20 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 
Capt. Wilkes, in his narrative of the United States exploring expedition, 
says :—‘‘ Chatham Island, which will probably soon be connected with the 
English colony of New Zealand, is now considered as a nest of rogues, and 
several vessels have been robbed there. Its inhabitants have a tradition 
that they are derived from New Zealand, whence their progenitors came 
about a century since, having been driven off in their canoes by a storm, 
and that on landing they had changed their language. The change con- 
sisted in reversing the ordinary construction of their phrases and the 
syllables of words, as for haremai, maihare, and for paika, kapai. The 
natives of Chatham Island are not tattooed, do not wear clothing, and are 
said to be more intelligent than their progenitors." I should especially 
recommend this latter statement to those who adopt the views of Archbishop 
Whately. : 
They divide the year into four seasons,—Mitorikau, or the eating of the 
karaka; Tumatahua, or the growing of the toe toe ; Tupuku, or the coming 
of the cuckoo ; and Korahua, or the hot season, each of which was entered | 
upon with special observances, of which, however, my son was unfortunately 
unable to obtain any intelligible account. 
Their food consisted of fern-root, the fruit of the karaka, shell and other 
fish, birds, seals, and the careases of stranded whales, and their ordinary 
modes of cooking were similar to those of the Maoris. It appears, 
however, that when fish was caught in large quantity it was placed in a 
running stream, and kept there until the flesh separated freely from the 
bones. This flesh was then pressed into flax baskets, and kept in store for 
consumption when required. Like all savage people they were gluttonous 
and improvident, stuffing to-day to hunger to-morrow. Flakes of chert 
were employed in cutting.up the flesh of animals used for food, but my son 
was unable to ascertain whether, as in the case of the Maoris, particular 
kinds of chert were applied to particular classes of food. Chert flakes were 
also used for cutting the hair, the clippings from the head of a chief being 
held sacred, and placed in some secluded spot. The women always eat 
apart from the men. Slabs of sandstone, hollowed in the grinding of their 
stone implements, were used as dripping dishes in which the fat and juices 
of roasting flesh were collected. It is interesting to note that two dishes, 
manufactured in the same manner, are amongst the historical relics of the 
Maoris, and were exclusively used by them for collecting the fat and 
drippings obtained in cooking the Moa. It appears strange that these were 
the only instances in which the latter people employed such utensils, 
although the manufacture was simple and their usefulness apparent. 
As a rule the Mori-oris built no huts, being ordinarily satisfied, even 
during winter, with the shelter of a sloping breakwind, under which they 
