52 THE SEA. 



one supreme God. Virtue with them, as with other savages, consisted chiefly in courage and 

 a command of temper. Their great passion was revenge, which was carried on by one tribe 

 against another to the extent sometimes of the annihilation of tribes. The decrease of their 

 population since the English first came among them has been owing as much to civil war as to 

 the injuries with which civilisation has afflicted them. They seem from early days to have 

 acquired that habit of fighting behind stockades or in fortified pahs which we have found so 

 fatal to ourselves in our wars with them. Their weapons, before they got guns from us, were 

 not very deadly. They were chiefly short javelins and stones, both flung from slings. But 

 there was a horror in their warfare to the awfulness of which they themselves seem to have 

 been keenly alive. When a prisoner was taken in war he was cooked and eaten. 



" I do not think that human beings were slaughtered for food in New Zealand, although 

 there is no doubt that the banquet when prepared was enjoyed with a horrid relish. 



"I will quote a passage from Dr. Thompson's work in reference to the practice of 

 cannibalism, and will then have done with the subject. ' Whether or not cannibalism 

 commenced immediately after the advent of the New Zealanders from Hawaiki, it is neverthe- 

 less certain that one of Tasman's sailors was eaten in 1642 ; that Captain Cook had a boat's 

 crew eaten in 1774; that Marion de Fresne and many other navigators met this horrible end ; 

 and that the pioneers of civilisation and successive missionaries have all borne testimony to the 

 universal prevalence of cannibalism in New Zealand up to the year 1840. It is impossible to 

 state how many New Zealanders were annually devoured ; that the number was not small may 

 be inferred from two facts authenticated by European witnesses. In 1822, Hougi's army ate 

 three hundred persons after the capture of Totara, on the River Thames, and in 1836, during 

 the Rotura war, sixty beings were cooked and eaten in two days/ I will add from the same 

 book a translation of a portion of a war-song : f Oh, my little son, are you crying? are you 

 screaming for your food? Here it is for you, the flesh of Hekemanu and Werata. Although 

 I am surfeited with the soft brains of Putu Rikiriki and Raukauri, yet such is my hatred that 

 I will fill myself fuller with those of Pau, of Ngaraunga, of Pipi, and with my most dainty 

 morsel, the flesh of the hated Teao.' " 



Mr. Laird testifies to their cleanliness, but states that they are, like most savages, 

 and for that matter, most white men, very improvident. If a bad potato or other crop 

 occurred, they would eat it all at once, and half starve afterwards. 



The same author tells a good story of the nonchalance of a leading Maori chief who 

 was invited to dinner at Government House during the visit of H.R.H. the Duke of 

 Edinburgh. After dinner the Duke's chief bagpiper came in and played. The chief was 

 asked how he liked the music. He replied briefly : " Too much noise for me ; but suit 

 white man well enough." 



And now we are approaching that great continent which has had, has, and will 

 increasingly have, so much interest for the emigrant, who must be, more or less, a 

 voyager and man of the sea. Australia, a country nearly as large as the United States, 

 must be for many a day to come a very Paradise for the poor man. 



The American steamers from San Francisco land one at Sydney, of which charming place 

 Mr. Trollope says : " I despair of being able to convey to my readers my own idea 

 of the beauty of Sydney Harbour ; " he considers that it excels Dublin Bay, Spezzia, and 



