178 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS. 



better that these should be recommended, than those which contain erroneous 

 views. Besides, if there have been any deficiency of books on the natural 

 system, it has been for the want of demand, and by exciting attention to the 

 subject we may expect to see volumes as interesting and as well adapted fo r 

 learners on this system as on the Linnsean. 



I have extended these remarks to a greater length then I originally intended ; 

 but I hope they will not be found longer than the interest or importance of the 

 subject demands. 



Campsall, near Doncaster, 

 February 19, 1838. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS. 



By Thomas Kier Short, Esq. 



(Continued from p. 66.) 



The natives of New Zealand are fine, tall, and robust, generally superior in 

 stature to the British, broad-chested and powerful, and their limbs as muscular 

 and sinewy as if • they had always been occupied in laborious employment. 

 They are of a lighter colour than the American Indians, with good regular fea- 

 tures, and a profusion of curly hair. They are shrewd, cunning, and sarcastic, 

 and, where Christianity is not known, dirty, thievish, and revengeful, and 

 some horrible accounts are recorded of their disposition to cannibalism, murder, 

 infanticide, and other crimes revolting to human nature. 



Polygamy is maintained by the chiefs, and there is no government; slaves 

 and gentlemen associate together without any distinction or respect. Their 

 houses are low and mean, and the inhabitants nestle together more like a herd of 

 Swine than human beings. In their rude native state they may be ranked 

 among the most degraded of our species. I believe they scarcely ever cut or 

 clean their hair (except chiefs), nor wash their garments, but some apparently 

 wear them till they drop off or are worn out. They make a kind of square piece 

 of what we call mats, of the fibre of Phormyum tenax, variously ornamented, 

 according to their ideas, with bits of coloured worsted, when they can get it, and 

 long strings of black, brown, and red of their own dying. This is fastened over 

 their shoulders, and is all the covering they generally have. The women wear 

 another kind of mat, which is fastened round their loins, and extends to their 

 knees. When they sit they squat upon their heels and posteriors like Monkies, 

 just letting their noses peer above their mats. The slaves (or, as the New Zea- 



