138 MB. H. H. TRAVEKS ON THE CHATHAM ISLAJ^DS- 



cast asliore, both of which were esteemed choice delicacies. They 

 had no hereditary chiefs, the most successful fisherman or bird- 

 catcher, or any member of the tribe distinguished by extra- 

 ordinary stature or for any useful physical quality, being looked 

 upon as an authorized leader. They had no idea of a Grod, in 



our sense of the term 



• « 



but they looked upon a good fishing- or birding-ground as being 



imder 



Their 



particular vocation or fancy of the living subjects. If the dead 

 person had been a good fisherman, for example, his body was 



lashed, in a sitting posture, to a raft, and sent adrift with a baited 

 line in its hand. If he had been a noted bird-catcher, he was 

 fixed in a stooping position between two trees, facing the parti- 

 cular hill or other spot which he usually frequented. If he had 

 no particular vocation, he was put, in a sitting posture, into an 

 open hole in the ground, usually about 18 inches deep, with any 

 favourite piece of carved wood stuck up before him. Mr. Alex- 

 ander Shand, son of the late Collector of Customs at Waitangi, 

 is, I believe, well acquainted with their traditions and customs, 

 and will, no doubt, be able to give you full information upon the 

 various subjects to which I have thus shortly referred. So far as 

 I could learn, the chronology of the More-ores, unKke that of the 

 New Zealanders, is very defective; and consequently they are 

 unable to fix, even proximately, the date of their first arrival in 

 the islands. They say, however, that they came in two canoes, 

 one of which drifted to sea a^ain. but that the other was preserved 



for a considerable period. They are 



Mang 



Kanakas (who form a large proportion of the crews of the 

 . American whaling- vessels), I conceive it is not improbable that 

 they have the same origin. 



The islands were invaded in 1832 or 1835 by the New Zea- 

 landers, by whom large numbers of the aborigines were killed and 

 eaten. In fact, the expedition of the former may be said to have 

 been undertaken solely for the latter purpose, a Maori, who 

 happened to have visited the islands whilst engaged as a seaman, 

 in a vessel trading from Sydney, having reported the aborigines 

 as a plump, well-fed race, who would fall easy victims to the 

 prowess of his countrymen. By a refinement of cannibal cruelty, 

 the unfortunate wretches were compelled to carry the wood, and 

 prepare the ovens in which they were to be cooked. Such of 



