108 INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES [PART I. 



was once common to all. In the interior a stranger, 

 whether European or native, is always received with 

 welcome : food and shelter are soon prepared for 

 him. With their friends and relations they divide 

 everything they possess. If a New Zealander meets 

 a relation after some period of separation, all he has 

 is immediately given to him ; and in these cases it 

 is impossible to make any one who has served you 

 retain for his own use what he has received. A 

 desire of instructing themselves, and a spirit of 

 curiosity, pervade young and old. They are very 

 attentive to tuition, learn quickly, and have an ex- 

 cellent memory. Many know by rote hundreds of 

 traditions and songs, and will repeat word for word 

 the Christian catechism, or whole chapters of the 

 gospel. In attention to the objects which surround 

 them in quickness of perception they are superior 

 in general to the white man : plants, animals, stones, 

 and so on, are designated by their own names, the 

 knowledge of which may be said to be common to 

 all. This spirit of curiosity leads them often to 

 trust themselves to small coasting vessels ; or they 

 go with whalers to see still more distant parts of 

 the globe. They adapt themselves readily to Euro- 

 pean navigation and boating, and at this moment a 

 native of New Zealand is master of a whale-ship ; 

 and in Cook's Straits many boats are manned by 

 them alone. 



On their first intercourse with Europeans the 

 natives always manifest a degree of politeness 



