Walsh. — The Passing of the Maori. 173 



Compared with the fresh and full vigour with which the Anglo- 

 Saxon race is spreading and increasing, the Maori is the weaker 

 partv, and thus is he the loser in the endless ' struggle for exist- 

 ence.' " * 



The case of the Maoris is analogous to that of the New 

 Zealand bush. The magnificent growth that has withstood the 

 storms of countless centuries, and that has been able to renew 

 itself after the ravages of volcanic fires and the deposits of 

 ashes and mud, is gradually perishing before the advance of 

 European settlement. Even the portions that have so far 

 escaped the bushman's axe are unable to support the new con- 

 ditions. The browsing cattle, the competition with foreign 

 plants, the incursion of imported blights, all contribute their 

 share in the general destruction, while even well-meant efforts 

 at preservation often serve only to hasten the decay. 



Doubly decimated by the guns of Hongi, of Te Rauparaha, 

 and Waharoa ; worn out with the agonizing effort to secure a 

 supply of weapons and ammunition ; their vitality sapped by 

 the liquor traffic and the wholesale debauch of the mothers of 

 the race ; utterly wearied by the ten years' war and its disas- 

 trous consequences ; discouraged by the injustice of the land 

 laws ; and disheartened by an ever-growing race prejudice, the 

 Maoris of to-day are but a dying remnant of the once vigorous 

 and populous tribes. The men and women of fabulous age 

 once to be seen in every Jcainga have died off, and none are 

 taking their place. On a late interesting occasion — the un- 

 veiling of the Marsden cross in the Bay of Islands in last March 

 — the only chief within available distance that could remember 

 something of the old times was a half-caste. It is becoming a 

 rare thing in many districts to see a Maori above middle age. 

 Young men and women apparently healthy and robust are 

 cut off at a few days' notice by fever and rapid consumption, 

 while children die wholesale from infantile diseases that would 

 be easily thrown off by their white brothers and sisters, and the 

 shrinking remnant is ever less and less able to resist the doom 

 of their race. 



The decay, on the whole, as I have attempted to show, 

 has been rapid, but it has been fitful, and there have been times 

 when it almost seemed as if there was a gleam of hope. Al- 

 though the Rev. Samuel Marsden and the early missionaries 

 were unable to restrain Hongi from going on the warpath, still, 

 it is unquestionable that their influence largely contributed 

 to the suppression of cannibalism, and helped to secure a better 

 fate for the thousands of prisoners than they would otherwise 



* Hochstetter's " New Zealand," pp. 220-2-21. 



