Hill. — The Maoris To-day and To-morrow. 171 



on New Zealand : " There are comparatively but few old 

 people in New Zealand — scarcely any who have much 

 exceeded fifty years of age. War, accidents, diseases have 

 made sad havoc among them " ; but just as the tohunga 

 is to-day looked upon with favour and trustfulness by 

 the older natives, even beyond the powers of the medical 

 practitioner of the colonists, so in the matter of living 

 the natives who at present dwell in isolated and remote 

 districts look upon their ancestors as their ideals and type, 

 and they prefer to follow their ways and customs rather than 

 hearken to what the children have to say who are taught 

 by the pakeha, and who do not know the ways of the great 

 ancestors of their race. Yet it is the new influence that is 

 the more active. The schools modify thought, and the old 

 legends and tales of the pa are neglected or forgotten for the 

 tales and stories told in the reading-books. Intercourse with 

 the Europeans, the power to use the English language, and 

 the formation of early habits of thought in English are all 

 tending to the assimilation of the Maori. He reads Hans 

 Andersen's fairy stories, but is not made aware of the stirring 

 episodes in the history of his own people, and of the beautiful 

 stories and legends that adorn the history of his own race. 

 Surely the assimilative process is active in the school life of 

 the children. But has the Maori race ever increased in the 

 land so much as to make it probable that as a people they 

 may yet be able to maintain a position in the country in face 

 of the new forces that are operating under the controlling 

 influence of Saxondom ? The answer is one of doubt. Every 

 year the relative position of the Maori and the colonist is 

 changing. Even when there is an increase of the native 

 population it cannot compare with the proportionate increase 

 among the colonists, and although there is a process of 

 assimilation going on it is more apparent than real. 



We are not in possession of sufficient evidence to guide us 

 as to the population of Morioris who once lived in New Zea- 

 land, but who now are limited to the Chatham Islands, and 

 number, according to the census, thirteen of pure blood and 

 eighteen half-caste Moriori and Maori. Nor are we sure as to 

 the time when they were overcome by the Maoris, who drove 

 them southward ; but when the Europeans first came into 

 contact with the New-Zealanders the northern and eastern 

 coasts of the North Island were the most populous, although 

 settlement had taken place towards the interior and within 

 the precincts of the volcanic area. The settlements in the 

 Eotorua, Taupo, and Tokaanu districts imply, it seems to 

 me, a much longer dwelling in the land than is generally 

 supposed. The natives are naturally subject to peculiar 

 fears. The darkness to them typifies the unseen, the un- 



