W. T. L. Tr AVERS. — The Life and Times of Te Rauparaha. 21 



customs of the New Zealanders in especial relation to the ownership of land, 

 and to war, and then to offer some observations regarding their social and 

 individual characteristics ; and I may at once say that in compiling the 

 following notice of these matters I have availed myself largely of Mr. White's 

 " Lectures on Maori Customs and Superstitions," and of Mr. Colenso's " Essay 

 on the Maori Races," which, though by no means exhaustive, are sufficient to 

 enable those who have had any opportunities of personal observation, and who 

 may, therefore, read them by the light of locally acquired knowledge, to obtain 

 reasonably clear ideas upon these points. It would appear from the facts 

 collected by these and other writers, and from the traditions of the New 

 Zealanders themselves, that from the very earliest times they clearly under- 

 stood the value of the possession of land. This was, of course, naturally to be 

 expected in a people dependent upon the cultivation of the soil for a consider- 

 able proportion of their ordinary means of subsistence, for although New 

 Zealand, as a rule, is a fertile country, and possesses a mild climate, and is 

 almost everywhere covered with a dense vegetation, its natural vegetable 

 productions, suitable for the proper sustenance of man, are extremely limited ; 

 and the Natives would often have suffered from w^ant if they had been wholly 

 dependent for their supplies of food npon the indigenous vegetation, and "upon 

 the uncertain results of their rat-chases and their fisheries. No doubt, whilst 

 the Moa still abounded in various parts of both Islands, it afforded them a 

 better class of animal food than any other they possessed before the introduc- 

 tion of the pig, but we have no positive information as to the date at which 

 this source of supply failed them, nor do I think the materials for the 

 determination of this question are at all likely to lead to any certain results 

 upon the point. There can be no doubt, indeed, that long before the time of 

 Cook, the most valuable articles of food used by the Maoris were not 

 indigenous, as, for example, the Kumera [Convolvulus chrysorhizus), the Taro 

 {Caladium escidentum), and the gourd-like Hue, in the growth of each of 

 which a special and most careful mode of treatment was necessary. We find, 

 accordingly, that a very large part of the time of the people of all classes was 

 taken up in these cultivations, as well as in the preparation of such indigenous 

 substances as were at all suitable for food ; for, independently of the immediate 

 family w^ants, the hospitalities of the tribes — to which all the members must 

 necessarily contribute, especially on solemn occasions — led to the expenditure 

 of large stores of provisions. As I have before observed, it was natural that a 

 people, whose ordinary wants necessitated the cultivation of the soil to any 

 large extent, should attach great value to the possession of land ; and we find, 

 in effect, that every tribe claimed its own special domain, and preserved the 

 most accurate knowledge of the extent and limit of its territorial rights. 



"There is no point," says Mr. White, "on which a New Zealander's 



