1858 - Shaw, D. D. A gallop to the Antipodes, Returning Overland through India [New Zealand sections only] - Chapter XII. Aborigines of New Zealand, p 192-198

[Image of page 192]

CHAPTER XII.

ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND.

THE aborigines of New Zealand may be classed amongst the most intelligent, sagacious, and sharp-witted savages that ever existed at any age or time. Notwithstanding the immoral influences of early settlers, many of whom, in past times, were drunken whalers, who sought the shores of New Zealand for the express purpose of money making, contaminating them by bad examples; nevertheless, they have not only emerged from barbarism, but possess a moral bearing and a grandeur of character which, in many instances, the white man would do well to follow. Drunkards are very rare amongst them. At the time that Captain Cook first visited them they amounted, it is supposed, to half a million. Mrs. Clifford informed me that Messrs. Wild and Wortley very recently visited pahs capable of holding three hundred, in which they found not more than thirty individuals. It is very probable that they do not amount at the present time to more than 20,000 or 30,000. This dreadful decrease in numbers has not been the want of the fostering hand of the Government; neither has it arisen from lack of energy and zeal on the part of the

[Image of page 193]

missionaries. They have reserves of land, of which they claim the fee simple; they are good cultivators of the soil, construct good boats, have accounts at the hanks, are great lovers of money, and can pull an oar as well as the white man. I heard it stated upon one occasion, that a New Zealander was anxious to be educated, in order to ascertain to what extent the white man robbed him. At the time the war was carried on, our soldiers were anxious for engagement with a party of natives who were very busily occupied in getting in their harvest. They sent the aborigines a challenge to fight. The answer that they received sheds a lustre upon the New Zealand character, as evincing not only physical pluck, but a high moral courage united to great good common-sense, and I very much question if any of the working population of Europe would have delivered a more sparkling reply: "We are too busily employed now getting in our harvest, but as soon as we have finished we are quite ready to fight you." They make excellent policemen. They are remarkably free from the charge of highway robbery. The Superintendent of Wellington informed me that the postman from Auckland, laden with gold, bills of exchange, and other valuables, had to traverse a district in which they abounded, unprotected, without being robbed or even molested. An affray took place in the province of Auckland between the natives and the white population, in which either a native or a white man was killed, This circumstance was near leading to an outbreak between the parties, which, however, was prevented by the opportune interference of Colonel Wynard, who was then

[Image of page 194]

in power, during the absence of the Governor. I believe that he went down in person to the natives, pacified them, and thereby prevented the shedding of blood. They thanked him for his timely interference, promised to keep the peace, and begged of him in case any misunderstanding should arise in future, that he would send no representative, write no letters, but come down to them to discuss the subject with them face to face, head to head. It strikes me that these savages possessed an intuitive knowledge of the many fallacies and thin-skinned logic of diplomacy. The following anecdote I had from the governor of the gaol at Wellington:--

A prisoner escaped. The governor went to a maori convict, who traced the man, gave a signal, humbugged the prisoner with the notion that he had done well in escaping, and that he should have done the same himself and so kept him in conversation until the governor arrived, when the fellow was recaptured.

Mrs. Clifford allowed me to take a copy of the following letter, which was written to Sir George Grey and Mr. St. Hill, a magistrate, by a New Zealand chief, the subject being the loss of his wife:--

[Image of page 195]

Mrs. Clifford assured me that she had witnessed the sudden decline of native girls without any apparent attack from any malady whatever. She described it as a general wasting or breaking-up of the constitution. At Wellington I went to the hospital, to learn some particulars in relation to the natives. I had previously heard that, at a period of time quite recent, the natives, prior to the arrival of the white men, were in a great measure, if not entirely, free from the maladies of the immigrant; and that, after the intermingling of the two races, the white man had communicated all his disorders to the natives, whilst they themselves enjoyed a comparative freedom. This view of the question, however, was entirely contradicted by the present physician of the institution. He informed me that scrofula, and consumption, and inflammation of the lungs, were common diseases of the natives in the year 1840, which statement entirely settles the dispute, as that period was the date of the commencement of the colony, or thereabouts. A remittent fever, ending with typhoid symptoms, with haki haki, a kind of New Zealand itch, he considered as an endemic disorder of the country. He fully concurred in the general statement that the natives were fearfully declining, but remarked at the same time that he had hopes of its being stayed, as he believed at Taupo there was a healthier

[Image of page 196]

race. At Wanganui I visited several of their residences with one of the missionaries. I was much struck with the skill and taste displayed in their ornamentation and carvings in wood outside their habitations, and the more so when I learnt that the only article employed was a simple nail. The crops under cultivation at Wanganui were the best I had seen up to that period. At the time of my visit to Wanganui, Mr. Taylor, the missionary, had gone to a distant part to act as mediator between two native tribes who were threatening each other with all the horrors of war. The assistant of Mr. Taylor informed me that he believed the Roman Catholics had fomented the quarrel between the hostile tribes, in order to make merchandise of them in a religious point of view, or, in other words, to get them into the confessional. The Roman Catholics were most assiduous in their exertions to make native converts to their own creed, and the manner in which they appealed to the natives was well calculated to carry out their views. They constructed mills for the natives without charge, and then begged of them to give them an equivalent in simply coming to the mass, and afterwards to the confessional. To what extent they have proselytized the aborigines I am not able to assert. I questioned the assistant missionary as to the education of the maoris, who informed me that they had a school; but at the time that I visited them the scholars were unfortunately either at home, or else employed in cultivating the grounds. He informed me that they had some difficulty in getting them to school. He spoke of them as possessing a disposition of the most mercurial kind, having much

[Image of page 197]

difficulty in keeping them for a length of time to any one particular subject. As Christians he spoke of them in the highest terms. He informed me that he had numbers of these savages as communicants at the sacrament, who sixteen or seventeen years ago would have been but too delighted to have made a hearty meal of his precious person, as they then considered human flesh as the greatest possible bonne bouche. He stated that one of the natives had not only been converted, but had turned preacher, and possessed an eloquence and fervour rarely surpassed by the white man. He informed me that a military gentleman had a mistress, whom he at length abandoned, as is usually the case with those unfortunates. Some young maori had illicit intercourse with her, for which they were expelled the pah, or, in other words, excommunicated in the aboriginal sense of the word. The chief of the tribe took up the question, and deliberately came to the conclusion that excommunication was not a sufficient punishment to the delinquents, and concluded the affair by fining them, This was all done at the instigation of the maoris, not of the missionaries. Should an animal belonging to a native kick, injure, or maim any one of another tribe, it is the custom of the maoris to make compensation for such damage. Upon one occasion a native happened to be riding a borrowed horse; the animal turned restive, and unfortunately kicked a white man; the maori, although not the proprietor of the horse, nevertheless made ample compensation. It is necessary to inform my reader that these statements in reference to the natives were answers to the following question: Have you Christian-

[Image of page 198]

ized the maoris? It is deeply to he lamented that such a noble race of men are being rapidly exterminated; the loss to the colony will be almost irreparable. So completely are they adopting the civilization of the white man, that they now live in houses, wear the costume of the European, and one old chief lives in a capital house, and dines off plate. Some of the chiefs' daughters put on their habits, mount their horses, and gallop away after the fashion of an English lady. The assistant missionary stated that during the whole of his experience not a single maori was had up for stealing. It is the duty of an honest traveller not to be one-sided. In paying a visit to one of the leading settlers of the same district these statements were not contradicted, but it was the opinion of my friend, that the natives under the missionaries were not a whit better than others. My friend, who made this statement, was a nominal Christian, but possibly one who had not undergone a change of heart. My informant, the assistant missionary, possessed all the characteristics, as far as one mortal can judge of another, of an individual who had been born again. An honest traveller, in many instances, resembles a judge: he collects evidence for the jury to decide. I leave the matter, dear reader, in your hands, trusting that you will be impartial in your verdict. By way of conclusion, I may remark that the natives of New Zealand hold property in common, never separately or individually.