New Zealand Forest Scenery.
By the
An Old New Zealand Missionary,
Author of
“Te Ika a Maui; or, New Zealand and Its Inhabitants. ”
24,
Paternoster Row;
And
.Wanganui , New Zealand
Claims for its Britain in ages to be,
Bright with fair visions and hopes beatific,
Glorious and happy thy future I see.
Fifty years hence—look forward and see it,
Realm of New Zealand, what then shalt thou be!
Even should Britain’s decay be down written,
All shall be greatness and glory with thee.
Tupper.
Preface.
In presenting this Work to the Public, a few words may be required by way of Preface.
The brief accout given of the Church Mission in New Zealand is only to be viewed as a sketch, and that of necessity a partial one, being chiefly confined to the Writer’s own observation. Fully to do justice to this subject would extend it far beyond the limits of the present work.
Many accounts of the New Zealand War, which has been raging for the last twelve years, having already appeared from those taking opposite views, have of necessity so widely differed, that the Writer being personally acquainted with most of the leading characters, as well as with their points of difference, has ventured to add another, with the desire of reconciling as far as possible the discrepancies of both, and present a simple and unbiassed account, which will be found strictly consonant with truth.
New Zealand, without doubt, is the colony of Great
the field for them to select, which, whilst it presents the greatest resemblance to their native land, still preserves British thought and sentiment, and offers all the advantages of a new country to those who seek to better their position.
Statistics are added, which will abundantly prove all advanced, and make its wonderful progress most evident, satisfactorily showing what a change British industry and perserverance have effected in an antipodal wilderness, in founding a colony which has not yet attained its thirtieth year.
With these few remarks, the Writer submits his little Work to the kind consideration of the Public, to whom it is respectfully dedicated.
March, 1868.
New Zealand;
Its
Past and Present State
Its
Past and Present State
The Church at Otake, on the Manganui a Te Ao.
Chapter I.
Sunshine and Shade; or, the Past, Present, and Future of the Church in New Zealand.
The last great command given by our Lord to His followers previous to His Ascension was, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark xvi. 15.) We cannot therefore suppose, that such a command would be given without its being intended to be obeyed, or that those who
The miraculous powers, indeed, which were bestowed upon the earliest proclaimers of the Gospel, may seem to have been withdrawn; such as raising the dead, healing the sick, and speaking the languages of the Heathen. Still, it is a question whether miracles of a purely spiritual nature are not now as evidently wrought in manifestation of God’s power among the Heathen, as the more material ones were in times of old. The state of the world now is not what it was in Apostolic times; and therefore it is reasonable to suppose that the Lord suits His dealings and operations so that they shall best meet the exigencies of the times. The Great God of the Universe may so work, that the progress made towards the accomplishment of His purposes may not for a time be seen, and yet the progression made be still sure and certain.
The advance of the Gospel in Heathen lands in this our day is evident, and fully establishes the fact that it is the Lord’s doing. The wonderful way the Word of God is multiplied and dispersed throughout the world, can only be regarded as a miracle, far greater than that wrought at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. The preparing of the way of the Gentiles is also to be observed,—a highway for the Heathen. The increase of commerce; the bringing of the most distant ends of the world together; the facilities of intercourse with nations, scarcely known even by name some few years ago; the breaking down the barriers which opposed the entrance of the Gospel, as in China and Japan; clearly prove a work is going on, and on such a scale of magnitude as far exceeds that of past experience.
The extension of the Gospel in the first century of our era was most surprising. But soon the energy of diffusion
If the first epoch of our faith excites our wonder at the extent of the field of its operations, what shall we think now? Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Are we not entering upon another epoch of the Church? Is it not now represented by the flying eagle? Is not the Lord now rapidly fulfilling His Word? The invention of steam; the remarkable
The present field of the Gospel warfare is only to be measured by the surface of the whole world. In every part are detachments of His army sent; and whilst there are apparent seasons of sunshine and shade in each, still, throughout the whole, the Redeemer’s kingdom is surely, certainly, and permanently advancing, and attests the fact, that the Lord is setting up His kingdom on earth, and making His banner an ensign for the Heathen.
The very fact of fighting, contending, and striving, proves the presence of an enemy, and a powerful one also, being no less an one than the prince of this world; he has his armies, and far more numerous than those apparently are, which belong to the Chief Captain of our salvation. Shall we be surprised if he seeks to make it appear that he is the conqueror? In ordinary wars, how common is it for the losing side to issue false despatches, and to make the public think it is conquering, when, in reality, it is on the point of being conquered and destroyed. The world, too, is far more ready to believe the one than the other; but still, sooner or later, truth must prevail. The Kingdom of Christ must be established, and He must reign over it for evermore.
In taking a view of the past state of the New Zealand Church, it will be necessary first to give a short description of the Maori race before the Gospel was introduced amongst them. We cannot well picture to ourselves a race of men more savage and debased, more strongly bound with an age-rivetted chain, than they were. Killing was literally no murder, and man regarded his fellow-man as
Captain Cook, who first made us acquainted with New Zealand, and who has left such a faithful account of its inhabitants, particularly mentions their incessant wars and cannibal propensities. Perhaps it is not too much to say, that war was chiefly carried on that they might indulge in their cannibal feasts; and living in an island so destitute of land animals, we see, perhaps, the true origin of this horrid practice, although their traditions assert the contrary, and affirm that it was first done to strike terror into their enemies. A corroboration of this idea is to be found in a circumstance which occurred since whalers visited these islands. One of these vessels was induced to land a small party of Maories on the Island of Rotuma. In order to strike terror into the comparatively unwarlike inhabitants, the invaders killed some of them, plucked out their eyes and swallowed them, and eat their hearts. The natives were so horror-struck, that though many times more numerous than their visitors, they submitted themselves entirely to them, and were henceforth treated as their slaves. A similar thing occurred when some of the Maories were in a like manner taken to the Chatham Isles; the poor Mori-ori were thus cruelly treated, and compelled to take the Maories as their masters.
What horrid atrocities and unnatural repasts has the bloodstained land of New Zealand witnessed ! Even when the lives of those taken in war were spared, still the poor slave, though he might be kept for a time to cultivate his master’s land, was yet little more than store provision; and when fat and in good condition, liable any day to be knocked on the head and cast into the oven. Many a memento of this horrid custom still remains; the same word was equally used for a tame pig, or pet bird, as for a slave; they were all mokai,
But no more convincing proof is required of the frequency of this practice than the old Maori middens; there, amongst the heaps of shells, and bones of birds and fish, are the charred fragments of human bones; and, along the entire length of New Zealand’s shores, similar hillocks are to be seen standing forth in strong relief to the surrounding sand hills, as so many monuments of bye-gone barbarism and cruelty. But enough; for further particulars on this subject, the early journals of the Missionaries should be consulted.
In addition to other causes of insecurity of life, was the Tapu; an institution which completely placed the life and property of everyone in the power of the priests and chiefs. However outrageous its acts and requirements, they could not be resisted. Another of the many evils of the Heathen State was the Makutu—witchcraft. If a wasting disease attacked any one, it was generally attributed to an evil eye, or the act of some enemy; and if the sufferer could not fix his suspicions on any one, he had merely to consult the mata-kite, or seer, who at once would name the individual; and, as in former days, the natives imagined that death did not occur naturally, a kind of inquest was held at the decease of any one of rank, to find out the person who caused it. When an old lady died father suddenly, the enquiry was made as to what was the food she had last eaten; that was found to be quite correct; but it came out in evidence that she had unfortunately scraped her potatoes with a borrowed knife, which at once fixed the cause on the lender, who, without any further ceremony, was immediately despatched.
Before the Gospel came, life was not prized, and man thought no more of killing his fellow man than the hunter does of securing his game. The first white man seen by the Pakeha, or European, from that of the Maori.
One of our zealous teachers, in giving me his history, said that formerly he was a great man eater, and delighted in war because it enabled him to indulge in his favorite repast; that on one occasion he joined a war party in an attack on a neighbouring tribe, that they were successful and killed a great many, and then as usual they feasted on the cooked bodies of the slain; but whilst doing so, a native arrived who had been at one of the Mission Stations. He spoke to them of the wickedness they were committing, and said that God’s word forbad them to do so. When he heard these words they appeared very foolish. Why, thought he, is it any more wicked to eat a man, than a dog, or pig, or anything else; is not one as good food as another? The words, however, which he had heard, were remembered, and the next time he was present at a similar repast, he thought his favorite food did not taste as sweet as usual, he had lost his relish for it; and when he was again invited, he loathed the very sight of it. The word he had heard sunk deep in his mind; he could not rest. He went to the nearest Mission Station, he became an enquirer, and finally a zealous teacher of the truth, which I found him many years after diligently laboring to proclaim.
Cannibalism was certainly practised by many, from a craving desire for human flesh. Up the Manganui te ao, a tributary of the mania central plains, to Rotorua, a lonely path running through dense forests, there is a large cave formed by an overhanging cliff, which gives a space of twenty-one feet sheltered from the weather, and nearly a hundred feet long; this is situated on high ground and commands a view of the road which runs below. There parties were accustomed to lie in wait for the unsuspecting traveller, who was thence pounced upon, killed, and cooked in that cave. When I first visited it the ovens were still fresh, with charred human bones lying around them; and a man in my party was pointed out to me who had a narrow escape of being there killed
Putiki-wara-nui, the name of the place where I resided, preserves a sad remembrance of past times. Its meaning is the great shaving off of scalps. The cutting off of scalps was a common practice amongst the Maories as well as amongst the North American Indians, and they were the trophies of their courage and success, which gave them rank and dignity in the eyes of their tribe.
Such was the original state of the Maori race throughout the length and breadth of the New Zealand Islands; killing and being killed, eating and being eaten; never satisfied; a restless race, always longing to deprive one another of what either possessed which the other wished to have. One man planted, but another reaped; club law prevailed; to the stronger belonged the wives, the goods, and the body of the weaker. As far as outward form went, a noble race, bold in battle, shrewd in council, skilful in execution. Like the whited sepulchres, outwardly beautiful, inwardly full of all uncleanness.
A little more than half a century has elapsed since the venerable
Improbable as it then appeared, that such a cruel and ferocious race of savages could be influenced by God’s Word to lay aside that ferocity, and become a perfectly different people, their benefactor was enabled to induce the Church Missionary Society to found a Mission amongst them. He conducted the first members of it there himself; he paid them repeated visits to strengthen their hands; seven times did he visit the island, and he was permitted to live and see the fruit of his efforts and prayers realized, and thus to receive a full compensation for all the toil and anxiety he had incurred in their behalf; and when he paid his last visit, about a year before his death, and was welcomed wherever he went by the natives as their father, who had led them to the knowledge of the true and living God, he might truly have said, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” (Luke ii. 29, 30.)
The earliest efforts made to raise the natives from their savage state, were by introducing, first, the common arts of civilized life, weaving, rope-making, farming. For this purpose, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a mason, and a wheelwright were sent, but little good from their labours was perceptible; no impression seemed to be made on the native mind by their teaching, they had no moral influence over it. But when men were sent forth to them solely as bearers of the Gospel message; when they simply preached salvation through Christ, and regular ministrations were established, then its genuine effects were soon perceived. In 1823, Rev.
The number of believers steadily increased. The Gospel and Tapu came into collision; light and darkness struggled. The contest was short; the Tapu was broken; at first as far as the Missionary was concerned. When the Kirikiri River was tapued until their fishing was over, the Mission boat burst through it, holding on its course as usual; the indignant natives dragged the boat ashore and plundered it of its contents, which chiefly consisted of some supplies they were taking up, of medicines and preserves. The jams were hastily swallowed and the medicines drunk off. The unpleasant consequences were soon perceived, and produced the conviction that the mana, or power of the pakeha, was too strong for them: the boat was restored and they were permitted to go on their way. It was thenceforth conceded that the Tapu did not apply to the Missionary.
The contest, however, was not ended; it was renewed again by the converts, who also resisted its requirements, and they likewise gained the victory, and the Tapu was given up for ever.
From the first unfurling of the banner of peace to the making of the first convert, ten years elapsed; it was only in September 1825, that the first convert was baptized, and it then appeared very disheartening; but that one was the opening of the door for others, so that the Missionaries extended their labours. Other stations were founded around the bay, and in 1833, four of the Missionaries went to the south, and gradually laid the foundation of Missionary Stations in Waikato, the Thames, Rotorua, and Tauranga. Fearful wars there raged, and still more fearful cannibal feasts prevailed. The position of the Missionaries was for a
tauas, or war parties, rapidly decreased in number, and those chiefs who before could muster a force of five or six hundred men, were afterwards satisfied with two hundred, and thus from the want of followers their contests gradually ceased, and with them their horrid feasts.
In tracing the commencement of the great change which came over the Maori race, which for many years extinguished their insane desire of war and delight in bloodshed, it is evident it did not begin with the old. The great warrior, Hongi, refrained, indeed, from injuring the Messengers of the Gospel; he even defended them when in danger, but he paid no attention to their words; he died a Heathen; so hardened and accustomed was he to bloodshed, that even to the last he could think of nothing else; no reasoning or entreaty seemed to affect his seared mind.
Hongi, the great Ngapuhi Chief, died exhorting his children, with his last breath, to carry on the war; pointing with exultation to his guns and powder, he enquired who dare fight with them, so well provided for. But the Lord overruled his death for good. Although the Missionaries then feared for the future, when their great protector was removed, they were then led to trust solely in Christ and His providential care. From that time the Gospel advanced among the Ngapuhi.
Waharoa, the great Matamata Chief, though far advanced in years, refused to pay any attention to the exhortation of the Missionaries, and when they tried to persuade that
By the overruling hand of Providence, the son of that cannibal chief became a believer, and was baptized by the name of
Another young chief, who likewise was wearied with such continued bloodshed, adopted the following singular expedient to make peace:—
He went to the neighbourhood of his enemies’ pa, and concealed himself near it, so that he could see everyone who went out and in without being seen himself; at last he saw a young man, who was one of the head chiefs of the place, go out and advance to a spot where he could obtain an extended view, and see whether any enemies might be approaching; there he sat down, with his back turned to his concealed foe, who lay hid close to him. He stole upon him so quietly that he reached him without being heard, when he sprang suddenly upon him like a tiger, and overpowered him before he had time to resist; he then pinioned his arms behind him and led him off as his prisoner. After he had proceeded a little way, until he was out of sight of the pa, he suddenly stopped, unbound his prisoner’s arms, and bid him bind his instead. The captive chief did as he was told, and took his former captor to his pa; immediately he entered all rushed upon him, and prepared to despatch him at once. The young chief commanded them to wait until he had told them how he had obtained his captive; he led him to the marae, and there surrounded by all the inhabitants of the pa, he related all the circumstances of the case, and then demanded whether he ought to be killed; all were struck with admiration, the prisoner was
In no one instance was the over-ruling hand of Providence more clearly displayed in bringing good out of evil, than in the case of Ngakuku, who, during that murderous war, was surprised in his hut by a party from Rotorua. His only son and daughter were with him; he had barely time to snatch up the boy and run off with him when the enemy entered, and poor Tarore, his little girl, fell into their hands; she was instantly killed, her scalp cut off, and the poor child’s heart taken as an offering to their God. At her funeral Ngakuku addressed his tribe and said, “There lies my child, she has been murdered as a payment for this war; but do not rise to seek revenge, leave that with God, let this be the ending of the war with Rotorua, now let peace be made; my heart is not dark for Tarore, but for you; you urged teachers to come to you, they came, and you are driving them away.”
But the inclining their hearts to peace was not the only consequence in God’s over-ruling providence. Little did Ngakuku think what a monument the Lord was going to erect to little Tarore’s memory. She was a scholar at the Mission School; she loved to attend it, and when she lay down to sleep her book rested by her side. It was carried away by her murderers and taken to Rotorua, and there given to some one who could read. Soon after, that individual formed one of a party going to Kapiti, he took the book with him, not from any love for what it contained, so much as from an idea that it would give him importance in the eyes of those he was going to visit, to whom books then were unknown.
When his party reached Kapiti, he told the young chiefs there that he possessed the sacred book of the Europeans. This greatly excited their desire to hear what it contained; he produced it, and read a small portion of it to them. His hearers were much struck with what they heard, they made
But little Tarore’s book had done its work; it had opened the eyes of some of those chiefs to see the wickedness of war and cannibalism; a new principle was implanted within them, and its effects were soon seen. They, like those in the north, set their face against war and its attendant crimes. They were determined to have a teacher of their own; they had heard what a change had been effected by the Gospel there, and to obtain one a deputation to Paihia was appointed. Katu, who has since been better known by the name of Tamihana te Rauparaha, and Te Whiwhi, afterwards baptized by the name of Matene, were the two chiefs appointed for this work. They got a passage in some vessel to the Bay of Islands, and immediately on arriving there went to the senior Missionary,
The young chiefs of Otaki went even a step further; they not only embraced the Gospel, but were determined to adopt the manners of civilized life as well, having been struck with the order and propriety of everything in the Missionary’s house at Paihia. They determined to imitate them; a club was formed amongst themselves; each member of which engaged to build his house according to the European way, with different rooms and a chimney, for a native where has no divisions in it, and both sexes sleep intermingled. They also engaged to dress as Europeans, and discard the blanket; to have their food cooked in our way, and to eat it from a table, with knives and forks. Thus this once savage and ferocious tribe, is now as conspicuous for the progress it has made in civilized habits, as well as in the morality of the Gospel. Otaki, as a native settlement, is attractive by its large and elegant Church, built in the native style, and the comfortable houses and farms of its chiefs. Tamihana is now a successful sheep farmer, and lives as well as our European ones.
Thus did the Lord over-rule the murder of poor little Tarore for good; but even this was not the whole; indirectly it effected more.
When Mr.
By some means or other a single page of the Church Catechism found its way to that then Ultima Thule, long before the arrival of Missionaries. It fell into the hands of a young chief named Hipango, afterwards well known as Some time after my arrival at Pukapuka—the word applied either to paper or books—at first sight appears to be derived from our English word book; it is not so, but from the large white leaf of the Pukapuka Rangiora (Brachyglottis repanda), to which the natives likened paper when they first saw it. They said, “He rau pukapuka tenei!” “Oh! this is a leaf of the Pukapuka.” The Greeks derived their βĩβλος, book, and the Latins their Liber, book, in a similar way, from the inner bark of the Linden or Teil tree, and the Egyptians theirs from the leaf of the Papyrus, whence comes our word paper.
Everything seems to be so wonderfully ordered; just at the right time the right man appears to carry on the work. Te Tauri, a converted Moana—the sea of Taupo—and by Rotorua, reached the east coast. For now the Missionary could go wherever he liked, the whole country was open to him. He reached
places which had never been previously visited by civilized man, some of which even yet have not been trodden by other feet than his; he preached the Gospel everywhere, and everywhere obtained converts. He appointed teachers, organized Churches, and was made the instrument of setting a machine in motion, which continued to work effectually for years. Wherever he went he was received as a father and friend; indeed, nothing could exceed the respect paid to him.
A year later, and the promise given to the
When
Thus, from the first foundation of the Mission in 1815 to 1840, a period of twenty-five years, just a quarter of a century, was the entire Island occupied, from the North Cape to
Then, when the natives could read for themselves the Word of Life, and that Word was largely furnished to them by the power and liberality of the Bible Society, it was carried everywhere far beyond the reach of the Missionaries. It travelled down the western coast of the Middle Island, where the first European travellers, to their surprise, found it east and west. It reached the end of that island; crossed over to Stewart’s Island; nay, it even found its way, to the
But the Water of Life flows to give life. “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live.” (Ezek. lxvii. 9.) And this prophecy has indeed been remarkably fulfilled; the leaves of God’s Word have indeed been given for the healing of the nations.
A Tapued Chief Eating with a Fern-Stalk.
Chapter II.
The Church
It will now be necessary, at the termination of this first epoch of the New Zealand Church’s history, to trace the effects produced on the native mind by the establishment of the Christian faith.
Then there was an implicit faith in its truth. The natives viewed the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and everything it commanded men to do, they believed should be done, as far as they were able. The greatest desire was manifested to possess a copy of it, and to be able to read for themselves the message of mercy sent to them in it. I was present when the first case of Testaments sent to ketes,—baskets, for a copy. The whole stock was at once disposed of. One man, when he had obtained a copy, said, Now he had a telescope on board his ship which would enable him to see the rocks and shoals afar off. Nor was it
Great was the joy which was felt when the arrival of a grant of New Testaments from the Bible Society was announced; there was no rest until the box was opened and the whole were sold. The proceeds, more than £50, were remitted to that Society, which kindly repeated the grant, and to our Wesleyan fellow-laborers as well, who, having distributed theirs gratis, completely spoilt the further sale. It was therefore necessary to do the same also; but not thinking it altogether prudent to bestow a copy on each applicant indiscriminately, every one was required first to read a verse, which if he could manage to do, and did not possess one, a copy was at once given him, with his name written in it, and making it Tapu, or exclusively his own, to hinder its being given away; in this manner several hundred copies were disposed of. It was wonderful to see how many could read, and write likewise; every day generally brought its Maori mail, with letters on all subjects; one giving information of a quarrel, requesting interference; another containing a petition for books or medicine; another from a teacher, giving an account of his last sermon, and the heads of it, requesting a reply to say whether he had treated the subject rightly; some were filled with queries as to the
Amongst the applicants for books, were some who requested to be allowed to select a verse for themselves to read; this they were permitted to do, thinking they would select some easy part; but they read so very glibly, that they had finished half a dozen verses before in general they could manage to read one. Suspecting some little trick, the book was handed upside down to one of them, when the conjecture was found to be correct; he could read as well one way as the other, in fact, so great was their desire to obtain the Scriptures, that they had taken the trouble to commit a large portion to memory. They were not, however, disappointed, the only stipulation being that they should try and learn to read as soon as possible, and, in the meantime, get those who could, to read the book to them.
Amongst the applicants one day, there was a lady whose head was anointed with red ochre and oil; as this was quite a Heathen custom, she was told that it was not likely she could care for the Word of God whilst she still followed such Heathen customs; she declared she did; then a proof of her sincerity was demanded, and if a book were given her, she was to give her head in return. She enquired with amazement what that meant, and was told it meant that if the sacred book was given her, she must let her head be henceforth sacred to God, and put no more red ochre upon it. She at once acceded to the terms, and so obtained the Testament and a piece of soap as well. She soon returned to show her head, which had been carefully washed, and from that time the red ochre and oil were discarded. At Church, which was never neglected, she generally placed herself in some conspicuous spot, so that it might be seen that she was true to her engagement. One day, however, she was met with a pipe in her mouth; the exclamation was immediately made, that that was an infringement of the bargain, for her head she must remember was sold, and pipes in ladies’ mouths were not approved of. It was true, she replied, that her head was sold, but that did not include
The Word of God being thus spread abroad, and so generally read, often proved an antidote to Popery. One of my scholars was invited by the Priest into his house, where he showed him some of his treasures, amongst which was an image of the Virgin, at the same time telling him that it was very wicked of the Short for Pero Perotehani, probably the French way of Maorifying the word Protestant. Pero means a mangy dog.
It was frequently stated that the Maories, in times of war, tore up their Bibles to make cartridges of;—that they did not really prize the Scriptures. This was especially said to have been done by the followers of
So very particular were they during the first war in destroying even English books, lest any of them should be the Scriptures, that many were spared because they looked like Bibles.
Next to respect for God’s Word, was that paid to His worship; daily morning and evening prayer was attended in every place by its inhabitants, and in the larger pas of Waikanae and Otaki there were nearly, if not quite, as many present on week days as on the Sabbath; in fact, all attended. I have seen from five to seven hundred present, morning and evening, at Otaki, which was nearly the entire population of the place. This was also the case in every little hamlet as well; and after service school was kept. Those who could read were formed into Bible Classes, and the rest, comprising young and old, were catechised.
The daylight was scarcely suffered to be clear before the morning bell rang; or, what was far more common, an old gun barrel, suspended from the gable end of the church, was struck, to summon all to prayer; and in many cases, the chief, who in former times had led them to battle, now become their teacher, led them to the throne of grace.
Even during the fishing season this custom was not given up. When the tide served early in the morning, the bell
All along the New Zealand coast the natives have their fishing banks, which are well known by their own peculiar bearings. Kaupapa—fleet of canoes, which oftentimes numbered as many as seventy, reached the fishing-ground,
One Christmas the natives had been very unsuccessful with their fishing; and it was the more unfortunate, as they expected many visitors coming from all parts to keep the Christmas with them. They came and enquired what they should do, and were asked whether they had made it a subject of prayer; they said they had not. I bid them do so. They went and did as they were told before going again to fish, and returned with their canoes quite filled with sharks; in two or three expeditions they caught the enormous number of seven thousand! This answer to prayer was so remarkable, that it made a strong impression upon them, and called forth an acknowledgment of God’s goodness to them.
Nor must their attention on the Sabbath to Divine service pass unnoticed. The entire congregation joined in the responses, so that it appeared as though there were but two voices—that of the minister on the one side, and that of the people on the other. The loud deep-toned response of a
In sickness the natives were very particular in having prayer with the sufferer. It was not sufficient to have medicine for the sick. This was not thought much of, unless accompanied with prayer. In acute attacks, where the sufferer has cried out by reason of the pain, the teacher would not cease his prayers until the symptoms became more favorable. And, in some cases, one teacher has been succeeded by another, so that prayer might not cease until the pains also ceased. The chief remedy with the Maori for all diseases was oil, or turpentine and oil, with which the entire body was anointed; this embrocation they called Rongoa piro-piro, strong-smelling medicine; this, in fact, appears to have been the most ancient remedy in the East. The good Samaritan had his bottle of oil and wine with him on his journey, in case of accident or sickness, just the same as the Maori has when he travels. The Apostles anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. St. James exhorts those that are sick to get the elders to anoint them with the usual remedy—oil, to which prayer is to be added, that the remedy might prove efficacious. The Maori, even in his Heathen state, combined prayer with medicine. Prayers were enjoined to be used on every occasion; and the Christian natives have continued the practice, that the prayer of faith may save the sick. And as we may view the word “oil” as being put for medicine in general, we ought to do as St. James exhorts us. The anointing with oil was evidently done to obtain bodily health. The practice, therefore, of the Romish Church, of only anointing those who are supposed to be past relief, is as childish as it is useless, and as superstitious as it is unchristian; in fact, a mere mockery.
In few countries has the Sabbath been better observed than in New Zealand. The day was strictly kept sacred; no work was done on it; the very potatoes to be cooked were scraped the night before. Previous even to the arrival of the Missionary in the south, the natives had heard that the seventh day was to be kept holy, and they observed it.
Two gentlemen, who had recently arrived in New Zealand, wished to see a part of the country which had been little visited, so that they might form an idea of its natural state. A journey of that kind was marked out for them, and native companions were obtained to carry their food and blankets. On their return they expressed their annoyance at having to encamp on the Sabbath in a dense forest the whole of the day, because the natives positively refused to travel on the
During the entire period of my stay in New Zealand, daily morning and evening prayer has never ceased being offered up in my Church. And this leads next to the mention of their Churches. The Maories have no stone-built edifices to attract attention, with long-drawn aisles and fretted vaults. Still they have erected many buildings which have excited the astonishment of all who have seen them; and it is due to them to say, that the finest, largest, and most carefully-built edifices which they ever erected, were those raised as Churches for the worship of God. Many of these are highly ornamented and carved, and are really beautiful edifices; the only pity is, that as they are made of such perishable materials, they only last a few years. But their general character is more unpretending; and the chief object with the Missionary has been to get the people of each place to erect a neat building proportioned to their number, which should be Tapu to the service of God, and never used for any other purpose; not only that they should not eat or sleep in it, but not use it as a whare korero noa—a council chamber, or for idle converse. Many of these buildings were erected by one person alone, who did it as a token of love to God, or as a self-inflicted penalty for something he had done. At Rotoaira the natives of Poutu built a very pretty Church, most elaborately ornamented with arapaki—lattice work, when they embraced Christianity, after the murder of Manihera and Kereopa. It might be called most justly a memorial Church to their honor. But the best memorial to those two devoted men, who laid down
Thus, in the place where dragons lay in the abodes of cruelty, have the words of the prophecy been fulfilled: “The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitations of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.” (Is. xxxv. 7.)
And now, in all those places were houses of prayer to be seen literally built of reeds and rushes, dedicated to the service of the Most High; and if they have not beaten their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, they have made their gun barrels serve as bells, and caused them to utter sounds of love and peace, instead of echoing with the knell of death.
A question often put, is, What is the amount of Christian knowledge which the Maori has gained? This may apply to them individually, or to the Maori race generally.
It is a common practice of travellers and voyagers to speak disparagingly of the religion of savage nations; to make it appear that they have the slightest possible connection with humanity, it is often affirmed that many tribes have either no religion at all, or next to none. Perhaps there is nothing that travellers are in reality less able to speak of than this. Natives seldom permit strangers to witness their sacred rites; and even if they did, without a perfect acquaintance with their language, manners, customs, &c., they could not form a just opinion on the subject. Of the Australian tribes it has been repeatedly asserted, that they have no conception of a God, or of the duty of worshipping Him; and yet, low as the Australian aborigines may be, they have sacred mysteries at which they will not allow a stranger to be present. Is it reasonable to suppose they can have these without also having an idea of some Being whom they are
The Maori race were very particular in observing all their rites; they entered into every thing they did; they undertook no work without first performing a religious service; whether they went to war, to fish, or hunt, they first approached their gods, that the undertaking might be prosperous. When they planted their Kumara, the Priest first invoked their gods; the same also when the ingathering of the crop took place; the first-fruits, whether they were those of the hunt, or fishing, or fighting, were all sacred. In fact, they had far greater fear of the Tapu, as that spiritual law was called, than they had of their enemies; and when they became Christians, in a similar way they earned religion out in every thing; they never took a meal without first begging a blessing upon it, and returning thanks when it was finished.
As a race they were as observant of the Ten Commandments as they had previously been of the Tapu. Polygamy, which before was general, and which was a great means of enabling the chief to maintain his dignity, (for each wife represented a farm with slaves to work it, and thus furnished him with a sufficiency of food to entertain his guests liberally,) was given up, and thus the chief’s resources were greatly diminished.
The honesty of the natives could not be questioned; they lived in peace and quietness amongst themselves. I have passed a quarter of a century with them in one place, and during that long period I have scarcely seen a quarrel amongst them, and never had one with them myself.
Several times hostile visits were paid to them in former days.
So, likewise, during the war in the north with
The natives now are extremely careful of doing anything likely to lead to quarrels and bloodshed. Even when murder has been committed, rather than endanger the peace amongst themselves, they have preferred banishing the murderer for several years to some lonely spot. A case of murder occurred at marae, barricaded the entrance, and, with spear in hand, defied us; afterwards one of them came up to me and said, “Leave him in my hands, he has only a year or so to live, for he is a very old man, leave him with me and I will be his keeper; he shall not go away.” This appeared the best plan; at any rate it was not my place to take any further steps in the matter, and there he remained for several years.
When the murderers of the
Another anecdote of
When It was the same officer who at the fall of Kororareka, whilst the aged Missionary, Archdeacon
The Governor, in his despatch home, gave the hostile natives this high character, “they have not stained their success with a single act of cruelty.” The tidings of the taking of
Another change effected by the Gospel, was the breaking up of that divided state the New Zealand Tribes were in previous to the introduction of the Gospel. Christmas Day at
Afterwards all the teachers met at a prayer-meeting and, to my surprise, several arose and offered themselves as Missionaries to their Heathen brethren at
It is due to the native teachers here to mention how much credit belongs to them for the aid they have given in spreading the Word of God throughout the land. Indeed, the Gospel could not have made the progress it did, or have obtained such a permanent hold upon the native mind, had it not been for the agency of native teachers. It was by their instrumentality the ground was held which the Missionary had gained. Their number was so small that, without the co-operation of lay agency, it would in fact have been otherwise lost as soon as acquired. In
They who first received the Gospel had their hearts filled with love and zeal, and for years that first love did not grow cold. The first native teachers had, many of them, far greater influence than any of their chiefs, for that which gave to the chief power to do evil, gave the Christian teacher influence to do good, because the oratory of the teacher was only used for what was evidently their welfare.
It is not therefore to be wondered that the memory of
A Song in memory of ThomasTarahawaiki .
The first book printed in Maori contained a few chapters of Genesis, of Matthew, &c., with a portion of the Morning and Evening Prayers.
Bird. The tui or Kokomako, an emblem of eloquence.
Canoe, i.e., Teacher.
The following is also a lament composed by a person named Rore, for her grandson, a teacher:—
This refers to the walls of the New Jerusalem.
Whiro, the Maori God of Evil compared to Satan.
To these laments for teachers a short song of an early believer may be added:—
A Song by a Woman a short time before her death.
The following short one may be added, as a proof of the true working of the Spirit in the heart:—
When the
“When the Europeans saw you were in earnest to sell the land, and had all signed your names, they then gave you the money; but they did not give it before, because they saw you were not agreed. It is thus with God; when He sees you really believe in Him, and put forth your hands to do His will,—when you really desire and strive to bring forth the fruits of righteousness in your lives, then He gives you a vital interest in His Son; but though you may talk ever so much of your faith, and be ever so loud in your prayers, yet, if you do not show any of the fruits of the Spirit in your daily life and converse, God will not acknowledge you as His children.”
Here may be enumerated the earliest religious works published in Maori, as best showing on what the converts had to draw in the beginning:—
The first contained the 1st chapter of Genesis, three first of St. Matthew, a few prayers from the morning and evening services, and four or five hymns; this was printed in
Then in 1833 a larger edition, in small 4to., containing
In 1833, the Church Catechism, Watts’ two catechisms and the Assemblies’ short catechism. These were published in Sydney.
In 1835, the four Gospels, published separately, each with one of the Epistles attached.
In 1837, the New Testament, complete; printed at the Mission Press,
In 1840, the Prayer-book was printed complete at
The Mission Press being placed there, assisted in giving that name to our native Church; it signifies good desires or thoughts. After the Bishop went to
Several editions of the Church Catechism have been printed, which, by their different alterations, have much perplexed the Maories; they distinguished each of them by some peculiarity which they had. One edition went by the name of matua tane, matua wahine—male parent, female parent. Another was known as taku waea—my mother (child-bearer, the true Maori word). A third as the ngau tuara—back-biter, this word being coined for the purpose, as there was no Maori word for it. A fourth as mahi Maori—for labor, literally to do Maori works; this is not a happy expression, as some of the Maori works are not very good. These peculiarities have tickled the native fancy.
The Scriptures have now been printed complete by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Sir George Grey has also had few copies of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress printed.
It is not too much to affirm, that whatever might have been the amount of knowledge possessed by the early converts to the Christian faith, however far behind that of the advanced servants of God at home, still they fully Bishop Williams and the Writer visited Poverty Bay in the beginning of 1839. This adjunct of hospitality was actually offered to them at a place where no Missionary had previously been seen.he whai aipo, or companion for the night.
They manumitted their slaves long before slavery ceased in Christian America, and they became remarkable for their honesty and sobriety. From such effects produced we cannot doubt that God owned and blessed the work as His own. His light—the true light—shone upon the land; the natives saw it, and strove to walk in it, and became the children of light; many died in it, declaring they were “Marama,”—light, or happy.
In 1838, the Bishop of Australia, at the request of the Missionaries, paid a brief visit to the Bay of Islands, where he administered the rite of Confirmation, and consecrated the burial ground at Kororarika. He expressed his surprise at the work he beheld going on. The Church had now become so enlarged and extended, that it was felt it should be established in all its integrity. In addition to this a company had been formed for the colonization of New Zealand, and the members of it had made some arrangements for the support of a Bishop. The British Government likewise had taken possession of New Zealand, and joined
The Bishop of New Zealand’s patent gave him from Lat. S. of Stewart’s Island to Lat. 33, but instead of saying 33 S. Lat., by mistake it said N. Lat., which takes in a portion of
Shortly after, the war in the north broke out, and its sad effects were soon felt, for although the outward observances of religion were kept up, little of the spirit of it was felt.
The Nga-ti-rua-nui teachers, finding that their scholars were tired of coming to school, and having the same thing over and over again without change, became inattentive, and fell off in their attendance; they held a meeting amongst themselves, and agreed to adopt a new system. All the children from a number of the neighbouring villages met together at one place, where they remained for one or two months, residing with the inhabitants and attending the
Our Lord tells us in the parable, that no sooner was the good seed sown in the day, than the enemy came in the night and scattered the bad amongst it. This has ever been the case; it has been so in New Zealand. In the early days of the Church at Paihia, almost as soon as the Word of God had found its way to the heart of the Maori, the bad seed began likewise to appear.
A man named Papa-hurihia broached the idea, because the Jewish Church preceded the Christian, it must be the mother Church, and therefore they should turn over to it; all who were opposed to the Gospel immediately followed Papa-hurihia. They professed to keep the Saturday as their Sabbath, and in fact to be Jews. At one time there were many led away by him; their way of living, however, soon made it apparent, that by whatever name they might go, they were still only Heathen in practice. Their numbers soon fell off, and most of them turned over to the truth.
Ten years later another scattering of the bad seed made its appearance at e to matou matua—a pull, i te Rangi—a pull, Kia tapu—a pull; and so on to the end. This was called the Warea delusion, from the name of the place where it originated. One of my teachers hearing of the desecration of their books, went and collected them all in a basket and brought them away, saying, It was like casting pearls before swine to leave those books with them.
The following is a letter written by one of these Warea fanatics to Waikato:—
Go my letter to Horotiu, to Pou; salutations to you and yours. My friends, listen to me. The kingdom of God has been set up at
Kereopa.
This delusion, however, did not extend beyond
A great many letters were written to me on the subject, and although doubtless there was more outward appearance of an inward change than was real, and the fervour of the few carried away the many, yet the general effects produced were good; it caused greater earnestness in the observance of the outward forms of religion, greater attention to the Scripture, increased attendance on the means of grace, and frequent prayer meetings. It also, I trust, led to some real conversions, though there was perhaps with others the idea that they were better and wiser than their teachers. Of the latter I give a specimen: the writer was a young chief and second teacher at Waokena, where Manihera the martyr was the first; this young chief afterwards, at the invitation of Waitere Katotore, took up arms and fell fighting against the party of Rawiri. There was justice on the side of Katotore, and therefore the cause might justly be called patriotic. Katotore sent him an enigmatical letter,—a tatooed potatoe and a fig of tobacco; he eat the one and smoked the other, in sign of his accepting the invitation to join his side; but, alas! he soon found that they who take the sword shall perish by the sword:—
“This is my word listen to me. Formerly, when I first began to believe, I thought my faith was correct up to the time of my Baptism. Mr. Mason said to me when I was baptised, will you obediently keep God’s holy will and commandments, and walk in the same to your life’s end? I answered, I will. After my Baptism came the Sacrament. Friend Mr. “Friend Mr.
i.e., I forgot my promises). I then thought that
the thing, only part of it. As St. Paul truly says in his Epistle to the Romans, as by the stubbornness (disobedience) of one many were made sinners, (Rom. v. 19,) thence sin increased until it reached my male ancestors and my female ancestors, even up to my father and mother, and to myself also, yes, truly myself; innumerable are my sins in the sight of God; truly my sins are there in His sight; my lip prayers, my boastings, my mockings, my dissemblings, my falsehoods, my many transgressions, more than can be counted. Friend Mr. Philip Newaka.”
“I salute you; great is my love to you. Friend, this is my thought to God, at the commencement of my turning to Him. I was not mistaken in praying for the Holy Spirit to take up its abode within my heart, for I remembered the word of Christ in the 13th of St. Luke and 24th verse, ‘Strive to enter in at the strait gate,’ therefore I have striven in prayer, and the Holy Spirit has entered into my heart. I have seen the greatness of my wickedness; my heart has been filled with sorrow; my sins have made me to stink in my own estimation; my heart has been bitter with sin; my heart was ashamed before God, but not before man; but I was ashamed in the sight of God. I saw hell opening before my face; my heart feared the anger of God towards me, my heart acknowledged that it was just; my heart said to Him, Just is Thy wrath towards me for the greatness of my sins; Thy wrath is not an unjust wrath; it is right that my spirit should be sent to hell. His word came to me, ‘Come to Me thou who art burthened and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.’ My heart responded to Christ; I went sorrowful on account of His death; my heart was satisfied with the atonement made for me; my sins were taken away; I was buried in His death. Then, first, the Spirit consented to my spirit that I should become a child of God; my heart was born anew by the Holy Spirit; my heart was enlightened by the Holy Spirit; my heart gained the fruits of the Spirit; these are the fruits of the Spirit: ‘love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, quietness, temperance: against
The termination of this letter, with the name of the writer, are both lost, but whatever may have been the real state of the heart, I think it evidences a considerable acquaintance with Scripture and the grand outlines of redemption through Christ. I possess several similar letters, and these were selected at random. The following is an extract from the same Piripi, written a year later than the former:—
“Listen to me; on the 12th of August Manihera
Piripi Newaka.”
The Nga-ti-rua-nui being at one extremity of the district, nearly a hundred miles from my house, could not be visited very frequently; I had to walk also in former days, which added to the difficulty of paying them a visit, which was generally done about three times in the year; but when they thought it was time for me to see them I usually received a
“Friend, my beloved father, Mr.
George Kiwi.”
It was about this time that news arrived of the death of Manihera and Kereopa. I received several very nice letters on the subject from their tribe, all expressive of their desire not to seek revenge as in times of old for the murder of those devoted men. They were all convinced that their death was a glorious one, and in God’s cause, therefore they left the matter entirely with me. I visited the murderers; the tribe were ashamed of the deed, though the murders were strictly in accordance with the ancient Maori law of blood, and were in reality a payment for the death of their head chief Tauteka, and it was in fact at the instigation of his widow that they were killed.
This event was, however, attended with a blessing. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. It raised up greater zeal and earnestness in the cause, and eventually led to the establishment of a Missionary at Taupo, and put an end to an old feud between the interior and coast natives. Peace between them was finally made by my taking Piripi the teacher, who succeeded Manihera in his office, to see them.
The next temporary check to the progress of the Gospel, was the war which burst out, first at the Bay of Islands, then in the south, and afterwards at The Murderers of Manihera and Kereopa Assembled around Their Graves.The Memorial Monument of the Heuheu Taupo.
Tinirau, their leader, who had been very bitter against the Church, and had threatened, in a letter sent to my natives, to burn their pa, hang their minister over the lintel of his door, and then set fire to his house, soon became himself a believer; he presented himself to me as a candidate for baptism, and sat meekly at my feet, repeating his catechism and answering my questions.
The reaction which took place amongst the
Hikurangi, Taking Leave of Friends.
Chapter III.
The Church
Perhaps the brightest page in the progress of Christianity at
December 21st. Numbers of natives keep flocking in from all parts. My house has been beset from morning till night; some seeking medicine; some books; some to tell me their quarrels and troubles; and some for spiritual conversation, or explanation of Scripture.
I examined upwards of eighty persons for baptism, of which I accepted nearly sixty. I was much pleased with the simple faith displayed by several of the old people who were candidates. Mr. Baker assisted me; we were occupied the whole of the morning. In the evening I had a very large congregation, and afterwards a meeting of the candidates for the Lord’s Supper; but the number was so great that I was obliged to divide the district, taking first those only from Pukehika to Tunuhaere; they completely filled the Church. There was some noise and confusion in entering,
22nd. I had the morning service in my field, where the pulpit was carried. Afterwards I examined candidates for baptism, and administered medicine until the evening. It is wonderful to behold such a reaction amongst the people. I felt jealous of admitting so many into the outward Church, and at the same time afraid of refusing them, when they came confessing their faith in Christ, and had supported the declaration by a consistent walk and converse. Many were very old, some in an almost dying state, and one was brought who was deaf and dumb.
After evening prayer I addressed the rest of the candidates for the Sacrament, which occupied me until eleven at night. I accepted the large number of six hundred and seventy-two. It is a very gratifying consideration that I have such a body of persons in my district living so consistently, that even the most censorious could not allege anything against their moral or religious conduct, for such was the closeness of the examination, that if it were found any had lived on terms of intimacy with any immoral person, he was at once rejected. At these meetings of communicants, after prayer and an address, every teacher presents those from his own place; and when each one was called by name, and asked whether there was any reason why he should not receive the Sacrament; if there was, either the teacher or the people would mention it, if the individual himself did not do so; but generally the fault was the other way, and the person would accuse himself of a number of things, which made it very tedious for the minister to decide.
23rd. A goodly assembly in the field this morning. After service I had the usual annual meeting of all the teachers belonging to my district. Forty-two of them
This plan of having native magistrates and runangas, or councils, composed of them and the teachers, originated with patai, examination, of the Rangi tikei natives, who had just arrived for the Sacrament, and also several fresh candidates for baptism. I then went down to the pa to attend a very large meeting, and appoint magistrates amongst them for the ensuing year,
Two chief magistrates were then appointed for the entire
In the evening I had my meeting of the teachers, when all the various matters connected with the Church were discussed. It was after eleven when we separated. We
The contrast certainly was great between the two ways of keeping the festival of the Nativity. Whilst near seven hundred Europeans were attending the races on one side of the
December 24th. I began the service a little after seven. It was a glorious day, not a cloud was to be seen. We had the pure light of the sun shining upon us; but it was a still more glorious sight to see before me upwards of three thousand natives uniting in the solemn service of our Church, and listening with deep attention to the Word of God. Around the pulpit stood my band of fellow-laborers, the teachers, no inconsiderable company, being one hundred and fifty in number; and by my side nearly all the head chiefs were also assembled, dressed in their picturesque costumes of dog-skin mats, or elegant woven Parawais; some in their newly-acquired European clothing. Beyond them the entire little field was filled with the congregation. The lesson for the day afforded a most appropriate text, St. Paul’s confession before Felix.
After the sermon I administered the Sacrament to three hundred and sixty. I was obliged to divide the Communicants, part for the Sunday and part for Christmas Day, as the Church could not contain the whole at once. Two poor sick women, who partook of the Lord’s Supper, were brought in and laid by the Communion rails. Afterwards I crossed over and gave the usual services to the military and the
During the evening service I baptized the large number of one hundred and sixty-two, of whom forty were children. The sun had set before the service was terminated.
December 25th, Christmas Day. Very fine, but hot and sultry; 74° in the shade. I addressed my large congregation from the morning lesson (St. Luke ii. 14.) The angelic annunciation. Afterwards I administered the Lord’s Supper to three hundred and fifty, making a grand total, including three of my family, of seven hundred and ten, perhaps the largest number that ever met to receive the Sacrament in this land. Afterwards I crossed over and took two services; the soldiers were all there; but at the second service there were only three besides my party.
Whilst the heathen are pressing into the Church, it seemed as though the children of the kingdom were indifferent, or rather considering it a day of feasting the body only, left more spiritual thoughts to those who are too generally regarded as scarcely entitled to the name of rational beings. To see some miserable horse races, all assembled from far and near: for this race to win Christ, and be found in Him, alas! there was scarcely a thought.
After the evening service the list of teachers for the ensuing year was called over, these were one hundred and fifty in number; and also the list of chiefs who have been recognized as magistrates by the different tribes, these were about thirty; the whole was concluded with a discourse from St. Paul’s Epistle to Titus, the second lesson for the day, which was most appropriate, exhorting those who have believed in God to be careful to maintain good works as the most effectual way of proving their love to Christ, and faith in His salvation.
Thus the services of this deeply interesting meeting terminated. Truly we may say, what has the Lord done thus to have brought so many members of various and lately hostile tribes to drink of the same cup and eat of the same bread as I
After the service, books and medicine were distributed, but the crowd of applicants was so great, and the fatigue so overpowering, that at last I was obliged to beat a retreat.
26th. From five this morning I had a host of visitors for conversation, counsel, books, and medicine; I was occupied the whole day in attending to their numerous wants. I had also four marriages; ther. 80° in the shade. I was quite wearied, and should not have been able to have done my work but for the assistance of Mr. W. Baker, who has really been a deacon to me.
I felt thankful that this great meeting terminated without any thing occurring to diminish the satisfaction of having so many assembled together, or any thing to give the adversary a handle against the cause. I have not heard of a single thing to distress the minister’s mind. As the Temple was put up without sound or noise, so did this assembly,—this temple of the living God,—congregate together and disperse without confusion.
The river natives quietly entered their canoes and paddled away to their distant homes, gradually diminishing the fleet of canoes which was drawn up in front of the pa, and the coast natives, party after party, also silently departed on their several ways.
27th. The natives are still leaving. I learnt in crossing over to the town that a picket of forty men from each of the stockades had been appointed to keep watch every night during the stay of the natives.
A remarkable proof of the power of the Gospel was given when Tamati Wiremu Puna, the chief of Aramoho, was admitted to the Lord’s Table. By his side knelt Panapa, a chief of the Nga-ti-apa, who in former years had killed and eaten Tamati’s father. This was the first time they had met together; his emotion was most extraordinary, he seemed perfectly to quiver with it. After the service was terminated he was asked the cause of it; he then related the circumstance, and said it was only the Gospel, which had given him
In former times it was not only customary to fight naked, but likewise to work naked; they cultivated the fields in state of nudity, and some of the old people kept up this custom to the very last. Amongst such was an old man named Ake; he made it a constant practice, and even went about in the pa without having any clothes on; I repeatedly spoke to him but in vain. One day, however, when I was going over the river to the town with my wife and daughter, I saw old Ake in his usual state. I ran on before and bid him go into a house and put on his mat; he refused, I said he should, he declared he would not, I pushed, he resisted, at last I saw there was no alternative but force, so I put my arms around him and fairly pushed him into a house, to the great amusement of the natives who stood by. He was conquered, but I dearly paid for the victory; Ake’s skin had been anointed with red ochre and oil, which, I found to my cost, had completely destroyed my best black coat. Ake never attempted to go about naked again. Some short time before I left for
The adversary will not allow the work to progress without
Kua mate te wai maori i te waitai,” the fresh water is destroyed by the salt, the one representing the Maori, the other the European, meaning as the fresh water streams are swallowed up in the ocean, so is the wisdom of the Maori in that of the European.
After my return from
On another occasion he came to me at the request of his followers to hold a disputation on the merits of our respective Churches. I agreed to his proposal, but said it was a subject of such importance that we should first offer up a prayer to the Lord to enlighten us with the Holy Spirit, that we might discover the truth. This he would not agree to, and turned away, saying, he would not hear any of our heretical prayers. My natives reverently knelt down whilst I offered one up. Afterwards, amongst other things he said, the Israelites had idols in the Temple, and they had the figure of a cow there. I requested him to point out the place where it was to be found; he asked for my Bible, I gave it to him, after some time he returned it, saying his sight was bad. Another priest took it and found the account of the brazen laver supported on oxen. I remarked that it was not placed in the Temple but in the court, and there only used by the priests to wash in; that in fact it was but a large wash-hand stand with its legs made to
The priest erected mills up the
About that time another delusion arose at pakehas, for the Maori gods had no power over them.
Near the same place was a Wahi tapu, sacred grove, into which formerly they had been accustomed to draw the spirits of those who died, by uttering some of their powerful
wahi tapu, on account of all having embraced Christianity, were supposed to be more dangerous than ever, and the fruitful source of death to those who entered their sacred precincts. To put an end to this evil they had instituted a new method of exorcising these dangerous places; they went to them in a body, forming a large circle, in the centre they lighted a fire and cooked some potatoes; this was to waka noa the spot, that is, to destroy its sanctity; next the operators gave a potatoe to each in the circle, and whilst they were being eaten the temptation of the Lord was read, and then a prayer was uttered, to destroy the power and malice of the devil. After this ceremony it was supposed there was no longer anything to fear from such places. This idea spread rapidly, and the persons who were thought to be more particularly skilful in driving those evil spirits away, went from place to place putting all such enemies to the health and happiness of man to flight. Some tried to justify this work to me and said it was quite agreeable to the word of God; but it was soon evident by their deadness and indifference to religion, that it had a very serious effect upon their minds, withdrawing them from God, and rendering them careless of their eternal welfare. This folly, however, soon died away. I pointed out both the absurdity and uselessness of it, “for it was soon evident to them that it did not diminish their number of deaths, which rather increased than otherwise.
At Manawatu another singular delusion arose; the spirit of a child named Mati, was said to have appeared to a woman, and told her, that the many deaths were occasioned by having lizards in the body, especially in that part where the disease was seated, which thus preyed upon the unfortunate sufferer, speedily causing death; that he would drive them out of all the sick who might be brought to her. This news
he ngarara rahi,” a huge lizard. Then the entreaty was made to deliver the sick from it, and suddenly the squeak of the lizard was heard quitting its tenement, and they were assured the sufferer would soon recover now that the cause of the evil was removed; and sometimes when the disease was of a certain character, faith in the efficacy of the means verified the promise, and thus the lady prospered and grew rich. I visited the place where she resided, and she presented herself to me as a communicant. I not only refused her, but I told the people they should hold no communication and neither eat nor drink with her until she repented, having confessed she held communion with the devil, although she knew very well that she was only deceiving those who came to her. There was a peculiarity in her voice, coming from her stomach as it were, that convinced me she was a ventriloquist. She would not confess the deception she was practising, and her husband used very bad langaage to me; and another man of Turakina, who also tried to carry on the same profitable deception, cursed me, and said that my time was short, I should soon die, but whether by fire of water, sword or sickness, he could not say. Two months later the lady came to me and humbly confessed her sin, and acknowledged the deception, and not long after, Enoch, the man who uttered the curse, died himself.
These things may be mentioned to show, that at no time since the introduction of the Gospel has its progression been unchequered by efforts of the Evil One to turn back the native mind to its ancient state. In fact, there have been alternate retrogressions and progressions; and whenever the state of the natives was the most satisfactory, it was sure to be followed by something to grieve their friends,
wahi tapu, and which were in fact the spirits themselves. These were carefully sought for, and then a large iron pot was made red hot, and the poor little things were put into it and consumed. This caused the spirits to fly out of them in the shape of large moths; then the pots were filled with potatoes, which were eaten whilst certain prayers were uttered. Adepts in this kind of work went through the district; they selected a spot, the operator pronounced it to be the abode of this enemy of the Maori race; he stuck a pole in the ground, drew a circle around it, and commanded his followers to dig there, when they invariably found the poor little reptile, which most probably they had brought with them. It is a kind of eft, of a dirty flesh-color, and slightly transparent; and being a night lizard it lies concealed in the earth during the day; hence its existence was not known before this absurd idea arose. The lizards
These lizard operators thus gained so much celebrity, that they were encouraged to carry on their deception still further, by engaging to discover the places where Pounamu, green jade ornaments, Maori jewels, had been buried; a common practice in former days during war, to preserve them from falling into the hands of their enemies. They commanded their followers to dig in the spots indicated, and in several cases the amazed natives found the much-prized jewels. From
This superstition was succeeded by the angel Gabriel, who made them acquainted with the fact that they had been guilty of a great error in not giving due honor to the Virgin Mary; and, therefore, that they did not belong to the true Church, which worshipped her. This, however, in its turn gave way to the Hauhaus, who professed to have had a revelation of the right way of worshipping God, and of driving out the Europeans, and making their own race increase. The new discovery was first called the Pai marire, then Hauhauism; it is a singular blending of Mormonism and mesmerism together. The originator having previously had lessons in mesmerism at Sydney, was able to do some things which appeared miraculous to the simple natives; and thus they hoped, through its instrumentality, to regain the dominion, and drive the Europeans into the sea. They further laid claim to the gift of tongues; and not only to speak English, but Hebrew as well, professing themselves to be the true descendants of the Jews. This new
Such are some of the tares which are constantly springing up and choking the good seed. But there are others also of which we, alas! are the cause. From being a most sober race they are rapidly becoming the contrary; and the men who stood forth to support the European, and to put down his enemies, who were enrolled as a militia, have been rewarded by having the bottle put to their mouth, and been taught to make beasts of themselves; they have learnt to drink, to break the Sabbath, and pay no more attention to religion than the worst of our countrymen, in the portion of the force they belong to. It cannot be denied that at present much deadness and indifference to religion prevails; nor is it to be wondered at. It would be more wonderful were it otherwise, since it is the same with our own men, especially those who have been engaged in active warfare; the scenes they have witnessed are all calculated to brutalize the mind. We look upon the murderer, who has imbued his hands in the blood of a fellow-creature, with unfeigned horror; but when men are licensed to be wholesale butchers, what an effect must it have upon the minds of even the best amongst ourselves! What then must it have upon the Maori? Is not: war calculated to shake the fabric of faith to its very foundations? Let it please God, however, to restore the blessings of peace, and then may we not likewise hope that He will cause a re-action to take place in the mind. This has been the case on a former occasion, why may it not be so again?
Have there been no times of apparent deadness amongst the followers of Christ in other parts; no backsliding, no falling away amongst ourselves? Without going to the great salt lake, the land of Christianized Paganism, or rather Mahometanism, we may ask, Are the absurdities even of the Hauhaus greater than those of the table-turners, spirit-rappers, clairvoyants, and such like? Still we do not say that our Church is extinguished. We have our essays and reviews, and even a Bishop, who has sunk himself below the
The same arguments which have been brought forward against the native Church, may be equally advanced against that of Apostolic times. What is the state now of the ancient sections of Christendom which still exist? Are they not like some of those primæval trees of a New Zealand forest, which are so encumbered with epiphytes, liands, and parasites, that we mistake their foliage for that of the parent tree, which they completely conceal? Did not even the Apostolic Church soon fall away from its first purity of doctrine and love to God? Had we no darkness? And shall we presume to say, because a day of darkness has overtaken us, that the cloud will not pass away as others have done before? Noah’s deluge covered the whole earth, but the waters retired after they had fulfilled their mission; and when the dove which was sent forth returned, it brought an olive leaf back with it. There was still life left upon the earth when all appeared dead.
An earthquake may cause an unusually high wave to arise and overflow the dry land; in its recoil it will lay bare a corresponding portion of the bottom of the sea, expose its mud and filth, and fill the air with its noxious effluvia; the water, however, soon returns to its usual channel, and the land resumes its accustomed appearance. In a similar way the war has rolled over New Zealand with its pestilential tide; it has risen above its barriers and swept away the works of man, and the fair fabrics he had erected. In its recoil it has laid bare the natural depraved state of the heart, when no longer under the control of the Spirit. But will these depths of human depravity never more be concealed? Will not the ocean of God’s love again flow back and cover up the evil? Why should this be an exception to all that has gone before? Will God permit the work He began, to be marred by the malice and hatred of the devil? But has
The real abandonment of the Christian faith was confined to the miserable Hauhau sect, I say was, because many of them, who have been able to shake off the mesmeric state, and regain the use of their reason, have abandoned it, and we have every cause to believe the number will daily increase; but of the rest there is hope, and a good one too, that a re-action for the better will soon take place amongst them.
In October of last year I visited the Nga-ti-rua-nui district, with the Governor. At
At
At The name of the council which decided that no more land should be sold to the Europeans, and that any infringement of that law should be visited with death.pu kanohi, the chief eye of their tribe. I spoke to them at some length, and bid them carry my words to those still in arms and remind them of what I had said when I saw them bent on war, to be careful and refrain from it, for it would most assuredly end in their losing their lands and lives; and now I warned them of the folly of carrying it on any longer, as it could only end in their losing the remainder of what they still possessed. I saw Hohaia and the prisoners; poor Hohaia was apparently truly penitent, and had been led to see the fault he had committed. He had one of his hands very fearfully shattered; he said he did not grieve for his wound, as it was the means which it had pleased God to use to withdraw him from the war. I reminded him of the Lord’s words, “It is better to lose even a right eye or limb, rather than to lose all in another world.” At ake ake ake, for ever and ever.
Such was the state of the Nga-ti-rua-nui, who are perhaps the most blameable in this war, as they had no cause given for engaging in it; still, even amongst them I feel persuaded there will be a re-action in God’s own good time, and a remnant left to serve Him. There are, however, many entire tribes, who have not taken up arms at all, or else have done so on the side of Government. Allowing, then, to the utmost extent, the backsliding of the hostile natives, still there is no proof that there has been such an entire decadence of the native Church as has been represented.
From the
At
That the love of many has waxed cold, and that much deadness and indifference to religion now prevail is conceded, nor is it difficult to account for this being so. Have we not verily been guilty in this matter? Have we set the nation an example of our superior morality and fear of God? The assertion has been made by the European that the Maories have given up their faith; they, on the, other hand, have the same idea of us, and with apparently quite as much show of reason. They have been amazed by the amount of open immorality, profane swearing, drunkenness, and dishonesty they have witnessed amongst us. They have remarked the total disregard of the Lord’s Day and of Divine worship, evinced even by those from whom a better example would be expected. One of the native contingent, who was in the late expedition to
What could the natives think when they saw our chief men thus ignoring the very principles of the Christian faith? They thought they were the Christians and we the Heathen, that God would bless their arms rather than ours, and thus were encouraged to continue the contest; the worst of them thought there could be no real good in our faith, when its professors could thus pay so little regard to its commands; they therefore invented another, and Hauhauism arose. I well remember the first time a canoe attempted
In proof of the sad effects of bad example, it is remarked that the natives only curse and swear in English; all their oaths and bad words are ours, their own are entirely laid aside.
The natural consequence is, when the natives see, as Europeans increase amongst them, that the instruction given by a few solitary individuals is at variance with the general practice of the Pakeha, natural inclination leads them to prefer the example of the multitude to the teaching of the few.
Much, therefore, of the backsliding which has taken, place in the native Church, must in a great measure be attributed to the causes before mentioned. It has been said that the natives are in a state of coma at present; but, it may be asked, are they only so, and are no others in the same condition? The war has not confined its deadening influence to one race, it has sadly affected both. Another cause of declension may also be alluded to—the way our loyal natives have been treated.
The best and most exemplary of them, after gaining the victories at Moutoa and Ohotahi, which saved the
What, however, has been the effect of this alliance on the natives? Has it benefited them? Has it raised them in the moral scale of society? Alas! it has been quite the reverse. They have had their rations of rum, and have acquired a love of ardent spirits, and now curse and swear, literally, as a trooper. They may now be seen haunting the public-houses, a disgusting and painful proof of their new teaching. They are many of them thoroughly demoralized. Having had no Sabbath observance, they have learned to neglect it, and to believe it is of no consequence. And thus those men, who have jeopardized their lives in our defence, and been signally instrumental in preserving our provinces from destruction, have been ruined in return; and from being many of them high-principled men, have become besotted, Sabbath-breaking, worthless characters. Nay, further, the best way we have found out of shewing our admiration and good feeling towards them, has been by inviting them to resuscitate the past customs of barbarous life, to dance their revolting war dances, which even our colonial ladies attend with as much apparent gusto as the Spanish dames do their disgraceful bull-fights.
The question will naturally arise, What is being done for the good of the native race. The Missionaries are laboring in their behalf, few in number, most of them far advanced in years, and fruitlessly (some almost exultingly say), but do they stand alone in their thankless work of ameliorating the native race? I may here relate a circumstance to show that they nearly do so.
A settler told me he viewed the Missionaries as the greatest curse to the land; that were it not for them and the influence of Exeter Hall, there would have been no disturbance with the natives; the best thing which could now be done for the country would be to send them all out of it. I went up the river and at one of the Kaingas was told that Matiu, a chief who had been fighting against us at
The Old Priest of Waikowau, West Coast.
Chapter IV.
The Church
The next inquiry to be made is, Has the Government aided the Missionaries in their efforts to raise the Maori race. The native is especially regarded as a ward of Government; he is still considered as being only in statu pupillari, unable to manage his own affairs, and, therefore, not allowed to dispose of, or lease his own lands but through the agency of his guardians. Thus so carefully attended to in worldly matters, it may be asked, what have his guardians done to raise him in the scale of society?
Upon the estimates for the year ending June 30, 1867, under the head of native department, the large sum of £29,986. 15s. 10d. was placed. This looks well at first sight; surely here is a sufficiency to maintain good Maori
Euthanasia; and on that principle it appears they act as trustees only to administer to the property of the deceased. The £30,000 are appropriated chiefly for three purposes. The first and largest portion is to pay the salaries of European officers connected with the native department; the next applies to native assessors, policemen, &c.; and the last to pensions granted to loyal chiefs and natives who have been severely wounded. But whilst these may do some good for the maintenance of peace, and the reward of the deserving, there is not a farthing to any higher object. This is very sad; it is really treating the race as a dying one, and only bestowing physic without any nourishing food to support life. It appears a pity that the State cannot take a higher view of the subject.
The noble conduct of the Government of
The next enquiry will be, What has I am merely writing of the Church Mission, and therefore there is no reference here made to the labors of the Wesleyan Mission, which has gone on onoin its sphere of usefulness hand in hand with the Church.
If the heart be in the work,—if he who seeks to save feels that he himself is a sinner saved,—the fire will burn, and God will provide from His holy Word the fuel to sustain the flame;
This, then, is the great business to which the Church has now to attend; the sending forth suitable laborers into the Lord’s vineyard. The Missionary Church has the honor of being the first to concede equal rights and privileges to its Maori members; it has not only given them an entrance into its councils, but admitted them to the ministry, and in this respect it is doubly entitled to their affection, whilst at the same time it is setting the Government an example to follow in its steps, by admitting the native chiefs to those offices in the state to which they have an equal right with ourselves. None of the offices yet bestowed upon them can be regarded as calculated to raise the confidence of the natives in our intention of dealing fairly with them.
The staff of Bishops is now complete; but the staff of ministers is far from being so. In the Diocese of Waiapu, a synod of Maori clergymen has been held, and their deliberations will doubtlessly tend to the welfare of that part. But measures must now be taken on a larger scale, sufficient to meet the wants of the entire native Church; how those wants are to be met on a scale commensurate with its requirements is the great consideration. Wherever we have sufficient numbers to form a congregation, there should, and must be, some plan devised to supply ministration for it, either lay or clerical.
The plan just adopted by the Church Missionary Society appears very judicious: in order to encourage the raising of funds for the support of native ministers and teachers, it proposes to supplement for a time the annual amount raised
And now it may be asked what is the prospect for the future?—is it bad?—is it hopeless?—or is it good and hopeful. I unhesitatingly answer there is nothing to dishearten the friends of Missions, and when the heart is in the work, nothing to drive the laborer from his post. The New Zealand Church is not called upon to go through more than other Churches have been. Let the war and its attendant evils cease, and then we may hope for a reaction. I think no one can doubt that the true leaven One evening when the state of the natives appeared to be darkest, I walked through my village, and heard a woman praying. I drew near; her husband was sick; she prayed for his recovery, and especially that God would be pleased to pour out his Spirit upon them both, upon their ministers, teachers, and upon all of them. I returned home comforted and thankful.was in the lump, and who can say that it has even now ceased working; when the dough is set it is covered over to keep the heat in. Who can put forth his hand and raise that covering to reveal the hidden working within, but the Mighty One who placed it thereon? And who can say when the leaven has been applied, that, contrary to nature, it is not working; we know that the cloth which covers it up from the view has its object in being placed there, and the dark cloud which shuts out the sunlight for a time and throws all into the deeper shade, is secretly refreshing the earth and repairing it to bring forth its fruits with increased vigor when it passes away and returning sunshine lightens and warms the earth’s moistened surface.
The Heathen are given to the Lord for an inheritance; they form a portion of His everlasting kingdom. The great
The work of the Missionary is well nigh ended. When it was required, the Lord so ordered it, that every facility was given to him in penetrating through the country. It was a novelty to the young men to travel with impunity from tribe to tribe. This was not capable of being done before the Missionary appeared; therefore, he had no difficulty for years in procuring bearers, the chief one was, making the selection from those who offered; and the remuneration expected was moderate. But when others beside the Missionary began to travel into the interior, it then became a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence. When the Bishop of
But every thing now is in a transition state; the long journeys on foot of the Missionary are ended; roads are now being made, and in future the horse may be used, and no companions will be needed. Indeed, it is reality a sign of advancement, that the native is no longer a carrier of burthens; and when it is remembered that a generation has not yet passed away since the painted cannibal stood supreme, what a change has taken place! What progress has been made! We do not, with those who despond, confine the benefits of the Mission to such as have died in the faith. We do not unite with those who talk of smoothing the dying pillow of the Maori race; but we look forward in faith to see a native Church permanently established, with its native ministry, still leading generation after generation to the foot of the Cross, and crowning Christ as their all in all.
Before concluding this subject a few words more may be
The present time, therefore, is not a favorable one for forming an estimate of the race. It is seen, as far as progression goes, to great apparent disadvantage, as all the points most interesting to contemplate are obscured or hidden, whilst those which are least to be admired are the most prominent. When two dogs quarrel they assume the fiercest posture and appearance they are capable of, bristling up their hair, planting their fore feet firmly in advance, and showing their teeth to the greatest advantage. Man imitates them when going to fight. He knows every thing depends on the first impression made on his foe; he therefore assumes the most defiant look, to strike terror into his heart, and make him believe he is all courage; if he succeed half the battle is already gained. So with the natives; to make themselves the most formidable in fight, they disfigure themselves with hideous contortions of the countenance, and blacken their faces with charcoal. As we dress our soldiers in red to give them as sanguinary an aspect as possible, though, to diminish the effect of the original intention, we now ornament their dresses with gold lace and other devices, so the Maori has added the lines of the tattoo, to render the plain charcoal more artistic. But this applies more especially to past times.
The mention of one act of the
Many are unreasonable in their expectations of native progress; they look for as much permanent advancement in one generation, as we have made ourselves during the long period which has elapsed since we were painted savages, as they were but a few years ago; in fact, to be as good as we ought to be, patterns and ensamples of every virtue.
During one of the Governor of New Zealand’s journeys he told some of the natives who were around his tent, that they should do good to others as well as to themselves, and ought to give a tenth of their annual income in works of charity; the natives listened with great attention and afterwards went away. In the middle of the night, however, two of them returned and woke up the Governor, who enquired what was the matter; they said that they had been holding a council respecting his conversation with them, and they were deputed to ask whether he himself had been in the habit of giving a tenth of his income annually for charitable purposes. The Governor was obliged to confess that he had not hitherto done so, but he would begin from that time; the Governor therefore gave three hundred pounds to the Bishop of
The hopeful view which is here taken of the native Church, and the strong conviction expressed, that whatever may have been its backsliding during the long period of this sad war, it will still recover and assume a far more permanent form, when that war and its attendant evils have passed away, is fully borne out by the most recent intelligence received.
The Bishop of Waiapu reports an interesting conversation which he held with a native he casually met by the road side: he was asked if he had laid aside his faith? he replied that he had not; and to the enquiry, what has Christ done for you? he answered, “He came into the world and died upon the cross for my sins, and I believe upon Him.” But this was only the confession of an individual.
Doctor Maunsell states, that during a late journey he was surprised to hear a bell at a little distance, and proceeding to see what it meant, he found that it was rung by a party who had just landed and were not aware that he was in the district. “Coming suddenly to the door he found about twelve reverently and devoutly on their knees engaged in their evening devotions.” But the most interesting communication is from the Rev.
The last mail with these interesting particulars brings also the news that the venerable patriarch of the Mission—
A short time before his death a quarrel took place between two neighbouring hapus, who were on the point of coming to blows, when they heard of that venerable Missionary’s death: so deep was the respect in which he was held, that both hapus agreed to suspend their quarrel until after his burial, whose life had been spent in teaching and preaching to them the blessed Gospel of peace and forgiveness through
In the present day, when the enemy is more formidable and far more numerous, the inventive genius of the Maori has endeavoured to find out some other means of rendering themselves still more fearful; and, to effect this, they invented Hauhauism, which was supposed to possess the double advantage of strengthening their side, and in the same degree weakening the other. By the assumption of supernatural powers, of working miracles, combined with the gift of tongues and the possession of a religion containing a little of Judaism with much of Heathenism, they drew largely on the faith of their followers, and greatly diminished their fear of British bombs, balls, rockets, and other missiles of civilized warfare; and, at the same time, by their horrid yells and incantations, exercised a kind of fascinating influence even over our men, as many instances might be brought forward to prove. But all this must be viewed as the efforts of a bold and determined race, to preserve their nationality in face of the formidable foe they had to contend with; and we should be unjust to suppose, because they have thus acted in a time of war, that they will continue the same in a time of peace. If war brings its warlike appearances, peace likewise has its peaceable aspects. Already this is beginning to be seen, and Hauhauism is declining; and even amongst these worst forms and greatest departures from former teaching, we look
These remarks apply solely to the hostile portion of the race. Another remains to be alluded to—the neutral one. It is the belief of many that the Maories have greatly diminished; in proof of this the last native census is referred to,—the disproportion of females to the males, and the diminished offspring. On the other hand it may be said, the former census is not to be relied upon; to the writer’s certain knowledge many of the returns were merely rough guesses; the actual native census has never yet been taken. Parts could be mentioned which, so far from having their population given, have never been visited by those who were commissioned to make the returns. That of the country inland of the Nga-ti-rua-nui, between Mount Egmont and the
In searching up members of the congregation who had long been lost sight of, it was astonishing to find into what out-of-the-way places they had stowed themselves. Anxious to maintain their own, many had gone to reside in spots where no one would expect to find any one living. This has been especially the case with those who have been peaceably inclined, and who wished equally to avoid coming into collision with either the European or their own countrymen, and therefore concealed themselves in those retired and hidden localities. But when peace is established they will, I am persuaded, come forth from their hiding-places, and astonish those, who thought only of their euthanasia, by the supposed decrease of their numbers. The general use
What, then, is the real state of the Maori race in the present day, and what is its prospect for the future? Are we to look for its decease, and for the hopelessness of any fruit from all that has been done for it? Are all the expectations of the Christian public to be disappointed? Let us briefly consider its present real position.
Reference has been already made to the state it was in when the Missionary first stepped on New Zealand’s shores. Let one of its chiefs of that time be made to re-appear, and be placed by the side of the most turbulent of the present day,—how unlike the one is to the other. Can they be said to belong to the same race? And still a generation has not yet passed away.
Compare the appearance of the former, with his skin daubed over with red ochre and shark’s oil, with the well-clothed native of this time; the former surrounded by his slaves, whose very life depended on his fitful temper; there are no slaves now, and those who went to the present war, went of their own accord; there was no constraint, their force was formed solely by voluntary compact.
The cannibal feasts have totally disappeared. It is true, to harrow up the feelings of animosity against the race, attempts have been made to make the public believe that there are cases of its revival, but such assertions were unfounded.
At Oakura, when the murderous attack was made on an escort party, May 4th 1863, which was the recommencement of the war at
The conduct of the natives at the
Comparing, then, the state of the past with the worst of the present, there has evidently been a great change for the better.
The war has been a great trial to the native Church, but it may yet be productive of good, as a season of affliction is to the believer: the furnace purifies the gold. The flint is dark and opaque, but the blow given it elicits the spark; and even the solar rays are said to be incapable of giving light until they strike the earth; so may the shock which this war has given the native Church, draw forth a purer and more permanent light.
Let, then, the prospect for the future be considered. The peaceably-disposed, which form by no means an inconsiderable portion of the population, will in times of peace exercise their legitimate influence over the whole. They have kept up the observance of religion even during the most adverse times; they will now continue to do so with increased influence. It is true that the seeds of demoralization have germinated and borne fruit; drinking is now an established vice, deadness to religion is also increased; still, on the other side, must be considered their advancement in the manners and customs of civilized life, in agriculture, in their way of living and general knowledge. The war, too, with all its evils, has not been without some compensating good; the loyal natives and the European Militia
In a spiritual point of view, likewise, the prospect is far better than many suppose. The Church of England has treated the native as a brother, it has raised him to the same level with its other members, it has conferred on him the same rank and influence which it has on them; and thus the Maori race at this time, instead of being like a disorganized army, disbanded and without any recognized leader, possess, in addition to their European Bishops and clergy, a body of native clergy, with teachers and schoolmasters as well; therefore, instead of resuming their position with decreased powers, they will stand forth with enlarged ones. Bishop Williams with his Maori Synod on the one hand, and the native clergymen in other places, having stood their ground during the trying time of war, will now be prepared to act on the offensive in the time of peace, and with a more numerous native clergy, will have increased weight with their people, which, by the Divine blessing, will aid in the permanent improvement and increase of their race.
A Native School.
Chapter V.
Native Schools and Half-Caste Race.
In the beginning of the Mission, when the tide turned in favor of the Gospel, all became scholars; young and old flocked to our schools. No sooner was the daily morning service concluded, than the entire congregation resolved itself into classes, according to the advancement each portion of it had made. Those who could read formed the first class; then came the catechisms: first the Church, then those by Watts, and the first one of the General Assembly. This embraced the grand portion of the school, it comprised all classes—the chief and slave, the aged and the young. This congregational school has been continued up to the present date, although with diminished numbers, at least on the western coast; but the general dispersion of the natives, and their more varied occupations,
After these congregational schools, others were instituted expressly for the young. There were flourishing ones established at the Waimate, the Waikato, Otawhao, and in fact at all the Mission Stations. These more or less prospered until the breaking out of the war, which has for a time destroyed many of them, and greatly injured the remainder.
One of the great drawbacks to the permanency of schools, has been our inability to ensure the attendance of pupils. The natural independence of the Maori character is such, that it extends even to their children. The parents acknowledge this to be the case. It arises from the perfect freedom of action possessed by the child; its will is not allowed to be thwarted; its parents dare not attempt to curb it, even if inclined to do so, however opposed to its own benefit; the child’s relations would at once interfere, and demand satisfaction for any attempt to correct its refractory disposition. In former times, it was rather their wish to render the child as vicious as possible,—to grow up a great man, it was necessary for him to be a murderer, and every thing that was bad.
Even now, with the superior enlightenment they possess, the parent seldom attempts to control his child. When I reproved a chief for not compelling his children to attend school, his excuse was, that as soon as they arose in the morning, they went and gathered little bundles of Puwha, sow thistles or sticks, which they carried to the town and sold, either for a few pence or a little food, saying, they were like the fowls which went scratching about for food.
This clearly proves the irregularity of Maori domestic arrangements, to cause such a necessity.
The Bishop of New Zealand introduced the industrial or
Several private schools adopted the plan, but with a very different motive. Instead of taking pupils gratis, and exacting a certain amount of labor as an equivalent, they demanded both: charging the full amount usual for schools, and using their scholars as domestic drudges and serfs.
Day schools for native children will not answer; but only good boarding schools, where children of both races mix together; if a certain number could be taken gratis, and others assisted in paying for their children, the benefit would be great; at present those only who receive salaries from Government can raise the requisite amount. But it is evident that such schools would secure the attendance of the children of chiefs, who are extremely jealous lest there should not be a perfect equality between them, and those of the settlers. And it has been remarked that they make an equal progress with those of the latter, when enjoying the same advantages.
To effect this object the Colonial Government must step forward and aid in educating the Maori race. It will now be able to insist upon the attendance of native children, and if there is a real desire on its part to perpetuate and raise the race, then this presents the best way, and will be the most effectual one of rendering it loyal, and ensuring its future absorption into the general population of the land.
The natives also have a just right to expect that the Government will attend to the education of their children. The proceeds of native reserves must be considerable, but they have hitherto been like streams in the desert, which are absorbed in the sand without leaving any trace of their disappearance. Perhaps a little investigation might lead to their rediscovery, and to a more profitable use being found for them than that of watering the unfruitful sand.
A large portion of the middle island, larger perhaps than Scotland, was bought for £2000, but with the express
At present there is a school at the native reserve of Kaiapoi, which has a small number of children attending it; and there may be others, but I have not heard of them.
For the maintenance of a system of education suitable to the present exigencies of the native race, there are funds nearly sufficient for that purpose in the proper management of the rents of native reserves in the northern island; and there are claims, and great ones too, for any extra amount required, which our just and equitable Colonial Government will not attempt to disallow; and in the middle island this is an obligation incurred, being attached to the conditions of the sale of those widely extended provinces.
In 1862 the Government appointed Inspectors of schools. One of these visited Wairarapa, and summoned a meeting of the natives there to point out the importance of instruction to them; a large number assembled, he addressed them through an interpreter, reminding them of their former debased and degraded state, as well as of their present ignorance of all the arts of civilized life, contrasting their state most unfavourably with that of the European. One of the chiefs arose and replied to his remarks, acknowledging the truth of what he had said, that they were indeed a very ignorant race, and far inferior to the European, still, he said, it was not altogether courteous on his part to remind them of it; that it was very much like the conduct of the proud Pharisee in the temple, who thanked God he was not as other men were, or even as the poor publican. This he spoke in such a calm and dignified way, that it made the Bishop of
The intercourse between the European and Maori has given rise to an intermediate race, which now forms an important portion of the community. To Mr. Morgan is due the credit of having established the first school for the half-castes. This was carried on many years at Otawhao, for both sexes; the children made great progress, and many of the girls from that school have been eligibly married to the settlers. Similar marriages have taken place in every part of the island, and thus they are forming a connecting link between the two races.
The half-castes are not only remarkable for their fine well-formed persons, but also for their intellectual powers; one of these is now a member of the
In general, the half-castes have sided rather with the European than the Maori, but some have remained with their native relations during the whole of the war. It is important that especial attention should be given to the education of the half-castes, for those who have been totally neglected and left entirely with the natives have become the most dangerous and determined enemies of the Government.
Whilst, therefore, the New Zealand Government pays its attention to the organization of a system of government which shall apply to the European section of the population, we trust it will also be sufficiently comprehensive as to take in that of the Maori and half-caste races as well.
The Tomb of Heuheu.
Chapter VI.
The English Church.
The establishment of the Missionary in New Zealand, and the wide-spreading influence of the Gospel amongst its inhabitants, led, first, to the colonization of the Cook’s Straits by the New Zealand Land Company; and likewise to the determination of the British Government to gain the sovereignty of the New Zealand Isles and colonize the whole, and the establishment of the Episcopate seemed naturally to follow. Dr.
The Bishop then went to the north; at At his death some years afterwards, an obelisk was erected to his memory by the congregation; it is placed close to the church he so worthily served.
The Bishop afterwards proceeded to the Bay of Islands and went on to the
On the breaking out of the war in 1845, St. John’s College was removed to
As a proof that everything is reversed at the antipodes, these bells are placed in the ground chamber of the tower, and the ringers ascend to the room above and there lustily pull away at the ropes and ring the bells under their feet, whilst doors from the ground floor are opened to allow the imprisoned sounds to escape.
The Bishop’s palace is also characteristic of the antipodes; it is an extraordinary edifice, and appears like building an upper story to one of the buried houses of Pompeii, to reach the present level of the land above. It forms one side of a square, parallel to the library, and is entered apparently by a door in the roof. A long passage is then seen, on one side of which are the dining, drawing, and sitting rooms; these are all of wood. From thence there is a staircase leading to the bed rooms below, which look out upon the garden; this part of the building is massively erected of stone. Perhaps the lower portion is to be regarded as the only permanent part; the upper one being intended to be more substantially erected at some future period.
The Bishop’s diligence also must be mentioned in purchasing lands in every fresh-formed township, as sites for future churches and parsonages, so that the Church may advance with the times—a practice which should be more imitated in other dioceses. From building church edifices he turned to the appointment of church officers. He made
Afterwards he obtained the sub-division of his large diocese, by cutting off the Middle Island, to which Dr.
By a mistake in the Bishop of New Zealand’s letters patent, his diocese was made to extend to Lat. 33° N. instead of South, he therefore turned his attention to the islands lying in his diocese. In 1861, Dr.
The establishment of the constitution of the Church of New Zealand was chiefly owing to his exertions; this took place in March 1859, when the first General Synod of the Church was held at
In the present position of colonial churches, it is evident that each must have its own constitution. Severed from the State, and so widely separated from the parent church, it is necessary for its own government that it should agree upon some form, to which all its members might subscribe; without which anarchy and confusion would prevail, should any unforeseen event occur, as the present painful one in
Perhaps the present form of Church government agreed upon may be found too complicated to work freely and satisfactorily. If this should be the case, it can be rectified by the same power which first called it into being. In a new colony like New Zealand, it appears sad that the various sections of the Christian Church, which differ so little in doctrine, could not have agreed to merge their little differences, and form themselves into a Catholic Church for the whole. The Synod being composed of the three orders—bishops, clergy, and laity—are brought into intimate intercourse by their triennial meetings, which must prove a means of cementing the whole together.
Three general Synods have been held; the first at
It was decided in the first that the clergy should be called curates, and also proposed, at the same time, to arrange the title by which the Bishops were to be addressed. To call them lords in colonies where there are none bearing that title, and no baronial rank attached to their sees as in
Each diocese has likewise its own annual Synod, of which every clergyman is a member. The value of Synods appears to be free discussion and united action, which will not allow of any innovations being made by individual members. Where nothing can be done in the way of change without the consent of a general Synod, there cannot be much danger of men attempting to introduce their own views. Even should there be a desire on the part of the Bishop and clergy, the lay element still remains to keep them both in check, and thus far it has been so significantly expressed that both must succumb to public feeling or lose their followers. By them the Bishop becomes the true organ of the Church, as well as its true head. The Diocesan Synod expresses itself by its Bishop, and the General Synod by its Metropolitan. But without the Synod nothing can be done; hence the attendance of the New Zealand Bishops at the Pan-Anglican Meeting, as it has been called, is, as far as the New Zealand Church is concerned, to be viewed as having no higher object than the interchange of amenities between the heads of the various sections of our Church. Had those heads come armed with
The one great truth which appears to be silently and slowly developed in the present day in the colonial Church is, that it cannot be ruled by the strong arm of power, but by that law only which Christ, its founder, delivered—the law of love. Had Bishop Grey tried that law, Bishop Colenso would have succumbed.
The time has now arrived for the colonial Church to stand by itself. The mother Church is unable to sustain it, severed from the State, “it is placed in the same position, neither better nor worse, than that of any other Christian community,” and being as much separated from the State as they are, it is evident that it cannot exercise any more control over it, than it does over any other section of the Church; therefore it is equally necessary that it should have its own laws and appoint its own officers, and all this can be done without severing those bonds of love and affection which will ever continue to bind it to the parent Church.
Henceforth, the colonial Church by its General Synod will appoint the Bishops, which hitherto have been nominated by the Bishop of New Zealand, who has had a far greater claim to that of Bishop-maker than ever the Earl of Warwick had to be a King-maker, and his nominations were ratified by the Crown. The vacated See of
These are extracts from the memorial. It is a sad pity that more care was not taken in the selection, and in ascertaining first the sentiments of the Dunedin Church, but it still remains to be seen whether that Church will confirm the appointment,
Such is a brief sketch of the history of the English portion of our Church in New Zealand. It is now established in its integrity, with its seven Bishops, its General and Diocesan Synods, let it simply look to Christ and rest upon Him, and His blessing will rest upon it, but if it turns aside to forsaken vanities it will not be owned. This brief account of the New Zealand branch of the English, or, as it would now be styled, the Anglican Church, will not be complete without a few observations on its present state being added.
To commence with
The same may be said of St. Matthew’s, which is a large wooden building, with side aisles and two rows of pillars; like the former, it is well filled, and has the larger congregation of the two.
The neat little suburb of Parnell, seated on the road to Manukau, contains St. Mary’s Church, which is also well attended. The small new church of St. Sepulchre, at the cemetery, has recently been opened.
On the north shore opposite to s., and at St. Matthew’s, £956.6s. 10d., at St. Mary’s £521. 12s. 1d.; and at the North Shore Church, in a very small community, £107.15s. 7d. These amounts were derived from seat rents as well as the offertory, and from these the clergy have their salaries, and all church expenses are defrayed.
Before we leave
About five miles from This singularity is perhaps to be partly attributed to a common practice which more or less prevails throughout Polynesia of changing old words for new; thus, if a chief should bear the name of any common thing, as Kai, food, after his death it would be considered a curse to use it, so Tami has been substituted in Rotorua, and in the same way for Wai, water, Honu, in another district.
The Bishop is now organizing a new station at Norfolk Island, which is to be feared will prove to be a mistake, as the great advantage of bringing the boys to New Zealand was that they might have as strong a contrast between barbarous and
The plan of the Melanesian Mission for converting the Heathen is an original one, and in common with every other effort made to enlighten the benighted sections of the human race, and extend the Redeemer’s kingdom, is entitled to the prayers and well wishes of all God’s servants; and being peculiarly an Australasian Mission, sprung from the infant Church there, it has the greater call on the sympathy and support of its members.
It is, however, at present but an experiment; there are difficulties to contend with which cannot be avoided. The boys must acquire a considerable fluency in the English tongue, before they can comprehend the scheme of Redemption through Christ. Their stay at a time in the colony is short, and their return uncertain. The plan of making Norfolk Island, or Curtis Island, (which was kindly offered to be given for that purpose by the New South Wales Government,) is objectionable, for the reasons already given. They will see there no ships, no manufactures, no carriages, or appliances of civilized life, calculated to strike them with the vast superiority of the white man; and that must be the first impression made on the savage mind. Still the experiment is an interesting one, and creditable to the New Zealand Church. May it, in thus looking abroad to do good, not forget the spiritual welfare of those nearer home. Its first Bishop is an energetic man, gifted with a great facility of acquiring languages. And it must give the savage a favorable view of some at least of our race, which will be a set off to the bad one formed by too many of our traders, whose marauding visits occasionally appear in the public prints. The wholesale vengeance likewise occasionally taken by our men-of-war, when innocent and guilty are equally punished, whatever may be the wrong committed, does not tend to give the savages a very favorable opinion of us, nor will it render the Bishop’s visits as acceptable as they would otherwise be.
At
In the city of
St. Peter’s, the other church, is placed at the opposite end of the city, which resembles in form a pair of spectacles, the two eyes being Thorndon and Pipitea, forming two towns, the intervening space being occupied by a long row of houses, placed between the beach and the cliff. It is a low church, but of considerable size. It has been twice enlarged during the present incumbent’s time, and still seems to require a further addition. Both churches are well filled, and the increase of the place already calls for another.
On the west coast, at
At Matarawa there is a very neat little church, which
Lyttelton, the port of
St. Luke’s Church is a large ugly ecclesiastical barn, standing without its equal, perhaps, in the Southern Hemisphere.
St. John’s is a new building, of beautiful white stone, with specks of obsidian. This is a credit to the place.
In the neighbourhood of
Before leaving the province of Canterbury, it may be remarked, that the well-built city of
All the streets are named after Bishops of the English Church, and some of the villages as well. In the city there are Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer streets. As at
Of the province of Canterbury, generally, it may be said, that in its progress, character of society, cultivation, and domestic homes, it has a decided pre-eminence amongst its sister provinces; and though the last founded, will soon rank first, even in its numbers; the newly-discovered gold fields on its western coast, which already have added little short of fifty thousand inhabitants to its population, show how wonderfully the Almighty is filling up the world’s wildernesses with the sounds of civilized life.
In the province of Otago, which was originally intended to be exclusively a Presbyterian colony, a diocese is on the
The Gospel was proclaimed to a nation of cannibals by a small number of laborers, barely exceeding twenty-four, of which more than half were laymen; and it was proclaimed with success. But now how greatly is the case changed! One hundred clergy, and those to minister—not to savages—but chiefly their own countrymen. May their labors exceed those of the little Missionary band a hundred-fold! That band is, in a great measure, worn out with age, and much diminished in numbers by death. If it is not to be replaced let it be aided now by this fresh force.
In addition to our own body of clergy, there are the Wesleyan and Presbyterian; and, on the opposite side, a large staff of the Church of Rome, with two Bishops at their head. These will force the Protestant ministers to increased energy and activity, unless they suffer themselves to be captured by their dazzling vanities—as the fish are by the Maori fisherman with his pawa, shining pearl shell-hook—and then find, when too late, that they have been deceived and destroyed by an empty representation of the reality!
Tattooed Head.
Chapter VII.
King Movement.
It is an acknowledged fact, that amongst all aboriginal tribes which have no fixed laws and institutions, brute force prevails and might is right. In this way all differences are settled by the weaker yielding to the stronger. When civilized man comes into contact with such, this evident superiority is at once seen and acknowledged by the savage; he cannot repress his wonder and admiration at the knowledge which the white man possesses; he feels constrained to admit his superiority, and to regard him in the light of a teacher. Nor is it necessary to say, that could such a power so tacitly conceded be used without being abused, it would give an amazing facility to benefit and raise the inferior to a level more nearly corresponding with that of his teacher.
When the Spaniards first landed on the shores of America the simple natives regarded them as beings of celestial birth,
Had the first visitors to those newly-discovered races acted consistently with their profession, and sought to use the reverence thus spontaneously conceded for their good, it is impossible to say what might not have been effected.
The history of the civilization of Peru furnishes a proof of this. Two semi-civilized beings—Manco Capac and Mama Ocollo—suddenly made their appearance by the banks of the Lake Titiaca;—dressed in the garb of civilized life, they astonished the savage natives by the superiority of their appearance and variety of knowledge; they regarded them as beings of celestial origin of higher order; and this conviction gave them the greatest influence, which happily they used for their good. Though a single pair they succeeded in instituting law and order; in inducing the scattered tribes to live together, and in getting them to adopt all their plans for their improvement. They gave them a form of religion; they taught them to build houses, give up their wandering propensities, and dwell together in towns.
Gradually they laid the foundation of that civilization, which excited the wonder and admiration of the Spaniards. This is an extraordinary instance of the power of mind over brute force, when two individuals alone could effect such changes, and not only preserve their lives amongst lawless savages, but compel them to be obedient to their commands, and regard them as their Divine rulers; it seems as though they exercised a kind of mesmeric influence over the minds of the multitude which could not be resisted, but constrained them to do whatever they wished, with the firm belief it was for their good.
There is something almost too marvellous in this account to be believed, were it not for the credibility of the authorities who have handed it down. The only parallel instance is that of the Missionaries in the Southern Hemisphere; and New Zealand may be here brought forward as an instance.
Fifty years ago the Missionary first landed on its shores, then rife with human slaughter and cannibalism, where perhaps life was more insecure than any where else. Still alone, unaided and unsupported, he maintained his ground in the midst of those ruthless savages, gradually gaining their respect and obedience. Mr. Marsden, the indefatigable worker for the good of the Maori race, seemed to have obtained an influence over the natives, by imparting to them the feeling that he was their friend, which enabled him to do what no other European dared to attempt. He walked from the Thames to the Bay of Islands, passing through the midst of tribes which were then waging an exterminating war with each other, and he was treated with respect by all. The greatness of the undertaking in that early day, may be estimated by the fact that no Governor of New Zealand had passed through the island from the east coast to the west, until Governor Grey succeeded in the attempt at the close of the year 1866, walking from
It is a sad consideration that the ill-timed present of guns to Hongi by George the Fourth raised the ambitious views of that chief, and led to the most destructive wars that ever raged in New Zealand. Putting aside the religious character of the Missionary and his belonging to a superior race, he was a messenger of peace, striving to put an end to what they knew to be wrong; in short he obtained an ascendancy
The natives were prepared to receive our laws and institutions, and to yield obedience to Queen’s representative; his word was law:—but when they perceived that it was not the advancement of their race which was aimed at, but that of the European alone; that they as a people were ignored, that no power was conceded, no place given to the chiefs in our councils, no voice in framing those laws which they were still expected to obey; but only one grand object was kept in view, the increase of one race at the expense of the other, then a revulsion of feeling gradually took place. The flag which they first assisted in floating over their land now became an object of fear and dislike; nor were their suspicions lessened by designing foreigners and others; they were told the flag was an emblem of their subjection, and unfortunately their fears afterwards were abundantly confirmed by Earl Grey’s celebrated despatch to Governor Grey, ordering him
This was the true cause of the first war.
As our countrymen increased and occupied the country, the necessity of keeping on terms of friendship with the natives became less felt, and by the fresh comers, not at all. Many, too, often viewed the original owners of the soil as intruders, This was the complaint of viz., that the native owners of the soil had no right at all to it.
The British Government wherever it is established destroys the power and privileges of the Aborigines without granting them any equivalent; no offices have hitherto been bestowed upon even those of the highest rank, or any acknowledgment of their dignity given. Their lands too have been rendered useless to them, the better to constrain them to sell. They were not allowed to lease them to the settlers, consequently, however extensive they might be, and however valuable from their close vicinity to the European, they became valueless to their owners. Those who had been faithful to Government during the war received little notice when it was over; whilst those who had been the most troublesome, at its termination received the most substantial proofs of the Government bounty. Tahana Turoa, who rendered great aid to the Government during the first war, when it was over was passed by unnoticed, whilst
Another cause is their not having been encouraged in their endeavours to raise themselves; for adopting our religion and manners they have in many instances been regarded as hypocrites, and have had little credit given them for sincerity; their faults have been magnified and their virtues ignored.
The natives, too, seeing our real weakness, from the scattered character of the settlements and the natural peculiarities of the country, with the frequency of our panics and the too often trifling causes of them, were thus emboldened to be disaffected. It is a question whether the sepoys, seeing how panic-struck their rulers were, were not in a great measure thus induced to break out into rebellion. “I believe that panic lay at the bottom of half the actual mutinies which have taken place after the first. “Ludlow’s India,” vol. 2, p. 260.
The idea broached by
The native is naturally as shrewd and sensible as the European, and far more so than many. He plainly perceives that he is regarded as an inferior; and the general treatment he receives has confirmed this feeling, and convinced him that, as the European increases, the treatment he will receive must be worse. This conviction has had much to do with causing the present war. Before it began some of the Europeans felt so confident of their own power to maltreat, that they were neither ashamed nor afraid to express their wish “to polish off the black niggers.”
When the second war commenced at
It is very sad that this feeling has been too generally entertained by the white towards the colored races; however light the shade, all are niggers in their estimation. Such was the case in India; highly civilized as their princes are, they have been treated with the greatest discourtesy. Mr. Ackland gives an instance of British insolence to a rajah of Cuttack, when a party hunting on his land, and making use of his coolies and elephants, could not even wait for the “beastly nigger” to hunt with them! The same writer on India records many similar instances of this systematic illtreatment of natives of all ranks.
Nor has the immoral example set the native by the European been without effect, seeing those duties, which the Bible presses upon them, totally neglected by the mass, they are naturally more likely to be led by it, than by the few who have taught them otherwise.
When, therefore, the chiefs and more enlightened natives perceived that it was the evident desire of Government to obtain their lands and not bestow corresponding advantages, that in fact their nationality must inevitably be swallowed up by the rapid increase of the European, we cannot wonder that they should desire to save their own power and position, as well as that of their race, by establishing a government of their own. And this desire was increased and fixed by the glaring indifference shown to their welfare, permitting them to fight and kill one another, even in the midst of our settlements, without the slightest interference on our part; openly furnishing with arms and ammunition the party which was viewed with favor for agreeing to sell land, although the other side was equally friendly, but unwilling to part with their patrimony.
Government, too, aided and fostered the quarrel, by disallowing the Arms and Ammunition Act, which previously forbade their sale, and thus enabled the Maori to procure any amount of the munitions of war.
In
We professed to desire the natives to submit to law. A brief and excellent digest was drawn up in Maori by See “New Zealand Settlers and Soldiers,” by Rev. Thomas Gilbert, p. 38.
Another defection took place in the south.
Nor is this the only instance of such glaring injustice being committed by the agents of the Government itself. If the present war began at Waitara, through a sad mistake of the Governor permitting himself to be led by others, instead of acting on his own judgment, the previous Maori war between Rawiri Waiawa and Waitere Katotore, had also its commencement in the foolish and unjust act of the
It appeared, however, that at last the Government had seen some of their errors in the treatment of the Maori. All the head chiefs were summoned to a conference, which from the proclamation seemed to be really a step the right way—a kind of native parliament, over which the Governor would preside. The invitation, however, was viewed with suspicion; few but those who were deriving pecuniary advantage from the Government, felt disposed to accept it. The he mea noa”—no good, if not “he mahi hangareka o te pakeha”—a piece of European deception; the Government lost a grand opportunity of facilitating the restoration of peace, and of regaining the good opinion of the Maori for uprightness and rectitude of intention; a chance which may never occur again.
It may likewise be mentioned that a very heavy duty had been placed on all articles consumed by the natives, especially on tobacco; they soon found this out, and in a great measure avoided it by raising and preparing it themselves. Nor must the machinations of foreigners be overlooked, and especially those of the French priests. It is not to be supposed that they proceeded from any love to Napoleon, but chiefly as a means of obtaining an ascendancy over the native mind, by securing their confidence from an apparent interest being taken in their views, and thus having an identity of feeling with them. The natives were carefully informed that they were not under the law of the Queen, and that the Governor had no authority over them. In promoting the King Movement they were always conspicuous, attending every meeting, and, until his authority was established, they never omitted an opportunity of being present.
Having briefly alluded to some of the many circumstances which have conspired to estrange the native from the European, and to destroy that attachment to him
The first may be called a Theocratic, which was that of the Missionary. When they had obtained an ascendancy over the native mind, and the Maori as a people had embraced the Christian faith, the law of God then naturally became the law of the land, and all appeared willing and desirous of living by it, and even before the entire race turned over to Christianity, although the Heathen party refused to join, still they did not dispute the authority of God’s Word.
An Autocratic or patriarchal form of Government next followed. The natives looked up to the Governor as their head and Father; they called themselves his children and he treated them as such, rewarding them, when good, with bon bons, in the form of blankets, sugar, and flour, and also when troublesome coaxing them to be good by similar expedients; in fact they were treated as children; and this was the great mistake, they did not receive the rights due to British subjects, for they were not considered capable of exercising them. This form of government, which commenced with Captain Hobson, terminated with Sir. G. Grey’s first rule. It may be said, that although the three Governors successively appeared anxious for the Maori welfare, and really seemed to desire it; still each had a different plan, and in reality nothing was done to carry on the work of raising the native mind, and expanding it to aim at a higher position than that which it had attained under the Missionary. They had aspirations after a higher state, these were not encouraged but depressed; like children old enough to run alone their parents thought them yet too young to be trusted, and so kept them still in swaddling clothes.
With the departure of Sir G. Grey, a new form of government was enunciated, which for want of a better name may be called a Bicratic. When the new constitution was put in force, one parent was no longer thought sufficient
But it is not to be supposed that a naturally strong-minded race, which can clearly see through the inconsistencies of those they have been called upon to respect and obey, would remain inactive. The chiefs seeing that their position was lost, and that in proportion to the alienation of the land their mana—power, went with it, also the rapid increase of the European, which threatened the national existence of the Maori race in a few years, began to bestir themselves. It is singular that the greatest chiefs are not always the greatest land holders; their followers are frequently possessed of far more than they themselves. They are called blood chiefs in virtue of their descent, but not land chiefs; still they have a general mana over the whole, and so long as its integrity is preserved their influence is proportionately great. To stop, therefore, the alienation of land was to arrest the loss of their power and the encroachment of the pakeha. Before these ideas, however, were fully developed, many councils were held, and much deliberation took place.
The first real step taken was that by Matene te Whiwhi of Otaki in 1853; he went to
Of all the warlike tribes none surpassed the Nga ti Raukawa and Nga-ti-toa under Rauparaha,
Having thus introduced Matene, we may follow him to
“Listen all men, the house of New Zealand is one; the rafters on one side are the Pakehas, those on the other, the Maori, the ridge pole on which both rest is God; let therefore the house be one. This is all.”
From this it appears evident that there was originally no intention to interfere with the European, but to confine their efforts to the raising up of their own race; nor can any fault be found with them for so doing. The central tribes could not strictly be considered under British authority, they had not subscribed their names to the treaty of Waitangi; it is
The movement, however, did not stop; soon after, in May 1854, another grand meeting was announced to be held at Manawapou, in the Nga-ti-rua-nui district. A council hall was erected one hundred and twenty feet long and thirty wide, with two entrances; it was called Tai-poro-he-nui, or the finishing of the matter, the plug that was to stop the further running off of the fresh water into the salt, that is, the selling of any more land to the Europeans,—there they formed a league for the preservation of native lands; a tomahawk was passed round, intimating that all would agree to put the individual to death who should break it.
In 1856,
A meeting was next summoned by W. Thompson, in the Waikato district. This was attended by the head chiefs of many tribes, and by
Hongi attempted to obtain that distinction by force of arms and the fears of his enemies, but in vain. Potatau had that honor conferred upon him by the various tribes of the interior, from conviction that a head was needed, to initiate a form of government amongst themselves to control and sustain their race against the encroachments daily made upon it by the European; but in this step there was no hostility or desire of it expressed. In the grand debate which ensued the constant repetition of the sentiment was heard, “The King on his piece, the Queen on her piece, God over both, and love binding them to each other.” The only point of debate was, whether the Queen was to be allowed a road through the native King’s territory or not, and the majority Te Wherowhero Potatau received a small pension from the Government up to the day of his death.
Had that movement been fostered, had counsellers been furnished to guide, it would not only have been the act of a paternal government, but the means of raising the race and proving that we were legislating for their welfare as well as our own, and thus would have permanently attached them to us. At first the measure was treated with ridicule and then with suspicion, but no step was really taken either one way or the other; we only showed we did not sympathize with them in their efforts to imitate the Sandwich Islanders, their ancestors, to attain civilization.
Poor old Potatau was sincerely attached to the Governor, but he was fast sinking into the grave when raised to his high office. He soon disappeared from the scene, and was succeeded by his son Matutaera, under the name of Potatau the Second. He appears to be a good, but an unambitious man, and probably possessing little strength of mind. His counsellor,
Whilst this was going on in The following was communicated by a highly respectable settler at New Plymouth:—The unfortunate Waitara Land Purchase by Governor Browne, was most certainly the work of Mr. M’Lean. So little did the Governor contemplate any land purchase at that time, that Mr. M’Lean was on the very point of leaving for Napier, when he mentioned to an intimate friend his belief that he could buy land from the natives at that moment, if the Governor would prolong his stay a few days. In consequence of this, some of the inhabitants of New Plymouth waited on his Excellency, and begged that he would delay Mr. M’Lean’s departure, to this he immediately assented; and in a few days that gentleman convened a large meeting of the natives in the town, which the Governor attended, and at which the Waitara land was agreed to be bought. He then took his departure, with the understanding that he would shortly return to conclude the purchase; but apparently foreseeing by this time some difficulties, he failed to do so, and left Napier for the Middle Island. Nor did he again appear at
The next fight took place at the Waitara, in June. Although the battle was a bloody one, it was inconclusive. But afterwards, Puketakauere, better known as the L pa from its shape, was abandoned, and the troops then burnt it. In November the Mahoetahi pa was taken, and the Rev. Mr. Brown’s son was shot, being one of the first who entered it.
The town of
In February 1861, the Battle of Huirangi was fought. The natives boldly attacked the new stockade, from which they were compelled to retire with the loss of thirty-six men. This attack, though unsuccessful, created much surprise and admiration, at such a daring attempt being made to scale the walls of the redoubt. At that time the deplorable state of the town was increased, by all the females and children having been sent off to
General Pratt on his arrival assumed the command there. It was shortly after, that the repulse of the 40th, under Colonel Leslie, at the Peach Grove, took place, when actually a force of one thousand seven hundred men were put to flight by a volley from forty-one Maories,—a panic seized the whole supposing they were surprised. One man was shot, and his body left behind, as well as an Armstrong gun, and an officer in his flight falling over a trunk of a tree, his sword fell out of its scabbard, and he could not stop even to pick it up. The Colonel ordered his men to retreat; some of them with their officers refused, and turned about and faced the enemy, otherwise the casualties would have been greater.
The General distinguished himself by his sap before the Arei pa, which, after consuming much time and occupying many men, was rendered totally useless, by an officer of the Government rushing up with a white flag at the moment of its completion, when the pa was on the point of being taken. The natives thankfully accepted the offer of peace, as a means of escape from certain destruction, and no sooner was it made than they retired; it was, however, but a nominal one. General Pratt soon after returned to Melbourne. He certainly did not seem to have accomplished much, but he was a brave old veteran, and effected as much perhaps as could have been expected with the force under his command. The native allies when they bid him farewell on his departure, manifested their esteem by giving him various presents of green stone ornaments, and fine native embroidered mats. He never spared himself, but took his fair share of exposure. He was succeeded by General Cameron, who on his arrival assumed the chief command.
Hitherto,
No sooner, however, was the quarrel placed in Tamihana’s hands than he gave a proof of his wisdom and forbearance. He wrote an admirable letter to the Governor, proposed that both the European and native forces should be withdrawn from the Waitara, that the case should be transmitted to the Queen’s council in England, and that both parties should submit to their decision. This good and sensible advice was rejected.
At this time also Sir William Dennison, the Governor of New South Wales, wrote an excellent letter to Governor Browne, relative to the King Movement, Two other excellent letters on the same subject were written at the same time, one from Mr. Turner, a solicitor, of
Parikino PA, on the Wanganui River.
side, and we might reasonably have expected the Divine blessing to rest upon us.
The Governor issued a proclamation denouncing the King movement, and offering pardon if it were given up. The Ngaruawahia council replied to it in a calm and telling address to the Government, and Tamihana accompanied it with a letter to the Governor himself.
About the same time the
The declaration of Governor Browne’s war policy was generally approved of in the Northern Island. An address to this effect was drawn up at
The recal of Governor Browne and the return of Sir G. Grey, was a change generally hailed with delight. That officer voluntarily resigned the more lucrative governorship of the Cape, where he was most highly esteemed, for that of New Zealand, to which he returned with the hope of restoring peace to the country;—this must be regarded as a proof of his disinterested love for the colony and the Maori race, as well as desire to save them from destruction. The diligence he manifested in collecting their legends and songs, and in acquiring their language, affords the strongest evidence of his true feeling towards the natives, and therefore it was not to be wondered at that his arrival was equally welcomed by both races.
Governor Browne likewise possessed the esteem of a large body of the colonists, who evinced their attachment to him by presenting a handsome token of their respect on his departure. The chief fault which he committed during his reign, was trusting to the judgment of others, whose minds were far below the standard of his own. He fancied he was too old to acquire the language, and to understand the manners and customs of the Maori, and thus suffered himself to be led by those who were not equally interested with himself in the true welfare of the colony; hence the cause of the mistakes he made. Had he acted otherwise the Waitara war would not have taken place.
The natives, indeed, were ripe for war; and even had not that excuse for the commencement of it been given, some other would, doubtless, soon have occurred. Nor did he want the respect of the natives, who, though they found fault with his acts, still viewed him as a straightforward man, comparing him to the Kahu, or hawk, which hovered overhead, and though a bird of prey, still could always be seen; whilst the
Kiori,—rat, which worked underground, so that it could not be told when it went in, or where it would come out.
Sir G. Grey did not long remain inactive; he immediately addressed himself to the object of his mission. In the commencement of December 1861, he forwarded to the head chiefs of Waikato an outline of the policy he intended to adopt, and then went to them himself, accompanied by Mr. Fox and several other members of the ministry. The Governor’s progress was very satisfactory; the natives everywhere united with the settlers in paying him respect. At Kohanga he found a triumphal arch erected by the former, which was decorated with great taste; in the centre were the letters “V.R.” and the words “Queen Victoria,” and “Sir George Grey.” A few days later a great meeting was held in the open air; eight hundred natives were present, of which two hundred and fifty represented the King party and the upper Waikatoes. The Governor explained to the meeting his future plans; the natives spoke freely to him in reply, and declared their approval of them. They recognised him as “their friend, the skilful doctor by whom the evil which afflicted the land might be healed.” Another said, “He was content; the day was beginning to dawn.”
The very next day another grand meeting was held, when the representatives of five tribes were present. The Governor repeated to them his proposed line of policy. He was answered by the natives one by one, each individual expressing, in language more or less figurative, his attachment to the Governor and loyalty to the Queen. When all had spoken the principal chief stood up, and pointing to a carved image, said, “Governor Grey,—that is Tipa; we who belong to these five tribes take our origin from him; he is our ancestor; the source of our dignity; we give him to you; also his mat and his battle-axe; we cannot give you more.”
According to Maori custom there was no form in which
At the conclusion of the meeting at Kohanga, Mr. Fox, accompanied by Mr. Gorst, visited the native assembly at Hangatiki, in the Upper Waipa. They were received by a native guard of honor. After the usual preliminaries, Mr. Fox made the following important statement as to the intentions of the Governor towards them, and the terms of peace which he was prepared to grant:—
- The Governor to choose one European and two natives. The natives also to choose one European and two natives. The dispute about
Teira ’s land to be referred to that tribunal, whose decision shall be final and conclusive. - The Governor will not put down the King movement by force, so long as the Queen’s subjects are not interfered with.
- The Governor will not make war to obtain the murderers, or to recover the plundered property, but when the offenders are taken they will be tried.
- The Governor will not buy land in future until the vendor’s title has been investigated by the Runanga of the district appointed by the Government.
- The Crown land at
Taranaki , claimed by the natives by right of conquest, to be evacuated by them, or a chain of military posts will be formed on the border. - The force encamped at Maungatawhiri not aggressive, but to make roads and to restore confidence.
- The Governor will not make roads on Maori land against the will of the owners; but all Maori paths are to be opened to Europeans, and no mails are to be stopped.
These were very reasonable terms and seemed sure of being accepted, coming as they did from the Governor, for
On the 26th December 1861,
This step the natives considered to be at variance with the declarations so recently made to them, and to destroy their hopes and expectations,—distrust and fear filled their breasts,—this new movement of the military was regarded as a positive proof of insincerity on the part of the Governor and his advisers, it was viewed as a declaration of war, and they prepared for it accordingly.
A decided change of feeling amongst the King natives now took place. Thinking that there could be no cooperation with the Pakeha, they sought to establish their nationality totally distinct from that of the European. The feelings of the time are fully expressed in a song which was then in every Maori child’s mouth.
He Ngeri.
A Jeering Song.
This song has a great deal of meaning: the being bereft of pipe refers to the very heavy duty which had been put on tobacco, to make the native, who was the chief consumer, pay as much as possible; but this over-grasping defeated itself. The native, unable to purchase tobacco to the extent he formerly did, began to grow it himself, and from instructions he has contrived to pick up, he now manufactures it; this he calls torore; some of it is so well made that there are great smokers who will give equal weight of our best tobacco for it.
The word Porihi expresses a most contemptuous feeling for the European, as one mad with drink.
Gold-diggings were then coming into notice and all were crazy after them; the Maori Royalists, therefore, thought that they, or Europe would be the best places to drive the sea robbers to.
The followers of the King are taught to do without any of the foreign luxuries which distinguish the European from the Maori.
Rauna katoa is a half-caste word, the English word round being here Maorified, and thus makes a more emphatic expression than any of their own.
A sad proof of the hostile feeling entertained by some of the natives to the Europeans was given at a grand runanga held at one of the council rooms called Te Taka Maui, and Tu tangata Kino; six hundred natives of
This is a second instance of a similar occurrence. At the runanga held at Whatino, in January of the same year, when a similar question was discussed, Honi Kingi Nga-tairakau-nui fell dead in the midst of them. The meeting at Te Taka Maui lasted eight days!
In September 1862, the Governor paid
The little cloud, no bigger than a man’s hand, was now rapidly becoming blacker and larger, covering the horizon. Some eighteen months previously it unexpectedly arose on the banks of the Waitara; a file of soldiers was innocently thought sufficient to bring the natives to their senses and settle the question. General Pratt departed without the quarrel being any nearer its termination than he found it. General Cameron succeeded; he at once perceived that the Waitara did not present a field large enough to deploy his forces upon, he must have a more extended one for his operations. After a brief visit to New Plymouth, he departed to
July 13th 1863, General Cameron took the field with a force which might have trampled out an Indian Mutiny of larger dimensions; but the character of the natives of India and those of New Zealand widely differed; the latter felt they were fighting for their nationality, which they were determined to resign only with their lives. With inferior numbers It is doubtful if the natives ever had more than five hundred in the field at once.
But still the chief fortification remained. The first line of rifle pits was taken; and those who gallantly carried them, though lessened in number, pressed on to attack the second line of defence, in face of a heavy fire; that line turned out to be the centre and key of the position. Here those who fled from the first parallel rallied; and so determined was their stand, that the attacking party were forced to retire under the shelter of the first traversed line. Four attempts were made to storm the centre of the position, and four times the assailants were repulsed with loss. The first assault was made by the 40th, then by the Royal Artillery under Captain Mercer, but with a like result in both instances.
The evening was advancing, and the General requested Sir
This battle seemed to have been a heavy blow to the followers of the King. And when the Governor said, that at Nga-rua-wahia, the spot selected as the Maori capital, he should hoist the British flag, and beneath its folds dictate the terms of peace, the natives took him at his word, and abandoned the place, allowing the military to occupy it, without firing a single shot. The Governor prepared to fulfil his word; but afterwards changed his mind, and let his ministers proceed by themselves. By so doing an
The war, therefore, instead of ending at Rangiriri, proceeded up the Waipa and Horotiu; the troops advanced to Watawata, te Rore, and Rangiawhea, the centre of Maori civilization. At Orakau another grand stand was made. Month after month had passed away in this desultory war; and from the crossing of the
The unhappy differences at head quarters were patent to all, even to the natives themselves, they had their friends, who took care to keep them well acquainted with every thing going on. One of the chief members of the ministry told me, they had been obliged to send away two priests from Tauranga on this account.
Whilst war was raging up the December 12th, 1863. “On Sunday morning smoke was seen in the bush; an advance was cautiously made to surprise the natives. They proceeded in silence until the sound of a bell was heard, and then the voice of a man singing, as if engaged in leading the devotions of the encampment. The Forest Rifles thereupon crept stealthily forward, Ensign Westrupp and a few men in advance. Two colored men of the party took the lead, and succeeded in getting pretty close to the natives before they were discovered; and as the man on the watch did not give the alarm, it is supposed he thought they were friends coming to them. The advanced file had got within thirty yards of the natives, and Ensign Westrupp ordered them to fire. The order was obeyed, and the Maori sentry fell dead. A rush was made on the encampment, the entire party coming up and delivering fire. The panic amongst the Maories was intense. One man stood upright, without making an effort to escape or defend himself, and was shot down. Another was wounded in the shoulder by Smith; the native fired at him in return, but missed, he then clubbed his double-barrelled gun, and struck at Smith, who parried the blow, and closed with the native. Although the Maori was wounded, he would have proved match enough in this hand-to-hand struggle, but for Ensign Westrupp, who came to the relief of his man, and shot the native in the head, he fell, but again rose to his legs, when another man blew his brains out. That was the only instance of resistance made by the natives, except a few shots which did no harm. Four of the Maori were left dead on the field, and several wounded men were carried away principally by the women of the party. There was an order given not to fire at any of the women. Two chiefs were killed, judging by the tattooing. There were a good number of women and children.” Such is the account given in the public prints of the exploits of Captain Jackson and his company of Forest Rifles on the Sabbath Day. It also says, “We should add that it is believed three more were killed, from the way the bodies were seen to be carried by the women when out of range. It is to be regretted that the Forest Rifles did not follow them up, and inflict greater punishment on them. On the whole, therefore, a highly successful affair has occurred to enliven the monotony of the war, and this time it is entirely by civilians.”—Extract, “Southern Cross,” Dec. 15th.
The troops had been previously employed in scouring the surrounding country, Otawhao, Rangiawhia, Kihikihi, and many neighbouring hamlets, which were sprinkled over the fertile district at the base of Maungatautari. At last they reached Orakau, a roughly-fortified pa, containing between three and four hundred natives, including their women and children. This might be said to be the last post of defence remaining to the
When all was completed for the final attack, the General, desiring to spare the lives of so brave an enemy, sent a message to them, saying, “Friends, hear the word of the General, cease your fighting, you will be taken care of and your lives spared; we have seen your courage, let the fighting stop.” The answer given was, “Friends, this is the reply of the Maori, we shall fight on, ake, ake, ake, for ever, for ever, forever.” “If you are determined to die,” said the General, “give up your women and children and we will take care of
The account is painfully interesting; how sad such a people could not be spared; surely they are worthy of every privilege and right being conceded, which we as British subjects possess. They were doing for themselves just what our countrymen and women too did at Lucknow. The fight was resumed, rush after rush was made at the enemy’s works, but with the same result, they were repulsed, with the loss of half the attacking party. The end of the sap was now within two yards of the native trench, and two attacks on the position had been made, and a heavy fire of grape and rifle bullets kept up. The natives, having neither water nor ammunition left, nor even raw potatoes, on which they had before sustained life, then decided upon a retreat. The well-known chief, Arama Karamao Te Ikarau, standing in the midst of his little band of followers, said, Let us pray; and taking out his Prayer-book all knelt around him, regarding themselves as dead men, whilst he read a few suitable prayers for Divine protection; folding up his book in a new shawl which he girt about him, then bid them follow, and said, “Let us make a rush by that place,” pointing to the spot guarded by the 40th, “and die fighting by the hands of brave men.” He led a portion of the garrison to the lines of that regiment, which they safely passed, but when they reached the second line Arama and some of his party were taken prisoners. Not a single thing, however, was taken from him by the soldiers, not even his new shawl; but tobacco and a pipe were offered him; he was surprised at the general kindness he received, and the good food given them. The 40th, he said, were brave men, they never injured him or his comrades when captured. The General might well think escape was impossible, having so placed the 40th, under Colonel Leslie, as quite to surround the pa; how they passed their lines no account has been able to say. But there were some there as in Lucknow, who trusted in
When the retreat was discovered a large force was immediately gathered on the edge of the embankment, and fired as quickly as possible at the long line of famished and wearied men, women, and children, hastening away for life. The cavalry was brought into requisition, and the retreating natives were headed and turned. Thus hemmed in the swamp, the work of destruction went on with vigour; one hundred and twenty of those poor wretches were killed, of which twelve were women and several children were wounded. A fine half-caste girl was picked up amongst the flax, with her arm dreadfully fractured by a ball; she was brought into the camp and recovered.
The feelings of our foes were forcibly expressed by those few words which they uttered:—
The Colonial Government had already determined to occupy Tauranga, regarding it as an important place on account of its harbour. Troops were sent there; it is difficult to say why; one thing was evident, that the first line of confiscation did not give satisfaction, it was thought better to extend it to Tauranga.
It was not long, however, before hostilities commenced. The
Our killed and wounded were one hundred and three, and of this large number there were nearly twenty officers. The sergeants alone nobly stood by, and perished with them. The gallantry and bravery of both were beyond all praise, they, though abandoned by their men, refused to leave the ground, and stood resolutely at bay, endeavouring to counteract the panic which had seized upon the troops. When the vessels returned to
Poor Colonel Booth and his noble comrades were buried with thirty-five of their men at the same time. Truly, in the midst of life we are in death. When shall we be sufficiently civilized to learn war no more? The weeping willows which wave over the remains of the wife and only son of the venerable Missionary of Tauranga, now sigh over those whose untimely graves cluster around.
The Governor had caused the Waitara question to be
In the beginning of May in the preceding year, an unfortunate proclamation was issued, relative to the re-occupation of the Tataraimako block, which the natives had conquered and held possession of. Through the mistake of the translator the natives were informed that the law of fighting was established; they therefore gave notice, that from a certain day no European would be allowed to pass through an intervening piece of ground, which was one of their reserves, warning them, that if any presumed to do so they would be fired at. The Governor and General were at May 4th, 1863.
Our troops met with a reverse at
Immediately the news reached New Plymouth that a disaster had befallen Captain Lloyd’s party, a large force went out under Colonel Warre, to render all the aid which could be given. On reaching the spot two shells were fired; this had the effect of informing the men who were hidden that help was at hand, several were thus rescued; an advance was then made to the seat of the combat and a sad sight was presented. Six bodies were found close to the rifle pits stripped nearly naked, and five of them had been decapitated and the heads carried away, one of them was that of poor Captain Lloyd. The bodies were carefully placed in two carts which had been taken for the purpose; being late the force at once returned. Seven were killed and nine wounded in that unfortunate affair. The decapitation of bodies was a new feature in the war. The public prints stated that it was supposed to have originated with a medical man cutting off the head of one of the natives killed in battle at Kaitake, People here think the reason the Maories cut our men’s heads off was because Dr. W—cut off the head of a dead Maori who was found in the bush after the taking of Kaitake.—From our own Correspondent. “Spectator,” April 16th 1864.
This act at A It is singular that there is scarcely any thing extravagant and absurd done by the Maori which has not its parallel amongst other aboriginal tribes. It seems as though similar ideas flowed through the savage mind under similar circumstances. Thus the cutting off of Captain Lloyd’s head, preserving, and turning it into a god and using it as an oracle, has its parallel amongst the Jivaros, a wild tribe on the east of the Republic of Escuador; they cut off the heads of their enemies, take off the entire skin removing all the bones of the skull, then stuff the skin so as to preserve the original form as much as possible, then sew up the mouth and eyes and consult it as a god.moko mokai is a process of embalming heads, which will preserve them for years, by saturating them with the Pyroligneous acid of wood.Pai marire,” but afterwards, from the noise the votaries made in their devotions, resembling the barking of dogs, they acquired the name of Hauhaus. A man named
This singular delusion rapidly spread, and in fact soon threw the King into the shade, who was found to be impotent and unable to deliver them, but these possessing extraordinary powers professed to accomplish what the other had totally failed to do. Gradually the sect increased in importance.
The head of Captain Lloyd was brought to the
Mr. Booth, the Church Missionary Catechist, stationed at Pipiriki, unfortunately was returning home with his wife and young family, although strongly advised at Ranana not to proceed, and when he persisted was recommended to go alone; he had no idea of the demoniacal spirit which possessed those Hauhau fanatics; he went and had no sooner arrived than he was first plundered and then threatened with instant death. Most providentially Hori Patene, the son of the chief who was killed at
The Hauhaus did not long remain inactive at Pipiriki, they sent a message to the loyal natives stationed at Ranana, that they should force their way down to the town. Our allies immediately wrote to the magistrates informing them of the threat and asking for instructions as to what they should do. A meeting of the bench was at once convened, and greatly were those preservers of the peace puzzled as to what should be done. At last one proposed that they should send word
This signal defeat of the Hauhaus made a strong impression on the inland natives further south, many of whom would have joined them had they succeeded in passing the barrier which arrested their progress.
The Superintendent of the province no sooner heard of the victory, than he came to
On Sunday, September 11th, the prisoners on the Kawau Island escaped. Several had died on board the hulk, where they were much crowded; and when those taken at the The following clever jeu d’esprit, to the tune of Lever’s “Widow Malone,” appeared in a recent number of the Christ Church “Evening Mail:”— Tangata Mangai, interpreter.Sept. 1864.Na Manawapa. Christ Church,
Sept. 26th, 1864
The escaped prisoners were more than two hundred in number. These men fled to the top of lofty Omaha, where they entrenched themselves, and levied contributions from the flocks and herds of the surrounding settlers. From this spot they were within sight of
The natives up the
The year 1865 commenced with sending a strong military force to
sufficient to undo much of the labor of years amongst the natives.
Skirmishing soon commenced; an officer was killed and several severely wounded. The General in his progress north after these skirmishes pursued his way along the eastern coast instead of taking the newly-made high road, thus leaving the strongly-fortified Weraroa pa in his rear. Immediately this was discovered, the house of Mr. Hewitt was attacked at midnight, and its owner shot and decapitated; his servant escaped to the neighbouring wood, and in the morning made his way to Stewart’s redoubt close by and gave the alarm; a militia man also was killed the same evening. This dreadful event caused great gloom throughout the district, Mr. Hewitt being one of the principal settlers. His head was carried into the interior and afterwards taken to the east coast.
Again the Hauhaus up the river threatened an attack on the district; they had enlisted Pehi, the head of the Patutoko tribe, the head chief of the river;
It will not be necessary to follow General Cameron in his campaign further than to state, that he gradually but slowly advanced along the coast, establishing camps as he proceeded at Nukumaru, Waitotara, Patea, Manawapou, and Waingongoro. This was the limit of his progress into the enemy’s country. Weraroa and the inland pas he declined attacking without an additional reinforcement of two thousand men. One engagement may be alluded to as shewing the determination of the hostile natives. At Kakaramea, on the Patea, a party of not more than one hundred natives, including several women, actually opposed the advance of General Cameron at the head of eight hundred men, and that, too, in the open plain! Thirty-five of the poor creatures fell, and amongst them two women, before they gave way.
A party of the fanatical Hauhaus went across the country from
Night Encampment.
Chapter VIII.
King Movement—(
continued.)
On the 2nd of March an event occurred which has given a more brutal character to the war than any which preceded it. The Opotiki natives had declined taking any part in the war, all were peacable there, and Mr. and Mrs. Volkner felt themselves quite secure, until the arrival of Father Garavel with letters from the hostile natives at
The Rev. C. Volkner, against the advice of his friends, returned to Opotiki with the Rev. Tiu Jew. The following morning a party of armed men came for Mr. Volkner; he was taken to a large willow tree near his church, to one of the branches of which a block and tackle, procured from the vessel which brought him, was attached; he was then told to prepare for death, and asking for a short space to say his prayers, kneeled down; he prayed also for his murderers, then, rising up and shaking hands with them, said he was ready. The natives bid him take off his coat and waistcoat, the rope was placed round his neck, and he was instantly hawled up, and almost as soon let down again, and before vitality had ceased his head was cut off and other atrocities reported to have been committed, but it is doubtful
A ransom was offered by Mr. Grace for his life, which was refused, but afterwards they agreed to release him if the chief
After the murder a trial of Mr. Volkner was held, apparently to justify the deed, but it appears evident that it was a preconcerted act, prior to the arrival of the Hauhaus, as one of his old flock sent him a letter warning him not to return, which, unfortunately, he did not receive. His death had already been determined upon, and this was generally known amongst the natives. At that time they had established regular posts through the interior. The Governor was at
The good old Bishop and his family had to flee, and take his pupils with him, to the Bay of Islands; his house was plundered, and the labor of years destroyed. His son-in-law, Rev.
On the news of the Wakatane murder reaching
In June the native portion of the contingent garrisoning Pipiriki was withdrawn, to act against Weraroa. The step was an imprudent one, as it was only by the native portion of the force that the communication with the town had been kept open, and it left that post, which is seventy miles up the river, quite isolated.
The European and native militia sat down before Weraroa, and its defenders talked of surrendering, when Colonel Logan ordered the colonial force to desist. This contention between the colonial and imperial military authorities has given the natives a very poor opinion of us: they are surprised at our dissensions. Some of the loyal chiefs went at once to Though so rainy, the European Militia expressed their readiness to go. Accordingly they started, but sent back a messenger to ask for their allowance of rum. The Governor had a small number of kegs filled, and ordered the natives to carry them. They flatly refused; and though the Governor urged, they would not, saying, they were too heavy; but they were reminded that they had offered to carry a four-pounder, and the weight of the keg was trifling. The chief,
July 19th 1865, the hostile natives up the river availed themselves of the absence of the native militia to attack the colonial force stationed at Pipiriki. They completely surrounded the place so as entirely to cut off all communication with the town. A few bottles were picked up, which floated down the river, containing letters; some of them in Latin, and therefore of necessity very brief, as “mitte res belli”—send ammunition. When the Weraroa pa was taken, aid was given, though with some delay; two steamers and a canoe force of both races, with supplies, were sent up the river; it was then found that the gallant little band had sustained a severe attack from the enemy, and had not only held their own, but driven out their foes from several pas erected around to cut off all chance of escape to town, and make sure of their destruction. Our men were under the command of Major Brassey. When the reinforcements arrived they were received with a loud and hearty welcome, and the enemy beat a quick retreat. They were followed up to Ohine motu, where Pehi’s house and premises were burnt. Thus terminated the hostile demonstrations of the Upper
The hostility of the natives on the east coast evidently increased, and a stronger proof could not have been given than the murder of Mr. Fulloon and two others at Wakatane. He was a Government interpreter, a half-caste, his mother was the daughter of one of the head chiefs of that
The Government offered £1000 for the apprehension of the murderers of Kereti, but in vain. An instance of the sad want of patriotism may be here mentioned. It was proposed în the General Assembly to found two native provinces in the interior, where the population is entirely native. This would have been not only an act of justice, but good policy, and the best means of allaying the suspicions of the native mind as to the ulterior intentions of Government. Native superintendents would have had European officers to direct and guide them. The measure seemed to meet with favor, and there was a fair prospect of its passing, when the log rolling.
At the end of the month the forces assembled together at Turanganui, and in the following month the strong pa, Wairenga ahika, near the Bishop’s residence, was taken, after about a week’s constant fighting. A hundred Hauhaus were left dead on the field and many prisoners taken; a larger number of the chiefs might have been secured had not the commanding officer, instead of taking measures to cut off their retreat, employed himself in securing the miserable loot of those wretched Hauhaus, taking the green stone ornaments from their ears when they were brought as prisoners before him, an act which caused much disgust among his men. It was a lamentable sight to see what havoc had been made in the bishop’s residence, his books scattered everywhere and trampled under foot, the furniture
There were two native powder manufacturers, one in
The force was kept here until July, being employed in hunting up and down for enemies;—when their services were no longer required, instead of being conveyed back to Through the intercession of the Superintendent of Napier, a month’s wages was allowed, but only those who reached
Another similar Anglo-Maori force was sent from
Their plans having been made with Captain Hope of the Brisk, who commanded the naval department, they left that night, and the following morning the fleet was at anchor
Captain Hope arrested him for treason, believing he did it designedly.
Fortunately no attack was made during the night, and in the morning the Storm Bird got over the bar into the river. It was determined, therefore, at once to embark, steam up to the pa, and commence the attack. This was done, but such was the force of the flood which came down during the night, that with all her sails set and steam up the vessel could not stem the current, but drifted down to her former place, on the bar, and then with a heavy lurch nearly turned over; the Hauhaus seeing this, doubtless attributed the mishap to the power of their spells, they rushed down, occupied the post vacated, fired at the vessel and wounded several; precarious as their situation was, nothing could be done until the tide flowed. After much difficulty and danger, however, a landing was effected during
Whilst this was going on an instance occurred of the strange infatuation of those fanatics; a tall Maori, wrapped up in his blanket, made his appearance on the other side of the river, and calmly walked along the beach until nearly opposite the steamer; he had no flag or anything with him indicative of intention to parley, still, however, the men thought that he must be a friendly native and refrained from firing, but as he made no sign, at last a shot was fired; immediately the Maori commenced the pai marire motions with his hands to ward off the bullets, unsuccessfully however, for thirteen were found in his body when it was brought over. Levy recognized the man as one of the leading Hauhaus when Mr. Volkner was murdered. Immediately the man fell all signs of attack ceased;—it was evident that he was one of their prophets, and that they expected he would by his power have drawn them into his hands.
The following day Major Macdonnell landed with some sixty or seventy of the native contingent, also Major Brassey with the other officers, to point out the position the native allies were to take. They had, however, commenced active warfare, and could not be restrained; they chased the Hauhaus from hill to hill, never allowing them time to settle anywhere, and when the enemy retreated into one of their pas the
Thus, when the entire force was landed, it found Opotiki already in our hands, a series of encounters followed, which terminated in the complete conquest of that district, and the capture of many supposed to have been implicated in the murders of Mr. Volkner, Fulloon, and others. The Colonial Government constituted a military court to try
At the termination of the war there the This brave officer in the Crimean War was one of the first who entered the Redan.
October 6, 1866. In the beginning of October, the force under Major Macdonnell took Whenuku. They reached it in the first dawn of morning, and completely surprised its inhabitants; fire was set to their houses, which were covered with a great weight of soil, command was given to come out and surrender, some were shot in attempting to do so, and a few were saved; but most perished in their burning homes. The prisoners afterwards stated that there were fully twenty persons in one of the houses, who were all suffocated when the heavy roof fell in. What a horrid, unnatural thing is war! On one occasion the Captain was wounded, and a native shot the man who wounded him, and cutting off his ears presented them to him, who had them nailed to the side of his house as a memento, but, with better feeling, another native went in the night, took them down, and buried them.
On 9th October, the Governor came to
Such is a brief account of one of Britain’s little wars, which began, literally, for nothing that an ordinary law court could not have decided, Whether one party had a right to sell what the other wanted to buy, or not. The blood and treasure thus expended is most melancholy to think of. Britain, in total ignorance of the cause of the war, nobly advanced to the relief of her infant colony; and whether right or wrong in bestowing her aid, is still entitled
The stamp duty has been introduced in its fullest extent. The postage is now thrice that of England; and even extends to newspapers. Nor is it improbable that, heavy as the present taxation is, it will have to be still further increased by the imposition of an income tax.
Still the question may be put, Could war have been prevented? whatever were our faults and mistakes, the natives also had theirs. They were ripe for the war, and were becoming gradually more and more alienated when the evil began; it is not probable it would long have been deferred, but it should not have commenced with us. It may be asked with whom rests the blame for all the evils which have arisen. New Zealand has had four Governors, and it may be equally said of them all that they were good men and true, they did their best for the welfare of the colony, and though in many things they failed and erred, it must not be attributed to want of desire to do what was right. The same may be said of their ministers in general. Most proverbs must be regarded as true, being the fruit of experience; the following, however, has its exceptions. “In the multitude there is wisdom” A single mind left unfettered, to act according to its own judgment, has often been far more successful than when others have been united to it, especially in the beginning of a new system, where each has to learn to work in unison with the other, and
Even this brief account of the war cannot be written with impartiality without giving offence to some, if not to all, for none have been uniformly right; good and estimable men were ranged in antagonistic positions to each other, and rather erred in judgment than desire. In war few can act as calmly as in peace, and those at a distance can see errors, which would have escaped their notice had they been on the spot. The object has therefore been to record actions, rather than examine too narrowly the motives leading to them, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusions.
The despatch written by Lord Carnarvon, in December, 1866, withdrawing the office of commander-in-chief from the Governor, virtually deprived Sir George Grey, of all control over the Imperial troops in the colony. This has had the effect of making the Governor feel his own weakness, General Chute being in fact independent of him in all military matters, he was degraded in the sight of those he was sent to govern. The good policy of such a despatch is more than doubtful: to weaken the hands of the representative of the Imperial Government, by withdrawing a power legitimately belonging to him as Governor, is in reality to weaken that Government itself: and this taken in connection with the declaration of
Nor can Britain withdraw its protection without other powers stepping forward to offer theirs. How unwise then is the striving to exact such hard terms, and in so harsh a manner, from one of the youngest and most hopeful of its colonies. Let a more liberal policy be adopted, and it will be amply repaid by increased attachment. Britain has deserved well of New Zealand, the promptness with which it furnished aid in this sad war, calls for its gratitude; let nothing be done to destroy it.
Forest Scenery.
Chapter IX.
The Present Colonial Government.
The present cumbrous form of Government, as established by the New Zealand constitution, evidently cannot last long. Not only is there a General Government, but the country being divided into nine provinces, has so many Provincial Governments as well; nor are these found to be sufficient to attend to the wants of outlying districts. By such a complicated form, which of necessity cannot be worked without a proportionally strong staff of officers, that revenue which should be husbanded for the improvement of the country at large, in forming roads, bridges, &c., is entirely swallowed up in maintaining this expensive machinery, for a population even now beneath that of many second-rate
Another consideration which especially applies to the present time, is the future status of the native race. Is it to be acknowledged at all, or is it to be entirely disregarded as it has hitherto been? For “it has been admitted by the Colonial Department that the New Zealand constitution was framed in forgetfulness of the large native tribes within the dominions to which it was intended to apply.” Swainson’s New Zealand—The War, p. 10.
natives to be viewed not only as being subject to our laws, but as British subjects, so incorporated with ourselves as to be entitled to all those rights and privileges which we possess. If we come to this conclusion, the native head chiefs will sit in our Legislative Council, being entitled to it by their rank and influence, and the others will have the General Assembly and Provincial Councils (if such continue to exist) open to them as well as to ourselves. A step like this cannot be misunderstood. At present the feelings of the colony towards them are liable to be so, as the Council Chamber has hitherto been carefully closed to them; but let this just and equitable step be taken, and then all will be open and clear. The Provincial Council of
The last papers from New Zealand state, that four native members are to be added to the General Assembly. Great credit is due to Mr. Maclean for this measure: it is a pity it did not also extend to the admission of an equal number of the head chiefs to the Legislative Council; when this is done, those chiefs will feel there is no longer any benefit to be derived by their letting large blocks of land remain unoccupied merely to keep the European away, but that it will be far better to lease or sell what they cannot profitably use.
Our Surplus Population.
The subject of food for the increasing population of Great Britain is daily becoming a most serious consideration, and one which must force itself on the public attention. At present, the supplies drawn from all parts of the world seem to be hardly sufficient. But whilst flour can be obtained from America as well as from the continent, a supply of meat is found, from disease or other causes, more difficult to be procured in sufficient quantity for the consumption; at this very moment, whilst the question is becoming more and more pressing, from whence the supply is to come, in the Australian colonies the superabundance of flocks and herds is such, that with the farmers and graziers of those fertile regions, the great concern is to know what is to be done with them? Some are boiling their sheep down, and selling the fat at one penny per pound, thus wasting the flesh for which millions here would be thankful. Others are subjecting it to a certain chemical process, to obtain an extract of meat, which, in a small compass, shall contain the properties and nourishment of the gross mass. Others again, are trying to prepare the carcase so as to enable them to send it fresh to England. But is it not evident that this is something like Gulliver’s account of the Laputa Philosophers trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. As Mahomet could not get the mountain to go to him, he was obliged to go to it. If the flocks and herds cannot come to Britain, Britain must go to them.
It seems from the wonderful increase of our race in the old populated parts of the earth, that it is now necessary for them to move off to those fair regions which, though equally fitted and intended for man’s abode, are now desolate and uninhabited. God appears to have wrought a miracle to compel them to depart. Gold in California was the first attraction, then in Australia, and lastly in New Zealand; and thus some millions of those who could muster means to transport themselves to such tempting fields went; but
The present time presents some most serious subjects for reflection. Fenianism, and its wide spread sympathy; the almost forcing an entrance into the Secretary of State’s bureau itself, and converting it into a Fenian meeting-room, to pass resolutions in. What may next occur? Will the very boudoir of the Queen itself be secure from their intrusion? Is not this suggestive of many unpleasant subjects? Should it not lead our rulers to a timely consideration of some remedy without which the evil must daily increase. And first, to the consideration of the real cause;—is it not evident that it is to be traced up to our over-grown population; if so, what is the natural remedy? Has not a good and wise Providence provided one, and given it to our country? Why has God bestowed upon Britain the vast Australian continent, with its fair sunny fertile plains, all but destitute of inhabitants. The enquiry will be made, how is it to be done? May it not also be asked, Why has our Government so many of her ships of war lying idle and useless, laid up, as it is said, in ordinary. Why not employ them in transporting this starving population to those parts which only want hands to draw forth and develop their abundance. But if it be said those ships are not suitable, or would require so much to prepare them for the work, why not then employ the Great Eastern, which is now idle, a reproach to the age we live in, as though it were a step in advance of it. A few trips of that huge leviathan would soon make a perceptible diminution of our surplus population, carrying as it can do some 10,000 at a time. But where are the means for the transport of those who go, as well as for the feeding of those who remain? Are they not also provided, by using a portion of the poor rates for the final removal of the evil? Is not this quite feasible; is it not the simple solution of the difficulty?
Let us not then trouble ourselves about conveying the flocks and herds of Australia here, but rather try to carry our hungry mouths to them there.
When we see our surplus population compelled to abide in Unions, the healthful state of the mind is destroyed, they be-come mentally diseased, every good principle is impaired; they are incapable of doing anything for their own welfare, or for the land to which they nominally belong, but in which, really, they have no stake, and live in as prisoners. Crime then becomes natural to them; they see no sin in committing it, and from which they are only restrained by force. To substitute a new colony for the hateful Union, would be to impart new life, new energy, and new spirit to them and to the empire at large; it would be their regeneration, whilst, at the same time, it would be the removal of a heavy weight from those left behind. The recent explorers of Australia have brought to light fertile regions in land of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which would afford comfortable homes for millions, and enable us to raise many substances which we now derive from foreign powers, and at the same time insure the prosperity of the new colony.
Convicts.
The true proof of civilization is turning all things to account, and allowing nothing to be lost. The Chiffonier presents an emblem of it; there is something for him to gain out of every refuse heap—rags, paper, iron, all are worth his collecting, and when sorted and classed, go to their several depositories, to be re-produced in a new form. Even the sweepings of our streets are valuable, and though in England given away, in Paris produce a considerable revenue to the Government. The waste in this respect of the London sewerage has been at last seen; the costly and extensive embankments of the Thames are undertaken, not only to purify the stream and ornament the metropolis, but with the
It is also the duty of Government to seek to do the same with the refuse of the State. The law demands the offender’s punishment, but does not sound policy require that that punishment should not be a loss or burthen to the State? In this respect China is before England; by making its convicts maintain themselves, and try to refund their debts by labor, in so doing both sides are benefitted. With us, on the contrary, the bad are worse than they were before, the idle become more superlatively idle. There is a system of equalization of crime going on in the prison, which renders the inmates all but incorrigible. This is sadly the case in penal settlements; still it might be avoided, and the present object is to point out how it may be done, so that the convict may have a chance given him of regaining caste, and being restored as a useful member of society.
Good Mr. Marsden used to say, that it was wonderful how God had raised up a church in New South Wales to His praise and glory out of the scum of the empire—from the very dregs of society. If there be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that went not astray, surely it will be a noble effort of a Government, and a proof of its being a truly paternal and patriotic one, if it can regain and recover any of its felons from their lost state, and restore them to that from which they have fallen.
The treatment of convicts should have a salutary end in view, which would render it evident it was intended for their good, and thus encourage them to be obedient to it. There should be no undue severity, or unmeaning kindness, by which the true object in view would be lost.
In New Zealand it was reported that a jailor took all his prisoners with him to see the races, and threatened that if any of them stayed out beyond the given time, they would be locked out. In another place, a prisoner thought himself very ill treated because he was not always allowed to go out and dine with his friends, which he had been occasionally
In New South Wales, even the iron gangs were so well fed and lightly worked, that it was a well-known fact, the soldiers who were employed in guarding them, thought their state preferable to their own, and envying the easy life of the felon, not unfrequently committed some crime to become one of them.
The assigned servants had little to remind them of their position, or to make it feel irksome to them; thus the true object for which they were expelled from their native land was lost, the only convicts who were benefitted were those who acquired great wealth, and with it a certain, status in society, which compelled them to act according to its requirements. Thus they were obliged, outwardly at least, to live as others did, and in their commercial concerns maintain a certain degree of rectitude, to hinder them again losing their newly-acquired caste, and keep the Government from confiscating their property, which was not unfrequently done.
The disposal of convicts is a subject of national interest and much perplexity in the present day. The future location of them in a large empire is one, therefore, of great importance, especially when it is viewed with so much disfavor by those colonies which have for so many years been made the receptacle of them.
The remembrance of the evils of a penal colony by those who knew them, and the anticipation of such by more recent settlers, from the exaggerated statements of the older residents, will account for much of the opposition now given to the re-introduction of the system in Australasia. And yet it may be shown, that with certain modifications and provisions this opposition might be withdrawn, and a conviction raised that such establishments could be rendered a positive benefit to such infant states as our colonies now are.
The danger of a large and constant influx of convicts swamping the morality of a small and widely-scattered population is evident, especially where the conditions of society can scarcely be said to have become established. Whilst the fear of such a result speaks well for the community from which it proceeds,—however evident it may be that the diseased member should be amputated to save the life of the body,—it is the policy of the parent state not to press a measure whilst it continues to be so unpopular, and likely to diminish the affection of her offspring.
When the subject is duly weighed, it is more than doubtful whether the Australian colonies will be found to offer the most suitable locality for a penal settlement; the primary object of which must naturally be, punishment and safekeeping of convicts combined, as well as entire separation from that population which has cast them out.
The enjoyableness of an Australian climate is not calculated to insure the first, or the facility of escape the second. Even though an entirely new penal settlement were to be founded on the northern coasts of the Australian continent, or in New Guinea, it would be impossible, with all the cost and care which could be given, to avoid frequent escapes; and the successful attempts of the few would buoy up the hopes of the many, that their efforts likewise would one day or other be crowned with similar success.
This feeling largely pervaded the convict population of Australia in former days. Not a few tried to cross that unexplored continent, with the insane idea of reaching China on foot; but it is a sad fact, that numbers did effect their purpose, and reached New Zealand or some of the Polynesian Isles, where they became the leaders and abettors of crimes far exceeding even the heathen themselves in atrocity.
Several localities appear to have engaged the attention of Government, such as the Falkland Isles, Guiana, Hudson’s Bay, or even some of the Scottish Isles. No reformatory at home can be made on a sufficiently extended scale to meet the necessity, without an enormous outlay and a corresponding degree of risk.
Fully to answer the requirements of the case, it will be necessary—
- To have a place at a sufficient distance from home.
- One of which the climate is not so good as to make it desirable; or,
- From which an escape can be easily effected.
- Where the establishment can be made self-supporting, by rendering the labour of the convict available both for the Government and his own benefit.
- Where good service to the Empire at large can likewise be gained.
- Where the convict can have a reasonable chance of amendment given him, and his keepers of testing its genuineness.
- Where sufficient inducement can be given of good conduct securing an amelioration of condition and final restoration to the rights of a free subject.
To meet all these requirements, Kerguellen’s Land may be brought forward as one of the most suitable spots for a penal settlement. Its size is quite sufficient for the purpose, its position could not be better, being nearly equi-distant from America, Australia, and the Cape; its latitude is lower than that of the most southerly part of Great Britain, and its climate, though bad, cannot be extreme, and is rather characterized by the absence of summer heat than the presence of extreme winter cold. It has excellent harbours, and what is of the utmost importance, it possesses abundance of good coal, which crops out in several places. This fact was established by Sir James Ross’s expedition, and its position in the direct course to Australia would make it an admirable coaling station, and a place from whence other similar depots could be far more readily and cheaply supplied than they are now. In the working of coal, therefore, there would be abundant employment for the convicts, and according to their industry, the means of reward given, and the power of rendering it, in a great measure, self-supporting. Convicts who by their industry and good conduct had thus acquired a claim for further indulgence, might be
The great drawback to the prosperity of infant colonies is the want of a labouring class. In no part has this been felt more than in New Zealand; at this very time it is scarcely possible to get a day’s labor for less than from six to eight shillings per day of eight hours; to remedy this evil the colony has incurred great expense in importing labor. Our Provincial Governments have thus brought out laborers by the thousand; the concern of their agents has been number rather than quality; and though many estimable characters have thus been imported, the majority have been drawn from the union workhouses, where those gentlemen have been welcomed as the means of getting rid of the most worthless and troublesome characters; the addition thus made to the colonial population has sensibly affected the general tone of society; this is especially seen at elections, many of the voters having scarcely been six months in the land before they became entitled to that privilege.
Thus whilst our Provincial authorities have loudly raised their voices against the introduction of the penal system, they have, in fact, introduced elements of a far more demoralizing tendency; for whilst it is possible to keep a convict population under restraint by strict discipline and stringent measures, here is a body of individuals introduced, some of whom only differ from the former in being unconvicted, who are let loose on society, not only without restraint, but with means furnished by the facility of acquiring property, of effecting the greater injury.
But still the want of labor remains: the expense and difficulty of obtaining it is so great, that many instances might be adduced where it has cost more in labour than the crops have produced, and the harvest could not be gathered in without military aid. It is, however, particularly in public works that this want has been experienced; roads, bridges, &c., are only made at a ruinous expense, and on this account such important works are of necessity limited. Thirty years ago, the traveller who visited New South
The first and only improvement of our public ways for years in New Zealand was effected by what are called Hard labour men, viz., the inmates of the gaol, and little as they effected, for their name was quite a misnomer, still it was all the colony had to depend upon for local improvements, and very probably would have continued to be so up to this day, had not heavy taxes been imposed and great debts incurred, for it is a fact that nearly all our public roads were made with borrowed money, which now forms the nucleus of a national debt which no settler will ever live to see liquidated.
This subject, then, leads to another closely connected with the present enquiry, how can labor be obtained for public purposes in our colonies? It is evident that the present way of meeting it by constant loans cannot last; it is not a healthy way, it must be a ruinous one, and although it is urged that the rapid progress of the colony will enable it to repay them without difficulty, still principal and interest go on quietly increasing and must continue to do so, or nothing of a public nature for the improvement of the country can be done.
But what is wanted?—roads, bridges, court houses, rivers rendered navigable, harbours approachable by wharves, piers, lighthouses, &c., &c. To effect all these improvements labour must be obtained; five hundred men for each of the nine provinces would not be too much; were there colonial prisoners to that extent they would be used for this purpose, and no outcry raised about such convict labour being employed, any more than there is now about hard labour men. Supposing that each province could be supplied from the grand establishment at Kerguellen’s Land, with a
The shrewd and politic Napoleon has not overlooked the advantage of having vast coal depots in all his insular possessions; no French vessel is allowed to trade with any of them without bringing a fixed amount of coal to keep up the proper quantity in all his numerous depots, so that in case of emergency he may be prepared to visit our colonies either as a friend or foe.
This subject is, therefore, almost equally important to our colonies as it is to the Home Government itself, and invites the serious attention of both.
Confederation of the Provinces of the British Empire.
An empire may be defined as an unity of parts; this is essential to its existence as well as prosperity. “A city must be at unity with itself;” there must be one grand feeling of mutual benefit pervading the whole, one uniform object
The home kingdom is, in fact, such a combination, each having its own representatives, forming the Parliament, from whence proceed laws, and the ministry by which they are carried out; but the transmarine provinces of the British Empire have hitherto been treated as though they had no connection with the centre, and, therefore, to be converted into permanent appendages of the same dominion a new system is required. Rome ruled its empire as long as the central power was seated in it, and possessed the degree of force requisite to controul the whole: but, as that decreased, it gradually contracted itself; as its weakness became felt, it abandoned its extreme provinces, and made them the unwilling arbitrators of their own destinies, and thus, though first gained by brute force against the will of their inhabitants, finally retired contrary to the wishes of those subjected to its sway.
Something of this kind is now taking place between Britain and her provinces, with this difference, Britain seems to support without receiving direct aid from her colonies; she indeed makes India, as a conquered empire, support itself, but not so the colonies. Rome made her provinces maintain her as well as themselves, and when they ceased to be able to do so, she thrust them off as positive encumbrances. It is evident that no empire in the world could go on increasing and upholding such a state long, however great its resources; some plan therefore must be devised, either for amicable separation or effective coalition by due representation of the parts; if the parent state expects to rule, it must be by a community of interests and proportional share in the ruling power. Canada, Australia, and even New Zealand, are daily becoming more and more important appendages of the crown. They are kingdoms unrepresented, and hitherto have been ruled by the dictum of a colonial office, which has been but imperfectly acquainted with their peculiarities and necessities: they naturally claim representation according to their several degrees of
Immediately connected with this subject is another, which, however unwilling the colonies may be, will have to be considered, and that is, their fair contribution towards the maintenance of the empire. The army and navy are the chief agents employed in the colonies, and, therefore, that share which each will have to bear in its support, will, in a great measure, depend upon the degree of need which they will severally have of such aid. In times of danger, the want will be greater; but, at the same time, the power of the parts to bear such increased expense must also be borne in mind, and apportioned accordingly, the parent state making due allowance. The idea which has been broached of the colonies being useless, is as weak and foolish as it is pernicious. Every member of the body is needed, however remote it may be placed from the centre; the fingers, though severally feeble, yet in union effect all the great designs of the directing spirit, and it is by them the food is carried to the month. Are not the colonies the true feeders of the empire? and this fact is daily becoming more and more apparent; to cut them off is equivalent to closing our grand manufactories, our merchant navy, and our mercantile offices as well. Is it not self apparent, that as they increase, their imports will increase likewise; and since the gold fields have been opened their value in this respect has been most wonderfully developed. When the American struggle began, and the cotton supply failed, however great the distress thereby occasioned, what would it have been had not India and Britain’s other dependencies stepped forward, and filled up the deficiency. That calamity points out a remedy against a recurrence of the evil, by opening up for ourselves a grand cotton field in Australia, which will obviate our being compelled to lean in future on a foreign arm.
Surely the colonies ought to be viewed as integral parts of the empire, bound to it by ties of consanguinity, laws, language, and customs: it is most important this feeling
Does the wide ocean hinder all hopes of a lasting confederation? No; we may look, forward even to a closer intercourse; the telegraph wire is A bond of union; distance and time are annihilated by the electric spark. The expenses the colonies entail on the parent state, it must be allowed, are more than fully met by the means which they disclose of meeting them, and the wonderful way they have increased her resources by doubling her commerce.
A certain military and naval force is thought needful to be kept at home for the exigencies of the parent state, to enable her to maintain her position and influence amongst the ruling powers of the world; it does not materially add to the expense of the parent state, though she should employ those forces (when not needed at home) to guard her colonies; they most be somewhere, and better actively engaged, than kept in injurious idleness at home. One of the papers of the day concludes an article on the subject with saying, “And never was there a more misleading fallacy than that which blinds our eyes to our real position, by self-glorification about ‘the sun that never sets on England’s flag,’ and ‘the rule of the Empress of India over 130,000,000 of Oriental subjects.’ The life of England is to be found in the 30,000,000 of the inhabitants of these islands, only a few hundred miles in length and in breadth.” This is a very narrow view of the subject; were the life only there, the body would be only proportioned to the size of
The late war in New Zealand has not been without its good, however dearly paid for; it has broached a problem and aided in working it out. What is the true and proper relation between the colonies and the parent state? It has thus been the same with the Colenso case, with regard to the Church, and its real position and power when disconnected with the State.
Writers at home have taken one extreme view of the case, the colonists another; the probable result will, if not checked by a conciliatory policy of Government, weaken the attachment and hasten their separation from the parent state. In the present day such separation can be effected at any time by mutual consent, without the barbarous appeal to brute force. But our rulers must bear in mind that the colonies are their own work. New Zealand would have been colonized independently, had it been allowed; but they, jealous of such a measure, though not wanting to found another colony, stepped in and claimed it as their own.
The
A Waterfall at Papa ROA, on the Wanganui.
Chapter X.
The Geography of New Zealand.
There are three groups of islands upon the globe which are far more conspicuous than all the rest, by their peculiar position and general importance. The first of these, in every point of view, are the British Isles, situated at the western extremity of Europe, the chief seat of civilization and Christianity. The next are the Japanese, on the east of Asia and of China, where Heathen civilization is chiefly displayed. Those two groups may therefore be said to represent the maximum of Christian and Heathen advancement in everything which we generally mean by the term civilization.
The last group is that of New Zealand, differing from them in being far removed from the grand continents of the earth, and bearing the same relation to the innumerable islands of the pacific which the others do to their respective
In one respect there is a strong point of resemblance between these three insular races, and that is in their indomitable perseverance, courage, and energy of character. The untaught savage of New Zealand as boldly defies his foe, and is equally fearless of death, as in former times the painted savage of Britain unflinchingly resisted the highly-disciplined legions of Rome. Of New Zealand it may be safely predicted, whatever portion of the Maori element may form its future population, it is destined to occupy no inconsiderable place in the history of mankind. Its position so admirably adapts it for trade that its commerce must soon closely link it with every part of the world. The value of its central position can scarcely be overrated.
The New Zealand group chiefly consists of the Northern, Middle, and Stewart’s Islands; in addition to these are the Chatham to the west, and the
The three grand isles have a length, from north to south, of 1100 miles, extending from 34¼° to 47½° S. Lat., and lying between the 66½ and 78½° E. Lon. They enjoy a temperate climate, equally free from extreme heat or cold, having fern trees and palms flourishing in their entire length.
The two islands are, as the crow flies, of nearly the same length, but from the crooked form of the Northern Isle it is in reality the longest, each being about 530 miles. The greatest width of the Middle Isle is about 150, and the least, 90, whilst that of the Northern Isle, from the greatest width of 300, tapers to about 20, and in several places to not more than six miles.
Stewart’s Island is of a triangular form, each side being about 30 miles long; it is separated from the Middle Island by Foveaux Straits, 15 miles wide; Cook’s Straits, 18 miles wide, dividing the Middle Island from the Northern.
The Northern Island is estimated at 26,000,000 square miles, the Middle Island 38,000,000, and Stewart’s Isle
The climate of
The coast line of the entire group is 3000 miles, and in that grand sea board there are many fine harbours, some of which are equal to any in the world. There is, however, one drawback to many of them, the want of any great extent of level land in the vicinity, the surrounding country being in general composed of lofty ridges of hills.
The north-eastern coasts are bordered by many isles, some of which are of considerable size, as the Great Barrier, the Little Barrier, the Poor Knight’s, Mayor, and the Great Mercury Islands. In Cook’s Straits, Kapiti, Mana, D’Urville, Stephen’s and many others. In Foveaux Straits, Ruapuke and Solander Island. The native name for the North Island is, Te Ika a maui—the fish of Maui, who is fabled to have pulled it up; they have another ancient name for it in their legends, Aotearoa, but it is now never used. That of the Middle Isle is, Te Wai Pounamu—the water of the green stone. The nephrite which the natives so prize is generally found in certain of its lakes and streams, hence its name. The old one for Stewart’s Isle is Rakiura, its new one was derived from a sealer, who discovered it to be an island.
New Zealand’s grand geological feature is the mountain range which runs the entire length of the Middle Isle, parallel to the west coast, this crosses the straits by Kapiti, a small island 1789 feet high; and thence by the Tararua, 4800 feet, and Ruahine ranges, it reaches the Ruapehu and Tongariro mountains, and thence by Rotorua to White Island. This is also the volcanic range of the Northern Isle. The number of mountains and their elevation is surprising. In the North Island the loftiest mountain is Ruapehu, or rather Para-tai-tonga, which is a little more than 10,000 feet. Tongariro, the true volcano, is about 7000 feet; Mount Egmont, or
But it is in the Middle Island that the mountains attain their greatest elevation, Mount Cook’s first peak being 13,200 feet, and its second 12,300 feet; the Kaikoura, 10,000 feet; the Lookers on, 8700; Mount Aspiring, 9135; Black Peak, 7328; Pisa, 6426; Mount Eyre, 6084, and of those ranging from 6100 to 2000, a large number. In fact, the Middle Island is either plains or mountains, but extensive as the former are, they bear but a small proportion to the mountainous regions of the island.
In Stewart’s Island there are several mountains, the two loftiest being respectively 3200 and 2110 feet high. Many of the New Zealand mountains are of volcanic origin; at present there are only two active ones, Tongariro and Wakari, or White Island, but there are boiling springs and solfataras without number, the chief localities of these are in the region between Tongariro and Wakari; near
New Zealand's grand geological feature is the mountain range which runs the entire length of the Middle Isle, parallel to the west coast, this crosses the straits by Kapiti, a small island 1789 feet high; and thence by the
But it is in the Middle Island that the mountains attain their greatest elevation, Mount Cook's first peak being 13,200 feet, and its second 12,300 feet; the Kaikoura, 10,000 feet; the Lookers on, 8700; Mount Aspiring, 9135; Black Peak, 7328; Pisa, 6426; Mount Eyre, 6084, and of those ranging from 6100 to 2000, a large number. In fact, the Middle Island is either plains or mountains, but extensive as the former are, they bear but a small proportion to the mountainous regions of the island.
In Stewart's Island there are several mountains, the two loftiest being respectively 3200 and 2110 feet high. Many of the New Zealand mountains are of volcanic origin; at present there are only two active ones, Tongariro and Wakari, or White Island, but there are boiling springs and solfataras without number, the chief localities of these are in the region between Tongariro and Wakari; near
Next to the mountains may be mentioned the lakes, which are equally numerous, and some of considerable size and great beauty. In the North Island the chief of all is It may be remarked as a general rule, that wherever there has been a volcano, there will also be found a lake near its base, of size proportioned to its activity, and the best measure of it.Te moana, the sea; it is a large sheet of water thirty miles long, and in one part as many miles wide, with one small island, Motu Taiko, of extreme beauty in the centre; this fine lake has evidently been caused by the subsiding of the ground, as it contains great numbers of trees still standing up in its waters; this may easily be accounted for by the immense quantities of matter ejected from the neighbouring volcanoes in former days, the surrounding country for many miles being covered with a stratum of pumice, in places several hundred feet thick,
The next to be noticed are those of Rotorua, which, from their number, have given to that district the name of “The Lake Country,” a grand cluster of more than sixteen, some of which are of considerable size. Rotorua, although perhaps not the largest, ranks as the first; it is of a circular form, with a diameter of from seven to nine miles; in the centre is the interesting mount forming the island of Mokoia, an extinct volcano. The next lake, in point of size, to
On the west coast is a complete line of lakes at the base of the
There are numberless small lakes even to the land’s end itself, to which it will not be necessary further to refer, except that Lake Mapere, near the Bay of Islands was examined by Captain Sir James Ross, who found the bottom covered with timber, corroborating the native tradition that it was a tract of land which suddenly subsided and engulfed their cultivations and villages.
Some of the lakes amongst the southern Alps of the Middle Island are of considerable size. The Wakatipu Lake is 60 or 70 miles long, and although only a few years ago all but unknown, it has now two flourishing towns on its banks, with several steamers plying between them; such is one of the changes effected by the discovery of gold. The width, however, of this lake, as well as of many others, is
New Zealand has a large number of rivers, but few that are available for vessels of any burthen. In the North Island the chief are on the Western Coast. The Manawatu, though a bar river, is navigable for vessels of two or three hundred tons for a considerable distance; it has such a tortuous course that forty miles up the stream it is only about six miles in a straight course from the sea.
The Rangitikei is a very rapid river, but can only be entered by small craft.
The
In the Middle Island the Waimakariri is navigable some few miles. The Rakaia and Rangitata are large and rapid mountain torrents, extremely dangerous, but useless for navigation. The Molyneaux or Clutha, is the great river of the Middle Island, and the grand outlet of a large farming district; steamers and vessels drawing only a few feet can go up it for some distance. The Mataura forms the eastern boundary of the province of Southland. The Oreti, or New River, has Invercargill, the capital town of Southland, at its mouth. Jacob’s River has the town of Riverton on its banks, which is a port of entry. The chief river, however, of that estuary is the Aparima. The Waiau is the outlet of Lake Anau. All these rivers belong to the south side of the island; on the west the rivers are few and dangerous, but the discovery of gold has already raised towns on their banks, and caused a large population to flock to those hitherto unknown parts.
The Hokitika is a small and difficult river to enter, yet its large and increasing town has encouraged small steamers to venture there. The Totara and Okarita have also towns on their banks, and The Grey has two flourishing ones, Grey Mouth and Cobden, but the river is dangerous. The Buller flows through a considerable extent of available land, which the others are entirely destitute of; the town of Westport stands on its banks. The Aorere, has the town of Collingwood at its mouth. The Motueka and Waimea Rivers flow through the finest land in the
On the west coast, the first to the north is Ahipara, which is rather better than an open roadstead; Wangape, a little to the south, is a small harbour, and a few miles beyond it is the well-known one of Hokianga. Kaipara is of great extent, but like the Manukau is chiefly filled with mud flats. The next is at the mouth of the
On the opposite side of Cook’s Straits the first harbour is
The three characteristic features of New Zealand are—its forests, ferns, and grassy plains. The forests are chiefly confined to the mountain ranges. The grand covering of the lower hills is fern. The grassy plains of the North Island are chiefly on the west coast, extending from Manawatu to Mount Egmont, near 130 miles in extent by an average width of 15 miles; nearly adjoining are the Tongariro and Muri Motu plains, extending to
In the Middle Island there are plains, large and small, at the Wairau, Waimea, and Motu-Eka, at the base of the Kaikoura mountains, also along the entire eastern side of the island, with few interruptions, and from the lower ranges to the sea; a great portion of the land however is one grand plain of shingle scarcely covered with soil, and only supporting grass of a coarse, cutting, sedgy character, much inferior to that of the North Island, filled also with spiny bushes of the Tumatakura, and that singular family of plants, the Acifolia Taramea, commonly called Spaniards; still, they sustain immense flocks of sheep, which seem to thrive on the scanty vegetation.
When civilized man first visited New Zealand, it was in its fern age, the larger portion being entirely covered with it; indeed, it still is, although the hand of the colonist, and the foot of the animals he has introduced, are rapidly causing it to disappear: it is regarded as a sign of good soil wherever it flourishes, and the contrary where grass or the Manuka scrub prevails.
In the forests of New Zealand it is extremely rare to see any particular tree solely occupying the ground, they are generally filled with all the different kinds intermingled. The Kahikatea and Totara are, however, in some few instances, exceptions, forming forests of themselves.
Captain Hobson, the first Governor, divided the islands into four provinces—Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connaught; that division gave way to a new one by Sir G. Grey, of six provinces—
To begin with
The chief town, Ngaruawahia, or the parting of the rivers, is placed at the junction of the Waipa and Horotiu, which was founded by the Maori King; this it is proposed to call Newcastle; Kingston would have been more appropriate. Beyond it is Hamilton, and still further Cambridge; at the former the 4th
North of
In the south-eastern part of the province new towns are rising up at Tauranga,
The beautiful lake district, with its warm lake and hot springs, will have its townships, baths, and fashionable watering places, which will draw visitors from every part of the world.
Before leaving this province its resources must be alluded to. The Kauri (Dammara Australis), a noble and valuable pine, is not found in any other part of New Zealand; it is
vitex littoralis), it is not seen further south than
Another valuable and most ornamental tree, which is likewise peculiar to this province, is the Pohutukawa (Metrocideras tormentosa); it bears bright scarlet blossoms, which render it most conspicuous, and its favorite locality is on cliffs by the sea shore, attains a considerable size, and from the knotted and gnarled character of its branches, greatly adds to the beauty of the prospect, is chiefly used for knees of vessels, for which purpose it is well adapted. The Tanekaha, a pine much prized for masts of small vessels, is almost, if not entirely, peculiar to the province. Also the Tarairi, an ornamental but not valuable tree, only fit for firewood and charcoal. The Manawa (Mangrove) is very abundant, and prized for the soap manufactory, from the great quantity of potash it contains.
Another valuable article of export likewise confined to the north is the Kauri resin, which is still found in considerable abundance, although it has now been worked for many years; it is a very profitable article of commerce and meets with a ready sale in England, where it is chiefly, if not solely, used for callendering calico, but the Americans turn this resin to a better purpose, making a varnish from it equal to that of gum copal.
The Thames Valley and Coromandel district contain gold, which, when more carefully explored, will, there is little doubt, be found in increased quantities. Coal will also be a valuable article of export; it is abundant, and as the demand
The general character of the ground of this province is poor. The Kauri it is well known only grows on a cold pipeclay soil, which is most retentive of moisture, and on which scarcely anything but Manuka scrub will flourish, when the nobler tree disappears; this does not suit the farmer, but wherever the soil is volcanic there the country changes; this is very perceptible about
A few words remain to be said of the climate. Its position naturally would give it the warmest, but this in some measure is counteracted by the narrowness of a large portion of the island, which brings it under the influence of the winds on both sides, and greatly increases its humidity, hence a larger quantity of rain falls in
The town of New Plymouth is seated on the north at the base of Mount Egmont, a most picturesque position, having that beautiful cone shaped top in the background, with its spurs terminating in the sugar-loaf rocks, running into the sea on the west. The town slopes to the shore opposite the roadstead, but unfortunately it does not possess a harbour.
The present population of the province is 2872 males, 1502 females, 4374 total, of which fully half live in the town. New Plymouth has been greatly increased in size by the war; before it commenced it was little more than a large scattered village, but when the settlers were obliged to abandon their farms and come in, they were compelled to build, and this caused a considerable addition to the size of the place. The number of military also contributed to its enlargement, and good stores were erected. The country, however, has been dreadfully injured by the desolating effects of war; the snug smiling homesteads disappeared, the members of families became separated and dispersed; the females and children having been compelled to leave for The following verses give a graphic account of the sad effects of war:— Written in New Plymouth during the war in 1861, by a settler’s wife.
Already the province is beginning to recover, and when peace is fully restored there can be no doubt that it will soon regain its former prosperity. Its natural beauty of position will always be an attraction, and the opening up of its southern portion will give fresh energy and resources to the whole. The military settlers are now being located at the Patea, which will form the germ of a future town. Small steamers and coasters can safely enter the river, and will carry away the produce of a district which may with justice be called the garden of New Zealand.
One of the most conspicuous objects in the town is a remarkable mound called Marsland, on which the stockade is placed. The curious volcanic cone-shaped rock called the Sugar-Loaf, is an object which greatly adds to the beauty of
Hapuku.—One of the best and most abundant of the New Zealand fish. Bull-a-bull. The common way of pronouncing Poro-poro, a solanum producing an edible berry. Jet Black. Originally These are the names of some of the earliest This song was written by Mr. Hursthouse, in 1844. Tune composed by Mr. Newland.Chorus.ask Black, a pun on a settler’s name.
Indications of petroleum being discovered near the Sugar-Loaf Rock, borings were made and a small quantity was met with: a company was then formed, but it is to be feared the expectations of a remunerating yield will not be realized; iron sand, a volcanic production containing a portion of nickel, is more likely to prove a valuable export. Fine sponges, equal to the best from Turkey, are found in the vicinity of the rocks, and would amply repay being dredged for, and might prove the commencement of a lucrative trade.
The Province of Wellington joins that of
The noble harbour, in the south-west corner of which the city stands, makes the place, and combined with its central position between the two islands, has led to its being the present capital of New Zealand. The town, or The Empire City, as its inhabitants rejoice to call it, possesses some excellent buildings, and within the last two years has been greatly improved. The Church of England has two places of worship, that of Rome two likewise, and the
commences at a distance of from 30 to 40 miles from the coast; this line is succeeded by the
The province of Hawke’s Bay, originally part of
Napier, the capital, is an increasing town; seated on a peninsula formed by the estuary of the rivers Esk and Tutaekiri. Its position is picturesque. The population numbers 1280 according to the last census, which is not inconsiderable considering its recent origin. The climate is very good, and considered generally to be much drier than that of the western coast. Villages are springing up, with the names of Clive, Havelock, and Waipawa.
The province at present is entirely taken up with sheep runs, the native lands being leased for that purpose. There are few districts where they thrive better, as proved by the latest statistical returns, which show upwards of half-a-million, and an export of more than £100,000
a-year of wool. Sheep farming being so profitable has chiefly engrossed the attention of the settlers, but more thought is beginning to be paid to agriculture; already there is a good metalled road 70 miles in length, and conveyances for passengers run as far as Waipawa. The European population of the province in December 1864 was 4,107; the natives are estimated at 2500, who have remained not only peaceable, but have co-operated with their European neighbours in resisting the Hauhaus.
We now pass over to the Middle Island. The first and oldest of its prov