340 



A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER/' 



the ship, where they cooked them in the ship's coppers ; the 

 captain nevertheless duly received his cargo.* 



In 1832 or 1833, a large party of Maoris was landed by 

 another English merchant vessel on the Chatham Islands, small 

 outliers of New Zealand. The islands were inhabited by a 

 weaker race, " Maoriori," 1,500 in number. The Maoris simply 

 ate their way through the islands, killing the Maorioris as they 

 required them for food, and making the victims dig the ovens 

 they were to be cooked in, and collect wood for the purpose.! 

 Their object in going to the island was to feed upon the in- 

 habitants, a Maori who had visited the islands, when engaged as 

 a seaman on a European vessel, having reported the islanders as 

 plump and well fed. 



Whilst the New Zealanders considered the palms of the 



FIJIAN DOUBLE CANOE. 



(From a photograph.) 



hands and the breast as the best eating,:} the Fijians especially 

 preferred the flesh of the arm above the elbow, and that of the 



* W. T. L. Travers, E.K.S., "The Life and Times of Te Kuaparaah." 

 Trans. New Zealand Inst. Vol. V, 1872, p. 78. 



t H. H. Travers, " On the Chatham Islands," Ibid. Vol. I, 1860, p. 176. 



X E. Dieffenbach, "Travels in New Zealand," Vol. II. p. 129. London, 

 J Murray, 1843. 



