the writer of the interesting little work which is now before us.

66

This work is the production of an officer in one of the military corps on board the Dromedary. The Dromedary was a King's ship. The principal object of the voyage was the conveyance of convicts to our settlements in New South Wales; after accomplishing which, its instructions were to proceed to New Zealand on a sort of experimental voyage for the benefit of the British navy. Captain Cook had mentioned in his voyages, that he thought the timber he had seen in New Zealand, if light enough, would make the finest masts for ships in the world ;" and this opinion had been strongly supported by subsequent navigators. The Dromedary, therefore, was directed by Government to make proper experiment, and to return with an ample cargo of cowry trees, as a substitute for a description of timber which is daily be coming more scarce and valuable in this country.

Our chief object in the present article is to furnish a sketch of the nature of the island, the character of the inhabitants, and their prospects of improvement; we shall not dwell, therefore, upon the various negociations that were entered into with the natives for the supply of this timber; but shall simply state that, after many vexatious and tantalizing delays and promises, the object of the voyage was ultimately accomplished in a very satisfactory and ample manner.

The journal we are now reviewing was undertaken by our officer for an object which cannot be too much applauded; "to assist in leading to the adoption of proper measures for extending the blessings of civilization to a people eminently gifted with every natural endowment, and inhabiting one of the finest islands in the South Seas." That we also may assist in forwarding the same views, we shall endeavour to furnish, from the several accounts to which we have above al

luded, a general, though cursory, view of the nature of the soil and climate, the productions of the country, the character of the natives, the various circumstances which favour or retard their advancement, the progress already made, and that which may be reasonably looked for.

The soil and climate are such, perhaps, as are most to be desired. They do not encourage sloth by spontaneous luxuriance, but abundantly reward the labours of the husbandman. In all countries, however fertile, nature has left much for human industry. In this she has not lavished her fruits, but has abundantly furnished the means of producing them. The wants of savages are few, and are chiefly supplied in New Zealand by a slight cultivation of the sweet and common potatoe. The soil, however, is admirably adapted for the cultivation of European vegetables, and is capable of producing two crops in the course of the year. The mildness of the climate may be estimated from the circumstance that the trees retain their verdure in the depth of winter. The cowry tree has been already noticed as a natural production of the country, peculiarly valuable as an article of external commerce. There is, likewise, another plant, the phormium tenax, a species of hemp, which combines in a remarkable degree the properties of hemp and flax. In common with the numerous islands of the Southern and Pacific Oceans, there is scarcely any variety of quadrupeds ; dogs and rats are the only indigenous animals belonging to this class; pigs, however, were introduced some years ago, and their breed has been much encouraged by the natives, as an article of traffic with the whalers and other vessels that may chance to visit them. We conclude this part of our subject with the expression of a wish that the natural history of these islands may shortly be investigated by some individual sufficiently acquainted with this useful and interesting science.

In the scale of civilization it must certainly be admitted, that the inhabitants of New Zealand are several degrees superior to the Aborigines of New Holland; but, as compared with the Polynesians, they are doubtless in a savage state; to say nothing of their horrid but inveterate propensity to cannibalism, their passion for war and their mode of conducting it, the inhuman treatment of their women, the filthiness of their habits, and their disregard for clothing are indisputable traits of barbarism. In common, also, with other savages, they are strongly addicted to thieving, and are continually giving vent to the wildest excesses of passion. The indiscriminate use which is made by them of every species of animal in the way of food is ludicrous as well as disgusting. Dogs are considered a great delicacy: and the visit of the Dromedary has furnished us with two other incidents which are worthy of being recorded. A cat, which had probably escaped from some European vessel, was offered on one occasion to the author and several of his companions, as a valuable present, and a good deal of surprise was manifested at their not eating it. In regard to the second anecdote, we must first observe, that rats are also considered a proper article of food; but the New Zealand rat being much smaller than that of Europe, " a chief expressed a wish for an importation of some from England to improve the breed, and thereby give him a more bountiful meal."

We shall here present our readers with several extracts from the volume before us, explanatory of the barbarous habits and superstitious observances of the New Zealanders:

As we were preparing to return to the ship, we were drawn to that part of the beach where the prisoners were, by the most doleful cries and lamentations. Here was the interesting young slave in a situation that ought to have softened the heart of the most unfeeling.

The man who had slain her father, having cut off his head, and preserved it by a

process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the unhappy daughter. At once she seized it with a degree of frenzy not to be described, pressed its inanimate nose to her own, and held it in this position until her tears ran over every part of it. She then laid it down, and with a bit of sharp shell disfigured her person in so shocking a manner, that, in a few minutes, not a vestige of her former beauty remained. She first began by cutting her arms, then her breasts, and latterly her face. Every incision was so deep as to cause a gush of blood; but

she seemed quite insensible to pain, and

lution. performed the operation with heroic reso

He, whose cruelty had caused this frightful exhibition, was evidently amazed at the horror with which we viewed it; and

laying hold of the bead by the hair, which

was long and black, offered to sell it to us for an axe, turned it in various ways to shew it off to the best advantage, and placed it in the basket from whence he had when no purchaser was to be found, retaken it. The features were as perfect as when in life, and though the daughter was quite grown up, the head of her father appeared to be that of a youthful and hand

some man.

A few yards from this scene of distress was a prisoner whom the lot of partition had separated from his captive family. He pressed the nose of an infant child to his own, while his wives, who sat around and joined in his lamentations, performed with a shell the same operation upon their persons, which have just been described in the case of the young female. The slaves are condemned by their masters to hard labour; they are fed like the rest of the family, not having, of course, the privilege of eating with those that are free; and they hold their lives upon a most pre

carious tenure.* When a member of the

chief's family dies, a certain number of the slaves, proportioned to the rank of the person, are sacrificed to appease the spirit of the deceased. A woman was pointed out to us who had been twice selected for execution; but, having obtained private information of the doom that awaited her,

by concealing herself in the woods until the funeral ceremonies were over, she had hitherto escaped.

We could readily extract from the

* At the time that Perchico's son died in New South Wales, there were two or three Cookee boys, or inferior New Zealanders, at Mr. Maisden's establishment, and it required the interposition of his authority, distant as the parties were from their own country, to prevent their being sacrificed by the friends of the deceased young chief, to appease his departed spirit.

journals of the missionaries, a variety of statements equally horrid with the above, if a succession of such pictures were either necessary or desirable.

Many of their superstitious customs are very similar to those of the Hindoos. Infanticide is very common. It is customary also for widows to hang themselves on the death of their husbands, and the places where such sacrifices occur, are marked as sacred by the natives. Traits of resemblance will also be recognized in some of the observances mentioned in the following extract.

The belief in the re-appearance of the dead is universal among the New Zealanders; they fancy they hear their deceased relatives speaking to them when the wind is high. Whenever they pass the place where a man has been murdered, it is customary for each person to throw a stone upon it; and the same practice is observed by all those who visit a cavern at the North Cape, through which the spirits of the departed men are supposed to pass on their way to a future world.

In alluding to their superstitions, it may not be irrelevant to observe, that they ascribe the most fatal consequences to the act of eating in their houses.

A daughter of King George (a New Zealand chief) being very ill, food was occasionally carried to her from the ship; and her parents were urged, on no account, to permit her to expose herself to the open air; but the injunction could not be complied with; and, in the most inclement weather, she was obliged to abandon her hut whenever she had occasion to eat.

Consequences no less calamitous are supposed to await those who enter a house where any article of animal food is suspended over their heads. A dead pigeon, or a piece of pork hung from the roof, was a better protection from molestation than a sentinel; and latterly, this practice has been followed by our people, who lived on shore, with great success, whenever they wished to be free from the intrusion of the natives.

Though all their superstitions were inviolably respected by themselves when on shore, the moment a New Zealander came on board, he considered himself absolved from them, and at once conformed to our manners and customs.

Another of their superstitious customs, and one which is constantly and universally observed, is styled tabbooing, which is, making persons and

things sacred, so as to render it criminal for others to approach them. This power is exercised by the chiefs, and frequently for commendable purposes. The ground in cultivation is tabbooed during the sowing season, as also the persons employed in cultivating it. The public stores of provisions are likewise tabbooed. Whatever articles the chiefs are anxious to appropriate to their own use are carefully tabbooed. The ceremony is very simple, and very various; the most usual mode is for the chief to pull a thread from his mat and tie it round the object, remarking at the same time that he has "tabbooed it." So general is the custom, that it is frequently employed for very absurd purposes: the following is an

instance:

When we were getting into our boat, we met Shungie's mother on a lonely part of the beach; she was very old, and her hair was perfectly white. In consequence of the departure of her son, she was tabbooed; and as, among other restrictions of this superstition, the persons under its influence are forbidden to touch food with their hands, a woman sat beside her with a basket of potatoes, and put them into her mouth as she required them.

We extract the following passage from one of the journals of the Rev. S. Marsden, as being descriptive of some of their peculiar and horrid customs in their warlike expeditions.

When a chief is killed in a regular battle, the victims cry aloud, as soon as he falls, "Throw us the man,' if he falls within the lines of his own party. If the party, whose chief is dead, are intimidated, they immediately comply with the command. As soon as the victim is received, his head is immediately cut off; and a proclamation issued for all the chiefs to attend who belong to the victorious party, to assist in performing the accustomed religious ceremony, in order to ascertain, by augury, whether their God will prosper them in the present battle. If the priest, after the performance of the ceremony, says, that their God is propitious, they are inspired with fresh courage to attack the enemy; but if the priest returns answer, that their God will not be propitious, they quit the field of battle with sullen silence. The head already in possession, is preserved for the chief, on whose account the war was undertaken, as a satisfaction for the

injury which he, or some one of his tribe had received from the enemy.

When the war is over, and the head properly cured, it is sent round to all the chief's friends, as a gratification to them, and to shew them that justice had been obtained from the offending party.

With respect to the body of the chief, it is cut up into small portions, and dressed for those who were in the battle, under the immediate direction of the chief who retains the head; and if he wishes to gratify any of his friends who are not present, small portions are reserved for them, on the receipt of which, they give thanks to their God for the victory obtained over the enemy. If the flesh should be so putrid, from the length of time before it is received, that it cannot be eaten, a substitute is eaten instead.

They not only eat the flesh of the chiefs, but are wont to take their bones and distribute them among their friends, who make whistles of some of them and fishhooks of others. These they value and preserve with care, as memorials of the death of their enemies.

It is also customary with them, for a man, when he kills another in battle, to taste the blood of the soldier. He imagines that he shall then be safe from the wrath of the God of him that is fallen; believing that from the moment he tastes the blood of the man whom he has killed, the dead man becomes a part of himself, and places him under the protection of the Atua, or God of the departed spirit.

Mr. Kendall informed me, that, on one occasion, Shungie ate the left eye of a great chief whom he killed in battle at Shukeangha. The New Zealanders believe that the left eye, some time after death, ascends to the heavens and becomes a star

in the firmament. Shungie ate the chief's eye from revenge, and under the idea of increasing his own future glory and brightness, when his own left eye should become

a star.

It is gratifying to the vanquished, to know that the heads of their chiefs are preserved by the enemy; for when the conqueror wishes to make peace, he takes the heads of the chiefs along with him, and exhibits them to their tribe. If the tribe are desirous of putting an end to the contest, they cry aloud at the sight of the heads of their chiefs, and all hostilities terminate. This is the signal that the conqueror will grant them any terms which they may require. But if the tribe are determined to renew the contest and risk the issue of another battle, they do not cry.

We shall now furnish, from Captain Cruise's journal, a few specimens of their more peaceful customs:

Before the ship was brought to she was surrounded with canoes, full of the friends and relations of the chiefs we had on board. To salute them, as well as to exhibit the riches they had acquired by their visit to Port Jackson, our New Zealanders began firing their muskets without intermission, and, indeed, so prodigal were they of their powder, that one might presume little of it would remain after landing for the destructive purposes for which they had gone so far to procure it. When their fathers, brothers, &c. were admitted into the ship, the scene exceeded description; the muskets were all laid aside, and every appearance of joy vanished. It is customary with these extraordinary people to go through the same ceremony upon meeting as upon taking leave of their friends. They join their noses together, and remain in this position for at least half an hour; during which time, they sob and howl in the most doleful manner. If there be many friends gathered around the person who has returned, the nearest relation takes possession of his nose, while the others hang upon his arms, shoulders, and legs, and keep perfect time with the chief mourner (if he may be so called) in the various expressions of his lamentations. This ended, they resume their wonted cheerfulness, and enter into a detail of all that has happened during their separation.

The practice of joining noses appears to be an ordinary and very common mode of salutation. The following ludicrous incident is extracted from a journal by the Rev. S. Marsden.

After this business was settled, a chief came to salute me with his bloody nose, having got part of the skin knocked off in the battle. I laughed at him for presenting his bloody nose for me to rub with mine, and pointed to the wound which he had received. He smiled, and said it was New Zealand fashion.

Uncivilized as the New Zealanders certainly are, there are certain occupations, both of a public and private nature, to which their necessities urge them, which, if properly encouraged, may prove an excellent ground-work for settled habits. We have already observed that the soil does not spontaneously supply the food which is requisite for their subsistence. They are compelled, therefore, to grow potatoes. But this is not all; they find it equally necessary to provide sufficient stores for the unproductive sea