sons. The following description of one of their public store-houses is worthy of attention: The most remarkable among them [huts] was the public store-house, or repository of the general stock of komeras, or sweet potatoes, which stood in the centre of the village: several posts driven into the ground and floored over with pieces of timber fastened close together, formed a stage about four feet high, upon which the building was erected. The sides and roof were of reeds so compactly arranged as to be impervious to rain; a sliding door-way scarcely large enough for a man to creep through, was the only aperture, beyond which the roof projected so far as to form a kind of verandah, which was ornamented with pieces of plank painted red and carved in various grotesque and indecent figures, The carving is a work of much labour and ingenuity; and artists competent to its execution are rare. Wevere pointed out to us the man who was then employed in completing the decorations of his store. house, and told us, that he had brought him from the river Thames (a distance of two hundred miles from the Wycaddy) for that purpose. Mr. Marsden on approaching the coast of New Zealand, on his second visit to the islands, makes mention of about forty canoes employed in catching sword-fish intended for winter stores. He also observed stages erected on the shore for the purpose of drying the fish. The canoes dared not approach the European vessel in consequence of being tabbooed. We have noticed above that pigs were introduced into the islands some years ago, and we cannot but regard it as one step towards civilization, that the natives have shewn themselves so anxious to increase their number. As pork is not a favourite meat with the New Zealander, it is chiefly as an article of traffic that they encourage the breed of this valuable animal. Many of the fruits and vegetables introduced by Captain Cook are not only still in existence, but have been increased by cultivation. So far, also, are the natives from despising the charitable endeavours of Europeans to render them services of this simple but truly valuable kind, that they care fully tabboo the spots in which seeds or plants may be deposited by them. But it is time for us to speak of the more direct and active measures that have been made of late years by those who have taken a lively interest in the temporal and eternal interest of these distant islanders. We have already mentioned the visits of the Rev. S. Marsden, and have cursorily spoken of several individuals who have nobly abandoned the comforts and society of civilized life that they may be a means of extending similar blessings to this uncivilized race; we shall now proceed, therefore, to give a brief but general view of the measures they have been uniformly pursuing, and endeavour to estimate the success which has attended them. It being evident that the best mode of instructing the natives in agriculture would be, that the missionaries and their European assistants, should become agriculturists themselves, a bargain was made with Shungie, a New Zealand chief, by which about thirteen thousand acres of land were purchased for forty-eight axes. Two stations were also selected where farms were established, and almost every variety of the most useful vegetables of Europe extensively cultivated. From one of these, the most hopeful accounts were received in the year 1821. Mr. Francis Hall writes of himself and Mr. Kemp at Kiddeekiddee: grain with my own hands, and had no tive and powerful incentives in the hitherto unchanged condition of society, it would nevertheless be very extraordinary should they retain no valuable recollections of the advantages resulting from tillage, and the various useful arts in which they have been instructed. Several of the natives have been particularly noticed by Mr. Butler as remarkably expert and useful. The following extract from one of the journals kept by this gentleman cannot fail of being read Mr. W. Hall writes from the other with great interest: settlement: I have a sufficient quantity of wheat growing to serve my house and family the year round if nothing happens; besides several patches in different parts of the surrounding country, among the natives. This, however, is not all; one of the natives was early instructed in the art of brick-making, and shortly became so very expert in the business, that, with his assistance, Mr. Butler succeeded in burning 8,000 bricks before the settlement had been established six months. The natives were likewise employed in sawing timber, in considerable quantities, for exportation, as well as for the immediate use of the settlements. The number of natives employed by the Missionaries in agricultural and other employments, has varied of course with times and circumstances. Sometimes there have been about twenty employed in the fields and garden belonging to a single farm besides those who were engaged in sawing timber, making fences, &c. At others a warlike expedition or some superstitious rite has hastily recalled these half-educated labourers to their barbarous habits. It is scarcely possible that this experimental mode of instruction, in the earliest and most indispensable occupations of civilized life, should prove entirely fruitless. However difficult it may be for the natives, thus usefully employed, to forget or to renounce the feelings and the habits of their former lives, surrounded as they are by the most ac Tywangha is now, and has ever been since our arrival at New Zealand, one of the most active and zealous of all the natives, in working for and assisting the Europeans; he has never flinched from his duty, either by night or by day, whether wet or dry. He has accompanied me in all my journies, has been my guide, and has carried me through rivers, swamps, &c. I engaged him soon after our arrival, and he has never left us; he has been constantly employed, and has been most diligent and active. He is quick in discerning, and learns agriculture very fast. He understands very well the breaking up of land, burning off the rubbish, laying it out, trenching, &c. I have taught him to reap, and mow, and thrash, &c. I have this seed-time begun to teach him to sow, dibble, &c.; and erc these lines reach you, I have no doubt, God willing, has a good knowledge of gardening; he but he will be a complete farmer. can form beds, plant out, sow small seeds, drill peas and beans, dress strawberries, plant potatoes, &c. In short, he has been wrought himself, but has brought his my right hand; and has not merely friends into the field of labour. Europeans that have visited the settlement have expressed their surprise at the quantity of farming, fencing, gardening, &c. which has been done in so short a time, and under such peculiar circumstances: but this man it is who has put towing it to the settlement, and in sawing every wheel in motion. In felling timber, it, he stands the first. I pay him an axe per month, and provide him with Euro pean clothes. He All The officers of the society, by which the missionary settlers are supported in these islands, have acted, from the very first, upon the conviction, that little success can be reasonably expected from their labours in their more appropriate calling, until they have in 1 troduced among the natives more settled habits, and led them to acknowledge the blessings arising from regular occupation, social aid, and friendly intercourse. They have not simply established missionaries therefore in the country, and furnished them with cattle, and every facility for agricultural improvement, but they have constantly supplied them with large assortments of the most useful tools, for general distribution. It is truly gratifying to read, in the journals of the missionaries, the repeated accounts which are given of the eagerness, and even rough importunity of the natives, for axes, hoes, &c. Mr. Marsden most seriously laments the insufficient means of the society at home to answer, in any adequate degree, these urgent and repeated demands. He regards the number of these useful implements, considerable as it certainly is, which has hitherto been forwarded to these settlements, as little more than a drop in a bucket. So sensible are the natives of the temporal advantages to be derived from European settlers, that many chiefs have shewn themselves seriously offended, when told that Europeans could not be spared to be stationed in their districts. These are most hopeful indications; we must acknowledge, however, that there have been gloomy seasons, and that others must be expected. Some of our readers may recollect the visit of Shungie and another New Zealand Chief to this country. It was fondly anticipated by many that, this visit might be productive of the most beneficial results. It was expected, and not unreasonably, that the minds of these natives would be greatly opened and enlarged, by the new scenes about to be exhibited before them. But it proved otherwise. It now appears that Shungee's principal object in visiting England was to obtain a large supply of firearms and ammunition, for aggressive warfare upon the neighbouring tribes, on his return to his native country. He was treated with great kindness in England, but not exactly according to his own notions of respect. A great variety of articles of ironmongery were presented to him, comprizing the most useful tools for the improvement of a country just emerging from barbarism. But, such was his propensity for war, and his comparative contempt for every useful implement, for purposes of agriculture or handicraft, that, on his arrival at Port Jackson, in returning to his native country, he actually bartered them for muskets and gunpowder. Immediately on setting foot in New Zealand, he behaved to the European settlers with marked unkindness, and they were consequently treated in a most vexatious manner by many of the subordinate chiefs. Still, however, it seems not to have been his wish to drive them from the settlement. Shortly after, his whole attention was directed to his warlike expeditions, in which he proved successful. The scenes of blood and cannibalism that were actually witnessed by the European settlers must have been horrid beyond description, and their intoxicating effects upon the minds of the half-educated labourers were most distressing; but it may be hoped that matters have since returned to their former state. Even during this period of blood and outrage, axes and hoes were in request; they were taken, it is true, by violence, in some instances; but the eagerness to possess them must always be a hopeful indication, whatever may be the means employed. The passion for war, and the horrid rites of anthropophagy, are dreadful barriers at present against the introduction of Christianity, and even the early elements of civilization; but time, and zeal, and prudence, and above all the superintending aid of Providence, we firmly believe will ultimately surmount them, and, both in a a temporal and spiritual sense, will cause the uncultivated wastes of New Zcaland to blossom like the rose. MR. HUME AND MR. PELLY. To the Editor of the Asiatic Journal. York Place, Dec. 22, 1823. Sir:-I can assure you that I had no wish to return to the subject of Mr. Pelly's claim for £2,000 from the East-India Company, and, particularly so, to notice any observations by an anonymous writer: but the gar.. bled and unfair manner in which the Old Proprietor has published my letter in your Journal for December, obliges me to request that you will, as an act of justice, publish in your next Journal a correct copy (sent herewith) of the correspondence which he has garbled, and so strongly misrepresented. I am perfectly willing to leave the facts of the case, with all his observations, to the Proprietors; but I entreat that the Old Proprietor will in future confine himself to truth. As Mr. Pelly has thought it of sufficient consequence to make the delivery of my letter of the 16th of September a subject of complaint, and also to state that he did not receive it until the 19th, I wrote to Mr. Walker, the master of the Inn at Minchinhampton, to whom I had given charge of the letter early on the 18th, to be delivered at eleven o'clock on that day, to ascertain the cause of the alleged delay: and the following is a copy of the answer received. "Minchinhampton, Oct. 12, 1823. "Sir:-In reply to your's of the 10th, I beg to assure you that the letter intrusted to my care was put into the Post-office, on the same day (the 18th), before the hour of eleven o'clock; I have also made application to the Post-master, who directs me to say, that the letter in question was delivered in due order to Mr. Pelly on the same day. "I am, respectfully, yours, &c. (Signed) "DAN. WALKER." "To Joseph Hume, Esq., M. P." Minchinhampton is the post town, distant only a mile and a half from Mr. Pelly's residence, and I had passed his door in going to Minchinhampton. I give the above as a specimen of the nature and importance of the complaint brought by Mr. Pelly against me; and if it were really worth the trouble, I could prove the objections urged by the Old ProAsiatic Journ.--No. 98. prietor equally groundless as that of Mr. Pelly's. I remain, yours, &c. JOSEPH HUME. Times of the 8th Oct. 1823. To the Proprietors of East-India Stock. seph Hume's attack on me, at your last General Court, in reality consisted of any thing more than a repetition of the same misrepresentations which it must be in your recollections my relative, Mr. John Henry Pelly, so completely exposed and refuted at the General Court preceding, I might, perhaps, considering the confidence with which Mr. Hume's statements are made, have been induced to repel them in detail. But since this gentleman has, in every instance in which he has made my conduct the subject of animadversion, been convicted of the most unfair misinterpretations and palpable errors, I will not trespass on your patience by offering a single syllable in refutation of these last vituperations, lest it should be supposed I can so far undervalue your judgments, as to imagine you capable of attaching any weight to the assertions of a person on whose accuracy it has been repeatedly shown no confidence ought to be reposed. The respect, however, which I entertain for you, and the value I attach to your good opinion, impel me to submit to you the following correspondence, whence you will become acquainted with my motives for declining to re-open this discussion. The unavoidable absence of the friend who was to have communicated this to you in Court, occasions the necessity of my now laying it before you : "To J. H. Pelly, Esq. "London, 16th Sept. 1823. "Sir:-As it is my intention to take notice, at the ensuing General Court, at the India-House, of what was said at the last General Court on the subject of your contract, and the supposed and alleged contradictions, I think it proper to give you notice of my intentions, that you may in person, or by your friends, be prepared VOL. XVII. Ꮓ to answer any thing that may be said to require an answer. "I am your most obedient servant, This letter was received by me through the Post-office, three days after its date, and was not left by Mr. Hume at my door, as he is represented to have stated. "To Joseph Hume, Esq. 'Hyde, 20th Sept. 1823. "Sir:-I yesterday received your letter of the 16th inst., apprizing me that it is your intention to take notice, at the ensuing "General Court at the India House, of what was said at the last General Court on the subject of my contract, and the supposed and alleged contradictions;" and therefore that you "think it proper to give me notice of your intention, that I may, in person, or by my friends, be prepared to answer any thing that may be said to require an answer." "Had you, at a time when it is most usual and most important to apprize a gentleman of an intention to impeach his conduct, or attack his veracity, given me, previous to the meeting of the Court of Proprietors, in December last, notice of your designs, when you in substance asserted, and none of my friends were present to contradict you, that I had obtained a remuneration for my losses on false pretences, I should have been thankful to you for such an instance of common courtesy. "But after the subject to which your notice refers has been, according to es tablished rule in such cases in the first instance, and subsequently at your instrumentality, no less than seven times before that Court, to say nothing of your renewal of it in the public papers; and since you have on every occasion been convicted of misrepresentation and mis-statement, both as respected the Court of Directors and myself, arising either from an imperfect perusal of the papers which lay for the consideration of the Proprietors, or from forgetfulness of the material parts of their contents; you must excuse me if I frankly say, that I cannot acknowledge any obligation to you for this late and solitary instance of your attention. "Having, much to my own inconve nience and expense, proceeded to London on former occasions; and considering as I do, and as every friend does whom I have consulted, that the question has been set at rest by the resolutions of the authorities to which it was referred, I must decline your invitation to re-open the discussion, and remain satisfied that the Court of Proprietors will not suffer themselves to be made the medium of vexatious and interminable attacks upon any individual, much less upon one on whose conduct they have in effect passed their judgment, after the most ample means and time afforded for deliberation, by confirming to him, both in Court and by ballot, the compensation awarded to him by the the Court of Directors. "I am your obedient servant, (Signed) "J. HINDE PELLY." In quitting this subject, it is proper to notice Mr. Hume's concluding remarks. According to the newspaper reports, he is represented to have said, that he “attacked no individual without giving him previous notice," whereas, in no previous instance of his reiterated attacks on me, did he ever afford me even the slightest intimation of his designs. Thus has he commenced by misrepresenting me, and ended by misrepresenting himself. I am, Ladies and Gentlemen, Times of the 13th Oct. 1829. To the Proprietors of East India Stock. Ladies and Gentlemen:-I did not expect that it would have been requisite, after my statement in the General Court on the 24th ult., to address you again respecting the grant of £2,000 to Mr. John Hinde Pelly; but as he has, in The Times of the 8th inst., published a letter to you, and a copy of a correspondence with me, I deem it necessary once more to trouble you with a few remarks. I did not consider it necessary to reply to Mr. Pelly's letter of the 20th of September to me, as it is of exactly the same purport as other letters, to which he received suitable answers. It must be evident, from the line of public conduct which I have considered it my duty to follow at the East India-house, and in Parliament, that if I were to attend to the imputations and charges laid against me by all those persons whose unjust pretensions I have opposed, or whose disho |