Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvi. {i(^02), No. 1*J. 21 



Paraiwhara, shows that a "fagging" system has been 

 estabHshed, more injurious, perhaps, to the masters 

 than to the servants, as there is no appearance of 

 harshness or severity, but a great decrease of personal 

 activity in the dominant race. A long residence on 

 the island would be necessary to do away entirely 

 with this evil ; but I did what I could in a short 

 visit, by paying personal attention to the poor Paraiwhara, 

 and explaining how they were descended from the 

 elder branch of the family of Noah, by which they 

 obtained the name of the " tuakana o te Pihopa " 

 (the elder brother of the Bishop). They are a cheerful 

 and willing people ; and, like many persons in a subor- 

 dinate station, more obliging than their masters. Amusing 

 stories are told of the first invasion of the island ; at 

 which time the chief food of the Paraiwhara was the 

 supply of eels from the numerous lakes which cov^er 

 perhaps half the surface. When potatoes were first 

 given to them they impaled them upon skewers, after the 

 manner of cooking eels, and sat watching till the oil 

 should drop from them. Their canoes are ingeniously 

 made of small sticks carefully tied together, as there is no 

 wood on the island suitable for a solid canoe." 



Considering how comparatively soon his visit followed 

 upon the atrocities recorded by Mr. Shand, it is difficult 

 to understand how the good Bishop could have been kept 

 so much in the dark about the true history of the Maori 

 usurpation as his remarks would lead one to suppose. It 

 is not difficult to believe that whoever invented the title 

 " Elder brother of the Bishop " for the unfortunate Moriori 

 was gifted with a sense of humour, but the " amusing 

 stories " of the first invasion must surely have been very 



