32 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



their rank and possessions; the latter are the great mass of the people, 

 who have no political rights. The condition of this class is as much 

 worse than in the Navigator Islands as the government is stronger and 

 better organized for the purposes of oppression. It is, however, milder 

 than that of Tahiti, and infinitely preferable to the debasing despotism 

 which existed in the Sandwich Islands. 



Habai and Vavau, which were formerly tributary to Tongatabu, are 

 united under an independent government, with the same classes of 

 chiefs (eiki], landholders (matabule), and common people (mua and 

 tua). 



New Zealand. According to the information derived from the 

 natives, the inhabitants of the north island, which contains nearly all 

 the population of the group, are divided into one hundred and four 

 tribes. These tribes are classed by them under four general designa- 

 tions. The Ngapuhi, comprising thirty-five tribes, possess the north- 

 ern peninsula, down to the isthmus of Manukao. The population of 

 this part of the island has been very much reduced by disease, and 

 the devastating wars carried on since the introduction of fire-arms. 

 The Ngatimaru fourteen tribes inhabit the coast from the isthmus 

 to the East Cape, including the River Thames and the Bay of Plenty. 

 The Ngatikahungunu, the most numerous of all, including forty-nine 

 tribes, possess the whole eastern coast, from the Cape to the entrance 

 of Cook's Strait. This is the most populous part of New Zealand, 

 and that which has been least visited. Finally, the Ngatiruanui, 

 comprising only nine tribes, are thinly scattered along the shores of 

 Cook's Strait, and the western coast of the island, as far north as the 

 isthmus of Manukao. Of most of these tribes the names begin with 

 Ngati, Ngai, or Nga, as Ngatirengu, Ngatiarva, Ngaitama, Ngatipu. 

 It seems probable that these are, in fact, clans descended from a com- 

 mon ancestor, and that the names stand for nga tamaiti a Rengu, &c., 

 the children of Rengu, Awa, Tama, Tipu. In expressing this opinion 

 to the natives from whom our information was obtained, they agreed, 

 after some discussion among themselves, that it was likely to be cor- 

 rect. On another occasion, a native whom we questioned as to the 

 country from which the New Zealanders were derived, declared that 

 they came from no other place, but belonged to the land, like trees 

 and stones. He said, moreover, that the first man (tupuna, ancestor) 

 was Tawake. This was at the Bay of Islands ; and on referring to 

 the list of tribes, it appears that that which inhabits the town of Koro- 

 rareka, on the south side of that bay, is called Ngaitarvake ; it was 



