W hat I believe to be genuine and authentic the collected publications of William Colenso

2. Social.

(1.)—The men to their cultivations; or to sea-fishing; or to catching birds, eels, or rats; or to digging of fern-root; or to climbing the highest forest trees for their small fruits; or to the building or repairing of houses, canoes, fences, earthworks, and eel-weirs; or to the felling and bringing out of trees and split timber from the forest; or to the making of troughs, paddles, spades, axes and their handles, spears of various kinds, and other offensive implements of stone, bone, and hardwood; (some of which required years to perfect a single article;) or to the manufacture of fishing lines, canoe ropes, and small cord; or of nets, of eel-traps, of canoe sails, and of their prized dog-skin, or Kiwi-feather, clothing mats; or to the making of combs and flutes; or to the making and ornamenting of greenstone, ivory, and bone ear-rings, and breast ornaments; or of fishhooks, circlets for tame parrots’ legs, various tattooing instruments, and of tags, pins, skewers and needles, for their own dress-mats, for most of which purposes human bone was preferred; or to the seeking for, and preparing, the various coloured mineral pigments, feathers, vegetable and animal oils, and vegetable dyes used as ornament; or to tattooing, or to the drying and preserving of human heads; or to the carving of figures (some larger than life), on posts of fences, or slabs (pilasters) of chiefs’ houses; or of carving boxes for feathers, or of balers for canoes, or their large and highly ornamented stern-posts, taffrails, and figure-heads.

(2.) The women attended to their peculiar work,—to the diurnal preparing of food, and to the coarse weaving of small baskets (paro) of [9] green flax, as dishes for their food; no cooked food basket being used twice; to the gathering of shell fish; to the cleaning of sea-fish; to fetching of firewood; to preparing of flax, and to plaiting and weaving it into clothing, and baskets of very many different kinds; and to their work in the cultivations,—such as weeding, etc., and above all, to the very heavy task of carrying on their backs fresh gravel thither every year for their Sweet Potatoe beds. In the summer season, too, they sought and gathered in large quantities the juicy fruits of the Tutu (Coriaria ruscifolia), and expressed its juice as a refreshing drink. They also gathered in the swampy forests the sugary fruits and fleshy edible flower-bracts of the Kiekie plant (Freycinetia Banksii.) {Note 6}

11. Their means of obtaining Subsistence were as varied as the things themselves. They were not (as many have rashly supposed) deficient in food; although (having but one domestic animal and that a small dog,) what they had and used was not to be obtained without a large amount of daily labour. At the same time there must have been a great difference in the food of the natives of the Northern and of the Middle and Southern Islands; as Cook states,—“the Southern natives have not yams, taro or kumara.” (iii. p. 56.). They were very great consumers of fish; those on the coast being true Icthyophagi. The seas around their coasts swarmed with excellent fish and crayfish; the rocky and sandy shores abounded with good shell fish; the cliffs and islets yielded plenty of mutton-birds, and fat young shags and other sea fowl, and their eggs, all choice eating. The rivers and lakes (in their season) contained plenty of ducks and other wild fowl, and plenty of small fish and fine mussels, and small crayfish; the marshes and swamps were full of large rich eels; the open plains had plenty of quail, rail, and other birds, and edible rats; the fern lands abounded in the kiwi and ground parrot; and the forests yielded fine pigeons and parrots, and plump parson-birds (tui) together with many other birds which are now very rare; while many a rich meal was also made from the large larvœ so commonly found in rotten wood. In seeking all these, they knew the proper seasons when, as well as the best manner how, to take them:—

(1.) Sometimes they would go in large canoes to the deep sea-fishing, to some well known shoal or rock, 5 to 10 miles from the shore, and return with a quantity of large cod, snapper, and other prime fish; sometimes they would use very large drag nets, and enclose great numbers of grey mullet, dog-fish, mackarel, and other fish which swim in shoals; of which (especially of dog-fish and of mackarel) they dried immense quantities for winter use. They would also fish from rocks with hook and line, and scoop-nets; or, singly, in the summer, in small canoes manned by one man and kept constantly paddling, with a hook baited with mother-of-pearl shell, take plenty of Kahawai; or with a chip of tawhai wood attached to a hook, as a bait, they took the barracouta in large quantities. Very fine crayfish were taken in great numbers by diving, and sometimes by sinking baited wicker-traps. Heaps of this fish, with mussels, cockles, and other bivalves, were collected in the summer, and prepared and dried; and of eels also, and of several delicate fresh water fishes, large quantities were taken in the summer, and dried for future use.

(2.) Birds, such as quail, rail, and ground parrot, also the pigeon, and parson-bird, and various species of wild duck, they ingeniously snared; [10] although they often speared the pigeon. The large brown parrot was first decoyed to a stand fixed on the top of a high tree by the cry of a tame one, and then suddenly trapped and killed by the concealed native. The Kiwi was caught by night, through successfully imitating its cry; and the fat frugivorous and harmless indigenous rat, was both trapped and dug out of its burrow in several ways.

12. Labour was by them divided into four great classes, viz.—(1) Male—(2) Female—(3) Sacred, and—(4) Common. Of fruges consumere nati¹⁶⁷ there were none. The chiefs worked equally with the slaves, especially in the cultivations, and often better and more energetically. There were no really adstricti glebæ.¹⁶⁸ From their youth the chiefs were taught to be foremost and to excel; and as they gloried in getting a great name, they strove to do so. The men caught fish and eels, and snared [12] birds and rats; they dug and planted their cultivations; they climbed the highest trees for their fruits; they dug up the fern root; they felled the timber, and built the houses, and canoes, and made the fences, and all wooden, stone, and bone implements and ornaments; they made their fishing nets and lines, and eel traps and hooks; they performed all the tattooing; and very frequently carried their infants for hours on their backs, even while at work. The women prepared the daily food; cleaned the fish for drying; collected shell-fish, edible sea-weeds, and herbs, and firewood; weeded the plantations, and gathered up the crop when dug; cut and dressed the flax leaves for clothing and floor mats and baskets, and plaited and wove them. Their quasi “sacred” or taboo (tapu) duties, (of which much might be written,) could only be properly performed by a “sacred” person; for although in some few cases, a person not “sacred” might act, yet he sometimes most inconveniently became “sacred” by his doing so! As a rule, a “sacred” person never touched common work or things. Their common matters, however, were open to all, with this only reservation,—that men’s work was not done by women, and vicê versâ.

14. If there was much to admire in their House-architecture and fortification building, there was still more in their Naval architecture; bearing in mind (as before) that they did all without the aid of iron or any metal; their solid and strong double canoes (wakaunua), long since extinct; and scarcely known even by name to the present generation; their handsome well arranged war canoes, of which there are not many, and perhaps not a single first-class one left! Their fishing and voyaging canoes, also with raised sides;¹⁷⁰ and their common canoes of several kinds and sizes, formed out of a single tree and often of great length. A first-class war canoe, with all its many fittings—its hundred paddles, its handsome elaborately carved stem and stern, and all its many ornaments and decorations of feathers, rouge, and mother-of-pearl, was always the work of many hands throughout many years. Fully to complete one was indeed a triumph, in which many hearts would heartily join: so true it is,—

“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever!”

Their largest canoes were rigged with two masts, and carried a large light triangular-shaped sail to each. Their smaller canoes had only one similarly shaped sail. Besides their canoes, they sometimes made use of rafts for crossing streams and inlets when the water was deep; such, however, were only made for the occasion, of dry bulrushes, or the dry flowering stems of the flax plant, tied together in bundles with green flax. In some places, (as about the East Cape, where there are no harbours), the natives made use of an open frame-like raft of light wood, on which they went out to sea for some distance; and of late years have not unfrequently visited ships on such, carrying with them two or three baskets of potatoes.

(2.) Their Implements of Agriculture, were made of hard wood, and were few in number. The principal one was a ko, a rude kind of narrow and pointed spade with a very long handle, to which, at about 18 inches or more from the point, they fitted a small crooked bit of carved wood, as a rest for the foot. Much smaller implements of a similar shape were used for digging around the plants, and for breaking the clods; these last they used in a sitting or squatting posture. Their canoe paddles, and fish spears, were also made of hardwood, Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium); but their bird spears being very long, some upwards of 30 feet, were made of the light wood Tawa (Nesodaphne tawa). Their war implements of wood were made both of Manuka and Rimu; the curious halbert shaped Wahaika, the broad Meremere (or hand club), for close quarters, and their short spears, were made of the former; and the long spears of the latter, wood. They also made darts with heads of light combustible materials; these they used in attacking a pa or village. Their saw-knives, used for cutting up the flesh of whales, etc., were also made of hardwood; some were edged with sharks’ teeth. Their fishhooks, had the shaft made of the fossil bone of the Moa (Dinornis), and the barb of human bone, with a small tuft of metallic blue feathers of the little penguin attached; some were also made of the tough crooked roots of shrubs, hardened by fire; to some of which a glittering piece of mother-of-pearl shell was attached as a lure. Their sinkers, for deep sea fishing, were made of stone, which they cut and notched to suit; sometimes using a large fossil bivalve, and sometimes a piece of rock which had been perforated by a Pholas.

17. Buying and Selling for a price (as practised by us) was unknown to them. Such was not wanted where every man, or household, had nearly alike, and made their own commodities. They had, however, a kind of Barter, or Exchange;—or, more properly, a giving to be afterwards repaid by a gift. Dried sea-fish, or dried edible sea-weed, or shark oil, or karaka berries, would be given by natives living on the sea-coast to friendly natives dwelling inland; who would afterwards repay with potted birds, or eels, or hinau cakes, or mats, or rouge, or birds’ feathers and skins. So, a chief would give to one of his own, or of a friendly tribe, some article as an acknowledgment or equivalent for building a canoe, carving, etc., but always without any kind of stipulation or fixed price. Or, he would make a present (always to be repaid), of a canoe, or a dress mat, or a stone war weapon, or a dog, to some other chief, generally to one of higher, or equal, rank than himself; but all without anything like price stated. And when the return gift was made, it was always stated to be such, for if not so stated it would not be so considered (want of knowing this has occasioned much misunderstanding between them and whites). A return gift was always expected to be a larger one than the one which occasioned it. Sometimes they sought to exchange one thing for another, especially with strangers visiting, but this was very rare.

18. The four great yet ordinary events to a New Zealander, were Birth, Marriage, Death, and Exhumation; to which may be added, the ceremony of Naming, the arranging of Betrothal, and Tattooing. On all these occasions there was great feasting; particularly in the case of death and exhumation;—when, too, there was grievous lamentation, much of which was very often real. Time, however, will not permit of anything more at present, than a passing mention of those matters.

(1.) At the Birth of a child, especially of the first-born of a couple of high rank, there was quite as much rejoicing as in more civilized countries. The maternal aunt, or maternal grandmother of the infant was generally present and ruled on such occasions,—if not, then the paternal grandmother took her place. Sometimes the birth of a daughter was preferred to that of a son for political reasons. Of course, the spot where the child was born (if in fine weather in the open air), everything touched or used, and all who had anything to do at the birth, were strictly tabooed (tapu),—under customary restraint, or “legally unclean,”—set apart for the time from every ordinary matter. The umbilical cord was tied with scraped flax, which sometimes slipping caused a protuberant navel, and not unfrequently hernia; which latter, however, disappeared at adult age. The natives have been charged with compressing the infant’s nose, to flatten it; and while this has been commonly [18] denied, it is evident, that the nose salutations (hongi, nose-rubbing), it was continually receiving from its mother and relatives, must have had a great tendency that way: besides, flat noses were always admired. Soon after its birth they commenced rubbing down its knee joints, in order to reduce the inner part of the joint, and so make them “handsome.” For this purpose the infant was placed face downwards by its grandmother, or by one of the elder women, on her closed legs, and its little legs and knees rubbed downwards with pretty much squeezing of the inner knee; this operation was daily, or oftener, performed during several weeks. Female infants had the first joint of their thumbs half disjointed, or bent considerably outwards, to enable the woman the better to hold, scrape, weave, and plait flax. At an early period, the little ears of the infant were bored with a sharp fragment of stone, or bit of obsidian; an operation generally performed by its mother.

(2.) Betrothal often took place at, or shortly after, birth (if not indeed, mentally, and conditionally, before). This was almost certain to ensue in the case of simultaneous births of opposite sexes among friends of equal rank, or distant relatives. If not then arranged by the parents, or uncles, it was generally done during the early childhood of the children. While, no doubt, all such affiances arose from both good and political motives, nothing the New Zealanders ever did caused them more misery—and yet they could never be brought to see it.

(3.) “Naming” of the child also followed soon after its birth. This ceremony was always performed by a “priest,” (cunning wright, or skilled man, who managed all such secret and mysterious matters, of exorcism, objurgation, or incantation)—it has been called by Europeans, the “naming” of the child, but it does not mean that; it has also been called “baptism,” and compared with Christian baptism, and the term, iriiri, adopted, (rather unwisely) to express that ordinance. No doubt it was a high ceremony in the eyes of a New Zealander; but it was nothing else than a removal of the tapu,—restraint, or prohibition,—under which the child and mother lay,—more a rite of purification than anything else. If the child was a boy, the “priest” expressed his wish that he should be brave and manly; if a girl, that she should be efficient in all those peculiar duties pertaining to her sex.

(4.) About the age of puberty the Tattooing operation was begun on both sexes; as, in the case of the man, it took several years to complete, and in that of the woman it was necessary, at least, that her lips should be finished ere she could have a husband; red lips in women being abhorred, and black ones being considered the perfection of beautiful feminine lips. Regular tattooing, in the male, was confined to the whole face and to the breech, and sometimes to the thighs: certainly some were very handsomely done. In the female it was confined to the lips, chin, between the eyes, and a little up the forehead, and on the back part of the leg, from the heel to the calf; the three last-mentioned being always indicative of rank. The women, also, often got themselves irregularly marked on their hands, arms, breast, and face, with small crosses, short lines, and dots. A very few women the writer has seen with tattooed faces just as a man; these belong to Southern tribes; some of whom formerly had a very different style of tattooing (such as is shewn in Cook’s Voyages, plate 13, 4to. edition). The Chiefs wore their hair long, [19] and dressed up into a knot on the top of their heads; the women wore it cut short.

(5.) At the Marriage, or coming together as man and wife of the young couple, there was really no ceremony; indeed they have no proper name for it in their own language. It was known as, “noho tahi,” or “moe tahi,” or “whakamoe,”—i.e., dwelling together, or sleeping together, or causing to do so. If they had been betrothed by their parents, it was merely a matter of time,—(always supposing no rupture, or anything serious having occurred, which, however, was rarely the case,)—the mats being woven, and the provisions ready for the feast, and the parents, brothers, uncles, and tribe, being of opinion that the long looked for dwelling-together should take place, (which they were often too ready to do) and the young couple also willing, the betrothed bride was brought, generally by her brothers and uncles, to the house of the bridegroom’s parents, clothed in new mats, where she was received with acclamation, and given over to her husband; by whom and by his people gifts were always made to the parents of the girl. If, however, there had been no betrothal, a marriage between young people was always a very difficult thing to effect, and one which took some time; as everyone, of both the tribes, had something to say, and must be satisfied ere it could take place; particularly the uncles and aunts, the sisters, and female cousins of the young man, and the brothers and male cousins of the girl. Hence, the young couple, disgusted, often ran away to the woods, and there remained some time together in solitude, pretty sure of being soon sought after, and their living together acquiesced in. Contrary to what obtains (openly at least) among us; with them, the unbetrothed young woman commenced the courtship; not unfrequently, however, (even after all the relations had agreed,) other suitors appeared at the last moment, and a passionate and severe struggle took place,—sometimes ending in the forcible abduction of the girl, (especially if the newly-arrived suitor was a person of high rank,) after being nearly killed through the pulling and hauling she received.

(6.) Polygamy being encouraged, and divorce allowed, all chiefs had several wives; which increased their power and influence considerably. Polygamy was not the cause of disagreement or jealousy among the wives, who lived together in great harmony. Nor did it cause a disproportion of marriageable women, as many males were being continually killed in their frequent battles. The sudden bringing home of a new wife, which sometimes happened, (perhaps a slave, or from a distance,) as a matter of course made quite a sensation among the old wives, but it was only temporary. Often the old wives themselves encouraged their husband to take another, and aided efficiently in his doing so. Their injudicious early betrothals, (marriages of policy, not love,) which must take place; their great desire of offspring; their belief that barrenness always proceeded from the female; and their rule of a brother always taking the widow of his deceased brother; were among the main causes of polygamy. Politically speaking, had polygamy and divorce not been too early and rudely ecclesiastically interfered with and prohibited, the New Zealanders as a nation would, in all probability, have now been very much more numerous and better off.

(7.) Death was always gloomy to a New Zealander, and yet they [20] often met the “king of terrors” bravely. Whether they slowly died from disease, or from barbarous cruelties practised by their enemies;—whether suddenly from unlooked for casualty, or the excited anger of a superior, or in the battle-field, they all, young and old, of either sex, died bravely, though not willingly. This is the more striking, from the fact of their belief, that, whether they died at home from disease, or at sea from a canoe upsetting, or from a fall from a lofty tree, or through a house taking fire, or in the battle-field, or as a captive,—such was invariably owing to the anger of the Atua (or, man-destroying demon). Often did they when sinking, calmly give their last words (alas! too frequently of deadly revenge) to their weeping relatives; which burning words the hearers treasured up never to be forgotten. They rarely ever died in a good house; mostly in the open air, or under some wretched shed; this was done because the house in which anyone died would have to be forsaken as tapu. At death there was much loud lamentation, accompanied with gashing themselves on their arms, chests, and foreheads, through which the blood flowed profusely. They also further disfigured themselves by cutting their hair close on one side; sometimes a few locks of long hair were left untouched, and these were seldom afterwards trimmed, but allowed to grow and mat together as a constant and ever present memento of the departed. The whole place was very sad; several of the principal resident mourners have been known to die from sheer exhaustion. Such miserable wailing continued for a long time; as fresh parties of mourners kept continually arriving. Some came before the body was removed; some not till long after; but this made no difference. All sang and wailed with much gesticulation and lacerating of themselves, with their faces towards the deceased, or his tomb, or the place where he had breathed his last; the burden of their lament invariably being, “Go, go, depart, depart; go before us to thy people: we follow.” The body was sometimes tied up in a sitting posture, and clothed, and placed with its greenstone mere,¹⁷¹ etc., in a small house, or mausoleum, prepared for it. Sometimes, though not frequently, it was boxed up in the corner of the verandah of the house in which it had lived; oftener it was placed on a small canoe or bier, and taken to a gloomy forest (anciently set apart for the purpose), and there put up in the broad forked branches of some dark tree. In all such cases to remain until the flesh should have decayed.

(8.) The Exhumation, or hahunga,—i.e., cleaning of the bones,—sometimes took place within a year after death. For this work great preparations were made—in the way of preparing provisions; and not unfrequently the ceremony was put off until a sufficiency should have been provided. Of course all engaged in cleaning the bones were very tapu; —and rightly so. Not one of the smallest was ever left behind; they were cleaned, anointed, and decorated, the head especially, with feathers and ornaments. After being exhibited, seen, wept, and wailed over, they were carried by a single man and near relative to their last resting place. The exact spot of deposit, for wise political reasons, being only known to a select few. Sometimes the bones were thrown into some old volcanic rent, or chasm; sometimes thrown into very deep water-holes; [21] and sometimes neatly and regularly placed in a deep, dark cave; always, if possible, wherever those of his ancestors happened to be. Their principal object being, to prevent their falling into the hands of their enemies, who would dreadfully desecrate and ill-use them, with many bitter jeers and curses. The skull might be made to serve as a dish for food, or be placed on a stake to be daily mocked,—or even taken out to sea on fishing excursions to be taunted and derided afresh there with new indignities. The bones of the body would also be used for fishhooks, flutes, needles, skewers, dining-forks, etc. All such ill-usage was always dreaded and detested. Some tribes, especially the Ngatiporou, (E. Cape) extracted the teeth, and, having strung them, wore them as a necklace. {Note 9}

19. Of Rank and Class, the New Zealanders had keen and clear (if not subtle) distinctions. First, there were the great ones of bond and free:—

(2.) With the slave, too, it was much the same; if skilled, or if active and industrious, and willing to serve his new masters, he was sure to rise and have some influence; which, however great his rank might have been in his own tribe, he would never again have there,—even if he could return. This was a strange and cruel trait in their character, but it is easily understood, when it is considered, that his own tribe attributed his being enslaved to the anger of the Atua, (evil demon) and that by his becoming so he had lost his tapu; and if they were to compassionate and restore, they too would incur the anger of the Atua, which they dreaded above all things. Slaves have been known to rise to very important positions among their new masters; and, even when having opportunities to escape, or set at liberty, to choose to remain and live and die with them. The writer has known several instances, especially among the Ngapuhi (Bay of Islands) tribes, in which the slave, although without original rank, has become the principal man, or leader, in the sub-tribe in which he was a slave. A New Zealand slave had full liberty, even of speech, before his masters, and plenty to eat; and was generally as cheerful as the free. True, he could not wear the clothing, or ornaments of patrician rank; nor would he be greatly bewailed at death; nor have his bones ceremonially scraped; but these things now did not move him. Those about him knew, and he too knew, that his lot of today might be theirs tomorrow. Bad, irritating language was sometimes used towards a slave by tyrannical, passionate masters; but such was the exception, not the rule, and was secretly disapproved of among themselves. All things considered, ordinary slavery among the New Zealanders was not so bad as the word imports, and as some Europeans, from want of due knowledge, have made it to appear. {Notes 10, 11, 12}

20. Their views of property were, in the main, both simple and just; and, in some respects, (even including those most abnormal), wonderfully accorded with what once obtained in England. Among the New Zealanders property may be said to have been divided into two great classes,—immovable and movable;—or, ordinary and extraordinary;—or, peculiar and common;—perhaps the latter definition may be most advantageous for consideration.

(1.) Of peculiar, or private, rights:—With them, every man had a right to his own, as against every one else, but then this right was often overcome by might. A man of middle or low rank, caught, perhaps, some fine fish, or was very lucky in snaring birds, such were undoubtedly his own; but if his superior or elder chief wished, or asked for some, he dared not refuse, even if he would. At the same time such a gift, [23] if gift it might be termed, was (according to custom) sure to be repaid with interest, hence it was readily yielded. The whole of a man’s movable property was his own, which included his house and fences, as well as all his smaller goods. All that a freeman made, or caught, or obtained, or raised by agriculture were his own, private and peculiar; his house erected by himself was his own, but if not on his own land (rarely the case) he could not hold it against the owner of that spot, unless such use had been openly allowed to him by the owner before all (i te aroaro o te tokomaha). So a plantation planted by himself, if not on his own land (also a rare thing), he would have to leave after taking his crops, on being ordered to do so; but not so if he had originally and with permission felled the forest, or reclaimed that land from the wild; in which case he would retain it for life, or as long as he pleased, and very likely his descendants after him. To land, a man acquired a peculiar right in many ways.

(i.) Definite:—(a.) by having been born on it, or, in their expressive language, “where his navel-string was cut,” as his first blood (ever sacred in their eyes) had been shed there—(b.) by having had his secundines buried there, (this, however, was much more partial)—(c.) by a public invitation from the owner to dwell on it—(d.) by having first cultivated it with permission—(e.) by having had his blood shed upon it—(f.) by having had the body, or bones, of his deceased father, or mother, or uterine brother or sister deposited, or resting on it—(g.) by having had a near relative killed, or roasted on it; or a portion of his body stuck up or thrown away upon it—(h.) by having been bitterly cursed in connection with that piece of land, i.e.—this oven is for thy body, or head; on that tree thy liver shall be fixed to rot; thy skull shall hold the cooked birds, or berries of this wood, etc.—(i.) or by the people of the district using for any purpose, a shed which had been temporarily put up there and used by a chief in travelling.

(ii.) Indefinite:—(a.) by having been invited to come there by the chief with a party to dwell (lit. having had their canoe in passing called to shore)—(b.) through his wife by marriage, (but such would only be a quasi life-interest to him—i.e. during her life and infancy of the children; as, in case of children, they would take all their mother’s right)—(c.) by having assisted in conquering it—(d.) by having aided with food, a canoe, a spear, etc., an armed party who subsequently became conquerors of it. All these equally applied though he should belong to a different tribe or sub-tribe.

(iii.) Beyond all these, however, was the right by gift or transfer, and by inheritance, which not unfrequently was peculiar and private. This, (which has of late years been much contested, and too often, it is feared, by ignorant and interested men, or by those who have too readily believed what the talkative younger New Zealanders now say), may clearly be proved beyond all doubt—(1.) By the acts of their several ancestors (great-grandfathers) to their children, from whom the present sub-tribes derive their sub-tribal names, and claim their boundaries; such ancestors divided and gave those lands simply to each individual of their family, which division, and alienation, however unfairly made, has never been contested—(2.) By their ancient transfers (gifts or sales) of land made by individuals of one tribe to individuals of another, as related by themselves; [24] and from which gift, or alienation, in many instances, they deduce their present claims. (3.) By their earliest (untampered) sales and transfers of land to Missionaries and to others; which were not unfrequently done by one native. (As was notably the case in the first alienation of land by deed, to Mr. Marsden at the Bay of Islands, in 1815.) Although the foreign transferees (not knowing the native custom,) often wished others being co-proprietors to sign the document of transfer; and this, bye-and-bye, came to be looked upon as the New Zealand custom; whence came the modern belief that all must unite in a sale; and thence it followed that one could not sell his own land! But such is not of New Zealand origin.

(iv.) Their order of Succession of Inheritance, as clearly shown in their genealogical recitals, etc., was from father to son; but on the demise of the eldest, the next brother succeeded to the inheritance, pro tempore, and so on; eventually, however, reverting to the children of the senior brother, and mainly to the eldest of them. Hence, a New Zealander in speaking of his right to land, (even after the decease of his parent through whom he derived his title) preferred to mention his grandfather’s name, and himself as deriving from him. It must not be forgotten, that the living brother invariably took to wife the widow of his deceased brother, unless she destroyed herself, or he was willing to forego his right: this, also often entangled the succession still more, especially to a European.

(v.) Usufructuary:—Of which two classes may be here noticed. (1.) Permanent: as the right of a man to a hidden rock, or shoal, at sea for cod-fishing; to a tidal bank for shell-fish; or to a certain wood, or tract of land, for taking certain birds; or to a defined portion of a plain for quail and rats; or to a forest, for hinau, tawa, or karaka berries; or to a defined portion of a flax swamp for cutting flax; or to a spot for an eel-weir; or to a hill, etc., for digging fern-root. Sometimes there would be a double-right to the usufruct of the same estate, i.e. one man or family would have the right to the eels, another to the ducks: one to the fern-root, another to the rats, quails, etc. Those permanent usufruct rights often originated in transfers or gifts, and generally continued in the first line of descent. They were mostly easily managed by the New Zealanders before the incoming of the European; or, rather, before the younger natives became infiltrated with novel European notions. (2.) Temporary:—often only for a year or season; such as, to the fruit (juice) of the tutu shrub, or to the watery honey of the flax (phormium) flowers, growing within certain bounds—to the young shags of a certain cliff—to the Inanga (whitebait), or other annual fish, of a certain part of a stream. In all such cases the right was generally made known by a pole being stuck up with fragments of wearing apparel, or a bunch of flax, grass, or such like, tied around it; and this was usually respected.

(vi.) There were also other peculiar rights to property,—such as that of the ariki, or head chief, to a whale, porpoise, or dolphin (“royal fish,”) cast anywhere on shore within his territories; to a white crane, if in any of his streams. (These, on being seen, should not be touched, but information given directly to him, the supreme lord.) Also, to any wreck driven on a desolate shore; but a wreck of any kind, or even a canoe and property of friends and relatives upsetting off a village, and drifting on shore where a village was, became the property of the people of that [25] village; although it might be that the people in the canoe had all got safely to land or were coming by special invitation to visit that very village, perhaps to lament over their dead! Strangest of all, the (unfortunate?) people in the upset canoe would be the very first to resent—even to fighting—any kind alleviation of this strange law! so that such conduct, while appearing to us (as Blackstone says) to be “consonant neither ‘to reason nor humanity,’ was not to them the ‘adding of sorrow to sorrow.”’ So also, goods floating at sea (a canoe, etc.); or found on the high-road; or anywhere dropped, not hidden; became the property of the finder. Recently hidden property, if discovered, was restored to its owner, on its being clearly identified; but anciently hidden property (mostly stone axes, and stone ornaments), became the property of the lord of the manor, who sometimes gave it (ex proprio motu) to the descendants of the person, when known, to whom it had belonged.

22. They had several Acquired Habits, some of which were notably good, others peculiar. Their great industry has been already mentioned. They usually carried their heavy loads strapped on their backs, where they also carried their children. They were fond of sitting squatting on their haunches, both on land and in their canoes. They often used their toes to pick up any small article with. They endured their smoky houses without inconvenience; and always ate their food out of doors in all weathers. They saluted each other on meeting, by placing their noses in contact, rubbing and pressing them; in this way chiefs saluted chiefs, and slaves slaves. They often signified their assent to anything by a slight elevation of the head, or of the eyebrows. Silence was the understood sign of dissent. They measured length, especially cordage, etc., with expanded arms; or by stretching themselves on the ground, or surface, to be measured. Lice of two kinds, (Pediculus hum. capitis, and P. hum. corporis), with which their heads and clothing formerly abounded, they uniformly caught and cracked with their teeth. They had a peculiar gait, turning in their toes, and planting the sole flat on the ground, one foot closely before the other; hence they walked in very narrow pathways, yet they trod firmly, and stood strong on their legs.

23. Of Drinks, save water, no people had fewer; of really artificial ones none. In summer they everywhere drank the sweet and pleasant juice of the Tutu, sometimes mixed with gelatinous seaweeds, or a little prepared fern root, to give it consistency. Sometimes they mixed the fresh gathered watery honey of the flax flowers Korari (Phormium), with water; and sometimes the large roots of the cabbage-tree Ti (Cordyline australis), were slowly baked and bruised up in water, and yielded a sweetish drink.

24. Their Masticatories were few and scanty; yet most of what they had they prized. The resin of the Tarata (Pittosporum eugenioides), they gathered and mixed into a ball with the gum of the sow-thistle, which they chewed. A kind of Bitumen, which was sometimes found thrown up on their coasts, though rarely, and called by them “Kauritawhiti,” [27] and “Mimiha,” they also chewed. As they did the fresh resin of the Kauri tree (Dammara Australis). In using them, they passed them freely from one to another without hesitation.

25. Fond of Children, Pets, and Playthings, they endeavoured to domesticate a few animals. Foremost among them was their dog, which, for many reasons, must have been one of their great treasures; this animal they prized for his long tail-hair, his skin, and his flesh. In some places they dexterously managed to flay the outer skin of his living tail in narrow strips, so as to obtain the much coveted long white hair; which in time grew again! They also had a very ingenious mode of castrating them. This variety of dog has long become wholly extinct in New Zealand. Next to their dog, as being like him wholly at liberty, were the two large sea gulls, the Karoro, and the Ngoiro (Larus sp.) these, however, were of no real service; they would go to the sea and return again to the village. The large brown parrot, Kaakaa (Nestor meridionalis) and the Parson-bird Tui, or Koko (Prosthemadera Novæ Seelandiæ) they also tamed; the former as a useful decoy-bird for catching his fellow-parrots; the latter, merely for his song, talking, and antics. They kept the Tui in a kind of rude cage, and taught him to repeat tolerably well a long song; while the poor parrot was always kept fast confined, tied by his leg to a cord with a running noose on a light perch or spear. They also sometimes kept the white crane, Kotuku (Ardea flavirostris), in a miserable cage of basket work, much smaller than the bird required to stand upright in! where they scantily fed him with small fresh-water fish; this was done for the sake of its prized feathers, which were regularly plucked every four or six months. {Note 16}

26. Of Games and Diversions the New Zealanders had several; some of them were remarkably innocent. For children they had the whipping top, which, curiously enough, closely resembled the common English one; also, a game called whai, played with a string, much like the “cat’s-cradle” of the English children; and another called poi, played with a large light ornamented ball attached to a short string. Young men often strove for the mastery in short spear exercises, and in projecting long dry fern stalks over a piece of level ground, or sandy beach; and in wrestling, running, leaping, hopping with or without a pole, climbing, swinging, paddling a small canoe, swimming and diving; in the three last-mentioned the girls also took part. They had also, for the young of both sexes, games of guessing; in one of which a pebble was hidden among a company;—of repeating long involved sentences without stay or hesitation;—of singing;—and of regular gesticulation by a company all sitting. They had various dances, some of which were mostly performed in their villages by the young women; while the rougher dances, accompanied with grimaces, and defiance, and brandishing of weapons, culminating in the hideous war-dance, were generally executed by the adult men. In dancing, however, with the sole exception of the war-dance, and also in swimming and other aquatic exercises, they were very much inferior to the other Polynesians. Old men often amused themselves with looking on and encouraging the younger ones, and especially with kite-flying, and in playing with the poi-ball. Their kites (pakaukau) were wholly different from European ones, and more resembling those of the Chinese. They were very ingeniously and neatly made with round and flat rushes, [29] and hovered very prettily in the air. They usually sang or chaunted a song to the kite while flying it.