Tombs of the chiefs. Dress of the 

 natives. Their dirty habits. 



NEW ZEALAND. 



Food of the natives. Manner of 

 fishing. Ornaments worn. 



167 



Kianga-taboo, in which is erected the tombs of the 

 chiefs. A few days before our visit one was in- 

 terred here. 



This tomb is formed of a small canoe, cut across 

 through the middle, and the two parts joined face 

 to face, forming a hollow cone, about seven or 

 eight feet long. The corpse is placed inside, in a 

 sitting posture, and would remain there a year, 

 after which the bones would be carried up the 

 river, and as Charley Pomare expressed it, would 

 be " thrown away any where." 



The tomb is painted red, and ornamented with 

 feathers on each side, from the ground to the top; 

 it is covered with a small shed, to protect it from 

 the weather, and enclosed all around with a fence. 

 The funeral ceremonies were not witnessed, but, 

 from the description of the natives, were very 

 noisy, and accompanied with firing of many guns, 

 a general practice on all public occasions. Their 

 faces and arms bore evident marks of their having 

 been engaged in the ceremony, being covered with 

 scratches which they had inflicted on themselves. 



The pas of the natives are not in reality sti-ong 

 places, but are little more than insulated and com- 

 manding situations. Pomare makes some show of 

 warlike instruments, in the formidable array of 

 three ten-pounders, all of them in bad condition, 

 though looked at and spoken of by the natives with 

 no small pride and conceit. The natives, in time 

 of peace, do not live constantly in these pas, but 

 are mostly occupied at their plantation-grounds; 

 for which reason only a few men were seen loung- 

 ing about in front of their houses. The women 

 were generally engaged in making and plaiting 

 mats, or cooking, and the men seemed the greater 

 idlers. 



Their native dress consists of mats of various 

 kinds, made of the native flax (phomax), which 

 are braided by hand, and are, some of them, finer 

 than carpeting, while others are as coarse as our 

 corn-leaf mats. The latter were worn by the 

 women while at work, tied around the hips, and 

 sometimes over the shoulders. They carry their 

 children on the back, like our Indians. 



The men were more luxurious in their dress, 

 having fine mats, nearly as large in size as our 

 blankets, ingeniously and beautifully wrought, and 

 sometimes embroidered. Both of these kinds are 

 still worn, though they are gradually disappearing, 

 and the dress is becoming more European, or rather 

 Tahitian. The women now often wear loose slips 

 of calico, drawn about the neck, which are any 

 thing but becoming, while the men have coarse 

 clothing, sometimes a dirty white blanket, at others, 

 different parts of European dress. The blanket is 

 worn in the same manner as the native kakahu. 

 They never think it necessary to use clothing for a 

 covering; it is worn more from pride and ostenta- 

 tion than any thing else; and not unfrequently a 

 native may be seen decked out in a coat and vest 

 without any covering on his nether limbs, and 

 occasionally with a pea-jacket and no shirt. That 

 which gives a foreigner a peculiar disgust to the 

 persons of the New Zealanders,.is their filth, which 

 also pervades their houses. They seldom, if ever, 

 bathe themselves, or wash their clothes, which are 

 usually worn until they drop off from age. They 

 occasionally anoint their skins with fish-oil, and of 

 course cannot be expected to keep themselves 

 clean. 



To their houses, the description of Cook still 

 applies: they are small, low, begrimed with soot, 

 besmeared with grease, and are filled with filth. 

 As yet, their furniture has received no addition 

 from their intercourse with the whites, except the 

 huge sea-chest and iron pot: the former to deposit 

 their valuables in, and the latter for cooking. It 

 was remarked by us all, how few of the grotesque 

 figures, so much spoken of by voyagers, were to be 

 seen. There appeared to be little carving recently 

 done, in comparison with former times. They are 

 said to have improved in the construction of their 

 houses; but there is still great room for improve- 

 ment, before they can vie with any of the other 

 islanders we have visited. Their food consists 

 principally of the potato, fish, kumara, or sweet 

 potato, Indian corn, and fern-root, which is found 

 throughout the country. The kumara is much 

 smaller and inferior in quality to those grown in 

 the other Polynesian isles. Here it is a small 

 watery root, and is generally disliked by foreigners. 

 It is preserved in houses constructed for the pur- 

 pose, to prevent the depredations of the rats. 

 These are built on four posts, which are scraped 

 exceedingly smooth, and are only entered by a 

 single slanting post. The roots are also suspended 

 beneath these houses in large baskets. 



Fish are taken with hooks and nets, and are 

 dried and laid by for use. They also eat a clam, 

 which they call pipi. Hogs and poultry are raised 

 in abundance, for their own use and the supply of 

 ships. They have, as I before stated, peaches, as 

 well as many small berries, and in a few years they 

 will have all the fruits of the temperate zone intro- 

 duced by settlers. They formerly ate their fish 

 raw, or cooked with the kumara, after the Polyne- 

 sian fashion, in the ground, with hot stones ; but 

 now they use an iron pot, in which all their food is 

 boiled together. They have a great fondness for 

 rice, with sugar or molasses. They do not want 

 for food, for their country is well supplied with 

 wild roots, which in case of necessity or scarcity 

 can be resorted to. They also make a pleasant 

 beverage, resembling spruce-beer, which they call 

 icai-maori. 



The greatest changes which have taken place in 

 their customs are the introduction of the use of 

 fire-arms, and the adoption of whale-boats instead 

 of their canoes. The latter are without an out- 

 rigger, and differ in this respect from the boats of 

 all the other Polynesians south of the equator. 

 They have also adopted the square sail (which 

 generally consists of a blanket), in place of the 

 triangular one common to all Polynesia. 



The ornaments of the New Zealanders are few; 

 those of the men, who are chiefs, generally consists 

 in an elaborate tattooing, that gives a striking ap- 

 pearance to the face ; the regularity with which it 

 is done is wonderful. They all have their ears 

 bored, and have small rings in them, made of jade 

 or shark's-teeth, tipped with sealing-wax, or small 

 bright-coloured feathers. Around the necks of the 

 chiefs and their wives is hung their " heitiki," 

 made of a stone of a green colour, which is held 

 very sacred, and which, with their " meara," a 

 short clever or club, is handed down from father 

 to son. The heitiki has some resemblance to a 

 human figure, sitting with crossed legs. This stone 

 is procured from the southern island, near the 

 borders of a small lake, which receives its name 



