Walsh. — The Passing of the Maori. 155 



practically occupied all the open fertile land of the North 

 Island, as well as a considerable portion of the South. 



At what period this mixed race — to which the present in- 

 quiry is confined — reached its maximum it is quite impossible 

 to say, nor can we even approximately guess the number they 

 may have reached. Doubtless the population was at all times a 

 fluctuating one ; and as the tribes grew in strength, a natural 

 desire for expansion, a dispute over territory, or some other 

 cause would bring them into collision, and the quarrel once 

 started would often develop into a war of extermination. In 

 these disputes allies would be sought on either side, combinations 

 of adjacent tribes would be formed, and the fight would go on 

 to a finish, or until both sides were exhausted, and by the time 

 the final battle was fought, or a truce arrived at, a whole dis- 

 trict would be almost depopulated. By degrees, however, the 

 tribes that were not wholly extinguished would be nursed up 

 again : new alliances would be formed, and in time, under 

 favourable conditions, the population would be brought up to, 

 or might even exceed, its former numbers. 



Captain Cook estimated the Maori population at the time of 

 his visits to New Zealand (A.D. 1769-74) at about a hundred 

 thousand ; but his estimate is no more than a rough guess 

 based on very imperfect data. It must be recollected that his 

 observations extended only to a very partial acquaintance with 

 the coast-fine, that he never penetrated inland, and that even 

 on the coast he entirely missed some of the most populous dis- 

 tricts. Waikato, the Hot Lake country, the Auckland Isthmus, 

 Kaipara, Hokianga, and many other places teeming with popu- 

 lation had for him no existence, and any information he might 

 have acquired from Native sources would be too vague to form 

 the basis of an opinion. 



There is abundant evidence to prove that Captain 'Cook's 

 estimate was far too low. This evidence lies chiefly in the 

 marks of occupation which the Maoris have left in the multitude 

 of fortified positions and in the immense area of land bearing 

 traces of former cultivation. The number and size of the pas 

 throughout the length and breadth of the North Island is 

 amazing. Judge Maning states* that from the top of one pa 

 he had counted twenty others within a range of fifteen or twenty 

 miles, and along the Oruru Valley a range of hills four or five 

 miles long has nearly every summit scarped and terraced, 

 some of the works being so extensive that it would take a thou- 

 sand men to hold the position and probably a far greater number 

 to construct the works. In regard to the area of land formerly 



* " Old New Zealand," Chap. xiii. 



