1 1 6 Voyage of the Novara. 



child: — '' Wliy should my child live? to be brought up as 

 tlie slave of the wives of my husband, to be bea-ten and 

 kicked by them!" 



There seems to be some mistake in the assertion of several 

 writers uj^on the customs prevalent in New Zealand, to the 

 effect that on the death of a Maori it is customary to sacri- 

 fice his nearest relatives. Only when a great chief dies, 

 are some of his slaves occasionally put to death at the same 

 time, that their spirits may accompany him who has pre- 

 ceded them to the shadowy land, to serve him there, and 

 execute his commands as they did while on earth. 



So too it occasionally happened that, on the death of a 

 much-esteemed chief, a hostile incursion was made by a 

 number of warriors, in order to provide a victim from an- 

 other tribe, and thus make it feel tlie same pang as that 

 which they were suffering in the loss of their chief. Suicide, 

 on the death of a near relative, is even at present far from 

 uncommon as a token of inconsolable grief. A low estimate 

 of the value of life seems to be a leading feature in the cha- 

 racter of the New Zealander ; it needs but a slight cause to 

 make him take his own life or plunge into some abyss. 



Slavery, to the extent that existed among the aborigines in 

 former times, is no longer to be found, though many pri- 

 soners taken in war are still held as slaves by their captors. 

 In many cases the slaves prefer to stay with their present 

 masters, if they have been well treated, rather than return 

 among their own race, from whom they feel themselves 



