1824 - Cruise, R. Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand [2nd ed.][Capper 1974] - Notes

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NOTES.

Note 1. Page 8.

Said it was tabbooed.

Feb. 16th. We found this custom universal.

When a native is about to make a bargain, he examines the article offered to him by the European, an axe, for instance, with great attention and shrewdness; if he find it without flaw, and agreeable to his fancy, he pulls a thread out of his mat, which he ties round it, remarking, at the same time, that he has "tabbooed it." He then returns it to the owner, until such time as he has completed his contract.

Note 2. Page 12.

How much he disliked it.

Feb. 20th. Their universal drink is water; as a matter of politeness, they may be induced to taste wine or grog, but it is with reluctance.

George of Wangarooa was the only exception we met with; but his habits had been vitiated during his service in one of our ships. He really liked

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spirits; a very small quantity made him drunk, and when in that state he was outrageous.

Note 3. Page 13.

Cut the hair.

Feb. 20th. The cutting of the hair is associated with so strange a superstition, that for some days after it the persons are removed from the society of their families, and are described during the time to be "tabbooed" or consecrated. The hair is cut with a shell, and quite close at the top of the head; behind, it is left long. They attached a high value to some combs and scissars which we distributed among them.

Note 4. Page 28.

The infant had light hair.

Feb. 28th. We saw some other children as fair as Tetoro's, and a few grown-up persons with red and sandy hair.

Note 5. Page 42.

A most precarious tenure.

March 2d. At the time that Perehico's son died in New South Wales there were two or three cookee boys, or inferior New Zealanders, at Mr. Marsden's establishment, and it required the interposition of his authority, distant as the parties were from their

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own country, to prevent their being sacrificed by the friends of the deceased young chief, to appease his departed spirit.

Note 6. Page 44.

Being barefooted.

March 3. Such is the hardness of their feet that they run over the sharpest rocks and the most rugged ground without the slightest inconvenience. When going through the woods they use no protection against the numerous thorns and brambles, which we found a serious annoyance and impediment; and those to whom we gave shoes were so crippled in them that they could scarcely walk.

Note 7. Page 54.

Twenty thousand acres.

March 9th. This immense tract of country was purchased by the missionaries from Shungie for forty axes, and a deed was executed by the parties. When the missionaries had signed it, Shungie and some of his principal chiefs drew the amoco, or the pattern according to which their faces were tattooed, upon the paper.

The word tattooing has been used in this journal because its meaning is generally understood; but the lines upon the faces and persons of the New Zealanders are universally designated amoco.

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Some peculiarity in the figure of the amoco distinguishes the members of every tribe; and a gentleman of the Dromedary, who had a coat of arms engraved upon his seal, was often asked if it was the amoco of his tribe.

Note 8. Page 54.

Forbearance and humiliation.

March 9th. After the establishment of the missionaries at New Zealand, Mr. Hall, finding the ground at Tippoona too hilly for agriculture, was induced to remove with his family to the flat and arable banks of the Wytangy, where he lived unmolested, for a considerable time, unconscious of having given the natives the slightest offence.

One day he observed a number of strangers lurking about his house; but their appearance and manner were so far from hostile, that when they observed him endeavouring to launch his boat they came down to the beach, and voluntarily gave him their assistance.

The very same people, in the evening, suddenly rushed into his house; knocked him and his wife down; plundered him of every thing they could lay hold of; and, when he had sufficiently recovered his senses to see the extent of his calamity, his infant, and only child, was missing.

A native girl was nursing it at the time the house was attacked, and, alarmed for the safety of her charge, she covered it with her mat, and crossing

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the Wytangy in a canoe, concealed herself in the woods. At the end of two days, when every thing was quiet, she brought back the child in perfect safety. She still lives with Mr. Hall; and when Europeans visit his house, they generally testify their sense of her fidelity by making her some trifling present.

Note 9. Page 76.

Where it still lies.

March 29th. "We mentioned in our last that Captain Chance had received, at New Zealand, a particular account from an Otaheitean of the loss of the above vessel [the Boyd]; which we premise, by stating upon the foregoing authority, that when the Boyd went from hence she had on board four or five New Zealanders, who made part of her crew. These people were displeased at their treatment on the passage, and determined on revenge. On their arrival, they communicated their complaints to their friends and relatives, who were of the Wangarooa party, and frequently at war with Tippahee and his subjects; and the design of taking the ship was formed in consequence. It being Captain Thompson's intention to take in a quantity of spars, he applied to the natives for assistance in procuring them, which they promised; but in order to entice him on shore, artfully objected to act until he should accompany them to point out such as he might best approve. The

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captain was thereby prevailed on to leave the vessel, accompanied by his chief officer, with three boats manned, to get the spars on board. The natives, who had arrived in the ship, being of the party, which was accompanied by a number of others in their canoes, the boats were conducted to a river, on entering which they were out of sight of the ship; and after proceeding some distance up, Captain Thompson was invited to land, and mark the spars he wanted. The boats landed accordingly, the tide being then beginning to ebb, and the crews followed to assist in the work. The guides led the party through various parts of the wood that were least likely to answer the desired end, thus delaying the premeditated attack until the boats should be left by the effluence of the tide sufficiently high to prevent an escape, which part of the horrible plan accomplished, they became insolent and rude, ironically pointing at decayed fragments, and enquiring of Captain Thompson whether they would suit his purpose or not. The natives belonging to the ship then first threw off the mask, and in opprobrious terms upbraided Captain Thompson with their maltreatment, informing him at the same time that he should have no spars there but what he could procure himself. The captain appeared careless of the disappointment, and with his people turned towards the boats, at which instant they were assaulted with clubs and axes, which the assailants had till then concealed under their dresses; and although the boats' crews had several muskets, yet so impetuous

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was the attack that every man was prostrated before one could be used.

"Captain Thompson and his unfortunate men were all murdered on the spot, and their bodies were afterwards devoured by the murderers, who, clothing themselves with their apparel, launched the boats at dusk on the same evening, and proceeded towards the ship, which they had determined also to attack. It being very dark before they reached her, and no suspicion being entertained of what had happened, the second officer hailed the boats, and was answered by the villains who had occasioned the disaster, that the captain having chosen to remain on shore that night for the purpose of viewing the country, had ordered them to take on board such spars as had already been procured; which account readily obtained belief, and the officer was knocked down and killed by those who first ascended the ship's side. All the seamen of the watch were in like manner surprised and murdered. Some of the assassins then went down to the cabin door, and asked the passengers and others to go on deck to see the spars, and a female passenger, obeying the summons, was killed on the cabin-ladder. The noise occasioned by her fall alarmed the people that were in bed, who, running on deck in disorder, were all killed as they went up, except four or five, who ran up the shrouds, and remained in the rigging the rest of the night.

"The next morning Tippahee appeared alongside in a canoe, and was much offended at what had

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happened; but was not permitted to interfere, or to remain near the ship. The unfortunate men in the rigging called to him, and implored his protection; of which he assured them, if they could make their way to his canoe. This they effected at every hazard, and were by the old king landed on the nearest point, though closely pursued. The pursuit was continued on shore; they were all overtaken, and Tippahee was forcibly held while the murder of the unhappy fugitives was perpetrated. A female passenger and two children, who were afterwards found in the cabin, were spared from the massacre, and taken on shore to a hut, in which situation Mr. Berry and Captain Patterson, of the City of Edinburgh, found them when they rescued them. Tippahee was afterwards permitted by the Wangarooans to take three boat-loads of any property he chose out of the ship, fire-arms and gunpowder excepted; and the bulk they divided among themselves. The salt provisions, flour, and spirits, they threw overboard, as unpalatable; the carriage-guns they also threw overboard, considering them useless: the muskets they prized very much; and one of the savages, in his eagerness to try one, stove in the head of a barrel of gunpowder, and filling the pan of the piece, snapped it directly over the cask, the explosion of which killed five native women, and eight or nine men, and set part of the ship on fire.

"From the foregoing detail it appears that neither Tippahee nor his son Wytye had any share in the barbarous acts committed by those sanguinary mis-

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creants, but that the old chief had, on the contrary, endeavoured to preserve the lives of several of the crew; and if we consider the order in which the incidents are narrated, we must at least conclude this to be the most probable account received of the doleful event before us; and the more especially so, as it is the report of an Otaheitean, who was on the spot at the time, and who, as an alien, not being interested on the part either of the Bay of Islands or of the Wangarooans, may still more be entitled to credit. In the principal facts, alas! all accounts unhappily coincide; and while we have to deplore the calamity, we cannot forbear expressing a hope that the commanders and crews of vessels traversing those seas will temper friendship and humanity towards the uncivilised islanders with prudence and caution, and be ever guarded against surprise and treachery, to which numbers of our countrymen have become victims. " -- Sydney Gazette, September 1st, 1810.

This account appears very correct, with the exception of George's still positively declaring that Captain Thompson twice inflicted corporal punishment upon him.

The thick and swampy wood in which the people were murdered is on the left bank of the river Kameemy, and the place where their bodies were devoured is close by, and was often pointed out to us.

Tippahee's presence at the transaction was accidental: the object of his visit at the time was to trade for dried fish; and to this day the tribes of the Bay of Islands come to Wangarooa for the same purpose.

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The dollars found in the Boyd were at first worn round the necks of the natives as an ornament, but they afterwards sold them for fish-hooks to the crews of ships lying at the Bay of Islands. A silver teaspoon, with the initials of Captain Thompson's name, was purchased for a trifle by one of the people of the Dromedary when we lay at Wangarooa.

Note 10. Page 80.

Heromai.

March 29th. Heromai, or "Come hither," is the salutation of peace and friendship. Where this word is not pronounced on the approach of the stranger the feelings of the people are not favourable towards him.

Note 11. Page 98.

The seine was hauled.

April 11th. Our seine, though of the same size with others served out to king's ships, was contemptible when compared with those of the New Zealanders. Theirs are made of a very strong kind of weed: they are immensely large; and they are hauled remarkably slow, but with great success.

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Note 12. Page 120.

A native of Bengal.

May 3d. This man had left an East Indiaman that touched at the Bay of Islands ten years before, and married a woman of the tribe subject to Tekokee, whom he considered his chief.

Though quite a New Zealander in his dress and habits, his diminutive person and dark complexion made him appear to great disadvantage among the handsome and athletic people among whom he had settled. He remembered scarcely a word of English, but as well as he was able to make himself understood, he frequently cautioned the carpenter during the tumult round the tent, "not to appear alarmed." The same advice has frequently been given to us by the missionaries. They found that the firm and undaunted demeanour of a white man will keep many natives at bay, but if he once shows symptoms of fear, or attempts to retreat, he is no longer in safety.

Note 13. Page 159.

Degenerated turnips.

June 23d. The excellent plants left by Captain Cook, viz. cabbages, turnips, parsnips, carrots, &c. &c. are still numerous, but very much degenerated; and a great part of the country is overrun with cow-

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itch, which the natives gave Marion the credit of having left among them. Water-melons and peas were raised while we were in the country, with great success, and the people promised to save the seeds and sow them again. The missionaries have got some peach-trees that bear very well, and an acorn and a seed of the orange was sown by a gentleman of the ship near Pomarree's village, and the place rigidly tabbooed by the inhabitants. The orange-plant was over ground before the Dromedary left New Zealand.

Note 14. Page 201.

Emu-feathered mat.

August 21st. The emu is found in New Zealand, though we were never fortunate enough to meet with one. The natives go out after dusk, with lights, which attract their attention, and they kill them with dogs. Their feathers are black, smaller and more delicate than the emu of New Holland, and a mat ornamented with them is the most costly dress a chief can wear.

Note 1. 5. Page 203.

A cat.

This cat must have come from the shipping at the Bay of Islands or from the Coromandel. There are no native cats at New Zealand.

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Note 16. Page 222.

Enacky's child.

Enacky, it appears, was afterwards killed by Pomarre; and the head of the ill-fated chief was exhibited in the Bay of Islands not long after we left it.

Note 17. Page 230.

If they might not now kill their prisoner.

Justice, among the New Zealanders, is administered in a summary manner; and those who had been at Port Jackson always reprobated in the strongest terms the cold and deliberate forms in which the white men carried the sentences of their laws into execution. Corporal punishment they considered as a refinement upon cruelty, and their universal argument was, "If a man steals, kill him, and he cannot steal again: and if he is to be killed, knock him on the head the moment he commits the crime; but do not keep him a week to brood over the fate that awaits him."

Note 18. Page 269.

In the shape of a lizard.

This curious hypothesis was accidentally discovered by one of the gentlemen, who, having found a lizard,

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carried it to a native woman to ask her the name of it. She shrunk from him in a state of terror that exceeded description, and conjured him not to approach her, as it was in the shape of the animal he held in his hand that the Atua was wont to take possession of the dying, and to devour their bowels.

Note 19. Page 273.

Sensual animal gratification.

The Coromandel store-ship remained longer at New Zealand than we did; and, on her return home, she put into Mercury Bay, on the 2d of August, 1821. While she was at anchor, the natives murdered one of their prisoners, and devoured part of the body. The remainder they brought alongside, and distributed in small pieces to such persons in the ship as chose to receive them; while they, in their canoes, ate the rest. There are many soldiers, now in the 84th regiment, who were present at this horrid spectacle. They describe the flesh as being red, and not sufficiently cooked; and their attention was particularly drawn to the greedy manner in which an islander appeared to suck the marrow from the thigh-bone of the unfortunate man who had been sacrificed, to gratify the detestable appetites of this most savage people.

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Note 20. Page 278.

Are marked as sacred by the natives.

Those sacred places where people die, and those where their remains are deposited, are marked in the same way. A post painted red is driven into the ground, and a human face is rudely carved upon it.

Note 21. Page 296.

State of the weather.

Month.	Day.	Therm.
Feb.	27	69[degrees];
March	1	69
	2	69
	3	68	Fine.
	4	68	Do.
	5	68	Do.
		6	71	Do.
	7	70	Gales at E. N. E., with rain.
	8	69	Do.
	9		Stormy.
	10		Raining and blowing.
		74	Dark and rainy.
	12	74	Fine.
	13	74	Do.
	14	67	Dark weather.
	15	68	Gales at S. E., with rain.
	16	70	Do.
	17	69	Fine.
	18	71	Do.

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	Month.	Day.	Therm.
	March	19	71[degrees];	Fine.
		20	68	Do.
		21	71	Do.
		22	67	Do.
		23	65	Do.
		24	68	Do.
		25	67	Do.
		26	70	Do.
		27	75	Moderate.
		28	67	Showery.
		29	66	Fine.
		30	69	Do. E. N. E.
		31	69	Do.
	April	1	69	Do.
		2	68	Do.
		3	69	Do.
		4	78	Hazy. E.
		5	69	Stormy at S. W.
		6	69	Showery.
		7	69	Fine.
		8	62	Do.
		9	62	Do.
		10	62	Do.
		11	65	Do.
		12	63	Do.
		13	61	Showery.
		14	60	Fine.
		15	60	Do.
		16	62	Do.
		17	57	Do.
		18	58	Do.
		19	69	Do.
		20	58	Do.
		21	68	Heavy rain.
		22	61	Fine.
		23	66	Showery.
		24	67	Showery and squally.

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Month.	Day.	Therm.
April	25	63[degrees];	Showery and squally.
	26	61	Fine.
	27	61	Stormy and heavy squalls.
	28	64	Showery.
	29	61	Do.
	30	60	Do.
May	1	60	Do.
	2	60	Do.
	3	62	Do.
	4	60	Do.
	5	65	Rainy.
	6	60	Fine.
	7	60	Do.
	8	52	Do.
	9	52	Do.
	10	58	Do.
	11	58	Do.
	12	54	Do.
	13	65	Do.
	14	69	Do.
	15	61	Do.
	16	58	Hazy and showery.
	17	62	Fine.
	18	64	Hazy and squally.
	19	62	Fine.
	20	65	Hazy and rainy.
	21	60	Fine.
	22	54	Do.
	23	54	Showery.
	24	55	Fine.
	25	50	Do.
	26	68	Do.
	27	54	Do.
	28	55	Do.
	29	54	Do.
	30	56	Do.

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Month.	Day. 1	Therm.
May	31	56[degrees];	Fine.
June	1	65	Rainy, and blowing at N. E.
	2	64	Hazy.
	3	64	Foggy, and heavy rain.
	4	64	Hazy.
	5	60	Fine.
	6	56	Do.
	7	55	Do.
	8	60	Do.
	9	65	Showery.
	10	52	Fine.
	11	52	Do.
	12	50	Showery, and heavy squalls.
	13	58	Do.
	14	58	Fine.
	15	55	Squally, with rain.
	16	63	Fine.
	17	53	Showery, and squally.
	18	51	Heavy squalls, and rain.
	19	50	Fine.
	20	54	Do.
	21	53	Do.
	22	54	Hazy.
	23	52	Fine.
	24	52	Hazy.
	25		Heavy rain.
	26		Hazy.
	27	58	Heavy rain.
	28	60	Fine.
	29	60	Foggy, with rain.
	30	60	Do.
July	1	50	Fine.
	2	42	Do.
	3	40	Do.
	4	40	Do.
	5	59	Do.

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Month.	Day.	Therm.
July	6	50[degrees];	Squally.
	7	50	Do.
	8	58	Heavy rain.
	9	51	Do.
	10	60	Do.
	11	58	Showery.
	12	62	Fine.
	13	60	Do.
	14	58	Showery.
	15	50	Heavy squalls.
	16	58	Showery.
	17	50	Fine.
	18	50	Showery.
	19	52	Do.
	20	50	Do.
	21	58	Fine.
	22	48	Do.
	23	50	Do.
	24	50	Showery and squally.
	25	58	Heavy squalls at N. E.
	26	56	Fine.
	27	48	Squally at N. E.
	28	58	Do.
	29		Do.
	30	60	Showery. N. W.
	31		Do.
Aug.	1	60	Fine.
D	2	56	Do.
	3	60	Heavy squalls. N. W.
	4	58	Rainy.
	5	60	Showery.
	6	60	Squally at S. W.
	7	58	Do.
	8	54	Do.
	9	48	Fine.
	10	56	Do.

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Month.	Day.	Therm.
Aug.	11	56[degrees];	Fine.
	12	58	Do.
	13	58	Showery. S. W.
	14	58	Fine.
	15	58	Strong gales. N. E.
	16	58	Do.
	17	58	Do. S. S. E.
	18		Moderate. W.
	19		Fine.
	20		Do.
	21		Do.
	22		Do.
	23		Do.
	24		Do.
	25		Do.
	26		Rainy, fresh breezes. N. E.
	27		Fine.
	28		Squally, with rain.
	29		Rainy. W. S. W.
	30		Strong gales.
	31		Fine. N. N. W.
Sept	1		Heavy squalls.
	2		Showery.
	3		Fine. S. S. E.
	4		Do.
	5		Do.
	6		Do.
	7		Showery. N. W.
	8		Cloudy. N. E. by E.
	9		Strong gales at N. E.
	10		Fine. S.
	11		Do.
	12	59	Do.
	13	60	Do.
	14	58	Squally.
	15	58	Strong gales.

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	Month.	Day.	Therm.
	Sept.	16	64[degrees];	Fine.
		17	64	Do.
		18	60	Do.
		19	60	Do.
		20	62	Hazy.
		21	60	Fine.
		22	60	Do.
		23	60	Do.
		24	62	Cloudy.
		25	56	Fine.
		26	60	Showery and squally.
		27	58	Fine, strong breezes at S.
		28	58	Do.
		29	54	Showery.
		30	54	Fine.
	Oct.	1	56	Do.
		2	62	Strong gales. N. W.
		3	56	Cloudy.
		4	51	Do.
		5	54	Squally.
		6	59	Fine.
		7	60	Do.
		8	62	Rainy.
		9	64	Fine.
		10	62	Showery.
		11	64	Fine.
		12	60	Rainy.
		13	63	Fine.
		14	62	Do.
		15	62	Do.
		16	56	Do.
		17	64	Do.
		18	62	Do.
		19	58	Do. S. W.
		20	60	Do.
		21	56	Hazy.

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Month.	Day.	Therm.
Oct.	22	66[degrees];	Fine.
	23	64	Do.
	24.	68	Do.
	25 26	66 62	Do. Squally from S. W.
	27	56	Fine.
	28	56	Strong breezes. S.
	29	56	Cloudy.
	30	62	Fine.
	31	64	Do.
Nov.	1	58	Hazy.
	2	60	Fine.
	8 4	64 63	Cloudy. Hazy, with rain.
	5	64	Showery.
	6	60	Fine.
	7	60	Do.
	8	60	Squally.
	9	60	Fine.
	10	60	Fine, strong breezes at N. E.
	11	62	Do.
	12	62	Do.
	13	62	Do.
	14	60	Do.
	15 16	62 64	Rainy. Heavy squalls. N. E.
	17	64	Do.
	18	66	Showery. N. W.
	19	66	Do.
	20	64	Foggy.
	21		Do.
	22	62	Rainy.
	23	69	Do.
	24	11	Showery.
	25	60	Fine.
	26	62	Do.

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Month.	Day.	Therm.
Nov.	27	69[degrees];	Fine.
	28	66	Do.
		29	60	Do.
		30	68	Hazy.
	Dec.	1	64	Rainy. N. E.
		2	66	Strong gales. S. W.
		3	62	Heavy squalls.
		4	62	Strong gales from W.
		5	66	Fine.

THE END.