CHAPTER XI
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CHAPTER XI.
Origin of the People -- Traditional Origin of the Country -- Traditions respecting the Earlier Settlers -- Their Derivation -- Variety in the Appearance of the New Zealanders, Moral and Physical -- East Cape Natives -- The Female Character; Habits before and after Marriage -- Chastity -- Domestic Manners -- Temperament -- Disposition -- Self-immolation -- Devotion -- Marriages -- Adultery -- Tangi, or Lamentation -- Children affected by Rank -- Parental Affection -- Native Mummies -- Polygamy -- Conduct of Children -- Ceremony of Matrimony -- Affiancing -- Puberty -- Infanticide -- Native Conversations on the Subject -- Concubinage --Methods to procure Abortion -- Chiefs, their Character.
MUCH has been said on the origin of the New Zealanders, and also not a little written. From the proximity of New Holland to New Zealand, it immediately occurs to the antiquary, who delights in tracing, to its earliest source, the advent of a nation, that the commigration of each people was originally from the same race; but the appearance, language, customs, habits, and manners, of the two people,
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COMPARISONS INSTITUTED
are so essentially and totally different, as to repudiate these ideas as early as formed.
The brutally abject condition of the New Hollander, the expression of the features, form of body, habits of recklessness as to social comfort, and dissimilarity of language, no two words being of like tendency or sound, are alone sufficient to prove the different descent of the nations in question.
Captains Flinders, King, Cunningham, and other voyagers and travellers of discernment and penetration, agree in substantiating the fact of the universal degradation and miserable wretchedness of the inhabitants of New Holland throughout the coasts of this continental island. Migrating incessantly in small bands, "few and far between;" exposed to the most capricious climate that is known, without clothing against its inclemency, and in starvation; like the doomed descendant of Edom -- his hand against every man, and those in return against his; is additional evidence, if such were wanting, that these people are not conterraneous with those of New Zealand. It is equally certain that these latter people are not indebted for their origin to the now annihilated tribes that Spanish barbarism and cupidity swept away from South America with the besom of destruction.
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WITH ISLANDERS ADJACENT.
Time has discovered what has been hitherto buried in oblivion, that on various parts of the western coast of South America the sea has made considerable inroads on its steep shores, especially in Peru, and has opened to view the cemeteries of nations who have wholly passed from existence, without a previous record or notation; who had probably passed from this world before the wholesale massacres of the Spaniards. Numerous urns, vases, and ornaments, originally interred with the people, have been brought to light; but, among the many articles of this nature, not a single one bore the slightest resemblance to the ancient utensils or implements in use among the Polynesian race.
The relationship between the New Zealanders and the innumerable tribes inhabiting the many islands of the vast Pacific is past all doubt; as a marked similitude in institutions, civil polity, religion, habits, and conformity in a physical and (with some exception, caused by climate), moral point of view, are evidences that these islanders are from a source congenerous with them all. 1
That all these people are descendants of the colonies originally emigrating from Asia, the recent investigations of several travellers have proved; the same family, principally distin-
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ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS.
guished in Europe as Malays, have gradually multiplied; and the increase has further spread themselves from the boundaries of the Yellow Sea to the Sandwich Islands, in the vicinity of the north-west coast of America. The account of the deluge is preserved, among other traditions.
The origin of the aborigines is variously accounted for, even by themselves. The New Zealanders are all agreed as to the origin of the country: that Mawe, king of Heaven, was one pleasant day amusing himself by practising the piscatory art off the place now occupied by Hawke's Bay, or Wairoa: his success for some time had been doubtful, or, at most, not very remarkable; but, on the eve of despairing, he suddenly "felt a bite," such as few anglers can felicitate themselves upon, except through the bait carrying a marriage-settlement. To be brief; after much hauling and exertion of manual strength, aided by his divine powers, he fished up the islands of New Zealand. Hence the name of the north island, Ai no Mawe, or the begotten of Mawe. This far exceeded the divinity's most sanguine expectations; for he is universally described as being a man of very moderate pretensions; in short, his fishing excursion is supposed to have originated from being a married man,
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NATIVE THEOGONY.
whose comforts were in some measure abridged at home by his dearly beloved wife, Innanui te po, who, tradition further adds, wore that invaluable article of apparel, "unmentionable to ears polite;" a deprivation that has descended to the present camisated sans culotte descendants.
Mawe shortly after hastened back to heaven, previously anchoring his new discovery; and, like a dutiful husband, anxious to calm the perturbations that his protracted absence would naturally cause in the bosom of his "ladye love:" but he again returned early after, accompanied by Innanui te po, who, it would appear, was apprehensive of the substance of Mawe's next haul, and judged it best to superintend the next baiting.
The gods (na Atua) of the natives, similar to the idols comprising the theogony of the masters of the world, are equally notorious for obscenity of manners and "shocking behaviour;" for we soon after find the unfortunate Mawe despatched by his wife during the prevalence of an amorous fit, in which he made the unlucky hiatus of mistaking another goddess for his wife.
The natives feel pride in pointing out, to any European unbeliever, an islet off Ouridi, in Hawke's Bay, near to Cape Kidnapper, in lat.
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LAMENTATIONS.
39 deg. 40' S., long. 174 deg. 48' E., which is called to this day Muttou no Mawe, or Mawe's fish-hook. The bait that Mawe used is supposed to have been part of his own ear, which induced his followers to suppose he was ornamented with a pair similar in proportion to those presented to the head of Midas. The islet is regarded as an unerring "proof positive" of the story.
The defunct deity was metamorphosed into a cynosure, whose situation is pointed out by the astrographers and priests of the country. Mawe is said to have been a very cannibal, the revelling in human flesh bearing a prominent place among his other unamiable propensities; and his descendants have certainly "followed suits" in vieing with this acquired taste of their progenitor.
The tangi, or luxury of prostrating themselves in tears; excoriating themselves; and other concurrent practices of the Chaldean ancestors of Abraham and the contemporary nations, before the divine dispensation; are practised with the greatest exactitude by the modern New Zealanders. There are passages in the inspired writings of the divine Isaiah, that proclaim the day shall come when the scattered multitude of the Assyrians, in whatever part of the
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ORIGIN OF THE PEOPLE.
globe they may be found, shall recover the original exalted state of their forefathers, though their pristine rank be no longer remembered, even by antiquarian tradition, or a dream that has been.
The origin of the people is thus accounted for by the natives inhabiting the Bay of Plenty: that, at a very remote period, a large canoe put into a river in that bay, which, in consequence, was named by the appellation it yet bears, Ouwoa o te Atua, or the river of God; that the only article of food they brought with them was the kumera, which is yet regarded as food of divine origin. The tradition assigns the powers of divinity to the colonists of ancient days. The marked difference in the complexion, stature, and physical formation, of different tribes among the New Zealanders, would give ample reason to imagine this people were descended from decidedly different ancestry.
Captain Crozet, in the "Nouveau Voyage a la Mer du Sud," classifies them as three distinct races: white, or copper colour; brown; and black. He adds a supposition, that these different shades had been caused by an admixture with the people of New Holland, who, by means which he feels unable to account for, had arrived on these shores.
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COMPLEXION.
The natives of the East Cape are not supposed, among the traditions of the country, to have originated from the same ancestors as those tribes who adjoin them within twenty miles on either side of their locality. Those tribes are small in stature, weaker in physical strength, and some shades darker than their neighbours. Their personal courage is below the reckless bravado of the other islanders; and their enemies individually vaunt, with some shadow of truth, that they can master two of the East Cape, or Wai apu natives. This gasconading is not only confined to the simple aborigines, as we find highly civilised nations amuse themselves and their neighbours with similar oratorical displays; and, as stories never lose much by travelling, on another side of the Atlantic the two is often multiplied to four.
The colour of the people, in general, is from the olive tinge of the Spanish peninsula to a brown black.
The olive, or copper-coloured race, are a noble people, often above six feet in stature; active, muscular; but, from the nature of the sustenance they have hitherto been provided with, cannot possess the substantial strength of Europeans.
The higher classes are amply chested, re-
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PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
markably well formed, and of dignified appearance. The countenances of this class are often very pleasing; the hair glossy, black, and curling, and the features approaching to the European.
The inferior class, and the generality of the East Cape natives, are short in stature; hair lank, or frizzly; complexion brown, approaching to black, and the expression of the features often insidious. The females of these latter people differ but little from the males in outward appearance; but the females of the superior race are totally different, and they know it. I cannot forego the satisfaction of adding such observations as are founded in truth--nay, justice.
Many of the latter class would grace a page in the "Book of Beauty." Of course, these are "Nature's ladies;" and, despite of the abominable education, and the unpleasing scenes with which they are impressed from their tenderest years, yet, even in these wilds, we find a refinement solely appertaining to the sex, as simple as New Zealand society can admit of, in the absence, it must be admitted, of any thing like decent training: and it is remarked, by those Europeans who have intermarried with the females of the land through the medium of the
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PHYSICAL CONFORMATION.
forms of the church, how agreeably surprised they have been at the quick perception exhibited by their native wives, who had doffed the customs of their ancestors with the same ease as they had cast away their native garments, and had conformed to the habits and manners of the respectable English females in their vicinity, whose conduct the native women admire, and, at a humble distance, follow; studying cleanliness and neatness in dress after the English style, and rendering their persons both pleasing and various in the eyes of their husbands.
The females who reside far south possess not the delicacy that may often be observed in those who live in the north island. The voices of all are feminine; and, like the sex in every part of the globe, they are distinguished from the men by a greater flow of animal spirits, cheerfulness of temper, enduring fortitude and privations, that often totally prostrates the stronger sex in physical conformation.
The difference of distinct races, that form the population of the country, is more remarkable among the females than in the opposite sex: thus, the Malay is easily distinguished from the Papuan descendant; but the flat nose, full lip, and projecting mouth, of the latter
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WOMAN -- HER INFLUENCE.
people, are but rarely seen. In either race, the female stature is less than that of the male. The features of the women are regular; the hair often jet black, long, and profuse; teeth regular, whose extreme whiteness is enhanced by the lips being often stained with blue -- an unpleasant fashion, that is fast decaying in the vicinity of European settlements.
The forms of the young women are calculated to interest the traveller; but marriage, and the servitude with which it is accompanied in all barbarous states of society, cause early anility, and consequent decay. It is to the degraded state of the sex in these countries that we must attribute the unsocial habits of the people towards each other.
The example in New Zealand is not solitary; history has invariably taught us, from the deluge to our own times, that civilisation has been dependent on the influence which woman has had on society; and it may be even asserted, that the absolute rise and decline of nations depend much on her conduct in social life.
These truths are seldom admitted to their full extent, or how much the very manners of an age depend upon the behaviour of women. We hastily admit this dependance of the weaker sex on man, as far as physical force may be re-
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WOMAN -- HER INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY.
quired. A pleasing writer, whose name is at this moment unremembered, observes, "Woman, whose soul is as fine an emanation from the great fountain spirit as that of man -- who has higher responsibilities, more important duties to perform in the world, and pays a heavier tribute to it--is the weaker sex."
Much may be said in favour of the New Zealand females on the score of pudicity. Perhaps the observation of Cook will be relied on, whose unwearied exertions in the cause of geographical knowledge did not permit him to incline towards flattery, in speaking on this subject. "I have observed, that our friends in the South Seas had not even an idea of decency, with respect to any object or any action; but this was by no means the case with the inhabitants of New Zealand, in whose carriage and conversation there was as much modest reserve and decorum, with respect to actions, which yet, in their opinion, were not criminal, as are to be found among the politest people of Europe. The women were not impregnable, but the terms and manner of compliance were as decent as those in marriage among us; and, according to their notions, the agreement was as innocent. When any of our people made an overture to one of their young women, he
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WOMAN -- HER INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY.
was given to understand that the consent of the friends was necessary, and, by the influence of a proper present, it was generally obtained: but when these preliminaries were settled, it was also necessary to treat the lady for a night with the same delicacy as is here required by the wife for life; and the lover who presumed to take any liberties by which this was violated was sure to be disappointed. One of our gentlemen having made his addresses to a family of the better sort, received an answer which, translated in our language according to the mode and spirit of it, as well as the letter, would have been exactly in these terms: 'Any of these young ladies will think themselves honoured by your addresses; but you must first make me a suitable present, and you must then come and sleep with us on shore; for daylight must by no means be a witness of what passes between you.'" Later travellers, who have been sufficiently long in the country to understand the native customs and language, have invariably spoken in favour of these most enchanting behests in women, reserve and chastity, It must be distinctly stated, the manners and habits of the natives have become much vitiated, the nearer they may be to the vicinity of European settlements; but, otherwise, reserve and timidity are distinguish-
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DOMESTIC HABITS.
ing traits in the character of the young female of the country. "Some of us," says Cook, "happening one day to land at a small island in Tolaga Bay, surprised several of the ladies employed in the water catching lobsters, having left their garments on the rocks. The chaste Diana, with her nymphs, could not have discovered more confusion and distress at the sight of Actaeon, than these women expressed at our approach. Some of them hid themselves among the rocks, and the rest crouched down in the sea, until they had made themselves a girdle and apron of such weeds as they could find; and when they came out, even with this veil, we could perceive that their modesty suffered much by our presence."
A short acquaintance with any particular female will, doubtless, soon annihilate this pleasing bashfulness; but even such conduct is to be attributed to a natural, undisguised artless-ness and confidence, which is far, perhaps, from being confined exclusively to the New Zealand female.
The domestic habits of the elderly matrons correspond to the staid manners of European females of a similar advanced age. Thus, when the young ladies indulge themselves in frequent explosions of laughter or giggling, which these
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WOMEN -- THEIR DEVOTEDNESS.
young misses are much inclined to, the more experienced of the females take upon themselves the almost hopeless task of what we significantly term placing "old heads on young shoulders."
Fewer countries exhibit the ardour of woman's strongest affections more than New Zealand. Formerly it was accounted the most common of occurrences for the native wife to commit suicide, by hanging or drowning herself, on the decease of her husband, either by natural decline or in battle.
Among many such occurrences as I have witnessed, a circumstance of the kind took place during my stay at the south-west coast, when the report arrived that a certain chief belonging to the village had been killed in battle; a relative immediately gave the head wife of the defunct a rope made of flax, which she took, and instantly went to some sacred bushes and hung herself: no person attempted to prevent her.
I have selected this example, as it was afterwards found the chief was only "missing" in the next bulletin. Within a few days he, with other warriors, returned from the war, and, learning the death of his wife, the slave who had brought the news was instantly killed, cooked, and devoured, as payment for the "returned killed."
These affectionate feelings of devotion have
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WOMEN--THEIR DEVOTEDNESS.
been transferred to European husbands, whose treatment to these poor women has been much kinder than what they have received from their countrymen. I remember a native girl, who had cohabited some time with an Englishman, who was nearly on the point of death from a debilitating illness. The afflicted girl scarce left his bedside. Hearing from the natives of my countryman's illness, I called on him to offer such assistance as I could afford. Entering the room of the invalid, I perceived the poor wife sobbing convulsively, with the sick man's hands fast locked in hers. After remaining some time with the man, I left the house, outside which several of the girl's friends were congregated. They told me that E'tari (the wife) had been engaged during the morning making a rope of flax to quit a burdensome existence, should her husband die. The man recovered some time after; but I had not the slightest doubt at the time, had a contrary conclusion taken place, she would have put her intentions into practice, agreeably to the customs of her people.
Major Cruise, who commanded a detachment of soldiers in the "Dromedary" store-ship, in 1820, which was loaded with spars for the British government, mentions similar anecdotes, also proving the devoted attachment of a New Zea-
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USAGES OF THE FEMALES.
land female. A native girl, daughter of a chief, had lived for some months with the soldier who was supposed to have caused the death of James Aldridge (a seamen who had been stabbed). As it appeared prudent to remove her from the ship, she complied with the order for her departure with much reluctance. From the time the unfortunate man had been put in confinement, she had scarcely left his side or ceased to cry; and, having been told that he must inevitably be hanged, she purchased some flax from the natives alongside the "Dromedary," and making a rope of it, declared that if such should be his fate, she would put a similar termination to her own existence: nor was it doubted but she would have executed her intention.
Travellers, whose stay in the country has been confined to a few months only, have been very unjust in their remarks on the native females. They have reported, that their favours may be obtained at the premium of any paltry trinket: such observations are without foundation. The favours of a married woman in New Zealand are fully as difficult of attainment as in any part of the world, the punishment of death being awarded as the penalty for an infringement of the nuptial bond, which is held by these people in as sacred a light as in the most civil-
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MARRIAGES.
ised states. Death is not alone the payment exacted for a committal of this hateful crime, as the horrid rites of cannibalism are added, annihilating the enemy to public morals and decency. This punishment is sometimes commuted by an utu, or "damages," by which the native Lushingtons obtain their best fees, the priests having power to do away with the stain in some degree; yet the guilty wife justly loses caste, and, until her death, is known as a "puremu kino," or wicked adulteress.
Unmarried female chiefs, of the highest class, are equally difficult to be obtained; love, not V money, generally rendering them propitious.
Among the middle classes, marriages are often made-up affairs among the old folks, who look to the wherewithal the inamorato may be possessed of; and, should more than one swain languish for the preference of the divinity (of course, before marriage), it is fought out between the parties and their mutual friends, and the victor carries away the lady. In these cases, there are as many winks and nods, flirtations, discussions on "pin-money" or its substitute, as pass among civilised families on a similar occasion. The old gentlemen, in their converse, forget their moralities, and are not particular to a shade in their reminiscences; the ladies veil themselves with
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IMMORAL FEMALES.
their garments; and, "Now, don't!" and "Fie, for shame!" pass to and fro as in more civilised countries.
The female slaves are often forced, by their unrelenting masters, to dishonour themselves; for such connexions are held in disgust by these poor creatures, whose inclinations are not even consulted: and in this case decency is not regarded, which in their general intercourse is rarely violated. It must be readily admitted, that a number of unmarried women are to be found without the slightest delicacy, either in person or conduct. This miserable portion of the population is not alone confined to the Oceanica or its antipodes; and perhaps the proportion of this class is more numerous here than elsewhere. Yet these women mix without reproach among the higher classes; which induces the casual visitor, acquainted only with the surface of their habits and manners, to imagine that a similar feeling exists among all classes, the price being raised in proportion to rank. This lax conduct of unmarried women is not regarded by the national customs in so vile a point of view as is justly fixed by civilised people; and a succession of lovers is not regarded, by the native lawyers and sages, as such "direful events" as they are deemed to be by a people enlightened by a
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FEMALE COQUETRY.
bountiful dispensation; from which emanate those moral and religious ties which are the indubitable basis of tranquillity and social happiness in this life, and eternal bliss hereafter.
The ladies do certainly practice coquetry in no confined degree. Their artillery of charms are discharged at that miserable wretch, man, apparently with uncommon success. The dances of the country partake of the lascivious exhibitions displayed in similar amusements by the descendants of the Moorish ladies -- smiles, gestures, soft hints, and blandishments, are not omitted. The songs that accompany the dance are most abominably worded, the subjects being extremely indelicate: the conversations would not bear translation; and these causes combined have given the entire sex of these islands a character for being as libidinous in habits and manners as they are, perhaps, at times, in their thoughts.
The temperance of the people is on a par with the northern nations of Europe. Their dispositions towards their friends and relatives are gentle and affectionate, and cannot be more sincere or ardent. Journeys are undertaken to see each other, that very often occupy an absence of some months; and alliances by these means are formed, that render them one people,
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ARDENT AFFECTION.
speaking the language without those various modes of pronunciation that are extant in most other countries.
The people are delighted in meetings that bring them together; and parents, either naturally so or connected by marriage, in their old age reside with the children, and are rarely treated with harshness. They inflict deep wounds on themselves on the loss of relatives, separation, or return of friends, and it is inconceivable the quantity of blood they thus lose, excoriating themselves with the mussel-shell; their tears, sobs, and moans, argue the most affectionate regret, unequalled by any other people. The return of a relative, after a protracted absence, causes similar emanations of feeling; and a chant, or antistrophe, in which each person takes up the song or lament, commences with as loud an utterance as the fast-falling tears will permit.
This is called the tangi, or cry; at the peroration of the chant, a moan, in chorus, is made by all the persons engaged.
The children of either sex, at an early age, are able to run about long before those belonging to European parents can stand alone. They are early initiated by their parents into all the games, dances, and practices of their fathers.
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PARENTAL AFFECTION
The children of a chief are regarded by the tribe with peculiar delight. They possess a higher title of nobility than their immediate parents, as the former can boast of another branch to their genealogical tree.
A child born to a chief-father by a slave-woman loses the attaint received of the mother, the predominating rank of the sire rendering the stain nugatory. The New Zealand father is devotedly fond of his children, they are his pride, his boast, and peculiar delight; he generally bears the burden of carrying them continually within his mat, whose rugged texture must be very annoying to the tender infant.
The children are seldom or never punished; which, consequently, causes them to commit so many annoying tricks, that continually renders them deserving of a sound, wholesome castigation.
The father performs the duty of a nurse; and any foul action the embryo warrior may be guilty of, causes rather a smile than a tear from the devoted parent.
Any little trifles in the way of a bonne bouche are preserved for the child; and often, when I have been solicited for presents and have refused, the child has been either sent to demand it, or, if too young to walk, the request has been
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OF THE ISLANDERS.
repeated in the name of the infant: it being supposed by the parents, in their overflowing affection to their offspring, that the latter could not meet with a refusal.
The following instances of the delight these people take in the society of their children, will be scarcely credited in a civilised community.
A respectable chief, named Te Kuri, whose residence is at Turunga, or Poverty Bay, had a fine boy born to him, who died in his fourth year. Poor Kuri was almost inconsolable, until he hit upon a method, in fashion among his countrymen, to preserve the best memento possible of the lamented child. He eviscerated the body and head, and cooked the whole in the same manner the head of an enemy is preserved, stuffing the inside of the body with scraped flax; and at a distance it was impossible to perceive the difference between it and a living child. I had often seen Kuri carrying this apology for an infant in his blanket behind his back, and remarked one day what a pleasing and remarkably quiet child it appeared. This observation elicited a laugh, in which this candidate for paternity heartily joined. The body had been stuffed in the state I saw it at least five years.
At Tokomaru, another chief, about forty years of age, lost two children; his immoderate
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POLYGAMY.
fondness for them had caused him also to stuff those bodies in a similar manner; giving them, like Kuri, an airing now and then in the sun and air, as a preservative against damp. The children are such apt scholars at what is taught them, that both sexes, at seven and eight years old, are capable of performing the war-dance and hakas, accompanied with all the frightful distortion of countenance which the adults make use of to inspire their enemies with fear and confusion; the infantine performers are careful in keeping that regularity of action in the feet, and changes of tone in the songs, that give a zest to these performances.
Nor are the traditions of the renowned achievements of certain chiefs forgotten, whose superior prowess on earth has ranked them as divinities in the theogony of the people.
Polygamy has existed in New Zealand from the remotest period, a custom doubtless introduced from Asia; yet, notwithstanding the antiquity of the habit, the ladies often express their dislike of it. So much unhappiness is caused in a house by these several owners of the same property, that many persons in the country find one wife quite sufficient. A native is allowed to marry sisters; in such case the elder becomes mistress of the family. When
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ITS EFFECTS.
the husband leaves his residence on a distant excursion, one or two of his spouses generally accompany him. The inferior wives lead often a wretched life, deprived of the connubial enjoyments of a husband's society, and not unfrequently becoming servants or handmaids to the prima donna. The nuptial intercourse between the nominal husbands and these poor degraded women is but rare, as they are apprehensive of the jealousy of the head wife, Koki, the head spouse of Manu, a chief of the Bay of Island, destroyed one of her offspring in a fit of jealousy, in consequence of a slave presenting a child to the chief, which she had recently borne to him.
The affection of the parents is often ill bestowed on the children, who are at times very undutiful, when thwarted in any thing they may want. Their pride and obstinacy have often caused them, on meeting with any resistance to their stubbornness, to hang or drown themselves.
A minor chief, in the bay above mentioned, married a woman much his superior in rank, as his own mother had been a slave. The importance of the chief was advanced accordingly by the connexion. The children, who had been treated too kindly by him, often twitted their father in my presence, on his being the son of a
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PRECOCITY OF CHILDREN.
slave; reminding the old man to mark their difference in rank, as their parents were chiefs, and not slaves, like his mother.
The obstinacy of the children exceeds belief; the son of a chief is never chastised by his parent. The boys are brought up entirely by the men; and it is not uncommon to see young children of tender years, sitting next to their parents in the war councils, apparently listening with the greatest attention to the war of words uttered by the chiefs.
One garment, or mat, serves for both father and son; and the precocity of the children may be seen in young urchins, who have scarcely the power to walk, steering large canoes without aid.
This heedless mode of treatment renders the children very hardy, morally and physically; so that a little native boy is half a man when a European child is first placed at school. They talk of, and with, strangers, without any feeling of awkwardness or bashfulness.
In most cases, as soon as the children of a village learnt my name, they would call to me, wherever I went, Porake, Ko Porake, the native pronunciation of it. These youngsters dance, make grimaces, and gormandise with an avidity only surpassed by their friends of less tender
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MARRIAGE CEREMONY.
years. They imitate every thing they see or hear, --the walk, gait, action, speech, of every stranger they behold, accompanied with the most ridiculous gestures and exaggerations, which are encouraged, and form a source of amusement to the adults.
Little children of six years would boldly ask me, how many wives I might have, and if I did not feel inconvenienced (mate) deprived of their company? They also ask questions in the most numerously attended assemblies of chiefs, who answer them with an air of respect, as if they were of a corresponding age to themselves. I do not remember a request of an infant being treated with neglect, or a demand from one of them being slighted.
The marriage ceremony of the country is very simple. When the proposed union takes place, the lover conducts the lady to his cabin. The wife, thus introduced into her domicile, never leaves it but as mistress of the place.
The marriage is no sooner consummated, than a party of friends arrive, who strip the married pair of every thing they possess, besides bestowing a sound drubbing on them. No reason is assigned for the origin of so abominable a practice. This ceremony differs
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INFANTICIDE.
from concubinage, by the gentleman stealing to the house of the female, instead of vice versa.
The reputation of a lady does not suffer in the least, however propitious she may have been in her liaisons; but no sooner does she become a wedded wife, than her person is tapued, or prohibited. Affiances very often take place among the parents of children. A young girl, who had been tapued to an old village chief, was wedded to a young man. As early as the marriage was bruited abroad, a stripping party arrived to rob the husband, and to take away his wife. This poor creature had hidden herself, but was quickly found out, and much beaten; the young man was a superior chief, and, as such, escaped with a beating and robbery only; but had he been of a different caste, his life would, doubtless, have paid for his temerity. The old priest received the girl very complacently. He might have passed for her grandfather.
The females are marriageable at a very early time of life. Mothers may be seen at the tender age of eleven years, but such instances are of rare occurrence.
Infanticide is often committed by the New Zealand mother.
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ITS FREQUENT OCCURRENCE.
One of the principal causes is occasioned by polygamy, where the women, occupied by eternal jealousies, are striving, by the most malicious inventions, to undermine each other in the affections of the husbands. The poor babe often suffers from these conflicts. I have reason to believe that, at least, every fourth woman who I was acquainted with, and had borne several children, had been guilty of this unnatural crime. On taxing some females with having committed infanticide, they laughed heartily at the serious manner in which I put the question. They told me the poor infants did not know or care much about it. One young woman, who had recently destroyed a female infant, said that she wished her mother had done the same to her, when she was young; "For why should my infant live?" she added; "to dig the ground! to be a slave to the wives of her husband! to be beaten by them, and trodden under foot! No! can a woman here protect herself, as among the white people; and should I not have trouble enough to bring up girls, when they can only cry and make a noise?" Boys are seldom or never destroyed, except in temporary fits of insane passion, when the mother will destroy the child to enrage the husband; and if that does not suffice, the unnatural woman will, out of
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INFANTICIDE DEFENDED.
despite, run to the nearest bush and hang herself: but, in the latter case, the husband shews the self-satisfaction of his own disposition, by early repairing the void thus made in his affections. Various means are resorted to to extinguish life in the children; such as pressing the temple of the new-born child, strangling, drowning in a small basket filled with stones, and thrown in the adjacent river: but the most common method is pressing the nose between two fingers, until the infant is bereaved of life. In vain I told the circle of women, to whom I was addressing myself on the subject, that the Creator was too just to allow a murderer to escape, in any shape. My words fell on their ears like the wind; they burst into a shout, exclaiming, "Mea pai te romia," (squeezing the nose was very good,) adding, that my mamma would have acted perfectly right in so serving me. I presumed to differ from them at this personal allusion. A young girl, sitting by, who had despatched her infant only the week previously, said it was useless to try and change their opinion; that her own mother had several times attempted to deprive her of life, having often commenced the "romia" on her nose, (feeling that natural promontory, to be assured of its position,) but that her father and uncles
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OTHER CRIMES.
always interfered. I asked her how she would have admired the process, had it been persevered in by her affectionate mother? She smiled, and said, "Au! ea te au te oik?" What business is it of yours ? I politely told her she was a fool (kuwari ano koe), and with this obliging rejoinder, I turned on my heel and left the party.
When a child is thus murdered, the lying mother commences a lament over the dead body, cutting herself with shells, and roaring with all her might, making "night hideous."
The difficulty of procuring nourishing food for the infant was formerly another cause for the death of the offspring; for when nature refused its natural sustenance, there was nothing in the country that could be swallowed by an infant.
Abortion is often practised by the native mother; the methods made use of are various, and certain in their effects, but admit not of being committed to writing. Other practices, that even render the above crime nugatory, are indulged in; but are rarely confessed by these people to Europeans.
