aia
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
OLD NEW ZEALAND;
|l State 0f t\\t &ao& Id Slimes.
A PAKEHA MAORI.
" Of Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow BETWEEN their shoulders."
Second CF&itton.
AUCKLAND :
ROBERT J. CREIGHTON & ALFRED SCALES, QCTEEN STREET.
co
CO
cr>
o
o
?
t >
PREFACE.
To the English reader, and to most of those
who have arrived in New Zealand within
the last thirty years, it may be necessary
to state that the descriptions of Maori life
and manners of past times found in these
sketches owe nothing to fiction. The dif-
ferent scenes and incidents are given exactly
as they occurred, and all the persons
described are real persons.
Contact with the British settlers has of
late years effected a marked and rapid
VU1 PREFACE.
change in the manners and mode of life
of the natives, and the Maori of the present
day are as unlike what they were when I
first saw them as they are still unlike a
civilised people or British subjects.
The writer has therefore thought it
might be worth while to place a few
sketches of old Maori life on record before
the remembrance of them has quite passed
away ; though in doing so he has by no
means exhausted an ' interesting subject,
and a more full and particular delineation
of old Maori life, manners, and history has
yet to be written.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory First view of New Zealand First Sight
of the Natives, and First Sensations experienced by
a mere Pakeha A Maori Chief's notions of trading
in the Old Times A dissertation on ' Courage ' A
few words on Dress The Chief's Soliloquy The
Maori Cry of Welcome Page 1
CHAPTER II.
The Market Price of a Pakeha The value of a Pakeha
" as such " Maori Hospitality in the Good Old Times
A Respectable Friend Maori Mermaids My
Notions of the value of Gold How I got on
Shore P il g c 1 7
" CHAPTER III.
A Wrestling Match Beef against Melons The Victor
gains a Loss " Our Chief" His Speech His flatus
in the Tribe Death of " Melons " Rumours of Peace
Xll CONTENTS.
and Wai' Getting the Pa in fighting order My
Friend the "Relation Eater" Expectation and Pre-
paration Arrival of Doubtful Friends Sham Fight
The "Taki" The War Dance Another Example
of Maori Hospitality Crocodile's Tears Loose
Notions about Heads Tears of Blood Brotherly
Love Capital Felony Peace Page 30
CHAPTER IV.
A Little affair of " Flotsam and Jetsam " Rebellion
Crushed in the Bud A Pakeha's House sacked
Maori Law A Maori Law Suit Affairs thrown into
Chancery Page 66
CHAPTER V.
Every Englishman's House is his Castle My Estate and
Castle How I purchased my Estate Native Titles
to Land, of what Nature Value of Land in New
Zealand Land Commissioners The Triumphs of
Eloquence Magna Charta Page 7 6
CHAPTER VI.
How I kept House Maori Freebooters An ugly
Customer The- " Suaviter in Modo " A single
Combat to amuse the Ladies The true Maori Gen-
tleman Character of the Maori People Page 85
CHAPTER VII.
Excitement caused by first Contact with Europeans
The Two Great Institutions of Maori Land The
Mum The Tapu Instances of Legal Robbery
Descriptions and Examples of the Muru Profit and
Loss Explanation of some of the Workings of the
Law of Muru , Page 103
CONTENTS. Xlll
CHAPTER VIII.
The Mum falling into Disuse Why Examples of the
Tapu The Personal Tapu Evading the Tapu The
Undertaker's Tapu How I got Tabooed Frightful
Difficulties How I got out of them The War Tapu
Maori War Customs Page 117
CHAPTER IX.
The Tapu Tohunga The Maori Oracle Responses of
the Oracle Priestcraft Page 148
CHAPTER X.
The Priest evokes a Spirit The Consequences A Maori
Tragedy The " Tohunga " again Page 1 5G
CHAPTER XI.
The Local Tapu The Tauiwha The Battle of Motiti
Death of Tiki Whenua Reflections Brutus, Marcus
Antonius, and Tiki Whenua Suicide Page 16o
CHAPTER XII.
The Tapa Instances of The Storming of Mokoia
Pomare Hongi Ika Tareha Honor amongst
Thieves Page 175
CHAPTER XIII.
" My Rangatira '' The respective Duties of the Pakeha
and his Rangatira Public Opinion A "Pakeha
Kino " Description of my Rangatira His Exploits
and Misadventures His Moral Principles Decline
in the numbers of the Natives Proofs of former
Large Population Ancient Forts Causes of De-
crease Page 179
XIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
Trading iuthe Old Times The Native Difficulty Virtue
its own Reward Rule Britannia Death of my
Chief His Dying Speech Rescue How the World
goes Round Page 211
CHAPTER XV.
Mana Young New Zealand The Law of England
"Pop goes the weasel" Right if we have Might
God save the Queen Page 223
OLD NEW ZEALAND,
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY FIRST VIEW OF NEW ZEALAND FIRST SIGHT
OF THE NATIVES, AND FIRST SENSATIONS EXPERIENCED
BY A MERE PAKEHA A MAORI CHIEF'S NOTIONS OF
TRADING IN THE OLD TIMES A DISSERTATION ON
'COURAGE' A FEW WORDS ON DRESS THE CHIEF'S
SOLILOQUY THE MAORI CRY OF WELCOME.
AH ! those good old times, when first I
came to New Zealand, we shall never see
their like again. Since then the world seems
to have gone wrong somehow. A dull sort
of world this now. The very sun does not
seem to me to shine as bright as it used.
Pigs and potatoes have degenerated ; and
everything seems "flat, stale, and unprofit-
able." But those were the times ! the
"good old times" before Governors were
invented, and law, and justice, and all that.
2 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
When every one did as he liked, except
when his neighbours would net Let him, (the
more shame for them,) Avhen there were no
taxes, or duties, or public works, or public
to require them. Who cared then whether
he owned a coat ? or believed in shoes or
stockings ? The men were bigger and stouter
in those days ; and the women, ah ! Money
was useless and might go a begging. A
sovereign was of no use except to make a
hole in and hang it in a child's ear. The
few I brought went that way, and I have
seen them swapped for shillings, which
were thought more becoming. What cared
I ? A fish-hook was worth a dozen of them,
and I had lots of fish-hooks. Little did I
think in those days that I should ever see
here towns and villages, banks and insurance
offices, prime ministers and bishops ; and hear
sermons preached, and see men hung, and all
the other plagues of civilization. I am a
melancholy man. I feel somehow as if I had
got older. I am no use in these dull times.
I mope about in solitary places, exclaiming
often, "Oh ! where are those good old times?"
and echo, or some young Maori whelp from
the Three Kings, answers from behind a
bush, No HE A.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 3
I shall not state the year in which I first
saw the mountains of New Zealand appear
above the sea ; there is a false suspicion
getting about that I am growing old. This
must be looked down, so I will at present
avoid dates. I always held a theory that
time was of no account in New Zealand, and
I do believe I was right up to the time of the
arrival of the first Governor. The natives
hold this opinion still, especially those who
are in debt : so I will just say it was in the
good old times, long ago, that, from the deck
of a small trading schooner in which I had
taken my passage from somewhere, I first
cast eyes on Maori land. It was Maori land
then ; but alas ! what is it now ? Success to
you, King of Waikato. May your mcma
never be less ! long may you hold at bay the
demon of civilization, though fall at last*I
fear you must. Plutus with golden hoof is
trampling on your landmarks. He mocks
the war-song ; but should / see your fall, at
least one Pakeha Maori shall raise the tangi ;
and with flint and shell as of old shall the
women lament you.
Let me, however, leave these melancholy
thoughts for a time, forget the present, take
courage, and talk about the past. I have not
4 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
got on shore yet ; a thing I must accomplish
as a necessary preliminary to looking about
me, and telling what I saw. I do not under-
stand the pakeha way of beginning a story in
the middle ; so to start fair, I must fairly get
on shore, Avhich, I am surprised to find, was
easier to do than to describe.
The little schooner neared the land, and as
we came closer and closer, I began in a most
unaccountable manner to remember all the
tales I had ever heard of people being baked
in ovens, with cabbage and potato " fixins."
I had before this had some considerable expe-
rience of " savages/* but as they had no regu-
lar system of domestic cookery of the nature
I have hinted at, and being, as I was in those
days, a mere pakeha (a character I have since
learned to despise), I felt, to say the least,
rather curious as to the then existing demand
on shore for butchers' meat.
The ship sailed on, and I went below
and loaded my pistols ; not that I expected
at all to conquer the country with them,
but somehow because I could not help it.
"We soon came to anchor in a fine harbour
before the house of the very first settler
who had ever entered it, and to this time
he was the only one. He had, however, a
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 5
few Europeans in his employ ; and there
was at some forty miles distance a sort of
nest of English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, French,
and American, runaways from South Sea
whalers, with whom were also congregated
certain other individuals of the pakeha race,
whose manner of arrival in the country was
not clearly accounted for, and to enquire
into which was, as I found afterwards, con-
sidered extremely impolite, and a great breach
of biensuance. They lived in a half savage
state, or to speak correctly, in a savage
and-a-half state, being greater savages by
far than the natives themselves.
I must, however, turn back a little, for
I perceive I am not on shore yet.
The anchoring of a vessel of any size, large
or small, in a port of New Zealand, in those
days, was an event of no small importance ;
and, accordingly, from the deck we could
see the shore crowded by several hundreds
of natives, all in a great state of excitement,
shouting and running about, many with spears
and clubs in their hands, and altogether look-
ing to the inexperienced new-comer very
much as if they were speculating on an
immediate change of diet. I must say these
at least were my impressions on seeing the
6 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
mass of shouting, gesticulating, tattooed fel-
lows, who were exhibiting before us, and who
all seemed to be mad with excitement of
some sort or other. Shortly after we came
to anchor, a boat came oft* in which was
Mr. , the settler I have mentioned, and
also the principal chief of the tribe of
natives inhabiting this part of the country.
Mr. gave me a hearty \ welcome to New
Zealand, and also an invitation to his house,
telling me I was welcome to make it my home
for any unlimited time, till I had one of
my own. The chief also, having made some
enquiries first of the captain of the schooner,
such as whether I was a rangatira, if I
had plenty of taonc/a (goods) on board, and
other particulars ; and having been answered
by the Captain in the most satisfactory
manner, came up to me and gave me a most
sincere welcome. (I love sincerity). He
would have welcomed me, however, had I
been as poor as Job, for pakehas were, in
those days, at an enormous premium. Even
Job, at the worst, (a pakelia Job) might be
supposed to have an old coat, or a spike
nail, or a couple of iron hoops left on hand,
and these were " good trade " in the times
I speak of ; and under a process well under^
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 7
stood at the time by my friend the chief,
were sure to change hands soon after his
becoming aware of their whereabouts. His
O
idea of trade was this : He took them, and
never paid for them till he took something
else of greater value, which, whatever it might
be, he never paid for till he made a third
still heavier haul. He always paid just what
he thought fit to give, and when he chose
to withdraw his patronage from any pakeha
who might be getting too knowing for him,
and extend it to some newer arrival, he never
paid for the last " lot of trade;" but, to
give him his due, ho allowed his pakeha
friends to make the best bargain they could
with the rest of the tribe, with the excep-
tion of a few of his nearest relations, over
whose interests he would watch. So, after
all, the pakeha would make a living ; but
I have never heard of one of the old
traders who got rich by trading with the
natives : there were too many drawbacks
of the nature I have mentioned, as well as
others unnecessary to mention just yet, which
prevented it.
I positively vow and protest to you, gentle
and patient reader, that if ever I get safe
on shore, I will do my best to give you
8 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
satisfaction ; let me get once on shore, and
I am all right : but unless I get my
feet on terra jirma,, how can I ever begin
my tale of the good old times ? As long
as I am on board ship I am cramped and
crippled, and a mere slave to Greenwich time,
and can't get on. Some people, I am aware,
would make a dash at it, and manage the
thing without the aid of boat, canoe, or life
preserver ; but such people are, for the most
part, dealers in fiction, which I am not : my
story is a true stoiy, not " founded on fact,"
but fact itself, and so I cannot manage to get
on shore a moment sooner than circumstances
will permit. It may be that I ought to have
landed before this ; but I must confess I don't
know any more about the right way to tell a
story, than a native minister knows how to
" come " a war dance. I declare the mention
of the war dance calls up a host of reminis-
cences, pleasurable and painful, exhilarating
and depressing, in such a way as no one but a
few, a very few, pakeha Maori, can under-
stand. Thunder ! but no ; let me get ashore ;
how can I dance on the water, or before I
ever knew how ? On shore I will get this
time, I am determined, in spite of fate so
now for it.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 9
The boat of my friend Mr. - - being about
to return to the shore, leaving the chief and
Mr. on board, and I seeing the thing had
to be done, plucked up courage, and having
secretly felt the priming of my pistols under
my coat, 'got into the boat.
I must here correct myself. I have said
" plucked up courage," but that is not exactly
my meaning The fact is, kind reader, if you
have followed me thus far, you are about to
be rewarded for your perseverance. I am
determined to make you as wise as I am my-
self on at least one important subject, and
that is not saying a little, let me inform you,
as I can hardly suppose you have made the
discovery for yourself on so short an ac-
quaintance. FalstafF, who was a very clever
fellow, and whose word cannot be doubted,
says "The better part of valour is discretion."
Now, that being the case, what in the name
of Achilles, Hector, and Colonel Gold (he,
I mean Ach illcs, was a rank coward, who w r ent
about knocking people on the head, being
himself next tiling to invulnerable, and who
could not be hurt till he turned his back to
the enemy. There is a deep moral in this
same story about Acliilles wliich perhaps, by
and bye, I may explain to you) what, I say
10 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
again, in the name of everything valorous, can
the worser part of valour be, if " discretion"
be the better ? The fact is, my dear sir, I
don't believe in courage at all, nor ever did ;
but there is something far better, which has
carried me through many serious scrapes with
ecldt and safety ; I mean the appearance of
courage. If you have this you may drive
the world before you. As for real courage, I
do not believe there can be any such thing.
A man who sees himself in danger of being
killed by his enemy and is not in a precious
fright, is simply not courageous but niad.
The man who is not frightened because he
cannot see the danger, is a person of weak
mind a fool who ought to be locked up
lest he walk into a well with eyes open ; but
the appearance of courage, or rather, as I
deny the existence of the thing itself, that ap-
pearance which is thought to be courage, that
is the thing will carry you through ! get
you made K.C.B., Victoria Cross, and all
that ! Men by help of this quality do the
most heroic actions, being all the time ready
to die of mere fright, but keeping up a good
countenance all the time. Here is the secret
pay attention, it is worth much money
if ever you get into any desperate battle or
OLD NEW ZEALAND 11
skirmish, and feel in such a state of mortal
fear that you almost wish to be shot to get
rid of it, just say to yourself " If I am so
preciously frightened, what must the other
fellow be ?" The thought will refresh you ;
your own self-esteem will answer that of
course the enemy is more frightened than you
are, consequently, the nearer you feel to run-
ning away the more reason you have to stand.
Look at the last gazette of the last victory,
where thousands of men at one shilling per
diem, minus certain very serious deductions,
" covered themselves with glory." The thing
is clear : the other fellows ran first, and that
is all about it ! My secret is a very good
secret ; but one must of course do the thing
properly ; no matter of what kind the danger
is, you must look it boldly in the face and
keep your wits about you, and the more
frightened you get the more determined you
must be to keep up appearances and half
the danger is gone at once. So now, having
corrected myself, as well as given some
valuable advice, I shall start again for the
shore by saying that I plucked up a very
good appearance of courage and got on board
the boat.
For the honor and glory of the British
12 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
nation, of which I considered myself in some
degree a representative on this momentous
occasion, I had dressed myself in one of my
best suits. My frock coat was, I fancy, " the
thing ;" my waistcoat was the result of much
and deep thought, in cut, colour, and ma-
terial I may venture to affirm that the like
had not been often seen in the southern
hemisphere. My tailor has, as I hear, long
since realised a fortune and retired, in conse-
quence of the enlightenment he at different
times received from me on the great princi-
ples of, not clothing, but embellishing the
human subject. My hat looked down criti-
cism, and my whole turn out such as I
calculated would " astonish the natives," and
cause awe and respect for myself individually
and the British nation in general, of whom I
thought fit to consider myself no bad sample.
Here I will take occasion to remark that
some attention to ornament and elegance in
the matter of dress is not only allowable but
commendable. Man is the only beast to
whom a discretionary power has been left in
this respect : why then should he not take a
hint from nature, and endeavour to beautify
his person ? Peacocks and birds of paradise
could no doubt live and get fat though all
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 13
their feathers were the colour of a Quaker's
leggings, but see how they are ornamented !
Nature has, one would say, exhausted herself
in beautifying them. Look at the tiger and
leopard 1 Could not they murder without
their stripes and spots ? but see how their
coats are painted ! Look at the flowers at
the whole universe and you will see every-
where the ornamental combined with the
useful. Look, then, to the cut and colour
of your coat, and do not laugh at the Maori
of past times, who, not being "seized" of a
coat because he has never been able to seize
one, carves and tattoes legs, arms 7 and face.
The boat is, however, darting towards the
shore, rapidly propelled by four stout natives.
My friend - - and the chief are on board.
The chief has got his eye on my double gun,
which is hanging up in the cabin. He takes
it down and examines it closely. He is a good
judge of a gun. It is the best tupara he has
ever seen, and his speculations run something
very like this : " A good gun, a first-rate
gun ; I must have this ; I must tapu it before
I leave the ship ; [here he pulls a piece of
the fringe from his cloak and ties it round the
stock of the gun, thereby rendering it impos-
sible for me to sell, give away, or dispose of it
14 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
in any way to anyone but himself] I wonder
what the pakeha will want for it ! I will
promise him as much flax or as many pigs as
ever he likes for it. True, I have no flax just
now, and am short of pigs, they were almost
all killed at the last hahunga ; but if he is in
a hurry he can buy the flax or pigs from the
people, which ought to satisfy him. Perhaps
he would take a piece of land ! that would be
famous. I would give him a piece quite close
to the kainga, where I would always have him
close to me ; I hope he may take the land ; then
I should have two pakehas, him and - . All
the inland chiefs would envy me. This
is getting too knowing; he has taken to hiding
his best goods of late, and selling them before
I knew he had them. It's just the same as
thieving, and I won't stand it. He sold three
muskets the other day to the Ngatiwaki, and
I did not know he had them, or I should have
taken them. I could have paid for them some
time or another. It was wrong, wrong, very
wrong, to let that tribe have those muskets.
He is not their pakeha ; let them look for a
pakeha for themselves. Those Ngatiwaki are
getting too many muskets those three make
sixty-four they have got besides two tupara.
Certainly we have a great many more, and
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 15
the Ngatiwaki are our relations, but then
there was Kohu, we killed, and Patu, we stole
his wife. There is no saying what these Ngat-
iwaki may do if they should get plenty of
muskets ; they are game enough for anything.
It was wrong to give them those muskets ;
wrong, wrong, wrong ! " After-experience
enabled me to tell just what the chiefs
soliloquy was, as above.
But all this time the boat is darting to the
shore, and as the distance is only a couple
of hundred yards, I can hardly understand
how it is that I have not yet landed. The
crew are pulling like mad, being impatient to
show the tribe the prize they have made, a
regular pakclia rangatira as well as a ran-
gatira pakeha, (two very different things,)
who has lots of tomahawks, and fish-hooks,
and blankets, and a tupara, and is even sus-
pected to be the owner of a great many "pots"
of gunpowder ! " He is going to stop with the
tribe, he is going to trade, he is going to be a
pakeha for us." These last conclusions were,
however, jumped at, the "pakeha" not having
then any notions of trade or commerce, and
being only inclined to look about and amuse
himself. The boat nears the shore, and now
arises from a hundred voices the call of wel-
16 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
come, "Haeremai! haeremai! Jioemai! hoe
mail haere mai } e-te-pa-ke-lia, haere mail
mats, hands, and certain ragged petticoats put
into requisition for that occasion, all at the
same time waving in the air in sign of wel-
come. Then a pause. Then, as the boat came
nearer, another burst of haere mai! But
unaccustomed as I was then to the Maori
salute, I disliked the sound. There was a
wailing melancholy cadence that did not strike
me as being the appropriate tone of wel-
come ; and, as I was quite ignorant up to this
time of my own importance, wealth, and gene-
ral value as a pakeha, I began, as the boat
closed in with the shore, to ask myself whether
possibly this same "haere mai" might not be
the Maori for "dilly, dilly, come and be killed."
There was, however^ no help for it now ; we
were close to the shore, and so, putting on the
most unconcerned countenance possible, I pre-
pared to make my entree into Maori land in a
proper and dignified manner.
CHAPTER IT.
THE MARKET PRICE OF A PAKEIIA THE VALUE OF A
PAKEHA "AS SUCIi" MAORI HOSPITALITY IN THE
GOOD OLD TIMES A RESPECTABLE FRIEND MAORI
MERMAIDS MY NOTIONS OF THE VALUE OF GOLD
HOW I GOT ON SHORE.
HERE I must remark that in those days the
value of a pakeha to a tribe was enormous.
For want of pakehas to trade with, and from
whom to procure gunpowder and muskets,
many tribes or sections of tribes w r ere about
this time exterminated or nearly so by their
more fortunate neighbours who got pakehas
before them, and who consequently became
armed with muskets first. A pakeha trader
was therefore of a value say about twenty
times his own weight in muskets. This,
according to my notes made at the time, I
find to have represented a value in New
Zealand something about what we mean in
England when we talk of the sum total of the
national debt. A book-keeper, or a second-
rate pakeha, not a trader, might be valued
c
18 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
at say his weight in tomakawks ; an
enormous sum also. The poorest labouring
pakeha, though he might have no property,
would earn something his value to the chief
and tribe with whom he lived might be esti-
mated at say his weight in fish-hooks, or
about a hundred thousand pounds or so ;
value estimated by eagerness to obtain the
article.
The value of a musket was not to be esti-
mated to a native by just what he gave for
it : he gave all he had, or could procure, and
had he ten times as much to give he would
have given it, if necessary, or if not, he would
buy ten muskets instead of one. Muskets !
muskets ! muskets ! nothing but muskets, was
the first demand of the Maori ; muskets and
gunpowder at any cost.
I do not, however, mean to affirm 'that
pakehas Avere at this time valued a as such,"
like Mr. Pickwick's silk stockings, which
were very good and valuable stockings, "as
stockings" not at all. A loose straggling
pakeha a runaway from a ship for instance,
who had nothing, and was never likely to have
anything, a vagrant straggler passing from
place to place, was not of much account even
in those times. Two men of this description
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 19
(runaway sailors) were hospitably entertained
one night by a chief, a very particular friend
of mine, who, to pay himself for his trouble
and outlay, eat one of them next morning.
Remember, my good reader, I don't deal
in fiction ; my friend eat the pakeha sure
enough, and killed him before he eat him,
which was civil, for it was not always done
But then, certainly, the pakeha was a tutua,
a nobody, a fellow not worth a spike nail ;
no one knew him ; he had no relations, no
goods, no expectations, no anything : what
could be made of him ? Of what use on
earth was he except to eat ? And, indeed,
not much good even for that they say he
was not good meat. But good well-to-do
pakehas, traders, ship captains, labourers, or
employers of labour, these were to be
honoured, cherished, caressed, protected, and
plucked. Plucked judiciously, (the Maori
is a clever fellow in his way,) so that the
feathers might grow again. But as for poor,
mean, mere, Pakclia tutua, c ((ha te 2>(ri?
Before going any farther I beg to state
that I hope the English reader or the
new-comer, who does not understand Maori
morality especially of the glorious old
time will not form a bad opinion of my
c 2
20 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
friend's character, merely because he eat a
good-for-nothing sort of pakeha, who really
was good for nothing else. People from
the old countries I have often observed to
have a kind of over-delicacy about them,
the result of a too eifeminate course of life
and over-civilization, which is the cause
that, often starting from premises which
are true enough, they will, being carried
away by their over-sensitive constitution or
sickly nervous system, jump at once, without
any just process of reasoning, to the most
erroneous conclusions. I know as well as can
be that some of this description of my readers
will at once, without reflection, set my friend
down as a very rude ill-mannered sort of
person. Nothing of the kind, 1 assure you,
Miss. You never made a greater mistake in
your life. My friend was a highly respectable
person in his way ; he was a great friend
and protector of rich, well-to-do pakehas ;
he was, moreover, a great warrior, and had
killed the first man in several different
battles. He always wore, hanging round
his neck, a handsome carved flute, (this at
least showed a soft and musical turn of
mind,) which was made of the thigh-bone
of one of his enemies ; and when Heke,
OLD NEW ZEALAIs 7 D. 21
the Ngapuhi, made war against us, my
friend came to the rescue, fought manfully
for his pakeha friends, and was desperately
wounded in so doing. Now can any one
imagine a more respectable character ? a
warrior, a musician, a friend in need, who
would stand by you while he had a leg to
stand on, and would not eat a friend on
any account whatever, except he should be
very hungry.
The boat darts on ; she touches the edge of
a steep rock ; the "fiacre mai" has sub-
sided ; six or seven " personages" the mag-
nates of the tribe come gravely to the front
to meet me as I land. There is about six
or seven yards of shallow water to be crossed
between the boat and where they stand. A
stout fellow rushes to the boat's nose, and
" shows a back," as we used to say at leap-
frog, lie is a young fellow of respectable
standing in the tribe, a far-off cousin of the
chiefs, a warrior, and as such has no back ;
that is to say, to carry loads of fuel or
potatos. He is too good a man to be spoiled
in that way ; the women must carry for him ;
the able-bodied men of the tribe must be
saved for its protection ; but he is ready to
carry the pakeha on shore the rangatira
22 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
pakehct, who wears a real koti roa, (a long
coat,) and beaver hat ! Carry ! He would
lie down and make a bridge of his body, with
pleasure, for him. Has he not half a ship full
of taonga f
Well, having stepped in as dignified a
manner as I knew how, from thwart to
thwart, till I came to the bow of the boat,
and having tightened on my hat and buttoned
up my coat, I fairly mounted on the broad
shoulders of my aboriginal friend. I felt
at the time that the thing was a sort of
failure a come down ; the position was not
graceful, or in any way likely to suggest ideas
of respect or awe, with my legs projecting a
yard or so from under each arm of my bearer,
holding on to his shoulders in the most pain-
ful, cramped, and awkward manner. To be
sacked on shore thus, and delivered like a
bag of goods thus, into the hands of the
assembled multitude, did not strike me as
a good first appearance on this stage. But
little, indeed, can we tell in this world what
one second may produce. Gentle reader, fail-
reader, patient reader ! The fates have
decreed it ; the fiat has gone forth ; on that
man's back I shall never land in New Zea-
land. Manifold are the doubts and fears
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 23
which have yet to shake and agitate the
hearts and minds of all my friends as to
whether I shall ever land at all, or ever
again feel terra firma touch my longing foot.
My bearer made one step ; the rock is
slippery ; backwards he goes ; back, back !
The steep is near is passed ! down, down,
we go ! backwards and headlong to the
depths below !
The ebb tide is running like a sluice ; in
an instant we are forty yards off, and a fathom
below the surface ; ten more fathoms are
beneath us. The heels of my boots, my
polished boots, point to the upper air aye,
point ; but when, oh, when again, shall I
salute thee, gentle air ; when again, unchoked
by the saline flood, cry Veni aura ? When,
indeed ! for now I am wrong end uppermost,
drifting away with the tide, and ballasted with
heavy pistols, boots, tight clothes, and all the
straps and strings of civilisation. Oh, heavens !
and oh earth ! and oh ye little thieves of
fishes who manage to live in the waters under
O
the earth (a miserable sort of life you must
have of it) ! oh Maori sea nymphs ! who,
with yellow hair yellow ? egad that's odd
enough, to say the least of it ; however the
Maori should come to give their sea nymphs
24 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
or spirits yellow hair is curious. The Maori
know nothing about yellow hair ; their hair
is black. About one in a hundred of them
have a sort of dirty brown hair ; but even
if there should be now and then a native
with yellow hair, how is it that they have
come to give this colour to the sea-sprites in
particular ? who also " dance on the sands,
and yet no footstep seen." Now I confess I
am rather puzzled and struck by the coinci-
dence. I don't believe Shakespeare ever was
in New Zealand ; Jasan might, being a sea-
faring-man, and if he should have called in for
wood and water, and happened to have the
golden fleece by any accident on board, and
by any chance put it on for a wig, why the
thing would be accounted for at once. The
world is mad now-a-days about gold, so no
one cares a fig about what is called " golden
hair ;" nuggets and dust have the preference ;
but this is a grand mistake. Gold is no use,
or very little, except in so far as this that
through the foolishness of human beings, one
can purchase the necessaries and conveniences
of life with it. Now, this being the case, if
I have a chest full of gold (which I have
not), I am no richer for it in fact until I
have given it away in exchange for neces-
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 25
saries, comforts, and luxuries, which are,
properly speaking, riches or wealth ; but it
follows from this, that he who has given me
this same riches or wealth for my gold, has
become poor, and his only chance to set him-
self up again, is to get rid of the gold as fast
as he can, in exchange for the same sort and
quantity of things, if he can get them, which
is always doubtful. But here lies the gist
of the matter how did I, in the first instance,
become possessed of my gold ? If I bought
it, and gave real wealth for it, beef, mutton,
silk, tea, sugar, tobacco, ostrich feathers,
leather breeches, and crinoline, why, then,
all I have done in parting with my gold, is
merely to get them back again, and I am, con-
sequently, no richer by the transaction ; but
if I steal my gold, then I am a clear gainer
of the whole lot of valuables above men-
tioned. So, upon the whole, I don't see
much use in getting gold honestly, and one
must not steal it : digging it certainly is almost
as good as stealing, if it is not too deep, which
fully accounts for so many employing them-
selves in this way ; but then the same amount
of labour would raise no end of wheat and
potatoes, beef and mutton : and all farmers,
mathematicians, and algebraists will agree
26 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
with me in this that after any country is
fully cultivated, all the gold in the world
won't force it to grow one extra turnip, and
what more can any one desire ? So now Adam
Smith, McCulloch, and all the rest of them
may go and be hanged. The whole upshot of
this treatise on political economy and golden
hair, (which I humbly lay at the feet of the
Colonial Treasurer,) is this : I would not
give one of your golden locks, my dear, for
all the gold, silver, pearls, diamonds, mere
ponamus stop, let me think, a good mere
ponamu would be a temptation. I had once
a mere, a present from a Maori friend, the
most beautiful thing of the kind ever seen.
It was nearly as transparent as glass ; in it
there were beautiful marks like fern leaves,
trees, fishes, and I would not give much for
a person who could not see almost anything in
it. Never shall I cease to regret having
parted with it. The Emperor of Brazil, I
think, has it now ; but he does not know the
proper use of it. It went to the Minister many
years ago. I did not sell it. I would have
scorned to do that ; but I did expect to be
made knight of the golden pig knife, or
elephant and watch box, or something of that
nature : but here I am still, a mere pakeha
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 27
Maori, and, as I recollect, in desperate danger
of being drowned.
Up we came at last, blowing and puffing
like grampuses. With a glance I. "recognised
the situation :" we had drifted a long way
from the landing place. My hat was dashing
away before the land breeze towards the sea
and had already ^inade a good "offing."
Three of the boat's-crew had jumped over-
board, had passed us a long distance, and
were seemingly bound after the hat ; the
fourth man was pulling madly with one oar,
and consequently making great progress in
no very particular direction. The whole
tribe of natives had followed our drift along
the shore, shouting and gesticulating, and
some were launching a large canoe, evidently
bent on saving the hat, on which all eyes
were turned. As for the pakeha, it appears
they must have thought it an insult to his
understanding to suppose he could be
drowned anywhere in sight of land. " ' Did
he not come from the sea ? ' Was he not
a fish ? Was not the sea solid land to
him ? Did not his fire burn on the ocean ?
Had he not slept 011 the crests of the
waves 1" All this I heard afterwards ; but
at the time had I not been as much at home
28 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
in the water as anything not amphibious
could be, I should have been very little
better than a gone pakeha. Here was a
pretty wind up ! I was going to " astonish
the natives/' was I ? with my black hat
and niy koti roa ? But the villian is within a
yard of me the rascally cause of all niy grief.
The furies take possession of me ! I dart upon
him like a hungry shark ! I have him ! I
have him under ! Down, villain ! down to
the kraken and the whale, to the Taniwha
cave ! down ! down ! down ! As we sank
I heard one grand roar of wild laughter
from the shore the word utu I heard roared
by many voices, but did not then know its
import. The pakeha was drowning the
Maori for utu for himself, in case he should
be drowned. No matter, if the Maori can't
hold his own, it's fair play ; and then, if the
pakeha really does drown the Maori, has
he not lots of taonga to be robbed of ? no,
not exactly to be robbed of, either ; let us
not use unnecessarily bad language we will
say to be distrained upon. Crack ! What
do I hear ? Down in the deep I felt a
shock, and actually heard a sudden noise.
Is it the "crack of doom?" No, it is
my frock-coat gone at one split "from clue
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 29
to earing" split down the back. Oh if
my pistols would go off, a fiery and watery
death shouldst tliou die, Caliban. Egad ! they
have gone off they are both gone to the
bottom ! My boots are getting heavy !
Humane Society, ahoy ! where is your
boat-hook ? where is your bellows ? Humane
Society, ahoy ! We are now drifting fast by
a sandy point, after which there will be no
chance of landing, the tide will take us right
out to sea. My friend is very hard to drown
must finish him some other time. We both
swim for the point, and land ; and this is
how I got ashore on Maori land.
CHAPTER III.
A WRESTLING MATCH BEEP AGAINST MELONS THE VICTOR
GAINS A LOSS " OUR CHIEF" HIS SPEECH HIS Status
IN THE TRIBE DEATH OP "MELONS" RUMOURS OF
PEACE AND WAR GETTING THE PA IN FIGHTING ORDER
MY FRIEND THE "RELATION EATER" EXPECTATION
AND PREPARATION ARRIVAL OF DOUBTFUL FRIENDS
SHAM FIGHT THE " TAKI " THE WAR DANCE ANOTHER
EXAMPLE OF MAORI HOSPITALITY CROCODILE'S TEARS
LOOSE NOTIONS ABOUT HEADS TEARS OF BLOOD
BROTHERLY LOVE CAPITAL FELONY PEACE.
SOMETHING between a cheer, a scream, and a
roar, greet our arrival on the sand. An
English voice salutes me with " "Well, you
served that fellow out. " One half of my
coat hangs from my right elbow the other
from my left ; a small shred of the collar is
still around my neck. My hat, alas ! my hat
is gone. I am surrounded by a dense mob of
natives, laughing, shouting, and gesticulating,
in the most grotesque manner. Three
Englishmen are also in the crowd they
seem greatly amused at something, and offer
repeated welcomes. At this moment up
OLD NEW ZEALAND 31
comes my salt-water acquaintance, elbowing
his way through the crowd ; there is a
strange serio-comic expression of anger in
his face ; he stoops, makes horrid grimaces,
quivering at the same time his left hand and
arm about in a most extraordinary manner,
and striking the thick part of his left arm
with the palm of his right hand. " II u ! " says
he, "Uu ! hit!" "What can he mean ?" said I.
" He is challenging you to wrestle, " cried one
of the Englishmen; " he wants utu." "What
is utu ?" said I. " Payment. " "1 won't pay
him. " " Oh, that's not it, he wants to take
it out of you wrestling." "Oh, I see ; here's
at him ; pull off my coat and boots ; I'll
wrestle him ; his foot is in his own country,
and his name is what ? " " Sir, his name
in English means ' An eater of melons ;' he
is a good wrestler ; you must mind. " " Water-
melons, I suppose ; beef against melons for
ever, hurrah ! here's at him. " Here the na-
tives began to run between us to separate us,
but seeing that I was in the humour to
" have it out," and that neither self or friend
were actually out of temper, and no doubt,
expecting to see the pakeha floored, they
stood to one side and made a rinsr. A
o
wrestler soon recognises another, and my
32 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
friend soon gave me some hints that showed
me I had some work before me. I was a
youngster in those days, all bone and sinew,
full of animal spirits, and as tough as leather.
A couple of desperate main strength efforts
soon convinced us both that science or endur-
ance must decide the contest. My antagonist
was a strapping fellow of about five-and-
twenty, tremendously strong, and much
heavier than me. I, however, in those days
actually could not be fatigued ; I did not
know the sensation, and could run from
morning till night. I therefore trusted to
wearing him out, and avoiding his ta and
wiri. All this time the mob were shouting
encouragement to one or other of us. Such
a row never was seen. I soon perceived I
had a " party." " Well done, pakeha ! "
" Now for it, Melons ! " " At him again ! "
" Take care, the pakeha is a taniwha ; the
pakeha is a tino tangata ! " " Hooray ! "
(from the British element). "The Pakeha
is down ! " " No he isn't ! " (from English
side). Here I saw my friend's knees begin-
ning to tremble. I made a great effort,
administered my favorite remedy, and there
lay the " Eater of melons" prone upon the
sand. I stood a victor ; and like many other
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 33
conquerors, a very great loser. There I
stood, minus hat, coat, and pistols, wet and
mauled, and transformed very considerably
for the worse since I left the ship. When
my antagonist fell, the natives gave a great
shout of triumph, and congratulated me in
their own way with the greatest good will.
I could see I had got their good opinion,
though I scarcely could understand how.
After sitting on the sand some time my
friend arose, and with a very graceful
movement, and a smile of good nature on
his dusky countenance, he held out his hand
and said in English, " How do you do ? "
I was much pleased at this ; the natives had
given me fair play, and my antagonist, though
defeated both by sea and land, offered me his
hand, and welcomed me to the shore with his
whole stock of English " How do you do ? "
But the row is not half over yet. Here
comes the chief in the ship's boat. The other
is miles off with its one man crew still pulling
no one knows, or at all cares, where. Some
one has been off in a canoe and told the chief
that " Melons " and the " New Pakeha " were
fiorhtinof like mad on the beach. Here he
O O
comes, flourishing his mere ponamu. He is
a tall, stout fellow, in the prime of life, black
D
34 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
with tattooing, and splendidly dressed, accord-
ing to the splendour of those days. He has on
a very good blue jacket, no shirt or waistcoat,
a pair of duck trousers, and a red sash round
his waist ; no hat or shoes, these being as
yet things beyond a chiefs ambition. The
jacket was the only one in the tribe ; and
amongst the surrounding company I saw
only one other pair of trousers, and it had
a large hole at each knee, but this was not
considered to detract at all from its value.
The chief jumps ashore ; he begins his oration,
or rather to "blow up" all and sundry the
tribe in general, and poor " Melons " in par-
ticular. He is really vexed, and wishes to
appear to me more vexed than he really is.
He runs, gesticulating and flourishing his
mere, about ten steps in one direction, in
the course of which ten steps he delivers
a sentence ; he then turns and runs back
the same distance, giving vent to his wrath
in another sentence, and so back and forward,
forward and back, till he has exhausted the
subject and tired his legs. The Englishmen
were beside me and gave a running trans-
lation of what he said. " Pretty work this/'
he began, "good work; killing my pakeha ;
look at him ! (Here a flourish in my direction
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 35
with the mere.) I won't stand this ; not at
all ! not at all ! not at all ! (The last sentence
took three jumps, a step, and a turn-round,
to keep correct time.) Who killed the
pakeha ? It was Melons. You are a nice
man, are you not ? (This with a sneer.)
Killing my pakeha ! (In a voice like thunder,
and rushing savagely, mere in hand, at poor
Melons, but turning exactly at the end of
the ten steps and coining back again.) It
will be heard of all over the country ; we
shall be called the ' pakeha killers ; ' I shall
be sick with shame ; the pakeha will run
away, and take all his taonga along with him.
What if you had killed him dead, or broken
his bones ? his relations would be coining
across the sea for utu. (Great sensation, and
I try to look as though I would say 'of
course they would.') What did I build this
pa close to the sea for ? was it not to
trade with the pakeha s ? and here you are
killing the second that has come to stop with
me. (Here poor Melons burst out crying
like an infant.) Where is the hat ? where
the koti roa ? where the shoes ? (Boots were
shoes in those days.) The pakeha is robbed ;
he is murdered ! (Here a howl from Melons,
and I go over and sit down by him, clap
D2
36 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
him on the bare back, and shake his hand.)
Look at that, the pakeha does not bear
malice ; I would kill you if he asked me ;
you are a bad people, killers of pakehas ; be
off with you, the whole of you, away ! " This
command was instantly obeyed by all the
women, boys, and slaves. Melons also,
being in disgrace, disappeared ; but I
observed that "the whole of you" did not
seem to be understood as including the stout,
able-bodied, tattooed part of the population,
the strength of the tribe the warriors, in
fact, many of whom counted themselves to
be very much about as good as the chief.
They were his nearest relations, without
whose support he could do nothing, and
were entirely beyond his control.
I found afterwards that it was only during
actual war that this chief was perfectly abso-
lute, which arose from the confidence the
tribe had in him, both as a general and a
fighting man, and the obvious necessity that
in war implicit obedience be given to one
head. I have, however, observed in other
tribes, that in war they would elect a chief
for the occasion, a war chief, and have been
surprised to see the obedience they gave him,
even when his conduct was very open to
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 37
criticism. I say with surprise, for the natives
are so self-possessed, opinionated, and repub-
lican, that the chiefs have at ordinary times
but little control over them, except in very
rare cases, where the chief happens to possess
a singular vigour of character, or some other
unusual advantage, to enable him to keep
them under.
I will mention here that my first antagonist,
" The Eater of Melons, " became a great friend
of mine. He was my right-hand man and
manager when I set up house on my own
account, and did me many friendly services in
the course of my acquaintance with him. He
came to an unfortunate end some years later.
The tribe were getting ready for a war expedi-
tion ; poor Melons was filling cartridges
from a fifty pound barrel of gunpowder, pour-
ing the gunpowder into the cartridges with
his hand, and smoking his pipe at the time,
as I have seen the natives doing fifty times
since. A spark fell into the cask, and it is
scarcely necessary to say that my poor friend
was roasted alive in a second. I have known
three other accidents of the same kind, from
smoking whilst filling cartridges. In one of
these accidents three lives were lost, and
many injured ; and I really do believe that
38 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
the certainty of death will not prevent some
of the natives from smoking for more than a
given time. I have often seen infants refuse
the mother's breast, and cry for the pipe till
it was given them ; and dying natives often
ask for a pipe, and die smoking. I can
clearly perceive that the young men of the
present day are neither so tall, or stout, or
strong as men of the same age were when I
first came to the country ; and I believe that
this smoking from their infancy is one of the
chief causes of this decrease in strength and
stature.
I am landed at last, certainly ; but I am
tattered and wet, and in a most deplorable
plight : so to make my story short, for I see,
if I am too particular, I shall never come to
the end of it, I returned to the ship, put
myself to rights, and came on shore next day
with all my taonga, to the great delight of
the chief and tribe. My hospitable enter-
tainer, Mr. , found room for my possessions
in his store, and a room for myself in his
house ; and so now I am fairly housed we
shall see what will come of it.
I have now all New Zealand before me to
caper about in ; so I shall do as I like, and
please myself. I shall keep to neither rule,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 39
rhyme, or reason, but just write what comes
uppermost to my recollection of the good
old, days. Many matters which seemed odd
enough to me at first, have long appeared
such mere matters of course, that I am likely
to pass them over without notice. I shall,
however, give some of the more striking
features of those delectable days, now, alas !
passed and gone. Some short time after this,
news came that a grand war expedition, which
had been absent nearly two years at the
South, had returned. This party were about
a thousand strong, being composed of two
parties of about five hundred men each, from
two different tribes, who had joined their
force for the purpose of the expedition. The
tribe with which Mr. and myself were
staying, had not sent any men on this war
party ; but, I suppose to keep their hands in,
had attacked one of the two tribes who had,
and who were, consequently, much weakened
by the absence of so many of their best men.
It, however, turned out that after a battle
the ferocity of which has seldom been
equalled in any country but this our friends
were defeated with a dreadful loss, having in-
flicted almost as great on the enemy. Peace,
however, had afterwards been formally made ;
40 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
but, nevertheless, the news of the return of
this expedition was not heard without causing
a sensation almost amounting to consterna-
tion. The war chief of the party who had
been attacked by our friends during his
absence, was now, with all his men, within
an easy day's march. His road lay right
through our village, and it was much to
be doubted that he would keep the peace,
being one of the most noted war chiefs
of New Zealand, and he and his men
returning from a successful expedition. All
now was uproar and confusion ; messengers
were running like mad, in all directions, to
call in stragglers ; the women were carrying
fuel and provisions into the pa or fortress of
the tribe. This pa was a very well built and
strong stockade, composed of three lines of
strong fence and ditch, veiy ingeniously and
artificially planned ; and, indeed, as good a
defence as well could be imagined against an
enemy armed only with musketry.
All the men were now working like furies,
putting tliis fort to rights, getting it into
fighting order, mending the fences, clearing
out the ditches, knocking down houses inside
the place, clearing away brushwood and fern
all around the outside within musket shot.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 41
I was in the thick of it, and worked all day
lashing the fence ; the fence being of course
not nailed, but lashed with toro-toro, a kind
of tough creeping plant, like a small rope,
which was very strong and well adapted for
the purpose. This lashing was about ten or
twelve feet from the ground, and a stage had
to be erected for the men to stand on. To
accomplish this lashing or fastening of the
fence well and with expedition required two
men, one inside the fence and another outside ;
all the men therefore worked in pairs, passing
the end of the toro-toro from one to the other
through the fence of large upright stakes and
round a cross piece which went all along the
fence, by which means the whole was con-
nected into one strong wall. I worked aw r ay
like fury, just as if I had been born and bred
a member of the community ; and moreover,
not being in those days very particularly
famous for what is called prudence, 1 intended
also, circumstances permitting, to fight like
fury too, just for the fun of the thing. About
a hundred men were employed in this part of
the work new lashing the pa. My vis-d-cis
in the operation was a respectable old warrior
of great experience and approved valour,
whose name being turned into English meant
I
42 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
"The eater of his own relations." (Be careful
not to read rations.} This was quite a dif-
ferent sort of diet from " melons, " and he did
not bear his name for nothing, as I could tell
you if I had time, but I am half mad with
haste lashing the pa. I will only say that
my comrade was a most bloodthirsty, fero-
cious, athletic savage, and his character was
depicted in every line of his tattooed face.
About twenty men had been sent out to
watch the approach of the dreaded visitors.
The repairing of the stockade went on all one
day and all one night by torchlight and by
the light of huge fires lit in the inside. No
one thought of sleep. Dogs barking, men
shouting, children crying, women screaming,
pigs squealing, muskets firing (to see if they
were fit for active service and would go off),
and above all the doleful tetere sounding.
This was a huge wooden trumpet six feet
long, which gave forth a groaning moaning
sound, like the voice of a dying wild bull.
Babel, with a dash of Pandemonium, will
give a faint idea of the uproar.
All preparations having been at last made,
and no further tidings of the enemy, as I may
call them, I took a complete survey of the
fort, my friend the " Relation Eater" being my
OLD 'NEW ZEALAND. 43
companion and explaining to me the design
of the whole. I learned something that day ;
and I, though pretty well " up " in the noble
science of fortification, ancient and modern,
was obliged to confess to myself that a savage
who could neither read or write who had
never heard of Cohorn or Vauban and who
was moreover avowedly a gobbler up of his
own relations, could teach me certain practical
"dodges" in the defensive art quite well
worth knowing.
A long shed of palm leaves had been also
built at a safe and convenient distance from
the fort. This was for the accommodation of
the expected visitors, supposing they came in
peaceful guise. A whole herd of pigs were
also collected and tied to stakes driven into
the ground in the rear of the fort. These were
intended to feast the coming guests, according
to their behaviour.
Towards evening a messenger from a
neighbouring friendly tribe arrived to say
that next day, about noon, the strangers
might be expected ; and also that the peace
which had been concluded with their tribe
during their absence, had been ratified and
accepted by them. This was satisfactory
intelligence ; but, nevertheless, no precaution
44 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
must be neglected. To be thrown off guard
would invite an attack, and ensure destruc-
tion ; everything must be in order ; gun
cleaning, flint fixing, cartridge making, was
going on in all directions ; and the outpost
at the edge of the forest was not called in.
All was active preparation.
The path by which these doubtful friends
were coming led through a dense forest and
came out on the clear plain about half-a-mile
from the pa, wlmch plain continued and ex-
tended in every direction around the fortress
to about the same distance, so that none could
approach unperceived. The outpost of twenty
men were stationed at about a couple of hun-
dred yards from the point where the patli
emerged from the wood ; and as the ground
sloped considerably from the forest to the fort,
the whole intervening space was clearly
visible.
Another night of alarm and sleepless ex-
pectation, the melancholy moan of the tetere
still continuing to hint to any lurking enemy
that we were all wide awake ; or rather, I
should say, to assure him most positively of
it, for who could sleep with that diabolical
din in his ears ? Morning came and an early
breakfast was cooked and devoured hurriedly.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 45
Then groups of the younger men might be
seen here and there fully armed, and "getting
up steam" by dancing the war dance, in antici-
pation of the grand dance of the whole warrior
force of the tribe, which, as a matter of course,
must be performed in honour of the visitors
when they arrived. In honour, but quite as
much in intimidation, or an endeavour at it,
though no one said so. Noon arrived at last.
Anxious glances are turning from all quarters
towards the wood, from whicji a path is plainly
seen winding down the sloping ground towards
the pa. The outpost is on the alert. Straggling
scouts are out in every direction. All is ex-
pectation. Now there is a movement at the
outpost. They suddenly spread in an open
line, ten yards between each man. One man
comes a! full speed running towards the pa,
jumping and bounding over every impedi-
ment. Now something moves in the border
of the forest, it is a mass of black heads.
Now the men are plainly visible. The whole
taua has emerged upon the plain. "Here
they come ! here they come !" is heard in all
directions. The men of the outpost cross the
line of march in pretended resistance ; they
present their guns, make horrid grimaces,
dance about like mad baboons, and then fall
46 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
back with headlong speed to the next ad-
vantageous position for making a stand. The
taua, however, comes on steadily ; they are
formed in a solid oblong mass. The chief at
the left of the column leads them on. The
men are all equipped for immediate action,
that is to say, quite naked except their arms
and cartridge boxes, which are a warrior's
clothes. No one can possibly tell what this
peaceful meeting may end in, so all are
ready for action at a second's notice. The
taua still conies steadily on. As I have said,
the men are all stripped for action, but I
also notice that the appearance of nakedness
is completely taken away by the tattooing,
the colour of the skin, and the arms and
equipments. The men in fact look much
better than when dressed in thefr Maori
clothing. Every man, almost without ex-
ception, is covered with tattooing from the
knees to the waist ; the face is also covered
with dark spiral lines. Each man has round
his middle a belt, to which is fastened two
cartridge boxes, one behind and one before ;
another belt goes over the right shoulder and
under the left arm, and from it hangs, on the
left side and rather behind, another cartridge
box, and under the waist-belt is thrust,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 47
behind, at the small of the back, the short-
handled tomahawk for close fight and to finish
the wounded. Each cartridge box contains
eighteen rounds, and every man has a
musket. Altogether this taua is better and
more uniformly armed and equipped than
ordinary ; but they have been amongst the
first who got pakehas to trade with them, and
are indeed in consequence the terror of New
Zealand. On they come, a set of tall,
athletic, heavy-made men- they would, T
am sure, in the aggregate weigh some tons
heavier than the same number of men taken
at random from the streets of one of our
manufacturing towns. They are now half
way across the plain ; they keep their forma-
tion, a solid oblong, admirably as they
advance, but they do not keep step ; this
causes a very singular appearance at a dis-
tance. Instead of the regular marching step
of civilised soldiers, which may be observed
at any distance, this mass seems to progress
towards you with the creeping motion of
some great reptile at a distance, and when
coming down a sloping ground this effect is
quite remarkable.
The mimic opposition is now discontinued ;
the outpost rushes in at full speed, the men
48 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
firing their guns in the air as they run.
Takini! takini ! is the cry, and out spring
three young men, the best runners of our
tribe, to perform the ceremony of the taki.
They hold in their hands some reeds to repre-
sent darts or kokiri. At this moment a
tremendous fire of ball cartridge opens from
the fort ; the balls whistle in every direction,
over and around the advancing party, who
steadily and gravely come on, not seeming to
know that a guii has been fired, though they
perfectly well understand that this salute is
also a hint of full prepartion for any unexpected
turn things may take. Now, from the whole
female population arises the shrill "haeremai!
haere tnai /" Mats are waving, guns firing,
dogs barking ; the chief roaring to " fall in,"
and form for the war dance. He appears
half ma( i with excitement, anxiety, and some-
thing vgry like apprehension of a sudden
onslaught from his friends. In the midst of
this horrible uproar off dart three runners.
Thoj: are net unexpected. Three youngjmen of
the taua are seen to tighten their waist belts,
and hand their muskets to their comrades.
On go the three young men from the fort.
They approach the front of the advancing
column ; they dance and caper about like
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 49
mad monkeys, twisting their faces about in
the most extraordinary manner, shewing the
whites of their eyes, and lolling out their
tongues. At last, after several feints, they
bojklly advance within twenty yards ijf the
supposed enemy, and send the reed darts
flying full in their faces : then they turn and
fly as if for life. Instantly, from the stranger
ranks, three young men dart forth in eager
pursuit ; and behind them comes the solid
column, rushing on at full speed. Run now,
O " Sounding Sea," (Tai Haruru) for the
" Black Cloud," (Kapna Jfant/nj the swiftest
of the Rarawa, is at your back ; run now, for
the honour of your tribe and your own name,
run ! run ! It was an exciting scene. The
two famous runners came on at a tremendous
pace, the dark mass of armed men following
close behind at full speed, keeping their for-
mation admirably, the ground shaking under
them as they rushed on. On come the two
runners (the others are left behind and dis-
regarded). The pursuer gains upon his man ;
but they are fast Hearing the goal, where,
according to Maori custom, the chase must
end. Run, " Sounding Sea ;" another effort !
your tribe are near in full array, and armed
for the war dance ; their friendly ranks aiv
50 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
your refuge ; run ! run ! On came the head-
long race. When within about thirty yards of
the place where our tribe was now formed
in a solid oblong, each man kneeling on one
knee, with musket held in both hands, butt to
ground, and somewhat sloped to the front,
the pursuing native caught at the shoulder
of our man, touched it, but could do no more.
Here he must stop ; to go farther would not
be "correct." He will, however, boast every-
where that he has touched the shoulder of
the famous " Sounding Sea." Our man has
not, however, been caught, which would have
been a bad omen. At this moment the
charging column comes thundering up to
where their man is standing ; instantly they
all kneel upon one knee, holding their guns
sloped before their faces, in the manner
already described. The elite of the two tribes
are now opposite to each other,* all armed,
all kneeling, and formed in two solid oblong
masses, the narrow end of the oblong to the
front. Only thirty yards divide them ; the
front ranks do not gaze on each other ; both
parties turn their eyes towards the ground,
and with heads bent downwards, and a little
to one side, appear to listen. All is silence ;
you might have heard a pin drop. The
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 51
uproar has turned to a calm ; the men are
kneeling statues ; the chiefs have disap -
peared ; they are in the centre of their
tribes. The pakeha is beginning to wonder
what will be the end of all this ; and
also to speculate on the efficacy of the buck
shot witli which his gun is loaded, and
wishes it was ball. Two minutes have elapsed
in this solemn silence, the more remarkable
as being the first quiet two minutes for the
last two days and nights. Suddenly from the
extreme rear of the strangers' column is
heard a scream a horrid yell. A savage, of
herculean stature, comes, mere in hand, and
rushing madly to the front. He seems hunted
by all the furies. Bedlam never produced so
horrid a visage. Thrice, as he advances,
he gives that horrid cry ; and thrice the
armed tribe give answer with a long-drawn
gasping sigh. He is at the front ; he jumps
into the air, shaking his stone weapon ; the
whites only of his eyes are visible, giving
a most hideous appearance to his face ; he
shouts the first words of the war song,
and instantly his tribe spring from the
ground. Tt would be hard to describe the
scene which followed. The roaring chorus of
the war song ; the horrid grimaces ; the eyes
E2
52 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
all white ; the tongues hanging out ; the
furious yet measured and uniform gesticu-
lation, jumping, and stamping. I felt the
ground plainly trembling. At last the war
dance ended ; and then my tribe, (I find I
ani already beginning to get Maorified,)
starting from the ground like a single man,
endeavoured to out-do even their amiable
friends' exhibition. They end ; then the new-
comers perform another demon dance ; then
my tribe give another. Silence again pre-
vails, and all sit down. Immediately a man
from the new arrivals comes to the front of
his own party ; he runs to and fro ; he speaks
for his tribe ; these are his words : " Peace
is made ! peace is made ! peace is firm ! peace
is secure ! peace ! peace ! peace ! " This man
is not a person of any particular consequence
in his tribe, but his brother was killed by our
people in the battle I have mentioned, and
this gives him the right to be the first to
proclaim peace. His speech is ended and he
" falls in." Some three or four others
"follow on the same side." Their speeches
are short also, and nearly verbatim what the
first Avas. Then who of all the world starts
forth from " ours," to speak on the side of
" law and order," but my diabolical old
OLD NEW ZEALAND. o3
acquaintance the " Relation Eater." I had
by this time picked up a little Maori, and
could partly understand his speech. "Wel-
come ! welcome ! welcome ! peace is made !
not till no\v has there been true peace ! I
have seen you, and peace is made ! " Here
he broke out into a song, the chorus of which
Avas taken up by hundreds of voices, and
when it ended he made a sudden and veiy
expressive gesture of scattering something
with his hands, which was a signal to all
present that the ceremonial was at an end for
the time. Our tribe at once disappeared into
the pa, and at the same instant the strangers
broke into a scattered mob, and made for the
long shed which had been prepared for their
reception, which was quite large enough, and
the floor covered thickly with clean rushes to
sleep on. About fifty or sixty then started
for the border of the forest to brino- their
o
clothes and baggage, which had been left
there as incumbrances to the movements of
the performers in the ceremonials I have
described. Part, hoAvever, of the " n^ccU-
uienta " had already arrived on the backs
of about thirty boys, Avomen, and old
slaA'es ; and I noticed amongst other things
some casks of cartridges, Avhich Avere, as
54 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
I thought, rather ostentatiously exposed to
view.
I soon found the reason my friend of
saturnine propensities had closed proceedings
so abruptly was, that the tribe had many
pressing duties of hospitality to fulfil, and
that the heavy talking was to commence next
day. I noticed also that to this time there
had been no meeting of the chiefs, and, more-
over, that the two parties had kept strictly
separate the nearest they had been to each
other was thirty yards when the war dancing-
was going on, and they seemed quite glad,
when the short speeches were over, to move
off to a greater distance from each other.
Soon after the dispersion of the two
parties, a firing of muskets was heard in
and at the rear of the fort, accompanied by
the squeaking, squealing, and dying groans
of a whole herd of pigs. Directly afterwards
a mob of fellows were seen staggering under
the weight of the dead pigs, and proceeding
to the long shed already mentioned, in front
of which they were flung down, sans-cere-
nionie, and without a word spoken. I
counted sixty-nine large fat pigs flung in
one heap, one. on the top of the other,
before that part of the shed where the
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 55
principal chief was sitting ; twelve were
thrown before the interesting savage who
had " started " the war dance ; and several
single porkers were thrown without any
remark before certain others of the guests.
The parties, however, to whom this compli-
ment was paid sat quietly saying nothing,
and hardly appearing to see what was done.
Behind the pigs was placed, by the active
exertion of two or three hundred people, a
heap of potatoes and kumcra, in quantity
about ten tons, so there was no want of the
raw material for a feast.
The pigs and potatoes having been de-
posited, a train of women appeared the
whole, indeed, of the young and middle-aged
women of the tribe, They advanced with a
half-dancing half-hopping sort of step, to the
time of a wild but not unmusical chant,
each woman holding high in botli hands a
smoking dish of some kind or other of Maori
delicacy, hot from the oven. The ground-
work of this feast appeared to be sweet
potatoes and taro, but on the top of each
smoking mess was placed either dried shark,
eels, mullet, or pork, all " piping hot. " This
treat was intended to stay our guests'
stomachs till they could find time to cook
56 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
for themselves. The women having placed the
dishes, or to speak more correctly, baskets,
on the ground before the shed, disappeared ;
and in a miraculously short time the feast
disappeared also, as was proved by seeing the
baskets flung in twos, threes, and tens, empty
out of the shed.
Next day, pretty early in the morning, I
saw our chief, (as I must call him for dis-
tinction) with a few of the principal men of
the tribe, dressed in their best Maori cos-
tume, taking their way towards the shed
of the visitors. When they got pretty near,
a cry of haere mai ! hailed them. They went
on gravely, and observing where the principal
chief was seated, our chief advanced towards
him,, fell upon his neck embracing him in the
most affectionate manner, commenced a tangi,
or melancholy sort of ditty, which lasted a
full half hour, and during which, both parties,
as in duty bound and in compliance Avith
custom, shed floods of tears. How they
managed to do it is more than I can tell to
tliis day, except that I suppose you may train
a man to do anything. Right well do I
know that either party would have almost
given his life for a chance to exterminate
the other with all his tribe ; and twenty-seven
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 57
years afterwards I saw the two tribes fighting
in the very quarrel which was pretended to
have been made up that day. Before this,
however, both these chiefs were dead, and
others reigned in their stead. While the
tamji was going on between the two prin-
cipals, the companions of our chief each
selected one of the visitors, and rushing into
his arms, went .throuq-h a similar scene. Old
' O
" Relation Eater " singled out the horrific
savage who had began the war dance, and
these two tender-hearted individuals did, for a
full half hour, seated on the ground, hanging
on each other's necks, give vent to such a
chorus of skilfully modulated howling as would
have given Momus the blue devils to listen to.
After the taiiyi was ended, the two tribes
seated themselves in a large irregular circle
on the plain, and into this circle strode an
orator, who, having said his say, was followed
by another, and so the greater part of the day
was consumed. No arms were to be seen in
the hands of either party, except the green-
stone mere of the principal chiefs ; but I took
notice that about thirty of our people never
left the nearest gate of the pa, and that their
loaded muskets, although out of sight, were
close at hand, standing against the fence
58 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
inside the gate, and I also perceived that
under their cloaks or mats they wore their
cartridge boxes and tomahawks. This caused
me to observe the other party more closely.
They also, I perceived, had some forty men
sleeping in the shed ; these fellows had not
removed their cartridge boxes either, and all
their companions' arms were carefully ranged
behind them in a row, six or seven deep,
against the back wall of the shed.
The speeches of the orators were not very
interesting, so I took a stroll to a little rising-
ground at about a hundred yards distance, where
a company of natives, better dressed than com-
mon, were seated. They had the best sort of
ornamented cloaks, and had feathers in their
heads, which I already knew " commoners"
could not afford to wear, as they were only to
be procured some hundreds of miles to the
south. I therefore concluded these were
magnates or "personages" of some kind or
other, and determined to introduce myself.
As I approached, one of these splendid indi-
viduals nodded to me in a very familiar sort
of manner, and I, not to appear rude, returned
the salute. I stepped into the circle formed
by my new friends, and had just commenced
a tena koutou, when a breeze of wind came
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 59
sighing along the hill-top. My friend nodded
again, his cloak blew to one side. What do
I see ? or rather what do I not see ? The
head lias no body under it ! The heads had
all been stuck on slender rods, a cross stick
tied on to represent the shoulders, and the
cloaks thrown over all in such a natural man-
ner as to deceive anyone at a short distance,
but a green pakeha, who was not expecting
any such matter, to a certainty. I fell back a
yard or two, so as to take a full view of this
silent circle. I began to feel as if at last I
had fallen into strange company. 1 began to
look more closely at my companions, and to
try to fancy what their characters in life had
been. One had undoubtedly been a warrior ;
there was something bold and defiant about
the whole air of the head. Another was the
head of a very old man, grey, shrivelled, and
wrinkled. I was going on with my observa-
tions when I was saluted by a voice from
behind with, " Looking at the eds, sir ?" It
was one of the pakehas formerly mentioned.
"Yes," said I, turning round just the least
possible thing quicker than ordinary. " Eds
has been a getting scarce," says he. " T
should think so," says I. " We aii't ad a ed
this long time," says he. " The devil !" says
60 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
I. " One o' them eds has been hurt bad,"
says he. " I should think all were, rather
so," says I. " Oh no, only one on 'em," says
he, "the skull is split, and it won't fetch
nothin," says he. " Oh, murder ! I see, now,"
says I. " Eds was werry scarce," says he,
shaking his own " ed." "Ah!" said I.
" They had to tattoo a slave a bit ago,"
says he, " and the villain ran away, tattooin'
and all !" says he. " What T said I. "Bolted
afore he was fit to kill," says he. " Stole off
with his own head ?" says I. " That's just it/'
says he. " Capital felony !" says I. " You
may say that, sir," says he. "Good morn-
ing," said I. I walked away pretty smartly.
" Loose notions about heads in this country,"
said I to myself ; and involuntarily putting up
my hand to my own, I thought somehow the
bump of combativeness felt smaller, or indeed
had vanished altogether. " It's all very
funny," said I.
I walked down into the^ plain. I saw in
one place a crowd of women, boys, and others.
There was a great noise of lamentation going
on. I went up to the crowd, and there be-
held, lying on a clean mat, which was spread
on the ground, another head. A number of
women were standing in a row before it,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 61
screaming, wailing, and quivering their hands
about in a most extraordinary manner, and
cutting themselves dreadfully with sharp flints
and shells. One old woman, in the centre of
the group, was one clot of blood from head to
feet, and large clots of coagulated blood lay
on the ground where she stood. The sight
was absolutely horrible, I thought at the
time. She was singing or howling a dirge-like
wail. In her right hand she held a piece of
tuliua, or volcanic glass, as sharp as a razor :
this she placed deliberately to her left wrist,
drawing it slowly upwards to her left shoulder,
the spouting blood following as it went ;
then from the left shoulder downwards, across
the breast to the short ribs on the right side ;
then the rude but keen knife was shifted
from the right hand to the left, placed to
the right wrist, drawn upwards to the right
shoulder, and so down across the breast to
the left side, thus making a bloody cross on
the breast ; and so the operation went on all
the time I was there, the old creature all
the time howling in time and measure,
and keeping time also with the knife, which
at every cut was shifted from one hand to the
other, as I have described. She had scored
her forehead and cheeks before I came ; her
62 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
face and body was a mere clot of blood, and
a little stream was dropping from every finger
a more hideous object could scarcely be
conceived. I took notice that the younger
women, though they screamed as loud, did
not cut near so deep as the old woman, espe-
cially about the face.
This custom has been falling gradually out
of use ; and when practised now, in these
degenerate times, the cutting and maiming is
mere form, mere scratching to draw enough
blood to swear by : but, in " the good old
times, " the thing used to be done properly.
I often, of late years, have felt quite indig-
nant to see some degenerate hussey making
believe with a piece of flint in her hand, but
who had no notion of cutting herself up
properly as she ought to do. It shews a
want of natural affection in the present gene-
ration, I think ; they refuse to shed tears of
blood for their friends as their mothers used
to do.
This head, I found on enquiry, was not
the head of an enemy. A small party of
our friends had been surprised ; two brothers
were flying for their lives down a hill-side ;
a shot broke the leg of one of them and he
fell ; the enemy were close at hand ; already
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 63
the exulting cry " na ! na ! mate rawa I " was
heard ; the wounded man cried to the brother
" Do not leave my head a plaything for the
foe." There was no time for deliberation.
The brother did not deliberate ; a few slashes
with the tomahawk saved his brother's head,
and he escaped with it in his hand, dried it,
and brought it home ; and the old woman
was the mother, the young ones were
cousins. There was no sister, as I heard,
when I enquired. All the heads on the hill
were heads of enemies, and several of them
are now in museums in Europe.
With reference to the knowing remarks of
the pakeha who accosted me on the hill on
the state of the head market, I am bound to
remark that my friend Mr. - never specu-
lated in this ' ' article ;" but the skippers of
many of the colonial trading schooners were
always ready to deal with a man who had " a
real good head," and used to commission such
men as my companion of the morning
to "pick up heads'' for them. It is a posi-
tive fact that some time after this the head
of a live man was sold and paid for be-
forehand, and afterwards honestly delivered
" as per agreement. "
The scoundrel slave who had the conscience
64 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
to run away with his own head after the
trouble and expense had been gone to to
tattoo it to make it more valuable, is no fiction
either. Even in " the good old times " people
would sometimes be found to behave in the
most dishonest manner. But there are good
and bad to be found in all times and places.
Now if there is one thing I hate more
than another it is the raw-head-and- bloody-
bones style of writing, and in these random
reminiscences I shall avoid all particular
mention of battles, massacres, and onslaughts,
except there be something particularly char-
acteristic of my friend the Maori in them.
As for mere hacking and hewing, there has
been enough of that to be had in Europe,
Asia, and America of late, and very well
described too, by numerous " our correspon-
dents." If I should have to fight a single
combat or two, just to please the ladies, I
shall do my best not to get killed, and hereby
promise not to kill anyone myself if I pos-
sibly can help it. I, however, hope to be
excused for the last two or three pages, as
it was necessary to point out 'that in the
good old times, if one's own. head was not
sufficient, it was quite practicable to get
another.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 65
I must, however, get rid of our visitors.
Next day, at daylight, they disappeared :
canoes from their own tribe had come to meet
them, (the old woman with the flint had arri-
ved in these canoes,) and they departed sans-
ceremonie, taking with them all that was left
of the pigs and potatoes which had been
given them, and also the "fine lot of eds."
Their departure was felt as a great relief,
and though it was satisfactory to know peace
was made, it was even more so to be well rid
of the peacemakers.
Hail, lovely peace, daughter of heaven !
meek-eyed inventor of Armstrong guns and
Enfield rifles ; you of the liquid-fire-shell,
hail ! Shooter at " bulls'-eyes," trainer of
battalions, killer of wooden Frenchmen, hail !
(A bit of fine writing does one good.)
Nestling under thy wing, I will scrape sharp
the point of my spear with a pipi shell ; I
will carry fern-root into my pa ; I w r ill cure
those heads which T have killed in war, or
they will spoil and " won't fetch nothin" : for
these are thy arts, O peace !
CHAPTER IV.
A LITTLE AFFAIR OF " FLOTSAM AND JETSAM " REBEL-
LION CRUSHED IN THE BUD A PAKEHA's HOUSE
SACKED MAORI LAW A MAORI LAW SUIT AFFAIR
THROWN INTO CHANCERY.
PAKEHAS, though precious in the good old
times, would sometimes get into awkward
scrapes. Accidents, I have observed, will hap-
pen at the best of times. Some time after the
matters I have been recounting happened,
two of the pakehas who were " knocking
about" Mr. premises, went fishing. One
of them was a very respectable old man-of-
war's man ; the other was the connoisseur of
heads, who, I may as well mention, was
thought to be one of that class who never
could remember to a nicety how they had
come into the country, or where they came
from. It so happened that on their return,
the little boat, not being well 'fastened, went
adrift in the night, and was cast on shore
at about four miles distance, in the dominions
of a petty chief who was a sort of vassal or
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 67
retainer of ours. He did not belong to the
tribe, and lived on the land by the permission
of our chief as a sort of tenant at will. Of late
an ill-feeling had grown up between him and
the principal chief. The vassal had in fact
begun to show some airs of independence, and
had collected more men about him than our
chief cared to see ; but up to this time there
had been no- regular outbreak between them,
possibly because the vassal had not yet suffi-
cient force to declare independence formally.
Our chief was however watching for an excuse
to fall out with him before he should crow
O
too strong. As soon as it was heard where
the boat was, the two men went for it as a
matter of course, little thinking that this
encroaching vassal would have the insolence
to claim the right of "flotsam and jetsam,"
which belonged to the principal chief, and
which was always waived in favour of his
pakehas. On arrival, however, at this rebel-
lious chief's dominions, they were informed
that it was his intention to stick to the boat
until he was paid a ''stocking of gunpow-
der" meaning a quantity as much as a
stocking would hold, which was the regular
standard measure in those days in that
locality. A stocking of gunpowder ! who ever
F '2
68 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
heard of such an awful imposition ? The
demand was enormous in value and rebellious
in principle. The thing must be put an end
to at once. The principal chief did not hesi-
tate : rebellion must be crushed in the bud.
He at once mustered his whole force, (he did
not approve of " little wars/') and sent them
off under the command of the Relation Eater,
who served an ejectment in regular Maori
form, by first plundering the village and then
burning it to ashes ; also destroying the culti-
vation and provisions, and forcing the vassal
to decamp with all his people on pain of
instant massacre a thing they did not lose a
moment in doing, and I don't think they
either eat or slept till they had got fifty miles
off, where a tribe related to them received
them and gave them a welcome.
Well, about three months after this, about
daylight in the morning, I was aroused by a
great uproar of men shouting, doors smash-
ing, and women screaming. Up I jumped,
and pulled on a few clothes in less time, I am
sure, that ever I had done before in my life ;
out I ran, and at once perceived *that Mr. -
premises were being sacked by the rebellious
vassal, who had returned with about fifty
men, and was taking this means of revenging
OLD NEW ZEALAND. G9
himself for the rough handling he had received
from our chief. Men were rushing in mad
haste through the smashed windows and
doors, loaded with anything and everything
they could lay hands on. The chief was
stamping against the door of a room in which
he was aware the most valuable goods were
kept, and shouting for help to break it open.
A large canoe was floating close to the house,
and was being rapidly filled with plunder. I
saw a fat old Maori woman, who was washer-
woman to the establishment, being dragged
along the ground by a huge fellow, who was
trying to tear from her grasp one of my shirts,
to which she clung with perfect desperation.
I perceived at a glance that the faithful
old creature would probably save a sleeve.
A long line of similar articles, my property,
which had graced the taicpa fence the night
before, had disappeared. The old man-of-
war's man had placed his back exactly oppo-
site to that part of the said fence where
hung a certain striped cotton shirt and well
scrubbed canvas trowsers, which could belong
to no one but himself. He was " hitting
out" lustily right and left. Mr. - - had been
absent some days on a journey, and the head
merchant, as we found after all was over, was
70 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
hiding under a bed. When the old sailor
saw me, he '" sang out," in a voice clear as a
bell, and calculated to be distinctly heard
above the din : " Hit out, sir, if you please ;
let's make a fight of it the best we can ; our
mob will be here in five minutes ; Tahuna
has run to fetch them." While he thus gave
both advice and information, he also set a
good example, having delivered just one
thump per word or thereabouts. The odds
were terrible, but the time was short that I
was required to fight ; so I at once floored a
native who was rushing by me. He fell like
a man shot, and I then perceived he was one
of our own people who had been employed
about the place ; so, to balance things, I
knocked down another, and then felt myself
seized round the waist from behind, by a
fellow who seemed to be about as strong as a
horse. At this moment I cast an anxious
glance around the field of battle. The old
Maori woman had, as I expected, saved a
good half of my shirt ; she had got on the top
of an out-house, and was waving it in a
" Sister Anne " sort of manner, and calling
to an imaginary friendly host, which she pre-
tended to see advancing to the rescue. The
old sailor had fallen under, but not sur-
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 71
rendered to, superior force. Three natives
had got him down ; but it took all they could
do to keep him down : he was evidently carry-
ing out his original idea of making a fight of
it, and gaining time ; the striped shirt and
canvas trowsers still hung proudly on the
fence. None of his assailants could spare a
second to pull them down. I was kicking
and flinging in the endeavour to extricate
myself; or, at least to turn round, so as to
carry out a " face to face " policy, which it
would be a grand mistake to suppose was
not understood long ago in the good old
times. I had nearly succeeded, and was
thinking what particular form of destruction I
should shower on the foe, when a tremendous
shout was heard. It was " our mob " coming
to the rescue ; and, like heroes of old, " send-
ing their voice before them." In an instant
both myself and the gallant old tar were
released ; the enemy dashed on board their
canoe, and in another moment were off, dart-
ing away before a gale of wind and a fair tide
at a rate that put half a mile at least between
them and us before our protectors came up.
" Load the gun ! " cried the sailor (there
was a nine pound carronade on the cliff before
the house, overlooking the river) . A cartridge
72 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
was soon found, and a shot, and the gun
loaded. " Slew her a little/' cried my now
commander ; " fetch a fire stick." " Aye,
aye, sir" (from self). "Wait a little; that will
do Fire!" (in a voice as if ordering the
discharge of the whole broadside of a three-
decker). Bang ! The elevation was perfectly
correct. The shot struck the water at exactly
the right distance, and only a few feet to one
side. A very few feet more to the right and
the shot would have entered the stern of the
canoe, and, as she was end on to us, would
have killed half the people in her. A miss,
however, is as good as a mile off. The canoe
disappeared behind a point, and there we
were with an army of armed friends around
us, who, by making great expedition, had
managed to come exactly in time to be too
late.
This was a taua inuru (a robbing expedi-
tion) in revenge for the leader having been
cleaned out by our chief, which gave them
the right to rob any one connected with,
related to, or under the protection of, our
chief aforesaid, provided always that they
were able. We, on the other hand, had the
clear right to kill any of the robbers, which
would then have given them the right to kill
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 73
us ; but until we killed some of them, it
would not have been "correct" for them to
have taken life, so they managed the thing
neatly, so that they should have no occasion
to do so. The whole proceeding was un-
objectionable in every respect, and tika
(correct). Had we put in our nine-pound
shot at the stern of their canoe, it would
have been correct also, but as we were not
able, we had no right whatever to complain.
The above is good law, and here I may as
well inform the New Zealand public that I
am going to write the whole law of this land
in a book, which I shall call "Ko ur/a ture ; "
and as I intend it for the good of both
races, I shall mix the two languages up in
such a way that neither can understand ; but
this does not matter, as I shall add a
" glossary," in Coptic, to make things clear.
Some time after this, a little incident
happened at my friend Mr. - - place worth
noting. Our chief had, for some time back,
a sort of dispute with another magnate, who
lived about ten miles off. I really cannot
say who was in the right the arguments
on both sides were so nearly balanced, that I
should not like to commit myself to a judg-
ment in the case. The question was at last
74 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
brought to a fair hearing at my friend's house.
The arguments on both sides were very
forcible, so much so that in the course of the
arbitration our chief and thirty of his principal
witnesses were shot dead in a heap before my
friend's door, and sixty others badly wounded,
and my friend's house and store blown up
and burnt to ashes. My friend was all but,
or indeed, quite ruined, but it would not have
been "correct" for him to complain his loss
in goods being far over-balanced by the loss
of the tribe in men. He was, however,
consoled by hundreds of friends who came in
large parties to condole and tangi with him,
and who, as was quite correct in such cases,
shot and eat all his stock, sheep, pigs, goats,
ducks, geese, fowls, &c., all in high compli-
ment to himself, at which he felt proud, as a
well conducted and conditioned pakeha Maori
(as he was) should do. He did not, however,
survive these honours long, poor fellow. He
died, and strange to say, no one knew exactly
what was the matter with him some said it
was the climate, they thought.
After this the land about which this little
misunderstanding had arisen, was, so to speak,
thrown into chancery, where it has now re-
mained about forty years ; but I hear that
OLD NEW ZEALAND 75
proceedings are to commence de novo (no
allusion to the "new system") next summer,
or at farthest the summer after ; and as I
witnessed the first proceedings, when the case
comes on again " may I be there to see.'
CHAPTER V.
EVERY ENGLISHMAN'S HOUSE is HIS CASTLE MY ESTATE
AND CASTLE HOW I PURCHASED MY ESTATE NATIVE
TITLES TO LAND, OF WHAT NATURE VALUE OF LAND
IN NEW ZEALAND LAND COMMISSIONERS THE TRI-
UMPHS OF ELOQUENCE MAGNA CHARTA.
" EVERY Englishman's house is his castle,"
" I scorn the foreign yoke," and glory in the
name of Briton, and all that. The natural
end, however, of all castles is to be burnt or
blown up. In England it is true you can
call the constable, and should any foreign
power attack you with grinding organ and
white mice, you may hope for succours from
without, from which cause " castles" in Eng-
land are more long lived. In New Zealand,
however, it is different, as, to the present
day, the old system prevails, and castles con-
tinue to be disposed of in the natural way, as
has been seen lately at Taranaki.
I now purchased a piece of land and built
a " castle" for myself. I really can't tell to
the present day who I purchased the land
from, for there were about fifty different
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 77
claimants, every one of whom assured me
that the other forty-nine were "humbugs,"
and had no right whatever. The nature of
the different titles of the different claimants
were various. One man said his ancestors
had killed off the first owners ; another de-
clared his ancestors had driven off the second
party ; another man, who seemed to be
listened to with more respect than ordinary,
declared that his ancestor had been the first
possessor of all, and had never been ousted,
and that this ancestor was a huge lizard that
lived in a cave on the land many ages ago,
and sure enough there was the cave to prove
it. Besides the principal claims there were
an immense number of secondary ones a
sort of latent equities which had lain
dormant until it was known the pakelia had
his eye on the land. Some of them seemed
to me at the time odd enough. One man
required payment because his ancestors, as
he affirmed, had exercised the right of catch-
ing rats on it, but which he (the claimant)
had never done, for the best of reasons, i.e.,
there were no rats to catch, except indeed
pakeha rats, which were plenty enough,
but this variety of rodent was not counted
as game. Another claimed because bis
78 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
grandfather had been murdered on the
land, and as I am a veracious pakeha
another claimed payment because his grand-
father had committed the murder ! Then
half the country claimed payments of various
value, from one fig of tobacco to a musket,
on account of a certain wahi tapu, or
ancient burying-ground, which was on the
land, and in which every one almost had had
relations or rather ancestors buried, as they
could clearly make out, in old times, though
no one had been deposited in it for about two
hundred years, and the bones of the others
had been (as they said) removed long ago to
a tor ere in the mountains. It seemed an
awkward circumstance that there was some
difference of opinion as to where this same
wahi tapu was situated, being, and lying, for
in case of my buying the land it was stipu-
lated that I should fence it round and make
no use of it, although I had paid for it. (I,
however, have put off fencing till the exact
boundaries have been made out ; and indeed
I don't think I shall ever be called on to do
so, the fencing proviso having been made, as I
now believe, to give a stronger look of reality
to the existence of the sacred spot, it having
been observed that I had some doubts on the
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 79
subject. No mention was ever made of it
after the payments had been all made, and
so I think I may venture to affirm that the
existence of the said wahi tapu is of very
doubtful authenticity, though it certainly cost
me a round " lot of trade.") There was one
old man who obstinately persisted in de-
claring that he, and he alone, was the sole and
rightful owner of the land ; he seemed also to
have a " fixed idea" about certain barrels of
gunpowder ; but as he did not prove his claim
to my satisfaction, and as he had no one to
back him, 1 of course gave him nothing ; he
nevertheless demanded the gunpowder about
once a month for five-and-twenty years, till
at last he died of old age, and I am now a
landed proprietor, clear of all claims and de-
mands, and have an undeniable rioilt to hold
' O
my estate as long as ever 1 am able.
It took about three months' negotiation
before the purchase of the land could be
made ; and, indeed, I at one time gave up the
idea, as I found it quite impossible to decide
who to pay. If I paid one party, the others
vowed I should never have possession, and to
pay all seemed impossible ; so at last I let
all parties know that I had made up my mind
not to have the land. This, however, turned
80 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
out to be the first step I had made in the
right direction ; for, thereupon, all the dif-
ferent claimants agreed amongst themselves
to demand a certain quantity of goods, and
divide them amongst themselves afterwards.
I was glad of this, for I wished to buy the
land, as I thought, in case I should ever take
a trip to the "colonies," it would look well
to be able to talk of " my estate in New
Zealand." The day being now come on
which I was to make the payment, and all
parties present, I then and there handed over
to the assembled mob the price of the land,
consisting of a great lot of blankets, muskets,
tomahawks, tobacco, spades, axes, &c., &c. ;
and received in return a very dirty piece of
paper with all their marks on it, I having
written the terms of transfer on it in English
to my own perfect satisfaction. The cost per
acre to me was, as near as can be, about five
and a half times what the same quantity of
land would have cost me at the same time in
Tasmania ; but this was not of much import-
ance, as the value of land in New Zealand
then, and indeed now, being chiefly imaginary,
one could just as easily suppose it to be of a
very great value as a very small one; I there-
fore did not complain of the cost.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 81
While I ain on the subject of land and land
titles, I may as well here mention that many
years after the purchase of my land I received
notice to appear before certain persons called
" Land Commissioners/ 5 who were part and
parcel of the new inventions which had come
up soon after the arrival of the first governor,
and which are still a trouble to the land. I
was informed that I must appear and prove
my title to the land I have mentioned, on
pain of forfeiture of the same. Now I could
not see what right any one could have to
plague me in this way, and if I had had no
one but the commissioners and two or three
hundred men of their tribe to deal with, T
should have put my pa in fighting order,
and told them to " come on ; " for before
this time I had had occasion to build a pa,
(a little misunderstanding,) and being a re-
gularly naturalised member of a strong tribe,
could raise men to defend it at the shortest
notice. But somehow these people had
cunningly managed to mix up the name
of Queen Victoria, God bless her I (no
disparagement to King Potatau) in the matter ;
and I, though a pakeha Maori, am a loyal
subject to her Majesty, and will stick up
and fight for her as long as ever I can
82 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
muster a good imitation of courage or a
leg to stand upon. This being the case, I
made a very unwilling appearance at the
court, and explained and defended my title to
the land in an oration of four hours' and a half
duration ; and which, though I was much out
of practice, I flatter myself was a good speci-
men of English rhetoric, and which, for its
own merits as well as for another reason
which I was not aware of at the time, was
listened to by the court with the greatest
patience. When I had concluded, and having
been asked "if I had any more to say ? " I
saw the commissioner beginning to count my
words, which had been all written I suppose
in short hand ; and having ascertained how
many thousand I had spoken, he handed me a
bill, in which I was charged by the word, for
every word I had spoken, at the rate of one
farthing and one twentieth per word. Oh,
Cicero ! Oh, Demosthenes ! Oh, Pitt, Fox,
Burke, Sheridan ! Oh, Daniel O'Connell !
what would have become of you, if such a
stopper had been clapt on your jawing
tackle ? Fame would never have cracked her
trumpet, and " Dan " would never have raised
the rint. For my part I have never re-
covered the shock. I have since that time
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 83
become taciturn, and have adopted a Spartan
brevity when forced to speak, and I fear I
shall never again have the full swing of my
mother tongue. Besides this, I was charged
ten shillings each for a little army of witnesses
who I had brought by way of being on the
sure side five shillings a head for calling
them into court, and five more for " examin-
ing" them ; said examination consisting of
one question each, after which they were told
to " be off." *I do believe had I brought up
a whole tribe, as I had thoughts of doing, the
commissioners would not have minded ex-
amining them all. They were, I am bound
to say, very civil and polite ; one of them told
me I was " a damned, infernal, clever fellow,
and he should like to see a good many more
like me." I hope I am not getting tedious,
but this business made such an impression on
me, that I can't help being too prolix, perhaps,
when describing it. I have, however, often
since that time had my doubts whether the
Queen (God bless her) got the money or
knew half as much of the affair as they
wanted to make out. I dont believe it.
Our noble Queen would be clean above such
a proceeding ; and 1 mean to say its against
Magna Charta, it is ! " Justice shall not l>c
o 2
84 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
sold," saith Magna Charta ; and if it's not
selling justice to make a loyal pakeha Ma'ori
pay for every word he speaks when defending
his rights in a court of justice, I don't
know what is.
Well, to make matters up, they after some
time gave me a title for my land (as if I had
not one before) ; but then, after some years,
they made me give it back again, on purpose,
as they said, that they might give me a better !
But since that time several ntore years have
passed, and I have not got it ; so, as these
things are now all the fashion, " T wish I
may get it."
CHAPTER VI.
HOW I KEPT HOUSE MAORI FREEBOOTERS AN UGLY
CUSTOMER THE " SUAVITER IN MODO " A SINGLE
COMBAT TO AMUSE THE LADIES THE TRUE MAORI
GENTLEMAN CHARACTER OF THE MAORI PEOPLE.
I NEVER yet could get the proper knack of
telling a story. Here T am now, a good forty
years ahead of where I ought to be, talking
of " title deeds " and " land commissioners,"
things belonging to the new and deplorable
state of affairs which began when this country
became "a British colony and possession,"
and also " one of the brightest jewels in the
British crown." I must go back.
Having purchased my " estate," 1 set up
housekeeping. My house was a good com-
modious ranpo building ; and as I had a
princely income of a few hundred a year " in
trade," I kept house in a very magnificent and
hospitable style. I kept always eight stout
paid Maori retainers, the pay being one fig of
tobacco per week, and their potatoes, which
was about as much more. Their duties were
86 OLD SEW ZEALAND.
not heavy ; being chiefly to amuse themselves
fishing, wrestling, shooting pigeons, or pig-
hunting, with an occasional pull in the boat
when I went on a water excursion. Besides
these paid retainers, there was always about a
dozen hangers on, who considered themselves
a part of the establishment, and who, no doubt,
managed to live at my expense ; but as that
expense was merely a few hundred weight of
potatoes a week, and an odd pig now and then,
it was not perceptible in the good old times.
Indeed these hangers on, as I call them, were
necessary ; for now and then, in those brave
old times, little experiments would be made
by certain Maori gentlemen of freebooting
propensities, and who were in great want of
" British manufactures," to see what could be
got by bullying " the pakeha," and to whom a
good display of physical force was the only
argument worth notice. These gentiy generally
came from a long distance, made a sudden
appearance, and, thanks to my faithful re-
tainers, who, as a matter of course, were all
bound to fight for me, though I should have
found it hard to get much iffork'out of them,
made as sudden a retreat, though on one or
two occasions, when my standing army were
accidentally absent, I had to do battle single
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 87
handed. I think 1 have promised somewhere
that 1 would perform a single combat for the
amusement of the ladies, and so I may as well
do it now as at any other time. I shall,
therefore, recount a little affair I had with
one of these gentry, as it is indeed quite
necessary I should, if I am to give any true
idea of " the good old times." I must, how-
ever, protest against the misdeeds of a few ruf-
fians human wolves being charged against
the whole of their countrymen. At the time
I am speaking of, the only restraint on such
people was the fear of retaliation, and the con-
sequence was, that often a dare-devil savage
would run a long career of murder, robbery,
and outrage, before meeting with a check,
simply from the terror he inspired, and the
"luck" which often accompanies outrageous
daring. At a time, however, and in a country
like New Zealand, where every man was a
fighting man or nothing, these desperadoes,
sooner or later, came to grief, being at last
invariably shot, or run through the body, by
some sturdy freeholder, whose rights they had
invaded. I had two friends staying with me,
young men who had come to see me from the
neighbouring colonies, and to take a summer
tour in New Zealand ; and it so happened
88 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
that no less than three times during my
absence from home, and when I had taken
almost all my people along with me, my castle
had been invaded by one of the most notorious
ruffians who had ever been an impersonation
of, or lived by, the law of force. This inter-
esting specimen of the genus homo had, on the
last of these visits, demanded that my friends
should hand over to him one pair of blankets ;
but as the prospectus he produced, with
respect to payment, was not at all satisfactory,
my friends declined to enter into the specula-
tion, the more particularly as the blankets
were mine. Our freebooting acquaintance
then, to explain his views more clearly,
knocked both my friends down ; threatened
to kill them both with his tomahawk ; then
rushed into the bed-room, dragged out all
the bed-clothes, and burnt them on the
kitchen fire.
This last affair was rather displeasing to me.
I held to the theory that every Englishman's
house was his castle, and was moreover rather
savage at my guests having been so roughly
handled. I in fact began to feel* that though
I had up to this time managed to hold my
own pretty well, I was at last in danger of
falling under the imposition of " black mail,"
OLD NEW ZEALAND,, 89
cind losing my status as an independent
potentate a rangatira of the first water.. I
then and there declared loudly that it was
well for the offender that I had not been at
home, and that if ever he tried his tricks with
me he would find out his mistake. These
declarations of war, I perceived, were heard
by my men in a sort of incredulous silence,
(silence in New Zealand gives <7/s-sent,) and
though the fellows were stout chaps, who
would not mind a row with any ordinary
mortal, I verily believe they would have all
ran at the first appearance of this redoubted
ruffian. Indeed his antecedents had been
such as might have almost been their excuse.
He had killed several men in fair fight, and
had also as was well known committed two
most diabolical murders, one of which was on
his own wife, a fine young woman* whose
brains he blew out at half a second's notice
for no further provocation than this : he was
sitting in the verandah of his house, and told
her to bring him a light for his pipe. She,
being occupied in domestic affairs, said,
" can't you fetch it yourself, I am going for
water." She had the calibash u> her hand
and their infant child on her back. He
snatched up his gun and instantly shot her
90 OLD NtW ZEALAND.
dead on the spot ; and I had heard him
afterwards describing quite coolly the comical
way in which her brains had been knocked
out by the shot with which the gun was
loaded. He also had, for some trifling provo-
cation, lopped off the arm of his own brother
or cousin, I forget which, and was, altogether,
from his tremendous bodily strength and utter
insensibility to danger, about as "ugly a
customer" as one would care to meet.
I am now describing a regular Maori
ruffian of the good old times, the natural
growth of a state of society wherein might
was to a very great extent right, and where
bodily strength and courage were almost the
sole qualities for which a man was respected
or valued. He was a bullet-headed, scowl-
ing, bow-legged, broad-shouldered, herculean
savage, and all these qualifications combined
made him unquestionably "a great rangatira,"
and, as he had never been defeated, his mana
was in full force.
A few weeks after the affair of the blankets,
as I was sitting all alone reading a Sydney
newspaper, which, being only a year old, was
highly inteftesting, my friends and all my
natives having gone on an expedition to haul
a large fishing net, who should I see enter
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 91
the room and squat down on the floor, as if
taking permanent possession, but the amiable
and highly interesting individual I have taken
so much trouble to describe. He said
nothing, but his posture and countenance
spoke whole volumes of defiance and mur-
derous intent. He had heard of the threats
I had made against him, and there he was,
let me turn him out if I dare. That was his
meaning, there was no mistaking it.
I have all my life been an admirer of the
sttaviter in modo, though it is quite out of
place in New Zealand. If you tell a man
a Maori I mean in a gentle tone of voice and
with a quiet manner that if he continues a
given line of conduct you will Ijegin to com-
mence to knock him down, he simply disbe
lieves you, and thereby forces you to do that
which, if you could have persuaded yourself
to have spoken very uncivilly at first, there
would have been no occasion for. i have
seen many proofs of this, and though I have
done my best for many years to improve the
understanding of my Maori friends in this
particular, I find still there are but very few
who can understand at all how it is possible
that the suaviter in modo can be combined
with the fortiter in re. They in fact can't
92 OLD SEW ZEALAND.
understand it for some reason perfectly inex-
plicable to me. It was, however, quite a
matter of indifference, I could perceive, how
I should open proceedings with my friend, as
he evidently meant mischief. "Habit is
second nature," so I instinctively took to the
sitaviter. " Friend," said I, in a very mild
tone 'and with as amiable a smile as I could
get up, in spite of a certain clenching of the
teeth which somehow came on me at the
moment, " my advice to you is to be off." He
seemed to nestle himself firmer in his seat, and
made no answer but a scowl of defiance. " I am
thinking, friend, that this is my house," said I,
and springing upon him I placed my foot to his
shoulder, and gave a shove which would have
sent most people heels over- head. Not so,
however, with my friend. It shook him,
certainly, a little ; but in an instant, as quick
as lightning, and as it appeared with a single
motion, he bounded from the ground, flung
his mat away over his head, and struck a
furious blow at my head with his tomahawk.
I escaped instant death by a quickness equal
to or greater than his own. My eye was
quick, and so was my arm ; life was at stake.
I caught the tomahawk in full descent ; the
edge grazed my hand ; but my arm, stiffened
OLD NEW ZEALAND 93
like a bar of iron, arrested the blow. He
made one furious, but ineffectual, effort to
tear the tomahawk from my grasp ; and then
we seized one another round the middle, and
struggled like maniacs in the endeavour to
dash each other against the boarded floor, I
holding on for dear life to the tomahawk, and
making desperate efforts to get it from him,
but without a chance of success, as it was
fastened to his wrist by a strong thong of
leather. He was, as I soon found, somewhat
stronger than me, and heavier ; but I was as
active as a cat, and as long winded as an emu,
and very far from weak. At last he got a
wiri round my leg ; and had it not been for
the table on which we both fell, and which, in
smashing to pieces, broke our fall, I might
have been disabled and in that case instantly
tomahawked. We now rolled over and over
on the floor like two mad bulldogs ; he trying
to bite, and I trying to stun him by dashing
his bullet head against the floor. Up again !
still both holding on to the tomahawk.
Another furious struggle, in the course of
which both our heads, and half our bodies,
were dashed through the two glass windows
in the room, and every single article of furni-
ture was reduced to atoms. Down again,
94 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
rolling like mad, and dancing about amongst
the rubbish the wreck of the house. By
this time we were both covered with blood
from various wounds, received I don't know
how. I had been all this time fighting
under a great disadvantage, for my friend
was trying to kill me, and I was only trying
to disarm and tie him up a much harder
thing than to kill. My reason for going to
this trouble was, that as there were no wit-
nesses to the row, if I killed him, I might
have had serious difficulties with his tribe.
Up again ; another terrific tussle for the
tomahawk ; down again with a crash ; and so
this life or death battle went on, down and
up, up and down, for a full hour. At last I
perceived that my friend was getting weaker,
and felt that victory was only now a question
of time. I, so far from being fatigued, was
even stronger. Another desperate wrestling
match. I lifted my friend high in my arms,
and dashed him, panting, furious, foaming at
the mouth, but beaten, against the ground.
There he lies ; the worshipper of force. His
God has deserted him. But no, not yet. He
has one more chance, and a fatal one it
nearly proved to me. I began to unfasten
the tomahawk from his wrist. An odd ex-
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 95
pression came over his countenance. He
spoke for the first time. " Enough, I ani
beaten ; let me rise." Now I had often
witnessed the manly and becoming manner
in which some Maoris can take defeat, when
they have been defeated in what they con-
sider fair play. I had also ceased to fear
my friend, and so incautiously let go his
left arm. Like lightning he snatched at a
large carving fork, which, unperceived by
me, was lying on the floor amongst the
smashed furniture and debris of my house-
hold effects ; his fingers touched the handle
and it rolled away out of his reach, and
my life was saved. He then struck me with
all his remaining force on the side of the
head, causing the blood to flow out of my
mouth. One more short struggle, and he was
conquered. But now I had at last got angry.
The drunkenness, the exhilaration of fight,
which comes on some constitutions, was fairly
on me. I had also a consciousness that now
I must kill my man, or, sooner or later, he
would kill me. I thought of the place I
would bury him ; how I would stun him first
with the back of the tomahawk, to prevent
too much blood being seen ; how I would
then carry him oft' (I could carry two such
96 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
men now, easy). I would murder him and
cover him up. I unwound the tomahawk
from his wrist : he was passive and helpless
now. I wished he was stronger, and told
him to get up and "die standing," as his
countrymen say. I clutched the tomahawk
for the coup-de-grace, (I can't help it, young
ladies, the devil is in me,) at this instant
a thundering sound of feet is heard, a whole
tribe are coming I Now am I either lost or
saved ! saved from doing that which I should
afterwards repent, though constrained by ne-
cessity to do it. The rush of charging feet
comes closer. In an instant comes dashing
and smashing through doors and windows, in
breathless haste and alarm, a whole tribe of
friends. Small ceremony now with my an-
tagonist. He was dragged by the heels,
stamped on, kicked, and thrown half-dead, or
nearly quite dead, into his canoe. All the
time we had been fighting a little slave imp
of a boy belonging to my antagonist had been
loading the canoe with my goods and chattels,
and had managed to make a very fair plunder
of it. These were all now brought back by
my friends, except one cloth jacket, which
happened to be concealed under the whariki,
and which I only mention because I remember
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 97
that the attempt to recover it some time after-
wards cost one of my friends his life. The
savage scoundrel who had so nearly done for
me, broke two of his ribs, and so otherwise
injured him that he never recovered, and died
after lingering about a year. My friends
were going on a journey, and had called to
see me as they passed. They saw the slave
boy employed as I have stated, and knowing
to whom he belonged had rushed at once to
the rescue, little expecting to find me alive. I
may as well now dispose of this friend of
mine by giving his after history. He for a
long time after our fight went continually
armed w r ith a double gun, and said he would
shoot me wherever he met me ; he however
had had enough of attacking me in my
"castle," and so did not call there any more.
I also went continually armed, and took care
also to have always some of my people at
hand. After this, this fellow committed two
more murders, and also killed in fair fight
with his own hand the first man in a native
battle, in which the numbers on each side
were about three hundred, and which I
witnessed. The man he killed was a remark-
ably fine young fellow, a great favourite of
mine. At last, having attacked and at-
98 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
tempted to murder another native, he was
shot through the heart by the person he
attempted to murder, and fell dead on the
spot, and so there died "a great rangatim"
His tribe quietly buried him and said no
more about it, which showed their sense of
right. Had he been killed in what they con-
sidered an unjust manner, they would have
revenged his death at any cost ; but I have
no doubt they themselves were glad to get
rid of him, for he was a terror to all about
him. I have been in many a scrape both by
sea and land, but I must confess that I never
met a more able hand at an argument than
this Maori rangatira.
I have not mentioned my friend's name
with whom I had this discussion on the rights
of Englishmen, because he has left a son, who
is a great rangatira, and who might feel
displeased if I was too particular, and I am
not quite so able now to carry out a " face-to-
face" policy as I was a great many years ago ;
besides there is a sort of " honour amongst
thieves" feeling between myself and my
Maori friends on certain matters which we
mutually understand are not for the ears of
the " new people."
Now, ladies, I call that a fairish good fight,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 99
considering no one is killed on either side. I
promise to be good in future and to keep the
peace, if people will let me ; and indeed, I
may as well mention, that from that day to
this I have never had occasion to explain
again to a Maori how it is that " every Eng-
lishman's house is his castle."
"Fair play is a jewel ;" and I will here, as
bound in honour to do, declare that I have
met amongst the natives with men who would
be a credit to any nation ; men on whom
nature had plainly stamped the mark of
" Noble," of the finest bodily form, quick and
intelligent in mind, polite and brave, and
capable of the most self-sacrificing acts for the
good of others ; patient, forbearing, and affec-
tionate in their families ; in a word, gentle-
men. These men were the more remarkable,
as they had grown up surrounded by a set
of circumstances of the most unfavourable
kind for the development of the qualities of
which they were possessed ; and I have often
looked on with admiration, when I have seen
them protesting against, and endeavouring to
restrain some of, the dreadful barbarities of
their countrymen.
As for the Maori people in general, they
are neither s-o gocd or so bad as their friends
H 1'
100 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
and enemies have painted them, and I suspect
are pretty much like what almost any other
people would have become, if subjected for
ages to the same external circumstances. For
ages they have struggled against necessity
in all its shapes. This has given to them
a remarkable greediness for gain in every
visible and immediately tangible form. It
has even left its mark on their language.
Without the aid of iron the most trifling
tool or utensil could only be purchased by an
enormously disproportionate outlay of labour
in its construction, and, in consequence, became
precious to a degree scarcely conceivable by
people of civilised and wealthy countries. This
great value attached to personal property of
all kinds, increased proportionately the tempta-
tion to plunder ; and where no law existed,
or could exist, of sufficient force ,to repress
the inclination, every man, as a natural con-
sequence, became a soldier, if it were only
for the defence of his own property and that
of those who were banded with him his tribe,
or family. From this state of things regular
warfare arose, as a matter of course ; the
military art was studied as a science, and
brought to great perfection as applied to the
arms used ; and a marked military character
OLD i\iiW ZEALAND lOl
was given to the people. The necessity of
labour, the necessity of warfare, and a tem-
perate climate, gave them strength of body,
accompanied by a perseverance and energy
of mind, perfectly astonishing. With rude
and blunt stones they felled the giant kauri-
toughest of pines ; and from it, in process of
time, at an expense of labour, perseverance,
and ingenuity, perfectly astounding to those
who know what it really was produced,
carved, painted, and inlaid, a masterpiece
of art, and an object of beauty, the war
canoe, capable of carrying a hundred men
on a distant expedition, through the boister-
ous seas surrounding their island.
As a consequence of their warlike habits
and character, they are self-possessed and
confident in themselves and their own pow-
ers, and have much diplomatic finesse and
casuistry at command. Their intelligence
causes them theoretically to acknowledge
the benefits of law, which they see established
amongst us, but their hatred of restraint
causes them practically to abhor and resist
its full enforcement amongst themselves.
O
Doubting our professions of friendship, fear-
ing our ultimate designs, led astray by false
friends, possessed of that " little learning,"
102
which is, in their case, most emphatically
" a dangerous thing/' divided amongst them-
selves, such are the people with whom we
are now in contact, such the people to whom,
for our own safety and their preservation, we
must give new laws and institutions, new
habits of life, new ideas, sentiments and in-
formation, whom we must either civilise or
by our mere contact exterminate. How is
this to be done ? * Let me see. I think I
shall answer this question when I am prime
minister.
* PRINTER'S DEVIL : How is this to l>e clone 1 which ?
what ? bow 1 civilise or exterminate ? PAKEHA MAORI :
Eaha mau !
CHAP T E 11 VII.
EXCITEMENT CAUSED BY F1KST CONTACT WITH EUROPEANS
THE TWO GREAT INSTITUTIONS OF MAORI LAND THE
MURU THE TAPU INSTANCES OF LEGAL ROBBERY
DESCRIPTIONS AND EXAMPLES OF THE MURU PROFIT
AND LOSS EXPLANATION OF SOME OF THE WORKINGS
OF THE LAW OF MURU.
THE natives have been for fifty years or more
in a continual state of excitement on one
subject or another, which has had a markedly
bad effect on their character and physical
condition, as I shall by-and-by take occasion
to point out. When the first straggling ships
came here the smallest bit of iron was a prize
so inestimable that I mi^-lit be thought to
O O
exaggerate were I to tell the bare truth on
the subject. The excitement and speculation
caused by a ship being seen off the coast was
immense. Where would she anchor ? What
iron could be got from her ? Would it be
possible to seize her ? The oracle was con-
sulted, preparations were made to follow her
along the coast, even through an enemy's
104 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
country, at all risks ; and when she disap-
peared she was not forgotten, and would con-
tinue long to be the subject of anxious expec-
tation and speculation.
After this, regular trading began. The
great madness then was for muskets and
gunpowder. A furious competition was kept
up. Should any tribe fail to procure a
stock of these articles as soon as its neigh-
bours, extermination was its probable doom.
We may then imagine the excitement, the
over-labour, the hardship, the starvation
(occasioned by crops neglected whilst labour-
ing to produce flax or other commodity
demanded in payment) I say imagine, but
I have seen at least part of it.
After the demand for arms was supplied,
came a perfect furor for iron tools, instru-
ments of husbandry, clothing, and #11 kinds of
pakeha manufactures. These things having
been quite beyond their means while they
were supplying themselves with arms, they
were in the most extreme want of them,
particularly iron tools. A few years ago
the madness ran upon horses and cattle ; and
now young New Zealand believes in nothing
but money, and they are continually torment-
ing themselves with plans to acquire it in
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 105
large sums at once, without the trouble of
slow and saving industry, which, as applied
to the accumulation of money, they neither
approve of nor understand ; nor will they ever,
as a people, take this mode till convinced that
money, like everything else of value, can only
be procured as a rule by giving full value for
it, either in labour or the produce of labour.
Here I am, I find, again before my story.
Right down to the present time talking of
" young New Zealand," and within a hair's-
breadth of settling " the Maori difficulty "
without having been paid for it, which would
have been a great oversight, and contrary to
the customs of New Zealand. I must go
back.
There were in the old times two great insti-
tutions, which reigned with iron rod in Maori
land the Tapu and the Muni. Pakehas
who knew no better, called the muni simply
"robbery," because the word muni, in its
common signification, means to plunder. But
I speak of the regular legalised and estab-
lished system of plundering as penalty for
offences, which in a rough way resembled
our law by which a man is obliged to pay
"damages." Great abuses had, however,
crept into tliis system so great, indeed, as
10() OLD NfcW ZEALAND.
to render the retention of any sort of move-
able property almost an impossibility, and
to in a great measure discourage the in-
clination to labour for its acquisition. These
great inconveniences were, however, met, or
in some degree softened, by an expedient of
a peculiarly Maori nature, which I shall
by-and-by explain. The offences for which
people were plundered were sometimes of a
nature which, to a mere pakeha, would seem
curious. A man's child fell in the fire and
was almost burnt to death. The father was
immediately plundered to an extent that
almost left him without the means of sub-
sistence : fishing nets, canoes, pigs, provisions
all went. His canoe upset, and he and all
his family narrowly escaped drowning some
were, perhaps, drowned. He was immediately
robbed, and well pummelled Avith a club into
the bargain, if he was not good at the science
of selfrdefence the club part of the ceremony
being always fairly administered one against
one, and after fair warning given to defend
Irimseif. He might be clearing some land for
potatoes, burning oft* the fern, and the fire
spreads farther than he intended, and gets
into a ivahi tapu or burial-ground. No
matter whether any one has been buried in it
OLD NtiVV 2EALAS1), Io7
or no for the last hundred years, he is
tremendously robbed. In fact for ten
thousand different causes a man might be
robbed ; and I can really imagine a case
in which a man for scratching his own head
might be legally robbed. Now as the en-
forcers of this law were also the parties who
received the damages, as well as the judges of
the amount, which in many cases (such as that
of the burnt child) would be everything they
could by any means lay hands on, it is easy
to perceive that under such a system personal
property was an evanescent sort of thing
altogether. These executions or distraint
were never resisted. Indeed in many cases,
as I shall explain by-and-by, it would have
been felt as a slight, and even an insult, no
to be robbed ; the sacking of a man's estab-
lishment being often taken as a high compli-
ment, especially if his head was broken into
the bargain ; and to resist the execution
would not only have been looked upon as
mean and disgraceful in the highest degree,
but it would hare debarred the contemptible
individual from the privilege of robbing his
neighbours, which was the compensating ex-
pedient I have alluded to. All this may
seem a waste of words to my pakeha Maori
108 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
readers, to whom these things have become
such matters of course as to be no longer
remarkable ; but I have remembered that
there are so many new people in the country
who don't understand the beauty of being
knocked down and robbed, that I shall say
a few more words on the subject.
The tract of country inhabited by a single
tribe might be say from forty to a hundred
miles square, and the different villages of the
different sections of the tribe would be scat-
tered over this area at different distances from
each other. We will by way of illustrating
the working of the mum system take the case
of the burnt child. Soon after the accident
it would be heard of in the neighbouring
villages ; the family of the mother are proba-
bly the inhabitants of one of them ; they
have, according to the law of mum-, the first
and greatest right to clean out the afflicted
father a child being considered to belong
to the family of the mother more than to that
of the father in fact it is their child, who
the father has the rearing of. The child was
moreover a promising lump of a boy, the
makings of a future warrior, and consequently
very valuable to the whole tribe in general,
but to the mother's family in particular.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 109
"A pretty thing to let him get spoiled." Then
he is a boy of good family, a rangatira by
birth, and it would never do to let the thing
pass without making a .noise about it. That
would be an insult to the dignity of the fami-
lies of both father and mother. Decidedly
besides being robbed, the father must be
assaulted with the spear. True, he is a
famous spearman, and for his own credit
must " hurt " some one or another if attacked.
But this is of no consequence ; a flesh wound
more or less deep is to be counted on ; and
then think of the plunder ! It is against the
law of mum that any one should be killed,
and first blood ends the duel. Then the
natural affection of all the child's relations
is great. They are all in a great state of
excitement, and trying to remember how
many canoes, and pigs, and other valuable .
articles, the father has got : for this must be
a clean sweep. A strong party is now mus-
tered, headed probably by the brother of the
mother of the child. He is a stout chap, and
carries a long tough spear. A messenger is
sent to the father, to say that the taua muru
is coming, and may be expected to-morrow, or
the next day. He asks, " Is it a great taua ?"
"Yes; it is a very great taua indeed."
110 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
The victim smiles, he feels highly compli-
mented, he is then a man of consequence.
His child is also of great consideration ; he is
thought worthy of a. large force being sent
to rob him ! Now he sets all in motion to
prepare a huge feast for the friendly robbers
his relations. He may as well be liberal, for
his provisions are sure to go, whether or no.
Pigs are killed and baked whole, potatoes are
piled up in great heaps, all is made ready, he
looks out his best spear, and keeps it always
ready in his hand. At last the taua appears
on a hill half a mile off ; then the whole fight-
ing men of the section of the tribe of which
he is an important member, collect at his
back, all armed with spear and club, to
shew that they could resist, if they would
a thing, however, not to be thought of under
the circumstances. On conies the taua. The
mother begins to cry in proper form ; the
tribe shout the call of welcome to the ap-
proaching robbers ; and then with a grand
rush, all armed, and looking as if they in-
tended to exterminate all before them, the
Icai muru appear on the scene. * They dance
the war dance, which the villagers answer
with another. Then the chief's brother-in-
law advances, spear in hand, with the most
OLD NEW ZEALAND. Ill
alarming gestures. " Stand up ! stand up !
I will kill you this day/' is his ciy. The
defendant is not slow to answer the challenge.
A most exciting, and what to a new pakeha
would appear a most desperately dangerous,
fencing bout with spears, instantly commences.
The attack and defence are in the highest de-
gree scientific ; the spear shafts keep up a
continuous rattle ; the thrust, and parry, and
stroke with the spear shaft follow each other
with almost incredible rapidity, and are too
rapid to be followed by an unpractised eye.
At last the brother-in-law is slightly touched ;
blood also drops from our chief's thigh. The
fight instantly ceases ; leaning on their spears,
probably a little badinage takes place be-
tween them, and then the brother-in-law
roars out " niurna ! mania ! murua ! " Then
the new arrivals commence a 'regular sack,
and the two principals sit down quietly with
a few others for a friendly chat, in which
the child's name is never mentioned, or the
enquiry as to whether he is dead or alive even
made. The case I have just described would,
however, be one of more than ordinary im-
portance ; slighter " accidents and offences "
would be atoned for by a milder form of
operation. But the general effect was to keep
112 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
personal property circulating from hand to
hand pretty briskly, or indeed to convert it
into public property ; for no man could say
who would be the owner of his canoe, or
blanket, in a month's time. Indeed, in that
space of time, I once saw a nice coat, which
a native had got from the captain of a trading
schooner, and which was an article much
coveted in those days, pass through the
hands, and over the backs, of six different
owners, and return, considerably the worse
for wear, to the original purchaser ; and all
these transfers had been made by legal process
of muru. I have been often myself paid the
compliment of being robbed for little acci-
dents occurring in my family, and have several
times also, from a feeling of politeness, robbed
my Maori friends, though I can't say I was a
great gainer 15y these transactions. I think the
greatest haul I ever made was about half a
bag of shot, which I thought a famous joke,
seeing that I had sold it the day before to the
owner for full value. A month after this I
was disturbed early in the morning, by a
voice shouting "Get up! get* up ! I will
kill you this day. You have roasted my
grandfather. Get up ! stand up ! " I, of
course, guessed that I had committed some
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 113
heinous though involuntary offence, and the
" stand up " hinted the immediate probable
consequences ; so out I turned, spear in hand,
and who should I see, armed with a bayonet
on the end of a long pole, but my friend the
um while owner of the bag of shot. He came
at me with pretended fury, made some smart
bangs and thrusts, which I parried, and then
explained to me that 1 had " cooked his grand-
father ; " and that if I did not come down
handsome in the way of damages, deeply as
he might regret the necessity, his own credit,
and the law of m ut'u, compelled him either to
sack my house or die in the attempt. I was
glad enough to prevent either event, by paying
him two whole bags of shot, two blankets,
divers fish hooks, and certain figs of tobacco,
which he demanded. I found that 1 had
really and truly committed a most horrid
crime. I Jiad on a journey made my fire at
the foot of a tree, in the top of which the
bones of my friend's grandfather had once
been deposited, but from which they had been
removed ten years before ; the tree caught fire
and had burnt down : and I, therefore, by
a convenient sort of figure of speech, had
"roasted his grandfather," and had to pay
the penalty accordingly.
114 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
It did not require much financial ability on
my part, after a few experiences of this nature,
to perceive that I had better avail myself of
my privileg es as a pakeha, and have nothing
further to do with the law of muru a determi-
nation I have kept to strictly. If ever I have
unwittingly injured any of my neighbours, I
have always made what I considered just com-
pensation, and resisted the muru altogether ;
and I will say this for my friends, that when
any of them have done an accidental piece of
mischief, they have, in most cases without
being asked, offered to pay for it.
The above slight sketch of the penal law
of New Zealand I present and dedicate to
the Law Lords of England, as it might,
perhaps, afford some hints for a reform in
our own. The only remark I shall have to
add is, that if a man killed another, " malice
prepence aforethought," the act, in nineteen
cases out of twenty, would be either a
very meritorious one, or of no consequence
whatever ; in either of which cases the penal
code had, of course, nothing to do in the
matter. If, however, a man -killed another
by accident, in the majority of cases the con-
sequences would be most serious ; and not
only the involuntary homicide, but every one
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 115
connected with him, would be plundered of
everything they possessed worth taking.
This, however, to an English lawyer, may
require some explanation, which is as fol-
lows : If a man thought fit to kill his own
slave, it was nobody's aifair but his own ; the
law had nothing to do with it. If he killed a
man of another tribe, he had nothing to do
but declare it was in revenge or retaliation for
some aggression, either recent or traditional,
by the other tribe, of which examples Avere
never scarce. In this case the action became
at once highly meritorious, and his whole
tribe would support and defend him to the
last extremity. If he, however, killed a
man by accident, the slain man would be, as
a matter of course, in most instances, one of
his ordinary companions i.e., one of his own
tribe. The accidental discharge of a gun
often caused death in this way. Then, in-
deed, the law of inuru had full swing, and the
wholesale plunder of the criminal and family
was the penalty. Murder, as the natives
understood it, that is to say, the malicious
destruction of a man of the some tribe, did
not happen as frequently as might be ex-
pected ; and when it did, went in most cases
unpunished ; the murderer, in general, man-
i 2
116 OLD NEW ZEALAND
aging to escape to some other section of the
tribe where he had relations, who, as he fled
to them for protection, were bound to give it,
and always ready to do so ; or otherwise he
would stand his ground and defy all comers,
by means of the strength of his own family
or section, who all would defend him and
protect him as a mere matter of course ; and
as the law of utu or lex talionis was the only
one which applied in this case, and as, unlike
the law of mum, nothing was to be got by
enforcing it but hard blows, murder in most
cases went unpunished.
CHAPTEE VIII.
THE MUKU FALLING INTO DISUSE WHY EXAMPLES OP
THE TAPU THE PERSONAL TAPU EVADING THE TAPU
THE UNDERTAKER'S TAPU HOW i GOT TABOOED
FRIGHTFUL DIFFICULTIES HOW 1 GOT OUT OF THEM
THE WAR TAPU MAORI WAR CUSTOMS.
THE law of muni- is now but little used, and
only on a small scale. The degenerate men
of the present day in general content them-
selves with asking " payment," and after some
cavilling as to the amount, it is generally
given ; but if refused, the case is brought
before a native magistrate, and the pleadings
on both sides are often such as would astound
our most famous barristers, and the decisions
of a nature to throw those famous ones by
Sancho Panza and Walter the Doubter for
ever into the shade.
F think the reason that the mum is so
much less practised than formerly is the fact
that the natives are now far better supplied
with the necessaries and comforts of life than
they were many years ago, especially iron tools
118 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
and utensils, and in consequence the tempta-
tion to plunder is proportionately decreased.
Money would still be a temptation ; but it is
so easily concealed, and in general they have
so little of it, that other means are adopted
for its acquisition. "When I first saw the
natives, the chance of getting an axe or a spade
by the short-hand process of muru, or at a
still more remote period a few wooden
implements, or a canoe, was so great that
the lucky possessor was continually watched
by many eager and observant eyes, in hopes
to pick a hole in his coat, by which the muru
might be legally brought to bear upon him.
I say legally, for the natives always tried to
have a sufficient excuse ; and I absolutely
declare, odd as it may seem, that actual, un-
authorised, and inexcusable robbery or theft
was less frequent than in any country I ever
have been in, though the temptation to steal
was a thousandfold greater. The natives of the
present day are, however, improving in this
respect, and, amongst other arts of civilisation,
are beginning to have very pretty notions of
housebreaking, and have even tried highway
robbery, though in a bungling way. The fact
is they are just now between two tides. The
old institutions which, barbarous and rude as
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 119
they were, were respected and in some degree
useful, are wearing out, and have lost all
beneficial effect, and at the same time the
laws and usages of civilisation have not ac-
O
quired any sufficient force. This state of
things is very unfavourable to the morale of
Young New Zealand ; but it is likely to
change for the better, for it is a maxim of
mine that "laws, if not made, will grow."
I must now take some little notice of
the other great institution, the tapu. The
limits of these flying sketches of the good old
times will not allow of more than a partial
notice of the all -pervading tapu. Earth, air,
fire, water, goods and chattels, growing crops,
men, women, and children, everything abso-
lutely was subject to its influence, and a more
perplexing puzzle to new pakehas who were
continually from ignorance infringing some
of its rules, could not be well imagined. The
natives, however, made considerable allowance
for this ignorance, as well they might, seeing
that they themselves, though from infancy to
old age enveloped in a cloud of tapu, would
sometimes fall into similar scrapes.
The original object of the ordinary tapu
seems to have been the preservation of pro-
perty. Of this nature in a great degree was
120 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
the ordinary personal tapu. This form of the
tap it was permanent, and consisted in a certain
sacred character which attached to the person
of a chief and never left him. It was his birth-
right, a part in fact of himself, of which he
could not be divested, and which was well
understood and recognised at all times as a
matter of course. The fighting men and
p^tty chiefs, and every one indeed who could
by any means claim the title of rangatira
which in the sense I now use it means gentle-
man were all in some degree more or less
possessed of this mysterious quality. It ex-
tended or was communicated to all their
moveable property, especially to their clothes,
weapons, ornaments, and tools, and to every
thing in fact which they touched. This pre-
vented their chattels from being stolen or
mislaid, or spoiled by children, or used
or handled in any way by others. And
as in the old times, as I have before stated,
every kind of property of this kind was
precious in consequence of the great labour
and time necessarily, for want of iron tools,
expended in the manufacture, this form of the
tapu was of great real service. An infringe-
ment of it subjected the offender to various
dreadful imaginary punishments, of which
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 121
deadly sickness was one, as well as to the
operation of the law of mum already men-
tioned. If the transgression was involuntary,
the chief, or a priest, or tolmnya, could, by a
certain mystical ceremony, prevent or remit
the doleful and mysterious part of the punish-
ment if he chose, but the civil action, or the
robbery by law of nnn-u, would most likely
have to take its course, though possibly in a
mitigated form, according to the circum-
stances.
I have stated that the worst part of the
punishment of an offence against this form of
the tcqtu was imaginary, but in truth, though
imaginary it was not the less a severe punish-
ment. " Conscience makes cowards of us all,"
and there was scarcely a man in a thousand,
if one, who had sufficient resolution to dare
the shadowy terrors of the t<.q>. I actually
have seen an instance where the offender,
though an involuntary one, was killed stone
dead in six hours, by what I considered the
effects of his own terrified imagination, but
what all the natives at the time believed to
be the work of the terrible avenger of the
tapu. The case I may as well describe, as it
was a strong one, and shows how, when false-
hoods are once believed, they will meet with
122 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
apparent proof from accidental circumstances.
A chief of very high rank, standing, and
mana, was on a war expedition ; with him were
about five hundred men. His own personal
tapu was increased two -fold, as was that of
all the warriors who were with him, by the war
tapu. The taua being on a very dangerous
expedition, they were over and above the
ordinary personal tapu made sacred in the
highest degree, and were obliged to observe
strictly several mysterious and sacred customs,
some of which I may have to explain by
and-by. They were, in fact, as irreverent
pakehas used to say, " tabooed an inch thick,"
and as for the head chief, he was perfectly
unapproachable. The expedition halted to
dine. The portion of food set apart for the
chief, in a neat paro or shallow basket of
green flax leaves, was, of course, enough for
two or three men, and consequently the
greater part remained unconsumed. The
party having dined, moved on, and soon after
a party of slaves and others, who had been
some mile or two in the rear, came up carrying
ammunition and baggage. One of the slaves,
a stout hungry fellow, seeing the chief's un-
finished dinner, eat it up before asking any
questions, and had hardly finished when he
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 123
was informed by a horror-stricken individual
another slave who had remained behind
when the taua had moved on of the fatal
act he had committed. I knew the unfortu-
nate delinquent well. He was remarkable
for courage, and had signalized himself in the
wars of the tribe. (The able-bodied slaves
are always expected to fight in the quarrels
of their masters, to do which they are
nothing loth.) No sooner did he hear the
fatal news than he was seized by the most
extraordinary convulsions and cramps in the
stomach, which never ceased till he died,
about sun-down the same day. He was a
strong man, in the prime of life, and if any
pakeha free-thinker should have said he was
not killed by the tap a of the chief, which had
been communicated to the food by contact, he
would have been listened to with feelings of
contempt for his ignorance and inability to
understand plain and direct evidence.
It will be seen at once that this form of the
tap n was a great preserver of property. The
most valuable articles might, in ordinary cir-
cumstances, be left to its protection, in the
absence of the owners, for any length of time.
It also prevented borrowing arid lending in
a very great degree ; and though much
124 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
laughed at and grumbled at by unthinking
pakehas, who would be always trying to get
the natives to give it up, without offering
them anything equally effective in its place,
or indeed knowing its real object or uses, it
held its ground in full force for many years,
and, in a certain but not so very observable
a form, exists still. This form of the tapu,
though latent in young folks of rangatira
rank, was not supposed to develope itself fully
till they had arrived at mature age, and set
up house on their own account. The lads
and boys " knocked about " amongst the
slaves and lower orders, carried fuel or pro-
visions on their backs, and did all those
duties which this personal tapu prevented the
elders from doing, and which restraint was
sometimes veiy troublesome and inconvenient.
A man of any standing could not carry pro-
visions of any kind on his back, or if he did
they were rendered tapu, and in consequence
useless to any one but himself. If he went
into the shed used as a kitchen, (a thing how-
ever he would never think of doing except on
some great emergency,) all the pots, ovens,
food, &c., would be at once rendered useless,
none of the cooks or inferior people could
make use of them or partake of anything
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 125
which had been cooked in them. He might
certainly light a little fire in his own house,
not for cooking, as that never by any chance
could be done in his house, but for warmth ;
but that, or any other fire, if he should have
blown upon it with his breath in lighting it,
became at once tapu, and could be used for
no common or culinary purpose. Even to
light a pipe at it would subject any inferior
person, or in many instances an equal, to a
terrible attack of the tapu morbus, besides
being a slight or affront to the dignity of the
person himself. I have seen two or three
young men fairly wearing themselves out on
a wet day and Avith bad apparatus trying to
make fire to cook with, by rubbing two sticks
together, when on a journey, and at the same
time there was a roaring fire close at hand at
which several rangatira and myself were
warming ourselves, but it was tupu, sacred
fire one of the rangatira had made it from
his own tinder box, and blown upon it in
lisfhtino- it, and as there was not another
O J '
tinder box amongst us, fast we must, though
hungry as sharks, till common culinary fire
could be obtained. A native whose personal
tapn was perhaps of the strongest, might,
when at the house of a pakeha, ask for a
126 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
drink of water ; the pakeha, being green,
would hand him some water in a glass, or in
those days, more probably in a tea-cup ; the
native would drink the water, and then
gravely and quietly break the cup to pieces,
or otherwise he would appropriate it by
c ausing it to vanish under his mat. The new
pakeha would immediately fly into a passion,
to the great astonishment of the native, who
considered, as a matter of course, that the cup
or glass was, in the estimation of the pakeha,
a very worthless article, or he would not have
given it into his hand and allowed him to put
it to his head, the part most strongly infected
by the tapu. Both parties would be sur-
prised and displeased ; the native wondering
what could have put the pakeha into such a
taking, and the pakeha " wondering at the
rascal's impudence, and what he meant by
it ? " The proper line of conduct for the
pakeha in the above case made and provided,
supposing him to be of a hospitable and
obliging disposition, would be to lay hold of
some vessel containing about two gallons of
water, (to allow for waste,) hold it up before
the native's face, the native would then stoop
down and put his hand bent into the shape
of a funnel or conductor for the water to his
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 127
mouth ; then, from the height of a foot or
so, the pakeha would send a cataract of water
into the said funnel, and continue the shower
till the native gave a slight upward nod of
the head, which meant " enough " by which
time, from the awkwardness of the pakeha,
the two gallons of water would be about ex-
pended, half, at least, on the top of the
native's head, who would not, however,
appear to notice the circumstance, and would
appreciate the civility of his pakeha friend.
I have often drank in this way in the old
times ; asking for a drink of water at a native
village, a native would gravely approach with
a calabash, and hold it up before me ready
to pour forth its contents ; I, of course,
cocked my hand and lip in the most knowing
manner. If I had laid hold of the calabash
and drank in the ordinary way as practised
by pakehas, 1 would have at once fallen in
the estimation of all by-standers, and been set
down as a tutua, a nobody, who had no tap a
or mana about him ; a mere scrub of a pakeha,
who any one might eat or drink after without
the slightest danger of being poisoned. These
things are all changed now, and though I
have often in the good old times been tabooed
in the most diabolical and dignified manner,
128 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
there are only a few old men left now who,
by little unmistakable signs, I perceive con-
sider it would be very uncivil to act in any
way which would suppose iny tapu to have
disappeared before the influx of new-fangled
pakeha notions. Indeed I feel myself some-
times as if I was somehow insensibly partially
civilised. What it will all end in, I don't
know.
This same personal tapu would even hold
its own in some cases against the muni,
though not in a sufficiently general manner
to seriously affect the operation of that well-
enforced law. Its inconveniences were, on
the other hand, many, and the expedients
resorted to to avoid them were sometimes
comical enough. I was once going on an
excursion with a number of natives ; we had
two canoes, and one of them started a little
before the other. I was with the canoe which
had been left behind, and just as we were
setting off it was discovered that amongst
twenty stout fellows my companions there
was no one who had a back ! as they
expressed it and consequently no one to
carry our provisions into the canoe : all the
lads, women, and slaves had gone off in the
other canoe, all those who had backs, and
OLD NEW ZEALAND, 129
so there we were left, a very disconsolate lot of
rangatira, who could not carry their own pro-
visions into the canoe, and who at the same
time could not go without them. The pro-
visions consisted of several heavy baskets of
potatoes, some dried sharks, and a large pig
baked whole. What was to be done ? We
were all brought to a full stop, though in a
great hurry to go on. We were beginning to
think we must give up the expedition alto-
gether, and were very much disappointed
accordingly when a clever fellow, who, had
he been bred a lawyer, would have made
nothing of driving a mail coach through an
act of parliament, set us all to rights in a
moment. " I'll tell you what we must do,"
said he, " we will not carry fyikcui) the pro-
visions, we will Jtiki them." (IFikl is the
word in Maori which describes the act of
carrying an infant in the arms.) This was a
great discoveiy ! A huge handsome fellow
seized on the baked pig and dandled it, or
liikid it, in his arms like an infant ; another
laid hold of a shark, others took baskets of
potatoes, and carrying them in this way de-
posited them in the canoe. And so, having
thus evaded the law, we started on our
expedition.
130 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
I remember another amusing instance in
which the inconvenience arising from the tap a
was evaded. I must, however, notice that
these instances were only evasions of the tapu
of the ordinary kind, what I have called the
personal tapu, not the more dangerous and
dreadful kind connected with the mystic
doings of the tohunga, or that other form of
tapu connected with the handling of the dead.
Indeed, my companions in the instance I have
mentioned, though all rangatira, were young
men on whom the personal tapu had not ar-
rived at the fullest perfection ; it seemed,
indeed, sometimes to sit very lightly on them,
and I doubt very much if the play upon the
words Tiiki and pikau would have reconciled
any of the elders *of the tribe to carrying a
roasted pig in their arms, or if they did do so,
I feel quite certain that no amount of argu-
ment would have persuaded the younger men
to eat it ; as for slaves or women, to look at
it would almost be dangerous to them.
The other instance of dodging the law was
as follows. 1 was the first pakeha who had
ever arrived at a certain populous inland vil-
lage. The whole of the inhabitants were in a
great state of commotion and curiosity, for
many of them had never seen a pakeha before.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 131
As I advanced, the whole juvenile population
ran before me at a safe distance of about a
hundred yards, eyeing me, as I perceived, with
great terror and distrust. At last I suddenly
made a charge at them, rolling my eyes and
showing my teeth, and to see the small sav-
ages tumbling over one another and running
for their lives was something curious, and
though my " demonstration " did not con-
tinue more than twenty yards, I am sure
some of the little villains ran a mile before
looking behind to see whether the ferocious
monster called a pakeha was gaining on
them. They did run ! I arrived at the
centre of the village and was conducted to
a large house or shed, which had been con-
structed as a place of reception for visitors,
and as a general lounging place for all the
inhabitants. It was a iclmrc noa, a house to
which, from its general and temporary uses,
the tj)U was not supposed to attach, 1 mean
of course, the ordinary personal tt< or ti>n
rangatira. Any person, however, infccfc^f
with any of the more serious or extraordinary
forms of the tapn entering it, would at once
render it uninhabitable. 1 took my seat. The
house was full, and nearly the whole of the
rest of the population were blocking up tlu i
K -2
132 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
open front of the large shed, all striving to
see the pakeha, and passing to the rear from
man to man every word he happened to
speak. I could hear them say to the people
behind, " The pakeha has stood up ! " " Now
he has sat down again ! " " He has said, how
do you all do ? " " He has said, this is a nice
place of yours ! " etc., etc. Now there hap-
pened to be at a distance an old gentleman
engaged in clearing the weeds from a kumera
or sweet potato field, and as the kumera in
the old times was the crop on which the natives
depended chiefly for support, like all valuable
things it was tapu, and the parties who
entered the field to remove the weeds were
tapu, pro tern., also. Now one of the effects
of this temporary extra tapu was that the
parties could not enter any regular dwelling
house, or indeed any house used by others.
Now the breach of this rule would not be
dangerous in a personal sense, but the effect
would be that the crop of sweet potatoes
would fail. The industrious individual I have
alluded to, hearing the cry of "A pakeha ! a
pakeha ! " from many voices, and Having never
had an opportunity to examine that variety
of the species, or genus homo, flung down his
wooden kaheru or weed exterminator and
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 133
rushed towards the town house before men-
tioned. What could he do ? The tapu forbid
his entrance and the front was so completely
blocked up by his admiring neighbours that
he could not get sight of the wonderful guest.
In these desperate circumstances a bright
thought struck him. He would, by a bold
and ingenious device, give the tapu the slip.
He ran to the back of the house, made with
some difficulty a hole in the padded raupo
wall, and squeezed his head through it. The
elastic wall of raupo closed again around his
neck ; the tapu was fairly beaten ! No one
could say he was in the house. He was cer-
tainly more out than in, and there, seemingly
hanging from or stuck against the wall, re-
mained for hours, with open mouth and
wondering eyes, this brazen head, till at last
the shades of night obstructing its vision, a
rustling noise in the wall of flags and reeds
announced the departure of my bodyless
admirer.
Some of the forms of the tapu were not to
be played with, and were of a most virulent
kind. Of this kind was the tpu of those
who handled the dead, or conveyed the body
to its last resting-place. This tapu was, in
fact, the uncleanness of the old Jewish law,
134 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
and lasted about the same time, and was
removed in almost the same way. It was a
most serious affair. The person who came
under this form of the tap it was cut off from
all contact, and almost all communication,
with the human race. He could not enter
any house, or come in contact with any person
or thing, without utterly bedeviling them.
He could not even touch food with his hands,
which had become so frightfully tapu or un-
clean, as to be quite useless. Food would be
placed for him on the ground, and he would
then sit or kneel down, and, with his hands
carefully held behind his back, would gnaw it
in the best way he could. In some cases he
would be fed by another person, who, with
outstretched arm, would manage to do it
without touching the tapud. individual ; but
this feeder was subjected to many and severe
restrictions, not much less onerous than those
to which the other was subject. In almost
every populous native village there was a
person who, probably for the sake of im-
munity from labour, or from being good for
nothing else, took up the undertaking busi-
ness as a regular profession, and, in conse-
quence, was never for a moment, for years
together, clear of the horrid inconveniences of
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 13,5
the tcqtu, as well as its dangers. One of these
people might be easily recognised, after a little
experience, even by a pakelia. Old, withered,
haggard, clothed in the most miserable rags,
daubed all over from head to foot with red
paint, (the native funereal colour,) made of
stinking shark oil and red ochre mixed, keep-
ing always at a distance, silent and solitary,
often half insane, he might be seen sitting
motionless all day at a distance, forty or fifty
yards from the common path or thoroughfare
of the village. There, under the " lee " of a
bush, or tuft of fiax, gazing silently, and with
" lack-lustre eye," on the busy doings of the
Maori world, of which he was hardly to be
called a member. Twice a-day some food
would be thrown on the ground before him,
to gnaw as best he might, without the use of
hands ; and at night, tightening his greasy
rags around him, he would crawl into some
miserable lair of leaves and rubbish, there,
cold, half starved, miserable, and dirty, to
pass, in fitful ghost - haunted slumbers, a
WTetched night, as prelude to another
Avretched day. It requires, they say, all
sorts of people to make a world ; and I have
often thought, in observing one of these
miserable objects, that his, or her's, was the
136 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
very lowest ebb to which a human being's
prospects in life could be brought by adverse
fate. When I met, or rather saw, a female
practitioner, I fairly ran for it ; and so, be-
lieving my readers to be equally tender-
hearted, I shall not venture on any more
description, but merely say that the man
undertaker, such as I have described him,
would be taken for Apollo if seen in one
of these hag's company.
What will my kind reader say when I tell
him that I myself once got tapu& with this
same horrible, horrible, most horrible, style of
tapu ? I hold it to be a fact that there is not
one man in New Zealand but myself who has
a clear understanding of what the word " ex-
communication " means, and I did not under-
stand what it meant till I got tapud.. I was
returning with about sixty men from a
journey along the west coast. I was a short
distance in advance of the party, when I
came to where the side of a hill had fallen
down on to the beach and exposed a number
of human bones. There was a large skull
rolling about in the water. I took up this
skull without consideration, carried it to the
side of the hill, scraped a hole, and covered it
up. Just as I had finished covering it up, up
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 137
came my friends, and I saw at once, by the
astonishment and dismay depicted on their
countenances, that I had committed some
most unfortunate act. They soon let me
know that the hill had been a burying-place
of their tribe, and jumped at once to the con-
clusion that the skull was the skull of one of
their most famous chiefs, whose name they
told me, informing me also that I was no
longer fit company for human beings, and
begging me to fall to the rear and keep my
distance. They told me all this from a very
respectful distance, and if I made a step to-
wards them, they all ran as if I had been
infected by the plague. This was an awkward
state of things, but as it could not be helped,
I voted myself tapu, and kept clear of my
friends till night. At night when they
camped, I was obliged to take my solitary
abode at a distance under shelter of a rock.
When the evening meal was cooked, they
brought me a fair allowance, and set it down
at a respectful distance from where I sat,
fully expecting, I suppose, that I should bob
at it as Maori kai tango atua or undertakers
are wont to do. I had, however, no idea of
any such proceeding ; and pulling out my
knife proceeded to operate in the usual
138 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
manner. I was checked by an exclamation of
horror and surprise from the whole band
" Oh, what are you about, you are not
going to touch food with your hands ? "
" Indeed, but I am," said I, and stretched
out xny hand. Here another scream " You
must not do that, it's the worst of all things ;
one of us will feed you ; it's wrong, wrong,
very wrong!" "Oh, bother," said I, and
fell too at once. I declare, positively, I had
no sooner done so than I felt sorry. The
expression of horror, contempt, and pity,
observable in their faces, convinced me that
I had not only offended and hurt their feel-
ings, but that I had lowered myself greatly in
their estimation. Certainly I was a pakeha,
and pakehas will do most unaccountable
things, and may be, in ordinary cases,
excused ; but this, I saw at once, was an act
which, to my friends, seemed the ne plus ultra
of abomination. I now can well understand
that I must have, sitting there eating my
potatoes, appeared to them a ghoul, a vampire
worse than even one of their own dreadful
atua, who, at the command of a witch, or to
avenge some breach of the tapu, enters into a
man's body and slowly eats away his vitals.
I can see it now, and understand what a
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 1)39
frightful object I must have appeared. My
friends broke up their camp at once, not
feeling sure, after what I had done, but I
might walk in amongst them, in the night,
when they were asleep, and bedevil them all.
They marched all night, and in the morning
came to my house, where they spread conster-
nation and dismay amongst my household by
tellino- them in what a condition I was coming
o o
home. The whole of my establishment at
this time being natives, they ran at once ; and
when I got home next evening, hungry and
vexed, there was not a soul to be seen. The
house and kitchen were shut up, fires out,
and, as 1 fancied, everything looked dreary
and uncomfortable. If only a dog had come
and wagged his tail in welcome, it would have
been something ; but even my dog was gone.
Certainly there was an old torn cat, but L
hate cats, there is no sincerity in them, and
so I had kicked this old torn on principle
whenever he came in my way, and now,
when he saw me, he ran for his life into the
bush. The instinct of a hungry man sent me
into the kitchen ; there was nothing eatable
to be seen but a raw leg of pork, and the fire
was out. I now began to suspect that this
attempt of mine to look down the tap would
140 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
fail, and that I should remain excommuni-
cated for some frightfully indefinite period.
I began to think of Robinson Crusoe, and to
wonder if I could hold out as well as he did.
Then I looked hard at the leg of pork. The
idea that I must cook for myself, brought
home to me the fact more forcibly than any-
thing else how I had " fallen from my high
estate " cooking being the very last thing a
rangatira can turn his hand to. But why
should I have anything more to do with
cooking ? was I not cast off and repudiated
by the human race ? (A horrible misanthropy
was fast taking hold of me.) Why should I
not tear my leg of pork raw, like a wolf?
" I will run a muck ! " suddenly said I. "I
wonder how many I can kill before they
'bag' me? I will kill, kill, kill ! but-
I must have some supper."
I soon made a fire, and after a little rum-
maging found the materiel for a good meal.
My cooking was not so bad either, I thought ;
but certainly hunger is not hard to please in
this respect, and I had eaten nothing since
the diabolical meal of the preceding evening,
and had travelled more than twenty miles. I
washed my hands six or seven times, scrub-
bing away and muttering with an intonation
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 141
that would have been a fortune to a tragic
actor. " Out damned spot ;" and so, after
having washed and dried my hands, looked
at them, returned, and washed again, again
washed, and so on, several times, I sat down
and demolished two days' allowance. After
which, reclining before the fire with my pipe,
and a blanket over my shoulders, a more
kindly feeling towards my fellow men stole
gradually upon me. " I wonder," said I to
myself, " how long this devilish tapu will last !
I wonder if there is to be any end at all to
it ! I won't run a muck for a week, at all
events, till I see what may turn up. Con-
founded plague though to have to cook !"
Having resolved as above, not to take any
one's life for a week, I felt more patient.
Four days passed somehow or another, and
on the morning of the fifth, to my extreme
delight, I saw a small canoe, pulled by one
man, landing on the beach before the house.
He fastened his canoe and advanced to-
wards the kitchen, which was detached from
the house, and which, in the late deplorable
state of affairs, had become my regular resi-
dence. I sat in the doorway, and soon per-
ceived that my visitor was a famous tohunya,
or priest, and who also had the reputation of
142 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
being a witch of no ordinary dimensions. He
was an old, grave, stolid-looking savage, with
one eye, the other had been knocked out long
ago in a fight before he turned parson. On
he came, with a slow, measured step, slightly
gesticulating with one hand, and holding in
the other a very small basket, not more than
nine or ten inches long. He came on, mumb-
ling and grumbling a perfectly unintelligible
karakia or incantation. I guessed at once he
was coming to disenchant me, and prepared
my mind to submit to any conditions or cere-
monial he should think fit to impose. My old
friend came gravely up, and putting his hand
into the little basket pulled out a baked
kumem-, saying, "He km maw" I of course
accepted the offered food, took a bite, and as
I ate he mumbled his incantation over me.
I remember I felt a curious sensation at the
time, like what I fancied a man must feel
who had just sold himself, body and bones, to
the devil. For a moment I asked myself the
question whether I was not actually being
then and there handed over to the powers of
darkness. The thought startled me. There
was I, an unworthy but believing member of
the Church of England as by Parliament es-
tablished, " knuckling down" abjectly to the
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 143
ministration of a ferocious old cannibal, wizard,
sorcerer, high priest, as it appeared very
probable, to Satan himself. " Blacken his
remaining eve ! knock him over and run the
C3 v
country !" whispered quite plainly in my ear
my guardian angel, or else a little impul-
sive sprite who often made suggestions to
me in those days. For a couple of seconds
the sorcerer's eye was in desperate danger ;
but just in those moments the ceremony,
or at least this most objectionable part of it,
came to an end. He stood back and said,
" Have you been in the house ?" Fortu-
nately 1 had presence of mind enough to
forget that 1 had, and said, "No." "Throw
out all those pots and kettles." I saw it was
no use to resist so out they went. " Fling
out those dishes " was the next command.
"The dishes? they will break." "I am
going to break them all." Capital fun this.
out go the dishes; "and may the - ."
I fear I was about to say something bad.
" Fling out those knives, and those things
with sharp points"- (the old villain did not
know what to call the forks!) "and those
shells with handles to them" (spoons !) "out
with everything." The last sweeping order is
obeyed, and the kitchen is fairly empty. Tlu-
144 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
worst is over now at last, thank goodness,
said I to myself. " Strip off all your clothes."
" What ? strip naked ! you desperate old
thief mind your eye." Human patience
could bear no more. Out I jumped. I did
" strip." Off came my jacket. " How would
you prefer being killed, old ruffian ? can you
do anything in this way ?" (Here a pugilistic
demonstration.) " Strip ! he doesn't mean to
give me five dozen, does he ? " said I, rather
bewildered, and looking sharp to see if he had
anything like an instrument of flaggellation in
his possession. " Come on ! what are you
waiting for," said I. In those days, when
labouring under what Dickens calls the " des-
cription of temporary insanity which arises
from a sense of injury," I always involuntarily
fell back upon my mother tongue, which in
this case was perhaps fortunate, as my necro-
mantic old friend did not understand the full
force of my eloquence. He could not, how-
ever, mistake my warlike and rebellious atti-
tude, and could see clearly I was going into
one of those most unaccountable rages that
pakehas were liable to fly into,* without any
imaginable cause. " Boy," said he, gravely
and quietly, and without seeming to notice
my very noticeable declaration of war and
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 145
independence, " don't act foolishly ; don't
go mad. No one will ever come near you
while you have those clothes. You will be
miserable here by yourself. And what is the
use of being angry ? what will anger do for
you ? " The perfect coolness of my old friend,
the complete disregard he paid to my ex-
plosion of wrath, as well as his reasoning,
bes^an to make me feel a little disconcerted.
o
He evidently had come with the purpose and
intention to get me out of a very awkward
scrape. I began also to feel that, looking at
the affair from his point of view, I was just
possibly not making a "very respectable figure ;
and then, if I understood him rightly, there
would be no flocjcjiny. "Well," said I, at
last, " Fate compels ; to fate, and not old
Hurlo-thrumbo there, I yield so here goes."
Let me not dwell upon the humiliating con-
cession to the powers of lapu. Suffice it to
say, I disrobed, and received permission to
enter my own house in search of other gar-
ments. When I came out again, my old
friend was sitting down with a stone in his
hand, battering the last pot to pieces, and
looking as if he was performing a very
meritorious action. He carried away all the
smashed kitchen utensils and my clothes in
146 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
baskets, and deposited them in a thicket at a
considerable distance from the house. ([
stole the knives, forks, and spoons back again
some time after, as he had not broken them.)
He then bid me good bye ; and the same
evening all my household came flocking back :
but years passed before any one but myself
would go into the kitchen, and I had to build
another. And for several years also I could
observe, by the respectable distance kept by
young natives and servants, and the nervous
manner with which they avoided my pipe in
particular, that they considered I had not
been as completely purified from the tapu
tango atua as I might have been. I now am
aware, that in consideration of my being a
pakeha, and also perhaps, lest driven to des-
peration, I should run away entirely, which
would have been looked upon as a great mis-
fortune to the tribe, I was let off very easy,
and might therefore be supposed to retain
some tinge of the dreadful infection.
Besides these descriptions of tapu , there
were many other. There was the war tapu,
which in itself included fifty different " sacred
customs," one of which was this that often
when the fighting men left the pa or camp,
they being themselves made tap-it, or sacred,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 147
as in this particular case the word means, all
those who remained behind, old men, women,
slaves, and all noncombatants were obliged
strictly to fast while the warriors were fight-
ing ; and, indeed, from the time they left the
camp till their return, even to smoke a pipe
would be a breach of this rule. These war
customs, as well as other forms of the tapu,
are evidently derived from a very ancient
religion, and did not take their rise in this
country. I shall, probably, some of these
days, treat of them at more length, and
endeavour to trace them to their source.
Sacrifices were often made to the war
demon, and I know of one instance in which,
when a tribe were surrounded by an over-
whelming force of their enemies, and had
nothing but extermination immediate and
unrelenting before them, the war chief cut
O *
out the heart of his own son as an offering
o
for victory, and then he and his tribe, with
the fury of despair and the courage of
fanatics, rushed upon the foe, defeated them
with terrific slaughter, and the war demon
had much praise, and many men were eaten.
The warriors, when on a dangerous expe-
dition, also observed strictly the custom to
which allusion is made. 1st Samuel, xxi., 4-5.
L2
CHAPTER IX.
THE TAPU TOTIUNGA THE MAORI ORACLE RESPONSES OF
THE ORACLE PRIESTCRAFT.
THEN came the tapu tohunga, or priest's tapu,
a quite different kind or form of tapu from
those which I have spoken of. These tohunga
presided over all those ceremonies and
customs which had something approaching
to a religious character. They also pre-
tended to the power by means of certain
familiar spirits to foretel future events, and
even in some cases to control them. The
belief in the power of these tohunga to foretel
events was very strong, and the incredulous
pakeha who laughed at them was thought a
person quite incapable of understanding plain
evidence. I must allow that some of their
predictions were of a most daring nature, and
happening to turn out perfectly successful,
there may be some excuse for an ignorant
people believing in them. Most of these
predictions were, however, given like the
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 149
oracles of old in terms which would admit
a double meaning and secure the character
of the soothsayer no matter how the event
turned out. It is also remarkable that these
tohunga did not pretend to divine future
events by any knowledge or power existing
in themselves ; they pretended to be for the
time inspired by the familiar spirit, and pas-
sive in his hands. This spirit " entered into"
them, and, on being questioned, gave a res-
ponse in a sort of half whistling half articu-
late voice, supposed to be the proper language
of spirits ; and I have known a tohunga who,
having made a false prediction, laid the blame
on the " tricksey spirit," who he said had
purposely spoken false for certain good and
sufficient spiritual reasons, which he then ex-
plained. Amongst the fading customs and
beliefs of the good old times the tohunga still
holds his ground, and the oracle is as often
consulted, though not so openly, as it was a
hundred years ago, and is as firmly believed
in ; and this by natives who are professed
Christians ; and the enquiries are often on
subjects of the most vital importance to the
welfare of the colony. A certain tohunya has
even quite lately, to my certain knowledge,
been paid a large sum of money to do a
150 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
miracle ! I saw the money paid, and I saw
the miracle. And the miracle was a good
enough sort of miracle, as miracles go in
these times. The natives know we lausrh at
' O
their belief in these things. They would
much rather we were angry, for then they
would defy us ; but as we simply laugh at
their credulity, they do all they can to conceal
it from us ; but nevertheless the chiefs, on all
matters of importance, continue to consult the
Maori oracle.
I shall give two instances of predictions
which came under my own observation, and
which will show how much the same priest-
craft has been in all times.
A man a petty chief had a serious quar-
rel with his relations, left his tribe, and went
to a distant part of the country, saying that
he cast them off and would never return.
After a time the relations became both un-
easy at his absence and sorry for the disagree-
ment. The presence of the head of the family
was also of consequence to them. They
therefore enquired of the oracle if he would
return. At night the tohunga invoked the
familiar spirit, he became inspired, and in a
sort of hollow whistle came the words of
fate : "He will return ; but yet not return."
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 151
This response was given several times, and
then the spirit departed, leaving the priest
or tohunga to the guidance of his own unaided
wits. No one could understand the meaning
of the response. The priest himself said he
could make nothing of it. The spirit of
course knew his own meaning ; but all agreed
that, whatever that meaning was, it would
turn out true. Now the conclusion of this
story is rather extraordinary. Some time
after this several of the chief's relations went
to offer reconciliation and to endeavour to
persuade him to return home. Six months
afterwards they returned, bringing him along
with them a corpse : they had found him
dying, and carried his body home. Now all
knew the meaning of the words of the oracle,
" He will return, but yet not return."
Another instance, which I witnessed myself,
Wits as follows : A captain of a large ship
had run away with a Maori girl ; or a Maori
girl had run away with a ship captain ; I
should not like to swear which is the proper
form of expression ; and the relations, as in
such cases happens in most countries, thought
it incumbent on them to get into a great
taking, and make as much noise as possible
about the matter. Oft' they set to the toh'inga,
152 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
I happened to be at his place at the time, and
saw and heard all I am about to recount. The
relations of the girl did not merely confine
themselves to asking questions, they de-
manded active assistance. The ship had gone
to sea loaded for a long voyage. The fugitives
had fairly escaped ; and what the relations
wanted was that the atua f or familiar spirit of
the tohunga, should bring the ship back into
port, so that they might have an opportunity
to recover the lost ornament of the family. I
heard the whole. The priest hummed and
hawed. " He did not know, could not say.
We should hear what the ' boy ' would say.
He would do as he liked. Could not compel
him ;" and so forth. At night all assembled
in the house where the priest usually per-
formed. All was expectation. I saw I was
de trap in the opinion of our soothsayer ; in
fact, I had got the name of an infidel, (which
I have since taken care to get rid of,) and
the spirit was unwilling to enter the company
of unbelievers. My friend the priest hinted
to me politely that a nice bed had been made
for me in the next house. I thanked him in
the most approved Maori fashion, but said I
was " very comfortable where I was ; " and,
suiting the action to the word, rolled my
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 153
cloak about me, and lay down on the rushes
with which the floor was covered. About
midnight I heard the spirit saluting the guests,
and they saluting him ; and I also noticed they
hailed him as " relation," and then gravely
preferred the request that he would " drive
back the ship which had stolen his cousin."
The response, after a short time, came in
the hollow mysterious whistling voice, "The
ship's nose I will batter out on the great sea."
This answer was repeated several times, and
then the spirit departed, and would not be re-
called. The rest of the night Avas spent in
conjecturing what could be the meaning of
these words. All agreed that there must be
more in them than met the ear ; but no one
could say it was a clear concession of the
request made. As for the priest, he said lie
could not understand it, and that "the spirit
was a great rogue " a koroke, liangareka.
He, however, kept throwing out hints now
and then that something more than common
was meant, and talked generally in the " we
shall see " style. Now here comes the end of
the affair. About ten days after this in comes
the ship. She had been " battered " with a
vengeance. She had been met by a terrible
gale when a couple of hundred miles off the
154 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
land, and had sprung a leak in the bow. The
bow in Maori is called the "nose" (ihu). The
vessel had been in great danger, and had been
actually forced to run for the nearest port,
which happened to be the one she had left.
Now, after such a coincidence as this, I can
hardly blame the ignorant natives for be-
lieving in the oracle, for I actually caught
myself quoting, " Can the devil speak truth ? "
Indeed I have in the good old times known
several pakehas who "thought there was
something in it," and two who formally and
believingly consulted the oracle, and paid a
high douceur to the priest.
I shall give one more instance of the res-
ponse of the Maori oracle. A certain northern
tribe, noted for their valour, but not very
numerous, sent the whole of their best men on
a war expedition to the south. This hap-
pened about forty years ago. Before the
taua started the oracle was consulted, and the
answer to the question, " Shall this expedition
be successful ? " came. " A desolate country !
a desolate country ! a desolate country ! "
This the eager warriors accepted as a most
favourable response. They said the enemy's
country would be desolated. It, however, so
turned out that they were all exterminated to
OLD NEW ZEALAND 155
a man, and the miserable remnant of their
tribe, weakened and rendered helpless by their
loss, became a prey to their more immediate
neighbours, lost their lands, and have ceased
from that day to be heard of as an indepen-
dent tribe. So, in fact, it was the country of
the eager enquirers which was laid " desolate."
Every one praised the oracle, and its character
was held higher than ever.
CHAPTER X.
THE PlilEST EVOKES A SPIRIT THE CONSEQUENCES A
MAOKI TRAGEDY THE "TOHUNGA" AGAIN".
THESE priests or tohunga would, and do to
this hour, undertake to call up the spirit of
any dead person, if paid for the same. I have
seen many of these exhibitions, but one in-
stance will suffice as an example.
A young chief, who had been very popular
and greatly respected in his tribe, had been
killed in battle ; and, at the request of several
of his nearest friends, the tohunga had pro-
mised on a certain night to call up his spirit
to speak to them, and answer certain questions
they wished to put. The priest was to come to
the village of the relations, and the interview
was to take place in a large house common to
all the population. This young man had been
a great friend of mine ; and so, the day before
the event, I was sent to by his relations, and
told that an opportunity offered of conversing
with my friend once more. I was not much
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 157
inclined to bear a part in such outrageous
mummery, but curiosity caused me to go.
Now it is necessary to remark that this young-
chief was a man in advance of his times and
people in many respects. He was the first of
his tribe who could read and write ; and,
amongst other unusual things for a native to
do, he kept a register of deaths and births,
and a journal of any remarkable events which
happened in the tribe. Now this book was
lost. No one could find it, although his
friends had searched unceasingly for it, as it
contained many matters of interest, and also
they wished to preserve it for his sake. I also
wished to get it, and had often inquired if it
had been found, but had always been answered
in the negative. The appointed time came,
and at night we all met the priest in the large
house I have mentioned. Fires were lit,
which gave an uncertain flickering light. The
priest retired to the darkest corner. All was
expectation, and the silence was only broken
by the sobbing of the sister, and other female
relations of the dead man. They seemed to
be, and indeed were, in an agony of excite-
ment, agitation, and grief. This state of
things continued for a long time, and I began
to feel in a way surprising to myself, as if
158 OLD NEW ZEALAND,
there was something real in the matter. The
heart-breaking sobs of the women, and the
grave and solemn silence of the men, con-
vinced me, that to them at least, this was a
serious matter. I saw the brother of the
dead man now and then wiping the tears in
silence from his eyes. I wished I had not
come, for I felt that any unintentional
symptom of incredulity on my part would
shock and hurt the feelings of my friends
extremely ; and yet, whilst feeling thus, I
felt myself more and more near to believing
in the deception about to be practised. The
real grief, and also the general undoubting
faith, in all around me, had this effect. We
were all seated on the rush-strewn floor ;
about thirty persons. The door was shut ;
the fire had burnt down, leaving nothing but
glowing charcoal. The room was oppressively
hot. The light was little better than dark-
ness ; and the part of the room in which the
tohunga sat was now in perfect darkness.
Suddenly, without the slightest warning, a
voice came out of the darkness. " Saluta-
tion ! salutation to you all ! salutation !
salutation to you my tribe ! family I salute
you ! friends I salute you ! friend, my pakeha
friend, I salute you ." The high-handed daring
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 159
imposture was successful ; our feelings were
taken by storm. A cry expressive of affection
and despair, such as was not good to hear,
came from the sister of the dead chief, a fine,
stately, and really handsome woman of about
five-and-twenty. She was rushing, with both
arms extended, into the dark, in the direction
from whence the voice came. She was in-
stantly seized round the waist and restrained
by her brother by main force, till moaning
and fainting she lay still on the ground. At
the same instant another female voice was
heard from a young girl who was held by the
wrists by two young men, her brothers. " Ls
it you ? is it you ? truly is it you ? aue !
aue ! they hold me, they restrain me ; wonder
not that I have not followed you ; they restrain
me, they watch me, but I go to you. The
sun shall not rise, the sun shall not rise,
aue ! aue ! " Here she fell insensible on the
rush floor, and with the sister was carried out.
The remaining women were all weeping and
exclaiming, but were silenced by the men
who were themselves nearly as much excited,
though not so clamorous. I, however, did
notice two old men, who sat close to me, were
not in the slightest degree moved hi any way,
though they did not seem at all incredulous,
160 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
but quite the contrary. The Spirit spoke
again. " Speak to me, the tribe ! speak to me,
the family ! speak to me the pakeha ! " The
" pakeha," however, was not at the moment
inclined for conversation. The deep distress
of the two women, the evident belief of all
around him of the presence of the spirit, the
" darkness visible," the novelty of the scene,
gave rise to a state of feeling not favourable
to the conversational powers. Besides, I felt
reluctant to give too much apparent credence
to an imposture, which at the very same time,
by some strange impulse, I felt half ready to
give way to. At last the brother spoke
" How is it with you ? is it well with you in
that country?" The answer came (the
voice all through, it is to be remembered,
was not the voice of the tohunga but a
strange melancholy sound, like the sound of
the wind blowing into a hollow vessel,) "It
is well with me my place is a good place."
The brother spoke again " Have you seen
, and , and ?" (I forget the
names mentioned.) " Yes, they are all with
me." A woman's voice now from another
part of the room anxiously cried out " Have
you seen my sister?" "Yes, I have seen
her." "Tell her my love is great towards
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 161
her and never will cease." " Yes, I will tell."
Here the woman burst into tears and the
pakeha felt a strange swelling of the chest,
which he could in no way account for.
The Spirit spoke again. " Give my large
tame pig to the priest, (the pakeha was disen-
chanted at once,) and my double-gun." Here
the brother interrupted "Your gun is a
maiiatunrja, I shall keep it." He is also dis-
enchanted, thought I, but I was mistaken.
He believed, but wished to keep the gun his
brother had carried so long. An idea now
struck me that I could expose the imposture
without showing palpable disbelief. " We
cannot find your book," said I, " where have
you concealed it ? " The answer instantly
came, " I concealed it between the tahiihu of my
house and the thatch, straight over you as you
go in at the door." Here the brother rushed
out, all was silence till his return. In five
minutes he came back with the book in his
hand. I was beaten, but made another effort.
" What have you written in that book?" said
I. "A great many things." "Tell me some
of them." " Which of them ? " " Any of
them." " You are seeking for some infor-
O
mation, what do you want to know ? I
will tell you." Then suddenly " Farewell,
162 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
tribe ! farewell, my family, I go ! " Here
a general and impressive cry of " farewell "
arose from every one in the house. " Fare-
well," again cried the spirit, from deep be-
neath the ground ! " Farewell," again from
high in air ! " Farewell," once more came
moaning through the distant darkness of the
night. " Farewell ! " I was for a moment
stunned. The deception was perfect. There
was a dead silence at last. "A ventrilo-
quist," saidl ! " or or perhaps the devil."
I was fagged and confused. It was past
midnight ; the company broke up, and I
went to a house where a bed had been pre-
pared for me. I wished to be quiet and
alone ; but it was fated there should be little
quiet that night. I was just falling asleep,
after having thought for some time on the
extraordinary scenes I had witnessed, when I
heard the report of a musket at some little
distance, followed by the shouting of men and
the screams of women. Out I rushed. I
had a presentiment of some horrible catas-
trophe. Men were running by, hastily
armed. I could get no information, so went
with the stream. There was a bright flame
beginning to spring up at a short distance,
and every one 1 appeared going in that direc-
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 163
tion : I was soon there. A house had been
set on fire to make a light. Before another
house, close at hand, a dense circle of human
beings was formed. I pushed my way through,
and then saw, by the bright light of the
flaming house, a scene which is still fresh
before me : there, in the verandah of the
house, was an old grey-bearded man ; he
knelt upon one knee, and on the other he
supported the dead body of the young girl
who had said she would follow the spirit to
spirit land. The delicate-looking body from
the waist upwards was bare and bloody ;
the old man's right arm was under the neck,
the lower part of his long grey beard was
dabbled with blood, his left hand was twisting
his matted hair ; he did not weep, he howled,
and the sound was that of a heathen despair,
knowing no hope. The young girl had
secretly procured a loaded musket, tied a loop
for her foot to the trigger, placed the muzzle
to her tender breast, and blown herself to
shatters. And the old man was her father,
and a tohunga. A calm low voice now spoke
close beside me, " She has followed her ranga-
tira" it said. I looked round, and saw the
famous tohunga of the night.
Now, young ladies, I have promised not to
164 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
frighten your little wits out with raw-head-
and-bloody-bones stories, a sort of thing I
detest, but which has been too much the
fashion with folks who write of matters
Maori. I have vowed not to draw a drop of
blood except in a characteristic manner. But
this story is tragedy, or I don't know what
tragedy is, and the more tragic because, in
every particular, literally true, and so if you
cannot find some pity for the poor Maori girl
who "followed her lord to spirit land," I
shall make it my business not to fall in love
with any of you any more for I won't say
how long.
CHAPTER XI.
THE LOCAL TAPU THE TANIWHA THE BATTTE ON MOTITI
THE DEATH OF TIKI WIIENUA REFLECTIONS BRUTUS,
MARCUS ANTONIUS, AND TIKI W1IENUA SUICIDE:
A STORY-TELLER, like a poet or a pugilist,
must be born, and not made, and I begin to
fancy I have not been born under a story-
tolling planet, for by no effort that I can make
can I hold on to the thread of my story, and
I am conscious the whole affair is fast becom-
ing one great parenthesis. If I could only get
clear of this tapu I would "try back." I be-
lieve I ought to be just now completing the
purchase of my estate. I am sure I have
boon keeping house a long time before it
is built, which is I believe clear against the
rules, so I must get rid of this talk about
the tapu the best way I can, after which I
will start fair and try not to get before my
story.
Besides these different forms of the tapu
which I have mentioned, there were endless
166 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
others, but the temporary local tapus were the
most tormenting to a pakeha, as well they
might, seeing that even a native could not
steer clear of them always. A place not tapu
yesterday might be most horribly tapu to-day,
and the consequences of trespassing thereon
proportionately troublesome. Thus, sailing
along a coast or a river bank, the most in-
viting landing-place would be almost to a
certainty the freehold property of the Tani-
wha, a terrific sea monster, who would to a cer-
tainty, if his landed property was trespassed
on, upset the canoe of the trespassers and
devour them all the very next time they put
to sea. The place was tapu, and let the
weather be as bad as it might, it was better
to keep to sea at all risks than to land there.
Even pakeha, though in some cases invulner-
able, could not escape the fangs of the terrible
Taniwha. " Was not little Jackey-j>0fo, the
sailor, drowned by the Taniwha ? He would
go on shore, in spite of every warning, to get
some water to mix with his waipiro, and was
not his canoe found next day floating about
with his paddle and two empty case bottles in
it ? a sure sign that the Taniwha had lifted
him out bodily. And was not the body of
the said Jackey found some days after with
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 167
the Taniwha's mark on it, one eye taken
out?"
These Taniwha would, however, sometimes
attach themselves to a chief or warrior,
and in the shape of a huge sea monster, a
bird, or a fish, gambol round his canoe, and
by their motions give presage of good or evil
fortune.
When the Ngati Kuri sailed on their last
and fated expedition to the south, a huge
Taniwha, attached to the famous warrior, Tiki
Whenua, accompanied the expedition, playing
about continually amongst the canoss, often
coming close to the canoe of Tiki Whenua, so
that the warrior could reach to pat him ap-
provingly with his paddle, at which he seemed
much pleased ; and when they came in sight
of the island of Tuhua, this Taniwha chief
called up the legions of the deep ! The sea
was blackened by an army of monsters, who,
with uncouth and awful floundering and wal-
lowing, performed before the chief and his com-
panions a hideous tit- ngarahu, and then disap-
peared. The Ngati Kuri, elated, and accepting
this as a presage of victory, landed on Tuhua,
stormed the pa, and massacred its defenders.
But they had mistaken the meaning of the
monster review of the Taniwha. It was a leave-
168 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
taking of his favourite warrior, for the Ngati
Kuri were fated to die to a man on the next
land they trod. A hundred and fifty men were
they the pick and prime of their tribe. All
rangatira, all warriors of name, few in num-
bers, but desperately resolute, they thought it
little to defeat the thousands of the south, and
take the women and children as a prey ! Hav-
ing feasted and rejoiced at Tuhua, they sail for
Motiti. This world was too small for them.
They were impatient for battle. They thought
to make the name of Kuri strike against the
skies'; but in the morning the sea is covered
with war canoes. The thousands of the south
are upon them ! Ngati Awa, with many an
allied band, mad for revenge, come on. Fight
now, oh Ngati Kuri ! not for victory, no, nor
for life. Think only now of utii! for your
time is come. That which you have dealt to
many, you shall now receive. Fight ! fight !
Your tribe shall be exterminated, but you
must leave a name ! Now came the tug of
war on "bare Motiti." From early morning till
the sun had well declined, that ruthless battle
raged. Twice their own number had the
Ngati Kuri slain ; and then Tiki Whenua,
still living, saw around him his dead and
dying tribe. A handful of bleeding warriors
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 169
still resisted a last and momentary struggle.
He thought of the utti ; it was great. He
thought of the ruined remnant of the tribe
at home, and then he remembered horrid
thought that ere next day's setting sun, he
and all the warriors of his tribe would be
baked and eaten. (Tiki, my friend, thou art
in trouble.) A cannon was close at hand a
nine pound carronade. They had brought it
in the canoes. Hurriedly he filled it half full
of powder, seized a long fire brand, placed his
breast to the cannon's mouth, fired with his
own hand. Tiki Whenua, Good ni<>-ht I
7 O
Now I wonder if Brutus had had such a
tiling as a nine-pounder about him at Phillippi,
whether he would have thought of using it in
this way. I really don't think he would. I
have never looked upon Brutus as anything of
an original genius, but Tiki Whenua most
certainly was. I don't think there is another
instance of a man blowing himself from a gun
of course there are many examples of people
blowing others from cannon, but that is quite
a different tiling any blockhead can do that.
But the I'.cit of Tiki Whenua has a smack of
originality about it which I like, and so I
have mentioned it here.
But all this is digression on digression ;
170 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
however, I suppose the reader is getting used
to it, and I cannot help it ; besides I wanted
to show them how poor Tiki " took arms
against a sea of troubles," and for the want of
a " bare bodkin" made shift with a carronade.
I shall never cease to lament those nice lads
who met with that little accident (poor fel-
lows !) on Motiti. A fine, strapping, stalwart
set of fellows, who believed in force. We
don't see many such men now-a-days ; the
present generation of Maori are a stunted,
tobacco-smoking, grog-drinking, psalm-sing-
ing, special-pleading, shilling-hunting set of
wretches ; not above one in a dozen of them
would know how to cut up a man secundem
artem. 'Pshaw ! I am ashamed of them.
I am getting tired of this tapu, so will give
only one or two more instances of the local
temporary tapu. In the autumn, when the
great crop of kumera was gathered, all the
paths leading to the village and cultivated
lands were made tap it, and any one coming
along them would have notice of this by
finding a rope stretched across the road about
breast-high ; when he saw this, his business
must be very urgent indeed or he would go
back, and it would have been taken as a very
serious affront indeed, even in a near relation,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 171
supposing his ordinary residence was not in
the village, to disregard the hint given by the
rope, that for the present there was "no
thoroughfare." Now, the reason of this
blockade of the roads was this. The report of
an unusually fine crop of kumera had often
cost its cultivators and the whole tribe their
lives. The news would spread about that
Ngati so-and-so, living at so-and-so, had
housed so many thousands of baskets of
kumera. Exaggeration would multiply the
truth by ten, the fertile land would be
coveted, and very probably its owners, or
rather its holders, would have to fight both
for it and their lives before the year was out.
For this reason strangers were not welcome
at the Maori harvest home. The kumera
were dug hurriedly by the whole strength of
the working hands, thrown in scattered heaps,
and concealed from any casual observation by
strangers by being covered over with the
leaves of the plants, and when all were dug
then all hands set to work, at night, to fill the
baskets and carry off the crop to the store-
house or rua, and every effort was made to get
all stored and out of sight before daylight, lest
any one should be able to form any idea of
the extent of the crop. When the digging of
172 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
one field was completed another would be
done in the same manner, and so on till the
whole crop was housed in this stealthy man-
ner. I have been at several of these midnight
labours, and have admired the immense
amount of work one family would do in a
single night, working as it were for life and
death. In consequence of this mode of pro-
ceeding, even the families inhabiting the same
village did not know what sort of a crop their
neighbours had, and if a question was asked,
(to do which was thought impertinent and
very improper,) the invariable answer was,
" Nothing at all ; barely got back the seed ;
hardly that ; we shall be starved ; we shall
have to eat fern root this year," &c. The last
time I observed this custom was about twenty-
seven years ago, and even then it was nearly
discontinued and no longer general.
Talking of by-gone habits and customs of
the natives, I remember I have mentioned
two cases of suicide. I shall, therefore, now
take occasion to state that no more marked
alteration in the habits of the natives has
taken place than in the great decrease of
cases of suicide. In the first years of my
residence in the country, it was of almost
daily occurrence. When a man died, it was
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 173
almost a matter of course that his wife, or
wives, hung themselves. When the wife died,
the man very commonly shot himself. I have
known young men, often on the most trifling
affront or vexation, shoot themselves ; and I
was acquainted with a man who, having been
for two days plagued with the toothache cut
his throat with a very blunt razor, without a
handle, as a radical cure, which it certainly
was. I do not believe that one case of
suicide occurs now, for twenty when I first
came into the country. Indeed, the last case
I have heard of in a populous district, occurred
several years ago. It Avas rather a remarkable
one. A native owed another a few shillings ;
the creditor kept continually asking for it ;
but the debtor, somehow or other, never
could raise the cash. At last, being out of
patience, and not knowing anything of the
Insolvent Court, he loaded his gun, went to
the creditor's house, and called him out. Out
came the creditor and his wife. The debtor
then placed the gun to his own breast, and
saying, " Here is your payment," pulled the
trigger with his foot, and fell dead before
them. I think tho reason suicide ha become
so comparatively unfrequent is, that the
minds of the natives are now filled and
174 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
tated by a flood of new ideas, new wants and
ambitions, which they knew not formerly,
and which prevents them, from one single loss
or disappointment, feeling as if there was
nothing more to live for.
CHAPTER XII.
THE TAPA INSTANCES OF THE STORMING OF MOKOIA
POMARE HONOI IKA TAREHA HONOUR AMONGST
THIEVES.
THERE was a kind of variation on the tapu,
called tapa, of this nature. For instance, if a
chief said, a That axe is my head/' the axe
became his to all intents and purposes, except,
indeed, the owner of the axe was able to
break his " head," in which case, I have reason
to believe, the tapa would fall to the ground.
It was, however, in a certain degree necessary
to have some legal reason, or excuse, for
making the tapa ; but to give some idea of
what constituted the circumstances under
which a man could fairly tapa anything, I
must needs quote a case in point.
When the Ngapuhi attacked the tribe of
Ngati Wakawc, at Rotorua, the Ngati Wa-
kawc retired to the island of Mokoia in the
lake of Rotorua, which they fortified, thinking
that, as the Ngapuhi canoes could not come
nearer than Kaituna on the east coast, about
176 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
thirty miles distant, that they in their island
position would be safe. But in this they
were fatally deceived, for the Ngapuhi
dragged a whole fleet of war canoes over
land. When, however, the advanced division
of the Ngapuhi arrived at Rotorua, and en-
camped on the shore of the lake, Ngati
Wakawe were not aware that the canoes of
the enemy were coming, so every morning
they manned their large canoes, and leaving
the island fort, would come dashing along the
shore deriding the Ngapuhi, and crying,
"Ma wai koe e kawe mai ki Rangitiki?''
" Who shall bring you, or how shall you
arrive, at Rangitiki T Rangitiki was the
name of one of their hill forts. The canoes were
fine large ornamented totara canoes, very
valuable, capable of carrying from fifty to
seventy men each, and much coveted by the
Ngapuhi. The Ngapuhi of course considered
all these canoes as their own already, but the
different chiefs and leaders, anxious to secure
one or more of these fine canoes for them-
selves and people, and not knowing who
might be the first to lay hands on them in
the confusion of the storming of Mokoia,
which would take place when their own canoes
arrived, each tapa'd one or more for himself,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 177
or as the native expression is to himself.
Up jumped Pomare, and standing on the lake
shore in front of the encampment of the di-
vision of which he was leader, lie shouts
pointing at the same time to a particular
canoe at the time carrying about sixty men
" That canoe is my back-bone." Then Tareha,
in bulk like a sea elephant, and sinking to
the ancles in the shore of the lake, with a
hoarse croaking voice roars out, " That canoe I
my skull shall be the bailer to bail it out." This
was a horribly strong tapa. Then the soft
voice of the famous Hongi Ika, surnamed
"The eater of men," of Ilonyi Jcai tanyata,
was heard, "Those two canoes are my two
thighs." And so the whole flotilla was ap-
propriated by the different cliiefs. Now it
followed from this that in the storming and
plunder of Mokoia, when a warrior clap't his
hand on a canoe and shouted, " This canoe is
mine," the seizure would not stand good if it
was one of the canoes which were tapa-tapa,
for it would be a frightful insult to Pomare to
claim to be the owner of his " back-bone," or
to Tareha to go on board a canoe which had
been made sacred by the bare supposition that
his "skull" should be a vessel to bail it with.
Of course the first man laying his hand on
N
178 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
any other canoe and claiming it secured it for
himself and tribe, always provided that the
number of men there present representing his
tribe or Jiapu were sufficient to back his claim
and render it dangerous to dispossess him.
I have seen men shamefully robbed, for want
of sufficient support, of their honest lawful
gains, after all the trouble and risk they had
gone to in killing the owners of their plunder.
But dishonest people are to be found almost
everywhere, and I will say this, that my
friends the Maoris seldom act against law,
and always try to be able to say what they do
is "correct" (tika).
This tapu is a bore, even to write about,
and I fear the reader is beginning to think it
a bore to read about. It began long before
the time of Moses, and I think that steam
navigation will be the death of it ; but lest it
should kill my reader I will have done with it
for the present, and "try back," for I have
left my story behind completely.
CHAPTER XIII.
"MY BANGATIRA" THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF THE
PAKEHA AND HIS BANGATIBA PUBLIC OPINION A
" PAKEIIA KINO " DESCBIPTION OF MT BANGATIBA
HIS EXPLOITS AND MISADVENTURES HIS MOBAL
PBINCIPLES DECLINE IN THE NUMBERS OF TH.E NA-
TIVES PROOFS OF FORMER LARGE POPULATION
ANCIENT FORTS CAUSES OF DECREASE.
WHEN I purchased my land the payment
was made on the ground, and immediately
divided and subdivided amongst the different
sellers. Some of them, who, according to their
own representations formerly made to me,
were the sole and only owners of the land,
received for their share about the value of one
shilling, and moreover, as I also observed, did
not appear at all disappointed.
One old rangatira, before whom a con-
siderable portion of the payment had been
laid as his share of the spoil, gave it a slight
shove with his foot, expressive of refusal, and
said, " I will not accept any of the payment,
I will have the pakeha." I saw some of the
magnates present seemed greatly disappointed
N 2
180 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
at this, for I dare say they had expected
to have the pakeha as well as the payment.
But the old gentleman had regularly check-
mated them by refusing to accept any pay-
ment, and being also a person of great respec-
tability, i.e., a good fighting man, with twenty
more at his back, he was allowed to have his
way, and thereby, in the opinion of all the
natives present, making a far better thing of
the land sale than any of them, though he
had received no part of the payment.
I consequently was therefore a part, and
by no means an inconsiderable one, of the
payment for my own land ; but though now
part and parcel of the property of the old
rangatira aforementioned, a good deal of
liberty was allowed me. The fact of my
having become his pakeha made our respec-
tive relations and duties to each other about
as follows
Firstly. At all times, places, and com-
panies, my owner had the right to call me
" his pakeha."
Secondly. He had the general privilege
of " pot-luck " whenever he chose to honour
my establishment with a visit ; said pot-luck
to be tumbled out to him on the ground before
the house, he being far too great a man to eat
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 181
out of plates or dishes, or any degenerate in-
vention of that nature ; as, if he did, they
would all become tapu and of no use to any
one but himself, nor indeed to himself either,
as he did not see the use of them.
Thirdly. It was well understood that to
avoid the unpleasant appearance of paying
" black mail," and to keep up general kindly
relations, my owner should from time to time
make me small presents, and that in return
I should make him presents of five or six
times the value : all this to be done as if
arising from mutual love and kindness, and
not the slightest allusion to be ever made to
the relative value of the gifts on either side,
(an important article).
Fourthly. It was to be a sine qud non
that I must purchase everything the chief or
his family had to sell, whether I wanted them
or not, and give the highest market price,
or rather more. (Another very important
article.)
Fifthly. The chief's own particular pipe
never to be allowed to become extinguished
for want of the needful supply of tobacco.
Sixthly. All desirable jobs of work, and
all advantages of all kinds, to be offered first
to the family of my ranyatira before letting
182 OLD NEW ZEALAND
anyone else have them ; payment for same
to be about 25 per cent, more than to any-
one else, exclusive of a douceur to the chief
himself because he did not work.
In return for these duties and customs,
well and truly performed on my part, the
chief was understood to
Firstly. Stick up for me in a general way,
and not let me be bullied or imposed upon by
any one but himself, as far as he was able to
prevent it.
Secondly. In case of me being plundered
or maltreated by any powerful marauder, it
was the duty of my chief to come in hot haste
with all his family, armed to the teeth, to my
rescue, after all was over, and when it was too
late to be of any service. He was also bound
on such occasions to make a great noise,
dance the war dance, and fire muskets, (I
finding the powder,) and to declare loudly
what he would have done had he only been in
time. I, of course, on such occasions, for
my own dignity, and in consideration of the
spirited conduct of my friends, was bound to
order two or three fat pigs to be killed, and
lots of potatoes to be served out to the
" army," who were always expected to be
starving, as a general rule. A distribution of
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 183
tobacco, iii the way of largess, was also a
necessity of the case.
Thirdly. In case of my losing anything
of consequence by theft a thing which, as a
veracious pakeha, I am bound to say, seldom
happened ; the natives in those days being,
as I have already mentioned, a very law--
observing people, (the law of muru,) had,
indeed, little occasion to steal, the above-
named law answering their purposes in a
general way much better, and helping them
pretty certainly to any little matter they
coveted ; yet, as there are exceptions to all
rules, theft would sometimes be committed ;
and then, as I was saying, it became the
bounden duty of my ratiyatira to get the
stolen article back if he was able, and keep it
for himself for his trouble, unless I gave him
something of more value in lieu thereof.
Under the above regulations things went on
pleasantly enough, the chief being restrained,
by public opinion and the danger of the
pakeha running away, from pushing his
prerogative to the utmost limit ; and the
pakeha, on the other hand, making the com-
monalty pay for the indirect taxation he was
subjected to ; so that in general, after ten or
fifteen years' residence, he would not be much
184 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
poorer than when he arrived, unless, indeed,
some unluckly accident happened, such as
pakehas were liable to sometimes in the good
old times.
Mentioning " public opinion " as a restraint
on the chiefs' acquisitiveness, I must explain
that a chief possessing a pakeha was much
envied by his neighbours, who, in conse-
quence, took every opportunity of scandalising
him, and blaming him for any rough plucking
process he might submit the said pakeha to ;
and should he, by any awkward handling of
this sort, cause the pakeha at last to run for
it, the chief would never hear the end of it
from his own family and connections, pakehas
being, in those glorious old times, considered
to be geese who laid golden eggs, and it would
be held to be the very extreme of foolishness
and bad policy either to kill them, or, by too
rough handling, to cause them to fly away.
On the other hand, should the pakeha fail
in a culpable manner in the performance of
his duties, though he would not, as a rule,
be subjected to any stated punishment, he
would soon begin to find a most unaccount-
able train of accidents and all sorts of un-
pleasant occurrences happening, enough, in
the aggregate, to drive Job himself out of his
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 185
wits ; and, moreover, he would get a bad
name, which, though he removed, would fol-
low him from one end of the island to the
other, and effectually prevent him having the
slightest chance of doing any good, that is,
holding his own in the country, as the natives,
wherever he went, would consider him a
person out of whom the most was to be made
at once, as he was not to be depended on as a
source of permanent revenue. I have known
several industrious, active, and sober pakeha
who never could do any good, and whose life,
for a long series of years, was a mere train of
mishaps, till at last they were reduced to
extreme poverty, merely from having, in their
first dealings with the natives, got a bad
name, in consequence of not having been able
to understand clearly the beauty of the set of
regulations I have just mentioned, and from
an inability to make them work smoothly.
The bad name I have mentioned was short
and expressive ; wherever they went, there
would be sure to be some one who would
introduce them to their new acquaintances as
" a pakeha pakeke" a hard pakeha ; " a
pakeha taehae"'8, miser ; or, to sum up all,
"a pakeha kino.' 1
The chief who claimed me- was a good
186 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
specimen of the Maori rangatira. He was a
very old man, and had fought the French
when Marion, the French circumnavigator,
was killed. He had killed a Frenchman him-
self, and carried his thighs and legs many
miles as a bonne bouche for his friends at home
at the pa. This old gentleman was not head
of his tribe. He was a man of good family,
related to several high chiefs. He was head
of a strong family, or liapu, which mustered a
considerable number of fighting men, all his
near relations. He had been himself a most
celebrated fighting man, and a war chief ;
and was altogether a highly respectable
person, and of great weight in the councils
of the tribe. I may say I was fortunate in
having been appropriated by this old patrician.
He gave me very little trouble ; did not
press his rights and privileges too forcibly on
my notice, and in fact behaved in all respects
towards me in so liberal and friendly a
mariner, that before long I began to have a
very sincere regard for him, and he to take
a sort of paternal interest in me, which was
both gratifying to observe, and also extremely
comical sometimes, when he, out of real
anxiety to see me a perfectly accomplished
rangatira, would lecture on good manners,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 187
etiquette, and the use of the spear. He was,
indeed, a model of a ranyatira, and well worth
beings described. He was a little man, with a
O '
high massive head, and remarkably high square
forehead, on which the tattooer had exhausted
his art. Though, as I have said, of a great
age. he was still nimble and active. He had
O "
evidently been one of those tough active men,
who, though small in stature, are a match for
any one. There was in my old friend's eyes a
sort of dull fiery appearance, which, when any-
thing excited him, or when he recounted some
of those numerous battles, onslaughts, mas-
sacres, or stormings, in which all the active
part of his life had been spent, actually seemed
to blaze up and give forth real fire. His
breast was covered with spear wounds, and he
also had two very severe spear wounds on his
head ; but he boasted that no single man had
ever been able to touch him with the point of
a spear. It was in grand nwldes, where he
would have sometimes six or eight antago-
nists, that he had received these wounds. He
was a great general, and I have heard him
criticise closely the order and conduct of every
battle of consequence which had been fought
for fifty years before my arrival in the country.
On these occasions the old "martialist" would
188 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
draw on the sand the plan of the battle he
was criticising and describing ; and, in the
course of time I began to perceive that,
before the introduction of the musket, the art
of war had been brought to great perfection
by the natives : and that, when large numbers
were engaged in a pitched battle, the order of
battle resembled, in a most striking manner,
some of the most approved orders of battle of
the ancients. Since the introduction of fire-
arms the natives have entirely altered their
tactics, and adopted a system better adapted
to the new weapon and the nature of the
country.
My old friend had a great hatred for the
musket. He said that in battles fought with
the musket there were never so many men
killed as when, in his young days, men fought
hand to hand with the spear ; when a good
warrior would kill six, eight, ten, or even
twenty men in a single fight ; for when once
the enemy broke and commenced to run, the
combatants being so close together, a fast
runner would knock a dozen on the head in a
short time ; and the great aim of these fast-
running warriors, of whom my old friend had
been one, was to chase straight on and never
stop, only striking one blow at one man, so
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 189
as to cripple him, so that those behind should
be sure to overtake and finish him. It was
not uncommon for one man, strong and swift
of foot, when the enemy were fairly routed, to
stab with a light spear ten or a dozen men in
such a way as to ensure their being overtaken
and killed. On one occasion of this kind my
old tutor had the misfortune to stab a running
man in the back. He did it of course scien-
tifically, so as to stop his running, and as he
passed him by he perceived it was his wife's
brother. He was finished immediately by the
men close behind. I should have said the
man was a brother of one of my friend's four
wives, which being the case, I dare say he had
a sufficient number of brothers-in-law to afford
to kill one now and then. A worse mishap,
however, occurred to him on another occasion.
He was returning from a successful expedi-
tion from the south, (in the course of which,
by-the-bye, he and his men killed and cooked
several men of the enemy in Shortland-
crescent, and forced three others to jump
over a cliff which is I think now called
Soldier's-point), when oft' the Mahurangi a
smoke was seen rising from amongst the trees
near the beach. They at once concluded that it
canie from the fires of people belonging to that
190 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
part of the country, and who they considered
as game ; they therefore waited till night,
concealing their canoes behind some rocks,
and when it became dark landed ; they then
divided into two parties, took the supposed
enemy completely by surprise, attacked, rush-
ing upon them from two opposite directions
at once. My rangatira, dashing furiously
among them, and as I can well suppose-
those eyes of his flashing fire, had the happi-
ness of once again killing the first man, and
being authorised to shout "Ki au te mataika!"
A. few more blows, the parties recognise each
other : they are friends ! men of the same
tribe ! Who is the last mataika slain by this
famous warrior ? Quick, bring a flaming
brand here he lies dead ! Ha ! It is his
father !
Now an ancient knight of romance, under
similar awkward circumstances, would prob-
ably have retired from public life, sought out
some forest cave, where he would have hung
up his armour, let his beard grow, flogged
himself twice a day " regular," and lived on
" pulse " which I suppose means pea-soup
for the rest of his life. But my old rangatira
and his companions had not a morsel of that
sort of romance about them. The killing of
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 191
my friend's father was looked upon as a very
clever exploit in itself, though a very unlucky
one. So after having scolded one another
for some time, one party telling the other
they were served right for not keeping a bet-
ter look out, and the other answering that
they should have been sure who they were
going to attack before making the onset,
they all held a tangi or lamentation for
the old warrior who had just received his
mittimus ; and then killing a prisoner, who
they had brought in the canoes for fresh
provisions, they had a good feast ; after which
they returned all together to their own conn
try, taking the body of their lamented relative
along with them. This happened many years
before I came to the country, and when my
rangatira was one of the most famous fight-
ing men in his tribe.
This Maori ramjatira, who I am describing
had passed his whole life, with but little inter-
mission, in a scene of battle, murder, and
blood-thirsty atrocities of the most terrific
description, mixed with actions of the most
heroic courage, self-sacrifice, and chivalric
daring, as leaves one perfectly astounded to
find them the deeds of one and the same
people one day doing acts which had they
192 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
been performed in ancient Greece would have
immortalised the actors, and the next com-
mitting barbarities too horrible for relation,
and almost incredible.
The effect of a life of this kind was observ-
able, plainly enough, in my friend. He was
utterly devoid of what weak mortals call
" compassion." He seemed to have no more
feeling for the pain, tortures, or death of
others than a stone. Should one of his family
be dying or wounded, he merely felt it as the
loss of one fighting man. As for the death
of a woman or any non-combatant, he did not
feel it at all, though the person might have
suffered horrid tortures ; indeed I have seen
him scolding severely a fine young man, his
near relative, when actually expiring, for
being such a fool as to blow himself up by
accident, and deprive his family of a fighting
man. The last words the dying man heard
were these : " It serves you right. There
you are, looking very like a burnt stick ! It
serves you right a burnt stick ! Serves you
right ! " It really ivas vexatious. A fine
stout young fellow to be wasted in that way.
As for fear, I saw one or two instances to
prove he knew very little about it ; and,
indeed, to be killed in battle, seemed to him a
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 193
natural death, and lie was always grumbling
that the young men thought of nothing but
trading : and whenever he proposed to them
to take him where he might have a final
battle (he riri ivakamutunga), where he might
escape dying of old age, they always kept
saying, " Wait till we get more muskets," or
" more gunpowder," or more something or
another, " as if men could not be killed with-
out muskets ! " He was not cruel either ; he
was only unfeeling. He had been guilty, it is
true, in his time, of what we would call terrific
atrocities to his prisoners, which he calmly and
calculatingly perpetrated as utu or retalia-
tion for similar barbarities committed by
them or their tribe. And here I must re-
tract the word guilty, which I see I have
written inadvertently, for according to the
morals and principles of the people of whom
he was one, and of the time to which he be-
longed, and the training he had received, so
far from being guilty, he did a praiseworthy,
glorious, and public-spirited action when he
opened the jugular vein of a bound captive
and sucked huge draughts of his blood. To
say the truth he was a very nice old man, and
I liked him very much. It would, not, how-
ever, be advisable to put him in a passion ; not
o
194 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
much good would be likely to arise from it,
as indeed I could show by one or two very
striking instances which came under my
notice, though to say the truth he was not
easily put out of temper. He had one great
moral rule, it was indeed his rule of life, he
held that every man had a right to do every-
thing and anything he chose, provided he was
able and willing to stand the consequences,
though he thought some men fools for trying
to do things which they could not carry out
pleasantly, and which ended in getting them
baked. I once hinted to him that, should
every one reduce these principles to practice,
he himself might find it awkward, particularly
as he had so many mortal enemies. To wliich
he replied, with a look which seemed to pity
my ignorance, that every one did practice this
rule to the best of their abilities, but that
some were not so able as others ; and that
as for his enemies, he should take care
they never surprised him ; a surprise being,
indeed, the only thing he seemed to
have any fear at all of. In truth he had
occasion to look out sharp ; he never was
known to sleep more than three or four
nights in the same place, and often, when
there were ill omens, he would not sleep in a
OLD NEW ZEALAND, 195
house at all, or two nights following in one
place, for a month together, and I never saw
him without both spear and tomahawk, and
ready to defend himself at a second's notice, a
state of preparation perfectly necessary, for
though in -his own country and surrounded
by his tribe, his death would have been such
a triumph for hundreds, not of distant ene-
mies, but of people within a day's journey,
that none could tell at what moment some
stout young fellow in search of utu and a
" inyoa ton," (a warlike reputation) might rush
upon him, determined to have his head or
leave his own. The old buck himself had,
indeed, performed several exploits of this
nature, the last of which occurred just at the
time I came into the country, but before I
had the advantage of his acquaintance. His
tribe were at war with some people at the
distance of about a day's journey. One of
their villages was on the border of a dense
forest. My ran gat ira, then a very old man,
started off alone, and without saying a word
to any one, took his way through the forest
which extended the whole way between his
village and the enemy, crept like a lizard into
the enemy's village, and then, shouting his
war cry, dashed amongst a number of people
196 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
he saw sitting together on the ground, and
who little expected such a salute. In a minute
he had run three men and one woman through
the body, received five dangerous spear-
wounds himself, and escaped to the forest,
and finally got safe home to his own country
and people. Truly my old rangatira was a
man of a thousand, a model rangatira. This
exploit, if possible, added to his reputation,
and every one said his mana would never
decline. The enemy had been panic stricken,
thinking a whole tribe were upon them, and
fled like a flock of sheep, except the three
men who were killed. They all attacked my
old chief at once, and were all disposed of
in less than a minute, after, as I have said,
giving him five desperate wounds. The
woman was just "stuck," as a matter of
course, as she came in his way.
The natives are unanimous in affirming that
they were much more numerous, in former
.times, than they are now, and I am con-
vinced that such was the case, for the follow-
ing reasons. The old hill forts are many of
them so large that an amount of labour must
have been expended in trenching, terracing,
and fencing them, and all without iron tools
which increased the difficulty a hundred-fold,
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 197
which must have required a vastly greater
population to accomplish than can be now
found in the surrounding districts. These
forts were also of such an extent that, taking
into consideration the system of attack and
defence used necessarily in those times, they
would have been utterly untenable unless
held by at least ten times the number of men
the whole surrounding districts, for two or
three days' journey, can produce ; and yet,
when we remember that in those times of
constant war, being the two centuries pre-
ceding the arrival of the Europeans, the
natives always, as a rule, slept in these hill
forts with closed gates, bridges over trenches
removed, and ladders of terraces drawn up,
we must come to the conclusion that the in-
habitants of the fort, though so numerous,
were merely the population of the country
in the close vicinity. Now from the top
of one of these pointed, trenched, and
torraced hills, I have counted twenty others,
all of equally large dimensions, and all within
a distance, in every direction, of fifteen to
twenty miles ; and native tradition affirms
that each of these hills was the stronghold of a
separate hapu or clan, bearing its distinctive
name. There is also the most unmistakeable
198 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
evidence that vast tracks of country, which
have lain wild time out of mind, were once
fully cultivated. The ditches for draining the
land are still traceable, and large pits are to be
seen in hundreds, on the tops of the dry hills,
all over the northern part of the North Island,
in which the kumera were once stored ; and
these pits are, in the greatest number, found in
the centre of great open tracts of uncultivated
country, where a rat in the present day would
hardly find subsistence. The old drains, and
the peculiar growth of the timber, mark
clearly the extent of these ancient cultiva-
tions. It is also very observable that large
tracts of very inferior land have been in
cultivation, which would lead to the inference
that either the population was pretty nearly
proportioned to the extent of available land,
or that the tracts of inferior land were cul-
tivated merely because they were not too far
removed from the fort ; for the shape of the
hill, and its capability of defence and facility
of fortification, was of more consequence than
the fertility of the surrounding country.
These kumera pits, being dug generally in the
stiff clay on the hill tops, have, in most cases
retained their shape perfectly, and many seem
as fresh and new as if they had been dug but
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 199
a few years. They are oblong in shape, with
the sides regularly sloped. Many collections
of these provision stores have outlived Maori
tradition, and the natives can only conjecture
who they belonged to. Out of the centre of
one of them which I have seen, there is now
growing a kauri tree one hundred and twenty
feet high, and out of another a large totara.
The outline of these pits is as perfect as the
day they were dug, and the sides have not
fallen in in the slightest degree, from which
perhaps they have been preserved by the
absence of frost, as well as by a beautiful
coating of moss, by which they are every-
where covered. The pit in which the kauri
grew, had been partially filled up by the
scaling off of the bark of the tree, which, fal-
ling off in patches, as it is constantly doing,
had raised a mound of decaying bark round
the root of the tree.
Another evidence of a very large number
of people having once inhabited these hill
forts is the number of houses they contained.
Every native house, it appears, in former
times as in the present, had a fire-place com-
posed of four Hat stones or flags sunk on their
edges into the ground, so as to form an oblong
case or trunk, in which at night a fire to heat
200 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
the house was made. Now, in two of the
largest hill forts I have examined, though for
ages no vestige of a house .had been seen,
there remained the fire-places the four stones
projecting like an oblong box slightly over
the ground and from their position and
number denoting clearly that, large as the
circumference of the huge volcanic hill was
which formed the fortress, the number of
families inhabiting it necessitated the strict-
est economy of room. The houses had been
arranged in streets, or double rows, with a
path between them, except in places where
there had been only room on a terrace for a
single row. The distances between the fire-
places proved that the houses in the rows
must have been as close together as it was
possible to build them, and every spot, from
the foot to the hill top, not required and
specially planned for defensive purposes, had
been built on in this regular manner. Even
the small flat top, sixty yards long by forty
wide, the citadel, on which the greatest
care and labour had been bestowed to render
it difficult of access, had been as full of houses
as it could hold, leaving a small space all round
the precipitous bank for the defenders *to
stand on.
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 201
These little fire-places, and the scarped and
terraced conical hills, are the only mark the
Maori of ancient times have left of their ex-
istence. And I have reasons for believing
that this country has been inhabited from a
more remote period by far than is generally
supposed. These reasons I found upon the
dialect of the Maori language spoken by the
Maori of New Zealand, as well as on many
other circumstances.
We may easily imagine that a hill of this
kind, covered from bottom to top with houses
thatched and built of reeds, rushes, and raupo,
would be a mere mass of combustible matter,
and such indeed was the case. When an
enemy attacked one of these places a common
practice was to shower red-hot stones from
slings into the place, which, sinking into the
dry thatch of the houses, would cause a
general conflagration. Should this once occur
the place was sure to be taken, and this mode
of attack was much feared ; all hands not en-
gaged at the outer defences, and all women
and non-combatants, were employed guarding
against this danger, and pouring water out of
calabashes on every smoke that appeared.
The natives also practised both mining and
escalade in attacking a hill fort.
202 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
The natives attribute their decrease in
umbers, before the arrival of the Europeans,
to war and sickness, disease possibly arising
from the destruction of food and the forced
neglect of cultivation caused by the constant
and furious wars which devastated the
country for a long period before the arrival
of the Europeans, in such a manner that the
natives at last believed that a constant state
of warfare was the natural! condition of life,
and their sentiments, feelings, and maxims
became gradually formed on this belief.
Nothing was so valuable or respectable as
strength and courage, and to acquire property
by war and plunder more honourable and
also more desirable than by labour. Can-
nibalism was glorious. The island was a
pandemonium.
A rugged wight, tlve worst of brutes, was man ;
On his own wretched kind he ruthless prey'd.
The strongest then the weakest oven-an,
In every country mighty robbers sway'd,
And guile and ruffian force was all their trade.
Since the arrival of the Europeans the de-
crease of the natives has also been rapid. In
that part of the country where I have had
means of accurate observation, they have
decreased in number since my arrival rather
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 203
more than one-third. I have, however, ob-
served that this decrease has for the last ten
years been very considerably checked, though
I do not believe this improvement is general
through the country, or even permanent
where I have observed it.
The first grand cause of the decrease of the
natives since the arrival of the Europeans is
the musket. The nature of the ancient Maori
weapons prompted them to seek out vantage
ground, and to take up positions on precipit-
ous hill tops, and make those high, dry,
airy situations their regular fixed residences.
Their ordinary course of life, when not en-
gaged in warfare, was regular, and not neces-
sarily unhealthy. Their labour, though con-
stant in one shape or other, and compelled by
necessity, was not too heavy. In the morn-
ing, but not early, they descended from the
hill pa to the cultivations in the low ground ;
they went in a body, armed like men going to
battle, the spear or club in one hand, and the
agricultural instrument in the other. The
women followed. Long before night (it was
counted unlucky to work till dark) they re-
turned to the hill with a reversed order, the
women now, and slaves, and lads, bearing fuel
and water for the night, in front ; they also
204 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
bore probably heavy loads of kumera or other
provisions. In the time of year when the
crops did not call for their attention, when they
were planted and. growing, then the whole
tribe would remove to some fortified hill,
at the side of some river, or on the coast,
where they would pass months, fishing, mak-
ing nets, clubs, spears, and implements of
various descriptions ; the women, in all spare
time, making mats for clothing, or baskets to
carry the crop of kumera in, when fit to dig.
There was very little idleness ; and to be called
" lazy " was a great reproach. It is to be
observed that for several months the crops
could be left thus unguarded with perfect
safety, for the Maori, as a general rule, never
destroyed growing crops or attacked their
owners in a regular manner until the crops
were nearly at full perfection, so that they
might afford subsistence to the invaders, and
consequently the end of the summer all over
the country was a time of universal prepara-
tion for battle, either offensive or defensive,
the crops then being near maturity.
Now when the natives became generally
armed with the musket they at once aban-
doned the hills, and, to save themselves the
great labour and inconvenience occasioned by
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 205
the necessity of continually carrying provisions,
fuel, and water to these precipitous hill-
castles which would be also, as a matter of
necessity, at some inconvenient distance from
at least some part of the extensive cultiva-
tions descended to the low lands, and there,
in the centre of the cultivations, erected a new
kind of fortification adapted to the capabilities
of the new weapon. This was their destruc-
tion. There in mere swamps they built their
oven-like houses, where the water even in
summer sprung with the pressure of the foot,
and where in winter the houses were often
completely flooded. There, lying on the
spongy soil, on beds of rushes which rotted
under them in little, low, dens of houses, or
kennels, heated like ovens at night and drip-
ping with damp in the day full of noxious
exhalations from the damp soil, and impos-
sible to ventilate they were cut off by
disease in a manner absolutely frightful.
No advice would they take ; they could not
see the enemy which killed them, and there-
fore could not believe the Europeans who
pointed out the cause of their destruction.
This change of residence was universal and
everywhere followed by the same conse-
quences, more or less marked ; the strongest
OLD NEW ZEALAND.
men were cut off and but few children were
reared. And even now, after the dreadful
experience they have had, and all the con-
tinual remonstrances of their pakeha friends,
they take but very little more precaution in
choosing sites for their houses than at first ;
and when a native village or a native house
happens to be in a dry healthy situation, it
is often more the effect of accident than
design.
Twenty years ago a hapu, in number just
forty persons, removed their kainga from a
dry healthy position, to the edge of a raupo
swamp. I happened to be at the place a
short time after the removal, and with me
there was a medical gentleman who was tra-
velling through the country. In creeping
into one of the houses (the chief's) through
the low door, I was obliged to put both my
hands to the ground ; they both sunk into the
swampy soil, making holes which immediately
filled with water. The chief and his family
were lying on the ground on rushes, and a
fire was burning, which made the little den,
not in the highest place more than five feet
high, feel like an oven. I called the attention
of my friend to the state of this place called
a " house." He merely said, " men cannot
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 207
live here." Eight years from that day the
whole hapu were extinct ; but, as I remem-
ber, two persons were shot for bewitching them
and causing their deaths.
Many other causes combined at the same
time to work the destruction of the natives.
Next to the change of residence from the
hig'h and healthy hill forts to the low o-rounds
" )
was the hardship, over-labour, exposure,
and half-starvation, to which they submitted
themselves firstly, to procure these very
muskets which enabled them to make the
fatal change of residence, and afterwards to
O
procure the highly and justly valued iron im-
plements of the Europeans. When we reflect
that a ton of cleaned flax was the price paid
for two muskets, and at an earlier date for
one musket, we can see at once the dreadful
exertion necessary to obtain it. But sup-
posing a man to get a musket for half a ton of
flax, another half ton would be required for
ammunition ; and in consequence, as every
man in a native hapu, of say a hundred men,
was absolutely forced on pain of death to pro-
cure a musket and ammunition at any cost,
and at the earliest possible moment, (for if
they did not procure them extermination was
their doom by the hands of those of their
208 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
countrymen who had), the effect was that
this small hapu, or clan, had to manufacture,
spurred by the penalty of death, in the short-
est possible time, one hundred tons of flax,
scraped by hand with a shell, bit by bit,
morsel by morsel, half-quarter of an ounce
at a time. Now as the natives, when undis-
turbed and labouring regularly at their cul-
tivations, were never far removed from
necessity or scarcity of food, we may easily
imagine the distress and hardship caused
by this enormous imposition of extra labour.
They were obliged to neglect their crops in a
very serious degree, and for many months in
the year were in a half-starving condition,
working hard all the time in the flax swamps.
The insufficient food, over exertion, and un-
wholesome locality, killed them fast. As for
the young children, they almost all died ; and
this state of things continued for many years :
for it was long after being supplied with arms
and ammunition before the natives could
purchase, by similar exertion, the various
agricultural implements, and other iron tools
so necessary to them ; and it must always
be remembered, if we wish to understand
the difficulties and over-labour the natives
were subjected to, that while undergoing this
OLD NEW ZEALAND, 209
immense extra toil, they were at the same
time obliged to maintain themselves by culti-
vating the ground with sharpened sticks, not
being able to afford to purchase iron imple-
ments in any useful quantity, till first the
great, pressing, paramount, want of muskets
and gunpowder had been supplied. Thus
continual excitement, over-work, and insuf-
ficient food, exposure, and unhealthy places of
residence, together with a general breaking
up of old habits of life, thinned their numbers.
European diseases also assisted, but not to
any very serious degree ; till in the part of
the country in which, as I have before stated,
I have had means to observe with exactitude,
the natives have decreased in numbers over
one-third since I first saw them. That this rapid
decrease has been checked in some districts, I
am sure, and the cause is not a mystery. The
influx of Europeans has caused a competition
in trading, which enables them to get the
highest value for the produce of their labour,
and at the same time opened to them a hun-
dred new lines of industry, and also afforded
them other opportunities of becoming pos-
sessed of property. They have not at all
improved these advantages as they might
have done ; but are, nevertheless, as it were
210 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
in spite of themselves, on the whole, richer
i.e., better clothed, fed, and in some degree
lodged, than in past years; and I see the
plough now running where I once saw the
rude pointed stick poking the ground. I do
not, however, believe that this improvement
exists in more than one or two districts in any
remarkable degree, nor do I think it will be
permanent where it does exist, insomuch as I
have said that the improvement is not the
result of providence, economy, or industry,
but of a train of temporary circumstances
favourable to the natives ; but which, if un-
improved, as they most probably will be, will
end in no permanent good result.
CHAPTER XIV.
TRADING IN THE OLD TIMES THE NATIVE DIFFICULTY
VIETUE ITS OWN REWARD EULE BEITANNIA DEATH
OF MY CHIEF HIS DYING SPEECH RESCUE HOW
THE WORLD GOES BOUND.
FROM the years 1822 to 1826, the vessels
trading for flax had, when at anchor, boarding
nettings up to the tops. All the crew were
armed, and, as a standing rule, not more than
five natives, on any pretence, allowed on
board at one time. Trading for flax in those
days was to be undertaken by a man who had
his wits about him ; and an old flax trader of
those days, with his 150 ton schooner "out of
Sydney," cruising all round the coast of New
Zealand, picking up his five tons at one port,
ten at another, twenty at another, and so on,
had questions, commercial, diplomatic, and
military, to solve every day, that would drive
all the "native department," with the min-
ister at their head, clean out of their senses.
Talk to me of the "native difficulty " pooh ! I
think it was in 1822 that an old friend of mine
bought, at Kawhia, a woman who was just
p 2
212 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
going to be baked. He gave a cartridge-box
full of cartridges for her, which was a great deal
more than she was really worth ; but humanity
does not stick at trifles. He took her back to
her friends at Taranaki, from whence she had
been taken, and her friends there gave him at
once two tons of flax and eighteen pigs, and
asked him to remain a few days longer till they
should collect a still larger present in return
for his kindness ; but, as he found out their
intention was to take the schooner, and knock
himself and crew on the head, he made off in
the night. But he maintains, to this day,
that " virtue is its own reward " " at least 'tis
so at Taranaki." Virtue, however, must have
been on a visit to some other country, (she
does go out sometimes,) when I saw and
heard a British subject, a slave to some
natives on the West Coast, begging hard for
somebody to buy him. The price asked was
one musket, but the only person on board
the vessel possessing those articles, preferred
to invest in a different commodity. The con-
sequence was, that the above-mentioned unit
of the great British nation lived, and (" Rule
Britannia" to the contrary notwithstanding)
died a slave ; but whether he was buried,
deponent sayeth not.
OLD NEW ZEALAND.
My old rangatira at last began to show
signs that his time to leave this world of care
was approaching. He had arrived at a great
age, and a rapid and general breaking up of
his strength became plainly observable. He
often grumbled that men should grow old,
and oftener that no great war broke out in
which he might make a final display, and die
with ecldt. The last two years of his life
were spent almost entirely at my house,
which, however, he never entered. He would
sit whole days on a fallen puriri near the
house, with his spear sticking up beside him,
and speaking to no one, but sometimes hum-
ming in a low droning tone some old ditty
which no one knew the meaning of but him-
self, and at night he would disappear to some
of the numerous nests or little sheds he had
around the place. In summer he would roll
himself in his blanket and sleep anywhere,
but no one could tell exactly where. In the
hot days of summer, when his blood I sup-
pose got a little warm, he would sometimes
become talkative, and recount the exploits of
his youth. As he warmed to the subject he
would seize his spear and go through all the
incidents of some famous combat, repeating
every thrust, blow, and parry as they actually
214 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
occurred, and going through as much ex-
ertion as if he was really and truly fighting
for his life. He used to go through these
pantomimic labours as a duty whenever he had
an assemblage of the young men of the tribe
around him, to whom, as well as to myself, he
was most anxious to communicate that which
he considered the most valuable of all know
ledge, a correct idea of the uses of the spear, a
weapon he really used in a most graceful and
scientific manner ; but he would ignore the
fact that " Young New Zealand" had laid
down the weapon for ever, and already ma-
tured a new system of warfare adapted to their
new weapons, and only listened to his lectures
out of respect to himself and not for his
science. At last this old lion was taken
seriously ill and removed permanently to the
village, and one evening a smart handsome
lad, of about twelve years of age, came to tell
me that his tupuna was dying, and had said
he would "go" to-morrow, and had sent for
me to see him before he died. The boy also
added that the tribe were Tea poto, or as-
sembled, to the last man around the dying
chief. I must here mention that, though this
old rangatira was not the head of his tribe,
he had been for about half a century the
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 215
recognised war chief of almost all the sections
or liapu of a very numerous and warlike iwi
or tribe, who had now assembled from all
their distant villages and pas to see him die.
I could not, of course, neglect the invitation,
so at daylight next morning I started on foot
for the native village, which I, on my
arrival about mid-day, found crowded by a
great assemblage of natives. I was saluted
by the usual hue re tnai ! and a volley of
musketry, and I at once perceived that, out
of respect to my old owner, the whole tribe
from far and near, hundreds of whom I had
never seen, considered it necessary to make
much of me, at least for that day, and I
found myself consequently at once in the
position of a " personage." " Here comes the
pakeha ! his pakeha ! make way for the
pakeha ! kill those dogs that are barking at
the pakeha S" Bang ! bang ! Here a double
barrel nearly blew rny cap off by way of
salute. I did for a moment tliiuk my head
was oft* I, however, being quite an fait in
Maori etiquette by this time, thanks to the
instructions and example of my old friend,
fixed my eyes with a vacant expression look-
ing only straight before me, recognised no-
body, and took notice of nothing, not even
216 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
the muskets fired under my nose or close to
my back at every step, and each, from having
four or five charges of powder, making a re-
port like a cannon. On I stalked, looking
neither to the right or the left, with my spear
walking-staff in my hand, to where I saw a
great crowd, and where I of course knew the
dying man was. I walked straight on, not
even pretending to see the crowd, as was
" correct" under the circumstances ; I being
supposed to be entranced by the one absorb-
ing thought of seeing " mataora," or once
more in life my rangatira. The crowd
divided as I came up, and closed again
behind me as I stood in the front rank
before the old chief, motionless, and, as in
duty bound, trying to look the image of mute
despair, which I flatter myself I did to the
satisfaction of all parties. The old man I
saw at once was at his last hour. He had
dwindled to a mere skeleton. No food of any
kind had been prepared for or offered to him
for three days ; as he was dying it was of
course considered unnecessary. At his right
side lay his spear, tomahawk, and musket. (I
never saw him with the musket in his hand
all the time I knew him.) Over him was
hanging his greenstone mere, and at his left
OLD NEW ZEALAND 217
side, close, and touching him, sat a stout
athletic savage, with a countenance disgust-
ingly expressive of cunning and ferocity, and
who, as he stealthily marked me from the
corner of his eye, I recognised as one of those
limbs of Satan, a Maori tohunga. The old
man was propped up in a reclining position,
his face towards the assembled tribe, who
were all there waiting to catch his last words.
I stood before him and I thought I perceived
he recognised me. Still all was silence, and
for a full half hour we all stood there, waiting
patiently for the closing scene. Once or
twice the tohunga said to him in a very loud
voice, " The tribe are assembled, you won't
die silent ? " At last, after about half-an-
hour, he became restless, his eyes rolled
from side to side, and he tried to speak,
but failed. The circle of men closed nearer,
and there was evidence of anxiety and ex-
pectation amongst them, but a dead silence
was maintained. At last, suddenly with-
out any apparent effort, and in a manner
which startled me, the old man spoke clearly
out, in the ringing metallic tone of voice
for which he had been formerly so remark-
able, particularly when excited. He spoke.
"Hide my bones quickly where the enemy
218 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
may not find them : hide them at once."
He spoke again " Oh my tribe, be brave !
be brave that you may live. Listen to the
words of my pakeha ; he will unfold the de-
signs of his tribe." This was in allusion to a
very general belief amongst the natives at the
time, that the Europeans designed sooner or
later to exterminate them and take the coun-
try, a thing the old fellow had cross-ques-
tioned me about a thousand times ; and the
only way I could find to ease his mind was to
tell him that if ever I heard any such proposal
I would let him know, protesting at the same
time that no such intention existed. This notion
of the natives has since that time done much
harm, and will do more, for it is not yet quite
given up. He continued " I give my mere to
my pakeha," " my two old wives will hang
themselves," (here a howl of assent from the
two old women in the rear rank) " I am going ;
be brave, after I am gone." Here he began
to rave ; he fancied himself in some desperate
battle, for he began to call to celebrated com-
rades who had been dead forty or fifty years.
I remember every word " Charge ! " shouted
he " Charge ! Wata, charge ! Tara, charge !
charge ! " Then after a short pause " Rescue !
rescue ! to my rescue ! ahau ! ahau ! rescue !"
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 219
The last cry for " rescue " was in such a pier-
cing tone of anguish and utter desperation,
that involuntarily I advanced a foot and hand,
as if starting to his assistance ; a movement,
as I found afterwards, not unnoticed by the
superstitious tribe. At the same instant that
he gave the last despairing and most agonising
cry for " rescue," I saw his eyes actually blaze,
his square jaw locked, he set his teeth, and rose
nearly to a sitting position, and then fell back
dying. He only murmured " How sweet is
man's flesh," and then the gasping breath and
upturned eye announced the last moment.
The tohtuiya now bending close to the dying
man's ear, roared out " Kai kotahi ki te ao !
Kia kotahi ki te ao ! Kia kotahi ki te po ! "
The poor savage was now, as I believe, past
hearing, and gasping his last. "Kai kotahi
ki te ao ! " shouted the devil priest again in
his ear, and shaking his shoulder roughly
with his hand " Kia kotalii ki te ao ! Kia
kotahi ki te po ! Then giving a significant
look to the surrounding hundreds of natives,
a roar of musketry burst forth. Kai kotahi ki
te ao ! Thus in a din like pandemonium,
guns firing, women screaming, and the ac-
cursed tohunga shouting in his ear, died
" Lizard Skin/' as good a fighting man as
220 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
ever worshipped force or trusted in the spear.
His death on the whole was thought happy,
for his last words were full of good omen :
" How sweet is man's flesh."
Next morning the body had disappeared.
This was contrary to ordinary custom, but
in accordance with the request of the old
warrior. No one, even of his own tribe, knows
where his body is concealed, but the two men
who carried it off in the night. All I know
is that it lies in a cave, with the spear and
tomahawk beside it.
The two old wives were hanging by the
neck from a scaffold at a short distance, which
had been made to place potatoes on out of the
reach of rats. The shrivelled old creatures
were quite dead. I was for a moment forget-
ful of the " correct " thing, and called to an
old chief, who was near, to cut them down.
He said, in answer to my hurried call, "by-
and-bye -; it is too soon yet ; they might re-
cover" " Oh," said I, at once recalled to my
sense of propriety, " I thought they had been
hanging all night," and thus escaped the great
risk of being thought a mere meddling pakeha.
I now perceived the old chief was employed
making a stretcher, or kauhoa, to carry the
bodies on. At a short distance also were five old
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 221
creatures of women, sitting in a row, crying,
with their eyes fixed on the hanging objects,
and everything was evidently going on selon
le regies. I walked on. " E tika ana" said
I, to myself. " It's all right, I dare say."
The two young wives had also made a*
desperate attempt in the night to hang them-
selves, but had been prevented by two young
men, who, by some unaccountable accident,
had come upon them just as they were string-
ing themselves up, and who, seeing that they
were not actually "ordered for execution,"
by great exertion, and with the assistance of
several female relations, who they called to
their assistance, prevented them from killing
themselves out of respect for their old lord.
Perhaps it was to revenge themselves for this
meddling interference that these two young
women married the two young men before the
year was out, and in consequence of which,
and as a matter of course, they were robbed
by the tribe of everything they had in the
world, (which was not much,) except their
arms. They also had to fight some half
dozen duels each with spears, in which, how-
ever, no one was killed, and no more blood
drawn than could be well spared. All this
they went through with commendable resig-
222 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
nation ; and so, due respect having been paid to
the memory of the old chief, and the appro-
priators of his widows duly punished according
to law, further proceedings were stayed, and
everything went on comfortably. And so the
world goes round.
CHAPTER XV.
MANA YOUNG NEW ZEALAND THE LAW OF ENGLAND
" POP GOES THE WEASEL " EIGHT IF WE HAVE
MIGHT GOD SAVE THE QUEEN GOOD ADVICE.
Ix the afternoon I went home musing on
what I had heard and seen. " Surely,"
thought I, "if one half of the world does
not know how the other half live, neither do
they know how they die."
Some days after this a deputation arrived
to deliver up my old friend's mere. It
was a weapon of great mana, and was
delivered with some little ceremony. I per-
ceive now I have wTitten this word mana
several times, and think I may as well explain
what it means. I think this the more necessary,
as the word has been bandied about a good
deal of late years, and meanings often at-
tached to it by Europeans which are incorrect,
but which the natives sometimes accept be-
cause it suits their purpose. This same word
mana has several different meanings, and the
224 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
difference between these diverse meanings is
sometimes very great, and sometimes only a
mere shade of meaning, though one very
necessary to observe ; and it is, therefore,
quite impossible to find any one single word
in English, or in any other language that I
have any acquaintance with, which will give
the meaning of mana. And, moreover,
though I myself do know all the meanings
and different shades of meaning, properly be-
longing to the word, I find a great difficulty
in explaining them ; but as I have begun, the
thing must be done. It will also be a tough
word disposed of to my hand, when I come
to write my Maori dictionary, in a hundred
volumes, which, if I begin soon, I hope to
have finished before the Maori is a dead
language.
Now then for mana. Virtus, prestigg,
authority, good fortune, influence, sanctity,
luck, are all words which, under certain con-
ditions, give something near the meaning of
mana, though not one of them give it ex-
actly ; but before I am done, the reader shall
have a reasonable notion (for a pakeha) of
what it is.
Mana sometimes means a more than
natural virtue or power attaching to some
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 225
person or thing, different from and indepen-
dent of the ordinary natural conditions of
either, and capable of either increase or
diminution, both from known and unknown
causes The mana of a priest or tohitnya is
proved by the truth of his predictions, as well
as the success of his incantations, which same
incantations, performed l>y another parson of
inferior mana, would have no effect. Conse-
quently, this description of mana is a virtue,
or more than natural or ordinary condition
attaching to the priest himself, and which he
may become possessed of and also lose with-
out any volition of his own. When
"Apollo from his shrine,
No longer could divine,
The hollosv steep of Delphos sadly leaving/'
Then the oracle had lost its -many.
Then there is the doctors' mana. The
Maori doctors in the old times did not deal
much in " simples," but they administered
large doses of mana. Now when most of a
doctor's patients recovered, his mana was sup-
posed to be in full feather ; but if, as will
happen sometimes to the best practitioners, a
number of patients should slip tlnough his
Q
226 OLD SEW ZEALAND.
fingers seriatim, then his mana was suspected
to be getting weak, and he would not be
liable to be " knocked up " as frequently as
formerly.
Mana in another sense is the accompany -
ment of power, but not the power itself ; nor
is it even in this sense exactly "authority,"
according to the strict meaning of that word,
though it comes very near it. This is the
chief's mana. Let him lose the power, and
the mana is gone ; but mind you do not
translate mana as power ; that won't do :
they are two different things entirely. Of this
nature also is the mana of a tribe ; but this is
not considered to be the supernatural kind
of mana.
Then conies the mana of a warrior. Un-
interrupted success in war proves it. It has a
slight touch of the supernatural, but not much.
Good fortune comes near the meaning, but is
just a little too weak. The warrior's mana is
just a little something more than bare good
fortune ; a severe defeat would shake it
terribly ; two or three in succession would
show that it was gone : but before leaving
him, some supernaturally ominous occurrence
might be expected to take place, such as are said
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 227
to have happened before the deaths of Julius
Csesar, Marcus Antonius, or Brutus. Let
not any one smile at my, even in the most
distant way, comparing the old Maori war-
riors with these illustrious Romans, for if
they do, I shall answer that some of the old
Maori Ton were thought as much of in their
world, as any Greek or Roman of old was in
his ; and, moreover, that it is my private
opinion, that if the best of them could only
have met my friend " Lizard Skin," in his
best days, and would take oft' his armour and
fight fair, that the aforesaid " Lizard Skin "
would have tickled him to his heart's content
with the point of his spear.
A fortress often assailed but never taken
has a m((na, and one of a high description too.
The name of the fortress becomes a jK'jwha, a
war boast or motto, and a war cry of en-
couragement or defiance, like the slogan of the
ancient Highlanders in Scotland.
A spear, a club, or a in ere, may have a
mana, which in most cases means that it is a
lucky weapon which good fortune attends, if
the bearer minds what he is about ; but some
weapons of the old times had a stronger
mana than this, like the mana of the enchanted
Q2
228 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
weapons we read of in old romances or fairy
tales. Let any one who likes give an English
word for this kind of mana. I have done
with it.
I had once a tame pig, which, before heavy
rain, would always cut extraordinary capers
and squeak like mad. Every pakeha said he
was " weather-wise ; " but all the Maori said
it was a "pooka wliai mana," a pig possessed
of mana ; it had more than natural powers
and could foretell rain.
If ever this talk about the good old times
be printed and published, and every one buy
it, and read it, and quote it, and believe every
word in it, as they ought, seeing that every
word is true, then it will be a pitka puka
ivhai mana, a book of mana ; and I shall have
a high opinion of the good sense and good
taste of the New Zealand public.
When the law of England is the law of
New Zealand, and the Queen's writ will run,
then both the Queen and the law will have
great mana; but I don't think either will
ever happen, and so neither \vill have any
mana of consequence.
If the reader has not some faint notion of
mana by this time, I can't help it ; I can't do
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 229
any better for him. T must confess I have
not pleased myself. Any European language
can be translated easily enough into any
other ; but to translate Maori into English is
much harder to do than is supposed by those
who do it every day with ease, but who do
not know their own language or any other
but Maori perfectly.
'1 am always blowing up " Young New
Zealand," and calling them "reading, riting.
rethmatiking " vagabonds, who will never
equal their fathers ; but 1 mean it all for
their own good (poor things !) like a father
scolding his children. But one does get
vexed sometimes. Their grandfathers, if they
had no backs, had at least good legs, but the
grandsons can't walk a day's journey to save
their lives ; fltei/ must ride. The other day
I saw a young chap on a good horse ; he had
ci black hat and polished Wellingtons ; his hat
was cocked knowingly to one side ; he was
jogging along, with one hand jingling the
money in his pocket ; and may 1 never see
another war dance, if the hardened villain
was not whistling " Pop goes the weasel ! "
What will all this end in ?
Mv only hope is in a handv wav (to o-ive
vi' / t/ \ O
230 OLD NEW ZEALAND.
them their due) which they have with a
tupara; and this is why I don't think the law
will have much mana here in my time, I
mean the pakeha law ; for to say the worst of
them, they are not yet so far demoralised as
to stand any nonsense of that kind, which is a
comfort to think of. T am a loyal subject to
Queen Victoria, but I am also a member of a
Maori tribe ; and I hope I may never see this
country so enslaved and tamed that a single
rascally policeman, with nothing but a bit of
paper in his hand, can come and take a
rangatira away from the middle of his
and have him hanged for something of no
consequence at all, except that it is against
the law. What would old " Lizard Skin "
say to it ? His grandson certainly is now a
magistrate, and if anything is stolen from a
pakeha, he will get it back, if he can, and
Avon't stick to it, because he gets a salary in
lieu thereof; but he has told me certain
matters in confidence, and which I therefore
cannot disclose. I can only hint there was
something said about the law, and driving the
pakeha into the sea.
I must not trust myself to write on these
matters. T get so confused, I feel just as if
OLD NEW ZEALAND. 281
I was two different persons at the same time.
Sometimes I find myself thinking on the
Maori side, and then just afterwards
wondering if "we" can lick the Maori, and
set the law upon its legs, which is the only
way to do it. I therefore hope the reader
will make allowance for any little apparent
inconsistency in my ideas, as T really cannot
help it.
I belong to both parties, and I don't care a
straw which wins ; but I am sure we shall
have fisfhtiner. Men iintxt fio-ht ; or else
o o o
what are they made for ? Twenty years
ago, when 1 heard military men talking of
" marching through New Zealand with fifty
men," I was called a fool because 1 said they
could not do it with five hundred. Now I
am also thought foolish by civilians, because
1 say we can conquer New Zealand with our
present available means, if AVC set the right
way about it, (which we won't). So hurrah
again for the Maori ! We shall drive the
pakeha into the sea, and scud the law
after them! If we can do it, we are right ;
and if the pakeha beat us, f/n>>/ will be right
too. God save the Queen !
So now, my Maori tribe, and also mv
232 OLD NEW ZEALAND.'
pakeha countrymen, I shall conclude this
book with good advice ; and be sure you take
notice ; it is given to both parties. It is a
sentence from the last speech of old " Lizard
Skin." It is to you both. " Be brave, that
you may live."
VEUBUM SAPIENTIE.
G L S S A R Y.
GLOSSARY.
.A r y h'M Li terally, from whence ? Often \ised as a negative
aniwer to an enquiry, in which case the words
mean that the thing enquired for is not, or in
fact is nowhere.
PA<;K .",.
Mann As the meaning of this word is explained in the
course of the narrative, it is only necessary to
say that in the sense in which it is used here, it
means dominion or authority.
Titinji A dirge, or sung of lamentation for the dead. It
was the custom for the mourners, when .singing
the t'tii'/i, to cut themselves severely on the face,
breast, and arms, with sharp flints and shells, in
token of their grief. This custom is still
practised, though in a mitigated form. In
past times, the mourners cut themselves dread-
fully, and covered themselves with Mood from
head to feet. See a description of a t>ni</i
further on.
r.VGK 4.
l\>kvhn An Englishman ; a foreigner.
236 GLOSSARY.
PAGE 13.
Tupara A double gun ; an article, in the old times, valued
by the natives above all other earthly riches.
PAGE 14.
llaliwHja A hahunga was a funeral ceremony, at which
the natives usually assembled in great numbers,
and during which " baked meats " were disposed
of with far less economy than Hamlet gives us
to suppose was observed " in Denmark."
Kainya A native town, or village : their princijud head
quartern.
PAGE 1G.
llaere mai ! &c. Sufficiently explained as the native call
of welcome. It is literally an invitation to
advance.
PAGE 10.
Titttta A low, worthless, and, above all, a poor, fellow a
" nobody."
A pakefta tntua A mean poor European.
E aha 1e prti ( What is the good (or use) of him ? Said
in contempt.
PAGE 22.
Rangatira A chief, a gentleman, a warrior. Hnngatira
paktha A foreigner .who is a gentleman (not a
tiitirn, or nobody, a* described above), a rich
foreigner.
Tanmja Goods ; property.
GLOSSARY. 2,37
PAGE 2G.
Mere iwnamu A native weapon made of a rare green
stone, and much valued by the natives.
PAGE 28.
Taniii'hd A sea monster : more fully described further on.
Utit Revenge, or satisfaction ; also payment.
PAGE 32.
Tiiio tanyata A "good man," in the language of the
prize-ring ; a warrior ; or literally, a very, or per-
fect man.
PAGE 43.
Ttnui A war party ; or war expedition.
PAGE 58.
Tenn koutou ; or Tenam ko kontoit The Maori form of
salutation, equivalent to our " How do you do ?"
PAGE G3.
Xn ! Na ! mute rawa ! Tliis is the battle cry by which a
warrior proclaims, exultingly and tauntingly, the
death of one of the enemy.
PAGE 78.
Torere, An unfathomable cave, or pit, in the rocky moun-
tains, where the bones of the dead, after remain-
ing a certain time in the first burying place, are
removed to and thrown in, and so finally disposed
of.
PAGE 102.
Euhn mau What's that to you.
PAGE 1GG.
Jacky Poto. Short Jack ; or Stumpy Jack.
238 GLOSSARY.
PAGE 167.
Tit nymihu. This is a muster, or review, made to ascer-
tain the numbers and condition of a native force ;
generally made before the starting of an expe-
dition. It is, also, often held as a military
spectacle, or exhibition, of the force of a tribe
when they happen to be visited by strangers of
importance : the war dance is gone through on
these occasions, and speeches declaratory of war,
or welcome, as the case may be, made to the
visitors. The " review of the Taniwha,"
witnessed by the Ngati Kuri, was possibly a
herd of sea lions, or sea elephants ; animals
scarcely ever seen on the coast of that part of
New Zealand, and, therefore, from their strange
and hideous appearance, at once set down as an
army of Taniwha. One man only was, at the
defeat of the Ngati Kuri, on Motiti, rescued
to tell the tale.
PAGE 108.
Bare Motiti. The island of Motiti is often called " Motiti
wahiekore," as descriptive of the want of timber,
or bareness of the island. A more fiercely
contested battle, perhaps, was never fought than
that on Motiti, in which the Ngati Kuri were
destroyed.
PAGE 190.
Ki <(>i te ni'ttaik-1 I have the m-ttaika. The first mail
killed in a battle was called the nwtnika. To
kill the m/ttttika, or first man, was counted a
very high honor, and the moat extraordinary
exertions were made to obtain it. The writer
once saw a young warn or, when rushing with
GLOSSARY. 329
his tribe agaiust the enemy, rendered almost
frantic by perceiving that another section of
the tribe would, in spite of all his effoi-ts, be
engaged first, and gain the honor of killing the
mataika. In this emergency he, as he rushed
on, cut down with a furious blow of his toma-
hawk, a sapling which stood in his way, and
gave the ciy which claims the mataiht. After the
battle the circumstances of this question in
Maori chivalry having been fully considered by
the elder warriors, it was decided that the
sapling tree should, in this case, be held to be
the time mataika, and that the young man who
cut it down should always claim, without ques-
tion, to have killed, or as the natives say,
" caught," the mataika of that battle.
PAOE 19-5.
T'Kt A warrior of preeminant courage ; a hero.
PAGE 219.
Kin Kotahi ki te ao ! Kin kotahi ki te }x> I A close trans-
lation would not give the meaning to the
English reader. By these words the dying j)er-
son is conjured to cling to life, but as they are
never spoken until the person to whom they are
addressed is actually expiring, they seemed to me
to contain a horrid mockery, though to the
native they no doubt apjxjar the promptings of
an affectionate and anxious solicitude. They
are also supi>osed to contain a certain mystical
meaning.
CREIQUTON AND SCALES, PBINTERS, o'COXNELL STREET, AUCKLAND.
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388
Return this material to the library
from which it was borrowed.
Form L
LD-UKi
2572
I 1972
1974
i
)74
'19
9
THE LIBRARY
UNTVFP ^
LOS A,\GLES
,
3 1158005355259
A 001 121 708 o
TVNews
OpenLibrary