1817 - Nicholas, J. L. Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand [Vol.I] - CHAPTER X

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CHAP. X.

As soon as the morning of the 4th appeared, we had several more spars along-side, together with an increase of new visitors, who were generally very noisy merchants, and as keen in enhancing their commodities as the most crafty Jews on the Royal Exchange. I have been much surprised to see with what address and calculating circumspection, they concluded their bargains; and it appeared to me extraordinary, how persons in their state could have acquired such

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a proficiency in all the subtleties of traffic. But however well experienced they were in consulting their own interest, and estimating the value of what they were to give and receive, we had no reason to complain of our bargains; an axe, worth only ten shillings, purchasing three spars, that would sell at Port Jackson for eight pounds. But if articles are to be estimated in proportion to their scarcity as well as their obvious utility, eight pounds worth of timber was of infinitely less value to them than an axe; so they were gainers by the exchange, while to us it was highly advantageous.

Tarra and Pomaree breakfasted with us in the cabin. The former observed a peculiarity in his manner of eating, which in this respect distinguished him from the other; his rice he took out of the plate with a spoon, and putting it out of the spoon into his hand, conveyed it to his mouth: and in drinking his tea, he put his hand before his lips, pouring the tea into the palm of it, and scrupulously abstaining from touching with his lips the vessels out of which he ate and drank. I attempted to make him give up this absurd practice, and told him how much more suitable it would be, if he would

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eat as we did; but he shook his head, and with an air of offended consequence, replied, that he was an areekee, and taboo taboo, but that Tupee and Pomaree, being only cookees, they might eat after our manner. This contemptuous designation was an insult to the consequence of Pomaree, who was handling his knife and fork with all the dexterity of an European; and willing to try his temper on the occasion, I laughed, and told him he was a cookee, at which his pride taking instant alarm, he ceased copying us, and began to imitate Tarra; but he was not invulnerable to the shafts of ridicule, and our jokes very soon made him desist from such foolery, and go on as before.

From the particular deference that was paid to Tarra, it would appear that he was exalted considerably above the other chiefs in this part of the Bay; but I could not exactly ascertain how far they acknowledged his authority. It appears to me, however, so far as my observations on the state of society among them, enable me to form an opinion upon the subject, that these people exist at present under a sort of feudal system, in some degree analogous to that which prevailed to a recent period in Scotland. The

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areekees may command the services of the inferior chiefs in time of war; but whether the latter hold their lands on this condition, I have not been able to ascertain. The part of New Zealand of which I treat at present, that is, from the Cavalles to the river Thames, is under the controul of three areekees, or head chiefs; namely, Kangeroa, on the north-west side of the Bay of Islands; Tarra, on the south-east side, extending as far as Bream Bay; and all the rest of the country, lying between that place and the river Thames, is subject to an areekee named Shoupah, whose jurisdiction is very considerable. But I am inclined to think, that in many instances, the power of these areekees over the petty chieftains, is little more than nominal; for though it is formally acknowledged, still the different tribes make war upon each other without consulting their respective areekees, and act in several other respects entirely independent of their authority. From this it appears probable, that the chiefs do not hold their lands as fiefs from the areekees, but that they merely agree in a voluntary recognition of their power, without being restricted by it any more than suits their caprice or expediency. The

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authority of many of the chiefs themselves is very extensive, having a numerous train of dependants, who pay the most devoted regard to their interests, and are ready with their lives upon any urgent occasion, to prove their fidelity.

We were informed that it was not a practice with the areekees to engage personally in war themselves, but that each had his general, or fighting-man, as Duaterra expressed it, who was most commonly one of his nearest relations. This commander-in-chief, according to the accounts we received, is a very important personage; he directs all warlike measures with unlimited controul, makes the necessary preparations for mustering the forces, and takes care to have them in a state of efficiency and readiness for any emergency. In battle he is always to be found at their head, where he directs their operations according to whatever system of discipline he chooses to adopt; and true to his post, he never once thinks of quitting it, but continues to display the most firm intrepidity, till either a total defeat or a complete victory decides the conflict. The areekees being thus by the prescriptive usage of the country, freed from any personal con-

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cerns in war, their time is generally occupied in agriculture, and in directing the political economy of their people. This is the case with Kangeroa, whose brother Shunghi acts as generalissimo of all his forces, and likewise with Tarra, who unites the character of a priest to that of a chief, and leaves the military management of his people to his brother Tupee, a man highly qualified for such a duty.

The power of the chiefs, from what I could learn, is in general absolute; the lives and properties of their tribes being entirely subject to their will: though I believe in some districts it is restrained by certain limitations, and controuled in a great measure by public opinion. Thus, at Rangehoo, many of the cookees have ground which they hold by an independent tenure, and which may be considered in every respect as entailed estates, securely vested in the possessors, and devolving to their descendants, the chief having no power to oust them at his pleasure. But the political economy of these people is a subject involved in so much obscurity, that without a perfect knowledge of their language, it is impossible to give an accurate or satisfactory account of it. Therefore it will be

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necessary for any European who would go into a detail upon it, to make up his mind to a long residence on the island, otherwise his observations must be casual, and his statements incomplete.

The areekees of the interior have probably more power than those on the sea coast; at least they were represented to us, as being attended with much more state and ceremonious distinction. They are carried, as we were informed, whenever they go abroad, on the shoulders of their attendants, in a sort of state litter, and receive many other distinguished marks of respect, no less indicative of their superior station. But, however vain these may be of the profound homage thus paid to them, the areekees and chiefs in this quarter are not surpassed by them in pride; for they look with the most consummate haughtiness upon all those who are inferior to them in rank, considering them only as abject creatures, who are born to be subservient to their absolute controul. But in justice to them I must observe, that they never treat their dependants with wanton cruelty, nor does their pride, upon any occasion, prompt them to acts of severity or oppression. They live among them in perfect harmony, and

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though they consider the disparity as interminable, they never suffer it to interfere with the complacencies of concord. They appeared extremely solicitous to display their consequence before us, and in their conversations they never failed to urge it in terms of the most absurd vanity. The behaviour of the common people was not at all reserved in the presence of their chiefs, and they spoke and acted with as much freedom as if they were absent. This seemed to me a strong proof of their not being harshly treated; and though they cultivate the land, dig up the fern-root, and prepare it for their masters, still their labour never appears the effect of constraint, and they work with so much good humour and cheerfulness, that it seems rather a pleasure to them than an obligation. The chiefs are much superior to the lower orders in the comeliness of their persons; but this may be accounted for by their exemption from labour, and their easy state of independence, in which neither the mind nor body undergoes any fatigue. All the males belonging to the family of the chief are styled rungateedas, and these have generally servants of their own to wait upon them. These intermarry with the female branches.

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but neither sex can form any matrimonial connection with the cookees. The chiefs and those rungateedas whose circumstances will admit of maintaining more than one wife, always indulge in a plurality. But as all the wives, except the head one, are generally obliged to be occupied in laborious employments, I am disposed to think that the chiefs take them rather for their manual services, than for the charms of their persons or the endearments of their society. Indeed they may be considered in no other light than as hard-working servants, having no honour assigned to them but that of distinguished drudgery.

While the vessel lay at this place taking in her cargo, we lost no time in exploring such parts of the country as we could conveniently have access to; and in the different excursions we made, the same continuity of hill and dale invariably presented itself; with the exception of one level tract of land, lying at a considerable distance to the westward. This was thickly wooded, and bounded by a range of mountains which were more picturesque than lofty.

Duaterra, considering that we might very probably be in want of provisions, visited us,

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together with Tenana, and brought with him several baskets of potatoes, which Mr. Marsden had purchased of Shunghi, when the ship lay at Rangehoo. Since we had last seen the friendly chief, who had now come to us with a supply, he had paid a visit to his farm, he told us, and got in some of his wheat, and was proceeding there again, when Shunghi urged him to come to the vessel. He also related to us a circumstance, which serves to shew in what a state of insecurity the people of this island must always live, and how much it behoves them to be perpetually on their guard against the attacks of each other. He said, that on his return from his farm, he was met by a chief who lived in the neighbourhood, attended by ten of his men, and having passed each other without any particular notice being taken on either side, Duaterra turned suddenly round, and saw the chief following him with his spear in his hand, and his mats thrown upon the ground. Suspecting his design, Duaterra instantly pulled out a brace of pistols, and presenting them at him, demanded his reasons for following him: the chief, intimidated by such formidable means of resistance, replied, in a very suppliant tone, that he was proceeding

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that way, and had no other object. This answer, however, did not satisfy the other, and he told him, if he attempted to advance another step, he would immediately shoot him dead; upon which the hostile chief thought it most prudent to retire. According to Duaterra's account, it does not appear that there existed previously any cause of enmity between them; but his countrymen, he observed, were jealous of him, in consequence of his close intimacy with us, and looked with envy on his acquisitions, because in general they exceeded their own, particularly in European articles. For this reason they would not hesitate, he believed, to destroy him, thinking him, as he expressed it, "too much of a gentleman." He gave a very bad character of Pomaree, whom he represented as extremely quarrelsome, and addicted to theft, stealing the property of his neighbours whenever he had an opportunity, and always involved in broils with some of the tribes. On a recent occasion he made an incursion, he said, into his territory, and murdered six of his people without any provocation. I asked if he had feasted on the bodies, and Duaterra replied, that he devoured them all; even the heads had not

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escaped his vengeful gluttony, having first placed them upon a stick, and roasted them in the fire.

He told us also, that George, the chief of Wangeroa, had been heard to say, that he intended behaving in a friendly manner to our vessel, in case she should arrive in his harbour, hoping that our favourable reports of him would induce other European ships to put in there likewise; but that he was fully determined to cut off the next that should come after our departure. Unwilling as I am to doubt the veracity of Duaterra, whom I never yet detected in a falsehood, and bad as the opinion is which I entertain of George, still I cannot lend my positive belief to this statement. I have frequently observed a great propensity in the chiefs to calumniate each other; and though I will not say that Duaterra actually invented this story to confirm our prejudices against his rival, I think it very likely, at the same time, that from whatever source it originated, he was extremely glad of having such a one for our information. Many of the chiefs entertain towards each other, not only a spirit of envy, but even of rancorous malignity; and to converse with one of them, it would be

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supposed, that all except the individual himself were the most abandoned and faithless miscreants, while, from another, this person receives the same character, and is ranked with the most opprobrious of those whom he inveighed against. Tarra positively assured us, that Tippahee, between whose tribe and his own there existed a perpetual strife for superiority, had been a principal actor in cutting off the hapless crew of the Boyd; though George, the head perpetrator of that shocking deed, and who could have no motive in deceiving us, but on the contrary, would be glad to exculpate himself, by throwing the blame on Tippahee, or any other chief, declared to us most unequivocally, that he had had no concern in it whatever.

It is to be regretted that this vile spirit of calumny should prevail among the chiefs; and I trust the missionaries will strenuously exert themselves to cure them of a vice which is so base and detestable. There can be no doubt, in my opinion, but that the assertion thus made by Tarra was dictated by malevolence; and I was sorry to find a chief, of whom in other respects I thought very favourably, capable of practising the same slanderous falsehood as the

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others. Tippahee had nearly fallen a victim 1 to the vengeance excited against him by this malignant report, and his death was ultimately occasioned by its remote consequences, while it brought immediate destruction on a great number of his people. Four or five of our whalers happening to enter the Bay of Islands, shortly after the cutting off

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of the Boyd, landed their crews on a small island, where Tippahee and his tribe resided; being previously informed by Tarra, that to them alone was the massacre to be attributed: and fired with impatience for revenge, they commenced an indiscriminate slaughter of the guiltless inhabitants, sparing neither age nor sex; burning their houses, and destroying their plantations. Tippahee himself escaped with his life, after having received some severe wounds; but the havoc made among his people must be truly afflicting to the friends of innocence and humanity. I must here join with Mr. Marsden in hoping that the Europeans, when they inflicted this terrible vengeance on these poor natives, were unconscious that they had mistaken the objects of it; revenge at any time cannot be reconciled to the meek forbearance which Christians ought to practise, though human nature will always imperiously demand it: but when the innocent are made with horrid purpose to suffer unnecessarily for the guilty, it then becomes no less atrocious than deplorable. I trust, however, that Englishmen, as they are never wantonly cruel, were not so in the present instance; and that while they imbrued their hands in the blood of

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these harmless creatures, they acted under the erroneous impression, that theirs were stained with that of our people.

We were visited on Thursday, January 5th, by a tribe who inhabit the shores of Bream Bay. The canoe in which they came was very handsome, the head and stern being curiously ornamented with rich carving, and embellished with the feathers of the emu, parrots, and other birds. The bottom part of the canoe was made out of one tree excavated to the necessary length; and the sides were raised by planks, making the depth about two feet. The planks were fastened to the sides of the bottom part with strong cord, holes being bored above and below, about six inches apart, and the intermediate space filled in with the down of the bull-rush, which was no bad substitute for caulking. I estimated the length of the canoe at thirty feet, and the breadth was four feet six inches between the gunwales. All their canoes are generally built on the same plan, differing only in dimensions and certain adventitious embellishments, such as those mentioned above, which vary in proportion to the taste or wealth of the owners.

In this canoe there were three chiefs,

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Kotaheega from Bream Bay, and the other two, whose names were Homarree and Puttuti, from Thiomi, a place about twenty miles in the interior. Puttuti represented himself as the intimate friend of Shunghi, at whose request, he said, he paid us this visit. They appeared to like very well their reception on board; and taking them into the cabin, we shewed them in Cook's Voyages the drawings of their hippahs, canoes, and implements of war, with all of which they seemed much pleased, and readily distinguished each representation by its proper name. With the drawing of the war-canoe they were particularly delighted, and asked me in the full exultation of their hearts, if King George the nuee nuee areekee 2 had seen it. They partook with a keen appetite of the food we set before them, but they convinced us they were never accustomed to any strong beverage; for while one of them was drinking a little rum, the tears started in his eyes, and he was obliged to spit it out, declaring that it was impossible for him to swallow it. A boy who accompanied them, excited our disgust, by performing in the cabin, without any ceremony, one of the offensive offices of nature,

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while we were at dinner, for which he was immediately turned out.

In the evening our new guests amused us with singing and dancing, enjoying the visit with their natural hilarity. They had a singular movement in one of their dances that I had not observed before, and which to me appeared both ungraceful and absurd. Repeating the words tihu tihu several times, they rubbed their hips incessantly with the palms of their hands, while with their feet they kept beating exact time to the words they pronounced. One of them had suspended from his neck a dollar that was part of the spoil of the unfortunate Boyd; and another carried a piece of iron, that with unwearied perseverance and hard labour, he had beaten into the shape of a sword. This he kept wrapped up in a piece of cloth, which served him for a scabbard; and he preserved it as carefully as if it were an inestimable treasure. Kotaheega was extremely desirous that we should visit Shoupah, his superior chief, whom he described as a powerful areekee at the river Thames.

The morning of the 6th brought us an immense number of the natives, who came from the districts bordering on the Wyemattee

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and Cowa-cowa, to traffic with the vessel. Our new friends, the three chiefs, took leave of us at an early hour to proceed to their respective places of abode; but meeting with so many of their countrymen coming in their canoes to the ship, they were induced to alter their resolution, and returned in company with them. We were now completely surrounded with busy traders, and the curiosities they offered us we were very willing to purchase, for we found them far less exorbitant in their demands than the people of Rangehoo, who, from a more frequent intercourse with our ships, had learned to set a high value on their different commodities. A brisk trade was therefore carried on, and the business of barter proceeded very rapidly. While on this subject, I cannot omit an instance of fair dealing in one of these people, which was highly creditable to his punctuality and good principles. The individual to whom I allude, was standing up in one of the outside canoes, displaying for sale a very handsome war-mat; I called out to him that I would give him a tokee for it, to which he assented; but not having one upon deck at the time, I went into the cabin to get one out of my chest. While I

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was here delayed in searching for it, one of our party in the mean time, not aware of the bargain I had concluded, shewed the man a large tokee, and wished him to hand up the mat; but he remained true to his engagement, and gave him to understand that it was already sold. As he had never seen me before, and did not know my name, he was at a loss to signify who it was that had purchased it; and, as an expedient, he put his fingers before his eyes to represent my spectacles, by which he succeeded in making it instantly appear to the other that I was the person. Though the mat was a curiosity very well worth the possessing, still it gave me much greater pleasure to find the man had so great a regard for his word, than that I was not disappointed in obtaining it.

The market being over, the canoes took their departure, while Mr. Marsden and myself, proceeding in the boat to the heads of some of the small coves, we looked about in search of resin, which is brought down by the streams from various parts of the interior. By the accounts of the natives, it is said to be frequently seen floating on the water in considerable masses, but we could perceive none of it, though we examined the streams

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very carefully. The pine, called by the natives cowree, abounds with resin; and I believe is the only tree of that species in the island that has any.

Landing at the foot of a small but steep hill, and climbing to the top of it, we fell in with two huts, the inhabitants of which, contrary to what we had yet experienced, (except at the Cavalles) fled at our approach. We had not been long here, when a young man came out of the woods, and with his spear in his hand advanced towards us, without betraying the least symptoms of alarm. Observing at the same moment a woman and some children running over the hills quite panic-struck at the sight of us, we requested him to call them back, to which he readily consented; when the woman, who happened to be his own mother, ventured to return; but no persuasions could prevail upon the children to come near us, so terrified were they with the idea that we intended to destroy them. This was the first instance we met with of any timidity in the children; for in all the other places we had visited, so far were they from being alarmed by the packaha, that they ran up to us with the most familiar confidence. The young man

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appeared very anxious to receive from us some account of a brother of his, who, he informed us, had left his family in the course of the preceding year, and entered as a sailor on board one of our vessels. Upon mentioning his name, and that of the Captain of the ship, Mr. Marsden immediately recollected having had him to his house; and explaining the circumstance to his mother, who had till then ceased to believe that her son was in existence, the poor creature burst into tears; and while we witnessed her joy, the effect was irresistible, and our feelings could not possibly remain unsubdued.

As we were returning to the boat, we met with a singular tree, growing close to the shore, the wood of which is used by the natives as floats for their nets. Its foliage is of a dark green, and the leaf much broader than that of the fig-tree. The height it grows to is inconsiderable, and the stem and branches are composed of concentric circles of pith divided by a woody substance of about a line in thickness. The trunk consists of long fibres, of which the natives make their strongest fishing lines; and our Otaheitan sailor informed us, that this tree was very common in his country, and it supplied the materials

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from which the people there manufactured their cloth. Besides this tree, we observed another very large and beautiful one, the wood of which has a sweet and odoriferous smell, and might be converted to many useful purposes. While we were still on our return, we passed a large canoe loaded with fern-root, going towards Wycaddie, a considerable place in the interior; and we remarked some immense nets hanging upon poles along the shore; but we could discover no traces of inhabitants near them, and the place appeared entirely abandoned. The natives most probably had all gone into the interior, for the purpose of cultivating their potatoes. No people can be more provident and industrious than the New Zealanders in supplying themselves with stores of provisions; and this laudable foresight forms a pleasing contrast to the indolent heedlessness of the natives of New Holland, who never think of providing for their future wants, the effects of which they bear with the same indifference that disinclines them to adopt a remedy.

The artful Pomaree afforded an instance of his calculating selfishness during our absence from the ship. This wily chief had

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cast a longing eye upon a chisel belonging; to one of the missionaries, and to obtain it he 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 obliging kindness. But Pomaree had no idea of any such disinterested liberality, and so 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 any thing 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. I should advise one invariable rule

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to be observed in all commercial transactions with these people, viz. always to bargain with them for whatever they bring you, and to let the terms of the agreement be well understood, without making the slightest subsequent deviation. Thus, knowing what they are to expect, they will ask no more; but if the terms are not stipulated, they will enhance their commodities considerably above their real value, and be always dissatisfied with a fair remuneration. Yet, when the bargain is once settled, they never question whether it will be profitable or otherwise to them, but abide by it with the strictest punctuality; and even though it may be decidedly against their interest.

We found Pomaree 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 shewed 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

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eyes would still feast themselves on so invaluable an acquisition. He was extremely obnoxious to all the other chiefs, and if their assertions might be relied upon, he deserved to be held, both by them and every body else, in the utmost abhorrence; but these rivals, as has been shewn, are generally inclined to traduce each other, and their testimony should therefore be always received with caution. This man, though subordinate to Tarra, paid very little deference to that venerable areekee; not unfrequently setting his authority at defiance, and displaying, 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 putrifaction 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 Mr. Marsden put some questions to Pomaree one day

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about the plan he pursued in this barbarous 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 theory, 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 shew 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 Mr. Marsden, whose motive for questioning him on the subject was, not to discover the nature of a practice so revolting to humanity, but to develope more fully the character of the individual, told him he must fight no more, and desired him, in positive terms, never to

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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 do it with impunity. Such is the force of avarice even among the wildest barbarians, and such its baneful influence over their benighted minds. 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.