THE DYING OUT OF THE POLYNESIAN RACES. 



249 



little independent monarchy will come about in a 

 peaceable or a warlike manner. Two years ago 

 there seemed to be a risk of war, but it has not 

 yet broken out, and the mere lapse of time is in 

 every way favorable to peace. When in the 

 neighborhood I was very anxious to avail myself 

 of a missive for a Kingite chief, in order to 

 reach, if possible, Tokangamutu, the capital vil- 

 lage of the Maori king. After consulting a num- 

 ber of friends who were well informed upon the 

 question, and one of whom had married the 

 daughter of a great Maori chief, I resolved to 

 abandon the attempt, as they all agreed in dis- 

 suading me, although each adviser gave different 

 reasons for his advice. Most of them considered 

 that the risk of personal violence was small, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, from the Ilau-hau fanatics, the rise 

 of which sect has introduced a new element into 

 Maori affairs. Formerly, an unarmed stranger, 

 trusting to Maori honor, was perfectly safe in 

 any part of the country, but now there are indi- 

 viduals who believe that in slaying any Pakeha 

 they would be doing a pious deed. AH were at 

 one in saying that if I went at all I must not 

 carry arms of any sort. The most serious ob- 

 jections urged were to this effect : 



" Your visit, as the bearer of a letter from an 

 ex-governor, will have an apparent political signiii- 

 cance altogether foreign to its real object, and may 

 produce complications. Sir George Grey's intro- 

 duction will of course secure the good-will of the 

 chief to whom it is addressed, and even of the 

 authorities generally ; but the railroad works 

 are approaching the boundary, and matters are in 

 a critical condition, while a number of persons in 

 the king's country, including certain mean whites, 

 are interested in getting up a disturbance. In 

 particular the refugees from the Maori territory 

 lately confiscated entertain the wild hope that in a 

 general scrimmage they may regain their land, 

 and feel that now or never is their chance. The 

 king and his advisers probably do not share these 

 feelings, but a European of any consequence runs 

 the risk of being made the victim in some mode 

 or other of these Adullamites, in order that the 

 Kingites may be embroiled with the Pakehas. 

 Under these circumstances, the better your intro- 

 duction, the greater will be the risk." 



The chance of seeing the last scene of inde- 

 pendent Maori life was a great temptation, but 

 these considerations satisfied me that I should 

 exercise a wise discretion in letting the Kingites 

 alone. Matters at Tokangamutu have under- 

 gone no very material change during the short 

 interval which has elapsed since I left New Zea- 

 land, but peace has been hitherto maintained, and 



its future maintenance depends upon the action 

 of the colonial government. The Maoris are 

 able to realize more fully from day to day the 

 utterly hopeless character of an armed struggle, 

 and will hardly provoke one unless goaded on by 

 a sense of oppression and injustice. On the other 

 hand, an aggressive policy finds little favor now 

 with the colonists, who no longer have the im- 

 perial exchequer available for war expenses, and 

 must in future bear all such burdens upon their 

 own shoulders. There has, in fact, been no 

 serious Maori difficulty since the imperial troops 

 were withdrawn from the colony. 



It may be fairly assumed that the colonists 

 will continue to act toward the Maoris with jus- 

 tice and moderation, as they have usually done 

 hitherto ; but even with the best intentions it is 

 often impossible to avoid arousing a genuine 

 sense of wrong, owing to the radical differences 

 of law and custom between the two races, espe- 

 cially with regard to land. When a transfer of 

 land from a native to a white man takes place, it 

 is usually quite fair and straightforward accord- 

 ing to European notions, whether by sale, by 

 gift, or by confiscation after war. The settler 

 performs what he believes to be all the neces- 

 sary legal formalities, and pays the purchase- 

 money agreed upon, but finds his possession of 

 the land disputed, perhaps by an individual, per- 

 haps by a whole tribe. The validity of the trans- 

 action is frequently denied upon the ground that 

 the seller had no right to sell, and that tribal 

 rights have been ignored. According to Maori 

 usage the objections may be quite bona fide, and 

 would probably receive effect from colonial judges 

 if urged at the proper time and place. But the na- 

 tives are unwilling to admit the jurisdiction of the 

 colonial courts in such cases, and refuse to plead 

 in them, regarding the entire legal procedure as 

 an organization to defraud them of their land. 

 Thus the tenure of land is here, as elsewhere, the 

 fruitful source of discord between invaders and 

 invaded, even when the former are desirous of 

 acting justly according to their own ideas of jus- 

 tice. Meanwhile the Maoris see only too clearly 

 that the land is passing out of their hands, and 

 they are daily becoming fewer and feebler as their 

 white rivals increase in numbers, in riches, and 

 in power. The majority accept this state of mat- 

 ters as inevitable, and try to make the best of it, 

 having actually in some places settled down into 

 the position of landlords, living upon the rents 

 paid to them by their white tenants. Within the 

 Kingite limits, however, there are still many in- 

 tractable spirits, not the least generous and 



