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ZEALAND, NEW. 



ZEALAND, NEW. 



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quickly fatten on it. The Phormium tenax, or flax, covers many 

 extensive plains ; it grows on mountains and in swamps. It was for- 

 merly used by the natives to make clothing, and considerable quantities 

 of flax obtained from it were exported ; but since the demand for pro- 

 visions by the vessels which visit the island has increased the value 

 of labour, the natives have produced much less of this article for the 

 market. Many swamps are overgrown with a kind of bulrush called 

 raupu (Typha angiutifolia), which is a useful building material for the 

 natives, who make the walls and roofs of their houses of them, tying 

 them together in bundles with a climbing fern. 



The most important of the plants introduced by Europeans i? the 

 potato, whicli is extensively used by the natives, partly for food and 

 partly for exportation : most vessels that touch at the island take large 

 quantities of them. Maize, or Indian corn, was introduced early, and 

 in the northern district forms a considerable article of export. Wheat 

 waa introduced by the missionaries more than twenty years ago, and 

 its cultivation has spread rapidly. Turnips are very extensively 

 cultivated : they are dried in the oven, wind, or sun, and they keep 

 for a lung time. The other vegetables are pumpkins, shallots, onions, 

 garlic, beet-root, endive, celery, leeks, purslain, radishes, Spanish radish, 

 Spanish onions, cabbages, brocoli, artichokes, cucumbers, capsicums, 

 Chili pepper, and mustard. The fruit-tree^ of Europe have also been 

 planted, and most of them succeed very well, especially in the northern 

 districts, as pomegranates, figs, quinces, nectarines, peaches, apples, 

 pears, vines, olives, raspberries, strawberries, and Cape gooseberries. 

 Some attempts have been made to introduce the fruits of India, but 

 without success. The bananas and mango-trees do not flower. Tobacco 

 is cultivated at several places by the natives for their own consump- 

 tion, and the sugar-cane succeeds very well at Hokianga. 



The dog, a smaller variety of the Australian dingo, existed here at 

 the arrival of the Europeans, and is still, though rarely, met with, as 

 almost the whole race of the island has become a mongrel breed. 

 This was the only domestic animal at that time. The white settlers 

 have introduced the horse, cow, as', sheep, and pig. Pigs are very 

 numerous ; they are easily fed and fattened on the fern-root. The 

 other animals, though not yet numerous, succeed well, particularly 

 sheep. A considerable amount of wool (about 700,000 lb. in 1853) 

 i> exported to Great Britain. No wild animals are found, with the 

 exception of a kind of bat, called Sfystacina tubcrculata by Gray. 

 Formerly a native rat, which was eaten by the aborigines, was very 

 common, but it has been nearly exterminated by the European rat, 

 and is now only found on the table-land of Roturua, 



Seals and whales of various kinds are found in the neighbouring 

 seas, but not so plentifully as formerly ; and many sorts of fish, several 

 of which are edible. Fish and eels are also found in the rivers. There 

 are numerous species of birds, the most remarkable of which is the 

 kiwi of the natives (Apteryx auttralu), a struthiou/i bird, unable to 

 fly on account of its want of wings, instead of which it is provided 

 with flappers. Among other birds are a rail, found in the swamps, as 

 large as an English pheasant, and of splendid colours : some small and 

 gaily-coloured parrots; a sort of mocking bird, called tui by the 

 natives, which makes a variety of fanciful noises, coughing, whistling, 

 and chattering ; and a small owl, called by the settlers ' More Pork,' 

 from the sound which it is said it distinctly pronounces towards day- 

 break for half an hour continuously. 



Very little is known of the mineralogy of New Zealand. In October 

 1852 gold was discovered at C'oromandel, about 40 miles E. from 

 Auckland, on the peninsula forming the eastern side of Hauraki Gulf, 

 between the harbours of Waihou on the western side and Mercury Bay 

 on the eastern side. Neither lead nor silver have been traced, but 

 Dieffenbach states that from the island of Otca, or Great Barrier Island, 

 which is north of Cape Colville before the entrance of Hauraki Gulf, 

 he obtained specimens of a copper-ore, some of which contained nearly 

 25 per cent, of copper. Iron-ore is said to exist at several places ; coal 

 has been found and worked at Massacre Bay, on the Waikato River ; 

 at Motunao ; at Mokau, in New Ulster ; and at Saddle Hill, near 

 Otago ; and also at various places in the neighbourhood of Tasrnan 

 Bay, in the island of New Monster. Thick layers of lignite are 

 observed in the cliffs which skirt the western and eastern coasts, but 

 eipecially in the former. Limestone is found on the west coast, 

 especially oh the deeper inlets, and some limestone-rocks would yield 

 marble. Indurated scoriae and some kind of sandstone are fit for 

 building materials. Slates ore met with in many places. Immense 

 quantities of sulphur could be collected in the volcanic region. 



Population and Inhabitant*. The population is composed of Euro- 

 pean settlers and of the native tribes. The natives call themselves 

 Maori (aborigines), in contradistinction to the foreigners, or Pakehah. 

 They are generally tall, muscular, and well-proportioned, and do not 

 vary In size as much as Europeans do. The form of the cranium 

 approaches that of the European. Their language is derived from the 

 same stock with the Malay language, but that of the Malays has been 

 greatly enriched by foreign words from the Sanscrit, Arabic, <fec., 

 whilst that of New Zealand preserved its originality until the mission- 

 aries and Europeans introduced new ideas and new signs for them. 



When the voyages of Cook first made us acquainted with New 

 Zealand, the inhabitants derived their food from plants which they 

 cultivated, li /ed in houses constructed so as to protect them against 

 rain and the weather, were posseted of large war-canoes, and wore 



oxoa. BIT. vol. rv. 



more clothing than the people in the other islands ; but they were 

 divided into many tribes, which were frequently at war with one 

 another. On the hills which are so numerous they built villages, 

 which were fortified with palisadoes and ditches, and to these small 

 fortresses they retired when attacked by an enemy. These fortresses 

 were called ' pahs.' Their wars were carried on with great cruelty ; 

 they ate their enemies who fell in battle, and frequently killed and ate 

 their prisoners. Women and children were carried off as slaves. Thesa 

 wars greatly impeded their progress in civilisation. 



The intercourse of the natives with Europeans effected a great 

 change. The New Zealander became acquainted with the use of fire- 

 arms and adopted them. The tribes that first became possessed of 

 fire-arms immediately acquired a superiority over their neighbours ; 

 and this circumstance led to the annihilation of several tribes which 

 had formerly been numerous and powerful, and it is probable that the 

 whole race would have been extirpated if the missionaries had not 

 arrived. 



The most singular custom among the New Zealanders, as well aa 

 among the inhabitants of many other islands dispersed over the 

 Pacific, is what is called ' tapu,' which signifies that a thing must not 

 be used or touched, and heavy penalties are attached to tha violation 

 of the tapu. Many things are always tapu, as the plantations of the 

 sweet potato, property contained in a house left uninhabited by its 

 proprietor, a house containing seeds, a canoe left unprotected ou the 

 beach, or a tree selected for being worked into a cauoe at a future 

 period. A married woman and a girl promised in marriage are invio- 

 lably tapu. A burying-place and the utensils and clothes used in 

 interments are strictly tapu. It is evident that this tapu supplies the 

 want of prohibitory laws. But a thing may also be declared tapu by 

 the priests, and it cannot ba used until the tapu is taken off. Even 

 men or women may be pronounced tapu, and then they are not 

 allowed to touch their food or drink, but are fed by others until the 

 tapu is taken off, which is done by the priest or priestess by some 

 simple ceremonies and prayers. 



The natives have considerable talent for the mechanical arts, and a 

 great inclination to cultivate their minds. Cook found among them 

 war canoes, which were 80 feet long, and constructed with considerable 

 ingenuity. They have applied themselves successfully to the acquisi- 

 tion of the various trades introduced by Europeans, are good farmers, 

 and bold and skilful seamen. There are now few natives who have 

 not learned to read and write ; and even those who live in parts of 

 the country which have only occasionally been visited by missionaries, 

 have acquired these elements of civilisation by mutual instruction. 



The governor, Sir George Grey, writes of tha natives in 1850, in his 

 Report to the British Secretary of State, in terms of high commenda- 

 tion, in reference to their industrial capabilities, their desire for ineutal 

 improvement, their agreeable manners, their moral character, and 

 their material prosperity. 



Jliatory and Colonisation. There is reason for supposing that some 

 Spanish navigators discovered New Zealand in the 16th century, but 

 nothing is on record which can prove it. We must therefore consider 

 that the islands were discovered by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasmati, 

 who, in December, 1642, reached the west coast of Tavai-Poenammoo, 

 near 42 10' S. lat. He sailed along the coast northward, and eutered 

 the western entrance of Cook Strait in the wide open bay called on our 

 maps Blind Bay, but by the Frenchman D'Urville, Tosman Bay. Here 

 he anchored in a harbour, which he called Massacre Bay, as four of his 

 seamen were killed there by the natives. From that time New Zea- 

 land was considered a part of the Australian continent by the 

 geographers of the period. No Europeau seems to have visited it till 

 the time of Cook, who in his first voyage spent nearly six months on 

 the coasts, in 1769 and 1770, during which he circumnavigated the 

 Ulands and surveyed the coasts. In December 1769, a French ship 

 commanded by Surville anchored for some time in Doubtless Bay, as 

 it is called by Cook, but which Surville named Lauristou Bay ; and in 

 1772 two French vessels, under the command of Marion and Crozet, 

 sailed along the west coast of New Ulster, aud remained for some 

 time in the Bay of Islands, where Marion and 27 Frenchmen were 

 killed by the natives. Cook visited New Zealand in his second voyage 

 three times, and in his third voyage for the filth time. Vancouver 

 also visited it in 1791, but merchant-vessels came to it only towards 

 the close of the last century. In fact, these remote seas were hardly 

 visited by trading-vessels before the foundation of the British colony 

 at Port Jackson in Australia. 



When the colony at Port Jackson had gone through its first trial 

 and began to rise, it became the centre of a new branch of commercial 

 industry. Before the end of the last century a few vessels, English 

 and American, departing from Port Jackson, began to prosecute the 

 whale-fishery in the sea east of New Zealand. As tlie number of 

 whales was immense their success was very great, and they soon 

 learned that provisions and other necessaries of life were to be got 

 much cheaper and with less labour in New Zealand than at Sydney, 

 and thus New Zealand began to be the resort of the whalers, who 

 visited the Bay of Islands in preference to all other parts ou account 

 of its geographical position and the excellence of its harbour. To 

 facilitate the intercourse between the natives and the crews of these 

 vessels, a few English settled in that harbour and iu some others on 

 the east coast. About the same period the New Zealand flax began 



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