254 Transactions. — Botany. 



forests and bogs the Morioris would avoid, and foot-tracks 

 would come to be formed over the easiest ground, which 

 are possibly identical with the main tracks through the island 

 at the present day. The only way in which they could do any 

 damage to the plant-covering would be through setting the 

 swamp and dry ridge vegetation on fire, for the forest, happily, 

 will not burn ; and probably some of the present lakes originated 

 in that manner, through the peat catching fire during the 

 Moriori period. 



In November, 1791, Lieutenant Broughton, Commander of 

 H.M.S. "Chatham" (47), discovered Chatham Island. He 

 sailed along the north coast, landing in the neighbourhood of 

 Kaingaroa. There he hoisted the British flag and took 

 possession of the island in the name of King George III. 

 While on shore he had an encounter with the natives and 

 one was killed. 



No more white men visited the island until 1834, when 

 a Sydney whaling-ship arrived, which had on board four young 

 Maori sailors. Probably the captain of this ship, or of some of 

 the other whalers which about this time visited the island, in- 

 troduced the pig; at any rate, in the early "fifties" these 

 animals were more numerous in a wild state than they are at 

 the present time. The four Maoris brought the tidings to their 

 tribe of the excellence of Chatham Island, and, as it offered a 

 haven of refuge from Te Bauparaha, the whole tribe decided to 

 leave New Zealand and settle on the island. Accordinglv, in 

 1835, they seized a vessel and compelled the captain to take 

 them from Wellington to Chatham Island. Two trips were 

 made to the island, and about nine hundred Maoris were 

 landed on its shores. The Morioris, the number of whom 

 has been estimated at from fifteen hundred to two thou- 

 sand, being essentially a most peaceful race, and in con- 

 sequence of their isolated position knowing nothing of the 

 art of war, were quickly subdued and reduced to a state of 

 slavery by the invading Maoris, who, moreover, were armed 

 with firearms. The Morioris rapidly decreased in numbers, 

 some hundreds being soon killed by the Maoris. Famine 

 and disease also decimated them, and so they have decreased 

 year by year until now less than a dozen pure Morioris are 

 in existence. The Maoris brought with them potatoes, taro, 

 and kumaras, but found the climate suitable only for the 

 potato, which they cultivated in sufficient quantities to supply 

 their wants. 



In the year 1843 five German missionaries, of whom one, 

 Mr. Engst, is still alive, and resided on the island till quite re- 

 cently, were sent from Berlin by a German missionary society, 

 and with their advent must date the first beginnings of change 

 in the vegetation, for they made gardens, cultivated wheat to 



