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TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTELY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



bird indigenous in New Zealand is a species of 

 quail, which was in many places very abundant a 

 short time ago. It is now difficult to obtain a 

 single living specimen, although the bird has un- 

 dergone no severe persecution, and attempts have 

 even been made to preserve it by an ex-premier 

 of New Zealand. Meanwhile the Californian quail 

 has been introduced and flourishes, and Chinese 

 pheasants have overspread the country. 



The native rat, the only terrestrial mammal 

 found in New Zealand by European discoverers, 

 has so completely disappeared, that many natu- 

 ralists are skeptical as to its having ever existed, 

 and the little island in Lake Taupo is said to be 

 its only remaining habitat. On the other hand, 

 the common brown rat, the faithful companion 

 of the white man in all his wanderings, has taken 

 complete possession of a country where its in- 

 crease is restricted by no reptiles nor quadru- 

 peds, and few birds of prey, and is encountered 

 far beyond any settlements of its human fellow- 

 colonists, close to the glaciers of the New Zea- 

 land Alps. The honey-bee of Europe has estab- 

 lished itself as a very successful settler in the 

 southern hemisphere, and has not merely sup- 

 pressed the feeble insect rivals which it found 

 there, but also in some parts appears to have 

 caused a marked reduction in the number of 

 honey-sucking birds. The destruction of timber 

 is so universally the result of colonization, that 

 the denudation of New Zealand is exceptional 

 only inasmuch as an exotic vegetation is already 

 replacing the primeval forest, which cattle and 

 fire rather than the axe have annihilated. Near 

 Christchurch, in the Middle Island, where exten- 

 sive plantations of English trees and shrubs give 

 to the country an aspect like that of an English 

 midland county, there remains one small patch 

 only of the virgin forest a few acres in extent. 

 With the utmost care this interesting relic has 

 been preserved by one of the earliest settlers, 

 and, thanks to him, his younger fellow-citizens 

 can still realize what sort of vegetation covered 

 the Canterbury plains when he first landed in 

 New Zealand. 



Indeed, it may be said that the indigenous 

 animals and plants of New Zealand succumb 

 without a struggle, whether to the domesticated 

 varieties imported by the white man for his own 

 benefit, or to those noxious creatures and weeds 

 of which he is the involuntary introducer. Of 

 the human aboriginals, however, this does not 

 hold true : in no sense are they a helpless or a 

 feeble folk ; to force they have never succumbed 

 without a determined resistance, and they have 



readily adapted themselves to such peaceful 

 changes as foreign civilization demands. 



Nevertheless, the Maori race, gallant, vigor- 

 ous, and intelligent, beyond any so-called savages 

 with whom we have ever been brought into col- 

 lision, seems doomed to the same fate which is 

 overtaking the feeble, short-winged birds charac- 

 teristic of the Polynesian fauna. Official statis- 

 tics confirm the universal impression, among col- 

 onists and natives alike, that the Maoris are dy- 

 ing out. In 1849, Sir George Grey estimated 

 their numbers at 120,000, and since then they 

 have rapidly declined ; in 1858 a native census 

 resulted in a total of 56,000 ; and at the enu- 

 meration of 1874 there were 45,470 Maoris in 

 the whole colony, all except a couple of thousand 

 being inhabitants of the North Island. If this 

 rate of reduction continues the " Maori difficulty " 

 will soon solve itself, and there will be room in 

 the North Island for many more cattle and sheep; 

 but a brave, generous, intelligent race of men 

 will disappear, and many, even of those who will 

 inherit their territory, cannot regard this disap- 

 pearance without regret. 



When white men speak of those with dark 

 skins whom they are subduing or supplanting, 

 their language is not generally complimentary. 

 It is therefore an agreeable surprise for a traveler 

 in New Zealand to hear the tone of respect, even 

 of admiration, in which the Maoris are habitually 

 discussed by the colonists. Such sentiments re- 

 dound indeed to the credit of both races, for 

 they are mainly due to the military prowess of 

 the Maoris, and prove that Englishmen bear no 

 grudge against a gallant foe for stalwart blows 

 taken in fair fight. Nay, our most formidable 

 antagonists (the Sikhs, for example) appear al- 

 ways to enjoy a certain popularity among cur 

 countrymen, and men who themselves took part 

 in the struggle with such chiefs as Te Raupara or 

 Te Kooti often have a good word to say for their 

 indomitable foes. It is at least impossible to 

 feel contempt, and difficult not to feel admiration, 

 for men who held their own so long against us, 

 when every material advantage was on our side. 

 Ten thousand British troops, supported by a 

 large contingent of colonial volunteers besides 

 friendly natives, and supplied with powerful ar- 

 tillery and arms of precision, were opposed to a 

 few hundred Maoris armed with fowling-pieces. 

 Notwithstanding such great odds, the contest 

 was bloody and protracted, owing to the com- 

 bined courage and judgment with which our 

 "savage" enemies availed themselves of the 

 natural defenses of their country, and to the 



