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TRAVELS
IN
NEW ZEALAND,
WITH A MAP OF THE COUNTRY;
BY ALEXANDER MARJORIBANKS, OF MARJORIBANKS.
"In scenery, climate, and productiveness, New Zealand is a perfect Paradise."--Evidence of Mr. Montefiore before the Bouse of Lords.
LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., CORNHILL;
OLIVER. AND BOYD, EDINBURGH; JAMES TEGG, SYDNEY.
MDCCCXLVI.
[PREFACE]
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THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
THE great success that has attended my former Publications, joined to the anxious wish expressed by some of my friends, that I should give a short narrative of my Travels in those distant parts of the world which I had lately visited, have induced me to come once more before the public.
Though numerous works have of late been issued from the press in regard to New Zealand, most of which I have perused, yet some of them are too expensive to come within the reach of the general reader, while others are too much confined to a description of particular localities, and it may be, too much tinged, occasionally, with motives of self-interest, to exhibit a faithful and correct picture of that romantic country in all its different bearings. I trust that none of these objections will be found to apply to the present work.
I was sorry to observe from the Sydney Morning Herald of 3d August, 1844, which reached me on the 11th of January, 1845, that a vessel had arrived there the day before, chartered by the Governor of New Zealand, for the express
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purpose of sending to the Governor of New South Wales for a supply of additional troops, in consequence of alarming symptoms of rebellion having broken out among the native tribes in the vicinity of the Bay of Islands, headed by a powerful chief of the name of Hackey of Waimatte. One hundred and fifty soldiers of the 58th Regiment, were accordingly instantly despatched from Sydney to the Bay of Islands.
One of the speakers at a meeting they held at Kororarika, in July 1844, previous to the vessel sailing, said--"Rauperaha had killed white people, and why could not they?"
Since the fatal affray at Wairoa, which has impressed the whole native population in that country with but too well founded notions of English cowardice, I am inclined to think that the Governor will never be able to get on without having a large disposable force, and an armed steamer of war constantly at his command; and that he will be under the necessity of converting his "Reign of Peace," which, in other circumstances would have been so desirable, into a "Reign of Terror."
In conclusion, I have to return to the New Zealand Company, and to their polite Secretary, Mr. Harington, my best thanks, for the kind assistance which they have at all times afforded me in the prosecution of this work.
A. M.
[DEDICATION]
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TO
WILLIAM LOCKHART, Esq.
OF MlLTON-LOCKHART;
Member of Parliament for the County of Lanark.
MY DEAR SIR,
The long period of time during which you and I have been acquainted, commencing with the days of our folly and of our youth, and the many disinterested marks of friendship which, in journeying through life, I have experienced at your hands, have impressed me with the desire of dedicating to you the following pages, wherein you will find some little account of the wanderings of my riper years, amidst scenes far far removed from the land which gave me birth.
Allow me only to add, that it gave me the most heartfelt satisfaction, when sojourning in
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some of the more remote parts of the habitable globe, to hear that the enlightened freeholders of the most important county in Scotland, had deemed you worthy of being elected as their Representative in Parliament; and, though differing somewhat from you on one or two political questions, yet upon the whole I would take this opportunity of congratulating them on the admirable choice which they have made.
Believe me, ever,
With sincere respect and esteem,
Yours very faithfully,
ALEX. MARJORIBANKS.
BALBARDIE HOUSE,
BATHGATE.
[CONTENTS]
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Voyage--Funeral at Sea--Cause of the dread of Death--Quarrels at Sea--Early history of New Zealand--Captain Cook--Anecdotes during residence there--Church of England Missionaries--Wesleyan Missionaries..........9
CHAPTER II.
Description of New Zealand--Bay of Islands--Hokianga-- Auckland--Grand dinner to the late Governor--Port-Nicholson and Wellington--Wanganui and Petre-- Taranaki and New Plymouth--Nelson in Tasman's Gulf New Edinburgh--Flax--Oil--Timber--Coal.....35
CHAPTER III.
Manners and Customs of the Natives--Tattooing and Cutting their Flesh--Tapuing--Cannibalism--Massacre of the Crew of the Boyd--Feasting on American Sailors --Horrible Treachery and Murder of Captain Marion and his Crew.........83
CHAPTER IV.
The Wairoa Massacre.......102
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CHAPTER V.
Law compared to a Country Dance--Cause of the Love ofLife--Infanticide in New Zealand and the other South Sea Islands--Wonderful Effects of Christianity in checking it--Evils of Surplus Population--Different remedies for this Evil........144
CHAPTER VI.
Singular description of New Zealand, as contained in the Land claims given in--Compared by Mr. Montefiore to a Paradise--Views of it as a Field for Emigration--Murder of Mrs. Roberton and her whole family, at the Bay of Islands, by a young Chief--His Execution......162
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