CHAPTER V
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CHAPTER V.
Native Villages and Houses--Division of the New Zealand Tribes; their numerical amount.
The houses of the natives are generally collected into villages, which are either fortified by walls and trenches, or with high double or treble fences. Such a place is called E Pa, and is inhabited chiefly in disturbed times, when the whole tribe assembles in it. Being generally situated on the top of a hill, the pas are deficient in water, which the slaves have to fetch from below, at the risk of being shot by the besieging party. Within these walls are the houses, of which several, belonging to one family, stand in an enclosure. The largest are often forty feet by twenty; they have a portico, a sliding door at the gable end about a foot and a half square, and a small opening as a window on one or both sides of the door. This house serves for the sleeping-room of the members of a family, and they occupy it during bad weather, and it is here that the women manufacture their mats. The house is not divided into apartments: the sleeping-places are ranged on
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NATIVE HOUSES.
both sides along the walls; from the door to the side opposite is a passage, shut in by boards. One or two columns support the roof inside: these are carved with grotesque figures. The roof is lofty, jut the side-walls are little more than two feet high. The boards forming the framework of the louse are cut out from a tree by means of a simple adze, as the saw is not yet much in use; and it is curious to see the extreme correctness of their eye doing this, although the work is very tedious. The ceiling over the portico is carved, and at the end of the ridge-pole stands a human figure--often that of the proprietor, but monstrously and purposely distorted. Sometimes that of his wife is carved out of the beam which supports the ridge-pole. The two door-posts are likewise carved. A real native house, of which there are many in the interior, is very solid, and great skill and taste are displayed in filling up the spaces between the frame-poles. This is done with reeds, which they have variegated by blackening the outside spirally, or with the cannulated stalks of a fern, which are kept together by dyed pieces of flax. The ridge-pole is a flat board, painted red and black in different arabesques, generally spirals. The same is the case with the boards which support the roofs. The outside is also sometimes boarded, or the walls are formed of thick and tight bundles of raupo-leaves (a Typha). In the middle of the house a fire is lighted in the evening, which fills it with smoke; sometimes a
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NATIVE HOUSES.
times a lamp is burnt, for which purpose they use shark or whale oil in a pawa (Haliotis), with a wick of the native flax. Each member of the family lies down on a mat, and goes to sleep in the dress that he or she wore during the day, but this is often thrown off if the heat becomes excessive. The smoke and heat render it very disagreeable for a European to sleep in these houses; besides, the natives are so communicative, that on the arrival of a stranger talking goes on all night. Inferior persons and slaves range themselves around the fire in the kitchen, but more frequently they all sleep in the same house. The kitchen (te-kauta) is a separate building; it is constructed with high walls and gables. The firewood is kept in it, but it is used as a cooking-place only in bad weather. A third sort of structure are the provision-houses (pataka), which are built on poles to prevent rats from entering them. The sweet potatoes are kept in a place by themselves. Similar huts preserve the seed during winter, but these are mostly erected in the plantations. The wahi-tapu, or burying-place, of a beloved child or relation, stands also in the enclosure; to this enclosure favourite pigs and dogs have access, and sometimes a few bushes of the Phormium tenax are cultivated in it for daily use.
The different families are thus separated in their fenced yards, which are, however, connected by stiles leading from one to the other, and by paths between the fences. Near the coast these substantial
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NATIVE ARCHITECTURE.
native houses have been replaced by huts, formed in the European fashion, and made of the raupo, a sort of bulrush; little, however, has been gained by this change, either in appearance or real convenience. The native architecture might be very much improved upon, without altering either the material or the peculiar style. I saw a house in Rotu-rua which the natives had built for Mr. Chapman, the missionary; it was high, had glass windows, and several side apartments branching off from the middle room; it was built in the native style with these improvements, and I thought this was setting a good example, in improving, not supplanting, the industry of the natives. This house was in strength and beauty equal to any in New Zealand on the European plan; and, indeed, the natives are excellent architects in any style, and execute designs, when once clearly explained to them, without any future assistance, and with the lost simple implements. They have built several churches--some of them very large structures--entirely by themselves, without the aid of any European.
The New Zealander has a fixed habitation, although he does not always reside in the same place. In his plantations, which are often at great distances from each other, or from the principal village, he possesses a house, which he inhabits when he goes there in the planting season. Part of his time he spends on visits to distant relations, or to
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THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE.
European settlements on the coast, either for the purpose of trading or to see what the pakea (stranger) is doing. I have scarcely ever been at a settlement where I did not meet visitors from distant parts of the country. These occasional visits are probably as useful to the natives, and tend as much to their real improvement, as a constant residence with the white people would do: they have an insatiable curiosity to know and see everything that is going on, and an equal eagerness to communicate it to others. In this manner news and information of every description make their tour through the island, carried from tribe to tribe by oral communication. They are excellent observers; they soon discover the weak points of body or mind in others; and although they regard us as vastly superior to themselves, they soon become sensible of the evils our civilization carries with it. The points they find the most difficulty in understanding are the different grades into which our society is divided, and the poverty and misery under which some of our classes labour, while others seem to lead a life of abundance and idleness.
It is well known that the inhabitants of New Zealand are divided into numerous tribes, who live dispersed over the country, both on the coast and in the interior; and, indeed, almost every powerful family has its own designation. These tribes are apportioned into the following large divisions: --
I. Rarewa, who live between the North Cape
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NATIVE TRIBES.
and the 35th degree of south latitude. They have broken up, taken as slaves, or intermixed with, the tribe of the Haupouri, a once numerous and flourishing people, who had their principal pas on the northern coast, and from the North Cape to Parenga-renga, and in Kaitaia. In all these places trenches and walls remain on the tops of high hills, which are now deserted. When the Haupouri were conquered, a few, about thirty in number, went to Manawatawi, or the Three Kings' Islands, where they now live; and I found a family of them, consisting of six persons, at Cape Maria van Diemen. At the end of 1840 about sixty of this tribe returned to Pa-renga-renga, their old territory, with the intention of again occupying the land of their forefathers. Pane-kareao, the chief of the Rarewa in Kaitaia, did not object to this; but. commissioned me to tell them that they must not sell any land, as it belonged to him. About forty of the Haupouri live at Houhoura, or Mount Carmel; the rest at Kaitaia, along the western coast from Hokianga to the northward, on the Awa-roa, a river which discharges itself into Rangaunu, and also in Lauriston Bay at Oruru, intermixed with the Rarewa. The principal village of the latter is Kaitaia, where there is a mission-station, which was established eight years ago. The greater number of these natives are Christians, with the exception of some smaller tribes. Although the causes of disease prevailing on the coast do not exist here, as there
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NATIVE TRIBES. [PART I.
is not much shipping nor a continued intercourse with Europeans higher up than the Bay of Islands, yet I found much sickness prevalent, which the more convinced me of the justness of my suppositions respecting the causes of the general decay of health throughout the island. The united Rarewa and Haupouri tribes comprise at least 2000 fighting men; this number I ascertained from those I found congregated in the church at Kaitaia, and also whilst I was visiting all their different settlements. The women, children, and old men, I estimate throughout New Zealand as three-fourths of the whole population; 8000 would therefore be the amount of the whole tribe.
II. Nga-pui, comprising the tribes at the Bay of Islands and Hokianga, those at the latter place being called Nga-te-poa. They number 3000 men capable of bearing arms. Their principal settlements are at Wangaroa, in Waimate between the Bay of Islands and Hokianga, on the Kawa-kawa in the Bay of Islands, and at Hokianga itself. Their spiritual welfare is comparatively well provided for. There are seven church missionary stations: Tepuna, Keri-keri, Wangaroa, Paihia, Waimate, Kororarika, Waikeri; there is a Wesleyan station at Hokianga, and three Roman Catholic priests are stationed at Wangaroa, Kororareka, and Hokianga respectively. There are thus 12,000 people under the spiritual guidance of thirteen missionaries, each of whom has therefore rather a small
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NATIVE TRIBES.
flock. The Church missionaries in the Bay of Islands possess large properties in these districts, which is perhaps the reason that they have not long ago gone into the interior, where they would have been far more usefully employed than in the Bay of Islands, which is principally a shipping-place. Some of the stations occupied by them are nearly deserted by the natives, and they have therefore no congregations, unless they choose, like St. Antonio, to preach to the fishes.
III. Nga-te-whatua, a tribe occupying Kaipara and Waitemata, in the Gulf of Hauraki and Manukao. These people have been most unfortunate during the last twenty years, as their whole number has dwindled down to about 800. They were enclosed between the Waikato and Nga-pui, both of which tribes were their enemies, and dispersed them in all directions; and it is only lately that they have returned, and claimed as their own a part of their original territory. In many places their ancient pas are still standing, which even in the recollection of the present generation had been very thickly peopled. There is a Wesleyan mission-station at Kaipara for this tribe.
IV. Nga-te-paoa, comprising the Nga-te-Maru, the Nga-te-Tamatera, and the Nga-te-Wanaunga. They decreased much during the wars with the Nga-pui and their other neighbours, but still amount to 5000. They live at the Waiho, or Thames, at the Piako, at Coromandel Harbour, and a small divi-
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NATIVE TRIBES.
sion of them at the island of Waiheke. There are mission-stations at Puriri and Maraetai in the Gulf of Hauraki.
V. By far the largest tribe is that of the Waikato. They comprise eighteen subdivisions.
a. Nga-te-menio-potu, living in Rangitoto and on the river Mokau
b. Ngate-pakura, on the river Waikato.
c. Nga-te-hinitu, in Otawao, at the river Waipa.
d. Nga-te-ruru, at the Waipa
e. Nga-te-mahuta in Manukao.
f. Nga-te-toata, Manukao and Waikato.
g. Nga-te-hikairo, in Aotea on the western coast.
h. Nga-te-kinohaku, at the Waikato.
i. Tungaunga, at the Waikato.
k. Nga-te-hauwa, at Mata-mata, ninety miles up the valley of the Thames.
/. Nga-te-tipa, at the Waikato.
m. Nga-te-tohinga, at the Waikato.
n. Nga-te-mahanga, at the Waikato.
o. Nga-te-puiawa, at the Waikato.
p. Nga-te-mariu, at the Waikato.
q. Nga-te-korokiu, at Maunga-tautari, near the river Waikato.
r. Tetaou, at Mata-mata.
g. Nga-te-tamoa, at the Waikato.
These are the tribes which have most preserved their original vigour, and, I may add, original virtues, notwithstanding that their customs have been soft-
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NATIVE TRIBES.
ened down by the influence of missionaries and other Europeans. They occupy by far the greater part of New Zealand, and claim, besides, by conquest, all the land as far as Taranaki on the western coast, from which they drove numerous tribes into the country on both sides of Cook's Straits, and only a few stragglers of the latter remained near the Sugarloaf Islands. The villages on the Waipa are very numerously inhabited, each village containing from 300 to 400 people. The Waikato tribes can collectively bring 6000 men into the field, and the whole population amounts at least to 24,000, if not more; as in these interior tribes the average number of two children to a family is scarcely sufficiently high.
Amongst the Waikato tribes several mission-stations have been established; at Manukao, at Marae-nui, at the mouth of the Waikato, and at Otawao, are Church missionary stations; at Waingaroa, Aotea, and Kawia, are Wesleyan stations. The number of natives who have become Christians daily increases, although many tribes have opposed altogether the introduction of the new doctrine.
VI. Nga-te-awa. There are two large divisions of the Nga-te-awa, one occupying both sides of Cook's Straits, from Taranaki to Port Nicholson, and from Cape Farewell to Cloudy Bay in the middle island; the other living on the east coast of the northern island. Although these two divisions are situated at a great distance from each other, and there is little communication between
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NATIVE TRIBES.
them, they nevertheless acknowledge one common origin, as the Taranaki Nga-te-awa have a tradition that they are descended from those on the east coast, and that they emigrated to the westward.
The first portion is subdivided into a great many different families: --
a. Nga-te-toa. This numerous and powerful tribe formerly lived in Waingaroa and Kawia, on the western coast, and the Europeans call them the Kawia tribe. Their leader, Rauparaha, is greatly renowned throughout the island for his talents and valour. Rauparaha yielded to the Waikato, and went to live in Kapiti, or Entry Island; others of this tribe live in Rangitoto, or D'Urville's Island, in the Admiralty Islands, on the Oieri or Pylorus river, and in Mana and Cloudy Bay.
b. Nga-te-tama and Nga-te-motunga. They formerly lived between Mokau and Mount Egmont; at present most of them live in the Chatham Islands, and only a few at Port Nicholson.
c. Pukatapu, in Wanganui, near Cape Farewell, in Queen Charlotte's Sound, and Port Nicholson.
The whole of these tribes number about 6000 souls.
The Nga-te-awa, on the eastern coast, live at Tauranga, in Ohiwa, Matata, Opotiki, and Maraenui. Their number amounts to about 8600.
There are mission-stations at Tauranga, Opotiki, Waikanahi, and Wanganui, in Cook's Straits; the
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NATIVE TRIBES.
Wesleyans have stations at Cloudy Bay and Taranaki.
VII. Nga-te-Wakaua. This tribe is divided into--
a. Nga-te-pikiao, living at Muketu and Wakatane, on the east coast.
b. Nga-te-te-rangita, on the inland lake of Ro-torua.
c. Ta-hourangi, on the lake of Terawera, still farther inland. The number of this tribe is 10,000. They have still their old native customs and warlike habits; and the mission-station at Rotu-rua has made less progress than any other station in the country: this results from the character of the tribe, not from any want of zeal or ability on the part of the excellent man who resides there. These natives offer the best study of the native character as it was some few years ago.
VIII. Nga-te-tuaretoa. These people live on the left shore of the river Waikato, below the point where it issues from Lake Taupo, at that lake itself, at the lake of Rotu-aire, and at the foot of the volcanic chain of the Tongariro. The tribes which are living at the Taupo lake are called the Nga-te-tu-Rumakina, Nga-te-kurawiu, Nga-te-Pehi, and Nga-te-roinangi. There are about 800 men capable of bearing arms, and 3200 souls. They are at enmity with the tribe at Wanganui, and fought with them twice during the time I was in New Zealand, losing each time nearly fifty men.
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NATIVE TRIBES.
IX. The Nga-te-raukaua, in Otaki, about twenty miles to the northward of Kapiti, at the rivers Manawatu, Rangitiki, and Waitotara, all of which discharge themselves into Cook's Straits. They are related to the tribe at Wanganui, above mentioned, and their number is about 600. They are on bad terms with the Nga-te-awa, who are settled at Waikanahi, opposite Entry Island, and in 1839 I witnessed a battle in which about 150 men were killed on each side. The Nga-te-raukaua are an interior tribe, and lived formerly on the upper part of the river Waikato. The Waikato tribes drove them away, and they settled in Cook's Straits. At the same time the Nga-te-awa were driven to the southward, and each disputed the advance of the other. In the interior I saw some of the old pas of the Nga-te-raukaua, and the figure of a human head, roughly cut out of a tufacious stone, was pointed out to me as a memorial to their principal chief, who was killed there. At present the most intimate connexion exists between them and the Nga-te-toa, of whom Rauparaha is the head, and who seems to intrigue with them against the rest of the Nga-te-awa.
X. Nga-te-kahuhunu. This is a very numerous tribe, inhabiting the east coast from above Waiapu, or East Cape, to Hawke's Bay, and is subdivided into smaller tribes: I do not think its number is less than 36,000, as the east coast swarms with natives. They formerly lived as far down as Port
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NATIVE TRIBES.
Nicholson, but were driven thence by the Nga-te-awa, with whom, however, they have lately made a peace, which is likely to last.
There is only one mission-station--at Turanga; but the natives are a very industrious people, and rapidly progressing in civilization.
XL and XII. The Rangitani and Nga-haitao. These were the tribes which Captain Cook met at Queen Charlotte's Sound. To judge from the remains of their pas, they must have been very numerous, and great slaughter must have taken place when the Nga-te-awa, under Tu-pahi and Rauparaha, conquered them. The only remains of the tribe are some slaves at the Oieri or Pylorus river, and a small independent tribe at Otago, on the eastern coast of the middle island, which still musters about 300 fighting men, and their number may amount to 1200: they are in a very forward state of civilization. There are no natives besides these in the middle island, and none in the Southern, or Stewart's Island, with the exception of some brought there from other parts, and living with the whalers.
In this census I do not pretend to anything like accuracy; but I have visited nearly all the tribes myself, and if, as I think is the case, the data which I obtained of the number of fighting men and the average of the rest of the population are to be relied on, my estimate is entitled to some credit. When I had seen only the coasts, and compared what I saw with the exaggerated estimates of some navi-
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NATIVE TRIBES.
gators, I was inclined to place the population of the islands at a much lower amount than that which I have here given; but the fact is, the natives live dispersed, and the spirit of separation of tribes and families is one of the characteristic features of these people. The traveller in the interior will find many small tribes, of which he hears nothing on the coast, and which are scarcely known even to the missionaries.
On the other hand, an approximate account of the population is easier to be taken in New Zealand than in other countries inhabited by primitive tribes, as the natives here are altogether a settled and agricultural people.
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NATIVE TRIBES.
Table of the Tribes and Population of New Zealand.
| |
Names.
|
Habitat.
|
Population.
|
| 1
|
Rarewa.
|
North Cape to 35 deg.
S. lat.
|
8,000
|
| 2
|
Nga-pui.
|
Wangaroa, Bay of
Islands, Hokianga.
|
12,000
|
| 3
|
Nga-te-whatua.
|
Kaipara, Manukao,
Waitemata.
|
800
|
| 4
|
Nga-te-paoa.
|
Gulf of Hauraki.
|
5,000
|
| 5
|
Waikato
|
Manukao, Aotea,
Waingaroa, Kawia,
Waipa, Waikato,
Mata-mata, Mokau,
Maunga Tautare.
|
24,000
|
| 6*
|
Nga-te-awa (a).
Nga-te-awa (b).
|
Cook's Straits..
East Coast.
|
5,490
8,600
|
| 7
|
Nga-te-Wakaua.
|
Muketu, Rotu-rua,
Terawera, Wakatane.
|
10,000
|
| 8
|
Nga-te-tuaretoa.
|
Taupo....
|
3,200
|
| 9
|
Nga-te-Raukaua.
|
Otakki, Manawatu.
|
600
|
| 10**
|
Nga-te-kahuhunu.
|
East Coast, Turanga,
Hauriri in Hawke's Bay.
|
36,000
|
| 11
|
Rangitane..
|
Middle Island, es-
|
1,200
|
| 12
|
Nga-haitao..
|
pecially at Otago.
|
|
| |
|
Total..
|
114,890
|
* In this number are included the Nga-te-rua-nui, the Nga-te-apa, and the Nga-te-tahi, which might also be regarded as distinct tribes, although they are now more or less mixed with the Nga-te-awa in Cook's Straits, where they live.
**This tribe has a great number of subdivisions.
