1817 - Nicholas, J. L. Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand [Vol.II] - CHAPTER III

       
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  1817 - Nicholas, J. L. Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand [Vol.II] - CHAPTER III
 
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CHAPTER III

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CHAP. III.

The Author suspects the good faith of Pomaree--Is alarmed in consequence--His fears removed--Presents distributed among Pomaree's people--Cannibalism of the New Zealanders--Captain Cook's and Dr. Forster's opinions respecting it--Believed erroneous by the Author, and his reasons for it--Return from Pomaree's district-- Interesting document presented by a chief to Mr. Marsden--part of its contents refuted--Arrival of Korrakorra with war-canoes--Tupee's detraction of the other chiefs--An East Indian found among the natives--Character of the chief Tekokee--False alarm--The Author goes on shore, and on his way visits the island of Motooroa --This island offered for sale to the Missionaries--Remarks with respect to it.

IN going up the fresh-water stream we met some of the natives bringing down spars; and stopping at the foot of Tekokee's village, Pomaree requested Mr. Marsden to walk with him through the woods, while I should go round in the canoe, and take charge of the articles we brought with us. To this my friend made no objection; and I was now paddled about a mile further up the river, till we came to a long vista that presented a romantic view through the forest, and where we found assembled a considerable number

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of the natives, but I could neither observe Pomaree nor Mr. Marsden among them. As we approached the land, three or four men came down to the water's edge with their faces daubed over with a blue paint, and carrying in their hands the long spears they use in battle. This sight was by no means pleasing to me, and I now for the first time began to entertain serious apprehensions of the good faith of Pomaree. My eyes still wandered anxiously in search of Mr. Marsden, but he was not to be seen; and I was particularly uneasy lest the chief had verified the bad character given of him by Duaterra, and decoyed my friend in order to ensure his destruction. The report that we had heard concerning his intention to cut off the ship 1 now recurred to me with alarming certainty, while I could not help apprehending that he had brought us hither for the sole purpose of realizing his atrocious project, and thus securing to himself and his tribe all the property we possessed. Such were the dreadful suspicions that alarmed my mind, on finding myself separated from my friend, and surrounded by the dependants of a ruthless savage; who, according to all the accounts I

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had heard of him, had given repeated proofs of his excessive cruelty; yet I thought it most prudent to dissemble my fears, and assume an air of implicit confidence in their sincerity. I therefore jumped on shore, with my fowling-piece in my hand, determined to employ it against the first that should attack me; and to sell my life as dearly as possible, if destined by Providence for such an extremity. None of the people, however, who were assembled here offered me the least violence, or shewed any disposition to interrupt my progress; and it was in some degree consoling to me, that what Pomaree had told us of a number of spars being cut down, was perfectly correct. This afforded me some hope that he had meditated no treachery; but still Mr. Marsden did not present himself to my impatient view, and I looked out for him in a state of the greatest agitation and ominous suspense. The assemblage was composed of men, women and children; and they had erected for themselves temporary huts, to serve as a shelter against the rain, while they were cutting down the timber. But it was the hideous appearance of the men with their daubed cheeks and disfigured eye-brows that contributed most of all to ex-

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cite my suspicions; for Duaterra told me, that when his countrymen prepared themselves for any violent enterprise, either against congregated bodies or individuals, it was their invariable practice to make their faces look as frightful as possible, in order to terrify their opponents. 2 While I thus continued a prey to the most anxious disquietude, almost hopeless of the safety of my friend, and expecting every moment some terrible fatality to myself, Mr. Marsden and Pomaree, together with another chief, made their appearance through an opening in the wood; and though I always met my friend with sincere pleasure, never did I experience the same happiness at seeing him as on this occasion.

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I thought we should have never met again; and that I, if allowed to survive, should have to lament the loss of that intimate friendship which I shall never cease to value, and the community that benevolence which they must always admire. But happily this was not the case, so my fears were now dissipated, and my mind set at rest.

Pomaree now calling his people together, made them sit down in a circle round us, requesting Mr. Marsden at the same time to distribute his presents among them; and to those who are fond of seeing happy faces, this would have been a very gratifying spectacle; for every countenance exhibited the most animated demonstrations of joyful satisfaction. Several of them danced through excessive delight at the treasure they had received; and others laughed incessantly, from their immoderate transports. Mr. Marsden gave to Pomaree himself, for his own use, five axes and three hoes; for which that chief agreed to bring down sixteen spars, appearing well pleased with the bargain.

I observed suspended at the breast of one of these people an instrument like a flute, made of bone, in the carving of which a considerable degree of ingenuity was displayed. As they

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have only two native quadrupeds upon the island that are large enough to supply them with bone for their ornaments; and as neither of these animals could furnish one of such a size as this instrument was made of, it occurred to me at once, that it must be a human bone; and upon asking the man who wore it, if it was not evee tungata, (the bone of a man,) he told me it was, and confirmed my supposition. Though from the respectable testimony of Captain Cook, who is generally accurate in his statement of facts, no doubt had existed in my mind upon the subject of these people being cannibals; still I was resolved, on getting to the island, to obtain the unequivocal acknowledgment of the natives themselves in this particular, and thus satisfy myself completely respecting it. Accordingly I frequently questioned them on this head, and they never denied the fact; but acknowledging it candidly, excused it with their usual apology for all their barbarous customs, that "it was good in New Zealand." Abhorrent, however, as this subject is to the common feelings of mankind, still as it marks so decidedly the character of these people, it deserves to be thoroughly investigated, and the originating principle should, if possible,

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be ascertained. The reader will therefore indulge me, while I digress somewhat from the narrative, to examine the opinions both of Captain Cook and the ingenious Dr. Forster on this question, neither of whom, as I conceive, attributes the cannibalism of the New Zealanders to the actual cause.

Captain Cook is very brief in accounting for it, ascribing it merely to the want of a sufficiency 3 of food; a convincing reason enough, if such want existed, but this not being the case, it will of course be found erroneous. It remains for me, however, to shew that this want does not exist; and which I am prepared to do from the experience of my own observation as well as from the acknowledgment of the natives themselves. The island, besides its being abundantly supplied with the fern-root, (which, as has been observed, forms the principal article of diet among the natives,) has also plenty of other esculent roots which are very nutritious, and a profusion of the best fish, so that a scarcity of food is a thing never known in the country. The industry of the natives too in laying up their stores of provisions, is such as to antici-

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pate all future exigencies; and each district is furnished with magazines to supply the inhabitants as occasion requires. It is therefore evident that the reason assigned by Captain Cook for the revolting practice among them of eating human flesh, cannot be correct; and I shall now proceed to shew that the opinion of Dr. Forster, though urged with much philosophical acumen, is equally without foundation. But I shall first give this opinion in the learned gentleman's own words, that the reader may form a more perfect estimate of the propositions he would maintain.

"If we examine (says he) the whole economy of their societies, we shall find that their education is the chief cause of their enormities. The men train up the boys in a kind of liberty which at last degenerates into licentiousness: they suffer not the mothers to strike petulant, unruly and wicked sons, for fear of breaking that spirit of independency which they seem to value above all things, and as the most necessary qualification for their societies: this naturally brings on an irascibility which in the men cannot brook any controul, action, or word, that can be construed according to their manners and

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principles, into an affront or injury; inflamed by passion, they are impatient to wreak their vengeance; wild fancy paints the injury so atrocious, that it must be washed in blood; they know not where to stop, and being more and more incensed by the power of the imagination, they go to battle with a loud and barbarous song: each feature is distorted, each limb is set in a cadenced motion; they brandish their destructive weapons, and stamp upon the ground with their feet, while the whole band join in an awful tremendous groan; the song begins anew, and at last the whole troop is lost in frenzy and rage; they fall to, and every one fights as if animated by furies, and destruction and carnage await the routed party: whosoever falls is murdered without mercy, and the corses of the slain immediately serve to glut the inhuman appetites of the conquerors. When the bounds of humanity are once passed, and the reverence due to the bright image of divinity is conquered by frenzy, the practice soon becomes habitual, especially as it is reckoned among the honours due to the conqueror, to feast upon the wretched victims of savage victory; add to this, that a nation which has no other animal food than a few stupid dogs

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and fish, will soon reconcile themselves to human flesh, which according to several known instances, 4 is reputed to be one of the most palatable dishes."

Thus it will be seen that this ingenious writer ascribes the inhuman practice in question, together with their other enormities, to their education exclusively; a position which no judicious reasoner will dispute, so far as education, taken in the unlimited sense of the term, is concerned; but when he refers these enormities to that particular part of education which includes the management of male children, I must differ with him completely, while at the same time I do not take upon myself to controvert some of the details of his argument, but rather to disprove his hypothesis. Far from being petulant or unruly, I observed on the contrary, all the children in New Zealand, both male and female, remarkably submissive and obedient towards their mothers;

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and in the whole course of my observation among them, I never met with a single instance of undutiful behaviour. But, besides that my own eyes bore testimony to their docile and tractable dispositions, I found in answer to several inquiries I made on the subject, that they were never in the habit of treating their mothers with disrespect; nor, if inclined to do so, could I discover that they would be at all protected by their fathers against the punishment due to their irreverence. So far has my own observation and the concurring acknowledgments of the inhabitants, enabled me to combat the principle laid down by the learned gentleman as the basis of his argument; and I am persuaded that the evidence I have offered will be satisfactory to the reader. Now with respect to the details of Dr. Forster's argument, I have only to oppose that part which ascribes to the New Zealanders a particular liking for human flesh, in consequence of their having "no other animal food than a few stupid dogs and fish;" and in doing this I have to adduce precisely the same testimony as before: I never observed them myself evince this liking in the smallest degree; and many of them told me that they had.

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no greater relish for this than for any other food.

My opinion on the subject is, that a kind of superstitious revenge is the grand actuating principle that incites them to this horrible practice. Born in the grossest ignorance, and nurtured amidst wild dissensions, they give loose to all the violence of their ungovernable passions; while superstition teaches them to believe that their revenge can reach beyond the grave, and that the future existence of their wretched victims must be totally annihilated, by this unnatural destruction of their mortal remains. With this shocking idea the children are bred up from their infancy; when hearing continually of bloody achievements, and learning from the lips of their fathers the various deeds of carnage in which they have been engaged, they grow up so much habituated to these enormities, that they consider them congenial with their very existence, while they form the favourite topic of their conversations, and the darling theme of their poetical rhapsodies. But there are several circumstances which serve to corroborate, if not to establish the opinion I here offer on the subject in question. While they devour the bodies of their enemies with a

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furious greediness that instantly tears them reeking from the slaughter, they look with horror on the idea of feeding on the corses of their friends; and burying them with many superstitious obsequies, the place is for ever after held sacred against the intrusion of all persons who are not among the number of the initiated. Hence I should draw the conclusion, that the desire of devouring human flesh is not the motive that leads them to do so; but that the same superstition which disposes them to respect with the most scrupulous veneration the dead bodies of their friends, acting conversely, impels them to gorge themselves upon the mangled remains of their hostile opponents. Such in my mind is the true cause of cannibalism in New Zealand, and I have now to observe that it does not prevail in this island alone, but is also common to some others in the Pacific Ocean. At the Fegees the natives are well known to be cannibals. It was no longer back than the year 1813, since they massacred and devoured fourteen of the people belonging to two vessels that had sailed from Port Jackson, for the purpose of procuring bech-le-mer and sandal-wood for the China market. It cannot be argued that these islanders

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could have been instigated to this atrocious deed by any want of food; as nature has supplied them with an abundance of provisions of the most excellent quality; among which may be reckoned the bread fruit, the cocoanut, the banana, with yams and esculent roots of various kinds. No, they were actuated, I doubt not, by the same principle with the New Zealand cannibals; they were led on to the massacre by the terrible impulse of uncontrouled frenzy, and to the devouring of their victims by the implacable rage of a vengeful superstition. Indeed it appears to me very probable that all the natives of the South Sea Islands have at one period or other been equally guilty of this horrible practice. At Otaheite, where the very idea of eating human flesh is now held in the utmost abhorrence, a tradition has obtained from time immemorial, of men-eaters having been upon the island at some remote period, who made great havoc among the inhabitants; but that this cruel 5 race has been long since extinct. Having thus stated what I conceived necessary towards the elucidation of a subject which it would have been in-

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excusable in me to have omitted, I shall now resume the narrative; trusting at the same time that the digression I have made, will by none of my readers be deemed irrelevant.

On our return from Pomaree's district we passed a fleet of canoes coming to the ship; having spars tied to the sides of them, and other spars were lashed together, forming a raft on which the natives sat and paddled. Arriving at the vessel we found there before us, Tarra and Tupee with Tekokee, and a chief of the name of Tenangha, a robust handsome looking man, who put into our hands a written document given to him by a Captain Pattison of the ship City of Edinburgh, and of which the following is a copy.

"The masters of ships frequenting New Zealand are directed to be careful in admitting many of the natives on board, as they may be cut off in a moment by surprise.

"These are to certify, that during our stay in this harbour we had frequent reports of a ship being taken by the natives in the neighbouring harbour of Wangeroa, and that the ship's crew were killed and eaten.

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"In order to ascertain the truth of this report, as well as to rescue a few people who were said to be spared in the general massacre, Mr. Berry, accompanied by Mr. Russel and Metangango, a principal chief in the Bay of Islands, who volunteered his services, set out for Wangeroa in three armed boats, on Sunday the 31st December 1809, and upon their arrival they found the miserable remains of the ship Boyd, Captain John Thompson, which the natives, after stripping of every thing of value, had burnt down to the water's edge. From the handsome conduct of Metangango, they were able to rescue a boy, a woman and two children, the only survivors of this shocking event, which according to the most satisfactory information, was perpetrated entirely under the direction of that old rascal Tippahee, who had been so much and so undeservedly caressed at Port Jackson.

"This unfortunate vessel intending to load with spars, was taken three days after her arrival; the natives informed the master the second day, that they would show the spars the next day; in the morning Tippahee arrived from Tippoonah and

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"went aboard, he staid only a few minutes, and then went into his canoe, but remained alongside the vessel, which was surrounded by a considerable number of canoes, which appeared collected for the purpose of trading; and a considerable number of the natives gradually intruded into the ship, and sat down upon the deck. After breakfast the master left the ship with two boats, to look out for spars; Tippahee, after waiting a convenient time, now gave the signal of massacre; in an instant the savages, who appeared sitting peaceable upon deck, rushed upon the unarmed crew, who were dispersed about the ship at their various employments; the greater part were massacred in a moment, and were no sooner knocked down, than they were cut up while still alive; five or six of the hands escaped up the rigging. Tippahee now having possession of the ship, hailed them with a speaking trumpet, and ordered them to unbend the sails and cut away the rigging, and they should not be hurt,-- they complied with his commands, and afterwards came down; he then took them ashore in his canoe, and afterwards killed them; the master went

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"ashore without arms, and of course was easily dispatched.

"The names of the survivors are, Mrs. Nanny Morley and child, Betsy Broughton, and Thomas Davis, boy. The natives of the spar district in this harbour, have behaved well even beyond expectation, and seem much concerned on account of this unfortunate event; and dreading the displeasure of King George, have requested certificates of their good conduct, in order to exempt them from his vengeance; but let no man after this trust a New Zealander.

"We further certify, that we have left with the bearer Mete-coge, a jolly-boat belonging to the Boyd, we brought round to Wangeroa, who has always behaved in the best manner.

"SIMEON PATTISON.
ALEX. BERRY, Supercargo.
JAMES RUSSELL.
Given on board the ship City of Edinburgh, Capt. S. Pattison, Bay of Islands, 6th Jan. 1810.

This document is curious, as being written almost immediately after the catastrophe of the Boyd; but the assertions it contains

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respecting Tippahee, are completely falsified, not only by the testimony of George himself, the principal actor in that tragical event, as has been already shown, in the account I have given of the conference we had with him; but also by the declarations of Duaterra, Korra-korra, and numbers besides, who had an opportunity of knowing the particulars of this shocking transaction, and who assured us in the sincerity of their hearts, that Tippahee 6 was entirely innocent of the imputed atrocity. Indeed I am fully convinced that this foul stigma was cast upon him from the fortuitous circumstance of his having unhappily come into the harbour of Wangeroa on that fatal morning; but what fur-

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ther served to fix the guilt upon him, was the similarity of sound between his name and that of Tippouie, the brother of George, and next to him the most prominent leader in this dreadful massacre. In addition to this, Tarra and Tupee, being his mortal enemies, spread the vile calumny through the whole island; and their malevolence in the end produced all the effect they desired. To this fatal combination of causes it was owing, that the name of poor Tippahee was branded with an atrocious criminality, his people extirpated, and his little island, once the seat of his fondest hopes, deluged with blood and ravaged with desolation.

In the course of the evening Korra-korra came alongside in his war-canoe, accompanied by four others all full of men, and presenting their usual appearance of martial equipment. He was going to make war upon Wiveeah, the chief of Wycaddie, who it appeared had been seducing the wife of another chief, whose friends were now summoned by him as auxiliaries to assist him in revenging the injurious affront. He had scarcely left us to proceed on this expedition, when I had another opportunity of witnessing the malignant jealousy with which the dif-

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ferent chiefs view each other; while in this instance I observed a subtle duplicity that is not I believe common among them, and might be worthy an accomplished practitioner in deceit. Tupee, who upon Korra-korra's coming on deck, nosed with him (as our sailors expressed it) in the most affectionate manner, and evinced apparently the most unfeigned pleasure at seeing him, began the moment he had taken his departure to traduce him to us with a virulent calumny that knew no moderation. He told us that we had taken him to Port Jackson, where he had been treated with the most generous hospitality, and had experienced in every instance the friendly attention both of the Governor and of the people, and that we had brought him back loaded with tokees and axes; but yet that he was so nuee nuee kackeeno (very bad) as to be unworthy of these or any other favours. He then went on to describe him in the blackest colours, telling us he had murdered and devoured two of our countrymen without any provocation; and in short, so far as his testimony could go, (which however had no weight with us,) making our wayward friend appear a perfect monster. Nor was he more sparing of the reputation of Duaterra, and our

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steady friend Shunghi was also the object of his rancorous slander; but as to Pomaree, he spoke of him with such envenomed malignity, that the ferocious enormities for which this chief was noted, could not justify the tenth part of the detail. Having it in contemplation himself to accompany us to Port Jackson, he expressed his positive determination not to do so if Pomaree were to go likewise.

On Tuesday, January the 31st, so great was the number of canoes that came to visit us, that the ship was completely invested by them; and had the natives chosen to have broken their good faith with us, and betrayed the confidence we reposed in them, there was nothing that could prevent them from cutting off the vessel, as their numerical strength must have ultimately prevailed over any resistance we could offer. But no tragic event of this kind will, I hope, be ever again repeated in the island; and happy am I to observe, that the people express their unfeigned regret at that which has occurred. In the midst of the motley assemblage who crowded the decks and intruded themselves on us in spite of all our efforts against admitting them, I saw with no small degree of surprise a native of Hindostan, whose small

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stature and slender make might lead one to imagine him a pigmy among giants. He told me he had made his escape from the City of Edinburgh, the vessel I have lately noticed, and had been living among these people ever since; that he was not only reconciled to their habits and mode of living, but found himself happy in the practice of them, and preferred by much residing here, to returningto his own country. He was married, he said, and experienced the kindest treatment from the natives. I offered him some rice, but custom had reconciled him so well to the fern-root, that he gave it a decided preference. Having asked him if the natives obliged him to work hard, he replied in the negative, and said they always supplied him with plenty of food.

The chief Tekokee expressed on this day a particular desire that we should take his son (a fine lad about fourteen) with us to Port Jackson; to which we did not object. This chief particularly recommended himself to us, by the gentleness of his manners, the natural ease of his demeanour, and by an unobtrusive diffidence scarcely ever found in a savage, unless as the consequence of fear, and pleasing in the most civilized indi-

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vidual. While he yielded to none of the other chiefs in activity and intelligence, he did not assume upon any occasion that bustling importance, which rendered many of them troublesome, as well as ridiculous.

Mr. Kendall paid us a visit on Wednesday, February the 1st, accompanied by Themorangha, the chief of Thiomi; and on this day we found that a report, which was afterwards proved to have no foundation in truth, caused some agitation at the settlement. Themorangha had brought to the missionaries a gun, the lock of which wanted repairing, and for this service he presented to them at the same time two pigs, which he offered as payment, and were received accordingly. But as the smith had strict orders from Mr. Marsden to employ himself at no other kind of work but the making of tokees and axes, without a sufficient supply of which we could not purchase the quantity of spars that the natives were hourly bringing down; the gun was necessarily neglected, and Themorangha began to be rather impatient at the delay. This impatience, however, was magnified into a determination on his part, to attack the settlement, and revenge himself upon the missionaries and all their adherents,

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while the report received additional strength from his having landed a large party there a few days before. But this was only another of those idle alarms which the New Zealanders in many instances are so fond of exciting; and the party landed by the chief evinced the most amicable intentions, nor did Themorangha himself, who ordered them away almost immediately, betray less cordial demonstrations of friendship; so far was he from meditating the design imputed to him. His coining now on board with honest confidence, and placing himself without hesitation in our hands, confirmed our belief that the report was groundless.

That no unnecessary delay should take place with respect to the cargo, and to forward the smith in the execution of his work, I returned with Mr. Kendall to Rangehoo, leaving Themorangha still on board. Getting into the canoe of a neighbouring chief, we proceeded with him to Motooroa, 7 a large island immediately opposite the opening of the harbour, and which was under his ex-

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clusive sovereignty. We landed here, and the chief not choosing to accompany us any farther, took his leave, sending his people with us at the same time, to paddle us on the remainder of the distance. This island, though the only territory he possessed, he offered to dispose of to the missionaries, at the cheap price of two muskets; and said, that in the event of the purchase being made, that part of the land which was tabooed should have the taboo taken off, and made free like the rest. From this I should infer that their laws with respect to the taboo may be abrogated at pleasure, and have not the unchangeable character of those of the Medes and Persians. We walked over part of the island, and found it tolerably level, and the land apparently fertile. Could the missionaries live on it in security, I doubt not but it would make a desirable settlement; it would produce not only grain enough for their own consumption, but leave such a surplus as might supply the shipping that should arrive there. We saw some plantations, in one of which there were about an hundred stalks of Indian corn, but of a very unpromising appearance. We told the chief that he did not understand the cultivation of this grain; that

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the stalks, instead of being only twelve and eighteen inches asunder, as he had them, should be separated from each other by a distance of four feet, and the intermediate space not planted with potatoes, as was the case. They told us, that the Indian corn in the district of Thiomi was in a very flourishing condition; but at that place they probably adopted a different mode of cultivating it. As these people understand nothing of grinding, nor have any means to perform that process, they roast the ears of corn in the fire, in the same manner as the original natives do at New South Wales. I observed in this island 8 a great variety of plants and shrubs, but which were not different from those generally found upon the main land.

1   See Vol. i. p. 384, 385.
2   This practice is not peculiar to New Zealand alone, and it may be traced to several other nations in a similar state of barbarism. Tacitus, speaking of one of the German hordes, describes them as dyeing their bodies and carrying black shields to frighten their enemies; while to increase the terror of the effect, they always chose dark nights for their battles. The following is his description of them: -"Ceterum Arii super vires, quibus enumerates paulo ante populos antecedunt, truces, insitae feritati arte ac tempore lenocinantur. Nigra scuta, tincta corpora, atras ad praelia noctes legunt: ipsaque formidine atque umbra feralis exercitus terrorem inferunt, nullo hostium sustinente novum ac velut infernum aspectum; nam primi in omnibus poeliis oculi vincuntur."--Tacitus de Moribus Germ.
3   Hawksworth, vol. iii. p. 44.
4   In the province of Matto-grosso in Brazil, a woman told his excellency Chevalier Pinto, who was the governor, that human flesh was extremely palatable, especially if taken from a young person. And during the last dearth in Germany, a shepherd killed first a young person, to satisfy the cravings of hunger with his flesh; and afterwards several more, in order to please his luxurious palate. --Forster's Observations, p. 328, 329.
5   Forster's Observations, p. 277.
6   Though it is certain that this chief never contemplated a deed of such enormity as the cutting off of any of our vessels; still the provocation he received from the commander of one of them, might well have suggested even so terrible a retaliation. In No. II. of the Appendix to this work, will be found a detailed account of the provocation alluded to, being an extract from Turnbull's Voyage round the World; in which the reader will find that the daughter of this chief, had been torn away, by an unfeeling man, from the society of her father, and the fond embraces of a husband, with whom she had been united in the (strictest bonds of mutual attachment, while their union was brought about by a romantic adventure; he being a native of England, the land of culture and of science, and she the child of rude nature, wild as the country of her birth, but still susceptible of the tenderest emotions.
7   It is so called from its shape; motoo being the name for island, and roa the term for long, so that the union of both words is descriptive of its figure. In the chart laid down by Captain Cook, this island is erroneously called Motuaro.
8   While here I purchased from some of the natives the Syngathus Hippocampas, or Sea-horse, which they dry and hang to their ears by way of ornament.

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