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CHAPTER III.
Native presents --Intercourse and visits of ceremony --Surnames --Confidence and secrecy --Notions of theft illustrated --Native generosity --Cunning and importunity --Sullenness --Obstinacy --Feelings of shame --Slaves and slavery -- Taking of the "John Dunscombe" by a slave tribe --Population --Difference in the manners and habits of the northern and southern inhabitants --Raupara --Atrocities committed by European ship-masters among the natives, &c.
The natives are in the habit of making presents to each other, and other acts of courtesy. A chief man, in disposing of his lands, feels much pride in distributing the principal share of the payment to each minor claimant, and throws to each person a part. Baskets of dried fish, roes of the same, young sharks, whale scraps, pigeons preserved in fat, and many other things of a similar nature, form presents
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GIFTS AND VISITS OF CEREMONY.
among the New Zealanders; handsome mats, kegs of gun-powder, for the possession of which the donor has been perhaps working hard for six months previous, and other articles equally invaluable, are given as presents among them. Few European residents would credit the expensive gifts that are interchanged among chieftains. A principal chief of the Bay of Islands gave his son-in-law, a respectable warrior residing three hundred miles from him, at parting, presents to the value of 200 pounds sterling, in gunpowder, muskets, blankets, &c.
To the southward the celebrated Raupara of Kapiti, or Entry Island, receives, from his tributary friends, a large quantity of provisions, and other presents. Forty tons of potatoes have been received in one present, by a chief of note, from a distant friendly tribe.
Visits of ceremony are made among the chiefs, with a gravity and decorum that would- distinguish the respective parties in any part of the globe, not excluding the Celestials of China.
The females are remarkably particular in scarcely exposing the throat, in visiting parties; there is an intuitive feminine delicacy in this respect that might be copied to advantage in Europe.
The gentlemen are not particular. I have seen
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INFINITY OF SURNAMES.
some of them undressed for a party, the body being perfectly nude, with the sole exception of, perhaps, part of what had formerly been a pair of inexpressibles, tied by the legs, round the throat.
The chiefs and people delight in an infinity of names that would exhaust a Chinese alphabet with its eighty thousand hieroglyphics, in the composition of their cognomens.
The natives also take great delight in bestowing surnames on such persons as they may choose to honour; any person possessing an extra pedal longevity is termed waiwairoa, or long-legs, a name also applied to the musquitoe.
A highly respectable colonist, residing at Mercury Bay, is known only by the appellation of kiore, or rat, from not possessing a very bulky form, on his first arrival among the nomencla-tors.
Another acquaintance is only addressed as te Tuatara, or lizard, from having, during a voyage undertaken some years back, searched various parts for a cargo of timber of the country, to load his ship, which was likened to the action of a lizard seeking in holes and crannies.
An artist is known as Tuiui, or one who designs on paper, writes, &c. A blind person is a
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SURNAMES.
Matapo, or one with a darkened visage. An unfortunate possessing a bad cold, is called a Pomarre.
Moka, a troublesome, irritable, little chief in the Bay of Islands, received in a skirmish, a bullet in his thigh, he was immediately named the Kai na mutta, or ball-eater; a surname the pugnacious chief is highly delighted with.
If the hairs on the traveller's head be "few and far between," he is dubbed Pakira. Should he possess a corporeal preponderance in front, he is known as Ko puku paukina, or the pumpkin stomach. Many other allusive epithets are applied to this John Bullism, some of which are not rigidly delicate. A war ensued, some years since, in consequence of a chief being termed puku paukina, by his tenuous enemies, as a distguishing trait of the obesity of his person. This respectable personage could not sit down quietly and vegetate with so abominable an appellative attached to him: he consequently declared war, imitating Harlotta's son, who felt equally indignant at being likened to a parturient lady, which his royal neighbour, in the absence of truth and delicacy, was pleased to confer on him.
A man of minor proportions is termed Piwakawaka, after the tiny songster of the woods, with a body the size of a filbert. A squint, a
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HABITS OF THE PEOPLE.
limp, a nose too short, too long, broad or narrow, red or blue, cannot escape an appellative from these satirists. Shakspeare's question of "What's in a name?" which the great poet politely answers to himself to save his reader the trouble of thinking, is certainly inapplicable to this people, who are too irritable to do as they would be done unto. Many of their distinguishing names arise from new importations among them: -- thus a musket is called a pu or poo, from the noise made in the discharge of a loaded piece. The bird, Tui, is so called from that word approaching to its native note.
An ass, (not a biped) is often known by an appellation, similar in sound to the pleasing strains which that much neglected philosophical animal is wont to indulge himself in. Taringa nui, or long ears, is another distinctive nomen for that unsophisticated brute.
The generical name for all quadrupeds is korarahe for the adults; the younger fry figure under the term, of kuri, probably the native pronunciation of cur. A person unfortunate in being affected with any illness or disease, is often distinguished by the name of the malady, be it never so unpleasant or loathsome.
A proprietor of the soil is often called after
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DESTRUCTIVE APPELLATION.
the name of his settlement. An old man must bow to the name of kow matua, or venerable grand-father; but the females of advanced experience do not answer the name of Rurui, or old woman, which is nevertheless bestowed on them. A simple fellow, lacking wit, is called Moiho, a name also for the booby-bird.
Infants are very often named after chiefs, who have carved their way to immortality. They are also distinguished by surnames from the committing of early actions when muling, &c, in their nurses' arms, that are attached to them for life. I remember a venerable old sage, with a Methusaleh longevity of beard, who was named after certain sounds resulting from an unfortunate flatulent temperament in his earliest years. Another gentleman and a priest, also bearded like a pard, bore a name wholly indicative of the softer sex.
Whole tribes have distinctive appellations, which are changed on the most trivial occasion. Tribes, who live inland, are termed, by those dwelling on the coast, in the vicinity of shipping, bush people; the former, are regarded as a race possessing more of the march of intellect. The natives adopt names similar to European patronimics: thus Ko Kawai, or Mr. Salmon; Kanapa, or Green; Manu, or Bird, &c. A young
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NOTIONS OF SECRECY.
chief, who lost himself in the bush for a day, when very young, has ever since been known as Manuwhidi, or the stranger; and the most simple causes attach a name for a person or tribe ever after.
The "Wonder; a woman keeps a secret," is equally as marvellous, in New Zealand, as in any other part of the globe. A female, to the northward, who was married, transgressed her condition. She was fully aware that if the knowledge of her crime reached the ears of her husband, it would be the fiat for her death; yet she could not be silent, but told her sister the why and because; and as usual, in the first quarrel for precedence, or a top knot, after the disclosure, the sister revealed ever thing, and the hapless girl was immediately murdered: the miserable sister hung herself in despair.
The men feel it equally indigestible after swallowing a secret, to keep it within themselves. It creates a burthensome feeling that is found not to be endurable.
Whenever I felt inclined to publish any of my intentions to the natives, I usually made mention, of the subject to some pompous chief, with strict injunctions of secrecy; this was promised with the profoundest gravity, and after parting with the conscientious herald, it was generally known
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TALE TELLING.
to every body around within a few minutes. Thus it seldom happens a robbery is kept a secret even by the rascals who may commit the offence; an intended predatory excursion is sure to leak out from some person attached to the depredators; this has been supposed by unthinking persons to arise from honourable feeling. Honour among thieves may be true enough elsewhere, but the adage is rendered nugatory in New Zealand.
Tale-bearing among the people is pandemic; and yet their unfortunate bias merits commiseration, as no people yearn more to keep a secret.
A native farm servant in my employ had stolen a cartridge box from a neighbour in his own grade of life; had he kept the secret but a week, the article would have been lawfully his own according the decision of native lawyers, and the only satisfaction the bereaved man could have got, would have been to seize an opportunity and steal the box in his turn; but the secret weighed too heavy on the mind of the robber; it was too much it appeared for one man to bear, he therefore only mentioned it to a friend, under injunctions of secrecy, who in his turn repeated it to another friend also, who chanced to be the original owner of the stolen property. The latter collected his companions, attacked the house
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HABITS, CUSTOMS, ETC.
of the thief, and left not a garment for him or his wife, with the accompaniment of a sound beating, which kept the rogue to his floor for some days.
I have observed that theft is punishable with death, if committed by a slave, but the same action performed by a chief is viewed in a far different light by the national laws. The immorality of the transaction principally consists in the skill and dexterity by which this appropriation of tuum to meum is accomplished by the titled practitioner. If a chief is offended, or receives any hurt by accident, he imagines he has ample cause to seek for satisfaction from some person, and he generally pounces on some weaker fellow, and steals a something, however innocent the proprietor may be. If the robbery be committed in open day before any body, he is not supposed to have dishonoured himself, but if he purloins the same article covertly, he is a tangata tihi or robber; but there is some commutation to this offence if he enacts his roguery with ability; he then is termed a tangata angareka, or a fellow of "infinite jest;" but if a slave emulates his master in these "jests," death is his portion, without the benefit of the native clergy.
Cook relates one of these robberies, that well pourtrays the native character; "he had been
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A POLITE ROBBER.
purchasing a great quantity of fish from the natives;" he says, "while we were on this traffic, they shewed a great inclination to pick my pockets, and to take away the fish with one hand, which they had just given me with the other. This evil, one of the chiefs undertook to remove, and with fury in his eyes made a shew of keeping the people at a proper distance. I applauded his conduct, but at the same time kept so good a look out, as to detect him picking my pocket of a handkerchief, which I suffered him to put in his bosom before I seemed to know anything of the matter, and then told what I had lost; he seemed quite ignorant and innocent, until I took it from him; then he put it off with a laugh, acting his part with so much address, that it was hardly possible for me to be angry with him, so we remained good friends, and he accompanied me on board to dinner."
It often happens that unpleasant disputes occur between Europeans and the natives, from this cause, which pass off less pleasantly than the above. When I resided to the northward I suspected an old priest named Popatai, had stolen (appropriated I should say), a box of percussion caps, which had been lying on the table during a visit which he made me. These
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A PRIESTLY ROBBER.
articles were invaluable at the time, for another box could not have been procured on the island. I frankly accused him of having forgotten to replace them; the old gentleman who was remarkably agile, hastily arose, apparently frenzied with passion, and opened his only garment, to shew me I had wrongfully accused him; he then danced and capered about, roaring to the top of his voice, treble and bass in the same breath demanding payment, for the foul accusation. I knew the man too well to care for his word or noise, and as he was rather restive, I took him by the shoulders and giving him a gentle push on a part where it was impossible any bones could be broken, turned him out of the house.
The indignant priest seized a paling and advanced towards me, one hand employed rubbing the place my knee had come in contact with, calling me every ill name he could remember in his catalogue. I also grasped a small stick, acting solely on the defensive; upon which the old fellow called his son Tarre who was close by, a stout active young native to assist him, but this duteous scion excused himself from interfering; thus unassisted the old man girded up his loins, by tightening a broad leather belt that was round his naked body, in doing which, the box that he had concealed within side
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ROGUES IN ACTION.
fell on the ground, which I hastily picked up, and wished him good morning. The old man followed me, and endeavoured first to persuade me, it had found its place there accidentally. I then spoke loud in turn, and demanded a quantity of potatoes as payment, 1st. for taking up a stick to me, 2nd. breaking one of my palings, and 3rd. a small hog for the intended robbery; on all these counts the law was on my side. The sage promised every thing, provided I kept the transaction to myself. This I promised to do, but before ten minutes had elapsed, every body in the surrounding village knew of it--for the priest could not keep his own secret. The payment was sent to me, upon which I made a present in return beyond the real value of the utu.
Another time I missed a silver coin somewhat antique from the table, and accused the only native present, who vainly protested his innocence. I locked the door and told him to prepare for a sound drubbing; in the hurry of uttering his protestations that indeed he had not got it, the coin fell from his mouth, on which I made him give me a pig for satisfaction or utu.
At another time I missed a paper of fishhooks. Two ancient brothers were sitting on the floor of the apartment; my housekeeper who was also
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LIBIDINI INDULGET.
present, cast several times, first a glance at me and then at one of the old gentlemen's legs. I gently put aside his blanket, and found the paper within the only stocking possessed by both parties. An excuse was instantly made, that it was a joke undertaken to see if I would so readily miss the articles, but without the remotest intention of taking it away with them. I argued they might have forgotten, in the hurry of departure to leave them behind, and for the probable casuality I demanded payment, which I was at last promised with an ill grace; but I never got anything, as the old men put in a protest against paying for jokes.
A chief called to see me at one time, who sported an apolegetic something for a hat, but on entering the store he was polite enough to take it off; I was induced to leave the place for a few minutes, and on my return, the European whom I had left in charge had quitted also. My native friend had put on his hat, and I thought I could perceive the head wag somewhat uneasy under it. I stept up to him on pretence of admiring its shape (it had lost seven eighths of its brim) and on lifting it, discovered a piece of linen, with a quantity of duck shot within, that belonged to me; on accusing him of the
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SUBJECTS FOR BOW STREET.
theft he stoutly denied it, saying he had bought it from a store up the river, but I showed him my moko or signature on the linen, on which, as he could not prove this to be a joke, he promised payment, and though I never received one, yet it prevented his return.
A chief boy a servant of mine had at various periods stolen some trifles, of which I was at last informed by his brother, who had hitherto been the principal receiver; this was not reported to me from any compunctious feelings of sensitive morality, but solely because a native cannot keep a secret. I had no means of tasking the boy with his faults, as he ran away on finding his conduct known, but at dusk he returned and prayed the housekeeper to intercede for him, admitting he had formerly taken a little now and then, but that he had been particularly watchful no other person had done so. As I believed this to be the fact, I re-admitted him into my employ, at the same time for the sake of the native laws, I sent for his father and demanded a payment for the misdemeanour of his son to which he immediately acceded; but I have never been enabled to tender a receipt, not having seen any of the promised fare.
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TRICKS IN TRADE.
Anecdotes innumerable can be stated on this subject, but the tricks or thieving in trade are not the least ingenious.
Among other subsequent purchases besides flax and ship stores, I was employed collecting a quantity of spars, for ships' masts, yards, &c, logs, for sawing into plank, and rickers or trunks of trees, of narrow diameter but great length. On my first arrival in the country, a brisk trade was kept up between the natives and myself, for the latter timber, and all that I purchased were placed within a railing that admitted the timber at flood tide, and was dry at the ebb. Various methods were put in practice to sell me the same rickers several times over. They were at first brought their entire length with the bark on the trees. At midnight, if the tide suited, and the heavy fogs in the river screened them from detection, the sellers would purloin and cut them shorter, and again present them for sale, having also erased the mark I had previously put on them; this would pass, when they were again perhaps taken out of the dock, the bark knocked off, and thus denuded; in company with some new rickers, they were again re-purchased. From the quantity of similar rickers in the dock, numbers of them sinking below the surface of the water,
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A PRECEPT OF SOLOMON.
and the impossibility of properly securing a dock at that period, rendered detection or the safe keeping of these small rickers a matter of great difficulty.
I discovered these manoeuvres one night during a dank heavy fog, that rendered every thing around invisible, by the quarrelling of two of the marauders as to which spar should be taken. I discharged a fowling piece without ball in that direction, and the talking instantly ceased, a canoe was paddled away with eager velocity. I discharged two more pieces, similarly loaded, and the report was spread among the villagers, which put an end to this pilfering.
On my enquiring of a native chief, who had been discovered in an act of theft, if the native deities would not punish the people for such bad conduct, he replied: "O no! on earth they were accustomed to do the same, and parents delight in children following their example." When the natives found that Europeans purchased flax by weight, which they usually made up in baskets, a number of heavy stones were sometimes secreted to add to the weight.
A small bag of lime was at one time stolen from me, on the supposition that it was flour. The robbers soon discovered their mistake.
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A NATIVE PACHA.
A respectable chief called to pay me a visit during the kumera harvest; he appeared all smiles and condescension, and prolonged his stay for some time, conversing on trade, native politics, the Atua nui, &c. I left him for a moment to give an order to a servant, when, shortly after my return, he rose to bid me adieu, and strutted off with the dignity of a pacha, to whom he bore the greater resemblance, as two tails, comprising the legs of a pair of pantaloons that claimed me as owner, hung down from within and below his blanket. I gently tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed to this inexpressible breach of good faith, and my unmentionable loss; but he turned round with great sang froid and an expressive wink, pointing to his slaves, that his consequence might not be lowered in their estimation, and gave me the green talc ornament round his neck as a pledge of payment; he had the propriety to send a large hog as an acknowledgment for his appropriation. Slaves, in thieving from each other, only take satisfaction in a mutual sparring match, which is performed by mauling and kicking each other, that is, if the parties mutually possess equal courage; but, to the southward, it is the interest of either of the aggrieved to be mutually silent, especially at scant periods, when provi-
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------- V. -------
sions are scarce or ripening; for the chiefs at such periods are strictly severe in putting the laws in execution, and, fearful amid contrary evidence that the guilty should escape, orders are issued to have them both killed instanter, often before the merits of the case are heard; --the chiefs notions of morality at such times, often cause himself to become the executioner of his own mandates. The European jurist will call to mind the threadbare anecdote illustrative of the self-denial of the profession in lucrative matters, on the judgment given on the oyster, which was pronounced a remarkably fat one, and the court awarded a shell for each who contested for the fish.
Few private robberies are committed on the residents on shore, in comparison to those committed on board ships, where some masters allow all classes to run about the vessels under their command, either in the cabin, midships, or forecastle. The heavy expense thus incurred falls on the owners. I have seen on board some ships, which have lain in port a month and seven weeks at a time, three several companies of natives partake of the daily meals. Many shipmasters boast how much more reasonably they are enabled to barter with the natives for provisions, than with the resident Europeans, and
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HABITS, PRACTICES, ETC.
will not believe that the temptations afforded the New Zealanders for putting their favourite propensities in practice, is a sufficient inducement for them to give much of their produce as a present or bribe for admittance. It must be added, that some shipmasters are fully alive to the vicious practices of the crews under their command, but from the arduous duties of a whaling master, they are obliged to connive at immoralities in which they do not partake. On board the ship, "City of Edinburgh," that cast her anchor in the river Hokianga, a native was seen running down the side of the vessel, with the ship's large tea-kettle full of boiling water, concealed (as he supposed,) under his blanket, and bobbing against his naked body; others employed themselves in stealing with their fingers the hot meat out of the boiling coppers, thus, putting themselves and keeping their visitors in hot water, stealing many other articles whose use they knew not, and which were quite valueless to them.
These robberies are generally committed by the common people and slaves, but for the especial benefit, and with the cognizance of the chiefs.
Notwithstanding the above traits of the pilfering disposition of the natives, there are moments when a host of political associations will
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POLICY OF A CHIEF,
induce them to persist in a totally contrary conduct.
The following circumstance was told me by Kouwai, alias William Korokoro, eldest son of the warrior Korokoro, and grandson to the principal actor in the disastrous affair of Marion. The period it occurred, was about the year 1812.
A whale ship anchored in Paroa Bay, and the inhabitants, as usual, flocked on board. When sufficient refreshments, wood, and water had been procured on board, the anchor was weighed; at this moment the master discovered that a knife was missing from the dinner-table, and accused the chief of stealing it, which was untrue; the master insisted, and in a scuffle that ensued, Korokoro was stabbed with a sailor's knife in the shoulder. Had the vessel been filled with natives, doubtless they would have taken her as satisfaction for the insult. She immediately stood out to sea, not before the knife was found under the cabin table.
The vessel was soon out of sight. Stung to madness, the infuriated chief presented himself to his people on shore, loudly demanding to be revenged by an attack on the first vessel that should arrive. But Korokoro repented, and after his fury subsided, he changed his inten-
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HIS GOOD CONDUCT.
tions, as it would be the means of ships in future avoiding the place.
Two years after the occurrence, a vessel arrived commanded by the same master, and cast anchor in the cove. He was immediately recognised by the chief, who did not allude to the circumstance until a large force of his countrymen arrived on board; he then threw off his mat, previously advertising his people that he intended to kia mataku, or frighten the white man; he and his companions now danced the abominable war dance, and then showed the scar occasioned by the wound the master had formerly given to him. After terrifying the man by stripping themselves naked, and making the usual horrid gesticulations and postures, the warrior went up to him, pressed his nose, and was ever after on the most friendly terms.
The wily chief was aware that any barbarity committed on his part would probably have been visited by the vengeance of the white people.
Though instances of theft can be multiplied ad infinitum, yet during my several travels and voyages, attended solely by these people, in various parts of their country, during which period they had actual possession of articles belonging to me, that are deemed as invaluable
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PORT JACKSON IN NEW ZEALAND.
to them as gold is accounted by the civilised man, yet to my knowledge, I do not remember missing a single trifle, and really believe, had a party of the friends of those persons with whom I travelled attempted to rob me, my escort would have defended myself and property with their lives.
At one period, when travelling, I put up for the night in a village, the chief of which I had never seen before. My bedding and trunk were placed in his charge.
A native friend, whom I had been acquainted with for a length of time, resided in a small farm of his own at a short distance, which he had dignified with the borrowed title of Por Hakina, or Port Jackson. He requested me to see his plantations; I went with him accordingly, and commended the appearance of his family-- children, farm and stock. I had not been long employed in viewing the lions of the farm, when we perceived some natives running towards us, with terror depicted in their countenances; they told me that the property I had left in the village was stolen, and not an article left. I hastily left the place, heartily wishing Port Jackson at Jericho, and on perceiving the chief, demanded in wrath the cause of such a breach of hospitality; he answered me with a long-continued laugh at my expense, and my servant
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MATRIMONIAL OFFERS.
whispered in my ear, it was only a joke of the chief. I entered the hut, and found every thing placed as I had left them. The chief bade me sit down, and he would tell me why he had excited my needless alarm. He said it had come to his knowledge, that my worthy friend, Kapa, the proprietor of Port Jackson, had inveigled me to his village, less to show his plantations, than to provide a husband for his daughter; and he thought such a proposal would excite my anger, and that I should naturally wish to patronise the village where I had been so hospitably treated. He, therefore, presumed to observe, his own daughter should supply that place, and that his rank in society was so much superior to his neighbour, who he proceeded to add, was the most abominable excrescence that defaced the earth; that he felt assured a glance at their relative situations would be sufficient to decide my intentions. This casuist then proceeded to describe, in glowing terms, the various excellencies that his daughter possessed; and that to see her made the wife of a European chief, was the dearest wish of his heart, formed from her earliest infancy. I could not testify any surprise at the offer, as these nuptial agreements are regarded as innocent and honourable among the people. I did not act wholly free from wrong,
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EUROPEAN APATHY.
in descending to a falsehood, by telling the old gentleman who was so anxious to bestow the honours of paternity towards me, that I was a tapued person, and consequently, on the score of nuptial affection, there was no vacancy at the time being; but the old man's importunities were not to be so easily subdued; he said I was a pakeha maori, or native white man, and that as I had adopted their country and language, I ought to conform to native customs; that I had no lady of my complexion in the country, and that if ever he went to Port Jackson, he would turn to the white man's customs, and set me an example by taking a white wife. This corollary of the native ethics did not prevail, and I soon after turned into my hut and fell asleep, while my self-constituted relative was logically proving I ought to keep awake and confirm the relationship.
The obstinacy and sullenness of the people is unbounded. It is an invariable rule in expeditions undertaken for mutual defence, that they act opposed to each other and their general interest.
Instead of keeping together in silent bodies to avoid exposure, each party straggles about, chattering like apes congregated to discuss their political affairs; thus, if one chief alone is bent on doing mischief, nobody can restrain him.
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SULLENNESS, OBSTINACY, ETC.
In all their affairs, except the war council, where seldom more than one speaker detains the audience, every one is noisy, and all is confusion, each giving an opinion which is not listened to by his neighbours, who are similarly employed at the same moment giving theirs.
The females, whose pleasing volubility exceeds that of their sex (if possible,) elsewhere, are particularly clamorous; --the whole animated group running to and fro.
New Zealanders of either sex, if addressed somewhat sharply, either become infuriated with passion, or turn to a fit of sullenness, covering their heads within their garments, falling into a fit of tears, and moaning as if the direst misfortunes had fallen on kith and kin; if this surly behaviour is animadverted on, fresh lamentations, and frequently the muscle shell for goring the visage is made use of; --the best treatment is to let them have a hearty cry undisturbed.
A short time since, the eldest wife of the late chief, Titore, was planting within a fence, adjoining my garden at Kororarika Bay; a slave girl had been committing some trifling fault, when the old chieftess, sister to E'Ongi, called her to account. It was in vain, the girl threw herself on the ground and began to sob; every
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MANNERS, HABITS.
thing that could arouse her to speak was said, but to no purpose. The expressions of the mistress were abominable, calling out to her people to bring her a hatchet to cut this slave's head off, and describing to the poor wretch how she should be devoured. She at length began to drag the girl by her long hair, on which I jumped across the fence and took the irritated woman away.
The people are exceedingly alive to shame, even on subjects that would not affect the equanimity of the European.
To be refused a present he has requested in presence of a rival in rank is seldom forgotten by the insulted man.
A party of friends connected with Manu, a chief of the Waimate, called on me with a quantity of hogs, and other provisions; I gave them such articles as they wanted, and they expressed their satisfaction. They were on the point of leaving the store when Manu entered and conversed with the party on their purchases, who stated they had tapued a piece of sheet lead of large dimensions, which they would redeem as early as they arrived from inland. Manu advised them to take it then but they excused themselves saying, this was their first transaction, and they were satisfied with their payment. I told Manu
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SLAVES AND SLAVERY.
it should be kept apart for his friends. But he called for assistance, and had the lead thrown outside the store, when it was quickly placed in a canoe, and paddled from the place. Manu pretended great indignation at being refused to have his own way, but whispered to me he would pay for it. The party who did take the lead, paid some months after, and the transaction raised the importance of the chief, which was all he wanted.
The situation of a slave or taurekareka is less burthensome to the northward than it was within a very few years back.
Slaves are persons who have been taken in actual war, or in a predatory excursion, where a village has been surprised and captures made. The victor or master has full power over the life and body of his servant; When the slaves meet, they weep and sob for hours together, with anguished hearts, the loss of those they loved, the happy times they formerly enjoyed, that can never again return, and their own captivity among those who have feasted on the bodies of their dearest friends, and who thirst for their blood with cannibal voracity. They cut deep gashes in their bodies with muscle shells, as each thought of the past is brought in gloomy review before their afflicted minds.
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SLAVERY IN ENGLAND.
Children born to chiefs by slave wives generally lose their attaint. When a principal chief is taken prisoner alive, he is generally ransomed, but ever after, even among his friends during a quarrel, he is twitted for having been a slave, however transient might have been the time of his captivity.
Between this class of the New Zealanders, there is some resemblance to the twelf hindi and twi hindi or inferior people, that existed among our Saxon ancestors in England and in the northern kingdoms of Europe; the value of whom amounted to two hundred shillings, and if they were murdered, the assassin was mulct about thirty shillings. Few people of the United Kingdom are aware how many hundreds of bond people there are in England at the present hour, whose bodies belong as surely to the service of the lord of the manor, as ever slavery or anything akin to it existed in the times of the Confessor.
Captive chiefs, who have lived unredeemed for years among their captors, generally intermarry with the principal females of the tribe, and in after years, when taking a journey to see the relatives from whose society they were originally severed, seldom or ever rejoin them. They are in fact regarded as belonging to another tribe. Should a slave be caught making his
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OUTLAWRY.
escape he is regarded as outlawed, and any person may kill him.
An occurrence of this kind, came to my knowledge while I resided in the vicinity of the East Cape.
A slave had joined his master in paying a visit to a distant village, where the bondsman recognised his wife, who was also a slave in the village. The man proposed a plan of escape to his wife, who readily consented; in a little while they effected their departure from the place, and in making their way through a wood, they were espied by a native belonging to the village, which they had just left; the stranger deliberately levelled his piece, and shot the poor man dead; the woman he tore away from the dead body of her husband, and conveyed back to his village as a wife for himself. The murderer raised his consequence by the act, for the hapless wretch that was murdered being a slave, and the murderer a chief, nothing could be done, as it was agreeable to the law of the country.
The slaves that were brought from the southward by E'Ongi were very numerous.
Tarria a powerful chief and one of the warriors, landed at Tepuna in the Bay of Islands, with several of the bondsmen in his canoe. On landing, this chief had three slaves killed and
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TARRIAS' RENOVATION.
cooked for refreshment. I was informed by Mr. Butler, junior, that his parent who was a member of the Church Missionary Society at that period, even fell upon his knees to save the remaining miserable wretches. The cannibal consented with great apparent complacency, but much annoyed that he was not allowed to take his favourite repasts in quiet, he removed, after dinner, and bade adieu to the missionaries, who it must be admitted, he invariably protected with his authority. On reaching the Waimate, sixteen miles inland, now belonging to the Church Missionary Society, he had three more slaves killed, and feasted to his heart's content, until his stock, originally about forty slaves, were all devoured.
After sufficient time for digestion, this remorseless glutton felt himself renovated, and open to join any new excursion, where the exploits would be probably attended with results similar to the last.
It has often happened that slaves have escaped, and by continual additions to their party from different villages, have formed a community or tribe among themselves.
The Wakatoa tribe at Opotiki, bearing north of the volcano Wakari, in the Bay of Plenty, have sprung from such runaways. These latter fel-
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SLAVERY LAWS.
lows amount to three hundred fighting men. The elected chief resided for some time in the Bay of Islands. While there he invited the master of a colonial trader, the "John Dunscombe," in 1834, to sail to his settlements, promising him a full cargo of flax. The master did so, accompanied by the chief. On the bar of the river Opotiki, there was scarce sufficient water, and the vessel struck heavily several times in getting over. As soon as she was in deep water, the natives came on board and stripped the vessel of everything portable, leaving the bare hull only. After causing the crew to undergo many hardships, the ship was at last permitted to leave, almost a wreck. By dint of refitting at the river Thames, the "Dunscombe" arrived at the Bay of Islands, and underwent a thorough repair.
Slaves are often sold or exchanged among the natives, and sometimes the masters will discharge and allow them to go away free.
Slaves sold to Europeans are not virtually the property of the latter, as has been instanced in many cases, the slave running away to the village of his former master, who extends his protection to him.
The price of slaves differs much; a small hatchet would have purchased three or four of them in 1814, but twenty years later a single
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CHARACTER OF SLAVES.
individual in the Bay of Islands, was worth thirty times that amount. Seamen running away from ships are often made slaves. The "Waterloo," and the "Harriet," were both wrecked off Taranaki; the master, wife and two children, together with the crew, of one of the vessels were taken prisoners by the natives, who treated them all in a cruel manner. Several were murdered, cooked and devoured, and the heads preserved. H. M. S. "Alligator," Captain Lambert, sailed to their assistance, and had great difficulty in preserving his ship from being wrecked on a dead lee shore. After some skirmishing with the natives who acted with their usual treachery, he recovered the survivors. Much praise was due to Captain Lambert for the address with which he performed the arduous service. Some of the heads of the murdered seamen were found preserved by the usual process.
Slaves are the most annoying of the several classes in the country; having no character to gain or lose, they subject the commercial trader to much inconvenience.
Slaves who die by disease are seldom devoured, but hastily flung either into the sea or a hole, where the dogs often feed upon the remains. Slaves are also termed kuki, from the English
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SLAVERY, ITS DRAWBACKS.
word cook, the occupations of the culinary art being confined principally to that class of people.
A runaway slave who leaves the camp of his master, to give information to the enemy, stands but little chance of preferment, as the moment he has finished his narrative to the invaders, his audience rush forward to make him their prisoner, and in the scuffle for precedence a friendly person dashes his head with a tomahawk, that each may partake of the body. In such cases the wild savages struggle with impetuous fury, each striving to apportion to himself the largest share of the feast. The slaves, from the little discipline they are kept in, are important drawbacks to the moral improvement of the people.
They are not less given to the abominable art of lying than the chiefs or freemen, and they fabricate inventions that have also been additional causes towards the present depopulated state of the country.
The population of this extensive country is very limited. Cook and later navigators observe that the number of inhabitants bears no proportion to the extent of country. The North Island has the most extensive population, and the causes mentioned under colonization, of the decrease of the aborigines, I am inclined to think might meet with the benign approval of Miss
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DILAPIDATED FORTIFICATIONS.
Martineau, and sensibly relieve the mind of Mr. Malthus.
The habits and manners of the natives of the two islands, differ much.
To the southward of 42 deg., on the west coast, few natives are found, and those that live some degrees to the northward, are mostly dispersed in small parties, and seem destitute of those advantages that are possessed by the islanders of Eainomawe. Those living away from the vicinity of Europeans to the south, lead a life of misery; harassed, unsocial, and uncomfortable, like the Arab in the inspired writings; the men are care-worn, the women as ordinary as the sex can well be, and worn down by early anxiety, hunger, increasing degradation, and incessant fear and misery.
Observant navigators, who have frequented the coast of the southern islands, are struck with the fact of not being able to recollect the faces of their native visitors whom they had seen on previous voyages, they having either migrated elsewhere, or had been driven away by stronger parties. Deserted habitations are presented in every direction, and moss-covered fortifications whose fences trail on the ground, are inhabited solely by the feathered race.
The chief, Raupara, of Kapiti or Entry Island,
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ATROCITIES OF EUROPEANS.
has been one of the principal actors in this desolation. He has enacted the part of E'Ongi, in the southern districts.
Equal to that renowned chief in cunning, valour, cannibalism, and good fortune, but possessing a more treacherous disposition, he has been a principal means of weakening his country in the event of foreign invasion.
The wide and dangerous passage of the streights has been no barrier to this man, who has proved an insatiable destroyer to the tribes around.
It must be added that many masters of colonial trading vessels have, for the paltry interested consideration of a few tons of flax, done everything that villany could devise to aid these miserable savages, in destroying each other. A man, if he deserves the appellative, named Stewart, commanded a brig called the "Elizabeth," and sailed from Port Jackson in 1831; he directed his course to Cook's Streight, in search of flax to fill his vessel. On arriving at the flax district, he inquired for the article he was in quest of, when the natives told him, if he would help them to destroy their enemies, his assistance should be rewarded with a cargo of flax. The perfidious wretch instantly agreed, took as passengers a large number of native warriors, and sailed for
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ATROCITY OF A EUROPEAN.
Banks Peninsula. On arriving off the coast, Stewart decoyed the principal chiefs and families on board, when they were immediately put in confinement. A great number of the natives of the district were thus decoyed, put to death with tortures, and actually cooked in the ship's coppers, and when the inhabitants could no longer be induced to go on board the floating Golgotha, Stewart and the natives went on shore, destroyed all they could find, and set fire to the villages.
The horror of the poor captured wretches, when they found themselves betrayed by a white man, in whose tribes they had always trusted, is not to be described.
The head chief, a venerable old man, it is currently reported, was nailed alive to a staunchion in the cabin, while the body of his son, in a cooked state, was devoured before him. Other cruelties practised are too disgusting to be mentioned. The authorities in Port Jackson took notice of the crime, and the horrid details were sent home to the Colonial Secretary; it was received with the usual expression of English sympathy, regarded as monstrous and very shocking, and no more was said about it. The ruffian who committed the villainy was allowed to escape; he left Sydney in the same vessel in which he commit-
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HUMANITY OF GENERAL DARLING.
ted those enormities. Another master of a schooner, of the same name as the above inhuman fellow, also trafficked in similar commodities. The sensibility of the latter Stewart would only permit him to deal in preserved heads, in which he created such a scarcity in the market, that the natives were induced to fight to preserve the heads of the conquered, and finally obliged Governor Darling, of New South Wales, to issue a humane order against the importation of such disgusting traffic to a civilised man. The conduct of this man was such that his life would be forfeited if he made his appearance on many parts of the coast. This disgraceful conduct, to say the least of it, has been dearly visited on many white men. I was nearly sacrificed, together with a small vessel I chartered, by the natives in Tolaga Bay on my first arrival among them, which I could only attribute to the conduct of masters of ships, who had preceded me on this part of the coast.
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