[PREFACE]
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PREFACE
The MAORIES--the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand--are passing away. Their vigour, humour, and valour show them to have been a remarkable race of savages, in many ways--perhaps the most interesting of all the savage races with which England has come in contact in her career of conquest and colonization.
The Maories are a branch of the Aryan race, and in their language, customs, characteristics, and traditions, possibly present better glimpses of our Aryan ancestors than any nation now in existence. However that may be, there is much about the Maories worth preserving.
Their story is full of picturesque incident and pathetic interest, and is not without historic value.
In this fair young land the stern lessons of the heroic struggles between the two races in the past are of romantic interest,
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and will be of service in the Making of the New Zealand Nation. Nor will the treatment by Colonists of the social and industrial problems affecting mankind be of less interest, because they are largely unfettered by the old time precedent and practice natural to older countries.
Without attempting to write a history of the Maories, I have recorded some of the results of my own extensive observation of the Maori people, which may perhaps not be without use to some future historian, nor yet, I hope, without interest to English, American, and Colonial readers of my story.
J. C. FIRTH.
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND:
October 27, 1889.
[CONTENTS]
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY......1
II. EARLY DAYS......10
III. IN THE FIFTIES......17
IV. A FATAL MISTAKE.....25
V. A MAORI NATION MAKER. . . . 32
VI. A MAORI NATION MAKER--continued.. 40
VII. MAORI CUSTOMS......52
VIII. THE TOHUNGA......61
IX. A NEW NATION ON MODERN LINES. . 73
X. EARLY PERILS......81
XI. MAORI RAIDS......92
XII. THE MAGISTRATE'S STORY.... 99
XIII. THE SURVEYOR'S STORY. . . . 107
XIV. THE INTERPRETER'S STORY. . . 120
XV. THE STATION MANAGER'S STORY. . . 131
XVI. THE OLD CHIEF'S STORY. .. . 138
XVII. THE MAJOR'S STORY. . . . . 153
XVIII. A WARLIKE EXPEDITION. . . . 166
XIX. A NEW DEPARTURE.....176
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XX. MAORI CHARACTERISTICS. . . 183
xxi. utu (ransom)......196
XXII. SALMON INTRODUCTION.... 207
XXIII. ON THE RIVER. . . . . . 220
XXIV. CLEARING THE RIVER.... 232
XXV. AN OLD MAN'S TALE..... 244
XXVI. NEW ZEALAND SCENERY . . . . 248
XXVII. AN AGED CHIEF...... 256
XXVIII. LOCATING FALLOW DEER . . . . 262
XXIX. MAORI GRATITUDE.....268
XXX. THE GOSPEL OF WORK. . . 274
XXXI. PROPERTY Versus MAN. . . 281
XXXII. YOUNG NATIONS.....287
XXXIII. GREATER BRITAINS. . ... 297
XXXIV. REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. . . 310
XXXV. PAUPERISM.......318
XXXVI. INDEBTEDNESS...... 324
XXXVII. THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE . .. 331
XXXVIII. THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE.... 339
XXXIX. THE TYRANNY OF CAPITAL. . . . 346
XL. THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. . 356
XLI. THE REVOLT OF LABOUR. . . . 364
XLII. COMMUNISM......378
XLIII. CANNIBALISM . ... 389
