NEW ZEALAND 



NEY 



489 



usually an olive-brown. Most of them have long 

 black slightly waved hair, but in some it is 

 reddish. Tattooing, once practised by both sexes, 

 is now almost abandoned. The punctures were 

 made with a hammer and a small-toothed chisel, 

 and were stained with the soot from kauri gum. 

 The patterns, which extended over the face, hips, 

 thighs, &c., consisted of ornamental spirals and 

 scrolls, elaborated according to the wearer's rank. 

 The women were but slightly adorned in this fashion. 

 The priests had great influence, and could at will 

 make any jierson or object ' tapu ' or Taboo (q. v.) 

 i.e. sacred and Inviolable. This was partly a 

 religious and partly a political institution, and it 

 was always respected by mutually hostile tribes, 

 even in times of war. Cannibalism was universally 

 prevalent as part of their system of warfare. The 

 last known instance of it occurred in 1843. Infanti- 

 cide, commonly practised in their heathen days, is 

 now everywhere al>olihe<l, as is the case with 

 slavery and polygamy. They marry early, but 

 have few children, three to a family on the average. 

 Many die in infancy and childhood. At the time of 

 Cook's visit, and down to the formation of the 

 colony, the tribes lived in a chronic state of war- 

 fare. They fought with clubs and spears of heavy 

 wood and stone, and made excellent fortifications. 

 Their most remarkable weapon was a short club, 

 often made of nephrite, and called a mire. 

 Among the chiefs these weapons descended from 

 father to son, and were regarded as precious heir- 

 looms. Other nephrite weapons were highly valued 

 and very costly. Firearms are now in common 

 use among them, but in the olden time they had 

 no knowledge of pottery and metals or even of the 

 IK>W and arrow. Their alphaliet contains only 

 fourteen letters, and every word and syllable ends 

 in a vowel. Their names of places, rivers, &c. 

 have generally passed into current use among 

 the colonists. The language is rich and sonor- 

 ous, and well adapted for the oratory, songs, and 

 lyric poetry of which they were passionately 

 fond. Five-sixths of their numbers are nominally 

 Christians. Those living within or on the border 

 of settlement are becoming gradually assimilated 

 to the colonists, wearing Knropean dress, &c. In 

 remote parts they are even now content with a 

 blanket for a garb. They still own large areas of 

 land, on which they raise crops and keep great 

 numbers of sheep, but they are not very industrious. 

 They all wish to have their children educated, and 

 send them regularly to school. They have a special 

 franchise, and elect four members to the House of 

 Representatives ; two of their chiefs are members 

 of the Legislative Council. In Cook's time they 

 numbered 100,000, but there are now no more than 

 42,000, who almost all live in the North Island. 

 The ' King movement ' has at length died out, 

 and the haughty and sullen ' King tribes ' are 

 giving up the seclusion into which they retired 

 after the last native war. 



History. Tasman discovered the islands in 1642 

 and called them Noca Zeelanda, but Cook first 

 made them known to the world. He surveyed the 

 roasts and learned a great deal about the people 

 in 1769 and following years. At the beginning 

 of the 19th century wfialing-ships began to fre- 

 quent the coasts and to have intercourse with 

 the natives, while a trade in kauri spare and 

 native llax sprang up with the young settlement 

 at Sydney Cove. This trade was stimulated by 

 the eager desire of the Maoris for guns, tools and 

 mi-mils of iron, and blankets. The introduction of 

 guns made the constant tribal wars more deadly 

 than ever, and brutal slaughter greatly thinned 

 the number of the people. The continual fighting 

 and disorder caused the British government to 

 include the islands in the territory of New South 



Wales, and soon led to the cession of the colony to 

 the British crown by the treaty of Waitangi ( 1840). 

 By this treaty the native title to the soil was 

 guaranteed, and every acre since sold has been 

 duly paid for. Missionaries settled in the north in 

 1814, and soon formed a network of stations over 

 the North Island. Within twenty years their 

 lalwurs were crowned with remarkable success, not 

 only in converting the people, but equally in 

 encouraging a more peaceful and civilised m<xle of 

 life. The colony was planted in 1840 by the 

 New Zealand Company, who with auxiliary associa- 

 tions founded successively the settlements of 

 Wellington, Nelson, Taranaki, Otago, and Canter- 

 bury. The earliest and most irregular settlement 

 was" at the Bay of Islands. For a time the capital 

 was fixed at Auckland, but in 1865 it was trans- 

 ferred to Wellington. A series of native ware 

 began in 1843 and ended in 18C9, since which year 

 the colony has enjoyed complete peace. The ware 

 arose partly from jealousy of the power and 

 inlluence of the colonists, but chiefly from endless 

 disputes about land sales, which were greatly com- 

 plicated by the vague tribal tenure on whicli land 

 was held by the natives. All through the wars, 

 which were brought to an end by the unaided 

 colonists, the trade and population of the colony 

 grew at a rapid rate. Self-government was granted 

 in 1852. The provinces created by the Con- 

 stitution Act were abolished in 1875, and the 

 government centralised and strengthened, while a 

 complete system of local government by county 

 and borough councils was soon after established. 

 The government consists of a governor appointed 

 by the crown, and a legislature composed of an 

 upper chamber named the Legislative Council, 

 with members appointed for life, and a lower 

 chamber named the House of Representatives, 

 elected for three years. 



See descriptive works by Hochstettcr (Eng. trans. 1877), 

 liradshaw (18XU), Gisborne (1889), Wakefield (1890); 

 Dilke's Greater Britain ( 1868), and Problems of Greater 

 Britain (1890); Froude's Oceana (1886); handbooks such 

 as Clayden's (1885) and Brett's (18!K>); the Australian 

 Handbook and the official publications; histories by 

 Kusden ( 1883) and Firth [ 1890) ; Jacobs, New Zialand, 

 in the ' Colonial Church Histories' (1890) ; Tucker's Life 

 of Bisltop Selicyn ( 1879) ; Gisborne, Neic Zealand States- 

 men (1885); Kerry-Nicholls, The Kimj Country ( 1883 ) ; 

 Green, The High Alps of New Zealand (1883) ; Buller, 

 Birds of New Zealand ( 1882 ) ; and Hooker, Flora of 

 New Zealand (1864-G7) ; the early history by Sherwin 

 and Wallace ; the excellent Handbook by Pennefather 

 (1893 1 ; Fitzgerald's Climb* in the New Zealand Alps 

 (18%) ; works on the Maoris by Shortland and by White ; 

 and on their language by Maunsell ( 1844 ) and Williams 

 (18C2 and 1877). For the plant known as New Zealand 

 Flax, see FLAX (NEW ZKAI.AXII). 



Key, MICHEL, French marshal, was born at 

 Saarlouis, 10th January 1769. He was a non- 

 commissioned officer in a hussar regiment when 

 the Revolution began, but in the new order of 

 things his merit quickly brought him promotion, 

 and during the blockade of Mainz (1794) Klcber 

 made him his adjutant-general. In 1796 he served 

 under Jourdan, and earned the rank of general of 

 brigade on the field of Forchheim. For the cap- 

 ture of Mannheim by a daring coup tie main he 

 was made a general of division in 1799. He was 

 interim commander of the Army of the Rhine for 

 a short time, during which he frustrated by a bold 

 diversion an important movement of the Archduke 

 Charles against Massena and the Army of Switzer- 

 land. After the peace of Lunevilfe Bonaparte 

 brought about his marriage with Aglae Louise 

 Auguie de Lescans, a young friend of Hortense 

 Beauharnais, and appointed him inspector-general 

 of cavalry. On the establishment of the empire he 

 was made marshal of France. In 1805 he stormed 



