the +mingled beauty and grandeur which are profusely spread over the more +favoured parts of the country, and are not altogether wanting even where +the general look of the coast is most desolate and uninviting. + +The southern island, with the exception of a narrow strip along its +northern shore, appears to be, in its interior, a mere chaos of +mountains, and the region of perpetual winter; but even here, the +declivities that slope down towards the sea are clothed, in many places +to the water's edge, with gigantic and evergreen forests; and more +protected nooks occasionally present themselves, overspread with the +abundance of a teeming vegetation, and not to be surpassed in loveliness +by what the land has anywhere else to show. The bleakness of the western +coast of this southern island indeed does not arise so much from its +latitude as from the tempestuous north-west winds which seem so much to +prevail in this part of the world, and to the whole force of which it +is, from its position, exposed. + +The interior and eastern side of the northern island owe their fertility +and their suitableness for the habitation of man principally to the +intervention of a considerable extent of land, much of which is +elevated, between them and the quarter from which these desolating gales +blow. The more westerly portion of it seems only to be inhabited in +places which are in a certain degree similarly defended by the +surrounding high grounds. In these, as well as in the more populous +districts to the east, the face of the country, generally speaking, +offers to the eye a spread of luxuriant verdure, the freshness of which +is preserved by continual depositions of moisture from the clouds that +are attracted by the mountains, so that its hue, even in the heat of +midsummer, is peculiarly vivid and lustrous. + +Much of the land, both in the valleys and on the brows of the hills, is +covered by groves of majestic pine, which are nearly impervious, from +the thick underwood that has rushed up everywhere in the spaces between +the trees; and where there is no wood, the prevailing plant is a fern, +which rises generally to the height of six or seven feet. + +Along the skirts of the woodlands flow numerous rivers, which intersect +the country in all directions, and several of which are navigable for +miles up by ships of considerable burthen. Various lines of +communication are in this way established between the opposite coasts of +the northern island; while some of the minor streams, that rush down to +the sea through the more precipitous ravines, are interrupted in their +course by magnificent cataracts, which give additional effect to the +other features of sublimity and romantic beauty by which the country is +so distinguished. Many of the rocks on the coast are perforated, a +circumstance which proceeds from their formation. + +The quality of the soil of this country may be best estimated from the +profuse vegetation with which the greater part of it is clothed, and the +extraordinary vigour which characterizes the growth of most of its +productions. The botany of New Zealand has as yet been very imperfectly +investigated, a very small portion of the native plants having been +either classified or enumerated. From the partial researches, however, +that have been made by the scientific gentlemen attached to Cook's +expeditions, and subsequent visitors, there can be no doubt that the +country is rich both in new and valuable herbs, plants, and trees as +well as admirably adapted for the cultivation of many of the most useful +among the vegetable possessions of other parts of the world. + +Rutherford, we have seen, mentions the existence of cultivated land in +the neighbourhood of the village to which he was last conveyed. The New +Zealanders had made considerable advances in agriculture even before +Cook visited the country; and that navigator mentions particularly, in +the narrative of his first voyage, the numerous patches of ground which +he observed all along the east coast in a state of cultivation. Speaking +of the very neighbourhood of the place at which the crew of the "Agnes" +were made prisoners, he says:--"Banks saw some of their plantations, +where the ground was as well broken down and tilled as even in the +gardens of the most curious people among us. In these spots were sweet +potatoes, coccos or eddas, which are well known and much esteemed both +in the East and West Indies, and some gourds. The sweet potatoes were +placed in small hills, some ranged in rows, and others in quincunx, all +laid by a line with the greatest regularity. The coccos were planted +upon flat land, but none of them yet (it was about the end of October) +appeared above ground; and the gourds were set in small hollows, or +dishes, much as in England. These plantations were of different extent, +from one or two acres to ten. Taken together, there appeared to be from +one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres in cultivation in the whole +bay, though we never saw a hundred people. Each district was fenced in, +generally with reeds, which were placed so close together that there was +scarcely room for a mouse to creep between." + +Since the commencement of the intercourse of the New Zealanders with +Europe, the sphere of their husbandry has been considerably enlarged by +the introduction of several most precious articles which were formerly +unknown to them. Cook, in the course of his several visits to the +country, both deposited in the soil, and left with some of the most +intelligent among the natives, quantities of such useful seeds as those +of wheat, peas, cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips, and potatoes; but +although he had sufficient proofs of the suitableness of the soil and +climate to the growth of most of these articles, which he found that +even the winter of New Zealand was too mild to injure, it appeared to +him very unlikely that the inhabitants would be at the trouble to take +care even of those whose value they in some degree appreciated. With the +exception, in fact, of the turnips and potatoes, the vegetable +productions which Cook took so much pains to introduce seem to have all +perished. The potatoes, however, have been carefully preserved, and are +said to have even improved in quality, being now greatly superior to +those of the Cape of Good Hope, from which the seed they have sprung +from was originally brought. + +In more recent times, maize has been introduced into New Zealand; and +the missionaries have sown many acres in the neighbourhood of the Bay of +Islands, both on their own property and on that of the native chiefs, +with English wheat, which has produced an abundant return. + +Duaterra was the first person who actually reared a crop of this grain +in his native country. On leaving Port Jackson the second time, to +return home, he took with him a quantity of it, and much astonished his +acquaintances by informing them that this was the very substance of +which the Europeans made biscuits, such as they had seen and eaten on +board their ships. + +"He gave a portion of wheat," says Marsden, "to six chiefs, and also to +some of his own common men, and directed them all how to sow it, +reserving some for himself and his uncle Shungie, who is a very great +chief, his dominion extending from the east to the west side of New +Zealand. + +"All the persons to whom Duaterra had given the seed-wheat put it into +the ground, and it grew well; but before it was well ripe, many of them +grew impatient for the produce; and as they expected to find the grain +at the roots of the stems, similar to their potatoes, they examined the +roots, and finding there was no wheat under the ground, they pulled it +all up, and burned it, except Shungie. + +"The chiefs ridiculed Duaterra much about the wheat, and told him, +because he had been a great traveller, he thought he could easily impose +upon their credulity by fine stories; and all he urged could not +convince them that wheat would make bread. His own and Shungie's crops +in time came to perfection, and were reaped and threshed; and though the +natives were much astonished to find that the grain was produced at the +top, and not at the bottom of the stem, yet they could not be persuaded +that bread could be made of it." + +Marsden afterwards sent Duaterra a steel mill to grind his wheat, which +he received with no little joy. "He soon set to work," continues +Marsden, "and ground some wheat before his countrymen, who danced and +shouted for joy when they saw the meal. He told me that he made a cake +and baked it in a frying-pan, and gave it to the people to eat, which +fully satisfied them of the truth he had told them before, that wheat +would make bread." The chiefs now begged some more seed, which they +sowed; and such of it as was attended to grew up as strong a crop as +could be desired. + +In all countries the securing of a sufficient supply of food is the +primary concern of society; and, accordingly, even among the rudest +tribes who are in any degree dependent upon the fruits of the earth for +their sustenance, the different operations of agriculture, as regulated +by the seasons, have always excited especial interest. Theoretical +writers are fond of talking of the natural progress of the species to +the agricultural state, from and through the pastoral, as if the one +were a condition at which it was nothing less than impossible for a +people to arrive, except by first undergoing the other. + +In countries circumstanced like New Zealand, at least, the course of +things must have been somewhat different; inasmuch as here we find the +agricultural state begun, where the pastoral could never have been +known, there being no flocks to tend. Cook, as we have seen, found the +inhabitants of this country extensive cultivators of land, and they, +probably, had been so for many ages before. Although the fern-root is in +most places the spontaneous produce of the soil, and enters largely into +the consumption of the people, it would yet seem that they have not been +wont to consider themselves independent of those other crops which they +raise by regular cultivation. To these, accordingly, they pay the +greatest attention, insomuch, that most of those who have visited the +country have been struck by the extraordinary contrast between the neat +and clean appearance of their fields, in which the plants rise in even +rows, and not a weed is to be seen, and the universal air of rudeness, +slovenliness, and discomfort which their huts present. + +But we must remember that in the latter case we see merely a few of the +personal accommodations of the savage, his neglect of which occasions +him but very slight and temporary inconvenience; whereas in the former +it is the very sustenance of his life which is concerned, his +inattention to which might expose him to all the miseries of famine. The +same care and neatness in the management of their fields has been +remarked as characteristics of the North American Indians; and both they +and the New Zealanders celebrate the seasons of planting and gathering +in their harvests with festivities and religious observances, practices +which have, indeed, prevailed in almost every nation, and may be +regarded as among the most beautiful and becoming of the rites of +natural religion. + +The commencement of the coomera harvest in New Zealand is the signal for +the suspension of all other occupations except that of gathering in the +crop. First, the priest pronounces a blessing upon the unbroken ground; +and then, when all its produce has been gathered in, he "taboos" or +makes sacred, the public storehouse in which it is deposited. + +Cruise states that this solemn dedication has sometimes saved these +depositories from spoliation, even on occasion of a hostile attack by +another tribe. "One of the gentlemen of the ship," this writer adds, +"was present at the 'shackerie,'[AL] or harvest-home, if it may be so +called, of Shungie's people. It was celebrated in a wood, where a square +space had been cleared of trees, in the centre of which three very tall +posts, driven into the ground in the form of a triangle, supported an +immense pile of baskets of coomeras. The tribe of Teeperree[AM] of +Wangarooa[AN] was invited to participate in the rejoicings, which +consisted of a number of dances performed round the pole, succeeded by a +very splendid feast; and when Teeperree's men were going away, they +received a present of as many coomeras as they could carry with them." +In New Zealand all the cultivated fields are strictly "tabooed," as well +as the people employed in cultivating them, who live upon the spot while +they proceed with their labours, and are not permitted to pass the +boundary until they are terminated; nor are any others allowed to +trespass upon the sacred enclosure. + +We have already mentioned more than once the lofty forests of New +Zealand. Of these, considered as a mere ornament to the country, all +who have seen them speak in terms of the highest admiration. Anderson, +the surgeon whom Cook took with him on board the "Resolution" in his +third voyage, describes them as "flourishing with a vigour almost +superior to anything that imagination can conceive, and affording an +august prospect to those who are delighted with the grand and beautiful +works of Nature." + +"It is impossible," says Nicholas, "to imagine, in the wildest and most +picturesque walks of Nature, a sight more sublime and majestic, or which +can more forcibly challenge the admiration of the traveller, than a New +Zealand forest." + +And indeed, when we are told that the trees rise generally to the height +of from eighty to a hundred feet, straight as a mast and without a +branch, and are then crowned with tops of such umbrageous foliage that +the rays of the sun, in endeavouring to pierce through them, can hardly +make more than a dim twilight in the lonely recesses below, so that +herbage cannot grow there, and the rank soil produces nothing but a +thick spread of climbing and intertwisted underwood, we may conceive how +imposing must be the gloomy grandeur of these gigantic and impenetrable +groves. + +[Illustration: Scene in a New Zealand forest.] + +In the woods in the neighbourhood of Poverty Bay, Cook says he found +trees of above twenty different sorts, altogether unknown to anybody +on board; and almost every new district which he visited afterwards +presented to him a profusion of new varieties. But the trees that have +as yet chiefly attracted the attention of Europeans are certain of those +more lofty ones of which we have just spoken. + +These trees had attracted Cook's attention in his first voyage, as +likely to prove admirably adapted for masts, if the timber, which in its +original state he considered rather too heavy for that purpose, could, +like that of the European pitch-pine, be lightened by tapping; they +would then, he says, be such masts as no country in Europe could +produce. Crozet, however, asserts, in his account of Marion's voyage +that they found what he calls the cedar of New Zealand to weigh no +heavier than the best Riga fir. + +Nicholas brought some of the seeds of the New Zealand phormium with him +to England in 1815; but unfortunately they lost their vegetative +properties during the voyage. It appears, however, that, some years +before, it had been brought to blossom, though imperfectly, in the +neighbourhood of London; and in France it is said to have been +cultivated in the open air with great success, by Freycinet and Faujas +St. Fond. Under the culture of the former of these gentlemen it grew, in +1813, to the height of seven feet six lines, the stalk being three +inches and four lines in circumference at the base, and two inches and a +half, half-way up. Upon one stalk he had a hundred and nine flowers, of +a greenish yellow colour; and he had made some very strong ropes from +the leaves, from which he had obtained the flax by a very simple +process. + +According to Rutherford, the natives, after having cut it down, and +brought it home green in bundles, in which state it is called "koradee," +scrape it with a large mussel-shell, and take the heart out of it, +splitting it with the nails of their thumbs, which for that purpose they +keep very long. It would seem, however, that the natives have made +instruments for dressing this flax not very dissimilar from the tools of +our own wool-combers. The outside they throw away, and the rest they +spread out for several days in the sun to dry, which makes it as white +as snow. In this prepared state it is, he says, called "mooka." They +spin it, he adds, in a double thread, with the hand on the thigh, and +then work it into mats, also by the hand: three women may work on one +mat at a time. + +Nicholas, on one occasion, saw Duaterra's head wife employed in weaving. +The mat on which she was engaged was one of an open texture, and "she +performed her work," says the author, "with wooden pegs stuck in the +ground at equal distances from each other, to which having tied the +threads that formed the woof, she took up six threads with the two +composing the warp, knotting them carefully together." "It was +astonishing," he says, "with what dexterity and quickness she handled +the threads, and how well executed was her performance." He was assured +that another mat which he saw, and which was woven with elaborate +ingenuity and elegance, could not have been manufactured in less time +than between two and three years. + +Valuable, however, as is the phormium for the purposes to which alone it +is applied in New Zealand, it would appear that the attempts which have +been made to fabricate from it what is properly called cloth have not +hitherto been attended with a favourable result. Some years ago, a +quantity of hemp that had been manufactured from the plant at Sydney, +was sent to be woven at Knaresborough; but "the trial," it is stated, +"did not succeed to the full satisfaction of the parties." + +We have been favoured with a communication upon this subject by a +gentleman who has given much attention to it, which seems to explain, in +a very satisfactory manner, the true reason of the failure that has been +here experienced. "A friend of mine," says our correspondent, "a few +years ago imported a quantity of the phormium, in the expectation that +it would answer admirably for making cloth even of the finest fabric. +But in this he was altogether disappointed. Although it is infinitely +stronger in its raw state than any other flax or hemp, yet when boiled +with potash it becomes so exceedingly weak as not to bear the operation +of weaving but with the utmost difficulty. A gentleman once showed me a +pair of trousers made of this material. They appeared quite rough and +nearly worn out, though they had been used but for a few weeks. + +"Although making cloth of it, however, is out of the question, it is +admirably fitted for rope and twine of all descriptions. It will, +therefore, prove highly valuable to our shipping and fishing interests. +Another friend of mine made some rope of it, which, when proved by the +breaking machine, bore, I think, nearly double the strain of a +similar-sized rope made of Russian hemp. The great strength and tenacity +of the New Zealand flax appears to me to be owing to the fibres, though +naturally short, being firmly united by an elastic vegetable glue or +gum, which the boiling process dissolves." Rutherford says the flax +becomes black on being soaked, which may possibly be occasioned by its +consequent loss of the gum here described. + +We find it stated in the "Annual Register" for 1819, that about the +beginning of that year a favourable report had been made of the +suitableness of the phormium for the manufacture both of small and large +ropes, after some experiments in the dockyard at Portsmouth. The ropes +turned out strong, pliable, and very silky. The notice adds that the +plant may be cut down in New Zealand three times a year; and that it may +be imported to this country at the rate of about eight pounds per ton, +or one-seventh of the cost of hemp. + +Among the useful plants for which we are indebted to New Zealand, we +must not forget their summer spinach (_Tetragonia expansa_--Murray), +which was discovered on Cook's first voyage by Sir Joseph Banks, and was +"boiled and eaten as greens" by the crew. It was afterwards seen by +Forster at Tongataboo, though it was not used by the natives; but +Thunberg found the Japanese acquainted with its value as a pot-herb. It +was introduced into Kew Gardens in 1772; but the first account of it as +a vegetable worthy of cultivation, was published by Count D'Auraches in +the "Annales d'Agriculture" for 1809. Its chief advantage lies in the +leaves being fit for use during the summer, even in the driest weather, +up to the setting in of the frosts, when the common spinach is useless; +but it is not reckoned of so fine a flavour as that plant. The Rev. J. +Bransby says that the produce of three seeds, which must be reared by +heat before planting out, supplied his own table and those of two of his +friends from June till the frost killed it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AL: The hakari, or feast, a great function in former times.] + +[Footnote AM: This name is spelt wrongly. It might be Te Pahi, a famous +chief, but it is reported that he died soon after the affair of the +"Boyd," in 1809, some time before Rutherford's arrival in New Zealand. +The tribe, however, may still have been known as Te Pahi's.] + +[Footnote AN: Whangaroa.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The native land animals of New Zealand are not numerous. The most common +is said to be one resembling our fox-dog, which is sometimes eaten for +food. It runs wild in the woods, and is described by Savage as usually +of a black and white skin, with pricked up ears, and the hair rather +long. But it may perhaps be doubted if even this quadruped is a native +of the country.[AO] + +According to Rutherford the pigs run wild in the woods, and are hunted +by dogs. He also mentions that there are a few horned cattle in the +interior, which have been bred from some left by the discovery ships. No +other account, however, confirms this statement. There are in New +Zealand a few rats, and bats; and the coasts are frequented by seals of +different species. One of the natives told Cook that there was in the +interior a lizard eight feet long, and as thick as a man's body, which +burrowed in the ground, and sometimes seized and devoured men. This +animal, of the existence of which we have the additional evidence of an +exactly similar description given by one of the chiefs to Nicholas, is +probably an alligator. The natives, as we learn from Cruise, have the +greatest horror of a lizard, in the shape of which animal they believe +it is that the atua (or demon) is wont to take possession of the dying, +and to devour their entrails--a superstition which may not be +unconnected with the dread the alligator has spread among them by its +actual ravages, or the stories that have been propagated respecting it. +They report that in the part of the country where it is found it makes +great havoc among children, carrying them off and devouring them +whenever they come in its way.[AP] + +There are not many species of insects, those seen by Anderson, who +accompanied Cook, being only a few dragonflies, butterflies, +grasshoppers, spiders, and black ants, vast numbers of scorpion flies, +and a sandfly, which is described as the only noxious insect in the +country. It insinuates itself under the foot, and bites like a mosquito. + +The birds of New Zealand are very numerous, and almost all are peculiar +to the country. Among them are wild ducks, large wood-pigeons, seagulls, +rails, parrots, and parrakeets. They are generally very tame. + +Rutherford states that during his long residence he became very expert, +after the manner of the natives, in catching birds with a noosed +string, and that he has thus caught thousands of ground parrots with a +line about fifty feet long. The most remarkable bird is one to which +Cook's people gave the name of the mocking-bird, from the extraordinary +variety of its notes.[AQ] There is also another which was called by the +English the poe, or poi bird, from a little tuft of white curled +feathers which it has under its throat, and which seemed to them to +resemble certain white flowers worn as ornaments in the ears by the +people of Otaheite, and known there by a similar name. This bird is also +remarkable both for the beauty of its plumage and the sweetness of its +note. Its power of song is the more remarkable as it belongs to the +class of birds which feed on honey, whose notes are generally not +melodious.[AR] + +The enchanting music of the woods of New Zealand is dwelt upon with +rapture by all who have had an opportunity of listening to it. +Describing one of the first days he spent in Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook +says:--"The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of +a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the +singing of the birds. The number was incredible, and they seemed to +strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was +infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it +seemed to be like small bells, exquisitely tuned; and perhaps the +distance and the water between might be no small advantage to the +sound." Upon inquiry, they were informed that the birds here always +begin to sing about two hours after midnight, and, continuing their +music till sunrise, were silent the rest of the day.[AS] + +One of the chief sources of natural wealth which New Zealand possesses +consists in the abundance and variety of the fish which frequent its +coasts. Wherever he went, Cook, in his different visits to the two +islands, was amply supplied with this description of food, of which he +says that six or eight men, with hooks and lines, would in some places +catch daily enough to serve the whole ship's company. Among the +different species which are described as being found, we may mention +mackerel, crayfish, a sort called by the sailors colefish, which Cook +says was both larger and finer than any he had seen before, and was, in +the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded them; +the herring, the flounder, and a fish resembling the salmon. To these +may be added, besides, many other species of shell-fish, mussels, +cockles, and oysters. + +The seas in the neighbourhood of New Zealand, also, we ought not to +forget to add, are much frequented by whales, which, besides the value +of their blubber, are greatly prized by the natives for the sake of +their flesh, which they consider a first-rate delicacy. + +The New Zealanders are extremely expert in fishing. They are also +admirable divers, and Rutherford states that they will bring up live +fish from the deepest waters, with the greatest certainty. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AO: Craik is correct in this surmise. The Maori dog, Canis +familiaris, (Variety Maorium), which is now extinct, was introduced to +New Zealand when the Maoris came at the time of their great migration, +about 500 years ago.] + +[Footnote AP: The alligator is purely mythical. The only reptiles in New +Zealand are lizards, and a lizard-like animal called Tuatara. It is +about 18 inches long, and is allied to crocodiles and turtles, as well +as lizards. It is the sole representative of an ancient reptilian order +named Rhyncocephalia.] + +[Footnote AQ: This is the bell-bird (Anthornis melanura).] + +[Footnote AR: The tui, or parson bird (Prosthemadera novæ zealandiæ.)] + +[Footnote AS: Large numbers of New Zealand birds unite in the spring in +singing a magnificent Song of Dawn, which generally ceases when the sun +has fairly risen, but individuals sing at intervals through the day.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The details we have thus given will enable the reader to form a +conception of the state of society in the country in which Rutherford +now found himself imprisoned. + +The spot in the northern island of New Zealand, in which the village lay +where his residence was eventually fixed, cannot be exactly ascertained, +from the account which he gives of his journey to it from the coast. It +is evident, however, from the narrative, that it was too far in the +interior to permit the sea to be seen from it. + +"For the first year after our arrival in Aimy's village," says +Rutherford, "we spent our time chiefly in fishing and shooting; for the +chief had a capital double-barrelled fowling piece, as well as plenty of +powder and duck-shot, which he had brought from our vessel; and he used +to entrust me with the fowling-piece whenever I had a mind to go a +shooting, though he seldom accompanied me himself. We were generally +fortunate enough to bring home a good many wood-pigeons, which are very +plentiful in New Zealand. + +"At last it happened that Aimy and his family went to a feast at another +village a few miles distant from ours, and my comrade and I were left +at home, with nobody but a few slaves, and the chief's mother, an old +woman, who was sick, and attended by a physician. A physician in this +country remains with his patients constantly both day and night, never +leaving them till they either recover or die, in which latter case he is +brought before a court of inquiry, composed of all the chiefs for many +miles round. + +"During the absence of the family at the feast, my comrade chanced to +lend his knife to a slave for him to cut some rushes with, in order to +repair a house; and when this was done he received it back again. Soon +after he and I killed a pig, from which we cut a portion into small +pieces, and put them into our iron pot, along with some potatoes which +we had also peeled with our knives. When the potatoes were cooked, the +old woman who was sick desired us to give her some, which we did in the +presence of the doctor, and she ate them. Next morning she died, when +the chief and the rest of his family immediately returned home. + +"The corpse was first removed to an unoccupied piece of ground in the +centre of the village, and there placed with a mat under it, in a +sitting position against a post, being covered with another mat up to +the chin. The head and face were anointed with shark oil, and a piece of +green flax was also tied round the head, in which were stuck several +white feathers, the sort of feathers which are here preferred to any +other. + +"They then constructed, around the corpse, an enclosure of twigs, +something like a bird's cage, for the purpose of keeping the dogs, pigs, +and children from it; and these operations being over, muskets continued +to be occasionally fired during the remainder of the day to the memory +of the old woman. Meanwhile, the chiefs and their families from miles +around were making their appearance in our village, bringing with them +their slaves loaded with provisions. On the third day after the death, +they all, to the number of some hundreds, knelt down around the corpse, +and, having thrown off their mats, proceeded to cry and cut themselves, +in the same manner as we had seen done on occasions of the different +chiefs of the villages through which we passed being welcomed home. + +"After some time spent in this ceremony, they all sat down together to a +great feast, made of their own provisions, which they had brought with +them. + +"The next morning, the men alone formed a circle round the dead body, +armed with spears, muskets, tomahawks, and merys, and the doctor +appeared, walking backwards and forwards in the ring. By this time, my +companion and I had learned a good deal of their language; and, as we +stood listening to what was said, we heard the doctor relate the +particulars of the old woman's illness and death; after which, the +chiefs began to inquire very closely into what she had eaten for the +three days before she expired. + +"At last, the doctor having retired from the ring, an old chief stepped +forward, with three or four white feathers stuck in his hair; and, +having walked several times up and down in the ring, addressed the +meeting, and said that, in his opinion, the old woman's death had been +occasioned by her having eaten potatoes that had been peeled with a +white man's knife, after it had been used for cutting rushes to repair a +house; on which account, he thought that the white man to whom the knife +belonged should be killed, which would be a great honour conferred upon +the memory of the dead woman. + +"To this proposal many of the other chiefs expressed their assent, and +it seemed about to be adopted by the court. Meanwhile, my companion +stood trembling, and unable to speak from fear. I then went forward +myself into the ring, and told them that if the white man had done wrong +in lending his knife to the slave, he had done so ignorantly, from not +knowing the customs of the country. + +"I ventured at the same time to address myself to Aimy, beseeching him +to spare my shipmate's life; but he continued to keep his seat on the +ground, mourning for the loss of his mother, without answering me, or +seeming to take any notice of what I said; and while I was yet speaking +to him, the chief with the white feathers went and struck my comrade on +the head with a mery, and killed him. Aimy, however, would not allow +him to be eaten, though for what reason I never could learn. + +"The slaves, therefore, having dug a grave for him, he was interred +after my directions. + +"As for the corpse of the old woman, it was now wrapt up in several +mats, and carried away by Aimy and the doctor, no person being allowed +to follow them. I learned, however, that they took her into a +neighbouring wood, and there buried her. After this, the strangers all +left our village, and returned to their respective homes. In about three +months, the body of the woman was again taken up, and carried to the +river side, where the bones were scraped and washed, and then inclosed +in a box, which had been prepared for that purpose. + +"The box was afterwards fastened on the top of a post, in the place +where the body first lay in state; and a space of about thirty feet in +circumference being railed in around it, a wooden image was erected, to +signify that the ground was 'tabooed,' or sacred, and as a warning that +no one should enter the inclosure. This is the regular manner of +interment in New Zealand for any one belonging to a chief's family. When +a slave dies, a hole is dug, and the body is thrown into it without any +ceremony; nor is it ever disinterred again, or any further notice taken +of it. They never eat any person who dies of disease, or in the course +of nature." + +Thus left alone among these savages, and taught by the murder of his +comrade on how slight a tenure he held his own life, exposed as he was +every moment to the chance of in some way or other provoking their +capricious cruelty, Rutherford, it may be thought, must have felt his +protracted detention growing every day more insupportable. + +One of the greatest inconveniences which he now began to feel arose from +the wearing out of his clothes, which he patched and tacked as well as +he could for some time, but at last, after he had been about three years +in the country, they would hold together no longer. All that he had to +wear, therefore, was a white flax mat, which was given to him by the +chief, and which, being thrown over his shoulders, came as low as his +knees. This, he says, was his only garment, and he was compelled to go +both bareheaded and barefooted, having neither hat, shoes, nor +stockings. + +His life, meanwhile, seems to have been varied by few incidents +deserving of being recorded, and we are left to suppose that he spent +his time principally in shooting and fishing, as before. + +For the first sixteen months of his residence at the village, he kept a +reckoning of days by notches on a stick; but when he afterwards moved +about with the chiefs, he neglected this mode of tracing the progress of +time. + +[Illustration: Flute, made from the arm or thigh-bone of an enemy.] + +"At last, it happened one day," the narrative proceeds, "while we were +all assembled at a feast in our village, that Aimy called me to him, +in the presence of several more chiefs, and, having told them of my +activity in shooting and fishing, concluded by saying that he wished to +make me a chief, if I would give my consent. + +"This I readily did: upon which my hair was immediately cut with an +oyster shell in the front, in the same manner as the chiefs have theirs +cut; and several of the chiefs made me a present of some mats, and +promised to send me some pigs the next day. I now put on a mat covered +over with red ochre and oil, such as was worn by the other chiefs; and +my head and face were also anointed with the same composition by a +chief's daughter, who was entirely a stranger to me. I received, at the +same time, a handsome stone mery, which I afterwards always carried with +me. + +"Aimy now advised me to take two or three wives, it being the custom for +the chiefs to have as many as they think proper; and I consented to take +two. About sixty women were then brought up before me, none of whom, +however, pleased me, and I refused to have any of them; on which Aimy +told me that I was 'tabooed' for three days, at the expiration of which +time he would take me with him to his brother's camp, where I should +find plenty of women that would please me. + +"Accordingly we went to his brother's at the time appointed, when +several women were brought up before us; but, having cast my eyes upon +Aimy's two daughters, who had followed us, and were sitting on the +grass, I went up to the eldest, and said that I would choose her. + +"On this she immediately screamed and ran away; but two of the natives, +having thrown off their mats, pursued her, and soon brought her back, +when, by the direction of Aimy, I went and took hold of her hand. The +two natives then let her go, and she walked quietly with me to her +father, but hung down her head, and continued laughing. Aimy now called +his other daughter to him, who also came laughing; and he then advised +me to take them both. + +"I then turned to them, and asked them if they were willing to go with +me, when they both answered, _I pea_, or _I pair_, which signifies, +'Yes, I believe so.'[AT] + +"On this, Aimy told them they were 'tabooed' to me, and directed us all +three to go home together, which we did, followed by several of the +natives. We had not been many minutes at our own village, when Aimy, and +his brother also, arrived; and in the evening, a great feast was given +to the people by Aimy. During the greater part of the night, the women +kept dancing a dance which is called 'Kane-Kane,'[AU] and is seldom +performed, except when large parties are met together. While dancing it, +they stood all in a row, several of them holding muskets over their +heads; and their movements were accompanied by the singing of several +of the men; for they have no kind of music in this country. + +"My eldest wife's name was Eshou,[AV] and that of my youngest +Epecka.[AW] They were both handsome, mild, and good-tempered. I was now +always obliged to eat with them in the open air, as they would not eat +under the roof of my house, that being contrary to the customs of their +country. When away for any length of time, I used to take Epecka along +with me, and leave Eshou at home. + +"The chiefs' wives in New Zealand are never jealous of each other, but +live together in great harmony; the only distinction among them being +that the oldest is always considered the head wife. No other ceremony +takes place on the occasion of a marriage, except what I have mentioned. +Any child born of a slave woman, though the father should be a chief, is +considered a slave, like its mother. + +"A woman found guilty of adultery is immediately put to death. Many of +the chiefs take wives from among their slaves; but any one else that +marries a slave woman may be robbed with impunity; whereas he who +marries a woman belonging to a chief's family is secure from being +plundered, as the natives dare not steal from any person of that rank. + +"With regard to stealing from others, the custom is that if any person +has stolen anything, and kept it concealed for three days, it then +becomes his own property, and the only way for the injured party to +obtain satisfaction is to rob the thief in return. If the theft, +however, be detected within three days, the thief has to return the +article stolen; but, even in that case, he goes unpunished. The chiefs, +also, although secure from the depredations of their inferiors, plunder +one another, and this often occasions a war among them." + +By music in this passage, Rutherford evidently means instrumental music, +which, it would appear, was not known in the parts of New Zealand where +he resided. Other authorities, however, speak of different +wind-instruments, similar to our fifes or flutes, which are elsewhere in +common use. + +One which is frequently to be met with at the Bay of Islands consists, +according to Savage, of a tube six or seven inches long, open at both +extremities, and having three holes on one side, and one on the other. +Another is formed of two pieces of wood bound together, so as to make a +tube inflated at the middle, at which place there is a single hole. It +is blown into at one extremity, while the other is stopped and opened, +to produce different modifications of the sound. + +Nicholas once saw an instrument like a flute, made of bone, very +ingeniously carved, hanging at the breast of one of the natives; and +when he asked what bone it was formed from, the possessor immediately +told him that it was the bone of a man. It was a larger bone than any of +the native animals could have supplied. + +Vocal music is one of the favourite amusements of the New Zealanders. +Destitute as they are of the art of writing, they have, nevertheless, +their song poetry, part of which is traditionary, and part the produce +of such passing events as strongly excite their feelings, and prompt +their fancy to this only work of composition of which they have any +knowledge. + +Certain individuals among them are distinguished for their success in +these effusions; but the people inhabiting the vicinity of the East Cape +seem generally to enjoy the highest reputation for this species of +talent. These tribes, indeed, are described as in many other respects +decidedly superior to the rest of their countrymen. It is among them +that all the arts known in New Zealand flourish in the greatest +perfection; as, for example, the working of mats, and the making and +polishing of the different instruments used in war. + +Yet, although very numerous, they are themselves of a peaceful +disposition. Their houses are said to be both larger and better built +than those in any other part of the island; and their plantations are +also more extensive. This seems, in short, to be the manufacturing +district of New Zealand, the only part of the country in which anything +like regular industry has found an abode. Hence the pre-eminence of its +inhabitants, both in the useful and the elegant arts. + +Nicholas has printed some specimens of the songs of the New Zealanders, +which, when sung, are always accompanied, he informs us, by a great deal +of action. As he has given merely the words, however, without either the +music or a translation, it is needless to transcribe them. The airs he +describes as in general melodious and agreeable, and as having a +resemblance to our chanting. + +One of the songs which he gives is that which is always sung at the +feast which takes place when the planting of the potatoes commences. "It +describes," he says, "the havoc occasioned by the violence of an east +wind. Their potatoes are destroyed by it. They plant them again, and, +being more successful, they express their joy while taking them out of +the ground, with the words, _ah kiki! ah kiki! ah kiki!_--eat away! eat +away! eat away! Which is the conclusion of the song." Of another, "the +subject is a man carving a canoe, when his enemies approach the shore in +a canoe to attack him; endeavouring to conceal himself, he runs in among +the bushes, but is pursued, overtaken, and immediately put to death." + +Every more remarkable occasion of their rude and turbulent life seems +to have its appropriate song. The planting of their potatoes, the +gathering in of the crop, the commencement of the battle, the interment +of the dead, are all celebrated, each by its peculiar chorus, as well +as, probably, most of their other customary excitements, both of mirth +and of mourning. + +The New Zealanders have a variety of national dances; but none of them +have been minutely described. Some of them are said to display much +grace of movement; others are chiefly remarkable for the extreme +violence with which they are performed. As among the other South Sea +tribes, when there are more dancers than one, the most perfect +uniformity of step and attitude is preserved by all of them; and they do +not consider it a dance at all when this rule is not attended to. + +Captain Dillon very much amused some of those who came on board his ship +by a sample of English dancing, which he made his men give them on deck. +A company of soldiers going through their manual exercise would +certainly have come much nearer their notions of what a dance ought to +be. + +Although there are no written laws in New Zealand, all these matters +are, no doubt, regulated by certain universally understood rules, +liberal enough in all probability, in the license which they allow to +the tyranny of the privileged class, but still fixing some boundaries to +its exercise, which will accordingly be but rarely overstepped. Thus, +the power which the chief seems to enjoy of depriving any of his slaves +of life may be limited to certain occasions only; as, for instance, the +death of some member of the family, whose manes, it is conceived, demand +to be propitiated by such an offering. That in such eases slaves are +often sacrificed in New Zealand, we have abundant evidence. + +Cruise even informs us that when a son of one of the chiefs died in +Marsden's house, in New South Wales, it required the interposition of +that gentleman's authority to prevent some of the boy's countrymen, who +were with him, from killing a few of their slaves, in honour of their +deceased friend. On other occasions, it is likely that the life of the +slave can only be taken when he has been convicted of some delinquency; +although, as the chief is the sole judge of his criminality, he will +find this, it may be thought, but a slight protection. The domestic +slaves of the chiefs, however, it is quite possible, and even likely, +are much more completely at the mercy of their caprice and passion than +the general body of the common people, whose vassalage may, after all, +consist in little more than the obligation of following them to their +wars, and rendering them obedience in such other matters of public +concern. + +Between the chiefs and the common people, who, as we have already +mentioned, are called "cookees," there seems to be also a pretty +numerous class, distinguished by the name of rungateedas, or, as it has +been more recently written, rangatiras, which appears to answer nearly +to the English term gentry.[AX] It consists of those who are connected +by relationship with the families of the chiefs; and who, though not +possessed of any territorial rights, are, as well as the chiefs +themselves, looked upon as almost of a different species from the +inferior orders, from whom they are probably as much separated in their +political condition and privileges as they are in the general estimation +of their rank and dignity. The term rangatira, indeed, in its widest +signification, includes the chiefs themselves, just as our English +epithet gentleman does the highest personages in the realm. + +Although there is no general government in New Zealand, the chiefs +differ from each other in power; and some of them seem even to exercise, +in certain respects, a degree of authority over others. Those who are +called areekees,[AY] in particular, are represented as of greatly +superior rank to the common chiefs. It was, probably, a chief of this +class of whom Cook heard at various places where he put in along the +east coast of the northern island, on his first visit to the country. He +calls him Teratu; and he found his authority to extend, he says, from +Cape Turnagain to the neighbourhood of Mercury Bay. The eight districts, +too, into which this island was divided by Toogee,[AZ] in the map of it +which he drew for Captain King, were in all likelihood the nominal +territories, or what we may call feudal domains, of so many areekees. + +The account which Rutherford gives of the law, or custom, which prevails +in New Zealand in regard to the crime of theft, may seem at first sight +to be somewhat irreconcilable with the statements of other authorities, +who tell us that this crime is regarded by the natives in so heinous a +light that its usual punishment is death; whereas, according to him, it +would seem scarcely to be considered by them as a crime at all. + +This apparent disagreement, however, arises, in all probability, merely +from that misapprehension, or imperfect conception, of the customs of a +foreign people into which we are so apt to be misled by the tendency we +have to mix up constantly our own previously acquired notions with the +simple facts that present themselves to us, and to explain the latter by +the former. With our habits and improved ideas of morality, we see in +theft both a trespass upon the arbitrary enactments of society, which +demands the correction of the civil magistrate, and a violation of that +natural equity which is independent of all political arrangements, and +would make it unfair and wrong for one man to take to himself what +belongs to another, although there were no such thing as what is +commonly called a government in existence. + +But in the mind of the New Zealander these simple notions of right and +wrong have been warped, and, as it were, suffocated, by a multitude of +unnatural and monstrous inventions, which have grown up along with them +from his very birth. How misapplied are the epithets, natural and +artificial, when employed, as they often are, to characterise the savage +and civilized state! It is the former, in truth, which is by far the +most artificial; and much of civilization consists in the abolition of +the numerous devices by which it has falsified and perverted the natural +dispositions of the human heart and understanding, and in the +reformation of society upon principles more accordant with their +unsophisticated dictates. + +Probably the only case in which the New Zealander looks upon theft as a +crime is when it is accompanied by a breach of hospitality, or is +committed upon those who have, in the customary and understood manner, +entrusted themselves to his friendship and honour. In any other +circumstances, he will scarcely hold himself disgraced by any act of +depredation which he can contrive to accomplish without detection; +however much the fear of not escaping with impunity may often deter him +from making the attempt. + +Then, as for the estimation in which the crime is politically held, +this, we need not doubt, will be very much regulated by the relative +situation in regard to rank of the two parties. Most of the European +visitors who have hitherto given us an account of the country have mixed +chiefly with the higher classes of its inhabitants, and consequently +learned but little with regard to the condition of the great body of the +population, except in so far as it affected, or was affected by, that of +the chiefs. Hence the impression they have taken up that theft in New +Zealand is looked upon as one of the worst of crimes, and always +punished with death. It is so, we have no doubt, when committed by one +of the common people upon any of the privileged class. In that case, the +mean and despised condition of the delinquent, as compared with that of +the person whose rights he has dared to invade, converts what might +otherwise have scarcely been deemed a transgression at all into +something little short of sacrilege. The thief is therefore knocked on +the head at once, or strung up on a gallows; for that, too, seems to be +one of the modes of public punishment for this species of crime in New +Zealand. This severity is demanded by the necessity which is felt for +upholding the social edifice in its integrity; and is also altogether in +keeping with the slight regard in which the lives of the lower orders +are universally held, and the love of bloodshed by which this ferocious +people is distinguished. + +But when one "cookee," or common man, pilfers from another, it is quite +another matter. In this case, the act entirely wants those aggravations +which, in the estimation of a New Zealander, give it all its +criminality; and the parties, besides, are so insignificant, that the +notion of avenging any injury which the one may have suffered from the +other by the public execution of the offender would probably be deemed +in that country nearly as unreasonable as we should hold a proposal for +the application of such a scheme of government in correction of the +quarrels and other irregularities of the lower animals. + +It need not, therefore, surprise us to be told, especially when we +consider also the trivial value of any articles of property they +possess, that thieving among the common people there is regarded, not as +a crime, but as an art, in which, as in other arts, the skilful and +dexterous practitioner deserves reward rather than punishment; nearly as +it was regarded among the Spartans, who punished the detected thief, +indeed, but not so much for his attempt as for his failure; or more +nearly still as it is said to have been among the ancient Egyptians, by +whom such acts were, in all cases, allowed to be perpetrated with +impunity. + +This view will go far to explain various incidents which we find noticed +in the different accounts of New Zealand. The reports of the +missionaries, in particular, abound with notices of individuals put to +death by the chiefs for alleged acts of theft; but in every case of this +kind which is mentioned, the person punished is, we believe, a slave. We +have observed no instance, noted, in which the crime in question was +punished, either with death or in any other way, when committed by one +"cookee" on the property of another; and it is abundantly evident, from +many things which are stated, that the natives themselves really do not +consider the act as implying, in ordinary cases, that moral turpitude +which we generally impute to it. + +In one case which Marsden mentions, the brother of a chief, named +Ahoudee Ogunna,[BA] conceiving himself to have been improperly treated +by one of the missionaries, stole two earthen pots from another of them; +but the explanation which the chief gave of the matter was that his +brother had not stolen the pots, but had only taken them away with an +intention to bring on an explanation respecting the conduct which had +given him offence. The man's expectation here evidently was that his +theft (if it was to be so called) would merely have the effect of making +the missionaries as angry as he himself was, and so of rendering both +parties equally anxious for a full discussion of their differences. He +had himself, as he conceived, been affronted in a manner not to be +passed over; and his stealing of the pots he meant merely as a spirited +act of retaliation, which would in some degree throw back the insult he +had received upon those who had inflicted it, and make them in their +turn feel mortified and on fire for satisfaction. + +He certainly did not imagine for a moment that he was at all degrading +himself by the method he adopted for attaining this end. The +degradation, in his conception of the matter, would be all with the +party robbed. He had, however, in his anger, forgotten one thing, which, +according even to the notions of the New Zealanders, it was most +material that he should have remembered, as his more considerate brother +felt as soon as he heard of the transaction, and as even he himself was +afterwards brought to acknowledge. The chief, besides having experienced +much kindness from the missionaries, was the very person from whom they +had purchased the ground on which their settlement was established, and +on whose friendship, at least, they had therefore a fair right to count, +if they were not even to regard themselves as in some degree under his +special protection. That personage felt the force of these +considerations so strongly that, in order to show how much he was vexed +and ashamed at his brother's conduct, he burned his own house to the +ground, and left his usual place of residence, with a determination +never to return to it so long as his brother lived. + +On the morning of his departure, the high-spirited chief came to take +leave of the missionaries, when he told them that he had been on the +spot where his house stood before he burned it, to weep with his +friends, and showed them how much he had lacerated his face, arms, and +other parts of his body, in which his friends had followed his example. +His brother, too, at last came to them, quite penitent for his hasty +conduct, and offered to restore the only one of the pots which he still +had, the other having been already stolen from him by one of his +countrymen. Accordingly, he soon after sent his son with the article; +and the boy having been presented with six fish-hooks, he immediately +brought them back, with a message, that his father would take nothing +for the pot. + +Such acts of retaliation as that to which the brother of Ahoudee Ogunna +here had recourse are often resorted to by the chiefs with something of +a similar design, to avenge themselves, namely, for injuries which they +conceive they have sustained, or to bring about those ulterior measures +by which they may obtain for their grievances complete atonement or +redress. In this way, many wars arise. But it is a point of honour with +a chief never to touch what belongs to those who have trusted themselves +to his friendship, and against whom he has no claim for satisfaction on +account of any old affront or outrage. To be supposed capable of doing +so would be felt by any of them as an intolerable imputation. + +[Illustration: A waist-mat. _Christchurch Museum_.] + +We find a striking instance of this, to pass over many others that might +be quoted, in the conduct of Tetoro, who returned home to New Zealand +from Port Jackson, along with Cruise, in the "Dromedary." It was thought +necessary, during the passage, to take from this chief a box containing +some gunpowder, which he had got with him, and to lodge it in the +magazine until the ship arrived at New Zealand. "Though every exertion," +says Cruise, "was used, to explain the reason why he was requested to +give it up, and the strongest assurances made that it should be restored +hereafter, he either could not or would not understand what was said to +him. Upon parting with the property, which, next to his musket, was in +his eyes the greatest treasure in the world, he fell into an agony of +grief and despair which it was quite distressing to witness, repeatedly +exclaiming, 'No good,' and, rolling himself up in his mat, he declined +the conversation of every one. He remained in this state so long that +the powder was at length brought back; but he refused to take it, +saying, 'that they might again put it in the magazine, since they must +now be aware that he had not stolen it.'" + +Similar to that of Tetoro, was the conduct of a chief whom Marsden met +with on his first visit to New Zealand, and who was so much grieved and +ashamed at the circumstance of one of his dependents having stolen some +trifle from that gentleman, that he sat for two days and nights on the +deck of the ship, and could not be prevailed upon to enter the +cabin.[BB] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AT: I pea, "Of course."] + +[Footnote AU: Kanikani, to dance, as in the haka.] + +[Footnote AV: These words are not in accord with the present system of +spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. The +former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" placed +in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, and +Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"--which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"--is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"] + +[Footnote AW: These words are not in accord with the present system +of spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. +The former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" +placed in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, +and Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"--which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"--is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"] + +[Footnote AX: The latter word is correct.] + +[Footnote AY: Arikis.] + +[Footnote AZ: Tuki.] + +[Footnote BA: This is the man referred to in a previous chapter, who +signed a deed of sale to Marsden by the pattern of his tattoo.] + +[Footnote BB: Maning, in "Old New Zealand," gives a delightful account +of the manner in which the law of muru, or plunder, ruled with an iron +hand in the ancient Maoriland.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +With regard to many of the other habits of the New Zealanders, +Rutherford in general corroborates the testimony of other travellers. + +He mentions particularly their extreme inattention to personal +cleanliness, a circumstance which very much surprised Nicholas, as it +seemed to present an unaccountable contrast to the neatness and order +which were usually to be found both in their plantations and huts. + +All the natives, Rutherford states, are overrun with vermin, which lodge +not only in their heads, but in their mats. "Their way of destroying +them in their mats," he adds, "is by making a fire, on which, having +thrown a quantity of green bushes, they spread the mat over the whole, +when the steam from the leaves compels the vermin to retreat to the +surface: these the women are very active in catching on such occasions +with both hands, and devouring greedily. Sometimes two or three will be +catching them at the same mat." + +The New Zealanders cure their fish, Rutherford tells us, by dipping them +a great many times in salt water, and then drying them in the sun. The +large mussels they first bake in the usual manner, and then, taking them +out of the shell, string them together, and hang them up over the fire +to dry in the smoke. Thus prepared, they eat like old cheese, and will +keep for years. The coomeras, or sweet potatoes, are also cured in the +same manner, which makes them eat like gingerbread. Their potatoes the +natives pack in baskets made of green flax, and in this way preserve +them for the winter. There are, however, three months in the year during +which they live upon little except turnips, and at this time they do +with almost no drink. The baskets in which they keep their provisions, +and apply to other domestic purposes, are formed with considerable +ingenuity, and with some taste, in their decorations. + +Notwithstanding the stormy seas by which their islands are surrounded, +and the woods, swamps, and rivers, which oppose such difficulties in the +way of passing from one place to another through the heart of the +country, the New Zealanders are known to be in the habit of making long +journeys, both along the coasts in their canoes, and through the +interior on foot. + +Rutherford gives us some account of a journey which he once accomplished +in company with the chief Aimy. + +"I took," says he, "my wife Epecka with me, and we were attended by +about twenty slave-women to carry our provisions, every one of whom bore +on her back, besides a supply for her own consumption, about thirty +pounds of potatoes, and drove before her at the same time a pig, which +she held by a string tied to its fore-leg. + +"The men never travel without being armed. Our journey was made +sometimes by water and sometimes by land; and, proceeding in this +manner, we arrived, in about a month, at a place called Taranake,[BC] on +the coast of Cook Strait, where we were received by Otago,[BD] a great +chief, who had come from near the South Cape. On meeting we saluted each +other in the customary manner by touching noses, and there was also a +great deal of crying, as usual. + +"Here I saw an Englishman, named James Mowry, who told me that he had +formerly been a boy belonging to a ship called the 'Sydney Cove,' which +had put in near the South Cape, when a boat's crew, of which he was one, +had been sent on shore for the purpose of trading with the natives. They +were attacked, however, and every man of them killed except himself, he +having been indebted for his preservation to his youth and the +protection of Otago's daughter: this lady he had since married. He had +now been eight years in the country, and had become so completely +reconciled to the manners and way of life of the natives, that he had +resolved never to leave it. He was twenty-four years of age, handsome, +and of middle size, and had been well tattooed. He had also been made a +chief, and had often accompanied the natives to their wars. He spoke +their language, and had forgotten a great deal of his own. He told me he +had heard of the capture of our ship, and gave me an account of the +deaths of Smith and Watson, two of my unfortunate shipmates. I, in turn, +related to him my story, and what I had gone through.[BE] + +"The village of Taranake stands by the sea-side, and the manners and +customs of the inhabitants are the same as prevail in other parts of the +island. + +"We remained here six weeks; and during this time I employed myself in +looking out for a ship passing through the Straits, by which I might +make my escape, but was never fortunate enough to see one. I kept my +intention, however, a secret from Mowry, for he was too much attached to +the natives for me to trust him. + +"On leaving Taranake we took our way along the coast, and after a +journey of six weeks arrived at the East Cape, where we met with a +great chief, named Bomurry, belonging to the Bay of Islands. He told us +that he resided in the neighbourhood of Kendal,[BF] the missionary. He +had about five hundred warriors with him, and several war-canoes, in one +of which I observed a trunk, having on it the name of Captain Brin, of +the 'Asp,' South Seaman. These people had also with them a number of +muskets, with polished barrels, and a few small kegs of powder, as well +as a great quantity of potatoes and flax mats. They had plundered and +murdered nearly every person that lived between the East Cape and the +river Thames; and the whole country dreaded the name of Bomurry. + +"This great warrior showed us several of the heads of chiefs whom he had +killed on this expedition, and these, he said, he intended to carry back +with him to the Bay of Islands, to sell for gunpowder to the ships that +touched there. He and his followers having taken leave of us, and set +sail in their canoes, we also left the East Cape the day following, and +proceeded on our journey homewards, travelling during the day, and +encamping at night in the woods, where we slept around large fires under +the branches of the trees. In this way we arrived in four days at our +own village, where I was received by Eshou, my eldest wife, with great +joy. I was much fatigued by my journey, as was also my other wife, +Epecka, who had accompanied me." + +The person whom Rutherford here calls Bomurry is doubtless the chief +described in most of the other recent accounts of New Zealand under the +name of Pomaree, or Pomarree[BG], one of the most extraordinary +characters in that country. He had taken this name instead of another by +which he used to be called, Nicholas informs us, a short time before he +first saw him in 1815, because he had heard that it was that of the king +of Otaheite, according to the practice which prevails among his +countrymen of frequently changing their names, and calling themselves +after persons of whose power or rank they have conceived a high idea. + +Pomaree is described by this gentleman as having been looked upon, even +in his own country, as a monster of rapacity and cruelty, always +involved in quarrels with his neighbours, and in the habit of stealing +their property whenever he had an opportunity. Duaterra asserted that on +a recent occasion he had made an incursion into his territory, and, +without any provocation, murdered six of his people, the bodies of all +of whom he afterwards devoured, not even their heads having escaped his +gluttony, after he had stuck them upon a stick and roasted them at the +fire. + +The New Zealand chiefs, however, not excepting the most respectable +among them, were found to be sadly given to calumniate one another by +all sorts of fictions; and even Pomaree, bad as he really was, seems +sometimes to have been worse reported of by the others than he deserved. + +Upon another occasion Korro-korro told a long story about a design which +he said had been formed to cut off the ship belonging to the +missionaries, and of which he maintained that Pomaree was the principal +instigator; but this was afterwards discovered to be a mere invention of +that otherwise very honourable chief. + +Notwithstanding Pomaree's bad reputation, indeed, it is remarkable that +we do not find a single instance anywhere recorded in which any European +had reason to complain of his conduct. Nicholas was once dreadfully +alarmed by the apprehension that he had decoyed away his friend, +Marsden, to murder him; but was very soon relieved by the return of the +reverend gentleman from a friendly walk which he had been enjoying, in +the company of his supposed assassin, through one of the woods on his +territory. + +Pomaree, in truth, was too thoroughly aware of the advantages to be +derived from the visits of the Europeans to think of exercising his +murderous propensities upon their persons, however fond he might have +been of embruing his hands in the blood of his own countrymen. + +"We found Pomaree," says Nicholas, "to be a very extraordinary +character; he was of more service to us in procuring timber than all +the other chiefs put together; and I never met, in any part of the +world, with a man who showed so much impatient avidity for transacting +business. His abilities, too, in this line were very great; he was an +excellent judge of several articles, and could give his opinion of an +axe as well as any European; while handling it with ecstasy the moment +he got it in his possession, his eyes would still feast themselves on so +valuable an acquisition." + +He then relates an anecdote of him which strikingly corresponds with one +of the circumstances which Rutherford mentions: his custom of +trafficking in preserved heads. + +"This man," continues Nicholas, "displayed upon every occasion a more +uncomplying spirit of independence than any of the other chiefs. It is +customary with the New Zealanders to preserve from putrefaction, by a +curious method, the heads of the enemies they have slain in battle; and +Pomaree had acquired so great a proficiency in this art that he was +considered the most expert at it of any of his countrymen. The process, +as I was informed, consists of taking out the brains, and drying the +head in such a manner as to keep the flesh entire; but in doing this an +uncommon degree of skill and experience is required. Marsden put some +questions to Pomaree one day about the plan he pursued in this art that +gave him so decided a superiority over the others; but he was not +willing to make him a direct reply, as he knew it was a subject on +which we reflected with horror, and one which in its detail must be +shocking to our feelings. But my friend asking him if he could procure a +head preserved in this manner, it occurred to him that he might receive +an axe for his trouble; and this idea made the man of business not only +enter into a copious explanation of his system, but induced him also to +offer us a sample of his practice, by telling us he would go and shoot +some people who had killed his son, if we would supply him with powder +for the purpose; and then, bringing back their heads, would show us all +we wished to know about his art of preserving them. + +"It will easily be supposed that this sanguinary proposal immediately +put an end to all further interrogatories; and Marsden, whose motive for +questioning him on the subject was not to discover the nature of a +practice so revolting to humanity, but to develop more fully the +character of the individual, told him he must fight no more, and desired +him, in positive terms, never to attempt to bring any sample of his art +on board, as he had no intention of seeing it himself at the time he +inquired about it, nor would he suffer any one in the ship to +countenance such a shocking exhibition. + +"This was a sad disappointment to Pomaree, who found himself deceived in +the hopes he had formed of increasing his wealth by the addition of +another axe; and I cannot help believing that, for so tempting a +reward, he would not have hesitated to take the life of the first person +that came in his way, provided he could have done it with impunity. This +chief omitted no opportunity of setting forth his great personal +qualifications, as likewise the extensive authority he possessed; and he +was constantly boasting of his warlike achievements, despising his +rivals, and extolling himself over all the other heroes of New Zealand." + +Cruise has given us a short account of the manner of preserving heads; +and we find it also detailed in Rutherford's journal, somewhat more +minutely. According to him the skull is first completely emptied of its +contents, the eyes and tongue being likewise extracted; after which the +nostrils and entire inside of the skull are stuffed with flax. At the +neck, where the head has been cut from the body, they draw the skin +together like the mouth of a purse, leaving, however, an open space +large enough to admit the hand. + +They then wrap it up in a quantity of green leaves, and in this state +expose it to the fire till it is well steamed; after which the leaves +are taken off, and it is next hung up to dry in the smoke, which causes +the flesh to become tough and hard. Both the hair and teeth are +preserved, and the tattooing on the face remains as plain as when the +person was alive. The head, when thus cured, will keep for ever, if it +be preserved dry. + +Cruise says that the heads are only exposed to a current of dry air; +but it appears, from Rutherford's account, that they are hung in the +smoke of a wood fire, and are thus, in fact, preserved from decaying +principally by being impregnated with the pyroligneous acid. That the +New Zealanders are well acquainted with the antiseptic powers of this +extract is proved also by what was formerly stated as to their method of +curing mussels. A French writer considers that this art of preserving +heads is a proof of some original connection between the New Zealanders +and the ancient world; as the process is as effective as that by which +the Egyptians prepared their mummies. + +In savage countries the spirit of war is very much a spirit of personal +hostility; and both because of this, and from the state of society not +admitting of the erection of expensive public memorials which elsewhere, +or in another age, are employed to preserve the renown of military +exploits, the barbarian victor generally celebrates his triumph on the +body of his slain enemy, in disfiguring which he first exercises his +ingenuity, and afterwards in converting it into a permanent trophy of +his prowess. + +The ancient Scythian warrior, Herodotus tells us, was wont to carry away +the heads of all those whom he slew in battle, to present to his king; +and the ancient Gauls, it is said, used to hang these bloody spoils +around the necks of their horses. The Gauls are asserted also to have +been in the practice of embalming the heads which they brought home from +their wars, of which they had large collections, which they kept in +chests. These they used to show with much exultation to the strangers +who visited their country; boasting that neither they nor their +ancestors had ever been known to dispose of such honourable heirlooms +for any price that could be offered. + +Among some races it has been the custom to preserve only the scalp; as, +for instance, among the Indians of America. The taking of scalps, +however, is also a practice of great antiquity. The Scythians used to +hang the scalps of their enemies to the harness of their horses; and he +was deemed the most distinguished warrior whose equipage was most +plentifully decorated with these ornaments. Some were accustomed to sew +numbers of scalps together, so as to form a cloak, in which they arrayed +themselves. It was also usual for the warriors of this nation to tear +off the skin from the right hands of their slain enemies, and to +preserve it with the nails attached; and sometimes they flayed the whole +body, and, after drying the skin, made use of it as a covering for their +horses. + +Some of the savage tribes of America are said to have been accustomed to +practice the same barbarity, and to convert the skins of the hands into +pouches for holding their tobacco. + +The history of Scotland affords an instance, even in comparatively +recent times, of a victorious party, in the bitterness of their +contempt and hatred, employing the skin of a slain enemy in a somewhat +similar manner. Hugh Cressingham, appointed by Edward I. Lord Chief +Justice of Scotland, having been slain at Stirling Bridge in an attack +by Wallace, the Scots flayed him, and made saddles and girths of his +skin. + +To recur to the practices of a higher state of civilization, our own +custom, which existed as late as the last century, of exposing the heads +of traitors, although meant as a warning, in the same way as hanging in +chains, was perhaps a relic of those ferocious ages when it was not +considered mean and brutal to carry revenge beyond the grave. The +executions in London, after the rebellion of 1745, were followed by such +a revolting display, useless for any object of salutary terror, and +calculated only to excite a vulgar curiosity. Horace Walpole, in a very +few words, describes the feelings with which the public crowded to this +sight:--"I have been this morning at the Tower, and passed under the new +heads of Temple Bar, where people make a trade of letting spying glasses +at a halfpenny a look." + +The New Zealanders have, therefore, in some degree, a justification for +this custom in the somewhat similar acts of civilized communities. At +any rate, in preserving, as they do, the heads of their enemies, they +only follow a practice which has been common to many other barbarous +tribes. + +Although Pomaree, it would appear, made a merchandise of these heads +when he had the opportunity, his countrymen, in general, are far from +treating them with so much disrespect. It was with great reluctance that +some of them were prevailed upon to sell one to Mr. Banks, when he was +with Cook in Queen Charlotte Sound, in 1770; and nothing could induce +them to part with a second. They are, in fact, preserved as spoils or +trophies during the continuance of the war; and their restoration to the +party from whom they have been taken is so indispensable a preliminary +to the conclusion of a peace, that it is said no chief would dispose of +them, unless it were his determination never to come to terms with his +opponents; so that we may suppose this was what Pomaree had resolved +upon. + +The brain is eaten, like the rest of the body; and the eyes are also +frequently devoured by the conqueror, especially the left eye, which, it +is believed, ascends to heaven and becomes a star. Shungie is stated, +upon one occasion, to have eaten the left eye of a great chief whom he +had killed in battle, under the idea of thus increasing the glory and +brightness of his own left eye, when it should be transferred to the +firmament; for it is understood that when any one eats of the person he +has killed, the dead man becomes a part of himself. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum._ + +Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair.] + +Nicholas tells another amusing story of Pomaree's style of doing +"business," which we shall also give in his own words. "This wily +chief," says he, "had cast a longing eye upon a chisel belonging to one +of the missionaries, and to obtain it he had brought some fish on board, +which he presented to the owner of the chisel with so much apparent +generosity and friendliness, that the other could not help considering +it a gratuitous favour, and, receiving it as such, told him he felt very +grateful for his kindness. + +"But Pomaree had no idea of any such disinterested liberality, and as +soon as the fish were eaten, he immediately demanded the chisel in +return; which, however, was not granted, as it was a present much too +valuable to be given away for so trifling a consideration. Incensed at +the denial, the chief flew into a violent rage, and testified, by loud +reproaches, how grievously he was provoked by the ill-success of his +project. He told the person, who very properly refused to comply with +his demand, that 'he was no good,' and that he would never again bring +him anything more. He attempted the same crafty experiment upon another +of our party also, but this proved equally abortive, the person being +well aware of his character, and knowing he would require from him ten +times more than the worth of his pretended favour." + +Though so covetous and crafty himself, however, Pomaree had no mercy to +show for the delinquencies of others. On one occasion, when a poor +"cookee" had been detected in the commission of some petty theft about +the vessel, he was loud in his exhortations to the captain to hang him +up immediately. The man appears, indeed, to have been altogether +divested even of those natural affections which scarcely any of his +savage countrymen but himself were found to be without. + +When Marsden and Nicholas left New Zealand, a number of the chiefs sent +their sons with them to Port Jackson; and such a scene of anguish took +place on the parting between the parents and their children that there +was no European present, Nicholas says, not excepting the most obdurate +sailor on board, who was not more or less affected. "But I cannot help +noticing," he adds, "that in the general expression of inconsolable +distress, Pomaree was the only person who showed no concern; he took +leave of his son with all the indifference imaginable, and hurrying into +his canoe, paddled back to the shore--a solitary exception to the +affecting sensibility of his countrymen." + +Even Pomaree, however, could weep on some occasions, as the following +account which Marsden gives us of an interview he had with him four or +five years after this will show. "He told me," says Marsden, "that he +was very angry that I had not brought a blacksmith for him; and that +when he heard that there was no blacksmith for him, he sat down and wept +much, and also his wives. I assured him that he should have one, as +soon as one could be got for him. He replied it would be of no use to +him to send a blacksmith when he was dead; and that he was at present in +the greatest distress: his wooden spades were all broke, and he had not +an axe to make any more; his canoes were all broke, and he had not a +nail or a gimlet to mend them with; his potato grounds were +uncultivated, and he had not a hoe to break them up with, nor a tool to +employ his people; and that, for want of cultivation, he and his people +would have nothing to eat. He begged me to compare the land of +Tippoonah,[BH] which belonged to the inhabitants of Ranghee-hoo[BI] and +Shungie, with his; observing, that their land was already prepared for +planting, because a smith was there, and they could get hoes, &c. I +endeavoured to pacify his mind with promises, but he paid little +attention to what I said in respect to sending him a smith at a future +period." + +Pomaree was by much too cunning to be cheated of his object in this way. +He was evidently determined not to go without something in hand; and +nothing accordingly would drive him from his point. + +When Marsden tried to divert his attention to another subject by asking +him if he should wish to go to England, he replied at once that he +should not; adding, with his characteristic shrewdness, that he was a +little man when at Port Jackson, and should be less in England; but in +his own country he was a great king. The conference ended at last by an +express promise that he should have immediately three hoes, an axe, a +few nails, and a gimlet. This instantly put him in great good humour. + +We have collected these notices in order to give a more complete +illustration of so singular and interesting a character as that formed +by the union of the rude and bloodthirsty barbarian with the bustling +trafficker. It is an exhibition of the savage mind in a new guise. We +have only to add, with regard to Pomaree, that it appears by other +authorities, as well as by the notice we find in Rutherford, that he was +in the habit of making very devastating excursions occasionally to the +southern part of the island. When Cruise left New Zealand in 1820, he +had been away on one of these expeditions nearly a year, nor was it +known exactly where he had gone to. The people about the mouth of the +Thames said they had seen him since he left home, but he had long ago +left their district for one still farther south. The last notice we find +of him, is in a letter from the Rev. H. Williams, in the "Missionary +Register" for 1827, in which it is stated, that he had a short time +before fallen in battle, having been cut to pieces, with many of his +followers, by a tribe on whom he had made an attack. + +This event, of the circumstances of which Dillon was furnished with a +particular account by some of the near relations of the deceased chief, +took place in the southern part of the island. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BC: This is one of the discrepancies in Rutherford's +narrative. Taranaki is a district on the West Coast of the North Island, +and is about 150 miles from Cook Strait.] + +[Footnote BD: Otago is a large province in the southern part of the +South Island, 300 miles from the Strait. Rutherford probably refers to +Takou, a Wairarapa chief, who was connected with the Ngai-Tahu of +Otago.] + +[Footnote BE: It is supposed that the man was "Jim the Maori," the +latter word being wrongly spelt "Moury" in the manuscript of +Rutherford's story. The man's real name was James Caddell. He was an +Englishman by birth, and lived amongst the Maoris so long that he became +one of them, adopting their customs and ideas. Those who have +investigated his case believe that he belonged to the "Sydney Cove," a +sealer, which sailed in New Zealand waters. Near the South Cape, a boat +from a sealer was captured by the Maoris, and all the members of the +crew except Caddell were killed and eaten. Caddell, according to his own +account, was saved by running to a chief and touching his mat. He was +sixteen years of age then. He married a chief's daughter, and became a +Maori in all respects except colour. He was captured by Captain +Edwardson, of the "Snapper," and was taken to Sydney, where he seems to +have paraded as a savage chief. While he was with the Maoris, he almost +forgot the English language, and found much difficulty in making himself +understood by Captain Edwardson.] + +[Footnote BF: Mr. Kendal was one of the missionaries who went to New +Zealand with Marsden when missionary work in the country was begun.] + +[Footnote BG: Pomare.] + +[Footnote BH: Te Puna, at that time the principal town in the Bay of +Islands.] + +[Footnote BI: Rangihoua.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The New Zealanders, according to Rutherford, have neither priests, nor +places of worship, nor any religion except their superstitious dread of +the Atua. + +To an uneducated man, coming from a Christian country, the entire +absence of all regular religious observances among these savages would +very naturally give such an impression. Cook ascertained that they had +no "morais"[BJ] or temples, like some of the other tribes of the South +Seas; but he met with persons who evidently bore what we should call the +priestly character. + +The New Zealanders are certainly not without some notions of religion; +and, in many particulars, they are a remarkably superstitious people. +During the whole course of their lives, the imagined presence of the +unseen and supernatural crosses them at every step. What has been +already stated respecting the "taboo" may give some idea of how +submissive and habitual is their sense of the power of the Divinity, and +how entirely they conceive themselves to be in his hands; as well as +what a constant and prying superintendence they imagine him to exercise +over their conduct. + +It would be easy to enumerate many minor superstitions, all indicative +of the extraordinary influence of the same belief. They think, for +instance, that if they were to allow a fire to be lighted under a shed +where there are provisions, their god would kill them. + +They have many superstitions, also, with regard to cutting their hair. +Cook speaks, in the account of his third voyage, of a young man he had +taken on board the ship, who, having one day performed this ceremony, +could not be prevailed upon to eat a morsel till night, insisting that +the atua would most certainly kill him if he did. + +Cruise tells us that Tetoro, on the voyage from Port Jackson, cut the +hair of one of his companions, and continued to repeat prayers over him +during the whole operation. + +Nicholas, having one day found another chief busy in cutting his wife's +hair with a piece of sharp stone, was going to take up the implement +after it had been used, but was immediately charged by the chief not to +touch it, as the deity of New Zealand would wreak his vengeance on him +if he presumed to commit so daring a piece of impiety. + +"Laughing at his superstition," continues Nicholas, "I began to exclaim +against its absurdity, but like Tooi, on a former occasion, he retorted +by ridiculing our preaching, yet at the same time asking me to +sermonize over his wife, as if his object was to have her exorcised; and +upon my refusing, he began himself, but could not proceed from +involuntary bursts of laughter." + +On this occasion, the chief, when he had cut off the hair, collected it +all together, and, carrying it to the outskirts of the town, threw it +away. Cook remarks that he used to see quantities of hair tied to the +branches of the trees near the villages. It is stated, in a letter from +one of the missionaries, that the hair, when cut, is carefully +collected, and buried in a secret place. + +Certain superstitions have been connected with the cutting of the hair, +from the most ancient times. Many allusions are found in the Greek and +Roman writers to the practice of cutting off the hair of the dead, and +presenting it as an offering to the infernal gods, in order to secure a +free passage to Elysium for the person to whom it belonged. The passage +in the fourth book of the "Æneid," where Iris appears by the command of +Juno to liberate the soul of the expiring Queen of Carthage, by thus +severing from her head the fatal lock, will occur to many of our +readers. + +Whatever may have been the origin of this superstition, it is probable +that most of the other notions and customs which have prevailed in +regard to the cutting of the hair are connected with it. The act in this +way naturally became significant of the separation from the living +world of the person on whom it was performed. Of the antiquity of this +practice, we have a proof in a command given by Moses to the Jews:--"Ye +shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for +the dead." These were superstitious customs of the nations by whom they +were surrounded. + +The Gentiles used excessive lamentations, amounting to frenzy, at their +funeral rites. According to Bruce, the Abyssinian woman, upon the death +of a near relation, cuts the skin of both her temples with the nail of +her little finger, which she leaves long on purpose; and thus every fair +face throughout the country is disfigured with scars. The same notion of +abstraction from the present life and its concerns is expressed by the +clerical tonsure, so long known in the Christian church, and still +retained among the Roman Catholics. It is still common, also, among +ourselves, for widows, in the earlier period of their mourning, to cut +off their hair, or to remove it back from the brow. Among all rude +nations, besides, the hair has been held in peculiar estimation from its +ornamental nature, and its capability of being formed into any shape, +according to the fancy of its possessor, or the fashion of the country. + +Amongst nations, especially, where the ordinary clothing of the people, +from the materials of which it was formed, did not admit of being made +very decorative, this consideration would be much regarded, and still +more where no clothing was worn at all. In such cases, the hair, either +of the head or of the beard, has usually been cherished with very +affectionate care, and the mode of dressing it has been made matter of +anxious regulation. Many of the barbarous nations of antiquity had each +a method of cutting the hair peculiar to itself; and it was sometimes +accounted the deepest mark of servitude which a conqueror could impose +when he compelled the violation of this sacred rule of national manners. + +We have a remnant of these old feelings in the reverence with which his +beard is regarded by a Turk of the present day. It is recorded, too, +that no reform which Peter the Great of Russia essayed to introduce +among his semi-barbaric subjects was so pertinaciously resisted as his +attempt to abbreviate their beards. + +Marsden, on asking a New Zealander what he conceived the atua to be, was +answered--"An immortal shadow." Although possessed, however, of the +attributes of immortality, omni-presence, invisibility, and supreme +power, he is universally believed to be in disposition merely a +vindictive and malignant demon. + +When one of the missionaries had one day been telling a number of them +of the infinite goodness of God, they asked him if he was not joking +with them. They believe that whenever any person is sick, his illness is +occasioned by the atua, in the shape of a lizard, preying upon his +entrails; and, accordingly, in such cases, they often address the most +horrid imprecations and curses to the invisible cannibal, in the hope of +thereby frightening him away. They imagine that at other times he amuses +himself in entangling their nets and oversetting their canoes. Of late +years they have suspected that he has been very angry with them for +having allowed the white men to obtain a footing in their country, a +proof of which they think they see in the greater mortality that has +recently prevailed among them. This, however, they at other times +attribute to the God of the Christians, whom they also denounce, +accordingly, as a cruel being, at least to the New Zealander. Sometimes +they more rationally assign as its cause the diseases that have been +introduced among them by the whites. Until the whites came to their +country, they say, young people did not die, but all lived to be so old +as to be obliged to creep on their hands and knees. + +The white man's God they believe to be altogether a different being from +their own atua. Marsden, in one of his letters, relates a conversation +he had upon this subject with some of the chiefs' sons who resided with +him in New South Wales. When he told them that there was but one God, +and that our God was also theirs, they asked him if our God had given us +any sweet potatoes, and could with difficulty be made to see how one +God should give these to the New Zealander and not equally to the white +man; or, on the other hand, how he should have acted so partially as to +give to the white man only such possessions as cattle, sheep, and +horses, which the New Zealander as much required. The argument, however, +upon which they seem most to have rested, was:--"But we are of a +different colour from you; and if one God made us both, he would not +have committed such a mistake as to make us of different colours." Even +one of the chiefs, who had been a great deal with Marsden, and was +disposed to acknowledge the absurdity both of the "taboo" and of many of +his other native superstitions, could not be brought to admit that the +same God who made the white men had also made the New Zealanders. + +Among themselves, the New Zealanders appear to have a great variety of +other gods, besides the one whom they call emphatically the atua. Crozet +speaks of some feeble ideas which they have of subordinate divinities, +to whom, he says, they are wont to pray for victory over their enemies. +But Savage gives us a most particular account of their daily adoration +of the sun, moon, and stars. Of the heavenly host, the moon, he says, is +their favourite; though why he should think so, it is not easy to +understand, seeing that, when addressing this luminary, they employ, he +tells us, a mournful song, and seem as full of apprehension as of +devotion; whereas "when paying their adoration to the rising sun, the +arms are spread and the head bowed, with the appearance of much joy in +their countenances, accompanied with a degree of elegant and reverential +solemnity, and the song used upon the occasion is cheerful." It is +strange that none of their other visitors have remarked the existence of +this species of idolatry among these savages. + +Yet two New Zealanders, who are now in this country, were in the habit +of commencing the exhibition of their national customs with the +ceremonies practised in their morning devotion to the sun. + +The vocal part of the rite, according to the account we have received, +consisted in a low monotonous chant; the manual, in keeping a ball about +the size of an orange constantly whirling in a vertical circle. The +whole was performed in a kneeling posture. Like most other rude nations, +the New Zealanders have certain fancies with regard to several of the +more remarkable constellations; and are not without some conception that +the issues of human affairs are occasionally influenced, or at least +indicated, by the movements of the stars. The Pleiades, for instance, +they believe to be seven of their departed countrymen, fixed in the +firmament; one eye of each of them appearing in the shape of a star, +being the only part that is visible. But it is a common superstition +among them, as we have already noticed, that the left eyes of their +chiefs, after death, become stars. + +This notion is far from being destitute of poetical beauty; and perhaps, +indeed, exhibits the common mythological doctrine of the glittering host +of heaven being merely an assemblage of the departed heroes of earth, in +as ingenious a version as it ever has received. It would be easy to +collect many proofs of the extensive diffusion of this ancient faith, +traces of which are to be found in the primitive astronomy of every +people. The classical reader will at once recollect, among many others +of a similar kind, the stories of Castor and Pollux, and of Berenice's +tresses, the latter of which has been so elegantly imitated by Pope, in +telling us of the fate of the vanished lock of Belinda:-- + + "But trust the muse--she saw it upward rise, + Though marked by none but quick poetic eyes; + (So Home's great founder to the heavens withdrew, + To Proculus alone confessed to view); + A sudden star it shot through liquid air, + And drew behind a radiant trail of hair." + +The New Zealanders conceive, also, that what we call a shooting star is +ominous of the approaching dissolution of any one of their great chiefs +who may be unwell when it is seen. Like the vulgar among ourselves, too, +they have their man in the moon; who, they say, is one of their +countrymen named Rona, who was taken up long ago, one night when he +went to the well to fetch water. + +Nicholas has given us, on the authority of his friend Duaterra, the most +particular account that has appeared of the inferior deities of New +Zealand. Their number, according to him, is very great, and each of them +has his distinct powers and functions; one being placed over the +elements, another over the fowls and fishes, and so of the rest. +Deifications of the different passions and affections, also, it seems, +find a place in this extended mythology. + +In another part of his work, Nicholas remarks, as corroborative of the +Malay descent of the New Zealanders, the singular coincidence, in some +respects, between their mythology and that of the ancient Malay tribe, +the Battas of Sumatra, whose extraordinary cannibal practices we have +already detailed; especially in the circumstance of the three principal +divinities of the Battas having precisely the same functions assigned to +them with the three that occupy the same rank in the system of the New +Zealanders.[BK] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BJ: Marae. With Maoris and Samoans the word means an open +space in a village; in the Tahitian, Mangaian, and Paumotan languages it +means a temple, or a place where rites were performed.] + +[Footnote BK: The religion, and superstitions and legends of the Maoris +are dealt with in Sir George Grey's "Polynesian Mythology," Mr. S. Percy +Smith's "Hawaiki," articles by Mr. Elsdon Best in the "Transactions of +the New Zealand Institute," articles by that author and by Mr. Percy +Smith in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Mr. E. Tregear's "The +Maori Race," and Mr. J.C. Andersen's "Maori Life in Ao-tea."] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It is very remarkable that the New Zealanders attribute the creation of +man to their three principal deities acting together; thus exhibiting in +their barbarous theology something like a shadow of the Christian +Trinity. What is still more extraordinary is their tradition respecting +the formation of the first woman, who, they say, was made of one of the +man's ribs; and their general term for bone is hevee, or, as Professor +Lee gives it, iwi[BL] a sound bearing a singular resemblance to the +Hebrew name of our first mother. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum._ + +Carved boxes (_waka-papa_, or _waka_) for holding feathers and trinkets. +The upper box is said to have formed part of Captain Cook's collection.] + +Particular individuals and places would also seem to have their own +gods. When the "Active" was in the river Thames, a gale of wind, by +which the ship was attacked, was attributed by the natives on board to +the anger of the god of Shoupah,[BM] the Areekee who resided in the +neighbourhood. Kórro-korro, who was among them said that as soon as he +got on shore he would endeavour to prevail upon the Areekee to +propitiate the offended deity. When Marsden asked the people of +Kiperro[BN] if they + +knew anything of their god, or ever had any communication with him, +they replied that they often heard him whistle. The chiefs, too, are +often called atuas, or gods, even while they are alive. The aged chief, +Tarra,[BO] maintained to one of the missionaries that the god of thunder +resided in his forehead; and Shungie and Okeda[BP] asserted that they +were possessed by gods of the sea. + +The part of the heavens in which the gods reside is represented as +beautiful in the extreme. "When the clouds are beautifully chequered," +writes Kendal, "the atua above, it is supposed, is planting sweet +potatoes. At the season when these are planted in the ground, the +planters dress themselves in their best raiment, and say that, as atuas +on earth, they are imitating the atua in heaven." + +The New Zealanders believe that the souls of the higher orders among +them are immortal; but they hold that when the "cookees" die they perish +for ever. The spirit, they think, leaves the body the third day after +death, till which time it hovers round the corpse, and hears very well +whatever is said to it. But they hold also, it would seem, that there is +a separate immortality for each of the eyes of the dead person; the +left, as before-mentioned, ascending to heaven and becoming a star, and +the other, in the shape of a spirit, taking flight for the Reinga. +Reinga signifies, properly, the place of flight; and is said, in some +of the accounts, to be a rock or a mountain at the North Cape from +which, according to others, the spirits descend into the next world +through the sea. The notion which the New Zealanders really entertain as +to this matter appears to be that the spirits first leap from the North +Cape into the sea, and thence emerge into an Elysium situated in the +islands of the Three Kings. The submarine path to the blissful region of +the New Zealanders is less intricate than that of the Huron of +America:-- + + "To the country of the Dead, + Long and painful is thy way! + O'er rivers wide and deep + Lies the road that must be past, + By bridges narrow-wall'd, + When scarce the soul can force its way, + While the loose fabric totters under it." + +In the heaven of the New Zealanders, as in that of the ancient Goths, +the chief employment of the blessed is war, their old delight while on +earth. The idea of any more tranquil happiness has no charms for them. +Speaking of an assembly of them which he had been endeavouring to +instruct in the doctrines of Christianity, one of the Wesleyan +missionaries says: "On telling them about the two eternal states, as +described in the Scriptures, an old chief began to protest against these +things with all the vehemence imaginable, and said that he would not go +to heaven, nor would he go to hell to have nothing but fire to eat; but +he would go to the Reinga or Po, to eat coomeras, (sweet potatoes) with +his friends who had gone before." + +The slaves that are sacrificed upon the death of a chief, by his +friends, are generally intended to prevent him from coming again to +destroy them; but we find that on the occasion of a child having been +drowned, the mother insisted upon a female slave being killed, to be a +companion for it on its way to the Reinga. + +Though the New Zealanders do not assemble together at stated times to +worship their gods, they are in the habit of praying to them in all +their emergencies. Thus, when Korro-korro met his aunt, as before +related, his brother Tooi informed Nicholas that the ejaculations the +old woman uttered as she approached were prayers to the divinity. When +Korro-korro urged Marsden to take his son with him to Port Jackson, and +was told by that gentleman that he was afraid to do so lest the boy +should die, as so many of his countrymen had done when removed from +their native island, the chief replied, that he would pray for his son +during his absence, as he had done for his brother Tooi when he was in +England, and then he would not die. + +Tupee,[BQ] too, another of the Bay of Islands chiefs, Marsden tells us, +used to pray frequently. When that gentleman lay sick in his cot, on the +voyage home from his first visit to New Zealand, Tupee, who was with +him, used to sit by his side, and, laying his hands on different parts +of his body, addressed himself all the while with great devotion to his +god, in intercession for his friend's recovery. + +The priests, or tohungas, as they are called, are persons of great +importance and authority in New Zealand, being esteemed almost the +keepers and rulers of the gods themselves. + +Many of the greatest of the chiefs and Areekees are also priests, as +was, for example, Tupee, whom we have just mentioned. It is the priest +who attends at the bedside of the dying chief, and regulates every part +of the treatment of the patient. When the body of a chief who has been +killed in battle is to be eaten, it is the priest who first gives the +command for its being roasted. The first mouthfuls of the flesh, also, +being regarded as the dues of the gods, are always eaten by the priest. +In the case of any public calamity, it is the priest whose aid is +invoked to obtain relief from heaven. + +Marsden states that on occasion of the caterpillars one year making +great ravages among the crops of sweet potatoes at Rangheehoo,[BR] the +people of that place sent to Cowa-Cowa[BS] for a great priest to avert +the heavy judgment; and that he came and remained with them for several +months, during which he employed himself busily in the performance of +prayers and ceremonies. The New Zealanders also + +consider all their priests as a species of sorcerers, and believe they +have the power to take the lives of whomsoever they choose by +incantation. Themorangha,[BT] one of the most enlightened of the chiefs, +came one day to Marsden, in great agitation, to inform him that a +brother chief had threatened to employ a priest to destroy him in this +manner, for not having sold to sufficient advantage an article which he +had given him to dispose of. "I endeavoured," says Marsden, "to convince +him of the absurdity of such a threat; but to no purpose; he still +persisted that he should die, and that the priest possessed that power; +and began to draw the lines of incantation on the ship's deck, in order +to convince me how the operation was performed. He said that the +messenger was waiting alongside, in a canoe, for his answer. Finding it +of no use to argue with him, I gave him an axe, which he joyfully +received, and delivered to the messenger, with a request that the chief +would be satisfied, and not proceed against him." + +Themorangha seems to have been particularly selected by these priests as +a subject for their roguish practices, perhaps by way of revenge for the +freedom with which he occasionally expressed himself in regard to their +pretensions, when his fears were not excited. A short time before this, +one of them had terrified him not a little by telling him that he had +seen his ghost during the night, and had been informed, by the atua, +that if he went to a certain place to which he was then about to +proceed, he would die in a few days. He soon, however, got so far the +better of his fears as, notwithstanding this alarming intimation, to +venture to accompany Marsden to the forbidden district; and he expressed +his feelings of contempt for the sacred order in no measured terms, when +he found that at the expiration of the predicted period he was still +alive. + +He said that there were too many priests at New Zealand, and that they +"tabooed" and prayed the people to death. Others, as well as the +priests, however, are supposed sometimes to have the power of +witchcraft. + +Two of the missionaries, when one day about to land at a place a short +distance from the settlement, were alarmed by nearly running the boat's +head on three human bodies, which lay close together by the water's edge +among some rushes; and upon inquiry they were informed that they were +the bodies of three slaves who had been killed that morning for +makootooing a chief, _i.e._ betwitching or praying evil prayers against +him, which had caused his death.[BU] + +A common method which the priests use of bewitching those whom they mean +to destroy, is to curse them, which is universally believed to have a +fatal effect. The curse seems usually to be uttered in the shape of a +yell or song, so that the process is literally a species of incantation. +Bishop Newton, in his commentary on the scriptural account of Balaam +being sent for to curse the Israelites, says, "It was a superstitious +ceremony in use among the heathens, to devote their enemies to +destruction at the beginning of their wars; as if the gods would enter +into their passions, and were as unjust and partial as themselves." + +The demeanour of most of the New Zealand priests is something so +entirely different from that observed by the ministers of religion in +civilized countries that it is not surprising Rutherford should have +failed to recognise them as belonging to that order. + +Thus, we read of a priest who speaks of having killed, not by +enchantment, but in the usual way, with his own hands, both a woman who +had gone on board a ship contrary to his orders, and a man who had +stolen some potatoes. + +Another is mentioned as having one day introduced himself into the house +of Mr. Williams, one of the missionaries, by springing over the fence, +and then, when his rude conduct was reproved, stripping himself to fight +with that gentleman. The same personage, who bore the venerable name of +Towee Taboo,[BV] or Holy Towee, a short time after attempted to break +Mr. Williams's door to pieces with a long pole; and when he could not +accomplish that object, effected his entrance by leaping over the fence +as before. What he now wanted, he said, was hootoo,[BW] or payment, for +a hurt which he had given his foot in performing this exploit on the +former occasion. When this strange demand was refused, he attempted to +set the house on fire; and having collected a mob of his friends, would +certainly have done so, had not another party of the natives come to the +assistance of Mr. Williams and his family. + +But one of the most remarkable among this order of men seems to be +Tamanhena[BX], the priest of the head of the Shukehanga, who is believed +to have absolute command over the winds and waves. Marsden met with this +dignitary on his second visit to New Zealand; and found that, in +addition to being a priest, he was in the habit of acting as a pilot, a +profession with which the other suited very well, as by virtue of his +sacred character he had the power of keeping the winds and waves quiet +whenever he chose to put to sea. + +Accordingly, Marsden went out with him in a canoe to examine the +entrance of the river; Tamanhena assuring him, though it blew very +fresh, that he would soon make both the wind and the waves fall. + +"We were no sooner in the canoe," continues Marsden, "than the priest +began to exert all his powers to still the gods, the winds, and the +waves. He spake in an angry and commanding tone. However, I did not +perceive either the winds or waves yield to his authority; and when we +reached the head, I requested to go on shore." + +Tamanhena wished very much to learn to pray like the Europeans, and said +he should willingly give a farm to any missionary who would come to +reside near him. He also promised that he would let Marsden hear his god +speak to him; but when they got to the place where the conference was to +be held, he discovered that the god was not there. Marsden, however, +found him remarkably well informed on all subjects relating to his +country and religion, and thought him, upon the whole, a very sensible +man, making allowance for his theological opinions. + +Cruise has, however, detailed some particulars of this venerable +personage, whom he also met with a few months after Marsden had seen +him, which grievously detract from his character for sanctity. He made +the voyage with them in the "Dromedary" from the Bay of Islands to the +mouth of the Shukehanga, but announced his intention of leaving them the +day after their arrival. + +"During his stay in the ship," says Cruise, "there certainly was nothing +of a very sacred character about him; he was by far the wildest of his +companions; and, unfortunately, on the morning fixed for his departure, +a soldier having missed his jacket, there was so great a suspicion of +the pilot's honesty, that the sentinel at the gangway took the liberty +of lifting up his mat, as he prepared to go down the side, and +discovered the stolen property under it. + +"The jacket was of course taken from him; and as the only excuse he had +to offer for his misconduct was that he had lost a shirt that had been +given to him, and that he considered himself authorised to get +remuneration in any way he could, he was dismissed without those +presents which were given to the others. We were glad to see that his +countrymen seemed to notice his conduct in the strongest terms of +disapprobation; and the next day, when they were about to leave us, they +seemed so determined to put him to death that they were requested not to +do so, but to consider his having lost his presents, and his being +forbidden ever to come near the ship, a sufficient punishment for his +offence." + +It is very remarkable, that, whenever a child is born in New Zealand, it +is the invariable practice to take it to the tohunga, or priest, who +sprinkles it on the face with water, from a leaf which he holds in his +hand. It is believed that the neglect of this ceremony would be attended +with the most baneful consequences to the child. + +Much reverence is felt among the New Zealanders for dreams; and it is +believed that the favoured of heaven often receive in this way the +communications of the gods. We need hardly remark how universal this +superstition has been. The reader of Homer will recollect the + + [Greek: kai gar t onar ek Dios estin] + +of that poet, and the [Greek: oulos oneiros], or evil dream, which, in +the second book of the Iliad, Jupiter sends down to Agamemnon, to lure +him to give battle to the Trojans in the absence of Achilles. + +We must refer to Lafitau's learned work on the savages of America for an +account of the notions which prevail among them as to divination by +dreams. Dillon tells us that he found no way so effectual of repressing +the importunities of his New Zealand friends, in any case in which it +was inconvenient to gratify them, as assuring them he had dreamed that +the favour they requested would turn out a misfortune to them. When some +of them, for example, entreated that he would take them with him to +India, he told them that he had dreamed that if they went to that +country they would die there; and this at once put an end to their +solicitations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BL: The Maoris and Hawaiians use the word "iwi" for a bone; +the Samoans, Tahitians, and other islanders say "ivi."] + +[Footnote BM: Probably Tupa.] + +[Footnote BN: Probably Kaipara.] + +[Footnote BO: Tara.] + +[Footnote BP: Okita.] + +[Footnote BQ: Tupi.] + +[Footnote BR: Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands.] + +[Footnote BS: Kawa-kawa, in the same district.] + +[Footnote BT: Te Morenga, a chief of the Bay of Islands.] + +[Footnote BU: The maketu, which is correctly described here, was one of +the most firmly established institutions in New Zealand in old times.] + +[Footnote BV: Tui Tapu.] + +[Footnote BW: Utu. This is another great institution amongst the ancient +Maoris. It represents the principle of payment, an equivalent, a return, +compensation, or satisfaction for injuries.] + +[Footnote BX: Tamihana.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +For some time after his return from Cook Strait, Rutherford's life +appears to have been unvaried by any incident of moment. + +"At length," says he, "one day a messenger arrived from a neighbouring +village, with the news that all the chiefs for miles round were about to +set out, in three days, for a place called Kipara,[BY] near the source +of the river Thames, and distant about two hundred miles from our +village. The messenger brought also a request from the other chiefs to +Aimy to join them along with his warriors; and he replied that he would +meet them at Kipara at the time appointed. We understood that we were to +be opposed at Kipara by a number of chiefs from the Bay of Islands and +the river Thames, according to an appointment which had been made with +the chiefs in our neighbourhood. + +"Accordingly, everything was got ready for our journey as quickly as +possible; and the women were immediately set to work to make a great +number of new baskets, in which to carry our provisions. It is the +custom for every person going on such an expedition to find his own arms +and ammunition, as also provisions, and slaves to carry them. On the +other hand, every family plunder for themselves, and give only what they +think proper to the chief. The slaves are not required to fight, though +they often run to the assistance of their masters while engaged. + +"When the day was come for our departure, I started along with the rest, +being armed with my mery, a brace of pistols, and a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, and having also with me some powder and ball, and a great +quantity of duck-shot, which I took for the purpose of killing game on +our journey. + +"I was accompanied by my wife Epecka, who carried three new mats to be a +bed for us, which had been made by Eshou during my absence at Taranake. + +"The warriors and slaves, whom we took with us, amounted in all to about +five hundred; but the slaves, as they got rid of the provisions they +carried, were sent home again, as we had no further use for them. While +on our journey, if we came to a friendly village at night, we slept +there; but, if not, we encamped in the woods. When the provisions we had +brought with us were all consumed, we were compelled to plunder wherever +we could find anything. Our journey, being made during the rainy season, +was more than usually fatiguing. We were five weeks in reaching Kipara, +where we found about eleven hundred more natives encamped by the side of +a river. On our arrival, huts were immediately constructed for our +party, and one was allotted to me and my wife. We had also two female +slaves allowed us for the purpose of digging fern-root, gathering +cockles, and catching fish, which articles were our only provisions +while we remained here; unless now and then, when I went to the woods, +and shot a few wood-pigeons or a wild pig." + +A party of New Zealanders thus wandering through their country, with all +the inconveniences attending the movement of large bodies of men, but +without the combinations of foresight which are necessary for the safety +of an army, or the management of supplies, must be occasionally exposed +to great privations. + +Their island, however, it would seem from Rutherford's narrative, +abundantly supplied them with provisions, and their slaves were at hand +to perform the office of cooks. Their method of procuring fire for +culinary purposes and warmth is curious; and we may as well mention it +somewhat fully here, before we proceed to the more busy parts of +Rutherford's narrative. + +When Nicholas was in New Zealand, he had an opportunity of seeing the +process usually resorted to. "The place where we landed," says he, +speaking of an excursion which he made with Marsden, and some of the +chiefs, to a place a short distance from the Missionary Settlement, "was +a small plantation of potatoes belonging to Shungie, and here our party +intended to prepare their refreshments, seating themselves, along the +ground for the purpose. Fire, however, was wanting; and to procure it, +Shungie took my fowling-piece, and, stopping up the touch-hole, he put a +small piece of linen into the pan, and endeavoured to excite a spark. +But this expedient proved unsuccessful, as the lock had got rusted and +would not go off; he then got some dry grass and a piece of rotten wood, +and turning a small stick rapidly between his hands, in the same manner +as we mill chocolate, the friction caused the touchwood, in which the +point of the stick was inserted, to take fire; while, wrapping it up in +the dry grass, and shaking it backward and forward, he very soon +produced a flame, which he communicated to some dry sticks, and other +fuel that our party had collected." + +This was not, however, any sudden device of Shungie's, but merely the +contrivance in general use in such emergencies among his countrymen. + +"We have mentioned two New Zealanders, who are at present in this +country, and have recently been exhibiting the dances and other customs +of their native land, in several of our provincial towns. Among other +things which they show is this method of kindling fire, and we extract +from the letter of a correspondent who saw them at Birmingham, the +following account of this part of their performance:--'A small board of +well-dried pine was laid upon the floor, and the younger New Zealander +took in his hand a wedge about nine inches long, and of the same +material; then rubbing with this upon the board, in a direction parallel +to the grain, he made a groove, about a quarter of an inch deep and six +or seven inches long. The friction, of course, produced a quantity of +what, had it been produced by another means, would have been called +sawdust; and this he collected at the end of the groove farthest from +that part of the board on which he was kneeling. He then continued his +operation; and in a short time the wood began to smoke, the sides of the +groove becoming completely charred. On this he stopped and gathered the +tinder over that part of the groove which appeared to be most strongly +heated. After a few moments, it became manifest that the sawdust or +tinder was ignited; and a gentle application of the breath now drew +forth a flame which rose to the height of several inches. This +experiment did not always succeed the first time; whenever it was +repeated, whether after failure or success, the operator took a new +wedge and formed a new groove, and it was stated that this was +absolutely necessary. The process was evidently one of very great +labour; at the conclusion of it, the operator was steaming with +perspiration, and his elder countryman stated that his own strength was +unequal to the feat.'" + +[Illustration: _Tourist Dept. Photo._ + +Greenstone axes, with carved wooden handles, and ornamented with dogs' +hair and birds' feathers.] + +This method of procuring fire has, in fact, been in use from the most +ancient times, and in all parts of the world. It was, as Lafitau +remarks, the very method which was prescribed for rekindling the +vestal fire at Rome, when it was accidentally extinguished. This writer +describes it as in use also among several tribes of the Indians of South +America. Among them, however, it is somewhat more artificially managed +than it appears to be among the New Zealanders, inasmuch as their +practice is first to make a hole in the wood with the tooth of the +acouti, and then to insert in this an instrument resembling a wimble, by +the rapid revolution of which the wood is set on fire. + +The Baron Alexander de Humboldt gives a similar account of the manner in +which the operation appears to have been performed among the ancient +Mexicans, who adopted this method of rekindling their fires, on their +general extinction at the end of every cycle of fifty-two years. + +In a letter which Humboldt has printed at the conclusion of his work, +from M. Visconti, it is remarked that we find mention made of this +contrivance both in Homer's "Hymn to Mercury," and in the "Argonautics" +of Apollonius Rhodius. The scholiast of the latter gives a description +of the process, which exactly answers to the Mexican delineation. + +"On the opposite side of the river," Rutherford proceeds, "which was +about half a mile wide, and not more than four feet deep in any part, +about four hundred of the enemy were encamped, waiting for +reinforcements. Meanwhile messengers were continually passing from the +one party to the other, with messages concerning the war. + +"One of them informed us that there was a white man in his party who had +heard of and wished to see me; and that the chiefs, who also wished to +see me, would give me permission to cross the river to meet him, and I +should return unmolested whenever I thought proper. With Aimy's consent, +therefore, I went across the river; but I was not permitted to go armed, +nor yet to take my wife with me. When I arrived on the opposite side, +several of the chiefs saluted me in the usual manner by touching my nose +with theirs; and I afterwards was seated in the midst of them by the +side of the white man, who told me his name was John Mawman, that he was +a native of Port Jackson, and that he had run away from the 'Tees' sloop +of war while she lay at this island. He had since joined the natives, +and was now living with a chief named Rawmatty;[BZ] whose daughter he +had married, and whose residence was at a place called Sukyanna,[CA] on +the west coast, within fifty miles of the Bay of Islands. He said that +he had been at the Bay of Islands a short time before, and had seen +several of the English missionaries. He also said that he had heard that +the natives had lately taken a vessel at a place called Wangalore, +which they had plundered and then turned adrift; but that the crew had +escaped in their boats and put to sea. This is the same place where the +crew of the ship 'Boyd' were murdered some years before.[CB] + +"While I remained among these people, a slave was brought up before one +of the chiefs, who immediately arose from the ground, and struck him +with his mery and killed him. This mery was different from any of the +rest, being made of steel. The heart was taken out of the slave as soon +as he had fallen, and instantly devoured by the chief who slew him. I +then inquired who this chief was, and was informed that his name was +Shungie, one of the two chiefs who had been at England, and had been +presented to many of the nobility there, from whom he received many +valuable presents; among others, a double-barrelled gun and a suit of +armour, which he has since worn in many battles. His reason, they told +me, for killing the slave, who was one belonging to himself, was that he +had stolen the suit of armour, and was running away with it to the +enemy, when he was taken prisoner by a party stationed on the outskirts +of the encampment. This was the only act of theft which I ever saw +punished in New Zealand. + +"Although Shungie has been two years among Europeans, I still consider +him to be one of the most ferocious cannibals in his native country. He +protects the missionaries who live on his ground entirely for the sake +of what he can get from them. + +"I now returned to my own party. Early the next morning the enemy +retreated to a distance of about two miles from the river; upon +observing which our party immediately threw off their mats, and got +under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thousand muskets +among them, chiefly purchased from the English and American South Sea +ships which touch at the island. We now crossed the river; and, having +arrived on the opposite side, I took my station on a rising ground, +about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I +had a full view of the engagement. + +"I was not myself required to fight, but I loaded my double-barrelled +gun, and, thus armed, remained at my post, my wife and the two slave +girls having seated themselves at my feet. + +"The commander-in-chief of each party now stepped forward a few yards, +and, placing himself in front of his troops, commenced the war-song. +When this was ended both parties danced a war-dance, singing at the +same time as loud as they could, and brandishing their weapons in the +air. + +"Having finished their dance, each party formed into a line two-deep, +the women and boys stationing themselves about ten yards to the rear. + +"The two bodies then advanced to within about a hundred yards of each +other, when they fired off their muskets. Few of them put the musket to +the shoulder while firing it, but merely held it at the charge. They +only fired once; and then, throwing their muskets behind them, where +they were picked up by the women and boys, drew their merys and +tomahawks out of their belts, when, the war-song being screamed by the +whole of them together in a manner most dismal to be heard, the two +parties rushed into close combat. + +"They now took hold of the hair of each other's heads with their left +hands, using the right to cut off the head. Meantime the women and boys +followed close behind them, uttering the most shocking cries I ever +heard. These last received the heads of the slain from those engaged in +the battle as soon as they were cut off, after which the men went in +among the enemy for the dead bodies; but many of them received bodies +that did not belong to the heads they had cut off. + +"The engagement had not lasted many minutes, when the enemy began to +retreat, and were pursued by our party through the woods. Some of them, +in their flight, crossed the hill on which I stood; and one threw a +short jagged spear at me as he passed, which stuck in the inside of my +left thigh. It was afterwards cut out by two women with an oyster-shell. +The operation left a wound as large as a common-sized tea-cup; and after +it had been performed I was carried across the river on a woman's back +to my hut, where my wife applied some green herbs to the wound, which +immediately stopped the bleeding, and also made the pain much less +severe. + +"In a short time our party returned victorious, bringing along with them +many prisoners. Persons taken in battle, whether chiefs or not, become +slaves to those who take them. One of our chiefs had been shot by +Shungie, and the body was brought back, and laid upon some mats before +the huts. Twenty heads, also, were placed upon long spears, which were +stuck up around our huts; and nearly twice as many bodies were put to +the fires, to be cooked in the accustomed way. + +"Our party continued dancing and singing all night; and the next morning +they had a grand feast on the dead bodies and fern-roots, in honour of +the victory they had gained. The name of the chief whose body lay in +front of our huts was Ewanna. He was one of those who were at the taking +of our vessel. His body was now cut into several pieces, which, being +packed into baskets, covered with black mats, were put into one of the +canoes, to be taken along with us down the river. There were, besides +Ewanna, five other chiefs killed on our side, whose names were Nainy, +Ewarree, Tometooi, Ewarrehum, and Erow.[CC] On the other side, three +chiefs were killed, namely, Charly, Shungie's eldest son, and two sons +of Mootyi,[CD] a great chief of Sukyanna. Their heads were brought home +by our people as trophies of war, and cured in the usual manner. + +"We now left Kipara in a number of canoes, and proceeded down the river +to a place called Shaurakke,[CE] where the mother of one of the chiefs +who was killed resided. + +"When we arrived in sight of this place, the canoes all closed together, +and joined in singing a funeral song. + +"By this time, several of the hills before us were crowded with women +and children, who, having their faces painted with ochre, and their +heads adorned with white feathers, were waving their mats, and calling +out to us 'ara mi, ara mi,' the usual welcome home. + +"When the funeral song was ended, we disembarked from our canoes, which +we hauled up from the river, and our party then performed a dance, +entirely naked; after which they were met by another party of warriors, +from behind the hill, with whom they engaged in a sham fight, which +lasted about twenty minutes. Both parties then seated themselves around +the house belonging to the chief of the village, in front of which the +baskets containing the dead body were at the same time placed. They were +then all opened, and the head, being taken out and decorated with +feathers, was placed on the top of one of the baskets; while the rest of +the heads that had been taken at the battle were stuck on long spears, +in various parts of the village. Meanwhile, the mother of the slain +chief stood on the roof of the house, dressed in a feathered cloak and +turban, continually turning herself round, wringing her hands, and +crying for the loss of her son. + +"The dead body having been in a few days buried with the usual +ceremonies, we all prepared to return to our own village. Shaurakke is +one of the most delightful spots in New Zealand, and has more cultivated +land about it than I saw anywhere else. While I was here, I saw a +slave-woman eat part of her own child, which had been killed by the +chief, her master. I have known several instances of New Zealand women +eating their children as soon as they were born." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BY: Kaipara.] + +[Footnote BZ: Raumati.] + +[Footnote CA: Another rendition of Hokianga.] + +[Footnote CB: Mr. Craik adds a note stating that the place which +Rutherford here calls Wangalore is Wangaroa. (The proper spelling is +Whangaroa.) The ship, he says, was the "Mercury," of London, South Sea +whaler, which put in at Wangaroa on March 5th, 1825, and was plundered +of the greater part of her cargo by the natives. She was also so much +disabled by the attack made upon her that, after a vain attempt to carry +her round to the Bay of Islands, it was found necessary to abandon her, +when she drove to sea, and asserted that no cause of offence whatever +was given to the natives by the captain or crew of the "Mercury," while +the conduct of the former was in all respects treacherous, unfeeling, +and provoking.] + +[Footnote CC: All the names are spelt wrongly.] + +[Footnote CD: Probably Matui or Matohi.] + +[Footnote CE: Evidently Hauraki, which, however, is on the east coast, +while Knipara is on the west.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +This is, we believe, the most complete account, and, at the same time, +the one most to be depended on, which has yet been given to the public, +of a New Zealand battle. None of the other persons who have described to +us the manners of these savages have seen them engaged with each other, +except in a sham fight; although Nicholas, on one occasion, was very +near being afforded an opportunity of witnessing a real combat. That +gentleman and Marsden, however, have given us some very interesting +details respecting the preliminaries to an actual engagement. They +describe the debates which generally take place in the war-council of a +tribe or district previous to any declaration of hostilities; and those +conferences between the two opposing parties in which, even after they +have met on the intended field of action, the matter of dispute is often +made the subject of a war of argument and eloquence, and sometimes, it +would seem, is even settled without any resort to more destructive +weapons. + +When Marsden visited the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga, in 1819, he +found a quarrel just about to commence between two of the principal +chiefs, whose lands lay contiguous, and who were also, it appeared, +nearly related, in consequence of the pigs of the one having got into +the sweet potato grounds of the other, who had retaliated by shooting +several of them. The chief whose pigs had committed the trespass, and +whom Marsden was now visiting, was an old man, apparently eighty years +of age, named Warremaddoo,[CF] who had now resigned the supreme +authority to his son Matanghee;[CG] yet this affair rekindled all the +ancient enthusiasm of the venerable warrior. The other chief was called +Moodewhy.[CH] The morning debate, at which several chiefs spoke with +great force and dignity, had been suddenly interrupted; but it was +resumed in the evening, when Marsden was again present. + +On this occasion, old Warremaddoo threw off his mat, took his spear, and +began to address his tribe and the chiefs. He made strong appeals to +them against the injustice and ingratitude of Moodeewhy's conduct +towards them, recited many injuries which he and his tribe had suffered +from Moodeewhy for a long period, mentioned instances of his bad conduct +at the time that his father's bones were removed from the Ahoodu Pa to +their family vault, stated acts of kindness which he had shown to +Moodeewhy at different times, and said that he had twice saved his tribe +from total ruin. In the present instance, Moodeewhy had killed three of +his hogs. Every time he mentioned his loss, the recollection seemed to +nerve afresh his aged sinews: he shook his hoary beard, stamped with +indignant rage, and poised his quivering spear. + +He exhorted his tribe to be bold and courageous; and declared that he +would head them in the morning against the enemy, and, rather than he +would submit, he would be killed and eaten. All that they wanted was +firmness and courage; he knew well the enemies they had to meet, their +hearts did not lie deep; and, if they were resolutely opposed, they +would yield. + +His oration continued nearly an hour, and all listened to him with great +attention. + +This dispute, however, partly through Marsden's intercession, who +offered to give each of the indignant leaders an adze if they would make +peace, was at last amicably adjusted; and the two, as the natives +expressed it, "were made both alike inside." + +But Marsden was a good deal surprised on observing old Warremaddoo, +immediately after he had rubbed noses with Moodeewhy in token of +reconcilement, begin, with his slaves, to burn and destroy the fence of +the enclosure in which they were assembled, belonging to Moodeewhy, who, +however, took no notice of the destruction of his property thus going on +before his face. Upon inquiry, he was told that this was done in +satisfaction for a fence of the old man's which Moodeewhy had destroyed +in the first instance, and the breaking down of which had, in fact, +given rise to the trespass. + +A New Zealander would hold himself to be guilty of a breach of the first +principles of honour if he ever made up a quarrel without having exacted +full compensation for what he might conceive to be his wrongs. + +The battle which Nicholas expected to witness was to be fought between +the tribe of an old chief named Henou,[CI] and that of another, named +Wiveah,[CJ] who had seduced his wife. The two parties met in adjoining +enclosures, and Nicholas took his station on the roof of a neighbouring +hut to observe their proceedings. The conference was commenced by an old +warrior on Henou's side, who, rising, amid the universal silence of both +camps, addressed himself to Wiveah and his followers. + +Nicholas describes the venerable orator as walking, or rather running, +up and down a paling, which formed one side of the enclosure in which he +was, uttering his words in a tone of violent resentment, and +occasionally shaking his head and brandishing his spear. He was answered +in a mild and conciliating manner by two of Wiveah's followers. + +To them another warrior of Henou's party replied, in what Nicholas calls +a masterly style of native eloquence. In easy dignity of manner he +greatly excelled the other orators. "He spoke," says the author, "for a +considerable time; and I could not behold, without admiration, the +graceful elegance of his deportment, and the appropriate accordance of +his action. Holding his pattoo-pattoo[CK] in his hand he walked up and +down along the margin of the river with a firm and manly step." + +The debate was carried on by other speakers for some time longer; but at +last it appeared that conciliatory counsels had carried the day. The two +parties satisfied themselves with a sham fight, Wiveah merely presenting +the injured Henou with a quantity of potatoes. + +The most singular part of the debate, however, was yet to come; for +immediately after the sham fight, the old orator again rose, and, +although vehement enough at the beginning of his harangue, became still +more so as he proceeded, till at last he grew quite outrageous, and +jumped about the field like a person out of his senses. + +In the latter part of the debate, Wiveah and Henou themselves took up +the discussion of the question, and seem, by the account given, to have +handled it with more mildness and good temper than almost any of their +less interested associates. + +At the close of Wiveah's last address, however, "his three wives," says +Nicholas, "now deemed it expedient to interpose their oratory, as +confirming mediators between the parties, though there was no longer any +enmity existing on either side. They spoke with great animation, and the +warriors listened to their separate speeches in attentive silence. They +assumed, I thought, a very determined tone, employing a great deal of +impressive action, and looking towards the opposite chief with an +asperity of countenance not warranted by the mild forbearance of his +deportment. The expostulating harangues, as I should suppose they were, +of these sturdy ladies completed the ceremonials of this singular +conference; and the reconciliation being thus consummated, the parties +now entertained no sentiments towards each other but those of reciprocal +amity." + +It would appear that the New Zealand women sometimes carry their martial +propensities farther than they are stated to have done in the present +case. Nicholas was once not a little surprised, while witnessing a sham +fight, to observe Duaterra's wife, the Queen of Tippoonah,[CL] exerting +himself, with most conspicuous courage, among the very thickest of the +combatants. + +Her majesty was dressed in a red gown and petticoat, which she had +received as a present from Marsden, that reverend gentleman having been +obliged himself, in the first instance, to assist in decorating her with +these novel articles of attire; and, holding in her hand a large +horse-pistol, always selected the most formidable hero she could find as +her antagonist. + +She was at last, however, fairly exhausted; and stood, at the conclusion +of the exhibition, Nicholas tells us, panting for breath. "In this +state," says he, "she was pleased to notice me with a distinguished mark +of flattering condescension, by holding out her lips for me to kiss, an +honour I could have very well dispensed with, but which, at the same +time, I could not decline, without offering a slight to a person of such +elevated consequence." + +He saw, also, some other female warriors, who exposed themselves in the +combat with great gallantry. Among them, Marsden tells us, was the widow +of Tippahee, a woman apparently not much less than seventy years of age. + +Cook also sometimes saw the women armed with spears. + +The principal native war-instrument of the New Zealanders is the short +thick club, which has been so often mentioned. This weapon they all +constantly wear, either fastened in their girdle or held in the right +hand and attached by a string to the wrist. It is in shape somewhat like +a battledore, varying from ten to eighteen inches in length, including a +short handle, and generally about four or five broad, thick in the +middle, but worked down to a very sharp edge on both sides. It is most +commonly formed of a species of green talc, which appears to be found +only in the southern island, and with regard to which the New Zealanders +have many superstitious notions. Some of them are made of a +darker-coloured stone, susceptible of a high polish; some of whalebone; +and Nicholas mentions one, which he saw in the possession of Tippoui, +brother of the celebrated George of Wangarooa, and himself one of the +leaders of the attack on the 'Boyd,' which, like that of Shungie, which +Rutherford speaks of, was of iron, and also highly polished. It had been +fabricated by the chief himself, with tools of the most imperfect +description; and yet was, in Nicholas's opinion, as well-finished a +piece of workmanship as could have been produced by any of our best +mechanics. This instrument is employed in close combat, the head being +generally the part aimed at; and one well-directed blow is quite enough +to split the hardest skull. The name usually given to it, in the earlier +accounts of New Zealand, is patoo-patoo. Anderson, in his general +remarks on the people of Queen Charlotte Sound, says it is also called +Emeeta. But its correct and distinctive name seems to be that by which +Rutherford always designates it, the mery or mairy. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum_ + + 1. _Pou-wherma._ + 2. _Taiaha_ of white whale-bone. + 3. _Taiaha_ (6ft. 3in. long) of wood, with flax mat and dog's hair. + 4. _Hoeroa_ of white whale-bone. + 5. _Tewha-tewha_.] + +Savage tells us that when he took his friend, Moyhanger,[CM] to a shop +in the Strand to purchase some tools, he was particularly struck with a +common bill-hook, upon which he cast his eyes, as appearing to be a most +admirable instrument of slaughter; and we find accordingly that since +they have had so much intercourse with Europeans some of the New Zealand +warriors have substituted the English bill-hook for their native +battle-axe. Nicholas mentions one with which Duaterra was accustomed to +arm himself. + +Their only missile weapons, except stones, which they merely throw from +the hand, are short spears, made of hard wood or whalebone, and pointed +at one extremity. These they are very dexterous with, both in darting at +a mark, and in receiving or turning aside with the blades of their +battle-axes, which are the only shields they use, except the folds of +their thick and flowing mats, which they raise on the left arm, and +which are tough enough to impede the passage of a spear. They have other +spears, however, varying from thirteen or fourteen to thirty feet in +length, which they use as lances or bayonets. These, or rather the +shorter sort, are also sometimes called by English writers patoos, or +patoo-patoos. Lastly, they often carry an instrument somewhat like a +sergeant's halbert, curiously carved, and adorned with bunches of +parrot's feathers tied round the top of it. + +The musket has now, however, in a great measure superseded these +primitive weapons, although the New Zealanders are as yet far from being +expert in the use of it. + +By Rutherford's account, as we have just seen, they only fire off their +guns once, and throw them away as soon as they have got fairly engaged, +much as some of our own Highland regiments are said formerly to have +been in the habit of doing. + +Cruise, in like manner, states that they use their firelocks very +awkwardly, lose an immense deal of time in looking for a rest and taking +aim, and after all, seldom hit their object, unless close to it. + +Muskets, however, are by far more prized and coveted by the New +Zealander than any of the other commodities to which his intercourse +with the civilized world has given him access. The ships that touch at +the country always find it the readiest way of obtaining the supplies +they want from the natives, to purchase them with arms or ammunition; +and the missionaries, who have declined to traffic in these articles, +have often scarcely been able to procure a single pig by the most +tempting price they could offer in another shape. Although the arms +which they have obtained in this way have generally been of the most +trashy description, they have been sufficient to secure to the tribes +that have been most plentifully provided with them a decided superiority +over the rest; and the consequence has been that the people of the Bay +of Islands, who have hitherto had most intercourse with European ships, +have been of late years the terror of the whole country, and while they +themselves have remained uninvaded, have repeatedly carried devastation +into its remotest districts. + +More recently, however, the River Thames, and the coasts to the south +of it, have also been a good deal resorted to by vessels navigating +those seas; and a great many muskets have in consequence also found +their way into the hands of the inhabitants of that part of the island. + +When Rutherford speaks of the two parties whom he saw engaged having had +about two thousand stand of arms between them, it may be thought that +his estimate is probably an exaggerated one; but it is completely borne +out by other authorities. Thus, for example, Davis, one of the +missionaries, writes, in 1827: "They have at this time many thousand +stand of arms among them, both in the Bay and at the River Thames." + +The method of fighting, which is described as being in use among the New +Zealanders, in which, after the first onset, every man chooses his +individual antagonist, and the field of battle presents merely the +spectacle of a multitude of single combats, is the same which has, +perhaps, everywhere prevailed, not only in the primitive wars of men, +but up to a period of considerable refinement in the history of the +military art. + +The Greeks and Trojans, at the time of the siege of Troy, used both +chariots and missiles; and yet it is evident from Homer that their +battles and skirmishes usually resolved themselves in a great measure +into a number of duels between heroes who seem to have sometimes paused +by mutual consent to hold parley together, without at all minding the +course of the general fight. + +Exactly the same thing takes place in the battles of the American +Indians, who are also possessed of bows and arrows. The New Zealanders +have no weapons of this description, and, until their intercourse with +Europeans had put muskets into their hands, were without any arms +whatever by which one body could, by its combined strength, have made an +impression upon another from a distance. Even the long spears which they +sometimes used could evidently have been employed with effect only when +each was directed with a particular aim. When two parties engaged, +therefore, they necessarily always came to close combat, and every man +singled out his adversary; a mode of fighting which was, besides, much +more adapted to their tempers, and to the feelings of vehement animosity +with which they came into the field, than any which would have kept them +at a greater distance from each other. + +The details of such personal conflicts amongst more refined nations +always formed a principal ingredient in poetry and romance, from the +times of Homer to those of Spenser. They are, indeed, always +uninteresting and tiresome, although related with the highest +descriptive power; and even in the splendid descriptions of Ariosto and +Tasso there is something absolutely ludicrous in the minute +representations of two champions in complete armour, hammering each +other about with their maces like blacksmiths. + +Still, the poets have clung to this love of individual prowess, wherever +their subjects would admit of such descriptions; and, even to our own +day, that habit which we derived from the times of chivalry, of +describing personal bravery as the greatest of human virtues, is not +altogether abandoned. + +The realities of modern warfare are, however, very unfavourable to such +stimulating representations. The military discipline in use among the +more cultivated nations of antiquity, for example the Persians, the +Macedonians, the Grecian states, and above all, the Romans, undoubtedly +did much to give to their armies the power of united masses, +controllable by one will, and not liable to be broken down and rendered +comparatively inefficient by the irregular movements of individuals. But +it is the introduction of fire-arms which has, most of all, contributed +to change the original character of war, and the elements of the +strength of armies. Where it is merely one field of artillery opposed to +another, and the efficient value of every man on either side lies +principally in the musket which he carries on his shoulder, individual +strength and courage become alike of little account. The result depends, +it may be almost said, entirely on the skill of the commander, not on +the exertions of those over whom he exercises nearly as absolute an +authority as a chess-player does over his pieces. + +If this new system has not diminished the destructiveness of war, it +has, at least, very much abated the rancorous feelings with which it was +originally carried on. It has converted it from a contest of fierce and +vindictive passions into an exercise of science. We have still, +doubtless, to lament that the game of blood occasions, whenever it is +played, so terrible a waste of human life and happiness; but even the +displacement of that brute force, and those other merely animal +impulses, by which it used to be mainly directed, and the substitution +of regulating principles of a comparatively intellectual and +unimpassioned nature, may be considered as indicating, even here, a +triumph of civilization. + +It is impossible that the business of war can be so corrupting to those +engaged in it when it is chiefly a contest of skill, as when it is +wholly a contest of passion. Nor is it calculated in the one form to +occupy the imagination of a people, as it will do in the other. The evil +is therefore mitigated by the introduction of those arts which to many +may appear aggravations of this curse of mankind. + +Rutherford does not take any notice of the pas, or as they have been +called, eppas, or hippahs,[CN] which are found in so many of the New +Zealand villages. These are forts, or strongholds, always erected on an +eminence, and intended for the protection of the tribe and its most +valuable possessions, when reduced by their enemies to the last +extremity. These ancient places of refuge have also been very much +abandoned since the introduction of fire-arms; but formerly, they were +regarded as of great importance. + +Cook describes one which he visited on the East Coast, and which was +placed on a high point of land projecting into the sea, as wholly +inaccessible on the three sides on which it was enclosed by the water; +while it was defended on the land side by a ditch of fourteen feet deep, +having a bank raised behind it, which added about eight feet more to the +glacis. Both banks of the ditch are also, in general, surmounted by +palisades, about ten or twelve feet high, formed of strong stakes bound +together with withies, and driven very deep into the ground. Within the +innermost palisade is usually a stage, supported by posts, from which +the besieged throw down darts and stones upon their assailants; and in +addition to this, the interior space, which is generally of considerable +extent, is sometimes divided into numerous petty eminences, each +surrounded by its palisade, and communicating with each other by narrow +lanes, admitting of being easily stopped up, in case of the enemy having +effected his entrance within the general enclosure. The only road to +the strong-hold is by a single narrow and steep passage. + +Cruise describes a fort at Wangarooa as situated on an insulated rock, +about three hundred feet high, and presenting the most imposing +appearance. These elevated palings were a subject of much speculation to +those on board of Cook's vessel, when that navigator first approached +the coast of New Zealand. Some, he tells us, supposed them to be +inclosures for sheep and oxen, while others maintained they were parks +of deer. + +The New Zealanders may, in some degree, be considered as a warlike +people upon the sea. We have no distinct account of any maritime +engagements between one tribe and another carried on in their vessels of +war; but as these belong to the state, if it may be so termed--that is, +as the war canoes are the property of a particular community inhabiting +a village or district, as distinguished from the fishing-boats of +individuals--it is probable that their hostile encounters may +occasionally be carried on upon the element with which a nation of +islanders are generally familiar. + +Rutherford has given a minute description of a war-canoe, which accords +with the representation of such a large vessel in the plates to Cook's +"Voyages":-- + +"Their canoes are made of the largest sized pine-trees, which generally +run from 40 to 50 feet long, and are hollowed out, and lengthened about +eight feet at each end, and raised about two feet on each side. + +"They are built with a figure head; the stern-post extending about ten +feet above the stern of the canoe, which is handsomely carved, as well +as the figure-head, and the whole body of the canoe. The sides are +ornamented with pearl shell, which is let into the carved work, and +above that is a row of feathers. On both sides, fore and aft, they have +seats in the inside, so that two men can sit abreast. They pull about +fifty paddles on each side, and many of them will carry two hundred +people. When paddling, the chief stands up and cheers them with a song, +to which they all join in chorus. These canoes roll heavy, and go at the +rate of seven knots an hour. Their sails are made of straw mats in the +shape of a lateen sail. They cook in their canoes, but always go on +shore to eat. They are frequently known to go three or four hundred +miles along the coast." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote CF: Probably Wharemata.] + +[Footnote CG: Matangi.] + +[Footnote CH: Muriwai.] + +[Footnote CI: Hinau.] + +[Footnote CJ: Probably Waitea.] + +[Footnote CK: patu-patu.] + +[Footnote CL: Te Puna.] + +[Footnote CM: Moehanga.] + +[Footnote CN: The former word, "Pa," is correct.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +We have noticed all the adventures which Rutherford records to have +befallen him during his residence in New Zealand, and have now only to +relate the manner in which he at last effected his escape from the +country, which we shall do in his own words. + +"A few days," says he, "after our return home from Showrackee, we were +alarmed by observing smoke ascending in large quantities from several of +the mountains, and by the natives running about the village in all +directions, and singing out Kipoke,[CO] which signifies a ship on the +coast. I was quite overjoyed to hear the news. + +"Aimy and I, accompanied by several of the warriors, and followed by a +number of slaves, loaded with mats and potatoes, and driving pigs before +them for the purpose of trading with the ship, immediately set off for +Tokamardo; and in two days we arrived at that place, the unfortunate +scene of the capture of our ship and its crew on the 7th of March, 1816. +I now perceived the ship under sail, at about twenty miles distance from +the land, off which the wind was blowing strong, which prevented her +nearing. Meanwhile, as it was drawing towards night, we encamped, and +sat down to supper. + +"I observed that several of the natives still wore round their necks and +wrists many of the trinkets which they had taken out of our ship. As +Aimy and I sat together at supper, a slave arrived with a new basket, +which he placed before me, saying that it was a present from his master. +I asked him what was in the basket, and he informed me that it was part +of a slave girl's thigh, that had been killed three days before. It was +cooked, he added, and was very nice. I then commanded him to open it, +which he did, when it presented the appearance of a piece of pork which +had been baked in the oven. I made a present of it to Aimy, who divided +it among the chiefs. + +"The chiefs now consulted together, and resolved that, if the ship came +in, they would take her, and murder the crew. Next morning she was +observed to be much nearer than she had been the night before; but the +chiefs were still afraid she would not come in, and therefore agreed +that I should be sent on board, on purpose to decoy her to the land, +which I promised to do. + +"I was then dressed in a feathered cloak, belt, and turban, and armed +with a battle axe, the head of which was formed of a stone which, +resembled green glass, but was so hard as to turn the heaviest blow of +the hardest steel. The handle was of hard black wood, handsomely carved +and adorned with feathers. In this attire I went off in a canoe, +accompanied by a son of one of the chiefs, and four slaves. When we came +alongside of the vessel, which turned out to be an American brig, +commanded by Captain Jackson, employed in trading among the islands in +the South Sea, and then bound for the coast of California, I immediately +went on board, and presented myself to the captain, who, as soon as he +saw me, exclaimed, 'Here is a white New Zealander.' + +"I told him that I was not a New Zealander, but an Englishman; upon +which he invited me into his cabin, where I gave him an account of my +errand and of all my misfortunes. + +"I informed him of the danger his ship would be exposed to if he put in +at that part of the island; and therefore begged of him to stand off as +quickly as possible, and take me along with him, as this was the only +chance I had ever had of escaping. + +"By this time the chief's son had begun stealing in the ship, on which +the crew tied him up, and flogged him with the clue of one of their +hammocks, and then sent him down into his canoe. + +"They would have flogged the rest also had not I interceded for them, +considering that there might be still some of my unfortunate shipmates +living on shore, on whom they might avenge themselves. + +"The captain now consented to take me along with him; and, the canoe +having been set adrift, we stood off from the island. For the first +sixteen months of my residence in New Zealand, I had counted the days by +means of notches on a stick; but after that I had kept no reckoning. I +now learned, however, that the day on which I was taken off the island +was January 9th, 1826. I had, therefore, been a prisoner among these +savages ten years, all but two months." + +Captain Jackson now gave Rutherford such clothes as he stood in need of, +in return for which the latter made him a present of his New Zealand +dress and battle axe. + +The ship then proceeded to the Society Islands, and anchored on February +10th off Otaheite. + +Here Rutherford went into the service of the British consul, by whom he +was employed in sawing wood. On May 26th he was married to a chief +woman, whose name, he says, was Nowyrooa, by Mr. Pritchard, one of the +English missionaries. While he resided here, he was also employed as an +interpreter by Captain Peachy, of the "Blossom" sloop of war, then +engaged in surveying those islands. + +Still, however, longing very much to see his native country, he embarked +on January 6th, 1827, on board the brig "Macquarie," commanded by +Captain Hunter, and bound for Port Jackson. On taking leave of his wife +and friends, he made them a promise to return to the island in two +years, "which," says he, "I intend to keep, if it is in my power, and +end my days there." + +The "Macquarie" reached Port Jackson on February 19th, and Rutherford +states that he met there a young woman who had been saved from the +massacre of those on board the "Boyd," and who gave him an account of +that event. This was probably the daughter of a woman whom Mr. Berry +brought to Lima. + +He also found at Port Jackson two vessels on their way back to England, +with a body of persons who had attempted to form a settlement in New +Zealand, but who had been compelled to abandon their design, as he +understood, by the treacherous behaviour of the natives. + +He now embarked on board the Sydney packet, commanded by Captain Tailor, +which proceeded first for Hobart Town, in Van Diemen's Land,[CP] and +after lying there for about a fortnight set sail again for Rio de +Janeiro. + +On his arrival there he went into the service of Mr. Harris, a Dutch +gentleman. Mr. Harris, on learning his history, had him presented to the +Emperor Don Pedro, who asked him many questions by an interpreter, and +made him a present of eighty dollars. He also offered him employment in +his navy; but this Rutherford refused, preferring to return to England +in the "Blanche" frigate, then on the point of sailing, in which he +obtained a passage by an application to the British consul. On the +arrival of the ship at Spithead, he immediately left her, and proceeded +to Manchester, his native town, which he had not seen since he first +went to sea in the year 1806. + +After his return to England Rutherford occasionally maintained himself +by accompanying a travelling caravan of wonders, showing his tattooing, +and telling something of his extraordinary adventures. + +The publisher of this volume had many conversations with him in January, +1829, when he was exhibited in London. He was evidently a person of +considerable quickness, and great powers of observation. He went over +every part of his journal, which was read to him, with considerable +care, explaining any difficulties, and communicating several points of +information, of which we have availed ourselves in the course of this +narrative. + +His manners were mild and courteous; he was fond of children, to whom he +appeared happy to explain the causes of his singular appearance and he +was evidently a man of very sober habits. He was pleased with the idea +of his adventures being published; and was delighted to have his +portrait painted, though he suffered much inconvenience in sitting to +the artist, with the upper part of his body uncovered, in a severe +frost. + +Upon the whole he seemed to have acquired a great deal of the frankness +and easy confidence of the people with whom he had been living, and was +somewhat out of his element amidst the constrained intercourse and +unvarying occupations of England. He greatly disliked being shown for +money, which he submitted to principally that he might acquire a sum, in +addition to what he received for his manuscript, to return to Otaheite. + +We have not heard of him since that time; and the probability is that he +has accomplished his wishes. He said that he should have no hesitation +in going to New Zealand; that his old companions would readily believe +that he had been carried away by force; that from his knowledge of their +customs, he could be most advantageously employed in trading with them; +and that, above all, if he were to take back a blacksmith with him, and +plenty of iron, he might acquire many of the most valuable productions +of the country, particularly tortoiseshell,[CQ] which he considered the +best object for an English commercial adventure.[CR] + +Rutherford is not the only native of a civilized country whose fate it +has been to become resident for some time among the savages of New +Zealand. Besides his shipmates, who were taken prisoners along with him, +he himself, indeed, as we have seen, mentions two other individuals whom +he met with while in the country, one of whom had been eight years +there, and did not seem to have any wish to leave it. + +[Illustration: A Maori war canoe.] + +Savage gives a short notice of a European who was living in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands when he was there in 1805. This +person, whose native country, or the circumstances that had induced him +to take up his abode where he then was, Savage could not discover, +shunned all intercourse with Europeans, and was wont to retire to the +interior whenever a ship approached the coast. The natives, however, +whose customs and manners he had adopted, spoke well of him; and Savage +often saw a New Zealand woman who lived with him, and one of their +children, which he represents as very far from exhibiting any +superiority either in mind or person over his associates of unmixed +breed. Its complexion was the same as that of the others, being +distinguished from them only by its light flaxen hair. + +Marsden, also, in a letter written in 1813 to the secretary of the +Church Missionary Society, mentions a young man, a native of America, +with whom he had conversed in New South Wales, and who had lived for +above a year with the New Zealanders. + +During all this time these savages, he said, had shown him the greatest +attention, and he would have been very glad to return to live among them +if he could have found any other Europeans to go with him. + +Since the Bay of Islands has become so much the resort of shipping, many +seamen have left their ships and taken up their residence of their own +accord among the natives. The "Missionary Reports" state that, about the +close of the year 1824, there were perhaps twenty men who had thus found +their way into the country, and were living on plunder; and that within +the year not less, it was supposed, than a hundred sailors had in the +same manner taken refuge for a time in the island. + +Although these men had all run away from their own ships, the captains +of other vessels touching at any part of the coast did not hesitate to +employ them when they wanted hands. + +Mawman, whom Rutherford met with at Kiperra, had, it will be +recollected, made his escape, according to his own account, from a sloop +of war. These fugitives, however, it would appear, do not always succeed +in establishing themselves among the natives. Cruise mentions one who, +having run away from the "Anne" whaler, hid himself at first in the +woods, but soon after came on board the "Dromedary" in a most miserable +state, beseeching to be taken on the strength of the ship. + +Convicts, too, occasionally make their escape to New Zealand, and +attempt to secrete themselves in the interior of the country. When the +"Active" was at the Bay of Islands in 1815, two men and a woman of this +description were sent on board to be taken back to New South Wales. The +woman, Nicholas says, was particularly dejected on being retaken; and it +was found that while on shore she had done everything in her power to +prevail upon one of the native females to assist her in her attempt to +conceal herself. Her friend, however, resisted all her entreaties; and +well knowing the hardships to which the poor creature would have exposed +herself, only replied to her importunate solicitations, "Me would, Mary, +but me got no tea, me got no sugar, no bed, no good things for you; me +grieve to see you, you cannot live like New Zealand woman, you cannot +sleep on the ground." + +The Rev. Mr. Butler, in March, 1821, found two convicts who had escaped +from a whaler, in the hands of one of the chiefs, who was just preparing +to put them to death. On Butler interfering and begging that their lives +might be spared, the New Zealanders replied: "They are nothing but +slaves and thieves; they look like bad men, and are very ragged; they do +not belong to you, and we think they are some of King George's bad +cookees." After a great deal of discussion, however, they yielded so far +to Butler's entreaties and arguments as to agree not to kill the two +men; but the chief insisted that they should go home with him and work +for him four months, after which he said that he would give them up to +any ship that would take them to "King George's farm at Port Jackson." + +When Nicholas was in New Zealand in 1815, he met with a Hindoo, who had +made his escape from Captain Patterson's ship, the "City of Edinburgh," +about five years before, and had been living among the natives ever +since. Compared with the New Zealanders, he looked, Nicholas says, like +a pigmy among giants. However, he had got so much attached to the +manners of his new associates that he declared he would much rather +remain where he was than return to his own country. He had married a +native woman, and was treated, he said, in the kindest manner by the New +Zealanders, who always supplied him with plenty of food without +compelling him to do more work than he chose. Nicholas offered him some +rice, but he intimated that he decidedly preferred fern-root. + +The circumstances of Rutherford's capture and detention in New Zealand +were but indifferently calculated to reconcile him to the new state of +society in which he was there compelled to mix, notwithstanding the rank +to which his superior intelligence and activity raised him. + +Though a chief, he was still a prisoner; and even all the favour with +which he had himself been treated could not make him forget the fate of +his companions, or the warning which it afforded him to how sudden or +slight an accident his own life might at any time fall a sacrifice. But +it is certain that, where no such sense of constraint is felt, not only +the notion, but even the reality, of savage life has a strong charm for +many minds. The insecurity and privation which attend upon it are deemed +but a slight counterbalance to the independence, the exemption from +regular labour, and above all the variety of adventure, which it +promises to ardent and reckless spirits. + +Generally, however, the Europeans that have adopted the life of the +savage have been men driven out from civilization, or disinclined to +systematic industry. They have not chosen the imaginary freedom and +security of barbarians, in contempt of the artificial restraints and +legal oppressions of a refined state of society, in the way that the +Greek did, whom Priscus found in the camp of Attila, declaring that he +lived more happily amongst the wild Scythians than ever he did under the +Roman government. + +But if those who have been accustomed to the comforts of civilization +have not infrequently felt the influence of the seductions which a +barbarous condition offers to an excited imagination, it may well be +conceived that, to the man who has been born a savage, and nurtured in +all the feelings and habits of that state of society, they must address +themselves with still more irresistible effect. + +We have many examples, accordingly, of how difficult it is to +extinguish, by any culture, either in an old or a young savage, his +innate passion for the wild life of his fathers. + +Tippahee's son, Matara, on his return from England, strove to regain an +acquaintance with his native customs. Moyhanger, Savage's friend, might +be quoted as another instance, in whom all the wonders and attractions +of London would appear not to have excited a wish to see it again. Nor +does any great preference for civilized life seem to have been produced +in other cases, by even a much longer experience of its accommodations. + +When Nicholas and Marsden visited New Zealand in 1815, they met at the +North Cape, where they first put on shore, a native of Otaheite, who had +been brought from his own country to Port Jackson when a boy of about +eleven or twelve years old. Here he had lived for some years in the +family of Mr. McArthur, where he had been treated with great kindness, +and brought up in all respects as an English boy would have been. Having +been sent to school he soon learned not only to speak English with +fluency, but to read and write it with very superior ability; and he +showed himself besides in everything remarkably tractable and obedient. +Yet nothing could wean him from his partiality to his original +condition; and he at last quitted the house of his protector, and +contrived to find his way to New Zealand. Here he settled among a people +even still more uncivilized than his own countrymen, and married the +daughter of one of the chiefs, to whose territories he had succeeded +when Nicholas met with him. + +Jem (that was the name by which he had been known at Port Jackson) was +then a young man of about twenty-three years of age. Unlike his brother +chiefs, he was cleanly in his person; and his countenance not being +tattooed, nor darker than that of a Spaniard, while his manners +displayed a European polish, it was only his dress that betokened the +savage. + +"His hair," says Nicholas, "which had been very carefully combed, was +tied up in a knot upon the crown of his head, and adorned with a long +white feather fancifully stuck in it; in his ears were large bunches of +the down of the gannet, white as the driven snow, and napping about his +cheeks with every gale. Like the natives, he wore the mat thrown over +his shoulders; but the one he had on was bordered with a deep Vandyke of +different colours, and gaily bedizened with the feathers of parrots and +other birds, reflecting at the same moment all the various shades in the +rainbow. He carried a musket in his hand, and had a martial and imposing +air about him, which was quite in character with the station he +maintained." + +He brought his wife with him in a canoe to the ship; and having known +Marsden well in New South Wales, was delighted to see that gentleman, +and proved of considerable use to him in his intercourse with the other +New Zealanders. Although not accustomed to speak English in his new +country, Jem had by no means forgotten that language. He had been on +three warlike expeditions to the East Cape in the course of the past +five years; but had gone, he said, only because he could not help it, +and had never assisted in devouring the prisoners. Dillon met both Jem +and the Hindoo, when he was at the Bay of Islands in July, 1827. The +former had his son with him, a boy about twelve years of age. + +These, and many other examples which might be added, exhibit the force +of habit which governs the actions of all men, whether in a savage or +civilized state. There are, of course, exceptions. When Cook left +Omai,[CS] during his last voyage, at Huaheine, with every provision for +his comfort, he earnestly begged to return to England. It was nothing +that a grant of land was made to him at the interposition of his English +friends, that a house was built and a garden planted for his use. He +wept bitter tears; for he was naturally afraid that his new riches would +make him an object of hatred to his countrymen. He was much caressed in +England; and he took back many valuable possessions and some knowledge. +But he was originally one of the common people; and he soon saw, +although he was not sensible of it at first, that without rank he could +obtain no authority. He forgot this, when he was away from the people +with whom he was to end his days; but he seemed to feel that he should +be insecure when his protector, Cook, had left their shores. He divided +his presents with the chiefs; and the great navigator threatened them +with his vengeance if Omai was molested. The reluctance of this man to +return to his original conditions was principally derived from these +considerations, which were to him of a strictly personal nature. The +picture which a popular poet has drawn of the feelings of Omai is very +beautiful, and in great part true as applied to him as an individual; +but it is not true of the mass of savages. + +The habits amidst which they were born may be modified by an intercourse +with civilized men, but they cannot be eradicated. The following is the +poetical passage to which we alluded. Omai had, altogether, a more +distinguished destiny than any other savage--he was cherished by Cook, +painted by Reynolds, and apostrophised by Cowper:-- + + "The dream is past, and thou hast found again + Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams, + And homestall thatch'd with leaves. But hast thou found + Their former charms? And, having seen our state, + Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp + Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports, + And heard our music, are thy simple friends, + Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights, + As dear to thee as once? And have thy joys + Lost nothing by comparison with ours? + Rude as thou art (for we return'd thee rude + And ignorant, except of outward show) + I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart + And spiritless, as never to regret + Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known. + Methinks I see thee straying on the beach, + And asking of the surge that bathes thy foot, + If ever it has wash'd our distant shore. + I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears, + A patriot's for his country: thou art sad + At thought of her forlorn and abject state, + From which no power of thine can raise her up." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote CO: Kaipuke, a ship.] + +[Footnote CP: That is, Tasmania.] + +[Footnote CQ: There are no tortoises in New Zealand.] + +[Footnote CR: Rutherford did not return to New Zealand, and nothing more +was heard of him. On December 5th, 1828, "The Australian," which 'was +published in Sydney, stated that a man named Rutherford, who had been +tattooed by the Maoris, and naturalized by them, was then in London, +practising the trade of a pickpocket, in the character of a New Zealand +chief, but that was before he supplied his story for "The New +Zealanders."] + +[Footnote CS: Omai was an islander, who was taken to England, where he +was lionized, and was afterwards taken back to the islands during Cook's +last voyage.] + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13760 *** diff --git a/13760-h/13760-h.htm b/13760-h/13760-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2e3ca8 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/13760-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5753 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of John Rutherford, the White Chief, by George Lillie Craik, et al</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13760 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, John Rutherford, the White Chief, by George +Lillie Craik, et al, Edited by James Drummond</h1> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br /> +<br /> +<center> +<img src='images/cover.jpg' width='300' height='505' alt='Book Cover' title=''> +</center> + +<h1>John Rutherford</h1> + +<h1>THE WHITE CHIEF.</h1> + +<h2>A Story of Adventure in New Zealand.</h2> + +<h3>EDITED BY</h3> + +<h2>JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S.</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<p>CONTENTS.</p> + + <a href='#INTRODUCTION'><b>INTRODUCTION.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_I'><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_II'><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_III'><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_IV'><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_V'><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VI'><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VII'><b>CHAPTER VII.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'><b>CHAPTER VIII.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_IX'><b>CHAPTER IX.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_X'><b>CHAPTER X.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XI'><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XII'><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></a><br /> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS'></a><p>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</p> + +<a href='#img01'><b>John Rutherford</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img02'><b>A Maori's shoulder mat</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img03'><b>Short striking weapons (clubs) used by the Maoris</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img04'><b>Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img05'><b>A door-lintel, showing Maori carving</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img06'><b>"Moko" on a man's face and on a woman's lips and chin</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img07'><b>Two Maori Chiefs—Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, or "Dark House"</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img08'><b>Scene in a New Zealand Forest</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img09'><b>Flute of bone</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img10'><b>A waist-mat</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img11'><b>Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img12'><b>Carved boxes</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img13'><b>Greenstone axes, with carved wooden bandies, and ornamented with dogs' hair and birds' feathers</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img14'><b>Long striking and thrusting weapons used by the Maoris</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img15'><b>A Maori war-canoe</b></a><br /> + +<center> +<a name="img01"></a> +<img src='images/image01.png' width='300' height='459' alt='John Rutherford. From an original drawing taken in 1828.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>John Rutherford. From an original drawing taken in 1828.</h5> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='INTRODUCTION'></a><h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Eighty years ago, when the story told in these pages was first +published, "forecastle yarns" were more thrilling than they are now. In +these days we look for information in regard to a new land's +capabilities for pastoral, agricultural, and commercial pursuits; in +those days it was customary, with a large portion of the British public, +at any rate, to expect sailors to tell stories</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of the cannibals that each other eat,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Do grow beneath their shoulders,</span><br /> + +<p>and to relate other particulars likely to arrest the attention and +excite the imagination. Men then sailed to unknown lands, peopled by +unknown barbarians, and their adventures in strange and mysterious +countries were clothed in a romance which has been almost completely +dispelled by the telegraph, the newspaper press, cheap books, and rapid +transit, and by the utilitarian ideas which have swept over the world.</p> + +<p>It was largely to meet the public taste for something wonderful and +striking that John Rutherford's story of adventures in New Zealand saw +the light of publicity. In fairness to the original editor and the +publisher, however, it should be stated that the story was given also as +a means of supplying interesting information in regard to a country and +a race of which very little was then known. It was embodied in a book of +400 pages, entitled "The New Zealanders," published in 1830, for the +Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by the famous publisher, +Charles Knight.</p> + +<p>He was a versatile, talented, and ambitious man; but all his ambitions +ran in the direction of the public good. From the time of his early +manhood, he wished to become a public instructor. At first he tried to +achieve his end by means of journalism, which he entered in 1812, by +reporting Parliamentary debates for "The Globe" and "The British Press," +two London journals. Later on he started a publishing business in +London. Dealing only with instructive subjects, he established "Knight's +Quarterly Magazine," and other periodicals, to which he was one of the +prominent contributors.</p> + +<p>He was not a business man, and in 1828 he was overwhelmed by financial +difficulties. In the meantime he had become acquainted with the +brilliant but erratic Lord Brougham, who had completed arrangements for +putting into operation one of his great enterprises for educating the +masses. This was the establishment of the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge. It began a series of publications under the title of +"The Library of Entertaining Knowledge," which Knight published. The +first volume, written by Knight himself, was "The Menageries"; the +second was "The New Zealanders." Other publications were issued by the +society until it was dissolved in 1846. Knight continued to send works +out of the press nearly to the end of his useful life, in March, 1873. +Some of these were written by himself, some by friends, and some were +translations. His "Penny Magazine," at the end of its first year, had a +sale of 200,000 copies. Amongst his other publications are Lane's +"Arabian Nights," "The Pictorial Bible," "The Pictorial History of +England," and—the object of his highest ambition—"The Pictorial +Shakespeare." In "Passages of a Working Life," he wrote his own +biography. In spite of his strenuous life he died a poor man. He was an +enthusiast, but his impetuous nature induced him to attempt to carry out +his schemes before they had matured. He had a quick temper and an +eloquent tongue. The esteem in which he was held by his friends is shown +by the admirable jest with which Douglas Jerrold took leave of him one +evening at a social gathering. "Good Knight," Jerrold said.</p> + +<p>The "New Zealanders" was published anonymously, and for many years the +authorship was attributed to Lord Brougham. There is no doubt now, +however, that the author was George Lillie Craik, a scholar and a man of +letters. He was born at Kennoway, Fife, in 1798. He studied at St. +Andrew's, and went through a divinity course, but never applied to be +licensed as a preacher. Like Knight, he was attracted by journalism, +which he regarded as a means of instructing the public. When he was only +twenty years of age he was editor of "The Star," a local newspaper. In +London he adopted authorship as a profession. In 1849, he was appointed +Professor of English Literature and History at the Queen's College, +Belfast, and later on, although he still resided at Belfast, he became +examiner for the Indian Civil Service. All his literary work is +distinguished by careful research. Perhaps his best effort is +represented by "The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties," published +in the same year as "The New Zealanders." With a colleague he edited +"The Pictorial History of England," in four volumes. Amongst his other +works are "A Romance of the Peerage," "Spencer and his Poetry," "A +History of Commerce," "The English of Shakespeare," and "Bacon, his +Writings and Philosophy." He had a flowing and cultured style, and he +embellished his work with many references to the classics. He was one of +the best read men of his time. His extensive reading and the simplicity +of his style made him a very welcome contributor to the "Penny +Magazine," the "Penny Cyclopædia," and other popular publications. He +had a paralytic stroke while lecturing in Belfast in February, 1866, +and he died in June of the same year. It is said of him that he was +popular with students and welcome in society.</p> + +<p>It is not known if Craik met Rutherford. He probably did not. He may +have had "The New Zealanders" partly written when the manuscript +describing Rutherford's adventures was placed in his hands. In that +case, he wove it into his book, using it as a means of illustrating his +remarks on the Maoris' customs. His work bears the stamp of honesty and +industrious care. He collected all the information dealing with New +Zealand available at the time, and he produced a fairly large book, +which, for many years after it was published, must have been a valuable +contribution to the public's store of "entertaining knowledge."</p> + +<p>Rutherford, as his narrative shows, was ten years amongst the Maoris. He +was an ignorant sailor. He could not write, and the account of his +adventures, it is explained, was dictated to a friend while he was on +the voyage back to England. Craik says that if allowance is made for +some grammatical solecisms, the story, as it appeared in the manuscript, +was told with great clearness, and sometimes with considerable spirit. +Knight evidently knew him, as it is stated in "The New Zealanders" that +"the publisher of this volume had many conversations with him when he +was exhibited in London." It is probable, too, that Brougham knew him. +Brougham, indeed, may have "discovered" him and introduced him to +Knight. Rutherford was just the kind of man in whose company Brougham +delighted to spend hours. He would listen to the recital of the +thrilling adventures with the Maoris with breathless interest. A story +told of the madcap days of Brougham's youth gives some idea of the +welcome he would extend to Rutherford. One evening, after Brougham and +some other gay spirits had supped together in London, they saw a mob of +idle scoundrels beating an unfortunate woman with brutal ferocity. The +young fellows went to her rescue. Their interference increased the +tumult, and all the watchmen in the neighbourhood were soon about their +ears. In return for their chivalry they were lodged in the watch-house. +Amongst their fellow-prisoners there was an old sailor, who sat cowering +over the embers of the fire. He had been in the American War. Brougham +picked up an acquaintance with him, and all night long the young man +held the old one in conversation, ascertaining the strength of the +forces in the engagements, the scenes of the battles, the nature of the +manoeuvres, the advances and reverses, and so on, until his +avariciousness for knowledge was satisfied.</p> + +<p>Neither Brougham nor Knight, nor even Craik, had sufficient means of +testing the accuracy of Rutherford's story. Unfortunately there are many +points on which the narrative is not only inaccurate but misleading. +Craik concludes that Poverty Bay, where Cook first landed in New +Zealand, is the scene of the capture of the "Agnes." Rutherford, +however, gives the name as "Tokomardo." This corresponds with a bay some +miles further north, and about forty miles from the East Cape. The +Maoris call it Tokomaru, which Rutherford evidently intended. His +description of the place might represent Tokomaru almost as well as +Poverty Bay. The strangest part of the affair, however, is that the +Maoris on that coast have no knowledge whatever of the "Agnes," the +vessel which, according to Rutherford, was captured in the bay he +describes. Eighty years ago the arrival of a vessel at New Zealand was +an advent of the utmost importance. The news spread throughout the land +with surprising rapidity, and whole tribes flocked to the port to see +the "Pakehas" and trade for their iron implements and guns. The Maoris +of the district know of three white men, whom they called Riki, Punga, +and Tapore, who lived amongst them for some time in the early days, +before colonization began; but they have no knowledge of Rutherford. The +chiefs to whom Rutherford frequently refers did not belong to that +district. The chief who takes the principal part in the story, "Aimy," +cannot be traced. The name is spelt wrongly, and it is difficult to +supply a Maori name that the spelling in the book might represent. This +is surprising, as the Maoris are very careful in regard to their +genealogical records.<a name='FNanchor_A_1'></a><a href='#Footnote_A_1'><sup>[A]</sup></a> While Rutherford was in New Zealand some +terrible slaughters took place in the Poverty Bay district, but he does +not refer to these, although they must have been one of the principal +subjects of conversation amongst the Maoris for months, perhaps years.</p> + +<p>Near the end of the narrative, Rutherford gives an account of a great +battle, in which the chief Hongi was a prominent figure. His description +of what took place is incorrect in several respects. Victory went to +Hongi, not, as Rutherford says, to the people of Kaipara and their +allies, although they were victorious in the first skirmish. The battle +is known as Te Ika-a-rangi-nui, that is the Great Fish of the Sky or the +Milky Way, and it took place in February, 1825. As Rutherford states, +Hongi was present, and wore the famous coat of mail armour which had +been given to him by His Majesty King George IV. when he was in England +in 1820. The strife was caused not by an attempt to steal Hongi's +armour, as Rutherford suggests, but by a thirst for revenge for the +death of a chief of the Nga-Puhi tribe, to which Hongi belonged. The +chief Whare-umu, evidently identical with "Ewarree-hum" in Rutherford's +narrative, did not belong to the party that Rutherford was connected +with; he was related to the man whose murder was avenged, and seems to +have been Hongi's first lieutenant. Some authorities, notably Bishop +Williams, of Waiapu,<a name='FNanchor_B_2'></a><a href='#Footnote_B_2'><sup>[B]</sup></a> and Mr. Percy Smith,<a name='FNanchor_C_3'></a><a href='#Footnote_C_3'><sup>[C]</sup></a> believe that Rutherford +was not present at the battle, and that he obtained all his information +from others. Bishop Williams, who knows the Poverty Bay district as well +as anyone, has come to the conclusion that Rutherford must have spent +his years in New Zealand in the Bay of Islands district; and Mr Percy +Smith, in a letter to me, says that he has always entertained the idea +that Rutherford was one of the men taken when the schooner "Brothers" +was attacked at Kennedy Bay in 1815. Bishop Williams sets up the theory +that Rutherford was a deserter from a vessel which visited New Zealand, +that he induced the Maoris to tattoo him in order that he might escape +detection after he had returned to civilization, and that he concocted +the story of the capture of the "Agnes" to account for his reappearance +amongst Europeans. The weakness of this theory is that he evidently did +not object to publicity, and that the tattooing would make him a +conspicuous man who could not avoid public attention. If Bishop Williams +is right in assuming that Rutherford wished to escape detection, he +took the very best course to defeat his object.</p> + +<p>Whatever Rutherford's object may have been, and whether he deceived the +author and publisher of "The New Zealanders," or merely erred through +ignorance and lack of observation, there is no doubt that he spent some +years with the Maoris in the northern part of New Zealand. His tattooed +face is sufficient evidence of that. The pattern is the Maori "moko." +The tattooing on his breast, stomach, and arms, however, is not the work +of Maoris; that was done, probably, by natives at some of the islands, +or by sailors. I hardly think that those who read the narrative will +agree with Bishop Williams's opinion that it is "a mere romance." It is +more like the story of an ignorant, unobservant, careless sailor, who +entertained no idea that any importance would be attached to his +statements. Many mistakes were probably made in the work of dictating +the narrative to a fellow-sailor. If Rutherford had been bent upon +making a romantic story, he would have told it in a different form. +There is no straining after effect in the manuscript reproduced by +Craik. The faults are inaccuracies, not exaggerations. Some excuse may +be found for Rutherford's mistakes in the description of the battle Te +Ika-a-rangi-nui in the fact that modern Maori scholars cannot agree on +important details, there being differences of opinion in regard to +even the year in which the battle was fought.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img02"></a> +<img src='images/image02.png' width='234' height='450' alt='A Maori's shoulder mat. Christchurch Museum.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A Maori's shoulder mat. Christchurch Museum.</h5> +<p>It is felt that, with all its blemishes, the story has a good claim to +be included in the list of New Zealand works that are now being +reprinted by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, to whom the people of New +Zealand are deeply indebted. When Mr. Whitcombe first asked me to edit +Rutherford's story for his firm, I proposed to take it alone, leaving +out all the rest of Craik's work in "The New Zealanders." On reading the +book again I came to the conclusion that many of Craik's remarks, +although discursive at times, are sufficiently interesting to be read +now, and I have included in the reprint a large portion of his original +writings. I have retained his spelling of Maori words, but have made +many corrections in footnotes. The book is not sent out as an authentic +account of the Maoris. "The New Zealanders" was the first book that +attempted to deal with them, and it has been superseded by many which +have been written in the light of more extensive knowledge, and in them +students will find results of much patient study and research.</p> + +<p>JAMES DRUMMOND.</p> + +<p><i>Christchurch</i>,</p> + +<p><i>February 13th, 1908</i>.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_A_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_A_1'>[A]</a><div class='note'><p> At my request, Mr. S. Percy Smith, the author of "Hawaiki, +the Original Home of the Maori," endeavoured to trace "Aimy," but even +his extensive knowledge of the Maori language and tribal histories +failed to bring that man to light. Mr. Smith explains that "Ai" in +Rutherford's spelling represents "E," a vocative, in the accepted method +of spelling, and "my" represents "mai." The two words, combined, would +be "E Mai." In this way, "Mai's" attention would be called. But "Mai" +may be the first, second, or third syllable of a man's name, according +to euphony. The name supplied in the narrative, therefore, is no guide +in a search for Rutherford's friendly chief.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_B_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_B_2'>[B]</a><div class='note'><p> Transactions New Zealand Institute, volume xxiii., page +453.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_C_3'></a><a href='#FNanchor_C_3'>[C]</a><div class='note'><p> "Journal of the Polynesian Society," volume x., page 35.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='JOHN_RUTHERFORD'></a><h2>JOHN RUTHERFORD</h2> + +<h2>THE WHITE CHIEF.</h2> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_I'></a><h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>John Rutherford, according to his own account, was born at Manchester +about the year 1796. He went to sea, he states, when he was hardly more +than ten years of age, having up to that time been employed as a piecer +in a cotton factory in his native town; and after that he appears to +have been but little in England, or even on shore, for many years.</p> + +<p>He served for a considerable time on board a man-of-war off the coast of +Brazil; and was afterwards at the storming of San Sebastian, in August, +1813. On coming home from Spain, he entered himself on board another +king's ship, bound for Madras, in which he afterwards proceeded to China +by the east passage, and lay for about a year at Macao.</p> + +<p>In the course of this voyage his ship touched at several islands in the +great Indian Archipelago, among others at the Bashee Islands,<a name='FNanchor_D_4'></a><a href='#Footnote_D_4'><sup>[D]</sup></a> which +have been rarely visited. On his return from the east he embarked on +board a convict vessel bound for New South Wales; and afterwards made +two trading voyages among the islands of the South Sea.</p> + +<p>It was in the course of the former of these that he first saw New +Zealand, the vessel having touched at the Bay of Islands, on her way +home to Port Jackson.</p> + +<p>His second trading voyage in those seas was made in the "Magnet," a +three-masted schooner, commanded by Captain Vine; but this vessel having +put in at Owhyhee,<a name='FNanchor_E_5'></a><a href='#Footnote_E_5'><sup>[E]</sup></a> Rutherford fell sick and was left on that island. +Having recovered, however, in about a fortnight, he was taken on board +the "Agnes," an American brig of six guns and fourteen men, commanded by +Captain Coffin, which was then engaged in trading for pearl and +tortoiseshell among the islands of the Pacific.</p> + +<p>This vessel, after having touched at various other places, on her return +from Owhyhee, approached the east coast of New Zealand, intending to put +in for refreshments at the Bay of Islands.</p> + +<p>Rutherford states in his journal that this event, which was to him of +such importance, occurred on March 6th, 1816. They first came in sight +of the Barrier Islands, some distance to the south of the port for which +they were making. They accordingly directed their course to the north; +but they had not got far on their way when it began to blow a gale from +the north-east, which, being aided by a current, not only made it +impossible for them to proceed to the Bay of Islands, but even carried +them past the mouth of the Thames. It lasted for five days, and when it +abated they found themselves some distance to the south of a high point +of land, which, from Rutherford's description, there can be no doubt +must have been that to which Captain Cook gave the name of East Cape. +Rutherford calls it sometimes the East, and sometimes the South-East +Cape, and describes it as the highest part of the coast. It lies nearly +in latitude 37° 42' S.</p> + +<p>The land directly opposite to them was indented by a large bay. This the +captain was very unwilling to enter, believing that no ship had ever +anchored in it before. We have little doubt, however, that this was the +very bay into which Cook first put, on his arrival on the coasts of New +Zealand, in the beginning of October, 1769. He called it Poverty Bay, +and found it to lie in latitude 38° 42' S. The bay in which Rutherford +now was must have been at least very near this part of the coast; and +his description answers exactly to that which Cook gives of Poverty Bay.</p> + +<p>It was, says Rutherford, in the form of a half-moon, with a sandy beach +round it, and at its head a fresh-water river, having a bar across its +mouth, which makes it navigable only for boats. He mentions also the +height of the land which forms its sides. All these particulars are +noticed by Cook. Even the name given to it by the natives, as reported +by the one, is not so entirely unlike that stated by the other, as to +make it quite improbable that the two are merely the same word +differently misrepresented. Cook writes it Taoneroa, and Rutherford +Takomardo. The slightest examination of the vocabularies of barbarous +tongues, which have been collected by voyagers and travellers, will +convince every one of the extremely imperfect manner in which the ear +catches sounds to which it is unaccustomed, and of the mistakes to which +this and other causes give rise, in every attempt which is made to take +down the words of a language from the native pronunciation, by a person +who does not understand it.</p> + +<p>Reluctant as the captain was to enter this bay, from his ignorance of +the coast, and the doubts he consequently felt as to the disposition of +the inhabitants, they at last determined to stand in for it, as they had +great need of water, and did not know when the wind might permit them to +get to the Bay of Islands.</p> + +<p>They came to anchor, accordingly, off the termination of a reef of +rocks, immediately under some elevated land, which formed one of the +sides of the bay. As soon as they had dropped anchor, a great many +canoes came off to the ship from every part of the bay, each containing +about thirty women, by whom it was paddled. Very few men made their +appearance that day; but many of the women remained on board all night, +employing themselves chiefly in stealing whatever they could lay their +hands on. Their conduct greatly alarmed the captain, and a strict watch +was kept during the night.</p> + +<p>The next morning one of the chiefs came on board, whose name they were +told was Aimy, in a large war-canoe, about sixty feet long, and carrying +above a hundred of the natives, all provided with quantities of mats and +fishing-lines, made of the strong white flax<a name='FNanchor_F_6'></a><a href='#Footnote_F_6'><sup>[F]</sup></a> of the country, with +which they professed to be anxious to trade with the crew.</p> + +<p>After this chief had been for some time on board, it was agreed that he +should return to the land, with some others of his tribe, in the ship's +boat, to procure a supply of water. This arrangement the captain was +very anxious to make, as he was averse from allowing any of the crew to +go on shore, wishing to keep them all on board for the protection of the +ship.</p> + +<p>In due time the boat returned, laden with water, which was immediately +hoisted on board; and the chief and his men were despatched a second +time on the same errand. Meanwhile, the rest of the natives continued to +take pigs to the ship in considerable numbers; and by the close of the +day about two hundred had been purchased, together with a quantity of +fern-root to feed them on.</p> + +<p>Up to this time, therefore, no hostile disposition had been manifested +by the savages; and their intercourse with the ship had been carried on +with every appearance of friendship and cordiality, if we except the +propensity they had shown to pilfer a few of the tempting rarities +exhibited to them by their civilised visitors. Their conduct as to this +matter ought perhaps to be taken rather as an evidence that they had not +as yet formed any design of attacking the vessel, as they would, in that +case, scarcely have taken the trouble of stealing a small part of what +they meant immediately to seize upon altogether. On the other hand, such +an infraction of the rules of hospitality would not have accorded with +that system of insidious kindness by which it is their practice to lull +the suspicions of those whom they are on the watch to destroy.</p> + +<p>During the night, however, the thieving was renewed, and carried to a +more alarming extent, inasmuch as it was found in the morning that some +of the natives had not only stolen the lead off the ship's stern, but +had also cut away many of the ropes, and carried them off in their +canoes. It was not till daybreak, too, that the chief returned with his +second cargo of water; and it was then observed that the ship's boat he +had taken with him leaked a great deal; on which the carpenter examined +her, and found that a great many of the nails had been drawn out of her +planks.</p> + +<p>About the same time, Rutherford detected one of the natives in the act +of stealing the dipson lead,—"which, when I took it from him," says he, +"he grinded his teeth and shook his tomahawk at me."</p> + +<p>"The captain," he continues, "now paid the chief for fetching the water, +giving him two muskets, and a quantity of powder and shot, arms and +ammunition being the only articles these people will trade for.</p> + +<p>"There were at this time about three hundred of the natives on the deck, +with Aimy, the chief, in the midst of them; every man was armed with a +green stone, slung with a string around his waist. This weapon they call +a 'mery,'<a name='FNanchor_G_7'></a><a href='#Footnote_G_7'><sup>[G]</sup></a> the stone being about a foot long, flat, and of an oblong +shape, having both edges sharp, and a handle at the end. They use it for +the purpose of killing their enemies, by striking them on the head.</p> + +<p>"Smoke was now observed rising from several of the hills; and the +natives appearing to be mustering on the beach from every part of the +bay, the captain grew much afraid, and desired us to loosen the sails, +and make haste down to get our dinners, as he intended to put to sea +immediately. As soon as we had dined, we went aloft, and I proceeded to +loosen the jib. At this time, none of the crew was on deck except the +captain and the cook, the chief mate being employed in loading some +pistols at the cabin table.</p> + +<p>"The natives seized this opportunity of commencing an attack upon the +ship. First, the chief threw off the mat which he wore as a cloak, and, +brandishing a tomahawk in his hand, began a war-song, when all the rest +immediately threw off their mats likewise, and, being entirely naked, +began to dance with such violence that I thought they would have stove +in the ship's deck.</p> + +<p>"The captain, in the meantime, was leaning against the companion, when +one of the natives went unperceived behind him, and struck him three or +four blows on the head with a tomahawk, which instantly killed him. The +cook, on seeing him attacked, ran to his assistance, but was immediately +murdered in the same manner.</p> + +<p>"I now sat down on the jib-boom, with tears in my eyes, and trembling +with terror.</p> + +<p>"Here I next saw the chief mate come running up the companion ladder, +but before he reached the deck he was struck on the back of the neck in +the same manner as the captain and the cook had been. He fell with the +blow, but did not die immediately.</p> + +<p>"A number of the natives now rushed in at the cabin door, while others +jumped down through the skylight, and others were employed in cutting +the lanyards of the rigging of the stays. At the same time, four of our +crew jumped overboard off the foreyard, but were picked up by some +canoes that were coming from the shore, and immediately bound hand and +foot.</p> + +<p>"The natives now mounted the rigging, and drove the rest of the crew +down, all of whom were made prisoners. One of the chiefs beckoned to me +to come to him, which I immediately did, and surrendered myself. We were +then put all together into a large canoe, our hands being tied; and the +New Zealanders, searching us, took from us our knives, pipes, +tobacco-boxes, and various other articles. The two dead bodies, and the +wounded mate, were thrown into the canoe along with us. The mate groaned +terribly, and seemed in great agony, the tomahawk having cut two inches +deep into the back of his neck; and all the while one of the natives, +who sat in the canoe with us, kept licking the blood from the wound with +his tongue. Meantime, a number of women who had been left in the ship +had jumped overboard, and were swimming to the shore, after having cut +her cable, so that she drifted, and ran aground on the bar near the +mouth of the river. The natives had not sense to shake the reefs out of +the sails, but had chopped them off along the yards with their +tomahawks, leaving the reefed part behind.</p> + +<p>"The pigs, which we had bought from them, were, many of them, killed on +board, and carried ashore dead in the canoes, and others were thrown +overboard alive, and attempted to swim to the land; but many of them +were killed in the water by the natives, who got astride on their backs, +and then struck them on the head with their merys. Many of the canoes +came to the land loaded with plunder from the ship; and numbers of the +natives quarrelled about the division of the spoil, and fought and slew +each other. I observed, too, that they broke up our water-casks for the +sake of the iron hoops.</p> + +<p>"While all this was going on, we were detained in the canoe; but at +last, when the sun was set, they conveyed us on shore to one of the +villages, where they tied us by the hands to several small trees. The +mate had expired before we got on shore, so that there now remained only +twelve of us alive. The three dead bodies were then brought forward, and +hung up by the heels to the branch of a tree, in order that the dogs +might not get at them. A number of large fires were also kindled on the +beach, for the purpose of giving light to the canoes, which were +employed all night in going backward and forward between the shore and +the ship, although it rained the greater part of the time.</p> + +<p>"Gentle reader," Rutherford continues, "we will now consider the sad +situation we were in; our ship lost, three of our companions already +killed, and the rest of us tied each to a tree, starving with hunger, +wet, and cold, and knowing that we were in the hands of cannibals.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, I observed that the surf had driven the ship over the +bar, and she was now in the mouth of the river, and aground near the end +of the village. Everything being now out of her, about ten o'clock in +the morning they set fire to her; after which they all mustered together +on an unoccupied piece of ground near the village, where they remained +standing for some time; but at last they all sat down except five, who +were chiefs, for whom a large ring was left vacant in the middle. The +five chiefs, of whom Aimy was one, then approached the place where we +were, and after they had stood consulting for some time, Aimy released +me and another, and, taking us into the middle of the ring, made signs +for us to sit down, which we did. In a few minutes, the other four +chiefs came also into the ring, bringing along with them four more of +our men, who were made to sit down beside us.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs now walked backward and forward in the ring with their merys +in their hands, and continued talking together for some time, but we +understood nothing of what they said. The rest of the natives were all +the while very silent, and seemed to listen to them with great +attention. At length, one of the chiefs spoke to one of the natives who +was seated on the ground, and the latter immediately rose, and, taking +his tomahawk in his hand, went and killed the other six men who were +tied to the trees. They groaned several times as they were struggling in +the agonies of death, and at every groan the natives burst out in great +fits of laughter.</p> + +<p>"We could not refrain from weeping for the sad fate of our comrades, not +knowing, at the same time, whose turn it might be next. Many of the +natives, on seeing our tears, laughed aloud, and brandished their merys +at us.</p> + +<p>"Some of them now proceeded to dig eight large round holes, each about a +foot deep, into which they afterwards put a great quantity of dry wood, +and covered it over with a number of stones. They then set fire to the +wood, which continued burning till the stones became red hot. In the +meantime, some of them were employed in stripping the bodies of my +deceased shipmates, which they afterwards cut up, for the purpose of +cooking them, having first washed them in the river, and then brought +them and laid them down on several green boughs which had been broken +off the trees and spread on the ground, near the fires, for that +purpose.</p> + +<p>"The stones being now red hot, the largest pieces of the burning wood +were pulled from under them and thrown away, and some green bushes, +having been first dipped in water, were laid round their edges, while +they were at the same time covered over with a few green leaves. The +mangled bodies were then laid upon the top of the leaves, with a +quantity of leaves also strewed over them; and after this a straw mat +was spread over the top of each hole. Lastly, about three pints of water +were poured upon each mat, which, running through to the stones, caused +a great steam, and then the whole was instantly covered with earth.</p> + +<p>"They afterwards gave us some roasted fish to eat, and three women were +employed in roasting fern-root for us. When they had roasted it, they +laid it on a stone, and beat it with a piece of wood, until it became +soft like dough. When cold again, however, it becomes hard, and snaps +like gingerbread. We ate but sparingly of what they gave us. After this +they took us to a house, and gave each of us a mat and some dried grass +to sleep upon. Here we spent the night, two of the chiefs sleeping along +with us.</p> + +<p>"We got up next morning as soon as it was daylight, as did also the two +chiefs, and went and sat down outside the house. Here we found a number +of women busy in making baskets of green flax, into some of which, when +they were finished, the bodies of our messmates, which had been cooking +all night, were put, while others were filled with potatoes, which had +been prepared by a similar process.</p> + +<p>"I observed some of the children tearing the flesh from the bones of our +comrades, before they were taken from the fires. A short time after this +the chiefs assembled, and, having seated themselves on the ground, the +baskets were placed before them and they proceeded to divide the flesh +among the multitude, at the rate of a basket among so many. They also +sent us a basket of potatoes and some of the flesh, which resembled +pork; but instead of partaking of it we shuddered at the very idea of +such an unnatural and horrid custom, and made a present of it to one of +the natives."</p> + +<p>According to this account, the editor says, the attack made upon the +"Agnes" would seem to have been altogether unprovoked by the conduct +either of the captain or any of the crew; but we must not, in matters of +this kind, assume that we are in possession of the whole truth, when we +have heard the statement of only one of the parties. What may have been +the exact nature of the offence given to the natives in the present +case, the narrative we have just transcribed hardly gives us any data +even for conjecturing; unless we are to suppose that their vindictive +feelings were called forth by the manner in which their pilfering may +have been resented or punished, about which, however, nothing is said in +the account. But perhaps, after all, it is not necessary to refer +their hostility to any immediate cause of this kind. These savages had +probably many old injuries, sustained from former European visitors, yet +unrevenged; and, according to their notions, therefore, they had reason +enough to hold every ship that approached their coast an enemy, and a +fair subject for spoliation. It is lamentable that the conduct of +Europeans should have offered them an excuse for such conduct.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img03"></a> +<img src='images/image03.png' width='286' height='450' alt='Christchurch Museum. + +1. Club (patu) of wood, inlaid with paua shell and carved. + +2. Greenstone club (mere pounanu). + +3. Club (onewa) of stone. + +4. Kotiate of wood or bone.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Collection of clubs. Christchurch Museum.</h5> + +<p>The wanton cruelties committed upon these people by the commanders and +crews of many of the vessels that have been of late years in the habit +of resorting to their shores, are testified to, by too many evidences, +to allow us to doubt the enormous extent to which they have been +carried; and they are, at the same time, too much in the spirit of that +systematic aggression and violence, which even British sailors are apt +to conceive themselves entitled to practise upon naked and unarmed +savages, to make the fact of their perpetration a matter of surprise to +us. We must refer to Mr. Nicholas's book<a name='FNanchor_H_8'></a><a href='#Footnote_H_8'><sup>[H]</sup></a> for many specific instances +of such atrocities; but we may merely mention here that the conduct in +question is distinctly noticed and denounced in the strongest terms, +both in a proclamation by Governor Macquarie, dated the 9th of November, +1814, and also in another by Sir Thomas Brisbane, dated the 17th of +May, 1824. So strong a feeling, indeed, had been excited upon this +subject among the more respectable inhabitants of the English colony, +that, in the year 1814, a society was formed in Sydney Town, with the +Governor at its head, for the especial protection of the natives of the +South Sea Islands against the oppressions practised upon them by the +crews of European vessels.</p> + +<p>The reports of the missionaries likewise abound in notices of the +flagrant barbarities by which, in New Zealand, as well as elsewhere, the +white man has signalised his superiority over his darker-complexioned +brother. But it may be enough to quote one of their statements, namely, +that within the first two or three years after the establishment of the +society's settlement at the Bay of Islands, not less than a hundred at +least of the natives had been murdered by Europeans in their immediate +neighbourhood. With such facts on record, it ought indeed to excite but +little of our surprise, that the sight of the white man's ship in their +horizon should be to these injured people in every district the signal +for a general muster, to meet the universal foe, and, if it may be +accomplished by force or cunning, to gratify the great passion of savage +life—revenge.</p> + +<p>The circumstances of this attack are all illustrative of the New Zealand +character; and, indeed, the whole narrative is strikingly accordant +with the accounts we have from other sources of the manner in which +these savages are wont to act on such occasions, although there +certainly never has before appeared so minute and complete a detail of +any similar transaction. The gathering of the inland population by fires +lighted on the hills, the previous crowding and almost complete +occupation of the vessel, the sly and patient watching for the moment of +opportunity, the instant seizure of it when it came, the management of +the whole with such precision and skill, as in the case of the +"Boyd,"<a name='FNanchor_I_9'></a><a href='#Footnote_I_9'><sup>[I]</sup></a> and indeed in every other known instance, while the success +of the movement was perfect—this result was obtained without the +expense of so much as a drop of blood on the part of the assailants—all +these things are the uniform accompaniments of New Zealand treachery +when displayed in such enterprises.</p> + +<p>The rule of military tactics among this people is, in the first place, +if possible, to surprise their enemies; and, in the second, to endeavour +to alarm and confound them. This latter is doubtless partly the purpose +of the song and dance, which form with them the constant prelude to the +assault, although these vehement expressions of passion operate also +powerfully as excitements to their own sanguinary valour and contempt +of death.</p> + +<p>Rutherford's description of the violence with which they danced on board +the ship in the present case, immediately before commencing their attack +on the crew, reminds us strikingly, even by its expression, of the +account Crozet gives us, in his narrative of the voyage of M. Marion, of +their exhibitions of a similar sort even when they were only in sport. +"They would often dance," says he "with such fury when on board the ship +that we feared they would drive in our deck."</p> + +<p>The alleged cannibalism of the New Zealanders is a subject that has +given rise to a good deal of controversy; and it has been even very +recently contended that the imputation, if not altogether unfounded, is +very nearly so, and that the horrid practice in question, if it does +exist among these people at all, has certainly never been carried beyond +the mere act of tasting human flesh, in obedience to some feeling of +superstition or frantic revenge, and even that perpetrated only rarely +and with repugnance.</p> + +<p>Without attempting to theorise as to such a matter on the ground of such +narrow views as ordinary experience would suggest, we may here state +what the evidence is which we really have for the cannibalism of the New +Zealanders.</p> + +<p>Cook was the first who discovered the fact, which he did in his first +visit to the country. The strongest proof of all was that which was +obtained in Queen Charlotte Sound. Captain Cook having one day gone +ashore here, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and other +persons belonging to the ship, found a family of the natives employed in +dressing some provisions.</p> + +<p>"The body of a dog," says Cook, "was at this time buried in their oven, +and many provision baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes +carelessly into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty +cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, +upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At +this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation +of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we +could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any +doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found +in a provision-basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to +have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end were the marks +of the teeth which had gnawed them.</p> + +<p>"To put an end, however, to conjecture founded upon circumstances and +appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the +Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man. +They were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied +that they had eaten it; 'but,' said Tupia, 'why did you not eat the body +of the woman we saw floating upon the water?' 'The woman,' said they, +'died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the +bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle.'</p> + +<p>"Upon inquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us +that, about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came +into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one of +seven whom they had killed.</p> + +<p>"Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the +inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still +stronger to give. One of us asked if they had any human bones with the +flesh remaining upon them; and upon their answering us that all had been +eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the bones were human, and said +that they were the bones of a dog; upon which one of the Indians, with +some eagerness, took hold of his own forearm, and thrusting it towards +us, said that the bone which Mr. Banks held in his hand had belonged to +that part of a human body; at the same time, to convince us that the +flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm with his teeth, and +made a show of eating. He also bit and gnawed the bone which Mr. Banks +had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and showing by signs that it +had afforded a delicious repast. Some others of them, in a conversation +with Tupia next day, confirmed all this in the fullest manner; and they +were afterwards in the habit of bringing human bones, the flesh of which +they had eaten, and offering them to the English for sale."</p> + +<p>When Cook was at the same place in November, 1773, in the course of his +second voyage, he obtained still stronger evidence of what he expressly +calls their "great liking for this kind of food," his former account of +their indulgence in which had been discredited, he tells us, by many. +Some of the officers of the ship having gone one afternoon on shore, +observed the head and bowels of a youth, who had been lately killed, +lying on the beach; and one of them, having purchased the head, brought +it on board. A piece of the flesh having then been broiled and given to +one of the natives, he ate it immediately in the presence of all the +officers and most of the men. Nothing is said of any aversion he seemed +to feel to the shocking repast. Nay, when, upon Cook's return on board, +for he had been at this time absent on shore, another piece of the flesh +was broiled and brought to the quarter-deck, that he also might be an +eye-witness of what his officers had already seen, one of the New +Zealanders, he tells us, "ate it with surprising avidity. This," he +adds, "had such an effect on some of our people as to make them sick."</p> + +<p>Of the persons who sailed with Cook, no one seems eventually to have +retained a doubt as to the prevalence of cannibalism among these +savages. Mr. Burney, who had been long sceptical, was at last convinced +of the fact, by what he observed when he went to look after the crew of +the "Adventure's" boat who had been killed in Grass Cove; and both the +elder and the younger Forster, who accompanied Cook on his second +voyage, express their participation in the general belief. John Ledyard, +who was afterwards distinguished as an adventurous African traveller, +but who sailed with Cook in the capacity of a corporal of marines, bears +testimony to the same fact.</p> + +<p>It thus appears that the testimony of those who have actually visited +New Zealand, in so far as it has been recorded, is unanimous upon this +head.</p> + +<p>To the authorities that have been already adduced, may be now added that +of Rutherford, whose evidence, both in the extract from his journal that +has been already given, and in other passages to which we shall +afterwards have occasion to refer, is in perfect accordance with the +statements of all preceding reporters entitled to speak upon the +subject. The facts that have been quoted would seem to show that the +eating of human flesh among this people is not merely an occasional +excess, prompted only by the phrenzy of revenge, but that it is actually +resorted to as a gratification of appetite, as well as of passion.</p> + +<p>It is very probable, however, that the practice may have had its origin +in those vindictive feelings which mix, to so remarkable a degree, in +all the enmities and wars of these savages. This is a much more likely +supposition than that it originated in the difficulty of procuring other +food, in which case, as has been remarked, it could not well have, at +any time, sprung up either in New Zealand or in almost any other of the +countries in which it is known to prevail. Certain superstitious +notions, besides, which are connected with it among this people, +sufficiently indicate the motives which must have first led to it; for +they believe that, by eating their enemies, they not only dishonour +their bodies, but consign their souls to perpetual misery. This is +stated by Cook.</p> + +<p>Other accounts, which we have from more recent authorities, concur in +showing that the person who eats any part of the body of another whom he +has slain in battle, fancies he secures to himself thereby a portion of +the valour or good fortune which had hitherto belonged to his dead +enemy. The most common occasion, too, on which slaves are slain and +eaten is by way of an offering to the "<i>mana</i>" of a chief or any of his +family who may have been cut off in battle.</p> + +<p>All this would go to prove that the cannibalism of the New Zealanders +had, on its first introduction, been intimately associated with certain +feelings or notions which seemed to demand the act as a duty, and not +at all with any circumstances of distress or famine which compelled a +resort to it as a dire necessity. There is too much reason for +apprehending, however, that the unnatural repast, having ceased in this +way to be regarded with that disgust with which it is turned from by +every unpolluted appetite, has now become an enjoyment in which they not +unfrequently indulge without any reference to the considerations which +originally tempted them to partake of it. Indeed, such a result, instead +of being incredible or improbable, would appear to be almost an +inevitable consequence of the general and systematic perpetration, under +any pretext, of so daring an outrage upon Nature as that of which these +savages are, on all hands, allowed to be guilty.</p> + +<p>The practice of cannibalism, which has prevailed among other nations as +well as the New Zealanders, has probably not had always exactly the same +origin. According to Mr. Mariner, it is of very recent introduction +among the people of Tonga, having been unknown among them till it was +imported about fifty or sixty years ago, along with other warlike +tastes, by their neighbours of the Fiji Islands, whose assistance had +been called in by one of the parties in a civil struggle. Here is an +instance of the practice having originated purely in the ferocity +engendered by the habit of war. In other cases it has, perhaps, arisen +out of the kindred practice of offering up human beings as sacrifices +to the gods.</p> + +<p>Humboldt, in his work on the indigenous inhabitants of South America, +gives us an interesting account of the introduction of this latter +atrocity among the Aztecs, a people of Mexico, whose annals record its +first perpetration to have taken place so late as the year 1317.</p> + +<p>But the most extraordinary instance of cannibalism which is known to +exist in the world is that practised by the Battas, an extensive and +populous nation of Sumatra. These people, according to Sir Stamford +Raffles, have a regular government, and deliberative assemblies; they +possess a peculiar language and written character, can generally write, +and have a talent for eloquence; they acknowledge a God, are fair and +honourable in their dealings, and crimes amongst them are few; their +country is highly cultivated. Yet this people, so far advanced in +civilization, are cannibals upon principle and system. Mr. Marsden,<a name='FNanchor_J_10'></a><a href='#Footnote_J_10'><sup>[J]</sup></a> +in his "History of Sumatra," seems to confine their cannibalism to the +accustomed cases of prisoners taken in war and to other gratifications +of revenge. But it is stated by Sir Stamford Raffles, upon testimony +which is unimpeachable, that criminals and prisoners are not only eaten +according to the law of the land, but that the same law permits their +being mangled and eaten while alive. The following extraordinary +account, which we extract from a letter of Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. +Marsden himself, dated February 27, 1820, is sufficiently revolting; but +it is important as showing the wonderful influence of ancient customs in +hardening the hearts of an otherwise mild and respectable people, and is +therefore calculated to make us look with less severity upon the +practices of the more ignorant New Zealanders. The progress of knowledge +and of true religion can alone eradicate such fearful relics of a +tremendous superstition—the offering, in another shape, to</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of human sacrifice.</span><br /> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>I have found all you say on the subject of cannibalism more than + confirmed. I do not think you have even gone far enough. You + might have broadly stated, that it is the practice, not only to + eat the victim, but to eat him alive. I shall pass over the + particulars of all previous information which I have received, + and endeavour to give you, in a few words, the result of a + deliberate inquiry from the Batta chiefs of Tappanooly. I caused + the most intelligent to be assembled; and in the presence of Mr. + Prince and Dr. Jack, obtained the following information, of the + truth of which none of us have the least doubt. It is the + universal and standing law of the Battas, that death by eating + shall be inflicted in the following cases:—Adultery; midnight + robbery; wars of importance, that is to say, one district against + another, the prisoners are sacrificed; intermarrying in the same + tribe, which is forbidden from the circumstance of their having + ancestors in common; treacherous attacks on a house, village, or + person. In all the above cases it is lawful for the victims to be + eaten, and they are eaten alive, that is to say, they are not + previously put to death. The victim is tied to a stake, with his + arms extended, the party collect in a circle around him, and the + chief gives the order to commence eating. The chief enemy, when + it is a prisoner, or the chief party injured in other cases, has + the first selection; and after he has cut off his slice, others + cut off pieces according to their taste and fancy, until all the + flesh is devoured. It is either eaten raw or grilled, and + generally dipped in sambul (a preparation of Chili pepper and + salt), which is always in readiness. Rajah Bandaharra, a Batta, + and one of the chiefs of Tappanooly, asserted that he was present + at a festival of this kind about eight years ago, at the village + of Subluan, on the other side of the bay, not nine miles distant, + where the heads may still be seen.</p> + +<p> When the party is a prisoner taken in war, he is eaten + immediately, and on the spot. Whether dead or alive he is equally + eaten, and it is usual even to drag the bodies from the graves, + and, after disinterring them, to eat the flesh. This only in + cases of war. From the clear and concurring testimony of all + parties, it is certain that it is the practice not to kill the + victim till the whole of the flesh cut off by the party is eaten, + should he live so long; the chief or party injured then comes + forward and cuts off the head, which he carries home as a trophy. + Within the last three years there have been two instances of this + kind of punishment within ten miles of Tappanooly, and the heads + are still preserved. In cases of adultery the injured party + usually takes the ear or ears; but the ceremony is not allowed to + take place except the wife's relations are present and partake of + it. In these and other cases where the criminal is directed to be + eaten, he is secured and kept for two or three days, till every + person (that is to say males) is assembled. He is then eaten + quietly, and in cold blood, with as much ceremony, and perhaps + more, than attends the execution of a capital sentence in Europe.</p> + +<p> The bones are scattered abroad after the flesh has been eaten, + and the head alone preserved. The brains belong to the chief, or + injured party, who usually preserves them in a bottle, for + purposes of witchcraft, &c. They do not eat the bowels, but like + the heart; and many drink the blood from bamboos. The palms of + the hands and the soles of the feet are the delicacies of + epicures. Horrid and diabolical as these practices may appear, it + is no less true that they are the result of much deliberation + among the parties, and seldom, except in the case of prisoners in + war, the effect of immediate and private revenge. In all cases of + crimes, the party has a regular trial, and no punishment can be + inflicted until sentence is regularly and formally passed in the + public fair. Here the chiefs of the neighbouring kampong + assemble, hear the evidence, and deliberate upon the crime and + probable guilt of the party; when condemned, the sentence is + ratified by the chiefs drinking the tuah, or toddy, which is + final, and may be considered equivalent to signing and sealing + with us.</p> + +<p> I was very particular in my inquiries whether the assembly were + intoxicated on the occasions of these punishments. I was assured + it was never the case. The people take rice with them, and eat it + with the meat, but no tuah is allowed. The punishment is always + inflicted in public. The men alone are allowed to partake, as the + flesh of man is prohibited to women (probably from an + apprehension they might become too fond of it). The flesh is not + allowed to be carried away from the spot, but must be consumed at + the time. I am assured that the Battas are more attached to these + laws than the Mahomedans are to the Koran, and that the number of + the punishments is very considerable. My informants considered + that there could be no less than fifty or sixty men eaten in a + year, and this in times of peace; but they were unable to + estimate the true extent, considering the great population of the + country; they were confident, however, that these laws were + strictly enforced wherever the name of Batta was known, and that + it was only in the immediate vicinity of our settlements that + they were modified and neglected. For proof, they referred me to + every Batta in the vicinity, and to the number of skulls to be + seen in every village, each of which was from a victim of the + kind.</p> + +<p> With regard to the relish with which the parties devour the + flesh, it appeared that, independent of the desire of revenge + which may be supposed to exist among the principals, about + one-half of the people eat it with a relish, and speak of it with + delight; the other half, though present, may not partake. Human + flesh is, however, generally considered preferable to cow or + buffalo beef, or hog, and was admitted to be so even by my + informants. Adverting to the possible origin of this practice, it + was observed that formerly they ate their parents when too old + for work; this, however, is no longer the case, and thus a step + has been gained in civilization. It is admitted that the parties + may be redeemed for a pecuniary compensation, but this is + entirely at the option of the chief enemy or injured party, who, + after his sentence is passed, may either have his victim eaten, + or he may sell him for a slave; but the law is that he shall be + eaten, and the prisoner is entirely at the mercy of his + prosecutor.</p> + +<p> The laws by which these sentences are inflicted are too well + known to require reference to books, but I am promised some MS. + accounts which relate to the subject. These laws are called huhum + pinang àn,—from depang àn, to eat—law or sentence to eat.</p> + +<p> I could give you many more details, but the above may be + sufficient to show that our friends the Battas are even worse + than you have represented them, and that those who are still + sceptical have yet more to learn. I have also a great deal to say + on the other side of the character, for the Battas have many + virtues. I prize them highly. </p></div> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_D_4'></a><a href='#FNanchor_D_4'>[D]</a><div class='note'><p> At the extreme north of the Philippine Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_E_5'></a><a href='#FNanchor_E_5'>[E]</a><div class='note'><p> Hawaii.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_F_6'></a><a href='#FNanchor_F_6'>[F]</a><div class='note'><p> Phormium tenax.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_G_7'></a><a href='#FNanchor_G_7'>[G]</a><div class='note'><p> méré.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_H_8'></a><a href='#FNanchor_H_8'>[H]</a><div class='note'><p> Nicholas's "Voyage to New Zealand."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_I_9'></a><a href='#FNanchor_I_9'>[I]</a><div class='note'><p> The transport "Boyd" was taken by Maoris and burned at +Whangaroa Harbour in 1809. Most of the people on board were massacred, +there being only four survivors out of seventy souls.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_J_10'></a><a href='#FNanchor_J_10'>[J]</a><div class='note'><p> William Marsden, who was sent out from Dublin to Sumatra, +about 1775, as a writer in the East India Company's service.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_II'></a><h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Rutherford and his comrades spent another night in the same manner as +they had done the previous one; and on the following morning set out, in +company with the five chiefs, on a journey into the interior.</p> + +<p>When they left the coast, the ship was still burning. They were attended +by about fifty natives, who were loaded with the plunder of the +unfortunate vessel. That day, he calculates, they travelled only about +ten miles, the journey being very fatiguing from the want of any regular +roads, and the necessity for making their way through a succession of +woods and swamps.</p> + +<p>The village at which their walk terminated was the residence of one of +the chiefs, whose name was Rangadi,<a name='FNanchor_K_11'></a><a href='#Footnote_K_11'><sup>[K]</sup></a> and who was received on his +arrival by about two hundred of the inhabitants.</p> + +<p>They came in a crowd, and, kneeling down around him, began to cry aloud +and cut their arms, faces, and other parts of their bodies with pieces +of sharp flint, of which each of them carried a number tied with a +string about his neck, till the blood flowed copiously from their +wounds.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img04"></a> +<img src='images/image04.png' width='450' height='334' alt='Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of +Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of +Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place.</h5> + +<p>These demonstrations of excited feeling, which Rutherford describes as +merely their usual manner of receiving any of their friends who have +been for some time absent, are rather more extravagant than seem to have +been commonly observed to take place on such occasions in other parts of +the island. Mr. Marsden,<a name='FNanchor_L_12'></a><a href='#Footnote_L_12'><sup>[L]</sup></a> however, states that on Korro-korro's<a name='FNanchor_M_13'></a><a href='#Footnote_M_13'><sup>[M]</sup></a> +return from Port Jackson, many of the women of his tribe who came out to +receive him "cut themselves in their faces, arms, and breasts with sharp +shells or flints, till the blood streamed down." Some time after, when +Duaterra<a name='FNanchor_N_14'></a><a href='#Footnote_N_14'><sup>[N]</sup></a> and Shungie<a name='FNanchor_O_15'></a><a href='#Footnote_O_15'><sup>[O]</sup></a> went on shore at the Bay of Islands, they met +with a similar reception from the females of their tribes. Mr. Savage +asserts that this cutting of their faces by the women always takes place +on the meeting of friends who have been long separated; but that the +ceremony consists only of embracing and crying, when the separation of +the parties has been short. It may be remarked that the custom of +receiving strangers with tears, by way of doing them honour, has +prevailed with other savages. Among the native tribes of Brazil, +according to Lafitau, it used to be the custom for the women, on the +approach of any one to whom they wished to show especial fidelity, to +crouch down on their heels, and, spreading their hands over their faces, +to remain for a considerable time in that posture, howling in a sort of +cadence, and shedding tears. Among the Sioux, again, it was the duty of +the men to perform this ceremony of lamentation on such occasions, which +they did standing, and laying their hands on the heads of their +visitors.</p> + +<p>In some cases, the wounds which the New Zealand women inflict on +themselves are intended to express their grief for friends who have +perished in war; and probably this may have been a reason for the strong +exhibition of feeling in the instance just noticed by Rutherford, as the +chiefs had then returned from an expedition. Such a mode of mourning has +been often observed in New Zealand. During the time that Cruise was at +the Bay of Islands, they found one day, upon going on shore, that a body +of the natives had just returned from a war expedition, in which they +had taken considerable numbers of prisoners, consisting of men, women, +and children, some of the latter of whom were not two years old; and +among the women was one, distinguished by her superior beauty, who sat +apart from the rest upon the beach, and, though silent, seemed buried in +affliction. They learned that her father, a chief of some consequence, +had been killed by the man whose prisoner she now was, and who kept +near her during the greater part of the day.</p> + +<p>The officers remained on shore till the evening; "and as we were +preparing to return to the ship," continues Cruise, "we were drawn to +that part of the beach where the prisoners were, by the most doleful +cries and lamentations. Here was the interesting young slave in a +situation that ought to have softened the heart of the most unfeeling. +The man who had slain her father, having cut off his head, and preserved +it by a process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket, +where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the +unhappy daughter." At once she seized it with a degree of phrenzy not to +be described; and subsequently, with a bit of sharp shell, disfigured +her person in so shocking a manner that in a few minutes not a vestige +of her former beauty remained. They afterwards learned that this fellow +had married the very woman he had treated with such singular barbarity.</p> + +<p>The crying, however, seems to be a ceremony that takes place universally +on the meeting of friends who have been for some time parted. We may +give, in illustration of this custom, Cruise's description of the +reception by their relatives of the nine New Zealanders who came along +with him in the "Dromedary" from Port Jackson.</p> + +<p>"When their fathers, brothers, etc., were admitted into the ship," says +he, "the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, +and every appearance of joy vanished. It is customary with these +extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting as +upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and +remain in this position for at least half-an-hour;<a name='FNanchor_P_16'></a><a href='#Footnote_P_16'><sup>[P]</sup></a> during which time +they sob and howl in the most doleful manner. If there be many friends +gathered around the person who has returned, the nearest relation takes +possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, +and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner (if he may be so +called) in the various expressions of his lamentation. This ended, they +resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that +has happened during their separation. As there were nine New Zealanders +just returned, and more than three times that number to commemorate the +event, the howl was quite tremendous, and so novel to almost every one +in the ship that it was with difficulty our people's attention could be +kept to matters at that moment more essential. Little Repero, who had +frequently boasted, during the passage, that he was too much of an +Englishman ever to cry again, made a strong effort when his father, +Shungie, approached him, to keep his word; but his early habit soon got +the better of his resolution, and he evinced, if possible, more +distress than any of the others."</p> + +<p>The sudden thawing of poor Repero's heroic resolves was an incident +exactly similar to another which Mr. Nicholas had witnessed. Among the +New Zealanders who, after having resided for some time in New South +Wales, returned with him and Mr. Marsden to their native country, was +one named Tooi,<a name='FNanchor_Q_17'></a><a href='#Footnote_Q_17'><sup>[Q]</sup></a> who prided himself greatly on being able to imitate +European manners; and accordingly, declaring that he would not cry, but +would behave like an Englishman, began, as the trying moment approached, +to converse most manfully with Mr. Nicholas, evidently, however, forcing +his spirits the whole time. But "his fortitude," continues Nicholas, +"was very soon subdued; for being joined by a young chief about his own +age, and one of his best friends, he flew to his arms, and, bursting +into tears, indulged exactly the same emotions as the others."</p> + +<p>Tooi was afterwards brought to England, and remained for some time in +this country. He was in attendance upon his brother Korro-korro, one of +the greatest chiefs in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, and, as +well as Shungie, who has just been mentioned, celebrated all over the +country for his love of fighting, and the number of victories he had +won.</p> + +<p>Yet even this hardy warrior was no more proof than any one of his wives +or children against this strange habit of emotion. The first person he +met on his landing happened to be his aunt, whose appearance, as, bent +to the earth with age and infirmities, she ascended a hill, supporting +herself upon a long staff, Nicholas compares to that which we might +conceive the Sibyl bore, when she presented herself to Tarquin. Yet, +when she came up to Korro-korro, the chief, we are told, having fallen +upon her neck, and applied his nose to hers, the two continued in this +posture for some minutes, talking together in a low and mournful voice; +and then disengaging themselves, they gave vent to their feelings by +weeping bitterly, the chief remaining for about a quarter of an hour +leaning on his musket, while the big drops continued to roll down his +cheeks.</p> + +<p>The old woman's daughter, who had come along with her, then made her +approach, and another scene, if possible of still more tumultuous +tenderness than the former, took place between the two cousins. The +chief hung, as before, in an agony of affection, on the neck of his +relation; and "as for the woman," says Nicholas, "she was so affected +that the mat she wore was literally soaked through with her tears." A +passionate attachment to friends is, indeed, one of the most prevailing +feelings of the savage state. Dampier tells us of an Indian who +recovered his friend unexpectedly on the island of Juan Fernandez, and +who immediately prostrated himself on the ground at his feet. "We stood +gazing in silence," says the manly sailor, "at this tender scene."</p> + +<p>The house of the chief to which Rutherford and his comrades were taken +was the largest in the village, being both long and wide, although very +low, and having no other entrance than an aperture, which was shut by +means of a sliding door, and was so much lower even than the roof that +it was necessary to crawl upon the hands and knees to get through it.</p> + +<p>Two large pigs and a quantity of potatoes were now cooked; and when they +were ready, a portion having been allotted to the slaves, who are never +permitted to eat along with the chiefs, the latter sat down to their +repast, the white men taking their places beside them.</p> + +<p>The feast was not held within the house, but in the open air; and the +meat that was not consumed was hung up on posts for a future occasion. +One of the strongest prejudices of the New Zealanders is an aversion to +be where any article of food is suspended over their heads; and on this +account, they never permit anything eatable to be brought within their +huts, but take all their meals out of doors, in an open space adjoining +to the house, which has been called by some writers the kitchen, it +being there that the meal is cooked as well as eaten. Crozet says that +every one of these kitchens has in it a cooking hole, dug in the +ground, of about two feet in diameter, and between one and two feet +deep. Even when the natives are confined to their beds by sickness, and, +it may be, at the point of death, they must receive whatever food they +take in this outer room, which, however, is sometimes provided with a +shed, supported upon posts, although in no case does it appear to be +enclosed by walls. It is here, accordingly, that those who are in so +weak a state from illness as not to be able to bear removal from one +place to another usually have their couches spread; as, were they to +choose to recline inside the house, it would be necessary to leave them +to die of want.</p> + +<p>Nicholas, in the course of an excursion which he made in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, was once not a little annoyed and +put out of humour by this absurd superstition. It rained heavily when he +and Marsden arrived very hungry at a village belonging to a chief of +their acquaintance, where, although the chief was not at home, they were +very hospitably received, their friends proceeding immediately to dress +some potatoes to make them a dinner. But after they had prepared the +meal, they insisted, as usual, that it should be eaten in the open air.</p> + +<p>This condition, Nicholas, in the circumstances, naturally thought a +somewhat hard one; but it was absolutely necessary either to comply with +it, or to go without potatoes. To make matters worse, the dining-room +had not even a shed. So they had no course left but to take shelter in +the best way they could, under a projection from the roof of the house, +extending about three feet; and here they contrived to take their +repast, without being very much drenched. However, they were not allowed +this indulgence without many anxious scruples on the part of their +friends, who considered even their venturing so near to the house on +such an occasion as an act of daring impiety. As they had got possession +of the potatoes, their entertainers, though very much shocked and +alarmed, did not proceed to such rudeness as to take these from them +again; but whenever they wanted to drink out of the calabash that had +been brought to them, they obliged them to thrust out their heads for it +from under the covering, although the rain continued to fall in +torrents.</p> + +<p>Fatigued as he was, and vexed at being in this way kept out of the +comfortable shelter he had expected, Nicholas at last commenced +inveighing, he tells us, against the inhospitable custom, with much +acrimony; and as Tooi, who was with them, had always shown so strong a +predilection for European customs, he turned to him, and asked him if he +did not think that these notions of his countrymen were all gammon. +Tooi, however, replied sharply, that "it was no gammon at all"; adding, +"New Zealand man say that Mr. Marsden's <i>crackee crackee</i> (preaching) +of a Sunday is all gammon," in indignant retaliation for the insult that +had been offered to his national customs.</p> + +<p>But the worst part of the adventure was yet to come; for as the night +was now fast approaching, and the rain still pouring down incessantly, +it was impossible to think of returning to the ship; "and we were +therefore," continues Nicholas, "obliged to resolve upon remaining where +we were, although we had no bed to expect, nor even a comfortable floor +to stretch upon. We wrapped ourselves up in our great coats, which by +good fortune we had brought with us, and when the hour of rest came on, +laid ourselves down under the projecting roof, choosing rather to remain +here together, than to go into the house and mingle with its crowded +inmates, which we knew would be very disagreeable. Mr. Marsden, who is +blessed by nature with a strong constitution, and capable of enduring +almost any fatigue, was very soon asleep; but I, who have not been cast +in a Herculean mould, nor much accustomed to severe privations, felt all +the misery of the situation, while the cold and wet to which I was +unavoidably exposed, from the place being open, brought on a violent +rheumatic headache, that prevented me from once closing my eyes, and +kept me awake in the greatest anguish.</p> + +<p>"Being at length driven from this wretched shelter by the rain, which +was still beating against me, I crept into the house, through the +narrow aperture that served for a door; and, stretching myself among my +rude friends, I endeavoured to get some repose; but I found this equally +impossible here as in the place I had left. The pain in my head still +continued; and those around me, being all buried in profound sleep, +played, during the whole night, such music through their noses, as +effectually prevented me from being able to join in the same chorus."</p> + +<p>On one occasion, in the course of his second visit, Marsden spent the +night in the house of a chief, the entrance to which was of such narrow +dimensions that he could not, he says, creep in without taking his coat +off. The apartment altogether measured only about fourteen feet by ten; +and when he looked into it he found a fire blazing on the centre of the +floor, which made the place as hot as an oven, there being no vent for +the smoke, except through the hole which served for a door. However, the +fire, on his entreating it, was taken out, and then he and his friend, +Butler, who was with him, crept in, and were followed by their +entertainer, his wife and nephew. The hut was still extremely hot, and +they perspired profusely when they lay down, but they were a little +relieved by the New Zealanders consenting to allow the door to remain +open during the night.</p> + +<p>Another time he was thrust into a still closer dormitory. "The +entrance," says he, "was just sufficient for a man to creep into. Being +very cold, I was glad to occupy such a warm berth. I judged the hut to +be about eight feet wide, and twelve long. It had a fire in the centre; +and no vent either for smoke or heat. The chiefs who were with us threw +off their mats and lay down close together in a state of perfect nudity. +I had not been many minutes in this oven, before I found the heat and +smoke, above, below, and on every side, to be insufferable. Though the +night was cold, Mr. Kendall and myself were compelled to quit our +habitation. I crept out, and walked in the village, to see if I could +meet with a shed to keep me from the damp air till the morning. I found +one empty, into which I entered. I had not been long under my present +cover before I observed a chief, who came with us from the last village, +come out of the hut which I had left, perfectly naked. The moon shone +very bright. I saw him run from hut to hut, till at last he found me +under my shed, and urged me to return. I told him I could not bear the +heat, and requested him to allow me to remain where I was; to which he +at length consented with reluctance. I was surprised at the little +effect that heat or cold seemed to have upon him. He had come out of the +hut smoking like a hot loaf drawn from the oven, walked about to find +me, and then sat down, conversed some time, without any clothing, though +the night was cold. Mr. Kendall remained sitting under his mat, in the +open air, till morning."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders make only two meals in the day, one in the morning +and another at sunset; but their voracity when they do eat is often very +great. Nicholas remarks that the chiefs and their followers, with whom +he made the voyage from Port Jackson, used, while in the ship, to seize +upon every thing they could lay their hands upon in the shape of food. +In consequence of this habit of consuming an extraordinary quantity of +food, a New Zealander, with all his powers of endurance in other +respects, suffers dreadfully when he has not the usual means of +satisfying his hunger.</p> + +<p>The huts of the common people are described as very wretched, and little +better than sheds; but Nicholas mentions that those which he saw in the +northern part of the country had uniformly well-cultivated gardens +attached to them, which were stocked with turnips, and sweet and common +potatoes. Crozet tells us that the only articles of furniture the French +ever found in these huts, were fishing-hooks, nets, and lines, +calabashes containing water, a few tools made of stone, and several +cloaks and other garments suspended from the walls.</p> + +<p>Amongst the tools, one resembling our adze is in the most common use; +and it is remarkable that the handles of these implements are often +composed of human bones. In the museum of the Church Missionary Society +there are adzes, the handle of one of which is formed of the bone of a +human arm, and another of that of a leg.</p> + +<p>The common people generally sleep in the open air, in a sitting +posture, and covered by their mats, all but the head; which has been +described as giving them the appearance of so many hay-cocks or +beehives.</p> + +<p>The house of the chief is generally, as Rutherford found it to be in the +present case, the largest in the village; but every village has, in +addition to the dwelling-houses of which it consists, a public +storehouse, or repository of the common stock of sweet potatoes, which +is a still larger structure than the habitation of the chief. One which +Cruise describes was erected upon several posts driven into the ground, +which were floored over with deals at the height of about four feet, as +a foundation. Both the sides and the roof were compactly formed of +stakes intertwisted with grass; and a sliding doorway, scarcely large +enough to admit a man, formed the entrance. The roof projected over +this, and was ornamented with pieces of plank painted red, and having a +variety of grotesque figures carved on them. The whole building was +about twenty feet long, eight feet wide, and five feet high.</p> + +<p>The residences of the chiefs are built upon the ground, and have +generally the floor, and a small space in front, neatly paved; but they +are so low that a man can stand upright in very few of them. The huts, +as well as the storehouses, are adorned with carving over the door.</p> + +<p>One of the arts in which the New Zealanders most excel is that of +carving in wood. Some of their performances in this way are, no doubt, +grotesque enough; but they often display both a taste and ingenuity +which, especially when we consider their miserably imperfect tools, it +is impossible to behold without admiration. This is one of the arts +which, even in civilized countries, does not seem to flourish best in a +highly advanced state of society. Even among ourselves, it certainly is +not at present cultivated with so much success as it was a century or +two ago.</p> + +<p>Machinery, the monopolizing power of our age, is not well fitted to the +production of striking effects in this particular branch of the arts. +Fine carving is displayed, as in the works of Gibbons, by a rich and +natural variety, altogether opposed to that faultless and inflexible +regularity of operation which is the perfection of a machine. Hence the +lathe, with all the miraculous capabilities it has been made to evolve, +can never here come into successful competition with the chisel, in so +far as the quality and spirit of the performance are concerned; but the +former may, nevertheless, drive the latter out of the market, and seems +in a great measure to have done so, by the infinitely superior facility +and rapidity of its operation. Hence the gradual decay, and almost +extinction among us, of this old art, of which former ages have left us +so many beautiful specimens. It is said to survive now, if at all, not +among our artists by profession, whose taste is expended upon higher +objects, but among the common workmen of our villages, who have pursued +it as an amusement, long after it has ceased to be profitable.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand artist has no lathe to compete with; but neither has he +even those ordinary hand-tools which every civilized country has always +afforded. The only instruments he has to cut with are rudely fashioned +of stone or bone. Yet even with these, his skill and patient +perseverance contrive to grave the wood into any forms which his fancy +may suggest. Many of the carvings thus produced are distinguished by +both a grace and richness of design that would do no discredit even to +European art.</p> + +<p>The considerations by which the New Zealanders are directed in choosing +the sites of their villages are the same which usually regulate that +matter among other savages. The North American Indians, for example, +generally build their huts on the sides of some moderately sized hill, +that they may have the advantage of the ground in case of being attacked +by their enemies, or on the bank of a river, which may, in such an +emergency, serve them for a natural moat. A situation in which they are +protected by the water on more sides than one is preferred; and, +accordingly, both on this account, and for the sake of being near the +sea, which supplies them with fish, the New Zealanders and other +savage tribes are much accustomed to establish themselves at the mouths +of rivers. Among the American Indians, as in New Zealand, a piece of +ground is always left unoccupied in the middle of the village, or +contiguous to it, for the holding of public assemblies. So, also, it +used to be in our own country, almost every village in which had +anciently its common and its central open space; the latter of which, +after the introduction of Christianity, was generally decorated by the +erection of a cross.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img05"></a> +<img src='images/image05.png' width='293' height='450' alt='A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. Tourist Dept. +photo' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. Tourist Dept.</h5> + +<p>It is curious to remark how the genius of commerce—the predominating +influence of a more civilized age—has seized upon more than one of +these provisions of the old state of society, and converted them to its +own purposes. The spacious area around the village cross, or the +adjacent common, has been changed into the scene of the fair or the +daily market; and the vicinity of the sea, or the navigable river, no +longer needed as a protection against the attacks of surrounding +enemies, has been taken advantage of to let in the wealth of many +distant climes, and to metamorphose the straggling assemblage of mud +cottages into a thronged and widespread city—the proud abode of +industry, wealth, elegance, and letters.</p> + +<p>Rutherford states that the baskets in which the provisions are served up +are never used twice; and the same thing is remarked by Cruise. The +calabash, Rutherford adds, is the only vessel they have for holding any +kind of liquid; and when they drink out of it, they never permit it to +touch their lips, but hold their face up, and pour the liquor into their +mouth.</p> + +<p>After dinner they place themselves for this purpose in a row, when a +slave goes from one to another with the calabash, and each holds his +hand under his chin as the liquor is poured by the slave into his mouth. +They never drink anything hot or warm. Indeed, their only beverage +appears to be water;<a name='FNanchor_R_18'></a><a href='#Footnote_R_18'><sup>[R]</sup></a> and their strong aversion to wine and spirits is +noticed by almost all who have described their manners.</p> + +<p>Tetoro, one of the chiefs who returned from Port Jackson in the +"Dromedary," was sometimes admitted, during the passage, into the cabin, +and asked by the officers to take a glass of wine, when he always tasted +it, with perfect politeness, though his countenance strongly indicated +how much he disliked it. George of Wangaroa, the chief who headed the +attack on the "Boyd," was the only New Zealander that Cruise met with +who could be induced to taste grog without reluctance; and he really +liked it, though a very small quantity made him drunk, in which state he +was quite outrageous. His natural habits had been vitiated by having +served for some time in an English ship.</p> + +<p>It is probable, however, that the sobriety of this people has been +hitherto principally preserved by their ignorance of the mode of +manufacturing any intoxicating beverage. Even the females, it would +appear, have some of them of late years learned the habit of drinking +grog from the English sailors; and Captain Dillon gives an account of a +priestess, who visited him on board the "Besearch," and who, having +among several other somewhat indecorous requests, demanded a tumbler of +rum, quaffed off the whole at a draught as soon as it was set before +her.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_K_11'></a><a href='#FNanchor_K_11'>[K]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Rangatai, although no chief of that name is +known.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_L_12'></a><a href='#FNanchor_L_12'>[L]</a><div class='note'><p> The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was appointed chaplain to the +convict settlement of New South Wales in 1793, and who held the first +divine service in New Zealand, on Christmas Day, 1814.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_M_13'></a><a href='#FNanchor_M_13'>[M]</a><div class='note'><p> Koro-koro.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_N_14'></a><a href='#FNanchor_N_14'>[N]</a><div class='note'><p> Ruatara, a close friend of Mr. Marsden.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_O_15'></a><a href='#FNanchor_O_15'>[O]</a><div class='note'><p> Hongi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_P_16'></a><a href='#FNanchor_P_16'>[P]</a><div class='note'><p> This is exaggerated.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_Q_17'></a><a href='#FNanchor_Q_17'>[Q]</a><div class='note'><p> Tui, in the accepted orthography.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_R_18'></a><a href='#FNanchor_R_18'>[R]</a><div class='note'><p> The ancient Maoris were one of the very few races that had +no intoxicating drinks.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_III'></a><h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Dinner being finished, Rutherford and his companions spent the evening +seated around a large fire, while several of the women, whose +countenances he describes as pleasing, amused themselves by playing with +the fingers of the strangers, sometimes opening their shirts at the +breasts, and at other times feeling the calves of their legs, "which +made us think," says Rutherford, "that they were examining us to see if +we were fat enough for eating.</p> + +<p>"The large fire," he continues, "that had been made to warm the house, +being now put out, we retired to rest in the usual manner; but although +the fire had been extinguished, the house was still filled with smoke, +the door being shut, and there being neither chimney nor window to let +it out.</p> + +<p>"In the morning, when we arose, the chief gave us back our knives and +tobacco-boxes, which they had taken from us while in the canoe, on our +first being made prisoners; and we then breakfasted on some potatoes and +cockles, which had been cooked while we were at the sea-coast, and +brought thence in baskets.</p> + +<p>"Aimy's wife and two daughters now arrived, which occasioned another +grand crying ceremony; and when it was over, the three ladies came to +look at me and my companions. In a short time, they had taken a fancy to +some small gilt buttons which I had on my waist-coat; and Aimy making a +sign for me to cut them off, I immediately did so, and presented them +for their acceptance. They received them very gladly, and, shaking hands +with me, exclaimed, 'The white man is very good.'</p> + +<p>"The whole of the natives having then seated themselves on the ground in +a ring, we were brought into the middle and, being stripped of our +clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or +six men, while two others commenced the operation of tattooing us.</p> + +<p>"Having taken a piece of charcoal, and rubbed it upon a stone with a +little water until they had produced a thickish liquid, they then dipped +into it an instrument made of bone, having a sharp edge like a chisel, +and shaped in the fashion of a garden-hoe, and immediately applied it to +the skin, striking it twice or thrice with a small piece of wood. This +made it cut into the flesh as a knife would have done, and caused a +great deal of blood to flow, which they kept wiping off with the side of +the hand, in order to see if the impression was sufficiently clear. When +it was not, they applied the bone a second time to the same place. They +employed, however, various instruments in the course of the operation; +one which they sometimes used being made of a shark's tooth, and another +having teeth like a saw. They had them also of different sizes, to suit +the different parts of the work.</p> + +<p>"While I was undergoing this operation, although the pain was most +acute, I never either moved or uttered a sound; but my comrades moaned +dreadfully. Although the operators were very quick and dexterous, I was +four hours under their hands; and during the operation Aimy's eldest +daughter several times wiped the blood from my face with some dressed +flax. After it was over she led me to the river, that I might wash +myself, for it had made me completely blind, and then conducted me to a +great fire. They now returned us all our clothes, with the exception of +our shirts, which the women kept for themselves, wearing them, as we +observed, with the fronts behind.</p> + +<p>"We were now not only tattooed, but what they called tabooed,<a name='FNanchor_S_19'></a><a href='#Footnote_S_19'><sup>[S]</sup></a> the +meaning of which is, made sacred, or forbidden to touch any provisions +of any kind with our hands. This state of things lasted for three days, +during which time we were fed by the daughters of the chiefs, with the +same victuals, and out of the same baskets, as the chiefs themselves, +and the persons who had tattooed us. In three days, the swelling which +had been produced by the operation had greatly subsided, and I began to +recover my sight; but it was six weeks before I was completely well. I +had no medical assistance of any kind during my illness; but Aimy's two +daughters were very attentive to me, and would frequently sit beside me, +and talk to me in their language, of which, as yet, however, I did not +understand much."</p> + +<p>The custom of marking the skin, called <i>tattooing</i>, is one of the most +widely-diffused practices of savage life, having been found, even in +modern times, to exist, in one modification or another, not only in most +of the inhabited lands of the Pacific, from New Zealand as far north as +the Sandwich Isles, but also among many of the aboriginal tribes both of +Africa and America. In the ancient world it appears to have been at +least equally prevalent. It is evidently alluded to, as well as the +other practice that has just been noticed, of wounding the body by way +of mourning, in the twenty-eighth verse of the nineteenth chapter of +Leviticus, among the laws delivered to the Israelites through +Moses:—"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor +print any marks upon you," both of these being doubtless habits of the +surrounding nations, which the chosen people, according to their usual +propensity, had shown a disposition to imitate.</p> + +<p>The few civilized communities of antiquity seem to have been all of them +both singularly incurious as to the manners and conditions of the +barbarous races by whom they were on all sides so closely encompassed, +and, as might be expected, extremely ill-informed on the subject; so +much so, as has been remarked by an author who has written on this topic +with admirable learning and ability, that when Hanno, the Carthaginian, +returned from his investigation of a small part of the west coast of +Africa, he had no difficulty in making his countrymen believe that two +hides, with the hair still on, which he brought back with him, and which +he had taken from two large apes, were actually the skins of savage +women, and deserving of being suspended in the temple of Juno as most +uncommon curiosities.</p> + +<p>But, little as these matters seem in general to have attracted the +attention of the ancient writers, their works still contain many notices +of the practice of tattooing. We may cite only one or two of a +considerable number that have been collected by Lafitau,<a name='FNanchor_T_20'></a><a href='#Footnote_T_20'><sup>[T]</sup></a> although +even his enumeration might be easily extended. Herodotus mentions it as +prevailing among the Thracians, certain of whom, he says, exhibit such +marks on their faces as an indication of their nobility. Other authors +speak of it as a practice of the Scythians, the Agathyrses, and the +Assyrians. Cæsar remarks it as prevailing among the Britons; and there +can be no doubt that the term <i>Picti</i> was merely a name given to those +more northerly tribes of our countrymen who retained this custom after +it had fallen into decay among their southern brethren, who were in +reality of the same race with themselves, under the ascendancy of the +arts and manners of their Roman conquerors.</p> + +<p>The Britons, according to Cæsar, painted their skins to make themselves +objects of greater terror to their enemies; but it is not unlikely that +the real object of these decorations was with them, as it appears to +have been among the other barbarous nations of antiquity, to denote +certain ranks of nobility or chieftainship; and thus to serve, in fact, +nearly the same purpose with our modern coats of arms.</p> + +<p>Pliny states that the dye with which the Britons stained themselves was +that of a herb called <i>glastum</i>, which is understood to be the same with +plantain. They introduced the juice of this herb into punctures +previously made in the skin, so as to form permanent delineations of +various animals, and other objects, on different parts of the body. The +operation, which seems to have been performed by regular artists, is +said to have been commonly undergone in boyhood; and a stoical endurance +of the pain which it inflicted was considered one of the best proofs the +sufferer could give of his resolution and manliness.</p> + +<p>Among the Indians of America, some races are much more tattooed than +others, and some scarcely at all. It it stated that, among the Iroquois +only, a few of the women are in the habit of tracing a single row of +this sort of embroidery along the jaw; and that merely with the intent +of curing or preventing toothache, an effect which they conceive is +produced by the punctures destroying certain nerves. It appears to be +the general practice in America, first to finish the cutting, or graving +of the lines, and afterwards to introduce the colouring, which is +commonly made of pulverised charcoal. This last part of the operation +occasions by far the greatest pain. Among the native tribes of Southern +Africa, the fashion is merely to raise the epidermis by a slight +pricking, which is described as affording rather a pleasurable +excitement.</p> + +<p>At the Society Isles these marks, according to Cook, were so general, +that hardly anybody was to be seen without them. Persons of both sexes +were commonly tattooed about the age of twelve or fourteen; and the +decorations, which Cook imagined to vary according to the fancy, or +perhaps, which is more likely, the rank of the individual, were +liberally bestowed upon every part of the body, with the exception, +however, of the face, which was generally left unmarked. They consisted +not only of squares, circles, and other such figures, but frequently +also of rude delineations of men, birds, dogs, and other animals. Banks +saw the operation performed on a girl of about thirteen years of age, +who was held down all the while by several women, and both struggled +hard and made no little outcry as the artist proceeded with his +labours. Yet it would seem that the process in use here is considerably +more gentle than that practised in New Zealand; for the punctures, Cook +affirms, could hardly be said to draw blood. Being afflicted by means of +an instrument with small teeth, somewhat resembling a fine comb, the +effect would be rather a pricking than a cutting, or carving, of the +flesh. Unlike what we have seen to be the practice among the American +savages, the tincture was here introduced by the same blow by which the +skin was punctured. The substance employed was a species of lamp black, +formed of the smoke of an oily nut which the natives burned to give them +light.</p> + +<p>The practice of tattooing is now, we believe, discontinued at Otaheite; +but the progress of civilization has not yet altogether banished it at +the Sandwich Islands. When Lord Byron was at Hawaii, in 1825, he found +it used as a mark of mourning, though some still had themselves tattooed +merely by way of ornament. On the death of one of the late kings of the +island, it is stated that all the chiefs had his name and the date of +his death engraved in this manner on their arms. The ladies here, it +seems, follow the very singular practice of tattooing the tips of their +tongues, in memory of their departed friends. In the Tonga, or Friendly +Islands, it would appear from Mariner's very minute description of the +operation as there practised, as at Otaheite and elsewhere, the +instrument used is always a sort of comb, having from six up to fifty or +sixty teeth. There are, Mariner tells us, certain patterns or forms of +the tattoo, and the individual may choose which he likes. On the brown +skins of the natives the marks, which are imprinted by means of a +tincture made of soot, have a black appearance; but on that of a +European, their colour is a fine blue. The women here are not tattooed, +though a few of them have some marks on the inside of their fingers. At +the Fiji Islands, on the contrary, in the neighbourhood of the Tonga +group, the men are not tattooed, but the women are.</p> + +<p>The term "tattoo" is not known in New Zealand, the name given to the +marks, which are elsewhere so called, being in this country "Moko," or, +as it has been more generally written, from a habit which the natives +seem to have of prefixing the sound "a" to many of their words, +"Amoco."<a name='FNanchor_U_21'></a><a href='#Footnote_U_21'><sup>[U]</sup></a></p> + +<p>The description which Rutherford gives of the process agrees entirely +with what has been stated by other observers; although it certainly has +been generally understood that, in no case, was the whole operation +undergone at once, as it would, however, appear to have been in his. +Both Cruise and Marsden expressly state, that, according to their +information, it always required several months, and sometimes several +years, to tattoo a chief perfectly; owing to the necessity for one part +of the face or body being allowed to heal before commencing the +decoration of another. Perhaps, however, this prolongation of the +process may only be necessary when the moko is of a more intricate +pattern, or extends over a larger portion of the person, than that which +Rutherford received; or, in his peculiar circumstances, it may have been +determined that he should have his powers of endurance put to still +harder proof than a native would have been required to submit to in +undergoing the same ceremony.</p> + +<p>The portrait of Rutherford accurately represents the tattooing on his +body. Cruise asserts that the tattooing in New Zealand is renewed +occasionally, as the lines become fainter by time, to the latest period +of life; and that one of the chiefs who returned home in the "Dromedary" +was re-tattooed soon after his arrival.</p> + +<p>From Rutherford's account, and he is corroborated as to that point by +the other authorities, it will be perceived that the operation of +tattooing is one of a still more severe and sanguinary description in +New Zealand than it would seem to be in any of the other islands of the +South Sea; for it is performed here, not merely by means of a sort of +fine comb, which merely pricks the skin and draws from it a little serum +slightly tinged with blood, but also by an instrument of the nature of a +chisel, which at every application makes an incision into the flesh, +and causes the blood to start forth in gushes. This chisel is sometimes +nearly a quarter of an inch broad, although, for the more minute parts +of the figure, a smaller instrument is used.</p> + +<p>The stick with which the chisel is struck is occasionally formed into a +broad blade at one end, which is applied to wipe away the blood. The +tincture is said to be sometimes obtained from the juice of a particular +tree.</p> + +<p>Rutherford has forgotten to mention that, before the cutting has begun +the figure is traced out upon the place; this appears to be always done +in New Zealand as well as elsewhere, a piece of burnt stick or red earth +being, according to Savage,<a name='FNanchor_V_22'></a><a href='#Footnote_V_22'><sup>[V]</sup></a> used for the purpose.</p> + +<p>Some are tattooed at eight or ten years of age; but a young man is +accounted very effeminate who reaches his twentieth year without having +undergone the operation. Marsden told one of the chiefs, King George, as +he was called, that he must not tattoo his nephew Racow,<a name='FNanchor_W_23'></a><a href='#Footnote_W_23'><sup>[W]</sup></a> who was a +very fine-looking youth, with a dignified, open, and placid countenance, +remarking that it would quite disfigure his face; "but he laughed at my +advice," says Marsden, "and said he must be tattooed, as it would give +him a noble, masculine, and warlike appearance; that he would not be fit +for his successor with a smooth face; the New Zealanders would look on +him merely as a woman if he was not tattooed."</p> + +<p>Savage says that a small spiral figure on each side of the chin, a +semi-circular figure over each eyebrow, and two, or sometimes three, +lines on each lip, are all the tattooing the New Zealand women are +required to submit to.</p> + +<p>Rutherford's account is that they have a figure tattooed on the chin +resembling a crown turned upside down; that the inside of their lips is +also tattooed, the figures here appearing of a blue colour; and that +they have also a mark on each side of the mouth resembling a +candlestick, as well as two stripes about an inch long on the forehead, +and one on each side of the nose. Their decorations of this description, +as well as of the other sex, are no doubt different in different parts +of the country.</p> + +<p>"With respect to the amocos," says Cook in his First Voyage, "every +different tribe seemed to have a different custom; for all the men in +some canoes seemed to be almost covered with it, and those in others had +scarcely a stain, except on the lips, which were black in all of them, +without a single exception."</p> + +<p>Rutherford states that in the part of the country where he was, the men +were commonly tattooed on their face, hips, and bodies, and some as low +as the knee. None were allowed to be tattooed on the forehead, chin, and +upper lip, except the very greatest among the chiefs. The more they are +tattooed, he adds, the more they are honoured. The priests, Savage says, +have only a small square patch of tattooing over the right eye.</p> + +<p>These stains, although their brilliancy may perhaps decay with time, +being thus fixed in the flesh, are of course indelible, just as much as +the marks of a similar nature which our own sailors frequently make on +their arms and breasts, by introducing gunpowder under the skin. One +effect, we are told, which they produce on the countenances of the New +Zealanders, is to conceal the ravages of old age. Being thus permanent +when once imprinted, each becomes also the peculiar distinction of the +individual to whom it belongs, and is probably sometimes employed by him +as his mark or sign manual. An officer belonging to the "Dromedary," who +happened to have a coat of arms engraved on his seal, was frequently +asked by the New Zealanders if the device was his "amoco." When the +missionaries purchased a piece of land from one of the Bay of Islands +chiefs, named Gunnah,<a name='FNanchor_X_24'></a><a href='#Footnote_X_24'><sup>[X]</sup></a> a copy of the tattooing on the face of the +latter, being drawn by a brother chief, was affixed to the grant as his +signature; while another native signed as a witness, by adding the +"amoco" of one of his own cheeks.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img06"></a> +<img src='images/image06.png' width='289' height='450' alt='Moko on woman's lips and chin. +Moko on man's face. + +Names of lines in order of incision— +1. Kau-wae (13) +2. Pere-pehi (7) +3. Hupe (15) +4. Ko-kiri (9) +5. Koro-aha (10) +6. Puta-ringa (12) +7. Po-ngia-ngia (4) and Tara-whakatara (5) +8. Pae-pae (11), Kumi-kumi (6), and Wero (8) +9. Rerepi (3) +10. Ti-whana (1) and Rawha (2) +11. Ti-ti (14) +12. Ipu-rangi (16)' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Moko on woman's lips and chin. Moko on man's face.</h5> + +<p>This is certainly a more perfect substitute for a written name than +that said to have been anciently in use in some parts of Europe. In +Russia, for example, it is affirmed that in old times the way in which +an individual generally gave his signature to a writing was by covering +the palm of his hand with ink, and then laying it on the paper. Balbi, +who states this, adds that the Russian language still retains an +evidence of the practice in its phrase for signing a document, which is +<i>roukou prilojite</i>, signifying, literally, to put the hand to it. It may +be remarked, however, that this is a form of expression even in our own +country; although there is certainly no trace of the singular custom in +question having ever prevailed among our ancestors. Whatever may be the +fact as to the Russian idiom, our own undoubtedly refers merely to the +application of the hand with the pen in it. Each chief appears to be +intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of his own "amoco."</p> + +<p>There is also in the possession of the Church Missionary Society a bust +of Shungie, cut in a very hard wood by himself, with a rude iron +instrument of his own fabrication, on which the tattooing on his face is +exactly copied.</p> + +<p>The tattooing of the young New Zealander, before he takes his rank as +one of the warriors of his tribe, is doubtless also intended to put his +manhood to the proof; and may thus be regarded as having the same object +with those ceremonies of initiation, as they have been called, which +are practised among some other savage nations on the admission of an +individual to any new degree of honour or chieftainship.</p> + +<p>Among many nations of the American Indians, indeed, this cutting and +marking of the person is one of the principal inflictions to which the +aspirant is required to submit on such occasions. Thus, in the account +which Rochefort, in his "History of the Antilles," gives us of the +initiation of a warrior among the people of those islands, it is stated +that the father of the young man, after a very rude flagellation of his +son, used to proceed to scarify (as he expresses it) his whole body with +a tooth of the animal called the "acouti"; and then, in order to heal +the gashes thus made, he rubbed into them an infusion of pimento, which +occasioned an agonizing pain to the poor patient; but it was +indispensable that he should endure the whole, adds our author, without +the least contortion of countenance or any other evidence of suffering.</p> + +<p>Wherever, indeed, the spirit of war has entered largely into the +institutions of a people, as it has almost always done among savage and +imperfectly civilized nations, we find traces of similar observances. +Something of the same object which has just been attributed to the +tattooing of the New Zealanders, and the more complicated ceremonies of +initiation practised among the American Indians, may be recognised even +in certain of the rites of European chivalry, whether we take them as +described in the learned volumes of Du Cange, or in the more amusing +recitals of Cervantes.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders, like many other savages, are also in the habit of +anointing themselves with a mixture of grease and red ochre. This sort +of rouge is very much used by the women, and "being generally," says +Cook, "fresh and wet upon their cheeks and foreheads, was easily +transferred to the noses of those who thought fit to salute them; and +that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, the noses of +several of our men strongly testified." "The faces of the men," he adds, +"were not so generally painted; yet we saw one, whose whole body, and +even his garments, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a +piece constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the +decoration in one part or another, where he supposed it was become +deficient."</p> + +<p>It has been conjectured that this painting of the body, among its other +uses, might also be intended, in some cases, as a protection against the +weather, or, in other words, to serve the same purpose as clothing. Even +where there is no plastering, the tattooing may be found to indurate the +skin, and to render it less sensible to cold. This notion, perhaps, +derives some confirmation from the appearance which these marks often +assume.</p> + +<p>Cook describes some of the New Zealanders, whom he saw on his first +visit to the country, as having their thighs stained entirely black, +with the exception of a few narrow lines, "so that at first sight," says +he, "they appeared to wear striped breeches."</p> + +<p>The Baron de Humboldt, too, informs us that the Indians of Guiana +sometimes imitate, in the oddest manner, the clothes of Europeans in +painting their skin. This observant traveller was much amused by seeing +the body of a native painted to represent a blue jacket and black +buttons. The missionaries also told him that the people of the Rio Caura +paint themselves of a red ground, and then variegate the colour with +transverse stripes of silver mica, so that they look most gallantly +dressed. The painted cheeks that were once common in Europe, and are +still occasionally seen, are relics of the same barbarism.</p> + +<p>The "taboo," or "tapu," prevails also in many of the South Sea Islands, +where it may be considered as the substitute for law; although its +authority, in reality, rests on what we should rather call religious +considerations, inasmuch as it appears to be obeyed entirely from the +apprehension that its violation would bring down the anger of heaven.</p> + +<p>It would require more space than we can afford to enumerate the various +cases in which the "taboo" operates as a matter of course, even were we +to say nothing of the numerous exigencies in which a resort to it seems +to be at the option of the parties concerned. Among the former, we may +merely mention that a person supposed to be dying seems to be uniformly +placed under the "taboo"; and that the like consecration, if it may be +so called, is always imposed for a certain space upon the individual who +has undergone any part of the process of tattooing. But we are by no +means fully informed either as to the exact rules that govern this +matter, or even as to the peculiar description of persons to whom it +belongs, on any occasion, to impose the "taboo." It is common in New +Zealand for such of the chiefs as possess this power to separate, by +means of the "taboo," any thing which they wish either to appropriate to +themselves, or to protect, with any other object, from indiscriminate +use.</p> + +<p>When Tetoro was shown, in the "Dromedary," a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, belonging to one of the officers, he "tabooed" it by +tying a thread, pulled out of his cloak, round the guard of the trigger, +and said that it must be his when he got to New Zealand, and that the +owner should have thirty of his finest mats for it. But this, according +to Cruise, any native may do with regard to an article for which he has +bargained, in order to secure it till he has paid the price agreed upon.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, Cruise found a number of people collected round an +object which seemed to attract general attention, and which they told +him was "tabooed." It turned out to be a plant of the common English +pea, which was fenced round with little sticks, and had apparently been +tended with very anxious care.</p> + +<p>When the "Prince Regent" schooner, which accompanied the "Dromedary," +lay at anchor in the river Shukehanga,<a name='FNanchor_Y_25'></a><a href='#Footnote_Y_25'><sup>[Y]</sup></a> a chief named Moodooi,<a name='FNanchor_Z_26'></a><a href='#Footnote_Z_26'><sup>[Z]</sup></a> +greatly to the comfort of the captain, came one day on deck and +"tabooed" the vessel, or made it a crime for any one to ascend the side +without permission, which injunction was strictly attended to by the +natives during his stay in the harbour.</p> + +<p>So, when any land is purchased, it is secured to the purchaser by being +"tabooed."</p> + +<p>Marsden states that upon one occasion he found a great number of canoes +employed in fishing, and all the fish which they took were immediately +"tabooed," and could not be purchased. These fish were probably intended +to be cured and preserved as part of the common stock of the tribe.</p> + +<p>The principal inconveniences sustained by the person who is "tabooed" +seem to be that he must have no communication with any who are not in +the same condition as himself, and that in eating he must not help +himself to his food with his hands. The chiefs are in such a case fed +by their attendant; but the absurd prohibition is a serious punishment +to the common people, who have nobody to assist them.</p> + +<p>Nicholas relates an amusing incident illustrative of this. "On going +into the town," says he, "in the course of the day, I beheld several of +the natives sitting round some baskets of dressed potatoes; and being +invited to join them in their meal, I mingled with the group, when I +observed one man stoop down with his mouth for each morsel, and +scrupulously careful in avoiding all contact between his hands and the +food he was eating. From this I knew at once that he was 'tabooed;' and +upon asking the reason of his being so, as he appeared in good health, +and not afflicted with any complaint that could set him without the pale +of ordinary intercourse, I found that it was because he was then +building a house, and that he could not be released from the 'taboo' +till he had it finished. Being only a "cookee,"<a name='FNanchor_AA_27'></a><a href='#Footnote_AA_27'><sup>[AA]</sup></a> he had no person to +wait upon him, but was obliged to submit to the distressing operation of +feeding himself in the manner proscribed by the superstitious ordinance; +and he was told by the tohunga, or priest, that if he presumed to put +one finger to his mouth before he had completed the work he was about, +the atua (divinity) would certainly punish his impious contempt, by +getting into his stomach before his time, and eating him out of the +world. Of this premature destiny he seemed so apprehensive that he kept +his hands as though they were never made for touching any article of +diet; nor did he suffer them by even a single motion to show the least +sympathy for his mouth, while that organ was obliged to use double +exertions, and act for those members which superstition had paralysed.</p> + +<p>"Sitting down by the side of this deluded being, whom credulity and +ignorance had rendered hopeless," says Nicholas, "I undertook to feed +him; and his appetite being quite voracious, I could hardly supply it as +fast as he devoured. Without ever consulting his digestive powers, of +which we cannot suppose he had any idea, he spared himself the trouble +of mastication; and, to lose no time, swallowed down every lump as I put +it into his mouth: and I speak within compass when I assert that he +consumed more food than would have served any two ploughmen in England.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly tired of administering to his insatiable gluttony, which was +still as ravenous as when he commenced, I now wished for a little +intermission; and taking advantage of his situation, I resolved to give +him as much to do as would employ him for at least a few minutes, +while, in the meantime, it would afford me some amusement for my +trouble. I therefore thrust into his mouth the largest hot potato I +could find, and this had exactly the intended effect; for the fellow, +unwilling to drop it, and not daring to penetrate it before it should +get cool, held it slightly compressed between his teeth, to the great +enjoyment of his countrymen, who laughed heartily, as well as myself, at +the wry faces he made, and the efforts he used with his tongue to +moderate the heat of the potato, and bring it to the temperature of his +gums, which were evidently smarting from the contact. But he bore this +trick with the greatest possible good humour, and to make him amends for +it, I took care to supply him plentifully, till he cried out, 'Nuee nuee +kiki,'<a name='FNanchor_AB_28'></a><a href='#Footnote_AB_28'><sup>[AB]</sup></a> and could eat no more; an exclamation, however, which he did +not make till there was no more in the baskets."<a name='FNanchor_AC_29'></a><a href='#Footnote_AC_29'><sup>[AC]</sup></a></p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_S_19'></a><a href='#FNanchor_S_19'>[S]</a><div class='note'><p> tapu'd.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_T_20'></a><a href='#FNanchor_T_20'>[T]</a><div class='note'><p> "Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_U_21'></a><a href='#FNanchor_U_21'>[U]</a><div class='note'><p> "Moko" is the accepted form of spelling the word.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_V_22'></a><a href='#FNanchor_V_22'>[V]</a><div class='note'><p> "Account of New Zealand."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_W_23'></a><a href='#FNanchor_W_23'>[W]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Rakau.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_X_24'></a><a href='#FNanchor_X_24'>[X]</a><div class='note'><p> This is the name given in the deed of sale, dated February +24th, 1815, but the correct spelling is probably "Kuna" or "Kena."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_Y_25'></a><a href='#FNanchor_Y_25'>[Y]</a><div class='note'><p> Hokianga Harbour.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_Z_26'></a><a href='#FNanchor_Z_26'>[Z]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Muriwai, a celebrated Hokianga chief.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AA_27'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AA_27'>[AA]</a><div class='note'><p> Mr. S. Percy Smith, of New Plymouth, states that this word +was very common in New Zealand fifty or sixty years ago. It was applied +to servants, and was derived from the English word "cook." In Maori it +is "kuki."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AB_28'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AB_28'>[AB]</a><div class='note'><p> This means "plenty of food," or "sufficient"; but it is +European Maori. One Maori, speaking to another, would say "He nui te +kai."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AC_29'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AC_29'>[AC]</a><div class='note'><p> The best account of the operation of the law of tapu is +given by Judge Maning in "Old New Zealand."</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a><h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Rutherford remained at the village for about six months, together with +the others who had been taken prisoners with him and who had not been +put to death, all except one, John Watson, who, soon after their arrival +there, was carried away by a chief named Nainy.<a name='FNanchor_AD_30'></a><a href='#Footnote_AD_30'><sup>[AD]</sup></a> A house was assigned +for them to live in, and the natives gave them also an iron pot they had +taken from the ship, in which to cook their victuals. This they found a +very useful article. It was "tabooed," so that no slave was allowed to +eat anything cooked in it; that, we suppose, being considered the surest +way of preventing it from being stolen.</p> + +<p>At last they set out in company with Aimy and another chief, to pursue +their way further into the interior; one of them, however, whose name is +not given, remaining with Rangadi.</p> + +<p>Having come to another village, the chief of which was called Plama,<a name='FNanchor_AE_31'></a><a href='#Footnote_AE_31'><sup>[AE]</sup></a> +another of them, whose name was John Smith, was left with him.</p> + +<p>The number of those preserved alive, it will be recollected, was six; so +that, three of them having been disposed of in the manner that has been +stated, there were now, including Rutherford, as many more remaining +together.</p> + +<p>When they had travelled about twelve miles further, they stopped at a +third village, and there they remained two days.</p> + +<p>"We were treated very kindly," says Rutherford, "at this village by the +natives. The chief, whose name was Ewanna,<a name='FNanchor_AF_32'></a><a href='#Footnote_AF_32'><sup>[AF]</sup></a> made us a present of a +large pig, which we killed after our own country fashion, not a little +to the surprise of the New Zealanders. I observed many of the children +catch the flowing blood in their hands, and drink it with the greatest +eagerness. Their own method of killing a pig is generally by drowning, +in order that they may not lose the blood. The natives then singed off +the hair for us, by holding the animal over a fire, and also gutted it, +desiring nothing but the entrails for their trouble. We cooked it in our +iron pot, which the slaves who followed us had brought along with the +rest of the luggage belonging to our party.</p> + +<p>"No person was allowed to take any part of the pig unless he received +some from us; and not even then, if he did not belong to a chief's +family.</p> + +<p>"On taking our departure from this village, we left with Ewanna one of +our comrades named Jefferson, who, on parting from us, pressed my hand +in his, and with tears in his eyes, exclaimed, 'God bless you both! we +shall never see each other again.'</p> + +<p>"We proceeded on our journey, in company with Aimy and his family, and +another chief; and having walked about two miles without one word being +spoken by any of the party, we arrived at the side of a river. Here we +stopped, and lighted a fire; and the natives who had charge of the +luggage having come up in about an hour, bringing with them some +potatoes and dried fish, we cooked a dinner for ourselves in the usual +manner. We then crossed the river, which was only about knee deep, and +immediately entered a wood, through which we continued to make our way +till sunset. On getting out of it we found ourselves in the midst of +some cultivated ground, on which we saw growing potatoes, turnips, +cabbage, tara<a name='FNanchor_AG_33'></a><a href='#Footnote_AG_33'><sup>[AG]</sup></a> (which is a root resembling a yam), water-melons, and +coomeras,<a name='FNanchor_AH_34'></a><a href='#Footnote_AH_34'><sup>[AH]</sup></a> or sweet potatoes.</p> + +<p>"After a little while we arrived at another river, on the opposite side +of which stood the village in which Aimy resided. Having got into a +canoe, we crossed over to the village, in front of which many women were +standing, who, waving their mats, exclaimed, as they saw us approaching, +'Arami, arami,'<a name='FNanchor_AI_35'></a> +<a href='#Footnote_AI_35'><sup>[AI]</sup></a> which means, 'Welcome home.'</p> + +<p>"We were then taken to Aimy's house, which was the largest in the +village, having the walls formed of large twigs covered with rushes, +with which it was also thatched. A pig was now killed for us, and cooked +with some coomeras, from which we supped; and, afterwards seating +ourselves around the fire, we amused ourselves by listening to several +of the women singing.</p> + +<p>"In the meantime, a slave girl was killed, and put into a hole in the +earth to roast in the manner already described in order to furnish a +feast the following day, in honour of the chief's return home.</p> + +<p>"We slept that night in the chief's house; but the next morning a number +of the natives were set to work to build one for ourselves, of the same +form with that in which the chief lived, and nearly of the same size.</p> + +<p>"In the course of this day, many other chiefs arrived at the village, +accompanied by their families and slaves, to welcome Aimy home, which +they did in the usual manner. Some of them brought with them a quantity +of water-melons, which they gave to me and my comrade. At last they all +seated themselves upon the ground to have their feast; several large +pigs, together with some scores of baskets of potatoes, tara, and +water-melons, having first been brought forward by Aimy's people. The +pigs, after being drowned in the river and dressed, had been laid to +roast beside the potatoes. When these were eaten, the fire that had +been made the night before was opened, and the body of the slave girl +taken out of it, which they next proceeded to feast upon in the eagerest +manner. We were not asked to partake of it, for Aimy knew that we had +refused to eat human flesh before. After the feast was over, the +fragments were collected, and carried home by the slaves of the +different chiefs, according to the custom which is always observed on +such occasions in New Zealand."</p> + +<p>The house that had been ordered to be built for Rutherford and his +companion was ready in about a week; and, having taken up their abode in +it, they were permitted to live, as far as circumstances would allow, +according to their own customs. As it was in this village that +Rutherford continued to reside during the remainder of the time he spent +in New Zealand, we may consider him as now fairly domesticated among his +new associates, and may therefore conveniently take the present +opportunity of completing our general picture of the country and its +inhabitants, by adverting to a few matters which have not yet found a +place in our narrative.</p> + +<p>No doubt whatever can exist as to the relationship of the New Zealanders +to the numerous other tribes of the same complexion, by whom nearly all +the islands of the South Sea are peopled, and who, in physical +conformation, language, religion, institutions, and habits, evidently +constitute only one great family.</p> + +<p>Recent investigations, likewise, must be considered to have +sufficiently proved that the wave of population, which has spread itself +over so large a portion of the surface of the globe, has flowed from the +same central region, which all history points to as the cradle of our +race, and which may be here described generally as the southern tract of +the great continent of Asia. This prolific clime, while it has on the +one hand sent out its successive detachments of emigrants to occupy the +wide plains of Europe, has on the other discharged its overflowing +numbers upon the islands of the Pacific, and, with the exception of New +Holland<a name='FNanchor_AJ_36'></a><a href='#Footnote_AJ_36'><sup>[AJ]</sup></a> and a few other lands in its immediate vicinity, the +population of which seems to be of African origin, has, in this way, +gradually spread a race of common parentage over all of them, from those +that constitute what has been called the great Indian Archipelago, in +the immediate neighbourhood of China, to the Sandwich Islands and Easter +Island, in the remotest east of that immense expanse of waters.</p> + +<p>The Malay language is spoken, although in many different dialects and +degrees of corruption, throughout the whole of this extensive range, +which, measured in one direction, stretches over nearly half the +equatorial circumference of the globe, and in another over at least +seventy degrees of latitude. The people are all also of the same brown +or copper complexion, by which the Malay is distinguished from the +white man on the one hand, and the negro on the other.</p> + +<p>In New Zealand, however, as, indeed, in most of the other seats of this +race, the inhabitants are distinguished from each other by a very +considerable diversity in the shades of what may be called the common +hue. Crozet was so much struck with this circumstance that he does not +hesitate to divide them into three classes—whites, browns, and +blacks,—the last of whom he conceives to be a foreign admixture +received from the neighbouring continent of New Holland, and who, by +their union with the whites, the original inhabitants of the country, +and still decidedly the prevalent race, have produced those of the +intermediate colour.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img07"></a> +<img src='images/image07.png' width='450' height='303' alt='Two Maori Chiefs—Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, +or "Dark House."' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Two Maori Chiefs—Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, or "Dark House."</h5> + +<p>Whatever may be thought of this hypothesis, it is certain that in some +parts of New Zealand the natives are much fairer than in others. Cook +remarks, in the account of his first voyage, that the people about the +Bay of Islands seemed darker than those he had seen further to the +south; and their colour generally is afterwards described as varying +from a pretty deep black to a yellowish or olive tinge. In like manner, +Marsden states that the people in the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga +are much fairer than those on the east coast. It may also, perhaps, be +considered some confirmation of Crozet's opinion as to the origin of the +darkest coloured portion of the population, that those who come under +this description are asserted to be characterized, in addition, by the +other negro peculiarity of a diminutive stature.<a name='FNanchor_AK_37'></a><a href='#Footnote_AK_37'><sup>[AK]</sup></a></p> + +<p>In general, however, the New Zealanders are a tall race of men, many of +the individuals belonging to the upper classes being six feet high and +upwards. They are also described as strong, active, and almost uniformly +well-shaped. Their hair is commonly straight, but sometimes curly; +Crozet says he saw a few of them with red hair. Cook describes the +females as far from attractive; but other observers give a more +flattering account of them. Savage, for example, assures us that their +features are regular and pleasing; and he seems to have been much struck +by their "long black hair and dark penetrating eyes," as well as "their +well-formed figure, the interesting cast of their countenance, and the +sweet tone of their voice." Cruise's testimony is almost equally +favourable.</p> + +<p>The dress of the two sexes is exactly the same, and consists of an inner +mat or tunic, fastened by a girdle round their waists, and an upper +cloak, which is made of very coarse materials for ordinary wear, but is +of a much finer fabric, and often, indeed, elaborately ornamented, when +intended for occasions of display. Both these articles of attire are +always made of the native flax. The New Zealanders wear no covering +either for the head or the feet, the feathers with which both sexes +ornament the head being excepted.</p> + +<p>The food upon which they principally live is the root of the fern-plant, +which grows all over the country.</p> + +<p>Rutherford's account of the method of preparing it, which we have +already transcribed, corresponds exactly with that given by Cook, +Nicholas, and others. This root, sometimes swallowed entirely, and +sometimes only masticated, and the fibres rejected after the juice has +been extracted, serves the New Zealanders not only for bread, but even +occasionally for a meal by itself. When fish are used, they do not +appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten raw, but are always +cooked, either by being fixed upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so +exposed to the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and then placed +between heated stones to bake. But little of any other animal food is +consumed, birds being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being +only produced on days of special festivity.</p> + +<p>The first pigs were left in New Zealand by Cook, who made many attempts +to stock the country both with this and other useful animals, most of +whom, however, were so much neglected that they soon disappeared. Cook, +likewise, introduced the potato into New Zealand; and that valuable root +appears to be now pretty generally cultivated throughout the northern +island.</p> + +<p>The only agricultural implements, however, which the natives possess are +of the rudest description; that with which they dig their potatoes being +merely a wooden pole, with a cross-bar of the same material fixed to it +about three feet from the ground. Marsden saw the wives of several of +the chiefs toiling hard in the fields with no better spade than this; +among others the head wife of the great Shungie, who, though quite +blind, appeared to dig the ground, he says, as fast as those who had +their sight, and as well, first pulling up the weeds as she went along +with her hands, then setting her feet upon them that she might know +where they were; and, finally, after she had broken the soil, throwing +the mould over the weeds with her hands.</p> + +<p>The labours of agriculture in New Zealand are, in this way, rendered +exceedingly toilsome, by the imperfection of the only instruments which +the natives possess. Hence, principally, their extreme desire for iron. +Marsden, in the "Journal of his Second Visit," gives us some very +interesting details touching the anxiety which the chiefs universally +manifested to obtain agricultural tools of this metal. One morning, he +tells us, a number of them arrived at the settlement, some having come +twenty, others fifty miles. "They were ready to tear us to pieces," says +he, "for hoes and axes. One of them said his heart would burst if he +did not get a hoe."</p> + +<p>They were told that a supply had been written for to England; but "they +replied that many of them would be in their graves before the ship would +come from England, and the hoes and axes would be of no advantage to +them when dead. They wanted them now. They had no tools at present, but +wooden ones to work their potato-grounds with; and requested that we +would relieve their present distress."</p> + +<p>When he returned from his visit to Shukehanga, many of the natives of +that part of the country followed him, with a similar object, to the +settlement. "When we left Patuona's village," says he, "we were more +than fifty in number, most of them going for an axe or a hoe, or some +small edge-tool. They would have to travel, by land and water, from a +hundred to a hundred and forty miles, in some of the worst paths, +through woods, that can be conceived, and to carry their provisions for +their journey. A chief's wife came with us all the way, and I believe +her load would not be less than one hundred pounds; and many carried +much more." But, perhaps, the most importunate pleader the reverend +gentleman encountered on this journey was an old chief, with a very long +beard, and his face tattooed all over, who followed him during part of +his progress among the villages of the western coast. "He wanted an +axe," says Marsden, "very much; and at last he said that if we would +give him an axe, he would give us his head. Nothing is held in so much +veneration by the natives as the head of their chief. I asked him who +should have the axe when I had got his head. At length he said, 'Perhaps +you will trust me a little time; and, when I die, you shall have my +head.' This venerable personage afterwards got his axe by sending a man +for it to the settlement."</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AD_30'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AD_30'>[AD]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Nene.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AE_31'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AE_31'>[AE]</a><div class='note'><p> There is no "l" in the Maori orthography, and the name +cannot be traced.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AF_32'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AF_32'>[AF]</a><div class='note'><p> This is another case where Rutherford's pronunciation +seems to have been at fault.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AG_33'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AG_33'>[AG]</a><div class='note'><p> The taro.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AH_34'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AH_34'>[AH]</a><div class='note'><p> The kumera, a sweet potato, which was extensively +cultivated by the ancient Maoris.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AI_35'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AI_35'>[AI]</a><div class='note'><p> "Haere mai," "come here," the usual words of welcome.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AJ_36'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AJ_36'>[AJ]</a><div class='note'><p> That is, Australia.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AK_37'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AK_37'>[AK]</a><div class='note'><p> The origin of the Maori is dealt with exhaustively by Mr. +S Percy Smith in "Hawaiki"; by Mr. E. Tregear, in "The Maori Race"; and +by Professor Macmillan Brown, in "Maori and Polynesian."</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_V'></a><h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Taken altogether, New Zealand presents a great variety of landscape, +although, even where the scenery is most subdued, it partakes of a bold +and irregular character, derived not more from the aspect of undisturbed +Nature, which still obtrudes itself everywhere among the traces of +commencing cultivation, than from the confusion of hill and valley which +marks the face of the soil, and the precipitous eminences, with their +sides covered by forests, and their summits barren of all vegetation, or +terminating perhaps in a naked rock, that often rise close beside the +most sheltered spots of fertility and verdure.</p> + +<p>If this brokenness and inequality of surface oppose difficulties in the +way of agricultural improvement, the variety and striking contrasts +thereby produced must be often at least highly picturesque; and all, +accordingly, who have visited New Zealand, agree in extolling the +mingled beauty and grandeur which are profusely spread over the more +favoured parts of the country, and are not altogether wanting even where +the general look of the coast is most desolate and uninviting.</p> + +<p>The southern island, with the exception of a narrow strip along its +northern shore, appears to be, in its interior, a mere chaos of +mountains, and the region of perpetual winter; but even here, the +declivities that slope down towards the sea are clothed, in many places +to the water's edge, with gigantic and evergreen forests; and more +protected nooks occasionally present themselves, overspread with the +abundance of a teeming vegetation, and not to be surpassed in loveliness +by what the land has anywhere else to show. The bleakness of the western +coast of this southern island indeed does not arise so much from its +latitude as from the tempestuous north-west winds which seem so much to +prevail in this part of the world, and to the whole force of which it +is, from its position, exposed.</p> + +<p>The interior and eastern side of the northern island owe their fertility +and their suitableness for the habitation of man principally to the +intervention of a considerable extent of land, much of which is +elevated, between them and the quarter from which these desolating gales +blow. The more westerly portion of it seems only to be inhabited in +places which are in a certain degree similarly defended by the +surrounding high grounds. In these, as well as in the more populous +districts to the east, the face of the country, generally speaking, +offers to the eye a spread of luxuriant verdure, the freshness of which +is preserved by continual depositions of moisture from the clouds that +are attracted by the mountains, so that its hue, even in the heat of +midsummer, is peculiarly vivid and lustrous.</p> + +<p>Much of the land, both in the valleys and on the brows of the hills, is +covered by groves of majestic pine, which are nearly impervious, from +the thick underwood that has rushed up everywhere in the spaces between +the trees; and where there is no wood, the prevailing plant is a fern, +which rises generally to the height of six or seven feet.</p> + +<p>Along the skirts of the woodlands flow numerous rivers, which intersect +the country in all directions, and several of which are navigable for +miles up by ships of considerable burthen. Various lines of +communication are in this way established between the opposite coasts of +the northern island; while some of the minor streams, that rush down to +the sea through the more precipitous ravines, are interrupted in their +course by magnificent cataracts, which give additional effect to the +other features of sublimity and romantic beauty by which the country is +so distinguished. Many of the rocks on the coast are perforated, a +circumstance which proceeds from their formation.</p> + +<p>The quality of the soil of this country may be best estimated from the +profuse vegetation with which the greater part of it is clothed, and the +extraordinary vigour which characterizes the growth of most of its +productions. The botany of New Zealand has as yet been very imperfectly +investigated, a very small portion of the native plants having been +either classified or enumerated. From the partial researches, however, +that have been made by the scientific gentlemen attached to Cook's +expeditions, and subsequent visitors, there can be no doubt that the +country is rich both in new and valuable herbs, plants, and trees as +well as admirably adapted for the cultivation of many of the most useful +among the vegetable possessions of other parts of the world.</p> + +<p>Rutherford, we have seen, mentions the existence of cultivated land in +the neighbourhood of the village to which he was last conveyed. The New +Zealanders had made considerable advances in agriculture even before +Cook visited the country; and that navigator mentions particularly, in +the narrative of his first voyage, the numerous patches of ground which +he observed all along the east coast in a state of cultivation. Speaking +of the very neighbourhood of the place at which the crew of the "Agnes" +were made prisoners, he says:—"Banks saw some of their plantations, +where the ground was as well broken down and tilled as even in the +gardens of the most curious people among us. In these spots were sweet +potatoes, coccos or eddas, which are well known and much esteemed both +in the East and West Indies, and some gourds. The sweet potatoes were +placed in small hills, some ranged in rows, and others in quincunx, all +laid by a line with the greatest regularity. The coccos were planted +upon flat land, but none of them yet (it was about the end of October) +appeared above ground; and the gourds were set in small hollows, or +dishes, much as in England. These plantations were of different extent, +from one or two acres to ten. Taken together, there appeared to be from +one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres in cultivation in the whole +bay, though we never saw a hundred people. Each district was fenced in, +generally with reeds, which were placed so close together that there was +scarcely room for a mouse to creep between."</p> + +<p>Since the commencement of the intercourse of the New Zealanders with +Europe, the sphere of their husbandry has been considerably enlarged by +the introduction of several most precious articles which were formerly +unknown to them. Cook, in the course of his several visits to the +country, both deposited in the soil, and left with some of the most +intelligent among the natives, quantities of such useful seeds as those +of wheat, peas, cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips, and potatoes; but +although he had sufficient proofs of the suitableness of the soil and +climate to the growth of most of these articles, which he found that +even the winter of New Zealand was too mild to injure, it appeared to +him very unlikely that the inhabitants would be at the trouble to take +care even of those whose value they in some degree appreciated. With the +exception, in fact, of the turnips and potatoes, the vegetable +productions which Cook took so much pains to introduce seem to have all +perished. The potatoes, however, have been carefully preserved, and are +said to have even improved in quality, being now greatly superior to +those of the Cape of Good Hope, from which the seed they have sprung +from was originally brought.</p> + +<p>In more recent times, maize has been introduced into New Zealand; and +the missionaries have sown many acres in the neighbourhood of the Bay of +Islands, both on their own property and on that of the native chiefs, +with English wheat, which has produced an abundant return.</p> + +<p>Duaterra was the first person who actually reared a crop of this grain +in his native country. On leaving Port Jackson the second time, to +return home, he took with him a quantity of it, and much astonished his +acquaintances by informing them that this was the very substance of +which the Europeans made biscuits, such as they had seen and eaten on +board their ships.</p> + +<p>"He gave a portion of wheat," says Marsden, "to six chiefs, and also to +some of his own common men, and directed them all how to sow it, +reserving some for himself and his uncle Shungie, who is a very great +chief, his dominion extending from the east to the west side of New +Zealand.</p> + +<p>"All the persons to whom Duaterra had given the seed-wheat put it into +the ground, and it grew well; but before it was well ripe, many of them +grew impatient for the produce; and as they expected to find the grain +at the roots of the stems, similar to their potatoes, they examined the +roots, and finding there was no wheat under the ground, they pulled it +all up, and burned it, except Shungie.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs ridiculed Duaterra much about the wheat, and told him, +because he had been a great traveller, he thought he could easily impose +upon their credulity by fine stories; and all he urged could not +convince them that wheat would make bread. His own and Shungie's crops +in time came to perfection, and were reaped and threshed; and though the +natives were much astonished to find that the grain was produced at the +top, and not at the bottom of the stem, yet they could not be persuaded +that bread could be made of it."</p> + +<p>Marsden afterwards sent Duaterra a steel mill to grind his wheat, which +he received with no little joy. "He soon set to work," continues +Marsden, "and ground some wheat before his countrymen, who danced and +shouted for joy when they saw the meal. He told me that he made a cake +and baked it in a frying-pan, and gave it to the people to eat, which +fully satisfied them of the truth he had told them before, that wheat +would make bread." The chiefs now begged some more seed, which they +sowed; and such of it as was attended to grew up as strong a crop as +could be desired.</p> + +<p>In all countries the securing of a sufficient supply of food is the +primary concern of society; and, accordingly, even among the rudest +tribes who are in any degree dependent upon the fruits of the earth for +their sustenance, the different operations of agriculture, as regulated +by the seasons, have always excited especial interest. Theoretical +writers are fond of talking of the natural progress of the species to +the agricultural state, from and through the pastoral, as if the one +were a condition at which it was nothing less than impossible for a +people to arrive, except by first undergoing the other.</p> + +<p>In countries circumstanced like New Zealand, at least, the course of +things must have been somewhat different; inasmuch as here we find the +agricultural state begun, where the pastoral could never have been +known, there being no flocks to tend. Cook, as we have seen, found the +inhabitants of this country extensive cultivators of land, and they, +probably, had been so for many ages before. Although the fern-root is in +most places the spontaneous produce of the soil, and enters largely into +the consumption of the people, it would yet seem that they have not been +wont to consider themselves independent of those other crops which they +raise by regular cultivation. To these, accordingly, they pay the +greatest attention, insomuch, that most of those who have visited the +country have been struck by the extraordinary contrast between the neat +and clean appearance of their fields, in which the plants rise in even +rows, and not a weed is to be seen, and the universal air of rudeness, +slovenliness, and discomfort which their huts present.</p> + +<p>But we must remember that in the latter case we see merely a few of the +personal accommodations of the savage, his neglect of which occasions +him but very slight and temporary inconvenience; whereas in the former +it is the very sustenance of his life which is concerned, his +inattention to which might expose him to all the miseries of famine. The +same care and neatness in the management of their fields has been +remarked as characteristics of the North American Indians; and both they +and the New Zealanders celebrate the seasons of planting and gathering +in their harvests with festivities and religious observances, practices +which have, indeed, prevailed in almost every nation, and may be +regarded as among the most beautiful and becoming of the rites of +natural religion.</p> + +<p>The commencement of the coomera harvest in New Zealand is the signal for +the suspension of all other occupations except that of gathering in the +crop. First, the priest pronounces a blessing upon the unbroken ground; +and then, when all its produce has been gathered in, he "taboos" or +makes sacred, the public storehouse in which it is deposited.</p> + +<p>Cruise states that this solemn dedication has sometimes saved these +depositories from spoliation, even on occasion of a hostile attack by +another tribe. "One of the gentlemen of the ship," this writer adds, +"was present at the 'shackerie,'<a name='FNanchor_AL_38'></a><a href='#Footnote_AL_38'><sup>[AL]</sup></a> or harvest-home, if it may be so +called, of Shungie's people. It was celebrated in a wood, where a square +space had been cleared of trees, in the centre of which three very tall +posts, driven into the ground in the form of a triangle, supported an +immense pile of baskets of coomeras. The tribe of Teeperree<a name='FNanchor_AM_39'></a><a href='#Footnote_AM_39'><sup>[AM]</sup></a> of +Wangarooa<a name='FNanchor_AN_40'></a><a href='#Footnote_AN_40'><sup>[AN]</sup></a> was invited to participate in the rejoicings, which +consisted of a number of dances performed round the pole, succeeded by a +very splendid feast; and when Teeperree's men were going away, they +received a present of as many coomeras as they could carry with them." +In New Zealand all the cultivated fields are strictly "tabooed," as well +as the people employed in cultivating them, who live upon the spot while +they proceed with their labours, and are not permitted to pass the +boundary until they are terminated; nor are any others allowed to +trespass upon the sacred enclosure.</p> + +<p>We have already mentioned more than once the lofty forests of New +Zealand. Of these, considered as a mere ornament to the country, all +who have seen them speak in terms of the highest admiration. Anderson, +the surgeon whom Cook took with him on board the "Resolution" in his +third voyage, describes them as "flourishing with a vigour almost +superior to anything that imagination can conceive, and affording an +august prospect to those who are delighted with the grand and beautiful +works of Nature."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible," says Nicholas, "to imagine, in the wildest and most +picturesque walks of Nature, a sight more sublime and majestic, or which +can more forcibly challenge the admiration of the traveller, than a New +Zealand forest."</p> + +<p>And indeed, when we are told that the trees rise generally to the height +of from eighty to a hundred feet, straight as a mast and without a +branch, and are then crowned with tops of such umbrageous foliage that +the rays of the sun, in endeavouring to pierce through them, can hardly +make more than a dim twilight in the lonely recesses below, so that +herbage cannot grow there, and the rank soil produces nothing but a +thick spread of climbing and intertwisted underwood, we may conceive how +imposing must be the gloomy grandeur of these gigantic and impenetrable +groves.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img08"></a> +<img src='images/image08.png' width='450' height='314' alt='Scene in a New Zealand forest.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Scene in a New Zealand forest.</h5> + +<p>In the woods in the neighbourhood of Poverty Bay, Cook says he found +trees of above twenty different sorts, altogether unknown to anybody +on board; and almost every new district which he visited afterwards +presented to him a profusion of new varieties. But the trees that have +as yet chiefly attracted the attention of Europeans are certain of those +more lofty ones of which we have just spoken.</p> + +<p>These trees had attracted Cook's attention in his first voyage, as +likely to prove admirably adapted for masts, if the timber, which in its +original state he considered rather too heavy for that purpose, could, +like that of the European pitch-pine, be lightened by tapping; they +would then, he says, be such masts as no country in Europe could +produce. Crozet, however, asserts, in his account of Marion's voyage +that they found what he calls the cedar of New Zealand to weigh no +heavier than the best Riga fir.</p> + +<p>Nicholas brought some of the seeds of the New Zealand phormium with him +to England in 1815; but unfortunately they lost their vegetative +properties during the voyage. It appears, however, that, some years +before, it had been brought to blossom, though imperfectly, in the +neighbourhood of London; and in France it is said to have been +cultivated in the open air with great success, by Freycinet and Faujas +St. Fond. Under the culture of the former of these gentlemen it grew, in +1813, to the height of seven feet six lines, the stalk being three +inches and four lines in circumference at the base, and two inches and a +half, half-way up. Upon one stalk he had a hundred and nine flowers, of +a greenish yellow colour; and he had made some very strong ropes from +the leaves, from which he had obtained the flax by a very simple +process.</p> + +<p>According to Rutherford, the natives, after having cut it down, and +brought it home green in bundles, in which state it is called "koradee," +scrape it with a large mussel-shell, and take the heart out of it, +splitting it with the nails of their thumbs, which for that purpose they +keep very long. It would seem, however, that the natives have made +instruments for dressing this flax not very dissimilar from the tools of +our own wool-combers. The outside they throw away, and the rest they +spread out for several days in the sun to dry, which makes it as white +as snow. In this prepared state it is, he says, called "mooka." They +spin it, he adds, in a double thread, with the hand on the thigh, and +then work it into mats, also by the hand: three women may work on one +mat at a time.</p> + +<p>Nicholas, on one occasion, saw Duaterra's head wife employed in weaving. +The mat on which she was engaged was one of an open texture, and "she +performed her work," says the author, "with wooden pegs stuck in the +ground at equal distances from each other, to which having tied the +threads that formed the woof, she took up six threads with the two +composing the warp, knotting them carefully together." "It was +astonishing," he says, "with what dexterity and quickness she handled +the threads, and how well executed was her performance." He was assured +that another mat which he saw, and which was woven with elaborate +ingenuity and elegance, could not have been manufactured in less time +than between two and three years.</p> + +<p>Valuable, however, as is the phormium for the purposes to which alone it +is applied in New Zealand, it would appear that the attempts which have +been made to fabricate from it what is properly called cloth have not +hitherto been attended with a favourable result. Some years ago, a +quantity of hemp that had been manufactured from the plant at Sydney, +was sent to be woven at Knaresborough; but "the trial," it is stated, +"did not succeed to the full satisfaction of the parties."</p> + +<p>We have been favoured with a communication upon this subject by a +gentleman who has given much attention to it, which seems to explain, in +a very satisfactory manner, the true reason of the failure that has been +here experienced. "A friend of mine," says our correspondent, "a few +years ago imported a quantity of the phormium, in the expectation that +it would answer admirably for making cloth even of the finest fabric. +But in this he was altogether disappointed. Although it is infinitely +stronger in its raw state than any other flax or hemp, yet when boiled +with potash it becomes so exceedingly weak as not to bear the operation +of weaving but with the utmost difficulty. A gentleman once showed me a +pair of trousers made of this material. They appeared quite rough and +nearly worn out, though they had been used but for a few weeks.</p> + +<p>"Although making cloth of it, however, is out of the question, it is +admirably fitted for rope and twine of all descriptions. It will, +therefore, prove highly valuable to our shipping and fishing interests. +Another friend of mine made some rope of it, which, when proved by the +breaking machine, bore, I think, nearly double the strain of a +similar-sized rope made of Russian hemp. The great strength and tenacity +of the New Zealand flax appears to me to be owing to the fibres, though +naturally short, being firmly united by an elastic vegetable glue or +gum, which the boiling process dissolves." Rutherford says the flax +becomes black on being soaked, which may possibly be occasioned by its +consequent loss of the gum here described.</p> + +<p>We find it stated in the "Annual Register" for 1819, that about the +beginning of that year a favourable report had been made of the +suitableness of the phormium for the manufacture both of small and large +ropes, after some experiments in the dockyard at Portsmouth. The ropes +turned out strong, pliable, and very silky. The notice adds that the +plant may be cut down in New Zealand three times a year; and that it may +be imported to this country at the rate of about eight pounds per ton, +or one-seventh of the cost of hemp.</p> + +<p>Among the useful plants for which we are indebted to New Zealand, we +must not forget their summer spinach (<i>Tetragonia expansa</i>—Murray), +which was discovered on Cook's first voyage by Sir Joseph Banks, and was +"boiled and eaten as greens" by the crew. It was afterwards seen by +Forster at Tongataboo, though it was not used by the natives; but +Thunberg found the Japanese acquainted with its value as a pot-herb. It +was introduced into Kew Gardens in 1772; but the first account of it as +a vegetable worthy of cultivation, was published by Count D'Auraches in +the "Annales d'Agriculture" for 1809. Its chief advantage lies in the +leaves being fit for use during the summer, even in the driest weather, +up to the setting in of the frosts, when the common spinach is useless; +but it is not reckoned of so fine a flavour as that plant. The Rev. J. +Bransby says that the produce of three seeds, which must be reared by +heat before planting out, supplied his own table and those of two of his +friends from June till the frost killed it.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AL_38'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AL_38'>[AL]</a><div class='note'><p> The hakari, or feast, a great function in former times.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AM_39'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AM_39'>[AM]</a><div class='note'><p> This name is spelt wrongly. It might be Te Pahi, a famous +chief, but it is reported that he died soon after the affair of the +"Boyd," in 1809, some time before Rutherford's arrival in New Zealand. +The tribe, however, may still have been known as Te Pahi's.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AN_40'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AN_40'>[AN]</a><div class='note'><p> Whangaroa.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a><h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The native land animals of New Zealand are not numerous. The most common +is said to be one resembling our fox-dog, which is sometimes eaten for +food. It runs wild in the woods, and is described by Savage as usually +of a black and white skin, with pricked up ears, and the hair rather +long. But it may perhaps be doubted if even this quadruped is a native +of the country.<a name='FNanchor_AO_41'></a><a href='#Footnote_AO_41'><sup>[AO]</sup></a></p> + +<p>According to Rutherford the pigs run wild in the woods, and are hunted +by dogs. He also mentions that there are a few horned cattle in the +interior, which have been bred from some left by the discovery ships. No +other account, however, confirms this statement. There are in New +Zealand a few rats, and bats; and the coasts are frequented by seals of +different species. One of the natives told Cook that there was in the +interior a lizard eight feet long, and as thick as a man's body, which +burrowed in the ground, and sometimes seized and devoured men. This +animal, of the existence of which we have the additional evidence of an +exactly similar description given by one of the chiefs to Nicholas, is +probably an alligator. The natives, as we learn from Cruise, have the +greatest horror of a lizard, in the shape of which animal they believe +it is that the atua (or demon) is wont to take possession of the dying, +and to devour their entrails—a superstition which may not be +unconnected with the dread the alligator has spread among them by its +actual ravages, or the stories that have been propagated respecting it. +They report that in the part of the country where it is found it makes +great havoc among children, carrying them off and devouring them +whenever they come in its way.<a name='FNanchor_AP_42'></a><a href='#Footnote_AP_42'><sup>[AP]</sup></a></p> + +<p>There are not many species of insects, those seen by Anderson, who +accompanied Cook, being only a few dragonflies, butterflies, +grasshoppers, spiders, and black ants, vast numbers of scorpion flies, +and a sandfly, which is described as the only noxious insect in the +country. It insinuates itself under the foot, and bites like a mosquito.</p> + +<p>The birds of New Zealand are very numerous, and almost all are peculiar +to the country. Among them are wild ducks, large wood-pigeons, seagulls, +rails, parrots, and parrakeets. They are generally very tame.</p> + +<p>Rutherford states that during his long residence he became very expert, +after the manner of the natives, in catching birds with a noosed +string, and that he has thus caught thousands of ground parrots with a +line about fifty feet long. The most remarkable bird is one to which +Cook's people gave the name of the mocking-bird, from the extraordinary +variety of its notes.<a name='FNanchor_AQ_43'></a><a href='#Footnote_AQ_43'><sup>[AQ]</sup></a> There is also another which was called by the +English the poe, or poi bird, from a little tuft of white curled +feathers which it has under its throat, and which seemed to them to +resemble certain white flowers worn as ornaments in the ears by the +people of Otaheite, and known there by a similar name. This bird is also +remarkable both for the beauty of its plumage and the sweetness of its +note. Its power of song is the more remarkable as it belongs to the +class of birds which feed on honey, whose notes are generally not +melodious.<a name='FNanchor_AR_44'></a><a href='#Footnote_AR_44'><sup>[AR]</sup></a></p> + +<p>The enchanting music of the woods of New Zealand is dwelt upon with +rapture by all who have had an opportunity of listening to it. +Describing one of the first days he spent in Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook +says:—"The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of +a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the +singing of the birds. The number was incredible, and they seemed to +strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was +infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it +seemed to be like small bells, exquisitely tuned; and perhaps the +distance and the water between might be no small advantage to the +sound." Upon inquiry, they were informed that the birds here always +begin to sing about two hours after midnight, and, continuing their +music till sunrise, were silent the rest of the day.<a name='FNanchor_AS_45'></a><a href='#Footnote_AS_45'><sup>[AS]</sup></a></p> + +<p>One of the chief sources of natural wealth which New Zealand possesses +consists in the abundance and variety of the fish which frequent its +coasts. Wherever he went, Cook, in his different visits to the two +islands, was amply supplied with this description of food, of which he +says that six or eight men, with hooks and lines, would in some places +catch daily enough to serve the whole ship's company. Among the +different species which are described as being found, we may mention +mackerel, crayfish, a sort called by the sailors colefish, which Cook +says was both larger and finer than any he had seen before, and was, in +the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded them; +the herring, the flounder, and a fish resembling the salmon. To these +may be added, besides, many other species of shell-fish, mussels, +cockles, and oysters.</p> + +<p>The seas in the neighbourhood of New Zealand, also, we ought not to +forget to add, are much frequented by whales, which, besides the value +of their blubber, are greatly prized by the natives for the sake of +their flesh, which they consider a first-rate delicacy.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders are extremely expert in fishing. They are also +admirable divers, and Rutherford states that they will bring up live +fish from the deepest waters, with the greatest certainty.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AO_41'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AO_41'>[AO]</a><div class='note'><p> Craik is correct in this surmise. The Maori dog, Canis +familiaris, (Variety Maorium), which is now extinct, was introduced to +New Zealand when the Maoris came at the time of their great migration, +about 500 years ago.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AP_42'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AP_42'>[AP]</a><div class='note'><p> The alligator is purely mythical. The only reptiles in New +Zealand are lizards, and a lizard-like animal called Tuatara. It is +about 18 inches long, and is allied to crocodiles and turtles, as well +as lizards. It is the sole representative of an ancient reptilian order +named Rhyncocephalia.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AQ_43'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AQ_43'>[AQ]</a><div class='note'><p> This is the bell-bird (Anthornis melanura).</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AR_44'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AR_44'>[AR]</a><div class='note'><p> The tui, or parson bird (Prosthemadera novæ zealandiæ.)</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AS_45'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AS_45'>[AS]</a><div class='note'><p> Large numbers of New Zealand birds unite in the spring in +singing a magnificent Song of Dawn, which generally ceases when the sun +has fairly risen, but individuals sing at intervals through the day.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The details we have thus given will enable the reader to form a +conception of the state of society in the country in which Rutherford +now found himself imprisoned.</p> + +<p>The spot in the northern island of New Zealand, in which the village lay +where his residence was eventually fixed, cannot be exactly ascertained, +from the account which he gives of his journey to it from the coast. It +is evident, however, from the narrative, that it was too far in the +interior to permit the sea to be seen from it.</p> + +<p>"For the first year after our arrival in Aimy's village," says +Rutherford, "we spent our time chiefly in fishing and shooting; for the +chief had a capital double-barrelled fowling piece, as well as plenty of +powder and duck-shot, which he had brought from our vessel; and he used +to entrust me with the fowling-piece whenever I had a mind to go a +shooting, though he seldom accompanied me himself. We were generally +fortunate enough to bring home a good many wood-pigeons, which are very +plentiful in New Zealand.</p> + +<p>"At last it happened that Aimy and his family went to a feast at another +village a few miles distant from ours, and my comrade and I were left +at home, with nobody but a few slaves, and the chief's mother, an old +woman, who was sick, and attended by a physician. A physician in this +country remains with his patients constantly both day and night, never +leaving them till they either recover or die, in which latter case he is +brought before a court of inquiry, composed of all the chiefs for many +miles round.</p> + +<p>"During the absence of the family at the feast, my comrade chanced to +lend his knife to a slave for him to cut some rushes with, in order to +repair a house; and when this was done he received it back again. Soon +after he and I killed a pig, from which we cut a portion into small +pieces, and put them into our iron pot, along with some potatoes which +we had also peeled with our knives. When the potatoes were cooked, the +old woman who was sick desired us to give her some, which we did in the +presence of the doctor, and she ate them. Next morning she died, when +the chief and the rest of his family immediately returned home.</p> + +<p>"The corpse was first removed to an unoccupied piece of ground in the +centre of the village, and there placed with a mat under it, in a +sitting position against a post, being covered with another mat up to +the chin. The head and face were anointed with shark oil, and a piece of +green flax was also tied round the head, in which were stuck several +white feathers, the sort of feathers which are here preferred to any +other.</p> + +<p>"They then constructed, around the corpse, an enclosure of twigs, +something like a bird's cage, for the purpose of keeping the dogs, pigs, +and children from it; and these operations being over, muskets continued +to be occasionally fired during the remainder of the day to the memory +of the old woman. Meanwhile, the chiefs and their families from miles +around were making their appearance in our village, bringing with them +their slaves loaded with provisions. On the third day after the death, +they all, to the number of some hundreds, knelt down around the corpse, +and, having thrown off their mats, proceeded to cry and cut themselves, +in the same manner as we had seen done on occasions of the different +chiefs of the villages through which we passed being welcomed home.</p> + +<p>"After some time spent in this ceremony, they all sat down together to a +great feast, made of their own provisions, which they had brought with +them.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, the men alone formed a circle round the dead body, +armed with spears, muskets, tomahawks, and merys, and the doctor +appeared, walking backwards and forwards in the ring. By this time, my +companion and I had learned a good deal of their language; and, as we +stood listening to what was said, we heard the doctor relate the +particulars of the old woman's illness and death; after which, the +chiefs began to inquire very closely into what she had eaten for the +three days before she expired.</p> + +<p>"At last, the doctor having retired from the ring, an old chief stepped +forward, with three or four white feathers stuck in his hair; and, +having walked several times up and down in the ring, addressed the +meeting, and said that, in his opinion, the old woman's death had been +occasioned by her having eaten potatoes that had been peeled with a +white man's knife, after it had been used for cutting rushes to repair a +house; on which account, he thought that the white man to whom the knife +belonged should be killed, which would be a great honour conferred upon +the memory of the dead woman.</p> + +<p>"To this proposal many of the other chiefs expressed their assent, and +it seemed about to be adopted by the court. Meanwhile, my companion +stood trembling, and unable to speak from fear. I then went forward +myself into the ring, and told them that if the white man had done wrong +in lending his knife to the slave, he had done so ignorantly, from not +knowing the customs of the country.</p> + +<p>"I ventured at the same time to address myself to Aimy, beseeching him +to spare my shipmate's life; but he continued to keep his seat on the +ground, mourning for the loss of his mother, without answering me, or +seeming to take any notice of what I said; and while I was yet speaking +to him, the chief with the white feathers went and struck my comrade on +the head with a mery, and killed him. Aimy, however, would not allow +him to be eaten, though for what reason I never could learn.</p> + +<p>"The slaves, therefore, having dug a grave for him, he was interred +after my directions.</p> + +<p>"As for the corpse of the old woman, it was now wrapt up in several +mats, and carried away by Aimy and the doctor, no person being allowed +to follow them. I learned, however, that they took her into a +neighbouring wood, and there buried her. After this, the strangers all +left our village, and returned to their respective homes. In about three +months, the body of the woman was again taken up, and carried to the +river side, where the bones were scraped and washed, and then inclosed +in a box, which had been prepared for that purpose.</p> + +<p>"The box was afterwards fastened on the top of a post, in the place +where the body first lay in state; and a space of about thirty feet in +circumference being railed in around it, a wooden image was erected, to +signify that the ground was 'tabooed,' or sacred, and as a warning that +no one should enter the inclosure. This is the regular manner of +interment in New Zealand for any one belonging to a chief's family. When +a slave dies, a hole is dug, and the body is thrown into it without any +ceremony; nor is it ever disinterred again, or any further notice taken +of it. They never eat any person who dies of disease, or in the course +of nature."</p> + +<p>Thus left alone among these savages, and taught by the murder of his +comrade on how slight a tenure he held his own life, exposed as he was +every moment to the chance of in some way or other provoking their +capricious cruelty, Rutherford, it may be thought, must have felt his +protracted detention growing every day more insupportable.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest inconveniences which he now began to feel arose from +the wearing out of his clothes, which he patched and tacked as well as +he could for some time, but at last, after he had been about three years +in the country, they would hold together no longer. All that he had to +wear, therefore, was a white flax mat, which was given to him by the +chief, and which, being thrown over his shoulders, came as low as his +knees. This, he says, was his only garment, and he was compelled to go +both bareheaded and barefooted, having neither hat, shoes, nor +stockings.</p> + +<p>His life, meanwhile, seems to have been varied by few incidents +deserving of being recorded, and we are left to suppose that he spent +his time principally in shooting and fishing, as before.</p> + +<p>For the first sixteen months of his residence at the village, he kept a +reckoning of days by notches on a stick; but when he afterwards moved +about with the chiefs, he neglected this mode of tracing the progress of +time.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img09"></a> +<img src='images/image09.png' width='183' height='450' alt='Flute, made from the arm or thigh-bone of an enemy.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Flute, made from the arm or thigh-bone of an enemy.</h5> + +<p>"At last, it happened one day," the narrative proceeds, "while we were +all assembled at a feast in our village, that Aimy called me to him, +in the presence of several more chiefs, and, having told them of my +activity in shooting and fishing, concluded by saying that he wished to +make me a chief, if I would give my consent.</p> + +<p>"This I readily did: upon which my hair was immediately cut with an +oyster shell in the front, in the same manner as the chiefs have theirs +cut; and several of the chiefs made me a present of some mats, and +promised to send me some pigs the next day. I now put on a mat covered +over with red ochre and oil, such as was worn by the other chiefs; and +my head and face were also anointed with the same composition by a +chief's daughter, who was entirely a stranger to me. I received, at the +same time, a handsome stone mery, which I afterwards always carried with +me.</p> + +<p>"Aimy now advised me to take two or three wives, it being the custom for +the chiefs to have as many as they think proper; and I consented to take +two. About sixty women were then brought up before me, none of whom, +however, pleased me, and I refused to have any of them; on which Aimy +told me that I was 'tabooed' for three days, at the expiration of which +time he would take me with him to his brother's camp, where I should +find plenty of women that would please me.</p> + +<p>"Accordingly we went to his brother's at the time appointed, when +several women were brought up before us; but, having cast my eyes upon +Aimy's two daughters, who had followed us, and were sitting on the +grass, I went up to the eldest, and said that I would choose her.</p> + +<p>"On this she immediately screamed and ran away; but two of the natives, +having thrown off their mats, pursued her, and soon brought her back, +when, by the direction of Aimy, I went and took hold of her hand. The +two natives then let her go, and she walked quietly with me to her +father, but hung down her head, and continued laughing. Aimy now called +his other daughter to him, who also came laughing; and he then advised +me to take them both.</p> + +<p>"I then turned to them, and asked them if they were willing to go with +me, when they both answered, <i>I pea</i>, or <i>I pair</i>, which signifies, +'Yes, I believe so.'<a name='FNanchor_AT_46'></a><a href='#Footnote_AT_46'><sup>[AT]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"On this, Aimy told them they were 'tabooed' to me, and directed us all +three to go home together, which we did, followed by several of the +natives. We had not been many minutes at our own village, when Aimy, and +his brother also, arrived; and in the evening, a great feast was given +to the people by Aimy. During the greater part of the night, the women +kept dancing a dance which is called 'Kane-Kane,'<a name='FNanchor_AU_47'></a><a href='#Footnote_AU_47'><sup>[AU]</sup></a> and is seldom +performed, except when large parties are met together. While dancing it, +they stood all in a row, several of them holding muskets over their +heads; and their movements were accompanied by the singing of several +of the men; for they have no kind of music in this country.</p> + +<p>"My eldest wife's name was Eshou,<a name='FNanchor_AV_48'></a><a href='#Footnote_AV_48'><sup>[AV]</sup></a> and that of my youngest +Epecka.<a name='FNanchor_AW_49'></a><a href='#Footnote_AW_49'><sup>[AW]</sup></a> They were both handsome, mild, and good-tempered. I was now +always obliged to eat with them in the open air, as they would not eat +under the roof of my house, that being contrary to the customs of their +country. When away for any length of time, I used to take Epecka along +with me, and leave Eshou at home.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs' wives in New Zealand are never jealous of each other, but +live together in great harmony; the only distinction among them being +that the oldest is always considered the head wife. No other ceremony +takes place on the occasion of a marriage, except what I have mentioned. +Any child born of a slave woman, though the father should be a chief, is +considered a slave, like its mother.</p> + +<p>"A woman found guilty of adultery is immediately put to death. Many of +the chiefs take wives from among their slaves; but any one else that +marries a slave woman may be robbed with impunity; whereas he who +marries a woman belonging to a chief's family is secure from being +plundered, as the natives dare not steal from any person of that rank.</p> + +<p>"With regard to stealing from others, the custom is that if any person +has stolen anything, and kept it concealed for three days, it then +becomes his own property, and the only way for the injured party to +obtain satisfaction is to rob the thief in return. If the theft, +however, be detected within three days, the thief has to return the +article stolen; but, even in that case, he goes unpunished. The chiefs, +also, although secure from the depredations of their inferiors, plunder +one another, and this often occasions a war among them."</p> + +<p>By music in this passage, Rutherford evidently means instrumental music, +which, it would appear, was not known in the parts of New Zealand where +he resided. Other authorities, however, speak of different +wind-instruments, similar to our fifes or flutes, which are elsewhere in +common use.</p> + +<p>One which is frequently to be met with at the Bay of Islands consists, +according to Savage, of a tube six or seven inches long, open at both +extremities, and having three holes on one side, and one on the other. +Another is formed of two pieces of wood bound together, so as to make a +tube inflated at the middle, at which place there is a single hole. It +is blown into at one extremity, while the other is stopped and opened, +to produce different modifications of the sound.</p> + +<p>Nicholas once saw an instrument like a flute, made of bone, very +ingeniously carved, hanging at the breast of one of the natives; and +when he asked what bone it was formed from, the possessor immediately +told him that it was the bone of a man. It was a larger bone than any of +the native animals could have supplied.</p> + +<p>Vocal music is one of the favourite amusements of the New Zealanders. +Destitute as they are of the art of writing, they have, nevertheless, +their song poetry, part of which is traditionary, and part the produce +of such passing events as strongly excite their feelings, and prompt +their fancy to this only work of composition of which they have any +knowledge.</p> + +<p>Certain individuals among them are distinguished for their success in +these effusions; but the people inhabiting the vicinity of the East Cape +seem generally to enjoy the highest reputation for this species of +talent. These tribes, indeed, are described as in many other respects +decidedly superior to the rest of their countrymen. It is among them +that all the arts known in New Zealand flourish in the greatest +perfection; as, for example, the working of mats, and the making and +polishing of the different instruments used in war.</p> + +<p>Yet, although very numerous, they are themselves of a peaceful +disposition. Their houses are said to be both larger and better built +than those in any other part of the island; and their plantations are +also more extensive. This seems, in short, to be the manufacturing +district of New Zealand, the only part of the country in which anything +like regular industry has found an abode. Hence the pre-eminence of its +inhabitants, both in the useful and the elegant arts.</p> + +<p>Nicholas has printed some specimens of the songs of the New Zealanders, +which, when sung, are always accompanied, he informs us, by a great deal +of action. As he has given merely the words, however, without either the +music or a translation, it is needless to transcribe them. The airs he +describes as in general melodious and agreeable, and as having a +resemblance to our chanting.</p> + +<p>One of the songs which he gives is that which is always sung at the +feast which takes place when the planting of the potatoes commences. "It +describes," he says, "the havoc occasioned by the violence of an east +wind. Their potatoes are destroyed by it. They plant them again, and, +being more successful, they express their joy while taking them out of +the ground, with the words, <i>ah kiki! ah kiki! ah kiki!</i>—eat away! eat +away! eat away! Which is the conclusion of the song." Of another, "the +subject is a man carving a canoe, when his enemies approach the shore in +a canoe to attack him; endeavouring to conceal himself, he runs in among +the bushes, but is pursued, overtaken, and immediately put to death."</p> + +<p>Every more remarkable occasion of their rude and turbulent life seems +to have its appropriate song. The planting of their potatoes, the +gathering in of the crop, the commencement of the battle, the interment +of the dead, are all celebrated, each by its peculiar chorus, as well +as, probably, most of their other customary excitements, both of mirth +and of mourning.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders have a variety of national dances; but none of them +have been minutely described. Some of them are said to display much +grace of movement; others are chiefly remarkable for the extreme +violence with which they are performed. As among the other South Sea +tribes, when there are more dancers than one, the most perfect +uniformity of step and attitude is preserved by all of them; and they do +not consider it a dance at all when this rule is not attended to.</p> + +<p>Captain Dillon very much amused some of those who came on board his ship +by a sample of English dancing, which he made his men give them on deck. +A company of soldiers going through their manual exercise would +certainly have come much nearer their notions of what a dance ought to +be.</p> + +<p>Although there are no written laws in New Zealand, all these matters +are, no doubt, regulated by certain universally understood rules, +liberal enough in all probability, in the license which they allow to +the tyranny of the privileged class, but still fixing some boundaries to +its exercise, which will accordingly be but rarely overstepped. Thus, +the power which the chief seems to enjoy of depriving any of his slaves +of life may be limited to certain occasions only; as, for instance, the +death of some member of the family, whose manes, it is conceived, demand +to be propitiated by such an offering. That in such eases slaves are +often sacrificed in New Zealand, we have abundant evidence.</p> + +<p>Cruise even informs us that when a son of one of the chiefs died in +Marsden's house, in New South Wales, it required the interposition of +that gentleman's authority to prevent some of the boy's countrymen, who +were with him, from killing a few of their slaves, in honour of their +deceased friend. On other occasions, it is likely that the life of the +slave can only be taken when he has been convicted of some delinquency; +although, as the chief is the sole judge of his criminality, he will +find this, it may be thought, but a slight protection. The domestic +slaves of the chiefs, however, it is quite possible, and even likely, +are much more completely at the mercy of their caprice and passion than +the general body of the common people, whose vassalage may, after all, +consist in little more than the obligation of following them to their +wars, and rendering them obedience in such other matters of public +concern.</p> + +<p>Between the chiefs and the common people, who, as we have already +mentioned, are called "cookees," there seems to be also a pretty +numerous class, distinguished by the name of rungateedas, or, as it has +been more recently written, rangatiras, which appears to answer nearly +to the English term gentry.<a name='FNanchor_AX_50'></a><a href='#Footnote_AX_50'><sup>[AX]</sup></a> It consists of those who are connected +by relationship with the families of the chiefs; and who, though not +possessed of any territorial rights, are, as well as the chiefs +themselves, looked upon as almost of a different species from the +inferior orders, from whom they are probably as much separated in their +political condition and privileges as they are in the general estimation +of their rank and dignity. The term rangatira, indeed, in its widest +signification, includes the chiefs themselves, just as our English +epithet gentleman does the highest personages in the realm.</p> + +<p>Although there is no general government in New Zealand, the chiefs +differ from each other in power; and some of them seem even to exercise, +in certain respects, a degree of authority over others. Those who are +called areekees,<a name='FNanchor_AY_51'></a><a href='#Footnote_AY_51'><sup>[AY]</sup></a> in particular, are represented as of greatly +superior rank to the common chiefs. It was, probably, a chief of this +class of whom Cook heard at various places where he put in along the +east coast of the northern island, on his first visit to the country. He +calls him Teratu; and he found his authority to extend, he says, from +Cape Turnagain to the neighbourhood of Mercury Bay. The eight districts, +too, into which this island was divided by Toogee,<a name='FNanchor_AZ_52'></a><a href='#Footnote_AZ_52'><sup>[AZ]</sup></a> in the map of it +which he drew for Captain King, were in all likelihood the nominal +territories, or what we may call feudal domains, of so many areekees.</p> + +<p>The account which Rutherford gives of the law, or custom, which prevails +in New Zealand in regard to the crime of theft, may seem at first sight +to be somewhat irreconcilable with the statements of other authorities, +who tell us that this crime is regarded by the natives in so heinous a +light that its usual punishment is death; whereas, according to him, it +would seem scarcely to be considered by them as a crime at all.</p> + +<p>This apparent disagreement, however, arises, in all probability, merely +from that misapprehension, or imperfect conception, of the customs of a +foreign people into which we are so apt to be misled by the tendency we +have to mix up constantly our own previously acquired notions with the +simple facts that present themselves to us, and to explain the latter by +the former. With our habits and improved ideas of morality, we see in +theft both a trespass upon the arbitrary enactments of society, which +demands the correction of the civil magistrate, and a violation of that +natural equity which is independent of all political arrangements, and +would make it unfair and wrong for one man to take to himself what +belongs to another, although there were no such thing as what is +commonly called a government in existence.</p> + +<p>But in the mind of the New Zealander these simple notions of right and +wrong have been warped, and, as it were, suffocated, by a multitude of +unnatural and monstrous inventions, which have grown up along with them +from his very birth. How misapplied are the epithets, natural and +artificial, when employed, as they often are, to characterise the savage +and civilized state! It is the former, in truth, which is by far the +most artificial; and much of civilization consists in the abolition of +the numerous devices by which it has falsified and perverted the natural +dispositions of the human heart and understanding, and in the +reformation of society upon principles more accordant with their +unsophisticated dictates.</p> + +<p>Probably the only case in which the New Zealander looks upon theft as a +crime is when it is accompanied by a breach of hospitality, or is +committed upon those who have, in the customary and understood manner, +entrusted themselves to his friendship and honour. In any other +circumstances, he will scarcely hold himself disgraced by any act of +depredation which he can contrive to accomplish without detection; +however much the fear of not escaping with impunity may often deter him +from making the attempt.</p> + +<p>Then, as for the estimation in which the crime is politically held, +this, we need not doubt, will be very much regulated by the relative +situation in regard to rank of the two parties. Most of the European +visitors who have hitherto given us an account of the country have mixed +chiefly with the higher classes of its inhabitants, and consequently +learned but little with regard to the condition of the great body of the +population, except in so far as it affected, or was affected by, that of +the chiefs. Hence the impression they have taken up that theft in New +Zealand is looked upon as one of the worst of crimes, and always +punished with death. It is so, we have no doubt, when committed by one +of the common people upon any of the privileged class. In that case, the +mean and despised condition of the delinquent, as compared with that of +the person whose rights he has dared to invade, converts what might +otherwise have scarcely been deemed a transgression at all into +something little short of sacrilege. The thief is therefore knocked on +the head at once, or strung up on a gallows; for that, too, seems to be +one of the modes of public punishment for this species of crime in New +Zealand. This severity is demanded by the necessity which is felt for +upholding the social edifice in its integrity; and is also altogether in +keeping with the slight regard in which the lives of the lower orders +are universally held, and the love of bloodshed by which this ferocious +people is distinguished.</p> + +<p>But when one "cookee," or common man, pilfers from another, it is quite +another matter. In this case, the act entirely wants those aggravations +which, in the estimation of a New Zealander, give it all its +criminality; and the parties, besides, are so insignificant, that the +notion of avenging any injury which the one may have suffered from the +other by the public execution of the offender would probably be deemed +in that country nearly as unreasonable as we should hold a proposal for +the application of such a scheme of government in correction of the +quarrels and other irregularities of the lower animals.</p> + +<p>It need not, therefore, surprise us to be told, especially when we +consider also the trivial value of any articles of property they +possess, that thieving among the common people there is regarded, not as +a crime, but as an art, in which, as in other arts, the skilful and +dexterous practitioner deserves reward rather than punishment; nearly as +it was regarded among the Spartans, who punished the detected thief, +indeed, but not so much for his attempt as for his failure; or more +nearly still as it is said to have been among the ancient Egyptians, by +whom such acts were, in all cases, allowed to be perpetrated with +impunity.</p> + +<p>This view will go far to explain various incidents which we find noticed +in the different accounts of New Zealand. The reports of the +missionaries, in particular, abound with notices of individuals put to +death by the chiefs for alleged acts of theft; but in every case of this +kind which is mentioned, the person punished is, we believe, a slave. We +have observed no instance, noted, in which the crime in question was +punished, either with death or in any other way, when committed by one +"cookee" on the property of another; and it is abundantly evident, from +many things which are stated, that the natives themselves really do not +consider the act as implying, in ordinary cases, that moral turpitude +which we generally impute to it.</p> + +<p>In one case which Marsden mentions, the brother of a chief, named +Ahoudee Ogunna,<a name='FNanchor_BA_53'></a><a href='#Footnote_BA_53'><sup>[BA]</sup></a> conceiving himself to have been improperly treated +by one of the missionaries, stole two earthen pots from another of them; +but the explanation which the chief gave of the matter was that his +brother had not stolen the pots, but had only taken them away with an +intention to bring on an explanation respecting the conduct which had +given him offence. The man's expectation here evidently was that his +theft (if it was to be so called) would merely have the effect of making +the missionaries as angry as he himself was, and so of rendering both +parties equally anxious for a full discussion of their differences. He +had himself, as he conceived, been affronted in a manner not to be +passed over; and his stealing of the pots he meant merely as a spirited +act of retaliation, which would in some degree throw back the insult he +had received upon those who had inflicted it, and make them in their +turn feel mortified and on fire for satisfaction.</p> + +<p>He certainly did not imagine for a moment that he was at all degrading +himself by the method he adopted for attaining this end. The +degradation, in his conception of the matter, would be all with the +party robbed. He had, however, in his anger, forgotten one thing, which, +according even to the notions of the New Zealanders, it was most +material that he should have remembered, as his more considerate brother +felt as soon as he heard of the transaction, and as even he himself was +afterwards brought to acknowledge. The chief, besides having experienced +much kindness from the missionaries, was the very person from whom they +had purchased the ground on which their settlement was established, and +on whose friendship, at least, they had therefore a fair right to count, +if they were not even to regard themselves as in some degree under his +special protection. That personage felt the force of these +considerations so strongly that, in order to show how much he was vexed +and ashamed at his brother's conduct, he burned his own house to the +ground, and left his usual place of residence, with a determination +never to return to it so long as his brother lived.</p> + +<p>On the morning of his departure, the high-spirited chief came to take +leave of the missionaries, when he told them that he had been on the +spot where his house stood before he burned it, to weep with his +friends, and showed them how much he had lacerated his face, arms, and +other parts of his body, in which his friends had followed his example. +His brother, too, at last came to them, quite penitent for his hasty +conduct, and offered to restore the only one of the pots which he still +had, the other having been already stolen from him by one of his +countrymen. Accordingly, he soon after sent his son with the article; +and the boy having been presented with six fish-hooks, he immediately +brought them back, with a message, that his father would take nothing +for the pot.</p> + +<p>Such acts of retaliation as that to which the brother of Ahoudee Ogunna +here had recourse are often resorted to by the chiefs with something of +a similar design, to avenge themselves, namely, for injuries which they +conceive they have sustained, or to bring about those ulterior measures +by which they may obtain for their grievances complete atonement or +redress. In this way, many wars arise. But it is a point of honour with +a chief never to touch what belongs to those who have trusted themselves +to his friendship, and against whom he has no claim for satisfaction on +account of any old affront or outrage. To be supposed capable of doing +so would be felt by any of them as an intolerable imputation.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img10"></a> +<img src='images/image10.png' width='290' height='450' alt='A waist-mat. Christchurch Museum.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A waist-mat. Christchurch Museum.</h5> + +<p>We find a striking instance of this, to pass over many others that might +be quoted, in the conduct of Tetoro, who returned home to New Zealand +from Port Jackson, along with Cruise, in the "Dromedary." It was thought +necessary, during the passage, to take from this chief a box containing +some gunpowder, which he had got with him, and to lodge it in the +magazine until the ship arrived at New Zealand. "Though every exertion," +says Cruise, "was used, to explain the reason why he was requested to +give it up, and the strongest assurances made that it should be restored +hereafter, he either could not or would not understand what was said to +him. Upon parting with the property, which, next to his musket, was in +his eyes the greatest treasure in the world, he fell into an agony of +grief and despair which it was quite distressing to witness, repeatedly +exclaiming, 'No good,' and, rolling himself up in his mat, he declined +the conversation of every one. He remained in this state so long that +the powder was at length brought back; but he refused to take it, +saying, 'that they might again put it in the magazine, since they must +now be aware that he had not stolen it.'"</p> + +<p>Similar to that of Tetoro, was the conduct of a chief whom Marsden met +with on his first visit to New Zealand, and who was so much grieved and +ashamed at the circumstance of one of his dependents having stolen some +trifle from that gentleman, that he sat for two days and nights on the +deck of the ship, and could not be prevailed upon to enter the +cabin.<a name='FNanchor_BB_54'></a><a href='#Footnote_BB_54'><sup>[BB]</sup></a></p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AT_46'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AT_46'>[AT]</a><div class='note'><p> I pea, "Of course."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AU_47'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AU_47'>[AU]</a><div class='note'><p> Kanikani, to dance, as in the haka.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AV_48'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AV_48'>[AV]</a><div class='note'><p> These words are not in accord with the present system of +spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. The +former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" placed +in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, and +Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"—which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"—is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AW_49'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AW_49'>[AW]</a><div class='note'><p> These words are not in accord with the present system +of spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. +The former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" +placed in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, +and Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"—which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"—is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AX_50'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AX_50'>[AX]</a><div class='note'><p> The latter word is correct.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AY_51'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AY_51'>[AY]</a><div class='note'><p> Arikis.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AZ_52'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AZ_52'>[AZ]</a><div class='note'><p> Tuki.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BA_53'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BA_53'>[BA]</a><div class='note'><p> This is the man referred to in a previous chapter, who +signed a deed of sale to Marsden by the pattern of his tattoo.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BB_54'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BB_54'>[BB]</a><div class='note'><p> Maning, in "Old New Zealand," gives a delightful account +of the manner in which the law of muru, or plunder, ruled with an iron +hand in the ancient Maoriland.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>With regard to many of the other habits of the New Zealanders, +Rutherford in general corroborates the testimony of other travellers.</p> + +<p>He mentions particularly their extreme inattention to personal +cleanliness, a circumstance which very much surprised Nicholas, as it +seemed to present an unaccountable contrast to the neatness and order +which were usually to be found both in their plantations and huts.</p> + +<p>All the natives, Rutherford states, are overrun with vermin, which lodge +not only in their heads, but in their mats. "Their way of destroying +them in their mats," he adds, "is by making a fire, on which, having +thrown a quantity of green bushes, they spread the mat over the whole, +when the steam from the leaves compels the vermin to retreat to the +surface: these the women are very active in catching on such occasions +with both hands, and devouring greedily. Sometimes two or three will be +catching them at the same mat."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders cure their fish, Rutherford tells us, by dipping them +a great many times in salt water, and then drying them in the sun. The +large mussels they first bake in the usual manner, and then, taking them +out of the shell, string them together, and hang them up over the fire +to dry in the smoke. Thus prepared, they eat like old cheese, and will +keep for years. The coomeras, or sweet potatoes, are also cured in the +same manner, which makes them eat like gingerbread. Their potatoes the +natives pack in baskets made of green flax, and in this way preserve +them for the winter. There are, however, three months in the year during +which they live upon little except turnips, and at this time they do +with almost no drink. The baskets in which they keep their provisions, +and apply to other domestic purposes, are formed with considerable +ingenuity, and with some taste, in their decorations.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the stormy seas by which their islands are surrounded, +and the woods, swamps, and rivers, which oppose such difficulties in the +way of passing from one place to another through the heart of the +country, the New Zealanders are known to be in the habit of making long +journeys, both along the coasts in their canoes, and through the +interior on foot.</p> + +<p>Rutherford gives us some account of a journey which he once accomplished +in company with the chief Aimy.</p> + +<p>"I took," says he, "my wife Epecka with me, and we were attended by +about twenty slave-women to carry our provisions, every one of whom bore +on her back, besides a supply for her own consumption, about thirty +pounds of potatoes, and drove before her at the same time a pig, which +she held by a string tied to its fore-leg.</p> + +<p>"The men never travel without being armed. Our journey was made +sometimes by water and sometimes by land; and, proceeding in this +manner, we arrived, in about a month, at a place called Taranake,<a name='FNanchor_BC_55'></a><a href='#Footnote_BC_55'><sup>[BC]</sup></a> on +the coast of Cook Strait, where we were received by Otago,<a name='FNanchor_BD_56'></a><a href='#Footnote_BD_56'><sup>[BD]</sup></a> a great +chief, who had come from near the South Cape. On meeting we saluted each +other in the customary manner by touching noses, and there was also a +great deal of crying, as usual.</p> + +<p>"Here I saw an Englishman, named James Mowry, who told me that he had +formerly been a boy belonging to a ship called the 'Sydney Cove,' which +had put in near the South Cape, when a boat's crew, of which he was one, +had been sent on shore for the purpose of trading with the natives. They +were attacked, however, and every man of them killed except himself, he +having been indebted for his preservation to his youth and the +protection of Otago's daughter: this lady he had since married. He had +now been eight years in the country, and had become so completely +reconciled to the manners and way of life of the natives, that he had +resolved never to leave it. He was twenty-four years of age, handsome, +and of middle size, and had been well tattooed. He had also been made a +chief, and had often accompanied the natives to their wars. He spoke +their language, and had forgotten a great deal of his own. He told me he +had heard of the capture of our ship, and gave me an account of the +deaths of Smith and Watson, two of my unfortunate shipmates. I, in turn, +related to him my story, and what I had gone through.<a name='FNanchor_BE_57'></a><a href='#Footnote_BE_57'><sup>[BE]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"The village of Taranake stands by the sea-side, and the manners and +customs of the inhabitants are the same as prevail in other parts of the +island.</p> + +<p>"We remained here six weeks; and during this time I employed myself in +looking out for a ship passing through the Straits, by which I might +make my escape, but was never fortunate enough to see one. I kept my +intention, however, a secret from Mowry, for he was too much attached to +the natives for me to trust him.</p> + +<p>"On leaving Taranake we took our way along the coast, and after a +journey of six weeks arrived at the East Cape, where we met with a +great chief, named Bomurry, belonging to the Bay of Islands. He told us +that he resided in the neighbourhood of Kendal,<a name='FNanchor_BF_58'></a><a href='#Footnote_BF_58'><sup>[BF]</sup></a> the missionary. He +had about five hundred warriors with him, and several war-canoes, in one +of which I observed a trunk, having on it the name of Captain Brin, of +the 'Asp,' South Seaman. These people had also with them a number of +muskets, with polished barrels, and a few small kegs of powder, as well +as a great quantity of potatoes and flax mats. They had plundered and +murdered nearly every person that lived between the East Cape and the +river Thames; and the whole country dreaded the name of Bomurry.</p> + +<p>"This great warrior showed us several of the heads of chiefs whom he had +killed on this expedition, and these, he said, he intended to carry back +with him to the Bay of Islands, to sell for gunpowder to the ships that +touched there. He and his followers having taken leave of us, and set +sail in their canoes, we also left the East Cape the day following, and +proceeded on our journey homewards, travelling during the day, and +encamping at night in the woods, where we slept around large fires under +the branches of the trees. In this way we arrived in four days at our +own village, where I was received by Eshou, my eldest wife, with great +joy. I was much fatigued by my journey, as was also my other wife, +Epecka, who had accompanied me."</p> + +<p>The person whom Rutherford here calls Bomurry is doubtless the chief +described in most of the other recent accounts of New Zealand under the +name of Pomaree, or Pomarree<a name='FNanchor_BG_59'></a><a href='#Footnote_BG_59'><sup>[BG]</sup></a>, one of the most extraordinary +characters in that country. He had taken this name instead of another by +which he used to be called, Nicholas informs us, a short time before he +first saw him in 1815, because he had heard that it was that of the king +of Otaheite, according to the practice which prevails among his +countrymen of frequently changing their names, and calling themselves +after persons of whose power or rank they have conceived a high idea.</p> + +<p>Pomaree is described by this gentleman as having been looked upon, even +in his own country, as a monster of rapacity and cruelty, always +involved in quarrels with his neighbours, and in the habit of stealing +their property whenever he had an opportunity. Duaterra asserted that on +a recent occasion he had made an incursion into his territory, and, +without any provocation, murdered six of his people, the bodies of all +of whom he afterwards devoured, not even their heads having escaped his +gluttony, after he had stuck them upon a stick and roasted them at the +fire.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand chiefs, however, not excepting the most respectable +among them, were found to be sadly given to calumniate one another by +all sorts of fictions; and even Pomaree, bad as he really was, seems +sometimes to have been worse reported of by the others than he deserved.</p> + +<p>Upon another occasion Korro-korro told a long story about a design which +he said had been formed to cut off the ship belonging to the +missionaries, and of which he maintained that Pomaree was the principal +instigator; but this was afterwards discovered to be a mere invention of +that otherwise very honourable chief.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding Pomaree's bad reputation, indeed, it is remarkable that +we do not find a single instance anywhere recorded in which any European +had reason to complain of his conduct. Nicholas was once dreadfully +alarmed by the apprehension that he had decoyed away his friend, +Marsden, to murder him; but was very soon relieved by the return of the +reverend gentleman from a friendly walk which he had been enjoying, in +the company of his supposed assassin, through one of the woods on his +territory.</p> + +<p>Pomaree, in truth, was too thoroughly aware of the advantages to be +derived from the visits of the Europeans to think of exercising his +murderous propensities upon their persons, however fond he might have +been of embruing his hands in the blood of his own countrymen.</p> + +<p>"We found Pomaree," says Nicholas, "to be a very extraordinary +character; he was of more service to us in procuring timber than all +the other chiefs put together; and I never met, in any part of the +world, with a man who showed so much impatient avidity for transacting +business. His abilities, too, in this line were very great; he was an +excellent judge of several articles, and could give his opinion of an +axe as well as any European; while handling it with ecstasy the moment +he got it in his possession, his eyes would still feast themselves on so +valuable an acquisition."</p> + +<p>He then relates an anecdote of him which strikingly corresponds with one +of the circumstances which Rutherford mentions: his custom of +trafficking in preserved heads.</p> + +<p>"This man," continues Nicholas, "displayed upon every occasion a more +uncomplying spirit of independence than any of the other chiefs. It is +customary with the New Zealanders to preserve from putrefaction, by a +curious method, the heads of the enemies they have slain in battle; and +Pomaree had acquired so great a proficiency in this art that he was +considered the most expert at it of any of his countrymen. The process, +as I was informed, consists of taking out the brains, and drying the +head in such a manner as to keep the flesh entire; but in doing this an +uncommon degree of skill and experience is required. Marsden put some +questions to Pomaree one day about the plan he pursued in this art that +gave him so decided a superiority over the others; but he was not +willing to make him a direct reply, as he knew it was a subject on +which we reflected with horror, and one which in its detail must be +shocking to our feelings. But my friend asking him if he could procure a +head preserved in this manner, it occurred to him that he might receive +an axe for his trouble; and this idea made the man of business not only +enter into a copious explanation of his system, but induced him also to +offer us a sample of his practice, by telling us he would go and shoot +some people who had killed his son, if we would supply him with powder +for the purpose; and then, bringing back their heads, would show us all +we wished to know about his art of preserving them.</p> + +<p>"It will easily be supposed that this sanguinary proposal immediately +put an end to all further interrogatories; and Marsden, whose motive for +questioning him on the subject was not to discover the nature of a +practice so revolting to humanity, but to develop more fully the +character of the individual, told him he must fight no more, and desired +him, in positive terms, never to attempt to bring any sample of his art +on board, as he had no intention of seeing it himself at the time he +inquired about it, nor would he suffer any one in the ship to +countenance such a shocking exhibition.</p> + +<p>"This was a sad disappointment to Pomaree, who found himself deceived in +the hopes he had formed of increasing his wealth by the addition of +another axe; and I cannot help believing that, for so tempting a +reward, he would not have hesitated to take the life of the first person +that came in his way, provided he could have done it with impunity. This +chief omitted no opportunity of setting forth his great personal +qualifications, as likewise the extensive authority he possessed; and he +was constantly boasting of his warlike achievements, despising his +rivals, and extolling himself over all the other heroes of New Zealand."</p> + +<p>Cruise has given us a short account of the manner of preserving heads; +and we find it also detailed in Rutherford's journal, somewhat more +minutely. According to him the skull is first completely emptied of its +contents, the eyes and tongue being likewise extracted; after which the +nostrils and entire inside of the skull are stuffed with flax. At the +neck, where the head has been cut from the body, they draw the skin +together like the mouth of a purse, leaving, however, an open space +large enough to admit the hand.</p> + +<p>They then wrap it up in a quantity of green leaves, and in this state +expose it to the fire till it is well steamed; after which the leaves +are taken off, and it is next hung up to dry in the smoke, which causes +the flesh to become tough and hard. Both the hair and teeth are +preserved, and the tattooing on the face remains as plain as when the +person was alive. The head, when thus cured, will keep for ever, if it +be preserved dry.</p> + +<p>Cruise says that the heads are only exposed to a current of dry air; +but it appears, from Rutherford's account, that they are hung in the +smoke of a wood fire, and are thus, in fact, preserved from decaying +principally by being impregnated with the pyroligneous acid. That the +New Zealanders are well acquainted with the antiseptic powers of this +extract is proved also by what was formerly stated as to their method of +curing mussels. A French writer considers that this art of preserving +heads is a proof of some original connection between the New Zealanders +and the ancient world; as the process is as effective as that by which +the Egyptians prepared their mummies.</p> + +<p>In savage countries the spirit of war is very much a spirit of personal +hostility; and both because of this, and from the state of society not +admitting of the erection of expensive public memorials which elsewhere, +or in another age, are employed to preserve the renown of military +exploits, the barbarian victor generally celebrates his triumph on the +body of his slain enemy, in disfiguring which he first exercises his +ingenuity, and afterwards in converting it into a permanent trophy of +his prowess.</p> + +<p>The ancient Scythian warrior, Herodotus tells us, was wont to carry away +the heads of all those whom he slew in battle, to present to his king; +and the ancient Gauls, it is said, used to hang these bloody spoils +around the necks of their horses. The Gauls are asserted also to have +been in the practice of embalming the heads which they brought home from +their wars, of which they had large collections, which they kept in +chests. These they used to show with much exultation to the strangers +who visited their country; boasting that neither they nor their +ancestors had ever been known to dispose of such honourable heirlooms +for any price that could be offered.</p> + +<p>Among some races it has been the custom to preserve only the scalp; as, +for instance, among the Indians of America. The taking of scalps, +however, is also a practice of great antiquity. The Scythians used to +hang the scalps of their enemies to the harness of their horses; and he +was deemed the most distinguished warrior whose equipage was most +plentifully decorated with these ornaments. Some were accustomed to sew +numbers of scalps together, so as to form a cloak, in which they arrayed +themselves. It was also usual for the warriors of this nation to tear +off the skin from the right hands of their slain enemies, and to +preserve it with the nails attached; and sometimes they flayed the whole +body, and, after drying the skin, made use of it as a covering for their +horses.</p> + +<p>Some of the savage tribes of America are said to have been accustomed to +practice the same barbarity, and to convert the skins of the hands into +pouches for holding their tobacco.</p> + +<p>The history of Scotland affords an instance, even in comparatively +recent times, of a victorious party, in the bitterness of their +contempt and hatred, employing the skin of a slain enemy in a somewhat +similar manner. Hugh Cressingham, appointed by Edward I. Lord Chief +Justice of Scotland, having been slain at Stirling Bridge in an attack +by Wallace, the Scots flayed him, and made saddles and girths of his +skin.</p> + +<p>To recur to the practices of a higher state of civilization, our own +custom, which existed as late as the last century, of exposing the heads +of traitors, although meant as a warning, in the same way as hanging in +chains, was perhaps a relic of those ferocious ages when it was not +considered mean and brutal to carry revenge beyond the grave. The +executions in London, after the rebellion of 1745, were followed by such +a revolting display, useless for any object of salutary terror, and +calculated only to excite a vulgar curiosity. Horace Walpole, in a very +few words, describes the feelings with which the public crowded to this +sight:—"I have been this morning at the Tower, and passed under the new +heads of Temple Bar, where people make a trade of letting spying glasses +at a halfpenny a look."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders have, therefore, in some degree, a justification for +this custom in the somewhat similar acts of civilized communities. At +any rate, in preserving, as they do, the heads of their enemies, they +only follow a practice which has been common to many other barbarous +tribes.</p> + +<p>Although Pomaree, it would appear, made a merchandise of these heads +when he had the opportunity, his countrymen, in general, are far from +treating them with so much disrespect. It was with great reluctance that +some of them were prevailed upon to sell one to Mr. Banks, when he was +with Cook in Queen Charlotte Sound, in 1770; and nothing could induce +them to part with a second. They are, in fact, preserved as spoils or +trophies during the continuance of the war; and their restoration to the +party from whom they have been taken is so indispensable a preliminary +to the conclusion of a peace, that it is said no chief would dispose of +them, unless it were his determination never to come to terms with his +opponents; so that we may suppose this was what Pomaree had resolved +upon.</p> + +<p>The brain is eaten, like the rest of the body; and the eyes are also +frequently devoured by the conqueror, especially the left eye, which, it +is believed, ascends to heaven and becomes a star. Shungie is stated, +upon one occasion, to have eaten the left eye of a great chief whom he +had killed in battle, under the idea of thus increasing the glory and +brightness of his own left eye, when it should be transferred to the +firmament; for it is understood that when any one eats of the person he +has killed, the dead man becomes a part of himself.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img11"></a> +<img src='images/image11.png' width='203' height='450' alt='Christchurch Museum. + +Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair.</h5> + +<p>Nicholas tells another amusing story of Pomaree's style of doing +"business," which we shall also give in his own words. "This wily +chief," says he, "had cast a longing eye upon a chisel belonging to one +of the missionaries, and to obtain it he had brought some fish on board, +which he presented to the owner of the chisel with so much apparent +generosity and friendliness, that the other could not help considering +it a gratuitous favour, and, receiving it as such, told him he felt very +grateful for his kindness.</p> + +<p>"But Pomaree had no idea of any such disinterested liberality, and as +soon as the fish were eaten, he immediately demanded the chisel in +return; which, however, was not granted, as it was a present much too +valuable to be given away for so trifling a consideration. Incensed at +the denial, the chief flew into a violent rage, and testified, by loud +reproaches, how grievously he was provoked by the ill-success of his +project. He told the person, who very properly refused to comply with +his demand, that 'he was no good,' and that he would never again bring +him anything more. He attempted the same crafty experiment upon another +of our party also, but this proved equally abortive, the person being +well aware of his character, and knowing he would require from him ten +times more than the worth of his pretended favour."</p> + +<p>Though so covetous and crafty himself, however, Pomaree had no mercy to +show for the delinquencies of others. On one occasion, when a poor +"cookee" had been detected in the commission of some petty theft about +the vessel, he was loud in his exhortations to the captain to hang him +up immediately. The man appears, indeed, to have been altogether +divested even of those natural affections which scarcely any of his +savage countrymen but himself were found to be without.</p> + +<p>When Marsden and Nicholas left New Zealand, a number of the chiefs sent +their sons with them to Port Jackson; and such a scene of anguish took +place on the parting between the parents and their children that there +was no European present, Nicholas says, not excepting the most obdurate +sailor on board, who was not more or less affected. "But I cannot help +noticing," he adds, "that in the general expression of inconsolable +distress, Pomaree was the only person who showed no concern; he took +leave of his son with all the indifference imaginable, and hurrying into +his canoe, paddled back to the shore—a solitary exception to the +affecting sensibility of his countrymen."</p> + +<p>Even Pomaree, however, could weep on some occasions, as the following +account which Marsden gives us of an interview he had with him four or +five years after this will show. "He told me," says Marsden, "that he +was very angry that I had not brought a blacksmith for him; and that +when he heard that there was no blacksmith for him, he sat down and wept +much, and also his wives. I assured him that he should have one, as +soon as one could be got for him. He replied it would be of no use to +him to send a blacksmith when he was dead; and that he was at present in +the greatest distress: his wooden spades were all broke, and he had not +an axe to make any more; his canoes were all broke, and he had not a +nail or a gimlet to mend them with; his potato grounds were +uncultivated, and he had not a hoe to break them up with, nor a tool to +employ his people; and that, for want of cultivation, he and his people +would have nothing to eat. He begged me to compare the land of +Tippoonah,<a name='FNanchor_BH_60'></a><a href='#Footnote_BH_60'><sup>[BH]</sup></a> which belonged to the inhabitants of Ranghee-hoo<a name='FNanchor_BI_61'></a><a href='#Footnote_BI_61'><sup>[BI]</sup></a> and +Shungie, with his; observing, that their land was already prepared for +planting, because a smith was there, and they could get hoes, &c. I +endeavoured to pacify his mind with promises, but he paid little +attention to what I said in respect to sending him a smith at a future +period."</p> + +<p>Pomaree was by much too cunning to be cheated of his object in this way. +He was evidently determined not to go without something in hand; and +nothing accordingly would drive him from his point.</p> + +<p>When Marsden tried to divert his attention to another subject by asking +him if he should wish to go to England, he replied at once that he +should not; adding, with his characteristic shrewdness, that he was a +little man when at Port Jackson, and should be less in England; but in +his own country he was a great king. The conference ended at last by an +express promise that he should have immediately three hoes, an axe, a +few nails, and a gimlet. This instantly put him in great good humour.</p> + +<p>We have collected these notices in order to give a more complete +illustration of so singular and interesting a character as that formed +by the union of the rude and bloodthirsty barbarian with the bustling +trafficker. It is an exhibition of the savage mind in a new guise. We +have only to add, with regard to Pomaree, that it appears by other +authorities, as well as by the notice we find in Rutherford, that he was +in the habit of making very devastating excursions occasionally to the +southern part of the island. When Cruise left New Zealand in 1820, he +had been away on one of these expeditions nearly a year, nor was it +known exactly where he had gone to. The people about the mouth of the +Thames said they had seen him since he left home, but he had long ago +left their district for one still farther south. The last notice we find +of him, is in a letter from the Rev. H. Williams, in the "Missionary +Register" for 1827, in which it is stated, that he had a short time +before fallen in battle, having been cut to pieces, with many of his +followers, by a tribe on whom he had made an attack.</p> + +<p>This event, of the circumstances of which Dillon was furnished with a +particular account by some of the near relations of the deceased chief, +took place in the southern part of the island.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BC_55'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BC_55'>[BC]</a><div class='note'><p> This is one of the discrepancies in Rutherford's +narrative. Taranaki is a district on the West Coast of the North Island, +and is about 150 miles from Cook Strait.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BD_56'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BD_56'>[BD]</a><div class='note'><p> Otago is a large province in the southern part of the +South Island, 300 miles from the Strait. Rutherford probably refers to +Takou, a Wairarapa chief, who was connected with the Ngai-Tahu of +Otago.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BE_57'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BE_57'>[BE]</a><div class='note'><p> It is supposed that the man was "Jim the Maori," the +latter word being wrongly spelt "Moury" in the manuscript of +Rutherford's story. The man's real name was James Caddell. He was an +Englishman by birth, and lived amongst the Maoris so long that he became +one of them, adopting their customs and ideas. Those who have +investigated his case believe that he belonged to the "Sydney Cove," a +sealer, which sailed in New Zealand waters. Near the South Cape, a boat +from a sealer was captured by the Maoris, and all the members of the +crew except Caddell were killed and eaten. Caddell, according to his own +account, was saved by running to a chief and touching his mat. He was +sixteen years of age then. He married a chief's daughter, and became a +Maori in all respects except colour. He was captured by Captain +Edwardson, of the "Snapper," and was taken to Sydney, where he seems to +have paraded as a savage chief. While he was with the Maoris, he almost +forgot the English language, and found much difficulty in making himself +understood by Captain Edwardson.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BF_58'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BF_58'>[BF]</a><div class='note'><p> Mr. Kendal was one of the missionaries who went to New +Zealand with Marsden when missionary work in the country was begun.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BG_59'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BG_59'>[BG]</a><div class='note'><p> Pomare.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BH_60'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BH_60'>[BH]</a><div class='note'><p> Te Puna, at that time the principal town in the Bay of +Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BI_61'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BI_61'>[BI]</a><div class='note'><p> Rangihoua.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a><h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The New Zealanders, according to Rutherford, have neither priests, nor +places of worship, nor any religion except their superstitious dread of +the Atua.</p> + +<p>To an uneducated man, coming from a Christian country, the entire +absence of all regular religious observances among these savages would +very naturally give such an impression. Cook ascertained that they had +no "morais"<a name='FNanchor_BJ_62'></a><a href='#Footnote_BJ_62'><sup>[BJ]</sup></a> or temples, like some of the other tribes of the South +Seas; but he met with persons who evidently bore what we should call the +priestly character.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders are certainly not without some notions of religion; +and, in many particulars, they are a remarkably superstitious people. +During the whole course of their lives, the imagined presence of the +unseen and supernatural crosses them at every step. What has been +already stated respecting the "taboo" may give some idea of how +submissive and habitual is their sense of the power of the Divinity, and +how entirely they conceive themselves to be in his hands; as well as +what a constant and prying superintendence they imagine him to exercise +over their conduct.</p> + +<p>It would be easy to enumerate many minor superstitions, all indicative +of the extraordinary influence of the same belief. They think, for +instance, that if they were to allow a fire to be lighted under a shed +where there are provisions, their god would kill them.</p> + +<p>They have many superstitions, also, with regard to cutting their hair. +Cook speaks, in the account of his third voyage, of a young man he had +taken on board the ship, who, having one day performed this ceremony, +could not be prevailed upon to eat a morsel till night, insisting that +the atua would most certainly kill him if he did.</p> + +<p>Cruise tells us that Tetoro, on the voyage from Port Jackson, cut the +hair of one of his companions, and continued to repeat prayers over him +during the whole operation.</p> + +<p>Nicholas, having one day found another chief busy in cutting his wife's +hair with a piece of sharp stone, was going to take up the implement +after it had been used, but was immediately charged by the chief not to +touch it, as the deity of New Zealand would wreak his vengeance on him +if he presumed to commit so daring a piece of impiety.</p> + +<p>"Laughing at his superstition," continues Nicholas, "I began to exclaim +against its absurdity, but like Tooi, on a former occasion, he retorted +by ridiculing our preaching, yet at the same time asking me to +sermonize over his wife, as if his object was to have her exorcised; and +upon my refusing, he began himself, but could not proceed from +involuntary bursts of laughter."</p> + +<p>On this occasion, the chief, when he had cut off the hair, collected it +all together, and, carrying it to the outskirts of the town, threw it +away. Cook remarks that he used to see quantities of hair tied to the +branches of the trees near the villages. It is stated, in a letter from +one of the missionaries, that the hair, when cut, is carefully +collected, and buried in a secret place.</p> + +<p>Certain superstitions have been connected with the cutting of the hair, +from the most ancient times. Many allusions are found in the Greek and +Roman writers to the practice of cutting off the hair of the dead, and +presenting it as an offering to the infernal gods, in order to secure a +free passage to Elysium for the person to whom it belonged. The passage +in the fourth book of the "Æneid," where Iris appears by the command of +Juno to liberate the soul of the expiring Queen of Carthage, by thus +severing from her head the fatal lock, will occur to many of our +readers.</p> + +<p>Whatever may have been the origin of this superstition, it is probable +that most of the other notions and customs which have prevailed in +regard to the cutting of the hair are connected with it. The act in this +way naturally became significant of the separation from the living +world of the person on whom it was performed. Of the antiquity of this +practice, we have a proof in a command given by Moses to the Jews:—"Ye +shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for +the dead." These were superstitious customs of the nations by whom they +were surrounded.</p> + +<p>The Gentiles used excessive lamentations, amounting to frenzy, at their +funeral rites. According to Bruce, the Abyssinian woman, upon the death +of a near relation, cuts the skin of both her temples with the nail of +her little finger, which she leaves long on purpose; and thus every fair +face throughout the country is disfigured with scars. The same notion of +abstraction from the present life and its concerns is expressed by the +clerical tonsure, so long known in the Christian church, and still +retained among the Roman Catholics. It is still common, also, among +ourselves, for widows, in the earlier period of their mourning, to cut +off their hair, or to remove it back from the brow. Among all rude +nations, besides, the hair has been held in peculiar estimation from its +ornamental nature, and its capability of being formed into any shape, +according to the fancy of its possessor, or the fashion of the country.</p> + +<p>Amongst nations, especially, where the ordinary clothing of the people, +from the materials of which it was formed, did not admit of being made +very decorative, this consideration would be much regarded, and still +more where no clothing was worn at all. In such cases, the hair, either +of the head or of the beard, has usually been cherished with very +affectionate care, and the mode of dressing it has been made matter of +anxious regulation. Many of the barbarous nations of antiquity had each +a method of cutting the hair peculiar to itself; and it was sometimes +accounted the deepest mark of servitude which a conqueror could impose +when he compelled the violation of this sacred rule of national manners.</p> + +<p>We have a remnant of these old feelings in the reverence with which his +beard is regarded by a Turk of the present day. It is recorded, too, +that no reform which Peter the Great of Russia essayed to introduce +among his semi-barbaric subjects was so pertinaciously resisted as his +attempt to abbreviate their beards.</p> + +<p>Marsden, on asking a New Zealander what he conceived the atua to be, was +answered—"An immortal shadow." Although possessed, however, of the +attributes of immortality, omni-presence, invisibility, and supreme +power, he is universally believed to be in disposition merely a +vindictive and malignant demon.</p> + +<p>When one of the missionaries had one day been telling a number of them +of the infinite goodness of God, they asked him if he was not joking +with them. They believe that whenever any person is sick, his illness is +occasioned by the atua, in the shape of a lizard, preying upon his +entrails; and, accordingly, in such cases, they often address the most +horrid imprecations and curses to the invisible cannibal, in the hope of +thereby frightening him away. They imagine that at other times he amuses +himself in entangling their nets and oversetting their canoes. Of late +years they have suspected that he has been very angry with them for +having allowed the white men to obtain a footing in their country, a +proof of which they think they see in the greater mortality that has +recently prevailed among them. This, however, they at other times +attribute to the God of the Christians, whom they also denounce, +accordingly, as a cruel being, at least to the New Zealander. Sometimes +they more rationally assign as its cause the diseases that have been +introduced among them by the whites. Until the whites came to their +country, they say, young people did not die, but all lived to be so old +as to be obliged to creep on their hands and knees.</p> + +<p>The white man's God they believe to be altogether a different being from +their own atua. Marsden, in one of his letters, relates a conversation +he had upon this subject with some of the chiefs' sons who resided with +him in New South Wales. When he told them that there was but one God, +and that our God was also theirs, they asked him if our God had given us +any sweet potatoes, and could with difficulty be made to see how one +God should give these to the New Zealander and not equally to the white +man; or, on the other hand, how he should have acted so partially as to +give to the white man only such possessions as cattle, sheep, and +horses, which the New Zealander as much required. The argument, however, +upon which they seem most to have rested, was:—"But we are of a +different colour from you; and if one God made us both, he would not +have committed such a mistake as to make us of different colours." Even +one of the chiefs, who had been a great deal with Marsden, and was +disposed to acknowledge the absurdity both of the "taboo" and of many of +his other native superstitions, could not be brought to admit that the +same God who made the white men had also made the New Zealanders.</p> + +<p>Among themselves, the New Zealanders appear to have a great variety of +other gods, besides the one whom they call emphatically the atua. Crozet +speaks of some feeble ideas which they have of subordinate divinities, +to whom, he says, they are wont to pray for victory over their enemies. +But Savage gives us a most particular account of their daily adoration +of the sun, moon, and stars. Of the heavenly host, the moon, he says, is +their favourite; though why he should think so, it is not easy to +understand, seeing that, when addressing this luminary, they employ, he +tells us, a mournful song, and seem as full of apprehension as of +devotion; whereas "when paying their adoration to the rising sun, the +arms are spread and the head bowed, with the appearance of much joy in +their countenances, accompanied with a degree of elegant and reverential +solemnity, and the song used upon the occasion is cheerful." It is +strange that none of their other visitors have remarked the existence of +this species of idolatry among these savages.</p> + +<p>Yet two New Zealanders, who are now in this country, were in the habit +of commencing the exhibition of their national customs with the +ceremonies practised in their morning devotion to the sun.</p> + +<p>The vocal part of the rite, according to the account we have received, +consisted in a low monotonous chant; the manual, in keeping a ball about +the size of an orange constantly whirling in a vertical circle. The +whole was performed in a kneeling posture. Like most other rude nations, +the New Zealanders have certain fancies with regard to several of the +more remarkable constellations; and are not without some conception that +the issues of human affairs are occasionally influenced, or at least +indicated, by the movements of the stars. The Pleiades, for instance, +they believe to be seven of their departed countrymen, fixed in the +firmament; one eye of each of them appearing in the shape of a star, +being the only part that is visible. But it is a common superstition +among them, as we have already noticed, that the left eyes of their +chiefs, after death, become stars.</p> + +<p>This notion is far from being destitute of poetical beauty; and perhaps, +indeed, exhibits the common mythological doctrine of the glittering host +of heaven being merely an assemblage of the departed heroes of earth, in +as ingenious a version as it ever has received. It would be easy to +collect many proofs of the extensive diffusion of this ancient faith, +traces of which are to be found in the primitive astronomy of every +people. The classical reader will at once recollect, among many others +of a similar kind, the stories of Castor and Pollux, and of Berenice's +tresses, the latter of which has been so elegantly imitated by Pope, in +telling us of the fate of the vanished lock of Belinda:—</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"But trust the muse—she saw it upward rise,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Though marked by none but quick poetic eyes;</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>(So Home's great founder to the heavens withdrew,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>To Proculus alone confessed to view);</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>A sudden star it shot through liquid air,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And drew behind a radiant trail of hair."</span><br /> + +<p>The New Zealanders conceive, also, that what we call a shooting star is +ominous of the approaching dissolution of any one of their great chiefs +who may be unwell when it is seen. Like the vulgar among ourselves, too, +they have their man in the moon; who, they say, is one of their +countrymen named Rona, who was taken up long ago, one night when he +went to the well to fetch water.</p> + +<p>Nicholas has given us, on the authority of his friend Duaterra, the most +particular account that has appeared of the inferior deities of New +Zealand. Their number, according to him, is very great, and each of them +has his distinct powers and functions; one being placed over the +elements, another over the fowls and fishes, and so of the rest. +Deifications of the different passions and affections, also, it seems, +find a place in this extended mythology.</p> + +<p>In another part of his work, Nicholas remarks, as corroborative of the +Malay descent of the New Zealanders, the singular coincidence, in some +respects, between their mythology and that of the ancient Malay tribe, +the Battas of Sumatra, whose extraordinary cannibal practices we have +already detailed; especially in the circumstance of the three principal +divinities of the Battas having precisely the same functions assigned to +them with the three that occupy the same rank in the system of the New +Zealanders.<a name='FNanchor_BK_63'></a><a href='#Footnote_BK_63'><sup>[BK]</sup></a></p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BJ_62'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BJ_62'>[BJ]</a><div class='note'><p> Marae. With Maoris and Samoans the word means an open +space in a village; in the Tahitian, Mangaian, and Paumotan languages it +means a temple, or a place where rites were performed.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BK_63'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BK_63'>[BK]</a><div class='note'><p> The religion, and superstitions and legends of the Maoris +are dealt with in Sir George Grey's "Polynesian Mythology," Mr. S. Percy +Smith's "Hawaiki," articles by Mr. Elsdon Best in the "Transactions of +the New Zealand Institute," articles by that author and by Mr. Percy +Smith in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Mr. E. Tregear's "The +Maori Race," and Mr. J.C. Andersen's "Maori Life in Ao-tea."</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_X'></a><h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>It is very remarkable that the New Zealanders attribute the creation of +man to their three principal deities acting together; thus exhibiting in +their barbarous theology something like a shadow of the Christian +Trinity. What is still more extraordinary is their tradition respecting +the formation of the first woman, who, they say, was made of one of the +man's ribs; and their general term for bone is hevee, or, as Professor +Lee gives it, iwi<a name='FNanchor_BL_64'></a><a href='#Footnote_BL_64'><sup>[BL]</sup></a> a sound bearing a singular resemblance to the +Hebrew name of our first mother.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img12"></a> +<img src='images/image12.png' width='352' height='450' alt='Christchurch Museum. + +Carved boxes (waka-papa, or waka) for holding feathers and trinkets. +The upper box is said to have formed part of Captain Cook's collection.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Carved boxes</h5> + +<p>Particular individuals and places would also seem to have their own +gods. When the "Active" was in the river Thames, a gale of wind, by +which the ship was attacked, was attributed by the natives on board to +the anger of the god of Shoupah,<a name='FNanchor_BM_65'></a><a href='#Footnote_BM_65'><sup>[BM]</sup></a> the Areekee who resided in the +neighbourhood. Kórro-korro, who was among them said that as soon as he +got on shore he would endeavour to prevail upon the Areekee to +propitiate the offended deity. When Marsden asked the people of +Kiperro<a name='FNanchor_BN_66'></a><a href='#Footnote_BN_66'><sup>[BN]</sup></a> if they</p> + +<p>knew anything of their god, or ever had any communication with him, +they replied that they often heard him whistle. The chiefs, too, are +often called atuas, or gods, even while they are alive. The aged chief, +Tarra,<a name='FNanchor_BO_67'></a><a href='#Footnote_BO_67'><sup>[BO]</sup></a> maintained to one of the missionaries that the god of thunder +resided in his forehead; and Shungie and Okeda<a name='FNanchor_BP_68'></a><a href='#Footnote_BP_68'><sup>[BP]</sup></a> asserted that they +were possessed by gods of the sea.</p> + +<p>The part of the heavens in which the gods reside is represented as +beautiful in the extreme. "When the clouds are beautifully chequered," +writes Kendal, "the atua above, it is supposed, is planting sweet +potatoes. At the season when these are planted in the ground, the +planters dress themselves in their best raiment, and say that, as atuas +on earth, they are imitating the atua in heaven."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders believe that the souls of the higher orders among +them are immortal; but they hold that when the "cookees" die they perish +for ever. The spirit, they think, leaves the body the third day after +death, till which time it hovers round the corpse, and hears very well +whatever is said to it. But they hold also, it would seem, that there is +a separate immortality for each of the eyes of the dead person; the +left, as before-mentioned, ascending to heaven and becoming a star, and +the other, in the shape of a spirit, taking flight for the Reinga. +Reinga signifies, properly, the place of flight; and is said, in some +of the accounts, to be a rock or a mountain at the North Cape from +which, according to others, the spirits descend into the next world +through the sea. The notion which the New Zealanders really entertain as +to this matter appears to be that the spirits first leap from the North +Cape into the sea, and thence emerge into an Elysium situated in the +islands of the Three Kings. The submarine path to the blissful region of +the New Zealanders is less intricate than that of the Huron of +America:—</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>"To the country of the Dead,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Long and painful is thy way!</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>O'er rivers wide and deep</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Lies the road that must be past,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>By bridges narrow-wall'd,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>When scarce the soul can force its way,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>While the loose fabric totters under it."</span><br /> + +<p>In the heaven of the New Zealanders, as in that of the ancient Goths, +the chief employment of the blessed is war, their old delight while on +earth. The idea of any more tranquil happiness has no charms for them. +Speaking of an assembly of them which he had been endeavouring to +instruct in the doctrines of Christianity, one of the Wesleyan +missionaries says: "On telling them about the two eternal states, as +described in the Scriptures, an old chief began to protest against these +things with all the vehemence imaginable, and said that he would not go +to heaven, nor would he go to hell to have nothing but fire to eat; but +he would go to the Reinga or Po, to eat coomeras, (sweet potatoes) with +his friends who had gone before."</p> + +<p>The slaves that are sacrificed upon the death of a chief, by his +friends, are generally intended to prevent him from coming again to +destroy them; but we find that on the occasion of a child having been +drowned, the mother insisted upon a female slave being killed, to be a +companion for it on its way to the Reinga.</p> + +<p>Though the New Zealanders do not assemble together at stated times to +worship their gods, they are in the habit of praying to them in all +their emergencies. Thus, when Korro-korro met his aunt, as before +related, his brother Tooi informed Nicholas that the ejaculations the +old woman uttered as she approached were prayers to the divinity. When +Korro-korro urged Marsden to take his son with him to Port Jackson, and +was told by that gentleman that he was afraid to do so lest the boy +should die, as so many of his countrymen had done when removed from +their native island, the chief replied, that he would pray for his son +during his absence, as he had done for his brother Tooi when he was in +England, and then he would not die.</p> + +<p>Tupee,<a name='FNanchor_BQ_69'></a><a href='#Footnote_BQ_69'><sup>[BQ]</sup></a> too, another of the Bay of Islands chiefs, Marsden tells us, +used to pray frequently. When that gentleman lay sick in his cot, on the +voyage home from his first visit to New Zealand, Tupee, who was with +him, used to sit by his side, and, laying his hands on different parts +of his body, addressed himself all the while with great devotion to his +god, in intercession for his friend's recovery.</p> + +<p>The priests, or tohungas, as they are called, are persons of great +importance and authority in New Zealand, being esteemed almost the +keepers and rulers of the gods themselves.</p> + +<p>Many of the greatest of the chiefs and Areekees are also priests, as +was, for example, Tupee, whom we have just mentioned. It is the priest +who attends at the bedside of the dying chief, and regulates every part +of the treatment of the patient. When the body of a chief who has been +killed in battle is to be eaten, it is the priest who first gives the +command for its being roasted. The first mouthfuls of the flesh, also, +being regarded as the dues of the gods, are always eaten by the priest. +In the case of any public calamity, it is the priest whose aid is +invoked to obtain relief from heaven.</p> + +<p>Marsden states that on occasion of the caterpillars one year making +great ravages among the crops of sweet potatoes at Rangheehoo,<a name='FNanchor_BR_70'></a><a href='#Footnote_BR_70'><sup>[BR]</sup></a> the +people of that place sent to Cowa-Cowa<a name='FNanchor_BS_71'></a><a href='#Footnote_BS_71'><sup>[BS]</sup></a> for a great priest to avert +the heavy judgment; and that he came and remained with them for several +months, during which he employed himself busily in the performance of +prayers and ceremonies. The New Zealanders also</p> + +<p>consider all their priests as a species of sorcerers, and believe they +have the power to take the lives of whomsoever they choose by +incantation. Themorangha,<a name='FNanchor_BT_72'></a><a href='#Footnote_BT_72'><sup>[BT]</sup></a> one of the most enlightened of the chiefs, +came one day to Marsden, in great agitation, to inform him that a +brother chief had threatened to employ a priest to destroy him in this +manner, for not having sold to sufficient advantage an article which he +had given him to dispose of. "I endeavoured," says Marsden, "to convince +him of the absurdity of such a threat; but to no purpose; he still +persisted that he should die, and that the priest possessed that power; +and began to draw the lines of incantation on the ship's deck, in order +to convince me how the operation was performed. He said that the +messenger was waiting alongside, in a canoe, for his answer. Finding it +of no use to argue with him, I gave him an axe, which he joyfully +received, and delivered to the messenger, with a request that the chief +would be satisfied, and not proceed against him."</p> + +<p>Themorangha seems to have been particularly selected by these priests as +a subject for their roguish practices, perhaps by way of revenge for the +freedom with which he occasionally expressed himself in regard to their +pretensions, when his fears were not excited. A short time before this, +one of them had terrified him not a little by telling him that he had +seen his ghost during the night, and had been informed, by the atua, +that if he went to a certain place to which he was then about to +proceed, he would die in a few days. He soon, however, got so far the +better of his fears as, notwithstanding this alarming intimation, to +venture to accompany Marsden to the forbidden district; and he expressed +his feelings of contempt for the sacred order in no measured terms, when +he found that at the expiration of the predicted period he was still +alive.</p> + +<p>He said that there were too many priests at New Zealand, and that they +"tabooed" and prayed the people to death. Others, as well as the +priests, however, are supposed sometimes to have the power of +witchcraft.</p> + +<p>Two of the missionaries, when one day about to land at a place a short +distance from the settlement, were alarmed by nearly running the boat's +head on three human bodies, which lay close together by the water's edge +among some rushes; and upon inquiry they were informed that they were +the bodies of three slaves who had been killed that morning for +makootooing a chief, <i>i.e.</i> betwitching or praying evil prayers against +him, which had caused his death.<a name='FNanchor_BU_73'></a><a href='#Footnote_BU_73'><sup>[BU]</sup></a></p> + +<p>A common method which the priests use of bewitching those whom they mean +to destroy, is to curse them, which is universally believed to have a +fatal effect. The curse seems usually to be uttered in the shape of a +yell or song, so that the process is literally a species of incantation. +Bishop Newton, in his commentary on the scriptural account of Balaam +being sent for to curse the Israelites, says, "It was a superstitious +ceremony in use among the heathens, to devote their enemies to +destruction at the beginning of their wars; as if the gods would enter +into their passions, and were as unjust and partial as themselves."</p> + +<p>The demeanour of most of the New Zealand priests is something so +entirely different from that observed by the ministers of religion in +civilized countries that it is not surprising Rutherford should have +failed to recognise them as belonging to that order.</p> + +<p>Thus, we read of a priest who speaks of having killed, not by +enchantment, but in the usual way, with his own hands, both a woman who +had gone on board a ship contrary to his orders, and a man who had +stolen some potatoes.</p> + +<p>Another is mentioned as having one day introduced himself into the house +of Mr. Williams, one of the missionaries, by springing over the fence, +and then, when his rude conduct was reproved, stripping himself to fight +with that gentleman. The same personage, who bore the venerable name of +Towee Taboo,<a name='FNanchor_BV_74'></a><a href='#Footnote_BV_74'><sup>[BV]</sup></a> or Holy Towee, a short time after attempted to break +Mr. Williams's door to pieces with a long pole; and when he could not +accomplish that object, effected his entrance by leaping over the fence +as before. What he now wanted, he said, was hootoo,<a name='FNanchor_BW_75'></a><a href='#Footnote_BW_75'><sup>[BW]</sup></a> or payment, for +a hurt which he had given his foot in performing this exploit on the +former occasion. When this strange demand was refused, he attempted to +set the house on fire; and having collected a mob of his friends, would +certainly have done so, had not another party of the natives come to the +assistance of Mr. Williams and his family.</p> + +<p>But one of the most remarkable among this order of men seems to be +Tamanhena<a name='FNanchor_BX_76'></a><a href='#Footnote_BX_76'><sup>[BX]</sup></a>, the priest of the head of the Shukehanga, who is believed +to have absolute command over the winds and waves. Marsden met with this +dignitary on his second visit to New Zealand; and found that, in +addition to being a priest, he was in the habit of acting as a pilot, a +profession with which the other suited very well, as by virtue of his +sacred character he had the power of keeping the winds and waves quiet +whenever he chose to put to sea.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, Marsden went out with him in a canoe to examine the +entrance of the river; Tamanhena assuring him, though it blew very +fresh, that he would soon make both the wind and the waves fall.</p> + +<p>"We were no sooner in the canoe," continues Marsden, "than the priest +began to exert all his powers to still the gods, the winds, and the +waves. He spake in an angry and commanding tone. However, I did not +perceive either the winds or waves yield to his authority; and when we +reached the head, I requested to go on shore."</p> + +<p>Tamanhena wished very much to learn to pray like the Europeans, and said +he should willingly give a farm to any missionary who would come to +reside near him. He also promised that he would let Marsden hear his god +speak to him; but when they got to the place where the conference was to +be held, he discovered that the god was not there. Marsden, however, +found him remarkably well informed on all subjects relating to his +country and religion, and thought him, upon the whole, a very sensible +man, making allowance for his theological opinions.</p> + +<p>Cruise has, however, detailed some particulars of this venerable +personage, whom he also met with a few months after Marsden had seen +him, which grievously detract from his character for sanctity. He made +the voyage with them in the "Dromedary" from the Bay of Islands to the +mouth of the Shukehanga, but announced his intention of leaving them the +day after their arrival.</p> + +<p>"During his stay in the ship," says Cruise, "there certainly was nothing +of a very sacred character about him; he was by far the wildest of his +companions; and, unfortunately, on the morning fixed for his departure, +a soldier having missed his jacket, there was so great a suspicion of +the pilot's honesty, that the sentinel at the gangway took the liberty +of lifting up his mat, as he prepared to go down the side, and +discovered the stolen property under it.</p> + +<p>"The jacket was of course taken from him; and as the only excuse he had +to offer for his misconduct was that he had lost a shirt that had been +given to him, and that he considered himself authorised to get +remuneration in any way he could, he was dismissed without those +presents which were given to the others. We were glad to see that his +countrymen seemed to notice his conduct in the strongest terms of +disapprobation; and the next day, when they were about to leave us, they +seemed so determined to put him to death that they were requested not to +do so, but to consider his having lost his presents, and his being +forbidden ever to come near the ship, a sufficient punishment for his +offence."</p> + +<p>It is very remarkable, that, whenever a child is born in New Zealand, it +is the invariable practice to take it to the tohunga, or priest, who +sprinkles it on the face with water, from a leaf which he holds in his +hand. It is believed that the neglect of this ceremony would be attended +with the most baneful consequences to the child.</p> + +<p>Much reverence is felt among the New Zealanders for dreams; and it is +believed that the favoured of heaven often receive in this way the +communications of the gods. We need hardly remark how universal this +superstition has been. The reader of Homer will recollect the</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>[Greek: kai gar t onar ek Dios estin]</span><br /> + +<p>of that poet, and the [Greek: oulos oneiros], or evil dream, which, in +the second book of the Iliad, Jupiter sends down to Agamemnon, to lure +him to give battle to the Trojans in the absence of Achilles.</p> + +<p>We must refer to Lafitau's learned work on the savages of America for an +account of the notions which prevail among them as to divination by +dreams. Dillon tells us that he found no way so effectual of repressing +the importunities of his New Zealand friends, in any case in which it +was inconvenient to gratify them, as assuring them he had dreamed that +the favour they requested would turn out a misfortune to them. When some +of them, for example, entreated that he would take them with him to +India, he told them that he had dreamed that if they went to that +country they would die there; and this at once put an end to their +solicitations.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BL_64'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BL_64'>[BL]</a><div class='note'><p> The Maoris and Hawaiians use the word "iwi" for a bone; +the Samoans, Tahitians, and other islanders say "ivi."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BM_65'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BM_65'>[BM]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Tupa.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BN_66'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BN_66'>[BN]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Kaipara.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BO_67'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BO_67'>[BO]</a><div class='note'><p> Tara.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BP_68'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BP_68'>[BP]</a><div class='note'><p> Okita.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BQ_69'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BQ_69'>[BQ]</a><div class='note'><p> Tupi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BR_70'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BR_70'>[BR]</a><div class='note'><p> Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BS_71'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BS_71'>[BS]</a><div class='note'><p> Kawa-kawa, in the same district.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BT_72'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BT_72'>[BT]</a><div class='note'><p> Te Morenga, a chief of the Bay of Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BU_73'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BU_73'>[BU]</a><div class='note'><p> The maketu, which is correctly described here, was one of +the most firmly established institutions in New Zealand in old times.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BV_74'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BV_74'>[BV]</a><div class='note'><p> Tui Tapu.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BW_75'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BW_75'>[BW]</a><div class='note'><p> Utu. This is another great institution amongst the ancient +Maoris. It represents the principle of payment, an equivalent, a return, +compensation, or satisfaction for injuries.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BX_76'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BX_76'>[BX]</a><div class='note'><p> Tamihana.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>For some time after his return from Cook Strait, Rutherford's life +appears to have been unvaried by any incident of moment.</p> + +<p>"At length," says he, "one day a messenger arrived from a neighbouring +village, with the news that all the chiefs for miles round were about to +set out, in three days, for a place called Kipara,<a name='FNanchor_BY_77'></a><a href='#Footnote_BY_77'><sup>[BY]</sup></a> near the source +of the river Thames, and distant about two hundred miles from our +village. The messenger brought also a request from the other chiefs to +Aimy to join them along with his warriors; and he replied that he would +meet them at Kipara at the time appointed. We understood that we were to +be opposed at Kipara by a number of chiefs from the Bay of Islands and +the river Thames, according to an appointment which had been made with +the chiefs in our neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>"Accordingly, everything was got ready for our journey as quickly as +possible; and the women were immediately set to work to make a great +number of new baskets, in which to carry our provisions. It is the +custom for every person going on such an expedition to find his own arms +and ammunition, as also provisions, and slaves to carry them. On the +other hand, every family plunder for themselves, and give only what they +think proper to the chief. The slaves are not required to fight, though +they often run to the assistance of their masters while engaged.</p> + +<p>"When the day was come for our departure, I started along with the rest, +being armed with my mery, a brace of pistols, and a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, and having also with me some powder and ball, and a great +quantity of duck-shot, which I took for the purpose of killing game on +our journey.</p> + +<p>"I was accompanied by my wife Epecka, who carried three new mats to be a +bed for us, which had been made by Eshou during my absence at Taranake.</p> + +<p>"The warriors and slaves, whom we took with us, amounted in all to about +five hundred; but the slaves, as they got rid of the provisions they +carried, were sent home again, as we had no further use for them. While +on our journey, if we came to a friendly village at night, we slept +there; but, if not, we encamped in the woods. When the provisions we had +brought with us were all consumed, we were compelled to plunder wherever +we could find anything. Our journey, being made during the rainy season, +was more than usually fatiguing. We were five weeks in reaching Kipara, +where we found about eleven hundred more natives encamped by the side of +a river. On our arrival, huts were immediately constructed for our +party, and one was allotted to me and my wife. We had also two female +slaves allowed us for the purpose of digging fern-root, gathering +cockles, and catching fish, which articles were our only provisions +while we remained here; unless now and then, when I went to the woods, +and shot a few wood-pigeons or a wild pig."</p> + +<p>A party of New Zealanders thus wandering through their country, with all +the inconveniences attending the movement of large bodies of men, but +without the combinations of foresight which are necessary for the safety +of an army, or the management of supplies, must be occasionally exposed +to great privations.</p> + +<p>Their island, however, it would seem from Rutherford's narrative, +abundantly supplied them with provisions, and their slaves were at hand +to perform the office of cooks. Their method of procuring fire for +culinary purposes and warmth is curious; and we may as well mention it +somewhat fully here, before we proceed to the more busy parts of +Rutherford's narrative.</p> + +<p>When Nicholas was in New Zealand, he had an opportunity of seeing the +process usually resorted to. "The place where we landed," says he, +speaking of an excursion which he made with Marsden, and some of the +chiefs, to a place a short distance from the Missionary Settlement, "was +a small plantation of potatoes belonging to Shungie, and here our party +intended to prepare their refreshments, seating themselves, along the +ground for the purpose. Fire, however, was wanting; and to procure it, +Shungie took my fowling-piece, and, stopping up the touch-hole, he put a +small piece of linen into the pan, and endeavoured to excite a spark. +But this expedient proved unsuccessful, as the lock had got rusted and +would not go off; he then got some dry grass and a piece of rotten wood, +and turning a small stick rapidly between his hands, in the same manner +as we mill chocolate, the friction caused the touchwood, in which the +point of the stick was inserted, to take fire; while, wrapping it up in +the dry grass, and shaking it backward and forward, he very soon +produced a flame, which he communicated to some dry sticks, and other +fuel that our party had collected."</p> + +<p>This was not, however, any sudden device of Shungie's, but merely the +contrivance in general use in such emergencies among his countrymen.</p> + +<p>"We have mentioned two New Zealanders, who are at present in this +country, and have recently been exhibiting the dances and other customs +of their native land, in several of our provincial towns. Among other +things which they show is this method of kindling fire, and we extract +from the letter of a correspondent who saw them at Birmingham, the +following account of this part of their performance:—'A small board of +well-dried pine was laid upon the floor, and the younger New Zealander +took in his hand a wedge about nine inches long, and of the same +material; then rubbing with this upon the board, in a direction parallel +to the grain, he made a groove, about a quarter of an inch deep and six +or seven inches long. The friction, of course, produced a quantity of +what, had it been produced by another means, would have been called +sawdust; and this he collected at the end of the groove farthest from +that part of the board on which he was kneeling. He then continued his +operation; and in a short time the wood began to smoke, the sides of the +groove becoming completely charred. On this he stopped and gathered the +tinder over that part of the groove which appeared to be most strongly +heated. After a few moments, it became manifest that the sawdust or +tinder was ignited; and a gentle application of the breath now drew +forth a flame which rose to the height of several inches. This +experiment did not always succeed the first time; whenever it was +repeated, whether after failure or success, the operator took a new +wedge and formed a new groove, and it was stated that this was +absolutely necessary. The process was evidently one of very great +labour; at the conclusion of it, the operator was steaming with +perspiration, and his elder countryman stated that his own strength was +unequal to the feat.'"</p> + +<center> +<a name="img13"></a> +<img src='images/image13.png' width='450' height='303' alt='Tourist Dept. Photo. + +Greenstone axes, with carved wooden handles, and ornamented with dogs' +hair and birds' feathers.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Greenstone axes, with carved wooden handles, and ornamented with dogs' +hair and birds' feathers.</h5> + +<p>This method of procuring fire has, in fact, been in use from the most +ancient times, and in all parts of the world. It was, as Lafitau +remarks, the very method which was prescribed for rekindling the +vestal fire at Rome, when it was accidentally extinguished. This writer +describes it as in use also among several tribes of the Indians of South +America. Among them, however, it is somewhat more artificially managed +than it appears to be among the New Zealanders, inasmuch as their +practice is first to make a hole in the wood with the tooth of the +acouti, and then to insert in this an instrument resembling a wimble, by +the rapid revolution of which the wood is set on fire.</p> + +<p>The Baron Alexander de Humboldt gives a similar account of the manner in +which the operation appears to have been performed among the ancient +Mexicans, who adopted this method of rekindling their fires, on their +general extinction at the end of every cycle of fifty-two years.</p> + +<p>In a letter which Humboldt has printed at the conclusion of his work, +from M. Visconti, it is remarked that we find mention made of this +contrivance both in Homer's "Hymn to Mercury," and in the "Argonautics" +of Apollonius Rhodius. The scholiast of the latter gives a description +of the process, which exactly answers to the Mexican delineation.</p> + +<p>"On the opposite side of the river," Rutherford proceeds, "which was +about half a mile wide, and not more than four feet deep in any part, +about four hundred of the enemy were encamped, waiting for +reinforcements. Meanwhile messengers were continually passing from the +one party to the other, with messages concerning the war.</p> + +<p>"One of them informed us that there was a white man in his party who had +heard of and wished to see me; and that the chiefs, who also wished to +see me, would give me permission to cross the river to meet him, and I +should return unmolested whenever I thought proper. With Aimy's consent, +therefore, I went across the river; but I was not permitted to go armed, +nor yet to take my wife with me. When I arrived on the opposite side, +several of the chiefs saluted me in the usual manner by touching my nose +with theirs; and I afterwards was seated in the midst of them by the +side of the white man, who told me his name was John Mawman, that he was +a native of Port Jackson, and that he had run away from the 'Tees' sloop +of war while she lay at this island. He had since joined the natives, +and was now living with a chief named Rawmatty;<a name='FNanchor_BZ_78'></a><a href='#Footnote_BZ_78'><sup>[BZ]</sup></a> whose daughter he +had married, and whose residence was at a place called Sukyanna,<a name='FNanchor_CA_79'></a><a href='#Footnote_CA_79'><sup>[CA]</sup></a> on +the west coast, within fifty miles of the Bay of Islands. He said that +he had been at the Bay of Islands a short time before, and had seen +several of the English missionaries. He also said that he had heard that +the natives had lately taken a vessel at a place called Wangalore, +which they had plundered and then turned adrift; but that the crew had +escaped in their boats and put to sea. This is the same place where the +crew of the ship 'Boyd' were murdered some years before.<a name='FNanchor_CB_80'></a><a href='#Footnote_CB_80'><sup>[CB]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"While I remained among these people, a slave was brought up before one +of the chiefs, who immediately arose from the ground, and struck him +with his mery and killed him. This mery was different from any of the +rest, being made of steel. The heart was taken out of the slave as soon +as he had fallen, and instantly devoured by the chief who slew him. I +then inquired who this chief was, and was informed that his name was +Shungie, one of the two chiefs who had been at England, and had been +presented to many of the nobility there, from whom he received many +valuable presents; among others, a double-barrelled gun and a suit of +armour, which he has since worn in many battles. His reason, they told +me, for killing the slave, who was one belonging to himself, was that he +had stolen the suit of armour, and was running away with it to the +enemy, when he was taken prisoner by a party stationed on the outskirts +of the encampment. This was the only act of theft which I ever saw +punished in New Zealand.</p> + +<p>"Although Shungie has been two years among Europeans, I still consider +him to be one of the most ferocious cannibals in his native country. He +protects the missionaries who live on his ground entirely for the sake +of what he can get from them.</p> + +<p>"I now returned to my own party. Early the next morning the enemy +retreated to a distance of about two miles from the river; upon +observing which our party immediately threw off their mats, and got +under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thousand muskets +among them, chiefly purchased from the English and American South Sea +ships which touch at the island. We now crossed the river; and, having +arrived on the opposite side, I took my station on a rising ground, +about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I +had a full view of the engagement.</p> + +<p>"I was not myself required to fight, but I loaded my double-barrelled +gun, and, thus armed, remained at my post, my wife and the two slave +girls having seated themselves at my feet.</p> + +<p>"The commander-in-chief of each party now stepped forward a few yards, +and, placing himself in front of his troops, commenced the war-song. +When this was ended both parties danced a war-dance, singing at the +same time as loud as they could, and brandishing their weapons in the +air.</p> + +<p>"Having finished their dance, each party formed into a line two-deep, +the women and boys stationing themselves about ten yards to the rear.</p> + +<p>"The two bodies then advanced to within about a hundred yards of each +other, when they fired off their muskets. Few of them put the musket to +the shoulder while firing it, but merely held it at the charge. They +only fired once; and then, throwing their muskets behind them, where +they were picked up by the women and boys, drew their merys and +tomahawks out of their belts, when, the war-song being screamed by the +whole of them together in a manner most dismal to be heard, the two +parties rushed into close combat.</p> + +<p>"They now took hold of the hair of each other's heads with their left +hands, using the right to cut off the head. Meantime the women and boys +followed close behind them, uttering the most shocking cries I ever +heard. These last received the heads of the slain from those engaged in +the battle as soon as they were cut off, after which the men went in +among the enemy for the dead bodies; but many of them received bodies +that did not belong to the heads they had cut off.</p> + +<p>"The engagement had not lasted many minutes, when the enemy began to +retreat, and were pursued by our party through the woods. Some of them, +in their flight, crossed the hill on which I stood; and one threw a +short jagged spear at me as he passed, which stuck in the inside of my +left thigh. It was afterwards cut out by two women with an oyster-shell. +The operation left a wound as large as a common-sized tea-cup; and after +it had been performed I was carried across the river on a woman's back +to my hut, where my wife applied some green herbs to the wound, which +immediately stopped the bleeding, and also made the pain much less +severe.</p> + +<p>"In a short time our party returned victorious, bringing along with them +many prisoners. Persons taken in battle, whether chiefs or not, become +slaves to those who take them. One of our chiefs had been shot by +Shungie, and the body was brought back, and laid upon some mats before +the huts. Twenty heads, also, were placed upon long spears, which were +stuck up around our huts; and nearly twice as many bodies were put to +the fires, to be cooked in the accustomed way.</p> + +<p>"Our party continued dancing and singing all night; and the next morning +they had a grand feast on the dead bodies and fern-roots, in honour of +the victory they had gained. The name of the chief whose body lay in +front of our huts was Ewanna. He was one of those who were at the taking +of our vessel. His body was now cut into several pieces, which, being +packed into baskets, covered with black mats, were put into one of the +canoes, to be taken along with us down the river. There were, besides +Ewanna, five other chiefs killed on our side, whose names were Nainy, +Ewarree, Tometooi, Ewarrehum, and Erow.<a name='FNanchor_CC_81'></a><a href='#Footnote_CC_81'><sup>[CC]</sup></a> On the other side, three +chiefs were killed, namely, Charly, Shungie's eldest son, and two sons +of Mootyi,<a name='FNanchor_CD_82'></a><a href='#Footnote_CD_82'><sup>[CD]</sup></a> a great chief of Sukyanna. Their heads were brought home +by our people as trophies of war, and cured in the usual manner.</p> + +<p>"We now left Kipara in a number of canoes, and proceeded down the river +to a place called Shaurakke,<a name='FNanchor_CE_83'></a><a href='#Footnote_CE_83'><sup>[CE]</sup></a> where the mother of one of the chiefs +who was killed resided.</p> + +<p>"When we arrived in sight of this place, the canoes all closed together, +and joined in singing a funeral song.</p> + +<p>"By this time, several of the hills before us were crowded with women +and children, who, having their faces painted with ochre, and their +heads adorned with white feathers, were waving their mats, and calling +out to us 'ara mi, ara mi,' the usual welcome home.</p> + +<p>"When the funeral song was ended, we disembarked from our canoes, which +we hauled up from the river, and our party then performed a dance, +entirely naked; after which they were met by another party of warriors, +from behind the hill, with whom they engaged in a sham fight, which +lasted about twenty minutes. Both parties then seated themselves around +the house belonging to the chief of the village, in front of which the +baskets containing the dead body were at the same time placed. They were +then all opened, and the head, being taken out and decorated with +feathers, was placed on the top of one of the baskets; while the rest of +the heads that had been taken at the battle were stuck on long spears, +in various parts of the village. Meanwhile, the mother of the slain +chief stood on the roof of the house, dressed in a feathered cloak and +turban, continually turning herself round, wringing her hands, and +crying for the loss of her son.</p> + +<p>"The dead body having been in a few days buried with the usual +ceremonies, we all prepared to return to our own village. Shaurakke is +one of the most delightful spots in New Zealand, and has more cultivated +land about it than I saw anywhere else. While I was here, I saw a +slave-woman eat part of her own child, which had been killed by the +chief, her master. I have known several instances of New Zealand women +eating their children as soon as they were born."</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BY_77'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BY_77'>[BY]</a><div class='note'><p> Kaipara.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BZ_78'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BZ_78'>[BZ]</a><div class='note'><p> Raumati.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CA_79'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CA_79'>[CA]</a><div class='note'><p> Another rendition of Hokianga.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CB_80'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CB_80'>[CB]</a><div class='note'><p> Mr. Craik adds a note stating that the place which +Rutherford here calls Wangalore is Wangaroa. (The proper spelling is +Whangaroa.) The ship, he says, was the "Mercury," of London, South Sea +whaler, which put in at Wangaroa on March 5th, 1825, and was plundered +of the greater part of her cargo by the natives. She was also so much +disabled by the attack made upon her that, after a vain attempt to carry +her round to the Bay of Islands, it was found necessary to abandon her, +when she drove to sea, and asserted that no cause of offence whatever +was given to the natives by the captain or crew of the "Mercury," while +the conduct of the former was in all respects treacherous, unfeeling, +and provoking.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CC_81'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CC_81'>[CC]</a><div class='note'><p> All the names are spelt wrongly.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CD_82'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CD_82'>[CD]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Matui or Matohi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CE_83'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CE_83'>[CE]</a><div class='note'><p> Evidently Hauraki, which, however, is on the east coast, +while Knipara is on the west.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>This is, we believe, the most complete account, and, at the same time, +the one most to be depended on, which has yet been given to the public, +of a New Zealand battle. None of the other persons who have described to +us the manners of these savages have seen them engaged with each other, +except in a sham fight; although Nicholas, on one occasion, was very +near being afforded an opportunity of witnessing a real combat. That +gentleman and Marsden, however, have given us some very interesting +details respecting the preliminaries to an actual engagement. They +describe the debates which generally take place in the war-council of a +tribe or district previous to any declaration of hostilities; and those +conferences between the two opposing parties in which, even after they +have met on the intended field of action, the matter of dispute is often +made the subject of a war of argument and eloquence, and sometimes, it +would seem, is even settled without any resort to more destructive +weapons.</p> + +<p>When Marsden visited the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga, in 1819, he +found a quarrel just about to commence between two of the principal +chiefs, whose lands lay contiguous, and who were also, it appeared, +nearly related, in consequence of the pigs of the one having got into +the sweet potato grounds of the other, who had retaliated by shooting +several of them. The chief whose pigs had committed the trespass, and +whom Marsden was now visiting, was an old man, apparently eighty years +of age, named Warremaddoo,<a name='FNanchor_CF_84'></a><a href='#Footnote_CF_84'><sup>[CF]</sup></a> who had now resigned the supreme +authority to his son Matanghee;<a name='FNanchor_CG_85'></a><a href='#Footnote_CG_85'><sup>[CG]</sup></a> yet this affair rekindled all the +ancient enthusiasm of the venerable warrior. The other chief was called +Moodewhy.<a name='FNanchor_CH_86'></a><a href='#Footnote_CH_86'><sup>[CH]</sup></a> The morning debate, at which several chiefs spoke with +great force and dignity, had been suddenly interrupted; but it was +resumed in the evening, when Marsden was again present.</p> + +<p>On this occasion, old Warremaddoo threw off his mat, took his spear, and +began to address his tribe and the chiefs. He made strong appeals to +them against the injustice and ingratitude of Moodeewhy's conduct +towards them, recited many injuries which he and his tribe had suffered +from Moodeewhy for a long period, mentioned instances of his bad conduct +at the time that his father's bones were removed from the Ahoodu Pa to +their family vault, stated acts of kindness which he had shown to +Moodeewhy at different times, and said that he had twice saved his tribe +from total ruin. In the present instance, Moodeewhy had killed three of +his hogs. Every time he mentioned his loss, the recollection seemed to +nerve afresh his aged sinews: he shook his hoary beard, stamped with +indignant rage, and poised his quivering spear.</p> + +<p>He exhorted his tribe to be bold and courageous; and declared that he +would head them in the morning against the enemy, and, rather than he +would submit, he would be killed and eaten. All that they wanted was +firmness and courage; he knew well the enemies they had to meet, their +hearts did not lie deep; and, if they were resolutely opposed, they +would yield.</p> + +<p>His oration continued nearly an hour, and all listened to him with great +attention.</p> + +<p>This dispute, however, partly through Marsden's intercession, who +offered to give each of the indignant leaders an adze if they would make +peace, was at last amicably adjusted; and the two, as the natives +expressed it, "were made both alike inside."</p> + +<p>But Marsden was a good deal surprised on observing old Warremaddoo, +immediately after he had rubbed noses with Moodeewhy in token of +reconcilement, begin, with his slaves, to burn and destroy the fence of +the enclosure in which they were assembled, belonging to Moodeewhy, who, +however, took no notice of the destruction of his property thus going on +before his face. Upon inquiry, he was told that this was done in +satisfaction for a fence of the old man's which Moodeewhy had destroyed +in the first instance, and the breaking down of which had, in fact, +given rise to the trespass.</p> + +<p>A New Zealander would hold himself to be guilty of a breach of the first +principles of honour if he ever made up a quarrel without having exacted +full compensation for what he might conceive to be his wrongs.</p> + +<p>The battle which Nicholas expected to witness was to be fought between +the tribe of an old chief named Henou,<a name='FNanchor_CI_87'></a><a href='#Footnote_CI_87'><sup>[CI]</sup></a> and that of another, named +Wiveah,<a name='FNanchor_CJ_88'></a><a href='#Footnote_CJ_88'><sup>[CJ]</sup></a> who had seduced his wife. The two parties met in adjoining +enclosures, and Nicholas took his station on the roof of a neighbouring +hut to observe their proceedings. The conference was commenced by an old +warrior on Henou's side, who, rising, amid the universal silence of both +camps, addressed himself to Wiveah and his followers.</p> + +<p>Nicholas describes the venerable orator as walking, or rather running, +up and down a paling, which formed one side of the enclosure in which he +was, uttering his words in a tone of violent resentment, and +occasionally shaking his head and brandishing his spear. He was answered +in a mild and conciliating manner by two of Wiveah's followers.</p> + +<p>To them another warrior of Henou's party replied, in what Nicholas calls +a masterly style of native eloquence. In easy dignity of manner he +greatly excelled the other orators. "He spoke," says the author, "for a +considerable time; and I could not behold, without admiration, the +graceful elegance of his deportment, and the appropriate accordance of +his action. Holding his pattoo-pattoo<a name='FNanchor_CK_89'></a><a href='#Footnote_CK_89'><sup>[CK]</sup></a> in his hand he walked up and +down along the margin of the river with a firm and manly step."</p> + +<p>The debate was carried on by other speakers for some time longer; but at +last it appeared that conciliatory counsels had carried the day. The two +parties satisfied themselves with a sham fight, Wiveah merely presenting +the injured Henou with a quantity of potatoes.</p> + +<p>The most singular part of the debate, however, was yet to come; for +immediately after the sham fight, the old orator again rose, and, +although vehement enough at the beginning of his harangue, became still +more so as he proceeded, till at last he grew quite outrageous, and +jumped about the field like a person out of his senses.</p> + +<p>In the latter part of the debate, Wiveah and Henou themselves took up +the discussion of the question, and seem, by the account given, to have +handled it with more mildness and good temper than almost any of their +less interested associates.</p> + +<p>At the close of Wiveah's last address, however, "his three wives," says +Nicholas, "now deemed it expedient to interpose their oratory, as +confirming mediators between the parties, though there was no longer any +enmity existing on either side. They spoke with great animation, and the +warriors listened to their separate speeches in attentive silence. They +assumed, I thought, a very determined tone, employing a great deal of +impressive action, and looking towards the opposite chief with an +asperity of countenance not warranted by the mild forbearance of his +deportment. The expostulating harangues, as I should suppose they were, +of these sturdy ladies completed the ceremonials of this singular +conference; and the reconciliation being thus consummated, the parties +now entertained no sentiments towards each other but those of reciprocal +amity."</p> + +<p>It would appear that the New Zealand women sometimes carry their martial +propensities farther than they are stated to have done in the present +case. Nicholas was once not a little surprised, while witnessing a sham +fight, to observe Duaterra's wife, the Queen of Tippoonah,<a name='FNanchor_CL_90'></a><a href='#Footnote_CL_90'><sup>[CL]</sup></a> exerting +himself, with most conspicuous courage, among the very thickest of the +combatants.</p> + +<p>Her majesty was dressed in a red gown and petticoat, which she had +received as a present from Marsden, that reverend gentleman having been +obliged himself, in the first instance, to assist in decorating her with +these novel articles of attire; and, holding in her hand a large +horse-pistol, always selected the most formidable hero she could find as +her antagonist.</p> + +<p>She was at last, however, fairly exhausted; and stood, at the conclusion +of the exhibition, Nicholas tells us, panting for breath. "In this +state," says he, "she was pleased to notice me with a distinguished mark +of flattering condescension, by holding out her lips for me to kiss, an +honour I could have very well dispensed with, but which, at the same +time, I could not decline, without offering a slight to a person of such +elevated consequence."</p> + +<p>He saw, also, some other female warriors, who exposed themselves in the +combat with great gallantry. Among them, Marsden tells us, was the widow +of Tippahee, a woman apparently not much less than seventy years of age.</p> + +<p>Cook also sometimes saw the women armed with spears.</p> + +<p>The principal native war-instrument of the New Zealanders is the short +thick club, which has been so often mentioned. This weapon they all +constantly wear, either fastened in their girdle or held in the right +hand and attached by a string to the wrist. It is in shape somewhat like +a battledore, varying from ten to eighteen inches in length, including a +short handle, and generally about four or five broad, thick in the +middle, but worked down to a very sharp edge on both sides. It is most +commonly formed of a species of green talc, which appears to be found +only in the southern island, and with regard to which the New Zealanders +have many superstitious notions. Some of them are made of a +darker-coloured stone, susceptible of a high polish; some of whalebone; +and Nicholas mentions one, which he saw in the possession of Tippoui, +brother of the celebrated George of Wangarooa, and himself one of the +leaders of the attack on the 'Boyd,' which, like that of Shungie, which +Rutherford speaks of, was of iron, and also highly polished. It had been +fabricated by the chief himself, with tools of the most imperfect +description; and yet was, in Nicholas's opinion, as well-finished a +piece of workmanship as could have been produced by any of our best +mechanics. This instrument is employed in close combat, the head being +generally the part aimed at; and one well-directed blow is quite enough +to split the hardest skull. The name usually given to it, in the earlier +accounts of New Zealand, is patoo-patoo. Anderson, in his general +remarks on the people of Queen Charlotte Sound, says it is also called +Emeeta. But its correct and distinctive name seems to be that by which +Rutherford always designates it, the mery or mairy.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img14"></a> +<img src='images/image14.png' width='450' height='259' alt='Christchurch Museum + +1. Pou-wherma. +2. Taiaha of white whale-bone. +3. Taiaha (6ft. 3in. long) of wood, with flax mat and dog's hair. +4. Hoeroa of white whale-bone. +5. Tewha-tewha.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Long striking and thrusting weapons used by the Maoris</h5> + +<p>Savage tells us that when he took his friend, Moyhanger,<a name='FNanchor_CM_91'></a><a href='#Footnote_CM_91'><sup>[CM]</sup></a> to a shop +in the Strand to purchase some tools, he was particularly struck with a +common bill-hook, upon which he cast his eyes, as appearing to be a most +admirable instrument of slaughter; and we find accordingly that since +they have had so much intercourse with Europeans some of the New Zealand +warriors have substituted the English bill-hook for their native +battle-axe. Nicholas mentions one with which Duaterra was accustomed to +arm himself.</p> + +<p>Their only missile weapons, except stones, which they merely throw from +the hand, are short spears, made of hard wood or whalebone, and pointed +at one extremity. These they are very dexterous with, both in darting at +a mark, and in receiving or turning aside with the blades of their +battle-axes, which are the only shields they use, except the folds of +their thick and flowing mats, which they raise on the left arm, and +which are tough enough to impede the passage of a spear. They have other +spears, however, varying from thirteen or fourteen to thirty feet in +length, which they use as lances or bayonets. These, or rather the +shorter sort, are also sometimes called by English writers patoos, or +patoo-patoos. Lastly, they often carry an instrument somewhat like a +sergeant's halbert, curiously carved, and adorned with bunches of +parrot's feathers tied round the top of it.</p> + +<p>The musket has now, however, in a great measure superseded these +primitive weapons, although the New Zealanders are as yet far from being +expert in the use of it.</p> + +<p>By Rutherford's account, as we have just seen, they only fire off their +guns once, and throw them away as soon as they have got fairly engaged, +much as some of our own Highland regiments are said formerly to have +been in the habit of doing.</p> + +<p>Cruise, in like manner, states that they use their firelocks very +awkwardly, lose an immense deal of time in looking for a rest and taking +aim, and after all, seldom hit their object, unless close to it.</p> + +<p>Muskets, however, are by far more prized and coveted by the New +Zealander than any of the other commodities to which his intercourse +with the civilized world has given him access. The ships that touch at +the country always find it the readiest way of obtaining the supplies +they want from the natives, to purchase them with arms or ammunition; +and the missionaries, who have declined to traffic in these articles, +have often scarcely been able to procure a single pig by the most +tempting price they could offer in another shape. Although the arms +which they have obtained in this way have generally been of the most +trashy description, they have been sufficient to secure to the tribes +that have been most plentifully provided with them a decided superiority +over the rest; and the consequence has been that the people of the Bay +of Islands, who have hitherto had most intercourse with European ships, +have been of late years the terror of the whole country, and while they +themselves have remained uninvaded, have repeatedly carried devastation +into its remotest districts.</p> + +<p>More recently, however, the River Thames, and the coasts to the south +of it, have also been a good deal resorted to by vessels navigating +those seas; and a great many muskets have in consequence also found +their way into the hands of the inhabitants of that part of the island.</p> + +<p>When Rutherford speaks of the two parties whom he saw engaged having had +about two thousand stand of arms between them, it may be thought that +his estimate is probably an exaggerated one; but it is completely borne +out by other authorities. Thus, for example, Davis, one of the +missionaries, writes, in 1827: "They have at this time many thousand +stand of arms among them, both in the Bay and at the River Thames."</p> + +<p>The method of fighting, which is described as being in use among the New +Zealanders, in which, after the first onset, every man chooses his +individual antagonist, and the field of battle presents merely the +spectacle of a multitude of single combats, is the same which has, +perhaps, everywhere prevailed, not only in the primitive wars of men, +but up to a period of considerable refinement in the history of the +military art.</p> + +<p>The Greeks and Trojans, at the time of the siege of Troy, used both +chariots and missiles; and yet it is evident from Homer that their +battles and skirmishes usually resolved themselves in a great measure +into a number of duels between heroes who seem to have sometimes paused +by mutual consent to hold parley together, without at all minding the +course of the general fight.</p> + +<p>Exactly the same thing takes place in the battles of the American +Indians, who are also possessed of bows and arrows. The New Zealanders +have no weapons of this description, and, until their intercourse with +Europeans had put muskets into their hands, were without any arms +whatever by which one body could, by its combined strength, have made an +impression upon another from a distance. Even the long spears which they +sometimes used could evidently have been employed with effect only when +each was directed with a particular aim. When two parties engaged, +therefore, they necessarily always came to close combat, and every man +singled out his adversary; a mode of fighting which was, besides, much +more adapted to their tempers, and to the feelings of vehement animosity +with which they came into the field, than any which would have kept them +at a greater distance from each other.</p> + +<p>The details of such personal conflicts amongst more refined nations +always formed a principal ingredient in poetry and romance, from the +times of Homer to those of Spenser. They are, indeed, always +uninteresting and tiresome, although related with the highest +descriptive power; and even in the splendid descriptions of Ariosto and +Tasso there is something absolutely ludicrous in the minute +representations of two champions in complete armour, hammering each +other about with their maces like blacksmiths.</p> + +<p>Still, the poets have clung to this love of individual prowess, wherever +their subjects would admit of such descriptions; and, even to our own +day, that habit which we derived from the times of chivalry, of +describing personal bravery as the greatest of human virtues, is not +altogether abandoned.</p> + +<p>The realities of modern warfare are, however, very unfavourable to such +stimulating representations. The military discipline in use among the +more cultivated nations of antiquity, for example the Persians, the +Macedonians, the Grecian states, and above all, the Romans, undoubtedly +did much to give to their armies the power of united masses, +controllable by one will, and not liable to be broken down and rendered +comparatively inefficient by the irregular movements of individuals. But +it is the introduction of fire-arms which has, most of all, contributed +to change the original character of war, and the elements of the +strength of armies. Where it is merely one field of artillery opposed to +another, and the efficient value of every man on either side lies +principally in the musket which he carries on his shoulder, individual +strength and courage become alike of little account. The result depends, +it may be almost said, entirely on the skill of the commander, not on +the exertions of those over whom he exercises nearly as absolute an +authority as a chess-player does over his pieces.</p> + +<p>If this new system has not diminished the destructiveness of war, it +has, at least, very much abated the rancorous feelings with which it was +originally carried on. It has converted it from a contest of fierce and +vindictive passions into an exercise of science. We have still, +doubtless, to lament that the game of blood occasions, whenever it is +played, so terrible a waste of human life and happiness; but even the +displacement of that brute force, and those other merely animal +impulses, by which it used to be mainly directed, and the substitution +of regulating principles of a comparatively intellectual and +unimpassioned nature, may be considered as indicating, even here, a +triumph of civilization.</p> + +<p>It is impossible that the business of war can be so corrupting to those +engaged in it when it is chiefly a contest of skill, as when it is +wholly a contest of passion. Nor is it calculated in the one form to +occupy the imagination of a people, as it will do in the other. The evil +is therefore mitigated by the introduction of those arts which to many +may appear aggravations of this curse of mankind.</p> + +<p>Rutherford does not take any notice of the pas, or as they have been +called, eppas, or hippahs,<a name='FNanchor_CN_92'></a><a href='#Footnote_CN_92'><sup>[CN]</sup></a> which are found in so many of the New +Zealand villages. These are forts, or strongholds, always erected on an +eminence, and intended for the protection of the tribe and its most +valuable possessions, when reduced by their enemies to the last +extremity. These ancient places of refuge have also been very much +abandoned since the introduction of fire-arms; but formerly, they were +regarded as of great importance.</p> + +<p>Cook describes one which he visited on the East Coast, and which was +placed on a high point of land projecting into the sea, as wholly +inaccessible on the three sides on which it was enclosed by the water; +while it was defended on the land side by a ditch of fourteen feet deep, +having a bank raised behind it, which added about eight feet more to the +glacis. Both banks of the ditch are also, in general, surmounted by +palisades, about ten or twelve feet high, formed of strong stakes bound +together with withies, and driven very deep into the ground. Within the +innermost palisade is usually a stage, supported by posts, from which +the besieged throw down darts and stones upon their assailants; and in +addition to this, the interior space, which is generally of considerable +extent, is sometimes divided into numerous petty eminences, each +surrounded by its palisade, and communicating with each other by narrow +lanes, admitting of being easily stopped up, in case of the enemy having +effected his entrance within the general enclosure. The only road to +the strong-hold is by a single narrow and steep passage.</p> + +<p>Cruise describes a fort at Wangarooa as situated on an insulated rock, +about three hundred feet high, and presenting the most imposing +appearance. These elevated palings were a subject of much speculation to +those on board of Cook's vessel, when that navigator first approached +the coast of New Zealand. Some, he tells us, supposed them to be +inclosures for sheep and oxen, while others maintained they were parks +of deer.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders may, in some degree, be considered as a warlike +people upon the sea. We have no distinct account of any maritime +engagements between one tribe and another carried on in their vessels of +war; but as these belong to the state, if it may be so termed—that is, +as the war canoes are the property of a particular community inhabiting +a village or district, as distinguished from the fishing-boats of +individuals—it is probable that their hostile encounters may +occasionally be carried on upon the element with which a nation of +islanders are generally familiar.</p> + +<p>Rutherford has given a minute description of a war-canoe, which accords +with the representation of such a large vessel in the plates to Cook's +"Voyages":—</p> + +<p>"Their canoes are made of the largest sized pine-trees, which generally +run from 40 to 50 feet long, and are hollowed out, and lengthened about +eight feet at each end, and raised about two feet on each side.</p> + +<p>"They are built with a figure head; the stern-post extending about ten +feet above the stern of the canoe, which is handsomely carved, as well +as the figure-head, and the whole body of the canoe. The sides are +ornamented with pearl shell, which is let into the carved work, and +above that is a row of feathers. On both sides, fore and aft, they have +seats in the inside, so that two men can sit abreast. They pull about +fifty paddles on each side, and many of them will carry two hundred +people. When paddling, the chief stands up and cheers them with a song, +to which they all join in chorus. These canoes roll heavy, and go at the +rate of seven knots an hour. Their sails are made of straw mats in the +shape of a lateen sail. They cook in their canoes, but always go on +shore to eat. They are frequently known to go three or four hundred +miles along the coast."</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_CF_84'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CF_84'>[CF]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Wharemata.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CG_85'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CG_85'>[CG]</a><div class='note'><p> Matangi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CH_86'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CH_86'>[CH]</a><div class='note'><p> Muriwai.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CI_87'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CI_87'>[CI]</a><div class='note'><p> Hinau.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CJ_88'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CJ_88'>[CJ]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Waitea.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CK_89'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CK_89'>[CK]</a><div class='note'><p> patu-patu.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CL_90'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CL_90'>[CL]</a><div class='note'><p> Te Puna.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CM_91'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CM_91'>[CM]</a><div class='note'><p> Moehanga.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CN_92'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CN_92'>[CN]</a><div class='note'><p> The former word, "Pa," is correct.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>We have noticed all the adventures which Rutherford records to have +befallen him during his residence in New Zealand, and have now only to +relate the manner in which he at last effected his escape from the +country, which we shall do in his own words.</p> + +<p>"A few days," says he, "after our return home from Showrackee, we were +alarmed by observing smoke ascending in large quantities from several of +the mountains, and by the natives running about the village in all +directions, and singing out Kipoke,<a name='FNanchor_CO_93'></a><a href='#Footnote_CO_93'><sup>[CO]</sup></a> which signifies a ship on the +coast. I was quite overjoyed to hear the news.</p> + +<p>"Aimy and I, accompanied by several of the warriors, and followed by a +number of slaves, loaded with mats and potatoes, and driving pigs before +them for the purpose of trading with the ship, immediately set off for +Tokamardo; and in two days we arrived at that place, the unfortunate +scene of the capture of our ship and its crew on the 7th of March, 1816. +I now perceived the ship under sail, at about twenty miles distance from +the land, off which the wind was blowing strong, which prevented her +nearing. Meanwhile, as it was drawing towards night, we encamped, and +sat down to supper.</p> + +<p>"I observed that several of the natives still wore round their necks and +wrists many of the trinkets which they had taken out of our ship. As +Aimy and I sat together at supper, a slave arrived with a new basket, +which he placed before me, saying that it was a present from his master. +I asked him what was in the basket, and he informed me that it was part +of a slave girl's thigh, that had been killed three days before. It was +cooked, he added, and was very nice. I then commanded him to open it, +which he did, when it presented the appearance of a piece of pork which +had been baked in the oven. I made a present of it to Aimy, who divided +it among the chiefs.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs now consulted together, and resolved that, if the ship came +in, they would take her, and murder the crew. Next morning she was +observed to be much nearer than she had been the night before; but the +chiefs were still afraid she would not come in, and therefore agreed +that I should be sent on board, on purpose to decoy her to the land, +which I promised to do.</p> + +<p>"I was then dressed in a feathered cloak, belt, and turban, and armed +with a battle axe, the head of which was formed of a stone which, +resembled green glass, but was so hard as to turn the heaviest blow of +the hardest steel. The handle was of hard black wood, handsomely carved +and adorned with feathers. In this attire I went off in a canoe, +accompanied by a son of one of the chiefs, and four slaves. When we came +alongside of the vessel, which turned out to be an American brig, +commanded by Captain Jackson, employed in trading among the islands in +the South Sea, and then bound for the coast of California, I immediately +went on board, and presented myself to the captain, who, as soon as he +saw me, exclaimed, 'Here is a white New Zealander.'</p> + +<p>"I told him that I was not a New Zealander, but an Englishman; upon +which he invited me into his cabin, where I gave him an account of my +errand and of all my misfortunes.</p> + +<p>"I informed him of the danger his ship would be exposed to if he put in +at that part of the island; and therefore begged of him to stand off as +quickly as possible, and take me along with him, as this was the only +chance I had ever had of escaping.</p> + +<p>"By this time the chief's son had begun stealing in the ship, on which +the crew tied him up, and flogged him with the clue of one of their +hammocks, and then sent him down into his canoe.</p> + +<p>"They would have flogged the rest also had not I interceded for them, +considering that there might be still some of my unfortunate shipmates +living on shore, on whom they might avenge themselves.</p> + +<p>"The captain now consented to take me along with him; and, the canoe +having been set adrift, we stood off from the island. For the first +sixteen months of my residence in New Zealand, I had counted the days by +means of notches on a stick; but after that I had kept no reckoning. I +now learned, however, that the day on which I was taken off the island +was January 9th, 1826. I had, therefore, been a prisoner among these +savages ten years, all but two months."</p> + +<p>Captain Jackson now gave Rutherford such clothes as he stood in need of, +in return for which the latter made him a present of his New Zealand +dress and battle axe.</p> + +<p>The ship then proceeded to the Society Islands, and anchored on February +10th off Otaheite.</p> + +<p>Here Rutherford went into the service of the British consul, by whom he +was employed in sawing wood. On May 26th he was married to a chief +woman, whose name, he says, was Nowyrooa, by Mr. Pritchard, one of the +English missionaries. While he resided here, he was also employed as an +interpreter by Captain Peachy, of the "Blossom" sloop of war, then +engaged in surveying those islands.</p> + +<p>Still, however, longing very much to see his native country, he embarked +on January 6th, 1827, on board the brig "Macquarie," commanded by +Captain Hunter, and bound for Port Jackson. On taking leave of his wife +and friends, he made them a promise to return to the island in two +years, "which," says he, "I intend to keep, if it is in my power, and +end my days there."</p> + +<p>The "Macquarie" reached Port Jackson on February 19th, and Rutherford +states that he met there a young woman who had been saved from the +massacre of those on board the "Boyd," and who gave him an account of +that event. This was probably the daughter of a woman whom Mr. Berry +brought to Lima.</p> + +<p>He also found at Port Jackson two vessels on their way back to England, +with a body of persons who had attempted to form a settlement in New +Zealand, but who had been compelled to abandon their design, as he +understood, by the treacherous behaviour of the natives.</p> + +<p>He now embarked on board the Sydney packet, commanded by Captain Tailor, +which proceeded first for Hobart Town, in Van Diemen's Land,<a name='FNanchor_CP_94'></a><a href='#Footnote_CP_94'><sup>[CP]</sup></a> and +after lying there for about a fortnight set sail again for Rio de +Janeiro.</p> + +<p>On his arrival there he went into the service of Mr. Harris, a Dutch +gentleman. Mr. Harris, on learning his history, had him presented to the +Emperor Don Pedro, who asked him many questions by an interpreter, and +made him a present of eighty dollars. He also offered him employment in +his navy; but this Rutherford refused, preferring to return to England +in the "Blanche" frigate, then on the point of sailing, in which he +obtained a passage by an application to the British consul. On the +arrival of the ship at Spithead, he immediately left her, and proceeded +to Manchester, his native town, which he had not seen since he first +went to sea in the year 1806.</p> + +<p>After his return to England Rutherford occasionally maintained himself +by accompanying a travelling caravan of wonders, showing his tattooing, +and telling something of his extraordinary adventures.</p> + +<p>The publisher of this volume had many conversations with him in January, +1829, when he was exhibited in London. He was evidently a person of +considerable quickness, and great powers of observation. He went over +every part of his journal, which was read to him, with considerable +care, explaining any difficulties, and communicating several points of +information, of which we have availed ourselves in the course of this +narrative.</p> + +<p>His manners were mild and courteous; he was fond of children, to whom he +appeared happy to explain the causes of his singular appearance and he +was evidently a man of very sober habits. He was pleased with the idea +of his adventures being published; and was delighted to have his +portrait painted, though he suffered much inconvenience in sitting to +the artist, with the upper part of his body uncovered, in a severe +frost.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole he seemed to have acquired a great deal of the frankness +and easy confidence of the people with whom he had been living, and was +somewhat out of his element amidst the constrained intercourse and +unvarying occupations of England. He greatly disliked being shown for +money, which he submitted to principally that he might acquire a sum, in +addition to what he received for his manuscript, to return to Otaheite.</p> + +<p>We have not heard of him since that time; and the probability is that he +has accomplished his wishes. He said that he should have no hesitation +in going to New Zealand; that his old companions would readily believe +that he had been carried away by force; that from his knowledge of their +customs, he could be most advantageously employed in trading with them; +and that, above all, if he were to take back a blacksmith with him, and +plenty of iron, he might acquire many of the most valuable productions +of the country, particularly tortoiseshell,<a name='FNanchor_CQ_95'></a><a href='#Footnote_CQ_95'><sup>[CQ]</sup></a> which he considered the +best object for an English commercial adventure.<a name='FNanchor_CR_96'></a><a href='#Footnote_CR_96'><sup>[CR]</sup></a></p> + +<p>Rutherford is not the only native of a civilized country whose fate it +has been to become resident for some time among the savages of New +Zealand. Besides his shipmates, who were taken prisoners along with him, +he himself, indeed, as we have seen, mentions two other individuals whom +he met with while in the country, one of whom had been eight years +there, and did not seem to have any wish to leave it.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img15"></a> +<img src='images/image15.png' width='450' height='134' alt='A Maori war canoe.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A Maori war canoe.</h5> + +<p>Savage gives a short notice of a European who was living in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands when he was there in 1805. This +person, whose native country, or the circumstances that had induced him +to take up his abode where he then was, Savage could not discover, +shunned all intercourse with Europeans, and was wont to retire to the +interior whenever a ship approached the coast. The natives, however, +whose customs and manners he had adopted, spoke well of him; and Savage +often saw a New Zealand woman who lived with him, and one of their +children, which he represents as very far from exhibiting any +superiority either in mind or person over his associates of unmixed +breed. Its complexion was the same as that of the others, being +distinguished from them only by its light flaxen hair.</p> + +<p>Marsden, also, in a letter written in 1813 to the secretary of the +Church Missionary Society, mentions a young man, a native of America, +with whom he had conversed in New South Wales, and who had lived for +above a year with the New Zealanders.</p> + +<p>During all this time these savages, he said, had shown him the greatest +attention, and he would have been very glad to return to live among them +if he could have found any other Europeans to go with him.</p> + +<p>Since the Bay of Islands has become so much the resort of shipping, many +seamen have left their ships and taken up their residence of their own +accord among the natives. The "Missionary Reports" state that, about the +close of the year 1824, there were perhaps twenty men who had thus found +their way into the country, and were living on plunder; and that within +the year not less, it was supposed, than a hundred sailors had in the +same manner taken refuge for a time in the island.</p> + +<p>Although these men had all run away from their own ships, the captains +of other vessels touching at any part of the coast did not hesitate to +employ them when they wanted hands.</p> + +<p>Mawman, whom Rutherford met with at Kiperra, had, it will be +recollected, made his escape, according to his own account, from a sloop +of war. These fugitives, however, it would appear, do not always succeed +in establishing themselves among the natives. Cruise mentions one who, +having run away from the "Anne" whaler, hid himself at first in the +woods, but soon after came on board the "Dromedary" in a most miserable +state, beseeching to be taken on the strength of the ship.</p> + +<p>Convicts, too, occasionally make their escape to New Zealand, and +attempt to secrete themselves in the interior of the country. When the +"Active" was at the Bay of Islands in 1815, two men and a woman of this +description were sent on board to be taken back to New South Wales. The +woman, Nicholas says, was particularly dejected on being retaken; and it +was found that while on shore she had done everything in her power to +prevail upon one of the native females to assist her in her attempt to +conceal herself. Her friend, however, resisted all her entreaties; and +well knowing the hardships to which the poor creature would have exposed +herself, only replied to her importunate solicitations, "Me would, Mary, +but me got no tea, me got no sugar, no bed, no good things for you; me +grieve to see you, you cannot live like New Zealand woman, you cannot +sleep on the ground."</p> + +<p>The Rev. Mr. Butler, in March, 1821, found two convicts who had escaped +from a whaler, in the hands of one of the chiefs, who was just preparing +to put them to death. On Butler interfering and begging that their lives +might be spared, the New Zealanders replied: "They are nothing but +slaves and thieves; they look like bad men, and are very ragged; they do +not belong to you, and we think they are some of King George's bad +cookees." After a great deal of discussion, however, they yielded so far +to Butler's entreaties and arguments as to agree not to kill the two +men; but the chief insisted that they should go home with him and work +for him four months, after which he said that he would give them up to +any ship that would take them to "King George's farm at Port Jackson."</p> + +<p>When Nicholas was in New Zealand in 1815, he met with a Hindoo, who had +made his escape from Captain Patterson's ship, the "City of Edinburgh," +about five years before, and had been living among the natives ever +since. Compared with the New Zealanders, he looked, Nicholas says, like +a pigmy among giants. However, he had got so much attached to the +manners of his new associates that he declared he would much rather +remain where he was than return to his own country. He had married a +native woman, and was treated, he said, in the kindest manner by the New +Zealanders, who always supplied him with plenty of food without +compelling him to do more work than he chose. Nicholas offered him some +rice, but he intimated that he decidedly preferred fern-root.</p> + +<p>The circumstances of Rutherford's capture and detention in New Zealand +were but indifferently calculated to reconcile him to the new state of +society in which he was there compelled to mix, notwithstanding the rank +to which his superior intelligence and activity raised him.</p> + +<p>Though a chief, he was still a prisoner; and even all the favour with +which he had himself been treated could not make him forget the fate of +his companions, or the warning which it afforded him to how sudden or +slight an accident his own life might at any time fall a sacrifice. But +it is certain that, where no such sense of constraint is felt, not only +the notion, but even the reality, of savage life has a strong charm for +many minds. The insecurity and privation which attend upon it are deemed +but a slight counterbalance to the independence, the exemption from +regular labour, and above all the variety of adventure, which it +promises to ardent and reckless spirits.</p> + +<p>Generally, however, the Europeans that have adopted the life of the +savage have been men driven out from civilization, or disinclined to +systematic industry. They have not chosen the imaginary freedom and +security of barbarians, in contempt of the artificial restraints and +legal oppressions of a refined state of society, in the way that the +Greek did, whom Priscus found in the camp of Attila, declaring that he +lived more happily amongst the wild Scythians than ever he did under the +Roman government.</p> + +<p>But if those who have been accustomed to the comforts of civilization +have not infrequently felt the influence of the seductions which a +barbarous condition offers to an excited imagination, it may well be +conceived that, to the man who has been born a savage, and nurtured in +all the feelings and habits of that state of society, they must address +themselves with still more irresistible effect.</p> + +<p>We have many examples, accordingly, of how difficult it is to +extinguish, by any culture, either in an old or a young savage, his +innate passion for the wild life of his fathers.</p> + +<p>Tippahee's son, Matara, on his return from England, strove to regain an +acquaintance with his native customs. Moyhanger, Savage's friend, might +be quoted as another instance, in whom all the wonders and attractions +of London would appear not to have excited a wish to see it again. Nor +does any great preference for civilized life seem to have been produced +in other cases, by even a much longer experience of its accommodations.</p> + +<p>When Nicholas and Marsden visited New Zealand in 1815, they met at the +North Cape, where they first put on shore, a native of Otaheite, who had +been brought from his own country to Port Jackson when a boy of about +eleven or twelve years old. Here he had lived for some years in the +family of Mr. McArthur, where he had been treated with great kindness, +and brought up in all respects as an English boy would have been. Having +been sent to school he soon learned not only to speak English with +fluency, but to read and write it with very superior ability; and he +showed himself besides in everything remarkably tractable and obedient. +Yet nothing could wean him from his partiality to his original +condition; and he at last quitted the house of his protector, and +contrived to find his way to New Zealand. Here he settled among a people +even still more uncivilized than his own countrymen, and married the +daughter of one of the chiefs, to whose territories he had succeeded +when Nicholas met with him.</p> + +<p>Jem (that was the name by which he had been known at Port Jackson) was +then a young man of about twenty-three years of age. Unlike his brother +chiefs, he was cleanly in his person; and his countenance not being +tattooed, nor darker than that of a Spaniard, while his manners +displayed a European polish, it was only his dress that betokened the +savage.</p> + +<p>"His hair," says Nicholas, "which had been very carefully combed, was +tied up in a knot upon the crown of his head, and adorned with a long +white feather fancifully stuck in it; in his ears were large bunches of +the down of the gannet, white as the driven snow, and napping about his +cheeks with every gale. Like the natives, he wore the mat thrown over +his shoulders; but the one he had on was bordered with a deep Vandyke of +different colours, and gaily bedizened with the feathers of parrots and +other birds, reflecting at the same moment all the various shades in the +rainbow. He carried a musket in his hand, and had a martial and imposing +air about him, which was quite in character with the station he +maintained."</p> + +<p>He brought his wife with him in a canoe to the ship; and having known +Marsden well in New South Wales, was delighted to see that gentleman, +and proved of considerable use to him in his intercourse with the other +New Zealanders. Although not accustomed to speak English in his new +country, Jem had by no means forgotten that language. He had been on +three warlike expeditions to the East Cape in the course of the past +five years; but had gone, he said, only because he could not help it, +and had never assisted in devouring the prisoners. Dillon met both Jem +and the Hindoo, when he was at the Bay of Islands in July, 1827. The +former had his son with him, a boy about twelve years of age.</p> + +<p>These, and many other examples which might be added, exhibit the force +of habit which governs the actions of all men, whether in a savage or +civilized state. There are, of course, exceptions. When Cook left +Omai,<a name='FNanchor_CS_97'></a><a href='#Footnote_CS_97'><sup>[CS]</sup></a> during his last voyage, at Huaheine, with every provision for +his comfort, he earnestly begged to return to England. It was nothing +that a grant of land was made to him at the interposition of his English +friends, that a house was built and a garden planted for his use. He +wept bitter tears; for he was naturally afraid that his new riches would +make him an object of hatred to his countrymen. He was much caressed in +England; and he took back many valuable possessions and some knowledge. +But he was originally one of the common people; and he soon saw, +although he was not sensible of it at first, that without rank he could +obtain no authority. He forgot this, when he was away from the people +with whom he was to end his days; but he seemed to feel that he should +be insecure when his protector, Cook, had left their shores. He divided +his presents with the chiefs; and the great navigator threatened them +with his vengeance if Omai was molested. The reluctance of this man to +return to his original conditions was principally derived from these +considerations, which were to him of a strictly personal nature. The +picture which a popular poet has drawn of the feelings of Omai is very +beautiful, and in great part true as applied to him as an individual; +but it is not true of the mass of savages.</p> + +<p>The habits amidst which they were born may be modified by an intercourse +with civilized men, but they cannot be eradicated. The following is the +poetical passage to which we alluded. Omai had, altogether, a more +distinguished destiny than any other savage—he was cherished by Cook, +painted by Reynolds, and apostrophised by Cowper:—</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"The dream is past, and thou hast found again</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And homestall thatch'd with leaves. But hast thou found</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Their former charms? And, having seen our state,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And heard our music, are thy simple friends,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>As dear to thee as once? And have thy joys</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Lost nothing by comparison with ours?</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Rude as thou art (for we return'd thee rude</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And ignorant, except of outward show)</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And spiritless, as never to regret</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known.</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Methinks I see thee straying on the beach,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And asking of the surge that bathes thy foot,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>If ever it has wash'd our distant shore.</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>A patriot's for his country: thou art sad</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>At thought of her forlorn and abject state,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>From which no power of thine can raise her up."</span><br /> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_CO_93'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CO_93'>[CO]</a><div class='note'><p> Kaipuke, a ship.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CP_94'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CP_94'>[CP]</a><div class='note'><p> That is, Tasmania.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CQ_95'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CQ_95'>[CQ]</a><div class='note'><p> There are no tortoises in New Zealand.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CR_96'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CR_96'>[CR]</a><div class='note'><p> Rutherford did not return to New Zealand, and nothing more +was heard of him. On December 5th, 1828, "The Australian," which 'was +published in Sydney, stated that a man named Rutherford, who had been +tattooed by the Maoris, and naturalized by them, was then in London, +practising the trade of a pickpocket, in the character of a New Zealand +chief, but that was before he supplied his story for "The New +Zealanders."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CS_97'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CS_97'>[CS]</a><div class='note'><p> Omai was an islander, who was taken to England, where he +was lionized, and was afterwards taken back to the islands during Cook's +last voyage.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13760 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/13760-h/images/cover.jpg b/13760-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d97bf1a --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/13760-h/images/image01.png b/13760-h/images/image01.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d1832c --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image01.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image02.png b/13760-h/images/image02.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..82a6ba3 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image02.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image03.png b/13760-h/images/image03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dff259f --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image03.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image04.png b/13760-h/images/image04.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af27733 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image04.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image05.png b/13760-h/images/image05.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7276793 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image05.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image06.png b/13760-h/images/image06.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c27e363 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image06.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image07.png b/13760-h/images/image07.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c5f430 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image07.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image08.png b/13760-h/images/image08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..df29317 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image08.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image09.png b/13760-h/images/image09.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4270856 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image09.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image10.png b/13760-h/images/image10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5b6bc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image10.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image11.png b/13760-h/images/image11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b138f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image11.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image12.png b/13760-h/images/image12.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8816d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image12.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image13.png b/13760-h/images/image13.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a0b39b --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image13.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image14.png b/13760-h/images/image14.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d5dfe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image14.png diff --git a/13760-h/images/image15.png b/13760-h/images/image15.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4c915f --- /dev/null +++ b/13760-h/images/image15.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54fc52b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13760 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13760) diff --git a/old/13760-8.txt b/old/13760-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd1f9ac --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6054 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, John Rutherford, the White Chief, by George +Lillie Craik, et al, Edited by James Drummond + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: John Rutherford, the White Chief + +Author: George Lillie Craik + +Release Date: October 16, 2004 [eBook #13760] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF*** + + +E-text prepared by Michael Ciesielski and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 13760-h.htm or 13760-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760/13760-h/13760-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760/13760-h.zip) + + + + + +JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF + +A Story of Adventure in New Zealand + +Edited by + +JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: John Rutherford. From an original drawing taken in +1828.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + INTRODUCTION + CHAPTER I. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. + CHAPTER IX. + CHAPTER X. + CHAPTER XI. + CHAPTER XII. + CHAPTER XIII. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + John Rutherford + + A Maori's shoulder mat + + Short striking weapons (clubs) used by the Maoris + + Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of + Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place + + A door-lintel, showing Maori carving + + "Moko" on a man's face and on a woman's lips and chin + + Two Maori Chiefs--Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, + or "Dark House" + + Scene in a New Zealand Forest + + Flute of bone + + A waist-mat + + Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair + + Carved boxes + + Greenstone axes, with carved wooden bandies, and ornamented + with dogs' hair and birds' feathers + + Long striking and thrusting weapons used by the Maoris + + A Maori war-canoe + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Eighty years ago, when the story told in these pages was first +published, "forecastle yarns" were more thrilling than they are now. In +these days we look for information in regard to a new land's +capabilities for pastoral, agricultural, and commercial pursuits; in +those days it was customary, with a large portion of the British public, +at any rate, to expect sailors to tell stories + + Of the cannibals that each other eat, + The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads + Do grow beneath their shoulders, + +and to relate other particulars likely to arrest the attention and +excite the imagination. Men then sailed to unknown lands, peopled by +unknown barbarians, and their adventures in strange and mysterious +countries were clothed in a romance which has been almost completely +dispelled by the telegraph, the newspaper press, cheap books, and rapid +transit, and by the utilitarian ideas which have swept over the world. + +It was largely to meet the public taste for something wonderful and +striking that John Rutherford's story of adventures in New Zealand saw +the light of publicity. In fairness to the original editor and the +publisher, however, it should be stated that the story was given also as +a means of supplying interesting information in regard to a country and +a race of which very little was then known. It was embodied in a book of +400 pages, entitled "The New Zealanders," published in 1830, for the +Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by the famous publisher, +Charles Knight. + +He was a versatile, talented, and ambitious man; but all his ambitions +ran in the direction of the public good. From the time of his early +manhood, he wished to become a public instructor. At first he tried to +achieve his end by means of journalism, which he entered in 1812, by +reporting Parliamentary debates for "The Globe" and "The British Press," +two London journals. Later on he started a publishing business in +London. Dealing only with instructive subjects, he established "Knight's +Quarterly Magazine," and other periodicals, to which he was one of the +prominent contributors. + +He was not a business man, and in 1828 he was overwhelmed by financial +difficulties. In the meantime he had become acquainted with the +brilliant but erratic Lord Brougham, who had completed arrangements for +putting into operation one of his great enterprises for educating the +masses. This was the establishment of the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge. It began a series of publications under the title of +"The Library of Entertaining Knowledge," which Knight published. The +first volume, written by Knight himself, was "The Menageries"; the +second was "The New Zealanders." Other publications were issued by the +society until it was dissolved in 1846. Knight continued to send works +out of the press nearly to the end of his useful life, in March, 1873. +Some of these were written by himself, some by friends, and some were +translations. His "Penny Magazine," at the end of its first year, had a +sale of 200,000 copies. Amongst his other publications are Lane's +"Arabian Nights," "The Pictorial Bible," "The Pictorial History of +England," and--the object of his highest ambition--"The Pictorial +Shakespeare." In "Passages of a Working Life," he wrote his own +biography. In spite of his strenuous life he died a poor man. He was an +enthusiast, but his impetuous nature induced him to attempt to carry out +his schemes before they had matured. He had a quick temper and an +eloquent tongue. The esteem in which he was held by his friends is shown +by the admirable jest with which Douglas Jerrold took leave of him one +evening at a social gathering. "Good Knight," Jerrold said. + +The "New Zealanders" was published anonymously, and for many years the +authorship was attributed to Lord Brougham. There is no doubt now, +however, that the author was George Lillie Craik, a scholar and a man of +letters. He was born at Kennoway, Fife, in 1798. He studied at St. +Andrew's, and went through a divinity course, but never applied to be +licensed as a preacher. Like Knight, he was attracted by journalism, +which he regarded as a means of instructing the public. When he was only +twenty years of age he was editor of "The Star," a local newspaper. In +London he adopted authorship as a profession. In 1849, he was appointed +Professor of English Literature and History at the Queen's College, +Belfast, and later on, although he still resided at Belfast, he became +examiner for the Indian Civil Service. All his literary work is +distinguished by careful research. Perhaps his best effort is +represented by "The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties," published +in the same year as "The New Zealanders." With a colleague he edited +"The Pictorial History of England," in four volumes. Amongst his other +works are "A Romance of the Peerage," "Spencer and his Poetry," "A +History of Commerce," "The English of Shakespeare," and "Bacon, his +Writings and Philosophy." He had a flowing and cultured style, and he +embellished his work with many references to the classics. He was one of +the best read men of his time. His extensive reading and the simplicity +of his style made him a very welcome contributor to the "Penny +Magazine," the "Penny Cyclopædia," and other popular publications. He +had a paralytic stroke while lecturing in Belfast in February, 1866, +and he died in June of the same year. It is said of him that he was +popular with students and welcome in society. + +It is not known if Craik met Rutherford. He probably did not. He may +have had "The New Zealanders" partly written when the manuscript +describing Rutherford's adventures was placed in his hands. In that +case, he wove it into his book, using it as a means of illustrating his +remarks on the Maoris' customs. His work bears the stamp of honesty and +industrious care. He collected all the information dealing with New +Zealand available at the time, and he produced a fairly large book, +which, for many years after it was published, must have been a valuable +contribution to the public's store of "entertaining knowledge." + +Rutherford, as his narrative shows, was ten years amongst the Maoris. He +was an ignorant sailor. He could not write, and the account of his +adventures, it is explained, was dictated to a friend while he was on +the voyage back to England. Craik says that if allowance is made for +some grammatical solecisms, the story, as it appeared in the manuscript, +was told with great clearness, and sometimes with considerable spirit. +Knight evidently knew him, as it is stated in "The New Zealanders" that +"the publisher of this volume had many conversations with him when he +was exhibited in London." It is probable, too, that Brougham knew him. +Brougham, indeed, may have "discovered" him and introduced him to +Knight. Rutherford was just the kind of man in whose company Brougham +delighted to spend hours. He would listen to the recital of the +thrilling adventures with the Maoris with breathless interest. A story +told of the madcap days of Brougham's youth gives some idea of the +welcome he would extend to Rutherford. One evening, after Brougham and +some other gay spirits had supped together in London, they saw a mob of +idle scoundrels beating an unfortunate woman with brutal ferocity. The +young fellows went to her rescue. Their interference increased the +tumult, and all the watchmen in the neighbourhood were soon about their +ears. In return for their chivalry they were lodged in the watch-house. +Amongst their fellow-prisoners there was an old sailor, who sat cowering +over the embers of the fire. He had been in the American War. Brougham +picked up an acquaintance with him, and all night long the young man +held the old one in conversation, ascertaining the strength of the +forces in the engagements, the scenes of the battles, the nature of the +manoeuvres, the advances and reverses, and so on, until his +avariciousness for knowledge was satisfied. + +Neither Brougham nor Knight, nor even Craik, had sufficient means of +testing the accuracy of Rutherford's story. Unfortunately there are many +points on which the narrative is not only inaccurate but misleading. +Craik concludes that Poverty Bay, where Cook first landed in New +Zealand, is the scene of the capture of the "Agnes." Rutherford, +however, gives the name as "Tokomardo." This corresponds with a bay some +miles further north, and about forty miles from the East Cape. The +Maoris call it Tokomaru, which Rutherford evidently intended. His +description of the place might represent Tokomaru almost as well as +Poverty Bay. The strangest part of the affair, however, is that the +Maoris on that coast have no knowledge whatever of the "Agnes," the +vessel which, according to Rutherford, was captured in the bay he +describes. Eighty years ago the arrival of a vessel at New Zealand was +an advent of the utmost importance. The news spread throughout the land +with surprising rapidity, and whole tribes flocked to the port to see +the "Pakehas" and trade for their iron implements and guns. The Maoris +of the district know of three white men, whom they called Riki, Punga, +and Tapore, who lived amongst them for some time in the early days, +before colonization began; but they have no knowledge of Rutherford. The +chiefs to whom Rutherford frequently refers did not belong to that +district. The chief who takes the principal part in the story, "Aimy," +cannot be traced. The name is spelt wrongly, and it is difficult to +supply a Maori name that the spelling in the book might represent. This +is surprising, as the Maoris are very careful in regard to their +genealogical records.[A] While Rutherford was in New Zealand some +terrible slaughters took place in the Poverty Bay district, but he does +not refer to these, although they must have been one of the principal +subjects of conversation amongst the Maoris for months, perhaps years. + +Near the end of the narrative, Rutherford gives an account of a great +battle, in which the chief Hongi was a prominent figure. His description +of what took place is incorrect in several respects. Victory went to +Hongi, not, as Rutherford says, to the people of Kaipara and their +allies, although they were victorious in the first skirmish. The battle +is known as Te Ika-a-rangi-nui, that is the Great Fish of the Sky or the +Milky Way, and it took place in February, 1825. As Rutherford states, +Hongi was present, and wore the famous coat of mail armour which had +been given to him by His Majesty King George IV. when he was in England +in 1820. The strife was caused not by an attempt to steal Hongi's +armour, as Rutherford suggests, but by a thirst for revenge for the +death of a chief of the Nga-Puhi tribe, to which Hongi belonged. The +chief Whare-umu, evidently identical with "Ewarree-hum" in Rutherford's +narrative, did not belong to the party that Rutherford was connected +with; he was related to the man whose murder was avenged, and seems to +have been Hongi's first lieutenant. Some authorities, notably Bishop +Williams, of Waiapu,[B] and Mr. Percy Smith,[C] believe that Rutherford +was not present at the battle, and that he obtained all his information +from others. Bishop Williams, who knows the Poverty Bay district as well +as anyone, has come to the conclusion that Rutherford must have spent +his years in New Zealand in the Bay of Islands district; and Mr Percy +Smith, in a letter to me, says that he has always entertained the idea +that Rutherford was one of the men taken when the schooner "Brothers" +was attacked at Kennedy Bay in 1815. Bishop Williams sets up the theory +that Rutherford was a deserter from a vessel which visited New Zealand, +that he induced the Maoris to tattoo him in order that he might escape +detection after he had returned to civilization, and that he concocted +the story of the capture of the "Agnes" to account for his reappearance +amongst Europeans. The weakness of this theory is that he evidently did +not object to publicity, and that the tattooing would make him a +conspicuous man who could not avoid public attention. If Bishop Williams +is right in assuming that Rutherford wished to escape detection, he +took the very best course to defeat his object. + +Whatever Rutherford's object may have been, and whether he deceived the +author and publisher of "The New Zealanders," or merely erred through +ignorance and lack of observation, there is no doubt that he spent some +years with the Maoris in the northern part of New Zealand. His tattooed +face is sufficient evidence of that. The pattern is the Maori "moko." +The tattooing on his breast, stomach, and arms, however, is not the work +of Maoris; that was done, probably, by natives at some of the islands, +or by sailors. I hardly think that those who read the narrative will +agree with Bishop Williams's opinion that it is "a mere romance." It is +more like the story of an ignorant, unobservant, careless sailor, who +entertained no idea that any importance would be attached to his +statements. Many mistakes were probably made in the work of dictating +the narrative to a fellow-sailor. If Rutherford had been bent upon +making a romantic story, he would have told it in a different form. +There is no straining after effect in the manuscript reproduced by +Craik. The faults are inaccuracies, not exaggerations. Some excuse may +be found for Rutherford's mistakes in the description of the battle Te +Ika-a-rangi-nui in the fact that modern Maori scholars cannot agree on +important details, there being differences of opinion in regard to +even the year in which the battle was fought. + +[Illustration: A Maori's shoulder mat _Christchurch Museum_.] + +It is felt that, with all its blemishes, the story has a good claim to +be included in the list of New Zealand works that are now being +reprinted by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, to whom the people of New +Zealand are deeply indebted. When Mr. Whitcombe first asked me to edit +Rutherford's story for his firm, I proposed to take it alone, leaving +out all the rest of Craik's work in "The New Zealanders." On reading the +book again I came to the conclusion that many of Craik's remarks, +although discursive at times, are sufficiently interesting to be read +now, and I have included in the reprint a large portion of his original +writings. I have retained his spelling of Maori words, but have made +many corrections in footnotes. The book is not sent out as an authentic +account of the Maoris. "The New Zealanders" was the first book that +attempted to deal with them, and it has been superseded by many which +have been written in the light of more extensive knowledge, and in them +students will find results of much patient study and research. + +JAMES DRUMMOND. + +Christchurch, + +February 13th, 1908. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: At my request, Mr. S. Percy Smith, the author of "Hawaiki, +the Original Home of the Maori," endeavoured to trace "Aimy," but even +his extensive knowledge of the Maori language and tribal histories +failed to bring that man to light. Mr. Smith explains that "Ai" in +Rutherford's spelling represents "E," a vocative, in the accepted method +of spelling, and "my" represents "mai." The two words, combined, would +be "E Mai." In this way, "Mai's" attention would be called. But "Mai" +may be the first, second, or third syllable of a man's name, according +to euphony. The name supplied in the narrative, therefore, is no guide +in a search for Rutherford's friendly chief.] + +[Footnote B: Transactions New Zealand Institute, volume xxiii., page +453.] + +[Footnote C: "Journal of the Polynesian Society," volume x., page 35.] + + + + +JOHN RUTHERFORD + +THE WHITE CHIEF. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +John Rutherford, according to his own account, was born at Manchester +about the year 1796. He went to sea, he states, when he was hardly more +than ten years of age, having up to that time been employed as a piecer +in a cotton factory in his native town; and after that he appears to +have been but little in England, or even on shore, for many years. + +He served for a considerable time on board a man-of-war off the coast of +Brazil; and was afterwards at the storming of San Sebastian, in August, +1813. On coming home from Spain, he entered himself on board another +king's ship, bound for Madras, in which he afterwards proceeded to China +by the east passage, and lay for about a year at Macao. + +In the course of this voyage his ship touched at several islands in the +great Indian Archipelago, among others at the Bashee Islands,[D] which +have been rarely visited. On his return from the east he embarked on +board a convict vessel bound for New South Wales; and afterwards made +two trading voyages among the islands of the South Sea. + +It was in the course of the former of these that he first saw New +Zealand, the vessel having touched at the Bay of Islands, on her way +home to Port Jackson. + +His second trading voyage in those seas was made in the "Magnet," a +three-masted schooner, commanded by Captain Vine; but this vessel having +put in at Owhyhee,[E] Rutherford fell sick and was left on that island. +Having recovered, however, in about a fortnight, he was taken on board +the "Agnes," an American brig of six guns and fourteen men, commanded by +Captain Coffin, which was then engaged in trading for pearl and +tortoiseshell among the islands of the Pacific. + +This vessel, after having touched at various other places, on her return +from Owhyhee, approached the east coast of New Zealand, intending to put +in for refreshments at the Bay of Islands. + +Rutherford states in his journal that this event, which was to him of +such importance, occurred on March 6th, 1816. They first came in sight +of the Barrier Islands, some distance to the south of the port for which +they were making. They accordingly directed their course to the north; +but they had not got far on their way when it began to blow a gale from +the north-east, which, being aided by a current, not only made it +impossible for them to proceed to the Bay of Islands, but even carried +them past the mouth of the Thames. It lasted for five days, and when it +abated they found themselves some distance to the south of a high point +of land, which, from Rutherford's description, there can be no doubt +must have been that to which Captain Cook gave the name of East Cape. +Rutherford calls it sometimes the East, and sometimes the South-East +Cape, and describes it as the highest part of the coast. It lies nearly +in latitude 37° 42' S. + +The land directly opposite to them was indented by a large bay. This the +captain was very unwilling to enter, believing that no ship had ever +anchored in it before. We have little doubt, however, that this was the +very bay into which Cook first put, on his arrival on the coasts of New +Zealand, in the beginning of October, 1769. He called it Poverty Bay, +and found it to lie in latitude 38° 42' S. The bay in which Rutherford +now was must have been at least very near this part of the coast; and +his description answers exactly to that which Cook gives of Poverty Bay. + +It was, says Rutherford, in the form of a half-moon, with a sandy beach +round it, and at its head a fresh-water river, having a bar across its +mouth, which makes it navigable only for boats. He mentions also the +height of the land which forms its sides. All these particulars are +noticed by Cook. Even the name given to it by the natives, as reported +by the one, is not so entirely unlike that stated by the other, as to +make it quite improbable that the two are merely the same word +differently misrepresented. Cook writes it Taoneroa, and Rutherford +Takomardo. The slightest examination of the vocabularies of barbarous +tongues, which have been collected by voyagers and travellers, will +convince every one of the extremely imperfect manner in which the ear +catches sounds to which it is unaccustomed, and of the mistakes to which +this and other causes give rise, in every attempt which is made to take +down the words of a language from the native pronunciation, by a person +who does not understand it. + +Reluctant as the captain was to enter this bay, from his ignorance of +the coast, and the doubts he consequently felt as to the disposition of +the inhabitants, they at last determined to stand in for it, as they had +great need of water, and did not know when the wind might permit them to +get to the Bay of Islands. + +They came to anchor, accordingly, off the termination of a reef of +rocks, immediately under some elevated land, which formed one of the +sides of the bay. As soon as they had dropped anchor, a great many +canoes came off to the ship from every part of the bay, each containing +about thirty women, by whom it was paddled. Very few men made their +appearance that day; but many of the women remained on board all night, +employing themselves chiefly in stealing whatever they could lay their +hands on. Their conduct greatly alarmed the captain, and a strict watch +was kept during the night. + +The next morning one of the chiefs came on board, whose name they were +told was Aimy, in a large war-canoe, about sixty feet long, and carrying +above a hundred of the natives, all provided with quantities of mats and +fishing-lines, made of the strong white flax[F] of the country, with +which they professed to be anxious to trade with the crew. + +After this chief had been for some time on board, it was agreed that he +should return to the land, with some others of his tribe, in the ship's +boat, to procure a supply of water. This arrangement the captain was +very anxious to make, as he was averse from allowing any of the crew to +go on shore, wishing to keep them all on board for the protection of the +ship. + +In due time the boat returned, laden with water, which was immediately +hoisted on board; and the chief and his men were despatched a second +time on the same errand. Meanwhile, the rest of the natives continued to +take pigs to the ship in considerable numbers; and by the close of the +day about two hundred had been purchased, together with a quantity of +fern-root to feed them on. + +Up to this time, therefore, no hostile disposition had been manifested +by the savages; and their intercourse with the ship had been carried on +with every appearance of friendship and cordiality, if we except the +propensity they had shown to pilfer a few of the tempting rarities +exhibited to them by their civilised visitors. Their conduct as to this +matter ought perhaps to be taken rather as an evidence that they had not +as yet formed any design of attacking the vessel, as they would, in that +case, scarcely have taken the trouble of stealing a small part of what +they meant immediately to seize upon altogether. On the other hand, such +an infraction of the rules of hospitality would not have accorded with +that system of insidious kindness by which it is their practice to lull +the suspicions of those whom they are on the watch to destroy. + +During the night, however, the thieving was renewed, and carried to a +more alarming extent, inasmuch as it was found in the morning that some +of the natives had not only stolen the lead off the ship's stern, but +had also cut away many of the ropes, and carried them off in their +canoes. It was not till daybreak, too, that the chief returned with his +second cargo of water; and it was then observed that the ship's boat he +had taken with him leaked a great deal; on which the carpenter examined +her, and found that a great many of the nails had been drawn out of her +planks. + +About the same time, Rutherford detected one of the natives in the act +of stealing the dipson lead,--"which, when I took it from him," says he, +"he grinded his teeth and shook his tomahawk at me." + +"The captain," he continues, "now paid the chief for fetching the water, +giving him two muskets, and a quantity of powder and shot, arms and +ammunition being the only articles these people will trade for. + +"There were at this time about three hundred of the natives on the deck, +with Aimy, the chief, in the midst of them; every man was armed with a +green stone, slung with a string around his waist. This weapon they call +a 'mery,'[G] the stone being about a foot long, flat, and of an oblong +shape, having both edges sharp, and a handle at the end. They use it for +the purpose of killing their enemies, by striking them on the head. + +"Smoke was now observed rising from several of the hills; and the +natives appearing to be mustering on the beach from every part of the +bay, the captain grew much afraid, and desired us to loosen the sails, +and make haste down to get our dinners, as he intended to put to sea +immediately. As soon as we had dined, we went aloft, and I proceeded to +loosen the jib. At this time, none of the crew was on deck except the +captain and the cook, the chief mate being employed in loading some +pistols at the cabin table. + +"The natives seized this opportunity of commencing an attack upon the +ship. First, the chief threw off the mat which he wore as a cloak, and, +brandishing a tomahawk in his hand, began a war-song, when all the rest +immediately threw off their mats likewise, and, being entirely naked, +began to dance with such violence that I thought they would have stove +in the ship's deck. + +"The captain, in the meantime, was leaning against the companion, when +one of the natives went unperceived behind him, and struck him three or +four blows on the head with a tomahawk, which instantly killed him. The +cook, on seeing him attacked, ran to his assistance, but was immediately +murdered in the same manner. + +"I now sat down on the jib-boom, with tears in my eyes, and trembling +with terror. + +"Here I next saw the chief mate come running up the companion ladder, +but before he reached the deck he was struck on the back of the neck in +the same manner as the captain and the cook had been. He fell with the +blow, but did not die immediately. + +"A number of the natives now rushed in at the cabin door, while others +jumped down through the skylight, and others were employed in cutting +the lanyards of the rigging of the stays. At the same time, four of our +crew jumped overboard off the foreyard, but were picked up by some +canoes that were coming from the shore, and immediately bound hand and +foot. + +"The natives now mounted the rigging, and drove the rest of the crew +down, all of whom were made prisoners. One of the chiefs beckoned to me +to come to him, which I immediately did, and surrendered myself. We were +then put all together into a large canoe, our hands being tied; and the +New Zealanders, searching us, took from us our knives, pipes, +tobacco-boxes, and various other articles. The two dead bodies, and the +wounded mate, were thrown into the canoe along with us. The mate groaned +terribly, and seemed in great agony, the tomahawk having cut two inches +deep into the back of his neck; and all the while one of the natives, +who sat in the canoe with us, kept licking the blood from the wound with +his tongue. Meantime, a number of women who had been left in the ship +had jumped overboard, and were swimming to the shore, after having cut +her cable, so that she drifted, and ran aground on the bar near the +mouth of the river. The natives had not sense to shake the reefs out of +the sails, but had chopped them off along the yards with their +tomahawks, leaving the reefed part behind. + +"The pigs, which we had bought from them, were, many of them, killed on +board, and carried ashore dead in the canoes, and others were thrown +overboard alive, and attempted to swim to the land; but many of them +were killed in the water by the natives, who got astride on their backs, +and then struck them on the head with their merys. Many of the canoes +came to the land loaded with plunder from the ship; and numbers of the +natives quarrelled about the division of the spoil, and fought and slew +each other. I observed, too, that they broke up our water-casks for the +sake of the iron hoops. + +"While all this was going on, we were detained in the canoe; but at +last, when the sun was set, they conveyed us on shore to one of the +villages, where they tied us by the hands to several small trees. The +mate had expired before we got on shore, so that there now remained only +twelve of us alive. The three dead bodies were then brought forward, and +hung up by the heels to the branch of a tree, in order that the dogs +might not get at them. A number of large fires were also kindled on the +beach, for the purpose of giving light to the canoes, which were +employed all night in going backward and forward between the shore and +the ship, although it rained the greater part of the time. + +"Gentle reader," Rutherford continues, "we will now consider the sad +situation we were in; our ship lost, three of our companions already +killed, and the rest of us tied each to a tree, starving with hunger, +wet, and cold, and knowing that we were in the hands of cannibals. + +"The next morning, I observed that the surf had driven the ship over the +bar, and she was now in the mouth of the river, and aground near the end +of the village. Everything being now out of her, about ten o'clock in +the morning they set fire to her; after which they all mustered together +on an unoccupied piece of ground near the village, where they remained +standing for some time; but at last they all sat down except five, who +were chiefs, for whom a large ring was left vacant in the middle. The +five chiefs, of whom Aimy was one, then approached the place where we +were, and after they had stood consulting for some time, Aimy released +me and another, and, taking us into the middle of the ring, made signs +for us to sit down, which we did. In a few minutes, the other four +chiefs came also into the ring, bringing along with them four more of +our men, who were made to sit down beside us. + +"The chiefs now walked backward and forward in the ring with their merys +in their hands, and continued talking together for some time, but we +understood nothing of what they said. The rest of the natives were all +the while very silent, and seemed to listen to them with great +attention. At length, one of the chiefs spoke to one of the natives who +was seated on the ground, and the latter immediately rose, and, taking +his tomahawk in his hand, went and killed the other six men who were +tied to the trees. They groaned several times as they were struggling in +the agonies of death, and at every groan the natives burst out in great +fits of laughter. + +"We could not refrain from weeping for the sad fate of our comrades, not +knowing, at the same time, whose turn it might be next. Many of the +natives, on seeing our tears, laughed aloud, and brandished their merys +at us. + +"Some of them now proceeded to dig eight large round holes, each about a +foot deep, into which they afterwards put a great quantity of dry wood, +and covered it over with a number of stones. They then set fire to the +wood, which continued burning till the stones became red hot. In the +meantime, some of them were employed in stripping the bodies of my +deceased shipmates, which they afterwards cut up, for the purpose of +cooking them, having first washed them in the river, and then brought +them and laid them down on several green boughs which had been broken +off the trees and spread on the ground, near the fires, for that +purpose. + +"The stones being now red hot, the largest pieces of the burning wood +were pulled from under them and thrown away, and some green bushes, +having been first dipped in water, were laid round their edges, while +they were at the same time covered over with a few green leaves. The +mangled bodies were then laid upon the top of the leaves, with a +quantity of leaves also strewed over them; and after this a straw mat +was spread over the top of each hole. Lastly, about three pints of water +were poured upon each mat, which, running through to the stones, caused +a great steam, and then the whole was instantly covered with earth. + +"They afterwards gave us some roasted fish to eat, and three women were +employed in roasting fern-root for us. When they had roasted it, they +laid it on a stone, and beat it with a piece of wood, until it became +soft like dough. When cold again, however, it becomes hard, and snaps +like gingerbread. We ate but sparingly of what they gave us. After this +they took us to a house, and gave each of us a mat and some dried grass +to sleep upon. Here we spent the night, two of the chiefs sleeping along +with us. + +"We got up next morning as soon as it was daylight, as did also the two +chiefs, and went and sat down outside the house. Here we found a number +of women busy in making baskets of green flax, into some of which, when +they were finished, the bodies of our messmates, which had been cooking +all night, were put, while others were filled with potatoes, which had +been prepared by a similar process. + +"I observed some of the children tearing the flesh from the bones of our +comrades, before they were taken from the fires. A short time after this +the chiefs assembled, and, having seated themselves on the ground, the +baskets were placed before them and they proceeded to divide the flesh +among the multitude, at the rate of a basket among so many. They also +sent us a basket of potatoes and some of the flesh, which resembled +pork; but instead of partaking of it we shuddered at the very idea of +such an unnatural and horrid custom, and made a present of it to one of +the natives." + +According to this account, the editor says, the attack made upon the +"Agnes" would seem to have been altogether unprovoked by the conduct +either of the captain or any of the crew; but we must not, in matters of +this kind, assume that we are in possession of the whole truth, when we +have heard the statement of only one of the parties. What may have been +the exact nature of the offence given to the natives in the present +case, the narrative we have just transcribed hardly gives us any data +even for conjecturing; unless we are to suppose that their vindictive +feelings were called forth by the manner in which their pilfering may +have been resented or punished, about which, however, nothing is said in +the account. But perhaps, after all, it is not necessary to refer +their hostility to any immediate cause of this kind. These savages had +probably many old injuries, sustained from former European visitors, yet +unrevenged; and, according to their notions, therefore, they had reason +enough to hold every ship that approached their coast an enemy, and a +fair subject for spoliation. It is lamentable that the conduct of +Europeans should have offered them an excuse for such conduct. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum_. + + 1. Club (_patu_) of wood, inlaid with _paua_ shell and carved. + 2. Greenstone club (_mere pounanu_). + 3. Club (_onewa_) of stone. + 4. _Kotiate_ of wood or bone.] + +The wanton cruelties committed upon these people by the commanders and +crews of many of the vessels that have been of late years in the habit +of resorting to their shores, are testified to, by too many evidences, +to allow us to doubt the enormous extent to which they have been +carried; and they are, at the same time, too much in the spirit of that +systematic aggression and violence, which even British sailors are apt +to conceive themselves entitled to practise upon naked and unarmed +savages, to make the fact of their perpetration a matter of surprise to +us. We must refer to Mr. Nicholas's book[H] for many specific instances +of such atrocities; but we may merely mention here that the conduct in +question is distinctly noticed and denounced in the strongest terms, +both in a proclamation by Governor Macquarie, dated the 9th of November, +1814, and also in another by Sir Thomas Brisbane, dated the 17th of +May, 1824. So strong a feeling, indeed, had been excited upon this +subject among the more respectable inhabitants of the English colony, +that, in the year 1814, a society was formed in Sydney Town, with the +Governor at its head, for the especial protection of the natives of the +South Sea Islands against the oppressions practised upon them by the +crews of European vessels. + +The reports of the missionaries likewise abound in notices of the +flagrant barbarities by which, in New Zealand, as well as elsewhere, the +white man has signalised his superiority over his darker-complexioned +brother. But it may be enough to quote one of their statements, namely, +that within the first two or three years after the establishment of the +society's settlement at the Bay of Islands, not less than a hundred at +least of the natives had been murdered by Europeans in their immediate +neighbourhood. With such facts on record, it ought indeed to excite but +little of our surprise, that the sight of the white man's ship in their +horizon should be to these injured people in every district the signal +for a general muster, to meet the universal foe, and, if it may be +accomplished by force or cunning, to gratify the great passion of savage +life--revenge. + +The circumstances of this attack are all illustrative of the New Zealand +character; and, indeed, the whole narrative is strikingly accordant +with the accounts we have from other sources of the manner in which +these savages are wont to act on such occasions, although there +certainly never has before appeared so minute and complete a detail of +any similar transaction. The gathering of the inland population by fires +lighted on the hills, the previous crowding and almost complete +occupation of the vessel, the sly and patient watching for the moment of +opportunity, the instant seizure of it when it came, the management of +the whole with such precision and skill, as in the case of the +"Boyd,"[I] and indeed in every other known instance, while the success +of the movement was perfect--this result was obtained without the +expense of so much as a drop of blood on the part of the assailants--all +these things are the uniform accompaniments of New Zealand treachery +when displayed in such enterprises. + +The rule of military tactics among this people is, in the first place, +if possible, to surprise their enemies; and, in the second, to endeavour +to alarm and confound them. This latter is doubtless partly the purpose +of the song and dance, which form with them the constant prelude to the +assault, although these vehement expressions of passion operate also +powerfully as excitements to their own sanguinary valour and contempt +of death. + +Rutherford's description of the violence with which they danced on board +the ship in the present case, immediately before commencing their attack +on the crew, reminds us strikingly, even by its expression, of the +account Crozet gives us, in his narrative of the voyage of M. Marion, of +their exhibitions of a similar sort even when they were only in sport. +"They would often dance," says he "with such fury when on board the ship +that we feared they would drive in our deck." + +The alleged cannibalism of the New Zealanders is a subject that has +given rise to a good deal of controversy; and it has been even very +recently contended that the imputation, if not altogether unfounded, is +very nearly so, and that the horrid practice in question, if it does +exist among these people at all, has certainly never been carried beyond +the mere act of tasting human flesh, in obedience to some feeling of +superstition or frantic revenge, and even that perpetrated only rarely +and with repugnance. + +Without attempting to theorise as to such a matter on the ground of such +narrow views as ordinary experience would suggest, we may here state +what the evidence is which we really have for the cannibalism of the New +Zealanders. + +Cook was the first who discovered the fact, which he did in his first +visit to the country. The strongest proof of all was that which was +obtained in Queen Charlotte Sound. Captain Cook having one day gone +ashore here, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and other +persons belonging to the ship, found a family of the natives employed in +dressing some provisions. + +"The body of a dog," says Cook, "was at this time buried in their oven, +and many provision baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes +carelessly into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty +cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, +upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At +this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation +of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we +could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any +doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found +in a provision-basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to +have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end were the marks +of the teeth which had gnawed them. + +"To put an end, however, to conjecture founded upon circumstances and +appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the +Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man. +They were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied +that they had eaten it; 'but,' said Tupia, 'why did you not eat the body +of the woman we saw floating upon the water?' 'The woman,' said they, +'died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the +bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle.' + +"Upon inquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us +that, about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came +into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one of +seven whom they had killed. + +"Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the +inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still +stronger to give. One of us asked if they had any human bones with the +flesh remaining upon them; and upon their answering us that all had been +eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the bones were human, and said +that they were the bones of a dog; upon which one of the Indians, with +some eagerness, took hold of his own forearm, and thrusting it towards +us, said that the bone which Mr. Banks held in his hand had belonged to +that part of a human body; at the same time, to convince us that the +flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm with his teeth, and +made a show of eating. He also bit and gnawed the bone which Mr. Banks +had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and showing by signs that it +had afforded a delicious repast. Some others of them, in a conversation +with Tupia next day, confirmed all this in the fullest manner; and they +were afterwards in the habit of bringing human bones, the flesh of which +they had eaten, and offering them to the English for sale." + +When Cook was at the same place in November, 1773, in the course of his +second voyage, he obtained still stronger evidence of what he expressly +calls their "great liking for this kind of food," his former account of +their indulgence in which had been discredited, he tells us, by many. +Some of the officers of the ship having gone one afternoon on shore, +observed the head and bowels of a youth, who had been lately killed, +lying on the beach; and one of them, having purchased the head, brought +it on board. A piece of the flesh having then been broiled and given to +one of the natives, he ate it immediately in the presence of all the +officers and most of the men. Nothing is said of any aversion he seemed +to feel to the shocking repast. Nay, when, upon Cook's return on board, +for he had been at this time absent on shore, another piece of the flesh +was broiled and brought to the quarter-deck, that he also might be an +eye-witness of what his officers had already seen, one of the New +Zealanders, he tells us, "ate it with surprising avidity. This," he +adds, "had such an effect on some of our people as to make them sick." + +Of the persons who sailed with Cook, no one seems eventually to have +retained a doubt as to the prevalence of cannibalism among these +savages. Mr. Burney, who had been long sceptical, was at last convinced +of the fact, by what he observed when he went to look after the crew of +the "Adventure's" boat who had been killed in Grass Cove; and both the +elder and the younger Forster, who accompanied Cook on his second +voyage, express their participation in the general belief. John Ledyard, +who was afterwards distinguished as an adventurous African traveller, +but who sailed with Cook in the capacity of a corporal of marines, bears +testimony to the same fact. + +It thus appears that the testimony of those who have actually visited +New Zealand, in so far as it has been recorded, is unanimous upon this +head. + +To the authorities that have been already adduced, may be now added that +of Rutherford, whose evidence, both in the extract from his journal that +has been already given, and in other passages to which we shall +afterwards have occasion to refer, is in perfect accordance with the +statements of all preceding reporters entitled to speak upon the +subject. The facts that have been quoted would seem to show that the +eating of human flesh among this people is not merely an occasional +excess, prompted only by the phrenzy of revenge, but that it is actually +resorted to as a gratification of appetite, as well as of passion. + +It is very probable, however, that the practice may have had its origin +in those vindictive feelings which mix, to so remarkable a degree, in +all the enmities and wars of these savages. This is a much more likely +supposition than that it originated in the difficulty of procuring other +food, in which case, as has been remarked, it could not well have, at +any time, sprung up either in New Zealand or in almost any other of the +countries in which it is known to prevail. Certain superstitious +notions, besides, which are connected with it among this people, +sufficiently indicate the motives which must have first led to it; for +they believe that, by eating their enemies, they not only dishonour +their bodies, but consign their souls to perpetual misery. This is +stated by Cook. + +Other accounts, which we have from more recent authorities, concur in +showing that the person who eats any part of the body of another whom he +has slain in battle, fancies he secures to himself thereby a portion of +the valour or good fortune which had hitherto belonged to his dead +enemy. The most common occasion, too, on which slaves are slain and +eaten is by way of an offering to the "_mana_" of a chief or any of his +family who may have been cut off in battle. + +All this would go to prove that the cannibalism of the New Zealanders +had, on its first introduction, been intimately associated with certain +feelings or notions which seemed to demand the act as a duty, and not +at all with any circumstances of distress or famine which compelled a +resort to it as a dire necessity. There is too much reason for +apprehending, however, that the unnatural repast, having ceased in this +way to be regarded with that disgust with which it is turned from by +every unpolluted appetite, has now become an enjoyment in which they not +unfrequently indulge without any reference to the considerations which +originally tempted them to partake of it. Indeed, such a result, instead +of being incredible or improbable, would appear to be almost an +inevitable consequence of the general and systematic perpetration, under +any pretext, of so daring an outrage upon Nature as that of which these +savages are, on all hands, allowed to be guilty. + +The practice of cannibalism, which has prevailed among other nations as +well as the New Zealanders, has probably not had always exactly the same +origin. According to Mr. Mariner, it is of very recent introduction +among the people of Tonga, having been unknown among them till it was +imported about fifty or sixty years ago, along with other warlike +tastes, by their neighbours of the Fiji Islands, whose assistance had +been called in by one of the parties in a civil struggle. Here is an +instance of the practice having originated purely in the ferocity +engendered by the habit of war. In other cases it has, perhaps, arisen +out of the kindred practice of offering up human beings as sacrifices +to the gods. + +Humboldt, in his work on the indigenous inhabitants of South America, +gives us an interesting account of the introduction of this latter +atrocity among the Aztecs, a people of Mexico, whose annals record its +first perpetration to have taken place so late as the year 1317. + +But the most extraordinary instance of cannibalism which is known to +exist in the world is that practised by the Battas, an extensive and +populous nation of Sumatra. These people, according to Sir Stamford +Raffles, have a regular government, and deliberative assemblies; they +possess a peculiar language and written character, can generally write, +and have a talent for eloquence; they acknowledge a God, are fair and +honourable in their dealings, and crimes amongst them are few; their +country is highly cultivated. Yet this people, so far advanced in +civilization, are cannibals upon principle and system. Mr. Marsden,[J] +in his "History of Sumatra," seems to confine their cannibalism to the +accustomed cases of prisoners taken in war and to other gratifications +of revenge. But it is stated by Sir Stamford Raffles, upon testimony +which is unimpeachable, that criminals and prisoners are not only eaten +according to the law of the land, but that the same law permits their +being mangled and eaten while alive. The following extraordinary +account, which we extract from a letter of Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. +Marsden himself, dated February 27, 1820, is sufficiently revolting; but +it is important as showing the wonderful influence of ancient customs in +hardening the hearts of an otherwise mild and respectable people, and is +therefore calculated to make us look with less severity upon the +practices of the more ignorant New Zealanders. The progress of knowledge +and of true religion can alone eradicate such fearful relics of a +tremendous superstition--the offering, in another shape, to + + Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood + Of human sacrifice. + + I have found all you say on the subject of cannibalism more than + confirmed. I do not think you have even gone far enough. You + might have broadly stated, that it is the practice, not only to + eat the victim, but to eat him alive. I shall pass over the + particulars of all previous information which I have received, + and endeavour to give you, in a few words, the result of a + deliberate inquiry from the Batta chiefs of Tappanooly. I caused + the most intelligent to be assembled; and in the presence of Mr. + Prince and Dr. Jack, obtained the following information, of the + truth of which none of us have the least doubt. It is the + universal and standing law of the Battas, that death by eating + shall be inflicted in the following cases:--Adultery; midnight + robbery; wars of importance, that is to say, one district against + another, the prisoners are sacrificed; intermarrying in the same + tribe, which is forbidden from the circumstance of their having + ancestors in common; treacherous attacks on a house, village, or + person. In all the above cases it is lawful for the victims to be + eaten, and they are eaten alive, that is to say, they are not + previously put to death. The victim is tied to a stake, with his + arms extended, the party collect in a circle around him, and the + chief gives the order to commence eating. The chief enemy, when + it is a prisoner, or the chief party injured in other cases, has + the first selection; and after he has cut off his slice, others + cut off pieces according to their taste and fancy, until all the + flesh is devoured. It is either eaten raw or grilled, and + generally dipped in sambul (a preparation of Chili pepper and + salt), which is always in readiness. Rajah Bandaharra, a Batta, + and one of the chiefs of Tappanooly, asserted that he was present + at a festival of this kind about eight years ago, at the village + of Subluan, on the other side of the bay, not nine miles distant, + where the heads may still be seen. + + When the party is a prisoner taken in war, he is eaten + immediately, and on the spot. Whether dead or alive he is equally + eaten, and it is usual even to drag the bodies from the graves, + and, after disinterring them, to eat the flesh. This only in + cases of war. From the clear and concurring testimony of all + parties, it is certain that it is the practice not to kill the + victim till the whole of the flesh cut off by the party is eaten, + should he live so long; the chief or party injured then comes + forward and cuts off the head, which he carries home as a trophy. + Within the last three years there have been two instances of this + kind of punishment within ten miles of Tappanooly, and the heads + are still preserved. In cases of adultery the injured party + usually takes the ear or ears; but the ceremony is not allowed to + take place except the wife's relations are present and partake of + it. In these and other cases where the criminal is directed to be + eaten, he is secured and kept for two or three days, till every + person (that is to say males) is assembled. He is then eaten + quietly, and in cold blood, with as much ceremony, and perhaps + more, than attends the execution of a capital sentence in Europe. + + The bones are scattered abroad after the flesh has been eaten, + and the head alone preserved. The brains belong to the chief, or + injured party, who usually preserves them in a bottle, for + purposes of witchcraft, &c. They do not eat the bowels, but like + the heart; and many drink the blood from bamboos. The palms of + the hands and the soles of the feet are the delicacies of + epicures. Horrid and diabolical as these practices may appear, it + is no less true that they are the result of much deliberation + among the parties, and seldom, except in the case of prisoners in + war, the effect of immediate and private revenge. In all cases of + crimes, the party has a regular trial, and no punishment can be + inflicted until sentence is regularly and formally passed in the + public fair. Here the chiefs of the neighbouring kampong + assemble, hear the evidence, and deliberate upon the crime and + probable guilt of the party; when condemned, the sentence is + ratified by the chiefs drinking the tuah, or toddy, which is + final, and may be considered equivalent to signing and sealing + with us. + + I was very particular in my inquiries whether the assembly were + intoxicated on the occasions of these punishments. I was assured + it was never the case. The people take rice with them, and eat it + with the meat, but no tuah is allowed. The punishment is always + inflicted in public. The men alone are allowed to partake, as the + flesh of man is prohibited to women (probably from an + apprehension they might become too fond of it). The flesh is not + allowed to be carried away from the spot, but must be consumed at + the time. I am assured that the Battas are more attached to these + laws than the Mahomedans are to the Koran, and that the number of + the punishments is very considerable. My informants considered + that there could be no less than fifty or sixty men eaten in a + year, and this in times of peace; but they were unable to + estimate the true extent, considering the great population of the + country; they were confident, however, that these laws were + strictly enforced wherever the name of Batta was known, and that + it was only in the immediate vicinity of our settlements that + they were modified and neglected. For proof, they referred me to + every Batta in the vicinity, and to the number of skulls to be + seen in every village, each of which was from a victim of the + kind. + + With regard to the relish with which the parties devour the + flesh, it appeared that, independent of the desire of revenge + which may be supposed to exist among the principals, about + one-half of the people eat it with a relish, and speak of it with + delight; the other half, though present, may not partake. Human + flesh is, however, generally considered preferable to cow or + buffalo beef, or hog, and was admitted to be so even by my + informants. Adverting to the possible origin of this practice, it + was observed that formerly they ate their parents when too old + for work; this, however, is no longer the case, and thus a step + has been gained in civilization. It is admitted that the parties + may be redeemed for a pecuniary compensation, but this is + entirely at the option of the chief enemy or injured party, who, + after his sentence is passed, may either have his victim eaten, + or he may sell him for a slave; but the law is that he shall be + eaten, and the prisoner is entirely at the mercy of his + prosecutor. + + The laws by which these sentences are inflicted are too well + known to require reference to books, but I am promised some MS. + accounts which relate to the subject. These laws are called huhum + pinang àn,--from depang àn, to eat--law or sentence to eat. + + I could give you many more details, but the above may be + sufficient to show that our friends the Battas are even worse + than you have represented them, and that those who are still + sceptical have yet more to learn. I have also a great deal to say + on the other side of the character, for the Battas have many + virtues. I prize them highly. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote D: At the extreme north of the Philippine Islands.] + +[Footnote E: Hawaii.] + +[Footnote F: Phormium tenax.] + +[Footnote G: méré.] + +[Footnote H: Nicholas's "Voyage to New Zealand."] + +[Footnote I: The transport "Boyd" was taken by Maoris and burned at +Whangaroa Harbour in 1809. Most of the people on board were massacred, +there being only four survivors out of seventy souls.] + +[Footnote J: William Marsden, who was sent out from Dublin to Sumatra, +about 1775, as a writer in the East India Company's service.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Rutherford and his comrades spent another night in the same manner as +they had done the previous one; and on the following morning set out, in +company with the five chiefs, on a journey into the interior. + +When they left the coast, the ship was still burning. They were attended +by about fifty natives, who were loaded with the plunder of the +unfortunate vessel. That day, he calculates, they travelled only about +ten miles, the journey being very fatiguing from the want of any regular +roads, and the necessity for making their way through a succession of +woods and swamps. + +The village at which their walk terminated was the residence of one of +the chiefs, whose name was Rangadi,[K] and who was received on his +arrival by about two hundred of the inhabitants. + +They came in a crowd, and, kneeling down around him, began to cry aloud +and cut their arms, faces, and other parts of their bodies with pieces +of sharp flint, of which each of them carried a number tied with a +string about his neck, till the blood flowed copiously from their +wounds. + +[Illustration: Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of +Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place.] + +These demonstrations of excited feeling, which Rutherford describes as +merely their usual manner of receiving any of their friends who have +been for some time absent, are rather more extravagant than seem to have +been commonly observed to take place on such occasions in other parts of +the island. Mr. Marsden,[L] however, states that on Korro-korro's[M] +return from Port Jackson, many of the women of his tribe who came out to +receive him "cut themselves in their faces, arms, and breasts with sharp +shells or flints, till the blood streamed down." Some time after, when +Duaterra[N] and Shungie[O] went on shore at the Bay of Islands, they met +with a similar reception from the females of their tribes. Mr. Savage +asserts that this cutting of their faces by the women always takes place +on the meeting of friends who have been long separated; but that the +ceremony consists only of embracing and crying, when the separation of +the parties has been short. It may be remarked that the custom of +receiving strangers with tears, by way of doing them honour, has +prevailed with other savages. Among the native tribes of Brazil, +according to Lafitau, it used to be the custom for the women, on the +approach of any one to whom they wished to show especial fidelity, to +crouch down on their heels, and, spreading their hands over their faces, +to remain for a considerable time in that posture, howling in a sort of +cadence, and shedding tears. Among the Sioux, again, it was the duty of +the men to perform this ceremony of lamentation on such occasions, which +they did standing, and laying their hands on the heads of their +visitors. + +In some cases, the wounds which the New Zealand women inflict on +themselves are intended to express their grief for friends who have +perished in war; and probably this may have been a reason for the strong +exhibition of feeling in the instance just noticed by Rutherford, as the +chiefs had then returned from an expedition. Such a mode of mourning has +been often observed in New Zealand. During the time that Cruise was at +the Bay of Islands, they found one day, upon going on shore, that a body +of the natives had just returned from a war expedition, in which they +had taken considerable numbers of prisoners, consisting of men, women, +and children, some of the latter of whom were not two years old; and +among the women was one, distinguished by her superior beauty, who sat +apart from the rest upon the beach, and, though silent, seemed buried in +affliction. They learned that her father, a chief of some consequence, +had been killed by the man whose prisoner she now was, and who kept +near her during the greater part of the day. + +The officers remained on shore till the evening; "and as we were +preparing to return to the ship," continues Cruise, "we were drawn to +that part of the beach where the prisoners were, by the most doleful +cries and lamentations. Here was the interesting young slave in a +situation that ought to have softened the heart of the most unfeeling. +The man who had slain her father, having cut off his head, and preserved +it by a process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket, +where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the +unhappy daughter." At once she seized it with a degree of phrenzy not to +be described; and subsequently, with a bit of sharp shell, disfigured +her person in so shocking a manner that in a few minutes not a vestige +of her former beauty remained. They afterwards learned that this fellow +had married the very woman he had treated with such singular barbarity. + +The crying, however, seems to be a ceremony that takes place universally +on the meeting of friends who have been for some time parted. We may +give, in illustration of this custom, Cruise's description of the +reception by their relatives of the nine New Zealanders who came along +with him in the "Dromedary" from Port Jackson. + +"When their fathers, brothers, etc., were admitted into the ship," says +he, "the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, +and every appearance of joy vanished. It is customary with these +extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting as +upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and +remain in this position for at least half-an-hour;[P] during which time +they sob and howl in the most doleful manner. If there be many friends +gathered around the person who has returned, the nearest relation takes +possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, +and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner (if he may be so +called) in the various expressions of his lamentation. This ended, they +resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that +has happened during their separation. As there were nine New Zealanders +just returned, and more than three times that number to commemorate the +event, the howl was quite tremendous, and so novel to almost every one +in the ship that it was with difficulty our people's attention could be +kept to matters at that moment more essential. Little Repero, who had +frequently boasted, during the passage, that he was too much of an +Englishman ever to cry again, made a strong effort when his father, +Shungie, approached him, to keep his word; but his early habit soon got +the better of his resolution, and he evinced, if possible, more +distress than any of the others." + +The sudden thawing of poor Repero's heroic resolves was an incident +exactly similar to another which Mr. Nicholas had witnessed. Among the +New Zealanders who, after having resided for some time in New South +Wales, returned with him and Mr. Marsden to their native country, was +one named Tooi,[Q] who prided himself greatly on being able to imitate +European manners; and accordingly, declaring that he would not cry, but +would behave like an Englishman, began, as the trying moment approached, +to converse most manfully with Mr. Nicholas, evidently, however, forcing +his spirits the whole time. But "his fortitude," continues Nicholas, +"was very soon subdued; for being joined by a young chief about his own +age, and one of his best friends, he flew to his arms, and, bursting +into tears, indulged exactly the same emotions as the others." + +Tooi was afterwards brought to England, and remained for some time in +this country. He was in attendance upon his brother Korro-korro, one of +the greatest chiefs in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, and, as +well as Shungie, who has just been mentioned, celebrated all over the +country for his love of fighting, and the number of victories he had +won. + +Yet even this hardy warrior was no more proof than any one of his wives +or children against this strange habit of emotion. The first person he +met on his landing happened to be his aunt, whose appearance, as, bent +to the earth with age and infirmities, she ascended a hill, supporting +herself upon a long staff, Nicholas compares to that which we might +conceive the Sibyl bore, when she presented herself to Tarquin. Yet, +when she came up to Korro-korro, the chief, we are told, having fallen +upon her neck, and applied his nose to hers, the two continued in this +posture for some minutes, talking together in a low and mournful voice; +and then disengaging themselves, they gave vent to their feelings by +weeping bitterly, the chief remaining for about a quarter of an hour +leaning on his musket, while the big drops continued to roll down his +cheeks. + +The old woman's daughter, who had come along with her, then made her +approach, and another scene, if possible of still more tumultuous +tenderness than the former, took place between the two cousins. The +chief hung, as before, in an agony of affection, on the neck of his +relation; and "as for the woman," says Nicholas, "she was so affected +that the mat she wore was literally soaked through with her tears." A +passionate attachment to friends is, indeed, one of the most prevailing +feelings of the savage state. Dampier tells us of an Indian who +recovered his friend unexpectedly on the island of Juan Fernandez, and +who immediately prostrated himself on the ground at his feet. "We stood +gazing in silence," says the manly sailor, "at this tender scene." + +The house of the chief to which Rutherford and his comrades were taken +was the largest in the village, being both long and wide, although very +low, and having no other entrance than an aperture, which was shut by +means of a sliding door, and was so much lower even than the roof that +it was necessary to crawl upon the hands and knees to get through it. + +Two large pigs and a quantity of potatoes were now cooked; and when they +were ready, a portion having been allotted to the slaves, who are never +permitted to eat along with the chiefs, the latter sat down to their +repast, the white men taking their places beside them. + +The feast was not held within the house, but in the open air; and the +meat that was not consumed was hung up on posts for a future occasion. +One of the strongest prejudices of the New Zealanders is an aversion to +be where any article of food is suspended over their heads; and on this +account, they never permit anything eatable to be brought within their +huts, but take all their meals out of doors, in an open space adjoining +to the house, which has been called by some writers the kitchen, it +being there that the meal is cooked as well as eaten. Crozet says that +every one of these kitchens has in it a cooking hole, dug in the +ground, of about two feet in diameter, and between one and two feet +deep. Even when the natives are confined to their beds by sickness, and, +it may be, at the point of death, they must receive whatever food they +take in this outer room, which, however, is sometimes provided with a +shed, supported upon posts, although in no case does it appear to be +enclosed by walls. It is here, accordingly, that those who are in so +weak a state from illness as not to be able to bear removal from one +place to another usually have their couches spread; as, were they to +choose to recline inside the house, it would be necessary to leave them +to die of want. + +Nicholas, in the course of an excursion which he made in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, was once not a little annoyed and +put out of humour by this absurd superstition. It rained heavily when he +and Marsden arrived very hungry at a village belonging to a chief of +their acquaintance, where, although the chief was not at home, they were +very hospitably received, their friends proceeding immediately to dress +some potatoes to make them a dinner. But after they had prepared the +meal, they insisted, as usual, that it should be eaten in the open air. + +This condition, Nicholas, in the circumstances, naturally thought a +somewhat hard one; but it was absolutely necessary either to comply with +it, or to go without potatoes. To make matters worse, the dining-room +had not even a shed. So they had no course left but to take shelter in +the best way they could, under a projection from the roof of the house, +extending about three feet; and here they contrived to take their +repast, without being very much drenched. However, they were not allowed +this indulgence without many anxious scruples on the part of their +friends, who considered even their venturing so near to the house on +such an occasion as an act of daring impiety. As they had got possession +of the potatoes, their entertainers, though very much shocked and +alarmed, did not proceed to such rudeness as to take these from them +again; but whenever they wanted to drink out of the calabash that had +been brought to them, they obliged them to thrust out their heads for it +from under the covering, although the rain continued to fall in +torrents. + +Fatigued as he was, and vexed at being in this way kept out of the +comfortable shelter he had expected, Nicholas at last commenced +inveighing, he tells us, against the inhospitable custom, with much +acrimony; and as Tooi, who was with them, had always shown so strong a +predilection for European customs, he turned to him, and asked him if he +did not think that these notions of his countrymen were all gammon. +Tooi, however, replied sharply, that "it was no gammon at all"; adding, +"New Zealand man say that Mr. Marsden's _crackee crackee_ (preaching) +of a Sunday is all gammon," in indignant retaliation for the insult that +had been offered to his national customs. + +But the worst part of the adventure was yet to come; for as the night +was now fast approaching, and the rain still pouring down incessantly, +it was impossible to think of returning to the ship; "and we were +therefore," continues Nicholas, "obliged to resolve upon remaining where +we were, although we had no bed to expect, nor even a comfortable floor +to stretch upon. We wrapped ourselves up in our great coats, which by +good fortune we had brought with us, and when the hour of rest came on, +laid ourselves down under the projecting roof, choosing rather to remain +here together, than to go into the house and mingle with its crowded +inmates, which we knew would be very disagreeable. Mr. Marsden, who is +blessed by nature with a strong constitution, and capable of enduring +almost any fatigue, was very soon asleep; but I, who have not been cast +in a Herculean mould, nor much accustomed to severe privations, felt all +the misery of the situation, while the cold and wet to which I was +unavoidably exposed, from the place being open, brought on a violent +rheumatic headache, that prevented me from once closing my eyes, and +kept me awake in the greatest anguish. + +"Being at length driven from this wretched shelter by the rain, which +was still beating against me, I crept into the house, through the +narrow aperture that served for a door; and, stretching myself among my +rude friends, I endeavoured to get some repose; but I found this equally +impossible here as in the place I had left. The pain in my head still +continued; and those around me, being all buried in profound sleep, +played, during the whole night, such music through their noses, as +effectually prevented me from being able to join in the same chorus." + +On one occasion, in the course of his second visit, Marsden spent the +night in the house of a chief, the entrance to which was of such narrow +dimensions that he could not, he says, creep in without taking his coat +off. The apartment altogether measured only about fourteen feet by ten; +and when he looked into it he found a fire blazing on the centre of the +floor, which made the place as hot as an oven, there being no vent for +the smoke, except through the hole which served for a door. However, the +fire, on his entreating it, was taken out, and then he and his friend, +Butler, who was with him, crept in, and were followed by their +entertainer, his wife and nephew. The hut was still extremely hot, and +they perspired profusely when they lay down, but they were a little +relieved by the New Zealanders consenting to allow the door to remain +open during the night. + +Another time he was thrust into a still closer dormitory. "The +entrance," says he, "was just sufficient for a man to creep into. Being +very cold, I was glad to occupy such a warm berth. I judged the hut to +be about eight feet wide, and twelve long. It had a fire in the centre; +and no vent either for smoke or heat. The chiefs who were with us threw +off their mats and lay down close together in a state of perfect nudity. +I had not been many minutes in this oven, before I found the heat and +smoke, above, below, and on every side, to be insufferable. Though the +night was cold, Mr. Kendall and myself were compelled to quit our +habitation. I crept out, and walked in the village, to see if I could +meet with a shed to keep me from the damp air till the morning. I found +one empty, into which I entered. I had not been long under my present +cover before I observed a chief, who came with us from the last village, +come out of the hut which I had left, perfectly naked. The moon shone +very bright. I saw him run from hut to hut, till at last he found me +under my shed, and urged me to return. I told him I could not bear the +heat, and requested him to allow me to remain where I was; to which he +at length consented with reluctance. I was surprised at the little +effect that heat or cold seemed to have upon him. He had come out of the +hut smoking like a hot loaf drawn from the oven, walked about to find +me, and then sat down, conversed some time, without any clothing, though +the night was cold. Mr. Kendall remained sitting under his mat, in the +open air, till morning." + +The New Zealanders make only two meals in the day, one in the morning +and another at sunset; but their voracity when they do eat is often very +great. Nicholas remarks that the chiefs and their followers, with whom +he made the voyage from Port Jackson, used, while in the ship, to seize +upon every thing they could lay their hands upon in the shape of food. +In consequence of this habit of consuming an extraordinary quantity of +food, a New Zealander, with all his powers of endurance in other +respects, suffers dreadfully when he has not the usual means of +satisfying his hunger. + +The huts of the common people are described as very wretched, and little +better than sheds; but Nicholas mentions that those which he saw in the +northern part of the country had uniformly well-cultivated gardens +attached to them, which were stocked with turnips, and sweet and common +potatoes. Crozet tells us that the only articles of furniture the French +ever found in these huts, were fishing-hooks, nets, and lines, +calabashes containing water, a few tools made of stone, and several +cloaks and other garments suspended from the walls. + +Amongst the tools, one resembling our adze is in the most common use; +and it is remarkable that the handles of these implements are often +composed of human bones. In the museum of the Church Missionary Society +there are adzes, the handle of one of which is formed of the bone of a +human arm, and another of that of a leg. + +The common people generally sleep in the open air, in a sitting +posture, and covered by their mats, all but the head; which has been +described as giving them the appearance of so many hay-cocks or +beehives. + +The house of the chief is generally, as Rutherford found it to be in the +present case, the largest in the village; but every village has, in +addition to the dwelling-houses of which it consists, a public +storehouse, or repository of the common stock of sweet potatoes, which +is a still larger structure than the habitation of the chief. One which +Cruise describes was erected upon several posts driven into the ground, +which were floored over with deals at the height of about four feet, as +a foundation. Both the sides and the roof were compactly formed of +stakes intertwisted with grass; and a sliding doorway, scarcely large +enough to admit a man, formed the entrance. The roof projected over +this, and was ornamented with pieces of plank painted red, and having a +variety of grotesque figures carved on them. The whole building was +about twenty feet long, eight feet wide, and five feet high. + +The residences of the chiefs are built upon the ground, and have +generally the floor, and a small space in front, neatly paved; but they +are so low that a man can stand upright in very few of them. The huts, +as well as the storehouses, are adorned with carving over the door. + +One of the arts in which the New Zealanders most excel is that of +carving in wood. Some of their performances in this way are, no doubt, +grotesque enough; but they often display both a taste and ingenuity +which, especially when we consider their miserably imperfect tools, it +is impossible to behold without admiration. This is one of the arts +which, even in civilized countries, does not seem to flourish best in a +highly advanced state of society. Even among ourselves, it certainly is +not at present cultivated with so much success as it was a century or +two ago. + +Machinery, the monopolizing power of our age, is not well fitted to the +production of striking effects in this particular branch of the arts. +Fine carving is displayed, as in the works of Gibbons, by a rich and +natural variety, altogether opposed to that faultless and inflexible +regularity of operation which is the perfection of a machine. Hence the +lathe, with all the miraculous capabilities it has been made to evolve, +can never here come into successful competition with the chisel, in so +far as the quality and spirit of the performance are concerned; but the +former may, nevertheless, drive the latter out of the market, and seems +in a great measure to have done so, by the infinitely superior facility +and rapidity of its operation. Hence the gradual decay, and almost +extinction among us, of this old art, of which former ages have left us +so many beautiful specimens. It is said to survive now, if at all, not +among our artists by profession, whose taste is expended upon higher +objects, but among the common workmen of our villages, who have pursued +it as an amusement, long after it has ceased to be profitable. + +The New Zealand artist has no lathe to compete with; but neither has he +even those ordinary hand-tools which every civilized country has always +afforded. The only instruments he has to cut with are rudely fashioned +of stone or bone. Yet even with these, his skill and patient +perseverance contrive to grave the wood into any forms which his fancy +may suggest. Many of the carvings thus produced are distinguished by +both a grace and richness of design that would do no discredit even to +European art. + +The considerations by which the New Zealanders are directed in choosing +the sites of their villages are the same which usually regulate that +matter among other savages. The North American Indians, for example, +generally build their huts on the sides of some moderately sized hill, +that they may have the advantage of the ground in case of being attacked +by their enemies, or on the bank of a river, which may, in such an +emergency, serve them for a natural moat. A situation in which they are +protected by the water on more sides than one is preferred; and, +accordingly, both on this account, and for the sake of being near the +sea, which supplies them with fish, the New Zealanders and other +savage tribes are much accustomed to establish themselves at the mouths +of rivers. Among the American Indians, as in New Zealand, a piece of +ground is always left unoccupied in the middle of the village, or +contiguous to it, for the holding of public assemblies. So, also, it +used to be in our own country, almost every village in which had +anciently its common and its central open space; the latter of which, +after the introduction of Christianity, was generally decorated by the +erection of a cross. + +[Illustration: A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. _Tourist Dept. +photo_] + +It is curious to remark how the genius of commerce--the predominating +influence of a more civilized age--has seized upon more than one of +these provisions of the old state of society, and converted them to its +own purposes. The spacious area around the village cross, or the +adjacent common, has been changed into the scene of the fair or the +daily market; and the vicinity of the sea, or the navigable river, no +longer needed as a protection against the attacks of surrounding +enemies, has been taken advantage of to let in the wealth of many +distant climes, and to metamorphose the straggling assemblage of mud +cottages into a thronged and widespread city--the proud abode of +industry, wealth, elegance, and letters. + +Rutherford states that the baskets in which the provisions are served up +are never used twice; and the same thing is remarked by Cruise. The +calabash, Rutherford adds, is the only vessel they have for holding any +kind of liquid; and when they drink out of it, they never permit it to +touch their lips, but hold their face up, and pour the liquor into their +mouth. + +After dinner they place themselves for this purpose in a row, when a +slave goes from one to another with the calabash, and each holds his +hand under his chin as the liquor is poured by the slave into his mouth. +They never drink anything hot or warm. Indeed, their only beverage +appears to be water;[R] and their strong aversion to wine and spirits is +noticed by almost all who have described their manners. + +Tetoro, one of the chiefs who returned from Port Jackson in the +"Dromedary," was sometimes admitted, during the passage, into the cabin, +and asked by the officers to take a glass of wine, when he always tasted +it, with perfect politeness, though his countenance strongly indicated +how much he disliked it. George of Wangaroa, the chief who headed the +attack on the "Boyd," was the only New Zealander that Cruise met with +who could be induced to taste grog without reluctance; and he really +liked it, though a very small quantity made him drunk, in which state he +was quite outrageous. His natural habits had been vitiated by having +served for some time in an English ship. + +It is probable, however, that the sobriety of this people has been +hitherto principally preserved by their ignorance of the mode of +manufacturing any intoxicating beverage. Even the females, it would +appear, have some of them of late years learned the habit of drinking +grog from the English sailors; and Captain Dillon gives an account of a +priestess, who visited him on board the "Besearch," and who, having +among several other somewhat indecorous requests, demanded a tumbler of +rum, quaffed off the whole at a draught as soon as it was set before +her. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote K: Probably Rangatai, although no chief of that name is +known.] + +[Footnote L: The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was appointed chaplain to the +convict settlement of New South Wales in 1793, and who held the first +divine service in New Zealand, on Christmas Day, 1814.] + +[Footnote M: Koro-koro.] + +[Footnote N: Ruatara, a close friend of Mr. Marsden.] + +[Footnote O: Hongi.] + +[Footnote P: This is exaggerated.] + +[Footnote Q: Tui, in the accepted orthography.] + +[Footnote R: The ancient Maoris were one of the very few races that had +no intoxicating drinks.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Dinner being finished, Rutherford and his companions spent the evening +seated around a large fire, while several of the women, whose +countenances he describes as pleasing, amused themselves by playing with +the fingers of the strangers, sometimes opening their shirts at the +breasts, and at other times feeling the calves of their legs, "which +made us think," says Rutherford, "that they were examining us to see if +we were fat enough for eating. + +"The large fire," he continues, "that had been made to warm the house, +being now put out, we retired to rest in the usual manner; but although +the fire had been extinguished, the house was still filled with smoke, +the door being shut, and there being neither chimney nor window to let +it out. + +"In the morning, when we arose, the chief gave us back our knives and +tobacco-boxes, which they had taken from us while in the canoe, on our +first being made prisoners; and we then breakfasted on some potatoes and +cockles, which had been cooked while we were at the sea-coast, and +brought thence in baskets. + +"Aimy's wife and two daughters now arrived, which occasioned another +grand crying ceremony; and when it was over, the three ladies came to +look at me and my companions. In a short time, they had taken a fancy to +some small gilt buttons which I had on my waist-coat; and Aimy making a +sign for me to cut them off, I immediately did so, and presented them +for their acceptance. They received them very gladly, and, shaking hands +with me, exclaimed, 'The white man is very good.' + +"The whole of the natives having then seated themselves on the ground in +a ring, we were brought into the middle and, being stripped of our +clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or +six men, while two others commenced the operation of tattooing us. + +"Having taken a piece of charcoal, and rubbed it upon a stone with a +little water until they had produced a thickish liquid, they then dipped +into it an instrument made of bone, having a sharp edge like a chisel, +and shaped in the fashion of a garden-hoe, and immediately applied it to +the skin, striking it twice or thrice with a small piece of wood. This +made it cut into the flesh as a knife would have done, and caused a +great deal of blood to flow, which they kept wiping off with the side of +the hand, in order to see if the impression was sufficiently clear. When +it was not, they applied the bone a second time to the same place. They +employed, however, various instruments in the course of the operation; +one which they sometimes used being made of a shark's tooth, and another +having teeth like a saw. They had them also of different sizes, to suit +the different parts of the work. + +"While I was undergoing this operation, although the pain was most +acute, I never either moved or uttered a sound; but my comrades moaned +dreadfully. Although the operators were very quick and dexterous, I was +four hours under their hands; and during the operation Aimy's eldest +daughter several times wiped the blood from my face with some dressed +flax. After it was over she led me to the river, that I might wash +myself, for it had made me completely blind, and then conducted me to a +great fire. They now returned us all our clothes, with the exception of +our shirts, which the women kept for themselves, wearing them, as we +observed, with the fronts behind. + +"We were now not only tattooed, but what they called tabooed,[S] the +meaning of which is, made sacred, or forbidden to touch any provisions +of any kind with our hands. This state of things lasted for three days, +during which time we were fed by the daughters of the chiefs, with the +same victuals, and out of the same baskets, as the chiefs themselves, +and the persons who had tattooed us. In three days, the swelling which +had been produced by the operation had greatly subsided, and I began to +recover my sight; but it was six weeks before I was completely well. I +had no medical assistance of any kind during my illness; but Aimy's two +daughters were very attentive to me, and would frequently sit beside me, +and talk to me in their language, of which, as yet, however, I did not +understand much." + +The custom of marking the skin, called _tattooing_, is one of the most +widely-diffused practices of savage life, having been found, even in +modern times, to exist, in one modification or another, not only in most +of the inhabited lands of the Pacific, from New Zealand as far north as +the Sandwich Isles, but also among many of the aboriginal tribes both of +Africa and America. In the ancient world it appears to have been at +least equally prevalent. It is evidently alluded to, as well as the +other practice that has just been noticed, of wounding the body by way +of mourning, in the twenty-eighth verse of the nineteenth chapter of +Leviticus, among the laws delivered to the Israelites through +Moses:--"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor +print any marks upon you," both of these being doubtless habits of the +surrounding nations, which the chosen people, according to their usual +propensity, had shown a disposition to imitate. + +The few civilized communities of antiquity seem to have been all of them +both singularly incurious as to the manners and conditions of the +barbarous races by whom they were on all sides so closely encompassed, +and, as might be expected, extremely ill-informed on the subject; so +much so, as has been remarked by an author who has written on this topic +with admirable learning and ability, that when Hanno, the Carthaginian, +returned from his investigation of a small part of the west coast of +Africa, he had no difficulty in making his countrymen believe that two +hides, with the hair still on, which he brought back with him, and which +he had taken from two large apes, were actually the skins of savage +women, and deserving of being suspended in the temple of Juno as most +uncommon curiosities. + +But, little as these matters seem in general to have attracted the +attention of the ancient writers, their works still contain many notices +of the practice of tattooing. We may cite only one or two of a +considerable number that have been collected by Lafitau,[T] although +even his enumeration might be easily extended. Herodotus mentions it as +prevailing among the Thracians, certain of whom, he says, exhibit such +marks on their faces as an indication of their nobility. Other authors +speak of it as a practice of the Scythians, the Agathyrses, and the +Assyrians. Cæsar remarks it as prevailing among the Britons; and there +can be no doubt that the term _Picti_ was merely a name given to those +more northerly tribes of our countrymen who retained this custom after +it had fallen into decay among their southern brethren, who were in +reality of the same race with themselves, under the ascendancy of the +arts and manners of their Roman conquerors. + +The Britons, according to Cæsar, painted their skins to make themselves +objects of greater terror to their enemies; but it is not unlikely that +the real object of these decorations was with them, as it appears to +have been among the other barbarous nations of antiquity, to denote +certain ranks of nobility or chieftainship; and thus to serve, in fact, +nearly the same purpose with our modern coats of arms. + +Pliny states that the dye with which the Britons stained themselves was +that of a herb called _glastum_, which is understood to be the same with +plantain. They introduced the juice of this herb into punctures +previously made in the skin, so as to form permanent delineations of +various animals, and other objects, on different parts of the body. The +operation, which seems to have been performed by regular artists, is +said to have been commonly undergone in boyhood; and a stoical endurance +of the pain which it inflicted was considered one of the best proofs the +sufferer could give of his resolution and manliness. + +Among the Indians of America, some races are much more tattooed than +others, and some scarcely at all. It it stated that, among the Iroquois +only, a few of the women are in the habit of tracing a single row of +this sort of embroidery along the jaw; and that merely with the intent +of curing or preventing toothache, an effect which they conceive is +produced by the punctures destroying certain nerves. It appears to be +the general practice in America, first to finish the cutting, or graving +of the lines, and afterwards to introduce the colouring, which is +commonly made of pulverised charcoal. This last part of the operation +occasions by far the greatest pain. Among the native tribes of Southern +Africa, the fashion is merely to raise the epidermis by a slight +pricking, which is described as affording rather a pleasurable +excitement. + +At the Society Isles these marks, according to Cook, were so general, +that hardly anybody was to be seen without them. Persons of both sexes +were commonly tattooed about the age of twelve or fourteen; and the +decorations, which Cook imagined to vary according to the fancy, or +perhaps, which is more likely, the rank of the individual, were +liberally bestowed upon every part of the body, with the exception, +however, of the face, which was generally left unmarked. They consisted +not only of squares, circles, and other such figures, but frequently +also of rude delineations of men, birds, dogs, and other animals. Banks +saw the operation performed on a girl of about thirteen years of age, +who was held down all the while by several women, and both struggled +hard and made no little outcry as the artist proceeded with his +labours. Yet it would seem that the process in use here is considerably +more gentle than that practised in New Zealand; for the punctures, Cook +affirms, could hardly be said to draw blood. Being afflicted by means of +an instrument with small teeth, somewhat resembling a fine comb, the +effect would be rather a pricking than a cutting, or carving, of the +flesh. Unlike what we have seen to be the practice among the American +savages, the tincture was here introduced by the same blow by which the +skin was punctured. The substance employed was a species of lamp black, +formed of the smoke of an oily nut which the natives burned to give them +light. + +The practice of tattooing is now, we believe, discontinued at Otaheite; +but the progress of civilization has not yet altogether banished it at +the Sandwich Islands. When Lord Byron was at Hawaii, in 1825, he found +it used as a mark of mourning, though some still had themselves tattooed +merely by way of ornament. On the death of one of the late kings of the +island, it is stated that all the chiefs had his name and the date of +his death engraved in this manner on their arms. The ladies here, it +seems, follow the very singular practice of tattooing the tips of their +tongues, in memory of their departed friends. In the Tonga, or Friendly +Islands, it would appear from Mariner's very minute description of the +operation as there practised, as at Otaheite and elsewhere, the +instrument used is always a sort of comb, having from six up to fifty or +sixty teeth. There are, Mariner tells us, certain patterns or forms of +the tattoo, and the individual may choose which he likes. On the brown +skins of the natives the marks, which are imprinted by means of a +tincture made of soot, have a black appearance; but on that of a +European, their colour is a fine blue. The women here are not tattooed, +though a few of them have some marks on the inside of their fingers. At +the Fiji Islands, on the contrary, in the neighbourhood of the Tonga +group, the men are not tattooed, but the women are. + +The term "tattoo" is not known in New Zealand, the name given to the +marks, which are elsewhere so called, being in this country "Moko," or, +as it has been more generally written, from a habit which the natives +seem to have of prefixing the sound "a" to many of their words, +"Amoco."[U] + +The description which Rutherford gives of the process agrees entirely +with what has been stated by other observers; although it certainly has +been generally understood that, in no case, was the whole operation +undergone at once, as it would, however, appear to have been in his. +Both Cruise and Marsden expressly state, that, according to their +information, it always required several months, and sometimes several +years, to tattoo a chief perfectly; owing to the necessity for one part +of the face or body being allowed to heal before commencing the +decoration of another. Perhaps, however, this prolongation of the +process may only be necessary when the moko is of a more intricate +pattern, or extends over a larger portion of the person, than that which +Rutherford received; or, in his peculiar circumstances, it may have been +determined that he should have his powers of endurance put to still +harder proof than a native would have been required to submit to in +undergoing the same ceremony. + +The portrait of Rutherford accurately represents the tattooing on his +body. Cruise asserts that the tattooing in New Zealand is renewed +occasionally, as the lines become fainter by time, to the latest period +of life; and that one of the chiefs who returned home in the "Dromedary" +was re-tattooed soon after his arrival. + +From Rutherford's account, and he is corroborated as to that point by +the other authorities, it will be perceived that the operation of +tattooing is one of a still more severe and sanguinary description in +New Zealand than it would seem to be in any of the other islands of the +South Sea; for it is performed here, not merely by means of a sort of +fine comb, which merely pricks the skin and draws from it a little serum +slightly tinged with blood, but also by an instrument of the nature of a +chisel, which at every application makes an incision into the flesh, +and causes the blood to start forth in gushes. This chisel is sometimes +nearly a quarter of an inch broad, although, for the more minute parts +of the figure, a smaller instrument is used. + +The stick with which the chisel is struck is occasionally formed into a +broad blade at one end, which is applied to wipe away the blood. The +tincture is said to be sometimes obtained from the juice of a particular +tree. + +Rutherford has forgotten to mention that, before the cutting has begun +the figure is traced out upon the place; this appears to be always done +in New Zealand as well as elsewhere, a piece of burnt stick or red earth +being, according to Savage,[V] used for the purpose. + +Some are tattooed at eight or ten years of age; but a young man is +accounted very effeminate who reaches his twentieth year without having +undergone the operation. Marsden told one of the chiefs, King George, as +he was called, that he must not tattoo his nephew Racow,[W] who was a +very fine-looking youth, with a dignified, open, and placid countenance, +remarking that it would quite disfigure his face; "but he laughed at my +advice," says Marsden, "and said he must be tattooed, as it would give +him a noble, masculine, and warlike appearance; that he would not be fit +for his successor with a smooth face; the New Zealanders would look on +him merely as a woman if he was not tattooed." + +Savage says that a small spiral figure on each side of the chin, a +semi-circular figure over each eyebrow, and two, or sometimes three, +lines on each lip, are all the tattooing the New Zealand women are +required to submit to. + +Rutherford's account is that they have a figure tattooed on the chin +resembling a crown turned upside down; that the inside of their lips is +also tattooed, the figures here appearing of a blue colour; and that +they have also a mark on each side of the mouth resembling a +candlestick, as well as two stripes about an inch long on the forehead, +and one on each side of the nose. Their decorations of this description, +as well as of the other sex, are no doubt different in different parts +of the country. + +"With respect to the amocos," says Cook in his First Voyage, "every +different tribe seemed to have a different custom; for all the men in +some canoes seemed to be almost covered with it, and those in others had +scarcely a stain, except on the lips, which were black in all of them, +without a single exception." + +Rutherford states that in the part of the country where he was, the men +were commonly tattooed on their face, hips, and bodies, and some as low +as the knee. None were allowed to be tattooed on the forehead, chin, and +upper lip, except the very greatest among the chiefs. The more they are +tattooed, he adds, the more they are honoured. The priests, Savage says, +have only a small square patch of tattooing over the right eye. + +These stains, although their brilliancy may perhaps decay with time, +being thus fixed in the flesh, are of course indelible, just as much as +the marks of a similar nature which our own sailors frequently make on +their arms and breasts, by introducing gunpowder under the skin. One +effect, we are told, which they produce on the countenances of the New +Zealanders, is to conceal the ravages of old age. Being thus permanent +when once imprinted, each becomes also the peculiar distinction of the +individual to whom it belongs, and is probably sometimes employed by him +as his mark or sign manual. An officer belonging to the "Dromedary," who +happened to have a coat of arms engraved on his seal, was frequently +asked by the New Zealanders if the device was his "amoco." When the +missionaries purchased a piece of land from one of the Bay of Islands +chiefs, named Gunnah,[X] a copy of the tattooing on the face of the +latter, being drawn by a brother chief, was affixed to the grant as his +signature; while another native signed as a witness, by adding the +"amoco" of one of his own cheeks. + +[Illustration: _Moko_ on woman's lips and chin. + +_Moko_ on man's face. + + Names of lines in order of incision-- + 1. _Kau-wae_ (13) + 2. _Pere-pehi_ (7) + 3. _Hupe_ (15) + 4. _Ko-kiri_ (9) + 5. _Koro-aha_ (10) + 6. _Puta-ringa_ (12) + 7. _Po-ngia-ngia_ (4) and _Tara-whakatara_ (5) + 8. _Pae-pae_ (11), _Kumi-kumi_ (6), and _Wero_ (8) + 9. _Rerepi_ (3) + 10. _Ti-whana_ (1) and _Rawha_ (2) + 11. _Ti-ti_ (14) + 12. _Ipu-rangi_ (16)] + +This is certainly a more perfect substitute for a written name than +that said to have been anciently in use in some parts of Europe. In +Russia, for example, it is affirmed that in old times the way in which +an individual generally gave his signature to a writing was by covering +the palm of his hand with ink, and then laying it on the paper. Balbi, +who states this, adds that the Russian language still retains an +evidence of the practice in its phrase for signing a document, which is +_roukou prilojite_, signifying, literally, to put the hand to it. It may +be remarked, however, that this is a form of expression even in our own +country; although there is certainly no trace of the singular custom in +question having ever prevailed among our ancestors. Whatever may be the +fact as to the Russian idiom, our own undoubtedly refers merely to the +application of the hand with the pen in it. Each chief appears to be +intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of his own "amoco." + +There is also in the possession of the Church Missionary Society a bust +of Shungie, cut in a very hard wood by himself, with a rude iron +instrument of his own fabrication, on which the tattooing on his face is +exactly copied. + +The tattooing of the young New Zealander, before he takes his rank as +one of the warriors of his tribe, is doubtless also intended to put his +manhood to the proof; and may thus be regarded as having the same object +with those ceremonies of initiation, as they have been called, which +are practised among some other savage nations on the admission of an +individual to any new degree of honour or chieftainship. + +Among many nations of the American Indians, indeed, this cutting and +marking of the person is one of the principal inflictions to which the +aspirant is required to submit on such occasions. Thus, in the account +which Rochefort, in his "History of the Antilles," gives us of the +initiation of a warrior among the people of those islands, it is stated +that the father of the young man, after a very rude flagellation of his +son, used to proceed to scarify (as he expresses it) his whole body with +a tooth of the animal called the "acouti"; and then, in order to heal +the gashes thus made, he rubbed into them an infusion of pimento, which +occasioned an agonizing pain to the poor patient; but it was +indispensable that he should endure the whole, adds our author, without +the least contortion of countenance or any other evidence of suffering. + +Wherever, indeed, the spirit of war has entered largely into the +institutions of a people, as it has almost always done among savage and +imperfectly civilized nations, we find traces of similar observances. +Something of the same object which has just been attributed to the +tattooing of the New Zealanders, and the more complicated ceremonies of +initiation practised among the American Indians, may be recognised even +in certain of the rites of European chivalry, whether we take them as +described in the learned volumes of Du Cange, or in the more amusing +recitals of Cervantes. + +The New Zealanders, like many other savages, are also in the habit of +anointing themselves with a mixture of grease and red ochre. This sort +of rouge is very much used by the women, and "being generally," says +Cook, "fresh and wet upon their cheeks and foreheads, was easily +transferred to the noses of those who thought fit to salute them; and +that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, the noses of +several of our men strongly testified." "The faces of the men," he adds, +"were not so generally painted; yet we saw one, whose whole body, and +even his garments, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a +piece constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the +decoration in one part or another, where he supposed it was become +deficient." + +It has been conjectured that this painting of the body, among its other +uses, might also be intended, in some cases, as a protection against the +weather, or, in other words, to serve the same purpose as clothing. Even +where there is no plastering, the tattooing may be found to indurate the +skin, and to render it less sensible to cold. This notion, perhaps, +derives some confirmation from the appearance which these marks often +assume. + +Cook describes some of the New Zealanders, whom he saw on his first +visit to the country, as having their thighs stained entirely black, +with the exception of a few narrow lines, "so that at first sight," says +he, "they appeared to wear striped breeches." + +The Baron de Humboldt, too, informs us that the Indians of Guiana +sometimes imitate, in the oddest manner, the clothes of Europeans in +painting their skin. This observant traveller was much amused by seeing +the body of a native painted to represent a blue jacket and black +buttons. The missionaries also told him that the people of the Rio Caura +paint themselves of a red ground, and then variegate the colour with +transverse stripes of silver mica, so that they look most gallantly +dressed. The painted cheeks that were once common in Europe, and are +still occasionally seen, are relics of the same barbarism. + +The "taboo," or "tapu," prevails also in many of the South Sea Islands, +where it may be considered as the substitute for law; although its +authority, in reality, rests on what we should rather call religious +considerations, inasmuch as it appears to be obeyed entirely from the +apprehension that its violation would bring down the anger of heaven. + +It would require more space than we can afford to enumerate the various +cases in which the "taboo" operates as a matter of course, even were we +to say nothing of the numerous exigencies in which a resort to it seems +to be at the option of the parties concerned. Among the former, we may +merely mention that a person supposed to be dying seems to be uniformly +placed under the "taboo"; and that the like consecration, if it may be +so called, is always imposed for a certain space upon the individual who +has undergone any part of the process of tattooing. But we are by no +means fully informed either as to the exact rules that govern this +matter, or even as to the peculiar description of persons to whom it +belongs, on any occasion, to impose the "taboo." It is common in New +Zealand for such of the chiefs as possess this power to separate, by +means of the "taboo," any thing which they wish either to appropriate to +themselves, or to protect, with any other object, from indiscriminate +use. + +When Tetoro was shown, in the "Dromedary," a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, belonging to one of the officers, he "tabooed" it by +tying a thread, pulled out of his cloak, round the guard of the trigger, +and said that it must be his when he got to New Zealand, and that the +owner should have thirty of his finest mats for it. But this, according +to Cruise, any native may do with regard to an article for which he has +bargained, in order to secure it till he has paid the price agreed upon. + +On another occasion, Cruise found a number of people collected round an +object which seemed to attract general attention, and which they told +him was "tabooed." It turned out to be a plant of the common English +pea, which was fenced round with little sticks, and had apparently been +tended with very anxious care. + +When the "Prince Regent" schooner, which accompanied the "Dromedary," +lay at anchor in the river Shukehanga,[Y] a chief named Moodooi,[Z] +greatly to the comfort of the captain, came one day on deck and +"tabooed" the vessel, or made it a crime for any one to ascend the side +without permission, which injunction was strictly attended to by the +natives during his stay in the harbour. + +So, when any land is purchased, it is secured to the purchaser by being +"tabooed." + +Marsden states that upon one occasion he found a great number of canoes +employed in fishing, and all the fish which they took were immediately +"tabooed," and could not be purchased. These fish were probably intended +to be cured and preserved as part of the common stock of the tribe. + +The principal inconveniences sustained by the person who is "tabooed" +seem to be that he must have no communication with any who are not in +the same condition as himself, and that in eating he must not help +himself to his food with his hands. The chiefs are in such a case fed +by their attendant; but the absurd prohibition is a serious punishment +to the common people, who have nobody to assist them. + +Nicholas relates an amusing incident illustrative of this. "On going +into the town," says he, "in the course of the day, I beheld several of +the natives sitting round some baskets of dressed potatoes; and being +invited to join them in their meal, I mingled with the group, when I +observed one man stoop down with his mouth for each morsel, and +scrupulously careful in avoiding all contact between his hands and the +food he was eating. From this I knew at once that he was 'tabooed;' and +upon asking the reason of his being so, as he appeared in good health, +and not afflicted with any complaint that could set him without the pale +of ordinary intercourse, I found that it was because he was then +building a house, and that he could not be released from the 'taboo' +till he had it finished. Being only a "cookee,"[AA] he had no person to +wait upon him, but was obliged to submit to the distressing operation of +feeding himself in the manner proscribed by the superstitious ordinance; +and he was told by the tohunga, or priest, that if he presumed to put +one finger to his mouth before he had completed the work he was about, +the atua (divinity) would certainly punish his impious contempt, by +getting into his stomach before his time, and eating him out of the +world. Of this premature destiny he seemed so apprehensive that he kept +his hands as though they were never made for touching any article of +diet; nor did he suffer them by even a single motion to show the least +sympathy for his mouth, while that organ was obliged to use double +exertions, and act for those members which superstition had paralysed. + +"Sitting down by the side of this deluded being, whom credulity and +ignorance had rendered hopeless," says Nicholas, "I undertook to feed +him; and his appetite being quite voracious, I could hardly supply it as +fast as he devoured. Without ever consulting his digestive powers, of +which we cannot suppose he had any idea, he spared himself the trouble +of mastication; and, to lose no time, swallowed down every lump as I put +it into his mouth: and I speak within compass when I assert that he +consumed more food than would have served any two ploughmen in England. + +"Perfectly tired of administering to his insatiable gluttony, which was +still as ravenous as when he commenced, I now wished for a little +intermission; and taking advantage of his situation, I resolved to give +him as much to do as would employ him for at least a few minutes, +while, in the meantime, it would afford me some amusement for my +trouble. I therefore thrust into his mouth the largest hot potato I +could find, and this had exactly the intended effect; for the fellow, +unwilling to drop it, and not daring to penetrate it before it should +get cool, held it slightly compressed between his teeth, to the great +enjoyment of his countrymen, who laughed heartily, as well as myself, at +the wry faces he made, and the efforts he used with his tongue to +moderate the heat of the potato, and bring it to the temperature of his +gums, which were evidently smarting from the contact. But he bore this +trick with the greatest possible good humour, and to make him amends for +it, I took care to supply him plentifully, till he cried out, 'Nuee nuee +kiki,'[AB] and could eat no more; an exclamation, however, which he did +not make till there was no more in the baskets."[AC] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote S: tapu'd.] + +[Footnote T: "Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains."] + +[Footnote U: "Moko" is the accepted form of spelling the word.] + +[Footnote V: "Account of New Zealand."] + +[Footnote W: Probably Rakau.] + +[Footnote X: This is the name given in the deed of sale, dated February +24th, 1815, but the correct spelling is probably "Kuna" or "Kena."] + +[Footnote Y: Hokianga Harbour.] + +[Footnote Z: Probably Muriwai, a celebrated Hokianga chief.] + +[Footnote AA: Mr. S. Percy Smith, of New Plymouth, states that this word +was very common in New Zealand fifty or sixty years ago. It was applied +to servants, and was derived from the English word "cook." In Maori it +is "kuki."] + +[Footnote AB: This means "plenty of food," or "sufficient"; but it is +European Maori. One Maori, speaking to another, would say "He nui te +kai."] + +[Footnote AC: The best account of the operation of the law of tapu is +given by Judge Maning in "Old New Zealand."] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Rutherford remained at the village for about six months, together with +the others who had been taken prisoners with him and who had not been +put to death, all except one, John Watson, who, soon after their arrival +there, was carried away by a chief named Nainy.[AD] A house was assigned +for them to live in, and the natives gave them also an iron pot they had +taken from the ship, in which to cook their victuals. This they found a +very useful article. It was "tabooed," so that no slave was allowed to +eat anything cooked in it; that, we suppose, being considered the surest +way of preventing it from being stolen. + +At last they set out in company with Aimy and another chief, to pursue +their way further into the interior; one of them, however, whose name is +not given, remaining with Rangadi. + +Having come to another village, the chief of which was called Plama,[AE] +another of them, whose name was John Smith, was left with him. + +The number of those preserved alive, it will be recollected, was six; so +that, three of them having been disposed of in the manner that has been +stated, there were now, including Rutherford, as many more remaining +together. + +When they had travelled about twelve miles further, they stopped at a +third village, and there they remained two days. + +"We were treated very kindly," says Rutherford, "at this village by the +natives. The chief, whose name was Ewanna,[AF] made us a present of a +large pig, which we killed after our own country fashion, not a little +to the surprise of the New Zealanders. I observed many of the children +catch the flowing blood in their hands, and drink it with the greatest +eagerness. Their own method of killing a pig is generally by drowning, +in order that they may not lose the blood. The natives then singed off +the hair for us, by holding the animal over a fire, and also gutted it, +desiring nothing but the entrails for their trouble. We cooked it in our +iron pot, which the slaves who followed us had brought along with the +rest of the luggage belonging to our party. + +"No person was allowed to take any part of the pig unless he received +some from us; and not even then, if he did not belong to a chief's +family. + +"On taking our departure from this village, we left with Ewanna one of +our comrades named Jefferson, who, on parting from us, pressed my hand +in his, and with tears in his eyes, exclaimed, 'God bless you both! we +shall never see each other again.' + +"We proceeded on our journey, in company with Aimy and his family, and +another chief; and having walked about two miles without one word being +spoken by any of the party, we arrived at the side of a river. Here we +stopped, and lighted a fire; and the natives who had charge of the +luggage having come up in about an hour, bringing with them some +potatoes and dried fish, we cooked a dinner for ourselves in the usual +manner. We then crossed the river, which was only about knee deep, and +immediately entered a wood, through which we continued to make our way +till sunset. On getting out of it we found ourselves in the midst of +some cultivated ground, on which we saw growing potatoes, turnips, +cabbage, tara[AG] (which is a root resembling a yam), water-melons, and +coomeras,[AH] or sweet potatoes. + +"After a little while we arrived at another river, on the opposite side +of which stood the village in which Aimy resided. Having got into a +canoe, we crossed over to the village, in front of which many women were +standing, who, waving their mats, exclaimed, as they saw us approaching, +'Arami, arami,'[AI] which means, 'Welcome home.' + +"We were then taken to Aimy's house, which was the largest in the +village, having the walls formed of large twigs covered with rushes, +with which it was also thatched. A pig was now killed for us, and cooked +with some coomeras, from which we supped; and, afterwards seating +ourselves around the fire, we amused ourselves by listening to several +of the women singing. + +"In the meantime, a slave girl was killed, and put into a hole in the +earth to roast in the manner already described in order to furnish a +feast the following day, in honour of the chief's return home. + +"We slept that night in the chief's house; but the next morning a number +of the natives were set to work to build one for ourselves, of the same +form with that in which the chief lived, and nearly of the same size. + +"In the course of this day, many other chiefs arrived at the village, +accompanied by their families and slaves, to welcome Aimy home, which +they did in the usual manner. Some of them brought with them a quantity +of water-melons, which they gave to me and my comrade. At last they all +seated themselves upon the ground to have their feast; several large +pigs, together with some scores of baskets of potatoes, tara, and +water-melons, having first been brought forward by Aimy's people. The +pigs, after being drowned in the river and dressed, had been laid to +roast beside the potatoes. When these were eaten, the fire that had +been made the night before was opened, and the body of the slave girl +taken out of it, which they next proceeded to feast upon in the eagerest +manner. We were not asked to partake of it, for Aimy knew that we had +refused to eat human flesh before. After the feast was over, the +fragments were collected, and carried home by the slaves of the +different chiefs, according to the custom which is always observed on +such occasions in New Zealand." + +The house that had been ordered to be built for Rutherford and his +companion was ready in about a week; and, having taken up their abode in +it, they were permitted to live, as far as circumstances would allow, +according to their own customs. As it was in this village that +Rutherford continued to reside during the remainder of the time he spent +in New Zealand, we may consider him as now fairly domesticated among his +new associates, and may therefore conveniently take the present +opportunity of completing our general picture of the country and its +inhabitants, by adverting to a few matters which have not yet found a +place in our narrative. + +No doubt whatever can exist as to the relationship of the New Zealanders +to the numerous other tribes of the same complexion, by whom nearly all +the islands of the South Sea are peopled, and who, in physical +conformation, language, religion, institutions, and habits, evidently +constitute only one great family. + +Recent investigations, likewise, must be considered to have +sufficiently proved that the wave of population, which has spread itself +over so large a portion of the surface of the globe, has flowed from the +same central region, which all history points to as the cradle of our +race, and which may be here described generally as the southern tract of +the great continent of Asia. This prolific clime, while it has on the +one hand sent out its successive detachments of emigrants to occupy the +wide plains of Europe, has on the other discharged its overflowing +numbers upon the islands of the Pacific, and, with the exception of New +Holland[AJ] and a few other lands in its immediate vicinity, the +population of which seems to be of African origin, has, in this way, +gradually spread a race of common parentage over all of them, from those +that constitute what has been called the great Indian Archipelago, in +the immediate neighbourhood of China, to the Sandwich Islands and Easter +Island, in the remotest east of that immense expanse of waters. + +The Malay language is spoken, although in many different dialects and +degrees of corruption, throughout the whole of this extensive range, +which, measured in one direction, stretches over nearly half the +equatorial circumference of the globe, and in another over at least +seventy degrees of latitude. The people are all also of the same brown +or copper complexion, by which the Malay is distinguished from the +white man on the one hand, and the negro on the other. + +In New Zealand, however, as, indeed, in most of the other seats of this +race, the inhabitants are distinguished from each other by a very +considerable diversity in the shades of what may be called the common +hue. Crozet was so much struck with this circumstance that he does not +hesitate to divide them into three classes--whites, browns, and +blacks,--the last of whom he conceives to be a foreign admixture +received from the neighbouring continent of New Holland, and who, by +their union with the whites, the original inhabitants of the country, +and still decidedly the prevalent race, have produced those of the +intermediate colour. + +[Illustration: Two Maori Chiefs--Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, +or "Dark House."] + +Whatever may be thought of this hypothesis, it is certain that in some +parts of New Zealand the natives are much fairer than in others. Cook +remarks, in the account of his first voyage, that the people about the +Bay of Islands seemed darker than those he had seen further to the +south; and their colour generally is afterwards described as varying +from a pretty deep black to a yellowish or olive tinge. In like manner, +Marsden states that the people in the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga +are much fairer than those on the east coast. It may also, perhaps, be +considered some confirmation of Crozet's opinion as to the origin of the +darkest coloured portion of the population, that those who come under +this description are asserted to be characterized, in addition, by the +other negro peculiarity of a diminutive stature.[AK] + +In general, however, the New Zealanders are a tall race of men, many of +the individuals belonging to the upper classes being six feet high and +upwards. They are also described as strong, active, and almost uniformly +well-shaped. Their hair is commonly straight, but sometimes curly; +Crozet says he saw a few of them with red hair. Cook describes the +females as far from attractive; but other observers give a more +flattering account of them. Savage, for example, assures us that their +features are regular and pleasing; and he seems to have been much struck +by their "long black hair and dark penetrating eyes," as well as "their +well-formed figure, the interesting cast of their countenance, and the +sweet tone of their voice." Cruise's testimony is almost equally +favourable. + +The dress of the two sexes is exactly the same, and consists of an inner +mat or tunic, fastened by a girdle round their waists, and an upper +cloak, which is made of very coarse materials for ordinary wear, but is +of a much finer fabric, and often, indeed, elaborately ornamented, when +intended for occasions of display. Both these articles of attire are +always made of the native flax. The New Zealanders wear no covering +either for the head or the feet, the feathers with which both sexes +ornament the head being excepted. + +The food upon which they principally live is the root of the fern-plant, +which grows all over the country. + +Rutherford's account of the method of preparing it, which we have +already transcribed, corresponds exactly with that given by Cook, +Nicholas, and others. This root, sometimes swallowed entirely, and +sometimes only masticated, and the fibres rejected after the juice has +been extracted, serves the New Zealanders not only for bread, but even +occasionally for a meal by itself. When fish are used, they do not +appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten raw, but are always +cooked, either by being fixed upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so +exposed to the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and then placed +between heated stones to bake. But little of any other animal food is +consumed, birds being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being +only produced on days of special festivity. + +The first pigs were left in New Zealand by Cook, who made many attempts +to stock the country both with this and other useful animals, most of +whom, however, were so much neglected that they soon disappeared. Cook, +likewise, introduced the potato into New Zealand; and that valuable root +appears to be now pretty generally cultivated throughout the northern +island. + +The only agricultural implements, however, which the natives possess are +of the rudest description; that with which they dig their potatoes being +merely a wooden pole, with a cross-bar of the same material fixed to it +about three feet from the ground. Marsden saw the wives of several of +the chiefs toiling hard in the fields with no better spade than this; +among others the head wife of the great Shungie, who, though quite +blind, appeared to dig the ground, he says, as fast as those who had +their sight, and as well, first pulling up the weeds as she went along +with her hands, then setting her feet upon them that she might know +where they were; and, finally, after she had broken the soil, throwing +the mould over the weeds with her hands. + +The labours of agriculture in New Zealand are, in this way, rendered +exceedingly toilsome, by the imperfection of the only instruments which +the natives possess. Hence, principally, their extreme desire for iron. +Marsden, in the "Journal of his Second Visit," gives us some very +interesting details touching the anxiety which the chiefs universally +manifested to obtain agricultural tools of this metal. One morning, he +tells us, a number of them arrived at the settlement, some having come +twenty, others fifty miles. "They were ready to tear us to pieces," says +he, "for hoes and axes. One of them said his heart would burst if he +did not get a hoe." + +They were told that a supply had been written for to England; but "they +replied that many of them would be in their graves before the ship would +come from England, and the hoes and axes would be of no advantage to +them when dead. They wanted them now. They had no tools at present, but +wooden ones to work their potato-grounds with; and requested that we +would relieve their present distress." + +When he returned from his visit to Shukehanga, many of the natives of +that part of the country followed him, with a similar object, to the +settlement. "When we left Patuona's village," says he, "we were more +than fifty in number, most of them going for an axe or a hoe, or some +small edge-tool. They would have to travel, by land and water, from a +hundred to a hundred and forty miles, in some of the worst paths, +through woods, that can be conceived, and to carry their provisions for +their journey. A chief's wife came with us all the way, and I believe +her load would not be less than one hundred pounds; and many carried +much more." But, perhaps, the most importunate pleader the reverend +gentleman encountered on this journey was an old chief, with a very long +beard, and his face tattooed all over, who followed him during part of +his progress among the villages of the western coast. "He wanted an +axe," says Marsden, "very much; and at last he said that if we would +give him an axe, he would give us his head. Nothing is held in so much +veneration by the natives as the head of their chief. I asked him who +should have the axe when I had got his head. At length he said, 'Perhaps +you will trust me a little time; and, when I die, you shall have my +head.' This venerable personage afterwards got his axe by sending a man +for it to the settlement." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AD: Probably Nene.] + +[Footnote AE: There is no "l" in the Maori orthography, and the name +cannot be traced.] + +[Footnote AF: This is another case where Rutherford's pronunciation +seems to have been at fault.] + +[Footnote AG: The taro.] + +[Footnote AH: The kumera, a sweet potato, which was extensively +cultivated by the ancient Maoris.] + +[Footnote AI: "Haere mai," "come here," the usual words of welcome.] + +[Footnote AJ: That is, Australia.] + +[Footnote AK: The origin of the Maori is dealt with exhaustively by Mr. +S Percy Smith in "Hawaiki"; by Mr. E. Tregear, in "The Maori Race"; and +by Professor Macmillan Brown, in "Maori and Polynesian."] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Taken altogether, New Zealand presents a great variety of landscape, +although, even where the scenery is most subdued, it partakes of a bold +and irregular character, derived not more from the aspect of undisturbed +Nature, which still obtrudes itself everywhere among the traces of +commencing cultivation, than from the confusion of hill and valley which +marks the face of the soil, and the precipitous eminences, with their +sides covered by forests, and their summits barren of all vegetation, or +terminating perhaps in a naked rock, that often rise close beside the +most sheltered spots of fertility and verdure. + +If this brokenness and inequality of surface oppose difficulties in the +way of agricultural improvement, the variety and striking contrasts +thereby produced must be often at least highly picturesque; and all, +accordingly, who have visited New Zealand, agree in extolling the +mingled beauty and grandeur which are profusely spread over the more +favoured parts of the country, and are not altogether wanting even where +the general look of the coast is most desolate and uninviting. + +The southern island, with the exception of a narrow strip along its +northern shore, appears to be, in its interior, a mere chaos of +mountains, and the region of perpetual winter; but even here, the +declivities that slope down towards the sea are clothed, in many places +to the water's edge, with gigantic and evergreen forests; and more +protected nooks occasionally present themselves, overspread with the +abundance of a teeming vegetation, and not to be surpassed in loveliness +by what the land has anywhere else to show. The bleakness of the western +coast of this southern island indeed does not arise so much from its +latitude as from the tempestuous north-west winds which seem so much to +prevail in this part of the world, and to the whole force of which it +is, from its position, exposed. + +The interior and eastern side of the northern island owe their fertility +and their suitableness for the habitation of man principally to the +intervention of a considerable extent of land, much of which is +elevated, between them and the quarter from which these desolating gales +blow. The more westerly portion of it seems only to be inhabited in +places which are in a certain degree similarly defended by the +surrounding high grounds. In these, as well as in the more populous +districts to the east, the face of the country, generally speaking, +offers to the eye a spread of luxuriant verdure, the freshness of which +is preserved by continual depositions of moisture from the clouds that +are attracted by the mountains, so that its hue, even in the heat of +midsummer, is peculiarly vivid and lustrous. + +Much of the land, both in the valleys and on the brows of the hills, is +covered by groves of majestic pine, which are nearly impervious, from +the thick underwood that has rushed up everywhere in the spaces between +the trees; and where there is no wood, the prevailing plant is a fern, +which rises generally to the height of six or seven feet. + +Along the skirts of the woodlands flow numerous rivers, which intersect +the country in all directions, and several of which are navigable for +miles up by ships of considerable burthen. Various lines of +communication are in this way established between the opposite coasts of +the northern island; while some of the minor streams, that rush down to +the sea through the more precipitous ravines, are interrupted in their +course by magnificent cataracts, which give additional effect to the +other features of sublimity and romantic beauty by which the country is +so distinguished. Many of the rocks on the coast are perforated, a +circumstance which proceeds from their formation. + +The quality of the soil of this country may be best estimated from the +profuse vegetation with which the greater part of it is clothed, and the +extraordinary vigour which characterizes the growth of most of its +productions. The botany of New Zealand has as yet been very imperfectly +investigated, a very small portion of the native plants having been +either classified or enumerated. From the partial researches, however, +that have been made by the scientific gentlemen attached to Cook's +expeditions, and subsequent visitors, there can be no doubt that the +country is rich both in new and valuable herbs, plants, and trees as +well as admirably adapted for the cultivation of many of the most useful +among the vegetable possessions of other parts of the world. + +Rutherford, we have seen, mentions the existence of cultivated land in +the neighbourhood of the village to which he was last conveyed. The New +Zealanders had made considerable advances in agriculture even before +Cook visited the country; and that navigator mentions particularly, in +the narrative of his first voyage, the numerous patches of ground which +he observed all along the east coast in a state of cultivation. Speaking +of the very neighbourhood of the place at which the crew of the "Agnes" +were made prisoners, he says:--"Banks saw some of their plantations, +where the ground was as well broken down and tilled as even in the +gardens of the most curious people among us. In these spots were sweet +potatoes, coccos or eddas, which are well known and much esteemed both +in the East and West Indies, and some gourds. The sweet potatoes were +placed in small hills, some ranged in rows, and others in quincunx, all +laid by a line with the greatest regularity. The coccos were planted +upon flat land, but none of them yet (it was about the end of October) +appeared above ground; and the gourds were set in small hollows, or +dishes, much as in England. These plantations were of different extent, +from one or two acres to ten. Taken together, there appeared to be from +one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres in cultivation in the whole +bay, though we never saw a hundred people. Each district was fenced in, +generally with reeds, which were placed so close together that there was +scarcely room for a mouse to creep between." + +Since the commencement of the intercourse of the New Zealanders with +Europe, the sphere of their husbandry has been considerably enlarged by +the introduction of several most precious articles which were formerly +unknown to them. Cook, in the course of his several visits to the +country, both deposited in the soil, and left with some of the most +intelligent among the natives, quantities of such useful seeds as those +of wheat, peas, cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips, and potatoes; but +although he had sufficient proofs of the suitableness of the soil and +climate to the growth of most of these articles, which he found that +even the winter of New Zealand was too mild to injure, it appeared to +him very unlikely that the inhabitants would be at the trouble to take +care even of those whose value they in some degree appreciated. With the +exception, in fact, of the turnips and potatoes, the vegetable +productions which Cook took so much pains to introduce seem to have all +perished. The potatoes, however, have been carefully preserved, and are +said to have even improved in quality, being now greatly superior to +those of the Cape of Good Hope, from which the seed they have sprung +from was originally brought. + +In more recent times, maize has been introduced into New Zealand; and +the missionaries have sown many acres in the neighbourhood of the Bay of +Islands, both on their own property and on that of the native chiefs, +with English wheat, which has produced an abundant return. + +Duaterra was the first person who actually reared a crop of this grain +in his native country. On leaving Port Jackson the second time, to +return home, he took with him a quantity of it, and much astonished his +acquaintances by informing them that this was the very substance of +which the Europeans made biscuits, such as they had seen and eaten on +board their ships. + +"He gave a portion of wheat," says Marsden, "to six chiefs, and also to +some of his own common men, and directed them all how to sow it, +reserving some for himself and his uncle Shungie, who is a very great +chief, his dominion extending from the east to the west side of New +Zealand. + +"All the persons to whom Duaterra had given the seed-wheat put it into +the ground, and it grew well; but before it was well ripe, many of them +grew impatient for the produce; and as they expected to find the grain +at the roots of the stems, similar to their potatoes, they examined the +roots, and finding there was no wheat under the ground, they pulled it +all up, and burned it, except Shungie. + +"The chiefs ridiculed Duaterra much about the wheat, and told him, +because he had been a great traveller, he thought he could easily impose +upon their credulity by fine stories; and all he urged could not +convince them that wheat would make bread. His own and Shungie's crops +in time came to perfection, and were reaped and threshed; and though the +natives were much astonished to find that the grain was produced at the +top, and not at the bottom of the stem, yet they could not be persuaded +that bread could be made of it." + +Marsden afterwards sent Duaterra a steel mill to grind his wheat, which +he received with no little joy. "He soon set to work," continues +Marsden, "and ground some wheat before his countrymen, who danced and +shouted for joy when they saw the meal. He told me that he made a cake +and baked it in a frying-pan, and gave it to the people to eat, which +fully satisfied them of the truth he had told them before, that wheat +would make bread." The chiefs now begged some more seed, which they +sowed; and such of it as was attended to grew up as strong a crop as +could be desired. + +In all countries the securing of a sufficient supply of food is the +primary concern of society; and, accordingly, even among the rudest +tribes who are in any degree dependent upon the fruits of the earth for +their sustenance, the different operations of agriculture, as regulated +by the seasons, have always excited especial interest. Theoretical +writers are fond of talking of the natural progress of the species to +the agricultural state, from and through the pastoral, as if the one +were a condition at which it was nothing less than impossible for a +people to arrive, except by first undergoing the other. + +In countries circumstanced like New Zealand, at least, the course of +things must have been somewhat different; inasmuch as here we find the +agricultural state begun, where the pastoral could never have been +known, there being no flocks to tend. Cook, as we have seen, found the +inhabitants of this country extensive cultivators of land, and they, +probably, had been so for many ages before. Although the fern-root is in +most places the spontaneous produce of the soil, and enters largely into +the consumption of the people, it would yet seem that they have not been +wont to consider themselves independent of those other crops which they +raise by regular cultivation. To these, accordingly, they pay the +greatest attention, insomuch, that most of those who have visited the +country have been struck by the extraordinary contrast between the neat +and clean appearance of their fields, in which the plants rise in even +rows, and not a weed is to be seen, and the universal air of rudeness, +slovenliness, and discomfort which their huts present. + +But we must remember that in the latter case we see merely a few of the +personal accommodations of the savage, his neglect of which occasions +him but very slight and temporary inconvenience; whereas in the former +it is the very sustenance of his life which is concerned, his +inattention to which might expose him to all the miseries of famine. The +same care and neatness in the management of their fields has been +remarked as characteristics of the North American Indians; and both they +and the New Zealanders celebrate the seasons of planting and gathering +in their harvests with festivities and religious observances, practices +which have, indeed, prevailed in almost every nation, and may be +regarded as among the most beautiful and becoming of the rites of +natural religion. + +The commencement of the coomera harvest in New Zealand is the signal for +the suspension of all other occupations except that of gathering in the +crop. First, the priest pronounces a blessing upon the unbroken ground; +and then, when all its produce has been gathered in, he "taboos" or +makes sacred, the public storehouse in which it is deposited. + +Cruise states that this solemn dedication has sometimes saved these +depositories from spoliation, even on occasion of a hostile attack by +another tribe. "One of the gentlemen of the ship," this writer adds, +"was present at the 'shackerie,'[AL] or harvest-home, if it may be so +called, of Shungie's people. It was celebrated in a wood, where a square +space had been cleared of trees, in the centre of which three very tall +posts, driven into the ground in the form of a triangle, supported an +immense pile of baskets of coomeras. The tribe of Teeperree[AM] of +Wangarooa[AN] was invited to participate in the rejoicings, which +consisted of a number of dances performed round the pole, succeeded by a +very splendid feast; and when Teeperree's men were going away, they +received a present of as many coomeras as they could carry with them." +In New Zealand all the cultivated fields are strictly "tabooed," as well +as the people employed in cultivating them, who live upon the spot while +they proceed with their labours, and are not permitted to pass the +boundary until they are terminated; nor are any others allowed to +trespass upon the sacred enclosure. + +We have already mentioned more than once the lofty forests of New +Zealand. Of these, considered as a mere ornament to the country, all +who have seen them speak in terms of the highest admiration. Anderson, +the surgeon whom Cook took with him on board the "Resolution" in his +third voyage, describes them as "flourishing with a vigour almost +superior to anything that imagination can conceive, and affording an +august prospect to those who are delighted with the grand and beautiful +works of Nature." + +"It is impossible," says Nicholas, "to imagine, in the wildest and most +picturesque walks of Nature, a sight more sublime and majestic, or which +can more forcibly challenge the admiration of the traveller, than a New +Zealand forest." + +And indeed, when we are told that the trees rise generally to the height +of from eighty to a hundred feet, straight as a mast and without a +branch, and are then crowned with tops of such umbrageous foliage that +the rays of the sun, in endeavouring to pierce through them, can hardly +make more than a dim twilight in the lonely recesses below, so that +herbage cannot grow there, and the rank soil produces nothing but a +thick spread of climbing and intertwisted underwood, we may conceive how +imposing must be the gloomy grandeur of these gigantic and impenetrable +groves. + +[Illustration: Scene in a New Zealand forest.] + +In the woods in the neighbourhood of Poverty Bay, Cook says he found +trees of above twenty different sorts, altogether unknown to anybody +on board; and almost every new district which he visited afterwards +presented to him a profusion of new varieties. But the trees that have +as yet chiefly attracted the attention of Europeans are certain of those +more lofty ones of which we have just spoken. + +These trees had attracted Cook's attention in his first voyage, as +likely to prove admirably adapted for masts, if the timber, which in its +original state he considered rather too heavy for that purpose, could, +like that of the European pitch-pine, be lightened by tapping; they +would then, he says, be such masts as no country in Europe could +produce. Crozet, however, asserts, in his account of Marion's voyage +that they found what he calls the cedar of New Zealand to weigh no +heavier than the best Riga fir. + +Nicholas brought some of the seeds of the New Zealand phormium with him +to England in 1815; but unfortunately they lost their vegetative +properties during the voyage. It appears, however, that, some years +before, it had been brought to blossom, though imperfectly, in the +neighbourhood of London; and in France it is said to have been +cultivated in the open air with great success, by Freycinet and Faujas +St. Fond. Under the culture of the former of these gentlemen it grew, in +1813, to the height of seven feet six lines, the stalk being three +inches and four lines in circumference at the base, and two inches and a +half, half-way up. Upon one stalk he had a hundred and nine flowers, of +a greenish yellow colour; and he had made some very strong ropes from +the leaves, from which he had obtained the flax by a very simple +process. + +According to Rutherford, the natives, after having cut it down, and +brought it home green in bundles, in which state it is called "koradee," +scrape it with a large mussel-shell, and take the heart out of it, +splitting it with the nails of their thumbs, which for that purpose they +keep very long. It would seem, however, that the natives have made +instruments for dressing this flax not very dissimilar from the tools of +our own wool-combers. The outside they throw away, and the rest they +spread out for several days in the sun to dry, which makes it as white +as snow. In this prepared state it is, he says, called "mooka." They +spin it, he adds, in a double thread, with the hand on the thigh, and +then work it into mats, also by the hand: three women may work on one +mat at a time. + +Nicholas, on one occasion, saw Duaterra's head wife employed in weaving. +The mat on which she was engaged was one of an open texture, and "she +performed her work," says the author, "with wooden pegs stuck in the +ground at equal distances from each other, to which having tied the +threads that formed the woof, she took up six threads with the two +composing the warp, knotting them carefully together." "It was +astonishing," he says, "with what dexterity and quickness she handled +the threads, and how well executed was her performance." He was assured +that another mat which he saw, and which was woven with elaborate +ingenuity and elegance, could not have been manufactured in less time +than between two and three years. + +Valuable, however, as is the phormium for the purposes to which alone it +is applied in New Zealand, it would appear that the attempts which have +been made to fabricate from it what is properly called cloth have not +hitherto been attended with a favourable result. Some years ago, a +quantity of hemp that had been manufactured from the plant at Sydney, +was sent to be woven at Knaresborough; but "the trial," it is stated, +"did not succeed to the full satisfaction of the parties." + +We have been favoured with a communication upon this subject by a +gentleman who has given much attention to it, which seems to explain, in +a very satisfactory manner, the true reason of the failure that has been +here experienced. "A friend of mine," says our correspondent, "a few +years ago imported a quantity of the phormium, in the expectation that +it would answer admirably for making cloth even of the finest fabric. +But in this he was altogether disappointed. Although it is infinitely +stronger in its raw state than any other flax or hemp, yet when boiled +with potash it becomes so exceedingly weak as not to bear the operation +of weaving but with the utmost difficulty. A gentleman once showed me a +pair of trousers made of this material. They appeared quite rough and +nearly worn out, though they had been used but for a few weeks. + +"Although making cloth of it, however, is out of the question, it is +admirably fitted for rope and twine of all descriptions. It will, +therefore, prove highly valuable to our shipping and fishing interests. +Another friend of mine made some rope of it, which, when proved by the +breaking machine, bore, I think, nearly double the strain of a +similar-sized rope made of Russian hemp. The great strength and tenacity +of the New Zealand flax appears to me to be owing to the fibres, though +naturally short, being firmly united by an elastic vegetable glue or +gum, which the boiling process dissolves." Rutherford says the flax +becomes black on being soaked, which may possibly be occasioned by its +consequent loss of the gum here described. + +We find it stated in the "Annual Register" for 1819, that about the +beginning of that year a favourable report had been made of the +suitableness of the phormium for the manufacture both of small and large +ropes, after some experiments in the dockyard at Portsmouth. The ropes +turned out strong, pliable, and very silky. The notice adds that the +plant may be cut down in New Zealand three times a year; and that it may +be imported to this country at the rate of about eight pounds per ton, +or one-seventh of the cost of hemp. + +Among the useful plants for which we are indebted to New Zealand, we +must not forget their summer spinach (_Tetragonia expansa_--Murray), +which was discovered on Cook's first voyage by Sir Joseph Banks, and was +"boiled and eaten as greens" by the crew. It was afterwards seen by +Forster at Tongataboo, though it was not used by the natives; but +Thunberg found the Japanese acquainted with its value as a pot-herb. It +was introduced into Kew Gardens in 1772; but the first account of it as +a vegetable worthy of cultivation, was published by Count D'Auraches in +the "Annales d'Agriculture" for 1809. Its chief advantage lies in the +leaves being fit for use during the summer, even in the driest weather, +up to the setting in of the frosts, when the common spinach is useless; +but it is not reckoned of so fine a flavour as that plant. The Rev. J. +Bransby says that the produce of three seeds, which must be reared by +heat before planting out, supplied his own table and those of two of his +friends from June till the frost killed it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AL: The hakari, or feast, a great function in former times.] + +[Footnote AM: This name is spelt wrongly. It might be Te Pahi, a famous +chief, but it is reported that he died soon after the affair of the +"Boyd," in 1809, some time before Rutherford's arrival in New Zealand. +The tribe, however, may still have been known as Te Pahi's.] + +[Footnote AN: Whangaroa.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The native land animals of New Zealand are not numerous. The most common +is said to be one resembling our fox-dog, which is sometimes eaten for +food. It runs wild in the woods, and is described by Savage as usually +of a black and white skin, with pricked up ears, and the hair rather +long. But it may perhaps be doubted if even this quadruped is a native +of the country.[AO] + +According to Rutherford the pigs run wild in the woods, and are hunted +by dogs. He also mentions that there are a few horned cattle in the +interior, which have been bred from some left by the discovery ships. No +other account, however, confirms this statement. There are in New +Zealand a few rats, and bats; and the coasts are frequented by seals of +different species. One of the natives told Cook that there was in the +interior a lizard eight feet long, and as thick as a man's body, which +burrowed in the ground, and sometimes seized and devoured men. This +animal, of the existence of which we have the additional evidence of an +exactly similar description given by one of the chiefs to Nicholas, is +probably an alligator. The natives, as we learn from Cruise, have the +greatest horror of a lizard, in the shape of which animal they believe +it is that the atua (or demon) is wont to take possession of the dying, +and to devour their entrails--a superstition which may not be +unconnected with the dread the alligator has spread among them by its +actual ravages, or the stories that have been propagated respecting it. +They report that in the part of the country where it is found it makes +great havoc among children, carrying them off and devouring them +whenever they come in its way.[AP] + +There are not many species of insects, those seen by Anderson, who +accompanied Cook, being only a few dragonflies, butterflies, +grasshoppers, spiders, and black ants, vast numbers of scorpion flies, +and a sandfly, which is described as the only noxious insect in the +country. It insinuates itself under the foot, and bites like a mosquito. + +The birds of New Zealand are very numerous, and almost all are peculiar +to the country. Among them are wild ducks, large wood-pigeons, seagulls, +rails, parrots, and parrakeets. They are generally very tame. + +Rutherford states that during his long residence he became very expert, +after the manner of the natives, in catching birds with a noosed +string, and that he has thus caught thousands of ground parrots with a +line about fifty feet long. The most remarkable bird is one to which +Cook's people gave the name of the mocking-bird, from the extraordinary +variety of its notes.[AQ] There is also another which was called by the +English the poe, or poi bird, from a little tuft of white curled +feathers which it has under its throat, and which seemed to them to +resemble certain white flowers worn as ornaments in the ears by the +people of Otaheite, and known there by a similar name. This bird is also +remarkable both for the beauty of its plumage and the sweetness of its +note. Its power of song is the more remarkable as it belongs to the +class of birds which feed on honey, whose notes are generally not +melodious.[AR] + +The enchanting music of the woods of New Zealand is dwelt upon with +rapture by all who have had an opportunity of listening to it. +Describing one of the first days he spent in Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook +says:--"The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of +a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the +singing of the birds. The number was incredible, and they seemed to +strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was +infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it +seemed to be like small bells, exquisitely tuned; and perhaps the +distance and the water between might be no small advantage to the +sound." Upon inquiry, they were informed that the birds here always +begin to sing about two hours after midnight, and, continuing their +music till sunrise, were silent the rest of the day.[AS] + +One of the chief sources of natural wealth which New Zealand possesses +consists in the abundance and variety of the fish which frequent its +coasts. Wherever he went, Cook, in his different visits to the two +islands, was amply supplied with this description of food, of which he +says that six or eight men, with hooks and lines, would in some places +catch daily enough to serve the whole ship's company. Among the +different species which are described as being found, we may mention +mackerel, crayfish, a sort called by the sailors colefish, which Cook +says was both larger and finer than any he had seen before, and was, in +the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded them; +the herring, the flounder, and a fish resembling the salmon. To these +may be added, besides, many other species of shell-fish, mussels, +cockles, and oysters. + +The seas in the neighbourhood of New Zealand, also, we ought not to +forget to add, are much frequented by whales, which, besides the value +of their blubber, are greatly prized by the natives for the sake of +their flesh, which they consider a first-rate delicacy. + +The New Zealanders are extremely expert in fishing. They are also +admirable divers, and Rutherford states that they will bring up live +fish from the deepest waters, with the greatest certainty. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AO: Craik is correct in this surmise. The Maori dog, Canis +familiaris, (Variety Maorium), which is now extinct, was introduced to +New Zealand when the Maoris came at the time of their great migration, +about 500 years ago.] + +[Footnote AP: The alligator is purely mythical. The only reptiles in New +Zealand are lizards, and a lizard-like animal called Tuatara. It is +about 18 inches long, and is allied to crocodiles and turtles, as well +as lizards. It is the sole representative of an ancient reptilian order +named Rhyncocephalia.] + +[Footnote AQ: This is the bell-bird (Anthornis melanura).] + +[Footnote AR: The tui, or parson bird (Prosthemadera novæ zealandiæ.)] + +[Footnote AS: Large numbers of New Zealand birds unite in the spring in +singing a magnificent Song of Dawn, which generally ceases when the sun +has fairly risen, but individuals sing at intervals through the day.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The details we have thus given will enable the reader to form a +conception of the state of society in the country in which Rutherford +now found himself imprisoned. + +The spot in the northern island of New Zealand, in which the village lay +where his residence was eventually fixed, cannot be exactly ascertained, +from the account which he gives of his journey to it from the coast. It +is evident, however, from the narrative, that it was too far in the +interior to permit the sea to be seen from it. + +"For the first year after our arrival in Aimy's village," says +Rutherford, "we spent our time chiefly in fishing and shooting; for the +chief had a capital double-barrelled fowling piece, as well as plenty of +powder and duck-shot, which he had brought from our vessel; and he used +to entrust me with the fowling-piece whenever I had a mind to go a +shooting, though he seldom accompanied me himself. We were generally +fortunate enough to bring home a good many wood-pigeons, which are very +plentiful in New Zealand. + +"At last it happened that Aimy and his family went to a feast at another +village a few miles distant from ours, and my comrade and I were left +at home, with nobody but a few slaves, and the chief's mother, an old +woman, who was sick, and attended by a physician. A physician in this +country remains with his patients constantly both day and night, never +leaving them till they either recover or die, in which latter case he is +brought before a court of inquiry, composed of all the chiefs for many +miles round. + +"During the absence of the family at the feast, my comrade chanced to +lend his knife to a slave for him to cut some rushes with, in order to +repair a house; and when this was done he received it back again. Soon +after he and I killed a pig, from which we cut a portion into small +pieces, and put them into our iron pot, along with some potatoes which +we had also peeled with our knives. When the potatoes were cooked, the +old woman who was sick desired us to give her some, which we did in the +presence of the doctor, and she ate them. Next morning she died, when +the chief and the rest of his family immediately returned home. + +"The corpse was first removed to an unoccupied piece of ground in the +centre of the village, and there placed with a mat under it, in a +sitting position against a post, being covered with another mat up to +the chin. The head and face were anointed with shark oil, and a piece of +green flax was also tied round the head, in which were stuck several +white feathers, the sort of feathers which are here preferred to any +other. + +"They then constructed, around the corpse, an enclosure of twigs, +something like a bird's cage, for the purpose of keeping the dogs, pigs, +and children from it; and these operations being over, muskets continued +to be occasionally fired during the remainder of the day to the memory +of the old woman. Meanwhile, the chiefs and their families from miles +around were making their appearance in our village, bringing with them +their slaves loaded with provisions. On the third day after the death, +they all, to the number of some hundreds, knelt down around the corpse, +and, having thrown off their mats, proceeded to cry and cut themselves, +in the same manner as we had seen done on occasions of the different +chiefs of the villages through which we passed being welcomed home. + +"After some time spent in this ceremony, they all sat down together to a +great feast, made of their own provisions, which they had brought with +them. + +"The next morning, the men alone formed a circle round the dead body, +armed with spears, muskets, tomahawks, and merys, and the doctor +appeared, walking backwards and forwards in the ring. By this time, my +companion and I had learned a good deal of their language; and, as we +stood listening to what was said, we heard the doctor relate the +particulars of the old woman's illness and death; after which, the +chiefs began to inquire very closely into what she had eaten for the +three days before she expired. + +"At last, the doctor having retired from the ring, an old chief stepped +forward, with three or four white feathers stuck in his hair; and, +having walked several times up and down in the ring, addressed the +meeting, and said that, in his opinion, the old woman's death had been +occasioned by her having eaten potatoes that had been peeled with a +white man's knife, after it had been used for cutting rushes to repair a +house; on which account, he thought that the white man to whom the knife +belonged should be killed, which would be a great honour conferred upon +the memory of the dead woman. + +"To this proposal many of the other chiefs expressed their assent, and +it seemed about to be adopted by the court. Meanwhile, my companion +stood trembling, and unable to speak from fear. I then went forward +myself into the ring, and told them that if the white man had done wrong +in lending his knife to the slave, he had done so ignorantly, from not +knowing the customs of the country. + +"I ventured at the same time to address myself to Aimy, beseeching him +to spare my shipmate's life; but he continued to keep his seat on the +ground, mourning for the loss of his mother, without answering me, or +seeming to take any notice of what I said; and while I was yet speaking +to him, the chief with the white feathers went and struck my comrade on +the head with a mery, and killed him. Aimy, however, would not allow +him to be eaten, though for what reason I never could learn. + +"The slaves, therefore, having dug a grave for him, he was interred +after my directions. + +"As for the corpse of the old woman, it was now wrapt up in several +mats, and carried away by Aimy and the doctor, no person being allowed +to follow them. I learned, however, that they took her into a +neighbouring wood, and there buried her. After this, the strangers all +left our village, and returned to their respective homes. In about three +months, the body of the woman was again taken up, and carried to the +river side, where the bones were scraped and washed, and then inclosed +in a box, which had been prepared for that purpose. + +"The box was afterwards fastened on the top of a post, in the place +where the body first lay in state; and a space of about thirty feet in +circumference being railed in around it, a wooden image was erected, to +signify that the ground was 'tabooed,' or sacred, and as a warning that +no one should enter the inclosure. This is the regular manner of +interment in New Zealand for any one belonging to a chief's family. When +a slave dies, a hole is dug, and the body is thrown into it without any +ceremony; nor is it ever disinterred again, or any further notice taken +of it. They never eat any person who dies of disease, or in the course +of nature." + +Thus left alone among these savages, and taught by the murder of his +comrade on how slight a tenure he held his own life, exposed as he was +every moment to the chance of in some way or other provoking their +capricious cruelty, Rutherford, it may be thought, must have felt his +protracted detention growing every day more insupportable. + +One of the greatest inconveniences which he now began to feel arose from +the wearing out of his clothes, which he patched and tacked as well as +he could for some time, but at last, after he had been about three years +in the country, they would hold together no longer. All that he had to +wear, therefore, was a white flax mat, which was given to him by the +chief, and which, being thrown over his shoulders, came as low as his +knees. This, he says, was his only garment, and he was compelled to go +both bareheaded and barefooted, having neither hat, shoes, nor +stockings. + +His life, meanwhile, seems to have been varied by few incidents +deserving of being recorded, and we are left to suppose that he spent +his time principally in shooting and fishing, as before. + +For the first sixteen months of his residence at the village, he kept a +reckoning of days by notches on a stick; but when he afterwards moved +about with the chiefs, he neglected this mode of tracing the progress of +time. + +[Illustration: Flute, made from the arm or thigh-bone of an enemy.] + +"At last, it happened one day," the narrative proceeds, "while we were +all assembled at a feast in our village, that Aimy called me to him, +in the presence of several more chiefs, and, having told them of my +activity in shooting and fishing, concluded by saying that he wished to +make me a chief, if I would give my consent. + +"This I readily did: upon which my hair was immediately cut with an +oyster shell in the front, in the same manner as the chiefs have theirs +cut; and several of the chiefs made me a present of some mats, and +promised to send me some pigs the next day. I now put on a mat covered +over with red ochre and oil, such as was worn by the other chiefs; and +my head and face were also anointed with the same composition by a +chief's daughter, who was entirely a stranger to me. I received, at the +same time, a handsome stone mery, which I afterwards always carried with +me. + +"Aimy now advised me to take two or three wives, it being the custom for +the chiefs to have as many as they think proper; and I consented to take +two. About sixty women were then brought up before me, none of whom, +however, pleased me, and I refused to have any of them; on which Aimy +told me that I was 'tabooed' for three days, at the expiration of which +time he would take me with him to his brother's camp, where I should +find plenty of women that would please me. + +"Accordingly we went to his brother's at the time appointed, when +several women were brought up before us; but, having cast my eyes upon +Aimy's two daughters, who had followed us, and were sitting on the +grass, I went up to the eldest, and said that I would choose her. + +"On this she immediately screamed and ran away; but two of the natives, +having thrown off their mats, pursued her, and soon brought her back, +when, by the direction of Aimy, I went and took hold of her hand. The +two natives then let her go, and she walked quietly with me to her +father, but hung down her head, and continued laughing. Aimy now called +his other daughter to him, who also came laughing; and he then advised +me to take them both. + +"I then turned to them, and asked them if they were willing to go with +me, when they both answered, _I pea_, or _I pair_, which signifies, +'Yes, I believe so.'[AT] + +"On this, Aimy told them they were 'tabooed' to me, and directed us all +three to go home together, which we did, followed by several of the +natives. We had not been many minutes at our own village, when Aimy, and +his brother also, arrived; and in the evening, a great feast was given +to the people by Aimy. During the greater part of the night, the women +kept dancing a dance which is called 'Kane-Kane,'[AU] and is seldom +performed, except when large parties are met together. While dancing it, +they stood all in a row, several of them holding muskets over their +heads; and their movements were accompanied by the singing of several +of the men; for they have no kind of music in this country. + +"My eldest wife's name was Eshou,[AV] and that of my youngest +Epecka.[AW] They were both handsome, mild, and good-tempered. I was now +always obliged to eat with them in the open air, as they would not eat +under the roof of my house, that being contrary to the customs of their +country. When away for any length of time, I used to take Epecka along +with me, and leave Eshou at home. + +"The chiefs' wives in New Zealand are never jealous of each other, but +live together in great harmony; the only distinction among them being +that the oldest is always considered the head wife. No other ceremony +takes place on the occasion of a marriage, except what I have mentioned. +Any child born of a slave woman, though the father should be a chief, is +considered a slave, like its mother. + +"A woman found guilty of adultery is immediately put to death. Many of +the chiefs take wives from among their slaves; but any one else that +marries a slave woman may be robbed with impunity; whereas he who +marries a woman belonging to a chief's family is secure from being +plundered, as the natives dare not steal from any person of that rank. + +"With regard to stealing from others, the custom is that if any person +has stolen anything, and kept it concealed for three days, it then +becomes his own property, and the only way for the injured party to +obtain satisfaction is to rob the thief in return. If the theft, +however, be detected within three days, the thief has to return the +article stolen; but, even in that case, he goes unpunished. The chiefs, +also, although secure from the depredations of their inferiors, plunder +one another, and this often occasions a war among them." + +By music in this passage, Rutherford evidently means instrumental music, +which, it would appear, was not known in the parts of New Zealand where +he resided. Other authorities, however, speak of different +wind-instruments, similar to our fifes or flutes, which are elsewhere in +common use. + +One which is frequently to be met with at the Bay of Islands consists, +according to Savage, of a tube six or seven inches long, open at both +extremities, and having three holes on one side, and one on the other. +Another is formed of two pieces of wood bound together, so as to make a +tube inflated at the middle, at which place there is a single hole. It +is blown into at one extremity, while the other is stopped and opened, +to produce different modifications of the sound. + +Nicholas once saw an instrument like a flute, made of bone, very +ingeniously carved, hanging at the breast of one of the natives; and +when he asked what bone it was formed from, the possessor immediately +told him that it was the bone of a man. It was a larger bone than any of +the native animals could have supplied. + +Vocal music is one of the favourite amusements of the New Zealanders. +Destitute as they are of the art of writing, they have, nevertheless, +their song poetry, part of which is traditionary, and part the produce +of such passing events as strongly excite their feelings, and prompt +their fancy to this only work of composition of which they have any +knowledge. + +Certain individuals among them are distinguished for their success in +these effusions; but the people inhabiting the vicinity of the East Cape +seem generally to enjoy the highest reputation for this species of +talent. These tribes, indeed, are described as in many other respects +decidedly superior to the rest of their countrymen. It is among them +that all the arts known in New Zealand flourish in the greatest +perfection; as, for example, the working of mats, and the making and +polishing of the different instruments used in war. + +Yet, although very numerous, they are themselves of a peaceful +disposition. Their houses are said to be both larger and better built +than those in any other part of the island; and their plantations are +also more extensive. This seems, in short, to be the manufacturing +district of New Zealand, the only part of the country in which anything +like regular industry has found an abode. Hence the pre-eminence of its +inhabitants, both in the useful and the elegant arts. + +Nicholas has printed some specimens of the songs of the New Zealanders, +which, when sung, are always accompanied, he informs us, by a great deal +of action. As he has given merely the words, however, without either the +music or a translation, it is needless to transcribe them. The airs he +describes as in general melodious and agreeable, and as having a +resemblance to our chanting. + +One of the songs which he gives is that which is always sung at the +feast which takes place when the planting of the potatoes commences. "It +describes," he says, "the havoc occasioned by the violence of an east +wind. Their potatoes are destroyed by it. They plant them again, and, +being more successful, they express their joy while taking them out of +the ground, with the words, _ah kiki! ah kiki! ah kiki!_--eat away! eat +away! eat away! Which is the conclusion of the song." Of another, "the +subject is a man carving a canoe, when his enemies approach the shore in +a canoe to attack him; endeavouring to conceal himself, he runs in among +the bushes, but is pursued, overtaken, and immediately put to death." + +Every more remarkable occasion of their rude and turbulent life seems +to have its appropriate song. The planting of their potatoes, the +gathering in of the crop, the commencement of the battle, the interment +of the dead, are all celebrated, each by its peculiar chorus, as well +as, probably, most of their other customary excitements, both of mirth +and of mourning. + +The New Zealanders have a variety of national dances; but none of them +have been minutely described. Some of them are said to display much +grace of movement; others are chiefly remarkable for the extreme +violence with which they are performed. As among the other South Sea +tribes, when there are more dancers than one, the most perfect +uniformity of step and attitude is preserved by all of them; and they do +not consider it a dance at all when this rule is not attended to. + +Captain Dillon very much amused some of those who came on board his ship +by a sample of English dancing, which he made his men give them on deck. +A company of soldiers going through their manual exercise would +certainly have come much nearer their notions of what a dance ought to +be. + +Although there are no written laws in New Zealand, all these matters +are, no doubt, regulated by certain universally understood rules, +liberal enough in all probability, in the license which they allow to +the tyranny of the privileged class, but still fixing some boundaries to +its exercise, which will accordingly be but rarely overstepped. Thus, +the power which the chief seems to enjoy of depriving any of his slaves +of life may be limited to certain occasions only; as, for instance, the +death of some member of the family, whose manes, it is conceived, demand +to be propitiated by such an offering. That in such eases slaves are +often sacrificed in New Zealand, we have abundant evidence. + +Cruise even informs us that when a son of one of the chiefs died in +Marsden's house, in New South Wales, it required the interposition of +that gentleman's authority to prevent some of the boy's countrymen, who +were with him, from killing a few of their slaves, in honour of their +deceased friend. On other occasions, it is likely that the life of the +slave can only be taken when he has been convicted of some delinquency; +although, as the chief is the sole judge of his criminality, he will +find this, it may be thought, but a slight protection. The domestic +slaves of the chiefs, however, it is quite possible, and even likely, +are much more completely at the mercy of their caprice and passion than +the general body of the common people, whose vassalage may, after all, +consist in little more than the obligation of following them to their +wars, and rendering them obedience in such other matters of public +concern. + +Between the chiefs and the common people, who, as we have already +mentioned, are called "cookees," there seems to be also a pretty +numerous class, distinguished by the name of rungateedas, or, as it has +been more recently written, rangatiras, which appears to answer nearly +to the English term gentry.[AX] It consists of those who are connected +by relationship with the families of the chiefs; and who, though not +possessed of any territorial rights, are, as well as the chiefs +themselves, looked upon as almost of a different species from the +inferior orders, from whom they are probably as much separated in their +political condition and privileges as they are in the general estimation +of their rank and dignity. The term rangatira, indeed, in its widest +signification, includes the chiefs themselves, just as our English +epithet gentleman does the highest personages in the realm. + +Although there is no general government in New Zealand, the chiefs +differ from each other in power; and some of them seem even to exercise, +in certain respects, a degree of authority over others. Those who are +called areekees,[AY] in particular, are represented as of greatly +superior rank to the common chiefs. It was, probably, a chief of this +class of whom Cook heard at various places where he put in along the +east coast of the northern island, on his first visit to the country. He +calls him Teratu; and he found his authority to extend, he says, from +Cape Turnagain to the neighbourhood of Mercury Bay. The eight districts, +too, into which this island was divided by Toogee,[AZ] in the map of it +which he drew for Captain King, were in all likelihood the nominal +territories, or what we may call feudal domains, of so many areekees. + +The account which Rutherford gives of the law, or custom, which prevails +in New Zealand in regard to the crime of theft, may seem at first sight +to be somewhat irreconcilable with the statements of other authorities, +who tell us that this crime is regarded by the natives in so heinous a +light that its usual punishment is death; whereas, according to him, it +would seem scarcely to be considered by them as a crime at all. + +This apparent disagreement, however, arises, in all probability, merely +from that misapprehension, or imperfect conception, of the customs of a +foreign people into which we are so apt to be misled by the tendency we +have to mix up constantly our own previously acquired notions with the +simple facts that present themselves to us, and to explain the latter by +the former. With our habits and improved ideas of morality, we see in +theft both a trespass upon the arbitrary enactments of society, which +demands the correction of the civil magistrate, and a violation of that +natural equity which is independent of all political arrangements, and +would make it unfair and wrong for one man to take to himself what +belongs to another, although there were no such thing as what is +commonly called a government in existence. + +But in the mind of the New Zealander these simple notions of right and +wrong have been warped, and, as it were, suffocated, by a multitude of +unnatural and monstrous inventions, which have grown up along with them +from his very birth. How misapplied are the epithets, natural and +artificial, when employed, as they often are, to characterise the savage +and civilized state! It is the former, in truth, which is by far the +most artificial; and much of civilization consists in the abolition of +the numerous devices by which it has falsified and perverted the natural +dispositions of the human heart and understanding, and in the +reformation of society upon principles more accordant with their +unsophisticated dictates. + +Probably the only case in which the New Zealander looks upon theft as a +crime is when it is accompanied by a breach of hospitality, or is +committed upon those who have, in the customary and understood manner, +entrusted themselves to his friendship and honour. In any other +circumstances, he will scarcely hold himself disgraced by any act of +depredation which he can contrive to accomplish without detection; +however much the fear of not escaping with impunity may often deter him +from making the attempt. + +Then, as for the estimation in which the crime is politically held, +this, we need not doubt, will be very much regulated by the relative +situation in regard to rank of the two parties. Most of the European +visitors who have hitherto given us an account of the country have mixed +chiefly with the higher classes of its inhabitants, and consequently +learned but little with regard to the condition of the great body of the +population, except in so far as it affected, or was affected by, that of +the chiefs. Hence the impression they have taken up that theft in New +Zealand is looked upon as one of the worst of crimes, and always +punished with death. It is so, we have no doubt, when committed by one +of the common people upon any of the privileged class. In that case, the +mean and despised condition of the delinquent, as compared with that of +the person whose rights he has dared to invade, converts what might +otherwise have scarcely been deemed a transgression at all into +something little short of sacrilege. The thief is therefore knocked on +the head at once, or strung up on a gallows; for that, too, seems to be +one of the modes of public punishment for this species of crime in New +Zealand. This severity is demanded by the necessity which is felt for +upholding the social edifice in its integrity; and is also altogether in +keeping with the slight regard in which the lives of the lower orders +are universally held, and the love of bloodshed by which this ferocious +people is distinguished. + +But when one "cookee," or common man, pilfers from another, it is quite +another matter. In this case, the act entirely wants those aggravations +which, in the estimation of a New Zealander, give it all its +criminality; and the parties, besides, are so insignificant, that the +notion of avenging any injury which the one may have suffered from the +other by the public execution of the offender would probably be deemed +in that country nearly as unreasonable as we should hold a proposal for +the application of such a scheme of government in correction of the +quarrels and other irregularities of the lower animals. + +It need not, therefore, surprise us to be told, especially when we +consider also the trivial value of any articles of property they +possess, that thieving among the common people there is regarded, not as +a crime, but as an art, in which, as in other arts, the skilful and +dexterous practitioner deserves reward rather than punishment; nearly as +it was regarded among the Spartans, who punished the detected thief, +indeed, but not so much for his attempt as for his failure; or more +nearly still as it is said to have been among the ancient Egyptians, by +whom such acts were, in all cases, allowed to be perpetrated with +impunity. + +This view will go far to explain various incidents which we find noticed +in the different accounts of New Zealand. The reports of the +missionaries, in particular, abound with notices of individuals put to +death by the chiefs for alleged acts of theft; but in every case of this +kind which is mentioned, the person punished is, we believe, a slave. We +have observed no instance, noted, in which the crime in question was +punished, either with death or in any other way, when committed by one +"cookee" on the property of another; and it is abundantly evident, from +many things which are stated, that the natives themselves really do not +consider the act as implying, in ordinary cases, that moral turpitude +which we generally impute to it. + +In one case which Marsden mentions, the brother of a chief, named +Ahoudee Ogunna,[BA] conceiving himself to have been improperly treated +by one of the missionaries, stole two earthen pots from another of them; +but the explanation which the chief gave of the matter was that his +brother had not stolen the pots, but had only taken them away with an +intention to bring on an explanation respecting the conduct which had +given him offence. The man's expectation here evidently was that his +theft (if it was to be so called) would merely have the effect of making +the missionaries as angry as he himself was, and so of rendering both +parties equally anxious for a full discussion of their differences. He +had himself, as he conceived, been affronted in a manner not to be +passed over; and his stealing of the pots he meant merely as a spirited +act of retaliation, which would in some degree throw back the insult he +had received upon those who had inflicted it, and make them in their +turn feel mortified and on fire for satisfaction. + +He certainly did not imagine for a moment that he was at all degrading +himself by the method he adopted for attaining this end. The +degradation, in his conception of the matter, would be all with the +party robbed. He had, however, in his anger, forgotten one thing, which, +according even to the notions of the New Zealanders, it was most +material that he should have remembered, as his more considerate brother +felt as soon as he heard of the transaction, and as even he himself was +afterwards brought to acknowledge. The chief, besides having experienced +much kindness from the missionaries, was the very person from whom they +had purchased the ground on which their settlement was established, and +on whose friendship, at least, they had therefore a fair right to count, +if they were not even to regard themselves as in some degree under his +special protection. That personage felt the force of these +considerations so strongly that, in order to show how much he was vexed +and ashamed at his brother's conduct, he burned his own house to the +ground, and left his usual place of residence, with a determination +never to return to it so long as his brother lived. + +On the morning of his departure, the high-spirited chief came to take +leave of the missionaries, when he told them that he had been on the +spot where his house stood before he burned it, to weep with his +friends, and showed them how much he had lacerated his face, arms, and +other parts of his body, in which his friends had followed his example. +His brother, too, at last came to them, quite penitent for his hasty +conduct, and offered to restore the only one of the pots which he still +had, the other having been already stolen from him by one of his +countrymen. Accordingly, he soon after sent his son with the article; +and the boy having been presented with six fish-hooks, he immediately +brought them back, with a message, that his father would take nothing +for the pot. + +Such acts of retaliation as that to which the brother of Ahoudee Ogunna +here had recourse are often resorted to by the chiefs with something of +a similar design, to avenge themselves, namely, for injuries which they +conceive they have sustained, or to bring about those ulterior measures +by which they may obtain for their grievances complete atonement or +redress. In this way, many wars arise. But it is a point of honour with +a chief never to touch what belongs to those who have trusted themselves +to his friendship, and against whom he has no claim for satisfaction on +account of any old affront or outrage. To be supposed capable of doing +so would be felt by any of them as an intolerable imputation. + +[Illustration: A waist-mat. _Christchurch Museum_.] + +We find a striking instance of this, to pass over many others that might +be quoted, in the conduct of Tetoro, who returned home to New Zealand +from Port Jackson, along with Cruise, in the "Dromedary." It was thought +necessary, during the passage, to take from this chief a box containing +some gunpowder, which he had got with him, and to lodge it in the +magazine until the ship arrived at New Zealand. "Though every exertion," +says Cruise, "was used, to explain the reason why he was requested to +give it up, and the strongest assurances made that it should be restored +hereafter, he either could not or would not understand what was said to +him. Upon parting with the property, which, next to his musket, was in +his eyes the greatest treasure in the world, he fell into an agony of +grief and despair which it was quite distressing to witness, repeatedly +exclaiming, 'No good,' and, rolling himself up in his mat, he declined +the conversation of every one. He remained in this state so long that +the powder was at length brought back; but he refused to take it, +saying, 'that they might again put it in the magazine, since they must +now be aware that he had not stolen it.'" + +Similar to that of Tetoro, was the conduct of a chief whom Marsden met +with on his first visit to New Zealand, and who was so much grieved and +ashamed at the circumstance of one of his dependents having stolen some +trifle from that gentleman, that he sat for two days and nights on the +deck of the ship, and could not be prevailed upon to enter the +cabin.[BB] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AT: I pea, "Of course."] + +[Footnote AU: Kanikani, to dance, as in the haka.] + +[Footnote AV: These words are not in accord with the present system of +spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. The +former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" placed +in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, and +Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"--which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"--is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"] + +[Footnote AW: These words are not in accord with the present system +of spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. +The former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" +placed in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, +and Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"--which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"--is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"] + +[Footnote AX: The latter word is correct.] + +[Footnote AY: Arikis.] + +[Footnote AZ: Tuki.] + +[Footnote BA: This is the man referred to in a previous chapter, who +signed a deed of sale to Marsden by the pattern of his tattoo.] + +[Footnote BB: Maning, in "Old New Zealand," gives a delightful account +of the manner in which the law of muru, or plunder, ruled with an iron +hand in the ancient Maoriland.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +With regard to many of the other habits of the New Zealanders, +Rutherford in general corroborates the testimony of other travellers. + +He mentions particularly their extreme inattention to personal +cleanliness, a circumstance which very much surprised Nicholas, as it +seemed to present an unaccountable contrast to the neatness and order +which were usually to be found both in their plantations and huts. + +All the natives, Rutherford states, are overrun with vermin, which lodge +not only in their heads, but in their mats. "Their way of destroying +them in their mats," he adds, "is by making a fire, on which, having +thrown a quantity of green bushes, they spread the mat over the whole, +when the steam from the leaves compels the vermin to retreat to the +surface: these the women are very active in catching on such occasions +with both hands, and devouring greedily. Sometimes two or three will be +catching them at the same mat." + +The New Zealanders cure their fish, Rutherford tells us, by dipping them +a great many times in salt water, and then drying them in the sun. The +large mussels they first bake in the usual manner, and then, taking them +out of the shell, string them together, and hang them up over the fire +to dry in the smoke. Thus prepared, they eat like old cheese, and will +keep for years. The coomeras, or sweet potatoes, are also cured in the +same manner, which makes them eat like gingerbread. Their potatoes the +natives pack in baskets made of green flax, and in this way preserve +them for the winter. There are, however, three months in the year during +which they live upon little except turnips, and at this time they do +with almost no drink. The baskets in which they keep their provisions, +and apply to other domestic purposes, are formed with considerable +ingenuity, and with some taste, in their decorations. + +Notwithstanding the stormy seas by which their islands are surrounded, +and the woods, swamps, and rivers, which oppose such difficulties in the +way of passing from one place to another through the heart of the +country, the New Zealanders are known to be in the habit of making long +journeys, both along the coasts in their canoes, and through the +interior on foot. + +Rutherford gives us some account of a journey which he once accomplished +in company with the chief Aimy. + +"I took," says he, "my wife Epecka with me, and we were attended by +about twenty slave-women to carry our provisions, every one of whom bore +on her back, besides a supply for her own consumption, about thirty +pounds of potatoes, and drove before her at the same time a pig, which +she held by a string tied to its fore-leg. + +"The men never travel without being armed. Our journey was made +sometimes by water and sometimes by land; and, proceeding in this +manner, we arrived, in about a month, at a place called Taranake,[BC] on +the coast of Cook Strait, where we were received by Otago,[BD] a great +chief, who had come from near the South Cape. On meeting we saluted each +other in the customary manner by touching noses, and there was also a +great deal of crying, as usual. + +"Here I saw an Englishman, named James Mowry, who told me that he had +formerly been a boy belonging to a ship called the 'Sydney Cove,' which +had put in near the South Cape, when a boat's crew, of which he was one, +had been sent on shore for the purpose of trading with the natives. They +were attacked, however, and every man of them killed except himself, he +having been indebted for his preservation to his youth and the +protection of Otago's daughter: this lady he had since married. He had +now been eight years in the country, and had become so completely +reconciled to the manners and way of life of the natives, that he had +resolved never to leave it. He was twenty-four years of age, handsome, +and of middle size, and had been well tattooed. He had also been made a +chief, and had often accompanied the natives to their wars. He spoke +their language, and had forgotten a great deal of his own. He told me he +had heard of the capture of our ship, and gave me an account of the +deaths of Smith and Watson, two of my unfortunate shipmates. I, in turn, +related to him my story, and what I had gone through.[BE] + +"The village of Taranake stands by the sea-side, and the manners and +customs of the inhabitants are the same as prevail in other parts of the +island. + +"We remained here six weeks; and during this time I employed myself in +looking out for a ship passing through the Straits, by which I might +make my escape, but was never fortunate enough to see one. I kept my +intention, however, a secret from Mowry, for he was too much attached to +the natives for me to trust him. + +"On leaving Taranake we took our way along the coast, and after a +journey of six weeks arrived at the East Cape, where we met with a +great chief, named Bomurry, belonging to the Bay of Islands. He told us +that he resided in the neighbourhood of Kendal,[BF] the missionary. He +had about five hundred warriors with him, and several war-canoes, in one +of which I observed a trunk, having on it the name of Captain Brin, of +the 'Asp,' South Seaman. These people had also with them a number of +muskets, with polished barrels, and a few small kegs of powder, as well +as a great quantity of potatoes and flax mats. They had plundered and +murdered nearly every person that lived between the East Cape and the +river Thames; and the whole country dreaded the name of Bomurry. + +"This great warrior showed us several of the heads of chiefs whom he had +killed on this expedition, and these, he said, he intended to carry back +with him to the Bay of Islands, to sell for gunpowder to the ships that +touched there. He and his followers having taken leave of us, and set +sail in their canoes, we also left the East Cape the day following, and +proceeded on our journey homewards, travelling during the day, and +encamping at night in the woods, where we slept around large fires under +the branches of the trees. In this way we arrived in four days at our +own village, where I was received by Eshou, my eldest wife, with great +joy. I was much fatigued by my journey, as was also my other wife, +Epecka, who had accompanied me." + +The person whom Rutherford here calls Bomurry is doubtless the chief +described in most of the other recent accounts of New Zealand under the +name of Pomaree, or Pomarree[BG], one of the most extraordinary +characters in that country. He had taken this name instead of another by +which he used to be called, Nicholas informs us, a short time before he +first saw him in 1815, because he had heard that it was that of the king +of Otaheite, according to the practice which prevails among his +countrymen of frequently changing their names, and calling themselves +after persons of whose power or rank they have conceived a high idea. + +Pomaree is described by this gentleman as having been looked upon, even +in his own country, as a monster of rapacity and cruelty, always +involved in quarrels with his neighbours, and in the habit of stealing +their property whenever he had an opportunity. Duaterra asserted that on +a recent occasion he had made an incursion into his territory, and, +without any provocation, murdered six of his people, the bodies of all +of whom he afterwards devoured, not even their heads having escaped his +gluttony, after he had stuck them upon a stick and roasted them at the +fire. + +The New Zealand chiefs, however, not excepting the most respectable +among them, were found to be sadly given to calumniate one another by +all sorts of fictions; and even Pomaree, bad as he really was, seems +sometimes to have been worse reported of by the others than he deserved. + +Upon another occasion Korro-korro told a long story about a design which +he said had been formed to cut off the ship belonging to the +missionaries, and of which he maintained that Pomaree was the principal +instigator; but this was afterwards discovered to be a mere invention of +that otherwise very honourable chief. + +Notwithstanding Pomaree's bad reputation, indeed, it is remarkable that +we do not find a single instance anywhere recorded in which any European +had reason to complain of his conduct. Nicholas was once dreadfully +alarmed by the apprehension that he had decoyed away his friend, +Marsden, to murder him; but was very soon relieved by the return of the +reverend gentleman from a friendly walk which he had been enjoying, in +the company of his supposed assassin, through one of the woods on his +territory. + +Pomaree, in truth, was too thoroughly aware of the advantages to be +derived from the visits of the Europeans to think of exercising his +murderous propensities upon their persons, however fond he might have +been of embruing his hands in the blood of his own countrymen. + +"We found Pomaree," says Nicholas, "to be a very extraordinary +character; he was of more service to us in procuring timber than all +the other chiefs put together; and I never met, in any part of the +world, with a man who showed so much impatient avidity for transacting +business. His abilities, too, in this line were very great; he was an +excellent judge of several articles, and could give his opinion of an +axe as well as any European; while handling it with ecstasy the moment +he got it in his possession, his eyes would still feast themselves on so +valuable an acquisition." + +He then relates an anecdote of him which strikingly corresponds with one +of the circumstances which Rutherford mentions: his custom of +trafficking in preserved heads. + +"This man," continues Nicholas, "displayed upon every occasion a more +uncomplying spirit of independence than any of the other chiefs. It is +customary with the New Zealanders to preserve from putrefaction, by a +curious method, the heads of the enemies they have slain in battle; and +Pomaree had acquired so great a proficiency in this art that he was +considered the most expert at it of any of his countrymen. The process, +as I was informed, consists of taking out the brains, and drying the +head in such a manner as to keep the flesh entire; but in doing this an +uncommon degree of skill and experience is required. Marsden put some +questions to Pomaree one day about the plan he pursued in this art that +gave him so decided a superiority over the others; but he was not +willing to make him a direct reply, as he knew it was a subject on +which we reflected with horror, and one which in its detail must be +shocking to our feelings. But my friend asking him if he could procure a +head preserved in this manner, it occurred to him that he might receive +an axe for his trouble; and this idea made the man of business not only +enter into a copious explanation of his system, but induced him also to +offer us a sample of his practice, by telling us he would go and shoot +some people who had killed his son, if we would supply him with powder +for the purpose; and then, bringing back their heads, would show us all +we wished to know about his art of preserving them. + +"It will easily be supposed that this sanguinary proposal immediately +put an end to all further interrogatories; and Marsden, whose motive for +questioning him on the subject was not to discover the nature of a +practice so revolting to humanity, but to develop more fully the +character of the individual, told him he must fight no more, and desired +him, in positive terms, never to attempt to bring any sample of his art +on board, as he had no intention of seeing it himself at the time he +inquired about it, nor would he suffer any one in the ship to +countenance such a shocking exhibition. + +"This was a sad disappointment to Pomaree, who found himself deceived in +the hopes he had formed of increasing his wealth by the addition of +another axe; and I cannot help believing that, for so tempting a +reward, he would not have hesitated to take the life of the first person +that came in his way, provided he could have done it with impunity. This +chief omitted no opportunity of setting forth his great personal +qualifications, as likewise the extensive authority he possessed; and he +was constantly boasting of his warlike achievements, despising his +rivals, and extolling himself over all the other heroes of New Zealand." + +Cruise has given us a short account of the manner of preserving heads; +and we find it also detailed in Rutherford's journal, somewhat more +minutely. According to him the skull is first completely emptied of its +contents, the eyes and tongue being likewise extracted; after which the +nostrils and entire inside of the skull are stuffed with flax. At the +neck, where the head has been cut from the body, they draw the skin +together like the mouth of a purse, leaving, however, an open space +large enough to admit the hand. + +They then wrap it up in a quantity of green leaves, and in this state +expose it to the fire till it is well steamed; after which the leaves +are taken off, and it is next hung up to dry in the smoke, which causes +the flesh to become tough and hard. Both the hair and teeth are +preserved, and the tattooing on the face remains as plain as when the +person was alive. The head, when thus cured, will keep for ever, if it +be preserved dry. + +Cruise says that the heads are only exposed to a current of dry air; +but it appears, from Rutherford's account, that they are hung in the +smoke of a wood fire, and are thus, in fact, preserved from decaying +principally by being impregnated with the pyroligneous acid. That the +New Zealanders are well acquainted with the antiseptic powers of this +extract is proved also by what was formerly stated as to their method of +curing mussels. A French writer considers that this art of preserving +heads is a proof of some original connection between the New Zealanders +and the ancient world; as the process is as effective as that by which +the Egyptians prepared their mummies. + +In savage countries the spirit of war is very much a spirit of personal +hostility; and both because of this, and from the state of society not +admitting of the erection of expensive public memorials which elsewhere, +or in another age, are employed to preserve the renown of military +exploits, the barbarian victor generally celebrates his triumph on the +body of his slain enemy, in disfiguring which he first exercises his +ingenuity, and afterwards in converting it into a permanent trophy of +his prowess. + +The ancient Scythian warrior, Herodotus tells us, was wont to carry away +the heads of all those whom he slew in battle, to present to his king; +and the ancient Gauls, it is said, used to hang these bloody spoils +around the necks of their horses. The Gauls are asserted also to have +been in the practice of embalming the heads which they brought home from +their wars, of which they had large collections, which they kept in +chests. These they used to show with much exultation to the strangers +who visited their country; boasting that neither they nor their +ancestors had ever been known to dispose of such honourable heirlooms +for any price that could be offered. + +Among some races it has been the custom to preserve only the scalp; as, +for instance, among the Indians of America. The taking of scalps, +however, is also a practice of great antiquity. The Scythians used to +hang the scalps of their enemies to the harness of their horses; and he +was deemed the most distinguished warrior whose equipage was most +plentifully decorated with these ornaments. Some were accustomed to sew +numbers of scalps together, so as to form a cloak, in which they arrayed +themselves. It was also usual for the warriors of this nation to tear +off the skin from the right hands of their slain enemies, and to +preserve it with the nails attached; and sometimes they flayed the whole +body, and, after drying the skin, made use of it as a covering for their +horses. + +Some of the savage tribes of America are said to have been accustomed to +practice the same barbarity, and to convert the skins of the hands into +pouches for holding their tobacco. + +The history of Scotland affords an instance, even in comparatively +recent times, of a victorious party, in the bitterness of their +contempt and hatred, employing the skin of a slain enemy in a somewhat +similar manner. Hugh Cressingham, appointed by Edward I. Lord Chief +Justice of Scotland, having been slain at Stirling Bridge in an attack +by Wallace, the Scots flayed him, and made saddles and girths of his +skin. + +To recur to the practices of a higher state of civilization, our own +custom, which existed as late as the last century, of exposing the heads +of traitors, although meant as a warning, in the same way as hanging in +chains, was perhaps a relic of those ferocious ages when it was not +considered mean and brutal to carry revenge beyond the grave. The +executions in London, after the rebellion of 1745, were followed by such +a revolting display, useless for any object of salutary terror, and +calculated only to excite a vulgar curiosity. Horace Walpole, in a very +few words, describes the feelings with which the public crowded to this +sight:--"I have been this morning at the Tower, and passed under the new +heads of Temple Bar, where people make a trade of letting spying glasses +at a halfpenny a look." + +The New Zealanders have, therefore, in some degree, a justification for +this custom in the somewhat similar acts of civilized communities. At +any rate, in preserving, as they do, the heads of their enemies, they +only follow a practice which has been common to many other barbarous +tribes. + +Although Pomaree, it would appear, made a merchandise of these heads +when he had the opportunity, his countrymen, in general, are far from +treating them with so much disrespect. It was with great reluctance that +some of them were prevailed upon to sell one to Mr. Banks, when he was +with Cook in Queen Charlotte Sound, in 1770; and nothing could induce +them to part with a second. They are, in fact, preserved as spoils or +trophies during the continuance of the war; and their restoration to the +party from whom they have been taken is so indispensable a preliminary +to the conclusion of a peace, that it is said no chief would dispose of +them, unless it were his determination never to come to terms with his +opponents; so that we may suppose this was what Pomaree had resolved +upon. + +The brain is eaten, like the rest of the body; and the eyes are also +frequently devoured by the conqueror, especially the left eye, which, it +is believed, ascends to heaven and becomes a star. Shungie is stated, +upon one occasion, to have eaten the left eye of a great chief whom he +had killed in battle, under the idea of thus increasing the glory and +brightness of his own left eye, when it should be transferred to the +firmament; for it is understood that when any one eats of the person he +has killed, the dead man becomes a part of himself. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum._ + +Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair.] + +Nicholas tells another amusing story of Pomaree's style of doing +"business," which we shall also give in his own words. "This wily +chief," says he, "had cast a longing eye upon a chisel belonging to one +of the missionaries, and to obtain it he had brought some fish on board, +which he presented to the owner of the chisel with so much apparent +generosity and friendliness, that the other could not help considering +it a gratuitous favour, and, receiving it as such, told him he felt very +grateful for his kindness. + +"But Pomaree had no idea of any such disinterested liberality, and as +soon as the fish were eaten, he immediately demanded the chisel in +return; which, however, was not granted, as it was a present much too +valuable to be given away for so trifling a consideration. Incensed at +the denial, the chief flew into a violent rage, and testified, by loud +reproaches, how grievously he was provoked by the ill-success of his +project. He told the person, who very properly refused to comply with +his demand, that 'he was no good,' and that he would never again bring +him anything more. He attempted the same crafty experiment upon another +of our party also, but this proved equally abortive, the person being +well aware of his character, and knowing he would require from him ten +times more than the worth of his pretended favour." + +Though so covetous and crafty himself, however, Pomaree had no mercy to +show for the delinquencies of others. On one occasion, when a poor +"cookee" had been detected in the commission of some petty theft about +the vessel, he was loud in his exhortations to the captain to hang him +up immediately. The man appears, indeed, to have been altogether +divested even of those natural affections which scarcely any of his +savage countrymen but himself were found to be without. + +When Marsden and Nicholas left New Zealand, a number of the chiefs sent +their sons with them to Port Jackson; and such a scene of anguish took +place on the parting between the parents and their children that there +was no European present, Nicholas says, not excepting the most obdurate +sailor on board, who was not more or less affected. "But I cannot help +noticing," he adds, "that in the general expression of inconsolable +distress, Pomaree was the only person who showed no concern; he took +leave of his son with all the indifference imaginable, and hurrying into +his canoe, paddled back to the shore--a solitary exception to the +affecting sensibility of his countrymen." + +Even Pomaree, however, could weep on some occasions, as the following +account which Marsden gives us of an interview he had with him four or +five years after this will show. "He told me," says Marsden, "that he +was very angry that I had not brought a blacksmith for him; and that +when he heard that there was no blacksmith for him, he sat down and wept +much, and also his wives. I assured him that he should have one, as +soon as one could be got for him. He replied it would be of no use to +him to send a blacksmith when he was dead; and that he was at present in +the greatest distress: his wooden spades were all broke, and he had not +an axe to make any more; his canoes were all broke, and he had not a +nail or a gimlet to mend them with; his potato grounds were +uncultivated, and he had not a hoe to break them up with, nor a tool to +employ his people; and that, for want of cultivation, he and his people +would have nothing to eat. He begged me to compare the land of +Tippoonah,[BH] which belonged to the inhabitants of Ranghee-hoo[BI] and +Shungie, with his; observing, that their land was already prepared for +planting, because a smith was there, and they could get hoes, &c. I +endeavoured to pacify his mind with promises, but he paid little +attention to what I said in respect to sending him a smith at a future +period." + +Pomaree was by much too cunning to be cheated of his object in this way. +He was evidently determined not to go without something in hand; and +nothing accordingly would drive him from his point. + +When Marsden tried to divert his attention to another subject by asking +him if he should wish to go to England, he replied at once that he +should not; adding, with his characteristic shrewdness, that he was a +little man when at Port Jackson, and should be less in England; but in +his own country he was a great king. The conference ended at last by an +express promise that he should have immediately three hoes, an axe, a +few nails, and a gimlet. This instantly put him in great good humour. + +We have collected these notices in order to give a more complete +illustration of so singular and interesting a character as that formed +by the union of the rude and bloodthirsty barbarian with the bustling +trafficker. It is an exhibition of the savage mind in a new guise. We +have only to add, with regard to Pomaree, that it appears by other +authorities, as well as by the notice we find in Rutherford, that he was +in the habit of making very devastating excursions occasionally to the +southern part of the island. When Cruise left New Zealand in 1820, he +had been away on one of these expeditions nearly a year, nor was it +known exactly where he had gone to. The people about the mouth of the +Thames said they had seen him since he left home, but he had long ago +left their district for one still farther south. The last notice we find +of him, is in a letter from the Rev. H. Williams, in the "Missionary +Register" for 1827, in which it is stated, that he had a short time +before fallen in battle, having been cut to pieces, with many of his +followers, by a tribe on whom he had made an attack. + +This event, of the circumstances of which Dillon was furnished with a +particular account by some of the near relations of the deceased chief, +took place in the southern part of the island. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BC: This is one of the discrepancies in Rutherford's +narrative. Taranaki is a district on the West Coast of the North Island, +and is about 150 miles from Cook Strait.] + +[Footnote BD: Otago is a large province in the southern part of the +South Island, 300 miles from the Strait. Rutherford probably refers to +Takou, a Wairarapa chief, who was connected with the Ngai-Tahu of +Otago.] + +[Footnote BE: It is supposed that the man was "Jim the Maori," the +latter word being wrongly spelt "Moury" in the manuscript of +Rutherford's story. The man's real name was James Caddell. He was an +Englishman by birth, and lived amongst the Maoris so long that he became +one of them, adopting their customs and ideas. Those who have +investigated his case believe that he belonged to the "Sydney Cove," a +sealer, which sailed in New Zealand waters. Near the South Cape, a boat +from a sealer was captured by the Maoris, and all the members of the +crew except Caddell were killed and eaten. Caddell, according to his own +account, was saved by running to a chief and touching his mat. He was +sixteen years of age then. He married a chief's daughter, and became a +Maori in all respects except colour. He was captured by Captain +Edwardson, of the "Snapper," and was taken to Sydney, where he seems to +have paraded as a savage chief. While he was with the Maoris, he almost +forgot the English language, and found much difficulty in making himself +understood by Captain Edwardson.] + +[Footnote BF: Mr. Kendal was one of the missionaries who went to New +Zealand with Marsden when missionary work in the country was begun.] + +[Footnote BG: Pomare.] + +[Footnote BH: Te Puna, at that time the principal town in the Bay of +Islands.] + +[Footnote BI: Rangihoua.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The New Zealanders, according to Rutherford, have neither priests, nor +places of worship, nor any religion except their superstitious dread of +the Atua. + +To an uneducated man, coming from a Christian country, the entire +absence of all regular religious observances among these savages would +very naturally give such an impression. Cook ascertained that they had +no "morais"[BJ] or temples, like some of the other tribes of the South +Seas; but he met with persons who evidently bore what we should call the +priestly character. + +The New Zealanders are certainly not without some notions of religion; +and, in many particulars, they are a remarkably superstitious people. +During the whole course of their lives, the imagined presence of the +unseen and supernatural crosses them at every step. What has been +already stated respecting the "taboo" may give some idea of how +submissive and habitual is their sense of the power of the Divinity, and +how entirely they conceive themselves to be in his hands; as well as +what a constant and prying superintendence they imagine him to exercise +over their conduct. + +It would be easy to enumerate many minor superstitions, all indicative +of the extraordinary influence of the same belief. They think, for +instance, that if they were to allow a fire to be lighted under a shed +where there are provisions, their god would kill them. + +They have many superstitions, also, with regard to cutting their hair. +Cook speaks, in the account of his third voyage, of a young man he had +taken on board the ship, who, having one day performed this ceremony, +could not be prevailed upon to eat a morsel till night, insisting that +the atua would most certainly kill him if he did. + +Cruise tells us that Tetoro, on the voyage from Port Jackson, cut the +hair of one of his companions, and continued to repeat prayers over him +during the whole operation. + +Nicholas, having one day found another chief busy in cutting his wife's +hair with a piece of sharp stone, was going to take up the implement +after it had been used, but was immediately charged by the chief not to +touch it, as the deity of New Zealand would wreak his vengeance on him +if he presumed to commit so daring a piece of impiety. + +"Laughing at his superstition," continues Nicholas, "I began to exclaim +against its absurdity, but like Tooi, on a former occasion, he retorted +by ridiculing our preaching, yet at the same time asking me to +sermonize over his wife, as if his object was to have her exorcised; and +upon my refusing, he began himself, but could not proceed from +involuntary bursts of laughter." + +On this occasion, the chief, when he had cut off the hair, collected it +all together, and, carrying it to the outskirts of the town, threw it +away. Cook remarks that he used to see quantities of hair tied to the +branches of the trees near the villages. It is stated, in a letter from +one of the missionaries, that the hair, when cut, is carefully +collected, and buried in a secret place. + +Certain superstitions have been connected with the cutting of the hair, +from the most ancient times. Many allusions are found in the Greek and +Roman writers to the practice of cutting off the hair of the dead, and +presenting it as an offering to the infernal gods, in order to secure a +free passage to Elysium for the person to whom it belonged. The passage +in the fourth book of the "Æneid," where Iris appears by the command of +Juno to liberate the soul of the expiring Queen of Carthage, by thus +severing from her head the fatal lock, will occur to many of our +readers. + +Whatever may have been the origin of this superstition, it is probable +that most of the other notions and customs which have prevailed in +regard to the cutting of the hair are connected with it. The act in this +way naturally became significant of the separation from the living +world of the person on whom it was performed. Of the antiquity of this +practice, we have a proof in a command given by Moses to the Jews:--"Ye +shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for +the dead." These were superstitious customs of the nations by whom they +were surrounded. + +The Gentiles used excessive lamentations, amounting to frenzy, at their +funeral rites. According to Bruce, the Abyssinian woman, upon the death +of a near relation, cuts the skin of both her temples with the nail of +her little finger, which she leaves long on purpose; and thus every fair +face throughout the country is disfigured with scars. The same notion of +abstraction from the present life and its concerns is expressed by the +clerical tonsure, so long known in the Christian church, and still +retained among the Roman Catholics. It is still common, also, among +ourselves, for widows, in the earlier period of their mourning, to cut +off their hair, or to remove it back from the brow. Among all rude +nations, besides, the hair has been held in peculiar estimation from its +ornamental nature, and its capability of being formed into any shape, +according to the fancy of its possessor, or the fashion of the country. + +Amongst nations, especially, where the ordinary clothing of the people, +from the materials of which it was formed, did not admit of being made +very decorative, this consideration would be much regarded, and still +more where no clothing was worn at all. In such cases, the hair, either +of the head or of the beard, has usually been cherished with very +affectionate care, and the mode of dressing it has been made matter of +anxious regulation. Many of the barbarous nations of antiquity had each +a method of cutting the hair peculiar to itself; and it was sometimes +accounted the deepest mark of servitude which a conqueror could impose +when he compelled the violation of this sacred rule of national manners. + +We have a remnant of these old feelings in the reverence with which his +beard is regarded by a Turk of the present day. It is recorded, too, +that no reform which Peter the Great of Russia essayed to introduce +among his semi-barbaric subjects was so pertinaciously resisted as his +attempt to abbreviate their beards. + +Marsden, on asking a New Zealander what he conceived the atua to be, was +answered--"An immortal shadow." Although possessed, however, of the +attributes of immortality, omni-presence, invisibility, and supreme +power, he is universally believed to be in disposition merely a +vindictive and malignant demon. + +When one of the missionaries had one day been telling a number of them +of the infinite goodness of God, they asked him if he was not joking +with them. They believe that whenever any person is sick, his illness is +occasioned by the atua, in the shape of a lizard, preying upon his +entrails; and, accordingly, in such cases, they often address the most +horrid imprecations and curses to the invisible cannibal, in the hope of +thereby frightening him away. They imagine that at other times he amuses +himself in entangling their nets and oversetting their canoes. Of late +years they have suspected that he has been very angry with them for +having allowed the white men to obtain a footing in their country, a +proof of which they think they see in the greater mortality that has +recently prevailed among them. This, however, they at other times +attribute to the God of the Christians, whom they also denounce, +accordingly, as a cruel being, at least to the New Zealander. Sometimes +they more rationally assign as its cause the diseases that have been +introduced among them by the whites. Until the whites came to their +country, they say, young people did not die, but all lived to be so old +as to be obliged to creep on their hands and knees. + +The white man's God they believe to be altogether a different being from +their own atua. Marsden, in one of his letters, relates a conversation +he had upon this subject with some of the chiefs' sons who resided with +him in New South Wales. When he told them that there was but one God, +and that our God was also theirs, they asked him if our God had given us +any sweet potatoes, and could with difficulty be made to see how one +God should give these to the New Zealander and not equally to the white +man; or, on the other hand, how he should have acted so partially as to +give to the white man only such possessions as cattle, sheep, and +horses, which the New Zealander as much required. The argument, however, +upon which they seem most to have rested, was:--"But we are of a +different colour from you; and if one God made us both, he would not +have committed such a mistake as to make us of different colours." Even +one of the chiefs, who had been a great deal with Marsden, and was +disposed to acknowledge the absurdity both of the "taboo" and of many of +his other native superstitions, could not be brought to admit that the +same God who made the white men had also made the New Zealanders. + +Among themselves, the New Zealanders appear to have a great variety of +other gods, besides the one whom they call emphatically the atua. Crozet +speaks of some feeble ideas which they have of subordinate divinities, +to whom, he says, they are wont to pray for victory over their enemies. +But Savage gives us a most particular account of their daily adoration +of the sun, moon, and stars. Of the heavenly host, the moon, he says, is +their favourite; though why he should think so, it is not easy to +understand, seeing that, when addressing this luminary, they employ, he +tells us, a mournful song, and seem as full of apprehension as of +devotion; whereas "when paying their adoration to the rising sun, the +arms are spread and the head bowed, with the appearance of much joy in +their countenances, accompanied with a degree of elegant and reverential +solemnity, and the song used upon the occasion is cheerful." It is +strange that none of their other visitors have remarked the existence of +this species of idolatry among these savages. + +Yet two New Zealanders, who are now in this country, were in the habit +of commencing the exhibition of their national customs with the +ceremonies practised in their morning devotion to the sun. + +The vocal part of the rite, according to the account we have received, +consisted in a low monotonous chant; the manual, in keeping a ball about +the size of an orange constantly whirling in a vertical circle. The +whole was performed in a kneeling posture. Like most other rude nations, +the New Zealanders have certain fancies with regard to several of the +more remarkable constellations; and are not without some conception that +the issues of human affairs are occasionally influenced, or at least +indicated, by the movements of the stars. The Pleiades, for instance, +they believe to be seven of their departed countrymen, fixed in the +firmament; one eye of each of them appearing in the shape of a star, +being the only part that is visible. But it is a common superstition +among them, as we have already noticed, that the left eyes of their +chiefs, after death, become stars. + +This notion is far from being destitute of poetical beauty; and perhaps, +indeed, exhibits the common mythological doctrine of the glittering host +of heaven being merely an assemblage of the departed heroes of earth, in +as ingenious a version as it ever has received. It would be easy to +collect many proofs of the extensive diffusion of this ancient faith, +traces of which are to be found in the primitive astronomy of every +people. The classical reader will at once recollect, among many others +of a similar kind, the stories of Castor and Pollux, and of Berenice's +tresses, the latter of which has been so elegantly imitated by Pope, in +telling us of the fate of the vanished lock of Belinda:-- + + "But trust the muse--she saw it upward rise, + Though marked by none but quick poetic eyes; + (So Home's great founder to the heavens withdrew, + To Proculus alone confessed to view); + A sudden star it shot through liquid air, + And drew behind a radiant trail of hair." + +The New Zealanders conceive, also, that what we call a shooting star is +ominous of the approaching dissolution of any one of their great chiefs +who may be unwell when it is seen. Like the vulgar among ourselves, too, +they have their man in the moon; who, they say, is one of their +countrymen named Rona, who was taken up long ago, one night when he +went to the well to fetch water. + +Nicholas has given us, on the authority of his friend Duaterra, the most +particular account that has appeared of the inferior deities of New +Zealand. Their number, according to him, is very great, and each of them +has his distinct powers and functions; one being placed over the +elements, another over the fowls and fishes, and so of the rest. +Deifications of the different passions and affections, also, it seems, +find a place in this extended mythology. + +In another part of his work, Nicholas remarks, as corroborative of the +Malay descent of the New Zealanders, the singular coincidence, in some +respects, between their mythology and that of the ancient Malay tribe, +the Battas of Sumatra, whose extraordinary cannibal practices we have +already detailed; especially in the circumstance of the three principal +divinities of the Battas having precisely the same functions assigned to +them with the three that occupy the same rank in the system of the New +Zealanders.[BK] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BJ: Marae. With Maoris and Samoans the word means an open +space in a village; in the Tahitian, Mangaian, and Paumotan languages it +means a temple, or a place where rites were performed.] + +[Footnote BK: The religion, and superstitions and legends of the Maoris +are dealt with in Sir George Grey's "Polynesian Mythology," Mr. S. Percy +Smith's "Hawaiki," articles by Mr. Elsdon Best in the "Transactions of +the New Zealand Institute," articles by that author and by Mr. Percy +Smith in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Mr. E. Tregear's "The +Maori Race," and Mr. J.C. Andersen's "Maori Life in Ao-tea."] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It is very remarkable that the New Zealanders attribute the creation of +man to their three principal deities acting together; thus exhibiting in +their barbarous theology something like a shadow of the Christian +Trinity. What is still more extraordinary is their tradition respecting +the formation of the first woman, who, they say, was made of one of the +man's ribs; and their general term for bone is hevee, or, as Professor +Lee gives it, iwi[BL] a sound bearing a singular resemblance to the +Hebrew name of our first mother. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum._ + +Carved boxes (_waka-papa_, or _waka_) for holding feathers and trinkets. +The upper box is said to have formed part of Captain Cook's collection.] + +Particular individuals and places would also seem to have their own +gods. When the "Active" was in the river Thames, a gale of wind, by +which the ship was attacked, was attributed by the natives on board to +the anger of the god of Shoupah,[BM] the Areekee who resided in the +neighbourhood. Kórro-korro, who was among them said that as soon as he +got on shore he would endeavour to prevail upon the Areekee to +propitiate the offended deity. When Marsden asked the people of +Kiperro[BN] if they + +knew anything of their god, or ever had any communication with him, +they replied that they often heard him whistle. The chiefs, too, are +often called atuas, or gods, even while they are alive. The aged chief, +Tarra,[BO] maintained to one of the missionaries that the god of thunder +resided in his forehead; and Shungie and Okeda[BP] asserted that they +were possessed by gods of the sea. + +The part of the heavens in which the gods reside is represented as +beautiful in the extreme. "When the clouds are beautifully chequered," +writes Kendal, "the atua above, it is supposed, is planting sweet +potatoes. At the season when these are planted in the ground, the +planters dress themselves in their best raiment, and say that, as atuas +on earth, they are imitating the atua in heaven." + +The New Zealanders believe that the souls of the higher orders among +them are immortal; but they hold that when the "cookees" die they perish +for ever. The spirit, they think, leaves the body the third day after +death, till which time it hovers round the corpse, and hears very well +whatever is said to it. But they hold also, it would seem, that there is +a separate immortality for each of the eyes of the dead person; the +left, as before-mentioned, ascending to heaven and becoming a star, and +the other, in the shape of a spirit, taking flight for the Reinga. +Reinga signifies, properly, the place of flight; and is said, in some +of the accounts, to be a rock or a mountain at the North Cape from +which, according to others, the spirits descend into the next world +through the sea. The notion which the New Zealanders really entertain as +to this matter appears to be that the spirits first leap from the North +Cape into the sea, and thence emerge into an Elysium situated in the +islands of the Three Kings. The submarine path to the blissful region of +the New Zealanders is less intricate than that of the Huron of +America:-- + + "To the country of the Dead, + Long and painful is thy way! + O'er rivers wide and deep + Lies the road that must be past, + By bridges narrow-wall'd, + When scarce the soul can force its way, + While the loose fabric totters under it." + +In the heaven of the New Zealanders, as in that of the ancient Goths, +the chief employment of the blessed is war, their old delight while on +earth. The idea of any more tranquil happiness has no charms for them. +Speaking of an assembly of them which he had been endeavouring to +instruct in the doctrines of Christianity, one of the Wesleyan +missionaries says: "On telling them about the two eternal states, as +described in the Scriptures, an old chief began to protest against these +things with all the vehemence imaginable, and said that he would not go +to heaven, nor would he go to hell to have nothing but fire to eat; but +he would go to the Reinga or Po, to eat coomeras, (sweet potatoes) with +his friends who had gone before." + +The slaves that are sacrificed upon the death of a chief, by his +friends, are generally intended to prevent him from coming again to +destroy them; but we find that on the occasion of a child having been +drowned, the mother insisted upon a female slave being killed, to be a +companion for it on its way to the Reinga. + +Though the New Zealanders do not assemble together at stated times to +worship their gods, they are in the habit of praying to them in all +their emergencies. Thus, when Korro-korro met his aunt, as before +related, his brother Tooi informed Nicholas that the ejaculations the +old woman uttered as she approached were prayers to the divinity. When +Korro-korro urged Marsden to take his son with him to Port Jackson, and +was told by that gentleman that he was afraid to do so lest the boy +should die, as so many of his countrymen had done when removed from +their native island, the chief replied, that he would pray for his son +during his absence, as he had done for his brother Tooi when he was in +England, and then he would not die. + +Tupee,[BQ] too, another of the Bay of Islands chiefs, Marsden tells us, +used to pray frequently. When that gentleman lay sick in his cot, on the +voyage home from his first visit to New Zealand, Tupee, who was with +him, used to sit by his side, and, laying his hands on different parts +of his body, addressed himself all the while with great devotion to his +god, in intercession for his friend's recovery. + +The priests, or tohungas, as they are called, are persons of great +importance and authority in New Zealand, being esteemed almost the +keepers and rulers of the gods themselves. + +Many of the greatest of the chiefs and Areekees are also priests, as +was, for example, Tupee, whom we have just mentioned. It is the priest +who attends at the bedside of the dying chief, and regulates every part +of the treatment of the patient. When the body of a chief who has been +killed in battle is to be eaten, it is the priest who first gives the +command for its being roasted. The first mouthfuls of the flesh, also, +being regarded as the dues of the gods, are always eaten by the priest. +In the case of any public calamity, it is the priest whose aid is +invoked to obtain relief from heaven. + +Marsden states that on occasion of the caterpillars one year making +great ravages among the crops of sweet potatoes at Rangheehoo,[BR] the +people of that place sent to Cowa-Cowa[BS] for a great priest to avert +the heavy judgment; and that he came and remained with them for several +months, during which he employed himself busily in the performance of +prayers and ceremonies. The New Zealanders also + +consider all their priests as a species of sorcerers, and believe they +have the power to take the lives of whomsoever they choose by +incantation. Themorangha,[BT] one of the most enlightened of the chiefs, +came one day to Marsden, in great agitation, to inform him that a +brother chief had threatened to employ a priest to destroy him in this +manner, for not having sold to sufficient advantage an article which he +had given him to dispose of. "I endeavoured," says Marsden, "to convince +him of the absurdity of such a threat; but to no purpose; he still +persisted that he should die, and that the priest possessed that power; +and began to draw the lines of incantation on the ship's deck, in order +to convince me how the operation was performed. He said that the +messenger was waiting alongside, in a canoe, for his answer. Finding it +of no use to argue with him, I gave him an axe, which he joyfully +received, and delivered to the messenger, with a request that the chief +would be satisfied, and not proceed against him." + +Themorangha seems to have been particularly selected by these priests as +a subject for their roguish practices, perhaps by way of revenge for the +freedom with which he occasionally expressed himself in regard to their +pretensions, when his fears were not excited. A short time before this, +one of them had terrified him not a little by telling him that he had +seen his ghost during the night, and had been informed, by the atua, +that if he went to a certain place to which he was then about to +proceed, he would die in a few days. He soon, however, got so far the +better of his fears as, notwithstanding this alarming intimation, to +venture to accompany Marsden to the forbidden district; and he expressed +his feelings of contempt for the sacred order in no measured terms, when +he found that at the expiration of the predicted period he was still +alive. + +He said that there were too many priests at New Zealand, and that they +"tabooed" and prayed the people to death. Others, as well as the +priests, however, are supposed sometimes to have the power of +witchcraft. + +Two of the missionaries, when one day about to land at a place a short +distance from the settlement, were alarmed by nearly running the boat's +head on three human bodies, which lay close together by the water's edge +among some rushes; and upon inquiry they were informed that they were +the bodies of three slaves who had been killed that morning for +makootooing a chief, _i.e._ betwitching or praying evil prayers against +him, which had caused his death.[BU] + +A common method which the priests use of bewitching those whom they mean +to destroy, is to curse them, which is universally believed to have a +fatal effect. The curse seems usually to be uttered in the shape of a +yell or song, so that the process is literally a species of incantation. +Bishop Newton, in his commentary on the scriptural account of Balaam +being sent for to curse the Israelites, says, "It was a superstitious +ceremony in use among the heathens, to devote their enemies to +destruction at the beginning of their wars; as if the gods would enter +into their passions, and were as unjust and partial as themselves." + +The demeanour of most of the New Zealand priests is something so +entirely different from that observed by the ministers of religion in +civilized countries that it is not surprising Rutherford should have +failed to recognise them as belonging to that order. + +Thus, we read of a priest who speaks of having killed, not by +enchantment, but in the usual way, with his own hands, both a woman who +had gone on board a ship contrary to his orders, and a man who had +stolen some potatoes. + +Another is mentioned as having one day introduced himself into the house +of Mr. Williams, one of the missionaries, by springing over the fence, +and then, when his rude conduct was reproved, stripping himself to fight +with that gentleman. The same personage, who bore the venerable name of +Towee Taboo,[BV] or Holy Towee, a short time after attempted to break +Mr. Williams's door to pieces with a long pole; and when he could not +accomplish that object, effected his entrance by leaping over the fence +as before. What he now wanted, he said, was hootoo,[BW] or payment, for +a hurt which he had given his foot in performing this exploit on the +former occasion. When this strange demand was refused, he attempted to +set the house on fire; and having collected a mob of his friends, would +certainly have done so, had not another party of the natives come to the +assistance of Mr. Williams and his family. + +But one of the most remarkable among this order of men seems to be +Tamanhena[BX], the priest of the head of the Shukehanga, who is believed +to have absolute command over the winds and waves. Marsden met with this +dignitary on his second visit to New Zealand; and found that, in +addition to being a priest, he was in the habit of acting as a pilot, a +profession with which the other suited very well, as by virtue of his +sacred character he had the power of keeping the winds and waves quiet +whenever he chose to put to sea. + +Accordingly, Marsden went out with him in a canoe to examine the +entrance of the river; Tamanhena assuring him, though it blew very +fresh, that he would soon make both the wind and the waves fall. + +"We were no sooner in the canoe," continues Marsden, "than the priest +began to exert all his powers to still the gods, the winds, and the +waves. He spake in an angry and commanding tone. However, I did not +perceive either the winds or waves yield to his authority; and when we +reached the head, I requested to go on shore." + +Tamanhena wished very much to learn to pray like the Europeans, and said +he should willingly give a farm to any missionary who would come to +reside near him. He also promised that he would let Marsden hear his god +speak to him; but when they got to the place where the conference was to +be held, he discovered that the god was not there. Marsden, however, +found him remarkably well informed on all subjects relating to his +country and religion, and thought him, upon the whole, a very sensible +man, making allowance for his theological opinions. + +Cruise has, however, detailed some particulars of this venerable +personage, whom he also met with a few months after Marsden had seen +him, which grievously detract from his character for sanctity. He made +the voyage with them in the "Dromedary" from the Bay of Islands to the +mouth of the Shukehanga, but announced his intention of leaving them the +day after their arrival. + +"During his stay in the ship," says Cruise, "there certainly was nothing +of a very sacred character about him; he was by far the wildest of his +companions; and, unfortunately, on the morning fixed for his departure, +a soldier having missed his jacket, there was so great a suspicion of +the pilot's honesty, that the sentinel at the gangway took the liberty +of lifting up his mat, as he prepared to go down the side, and +discovered the stolen property under it. + +"The jacket was of course taken from him; and as the only excuse he had +to offer for his misconduct was that he had lost a shirt that had been +given to him, and that he considered himself authorised to get +remuneration in any way he could, he was dismissed without those +presents which were given to the others. We were glad to see that his +countrymen seemed to notice his conduct in the strongest terms of +disapprobation; and the next day, when they were about to leave us, they +seemed so determined to put him to death that they were requested not to +do so, but to consider his having lost his presents, and his being +forbidden ever to come near the ship, a sufficient punishment for his +offence." + +It is very remarkable, that, whenever a child is born in New Zealand, it +is the invariable practice to take it to the tohunga, or priest, who +sprinkles it on the face with water, from a leaf which he holds in his +hand. It is believed that the neglect of this ceremony would be attended +with the most baneful consequences to the child. + +Much reverence is felt among the New Zealanders for dreams; and it is +believed that the favoured of heaven often receive in this way the +communications of the gods. We need hardly remark how universal this +superstition has been. The reader of Homer will recollect the + + [Greek: kai gar t onar ek Dios estin] + +of that poet, and the [Greek: oulos oneiros], or evil dream, which, in +the second book of the Iliad, Jupiter sends down to Agamemnon, to lure +him to give battle to the Trojans in the absence of Achilles. + +We must refer to Lafitau's learned work on the savages of America for an +account of the notions which prevail among them as to divination by +dreams. Dillon tells us that he found no way so effectual of repressing +the importunities of his New Zealand friends, in any case in which it +was inconvenient to gratify them, as assuring them he had dreamed that +the favour they requested would turn out a misfortune to them. When some +of them, for example, entreated that he would take them with him to +India, he told them that he had dreamed that if they went to that +country they would die there; and this at once put an end to their +solicitations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BL: The Maoris and Hawaiians use the word "iwi" for a bone; +the Samoans, Tahitians, and other islanders say "ivi."] + +[Footnote BM: Probably Tupa.] + +[Footnote BN: Probably Kaipara.] + +[Footnote BO: Tara.] + +[Footnote BP: Okita.] + +[Footnote BQ: Tupi.] + +[Footnote BR: Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands.] + +[Footnote BS: Kawa-kawa, in the same district.] + +[Footnote BT: Te Morenga, a chief of the Bay of Islands.] + +[Footnote BU: The maketu, which is correctly described here, was one of +the most firmly established institutions in New Zealand in old times.] + +[Footnote BV: Tui Tapu.] + +[Footnote BW: Utu. This is another great institution amongst the ancient +Maoris. It represents the principle of payment, an equivalent, a return, +compensation, or satisfaction for injuries.] + +[Footnote BX: Tamihana.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +For some time after his return from Cook Strait, Rutherford's life +appears to have been unvaried by any incident of moment. + +"At length," says he, "one day a messenger arrived from a neighbouring +village, with the news that all the chiefs for miles round were about to +set out, in three days, for a place called Kipara,[BY] near the source +of the river Thames, and distant about two hundred miles from our +village. The messenger brought also a request from the other chiefs to +Aimy to join them along with his warriors; and he replied that he would +meet them at Kipara at the time appointed. We understood that we were to +be opposed at Kipara by a number of chiefs from the Bay of Islands and +the river Thames, according to an appointment which had been made with +the chiefs in our neighbourhood. + +"Accordingly, everything was got ready for our journey as quickly as +possible; and the women were immediately set to work to make a great +number of new baskets, in which to carry our provisions. It is the +custom for every person going on such an expedition to find his own arms +and ammunition, as also provisions, and slaves to carry them. On the +other hand, every family plunder for themselves, and give only what they +think proper to the chief. The slaves are not required to fight, though +they often run to the assistance of their masters while engaged. + +"When the day was come for our departure, I started along with the rest, +being armed with my mery, a brace of pistols, and a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, and having also with me some powder and ball, and a great +quantity of duck-shot, which I took for the purpose of killing game on +our journey. + +"I was accompanied by my wife Epecka, who carried three new mats to be a +bed for us, which had been made by Eshou during my absence at Taranake. + +"The warriors and slaves, whom we took with us, amounted in all to about +five hundred; but the slaves, as they got rid of the provisions they +carried, were sent home again, as we had no further use for them. While +on our journey, if we came to a friendly village at night, we slept +there; but, if not, we encamped in the woods. When the provisions we had +brought with us were all consumed, we were compelled to plunder wherever +we could find anything. Our journey, being made during the rainy season, +was more than usually fatiguing. We were five weeks in reaching Kipara, +where we found about eleven hundred more natives encamped by the side of +a river. On our arrival, huts were immediately constructed for our +party, and one was allotted to me and my wife. We had also two female +slaves allowed us for the purpose of digging fern-root, gathering +cockles, and catching fish, which articles were our only provisions +while we remained here; unless now and then, when I went to the woods, +and shot a few wood-pigeons or a wild pig." + +A party of New Zealanders thus wandering through their country, with all +the inconveniences attending the movement of large bodies of men, but +without the combinations of foresight which are necessary for the safety +of an army, or the management of supplies, must be occasionally exposed +to great privations. + +Their island, however, it would seem from Rutherford's narrative, +abundantly supplied them with provisions, and their slaves were at hand +to perform the office of cooks. Their method of procuring fire for +culinary purposes and warmth is curious; and we may as well mention it +somewhat fully here, before we proceed to the more busy parts of +Rutherford's narrative. + +When Nicholas was in New Zealand, he had an opportunity of seeing the +process usually resorted to. "The place where we landed," says he, +speaking of an excursion which he made with Marsden, and some of the +chiefs, to a place a short distance from the Missionary Settlement, "was +a small plantation of potatoes belonging to Shungie, and here our party +intended to prepare their refreshments, seating themselves, along the +ground for the purpose. Fire, however, was wanting; and to procure it, +Shungie took my fowling-piece, and, stopping up the touch-hole, he put a +small piece of linen into the pan, and endeavoured to excite a spark. +But this expedient proved unsuccessful, as the lock had got rusted and +would not go off; he then got some dry grass and a piece of rotten wood, +and turning a small stick rapidly between his hands, in the same manner +as we mill chocolate, the friction caused the touchwood, in which the +point of the stick was inserted, to take fire; while, wrapping it up in +the dry grass, and shaking it backward and forward, he very soon +produced a flame, which he communicated to some dry sticks, and other +fuel that our party had collected." + +This was not, however, any sudden device of Shungie's, but merely the +contrivance in general use in such emergencies among his countrymen. + +"We have mentioned two New Zealanders, who are at present in this +country, and have recently been exhibiting the dances and other customs +of their native land, in several of our provincial towns. Among other +things which they show is this method of kindling fire, and we extract +from the letter of a correspondent who saw them at Birmingham, the +following account of this part of their performance:--'A small board of +well-dried pine was laid upon the floor, and the younger New Zealander +took in his hand a wedge about nine inches long, and of the same +material; then rubbing with this upon the board, in a direction parallel +to the grain, he made a groove, about a quarter of an inch deep and six +or seven inches long. The friction, of course, produced a quantity of +what, had it been produced by another means, would have been called +sawdust; and this he collected at the end of the groove farthest from +that part of the board on which he was kneeling. He then continued his +operation; and in a short time the wood began to smoke, the sides of the +groove becoming completely charred. On this he stopped and gathered the +tinder over that part of the groove which appeared to be most strongly +heated. After a few moments, it became manifest that the sawdust or +tinder was ignited; and a gentle application of the breath now drew +forth a flame which rose to the height of several inches. This +experiment did not always succeed the first time; whenever it was +repeated, whether after failure or success, the operator took a new +wedge and formed a new groove, and it was stated that this was +absolutely necessary. The process was evidently one of very great +labour; at the conclusion of it, the operator was steaming with +perspiration, and his elder countryman stated that his own strength was +unequal to the feat.'" + +[Illustration: _Tourist Dept. Photo._ + +Greenstone axes, with carved wooden handles, and ornamented with dogs' +hair and birds' feathers.] + +This method of procuring fire has, in fact, been in use from the most +ancient times, and in all parts of the world. It was, as Lafitau +remarks, the very method which was prescribed for rekindling the +vestal fire at Rome, when it was accidentally extinguished. This writer +describes it as in use also among several tribes of the Indians of South +America. Among them, however, it is somewhat more artificially managed +than it appears to be among the New Zealanders, inasmuch as their +practice is first to make a hole in the wood with the tooth of the +acouti, and then to insert in this an instrument resembling a wimble, by +the rapid revolution of which the wood is set on fire. + +The Baron Alexander de Humboldt gives a similar account of the manner in +which the operation appears to have been performed among the ancient +Mexicans, who adopted this method of rekindling their fires, on their +general extinction at the end of every cycle of fifty-two years. + +In a letter which Humboldt has printed at the conclusion of his work, +from M. Visconti, it is remarked that we find mention made of this +contrivance both in Homer's "Hymn to Mercury," and in the "Argonautics" +of Apollonius Rhodius. The scholiast of the latter gives a description +of the process, which exactly answers to the Mexican delineation. + +"On the opposite side of the river," Rutherford proceeds, "which was +about half a mile wide, and not more than four feet deep in any part, +about four hundred of the enemy were encamped, waiting for +reinforcements. Meanwhile messengers were continually passing from the +one party to the other, with messages concerning the war. + +"One of them informed us that there was a white man in his party who had +heard of and wished to see me; and that the chiefs, who also wished to +see me, would give me permission to cross the river to meet him, and I +should return unmolested whenever I thought proper. With Aimy's consent, +therefore, I went across the river; but I was not permitted to go armed, +nor yet to take my wife with me. When I arrived on the opposite side, +several of the chiefs saluted me in the usual manner by touching my nose +with theirs; and I afterwards was seated in the midst of them by the +side of the white man, who told me his name was John Mawman, that he was +a native of Port Jackson, and that he had run away from the 'Tees' sloop +of war while she lay at this island. He had since joined the natives, +and was now living with a chief named Rawmatty;[BZ] whose daughter he +had married, and whose residence was at a place called Sukyanna,[CA] on +the west coast, within fifty miles of the Bay of Islands. He said that +he had been at the Bay of Islands a short time before, and had seen +several of the English missionaries. He also said that he had heard that +the natives had lately taken a vessel at a place called Wangalore, +which they had plundered and then turned adrift; but that the crew had +escaped in their boats and put to sea. This is the same place where the +crew of the ship 'Boyd' were murdered some years before.[CB] + +"While I remained among these people, a slave was brought up before one +of the chiefs, who immediately arose from the ground, and struck him +with his mery and killed him. This mery was different from any of the +rest, being made of steel. The heart was taken out of the slave as soon +as he had fallen, and instantly devoured by the chief who slew him. I +then inquired who this chief was, and was informed that his name was +Shungie, one of the two chiefs who had been at England, and had been +presented to many of the nobility there, from whom he received many +valuable presents; among others, a double-barrelled gun and a suit of +armour, which he has since worn in many battles. His reason, they told +me, for killing the slave, who was one belonging to himself, was that he +had stolen the suit of armour, and was running away with it to the +enemy, when he was taken prisoner by a party stationed on the outskirts +of the encampment. This was the only act of theft which I ever saw +punished in New Zealand. + +"Although Shungie has been two years among Europeans, I still consider +him to be one of the most ferocious cannibals in his native country. He +protects the missionaries who live on his ground entirely for the sake +of what he can get from them. + +"I now returned to my own party. Early the next morning the enemy +retreated to a distance of about two miles from the river; upon +observing which our party immediately threw off their mats, and got +under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thousand muskets +among them, chiefly purchased from the English and American South Sea +ships which touch at the island. We now crossed the river; and, having +arrived on the opposite side, I took my station on a rising ground, +about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I +had a full view of the engagement. + +"I was not myself required to fight, but I loaded my double-barrelled +gun, and, thus armed, remained at my post, my wife and the two slave +girls having seated themselves at my feet. + +"The commander-in-chief of each party now stepped forward a few yards, +and, placing himself in front of his troops, commenced the war-song. +When this was ended both parties danced a war-dance, singing at the +same time as loud as they could, and brandishing their weapons in the +air. + +"Having finished their dance, each party formed into a line two-deep, +the women and boys stationing themselves about ten yards to the rear. + +"The two bodies then advanced to within about a hundred yards of each +other, when they fired off their muskets. Few of them put the musket to +the shoulder while firing it, but merely held it at the charge. They +only fired once; and then, throwing their muskets behind them, where +they were picked up by the women and boys, drew their merys and +tomahawks out of their belts, when, the war-song being screamed by the +whole of them together in a manner most dismal to be heard, the two +parties rushed into close combat. + +"They now took hold of the hair of each other's heads with their left +hands, using the right to cut off the head. Meantime the women and boys +followed close behind them, uttering the most shocking cries I ever +heard. These last received the heads of the slain from those engaged in +the battle as soon as they were cut off, after which the men went in +among the enemy for the dead bodies; but many of them received bodies +that did not belong to the heads they had cut off. + +"The engagement had not lasted many minutes, when the enemy began to +retreat, and were pursued by our party through the woods. Some of them, +in their flight, crossed the hill on which I stood; and one threw a +short jagged spear at me as he passed, which stuck in the inside of my +left thigh. It was afterwards cut out by two women with an oyster-shell. +The operation left a wound as large as a common-sized tea-cup; and after +it had been performed I was carried across the river on a woman's back +to my hut, where my wife applied some green herbs to the wound, which +immediately stopped the bleeding, and also made the pain much less +severe. + +"In a short time our party returned victorious, bringing along with them +many prisoners. Persons taken in battle, whether chiefs or not, become +slaves to those who take them. One of our chiefs had been shot by +Shungie, and the body was brought back, and laid upon some mats before +the huts. Twenty heads, also, were placed upon long spears, which were +stuck up around our huts; and nearly twice as many bodies were put to +the fires, to be cooked in the accustomed way. + +"Our party continued dancing and singing all night; and the next morning +they had a grand feast on the dead bodies and fern-roots, in honour of +the victory they had gained. The name of the chief whose body lay in +front of our huts was Ewanna. He was one of those who were at the taking +of our vessel. His body was now cut into several pieces, which, being +packed into baskets, covered with black mats, were put into one of the +canoes, to be taken along with us down the river. There were, besides +Ewanna, five other chiefs killed on our side, whose names were Nainy, +Ewarree, Tometooi, Ewarrehum, and Erow.[CC] On the other side, three +chiefs were killed, namely, Charly, Shungie's eldest son, and two sons +of Mootyi,[CD] a great chief of Sukyanna. Their heads were brought home +by our people as trophies of war, and cured in the usual manner. + +"We now left Kipara in a number of canoes, and proceeded down the river +to a place called Shaurakke,[CE] where the mother of one of the chiefs +who was killed resided. + +"When we arrived in sight of this place, the canoes all closed together, +and joined in singing a funeral song. + +"By this time, several of the hills before us were crowded with women +and children, who, having their faces painted with ochre, and their +heads adorned with white feathers, were waving their mats, and calling +out to us 'ara mi, ara mi,' the usual welcome home. + +"When the funeral song was ended, we disembarked from our canoes, which +we hauled up from the river, and our party then performed a dance, +entirely naked; after which they were met by another party of warriors, +from behind the hill, with whom they engaged in a sham fight, which +lasted about twenty minutes. Both parties then seated themselves around +the house belonging to the chief of the village, in front of which the +baskets containing the dead body were at the same time placed. They were +then all opened, and the head, being taken out and decorated with +feathers, was placed on the top of one of the baskets; while the rest of +the heads that had been taken at the battle were stuck on long spears, +in various parts of the village. Meanwhile, the mother of the slain +chief stood on the roof of the house, dressed in a feathered cloak and +turban, continually turning herself round, wringing her hands, and +crying for the loss of her son. + +"The dead body having been in a few days buried with the usual +ceremonies, we all prepared to return to our own village. Shaurakke is +one of the most delightful spots in New Zealand, and has more cultivated +land about it than I saw anywhere else. While I was here, I saw a +slave-woman eat part of her own child, which had been killed by the +chief, her master. I have known several instances of New Zealand women +eating their children as soon as they were born." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BY: Kaipara.] + +[Footnote BZ: Raumati.] + +[Footnote CA: Another rendition of Hokianga.] + +[Footnote CB: Mr. Craik adds a note stating that the place which +Rutherford here calls Wangalore is Wangaroa. (The proper spelling is +Whangaroa.) The ship, he says, was the "Mercury," of London, South Sea +whaler, which put in at Wangaroa on March 5th, 1825, and was plundered +of the greater part of her cargo by the natives. She was also so much +disabled by the attack made upon her that, after a vain attempt to carry +her round to the Bay of Islands, it was found necessary to abandon her, +when she drove to sea, and asserted that no cause of offence whatever +was given to the natives by the captain or crew of the "Mercury," while +the conduct of the former was in all respects treacherous, unfeeling, +and provoking.] + +[Footnote CC: All the names are spelt wrongly.] + +[Footnote CD: Probably Matui or Matohi.] + +[Footnote CE: Evidently Hauraki, which, however, is on the east coast, +while Knipara is on the west.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +This is, we believe, the most complete account, and, at the same time, +the one most to be depended on, which has yet been given to the public, +of a New Zealand battle. None of the other persons who have described to +us the manners of these savages have seen them engaged with each other, +except in a sham fight; although Nicholas, on one occasion, was very +near being afforded an opportunity of witnessing a real combat. That +gentleman and Marsden, however, have given us some very interesting +details respecting the preliminaries to an actual engagement. They +describe the debates which generally take place in the war-council of a +tribe or district previous to any declaration of hostilities; and those +conferences between the two opposing parties in which, even after they +have met on the intended field of action, the matter of dispute is often +made the subject of a war of argument and eloquence, and sometimes, it +would seem, is even settled without any resort to more destructive +weapons. + +When Marsden visited the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga, in 1819, he +found a quarrel just about to commence between two of the principal +chiefs, whose lands lay contiguous, and who were also, it appeared, +nearly related, in consequence of the pigs of the one having got into +the sweet potato grounds of the other, who had retaliated by shooting +several of them. The chief whose pigs had committed the trespass, and +whom Marsden was now visiting, was an old man, apparently eighty years +of age, named Warremaddoo,[CF] who had now resigned the supreme +authority to his son Matanghee;[CG] yet this affair rekindled all the +ancient enthusiasm of the venerable warrior. The other chief was called +Moodewhy.[CH] The morning debate, at which several chiefs spoke with +great force and dignity, had been suddenly interrupted; but it was +resumed in the evening, when Marsden was again present. + +On this occasion, old Warremaddoo threw off his mat, took his spear, and +began to address his tribe and the chiefs. He made strong appeals to +them against the injustice and ingratitude of Moodeewhy's conduct +towards them, recited many injuries which he and his tribe had suffered +from Moodeewhy for a long period, mentioned instances of his bad conduct +at the time that his father's bones were removed from the Ahoodu Pa to +their family vault, stated acts of kindness which he had shown to +Moodeewhy at different times, and said that he had twice saved his tribe +from total ruin. In the present instance, Moodeewhy had killed three of +his hogs. Every time he mentioned his loss, the recollection seemed to +nerve afresh his aged sinews: he shook his hoary beard, stamped with +indignant rage, and poised his quivering spear. + +He exhorted his tribe to be bold and courageous; and declared that he +would head them in the morning against the enemy, and, rather than he +would submit, he would be killed and eaten. All that they wanted was +firmness and courage; he knew well the enemies they had to meet, their +hearts did not lie deep; and, if they were resolutely opposed, they +would yield. + +His oration continued nearly an hour, and all listened to him with great +attention. + +This dispute, however, partly through Marsden's intercession, who +offered to give each of the indignant leaders an adze if they would make +peace, was at last amicably adjusted; and the two, as the natives +expressed it, "were made both alike inside." + +But Marsden was a good deal surprised on observing old Warremaddoo, +immediately after he had rubbed noses with Moodeewhy in token of +reconcilement, begin, with his slaves, to burn and destroy the fence of +the enclosure in which they were assembled, belonging to Moodeewhy, who, +however, took no notice of the destruction of his property thus going on +before his face. Upon inquiry, he was told that this was done in +satisfaction for a fence of the old man's which Moodeewhy had destroyed +in the first instance, and the breaking down of which had, in fact, +given rise to the trespass. + +A New Zealander would hold himself to be guilty of a breach of the first +principles of honour if he ever made up a quarrel without having exacted +full compensation for what he might conceive to be his wrongs. + +The battle which Nicholas expected to witness was to be fought between +the tribe of an old chief named Henou,[CI] and that of another, named +Wiveah,[CJ] who had seduced his wife. The two parties met in adjoining +enclosures, and Nicholas took his station on the roof of a neighbouring +hut to observe their proceedings. The conference was commenced by an old +warrior on Henou's side, who, rising, amid the universal silence of both +camps, addressed himself to Wiveah and his followers. + +Nicholas describes the venerable orator as walking, or rather running, +up and down a paling, which formed one side of the enclosure in which he +was, uttering his words in a tone of violent resentment, and +occasionally shaking his head and brandishing his spear. He was answered +in a mild and conciliating manner by two of Wiveah's followers. + +To them another warrior of Henou's party replied, in what Nicholas calls +a masterly style of native eloquence. In easy dignity of manner he +greatly excelled the other orators. "He spoke," says the author, "for a +considerable time; and I could not behold, without admiration, the +graceful elegance of his deportment, and the appropriate accordance of +his action. Holding his pattoo-pattoo[CK] in his hand he walked up and +down along the margin of the river with a firm and manly step." + +The debate was carried on by other speakers for some time longer; but at +last it appeared that conciliatory counsels had carried the day. The two +parties satisfied themselves with a sham fight, Wiveah merely presenting +the injured Henou with a quantity of potatoes. + +The most singular part of the debate, however, was yet to come; for +immediately after the sham fight, the old orator again rose, and, +although vehement enough at the beginning of his harangue, became still +more so as he proceeded, till at last he grew quite outrageous, and +jumped about the field like a person out of his senses. + +In the latter part of the debate, Wiveah and Henou themselves took up +the discussion of the question, and seem, by the account given, to have +handled it with more mildness and good temper than almost any of their +less interested associates. + +At the close of Wiveah's last address, however, "his three wives," says +Nicholas, "now deemed it expedient to interpose their oratory, as +confirming mediators between the parties, though there was no longer any +enmity existing on either side. They spoke with great animation, and the +warriors listened to their separate speeches in attentive silence. They +assumed, I thought, a very determined tone, employing a great deal of +impressive action, and looking towards the opposite chief with an +asperity of countenance not warranted by the mild forbearance of his +deportment. The expostulating harangues, as I should suppose they were, +of these sturdy ladies completed the ceremonials of this singular +conference; and the reconciliation being thus consummated, the parties +now entertained no sentiments towards each other but those of reciprocal +amity." + +It would appear that the New Zealand women sometimes carry their martial +propensities farther than they are stated to have done in the present +case. Nicholas was once not a little surprised, while witnessing a sham +fight, to observe Duaterra's wife, the Queen of Tippoonah,[CL] exerting +himself, with most conspicuous courage, among the very thickest of the +combatants. + +Her majesty was dressed in a red gown and petticoat, which she had +received as a present from Marsden, that reverend gentleman having been +obliged himself, in the first instance, to assist in decorating her with +these novel articles of attire; and, holding in her hand a large +horse-pistol, always selected the most formidable hero she could find as +her antagonist. + +She was at last, however, fairly exhausted; and stood, at the conclusion +of the exhibition, Nicholas tells us, panting for breath. "In this +state," says he, "she was pleased to notice me with a distinguished mark +of flattering condescension, by holding out her lips for me to kiss, an +honour I could have very well dispensed with, but which, at the same +time, I could not decline, without offering a slight to a person of such +elevated consequence." + +He saw, also, some other female warriors, who exposed themselves in the +combat with great gallantry. Among them, Marsden tells us, was the widow +of Tippahee, a woman apparently not much less than seventy years of age. + +Cook also sometimes saw the women armed with spears. + +The principal native war-instrument of the New Zealanders is the short +thick club, which has been so often mentioned. This weapon they all +constantly wear, either fastened in their girdle or held in the right +hand and attached by a string to the wrist. It is in shape somewhat like +a battledore, varying from ten to eighteen inches in length, including a +short handle, and generally about four or five broad, thick in the +middle, but worked down to a very sharp edge on both sides. It is most +commonly formed of a species of green talc, which appears to be found +only in the southern island, and with regard to which the New Zealanders +have many superstitious notions. Some of them are made of a +darker-coloured stone, susceptible of a high polish; some of whalebone; +and Nicholas mentions one, which he saw in the possession of Tippoui, +brother of the celebrated George of Wangarooa, and himself one of the +leaders of the attack on the 'Boyd,' which, like that of Shungie, which +Rutherford speaks of, was of iron, and also highly polished. It had been +fabricated by the chief himself, with tools of the most imperfect +description; and yet was, in Nicholas's opinion, as well-finished a +piece of workmanship as could have been produced by any of our best +mechanics. This instrument is employed in close combat, the head being +generally the part aimed at; and one well-directed blow is quite enough +to split the hardest skull. The name usually given to it, in the earlier +accounts of New Zealand, is patoo-patoo. Anderson, in his general +remarks on the people of Queen Charlotte Sound, says it is also called +Emeeta. But its correct and distinctive name seems to be that by which +Rutherford always designates it, the mery or mairy. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum_ + + 1. _Pou-wherma._ + 2. _Taiaha_ of white whale-bone. + 3. _Taiaha_ (6ft. 3in. long) of wood, with flax mat and dog's hair. + 4. _Hoeroa_ of white whale-bone. + 5. _Tewha-tewha_.] + +Savage tells us that when he took his friend, Moyhanger,[CM] to a shop +in the Strand to purchase some tools, he was particularly struck with a +common bill-hook, upon which he cast his eyes, as appearing to be a most +admirable instrument of slaughter; and we find accordingly that since +they have had so much intercourse with Europeans some of the New Zealand +warriors have substituted the English bill-hook for their native +battle-axe. Nicholas mentions one with which Duaterra was accustomed to +arm himself. + +Their only missile weapons, except stones, which they merely throw from +the hand, are short spears, made of hard wood or whalebone, and pointed +at one extremity. These they are very dexterous with, both in darting at +a mark, and in receiving or turning aside with the blades of their +battle-axes, which are the only shields they use, except the folds of +their thick and flowing mats, which they raise on the left arm, and +which are tough enough to impede the passage of a spear. They have other +spears, however, varying from thirteen or fourteen to thirty feet in +length, which they use as lances or bayonets. These, or rather the +shorter sort, are also sometimes called by English writers patoos, or +patoo-patoos. Lastly, they often carry an instrument somewhat like a +sergeant's halbert, curiously carved, and adorned with bunches of +parrot's feathers tied round the top of it. + +The musket has now, however, in a great measure superseded these +primitive weapons, although the New Zealanders are as yet far from being +expert in the use of it. + +By Rutherford's account, as we have just seen, they only fire off their +guns once, and throw them away as soon as they have got fairly engaged, +much as some of our own Highland regiments are said formerly to have +been in the habit of doing. + +Cruise, in like manner, states that they use their firelocks very +awkwardly, lose an immense deal of time in looking for a rest and taking +aim, and after all, seldom hit their object, unless close to it. + +Muskets, however, are by far more prized and coveted by the New +Zealander than any of the other commodities to which his intercourse +with the civilized world has given him access. The ships that touch at +the country always find it the readiest way of obtaining the supplies +they want from the natives, to purchase them with arms or ammunition; +and the missionaries, who have declined to traffic in these articles, +have often scarcely been able to procure a single pig by the most +tempting price they could offer in another shape. Although the arms +which they have obtained in this way have generally been of the most +trashy description, they have been sufficient to secure to the tribes +that have been most plentifully provided with them a decided superiority +over the rest; and the consequence has been that the people of the Bay +of Islands, who have hitherto had most intercourse with European ships, +have been of late years the terror of the whole country, and while they +themselves have remained uninvaded, have repeatedly carried devastation +into its remotest districts. + +More recently, however, the River Thames, and the coasts to the south +of it, have also been a good deal resorted to by vessels navigating +those seas; and a great many muskets have in consequence also found +their way into the hands of the inhabitants of that part of the island. + +When Rutherford speaks of the two parties whom he saw engaged having had +about two thousand stand of arms between them, it may be thought that +his estimate is probably an exaggerated one; but it is completely borne +out by other authorities. Thus, for example, Davis, one of the +missionaries, writes, in 1827: "They have at this time many thousand +stand of arms among them, both in the Bay and at the River Thames." + +The method of fighting, which is described as being in use among the New +Zealanders, in which, after the first onset, every man chooses his +individual antagonist, and the field of battle presents merely the +spectacle of a multitude of single combats, is the same which has, +perhaps, everywhere prevailed, not only in the primitive wars of men, +but up to a period of considerable refinement in the history of the +military art. + +The Greeks and Trojans, at the time of the siege of Troy, used both +chariots and missiles; and yet it is evident from Homer that their +battles and skirmishes usually resolved themselves in a great measure +into a number of duels between heroes who seem to have sometimes paused +by mutual consent to hold parley together, without at all minding the +course of the general fight. + +Exactly the same thing takes place in the battles of the American +Indians, who are also possessed of bows and arrows. The New Zealanders +have no weapons of this description, and, until their intercourse with +Europeans had put muskets into their hands, were without any arms +whatever by which one body could, by its combined strength, have made an +impression upon another from a distance. Even the long spears which they +sometimes used could evidently have been employed with effect only when +each was directed with a particular aim. When two parties engaged, +therefore, they necessarily always came to close combat, and every man +singled out his adversary; a mode of fighting which was, besides, much +more adapted to their tempers, and to the feelings of vehement animosity +with which they came into the field, than any which would have kept them +at a greater distance from each other. + +The details of such personal conflicts amongst more refined nations +always formed a principal ingredient in poetry and romance, from the +times of Homer to those of Spenser. They are, indeed, always +uninteresting and tiresome, although related with the highest +descriptive power; and even in the splendid descriptions of Ariosto and +Tasso there is something absolutely ludicrous in the minute +representations of two champions in complete armour, hammering each +other about with their maces like blacksmiths. + +Still, the poets have clung to this love of individual prowess, wherever +their subjects would admit of such descriptions; and, even to our own +day, that habit which we derived from the times of chivalry, of +describing personal bravery as the greatest of human virtues, is not +altogether abandoned. + +The realities of modern warfare are, however, very unfavourable to such +stimulating representations. The military discipline in use among the +more cultivated nations of antiquity, for example the Persians, the +Macedonians, the Grecian states, and above all, the Romans, undoubtedly +did much to give to their armies the power of united masses, +controllable by one will, and not liable to be broken down and rendered +comparatively inefficient by the irregular movements of individuals. But +it is the introduction of fire-arms which has, most of all, contributed +to change the original character of war, and the elements of the +strength of armies. Where it is merely one field of artillery opposed to +another, and the efficient value of every man on either side lies +principally in the musket which he carries on his shoulder, individual +strength and courage become alike of little account. The result depends, +it may be almost said, entirely on the skill of the commander, not on +the exertions of those over whom he exercises nearly as absolute an +authority as a chess-player does over his pieces. + +If this new system has not diminished the destructiveness of war, it +has, at least, very much abated the rancorous feelings with which it was +originally carried on. It has converted it from a contest of fierce and +vindictive passions into an exercise of science. We have still, +doubtless, to lament that the game of blood occasions, whenever it is +played, so terrible a waste of human life and happiness; but even the +displacement of that brute force, and those other merely animal +impulses, by which it used to be mainly directed, and the substitution +of regulating principles of a comparatively intellectual and +unimpassioned nature, may be considered as indicating, even here, a +triumph of civilization. + +It is impossible that the business of war can be so corrupting to those +engaged in it when it is chiefly a contest of skill, as when it is +wholly a contest of passion. Nor is it calculated in the one form to +occupy the imagination of a people, as it will do in the other. The evil +is therefore mitigated by the introduction of those arts which to many +may appear aggravations of this curse of mankind. + +Rutherford does not take any notice of the pas, or as they have been +called, eppas, or hippahs,[CN] which are found in so many of the New +Zealand villages. These are forts, or strongholds, always erected on an +eminence, and intended for the protection of the tribe and its most +valuable possessions, when reduced by their enemies to the last +extremity. These ancient places of refuge have also been very much +abandoned since the introduction of fire-arms; but formerly, they were +regarded as of great importance. + +Cook describes one which he visited on the East Coast, and which was +placed on a high point of land projecting into the sea, as wholly +inaccessible on the three sides on which it was enclosed by the water; +while it was defended on the land side by a ditch of fourteen feet deep, +having a bank raised behind it, which added about eight feet more to the +glacis. Both banks of the ditch are also, in general, surmounted by +palisades, about ten or twelve feet high, formed of strong stakes bound +together with withies, and driven very deep into the ground. Within the +innermost palisade is usually a stage, supported by posts, from which +the besieged throw down darts and stones upon their assailants; and in +addition to this, the interior space, which is generally of considerable +extent, is sometimes divided into numerous petty eminences, each +surrounded by its palisade, and communicating with each other by narrow +lanes, admitting of being easily stopped up, in case of the enemy having +effected his entrance within the general enclosure. The only road to +the strong-hold is by a single narrow and steep passage. + +Cruise describes a fort at Wangarooa as situated on an insulated rock, +about three hundred feet high, and presenting the most imposing +appearance. These elevated palings were a subject of much speculation to +those on board of Cook's vessel, when that navigator first approached +the coast of New Zealand. Some, he tells us, supposed them to be +inclosures for sheep and oxen, while others maintained they were parks +of deer. + +The New Zealanders may, in some degree, be considered as a warlike +people upon the sea. We have no distinct account of any maritime +engagements between one tribe and another carried on in their vessels of +war; but as these belong to the state, if it may be so termed--that is, +as the war canoes are the property of a particular community inhabiting +a village or district, as distinguished from the fishing-boats of +individuals--it is probable that their hostile encounters may +occasionally be carried on upon the element with which a nation of +islanders are generally familiar. + +Rutherford has given a minute description of a war-canoe, which accords +with the representation of such a large vessel in the plates to Cook's +"Voyages":-- + +"Their canoes are made of the largest sized pine-trees, which generally +run from 40 to 50 feet long, and are hollowed out, and lengthened about +eight feet at each end, and raised about two feet on each side. + +"They are built with a figure head; the stern-post extending about ten +feet above the stern of the canoe, which is handsomely carved, as well +as the figure-head, and the whole body of the canoe. The sides are +ornamented with pearl shell, which is let into the carved work, and +above that is a row of feathers. On both sides, fore and aft, they have +seats in the inside, so that two men can sit abreast. They pull about +fifty paddles on each side, and many of them will carry two hundred +people. When paddling, the chief stands up and cheers them with a song, +to which they all join in chorus. These canoes roll heavy, and go at the +rate of seven knots an hour. Their sails are made of straw mats in the +shape of a lateen sail. They cook in their canoes, but always go on +shore to eat. They are frequently known to go three or four hundred +miles along the coast." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote CF: Probably Wharemata.] + +[Footnote CG: Matangi.] + +[Footnote CH: Muriwai.] + +[Footnote CI: Hinau.] + +[Footnote CJ: Probably Waitea.] + +[Footnote CK: patu-patu.] + +[Footnote CL: Te Puna.] + +[Footnote CM: Moehanga.] + +[Footnote CN: The former word, "Pa," is correct.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +We have noticed all the adventures which Rutherford records to have +befallen him during his residence in New Zealand, and have now only to +relate the manner in which he at last effected his escape from the +country, which we shall do in his own words. + +"A few days," says he, "after our return home from Showrackee, we were +alarmed by observing smoke ascending in large quantities from several of +the mountains, and by the natives running about the village in all +directions, and singing out Kipoke,[CO] which signifies a ship on the +coast. I was quite overjoyed to hear the news. + +"Aimy and I, accompanied by several of the warriors, and followed by a +number of slaves, loaded with mats and potatoes, and driving pigs before +them for the purpose of trading with the ship, immediately set off for +Tokamardo; and in two days we arrived at that place, the unfortunate +scene of the capture of our ship and its crew on the 7th of March, 1816. +I now perceived the ship under sail, at about twenty miles distance from +the land, off which the wind was blowing strong, which prevented her +nearing. Meanwhile, as it was drawing towards night, we encamped, and +sat down to supper. + +"I observed that several of the natives still wore round their necks and +wrists many of the trinkets which they had taken out of our ship. As +Aimy and I sat together at supper, a slave arrived with a new basket, +which he placed before me, saying that it was a present from his master. +I asked him what was in the basket, and he informed me that it was part +of a slave girl's thigh, that had been killed three days before. It was +cooked, he added, and was very nice. I then commanded him to open it, +which he did, when it presented the appearance of a piece of pork which +had been baked in the oven. I made a present of it to Aimy, who divided +it among the chiefs. + +"The chiefs now consulted together, and resolved that, if the ship came +in, they would take her, and murder the crew. Next morning she was +observed to be much nearer than she had been the night before; but the +chiefs were still afraid she would not come in, and therefore agreed +that I should be sent on board, on purpose to decoy her to the land, +which I promised to do. + +"I was then dressed in a feathered cloak, belt, and turban, and armed +with a battle axe, the head of which was formed of a stone which, +resembled green glass, but was so hard as to turn the heaviest blow of +the hardest steel. The handle was of hard black wood, handsomely carved +and adorned with feathers. In this attire I went off in a canoe, +accompanied by a son of one of the chiefs, and four slaves. When we came +alongside of the vessel, which turned out to be an American brig, +commanded by Captain Jackson, employed in trading among the islands in +the South Sea, and then bound for the coast of California, I immediately +went on board, and presented myself to the captain, who, as soon as he +saw me, exclaimed, 'Here is a white New Zealander.' + +"I told him that I was not a New Zealander, but an Englishman; upon +which he invited me into his cabin, where I gave him an account of my +errand and of all my misfortunes. + +"I informed him of the danger his ship would be exposed to if he put in +at that part of the island; and therefore begged of him to stand off as +quickly as possible, and take me along with him, as this was the only +chance I had ever had of escaping. + +"By this time the chief's son had begun stealing in the ship, on which +the crew tied him up, and flogged him with the clue of one of their +hammocks, and then sent him down into his canoe. + +"They would have flogged the rest also had not I interceded for them, +considering that there might be still some of my unfortunate shipmates +living on shore, on whom they might avenge themselves. + +"The captain now consented to take me along with him; and, the canoe +having been set adrift, we stood off from the island. For the first +sixteen months of my residence in New Zealand, I had counted the days by +means of notches on a stick; but after that I had kept no reckoning. I +now learned, however, that the day on which I was taken off the island +was January 9th, 1826. I had, therefore, been a prisoner among these +savages ten years, all but two months." + +Captain Jackson now gave Rutherford such clothes as he stood in need of, +in return for which the latter made him a present of his New Zealand +dress and battle axe. + +The ship then proceeded to the Society Islands, and anchored on February +10th off Otaheite. + +Here Rutherford went into the service of the British consul, by whom he +was employed in sawing wood. On May 26th he was married to a chief +woman, whose name, he says, was Nowyrooa, by Mr. Pritchard, one of the +English missionaries. While he resided here, he was also employed as an +interpreter by Captain Peachy, of the "Blossom" sloop of war, then +engaged in surveying those islands. + +Still, however, longing very much to see his native country, he embarked +on January 6th, 1827, on board the brig "Macquarie," commanded by +Captain Hunter, and bound for Port Jackson. On taking leave of his wife +and friends, he made them a promise to return to the island in two +years, "which," says he, "I intend to keep, if it is in my power, and +end my days there." + +The "Macquarie" reached Port Jackson on February 19th, and Rutherford +states that he met there a young woman who had been saved from the +massacre of those on board the "Boyd," and who gave him an account of +that event. This was probably the daughter of a woman whom Mr. Berry +brought to Lima. + +He also found at Port Jackson two vessels on their way back to England, +with a body of persons who had attempted to form a settlement in New +Zealand, but who had been compelled to abandon their design, as he +understood, by the treacherous behaviour of the natives. + +He now embarked on board the Sydney packet, commanded by Captain Tailor, +which proceeded first for Hobart Town, in Van Diemen's Land,[CP] and +after lying there for about a fortnight set sail again for Rio de +Janeiro. + +On his arrival there he went into the service of Mr. Harris, a Dutch +gentleman. Mr. Harris, on learning his history, had him presented to the +Emperor Don Pedro, who asked him many questions by an interpreter, and +made him a present of eighty dollars. He also offered him employment in +his navy; but this Rutherford refused, preferring to return to England +in the "Blanche" frigate, then on the point of sailing, in which he +obtained a passage by an application to the British consul. On the +arrival of the ship at Spithead, he immediately left her, and proceeded +to Manchester, his native town, which he had not seen since he first +went to sea in the year 1806. + +After his return to England Rutherford occasionally maintained himself +by accompanying a travelling caravan of wonders, showing his tattooing, +and telling something of his extraordinary adventures. + +The publisher of this volume had many conversations with him in January, +1829, when he was exhibited in London. He was evidently a person of +considerable quickness, and great powers of observation. He went over +every part of his journal, which was read to him, with considerable +care, explaining any difficulties, and communicating several points of +information, of which we have availed ourselves in the course of this +narrative. + +His manners were mild and courteous; he was fond of children, to whom he +appeared happy to explain the causes of his singular appearance and he +was evidently a man of very sober habits. He was pleased with the idea +of his adventures being published; and was delighted to have his +portrait painted, though he suffered much inconvenience in sitting to +the artist, with the upper part of his body uncovered, in a severe +frost. + +Upon the whole he seemed to have acquired a great deal of the frankness +and easy confidence of the people with whom he had been living, and was +somewhat out of his element amidst the constrained intercourse and +unvarying occupations of England. He greatly disliked being shown for +money, which he submitted to principally that he might acquire a sum, in +addition to what he received for his manuscript, to return to Otaheite. + +We have not heard of him since that time; and the probability is that he +has accomplished his wishes. He said that he should have no hesitation +in going to New Zealand; that his old companions would readily believe +that he had been carried away by force; that from his knowledge of their +customs, he could be most advantageously employed in trading with them; +and that, above all, if he were to take back a blacksmith with him, and +plenty of iron, he might acquire many of the most valuable productions +of the country, particularly tortoiseshell,[CQ] which he considered the +best object for an English commercial adventure.[CR] + +Rutherford is not the only native of a civilized country whose fate it +has been to become resident for some time among the savages of New +Zealand. Besides his shipmates, who were taken prisoners along with him, +he himself, indeed, as we have seen, mentions two other individuals whom +he met with while in the country, one of whom had been eight years +there, and did not seem to have any wish to leave it. + +[Illustration: A Maori war canoe.] + +Savage gives a short notice of a European who was living in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands when he was there in 1805. This +person, whose native country, or the circumstances that had induced him +to take up his abode where he then was, Savage could not discover, +shunned all intercourse with Europeans, and was wont to retire to the +interior whenever a ship approached the coast. The natives, however, +whose customs and manners he had adopted, spoke well of him; and Savage +often saw a New Zealand woman who lived with him, and one of their +children, which he represents as very far from exhibiting any +superiority either in mind or person over his associates of unmixed +breed. Its complexion was the same as that of the others, being +distinguished from them only by its light flaxen hair. + +Marsden, also, in a letter written in 1813 to the secretary of the +Church Missionary Society, mentions a young man, a native of America, +with whom he had conversed in New South Wales, and who had lived for +above a year with the New Zealanders. + +During all this time these savages, he said, had shown him the greatest +attention, and he would have been very glad to return to live among them +if he could have found any other Europeans to go with him. + +Since the Bay of Islands has become so much the resort of shipping, many +seamen have left their ships and taken up their residence of their own +accord among the natives. The "Missionary Reports" state that, about the +close of the year 1824, there were perhaps twenty men who had thus found +their way into the country, and were living on plunder; and that within +the year not less, it was supposed, than a hundred sailors had in the +same manner taken refuge for a time in the island. + +Although these men had all run away from their own ships, the captains +of other vessels touching at any part of the coast did not hesitate to +employ them when they wanted hands. + +Mawman, whom Rutherford met with at Kiperra, had, it will be +recollected, made his escape, according to his own account, from a sloop +of war. These fugitives, however, it would appear, do not always succeed +in establishing themselves among the natives. Cruise mentions one who, +having run away from the "Anne" whaler, hid himself at first in the +woods, but soon after came on board the "Dromedary" in a most miserable +state, beseeching to be taken on the strength of the ship. + +Convicts, too, occasionally make their escape to New Zealand, and +attempt to secrete themselves in the interior of the country. When the +"Active" was at the Bay of Islands in 1815, two men and a woman of this +description were sent on board to be taken back to New South Wales. The +woman, Nicholas says, was particularly dejected on being retaken; and it +was found that while on shore she had done everything in her power to +prevail upon one of the native females to assist her in her attempt to +conceal herself. Her friend, however, resisted all her entreaties; and +well knowing the hardships to which the poor creature would have exposed +herself, only replied to her importunate solicitations, "Me would, Mary, +but me got no tea, me got no sugar, no bed, no good things for you; me +grieve to see you, you cannot live like New Zealand woman, you cannot +sleep on the ground." + +The Rev. Mr. Butler, in March, 1821, found two convicts who had escaped +from a whaler, in the hands of one of the chiefs, who was just preparing +to put them to death. On Butler interfering and begging that their lives +might be spared, the New Zealanders replied: "They are nothing but +slaves and thieves; they look like bad men, and are very ragged; they do +not belong to you, and we think they are some of King George's bad +cookees." After a great deal of discussion, however, they yielded so far +to Butler's entreaties and arguments as to agree not to kill the two +men; but the chief insisted that they should go home with him and work +for him four months, after which he said that he would give them up to +any ship that would take them to "King George's farm at Port Jackson." + +When Nicholas was in New Zealand in 1815, he met with a Hindoo, who had +made his escape from Captain Patterson's ship, the "City of Edinburgh," +about five years before, and had been living among the natives ever +since. Compared with the New Zealanders, he looked, Nicholas says, like +a pigmy among giants. However, he had got so much attached to the +manners of his new associates that he declared he would much rather +remain where he was than return to his own country. He had married a +native woman, and was treated, he said, in the kindest manner by the New +Zealanders, who always supplied him with plenty of food without +compelling him to do more work than he chose. Nicholas offered him some +rice, but he intimated that he decidedly preferred fern-root. + +The circumstances of Rutherford's capture and detention in New Zealand +were but indifferently calculated to reconcile him to the new state of +society in which he was there compelled to mix, notwithstanding the rank +to which his superior intelligence and activity raised him. + +Though a chief, he was still a prisoner; and even all the favour with +which he had himself been treated could not make him forget the fate of +his companions, or the warning which it afforded him to how sudden or +slight an accident his own life might at any time fall a sacrifice. But +it is certain that, where no such sense of constraint is felt, not only +the notion, but even the reality, of savage life has a strong charm for +many minds. The insecurity and privation which attend upon it are deemed +but a slight counterbalance to the independence, the exemption from +regular labour, and above all the variety of adventure, which it +promises to ardent and reckless spirits. + +Generally, however, the Europeans that have adopted the life of the +savage have been men driven out from civilization, or disinclined to +systematic industry. They have not chosen the imaginary freedom and +security of barbarians, in contempt of the artificial restraints and +legal oppressions of a refined state of society, in the way that the +Greek did, whom Priscus found in the camp of Attila, declaring that he +lived more happily amongst the wild Scythians than ever he did under the +Roman government. + +But if those who have been accustomed to the comforts of civilization +have not infrequently felt the influence of the seductions which a +barbarous condition offers to an excited imagination, it may well be +conceived that, to the man who has been born a savage, and nurtured in +all the feelings and habits of that state of society, they must address +themselves with still more irresistible effect. + +We have many examples, accordingly, of how difficult it is to +extinguish, by any culture, either in an old or a young savage, his +innate passion for the wild life of his fathers. + +Tippahee's son, Matara, on his return from England, strove to regain an +acquaintance with his native customs. Moyhanger, Savage's friend, might +be quoted as another instance, in whom all the wonders and attractions +of London would appear not to have excited a wish to see it again. Nor +does any great preference for civilized life seem to have been produced +in other cases, by even a much longer experience of its accommodations. + +When Nicholas and Marsden visited New Zealand in 1815, they met at the +North Cape, where they first put on shore, a native of Otaheite, who had +been brought from his own country to Port Jackson when a boy of about +eleven or twelve years old. Here he had lived for some years in the +family of Mr. McArthur, where he had been treated with great kindness, +and brought up in all respects as an English boy would have been. Having +been sent to school he soon learned not only to speak English with +fluency, but to read and write it with very superior ability; and he +showed himself besides in everything remarkably tractable and obedient. +Yet nothing could wean him from his partiality to his original +condition; and he at last quitted the house of his protector, and +contrived to find his way to New Zealand. Here he settled among a people +even still more uncivilized than his own countrymen, and married the +daughter of one of the chiefs, to whose territories he had succeeded +when Nicholas met with him. + +Jem (that was the name by which he had been known at Port Jackson) was +then a young man of about twenty-three years of age. Unlike his brother +chiefs, he was cleanly in his person; and his countenance not being +tattooed, nor darker than that of a Spaniard, while his manners +displayed a European polish, it was only his dress that betokened the +savage. + +"His hair," says Nicholas, "which had been very carefully combed, was +tied up in a knot upon the crown of his head, and adorned with a long +white feather fancifully stuck in it; in his ears were large bunches of +the down of the gannet, white as the driven snow, and napping about his +cheeks with every gale. Like the natives, he wore the mat thrown over +his shoulders; but the one he had on was bordered with a deep Vandyke of +different colours, and gaily bedizened with the feathers of parrots and +other birds, reflecting at the same moment all the various shades in the +rainbow. He carried a musket in his hand, and had a martial and imposing +air about him, which was quite in character with the station he +maintained." + +He brought his wife with him in a canoe to the ship; and having known +Marsden well in New South Wales, was delighted to see that gentleman, +and proved of considerable use to him in his intercourse with the other +New Zealanders. Although not accustomed to speak English in his new +country, Jem had by no means forgotten that language. He had been on +three warlike expeditions to the East Cape in the course of the past +five years; but had gone, he said, only because he could not help it, +and had never assisted in devouring the prisoners. Dillon met both Jem +and the Hindoo, when he was at the Bay of Islands in July, 1827. The +former had his son with him, a boy about twelve years of age. + +These, and many other examples which might be added, exhibit the force +of habit which governs the actions of all men, whether in a savage or +civilized state. There are, of course, exceptions. When Cook left +Omai,[CS] during his last voyage, at Huaheine, with every provision for +his comfort, he earnestly begged to return to England. It was nothing +that a grant of land was made to him at the interposition of his English +friends, that a house was built and a garden planted for his use. He +wept bitter tears; for he was naturally afraid that his new riches would +make him an object of hatred to his countrymen. He was much caressed in +England; and he took back many valuable possessions and some knowledge. +But he was originally one of the common people; and he soon saw, +although he was not sensible of it at first, that without rank he could +obtain no authority. He forgot this, when he was away from the people +with whom he was to end his days; but he seemed to feel that he should +be insecure when his protector, Cook, had left their shores. He divided +his presents with the chiefs; and the great navigator threatened them +with his vengeance if Omai was molested. The reluctance of this man to +return to his original conditions was principally derived from these +considerations, which were to him of a strictly personal nature. The +picture which a popular poet has drawn of the feelings of Omai is very +beautiful, and in great part true as applied to him as an individual; +but it is not true of the mass of savages. + +The habits amidst which they were born may be modified by an intercourse +with civilized men, but they cannot be eradicated. The following is the +poetical passage to which we alluded. Omai had, altogether, a more +distinguished destiny than any other savage--he was cherished by Cook, +painted by Reynolds, and apostrophised by Cowper:-- + + "The dream is past, and thou hast found again + Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams, + And homestall thatch'd with leaves. But hast thou found + Their former charms? And, having seen our state, + Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp + Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports, + And heard our music, are thy simple friends, + Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights, + As dear to thee as once? And have thy joys + Lost nothing by comparison with ours? + Rude as thou art (for we return'd thee rude + And ignorant, except of outward show) + I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart + And spiritless, as never to regret + Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known. + Methinks I see thee straying on the beach, + And asking of the surge that bathes thy foot, + If ever it has wash'd our distant shore. + I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears, + A patriot's for his country: thou art sad + At thought of her forlorn and abject state, + From which no power of thine can raise her up." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote CO: Kaipuke, a ship.] + +[Footnote CP: That is, Tasmania.] + +[Footnote CQ: There are no tortoises in New Zealand.] + +[Footnote CR: Rutherford did not return to New Zealand, and nothing more +was heard of him. On December 5th, 1828, "The Australian," which 'was +published in Sydney, stated that a man named Rutherford, who had been +tattooed by the Maoris, and naturalized by them, was then in London, +practising the trade of a pickpocket, in the character of a New Zealand +chief, but that was before he supplied his story for "The New +Zealanders."] + +[Footnote CS: Omai was an islander, who was taken to England, where he +was lionized, and was afterwards taken back to the islands during Cook's +last voyage.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF*** + + +******* This file should be named 13760-8.txt or 13760-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13760-8.zip b/old/13760-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..94ae53f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-8.zip diff --git a/old/13760-h.zip b/old/13760-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6977cb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h.zip diff --git a/old/13760-h/13760-h.htm b/old/13760-h/13760-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..321b09a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/13760-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6156 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of John Rutherford, the White Chief, by George Lillie Craik, et al</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, John Rutherford, the White Chief, by George +Lillie Craik, et al, Edited by James Drummond</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: John Rutherford, the White Chief</p> +<p>Author: George Lillie Craik</p> +<p>Release Date: October 16, 2004 [eBook #13760]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF***</p> +<br><br><h3>E-text prepared by Michael Ciesielski<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br /> +<br /> +<center> +<img src='images/cover.jpg' width='300' height='505' alt='Book Cover' title=''> +</center> + +<h1>John Rutherford</h1> + +<h1>THE WHITE CHIEF.</h1> + +<h2>A Story of Adventure in New Zealand.</h2> + +<h3>EDITED BY</h3> + +<h2>JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S.</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<p>CONTENTS.</p> + + <a href='#INTRODUCTION'><b>INTRODUCTION.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_I'><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_II'><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_III'><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_IV'><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_V'><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VI'><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VII'><b>CHAPTER VII.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'><b>CHAPTER VIII.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_IX'><b>CHAPTER IX.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_X'><b>CHAPTER X.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XI'><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XII'><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></a><br /> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS'></a><p>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</p> + +<a href='#img01'><b>John Rutherford</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img02'><b>A Maori's shoulder mat</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img03'><b>Short striking weapons (clubs) used by the Maoris</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img04'><b>Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img05'><b>A door-lintel, showing Maori carving</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img06'><b>"Moko" on a man's face and on a woman's lips and chin</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img07'><b>Two Maori Chiefs—Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, or "Dark House"</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img08'><b>Scene in a New Zealand Forest</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img09'><b>Flute of bone</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img10'><b>A waist-mat</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img11'><b>Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img12'><b>Carved boxes</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img13'><b>Greenstone axes, with carved wooden bandies, and ornamented with dogs' hair and birds' feathers</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img14'><b>Long striking and thrusting weapons used by the Maoris</b></a><br /> +<a href='#img15'><b>A Maori war-canoe</b></a><br /> + +<center> +<a name="img01"></a> +<img src='images/image01.png' width='300' height='459' alt='John Rutherford. From an original drawing taken in 1828.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>John Rutherford. From an original drawing taken in 1828.</h5> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='INTRODUCTION'></a><h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Eighty years ago, when the story told in these pages was first +published, "forecastle yarns" were more thrilling than they are now. In +these days we look for information in regard to a new land's +capabilities for pastoral, agricultural, and commercial pursuits; in +those days it was customary, with a large portion of the British public, +at any rate, to expect sailors to tell stories</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of the cannibals that each other eat,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Do grow beneath their shoulders,</span><br /> + +<p>and to relate other particulars likely to arrest the attention and +excite the imagination. Men then sailed to unknown lands, peopled by +unknown barbarians, and their adventures in strange and mysterious +countries were clothed in a romance which has been almost completely +dispelled by the telegraph, the newspaper press, cheap books, and rapid +transit, and by the utilitarian ideas which have swept over the world.</p> + +<p>It was largely to meet the public taste for something wonderful and +striking that John Rutherford's story of adventures in New Zealand saw +the light of publicity. In fairness to the original editor and the +publisher, however, it should be stated that the story was given also as +a means of supplying interesting information in regard to a country and +a race of which very little was then known. It was embodied in a book of +400 pages, entitled "The New Zealanders," published in 1830, for the +Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by the famous publisher, +Charles Knight.</p> + +<p>He was a versatile, talented, and ambitious man; but all his ambitions +ran in the direction of the public good. From the time of his early +manhood, he wished to become a public instructor. At first he tried to +achieve his end by means of journalism, which he entered in 1812, by +reporting Parliamentary debates for "The Globe" and "The British Press," +two London journals. Later on he started a publishing business in +London. Dealing only with instructive subjects, he established "Knight's +Quarterly Magazine," and other periodicals, to which he was one of the +prominent contributors.</p> + +<p>He was not a business man, and in 1828 he was overwhelmed by financial +difficulties. In the meantime he had become acquainted with the +brilliant but erratic Lord Brougham, who had completed arrangements for +putting into operation one of his great enterprises for educating the +masses. This was the establishment of the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge. It began a series of publications under the title of +"The Library of Entertaining Knowledge," which Knight published. The +first volume, written by Knight himself, was "The Menageries"; the +second was "The New Zealanders." Other publications were issued by the +society until it was dissolved in 1846. Knight continued to send works +out of the press nearly to the end of his useful life, in March, 1873. +Some of these were written by himself, some by friends, and some were +translations. His "Penny Magazine," at the end of its first year, had a +sale of 200,000 copies. Amongst his other publications are Lane's +"Arabian Nights," "The Pictorial Bible," "The Pictorial History of +England," and—the object of his highest ambition—"The Pictorial +Shakespeare." In "Passages of a Working Life," he wrote his own +biography. In spite of his strenuous life he died a poor man. He was an +enthusiast, but his impetuous nature induced him to attempt to carry out +his schemes before they had matured. He had a quick temper and an +eloquent tongue. The esteem in which he was held by his friends is shown +by the admirable jest with which Douglas Jerrold took leave of him one +evening at a social gathering. "Good Knight," Jerrold said.</p> + +<p>The "New Zealanders" was published anonymously, and for many years the +authorship was attributed to Lord Brougham. There is no doubt now, +however, that the author was George Lillie Craik, a scholar and a man of +letters. He was born at Kennoway, Fife, in 1798. He studied at St. +Andrew's, and went through a divinity course, but never applied to be +licensed as a preacher. Like Knight, he was attracted by journalism, +which he regarded as a means of instructing the public. When he was only +twenty years of age he was editor of "The Star," a local newspaper. In +London he adopted authorship as a profession. In 1849, he was appointed +Professor of English Literature and History at the Queen's College, +Belfast, and later on, although he still resided at Belfast, he became +examiner for the Indian Civil Service. All his literary work is +distinguished by careful research. Perhaps his best effort is +represented by "The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties," published +in the same year as "The New Zealanders." With a colleague he edited +"The Pictorial History of England," in four volumes. Amongst his other +works are "A Romance of the Peerage," "Spencer and his Poetry," "A +History of Commerce," "The English of Shakespeare," and "Bacon, his +Writings and Philosophy." He had a flowing and cultured style, and he +embellished his work with many references to the classics. He was one of +the best read men of his time. His extensive reading and the simplicity +of his style made him a very welcome contributor to the "Penny +Magazine," the "Penny Cyclopædia," and other popular publications. He +had a paralytic stroke while lecturing in Belfast in February, 1866, +and he died in June of the same year. It is said of him that he was +popular with students and welcome in society.</p> + +<p>It is not known if Craik met Rutherford. He probably did not. He may +have had "The New Zealanders" partly written when the manuscript +describing Rutherford's adventures was placed in his hands. In that +case, he wove it into his book, using it as a means of illustrating his +remarks on the Maoris' customs. His work bears the stamp of honesty and +industrious care. He collected all the information dealing with New +Zealand available at the time, and he produced a fairly large book, +which, for many years after it was published, must have been a valuable +contribution to the public's store of "entertaining knowledge."</p> + +<p>Rutherford, as his narrative shows, was ten years amongst the Maoris. He +was an ignorant sailor. He could not write, and the account of his +adventures, it is explained, was dictated to a friend while he was on +the voyage back to England. Craik says that if allowance is made for +some grammatical solecisms, the story, as it appeared in the manuscript, +was told with great clearness, and sometimes with considerable spirit. +Knight evidently knew him, as it is stated in "The New Zealanders" that +"the publisher of this volume had many conversations with him when he +was exhibited in London." It is probable, too, that Brougham knew him. +Brougham, indeed, may have "discovered" him and introduced him to +Knight. Rutherford was just the kind of man in whose company Brougham +delighted to spend hours. He would listen to the recital of the +thrilling adventures with the Maoris with breathless interest. A story +told of the madcap days of Brougham's youth gives some idea of the +welcome he would extend to Rutherford. One evening, after Brougham and +some other gay spirits had supped together in London, they saw a mob of +idle scoundrels beating an unfortunate woman with brutal ferocity. The +young fellows went to her rescue. Their interference increased the +tumult, and all the watchmen in the neighbourhood were soon about their +ears. In return for their chivalry they were lodged in the watch-house. +Amongst their fellow-prisoners there was an old sailor, who sat cowering +over the embers of the fire. He had been in the American War. Brougham +picked up an acquaintance with him, and all night long the young man +held the old one in conversation, ascertaining the strength of the +forces in the engagements, the scenes of the battles, the nature of the +manoeuvres, the advances and reverses, and so on, until his +avariciousness for knowledge was satisfied.</p> + +<p>Neither Brougham nor Knight, nor even Craik, had sufficient means of +testing the accuracy of Rutherford's story. Unfortunately there are many +points on which the narrative is not only inaccurate but misleading. +Craik concludes that Poverty Bay, where Cook first landed in New +Zealand, is the scene of the capture of the "Agnes." Rutherford, +however, gives the name as "Tokomardo." This corresponds with a bay some +miles further north, and about forty miles from the East Cape. The +Maoris call it Tokomaru, which Rutherford evidently intended. His +description of the place might represent Tokomaru almost as well as +Poverty Bay. The strangest part of the affair, however, is that the +Maoris on that coast have no knowledge whatever of the "Agnes," the +vessel which, according to Rutherford, was captured in the bay he +describes. Eighty years ago the arrival of a vessel at New Zealand was +an advent of the utmost importance. The news spread throughout the land +with surprising rapidity, and whole tribes flocked to the port to see +the "Pakehas" and trade for their iron implements and guns. The Maoris +of the district know of three white men, whom they called Riki, Punga, +and Tapore, who lived amongst them for some time in the early days, +before colonization began; but they have no knowledge of Rutherford. The +chiefs to whom Rutherford frequently refers did not belong to that +district. The chief who takes the principal part in the story, "Aimy," +cannot be traced. The name is spelt wrongly, and it is difficult to +supply a Maori name that the spelling in the book might represent. This +is surprising, as the Maoris are very careful in regard to their +genealogical records.<a name='FNanchor_A_1'></a><a href='#Footnote_A_1'><sup>[A]</sup></a> While Rutherford was in New Zealand some +terrible slaughters took place in the Poverty Bay district, but he does +not refer to these, although they must have been one of the principal +subjects of conversation amongst the Maoris for months, perhaps years.</p> + +<p>Near the end of the narrative, Rutherford gives an account of a great +battle, in which the chief Hongi was a prominent figure. His description +of what took place is incorrect in several respects. Victory went to +Hongi, not, as Rutherford says, to the people of Kaipara and their +allies, although they were victorious in the first skirmish. The battle +is known as Te Ika-a-rangi-nui, that is the Great Fish of the Sky or the +Milky Way, and it took place in February, 1825. As Rutherford states, +Hongi was present, and wore the famous coat of mail armour which had +been given to him by His Majesty King George IV. when he was in England +in 1820. The strife was caused not by an attempt to steal Hongi's +armour, as Rutherford suggests, but by a thirst for revenge for the +death of a chief of the Nga-Puhi tribe, to which Hongi belonged. The +chief Whare-umu, evidently identical with "Ewarree-hum" in Rutherford's +narrative, did not belong to the party that Rutherford was connected +with; he was related to the man whose murder was avenged, and seems to +have been Hongi's first lieutenant. Some authorities, notably Bishop +Williams, of Waiapu,<a name='FNanchor_B_2'></a><a href='#Footnote_B_2'><sup>[B]</sup></a> and Mr. Percy Smith,<a name='FNanchor_C_3'></a><a href='#Footnote_C_3'><sup>[C]</sup></a> believe that Rutherford +was not present at the battle, and that he obtained all his information +from others. Bishop Williams, who knows the Poverty Bay district as well +as anyone, has come to the conclusion that Rutherford must have spent +his years in New Zealand in the Bay of Islands district; and Mr Percy +Smith, in a letter to me, says that he has always entertained the idea +that Rutherford was one of the men taken when the schooner "Brothers" +was attacked at Kennedy Bay in 1815. Bishop Williams sets up the theory +that Rutherford was a deserter from a vessel which visited New Zealand, +that he induced the Maoris to tattoo him in order that he might escape +detection after he had returned to civilization, and that he concocted +the story of the capture of the "Agnes" to account for his reappearance +amongst Europeans. The weakness of this theory is that he evidently did +not object to publicity, and that the tattooing would make him a +conspicuous man who could not avoid public attention. If Bishop Williams +is right in assuming that Rutherford wished to escape detection, he +took the very best course to defeat his object.</p> + +<p>Whatever Rutherford's object may have been, and whether he deceived the +author and publisher of "The New Zealanders," or merely erred through +ignorance and lack of observation, there is no doubt that he spent some +years with the Maoris in the northern part of New Zealand. His tattooed +face is sufficient evidence of that. The pattern is the Maori "moko." +The tattooing on his breast, stomach, and arms, however, is not the work +of Maoris; that was done, probably, by natives at some of the islands, +or by sailors. I hardly think that those who read the narrative will +agree with Bishop Williams's opinion that it is "a mere romance." It is +more like the story of an ignorant, unobservant, careless sailor, who +entertained no idea that any importance would be attached to his +statements. Many mistakes were probably made in the work of dictating +the narrative to a fellow-sailor. If Rutherford had been bent upon +making a romantic story, he would have told it in a different form. +There is no straining after effect in the manuscript reproduced by +Craik. The faults are inaccuracies, not exaggerations. Some excuse may +be found for Rutherford's mistakes in the description of the battle Te +Ika-a-rangi-nui in the fact that modern Maori scholars cannot agree on +important details, there being differences of opinion in regard to +even the year in which the battle was fought.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img02"></a> +<img src='images/image02.png' width='234' height='450' alt='A Maori's shoulder mat. Christchurch Museum.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A Maori's shoulder mat. Christchurch Museum.</h5> +<p>It is felt that, with all its blemishes, the story has a good claim to +be included in the list of New Zealand works that are now being +reprinted by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, to whom the people of New +Zealand are deeply indebted. When Mr. Whitcombe first asked me to edit +Rutherford's story for his firm, I proposed to take it alone, leaving +out all the rest of Craik's work in "The New Zealanders." On reading the +book again I came to the conclusion that many of Craik's remarks, +although discursive at times, are sufficiently interesting to be read +now, and I have included in the reprint a large portion of his original +writings. I have retained his spelling of Maori words, but have made +many corrections in footnotes. The book is not sent out as an authentic +account of the Maoris. "The New Zealanders" was the first book that +attempted to deal with them, and it has been superseded by many which +have been written in the light of more extensive knowledge, and in them +students will find results of much patient study and research.</p> + +<p>JAMES DRUMMOND.</p> + +<p><i>Christchurch</i>,</p> + +<p><i>February 13th, 1908</i>.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_A_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_A_1'>[A]</a><div class='note'><p> At my request, Mr. S. Percy Smith, the author of "Hawaiki, +the Original Home of the Maori," endeavoured to trace "Aimy," but even +his extensive knowledge of the Maori language and tribal histories +failed to bring that man to light. Mr. Smith explains that "Ai" in +Rutherford's spelling represents "E," a vocative, in the accepted method +of spelling, and "my" represents "mai." The two words, combined, would +be "E Mai." In this way, "Mai's" attention would be called. But "Mai" +may be the first, second, or third syllable of a man's name, according +to euphony. The name supplied in the narrative, therefore, is no guide +in a search for Rutherford's friendly chief.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_B_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_B_2'>[B]</a><div class='note'><p> Transactions New Zealand Institute, volume xxiii., page +453.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_C_3'></a><a href='#FNanchor_C_3'>[C]</a><div class='note'><p> "Journal of the Polynesian Society," volume x., page 35.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='JOHN_RUTHERFORD'></a><h2>JOHN RUTHERFORD</h2> + +<h2>THE WHITE CHIEF.</h2> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_I'></a><h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>John Rutherford, according to his own account, was born at Manchester +about the year 1796. He went to sea, he states, when he was hardly more +than ten years of age, having up to that time been employed as a piecer +in a cotton factory in his native town; and after that he appears to +have been but little in England, or even on shore, for many years.</p> + +<p>He served for a considerable time on board a man-of-war off the coast of +Brazil; and was afterwards at the storming of San Sebastian, in August, +1813. On coming home from Spain, he entered himself on board another +king's ship, bound for Madras, in which he afterwards proceeded to China +by the east passage, and lay for about a year at Macao.</p> + +<p>In the course of this voyage his ship touched at several islands in the +great Indian Archipelago, among others at the Bashee Islands,<a name='FNanchor_D_4'></a><a href='#Footnote_D_4'><sup>[D]</sup></a> which +have been rarely visited. On his return from the east he embarked on +board a convict vessel bound for New South Wales; and afterwards made +two trading voyages among the islands of the South Sea.</p> + +<p>It was in the course of the former of these that he first saw New +Zealand, the vessel having touched at the Bay of Islands, on her way +home to Port Jackson.</p> + +<p>His second trading voyage in those seas was made in the "Magnet," a +three-masted schooner, commanded by Captain Vine; but this vessel having +put in at Owhyhee,<a name='FNanchor_E_5'></a><a href='#Footnote_E_5'><sup>[E]</sup></a> Rutherford fell sick and was left on that island. +Having recovered, however, in about a fortnight, he was taken on board +the "Agnes," an American brig of six guns and fourteen men, commanded by +Captain Coffin, which was then engaged in trading for pearl and +tortoiseshell among the islands of the Pacific.</p> + +<p>This vessel, after having touched at various other places, on her return +from Owhyhee, approached the east coast of New Zealand, intending to put +in for refreshments at the Bay of Islands.</p> + +<p>Rutherford states in his journal that this event, which was to him of +such importance, occurred on March 6th, 1816. They first came in sight +of the Barrier Islands, some distance to the south of the port for which +they were making. They accordingly directed their course to the north; +but they had not got far on their way when it began to blow a gale from +the north-east, which, being aided by a current, not only made it +impossible for them to proceed to the Bay of Islands, but even carried +them past the mouth of the Thames. It lasted for five days, and when it +abated they found themselves some distance to the south of a high point +of land, which, from Rutherford's description, there can be no doubt +must have been that to which Captain Cook gave the name of East Cape. +Rutherford calls it sometimes the East, and sometimes the South-East +Cape, and describes it as the highest part of the coast. It lies nearly +in latitude 37° 42' S.</p> + +<p>The land directly opposite to them was indented by a large bay. This the +captain was very unwilling to enter, believing that no ship had ever +anchored in it before. We have little doubt, however, that this was the +very bay into which Cook first put, on his arrival on the coasts of New +Zealand, in the beginning of October, 1769. He called it Poverty Bay, +and found it to lie in latitude 38° 42' S. The bay in which Rutherford +now was must have been at least very near this part of the coast; and +his description answers exactly to that which Cook gives of Poverty Bay.</p> + +<p>It was, says Rutherford, in the form of a half-moon, with a sandy beach +round it, and at its head a fresh-water river, having a bar across its +mouth, which makes it navigable only for boats. He mentions also the +height of the land which forms its sides. All these particulars are +noticed by Cook. Even the name given to it by the natives, as reported +by the one, is not so entirely unlike that stated by the other, as to +make it quite improbable that the two are merely the same word +differently misrepresented. Cook writes it Taoneroa, and Rutherford +Takomardo. The slightest examination of the vocabularies of barbarous +tongues, which have been collected by voyagers and travellers, will +convince every one of the extremely imperfect manner in which the ear +catches sounds to which it is unaccustomed, and of the mistakes to which +this and other causes give rise, in every attempt which is made to take +down the words of a language from the native pronunciation, by a person +who does not understand it.</p> + +<p>Reluctant as the captain was to enter this bay, from his ignorance of +the coast, and the doubts he consequently felt as to the disposition of +the inhabitants, they at last determined to stand in for it, as they had +great need of water, and did not know when the wind might permit them to +get to the Bay of Islands.</p> + +<p>They came to anchor, accordingly, off the termination of a reef of +rocks, immediately under some elevated land, which formed one of the +sides of the bay. As soon as they had dropped anchor, a great many +canoes came off to the ship from every part of the bay, each containing +about thirty women, by whom it was paddled. Very few men made their +appearance that day; but many of the women remained on board all night, +employing themselves chiefly in stealing whatever they could lay their +hands on. Their conduct greatly alarmed the captain, and a strict watch +was kept during the night.</p> + +<p>The next morning one of the chiefs came on board, whose name they were +told was Aimy, in a large war-canoe, about sixty feet long, and carrying +above a hundred of the natives, all provided with quantities of mats and +fishing-lines, made of the strong white flax<a name='FNanchor_F_6'></a><a href='#Footnote_F_6'><sup>[F]</sup></a> of the country, with +which they professed to be anxious to trade with the crew.</p> + +<p>After this chief had been for some time on board, it was agreed that he +should return to the land, with some others of his tribe, in the ship's +boat, to procure a supply of water. This arrangement the captain was +very anxious to make, as he was averse from allowing any of the crew to +go on shore, wishing to keep them all on board for the protection of the +ship.</p> + +<p>In due time the boat returned, laden with water, which was immediately +hoisted on board; and the chief and his men were despatched a second +time on the same errand. Meanwhile, the rest of the natives continued to +take pigs to the ship in considerable numbers; and by the close of the +day about two hundred had been purchased, together with a quantity of +fern-root to feed them on.</p> + +<p>Up to this time, therefore, no hostile disposition had been manifested +by the savages; and their intercourse with the ship had been carried on +with every appearance of friendship and cordiality, if we except the +propensity they had shown to pilfer a few of the tempting rarities +exhibited to them by their civilised visitors. Their conduct as to this +matter ought perhaps to be taken rather as an evidence that they had not +as yet formed any design of attacking the vessel, as they would, in that +case, scarcely have taken the trouble of stealing a small part of what +they meant immediately to seize upon altogether. On the other hand, such +an infraction of the rules of hospitality would not have accorded with +that system of insidious kindness by which it is their practice to lull +the suspicions of those whom they are on the watch to destroy.</p> + +<p>During the night, however, the thieving was renewed, and carried to a +more alarming extent, inasmuch as it was found in the morning that some +of the natives had not only stolen the lead off the ship's stern, but +had also cut away many of the ropes, and carried them off in their +canoes. It was not till daybreak, too, that the chief returned with his +second cargo of water; and it was then observed that the ship's boat he +had taken with him leaked a great deal; on which the carpenter examined +her, and found that a great many of the nails had been drawn out of her +planks.</p> + +<p>About the same time, Rutherford detected one of the natives in the act +of stealing the dipson lead,—"which, when I took it from him," says he, +"he grinded his teeth and shook his tomahawk at me."</p> + +<p>"The captain," he continues, "now paid the chief for fetching the water, +giving him two muskets, and a quantity of powder and shot, arms and +ammunition being the only articles these people will trade for.</p> + +<p>"There were at this time about three hundred of the natives on the deck, +with Aimy, the chief, in the midst of them; every man was armed with a +green stone, slung with a string around his waist. This weapon they call +a 'mery,'<a name='FNanchor_G_7'></a><a href='#Footnote_G_7'><sup>[G]</sup></a> the stone being about a foot long, flat, and of an oblong +shape, having both edges sharp, and a handle at the end. They use it for +the purpose of killing their enemies, by striking them on the head.</p> + +<p>"Smoke was now observed rising from several of the hills; and the +natives appearing to be mustering on the beach from every part of the +bay, the captain grew much afraid, and desired us to loosen the sails, +and make haste down to get our dinners, as he intended to put to sea +immediately. As soon as we had dined, we went aloft, and I proceeded to +loosen the jib. At this time, none of the crew was on deck except the +captain and the cook, the chief mate being employed in loading some +pistols at the cabin table.</p> + +<p>"The natives seized this opportunity of commencing an attack upon the +ship. First, the chief threw off the mat which he wore as a cloak, and, +brandishing a tomahawk in his hand, began a war-song, when all the rest +immediately threw off their mats likewise, and, being entirely naked, +began to dance with such violence that I thought they would have stove +in the ship's deck.</p> + +<p>"The captain, in the meantime, was leaning against the companion, when +one of the natives went unperceived behind him, and struck him three or +four blows on the head with a tomahawk, which instantly killed him. The +cook, on seeing him attacked, ran to his assistance, but was immediately +murdered in the same manner.</p> + +<p>"I now sat down on the jib-boom, with tears in my eyes, and trembling +with terror.</p> + +<p>"Here I next saw the chief mate come running up the companion ladder, +but before he reached the deck he was struck on the back of the neck in +the same manner as the captain and the cook had been. He fell with the +blow, but did not die immediately.</p> + +<p>"A number of the natives now rushed in at the cabin door, while others +jumped down through the skylight, and others were employed in cutting +the lanyards of the rigging of the stays. At the same time, four of our +crew jumped overboard off the foreyard, but were picked up by some +canoes that were coming from the shore, and immediately bound hand and +foot.</p> + +<p>"The natives now mounted the rigging, and drove the rest of the crew +down, all of whom were made prisoners. One of the chiefs beckoned to me +to come to him, which I immediately did, and surrendered myself. We were +then put all together into a large canoe, our hands being tied; and the +New Zealanders, searching us, took from us our knives, pipes, +tobacco-boxes, and various other articles. The two dead bodies, and the +wounded mate, were thrown into the canoe along with us. The mate groaned +terribly, and seemed in great agony, the tomahawk having cut two inches +deep into the back of his neck; and all the while one of the natives, +who sat in the canoe with us, kept licking the blood from the wound with +his tongue. Meantime, a number of women who had been left in the ship +had jumped overboard, and were swimming to the shore, after having cut +her cable, so that she drifted, and ran aground on the bar near the +mouth of the river. The natives had not sense to shake the reefs out of +the sails, but had chopped them off along the yards with their +tomahawks, leaving the reefed part behind.</p> + +<p>"The pigs, which we had bought from them, were, many of them, killed on +board, and carried ashore dead in the canoes, and others were thrown +overboard alive, and attempted to swim to the land; but many of them +were killed in the water by the natives, who got astride on their backs, +and then struck them on the head with their merys. Many of the canoes +came to the land loaded with plunder from the ship; and numbers of the +natives quarrelled about the division of the spoil, and fought and slew +each other. I observed, too, that they broke up our water-casks for the +sake of the iron hoops.</p> + +<p>"While all this was going on, we were detained in the canoe; but at +last, when the sun was set, they conveyed us on shore to one of the +villages, where they tied us by the hands to several small trees. The +mate had expired before we got on shore, so that there now remained only +twelve of us alive. The three dead bodies were then brought forward, and +hung up by the heels to the branch of a tree, in order that the dogs +might not get at them. A number of large fires were also kindled on the +beach, for the purpose of giving light to the canoes, which were +employed all night in going backward and forward between the shore and +the ship, although it rained the greater part of the time.</p> + +<p>"Gentle reader," Rutherford continues, "we will now consider the sad +situation we were in; our ship lost, three of our companions already +killed, and the rest of us tied each to a tree, starving with hunger, +wet, and cold, and knowing that we were in the hands of cannibals.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, I observed that the surf had driven the ship over the +bar, and she was now in the mouth of the river, and aground near the end +of the village. Everything being now out of her, about ten o'clock in +the morning they set fire to her; after which they all mustered together +on an unoccupied piece of ground near the village, where they remained +standing for some time; but at last they all sat down except five, who +were chiefs, for whom a large ring was left vacant in the middle. The +five chiefs, of whom Aimy was one, then approached the place where we +were, and after they had stood consulting for some time, Aimy released +me and another, and, taking us into the middle of the ring, made signs +for us to sit down, which we did. In a few minutes, the other four +chiefs came also into the ring, bringing along with them four more of +our men, who were made to sit down beside us.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs now walked backward and forward in the ring with their merys +in their hands, and continued talking together for some time, but we +understood nothing of what they said. The rest of the natives were all +the while very silent, and seemed to listen to them with great +attention. At length, one of the chiefs spoke to one of the natives who +was seated on the ground, and the latter immediately rose, and, taking +his tomahawk in his hand, went and killed the other six men who were +tied to the trees. They groaned several times as they were struggling in +the agonies of death, and at every groan the natives burst out in great +fits of laughter.</p> + +<p>"We could not refrain from weeping for the sad fate of our comrades, not +knowing, at the same time, whose turn it might be next. Many of the +natives, on seeing our tears, laughed aloud, and brandished their merys +at us.</p> + +<p>"Some of them now proceeded to dig eight large round holes, each about a +foot deep, into which they afterwards put a great quantity of dry wood, +and covered it over with a number of stones. They then set fire to the +wood, which continued burning till the stones became red hot. In the +meantime, some of them were employed in stripping the bodies of my +deceased shipmates, which they afterwards cut up, for the purpose of +cooking them, having first washed them in the river, and then brought +them and laid them down on several green boughs which had been broken +off the trees and spread on the ground, near the fires, for that +purpose.</p> + +<p>"The stones being now red hot, the largest pieces of the burning wood +were pulled from under them and thrown away, and some green bushes, +having been first dipped in water, were laid round their edges, while +they were at the same time covered over with a few green leaves. The +mangled bodies were then laid upon the top of the leaves, with a +quantity of leaves also strewed over them; and after this a straw mat +was spread over the top of each hole. Lastly, about three pints of water +were poured upon each mat, which, running through to the stones, caused +a great steam, and then the whole was instantly covered with earth.</p> + +<p>"They afterwards gave us some roasted fish to eat, and three women were +employed in roasting fern-root for us. When they had roasted it, they +laid it on a stone, and beat it with a piece of wood, until it became +soft like dough. When cold again, however, it becomes hard, and snaps +like gingerbread. We ate but sparingly of what they gave us. After this +they took us to a house, and gave each of us a mat and some dried grass +to sleep upon. Here we spent the night, two of the chiefs sleeping along +with us.</p> + +<p>"We got up next morning as soon as it was daylight, as did also the two +chiefs, and went and sat down outside the house. Here we found a number +of women busy in making baskets of green flax, into some of which, when +they were finished, the bodies of our messmates, which had been cooking +all night, were put, while others were filled with potatoes, which had +been prepared by a similar process.</p> + +<p>"I observed some of the children tearing the flesh from the bones of our +comrades, before they were taken from the fires. A short time after this +the chiefs assembled, and, having seated themselves on the ground, the +baskets were placed before them and they proceeded to divide the flesh +among the multitude, at the rate of a basket among so many. They also +sent us a basket of potatoes and some of the flesh, which resembled +pork; but instead of partaking of it we shuddered at the very idea of +such an unnatural and horrid custom, and made a present of it to one of +the natives."</p> + +<p>According to this account, the editor says, the attack made upon the +"Agnes" would seem to have been altogether unprovoked by the conduct +either of the captain or any of the crew; but we must not, in matters of +this kind, assume that we are in possession of the whole truth, when we +have heard the statement of only one of the parties. What may have been +the exact nature of the offence given to the natives in the present +case, the narrative we have just transcribed hardly gives us any data +even for conjecturing; unless we are to suppose that their vindictive +feelings were called forth by the manner in which their pilfering may +have been resented or punished, about which, however, nothing is said in +the account. But perhaps, after all, it is not necessary to refer +their hostility to any immediate cause of this kind. These savages had +probably many old injuries, sustained from former European visitors, yet +unrevenged; and, according to their notions, therefore, they had reason +enough to hold every ship that approached their coast an enemy, and a +fair subject for spoliation. It is lamentable that the conduct of +Europeans should have offered them an excuse for such conduct.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img03"></a> +<img src='images/image03.png' width='286' height='450' alt='Christchurch Museum. + +1. Club (patu) of wood, inlaid with paua shell and carved. + +2. Greenstone club (mere pounanu). + +3. Club (onewa) of stone. + +4. Kotiate of wood or bone.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Collection of clubs. Christchurch Museum.</h5> + +<p>The wanton cruelties committed upon these people by the commanders and +crews of many of the vessels that have been of late years in the habit +of resorting to their shores, are testified to, by too many evidences, +to allow us to doubt the enormous extent to which they have been +carried; and they are, at the same time, too much in the spirit of that +systematic aggression and violence, which even British sailors are apt +to conceive themselves entitled to practise upon naked and unarmed +savages, to make the fact of their perpetration a matter of surprise to +us. We must refer to Mr. Nicholas's book<a name='FNanchor_H_8'></a><a href='#Footnote_H_8'><sup>[H]</sup></a> for many specific instances +of such atrocities; but we may merely mention here that the conduct in +question is distinctly noticed and denounced in the strongest terms, +both in a proclamation by Governor Macquarie, dated the 9th of November, +1814, and also in another by Sir Thomas Brisbane, dated the 17th of +May, 1824. So strong a feeling, indeed, had been excited upon this +subject among the more respectable inhabitants of the English colony, +that, in the year 1814, a society was formed in Sydney Town, with the +Governor at its head, for the especial protection of the natives of the +South Sea Islands against the oppressions practised upon them by the +crews of European vessels.</p> + +<p>The reports of the missionaries likewise abound in notices of the +flagrant barbarities by which, in New Zealand, as well as elsewhere, the +white man has signalised his superiority over his darker-complexioned +brother. But it may be enough to quote one of their statements, namely, +that within the first two or three years after the establishment of the +society's settlement at the Bay of Islands, not less than a hundred at +least of the natives had been murdered by Europeans in their immediate +neighbourhood. With such facts on record, it ought indeed to excite but +little of our surprise, that the sight of the white man's ship in their +horizon should be to these injured people in every district the signal +for a general muster, to meet the universal foe, and, if it may be +accomplished by force or cunning, to gratify the great passion of savage +life—revenge.</p> + +<p>The circumstances of this attack are all illustrative of the New Zealand +character; and, indeed, the whole narrative is strikingly accordant +with the accounts we have from other sources of the manner in which +these savages are wont to act on such occasions, although there +certainly never has before appeared so minute and complete a detail of +any similar transaction. The gathering of the inland population by fires +lighted on the hills, the previous crowding and almost complete +occupation of the vessel, the sly and patient watching for the moment of +opportunity, the instant seizure of it when it came, the management of +the whole with such precision and skill, as in the case of the +"Boyd,"<a name='FNanchor_I_9'></a><a href='#Footnote_I_9'><sup>[I]</sup></a> and indeed in every other known instance, while the success +of the movement was perfect—this result was obtained without the +expense of so much as a drop of blood on the part of the assailants—all +these things are the uniform accompaniments of New Zealand treachery +when displayed in such enterprises.</p> + +<p>The rule of military tactics among this people is, in the first place, +if possible, to surprise their enemies; and, in the second, to endeavour +to alarm and confound them. This latter is doubtless partly the purpose +of the song and dance, which form with them the constant prelude to the +assault, although these vehement expressions of passion operate also +powerfully as excitements to their own sanguinary valour and contempt +of death.</p> + +<p>Rutherford's description of the violence with which they danced on board +the ship in the present case, immediately before commencing their attack +on the crew, reminds us strikingly, even by its expression, of the +account Crozet gives us, in his narrative of the voyage of M. Marion, of +their exhibitions of a similar sort even when they were only in sport. +"They would often dance," says he "with such fury when on board the ship +that we feared they would drive in our deck."</p> + +<p>The alleged cannibalism of the New Zealanders is a subject that has +given rise to a good deal of controversy; and it has been even very +recently contended that the imputation, if not altogether unfounded, is +very nearly so, and that the horrid practice in question, if it does +exist among these people at all, has certainly never been carried beyond +the mere act of tasting human flesh, in obedience to some feeling of +superstition or frantic revenge, and even that perpetrated only rarely +and with repugnance.</p> + +<p>Without attempting to theorise as to such a matter on the ground of such +narrow views as ordinary experience would suggest, we may here state +what the evidence is which we really have for the cannibalism of the New +Zealanders.</p> + +<p>Cook was the first who discovered the fact, which he did in his first +visit to the country. The strongest proof of all was that which was +obtained in Queen Charlotte Sound. Captain Cook having one day gone +ashore here, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and other +persons belonging to the ship, found a family of the natives employed in +dressing some provisions.</p> + +<p>"The body of a dog," says Cook, "was at this time buried in their oven, +and many provision baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes +carelessly into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty +cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, +upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At +this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation +of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we +could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any +doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found +in a provision-basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to +have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end were the marks +of the teeth which had gnawed them.</p> + +<p>"To put an end, however, to conjecture founded upon circumstances and +appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the +Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man. +They were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied +that they had eaten it; 'but,' said Tupia, 'why did you not eat the body +of the woman we saw floating upon the water?' 'The woman,' said they, +'died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the +bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle.'</p> + +<p>"Upon inquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us +that, about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came +into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one of +seven whom they had killed.</p> + +<p>"Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the +inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still +stronger to give. One of us asked if they had any human bones with the +flesh remaining upon them; and upon their answering us that all had been +eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the bones were human, and said +that they were the bones of a dog; upon which one of the Indians, with +some eagerness, took hold of his own forearm, and thrusting it towards +us, said that the bone which Mr. Banks held in his hand had belonged to +that part of a human body; at the same time, to convince us that the +flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm with his teeth, and +made a show of eating. He also bit and gnawed the bone which Mr. Banks +had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and showing by signs that it +had afforded a delicious repast. Some others of them, in a conversation +with Tupia next day, confirmed all this in the fullest manner; and they +were afterwards in the habit of bringing human bones, the flesh of which +they had eaten, and offering them to the English for sale."</p> + +<p>When Cook was at the same place in November, 1773, in the course of his +second voyage, he obtained still stronger evidence of what he expressly +calls their "great liking for this kind of food," his former account of +their indulgence in which had been discredited, he tells us, by many. +Some of the officers of the ship having gone one afternoon on shore, +observed the head and bowels of a youth, who had been lately killed, +lying on the beach; and one of them, having purchased the head, brought +it on board. A piece of the flesh having then been broiled and given to +one of the natives, he ate it immediately in the presence of all the +officers and most of the men. Nothing is said of any aversion he seemed +to feel to the shocking repast. Nay, when, upon Cook's return on board, +for he had been at this time absent on shore, another piece of the flesh +was broiled and brought to the quarter-deck, that he also might be an +eye-witness of what his officers had already seen, one of the New +Zealanders, he tells us, "ate it with surprising avidity. This," he +adds, "had such an effect on some of our people as to make them sick."</p> + +<p>Of the persons who sailed with Cook, no one seems eventually to have +retained a doubt as to the prevalence of cannibalism among these +savages. Mr. Burney, who had been long sceptical, was at last convinced +of the fact, by what he observed when he went to look after the crew of +the "Adventure's" boat who had been killed in Grass Cove; and both the +elder and the younger Forster, who accompanied Cook on his second +voyage, express their participation in the general belief. John Ledyard, +who was afterwards distinguished as an adventurous African traveller, +but who sailed with Cook in the capacity of a corporal of marines, bears +testimony to the same fact.</p> + +<p>It thus appears that the testimony of those who have actually visited +New Zealand, in so far as it has been recorded, is unanimous upon this +head.</p> + +<p>To the authorities that have been already adduced, may be now added that +of Rutherford, whose evidence, both in the extract from his journal that +has been already given, and in other passages to which we shall +afterwards have occasion to refer, is in perfect accordance with the +statements of all preceding reporters entitled to speak upon the +subject. The facts that have been quoted would seem to show that the +eating of human flesh among this people is not merely an occasional +excess, prompted only by the phrenzy of revenge, but that it is actually +resorted to as a gratification of appetite, as well as of passion.</p> + +<p>It is very probable, however, that the practice may have had its origin +in those vindictive feelings which mix, to so remarkable a degree, in +all the enmities and wars of these savages. This is a much more likely +supposition than that it originated in the difficulty of procuring other +food, in which case, as has been remarked, it could not well have, at +any time, sprung up either in New Zealand or in almost any other of the +countries in which it is known to prevail. Certain superstitious +notions, besides, which are connected with it among this people, +sufficiently indicate the motives which must have first led to it; for +they believe that, by eating their enemies, they not only dishonour +their bodies, but consign their souls to perpetual misery. This is +stated by Cook.</p> + +<p>Other accounts, which we have from more recent authorities, concur in +showing that the person who eats any part of the body of another whom he +has slain in battle, fancies he secures to himself thereby a portion of +the valour or good fortune which had hitherto belonged to his dead +enemy. The most common occasion, too, on which slaves are slain and +eaten is by way of an offering to the "<i>mana</i>" of a chief or any of his +family who may have been cut off in battle.</p> + +<p>All this would go to prove that the cannibalism of the New Zealanders +had, on its first introduction, been intimately associated with certain +feelings or notions which seemed to demand the act as a duty, and not +at all with any circumstances of distress or famine which compelled a +resort to it as a dire necessity. There is too much reason for +apprehending, however, that the unnatural repast, having ceased in this +way to be regarded with that disgust with which it is turned from by +every unpolluted appetite, has now become an enjoyment in which they not +unfrequently indulge without any reference to the considerations which +originally tempted them to partake of it. Indeed, such a result, instead +of being incredible or improbable, would appear to be almost an +inevitable consequence of the general and systematic perpetration, under +any pretext, of so daring an outrage upon Nature as that of which these +savages are, on all hands, allowed to be guilty.</p> + +<p>The practice of cannibalism, which has prevailed among other nations as +well as the New Zealanders, has probably not had always exactly the same +origin. According to Mr. Mariner, it is of very recent introduction +among the people of Tonga, having been unknown among them till it was +imported about fifty or sixty years ago, along with other warlike +tastes, by their neighbours of the Fiji Islands, whose assistance had +been called in by one of the parties in a civil struggle. Here is an +instance of the practice having originated purely in the ferocity +engendered by the habit of war. In other cases it has, perhaps, arisen +out of the kindred practice of offering up human beings as sacrifices +to the gods.</p> + +<p>Humboldt, in his work on the indigenous inhabitants of South America, +gives us an interesting account of the introduction of this latter +atrocity among the Aztecs, a people of Mexico, whose annals record its +first perpetration to have taken place so late as the year 1317.</p> + +<p>But the most extraordinary instance of cannibalism which is known to +exist in the world is that practised by the Battas, an extensive and +populous nation of Sumatra. These people, according to Sir Stamford +Raffles, have a regular government, and deliberative assemblies; they +possess a peculiar language and written character, can generally write, +and have a talent for eloquence; they acknowledge a God, are fair and +honourable in their dealings, and crimes amongst them are few; their +country is highly cultivated. Yet this people, so far advanced in +civilization, are cannibals upon principle and system. Mr. Marsden,<a name='FNanchor_J_10'></a><a href='#Footnote_J_10'><sup>[J]</sup></a> +in his "History of Sumatra," seems to confine their cannibalism to the +accustomed cases of prisoners taken in war and to other gratifications +of revenge. But it is stated by Sir Stamford Raffles, upon testimony +which is unimpeachable, that criminals and prisoners are not only eaten +according to the law of the land, but that the same law permits their +being mangled and eaten while alive. The following extraordinary +account, which we extract from a letter of Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. +Marsden himself, dated February 27, 1820, is sufficiently revolting; but +it is important as showing the wonderful influence of ancient customs in +hardening the hearts of an otherwise mild and respectable people, and is +therefore calculated to make us look with less severity upon the +practices of the more ignorant New Zealanders. The progress of knowledge +and of true religion can alone eradicate such fearful relics of a +tremendous superstition—the offering, in another shape, to</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of human sacrifice.</span><br /> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>I have found all you say on the subject of cannibalism more than + confirmed. I do not think you have even gone far enough. You + might have broadly stated, that it is the practice, not only to + eat the victim, but to eat him alive. I shall pass over the + particulars of all previous information which I have received, + and endeavour to give you, in a few words, the result of a + deliberate inquiry from the Batta chiefs of Tappanooly. I caused + the most intelligent to be assembled; and in the presence of Mr. + Prince and Dr. Jack, obtained the following information, of the + truth of which none of us have the least doubt. It is the + universal and standing law of the Battas, that death by eating + shall be inflicted in the following cases:—Adultery; midnight + robbery; wars of importance, that is to say, one district against + another, the prisoners are sacrificed; intermarrying in the same + tribe, which is forbidden from the circumstance of their having + ancestors in common; treacherous attacks on a house, village, or + person. In all the above cases it is lawful for the victims to be + eaten, and they are eaten alive, that is to say, they are not + previously put to death. The victim is tied to a stake, with his + arms extended, the party collect in a circle around him, and the + chief gives the order to commence eating. The chief enemy, when + it is a prisoner, or the chief party injured in other cases, has + the first selection; and after he has cut off his slice, others + cut off pieces according to their taste and fancy, until all the + flesh is devoured. It is either eaten raw or grilled, and + generally dipped in sambul (a preparation of Chili pepper and + salt), which is always in readiness. Rajah Bandaharra, a Batta, + and one of the chiefs of Tappanooly, asserted that he was present + at a festival of this kind about eight years ago, at the village + of Subluan, on the other side of the bay, not nine miles distant, + where the heads may still be seen.</p> + +<p> When the party is a prisoner taken in war, he is eaten + immediately, and on the spot. Whether dead or alive he is equally + eaten, and it is usual even to drag the bodies from the graves, + and, after disinterring them, to eat the flesh. This only in + cases of war. From the clear and concurring testimony of all + parties, it is certain that it is the practice not to kill the + victim till the whole of the flesh cut off by the party is eaten, + should he live so long; the chief or party injured then comes + forward and cuts off the head, which he carries home as a trophy. + Within the last three years there have been two instances of this + kind of punishment within ten miles of Tappanooly, and the heads + are still preserved. In cases of adultery the injured party + usually takes the ear or ears; but the ceremony is not allowed to + take place except the wife's relations are present and partake of + it. In these and other cases where the criminal is directed to be + eaten, he is secured and kept for two or three days, till every + person (that is to say males) is assembled. He is then eaten + quietly, and in cold blood, with as much ceremony, and perhaps + more, than attends the execution of a capital sentence in Europe.</p> + +<p> The bones are scattered abroad after the flesh has been eaten, + and the head alone preserved. The brains belong to the chief, or + injured party, who usually preserves them in a bottle, for + purposes of witchcraft, &c. They do not eat the bowels, but like + the heart; and many drink the blood from bamboos. The palms of + the hands and the soles of the feet are the delicacies of + epicures. Horrid and diabolical as these practices may appear, it + is no less true that they are the result of much deliberation + among the parties, and seldom, except in the case of prisoners in + war, the effect of immediate and private revenge. In all cases of + crimes, the party has a regular trial, and no punishment can be + inflicted until sentence is regularly and formally passed in the + public fair. Here the chiefs of the neighbouring kampong + assemble, hear the evidence, and deliberate upon the crime and + probable guilt of the party; when condemned, the sentence is + ratified by the chiefs drinking the tuah, or toddy, which is + final, and may be considered equivalent to signing and sealing + with us.</p> + +<p> I was very particular in my inquiries whether the assembly were + intoxicated on the occasions of these punishments. I was assured + it was never the case. The people take rice with them, and eat it + with the meat, but no tuah is allowed. The punishment is always + inflicted in public. The men alone are allowed to partake, as the + flesh of man is prohibited to women (probably from an + apprehension they might become too fond of it). The flesh is not + allowed to be carried away from the spot, but must be consumed at + the time. I am assured that the Battas are more attached to these + laws than the Mahomedans are to the Koran, and that the number of + the punishments is very considerable. My informants considered + that there could be no less than fifty or sixty men eaten in a + year, and this in times of peace; but they were unable to + estimate the true extent, considering the great population of the + country; they were confident, however, that these laws were + strictly enforced wherever the name of Batta was known, and that + it was only in the immediate vicinity of our settlements that + they were modified and neglected. For proof, they referred me to + every Batta in the vicinity, and to the number of skulls to be + seen in every village, each of which was from a victim of the + kind.</p> + +<p> With regard to the relish with which the parties devour the + flesh, it appeared that, independent of the desire of revenge + which may be supposed to exist among the principals, about + one-half of the people eat it with a relish, and speak of it with + delight; the other half, though present, may not partake. Human + flesh is, however, generally considered preferable to cow or + buffalo beef, or hog, and was admitted to be so even by my + informants. Adverting to the possible origin of this practice, it + was observed that formerly they ate their parents when too old + for work; this, however, is no longer the case, and thus a step + has been gained in civilization. It is admitted that the parties + may be redeemed for a pecuniary compensation, but this is + entirely at the option of the chief enemy or injured party, who, + after his sentence is passed, may either have his victim eaten, + or he may sell him for a slave; but the law is that he shall be + eaten, and the prisoner is entirely at the mercy of his + prosecutor.</p> + +<p> The laws by which these sentences are inflicted are too well + known to require reference to books, but I am promised some MS. + accounts which relate to the subject. These laws are called huhum + pinang àn,—from depang àn, to eat—law or sentence to eat.</p> + +<p> I could give you many more details, but the above may be + sufficient to show that our friends the Battas are even worse + than you have represented them, and that those who are still + sceptical have yet more to learn. I have also a great deal to say + on the other side of the character, for the Battas have many + virtues. I prize them highly. </p></div> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_D_4'></a><a href='#FNanchor_D_4'>[D]</a><div class='note'><p> At the extreme north of the Philippine Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_E_5'></a><a href='#FNanchor_E_5'>[E]</a><div class='note'><p> Hawaii.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_F_6'></a><a href='#FNanchor_F_6'>[F]</a><div class='note'><p> Phormium tenax.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_G_7'></a><a href='#FNanchor_G_7'>[G]</a><div class='note'><p> méré.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_H_8'></a><a href='#FNanchor_H_8'>[H]</a><div class='note'><p> Nicholas's "Voyage to New Zealand."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_I_9'></a><a href='#FNanchor_I_9'>[I]</a><div class='note'><p> The transport "Boyd" was taken by Maoris and burned at +Whangaroa Harbour in 1809. Most of the people on board were massacred, +there being only four survivors out of seventy souls.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_J_10'></a><a href='#FNanchor_J_10'>[J]</a><div class='note'><p> William Marsden, who was sent out from Dublin to Sumatra, +about 1775, as a writer in the East India Company's service.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_II'></a><h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Rutherford and his comrades spent another night in the same manner as +they had done the previous one; and on the following morning set out, in +company with the five chiefs, on a journey into the interior.</p> + +<p>When they left the coast, the ship was still burning. They were attended +by about fifty natives, who were loaded with the plunder of the +unfortunate vessel. That day, he calculates, they travelled only about +ten miles, the journey being very fatiguing from the want of any regular +roads, and the necessity for making their way through a succession of +woods and swamps.</p> + +<p>The village at which their walk terminated was the residence of one of +the chiefs, whose name was Rangadi,<a name='FNanchor_K_11'></a><a href='#Footnote_K_11'><sup>[K]</sup></a> and who was received on his +arrival by about two hundred of the inhabitants.</p> + +<p>They came in a crowd, and, kneeling down around him, began to cry aloud +and cut their arms, faces, and other parts of their bodies with pieces +of sharp flint, of which each of them carried a number tied with a +string about his neck, till the blood flowed copiously from their +wounds.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img04"></a> +<img src='images/image04.png' width='450' height='334' alt='Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of +Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of +Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place.</h5> + +<p>These demonstrations of excited feeling, which Rutherford describes as +merely their usual manner of receiving any of their friends who have +been for some time absent, are rather more extravagant than seem to have +been commonly observed to take place on such occasions in other parts of +the island. Mr. Marsden,<a name='FNanchor_L_12'></a><a href='#Footnote_L_12'><sup>[L]</sup></a> however, states that on Korro-korro's<a name='FNanchor_M_13'></a><a href='#Footnote_M_13'><sup>[M]</sup></a> +return from Port Jackson, many of the women of his tribe who came out to +receive him "cut themselves in their faces, arms, and breasts with sharp +shells or flints, till the blood streamed down." Some time after, when +Duaterra<a name='FNanchor_N_14'></a><a href='#Footnote_N_14'><sup>[N]</sup></a> and Shungie<a name='FNanchor_O_15'></a><a href='#Footnote_O_15'><sup>[O]</sup></a> went on shore at the Bay of Islands, they met +with a similar reception from the females of their tribes. Mr. Savage +asserts that this cutting of their faces by the women always takes place +on the meeting of friends who have been long separated; but that the +ceremony consists only of embracing and crying, when the separation of +the parties has been short. It may be remarked that the custom of +receiving strangers with tears, by way of doing them honour, has +prevailed with other savages. Among the native tribes of Brazil, +according to Lafitau, it used to be the custom for the women, on the +approach of any one to whom they wished to show especial fidelity, to +crouch down on their heels, and, spreading their hands over their faces, +to remain for a considerable time in that posture, howling in a sort of +cadence, and shedding tears. Among the Sioux, again, it was the duty of +the men to perform this ceremony of lamentation on such occasions, which +they did standing, and laying their hands on the heads of their +visitors.</p> + +<p>In some cases, the wounds which the New Zealand women inflict on +themselves are intended to express their grief for friends who have +perished in war; and probably this may have been a reason for the strong +exhibition of feeling in the instance just noticed by Rutherford, as the +chiefs had then returned from an expedition. Such a mode of mourning has +been often observed in New Zealand. During the time that Cruise was at +the Bay of Islands, they found one day, upon going on shore, that a body +of the natives had just returned from a war expedition, in which they +had taken considerable numbers of prisoners, consisting of men, women, +and children, some of the latter of whom were not two years old; and +among the women was one, distinguished by her superior beauty, who sat +apart from the rest upon the beach, and, though silent, seemed buried in +affliction. They learned that her father, a chief of some consequence, +had been killed by the man whose prisoner she now was, and who kept +near her during the greater part of the day.</p> + +<p>The officers remained on shore till the evening; "and as we were +preparing to return to the ship," continues Cruise, "we were drawn to +that part of the beach where the prisoners were, by the most doleful +cries and lamentations. Here was the interesting young slave in a +situation that ought to have softened the heart of the most unfeeling. +The man who had slain her father, having cut off his head, and preserved +it by a process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket, +where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the +unhappy daughter." At once she seized it with a degree of phrenzy not to +be described; and subsequently, with a bit of sharp shell, disfigured +her person in so shocking a manner that in a few minutes not a vestige +of her former beauty remained. They afterwards learned that this fellow +had married the very woman he had treated with such singular barbarity.</p> + +<p>The crying, however, seems to be a ceremony that takes place universally +on the meeting of friends who have been for some time parted. We may +give, in illustration of this custom, Cruise's description of the +reception by their relatives of the nine New Zealanders who came along +with him in the "Dromedary" from Port Jackson.</p> + +<p>"When their fathers, brothers, etc., were admitted into the ship," says +he, "the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, +and every appearance of joy vanished. It is customary with these +extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting as +upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and +remain in this position for at least half-an-hour;<a name='FNanchor_P_16'></a><a href='#Footnote_P_16'><sup>[P]</sup></a> during which time +they sob and howl in the most doleful manner. If there be many friends +gathered around the person who has returned, the nearest relation takes +possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, +and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner (if he may be so +called) in the various expressions of his lamentation. This ended, they +resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that +has happened during their separation. As there were nine New Zealanders +just returned, and more than three times that number to commemorate the +event, the howl was quite tremendous, and so novel to almost every one +in the ship that it was with difficulty our people's attention could be +kept to matters at that moment more essential. Little Repero, who had +frequently boasted, during the passage, that he was too much of an +Englishman ever to cry again, made a strong effort when his father, +Shungie, approached him, to keep his word; but his early habit soon got +the better of his resolution, and he evinced, if possible, more +distress than any of the others."</p> + +<p>The sudden thawing of poor Repero's heroic resolves was an incident +exactly similar to another which Mr. Nicholas had witnessed. Among the +New Zealanders who, after having resided for some time in New South +Wales, returned with him and Mr. Marsden to their native country, was +one named Tooi,<a name='FNanchor_Q_17'></a><a href='#Footnote_Q_17'><sup>[Q]</sup></a> who prided himself greatly on being able to imitate +European manners; and accordingly, declaring that he would not cry, but +would behave like an Englishman, began, as the trying moment approached, +to converse most manfully with Mr. Nicholas, evidently, however, forcing +his spirits the whole time. But "his fortitude," continues Nicholas, +"was very soon subdued; for being joined by a young chief about his own +age, and one of his best friends, he flew to his arms, and, bursting +into tears, indulged exactly the same emotions as the others."</p> + +<p>Tooi was afterwards brought to England, and remained for some time in +this country. He was in attendance upon his brother Korro-korro, one of +the greatest chiefs in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, and, as +well as Shungie, who has just been mentioned, celebrated all over the +country for his love of fighting, and the number of victories he had +won.</p> + +<p>Yet even this hardy warrior was no more proof than any one of his wives +or children against this strange habit of emotion. The first person he +met on his landing happened to be his aunt, whose appearance, as, bent +to the earth with age and infirmities, she ascended a hill, supporting +herself upon a long staff, Nicholas compares to that which we might +conceive the Sibyl bore, when she presented herself to Tarquin. Yet, +when she came up to Korro-korro, the chief, we are told, having fallen +upon her neck, and applied his nose to hers, the two continued in this +posture for some minutes, talking together in a low and mournful voice; +and then disengaging themselves, they gave vent to their feelings by +weeping bitterly, the chief remaining for about a quarter of an hour +leaning on his musket, while the big drops continued to roll down his +cheeks.</p> + +<p>The old woman's daughter, who had come along with her, then made her +approach, and another scene, if possible of still more tumultuous +tenderness than the former, took place between the two cousins. The +chief hung, as before, in an agony of affection, on the neck of his +relation; and "as for the woman," says Nicholas, "she was so affected +that the mat she wore was literally soaked through with her tears." A +passionate attachment to friends is, indeed, one of the most prevailing +feelings of the savage state. Dampier tells us of an Indian who +recovered his friend unexpectedly on the island of Juan Fernandez, and +who immediately prostrated himself on the ground at his feet. "We stood +gazing in silence," says the manly sailor, "at this tender scene."</p> + +<p>The house of the chief to which Rutherford and his comrades were taken +was the largest in the village, being both long and wide, although very +low, and having no other entrance than an aperture, which was shut by +means of a sliding door, and was so much lower even than the roof that +it was necessary to crawl upon the hands and knees to get through it.</p> + +<p>Two large pigs and a quantity of potatoes were now cooked; and when they +were ready, a portion having been allotted to the slaves, who are never +permitted to eat along with the chiefs, the latter sat down to their +repast, the white men taking their places beside them.</p> + +<p>The feast was not held within the house, but in the open air; and the +meat that was not consumed was hung up on posts for a future occasion. +One of the strongest prejudices of the New Zealanders is an aversion to +be where any article of food is suspended over their heads; and on this +account, they never permit anything eatable to be brought within their +huts, but take all their meals out of doors, in an open space adjoining +to the house, which has been called by some writers the kitchen, it +being there that the meal is cooked as well as eaten. Crozet says that +every one of these kitchens has in it a cooking hole, dug in the +ground, of about two feet in diameter, and between one and two feet +deep. Even when the natives are confined to their beds by sickness, and, +it may be, at the point of death, they must receive whatever food they +take in this outer room, which, however, is sometimes provided with a +shed, supported upon posts, although in no case does it appear to be +enclosed by walls. It is here, accordingly, that those who are in so +weak a state from illness as not to be able to bear removal from one +place to another usually have their couches spread; as, were they to +choose to recline inside the house, it would be necessary to leave them +to die of want.</p> + +<p>Nicholas, in the course of an excursion which he made in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, was once not a little annoyed and +put out of humour by this absurd superstition. It rained heavily when he +and Marsden arrived very hungry at a village belonging to a chief of +their acquaintance, where, although the chief was not at home, they were +very hospitably received, their friends proceeding immediately to dress +some potatoes to make them a dinner. But after they had prepared the +meal, they insisted, as usual, that it should be eaten in the open air.</p> + +<p>This condition, Nicholas, in the circumstances, naturally thought a +somewhat hard one; but it was absolutely necessary either to comply with +it, or to go without potatoes. To make matters worse, the dining-room +had not even a shed. So they had no course left but to take shelter in +the best way they could, under a projection from the roof of the house, +extending about three feet; and here they contrived to take their +repast, without being very much drenched. However, they were not allowed +this indulgence without many anxious scruples on the part of their +friends, who considered even their venturing so near to the house on +such an occasion as an act of daring impiety. As they had got possession +of the potatoes, their entertainers, though very much shocked and +alarmed, did not proceed to such rudeness as to take these from them +again; but whenever they wanted to drink out of the calabash that had +been brought to them, they obliged them to thrust out their heads for it +from under the covering, although the rain continued to fall in +torrents.</p> + +<p>Fatigued as he was, and vexed at being in this way kept out of the +comfortable shelter he had expected, Nicholas at last commenced +inveighing, he tells us, against the inhospitable custom, with much +acrimony; and as Tooi, who was with them, had always shown so strong a +predilection for European customs, he turned to him, and asked him if he +did not think that these notions of his countrymen were all gammon. +Tooi, however, replied sharply, that "it was no gammon at all"; adding, +"New Zealand man say that Mr. Marsden's <i>crackee crackee</i> (preaching) +of a Sunday is all gammon," in indignant retaliation for the insult that +had been offered to his national customs.</p> + +<p>But the worst part of the adventure was yet to come; for as the night +was now fast approaching, and the rain still pouring down incessantly, +it was impossible to think of returning to the ship; "and we were +therefore," continues Nicholas, "obliged to resolve upon remaining where +we were, although we had no bed to expect, nor even a comfortable floor +to stretch upon. We wrapped ourselves up in our great coats, which by +good fortune we had brought with us, and when the hour of rest came on, +laid ourselves down under the projecting roof, choosing rather to remain +here together, than to go into the house and mingle with its crowded +inmates, which we knew would be very disagreeable. Mr. Marsden, who is +blessed by nature with a strong constitution, and capable of enduring +almost any fatigue, was very soon asleep; but I, who have not been cast +in a Herculean mould, nor much accustomed to severe privations, felt all +the misery of the situation, while the cold and wet to which I was +unavoidably exposed, from the place being open, brought on a violent +rheumatic headache, that prevented me from once closing my eyes, and +kept me awake in the greatest anguish.</p> + +<p>"Being at length driven from this wretched shelter by the rain, which +was still beating against me, I crept into the house, through the +narrow aperture that served for a door; and, stretching myself among my +rude friends, I endeavoured to get some repose; but I found this equally +impossible here as in the place I had left. The pain in my head still +continued; and those around me, being all buried in profound sleep, +played, during the whole night, such music through their noses, as +effectually prevented me from being able to join in the same chorus."</p> + +<p>On one occasion, in the course of his second visit, Marsden spent the +night in the house of a chief, the entrance to which was of such narrow +dimensions that he could not, he says, creep in without taking his coat +off. The apartment altogether measured only about fourteen feet by ten; +and when he looked into it he found a fire blazing on the centre of the +floor, which made the place as hot as an oven, there being no vent for +the smoke, except through the hole which served for a door. However, the +fire, on his entreating it, was taken out, and then he and his friend, +Butler, who was with him, crept in, and were followed by their +entertainer, his wife and nephew. The hut was still extremely hot, and +they perspired profusely when they lay down, but they were a little +relieved by the New Zealanders consenting to allow the door to remain +open during the night.</p> + +<p>Another time he was thrust into a still closer dormitory. "The +entrance," says he, "was just sufficient for a man to creep into. Being +very cold, I was glad to occupy such a warm berth. I judged the hut to +be about eight feet wide, and twelve long. It had a fire in the centre; +and no vent either for smoke or heat. The chiefs who were with us threw +off their mats and lay down close together in a state of perfect nudity. +I had not been many minutes in this oven, before I found the heat and +smoke, above, below, and on every side, to be insufferable. Though the +night was cold, Mr. Kendall and myself were compelled to quit our +habitation. I crept out, and walked in the village, to see if I could +meet with a shed to keep me from the damp air till the morning. I found +one empty, into which I entered. I had not been long under my present +cover before I observed a chief, who came with us from the last village, +come out of the hut which I had left, perfectly naked. The moon shone +very bright. I saw him run from hut to hut, till at last he found me +under my shed, and urged me to return. I told him I could not bear the +heat, and requested him to allow me to remain where I was; to which he +at length consented with reluctance. I was surprised at the little +effect that heat or cold seemed to have upon him. He had come out of the +hut smoking like a hot loaf drawn from the oven, walked about to find +me, and then sat down, conversed some time, without any clothing, though +the night was cold. Mr. Kendall remained sitting under his mat, in the +open air, till morning."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders make only two meals in the day, one in the morning +and another at sunset; but their voracity when they do eat is often very +great. Nicholas remarks that the chiefs and their followers, with whom +he made the voyage from Port Jackson, used, while in the ship, to seize +upon every thing they could lay their hands upon in the shape of food. +In consequence of this habit of consuming an extraordinary quantity of +food, a New Zealander, with all his powers of endurance in other +respects, suffers dreadfully when he has not the usual means of +satisfying his hunger.</p> + +<p>The huts of the common people are described as very wretched, and little +better than sheds; but Nicholas mentions that those which he saw in the +northern part of the country had uniformly well-cultivated gardens +attached to them, which were stocked with turnips, and sweet and common +potatoes. Crozet tells us that the only articles of furniture the French +ever found in these huts, were fishing-hooks, nets, and lines, +calabashes containing water, a few tools made of stone, and several +cloaks and other garments suspended from the walls.</p> + +<p>Amongst the tools, one resembling our adze is in the most common use; +and it is remarkable that the handles of these implements are often +composed of human bones. In the museum of the Church Missionary Society +there are adzes, the handle of one of which is formed of the bone of a +human arm, and another of that of a leg.</p> + +<p>The common people generally sleep in the open air, in a sitting +posture, and covered by their mats, all but the head; which has been +described as giving them the appearance of so many hay-cocks or +beehives.</p> + +<p>The house of the chief is generally, as Rutherford found it to be in the +present case, the largest in the village; but every village has, in +addition to the dwelling-houses of which it consists, a public +storehouse, or repository of the common stock of sweet potatoes, which +is a still larger structure than the habitation of the chief. One which +Cruise describes was erected upon several posts driven into the ground, +which were floored over with deals at the height of about four feet, as +a foundation. Both the sides and the roof were compactly formed of +stakes intertwisted with grass; and a sliding doorway, scarcely large +enough to admit a man, formed the entrance. The roof projected over +this, and was ornamented with pieces of plank painted red, and having a +variety of grotesque figures carved on them. The whole building was +about twenty feet long, eight feet wide, and five feet high.</p> + +<p>The residences of the chiefs are built upon the ground, and have +generally the floor, and a small space in front, neatly paved; but they +are so low that a man can stand upright in very few of them. The huts, +as well as the storehouses, are adorned with carving over the door.</p> + +<p>One of the arts in which the New Zealanders most excel is that of +carving in wood. Some of their performances in this way are, no doubt, +grotesque enough; but they often display both a taste and ingenuity +which, especially when we consider their miserably imperfect tools, it +is impossible to behold without admiration. This is one of the arts +which, even in civilized countries, does not seem to flourish best in a +highly advanced state of society. Even among ourselves, it certainly is +not at present cultivated with so much success as it was a century or +two ago.</p> + +<p>Machinery, the monopolizing power of our age, is not well fitted to the +production of striking effects in this particular branch of the arts. +Fine carving is displayed, as in the works of Gibbons, by a rich and +natural variety, altogether opposed to that faultless and inflexible +regularity of operation which is the perfection of a machine. Hence the +lathe, with all the miraculous capabilities it has been made to evolve, +can never here come into successful competition with the chisel, in so +far as the quality and spirit of the performance are concerned; but the +former may, nevertheless, drive the latter out of the market, and seems +in a great measure to have done so, by the infinitely superior facility +and rapidity of its operation. Hence the gradual decay, and almost +extinction among us, of this old art, of which former ages have left us +so many beautiful specimens. It is said to survive now, if at all, not +among our artists by profession, whose taste is expended upon higher +objects, but among the common workmen of our villages, who have pursued +it as an amusement, long after it has ceased to be profitable.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand artist has no lathe to compete with; but neither has he +even those ordinary hand-tools which every civilized country has always +afforded. The only instruments he has to cut with are rudely fashioned +of stone or bone. Yet even with these, his skill and patient +perseverance contrive to grave the wood into any forms which his fancy +may suggest. Many of the carvings thus produced are distinguished by +both a grace and richness of design that would do no discredit even to +European art.</p> + +<p>The considerations by which the New Zealanders are directed in choosing +the sites of their villages are the same which usually regulate that +matter among other savages. The North American Indians, for example, +generally build their huts on the sides of some moderately sized hill, +that they may have the advantage of the ground in case of being attacked +by their enemies, or on the bank of a river, which may, in such an +emergency, serve them for a natural moat. A situation in which they are +protected by the water on more sides than one is preferred; and, +accordingly, both on this account, and for the sake of being near the +sea, which supplies them with fish, the New Zealanders and other +savage tribes are much accustomed to establish themselves at the mouths +of rivers. Among the American Indians, as in New Zealand, a piece of +ground is always left unoccupied in the middle of the village, or +contiguous to it, for the holding of public assemblies. So, also, it +used to be in our own country, almost every village in which had +anciently its common and its central open space; the latter of which, +after the introduction of Christianity, was generally decorated by the +erection of a cross.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img05"></a> +<img src='images/image05.png' width='293' height='450' alt='A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. Tourist Dept. +photo' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. Tourist Dept.</h5> + +<p>It is curious to remark how the genius of commerce—the predominating +influence of a more civilized age—has seized upon more than one of +these provisions of the old state of society, and converted them to its +own purposes. The spacious area around the village cross, or the +adjacent common, has been changed into the scene of the fair or the +daily market; and the vicinity of the sea, or the navigable river, no +longer needed as a protection against the attacks of surrounding +enemies, has been taken advantage of to let in the wealth of many +distant climes, and to metamorphose the straggling assemblage of mud +cottages into a thronged and widespread city—the proud abode of +industry, wealth, elegance, and letters.</p> + +<p>Rutherford states that the baskets in which the provisions are served up +are never used twice; and the same thing is remarked by Cruise. The +calabash, Rutherford adds, is the only vessel they have for holding any +kind of liquid; and when they drink out of it, they never permit it to +touch their lips, but hold their face up, and pour the liquor into their +mouth.</p> + +<p>After dinner they place themselves for this purpose in a row, when a +slave goes from one to another with the calabash, and each holds his +hand under his chin as the liquor is poured by the slave into his mouth. +They never drink anything hot or warm. Indeed, their only beverage +appears to be water;<a name='FNanchor_R_18'></a><a href='#Footnote_R_18'><sup>[R]</sup></a> and their strong aversion to wine and spirits is +noticed by almost all who have described their manners.</p> + +<p>Tetoro, one of the chiefs who returned from Port Jackson in the +"Dromedary," was sometimes admitted, during the passage, into the cabin, +and asked by the officers to take a glass of wine, when he always tasted +it, with perfect politeness, though his countenance strongly indicated +how much he disliked it. George of Wangaroa, the chief who headed the +attack on the "Boyd," was the only New Zealander that Cruise met with +who could be induced to taste grog without reluctance; and he really +liked it, though a very small quantity made him drunk, in which state he +was quite outrageous. His natural habits had been vitiated by having +served for some time in an English ship.</p> + +<p>It is probable, however, that the sobriety of this people has been +hitherto principally preserved by their ignorance of the mode of +manufacturing any intoxicating beverage. Even the females, it would +appear, have some of them of late years learned the habit of drinking +grog from the English sailors; and Captain Dillon gives an account of a +priestess, who visited him on board the "Besearch," and who, having +among several other somewhat indecorous requests, demanded a tumbler of +rum, quaffed off the whole at a draught as soon as it was set before +her.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_K_11'></a><a href='#FNanchor_K_11'>[K]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Rangatai, although no chief of that name is +known.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_L_12'></a><a href='#FNanchor_L_12'>[L]</a><div class='note'><p> The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was appointed chaplain to the +convict settlement of New South Wales in 1793, and who held the first +divine service in New Zealand, on Christmas Day, 1814.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_M_13'></a><a href='#FNanchor_M_13'>[M]</a><div class='note'><p> Koro-koro.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_N_14'></a><a href='#FNanchor_N_14'>[N]</a><div class='note'><p> Ruatara, a close friend of Mr. Marsden.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_O_15'></a><a href='#FNanchor_O_15'>[O]</a><div class='note'><p> Hongi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_P_16'></a><a href='#FNanchor_P_16'>[P]</a><div class='note'><p> This is exaggerated.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_Q_17'></a><a href='#FNanchor_Q_17'>[Q]</a><div class='note'><p> Tui, in the accepted orthography.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_R_18'></a><a href='#FNanchor_R_18'>[R]</a><div class='note'><p> The ancient Maoris were one of the very few races that had +no intoxicating drinks.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_III'></a><h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Dinner being finished, Rutherford and his companions spent the evening +seated around a large fire, while several of the women, whose +countenances he describes as pleasing, amused themselves by playing with +the fingers of the strangers, sometimes opening their shirts at the +breasts, and at other times feeling the calves of their legs, "which +made us think," says Rutherford, "that they were examining us to see if +we were fat enough for eating.</p> + +<p>"The large fire," he continues, "that had been made to warm the house, +being now put out, we retired to rest in the usual manner; but although +the fire had been extinguished, the house was still filled with smoke, +the door being shut, and there being neither chimney nor window to let +it out.</p> + +<p>"In the morning, when we arose, the chief gave us back our knives and +tobacco-boxes, which they had taken from us while in the canoe, on our +first being made prisoners; and we then breakfasted on some potatoes and +cockles, which had been cooked while we were at the sea-coast, and +brought thence in baskets.</p> + +<p>"Aimy's wife and two daughters now arrived, which occasioned another +grand crying ceremony; and when it was over, the three ladies came to +look at me and my companions. In a short time, they had taken a fancy to +some small gilt buttons which I had on my waist-coat; and Aimy making a +sign for me to cut them off, I immediately did so, and presented them +for their acceptance. They received them very gladly, and, shaking hands +with me, exclaimed, 'The white man is very good.'</p> + +<p>"The whole of the natives having then seated themselves on the ground in +a ring, we were brought into the middle and, being stripped of our +clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or +six men, while two others commenced the operation of tattooing us.</p> + +<p>"Having taken a piece of charcoal, and rubbed it upon a stone with a +little water until they had produced a thickish liquid, they then dipped +into it an instrument made of bone, having a sharp edge like a chisel, +and shaped in the fashion of a garden-hoe, and immediately applied it to +the skin, striking it twice or thrice with a small piece of wood. This +made it cut into the flesh as a knife would have done, and caused a +great deal of blood to flow, which they kept wiping off with the side of +the hand, in order to see if the impression was sufficiently clear. When +it was not, they applied the bone a second time to the same place. They +employed, however, various instruments in the course of the operation; +one which they sometimes used being made of a shark's tooth, and another +having teeth like a saw. They had them also of different sizes, to suit +the different parts of the work.</p> + +<p>"While I was undergoing this operation, although the pain was most +acute, I never either moved or uttered a sound; but my comrades moaned +dreadfully. Although the operators were very quick and dexterous, I was +four hours under their hands; and during the operation Aimy's eldest +daughter several times wiped the blood from my face with some dressed +flax. After it was over she led me to the river, that I might wash +myself, for it had made me completely blind, and then conducted me to a +great fire. They now returned us all our clothes, with the exception of +our shirts, which the women kept for themselves, wearing them, as we +observed, with the fronts behind.</p> + +<p>"We were now not only tattooed, but what they called tabooed,<a name='FNanchor_S_19'></a><a href='#Footnote_S_19'><sup>[S]</sup></a> the +meaning of which is, made sacred, or forbidden to touch any provisions +of any kind with our hands. This state of things lasted for three days, +during which time we were fed by the daughters of the chiefs, with the +same victuals, and out of the same baskets, as the chiefs themselves, +and the persons who had tattooed us. In three days, the swelling which +had been produced by the operation had greatly subsided, and I began to +recover my sight; but it was six weeks before I was completely well. I +had no medical assistance of any kind during my illness; but Aimy's two +daughters were very attentive to me, and would frequently sit beside me, +and talk to me in their language, of which, as yet, however, I did not +understand much."</p> + +<p>The custom of marking the skin, called <i>tattooing</i>, is one of the most +widely-diffused practices of savage life, having been found, even in +modern times, to exist, in one modification or another, not only in most +of the inhabited lands of the Pacific, from New Zealand as far north as +the Sandwich Isles, but also among many of the aboriginal tribes both of +Africa and America. In the ancient world it appears to have been at +least equally prevalent. It is evidently alluded to, as well as the +other practice that has just been noticed, of wounding the body by way +of mourning, in the twenty-eighth verse of the nineteenth chapter of +Leviticus, among the laws delivered to the Israelites through +Moses:—"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor +print any marks upon you," both of these being doubtless habits of the +surrounding nations, which the chosen people, according to their usual +propensity, had shown a disposition to imitate.</p> + +<p>The few civilized communities of antiquity seem to have been all of them +both singularly incurious as to the manners and conditions of the +barbarous races by whom they were on all sides so closely encompassed, +and, as might be expected, extremely ill-informed on the subject; so +much so, as has been remarked by an author who has written on this topic +with admirable learning and ability, that when Hanno, the Carthaginian, +returned from his investigation of a small part of the west coast of +Africa, he had no difficulty in making his countrymen believe that two +hides, with the hair still on, which he brought back with him, and which +he had taken from two large apes, were actually the skins of savage +women, and deserving of being suspended in the temple of Juno as most +uncommon curiosities.</p> + +<p>But, little as these matters seem in general to have attracted the +attention of the ancient writers, their works still contain many notices +of the practice of tattooing. We may cite only one or two of a +considerable number that have been collected by Lafitau,<a name='FNanchor_T_20'></a><a href='#Footnote_T_20'><sup>[T]</sup></a> although +even his enumeration might be easily extended. Herodotus mentions it as +prevailing among the Thracians, certain of whom, he says, exhibit such +marks on their faces as an indication of their nobility. Other authors +speak of it as a practice of the Scythians, the Agathyrses, and the +Assyrians. Cæsar remarks it as prevailing among the Britons; and there +can be no doubt that the term <i>Picti</i> was merely a name given to those +more northerly tribes of our countrymen who retained this custom after +it had fallen into decay among their southern brethren, who were in +reality of the same race with themselves, under the ascendancy of the +arts and manners of their Roman conquerors.</p> + +<p>The Britons, according to Cæsar, painted their skins to make themselves +objects of greater terror to their enemies; but it is not unlikely that +the real object of these decorations was with them, as it appears to +have been among the other barbarous nations of antiquity, to denote +certain ranks of nobility or chieftainship; and thus to serve, in fact, +nearly the same purpose with our modern coats of arms.</p> + +<p>Pliny states that the dye with which the Britons stained themselves was +that of a herb called <i>glastum</i>, which is understood to be the same with +plantain. They introduced the juice of this herb into punctures +previously made in the skin, so as to form permanent delineations of +various animals, and other objects, on different parts of the body. The +operation, which seems to have been performed by regular artists, is +said to have been commonly undergone in boyhood; and a stoical endurance +of the pain which it inflicted was considered one of the best proofs the +sufferer could give of his resolution and manliness.</p> + +<p>Among the Indians of America, some races are much more tattooed than +others, and some scarcely at all. It it stated that, among the Iroquois +only, a few of the women are in the habit of tracing a single row of +this sort of embroidery along the jaw; and that merely with the intent +of curing or preventing toothache, an effect which they conceive is +produced by the punctures destroying certain nerves. It appears to be +the general practice in America, first to finish the cutting, or graving +of the lines, and afterwards to introduce the colouring, which is +commonly made of pulverised charcoal. This last part of the operation +occasions by far the greatest pain. Among the native tribes of Southern +Africa, the fashion is merely to raise the epidermis by a slight +pricking, which is described as affording rather a pleasurable +excitement.</p> + +<p>At the Society Isles these marks, according to Cook, were so general, +that hardly anybody was to be seen without them. Persons of both sexes +were commonly tattooed about the age of twelve or fourteen; and the +decorations, which Cook imagined to vary according to the fancy, or +perhaps, which is more likely, the rank of the individual, were +liberally bestowed upon every part of the body, with the exception, +however, of the face, which was generally left unmarked. They consisted +not only of squares, circles, and other such figures, but frequently +also of rude delineations of men, birds, dogs, and other animals. Banks +saw the operation performed on a girl of about thirteen years of age, +who was held down all the while by several women, and both struggled +hard and made no little outcry as the artist proceeded with his +labours. Yet it would seem that the process in use here is considerably +more gentle than that practised in New Zealand; for the punctures, Cook +affirms, could hardly be said to draw blood. Being afflicted by means of +an instrument with small teeth, somewhat resembling a fine comb, the +effect would be rather a pricking than a cutting, or carving, of the +flesh. Unlike what we have seen to be the practice among the American +savages, the tincture was here introduced by the same blow by which the +skin was punctured. The substance employed was a species of lamp black, +formed of the smoke of an oily nut which the natives burned to give them +light.</p> + +<p>The practice of tattooing is now, we believe, discontinued at Otaheite; +but the progress of civilization has not yet altogether banished it at +the Sandwich Islands. When Lord Byron was at Hawaii, in 1825, he found +it used as a mark of mourning, though some still had themselves tattooed +merely by way of ornament. On the death of one of the late kings of the +island, it is stated that all the chiefs had his name and the date of +his death engraved in this manner on their arms. The ladies here, it +seems, follow the very singular practice of tattooing the tips of their +tongues, in memory of their departed friends. In the Tonga, or Friendly +Islands, it would appear from Mariner's very minute description of the +operation as there practised, as at Otaheite and elsewhere, the +instrument used is always a sort of comb, having from six up to fifty or +sixty teeth. There are, Mariner tells us, certain patterns or forms of +the tattoo, and the individual may choose which he likes. On the brown +skins of the natives the marks, which are imprinted by means of a +tincture made of soot, have a black appearance; but on that of a +European, their colour is a fine blue. The women here are not tattooed, +though a few of them have some marks on the inside of their fingers. At +the Fiji Islands, on the contrary, in the neighbourhood of the Tonga +group, the men are not tattooed, but the women are.</p> + +<p>The term "tattoo" is not known in New Zealand, the name given to the +marks, which are elsewhere so called, being in this country "Moko," or, +as it has been more generally written, from a habit which the natives +seem to have of prefixing the sound "a" to many of their words, +"Amoco."<a name='FNanchor_U_21'></a><a href='#Footnote_U_21'><sup>[U]</sup></a></p> + +<p>The description which Rutherford gives of the process agrees entirely +with what has been stated by other observers; although it certainly has +been generally understood that, in no case, was the whole operation +undergone at once, as it would, however, appear to have been in his. +Both Cruise and Marsden expressly state, that, according to their +information, it always required several months, and sometimes several +years, to tattoo a chief perfectly; owing to the necessity for one part +of the face or body being allowed to heal before commencing the +decoration of another. Perhaps, however, this prolongation of the +process may only be necessary when the moko is of a more intricate +pattern, or extends over a larger portion of the person, than that which +Rutherford received; or, in his peculiar circumstances, it may have been +determined that he should have his powers of endurance put to still +harder proof than a native would have been required to submit to in +undergoing the same ceremony.</p> + +<p>The portrait of Rutherford accurately represents the tattooing on his +body. Cruise asserts that the tattooing in New Zealand is renewed +occasionally, as the lines become fainter by time, to the latest period +of life; and that one of the chiefs who returned home in the "Dromedary" +was re-tattooed soon after his arrival.</p> + +<p>From Rutherford's account, and he is corroborated as to that point by +the other authorities, it will be perceived that the operation of +tattooing is one of a still more severe and sanguinary description in +New Zealand than it would seem to be in any of the other islands of the +South Sea; for it is performed here, not merely by means of a sort of +fine comb, which merely pricks the skin and draws from it a little serum +slightly tinged with blood, but also by an instrument of the nature of a +chisel, which at every application makes an incision into the flesh, +and causes the blood to start forth in gushes. This chisel is sometimes +nearly a quarter of an inch broad, although, for the more minute parts +of the figure, a smaller instrument is used.</p> + +<p>The stick with which the chisel is struck is occasionally formed into a +broad blade at one end, which is applied to wipe away the blood. The +tincture is said to be sometimes obtained from the juice of a particular +tree.</p> + +<p>Rutherford has forgotten to mention that, before the cutting has begun +the figure is traced out upon the place; this appears to be always done +in New Zealand as well as elsewhere, a piece of burnt stick or red earth +being, according to Savage,<a name='FNanchor_V_22'></a><a href='#Footnote_V_22'><sup>[V]</sup></a> used for the purpose.</p> + +<p>Some are tattooed at eight or ten years of age; but a young man is +accounted very effeminate who reaches his twentieth year without having +undergone the operation. Marsden told one of the chiefs, King George, as +he was called, that he must not tattoo his nephew Racow,<a name='FNanchor_W_23'></a><a href='#Footnote_W_23'><sup>[W]</sup></a> who was a +very fine-looking youth, with a dignified, open, and placid countenance, +remarking that it would quite disfigure his face; "but he laughed at my +advice," says Marsden, "and said he must be tattooed, as it would give +him a noble, masculine, and warlike appearance; that he would not be fit +for his successor with a smooth face; the New Zealanders would look on +him merely as a woman if he was not tattooed."</p> + +<p>Savage says that a small spiral figure on each side of the chin, a +semi-circular figure over each eyebrow, and two, or sometimes three, +lines on each lip, are all the tattooing the New Zealand women are +required to submit to.</p> + +<p>Rutherford's account is that they have a figure tattooed on the chin +resembling a crown turned upside down; that the inside of their lips is +also tattooed, the figures here appearing of a blue colour; and that +they have also a mark on each side of the mouth resembling a +candlestick, as well as two stripes about an inch long on the forehead, +and one on each side of the nose. Their decorations of this description, +as well as of the other sex, are no doubt different in different parts +of the country.</p> + +<p>"With respect to the amocos," says Cook in his First Voyage, "every +different tribe seemed to have a different custom; for all the men in +some canoes seemed to be almost covered with it, and those in others had +scarcely a stain, except on the lips, which were black in all of them, +without a single exception."</p> + +<p>Rutherford states that in the part of the country where he was, the men +were commonly tattooed on their face, hips, and bodies, and some as low +as the knee. None were allowed to be tattooed on the forehead, chin, and +upper lip, except the very greatest among the chiefs. The more they are +tattooed, he adds, the more they are honoured. The priests, Savage says, +have only a small square patch of tattooing over the right eye.</p> + +<p>These stains, although their brilliancy may perhaps decay with time, +being thus fixed in the flesh, are of course indelible, just as much as +the marks of a similar nature which our own sailors frequently make on +their arms and breasts, by introducing gunpowder under the skin. One +effect, we are told, which they produce on the countenances of the New +Zealanders, is to conceal the ravages of old age. Being thus permanent +when once imprinted, each becomes also the peculiar distinction of the +individual to whom it belongs, and is probably sometimes employed by him +as his mark or sign manual. An officer belonging to the "Dromedary," who +happened to have a coat of arms engraved on his seal, was frequently +asked by the New Zealanders if the device was his "amoco." When the +missionaries purchased a piece of land from one of the Bay of Islands +chiefs, named Gunnah,<a name='FNanchor_X_24'></a><a href='#Footnote_X_24'><sup>[X]</sup></a> a copy of the tattooing on the face of the +latter, being drawn by a brother chief, was affixed to the grant as his +signature; while another native signed as a witness, by adding the +"amoco" of one of his own cheeks.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img06"></a> +<img src='images/image06.png' width='289' height='450' alt='Moko on woman's lips and chin. +Moko on man's face. + +Names of lines in order of incision— +1. Kau-wae (13) +2. Pere-pehi (7) +3. Hupe (15) +4. Ko-kiri (9) +5. Koro-aha (10) +6. Puta-ringa (12) +7. Po-ngia-ngia (4) and Tara-whakatara (5) +8. Pae-pae (11), Kumi-kumi (6), and Wero (8) +9. Rerepi (3) +10. Ti-whana (1) and Rawha (2) +11. Ti-ti (14) +12. Ipu-rangi (16)' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Moko on woman's lips and chin. Moko on man's face.</h5> + +<p>This is certainly a more perfect substitute for a written name than +that said to have been anciently in use in some parts of Europe. In +Russia, for example, it is affirmed that in old times the way in which +an individual generally gave his signature to a writing was by covering +the palm of his hand with ink, and then laying it on the paper. Balbi, +who states this, adds that the Russian language still retains an +evidence of the practice in its phrase for signing a document, which is +<i>roukou prilojite</i>, signifying, literally, to put the hand to it. It may +be remarked, however, that this is a form of expression even in our own +country; although there is certainly no trace of the singular custom in +question having ever prevailed among our ancestors. Whatever may be the +fact as to the Russian idiom, our own undoubtedly refers merely to the +application of the hand with the pen in it. Each chief appears to be +intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of his own "amoco."</p> + +<p>There is also in the possession of the Church Missionary Society a bust +of Shungie, cut in a very hard wood by himself, with a rude iron +instrument of his own fabrication, on which the tattooing on his face is +exactly copied.</p> + +<p>The tattooing of the young New Zealander, before he takes his rank as +one of the warriors of his tribe, is doubtless also intended to put his +manhood to the proof; and may thus be regarded as having the same object +with those ceremonies of initiation, as they have been called, which +are practised among some other savage nations on the admission of an +individual to any new degree of honour or chieftainship.</p> + +<p>Among many nations of the American Indians, indeed, this cutting and +marking of the person is one of the principal inflictions to which the +aspirant is required to submit on such occasions. Thus, in the account +which Rochefort, in his "History of the Antilles," gives us of the +initiation of a warrior among the people of those islands, it is stated +that the father of the young man, after a very rude flagellation of his +son, used to proceed to scarify (as he expresses it) his whole body with +a tooth of the animal called the "acouti"; and then, in order to heal +the gashes thus made, he rubbed into them an infusion of pimento, which +occasioned an agonizing pain to the poor patient; but it was +indispensable that he should endure the whole, adds our author, without +the least contortion of countenance or any other evidence of suffering.</p> + +<p>Wherever, indeed, the spirit of war has entered largely into the +institutions of a people, as it has almost always done among savage and +imperfectly civilized nations, we find traces of similar observances. +Something of the same object which has just been attributed to the +tattooing of the New Zealanders, and the more complicated ceremonies of +initiation practised among the American Indians, may be recognised even +in certain of the rites of European chivalry, whether we take them as +described in the learned volumes of Du Cange, or in the more amusing +recitals of Cervantes.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders, like many other savages, are also in the habit of +anointing themselves with a mixture of grease and red ochre. This sort +of rouge is very much used by the women, and "being generally," says +Cook, "fresh and wet upon their cheeks and foreheads, was easily +transferred to the noses of those who thought fit to salute them; and +that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, the noses of +several of our men strongly testified." "The faces of the men," he adds, +"were not so generally painted; yet we saw one, whose whole body, and +even his garments, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a +piece constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the +decoration in one part or another, where he supposed it was become +deficient."</p> + +<p>It has been conjectured that this painting of the body, among its other +uses, might also be intended, in some cases, as a protection against the +weather, or, in other words, to serve the same purpose as clothing. Even +where there is no plastering, the tattooing may be found to indurate the +skin, and to render it less sensible to cold. This notion, perhaps, +derives some confirmation from the appearance which these marks often +assume.</p> + +<p>Cook describes some of the New Zealanders, whom he saw on his first +visit to the country, as having their thighs stained entirely black, +with the exception of a few narrow lines, "so that at first sight," says +he, "they appeared to wear striped breeches."</p> + +<p>The Baron de Humboldt, too, informs us that the Indians of Guiana +sometimes imitate, in the oddest manner, the clothes of Europeans in +painting their skin. This observant traveller was much amused by seeing +the body of a native painted to represent a blue jacket and black +buttons. The missionaries also told him that the people of the Rio Caura +paint themselves of a red ground, and then variegate the colour with +transverse stripes of silver mica, so that they look most gallantly +dressed. The painted cheeks that were once common in Europe, and are +still occasionally seen, are relics of the same barbarism.</p> + +<p>The "taboo," or "tapu," prevails also in many of the South Sea Islands, +where it may be considered as the substitute for law; although its +authority, in reality, rests on what we should rather call religious +considerations, inasmuch as it appears to be obeyed entirely from the +apprehension that its violation would bring down the anger of heaven.</p> + +<p>It would require more space than we can afford to enumerate the various +cases in which the "taboo" operates as a matter of course, even were we +to say nothing of the numerous exigencies in which a resort to it seems +to be at the option of the parties concerned. Among the former, we may +merely mention that a person supposed to be dying seems to be uniformly +placed under the "taboo"; and that the like consecration, if it may be +so called, is always imposed for a certain space upon the individual who +has undergone any part of the process of tattooing. But we are by no +means fully informed either as to the exact rules that govern this +matter, or even as to the peculiar description of persons to whom it +belongs, on any occasion, to impose the "taboo." It is common in New +Zealand for such of the chiefs as possess this power to separate, by +means of the "taboo," any thing which they wish either to appropriate to +themselves, or to protect, with any other object, from indiscriminate +use.</p> + +<p>When Tetoro was shown, in the "Dromedary," a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, belonging to one of the officers, he "tabooed" it by +tying a thread, pulled out of his cloak, round the guard of the trigger, +and said that it must be his when he got to New Zealand, and that the +owner should have thirty of his finest mats for it. But this, according +to Cruise, any native may do with regard to an article for which he has +bargained, in order to secure it till he has paid the price agreed upon.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, Cruise found a number of people collected round an +object which seemed to attract general attention, and which they told +him was "tabooed." It turned out to be a plant of the common English +pea, which was fenced round with little sticks, and had apparently been +tended with very anxious care.</p> + +<p>When the "Prince Regent" schooner, which accompanied the "Dromedary," +lay at anchor in the river Shukehanga,<a name='FNanchor_Y_25'></a><a href='#Footnote_Y_25'><sup>[Y]</sup></a> a chief named Moodooi,<a name='FNanchor_Z_26'></a><a href='#Footnote_Z_26'><sup>[Z]</sup></a> +greatly to the comfort of the captain, came one day on deck and +"tabooed" the vessel, or made it a crime for any one to ascend the side +without permission, which injunction was strictly attended to by the +natives during his stay in the harbour.</p> + +<p>So, when any land is purchased, it is secured to the purchaser by being +"tabooed."</p> + +<p>Marsden states that upon one occasion he found a great number of canoes +employed in fishing, and all the fish which they took were immediately +"tabooed," and could not be purchased. These fish were probably intended +to be cured and preserved as part of the common stock of the tribe.</p> + +<p>The principal inconveniences sustained by the person who is "tabooed" +seem to be that he must have no communication with any who are not in +the same condition as himself, and that in eating he must not help +himself to his food with his hands. The chiefs are in such a case fed +by their attendant; but the absurd prohibition is a serious punishment +to the common people, who have nobody to assist them.</p> + +<p>Nicholas relates an amusing incident illustrative of this. "On going +into the town," says he, "in the course of the day, I beheld several of +the natives sitting round some baskets of dressed potatoes; and being +invited to join them in their meal, I mingled with the group, when I +observed one man stoop down with his mouth for each morsel, and +scrupulously careful in avoiding all contact between his hands and the +food he was eating. From this I knew at once that he was 'tabooed;' and +upon asking the reason of his being so, as he appeared in good health, +and not afflicted with any complaint that could set him without the pale +of ordinary intercourse, I found that it was because he was then +building a house, and that he could not be released from the 'taboo' +till he had it finished. Being only a "cookee,"<a name='FNanchor_AA_27'></a><a href='#Footnote_AA_27'><sup>[AA]</sup></a> he had no person to +wait upon him, but was obliged to submit to the distressing operation of +feeding himself in the manner proscribed by the superstitious ordinance; +and he was told by the tohunga, or priest, that if he presumed to put +one finger to his mouth before he had completed the work he was about, +the atua (divinity) would certainly punish his impious contempt, by +getting into his stomach before his time, and eating him out of the +world. Of this premature destiny he seemed so apprehensive that he kept +his hands as though they were never made for touching any article of +diet; nor did he suffer them by even a single motion to show the least +sympathy for his mouth, while that organ was obliged to use double +exertions, and act for those members which superstition had paralysed.</p> + +<p>"Sitting down by the side of this deluded being, whom credulity and +ignorance had rendered hopeless," says Nicholas, "I undertook to feed +him; and his appetite being quite voracious, I could hardly supply it as +fast as he devoured. Without ever consulting his digestive powers, of +which we cannot suppose he had any idea, he spared himself the trouble +of mastication; and, to lose no time, swallowed down every lump as I put +it into his mouth: and I speak within compass when I assert that he +consumed more food than would have served any two ploughmen in England.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly tired of administering to his insatiable gluttony, which was +still as ravenous as when he commenced, I now wished for a little +intermission; and taking advantage of his situation, I resolved to give +him as much to do as would employ him for at least a few minutes, +while, in the meantime, it would afford me some amusement for my +trouble. I therefore thrust into his mouth the largest hot potato I +could find, and this had exactly the intended effect; for the fellow, +unwilling to drop it, and not daring to penetrate it before it should +get cool, held it slightly compressed between his teeth, to the great +enjoyment of his countrymen, who laughed heartily, as well as myself, at +the wry faces he made, and the efforts he used with his tongue to +moderate the heat of the potato, and bring it to the temperature of his +gums, which were evidently smarting from the contact. But he bore this +trick with the greatest possible good humour, and to make him amends for +it, I took care to supply him plentifully, till he cried out, 'Nuee nuee +kiki,'<a name='FNanchor_AB_28'></a><a href='#Footnote_AB_28'><sup>[AB]</sup></a> and could eat no more; an exclamation, however, which he did +not make till there was no more in the baskets."<a name='FNanchor_AC_29'></a><a href='#Footnote_AC_29'><sup>[AC]</sup></a></p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_S_19'></a><a href='#FNanchor_S_19'>[S]</a><div class='note'><p> tapu'd.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_T_20'></a><a href='#FNanchor_T_20'>[T]</a><div class='note'><p> "Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_U_21'></a><a href='#FNanchor_U_21'>[U]</a><div class='note'><p> "Moko" is the accepted form of spelling the word.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_V_22'></a><a href='#FNanchor_V_22'>[V]</a><div class='note'><p> "Account of New Zealand."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_W_23'></a><a href='#FNanchor_W_23'>[W]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Rakau.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_X_24'></a><a href='#FNanchor_X_24'>[X]</a><div class='note'><p> This is the name given in the deed of sale, dated February +24th, 1815, but the correct spelling is probably "Kuna" or "Kena."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_Y_25'></a><a href='#FNanchor_Y_25'>[Y]</a><div class='note'><p> Hokianga Harbour.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_Z_26'></a><a href='#FNanchor_Z_26'>[Z]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Muriwai, a celebrated Hokianga chief.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AA_27'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AA_27'>[AA]</a><div class='note'><p> Mr. S. Percy Smith, of New Plymouth, states that this word +was very common in New Zealand fifty or sixty years ago. It was applied +to servants, and was derived from the English word "cook." In Maori it +is "kuki."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AB_28'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AB_28'>[AB]</a><div class='note'><p> This means "plenty of food," or "sufficient"; but it is +European Maori. One Maori, speaking to another, would say "He nui te +kai."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AC_29'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AC_29'>[AC]</a><div class='note'><p> The best account of the operation of the law of tapu is +given by Judge Maning in "Old New Zealand."</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a><h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Rutherford remained at the village for about six months, together with +the others who had been taken prisoners with him and who had not been +put to death, all except one, John Watson, who, soon after their arrival +there, was carried away by a chief named Nainy.<a name='FNanchor_AD_30'></a><a href='#Footnote_AD_30'><sup>[AD]</sup></a> A house was assigned +for them to live in, and the natives gave them also an iron pot they had +taken from the ship, in which to cook their victuals. This they found a +very useful article. It was "tabooed," so that no slave was allowed to +eat anything cooked in it; that, we suppose, being considered the surest +way of preventing it from being stolen.</p> + +<p>At last they set out in company with Aimy and another chief, to pursue +their way further into the interior; one of them, however, whose name is +not given, remaining with Rangadi.</p> + +<p>Having come to another village, the chief of which was called Plama,<a name='FNanchor_AE_31'></a><a href='#Footnote_AE_31'><sup>[AE]</sup></a> +another of them, whose name was John Smith, was left with him.</p> + +<p>The number of those preserved alive, it will be recollected, was six; so +that, three of them having been disposed of in the manner that has been +stated, there were now, including Rutherford, as many more remaining +together.</p> + +<p>When they had travelled about twelve miles further, they stopped at a +third village, and there they remained two days.</p> + +<p>"We were treated very kindly," says Rutherford, "at this village by the +natives. The chief, whose name was Ewanna,<a name='FNanchor_AF_32'></a><a href='#Footnote_AF_32'><sup>[AF]</sup></a> made us a present of a +large pig, which we killed after our own country fashion, not a little +to the surprise of the New Zealanders. I observed many of the children +catch the flowing blood in their hands, and drink it with the greatest +eagerness. Their own method of killing a pig is generally by drowning, +in order that they may not lose the blood. The natives then singed off +the hair for us, by holding the animal over a fire, and also gutted it, +desiring nothing but the entrails for their trouble. We cooked it in our +iron pot, which the slaves who followed us had brought along with the +rest of the luggage belonging to our party.</p> + +<p>"No person was allowed to take any part of the pig unless he received +some from us; and not even then, if he did not belong to a chief's +family.</p> + +<p>"On taking our departure from this village, we left with Ewanna one of +our comrades named Jefferson, who, on parting from us, pressed my hand +in his, and with tears in his eyes, exclaimed, 'God bless you both! we +shall never see each other again.'</p> + +<p>"We proceeded on our journey, in company with Aimy and his family, and +another chief; and having walked about two miles without one word being +spoken by any of the party, we arrived at the side of a river. Here we +stopped, and lighted a fire; and the natives who had charge of the +luggage having come up in about an hour, bringing with them some +potatoes and dried fish, we cooked a dinner for ourselves in the usual +manner. We then crossed the river, which was only about knee deep, and +immediately entered a wood, through which we continued to make our way +till sunset. On getting out of it we found ourselves in the midst of +some cultivated ground, on which we saw growing potatoes, turnips, +cabbage, tara<a name='FNanchor_AG_33'></a><a href='#Footnote_AG_33'><sup>[AG]</sup></a> (which is a root resembling a yam), water-melons, and +coomeras,<a name='FNanchor_AH_34'></a><a href='#Footnote_AH_34'><sup>[AH]</sup></a> or sweet potatoes.</p> + +<p>"After a little while we arrived at another river, on the opposite side +of which stood the village in which Aimy resided. Having got into a +canoe, we crossed over to the village, in front of which many women were +standing, who, waving their mats, exclaimed, as they saw us approaching, +'Arami, arami,'<a name='FNanchor_AI_35'></a> +<a href='#Footnote_AI_35'><sup>[AI]</sup></a> which means, 'Welcome home.'</p> + +<p>"We were then taken to Aimy's house, which was the largest in the +village, having the walls formed of large twigs covered with rushes, +with which it was also thatched. A pig was now killed for us, and cooked +with some coomeras, from which we supped; and, afterwards seating +ourselves around the fire, we amused ourselves by listening to several +of the women singing.</p> + +<p>"In the meantime, a slave girl was killed, and put into a hole in the +earth to roast in the manner already described in order to furnish a +feast the following day, in honour of the chief's return home.</p> + +<p>"We slept that night in the chief's house; but the next morning a number +of the natives were set to work to build one for ourselves, of the same +form with that in which the chief lived, and nearly of the same size.</p> + +<p>"In the course of this day, many other chiefs arrived at the village, +accompanied by their families and slaves, to welcome Aimy home, which +they did in the usual manner. Some of them brought with them a quantity +of water-melons, which they gave to me and my comrade. At last they all +seated themselves upon the ground to have their feast; several large +pigs, together with some scores of baskets of potatoes, tara, and +water-melons, having first been brought forward by Aimy's people. The +pigs, after being drowned in the river and dressed, had been laid to +roast beside the potatoes. When these were eaten, the fire that had +been made the night before was opened, and the body of the slave girl +taken out of it, which they next proceeded to feast upon in the eagerest +manner. We were not asked to partake of it, for Aimy knew that we had +refused to eat human flesh before. After the feast was over, the +fragments were collected, and carried home by the slaves of the +different chiefs, according to the custom which is always observed on +such occasions in New Zealand."</p> + +<p>The house that had been ordered to be built for Rutherford and his +companion was ready in about a week; and, having taken up their abode in +it, they were permitted to live, as far as circumstances would allow, +according to their own customs. As it was in this village that +Rutherford continued to reside during the remainder of the time he spent +in New Zealand, we may consider him as now fairly domesticated among his +new associates, and may therefore conveniently take the present +opportunity of completing our general picture of the country and its +inhabitants, by adverting to a few matters which have not yet found a +place in our narrative.</p> + +<p>No doubt whatever can exist as to the relationship of the New Zealanders +to the numerous other tribes of the same complexion, by whom nearly all +the islands of the South Sea are peopled, and who, in physical +conformation, language, religion, institutions, and habits, evidently +constitute only one great family.</p> + +<p>Recent investigations, likewise, must be considered to have +sufficiently proved that the wave of population, which has spread itself +over so large a portion of the surface of the globe, has flowed from the +same central region, which all history points to as the cradle of our +race, and which may be here described generally as the southern tract of +the great continent of Asia. This prolific clime, while it has on the +one hand sent out its successive detachments of emigrants to occupy the +wide plains of Europe, has on the other discharged its overflowing +numbers upon the islands of the Pacific, and, with the exception of New +Holland<a name='FNanchor_AJ_36'></a><a href='#Footnote_AJ_36'><sup>[AJ]</sup></a> and a few other lands in its immediate vicinity, the +population of which seems to be of African origin, has, in this way, +gradually spread a race of common parentage over all of them, from those +that constitute what has been called the great Indian Archipelago, in +the immediate neighbourhood of China, to the Sandwich Islands and Easter +Island, in the remotest east of that immense expanse of waters.</p> + +<p>The Malay language is spoken, although in many different dialects and +degrees of corruption, throughout the whole of this extensive range, +which, measured in one direction, stretches over nearly half the +equatorial circumference of the globe, and in another over at least +seventy degrees of latitude. The people are all also of the same brown +or copper complexion, by which the Malay is distinguished from the +white man on the one hand, and the negro on the other.</p> + +<p>In New Zealand, however, as, indeed, in most of the other seats of this +race, the inhabitants are distinguished from each other by a very +considerable diversity in the shades of what may be called the common +hue. Crozet was so much struck with this circumstance that he does not +hesitate to divide them into three classes—whites, browns, and +blacks,—the last of whom he conceives to be a foreign admixture +received from the neighbouring continent of New Holland, and who, by +their union with the whites, the original inhabitants of the country, +and still decidedly the prevalent race, have produced those of the +intermediate colour.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img07"></a> +<img src='images/image07.png' width='450' height='303' alt='Two Maori Chiefs—Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, +or "Dark House."' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Two Maori Chiefs—Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, or "Dark House."</h5> + +<p>Whatever may be thought of this hypothesis, it is certain that in some +parts of New Zealand the natives are much fairer than in others. Cook +remarks, in the account of his first voyage, that the people about the +Bay of Islands seemed darker than those he had seen further to the +south; and their colour generally is afterwards described as varying +from a pretty deep black to a yellowish or olive tinge. In like manner, +Marsden states that the people in the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga +are much fairer than those on the east coast. It may also, perhaps, be +considered some confirmation of Crozet's opinion as to the origin of the +darkest coloured portion of the population, that those who come under +this description are asserted to be characterized, in addition, by the +other negro peculiarity of a diminutive stature.<a name='FNanchor_AK_37'></a><a href='#Footnote_AK_37'><sup>[AK]</sup></a></p> + +<p>In general, however, the New Zealanders are a tall race of men, many of +the individuals belonging to the upper classes being six feet high and +upwards. They are also described as strong, active, and almost uniformly +well-shaped. Their hair is commonly straight, but sometimes curly; +Crozet says he saw a few of them with red hair. Cook describes the +females as far from attractive; but other observers give a more +flattering account of them. Savage, for example, assures us that their +features are regular and pleasing; and he seems to have been much struck +by their "long black hair and dark penetrating eyes," as well as "their +well-formed figure, the interesting cast of their countenance, and the +sweet tone of their voice." Cruise's testimony is almost equally +favourable.</p> + +<p>The dress of the two sexes is exactly the same, and consists of an inner +mat or tunic, fastened by a girdle round their waists, and an upper +cloak, which is made of very coarse materials for ordinary wear, but is +of a much finer fabric, and often, indeed, elaborately ornamented, when +intended for occasions of display. Both these articles of attire are +always made of the native flax. The New Zealanders wear no covering +either for the head or the feet, the feathers with which both sexes +ornament the head being excepted.</p> + +<p>The food upon which they principally live is the root of the fern-plant, +which grows all over the country.</p> + +<p>Rutherford's account of the method of preparing it, which we have +already transcribed, corresponds exactly with that given by Cook, +Nicholas, and others. This root, sometimes swallowed entirely, and +sometimes only masticated, and the fibres rejected after the juice has +been extracted, serves the New Zealanders not only for bread, but even +occasionally for a meal by itself. When fish are used, they do not +appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten raw, but are always +cooked, either by being fixed upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so +exposed to the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and then placed +between heated stones to bake. But little of any other animal food is +consumed, birds being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being +only produced on days of special festivity.</p> + +<p>The first pigs were left in New Zealand by Cook, who made many attempts +to stock the country both with this and other useful animals, most of +whom, however, were so much neglected that they soon disappeared. Cook, +likewise, introduced the potato into New Zealand; and that valuable root +appears to be now pretty generally cultivated throughout the northern +island.</p> + +<p>The only agricultural implements, however, which the natives possess are +of the rudest description; that with which they dig their potatoes being +merely a wooden pole, with a cross-bar of the same material fixed to it +about three feet from the ground. Marsden saw the wives of several of +the chiefs toiling hard in the fields with no better spade than this; +among others the head wife of the great Shungie, who, though quite +blind, appeared to dig the ground, he says, as fast as those who had +their sight, and as well, first pulling up the weeds as she went along +with her hands, then setting her feet upon them that she might know +where they were; and, finally, after she had broken the soil, throwing +the mould over the weeds with her hands.</p> + +<p>The labours of agriculture in New Zealand are, in this way, rendered +exceedingly toilsome, by the imperfection of the only instruments which +the natives possess. Hence, principally, their extreme desire for iron. +Marsden, in the "Journal of his Second Visit," gives us some very +interesting details touching the anxiety which the chiefs universally +manifested to obtain agricultural tools of this metal. One morning, he +tells us, a number of them arrived at the settlement, some having come +twenty, others fifty miles. "They were ready to tear us to pieces," says +he, "for hoes and axes. One of them said his heart would burst if he +did not get a hoe."</p> + +<p>They were told that a supply had been written for to England; but "they +replied that many of them would be in their graves before the ship would +come from England, and the hoes and axes would be of no advantage to +them when dead. They wanted them now. They had no tools at present, but +wooden ones to work their potato-grounds with; and requested that we +would relieve their present distress."</p> + +<p>When he returned from his visit to Shukehanga, many of the natives of +that part of the country followed him, with a similar object, to the +settlement. "When we left Patuona's village," says he, "we were more +than fifty in number, most of them going for an axe or a hoe, or some +small edge-tool. They would have to travel, by land and water, from a +hundred to a hundred and forty miles, in some of the worst paths, +through woods, that can be conceived, and to carry their provisions for +their journey. A chief's wife came with us all the way, and I believe +her load would not be less than one hundred pounds; and many carried +much more." But, perhaps, the most importunate pleader the reverend +gentleman encountered on this journey was an old chief, with a very long +beard, and his face tattooed all over, who followed him during part of +his progress among the villages of the western coast. "He wanted an +axe," says Marsden, "very much; and at last he said that if we would +give him an axe, he would give us his head. Nothing is held in so much +veneration by the natives as the head of their chief. I asked him who +should have the axe when I had got his head. At length he said, 'Perhaps +you will trust me a little time; and, when I die, you shall have my +head.' This venerable personage afterwards got his axe by sending a man +for it to the settlement."</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AD_30'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AD_30'>[AD]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Nene.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AE_31'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AE_31'>[AE]</a><div class='note'><p> There is no "l" in the Maori orthography, and the name +cannot be traced.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AF_32'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AF_32'>[AF]</a><div class='note'><p> This is another case where Rutherford's pronunciation +seems to have been at fault.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AG_33'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AG_33'>[AG]</a><div class='note'><p> The taro.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AH_34'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AH_34'>[AH]</a><div class='note'><p> The kumera, a sweet potato, which was extensively +cultivated by the ancient Maoris.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AI_35'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AI_35'>[AI]</a><div class='note'><p> "Haere mai," "come here," the usual words of welcome.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AJ_36'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AJ_36'>[AJ]</a><div class='note'><p> That is, Australia.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AK_37'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AK_37'>[AK]</a><div class='note'><p> The origin of the Maori is dealt with exhaustively by Mr. +S Percy Smith in "Hawaiki"; by Mr. E. Tregear, in "The Maori Race"; and +by Professor Macmillan Brown, in "Maori and Polynesian."</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_V'></a><h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Taken altogether, New Zealand presents a great variety of landscape, +although, even where the scenery is most subdued, it partakes of a bold +and irregular character, derived not more from the aspect of undisturbed +Nature, which still obtrudes itself everywhere among the traces of +commencing cultivation, than from the confusion of hill and valley which +marks the face of the soil, and the precipitous eminences, with their +sides covered by forests, and their summits barren of all vegetation, or +terminating perhaps in a naked rock, that often rise close beside the +most sheltered spots of fertility and verdure.</p> + +<p>If this brokenness and inequality of surface oppose difficulties in the +way of agricultural improvement, the variety and striking contrasts +thereby produced must be often at least highly picturesque; and all, +accordingly, who have visited New Zealand, agree in extolling the +mingled beauty and grandeur which are profusely spread over the more +favoured parts of the country, and are not altogether wanting even where +the general look of the coast is most desolate and uninviting.</p> + +<p>The southern island, with the exception of a narrow strip along its +northern shore, appears to be, in its interior, a mere chaos of +mountains, and the region of perpetual winter; but even here, the +declivities that slope down towards the sea are clothed, in many places +to the water's edge, with gigantic and evergreen forests; and more +protected nooks occasionally present themselves, overspread with the +abundance of a teeming vegetation, and not to be surpassed in loveliness +by what the land has anywhere else to show. The bleakness of the western +coast of this southern island indeed does not arise so much from its +latitude as from the tempestuous north-west winds which seem so much to +prevail in this part of the world, and to the whole force of which it +is, from its position, exposed.</p> + +<p>The interior and eastern side of the northern island owe their fertility +and their suitableness for the habitation of man principally to the +intervention of a considerable extent of land, much of which is +elevated, between them and the quarter from which these desolating gales +blow. The more westerly portion of it seems only to be inhabited in +places which are in a certain degree similarly defended by the +surrounding high grounds. In these, as well as in the more populous +districts to the east, the face of the country, generally speaking, +offers to the eye a spread of luxuriant verdure, the freshness of which +is preserved by continual depositions of moisture from the clouds that +are attracted by the mountains, so that its hue, even in the heat of +midsummer, is peculiarly vivid and lustrous.</p> + +<p>Much of the land, both in the valleys and on the brows of the hills, is +covered by groves of majestic pine, which are nearly impervious, from +the thick underwood that has rushed up everywhere in the spaces between +the trees; and where there is no wood, the prevailing plant is a fern, +which rises generally to the height of six or seven feet.</p> + +<p>Along the skirts of the woodlands flow numerous rivers, which intersect +the country in all directions, and several of which are navigable for +miles up by ships of considerable burthen. Various lines of +communication are in this way established between the opposite coasts of +the northern island; while some of the minor streams, that rush down to +the sea through the more precipitous ravines, are interrupted in their +course by magnificent cataracts, which give additional effect to the +other features of sublimity and romantic beauty by which the country is +so distinguished. Many of the rocks on the coast are perforated, a +circumstance which proceeds from their formation.</p> + +<p>The quality of the soil of this country may be best estimated from the +profuse vegetation with which the greater part of it is clothed, and the +extraordinary vigour which characterizes the growth of most of its +productions. The botany of New Zealand has as yet been very imperfectly +investigated, a very small portion of the native plants having been +either classified or enumerated. From the partial researches, however, +that have been made by the scientific gentlemen attached to Cook's +expeditions, and subsequent visitors, there can be no doubt that the +country is rich both in new and valuable herbs, plants, and trees as +well as admirably adapted for the cultivation of many of the most useful +among the vegetable possessions of other parts of the world.</p> + +<p>Rutherford, we have seen, mentions the existence of cultivated land in +the neighbourhood of the village to which he was last conveyed. The New +Zealanders had made considerable advances in agriculture even before +Cook visited the country; and that navigator mentions particularly, in +the narrative of his first voyage, the numerous patches of ground which +he observed all along the east coast in a state of cultivation. Speaking +of the very neighbourhood of the place at which the crew of the "Agnes" +were made prisoners, he says:—"Banks saw some of their plantations, +where the ground was as well broken down and tilled as even in the +gardens of the most curious people among us. In these spots were sweet +potatoes, coccos or eddas, which are well known and much esteemed both +in the East and West Indies, and some gourds. The sweet potatoes were +placed in small hills, some ranged in rows, and others in quincunx, all +laid by a line with the greatest regularity. The coccos were planted +upon flat land, but none of them yet (it was about the end of October) +appeared above ground; and the gourds were set in small hollows, or +dishes, much as in England. These plantations were of different extent, +from one or two acres to ten. Taken together, there appeared to be from +one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres in cultivation in the whole +bay, though we never saw a hundred people. Each district was fenced in, +generally with reeds, which were placed so close together that there was +scarcely room for a mouse to creep between."</p> + +<p>Since the commencement of the intercourse of the New Zealanders with +Europe, the sphere of their husbandry has been considerably enlarged by +the introduction of several most precious articles which were formerly +unknown to them. Cook, in the course of his several visits to the +country, both deposited in the soil, and left with some of the most +intelligent among the natives, quantities of such useful seeds as those +of wheat, peas, cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips, and potatoes; but +although he had sufficient proofs of the suitableness of the soil and +climate to the growth of most of these articles, which he found that +even the winter of New Zealand was too mild to injure, it appeared to +him very unlikely that the inhabitants would be at the trouble to take +care even of those whose value they in some degree appreciated. With the +exception, in fact, of the turnips and potatoes, the vegetable +productions which Cook took so much pains to introduce seem to have all +perished. The potatoes, however, have been carefully preserved, and are +said to have even improved in quality, being now greatly superior to +those of the Cape of Good Hope, from which the seed they have sprung +from was originally brought.</p> + +<p>In more recent times, maize has been introduced into New Zealand; and +the missionaries have sown many acres in the neighbourhood of the Bay of +Islands, both on their own property and on that of the native chiefs, +with English wheat, which has produced an abundant return.</p> + +<p>Duaterra was the first person who actually reared a crop of this grain +in his native country. On leaving Port Jackson the second time, to +return home, he took with him a quantity of it, and much astonished his +acquaintances by informing them that this was the very substance of +which the Europeans made biscuits, such as they had seen and eaten on +board their ships.</p> + +<p>"He gave a portion of wheat," says Marsden, "to six chiefs, and also to +some of his own common men, and directed them all how to sow it, +reserving some for himself and his uncle Shungie, who is a very great +chief, his dominion extending from the east to the west side of New +Zealand.</p> + +<p>"All the persons to whom Duaterra had given the seed-wheat put it into +the ground, and it grew well; but before it was well ripe, many of them +grew impatient for the produce; and as they expected to find the grain +at the roots of the stems, similar to their potatoes, they examined the +roots, and finding there was no wheat under the ground, they pulled it +all up, and burned it, except Shungie.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs ridiculed Duaterra much about the wheat, and told him, +because he had been a great traveller, he thought he could easily impose +upon their credulity by fine stories; and all he urged could not +convince them that wheat would make bread. His own and Shungie's crops +in time came to perfection, and were reaped and threshed; and though the +natives were much astonished to find that the grain was produced at the +top, and not at the bottom of the stem, yet they could not be persuaded +that bread could be made of it."</p> + +<p>Marsden afterwards sent Duaterra a steel mill to grind his wheat, which +he received with no little joy. "He soon set to work," continues +Marsden, "and ground some wheat before his countrymen, who danced and +shouted for joy when they saw the meal. He told me that he made a cake +and baked it in a frying-pan, and gave it to the people to eat, which +fully satisfied them of the truth he had told them before, that wheat +would make bread." The chiefs now begged some more seed, which they +sowed; and such of it as was attended to grew up as strong a crop as +could be desired.</p> + +<p>In all countries the securing of a sufficient supply of food is the +primary concern of society; and, accordingly, even among the rudest +tribes who are in any degree dependent upon the fruits of the earth for +their sustenance, the different operations of agriculture, as regulated +by the seasons, have always excited especial interest. Theoretical +writers are fond of talking of the natural progress of the species to +the agricultural state, from and through the pastoral, as if the one +were a condition at which it was nothing less than impossible for a +people to arrive, except by first undergoing the other.</p> + +<p>In countries circumstanced like New Zealand, at least, the course of +things must have been somewhat different; inasmuch as here we find the +agricultural state begun, where the pastoral could never have been +known, there being no flocks to tend. Cook, as we have seen, found the +inhabitants of this country extensive cultivators of land, and they, +probably, had been so for many ages before. Although the fern-root is in +most places the spontaneous produce of the soil, and enters largely into +the consumption of the people, it would yet seem that they have not been +wont to consider themselves independent of those other crops which they +raise by regular cultivation. To these, accordingly, they pay the +greatest attention, insomuch, that most of those who have visited the +country have been struck by the extraordinary contrast between the neat +and clean appearance of their fields, in which the plants rise in even +rows, and not a weed is to be seen, and the universal air of rudeness, +slovenliness, and discomfort which their huts present.</p> + +<p>But we must remember that in the latter case we see merely a few of the +personal accommodations of the savage, his neglect of which occasions +him but very slight and temporary inconvenience; whereas in the former +it is the very sustenance of his life which is concerned, his +inattention to which might expose him to all the miseries of famine. The +same care and neatness in the management of their fields has been +remarked as characteristics of the North American Indians; and both they +and the New Zealanders celebrate the seasons of planting and gathering +in their harvests with festivities and religious observances, practices +which have, indeed, prevailed in almost every nation, and may be +regarded as among the most beautiful and becoming of the rites of +natural religion.</p> + +<p>The commencement of the coomera harvest in New Zealand is the signal for +the suspension of all other occupations except that of gathering in the +crop. First, the priest pronounces a blessing upon the unbroken ground; +and then, when all its produce has been gathered in, he "taboos" or +makes sacred, the public storehouse in which it is deposited.</p> + +<p>Cruise states that this solemn dedication has sometimes saved these +depositories from spoliation, even on occasion of a hostile attack by +another tribe. "One of the gentlemen of the ship," this writer adds, +"was present at the 'shackerie,'<a name='FNanchor_AL_38'></a><a href='#Footnote_AL_38'><sup>[AL]</sup></a> or harvest-home, if it may be so +called, of Shungie's people. It was celebrated in a wood, where a square +space had been cleared of trees, in the centre of which three very tall +posts, driven into the ground in the form of a triangle, supported an +immense pile of baskets of coomeras. The tribe of Teeperree<a name='FNanchor_AM_39'></a><a href='#Footnote_AM_39'><sup>[AM]</sup></a> of +Wangarooa<a name='FNanchor_AN_40'></a><a href='#Footnote_AN_40'><sup>[AN]</sup></a> was invited to participate in the rejoicings, which +consisted of a number of dances performed round the pole, succeeded by a +very splendid feast; and when Teeperree's men were going away, they +received a present of as many coomeras as they could carry with them." +In New Zealand all the cultivated fields are strictly "tabooed," as well +as the people employed in cultivating them, who live upon the spot while +they proceed with their labours, and are not permitted to pass the +boundary until they are terminated; nor are any others allowed to +trespass upon the sacred enclosure.</p> + +<p>We have already mentioned more than once the lofty forests of New +Zealand. Of these, considered as a mere ornament to the country, all +who have seen them speak in terms of the highest admiration. Anderson, +the surgeon whom Cook took with him on board the "Resolution" in his +third voyage, describes them as "flourishing with a vigour almost +superior to anything that imagination can conceive, and affording an +august prospect to those who are delighted with the grand and beautiful +works of Nature."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible," says Nicholas, "to imagine, in the wildest and most +picturesque walks of Nature, a sight more sublime and majestic, or which +can more forcibly challenge the admiration of the traveller, than a New +Zealand forest."</p> + +<p>And indeed, when we are told that the trees rise generally to the height +of from eighty to a hundred feet, straight as a mast and without a +branch, and are then crowned with tops of such umbrageous foliage that +the rays of the sun, in endeavouring to pierce through them, can hardly +make more than a dim twilight in the lonely recesses below, so that +herbage cannot grow there, and the rank soil produces nothing but a +thick spread of climbing and intertwisted underwood, we may conceive how +imposing must be the gloomy grandeur of these gigantic and impenetrable +groves.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img08"></a> +<img src='images/image08.png' width='450' height='314' alt='Scene in a New Zealand forest.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Scene in a New Zealand forest.</h5> + +<p>In the woods in the neighbourhood of Poverty Bay, Cook says he found +trees of above twenty different sorts, altogether unknown to anybody +on board; and almost every new district which he visited afterwards +presented to him a profusion of new varieties. But the trees that have +as yet chiefly attracted the attention of Europeans are certain of those +more lofty ones of which we have just spoken.</p> + +<p>These trees had attracted Cook's attention in his first voyage, as +likely to prove admirably adapted for masts, if the timber, which in its +original state he considered rather too heavy for that purpose, could, +like that of the European pitch-pine, be lightened by tapping; they +would then, he says, be such masts as no country in Europe could +produce. Crozet, however, asserts, in his account of Marion's voyage +that they found what he calls the cedar of New Zealand to weigh no +heavier than the best Riga fir.</p> + +<p>Nicholas brought some of the seeds of the New Zealand phormium with him +to England in 1815; but unfortunately they lost their vegetative +properties during the voyage. It appears, however, that, some years +before, it had been brought to blossom, though imperfectly, in the +neighbourhood of London; and in France it is said to have been +cultivated in the open air with great success, by Freycinet and Faujas +St. Fond. Under the culture of the former of these gentlemen it grew, in +1813, to the height of seven feet six lines, the stalk being three +inches and four lines in circumference at the base, and two inches and a +half, half-way up. Upon one stalk he had a hundred and nine flowers, of +a greenish yellow colour; and he had made some very strong ropes from +the leaves, from which he had obtained the flax by a very simple +process.</p> + +<p>According to Rutherford, the natives, after having cut it down, and +brought it home green in bundles, in which state it is called "koradee," +scrape it with a large mussel-shell, and take the heart out of it, +splitting it with the nails of their thumbs, which for that purpose they +keep very long. It would seem, however, that the natives have made +instruments for dressing this flax not very dissimilar from the tools of +our own wool-combers. The outside they throw away, and the rest they +spread out for several days in the sun to dry, which makes it as white +as snow. In this prepared state it is, he says, called "mooka." They +spin it, he adds, in a double thread, with the hand on the thigh, and +then work it into mats, also by the hand: three women may work on one +mat at a time.</p> + +<p>Nicholas, on one occasion, saw Duaterra's head wife employed in weaving. +The mat on which she was engaged was one of an open texture, and "she +performed her work," says the author, "with wooden pegs stuck in the +ground at equal distances from each other, to which having tied the +threads that formed the woof, she took up six threads with the two +composing the warp, knotting them carefully together." "It was +astonishing," he says, "with what dexterity and quickness she handled +the threads, and how well executed was her performance." He was assured +that another mat which he saw, and which was woven with elaborate +ingenuity and elegance, could not have been manufactured in less time +than between two and three years.</p> + +<p>Valuable, however, as is the phormium for the purposes to which alone it +is applied in New Zealand, it would appear that the attempts which have +been made to fabricate from it what is properly called cloth have not +hitherto been attended with a favourable result. Some years ago, a +quantity of hemp that had been manufactured from the plant at Sydney, +was sent to be woven at Knaresborough; but "the trial," it is stated, +"did not succeed to the full satisfaction of the parties."</p> + +<p>We have been favoured with a communication upon this subject by a +gentleman who has given much attention to it, which seems to explain, in +a very satisfactory manner, the true reason of the failure that has been +here experienced. "A friend of mine," says our correspondent, "a few +years ago imported a quantity of the phormium, in the expectation that +it would answer admirably for making cloth even of the finest fabric. +But in this he was altogether disappointed. Although it is infinitely +stronger in its raw state than any other flax or hemp, yet when boiled +with potash it becomes so exceedingly weak as not to bear the operation +of weaving but with the utmost difficulty. A gentleman once showed me a +pair of trousers made of this material. They appeared quite rough and +nearly worn out, though they had been used but for a few weeks.</p> + +<p>"Although making cloth of it, however, is out of the question, it is +admirably fitted for rope and twine of all descriptions. It will, +therefore, prove highly valuable to our shipping and fishing interests. +Another friend of mine made some rope of it, which, when proved by the +breaking machine, bore, I think, nearly double the strain of a +similar-sized rope made of Russian hemp. The great strength and tenacity +of the New Zealand flax appears to me to be owing to the fibres, though +naturally short, being firmly united by an elastic vegetable glue or +gum, which the boiling process dissolves." Rutherford says the flax +becomes black on being soaked, which may possibly be occasioned by its +consequent loss of the gum here described.</p> + +<p>We find it stated in the "Annual Register" for 1819, that about the +beginning of that year a favourable report had been made of the +suitableness of the phormium for the manufacture both of small and large +ropes, after some experiments in the dockyard at Portsmouth. The ropes +turned out strong, pliable, and very silky. The notice adds that the +plant may be cut down in New Zealand three times a year; and that it may +be imported to this country at the rate of about eight pounds per ton, +or one-seventh of the cost of hemp.</p> + +<p>Among the useful plants for which we are indebted to New Zealand, we +must not forget their summer spinach (<i>Tetragonia expansa</i>—Murray), +which was discovered on Cook's first voyage by Sir Joseph Banks, and was +"boiled and eaten as greens" by the crew. It was afterwards seen by +Forster at Tongataboo, though it was not used by the natives; but +Thunberg found the Japanese acquainted with its value as a pot-herb. It +was introduced into Kew Gardens in 1772; but the first account of it as +a vegetable worthy of cultivation, was published by Count D'Auraches in +the "Annales d'Agriculture" for 1809. Its chief advantage lies in the +leaves being fit for use during the summer, even in the driest weather, +up to the setting in of the frosts, when the common spinach is useless; +but it is not reckoned of so fine a flavour as that plant. The Rev. J. +Bransby says that the produce of three seeds, which must be reared by +heat before planting out, supplied his own table and those of two of his +friends from June till the frost killed it.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AL_38'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AL_38'>[AL]</a><div class='note'><p> The hakari, or feast, a great function in former times.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AM_39'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AM_39'>[AM]</a><div class='note'><p> This name is spelt wrongly. It might be Te Pahi, a famous +chief, but it is reported that he died soon after the affair of the +"Boyd," in 1809, some time before Rutherford's arrival in New Zealand. +The tribe, however, may still have been known as Te Pahi's.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AN_40'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AN_40'>[AN]</a><div class='note'><p> Whangaroa.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a><h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The native land animals of New Zealand are not numerous. The most common +is said to be one resembling our fox-dog, which is sometimes eaten for +food. It runs wild in the woods, and is described by Savage as usually +of a black and white skin, with pricked up ears, and the hair rather +long. But it may perhaps be doubted if even this quadruped is a native +of the country.<a name='FNanchor_AO_41'></a><a href='#Footnote_AO_41'><sup>[AO]</sup></a></p> + +<p>According to Rutherford the pigs run wild in the woods, and are hunted +by dogs. He also mentions that there are a few horned cattle in the +interior, which have been bred from some left by the discovery ships. No +other account, however, confirms this statement. There are in New +Zealand a few rats, and bats; and the coasts are frequented by seals of +different species. One of the natives told Cook that there was in the +interior a lizard eight feet long, and as thick as a man's body, which +burrowed in the ground, and sometimes seized and devoured men. This +animal, of the existence of which we have the additional evidence of an +exactly similar description given by one of the chiefs to Nicholas, is +probably an alligator. The natives, as we learn from Cruise, have the +greatest horror of a lizard, in the shape of which animal they believe +it is that the atua (or demon) is wont to take possession of the dying, +and to devour their entrails—a superstition which may not be +unconnected with the dread the alligator has spread among them by its +actual ravages, or the stories that have been propagated respecting it. +They report that in the part of the country where it is found it makes +great havoc among children, carrying them off and devouring them +whenever they come in its way.<a name='FNanchor_AP_42'></a><a href='#Footnote_AP_42'><sup>[AP]</sup></a></p> + +<p>There are not many species of insects, those seen by Anderson, who +accompanied Cook, being only a few dragonflies, butterflies, +grasshoppers, spiders, and black ants, vast numbers of scorpion flies, +and a sandfly, which is described as the only noxious insect in the +country. It insinuates itself under the foot, and bites like a mosquito.</p> + +<p>The birds of New Zealand are very numerous, and almost all are peculiar +to the country. Among them are wild ducks, large wood-pigeons, seagulls, +rails, parrots, and parrakeets. They are generally very tame.</p> + +<p>Rutherford states that during his long residence he became very expert, +after the manner of the natives, in catching birds with a noosed +string, and that he has thus caught thousands of ground parrots with a +line about fifty feet long. The most remarkable bird is one to which +Cook's people gave the name of the mocking-bird, from the extraordinary +variety of its notes.<a name='FNanchor_AQ_43'></a><a href='#Footnote_AQ_43'><sup>[AQ]</sup></a> There is also another which was called by the +English the poe, or poi bird, from a little tuft of white curled +feathers which it has under its throat, and which seemed to them to +resemble certain white flowers worn as ornaments in the ears by the +people of Otaheite, and known there by a similar name. This bird is also +remarkable both for the beauty of its plumage and the sweetness of its +note. Its power of song is the more remarkable as it belongs to the +class of birds which feed on honey, whose notes are generally not +melodious.<a name='FNanchor_AR_44'></a><a href='#Footnote_AR_44'><sup>[AR]</sup></a></p> + +<p>The enchanting music of the woods of New Zealand is dwelt upon with +rapture by all who have had an opportunity of listening to it. +Describing one of the first days he spent in Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook +says:—"The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of +a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the +singing of the birds. The number was incredible, and they seemed to +strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was +infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it +seemed to be like small bells, exquisitely tuned; and perhaps the +distance and the water between might be no small advantage to the +sound." Upon inquiry, they were informed that the birds here always +begin to sing about two hours after midnight, and, continuing their +music till sunrise, were silent the rest of the day.<a name='FNanchor_AS_45'></a><a href='#Footnote_AS_45'><sup>[AS]</sup></a></p> + +<p>One of the chief sources of natural wealth which New Zealand possesses +consists in the abundance and variety of the fish which frequent its +coasts. Wherever he went, Cook, in his different visits to the two +islands, was amply supplied with this description of food, of which he +says that six or eight men, with hooks and lines, would in some places +catch daily enough to serve the whole ship's company. Among the +different species which are described as being found, we may mention +mackerel, crayfish, a sort called by the sailors colefish, which Cook +says was both larger and finer than any he had seen before, and was, in +the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded them; +the herring, the flounder, and a fish resembling the salmon. To these +may be added, besides, many other species of shell-fish, mussels, +cockles, and oysters.</p> + +<p>The seas in the neighbourhood of New Zealand, also, we ought not to +forget to add, are much frequented by whales, which, besides the value +of their blubber, are greatly prized by the natives for the sake of +their flesh, which they consider a first-rate delicacy.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders are extremely expert in fishing. They are also +admirable divers, and Rutherford states that they will bring up live +fish from the deepest waters, with the greatest certainty.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AO_41'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AO_41'>[AO]</a><div class='note'><p> Craik is correct in this surmise. The Maori dog, Canis +familiaris, (Variety Maorium), which is now extinct, was introduced to +New Zealand when the Maoris came at the time of their great migration, +about 500 years ago.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AP_42'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AP_42'>[AP]</a><div class='note'><p> The alligator is purely mythical. The only reptiles in New +Zealand are lizards, and a lizard-like animal called Tuatara. It is +about 18 inches long, and is allied to crocodiles and turtles, as well +as lizards. It is the sole representative of an ancient reptilian order +named Rhyncocephalia.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AQ_43'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AQ_43'>[AQ]</a><div class='note'><p> This is the bell-bird (Anthornis melanura).</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AR_44'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AR_44'>[AR]</a><div class='note'><p> The tui, or parson bird (Prosthemadera novæ zealandiæ.)</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AS_45'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AS_45'>[AS]</a><div class='note'><p> Large numbers of New Zealand birds unite in the spring in +singing a magnificent Song of Dawn, which generally ceases when the sun +has fairly risen, but individuals sing at intervals through the day.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The details we have thus given will enable the reader to form a +conception of the state of society in the country in which Rutherford +now found himself imprisoned.</p> + +<p>The spot in the northern island of New Zealand, in which the village lay +where his residence was eventually fixed, cannot be exactly ascertained, +from the account which he gives of his journey to it from the coast. It +is evident, however, from the narrative, that it was too far in the +interior to permit the sea to be seen from it.</p> + +<p>"For the first year after our arrival in Aimy's village," says +Rutherford, "we spent our time chiefly in fishing and shooting; for the +chief had a capital double-barrelled fowling piece, as well as plenty of +powder and duck-shot, which he had brought from our vessel; and he used +to entrust me with the fowling-piece whenever I had a mind to go a +shooting, though he seldom accompanied me himself. We were generally +fortunate enough to bring home a good many wood-pigeons, which are very +plentiful in New Zealand.</p> + +<p>"At last it happened that Aimy and his family went to a feast at another +village a few miles distant from ours, and my comrade and I were left +at home, with nobody but a few slaves, and the chief's mother, an old +woman, who was sick, and attended by a physician. A physician in this +country remains with his patients constantly both day and night, never +leaving them till they either recover or die, in which latter case he is +brought before a court of inquiry, composed of all the chiefs for many +miles round.</p> + +<p>"During the absence of the family at the feast, my comrade chanced to +lend his knife to a slave for him to cut some rushes with, in order to +repair a house; and when this was done he received it back again. Soon +after he and I killed a pig, from which we cut a portion into small +pieces, and put them into our iron pot, along with some potatoes which +we had also peeled with our knives. When the potatoes were cooked, the +old woman who was sick desired us to give her some, which we did in the +presence of the doctor, and she ate them. Next morning she died, when +the chief and the rest of his family immediately returned home.</p> + +<p>"The corpse was first removed to an unoccupied piece of ground in the +centre of the village, and there placed with a mat under it, in a +sitting position against a post, being covered with another mat up to +the chin. The head and face were anointed with shark oil, and a piece of +green flax was also tied round the head, in which were stuck several +white feathers, the sort of feathers which are here preferred to any +other.</p> + +<p>"They then constructed, around the corpse, an enclosure of twigs, +something like a bird's cage, for the purpose of keeping the dogs, pigs, +and children from it; and these operations being over, muskets continued +to be occasionally fired during the remainder of the day to the memory +of the old woman. Meanwhile, the chiefs and their families from miles +around were making their appearance in our village, bringing with them +their slaves loaded with provisions. On the third day after the death, +they all, to the number of some hundreds, knelt down around the corpse, +and, having thrown off their mats, proceeded to cry and cut themselves, +in the same manner as we had seen done on occasions of the different +chiefs of the villages through which we passed being welcomed home.</p> + +<p>"After some time spent in this ceremony, they all sat down together to a +great feast, made of their own provisions, which they had brought with +them.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, the men alone formed a circle round the dead body, +armed with spears, muskets, tomahawks, and merys, and the doctor +appeared, walking backwards and forwards in the ring. By this time, my +companion and I had learned a good deal of their language; and, as we +stood listening to what was said, we heard the doctor relate the +particulars of the old woman's illness and death; after which, the +chiefs began to inquire very closely into what she had eaten for the +three days before she expired.</p> + +<p>"At last, the doctor having retired from the ring, an old chief stepped +forward, with three or four white feathers stuck in his hair; and, +having walked several times up and down in the ring, addressed the +meeting, and said that, in his opinion, the old woman's death had been +occasioned by her having eaten potatoes that had been peeled with a +white man's knife, after it had been used for cutting rushes to repair a +house; on which account, he thought that the white man to whom the knife +belonged should be killed, which would be a great honour conferred upon +the memory of the dead woman.</p> + +<p>"To this proposal many of the other chiefs expressed their assent, and +it seemed about to be adopted by the court. Meanwhile, my companion +stood trembling, and unable to speak from fear. I then went forward +myself into the ring, and told them that if the white man had done wrong +in lending his knife to the slave, he had done so ignorantly, from not +knowing the customs of the country.</p> + +<p>"I ventured at the same time to address myself to Aimy, beseeching him +to spare my shipmate's life; but he continued to keep his seat on the +ground, mourning for the loss of his mother, without answering me, or +seeming to take any notice of what I said; and while I was yet speaking +to him, the chief with the white feathers went and struck my comrade on +the head with a mery, and killed him. Aimy, however, would not allow +him to be eaten, though for what reason I never could learn.</p> + +<p>"The slaves, therefore, having dug a grave for him, he was interred +after my directions.</p> + +<p>"As for the corpse of the old woman, it was now wrapt up in several +mats, and carried away by Aimy and the doctor, no person being allowed +to follow them. I learned, however, that they took her into a +neighbouring wood, and there buried her. After this, the strangers all +left our village, and returned to their respective homes. In about three +months, the body of the woman was again taken up, and carried to the +river side, where the bones were scraped and washed, and then inclosed +in a box, which had been prepared for that purpose.</p> + +<p>"The box was afterwards fastened on the top of a post, in the place +where the body first lay in state; and a space of about thirty feet in +circumference being railed in around it, a wooden image was erected, to +signify that the ground was 'tabooed,' or sacred, and as a warning that +no one should enter the inclosure. This is the regular manner of +interment in New Zealand for any one belonging to a chief's family. When +a slave dies, a hole is dug, and the body is thrown into it without any +ceremony; nor is it ever disinterred again, or any further notice taken +of it. They never eat any person who dies of disease, or in the course +of nature."</p> + +<p>Thus left alone among these savages, and taught by the murder of his +comrade on how slight a tenure he held his own life, exposed as he was +every moment to the chance of in some way or other provoking their +capricious cruelty, Rutherford, it may be thought, must have felt his +protracted detention growing every day more insupportable.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest inconveniences which he now began to feel arose from +the wearing out of his clothes, which he patched and tacked as well as +he could for some time, but at last, after he had been about three years +in the country, they would hold together no longer. All that he had to +wear, therefore, was a white flax mat, which was given to him by the +chief, and which, being thrown over his shoulders, came as low as his +knees. This, he says, was his only garment, and he was compelled to go +both bareheaded and barefooted, having neither hat, shoes, nor +stockings.</p> + +<p>His life, meanwhile, seems to have been varied by few incidents +deserving of being recorded, and we are left to suppose that he spent +his time principally in shooting and fishing, as before.</p> + +<p>For the first sixteen months of his residence at the village, he kept a +reckoning of days by notches on a stick; but when he afterwards moved +about with the chiefs, he neglected this mode of tracing the progress of +time.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img09"></a> +<img src='images/image09.png' width='183' height='450' alt='Flute, made from the arm or thigh-bone of an enemy.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Flute, made from the arm or thigh-bone of an enemy.</h5> + +<p>"At last, it happened one day," the narrative proceeds, "while we were +all assembled at a feast in our village, that Aimy called me to him, +in the presence of several more chiefs, and, having told them of my +activity in shooting and fishing, concluded by saying that he wished to +make me a chief, if I would give my consent.</p> + +<p>"This I readily did: upon which my hair was immediately cut with an +oyster shell in the front, in the same manner as the chiefs have theirs +cut; and several of the chiefs made me a present of some mats, and +promised to send me some pigs the next day. I now put on a mat covered +over with red ochre and oil, such as was worn by the other chiefs; and +my head and face were also anointed with the same composition by a +chief's daughter, who was entirely a stranger to me. I received, at the +same time, a handsome stone mery, which I afterwards always carried with +me.</p> + +<p>"Aimy now advised me to take two or three wives, it being the custom for +the chiefs to have as many as they think proper; and I consented to take +two. About sixty women were then brought up before me, none of whom, +however, pleased me, and I refused to have any of them; on which Aimy +told me that I was 'tabooed' for three days, at the expiration of which +time he would take me with him to his brother's camp, where I should +find plenty of women that would please me.</p> + +<p>"Accordingly we went to his brother's at the time appointed, when +several women were brought up before us; but, having cast my eyes upon +Aimy's two daughters, who had followed us, and were sitting on the +grass, I went up to the eldest, and said that I would choose her.</p> + +<p>"On this she immediately screamed and ran away; but two of the natives, +having thrown off their mats, pursued her, and soon brought her back, +when, by the direction of Aimy, I went and took hold of her hand. The +two natives then let her go, and she walked quietly with me to her +father, but hung down her head, and continued laughing. Aimy now called +his other daughter to him, who also came laughing; and he then advised +me to take them both.</p> + +<p>"I then turned to them, and asked them if they were willing to go with +me, when they both answered, <i>I pea</i>, or <i>I pair</i>, which signifies, +'Yes, I believe so.'<a name='FNanchor_AT_46'></a><a href='#Footnote_AT_46'><sup>[AT]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"On this, Aimy told them they were 'tabooed' to me, and directed us all +three to go home together, which we did, followed by several of the +natives. We had not been many minutes at our own village, when Aimy, and +his brother also, arrived; and in the evening, a great feast was given +to the people by Aimy. During the greater part of the night, the women +kept dancing a dance which is called 'Kane-Kane,'<a name='FNanchor_AU_47'></a><a href='#Footnote_AU_47'><sup>[AU]</sup></a> and is seldom +performed, except when large parties are met together. While dancing it, +they stood all in a row, several of them holding muskets over their +heads; and their movements were accompanied by the singing of several +of the men; for they have no kind of music in this country.</p> + +<p>"My eldest wife's name was Eshou,<a name='FNanchor_AV_48'></a><a href='#Footnote_AV_48'><sup>[AV]</sup></a> and that of my youngest +Epecka.<a name='FNanchor_AW_49'></a><a href='#Footnote_AW_49'><sup>[AW]</sup></a> They were both handsome, mild, and good-tempered. I was now +always obliged to eat with them in the open air, as they would not eat +under the roof of my house, that being contrary to the customs of their +country. When away for any length of time, I used to take Epecka along +with me, and leave Eshou at home.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs' wives in New Zealand are never jealous of each other, but +live together in great harmony; the only distinction among them being +that the oldest is always considered the head wife. No other ceremony +takes place on the occasion of a marriage, except what I have mentioned. +Any child born of a slave woman, though the father should be a chief, is +considered a slave, like its mother.</p> + +<p>"A woman found guilty of adultery is immediately put to death. Many of +the chiefs take wives from among their slaves; but any one else that +marries a slave woman may be robbed with impunity; whereas he who +marries a woman belonging to a chief's family is secure from being +plundered, as the natives dare not steal from any person of that rank.</p> + +<p>"With regard to stealing from others, the custom is that if any person +has stolen anything, and kept it concealed for three days, it then +becomes his own property, and the only way for the injured party to +obtain satisfaction is to rob the thief in return. If the theft, +however, be detected within three days, the thief has to return the +article stolen; but, even in that case, he goes unpunished. The chiefs, +also, although secure from the depredations of their inferiors, plunder +one another, and this often occasions a war among them."</p> + +<p>By music in this passage, Rutherford evidently means instrumental music, +which, it would appear, was not known in the parts of New Zealand where +he resided. Other authorities, however, speak of different +wind-instruments, similar to our fifes or flutes, which are elsewhere in +common use.</p> + +<p>One which is frequently to be met with at the Bay of Islands consists, +according to Savage, of a tube six or seven inches long, open at both +extremities, and having three holes on one side, and one on the other. +Another is formed of two pieces of wood bound together, so as to make a +tube inflated at the middle, at which place there is a single hole. It +is blown into at one extremity, while the other is stopped and opened, +to produce different modifications of the sound.</p> + +<p>Nicholas once saw an instrument like a flute, made of bone, very +ingeniously carved, hanging at the breast of one of the natives; and +when he asked what bone it was formed from, the possessor immediately +told him that it was the bone of a man. It was a larger bone than any of +the native animals could have supplied.</p> + +<p>Vocal music is one of the favourite amusements of the New Zealanders. +Destitute as they are of the art of writing, they have, nevertheless, +their song poetry, part of which is traditionary, and part the produce +of such passing events as strongly excite their feelings, and prompt +their fancy to this only work of composition of which they have any +knowledge.</p> + +<p>Certain individuals among them are distinguished for their success in +these effusions; but the people inhabiting the vicinity of the East Cape +seem generally to enjoy the highest reputation for this species of +talent. These tribes, indeed, are described as in many other respects +decidedly superior to the rest of their countrymen. It is among them +that all the arts known in New Zealand flourish in the greatest +perfection; as, for example, the working of mats, and the making and +polishing of the different instruments used in war.</p> + +<p>Yet, although very numerous, they are themselves of a peaceful +disposition. Their houses are said to be both larger and better built +than those in any other part of the island; and their plantations are +also more extensive. This seems, in short, to be the manufacturing +district of New Zealand, the only part of the country in which anything +like regular industry has found an abode. Hence the pre-eminence of its +inhabitants, both in the useful and the elegant arts.</p> + +<p>Nicholas has printed some specimens of the songs of the New Zealanders, +which, when sung, are always accompanied, he informs us, by a great deal +of action. As he has given merely the words, however, without either the +music or a translation, it is needless to transcribe them. The airs he +describes as in general melodious and agreeable, and as having a +resemblance to our chanting.</p> + +<p>One of the songs which he gives is that which is always sung at the +feast which takes place when the planting of the potatoes commences. "It +describes," he says, "the havoc occasioned by the violence of an east +wind. Their potatoes are destroyed by it. They plant them again, and, +being more successful, they express their joy while taking them out of +the ground, with the words, <i>ah kiki! ah kiki! ah kiki!</i>—eat away! eat +away! eat away! Which is the conclusion of the song." Of another, "the +subject is a man carving a canoe, when his enemies approach the shore in +a canoe to attack him; endeavouring to conceal himself, he runs in among +the bushes, but is pursued, overtaken, and immediately put to death."</p> + +<p>Every more remarkable occasion of their rude and turbulent life seems +to have its appropriate song. The planting of their potatoes, the +gathering in of the crop, the commencement of the battle, the interment +of the dead, are all celebrated, each by its peculiar chorus, as well +as, probably, most of their other customary excitements, both of mirth +and of mourning.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders have a variety of national dances; but none of them +have been minutely described. Some of them are said to display much +grace of movement; others are chiefly remarkable for the extreme +violence with which they are performed. As among the other South Sea +tribes, when there are more dancers than one, the most perfect +uniformity of step and attitude is preserved by all of them; and they do +not consider it a dance at all when this rule is not attended to.</p> + +<p>Captain Dillon very much amused some of those who came on board his ship +by a sample of English dancing, which he made his men give them on deck. +A company of soldiers going through their manual exercise would +certainly have come much nearer their notions of what a dance ought to +be.</p> + +<p>Although there are no written laws in New Zealand, all these matters +are, no doubt, regulated by certain universally understood rules, +liberal enough in all probability, in the license which they allow to +the tyranny of the privileged class, but still fixing some boundaries to +its exercise, which will accordingly be but rarely overstepped. Thus, +the power which the chief seems to enjoy of depriving any of his slaves +of life may be limited to certain occasions only; as, for instance, the +death of some member of the family, whose manes, it is conceived, demand +to be propitiated by such an offering. That in such eases slaves are +often sacrificed in New Zealand, we have abundant evidence.</p> + +<p>Cruise even informs us that when a son of one of the chiefs died in +Marsden's house, in New South Wales, it required the interposition of +that gentleman's authority to prevent some of the boy's countrymen, who +were with him, from killing a few of their slaves, in honour of their +deceased friend. On other occasions, it is likely that the life of the +slave can only be taken when he has been convicted of some delinquency; +although, as the chief is the sole judge of his criminality, he will +find this, it may be thought, but a slight protection. The domestic +slaves of the chiefs, however, it is quite possible, and even likely, +are much more completely at the mercy of their caprice and passion than +the general body of the common people, whose vassalage may, after all, +consist in little more than the obligation of following them to their +wars, and rendering them obedience in such other matters of public +concern.</p> + +<p>Between the chiefs and the common people, who, as we have already +mentioned, are called "cookees," there seems to be also a pretty +numerous class, distinguished by the name of rungateedas, or, as it has +been more recently written, rangatiras, which appears to answer nearly +to the English term gentry.<a name='FNanchor_AX_50'></a><a href='#Footnote_AX_50'><sup>[AX]</sup></a> It consists of those who are connected +by relationship with the families of the chiefs; and who, though not +possessed of any territorial rights, are, as well as the chiefs +themselves, looked upon as almost of a different species from the +inferior orders, from whom they are probably as much separated in their +political condition and privileges as they are in the general estimation +of their rank and dignity. The term rangatira, indeed, in its widest +signification, includes the chiefs themselves, just as our English +epithet gentleman does the highest personages in the realm.</p> + +<p>Although there is no general government in New Zealand, the chiefs +differ from each other in power; and some of them seem even to exercise, +in certain respects, a degree of authority over others. Those who are +called areekees,<a name='FNanchor_AY_51'></a><a href='#Footnote_AY_51'><sup>[AY]</sup></a> in particular, are represented as of greatly +superior rank to the common chiefs. It was, probably, a chief of this +class of whom Cook heard at various places where he put in along the +east coast of the northern island, on his first visit to the country. He +calls him Teratu; and he found his authority to extend, he says, from +Cape Turnagain to the neighbourhood of Mercury Bay. The eight districts, +too, into which this island was divided by Toogee,<a name='FNanchor_AZ_52'></a><a href='#Footnote_AZ_52'><sup>[AZ]</sup></a> in the map of it +which he drew for Captain King, were in all likelihood the nominal +territories, or what we may call feudal domains, of so many areekees.</p> + +<p>The account which Rutherford gives of the law, or custom, which prevails +in New Zealand in regard to the crime of theft, may seem at first sight +to be somewhat irreconcilable with the statements of other authorities, +who tell us that this crime is regarded by the natives in so heinous a +light that its usual punishment is death; whereas, according to him, it +would seem scarcely to be considered by them as a crime at all.</p> + +<p>This apparent disagreement, however, arises, in all probability, merely +from that misapprehension, or imperfect conception, of the customs of a +foreign people into which we are so apt to be misled by the tendency we +have to mix up constantly our own previously acquired notions with the +simple facts that present themselves to us, and to explain the latter by +the former. With our habits and improved ideas of morality, we see in +theft both a trespass upon the arbitrary enactments of society, which +demands the correction of the civil magistrate, and a violation of that +natural equity which is independent of all political arrangements, and +would make it unfair and wrong for one man to take to himself what +belongs to another, although there were no such thing as what is +commonly called a government in existence.</p> + +<p>But in the mind of the New Zealander these simple notions of right and +wrong have been warped, and, as it were, suffocated, by a multitude of +unnatural and monstrous inventions, which have grown up along with them +from his very birth. How misapplied are the epithets, natural and +artificial, when employed, as they often are, to characterise the savage +and civilized state! It is the former, in truth, which is by far the +most artificial; and much of civilization consists in the abolition of +the numerous devices by which it has falsified and perverted the natural +dispositions of the human heart and understanding, and in the +reformation of society upon principles more accordant with their +unsophisticated dictates.</p> + +<p>Probably the only case in which the New Zealander looks upon theft as a +crime is when it is accompanied by a breach of hospitality, or is +committed upon those who have, in the customary and understood manner, +entrusted themselves to his friendship and honour. In any other +circumstances, he will scarcely hold himself disgraced by any act of +depredation which he can contrive to accomplish without detection; +however much the fear of not escaping with impunity may often deter him +from making the attempt.</p> + +<p>Then, as for the estimation in which the crime is politically held, +this, we need not doubt, will be very much regulated by the relative +situation in regard to rank of the two parties. Most of the European +visitors who have hitherto given us an account of the country have mixed +chiefly with the higher classes of its inhabitants, and consequently +learned but little with regard to the condition of the great body of the +population, except in so far as it affected, or was affected by, that of +the chiefs. Hence the impression they have taken up that theft in New +Zealand is looked upon as one of the worst of crimes, and always +punished with death. It is so, we have no doubt, when committed by one +of the common people upon any of the privileged class. In that case, the +mean and despised condition of the delinquent, as compared with that of +the person whose rights he has dared to invade, converts what might +otherwise have scarcely been deemed a transgression at all into +something little short of sacrilege. The thief is therefore knocked on +the head at once, or strung up on a gallows; for that, too, seems to be +one of the modes of public punishment for this species of crime in New +Zealand. This severity is demanded by the necessity which is felt for +upholding the social edifice in its integrity; and is also altogether in +keeping with the slight regard in which the lives of the lower orders +are universally held, and the love of bloodshed by which this ferocious +people is distinguished.</p> + +<p>But when one "cookee," or common man, pilfers from another, it is quite +another matter. In this case, the act entirely wants those aggravations +which, in the estimation of a New Zealander, give it all its +criminality; and the parties, besides, are so insignificant, that the +notion of avenging any injury which the one may have suffered from the +other by the public execution of the offender would probably be deemed +in that country nearly as unreasonable as we should hold a proposal for +the application of such a scheme of government in correction of the +quarrels and other irregularities of the lower animals.</p> + +<p>It need not, therefore, surprise us to be told, especially when we +consider also the trivial value of any articles of property they +possess, that thieving among the common people there is regarded, not as +a crime, but as an art, in which, as in other arts, the skilful and +dexterous practitioner deserves reward rather than punishment; nearly as +it was regarded among the Spartans, who punished the detected thief, +indeed, but not so much for his attempt as for his failure; or more +nearly still as it is said to have been among the ancient Egyptians, by +whom such acts were, in all cases, allowed to be perpetrated with +impunity.</p> + +<p>This view will go far to explain various incidents which we find noticed +in the different accounts of New Zealand. The reports of the +missionaries, in particular, abound with notices of individuals put to +death by the chiefs for alleged acts of theft; but in every case of this +kind which is mentioned, the person punished is, we believe, a slave. We +have observed no instance, noted, in which the crime in question was +punished, either with death or in any other way, when committed by one +"cookee" on the property of another; and it is abundantly evident, from +many things which are stated, that the natives themselves really do not +consider the act as implying, in ordinary cases, that moral turpitude +which we generally impute to it.</p> + +<p>In one case which Marsden mentions, the brother of a chief, named +Ahoudee Ogunna,<a name='FNanchor_BA_53'></a><a href='#Footnote_BA_53'><sup>[BA]</sup></a> conceiving himself to have been improperly treated +by one of the missionaries, stole two earthen pots from another of them; +but the explanation which the chief gave of the matter was that his +brother had not stolen the pots, but had only taken them away with an +intention to bring on an explanation respecting the conduct which had +given him offence. The man's expectation here evidently was that his +theft (if it was to be so called) would merely have the effect of making +the missionaries as angry as he himself was, and so of rendering both +parties equally anxious for a full discussion of their differences. He +had himself, as he conceived, been affronted in a manner not to be +passed over; and his stealing of the pots he meant merely as a spirited +act of retaliation, which would in some degree throw back the insult he +had received upon those who had inflicted it, and make them in their +turn feel mortified and on fire for satisfaction.</p> + +<p>He certainly did not imagine for a moment that he was at all degrading +himself by the method he adopted for attaining this end. The +degradation, in his conception of the matter, would be all with the +party robbed. He had, however, in his anger, forgotten one thing, which, +according even to the notions of the New Zealanders, it was most +material that he should have remembered, as his more considerate brother +felt as soon as he heard of the transaction, and as even he himself was +afterwards brought to acknowledge. The chief, besides having experienced +much kindness from the missionaries, was the very person from whom they +had purchased the ground on which their settlement was established, and +on whose friendship, at least, they had therefore a fair right to count, +if they were not even to regard themselves as in some degree under his +special protection. That personage felt the force of these +considerations so strongly that, in order to show how much he was vexed +and ashamed at his brother's conduct, he burned his own house to the +ground, and left his usual place of residence, with a determination +never to return to it so long as his brother lived.</p> + +<p>On the morning of his departure, the high-spirited chief came to take +leave of the missionaries, when he told them that he had been on the +spot where his house stood before he burned it, to weep with his +friends, and showed them how much he had lacerated his face, arms, and +other parts of his body, in which his friends had followed his example. +His brother, too, at last came to them, quite penitent for his hasty +conduct, and offered to restore the only one of the pots which he still +had, the other having been already stolen from him by one of his +countrymen. Accordingly, he soon after sent his son with the article; +and the boy having been presented with six fish-hooks, he immediately +brought them back, with a message, that his father would take nothing +for the pot.</p> + +<p>Such acts of retaliation as that to which the brother of Ahoudee Ogunna +here had recourse are often resorted to by the chiefs with something of +a similar design, to avenge themselves, namely, for injuries which they +conceive they have sustained, or to bring about those ulterior measures +by which they may obtain for their grievances complete atonement or +redress. In this way, many wars arise. But it is a point of honour with +a chief never to touch what belongs to those who have trusted themselves +to his friendship, and against whom he has no claim for satisfaction on +account of any old affront or outrage. To be supposed capable of doing +so would be felt by any of them as an intolerable imputation.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img10"></a> +<img src='images/image10.png' width='290' height='450' alt='A waist-mat. Christchurch Museum.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A waist-mat. Christchurch Museum.</h5> + +<p>We find a striking instance of this, to pass over many others that might +be quoted, in the conduct of Tetoro, who returned home to New Zealand +from Port Jackson, along with Cruise, in the "Dromedary." It was thought +necessary, during the passage, to take from this chief a box containing +some gunpowder, which he had got with him, and to lodge it in the +magazine until the ship arrived at New Zealand. "Though every exertion," +says Cruise, "was used, to explain the reason why he was requested to +give it up, and the strongest assurances made that it should be restored +hereafter, he either could not or would not understand what was said to +him. Upon parting with the property, which, next to his musket, was in +his eyes the greatest treasure in the world, he fell into an agony of +grief and despair which it was quite distressing to witness, repeatedly +exclaiming, 'No good,' and, rolling himself up in his mat, he declined +the conversation of every one. He remained in this state so long that +the powder was at length brought back; but he refused to take it, +saying, 'that they might again put it in the magazine, since they must +now be aware that he had not stolen it.'"</p> + +<p>Similar to that of Tetoro, was the conduct of a chief whom Marsden met +with on his first visit to New Zealand, and who was so much grieved and +ashamed at the circumstance of one of his dependents having stolen some +trifle from that gentleman, that he sat for two days and nights on the +deck of the ship, and could not be prevailed upon to enter the +cabin.<a name='FNanchor_BB_54'></a><a href='#Footnote_BB_54'><sup>[BB]</sup></a></p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_AT_46'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AT_46'>[AT]</a><div class='note'><p> I pea, "Of course."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AU_47'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AU_47'>[AU]</a><div class='note'><p> Kanikani, to dance, as in the haka.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AV_48'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AV_48'>[AV]</a><div class='note'><p> These words are not in accord with the present system of +spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. The +former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" placed +in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, and +Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"—which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"—is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AW_49'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AW_49'>[AW]</a><div class='note'><p> These words are not in accord with the present system +of spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. +The former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" +placed in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, +and Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"—which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"—is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AX_50'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AX_50'>[AX]</a><div class='note'><p> The latter word is correct.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AY_51'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AY_51'>[AY]</a><div class='note'><p> Arikis.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_AZ_52'></a><a href='#FNanchor_AZ_52'>[AZ]</a><div class='note'><p> Tuki.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BA_53'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BA_53'>[BA]</a><div class='note'><p> This is the man referred to in a previous chapter, who +signed a deed of sale to Marsden by the pattern of his tattoo.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BB_54'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BB_54'>[BB]</a><div class='note'><p> Maning, in "Old New Zealand," gives a delightful account +of the manner in which the law of muru, or plunder, ruled with an iron +hand in the ancient Maoriland.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>With regard to many of the other habits of the New Zealanders, +Rutherford in general corroborates the testimony of other travellers.</p> + +<p>He mentions particularly their extreme inattention to personal +cleanliness, a circumstance which very much surprised Nicholas, as it +seemed to present an unaccountable contrast to the neatness and order +which were usually to be found both in their plantations and huts.</p> + +<p>All the natives, Rutherford states, are overrun with vermin, which lodge +not only in their heads, but in their mats. "Their way of destroying +them in their mats," he adds, "is by making a fire, on which, having +thrown a quantity of green bushes, they spread the mat over the whole, +when the steam from the leaves compels the vermin to retreat to the +surface: these the women are very active in catching on such occasions +with both hands, and devouring greedily. Sometimes two or three will be +catching them at the same mat."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders cure their fish, Rutherford tells us, by dipping them +a great many times in salt water, and then drying them in the sun. The +large mussels they first bake in the usual manner, and then, taking them +out of the shell, string them together, and hang them up over the fire +to dry in the smoke. Thus prepared, they eat like old cheese, and will +keep for years. The coomeras, or sweet potatoes, are also cured in the +same manner, which makes them eat like gingerbread. Their potatoes the +natives pack in baskets made of green flax, and in this way preserve +them for the winter. There are, however, three months in the year during +which they live upon little except turnips, and at this time they do +with almost no drink. The baskets in which they keep their provisions, +and apply to other domestic purposes, are formed with considerable +ingenuity, and with some taste, in their decorations.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the stormy seas by which their islands are surrounded, +and the woods, swamps, and rivers, which oppose such difficulties in the +way of passing from one place to another through the heart of the +country, the New Zealanders are known to be in the habit of making long +journeys, both along the coasts in their canoes, and through the +interior on foot.</p> + +<p>Rutherford gives us some account of a journey which he once accomplished +in company with the chief Aimy.</p> + +<p>"I took," says he, "my wife Epecka with me, and we were attended by +about twenty slave-women to carry our provisions, every one of whom bore +on her back, besides a supply for her own consumption, about thirty +pounds of potatoes, and drove before her at the same time a pig, which +she held by a string tied to its fore-leg.</p> + +<p>"The men never travel without being armed. Our journey was made +sometimes by water and sometimes by land; and, proceeding in this +manner, we arrived, in about a month, at a place called Taranake,<a name='FNanchor_BC_55'></a><a href='#Footnote_BC_55'><sup>[BC]</sup></a> on +the coast of Cook Strait, where we were received by Otago,<a name='FNanchor_BD_56'></a><a href='#Footnote_BD_56'><sup>[BD]</sup></a> a great +chief, who had come from near the South Cape. On meeting we saluted each +other in the customary manner by touching noses, and there was also a +great deal of crying, as usual.</p> + +<p>"Here I saw an Englishman, named James Mowry, who told me that he had +formerly been a boy belonging to a ship called the 'Sydney Cove,' which +had put in near the South Cape, when a boat's crew, of which he was one, +had been sent on shore for the purpose of trading with the natives. They +were attacked, however, and every man of them killed except himself, he +having been indebted for his preservation to his youth and the +protection of Otago's daughter: this lady he had since married. He had +now been eight years in the country, and had become so completely +reconciled to the manners and way of life of the natives, that he had +resolved never to leave it. He was twenty-four years of age, handsome, +and of middle size, and had been well tattooed. He had also been made a +chief, and had often accompanied the natives to their wars. He spoke +their language, and had forgotten a great deal of his own. He told me he +had heard of the capture of our ship, and gave me an account of the +deaths of Smith and Watson, two of my unfortunate shipmates. I, in turn, +related to him my story, and what I had gone through.<a name='FNanchor_BE_57'></a><a href='#Footnote_BE_57'><sup>[BE]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"The village of Taranake stands by the sea-side, and the manners and +customs of the inhabitants are the same as prevail in other parts of the +island.</p> + +<p>"We remained here six weeks; and during this time I employed myself in +looking out for a ship passing through the Straits, by which I might +make my escape, but was never fortunate enough to see one. I kept my +intention, however, a secret from Mowry, for he was too much attached to +the natives for me to trust him.</p> + +<p>"On leaving Taranake we took our way along the coast, and after a +journey of six weeks arrived at the East Cape, where we met with a +great chief, named Bomurry, belonging to the Bay of Islands. He told us +that he resided in the neighbourhood of Kendal,<a name='FNanchor_BF_58'></a><a href='#Footnote_BF_58'><sup>[BF]</sup></a> the missionary. He +had about five hundred warriors with him, and several war-canoes, in one +of which I observed a trunk, having on it the name of Captain Brin, of +the 'Asp,' South Seaman. These people had also with them a number of +muskets, with polished barrels, and a few small kegs of powder, as well +as a great quantity of potatoes and flax mats. They had plundered and +murdered nearly every person that lived between the East Cape and the +river Thames; and the whole country dreaded the name of Bomurry.</p> + +<p>"This great warrior showed us several of the heads of chiefs whom he had +killed on this expedition, and these, he said, he intended to carry back +with him to the Bay of Islands, to sell for gunpowder to the ships that +touched there. He and his followers having taken leave of us, and set +sail in their canoes, we also left the East Cape the day following, and +proceeded on our journey homewards, travelling during the day, and +encamping at night in the woods, where we slept around large fires under +the branches of the trees. In this way we arrived in four days at our +own village, where I was received by Eshou, my eldest wife, with great +joy. I was much fatigued by my journey, as was also my other wife, +Epecka, who had accompanied me."</p> + +<p>The person whom Rutherford here calls Bomurry is doubtless the chief +described in most of the other recent accounts of New Zealand under the +name of Pomaree, or Pomarree<a name='FNanchor_BG_59'></a><a href='#Footnote_BG_59'><sup>[BG]</sup></a>, one of the most extraordinary +characters in that country. He had taken this name instead of another by +which he used to be called, Nicholas informs us, a short time before he +first saw him in 1815, because he had heard that it was that of the king +of Otaheite, according to the practice which prevails among his +countrymen of frequently changing their names, and calling themselves +after persons of whose power or rank they have conceived a high idea.</p> + +<p>Pomaree is described by this gentleman as having been looked upon, even +in his own country, as a monster of rapacity and cruelty, always +involved in quarrels with his neighbours, and in the habit of stealing +their property whenever he had an opportunity. Duaterra asserted that on +a recent occasion he had made an incursion into his territory, and, +without any provocation, murdered six of his people, the bodies of all +of whom he afterwards devoured, not even their heads having escaped his +gluttony, after he had stuck them upon a stick and roasted them at the +fire.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand chiefs, however, not excepting the most respectable +among them, were found to be sadly given to calumniate one another by +all sorts of fictions; and even Pomaree, bad as he really was, seems +sometimes to have been worse reported of by the others than he deserved.</p> + +<p>Upon another occasion Korro-korro told a long story about a design which +he said had been formed to cut off the ship belonging to the +missionaries, and of which he maintained that Pomaree was the principal +instigator; but this was afterwards discovered to be a mere invention of +that otherwise very honourable chief.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding Pomaree's bad reputation, indeed, it is remarkable that +we do not find a single instance anywhere recorded in which any European +had reason to complain of his conduct. Nicholas was once dreadfully +alarmed by the apprehension that he had decoyed away his friend, +Marsden, to murder him; but was very soon relieved by the return of the +reverend gentleman from a friendly walk which he had been enjoying, in +the company of his supposed assassin, through one of the woods on his +territory.</p> + +<p>Pomaree, in truth, was too thoroughly aware of the advantages to be +derived from the visits of the Europeans to think of exercising his +murderous propensities upon their persons, however fond he might have +been of embruing his hands in the blood of his own countrymen.</p> + +<p>"We found Pomaree," says Nicholas, "to be a very extraordinary +character; he was of more service to us in procuring timber than all +the other chiefs put together; and I never met, in any part of the +world, with a man who showed so much impatient avidity for transacting +business. His abilities, too, in this line were very great; he was an +excellent judge of several articles, and could give his opinion of an +axe as well as any European; while handling it with ecstasy the moment +he got it in his possession, his eyes would still feast themselves on so +valuable an acquisition."</p> + +<p>He then relates an anecdote of him which strikingly corresponds with one +of the circumstances which Rutherford mentions: his custom of +trafficking in preserved heads.</p> + +<p>"This man," continues Nicholas, "displayed upon every occasion a more +uncomplying spirit of independence than any of the other chiefs. It is +customary with the New Zealanders to preserve from putrefaction, by a +curious method, the heads of the enemies they have slain in battle; and +Pomaree had acquired so great a proficiency in this art that he was +considered the most expert at it of any of his countrymen. The process, +as I was informed, consists of taking out the brains, and drying the +head in such a manner as to keep the flesh entire; but in doing this an +uncommon degree of skill and experience is required. Marsden put some +questions to Pomaree one day about the plan he pursued in this art that +gave him so decided a superiority over the others; but he was not +willing to make him a direct reply, as he knew it was a subject on +which we reflected with horror, and one which in its detail must be +shocking to our feelings. But my friend asking him if he could procure a +head preserved in this manner, it occurred to him that he might receive +an axe for his trouble; and this idea made the man of business not only +enter into a copious explanation of his system, but induced him also to +offer us a sample of his practice, by telling us he would go and shoot +some people who had killed his son, if we would supply him with powder +for the purpose; and then, bringing back their heads, would show us all +we wished to know about his art of preserving them.</p> + +<p>"It will easily be supposed that this sanguinary proposal immediately +put an end to all further interrogatories; and Marsden, whose motive for +questioning him on the subject was not to discover the nature of a +practice so revolting to humanity, but to develop more fully the +character of the individual, told him he must fight no more, and desired +him, in positive terms, never to attempt to bring any sample of his art +on board, as he had no intention of seeing it himself at the time he +inquired about it, nor would he suffer any one in the ship to +countenance such a shocking exhibition.</p> + +<p>"This was a sad disappointment to Pomaree, who found himself deceived in +the hopes he had formed of increasing his wealth by the addition of +another axe; and I cannot help believing that, for so tempting a +reward, he would not have hesitated to take the life of the first person +that came in his way, provided he could have done it with impunity. This +chief omitted no opportunity of setting forth his great personal +qualifications, as likewise the extensive authority he possessed; and he +was constantly boasting of his warlike achievements, despising his +rivals, and extolling himself over all the other heroes of New Zealand."</p> + +<p>Cruise has given us a short account of the manner of preserving heads; +and we find it also detailed in Rutherford's journal, somewhat more +minutely. According to him the skull is first completely emptied of its +contents, the eyes and tongue being likewise extracted; after which the +nostrils and entire inside of the skull are stuffed with flax. At the +neck, where the head has been cut from the body, they draw the skin +together like the mouth of a purse, leaving, however, an open space +large enough to admit the hand.</p> + +<p>They then wrap it up in a quantity of green leaves, and in this state +expose it to the fire till it is well steamed; after which the leaves +are taken off, and it is next hung up to dry in the smoke, which causes +the flesh to become tough and hard. Both the hair and teeth are +preserved, and the tattooing on the face remains as plain as when the +person was alive. The head, when thus cured, will keep for ever, if it +be preserved dry.</p> + +<p>Cruise says that the heads are only exposed to a current of dry air; +but it appears, from Rutherford's account, that they are hung in the +smoke of a wood fire, and are thus, in fact, preserved from decaying +principally by being impregnated with the pyroligneous acid. That the +New Zealanders are well acquainted with the antiseptic powers of this +extract is proved also by what was formerly stated as to their method of +curing mussels. A French writer considers that this art of preserving +heads is a proof of some original connection between the New Zealanders +and the ancient world; as the process is as effective as that by which +the Egyptians prepared their mummies.</p> + +<p>In savage countries the spirit of war is very much a spirit of personal +hostility; and both because of this, and from the state of society not +admitting of the erection of expensive public memorials which elsewhere, +or in another age, are employed to preserve the renown of military +exploits, the barbarian victor generally celebrates his triumph on the +body of his slain enemy, in disfiguring which he first exercises his +ingenuity, and afterwards in converting it into a permanent trophy of +his prowess.</p> + +<p>The ancient Scythian warrior, Herodotus tells us, was wont to carry away +the heads of all those whom he slew in battle, to present to his king; +and the ancient Gauls, it is said, used to hang these bloody spoils +around the necks of their horses. The Gauls are asserted also to have +been in the practice of embalming the heads which they brought home from +their wars, of which they had large collections, which they kept in +chests. These they used to show with much exultation to the strangers +who visited their country; boasting that neither they nor their +ancestors had ever been known to dispose of such honourable heirlooms +for any price that could be offered.</p> + +<p>Among some races it has been the custom to preserve only the scalp; as, +for instance, among the Indians of America. The taking of scalps, +however, is also a practice of great antiquity. The Scythians used to +hang the scalps of their enemies to the harness of their horses; and he +was deemed the most distinguished warrior whose equipage was most +plentifully decorated with these ornaments. Some were accustomed to sew +numbers of scalps together, so as to form a cloak, in which they arrayed +themselves. It was also usual for the warriors of this nation to tear +off the skin from the right hands of their slain enemies, and to +preserve it with the nails attached; and sometimes they flayed the whole +body, and, after drying the skin, made use of it as a covering for their +horses.</p> + +<p>Some of the savage tribes of America are said to have been accustomed to +practice the same barbarity, and to convert the skins of the hands into +pouches for holding their tobacco.</p> + +<p>The history of Scotland affords an instance, even in comparatively +recent times, of a victorious party, in the bitterness of their +contempt and hatred, employing the skin of a slain enemy in a somewhat +similar manner. Hugh Cressingham, appointed by Edward I. Lord Chief +Justice of Scotland, having been slain at Stirling Bridge in an attack +by Wallace, the Scots flayed him, and made saddles and girths of his +skin.</p> + +<p>To recur to the practices of a higher state of civilization, our own +custom, which existed as late as the last century, of exposing the heads +of traitors, although meant as a warning, in the same way as hanging in +chains, was perhaps a relic of those ferocious ages when it was not +considered mean and brutal to carry revenge beyond the grave. The +executions in London, after the rebellion of 1745, were followed by such +a revolting display, useless for any object of salutary terror, and +calculated only to excite a vulgar curiosity. Horace Walpole, in a very +few words, describes the feelings with which the public crowded to this +sight:—"I have been this morning at the Tower, and passed under the new +heads of Temple Bar, where people make a trade of letting spying glasses +at a halfpenny a look."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders have, therefore, in some degree, a justification for +this custom in the somewhat similar acts of civilized communities. At +any rate, in preserving, as they do, the heads of their enemies, they +only follow a practice which has been common to many other barbarous +tribes.</p> + +<p>Although Pomaree, it would appear, made a merchandise of these heads +when he had the opportunity, his countrymen, in general, are far from +treating them with so much disrespect. It was with great reluctance that +some of them were prevailed upon to sell one to Mr. Banks, when he was +with Cook in Queen Charlotte Sound, in 1770; and nothing could induce +them to part with a second. They are, in fact, preserved as spoils or +trophies during the continuance of the war; and their restoration to the +party from whom they have been taken is so indispensable a preliminary +to the conclusion of a peace, that it is said no chief would dispose of +them, unless it were his determination never to come to terms with his +opponents; so that we may suppose this was what Pomaree had resolved +upon.</p> + +<p>The brain is eaten, like the rest of the body; and the eyes are also +frequently devoured by the conqueror, especially the left eye, which, it +is believed, ascends to heaven and becomes a star. Shungie is stated, +upon one occasion, to have eaten the left eye of a great chief whom he +had killed in battle, under the idea of thus increasing the glory and +brightness of his own left eye, when it should be transferred to the +firmament; for it is understood that when any one eats of the person he +has killed, the dead man becomes a part of himself.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img11"></a> +<img src='images/image11.png' width='203' height='450' alt='Christchurch Museum. + +Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair.</h5> + +<p>Nicholas tells another amusing story of Pomaree's style of doing +"business," which we shall also give in his own words. "This wily +chief," says he, "had cast a longing eye upon a chisel belonging to one +of the missionaries, and to obtain it he had brought some fish on board, +which he presented to the owner of the chisel with so much apparent +generosity and friendliness, that the other could not help considering +it a gratuitous favour, and, receiving it as such, told him he felt very +grateful for his kindness.</p> + +<p>"But Pomaree had no idea of any such disinterested liberality, and as +soon as the fish were eaten, he immediately demanded the chisel in +return; which, however, was not granted, as it was a present much too +valuable to be given away for so trifling a consideration. Incensed at +the denial, the chief flew into a violent rage, and testified, by loud +reproaches, how grievously he was provoked by the ill-success of his +project. He told the person, who very properly refused to comply with +his demand, that 'he was no good,' and that he would never again bring +him anything more. He attempted the same crafty experiment upon another +of our party also, but this proved equally abortive, the person being +well aware of his character, and knowing he would require from him ten +times more than the worth of his pretended favour."</p> + +<p>Though so covetous and crafty himself, however, Pomaree had no mercy to +show for the delinquencies of others. On one occasion, when a poor +"cookee" had been detected in the commission of some petty theft about +the vessel, he was loud in his exhortations to the captain to hang him +up immediately. The man appears, indeed, to have been altogether +divested even of those natural affections which scarcely any of his +savage countrymen but himself were found to be without.</p> + +<p>When Marsden and Nicholas left New Zealand, a number of the chiefs sent +their sons with them to Port Jackson; and such a scene of anguish took +place on the parting between the parents and their children that there +was no European present, Nicholas says, not excepting the most obdurate +sailor on board, who was not more or less affected. "But I cannot help +noticing," he adds, "that in the general expression of inconsolable +distress, Pomaree was the only person who showed no concern; he took +leave of his son with all the indifference imaginable, and hurrying into +his canoe, paddled back to the shore—a solitary exception to the +affecting sensibility of his countrymen."</p> + +<p>Even Pomaree, however, could weep on some occasions, as the following +account which Marsden gives us of an interview he had with him four or +five years after this will show. "He told me," says Marsden, "that he +was very angry that I had not brought a blacksmith for him; and that +when he heard that there was no blacksmith for him, he sat down and wept +much, and also his wives. I assured him that he should have one, as +soon as one could be got for him. He replied it would be of no use to +him to send a blacksmith when he was dead; and that he was at present in +the greatest distress: his wooden spades were all broke, and he had not +an axe to make any more; his canoes were all broke, and he had not a +nail or a gimlet to mend them with; his potato grounds were +uncultivated, and he had not a hoe to break them up with, nor a tool to +employ his people; and that, for want of cultivation, he and his people +would have nothing to eat. He begged me to compare the land of +Tippoonah,<a name='FNanchor_BH_60'></a><a href='#Footnote_BH_60'><sup>[BH]</sup></a> which belonged to the inhabitants of Ranghee-hoo<a name='FNanchor_BI_61'></a><a href='#Footnote_BI_61'><sup>[BI]</sup></a> and +Shungie, with his; observing, that their land was already prepared for +planting, because a smith was there, and they could get hoes, &c. I +endeavoured to pacify his mind with promises, but he paid little +attention to what I said in respect to sending him a smith at a future +period."</p> + +<p>Pomaree was by much too cunning to be cheated of his object in this way. +He was evidently determined not to go without something in hand; and +nothing accordingly would drive him from his point.</p> + +<p>When Marsden tried to divert his attention to another subject by asking +him if he should wish to go to England, he replied at once that he +should not; adding, with his characteristic shrewdness, that he was a +little man when at Port Jackson, and should be less in England; but in +his own country he was a great king. The conference ended at last by an +express promise that he should have immediately three hoes, an axe, a +few nails, and a gimlet. This instantly put him in great good humour.</p> + +<p>We have collected these notices in order to give a more complete +illustration of so singular and interesting a character as that formed +by the union of the rude and bloodthirsty barbarian with the bustling +trafficker. It is an exhibition of the savage mind in a new guise. We +have only to add, with regard to Pomaree, that it appears by other +authorities, as well as by the notice we find in Rutherford, that he was +in the habit of making very devastating excursions occasionally to the +southern part of the island. When Cruise left New Zealand in 1820, he +had been away on one of these expeditions nearly a year, nor was it +known exactly where he had gone to. The people about the mouth of the +Thames said they had seen him since he left home, but he had long ago +left their district for one still farther south. The last notice we find +of him, is in a letter from the Rev. H. Williams, in the "Missionary +Register" for 1827, in which it is stated, that he had a short time +before fallen in battle, having been cut to pieces, with many of his +followers, by a tribe on whom he had made an attack.</p> + +<p>This event, of the circumstances of which Dillon was furnished with a +particular account by some of the near relations of the deceased chief, +took place in the southern part of the island.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BC_55'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BC_55'>[BC]</a><div class='note'><p> This is one of the discrepancies in Rutherford's +narrative. Taranaki is a district on the West Coast of the North Island, +and is about 150 miles from Cook Strait.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BD_56'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BD_56'>[BD]</a><div class='note'><p> Otago is a large province in the southern part of the +South Island, 300 miles from the Strait. Rutherford probably refers to +Takou, a Wairarapa chief, who was connected with the Ngai-Tahu of +Otago.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BE_57'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BE_57'>[BE]</a><div class='note'><p> It is supposed that the man was "Jim the Maori," the +latter word being wrongly spelt "Moury" in the manuscript of +Rutherford's story. The man's real name was James Caddell. He was an +Englishman by birth, and lived amongst the Maoris so long that he became +one of them, adopting their customs and ideas. Those who have +investigated his case believe that he belonged to the "Sydney Cove," a +sealer, which sailed in New Zealand waters. Near the South Cape, a boat +from a sealer was captured by the Maoris, and all the members of the +crew except Caddell were killed and eaten. Caddell, according to his own +account, was saved by running to a chief and touching his mat. He was +sixteen years of age then. He married a chief's daughter, and became a +Maori in all respects except colour. He was captured by Captain +Edwardson, of the "Snapper," and was taken to Sydney, where he seems to +have paraded as a savage chief. While he was with the Maoris, he almost +forgot the English language, and found much difficulty in making himself +understood by Captain Edwardson.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BF_58'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BF_58'>[BF]</a><div class='note'><p> Mr. Kendal was one of the missionaries who went to New +Zealand with Marsden when missionary work in the country was begun.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BG_59'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BG_59'>[BG]</a><div class='note'><p> Pomare.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BH_60'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BH_60'>[BH]</a><div class='note'><p> Te Puna, at that time the principal town in the Bay of +Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BI_61'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BI_61'>[BI]</a><div class='note'><p> Rangihoua.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a><h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The New Zealanders, according to Rutherford, have neither priests, nor +places of worship, nor any religion except their superstitious dread of +the Atua.</p> + +<p>To an uneducated man, coming from a Christian country, the entire +absence of all regular religious observances among these savages would +very naturally give such an impression. Cook ascertained that they had +no "morais"<a name='FNanchor_BJ_62'></a><a href='#Footnote_BJ_62'><sup>[BJ]</sup></a> or temples, like some of the other tribes of the South +Seas; but he met with persons who evidently bore what we should call the +priestly character.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders are certainly not without some notions of religion; +and, in many particulars, they are a remarkably superstitious people. +During the whole course of their lives, the imagined presence of the +unseen and supernatural crosses them at every step. What has been +already stated respecting the "taboo" may give some idea of how +submissive and habitual is their sense of the power of the Divinity, and +how entirely they conceive themselves to be in his hands; as well as +what a constant and prying superintendence they imagine him to exercise +over their conduct.</p> + +<p>It would be easy to enumerate many minor superstitions, all indicative +of the extraordinary influence of the same belief. They think, for +instance, that if they were to allow a fire to be lighted under a shed +where there are provisions, their god would kill them.</p> + +<p>They have many superstitions, also, with regard to cutting their hair. +Cook speaks, in the account of his third voyage, of a young man he had +taken on board the ship, who, having one day performed this ceremony, +could not be prevailed upon to eat a morsel till night, insisting that +the atua would most certainly kill him if he did.</p> + +<p>Cruise tells us that Tetoro, on the voyage from Port Jackson, cut the +hair of one of his companions, and continued to repeat prayers over him +during the whole operation.</p> + +<p>Nicholas, having one day found another chief busy in cutting his wife's +hair with a piece of sharp stone, was going to take up the implement +after it had been used, but was immediately charged by the chief not to +touch it, as the deity of New Zealand would wreak his vengeance on him +if he presumed to commit so daring a piece of impiety.</p> + +<p>"Laughing at his superstition," continues Nicholas, "I began to exclaim +against its absurdity, but like Tooi, on a former occasion, he retorted +by ridiculing our preaching, yet at the same time asking me to +sermonize over his wife, as if his object was to have her exorcised; and +upon my refusing, he began himself, but could not proceed from +involuntary bursts of laughter."</p> + +<p>On this occasion, the chief, when he had cut off the hair, collected it +all together, and, carrying it to the outskirts of the town, threw it +away. Cook remarks that he used to see quantities of hair tied to the +branches of the trees near the villages. It is stated, in a letter from +one of the missionaries, that the hair, when cut, is carefully +collected, and buried in a secret place.</p> + +<p>Certain superstitions have been connected with the cutting of the hair, +from the most ancient times. Many allusions are found in the Greek and +Roman writers to the practice of cutting off the hair of the dead, and +presenting it as an offering to the infernal gods, in order to secure a +free passage to Elysium for the person to whom it belonged. The passage +in the fourth book of the "Æneid," where Iris appears by the command of +Juno to liberate the soul of the expiring Queen of Carthage, by thus +severing from her head the fatal lock, will occur to many of our +readers.</p> + +<p>Whatever may have been the origin of this superstition, it is probable +that most of the other notions and customs which have prevailed in +regard to the cutting of the hair are connected with it. The act in this +way naturally became significant of the separation from the living +world of the person on whom it was performed. Of the antiquity of this +practice, we have a proof in a command given by Moses to the Jews:—"Ye +shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for +the dead." These were superstitious customs of the nations by whom they +were surrounded.</p> + +<p>The Gentiles used excessive lamentations, amounting to frenzy, at their +funeral rites. According to Bruce, the Abyssinian woman, upon the death +of a near relation, cuts the skin of both her temples with the nail of +her little finger, which she leaves long on purpose; and thus every fair +face throughout the country is disfigured with scars. The same notion of +abstraction from the present life and its concerns is expressed by the +clerical tonsure, so long known in the Christian church, and still +retained among the Roman Catholics. It is still common, also, among +ourselves, for widows, in the earlier period of their mourning, to cut +off their hair, or to remove it back from the brow. Among all rude +nations, besides, the hair has been held in peculiar estimation from its +ornamental nature, and its capability of being formed into any shape, +according to the fancy of its possessor, or the fashion of the country.</p> + +<p>Amongst nations, especially, where the ordinary clothing of the people, +from the materials of which it was formed, did not admit of being made +very decorative, this consideration would be much regarded, and still +more where no clothing was worn at all. In such cases, the hair, either +of the head or of the beard, has usually been cherished with very +affectionate care, and the mode of dressing it has been made matter of +anxious regulation. Many of the barbarous nations of antiquity had each +a method of cutting the hair peculiar to itself; and it was sometimes +accounted the deepest mark of servitude which a conqueror could impose +when he compelled the violation of this sacred rule of national manners.</p> + +<p>We have a remnant of these old feelings in the reverence with which his +beard is regarded by a Turk of the present day. It is recorded, too, +that no reform which Peter the Great of Russia essayed to introduce +among his semi-barbaric subjects was so pertinaciously resisted as his +attempt to abbreviate their beards.</p> + +<p>Marsden, on asking a New Zealander what he conceived the atua to be, was +answered—"An immortal shadow." Although possessed, however, of the +attributes of immortality, omni-presence, invisibility, and supreme +power, he is universally believed to be in disposition merely a +vindictive and malignant demon.</p> + +<p>When one of the missionaries had one day been telling a number of them +of the infinite goodness of God, they asked him if he was not joking +with them. They believe that whenever any person is sick, his illness is +occasioned by the atua, in the shape of a lizard, preying upon his +entrails; and, accordingly, in such cases, they often address the most +horrid imprecations and curses to the invisible cannibal, in the hope of +thereby frightening him away. They imagine that at other times he amuses +himself in entangling their nets and oversetting their canoes. Of late +years they have suspected that he has been very angry with them for +having allowed the white men to obtain a footing in their country, a +proof of which they think they see in the greater mortality that has +recently prevailed among them. This, however, they at other times +attribute to the God of the Christians, whom they also denounce, +accordingly, as a cruel being, at least to the New Zealander. Sometimes +they more rationally assign as its cause the diseases that have been +introduced among them by the whites. Until the whites came to their +country, they say, young people did not die, but all lived to be so old +as to be obliged to creep on their hands and knees.</p> + +<p>The white man's God they believe to be altogether a different being from +their own atua. Marsden, in one of his letters, relates a conversation +he had upon this subject with some of the chiefs' sons who resided with +him in New South Wales. When he told them that there was but one God, +and that our God was also theirs, they asked him if our God had given us +any sweet potatoes, and could with difficulty be made to see how one +God should give these to the New Zealander and not equally to the white +man; or, on the other hand, how he should have acted so partially as to +give to the white man only such possessions as cattle, sheep, and +horses, which the New Zealander as much required. The argument, however, +upon which they seem most to have rested, was:—"But we are of a +different colour from you; and if one God made us both, he would not +have committed such a mistake as to make us of different colours." Even +one of the chiefs, who had been a great deal with Marsden, and was +disposed to acknowledge the absurdity both of the "taboo" and of many of +his other native superstitions, could not be brought to admit that the +same God who made the white men had also made the New Zealanders.</p> + +<p>Among themselves, the New Zealanders appear to have a great variety of +other gods, besides the one whom they call emphatically the atua. Crozet +speaks of some feeble ideas which they have of subordinate divinities, +to whom, he says, they are wont to pray for victory over their enemies. +But Savage gives us a most particular account of their daily adoration +of the sun, moon, and stars. Of the heavenly host, the moon, he says, is +their favourite; though why he should think so, it is not easy to +understand, seeing that, when addressing this luminary, they employ, he +tells us, a mournful song, and seem as full of apprehension as of +devotion; whereas "when paying their adoration to the rising sun, the +arms are spread and the head bowed, with the appearance of much joy in +their countenances, accompanied with a degree of elegant and reverential +solemnity, and the song used upon the occasion is cheerful." It is +strange that none of their other visitors have remarked the existence of +this species of idolatry among these savages.</p> + +<p>Yet two New Zealanders, who are now in this country, were in the habit +of commencing the exhibition of their national customs with the +ceremonies practised in their morning devotion to the sun.</p> + +<p>The vocal part of the rite, according to the account we have received, +consisted in a low monotonous chant; the manual, in keeping a ball about +the size of an orange constantly whirling in a vertical circle. The +whole was performed in a kneeling posture. Like most other rude nations, +the New Zealanders have certain fancies with regard to several of the +more remarkable constellations; and are not without some conception that +the issues of human affairs are occasionally influenced, or at least +indicated, by the movements of the stars. The Pleiades, for instance, +they believe to be seven of their departed countrymen, fixed in the +firmament; one eye of each of them appearing in the shape of a star, +being the only part that is visible. But it is a common superstition +among them, as we have already noticed, that the left eyes of their +chiefs, after death, become stars.</p> + +<p>This notion is far from being destitute of poetical beauty; and perhaps, +indeed, exhibits the common mythological doctrine of the glittering host +of heaven being merely an assemblage of the departed heroes of earth, in +as ingenious a version as it ever has received. It would be easy to +collect many proofs of the extensive diffusion of this ancient faith, +traces of which are to be found in the primitive astronomy of every +people. The classical reader will at once recollect, among many others +of a similar kind, the stories of Castor and Pollux, and of Berenice's +tresses, the latter of which has been so elegantly imitated by Pope, in +telling us of the fate of the vanished lock of Belinda:—</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"But trust the muse—she saw it upward rise,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Though marked by none but quick poetic eyes;</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>(So Home's great founder to the heavens withdrew,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>To Proculus alone confessed to view);</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>A sudden star it shot through liquid air,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And drew behind a radiant trail of hair."</span><br /> + +<p>The New Zealanders conceive, also, that what we call a shooting star is +ominous of the approaching dissolution of any one of their great chiefs +who may be unwell when it is seen. Like the vulgar among ourselves, too, +they have their man in the moon; who, they say, is one of their +countrymen named Rona, who was taken up long ago, one night when he +went to the well to fetch water.</p> + +<p>Nicholas has given us, on the authority of his friend Duaterra, the most +particular account that has appeared of the inferior deities of New +Zealand. Their number, according to him, is very great, and each of them +has his distinct powers and functions; one being placed over the +elements, another over the fowls and fishes, and so of the rest. +Deifications of the different passions and affections, also, it seems, +find a place in this extended mythology.</p> + +<p>In another part of his work, Nicholas remarks, as corroborative of the +Malay descent of the New Zealanders, the singular coincidence, in some +respects, between their mythology and that of the ancient Malay tribe, +the Battas of Sumatra, whose extraordinary cannibal practices we have +already detailed; especially in the circumstance of the three principal +divinities of the Battas having precisely the same functions assigned to +them with the three that occupy the same rank in the system of the New +Zealanders.<a name='FNanchor_BK_63'></a><a href='#Footnote_BK_63'><sup>[BK]</sup></a></p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BJ_62'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BJ_62'>[BJ]</a><div class='note'><p> Marae. With Maoris and Samoans the word means an open +space in a village; in the Tahitian, Mangaian, and Paumotan languages it +means a temple, or a place where rites were performed.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BK_63'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BK_63'>[BK]</a><div class='note'><p> The religion, and superstitions and legends of the Maoris +are dealt with in Sir George Grey's "Polynesian Mythology," Mr. S. Percy +Smith's "Hawaiki," articles by Mr. Elsdon Best in the "Transactions of +the New Zealand Institute," articles by that author and by Mr. Percy +Smith in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Mr. E. Tregear's "The +Maori Race," and Mr. J.C. Andersen's "Maori Life in Ao-tea."</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_X'></a><h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>It is very remarkable that the New Zealanders attribute the creation of +man to their three principal deities acting together; thus exhibiting in +their barbarous theology something like a shadow of the Christian +Trinity. What is still more extraordinary is their tradition respecting +the formation of the first woman, who, they say, was made of one of the +man's ribs; and their general term for bone is hevee, or, as Professor +Lee gives it, iwi<a name='FNanchor_BL_64'></a><a href='#Footnote_BL_64'><sup>[BL]</sup></a> a sound bearing a singular resemblance to the +Hebrew name of our first mother.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img12"></a> +<img src='images/image12.png' width='352' height='450' alt='Christchurch Museum. + +Carved boxes (waka-papa, or waka) for holding feathers and trinkets. +The upper box is said to have formed part of Captain Cook's collection.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Carved boxes</h5> + +<p>Particular individuals and places would also seem to have their own +gods. When the "Active" was in the river Thames, a gale of wind, by +which the ship was attacked, was attributed by the natives on board to +the anger of the god of Shoupah,<a name='FNanchor_BM_65'></a><a href='#Footnote_BM_65'><sup>[BM]</sup></a> the Areekee who resided in the +neighbourhood. Kórro-korro, who was among them said that as soon as he +got on shore he would endeavour to prevail upon the Areekee to +propitiate the offended deity. When Marsden asked the people of +Kiperro<a name='FNanchor_BN_66'></a><a href='#Footnote_BN_66'><sup>[BN]</sup></a> if they</p> + +<p>knew anything of their god, or ever had any communication with him, +they replied that they often heard him whistle. The chiefs, too, are +often called atuas, or gods, even while they are alive. The aged chief, +Tarra,<a name='FNanchor_BO_67'></a><a href='#Footnote_BO_67'><sup>[BO]</sup></a> maintained to one of the missionaries that the god of thunder +resided in his forehead; and Shungie and Okeda<a name='FNanchor_BP_68'></a><a href='#Footnote_BP_68'><sup>[BP]</sup></a> asserted that they +were possessed by gods of the sea.</p> + +<p>The part of the heavens in which the gods reside is represented as +beautiful in the extreme. "When the clouds are beautifully chequered," +writes Kendal, "the atua above, it is supposed, is planting sweet +potatoes. At the season when these are planted in the ground, the +planters dress themselves in their best raiment, and say that, as atuas +on earth, they are imitating the atua in heaven."</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders believe that the souls of the higher orders among +them are immortal; but they hold that when the "cookees" die they perish +for ever. The spirit, they think, leaves the body the third day after +death, till which time it hovers round the corpse, and hears very well +whatever is said to it. But they hold also, it would seem, that there is +a separate immortality for each of the eyes of the dead person; the +left, as before-mentioned, ascending to heaven and becoming a star, and +the other, in the shape of a spirit, taking flight for the Reinga. +Reinga signifies, properly, the place of flight; and is said, in some +of the accounts, to be a rock or a mountain at the North Cape from +which, according to others, the spirits descend into the next world +through the sea. The notion which the New Zealanders really entertain as +to this matter appears to be that the spirits first leap from the North +Cape into the sea, and thence emerge into an Elysium situated in the +islands of the Three Kings. The submarine path to the blissful region of +the New Zealanders is less intricate than that of the Huron of +America:—</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>"To the country of the Dead,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Long and painful is thy way!</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>O'er rivers wide and deep</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Lies the road that must be past,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>By bridges narrow-wall'd,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>When scarce the soul can force its way,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>While the loose fabric totters under it."</span><br /> + +<p>In the heaven of the New Zealanders, as in that of the ancient Goths, +the chief employment of the blessed is war, their old delight while on +earth. The idea of any more tranquil happiness has no charms for them. +Speaking of an assembly of them which he had been endeavouring to +instruct in the doctrines of Christianity, one of the Wesleyan +missionaries says: "On telling them about the two eternal states, as +described in the Scriptures, an old chief began to protest against these +things with all the vehemence imaginable, and said that he would not go +to heaven, nor would he go to hell to have nothing but fire to eat; but +he would go to the Reinga or Po, to eat coomeras, (sweet potatoes) with +his friends who had gone before."</p> + +<p>The slaves that are sacrificed upon the death of a chief, by his +friends, are generally intended to prevent him from coming again to +destroy them; but we find that on the occasion of a child having been +drowned, the mother insisted upon a female slave being killed, to be a +companion for it on its way to the Reinga.</p> + +<p>Though the New Zealanders do not assemble together at stated times to +worship their gods, they are in the habit of praying to them in all +their emergencies. Thus, when Korro-korro met his aunt, as before +related, his brother Tooi informed Nicholas that the ejaculations the +old woman uttered as she approached were prayers to the divinity. When +Korro-korro urged Marsden to take his son with him to Port Jackson, and +was told by that gentleman that he was afraid to do so lest the boy +should die, as so many of his countrymen had done when removed from +their native island, the chief replied, that he would pray for his son +during his absence, as he had done for his brother Tooi when he was in +England, and then he would not die.</p> + +<p>Tupee,<a name='FNanchor_BQ_69'></a><a href='#Footnote_BQ_69'><sup>[BQ]</sup></a> too, another of the Bay of Islands chiefs, Marsden tells us, +used to pray frequently. When that gentleman lay sick in his cot, on the +voyage home from his first visit to New Zealand, Tupee, who was with +him, used to sit by his side, and, laying his hands on different parts +of his body, addressed himself all the while with great devotion to his +god, in intercession for his friend's recovery.</p> + +<p>The priests, or tohungas, as they are called, are persons of great +importance and authority in New Zealand, being esteemed almost the +keepers and rulers of the gods themselves.</p> + +<p>Many of the greatest of the chiefs and Areekees are also priests, as +was, for example, Tupee, whom we have just mentioned. It is the priest +who attends at the bedside of the dying chief, and regulates every part +of the treatment of the patient. When the body of a chief who has been +killed in battle is to be eaten, it is the priest who first gives the +command for its being roasted. The first mouthfuls of the flesh, also, +being regarded as the dues of the gods, are always eaten by the priest. +In the case of any public calamity, it is the priest whose aid is +invoked to obtain relief from heaven.</p> + +<p>Marsden states that on occasion of the caterpillars one year making +great ravages among the crops of sweet potatoes at Rangheehoo,<a name='FNanchor_BR_70'></a><a href='#Footnote_BR_70'><sup>[BR]</sup></a> the +people of that place sent to Cowa-Cowa<a name='FNanchor_BS_71'></a><a href='#Footnote_BS_71'><sup>[BS]</sup></a> for a great priest to avert +the heavy judgment; and that he came and remained with them for several +months, during which he employed himself busily in the performance of +prayers and ceremonies. The New Zealanders also</p> + +<p>consider all their priests as a species of sorcerers, and believe they +have the power to take the lives of whomsoever they choose by +incantation. Themorangha,<a name='FNanchor_BT_72'></a><a href='#Footnote_BT_72'><sup>[BT]</sup></a> one of the most enlightened of the chiefs, +came one day to Marsden, in great agitation, to inform him that a +brother chief had threatened to employ a priest to destroy him in this +manner, for not having sold to sufficient advantage an article which he +had given him to dispose of. "I endeavoured," says Marsden, "to convince +him of the absurdity of such a threat; but to no purpose; he still +persisted that he should die, and that the priest possessed that power; +and began to draw the lines of incantation on the ship's deck, in order +to convince me how the operation was performed. He said that the +messenger was waiting alongside, in a canoe, for his answer. Finding it +of no use to argue with him, I gave him an axe, which he joyfully +received, and delivered to the messenger, with a request that the chief +would be satisfied, and not proceed against him."</p> + +<p>Themorangha seems to have been particularly selected by these priests as +a subject for their roguish practices, perhaps by way of revenge for the +freedom with which he occasionally expressed himself in regard to their +pretensions, when his fears were not excited. A short time before this, +one of them had terrified him not a little by telling him that he had +seen his ghost during the night, and had been informed, by the atua, +that if he went to a certain place to which he was then about to +proceed, he would die in a few days. He soon, however, got so far the +better of his fears as, notwithstanding this alarming intimation, to +venture to accompany Marsden to the forbidden district; and he expressed +his feelings of contempt for the sacred order in no measured terms, when +he found that at the expiration of the predicted period he was still +alive.</p> + +<p>He said that there were too many priests at New Zealand, and that they +"tabooed" and prayed the people to death. Others, as well as the +priests, however, are supposed sometimes to have the power of +witchcraft.</p> + +<p>Two of the missionaries, when one day about to land at a place a short +distance from the settlement, were alarmed by nearly running the boat's +head on three human bodies, which lay close together by the water's edge +among some rushes; and upon inquiry they were informed that they were +the bodies of three slaves who had been killed that morning for +makootooing a chief, <i>i.e.</i> betwitching or praying evil prayers against +him, which had caused his death.<a name='FNanchor_BU_73'></a><a href='#Footnote_BU_73'><sup>[BU]</sup></a></p> + +<p>A common method which the priests use of bewitching those whom they mean +to destroy, is to curse them, which is universally believed to have a +fatal effect. The curse seems usually to be uttered in the shape of a +yell or song, so that the process is literally a species of incantation. +Bishop Newton, in his commentary on the scriptural account of Balaam +being sent for to curse the Israelites, says, "It was a superstitious +ceremony in use among the heathens, to devote their enemies to +destruction at the beginning of their wars; as if the gods would enter +into their passions, and were as unjust and partial as themselves."</p> + +<p>The demeanour of most of the New Zealand priests is something so +entirely different from that observed by the ministers of religion in +civilized countries that it is not surprising Rutherford should have +failed to recognise them as belonging to that order.</p> + +<p>Thus, we read of a priest who speaks of having killed, not by +enchantment, but in the usual way, with his own hands, both a woman who +had gone on board a ship contrary to his orders, and a man who had +stolen some potatoes.</p> + +<p>Another is mentioned as having one day introduced himself into the house +of Mr. Williams, one of the missionaries, by springing over the fence, +and then, when his rude conduct was reproved, stripping himself to fight +with that gentleman. The same personage, who bore the venerable name of +Towee Taboo,<a name='FNanchor_BV_74'></a><a href='#Footnote_BV_74'><sup>[BV]</sup></a> or Holy Towee, a short time after attempted to break +Mr. Williams's door to pieces with a long pole; and when he could not +accomplish that object, effected his entrance by leaping over the fence +as before. What he now wanted, he said, was hootoo,<a name='FNanchor_BW_75'></a><a href='#Footnote_BW_75'><sup>[BW]</sup></a> or payment, for +a hurt which he had given his foot in performing this exploit on the +former occasion. When this strange demand was refused, he attempted to +set the house on fire; and having collected a mob of his friends, would +certainly have done so, had not another party of the natives come to the +assistance of Mr. Williams and his family.</p> + +<p>But one of the most remarkable among this order of men seems to be +Tamanhena<a name='FNanchor_BX_76'></a><a href='#Footnote_BX_76'><sup>[BX]</sup></a>, the priest of the head of the Shukehanga, who is believed +to have absolute command over the winds and waves. Marsden met with this +dignitary on his second visit to New Zealand; and found that, in +addition to being a priest, he was in the habit of acting as a pilot, a +profession with which the other suited very well, as by virtue of his +sacred character he had the power of keeping the winds and waves quiet +whenever he chose to put to sea.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, Marsden went out with him in a canoe to examine the +entrance of the river; Tamanhena assuring him, though it blew very +fresh, that he would soon make both the wind and the waves fall.</p> + +<p>"We were no sooner in the canoe," continues Marsden, "than the priest +began to exert all his powers to still the gods, the winds, and the +waves. He spake in an angry and commanding tone. However, I did not +perceive either the winds or waves yield to his authority; and when we +reached the head, I requested to go on shore."</p> + +<p>Tamanhena wished very much to learn to pray like the Europeans, and said +he should willingly give a farm to any missionary who would come to +reside near him. He also promised that he would let Marsden hear his god +speak to him; but when they got to the place where the conference was to +be held, he discovered that the god was not there. Marsden, however, +found him remarkably well informed on all subjects relating to his +country and religion, and thought him, upon the whole, a very sensible +man, making allowance for his theological opinions.</p> + +<p>Cruise has, however, detailed some particulars of this venerable +personage, whom he also met with a few months after Marsden had seen +him, which grievously detract from his character for sanctity. He made +the voyage with them in the "Dromedary" from the Bay of Islands to the +mouth of the Shukehanga, but announced his intention of leaving them the +day after their arrival.</p> + +<p>"During his stay in the ship," says Cruise, "there certainly was nothing +of a very sacred character about him; he was by far the wildest of his +companions; and, unfortunately, on the morning fixed for his departure, +a soldier having missed his jacket, there was so great a suspicion of +the pilot's honesty, that the sentinel at the gangway took the liberty +of lifting up his mat, as he prepared to go down the side, and +discovered the stolen property under it.</p> + +<p>"The jacket was of course taken from him; and as the only excuse he had +to offer for his misconduct was that he had lost a shirt that had been +given to him, and that he considered himself authorised to get +remuneration in any way he could, he was dismissed without those +presents which were given to the others. We were glad to see that his +countrymen seemed to notice his conduct in the strongest terms of +disapprobation; and the next day, when they were about to leave us, they +seemed so determined to put him to death that they were requested not to +do so, but to consider his having lost his presents, and his being +forbidden ever to come near the ship, a sufficient punishment for his +offence."</p> + +<p>It is very remarkable, that, whenever a child is born in New Zealand, it +is the invariable practice to take it to the tohunga, or priest, who +sprinkles it on the face with water, from a leaf which he holds in his +hand. It is believed that the neglect of this ceremony would be attended +with the most baneful consequences to the child.</p> + +<p>Much reverence is felt among the New Zealanders for dreams; and it is +believed that the favoured of heaven often receive in this way the +communications of the gods. We need hardly remark how universal this +superstition has been. The reader of Homer will recollect the</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>[Greek: kai gar t onar ek Dios estin]</span><br /> + +<p>of that poet, and the [Greek: oulos oneiros], or evil dream, which, in +the second book of the Iliad, Jupiter sends down to Agamemnon, to lure +him to give battle to the Trojans in the absence of Achilles.</p> + +<p>We must refer to Lafitau's learned work on the savages of America for an +account of the notions which prevail among them as to divination by +dreams. Dillon tells us that he found no way so effectual of repressing +the importunities of his New Zealand friends, in any case in which it +was inconvenient to gratify them, as assuring them he had dreamed that +the favour they requested would turn out a misfortune to them. When some +of them, for example, entreated that he would take them with him to +India, he told them that he had dreamed that if they went to that +country they would die there; and this at once put an end to their +solicitations.</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BL_64'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BL_64'>[BL]</a><div class='note'><p> The Maoris and Hawaiians use the word "iwi" for a bone; +the Samoans, Tahitians, and other islanders say "ivi."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BM_65'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BM_65'>[BM]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Tupa.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BN_66'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BN_66'>[BN]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Kaipara.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BO_67'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BO_67'>[BO]</a><div class='note'><p> Tara.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BP_68'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BP_68'>[BP]</a><div class='note'><p> Okita.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BQ_69'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BQ_69'>[BQ]</a><div class='note'><p> Tupi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BR_70'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BR_70'>[BR]</a><div class='note'><p> Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BS_71'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BS_71'>[BS]</a><div class='note'><p> Kawa-kawa, in the same district.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BT_72'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BT_72'>[BT]</a><div class='note'><p> Te Morenga, a chief of the Bay of Islands.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BU_73'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BU_73'>[BU]</a><div class='note'><p> The maketu, which is correctly described here, was one of +the most firmly established institutions in New Zealand in old times.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BV_74'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BV_74'>[BV]</a><div class='note'><p> Tui Tapu.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BW_75'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BW_75'>[BW]</a><div class='note'><p> Utu. This is another great institution amongst the ancient +Maoris. It represents the principle of payment, an equivalent, a return, +compensation, or satisfaction for injuries.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BX_76'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BX_76'>[BX]</a><div class='note'><p> Tamihana.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>For some time after his return from Cook Strait, Rutherford's life +appears to have been unvaried by any incident of moment.</p> + +<p>"At length," says he, "one day a messenger arrived from a neighbouring +village, with the news that all the chiefs for miles round were about to +set out, in three days, for a place called Kipara,<a name='FNanchor_BY_77'></a><a href='#Footnote_BY_77'><sup>[BY]</sup></a> near the source +of the river Thames, and distant about two hundred miles from our +village. The messenger brought also a request from the other chiefs to +Aimy to join them along with his warriors; and he replied that he would +meet them at Kipara at the time appointed. We understood that we were to +be opposed at Kipara by a number of chiefs from the Bay of Islands and +the river Thames, according to an appointment which had been made with +the chiefs in our neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>"Accordingly, everything was got ready for our journey as quickly as +possible; and the women were immediately set to work to make a great +number of new baskets, in which to carry our provisions. It is the +custom for every person going on such an expedition to find his own arms +and ammunition, as also provisions, and slaves to carry them. On the +other hand, every family plunder for themselves, and give only what they +think proper to the chief. The slaves are not required to fight, though +they often run to the assistance of their masters while engaged.</p> + +<p>"When the day was come for our departure, I started along with the rest, +being armed with my mery, a brace of pistols, and a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, and having also with me some powder and ball, and a great +quantity of duck-shot, which I took for the purpose of killing game on +our journey.</p> + +<p>"I was accompanied by my wife Epecka, who carried three new mats to be a +bed for us, which had been made by Eshou during my absence at Taranake.</p> + +<p>"The warriors and slaves, whom we took with us, amounted in all to about +five hundred; but the slaves, as they got rid of the provisions they +carried, were sent home again, as we had no further use for them. While +on our journey, if we came to a friendly village at night, we slept +there; but, if not, we encamped in the woods. When the provisions we had +brought with us were all consumed, we were compelled to plunder wherever +we could find anything. Our journey, being made during the rainy season, +was more than usually fatiguing. We were five weeks in reaching Kipara, +where we found about eleven hundred more natives encamped by the side of +a river. On our arrival, huts were immediately constructed for our +party, and one was allotted to me and my wife. We had also two female +slaves allowed us for the purpose of digging fern-root, gathering +cockles, and catching fish, which articles were our only provisions +while we remained here; unless now and then, when I went to the woods, +and shot a few wood-pigeons or a wild pig."</p> + +<p>A party of New Zealanders thus wandering through their country, with all +the inconveniences attending the movement of large bodies of men, but +without the combinations of foresight which are necessary for the safety +of an army, or the management of supplies, must be occasionally exposed +to great privations.</p> + +<p>Their island, however, it would seem from Rutherford's narrative, +abundantly supplied them with provisions, and their slaves were at hand +to perform the office of cooks. Their method of procuring fire for +culinary purposes and warmth is curious; and we may as well mention it +somewhat fully here, before we proceed to the more busy parts of +Rutherford's narrative.</p> + +<p>When Nicholas was in New Zealand, he had an opportunity of seeing the +process usually resorted to. "The place where we landed," says he, +speaking of an excursion which he made with Marsden, and some of the +chiefs, to a place a short distance from the Missionary Settlement, "was +a small plantation of potatoes belonging to Shungie, and here our party +intended to prepare their refreshments, seating themselves, along the +ground for the purpose. Fire, however, was wanting; and to procure it, +Shungie took my fowling-piece, and, stopping up the touch-hole, he put a +small piece of linen into the pan, and endeavoured to excite a spark. +But this expedient proved unsuccessful, as the lock had got rusted and +would not go off; he then got some dry grass and a piece of rotten wood, +and turning a small stick rapidly between his hands, in the same manner +as we mill chocolate, the friction caused the touchwood, in which the +point of the stick was inserted, to take fire; while, wrapping it up in +the dry grass, and shaking it backward and forward, he very soon +produced a flame, which he communicated to some dry sticks, and other +fuel that our party had collected."</p> + +<p>This was not, however, any sudden device of Shungie's, but merely the +contrivance in general use in such emergencies among his countrymen.</p> + +<p>"We have mentioned two New Zealanders, who are at present in this +country, and have recently been exhibiting the dances and other customs +of their native land, in several of our provincial towns. Among other +things which they show is this method of kindling fire, and we extract +from the letter of a correspondent who saw them at Birmingham, the +following account of this part of their performance:—'A small board of +well-dried pine was laid upon the floor, and the younger New Zealander +took in his hand a wedge about nine inches long, and of the same +material; then rubbing with this upon the board, in a direction parallel +to the grain, he made a groove, about a quarter of an inch deep and six +or seven inches long. The friction, of course, produced a quantity of +what, had it been produced by another means, would have been called +sawdust; and this he collected at the end of the groove farthest from +that part of the board on which he was kneeling. He then continued his +operation; and in a short time the wood began to smoke, the sides of the +groove becoming completely charred. On this he stopped and gathered the +tinder over that part of the groove which appeared to be most strongly +heated. After a few moments, it became manifest that the sawdust or +tinder was ignited; and a gentle application of the breath now drew +forth a flame which rose to the height of several inches. This +experiment did not always succeed the first time; whenever it was +repeated, whether after failure or success, the operator took a new +wedge and formed a new groove, and it was stated that this was +absolutely necessary. The process was evidently one of very great +labour; at the conclusion of it, the operator was steaming with +perspiration, and his elder countryman stated that his own strength was +unequal to the feat.'"</p> + +<center> +<a name="img13"></a> +<img src='images/image13.png' width='450' height='303' alt='Tourist Dept. Photo. + +Greenstone axes, with carved wooden handles, and ornamented with dogs' +hair and birds' feathers.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Greenstone axes, with carved wooden handles, and ornamented with dogs' +hair and birds' feathers.</h5> + +<p>This method of procuring fire has, in fact, been in use from the most +ancient times, and in all parts of the world. It was, as Lafitau +remarks, the very method which was prescribed for rekindling the +vestal fire at Rome, when it was accidentally extinguished. This writer +describes it as in use also among several tribes of the Indians of South +America. Among them, however, it is somewhat more artificially managed +than it appears to be among the New Zealanders, inasmuch as their +practice is first to make a hole in the wood with the tooth of the +acouti, and then to insert in this an instrument resembling a wimble, by +the rapid revolution of which the wood is set on fire.</p> + +<p>The Baron Alexander de Humboldt gives a similar account of the manner in +which the operation appears to have been performed among the ancient +Mexicans, who adopted this method of rekindling their fires, on their +general extinction at the end of every cycle of fifty-two years.</p> + +<p>In a letter which Humboldt has printed at the conclusion of his work, +from M. Visconti, it is remarked that we find mention made of this +contrivance both in Homer's "Hymn to Mercury," and in the "Argonautics" +of Apollonius Rhodius. The scholiast of the latter gives a description +of the process, which exactly answers to the Mexican delineation.</p> + +<p>"On the opposite side of the river," Rutherford proceeds, "which was +about half a mile wide, and not more than four feet deep in any part, +about four hundred of the enemy were encamped, waiting for +reinforcements. Meanwhile messengers were continually passing from the +one party to the other, with messages concerning the war.</p> + +<p>"One of them informed us that there was a white man in his party who had +heard of and wished to see me; and that the chiefs, who also wished to +see me, would give me permission to cross the river to meet him, and I +should return unmolested whenever I thought proper. With Aimy's consent, +therefore, I went across the river; but I was not permitted to go armed, +nor yet to take my wife with me. When I arrived on the opposite side, +several of the chiefs saluted me in the usual manner by touching my nose +with theirs; and I afterwards was seated in the midst of them by the +side of the white man, who told me his name was John Mawman, that he was +a native of Port Jackson, and that he had run away from the 'Tees' sloop +of war while she lay at this island. He had since joined the natives, +and was now living with a chief named Rawmatty;<a name='FNanchor_BZ_78'></a><a href='#Footnote_BZ_78'><sup>[BZ]</sup></a> whose daughter he +had married, and whose residence was at a place called Sukyanna,<a name='FNanchor_CA_79'></a><a href='#Footnote_CA_79'><sup>[CA]</sup></a> on +the west coast, within fifty miles of the Bay of Islands. He said that +he had been at the Bay of Islands a short time before, and had seen +several of the English missionaries. He also said that he had heard that +the natives had lately taken a vessel at a place called Wangalore, +which they had plundered and then turned adrift; but that the crew had +escaped in their boats and put to sea. This is the same place where the +crew of the ship 'Boyd' were murdered some years before.<a name='FNanchor_CB_80'></a><a href='#Footnote_CB_80'><sup>[CB]</sup></a></p> + +<p>"While I remained among these people, a slave was brought up before one +of the chiefs, who immediately arose from the ground, and struck him +with his mery and killed him. This mery was different from any of the +rest, being made of steel. The heart was taken out of the slave as soon +as he had fallen, and instantly devoured by the chief who slew him. I +then inquired who this chief was, and was informed that his name was +Shungie, one of the two chiefs who had been at England, and had been +presented to many of the nobility there, from whom he received many +valuable presents; among others, a double-barrelled gun and a suit of +armour, which he has since worn in many battles. His reason, they told +me, for killing the slave, who was one belonging to himself, was that he +had stolen the suit of armour, and was running away with it to the +enemy, when he was taken prisoner by a party stationed on the outskirts +of the encampment. This was the only act of theft which I ever saw +punished in New Zealand.</p> + +<p>"Although Shungie has been two years among Europeans, I still consider +him to be one of the most ferocious cannibals in his native country. He +protects the missionaries who live on his ground entirely for the sake +of what he can get from them.</p> + +<p>"I now returned to my own party. Early the next morning the enemy +retreated to a distance of about two miles from the river; upon +observing which our party immediately threw off their mats, and got +under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thousand muskets +among them, chiefly purchased from the English and American South Sea +ships which touch at the island. We now crossed the river; and, having +arrived on the opposite side, I took my station on a rising ground, +about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I +had a full view of the engagement.</p> + +<p>"I was not myself required to fight, but I loaded my double-barrelled +gun, and, thus armed, remained at my post, my wife and the two slave +girls having seated themselves at my feet.</p> + +<p>"The commander-in-chief of each party now stepped forward a few yards, +and, placing himself in front of his troops, commenced the war-song. +When this was ended both parties danced a war-dance, singing at the +same time as loud as they could, and brandishing their weapons in the +air.</p> + +<p>"Having finished their dance, each party formed into a line two-deep, +the women and boys stationing themselves about ten yards to the rear.</p> + +<p>"The two bodies then advanced to within about a hundred yards of each +other, when they fired off their muskets. Few of them put the musket to +the shoulder while firing it, but merely held it at the charge. They +only fired once; and then, throwing their muskets behind them, where +they were picked up by the women and boys, drew their merys and +tomahawks out of their belts, when, the war-song being screamed by the +whole of them together in a manner most dismal to be heard, the two +parties rushed into close combat.</p> + +<p>"They now took hold of the hair of each other's heads with their left +hands, using the right to cut off the head. Meantime the women and boys +followed close behind them, uttering the most shocking cries I ever +heard. These last received the heads of the slain from those engaged in +the battle as soon as they were cut off, after which the men went in +among the enemy for the dead bodies; but many of them received bodies +that did not belong to the heads they had cut off.</p> + +<p>"The engagement had not lasted many minutes, when the enemy began to +retreat, and were pursued by our party through the woods. Some of them, +in their flight, crossed the hill on which I stood; and one threw a +short jagged spear at me as he passed, which stuck in the inside of my +left thigh. It was afterwards cut out by two women with an oyster-shell. +The operation left a wound as large as a common-sized tea-cup; and after +it had been performed I was carried across the river on a woman's back +to my hut, where my wife applied some green herbs to the wound, which +immediately stopped the bleeding, and also made the pain much less +severe.</p> + +<p>"In a short time our party returned victorious, bringing along with them +many prisoners. Persons taken in battle, whether chiefs or not, become +slaves to those who take them. One of our chiefs had been shot by +Shungie, and the body was brought back, and laid upon some mats before +the huts. Twenty heads, also, were placed upon long spears, which were +stuck up around our huts; and nearly twice as many bodies were put to +the fires, to be cooked in the accustomed way.</p> + +<p>"Our party continued dancing and singing all night; and the next morning +they had a grand feast on the dead bodies and fern-roots, in honour of +the victory they had gained. The name of the chief whose body lay in +front of our huts was Ewanna. He was one of those who were at the taking +of our vessel. His body was now cut into several pieces, which, being +packed into baskets, covered with black mats, were put into one of the +canoes, to be taken along with us down the river. There were, besides +Ewanna, five other chiefs killed on our side, whose names were Nainy, +Ewarree, Tometooi, Ewarrehum, and Erow.<a name='FNanchor_CC_81'></a><a href='#Footnote_CC_81'><sup>[CC]</sup></a> On the other side, three +chiefs were killed, namely, Charly, Shungie's eldest son, and two sons +of Mootyi,<a name='FNanchor_CD_82'></a><a href='#Footnote_CD_82'><sup>[CD]</sup></a> a great chief of Sukyanna. Their heads were brought home +by our people as trophies of war, and cured in the usual manner.</p> + +<p>"We now left Kipara in a number of canoes, and proceeded down the river +to a place called Shaurakke,<a name='FNanchor_CE_83'></a><a href='#Footnote_CE_83'><sup>[CE]</sup></a> where the mother of one of the chiefs +who was killed resided.</p> + +<p>"When we arrived in sight of this place, the canoes all closed together, +and joined in singing a funeral song.</p> + +<p>"By this time, several of the hills before us were crowded with women +and children, who, having their faces painted with ochre, and their +heads adorned with white feathers, were waving their mats, and calling +out to us 'ara mi, ara mi,' the usual welcome home.</p> + +<p>"When the funeral song was ended, we disembarked from our canoes, which +we hauled up from the river, and our party then performed a dance, +entirely naked; after which they were met by another party of warriors, +from behind the hill, with whom they engaged in a sham fight, which +lasted about twenty minutes. Both parties then seated themselves around +the house belonging to the chief of the village, in front of which the +baskets containing the dead body were at the same time placed. They were +then all opened, and the head, being taken out and decorated with +feathers, was placed on the top of one of the baskets; while the rest of +the heads that had been taken at the battle were stuck on long spears, +in various parts of the village. Meanwhile, the mother of the slain +chief stood on the roof of the house, dressed in a feathered cloak and +turban, continually turning herself round, wringing her hands, and +crying for the loss of her son.</p> + +<p>"The dead body having been in a few days buried with the usual +ceremonies, we all prepared to return to our own village. Shaurakke is +one of the most delightful spots in New Zealand, and has more cultivated +land about it than I saw anywhere else. While I was here, I saw a +slave-woman eat part of her own child, which had been killed by the +chief, her master. I have known several instances of New Zealand women +eating their children as soon as they were born."</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_BY_77'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BY_77'>[BY]</a><div class='note'><p> Kaipara.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_BZ_78'></a><a href='#FNanchor_BZ_78'>[BZ]</a><div class='note'><p> Raumati.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CA_79'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CA_79'>[CA]</a><div class='note'><p> Another rendition of Hokianga.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CB_80'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CB_80'>[CB]</a><div class='note'><p> Mr. Craik adds a note stating that the place which +Rutherford here calls Wangalore is Wangaroa. (The proper spelling is +Whangaroa.) The ship, he says, was the "Mercury," of London, South Sea +whaler, which put in at Wangaroa on March 5th, 1825, and was plundered +of the greater part of her cargo by the natives. She was also so much +disabled by the attack made upon her that, after a vain attempt to carry +her round to the Bay of Islands, it was found necessary to abandon her, +when she drove to sea, and asserted that no cause of offence whatever +was given to the natives by the captain or crew of the "Mercury," while +the conduct of the former was in all respects treacherous, unfeeling, +and provoking.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CC_81'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CC_81'>[CC]</a><div class='note'><p> All the names are spelt wrongly.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CD_82'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CD_82'>[CD]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Matui or Matohi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CE_83'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CE_83'>[CE]</a><div class='note'><p> Evidently Hauraki, which, however, is on the east coast, +while Knipara is on the west.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>This is, we believe, the most complete account, and, at the same time, +the one most to be depended on, which has yet been given to the public, +of a New Zealand battle. None of the other persons who have described to +us the manners of these savages have seen them engaged with each other, +except in a sham fight; although Nicholas, on one occasion, was very +near being afforded an opportunity of witnessing a real combat. That +gentleman and Marsden, however, have given us some very interesting +details respecting the preliminaries to an actual engagement. They +describe the debates which generally take place in the war-council of a +tribe or district previous to any declaration of hostilities; and those +conferences between the two opposing parties in which, even after they +have met on the intended field of action, the matter of dispute is often +made the subject of a war of argument and eloquence, and sometimes, it +would seem, is even settled without any resort to more destructive +weapons.</p> + +<p>When Marsden visited the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga, in 1819, he +found a quarrel just about to commence between two of the principal +chiefs, whose lands lay contiguous, and who were also, it appeared, +nearly related, in consequence of the pigs of the one having got into +the sweet potato grounds of the other, who had retaliated by shooting +several of them. The chief whose pigs had committed the trespass, and +whom Marsden was now visiting, was an old man, apparently eighty years +of age, named Warremaddoo,<a name='FNanchor_CF_84'></a><a href='#Footnote_CF_84'><sup>[CF]</sup></a> who had now resigned the supreme +authority to his son Matanghee;<a name='FNanchor_CG_85'></a><a href='#Footnote_CG_85'><sup>[CG]</sup></a> yet this affair rekindled all the +ancient enthusiasm of the venerable warrior. The other chief was called +Moodewhy.<a name='FNanchor_CH_86'></a><a href='#Footnote_CH_86'><sup>[CH]</sup></a> The morning debate, at which several chiefs spoke with +great force and dignity, had been suddenly interrupted; but it was +resumed in the evening, when Marsden was again present.</p> + +<p>On this occasion, old Warremaddoo threw off his mat, took his spear, and +began to address his tribe and the chiefs. He made strong appeals to +them against the injustice and ingratitude of Moodeewhy's conduct +towards them, recited many injuries which he and his tribe had suffered +from Moodeewhy for a long period, mentioned instances of his bad conduct +at the time that his father's bones were removed from the Ahoodu Pa to +their family vault, stated acts of kindness which he had shown to +Moodeewhy at different times, and said that he had twice saved his tribe +from total ruin. In the present instance, Moodeewhy had killed three of +his hogs. Every time he mentioned his loss, the recollection seemed to +nerve afresh his aged sinews: he shook his hoary beard, stamped with +indignant rage, and poised his quivering spear.</p> + +<p>He exhorted his tribe to be bold and courageous; and declared that he +would head them in the morning against the enemy, and, rather than he +would submit, he would be killed and eaten. All that they wanted was +firmness and courage; he knew well the enemies they had to meet, their +hearts did not lie deep; and, if they were resolutely opposed, they +would yield.</p> + +<p>His oration continued nearly an hour, and all listened to him with great +attention.</p> + +<p>This dispute, however, partly through Marsden's intercession, who +offered to give each of the indignant leaders an adze if they would make +peace, was at last amicably adjusted; and the two, as the natives +expressed it, "were made both alike inside."</p> + +<p>But Marsden was a good deal surprised on observing old Warremaddoo, +immediately after he had rubbed noses with Moodeewhy in token of +reconcilement, begin, with his slaves, to burn and destroy the fence of +the enclosure in which they were assembled, belonging to Moodeewhy, who, +however, took no notice of the destruction of his property thus going on +before his face. Upon inquiry, he was told that this was done in +satisfaction for a fence of the old man's which Moodeewhy had destroyed +in the first instance, and the breaking down of which had, in fact, +given rise to the trespass.</p> + +<p>A New Zealander would hold himself to be guilty of a breach of the first +principles of honour if he ever made up a quarrel without having exacted +full compensation for what he might conceive to be his wrongs.</p> + +<p>The battle which Nicholas expected to witness was to be fought between +the tribe of an old chief named Henou,<a name='FNanchor_CI_87'></a><a href='#Footnote_CI_87'><sup>[CI]</sup></a> and that of another, named +Wiveah,<a name='FNanchor_CJ_88'></a><a href='#Footnote_CJ_88'><sup>[CJ]</sup></a> who had seduced his wife. The two parties met in adjoining +enclosures, and Nicholas took his station on the roof of a neighbouring +hut to observe their proceedings. The conference was commenced by an old +warrior on Henou's side, who, rising, amid the universal silence of both +camps, addressed himself to Wiveah and his followers.</p> + +<p>Nicholas describes the venerable orator as walking, or rather running, +up and down a paling, which formed one side of the enclosure in which he +was, uttering his words in a tone of violent resentment, and +occasionally shaking his head and brandishing his spear. He was answered +in a mild and conciliating manner by two of Wiveah's followers.</p> + +<p>To them another warrior of Henou's party replied, in what Nicholas calls +a masterly style of native eloquence. In easy dignity of manner he +greatly excelled the other orators. "He spoke," says the author, "for a +considerable time; and I could not behold, without admiration, the +graceful elegance of his deportment, and the appropriate accordance of +his action. Holding his pattoo-pattoo<a name='FNanchor_CK_89'></a><a href='#Footnote_CK_89'><sup>[CK]</sup></a> in his hand he walked up and +down along the margin of the river with a firm and manly step."</p> + +<p>The debate was carried on by other speakers for some time longer; but at +last it appeared that conciliatory counsels had carried the day. The two +parties satisfied themselves with a sham fight, Wiveah merely presenting +the injured Henou with a quantity of potatoes.</p> + +<p>The most singular part of the debate, however, was yet to come; for +immediately after the sham fight, the old orator again rose, and, +although vehement enough at the beginning of his harangue, became still +more so as he proceeded, till at last he grew quite outrageous, and +jumped about the field like a person out of his senses.</p> + +<p>In the latter part of the debate, Wiveah and Henou themselves took up +the discussion of the question, and seem, by the account given, to have +handled it with more mildness and good temper than almost any of their +less interested associates.</p> + +<p>At the close of Wiveah's last address, however, "his three wives," says +Nicholas, "now deemed it expedient to interpose their oratory, as +confirming mediators between the parties, though there was no longer any +enmity existing on either side. They spoke with great animation, and the +warriors listened to their separate speeches in attentive silence. They +assumed, I thought, a very determined tone, employing a great deal of +impressive action, and looking towards the opposite chief with an +asperity of countenance not warranted by the mild forbearance of his +deportment. The expostulating harangues, as I should suppose they were, +of these sturdy ladies completed the ceremonials of this singular +conference; and the reconciliation being thus consummated, the parties +now entertained no sentiments towards each other but those of reciprocal +amity."</p> + +<p>It would appear that the New Zealand women sometimes carry their martial +propensities farther than they are stated to have done in the present +case. Nicholas was once not a little surprised, while witnessing a sham +fight, to observe Duaterra's wife, the Queen of Tippoonah,<a name='FNanchor_CL_90'></a><a href='#Footnote_CL_90'><sup>[CL]</sup></a> exerting +himself, with most conspicuous courage, among the very thickest of the +combatants.</p> + +<p>Her majesty was dressed in a red gown and petticoat, which she had +received as a present from Marsden, that reverend gentleman having been +obliged himself, in the first instance, to assist in decorating her with +these novel articles of attire; and, holding in her hand a large +horse-pistol, always selected the most formidable hero she could find as +her antagonist.</p> + +<p>She was at last, however, fairly exhausted; and stood, at the conclusion +of the exhibition, Nicholas tells us, panting for breath. "In this +state," says he, "she was pleased to notice me with a distinguished mark +of flattering condescension, by holding out her lips for me to kiss, an +honour I could have very well dispensed with, but which, at the same +time, I could not decline, without offering a slight to a person of such +elevated consequence."</p> + +<p>He saw, also, some other female warriors, who exposed themselves in the +combat with great gallantry. Among them, Marsden tells us, was the widow +of Tippahee, a woman apparently not much less than seventy years of age.</p> + +<p>Cook also sometimes saw the women armed with spears.</p> + +<p>The principal native war-instrument of the New Zealanders is the short +thick club, which has been so often mentioned. This weapon they all +constantly wear, either fastened in their girdle or held in the right +hand and attached by a string to the wrist. It is in shape somewhat like +a battledore, varying from ten to eighteen inches in length, including a +short handle, and generally about four or five broad, thick in the +middle, but worked down to a very sharp edge on both sides. It is most +commonly formed of a species of green talc, which appears to be found +only in the southern island, and with regard to which the New Zealanders +have many superstitious notions. Some of them are made of a +darker-coloured stone, susceptible of a high polish; some of whalebone; +and Nicholas mentions one, which he saw in the possession of Tippoui, +brother of the celebrated George of Wangarooa, and himself one of the +leaders of the attack on the 'Boyd,' which, like that of Shungie, which +Rutherford speaks of, was of iron, and also highly polished. It had been +fabricated by the chief himself, with tools of the most imperfect +description; and yet was, in Nicholas's opinion, as well-finished a +piece of workmanship as could have been produced by any of our best +mechanics. This instrument is employed in close combat, the head being +generally the part aimed at; and one well-directed blow is quite enough +to split the hardest skull. The name usually given to it, in the earlier +accounts of New Zealand, is patoo-patoo. Anderson, in his general +remarks on the people of Queen Charlotte Sound, says it is also called +Emeeta. But its correct and distinctive name seems to be that by which +Rutherford always designates it, the mery or mairy.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img14"></a> +<img src='images/image14.png' width='450' height='259' alt='Christchurch Museum + +1. Pou-wherma. +2. Taiaha of white whale-bone. +3. Taiaha (6ft. 3in. long) of wood, with flax mat and dog's hair. +4. Hoeroa of white whale-bone. +5. Tewha-tewha.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>Long striking and thrusting weapons used by the Maoris</h5> + +<p>Savage tells us that when he took his friend, Moyhanger,<a name='FNanchor_CM_91'></a><a href='#Footnote_CM_91'><sup>[CM]</sup></a> to a shop +in the Strand to purchase some tools, he was particularly struck with a +common bill-hook, upon which he cast his eyes, as appearing to be a most +admirable instrument of slaughter; and we find accordingly that since +they have had so much intercourse with Europeans some of the New Zealand +warriors have substituted the English bill-hook for their native +battle-axe. Nicholas mentions one with which Duaterra was accustomed to +arm himself.</p> + +<p>Their only missile weapons, except stones, which they merely throw from +the hand, are short spears, made of hard wood or whalebone, and pointed +at one extremity. These they are very dexterous with, both in darting at +a mark, and in receiving or turning aside with the blades of their +battle-axes, which are the only shields they use, except the folds of +their thick and flowing mats, which they raise on the left arm, and +which are tough enough to impede the passage of a spear. They have other +spears, however, varying from thirteen or fourteen to thirty feet in +length, which they use as lances or bayonets. These, or rather the +shorter sort, are also sometimes called by English writers patoos, or +patoo-patoos. Lastly, they often carry an instrument somewhat like a +sergeant's halbert, curiously carved, and adorned with bunches of +parrot's feathers tied round the top of it.</p> + +<p>The musket has now, however, in a great measure superseded these +primitive weapons, although the New Zealanders are as yet far from being +expert in the use of it.</p> + +<p>By Rutherford's account, as we have just seen, they only fire off their +guns once, and throw them away as soon as they have got fairly engaged, +much as some of our own Highland regiments are said formerly to have +been in the habit of doing.</p> + +<p>Cruise, in like manner, states that they use their firelocks very +awkwardly, lose an immense deal of time in looking for a rest and taking +aim, and after all, seldom hit their object, unless close to it.</p> + +<p>Muskets, however, are by far more prized and coveted by the New +Zealander than any of the other commodities to which his intercourse +with the civilized world has given him access. The ships that touch at +the country always find it the readiest way of obtaining the supplies +they want from the natives, to purchase them with arms or ammunition; +and the missionaries, who have declined to traffic in these articles, +have often scarcely been able to procure a single pig by the most +tempting price they could offer in another shape. Although the arms +which they have obtained in this way have generally been of the most +trashy description, they have been sufficient to secure to the tribes +that have been most plentifully provided with them a decided superiority +over the rest; and the consequence has been that the people of the Bay +of Islands, who have hitherto had most intercourse with European ships, +have been of late years the terror of the whole country, and while they +themselves have remained uninvaded, have repeatedly carried devastation +into its remotest districts.</p> + +<p>More recently, however, the River Thames, and the coasts to the south +of it, have also been a good deal resorted to by vessels navigating +those seas; and a great many muskets have in consequence also found +their way into the hands of the inhabitants of that part of the island.</p> + +<p>When Rutherford speaks of the two parties whom he saw engaged having had +about two thousand stand of arms between them, it may be thought that +his estimate is probably an exaggerated one; but it is completely borne +out by other authorities. Thus, for example, Davis, one of the +missionaries, writes, in 1827: "They have at this time many thousand +stand of arms among them, both in the Bay and at the River Thames."</p> + +<p>The method of fighting, which is described as being in use among the New +Zealanders, in which, after the first onset, every man chooses his +individual antagonist, and the field of battle presents merely the +spectacle of a multitude of single combats, is the same which has, +perhaps, everywhere prevailed, not only in the primitive wars of men, +but up to a period of considerable refinement in the history of the +military art.</p> + +<p>The Greeks and Trojans, at the time of the siege of Troy, used both +chariots and missiles; and yet it is evident from Homer that their +battles and skirmishes usually resolved themselves in a great measure +into a number of duels between heroes who seem to have sometimes paused +by mutual consent to hold parley together, without at all minding the +course of the general fight.</p> + +<p>Exactly the same thing takes place in the battles of the American +Indians, who are also possessed of bows and arrows. The New Zealanders +have no weapons of this description, and, until their intercourse with +Europeans had put muskets into their hands, were without any arms +whatever by which one body could, by its combined strength, have made an +impression upon another from a distance. Even the long spears which they +sometimes used could evidently have been employed with effect only when +each was directed with a particular aim. When two parties engaged, +therefore, they necessarily always came to close combat, and every man +singled out his adversary; a mode of fighting which was, besides, much +more adapted to their tempers, and to the feelings of vehement animosity +with which they came into the field, than any which would have kept them +at a greater distance from each other.</p> + +<p>The details of such personal conflicts amongst more refined nations +always formed a principal ingredient in poetry and romance, from the +times of Homer to those of Spenser. They are, indeed, always +uninteresting and tiresome, although related with the highest +descriptive power; and even in the splendid descriptions of Ariosto and +Tasso there is something absolutely ludicrous in the minute +representations of two champions in complete armour, hammering each +other about with their maces like blacksmiths.</p> + +<p>Still, the poets have clung to this love of individual prowess, wherever +their subjects would admit of such descriptions; and, even to our own +day, that habit which we derived from the times of chivalry, of +describing personal bravery as the greatest of human virtues, is not +altogether abandoned.</p> + +<p>The realities of modern warfare are, however, very unfavourable to such +stimulating representations. The military discipline in use among the +more cultivated nations of antiquity, for example the Persians, the +Macedonians, the Grecian states, and above all, the Romans, undoubtedly +did much to give to their armies the power of united masses, +controllable by one will, and not liable to be broken down and rendered +comparatively inefficient by the irregular movements of individuals. But +it is the introduction of fire-arms which has, most of all, contributed +to change the original character of war, and the elements of the +strength of armies. Where it is merely one field of artillery opposed to +another, and the efficient value of every man on either side lies +principally in the musket which he carries on his shoulder, individual +strength and courage become alike of little account. The result depends, +it may be almost said, entirely on the skill of the commander, not on +the exertions of those over whom he exercises nearly as absolute an +authority as a chess-player does over his pieces.</p> + +<p>If this new system has not diminished the destructiveness of war, it +has, at least, very much abated the rancorous feelings with which it was +originally carried on. It has converted it from a contest of fierce and +vindictive passions into an exercise of science. We have still, +doubtless, to lament that the game of blood occasions, whenever it is +played, so terrible a waste of human life and happiness; but even the +displacement of that brute force, and those other merely animal +impulses, by which it used to be mainly directed, and the substitution +of regulating principles of a comparatively intellectual and +unimpassioned nature, may be considered as indicating, even here, a +triumph of civilization.</p> + +<p>It is impossible that the business of war can be so corrupting to those +engaged in it when it is chiefly a contest of skill, as when it is +wholly a contest of passion. Nor is it calculated in the one form to +occupy the imagination of a people, as it will do in the other. The evil +is therefore mitigated by the introduction of those arts which to many +may appear aggravations of this curse of mankind.</p> + +<p>Rutherford does not take any notice of the pas, or as they have been +called, eppas, or hippahs,<a name='FNanchor_CN_92'></a><a href='#Footnote_CN_92'><sup>[CN]</sup></a> which are found in so many of the New +Zealand villages. These are forts, or strongholds, always erected on an +eminence, and intended for the protection of the tribe and its most +valuable possessions, when reduced by their enemies to the last +extremity. These ancient places of refuge have also been very much +abandoned since the introduction of fire-arms; but formerly, they were +regarded as of great importance.</p> + +<p>Cook describes one which he visited on the East Coast, and which was +placed on a high point of land projecting into the sea, as wholly +inaccessible on the three sides on which it was enclosed by the water; +while it was defended on the land side by a ditch of fourteen feet deep, +having a bank raised behind it, which added about eight feet more to the +glacis. Both banks of the ditch are also, in general, surmounted by +palisades, about ten or twelve feet high, formed of strong stakes bound +together with withies, and driven very deep into the ground. Within the +innermost palisade is usually a stage, supported by posts, from which +the besieged throw down darts and stones upon their assailants; and in +addition to this, the interior space, which is generally of considerable +extent, is sometimes divided into numerous petty eminences, each +surrounded by its palisade, and communicating with each other by narrow +lanes, admitting of being easily stopped up, in case of the enemy having +effected his entrance within the general enclosure. The only road to +the strong-hold is by a single narrow and steep passage.</p> + +<p>Cruise describes a fort at Wangarooa as situated on an insulated rock, +about three hundred feet high, and presenting the most imposing +appearance. These elevated palings were a subject of much speculation to +those on board of Cook's vessel, when that navigator first approached +the coast of New Zealand. Some, he tells us, supposed them to be +inclosures for sheep and oxen, while others maintained they were parks +of deer.</p> + +<p>The New Zealanders may, in some degree, be considered as a warlike +people upon the sea. We have no distinct account of any maritime +engagements between one tribe and another carried on in their vessels of +war; but as these belong to the state, if it may be so termed—that is, +as the war canoes are the property of a particular community inhabiting +a village or district, as distinguished from the fishing-boats of +individuals—it is probable that their hostile encounters may +occasionally be carried on upon the element with which a nation of +islanders are generally familiar.</p> + +<p>Rutherford has given a minute description of a war-canoe, which accords +with the representation of such a large vessel in the plates to Cook's +"Voyages":—</p> + +<p>"Their canoes are made of the largest sized pine-trees, which generally +run from 40 to 50 feet long, and are hollowed out, and lengthened about +eight feet at each end, and raised about two feet on each side.</p> + +<p>"They are built with a figure head; the stern-post extending about ten +feet above the stern of the canoe, which is handsomely carved, as well +as the figure-head, and the whole body of the canoe. The sides are +ornamented with pearl shell, which is let into the carved work, and +above that is a row of feathers. On both sides, fore and aft, they have +seats in the inside, so that two men can sit abreast. They pull about +fifty paddles on each side, and many of them will carry two hundred +people. When paddling, the chief stands up and cheers them with a song, +to which they all join in chorus. These canoes roll heavy, and go at the +rate of seven knots an hour. Their sails are made of straw mats in the +shape of a lateen sail. They cook in their canoes, but always go on +shore to eat. They are frequently known to go three or four hundred +miles along the coast."</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_CF_84'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CF_84'>[CF]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Wharemata.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CG_85'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CG_85'>[CG]</a><div class='note'><p> Matangi.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CH_86'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CH_86'>[CH]</a><div class='note'><p> Muriwai.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CI_87'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CI_87'>[CI]</a><div class='note'><p> Hinau.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CJ_88'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CJ_88'>[CJ]</a><div class='note'><p> Probably Waitea.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CK_89'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CK_89'>[CK]</a><div class='note'><p> patu-patu.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CL_90'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CL_90'>[CL]</a><div class='note'><p> Te Puna.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CM_91'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CM_91'>[CM]</a><div class='note'><p> Moehanga.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CN_92'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CN_92'>[CN]</a><div class='note'><p> The former word, "Pa," is correct.</p></div> + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>We have noticed all the adventures which Rutherford records to have +befallen him during his residence in New Zealand, and have now only to +relate the manner in which he at last effected his escape from the +country, which we shall do in his own words.</p> + +<p>"A few days," says he, "after our return home from Showrackee, we were +alarmed by observing smoke ascending in large quantities from several of +the mountains, and by the natives running about the village in all +directions, and singing out Kipoke,<a name='FNanchor_CO_93'></a><a href='#Footnote_CO_93'><sup>[CO]</sup></a> which signifies a ship on the +coast. I was quite overjoyed to hear the news.</p> + +<p>"Aimy and I, accompanied by several of the warriors, and followed by a +number of slaves, loaded with mats and potatoes, and driving pigs before +them for the purpose of trading with the ship, immediately set off for +Tokamardo; and in two days we arrived at that place, the unfortunate +scene of the capture of our ship and its crew on the 7th of March, 1816. +I now perceived the ship under sail, at about twenty miles distance from +the land, off which the wind was blowing strong, which prevented her +nearing. Meanwhile, as it was drawing towards night, we encamped, and +sat down to supper.</p> + +<p>"I observed that several of the natives still wore round their necks and +wrists many of the trinkets which they had taken out of our ship. As +Aimy and I sat together at supper, a slave arrived with a new basket, +which he placed before me, saying that it was a present from his master. +I asked him what was in the basket, and he informed me that it was part +of a slave girl's thigh, that had been killed three days before. It was +cooked, he added, and was very nice. I then commanded him to open it, +which he did, when it presented the appearance of a piece of pork which +had been baked in the oven. I made a present of it to Aimy, who divided +it among the chiefs.</p> + +<p>"The chiefs now consulted together, and resolved that, if the ship came +in, they would take her, and murder the crew. Next morning she was +observed to be much nearer than she had been the night before; but the +chiefs were still afraid she would not come in, and therefore agreed +that I should be sent on board, on purpose to decoy her to the land, +which I promised to do.</p> + +<p>"I was then dressed in a feathered cloak, belt, and turban, and armed +with a battle axe, the head of which was formed of a stone which, +resembled green glass, but was so hard as to turn the heaviest blow of +the hardest steel. The handle was of hard black wood, handsomely carved +and adorned with feathers. In this attire I went off in a canoe, +accompanied by a son of one of the chiefs, and four slaves. When we came +alongside of the vessel, which turned out to be an American brig, +commanded by Captain Jackson, employed in trading among the islands in +the South Sea, and then bound for the coast of California, I immediately +went on board, and presented myself to the captain, who, as soon as he +saw me, exclaimed, 'Here is a white New Zealander.'</p> + +<p>"I told him that I was not a New Zealander, but an Englishman; upon +which he invited me into his cabin, where I gave him an account of my +errand and of all my misfortunes.</p> + +<p>"I informed him of the danger his ship would be exposed to if he put in +at that part of the island; and therefore begged of him to stand off as +quickly as possible, and take me along with him, as this was the only +chance I had ever had of escaping.</p> + +<p>"By this time the chief's son had begun stealing in the ship, on which +the crew tied him up, and flogged him with the clue of one of their +hammocks, and then sent him down into his canoe.</p> + +<p>"They would have flogged the rest also had not I interceded for them, +considering that there might be still some of my unfortunate shipmates +living on shore, on whom they might avenge themselves.</p> + +<p>"The captain now consented to take me along with him; and, the canoe +having been set adrift, we stood off from the island. For the first +sixteen months of my residence in New Zealand, I had counted the days by +means of notches on a stick; but after that I had kept no reckoning. I +now learned, however, that the day on which I was taken off the island +was January 9th, 1826. I had, therefore, been a prisoner among these +savages ten years, all but two months."</p> + +<p>Captain Jackson now gave Rutherford such clothes as he stood in need of, +in return for which the latter made him a present of his New Zealand +dress and battle axe.</p> + +<p>The ship then proceeded to the Society Islands, and anchored on February +10th off Otaheite.</p> + +<p>Here Rutherford went into the service of the British consul, by whom he +was employed in sawing wood. On May 26th he was married to a chief +woman, whose name, he says, was Nowyrooa, by Mr. Pritchard, one of the +English missionaries. While he resided here, he was also employed as an +interpreter by Captain Peachy, of the "Blossom" sloop of war, then +engaged in surveying those islands.</p> + +<p>Still, however, longing very much to see his native country, he embarked +on January 6th, 1827, on board the brig "Macquarie," commanded by +Captain Hunter, and bound for Port Jackson. On taking leave of his wife +and friends, he made them a promise to return to the island in two +years, "which," says he, "I intend to keep, if it is in my power, and +end my days there."</p> + +<p>The "Macquarie" reached Port Jackson on February 19th, and Rutherford +states that he met there a young woman who had been saved from the +massacre of those on board the "Boyd," and who gave him an account of +that event. This was probably the daughter of a woman whom Mr. Berry +brought to Lima.</p> + +<p>He also found at Port Jackson two vessels on their way back to England, +with a body of persons who had attempted to form a settlement in New +Zealand, but who had been compelled to abandon their design, as he +understood, by the treacherous behaviour of the natives.</p> + +<p>He now embarked on board the Sydney packet, commanded by Captain Tailor, +which proceeded first for Hobart Town, in Van Diemen's Land,<a name='FNanchor_CP_94'></a><a href='#Footnote_CP_94'><sup>[CP]</sup></a> and +after lying there for about a fortnight set sail again for Rio de +Janeiro.</p> + +<p>On his arrival there he went into the service of Mr. Harris, a Dutch +gentleman. Mr. Harris, on learning his history, had him presented to the +Emperor Don Pedro, who asked him many questions by an interpreter, and +made him a present of eighty dollars. He also offered him employment in +his navy; but this Rutherford refused, preferring to return to England +in the "Blanche" frigate, then on the point of sailing, in which he +obtained a passage by an application to the British consul. On the +arrival of the ship at Spithead, he immediately left her, and proceeded +to Manchester, his native town, which he had not seen since he first +went to sea in the year 1806.</p> + +<p>After his return to England Rutherford occasionally maintained himself +by accompanying a travelling caravan of wonders, showing his tattooing, +and telling something of his extraordinary adventures.</p> + +<p>The publisher of this volume had many conversations with him in January, +1829, when he was exhibited in London. He was evidently a person of +considerable quickness, and great powers of observation. He went over +every part of his journal, which was read to him, with considerable +care, explaining any difficulties, and communicating several points of +information, of which we have availed ourselves in the course of this +narrative.</p> + +<p>His manners were mild and courteous; he was fond of children, to whom he +appeared happy to explain the causes of his singular appearance and he +was evidently a man of very sober habits. He was pleased with the idea +of his adventures being published; and was delighted to have his +portrait painted, though he suffered much inconvenience in sitting to +the artist, with the upper part of his body uncovered, in a severe +frost.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole he seemed to have acquired a great deal of the frankness +and easy confidence of the people with whom he had been living, and was +somewhat out of his element amidst the constrained intercourse and +unvarying occupations of England. He greatly disliked being shown for +money, which he submitted to principally that he might acquire a sum, in +addition to what he received for his manuscript, to return to Otaheite.</p> + +<p>We have not heard of him since that time; and the probability is that he +has accomplished his wishes. He said that he should have no hesitation +in going to New Zealand; that his old companions would readily believe +that he had been carried away by force; that from his knowledge of their +customs, he could be most advantageously employed in trading with them; +and that, above all, if he were to take back a blacksmith with him, and +plenty of iron, he might acquire many of the most valuable productions +of the country, particularly tortoiseshell,<a name='FNanchor_CQ_95'></a><a href='#Footnote_CQ_95'><sup>[CQ]</sup></a> which he considered the +best object for an English commercial adventure.<a name='FNanchor_CR_96'></a><a href='#Footnote_CR_96'><sup>[CR]</sup></a></p> + +<p>Rutherford is not the only native of a civilized country whose fate it +has been to become resident for some time among the savages of New +Zealand. Besides his shipmates, who were taken prisoners along with him, +he himself, indeed, as we have seen, mentions two other individuals whom +he met with while in the country, one of whom had been eight years +there, and did not seem to have any wish to leave it.</p> + +<center> +<a name="img15"></a> +<img src='images/image15.png' width='450' height='134' alt='A Maori war canoe.' title=''> +</center> +<h5>A Maori war canoe.</h5> + +<p>Savage gives a short notice of a European who was living in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands when he was there in 1805. This +person, whose native country, or the circumstances that had induced him +to take up his abode where he then was, Savage could not discover, +shunned all intercourse with Europeans, and was wont to retire to the +interior whenever a ship approached the coast. The natives, however, +whose customs and manners he had adopted, spoke well of him; and Savage +often saw a New Zealand woman who lived with him, and one of their +children, which he represents as very far from exhibiting any +superiority either in mind or person over his associates of unmixed +breed. Its complexion was the same as that of the others, being +distinguished from them only by its light flaxen hair.</p> + +<p>Marsden, also, in a letter written in 1813 to the secretary of the +Church Missionary Society, mentions a young man, a native of America, +with whom he had conversed in New South Wales, and who had lived for +above a year with the New Zealanders.</p> + +<p>During all this time these savages, he said, had shown him the greatest +attention, and he would have been very glad to return to live among them +if he could have found any other Europeans to go with him.</p> + +<p>Since the Bay of Islands has become so much the resort of shipping, many +seamen have left their ships and taken up their residence of their own +accord among the natives. The "Missionary Reports" state that, about the +close of the year 1824, there were perhaps twenty men who had thus found +their way into the country, and were living on plunder; and that within +the year not less, it was supposed, than a hundred sailors had in the +same manner taken refuge for a time in the island.</p> + +<p>Although these men had all run away from their own ships, the captains +of other vessels touching at any part of the coast did not hesitate to +employ them when they wanted hands.</p> + +<p>Mawman, whom Rutherford met with at Kiperra, had, it will be +recollected, made his escape, according to his own account, from a sloop +of war. These fugitives, however, it would appear, do not always succeed +in establishing themselves among the natives. Cruise mentions one who, +having run away from the "Anne" whaler, hid himself at first in the +woods, but soon after came on board the "Dromedary" in a most miserable +state, beseeching to be taken on the strength of the ship.</p> + +<p>Convicts, too, occasionally make their escape to New Zealand, and +attempt to secrete themselves in the interior of the country. When the +"Active" was at the Bay of Islands in 1815, two men and a woman of this +description were sent on board to be taken back to New South Wales. The +woman, Nicholas says, was particularly dejected on being retaken; and it +was found that while on shore she had done everything in her power to +prevail upon one of the native females to assist her in her attempt to +conceal herself. Her friend, however, resisted all her entreaties; and +well knowing the hardships to which the poor creature would have exposed +herself, only replied to her importunate solicitations, "Me would, Mary, +but me got no tea, me got no sugar, no bed, no good things for you; me +grieve to see you, you cannot live like New Zealand woman, you cannot +sleep on the ground."</p> + +<p>The Rev. Mr. Butler, in March, 1821, found two convicts who had escaped +from a whaler, in the hands of one of the chiefs, who was just preparing +to put them to death. On Butler interfering and begging that their lives +might be spared, the New Zealanders replied: "They are nothing but +slaves and thieves; they look like bad men, and are very ragged; they do +not belong to you, and we think they are some of King George's bad +cookees." After a great deal of discussion, however, they yielded so far +to Butler's entreaties and arguments as to agree not to kill the two +men; but the chief insisted that they should go home with him and work +for him four months, after which he said that he would give them up to +any ship that would take them to "King George's farm at Port Jackson."</p> + +<p>When Nicholas was in New Zealand in 1815, he met with a Hindoo, who had +made his escape from Captain Patterson's ship, the "City of Edinburgh," +about five years before, and had been living among the natives ever +since. Compared with the New Zealanders, he looked, Nicholas says, like +a pigmy among giants. However, he had got so much attached to the +manners of his new associates that he declared he would much rather +remain where he was than return to his own country. He had married a +native woman, and was treated, he said, in the kindest manner by the New +Zealanders, who always supplied him with plenty of food without +compelling him to do more work than he chose. Nicholas offered him some +rice, but he intimated that he decidedly preferred fern-root.</p> + +<p>The circumstances of Rutherford's capture and detention in New Zealand +were but indifferently calculated to reconcile him to the new state of +society in which he was there compelled to mix, notwithstanding the rank +to which his superior intelligence and activity raised him.</p> + +<p>Though a chief, he was still a prisoner; and even all the favour with +which he had himself been treated could not make him forget the fate of +his companions, or the warning which it afforded him to how sudden or +slight an accident his own life might at any time fall a sacrifice. But +it is certain that, where no such sense of constraint is felt, not only +the notion, but even the reality, of savage life has a strong charm for +many minds. The insecurity and privation which attend upon it are deemed +but a slight counterbalance to the independence, the exemption from +regular labour, and above all the variety of adventure, which it +promises to ardent and reckless spirits.</p> + +<p>Generally, however, the Europeans that have adopted the life of the +savage have been men driven out from civilization, or disinclined to +systematic industry. They have not chosen the imaginary freedom and +security of barbarians, in contempt of the artificial restraints and +legal oppressions of a refined state of society, in the way that the +Greek did, whom Priscus found in the camp of Attila, declaring that he +lived more happily amongst the wild Scythians than ever he did under the +Roman government.</p> + +<p>But if those who have been accustomed to the comforts of civilization +have not infrequently felt the influence of the seductions which a +barbarous condition offers to an excited imagination, it may well be +conceived that, to the man who has been born a savage, and nurtured in +all the feelings and habits of that state of society, they must address +themselves with still more irresistible effect.</p> + +<p>We have many examples, accordingly, of how difficult it is to +extinguish, by any culture, either in an old or a young savage, his +innate passion for the wild life of his fathers.</p> + +<p>Tippahee's son, Matara, on his return from England, strove to regain an +acquaintance with his native customs. Moyhanger, Savage's friend, might +be quoted as another instance, in whom all the wonders and attractions +of London would appear not to have excited a wish to see it again. Nor +does any great preference for civilized life seem to have been produced +in other cases, by even a much longer experience of its accommodations.</p> + +<p>When Nicholas and Marsden visited New Zealand in 1815, they met at the +North Cape, where they first put on shore, a native of Otaheite, who had +been brought from his own country to Port Jackson when a boy of about +eleven or twelve years old. Here he had lived for some years in the +family of Mr. McArthur, where he had been treated with great kindness, +and brought up in all respects as an English boy would have been. Having +been sent to school he soon learned not only to speak English with +fluency, but to read and write it with very superior ability; and he +showed himself besides in everything remarkably tractable and obedient. +Yet nothing could wean him from his partiality to his original +condition; and he at last quitted the house of his protector, and +contrived to find his way to New Zealand. Here he settled among a people +even still more uncivilized than his own countrymen, and married the +daughter of one of the chiefs, to whose territories he had succeeded +when Nicholas met with him.</p> + +<p>Jem (that was the name by which he had been known at Port Jackson) was +then a young man of about twenty-three years of age. Unlike his brother +chiefs, he was cleanly in his person; and his countenance not being +tattooed, nor darker than that of a Spaniard, while his manners +displayed a European polish, it was only his dress that betokened the +savage.</p> + +<p>"His hair," says Nicholas, "which had been very carefully combed, was +tied up in a knot upon the crown of his head, and adorned with a long +white feather fancifully stuck in it; in his ears were large bunches of +the down of the gannet, white as the driven snow, and napping about his +cheeks with every gale. Like the natives, he wore the mat thrown over +his shoulders; but the one he had on was bordered with a deep Vandyke of +different colours, and gaily bedizened with the feathers of parrots and +other birds, reflecting at the same moment all the various shades in the +rainbow. He carried a musket in his hand, and had a martial and imposing +air about him, which was quite in character with the station he +maintained."</p> + +<p>He brought his wife with him in a canoe to the ship; and having known +Marsden well in New South Wales, was delighted to see that gentleman, +and proved of considerable use to him in his intercourse with the other +New Zealanders. Although not accustomed to speak English in his new +country, Jem had by no means forgotten that language. He had been on +three warlike expeditions to the East Cape in the course of the past +five years; but had gone, he said, only because he could not help it, +and had never assisted in devouring the prisoners. Dillon met both Jem +and the Hindoo, when he was at the Bay of Islands in July, 1827. The +former had his son with him, a boy about twelve years of age.</p> + +<p>These, and many other examples which might be added, exhibit the force +of habit which governs the actions of all men, whether in a savage or +civilized state. There are, of course, exceptions. When Cook left +Omai,<a name='FNanchor_CS_97'></a><a href='#Footnote_CS_97'><sup>[CS]</sup></a> during his last voyage, at Huaheine, with every provision for +his comfort, he earnestly begged to return to England. It was nothing +that a grant of land was made to him at the interposition of his English +friends, that a house was built and a garden planted for his use. He +wept bitter tears; for he was naturally afraid that his new riches would +make him an object of hatred to his countrymen. He was much caressed in +England; and he took back many valuable possessions and some knowledge. +But he was originally one of the common people; and he soon saw, +although he was not sensible of it at first, that without rank he could +obtain no authority. He forgot this, when he was away from the people +with whom he was to end his days; but he seemed to feel that he should +be insecure when his protector, Cook, had left their shores. He divided +his presents with the chiefs; and the great navigator threatened them +with his vengeance if Omai was molested. The reluctance of this man to +return to his original conditions was principally derived from these +considerations, which were to him of a strictly personal nature. The +picture which a popular poet has drawn of the feelings of Omai is very +beautiful, and in great part true as applied to him as an individual; +but it is not true of the mass of savages.</p> + +<p>The habits amidst which they were born may be modified by an intercourse +with civilized men, but they cannot be eradicated. The following is the +poetical passage to which we alluded. Omai had, altogether, a more +distinguished destiny than any other savage—he was cherished by Cook, +painted by Reynolds, and apostrophised by Cowper:—</p> + +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"The dream is past, and thou hast found again</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And homestall thatch'd with leaves. But hast thou found</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Their former charms? And, having seen our state,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And heard our music, are thy simple friends,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>As dear to thee as once? And have thy joys</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Lost nothing by comparison with ours?</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Rude as thou art (for we return'd thee rude</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And ignorant, except of outward show)</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And spiritless, as never to regret</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known.</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Methinks I see thee straying on the beach,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And asking of the surge that bathes thy foot,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>If ever it has wash'd our distant shore.</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>A patriot's for his country: thou art sad</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>At thought of her forlorn and abject state,</span><br /> +<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>From which no power of thine can raise her up."</span><br /> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<a name='Footnote_CO_93'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CO_93'>[CO]</a><div class='note'><p> Kaipuke, a ship.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CP_94'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CP_94'>[CP]</a><div class='note'><p> That is, Tasmania.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CQ_95'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CQ_95'>[CQ]</a><div class='note'><p> There are no tortoises in New Zealand.</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CR_96'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CR_96'>[CR]</a><div class='note'><p> Rutherford did not return to New Zealand, and nothing more +was heard of him. On December 5th, 1828, "The Australian," which 'was +published in Sydney, stated that a man named Rutherford, who had been +tattooed by the Maoris, and naturalized by them, was then in London, +practising the trade of a pickpocket, in the character of a New Zealand +chief, but that was before he supplied his story for "The New +Zealanders."</p></div> + +<a name='Footnote_CS_97'></a><a href='#FNanchor_CS_97'>[CS]</a><div class='note'><p> Omai was an islander, who was taken to England, where he +was lionized, and was afterwards taken back to the islands during Cook's +last voyage.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 13760-h.txt or 13760-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/7/6/13760</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/13760-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d97bf1a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image01.png b/old/13760-h/images/image01.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d1832c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image01.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image02.png b/old/13760-h/images/image02.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..82a6ba3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image02.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image03.png b/old/13760-h/images/image03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dff259f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image03.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image04.png b/old/13760-h/images/image04.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af27733 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image04.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image05.png b/old/13760-h/images/image05.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7276793 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image05.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image06.png b/old/13760-h/images/image06.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c27e363 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image06.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image07.png b/old/13760-h/images/image07.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c5f430 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image07.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image08.png b/old/13760-h/images/image08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..df29317 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image08.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image09.png b/old/13760-h/images/image09.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4270856 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image09.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image10.png b/old/13760-h/images/image10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5b6bc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image10.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image11.png b/old/13760-h/images/image11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b138f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image11.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image12.png b/old/13760-h/images/image12.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8816d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image12.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image13.png b/old/13760-h/images/image13.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a0b39b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image13.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image14.png b/old/13760-h/images/image14.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d5dfe4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image14.png diff --git a/old/13760-h/images/image15.png b/old/13760-h/images/image15.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4c915f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760-h/images/image15.png diff --git a/old/13760.txt b/old/13760.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d61cdcd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6054 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, John Rutherford, the White Chief, by George +Lillie Craik, et al, Edited by James Drummond + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: John Rutherford, the White Chief + +Author: George Lillie Craik + +Release Date: October 16, 2004 [eBook #13760] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF*** + + +E-text prepared by Michael Ciesielski and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 13760-h.htm or 13760-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760/13760-h/13760-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760/13760-h.zip) + + + + + +JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF + +A Story of Adventure in New Zealand + +Edited by + +JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: John Rutherford. From an original drawing taken in +1828.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + INTRODUCTION + CHAPTER I. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. + CHAPTER IX. + CHAPTER X. + CHAPTER XI. + CHAPTER XII. + CHAPTER XIII. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + John Rutherford + + A Maori's shoulder mat + + Short striking weapons (clubs) used by the Maoris + + Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of + Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place + + A door-lintel, showing Maori carving + + "Moko" on a man's face and on a woman's lips and chin + + Two Maori Chiefs--Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, + or "Dark House" + + Scene in a New Zealand Forest + + Flute of bone + + A waist-mat + + Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair + + Carved boxes + + Greenstone axes, with carved wooden bandies, and ornamented + with dogs' hair and birds' feathers + + Long striking and thrusting weapons used by the Maoris + + A Maori war-canoe + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Eighty years ago, when the story told in these pages was first +published, "forecastle yarns" were more thrilling than they are now. In +these days we look for information in regard to a new land's +capabilities for pastoral, agricultural, and commercial pursuits; in +those days it was customary, with a large portion of the British public, +at any rate, to expect sailors to tell stories + + Of the cannibals that each other eat, + The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads + Do grow beneath their shoulders, + +and to relate other particulars likely to arrest the attention and +excite the imagination. Men then sailed to unknown lands, peopled by +unknown barbarians, and their adventures in strange and mysterious +countries were clothed in a romance which has been almost completely +dispelled by the telegraph, the newspaper press, cheap books, and rapid +transit, and by the utilitarian ideas which have swept over the world. + +It was largely to meet the public taste for something wonderful and +striking that John Rutherford's story of adventures in New Zealand saw +the light of publicity. In fairness to the original editor and the +publisher, however, it should be stated that the story was given also as +a means of supplying interesting information in regard to a country and +a race of which very little was then known. It was embodied in a book of +400 pages, entitled "The New Zealanders," published in 1830, for the +Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by the famous publisher, +Charles Knight. + +He was a versatile, talented, and ambitious man; but all his ambitions +ran in the direction of the public good. From the time of his early +manhood, he wished to become a public instructor. At first he tried to +achieve his end by means of journalism, which he entered in 1812, by +reporting Parliamentary debates for "The Globe" and "The British Press," +two London journals. Later on he started a publishing business in +London. Dealing only with instructive subjects, he established "Knight's +Quarterly Magazine," and other periodicals, to which he was one of the +prominent contributors. + +He was not a business man, and in 1828 he was overwhelmed by financial +difficulties. In the meantime he had become acquainted with the +brilliant but erratic Lord Brougham, who had completed arrangements for +putting into operation one of his great enterprises for educating the +masses. This was the establishment of the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge. It began a series of publications under the title of +"The Library of Entertaining Knowledge," which Knight published. The +first volume, written by Knight himself, was "The Menageries"; the +second was "The New Zealanders." Other publications were issued by the +society until it was dissolved in 1846. Knight continued to send works +out of the press nearly to the end of his useful life, in March, 1873. +Some of these were written by himself, some by friends, and some were +translations. His "Penny Magazine," at the end of its first year, had a +sale of 200,000 copies. Amongst his other publications are Lane's +"Arabian Nights," "The Pictorial Bible," "The Pictorial History of +England," and--the object of his highest ambition--"The Pictorial +Shakespeare." In "Passages of a Working Life," he wrote his own +biography. In spite of his strenuous life he died a poor man. He was an +enthusiast, but his impetuous nature induced him to attempt to carry out +his schemes before they had matured. He had a quick temper and an +eloquent tongue. The esteem in which he was held by his friends is shown +by the admirable jest with which Douglas Jerrold took leave of him one +evening at a social gathering. "Good Knight," Jerrold said. + +The "New Zealanders" was published anonymously, and for many years the +authorship was attributed to Lord Brougham. There is no doubt now, +however, that the author was George Lillie Craik, a scholar and a man of +letters. He was born at Kennoway, Fife, in 1798. He studied at St. +Andrew's, and went through a divinity course, but never applied to be +licensed as a preacher. Like Knight, he was attracted by journalism, +which he regarded as a means of instructing the public. When he was only +twenty years of age he was editor of "The Star," a local newspaper. In +London he adopted authorship as a profession. In 1849, he was appointed +Professor of English Literature and History at the Queen's College, +Belfast, and later on, although he still resided at Belfast, he became +examiner for the Indian Civil Service. All his literary work is +distinguished by careful research. Perhaps his best effort is +represented by "The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties," published +in the same year as "The New Zealanders." With a colleague he edited +"The Pictorial History of England," in four volumes. Amongst his other +works are "A Romance of the Peerage," "Spencer and his Poetry," "A +History of Commerce," "The English of Shakespeare," and "Bacon, his +Writings and Philosophy." He had a flowing and cultured style, and he +embellished his work with many references to the classics. He was one of +the best read men of his time. His extensive reading and the simplicity +of his style made him a very welcome contributor to the "Penny +Magazine," the "Penny Cyclopaedia," and other popular publications. He +had a paralytic stroke while lecturing in Belfast in February, 1866, +and he died in June of the same year. It is said of him that he was +popular with students and welcome in society. + +It is not known if Craik met Rutherford. He probably did not. He may +have had "The New Zealanders" partly written when the manuscript +describing Rutherford's adventures was placed in his hands. In that +case, he wove it into his book, using it as a means of illustrating his +remarks on the Maoris' customs. His work bears the stamp of honesty and +industrious care. He collected all the information dealing with New +Zealand available at the time, and he produced a fairly large book, +which, for many years after it was published, must have been a valuable +contribution to the public's store of "entertaining knowledge." + +Rutherford, as his narrative shows, was ten years amongst the Maoris. He +was an ignorant sailor. He could not write, and the account of his +adventures, it is explained, was dictated to a friend while he was on +the voyage back to England. Craik says that if allowance is made for +some grammatical solecisms, the story, as it appeared in the manuscript, +was told with great clearness, and sometimes with considerable spirit. +Knight evidently knew him, as it is stated in "The New Zealanders" that +"the publisher of this volume had many conversations with him when he +was exhibited in London." It is probable, too, that Brougham knew him. +Brougham, indeed, may have "discovered" him and introduced him to +Knight. Rutherford was just the kind of man in whose company Brougham +delighted to spend hours. He would listen to the recital of the +thrilling adventures with the Maoris with breathless interest. A story +told of the madcap days of Brougham's youth gives some idea of the +welcome he would extend to Rutherford. One evening, after Brougham and +some other gay spirits had supped together in London, they saw a mob of +idle scoundrels beating an unfortunate woman with brutal ferocity. The +young fellows went to her rescue. Their interference increased the +tumult, and all the watchmen in the neighbourhood were soon about their +ears. In return for their chivalry they were lodged in the watch-house. +Amongst their fellow-prisoners there was an old sailor, who sat cowering +over the embers of the fire. He had been in the American War. Brougham +picked up an acquaintance with him, and all night long the young man +held the old one in conversation, ascertaining the strength of the +forces in the engagements, the scenes of the battles, the nature of the +manoeuvres, the advances and reverses, and so on, until his +avariciousness for knowledge was satisfied. + +Neither Brougham nor Knight, nor even Craik, had sufficient means of +testing the accuracy of Rutherford's story. Unfortunately there are many +points on which the narrative is not only inaccurate but misleading. +Craik concludes that Poverty Bay, where Cook first landed in New +Zealand, is the scene of the capture of the "Agnes." Rutherford, +however, gives the name as "Tokomardo." This corresponds with a bay some +miles further north, and about forty miles from the East Cape. The +Maoris call it Tokomaru, which Rutherford evidently intended. His +description of the place might represent Tokomaru almost as well as +Poverty Bay. The strangest part of the affair, however, is that the +Maoris on that coast have no knowledge whatever of the "Agnes," the +vessel which, according to Rutherford, was captured in the bay he +describes. Eighty years ago the arrival of a vessel at New Zealand was +an advent of the utmost importance. The news spread throughout the land +with surprising rapidity, and whole tribes flocked to the port to see +the "Pakehas" and trade for their iron implements and guns. The Maoris +of the district know of three white men, whom they called Riki, Punga, +and Tapore, who lived amongst them for some time in the early days, +before colonization began; but they have no knowledge of Rutherford. The +chiefs to whom Rutherford frequently refers did not belong to that +district. The chief who takes the principal part in the story, "Aimy," +cannot be traced. The name is spelt wrongly, and it is difficult to +supply a Maori name that the spelling in the book might represent. This +is surprising, as the Maoris are very careful in regard to their +genealogical records.[A] While Rutherford was in New Zealand some +terrible slaughters took place in the Poverty Bay district, but he does +not refer to these, although they must have been one of the principal +subjects of conversation amongst the Maoris for months, perhaps years. + +Near the end of the narrative, Rutherford gives an account of a great +battle, in which the chief Hongi was a prominent figure. His description +of what took place is incorrect in several respects. Victory went to +Hongi, not, as Rutherford says, to the people of Kaipara and their +allies, although they were victorious in the first skirmish. The battle +is known as Te Ika-a-rangi-nui, that is the Great Fish of the Sky or the +Milky Way, and it took place in February, 1825. As Rutherford states, +Hongi was present, and wore the famous coat of mail armour which had +been given to him by His Majesty King George IV. when he was in England +in 1820. The strife was caused not by an attempt to steal Hongi's +armour, as Rutherford suggests, but by a thirst for revenge for the +death of a chief of the Nga-Puhi tribe, to which Hongi belonged. The +chief Whare-umu, evidently identical with "Ewarree-hum" in Rutherford's +narrative, did not belong to the party that Rutherford was connected +with; he was related to the man whose murder was avenged, and seems to +have been Hongi's first lieutenant. Some authorities, notably Bishop +Williams, of Waiapu,[B] and Mr. Percy Smith,[C] believe that Rutherford +was not present at the battle, and that he obtained all his information +from others. Bishop Williams, who knows the Poverty Bay district as well +as anyone, has come to the conclusion that Rutherford must have spent +his years in New Zealand in the Bay of Islands district; and Mr Percy +Smith, in a letter to me, says that he has always entertained the idea +that Rutherford was one of the men taken when the schooner "Brothers" +was attacked at Kennedy Bay in 1815. Bishop Williams sets up the theory +that Rutherford was a deserter from a vessel which visited New Zealand, +that he induced the Maoris to tattoo him in order that he might escape +detection after he had returned to civilization, and that he concocted +the story of the capture of the "Agnes" to account for his reappearance +amongst Europeans. The weakness of this theory is that he evidently did +not object to publicity, and that the tattooing would make him a +conspicuous man who could not avoid public attention. If Bishop Williams +is right in assuming that Rutherford wished to escape detection, he +took the very best course to defeat his object. + +Whatever Rutherford's object may have been, and whether he deceived the +author and publisher of "The New Zealanders," or merely erred through +ignorance and lack of observation, there is no doubt that he spent some +years with the Maoris in the northern part of New Zealand. His tattooed +face is sufficient evidence of that. The pattern is the Maori "moko." +The tattooing on his breast, stomach, and arms, however, is not the work +of Maoris; that was done, probably, by natives at some of the islands, +or by sailors. I hardly think that those who read the narrative will +agree with Bishop Williams's opinion that it is "a mere romance." It is +more like the story of an ignorant, unobservant, careless sailor, who +entertained no idea that any importance would be attached to his +statements. Many mistakes were probably made in the work of dictating +the narrative to a fellow-sailor. If Rutherford had been bent upon +making a romantic story, he would have told it in a different form. +There is no straining after effect in the manuscript reproduced by +Craik. The faults are inaccuracies, not exaggerations. Some excuse may +be found for Rutherford's mistakes in the description of the battle Te +Ika-a-rangi-nui in the fact that modern Maori scholars cannot agree on +important details, there being differences of opinion in regard to +even the year in which the battle was fought. + +[Illustration: A Maori's shoulder mat _Christchurch Museum_.] + +It is felt that, with all its blemishes, the story has a good claim to +be included in the list of New Zealand works that are now being +reprinted by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, to whom the people of New +Zealand are deeply indebted. When Mr. Whitcombe first asked me to edit +Rutherford's story for his firm, I proposed to take it alone, leaving +out all the rest of Craik's work in "The New Zealanders." On reading the +book again I came to the conclusion that many of Craik's remarks, +although discursive at times, are sufficiently interesting to be read +now, and I have included in the reprint a large portion of his original +writings. I have retained his spelling of Maori words, but have made +many corrections in footnotes. The book is not sent out as an authentic +account of the Maoris. "The New Zealanders" was the first book that +attempted to deal with them, and it has been superseded by many which +have been written in the light of more extensive knowledge, and in them +students will find results of much patient study and research. + +JAMES DRUMMOND. + +Christchurch, + +February 13th, 1908. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: At my request, Mr. S. Percy Smith, the author of "Hawaiki, +the Original Home of the Maori," endeavoured to trace "Aimy," but even +his extensive knowledge of the Maori language and tribal histories +failed to bring that man to light. Mr. Smith explains that "Ai" in +Rutherford's spelling represents "E," a vocative, in the accepted method +of spelling, and "my" represents "mai." The two words, combined, would +be "E Mai." In this way, "Mai's" attention would be called. But "Mai" +may be the first, second, or third syllable of a man's name, according +to euphony. The name supplied in the narrative, therefore, is no guide +in a search for Rutherford's friendly chief.] + +[Footnote B: Transactions New Zealand Institute, volume xxiii., page +453.] + +[Footnote C: "Journal of the Polynesian Society," volume x., page 35.] + + + + +JOHN RUTHERFORD + +THE WHITE CHIEF. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +John Rutherford, according to his own account, was born at Manchester +about the year 1796. He went to sea, he states, when he was hardly more +than ten years of age, having up to that time been employed as a piecer +in a cotton factory in his native town; and after that he appears to +have been but little in England, or even on shore, for many years. + +He served for a considerable time on board a man-of-war off the coast of +Brazil; and was afterwards at the storming of San Sebastian, in August, +1813. On coming home from Spain, he entered himself on board another +king's ship, bound for Madras, in which he afterwards proceeded to China +by the east passage, and lay for about a year at Macao. + +In the course of this voyage his ship touched at several islands in the +great Indian Archipelago, among others at the Bashee Islands,[D] which +have been rarely visited. On his return from the east he embarked on +board a convict vessel bound for New South Wales; and afterwards made +two trading voyages among the islands of the South Sea. + +It was in the course of the former of these that he first saw New +Zealand, the vessel having touched at the Bay of Islands, on her way +home to Port Jackson. + +His second trading voyage in those seas was made in the "Magnet," a +three-masted schooner, commanded by Captain Vine; but this vessel having +put in at Owhyhee,[E] Rutherford fell sick and was left on that island. +Having recovered, however, in about a fortnight, he was taken on board +the "Agnes," an American brig of six guns and fourteen men, commanded by +Captain Coffin, which was then engaged in trading for pearl and +tortoiseshell among the islands of the Pacific. + +This vessel, after having touched at various other places, on her return +from Owhyhee, approached the east coast of New Zealand, intending to put +in for refreshments at the Bay of Islands. + +Rutherford states in his journal that this event, which was to him of +such importance, occurred on March 6th, 1816. They first came in sight +of the Barrier Islands, some distance to the south of the port for which +they were making. They accordingly directed their course to the north; +but they had not got far on their way when it began to blow a gale from +the north-east, which, being aided by a current, not only made it +impossible for them to proceed to the Bay of Islands, but even carried +them past the mouth of the Thames. It lasted for five days, and when it +abated they found themselves some distance to the south of a high point +of land, which, from Rutherford's description, there can be no doubt +must have been that to which Captain Cook gave the name of East Cape. +Rutherford calls it sometimes the East, and sometimes the South-East +Cape, and describes it as the highest part of the coast. It lies nearly +in latitude 37 deg. 42' S. + +The land directly opposite to them was indented by a large bay. This the +captain was very unwilling to enter, believing that no ship had ever +anchored in it before. We have little doubt, however, that this was the +very bay into which Cook first put, on his arrival on the coasts of New +Zealand, in the beginning of October, 1769. He called it Poverty Bay, +and found it to lie in latitude 38 deg. 42' S. The bay in which Rutherford +now was must have been at least very near this part of the coast; and +his description answers exactly to that which Cook gives of Poverty Bay. + +It was, says Rutherford, in the form of a half-moon, with a sandy beach +round it, and at its head a fresh-water river, having a bar across its +mouth, which makes it navigable only for boats. He mentions also the +height of the land which forms its sides. All these particulars are +noticed by Cook. Even the name given to it by the natives, as reported +by the one, is not so entirely unlike that stated by the other, as to +make it quite improbable that the two are merely the same word +differently misrepresented. Cook writes it Taoneroa, and Rutherford +Takomardo. The slightest examination of the vocabularies of barbarous +tongues, which have been collected by voyagers and travellers, will +convince every one of the extremely imperfect manner in which the ear +catches sounds to which it is unaccustomed, and of the mistakes to which +this and other causes give rise, in every attempt which is made to take +down the words of a language from the native pronunciation, by a person +who does not understand it. + +Reluctant as the captain was to enter this bay, from his ignorance of +the coast, and the doubts he consequently felt as to the disposition of +the inhabitants, they at last determined to stand in for it, as they had +great need of water, and did not know when the wind might permit them to +get to the Bay of Islands. + +They came to anchor, accordingly, off the termination of a reef of +rocks, immediately under some elevated land, which formed one of the +sides of the bay. As soon as they had dropped anchor, a great many +canoes came off to the ship from every part of the bay, each containing +about thirty women, by whom it was paddled. Very few men made their +appearance that day; but many of the women remained on board all night, +employing themselves chiefly in stealing whatever they could lay their +hands on. Their conduct greatly alarmed the captain, and a strict watch +was kept during the night. + +The next morning one of the chiefs came on board, whose name they were +told was Aimy, in a large war-canoe, about sixty feet long, and carrying +above a hundred of the natives, all provided with quantities of mats and +fishing-lines, made of the strong white flax[F] of the country, with +which they professed to be anxious to trade with the crew. + +After this chief had been for some time on board, it was agreed that he +should return to the land, with some others of his tribe, in the ship's +boat, to procure a supply of water. This arrangement the captain was +very anxious to make, as he was averse from allowing any of the crew to +go on shore, wishing to keep them all on board for the protection of the +ship. + +In due time the boat returned, laden with water, which was immediately +hoisted on board; and the chief and his men were despatched a second +time on the same errand. Meanwhile, the rest of the natives continued to +take pigs to the ship in considerable numbers; and by the close of the +day about two hundred had been purchased, together with a quantity of +fern-root to feed them on. + +Up to this time, therefore, no hostile disposition had been manifested +by the savages; and their intercourse with the ship had been carried on +with every appearance of friendship and cordiality, if we except the +propensity they had shown to pilfer a few of the tempting rarities +exhibited to them by their civilised visitors. Their conduct as to this +matter ought perhaps to be taken rather as an evidence that they had not +as yet formed any design of attacking the vessel, as they would, in that +case, scarcely have taken the trouble of stealing a small part of what +they meant immediately to seize upon altogether. On the other hand, such +an infraction of the rules of hospitality would not have accorded with +that system of insidious kindness by which it is their practice to lull +the suspicions of those whom they are on the watch to destroy. + +During the night, however, the thieving was renewed, and carried to a +more alarming extent, inasmuch as it was found in the morning that some +of the natives had not only stolen the lead off the ship's stern, but +had also cut away many of the ropes, and carried them off in their +canoes. It was not till daybreak, too, that the chief returned with his +second cargo of water; and it was then observed that the ship's boat he +had taken with him leaked a great deal; on which the carpenter examined +her, and found that a great many of the nails had been drawn out of her +planks. + +About the same time, Rutherford detected one of the natives in the act +of stealing the dipson lead,--"which, when I took it from him," says he, +"he grinded his teeth and shook his tomahawk at me." + +"The captain," he continues, "now paid the chief for fetching the water, +giving him two muskets, and a quantity of powder and shot, arms and +ammunition being the only articles these people will trade for. + +"There were at this time about three hundred of the natives on the deck, +with Aimy, the chief, in the midst of them; every man was armed with a +green stone, slung with a string around his waist. This weapon they call +a 'mery,'[G] the stone being about a foot long, flat, and of an oblong +shape, having both edges sharp, and a handle at the end. They use it for +the purpose of killing their enemies, by striking them on the head. + +"Smoke was now observed rising from several of the hills; and the +natives appearing to be mustering on the beach from every part of the +bay, the captain grew much afraid, and desired us to loosen the sails, +and make haste down to get our dinners, as he intended to put to sea +immediately. As soon as we had dined, we went aloft, and I proceeded to +loosen the jib. At this time, none of the crew was on deck except the +captain and the cook, the chief mate being employed in loading some +pistols at the cabin table. + +"The natives seized this opportunity of commencing an attack upon the +ship. First, the chief threw off the mat which he wore as a cloak, and, +brandishing a tomahawk in his hand, began a war-song, when all the rest +immediately threw off their mats likewise, and, being entirely naked, +began to dance with such violence that I thought they would have stove +in the ship's deck. + +"The captain, in the meantime, was leaning against the companion, when +one of the natives went unperceived behind him, and struck him three or +four blows on the head with a tomahawk, which instantly killed him. The +cook, on seeing him attacked, ran to his assistance, but was immediately +murdered in the same manner. + +"I now sat down on the jib-boom, with tears in my eyes, and trembling +with terror. + +"Here I next saw the chief mate come running up the companion ladder, +but before he reached the deck he was struck on the back of the neck in +the same manner as the captain and the cook had been. He fell with the +blow, but did not die immediately. + +"A number of the natives now rushed in at the cabin door, while others +jumped down through the skylight, and others were employed in cutting +the lanyards of the rigging of the stays. At the same time, four of our +crew jumped overboard off the foreyard, but were picked up by some +canoes that were coming from the shore, and immediately bound hand and +foot. + +"The natives now mounted the rigging, and drove the rest of the crew +down, all of whom were made prisoners. One of the chiefs beckoned to me +to come to him, which I immediately did, and surrendered myself. We were +then put all together into a large canoe, our hands being tied; and the +New Zealanders, searching us, took from us our knives, pipes, +tobacco-boxes, and various other articles. The two dead bodies, and the +wounded mate, were thrown into the canoe along with us. The mate groaned +terribly, and seemed in great agony, the tomahawk having cut two inches +deep into the back of his neck; and all the while one of the natives, +who sat in the canoe with us, kept licking the blood from the wound with +his tongue. Meantime, a number of women who had been left in the ship +had jumped overboard, and were swimming to the shore, after having cut +her cable, so that she drifted, and ran aground on the bar near the +mouth of the river. The natives had not sense to shake the reefs out of +the sails, but had chopped them off along the yards with their +tomahawks, leaving the reefed part behind. + +"The pigs, which we had bought from them, were, many of them, killed on +board, and carried ashore dead in the canoes, and others were thrown +overboard alive, and attempted to swim to the land; but many of them +were killed in the water by the natives, who got astride on their backs, +and then struck them on the head with their merys. Many of the canoes +came to the land loaded with plunder from the ship; and numbers of the +natives quarrelled about the division of the spoil, and fought and slew +each other. I observed, too, that they broke up our water-casks for the +sake of the iron hoops. + +"While all this was going on, we were detained in the canoe; but at +last, when the sun was set, they conveyed us on shore to one of the +villages, where they tied us by the hands to several small trees. The +mate had expired before we got on shore, so that there now remained only +twelve of us alive. The three dead bodies were then brought forward, and +hung up by the heels to the branch of a tree, in order that the dogs +might not get at them. A number of large fires were also kindled on the +beach, for the purpose of giving light to the canoes, which were +employed all night in going backward and forward between the shore and +the ship, although it rained the greater part of the time. + +"Gentle reader," Rutherford continues, "we will now consider the sad +situation we were in; our ship lost, three of our companions already +killed, and the rest of us tied each to a tree, starving with hunger, +wet, and cold, and knowing that we were in the hands of cannibals. + +"The next morning, I observed that the surf had driven the ship over the +bar, and she was now in the mouth of the river, and aground near the end +of the village. Everything being now out of her, about ten o'clock in +the morning they set fire to her; after which they all mustered together +on an unoccupied piece of ground near the village, where they remained +standing for some time; but at last they all sat down except five, who +were chiefs, for whom a large ring was left vacant in the middle. The +five chiefs, of whom Aimy was one, then approached the place where we +were, and after they had stood consulting for some time, Aimy released +me and another, and, taking us into the middle of the ring, made signs +for us to sit down, which we did. In a few minutes, the other four +chiefs came also into the ring, bringing along with them four more of +our men, who were made to sit down beside us. + +"The chiefs now walked backward and forward in the ring with their merys +in their hands, and continued talking together for some time, but we +understood nothing of what they said. The rest of the natives were all +the while very silent, and seemed to listen to them with great +attention. At length, one of the chiefs spoke to one of the natives who +was seated on the ground, and the latter immediately rose, and, taking +his tomahawk in his hand, went and killed the other six men who were +tied to the trees. They groaned several times as they were struggling in +the agonies of death, and at every groan the natives burst out in great +fits of laughter. + +"We could not refrain from weeping for the sad fate of our comrades, not +knowing, at the same time, whose turn it might be next. Many of the +natives, on seeing our tears, laughed aloud, and brandished their merys +at us. + +"Some of them now proceeded to dig eight large round holes, each about a +foot deep, into which they afterwards put a great quantity of dry wood, +and covered it over with a number of stones. They then set fire to the +wood, which continued burning till the stones became red hot. In the +meantime, some of them were employed in stripping the bodies of my +deceased shipmates, which they afterwards cut up, for the purpose of +cooking them, having first washed them in the river, and then brought +them and laid them down on several green boughs which had been broken +off the trees and spread on the ground, near the fires, for that +purpose. + +"The stones being now red hot, the largest pieces of the burning wood +were pulled from under them and thrown away, and some green bushes, +having been first dipped in water, were laid round their edges, while +they were at the same time covered over with a few green leaves. The +mangled bodies were then laid upon the top of the leaves, with a +quantity of leaves also strewed over them; and after this a straw mat +was spread over the top of each hole. Lastly, about three pints of water +were poured upon each mat, which, running through to the stones, caused +a great steam, and then the whole was instantly covered with earth. + +"They afterwards gave us some roasted fish to eat, and three women were +employed in roasting fern-root for us. When they had roasted it, they +laid it on a stone, and beat it with a piece of wood, until it became +soft like dough. When cold again, however, it becomes hard, and snaps +like gingerbread. We ate but sparingly of what they gave us. After this +they took us to a house, and gave each of us a mat and some dried grass +to sleep upon. Here we spent the night, two of the chiefs sleeping along +with us. + +"We got up next morning as soon as it was daylight, as did also the two +chiefs, and went and sat down outside the house. Here we found a number +of women busy in making baskets of green flax, into some of which, when +they were finished, the bodies of our messmates, which had been cooking +all night, were put, while others were filled with potatoes, which had +been prepared by a similar process. + +"I observed some of the children tearing the flesh from the bones of our +comrades, before they were taken from the fires. A short time after this +the chiefs assembled, and, having seated themselves on the ground, the +baskets were placed before them and they proceeded to divide the flesh +among the multitude, at the rate of a basket among so many. They also +sent us a basket of potatoes and some of the flesh, which resembled +pork; but instead of partaking of it we shuddered at the very idea of +such an unnatural and horrid custom, and made a present of it to one of +the natives." + +According to this account, the editor says, the attack made upon the +"Agnes" would seem to have been altogether unprovoked by the conduct +either of the captain or any of the crew; but we must not, in matters of +this kind, assume that we are in possession of the whole truth, when we +have heard the statement of only one of the parties. What may have been +the exact nature of the offence given to the natives in the present +case, the narrative we have just transcribed hardly gives us any data +even for conjecturing; unless we are to suppose that their vindictive +feelings were called forth by the manner in which their pilfering may +have been resented or punished, about which, however, nothing is said in +the account. But perhaps, after all, it is not necessary to refer +their hostility to any immediate cause of this kind. These savages had +probably many old injuries, sustained from former European visitors, yet +unrevenged; and, according to their notions, therefore, they had reason +enough to hold every ship that approached their coast an enemy, and a +fair subject for spoliation. It is lamentable that the conduct of +Europeans should have offered them an excuse for such conduct. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum_. + + 1. Club (_patu_) of wood, inlaid with _paua_ shell and carved. + 2. Greenstone club (_mere pounanu_). + 3. Club (_onewa_) of stone. + 4. _Kotiate_ of wood or bone.] + +The wanton cruelties committed upon these people by the commanders and +crews of many of the vessels that have been of late years in the habit +of resorting to their shores, are testified to, by too many evidences, +to allow us to doubt the enormous extent to which they have been +carried; and they are, at the same time, too much in the spirit of that +systematic aggression and violence, which even British sailors are apt +to conceive themselves entitled to practise upon naked and unarmed +savages, to make the fact of their perpetration a matter of surprise to +us. We must refer to Mr. Nicholas's book[H] for many specific instances +of such atrocities; but we may merely mention here that the conduct in +question is distinctly noticed and denounced in the strongest terms, +both in a proclamation by Governor Macquarie, dated the 9th of November, +1814, and also in another by Sir Thomas Brisbane, dated the 17th of +May, 1824. So strong a feeling, indeed, had been excited upon this +subject among the more respectable inhabitants of the English colony, +that, in the year 1814, a society was formed in Sydney Town, with the +Governor at its head, for the especial protection of the natives of the +South Sea Islands against the oppressions practised upon them by the +crews of European vessels. + +The reports of the missionaries likewise abound in notices of the +flagrant barbarities by which, in New Zealand, as well as elsewhere, the +white man has signalised his superiority over his darker-complexioned +brother. But it may be enough to quote one of their statements, namely, +that within the first two or three years after the establishment of the +society's settlement at the Bay of Islands, not less than a hundred at +least of the natives had been murdered by Europeans in their immediate +neighbourhood. With such facts on record, it ought indeed to excite but +little of our surprise, that the sight of the white man's ship in their +horizon should be to these injured people in every district the signal +for a general muster, to meet the universal foe, and, if it may be +accomplished by force or cunning, to gratify the great passion of savage +life--revenge. + +The circumstances of this attack are all illustrative of the New Zealand +character; and, indeed, the whole narrative is strikingly accordant +with the accounts we have from other sources of the manner in which +these savages are wont to act on such occasions, although there +certainly never has before appeared so minute and complete a detail of +any similar transaction. The gathering of the inland population by fires +lighted on the hills, the previous crowding and almost complete +occupation of the vessel, the sly and patient watching for the moment of +opportunity, the instant seizure of it when it came, the management of +the whole with such precision and skill, as in the case of the +"Boyd,"[I] and indeed in every other known instance, while the success +of the movement was perfect--this result was obtained without the +expense of so much as a drop of blood on the part of the assailants--all +these things are the uniform accompaniments of New Zealand treachery +when displayed in such enterprises. + +The rule of military tactics among this people is, in the first place, +if possible, to surprise their enemies; and, in the second, to endeavour +to alarm and confound them. This latter is doubtless partly the purpose +of the song and dance, which form with them the constant prelude to the +assault, although these vehement expressions of passion operate also +powerfully as excitements to their own sanguinary valour and contempt +of death. + +Rutherford's description of the violence with which they danced on board +the ship in the present case, immediately before commencing their attack +on the crew, reminds us strikingly, even by its expression, of the +account Crozet gives us, in his narrative of the voyage of M. Marion, of +their exhibitions of a similar sort even when they were only in sport. +"They would often dance," says he "with such fury when on board the ship +that we feared they would drive in our deck." + +The alleged cannibalism of the New Zealanders is a subject that has +given rise to a good deal of controversy; and it has been even very +recently contended that the imputation, if not altogether unfounded, is +very nearly so, and that the horrid practice in question, if it does +exist among these people at all, has certainly never been carried beyond +the mere act of tasting human flesh, in obedience to some feeling of +superstition or frantic revenge, and even that perpetrated only rarely +and with repugnance. + +Without attempting to theorise as to such a matter on the ground of such +narrow views as ordinary experience would suggest, we may here state +what the evidence is which we really have for the cannibalism of the New +Zealanders. + +Cook was the first who discovered the fact, which he did in his first +visit to the country. The strongest proof of all was that which was +obtained in Queen Charlotte Sound. Captain Cook having one day gone +ashore here, accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, Tupia, and other +persons belonging to the ship, found a family of the natives employed in +dressing some provisions. + +"The body of a dog," says Cook, "was at this time buried in their oven, +and many provision baskets stood near it. Having cast our eyes +carelessly into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty +cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, +upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body. At +this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation +of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast. As we +could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any +doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten. They were found +in a provision-basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to +have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end were the marks +of the teeth which had gnawed them. + +"To put an end, however, to conjecture founded upon circumstances and +appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the +Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man. +They were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied +that they had eaten it; 'but,' said Tupia, 'why did you not eat the body +of the woman we saw floating upon the water?' 'The woman,' said they, +'died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the +bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle.' + +"Upon inquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us +that, about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came +into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one of +seven whom they had killed. + +"Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the +inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still +stronger to give. One of us asked if they had any human bones with the +flesh remaining upon them; and upon their answering us that all had been +eaten, we affected to disbelieve that the bones were human, and said +that they were the bones of a dog; upon which one of the Indians, with +some eagerness, took hold of his own forearm, and thrusting it towards +us, said that the bone which Mr. Banks held in his hand had belonged to +that part of a human body; at the same time, to convince us that the +flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm with his teeth, and +made a show of eating. He also bit and gnawed the bone which Mr. Banks +had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and showing by signs that it +had afforded a delicious repast. Some others of them, in a conversation +with Tupia next day, confirmed all this in the fullest manner; and they +were afterwards in the habit of bringing human bones, the flesh of which +they had eaten, and offering them to the English for sale." + +When Cook was at the same place in November, 1773, in the course of his +second voyage, he obtained still stronger evidence of what he expressly +calls their "great liking for this kind of food," his former account of +their indulgence in which had been discredited, he tells us, by many. +Some of the officers of the ship having gone one afternoon on shore, +observed the head and bowels of a youth, who had been lately killed, +lying on the beach; and one of them, having purchased the head, brought +it on board. A piece of the flesh having then been broiled and given to +one of the natives, he ate it immediately in the presence of all the +officers and most of the men. Nothing is said of any aversion he seemed +to feel to the shocking repast. Nay, when, upon Cook's return on board, +for he had been at this time absent on shore, another piece of the flesh +was broiled and brought to the quarter-deck, that he also might be an +eye-witness of what his officers had already seen, one of the New +Zealanders, he tells us, "ate it with surprising avidity. This," he +adds, "had such an effect on some of our people as to make them sick." + +Of the persons who sailed with Cook, no one seems eventually to have +retained a doubt as to the prevalence of cannibalism among these +savages. Mr. Burney, who had been long sceptical, was at last convinced +of the fact, by what he observed when he went to look after the crew of +the "Adventure's" boat who had been killed in Grass Cove; and both the +elder and the younger Forster, who accompanied Cook on his second +voyage, express their participation in the general belief. John Ledyard, +who was afterwards distinguished as an adventurous African traveller, +but who sailed with Cook in the capacity of a corporal of marines, bears +testimony to the same fact. + +It thus appears that the testimony of those who have actually visited +New Zealand, in so far as it has been recorded, is unanimous upon this +head. + +To the authorities that have been already adduced, may be now added that +of Rutherford, whose evidence, both in the extract from his journal that +has been already given, and in other passages to which we shall +afterwards have occasion to refer, is in perfect accordance with the +statements of all preceding reporters entitled to speak upon the +subject. The facts that have been quoted would seem to show that the +eating of human flesh among this people is not merely an occasional +excess, prompted only by the phrenzy of revenge, but that it is actually +resorted to as a gratification of appetite, as well as of passion. + +It is very probable, however, that the practice may have had its origin +in those vindictive feelings which mix, to so remarkable a degree, in +all the enmities and wars of these savages. This is a much more likely +supposition than that it originated in the difficulty of procuring other +food, in which case, as has been remarked, it could not well have, at +any time, sprung up either in New Zealand or in almost any other of the +countries in which it is known to prevail. Certain superstitious +notions, besides, which are connected with it among this people, +sufficiently indicate the motives which must have first led to it; for +they believe that, by eating their enemies, they not only dishonour +their bodies, but consign their souls to perpetual misery. This is +stated by Cook. + +Other accounts, which we have from more recent authorities, concur in +showing that the person who eats any part of the body of another whom he +has slain in battle, fancies he secures to himself thereby a portion of +the valour or good fortune which had hitherto belonged to his dead +enemy. The most common occasion, too, on which slaves are slain and +eaten is by way of an offering to the "_mana_" of a chief or any of his +family who may have been cut off in battle. + +All this would go to prove that the cannibalism of the New Zealanders +had, on its first introduction, been intimately associated with certain +feelings or notions which seemed to demand the act as a duty, and not +at all with any circumstances of distress or famine which compelled a +resort to it as a dire necessity. There is too much reason for +apprehending, however, that the unnatural repast, having ceased in this +way to be regarded with that disgust with which it is turned from by +every unpolluted appetite, has now become an enjoyment in which they not +unfrequently indulge without any reference to the considerations which +originally tempted them to partake of it. Indeed, such a result, instead +of being incredible or improbable, would appear to be almost an +inevitable consequence of the general and systematic perpetration, under +any pretext, of so daring an outrage upon Nature as that of which these +savages are, on all hands, allowed to be guilty. + +The practice of cannibalism, which has prevailed among other nations as +well as the New Zealanders, has probably not had always exactly the same +origin. According to Mr. Mariner, it is of very recent introduction +among the people of Tonga, having been unknown among them till it was +imported about fifty or sixty years ago, along with other warlike +tastes, by their neighbours of the Fiji Islands, whose assistance had +been called in by one of the parties in a civil struggle. Here is an +instance of the practice having originated purely in the ferocity +engendered by the habit of war. In other cases it has, perhaps, arisen +out of the kindred practice of offering up human beings as sacrifices +to the gods. + +Humboldt, in his work on the indigenous inhabitants of South America, +gives us an interesting account of the introduction of this latter +atrocity among the Aztecs, a people of Mexico, whose annals record its +first perpetration to have taken place so late as the year 1317. + +But the most extraordinary instance of cannibalism which is known to +exist in the world is that practised by the Battas, an extensive and +populous nation of Sumatra. These people, according to Sir Stamford +Raffles, have a regular government, and deliberative assemblies; they +possess a peculiar language and written character, can generally write, +and have a talent for eloquence; they acknowledge a God, are fair and +honourable in their dealings, and crimes amongst them are few; their +country is highly cultivated. Yet this people, so far advanced in +civilization, are cannibals upon principle and system. Mr. Marsden,[J] +in his "History of Sumatra," seems to confine their cannibalism to the +accustomed cases of prisoners taken in war and to other gratifications +of revenge. But it is stated by Sir Stamford Raffles, upon testimony +which is unimpeachable, that criminals and prisoners are not only eaten +according to the law of the land, but that the same law permits their +being mangled and eaten while alive. The following extraordinary +account, which we extract from a letter of Sir Stamford Raffles to Mr. +Marsden himself, dated February 27, 1820, is sufficiently revolting; but +it is important as showing the wonderful influence of ancient customs in +hardening the hearts of an otherwise mild and respectable people, and is +therefore calculated to make us look with less severity upon the +practices of the more ignorant New Zealanders. The progress of knowledge +and of true religion can alone eradicate such fearful relics of a +tremendous superstition--the offering, in another shape, to + + Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood + Of human sacrifice. + + I have found all you say on the subject of cannibalism more than + confirmed. I do not think you have even gone far enough. You + might have broadly stated, that it is the practice, not only to + eat the victim, but to eat him alive. I shall pass over the + particulars of all previous information which I have received, + and endeavour to give you, in a few words, the result of a + deliberate inquiry from the Batta chiefs of Tappanooly. I caused + the most intelligent to be assembled; and in the presence of Mr. + Prince and Dr. Jack, obtained the following information, of the + truth of which none of us have the least doubt. It is the + universal and standing law of the Battas, that death by eating + shall be inflicted in the following cases:--Adultery; midnight + robbery; wars of importance, that is to say, one district against + another, the prisoners are sacrificed; intermarrying in the same + tribe, which is forbidden from the circumstance of their having + ancestors in common; treacherous attacks on a house, village, or + person. In all the above cases it is lawful for the victims to be + eaten, and they are eaten alive, that is to say, they are not + previously put to death. The victim is tied to a stake, with his + arms extended, the party collect in a circle around him, and the + chief gives the order to commence eating. The chief enemy, when + it is a prisoner, or the chief party injured in other cases, has + the first selection; and after he has cut off his slice, others + cut off pieces according to their taste and fancy, until all the + flesh is devoured. It is either eaten raw or grilled, and + generally dipped in sambul (a preparation of Chili pepper and + salt), which is always in readiness. Rajah Bandaharra, a Batta, + and one of the chiefs of Tappanooly, asserted that he was present + at a festival of this kind about eight years ago, at the village + of Subluan, on the other side of the bay, not nine miles distant, + where the heads may still be seen. + + When the party is a prisoner taken in war, he is eaten + immediately, and on the spot. Whether dead or alive he is equally + eaten, and it is usual even to drag the bodies from the graves, + and, after disinterring them, to eat the flesh. This only in + cases of war. From the clear and concurring testimony of all + parties, it is certain that it is the practice not to kill the + victim till the whole of the flesh cut off by the party is eaten, + should he live so long; the chief or party injured then comes + forward and cuts off the head, which he carries home as a trophy. + Within the last three years there have been two instances of this + kind of punishment within ten miles of Tappanooly, and the heads + are still preserved. In cases of adultery the injured party + usually takes the ear or ears; but the ceremony is not allowed to + take place except the wife's relations are present and partake of + it. In these and other cases where the criminal is directed to be + eaten, he is secured and kept for two or three days, till every + person (that is to say males) is assembled. He is then eaten + quietly, and in cold blood, with as much ceremony, and perhaps + more, than attends the execution of a capital sentence in Europe. + + The bones are scattered abroad after the flesh has been eaten, + and the head alone preserved. The brains belong to the chief, or + injured party, who usually preserves them in a bottle, for + purposes of witchcraft, &c. They do not eat the bowels, but like + the heart; and many drink the blood from bamboos. The palms of + the hands and the soles of the feet are the delicacies of + epicures. Horrid and diabolical as these practices may appear, it + is no less true that they are the result of much deliberation + among the parties, and seldom, except in the case of prisoners in + war, the effect of immediate and private revenge. In all cases of + crimes, the party has a regular trial, and no punishment can be + inflicted until sentence is regularly and formally passed in the + public fair. Here the chiefs of the neighbouring kampong + assemble, hear the evidence, and deliberate upon the crime and + probable guilt of the party; when condemned, the sentence is + ratified by the chiefs drinking the tuah, or toddy, which is + final, and may be considered equivalent to signing and sealing + with us. + + I was very particular in my inquiries whether the assembly were + intoxicated on the occasions of these punishments. I was assured + it was never the case. The people take rice with them, and eat it + with the meat, but no tuah is allowed. The punishment is always + inflicted in public. The men alone are allowed to partake, as the + flesh of man is prohibited to women (probably from an + apprehension they might become too fond of it). The flesh is not + allowed to be carried away from the spot, but must be consumed at + the time. I am assured that the Battas are more attached to these + laws than the Mahomedans are to the Koran, and that the number of + the punishments is very considerable. My informants considered + that there could be no less than fifty or sixty men eaten in a + year, and this in times of peace; but they were unable to + estimate the true extent, considering the great population of the + country; they were confident, however, that these laws were + strictly enforced wherever the name of Batta was known, and that + it was only in the immediate vicinity of our settlements that + they were modified and neglected. For proof, they referred me to + every Batta in the vicinity, and to the number of skulls to be + seen in every village, each of which was from a victim of the + kind. + + With regard to the relish with which the parties devour the + flesh, it appeared that, independent of the desire of revenge + which may be supposed to exist among the principals, about + one-half of the people eat it with a relish, and speak of it with + delight; the other half, though present, may not partake. Human + flesh is, however, generally considered preferable to cow or + buffalo beef, or hog, and was admitted to be so even by my + informants. Adverting to the possible origin of this practice, it + was observed that formerly they ate their parents when too old + for work; this, however, is no longer the case, and thus a step + has been gained in civilization. It is admitted that the parties + may be redeemed for a pecuniary compensation, but this is + entirely at the option of the chief enemy or injured party, who, + after his sentence is passed, may either have his victim eaten, + or he may sell him for a slave; but the law is that he shall be + eaten, and the prisoner is entirely at the mercy of his + prosecutor. + + The laws by which these sentences are inflicted are too well + known to require reference to books, but I am promised some MS. + accounts which relate to the subject. These laws are called huhum + pinang an,--from depang an, to eat--law or sentence to eat. + + I could give you many more details, but the above may be + sufficient to show that our friends the Battas are even worse + than you have represented them, and that those who are still + sceptical have yet more to learn. I have also a great deal to say + on the other side of the character, for the Battas have many + virtues. I prize them highly. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote D: At the extreme north of the Philippine Islands.] + +[Footnote E: Hawaii.] + +[Footnote F: Phormium tenax.] + +[Footnote G: mere.] + +[Footnote H: Nicholas's "Voyage to New Zealand."] + +[Footnote I: The transport "Boyd" was taken by Maoris and burned at +Whangaroa Harbour in 1809. Most of the people on board were massacred, +there being only four survivors out of seventy souls.] + +[Footnote J: William Marsden, who was sent out from Dublin to Sumatra, +about 1775, as a writer in the East India Company's service.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Rutherford and his comrades spent another night in the same manner as +they had done the previous one; and on the following morning set out, in +company with the five chiefs, on a journey into the interior. + +When they left the coast, the ship was still burning. They were attended +by about fifty natives, who were loaded with the plunder of the +unfortunate vessel. That day, he calculates, they travelled only about +ten miles, the journey being very fatiguing from the want of any regular +roads, and the necessity for making their way through a succession of +woods and swamps. + +The village at which their walk terminated was the residence of one of +the chiefs, whose name was Rangadi,[K] and who was received on his +arrival by about two hundred of the inhabitants. + +They came in a crowd, and, kneeling down around him, began to cry aloud +and cut their arms, faces, and other parts of their bodies with pieces +of sharp flint, of which each of them carried a number tied with a +string about his neck, till the blood flowed copiously from their +wounds. + +[Illustration: Kororareka Beach, in the Bay of Islands, where some of +Rutherford's adventures are supposed to have taken place.] + +These demonstrations of excited feeling, which Rutherford describes as +merely their usual manner of receiving any of their friends who have +been for some time absent, are rather more extravagant than seem to have +been commonly observed to take place on such occasions in other parts of +the island. Mr. Marsden,[L] however, states that on Korro-korro's[M] +return from Port Jackson, many of the women of his tribe who came out to +receive him "cut themselves in their faces, arms, and breasts with sharp +shells or flints, till the blood streamed down." Some time after, when +Duaterra[N] and Shungie[O] went on shore at the Bay of Islands, they met +with a similar reception from the females of their tribes. Mr. Savage +asserts that this cutting of their faces by the women always takes place +on the meeting of friends who have been long separated; but that the +ceremony consists only of embracing and crying, when the separation of +the parties has been short. It may be remarked that the custom of +receiving strangers with tears, by way of doing them honour, has +prevailed with other savages. Among the native tribes of Brazil, +according to Lafitau, it used to be the custom for the women, on the +approach of any one to whom they wished to show especial fidelity, to +crouch down on their heels, and, spreading their hands over their faces, +to remain for a considerable time in that posture, howling in a sort of +cadence, and shedding tears. Among the Sioux, again, it was the duty of +the men to perform this ceremony of lamentation on such occasions, which +they did standing, and laying their hands on the heads of their +visitors. + +In some cases, the wounds which the New Zealand women inflict on +themselves are intended to express their grief for friends who have +perished in war; and probably this may have been a reason for the strong +exhibition of feeling in the instance just noticed by Rutherford, as the +chiefs had then returned from an expedition. Such a mode of mourning has +been often observed in New Zealand. During the time that Cruise was at +the Bay of Islands, they found one day, upon going on shore, that a body +of the natives had just returned from a war expedition, in which they +had taken considerable numbers of prisoners, consisting of men, women, +and children, some of the latter of whom were not two years old; and +among the women was one, distinguished by her superior beauty, who sat +apart from the rest upon the beach, and, though silent, seemed buried in +affliction. They learned that her father, a chief of some consequence, +had been killed by the man whose prisoner she now was, and who kept +near her during the greater part of the day. + +The officers remained on shore till the evening; "and as we were +preparing to return to the ship," continues Cruise, "we were drawn to +that part of the beach where the prisoners were, by the most doleful +cries and lamentations. Here was the interesting young slave in a +situation that ought to have softened the heart of the most unfeeling. +The man who had slain her father, having cut off his head, and preserved +it by a process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket, +where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the +unhappy daughter." At once she seized it with a degree of phrenzy not to +be described; and subsequently, with a bit of sharp shell, disfigured +her person in so shocking a manner that in a few minutes not a vestige +of her former beauty remained. They afterwards learned that this fellow +had married the very woman he had treated with such singular barbarity. + +The crying, however, seems to be a ceremony that takes place universally +on the meeting of friends who have been for some time parted. We may +give, in illustration of this custom, Cruise's description of the +reception by their relatives of the nine New Zealanders who came along +with him in the "Dromedary" from Port Jackson. + +"When their fathers, brothers, etc., were admitted into the ship," says +he, "the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, +and every appearance of joy vanished. It is customary with these +extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting as +upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and +remain in this position for at least half-an-hour;[P] during which time +they sob and howl in the most doleful manner. If there be many friends +gathered around the person who has returned, the nearest relation takes +possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, +and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner (if he may be so +called) in the various expressions of his lamentation. This ended, they +resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that +has happened during their separation. As there were nine New Zealanders +just returned, and more than three times that number to commemorate the +event, the howl was quite tremendous, and so novel to almost every one +in the ship that it was with difficulty our people's attention could be +kept to matters at that moment more essential. Little Repero, who had +frequently boasted, during the passage, that he was too much of an +Englishman ever to cry again, made a strong effort when his father, +Shungie, approached him, to keep his word; but his early habit soon got +the better of his resolution, and he evinced, if possible, more +distress than any of the others." + +The sudden thawing of poor Repero's heroic resolves was an incident +exactly similar to another which Mr. Nicholas had witnessed. Among the +New Zealanders who, after having resided for some time in New South +Wales, returned with him and Mr. Marsden to their native country, was +one named Tooi,[Q] who prided himself greatly on being able to imitate +European manners; and accordingly, declaring that he would not cry, but +would behave like an Englishman, began, as the trying moment approached, +to converse most manfully with Mr. Nicholas, evidently, however, forcing +his spirits the whole time. But "his fortitude," continues Nicholas, +"was very soon subdued; for being joined by a young chief about his own +age, and one of his best friends, he flew to his arms, and, bursting +into tears, indulged exactly the same emotions as the others." + +Tooi was afterwards brought to England, and remained for some time in +this country. He was in attendance upon his brother Korro-korro, one of +the greatest chiefs in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, and, as +well as Shungie, who has just been mentioned, celebrated all over the +country for his love of fighting, and the number of victories he had +won. + +Yet even this hardy warrior was no more proof than any one of his wives +or children against this strange habit of emotion. The first person he +met on his landing happened to be his aunt, whose appearance, as, bent +to the earth with age and infirmities, she ascended a hill, supporting +herself upon a long staff, Nicholas compares to that which we might +conceive the Sibyl bore, when she presented herself to Tarquin. Yet, +when she came up to Korro-korro, the chief, we are told, having fallen +upon her neck, and applied his nose to hers, the two continued in this +posture for some minutes, talking together in a low and mournful voice; +and then disengaging themselves, they gave vent to their feelings by +weeping bitterly, the chief remaining for about a quarter of an hour +leaning on his musket, while the big drops continued to roll down his +cheeks. + +The old woman's daughter, who had come along with her, then made her +approach, and another scene, if possible of still more tumultuous +tenderness than the former, took place between the two cousins. The +chief hung, as before, in an agony of affection, on the neck of his +relation; and "as for the woman," says Nicholas, "she was so affected +that the mat she wore was literally soaked through with her tears." A +passionate attachment to friends is, indeed, one of the most prevailing +feelings of the savage state. Dampier tells us of an Indian who +recovered his friend unexpectedly on the island of Juan Fernandez, and +who immediately prostrated himself on the ground at his feet. "We stood +gazing in silence," says the manly sailor, "at this tender scene." + +The house of the chief to which Rutherford and his comrades were taken +was the largest in the village, being both long and wide, although very +low, and having no other entrance than an aperture, which was shut by +means of a sliding door, and was so much lower even than the roof that +it was necessary to crawl upon the hands and knees to get through it. + +Two large pigs and a quantity of potatoes were now cooked; and when they +were ready, a portion having been allotted to the slaves, who are never +permitted to eat along with the chiefs, the latter sat down to their +repast, the white men taking their places beside them. + +The feast was not held within the house, but in the open air; and the +meat that was not consumed was hung up on posts for a future occasion. +One of the strongest prejudices of the New Zealanders is an aversion to +be where any article of food is suspended over their heads; and on this +account, they never permit anything eatable to be brought within their +huts, but take all their meals out of doors, in an open space adjoining +to the house, which has been called by some writers the kitchen, it +being there that the meal is cooked as well as eaten. Crozet says that +every one of these kitchens has in it a cooking hole, dug in the +ground, of about two feet in diameter, and between one and two feet +deep. Even when the natives are confined to their beds by sickness, and, +it may be, at the point of death, they must receive whatever food they +take in this outer room, which, however, is sometimes provided with a +shed, supported upon posts, although in no case does it appear to be +enclosed by walls. It is here, accordingly, that those who are in so +weak a state from illness as not to be able to bear removal from one +place to another usually have their couches spread; as, were they to +choose to recline inside the house, it would be necessary to leave them +to die of want. + +Nicholas, in the course of an excursion which he made in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, was once not a little annoyed and +put out of humour by this absurd superstition. It rained heavily when he +and Marsden arrived very hungry at a village belonging to a chief of +their acquaintance, where, although the chief was not at home, they were +very hospitably received, their friends proceeding immediately to dress +some potatoes to make them a dinner. But after they had prepared the +meal, they insisted, as usual, that it should be eaten in the open air. + +This condition, Nicholas, in the circumstances, naturally thought a +somewhat hard one; but it was absolutely necessary either to comply with +it, or to go without potatoes. To make matters worse, the dining-room +had not even a shed. So they had no course left but to take shelter in +the best way they could, under a projection from the roof of the house, +extending about three feet; and here they contrived to take their +repast, without being very much drenched. However, they were not allowed +this indulgence without many anxious scruples on the part of their +friends, who considered even their venturing so near to the house on +such an occasion as an act of daring impiety. As they had got possession +of the potatoes, their entertainers, though very much shocked and +alarmed, did not proceed to such rudeness as to take these from them +again; but whenever they wanted to drink out of the calabash that had +been brought to them, they obliged them to thrust out their heads for it +from under the covering, although the rain continued to fall in +torrents. + +Fatigued as he was, and vexed at being in this way kept out of the +comfortable shelter he had expected, Nicholas at last commenced +inveighing, he tells us, against the inhospitable custom, with much +acrimony; and as Tooi, who was with them, had always shown so strong a +predilection for European customs, he turned to him, and asked him if he +did not think that these notions of his countrymen were all gammon. +Tooi, however, replied sharply, that "it was no gammon at all"; adding, +"New Zealand man say that Mr. Marsden's _crackee crackee_ (preaching) +of a Sunday is all gammon," in indignant retaliation for the insult that +had been offered to his national customs. + +But the worst part of the adventure was yet to come; for as the night +was now fast approaching, and the rain still pouring down incessantly, +it was impossible to think of returning to the ship; "and we were +therefore," continues Nicholas, "obliged to resolve upon remaining where +we were, although we had no bed to expect, nor even a comfortable floor +to stretch upon. We wrapped ourselves up in our great coats, which by +good fortune we had brought with us, and when the hour of rest came on, +laid ourselves down under the projecting roof, choosing rather to remain +here together, than to go into the house and mingle with its crowded +inmates, which we knew would be very disagreeable. Mr. Marsden, who is +blessed by nature with a strong constitution, and capable of enduring +almost any fatigue, was very soon asleep; but I, who have not been cast +in a Herculean mould, nor much accustomed to severe privations, felt all +the misery of the situation, while the cold and wet to which I was +unavoidably exposed, from the place being open, brought on a violent +rheumatic headache, that prevented me from once closing my eyes, and +kept me awake in the greatest anguish. + +"Being at length driven from this wretched shelter by the rain, which +was still beating against me, I crept into the house, through the +narrow aperture that served for a door; and, stretching myself among my +rude friends, I endeavoured to get some repose; but I found this equally +impossible here as in the place I had left. The pain in my head still +continued; and those around me, being all buried in profound sleep, +played, during the whole night, such music through their noses, as +effectually prevented me from being able to join in the same chorus." + +On one occasion, in the course of his second visit, Marsden spent the +night in the house of a chief, the entrance to which was of such narrow +dimensions that he could not, he says, creep in without taking his coat +off. The apartment altogether measured only about fourteen feet by ten; +and when he looked into it he found a fire blazing on the centre of the +floor, which made the place as hot as an oven, there being no vent for +the smoke, except through the hole which served for a door. However, the +fire, on his entreating it, was taken out, and then he and his friend, +Butler, who was with him, crept in, and were followed by their +entertainer, his wife and nephew. The hut was still extremely hot, and +they perspired profusely when they lay down, but they were a little +relieved by the New Zealanders consenting to allow the door to remain +open during the night. + +Another time he was thrust into a still closer dormitory. "The +entrance," says he, "was just sufficient for a man to creep into. Being +very cold, I was glad to occupy such a warm berth. I judged the hut to +be about eight feet wide, and twelve long. It had a fire in the centre; +and no vent either for smoke or heat. The chiefs who were with us threw +off their mats and lay down close together in a state of perfect nudity. +I had not been many minutes in this oven, before I found the heat and +smoke, above, below, and on every side, to be insufferable. Though the +night was cold, Mr. Kendall and myself were compelled to quit our +habitation. I crept out, and walked in the village, to see if I could +meet with a shed to keep me from the damp air till the morning. I found +one empty, into which I entered. I had not been long under my present +cover before I observed a chief, who came with us from the last village, +come out of the hut which I had left, perfectly naked. The moon shone +very bright. I saw him run from hut to hut, till at last he found me +under my shed, and urged me to return. I told him I could not bear the +heat, and requested him to allow me to remain where I was; to which he +at length consented with reluctance. I was surprised at the little +effect that heat or cold seemed to have upon him. He had come out of the +hut smoking like a hot loaf drawn from the oven, walked about to find +me, and then sat down, conversed some time, without any clothing, though +the night was cold. Mr. Kendall remained sitting under his mat, in the +open air, till morning." + +The New Zealanders make only two meals in the day, one in the morning +and another at sunset; but their voracity when they do eat is often very +great. Nicholas remarks that the chiefs and their followers, with whom +he made the voyage from Port Jackson, used, while in the ship, to seize +upon every thing they could lay their hands upon in the shape of food. +In consequence of this habit of consuming an extraordinary quantity of +food, a New Zealander, with all his powers of endurance in other +respects, suffers dreadfully when he has not the usual means of +satisfying his hunger. + +The huts of the common people are described as very wretched, and little +better than sheds; but Nicholas mentions that those which he saw in the +northern part of the country had uniformly well-cultivated gardens +attached to them, which were stocked with turnips, and sweet and common +potatoes. Crozet tells us that the only articles of furniture the French +ever found in these huts, were fishing-hooks, nets, and lines, +calabashes containing water, a few tools made of stone, and several +cloaks and other garments suspended from the walls. + +Amongst the tools, one resembling our adze is in the most common use; +and it is remarkable that the handles of these implements are often +composed of human bones. In the museum of the Church Missionary Society +there are adzes, the handle of one of which is formed of the bone of a +human arm, and another of that of a leg. + +The common people generally sleep in the open air, in a sitting +posture, and covered by their mats, all but the head; which has been +described as giving them the appearance of so many hay-cocks or +beehives. + +The house of the chief is generally, as Rutherford found it to be in the +present case, the largest in the village; but every village has, in +addition to the dwelling-houses of which it consists, a public +storehouse, or repository of the common stock of sweet potatoes, which +is a still larger structure than the habitation of the chief. One which +Cruise describes was erected upon several posts driven into the ground, +which were floored over with deals at the height of about four feet, as +a foundation. Both the sides and the roof were compactly formed of +stakes intertwisted with grass; and a sliding doorway, scarcely large +enough to admit a man, formed the entrance. The roof projected over +this, and was ornamented with pieces of plank painted red, and having a +variety of grotesque figures carved on them. The whole building was +about twenty feet long, eight feet wide, and five feet high. + +The residences of the chiefs are built upon the ground, and have +generally the floor, and a small space in front, neatly paved; but they +are so low that a man can stand upright in very few of them. The huts, +as well as the storehouses, are adorned with carving over the door. + +One of the arts in which the New Zealanders most excel is that of +carving in wood. Some of their performances in this way are, no doubt, +grotesque enough; but they often display both a taste and ingenuity +which, especially when we consider their miserably imperfect tools, it +is impossible to behold without admiration. This is one of the arts +which, even in civilized countries, does not seem to flourish best in a +highly advanced state of society. Even among ourselves, it certainly is +not at present cultivated with so much success as it was a century or +two ago. + +Machinery, the monopolizing power of our age, is not well fitted to the +production of striking effects in this particular branch of the arts. +Fine carving is displayed, as in the works of Gibbons, by a rich and +natural variety, altogether opposed to that faultless and inflexible +regularity of operation which is the perfection of a machine. Hence the +lathe, with all the miraculous capabilities it has been made to evolve, +can never here come into successful competition with the chisel, in so +far as the quality and spirit of the performance are concerned; but the +former may, nevertheless, drive the latter out of the market, and seems +in a great measure to have done so, by the infinitely superior facility +and rapidity of its operation. Hence the gradual decay, and almost +extinction among us, of this old art, of which former ages have left us +so many beautiful specimens. It is said to survive now, if at all, not +among our artists by profession, whose taste is expended upon higher +objects, but among the common workmen of our villages, who have pursued +it as an amusement, long after it has ceased to be profitable. + +The New Zealand artist has no lathe to compete with; but neither has he +even those ordinary hand-tools which every civilized country has always +afforded. The only instruments he has to cut with are rudely fashioned +of stone or bone. Yet even with these, his skill and patient +perseverance contrive to grave the wood into any forms which his fancy +may suggest. Many of the carvings thus produced are distinguished by +both a grace and richness of design that would do no discredit even to +European art. + +The considerations by which the New Zealanders are directed in choosing +the sites of their villages are the same which usually regulate that +matter among other savages. The North American Indians, for example, +generally build their huts on the sides of some moderately sized hill, +that they may have the advantage of the ground in case of being attacked +by their enemies, or on the bank of a river, which may, in such an +emergency, serve them for a natural moat. A situation in which they are +protected by the water on more sides than one is preferred; and, +accordingly, both on this account, and for the sake of being near the +sea, which supplies them with fish, the New Zealanders and other +savage tribes are much accustomed to establish themselves at the mouths +of rivers. Among the American Indians, as in New Zealand, a piece of +ground is always left unoccupied in the middle of the village, or +contiguous to it, for the holding of public assemblies. So, also, it +used to be in our own country, almost every village in which had +anciently its common and its central open space; the latter of which, +after the introduction of Christianity, was generally decorated by the +erection of a cross. + +[Illustration: A door-lintel, showing Maori carving. _Tourist Dept. +photo_] + +It is curious to remark how the genius of commerce--the predominating +influence of a more civilized age--has seized upon more than one of +these provisions of the old state of society, and converted them to its +own purposes. The spacious area around the village cross, or the +adjacent common, has been changed into the scene of the fair or the +daily market; and the vicinity of the sea, or the navigable river, no +longer needed as a protection against the attacks of surrounding +enemies, has been taken advantage of to let in the wealth of many +distant climes, and to metamorphose the straggling assemblage of mud +cottages into a thronged and widespread city--the proud abode of +industry, wealth, elegance, and letters. + +Rutherford states that the baskets in which the provisions are served up +are never used twice; and the same thing is remarked by Cruise. The +calabash, Rutherford adds, is the only vessel they have for holding any +kind of liquid; and when they drink out of it, they never permit it to +touch their lips, but hold their face up, and pour the liquor into their +mouth. + +After dinner they place themselves for this purpose in a row, when a +slave goes from one to another with the calabash, and each holds his +hand under his chin as the liquor is poured by the slave into his mouth. +They never drink anything hot or warm. Indeed, their only beverage +appears to be water;[R] and their strong aversion to wine and spirits is +noticed by almost all who have described their manners. + +Tetoro, one of the chiefs who returned from Port Jackson in the +"Dromedary," was sometimes admitted, during the passage, into the cabin, +and asked by the officers to take a glass of wine, when he always tasted +it, with perfect politeness, though his countenance strongly indicated +how much he disliked it. George of Wangaroa, the chief who headed the +attack on the "Boyd," was the only New Zealander that Cruise met with +who could be induced to taste grog without reluctance; and he really +liked it, though a very small quantity made him drunk, in which state he +was quite outrageous. His natural habits had been vitiated by having +served for some time in an English ship. + +It is probable, however, that the sobriety of this people has been +hitherto principally preserved by their ignorance of the mode of +manufacturing any intoxicating beverage. Even the females, it would +appear, have some of them of late years learned the habit of drinking +grog from the English sailors; and Captain Dillon gives an account of a +priestess, who visited him on board the "Besearch," and who, having +among several other somewhat indecorous requests, demanded a tumbler of +rum, quaffed off the whole at a draught as soon as it was set before +her. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote K: Probably Rangatai, although no chief of that name is +known.] + +[Footnote L: The Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was appointed chaplain to the +convict settlement of New South Wales in 1793, and who held the first +divine service in New Zealand, on Christmas Day, 1814.] + +[Footnote M: Koro-koro.] + +[Footnote N: Ruatara, a close friend of Mr. Marsden.] + +[Footnote O: Hongi.] + +[Footnote P: This is exaggerated.] + +[Footnote Q: Tui, in the accepted orthography.] + +[Footnote R: The ancient Maoris were one of the very few races that had +no intoxicating drinks.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Dinner being finished, Rutherford and his companions spent the evening +seated around a large fire, while several of the women, whose +countenances he describes as pleasing, amused themselves by playing with +the fingers of the strangers, sometimes opening their shirts at the +breasts, and at other times feeling the calves of their legs, "which +made us think," says Rutherford, "that they were examining us to see if +we were fat enough for eating. + +"The large fire," he continues, "that had been made to warm the house, +being now put out, we retired to rest in the usual manner; but although +the fire had been extinguished, the house was still filled with smoke, +the door being shut, and there being neither chimney nor window to let +it out. + +"In the morning, when we arose, the chief gave us back our knives and +tobacco-boxes, which they had taken from us while in the canoe, on our +first being made prisoners; and we then breakfasted on some potatoes and +cockles, which had been cooked while we were at the sea-coast, and +brought thence in baskets. + +"Aimy's wife and two daughters now arrived, which occasioned another +grand crying ceremony; and when it was over, the three ladies came to +look at me and my companions. In a short time, they had taken a fancy to +some small gilt buttons which I had on my waist-coat; and Aimy making a +sign for me to cut them off, I immediately did so, and presented them +for their acceptance. They received them very gladly, and, shaking hands +with me, exclaimed, 'The white man is very good.' + +"The whole of the natives having then seated themselves on the ground in +a ring, we were brought into the middle and, being stripped of our +clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or +six men, while two others commenced the operation of tattooing us. + +"Having taken a piece of charcoal, and rubbed it upon a stone with a +little water until they had produced a thickish liquid, they then dipped +into it an instrument made of bone, having a sharp edge like a chisel, +and shaped in the fashion of a garden-hoe, and immediately applied it to +the skin, striking it twice or thrice with a small piece of wood. This +made it cut into the flesh as a knife would have done, and caused a +great deal of blood to flow, which they kept wiping off with the side of +the hand, in order to see if the impression was sufficiently clear. When +it was not, they applied the bone a second time to the same place. They +employed, however, various instruments in the course of the operation; +one which they sometimes used being made of a shark's tooth, and another +having teeth like a saw. They had them also of different sizes, to suit +the different parts of the work. + +"While I was undergoing this operation, although the pain was most +acute, I never either moved or uttered a sound; but my comrades moaned +dreadfully. Although the operators were very quick and dexterous, I was +four hours under their hands; and during the operation Aimy's eldest +daughter several times wiped the blood from my face with some dressed +flax. After it was over she led me to the river, that I might wash +myself, for it had made me completely blind, and then conducted me to a +great fire. They now returned us all our clothes, with the exception of +our shirts, which the women kept for themselves, wearing them, as we +observed, with the fronts behind. + +"We were now not only tattooed, but what they called tabooed,[S] the +meaning of which is, made sacred, or forbidden to touch any provisions +of any kind with our hands. This state of things lasted for three days, +during which time we were fed by the daughters of the chiefs, with the +same victuals, and out of the same baskets, as the chiefs themselves, +and the persons who had tattooed us. In three days, the swelling which +had been produced by the operation had greatly subsided, and I began to +recover my sight; but it was six weeks before I was completely well. I +had no medical assistance of any kind during my illness; but Aimy's two +daughters were very attentive to me, and would frequently sit beside me, +and talk to me in their language, of which, as yet, however, I did not +understand much." + +The custom of marking the skin, called _tattooing_, is one of the most +widely-diffused practices of savage life, having been found, even in +modern times, to exist, in one modification or another, not only in most +of the inhabited lands of the Pacific, from New Zealand as far north as +the Sandwich Isles, but also among many of the aboriginal tribes both of +Africa and America. In the ancient world it appears to have been at +least equally prevalent. It is evidently alluded to, as well as the +other practice that has just been noticed, of wounding the body by way +of mourning, in the twenty-eighth verse of the nineteenth chapter of +Leviticus, among the laws delivered to the Israelites through +Moses:--"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor +print any marks upon you," both of these being doubtless habits of the +surrounding nations, which the chosen people, according to their usual +propensity, had shown a disposition to imitate. + +The few civilized communities of antiquity seem to have been all of them +both singularly incurious as to the manners and conditions of the +barbarous races by whom they were on all sides so closely encompassed, +and, as might be expected, extremely ill-informed on the subject; so +much so, as has been remarked by an author who has written on this topic +with admirable learning and ability, that when Hanno, the Carthaginian, +returned from his investigation of a small part of the west coast of +Africa, he had no difficulty in making his countrymen believe that two +hides, with the hair still on, which he brought back with him, and which +he had taken from two large apes, were actually the skins of savage +women, and deserving of being suspended in the temple of Juno as most +uncommon curiosities. + +But, little as these matters seem in general to have attracted the +attention of the ancient writers, their works still contain many notices +of the practice of tattooing. We may cite only one or two of a +considerable number that have been collected by Lafitau,[T] although +even his enumeration might be easily extended. Herodotus mentions it as +prevailing among the Thracians, certain of whom, he says, exhibit such +marks on their faces as an indication of their nobility. Other authors +speak of it as a practice of the Scythians, the Agathyrses, and the +Assyrians. Caesar remarks it as prevailing among the Britons; and there +can be no doubt that the term _Picti_ was merely a name given to those +more northerly tribes of our countrymen who retained this custom after +it had fallen into decay among their southern brethren, who were in +reality of the same race with themselves, under the ascendancy of the +arts and manners of their Roman conquerors. + +The Britons, according to Caesar, painted their skins to make themselves +objects of greater terror to their enemies; but it is not unlikely that +the real object of these decorations was with them, as it appears to +have been among the other barbarous nations of antiquity, to denote +certain ranks of nobility or chieftainship; and thus to serve, in fact, +nearly the same purpose with our modern coats of arms. + +Pliny states that the dye with which the Britons stained themselves was +that of a herb called _glastum_, which is understood to be the same with +plantain. They introduced the juice of this herb into punctures +previously made in the skin, so as to form permanent delineations of +various animals, and other objects, on different parts of the body. The +operation, which seems to have been performed by regular artists, is +said to have been commonly undergone in boyhood; and a stoical endurance +of the pain which it inflicted was considered one of the best proofs the +sufferer could give of his resolution and manliness. + +Among the Indians of America, some races are much more tattooed than +others, and some scarcely at all. It it stated that, among the Iroquois +only, a few of the women are in the habit of tracing a single row of +this sort of embroidery along the jaw; and that merely with the intent +of curing or preventing toothache, an effect which they conceive is +produced by the punctures destroying certain nerves. It appears to be +the general practice in America, first to finish the cutting, or graving +of the lines, and afterwards to introduce the colouring, which is +commonly made of pulverised charcoal. This last part of the operation +occasions by far the greatest pain. Among the native tribes of Southern +Africa, the fashion is merely to raise the epidermis by a slight +pricking, which is described as affording rather a pleasurable +excitement. + +At the Society Isles these marks, according to Cook, were so general, +that hardly anybody was to be seen without them. Persons of both sexes +were commonly tattooed about the age of twelve or fourteen; and the +decorations, which Cook imagined to vary according to the fancy, or +perhaps, which is more likely, the rank of the individual, were +liberally bestowed upon every part of the body, with the exception, +however, of the face, which was generally left unmarked. They consisted +not only of squares, circles, and other such figures, but frequently +also of rude delineations of men, birds, dogs, and other animals. Banks +saw the operation performed on a girl of about thirteen years of age, +who was held down all the while by several women, and both struggled +hard and made no little outcry as the artist proceeded with his +labours. Yet it would seem that the process in use here is considerably +more gentle than that practised in New Zealand; for the punctures, Cook +affirms, could hardly be said to draw blood. Being afflicted by means of +an instrument with small teeth, somewhat resembling a fine comb, the +effect would be rather a pricking than a cutting, or carving, of the +flesh. Unlike what we have seen to be the practice among the American +savages, the tincture was here introduced by the same blow by which the +skin was punctured. The substance employed was a species of lamp black, +formed of the smoke of an oily nut which the natives burned to give them +light. + +The practice of tattooing is now, we believe, discontinued at Otaheite; +but the progress of civilization has not yet altogether banished it at +the Sandwich Islands. When Lord Byron was at Hawaii, in 1825, he found +it used as a mark of mourning, though some still had themselves tattooed +merely by way of ornament. On the death of one of the late kings of the +island, it is stated that all the chiefs had his name and the date of +his death engraved in this manner on their arms. The ladies here, it +seems, follow the very singular practice of tattooing the tips of their +tongues, in memory of their departed friends. In the Tonga, or Friendly +Islands, it would appear from Mariner's very minute description of the +operation as there practised, as at Otaheite and elsewhere, the +instrument used is always a sort of comb, having from six up to fifty or +sixty teeth. There are, Mariner tells us, certain patterns or forms of +the tattoo, and the individual may choose which he likes. On the brown +skins of the natives the marks, which are imprinted by means of a +tincture made of soot, have a black appearance; but on that of a +European, their colour is a fine blue. The women here are not tattooed, +though a few of them have some marks on the inside of their fingers. At +the Fiji Islands, on the contrary, in the neighbourhood of the Tonga +group, the men are not tattooed, but the women are. + +The term "tattoo" is not known in New Zealand, the name given to the +marks, which are elsewhere so called, being in this country "Moko," or, +as it has been more generally written, from a habit which the natives +seem to have of prefixing the sound "a" to many of their words, +"Amoco."[U] + +The description which Rutherford gives of the process agrees entirely +with what has been stated by other observers; although it certainly has +been generally understood that, in no case, was the whole operation +undergone at once, as it would, however, appear to have been in his. +Both Cruise and Marsden expressly state, that, according to their +information, it always required several months, and sometimes several +years, to tattoo a chief perfectly; owing to the necessity for one part +of the face or body being allowed to heal before commencing the +decoration of another. Perhaps, however, this prolongation of the +process may only be necessary when the moko is of a more intricate +pattern, or extends over a larger portion of the person, than that which +Rutherford received; or, in his peculiar circumstances, it may have been +determined that he should have his powers of endurance put to still +harder proof than a native would have been required to submit to in +undergoing the same ceremony. + +The portrait of Rutherford accurately represents the tattooing on his +body. Cruise asserts that the tattooing in New Zealand is renewed +occasionally, as the lines become fainter by time, to the latest period +of life; and that one of the chiefs who returned home in the "Dromedary" +was re-tattooed soon after his arrival. + +From Rutherford's account, and he is corroborated as to that point by +the other authorities, it will be perceived that the operation of +tattooing is one of a still more severe and sanguinary description in +New Zealand than it would seem to be in any of the other islands of the +South Sea; for it is performed here, not merely by means of a sort of +fine comb, which merely pricks the skin and draws from it a little serum +slightly tinged with blood, but also by an instrument of the nature of a +chisel, which at every application makes an incision into the flesh, +and causes the blood to start forth in gushes. This chisel is sometimes +nearly a quarter of an inch broad, although, for the more minute parts +of the figure, a smaller instrument is used. + +The stick with which the chisel is struck is occasionally formed into a +broad blade at one end, which is applied to wipe away the blood. The +tincture is said to be sometimes obtained from the juice of a particular +tree. + +Rutherford has forgotten to mention that, before the cutting has begun +the figure is traced out upon the place; this appears to be always done +in New Zealand as well as elsewhere, a piece of burnt stick or red earth +being, according to Savage,[V] used for the purpose. + +Some are tattooed at eight or ten years of age; but a young man is +accounted very effeminate who reaches his twentieth year without having +undergone the operation. Marsden told one of the chiefs, King George, as +he was called, that he must not tattoo his nephew Racow,[W] who was a +very fine-looking youth, with a dignified, open, and placid countenance, +remarking that it would quite disfigure his face; "but he laughed at my +advice," says Marsden, "and said he must be tattooed, as it would give +him a noble, masculine, and warlike appearance; that he would not be fit +for his successor with a smooth face; the New Zealanders would look on +him merely as a woman if he was not tattooed." + +Savage says that a small spiral figure on each side of the chin, a +semi-circular figure over each eyebrow, and two, or sometimes three, +lines on each lip, are all the tattooing the New Zealand women are +required to submit to. + +Rutherford's account is that they have a figure tattooed on the chin +resembling a crown turned upside down; that the inside of their lips is +also tattooed, the figures here appearing of a blue colour; and that +they have also a mark on each side of the mouth resembling a +candlestick, as well as two stripes about an inch long on the forehead, +and one on each side of the nose. Their decorations of this description, +as well as of the other sex, are no doubt different in different parts +of the country. + +"With respect to the amocos," says Cook in his First Voyage, "every +different tribe seemed to have a different custom; for all the men in +some canoes seemed to be almost covered with it, and those in others had +scarcely a stain, except on the lips, which were black in all of them, +without a single exception." + +Rutherford states that in the part of the country where he was, the men +were commonly tattooed on their face, hips, and bodies, and some as low +as the knee. None were allowed to be tattooed on the forehead, chin, and +upper lip, except the very greatest among the chiefs. The more they are +tattooed, he adds, the more they are honoured. The priests, Savage says, +have only a small square patch of tattooing over the right eye. + +These stains, although their brilliancy may perhaps decay with time, +being thus fixed in the flesh, are of course indelible, just as much as +the marks of a similar nature which our own sailors frequently make on +their arms and breasts, by introducing gunpowder under the skin. One +effect, we are told, which they produce on the countenances of the New +Zealanders, is to conceal the ravages of old age. Being thus permanent +when once imprinted, each becomes also the peculiar distinction of the +individual to whom it belongs, and is probably sometimes employed by him +as his mark or sign manual. An officer belonging to the "Dromedary," who +happened to have a coat of arms engraved on his seal, was frequently +asked by the New Zealanders if the device was his "amoco." When the +missionaries purchased a piece of land from one of the Bay of Islands +chiefs, named Gunnah,[X] a copy of the tattooing on the face of the +latter, being drawn by a brother chief, was affixed to the grant as his +signature; while another native signed as a witness, by adding the +"amoco" of one of his own cheeks. + +[Illustration: _Moko_ on woman's lips and chin. + +_Moko_ on man's face. + + Names of lines in order of incision-- + 1. _Kau-wae_ (13) + 2. _Pere-pehi_ (7) + 3. _Hupe_ (15) + 4. _Ko-kiri_ (9) + 5. _Koro-aha_ (10) + 6. _Puta-ringa_ (12) + 7. _Po-ngia-ngia_ (4) and _Tara-whakatara_ (5) + 8. _Pae-pae_ (11), _Kumi-kumi_ (6), and _Wero_ (8) + 9. _Rerepi_ (3) + 10. _Ti-whana_ (1) and _Rawha_ (2) + 11. _Ti-ti_ (14) + 12. _Ipu-rangi_ (16)] + +This is certainly a more perfect substitute for a written name than +that said to have been anciently in use in some parts of Europe. In +Russia, for example, it is affirmed that in old times the way in which +an individual generally gave his signature to a writing was by covering +the palm of his hand with ink, and then laying it on the paper. Balbi, +who states this, adds that the Russian language still retains an +evidence of the practice in its phrase for signing a document, which is +_roukou prilojite_, signifying, literally, to put the hand to it. It may +be remarked, however, that this is a form of expression even in our own +country; although there is certainly no trace of the singular custom in +question having ever prevailed among our ancestors. Whatever may be the +fact as to the Russian idiom, our own undoubtedly refers merely to the +application of the hand with the pen in it. Each chief appears to be +intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of his own "amoco." + +There is also in the possession of the Church Missionary Society a bust +of Shungie, cut in a very hard wood by himself, with a rude iron +instrument of his own fabrication, on which the tattooing on his face is +exactly copied. + +The tattooing of the young New Zealander, before he takes his rank as +one of the warriors of his tribe, is doubtless also intended to put his +manhood to the proof; and may thus be regarded as having the same object +with those ceremonies of initiation, as they have been called, which +are practised among some other savage nations on the admission of an +individual to any new degree of honour or chieftainship. + +Among many nations of the American Indians, indeed, this cutting and +marking of the person is one of the principal inflictions to which the +aspirant is required to submit on such occasions. Thus, in the account +which Rochefort, in his "History of the Antilles," gives us of the +initiation of a warrior among the people of those islands, it is stated +that the father of the young man, after a very rude flagellation of his +son, used to proceed to scarify (as he expresses it) his whole body with +a tooth of the animal called the "acouti"; and then, in order to heal +the gashes thus made, he rubbed into them an infusion of pimento, which +occasioned an agonizing pain to the poor patient; but it was +indispensable that he should endure the whole, adds our author, without +the least contortion of countenance or any other evidence of suffering. + +Wherever, indeed, the spirit of war has entered largely into the +institutions of a people, as it has almost always done among savage and +imperfectly civilized nations, we find traces of similar observances. +Something of the same object which has just been attributed to the +tattooing of the New Zealanders, and the more complicated ceremonies of +initiation practised among the American Indians, may be recognised even +in certain of the rites of European chivalry, whether we take them as +described in the learned volumes of Du Cange, or in the more amusing +recitals of Cervantes. + +The New Zealanders, like many other savages, are also in the habit of +anointing themselves with a mixture of grease and red ochre. This sort +of rouge is very much used by the women, and "being generally," says +Cook, "fresh and wet upon their cheeks and foreheads, was easily +transferred to the noses of those who thought fit to salute them; and +that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, the noses of +several of our men strongly testified." "The faces of the men," he adds, +"were not so generally painted; yet we saw one, whose whole body, and +even his garments, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a +piece constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the +decoration in one part or another, where he supposed it was become +deficient." + +It has been conjectured that this painting of the body, among its other +uses, might also be intended, in some cases, as a protection against the +weather, or, in other words, to serve the same purpose as clothing. Even +where there is no plastering, the tattooing may be found to indurate the +skin, and to render it less sensible to cold. This notion, perhaps, +derives some confirmation from the appearance which these marks often +assume. + +Cook describes some of the New Zealanders, whom he saw on his first +visit to the country, as having their thighs stained entirely black, +with the exception of a few narrow lines, "so that at first sight," says +he, "they appeared to wear striped breeches." + +The Baron de Humboldt, too, informs us that the Indians of Guiana +sometimes imitate, in the oddest manner, the clothes of Europeans in +painting their skin. This observant traveller was much amused by seeing +the body of a native painted to represent a blue jacket and black +buttons. The missionaries also told him that the people of the Rio Caura +paint themselves of a red ground, and then variegate the colour with +transverse stripes of silver mica, so that they look most gallantly +dressed. The painted cheeks that were once common in Europe, and are +still occasionally seen, are relics of the same barbarism. + +The "taboo," or "tapu," prevails also in many of the South Sea Islands, +where it may be considered as the substitute for law; although its +authority, in reality, rests on what we should rather call religious +considerations, inasmuch as it appears to be obeyed entirely from the +apprehension that its violation would bring down the anger of heaven. + +It would require more space than we can afford to enumerate the various +cases in which the "taboo" operates as a matter of course, even were we +to say nothing of the numerous exigencies in which a resort to it seems +to be at the option of the parties concerned. Among the former, we may +merely mention that a person supposed to be dying seems to be uniformly +placed under the "taboo"; and that the like consecration, if it may be +so called, is always imposed for a certain space upon the individual who +has undergone any part of the process of tattooing. But we are by no +means fully informed either as to the exact rules that govern this +matter, or even as to the peculiar description of persons to whom it +belongs, on any occasion, to impose the "taboo." It is common in New +Zealand for such of the chiefs as possess this power to separate, by +means of the "taboo," any thing which they wish either to appropriate to +themselves, or to protect, with any other object, from indiscriminate +use. + +When Tetoro was shown, in the "Dromedary," a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, belonging to one of the officers, he "tabooed" it by +tying a thread, pulled out of his cloak, round the guard of the trigger, +and said that it must be his when he got to New Zealand, and that the +owner should have thirty of his finest mats for it. But this, according +to Cruise, any native may do with regard to an article for which he has +bargained, in order to secure it till he has paid the price agreed upon. + +On another occasion, Cruise found a number of people collected round an +object which seemed to attract general attention, and which they told +him was "tabooed." It turned out to be a plant of the common English +pea, which was fenced round with little sticks, and had apparently been +tended with very anxious care. + +When the "Prince Regent" schooner, which accompanied the "Dromedary," +lay at anchor in the river Shukehanga,[Y] a chief named Moodooi,[Z] +greatly to the comfort of the captain, came one day on deck and +"tabooed" the vessel, or made it a crime for any one to ascend the side +without permission, which injunction was strictly attended to by the +natives during his stay in the harbour. + +So, when any land is purchased, it is secured to the purchaser by being +"tabooed." + +Marsden states that upon one occasion he found a great number of canoes +employed in fishing, and all the fish which they took were immediately +"tabooed," and could not be purchased. These fish were probably intended +to be cured and preserved as part of the common stock of the tribe. + +The principal inconveniences sustained by the person who is "tabooed" +seem to be that he must have no communication with any who are not in +the same condition as himself, and that in eating he must not help +himself to his food with his hands. The chiefs are in such a case fed +by their attendant; but the absurd prohibition is a serious punishment +to the common people, who have nobody to assist them. + +Nicholas relates an amusing incident illustrative of this. "On going +into the town," says he, "in the course of the day, I beheld several of +the natives sitting round some baskets of dressed potatoes; and being +invited to join them in their meal, I mingled with the group, when I +observed one man stoop down with his mouth for each morsel, and +scrupulously careful in avoiding all contact between his hands and the +food he was eating. From this I knew at once that he was 'tabooed;' and +upon asking the reason of his being so, as he appeared in good health, +and not afflicted with any complaint that could set him without the pale +of ordinary intercourse, I found that it was because he was then +building a house, and that he could not be released from the 'taboo' +till he had it finished. Being only a "cookee,"[AA] he had no person to +wait upon him, but was obliged to submit to the distressing operation of +feeding himself in the manner proscribed by the superstitious ordinance; +and he was told by the tohunga, or priest, that if he presumed to put +one finger to his mouth before he had completed the work he was about, +the atua (divinity) would certainly punish his impious contempt, by +getting into his stomach before his time, and eating him out of the +world. Of this premature destiny he seemed so apprehensive that he kept +his hands as though they were never made for touching any article of +diet; nor did he suffer them by even a single motion to show the least +sympathy for his mouth, while that organ was obliged to use double +exertions, and act for those members which superstition had paralysed. + +"Sitting down by the side of this deluded being, whom credulity and +ignorance had rendered hopeless," says Nicholas, "I undertook to feed +him; and his appetite being quite voracious, I could hardly supply it as +fast as he devoured. Without ever consulting his digestive powers, of +which we cannot suppose he had any idea, he spared himself the trouble +of mastication; and, to lose no time, swallowed down every lump as I put +it into his mouth: and I speak within compass when I assert that he +consumed more food than would have served any two ploughmen in England. + +"Perfectly tired of administering to his insatiable gluttony, which was +still as ravenous as when he commenced, I now wished for a little +intermission; and taking advantage of his situation, I resolved to give +him as much to do as would employ him for at least a few minutes, +while, in the meantime, it would afford me some amusement for my +trouble. I therefore thrust into his mouth the largest hot potato I +could find, and this had exactly the intended effect; for the fellow, +unwilling to drop it, and not daring to penetrate it before it should +get cool, held it slightly compressed between his teeth, to the great +enjoyment of his countrymen, who laughed heartily, as well as myself, at +the wry faces he made, and the efforts he used with his tongue to +moderate the heat of the potato, and bring it to the temperature of his +gums, which were evidently smarting from the contact. But he bore this +trick with the greatest possible good humour, and to make him amends for +it, I took care to supply him plentifully, till he cried out, 'Nuee nuee +kiki,'[AB] and could eat no more; an exclamation, however, which he did +not make till there was no more in the baskets."[AC] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote S: tapu'd.] + +[Footnote T: "Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains."] + +[Footnote U: "Moko" is the accepted form of spelling the word.] + +[Footnote V: "Account of New Zealand."] + +[Footnote W: Probably Rakau.] + +[Footnote X: This is the name given in the deed of sale, dated February +24th, 1815, but the correct spelling is probably "Kuna" or "Kena."] + +[Footnote Y: Hokianga Harbour.] + +[Footnote Z: Probably Muriwai, a celebrated Hokianga chief.] + +[Footnote AA: Mr. S. Percy Smith, of New Plymouth, states that this word +was very common in New Zealand fifty or sixty years ago. It was applied +to servants, and was derived from the English word "cook." In Maori it +is "kuki."] + +[Footnote AB: This means "plenty of food," or "sufficient"; but it is +European Maori. One Maori, speaking to another, would say "He nui te +kai."] + +[Footnote AC: The best account of the operation of the law of tapu is +given by Judge Maning in "Old New Zealand."] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Rutherford remained at the village for about six months, together with +the others who had been taken prisoners with him and who had not been +put to death, all except one, John Watson, who, soon after their arrival +there, was carried away by a chief named Nainy.[AD] A house was assigned +for them to live in, and the natives gave them also an iron pot they had +taken from the ship, in which to cook their victuals. This they found a +very useful article. It was "tabooed," so that no slave was allowed to +eat anything cooked in it; that, we suppose, being considered the surest +way of preventing it from being stolen. + +At last they set out in company with Aimy and another chief, to pursue +their way further into the interior; one of them, however, whose name is +not given, remaining with Rangadi. + +Having come to another village, the chief of which was called Plama,[AE] +another of them, whose name was John Smith, was left with him. + +The number of those preserved alive, it will be recollected, was six; so +that, three of them having been disposed of in the manner that has been +stated, there were now, including Rutherford, as many more remaining +together. + +When they had travelled about twelve miles further, they stopped at a +third village, and there they remained two days. + +"We were treated very kindly," says Rutherford, "at this village by the +natives. The chief, whose name was Ewanna,[AF] made us a present of a +large pig, which we killed after our own country fashion, not a little +to the surprise of the New Zealanders. I observed many of the children +catch the flowing blood in their hands, and drink it with the greatest +eagerness. Their own method of killing a pig is generally by drowning, +in order that they may not lose the blood. The natives then singed off +the hair for us, by holding the animal over a fire, and also gutted it, +desiring nothing but the entrails for their trouble. We cooked it in our +iron pot, which the slaves who followed us had brought along with the +rest of the luggage belonging to our party. + +"No person was allowed to take any part of the pig unless he received +some from us; and not even then, if he did not belong to a chief's +family. + +"On taking our departure from this village, we left with Ewanna one of +our comrades named Jefferson, who, on parting from us, pressed my hand +in his, and with tears in his eyes, exclaimed, 'God bless you both! we +shall never see each other again.' + +"We proceeded on our journey, in company with Aimy and his family, and +another chief; and having walked about two miles without one word being +spoken by any of the party, we arrived at the side of a river. Here we +stopped, and lighted a fire; and the natives who had charge of the +luggage having come up in about an hour, bringing with them some +potatoes and dried fish, we cooked a dinner for ourselves in the usual +manner. We then crossed the river, which was only about knee deep, and +immediately entered a wood, through which we continued to make our way +till sunset. On getting out of it we found ourselves in the midst of +some cultivated ground, on which we saw growing potatoes, turnips, +cabbage, tara[AG] (which is a root resembling a yam), water-melons, and +coomeras,[AH] or sweet potatoes. + +"After a little while we arrived at another river, on the opposite side +of which stood the village in which Aimy resided. Having got into a +canoe, we crossed over to the village, in front of which many women were +standing, who, waving their mats, exclaimed, as they saw us approaching, +'Arami, arami,'[AI] which means, 'Welcome home.' + +"We were then taken to Aimy's house, which was the largest in the +village, having the walls formed of large twigs covered with rushes, +with which it was also thatched. A pig was now killed for us, and cooked +with some coomeras, from which we supped; and, afterwards seating +ourselves around the fire, we amused ourselves by listening to several +of the women singing. + +"In the meantime, a slave girl was killed, and put into a hole in the +earth to roast in the manner already described in order to furnish a +feast the following day, in honour of the chief's return home. + +"We slept that night in the chief's house; but the next morning a number +of the natives were set to work to build one for ourselves, of the same +form with that in which the chief lived, and nearly of the same size. + +"In the course of this day, many other chiefs arrived at the village, +accompanied by their families and slaves, to welcome Aimy home, which +they did in the usual manner. Some of them brought with them a quantity +of water-melons, which they gave to me and my comrade. At last they all +seated themselves upon the ground to have their feast; several large +pigs, together with some scores of baskets of potatoes, tara, and +water-melons, having first been brought forward by Aimy's people. The +pigs, after being drowned in the river and dressed, had been laid to +roast beside the potatoes. When these were eaten, the fire that had +been made the night before was opened, and the body of the slave girl +taken out of it, which they next proceeded to feast upon in the eagerest +manner. We were not asked to partake of it, for Aimy knew that we had +refused to eat human flesh before. After the feast was over, the +fragments were collected, and carried home by the slaves of the +different chiefs, according to the custom which is always observed on +such occasions in New Zealand." + +The house that had been ordered to be built for Rutherford and his +companion was ready in about a week; and, having taken up their abode in +it, they were permitted to live, as far as circumstances would allow, +according to their own customs. As it was in this village that +Rutherford continued to reside during the remainder of the time he spent +in New Zealand, we may consider him as now fairly domesticated among his +new associates, and may therefore conveniently take the present +opportunity of completing our general picture of the country and its +inhabitants, by adverting to a few matters which have not yet found a +place in our narrative. + +No doubt whatever can exist as to the relationship of the New Zealanders +to the numerous other tribes of the same complexion, by whom nearly all +the islands of the South Sea are peopled, and who, in physical +conformation, language, religion, institutions, and habits, evidently +constitute only one great family. + +Recent investigations, likewise, must be considered to have +sufficiently proved that the wave of population, which has spread itself +over so large a portion of the surface of the globe, has flowed from the +same central region, which all history points to as the cradle of our +race, and which may be here described generally as the southern tract of +the great continent of Asia. This prolific clime, while it has on the +one hand sent out its successive detachments of emigrants to occupy the +wide plains of Europe, has on the other discharged its overflowing +numbers upon the islands of the Pacific, and, with the exception of New +Holland[AJ] and a few other lands in its immediate vicinity, the +population of which seems to be of African origin, has, in this way, +gradually spread a race of common parentage over all of them, from those +that constitute what has been called the great Indian Archipelago, in +the immediate neighbourhood of China, to the Sandwich Islands and Easter +Island, in the remotest east of that immense expanse of waters. + +The Malay language is spoken, although in many different dialects and +degrees of corruption, throughout the whole of this extensive range, +which, measured in one direction, stretches over nearly half the +equatorial circumference of the globe, and in another over at least +seventy degrees of latitude. The people are all also of the same brown +or copper complexion, by which the Malay is distinguished from the +white man on the one hand, and the negro on the other. + +In New Zealand, however, as, indeed, in most of the other seats of this +race, the inhabitants are distinguished from each other by a very +considerable diversity in the shades of what may be called the common +hue. Crozet was so much struck with this circumstance that he does not +hesitate to divide them into three classes--whites, browns, and +blacks,--the last of whom he conceives to be a foreign admixture +received from the neighbouring continent of New Holland, and who, by +their union with the whites, the original inhabitants of the country, +and still decidedly the prevalent race, have produced those of the +intermediate colour. + +[Illustration: Two Maori Chiefs--Te Puni, or "Greedy," and Wharepouri, +or "Dark House."] + +Whatever may be thought of this hypothesis, it is certain that in some +parts of New Zealand the natives are much fairer than in others. Cook +remarks, in the account of his first voyage, that the people about the +Bay of Islands seemed darker than those he had seen further to the +south; and their colour generally is afterwards described as varying +from a pretty deep black to a yellowish or olive tinge. In like manner, +Marsden states that the people in the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga +are much fairer than those on the east coast. It may also, perhaps, be +considered some confirmation of Crozet's opinion as to the origin of the +darkest coloured portion of the population, that those who come under +this description are asserted to be characterized, in addition, by the +other negro peculiarity of a diminutive stature.[AK] + +In general, however, the New Zealanders are a tall race of men, many of +the individuals belonging to the upper classes being six feet high and +upwards. They are also described as strong, active, and almost uniformly +well-shaped. Their hair is commonly straight, but sometimes curly; +Crozet says he saw a few of them with red hair. Cook describes the +females as far from attractive; but other observers give a more +flattering account of them. Savage, for example, assures us that their +features are regular and pleasing; and he seems to have been much struck +by their "long black hair and dark penetrating eyes," as well as "their +well-formed figure, the interesting cast of their countenance, and the +sweet tone of their voice." Cruise's testimony is almost equally +favourable. + +The dress of the two sexes is exactly the same, and consists of an inner +mat or tunic, fastened by a girdle round their waists, and an upper +cloak, which is made of very coarse materials for ordinary wear, but is +of a much finer fabric, and often, indeed, elaborately ornamented, when +intended for occasions of display. Both these articles of attire are +always made of the native flax. The New Zealanders wear no covering +either for the head or the feet, the feathers with which both sexes +ornament the head being excepted. + +The food upon which they principally live is the root of the fern-plant, +which grows all over the country. + +Rutherford's account of the method of preparing it, which we have +already transcribed, corresponds exactly with that given by Cook, +Nicholas, and others. This root, sometimes swallowed entirely, and +sometimes only masticated, and the fibres rejected after the juice has +been extracted, serves the New Zealanders not only for bread, but even +occasionally for a meal by itself. When fish are used, they do not +appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten raw, but are always +cooked, either by being fixed upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so +exposed to the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and then placed +between heated stones to bake. But little of any other animal food is +consumed, birds being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being +only produced on days of special festivity. + +The first pigs were left in New Zealand by Cook, who made many attempts +to stock the country both with this and other useful animals, most of +whom, however, were so much neglected that they soon disappeared. Cook, +likewise, introduced the potato into New Zealand; and that valuable root +appears to be now pretty generally cultivated throughout the northern +island. + +The only agricultural implements, however, which the natives possess are +of the rudest description; that with which they dig their potatoes being +merely a wooden pole, with a cross-bar of the same material fixed to it +about three feet from the ground. Marsden saw the wives of several of +the chiefs toiling hard in the fields with no better spade than this; +among others the head wife of the great Shungie, who, though quite +blind, appeared to dig the ground, he says, as fast as those who had +their sight, and as well, first pulling up the weeds as she went along +with her hands, then setting her feet upon them that she might know +where they were; and, finally, after she had broken the soil, throwing +the mould over the weeds with her hands. + +The labours of agriculture in New Zealand are, in this way, rendered +exceedingly toilsome, by the imperfection of the only instruments which +the natives possess. Hence, principally, their extreme desire for iron. +Marsden, in the "Journal of his Second Visit," gives us some very +interesting details touching the anxiety which the chiefs universally +manifested to obtain agricultural tools of this metal. One morning, he +tells us, a number of them arrived at the settlement, some having come +twenty, others fifty miles. "They were ready to tear us to pieces," says +he, "for hoes and axes. One of them said his heart would burst if he +did not get a hoe." + +They were told that a supply had been written for to England; but "they +replied that many of them would be in their graves before the ship would +come from England, and the hoes and axes would be of no advantage to +them when dead. They wanted them now. They had no tools at present, but +wooden ones to work their potato-grounds with; and requested that we +would relieve their present distress." + +When he returned from his visit to Shukehanga, many of the natives of +that part of the country followed him, with a similar object, to the +settlement. "When we left Patuona's village," says he, "we were more +than fifty in number, most of them going for an axe or a hoe, or some +small edge-tool. They would have to travel, by land and water, from a +hundred to a hundred and forty miles, in some of the worst paths, +through woods, that can be conceived, and to carry their provisions for +their journey. A chief's wife came with us all the way, and I believe +her load would not be less than one hundred pounds; and many carried +much more." But, perhaps, the most importunate pleader the reverend +gentleman encountered on this journey was an old chief, with a very long +beard, and his face tattooed all over, who followed him during part of +his progress among the villages of the western coast. "He wanted an +axe," says Marsden, "very much; and at last he said that if we would +give him an axe, he would give us his head. Nothing is held in so much +veneration by the natives as the head of their chief. I asked him who +should have the axe when I had got his head. At length he said, 'Perhaps +you will trust me a little time; and, when I die, you shall have my +head.' This venerable personage afterwards got his axe by sending a man +for it to the settlement." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AD: Probably Nene.] + +[Footnote AE: There is no "l" in the Maori orthography, and the name +cannot be traced.] + +[Footnote AF: This is another case where Rutherford's pronunciation +seems to have been at fault.] + +[Footnote AG: The taro.] + +[Footnote AH: The kumera, a sweet potato, which was extensively +cultivated by the ancient Maoris.] + +[Footnote AI: "Haere mai," "come here," the usual words of welcome.] + +[Footnote AJ: That is, Australia.] + +[Footnote AK: The origin of the Maori is dealt with exhaustively by Mr. +S Percy Smith in "Hawaiki"; by Mr. E. Tregear, in "The Maori Race"; and +by Professor Macmillan Brown, in "Maori and Polynesian."] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Taken altogether, New Zealand presents a great variety of landscape, +although, even where the scenery is most subdued, it partakes of a bold +and irregular character, derived not more from the aspect of undisturbed +Nature, which still obtrudes itself everywhere among the traces of +commencing cultivation, than from the confusion of hill and valley which +marks the face of the soil, and the precipitous eminences, with their +sides covered by forests, and their summits barren of all vegetation, or +terminating perhaps in a naked rock, that often rise close beside the +most sheltered spots of fertility and verdure. + +If this brokenness and inequality of surface oppose difficulties in the +way of agricultural improvement, the variety and striking contrasts +thereby produced must be often at least highly picturesque; and all, +accordingly, who have visited New Zealand, agree in extolling the +mingled beauty and grandeur which are profusely spread over the more +favoured parts of the country, and are not altogether wanting even where +the general look of the coast is most desolate and uninviting. + +The southern island, with the exception of a narrow strip along its +northern shore, appears to be, in its interior, a mere chaos of +mountains, and the region of perpetual winter; but even here, the +declivities that slope down towards the sea are clothed, in many places +to the water's edge, with gigantic and evergreen forests; and more +protected nooks occasionally present themselves, overspread with the +abundance of a teeming vegetation, and not to be surpassed in loveliness +by what the land has anywhere else to show. The bleakness of the western +coast of this southern island indeed does not arise so much from its +latitude as from the tempestuous north-west winds which seem so much to +prevail in this part of the world, and to the whole force of which it +is, from its position, exposed. + +The interior and eastern side of the northern island owe their fertility +and their suitableness for the habitation of man principally to the +intervention of a considerable extent of land, much of which is +elevated, between them and the quarter from which these desolating gales +blow. The more westerly portion of it seems only to be inhabited in +places which are in a certain degree similarly defended by the +surrounding high grounds. In these, as well as in the more populous +districts to the east, the face of the country, generally speaking, +offers to the eye a spread of luxuriant verdure, the freshness of which +is preserved by continual depositions of moisture from the clouds that +are attracted by the mountains, so that its hue, even in the heat of +midsummer, is peculiarly vivid and lustrous. + +Much of the land, both in the valleys and on the brows of the hills, is +covered by groves of majestic pine, which are nearly impervious, from +the thick underwood that has rushed up everywhere in the spaces between +the trees; and where there is no wood, the prevailing plant is a fern, +which rises generally to the height of six or seven feet. + +Along the skirts of the woodlands flow numerous rivers, which intersect +the country in all directions, and several of which are navigable for +miles up by ships of considerable burthen. Various lines of +communication are in this way established between the opposite coasts of +the northern island; while some of the minor streams, that rush down to +the sea through the more precipitous ravines, are interrupted in their +course by magnificent cataracts, which give additional effect to the +other features of sublimity and romantic beauty by which the country is +so distinguished. Many of the rocks on the coast are perforated, a +circumstance which proceeds from their formation. + +The quality of the soil of this country may be best estimated from the +profuse vegetation with which the greater part of it is clothed, and the +extraordinary vigour which characterizes the growth of most of its +productions. The botany of New Zealand has as yet been very imperfectly +investigated, a very small portion of the native plants having been +either classified or enumerated. From the partial researches, however, +that have been made by the scientific gentlemen attached to Cook's +expeditions, and subsequent visitors, there can be no doubt that the +country is rich both in new and valuable herbs, plants, and trees as +well as admirably adapted for the cultivation of many of the most useful +among the vegetable possessions of other parts of the world. + +Rutherford, we have seen, mentions the existence of cultivated land in +the neighbourhood of the village to which he was last conveyed. The New +Zealanders had made considerable advances in agriculture even before +Cook visited the country; and that navigator mentions particularly, in +the narrative of his first voyage, the numerous patches of ground which +he observed all along the east coast in a state of cultivation. Speaking +of the very neighbourhood of the place at which the crew of the "Agnes" +were made prisoners, he says:--"Banks saw some of their plantations, +where the ground was as well broken down and tilled as even in the +gardens of the most curious people among us. In these spots were sweet +potatoes, coccos or eddas, which are well known and much esteemed both +in the East and West Indies, and some gourds. The sweet potatoes were +placed in small hills, some ranged in rows, and others in quincunx, all +laid by a line with the greatest regularity. The coccos were planted +upon flat land, but none of them yet (it was about the end of October) +appeared above ground; and the gourds were set in small hollows, or +dishes, much as in England. These plantations were of different extent, +from one or two acres to ten. Taken together, there appeared to be from +one hundred and fifty to two hundred acres in cultivation in the whole +bay, though we never saw a hundred people. Each district was fenced in, +generally with reeds, which were placed so close together that there was +scarcely room for a mouse to creep between." + +Since the commencement of the intercourse of the New Zealanders with +Europe, the sphere of their husbandry has been considerably enlarged by +the introduction of several most precious articles which were formerly +unknown to them. Cook, in the course of his several visits to the +country, both deposited in the soil, and left with some of the most +intelligent among the natives, quantities of such useful seeds as those +of wheat, peas, cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips, and potatoes; but +although he had sufficient proofs of the suitableness of the soil and +climate to the growth of most of these articles, which he found that +even the winter of New Zealand was too mild to injure, it appeared to +him very unlikely that the inhabitants would be at the trouble to take +care even of those whose value they in some degree appreciated. With the +exception, in fact, of the turnips and potatoes, the vegetable +productions which Cook took so much pains to introduce seem to have all +perished. The potatoes, however, have been carefully preserved, and are +said to have even improved in quality, being now greatly superior to +those of the Cape of Good Hope, from which the seed they have sprung +from was originally brought. + +In more recent times, maize has been introduced into New Zealand; and +the missionaries have sown many acres in the neighbourhood of the Bay of +Islands, both on their own property and on that of the native chiefs, +with English wheat, which has produced an abundant return. + +Duaterra was the first person who actually reared a crop of this grain +in his native country. On leaving Port Jackson the second time, to +return home, he took with him a quantity of it, and much astonished his +acquaintances by informing them that this was the very substance of +which the Europeans made biscuits, such as they had seen and eaten on +board their ships. + +"He gave a portion of wheat," says Marsden, "to six chiefs, and also to +some of his own common men, and directed them all how to sow it, +reserving some for himself and his uncle Shungie, who is a very great +chief, his dominion extending from the east to the west side of New +Zealand. + +"All the persons to whom Duaterra had given the seed-wheat put it into +the ground, and it grew well; but before it was well ripe, many of them +grew impatient for the produce; and as they expected to find the grain +at the roots of the stems, similar to their potatoes, they examined the +roots, and finding there was no wheat under the ground, they pulled it +all up, and burned it, except Shungie. + +"The chiefs ridiculed Duaterra much about the wheat, and told him, +because he had been a great traveller, he thought he could easily impose +upon their credulity by fine stories; and all he urged could not +convince them that wheat would make bread. His own and Shungie's crops +in time came to perfection, and were reaped and threshed; and though the +natives were much astonished to find that the grain was produced at the +top, and not at the bottom of the stem, yet they could not be persuaded +that bread could be made of it." + +Marsden afterwards sent Duaterra a steel mill to grind his wheat, which +he received with no little joy. "He soon set to work," continues +Marsden, "and ground some wheat before his countrymen, who danced and +shouted for joy when they saw the meal. He told me that he made a cake +and baked it in a frying-pan, and gave it to the people to eat, which +fully satisfied them of the truth he had told them before, that wheat +would make bread." The chiefs now begged some more seed, which they +sowed; and such of it as was attended to grew up as strong a crop as +could be desired. + +In all countries the securing of a sufficient supply of food is the +primary concern of society; and, accordingly, even among the rudest +tribes who are in any degree dependent upon the fruits of the earth for +their sustenance, the different operations of agriculture, as regulated +by the seasons, have always excited especial interest. Theoretical +writers are fond of talking of the natural progress of the species to +the agricultural state, from and through the pastoral, as if the one +were a condition at which it was nothing less than impossible for a +people to arrive, except by first undergoing the other. + +In countries circumstanced like New Zealand, at least, the course of +things must have been somewhat different; inasmuch as here we find the +agricultural state begun, where the pastoral could never have been +known, there being no flocks to tend. Cook, as we have seen, found the +inhabitants of this country extensive cultivators of land, and they, +probably, had been so for many ages before. Although the fern-root is in +most places the spontaneous produce of the soil, and enters largely into +the consumption of the people, it would yet seem that they have not been +wont to consider themselves independent of those other crops which they +raise by regular cultivation. To these, accordingly, they pay the +greatest attention, insomuch, that most of those who have visited the +country have been struck by the extraordinary contrast between the neat +and clean appearance of their fields, in which the plants rise in even +rows, and not a weed is to be seen, and the universal air of rudeness, +slovenliness, and discomfort which their huts present. + +But we must remember that in the latter case we see merely a few of the +personal accommodations of the savage, his neglect of which occasions +him but very slight and temporary inconvenience; whereas in the former +it is the very sustenance of his life which is concerned, his +inattention to which might expose him to all the miseries of famine. The +same care and neatness in the management of their fields has been +remarked as characteristics of the North American Indians; and both they +and the New Zealanders celebrate the seasons of planting and gathering +in their harvests with festivities and religious observances, practices +which have, indeed, prevailed in almost every nation, and may be +regarded as among the most beautiful and becoming of the rites of +natural religion. + +The commencement of the coomera harvest in New Zealand is the signal for +the suspension of all other occupations except that of gathering in the +crop. First, the priest pronounces a blessing upon the unbroken ground; +and then, when all its produce has been gathered in, he "taboos" or +makes sacred, the public storehouse in which it is deposited. + +Cruise states that this solemn dedication has sometimes saved these +depositories from spoliation, even on occasion of a hostile attack by +another tribe. "One of the gentlemen of the ship," this writer adds, +"was present at the 'shackerie,'[AL] or harvest-home, if it may be so +called, of Shungie's people. It was celebrated in a wood, where a square +space had been cleared of trees, in the centre of which three very tall +posts, driven into the ground in the form of a triangle, supported an +immense pile of baskets of coomeras. The tribe of Teeperree[AM] of +Wangarooa[AN] was invited to participate in the rejoicings, which +consisted of a number of dances performed round the pole, succeeded by a +very splendid feast; and when Teeperree's men were going away, they +received a present of as many coomeras as they could carry with them." +In New Zealand all the cultivated fields are strictly "tabooed," as well +as the people employed in cultivating them, who live upon the spot while +they proceed with their labours, and are not permitted to pass the +boundary until they are terminated; nor are any others allowed to +trespass upon the sacred enclosure. + +We have already mentioned more than once the lofty forests of New +Zealand. Of these, considered as a mere ornament to the country, all +who have seen them speak in terms of the highest admiration. Anderson, +the surgeon whom Cook took with him on board the "Resolution" in his +third voyage, describes them as "flourishing with a vigour almost +superior to anything that imagination can conceive, and affording an +august prospect to those who are delighted with the grand and beautiful +works of Nature." + +"It is impossible," says Nicholas, "to imagine, in the wildest and most +picturesque walks of Nature, a sight more sublime and majestic, or which +can more forcibly challenge the admiration of the traveller, than a New +Zealand forest." + +And indeed, when we are told that the trees rise generally to the height +of from eighty to a hundred feet, straight as a mast and without a +branch, and are then crowned with tops of such umbrageous foliage that +the rays of the sun, in endeavouring to pierce through them, can hardly +make more than a dim twilight in the lonely recesses below, so that +herbage cannot grow there, and the rank soil produces nothing but a +thick spread of climbing and intertwisted underwood, we may conceive how +imposing must be the gloomy grandeur of these gigantic and impenetrable +groves. + +[Illustration: Scene in a New Zealand forest.] + +In the woods in the neighbourhood of Poverty Bay, Cook says he found +trees of above twenty different sorts, altogether unknown to anybody +on board; and almost every new district which he visited afterwards +presented to him a profusion of new varieties. But the trees that have +as yet chiefly attracted the attention of Europeans are certain of those +more lofty ones of which we have just spoken. + +These trees had attracted Cook's attention in his first voyage, as +likely to prove admirably adapted for masts, if the timber, which in its +original state he considered rather too heavy for that purpose, could, +like that of the European pitch-pine, be lightened by tapping; they +would then, he says, be such masts as no country in Europe could +produce. Crozet, however, asserts, in his account of Marion's voyage +that they found what he calls the cedar of New Zealand to weigh no +heavier than the best Riga fir. + +Nicholas brought some of the seeds of the New Zealand phormium with him +to England in 1815; but unfortunately they lost their vegetative +properties during the voyage. It appears, however, that, some years +before, it had been brought to blossom, though imperfectly, in the +neighbourhood of London; and in France it is said to have been +cultivated in the open air with great success, by Freycinet and Faujas +St. Fond. Under the culture of the former of these gentlemen it grew, in +1813, to the height of seven feet six lines, the stalk being three +inches and four lines in circumference at the base, and two inches and a +half, half-way up. Upon one stalk he had a hundred and nine flowers, of +a greenish yellow colour; and he had made some very strong ropes from +the leaves, from which he had obtained the flax by a very simple +process. + +According to Rutherford, the natives, after having cut it down, and +brought it home green in bundles, in which state it is called "koradee," +scrape it with a large mussel-shell, and take the heart out of it, +splitting it with the nails of their thumbs, which for that purpose they +keep very long. It would seem, however, that the natives have made +instruments for dressing this flax not very dissimilar from the tools of +our own wool-combers. The outside they throw away, and the rest they +spread out for several days in the sun to dry, which makes it as white +as snow. In this prepared state it is, he says, called "mooka." They +spin it, he adds, in a double thread, with the hand on the thigh, and +then work it into mats, also by the hand: three women may work on one +mat at a time. + +Nicholas, on one occasion, saw Duaterra's head wife employed in weaving. +The mat on which she was engaged was one of an open texture, and "she +performed her work," says the author, "with wooden pegs stuck in the +ground at equal distances from each other, to which having tied the +threads that formed the woof, she took up six threads with the two +composing the warp, knotting them carefully together." "It was +astonishing," he says, "with what dexterity and quickness she handled +the threads, and how well executed was her performance." He was assured +that another mat which he saw, and which was woven with elaborate +ingenuity and elegance, could not have been manufactured in less time +than between two and three years. + +Valuable, however, as is the phormium for the purposes to which alone it +is applied in New Zealand, it would appear that the attempts which have +been made to fabricate from it what is properly called cloth have not +hitherto been attended with a favourable result. Some years ago, a +quantity of hemp that had been manufactured from the plant at Sydney, +was sent to be woven at Knaresborough; but "the trial," it is stated, +"did not succeed to the full satisfaction of the parties." + +We have been favoured with a communication upon this subject by a +gentleman who has given much attention to it, which seems to explain, in +a very satisfactory manner, the true reason of the failure that has been +here experienced. "A friend of mine," says our correspondent, "a few +years ago imported a quantity of the phormium, in the expectation that +it would answer admirably for making cloth even of the finest fabric. +But in this he was altogether disappointed. Although it is infinitely +stronger in its raw state than any other flax or hemp, yet when boiled +with potash it becomes so exceedingly weak as not to bear the operation +of weaving but with the utmost difficulty. A gentleman once showed me a +pair of trousers made of this material. They appeared quite rough and +nearly worn out, though they had been used but for a few weeks. + +"Although making cloth of it, however, is out of the question, it is +admirably fitted for rope and twine of all descriptions. It will, +therefore, prove highly valuable to our shipping and fishing interests. +Another friend of mine made some rope of it, which, when proved by the +breaking machine, bore, I think, nearly double the strain of a +similar-sized rope made of Russian hemp. The great strength and tenacity +of the New Zealand flax appears to me to be owing to the fibres, though +naturally short, being firmly united by an elastic vegetable glue or +gum, which the boiling process dissolves." Rutherford says the flax +becomes black on being soaked, which may possibly be occasioned by its +consequent loss of the gum here described. + +We find it stated in the "Annual Register" for 1819, that about the +beginning of that year a favourable report had been made of the +suitableness of the phormium for the manufacture both of small and large +ropes, after some experiments in the dockyard at Portsmouth. The ropes +turned out strong, pliable, and very silky. The notice adds that the +plant may be cut down in New Zealand three times a year; and that it may +be imported to this country at the rate of about eight pounds per ton, +or one-seventh of the cost of hemp. + +Among the useful plants for which we are indebted to New Zealand, we +must not forget their summer spinach (_Tetragonia expansa_--Murray), +which was discovered on Cook's first voyage by Sir Joseph Banks, and was +"boiled and eaten as greens" by the crew. It was afterwards seen by +Forster at Tongataboo, though it was not used by the natives; but +Thunberg found the Japanese acquainted with its value as a pot-herb. It +was introduced into Kew Gardens in 1772; but the first account of it as +a vegetable worthy of cultivation, was published by Count D'Auraches in +the "Annales d'Agriculture" for 1809. Its chief advantage lies in the +leaves being fit for use during the summer, even in the driest weather, +up to the setting in of the frosts, when the common spinach is useless; +but it is not reckoned of so fine a flavour as that plant. The Rev. J. +Bransby says that the produce of three seeds, which must be reared by +heat before planting out, supplied his own table and those of two of his +friends from June till the frost killed it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AL: The hakari, or feast, a great function in former times.] + +[Footnote AM: This name is spelt wrongly. It might be Te Pahi, a famous +chief, but it is reported that he died soon after the affair of the +"Boyd," in 1809, some time before Rutherford's arrival in New Zealand. +The tribe, however, may still have been known as Te Pahi's.] + +[Footnote AN: Whangaroa.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The native land animals of New Zealand are not numerous. The most common +is said to be one resembling our fox-dog, which is sometimes eaten for +food. It runs wild in the woods, and is described by Savage as usually +of a black and white skin, with pricked up ears, and the hair rather +long. But it may perhaps be doubted if even this quadruped is a native +of the country.[AO] + +According to Rutherford the pigs run wild in the woods, and are hunted +by dogs. He also mentions that there are a few horned cattle in the +interior, which have been bred from some left by the discovery ships. No +other account, however, confirms this statement. There are in New +Zealand a few rats, and bats; and the coasts are frequented by seals of +different species. One of the natives told Cook that there was in the +interior a lizard eight feet long, and as thick as a man's body, which +burrowed in the ground, and sometimes seized and devoured men. This +animal, of the existence of which we have the additional evidence of an +exactly similar description given by one of the chiefs to Nicholas, is +probably an alligator. The natives, as we learn from Cruise, have the +greatest horror of a lizard, in the shape of which animal they believe +it is that the atua (or demon) is wont to take possession of the dying, +and to devour their entrails--a superstition which may not be +unconnected with the dread the alligator has spread among them by its +actual ravages, or the stories that have been propagated respecting it. +They report that in the part of the country where it is found it makes +great havoc among children, carrying them off and devouring them +whenever they come in its way.[AP] + +There are not many species of insects, those seen by Anderson, who +accompanied Cook, being only a few dragonflies, butterflies, +grasshoppers, spiders, and black ants, vast numbers of scorpion flies, +and a sandfly, which is described as the only noxious insect in the +country. It insinuates itself under the foot, and bites like a mosquito. + +The birds of New Zealand are very numerous, and almost all are peculiar +to the country. Among them are wild ducks, large wood-pigeons, seagulls, +rails, parrots, and parrakeets. They are generally very tame. + +Rutherford states that during his long residence he became very expert, +after the manner of the natives, in catching birds with a noosed +string, and that he has thus caught thousands of ground parrots with a +line about fifty feet long. The most remarkable bird is one to which +Cook's people gave the name of the mocking-bird, from the extraordinary +variety of its notes.[AQ] There is also another which was called by the +English the poe, or poi bird, from a little tuft of white curled +feathers which it has under its throat, and which seemed to them to +resemble certain white flowers worn as ornaments in the ears by the +people of Otaheite, and known there by a similar name. This bird is also +remarkable both for the beauty of its plumage and the sweetness of its +note. Its power of song is the more remarkable as it belongs to the +class of birds which feed on honey, whose notes are generally not +melodious.[AR] + +The enchanting music of the woods of New Zealand is dwelt upon with +rapture by all who have had an opportunity of listening to it. +Describing one of the first days he spent in Queen Charlotte Sound, Cook +says:--"The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of +a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the +singing of the birds. The number was incredible, and they seemed to +strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was +infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it +seemed to be like small bells, exquisitely tuned; and perhaps the +distance and the water between might be no small advantage to the +sound." Upon inquiry, they were informed that the birds here always +begin to sing about two hours after midnight, and, continuing their +music till sunrise, were silent the rest of the day.[AS] + +One of the chief sources of natural wealth which New Zealand possesses +consists in the abundance and variety of the fish which frequent its +coasts. Wherever he went, Cook, in his different visits to the two +islands, was amply supplied with this description of food, of which he +says that six or eight men, with hooks and lines, would in some places +catch daily enough to serve the whole ship's company. Among the +different species which are described as being found, we may mention +mackerel, crayfish, a sort called by the sailors colefish, which Cook +says was both larger and finer than any he had seen before, and was, in +the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded them; +the herring, the flounder, and a fish resembling the salmon. To these +may be added, besides, many other species of shell-fish, mussels, +cockles, and oysters. + +The seas in the neighbourhood of New Zealand, also, we ought not to +forget to add, are much frequented by whales, which, besides the value +of their blubber, are greatly prized by the natives for the sake of +their flesh, which they consider a first-rate delicacy. + +The New Zealanders are extremely expert in fishing. They are also +admirable divers, and Rutherford states that they will bring up live +fish from the deepest waters, with the greatest certainty. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AO: Craik is correct in this surmise. The Maori dog, Canis +familiaris, (Variety Maorium), which is now extinct, was introduced to +New Zealand when the Maoris came at the time of their great migration, +about 500 years ago.] + +[Footnote AP: The alligator is purely mythical. The only reptiles in New +Zealand are lizards, and a lizard-like animal called Tuatara. It is +about 18 inches long, and is allied to crocodiles and turtles, as well +as lizards. It is the sole representative of an ancient reptilian order +named Rhyncocephalia.] + +[Footnote AQ: This is the bell-bird (Anthornis melanura).] + +[Footnote AR: The tui, or parson bird (Prosthemadera novae zealandiae.)] + +[Footnote AS: Large numbers of New Zealand birds unite in the spring in +singing a magnificent Song of Dawn, which generally ceases when the sun +has fairly risen, but individuals sing at intervals through the day.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The details we have thus given will enable the reader to form a +conception of the state of society in the country in which Rutherford +now found himself imprisoned. + +The spot in the northern island of New Zealand, in which the village lay +where his residence was eventually fixed, cannot be exactly ascertained, +from the account which he gives of his journey to it from the coast. It +is evident, however, from the narrative, that it was too far in the +interior to permit the sea to be seen from it. + +"For the first year after our arrival in Aimy's village," says +Rutherford, "we spent our time chiefly in fishing and shooting; for the +chief had a capital double-barrelled fowling piece, as well as plenty of +powder and duck-shot, which he had brought from our vessel; and he used +to entrust me with the fowling-piece whenever I had a mind to go a +shooting, though he seldom accompanied me himself. We were generally +fortunate enough to bring home a good many wood-pigeons, which are very +plentiful in New Zealand. + +"At last it happened that Aimy and his family went to a feast at another +village a few miles distant from ours, and my comrade and I were left +at home, with nobody but a few slaves, and the chief's mother, an old +woman, who was sick, and attended by a physician. A physician in this +country remains with his patients constantly both day and night, never +leaving them till they either recover or die, in which latter case he is +brought before a court of inquiry, composed of all the chiefs for many +miles round. + +"During the absence of the family at the feast, my comrade chanced to +lend his knife to a slave for him to cut some rushes with, in order to +repair a house; and when this was done he received it back again. Soon +after he and I killed a pig, from which we cut a portion into small +pieces, and put them into our iron pot, along with some potatoes which +we had also peeled with our knives. When the potatoes were cooked, the +old woman who was sick desired us to give her some, which we did in the +presence of the doctor, and she ate them. Next morning she died, when +the chief and the rest of his family immediately returned home. + +"The corpse was first removed to an unoccupied piece of ground in the +centre of the village, and there placed with a mat under it, in a +sitting position against a post, being covered with another mat up to +the chin. The head and face were anointed with shark oil, and a piece of +green flax was also tied round the head, in which were stuck several +white feathers, the sort of feathers which are here preferred to any +other. + +"They then constructed, around the corpse, an enclosure of twigs, +something like a bird's cage, for the purpose of keeping the dogs, pigs, +and children from it; and these operations being over, muskets continued +to be occasionally fired during the remainder of the day to the memory +of the old woman. Meanwhile, the chiefs and their families from miles +around were making their appearance in our village, bringing with them +their slaves loaded with provisions. On the third day after the death, +they all, to the number of some hundreds, knelt down around the corpse, +and, having thrown off their mats, proceeded to cry and cut themselves, +in the same manner as we had seen done on occasions of the different +chiefs of the villages through which we passed being welcomed home. + +"After some time spent in this ceremony, they all sat down together to a +great feast, made of their own provisions, which they had brought with +them. + +"The next morning, the men alone formed a circle round the dead body, +armed with spears, muskets, tomahawks, and merys, and the doctor +appeared, walking backwards and forwards in the ring. By this time, my +companion and I had learned a good deal of their language; and, as we +stood listening to what was said, we heard the doctor relate the +particulars of the old woman's illness and death; after which, the +chiefs began to inquire very closely into what she had eaten for the +three days before she expired. + +"At last, the doctor having retired from the ring, an old chief stepped +forward, with three or four white feathers stuck in his hair; and, +having walked several times up and down in the ring, addressed the +meeting, and said that, in his opinion, the old woman's death had been +occasioned by her having eaten potatoes that had been peeled with a +white man's knife, after it had been used for cutting rushes to repair a +house; on which account, he thought that the white man to whom the knife +belonged should be killed, which would be a great honour conferred upon +the memory of the dead woman. + +"To this proposal many of the other chiefs expressed their assent, and +it seemed about to be adopted by the court. Meanwhile, my companion +stood trembling, and unable to speak from fear. I then went forward +myself into the ring, and told them that if the white man had done wrong +in lending his knife to the slave, he had done so ignorantly, from not +knowing the customs of the country. + +"I ventured at the same time to address myself to Aimy, beseeching him +to spare my shipmate's life; but he continued to keep his seat on the +ground, mourning for the loss of his mother, without answering me, or +seeming to take any notice of what I said; and while I was yet speaking +to him, the chief with the white feathers went and struck my comrade on +the head with a mery, and killed him. Aimy, however, would not allow +him to be eaten, though for what reason I never could learn. + +"The slaves, therefore, having dug a grave for him, he was interred +after my directions. + +"As for the corpse of the old woman, it was now wrapt up in several +mats, and carried away by Aimy and the doctor, no person being allowed +to follow them. I learned, however, that they took her into a +neighbouring wood, and there buried her. After this, the strangers all +left our village, and returned to their respective homes. In about three +months, the body of the woman was again taken up, and carried to the +river side, where the bones were scraped and washed, and then inclosed +in a box, which had been prepared for that purpose. + +"The box was afterwards fastened on the top of a post, in the place +where the body first lay in state; and a space of about thirty feet in +circumference being railed in around it, a wooden image was erected, to +signify that the ground was 'tabooed,' or sacred, and as a warning that +no one should enter the inclosure. This is the regular manner of +interment in New Zealand for any one belonging to a chief's family. When +a slave dies, a hole is dug, and the body is thrown into it without any +ceremony; nor is it ever disinterred again, or any further notice taken +of it. They never eat any person who dies of disease, or in the course +of nature." + +Thus left alone among these savages, and taught by the murder of his +comrade on how slight a tenure he held his own life, exposed as he was +every moment to the chance of in some way or other provoking their +capricious cruelty, Rutherford, it may be thought, must have felt his +protracted detention growing every day more insupportable. + +One of the greatest inconveniences which he now began to feel arose from +the wearing out of his clothes, which he patched and tacked as well as +he could for some time, but at last, after he had been about three years +in the country, they would hold together no longer. All that he had to +wear, therefore, was a white flax mat, which was given to him by the +chief, and which, being thrown over his shoulders, came as low as his +knees. This, he says, was his only garment, and he was compelled to go +both bareheaded and barefooted, having neither hat, shoes, nor +stockings. + +His life, meanwhile, seems to have been varied by few incidents +deserving of being recorded, and we are left to suppose that he spent +his time principally in shooting and fishing, as before. + +For the first sixteen months of his residence at the village, he kept a +reckoning of days by notches on a stick; but when he afterwards moved +about with the chiefs, he neglected this mode of tracing the progress of +time. + +[Illustration: Flute, made from the arm or thigh-bone of an enemy.] + +"At last, it happened one day," the narrative proceeds, "while we were +all assembled at a feast in our village, that Aimy called me to him, +in the presence of several more chiefs, and, having told them of my +activity in shooting and fishing, concluded by saying that he wished to +make me a chief, if I would give my consent. + +"This I readily did: upon which my hair was immediately cut with an +oyster shell in the front, in the same manner as the chiefs have theirs +cut; and several of the chiefs made me a present of some mats, and +promised to send me some pigs the next day. I now put on a mat covered +over with red ochre and oil, such as was worn by the other chiefs; and +my head and face were also anointed with the same composition by a +chief's daughter, who was entirely a stranger to me. I received, at the +same time, a handsome stone mery, which I afterwards always carried with +me. + +"Aimy now advised me to take two or three wives, it being the custom for +the chiefs to have as many as they think proper; and I consented to take +two. About sixty women were then brought up before me, none of whom, +however, pleased me, and I refused to have any of them; on which Aimy +told me that I was 'tabooed' for three days, at the expiration of which +time he would take me with him to his brother's camp, where I should +find plenty of women that would please me. + +"Accordingly we went to his brother's at the time appointed, when +several women were brought up before us; but, having cast my eyes upon +Aimy's two daughters, who had followed us, and were sitting on the +grass, I went up to the eldest, and said that I would choose her. + +"On this she immediately screamed and ran away; but two of the natives, +having thrown off their mats, pursued her, and soon brought her back, +when, by the direction of Aimy, I went and took hold of her hand. The +two natives then let her go, and she walked quietly with me to her +father, but hung down her head, and continued laughing. Aimy now called +his other daughter to him, who also came laughing; and he then advised +me to take them both. + +"I then turned to them, and asked them if they were willing to go with +me, when they both answered, _I pea_, or _I pair_, which signifies, +'Yes, I believe so.'[AT] + +"On this, Aimy told them they were 'tabooed' to me, and directed us all +three to go home together, which we did, followed by several of the +natives. We had not been many minutes at our own village, when Aimy, and +his brother also, arrived; and in the evening, a great feast was given +to the people by Aimy. During the greater part of the night, the women +kept dancing a dance which is called 'Kane-Kane,'[AU] and is seldom +performed, except when large parties are met together. While dancing it, +they stood all in a row, several of them holding muskets over their +heads; and their movements were accompanied by the singing of several +of the men; for they have no kind of music in this country. + +"My eldest wife's name was Eshou,[AV] and that of my youngest +Epecka.[AW] They were both handsome, mild, and good-tempered. I was now +always obliged to eat with them in the open air, as they would not eat +under the roof of my house, that being contrary to the customs of their +country. When away for any length of time, I used to take Epecka along +with me, and leave Eshou at home. + +"The chiefs' wives in New Zealand are never jealous of each other, but +live together in great harmony; the only distinction among them being +that the oldest is always considered the head wife. No other ceremony +takes place on the occasion of a marriage, except what I have mentioned. +Any child born of a slave woman, though the father should be a chief, is +considered a slave, like its mother. + +"A woman found guilty of adultery is immediately put to death. Many of +the chiefs take wives from among their slaves; but any one else that +marries a slave woman may be robbed with impunity; whereas he who +marries a woman belonging to a chief's family is secure from being +plundered, as the natives dare not steal from any person of that rank. + +"With regard to stealing from others, the custom is that if any person +has stolen anything, and kept it concealed for three days, it then +becomes his own property, and the only way for the injured party to +obtain satisfaction is to rob the thief in return. If the theft, +however, be detected within three days, the thief has to return the +article stolen; but, even in that case, he goes unpunished. The chiefs, +also, although secure from the depredations of their inferiors, plunder +one another, and this often occasions a war among them." + +By music in this passage, Rutherford evidently means instrumental music, +which, it would appear, was not known in the parts of New Zealand where +he resided. Other authorities, however, speak of different +wind-instruments, similar to our fifes or flutes, which are elsewhere in +common use. + +One which is frequently to be met with at the Bay of Islands consists, +according to Savage, of a tube six or seven inches long, open at both +extremities, and having three holes on one side, and one on the other. +Another is formed of two pieces of wood bound together, so as to make a +tube inflated at the middle, at which place there is a single hole. It +is blown into at one extremity, while the other is stopped and opened, +to produce different modifications of the sound. + +Nicholas once saw an instrument like a flute, made of bone, very +ingeniously carved, hanging at the breast of one of the natives; and +when he asked what bone it was formed from, the possessor immediately +told him that it was the bone of a man. It was a larger bone than any of +the native animals could have supplied. + +Vocal music is one of the favourite amusements of the New Zealanders. +Destitute as they are of the art of writing, they have, nevertheless, +their song poetry, part of which is traditionary, and part the produce +of such passing events as strongly excite their feelings, and prompt +their fancy to this only work of composition of which they have any +knowledge. + +Certain individuals among them are distinguished for their success in +these effusions; but the people inhabiting the vicinity of the East Cape +seem generally to enjoy the highest reputation for this species of +talent. These tribes, indeed, are described as in many other respects +decidedly superior to the rest of their countrymen. It is among them +that all the arts known in New Zealand flourish in the greatest +perfection; as, for example, the working of mats, and the making and +polishing of the different instruments used in war. + +Yet, although very numerous, they are themselves of a peaceful +disposition. Their houses are said to be both larger and better built +than those in any other part of the island; and their plantations are +also more extensive. This seems, in short, to be the manufacturing +district of New Zealand, the only part of the country in which anything +like regular industry has found an abode. Hence the pre-eminence of its +inhabitants, both in the useful and the elegant arts. + +Nicholas has printed some specimens of the songs of the New Zealanders, +which, when sung, are always accompanied, he informs us, by a great deal +of action. As he has given merely the words, however, without either the +music or a translation, it is needless to transcribe them. The airs he +describes as in general melodious and agreeable, and as having a +resemblance to our chanting. + +One of the songs which he gives is that which is always sung at the +feast which takes place when the planting of the potatoes commences. "It +describes," he says, "the havoc occasioned by the violence of an east +wind. Their potatoes are destroyed by it. They plant them again, and, +being more successful, they express their joy while taking them out of +the ground, with the words, _ah kiki! ah kiki! ah kiki!_--eat away! eat +away! eat away! Which is the conclusion of the song." Of another, "the +subject is a man carving a canoe, when his enemies approach the shore in +a canoe to attack him; endeavouring to conceal himself, he runs in among +the bushes, but is pursued, overtaken, and immediately put to death." + +Every more remarkable occasion of their rude and turbulent life seems +to have its appropriate song. The planting of their potatoes, the +gathering in of the crop, the commencement of the battle, the interment +of the dead, are all celebrated, each by its peculiar chorus, as well +as, probably, most of their other customary excitements, both of mirth +and of mourning. + +The New Zealanders have a variety of national dances; but none of them +have been minutely described. Some of them are said to display much +grace of movement; others are chiefly remarkable for the extreme +violence with which they are performed. As among the other South Sea +tribes, when there are more dancers than one, the most perfect +uniformity of step and attitude is preserved by all of them; and they do +not consider it a dance at all when this rule is not attended to. + +Captain Dillon very much amused some of those who came on board his ship +by a sample of English dancing, which he made his men give them on deck. +A company of soldiers going through their manual exercise would +certainly have come much nearer their notions of what a dance ought to +be. + +Although there are no written laws in New Zealand, all these matters +are, no doubt, regulated by certain universally understood rules, +liberal enough in all probability, in the license which they allow to +the tyranny of the privileged class, but still fixing some boundaries to +its exercise, which will accordingly be but rarely overstepped. Thus, +the power which the chief seems to enjoy of depriving any of his slaves +of life may be limited to certain occasions only; as, for instance, the +death of some member of the family, whose manes, it is conceived, demand +to be propitiated by such an offering. That in such eases slaves are +often sacrificed in New Zealand, we have abundant evidence. + +Cruise even informs us that when a son of one of the chiefs died in +Marsden's house, in New South Wales, it required the interposition of +that gentleman's authority to prevent some of the boy's countrymen, who +were with him, from killing a few of their slaves, in honour of their +deceased friend. On other occasions, it is likely that the life of the +slave can only be taken when he has been convicted of some delinquency; +although, as the chief is the sole judge of his criminality, he will +find this, it may be thought, but a slight protection. The domestic +slaves of the chiefs, however, it is quite possible, and even likely, +are much more completely at the mercy of their caprice and passion than +the general body of the common people, whose vassalage may, after all, +consist in little more than the obligation of following them to their +wars, and rendering them obedience in such other matters of public +concern. + +Between the chiefs and the common people, who, as we have already +mentioned, are called "cookees," there seems to be also a pretty +numerous class, distinguished by the name of rungateedas, or, as it has +been more recently written, rangatiras, which appears to answer nearly +to the English term gentry.[AX] It consists of those who are connected +by relationship with the families of the chiefs; and who, though not +possessed of any territorial rights, are, as well as the chiefs +themselves, looked upon as almost of a different species from the +inferior orders, from whom they are probably as much separated in their +political condition and privileges as they are in the general estimation +of their rank and dignity. The term rangatira, indeed, in its widest +signification, includes the chiefs themselves, just as our English +epithet gentleman does the highest personages in the realm. + +Although there is no general government in New Zealand, the chiefs +differ from each other in power; and some of them seem even to exercise, +in certain respects, a degree of authority over others. Those who are +called areekees,[AY] in particular, are represented as of greatly +superior rank to the common chiefs. It was, probably, a chief of this +class of whom Cook heard at various places where he put in along the +east coast of the northern island, on his first visit to the country. He +calls him Teratu; and he found his authority to extend, he says, from +Cape Turnagain to the neighbourhood of Mercury Bay. The eight districts, +too, into which this island was divided by Toogee,[AZ] in the map of it +which he drew for Captain King, were in all likelihood the nominal +territories, or what we may call feudal domains, of so many areekees. + +The account which Rutherford gives of the law, or custom, which prevails +in New Zealand in regard to the crime of theft, may seem at first sight +to be somewhat irreconcilable with the statements of other authorities, +who tell us that this crime is regarded by the natives in so heinous a +light that its usual punishment is death; whereas, according to him, it +would seem scarcely to be considered by them as a crime at all. + +This apparent disagreement, however, arises, in all probability, merely +from that misapprehension, or imperfect conception, of the customs of a +foreign people into which we are so apt to be misled by the tendency we +have to mix up constantly our own previously acquired notions with the +simple facts that present themselves to us, and to explain the latter by +the former. With our habits and improved ideas of morality, we see in +theft both a trespass upon the arbitrary enactments of society, which +demands the correction of the civil magistrate, and a violation of that +natural equity which is independent of all political arrangements, and +would make it unfair and wrong for one man to take to himself what +belongs to another, although there were no such thing as what is +commonly called a government in existence. + +But in the mind of the New Zealander these simple notions of right and +wrong have been warped, and, as it were, suffocated, by a multitude of +unnatural and monstrous inventions, which have grown up along with them +from his very birth. How misapplied are the epithets, natural and +artificial, when employed, as they often are, to characterise the savage +and civilized state! It is the former, in truth, which is by far the +most artificial; and much of civilization consists in the abolition of +the numerous devices by which it has falsified and perverted the natural +dispositions of the human heart and understanding, and in the +reformation of society upon principles more accordant with their +unsophisticated dictates. + +Probably the only case in which the New Zealander looks upon theft as a +crime is when it is accompanied by a breach of hospitality, or is +committed upon those who have, in the customary and understood manner, +entrusted themselves to his friendship and honour. In any other +circumstances, he will scarcely hold himself disgraced by any act of +depredation which he can contrive to accomplish without detection; +however much the fear of not escaping with impunity may often deter him +from making the attempt. + +Then, as for the estimation in which the crime is politically held, +this, we need not doubt, will be very much regulated by the relative +situation in regard to rank of the two parties. Most of the European +visitors who have hitherto given us an account of the country have mixed +chiefly with the higher classes of its inhabitants, and consequently +learned but little with regard to the condition of the great body of the +population, except in so far as it affected, or was affected by, that of +the chiefs. Hence the impression they have taken up that theft in New +Zealand is looked upon as one of the worst of crimes, and always +punished with death. It is so, we have no doubt, when committed by one +of the common people upon any of the privileged class. In that case, the +mean and despised condition of the delinquent, as compared with that of +the person whose rights he has dared to invade, converts what might +otherwise have scarcely been deemed a transgression at all into +something little short of sacrilege. The thief is therefore knocked on +the head at once, or strung up on a gallows; for that, too, seems to be +one of the modes of public punishment for this species of crime in New +Zealand. This severity is demanded by the necessity which is felt for +upholding the social edifice in its integrity; and is also altogether in +keeping with the slight regard in which the lives of the lower orders +are universally held, and the love of bloodshed by which this ferocious +people is distinguished. + +But when one "cookee," or common man, pilfers from another, it is quite +another matter. In this case, the act entirely wants those aggravations +which, in the estimation of a New Zealander, give it all its +criminality; and the parties, besides, are so insignificant, that the +notion of avenging any injury which the one may have suffered from the +other by the public execution of the offender would probably be deemed +in that country nearly as unreasonable as we should hold a proposal for +the application of such a scheme of government in correction of the +quarrels and other irregularities of the lower animals. + +It need not, therefore, surprise us to be told, especially when we +consider also the trivial value of any articles of property they +possess, that thieving among the common people there is regarded, not as +a crime, but as an art, in which, as in other arts, the skilful and +dexterous practitioner deserves reward rather than punishment; nearly as +it was regarded among the Spartans, who punished the detected thief, +indeed, but not so much for his attempt as for his failure; or more +nearly still as it is said to have been among the ancient Egyptians, by +whom such acts were, in all cases, allowed to be perpetrated with +impunity. + +This view will go far to explain various incidents which we find noticed +in the different accounts of New Zealand. The reports of the +missionaries, in particular, abound with notices of individuals put to +death by the chiefs for alleged acts of theft; but in every case of this +kind which is mentioned, the person punished is, we believe, a slave. We +have observed no instance, noted, in which the crime in question was +punished, either with death or in any other way, when committed by one +"cookee" on the property of another; and it is abundantly evident, from +many things which are stated, that the natives themselves really do not +consider the act as implying, in ordinary cases, that moral turpitude +which we generally impute to it. + +In one case which Marsden mentions, the brother of a chief, named +Ahoudee Ogunna,[BA] conceiving himself to have been improperly treated +by one of the missionaries, stole two earthen pots from another of them; +but the explanation which the chief gave of the matter was that his +brother had not stolen the pots, but had only taken them away with an +intention to bring on an explanation respecting the conduct which had +given him offence. The man's expectation here evidently was that his +theft (if it was to be so called) would merely have the effect of making +the missionaries as angry as he himself was, and so of rendering both +parties equally anxious for a full discussion of their differences. He +had himself, as he conceived, been affronted in a manner not to be +passed over; and his stealing of the pots he meant merely as a spirited +act of retaliation, which would in some degree throw back the insult he +had received upon those who had inflicted it, and make them in their +turn feel mortified and on fire for satisfaction. + +He certainly did not imagine for a moment that he was at all degrading +himself by the method he adopted for attaining this end. The +degradation, in his conception of the matter, would be all with the +party robbed. He had, however, in his anger, forgotten one thing, which, +according even to the notions of the New Zealanders, it was most +material that he should have remembered, as his more considerate brother +felt as soon as he heard of the transaction, and as even he himself was +afterwards brought to acknowledge. The chief, besides having experienced +much kindness from the missionaries, was the very person from whom they +had purchased the ground on which their settlement was established, and +on whose friendship, at least, they had therefore a fair right to count, +if they were not even to regard themselves as in some degree under his +special protection. That personage felt the force of these +considerations so strongly that, in order to show how much he was vexed +and ashamed at his brother's conduct, he burned his own house to the +ground, and left his usual place of residence, with a determination +never to return to it so long as his brother lived. + +On the morning of his departure, the high-spirited chief came to take +leave of the missionaries, when he told them that he had been on the +spot where his house stood before he burned it, to weep with his +friends, and showed them how much he had lacerated his face, arms, and +other parts of his body, in which his friends had followed his example. +His brother, too, at last came to them, quite penitent for his hasty +conduct, and offered to restore the only one of the pots which he still +had, the other having been already stolen from him by one of his +countrymen. Accordingly, he soon after sent his son with the article; +and the boy having been presented with six fish-hooks, he immediately +brought them back, with a message, that his father would take nothing +for the pot. + +Such acts of retaliation as that to which the brother of Ahoudee Ogunna +here had recourse are often resorted to by the chiefs with something of +a similar design, to avenge themselves, namely, for injuries which they +conceive they have sustained, or to bring about those ulterior measures +by which they may obtain for their grievances complete atonement or +redress. In this way, many wars arise. But it is a point of honour with +a chief never to touch what belongs to those who have trusted themselves +to his friendship, and against whom he has no claim for satisfaction on +account of any old affront or outrage. To be supposed capable of doing +so would be felt by any of them as an intolerable imputation. + +[Illustration: A waist-mat. _Christchurch Museum_.] + +We find a striking instance of this, to pass over many others that might +be quoted, in the conduct of Tetoro, who returned home to New Zealand +from Port Jackson, along with Cruise, in the "Dromedary." It was thought +necessary, during the passage, to take from this chief a box containing +some gunpowder, which he had got with him, and to lodge it in the +magazine until the ship arrived at New Zealand. "Though every exertion," +says Cruise, "was used, to explain the reason why he was requested to +give it up, and the strongest assurances made that it should be restored +hereafter, he either could not or would not understand what was said to +him. Upon parting with the property, which, next to his musket, was in +his eyes the greatest treasure in the world, he fell into an agony of +grief and despair which it was quite distressing to witness, repeatedly +exclaiming, 'No good,' and, rolling himself up in his mat, he declined +the conversation of every one. He remained in this state so long that +the powder was at length brought back; but he refused to take it, +saying, 'that they might again put it in the magazine, since they must +now be aware that he had not stolen it.'" + +Similar to that of Tetoro, was the conduct of a chief whom Marsden met +with on his first visit to New Zealand, and who was so much grieved and +ashamed at the circumstance of one of his dependents having stolen some +trifle from that gentleman, that he sat for two days and nights on the +deck of the ship, and could not be prevailed upon to enter the +cabin.[BB] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote AT: I pea, "Of course."] + +[Footnote AU: Kanikani, to dance, as in the haka.] + +[Footnote AV: These words are not in accord with the present system of +spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. The +former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" placed +in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, and +Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"--which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"--is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"] + +[Footnote AW: These words are not in accord with the present system +of spelling, there being no "sh" and no "c" in the Maori orthography. +The former name is probably Hau, and the latter Peka. The letter "E" +placed in front of them is used by the Maoris to denote the vocative, +and Rutherford has evidently taken it as part of the word. Sometimes the +"E"--which is pronounced as "a" in "pay"--is placed both before and +after the name of the person addressed, as "E Peka, e!"] + +[Footnote AX: The latter word is correct.] + +[Footnote AY: Arikis.] + +[Footnote AZ: Tuki.] + +[Footnote BA: This is the man referred to in a previous chapter, who +signed a deed of sale to Marsden by the pattern of his tattoo.] + +[Footnote BB: Maning, in "Old New Zealand," gives a delightful account +of the manner in which the law of muru, or plunder, ruled with an iron +hand in the ancient Maoriland.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +With regard to many of the other habits of the New Zealanders, +Rutherford in general corroborates the testimony of other travellers. + +He mentions particularly their extreme inattention to personal +cleanliness, a circumstance which very much surprised Nicholas, as it +seemed to present an unaccountable contrast to the neatness and order +which were usually to be found both in their plantations and huts. + +All the natives, Rutherford states, are overrun with vermin, which lodge +not only in their heads, but in their mats. "Their way of destroying +them in their mats," he adds, "is by making a fire, on which, having +thrown a quantity of green bushes, they spread the mat over the whole, +when the steam from the leaves compels the vermin to retreat to the +surface: these the women are very active in catching on such occasions +with both hands, and devouring greedily. Sometimes two or three will be +catching them at the same mat." + +The New Zealanders cure their fish, Rutherford tells us, by dipping them +a great many times in salt water, and then drying them in the sun. The +large mussels they first bake in the usual manner, and then, taking them +out of the shell, string them together, and hang them up over the fire +to dry in the smoke. Thus prepared, they eat like old cheese, and will +keep for years. The coomeras, or sweet potatoes, are also cured in the +same manner, which makes them eat like gingerbread. Their potatoes the +natives pack in baskets made of green flax, and in this way preserve +them for the winter. There are, however, three months in the year during +which they live upon little except turnips, and at this time they do +with almost no drink. The baskets in which they keep their provisions, +and apply to other domestic purposes, are formed with considerable +ingenuity, and with some taste, in their decorations. + +Notwithstanding the stormy seas by which their islands are surrounded, +and the woods, swamps, and rivers, which oppose such difficulties in the +way of passing from one place to another through the heart of the +country, the New Zealanders are known to be in the habit of making long +journeys, both along the coasts in their canoes, and through the +interior on foot. + +Rutherford gives us some account of a journey which he once accomplished +in company with the chief Aimy. + +"I took," says he, "my wife Epecka with me, and we were attended by +about twenty slave-women to carry our provisions, every one of whom bore +on her back, besides a supply for her own consumption, about thirty +pounds of potatoes, and drove before her at the same time a pig, which +she held by a string tied to its fore-leg. + +"The men never travel without being armed. Our journey was made +sometimes by water and sometimes by land; and, proceeding in this +manner, we arrived, in about a month, at a place called Taranake,[BC] on +the coast of Cook Strait, where we were received by Otago,[BD] a great +chief, who had come from near the South Cape. On meeting we saluted each +other in the customary manner by touching noses, and there was also a +great deal of crying, as usual. + +"Here I saw an Englishman, named James Mowry, who told me that he had +formerly been a boy belonging to a ship called the 'Sydney Cove,' which +had put in near the South Cape, when a boat's crew, of which he was one, +had been sent on shore for the purpose of trading with the natives. They +were attacked, however, and every man of them killed except himself, he +having been indebted for his preservation to his youth and the +protection of Otago's daughter: this lady he had since married. He had +now been eight years in the country, and had become so completely +reconciled to the manners and way of life of the natives, that he had +resolved never to leave it. He was twenty-four years of age, handsome, +and of middle size, and had been well tattooed. He had also been made a +chief, and had often accompanied the natives to their wars. He spoke +their language, and had forgotten a great deal of his own. He told me he +had heard of the capture of our ship, and gave me an account of the +deaths of Smith and Watson, two of my unfortunate shipmates. I, in turn, +related to him my story, and what I had gone through.[BE] + +"The village of Taranake stands by the sea-side, and the manners and +customs of the inhabitants are the same as prevail in other parts of the +island. + +"We remained here six weeks; and during this time I employed myself in +looking out for a ship passing through the Straits, by which I might +make my escape, but was never fortunate enough to see one. I kept my +intention, however, a secret from Mowry, for he was too much attached to +the natives for me to trust him. + +"On leaving Taranake we took our way along the coast, and after a +journey of six weeks arrived at the East Cape, where we met with a +great chief, named Bomurry, belonging to the Bay of Islands. He told us +that he resided in the neighbourhood of Kendal,[BF] the missionary. He +had about five hundred warriors with him, and several war-canoes, in one +of which I observed a trunk, having on it the name of Captain Brin, of +the 'Asp,' South Seaman. These people had also with them a number of +muskets, with polished barrels, and a few small kegs of powder, as well +as a great quantity of potatoes and flax mats. They had plundered and +murdered nearly every person that lived between the East Cape and the +river Thames; and the whole country dreaded the name of Bomurry. + +"This great warrior showed us several of the heads of chiefs whom he had +killed on this expedition, and these, he said, he intended to carry back +with him to the Bay of Islands, to sell for gunpowder to the ships that +touched there. He and his followers having taken leave of us, and set +sail in their canoes, we also left the East Cape the day following, and +proceeded on our journey homewards, travelling during the day, and +encamping at night in the woods, where we slept around large fires under +the branches of the trees. In this way we arrived in four days at our +own village, where I was received by Eshou, my eldest wife, with great +joy. I was much fatigued by my journey, as was also my other wife, +Epecka, who had accompanied me." + +The person whom Rutherford here calls Bomurry is doubtless the chief +described in most of the other recent accounts of New Zealand under the +name of Pomaree, or Pomarree[BG], one of the most extraordinary +characters in that country. He had taken this name instead of another by +which he used to be called, Nicholas informs us, a short time before he +first saw him in 1815, because he had heard that it was that of the king +of Otaheite, according to the practice which prevails among his +countrymen of frequently changing their names, and calling themselves +after persons of whose power or rank they have conceived a high idea. + +Pomaree is described by this gentleman as having been looked upon, even +in his own country, as a monster of rapacity and cruelty, always +involved in quarrels with his neighbours, and in the habit of stealing +their property whenever he had an opportunity. Duaterra asserted that on +a recent occasion he had made an incursion into his territory, and, +without any provocation, murdered six of his people, the bodies of all +of whom he afterwards devoured, not even their heads having escaped his +gluttony, after he had stuck them upon a stick and roasted them at the +fire. + +The New Zealand chiefs, however, not excepting the most respectable +among them, were found to be sadly given to calumniate one another by +all sorts of fictions; and even Pomaree, bad as he really was, seems +sometimes to have been worse reported of by the others than he deserved. + +Upon another occasion Korro-korro told a long story about a design which +he said had been formed to cut off the ship belonging to the +missionaries, and of which he maintained that Pomaree was the principal +instigator; but this was afterwards discovered to be a mere invention of +that otherwise very honourable chief. + +Notwithstanding Pomaree's bad reputation, indeed, it is remarkable that +we do not find a single instance anywhere recorded in which any European +had reason to complain of his conduct. Nicholas was once dreadfully +alarmed by the apprehension that he had decoyed away his friend, +Marsden, to murder him; but was very soon relieved by the return of the +reverend gentleman from a friendly walk which he had been enjoying, in +the company of his supposed assassin, through one of the woods on his +territory. + +Pomaree, in truth, was too thoroughly aware of the advantages to be +derived from the visits of the Europeans to think of exercising his +murderous propensities upon their persons, however fond he might have +been of embruing his hands in the blood of his own countrymen. + +"We found Pomaree," says Nicholas, "to be a very extraordinary +character; he was of more service to us in procuring timber than all +the other chiefs put together; and I never met, in any part of the +world, with a man who showed so much impatient avidity for transacting +business. His abilities, too, in this line were very great; he was an +excellent judge of several articles, and could give his opinion of an +axe as well as any European; while handling it with ecstasy the moment +he got it in his possession, his eyes would still feast themselves on so +valuable an acquisition." + +He then relates an anecdote of him which strikingly corresponds with one +of the circumstances which Rutherford mentions: his custom of +trafficking in preserved heads. + +"This man," continues Nicholas, "displayed upon every occasion a more +uncomplying spirit of independence than any of the other chiefs. It is +customary with the New Zealanders to preserve from putrefaction, by a +curious method, the heads of the enemies they have slain in battle; and +Pomaree had acquired so great a proficiency in this art that he was +considered the most expert at it of any of his countrymen. The process, +as I was informed, consists of taking out the brains, and drying the +head in such a manner as to keep the flesh entire; but in doing this an +uncommon degree of skill and experience is required. Marsden put some +questions to Pomaree one day about the plan he pursued in this art that +gave him so decided a superiority over the others; but he was not +willing to make him a direct reply, as he knew it was a subject on +which we reflected with horror, and one which in its detail must be +shocking to our feelings. But my friend asking him if he could procure a +head preserved in this manner, it occurred to him that he might receive +an axe for his trouble; and this idea made the man of business not only +enter into a copious explanation of his system, but induced him also to +offer us a sample of his practice, by telling us he would go and shoot +some people who had killed his son, if we would supply him with powder +for the purpose; and then, bringing back their heads, would show us all +we wished to know about his art of preserving them. + +"It will easily be supposed that this sanguinary proposal immediately +put an end to all further interrogatories; and Marsden, whose motive for +questioning him on the subject was not to discover the nature of a +practice so revolting to humanity, but to develop more fully the +character of the individual, told him he must fight no more, and desired +him, in positive terms, never to attempt to bring any sample of his art +on board, as he had no intention of seeing it himself at the time he +inquired about it, nor would he suffer any one in the ship to +countenance such a shocking exhibition. + +"This was a sad disappointment to Pomaree, who found himself deceived in +the hopes he had formed of increasing his wealth by the addition of +another axe; and I cannot help believing that, for so tempting a +reward, he would not have hesitated to take the life of the first person +that came in his way, provided he could have done it with impunity. This +chief omitted no opportunity of setting forth his great personal +qualifications, as likewise the extensive authority he possessed; and he +was constantly boasting of his warlike achievements, despising his +rivals, and extolling himself over all the other heroes of New Zealand." + +Cruise has given us a short account of the manner of preserving heads; +and we find it also detailed in Rutherford's journal, somewhat more +minutely. According to him the skull is first completely emptied of its +contents, the eyes and tongue being likewise extracted; after which the +nostrils and entire inside of the skull are stuffed with flax. At the +neck, where the head has been cut from the body, they draw the skin +together like the mouth of a purse, leaving, however, an open space +large enough to admit the hand. + +They then wrap it up in a quantity of green leaves, and in this state +expose it to the fire till it is well steamed; after which the leaves +are taken off, and it is next hung up to dry in the smoke, which causes +the flesh to become tough and hard. Both the hair and teeth are +preserved, and the tattooing on the face remains as plain as when the +person was alive. The head, when thus cured, will keep for ever, if it +be preserved dry. + +Cruise says that the heads are only exposed to a current of dry air; +but it appears, from Rutherford's account, that they are hung in the +smoke of a wood fire, and are thus, in fact, preserved from decaying +principally by being impregnated with the pyroligneous acid. That the +New Zealanders are well acquainted with the antiseptic powers of this +extract is proved also by what was formerly stated as to their method of +curing mussels. A French writer considers that this art of preserving +heads is a proof of some original connection between the New Zealanders +and the ancient world; as the process is as effective as that by which +the Egyptians prepared their mummies. + +In savage countries the spirit of war is very much a spirit of personal +hostility; and both because of this, and from the state of society not +admitting of the erection of expensive public memorials which elsewhere, +or in another age, are employed to preserve the renown of military +exploits, the barbarian victor generally celebrates his triumph on the +body of his slain enemy, in disfiguring which he first exercises his +ingenuity, and afterwards in converting it into a permanent trophy of +his prowess. + +The ancient Scythian warrior, Herodotus tells us, was wont to carry away +the heads of all those whom he slew in battle, to present to his king; +and the ancient Gauls, it is said, used to hang these bloody spoils +around the necks of their horses. The Gauls are asserted also to have +been in the practice of embalming the heads which they brought home from +their wars, of which they had large collections, which they kept in +chests. These they used to show with much exultation to the strangers +who visited their country; boasting that neither they nor their +ancestors had ever been known to dispose of such honourable heirlooms +for any price that could be offered. + +Among some races it has been the custom to preserve only the scalp; as, +for instance, among the Indians of America. The taking of scalps, +however, is also a practice of great antiquity. The Scythians used to +hang the scalps of their enemies to the harness of their horses; and he +was deemed the most distinguished warrior whose equipage was most +plentifully decorated with these ornaments. Some were accustomed to sew +numbers of scalps together, so as to form a cloak, in which they arrayed +themselves. It was also usual for the warriors of this nation to tear +off the skin from the right hands of their slain enemies, and to +preserve it with the nails attached; and sometimes they flayed the whole +body, and, after drying the skin, made use of it as a covering for their +horses. + +Some of the savage tribes of America are said to have been accustomed to +practice the same barbarity, and to convert the skins of the hands into +pouches for holding their tobacco. + +The history of Scotland affords an instance, even in comparatively +recent times, of a victorious party, in the bitterness of their +contempt and hatred, employing the skin of a slain enemy in a somewhat +similar manner. Hugh Cressingham, appointed by Edward I. Lord Chief +Justice of Scotland, having been slain at Stirling Bridge in an attack +by Wallace, the Scots flayed him, and made saddles and girths of his +skin. + +To recur to the practices of a higher state of civilization, our own +custom, which existed as late as the last century, of exposing the heads +of traitors, although meant as a warning, in the same way as hanging in +chains, was perhaps a relic of those ferocious ages when it was not +considered mean and brutal to carry revenge beyond the grave. The +executions in London, after the rebellion of 1745, were followed by such +a revolting display, useless for any object of salutary terror, and +calculated only to excite a vulgar curiosity. Horace Walpole, in a very +few words, describes the feelings with which the public crowded to this +sight:--"I have been this morning at the Tower, and passed under the new +heads of Temple Bar, where people make a trade of letting spying glasses +at a halfpenny a look." + +The New Zealanders have, therefore, in some degree, a justification for +this custom in the somewhat similar acts of civilized communities. At +any rate, in preserving, as they do, the heads of their enemies, they +only follow a practice which has been common to many other barbarous +tribes. + +Although Pomaree, it would appear, made a merchandise of these heads +when he had the opportunity, his countrymen, in general, are far from +treating them with so much disrespect. It was with great reluctance that +some of them were prevailed upon to sell one to Mr. Banks, when he was +with Cook in Queen Charlotte Sound, in 1770; and nothing could induce +them to part with a second. They are, in fact, preserved as spoils or +trophies during the continuance of the war; and their restoration to the +party from whom they have been taken is so indispensable a preliminary +to the conclusion of a peace, that it is said no chief would dispose of +them, unless it were his determination never to come to terms with his +opponents; so that we may suppose this was what Pomaree had resolved +upon. + +The brain is eaten, like the rest of the body; and the eyes are also +frequently devoured by the conqueror, especially the left eye, which, it +is believed, ascends to heaven and becomes a star. Shungie is stated, +upon one occasion, to have eaten the left eye of a great chief whom he +had killed in battle, under the idea of thus increasing the glory and +brightness of his own left eye, when it should be transferred to the +firmament; for it is understood that when any one eats of the person he +has killed, the dead man becomes a part of himself. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum._ + +Stone implements used by Maoris for cutting hair.] + +Nicholas tells another amusing story of Pomaree's style of doing +"business," which we shall also give in his own words. "This wily +chief," says he, "had cast a longing eye upon a chisel belonging to one +of the missionaries, and to obtain it he had brought some fish on board, +which he presented to the owner of the chisel with so much apparent +generosity and friendliness, that the other could not help considering +it a gratuitous favour, and, receiving it as such, told him he felt very +grateful for his kindness. + +"But Pomaree had no idea of any such disinterested liberality, and as +soon as the fish were eaten, he immediately demanded the chisel in +return; which, however, was not granted, as it was a present much too +valuable to be given away for so trifling a consideration. Incensed at +the denial, the chief flew into a violent rage, and testified, by loud +reproaches, how grievously he was provoked by the ill-success of his +project. He told the person, who very properly refused to comply with +his demand, that 'he was no good,' and that he would never again bring +him anything more. He attempted the same crafty experiment upon another +of our party also, but this proved equally abortive, the person being +well aware of his character, and knowing he would require from him ten +times more than the worth of his pretended favour." + +Though so covetous and crafty himself, however, Pomaree had no mercy to +show for the delinquencies of others. On one occasion, when a poor +"cookee" had been detected in the commission of some petty theft about +the vessel, he was loud in his exhortations to the captain to hang him +up immediately. The man appears, indeed, to have been altogether +divested even of those natural affections which scarcely any of his +savage countrymen but himself were found to be without. + +When Marsden and Nicholas left New Zealand, a number of the chiefs sent +their sons with them to Port Jackson; and such a scene of anguish took +place on the parting between the parents and their children that there +was no European present, Nicholas says, not excepting the most obdurate +sailor on board, who was not more or less affected. "But I cannot help +noticing," he adds, "that in the general expression of inconsolable +distress, Pomaree was the only person who showed no concern; he took +leave of his son with all the indifference imaginable, and hurrying into +his canoe, paddled back to the shore--a solitary exception to the +affecting sensibility of his countrymen." + +Even Pomaree, however, could weep on some occasions, as the following +account which Marsden gives us of an interview he had with him four or +five years after this will show. "He told me," says Marsden, "that he +was very angry that I had not brought a blacksmith for him; and that +when he heard that there was no blacksmith for him, he sat down and wept +much, and also his wives. I assured him that he should have one, as +soon as one could be got for him. He replied it would be of no use to +him to send a blacksmith when he was dead; and that he was at present in +the greatest distress: his wooden spades were all broke, and he had not +an axe to make any more; his canoes were all broke, and he had not a +nail or a gimlet to mend them with; his potato grounds were +uncultivated, and he had not a hoe to break them up with, nor a tool to +employ his people; and that, for want of cultivation, he and his people +would have nothing to eat. He begged me to compare the land of +Tippoonah,[BH] which belonged to the inhabitants of Ranghee-hoo[BI] and +Shungie, with his; observing, that their land was already prepared for +planting, because a smith was there, and they could get hoes, &c. I +endeavoured to pacify his mind with promises, but he paid little +attention to what I said in respect to sending him a smith at a future +period." + +Pomaree was by much too cunning to be cheated of his object in this way. +He was evidently determined not to go without something in hand; and +nothing accordingly would drive him from his point. + +When Marsden tried to divert his attention to another subject by asking +him if he should wish to go to England, he replied at once that he +should not; adding, with his characteristic shrewdness, that he was a +little man when at Port Jackson, and should be less in England; but in +his own country he was a great king. The conference ended at last by an +express promise that he should have immediately three hoes, an axe, a +few nails, and a gimlet. This instantly put him in great good humour. + +We have collected these notices in order to give a more complete +illustration of so singular and interesting a character as that formed +by the union of the rude and bloodthirsty barbarian with the bustling +trafficker. It is an exhibition of the savage mind in a new guise. We +have only to add, with regard to Pomaree, that it appears by other +authorities, as well as by the notice we find in Rutherford, that he was +in the habit of making very devastating excursions occasionally to the +southern part of the island. When Cruise left New Zealand in 1820, he +had been away on one of these expeditions nearly a year, nor was it +known exactly where he had gone to. The people about the mouth of the +Thames said they had seen him since he left home, but he had long ago +left their district for one still farther south. The last notice we find +of him, is in a letter from the Rev. H. Williams, in the "Missionary +Register" for 1827, in which it is stated, that he had a short time +before fallen in battle, having been cut to pieces, with many of his +followers, by a tribe on whom he had made an attack. + +This event, of the circumstances of which Dillon was furnished with a +particular account by some of the near relations of the deceased chief, +took place in the southern part of the island. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BC: This is one of the discrepancies in Rutherford's +narrative. Taranaki is a district on the West Coast of the North Island, +and is about 150 miles from Cook Strait.] + +[Footnote BD: Otago is a large province in the southern part of the +South Island, 300 miles from the Strait. Rutherford probably refers to +Takou, a Wairarapa chief, who was connected with the Ngai-Tahu of +Otago.] + +[Footnote BE: It is supposed that the man was "Jim the Maori," the +latter word being wrongly spelt "Moury" in the manuscript of +Rutherford's story. The man's real name was James Caddell. He was an +Englishman by birth, and lived amongst the Maoris so long that he became +one of them, adopting their customs and ideas. Those who have +investigated his case believe that he belonged to the "Sydney Cove," a +sealer, which sailed in New Zealand waters. Near the South Cape, a boat +from a sealer was captured by the Maoris, and all the members of the +crew except Caddell were killed and eaten. Caddell, according to his own +account, was saved by running to a chief and touching his mat. He was +sixteen years of age then. He married a chief's daughter, and became a +Maori in all respects except colour. He was captured by Captain +Edwardson, of the "Snapper," and was taken to Sydney, where he seems to +have paraded as a savage chief. While he was with the Maoris, he almost +forgot the English language, and found much difficulty in making himself +understood by Captain Edwardson.] + +[Footnote BF: Mr. Kendal was one of the missionaries who went to New +Zealand with Marsden when missionary work in the country was begun.] + +[Footnote BG: Pomare.] + +[Footnote BH: Te Puna, at that time the principal town in the Bay of +Islands.] + +[Footnote BI: Rangihoua.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The New Zealanders, according to Rutherford, have neither priests, nor +places of worship, nor any religion except their superstitious dread of +the Atua. + +To an uneducated man, coming from a Christian country, the entire +absence of all regular religious observances among these savages would +very naturally give such an impression. Cook ascertained that they had +no "morais"[BJ] or temples, like some of the other tribes of the South +Seas; but he met with persons who evidently bore what we should call the +priestly character. + +The New Zealanders are certainly not without some notions of religion; +and, in many particulars, they are a remarkably superstitious people. +During the whole course of their lives, the imagined presence of the +unseen and supernatural crosses them at every step. What has been +already stated respecting the "taboo" may give some idea of how +submissive and habitual is their sense of the power of the Divinity, and +how entirely they conceive themselves to be in his hands; as well as +what a constant and prying superintendence they imagine him to exercise +over their conduct. + +It would be easy to enumerate many minor superstitions, all indicative +of the extraordinary influence of the same belief. They think, for +instance, that if they were to allow a fire to be lighted under a shed +where there are provisions, their god would kill them. + +They have many superstitions, also, with regard to cutting their hair. +Cook speaks, in the account of his third voyage, of a young man he had +taken on board the ship, who, having one day performed this ceremony, +could not be prevailed upon to eat a morsel till night, insisting that +the atua would most certainly kill him if he did. + +Cruise tells us that Tetoro, on the voyage from Port Jackson, cut the +hair of one of his companions, and continued to repeat prayers over him +during the whole operation. + +Nicholas, having one day found another chief busy in cutting his wife's +hair with a piece of sharp stone, was going to take up the implement +after it had been used, but was immediately charged by the chief not to +touch it, as the deity of New Zealand would wreak his vengeance on him +if he presumed to commit so daring a piece of impiety. + +"Laughing at his superstition," continues Nicholas, "I began to exclaim +against its absurdity, but like Tooi, on a former occasion, he retorted +by ridiculing our preaching, yet at the same time asking me to +sermonize over his wife, as if his object was to have her exorcised; and +upon my refusing, he began himself, but could not proceed from +involuntary bursts of laughter." + +On this occasion, the chief, when he had cut off the hair, collected it +all together, and, carrying it to the outskirts of the town, threw it +away. Cook remarks that he used to see quantities of hair tied to the +branches of the trees near the villages. It is stated, in a letter from +one of the missionaries, that the hair, when cut, is carefully +collected, and buried in a secret place. + +Certain superstitions have been connected with the cutting of the hair, +from the most ancient times. Many allusions are found in the Greek and +Roman writers to the practice of cutting off the hair of the dead, and +presenting it as an offering to the infernal gods, in order to secure a +free passage to Elysium for the person to whom it belonged. The passage +in the fourth book of the "AEneid," where Iris appears by the command of +Juno to liberate the soul of the expiring Queen of Carthage, by thus +severing from her head the fatal lock, will occur to many of our +readers. + +Whatever may have been the origin of this superstition, it is probable +that most of the other notions and customs which have prevailed in +regard to the cutting of the hair are connected with it. The act in this +way naturally became significant of the separation from the living +world of the person on whom it was performed. Of the antiquity of this +practice, we have a proof in a command given by Moses to the Jews:--"Ye +shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for +the dead." These were superstitious customs of the nations by whom they +were surrounded. + +The Gentiles used excessive lamentations, amounting to frenzy, at their +funeral rites. According to Bruce, the Abyssinian woman, upon the death +of a near relation, cuts the skin of both her temples with the nail of +her little finger, which she leaves long on purpose; and thus every fair +face throughout the country is disfigured with scars. The same notion of +abstraction from the present life and its concerns is expressed by the +clerical tonsure, so long known in the Christian church, and still +retained among the Roman Catholics. It is still common, also, among +ourselves, for widows, in the earlier period of their mourning, to cut +off their hair, or to remove it back from the brow. Among all rude +nations, besides, the hair has been held in peculiar estimation from its +ornamental nature, and its capability of being formed into any shape, +according to the fancy of its possessor, or the fashion of the country. + +Amongst nations, especially, where the ordinary clothing of the people, +from the materials of which it was formed, did not admit of being made +very decorative, this consideration would be much regarded, and still +more where no clothing was worn at all. In such cases, the hair, either +of the head or of the beard, has usually been cherished with very +affectionate care, and the mode of dressing it has been made matter of +anxious regulation. Many of the barbarous nations of antiquity had each +a method of cutting the hair peculiar to itself; and it was sometimes +accounted the deepest mark of servitude which a conqueror could impose +when he compelled the violation of this sacred rule of national manners. + +We have a remnant of these old feelings in the reverence with which his +beard is regarded by a Turk of the present day. It is recorded, too, +that no reform which Peter the Great of Russia essayed to introduce +among his semi-barbaric subjects was so pertinaciously resisted as his +attempt to abbreviate their beards. + +Marsden, on asking a New Zealander what he conceived the atua to be, was +answered--"An immortal shadow." Although possessed, however, of the +attributes of immortality, omni-presence, invisibility, and supreme +power, he is universally believed to be in disposition merely a +vindictive and malignant demon. + +When one of the missionaries had one day been telling a number of them +of the infinite goodness of God, they asked him if he was not joking +with them. They believe that whenever any person is sick, his illness is +occasioned by the atua, in the shape of a lizard, preying upon his +entrails; and, accordingly, in such cases, they often address the most +horrid imprecations and curses to the invisible cannibal, in the hope of +thereby frightening him away. They imagine that at other times he amuses +himself in entangling their nets and oversetting their canoes. Of late +years they have suspected that he has been very angry with them for +having allowed the white men to obtain a footing in their country, a +proof of which they think they see in the greater mortality that has +recently prevailed among them. This, however, they at other times +attribute to the God of the Christians, whom they also denounce, +accordingly, as a cruel being, at least to the New Zealander. Sometimes +they more rationally assign as its cause the diseases that have been +introduced among them by the whites. Until the whites came to their +country, they say, young people did not die, but all lived to be so old +as to be obliged to creep on their hands and knees. + +The white man's God they believe to be altogether a different being from +their own atua. Marsden, in one of his letters, relates a conversation +he had upon this subject with some of the chiefs' sons who resided with +him in New South Wales. When he told them that there was but one God, +and that our God was also theirs, they asked him if our God had given us +any sweet potatoes, and could with difficulty be made to see how one +God should give these to the New Zealander and not equally to the white +man; or, on the other hand, how he should have acted so partially as to +give to the white man only such possessions as cattle, sheep, and +horses, which the New Zealander as much required. The argument, however, +upon which they seem most to have rested, was:--"But we are of a +different colour from you; and if one God made us both, he would not +have committed such a mistake as to make us of different colours." Even +one of the chiefs, who had been a great deal with Marsden, and was +disposed to acknowledge the absurdity both of the "taboo" and of many of +his other native superstitions, could not be brought to admit that the +same God who made the white men had also made the New Zealanders. + +Among themselves, the New Zealanders appear to have a great variety of +other gods, besides the one whom they call emphatically the atua. Crozet +speaks of some feeble ideas which they have of subordinate divinities, +to whom, he says, they are wont to pray for victory over their enemies. +But Savage gives us a most particular account of their daily adoration +of the sun, moon, and stars. Of the heavenly host, the moon, he says, is +their favourite; though why he should think so, it is not easy to +understand, seeing that, when addressing this luminary, they employ, he +tells us, a mournful song, and seem as full of apprehension as of +devotion; whereas "when paying their adoration to the rising sun, the +arms are spread and the head bowed, with the appearance of much joy in +their countenances, accompanied with a degree of elegant and reverential +solemnity, and the song used upon the occasion is cheerful." It is +strange that none of their other visitors have remarked the existence of +this species of idolatry among these savages. + +Yet two New Zealanders, who are now in this country, were in the habit +of commencing the exhibition of their national customs with the +ceremonies practised in their morning devotion to the sun. + +The vocal part of the rite, according to the account we have received, +consisted in a low monotonous chant; the manual, in keeping a ball about +the size of an orange constantly whirling in a vertical circle. The +whole was performed in a kneeling posture. Like most other rude nations, +the New Zealanders have certain fancies with regard to several of the +more remarkable constellations; and are not without some conception that +the issues of human affairs are occasionally influenced, or at least +indicated, by the movements of the stars. The Pleiades, for instance, +they believe to be seven of their departed countrymen, fixed in the +firmament; one eye of each of them appearing in the shape of a star, +being the only part that is visible. But it is a common superstition +among them, as we have already noticed, that the left eyes of their +chiefs, after death, become stars. + +This notion is far from being destitute of poetical beauty; and perhaps, +indeed, exhibits the common mythological doctrine of the glittering host +of heaven being merely an assemblage of the departed heroes of earth, in +as ingenious a version as it ever has received. It would be easy to +collect many proofs of the extensive diffusion of this ancient faith, +traces of which are to be found in the primitive astronomy of every +people. The classical reader will at once recollect, among many others +of a similar kind, the stories of Castor and Pollux, and of Berenice's +tresses, the latter of which has been so elegantly imitated by Pope, in +telling us of the fate of the vanished lock of Belinda:-- + + "But trust the muse--she saw it upward rise, + Though marked by none but quick poetic eyes; + (So Home's great founder to the heavens withdrew, + To Proculus alone confessed to view); + A sudden star it shot through liquid air, + And drew behind a radiant trail of hair." + +The New Zealanders conceive, also, that what we call a shooting star is +ominous of the approaching dissolution of any one of their great chiefs +who may be unwell when it is seen. Like the vulgar among ourselves, too, +they have their man in the moon; who, they say, is one of their +countrymen named Rona, who was taken up long ago, one night when he +went to the well to fetch water. + +Nicholas has given us, on the authority of his friend Duaterra, the most +particular account that has appeared of the inferior deities of New +Zealand. Their number, according to him, is very great, and each of them +has his distinct powers and functions; one being placed over the +elements, another over the fowls and fishes, and so of the rest. +Deifications of the different passions and affections, also, it seems, +find a place in this extended mythology. + +In another part of his work, Nicholas remarks, as corroborative of the +Malay descent of the New Zealanders, the singular coincidence, in some +respects, between their mythology and that of the ancient Malay tribe, +the Battas of Sumatra, whose extraordinary cannibal practices we have +already detailed; especially in the circumstance of the three principal +divinities of the Battas having precisely the same functions assigned to +them with the three that occupy the same rank in the system of the New +Zealanders.[BK] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BJ: Marae. With Maoris and Samoans the word means an open +space in a village; in the Tahitian, Mangaian, and Paumotan languages it +means a temple, or a place where rites were performed.] + +[Footnote BK: The religion, and superstitions and legends of the Maoris +are dealt with in Sir George Grey's "Polynesian Mythology," Mr. S. Percy +Smith's "Hawaiki," articles by Mr. Elsdon Best in the "Transactions of +the New Zealand Institute," articles by that author and by Mr. Percy +Smith in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Mr. E. Tregear's "The +Maori Race," and Mr. J.C. Andersen's "Maori Life in Ao-tea."] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It is very remarkable that the New Zealanders attribute the creation of +man to their three principal deities acting together; thus exhibiting in +their barbarous theology something like a shadow of the Christian +Trinity. What is still more extraordinary is their tradition respecting +the formation of the first woman, who, they say, was made of one of the +man's ribs; and their general term for bone is hevee, or, as Professor +Lee gives it, iwi[BL] a sound bearing a singular resemblance to the +Hebrew name of our first mother. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum._ + +Carved boxes (_waka-papa_, or _waka_) for holding feathers and trinkets. +The upper box is said to have formed part of Captain Cook's collection.] + +Particular individuals and places would also seem to have their own +gods. When the "Active" was in the river Thames, a gale of wind, by +which the ship was attacked, was attributed by the natives on board to +the anger of the god of Shoupah,[BM] the Areekee who resided in the +neighbourhood. Korro-korro, who was among them said that as soon as he +got on shore he would endeavour to prevail upon the Areekee to +propitiate the offended deity. When Marsden asked the people of +Kiperro[BN] if they + +knew anything of their god, or ever had any communication with him, +they replied that they often heard him whistle. The chiefs, too, are +often called atuas, or gods, even while they are alive. The aged chief, +Tarra,[BO] maintained to one of the missionaries that the god of thunder +resided in his forehead; and Shungie and Okeda[BP] asserted that they +were possessed by gods of the sea. + +The part of the heavens in which the gods reside is represented as +beautiful in the extreme. "When the clouds are beautifully chequered," +writes Kendal, "the atua above, it is supposed, is planting sweet +potatoes. At the season when these are planted in the ground, the +planters dress themselves in their best raiment, and say that, as atuas +on earth, they are imitating the atua in heaven." + +The New Zealanders believe that the souls of the higher orders among +them are immortal; but they hold that when the "cookees" die they perish +for ever. The spirit, they think, leaves the body the third day after +death, till which time it hovers round the corpse, and hears very well +whatever is said to it. But they hold also, it would seem, that there is +a separate immortality for each of the eyes of the dead person; the +left, as before-mentioned, ascending to heaven and becoming a star, and +the other, in the shape of a spirit, taking flight for the Reinga. +Reinga signifies, properly, the place of flight; and is said, in some +of the accounts, to be a rock or a mountain at the North Cape from +which, according to others, the spirits descend into the next world +through the sea. The notion which the New Zealanders really entertain as +to this matter appears to be that the spirits first leap from the North +Cape into the sea, and thence emerge into an Elysium situated in the +islands of the Three Kings. The submarine path to the blissful region of +the New Zealanders is less intricate than that of the Huron of +America:-- + + "To the country of the Dead, + Long and painful is thy way! + O'er rivers wide and deep + Lies the road that must be past, + By bridges narrow-wall'd, + When scarce the soul can force its way, + While the loose fabric totters under it." + +In the heaven of the New Zealanders, as in that of the ancient Goths, +the chief employment of the blessed is war, their old delight while on +earth. The idea of any more tranquil happiness has no charms for them. +Speaking of an assembly of them which he had been endeavouring to +instruct in the doctrines of Christianity, one of the Wesleyan +missionaries says: "On telling them about the two eternal states, as +described in the Scriptures, an old chief began to protest against these +things with all the vehemence imaginable, and said that he would not go +to heaven, nor would he go to hell to have nothing but fire to eat; but +he would go to the Reinga or Po, to eat coomeras, (sweet potatoes) with +his friends who had gone before." + +The slaves that are sacrificed upon the death of a chief, by his +friends, are generally intended to prevent him from coming again to +destroy them; but we find that on the occasion of a child having been +drowned, the mother insisted upon a female slave being killed, to be a +companion for it on its way to the Reinga. + +Though the New Zealanders do not assemble together at stated times to +worship their gods, they are in the habit of praying to them in all +their emergencies. Thus, when Korro-korro met his aunt, as before +related, his brother Tooi informed Nicholas that the ejaculations the +old woman uttered as she approached were prayers to the divinity. When +Korro-korro urged Marsden to take his son with him to Port Jackson, and +was told by that gentleman that he was afraid to do so lest the boy +should die, as so many of his countrymen had done when removed from +their native island, the chief replied, that he would pray for his son +during his absence, as he had done for his brother Tooi when he was in +England, and then he would not die. + +Tupee,[BQ] too, another of the Bay of Islands chiefs, Marsden tells us, +used to pray frequently. When that gentleman lay sick in his cot, on the +voyage home from his first visit to New Zealand, Tupee, who was with +him, used to sit by his side, and, laying his hands on different parts +of his body, addressed himself all the while with great devotion to his +god, in intercession for his friend's recovery. + +The priests, or tohungas, as they are called, are persons of great +importance and authority in New Zealand, being esteemed almost the +keepers and rulers of the gods themselves. + +Many of the greatest of the chiefs and Areekees are also priests, as +was, for example, Tupee, whom we have just mentioned. It is the priest +who attends at the bedside of the dying chief, and regulates every part +of the treatment of the patient. When the body of a chief who has been +killed in battle is to be eaten, it is the priest who first gives the +command for its being roasted. The first mouthfuls of the flesh, also, +being regarded as the dues of the gods, are always eaten by the priest. +In the case of any public calamity, it is the priest whose aid is +invoked to obtain relief from heaven. + +Marsden states that on occasion of the caterpillars one year making +great ravages among the crops of sweet potatoes at Rangheehoo,[BR] the +people of that place sent to Cowa-Cowa[BS] for a great priest to avert +the heavy judgment; and that he came and remained with them for several +months, during which he employed himself busily in the performance of +prayers and ceremonies. The New Zealanders also + +consider all their priests as a species of sorcerers, and believe they +have the power to take the lives of whomsoever they choose by +incantation. Themorangha,[BT] one of the most enlightened of the chiefs, +came one day to Marsden, in great agitation, to inform him that a +brother chief had threatened to employ a priest to destroy him in this +manner, for not having sold to sufficient advantage an article which he +had given him to dispose of. "I endeavoured," says Marsden, "to convince +him of the absurdity of such a threat; but to no purpose; he still +persisted that he should die, and that the priest possessed that power; +and began to draw the lines of incantation on the ship's deck, in order +to convince me how the operation was performed. He said that the +messenger was waiting alongside, in a canoe, for his answer. Finding it +of no use to argue with him, I gave him an axe, which he joyfully +received, and delivered to the messenger, with a request that the chief +would be satisfied, and not proceed against him." + +Themorangha seems to have been particularly selected by these priests as +a subject for their roguish practices, perhaps by way of revenge for the +freedom with which he occasionally expressed himself in regard to their +pretensions, when his fears were not excited. A short time before this, +one of them had terrified him not a little by telling him that he had +seen his ghost during the night, and had been informed, by the atua, +that if he went to a certain place to which he was then about to +proceed, he would die in a few days. He soon, however, got so far the +better of his fears as, notwithstanding this alarming intimation, to +venture to accompany Marsden to the forbidden district; and he expressed +his feelings of contempt for the sacred order in no measured terms, when +he found that at the expiration of the predicted period he was still +alive. + +He said that there were too many priests at New Zealand, and that they +"tabooed" and prayed the people to death. Others, as well as the +priests, however, are supposed sometimes to have the power of +witchcraft. + +Two of the missionaries, when one day about to land at a place a short +distance from the settlement, were alarmed by nearly running the boat's +head on three human bodies, which lay close together by the water's edge +among some rushes; and upon inquiry they were informed that they were +the bodies of three slaves who had been killed that morning for +makootooing a chief, _i.e._ betwitching or praying evil prayers against +him, which had caused his death.[BU] + +A common method which the priests use of bewitching those whom they mean +to destroy, is to curse them, which is universally believed to have a +fatal effect. The curse seems usually to be uttered in the shape of a +yell or song, so that the process is literally a species of incantation. +Bishop Newton, in his commentary on the scriptural account of Balaam +being sent for to curse the Israelites, says, "It was a superstitious +ceremony in use among the heathens, to devote their enemies to +destruction at the beginning of their wars; as if the gods would enter +into their passions, and were as unjust and partial as themselves." + +The demeanour of most of the New Zealand priests is something so +entirely different from that observed by the ministers of religion in +civilized countries that it is not surprising Rutherford should have +failed to recognise them as belonging to that order. + +Thus, we read of a priest who speaks of having killed, not by +enchantment, but in the usual way, with his own hands, both a woman who +had gone on board a ship contrary to his orders, and a man who had +stolen some potatoes. + +Another is mentioned as having one day introduced himself into the house +of Mr. Williams, one of the missionaries, by springing over the fence, +and then, when his rude conduct was reproved, stripping himself to fight +with that gentleman. The same personage, who bore the venerable name of +Towee Taboo,[BV] or Holy Towee, a short time after attempted to break +Mr. Williams's door to pieces with a long pole; and when he could not +accomplish that object, effected his entrance by leaping over the fence +as before. What he now wanted, he said, was hootoo,[BW] or payment, for +a hurt which he had given his foot in performing this exploit on the +former occasion. When this strange demand was refused, he attempted to +set the house on fire; and having collected a mob of his friends, would +certainly have done so, had not another party of the natives come to the +assistance of Mr. Williams and his family. + +But one of the most remarkable among this order of men seems to be +Tamanhena[BX], the priest of the head of the Shukehanga, who is believed +to have absolute command over the winds and waves. Marsden met with this +dignitary on his second visit to New Zealand; and found that, in +addition to being a priest, he was in the habit of acting as a pilot, a +profession with which the other suited very well, as by virtue of his +sacred character he had the power of keeping the winds and waves quiet +whenever he chose to put to sea. + +Accordingly, Marsden went out with him in a canoe to examine the +entrance of the river; Tamanhena assuring him, though it blew very +fresh, that he would soon make both the wind and the waves fall. + +"We were no sooner in the canoe," continues Marsden, "than the priest +began to exert all his powers to still the gods, the winds, and the +waves. He spake in an angry and commanding tone. However, I did not +perceive either the winds or waves yield to his authority; and when we +reached the head, I requested to go on shore." + +Tamanhena wished very much to learn to pray like the Europeans, and said +he should willingly give a farm to any missionary who would come to +reside near him. He also promised that he would let Marsden hear his god +speak to him; but when they got to the place where the conference was to +be held, he discovered that the god was not there. Marsden, however, +found him remarkably well informed on all subjects relating to his +country and religion, and thought him, upon the whole, a very sensible +man, making allowance for his theological opinions. + +Cruise has, however, detailed some particulars of this venerable +personage, whom he also met with a few months after Marsden had seen +him, which grievously detract from his character for sanctity. He made +the voyage with them in the "Dromedary" from the Bay of Islands to the +mouth of the Shukehanga, but announced his intention of leaving them the +day after their arrival. + +"During his stay in the ship," says Cruise, "there certainly was nothing +of a very sacred character about him; he was by far the wildest of his +companions; and, unfortunately, on the morning fixed for his departure, +a soldier having missed his jacket, there was so great a suspicion of +the pilot's honesty, that the sentinel at the gangway took the liberty +of lifting up his mat, as he prepared to go down the side, and +discovered the stolen property under it. + +"The jacket was of course taken from him; and as the only excuse he had +to offer for his misconduct was that he had lost a shirt that had been +given to him, and that he considered himself authorised to get +remuneration in any way he could, he was dismissed without those +presents which were given to the others. We were glad to see that his +countrymen seemed to notice his conduct in the strongest terms of +disapprobation; and the next day, when they were about to leave us, they +seemed so determined to put him to death that they were requested not to +do so, but to consider his having lost his presents, and his being +forbidden ever to come near the ship, a sufficient punishment for his +offence." + +It is very remarkable, that, whenever a child is born in New Zealand, it +is the invariable practice to take it to the tohunga, or priest, who +sprinkles it on the face with water, from a leaf which he holds in his +hand. It is believed that the neglect of this ceremony would be attended +with the most baneful consequences to the child. + +Much reverence is felt among the New Zealanders for dreams; and it is +believed that the favoured of heaven often receive in this way the +communications of the gods. We need hardly remark how universal this +superstition has been. The reader of Homer will recollect the + + [Greek: kai gar t onar ek Dios estin] + +of that poet, and the [Greek: oulos oneiros], or evil dream, which, in +the second book of the Iliad, Jupiter sends down to Agamemnon, to lure +him to give battle to the Trojans in the absence of Achilles. + +We must refer to Lafitau's learned work on the savages of America for an +account of the notions which prevail among them as to divination by +dreams. Dillon tells us that he found no way so effectual of repressing +the importunities of his New Zealand friends, in any case in which it +was inconvenient to gratify them, as assuring them he had dreamed that +the favour they requested would turn out a misfortune to them. When some +of them, for example, entreated that he would take them with him to +India, he told them that he had dreamed that if they went to that +country they would die there; and this at once put an end to their +solicitations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BL: The Maoris and Hawaiians use the word "iwi" for a bone; +the Samoans, Tahitians, and other islanders say "ivi."] + +[Footnote BM: Probably Tupa.] + +[Footnote BN: Probably Kaipara.] + +[Footnote BO: Tara.] + +[Footnote BP: Okita.] + +[Footnote BQ: Tupi.] + +[Footnote BR: Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands.] + +[Footnote BS: Kawa-kawa, in the same district.] + +[Footnote BT: Te Morenga, a chief of the Bay of Islands.] + +[Footnote BU: The maketu, which is correctly described here, was one of +the most firmly established institutions in New Zealand in old times.] + +[Footnote BV: Tui Tapu.] + +[Footnote BW: Utu. This is another great institution amongst the ancient +Maoris. It represents the principle of payment, an equivalent, a return, +compensation, or satisfaction for injuries.] + +[Footnote BX: Tamihana.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +For some time after his return from Cook Strait, Rutherford's life +appears to have been unvaried by any incident of moment. + +"At length," says he, "one day a messenger arrived from a neighbouring +village, with the news that all the chiefs for miles round were about to +set out, in three days, for a place called Kipara,[BY] near the source +of the river Thames, and distant about two hundred miles from our +village. The messenger brought also a request from the other chiefs to +Aimy to join them along with his warriors; and he replied that he would +meet them at Kipara at the time appointed. We understood that we were to +be opposed at Kipara by a number of chiefs from the Bay of Islands and +the river Thames, according to an appointment which had been made with +the chiefs in our neighbourhood. + +"Accordingly, everything was got ready for our journey as quickly as +possible; and the women were immediately set to work to make a great +number of new baskets, in which to carry our provisions. It is the +custom for every person going on such an expedition to find his own arms +and ammunition, as also provisions, and slaves to carry them. On the +other hand, every family plunder for themselves, and give only what they +think proper to the chief. The slaves are not required to fight, though +they often run to the assistance of their masters while engaged. + +"When the day was come for our departure, I started along with the rest, +being armed with my mery, a brace of pistols, and a double-barrelled +fowling-piece, and having also with me some powder and ball, and a great +quantity of duck-shot, which I took for the purpose of killing game on +our journey. + +"I was accompanied by my wife Epecka, who carried three new mats to be a +bed for us, which had been made by Eshou during my absence at Taranake. + +"The warriors and slaves, whom we took with us, amounted in all to about +five hundred; but the slaves, as they got rid of the provisions they +carried, were sent home again, as we had no further use for them. While +on our journey, if we came to a friendly village at night, we slept +there; but, if not, we encamped in the woods. When the provisions we had +brought with us were all consumed, we were compelled to plunder wherever +we could find anything. Our journey, being made during the rainy season, +was more than usually fatiguing. We were five weeks in reaching Kipara, +where we found about eleven hundred more natives encamped by the side of +a river. On our arrival, huts were immediately constructed for our +party, and one was allotted to me and my wife. We had also two female +slaves allowed us for the purpose of digging fern-root, gathering +cockles, and catching fish, which articles were our only provisions +while we remained here; unless now and then, when I went to the woods, +and shot a few wood-pigeons or a wild pig." + +A party of New Zealanders thus wandering through their country, with all +the inconveniences attending the movement of large bodies of men, but +without the combinations of foresight which are necessary for the safety +of an army, or the management of supplies, must be occasionally exposed +to great privations. + +Their island, however, it would seem from Rutherford's narrative, +abundantly supplied them with provisions, and their slaves were at hand +to perform the office of cooks. Their method of procuring fire for +culinary purposes and warmth is curious; and we may as well mention it +somewhat fully here, before we proceed to the more busy parts of +Rutherford's narrative. + +When Nicholas was in New Zealand, he had an opportunity of seeing the +process usually resorted to. "The place where we landed," says he, +speaking of an excursion which he made with Marsden, and some of the +chiefs, to a place a short distance from the Missionary Settlement, "was +a small plantation of potatoes belonging to Shungie, and here our party +intended to prepare their refreshments, seating themselves, along the +ground for the purpose. Fire, however, was wanting; and to procure it, +Shungie took my fowling-piece, and, stopping up the touch-hole, he put a +small piece of linen into the pan, and endeavoured to excite a spark. +But this expedient proved unsuccessful, as the lock had got rusted and +would not go off; he then got some dry grass and a piece of rotten wood, +and turning a small stick rapidly between his hands, in the same manner +as we mill chocolate, the friction caused the touchwood, in which the +point of the stick was inserted, to take fire; while, wrapping it up in +the dry grass, and shaking it backward and forward, he very soon +produced a flame, which he communicated to some dry sticks, and other +fuel that our party had collected." + +This was not, however, any sudden device of Shungie's, but merely the +contrivance in general use in such emergencies among his countrymen. + +"We have mentioned two New Zealanders, who are at present in this +country, and have recently been exhibiting the dances and other customs +of their native land, in several of our provincial towns. Among other +things which they show is this method of kindling fire, and we extract +from the letter of a correspondent who saw them at Birmingham, the +following account of this part of their performance:--'A small board of +well-dried pine was laid upon the floor, and the younger New Zealander +took in his hand a wedge about nine inches long, and of the same +material; then rubbing with this upon the board, in a direction parallel +to the grain, he made a groove, about a quarter of an inch deep and six +or seven inches long. The friction, of course, produced a quantity of +what, had it been produced by another means, would have been called +sawdust; and this he collected at the end of the groove farthest from +that part of the board on which he was kneeling. He then continued his +operation; and in a short time the wood began to smoke, the sides of the +groove becoming completely charred. On this he stopped and gathered the +tinder over that part of the groove which appeared to be most strongly +heated. After a few moments, it became manifest that the sawdust or +tinder was ignited; and a gentle application of the breath now drew +forth a flame which rose to the height of several inches. This +experiment did not always succeed the first time; whenever it was +repeated, whether after failure or success, the operator took a new +wedge and formed a new groove, and it was stated that this was +absolutely necessary. The process was evidently one of very great +labour; at the conclusion of it, the operator was steaming with +perspiration, and his elder countryman stated that his own strength was +unequal to the feat.'" + +[Illustration: _Tourist Dept. Photo._ + +Greenstone axes, with carved wooden handles, and ornamented with dogs' +hair and birds' feathers.] + +This method of procuring fire has, in fact, been in use from the most +ancient times, and in all parts of the world. It was, as Lafitau +remarks, the very method which was prescribed for rekindling the +vestal fire at Rome, when it was accidentally extinguished. This writer +describes it as in use also among several tribes of the Indians of South +America. Among them, however, it is somewhat more artificially managed +than it appears to be among the New Zealanders, inasmuch as their +practice is first to make a hole in the wood with the tooth of the +acouti, and then to insert in this an instrument resembling a wimble, by +the rapid revolution of which the wood is set on fire. + +The Baron Alexander de Humboldt gives a similar account of the manner in +which the operation appears to have been performed among the ancient +Mexicans, who adopted this method of rekindling their fires, on their +general extinction at the end of every cycle of fifty-two years. + +In a letter which Humboldt has printed at the conclusion of his work, +from M. Visconti, it is remarked that we find mention made of this +contrivance both in Homer's "Hymn to Mercury," and in the "Argonautics" +of Apollonius Rhodius. The scholiast of the latter gives a description +of the process, which exactly answers to the Mexican delineation. + +"On the opposite side of the river," Rutherford proceeds, "which was +about half a mile wide, and not more than four feet deep in any part, +about four hundred of the enemy were encamped, waiting for +reinforcements. Meanwhile messengers were continually passing from the +one party to the other, with messages concerning the war. + +"One of them informed us that there was a white man in his party who had +heard of and wished to see me; and that the chiefs, who also wished to +see me, would give me permission to cross the river to meet him, and I +should return unmolested whenever I thought proper. With Aimy's consent, +therefore, I went across the river; but I was not permitted to go armed, +nor yet to take my wife with me. When I arrived on the opposite side, +several of the chiefs saluted me in the usual manner by touching my nose +with theirs; and I afterwards was seated in the midst of them by the +side of the white man, who told me his name was John Mawman, that he was +a native of Port Jackson, and that he had run away from the 'Tees' sloop +of war while she lay at this island. He had since joined the natives, +and was now living with a chief named Rawmatty;[BZ] whose daughter he +had married, and whose residence was at a place called Sukyanna,[CA] on +the west coast, within fifty miles of the Bay of Islands. He said that +he had been at the Bay of Islands a short time before, and had seen +several of the English missionaries. He also said that he had heard that +the natives had lately taken a vessel at a place called Wangalore, +which they had plundered and then turned adrift; but that the crew had +escaped in their boats and put to sea. This is the same place where the +crew of the ship 'Boyd' were murdered some years before.[CB] + +"While I remained among these people, a slave was brought up before one +of the chiefs, who immediately arose from the ground, and struck him +with his mery and killed him. This mery was different from any of the +rest, being made of steel. The heart was taken out of the slave as soon +as he had fallen, and instantly devoured by the chief who slew him. I +then inquired who this chief was, and was informed that his name was +Shungie, one of the two chiefs who had been at England, and had been +presented to many of the nobility there, from whom he received many +valuable presents; among others, a double-barrelled gun and a suit of +armour, which he has since worn in many battles. His reason, they told +me, for killing the slave, who was one belonging to himself, was that he +had stolen the suit of armour, and was running away with it to the +enemy, when he was taken prisoner by a party stationed on the outskirts +of the encampment. This was the only act of theft which I ever saw +punished in New Zealand. + +"Although Shungie has been two years among Europeans, I still consider +him to be one of the most ferocious cannibals in his native country. He +protects the missionaries who live on his ground entirely for the sake +of what he can get from them. + +"I now returned to my own party. Early the next morning the enemy +retreated to a distance of about two miles from the river; upon +observing which our party immediately threw off their mats, and got +under arms. The two parties had altogether about two thousand muskets +among them, chiefly purchased from the English and American South Sea +ships which touch at the island. We now crossed the river; and, having +arrived on the opposite side, I took my station on a rising ground, +about a quarter of a mile distant from where our party halted, so that I +had a full view of the engagement. + +"I was not myself required to fight, but I loaded my double-barrelled +gun, and, thus armed, remained at my post, my wife and the two slave +girls having seated themselves at my feet. + +"The commander-in-chief of each party now stepped forward a few yards, +and, placing himself in front of his troops, commenced the war-song. +When this was ended both parties danced a war-dance, singing at the +same time as loud as they could, and brandishing their weapons in the +air. + +"Having finished their dance, each party formed into a line two-deep, +the women and boys stationing themselves about ten yards to the rear. + +"The two bodies then advanced to within about a hundred yards of each +other, when they fired off their muskets. Few of them put the musket to +the shoulder while firing it, but merely held it at the charge. They +only fired once; and then, throwing their muskets behind them, where +they were picked up by the women and boys, drew their merys and +tomahawks out of their belts, when, the war-song being screamed by the +whole of them together in a manner most dismal to be heard, the two +parties rushed into close combat. + +"They now took hold of the hair of each other's heads with their left +hands, using the right to cut off the head. Meantime the women and boys +followed close behind them, uttering the most shocking cries I ever +heard. These last received the heads of the slain from those engaged in +the battle as soon as they were cut off, after which the men went in +among the enemy for the dead bodies; but many of them received bodies +that did not belong to the heads they had cut off. + +"The engagement had not lasted many minutes, when the enemy began to +retreat, and were pursued by our party through the woods. Some of them, +in their flight, crossed the hill on which I stood; and one threw a +short jagged spear at me as he passed, which stuck in the inside of my +left thigh. It was afterwards cut out by two women with an oyster-shell. +The operation left a wound as large as a common-sized tea-cup; and after +it had been performed I was carried across the river on a woman's back +to my hut, where my wife applied some green herbs to the wound, which +immediately stopped the bleeding, and also made the pain much less +severe. + +"In a short time our party returned victorious, bringing along with them +many prisoners. Persons taken in battle, whether chiefs or not, become +slaves to those who take them. One of our chiefs had been shot by +Shungie, and the body was brought back, and laid upon some mats before +the huts. Twenty heads, also, were placed upon long spears, which were +stuck up around our huts; and nearly twice as many bodies were put to +the fires, to be cooked in the accustomed way. + +"Our party continued dancing and singing all night; and the next morning +they had a grand feast on the dead bodies and fern-roots, in honour of +the victory they had gained. The name of the chief whose body lay in +front of our huts was Ewanna. He was one of those who were at the taking +of our vessel. His body was now cut into several pieces, which, being +packed into baskets, covered with black mats, were put into one of the +canoes, to be taken along with us down the river. There were, besides +Ewanna, five other chiefs killed on our side, whose names were Nainy, +Ewarree, Tometooi, Ewarrehum, and Erow.[CC] On the other side, three +chiefs were killed, namely, Charly, Shungie's eldest son, and two sons +of Mootyi,[CD] a great chief of Sukyanna. Their heads were brought home +by our people as trophies of war, and cured in the usual manner. + +"We now left Kipara in a number of canoes, and proceeded down the river +to a place called Shaurakke,[CE] where the mother of one of the chiefs +who was killed resided. + +"When we arrived in sight of this place, the canoes all closed together, +and joined in singing a funeral song. + +"By this time, several of the hills before us were crowded with women +and children, who, having their faces painted with ochre, and their +heads adorned with white feathers, were waving their mats, and calling +out to us 'ara mi, ara mi,' the usual welcome home. + +"When the funeral song was ended, we disembarked from our canoes, which +we hauled up from the river, and our party then performed a dance, +entirely naked; after which they were met by another party of warriors, +from behind the hill, with whom they engaged in a sham fight, which +lasted about twenty minutes. Both parties then seated themselves around +the house belonging to the chief of the village, in front of which the +baskets containing the dead body were at the same time placed. They were +then all opened, and the head, being taken out and decorated with +feathers, was placed on the top of one of the baskets; while the rest of +the heads that had been taken at the battle were stuck on long spears, +in various parts of the village. Meanwhile, the mother of the slain +chief stood on the roof of the house, dressed in a feathered cloak and +turban, continually turning herself round, wringing her hands, and +crying for the loss of her son. + +"The dead body having been in a few days buried with the usual +ceremonies, we all prepared to return to our own village. Shaurakke is +one of the most delightful spots in New Zealand, and has more cultivated +land about it than I saw anywhere else. While I was here, I saw a +slave-woman eat part of her own child, which had been killed by the +chief, her master. I have known several instances of New Zealand women +eating their children as soon as they were born." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote BY: Kaipara.] + +[Footnote BZ: Raumati.] + +[Footnote CA: Another rendition of Hokianga.] + +[Footnote CB: Mr. Craik adds a note stating that the place which +Rutherford here calls Wangalore is Wangaroa. (The proper spelling is +Whangaroa.) The ship, he says, was the "Mercury," of London, South Sea +whaler, which put in at Wangaroa on March 5th, 1825, and was plundered +of the greater part of her cargo by the natives. She was also so much +disabled by the attack made upon her that, after a vain attempt to carry +her round to the Bay of Islands, it was found necessary to abandon her, +when she drove to sea, and asserted that no cause of offence whatever +was given to the natives by the captain or crew of the "Mercury," while +the conduct of the former was in all respects treacherous, unfeeling, +and provoking.] + +[Footnote CC: All the names are spelt wrongly.] + +[Footnote CD: Probably Matui or Matohi.] + +[Footnote CE: Evidently Hauraki, which, however, is on the east coast, +while Knipara is on the west.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +This is, we believe, the most complete account, and, at the same time, +the one most to be depended on, which has yet been given to the public, +of a New Zealand battle. None of the other persons who have described to +us the manners of these savages have seen them engaged with each other, +except in a sham fight; although Nicholas, on one occasion, was very +near being afforded an opportunity of witnessing a real combat. That +gentleman and Marsden, however, have given us some very interesting +details respecting the preliminaries to an actual engagement. They +describe the debates which generally take place in the war-council of a +tribe or district previous to any declaration of hostilities; and those +conferences between the two opposing parties in which, even after they +have met on the intended field of action, the matter of dispute is often +made the subject of a war of argument and eloquence, and sometimes, it +would seem, is even settled without any resort to more destructive +weapons. + +When Marsden visited the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga, in 1819, he +found a quarrel just about to commence between two of the principal +chiefs, whose lands lay contiguous, and who were also, it appeared, +nearly related, in consequence of the pigs of the one having got into +the sweet potato grounds of the other, who had retaliated by shooting +several of them. The chief whose pigs had committed the trespass, and +whom Marsden was now visiting, was an old man, apparently eighty years +of age, named Warremaddoo,[CF] who had now resigned the supreme +authority to his son Matanghee;[CG] yet this affair rekindled all the +ancient enthusiasm of the venerable warrior. The other chief was called +Moodewhy.[CH] The morning debate, at which several chiefs spoke with +great force and dignity, had been suddenly interrupted; but it was +resumed in the evening, when Marsden was again present. + +On this occasion, old Warremaddoo threw off his mat, took his spear, and +began to address his tribe and the chiefs. He made strong appeals to +them against the injustice and ingratitude of Moodeewhy's conduct +towards them, recited many injuries which he and his tribe had suffered +from Moodeewhy for a long period, mentioned instances of his bad conduct +at the time that his father's bones were removed from the Ahoodu Pa to +their family vault, stated acts of kindness which he had shown to +Moodeewhy at different times, and said that he had twice saved his tribe +from total ruin. In the present instance, Moodeewhy had killed three of +his hogs. Every time he mentioned his loss, the recollection seemed to +nerve afresh his aged sinews: he shook his hoary beard, stamped with +indignant rage, and poised his quivering spear. + +He exhorted his tribe to be bold and courageous; and declared that he +would head them in the morning against the enemy, and, rather than he +would submit, he would be killed and eaten. All that they wanted was +firmness and courage; he knew well the enemies they had to meet, their +hearts did not lie deep; and, if they were resolutely opposed, they +would yield. + +His oration continued nearly an hour, and all listened to him with great +attention. + +This dispute, however, partly through Marsden's intercession, who +offered to give each of the indignant leaders an adze if they would make +peace, was at last amicably adjusted; and the two, as the natives +expressed it, "were made both alike inside." + +But Marsden was a good deal surprised on observing old Warremaddoo, +immediately after he had rubbed noses with Moodeewhy in token of +reconcilement, begin, with his slaves, to burn and destroy the fence of +the enclosure in which they were assembled, belonging to Moodeewhy, who, +however, took no notice of the destruction of his property thus going on +before his face. Upon inquiry, he was told that this was done in +satisfaction for a fence of the old man's which Moodeewhy had destroyed +in the first instance, and the breaking down of which had, in fact, +given rise to the trespass. + +A New Zealander would hold himself to be guilty of a breach of the first +principles of honour if he ever made up a quarrel without having exacted +full compensation for what he might conceive to be his wrongs. + +The battle which Nicholas expected to witness was to be fought between +the tribe of an old chief named Henou,[CI] and that of another, named +Wiveah,[CJ] who had seduced his wife. The two parties met in adjoining +enclosures, and Nicholas took his station on the roof of a neighbouring +hut to observe their proceedings. The conference was commenced by an old +warrior on Henou's side, who, rising, amid the universal silence of both +camps, addressed himself to Wiveah and his followers. + +Nicholas describes the venerable orator as walking, or rather running, +up and down a paling, which formed one side of the enclosure in which he +was, uttering his words in a tone of violent resentment, and +occasionally shaking his head and brandishing his spear. He was answered +in a mild and conciliating manner by two of Wiveah's followers. + +To them another warrior of Henou's party replied, in what Nicholas calls +a masterly style of native eloquence. In easy dignity of manner he +greatly excelled the other orators. "He spoke," says the author, "for a +considerable time; and I could not behold, without admiration, the +graceful elegance of his deportment, and the appropriate accordance of +his action. Holding his pattoo-pattoo[CK] in his hand he walked up and +down along the margin of the river with a firm and manly step." + +The debate was carried on by other speakers for some time longer; but at +last it appeared that conciliatory counsels had carried the day. The two +parties satisfied themselves with a sham fight, Wiveah merely presenting +the injured Henou with a quantity of potatoes. + +The most singular part of the debate, however, was yet to come; for +immediately after the sham fight, the old orator again rose, and, +although vehement enough at the beginning of his harangue, became still +more so as he proceeded, till at last he grew quite outrageous, and +jumped about the field like a person out of his senses. + +In the latter part of the debate, Wiveah and Henou themselves took up +the discussion of the question, and seem, by the account given, to have +handled it with more mildness and good temper than almost any of their +less interested associates. + +At the close of Wiveah's last address, however, "his three wives," says +Nicholas, "now deemed it expedient to interpose their oratory, as +confirming mediators between the parties, though there was no longer any +enmity existing on either side. They spoke with great animation, and the +warriors listened to their separate speeches in attentive silence. They +assumed, I thought, a very determined tone, employing a great deal of +impressive action, and looking towards the opposite chief with an +asperity of countenance not warranted by the mild forbearance of his +deportment. The expostulating harangues, as I should suppose they were, +of these sturdy ladies completed the ceremonials of this singular +conference; and the reconciliation being thus consummated, the parties +now entertained no sentiments towards each other but those of reciprocal +amity." + +It would appear that the New Zealand women sometimes carry their martial +propensities farther than they are stated to have done in the present +case. Nicholas was once not a little surprised, while witnessing a sham +fight, to observe Duaterra's wife, the Queen of Tippoonah,[CL] exerting +himself, with most conspicuous courage, among the very thickest of the +combatants. + +Her majesty was dressed in a red gown and petticoat, which she had +received as a present from Marsden, that reverend gentleman having been +obliged himself, in the first instance, to assist in decorating her with +these novel articles of attire; and, holding in her hand a large +horse-pistol, always selected the most formidable hero she could find as +her antagonist. + +She was at last, however, fairly exhausted; and stood, at the conclusion +of the exhibition, Nicholas tells us, panting for breath. "In this +state," says he, "she was pleased to notice me with a distinguished mark +of flattering condescension, by holding out her lips for me to kiss, an +honour I could have very well dispensed with, but which, at the same +time, I could not decline, without offering a slight to a person of such +elevated consequence." + +He saw, also, some other female warriors, who exposed themselves in the +combat with great gallantry. Among them, Marsden tells us, was the widow +of Tippahee, a woman apparently not much less than seventy years of age. + +Cook also sometimes saw the women armed with spears. + +The principal native war-instrument of the New Zealanders is the short +thick club, which has been so often mentioned. This weapon they all +constantly wear, either fastened in their girdle or held in the right +hand and attached by a string to the wrist. It is in shape somewhat like +a battledore, varying from ten to eighteen inches in length, including a +short handle, and generally about four or five broad, thick in the +middle, but worked down to a very sharp edge on both sides. It is most +commonly formed of a species of green talc, which appears to be found +only in the southern island, and with regard to which the New Zealanders +have many superstitious notions. Some of them are made of a +darker-coloured stone, susceptible of a high polish; some of whalebone; +and Nicholas mentions one, which he saw in the possession of Tippoui, +brother of the celebrated George of Wangarooa, and himself one of the +leaders of the attack on the 'Boyd,' which, like that of Shungie, which +Rutherford speaks of, was of iron, and also highly polished. It had been +fabricated by the chief himself, with tools of the most imperfect +description; and yet was, in Nicholas's opinion, as well-finished a +piece of workmanship as could have been produced by any of our best +mechanics. This instrument is employed in close combat, the head being +generally the part aimed at; and one well-directed blow is quite enough +to split the hardest skull. The name usually given to it, in the earlier +accounts of New Zealand, is patoo-patoo. Anderson, in his general +remarks on the people of Queen Charlotte Sound, says it is also called +Emeeta. But its correct and distinctive name seems to be that by which +Rutherford always designates it, the mery or mairy. + +[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum_ + + 1. _Pou-wherma._ + 2. _Taiaha_ of white whale-bone. + 3. _Taiaha_ (6ft. 3in. long) of wood, with flax mat and dog's hair. + 4. _Hoeroa_ of white whale-bone. + 5. _Tewha-tewha_.] + +Savage tells us that when he took his friend, Moyhanger,[CM] to a shop +in the Strand to purchase some tools, he was particularly struck with a +common bill-hook, upon which he cast his eyes, as appearing to be a most +admirable instrument of slaughter; and we find accordingly that since +they have had so much intercourse with Europeans some of the New Zealand +warriors have substituted the English bill-hook for their native +battle-axe. Nicholas mentions one with which Duaterra was accustomed to +arm himself. + +Their only missile weapons, except stones, which they merely throw from +the hand, are short spears, made of hard wood or whalebone, and pointed +at one extremity. These they are very dexterous with, both in darting at +a mark, and in receiving or turning aside with the blades of their +battle-axes, which are the only shields they use, except the folds of +their thick and flowing mats, which they raise on the left arm, and +which are tough enough to impede the passage of a spear. They have other +spears, however, varying from thirteen or fourteen to thirty feet in +length, which they use as lances or bayonets. These, or rather the +shorter sort, are also sometimes called by English writers patoos, or +patoo-patoos. Lastly, they often carry an instrument somewhat like a +sergeant's halbert, curiously carved, and adorned with bunches of +parrot's feathers tied round the top of it. + +The musket has now, however, in a great measure superseded these +primitive weapons, although the New Zealanders are as yet far from being +expert in the use of it. + +By Rutherford's account, as we have just seen, they only fire off their +guns once, and throw them away as soon as they have got fairly engaged, +much as some of our own Highland regiments are said formerly to have +been in the habit of doing. + +Cruise, in like manner, states that they use their firelocks very +awkwardly, lose an immense deal of time in looking for a rest and taking +aim, and after all, seldom hit their object, unless close to it. + +Muskets, however, are by far more prized and coveted by the New +Zealander than any of the other commodities to which his intercourse +with the civilized world has given him access. The ships that touch at +the country always find it the readiest way of obtaining the supplies +they want from the natives, to purchase them with arms or ammunition; +and the missionaries, who have declined to traffic in these articles, +have often scarcely been able to procure a single pig by the most +tempting price they could offer in another shape. Although the arms +which they have obtained in this way have generally been of the most +trashy description, they have been sufficient to secure to the tribes +that have been most plentifully provided with them a decided superiority +over the rest; and the consequence has been that the people of the Bay +of Islands, who have hitherto had most intercourse with European ships, +have been of late years the terror of the whole country, and while they +themselves have remained uninvaded, have repeatedly carried devastation +into its remotest districts. + +More recently, however, the River Thames, and the coasts to the south +of it, have also been a good deal resorted to by vessels navigating +those seas; and a great many muskets have in consequence also found +their way into the hands of the inhabitants of that part of the island. + +When Rutherford speaks of the two parties whom he saw engaged having had +about two thousand stand of arms between them, it may be thought that +his estimate is probably an exaggerated one; but it is completely borne +out by other authorities. Thus, for example, Davis, one of the +missionaries, writes, in 1827: "They have at this time many thousand +stand of arms among them, both in the Bay and at the River Thames." + +The method of fighting, which is described as being in use among the New +Zealanders, in which, after the first onset, every man chooses his +individual antagonist, and the field of battle presents merely the +spectacle of a multitude of single combats, is the same which has, +perhaps, everywhere prevailed, not only in the primitive wars of men, +but up to a period of considerable refinement in the history of the +military art. + +The Greeks and Trojans, at the time of the siege of Troy, used both +chariots and missiles; and yet it is evident from Homer that their +battles and skirmishes usually resolved themselves in a great measure +into a number of duels between heroes who seem to have sometimes paused +by mutual consent to hold parley together, without at all minding the +course of the general fight. + +Exactly the same thing takes place in the battles of the American +Indians, who are also possessed of bows and arrows. The New Zealanders +have no weapons of this description, and, until their intercourse with +Europeans had put muskets into their hands, were without any arms +whatever by which one body could, by its combined strength, have made an +impression upon another from a distance. Even the long spears which they +sometimes used could evidently have been employed with effect only when +each was directed with a particular aim. When two parties engaged, +therefore, they necessarily always came to close combat, and every man +singled out his adversary; a mode of fighting which was, besides, much +more adapted to their tempers, and to the feelings of vehement animosity +with which they came into the field, than any which would have kept them +at a greater distance from each other. + +The details of such personal conflicts amongst more refined nations +always formed a principal ingredient in poetry and romance, from the +times of Homer to those of Spenser. They are, indeed, always +uninteresting and tiresome, although related with the highest +descriptive power; and even in the splendid descriptions of Ariosto and +Tasso there is something absolutely ludicrous in the minute +representations of two champions in complete armour, hammering each +other about with their maces like blacksmiths. + +Still, the poets have clung to this love of individual prowess, wherever +their subjects would admit of such descriptions; and, even to our own +day, that habit which we derived from the times of chivalry, of +describing personal bravery as the greatest of human virtues, is not +altogether abandoned. + +The realities of modern warfare are, however, very unfavourable to such +stimulating representations. The military discipline in use among the +more cultivated nations of antiquity, for example the Persians, the +Macedonians, the Grecian states, and above all, the Romans, undoubtedly +did much to give to their armies the power of united masses, +controllable by one will, and not liable to be broken down and rendered +comparatively inefficient by the irregular movements of individuals. But +it is the introduction of fire-arms which has, most of all, contributed +to change the original character of war, and the elements of the +strength of armies. Where it is merely one field of artillery opposed to +another, and the efficient value of every man on either side lies +principally in the musket which he carries on his shoulder, individual +strength and courage become alike of little account. The result depends, +it may be almost said, entirely on the skill of the commander, not on +the exertions of those over whom he exercises nearly as absolute an +authority as a chess-player does over his pieces. + +If this new system has not diminished the destructiveness of war, it +has, at least, very much abated the rancorous feelings with which it was +originally carried on. It has converted it from a contest of fierce and +vindictive passions into an exercise of science. We have still, +doubtless, to lament that the game of blood occasions, whenever it is +played, so terrible a waste of human life and happiness; but even the +displacement of that brute force, and those other merely animal +impulses, by which it used to be mainly directed, and the substitution +of regulating principles of a comparatively intellectual and +unimpassioned nature, may be considered as indicating, even here, a +triumph of civilization. + +It is impossible that the business of war can be so corrupting to those +engaged in it when it is chiefly a contest of skill, as when it is +wholly a contest of passion. Nor is it calculated in the one form to +occupy the imagination of a people, as it will do in the other. The evil +is therefore mitigated by the introduction of those arts which to many +may appear aggravations of this curse of mankind. + +Rutherford does not take any notice of the pas, or as they have been +called, eppas, or hippahs,[CN] which are found in so many of the New +Zealand villages. These are forts, or strongholds, always erected on an +eminence, and intended for the protection of the tribe and its most +valuable possessions, when reduced by their enemies to the last +extremity. These ancient places of refuge have also been very much +abandoned since the introduction of fire-arms; but formerly, they were +regarded as of great importance. + +Cook describes one which he visited on the East Coast, and which was +placed on a high point of land projecting into the sea, as wholly +inaccessible on the three sides on which it was enclosed by the water; +while it was defended on the land side by a ditch of fourteen feet deep, +having a bank raised behind it, which added about eight feet more to the +glacis. Both banks of the ditch are also, in general, surmounted by +palisades, about ten or twelve feet high, formed of strong stakes bound +together with withies, and driven very deep into the ground. Within the +innermost palisade is usually a stage, supported by posts, from which +the besieged throw down darts and stones upon their assailants; and in +addition to this, the interior space, which is generally of considerable +extent, is sometimes divided into numerous petty eminences, each +surrounded by its palisade, and communicating with each other by narrow +lanes, admitting of being easily stopped up, in case of the enemy having +effected his entrance within the general enclosure. The only road to +the strong-hold is by a single narrow and steep passage. + +Cruise describes a fort at Wangarooa as situated on an insulated rock, +about three hundred feet high, and presenting the most imposing +appearance. These elevated palings were a subject of much speculation to +those on board of Cook's vessel, when that navigator first approached +the coast of New Zealand. Some, he tells us, supposed them to be +inclosures for sheep and oxen, while others maintained they were parks +of deer. + +The New Zealanders may, in some degree, be considered as a warlike +people upon the sea. We have no distinct account of any maritime +engagements between one tribe and another carried on in their vessels of +war; but as these belong to the state, if it may be so termed--that is, +as the war canoes are the property of a particular community inhabiting +a village or district, as distinguished from the fishing-boats of +individuals--it is probable that their hostile encounters may +occasionally be carried on upon the element with which a nation of +islanders are generally familiar. + +Rutherford has given a minute description of a war-canoe, which accords +with the representation of such a large vessel in the plates to Cook's +"Voyages":-- + +"Their canoes are made of the largest sized pine-trees, which generally +run from 40 to 50 feet long, and are hollowed out, and lengthened about +eight feet at each end, and raised about two feet on each side. + +"They are built with a figure head; the stern-post extending about ten +feet above the stern of the canoe, which is handsomely carved, as well +as the figure-head, and the whole body of the canoe. The sides are +ornamented with pearl shell, which is let into the carved work, and +above that is a row of feathers. On both sides, fore and aft, they have +seats in the inside, so that two men can sit abreast. They pull about +fifty paddles on each side, and many of them will carry two hundred +people. When paddling, the chief stands up and cheers them with a song, +to which they all join in chorus. These canoes roll heavy, and go at the +rate of seven knots an hour. Their sails are made of straw mats in the +shape of a lateen sail. They cook in their canoes, but always go on +shore to eat. They are frequently known to go three or four hundred +miles along the coast." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote CF: Probably Wharemata.] + +[Footnote CG: Matangi.] + +[Footnote CH: Muriwai.] + +[Footnote CI: Hinau.] + +[Footnote CJ: Probably Waitea.] + +[Footnote CK: patu-patu.] + +[Footnote CL: Te Puna.] + +[Footnote CM: Moehanga.] + +[Footnote CN: The former word, "Pa," is correct.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +We have noticed all the adventures which Rutherford records to have +befallen him during his residence in New Zealand, and have now only to +relate the manner in which he at last effected his escape from the +country, which we shall do in his own words. + +"A few days," says he, "after our return home from Showrackee, we were +alarmed by observing smoke ascending in large quantities from several of +the mountains, and by the natives running about the village in all +directions, and singing out Kipoke,[CO] which signifies a ship on the +coast. I was quite overjoyed to hear the news. + +"Aimy and I, accompanied by several of the warriors, and followed by a +number of slaves, loaded with mats and potatoes, and driving pigs before +them for the purpose of trading with the ship, immediately set off for +Tokamardo; and in two days we arrived at that place, the unfortunate +scene of the capture of our ship and its crew on the 7th of March, 1816. +I now perceived the ship under sail, at about twenty miles distance from +the land, off which the wind was blowing strong, which prevented her +nearing. Meanwhile, as it was drawing towards night, we encamped, and +sat down to supper. + +"I observed that several of the natives still wore round their necks and +wrists many of the trinkets which they had taken out of our ship. As +Aimy and I sat together at supper, a slave arrived with a new basket, +which he placed before me, saying that it was a present from his master. +I asked him what was in the basket, and he informed me that it was part +of a slave girl's thigh, that had been killed three days before. It was +cooked, he added, and was very nice. I then commanded him to open it, +which he did, when it presented the appearance of a piece of pork which +had been baked in the oven. I made a present of it to Aimy, who divided +it among the chiefs. + +"The chiefs now consulted together, and resolved that, if the ship came +in, they would take her, and murder the crew. Next morning she was +observed to be much nearer than she had been the night before; but the +chiefs were still afraid she would not come in, and therefore agreed +that I should be sent on board, on purpose to decoy her to the land, +which I promised to do. + +"I was then dressed in a feathered cloak, belt, and turban, and armed +with a battle axe, the head of which was formed of a stone which, +resembled green glass, but was so hard as to turn the heaviest blow of +the hardest steel. The handle was of hard black wood, handsomely carved +and adorned with feathers. In this attire I went off in a canoe, +accompanied by a son of one of the chiefs, and four slaves. When we came +alongside of the vessel, which turned out to be an American brig, +commanded by Captain Jackson, employed in trading among the islands in +the South Sea, and then bound for the coast of California, I immediately +went on board, and presented myself to the captain, who, as soon as he +saw me, exclaimed, 'Here is a white New Zealander.' + +"I told him that I was not a New Zealander, but an Englishman; upon +which he invited me into his cabin, where I gave him an account of my +errand and of all my misfortunes. + +"I informed him of the danger his ship would be exposed to if he put in +at that part of the island; and therefore begged of him to stand off as +quickly as possible, and take me along with him, as this was the only +chance I had ever had of escaping. + +"By this time the chief's son had begun stealing in the ship, on which +the crew tied him up, and flogged him with the clue of one of their +hammocks, and then sent him down into his canoe. + +"They would have flogged the rest also had not I interceded for them, +considering that there might be still some of my unfortunate shipmates +living on shore, on whom they might avenge themselves. + +"The captain now consented to take me along with him; and, the canoe +having been set adrift, we stood off from the island. For the first +sixteen months of my residence in New Zealand, I had counted the days by +means of notches on a stick; but after that I had kept no reckoning. I +now learned, however, that the day on which I was taken off the island +was January 9th, 1826. I had, therefore, been a prisoner among these +savages ten years, all but two months." + +Captain Jackson now gave Rutherford such clothes as he stood in need of, +in return for which the latter made him a present of his New Zealand +dress and battle axe. + +The ship then proceeded to the Society Islands, and anchored on February +10th off Otaheite. + +Here Rutherford went into the service of the British consul, by whom he +was employed in sawing wood. On May 26th he was married to a chief +woman, whose name, he says, was Nowyrooa, by Mr. Pritchard, one of the +English missionaries. While he resided here, he was also employed as an +interpreter by Captain Peachy, of the "Blossom" sloop of war, then +engaged in surveying those islands. + +Still, however, longing very much to see his native country, he embarked +on January 6th, 1827, on board the brig "Macquarie," commanded by +Captain Hunter, and bound for Port Jackson. On taking leave of his wife +and friends, he made them a promise to return to the island in two +years, "which," says he, "I intend to keep, if it is in my power, and +end my days there." + +The "Macquarie" reached Port Jackson on February 19th, and Rutherford +states that he met there a young woman who had been saved from the +massacre of those on board the "Boyd," and who gave him an account of +that event. This was probably the daughter of a woman whom Mr. Berry +brought to Lima. + +He also found at Port Jackson two vessels on their way back to England, +with a body of persons who had attempted to form a settlement in New +Zealand, but who had been compelled to abandon their design, as he +understood, by the treacherous behaviour of the natives. + +He now embarked on board the Sydney packet, commanded by Captain Tailor, +which proceeded first for Hobart Town, in Van Diemen's Land,[CP] and +after lying there for about a fortnight set sail again for Rio de +Janeiro. + +On his arrival there he went into the service of Mr. Harris, a Dutch +gentleman. Mr. Harris, on learning his history, had him presented to the +Emperor Don Pedro, who asked him many questions by an interpreter, and +made him a present of eighty dollars. He also offered him employment in +his navy; but this Rutherford refused, preferring to return to England +in the "Blanche" frigate, then on the point of sailing, in which he +obtained a passage by an application to the British consul. On the +arrival of the ship at Spithead, he immediately left her, and proceeded +to Manchester, his native town, which he had not seen since he first +went to sea in the year 1806. + +After his return to England Rutherford occasionally maintained himself +by accompanying a travelling caravan of wonders, showing his tattooing, +and telling something of his extraordinary adventures. + +The publisher of this volume had many conversations with him in January, +1829, when he was exhibited in London. He was evidently a person of +considerable quickness, and great powers of observation. He went over +every part of his journal, which was read to him, with considerable +care, explaining any difficulties, and communicating several points of +information, of which we have availed ourselves in the course of this +narrative. + +His manners were mild and courteous; he was fond of children, to whom he +appeared happy to explain the causes of his singular appearance and he +was evidently a man of very sober habits. He was pleased with the idea +of his adventures being published; and was delighted to have his +portrait painted, though he suffered much inconvenience in sitting to +the artist, with the upper part of his body uncovered, in a severe +frost. + +Upon the whole he seemed to have acquired a great deal of the frankness +and easy confidence of the people with whom he had been living, and was +somewhat out of his element amidst the constrained intercourse and +unvarying occupations of England. He greatly disliked being shown for +money, which he submitted to principally that he might acquire a sum, in +addition to what he received for his manuscript, to return to Otaheite. + +We have not heard of him since that time; and the probability is that he +has accomplished his wishes. He said that he should have no hesitation +in going to New Zealand; that his old companions would readily believe +that he had been carried away by force; that from his knowledge of their +customs, he could be most advantageously employed in trading with them; +and that, above all, if he were to take back a blacksmith with him, and +plenty of iron, he might acquire many of the most valuable productions +of the country, particularly tortoiseshell,[CQ] which he considered the +best object for an English commercial adventure.[CR] + +Rutherford is not the only native of a civilized country whose fate it +has been to become resident for some time among the savages of New +Zealand. Besides his shipmates, who were taken prisoners along with him, +he himself, indeed, as we have seen, mentions two other individuals whom +he met with while in the country, one of whom had been eight years +there, and did not seem to have any wish to leave it. + +[Illustration: A Maori war canoe.] + +Savage gives a short notice of a European who was living in the +neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands when he was there in 1805. This +person, whose native country, or the circumstances that had induced him +to take up his abode where he then was, Savage could not discover, +shunned all intercourse with Europeans, and was wont to retire to the +interior whenever a ship approached the coast. The natives, however, +whose customs and manners he had adopted, spoke well of him; and Savage +often saw a New Zealand woman who lived with him, and one of their +children, which he represents as very far from exhibiting any +superiority either in mind or person over his associates of unmixed +breed. Its complexion was the same as that of the others, being +distinguished from them only by its light flaxen hair. + +Marsden, also, in a letter written in 1813 to the secretary of the +Church Missionary Society, mentions a young man, a native of America, +with whom he had conversed in New South Wales, and who had lived for +above a year with the New Zealanders. + +During all this time these savages, he said, had shown him the greatest +attention, and he would have been very glad to return to live among them +if he could have found any other Europeans to go with him. + +Since the Bay of Islands has become so much the resort of shipping, many +seamen have left their ships and taken up their residence of their own +accord among the natives. The "Missionary Reports" state that, about the +close of the year 1824, there were perhaps twenty men who had thus found +their way into the country, and were living on plunder; and that within +the year not less, it was supposed, than a hundred sailors had in the +same manner taken refuge for a time in the island. + +Although these men had all run away from their own ships, the captains +of other vessels touching at any part of the coast did not hesitate to +employ them when they wanted hands. + +Mawman, whom Rutherford met with at Kiperra, had, it will be +recollected, made his escape, according to his own account, from a sloop +of war. These fugitives, however, it would appear, do not always succeed +in establishing themselves among the natives. Cruise mentions one who, +having run away from the "Anne" whaler, hid himself at first in the +woods, but soon after came on board the "Dromedary" in a most miserable +state, beseeching to be taken on the strength of the ship. + +Convicts, too, occasionally make their escape to New Zealand, and +attempt to secrete themselves in the interior of the country. When the +"Active" was at the Bay of Islands in 1815, two men and a woman of this +description were sent on board to be taken back to New South Wales. The +woman, Nicholas says, was particularly dejected on being retaken; and it +was found that while on shore she had done everything in her power to +prevail upon one of the native females to assist her in her attempt to +conceal herself. Her friend, however, resisted all her entreaties; and +well knowing the hardships to which the poor creature would have exposed +herself, only replied to her importunate solicitations, "Me would, Mary, +but me got no tea, me got no sugar, no bed, no good things for you; me +grieve to see you, you cannot live like New Zealand woman, you cannot +sleep on the ground." + +The Rev. Mr. Butler, in March, 1821, found two convicts who had escaped +from a whaler, in the hands of one of the chiefs, who was just preparing +to put them to death. On Butler interfering and begging that their lives +might be spared, the New Zealanders replied: "They are nothing but +slaves and thieves; they look like bad men, and are very ragged; they do +not belong to you, and we think they are some of King George's bad +cookees." After a great deal of discussion, however, they yielded so far +to Butler's entreaties and arguments as to agree not to kill the two +men; but the chief insisted that they should go home with him and work +for him four months, after which he said that he would give them up to +any ship that would take them to "King George's farm at Port Jackson." + +When Nicholas was in New Zealand in 1815, he met with a Hindoo, who had +made his escape from Captain Patterson's ship, the "City of Edinburgh," +about five years before, and had been living among the natives ever +since. Compared with the New Zealanders, he looked, Nicholas says, like +a pigmy among giants. However, he had got so much attached to the +manners of his new associates that he declared he would much rather +remain where he was than return to his own country. He had married a +native woman, and was treated, he said, in the kindest manner by the New +Zealanders, who always supplied him with plenty of food without +compelling him to do more work than he chose. Nicholas offered him some +rice, but he intimated that he decidedly preferred fern-root. + +The circumstances of Rutherford's capture and detention in New Zealand +were but indifferently calculated to reconcile him to the new state of +society in which he was there compelled to mix, notwithstanding the rank +to which his superior intelligence and activity raised him. + +Though a chief, he was still a prisoner; and even all the favour with +which he had himself been treated could not make him forget the fate of +his companions, or the warning which it afforded him to how sudden or +slight an accident his own life might at any time fall a sacrifice. But +it is certain that, where no such sense of constraint is felt, not only +the notion, but even the reality, of savage life has a strong charm for +many minds. The insecurity and privation which attend upon it are deemed +but a slight counterbalance to the independence, the exemption from +regular labour, and above all the variety of adventure, which it +promises to ardent and reckless spirits. + +Generally, however, the Europeans that have adopted the life of the +savage have been men driven out from civilization, or disinclined to +systematic industry. They have not chosen the imaginary freedom and +security of barbarians, in contempt of the artificial restraints and +legal oppressions of a refined state of society, in the way that the +Greek did, whom Priscus found in the camp of Attila, declaring that he +lived more happily amongst the wild Scythians than ever he did under the +Roman government. + +But if those who have been accustomed to the comforts of civilization +have not infrequently felt the influence of the seductions which a +barbarous condition offers to an excited imagination, it may well be +conceived that, to the man who has been born a savage, and nurtured in +all the feelings and habits of that state of society, they must address +themselves with still more irresistible effect. + +We have many examples, accordingly, of how difficult it is to +extinguish, by any culture, either in an old or a young savage, his +innate passion for the wild life of his fathers. + +Tippahee's son, Matara, on his return from England, strove to regain an +acquaintance with his native customs. Moyhanger, Savage's friend, might +be quoted as another instance, in whom all the wonders and attractions +of London would appear not to have excited a wish to see it again. Nor +does any great preference for civilized life seem to have been produced +in other cases, by even a much longer experience of its accommodations. + +When Nicholas and Marsden visited New Zealand in 1815, they met at the +North Cape, where they first put on shore, a native of Otaheite, who had +been brought from his own country to Port Jackson when a boy of about +eleven or twelve years old. Here he had lived for some years in the +family of Mr. McArthur, where he had been treated with great kindness, +and brought up in all respects as an English boy would have been. Having +been sent to school he soon learned not only to speak English with +fluency, but to read and write it with very superior ability; and he +showed himself besides in everything remarkably tractable and obedient. +Yet nothing could wean him from his partiality to his original +condition; and he at last quitted the house of his protector, and +contrived to find his way to New Zealand. Here he settled among a people +even still more uncivilized than his own countrymen, and married the +daughter of one of the chiefs, to whose territories he had succeeded +when Nicholas met with him. + +Jem (that was the name by which he had been known at Port Jackson) was +then a young man of about twenty-three years of age. Unlike his brother +chiefs, he was cleanly in his person; and his countenance not being +tattooed, nor darker than that of a Spaniard, while his manners +displayed a European polish, it was only his dress that betokened the +savage. + +"His hair," says Nicholas, "which had been very carefully combed, was +tied up in a knot upon the crown of his head, and adorned with a long +white feather fancifully stuck in it; in his ears were large bunches of +the down of the gannet, white as the driven snow, and napping about his +cheeks with every gale. Like the natives, he wore the mat thrown over +his shoulders; but the one he had on was bordered with a deep Vandyke of +different colours, and gaily bedizened with the feathers of parrots and +other birds, reflecting at the same moment all the various shades in the +rainbow. He carried a musket in his hand, and had a martial and imposing +air about him, which was quite in character with the station he +maintained." + +He brought his wife with him in a canoe to the ship; and having known +Marsden well in New South Wales, was delighted to see that gentleman, +and proved of considerable use to him in his intercourse with the other +New Zealanders. Although not accustomed to speak English in his new +country, Jem had by no means forgotten that language. He had been on +three warlike expeditions to the East Cape in the course of the past +five years; but had gone, he said, only because he could not help it, +and had never assisted in devouring the prisoners. Dillon met both Jem +and the Hindoo, when he was at the Bay of Islands in July, 1827. The +former had his son with him, a boy about twelve years of age. + +These, and many other examples which might be added, exhibit the force +of habit which governs the actions of all men, whether in a savage or +civilized state. There are, of course, exceptions. When Cook left +Omai,[CS] during his last voyage, at Huaheine, with every provision for +his comfort, he earnestly begged to return to England. It was nothing +that a grant of land was made to him at the interposition of his English +friends, that a house was built and a garden planted for his use. He +wept bitter tears; for he was naturally afraid that his new riches would +make him an object of hatred to his countrymen. He was much caressed in +England; and he took back many valuable possessions and some knowledge. +But he was originally one of the common people; and he soon saw, +although he was not sensible of it at first, that without rank he could +obtain no authority. He forgot this, when he was away from the people +with whom he was to end his days; but he seemed to feel that he should +be insecure when his protector, Cook, had left their shores. He divided +his presents with the chiefs; and the great navigator threatened them +with his vengeance if Omai was molested. The reluctance of this man to +return to his original conditions was principally derived from these +considerations, which were to him of a strictly personal nature. The +picture which a popular poet has drawn of the feelings of Omai is very +beautiful, and in great part true as applied to him as an individual; +but it is not true of the mass of savages. + +The habits amidst which they were born may be modified by an intercourse +with civilized men, but they cannot be eradicated. The following is the +poetical passage to which we alluded. Omai had, altogether, a more +distinguished destiny than any other savage--he was cherished by Cook, +painted by Reynolds, and apostrophised by Cowper:-- + + "The dream is past, and thou hast found again + Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams, + And homestall thatch'd with leaves. But hast thou found + Their former charms? And, having seen our state, + Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp + Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports, + And heard our music, are thy simple friends, + Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights, + As dear to thee as once? And have thy joys + Lost nothing by comparison with ours? + Rude as thou art (for we return'd thee rude + And ignorant, except of outward show) + I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart + And spiritless, as never to regret + Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known. + Methinks I see thee straying on the beach, + And asking of the surge that bathes thy foot, + If ever it has wash'd our distant shore. + I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears, + A patriot's for his country: thou art sad + At thought of her forlorn and abject state, + From which no power of thine can raise her up." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote CO: Kaipuke, a ship.] + +[Footnote CP: That is, Tasmania.] + +[Footnote CQ: There are no tortoises in New Zealand.] + +[Footnote CR: Rutherford did not return to New Zealand, and nothing more +was heard of him. On December 5th, 1828, "The Australian," which 'was +published in Sydney, stated that a man named Rutherford, who had been +tattooed by the Maoris, and naturalized by them, was then in London, +practising the trade of a pickpocket, in the character of a New Zealand +chief, but that was before he supplied his story for "The New +Zealanders."] + +[Footnote CS: Omai was an islander, who was taken to England, where he +was lionized, and was afterwards taken back to the islands during Cook's +last voyage.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN RUTHERFORD, THE WHITE CHIEF*** + + +******* This file should be named 13760.txt or 13760.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/6/13760 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13760.zip b/old/13760.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..32187b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13760.zip |
