1872 - Ward, R. Life among the Maories of New Zealand - CHAPTER II. THE COUNTRY.

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CHAPTER II.

TWO large islands, called the North Island and the Middle Island, separated by Cook's Strait; and a small one, called Stewart's Island, separated from the Middle Island by Foveaux Strait, compose the country of New Zealand. Scores of islets are found within a few miles of the coast. Some of these are covered with trees, and are occasionally inhabited by Sawyers. From others a considerable quantity of copper has been exported; but many of them are only barren rocks, on which numerous sea birds find a home.

Lying between the parallels of thirty-four and forty-eight degrees of south latitude, and between one hundred and sixty-six and one hundred and seventy-nine degrees of east longitude, its situation is favourable for commerce. The important colonies of Australia and Tasmania lie within about a week's sail from any of its ports, and several interesting groups of the South Sea Islands may be reached in little more than the same time. As the country extends nearly a thousand miles from north to south, it embraces a considerable variety of climate. In the Auckland province, snow is perhaps never seen--mountains excepted; certainly it never falls

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at the North Cape; but in the provinces of Otago and Southland it is very common, and sometimes forms avalanches, which roll down the sides of mountains with great force, and bury unconscious sleepers under a mass which forms their grave.

A few hundred miles eastward of New Zealand, and under its government, are a cluster of islands known as the Chatham Islands, which were inhabited by a people inferior to the Maori race. "They went naked, and their houses, if they might be called such, were made with a few poles set up together, over a circular pit two or three feet deep, with toe-toe or sods on the outside, thus forming a cone-shaped hut; in these miserable places they sat huddled together, with their children squatting between their legs for warmth. It is remarkable that this miserable people could make canoes in a most ingenious way, of a large kind of broad-leaved seaweed, which they converted into air tubes, by making a small orifice through the outer skin and then inflating it, when one skin separated from the other; this being done the hole soon closed, and they were placed in the sun to dry, and always afterwards retained their form. A light framework of flax stalks was then made, with a double keel, and the air tubes were lashed in parallel rows, and the interstices filled with moss; so that the whole was watertight, and so buoyant that it could not sink--thus forming a regular lifeboat. The air tubes thus dried were always used as jars, to contain water or oil, and also their reserves of potted birds for winter use." 1

Nearly forty years ago a number of adventurous Maories emigrated from New Zealand to the Chatham

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Islands, killed many of the aborigines, and made slaves of the remainder. These poor creatures, called Moriories, are still held in slavery by their Maori conquerors; but within the last few years their circumstances have been substantially improved. The islands were visited by a gentleman belonging to the Wellington Provincial Government in 1861, from whose report the following facts have been gathered. The population then consisted of only one hundred and sixty aborigines, four hundred and thirty Maories, seventeen half-castes, and a few Europeans. There are horses, cattle, and sheep, which with proper care would soon become numerous. A large quantity of potatoes has been exported, and grain crops ought to be raised in abundance. Fruit trees and garden vegetables thrive well. It has been for some time a victualling place for the south-sea whaling ships, and has been recommended as suitable for a penal settlement.

The Chatham Islands have recently received an unlooked-for accession to their inhabitants. The prisoners of war taken on the East Coast of New Zealand, have been transported thither. This is of course a cheaper plan than keeping them on board a hulk in the New Zealand harbours, and it is thought that they are not so likely now to effect their escape, but this is of course uncertain. 2 As their wives and children are with them they

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may possibly stay, and as they will find abundant provisions with their usual industry, the punishment may possibly be easily borne. But what effects the Pai Marire faith may have upon the people there we do not know. The writer saw a number of men and women from the Chatham Islands in Taranaki in 1865, claimants of some of the confiscated land. Their healthy appearance, European clothing, orderly conduct, and respectable conversation, made a decided impression in their favour; and give us hope that the Maories lately transported thither will not deteriorate. They met with a hearty welcome; the fact that they had faced the Pakeha in the battle field would not lessen their influence; while their defeat would probably be attributed to the superior equipment of the white man. We have made this digression supposing that the information given would be interesting, and will now return to our proper subject.

New Zealand possesses a few good harbours, in which a large fleet might ride in safety; there are others of less value on account of the bar at their entrance, requiring much caution in reference both to the tide and to the wind. Much might be done to remedy the defects of our harbours, and lessen the number of wrecks which take place. The most melancholy loss of this kind occurred on the 7th of February, 1863, when H.M. Steam Corvette Orpheus, 21 guns, 1,700 tons, and 400 horse power--having on board Commodore Burnett, with 259 officers and men--was wrecked in an attempt to enter the Manakau in the middle of the day, and with smooth water. The cause of the terrible disaster lay in mistaking the proper channel. Commodore Burnett and 189 other persons, including 22 officers, were drowned; and within a few hours from the time when

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the ship struck, nothing remained as a memorial of the spot where so many souls were hurried into the eternal world.

Lofty mountains lift their heads above the snow line in both of the larger islands. The cone of Mount Egmont is 8,270 feet above the level of the sea; Tongariso, an active volcano in the centre of the Northern Island, is 6,500 feet above the sea level, and Ruapeha, only ten miles distant, rises to nearly 10,000 feet. But the highest mountain ranges are found in the Middle Island, rising from 11,000 to 13,000 feet. These are the New Zealand Alps. On their massive sides lie some of the largest glaciers in the world. One--the Tasman glacier--is eighteen miles long, and nearly two miles broad. On the west coast the glaciers descend within 705 feet of the sea level, while on the east side they keep at the respectful height of 2,774 feet. From these masses of ice and snow innumerable streams take their rise. The energy of the colonists must command respect when it is known that a coach-road has been made across these mountains, from Christchurch to Hokotiki. About one hundred miles of it cost nearly £1,500 per mile, or £145,000. On this road--extending 150 miles--coaches regularly run. Taking advantage of breaks in the mountains, the highest part of the road is only 3,038 feet above the sea. The engineering difficulties were great, but skill and perseverance overcame them.

The mountain scenery is attractive to the traveller from the deck of a coasting vessel. In one direction the snow-clad peaks pierce the clear blue sky, or are lost in the clouds; while in others the snow sheet presents a pleasing contrast against the dark green foliage of the forests which lie beneath. Very beautiful is the

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mountain scenery, and pleasingly varied, as the morning sun lights up the snow-clad summits, before a ray is seen elsewhere; or as the last beams of the setting sun linger upon their lofty pinnacles, after he is hidden beneath the western waves. At other times the snowy tops are seen in solitary grandeur while masses of rolling clouds hang midway down the bulky slopes. Adventurous persons--ladies not entirely excepted--occasionally climb to the highest peaks of some of them, and if the weather be suitable enjoy an atmosphere peculiarly bracing, and gaze upon a panorama painted by the Divine hand, in which mountain, plains, and rivers are delightfully intermingled, while beyond the line of coast the sea appears like a vast plain, till it sinks below the distant horizon. Many advantages are secured by the means of these mountain ranges; they are the source of a great number of streams, some of them small and rapid, and others comparatively large, which pour their blessings upon the surrounding country, producing in the fertile waste lands an exuberant vegetation, and considerably increasing the value of the plains through which they run for the purposes of the farmer, especially in grazing districts.

Although the country is intersected by water-courses, there are but few rivers on which an inland navigation can be conducted to any extent with ordinary vessels; this is owing partly to the shallows and rapids, which are not likely to be remedied, and to the trees and other substances which are embedded in the stream, but which might be removed by well-directed labour. But as the Maories conduct their canoes along these rivers, it is probable that when the country is fully opened for the traffic of both races, a class of boats will be constructed

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to suit the navigation of the interior part of the country, carrying up the rivers the articles of comfort and convenience imported from Great Britain, and returning laden with the rich productions of the soil, to be exported to distant lands. Many streams in different parts of the country are capable of supplying a power to machinery to almost any extent. Advantage has already been taken of them to work flour-mills and sawmills, but colonial enterprise in this direction is at present only in its infancy.

Several kinds of metals abound. A considerable quantity of copper was exported some years ago from the Kauwau, an islet near Auckland: it is found in other places also, and will probably become a source of colonial wealth. The sea beach at Taranaki is lined with a very rich iron sand: specimens have been analysed and smelted, and several kinds of edge tools made of it with complete success; it will, in the course of time, secure the attention which it deserves: but hitherto the plans which have been formed for smelting the sand on a large scale have failed, owing partly to the disturbed state of the natives, and partly to a course of mismanagement, which will not be much longer continued. As iron is found in many parts of both the Northern and Middle islands, it will possibly become at no very distant period, a valuable article of export.

Gold is the most exciting deposit of the present day--the means by which a numerous population has been drawn to cover extensive tracks of land that lately formed a mere wilderness, with the pleasant scenes of industry--the smiling country homestead and the crowded city--where the young may be instructed in various kinds of knowledge, and institutions are

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formed to relieve the miseries of mankind, and churches planted whose influence will extend to distant lands. California startled the world at the discovery of its hidden wealth; Australia became its rival; and New Zealand opened her treasures with an unsparing hand. Some idea of the value of our gold-fields may be formed from the fact, that the quantity of gold exported, according to the Government statistics, to the 31st of December, 1864, amounted to 1,749,359 ounces, most of which was sold at £3 17s. 6d. per ounce; the total value of which was £6,771,730. Of that amount, only £29,875 was sent from the Northern Island; but this proved to be the first fruits of the Thames gold-field, and has been followed by an abundant harvest. While we write, the Wellington Independent announces the following as the quantity and value of gold exported from New Zealand from April 1st, 1857, to June 30th, 1870:--

The above includes 30 ounces, value £120, exported from Wellington during the first half of the year 1870, shewing that there is gold in this province, but not in payable quantities, so far as present researches have been extended.

The colony of Victoria sent to the International Exhibition in London, in 1862, a gilded obelisk of ten feet square at the base, and forty-five feet high. Had it been a solid mass of gold, it would have weighed eight hun-

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dred tons. It represented the volume of gold produced by the colony from October 1st, 1851, to October 1st, 1861, whose value was £104,000,000. And another obelisk was exhibited at Paris in 1867, by the Commissioners of Victoria, ten feet square at the base, and sixty-two feet five inches and a half high, representing the enormous sum of £146,057,444, the golden produce of that colony, and from ground which had furnished but a scanty provision for a few native wanderers, or herbage for a few thousand sheep.

Within the last quarter of a century, and principally through the gold discoveries, towns and cities have sprung up as if they had been produced by a magic wand. Among the masses who find their way to the colonies under such an excitement, are many persons whose principles and practices are dangerous to society; but a much larger class of industrious and respectable immigrants seek their home in these distant lands, and lay the foundation of an honoured and thriving community. The vicious soon seek new fields for their adventures, or are weeded out by the officers of justice, while the really valuable reap the reward of their toil.

The value of our forests is a noticeable feature. In the year 1853, the quantity of timber exported realized £92,984; and although this export did not reach such a height in any other year, it continued for some time among our chief articles of native produce. The value of timber exported during twelve years ending December 31st, 1864, amounted to £328,231. When it is remembered that various kinds of furniture-wood, that timber suitable for building purposes, not to mention those of the shipwright, and that spars adapted for the navy, may be obtained in almost any quantity, we trust that the claims of our forests will be admitted.

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Among the natural products of the country, and an article, so far as we know, peculiar to New Zealand, is the Kauri Gum. This is found only in the province of Auckland, and as a branch of industry it is confined almost entirely to the Maori people. In the year 1864, the quantity exported was two thousand two hundred and twenty-eight tons; the value of which was sixty thousand five hundred and ninety pounds sterling. The value of Kauri Gum exported from the colony, according to the Government returns, from January 1st, 1853, to December 31st, 1864, amounted to two hundred and sixty-two thousand four hundred and sixty-four pounds sterling. We know no reason why this branch of industry--the labour consisting only in digging it out of the ground, removing any soil which may adhere to it, and carrying it to market, which is done with canoes--should fall off, but could suggest several reasons, were it necessary, why it may be expected that Kauri Gum will continue to be a valuable article of export.

It was thought for some years that, valuable as the land is for producing grain, it was not adapted for sheep farming on an extensive scale. This is probably the case in the Auckland and Taranaki provinces; but in the Southern provinces, both the plains and hilly country, covered with native herbage, have answered admirably as sheep-runs. Those who made the experiment of sheep farming in New Zealand, were encouraged, in 1853, by an exportation of wool, to the value of sixty-six thousand five hundred and seven pounds sterling. Eleven years later, viz., in 1864, the quantity of wool exported from the colony was sixteen million six hundred and ninety-one thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds; the value of which was one million and seventy thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven pounds sterling.

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Petroleum has been discovered in different parts of both the principal islands; and in Taranaki, near the Sugar Loaves, within two miles of New Plymouth, the indications were so satisfactory, that three companies were formed to sink wells. It would be premature at the present stage of their operations to say more on this subject than that the expectation of intelligent men runs high, as the boring machine works its way through the hard rock, which comes up ground to sand and saturated with oil. 3

Suitable materials for building purposes may be found in abundance, the extensive forests supplying timber to any extent, and the rocks, from which different kinds of stone may be quarried, lying in large masses in various directions. Up to the present time houses are generally constructed of wood, except in the heart of some of the principal towns; and as buildings of this kind can be erected at a smaller expenditure than would be required for more durable edifices, it will probably continue to be the chief building material for many years to come. One kind of granite has been wrought into mill-stones, and other kinds of stone have been used in the erection of large and beautiful buildings. In some of the provinces excellent bricks may be made in any number; but in other places, as in Taranaki, the clay is not found suitable for the purposes of the brick-maker. Shells are found in such quantities in some districts that they are used for making lime; but a better material for this invaluable article may be found in extensive lime-stone rocks. And when the resources of the country are

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properly developed, materials for different kinds of pottery will probably be found.

Coal is widely distributed; it may be seen jutting out on the face of the cliffs in some places, and in others it lies so near the surface that the soil is washed off it by heavy rain. When proper means shall be used to secure the best kinds, the steam-furnaces of the colony will doubtless be supplied with its own coal; it will also be used in the forge of the smithy, and will form a general article of domestic consumption.

The fertility of the soil varies very much; some being exceeding rich, capable of producing any of the cereals, grasses, and edible roots in abundance, with proper management; and in other places it is so barren that a fair return for the labour bestowed on it cannot be expected. The Middle Island presents many tracts of hilly country, quite unfit for agriculture; and in the North Island, especially in the province of Auckland, there are wide plains, whose barrenness is proverbial. The reason of this is stated to be the intense heat of the destructive fires which swept the Kauri forests once covering them entirely away, by which the quality of the ground was so much injured as to cause its sterility. Yet these plains are the source of that considerable article of export, which we have described as Kauri Gum. As a rule, it may be said that the soil of New Zealand will be found rich in the qualities that constitute a fertile country, and when it can be generally cultivated, will yield abundance for millions of inhabitants.

Volcanic action was, no doubt, carried on with terrible effect in both the islands at no very remote period. This was probably the cause of the numerous gullies that are met with, some of which are so deep and precipitous

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that large trees growing at the bottom do not reach the ordinary level land; so that the spectator, standing on the edge of those gullies, looks down upon the tops of a number of gigantic forest trees; forming a picture truly unique and beautiful. Earthquakes are still felt with some violence in the neighbourhood of Cook's Strait, and also, though less severely, many hundred miles both north and south.

The Rev. R. Taylor, a gentleman of extensive geological knowledge, and well acquainted with New Zealand, contributes interesting information on the volcanic action of the country. Referring to Otaua, near the Bay of Islands, he says--"An immense crater rises above the level of the surrounding country, with steep precipitous cliffs of pipe-clay, which, on the summit, incline inwards, so as to form a vast bowl several miles in diameter. This appears to have been formerly one huge crater, but when that became exhausted, a series of smaller ones broke out on the sides, which are still more or less in operation, and are chiefly filled with water of great depth, from which streams of sulphurous hydrogen gas escape in every part. One of these crater lakes contains white mud, which bubbles up in all directions; in another the heated gas is emitted from innumerable pores, the highest degree of temperature being 196 Fahr. . . . Near Pa Karaka there is a remarkable volcanic cone, upwards of four hundred feet high. The mountain is hollow, and may be descended full three hundred feet. . . . But the grand centre of volcanic action in this (the North) Island is at Roturoa. This, indeed, may be considered as the chief focus of action; for it extends over a distance of full seventy miles in length, as far as Tongariro. The number of boiling gulfs, solfatara, and

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boiling mud pools, is extraordinary. They are seen in every direction--in the forest, in the plain, and in the water. A large number of them are concentrated at a place called Tikitere, and a most extraordinary assemblage of them is found at Ohinemato, which renders that place one of the most remarkable in New Zealand. Rotomahana, a warm water lake of considerable size, is surrounded with innumerable boiling gulfs; in fact, it is itself nothing but a crater, the sides of which are full of action. It is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable places in the world; its boiling gulfs and natural snow-white terraces, formed from silicious deposits, are most wonderful. Thence to Hohake and Rotokawa there is nothing to be seen but jets of vapour; and so on to Taupo, where fearful boiling gulfs abound at the two extremities of that noble lake: at Rangatira and Tokahua. Again at Roto-aira, a beautiful lake at the base of the Tongariro range, boiling springs abound. Tongariro itself attains an elevation of perhaps sixteen thousand feet, 4 and from its lofty cone constantly belches forth a volume of smoke, and occasionally flame, which has been distinctly seen at a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. . . . One spring at Taupo possesses the power of turning whatever substance is immersed in it into stone, preserving all the original characteristics of its nature, but completely converting it into a beautiful silicious stone." 5

Another scientific gentleman, Dr. Thomson, who resided in the colony many years, says,--"New Zealand is an admirable geological school; there travellers may

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see the form of Vesuvius, the dome-shaped summits of Auvergne, the elevated craters of the Caraccas, and the Geysers of Iceland. Taupo, Tongariro, Rotomahana, Rotoroa, and White Island are almost unrivalled geological curiosities. Above the entombed village of Te Rapa, on the border of the Taupo lake, basaltic rocks may be seen in the process of conversion into soft clay by heat and chemical action; where the Tongariro river falls into the lake travellers may observe how rapidly pumice stone and other deposits are lessening the size of this inland sea. Grand and beautiful geysers, ejecting water two degrees above the boiling point of pure water, and holding various silicates in solution, are found around the lakes of Rotomahana and Rotoroa. This water on cooling encrusts every substance it comes in contact with, and birds thrown into it are brought out like pieces of flint. On looking down through the clear smooth water of the Te Tarata geyser on lake Rotomahana, the silicious matter is observed deposited at the bottom like the hills on the eastern side of lake Taupo, a formation which, when seen from a canoe on the lake, suggests to the eye waves of lava suddenly cooled. Near the geysers at Rotomahana a noise is heard similar to the sound in a large steam-engine room. Adventurous travellers may sail on the lake on hot water, and luxurious ones swim in baths of various temperatures, the sides of which are lined with flint, white as snow and smooth as glass." 6

The natives cook their food in those boiling springs; and resort to the ponds of warm water as a means of enjoyment, when the toils of the day are past; and there, while the young people indulge in all kinds of aquatic sports, their seniors sit down quietly relating tales

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of past days, and discussing the events which are now taking place around them. The mineral waters are said to produce disease among the Maories who generally use them; but when they shall be used according to the instructions of competent medical skill, they will probably be found of great value in a variety of cases. And we may indulge the hope that the time will come when a journey to the hot springs will be easily accomplished, instead of being, as it has been, a dangerous and expensive undertaking; and so bring the benefits which these singular waters may afford within the reach of all classes of the community.

When the adaptation of the climate and country to the constitution and habits of British emigrants is fairly considered; the crops of corn and abundance of fruit which may be obtained; its rivers and small mountain streams; its beds of coal and glittering metals, lying exposed to the eye of the traveller; its long line of coast and goodly harbours; its herds and flocks, fattening in some places on the uncultivated grassy plains, and in others on the rich pastures produced from English seeds; no doubt can be entertained concerning the fitness of New Zealand for the general purposes of a flourishing and important colony. The language which Moses used when describing the Land of Promise to the ancient Israelites may be applied to the New Zealand emigrant: "The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley . . . and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou may'st dig brass." 7

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It is not likely that the native people, without any foreign assistance, could ever appreciate the natural advantages which their country possesses. In their former state they were conscious of comparatively few wants, which were easily supplied. God had prepared the land for another race--a race which is destined, we trust, to lift up the Maori people to the enjoyment and usefulness of civilization, and to contribute to the advancement of the moral and religious welfare of the southern hemisphere.