1830 - Craik, George L. The New Zealanders - Chapter XVII

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CHAPTER XVII.

Unacquainted as the New Zealanders are with anything deserving the name of science, and insignificant as is the progress they have made in the arts, their intellectual powers are evidently of a superior order. Such of them as have come in contact with European civilization have in general manifested extraordinary quickness and tact in catching its spirit, and adapting themselves to the new opinions and manners to which they were introduced. And all that we are told of them shews acuteness, reflection, readiness, fertility of resources, and the other faculties and habits of mind that go to make up a commanding intellectual organization. As Duaterra remarked to Mr. Nicholas upon one occasion, "New Zealand man no fool." In the few arts which are known among them, as we have already seen, they display exceeding neat-handed-ness and ingenuity, and even no contemptible portion of taste and elegance. Nor are they without a genius for the higher exercises of the imagination. Their music is spoken of as superior to that of many of the other South Sea islands; they possess a body of national poetry, which is constantly receiving additions as new events awaken the fancy of their bards; and eloquence in the council is as indispensable a qualification of their chiefs and warriors as valour in the field. Among all orders of the people much time is spent in conversation, in which they discuss the general concerns of the tribe, taking, as might be expected, especial interest in whatever relates to their chief and his family. But other topics also

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obtain their eager attention, whenever they enjoy the rare opportunity of acquiring any information respecting what lies beyond the very bounded sphere of their own experience and traditionary knowledge. Mr. Marsden, who, during his several journies through the interior of the country, saw more of their domestic habits than any one else who has attempted to give us a picture of New Zealand society, found them every where both ready and anxious to listen to him, when he addressed them even on what may be called scientific subjects, and most intelligent in the questions they asked him, and the remarks they made. After the work of the day was over, they used to crowd around him in the evenings to hear him dispense to them the wisdom of Europe; and not only agriculture and navigation, but the general principles of geography and astronomy were often the matter of his discourse, which would sometimes run far into the night before his auditors were weary, or thought of repose. Nor was it found by any means impossible or difficult to convince them of the folly of some of their prejudices, when the reason of the thing admitted of being plainly stated to them. In his visit to Tiami, for example, Mr. Marsden had a great deal of conversation with the chiefs, and took an opportunity of arguing with them about several of the native customs and superstitions. Among other things, "they said," writes the reverend gentleman, "that some time ago one of their tribe went on board a ship, where he ate some provisions, contrary to their customs; when their god, in his anger, slew a great many of them. I inquired in what manner those that died were affected. They represented their tongues to be foul, and their whole bodies in a burning heat. The natives, supposing the heat which they experienced to proceed from a secret fire within them, threw off all their mats, drank and

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bathed in cold water, and exposed themselves, as much as they could, to the cold; under the idea that cold would quench the heat which they felt. We informed them that this was the way to increase the heat, and to kill them; and that, instead of exposing themselves to the cold, they should have kept themselves warm, in order to make them perspire; as the perspiration would carry off the burning heat from the body, and not cold air and water. They laughed at this idea, and supposed that this would increase their complaint. I then asked them if they remembered at any time, when they perspired freely, feeling that burning heat in their bodies which they mentioned; after some reflection and consultation together, they thought, from what they felt when they perspired freely, that we might be right in our opinion." They afterwards asked Mr. Marsden to explain to them, upon his principles, how Duaterra came to die--an event which they themselves had never thought of attributing to any other cause than the vengeance of the Atua, which, having got within him, had devoured his entrails; and on a true account of the disease which had carried him off being given to them, they appeared to be convinced that it was really more reasonable than their own notion.

They are much less disposed, however, than most other uncivilized tribes, and the fact is greatly to the credit of their thinking powers, to receive any opinion merely upon the assertion even of a white man. Upon all subjects they question and cross-question those who attempt to instruct them, until they are satisfied with the explanation given. Naturally suspicious, a consequence partly of the inquisitive and penetrating character of their understandings, and much accustomed themselves to conceal the object they actually have in view, and to proceed to it by an indirect course, they generally

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endeavour very anxiously, when they meet with a stranger, to ascertain the motives of any conduct they see him pursue. They must have a reason for every thing. When Mr. Marsden went to see the Shukehanga people, the first inquiry they made was what was the object of his visit. And when he afterwards began to converse with them about the geography of their country, and other topics on which he desired information, they maintained the same guarded manner. If a question was asked, they generally took care, before answering it, to inquire for what reason it was put. Any inquiry, for example, about the distance of a particular place in the island, was sure to be met in the first instance by the counter-interrogation, What do you want to know for? or, Are you going there?

Many of the New Zealanders are well acquainted with the geography of their own country. Notwithstanding the want of roads, they are accustomed to traverse the islands in all directions. Among the Indians of America it is incumbent upon the individual who aspires to the dignity of a chief or captain, to give proof, among his other accomplishments, of being well versed in this species of knowledge, 1 This acquirement, it is easy to understand, must be of the first importance to him whose duty it is to act as leader of his countrymen through the trackless woods of America, both in their warlike expeditions, and in those migrations from one station to another which they are in the constant habit of making merely to procure food. It is probable that most of the New Zealand chiefs, in like manner, make a study of the topography of their native island. Toogee, it will be recollected, drew a map of it for Governor King; Korro-korro another for Mr. Nicholas; and Tupai Cupa pointed out the limits of his own territories to Dr. Traill. These performances,

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although, of course, far from being perfectly accurate, exhibited the general form of the country with considerable truth, and professed also to indicate its principal rivers, mountains, and political divisions. Like other rude nations, who spend much of their time in the open air, the New Zealanders have an experimental acquaintance with the phenomena of external nature, which serves them in place of science, and in certain cases, indeed, enables them to judge as certainly, and much more quickly, than science could do. Thus, by a glance at the position of the sun during the day, or of the stars at night, they can at any season of the year tell the points with the accuracy of a compass; and, in looking for distant and obscure objects, they will often make the discovery with the naked eye before a European could with the aid of a good glass. 2 Their sight, indeed, is singularly acute; and is seldom affected even by that soreness and inflammation of the eyes which is common among them, owing probably to the freedom with which they expose their heads to the cold. When the officers of the Dromedary went to shoot in the woods, they had great difficulty in finding the pigeons, from the thickness of the foliage in which they concealed themselves; but their native attendants pointed them out with the greatest facility. This quickness of sight is common to most savages, and is probably an effect of hereditary habit. It is said that some Indians possessed it to such a degree, that they could ward off the coming arrow with their own bow. 3 The New Zealanders, by the accuracy of their observations, predict the changes of the weather with extraordinary skill. One evening, when Captain Cruise and some of his friends were returning from a long excursion up one of the rivers, although the sky was at the time without a cloud, a

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native, who sat in the boat with them, remarked that there would be heavy rain the next day; a prediction which they were more inclined to believe by finding, when they returned on board the ship, that the barometer had fallen very much, and which the deluge of the following morning completely confirmed. We do not find any instance recorded amongst them of that acute smell which distinguishes the North American savages, and which is generally accompanied by an extraordinary largeness of the nasal organ. 4 The reason of this may be that the New Zealanders have no wild beasts to hunt, so that the faculty has not been developed in any peculiar manner, as amongst tribes who maintain themselves wholly by the chase.

Several of the most conspicuous deformities of the New Zealand character originate in the abuse and perversion of intellectual powers, which, properly trained, would carry them forward rapidly in the career of social improvement and happiness. They are not a people sunk in sloth, and abandoned to an enervating luxury, as has been found to be the condition of some savage tribes. On the contrary, although, as we have seen, full of sensibility and warmth of heart, their chief enjoyment is in activity and enterprise--in the toils, the dangers, and the other coarse but stirring excitements of war. From this active, restless, and ardent constitution of mind, however, spring many of their vices, as well as their virtues--not only their hardihood, and exemption from effeminacy, but their turbulence, their ferocity, their love of blood, and whatever else is in the popular sense of the word most savagein their disposition and manners. With less intellectual acuteness and energy, they would be in many respects less revoltingly barbarous. Their cunning, also, would be less refined and insidious; and they would not be

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so much given to suspicion, jealousy, dissimulation, lying, and calumny. All these faults indicate the deficiency not so much of intellect as of moral principle; or, rather, they are the fruits of intellectual powers allowed to grow up wild, and without their natural and requisite nourishment. They are such as are not unfrequently seen in clever children, whose training has been little attended to. Even the most respectable of the chiefs are often not to be trusted on their most solemn affirmation; and in speaking of each other, in particular, they are accustomed to indulge in the wildest excesses of falsehood and slander. Yet the very individuals who deal thus freely in mutual invectives and misrepresentations behind each other's backs, are, face to face, apparently the best friends imaginable. On one occasion, Tupee and Korro-korro having met on the deck of the Active, the former touched noses with the latter with the greatest shew of cordiality, and nothing could seemingly be more sincere than the pleasure he professed at seeing his dear friend. But no sooner had Korro-korro taken his departure, than his brother chief began to traduce him with the most immoderate virulence, painting his whole character in the blackest colours, and relating every story he could think of or invent to his discredit. 5 Some moralists would have us believe that such hypocrisy and duplicity as this belong only to the corruptions of a highly advanced state of society; but it will be found that, in refinements of such easy attainment, savage life abounds as much as civilization.

We have already recorded several examples of the profound deceit with which the New Zealanders manage their plots for the destruction of an enemy. On other occasions they shew the same slyness and subtlety, accompanied sometimes with an archness and easy impudence almost without parallel in the

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various modifications of the civilized character. Of this we may quote an instance which fell under Cook's observation one day when he was purchasing some fish from the natives in Queen Charlotte's Sound. "When we were upon this traffic," says he, "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 him what I had lost. He seemed quite ignorant and innocent till I took it from him; and 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 that we remained good friends, and he accompanied me on board to dinner." 6

On the other hand, the New Zealanders owe to this quickness, penetration, and flexibility of mind, some of their best and most promising qualities. Instead of the stupid indifference which many other rude nations shew, in regard to matters in which they have not been accustomed to take an interest, curiosity is one of the strongest passions of the people. We have seen what toils and endurances of every description many of them have undergone in order to view with their own eyes those wonders of distant lands, of which they had merely heard in the relations of others. No greater zeal, at least, and spirit of enterprise have been displayed by the travellers and voyagers of the most enlightened nations. Cook seems to have been at first somewhat at a loss what opinion to form as to this part of the character

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of the New Zealanders, some of whom seemed to take the liveliest interest in the novelties which wera shewn to them, while others looked on with apparently the greatest apathy, or hardly took the trouble of looking at all. He mentions, in particular, a man whom they found alone in a canoe fishing, when they made their appearance for the first time in the strait between the two islands, and who, when they rowed up to him, much to their astonishment took not the least notice of their approach, continuing to follow his occupation, even when they were alongside of him, without turning an eye to them any more than if they had been invisible. But this, there can be little doubt, was merely an artful attempt to act an indifference which was not felt. The shew of apathy was too obstinately maintained to be the effect of anything else than design. In general, the New Zealanders crowd around whatever is strange to them, with the liveliest wonder, and the greatest avidity to learn its use or nature.

In pursuing our review of the state of society in New Zealand, and the peculiarities of the national character, it is necessary to notice shortly the station which the women occupy, and the manner in which they are treated. We have already had occasion to introduce some of the females of highest rank as at one time engaged in the labours of agriculture, and at another distinguishing themselves in warlike exercises, or accompanying their husbands to the field of battle, to fight by their sides. Shungie's blind queen, it may be remembered, used to figure occasionally in all these capacities. It would appear, however, from what Rutherford states, that the women who follow a military expedition are not in general expected to take an active part in the combat; but attend only for the purpose of helping their husbands to their arms, acting as their nurses if they should be wounded, and

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receiving and taking charge of the heads they cut off. But although the duty of fighting is discharged principally by the men, the women take at least their share in most of the other descriptions of labour. The cultivation of the fields, especially, and the gathering in of the produce, seem to be principally their occupations. They also paddle the canoes occasionally as well as the men, and assist in curing the fish for the general stock; and they are the chief operators in dressing and spinning the flax, and in the manufacture of mats.

Yet, with the exception, perhaps, of the chiefs and professed warriors, who would probably disdain to engage in any meaner occupation than that of arms, it does not appear that the men are in the habit, as in some barbarous countries, of devolving the common toils of life exclusively upon the women. The latter seem to be far removed, for example, from that state of subjection and wretchedness which is described as their lot among many of the African, and even among some of the American savages. In most of their labours the men take at least some share, although perhaps not quite an equal one. Of one important duty, however, the husband relieves the wife almost completely--namely, of the care of the children. As soon as the infant is weaned, it is taught to twine its arms round its father's neck; and so completely does it in a short time acquire the habit of trusting to this support, that, asleep or awake, it remains the whole day thus suspended, protected from the weather by the same mat which covers its parent; and in his longest journeys as well as his most laborious occupations, it is his constant companion. 7

The circumstance, however, which most affects the condition of the women in New Zealand is the prevalence of the custom of polygamy. Almost all the chiefs have more than one wife, most of them

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six or eight; of these there is always one who is accounted the head wife. To this arrangement the weaker sex are said to submit in general quietly enough; but its inconveniences are not unfelt either by them or their husbands. Some of the chiefs admitted to Mr. Marsden that they should have a much quieter house with only one wife; when there were more, they remarked, the women always quarrelled. Debates upon this sometimes took place when the women were present; and they generally seemed to be of opinion that a man should have no more than one wife. When there are a plurality, indeed, their mutual jealousies sometimes rise to a great height. A chief named Riva is mentioned, who for many years had only one wife; but at last he returned from an expedition with another. This event so greatly distressed and enraged the first, that, when, some time after, her rival was delivered of a son, in her vexation and fury she murdered a child of her own which was only a few weeks old. Infanticide, we may remark, is asserted to be of common occurrence in New Zealand. In such a state of society, male is of course much more desired than female offspring; and when a girl is born it is not unfrequently destroyed by the mother, who extinguishes its life by pressing her finger upon the soft part between the joinings of the skull. 8 Even when the rivalship of the women does not produce the same tragical consequences as it did in Riva's household, the presence of the younger, though inferior, wives is often regarded with no favourable eye by the mistress of the family. On visiting Shungie's village one day, Mr. Marsden was received by the three wives of that chief, the principal one of whom was the blind woman who has been already frequently mentioned; and she told him with a smile that Shungie was not so kind in his

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attentions to her as he used to be, since he had brought home the two other ladies.

This system indeed necessarily establishes a tyranny of the stronger sex over the weaker, which, although it may not often shew itself in acts of violence on the part of the one, is sure to keep the other in subjection and degradation. The head wives of the chiefs seem in many cases to enjoy considerable consequence, and women are sometimes chiefs themselves; one in particular is mentioned as queen of a large interior district to the south of the Thames: 9 but still they are under many restraints from which their husbands are free. Among others they are not permitted to marry again should their husbands die; and if this regulation is disregarded by them, as it sometimes is, they are exposed to many indignities which render life hardly endurable. 10 They are generally given in marriage, too, without their own consent being even asked, many of them being in fact prisoners of war; and even the head wife, who is generally her husband's equal in rank, is merely delivered over to him by her father.

Yet even in these unfavourable circumstances a warm attachment often grows up between the parties; and the death of one is lamented by the other with passionate sorrow. The wife is not enjoined, as among the Hindoos, to devote herself on the funeral pile of her husband by any doctrine of the national religion, nor it is even expected that she should give such a proof of her affection; yet it is by no means unusual for her on occasion of her husband's death to commit suicide, in order that her spirit may follow his. Duaterra's favourite wife hanged herself soon after that chief expired; and many other instances of the same kind are mentioned.

The moral character of the females, as well as the

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estimation in which they are held, cannot but suffer considerably from the customs of the country, which, in some places at least, tolerate any degree of abandonment and profligacy before marriage. In New Zealand, as in others of the South Sea Islands, it is only after a woman, by being married, becomes an article of property, that she is considered as guilty of any impropriety in acting as licentiously as she chooses. Yet it is said to be surprising how few instances of misconduct occur on the part of the females after marriage, notwithstanding this extraordinary training.

Both parents are in general fondly attached to their children, and treat them with great kindness and indulgence. Of this Mr. Ellis relates an instance which fell under his observation, during the short time he spent at the Bay of Islands in 1816. One of the chiefs with whom he formed an acquaintance was Tetoro, the same person with whom Captain Cruise some years after sailed from Port Jackson, and of whom he gives so favourable an account. Mr. Ellis went one day to Tetoro's residence to request him to accompany himself on a short excursion they proposed making, which the chief immediately agreed to do. "But before we set out," continues the writer, "an incident occurred which greatly raised my estimation of his character. In the front of the hut sat his wife, and around her playing two or three children. In passing from the hut to the boat Tetoro struck one of the little ones with his foot; the child cried, and though the chief had his mat on, and his gun in his hand, and was in the act of stepping into the boat, where we were waiting for him, he no sooner heard its cries then he turned back, took the child up in his arms, stroked its little head, dried its tears, and, giving it to the mother, hastened to join us." 11 No

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civilization could have improved the tenderness or beauty of this conduct. Nature here spoke from the heart of this untutored barbarian.

The children, indeed, are alleged to be in general spoiled and rendered unmanageable by the overindulgence of the parents; and, doubtless, few of them enjoy the benefit of a very wise corrective discipline. They have also, of course, by right of birth, their share of the audacity and wildness of the intrepid, turbulent, and reckless race to which they belong. No wonder, therefore, that we find them characterized as idle, unsteady, wilful, despising at times even the control of their parents, and, of course, still more difficult to be managed by any one else. But, on the other hand, this comparative freedom from restraint in which they are brought up, among its many evil effects, is not without some advantages. Not only is their whole bearing to an extraordinary degree frank and free from embarrassment; but, in many respects, their intelligence at a very early age surpasses that of the generality of European children. Almost as soon as they leave their mother's breast, their fathers take them with them to the public assemblies, and even on their military expeditions. Hence they acquire a familiarity even with what may be called affairs of state, at an age when children with us are considered hardly more than ready to be sent to school. Mr. Marsden tells us that he has often seen the sons of chiefs, at the age of four or five years, sitting among the chiefs, and paying the closest attention to what was said. At the age of eight or ten years, he adds, they appear to be initiated in all the national customs and manners. The first lessons taught them are to dance the war-dance, to paddle the canoe, and to use the warlike instruments of their country. The son of a great chief is expected to shew his prowess in battle

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at a very early age, if he means to emulate his father's renown; and Captain Cruise mentions that Shungie's son, Repero, had acquired no little ascendancy in his tribe, by having shot a man before he attained his fourteenth year.

The English missionaries have established several schools at their settlements in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands. The first was opened in August, 1816, when an attendance of thirty-three children was immediately obtained, of whom about two-thirds were girls. The number of the boys, however, afterwards increased, till at last it became nearly equal to that of the girls. But it was no easy matter for the teacher to secure anything like regularity of attendance from his restless and wayward pupils. It was soon found, in fact, that every thing depended upon his having it in his power to give them plenty to eat; for neither they nor their parents had any notion of receiving his lessons without some reward for their compliance. Many of the latter, indeed, afterwards began to insist upon being paid for permitting their children to attend the school, by something over and above the maintenance of the young people. The morning and evening were found to be the most convenient times for assembling the pupils, all of whom rose at day-break. For food they generally received a handful of potatoes each, and sometimes a little fish. It was a considerable time before it was found possible to make them comprehend the purpose for which they were brought together; and the first four months passed away in little else than incessant shouting, singing, and dancing. Indeed, after the first month they got tired of the school-room altogether, and the master was obliged to follow them into the woods. By a more liberal expenditure of provisions, however, he at last brought them under more regular government. Still, at the best, the scene

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is described as a somewhat tumultuous one. "While one child," writes Mr. Kendall, the teacher, "is repeating his lesson, another will be playing with my feet, another taking away my hat, and another my book; and all this in the most friendly manner. I cannot be angry with them; but it requires some study how best to introduce some salutary discipline among them."

With all this wildness, however, most of them made a rapid progress in learning to read their native language, in the spelling-book which had been prepared for their use. Their quickness of apprehension, when they could be induced to give their thoughts to their lessons, was found fully to equal that of English children. In course of time the boys were taught writing; in this, also, many of them in a short time attained a most creditable proficiency. The young New Zealanders are described, indeed, by all who have had an opportunity of observing them, as displaying great readiness and ingenuity. When the Active made her appearance at the Bay of Islands, the children of the neighbourhood fitted up a mimic ship in wicker-work, in which the bowsprit, the two masts, and the different ropes of their model, were all carefully copied. 12 Among their acquirements, Mr. Kendall's pupils soon learned from the children of the settlers to spin tops, to fly kites, and other amusements of English schoolboys.

To complete the picture of this singular seminary, we may mention the names of the pupils, all of which are descriptive; and they are in some degree illustrative of the origin of names, generally. One is a word which signifies First year, or born the first year after marriage; another means, Born ten years after the eldest son. A third child was called Atowha,after the name of a tree. Others had their names

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from their tempers; one being designated Atooma,to look a person sternly in the face; another Akahe,to stamp with the foot; another Aweddee,to tremble with rage: and one little fellow was named Pakekooda,which means, to dig fern-root out of red soil, because his grandfather had been killed while so employed. 13

To this, as another illustration of native manners, we may add the account which is given in a letter from Mrs. Williams, the wife of one of the missionaries, of her native household servants:--

"The best of the native girls," writes Mrs. Williams, "if not well watched, would strain the milk with the duster, wash the tea-things with the knife-cloth, or wipe the tables with the flannel for scouring the floor. The very best of them also will, on a hot day, take herself off, just when you may be wishing for some one to relieve you, and swim; after which she will go to sleep for two or three hours. If they are not in a humour to do anything that you tell them, they will not understand you; it is by no means uncommon to receive such an answer as, 'What care I for that!' The moment a boat arrives, away run all the native servants--men, boys, and girls--to the beach. If there is anything to be seen, or anything extraordinary occurs, in New Zealand, the mistress must do the work while the servants gaze abroad; she must not censure them; for if they are 'rangatiras,' they will run away in a pet; and if they are 'cookies,' they will laugh at her, and tell her that she has 'too much of the mouth;' having been forewarned of this, I wait, and work away, till they choose to come back, which they generally do at meal-time." 14